Dedicated to MomCalling, one of my most frequent and most thoughtful reviewers. Thanks for being there, mc. I really appreciate it.
I admit it. This thing has been dragging along for months. But I wanted to do a sequel to Mothering, and here it is (and I am trying to fend off the bunnies for at least one, maybe two, sequels to this one), finally finished.
I honestly find the pairing explored here to be sweet when done right.
For reference (since I know some of you are sticklers about this), Aerith was born in 1985, and Tseng first distinguished himself within the Turk for in 1997, when he was involved in some mess that ultimately led to Veld losing his arm. In this fic and the one before it, Tseng is nine years older than Aerith, and at the time of the events recorded here, is 27 or so.)
Tseng had never really had to think about keeping his personal and professional lives separate. There were few differences to divide them, to be honest. Granted he had more sex and killed fewer people in his personal life, but the fact remained that he did both regardless of which life he was supposed to be living at the time. Once Aerith planted herself firmly in the middle of his convictions, however, he was forced to start putting up barriers and defining boundaries. He was not going to spend every one of his shifts drinking tea in Aerith's tiny living room. He would, however, accept what she brought out to him while he was on duty and politely turn down her invitations for meals when he wasn't guarding her. He was not going to let her fuss over him every time the weather was less than pleasant or he was feeling anything less than 100 percent, but he would accept the offer of an umbrella or a cough drop or a brief nap on her couch when he needed it.
Despite this, he was not above using Aerith to his advantage when he needed to.
/-
It was late March. Tseng had been spending his guard shifts keeping as far from Aerith as possible, because the spring winds were bringing in massive amounts of pollen from the plains outside the dead zone. Tseng's allergies had flared up with a vengeance, leaving him red-eyed, hoarse, sniffling, and cranky. He didn't even want to think about what Aerith would do if she got her hands on him, and he prayed for the arrival of the vicious April storms that heralded the first real touch of spring in Midgar.
Reno sort of shuffled into the office more than half an hour late, bypassing the coffee corner in favor of dropping into a rumpled heap on one of the couches in the middle of the room. Tseng frowned. Reno always fixed himself a cup of coffee when he arrived, unless there was something wrong with him. Wonderful. As if the day hadn't been busy enough. At least the forecast was promising.
/
Reno actually slept for two hours or so before he even got to his desk. Once there, he got through half a report he was supposed to be filling out, got back up, drank two cups of coffee, and fell asleep again. When he woke, Tseng went straight for him.
"Are you feeling alright?" he asked, more because it was an easy way to start the conversation than because he didn't already know that not all was well in the State of Reno.
Reno blinked blearily up at Tseng. "Nuh-uh."
"You weren't feeling well before you came in today, were you?"
"Uh-uh."
"Then why did you come in today?"
"You said you'd castrate me if I missed another day of work this month."
Tseng made a frustrated sound.
"Only if you were skipping work for no reason. Being sick is a reason to stay home; do you want to get the rest of us sick as well?"
"'m sorry."
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just…alright. Can you tell me what's wrong, at least?"
"Feel sick."
"Yes, I'd noticed. Would you mind telling me what the problem is? What's bothering you the most?"
"'vreything."
"That's not- just hold still." Tseng leaned over the skinny body, running a quick check for injury. Finding none, he touched the inside of his wrist to Reno's forehead, the slipped his fingers under Reno's jaw, probing gently. Reno winced and tried to turn away from him. "You're certainly sick," he sighed.
"Mmph."
"So what is it? Sore throat? Headache? Upset stomach?"
"G'way," Reno complained. "'s all of it. I just wanna sleep."
"Try and get that report done if you're feeling up to it," Tseng murmured, shrugging his suit coat off and draping it over Reno. "
"Mmrrf."
/
By lunchtime, Reno had neither left nor gotten the report worked on. By the time Tseng went back over to talk to him again, he had developed a soft, uncomfortable-sounding cough, which he did his best to muffle.
"Reno, you need to go home," Tseng said gently, prodding his shoulder.
"Nnnnfuck ooooff," Reno groaned.
"No. You're too sick to be here. You're leaving. Get up." When Reno ignored the order, Tseng whipped his coat off Reno, grabbed the redhead by the arms, and hoisted him upright.
The sound Reno made wouldn't have been out of place coming from a cat in a carrier that had been bouncing around in the back of a car for a few hours- a situation Tseng had actually been witness to- and he turned against Tseng's body, pressing his face into Tseng's neck.
"Reno?" Tseng ventured.
"I feel siiiiiiick," Reno groaned. He squirmed in Tseng's hold, one arm sliding between them and pressing tight to his stomach. "Really, really sick."
"Do you need to sit down?"
"Noooooo."
Tseng hesitated, caught between the urge to shove Reno off him before he vomited and the urge to make sure he would be all right, then slipped his arm around Reno's waist and held him steady. Reno's entire body was tense and trembling, a fact that bothered Tseng, but he didn't comment.
After a few month minutes, Reno hiccupped, groaned, and relaxed slightly.
"Any better?" Tseng asked gently. Reno shook his head. "I didn't think so. Come on, Reno, I'm taking you home."
/
Reno fell asleep the moment he was bundled into the back seat of Tseng's car, ignoring local traffic laws in favor of lying across the seat with his coat, Tseng's coat, and the blanket Tseng kept in his trunk all spread out over him.
Tseng pulled over once he was a fair distance away from the ShinRa complex, picked up his phone, and dialed a number he had only even bothered to enter into it because he needed to keep track of it.
"Hello?"
"Aerith, this is-"
"Oh, Tseng! I never thought I'd be getting a call from you!"
"I never thought I'd be calling, either," he sighed. "But I need a favor."
"Of course! What is it? Is everything alright?"
"Everything is…I'm fine, but Reno is ill. Under other circumstances I would take him home and let him fend for himself, or take him home with me, but I have to complete my shift and he is in no condition to be left alone."
He heard Aerith gasp, and then make a soft, sympathetic crooning sound, and he was once again left wondering how a woman who lived where she did somehow continued to love and to care so completely. It made no sense.
"Oh, the poor dear. Bring him down here if you can, Tseng. I can take care of him."
"Thank you."
"When can you bring him?"
"Right now."
"Alrght, I'll get ready for him."
"Mmm. We should be there in twenty minutes."
Tseng hung up, feeling sort of proud and sort of bothered that he'd stooped to the level of siccing Aerith on Reno.
/
Aerith came running outside when Tseng pulled up, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet and waiting for him to get out. He nodded politely to her, deftly dodging the hug she tried to give him, and opened the back door. Reno hadn't moved for the entirety of the trip, nor did he so much as twitch when Tseng took his coat back, then scooped his subordinate into his arms.
"Ohhh, honey," Aerith cooed, reaching to stroke Reno's hair. "How long has he been sick?"
"Since he came in this morning. Where do you want him?"
"Upstairs, in my bed." She padded along beside him, barefoot under a long cotton dress. It was peasant style, a delicate shade of pink with darker accents, and it looked quite good on her. Which he wasn't paying attention to. He wasn't. Really.
"He's going to need a bucket," Tseng warned. "Or he's very likely to."
"Oh?"
"We…had a close call in the office."
"I see. Well, I've certainly got buckets. Are you sure you're alright, Tseng? Your voice sounds strange, and your eyes are red."
He resisted the urge to groan at the observation. "It's just allergies," he promised. "I'll be fine as soon as the rains get here."
"I've got something for that."
"That's really not-"
"Don't be silly. Come on, upstairs."
Once Reno had been stripped out of his uniform and tucked into bed- and looking very out of place in the floral-patterned sheets- Tseng found himself towed downstairs and gently pushed into a chair in the kitchen. By now he knew better than to try and leave while Aerith fetched this and that and mixed things on the counter, so he relaxed into the chair and wished for rain.
"Here," Aerith murmured, setting a steaming mug down in front of him. "Drink up."
"Do I even want to know what you put in this?"
"It has honey in it."
"Good enough." He sipped slowly at it, trying to avoid burning his tongue, and was only mildly surprised when Aerith tugged the band out of his hair and worked her fingers into it, gently massaging his scalp. He made a small, pleased sound and leaned into her hands.
"You work too much," she commented. "You're going to make yourself sick if you keep this up."
"I have a high-stress job. That isn't going to change."
Aerith responded with a decidedly inelegant snort. "So does Reno, but he isn't in the kind of shape you're in."
"Reno…is different."
"Reno is willing to let loose sometimes."
"He certainly is. And I'm not."
"Why not?"
Tseng shrugged.
"You should listen to yourself sometimes," Aerith murmured. "I think you'd learn something. Finish your tea."
/-
Tseng left when he'd finished the tea, gently herded outside and given a kiss on the cheek. He promised to come fetch Reno after his shift was over.
"Take your time," Aerith said, straightening his collar for him. "I don't mind keeping him here."
"Mmm. Thank you, but I'll be here as soon as possible, traffic permitting."
She smiled and shooed him back into his car, waving goodbye from the stoop.
/-
Nearly an hour later, a sudden commotion upstairs caught Aerith's attention. She got up the stairs in time to hear the bathroom door rebound off the wall, and she winced. Deciding it was best to give Reno a moment, she slowed down, lingering in the hall for a few minutes before padding silently into the bathroom. Reno was sitting on the floor, slumped over with one arm cushioning his head on the rim of the toilet bowl. He looked up as Aerith entered, blinking groggily at her.
"Hi," he croaked. "How did I get to your house?"
"Tseng brought you. He said you needed looking after." Aerith dampened a washcloth in the sink and knelt beside Reno, reaching out to clean his face. He groaned and leaned into her hand, forcing her to slide her other hand under his chin to hold him still until she'd finished.
"Tseng brought me?"
"He did."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Reno, I'm sure."
"Positive?"
"Yes."
"But…he always tries to pretend you aren't a friend. Why would he do that?"
"Because you're sick and he knows that I can take very good care of you until he is able to do the same. He cares about your health."
"But he hates doing anything that makes him seem friendly."
"He was worried about you, sweetheart. I think that was more important."
"Maybe." Reno turned away from Aerith and rested his cheek on his arm again, eyes half-closed. "Thanks."
Aerith smiled and stroked his hair, finding it faintly damp under her fingers. "You need to get back to bed," she murmured. "If your stomach is still bothering you, there's a bucket beside the bed. I don't want you taking a wrong turn and falling down the stairs."
"Gimme a minute to figure out if m' knees are gonna cooperate and then sure, I'll go to bed."
"Take your time."
/
Tseng returned to Aerith's very late. A meeting had run long, and then he had been tracked down by two separate desk jockeys looking for information on a number of fairly simple events that had nothing to do with Tseng. In between the two of them, he'd had a heap of last minute reports and other paperwork that had to be done before midnight.
It was raining hard when he got to his car, and he cursed under his breath as he sprinted across the roof parking, damning whoever had taken his spot on one of the lower levels when he'd returned from dropping Reno off. Soaking wet- but already starting to breathe easier because of the rain- he headed for Aerith's.
As expected, Aerith squealed with dismay when she saw how wet Tseng was, and he was inside and stripped of everything she could get off of him in a matter of moments. Standing in her kitchen wearing his soggy slacks and nothing else, dripping quietly onto the linoleum, Tseng wondered again how he had ever wound up associating with this woman. She was just…nothing like the women he was used to dealing with and he had a hard time handling her as a result.
"Haven't you ever heard of an umbrella?" Aerith demanded, bustling back in with a towel and flinging it over Tseng's head. He made to pull it off, but she was standing on a chair and briskly drying his hair before he had a chance to.
"Yes, but-"
"You're going to get sick too if you keep this up."
"I hardly think-"
"Or a decent jacket at least. Honestly Tseng, how you can do what you do and still forget the basic things is beyond me." She stepped off the chair and kept toweling, leaving Tseng fairly certain he knew what it was like to be a show chocobo.
"I manage," he said shortly. He considered trying to take the towel away and finish drying off on his own, then decided it wasn't worth the fight and held still while Aerith squeezed water out of his slacks, then patted his legs down.
"There. Would you like to borrow a t-shirt?"
"What?"
"I have a few really big t-shirts lying around. You can wear one while your clothes dry, if you like."
No. Tseng refused to be naked except for a t-shirt in Aerith's house. "I'm fine, thank you."
"Alright. Tea? You're sounding much better."
"The rain has helped."
"Of course it has. Rain fixes most things. Tea?"
"No, thank you. I just wanted to fetch Reno and be on my way."
"Mmm. Do you mind leaving him here for a bit? I don't think he should be disturbed."
"I wouldn't want t-" Tseng stopped, and actually looked at Aerith. "How is he?"
"Asleep on the couch for now," she murmured, taking the towel and tossing it over the back of the chair she'd been standing on. "The poor thing is really sick. Flu, or something like it. Worse than what you had this fall."
"He always gets sick when spring comes," Tseng said quietly. "And fall. But rarely this badly. He usually just stays home for a few days."
Aerith nodded, moving over to the stove and putting the kettle on. "He'll be alright, but…I worry anyway. He's so thin. With how upset his stomach has been this afternoon, I just know he's going to lose weight, and I couldn't get him to eat anything."
Tseng nodded, settling down in a chair without caring about the wet towel pressed against his bare back. "He's fussy like that," he chuckled.
"It's not a laughing matter," Aerith snapped.
"Aerith, I know Reno much better than you do, and I can promise you that he could have found that remark just as amusing as I do, since it is entirely true. But, if it will make you feel better, I know what he'll eat."
"You do? What?"
"Okayu."
Aerith shot Tseng a sour look. "In a language I speak, please. I don't feel like playing games with you today."
"Rice porridge. I make it with egg. Reno can nearly always keep it down when his stomach is acting up."
"I don't know how to make that. Would you mind?"
"I suppose you want me to make it here?"
"Please? He really shouldn't be moved unless it's important."
Tseng sighed. "Alright, fine. And I'll teach you how to make it while I'm at it."
The kettle shrilled, prompting Aerith to whisk it off the stove and pour water into several jars and a teapot. Tseng watched her, and padded over to join her at the stove when she beckoned.
/
Tseng's recipe took a little over an hour to prepare, a touch longer because Aerith was moving around him, ducking under his arm or squeezing in between him and the counter when she wanted to get a better look at something. As usual, she treated Tseng's mostly naked body with the same gentle disinterest she treated his clothed body with. It was a little surreal for him, having grown used to young, attractive women being quite interested in his body.
"And now it needs to cool a bit," Tseng said at last, stepping away from the stove and dusting his hands off on his mostly dry slacks.
"I wasn't expecting the recipe to be so simple," Aerith murmured, peering into the pot again.
"Mmhm. It's the technique that takes a bit of practice. Anyone can make basic okayu, but doing other things with it, or making it more than just barely palatable, is another thing altogether." He dropped down into the chair that still had his towel hanging over the back of it, stretching and trying to ignore the way his stomach growled. Lunch had been fast, not particularly filling, and a long time ago, and cooking had reminded him that he hadn't eaten much of anything recently.
Aerith had apparently heard.
"Hungry?" she asked gently.
"A little."
"I could make something."
"You've been working at that stove since I got here," Tseng objected. "It's okay. I'll be fine."
"You should eat," Aerith said firmly, starting towards the stove again. Tseng was forced to grab her arm and haul her away from it.
"Takeout?" he suggested. Aerith started to protest that she couldn't afford that kind of thing, and Tseng shook his head. "My treat."
"Oh, but I can't-"
"You've done more than enough for me. It's about time you let me return the favor. Anything in particular you like?"
"I've…I've never had takeout."
"Wutain, then," Tseng decided. "I can help you pick something you like if I know the cuisine better."
Aerith blushed faintly and nodded.
"Even better, it makes good leftovers. Hang on a minute, I have a few menus in my car."
Tseng had to endure another toweling-off, but he managed to locate a place he liked that would deliver to Aerith's neighborhood at night and convinced Aerith to let him select a few extra things she could save for later, since caring for Reno had eaten into the time she usually used for earning money.
When the food arrived, Tseng picked Aerith up, deposited her in a chair, and served for her, arranging a plate that had a little bit of everything around a bowl of rice, then following that with some soup and a selection of sauces in little plastic cups. He stuck with the one paper container containing his meal and another with rice, and watched as she picked at the different dishes, trying this and that or perhaps these two together. It was cute, he thought, and then mentally scolded himself for thinking such a thing.
/
After dinner, Reno saved them the hassle of waking him up by doing it himself, nearly rolling off the couch and only just catching himself before he fell. He was still coughing when Aerith bustled in to fuss over him.
He ate the rice porridge without complaint, half a bowl before he handed it back and quietly thanked Aerith and Tseng for it.
"Are you sure you can't eat any more?" Aerith asked gently.
"Depends," Reno grunted, shifting around and tugging on the blankets covering him. "D'you want me t' make myself sick with it?"
"No, of course not."
"Then no, I can't eat anymore." Reno blinked sleepily at them. "'m gonna go back t' sleep, 'kay?"
"Wait, I need-" Tseng began, but Aerith jammed her elbow into his stomach before he could finish.
"Go right ahead," she murmured, bending down to kiss his forehead. "Feel better, honey." Then she grabbed Tseng by the arm and yanked him back into the kitchen before he could do something to get Reno up and off the couch.
"I'm supposed to be taking him home," Tseng hissed at her.
"Well I think he should stay here."
"I can't just leave him."
"Why not?"
"If you stay here to take care of him, you can't be out on the street selling your flowers. You won't make any money, and when you don't make money, you don't eat."
"But I-"
"Drinking teas that suppress your appetite isn't a substitute. I can't leave him here knowing that's what will happen."
A very small smile lit up Aerith's face. "Why Tseng, are you concerned for my well-being?"
"No!"
"You're worried that I won't eat."
"Of course I'm worried, you're young and you need…to…dammit, Aerith, don't do that!" Tseng groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing full well that he'd just openly admitted to caring about Aerith, or at least what she did with herself.
Aerith giggled and reached up, placing her hands on Tseng's shoulders and pulling until he bent over and she could kiss his cheek, very close to the corner of his mouth. "You made sure I have leftovers for days, Tseng. I don't mind taking care of Reno- you have more to do at work than I ever will."
"But-"
"Or you can stick around and see how he's doing before your shift starts, and if you really want to take him home then, you can. Okay?"
"You want me to stay the night?"
"It's only a few hours, really. It's nearly midnight already, and I know you get to work early."
Tseng checked the clock on the wall. Sure enough, it read 11:46pm.
"I…suppose I could do that. It's more practical than leaving and coming back in a few hours." He had gone longer without any sleep; missing a few more hours tonight wouldn't hurt, and he could always catch a few fifteen minutes naps during the day.
"Of course it is."
/
Tseng really had no idea how he'd gotten into Aerith's bed. Honestly, he'd left Reno in it, but Aerith said Reno kept getting up and trying to move around, and after nearly falling down the stairs, she had banished him to the couch, which he seemed to like more than the bed.
He dimly remembered making some suggestion concerning Aerith and getting some sleep, though what her response to his volunteering to sit up with Reno had been he wasn't sure. He was also fairly certain there had been some discussion of his still-damp clothing, which likely had something to do with how he was now down to his underwear and a t-shirt that would have been a comfortable fit for Rude.
How he had gotten into the bed was the real question, but it didn't really matter, since Aerith was snuggled up to his side, tucked under his arm with her head resting on his chest, and she was sound asleep. She was wearing a pretty cotton nightgown and a sweet smile, and Tseng had to admit that she was awfully attractive.
There was silence from downstairs. If Reno hadn't been sick, Tseng would have been worried, since the redhead was usually an active, often noisy sleeper, and silence meant something was wrong, but he tended to go completely still when he was sick, and the only noise he made came when he had nightmares. As it was, however, Tseng knew he ought to go down and check up on his second in command but couldn't bring himself to risk waking Aerith to do so. He sighed and relaxed back against his pillow, resigned to watching her sleep instead. Her eyelashes were a smoky curve along the arch of her cheekbone, and he could see a dusting of freckles, just barely darker than her skin, that crossed her cheeks and the bridge of her nose in a most becoming fashion. He was becoming attached to his assignment, dammit, but he couldn't bring himself to remove his name from the watch rotation.
Something thudded against a wall or possibly the floor downstairs. Tseng twitched, half raising himself off the bed and straining to hear anything else. Aerith stirred, and Tseng saw his chance to move.
"I need to get up," he said softly, carefully levering her off of him and tucking a pillow under her in his place. "I heard something."
"It's just Reno," Aerith yawned.
"Yes, I'm sure it is, but I want to make sure."
"Don't be so paranoid, Tseng. It's alright."
"This is Reno we're talking about."
"Mmm…fine. But come back when you're done."
"Mmhm."
Downstairs, Tseng found that Reno had apparently been having a nightmare, as he'd thrashed and rolled himself right off the sofa. When Tseng arrived he was lying on the floor, clutching his head with one hand and his stomach with the other, whimpering pitifully. By some miracle, he had managed to avoid knocking over his bucket. He looked up at Tseng and made a soft, plaintive sound.
Tseng sighed and knelt at Reno's side, gently bundling the long limbs into his arms and lifting the man back onto the couch. He held him with one arm while he sorted out the blankets, then laid him back down and covered him, mindful of how Reno shivered. He was sweaty and hot to the touch, and after a moment, Tseng picked him up again, wrapping him in the blanket. He carried Reno up the stairs and into the bedroom, and laid him in the bed beside Aerith. Before Aerith could protest, he got back into bed on Reno's other side, opening his arms as, predictably, the redhead huddled against him with a little squeak.
"Tseng?" Aerith asked, voice shivery with barely contained giggles. Tseng knew how silly he must look with Reno attached to his chest like some kind of growth, but did she have to giggle like that?
"It will help," he explained, pawing Reno's hair out of his face. "With the fever."
"How did you manage to get three people into my bed?"
"Care, precision, and a healthy disrespect for the laws of physics. The bed being against the wall also helps." He managed to escape Reno's hair and began stroking it instead of fighting it, which drew a tiny sigh from the skinny redhead.
Aerith watched him for a few minutes, a fond little smile playing over her lips. Then she pushed herself up on one arm and leaned over to kiss Tseng's cheek. "I'll be back," she whispered. "Stay with him."
"Yes, mother," he grumbled, but he did as he was told. It wasn't like he really had much of a chance at peeling Reno off anyway.
/-
Aerith returned with tea for Tseng and reheated okayu for Reno. Tseng drank his tea without comment; Reno whined and tried to get out of eating the porridge and threw it up ten minutes later. It took both Tseng and Aerith to get him cleaned up and settled down after that, and they adjourned to the kitchen for breakfast while Reno slept once more.
"I don't mind him staying," Aerith murmured over her mug.
"Absolutely not. I can't have him imposing on you any longer. One night was more than enough."
"Please, Tseng, I insist."
"No."
"Please?"
"I can't, I-"
"Fine." Aerith got up and took her empty plate to the sink, rinsing it quickly and turning back, moving to take Tseng's plate. As she bent beside him, he turned his head, impulsively catching her chin in one hand and holding her steady so he could kiss her. It didn't last long, and it was little more than a press of lips to lips with just a hint of tongue brushing over them before Aerith pulled away, blushing deeply, one hand pressed over her mouth.
"Tseng, I-"
"I'm sorry, that was inappropriate," Tseng said, quickly getting to his feet. "Reno can stay, but I'm coming to get him tonight, alright? No talking me into letting him have another night again."
"Oh…of course."
He wrestled his shoes and coat on, then fled the house as fast as he could go.
/
Tseng spent his day in the office, working on paperwork and briefing and debriefing and attending two meetings he hadn't wanted to go to. He found himself looking towards the window, out at the Plate, wondering if Reno was alright and how hard taking Reno away from Aerith might be.
/-
Aerith worked on embroidery and small crafts, mostly done sitting in the chair in her bedroom, where she could keep an eye on Reno. She made him tea and heated up rice porridge and stroked his hair, and later in the day began patting him down with a dry towel now and then.
/-
Most of Reno's day was spent asleep. On the thankfully rare occasions that he was conscious, he spent a lot of time vomiting and a little less time coughing until he was breathless and panting. By evening, his fever had risen and he had gone an apparently permanent shade of grayish that was neither flattering nor healthy.
/-
Another storm was threatening when Tseng pulled up outside Aerith's house. This one promised to be nasty, as the ominous rumbles of thunder were getting progressively louder and closer together. He actually had an umbrella in the car and thought about bringing it with him, but carrying Reno and trying to juggle an umbrella as well would be more trouble than it was worth to keep Aerith happy, so he left it.
Aerith met him at the door. For a moment, her lips thinned, expression tightening. Then she smiled and let him into the house.
"He's…he's not doing very well," she said softly.
"He gets sick fast," Tseng explained. "Fast and hard, without much of a warning. This is normal." He followed her up to the bedroom, where Reno lay limply beneath the blankets, breathing wheezily and not moving much.
"I really don't think-" Aerith stopped, as Tseng had moved past her and bent to scoop Reno up, shedding blankets. Reno made an unhappy noise and turned against Tseng, seeking the heat of his body to make up for the loss of the blankets.
"Thank you for your care," Tseng murmured. Hitching Reno a little higher in his arms, he hurried back out to his car. The first raindrops splattered on his windshield as he drove away.
/-
Hours later, Tseng had to admit that it would have helped to have Aerith around. Reno's fever continued to rise, nearing the point where he would have to take the redhead to the hospital. He'd gotten Reno into a cool bath for the time being, which had halted the fever, but it was a temporary fix; Reno couldn't stay in the bath until he was better. Tseng had tried three different medications, all of which hadn't stayed down long enough to do any good. Aerith's teas had stayed down. The one thing he was making headway on was Reno's cough, which Tseng treated with warm milk tea and lots of honey.
There had been a takeout order at some point that night, which Tseng had inhaled without tasting. He couldn't remember what it had been or where it had been from. He had coffee on, constantly brewing fresh pots to keep himself awake, unwilling to fall asleep with Reno in need of almost constant care.
It would have been nice to have a little help.
/
Sometime around 1 in the morning, when Tseng was alternating between buzzing with energy and nearly nodding off, someone rang his buzzer on the ground floor. He pressed the button to let whomever it was in without bothering to speak with them first, and shuffled into the foyer to get the door.
Aerith stood outside his door, splashed with dirty water, holding a dripping umbrella and a tote bag.
"Aerith?" Tseng asked, wondering if perhaps he should lay off the caffeine for a bit.
"I can still help," Aerith huffed at him. "Even if he's not at my house. Move."
Stunned, Tseng stepped out of the way. Aerith marched inside, shed her coat, umbrella, and wet shoes, and vanished further into his apartment. The fact that she had never been to Tseng's apartment before did not seem to be slowing her down much.
Tseng gaped at her for a few minutes, then shuffled after her.
Aerith had found the bedroom without any trouble and was bent over Reno, gently touching his forehead, fingers sliding over his cheek and his collarbone, checking his pulse before straightening up again.
"Go lie down, Tseng," she said quietly. "You look exhausted."
"I have t-"
Aerith turned around and fixed Tseng with a truly terrifying look, one that closely resembled the one his old sensei used to use on him right before pounding him into the floor. He swallowed nervously.
"No," she said flatly. "Out. Go eat something to ease off the caffeine crash you're courting, then get some comfortable clothes on and. Go. To. Sleep. If you don't, I will make you."
"But-"
"I can take care of him."
"Aerith, I-"
"Hush up and let me help you, Tseng. I know you have a hard time doing it and I understand that there are probably good reasons for it, but I'm tired of having to tell you to trust me. I'm not going to hurt you or Reno, and I'm not going to steal him away as soon as you've relaxed, okay? It's alright."
Tseng hesitated, then nodded silently and went to the dresser, fetching a set of pajamas and retreating out of the bedroom. He ate three reheated eggrolls and drank a bottle of lemonade, changed into his pajamas, and promptly passed out on the couch.
/
Tseng worried that he was getting used to waking up in situations he wasn't familiar with. Usually he woke up in Aerith's bed, but today he was waking to Aerith bent over him, wearing one of his shirts and leaning a little too far over so he could see more of her breasts than he could really handle that early in the morning. He groaned and rolled over, hands sliding discretely to cover his groin, and promptly fell off the couch. He rolled straight into Aerith's ankles and brought her down on top of him, too.
Aerith giggled and carefully picked herself up. "Good morning," she murmured, smoothing Tseng's hair out of his face. "How are you feeling?"
"Breasts," Tseng said muzzily, and immediately knew he had had too much coffee the day before. It had obviously degraded his social acceptability filters and was letting whatever his brain could come up with right out into his mouth and from there into the world. Blushing deeply, he rolled onto his back and covered his face with both hands.
"Excuse me? What- oh! Oh, I'm so sorry!" Aerith buttoned the shirt a little higher. "There, is that better? Tseng?"
"Please don't ask me to critique your cleavage-concealing technique this early in the morning."
"Should I make coffee?"
"I can do it."
"No, I'll do it. Why don't you do something about…you need a shower. I'll have coffee when you're done."
"Okay."
Aerith did indeed have coffee ready when Tseng padded out of the bathroom, dressed, hair damp, feeling heavy and slow and fuzz-brained from all the caffeine from the day before. She had an omelet for him as well, and she had a pot on the stove that smelled familiar.
"Okayu?" he asked, perching on a stool at the breakfast bar with his coffee.
"Of course." Aerith pushed a plate over to him. "Eat that. No arguing."
"But I'm not really a breakfast-" Aerith brandished a spatula at him, and Tseng blanched. "Thank you."
"I'm going to stay here and mind Reno," Aerith informed him some ten minutes later while he was finishing up his breakfast. "He shouldn't be left alone with a fever that high."
"I can-"
"I will do it."
Her tone brooked no arguments. Tseng sighed and went to get ready for work.
/-
The two days of rain had cleared Tseng's allergies up nicely, but the third was pushing it, and by the end of the morning, Tseng was sniffling at his desk and cursing his luck. He'd have to go home to Aerith and be babied, because he couldn't bring himself to throw her out. And there wasn't really a way he could throw her out.
He headed home in even more rain, the delicate drizzle of earlier having deepened into a deluge that was nearly impossible to drive in. He managed, and even succeeded at getting indoors only damp, instead of drenched. Squelching up the stairs was undignified but necessary, as the last time he had gone into the elevator in wet shoes he had slipped, fallen, and hit his head so hard on the doors that he wasn't sure how he had gotten back to his apartment afterwards.
"Tseng," Aerith began the moment he stepped through the door. He ignored her completely, took his shoes and coat off, and trudged for the bedroom, just barely managing to get the door closed between the two of them before he sneezed explosively, four times in a row. He could hear her saying something about it behind him, and couldn't really bring himself to care.
Reno was a bundle of blankets and red hair on the bed, blinking blearily at the intrusion. Tseng patted him on the head as he went to the closet, where he stripped out of his wet clothes, put dry ones on (jeans and a company t-shirt), and padded back over to the bed. He crawled over to Reno's side and fell asleep almost at once.
Aerith woke him several hours later, looking like she couldn't decide if she should be angry or affectionate. The result was somewhat scary and a little threatening, with just a dash of cute thrown in.
"You're sick," she accused.
"I have a cold, yes."
"Tseng, you're sick."
"And?"
"Why were you at work?"
"Because I was scheduled for work."
"You shouldn't have gone."
Tseng sighed and sat up. "I felt fine this morning. And unfortunately, Aerith, not all of us have the luxury of being able to skip work whenever the need arises. I am the head of my department. I have gone to work with a cold. I have done to work with broken bones. I have gone to work bleeding, feverish, drugged, hallucinating, and bone-tired. Because it is my job, and I respect my colleagues enough to want to do my job so they can do theirs instead of having to do mine. Do not scold me for taking care of the people beneath me, Aerith. I let you get away with far more than anyone else, but I will not stand to be scolded for being a responsible adult."
Aerith took a step back, looking hurt. "Why do you treat me differently, then?" she asked, voice tight and strained.
Tseng sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know."
"You have an answer for everything else," she retorted. "Why not for this?"
Tseng was reminded then of how young she really was. Everything had to have a clear-cut answer, and if she was bull-headed enough, she would get one.
"Why do you want to know?"
"You kissed me, Tseng."
"What does that have to do with me having a reason for how I treat you?"
"That's about as different as your treatment of me can get from how you treat others."
"I kiss Reno."
"That's not funny."
"I didn't mean it to be funny. Reno and I are very close, and have been for a long time. You may notice that we are sharing a bed, and that I brought him to bed with me yesterday morning."
"That's different."
"I've had sex with him," Tseng said bluntly. He got to his feet. "I care about you, Aerith. Much more than I should. But I am through with letting you get away with whatever you like simply because I have a soft spot for you. If you would like to continue helping me with Reno's care, then you will respect how I do things at home and you will stop treating me like we are equals."
"But we are-" Aerith began, then went silent when Tseng gave her a hard look.
"When you were twelve years old, Aerith, I was twenty one and nearly died in an explosion during an assignment. When you were fourteen, I became the youngest Boss Turk in ShinRa's history. Three weeks before your sixteenth birthday, I had to go to Junon to tell a woman that her husband had died because I sent him on an assignment he could not handle. While you traipse about under the Plate selling flowers and dispensing advice, I have the lives of nearly one hundred men and women in my hands. So no, we are not equals, Aerith. I am older and harder and far more damaged than you are, and I sincerely hope that you are never like me."
Aerith took a step back, eyes brightening with tears. She began to say something, then closed her mouth and took another step back.
"I'm sorry. I didn't…I just…"
Feeling vaguely guilty, Tseng shook his head. "You didn't know."
"What do you want me to do, then?"
"See to Reno- his fever is rising again. I'll do something about dinner."
"Okay."
Tseng started to head for the door, but paused at Aerith's side, catching her chin in his fingers like he had the day before and tipping her head up. Smiling, he leaned down, lips just brushing against her earlobe. "I would kiss you again," he breathed, "but I don't want to make you sick."
Aerith didn't stop blushing for more than an hour.
/-
That night, after dinner had been eaten and dessert had been lingered over and Reno had been coaxed into eating a little porridge and drinking a little tea, Tseng fetched a futon from his closet and began laying it out on his living room floor.
"Who is that for?"
"For both of us."
"Both?"
"Mmhm."
"But-"
"Aerith, you and I have wound up in the same bed already, and we have both seen nearly all that there is to see as far as nudity goes. My couch is not a comfortable place to sleep, and as I have only the one futon, it is only practical to share it."
"I…I can stay with Reno."
"You need to sleep, Aerith. I won't bite."
"Alright."
It was rather nice to see her in a borrowed t-shirt about three sizes too big, sitting cross-legged on the futon and combing her hair out. Pajamaed and ready for bed, Tseng settled down beside her and took the comb from her hands, quietly combing her hair out himself.
"You leave it down to sleep, don't you?"
"Mmhm."
"Then you're all done." He put the comb out of the way and wriggled beneath the cover, settling with a little sigh. While he appreciated the mattresses of the East, there was something comforting about sleeping on a futon. "You can get under here with me, you know. You'll get cold out there."
Aerith hesitated, then burrowed beneath the cover at Tseng's side. He smiled at the way she curled up slightly, then yelped and recoiled as cold bare feet pressed up against his calf.
"Too cold?" Aerith asked innocently.
"You…you…you evil little thing!"
"Me?"
"Yes, you. I know you did that on purpose."
"I did not."
"You wouldn't be nearly as giggly if that had been an accident. Come here." Tseng grabbed Aerith before she could wriggle away and dragged her close, fingers going to her sides and poking until she was shrieking with laughter and struggling madly. Only when she begged did he stop, and even then, he didn't let go of her.
"I'm evil?" Aerith panted.
"Mmhm."
"Since when do you tickle people?"
"Since always, I'm afraid. There's a whole unit on tickling as a method of torture in the standard Turk training regimen. I find it can be very handy in a tight spot."
"You're making that up."
"Why would I?"
"There is no way you were trained in tickling."
Tseng chuckled softly and loosened his hold on Aerith enough to turn onto his side and get comfortable. "I find that the truth is often much more entertaining than fiction, Aerith. Good night."
"Good night."
The last thing Tseng remembered before drifting off was the gentle kiss Aerith planted on his cheek.
/
It took Tseng three days to get over his cold, even with Aerith making him herbal teas at every turn. He put up with her fussing with infinite patience and the judicious use of tickling and blatant flattery where necessary.
Reno was still sick the following week, though he had graduated from the high fever and persistent vomiting to an overwhelming fatigue and soft cough, which was a great improvement. When he crawled out of bed and squeezed in between Tseng and Aerith on the couch, Aerith cheered. He was back at his own apartment- with enough soups, teas, and containers of porridge to last him another week- eight days after being moved to Tseng's place.
/
Two weeks after Reno recovered, Tseng went walking beneath the Plate. It was raining up above, and he had an umbrella out to protect him from the drizzles, streams, and occasional sudden bursts of water filtering down to the slums.
A bright pink umbrella popped out of an alley and hurried to catch up with Tseng's black one. At the last moment, it folded down and the person under it ducked under Tseng's umbrella, which he shifted to his other hand to make room.
"You know this umbrella was designed for one, don't you?"
"Mmhm."
"And yet you are under it with me."
"We'll have to stand really close to each other, then."
"I knew that innocent thing was just an act."
"It is not."
"If you say so."
Aerith squealed indignantly and swatted Tseng with her umbrella. He poked her in the ribs. She swatted him again. He dropped his umbrella and filled his hands with her instead, pulling her close and silencing any possible sounds of protest by covering her lips with his. He met no resistance, as she melted into his arms with only the slightest pressure against her mouth, lips parting with a little sigh. Her umbrella splashed into a puddle beside his, her hands finding better things to do with Tseng's hair and shoulders.
A random passerby whistled at them, and Tseng released Aerith to make a rude (and rather out of character) gesture at him. Aerith giggled and rescued both umbrellas.
"Is that another unit in your Turk training, Tseng?" she asked softly, handing his umbrella back.
"Hmm?"
"Kissing girls when they aren't expecting it."
"No, that was ninja training with my family, before I became a Turk." Tseng smirked and shook the water off is umbrella, then lifted it over his head again and offered his arm to Aerith. "Where are we going this afternoon?"
"Ninja…Tseng, I don't know when to believe you and when to completely discount everything you say!"
"That's the idea. Where to?"
"Oh, I don't care."
"There's a strip club two blocks from here."
"Tseng!"
Two umbrellas, one pink and one black, bobbed cheerily down the street beneath the Plate, heading for a bakery and café Aerith had never been to. That would be followed by a diner Tseng had never been to, and then to a theatre both of them had been to to see a movie neither of them had seen.
Tseng never did get around to removing his name from the duty roster.