#10
"...and you let it happen?"
Tseng looked down at the red-head perched on the windowsill beside him before plucking the cigarette out of his hand and pressing it to his own lips. "I'll patch him up, but I'm in no position to prevent any of those scrapes, Reno. Besides, it's not like the President intentionally hurts him. Rufus is stubborn, as I'm sure you know."
Reno nodded. "Still not right, even if Rufus is a brat." He took the cigarette back when Tseng was done, looking at it a moment before inhaling again. "Kid's been spoiled all his life. 'Course he thinks he owns the world."
Tseng looked back through the window into the room behind them. "I know that. But right now I'm speaking for all of our safeties, Reno."
"Yeah, I know." Reno looked down at the ground, then back to the glass behind him. "He looks like an angel when he's asleep like that. Funny to think he's such a demon when he's awake."
"No matter how much you hate him, you still care about him, hm?"
"Something like that."
Tseng smiled, reaching a hand to brush over Reno's cheek.
Quiet touches, that's all they could allow themselves outside the safety of their apartments or Tseng's own office. Unfortunately, it was Reno's apartment that was the current refuge of the Shinra heir, giving them one less place of privacy.
Tseng was fairly certain that Reno had never moved faster than when Rufus started knocking frantically on the door. Seeing the boy in tears like that was enough to rattle even the normally calm Tseng.
"I don't know if I can pretend to accept that Dark Nation did that." Reno turned his head slightly to nuzzle against the hand now resting on his shoulder.
"Do it anyway."
Tseng's fingers found their way to brush over Reno's lips, where the red head caught one with a playful smile. "And what do I get for incentive to behave?"
"We'll discuss that when he's safe at home."
Reno grinned, hopping to his feet as he stabbed out the cigarette still in his hand. "I'm holding you to that."
"For now, I think we best tend to our charge in there, Reno."