Birds of a Feather

by StrangeDegree58

In the aftermath of Angeal's passing, Zack and Sephiroth are struggling to find their way in a world without their best friend, while Tseng is trying to balance a new assignment, his personal feelings and what is best for the company. The Story loosely follows the the storylines of Before Crisis and Crisis Core. Tseng x Rufus, Sephiroth x Angeal, Zack x Aerith

26. Bending the rules (Tseng XIII)

Tseng XIII: Bending the rules

Content warning: eating disorder

Tseng was waiting on floor 66, just below the research department, for a sign from Zack as he received a message from Chief Veld. In it, the chief notified him about an upcoming mission that would take him out the city for several days and asked him back to the Turks' headquarters for the mission briefing at his earliest convenience. As a Turk, he frequently had to leave the city for various missions, but the timing was, simply put, awful. Zack was more or less back on track, but he was convinced that Sephiroth would need support for a little longer. Although the SOLDIER would never admit it, Tseng prided himself in knowing that he was the only person aside from Angeal and Genesis (and perhaps Chief Lazard) who had earned just enough of his trust to be tolerated in his personal space able to aid him when he was at his lowest. Tseng did not want to leave Sephiroth alone at this time, even if it was just for a couple of days. And then there was Rufus Shinra, whom Tseng could not get out of his head. Perhaps it would be a good idea to put a little distance between them, but little did Tseng know that the mission the chief had in store for him would do the exact opposite and would not even require him to leave Sephiroth by himself.

His phone beeped as he finally received the much-anticipated a message from Zack. He hurried up the stairs to floor 67, where he stepped up to the counter and started chatting up the receptionist. He had seen the young man a few times, but he did not care to get to know this person in the least. He was a member of the Research Department, the entirety of which was off-limits even for the Turks, and the Turks were not welcome anywhere near it. But having smalltalk to distract a possible target or witness was also a something he frequently needed to do as a Turk. He hoped to distract the man enough to keep him from looking at the surveillance feed of the hallway leading up to the exit of the research department and putting the area on lockdown. He knew that Zack could break out of the research department by force if he needed to, but he would rather not risk raising an alarm in the first place, and a violent solution to this issue would put Sephiroth in unnecessary danger.

Finally, he was relieved to see the door slid open and Zack stepped wonkily out with Sephiroth over his shoulder. The young man behind the counter rose to his feet with a start, adjusting his glasses as if he did not quite know what to do about two samples escaping. Tseng shot him a stern look and the man sat back down without saying anything. He walked up to the two SOLDIERs and grabbed Sephiroth's other arm and put it over his shoulder, helping Zack support him. Tseng wrinkled his nose as the stench of mako emitting from Sephiroth's body rose into his nose. Sephiroth glanced aside. "Happy now?" Tseng averted his eyes. He wanted to say "No", because he knew very well how awful the Research Department was, but instead responded: "You know I have to follow orders and I'm already bending them as much as I possibly can for you. I don't like this any more than you do." He pressed the button to call the elevator.

"Always the loyal hound", Sephiroth sighed, as Zack was observing the two of them from the side. "By the way, I'm not doing this again", Zack added, brushing his hair out of his face was starting to annoy him. as the three leaned against the side of the elevator. "Absolutely not", Sephiroth affirmed. Tseng shook his head. "Since there was no way around it,. I'd rather have you go in with Zack and be in control than Hojo's goons drugging and kidnapping you." He pressed the button for Floor 63 to get to the upper helipad, adding: "I'd go with you myself if you let me." Sephiroth scoffed. "No thanks." Tseng rolled his eyes. I really had no idea what was going on in between the two of Tseng and Sephiroth never talked about Tseng, but whenever the vice chief of the General Affairs Department, otherwise known as the Turks, came up in conversation, he would turn away, scoff, or try to change the topic. I can only guess that that whatever they had experienced with one another should might have been a stern warning not to get their personal feelings mixed with their jobs again. Neither of them had actually heeded the warning, and now obviously, it was too late for such warnings. It is still up for debate whether or not it is always a bad idea to get involved with your colleagues from work on a personal level. Perhaps if one's job involves espionage, sabotage, and obscuring the company's secrets, such personal relationships may be intrinsically more problematic than if one's job consists of, say, mass murder. Although both jobs come with high risk of fatal injury, it is far less likely that mass murder will be directed toward one's own allies in the latter than espionage, sabotage, and obscuring the company's secrets in the former. And so, the mass murderer may find happiness together with another mass murderer more easily than a spy could find the same with a saboteur, while trying to protect their company's secrets at the same time.

"Hey, you know what?", Zack exclaimed as they reached floor 63. He pressed the button for floor 23 and then the "close door" button. Both Sephiroth and Tseng stared at him in confusion. "It's lunchtime. There's a cute girl who works in the cafeteria on Floor 23. Tseng felt a vein pulsating in his temple at the though that Zack had just slept with Aerith in the morning and now he was babbling about flirting with another girl. "Too public", Sephiroth flatly declined as he pulled back his arms from Tseng's and Zack's shoulders. "I'm not in the mood to get harassed by random people today." Tseng nodded in agreement, glad that he did not need to say anything that would probably just come out as passively aggressive. He did not want to have lunch either and did not feel like coming up with an excuse, so Sephiroth's refusal suited him just fine. But then the SOLDIER continued: "Let's go to the cafeteria on Floor 65 instead." Zack protested: "I don't have clearance for 65." When they reached 23, Sephiroth pushed the "close door" button before any of the people waiting could get in, swiped his own keycard and pressed the button for 65. "I do. They have better food, too."

As they were travelling back up, Tseng folded his arms, looking for a way out of a situation where he would not easily be able to decline food. and excused himself: "I think it's way past lunchtime for me. I guess you don't need help to get back to your quarters anymore." He pressed the button for Floor 63. "Remember, you're both on standby, despite everything." When they reached Floor 63, he got off and waved at them, pulling out his phone with the other hand. "Enjoy your lunch".