Author's Notes: Feeling a Moment by Feeder taken as inspiration. For my kitten, who gave me the music. Fear my ability to apparently be nice to Reeve once in a while. Not only that, but I can make Tseng and Reeve without killing one of them or nearly doing so. Hopefully a view into the lighter, cheerful side of Reeve. He can't be all gloomy all the time.

Theme: Shades

Puddles

"What are you doing?"

"Enjoying the rain."

"Couldn't you do that somewhere dry?"

There was a chuckle as the drenched man looked over his shoulder at the speaker.

"It wouldn't be the same."

Tseng sighed and shook his head. Sometimes the former-executive could act rather… childish.

"You're going to get sick if you stay out much longer."

"So?"

Reeve smiled and spread his arms out, almost as if he was hoping to embrace the rain. He didn't seem bothered that his best coat was drenched, that his shoes were being ruined, or that he was making a total fool of himself. In fact, the man turned after a moment and held his hand out to Tseng.

"Join me."

The flustered expression gets laughter from Reeve. He had expected it of course. This was Tseng, a Turk, a hard headed fool, a man so set in his ways it wasn't funny, and a person very caught up in personal appearance. Even now, in the middle of summer, he was clad in the full suit of a Turk on duty. Of course he was the only one. Even Rude, a stickler for procedures, had abandoned the blazer a few weeks ago when the heat wave had hit. Still Tseng wore something that was probably uncomfortable and sweltering, a classic reminder of how unchanging the man was. And one of how Reeve had been as well.

Tseng shifted awkwardly from foot to foot under the awning that kept him dry but his face managed to regain its blankness.

"You're supposed to just be getting coffee. You have a meeting with the President…"

"He can wait," Reeve pointed out. And Rufus could. The blond had been waiting two weeks for their meeting, what was another ten minutes? There could always be ten minutes that wasn't about Shinra or Avalanche or the WRO. Ten minutes where they could just be people.

Ten minutes was what it took to be something more than just a figure head.

A wet hand closed around Tseng's arm. Shock alone allowed for Reeve pulling Tseng out into the rain and puddles. Never would Tseng have thought that the man would have the courage to do something like that. He remembered years before, when Reeve, the designer of Midgar and its Mako Reactors, had just become an executive. Back then Tuesti had been a man afraid of a Turk's shadow, who would never dare to touch one, much less pull them around. Apparently the man had changed a lot from that time. How could he not have noticed it before now?

Of course he still pulled away and made for the shelter of the awning.

"It wouldn't kill you to be human once in a while…"

Words. They were nothing more than words. And yet they froze Tseng in his tracks, halfway back to safety, and long enough to get him thoroughly wet. It was something he'd said to Reeve a week into his new job. Back then Reeve had worked late into the night, he'd worked too hard to detach himself from the job, just to survive.

They were just words, but even the rain didn't seem to wash them away. Even the music of the weather didn't drown them out.

"In fact," Reeve continued, reaching out to grab Tseng's arm again, "it might help."

"Tuesti…"

"Shut up and close your eyes."

"Why are you…"

Reeve shook his head and pulled Tseng further away from the safety of Healin', the Shinra headquarters for the time. Further away from the dry of the back door and further into the clearing, where there was nothing between them and the clouds in the sky but the rain. So Tseng just listened. The sooner he humored the man the sooner he could get inside and dry off.

For a moment he stood there, eyes closed, letting the rain cool him off after a week that had been far too hot for his good. And with each drop of water he seemed to find himself more and more relaxed. It was just him and the music of the water and the feel of the rain.

"See what I mean?"

Tseng's eyes snapped open and looked over at Reeve. The former executive was just smiling and looking up at a sky that didn't seem as overcast as it had when Tseng had closed his eyes.

"Sometimes," Reeve said, finally turning his attention to the Wutain, "you just have to stand back and forget."

"Why…"

Again he was cut off by the smiling man.

"We're a lot alike Tseng. Or we were. I've gotten a bit better at being human. Now it's your turn."

Slowly the rain began to let up and Reeve's hand closed around his arm again.

"Come on. We've left Rufus to his own devices for too long now."

"It's only been five minutes since you left."

There was a chuckle as the drenched man looked over his shoulder at the Wutain he was practically dragging back towards the building.

"You were standing there a good ten minutes."

"What? Why didn't you…"

"You looked so… peaceful. It was beautiful."

And with that, the teasing tone, hanging between them, Reeve released his captive and smiled again before bolting for the building, splashing through as many puddles on the way as possible.