Cam - hope you don't mind that I borrowed Asher for a fleeting mention!
Rufus wonders what Reno wants.
Speculation
The Wunderbar is full tonight. Reno moves up to make room for Trig and Rod at their corner table. Rude phoned ten minutes back, saying he'll be along later once he's wrapped up a mission with Chie. Xin's over by the bar and Reno's pretending not to have seen him. He knows he has to finish it tonight, and he doesn't want to – not a predicament he faces often.
"I'll get the next round in," Rod offers. Say what you like about Rod, he's never been tight. "Are we waiting for Tseng?"
"No," says Trig, downing his double whiskey, chased by a quick drag from the cigarette he's holding in the same hand. "Veld swapped Tseng's shift with mine. He's babysitting the VP on some date with some hot chick. Saw her file. Eight out of ten - serious tits – 'bout as real as one of Corneo's fur coats though. He used to say Nibel-wolf, but I know Jumping."
"So you got the evening off?" asks Rod. "Lucky break."
"Not so much. They're at Bernetti's. Chicks in there are loaded in every sense, you get me?"
"What," asks Rod, grinning, "like, packing chrome?"
Trig scoffs. "Most of 'em."
"Wasted?"
"That too, by the end of the night."
"Yeah. Wasted on Tseng, anyway," Rod says. Reno shoots him a look. Rod raises his eyebrows. "What? No disrespect. You ever seen Tseng pick up anyone? Whatever he's into, he keeps it quiet - all I'm sayin'."
Reno lets it go. Rod heads for the bar and Reno asks Trig quietly, "Veld say why he swapped you with Tseng?"
"Nope. But since that fuck up with Ash –"
"Live and learn," Reno advises. "Everyone makes mistakes. Asher's fine."
""S what the boss said. But if he don't trust me with the VP…"
"Pretty sure it's not that," Reno says, his expression bleak. "I'm bettin' this is the VP's call, and if I'm right, then it's nothin' to do with you, trust me."
"What then?"
"Can't say. Think I know, though." Reno frowns, deep in thought, then puts his hand on Trig's shoulder as he gets to his feet. "Cheer up, man. You're doin' good. Tell Rude I'll see him tomorrow, yeah?"
"Okay. Why – where're you –"
"Something I need to do."
Passing Rod on his way back from the bar, Reno lifts his beer bottle neatly out of the collection of drinks Rod's carrying and nods his thanks, moving on before the sometimes over-eager junior can engage him in conversation.
x
"And Finola said, 'Yah, but then I'm so rich, I don't have to!'" the girl – Annabel, Arabella, whatever her name is - has a laugh that's even more annoying than Scarlet's, and Rufus has to force himself not to wince as it echoes off the high ceiling of the restaurant. He glances away from her flawless, vacant face, and away again, even more quickly, from her unnaturally shiny, improbably spherical breasts, displayed, to what she doubtless considers maximum advantage, in a low-cut blue velvet evening gown. The twin orbs remain oddly static even when the rest of her is shaking with hilarity at her own wit. Reno will laugh when he tells him…
What's Reno doing now? Is he with the other off-duty Turks in some interesting slum bar Rufus will never be permitted to visit for 'security reasons'? Is he with Xin?
Behind him, Rufus is keenly aware of Tseng, standing silent and alert, scanning the other diners for potential threats.
"Well," Rufus says to the girl, not even attempting to smile, "This has been delightful, but I have a heavy work schedule tomorrow. Please allow me to escort you to your car."
"Oh – but it's still early!" the girl pouts. "We could go on somewhere?" Her voice drops a half octave and Rufus actually has to stifle a laugh as she performs an excruciating parody of seduction, leaning across the table, pretending to tidy a stray lock of his hair, murmuring, "We could go back to yours…"
Smoothly, Rufus gets to his feet. "I'm sorry – I'm afraid that's not possible. Thank you for your company."
"Well, thank you for yours," the girl purrs, and Rufus can virtually see the gil signs in her eyes as she shrugs on the expensive Wutai watered silk jacket the maitre d' is holding for her. "We must do this again sometime."
Rufus makes a noncommittal sound, putting on his own jacket, and takes her arm as coolly as he can manage without being outright rude. Tseng follows them out of the restaurant and waits as Rufus hands his date into her family's limousine with a few cold, polite words. Well aware of the possibility of lurking paparazzi, Rufus keeps a bland expression on his face until he's safely inside his own car, Tseng beside him in the back. The driver - the honey-blonde female Turk with the ponytail who Reno once described as 'one of your lot' because of her family connections – turns and smiles at him. "Ready, Sir?"
"More than," Rufus says. "What an evening!" As the car pulls away he glances at Tseng, and wonders about Reno's interest in the man. Tseng has been part of his own life for so long that he can't even remember the first time he saw him. He's always been a reassuring presence – quiet, efficient, professional. Nothing about him demands attention – he's Reno's opposite in that regard. And yet, Rufus realises with a little internal shock, he's really extremely handsome. How has he failed to notice that before? Of course he has noticed it, he acknowledges – noted it in passing, as something irrelevant to him. One of the employees – trustworthy – reliable – as necessarily present as a good, solid piece of furniture and equally unobtrusive - that's how he's considered Tseng until now. Whereas Reno – Reno who works with Tseng, who even socialises with him - must see him very differently.
"Would you say I was good-looking, Tseng?" Rufus asks suddenly. It's certainly not the tack he intended to take, but he finds himself wondering whether Tseng's physical attractiveness is the simple source of Reno's fascination.
Tseng looks at him, apparently unsurprised at the question. "Yes, Sir," is all he says.
"And Reno?"
This time, Tseng does look surprised, and oddly unsettled. "Reno?"
"Yes. Do you consider Reno good-looking?"
"Reno's looks are certainly - out of the ordinary," Tseng says carefully.
"Yes," Rufus agrees. "Of course, you know that we –" Rufus breaks off, realising that he has no idea what to call whatever it is that he has with Reno. 'You know that we fuck' sounds too stark, too crude, although it's basically the truth. 'You know that we're together' sounds like a line from some chick-flick that Ana – Ara – bella girl would probably watch. 'You know that we're lovers' is technically true, but the connotations of the word are too romantic to fit the situation, even if it is how he thinks of Reno in his head.
Tseng reaches forward to slide the privacy screen across. "Yes," says Tseng, saving Rufus from having to label something that can't be easily pinned down. "Veld and I are aware. Some of the others may have worked it out, but none of them will say anything."
"I –" Rufus finds that he has to ask the question that's been bothering him ever since he started this thing with Reno, even though it's entirely not the way he wanted the evening to go. "I was wondering, actually," he says, his attempt at a nonchalant tone not even convincing himself, "whether Reno – whether any of you - had orders to sleep with me. You know, – if I –" Rufus never allows himself to be controlled by emotion – insecurity and embarrassment are weaknesses and must be overcome - but he never expected this to be so hard. "Given my father's hostility to my – predominant orientation, and his likely reaction if he finds out, it would seem reasonable for Veld to want to – contain things," he finishes, taking refuge in formal language and rational argument.
The look Tseng gives him is difficult to read, but Rufus thinks he can see pity there, and he feels anger surging.
"Not as far as I know," Tseng says.
"But it could happen. It's not an unlikely scenario."
"No. It's possible. But if Reno's been given any such order, I'm not aware of it."
But, thinks Rufus, if Reno's in this voluntarily, then why is he still fucking Xin as a substitute for Tseng, who's apparently so out of his reach?
'He came on to me' Reno said of Xin – is that all there is to it? Is Reno simply a creature of carnal appetites who takes opportunities whenever they arise, so to speak? That's certainly how Reno chooses to present himself, but Rufus has always assumed that to be a front. Surely even Turks have some feelings higher than basic instincts? Isn't Reno aware of how privileged he is to have been singled out by Rufus? Doesn't he understand that Rufus Shinra doesn't share his bed and his fortune with just anyone? Surely he's the one who should be considered out of Reno's reach, not this Turk - for all his aesthetic appeal and self-possession and maturity.
"Is he still seeing that mechanic kid from the slums?" Rufus asks, pretending he's not well aware of Xin's name and ignoring the fact that the 'kid' is two years older than he is.
"Wei Xin? I believe so."
"Hm. Well, there's nothing wrong with taking what you want."
"I'd say that would depend on the situation," Tseng responds after a pause, and Rufus has to bite back a childish 'who asked you?' Instead he looks at Tseng directly and says, "I wonder what it is about Xin?"
"I wouldn't waste time wondering," Tseng replies, looking out of the window as though the conversation is beginning to bore him. "Reno's choices in that field have always been – esoteric."
"Perhaps not in this case," Rufus says. "Hasn't it occurred to you that Xin bears more than a passing resemblance to you?"
Rufus experiences a jolt of déjà vu: the tiny moment of stillness before Tseng speaks is exactly like Reno's this morning.
"I'm sure that's entirely coincidental," Tseng says, with just enough emphasis to let Rufus know that this line of enquiry is dead.