Taking Care of Business

Chapter 13



"I was a new recruit; less than a year had passed since I had watched my mother-"



 Pause. I sat up next to him slowly, trying not to interrupt or go dizzy. Tseng's voice was low and serious. I'd only ever heard this tone of voice once before, and that was right at the start of this little affair. My mind flashed back to that night, standing butt naked in my kitchen as Tseng poured his goddamn soul out to me. His crappy childhood, his mom's death... the reason he'd travelled right across the damn world and joined Shinra. Tseng's face was in shadow, and my eyes were too out of focus anyway, but I'd bet my ass that he was frowning, pinching the bridge of his nose in that stupid stoic way. I resisted the urge to reach out and touch his shoulder, treating him like the time bomb he was: one wrong move and the guy would clam up. I just listened. For a change.



 "...Shinra had agreed to facilitate my revenge, in exchange for a lifetime in service. I still consider it an excellent deal. They gave me an address in Wutai where I could find information in the whereabouts of my father. Of course, I tried to be discreet, but..." He sighed forcefully, lowering his head under the weight of some kind of memory. "the lust for revenge - as you know very well - can override our better senses."



 I was waiting for it. Waiting for the obvious damn bombshell Tseng was getting ready to drop on me. He wouldn't be going into all these old wounds unless there was a reason for it. He glanced over at me sideways. I tried to force my face into neutral.



 "Do you remember the Wutaian's face, Reno?"



I snorted a little. "Ain't exactly a face I'm gonna forget in a hurry. The guy looked like someone had took a chainsaw to... his-" I trailed off, my brain suddenly catching up with my mouth. Something clicked into place. My stomach sank like a body in the sewers. "Shit. It was you?"



 Tseng didn't answer. He moved uncomfortably on the bed and looked away. I gulped, remembering the deep, vicious slashes across the guy's face. Tseng had done that?



 "I thought he had information. He kept denying he knew anything, but I was convinced, and I was young - full of anger. So... I took a knife..."



 I didn't need to hear the rest. I raised my hand to my face and trailed my fingers across my cheeks - feeling the scars underneath my fingers. I felt sick. Torture didn't normally bother me much - it came as part of the job, but Tseng... the guy I trusted so much it fucking hurt... the guy who I'd always thought of as a twisted kind of saint since he came into this fucked up world... the guy sitting in the bed next to me had ripped someone's face open in anger. It sounded sickeningly familiar.



 "Did he-" I cleared my throat, trying to force the damn bile and confusion down. I didn't want Tseng to know what I was thinking; he seemed freaked out enough as it was. "I mean... did you find out what he knew?"



 Tseng laughed coldly. It sent a goddamn chill down my spine. "No, Reno. You don't understand." He looked at me suddenly, a bitter sort of smile on his face. "He really knew nothing. I destroyed a man's face for no reason."



 Again, sounded fucking familiar. I suddenly felt Tseng's hand on my wrist and I jumped. I realised I'd still been tracing the scars on my face as he was speaking.



 "Reno." He muttered. His voice suddenly sounded full of guilt. "Should I go?"



 Once again, Tseng's brain was way too fast for comfort. If the bastard had just been a little slower on the uptake, I could have hidden how freaked I was. Why the hell did I have to get with such a smart bastard? Lying to the guy was almost as hard as trying to teach Rude to tie his shoelaces.



I gulped down my bile again and pulled my hand from his grip. Tseng frowned deeply, but then nodded and began to get up off the bed.



 I stared at the guy's back as he swung his legs off the bed and reached down to grab his shirt, trying to take it all in. A small part of me was struggling with the idea of a young, angry, vengeful Tseng. I could see the guy from the pawn shop in my mind's eye - his face. That face. What a piece of work.



 Tseng had done that shit to him, the same way I'd got mine.



 But...



I suddenly let out a deep breath and threw the sheet away, kneeling up on the bed behind him. A second later I'd pulled his hair out of that stupid ponytail, letting it fall over his shoulders silently. He paused with his shirt half on as I leaned forwards, wrapping my arms around his stomach. I still didn't know what the hell to say, but even though my mouth runs off like a runaway train half the time, this time actions pretty much spoke for themselves.



 I leaned in, breathing in his hair as the guy relaxed back against me, intertwining his fingers with mine slowly.



 Even if he had fucked an innocent guy's face up - that was years ago, and he didn't like it any more than I did.  I've done stuff in my past I ain't proud of - too damn much to count, and yeah sometimes it had come back to bite me in the ass, but Tseng... dammit, he'd come to me for a little comfort. I wasn't that much of a bastard. At least, not to the freakin' love of my life.



 "Get your stupid ass back in bed." I mumbled into his hair, breathing in that fucking beautiful smell, feeling his warm skin against mine. It calmed me down, drove off that sick feeling in my gut, somehow stopped me feeling dizzy. I heard Tseng let out a long breath of relief.



 "Are you trying to give your superior orders?" He muttered back after a moment. Now that was the Tseng I knew. I just snorted.



"Right now you ain't my superior. You're a dumbass."



 Any other time I'd be running for the damn hills after that last sentence, but right now it was what was needed. Tseng needed a little banter to get his mind off the past. Heh, if there's anybody on the whole damn planet that could understand that, it was me.



 Tseng turned his head, moving that amazing hair over his shoulder so he could see my face. I forced a smirk and narrowed my eyes, ready for the next reply.



 I was expecting a threat; an insult; hell, maybe even a smack upside the head. Here's what I got instead:



 Tseng's eyes flickered with some kind of emotion, though what that damn emotion was, I wish I knew. I could see my own disheveled face reflected in them with the green glow from outside the window. He stared at me for a second, apparently thinking, then leaned up and pressed his lips against mine, holding my fingers tightly in his.



 Huh. Who knew calling someone a dumbass would end like this? I should really tell Rude to change his chatup lines.