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Tseng coughs wetly, patting his suit pants in search of his phone, but remembering that it’s currently lying smashed to pieces on the floor of the building he was just in. He laughs bitterly as he stumbles down the back alley. Reno and Rude are currently too far away, stuck in a different area he had told them to search. They’re probably in their own trouble, and there’s not a thing he can do for them, especially not in the state he’s in. Just as he stumbles out of the mouth of the alley, he spots a payphone. The little stand it's in is rusted, the door falling off of it’s hinges. But it’s some shelter from the rain and he’s sure he has enough gil for one last call.
He hopes, at least. That’s if the payphone even works still.
He slams a fist against the glass as he barely makes it inside, blood smearing everywhere. He coughs again as he tries to fish a few coins out of his pocket. Once he finds two, just enough for one short call, he quickly jams them in the slot and dials the one number he knows by heart.
Rufus’, “Hello?” on the other line immediately pulls at Tseng’s heart strings. Part of him doesn’t want to do this call.
“Rufus,” Tseng says, his words stilted, pained. Rufus’ sharp inhale is audible through the phone line.
“Tseng?” Rufus asks. “Where are you?”
“Mission failed, sir,” Tseng says instead of an answer.
“What do you mean by failed?” Rufus demands.
Tseng coughs then, loud and wet. “You know what I mean.”
“Tell me where you are.” Rufus’ voice holds no room for argument, a direct order that Tseng knows he has to listen to. Tseng smiles, pressing his face against the glass. The rain outside is coming down harder, pelting against the glass, but not loud enough to drown out Rufus’ continued demands for him to say something. “Tseng, tell me where you are, Reno and Rude can get you out.”
“I don’t know,” Tseng admits. “I don’t know if they can. They’re nowhere close.”
“Where are you?” Rufus asks again, but there’s a lot less fight in his voice, worry and fear evident in his tone.
“In a payphone, outside of the building I infiltrated,” Tseng replies. “I took care of it inside, but I don’t know if I’m going to make it. The others are too far away.” He almost tacks on sir, out of habit, out of the fact that even if they’re together, Tseng still tries to maintain some form of respect toward Rufus. No matter how many times Rufus says they’re equals, that when they’re talking one on one that there’s no need for formalities, to save formalities for when they’re in front of others outside of the Turks.
“Tseng,” Rufus calls out, voice tinged with panic, snapping Tseng from his thoughts.
“I love you,” Tseng tells him.
“Don’t say that like you’re going to die,” Rufus says, voice more shaky, more clear panic evident. Tseng cracks a smile again.
“Do you remember when we got together,” Tseng says instead of relaying what he thinks is going to happen.
“You pushed me out of the way when that Wutai assassin tried to kill me,” Rufus answers. “You said it was your duty, but I called you on it.”
“It was my job, as a Turk, to protect you,” Tseng says. “But you got me to admit my feelings to you. I will continue to love you, no matter what.”
“Stop talking like you’re dying,” Rufus demands, but it’s weak - too shaky to be a real demand, more of a plea than anything.
Tseng barely gets out another I love you before his hand goes slack on the phone. As darkness consumes him, he can hear Rufus shouting through the phone. There’s commotion outside, but Tseng barely registers it as everything goes dark.
Tseng misses it when the payphone doors bang open and arms are pulling him out. Reno’s eyes are wide, panicked as he takes in Tseng’s slumped form. He’s not moving and for a moment he’s worried that they’re too late, but Rude says, “He’s still breathing,” and he’s suddenly filled with hope that they’re not too late.
Tseng is clearly still breathing, but it’s weak, and there’s no telling how much time they have.
“Come on, man, you can’t die on us,” Reno says as he helps Rude carry him to the helicopter. “Rufus wouldn’t forgive us if we failed getting you back in time.”
“He’ll be okay,” Rude assures him, but Reno can see the doubt in his eyes. He doesn’t know what happened inside the building, and still doesn’t know why Tseng thought it was a good idea to go inside by himself anyway. There was no telling what was going to happen, because they were all going in with barely any information gathered. Tseng’s good, but there’s still chances where things can go south and go south quickly, like this clearly did. He just hopes Rude’s right and that they’re not too late.
“We got him, boss,” Reno says as soon as Rufus answers. “But he’s not looking too good.”
“Just get him back here,” Rufus bites out, and there’s a shaky, vulnerableness that Reno’s never heard from him before. “Now! Quickly!”
Rufus ends the call right after that, and Reno blows out a noisy breath and leans back on his hands where he sits next to Tseng’s relatively still form
“Tseng’s a fighter,” Rude reminds him and yeah, Reno knows that. Out of all of them, Tseng’s the toughest. He’s got resilience that Reno’s not quite seen before. If it’s anyone that can go through whatever Tseng just did and make it out on the other side, it’s definitely him.
Reno’s eyes dart down to where Tseng is currently still motionless except for a slow rise and fall of his chest. He’s afraid what losing Tseng would do to Rufus. To Reno’s left, there’s medical supplies in case of emergencies like this. He reaches for them and starts work on patching Tseng up the best he can.
-
Reno peers out of the helicopter as Rude starts to land it. It’s a messy landing, full of jerks, enough so that Reno has to make sure Tseng stays in a good position the whole way down. Once Rude cuts the engines, Reno sees Rufus rush to them, worry evident on his face. In all his time of working for him, he’s never seen so much fear on Rufus’ face before. It’s a little unnerving, enough to shake Reno’s core even more.
“Let me see him,” Rufus orders.
“Give us a second, boss,” Reno shouts from inside. On a count of three, Rude and Reno gently lift Tseng and carry him out of the helicopter. They barely get Tseng settled down on a medical bed they’d prepared, when Rufus is pushing past them and reaching for him.
“You aren’t going to do this to me,” Rufus urges, voice strained and full of fear, his hands cupping Tseng’s face gently.
Reno looks away to give them some privacy, his eyes darting over to where Elena is talking quietly with Rude. He must be giving her the rundown, since she was stuck here instead of out with them on the job. Her arms are held close to her chest and she looks just as worried as how Reno currently feels.
Reno looks back at Rufus and Tseng, to see Rufus wiping the blood from the corner of Tseng’s mouth.
“Come on, Tseng, you’re stronger than this, come back to me,” Rufus pleads, voice strung so tight it could snap if it was a string. There’s a doctor who is surveying Tseng finally, despite how Rufus won’t leave Tseng’s side. Rufus keeps pleading, the doctor keeps making little noises under their breath, and Rude and Elena are talking almost loud enough for Reno to make out what they’re saying. It’s almost too much, and Reno shuts his eyes for a second.
But his eyes fly wide when he hears Tseng’s cough. It’s loud and wet, breaking through the noise around them. They all jerk their attention to him, almost unbelieving to what they just heard. But there’s only one thing that could be.
“Is he?” Reno asks.
Sure enough, Tseng’s eyes are open. Rufus is looking at him like he almost can’t believe it himself.
“Rufus,” Tseng manages to croak out.
“Tseng you are never allowed to do that to me again,” Rufus orders, voice sounding rough.
Reno knows he should divert his eyes, give them some privacy, but he can’t manage to get himself to do so. Instead he watches as Rufus cups Tseng’s face and pulls him in for a kiss. There’s a wetness to Rufus’ face, and Reno realizes he’s never seen Rufus cry before. Usually he’s so put together, but this entire ordeal has managed to completely undo him, leaving Rufus in a vulnerable state.
“I’ll try not to,” Tseng manages to get out, his words a little shaky.
“We need to get him down to the medical wing,” the doctor finally speaks up. Rufus looks reluctant but he finally pulls himself away and lets the doctor do what he needs. There’s nobody else here, and Reno figures Rufus must’ve helped drag the gurney up here. Reno stretches out his limbs and helps them as they get Tseng down to the medical wing of the tower. Once there, the doctors make quick work of checking Tseng out. Rufus doesn’t leave his side. Reno and Rude want to stay, give him some support here, but there’s nothing for them to do. It’s not like they’ll be far anyway, so instead they head to their shared apartment on another floor, all the while still feeling the worry and fear for Tseng.
At least he’s awake now. Reno’s taking that for a good sign. Tseng’s strong, he’ll make it through this.
-
The doctors give Tseng strict orders to stay in bed, after he spends a few days in the hospital. Rufus calls off all of his meetings and gives all the Turks much needed time off. Reno and Rude spend a solid day in sector seven at a bar that they’ve been keeping a few tabs on anyway under suspicion of Avalanche. They have no evidence yet to support it, but there is a large man that gives them a glare everytime they step foot in it.
After a few drinks, Reno pays for them and then he and Rude leave with a cheery goodbye to their bartender Tifa. They head back to headquarters and take the elevator up to the floor Rufus lives on. Reno calls out a greeting as they make their way into the apartment. Tseng is laid out on Rufus’ plush, white sofa with Rufus lying carefully by his side. The television is playing some movie that Reno doesn’t know the name of, but what Tseng seems to be engrossed in.
Both of them look over at their newly arrived guests.
“How are you doing?” Reno asks, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“Better,” Tseng says. “Should be back at work by next week.”
“We’re taking the rest of the week off,” Rufus declares. “They can manage without us and if they can’t, they can easily notify us. Elena is still doing a little work here and there so it doesn’t completely burn down.”
“And the SOLDIERs are still working too, right?” Reno asks.
Rude nods. “A few are out on missions, Roche is going around all of Midgar on a few patrols.”
“So we’re good?” Reno asks then, rocking on his heels.
With a nod, Rufus says, “We deserved this time off. You both can go back to work early if you want, but the offer stands for a week vacation. You won’t get these often.”
That’s one hundred percent true and really should take the offer while they have it. Reno sighs, running a hand through his hair. Tseng still looks tired, there’s still bandages, some Reno knows he can’t see. Of course, Tseng could go back to work today. He knows Tseng doesn’t need all of this time off at all. But it’s probably more for Rufus’ own good than anything; a good excuse for the two to spend time together after Rufus thought he lost Tseng for good. There’s always a chance of something going wrong out there and there being no help, that one of them will die on a job. So if their boss wants time alone with his boyfriend, then they’ll give him that.
“We just wanted to check in,” Rude says.
“Yeah, just wanted to see how you’re holding up,” Reno adds. “We know the boss treats you well, but we still want to know.”
“You could call,” Tseng reminds them, but he’s got a small smile on his face.
“Yeah,” Reno says, rolling his eyes. “But we want to see for ourselves.”
“You came here, you saw, I’m doing better,” Tseng says.
“Now we’re getting out of your hair, let you be alone.” Reno waves his fingers at Tseng.
Rude grabs Reno by his shirt and starts pulling him towards the door, bidding them both a good night and rest of their week. Just as they’re about to turn the corner toward the front door, Reno watches as Rufus pulls Tseng in for a kiss, one so tender that Reno almost says something but bites his tongue instead.
“I’m really glad he’s still here,” Reno says as they leave quietly.
“Me too,” Rude agrees, pressing the button to call the elevator.