Reno listened to moaning when he passed by his bosses room at night, he stopped for a second, and leaned against the wall. 'Why do you think you can fight it alone?' At the present of his Turks, Rufus would never show weakness. He never moaned, he bit his lips when he wanted to scream. His hand would always cling to the wheelchair when he was hurting. It was more painful to watch a person you care about being hurt than feeling that pain yourself. Reno wished that he could take his Geostigma, maybe then he wouldn't feel like his heart is squeezing anymore. If it's a physical pain Reno could handle it, he wished it was physical.

"why are you standing here when you don't plan on going in?"

Reno turned immediately to see Tseng standing two meters away from him. "…why would I go in when I can't do anything for him?" if anybody knew how to read Reno's thoughts it was Tseng. At first Reno always denied what Tseng said but recently he gave up.

"I want to remove his pain, more than anything." Reno said that and took his sight away from Tseng, he couldn't allow him to see the weak face he wore anymore.

"if you can't remove his pain it doesn't mean you can't help him." The long haired turk said that and turned his back to Reno. "when someone's hurting, a person in sight is always a relief. At least be that person for him." He walked away leaving Reno even more crushed than before. The red-headed felt more obliged to go in his room, but a part of him was scared. Scared mostly of rejection. He didn't want to be rejected by Rufus, it was a risk Reno couldn't afford. He was still having these thoughts when his legs started moving, his vision was blurry but his body was moving.

Reno knocked softly, to the point where he doubt Rufus even heard him. But then he opened the door slowly and allowed himself in. the lights were off but the curtains were open, the full moons light was filling the room. Rufus was sitting in a couch with his white shirt half buttoned, he only wore that and a pair of black pants. Rufus didn't have any bandages on, but it was too dark to see the scars anyway.

He was leaning on the couch with his left hand squeezing on his right. He didn't turn his head but only his eyes toward Reno who was standing still after shutting the door. They looked at each other without saying anything, but then Rufus moved his head and closed his eyes.

"not quite the view, is it?" the former president kept his eyes closed as he spoke.

Reno couldn't say a thing, he still didn't get over the fact that he's actually in Rufus's room with the door shut and the lights off. And Rufus didn't even seem to care. "if you have something to say.. just spill it." Reno knew that Rufus had enough of all the comforting lines and the offers of help. He knew that this was his chance to say something he truly meant, something that he wouldn't be able to say in the present of the other Turks.

"why do you keep your distance from us. You're hurt, and we.. I want to be closer." Reno's boss opened his eyes and turned his head towards him, his face didn't have any expression yet, but the look was enough to give Reno the shivers.

"it would be more painful if someone was closer."

Reno was still shocked of what he just said himself, and what Rufus said left him in a bigger one. A shock of the fact that he did actually reply, and it was something that felt so real, and not just a formal answer.

"if I'm not close, I wouldn't be able to help you." Rufus was tired of the word 'help'. Reno was aware of it. 'You idiot just say something real!' Reno said that as he walked two steps closer to Rufus.

"so, what do you wish for now? I can't heal you from the Geostigma.. but I-"

He wasn't even sure what he was going to say next but he was interpreted by Rufus anyway.

"sleeping. I miss sleeping." What-? He said sleeping? His boss did wish for something, it was something that he wasn't able to do normally since this disease and the turks were aware of it. But perhaps they didn't know how much Rufus missed it.

"sometime I worry that I won't wake up, but then I keep waking up out of pain anyway. I miss the times when I used to fall asleep by just lying on bed." He didn't know what to do. Reno had his answer but he didn't know how to react. The thing Rufus wished for was something Reno did not expect.

"you can sleep tonight, I'll watch over you." Rufus looked a little shocked, perhaps he thought that Reno would apologize and leave the room after this.

"maybe if you knew that someone is watching you won't be stressed out anymore. You can sleep soundly, I won't leave." Reno figured that he's not controlling his self anymore, it's as if his soul was two steps away from his body, and the Reno in front of it is a Reno who longed for a chance like this.

"… then don't keep standing there." The turk repeated that sentence twice in his head to make sure that what he just heard was right. "have a seat. I'll see if I can fall asleep that way." He felt a strong stomachache as he moved forward and took a seat close to Rufus. 'For the love of-' He looked at the floor because he didn't have any guts left to face him. Rufus posed for a second, and when Reno was stable he leaned a little towards him. His head didn't touch Reno's shoulder, but it was as close as it could get. They kept silence for a moment.

"is this close enough for you?" his eyes were still shut as he spoke. "huh?" Reno reached a state of not being fully conscious anymore. "you said you wanted to be closer.." Rufus wasn't mocking him, but he wasn't dead serious either. It's as if he wanted a reason to talk. "I-.. I didn't really mean physically close. But I don't mind this either." Rufus knew what Reno meant before, but he was a little surprised with the other half of the sentence. He tried to keep his cool nevertheless, and for the first time Rufus felt a little out of words. He figured the situation was abnormal to begin with, what he has to say doesn't have to mean anything anymore.

"if I fall asleep now, and wake up feeling good… I'll allow you to get closer." Reno felt his face burning. His vision was already half blurry, and his tummy was badly hurting him. But most of all his heart was racing and he knew that it was loud enough for Rufus to hear, especially in this quiet room.

"then.. good night." Reno kept saying these lines that amazes him each time. It's like his mouth is moving when his brain is still going through what just happened seconds ago. "…yeah." The blond didn't have much power to keep talking anyway, he had to sleep because he needed it.

'Holy shit, please, have the best night of your life.'

Rufus's weak body eventually fell on Reno's shoulder, but he was asleep and that made Reno regain his conscious and relax a little bit. He couldn't move him to bed or cover him up because he was afraid of waking him.

"when you're healed.. would you still allow me to watch over you?" Reno said that in a low voice as he himself shut his eyes for some rest. And then it was silence again all over the place.

-the end-