Don't know what's got into me today - this isn't what I was supposed to be writing at all! More Tseng longing for Reno, while Rufus is rather more - hands on. If you have any ideas involving any/all of these three that you'd like me to write let me know, and I'll have a go!

Small Pleasures

This time Tseng's excuse is that the mission – escorting Rufus to the opera – really does necessitate a tie.

"Well, sure, Boss," Reno agrees, affecting consternation with his well-tested parody of wide-eyed innocence. "An' if I'd a known where we were headed this morning, I woulda worn one. But – didn't know until I got in, yo."

"Do you own a tie, Reno?"

Reno actually manages to look puzzled and a little sorrowful as he replies, "I did…" He gazes around him vaguely as though the fictional tie might somehow appear, draped over a chair, perhaps, or curled neatly on the corner of Elena's desk.

"Come to my office, Reno," says Tseng, all weary exasperation.

Reno obeys, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Do up your shirt," Tseng orders, allowing himself no more than a glance at the line of Reno's collarbone; the curve of his throat. Tseng takes off his own tie, hands it to Reno, and watches him fasten it (long fingers tugging, impatient, at black silk). Tseng grants a curt nod. "That will do. Remember your own, next time."

"Will do, Boss." (He won't.)

Reno turns to go. Tseng's eyes follow the red trail of his hair, bright against the dark jacket, all the way down the long line of his spine, falling to the hollow there - the small of his back – that arch -

Reno waves a casual hand. "Thanks."

My pleasure, thinks Tseng, who has learned, over the years, precisely how much of that commodity he can afford to permit himself.

Later, Tseng will find that these images (Reno's hands, his throat, the colour of his hair, the line of his collarbone) distract him from his work in the office, while, across Midgar, to the melody of a soaring aria, Rufus Shinra fucks Reno on the floor of his box at the opera house. Reno is naked, on his elbows and knees, wrists bound with a black silk tie. Rufus' eyes follow the bright fall of hair all the way down the length of his spine, and his controlling hand rests, lightly, on the small of Reno's back – that arch -