Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Just like him, Just for him ❯ Just for him ( Chapter 2 )

Title - Just like him, Just for him

Fandom - FFVII

Characters - Tseng, Rufus

Warnings this chapter - yaoi

Disclaimer - Don't own Final Fantasy 7. Square Enix does. Making no money either.

Note - Experimental format.

 

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Part 2

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~~Rufus~~

 

 

 

Standing in his office, staring over the dark city with a drink in his hand that did nothing to still his troubled mind. Something was not right. He could feel it in every breath of air, every minute of silence that dragged past. Willing the phone to ring wasn't working. He didn't care how long it took. He would wait all night if that's what it took.

 

Just for him.

 

The ring of the telephone shatters the silence. His voice level and all business as he answers it. Words spoken that he doesn't want to hear. All his unspoken fears realized. His heart beats so fast in his chest that his head spins. No. Not this. Anything but this. He gives orders that he knows will be questioned later. Lets a crack appear in his armor that the others will see, but tonight he doesn't care. This he must do. For his heart, for his conscience, for his sanity.

 

Just for him.

 

Pulling on his jacket, he takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. His layers of white a sad reflection of what lies inside. Protecting himself from the outside. Hiding what he can't show. Symbolic layers, so many levels to keep anyone from getting to what lies beneath. The real him. The frail body that doesn't match the powerful mind. There is only one that he would let see it. He would strip away all his protection and stand naked, exposed and defenseless.

 

Just for him.

 

The knock finally comes and he is out the door. Ignoring the looks, the suspicion, the minds that search for reasons he doesn't want to give. They reach the roof top, stand waiting and he can almost hear the unspoken questions ticking away in the other's minds. Why does he care? Why is he running to his side? Why would the boss bother with one who was just another tool, another weapon to be used at will? He wants to answer. Wants to shout it from the fucking rooftops and let the world recoil in shock at the revelation that his heart still beats, still feels, still yearns and aches. But only one deserves to hear it. He will stay silent and strong.

 

Just for him.

 

The journey is endured in silence. The wind and the thrum of the chopper blades reflect the storm inside. He bites his tongue to keep from demanding they go faster. He has to be there now. Is so terrified that he will lose the one thing he treasures above all else. Just the thought of a tomorrow without that strong presence by his side, protecting him, supporting him, giving him hope, makes him want to throw it all away. What else is there in this graveyard of a city full of lost souls to keep him fighting? He only fights for one hope, for one dream, for one person.

 

Just for him.

 

The arrival is a blur. He has only one goal, one destination and everything else is just static. The doctors babbling and begging for his attention are just interference that he ignores until the door is before him. Pausing in fear of what lies ahead. He needs to be strong, to be immune to what he will see even if his heart will scream and his mind will weep. He will control it and hold it all back. Be the wall of strength and stone that never bends or cracks.

 

Just for him.

 

Alone he enters, pulling closed the door and turning only to have all his defenses crumble. He cannot move, frozen to the spot by the sight of such helplessness. To many tubes crisscrossing, connected to machines that beep as if mocking his weakness. Movement on the bed propels him forward to stand staring down at a horrible parody of what he knows. There is no strength here. Only a man clinging to life, wrapped in bandages that seem to be the only thing holding him together. He wants to run away from it all, flee the sight that is tearing him apart inside but his legs will not respond. Eyes open, look back at him in surprise and it steals his breath away.

 

“You should take better care of yourself,” Rufus blurts out and his voice is oddly flat, unlike his insides which are churning in a tornado of emotions.

 

“Just like you,” Tseng answers roughly, his usually smooth voice corrupted by injury and pain. “Why are you here?” His black orbs stare into Rufus' soul and demand he tell the truth. Admit what he has kept inside, hidden for far too long.

 

“Just for you,” Rufus whispers, reaching out to grasp a hand that is oddly unharmed, as if spared for just this purpose. Tseng eyes frown in question and Rufus looks into them and risks it all with a smile that tells too much. Seconds tick by and just when Rufus is about to falter, to step away and pull back up the walls, Tseng smiles back.

 

Just for him. Just like him.

 

 

~~~The end~~~