[Open Post]

[plate_builder]

Does it need to be said? You can find this poor civil engineer in any sort of situation you want. Put up a starter and let it run free. No Scarlets welcome, though. He can't stand them.

Comments

[afterlaborday]

He hadn't heard it because Rufus hadn't released that particular bit of information. Not only was in unconfirmed, but it was also dangerous in a way. People wanted hope, but to be told what he knew - that letting themselves remain positive, despite the fact there was no cure - would not create ease for others.

And there were always those who would take advantage of the information. Promise a god, while taking what little the stricken had. Promise the Land of the Ancients, making sure all worldly possessions went to 'relief efforts' when they passed. Perhaps even convince the Stigma-riddled that the cure was faith, belief and taking the life or property from those who the planet had not attacked.

No, he knew better than to reveal some of the things he'd learned.

What he didn't know, was a very good response, so even has he rests his hand on the blanket covering his lap, he's thinking. Finally responding in a dull tone, as if he's thought about this before.

"I figure if I'm supposed to have that second chance, things will work out so that this will not be the cause of my death."

[plate_builder]

Well now Reeve smiles softly at Rufus. “Perhaps you can serve as an inspiration to future generations.”

More than that, he finds himself hoping Rufus really can manage it. A free hand comes out to pay Rufus’s leg lightly.

“And while you’re working to redeem yourself, Rufus, make sure you are honest with yourself. Live making sure you don’t regret how far you’ve come. Or the steps you’ve taken. Or the things you haven’t done.”

Live a life where you feel like you did the right thing at the end.

[afterlaborday]

"You don't want me as an inspiration, but don't worry." He tries to smirk, even if it's uneven and not really true, poking the hand on his leg with finger his childishly. "I don't intend to spend the rest of my life what my father expected me to be. That is the only thing I would ever regret at this point in time."

Just leaving this opening here for future exploitation

[plate_builder]

“Well, if you ever have something you need help with that any moral man can agree to, I will do my best to help with it. Consider it... positive reinforcement.”

His attention returns to the file, his hand grabbing the pen again. Time to work he thinks.

Pffft - and I'll leave it open if Rufus falls asleep on Reeve xD

[afterlaborday]

For whatever reason, Rufus finds that funny and begins to laugh a little bit. He's not sure if he's now a cat or a child in Reeve's eyes, given that comment, but he won't say a word on it right now.

Instead, he shifts so that he can see where Reeve is in case the man has any questions. Although, if he doesn't, Rufus himself may slip off into a light sleep, quite warm and comfortable in his blanket on the couch.

Poor Reeve is a good enough guy to let Rufus do that.

[plate_builder]

Reeve is quite happily caught up in his reading, and with him more awake his mind is more than sharp enough to process the profiles and notes in full. Rufus will definitely have time to doze. Chances are Reeve would feel no need to speak again until he got to the notes section.

[afterlaborday]

He'll wake whenever Reeve says or does something to indicate Rufus has fallen asleep, sitting up a little bit slowly with an apology as he does. "You've read it all?"

[plate_builder]

“A good part. I believe I understand your analysis. Thank you. This will all be valuable. I will review it further later,” Reeve answers, and it looks like he is making ready to go. Not that he has anywhere he needs to be, but he does need fed and wishes not to impose on anyone.

He does smile a little at Rufus though. He had noticed the other man sleeping and had found himself a touch amused. He looked... so young. Reeve may have spent a few minutes just looking at him. He is a touch ashamed of such silly behavior now.

[afterlaborday]

"You're welcome to ask questions at any time." Rufus brushes a hand through his hair, straightening it even if he can't see it. "Are you heading back? You're still welcome to stay if it is easier on you to do so."

[plate_builder]

Gods help him, Rufus has been cute when his hair was mussed.

Something today, Reeve decides as he stands, is getting to him. Feeling fondly of Rufus Shinra? Watching him sleep a bit? Feeling bad that he is dying? He starts to pace. Except he won’t agree that he is pacing. Just stretching his legs.

“You seem tired. And I need to eat, so really, going may be best.”

He was going to offer a crash course in speaking through Cait but he can’t deny how he is a bit flustered.

[afterlaborday]

Rufus may still be half asleep, but he's also still a very good read of character, and the 'not pacing' catches his attention a little bit. As well as something in Reeve's posture. Yet he can't place exactly what he's reading, and so just ends up watching for a while, silent.

Finally, he asks. "Did I do something? You seem off all of a sudden."

[plate_builder]

Did he do something? No. Not at all. Reeve is the one being an idiot here. He doesn’t even know why. Perhaps because he is just lonely. That’s all. Just lonely. And Rufus has jokingly flirted before. So there you go.

And now he pauses for half a second because his traitor mind just goes back to one of those instances. Rufus talking about Reeve waiting for someone to come home to peel him out of a dress and ravish him. Why the hell is he imagining Rufus there? Nope.

“I’m fine,” Reeve lies. He is terrible at lying. “And you did nothing.”

[afterlaborday]

Lying Rufus can read, and is very good at reading. Which means he may believe he hasn't done anything, at least a little, but he knows better on the 'I'm fine.'

Leaning his head onto his hand, using his legs to prop himself, Rufus half-smirks at Reeve. "You're not. You don't have to say what's wrong, but remember, I'm a much better poker player than you are."

Even if they hadn't played, Reeve would know that Rufus meant this in the sense that the blond was more than capable of finding tells and more than capable of hiding his own emotions; Reeve was not.

[plate_builder]

Reeve turns his head back to look at Rufus and regrets it. He looks like a cat watching some small prey. Probably not his intention but it’s what Reeve sees. This is just... stupid.

“I am realizing how life at this moment might be easier for me had you inherited more of your father’s looks.”

[afterlaborday]

Interesting look. Even more interesting words. They manage to rob Rufus of his for a time, at least, as he just stares at Reeve as if someone told him Santa Claus was real and the lie was saying he wasn't.

So unused to not having a rebuttal, he even parts his lips as if to speak, before stopping. Hadn't Reeve basically dismissed Rufus' remarks as the pestering and ribbing of a young man who always had to have a thrill, and who was badly deprived of them here in his little shelter? Told him, effectively, not to bring things up again?

Yet the look and the words together...

He really shouldn't do it, he knows it, but Rufus is dipping his head down and laughing softly into his hand. Trying so hard not to devolve into full-blown laughter like before.

"Reeve... I would watch what you say." Amusement, a tinge of warning, coat his words. "Or I might begin to think you really want to use my bed for more inappropriate matters."

[plate_builder]

Stupid subconscious. Rufus is not his usual type. He’s arrogant and self-important and annoying and that laughter alone should anger him, not make him sigh and shake his head.

“That isn’t what I’m saying,” Reeve huffs. The question is who he is lying to: himself or Rufus. Perhaps both. “I stand by my earlier observations and add another two. Relations such as that would complicate our working relationship if they happened, though I do not stipulate that they would. And even if they would not your behavior, right down to your laughter there, more than indicates that a momentary lapse in judgement would still only result in a one-sided desire.”

Maybe if he throws a wall of words at it he can ignore this is happening. How his traitor brain is reacting.

“Seeing you as a friend, being fond of you and not eager to lose your company, even finding you attractive does not equate to a sexual attraction.”

That one is a blatant lie and he knows it.

Oh, did you expect him to help? Sorry about that

[afterlaborday]

"Your mouth is moving, but I don't think your mind agrees with the words coming from it." He looks up from his laughter, mischief written in his blue eyes. "Desire takes many forms, Reeve. You should know this.

"You can desire contact without desiring a relationship. Giving in to that desire is not always a bad thing, if it can clear things up."

No, Rufus, you aren't helping.

[plate_builder]

The man looks almost annoyed at Rufus having a good point.

"And what, exactly, is supposed to be cleared up like that?" he counters, tone perhaps a bit sharp.

[afterlaborday]

"What sort of interest you have in me. The cleaning of a few pipes, as Reno might say." His grin widens, too amused at this situation.

And even know he knows it's cruel, Rufus doesn't seem to be content to stop, standing slowly from the couch and shifting to set the blanket down on it.

"There's also the fact we've been having this dance for a while, Reeve, and it's very obvious that there's some form of attraction here. Whether it's simply because it's fun, or something else, I don't know. But I don't see a reason to pretend it isn't there."

[plate_builder]

Wait a second. Is Rufus approaching him? What is he saying? Reeve doesn't quite know what to do with the situation at hand here. At all. Someone please explain to him, in small words. Because he thinks Rufus might be making a legitimate pass at him here.

"I don't remember a dance," Reeve answers, and again, he's lying. He thought it was a game Rufus played, not a dance. For fun, like he said. "And yes, I'd be lying to say that I am not appreciative of your looks. You know as well as I do that you're attractive. But you're by no stretch the most attractive man I know, or have known."

Again, if he keeps talking then this will stop. What is even going on here? The thing Rufus doesn't know, of course, is that Reeve was typically the one making moves when he was 'on the market' so to speak. The man doesn't know what to do with a true turnabout here.

[afterlaborday]

Mostly a game.

Rufus may like to play it, throw people off that wouldn't expect him to have any knowledge of such things as seduction and the implied emotional attachment, however fleeting, it brings with it. People who couldn't believe he'd leave himself exposed in such a way.

Yet it doesn't mean he isn't sometimes serious. Does he like Reeve in a romantic sense? He doesn't think so, and he'd be happy to be honest with saying that. Yet he does enjoy something about the man.

Thrill? Power? Something off limits? Someone who might actually show his partner some amount of concern and pleasure? Or merely the game? The one thing he can hide behind, because people will believe it.

He isn't even upset by the words. Reeve had a type, Rufus had a type. They weren't each others in the slightest, yet he can't help it, the soft chuckle as he closes the gap between them, hoping Reeve doesn't dart off like a rabbit as Rufus reaches up to run a finger along the skin exposed by that button-down shirt being loose.

"Is it so bad, needing someone for only a short time, Reeve?"

[plate_builder]

Fleeing from Rufus would be a bad idea, perhaps worse than staying still. Bad enough that all Reeve can do is stand there. Or perhaps it's shock that leaves him in position for Rufus to approach, to reach up, to touch.

"No," he admits, voice soft and he can't help the fact that he's a bit turned on by the touch. By the proximity, by the sound of his voice so close. If there are any gods truly out there, one of them needed to save him before he did something stupid.

"But I don't think you could handle this, Rufus. Do you even have the stamina anymore?"

No gods here to help him. He's just provoking the man at this point, isn't he? Should he care? Perhaps he should. Does he? Well, he definitely just challenged Rufus, so clearly not.

[afterlaborday]

He has so much trouble not losing it, not laughing at that question. It's childish, and he's not trying to be childish right now, but he wants to be. He likes the fact he can be, even momentarily, something that isn't Rufus Shinra, president of the late Shinra, or Rufus Shinra, a man everyone loathes. Just a simple young man who has found his teens later in life.

Perhaps that is what this is? He likes the security, the fact that Reeve can see a side he shows no one else, not even the Turks on an average basis, and the man actually finds it good? Not a very good reason, he knows, to continue pushing. He even seems tempted to stop.

He's honest, needing a touch isn't so bad, even if rarely does he ask for it. Strangely, Reno is the only one who offers it to him, but in a different sense. Yet Reeve is also right, something like this could push things the wrong way. Is it worth it? A moment in time, compared to all the moments in time?

How strange. To think this way... His finger stops as he looks at Reeve, thinking, planning, deciding.

Eventually leaning up, letting lips touch his elders and begin to move away, leaving the answer to his question to Reeve: Yes or no?

[plate_builder]

If they can both agree this might be a bad idea, then there is a chance they can manage to avoid the things that would make it bad. They're mature in most every way, but Rufus is right about something. They've been dancing around this for a while. The saying goes that it takes two to tango, and wasn't Reeve contributing to that little problem in the past?

In some ways, he's the responsible adult here, and he knows he needs to act it. So how should he react? What should he do? A single word, a single action, and he can end this. Is this moment worth it? Truth be told, he thinks that not only is it worth it, but that he needs it too. From someone. Somehow. And picky is something he has to be for his own safety these days. That, though, doesn't necessarily justify the action, does it? That he's here, that he would? Wouldn't that be making him like other men who used him?

No. He's asking for this as much as I was. He's just more comfortable with this.

With that he wraps an arm firmly around Rufus's back to keep him there. In fact, to pull him closer. Nice, to have size advantage on a partner, and he definitely appreciates it here. Because it means he can look down at Rufus for a long moment, and appreciate his eyes, his face, the delicate point of his chin. Yes, this will work. He smirks and leans down to kiss Rufus. They can figure out the distribution of power later. For right now he's more interested in sampling those lips in a more satisfying way, and he couldn't care who might see them like this. Give them some time and they can get an eyeful of more.

[afterlaborday]

It's different because Reeve has nothing to gain from this he doesn't already have. Rufus is already funding him, of his own desires, and the reverse is also true. Rufus has what he needs from Reeve, a way to put the world right without fighting the distrust his actions, and those of his father, have brought in the time where such things are least useful.

It's also different because of curiosity. A partner for the sake of taking one? No strings attached, as their silent understanding seems to be? He likes that thought, and the thought that he has a say in this encounter. If the Turks see, they can voice their opinions... later.

Question answered, and body closer to Reeve's, Rufus doesn't pull from this kiss. He encourages it, his free arm wrapping around Reeve's neck, the other brushing its way up any open skin to join the first.