author: azzy
title: Perfectly Flawed
warnings: slight au, slight oc, lemon.
rating: N17 / m+
summary: Tseng is busy, but not too busy to notice Zack Fair.
beta: goodbye_sun
AN: Erhm, i got tired of reading up on timelines cause my memory is like a swizz cheese, so i took an educated guess, i would recon i would set this while Verdot is gone the first time, and yes i took a scenario from Crisis Core and stuck in there, so sue me! its all about the smut anyways.. hence the au & oc warning. I am still not sure how long this story will be, i did two chapters, and ended it there, but if anyone wants me to continue it, i am more than happy to do so. This specific chapter has no warnings other than emo Tseng, and obnoxious Zack.
fandom: FF7
wip: 1/2
pairring: Zack/Tseng. (Tseng/Genesis implied)
Warning: Emo'nes.

”Tseng.”

”Tseng!”

Fingers snapped in front of Tseng's face which made him blink confused, and smile embarrassed. ”Yes?”

”Something wrong?” Rude asked, his brows furrowed.

”What? No.” Tseng said slipping back into his professional expression. ”I didn't sleep well last night,” he lied, placing a hand on a stack of papers, ”I'm a little behind, and had to pull some extra hours.”

Rude looked more convinced than before and just grunted with a nod, acknowledging he knew what Tseng meant. They were all over burdened with work these days. ”I bring you more paperwork, I'm afraid,” Rude said, pushing up his sunglasses with a gloved finger. ”I need a permission form to take out half the team and a bird.”

Tseng sighed. ”To Wutai again?” he asked.

”No sir,” Rude mumbled. ”Not officially.”

Tseng arched a brow, ”Why wasn't I told of this?”

”You were, Sir.” Rude said searching for the right words, he fidgeted his shirt sleeve, ”You attended the briefing yourself. It's a recon mission, sir. We're taking out that new kid too.”

Tseng just blinked, not remembering a briefing about any recon mission that involved the Turks. Staring blankly at the slip of paper that Rude gently placed on his desk in front of him. ”Looks to be in order,” Tseng mumbled, pointing with a pen on Heidegger's signature.

”I know.” Rude sighed, ”But I need your signed permission for the chopper, sir.”

”Oh, yes.” Tseng could have hit himself, but he just looked up at Rude with a undecipherable look, before he opened his desk drawer and pulled out a form that would let the Turks take out any chopper they would want. He signed the date and his name, pushing it across his other paperwork towards Rude. ”There,” he said. ”Rude?” he asked hesitantly, ”Do you think the kid is ready?” Tseng waved the pen in front of his face, ”I don't mean if he thinks he is ready, but your professional opinion, do you think he's ready?”

”Do I think he will jeopardize the mission?” Rude asked politely. ”No he won't, I trust him, sir.”

”Good.” Tseng said, nodding at Rude to let him know he was dismissed. As Rude left his office, Tseng leaned back into his chair. Slightly overburdened, what a joke. He had not left this office in three days, and yet his pile of work seemed to just spawn on its own, growing. Damn his sense of duty, but he somehow felt he owed it to Verdot, who had believed in his abilities. And even if everything had changed since he had fist set his feet here at Shinra Corp., he would do his damnedest to live up to the trust placed in him. But even if he wanted to be on top of everything, he was about to admit to his own human flaws, the need for food and sleep. With a sigh he just loosened his tie a little and returned to his pile of papers.

By the time Rude came back to Tseng's office, he was sleeping across the desk, snoring lightly. Rude stopped dead and ushered the others out of the office. ”Now is maybe not the time,” he whispered.

Tseng opened his eyes and almost fell off the chair as he woke with a jolt. ”I wasn't sleeping,” he yawned. ”What is not the time?”

Rude looked at Tseng tilting his head slightly. ”We all just thought that you might want something to eat, since we were going out to get something.”

Tseng straightened up, brushing off his shirt, tightening his tie. ”I have to do these...”

”Come on, sir,” Reno said merrily, peeking out from behind Rude. ”Even you have to eat at some point.”

”Reno!” Rude huffed.

Tseng ran a hand over his hair, and smiled at the Turks standing in the door. ”He's right.” He slowly pushed his chair back as he stood, ”I am famished.”

-*-

The canteen in the Shinra tower left a lot to be desired, but it was cheap, and better than nothing. Reno snickered at the amount of food Tseng put on his tray, the man really was famished, cause that mountain of horrible reheated food could feed a small army. Tseng sat down with the other Turks, eating his food, listening to them talk about everything and nothing, love interests, the best bars, and the inevitable bitching about the standard suit. ”What about you Sir?” Cissnei asked.

Tseng blinked confused, his fork hovering in front of his mouth. He seemed to have been doing that an awful lot today, zoning out. ”Come again?” he asked.

”What about you Sir? How was your week?” Cissnei asked innocently, trying to pull Tseng into their talk. But her good intentions backfired as Tseng just looked at her with those black unreadable eyes.

”Worked,” he stated.

”Oh.” Cissnei sucked in her breath and smiled embarrassed, ”I didn't mean to imply that.. I'm sorry Sir.”

”I know you didn't, it's fine.” Tseng said in a tired, dull tone.

”There he is,” Rude suddenly whispered, elbowing Reno. Reno's head whipped up, scanning the room. ”Oh yeah,” he grinned.

”Who?” Cissnei asked, looking out amongst the others who were at the canteen, trying to see what her fellow Turks saw.

Rude leaned in over the table and spoke in a hushed tone. ”See that little blonde fella next to Zack, up there at the food line?” Cissnei nodded, ”Reno seems to think that he is just waiting for him to buy him breakfast.”

Cissnei's eyes widened, ”Is he? Oh... OH!” She blushed as the dime fell. And then she smiled, ”Go for it then, I bet you a weekends off duty that he says no.”

”You're on baby-doll.” Reno grinned.

Tseng looked up curious to what the fuss was about. Spotting the duo straight away. ”Second class SOLDIER Zack's friend?” he asked stupidly, pushing his tray away, empty.

”Yes Sir.” Reno said, his eyes shifty, and his smile nervous. As was he not sure how Tseng would react.

”Is that rookie even old enough to date anyone?” Tseng added dryly.

Rude and Cissnei looked shocked at first, and then roared with laughter on Reno's expense.

-*-

That night Tseng went back to his apartment, instead of his office, and closed the door shut. He pulled out the phone cord, and pulled his pager from his belt, shutting it off. He wanted to be alone for just a little while, maybe even get more than two hours sleep. His body felt heavy and sluggish, and his brain seemed to be set on never ending deja vu. Tseng went to his fridge, opened the door and shook his head in disgrace with himself, nothing there but some bottles of alcohol and mouldy food. It had been quite some time since he had actually been home. He shrugged and grabbed the whiskey bottle, unscrewing the lid and took a very undignified swig of the bottle. Tseng had suffered insomnia for so many years that he found when he reached this surreal state of mind after days without real sleep, nothing but getting drunk would help him sleep. And he just hoped it was not tonight Shinra Corp. was brought to its knees, because once he slept, he knew the entire majestic tower could fall around him and he wouldn't notice.

He sat down on his sofa and turned on the TV, zapping through what seemed like a million channels of shit. Taking another drag off the bottle, Tseng figured that it didn't need to be quality TV for him to fall asleep, and just left the TV on some random channel.

-*-

He woke from the most annoying persistent noise, he rubbed his eyes and stretched, he didn't need to open his eyes to know it was day, for a ray of sunshine was straight in his face. It was not until he realised that the persisting noise was someone hammering on his door that he got off the couch.

Outside stood Cissnei who just looked slightly amused as Tseng opened the door. ”Did I interrupt anything, sir?” She asked smugly.

Tseng frowned, knowing that he had to look in wild dismay. ”No,” he stated, 'just a date between me, Mr. Chivas Regal and comatose sleep.' he thought to himself.

”You are expected at a meeting,” Cissnei said, ”Mr. Heidegger does not like waiting, Sir.”

Besides the slight paleness, Tseng didn't react. ”Tell Mr. Heidegger I will be there in a moment.” And then he closed the door in Cissnei's face. Of course he had to oversleep for a meeting. He shook his head again, this would not look good.

-*-

Sure enough, Heidegger had been furious. Tardiness was not one of the virtues he appreciated the most. And Tseng had found himself accepting to go on a mission alone with some SOLDIER, to follow up on the Turk's unofficial recon. It was a lie, Tseng was sure of it, but he couldn't do much about it. Heidegger just sent him on a bogus mission out of spite.

-*-

”We're going down sir!” the pilot yelled over the roar of the motor.

Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose, and turned to his subordinates as the pilot yelled their crash coordinates into the radio. ”Hang on,” he yelled, before sitting down and strapping himself in with a swiftness born out of this happening too many times before.

It seemed to last for ages before the helicopter finally made impact with the ground, and to his surprise all of them walked from the crash with injuries, but none dead. Tseng inwardly cursed Heidegger, as he stood and stared at the burning helicopter. ”Do you think they received the mayday at the tower?” he asked the pilot, who was standing next to him, unbuckling his helmet.

”I am not sure, sir.” He mumbled, wiping blood off his face, from his cracked brow.

”How far to the next populated area then?” Tseng asked.

”I don't know, sir. Ask the men, maybe one of them is local,” the pilot said, earning himself a sharp look from Tseng. There were no Wutai on this mission besides him, and he had no fucking clue as to where they were, except they were in the mountains. And whatever he chose to do, he better choose fast, cause the nights up here were cold.

He turned around and looked at the sorry bunch of rookies he had brought here. Now when they had all taken off their helmets, he could tell that Zack was amongst the men assigned to his stupid mission. On one hand Tseng was grateful that he at least had a second class in his crew, but on the other hand he wondered why anyone would send Zack along on this fake mission. Tseng knew that he was being punished for tardiness, but who wanted to run poor Zack around in the ring?

He ran a hand over his hair and walked over to Zack, who was frowning as he examined another SOLDIER's wound. ”Mr. Fair,” Tseng said with what he hoped sounded like authority. Admittedly he had never actually had to deal with Zack before, he had only just watched him from afar, handing out orders, and he was even more striking when up close.

”Tseng, sir.” Zack said, rising to his feet, looking straight at Tseng with his mako blue eyes.

”We have to walk to the next village, the pilot is not sure that the tower heard the distress call from the helicopter,” he said. ”Do you think your men can walk the distance?”

”Yes, Sir.” Zack said with a cocky smile, ”And those who can't, we will carry.”

”Very well then,” Tseng said with a nod. ”Follow the path west, and keep an eye out for any cave formations that are big enough to house us all for the night.”

And this was how Tseng ended up half carrying, half dragging some poor kid up the mountain. He swore that he would spike Heidegger's tea with laxative once he returned. Someone would pay for this.

”Oi, Tseng!” he heard Zack call from the front of the cortège, waving wildly. ”There's a cave!” Zack gestured to his left with his arms stretched to make sure Tseng saw it.

”Get the wounded in there,” Tseng yelled back. And quite frankly he looked forward to loosing his own dead weight as well.

-*-

Tseng didn't risk a fire, since they were all alone on the mountain and half the men were wounded. Sitting in the cave's mouth, he stared out over the mountains. At least he had gotten the break from his paperwork he had wanted. Maybe this was not what he had imagined, but still, it beat drooling in his sleep on export transactions.

”Sir?” a soft voice said.

Tseng turned around and saw the same blond kid that Reno had been so caught up in, at the canteen the other day. ”Yes?” Tseng said, offering the young boy a smile.

”Are you hungry? 'Cause we left some for you,” Cloud said, holding out a bowl of something Tseng couldn't identify.

”Thank you... eh...”

”Cloud, Sir. Cloud Strife.”

”Thank you Cloud Strife,” Tseng said taking the bowl from Cloud, looking down into it, stirring it a little with the spoon, like he half expected something horrendous would float up to the surface of the brown unnameable goo.

Cloud sat down next to him staring out over the mountains, ”It's a beautiful view, isn't it Sir?”

”Sure is,” Tseng said.

”How much further do you reckon we have to walk,” Cloud asked, resting his chin on his knees, staring out off into the air.

”Tomorrow we'll reach some sort of civilisation, and we can call for aid,” Tseng said sounding completely confident, even if he didn't have a clue.

Cloud nodded, and after some moments silence he blushing admitted. ”This is my first real mission, Sir.”

Tseng stopped eating and looked at the blond boy in the pale moonlight. So innocent, so young. He almost felt guilty that this kids first mission out of the city, would be this bogus, mock of a mission. ”Exiting?” Tseng asked instead.

”Yes, Sir!” Cloud said with a vague smile. ”I'm very happy to be here.”

For a moment Tseng could almost see what it was that had young Reno's pants in a twist, and maybe because he really was curious, or maybe out of loyalty to his Turks, including the brat Reno, Tseng found himself saying. ”You'll be home with your girlfriend before you know it.”

Cloud turned his head and looked at Tseng.

”I'm sorry,” Tseng mumbled, ”It is none of my business.”

”I don't have a girlfriend,” Cloud said with a little awkward smile. ”Between being in SOLDIER and sleeping, I just don't have the time.”

Tseng laughed muffling it with the back of his hand. ”That goes for all of us young, Cloud.”

”So you were SOLDIER as well, sir?” Cloud asked, his curiosity piqued.

”No,” Tseng said with a little secretive smile. ”I leave that to all you with a talent for fighting. My only talent is that I have a dead cool signature,” he grinned. How long had it been since he had been joking? He couldn't remember, it had been so long since he had had time to just sit down and talk about nothing with somebody without worrying about anything.

Cloud laughed too, ”You aren't as scary as they said you were.”

”They told you I was scary?” Tseng asked amused.

”Yeah,” Cloud admitted.

Instead of giving some bitter reply, Tseng just nodded towards the other men sleeping in the cave. ”You should rest, we have a long walk tomorrow.”

”What about you, sir?” Cloud asked as he slowly rose to his feet.

”Don't worry about me, I always have trouble sleeping.” Tseng said, staring off at the mountains again, ”Besides, someone has to stay awake and look after you all while you sleep.”

Cloud just arched a brow.

”Well,” Tseng said, ”I got a handgun to go along with my signature.”

Cloud snickered childishly, before he turned and went into the darkness of the cave.

After half an hour Tseng turned his side to the view and looked into the cave, seeing them all sleep in a bundle like baby mice. He noted Zack was curled around Cloud as were he trying to protect him, even in his sleep. Tseng closed his eyes, trying to remember the last time he slept next to anyone, but nothing besides being crammed in tiny hotel rooms with the other Turks came to him. Tseng wasn't really ready to admit it to himself, but deep within he knew that this was maybe while he was feeling miserable. Maybe his insomnia was a symptom that he actually felt terrible, that something was missing from his life, something that was not duty, honour or perfect timing. Tseng pulled his jacket closer around his frame, resting his head against the side of the cave, turning it out towards the outside where it looked like a snowstorm was coming. Tseng shivered from the cold, much against his own will. Right now he would give just about anything for Cloud's place, resting warm against Zack. Annoyed Tseng shoved that thought out of his head, and continued to stare out on the heavy snow filled clouds that gathered high above.

A vague rustle in the cave, soft footsteps over the cave floor. ”Sir?” a voice said in near whisper.

Tseng turned his head and looked up at Zack who was standing besides him. ”Why aren't you sleeping?” Tseng asked.

”I could ask you the same question, Sir.” Zack said with a little smile.

”I thought it would be best if someone kept an eye out for intruders.” Tseng stated.

Zack kneeled next to Tseng. ”Not even a mountain lion would risk getting caught in the upcoming storm, so you might as well rest.”

Tseng knew he was right. And with a sigh got to his feet, only to look out over the sleeping men on the cave floor, trying to find somewhere he could lay down.

Tseng was suddenly startled as Zack placed a warm palm on his neck. ”You're freezing, why didn't you say so... eh Sir?” Zack slightly scolded. Tseng didn't know what to say, for once he was completely unable to produce an answer, because he didn't know either. ”That does it!” Zack stated, grabbing Tseng's wrist and dragging him off to where Zack had been laying with Cloud. ”There is no way I will get a promotion if I return from this mission with a sick Turk, even if its you.” He quickly added, ”Sir.”

Tseng was completely thrown off, and just stared at Zack, until he finally muttered, ”I am quite sure my health has nothing to do with your promotion.”

”Pfft!” Zack stepped aside and gestured at the spot next to Cloud.

Strange how things sometimes worked out. Here he was crammed in between the kid and Zack. He could feel Zack's heartbeat, and he could feel him breathing in his neck. Tseng was sure this would be another sleepless night, but for some reasons other than it was normally. Yet only moments later, he slept like a baby while the snowstorm picked up outside.