10. Crush

'I think he likes you.'

Tseng looked at the redhead slightly confused. 'Who likes me?'

'The Vice-President. I think he likes you.'

Tseng looked at him as if he were crazy. 'Have the cigarettes and liquor finally dwindled your brain away to nothing Reno? There is no way that he would like me.'

Reno laughed at Tseng's cluelessness. 'Ah man, you are so blind. What's funnier, or sadder depending on how you look at it, is that he's probably oblivious to the fact that you like him too.'

Tseng turned to glare at Reno, 'Don't presume you know my feelings about anyone Reno. Especially when it concerns the Vice-President.'

Reno raised an eyebrow. 'And why the Vice-President specifically? Why are you so concerned about him?'

'Because it's my responsibility to ensure his safety, that's why.'

'No, it's your responsibility to ensure the President's safety, not the Vice-President's.' Reno tried to think of something that he could use to prove to Tseng that he actually liked Rufus. He figured that nothing worked better then having him talk about the boy.

'Alright, forget I said anything about it and lets just change the subject. How is his training coming along? Is he still missing the target?'

‘He's doing really well. He's hitting the target 90 of the time. Most of those shots are right around the bulls eye and a few of them actually hit the bulls eye. He wanted to try a shotgun yesterday but I told him that it wasn't wise to do that right now. I want him to perfect a hand gun first then we'll move on to something else. After lunch we went through some basic self-defense which didn't go over too badly. Did you know that he loves hamburgers? Who would have thought huh? I pictured him as looking down on those kinds of meals, but he loves them.'

Reno was staring at his boss in shock. 'Uhh, sir?'

'He even ordered a soda. I didn't think that he would like those either. And desert! Do you...yes Reno? What is it?'

'You were babbling about Rufus.'

'Babbling? I did no such thing. You asked how his training was going and I answered you.'

Reno shook his head, again disappointed in Tseng's obliviousness. 'I asked about his training, not about his lunch. Face it Tseng, you like him.'

'Well, he is rather intriguing. I was thinking of suggesting a Wutainese restaurant for lunch tomorrow after training. Think he'd go for it? He's said that he's never tried Wutain food and that he was curious about where I was from.' Tseng fell silent for a moment, realizing he was in fact, babbling about Rufus.

Embarrassed, he quickly tried to change the focus of the conversation from he and Rufus to just Rufus. 'What I meant was that we always go to the same place everyday. I wanted to change things up a bit and not fall into a rut. Besides, it would be good for Rufus to try food from different regions of the world and diversify his tastes.'

'Wow chief, you've got it bad.'

Tseng shook his head, 'I do not. I merely like his company, that's all.'

'Boss, when you're not training with him, you're thinking of the training session the next day or where you want to go for lunch with him. You’re always thinking about him. There's nothing wrong with saying that you have a crush on the Vice-President.' Reno added as an afterthought, 'For planet's sake, you're not the only one.'

'What does that mean "I'm not the only one"? Who else likes him?'

Reno laughed and turned away from his boss towards his office. 'Never mind chief, I don't need to hear say you like him. You just admitted it. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to work.'

Tseng stood dumbfounded in the hallway. It's just a small crush. We're too different for each other. He thought to himself, But he is smart, funny and damn good looking though... Shaking himself from his thoughts, he walked to his office to try and do some actual work and try to forget about the blond.