When they go out on these missions and he doesn't follow, Tseng stays in his office and goes through the massive reams of paperwork that keeps the Turks in business. When things are urgent he never bothers with the filing - Reeve will do it for him - but whenever he's stuck here with downtime the only thing that can pull his attention away from the mental image of all his Turks dying is the monotony of paperwork.
There's still a part of Tseng, young and untouched, that makes the child's bargain: if I can fill out all these forms in time, they'll all come home unscathed. If I register every single one of Reno's Uncleared Weapons Expenditures, he'll be fine. Once I sign off on Rude's stack of Unexpected Civilian Injury forms, he'll also be fine. Tseng's brain works in these strange bargains, but only in the hours between mission launch and mission complete.
And it works this time, as it has worked before. The first sign is Elena throwing the door wide open, gun in one hand and the other pressed to her shoulder; there's blood down her shirt, but if she's walking, it's curable. Behind her is Rude, with bloody knuckles and a wide grin on his face.
Behind them comes Reno - the bait for this specific trap - still mostly in drag with his Magrod over his shoulder. The dress is unfairly flattering to his skinny frame, despite the chest hair, and the boots suit him in the worst way. Tseng scoffs, but he's already moving forward.
His hands catch Elena first, cupping her shoulders to watch her response and gauge how bad the wounds are. He catches Rude next, with a fake punch to the chest that Rude dodges easily enough to show Tseng he's uninjured.
Behind him, Reno does am abhorrently accurate curtsey, and then blows Tseng a kiss. There's bloodspray on his cheek and the black dress looks suspiciously wet in this light, but Tseng's heart lifts at the knowledge that his team has come home safe.
"Go shower," he hears himself say. "Drinks at the Aster, I'm buying, but only when you don't smell like a fight.""
after (Turks, PG13)
There's still a part of Tseng, young and untouched, that makes the child's bargain: if I can fill out all these forms in time, they'll all come home unscathed. If I register every single one of Reno's Uncleared Weapons Expenditures, he'll be fine. Once I sign off on Rude's stack of Unexpected Civilian Injury forms, he'll also be fine. Tseng's brain works in these strange bargains, but only in the hours between mission launch and mission complete.
And it works this time, as it has worked before. The first sign is Elena throwing the door wide open, gun in one hand and the other pressed to her shoulder; there's blood down her shirt, but if she's walking, it's curable. Behind her is Rude, with bloody knuckles and a wide grin on his face.
Behind them comes Reno - the bait for this specific trap - still mostly in drag with his Magrod over his shoulder. The dress is unfairly flattering to his skinny frame, despite the chest hair, and the boots suit him in the worst way. Tseng scoffs, but he's already moving forward.
His hands catch Elena first, cupping her shoulders to watch her response and gauge how bad the wounds are. He catches Rude next, with a fake punch to the chest that Rude dodges easily enough to show Tseng he's uninjured.
Behind him, Reno does am abhorrently accurate curtsey, and then blows Tseng a kiss. There's bloodspray on his cheek and the black dress looks suspiciously wet in this light, but Tseng's heart lifts at the knowledge that his team has come home safe.
"Go shower," he hears himself say. "Drinks at the Aster, I'm buying, but only when you don't smell like a fight.""