#cloneverse

Rufus watched from between the slats of the blinds on the second story balcony doors down to where Seventeen was tending the ever growing garden. It had started so small and disheveled, and was now flourishing under his clone's careful attentions. Just one more area where they truly differed. Rufus had no luck with plants. He was armed with plenty of theory, of course, but they didn't whisper to him they way they did Seventeen. Maybe it had something to do with the mako treatments.

Even so, there was still something there that Rufus could pick up on. A softness that wasn't there before. A happiness unknown. Rufus might not be able to read the flowers, but he could read R-17. Something had changed in him from when they first encountered one another. And it had changed things between them.

Not for the first time, Rufus wondered what it was he was waiting for. Seventeen was well and adjusting. They'd grown closer. He really didn't have much to lose.

InkTober 22

"So that's that infamous Wang tattoo?" Jiang Zisuan asks, watching Liu Can finish showering with interest. "I thought it was supposed to be a phoenix." The ink is the right color, dark red against Liu Can's pale shoulder.

Liu Can glances at the thing. "It used to be until I took a new Master. He changed it to a crow. Said I needed the protection."

Given how often the man got himself into fixes, Jiang Zisuan admits he probably needs it. "I thought it was invisible most of the time."

"Most of the time, yes. Not after a hot shower." Liu Can grins brightly, tilting his head with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Care to find out how long you can make it last?"

It's a challenge and an offer. As he drags Liu Can over to the bed, Jiang Zisuan decides he's more than ready for both.

---

From across the room, Rufus was watching his own face flush a deeper shade of red with every click of the remote nestled in his palm, which was itself concealed in one of the pockets on the elaborate dress coat he'd had designed for this occasion. Rufus didn't consider himself a man of many vices, but fashion was definitely one of them. This, he thought, pushing the button one setting higher, nearly to the top, might be another.

His clone might not be enjoying the party, but this was the best time Rufus had ever had at one. He set his empty glass of champagne on a passing tray and plotted his path over to Seventeen.

Rufus smiled dotingly at his clone. Did he look that fetching when he blushed? Rufus was usually embarrassed by telegraphing his feelings that way, but he couldn't deny it was a good look.

"Of course. I meant it as a gift." He drew closer, overlapping their hands on the shaft of the gun. Blue eyes flicked from their hands to a matching set of blue eyes. It still threw him to see his own gaze mirrored in someone else's face. Or rather, his face, but frame by hair that was the wrong color and texture. "I'll take you here whenever you want."

Was that a double-entendre? Certainly. Would Seventeen take it as one? He hoped so. And with it, maybe he could get that blush to deepen. Maybe he could get a little more, too. The moment hadn't come yet but this one was ripe with possibilities. Seventeen still hadn't moved his hand.

Blue eyes shifted to red cheeks, to pink lips.

Tw: attraction between clones. Idk if that counts as incest for people so I'm just gonna warn everyone it's there.

The brush of plush skin against the back of Rufus's hand sent a surprising jolt of electricity skittering down his spine. Light blue eyes, so familiar to him and yet so foreign when framed by pale pink lashes, watched him intently. Rufus steadily looked back, wondering what reaction he should display.

Seventeen was still a mystery to him - at times shy and subservient, at others playfully assertive. There were moments he could have been his twin and others it was painfully clear he was only his clone. Sometimes he seemed his own person entirely - the lives they'd led up until this point had been so different.

Then there was the other matter.

The one he still hadn't worked out for himself.

He didn't care about the wrong or right of being lured by his own DNA. There would be no children between men. Even so, he wondered what kind of neurosis this was, that he was so compelled by his own flesh and blood, even if the mind cloaked in them was so different.

Rufus turned his hand over and cupped Seventeen's jaw. Perhaps it was a bizarre form of wish fulfillment. To give his other self the experiences he himself could not obtain. Maybe it was the thrill of courting something dangerous and forbidden.

As Rufus traced a thumb along the seem of Seventeen's soft lips, he decided.

He didn't care.

At the sound of the door opening, Rufus turned from his place under the open design rain shower, heart skipping a beat. Using his right hand, he rubbed water out of his eyes and then ran it through his hair, slicking it back. “It’s okay,” he called over the pounding of the water, partially to convince himself. Ever-confident, Rufus had never been shy about nudity, but something about Seventeen being near made him feel more… He had difficulty finding words for it. More hesitant, he supposed. “It’s not like I have anything you haven’t seen before,” he joked, trying to ease his own tension as much as Seventeen’s.

He didn’t even know why it mattered to him. Seventeen was an asset. A resource for the company. He wouldn’t even really call him a friend, and yet… Rufus found himself drawn to his other self. He enjoyed their late night talks, or their strolls in the garden. He liked it when he was near, even if situations like this proved mildly awkward.

Rufus pushed his hand through his hair again, mentally chastising himself. There was no reason for Seventeen to stand there while he showered—what was he thinking? He should have just let him slip out without saying anything.. Silently thanking the planet that he wasn’t an easy blusher, he offered Seventeen a sheepish smile. “Thank you. For the towels.”

As soon as the other man was gone he thumped his forehead into the smooth granite wall. Then did it again, for good measure.

Rufus Shinra didn’t often feel like an idiot, but his clone seemed to bring out the sentiment more frequently than he was used to.

He still wasn’t sure what to do about that.