A/N: Ok so... this is my attempt to get my enthusiasm for GDP back. It usually happens around the point the story is at that I start to loose interest and energy for the project but not this time! I started this thing and I'll finish so in the meantime I might write up some little ficlets like this one for you guys so you won't get bored. Also, this is my attempt at venting. We've got lyriced christmas carols where I work now and they drive me nuts! Enjoy the fic guys and tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: Don't own a thing. Songs belong to their rightful owners and FFVII belongs to Square Enix.

"Jingle bell, Jingle bell, Jingle bell rock,

Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring.

Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun.

Now the jingle hop has begun."

It was times like these that he cursed his memory. Just once, he wished that he could not memorize almost everything he heard, songs being at the top of the list. It was the start of December and he supposed that the music the HR department had decided to play was raising the spirits of other office workers but it was starting to really grate on his nerves and he could tell the rest of his soldiers were getting sick of the music as well. It hadn't been so bad at first as he was able to ignore it by letting classical pieces run through his mind as he did his work but the songs were quickly worming their way into his mind and playing themselves distractedly on repeat. Even the most energetic Wutaian piece couldn't stand up to the frilly lyrics. The words slowly slithered through his ears like snakes and wrapped around his brain, sinking into his memory as though they belonged there, as though they were the finest koto piece played by the best player in the world. They were--

"They're evil rotten pieces of shit and HR is out to fucking get us!" That actually summed it up rather well. He heard a voice murmur faintly, Zack's louder tones quickly cutting him off as they approached the office. Hearing the two distinct walking patterns, Sephiroth's heart swelled in his chest, a small smile flickering across his face as he signed his name to the bottom of the last report and set it in the Out box. The door to his office opened a bare second later and in stormed his Second in Command and the little blonde shadow that accompanied him most everywhere.

"Seph, tell Spiky here that these damn 'christmas carols' are HR's attempt to torture every SOLDIER in the building because they're jealous assholes!" Sephiroth's eyebrow quirked up at the man's heavy swearing as Cloud shut the door quietly and Zack flopped into a chair in front of the desk.

"I keep telling you, Zack, they aren't that bad—"

"They're horrible!!" Cloud rolled his eyes and huffed, accepting the hand Sephiroth held out to him and allowing himself to be tugged into his General's lap.

"You have the patience of a saint, Cloud," Sephiroth said, laying a light kiss on the blonde's cheek. Cloud blushed, still not used to being affectionate with the powerful man and looked to the floor.

"It's… it's not really patience, sir," he said, thankfully not stuttering this time. Zack snorted as the blonde opened his mouth to explain further.

"Has to be if you can stand to listen about a reindeer with a radioactive nose eighteen thousand times a day."

"It's not patience. I just replace the words." Now Sephiroth was curious. Looking up from examining the busted knuckles on Cloud's left hand, he cast the boy a questioning glance.

"Replace the words?" Zack asked. Cloud nodded and tilted his head a little, listening as the words for I came upon a midnight clear started.

"I came upon a road kill deer

A sorrowful sight to behold.

He lay upon the highway's edge,

His body was stiff and cold.

I bet he never saw the car,

Careening through the snow.

The lights shone brightly in his eyes,

And then they laid him low." Cloud's voice was soft and a little hesitant at first, growing in strength by the end of the short two verses. Zack stared at him for a long moment before snorting, laughing lightly, no doubt repeating the lyrics in his mind.

"That's hilarious!" he said, still chuckling. "Where the heck did you learn that?" Cloud smiled bashfully.

"Well… my mother isn't fond of the songs either so… she invented her own." Zack snorted again and grinned.

"Got anymore?" Cloud looked thoughtful for a moment before grinning brightly, Sephiroth's heart again doing that strange little flip it was prone to when confronted with the blonde's joy.

"I'll write them down for you."

"Score! I can show 'em to Kunsel and the other guys and then we can just belt them out to drown out the torture device!" Sephiroth shook his head and tugged Cloud a little closer, kissing his cheek again.

"You may have just caused more damage, Cloud," he said. Cloud just smiled and shrugged, a brief mischievous light entering his eyes

"It'll be funny though." Sephiroth hummed a note of agreement and tugged the little blonde into a kiss as Zack started talking, brainstorming his own lyrics for the carols. He made a mental note to read over the lyrics Cloud made before handing them to Zack, welcoming the distraction internally and indulging in his favorite one for the moment, thoughts of annoying carols vanishing from his mind for the moment.