Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places or ideas related to FF7; those are Square Enix. I just write this fanfic stuff.

Warnings: yaoi, fluff, lovey-doveyness, etc. Expect cuteness galore.

Author's Note: happy belated birthday, Sphinx. Sorry this took so long. It's pretty difficult to write Sephesis without "suffocating amounts of angst", but hopefully this lives up to expectations.

Home Sweet Home

It had been a long, long day. Genesis let out a sigh, its filtering through pursed lips, mako bright eyes half lidded. Every minute had been like an eternity. The whole day was a disaster, all because of Lazard. The fool Director had thought that since it was Genesis' birthday, he wouldn't want to be out sweating on the field in the heat of combat, getting blood and gore on himself, as well as risking potential injury.

Because he wanted to do piles of paperwork instead.

With how much there had been, it looked like Lazard had been saving up for just this day, to shove a mountain of white papers with fine black type at him. He liked reading, but not that much. His wrists had a dull ache in them from typing all day. Why were all initial reports done with a typewriter? Why couldn't they just be put in to the computer system to begin with?

There was no need for him to dwell on it any longer, Genesis letting out a long, cat-like yawn, stretching all the while. For a moment those blue eyes closed, an almost peaceful look on his face. A few heads turned at that. A few eyebrows cocked. It was over as quickly as it came, though, SOLDIERs averting their gaze hastily lest the fiery redhead saw them gawking.

Long, fluid steps had him gliding down the hall again after that momentary pause. All he wanted was to go home. Well, one of two homes. Banora was constantly singing its siren song for him, bidding him to come back to the familiar rolling hills of lush grasses, to bask under the un-obscured rays of the sun in that clear blue sky, to eat the luscious fruits of labor beneath the graceful arches of the glorious Banora White trees.

Those thoughts almost had him blackmailing the Turks for a helicopter ride there, but he refrained, opting to go to the other home he had, the one in the massive ShinRa Tower, where the other SOLDIER First Classes were houses. He had his own apartment there, sure, but ever since he and Sephiroth had become an item, the silver haired General's larger apartment had become a mutual abode.

That was straight where he headed, running his identification card through the scanner, seeing the little light on the reader turn green. He watched with bored eyes as the numbers over one of the glass elevator shafts changed, coming to the SOLDIER level for his use. It was a difficult struggle, fighting the urge to pace, but he managed somehow, nearly standing still. His fingers managed to fidget with each other behind his back, and he shifted his weight from one foot to another, but that was it.

Finally the elevator arrived, Genesis stepping in with a swoosh of his red leather jacket, spinning on a graceful heel to press the button he needed. Soon enough the elevator was powering upwards, and he could not help himself but to pace, muscular legs carrying him from one end of the elevator to the other, much like the prowl of a caged tiger.

Never before had he thought the shrill, annoying ding of the elevator would be a joyous intonation, but right now it was, and he nearly ran out of the elevator, fast strides verging as jogging as he worked his way through the austere hallways. His boots clicked on the metal, almost in time with the fluttering, excited pace of his strides.

His glove encased hands trembled as he fumbled with his keys, three different ones on the ring which looked exactly alike: one for his apartment, one for Angeal's, and the one he was looking for, the key to Sephiroth's. He had fitted two different keys in the hole to no avail when he heard the bolt turn on its own, door opening a moment later.

The wall of aroma was what hit him first.

With a groan, Genesis closed his eyes, a twitch in his pants as the scent of perfectly crisping pastry shell came to his nose, along with the roasting of nothing other than the sweet perfection that was Banora White pie filling. His mouth was full of saliva in a split second, and he felt ready to swoon.

Opening his eyes, Genesis could not wipe the smile off his face at seeing Sephiroth standing there, long, moon-hued hair spun up and out of the way, held in place by two chopsticks. There was a slight flush to those pale, flawless cheeks, and happiness swirling in the mako green eyes.

Launching, Genesis wrapped his arms around the man (who looked gorgeous in the open necked white dress shirt he was wearing), nuzzling his face in the crook of the shoulder. A shiver crawled over his spine as he felt lips pressed to his hear, a soft whisper filling his head.

"Happy birthday, songbird."