Author's Note:
Hello, again! Sorry for the long silence, school and life in general have been a little crazy for me lately. I haven't had any time to write! Or even just edit, really... This little story is something I've been thinking about for a while, and I'm glad to finally get it out of my head and onto the page.
ASGZC is an unusual pairing - five-ing? - to be sure, but I have always loved it. Within this chapter is a tiny sort-of reference to RegenesisX's muse of Genesis - I hope you can spot it! I love all of their writing and wanted to pay tribute.
Happy reading! -E
Genesis Rhaspodos was sitting at his annoyingly fake mahogany desk, staring at his annoyingly real stack of paperwork. Twenty more packets, a mission report from two weeks ago, and bunch of other miscellaneous crap he was supposed to think was important were all in a neat pile in the upper left corner of his desk. On the opposite side lay an apple shaped paperweight, several broken pens, a can opener(why it was there, Genesis didn't recall), and a dying houseplant that Angeal Hewley had insisted the man needed in the room.
"Brighten things up, my ass." Genesis muttered poisonously, taking another packet of paperwork off the stack and twiddling his thumbs while pretending to pore over it. He picked up the silver and red fountain pen that Sephiroth had given him for his birthday two years ago and spun it between his fingers, staring down the page before him as if willing it to be filled out from the mere fear of Genesis's firey wrath.
Paper, of course, is an inanimate object, and did not suddenly become covered with ink lines at Genesis's will.
Deciding to distract himself from the boring workload, Genesis investigated the can opener. It was well taken care of, but also well used. Among the five who regularly made this office a place they went, the only one with this particular habit was Cloud Strife. Genesis trashed his things willingly, Angeal took care of them until he was forced to replace them - kicking and internally screaming the whole way - and Sephiroth simply ignored the fact that items needed regular care. However, Cloud was not the type to leave things lying around. He and Angeal both liked a clean house, and Cloud obsessively kept the kitchen clean. Genesis wasn't as tidy as the other two, and neither was Sephiroth. Zack Fair, however, didn't care if things were left in odd, frustrating places, or even working at all. Angeal even wondered if Zack was making a game out of it and nobody else knew, confiding this only to Genesis.
The mystery of the can opener solved, Genesis turned sorrowfully back to his paperwork.
"Gaia damn it." He muttered. And then he put his pen to the paper, letting his oddly graceful chicken scratch crawl across the page.