[A/N: Greetings, all! Well, this is just a little thingy inspired by a car we saw yesterday, with the registration S120 GEN xD Immediately Fish & Ho seized on the idea of Gen driving… ridiculously fast, with Seph hanging on for the ride ;D Come on, you know he's just a boy racer at heart…
Aaanyways, not part of the 50Shuffle Challenge O: Since I couldn't find a suitable title for it haha~ I'm so glad I've got out of my little hole of creative stewing with this… hopefully I won't immediately slip back down into it xD
Enjoy, m'loves!
[oh yeah, there's a little bit of swearing xD Hardly needed a warning, but w/e]]
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"Shit, Gen, slow down!"
The sleek silver car zipped along the raised highway like a bullet, raising a mirage of dust and terrified drivers in its elegant wake. The engine throbbed like a caged animal, humming louder in reaction to the yelled command that had shattered its roar. Inside the plush machine, a tall silver-haired man hunched down into the passenger seat, eyes wide, staring at the driver in uninhibited anger tinged with rare terror. That driver, a redhead with cobalt eyes glowing with excitement and fixed firmly on the road ahead, grinned savagely without moving his concentration.
"What's the matter? Can't take it?"
Sephiroth growled in exasperation and jade eyes flickered to the road just in time to see the lorry looming before them. "Gen, lorry!"
With a graceful twist of the wrists, Genesis manoeuvred around the obstacle, momentarily in the wrong lane before he slid them back into the correct path, ignoring the angry lorry driver's honk with a cursory wave.
"You know, Seph, I saw it," he replied coolly and pressed his foot down further as open road stretched before them. "Goddess, calm down, will you? You may not like this kind of fun, but I'm certainly not going to let this beauty go without giving it a proper road test first!"
Sephiroth groaned and gripped the dashboard tighter with gloved hands, the varnished wood threatening to crack under the pressure. Genesis noticed and tutted at him, eyes narrowing momentarily as he swerved around a motorcycle on the inside of a shallow bend, not bothering to slow down.
"Don't break it, moonbeam," he corrected perfectly calmly with a slight sarcastic tone to his voice. "The President wouldn't be too happy…"
"I doubt he'd be happy that you've stolen his new car anyway!" Sephiroth retorted, trying to smother his anxiety with fury. "You have to give it back, before they notice it's gone…"
"You didn't have to come with me, Seph," Genesis replied, punctuating his stress on the verb with a sudden burst of speed. Sephiroth snorted and muttered to himself. "What was that?"
"I said, I had to come to make sure you didn't kill anyone – like you're about to!"
The small turquoise truck puttering along in the lane in front of them narrowly escaped being crushed as Genesis scraped past it, neatly clipping the wing mirror with no damage to his own vehicle. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, Sephiroth saw it swerve and falter as the driver struggled to regain control, screaming irately at the rapidly disappearing silver saloon. Genesis laughed and flexed his fingers on the wheel.
"I'm not going to hit anything!" he announced confidently, arching his back a little to get comfortable in the deep leather seat. "Come on Seph, just enjoy it will you? You need a break… always so cold…"
Sephiroth folded his arms irritably in a vain attempt to imitate nonchalance. "There are plenty of other ways to relax, you know-"
"Oh, I do." Genesis smirked and moved one hand from the wheel to rest it on Sephiroth's thigh, laughing as the silver-haired man jumped and then pointedly moved Genesis' hand to the gear stick.
"Keep your concentration on the road, Gen," he commanded, momentarily having forgotten the hideous speed they were travelling at. The onyx road stretched ahead like a sweltering snake in the high summer sun gleaming off shining metal and concrete; the highway they were currently zooming along led around the upper plate of Midgar and branched off into various junctions and by-roads. At this time of day – mid-afternoon on a weekend – there was a fair amount of traffic, and certainly enough to be fodder for Genesis' outrageous driving.
Sephiroth's concerns on that score were not fulfilled; another worry, however, was. On the warm summer air whipping past the car came the unmistakeable wail of sirens to the SOLDIERs' ears, and Genesis cursed, gripping the wheel tightly.
"Damn them," he said, eyes flicking to the mirror to spot their pursuers – and sure enough, there they were, two vividly painted ShinRa security patrol cars, swerving towards them through the traffic. Sephiroth saw them too and inwardly sighed in relief; maybe a palpable consequence to his actions might make Genesis slow down finally and return the car they had "borrowed" from President Shinra only an hour or two ago.
"Gen, you have to pull over," Sephiroth insisted, eyes fixed now on the two cars hunting them. Genesis shook his head, to the silver SOLDIER's horror, eyes gleaming in mischief.
"Come on, Seph, this is fun!" he exclaimed, squeezing the last drip of speed out of the turbo engine in his control. "I'm not ready to pull over yet!"
Sephiroth swore and tried unsuccessfully to wrest the wheel from Genesis' grasp, his normal ease in controlling the redhead tempered by his fear of spinning them off the road. "And what's going to happen when we get caught? I doubt you can weasel your way out of this one, Gen!"
With a contemptuous flick of his head at Sephiroth's unsuccessful coup, Genesis settled back into the seat and once again swerved past an unsuspecting driver in a delicate crimson sports car. "You underestimate me, moonbeam," he said with unassailable confidence. "I know just how to get out of this… we simply say we were testing it for the President's safety."
"What?" Sephiroth exclaimed, making another lunge for the wheel that Genesis easily evaded after they had returned to a straight path. "That's never going to work, Gen, so pull over!"
Genesis growled, finally letting his irritation shine through to Sephiroth. "Of course, I could also tell the captain of that unit following us what I saw he and one of his men doing last week in the alley down by the theatre…" he said in a vaguely wondering tone. All traces of his annoyance were swiftly masked again, taken over by his rebellious machinating side, and Sephiroth knew with a sinking feeling that once he was in this mood it would be nigh-on impossible to get him out of it.
The engine thrummed in happiness that was reflected in Genesis now, and Sephiroth struggled not to be drawn in by the hypnotising tone. It wasn't merely their pride and honour, as Angeal would say, on the line now; by unlawfully appropriating the President himself's newly-bought vehicle as it was being transferred to the ShinRa building, they had smashed all rules that should have applied to them. Theft and disrespect to ShinRa's leader would be treated with utmost punishment, no matter what his younger son wanted to do to Genesis; if they were apprehended now, after breaking common traffic laws as well as the SOLDIER code of conduct, it was most likely that their entire careers would be on the line. Sephiroth had shuddered before to think of what ShinRa would do to them if their relationship was discovered; that seemed nothing compared to what they would be put through for joyriding the President's two-million-gil car.
And there was still the issue of where exactly they were going…
"Shit…" he exclaimed suddenly as a thought occurred to him. Genesis rolled his eyes and continued at their near-on supersonic speed, glimpsing the patrol cars buzzing behind them in the mirror once more.
"What now, Seph?" he asked, glaring at the road ahead, but the desperate note in Sephiroth's normally so reserved voice shook him a little. The silver-haired man turned to him, eyes slightly wild, hands gripping the protesting dashboard again.
"This road doesn't go round in a loop," he said. "There's a dead end! Where they've halted construction – remember?"
Genesis evidently did remember, for the car stuttered for a moment as he faltered – and sure enough, drawing towards them at a sickening speed was the striped black and yellow barrier marking the end of the flying motorway.
There was a screech of brakes, a yell, and suddenly their car was thrown into a dizzying spin, raising opalescent plumes of smoke under the ebony skid marks the premium tyres left behind. Their combined cry was lost in the violent snarl of the engine and road, and there was a hideous squeal of metal as the back end of the car scraped the barrier. The seatbelts they were lucky to be wearing dug painfully into skin and muscle, counteracting the wrenching centrifugal force that threw them against the doors of the car that reversed suddenly as the wheels finally found purchase. The nauseating whirl shuddered to a stop, and all that was left was a drift of smoke floating away into the azure sky.
With trembling fingers, Sephiroth clicked the seatbelt catch open with not a little difficulty and stumbled out of the car, holding his head to try and halt the world spinning as he fell against the side of the vehicle. Groaning, he squeezed his eyes shut a few times, experimenting with the headache that was steadily growing behind his eyes. His heart felt like it was trying to rip its way out of his chest in its frantic palpitations, and the throb of blood through his brain did nothing to relieve the pain.
Faintly, mixed with the rapidly approaching sirens, he heard Genesis fight his way clumsily out of the car and stagger over to the edge of the road, from where Sephiroth could hear his pitiful retching and soft moans. A spark of compassion still flickered in his chest, even with his raging fury at the redhead for putting them in this situation, and battling his headache he forced his numbed muscles to travel to where Genesis had sunken down against the wall.
"Are you okay, Gen?" he asked softly, trying to quell the fluttering of his heart in his chest. Genesis looked up at him, face pale and eyes wild, and groaned again.
"I'm sorry, Seph," he said miserably, for once apologising of his own volition – it showed how badly he had been affected by the crash. Genesis never apologised. "I should have listened to you… this was stupid…"
Sephiroth smiled softly, hiding his still-fresh anger, and hidden from the view of the arriving security unit by his back and hair, gently touched his lips to Genesis' for a second. "Save that for later," he said reassuringly. "For now, we need you to get us out of this mess…since you put us here."
Genesis' eyes flared in affront, his normal self reasserting itself at the insult. He pulled himself upright, clinging to the wall for a moment until his balance returned, and he faced their apprehenders with a straight back and his usual confidence flaming in his eyes; though Sephiroth's quick gaze caught the way his hands still trembled a little.
"Commander, General," the leader of the security unit greeted them a little nervously, his four companions almost hiding behind him. "I'm afraid we're going to have to arrest you for dangerous driving, Mr. Rhapsodos, sir…"
Genesis met the accusation with a cool smile and beckoned to the captain. "Ah yes, but before you do, could I have a quick word with you…? Over here, if you please…"
The man could easily have refused – he was in the right, after all, and had no real reason to waste time talking to the offender - but his obvious anxiety at trying to arrest a First-Class SOLDIER and with the terrified awe of his men clearly unsettling him, he agreed and followed Genesis nearer to the car and out of the others' hearing. Sephiroth pointedly ignored the four patrolmen left, standing indifferently against the wall with his arms crossed, watching Genesis out of the corner of his eye. He saw the redhead speak a few words, gesture to one of the remaining men – whose gaze did keep flickering to the captain – and smile in victory as the leader's face crumpled and he nodded in defeat.
"Thank you, captain," Sephiroth heard Genesis call as they split up again, the redhead sauntering back to where the other SOLDIER stood as the security grunts piled back into their vehicles, looking a little confused at their captain's sudden change of heart. Genesis grinned at Sephiroth and halted before him, expression once again mischievous at his confident win.
"Told you I could get us out of this," he said, jabbing Sephiroth lightly in the chest with one finger. The other SOLDIER maintained his impassive mask and stared back.
"We shouldn't have been in this mess in the first place," he replied slightly coldly, though his anger had abated. It was impossible to stay properly furious at his lover for long – irritated, exasperated and murderous, yes, but angry – no. "If you weren't such a kleptomaniac…"
"Oh, shut up, Seph," Genesis almost snapped, but then smirked again, wantonly hooking his arms around Sephiroth's neck – with the patrol gone, there was no one around to see, and so Sephiroth did not shake him off yet did not react either. He enjoyed making Genesis think he was being punished; it gave him that wonderful feeling of being in control, as he always liked to be when with the redhead.
The only problem was that Genesis constantly wanted to be in control too.
"No matter," the silver-haired SOLDIER said softly after a few seconds, before Genesis thought better of his action and pulled away. "So long as we're safe now… and you won't do it again?"
Genesis smirked. "I'm not making any promises…" At Sephiroth's reproving glare, he rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, I suppose I won't do it again… at least, not in the President's car."
Sourly, Sephiroth admitted that that was the best he was going to get out of Genesis and, surrendering at last, accepted the redhead's kiss. "And now," he said, pulling away with his arms now around Genesis' waist, "we'd better be getting this thing back to ShinRa."
With a nod, Genesis disentangled himself from Sephiroth's arms – or tried to – but the other stopped him and with a smirk delved into the redhead's pocket. Genesis made a surprised noise but his eyes cleared in irritated understanding when he saw what Sephiroth's hand returned with. The silver-haired man dangled the set of keys with a silver fob before Genesis' appraising sapphire eyes, and grinned.
"But this time," he said, "I'm driving."
