The ShinRA building was placid as ever that morning.
The only noise to be heard was the janitor quietly cleaning in the hallway, the faint scent of pine wafting down the hall.
Tseng liked the change.
Usually there were far too many enthusiastic Thirds wandering the hallway, chattering and bickering, the loud echoes of roughhousing in the halls.
He tapped his pen against his chin methodically, finally able to start working out some of the more complex things in the company. For one, they needed to hire more secretaries, Gaia knows the ones they had were already up to their necks in paperwork already.
Never mind technically this was Lazard's job; Tseng had more than enough time in the morning to sort a few things out.
The silence lasted only so long, as he heard the squeak of leather boots walked across freshly cleaned tile. The smell of leather wafted through the open door, and Tseng didn't have to look up.
"Genesis," he greeted mildly.
He glanced up, and noticed the odd grin that was spreading across the man's features, and the ashen look of his skin. "No sleep last night?"
"What? No, I was working on something," Genesis replied hurriedly, his hands curling around a stack of paper roughly three inches thick. "Where's Lazard?"
"Sleeping, I'm taking care of some paperwork for him." The wutaian raked his fingers through his coarse black hair. No wonder Lazard barely slept these days. "What was it you wanted?"
"Oh – well – I wrote something – wanted it put in the Soldier's daily statistics." Genesis hesitantly handed the stack over.
"Motivational speech?" Tseng asked.
Genesis laughed, but it seemed tight. "Yes, something like that…"
Tseng was going to look through it, and try to see what kept the warrior poet up all night, but at that moment Reno stepped in. "Yo, boss we've got a problem with – hey, got another stack?"
Tseng held it out to him expectantly. "Yes, but you can deal with this one. Read through it, try to find any errors, and see if you can cut it down a bit. General Rhapsados wants it in the Soldier's statistics."
Reno sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "Yo man, if that's what you want," and he took them with a quick flick of his wrist. Immediately he started to browse the first page idly, and his eyebrows shot up. "Yo Boss, this in't somethin' I'm trained to-"
"Come!" Genesis said far too smoothly "I'll show which parts are important." With that the scarlet General escorted the redheaded suit out of the office.
Tseng sighed. He'd ignore it for now.
0-0-0-0-0
"No way, yo! I'm not putting this in the paper!"
Genesis shook his head, "No, you don't understand! I need it only in Sephiroth's and Cloud's copies, alright?"
The Turk looked at the General sidelong, before sighing. "Alright, but yo, I still need to proofread it, Tseng'll ask about it. How am I supposed to tell him I read three hundred pages of-" he lifted the stack in his hands up parallel to him "-'His manly stature was nothing to the feel of his own prowess against mine'? I can't even read through a single paragraph, yo!"
Genesis twitched as his constant use of the word "yo" but kept level headed. "Don't you know someone that would actually enjoy reading it?"
The slight woosh from the doors caught both men's attention. Turning, they saw the classic black turk suit, fitted to perfection on the convenient passerby's frame.
Reno grinned. "Rude, I have something to ask you, yo!"
A single eyebrow ascended from behind black glossy sunglasses.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"…and the word 'prowess' is used too much. Try 'total command' or 'dripping masculinity', something like that."
Reno had left the room hours ago, but Genesis was still in sitting in the room somewhere between impressed and mortified. He wasn't actually expecting the Turk to enjoy it, much less make insightful critisms. "Uh- thank you, Rude," Genesis stammered out, sweating slightly.
The Turk nodded once, evening out the stacked papers and sitting up. "I'll get this printed out for General Sephiroth and First Class Strife, now."
"W-wait, how did you know it was for those two? Reno didn't tell you."
Rude cleared his throat. "As it states, 'Oh Xephiro, I never knew this passion you had for me.' Then 'Oh Glou, didn't you feel my passion on the battlefield?' The passion gave it away. And the constant mentions of golden hair and silver hair." Genesis had taken a step away from him. "I'm a Turk, I pick up on clues. Even context ones."
He walked out of the office after that, but Genesis could care less. Hopefully the paper would get shipped out that morning, and the two could see the masterpiece they had inspired.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Sephiroth received a newspaper that morning. Odd, hasn't he already asked not to have any more sent to him?
Never the less, it gave him something to drink his sunup tea to.
He began leisurely flipping through the pages, trying to spot anything of interest. One headline popped out to him particularly. "ShinRA's Scandal, an inside look!" That was very strange, ShinRA usually didn't let newspaper junkies pour out such large headlines about them.
He sipped his tea. Herbals were the best, honeys never sit with him. This one had the aroma of jasmine. He wondered idly if Cloud liked tea? He never smelled it on him like he did with Genesis. Then again, the only times he got close to him was when Cloud was impaled by the Masamune and was descending on him, and the spontaneous kiss at the café. He awkwardly cleared his throat to no one in particular for the distracting noise.
His eyes flicked down to the author. "Crimson Quill?" He asked aloud. That wasn't any of the usual ShinRA conspirators, what was this "scandal?"
Reading along, it started with "The ShinRA building was usually cold, with the white linoleum floors, and frosted glass doors. However, down past the front office and through three doors was the training room, always supplied with enough dummies for each soldier to have a hundred spare." That was very specific, exact actually. Was this person a plant ShinRA had put into the newspaper?
"The training room was warm, almost humid. A First class Soldier was training meticulously, hefting his massive sword as though it weighed less than a rapier. His hair was the color of a fresh sunset, golden and shining. His eyes the color of the sky, cerulean and deep. His tanned skin was glistening with sweat, a few more beads forming at his brow. Just then, the glass doors exhaled as a man stepped into the room. His hair was the color of steel shavings, his skin like polished iron. His eyes were green as the deep forests, wild and unpredictable. His coat was black leather, tight against his form. The front of his jacket was opened, showing his bare chest, covered only by two strips of leather."
What.
"Green eyes drank in the sight of the man in front of him. "Glou, I need your assistance," his velvet voice commanded. Glou turned, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "With what?" Xephiro took the opportunity to close the distance between them, running a gloved hand down his face, the other grasping, almost clutching-"
0-0-0-0-0-0
Cloud wasn't one for spit takes, but he sputtered out his jasmine smelling tea faster than any trained comedian.
Who wrote this? Where could he kill them? There was another ten pages of this, and it was tiny print!
The author.
Crimson Quill.
"Genesis," Cloud rumbled furiously, blue eyes flashing to lightning. He didn't bother sheathing First Tsrugi, not when he needed the advantage to kill the silvertongue.
Bursting from his room, he tromped down the hall with an outraged step and fire on his heels. He clutched the newspaper in the other hand. He would shove it down the pretty redhead's throat next time he saw him.
He turned down the hall in time for Gene sis to literally run straight into him. Luckily Cloud's pure rage kept him from budging at all, and the redhead had to take a moment to comprehend who he had just slammed into.
"Gaia no!" He screeched as he practically flew through the only remaining door. Cloud glanced to what he was running from.
Sephiroth, hair wafting about him like a tornado was at his heels, had been chasing him as well. They glanced for each other for a single moment-
"Xephiro's hands meandered throughout Glou's form, liquid in movement."
-They looked away decidedly, a truce made temporarily. They did not brush shoulders as they entered the room, nor did they talk. Words were not enough.
Genesis clawed at the training room wall.
Words would never be enough.
Masamune seemed to sing as it soared through the air, pointing at Genesis. Tsrugi made a definite rumbling noise as it was pointed at the writer as well.
Genesis went pale. "I didn't do it!" He pleaded. "It was… Reno!"
Over the speakers, they heard "Yo, half my vocabulary is YO! Don't be sluffin' this on me!"
They must be recording this, the sane part of Cloud thought foggily. However, it didn't matter. Genesis dug his own grave with a pen, so he would die by a blade.
They lunged at him.
This was the way it was supposed to be.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Sephiroth wondered if people usually wrote things like this when he wasn't looking. It that was the case, he would either never blink or go blind. He didn't want to look at that atrocity ever again. The Masamune nearly hissed as he swung the sword downwards, Genesis pleading for mercy, Cloud's pure rage seething at his shoulder-
"Please refrain from killing any Soldiers, we need all we can get."
Tseng?
"Also, the training room had been through enough harassment for today. The original copy of Genesis'… creative writing has been burned by Two Guns. The only copy left is in Cloud's hand."
Cloud carefully sheathed his sword, and unraveled the newspaper. His fingers worked meticulously, making sure he didn't rip any corners.
Then, he gracefully folded it into a small triangle. It was almost pretty enough to be called origami.
Without warning, he shoved it into Genesis' mouth. The general started choking for a moment, coughing as bits of his M rated writing dissolved into his lungs.
"This is a testament to man's insolence!" Cloud roared, pointing to the man in red. He continued to choke, until he actually had to chew on the writing and swallow it.
"Minerva preserve us," Rude muttered under his breath "he actually made General Rhapsados eat his own words."
With that Cloud stomped out, fire in his footsteps and the mumblings of dark magic and proverbial Bahumuts under his breath. Sephiroth watched him go, unsure of what to do.
Genesis got to breathing again, and the Silver General turned to him. His eyes said murder, but he spoke aloud "Why?" The single words asked so many things. Why would you write that. Why are you so gay. Why can't you behave.
Genesis didn't get the hint. "Why? Opposites attract, Cloud is gold, you're silver…" He trailed off.
Sephiroth sighed, sheathing Masamune. "If opposites attract, I hope your spouse is intelligent, pretty, honest and cultured." With that, he turned and left with the majestic flap of his cape.
From over the intercom, Genesis could hear Reno saying aloud "OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!"
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Sephiroth didn't know what to say to Cloud, as they met in the hallway. They simply stared at each other, tension and awkwardness abundant enough for an entire high school.
Cloud was the first to speak. He cleared his throat, looking away for a split second, looking back at Sephiroth, then focusing on his feet.
"…We… Let's not speak of this event." It sounded like he was going to say something else, but Sephiroth agreed with his compromise.
As Sephiroth retreated to his room once more, he found the newspaper in his room was missing. Perhaps the Turks had taken it. Yes, they had said that Cloud's was the last one left.
Content, he started to pull out another tea bag.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Rude, alone in his room, put the newspaper into a special box labeled "memories". Inside was a picture of drunk Veld leaning on Tseng as well.
One day…
He would reveal the writing to all of ShinRA. Maybe even the President.
This was the way it had to be, of course. Even Turks had secrets.