disclaimer: No, i don't own ffvii or any of its characters... *sigh*

ch. 11- hide and seek

Dammit, Cloud thought to himself. Where could Genesis possibly be? It was around noon at ShinRa, and Cloud didn't know how much longer he could wander the building. He was looking for Genesis, he did have to give the man the book after all. It had taken all night, but Cloud had finally got all the different endings written down, and now he was impatient to give the book to Genesis. If only I could find him.

He had dragged Zack along to find the red clad SOLDIER, only to have no luck. Eventually Zack got a call from Angeal and left to meet the man, leaving Cloud to look alone. After a quick call to Sephiroth, who confirmed that he hadn't seen Genesis all day, Cloud was going to just go to Genesis's apartment and wait. However, the man wasn't there.

It seemed as if Genesis had just disappeared. Everywhere Cloud looked, Genesis wasn't there. He could have sworn that he saw the red head, but every time he got close, Genesis would disappear. Cloud had passed the entire day doing that. Seeing Genesis, running to catch up to him, only to have the man turn a corner and disappear. It was almost as if he was avoiding Cloud, and it was making him kind of sad. Maybe he doesn't like me anymore.

Cloud stopped at the thought. He was currently on his way to Genesis's office, hoping to find the man there. Since it was the weekend and everyone was off work, Cloud didn't have a problem walking around on that particular floor. Cloud leaned his back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor, his head held in his hands. The thought that Genesis might not like him anymore after the other days temper tantrum broke his heart.

It was now that he really cursed his temper. If only he hadn't acted to rashly, maybe Genesis wouldn't be avoiding him. He only hoped the older man would forgive him for all he has done. Cloud started crying quietly. He really did want Genesis to forgive him. He even got a new copy of LOVELESS to replace the one he had destroyed. However, it didn't seem as if Genesis wanted to be around him anymore. Not if the day's huge game of "hide and seek" meant anything.

-break—

The sound of quiet sobs was breaking his heart. Genesis was hiding in his office, knowing that no one would go looking for him there. It had been hard to avoid Cloud all day, especially since every time he turned around, the blond would be across the room.

He wasn't quite ready to face the blond yet. He wanted to make sure he wouldn't do, or say, anything that would piss off the blond again. After all, he might be annoying, but he wasn't a nuisance.

He quietness of his office was soothing. With everyone at home, the entire floor was pretty quiet. That is, until he heard someone crying out in the hall. It had been almost an hour now, and the person still hadn't left. Genesis almost went out a couple times to see if he could console the person in some way, but he figured that they must want to be alone, since they went to a (seemingly) empty floor to vent their grief.

So, Genesis just sat there, grinding his teeth and attempting to block out the sound. It wasn't working. After a couple of minutes, the sobbing seemed to quiet down, then eventually stop altogether. Genesis sighed in relief. At least he wasn't hearing the quiet cries of someone in pain anymore.

Genesis focused on the piece of paper in front of him, trying to at least make a dent in the paperwork in his office, when he heard something he shouldn't. It was a small sound, but one that he still shouldn't be hearing: a snore. He was baffled at first, before he remembered the person crying in the hall. They must have fallen asleep. Genesis chuckled. The poor person must have exhausted themselves when they were crying. Genesis stood up and grabbed his coat. It wasn't a good idea to be sleeping in the hall, especially when Zack was prone to writing on the face of anyone he found passed out. Especially it they weren't in their rooms.

Genesis opened out the door and started walking towards the sleeping person before he stopped in his tracks. Is that? Genesis thought to himself before bending over and moving the hair out of the person's face. It is. What is Cloud doing here?

Genesis wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't going to leave the blond in the hall; that was for sure. But he wasn't certain that the blond would be happy if he woke up to find Genesis carrying him. He stood there in indecision for a couple minutes before picking the blond up. He placed the plainly wrapped package on top of the cadet's stomach before heading towards the elevator. He would take the blond home, and then disappear before he woke up. Simple enough plan, even if it tore at his heart.

After a few minutes, Genesis managed to get the blond in his apartment, and into bed. He placed the package on the bedside table and sighed. He had so much he wanted to tell the blond, so much to ask. Especially why the blond was crying in the hallway; but he wasn't going to. He would leave and lock himself in his own apartment. He would give the blond a couple days to cool off, then try to talk to the kid. Genesis spared on glance at his blond chocobo before shutting the door and letting himself out of the apartment. Only a couple days, he said to himself. You can last that long.

-break—

Cloud woke up and the first thing he noticed was that it was dark. The second was that he was in his bed and not in the hall. He rolled over and looked at the clock. It said 1:00 am. It had been about 8 hours since he last remembered looking at the time, which was just before he left for Genesis's office.

Cloud got out of bed and walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He couldn't remember how he got into bed, since he was positive that he had never come home. He noticed a note on the counter and picked it up. It was from Zack, telling him to come over whenever he woke up. Cloud smiled at his friend's horrible handwriting. Looks like Zack found me and brought me home, Cloud thought to himself. He then ran to the bathroom to check that Zack hadn't written anything on his face. He sighed in relief when he didn't find anything.

Cloud turned off the lights and went back to bed. It was too early to be doing anything. He would just make sure to go over to Zack's in the morning. It was a good thing the base was closed for a week. Cloud smiled contently and snuggled back into his covers. He would be able to get Zack and Angeal to help him search for Genesis. Maybe even Sephiroth if he got Zack to teach him how to do the puppy eyes. Cloud drifted off into sleep, the thought of Zack's puppy eyes following him into sleep.

Authors note:
well heres ch. 11 =D kinda random, but i hope you all like it...
thanks to Wingsong5555 for reviewing! =D i like reviews, they show me people are actually reading this..
Now if only everyone else who was reading would review =D that would be much appreciated... especially if you have ideas on what our favorite characters think the ending to LOVELESS is =D
well, until next time...