Cid Highwind wondered why some rich dude living in a mansion invited him to tea of all things and wasn't happy hear the name Rhapsodos mentioned again. Cid being a working man had a strong sense of reverse snobbism going on. However, he was too curious to turn the invitation down and sniffed with distain to have an actual butler show him in. He was taken rather aback when he was shown into what he supposed was a pallor and he encountered the largest black man he'd ever seen outside of wrestling rings. The man was immaculately dressed in a light pink dress shirt and khaki slacks. His smile was wide and friendly, "Mr. Highwind, please do come in. Please take a seat. Can I pour you some tea?" He asked him upon shaking his hand with a baseball mitt sized fist.
"Please" he said and the large man took a dainty rose covered cup and poured tea from the equally miniscule looking teapot. They looked like a doll's tea set in his huge hands.
"Would you prefer, sugar and milk or would you prefer some honey or a slice of lemon?" The large man asked. Cid was confused as to who he was; he had been told he was meeting Barret Rhapsodos. Was this man some kind of personal assistant or something?
"Just two sugars please" Cid said and watched as large umber coloured hands with their well manicured nails performed the delicate task of dropping the sugar cubes using silver tongs and stirring the cup before handing it to him, before they picked up their own cup. Their pinky finger properly extended as they held the delicate porcelain.
"Would you care for a scone with clotted cream or a slice of cake?" He asked him.
"Can we cut this horseshit? What do you want?" Cid demanding, setting his cup down with a thump.
"I understand that my son's involved with your daughter" Barret explained.
Cid looked at him perplexed, just how many men was his baby girl dating? "I'm sorry, the only person my daughter's dating as far as I know is a scrawny arsed fat cat ginger lawyer" Cid said.
"Yes, my son Genesis" Barret concurred.
'Your son?" Cid said in confusion.
"Excuse me Dad, are you finished with the newspaper?" Another scrawny arsed ginger asked as he came into the room. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know you were entertaining" Reno excused himself.
"Yes I just finished it. Cid Highwind, this is my other son Reno. He's met Genesis" Barret explained to Reno.
"Please don't hold that against me" Reno said with a laugh. "Please excuse me, my wife wants to do the crossword puzzle and then we have a playdate to go to. It was nice to have met you Mr. Highwind," the friendly man said and left after he retrieved the paper.
"So Genesis and Reno; they are really your sons?" Cid asked him dubiously and as subtly as possible.
"Of course, my late wife was Scottish with flame red hair like Reno's, I know it's rare to have two redhead children born in the same family but genetics are funny that way" Barret said with a laugh.
"You don't say" Cid said, feeling it not his place to question Barret further based on how many people questioned his own brood of non-identical children. "May I ask what this meeting is about?" He asked him.
"I'm just wondering what type of a person your daughter is. How would you describe her?" Barret prompted him.
"Every bit as good as your brat is. Just because she comes from a working class background and isn't some la di da Lady Muck doesn't mean she isn't worthy of your son just because her family isn't rich. She's kind and gentle and a wonderful person. How dare you try and make me critique my own daughter! Why not just ask your Lord and Heir son about her?" Cid raged at him.
"I can't ask him. He doesn't know I even know about her" Barret admitted and Cid could have sworn he blushed.
"You just want to know what's going on in your kid's life" Cid guessed and calmed down.
"I'm not proud of myself that I'm spying on him but I worry about my son. He had commitment issues and I have no idea why. His mother and I had a wonderful marriage and he's never been abused, he just can't seem to commit" Barret explained to him. "I understand that your daughter has been dating my son for about two month. That's the longest he's ever been with anyone exclusively."
"You have two sons, no daughters?" Cid asked him.
"And no matter how old they get, they're still my little boys" Barret said with a laugh.
"I have five sons and Tifa's my youngest and my only daughter" he said, holding out a picture he kept in his wallet of his family. "My wife looked just like Tifa and was half Wutaian, she died when my oldest was fifteen" He explained. "I got together with her best friend, Shera a couple of years later, she helped me raise my children. The woman's a saint to put up with us all."
"My wife Fiona and I were only ever bless with sons. My own wife passed when Reno was nine" Barret explained.
"When you have sons, you beat into their heads how important using birth control is. When you have a daughter, you sleep with one eye open on the lookout for lechers" Cid said with a smile.
"I used to have a sock puppet I made, named Mr. Condom that I used to explain birth control to the boys with" Barret said smiling in memory. "Did you do something similar?" He asked him.
"Nah, I explained how they worked and showed them nasty pictures of diseased groins that made me unable to touch my own wife for a week. It worked though, they never had any sexually transmitted diseases or unplanned pregnancies. They're all married to kind spouses and I'm proud of them. I did the best I could with them with Shera's help. The only single one's Tifa and that's because she got dumped by someone she has been with for twelve years. I understand now that you just want to know what she's like. I could tell you she's a perfect angel, but she's not. Tifa is one of those beautiful girls who never cared for sexy clothes. She was a little nerd girl and very shy who preferred to blend in rather then stand out. She grew into kind person who always tries to see the best in people. She was always in charge of our household after her mother died. She made the appointments for us in regards to our health and looked after us when we were ill. I don't know what is going on with your son and my daughter completely but we have to trust them" Cid explained.
"Genesis always will be that little boy who fell into the reflecting pond trying to catch a turtle to me" Barret said.
"Tifa will always be that little girl in hair ribbons to me" Cid agreed. "Do you think your son is capable of committing to my daughter? I sensed she's developed feelings for him upon meeting him" Cid asked him, not wanting to divulge the circumstances of his meeting Genesis.
"I don't know" Barret said in a thoughtful way. "One can always hope. I don't want him to be alone at the end of his life and full of regrets."
"And I don't want my daughter hurt but we have to trust that my daughter can sway your thick headed son and win his heart, even if it means she has to bring a lawyer into our family. If you want to know more about my daughter, just meet her" Cid urged him.
"I'll drink to that" Barret said raising his tiny cup.
"I prefer to toast with a beer" Cid said.
"It's almost eleven, let's go get us a couple" Barret said and the reverse snob and the rich man spent most of the day swapping stories about their children and Cid finally admitted how he had met Genesis to the kindly man.
"No shit?" Barret said as he roared with laughter. "Genesis was born with a heart shaped mole on his right cheek."
"Don't remind me, I still see those flexing ass cheeks in my nightmares" Cid said with a shudder.
Genesis was getting sick of people trying to make him get his flu shot, he didn't believe in them and would rather risk getting the flu. "I'm not getting a flu shot" he texted back to first Yuffie and then Angeal and eventually told the same to everyone else in the office.
Alone in his office, he texted to Tifa asking about her dinner plans. He wasn't used to having his lovers so readily available and at first had gone out of his way not to invade her evening time, barring when she summoned him to her bed. Both had separate dinners until one day she had invited him to join her and then it became their thing to either have her cook or him to pick something up. Genesis couldn't cook to save his life.
They saw each other practically every night and had established a routine of sorts of having dinner while they talked about their days. Snuggling for a while, having sex and then retiring for the night. It was oddly like being in a real relationship and he actually found himself enjoying it.
Genesis had always been a toucher and thought nothing of giving hugs and kisses to women he cared about, or putting an arm around them in public or taking their hand. Tifa had proven to be just as cuddly and seemed to thrive on simple affection as well as coitus. Every morning would catch them lingering to spend a couple more minutes together, in bed lazily kissing and over coffee and breakfast while they got ready for their day. Watching each other while his hair was gelled into it's usual points and a power suit donned and her hair put up into her usual bun and her dour outfit fitted into place. Then down to their cars where a final kiss had them departing in different directions with texts throughout the day making plans for the evening when they could kiss each other hello in person. Weekends spent together where he would accompany her to the grocery store and smile in amusement as she handed over her coupons, she was as frugal as the day was long. Sundays spent mainly in bed together having sex or watching movies.
"I have such craving for sushi" she texted back.
"A craving?" He questioned her.
"As in a longing. You're so paranoid" she texted back.
"I'll get a medium platter from Aoshai's with extra eel for you. Is 6 okay?" he texted.
"You will be well rewarded. But I have to go back to libarianing, see you at 6 when you're done lawyering. See you then hot stuff" she texted.
Genesis looked up with there was a knock at his door and Sephiroth stood there.
"Hi Gen, I'm meeting Aerith to get our flu shots after work. Would you like to come along and then join us for dinner?" He asked him, hoping Genesis didn't hear the desperation in his voice.
"No it's okay, I have dinner plans" he said. "I'm going to be leaving a little early, I have a couple of stops to make before I get there" he explained, packing up for the day.
Sephiroth waited until he left and picked up his PHS. "He refuses to come get his flu shot" he explained to Aerith.
She muttered a highly unladylike curse "what's with him? He has the immune system of a crack baby when it comes to the flu virus. I'm not nursing him this time. Nope, one of the others get him" she resolved.
"We all have to do our part and technically it is our turn, Angeal and Yuffie had him the last time and Reno and Elena, the time before that and we're his friends" he said and then winced at his usually demearour young wife's language and pulled his PHS from his ear, as if afraid the profanity would cause it to melt.
"Language darling. Are the girls there with you?" He chided her when he put his PHS to his ear again.
"They're with their sitter. You had better tell Genesis to get his act in gear and get his flu shot or I will personally fucking cram the medication up his ass" she raged on.
"I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way. I believe it has to be put into a syringe and injected into his blood system order for it to work" Sephiroth said in a soothing voice.
Aerith kissed her husband in greeting at the door and so did their daughters, both had green eyes but Jamie had Sephiroth's signature silver hair, while Emma had light brown like her mother. "I'm sorry about my language on the phone, I just get frustrated. I know that Gen's a bachelor and a friend of ours, I just wish he would meet someone nice" she said with a sheepish grin. "I mean I thought he was seeing someone."
Sephiroth frowned at this, "I think his mystery girl's still in the picture but he's been awfully closed mouthed about her, which isn't like him at all" he replied.
"Why hasn't he invited us to meet her?" Aerith asked him.
"I don't know why. Perhaps he wanted to keep her to himself?" Sephiroth suggested.
"I wish there was some way to gauge how serious they are" Aerith said. "Wait you have a surprise budget review meeting tomorrow at the end of the work day" she declared.
"On a Friday night? That isn't something I tend to do. If anything, I prefer to leave early to avoid the commuting traffic and get home to you sooner" Sephiroth pointed out. "And with Yuffie being pregnant, Angeal doesn't like her being alone."
"If Genesis is serious about this girl at all, they will have plans together. You just have to listen in on his conversation where he breaks his date and you'll be able to tell how committed he is to her. Tell Angeal not to worry about Yuffie, I'll have her over for dinner and he can come take her home afterwards" Aerith said.
"You want me to listen in on a man's private conversation, how?" Sephiroth asked her.
"I know a man in the TURKS that can bug his office" Aerith explained. "He can arrange it so you'll be able to hear his phone call from your office."
"So you expect me to stay late and throw a fake meeting just to see if Genesis's in a relationship or not? And listen in on a private conversation through illegal means?" Sephiroth asked her.
"You know that thing you like me to do?" Aerith asked him and Sephiroth's eyes went wide with lust.
"Will you wear the leather corset while you do it?" He all but demanded of her.
"Of course" she promised him.
The next day Genesis was surprised to see a maintenance man walking out of his office, he wore the coveralls and of an electrical worker and have a cloth cap pulled low on his forehead "Were you making repairs in my office" he asked him.
Vincent glanced up rather amused to see who stood in front of him. He purposefully lowered his voice and kept his face averted "There was a problem with the intercom system but everything should be crystal clear now" he replied.
"Thank you for taking care of it" Genesis said dismissively.
"Not a problem, have a nice day Genesis" Vincent said and left. Genesis frowned after him, he could have sworn the man's eyes were red, there was something familiar about him and how did he know his name?
"A budget meeting, tonight?" Genesis cried.
"It's really important" Sephiroth said.
"I already agreed to it" Angeal said.
"Okay fine, I have to make a phone call" Genesis said with a frown.
"We'll leave you alone" Sephiroth said as they closed the door respectfully after them and all but sprinted to Sephiroth's office.
They could easily hear Genesis's side of the conversation while he chatted on his PHS.
"Sorry I can't make it tonight, Sephiroth has decided to have a surprise budget meeting and we shall probably all be here until the wee hours when the windbag finally stops. No you don't have to keep some food warm for me, we'll order in as we always do. Sure,we can have the rest of the lasagna for dinner tomorrow. I'll sleep at my place tonight so I don't disturb you while you rest. Goddess know when I'm getting there. Of course I sleep better when I'm with you. Okay I'll crawl in beside you when I get home. Yes, I'll be careful driving home, I've been driving since I was sixteen and am hardly a reckless driver. You still want to go to the nursery for more plants for your garden tomorrow? We'll go right after breakfast. Fine we'll go after copulation and breakfast; you're insatiable. No this is not just an excuse to get out of watching The Notebook with you. I'm man enough not to intimidated by chick flicks. Just eat and get some rest, I'll be snuggling up and stealing your body warmth soon. Night Tifa" he said making a kissing sound into his phone
Angeal and Sephiroth looked at each other, perplexed "I'm sorry, that can't have been Genesis. The person we just listened to sounded way too sappy to be him" Angeal said.
"Genesis offering to go get plants from an actual plant nursery with a woman and watching a chick flick? Will wonders never cease" Sephiroth agreed, equally as flabbergasted.
"I think he's in a relationship" Angeal declared and the two high fived, hoping and praying to the goddess they were right.
Sephiroth's silky voice droning on about office supplies soon put Genesis to sleep and he dreamed of entering a house he had never been in before. "Tifa" he called.
"Mmmmmm, I'm in here. Goodness is that the time? Sorry honey, I fell asleep" she said and he found her on the couch and she sat up. "I'll go make dinner" she groggily said going to get up.
He put his hands on her shoulders to prevent this "no, the doctor advised you to get as much rest as possible" he insisted. "I'll make dinner. Meanwhile would you like a cup of tea?" He asked her.
"I'd love one" she said pushing the blanket back to reveal her heavily pregnant belly the bulky blanket had concealed. The dream him put a hand on it and he was shocked to see a wedding band on it and her own hand with a matching band was placed over his.
"How is he this evening?" He heard himself ask her.
She leaned forward and kissed him and lay her cheek against his own. "Martin's kicking up a storm; he has no patience like his father and wants to be born immediately" she said with amusement in her voice.
"I guess he wants to meet his beautiful mother. It'll be interesting to see what colour he is. We Rhapsodos' are not the Weasleys'; pale skin and red hair aren't a guarantee when it come to biracial families" Genesis heard himself say.
"I don't care what colour he's as long as he's healthy" Tifa replied turning a look of pure love on him and she flinched when their enjoined hands received a swift kick.
"Looks like Martin's awake again" she said.
"I love you Mrs. Rhapsodos" he said.
"I love you too Mr. Rhapsodos" she said as his large hand rubbing a circular pattern on her belly seemed to lull their unborn son to sleep.
"Gen?" a voice called to him. "Gen" it said more insistently causing him to snap awake and the head being cradled in his hand fell from its perch to whack against the conference table in front of him.
"Ow" he complained.
"I'm sorry, am I keeping you awake?" Sephiroth asked him facetiously.
"I wasn't asleep" he insisted.
"You were snoring with a goofy grin shit eating on your face, if you were dreaming, that must have been some dream" Angeal commented.
"I wasn't dreaming about anything" he hotly denied and wonder what was with his weird dream. Himself married to Tifa and happy about being a expectant father it was so unlike him to the point it was mind boggling.
"Let's call it a night so Sleeping Ugly can go home" Angeal suggested.
"Sounds good to me" Genesis agreed and texted to Tifa that their night was back on.
He was driving home when he spotted something he knew Tifa had been searching for in the window of an amine/manga shop and pulled into the parking lot.
Genesis felt stupid going into the store. "Can I help you?" A young brunette asked him, her badge read Patsy.
"Yes I would like to buy the pajamas displayed in your window on the right, size small please" he requested.
"Those are a popular choice" she said beaming at him while she chose the correct size for the tall redhead. "Are they for your wife?" She asked him conversationally, Patsy wasn't trying to pick him up, she was feeling under the weather and was trying to distract herself.
Genesis could feel himself blush at this question but answered before he could stop himself, harkening back to his dream. "Yes they are" and wondered why he lied, the pajamas were hardly the most embarrassing gift he'd ever purchased for a woman. "My wedding ring's at the jewelers for cleaning" he said and mentally kicked himself for supplying this information. As if the young woman cared whether a supposedly married man wore a ring or not! There were lots of couples where only the female wore the ring or simply went without.
"Were you recently married?" She asked him.
"It's only been a few months now, we're not trying yet" he said wondered where all this drivel was coming from. He remembered back in the day when he was perfectly and blissfully ignorant what "trying" meant.
"It's better to keep the first year as your honeymoon year. All too soon you have a couple rugrats and you get every tiny thing they come down with in every sniffle they get from their daycare. Babies are germ magnets. I'm serving out the my fifth year of my sentence marriage wise and can't wait until my kids get jobs and move out" she teased him and then sneezed, carefully angling away from her customer. "I'm just kidding, when you have them, you can't imagine your life without them."
"Perhaps someday" he said as she rang up his purchase.
"Should I wrap these up? It comes with the purchase pric...aaaaaachoooo" she said caught in a violent sneeze that spread her influenza laced germs all over the high susceptible man. "Oh my Goddess, I'm so sorry. Please use the staff washroom and scrub your face. You should right away" she all but begged him but he just wiped his face with his hanky and used purell on his hands.
"It's okay. No harm done, that's not necessary" he assured her when the harm was already done and the germs merrily flooded his system and started sending out house warming party invitations to their friends. While blissfully unaware man carried his purchase to his car and wondered why he had lied to the nice saleswoman about being married. It wasn't like she had tried to pick him and it wouldn't have mattered if she had. Yet he had gone of out his way to confirm her belief that he was married. Had he gone mad? Obviously hanging out with his smugly married friends was starting to warp his mind.
Tifa smiled when there was a knock on her door and Genesis stood there. He's obviously already been home to change out of his suit and how wore his a pair of jean and a blue shirt. She hugged and kissed him in greeting, it almost seemed like she was greeting her beloved home after him being at work. It was a nice illusion and felt almost so real that it made her happy to be with him again. But that was all it was, an illusion. When had she come to care for him so deeply? He placed a bag on her table and his kisses were sweet and seductive. "I got you a present" he said, giving her a mysterious smile.
"You don't have to buy presents for me" she insisted.
"It's something small that you wanted, it assure you it isn't jewelry or anything. You don't wear any but the necklace and earrings that your mother received on her sweet sixteenth birthday from her parents; your grandparents" he said.
"It isn't anything expensive is it?" She demanded with her hands on her hips.
"No, it's just this" he said handing her the bag and she opened it suspiciously and squealed at what it contained and he smiled at her excitement and found and released the hair pins until her wealth of dark hair tumbled down her back while she hugged him tightly. "Go try them on" he suggested and laughed when she came skipping in wearing his present.
"It's perfect, you got the very ones I wanted" she enthused.
He studied her in the unicorn Kigurumi pajamas, they were mainly white with a blue belly, wings and tail and a plush unicorn head sat on top of the hood with a yellow horn. "Some women want flowers and for you it's whimsical pajamas. You look beyond adorable" he said in so loving a voice her heart skipped a beat. They had a make out session after they ate where the long zipper on her pajamas was opened.
"I do like the easy access on these things" he teased her.
"At least I wear pajamas" she teased him back.
"You don't much these days" he said with a small smile.
"Because someone wants easy access to my body all the time" she said. "You don't ever yet you have a whole bunch of pairs you never wear. Care to explain that?" She said with a challenge in her voice.
"Once a year, about this time I get something that involves the spouses of my friends and my own brother, let's just say they take charge of my person during that delicate time and I wear those while in their presence. I don't care about my own modesty but the males involved don't wish me to exhibit myself before their women. It has nothing to do with sex I assure you. Does that answer your question?" He asked her.
"No" she said.
"It's nothing to worry about. Now I am find myself curious how much of you I can access in there. Shall I take you to bed and make love to you?" He suggested.
She could only nod while slightly confused, Genesis referred to coitus as having sex normally, never making love.