#genesisxreader

Chapter 4: Leaving

Zack entered his bedroom and as soon as he saw you polishing your sword he jumped towards you on your bed, making it (and you with it) doing some bounces.

You, completely unfazed, kept polishing your weapon “hey Zack” you greeted.

“Ow come on (y/n) pull a smile for me!” he grinned, before pulling upwards the edges of your lips, to shape a smile.

You soon pushed his hands away and he looked offended for a bit, before taking your sword from your hands and tossing it away, the other two recruits in the room looked towards the two of you, startled by the clatter that your sword produced hitting the ground and kept their gaze on the scene to look what was going to happen, honestly you didn’t know either, because your raven haired friend had a serious expression and seemed true concerned about something, but as soon as he pulled a grin you knew exactly what was going to happen: you were going to punch him.

You raised slowly your hand, so slow that the other 2nd class was able to grab it and give a kiss to it “why so serious today?” he continued to smile at your frown.

“Nothing” you pouted, walking away from him to grab your sword from the floor and throwing it on the bed “let’s go out, so we can talk” you eyed the other two SOLDIERs for a moment, even though they returned to mind their own business.

“Sure babe” he winked, opening the door for you.

  You were walking down the streets of Midgar with Zack, the both of you stayed silent and the boy tried  really hard to keep quiet until you felt enough comfortable to speak, but he was just too curious, so he opened his mouth to say something, when you interrupted him.

“I was wondering how much could you resist without speaking” you chuckled, looking ahead “I see not enough”

“Sorry” he rubbed the back of his head “I’m just worried”

You smiled at him and intertwined one of your arms with one of his and sighed “thank you Zack, I’m really thankful, I really am” you started “but I’d appreciate if you could just give some ease to my pain”

“That’s why I’m here to listen”

You shook your head calmly and lead him to a bench, forcing him to sit down with you “there are many ways to make someone feel better, and it always depends by the case”

“What’s the case, then?”

“I’d like you to bring me around the city, I want to forget” you smiled at him.

“That can be done!” he exclaimed getting up with his usual over excitement.

You chuckled and watched him seat again and leaning his left forearm on the backrest of the bench, you pulled your legs to you and crossed them “I’m glad to have you” you said sweetly and you were so adorable and fragile in the boy’s eyes that he couldn’t help but to hug you with one arm and stroke your head with the other.

“Anytime dear” you could feel his breath through your locks and felt so relaxed that you closed your eyes and lifted your hands to lay them on his back.

It wasn’t uncommon an hug between you two, in fact, as long as you could remember, you’ve been close friends and Zack himself was a person you could always feel comfortable with, so an hug like that was a simple hug between friends, nothing more, nothing less. Of course there were people who would disagree, for them the concept of friendship between a male and a female that were so close to each other didn’t exist, for sure you two were in a relationship, but those rumors never meant nothing to you, you didn’t even bother to deny them.

You felt Zack pull away and take your hand to make you stand “come (n/n), I’ll take you some (favorite flavor) ice cream” he winked at you, before dragging you towards the closer ice cream shop.

The afternoon went on with your best friend taking you in every place that he knew would’ve make you feel happy, and so it was: you almost forgot about your problems for that time… almost.

  The next morning you went to check your post, as asked in the letter Kunsel gave you and, indeed, found something: a letter. Your hands trembled when you started to open it, you took a deep breath and as soon as you finished reading the content, you couldn’t help but to slide your fingers through your hair, to keep at bay your nervousness. You closed the envelope again and decided it, maybe, was time to pay director Lazard a visit.

So you went and waited outside, since you saw the door closed, signaling that someone was already inside,, however waiting was painful, you felt the urge to enter, but you just couldn’t lose control and disrespect the formalities.

“No (y/n)” you murmured to yourself, your eyes starting to swell up with tears as you tried to hold them back “don’t do it” you squeezed your eyes shut, but you couldn’t wait no more.

“Ah fuck off!” you exclaimed under your breath and burst through the door.

“Director Lazard!” you started, your voice formal, but the fright transpired through them “I am sorry, but I really need to-“

“Calm down (l/n), I’m already busy now” he calmly stated, interrupting you.

You then moved your gaze to see what was keeping him busy and found a very concerned Genesis, whose heart was breaking at seeing you like this, in fact the tears had started to fall and your eyes were starting to become red.

“Please director, I really need to talk to you” you urged, trying to avoid the 1st class’ gaze, you didn’t want him to look at you with pity.

“And I really need to end this discussion” he said, this time his anger could be heard being held by his usual gesture of pushing his glasses to sit better on his nose.

“Director, if I am allowed… I think that what this recruit has to ask you is far more important than the report of my last mission” the red haired stated.

You gave him a grateful smile and he smiled back for a brief moment, before you looked away, remembering the actual conditions of your face.

Lazard sighed deeply and closed his eyes, before nodding as to accord to your requests “we’ll continue this later, then” he nodded to Genesis, he nodded back and went outside, flashing you a smile that you didn’t even notice as you were too focused on your talk with the ShinRa director.

“Please, I need you to accord me a permit” you said with trembling voice as soon as the red head was gone.

“A permit? What for?” the director frowned.

You sighed and prepared to talk.

  “Hey puppy!” Genesis called out to Zack, seeing him outside the training room.

“Hey 1st class!” he frowned at the nickname, but eventually smiled “what’s up?”

“I know you’re really close to (y/n)”

“Yes, and?” he urged, his mind going to the shower that he, oh so badly, wanted to go under after all that sweating, when suddenly he widened his eyes “waaaait” he smirked “you want some advice about her?”

“What do you mean?” he raised one brow at him.

“Or maybe… are you jealous?” the 2nd class smirked, ignoring the question.

“What- why should I be?”

“Oh, because I’m so close to her” he winked “and maybe you think there’s something between us”

“Is there?” Genesis frowned

“Nah, we’re only friends, there’s nothing between us”

The red haired could feel his cheeks redden and his heart lightening a bit, before shaking his head and remembering why he was wasting his time with the puppy “in any case I don’t care about that, I came here to ask if you knew something about what is bothering (y/n)”

“You noticed it too?” Zack asked, his expression going immediately from playful to concerned.

“Well, actually she came in the director’s office and seemed to be troubled about something”

“Oh” the boy said softly, moving his eyes around, thinking “well yesterday she was a bit too peevish for her normal self and she said to me that something had indeed happened” Genesis perked his head up and tensed his shoulders, caught by what the 2nd class was about to say “but she didn’t want to talk about it” he slumped his shoulders in disappointment.

“Okay” Genesis sighed and turned to walk away.

“Yeah, no problem!” Zack rolled his eyes.

  You were currently running towards your room, quickly you opened the door and started preparing your bag with the strictly necessary for a trip under the plate, you were trying to do it as fast as you could, fortunately no one was in the bedroom at the moment: no one had to notice that you were preparing to escape and now it was the perfect time, everyone was in the training room and you had to prepare everything before someone came back from there. As soon as everything was ready you hurried outside your bedroom and outside the building and towards the under plate.

You were striding towards the entrance, towards the stairs, towards the edge between the two worlds, when someone grabbed your arm, you shrieked and pulled away, turning around and looking in a pair of blue eyes, that pair belonging to the 1st class you became closer in the last month.

“What do you think you’re doing, (y/n)?” he frowned at your angered expression.

“I’m going away, forever!” you shouted, before preparing to run away.

“Why?” Genesis calmly asked, even if he was feeling betrayed.

“why… because ShinRa is not my home, not anymore” you whispered, looking at him past your shoulder.

“What do you mean?”

“You won’t understand”

“Then make me!” he exclaimed desperately “Or at least look at me” he murmured, lowering his gaze to look at his own feet.

You slowly turned around and sighed, before putting your palms on both his cheeks, he lifted his gaze to look at you, betrayal could be seen in his eyes “Sorry” you whispered “I really couldn’t stop to say goodbye or explain”

He grabbed your wrists softly and pulled them down to take your hands in his “now you can” he stated “please” he begged.

You sighed again and looked down for a moment, before looking into his eyes again “I asked Lazard if he could give me some days to visit my sister, she’s really ill and today arrived another letter from my mom that urged me to come back home because she is going to- she probably will-” you weren’t able to finish your sentence because tears started to pool in your eyes.

“Another letter you say? For how long did you know about your sister?” Genesis tried to keep calm in your place.

You shrugged and shook your head “I’ve known about it only since yesterday night, Kunsel gave me a letter a boy asked him to give to me, the letter talked vaguely about my sisters’ condition and it said that more information would have come today”

“So this was the thing Kunsel wanted to talk about” he whispered more to himself than to you, but you nodded anyway.

You sniffled and tried to tear your hands from Genesis’ grip to wipe the tears you could feel starting to fall down, but a squeeze to your hands brought you back to reality, so you cleared your throat and resumed your explanation with a voice that threaten every time to crack “death is near for her, I wanted to stay by her side for her last moments, you know…”

“And he didn’t agree?”

“No no, at first he agreed, but then he asked what was the cause of her illness” you stayed silent for a bit, wondering if it was really the case to tell him everything, you took a deep breath “she’s ill because of the damage the Mako reactors are doing”.

Genesis looked at you with one raised eyebrow and you released his hands abruptly with an exasperated sigh “don’t you see?!” you exclaimed “the land around us is deserted, lifeless! People are falling ill because the ShinRa is taking the life from our planet!” your chest was raising and falling in a quick pace, filled with anger “and you know what? Our beloved director had the guts to say it wasn’t true! ‘ShinRa is only doing good’ he said, ‘how could you even think that the company you’ve been serving for so many years is procuring suffer to the citizens?’ and ‘I absolutely refuse to give you days for a pathetic excuse as this one!’ and that’s why they couldn’t just send a letter about it, a boy had to give it anonymously to Kunsel or else the ShinRa would’ve censored it!” you finished your heated speech feeling a bit relieved from anger, which left a deep sadness in you and tears started to flow down your cheeks “now I really have to go” you sniffled, and took a step back.

“Wait!” the 1st class immediately stopped you with his words “will we meet each other again?”

“I highly doubt so” you chuckled bitterly

“Then I’m coming with you” he promptly answered

You widened your eyes and looked at him “you can’t” you shakily said

“Why not?” he took a step forward

“You don’t believe my words” you scoffed “you believe in ShinRa”

Chapter 3: Something to say

The snow was fierce, wind was blowing in your face, but you didn’t care, now the real important thing was taking care of your opponent, barely visible in that weather, but you didn’t need the sight, you were perfectly able to fight without it, or so you thought until an incredible force pushed you to the ground and brought his sword up in the air, preparing to hit, you closed your eyes, preparing for the impact, but it never came, instead you were able to hear a clang and see the reality fading in many pixels.

“Why did we stop?” you managed to say, still on the ground, through your heavy breaths.

“You’re tired, don’t lie, I can perfectly see it” the 1st class smirked, offering you one hand to help you get up.

“And you don’t lie to me, Genesis, your also tired” you scoffed, getting up ignoring his hand.

The red haired smiled at your behavior and watched you walking towards the exit, but suddenly stopping, you turned around and smiled to him “are you coming?”

He smiled back and reached you.

  “The shower is mine!” you exclaimed as soon as you entered Genesis’ room.

He rolled his eyes and watched you disappearing in the bathroom. As days passed, you kept getting closer to the red haired spending more time with him and sometimes even training with him, when this happened you used to stay with him after training and to avoid the queue to the shower and save time you used his bathroom.

The water could be heard pelting from the shower head while Genesis was reading on his bed, waiting for you to finish, when at some point his mind wandered to you, he thought how could’ve been holding you, caressing you, kissing your lips, or even showering with you, he would’ve also saved so much time, he smiled at those thoughts and felt his cheeks tingle, when he shook his head, as to free his mind from those thoughts, he was well aware of the feelings that you held towards him, you made them clear and ‘love’ was obviously not included.

You opened the door already dressed up, steam accompanied you as you passed one hand through your wet hair to smooth it back “well, go on” you smiled, throwing yourself on the bed as soon as Genesis got up.

“Don’t make yourself too much comfortable” he glared at you.

“I won’t” you smiled, adjusting in the bed and closing your eyes, giving out a relaxed sigh.

He rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time and entered the bathroom.

When he got out from the bathroom he saw you fast asleep under the cover of his bed: you fell asleep with your uniform on, but he didn’t want to wake you up, so he removed your shoes, dressed up for sleeping and adjusted your form so the both of you could fit in the bed, he then crawled in and hugged you close to his chest.

  The next morning you reached your friends to train with them, the memory of waking up next to the heat of the 1st class body still vivid, you never really shared a bed with him, so when you woke up and you found him still asleep, you just grabbed your shoes and sneaked out of his room fully embarrassed.

As soon as you entered the training room the three of your friends you were supposed to meet looked at you and smirked “hey (y/n), where have you been?”

“Uh… preparing for training?” you suggested, darting your eyes from left to right.

“Yeah, sure” said the first one

“But Zack told us that you’ve been out for all the night” another one winked at you.

You cursed Zack under your breath and rolled your eyes “ehy, I’m an adult woman, I can decide for myself”

“Yeah, she’s right guys, now let’s get back to work” the last one spoke and you mouthed him a ‘thank you’.

 “Okay guys, I’m pretty sure you want to stop now, yes?” you smiled, looking at you friends’ sweaty faces, well, sweaty might be an understatement as their faces were literally dripping drops of sweat.

“AH! If you think I’m going to surrender to you you’re completely wrong!” one of the guys exclaimed, getting into fighting position.

A breathy laugh escaped your lips and you calmly walked towards him, he looked curious at you, but never relaxed, you stopped near your friend and grinned, kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying to the wall “yup, I think you’re done!” you smiled again and went to the common bathrooms to refresh yourself.

 As soon as you finished you went to the common area to read a book that Sephiroth lent you. You were upside down on the couch, deeply engrossed in the book, when someone called out for you.

“Ehy (y/n)!” you recognized the voice as the friend that defended you earlier: Kunsel.

You stood up straight on the sofa, marking the page with a bookmark and watching him approaching “Ehy” you greeted, a bit fuzzy from the position you were taking earlier.

“I wanted to ask you something” he said, a bit embarrassed.

“Yeah? Go on” you smiled to him.

“Do you want to… uh… go out?”

“Do you mean… like a date?” you asked, a bit surprised by his embarrassment, in fact you and Kunsel were longtime friends and usually if he wanted to take a round in town he wouldn’t look so uneasy.

“No, obviously not” your friend laughed, but soon stopped “I-I mean, not that I wouldn’t take you out, but-”

“It’s okay” you interrupted him with a small laugh.

“Well, what do you say?” he looked at you, looking uneasy again.

“She can’t” another voice answered in your place, it was Genesis.

You and Kunsel turned both to him and you jolted upright “did I forgot it?” you exclaimed with your hands on your cheeks.

Genesis gave out a little laugh “yes… again” he now had an expression of reprimand.

“Sorry! I’m still in time?”

“Maybe” the redhead returned to smile to you, this time mischievously.

You gave out a sigh of relief and looked at Kunsel with an apologetic look “Sorry, I think we have to hang out another day”

You hugged him and he returned the hug, a bit more fierce than usual, then, without a word he turned back to exit the common room. You looked him going away and couldn’t stop thinking that something was off.

“Shall we go?” the 1st class hugged your shoulders and you nodded, still looking in the direction your friend had gone.

“Yes” you smiled to him and stole another glance at the door, to which Genesis strengthen his grip on you.

  “First you’re late then you don’t even listen to me?” Genesis sighed, snapping his fingers in front of your eyes to gain your attention.

“What?” you jumped, regaining your focus on reality “I was listening” you tried to convince him.

“Oh really? Then what was I saying?” the red haired smirked.

You widened your eyes and let them slowly slip left then right, before looking again to the man in front of you before starting to stutter.

“I knew it” he sighed again “what were you thinking of?” he asked, although he already knew the answer, that’s why his question had a bit of an harsh tone.

“Kunsel” you murmured, not paying attention to the tone of Genesis’ voice “it’s not like him behaving like that” you explained.

“I understand” the 1st class crossed his arms over his chest and leaned on the wall of the corridor behind him “maybe he have to say something to you, something on a… personal level” he suggested.

“What?” you whispered, blushing a bit “I don’t think so”.

“Yes, maybe it’s nothing, maybe he just wanted to spend some time with an old friend” he rolled his eyes, pushing himself from the wall and starting to walk away “if you’re so worried go talk to him” he said without even turning around to face you.

You jogged to reach him and searched for his eyes, but he didn’t want to look at you “no…” you finally murmured, looking down, still following the 1st class.

At your answer Genesis felt guilty, guilty for making you sad. He gulped the lump in his throat and slowed down his walking pace to a stop, you stopped with him and looked curiously at his face “really” he started, looking directly in your eyes “if you’re worried we can cancel our program” he smiled to you, resting his hands on both of your shoulders.

You shook your head and smiled back “I’m sure it’s nothing” or so you hoped.

 Kunsel was turning in his hands the letter that was destined to you, at that moment he lost every courage he had to give this letter to you, when he saw you walking back to your room from a distance ‘now or never’ he thought and ran towards you.

“(Y/n)!”

You turned around and smiled to him “hey Kunsel” you spent the time with Genesis hoping that what he had to say wasn’t nothing to worry about, but seeing the expression on his face was starting to make you regret not searching for him earlier “is everything alright?” you tried to approach him, but you were blocked by his stretched hand, which was holding a letter.

You tried to look at his face, but he had his head low, so you directed your attention towards the letter and took it from his hand, the envelope didn’t have the sender, but only the receiver, written big on the back: you. You opened the envelope and unfolded the text, trying to search for Kunsel’s eyes one last time before reading it.

As soon as you reached the final full stop for the second time your eyes started to pool with tears and Kunsel hugged you tight, you didn’t respond to the hug, to shock for doing anything, so the boy took the lead:

“I received the letter during my last mission” he whispered, caressing your hair “one boy under the plate gave it to me and fled without spilling even a word”

You nodded on his chest and started responding to the hug, sniffling firstly lightly, then starting to sob louder and louder.

“I’m so sorry, so sorry” Kunsel murmured, as if the fault was his “I wanted to take you outside to maybe soften the blow, but-”

“it’s okay” you interrupted him, with a voice muffled by his chest “I’m lucky to have you as a friend” you choked the sentence in your crying.

Chapter 2: I’m sorry... am I?

You narrowed your eyes on the table in front of you, your hand hesitated, rising and falling two or three times, uncertain “will you do your choice?” “Shut up, Sephiroth, I’m trying to concentrate” you murmured, finally moving one pawn “the move wasn’t worth the wait” he chuckled “did anything happen yesterday?” you frowned and looked away from him. Yesterday evening you came back from your mission with Genesis, you felt bad for what you asked him, and this was aggravated by the fact that he hadn’t talk to you since you climbed the helicopter to come back, you decided to not think about it and went directly in your bedroom, without bothering to greet anyone. That night Zack saw you in your bed, but preferred not waking you up, so basically you hadn’t see anyone since yesterday evening, until this morning Sephiroth showed up to ask if you wanted to play chess with him: it was what you two sometimes did to keep up on your friendship. “Not really” you sighed “but you hoped for it, didn’t you?” he smirked, moving his bishop “uh, no… or… yes…” you trailed off, a bit embarrassed “I-I don’t know” you shrugged, proceeding to move your only tower remaining “and…?” he suggested “I may or may not have asked the wrong question” you murmured “like?” he asked, eyes narrowed, seeming to try and analyze what your problem could be, even if he seemed more concentrated on the game when he moved one of his pawns “I asked about his childhood” you sighed and moved, with a small movement of your index finger, one of the pieces that were on the edge of your side “Oh” he exhaled in a chuckle “I understand” “what are you laughing at?” you raised a bit your voice and your head, frowning “my dear, how possibly could you have known that this was a sensitive topic? You don’t have to blame yourself.” “Well, how do you know about this?” “I don’t” he moved another pawn “I just never heard him talking about it, so I figured I shouldn’t either” “so should’ve I” you pouted and let yourself fall on the backrest of your chair He raised an eyebrow “it’s like you’re searching for an excuse to not talk to him anymore” he watched your head also falling back to look at the ceiling “because he still want to talk to you for sure” “but he’s not talking to me since yesterday!” you threw your arms in the air, exasperated “did you give him the occasion, at least?” You quickly regained your posture to plant your palms on the table and looking at him with one eyebrow raised “what do you mean?” “well… maybe he was upset, but not directly for what you said, but your question made he think and he didn’t even thought about the fact that he wasn’t talking to you” “so… in your opinion he didn’t even realize?” you asked eagerly He nodded than smirked “I mean, did you hear him the other day, at dinner?” You tilted your head to the right, trying to remember, you narrowed your eyes, almost shutting them, until your face lighted up “you mean the ‘it’s my hometown so it will be easier’ thing?” you chuckled a bit “yes” Sephiroth chuckled with you “I’ll go talk to him” you said, starting to get up “ah-ah” Sephiroth scolded you, interrupting your movements “after finishing the match” You sighed and looked down, before smiling and moving an horse “check-mate”.

You were currently outside Genesis’ room, glaring at the door, you took a breath then knocked on it and waited, almost one minute, before knocking again “Genesis, hey, it’s me (y/n)” you tried calling for him, before pouting and lifting your hand to knock again, when a voice stopped you “(y/n)” it was Genesis “were you searching for me?” he smiled softly at you, before wiping some droplets of sweat from his forehead, you then noticed that he was wearing the usual 1st class uniform, instead of his usual bright red clothing. You opened your mouth to say something, but was interrupted again, this time by another voice “I’m going to my room and take a shower” Angeal, who was coming from behind the red haired, patted his back when he reached him “oh hey (y/n)” he greeted, noticing you “are we still up for tonight?” he then asked the other man, without even waiting for your ‘hello’ “yeah, sure” the other 1st class murmured, looking at Angeal’s hand, still on his shoulder “okay, then” the raven haired man smiled “see you tonight!” he waved while going away “what was it?” you asked, looking between Genesis and the retreating form of Angeal “Uh nothing” he waved off, before opening the door to his room “come” You followed him inside and looked around when he switched on the light, as always his bedroom was neat, well, it wasn’t like he had other people sleeping in with him to make a disaster of all his properties. You chuckled a bit when you thought about how he might’ve loose his mind when he was in the lower grades and had to share a room with someone else. “I’m going to take a shower” you heard the male’s voice interrupting your thoughts from the bathroom “Uh sure… go on” you murmured, unsure of what to say “we’ll talk once I’m out” he chuckled “because… I suppose you came here to talk” he smirked, poking his head from the bathroom door, you blushed at his words and saw him retreating once again in the other room. You sat on the bed when you heard the sound of water. You didn’t know what to do: you didn’t want to touch anything without permission, so you laid down on the bed, looking at the ceiling, thinking again about Sephiroth’s words, maybe you thought a lot about it, because at some point you weren’t able to hear the pour of water anymore and saw Genesis coming out from the bathroom, with only his pants on and his hair still wet. You looked at him, studying his form and all his muscles’ moves when he reached the other side of the room for his turtleneck “I’m all ears” his voice came muffled from the shirt he was still pulling down “umh… just wanted to make sure everything is okay” you said, looking back to the ceiling “between us” you added He finished to put on his shirt and looked at you, before lowering his head and sighing “I take your talking about yesterday” he said, before approaching you, you scooted a bit to make room for him and he sat down, near your shoulder “I’m not angry at you” he smiled, I was just thinking” his answer made you smile and taking a mental sigh of relief “is this why I didn’t even got a ‘goodbye’ yesterday?” “you’re saying that as you could’ve noticed” you scoffed “touché” he chuckled “I suppose that Sephiroth was right, then” you said, to which Genesis tilted his head “today we played chess” you started to explain “and I talked to him about this, then he told me what he thought about it and gave me some advice” “what?” Genesis laughed “was really Sephiroth giving you advice?” You chuckled nervously along with him, while trying to avoid his gaze “y-yes… I mean… he’s pretty good at it, since it worked” you muttered the last part “well, okay” he raised his hands as if surrending “maybe you’re right” he stopped his laugh, but with a smirk still present on his lips “but it’s still funny” you rolled your eyes and fixed them to the ceiling, when you felt some weight shifting beside you and saw the 1st class lie down beside you “I want to fix my mistake” he said softly, also looking at the ceiling “for having worried you” he answered when he turned his head to look in your confused eyes “you know there’s no need, right?” you chuckled “but I want to” he looked deeply in your blue eyes, filled with Mako energy, he always wondered what your natural color could’ve been. You shifted your gaze away from him, when he started to actually stare at you “and what do you plan?” you asked, blushing a bit “I want to bring you one dumbapple” he smiled brightly “I promise I will!” you laughed seeing his enthusiasm and ran the tip of your fingers on his hair, which was still drippling “your pillow will get all wet” you said absentmindedly, before you realized what you were doing and retreated immediately your hand. There was a moment of silence, before he spoke again “you should do this more often” he smiled, closing his eyes “it’s relaxing” “are you referring to me petting your hair?” you chuckled “not only this” he frowned, his eyes still closed “coming to my room, talking, staying near each other” he opened his eyes when he heard your chuckle “you know… what will it look like when I’ll start spending so much time in your bedroom?” “no, what will it look like?” he teased “well, like I’m your lover or… worse, your girlfriend!” you emphasized with the random movement of your hands “yeah” he laughed “what could be worse then be my girlfriend?” he laughed louder “I didn’t mean it like that, I-I meant it more like-” you were interrupted when someone knocked on the door “(y/n), time for exercise, Angeal told me you were here, I hope you’re here, because otherwise Genesis will beat the crap out of me for waking him up even though it’s almost lunch time” you recognized the voice of Zack and rolled your eyes at his extremely long explanation “I should go” you got up and headed to the door “bye” “bye” he whispered in reply The sound of the door shutting could be heard along the greetings you and Angeal’s puppy were exchanging. By the time Genesis couldn’t hear anymore voices he was taking his left arm over his eyes, preventing them from seeing, and started to think about the words you spoke before: ‘or worse, your girlfriend’. He then scoffed, before shifting to rest before lunch.

Chapter 1: Duties

You were lying on the sofa of the common room, trying to get some sleep after your last mission, maybe a bed would have been more comfortable, but there were too many people in your bedroom, because, being only a 2nd class SOLDIER, forced you to share your bedroom with at least other six people, you liked them, they were good people to share a bedroom with, but they were so loud sometimes that you couldn’t even hear your own thoughts.

That’s it, that’s why you were trying to sleep on the sofa, you were nearly in the land of dreams, when someone yelled suddenly at you

“(Y/N)!”

It was Zack, one of your roommates, who had planted his palms on the back of the sofa you were currently on to lean over and screaming your name with his usual happy voice, but you nearly fell over in fright. Zack just laughed and jumped over the backrest to sit at your side.

“Letting your guard down, (n/n)?”

You readjusted, sitting with your legs crossed and one hand over your mouth to hide your yawn

“Well… I should rest sometimes, after all I didn’t sleep for the past two nights” you murmured, still a bit sleepy

“Ow, too bad, I was waiting for you” he said smirking and in a suggestive tone

“Uh? How so…?” you asked, the sleepiness already gone for the curiosity

“Nah… I’ll leave you to sleep, since you are sooo tired” he mocked you while getting up from the sofa, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes.

You frowned and pouted “aw come on!” you whined, planting your hands on the edge of the sofa “puleeaase” you whined again, this time smirking and getting up to poke his cheek.

You started to poke all of his body, by the time you were actually tickling him, he fell to the floor for laughing too hard and you kneeled beside him to continue your little torture session, when you heard a little cough, you lifted your head to look at two men, two 1st class actually.

You got up immediately, trying to perform a salute that turned out strange, since you couldn’t seem to regain your composure, while Zack remained on the floor on one side, one leg crossed over the other and the palm of his hand to sustain his head while his elbow was planted on the floor

“Hey Angeal!” He smirked, gesturing with his fingers

“The simulation room is free right now” he nodded at him with just an hint of a smirk “didn’t you ask for it?”

Your eyes shined and your smile couldn’t be bigger

“Why did you ask for it so eagerly, anyway?” the other man, one with auburn hair asked, before looking in your direction and frowning, you were hugging Zack, nearly choking him with your strength

“Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!” you exclaimed, your smile couldn’t be even bigger when he started laughing, pushing you a bit away after having hugged you shortly, you then looked at the two 1st class and started to explain “you see, Zack promised me he would’ve take me to train in the simulation room”.

You stood up and smiled even larger at the boy beside you, who was also getting up

“why didn’t you ask directly to us?” The man with auburn hair asked

“Come on, Genesis” Angeal elbowed slightly the man beside him, receiving a slight growl from him “you know that the girl is a bit shy around you”

“It’s not true!” you snapped, making the three men looking at you “I-I mean, it’s not true…” you repeated in a quieter tone “I know that the room is always occupied by someone of a higher range than mine because they have priority, but Zack was usually there, so I asked him to do me a favor” you continued, your head low from embarrassment of having shouted before.

“Yes! And I granted your wish, so now let’s not waste time anymore!” Zack happily said before grabbing your arm and pulling you along.

The two 1st class watched the raven haired boy dragging you in a jog, until you escaped his grip and started running away while laughing, the boy laughing along and starting chasing you.

Angeal was smirking a bit, until he heard shuffling beside him and saw Genesis starting to walk in the direction you were running just moment before “where are you going?” he asked

“To see the fight, are you coming?” the redhead said, without even turning his head to look at his friend.

  You were running towards your opponent, i.e. Zack, in the simulation room, which, at the moment, was displaying a suggestive and very beautiful seaside landscape. The raven haired boy hoped that it could keep you a bit more calm, knowing your usual behavior during training, but he was so wrong. In fact, if your normal self was usual an happy and sometimes bit shy girl, who got distracted easily, during the battle you were always focused on the target, no matter what, you also had a great strength, your moves almost always flawless, all of this reasons made you one of the best 2nd class, also one of the very few women accepted through the lines of SOLDIERs.

The two first class from before were watching the fight through the screens outside the room, a little smirk pulling at the edge of the redhead lips as you launched yourself at your opponent with a loud scream, your sword clashing hard on the other’s one

“I know your bet is on her” Angeal said, breaking the silence, Genesis only turned his head for a moment towards his friend, frowning, before slowly turning again to watch the screens

“Well of course” he answered, the echoing of both yours and Zack’s screaming and battle noises the only thing that could be heard for a bit, until he spoke again “I’m starting to think that you should’ve decide to train her, instead of that puppy of yours”

“Really?” the raven haired SOLDIER crossed his arms over his chest and fully turned to look at Genesis “why? So you could’ve seen her more often?” he asked in a playful smirk

“what is this supposed to mean?” an annoyed look on the SOLDIER with auburn hair as he, also, turned to look in the eyes of the other one “I just think that her fighting abilities are far more superior than the one of your puppy”

“why don’t you train her, then?”

“it’s not my area” he shrugged

“it’s not your area, uh?” his smirk widening

“no, I do not wish to take the assignment of looking after someone else” he rolled his eyes

“then I will ask Zack instead… to be her companion on her next mission”,  he now fully smiled, turning back to walk away “see you at dinner” he gave an hint of a wave.

Genesis frowned a bit in his direction, until he heard the noise of the door of the room opening, and saw you and Zack walking outside, a bit bruised and definitely breathless, but still lightly laughing, he turned in your direction and smiled to you when he met your eyes, you smiled back briefly, before walking away to accompany the boy that was currently leaning on you to the infirmary.

  “Here they come!” Angeal happily announced when he saw you and Zack approaching their table during dinner, a trail in the hands of both of you, you saw him sitting with Sephiroth and Genesis, waving for you to come sit with them “about time!” he exclaimed when you were closer, looking between you and Zack “what took you so long?”

“Well… Zack was beat up, umh… really bad” you murmured with an hint of a smirk on your lips, you felt bad for the boy, but you were also proud of your progress

“yeah, but it’s all fine now” he rolled his eyes, before almost throwing his trail on the table and sitting beside Angeal, you laughed a bit and proceeded to sit beside the raven haired boy, the other two 1st class on the opposite side of the three of you, you noticed they had finished their meal already, but not too long ago.

“why aren’t you already a 1st class, I wonder…” Genesis smirked at you

“Oh well, it’s not like the ShinRa is a place for sexist” you sarcastically answered, the other laughing with you a bit “anyway” you started again, fiddling with your food, while looking intently at it “it’s not like I’m as good as you all”

“you still have a path to follow kid, all will arrive with time” Sephiroth smiled at you, you smiled back and started to eat.

The conversation restarted between the rest of them, you only made some comment here and there, meanwhile you noticed Genesis putting away a book in the pocket of his jacket.

“hey (y/n)” said Angeal at some point “for your next mission-“

“my next mission?” you pouted a bit “ but I just came back!”

“don’t worry, it’s just a routine town checking in Banora”

“well then… why don’t you send a 3rd class instead?” you rubbed your forehead a bit

Angeal laughed a bit “sorry, ask Lazard instead, you know they come from him”

You frowned, you didn’t want to go to your superior and whining just because you didn’t want to do your job. So you sighed and looked up at raven haired 1st class “what about my mission, Angeal?”

“I thought you could use some company” you couldn’t really swear on it, but you thought seeing him flashing a smirk to Genesis, “so” he started solemnly “Zack, you go with her”

Zack hugged you excited and smiled joyfully “yay! A mission together, (n/n)!”

You laughed along with him “yes it’s been a while!”

“(n/n)?” asked Genesis, mostly to himself, but you were able to hear him

“yes, it’s the nickname Zack gave me” you answered, pulling away from the hug

“now you give each other nicknames?” asked Sephiroth almost scoffing

“no, it’s just him giving me stupid names!” you frowned, a bit embarrassed

“well, (n/n)” the red haired 1st class almost spat out that little word while standing “I’m sorry to be the ‘party pooper’, but tomorrow you’re coming with me” he smiled

“and why is that?” asked Sephiroth, with a bit of amusement

“because” he glared to his silver haired friend, before turning again to you “the city you’re going tomorrow is my hometown, you know?”

“Banora?” you asked confused

“yes, since I know the place our task will be easier” he nodded, as if to try and convince more himself of the credibility of his excuse, before heading to his room, you then cleared your throat and headed to Lazard’s office to know the details of your mission after cleaning his and yours trail.

After you were gone the two 1st class started laughing, Angeal louder than Sephiroth’s composed laugh, while Zack started to look around, frowning “what? What happened?”

  The next morning Genesis was fully ready and waiting for you on the first floor, he huffed, you were late, or was he who came too much early? He huffed again, trying to clear his mind from this useless thoughts and closed his eyes, exhaling deeply

“Hey Gen!” his head snapped up and his eyes open at the sound of that voice, he rolled his eyes looking at his raven haired friend walking towards him, he knew exactly why he was there: obviously to tease him.

“so… changed your mind?” Angeal smirked standing in front of his friend, his arms crossed over his chest

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” he huffed crossing one leg over the other and letting his back fall on the backrest

“Ow come on… ‘it’s my hometown so the task will be easier’?” he scoffed “how can a simple look around could possibly be easier?”

The other 1st class rolled his eyes again, when he heard footsteps approaching them quickly, he turned his head towards the source of the sound to see that you were running, almost breathless.

You putted your hands on your knees, while arching your back and panting heavily “sorry… for… the delay” you managed to say through your heavy breaths

“don’t worry” said Genesis, standing up “come, our departing is in a few minutes” he started to walk away and you straighten your back, smiling and waving to Angeal before following the red haired.

  You sighed and stretched your back getting out of the helicopter “the air here is sooo fresh” you sighed deeply with a smile and your eyes closed

Genesis reaching you as soon as he also got down from the helicopter, the sword swirling in one hand, while the other was on his hip “I know, right?” he said, looking around almost emotionless, until he was distracted by one of your marveled gasp

“what are those?” you asked, running towards some arc like shaped trees, their trunks were white and the petals of their flowers were falling, preparing the trees to bear fruit

The auburn haired man reached you for the second time and smiled at you a bit, before turning his head upwards to look at the rays of sunshine coming through the branches “these are Banora White’s trees” he said, looking back at you “but the villagers call them-”

“dumbapples! They’re dumbapples trees!” you exclaimed, cutting him off and looking around you amazed

“yes… you know them?” he smiled down at you

You smiled back and answered “Of course! How could I ever not know about dumbapples? I would have zero possibilities to make 1st otherwise!” you looked around yourself a bit more before starting to speak again “besides… I always wanted to try one”

You were looking towards the not so distant little village of Banora, the sunlight and the trees’ shadows covering you created an amazing play of light, bringing out all your beautiful features.

Genesis looked at you in admiration, regaining his composure when he realized he was staring “shall we go?” he asked, starting to walk towards the village.

  “Hey (y/n)” the 1st class started, striding on the grass, he was too tall for you and the only way to keep his pace was going on a bit jog next to him “I’ll let you know” he came to an halt in front of a wooden house, you stopped next to him “that this is also Angeal’s hometown” he nodded towards the house “this is his home” he then smiled at you, before starting to walk again, this time in a calmer pace.

You looked at the house a bit more, before striding to reach him “so that’s why you’re so bonded with each other, you’re childhood friends” you reasoned to yourself in a whisper.

After a while you came to another halt and, from a distance, you could see a playfield where some kids were chasing each other for fun “this is where we usually played” Genesis said, following the children with his gaze.

You nodded and then there was silence between you two before you spoke again “will you show me other places?” you asked and he grabbed your wrist, dragging you in a little tour of the village.

  You were sitting on the grass, cross legged, while Genesis was behind you, leaning on a tree, you stretched and let your back fall on the ground

“thanks Genesis” you sighed, looking at him from your position “for our little tour”

He winked at you and proceeded to sit down near your head, his legs stretched forward and his back leaned on the tree trunk; he then grabbed a book from his pocket and opened it, to start reading it, you recognized it for being the same book as yesterday “Lo… v…” you whispered, in an attempt to read the cover

“Loveless” he read it for you

“interesting name” you murmured rolling on your stomach and planting your elbows on the grass to lift your upper body

“the content is interesting as well” he smirked

“then what are you waiting for? Read it to me” you proceeded to rest your chin in your palms, he looked at you for a bit, almost trying to figure you out, before starting to read.

  By the time Genesis finished reading you had closed your eyes and rested your chin on your crossed arms

“(y/n)” he sighed “are you sleeping?” he asked, leaning a bit towards you

“how could have I?” you smiled opening your eyes to look at him “it was too beautiful to lose even a single bit of it”

He smiled softly at you and closed his book to rest his right arm on one knee while keeping the other arm and leg stretched, you got up to sit beside him cross-legged

“how come Angeal and Sephiroth don’t like to hear it?” you chuckled softly

“I think I’ve bored them to death” he frowned

“well… I like it” you smiled, before frowning a bit

“what happened?” he asked gently

“uh… nothing, it’s just that… you showed me all Banora, except for your places”

“what do you mean? I showed you the places where Angeal and I-”

“exactly!” you exclaimed interrupting him “you didn’t show me nothing only yours”

He stared at you for a moment, thinking about a proper answer, before scoffing and looking away from you “ I don’t like my past” he stated, while shaking his head

You bit your bottom lip, thinking, then you felt regret and shame, regret for asking such a question and shame for having upset Genesis “I’m sorry” you murmured, looking down at your lap