"So, I'm thinking of retiring," Angeal says suddenly one night as they're all relaxing in the Honeybee Inn.
One of the bees who'd been bringing over the latest round of alcohol nearly trips on her own high heels. No one can say that Genesis fairs much better; he had been about to crawl demandingly right onto Sephiroth's lap but those words are enough to make one of his knees misjudge its landing and he nearly slips right off. It's only Sephiroth grabbing at his waist that keeps his chin from slamming into the cushioned seats. "What!?" he squawks, trying to scramble back upright into a respectable position. Or at least one better made for conversation.
Not that Sephiroth can't understand his surprise, honestly. Even he is straightening up, brow furrowing as he tries to think back to the last few months for anything that might have inspired Angeal to this course of action. "Is there something that's been unsatisfying for you?" he finally asks, when nothing comes to mind.
Angeal just shrugs, not seeming concerned in the slightest at the reactions he's caused around him. Why, if Sephiroth didn't know better, he would say that he might even be getting some pleasure out of them. "I wouldn't say that," he replies, waiting until the honeybee sets down their drinks and scurries off like she's about to have a heart attack before he goes to pick up a beer. "It's been going fine, after all. But I think that's all the more reason to step back right now. Take a break while it's all still good, and while I have the time to plan it out better instead of..." He moves the hand holding the beer can around in what Sephiroth has learned is a meaningless gesture. "I don't know. Dying."
"Like anyone would be able to kill you," Genesis snaps, finally righting himself. He doesn't get off of Sephiroth's lap, however, instead preferring to side sideways with one leg still sprawled possessively across Sephiroth's own. "Honestly, you are terribly dramatic."
"Somehow, I think you're the last person that I want to hear that from. Besides, I'm not saying I'm going to die. Just using it as an example of how most guys leave this line of work."
And Sephiroth supposes that out of everyone in Midgar who would know how that sort of thing happens, it would be Angeal and Genesis.
After all, in order to take control of Wall Market, that's what exactly what the two of them did to the last boss.
Sephiroth never met the man personally. According to the stories that he'd picked up about him, likely this is a blessing, for not a single one had been worth any good. There'd not even been a funeral. Of course, that last part may have been because he's fairly certain that Angeal and Genesis put him into an unmarked grave in a ditch somewhere, but that is just semantics, as Genesis would tease him.
All he knows is that he'd met Angeal and Genesis in the middle of their takeover, and that, while messy, it had apparently been a marked improvement. Sephiroth could never had said that from his own experience, not having any before the two of them... It'd just been a marked improvement for the rest of his life.
He can somewhat see the sense in Angeal's argument, with all that in mind, and Sephiroth tilts his head to the side slightly. "Best to settle things during a time of peace, instead of when things are tense or you have active enemies..." Genesis and Angeal obviously have enemies, with the territory they've established for themselves, but no one has been particularly active about it, as far as Sephiroth knows. A sort of truce, for the time being.
"Exactly." Angeal takes a sip of his beer, still reclined comfortably in his own seat. "Besides, it's not like I'd be gone, or if I'm even retiring tomorrow. This is a future thing."
Sephiroth nods along. "Indeed. You have always handled Wall Street with some finesse. I couldn't imagine you doing something so reckless as leaving behind all of this. You aren't Genesis."
"Excuse you."
"Exactly. I've spent all this time setting it up and keeping it safe. I'm not going to set it on fire. I'm not-"
"Honestly, I did not come this far in life and take over the Golden Saucer just to be slandered by a pair of wretched jabbering eels with high ambitions!" Sephiroth has no idea where the 'eel' part came from, and it apparently doesn't matter. Using Sephiroth as an anchor, Genesis leans over to grab Angeal's shirt to drag him over. Although perhaps it cannot be called a proper drag when Angeal is more than willing to follow the gesture, blue eyes shining in amusement. "Wretched, absolutely."
Angeal laughs, a low sound that soon soothes itself into a lower rumble of a sound that's hard to describe... and only comes about from moments like these, when Genesis drives his teeth into the soft of his throat. He adjusts himself, hands bracing against the back of the seat. "Apologies for being so wretched, then. But you don't get any returns."
"Mmm, as though I'd let anyone else take you..."
While the two of them are busy entertaining one another - a common occurrence whenever someone is around them for whatever reason - Sephiroth just ducks under Angeal's arm and around him so that he can reach out for his own drink. By all technicalities, he'd been here as Genesis's companion, and so Genesis had been the one who decided to treat him. That means a classy red wine that matches his hair. It's always red, with Genesis. "How long do you think it will take to properly prepare for retirement, then?" he asks after he's had a couple of sips.
"Probably - mm, probably not that long," Angeal says thoughtfully, while Genesis focuses on making marks on his neck that will be gone by the morning. "A couple of years, at most? I already got someone in mind, actually."
"What." Genesis pulls away from Angeal's neck so suddenly that he cracks the top of his head against Angeal's jaw. "This is certainly news to me."
Angeal rubs at his jaw. "Ow," he says, more obliging than anything else. Genesis has a hard head, and Sephiroth suspects that Angeal's own skull is just as hard to keep up with him. He's managed to know both of them long enough to know that it's a show when they both get stubborn in opposing directions. "And that's because I hadn't really been committed to the idea yet. I was just checking in on some things first, to make sure that I had the right idea. Shown him around a bit. It's not even made it past that much."
Probably why it's only now that Angeal has decided to bring up retiring at all. It's not the sort of thing he'd be inclined into doing if he didn't at least have some sort of lead. "It is somewhat sudden," Sephiroth says quietly.
Delicately easing Genesis's fingers from his shirt, Angeal settles down on the redhead's other side. "I don't think there's a way I could have brought it up and have it not feel sudden," he admits, with some guilt. "Especially when things are going this well. Better than well, in fact." He rubs his hand along the back of his neck. "Almost so good that it's enough to make me nervous."
"You always worry about such things," Genesis sighs, but he settles against Angeal's side almost as if he's melting. As if he wasn't ever supposed to have left him. His free hand tugs a little bit at Sephiroth's long hair in quiet demand.
Well, it's never as if he needed any influence to want to be near Angeal, only permission and guarantee that he's allowed. Having rules in this regard is almost soothing whenever the too wide world is far too much, and this is... a little bit more than he knows how to handle on his own. Sephiroth moves around the cushioned seats easily enough, settling on Angeal's other side. "Is there something in particular that's worrying you?" If there was, they'd take care of it with no small amount of ease... or, even if it were not easy, then Sephiroth has no doubts about how readily he and Genesis would take to the task.
A combination of professional and personal reasons, he supposes. For both of them. On paper, Angeal may simply be the 'boss', the one who tells Sephiroth where to go and who is client is, but their bond - between all three of them - went past simple 'professionalism' a long time ago.
Most of arguably Sephiroth's work consists of sex, which he does not have any particular grudge against. However, he's never hesitated in something somewhat more bloody, whenever it's been necessary.
"I'm telling you, it's nothing specific," Angeal insists. "Besides... It's not like I doubt I'm cut for this much." His fingers tap along cheap aluminum, and Sephiroth waits patiently for him to find the right words he wants to use. "Being the boss of so much, I mean. I'm fine with the people work, I don't mind that. But all the other things are starting to tire me out. And it's not like I can just make a simple change of career, here."
"That sounds as though what you want is a vacation," Sephiroth says thoughtfully.
"I told you we should have gone on a vacation to the beach months ago," Genesis says at the exact same time with a click of his tongue.
Angeal shakes his head, but Sephiroth knows that he can't exactly argue against them. "Listen, that's easier said than done. Besides, retirement is just a nice, long vacation." He shifts his head, just enough so that he can look over at Genesis and quirk up an eyebrow. "Besides, I thought you'd like the idea of me in retirement. Then I could just hang around you, or at our place. Personally, I like the idea of being your trophy husband."
no subject
One of the bees who'd been bringing over the latest round of alcohol nearly trips on her own high heels. No one can say that Genesis fairs much better; he had been about to crawl demandingly right onto Sephiroth's lap but those words are enough to make one of his knees misjudge its landing and he nearly slips right off. It's only Sephiroth grabbing at his waist that keeps his chin from slamming into the cushioned seats. "What!?" he squawks, trying to scramble back upright into a respectable position. Or at least one better made for conversation.
Not that Sephiroth can't understand his surprise, honestly. Even he is straightening up, brow furrowing as he tries to think back to the last few months for anything that might have inspired Angeal to this course of action. "Is there something that's been unsatisfying for you?" he finally asks, when nothing comes to mind.
Angeal just shrugs, not seeming concerned in the slightest at the reactions he's caused around him. Why, if Sephiroth didn't know better, he would say that he might even be getting some pleasure out of them. "I wouldn't say that," he replies, waiting until the honeybee sets down their drinks and scurries off like she's about to have a heart attack before he goes to pick up a beer. "It's been going fine, after all. But I think that's all the more reason to step back right now. Take a break while it's all still good, and while I have the time to plan it out better instead of..." He moves the hand holding the beer can around in what Sephiroth has learned is a meaningless gesture. "I don't know. Dying."
"Like anyone would be able to kill you," Genesis snaps, finally righting himself. He doesn't get off of Sephiroth's lap, however, instead preferring to side sideways with one leg still sprawled possessively across Sephiroth's own. "Honestly, you are terribly dramatic."
"Somehow, I think you're the last person that I want to hear that from. Besides, I'm not saying I'm going to die. Just using it as an example of how most guys leave this line of work."
And Sephiroth supposes that out of everyone in Midgar who would know how that sort of thing happens, it would be Angeal and Genesis.
After all, in order to take control of Wall Market, that's what exactly what the two of them did to the last boss.
Sephiroth never met the man personally. According to the stories that he'd picked up about him, likely this is a blessing, for not a single one had been worth any good. There'd not even been a funeral. Of course, that last part may have been because he's fairly certain that Angeal and Genesis put him into an unmarked grave in a ditch somewhere, but that is just semantics, as Genesis would tease him.
All he knows is that he'd met Angeal and Genesis in the middle of their takeover, and that, while messy, it had apparently been a marked improvement. Sephiroth could never had said that from his own experience, not having any before the two of them... It'd just been a marked improvement for the rest of his life.
He can somewhat see the sense in Angeal's argument, with all that in mind, and Sephiroth tilts his head to the side slightly. "Best to settle things during a time of peace, instead of when things are tense or you have active enemies..." Genesis and Angeal obviously have enemies, with the territory they've established for themselves, but no one has been particularly active about it, as far as Sephiroth knows. A sort of truce, for the time being.
"Exactly." Angeal takes a sip of his beer, still reclined comfortably in his own seat. "Besides, it's not like I'd be gone, or if I'm even retiring tomorrow. This is a future thing."
Sephiroth nods along. "Indeed. You have always handled Wall Street with some finesse. I couldn't imagine you doing something so reckless as leaving behind all of this. You aren't Genesis."
"Excuse you."
"Exactly. I've spent all this time setting it up and keeping it safe. I'm not going to set it on fire. I'm not-"
"Honestly, I did not come this far in life and take over the Golden Saucer just to be slandered by a pair of wretched jabbering eels with high ambitions!" Sephiroth has no idea where the 'eel' part came from, and it apparently doesn't matter. Using Sephiroth as an anchor, Genesis leans over to grab Angeal's shirt to drag him over. Although perhaps it cannot be called a proper drag when Angeal is more than willing to follow the gesture, blue eyes shining in amusement. "Wretched, absolutely."
Angeal laughs, a low sound that soon soothes itself into a lower rumble of a sound that's hard to describe... and only comes about from moments like these, when Genesis drives his teeth into the soft of his throat. He adjusts himself, hands bracing against the back of the seat. "Apologies for being so wretched, then. But you don't get any returns."
"Mmm, as though I'd let anyone else take you..."
While the two of them are busy entertaining one another - a common occurrence whenever someone is around them for whatever reason - Sephiroth just ducks under Angeal's arm and around him so that he can reach out for his own drink. By all technicalities, he'd been here as Genesis's companion, and so Genesis had been the one who decided to treat him. That means a classy red wine that matches his hair. It's always red, with Genesis. "How long do you think it will take to properly prepare for retirement, then?" he asks after he's had a couple of sips.
"Probably - mm, probably not that long," Angeal says thoughtfully, while Genesis focuses on making marks on his neck that will be gone by the morning. "A couple of years, at most? I already got someone in mind, actually."
"What." Genesis pulls away from Angeal's neck so suddenly that he cracks the top of his head against Angeal's jaw. "This is certainly news to me."
Angeal rubs at his jaw. "Ow," he says, more obliging than anything else. Genesis has a hard head, and Sephiroth suspects that Angeal's own skull is just as hard to keep up with him. He's managed to know both of them long enough to know that it's a show when they both get stubborn in opposing directions. "And that's because I hadn't really been committed to the idea yet. I was just checking in on some things first, to make sure that I had the right idea. Shown him around a bit. It's not even made it past that much."
Probably why it's only now that Angeal has decided to bring up retiring at all. It's not the sort of thing he'd be inclined into doing if he didn't at least have some sort of lead. "It is somewhat sudden," Sephiroth says quietly.
Delicately easing Genesis's fingers from his shirt, Angeal settles down on the redhead's other side. "I don't think there's a way I could have brought it up and have it not feel sudden," he admits, with some guilt. "Especially when things are going this well. Better than well, in fact." He rubs his hand along the back of his neck. "Almost so good that it's enough to make me nervous."
"You always worry about such things," Genesis sighs, but he settles against Angeal's side almost as if he's melting. As if he wasn't ever supposed to have left him. His free hand tugs a little bit at Sephiroth's long hair in quiet demand.
Well, it's never as if he needed any influence to want to be near Angeal, only permission and guarantee that he's allowed. Having rules in this regard is almost soothing whenever the too wide world is far too much, and this is... a little bit more than he knows how to handle on his own. Sephiroth moves around the cushioned seats easily enough, settling on Angeal's other side. "Is there something in particular that's worrying you?" If there was, they'd take care of it with no small amount of ease... or, even if it were not easy, then Sephiroth has no doubts about how readily he and Genesis would take to the task.
A combination of professional and personal reasons, he supposes. For both of them. On paper, Angeal may simply be the 'boss', the one who tells Sephiroth where to go and who is client is, but their bond - between all three of them - went past simple 'professionalism' a long time ago.
Most of arguably Sephiroth's work consists of sex, which he does not have any particular grudge against. However, he's never hesitated in something somewhat more bloody, whenever it's been necessary.
"I'm telling you, it's nothing specific," Angeal insists. "Besides... It's not like I doubt I'm cut for this much." His fingers tap along cheap aluminum, and Sephiroth waits patiently for him to find the right words he wants to use. "Being the boss of so much, I mean. I'm fine with the people work, I don't mind that. But all the other things are starting to tire me out. And it's not like I can just make a simple change of career, here."
"That sounds as though what you want is a vacation," Sephiroth says thoughtfully.
"I told you we should have gone on a vacation to the beach months ago," Genesis says at the exact same time with a click of his tongue.
Angeal shakes his head, but Sephiroth knows that he can't exactly argue against them. "Listen, that's easier said than done. Besides, retirement is just a nice, long vacation." He shifts his head, just enough so that he can look over at Genesis and quirk up an eyebrow. "Besides, I thought you'd like the idea of me in retirement. Then I could just hang around you, or at our place. Personally, I like the idea of being your trophy husband."