"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."
The two of them have apparently known each other for a long time; Sephiroth has gathered that it's nearly their entire lives. This shows most blatantly in how easily Angeal can distract and convince Genesis of things, sometimes, because he certainly knows well enough what Genesis likes. The redhead pauses, gaze sharpening as he considers the mental image of Angeal always waiting for him at their home, work not distracting the two of them nearly as much. A pleased smile crosses his face, and he presses a palm along the curve of Angeal's jaw to pull in another kiss for himself. "Throw in only your apron, and I wouldn't mind that deal at all."
"Are you referring to the apron that says king of sausage?" Sephiroth asks, remembering the occasions he's been able to visit the Hewley-Rhapsodos (aka Rhapsodos-Hewley) residence, named depending on whoever'd won the latest poker match.
"Yes," Angeal says with absolutely zero hesitation.
"Absolutely not," Genesis replies, hand moving to the back of Angeal's head so that he can tug at his hair a bit. "I really am going to find that thing and burn it to ashes, until not even the memory is left. Where on earth did you ever get it?"
"We've gone over this, Gen. You bought it for me. When you were drunk. We never get drunk, how could I throw away a memory of such a rare and precious occasion?"
Genesis swears in Banoran, the language once eloquent and now twisted crassly on his tongue, and Angeal gets another few bite marks along his neck for good measure. This is not a particularly new occurrence, especially with how much Angeal seems to enjoy it. With how easily the two of them seem to heal up, probably there's a point to him constantly encouraging Genesis's teeth.
Of course, with reoccurrence comes experience, and Angeal is still perfectly in control of his faculties as he gives a side glance over to Sephiroth. "So how's the wine tonight?" he asks, as if he and Gen don't pay attention to little details like this.
It's fine, of course, and they both know it. Sephiroth finishes off his latest sip before putting the glass back onto its tray. "Genesis has good taste in his choices," he says, because he knows that it pleases Genesis to hear such things. Sure enough, where his hands are tugging impatiently at Angeal's shirt and his mouth is still stubbornly working a mark into his skin, a low purr starts to sink into tender flesh. But that's not really what's been gently inquired of him, and they both know it. Shifting onto one knee, Sephiroth settles his hand along Angeal's side. "Try for yourself."
Maybe it's because of the prior subject matter, but they somehow manage to keep each other from going more than just one round all together. That's nearly a record, honestly. With how demanding Genesis can get, he often demands a round from Angeal and him each when he has the good fortune of having them both together.
But they're both busy men, and Genesis is a bit far from his own portion of territory that the two have split together. It will take a bit of time, if nothing else, to get back, and clearly he's going to plan for quite a bit just for Angeal bringing up the idea of retirement. "You really do make things so busy for me," Genesis says with a click of his tongue, doing the belt around his hips once again so that he looks vaguely presentable. Or, at the least, so that he won't lose an expensive belt from carelessness. The aesthetic is everything, when it comes to Genesis.
Angeal's clothes have always been a bit more simple: simple no-nonsense pants that blood washes off of easily enough, a tank top that does a good enough job at hiding his piercings, and a open vest that shows off the simple chain necklace there from his neck. Sephiroth has seen him use it as impromptu knuckledusters, when it's been prudent.
That means as Genesis struggles with something with far too many belts, Angeal is free to help Sephiroth with his own mildly complicated outfit, black and skintight, meant to show off his body. This isn't the first time he's helped; Sephiroth can't help but wonder when the last time will be. "How's that?" he asks, once he's tugged some rather troublesome material down into place a little bit better.
It's not even the most uncomfortable position or outfit that Sephiroth's ever been in, but he knows that Angeal gets annoyed if people are uncomfortable and don't tell him. "It should do well enough until I can change," he says, after a slight moment of thought.
Considering that he was the one to choose these clothes at Genesis's encouragement - something properly chosen by himself for himself instead of just the same old wear governed by others for their own reasons - it almost feels a bit foolish to make any complaints on minor things. He suspects that Angeal has an idea of that sort of thinking, but he doesn't say anything about it. There's just a faint quirk of his eyebrow before he steps back. "If you say so. Gen, are you ready yet?"
Genesis pushes his hair back with the heel of his palm, making it look artfully messy instead of where their fingers had been gripping tightly to pull him around. "You cannot rush greatness," he drawls. "But yes, shall we?"
The three of them don't really have a chance to go very far. Or, rather, it's more that Angeal doesn't have a chance to go very far. Which is sort of amusing in its own right, of course, because the three of them had made a beeline ("Ha" had come out of Angeal's mouth before Genesis's fist had landed somewhere in his kidneys) straight for the employee backrooms. With Angeal and Genesis being the names that they are in the lower plates, it's just a less bothersome route. For Angeal especially, with how this is all his territory.
Normally it's less bothersome. Tonight, the second that they make it past all the janitorial equipment that is meant to bore people from venturing any further if they aren't supposed to be here... There is a small platoon of flashily dressed people swarming all around them.
Sephiroth recognizes just about all of them, of course: Honeybee dancers and hostesses still done up to the nines, a few bartenders out of uniform that are normally scattered about Wall Market, various other sex workers who can be found wherever it might be easiest to listen in on something or get a job for the night. He's talked with some of them, but not often. Being unapproachable is still something of a problem with him, it seems... Regardless, he's made sure to know at least most of their faces, even if knowing all their names would be a challenge for anyone.
Much easier to know, on account of all the yelling, is how worked up everyone is.
"What if we start getting ShinRa lackeys busting our balls!?"
"Can I have your job if you don't want it-"
"Dev, shut up you idiot-"
"Is Genesis going to be the new boss!? Please say it's not Genesis-"
Throughout the entire time that the small mob has descended on them, Sephiroth has been taking pains to carefully help move Genesis along the wall and out of the way, even if the redhead has been doing his best to peer over his shoulder for his own entertainment. However, his far-too keen hearing manages to pick up on that last line, and he immediately perks up past Sephiroth's arms. "Hey. How dare you-"
Sephiroth manages to catch Angeal's gaze, in all of this, from where the man looks like he might drown from the force of everyone crowding around him. All he needs is for Angeal to raise his eyebrows pointedly, and Sephiroth moves wordlessly along with what's been asked of him.
His hands aren't exactly soundproof material, but they do well enough for their purposes right now. They've just settled over Genesis's ears when Angeal reaches up, fingers in his mouth for a sharp whistle that cuts through all the clamor. Genesis still wrinkles his nose, of course, and that's better than the alternative. "Calm down," Angeal says with a sigh, as everyone falls quietly obediently enough. "First of all, yes, Genesis is taking over Wall Market. We talked about how first order of business is making you all wear red uniforms."
"Oh, fuck off," Genesis and someone else from within the throng say at the exact same time. Someone had already cackled at one of Angeal's terrible bald-faced lies, but that gets even more laughter.
There's a bit of a grin on Angeal's face before he adjusts his stance, one hand on his hip as he surveys the motley group in front of him. Sephiroth can see the gears turning in his head on just how he should handle this whole mess. No doubt he'd wanted to keep this at least a little more on the down low... But loose lips can cause all sorts of havoc. "Alright, so all I did was think out loud about retiring some time in the future," he decides at last. "I am not retiring right this second or even this year. Try not to spin that in the worst possible light. I'll make a proper announcement..." He rolls his neck a bit, considering that. "In a couple of days. Just so that you can all stop spreading rumors. That's all, so can I walk out of a building unaccosted?"
Having a clear plan of action seems to be enough of a toll to indeed let him pass through without anymore problems. Genesis teases him about it and laughs all the way to the train station, seeming to have exchanged a needle towards himself for some entertainment on watching Angeal be bothered by his own people.
That just leaves the two of them, in the end, as many nights often seem to pass in Wall Market. Sephiroth doesn't mind. He's come to find a kind of serenity in the eternal night that rests down here. Maybe he should miss the sight of the sky more. The fresh air not bogged down by smoke and oil and too many things to name. A daytime that ends, instead of being neverending neon that one only finds respite from in forgotten alleys and apartments with all the blinds shut.
Sephiroth still likes it. Better than what he had before, which felt more restrictive than miles of metal there up above his head. Here, even if he's still unapproachable, there are still people who say his name with a smile. The work he does is pleasurable in his own way, and he gets to make choices for things for himself.
The clothes he wears. The places he goes, down here in Wall Market. The food he'll decide to eat tonight for dinner, whether that's something from a restaurant or a recipe he tries to carefully follow from Angeal's handwriting.
Maybe they're still limited, in many ways, from what he does for a living now... But he's come to learn that might just be how it is to live as an individual restricted to one's own body. Considering that he once never felt as though he would have much freedom to do anything, even this much is on occasion overwhelming.
Of course, for what seems overwhelming and more than enough to him is often something that others disagree on. It always seems as though they're giving him more and more, even after all these years.
Angeal proves that much, as the two of them step up towards the plainly labeled 'HQ' of Wall Market which doubles as a place for Angeal to stay at on occasion when he doesn't want to make his own short trip home. "So, what do you think?" he asks him, as they pass by the guards keeping things in order around the place and up the steps. "About the idea of me retiring."
With how much he's been talking about it, Sephiroth has to admit that he didn't think Angeal would want to talk more about it, and he blinks. "Well, I can see where your reasoning came from," he answers as they shut the double doors behind them, heading straight for the master suite tucked away deep inside the manor. "You explained it all clearly enough. Running territory like this is no small feat, and I imagine the extent of it was not something you and Genesis could have truly known when you first came down here. Whether it is a vacation or retirement, I can understand why you would want to step away from it."
And that's just how it is, isn't it? There aren't any flaws in Angeal's logic. If he's having problems, then he's having problems with the role. Just like Sephiroth is allowed to choose things for himself, so is Angeal... and he has faith in Angeal making sure to leave behind as little a mess as possible.
Opening the door to his room, Angeal looks over his shoulder with one of those faint and far too serious frowns of his. "Not like that. I meant... Personally. Do you, Sephiroth RH, like or not like the idea of me retiring?"
Oh. Now that isn't a question Sephiroth expected to have to answer. Not today, or any time in the future, really. Angeal had wanted to do it, he'd given perfectly sensible reasons for why he wanted to do it, and so what else really needed to be said? Being actually asked about it makes him pause, even as he steps inside of Angeal's room.
Although with the way that he's organized things, it's become more of a very small studio apartment more than anything else. Very practical, very efficient: a large bed that can actually handle someone of Angeal's frame, a small countertop resting atop a fridge and freezer with cupboards above it stuffed full with more food than anything else, the large wardrobe in the corner that holds clean changes of clothes and a secret entrance out of the building in case of the worst. And there, resting in its place held off of the floor, Buster. The only place that offers any privacy is a small door leading into a small shower and toilet.
"Want dinner?" Angeal asks him over his shoulder as though he didn't ask the question he did, already crouching down in front of the fridge to judge what he has in there. With him, it's almost always something fresh, even with how difficult that can be down here sometimes. One of the few privileges that Angeal permits himself to be spoiled with, along with the millions of potted plants that flourish here.
For lack of much other furniture, Sephiroth sits down on the edge of the bed. "If you're making enough," he says simply, which means that Angeal will of course make something that's more than enough. That much is proven when Angeal opts to pull out a thick cooking pot from somewhere within his cooking supplies, and begins pulling out what looks like crawfish from his fridge. Sephiroth isn't entirely sure where he got them; crawfish don't really live around Midgar last he checked.
While Angeal gets to stirring in oil and flour together into the pot, Sephiroth is given a moment to just... reflect on his own emotions. On the idea of a future where Angeal has stepped back from Wall Market.
It's a strange mental image. He almost can't picture it, honestly. When he thinks of Wall Market, he thinks of Angeal, just like how he always thinks of Genesis when he thinks of the Golden Saucer. Certainly, he can think of different stages of Wall Market, falling in step with the different facets of Angeal he's seen over the years, too.
Wall Market, people looming in the corners with weapons at the ready. Angeal, blue eyes too bright with neon reflected and always tense.
Wall Market, construction on every other corner as people covered up blood or damage while new energy pulsed through the streets. Angeal, hair pulled back in a tiny little ponytail while he bowed his head to Genesis's and the two of them talked about ambition.
Wall Market, present, glittering, still hiding blood and dark deals in the shadows directly under its lights, but with a lot more vitality to it as people keep moving in and out. Angeal, settled, sturdy, an ever present tide that pulls the sands of his territory with him to shape it all patiently. The Angeal that's standing in front of him right now, stirring the roux of their dinner patiently as though none of that matters.
If Angeal stops being the boss of Wall Market... Would all of this still be the same?
The success, the safe conditions, even probably the safety of everyone who works for him... That would probably still remain mostly intact, Sephiroth suspects. If Angeal is going to choose someone himself, then that much would at least be the bare minimum requirement. He's not lacking in any faith in that area.
But what about this room? Sephiroth closes his eyes. Ever since he first got to know him, Angeal has always had the best nose out of anyone he's met, but Sephiroth's own isn't that bad either... and it's more than enough to take in the scent that Angeal has established in this one simple little room. The steaming smell of onions and other vegetables that he's added into the pot, how the basil and mint and every other herb in the room flourishes happily from all the hard work he's put into it, and even the subtle bitter tang of sword polish. Buster's regular maintenance was today.
What would a theoretical new boss do? Keep it as a little room to rest in? Change it into an office, or an armory? Would it still be the same even if they didn't change anything at all?
There's a small hum from Angeal, a snippet of some Banoran song that he never finishes. Sephiroth doesn't know if he's ever hummed every part of the song. It seems different every time, somehow, although Sephiroth knows that isn't logical. Every song has a start, and an end.
"He just can't remember songs," Genesis had teased, once, when they'd all been gathered in the Rhapsodos-Hewley apartment, away from here. "Art is truly wasted on him." And Angeal had threatened to remove all the spice from his dish.
The new boss probably doesn't even know any Banoran. It's a long ways away. A quiet little country town, filled with apples.
"I wouldn't like the change," he says while Angeal is in the middle of adding the crawfish, and actually hearing the words from his own throat actually surprises him even as he'd been actively thinking about it all this time. Even after all these years, admitting to selfishness feels... strange. Like sinking his hands into mud.
But Genesis and Angeal have never judged him for any bits of selfishness, encouraged it when they could. All Angeal does is stop his humming - it was nearing its end anyway - and set the lid onto the pot. "It's a lot," he concedes, before he turns away from his small portable stove and walks over to him. Where he sits, the mattress sinks notably. There's a comfort in that kind of weight. "You know, if you didn't want me to retire, then I wouldn't."
Sephiroth turns to stare at him, feeling even more out of his depth than before. It shouldn't matter what I want is almost out of his lips despite everything, but he manages to catch himself. Besides, that'd just get them sidetracked, and they don't need that right now. "Why would what I think be a factor?" he says, which is at least slightly different and enough for him to expand upon. He leans forward, elbow to knee, hand to jaw. "I am your employee, and this is by all means your business. If you want to retire... I think you should do so."
"It'd be a factor because it'd make you uncomfortable," Angeal answers simply, bracing his hands back behind him as he leans back. "Just because you work under me doesn't mean you aren't important to me," he points out. "You've been with me and Genesis since the beginning. I'm not so low that I don't appreciate that."
"You are still technically my boss."
"And you are most definitely a close friend who got me this far in the first place," Angeal points out. "Honestly, Gen and me both. Helping us raise money, keeping me safe when Gen couldn't be here because he had to deal with things over on his end... Just because you aren't calling the shots doesn't mean you're any less important, Seph. And we all know the only reason you still stay in the streets is because you hate being in the spotlight."
"Calling me out neatly tonight, I see."
"It's what you and Gen both need sometimes," Angeal says without batting an eye. What goes unsaid is that they, in exchange, return the favor. "Anyway, how about this: you can get the final say in who I'm going to show off to everyone in the business, in a couple of nights."
Now, isn't that quite a responsibility. "Is that truly all right?"
Angeal does one of those cool little raised eyebrow gestures of his. "If I retire and he takes my place, that means he's going to be your boss," he points out. "If you approve of him or not is just a show on if he's fit to run things in my place."
"And if I purposefully give him a poor score to keep you here?"
Far from being deterred, Angeal just gives a teasing and arrogant smirk. "By all means. If he doesn't get a challenge like that, he won't grow."
Of course. That's exactly like Angeal, isn't it? Sephiroth tilts his head down, long hair sliding down over his shoulder, and chuckles. "I suppose you have a point," he says in response. "If someone cannot do something like that, then they will not last even the slightest bit down here." Well, he supposes he'll be his own judge on just how much of a hard time he should give Angeal's successor. For now... He'll do his best to keep his plans and opinions open.
There's not much time to think heavily on it. Angeal suddenly straightens up with a quiet swear, and goes right back to his feet and then his miniature kitchen. "Almost forgot the rice - and I should probably make some sides, while I'm at it."
Not a lot of people would go to such efforts when it's just them, and the person working under them. But then... Angeal's always been different that way. Something about his own personal 'honor', whatever that seems to mean. Sephiroth knows he's not the only one who's spent a night here, when Angeal has opened up his door to any of his workers who were kicked out of their apartment or had to make a run from a bad situation. Knows he's not the only person who he's even cooked for, here in this little tiny room. There's a reason the workers down here in Wall Market wanted to hold onto him so tightly, at just the idea that he might be leaving.
But Angeal reaches down into one of the cupboards, pulls out a small container. "I have some pork pâté I made a little while ago," he says over his shoulder. "Still your favorite thing I make, right?"
Sephiroth likes all the food that Angeal makes for him, whether it's the quick food that often gets passed off in restaurants here in Midgar, or the quiet more homey things that some of the other workers have talked about when referencing their own pasts. He adores the flavorful meals that Angeal and Genesis both know, brought from their hometown.
But one night, early on in their relationship where Angeal would stock up on things and not go outside so easily, not yet, he'd bitten into one of the little meat pastries and had to tuck it into his cheek, puffing out the heat from surprise. He'd made a comment, back then. Something silly, something he's honestly long since forgotten because he hadn't thought that it would be important. Something about the flavor, the taste of herbs that he'd never had a chance to be familiar with before he ever met them.
Angeal had never forgotten. He'd always make them for him, or have some pre-made if he ever thought that Sephiroth would stop by. Certainly, he has no doubt that if he said he didn't want them anymore, then Angeal would stop making them. But he doesn't.
Sephiroth just says, "It is."
That's all Angeal needs before he turns back to his work, and Sephiroth gets up. He has a feeling that he's going to be staying the night here at HQ, and, if that's the case, then he'd much rather undress some of the more complicated aspects to his outfit. It's all well and good, black leather that weathers a great deal and doesn't stain easily, but it is not exactly the perfect sleepwear. The perfect sleepwear would be in Angeal's closet, where he has some plain t-shirts that are just slightly larger on Sephiroth's frame than would actually fit. It's fine; that's all he needs.
By the time he's gotten all the leather off and Angeal's shirt on, it would appear that most of the proper cooking has been accomplished already, with the room smelling of warm spices that makes even his stomach stir a bit. Despite that, when he presses up against Angeal's back, cheek to shoulder and some of his long silver hair brushing against bare skin, Angeal still says, "Hair up in the kitchen."
"The kitchen is a part of an open room." But this is just a silly bit of semantics they make fun of each other for, really, and Sephiroth still obliges in the end. It doesn't take that much for him to pull his hair back, a quick and loose bun that will do well enough. This much hair, it's the best he can do. "You know, I do have client who pay extra for something like that," Sephiroth points out. There is apparently something appealing about the sight of a lover in one's own clothing. Sephiroth would know from experience he's picked up in his line of work, and also because he knows that it pleases Angeal as well.
Normally, anyway. Angeal flashes him a teasing grin. "I'm cooking you dinner, I'm not paying you anything."
"That is rather cheap of you, Angeal," Sephiroth comments dryly, but he's smiling a bit, too. Angeal is always cheap when it comes to himself, and hungry for a good deal when it comes to a lot of other things in life too. The only things he's not cheap about are keeping his territory safe and healthy, and sending money back to his parents in Banora.
Sometimes Sephiroth knows how to coax more out of him... but most of the time, he doesn't. He likes Angeal too much, respects him too much, to abuse the trust that he's been given in turn.
And he wouldn't trade anything in the world for the way that Angeal bumps his shoulder against his, and hands him a plate to fill as he likes.
Not every person under Angeal can make it to the little meeting he hosts at the Honeybee Inn, on account of numbers and scheduling conflicts and everything else. Yet a great deal more people than even Sephiroth was expecting do show up, filling up the Honeybee Inn during some hours that are arguably for cleaning and are more often for messing around. Or, in this case, gossip about what Angeal is doing, and who he might be introducing to them all.
All Sephiroth can say to those that ask him is that he trusts Angeal, and that Angeal won't be retiring soon. Other than that, he must admit that he is in the dark as anyone else for just who Angeal has decided to choose to succeed him.
At least Angeal doesn't keep the group waiting in suspense for very long. There's a few minutes time given to any stragglers who might have caught a late train, or got delayed because of whatever else happens on this particular plate, which is anything and everything... But soon enough their boss steps up onto the stage in the main entertainment area where a lot of the shows are put on, because nowhere else in the entire building could fit what is probably the entirety of Midgar's sex network.
(This is probably an exaggeration. Sephiroth does not feel it is much of one. People go quickly to a boss that treats them well, and Angeal does not skimp on such things. There were a lot of people who slipped away to his employment once he was able. Anyone who chased after and thought they could pick a fight... lost.)
Unlike the last time he was swarmed by a group in the Honeybee Inn, Angeal doesn't have to whistle to bring order around him. Instead, just the presence of him is enough to quiet down all the chattering. Not a person is here who isn't interested in seeing what his plans for the future are, after all. This little fact does not escape Angeal. "I see that I've ended up fostering a workplace environment of nosiness," he comments dryly, which earns a couple of laughs from the workers. Where he's settled in a small booth to the side, Sephiroth smiles a bit as well. "Not that I guess I could have expected anything less from the group where someone's gossip kind of made me have to have this meeting way earlier than I would have liked.
"Most of you have an idea of what this is about. I would say that most of you have gotten caught up in gossip, so we'll clear that up first and foremost: No, I'm not retiring tonight. Or tomorrow. Not this week either, or this month. It's not in the cards for the entire year, either. Probably not a good few, unfortunately for me."
Some of the nervous energy in the room dissipates with just that simple reassurance. Sephiroth doesn't even need enhanced senses to tell that much. It's in the light way some of the hosts and hostesses smile at each other, relieved they won't have to worry about a boss that won't care if they make a complaint about a customer. He can hear it in the whistled out breaths of relief from other sex workers like himself, poledancers and strippers and the ones out on the streets who know they can call for help and have it answered. Someone somewhere in the throng claps their hand to the back of a friend - the bouncers of more than a few establishments in the place. Angeal knows how dirty work is. They rely on him like they wouldn't anyone else just here for the money.
Angeal lets a little bit of chatter happen for a second, understanding a release is needed, before he continues. "That isn't to say I don't want to retire at some point, because I do. And I intend to start working on that long before it actually happens. So you'll be seeing someone new around for a while trailing after me. It's not decided that he's going to replace me in the future. Consider it more of a... test trial."
That starts up the gossip all over again, which Angeal must have expected. Still, Sephiroth supposes this sort of thing couldn't be helped. Gossip would have started up one way or another if someone new just started hanging around Angeal for so long, so consistently. At least this way, Angeal can get out the truth to the most people at once. That's... something.
This time, Angeal does have to let loose a whistle again, the sharp sound bouncing up against the incredibly high ceilings. "How things run might change slightly, because it's not like I'm making a clone of myself," he says dryly, "but not the base things which are most important to all of you. Pay, protection - those are things I'll make sure stay in place even if I do leave. And if somehow they go wrong, you have my permission to throw the new guy into a ditch and drag me out of retirement again. Just try to give him a starting shot-"
A door in the back opens up. Most of the people in the inn don't look back at it. A couple do, because they're close enough. Sephiroth isn't close enough, by normal standards, but he still notes it regardless. It looks like a young man, black hair... Familiar, somehow? And yet Sephiroth is fairly certain that he's not seen him regularly at the Honeybee Inn, or out on the streets.
Before he has much more time to ponder this new arrival, or dismiss him - whichever would come first - the man perks up and energetically waves up at Angeal even as he shuts the door behind him. And it is at Angeal that he's waving to, not anyone else in the large group that's gathered tonight. Sephiroth knows that because Angeal actually shifts his head a bit, acknowledges this new arrival. "Speak of devils," he comments dryly. "Zack - you're late."
"Sorry, Angeal!" says this newcomer, Zack, although his body soon disappears in the group of people as he tries to make his way up to the stage. This would theoretically not be hard, since there is still plenty of room even with everyone here, but, well. Zack is the new guy of the hour. People are interested in him now that Angeal is actually acknowledging him, and Sephiroth thinks he can hear some laughter. "Whoa - hi, excuuuuse me, just - coming through, sorry about the feathers!" Angeal waits patiently up on the stage, before Zack finally manages to push through, and scrambles up to him eagerly. At least he's not lacking for energy, Sephiroth can say that much.
And some measure of optimism, too, showing in the way that he grins widely back at everyone even as he has to stand in front of so many. Someone, perhaps, automatically suited to the spotlight. Sephiroth can't quite relate.
Angeal just puts a hand along the back of Zack's neck, keeping him neatly in place. Smart idea; this one seems like the type that would leap right off of the stage and get into all sorts of nonsense before the rest of them have had a chance to even hear his name. But then, there's something familiar about the way that Angeal's hand settles, too... "For those paying attention, I probably don't have to explain much. For the rest of you, then this is Zack, and Zack is going to be hanging around to see how I do business down here in Wall Market. I'm trusting you all to take care of him while he's here with me. Got it?"
There's some actual verbal responses, some that aren't so verbal, but that hardly matters to Sephiroth right now. Instead, as he watches Angeal lightly shove Zack off back into the throng where he seems more than happy to talk to people, it occurs to him that he knows now why Zack had seemed so familiar.
This isn't the first time that he's seen Zack at Angeal's side. Granted, he's not seen him often, not like how Genesis and Angeal used to be absolutely inseparable, but... He had still noted, at a distance, the appearance of someone new at Angeal's side as he'd gone about to do some of his average business down on the plate. Walking off to check something with the younger man in tow, keeping him waiting in a chair somewhere at HQ before he came out for something... Only a small smattering of occasions like that. Nothing noteworthy at the time. Sephiroth had honestly thought that he was another sex worker at first that Angeal was dealing with for whatever reason.
He had also caught sight, once, of Zack against a wall, mouth desperately trying to devour or be devoured by Angeal's own, hands pawing at that muscular chest. He'd been whining for it, hungry.
Admittedly, that last part had done a lot on the impression that this was just another sex worker being taken into the fold. Angeal didn't normally lay a hand on his own workers in that matter, but, well. Sephiroth knew better than anyone that there could certainly be the occasional exception.
And Zack seems more than excited enough to be here as he stands amidst his new coworkers, those who potentially might be his if the future plays out right. It's like watching a tiny excited dog, standing amidst much larger ones... The braced stance, the alert way he stands, how he's practically vibrating with excitement as everyone takes a look at him and asks questions. Angeal says something about that being it for what he wanted to say, but it's only when he's made his way over to Sephiroth's table that he properly looks up at his boss. "So what do you think?" Angeal asks him casually, sliding into the booth along with him.
That is something of a question, considering that Sephiroth's experiences with Zack so far have been seeing Zack follow after Angeal, Zack being late for a meeting where Angeal introduced him, getting excited being around so many people, and the time he practically tried to grind himself to completion against Angeal while digging his fingers against his chest.
Still, it's all enough to at least give him something to work with, for now. Sephiroth leans back in his seat, observing the potential boss. "He has a lot of energy," he remarks after a moment, which he supposes is rather like stating that the sky is nonexistent this far down in the plates. "And he seems to be making a good impression on a lot of people already." At least, those immediately around him don't appear to be actively glaring at him, and more than a few are smiling and laughing at whatever it is that he's talking about. "However... What does he actually know about running a business like this?" Sephiroth frowns somewhat. "And how well does he know Seven? I've never seen him around Wall Market before."
Important questions, for whoever is going to take over Wall Market if Angeal truly does accomplish his dream of a simple retirement. Yet Angeal doesn't seem perturbed, just drapes his arms along the back of his seat. "He knows absolutely nothing," he says, upfront and honest. The words aren't exactly reassuring, but Angeal's honesty, funnily enough, is. "But neither did I, when I first arrived in Midgar. And neither did Gen, although he had a slight edge in knowing how to handle a business."
"So you're going to spend your time teaching him, then."
Angeal shrugs. "I was always going to have to have to spend a lot of time teaching anyone I decided on," he says matter of factly. "There's more to this place than just business. More to this place than just knowing it. I have a duty to the people here in Wall Market, and it'd tarnish my honor if I just tossed it aside without even the slightest attempt to keep it going after I was gone."
Sometimes, Genesis rolls his eyes at the idea that Angeal seems to have of honor - especially as a crime boss, of all things. Sephiroth likes it. It's something... distinctly Angeal. Some sort of ideal that seems to keep him better than anyone else out on the streets.
After all, a great many people really would just hand it off, and wash their hands of the whole affair.
"I suppose that is why you said that it would at least take a few years for you to retire," Sephiroth muses. If he's going to be teaching someone everything about Wall Market, from the location itself to the business to its people, their people, then a good few years is the very least that is required. Probably even better would be many years of it, but, well, Angeal had said he wanted to retire. Too many years would be too long. "Although I do wonder where you picked him up in particular."
"Well, it was a ShinRa thing-"
That sounds like an interesting start to a story already, but Angeal doesn't have time to properly go into it. Instead, Zack manages to make his way out from the throng of people - most of which have lessened now as jobs and homes had to be gone to - and heads straight for the two of them. "Angeal!" he exclaims, the name an elated sound on his lips, before he stumbles a bit at the sight of Sephiroth, too.
This isn't a reaction he is unused to, by any means. He is one of the most striking individuals in the employment here in Wall Market, and even people who've heard of him tend to be caught off guard by the actual sight of him. In the many years he's worked in the business of sex, Sephiroth has learned how to use that to his advantage.
A part of him ponders doing that right now. Angeal had said to test his potential successor... and seeing how well he'd respond to a pretty face is a good measure of judgment on just how reliable he can be. For the time being, instead of going all out, he teases him, just a bit.
It doesn't take much. Just a tilt of his head, making sure that his silver hair catches the lights just so. Draws attention to the curve of his neck, exposed for once thanks to the long neckline of his current black shirt. Looks over to him from underneath pale eyelashes, bright green all the brighter in the dim lighting of the Honeybee Inn.
Zack, having gotten his feet under him again, nearly trips on a step up towards their table.
A soft snort of amusement comes from the side, Angeal, but no doubt his face is a little more schooled into place. He's rather good at that; it absolutely infuriates Genesis at times. "Eyes up, Zack," he says dryly, and that seems to be enough to get Zack back in working order as he bounds up the rest of the short steps. "So, going to tell me why you were late? I distinctly recall telling you that this was going to be fairly important."
There is this to be said for Zack: he has a rather boyish, almost puppyish, kind of charm to him. It was no doubt apparent from the very start, when he first started to make his way through the crowd, but it's especially apparent now as Angeal rebukes him. His shoulders rise up a bit, sheepish as his hands spread out helplessly, and his wide blue eyes are quite expressive even from beneath crumpled brows. "C'mon, Angeal, don't be like that!" he protests, a hint of whine to his voice. Sephiroth tries to recall how similar it is to the one he made when he was kissing Angeal. "I couldn't help it! I got delayed!"
"Delayed doing what, exactly?"
Not only expressive eyes, but expressive hands, too, flailing all about as Zack gestures. "I was helping some people out! And, I know, I know that you told me that this was important, and I wasn't trying to ignore that on purpose. I just thought, hey, this will take just a second, right? Except then things might have kiiiiiiinda spiraled out of control, so..."
"Funny how things tend to spiral out of control with you," Angeal remarks dryly, before he shakes his head. No doubt he's shelving this for a later, when he can grill Zack a little more effectively in private. "Anyway... This is Sephiroth." He inclines his head in his direction, as though introductions ever really have to be made when it concerns him. Most people, if they have any idea of what they're doing when they come to this area of town or when they contact the market's many "offices", know well enough who he is. Introductions are really just a nicety at this point. "Don't forget him, since you'll be working with him at least a few times."
That could mean anything, really... but Sephiroth has some confidence in Angeal. Enough to imagine that, if he ever has to work 'alongside' Zack in any capacity, Angeal will talk with him about it first.
"I don't think I could ever forget him," Zack says immediately in response. It almost sounds like a line, honestly, and Sephiroth has heard more than his fair share of them since settling on Seven. But he looks in those wide starry eyes set in a fidgeting frame, and. Hm. This is 100% non-scripted and actually genuine, isn't it?
A rare occurrence, although not impossible. Sephiroth finds himself smiling slightly before he really thinks to stop himself.
This wouldn't really be a problem in any other situation, but Sephiroth can tell even without looking that Angeal is doing that little quirked up smile of his. The one that shows in his eyes more than anything. Honestly. He must have known that something like this was going to happen. Terrible. Sephiroth doesn't bother to wipe the smile from his lips regardless. "I'll look forward to working with you, Zack," is what he says in the end.
Zack lights up brighter than neon, but that flickers when Angeal pushes himself up to his feet. "Alright, introductions are done with," he announces simply. "Let's go."
"Go?" Zack's expression twists into quite the amusing countenance, torn between elation and disappointment. It's painfully clear that he'd rather been hoping that he could stick around a little while longer - whether in the flash of the Honeybee Inn, or perhaps for Sephiroth himself. He's not so arrogant as to make a guess on which. "Where are we going?"
"Most of the important people who need to know you, know you. We can go around and making some proper introductions, now. Get you an idea how the main areas of Wall Market work."
"Do I have to take notes?"
"You'd lose any notes you took," Angeal informs him plainly, and Sephiroth hides his smile behind his fingers, a bit. "Just try to pay attention for when I have you actually doing things."
The prospect of doing apparently anything seems to perk Zack up well enough. "Yessss," he cheers quietly, pumping his fist like this is some massive victory. Someone who learns best by doing, it seems. "Then let's get a move on! Where are we going next?"
"There's a few places around the immediate area you could probably stand to get a handle on... We'll try some of the big businesses first." Resting his hand on the back of the booth, Angeal inclines his head towards Sephiroth, now. "Thanks for showing up for today. I'll keep you updated on how things turn out." And with that, he takes his leave, lightly rapping his knuckles along Zack's shoulder to have him follow after. This doesn't, of course, stop Zack from peering over his shoulder and waggling his fingers excitedly at Sephiroth in good bye.
Really, it's as though Angeal has picked up an energetic little puppy. Actually.... Hadn't he heard Angeal commenting to one of the Honeybees recently about finding a cute new puppy, even though Genesis had clearly made no reference to any such things? Honestly now. Sephiroth waves back.
Of course, when Angeal talks about keeping him updated, it's also just as much keeping Genesis updated.
A crime boss and a casino owner - together they might just make for the richest pair in all of Midgar, even if individually they can't hold a candle to something like ShinRa. However, that means both of them have to do a great deal of things to keep it all running smoothly, and exactly as they want it. Especially with how so many people would be glad to leap upon any perceived weakness in either Wall Market or the Golden Saucer. Anything to take it for themselves, or make steps towards that goal.
In contrast, Sephiroth has considerably less on his plate. Due to his popularity and the prices Angeal makes sure don't dip for any of his people, it's not as though he's lacking for money, either. So, even though none of them really agreed to any of it out loud...
One way or the other, he always finds a way to the Golden Saucer, where Genesis is more than happy to spoil him.
Today, that means being near the chocobo racetrack, where the redhead is applying affection to a particularly brilliant blue stud. "What do you think?" he asks him, palms braced carefully along the edge of the massive bird's beak.
It was a good choice to dress a little more plainly today, even if there is still a lot of leather involved. But that's a tactical choice. Stray feathers don't stick quite as easily to his leather compared to any other material he could wear, and that's a benefit as he walks a little further into the stall. Tall boots were also a smart choice; Angeal was right to insist he get at least one sensible pair all those years ago. "A new acquisition?" he asks, taking in the rather patient temperament. No anxiety at the prospect of another and very new person into the stall, just a quiet observation of him - silver reflected in that large black eye. "The feathers seem to be a bit different than that which I'm used to. Were you talked out of buying another red?"
"Oh, hush," Genesis says, with a click of his tongue. "I would have you know that I have more sense than that and you very well know it. While a flock of brilliant crimson would certainly be a sight to behold, it does not fair well on the racetrack. There, they are most glorious when bedazzling the crowd in a mosaic of color, like stained glass in a forgotten church."
"Very poetic."
"Thank you, I am glad that someone can properly appreciate my talents."
That draws out a soft chuckle from Sephiroth. Well, it is good to see that Genesis is in a fine mood, today. Perhaps his new companion is helpful in that regard, for it has quite a calming sort of personality. At least, it just makes a soft little trill in its throat when Sephiroth runs his hand along its long neck, and ends in a little beep.
Yes, this close, and being able to touch the creature... It is quite different from the chocobo that Genesis normally buys for the track. There's something about that sensation which is far smoother than a chocobo feather normally is. A different breed entirely, perhaps?
"What kind of environment does this one grow in?" he asks, curious despite himself. "With how slick they are... A water-inclined breed?"
It would explain the slight difference in the feathers, and, now that he's closer, he thinks there may be something different to its feet, as well. Yet, still, it is undeniably a chocobo. Genesis chuckles a bit, fingers sinking through the feathers and guiding themselves along one folded wing. "Truly, nothing gets past you, does it, our eagle-eyed partner?" he teases. "But yes - this is a rather rare little breed that I heard about, so when I heard there was a chance to get it for myself, I knew that I would be daft to pass it up. I have thought about having some construction do to make a more water-themed route for the races, but... Well, that would perhaps end up far too pricey as an immediate venture."
"So this one will become a more minor side attraction," Sephiroth concludes with a small nod. "At least unless you can breed more of them. Well, for all that this one has moved quite a ways from its original home, it seems happy enough here." His hands fall away from the bird, just to give it a bit more space. "...His name is Zack, if you were interested. Last name Fair."
Immediately, Genesis's nose wrinkles, and he pulls his hand away. "What a poetic surname," he sighs. "And yet I cannot be particularly pleased about it. I haven't heard anything about him in Midgar. Where on earth is he from and how did Angeal find him?"
Fortunately, these are questions that Sephiroth had as well, and that Angeal had at least shown some courtesy by leaving a quick note at his place. Everything else, well, he'd picked up from gossip.
There are a lot of gossips, fortunately, at the Honeybee Inn. He doesn't think that they started there, or that Angeal picked them for that particular quality, but it is most certainly how the hive has turned out regardless. Sometimes, it works out well enough to all their advantages.
"The details are somewhat lost on me, or, at the very least, I can't yet tell you what fact or fiction is," Sephiroth begins, "but everyone seems to be on agreement that he managed to poach him from the SOLDIER recruitment process." He pauses, so that Genesis can get out his sharp bark of laughter. ShinRa is an important source of revenue for both the Market and the Saucer, of course, or at least its employees are... But, well, strong powers will always be at odds with strong powers. It's simple to say that there's no particular love lost between them. Sephiroth can take some bitter amusement from the whole thing as well.
When the cackling has subsided, Sephiroth continues. "You are correct in that he's not from Midgar - apparently he's from a small town called Gongaga."
"Gongaga?" Genesis wrinkles his nose. "That sounds positively backwater."
A moment passes. Genesis squints at him. Sephiroth politely says nothing, especially nothing on the fact that they both know that Genesis can't really say anything on anyone being from somewhere backwater. Banora may have its rise to acknowledgment with posters for the apples everywhere you turn even in Midgar, but it's still... very country, from what Sephiroth understands. While Angeal seems to think that it's amusing that some "country hick" like him can become a crime boss in a place like Midgar - the crime boss, really, depending on who you ask - Genesis seems as though he would much rather blunt force trauma everyone in existence so they remember what Banora is.
Another little difference between them.
"Regardless, that he was in the running for SOLDIER proves that his physical capabilities should be worth something," he says, eventually. Certainly nothing worse than what most thugs there in the Market, honestly.
All Genesis does is scoff, bending down to pluck a stray feather off from the ground inbetween his fingers. "Please, as though SOLDIER is anything special," he says dismissively. Not a lot of people would say something like that, but... From someone like Genesis, with more than enough reserves in him to set no small portion of Midgar alight. Angeal, from what Sephiroth can tell, never quite got a handle on materia in a similar way...
But Angeal can take that very same high level magic Genesis is capable of at point-blank range and get right back up again, looking no worse for the wear outside of burned clothing.
That's not even talking about Sephiroth himself. He'd prefer to keep it that way.
"There still has to be a reason that he caught Angeal's eye," he points out, earning a huff from Genesis's lips. "Still, energy and personality seem to be his strongest points... Not so much some other qualities that has helped Angeal settle Wall Market."
It is a very generous way of putting it. Genesis is not nearly so generous. "Oh, so he's an imbecile," he declares with a dramatic sigh. "And that is who Angeal wants to put in charge of the Market? After all the hard work he put into it?" He rakes his fingers through it, almost seemingly more annoyed at the changes happening in his partner's territory than anything that might occur in his own. Then again, the two of them have always seemed to operate this way: anything that's Angeal's is Genesis's, and vice versa. It's just that Genesis is the one most likely to meddle. "I normally understand everything going through that head of his, and yet I must admit that this is a mystery to me."
"You could always go down to see him yourself," Sephiroth suggests. Whether he means Angeal or his new protégé, well, that's up to Genesis.
The responding head shake is not entirely surprising. "No... At least, if I go to visit Angeal, it will be as I always do." His lips thin a bit, displeasure in very bit of the gesture. "He did say that eventually retiring was something he wished to do... And Wall Market is, in the end, his territory to deal with. Unless something truly egregious occurs, or it involves the Golden Saucer, then I suppose I do not have too much of a right to get involved."
Not too much of a right still means he has something of a right, of course. A neat little loophole for Genesis. Sephiroth doesn't call him out on this, either, only smiles. "Of course. Regardless, nothing of particular interest has happened yet... or else I would have a far more exciting tale to pass onto you."
"Oh, I imagine it is simply a matter of time before something fascinating happens," Genesis with a dismissive wave of his hand, brilliant blue feather fluttering with the motion. "It is Wall Market, after all. Well, enough of that." Reaching over, he deposits the feather right there behind Sephiroth's ear, and smiles a bit as though pleased with the picture that he's brought to life. "Shall I treat you to dinner, as compensation for having you come all this way?"
There's no actual need for him to 'pay' Sephiroth, of course. He came here because Genesis is someone dear to him, because he wants to make sure that him and Angeal are on the same page. Because it's nice, to be with the two of them.
It took... perhaps no small amount of time, and a bit of explaining from Angeal, that this is just another way that the two of them show affection to him. A way that they take care of him, and get to spend time with him. It seems kind of silly to make excuses for things that both parties clearly want - Angeal had conceded that much when Sephiroth had pointed it out to him - but sometimes the performance was a part of it.
Honestly, being close with Genesis has taught him a lot about the connection between performance and being human.
"If it won't get in the way of anything," he responds in turn, although he has to chuckle when the two of them exit the stables. "You know, the night that Angeal first told us about his idea of retiring... He also treated me to dinner."
Genesis shakes his head, but he doesn't seem particularly surprised. "All the money in the world, and he still insisted on having that little kitchen installed instead of simply hiring his own personal chef," he sighs. "What will I do with him? And he didn't even invite me." That last part, they both know, is the true issue at hand. Angeal has only really cooked for himself, family, and Genesis before he arrived in Midgar, and yet his cooking has a quality to it that Sephiroth finds hard to describe. Nice. Pleasant. Something he'd be happy eating every night, and he knows Genesis feels the same. "Well, it shall not be the fine dining of a crime boss's single suite in the back of a crime den, but you'll be treated to the finest of Golden Saucer cuisine."
While Sephiroth has other things to do in his life than stay by Angeal's side all the time, it's hard for even him to miss how much of a constant presence Zack soon becomes in the area. Certainly, he'd picked up on his existence once or twice before any announcement, but the difference from then and in the present is stark.
Not all of it is by Angeal's side, either. Oh, yes, he's there as well - tagging along behind Angeal as he goes through the territory, forced to sit down in the office with his head in his hands as terribly dull math is explained to him, running full sprint out the door while Angeal yells at his back to calm down not inside the building Zack. That much is just to be expected, in all honestly.
But more often than not, he can be found all throughout Wall Market, and even in a few areas beyond... although Sephiroth cannot say with any concrete certainty how much of his time is spent in or out of the area. As Sephiroth thought, Zack is a doer more than someone who learns from sitting about being told things, and Angeal had clearly spotted that as well. He has an eye, for things like that. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing useful for a crime boss, but...
So Sephiroth sees him running around doing apparent errands for the various and actually legal businesses down on the plate. Spots him doing bodyguard duty for a few of their people through parts of town both mundane and dangerous. Once, after he's finished meeting up with a client, he even spots Zack rushing around in the backstage of the Honeybee Inn looking absolutely out of his depth.
"If you're going to run a business right, then you need to know the ins and outs of it," he tells Sephiroth plainly one night , when they've both decided to take a break and have decided to visit the Golden Saucer just to see how the races are going. "I'm not expecting him to become an expert in any of those jobs, don't get me wrong."
"But he needs to get it in his head what he's actually running."
Angeal flashes him a short, small smile. "He needs to have an appreciation for where all his money and success is really coming from. Guy like me - I just keep the rails straight and smooth. Nothing more, nothing less." A rather humble view of himself for a crime boss, but that really is just so like Angeal. They don't have much time to keep going with that line of conversation before one of Genesis's people manages to track them down and lead them to a private viewing room where Genesis awaits.
At least it's almost pleasant, to see Zack running about everywhere and the impact he has on others. Even if their passes rarely cross directly, Sephiroth can still observe the effect he has on other people. That might not seem like a lot to some.
In Sephiroth's opinion, however... It's incredibly enlightening.
From that very first night, he had deduced that Zack was a sociable and amicable sort of individual with how he hadn't shyed away from being in the spotlight, and had leapt right into the waiting crowd of Angeal's people to get to know them for himself. With a chance to prove himself all the more, a long leash that lets him go throughout all of Wall Market... he seems to leave an even better impression on everyone, wherever he meets. You know, those who are not already disinclined to anyone who possesses a sufficiently cheerful or energetic personality.
"He tried to pretend he wasn't dying when I explained to him the ins and outs of acupuncture," Avi says, branding the newest set of needles with a grin from within the Inn's more specialized rooms. "Wasn't so great at it when I did a practical demonstration. It was funny."
"That big fight a couple nights ago? He got involved," Gale says with a sigh from within the Tonberry Tonic, one of the many bars that makes up business on the plate, and yet it's said with a faint smile. "Broke some glasses. Came back in just a couple of hours with new ones and all the apologies in the world."
"He broke the squats record," a couple of the folks from the gym.
"Why are you telling me about a squats record," Genesis asks him suspiciously with a squint, over his desk where he's looking over some proposals for new machines from a few businesses.
Sephiroth's smile is small and impossible to miss for someone like the redhead. "I thought it would be amusing," he says, and is rewarded by Genesis's eye roll. "Besides, at least it does show that there's some good physical training in there, so we can confirm at least some sort of training was present, even if not from SOLDIER."
"No wonder it sounds as though Angeal is running him absolutely ragged, then." Genesis sounds rather satisfied about that little fact, however. "Still, nothing interesting, really..."
Probably a lack of anything interesting is why Angeal has decided now is the best time to do something like this. Genesis just likes things when they're a bit more dramatic, a bit more explosive. No doubt that will come in due time; Wall Market rarely stays quiet for long. But they both know Angeal's reasonings, and Wall Market's ways. For now, Sephiroth leans against the desk, and his smile shifts in a way he's learned from both experience and the man seated right there in front of him. "There is always us," he points out.
Genesis's eyes light up in that eager predatory sort of way, and Sephiroth knows without seeing his own that they match in turn. "There is," he purrs, the sound just a little jagged there in the back of his throat.
When sufficiently distracted, Genesis burns bright and hard - a wildfire whose hunger never falters in the slightest, for want of everything the world has to offer him. Even in all the time he's been in this line of work, in all the time that he's been free and exploring even the wide world that Midgar composes of, Sephiroth doesn't think he's ever met anyone else quite as ravenous as Genesis.
It does appealing things, to one's sense of being needed and desired. It also keeps Sephiroth stuck in that office, and then Genesis's apartment, for hours on end. He suspects that the only people that can keep up with Genesis like this are him and Angeal.
Of course, being with Genesis also means indulging in rather lazy mornings - something that had been a foreign concept to him once upon a time and yet which he allows some indulgence in when it comes to Genesis. Most of the morning passes before Sephiroth is able to untangle himself from Genesis's arms - always seeking heat - and help his friend go off to work with as large a cup of espresso as is possible for a human being to down. He thinks none of it, honestly. It all seems rather mundane.
Only when he finally returns to Wall Market does he sense tension in the air.
Most can't get a feel for it. Not the average person, even those who live around the Market themselves. But Sephiroth can pick up on the way the guards near HQ glance at one another, the rare worker who hurries past with furrowed brows. It's enough to, on instinct, have him turn towards HQ and seek out Angeal.
As fortune would have it, the two of them run into one another right at the doors. "Ah, Sephiroth. Hey," he says, a dark sort of calm settled over him. Against his back, the buster sword patiently hangs there.
Buster doesn't come out, often. Sephiroth saw her once upon a time a good bit more, when Angeal and Genesis first started making things go their way in Midgar, because it was a necessity... and even then, Angeal always seemed loathe to draw the massive weapon. Best to utilize his fists, instead, or a chair, or a shovel. Anything within easy reach and that could hit hard. Buster, if she is anything, has always seemed to be more of a method of intimidation than anything else. Something to stop the fight before it could really start in earnest.
More sensible souls, not being spurred on by senseless bravado or rage, look at a man who can cart around a giant sword with little trouble and think twice on the choices that have brought them there.
But sometimes, she still finds a use. Sometimes, she still is pulled out when Angeal finds it truly important to use Buster and nothing else. It's just always hard to tell when that moment will be until it happens. So if he has Buster out...
Sephiroth doesn't go inside HQ. Doesn't go back home. Instead, he steps to the side, falling in step with Angeal through simple habit. Behind them, he can feel Zack sticking close almost more than he can hear his footsteps beneath all the bustle of the Market. "Who was it?" Sephiroth asks simply.
"Skuppa, from the gym," Angeal tells him matter of fact, not breaking his stride in the slightest. It's a calm voice, and arguably on as calm expression as can be found on a severe face as Angeal's. However, it doesn't go past Sephiroth that there's a churning sort of darkness in Angeal's eyes. The kind of quiet wrath that is just being held back until it can be set upon the appropriate target. It matches a certain quality in his voice, too, something dark and low that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Genesis refers to it as growling, although Sephiroth has never heard a definite growl leave Angeal's throat.
There are a lot of people in Wall Market, and more people who work for it beyond the little territory. Getting to know all of them is something that even Sephiroth struggles with, sometime. But he thinks he recalls the name, can match it to some sort of face. A little bit older, the kind of muscular type that some liked.
The kind that people never think would run into trouble, but that's exactly why they sometimes do.
But perhaps just as importantly as Angeal's own quiet fury... Sephiroth glances back past the two of them, taking in the way Zack's fists are clenched, trembling, how they match the rage that's sparking behind his own eyes. Like an ember about to land a little too close to a fireworks stand at a gas station.
Skuppa. Sephiroth had spoken to him briefly at the gym. He'd been laughing about the looks on everyone's faces when Zack had broken a record. Hadn't Angeal just sent him to the gym but a few days ago?
There's no need to ask if Angeal needs any back up. If he felt he did, then surely he would have gotten it already from any of the guards in his employ, or asked for him, or asked Genesis. Maybe once upon a time, Sephiroth wouldn't have thought to ask him. Even so, in the face of all those facts, Sephiroth still asks him, "Do you want anyone to come with you?"
Angeal forces out a steadied breath from between his teeth, finds some sort of center in himself. "I'll be fine," he says after a moment. "Thanks for the consideration. But I do have Zack with me."
Behind them, Sephiroth can hear Zack's steps stutter and stumble for a brief moment. Recognition of his own ability by the boss; what a pleasant thing. And Sephiroth supposes that Angeal does have a point. He chose Zack for a reason... and this, too, is going to be one of the things he will have to deal with as the boss of Wall Market.
"Then I'll be waiting for you when you return," Sephiroth answers simply, before he turns back to Zack. Apparently he's caught him at a slightly inopportune time; Angeal's protégé is still trying to school his expression back when he does so. "We'll be relying on you to keep him safe, then."
They've all paused, now, and Zack stands up ramrod straight. Sephiroth thinks he can see the slightest ghost of the SOLDIER he might've been in that, even if it is just the ghost of an eager young recruit. He thinks he can even see his hand jerk, almost prepared to go straight into a salute. "You got it!" he says, finding some brief measure of excitement and confidence in the situation despite itself. "Zack Fair, here to do the job right!"
Angeal scoffs a little bit under his breath, but Sephiroth thinks that his own ire has lessened a bit. Someone may still very well die tonight, depending on what's happened to Skuppa, but that's none of Sephiroth's concern. His priority is, and always will be, Angeal and Genesis, and Angeal is who is in front of him now.
"Then Zack Fair needs to keep up with me if he wants to do the job right," he says, continuing onwards, stride as long and quick as ever. "Don't lag, Zack."
"I'm not lagging! I'm not!"
Sephiroth declines any other jobs for the rest of the day, once they've disappeared from view - whether that's to use the train or any other questionable form of transportation that Angeal chooses. He's fortunate that he's had nothing else really planned for the day, honestly, although he would have cancelled any appointments even if he did without even a second thought. Instead, he lets himself into Angeal's more private rooms - the little suite, of course, but also his office, the makeshift infirmary that would make any field medic jealous, all sorts of little spaces that once used to be declarations of luxury and now have been transformed into something more in accordance with Angeal's practical nature even if he'd been to cheap to construct over the glintz and gaudiness of it all.
In a way, it's almost amusing. Angeal likes to hang coats on top of a gold-coated monster statue of some sort, "just to hide its ugly face, I do not understand rich people's tastes at all".
It only takes a few hours for Angeal to return in the end, and Sephiroth suspects that most of that was time spent traveling - whether by automated transport or simply hunting through the streets as he tracked down the person who made the ill-advised choice of hurting or taking one of their own. Zack and Skuppa are there with him... Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Zack and Angeal are with Skuppa, bracketing both sides of him like a pair of guard dogs.
Skuppa's smile is a bit sheepish as he settles down onto an infirmary bed that they stole from the back of a truck, once upon a time. Sephiroth can spot the bruises around his neck even before the other man lowers the coat from his shoulders. "Kinda embarrassing, to get caught like that," he says, while Angeal looks over the medical supplies that Sephiroth pulled out hours earlier. "And I thought it was just going to be normal play."
And that's how so many get them, isn't it? "You wouldn't be the first," Sephiroth tells him, because it's the truth. "I am simply glad the system worked."
The system where any of their people can protect themselves if they want to learn how from Angeal, and Genesis. The system where, even with that in place, everyone is meant to check in so that they can react immediately to the first sign of something amiss. Angeal had insisted upon something like it, ages ago, before he'd even really solidified his standing in the Market.
Of course, with the things they'd seen at the lowest tier in the hierarchy as they'd been fighting... That'd only made sense.
Angeal is the one who tends to him, in the end, because Angeal has a surprising amount of field medic knowledge for someone who grew up in the middle of nowhere, and Genesis is the one who is better at using healing materia. That leaves Sephiroth to step back a bit, and he looks towards Zack.
In contrast to the fire he'd clearly had coaxed along in him when he was first setting off with Angeal, he seems a bit quieter now. Contemplative, perhaps. He almost doesn't seem to notice Sephiroth's approach at first, and only jolts in realization when he takes the seat besides him. "Oh! Sephiroth! You - Uh -" He starts to flail his hands about, seeking to make some sort of understanding gesture, and not making a single bit of sense at all. "Hey!"
While he gets flustered, Sephiroth takes this time to look him over. Angeal, he had only needed to glance at to get a good idea of his state of being. Angeal rarely seems to take damage - or, if he does take damage, it rarely seems to last until the next morning unless the damage is truly serious... and that only seems to count if someone manages to actually stab him.
Magic aimed directly at his face? Blunt force trauma to the head? Sephiroth has seen him take on all of this and more, only to be up on his feet again moments later. In that respect, they seem rather similar. Sephiroth has found that he's rather durable as well.
But Zack? Wide eyed, energetic, prone to impulse and doing before thinking? Someone that Sephiroth has not spent years at the side of? Well... Sephiroth imagines that one can understand why he is a little more interested in checking things over with Zack.
And yet Zack seems to be in decent enough condition, at a cursory inspection. His already messy hair has only been made all the more wild, no doubt from running and fighting, and he's far filthier than he was when he first stepped out from HQ. Quite a tall order; sometimes it can be difficult to stay clean at all when one is doing all sorts of odd jobs throughout the Market's many streets. The inside buildings are often kept as clean as can be expected... but down here towards the bottom of Midgar, all the filth seems to filter down here.
The filth is the worst of it, on some level. Zack doesn't hold himself gingerly, isn't favoring one limb over the other. As far as physical injury goes... there is just a large bruise along his jaw, a mottled sort of yellow that will no doubt bruise into splendid purples and reds, with a cut there in a jagged little cross.
Sephiroth tilts his head towards it. "Injured in the line of duty?" he asks, just to help get Zack's mind focused on something again instead of scattered to the four winds. While Sephiroth may be used to that happening around him, it is somewhat an obstacle here right now when he is just trying to talk to the young man.
At least it's enough to snap Zack's mind out of it, as he had hoped. There are a couple of befuddled blinks, and then Zack laughs a little bit, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, this?" he says, hand lowering just so it can jerk up towards his face. Truly, he is a man of near infinite energy that has absolutely no idea where it wants to go. "That's nothing! You should see the other guys! I just got this when I was a little too up close and personal."
Really, he would like to see the other guys, but he doubts there's much more to them that he could really do. Not after Angeal has already dealt with them.
No need to say any of that. Sephiroth only nods, and gets up to his feet again. For a bruise like that... With a cut like that... "Did you have to go far?" is what he asks about instead, as he goes back to the first aid kits he's set up. While he hadn't expected it with Angeal on the case, he had still prepared for the worst. It's a simple matter, to get what he needs, return with a bit of cotton and a bottle to clean everything up.
Zack is making a face, and Sephiroth can't quite tell if it's in response to the question or the sight of the medical supplies. "Got us going all over the plates," Zack complains, fingers curling along the edge of his seat. "I think he was probably trying to make it hard for us to follow after him. But Angeal - jeez, he didn't hesitate in the slightest in where he was going."
"Well, it is Angeal," is all Sephiroth says. He doesn't think most people are aware of just how sharpened Angeal's senses are, or Genesis for that matter. Not him, either. The way that Genesis can hear a whisper across a crowded room, how Angeal can track down anyone if you give him enough time...
Angeal has always told him, in private of course, that none of them are infallible. Too much noise, a million different sounds clashing against each other, puts Genesis's teeth on edge. If someone were to just dump a bomb filled with different powders at the right intersection, Angeal would get mixed up on just where his right mark was. And Sephiroth? Well, he's more than aware of his own limitations. Sharp eyesight like his only has so many places to go, in the crowded and claustrophobic streets of Midgar.
But no one else needs to know that about them. All they need to do... is underestimate the bosses of Midgar's underworld.
Not even Angeal's little protégé, cute and eager and trusted as he might be. So Sephiroth simply follows up with, "Now hold still." While he's rarely ever needed it, Sephiroth has been in this business long enough to know that it stings, even if mostly from the experiences of other people.
Very predictably, Zack does not stay still, although he does a rather commendable job. His head stays still, which is really the most important thing here. It's just the rest of his body that wiggles impatiently in the face of careful fingers cleaning away dirt and germs from his cheek. "Ugh I never should have let him get that cloooose," he grumbles. "This is - it sucks."
"A learning experience," Sephiroth tells him, taking in the clear redness that lays beneath everything else. It'll look uglier when a day has passed. "Does it hurt that much?" Does he need to worry about loose teeth or a dislocated jaw? Not that it seems likely, with how much Zack is still talking, but...
Zack wrinkles his nose. "What a learning experience, but I guess that's just like him." They both know who he's referring to. "But no - it's fine. You know, I wasn't thinking that you'd be here waiting for us, when we first left!"
"And why is that?"
There go Zack's hands again. Sephiroth think he might come to like that aspect of Zack, the way his hands are so expressive. Genesis has a similar energy to him, in everything he does, although there's no doubt he'd make a face at being compared to someone like Zack. "Well, I thought you'd have other things to do. And I didn't know that you knew first aid? I mean, it's you, so you must be in high demand."
"Even I have my days off," Sephiroth tells him, putting down the cotton so that it can be discarded later. "And I had made sure I would have some time today... because of a job I took last night." It's always wise to have a recuperation period after meeting with Genesis. Just in case. "I would have cancelled even if I had."
Zack stares at him, hands going still. "Really?"
"Of course." And then, on a bit of rare whim, Sephiroth leans in and does something he used to see Angeal and Genesis do one another a million times before early on in their territory claim. He presses his lips, gently, to the wound there along Zack's face. "I was going to wait for you both no matter what."
When he pulls away, Zack's face is red all the way to his hairline. "Oh," is all he has to say.
A very cute reaction, really, although Sephiroth is left to wonder if perhaps Angeal is rubbing off on him in some terrible ways. Before he can press much more on this, or Zack can say anything else, Angeal's voice rises up from behind. "Alright, I think that's as good as we're gonna get. Everyone's staying here tonight."
Technically, Sephiroth knows that Angeal means the people most likely to be targeted by anyone left over by the most recent 'hunt' - in other words, the person who was originally targeted, and then the two men responsible for getting into a violent scrap to emerge victorious. He doesn't let that stop him from following right after Angeal, however, until they're all situated in the boss's little suite and both of them are working at the kitchenette together.
"You're a real heartbreaker, you know," Angeal says mildly, as they both start assembling some thick sandwiches that will go into the warm oven. Thick ham, salami, pastrami, olive slices, various cheeses... It's enough to clog someone's arteries. Angeal seems to love it for nights like this.
This isn't the first time Sephiroth has heard a comment like this. Usually it's from people with a bit more bitterness to their bite. "Is this about Zack?" he says back, well aware of the scene behind them: Zack and Skuppo, the former energetically telling some story or another. Something silly, an event from one of his shifts at a bar, Sephiroth thinks. "I'm not sure I want to hear that from you."
While he may be a crime boss, Angeal still has the decency to look at least a bit embarrassed. "I have a weakness for puppies, what can I say," is all he manages weakly.
"I suppose he is a rather cute puppy," Sephiroth agrees, lips teased into a smile. Certainly all the exuberance of one, the sheer energy, and maybe even a bit of sharp puppy fangs to get him where he needs to be. "And yet you can't bring him home to Genesis."
"That's because Genesis gets territorial," Angeal says, waiting for Sephiroth to top the sandwiches with a bun before he tugs the foil up over them so that they can deposited onto the tray. "And, even worse, I'm trying to train the puppy. Genesis has a bad habit of undoing all of that if I take my eyes off of him for five seconds."
"Are you referring to me as a puppy...?"
Angeal actually laughs, and Sephiroth can spot Zack and Skuppa glancing over in curiosity at the noise. "Oh, no, I knew from the day we laid eyes on you that were you a cat."
One of these days, he really is going to interrogate Angeal on just what qualifications he assigns animals to people... But then, Sephiroth has thought that for years, now, and it somehow always slips his mind. Either way, he waits until Angeal has finished closing up the oven before he speaks up again. "He does seem rather fond of you."
All Angeal does is shrug. "It's just because of how I'm the boss," he answers, settling with his back against one of his little counters, watching Zack get right back into his energetic conversation with Skuppa. "Admiration mixing into attraction. But you he's really fond of."
"It's just because of how I'm your most famous earner," Sephiroth shoots back casually. "Attraction mixing into admiration."
They stare at each other.
"I should never have let Genesis teach you how to be sassy," Angeal says, as though he is free of having anything to do with influencing Sephiroth down this particular path. "Anyway, I'll probably start sending him your way a little more. Your turn to use him as your errand boy, for whatever you'd like."
His turn, is it? Sephiroth thinks he can understand why that is. Why Angeal is choosing now, of all times, to do so, after he's already seen Zack running around. Helped patch him up, after a rough spot. He closes his eyes, considers it.
"I'll see what I can do, then."
The food is delicious, because of course it is when Angeal has had a hand in making it, and the bed is just barely large enough for all four of them to clamber onto it. Angeal especially is a problem, broadly built as he is, but they manage well enough. No doubt the bed will see far worse than him barely hanging onto the side, and Skuppa to the other, leaving Sephiroth and Zack to make up the middle. Snug, but... not that bad. A good thing, really, that he both likes the heat (although never as much as Genesis ever does), and that there is a decent air conditioner in HQ.
Sleep comes easily enough for him in such a situation, reminded of the times when it was him and Genesis and Angeal finding warmth with one another. At the same time, he awakes just as easily when that warmth is disturbed.
Angeal is gone. He'd noted that some while ago, in the hazy space between sleep and consciousness. That much is normal. And yet it had been Zack's movements that had dragged him all the way into awareness, clumsy movements against the mattress as he'd done his best to be delicate. Sephiroth stays still, waits until the weight is off of the bed completely and the soft pad of bare feet has stopped, before he slides open one eye.
Even if the room were completely dark, he'd still be able to see through it, clear as day. Something done to him in the labs, he thinks. But he doesn't even need it, with the small little lamp that is set there on the floor right by where Angeal sits with his legs crossed and various paper in his hands. Sephiroth isn't exactly in the best position to see all the fine details, of course. Nonetheless, he can take a decent guess at what they are: maps of various parts of Midgar from the city overall to the sewer system, notes written by the various workers on things they've noted from enemies or ShinRa, updates on repairs to various parts of the Market. Angeal runs Wall Market like he'd run his own house, keeping an eye on every little thing that might affect him and his own.
And there's Zack, rubbing at his face, shuffling over to him until he can flop down onto the floor besides Angeal. All the other man does is adjust, making it easier for Zack to lean against him with his cheek smooshed against his shoulder. Midgar never really sleeps, never really stops making noise... but tucked away in HQ, in Angeal's suite, it's easy enough to hear Zack's sleepy murmur. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Checking to see what gangs and groups were related to where we took down the idiot who touched one of our own."
"Mmgh. Way too many words. Explain 'em all to me? Like I'm an idiot."
"That's because you are an idiot." But he says it fondly, mouth to Zack's hair, ignoring the protests. "Alright, so there's a gang over here..."
Sephiroth closes his eyes, and goes back to sleep.
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wolves in the market
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."
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"Are you referring to the apron that says king of sausage?" Sephiroth asks, remembering the occasions he's been able to visit the Hewley-Rhapsodos (aka Rhapsodos-Hewley) residence, named depending on whoever'd won the latest poker match.
"Yes," Angeal says with absolutely zero hesitation.
"Absolutely not," Genesis replies, hand moving to the back of Angeal's head so that he can tug at his hair a bit. "I really am going to find that thing and burn it to ashes, until not even the memory is left. Where on earth did you ever get it?"
"We've gone over this, Gen. You bought it for me. When you were drunk. We never get drunk, how could I throw away a memory of such a rare and precious occasion?"
Genesis swears in Banoran, the language once eloquent and now twisted crassly on his tongue, and Angeal gets another few bite marks along his neck for good measure. This is not a particularly new occurrence, especially with how much Angeal seems to enjoy it. With how easily the two of them seem to heal up, probably there's a point to him constantly encouraging Genesis's teeth.
Of course, with reoccurrence comes experience, and Angeal is still perfectly in control of his faculties as he gives a side glance over to Sephiroth. "So how's the wine tonight?" he asks, as if he and Gen don't pay attention to little details like this.
It's fine, of course, and they both know it. Sephiroth finishes off his latest sip before putting the glass back onto its tray. "Genesis has good taste in his choices," he says, because he knows that it pleases Genesis to hear such things. Sure enough, where his hands are tugging impatiently at Angeal's shirt and his mouth is still stubbornly working a mark into his skin, a low purr starts to sink into tender flesh. But that's not really what's been gently inquired of him, and they both know it. Shifting onto one knee, Sephiroth settles his hand along Angeal's side. "Try for yourself."
Maybe it's because of the prior subject matter, but they somehow manage to keep each other from going more than just one round all together. That's nearly a record, honestly. With how demanding Genesis can get, he often demands a round from Angeal and him each when he has the good fortune of having them both together.
But they're both busy men, and Genesis is a bit far from his own portion of territory that the two have split together. It will take a bit of time, if nothing else, to get back, and clearly he's going to plan for quite a bit just for Angeal bringing up the idea of retirement. "You really do make things so busy for me," Genesis says with a click of his tongue, doing the belt around his hips once again so that he looks vaguely presentable. Or, at the least, so that he won't lose an expensive belt from carelessness. The aesthetic is everything, when it comes to Genesis.
Angeal's clothes have always been a bit more simple: simple no-nonsense pants that blood washes off of easily enough, a tank top that does a good enough job at hiding his piercings, and a open vest that shows off the simple chain necklace there from his neck. Sephiroth has seen him use it as impromptu knuckledusters, when it's been prudent.
That means as Genesis struggles with something with far too many belts, Angeal is free to help Sephiroth with his own mildly complicated outfit, black and skintight, meant to show off his body. This isn't the first time he's helped; Sephiroth can't help but wonder when the last time will be. "How's that?" he asks, once he's tugged some rather troublesome material down into place a little bit better.
It's not even the most uncomfortable position or outfit that Sephiroth's ever been in, but he knows that Angeal gets annoyed if people are uncomfortable and don't tell him. "It should do well enough until I can change," he says, after a slight moment of thought.
Considering that he was the one to choose these clothes at Genesis's encouragement - something properly chosen by himself for himself instead of just the same old wear governed by others for their own reasons - it almost feels a bit foolish to make any complaints on minor things. He suspects that Angeal has an idea of that sort of thinking, but he doesn't say anything about it. There's just a faint quirk of his eyebrow before he steps back. "If you say so. Gen, are you ready yet?"
Genesis pushes his hair back with the heel of his palm, making it look artfully messy instead of where their fingers had been gripping tightly to pull him around. "You cannot rush greatness," he drawls. "But yes, shall we?"
The three of them don't really have a chance to go very far. Or, rather, it's more that Angeal doesn't have a chance to go very far. Which is sort of amusing in its own right, of course, because the three of them had made a beeline ("Ha" had come out of Angeal's mouth before Genesis's fist had landed somewhere in his kidneys) straight for the employee backrooms. With Angeal and Genesis being the names that they are in the lower plates, it's just a less bothersome route. For Angeal especially, with how this is all his territory.
Normally it's less bothersome. Tonight, the second that they make it past all the janitorial equipment that is meant to bore people from venturing any further if they aren't supposed to be here... There is a small platoon of flashily dressed people swarming all around them.
Sephiroth recognizes just about all of them, of course: Honeybee dancers and hostesses still done up to the nines, a few bartenders out of uniform that are normally scattered about Wall Market, various other sex workers who can be found wherever it might be easiest to listen in on something or get a job for the night. He's talked with some of them, but not often. Being unapproachable is still something of a problem with him, it seems... Regardless, he's made sure to know at least most of their faces, even if knowing all their names would be a challenge for anyone.
Much easier to know, on account of all the yelling, is how worked up everyone is.
"What if we start getting ShinRa lackeys busting our balls!?"
"Can I have your job if you don't want it-"
"Dev, shut up you idiot-"
"Is Genesis going to be the new boss!? Please say it's not Genesis-"
Throughout the entire time that the small mob has descended on them, Sephiroth has been taking pains to carefully help move Genesis along the wall and out of the way, even if the redhead has been doing his best to peer over his shoulder for his own entertainment. However, his far-too keen hearing manages to pick up on that last line, and he immediately perks up past Sephiroth's arms. "Hey. How dare you-"
Sephiroth manages to catch Angeal's gaze, in all of this, from where the man looks like he might drown from the force of everyone crowding around him. All he needs is for Angeal to raise his eyebrows pointedly, and Sephiroth moves wordlessly along with what's been asked of him.
His hands aren't exactly soundproof material, but they do well enough for their purposes right now. They've just settled over Genesis's ears when Angeal reaches up, fingers in his mouth for a sharp whistle that cuts through all the clamor. Genesis still wrinkles his nose, of course, and that's better than the alternative. "Calm down," Angeal says with a sigh, as everyone falls quietly obediently enough. "First of all, yes, Genesis is taking over Wall Market. We talked about how first order of business is making you all wear red uniforms."
"Oh, fuck off," Genesis and someone else from within the throng say at the exact same time. Someone had already cackled at one of Angeal's terrible bald-faced lies, but that gets even more laughter.
There's a bit of a grin on Angeal's face before he adjusts his stance, one hand on his hip as he surveys the motley group in front of him. Sephiroth can see the gears turning in his head on just how he should handle this whole mess. No doubt he'd wanted to keep this at least a little more on the down low... But loose lips can cause all sorts of havoc. "Alright, so all I did was think out loud about retiring some time in the future," he decides at last. "I am not retiring right this second or even this year. Try not to spin that in the worst possible light. I'll make a proper announcement..." He rolls his neck a bit, considering that. "In a couple of days. Just so that you can all stop spreading rumors. That's all, so can I walk out of a building unaccosted?"
Having a clear plan of action seems to be enough of a toll to indeed let him pass through without anymore problems. Genesis teases him about it and laughs all the way to the train station, seeming to have exchanged a needle towards himself for some entertainment on watching Angeal be bothered by his own people.
That just leaves the two of them, in the end, as many nights often seem to pass in Wall Market. Sephiroth doesn't mind. He's come to find a kind of serenity in the eternal night that rests down here. Maybe he should miss the sight of the sky more. The fresh air not bogged down by smoke and oil and too many things to name. A daytime that ends, instead of being neverending neon that one only finds respite from in forgotten alleys and apartments with all the blinds shut.
Sephiroth still likes it. Better than what he had before, which felt more restrictive than miles of metal there up above his head. Here, even if he's still unapproachable, there are still people who say his name with a smile. The work he does is pleasurable in his own way, and he gets to make choices for things for himself.
The clothes he wears. The places he goes, down here in Wall Market. The food he'll decide to eat tonight for dinner, whether that's something from a restaurant or a recipe he tries to carefully follow from Angeal's handwriting.
Maybe they're still limited, in many ways, from what he does for a living now... But he's come to learn that might just be how it is to live as an individual restricted to one's own body. Considering that he once never felt as though he would have much freedom to do anything, even this much is on occasion overwhelming.
Of course, for what seems overwhelming and more than enough to him is often something that others disagree on. It always seems as though they're giving him more and more, even after all these years.
Angeal proves that much, as the two of them step up towards the plainly labeled 'HQ' of Wall Market which doubles as a place for Angeal to stay at on occasion when he doesn't want to make his own short trip home. "So, what do you think?" he asks him, as they pass by the guards keeping things in order around the place and up the steps. "About the idea of me retiring."
With how much he's been talking about it, Sephiroth has to admit that he didn't think Angeal would want to talk more about it, and he blinks. "Well, I can see where your reasoning came from," he answers as they shut the double doors behind them, heading straight for the master suite tucked away deep inside the manor. "You explained it all clearly enough. Running territory like this is no small feat, and I imagine the extent of it was not something you and Genesis could have truly known when you first came down here. Whether it is a vacation or retirement, I can understand why you would want to step away from it."
And that's just how it is, isn't it? There aren't any flaws in Angeal's logic. If he's having problems, then he's having problems with the role. Just like Sephiroth is allowed to choose things for himself, so is Angeal... and he has faith in Angeal making sure to leave behind as little a mess as possible.
Opening the door to his room, Angeal looks over his shoulder with one of those faint and far too serious frowns of his. "Not like that. I meant... Personally. Do you, Sephiroth RH, like or not like the idea of me retiring?"
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Although with the way that he's organized things, it's become more of a very small studio apartment more than anything else. Very practical, very efficient: a large bed that can actually handle someone of Angeal's frame, a small countertop resting atop a fridge and freezer with cupboards above it stuffed full with more food than anything else, the large wardrobe in the corner that holds clean changes of clothes and a secret entrance out of the building in case of the worst. And there, resting in its place held off of the floor, Buster. The only place that offers any privacy is a small door leading into a small shower and toilet.
"Want dinner?" Angeal asks him over his shoulder as though he didn't ask the question he did, already crouching down in front of the fridge to judge what he has in there. With him, it's almost always something fresh, even with how difficult that can be down here sometimes. One of the few privileges that Angeal permits himself to be spoiled with, along with the millions of potted plants that flourish here.
For lack of much other furniture, Sephiroth sits down on the edge of the bed. "If you're making enough," he says simply, which means that Angeal will of course make something that's more than enough. That much is proven when Angeal opts to pull out a thick cooking pot from somewhere within his cooking supplies, and begins pulling out what looks like crawfish from his fridge. Sephiroth isn't entirely sure where he got them; crawfish don't really live around Midgar last he checked.
While Angeal gets to stirring in oil and flour together into the pot, Sephiroth is given a moment to just... reflect on his own emotions. On the idea of a future where Angeal has stepped back from Wall Market.
It's a strange mental image. He almost can't picture it, honestly. When he thinks of Wall Market, he thinks of Angeal, just like how he always thinks of Genesis when he thinks of the Golden Saucer. Certainly, he can think of different stages of Wall Market, falling in step with the different facets of Angeal he's seen over the years, too.
Wall Market, people looming in the corners with weapons at the ready. Angeal, blue eyes too bright with neon reflected and always tense.
Wall Market, construction on every other corner as people covered up blood or damage while new energy pulsed through the streets. Angeal, hair pulled back in a tiny little ponytail while he bowed his head to Genesis's and the two of them talked about ambition.
Wall Market, present, glittering, still hiding blood and dark deals in the shadows directly under its lights, but with a lot more vitality to it as people keep moving in and out. Angeal, settled, sturdy, an ever present tide that pulls the sands of his territory with him to shape it all patiently. The Angeal that's standing in front of him right now, stirring the roux of their dinner patiently as though none of that matters.
If Angeal stops being the boss of Wall Market... Would all of this still be the same?
The success, the safe conditions, even probably the safety of everyone who works for him... That would probably still remain mostly intact, Sephiroth suspects. If Angeal is going to choose someone himself, then that much would at least be the bare minimum requirement. He's not lacking in any faith in that area.
But what about this room? Sephiroth closes his eyes. Ever since he first got to know him, Angeal has always had the best nose out of anyone he's met, but Sephiroth's own isn't that bad either... and it's more than enough to take in the scent that Angeal has established in this one simple little room. The steaming smell of onions and other vegetables that he's added into the pot, how the basil and mint and every other herb in the room flourishes happily from all the hard work he's put into it, and even the subtle bitter tang of sword polish. Buster's regular maintenance was today.
What would a theoretical new boss do? Keep it as a little room to rest in? Change it into an office, or an armory? Would it still be the same even if they didn't change anything at all?
There's a small hum from Angeal, a snippet of some Banoran song that he never finishes. Sephiroth doesn't know if he's ever hummed every part of the song. It seems different every time, somehow, although Sephiroth knows that isn't logical. Every song has a start, and an end.
"He just can't remember songs," Genesis had teased, once, when they'd all been gathered in the Rhapsodos-Hewley apartment, away from here. "Art is truly wasted on him." And Angeal had threatened to remove all the spice from his dish.
The new boss probably doesn't even know any Banoran. It's a long ways away. A quiet little country town, filled with apples.
"I wouldn't like the change," he says while Angeal is in the middle of adding the crawfish, and actually hearing the words from his own throat actually surprises him even as he'd been actively thinking about it all this time. Even after all these years, admitting to selfishness feels... strange. Like sinking his hands into mud.
But Genesis and Angeal have never judged him for any bits of selfishness, encouraged it when they could. All Angeal does is stop his humming - it was nearing its end anyway - and set the lid onto the pot. "It's a lot," he concedes, before he turns away from his small portable stove and walks over to him. Where he sits, the mattress sinks notably. There's a comfort in that kind of weight. "You know, if you didn't want me to retire, then I wouldn't."
Sephiroth turns to stare at him, feeling even more out of his depth than before. It shouldn't matter what I want is almost out of his lips despite everything, but he manages to catch himself. Besides, that'd just get them sidetracked, and they don't need that right now. "Why would what I think be a factor?" he says, which is at least slightly different and enough for him to expand upon. He leans forward, elbow to knee, hand to jaw. "I am your employee, and this is by all means your business. If you want to retire... I think you should do so."
"It'd be a factor because it'd make you uncomfortable," Angeal answers simply, bracing his hands back behind him as he leans back. "Just because you work under me doesn't mean you aren't important to me," he points out. "You've been with me and Genesis since the beginning. I'm not so low that I don't appreciate that."
"You are still technically my boss."
"And you are most definitely a close friend who got me this far in the first place," Angeal points out. "Honestly, Gen and me both. Helping us raise money, keeping me safe when Gen couldn't be here because he had to deal with things over on his end... Just because you aren't calling the shots doesn't mean you're any less important, Seph. And we all know the only reason you still stay in the streets is because you hate being in the spotlight."
"Calling me out neatly tonight, I see."
"It's what you and Gen both need sometimes," Angeal says without batting an eye. What goes unsaid is that they, in exchange, return the favor. "Anyway, how about this: you can get the final say in who I'm going to show off to everyone in the business, in a couple of nights."
Now, isn't that quite a responsibility. "Is that truly all right?"
Angeal does one of those cool little raised eyebrow gestures of his. "If I retire and he takes my place, that means he's going to be your boss," he points out. "If you approve of him or not is just a show on if he's fit to run things in my place."
"And if I purposefully give him a poor score to keep you here?"
Far from being deterred, Angeal just gives a teasing and arrogant smirk. "By all means. If he doesn't get a challenge like that, he won't grow."
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There's not much time to think heavily on it. Angeal suddenly straightens up with a quiet swear, and goes right back to his feet and then his miniature kitchen. "Almost forgot the rice - and I should probably make some sides, while I'm at it."
Not a lot of people would go to such efforts when it's just them, and the person working under them. But then... Angeal's always been different that way. Something about his own personal 'honor', whatever that seems to mean. Sephiroth knows he's not the only one who's spent a night here, when Angeal has opened up his door to any of his workers who were kicked out of their apartment or had to make a run from a bad situation. Knows he's not the only person who he's even cooked for, here in this little tiny room. There's a reason the workers down here in Wall Market wanted to hold onto him so tightly, at just the idea that he might be leaving.
But Angeal reaches down into one of the cupboards, pulls out a small container. "I have some pork pâté I made a little while ago," he says over his shoulder. "Still your favorite thing I make, right?"
Sephiroth likes all the food that Angeal makes for him, whether it's the quick food that often gets passed off in restaurants here in Midgar, or the quiet more homey things that some of the other workers have talked about when referencing their own pasts. He adores the flavorful meals that Angeal and Genesis both know, brought from their hometown.
But one night, early on in their relationship where Angeal would stock up on things and not go outside so easily, not yet, he'd bitten into one of the little meat pastries and had to tuck it into his cheek, puffing out the heat from surprise. He'd made a comment, back then. Something silly, something he's honestly long since forgotten because he hadn't thought that it would be important. Something about the flavor, the taste of herbs that he'd never had a chance to be familiar with before he ever met them.
Angeal had never forgotten. He'd always make them for him, or have some pre-made if he ever thought that Sephiroth would stop by. Certainly, he has no doubt that if he said he didn't want them anymore, then Angeal would stop making them. But he doesn't.
Sephiroth just says, "It is."
That's all Angeal needs before he turns back to his work, and Sephiroth gets up. He has a feeling that he's going to be staying the night here at HQ, and, if that's the case, then he'd much rather undress some of the more complicated aspects to his outfit. It's all well and good, black leather that weathers a great deal and doesn't stain easily, but it is not exactly the perfect sleepwear. The perfect sleepwear would be in Angeal's closet, where he has some plain t-shirts that are just slightly larger on Sephiroth's frame than would actually fit. It's fine; that's all he needs.
By the time he's gotten all the leather off and Angeal's shirt on, it would appear that most of the proper cooking has been accomplished already, with the room smelling of warm spices that makes even his stomach stir a bit. Despite that, when he presses up against Angeal's back, cheek to shoulder and some of his long silver hair brushing against bare skin, Angeal still says, "Hair up in the kitchen."
"The kitchen is a part of an open room." But this is just a silly bit of semantics they make fun of each other for, really, and Sephiroth still obliges in the end. It doesn't take that much for him to pull his hair back, a quick and loose bun that will do well enough. This much hair, it's the best he can do. "You know, I do have client who pay extra for something like that," Sephiroth points out. There is apparently something appealing about the sight of a lover in one's own clothing. Sephiroth would know from experience he's picked up in his line of work, and also because he knows that it pleases Angeal as well.
Normally, anyway. Angeal flashes him a teasing grin. "I'm cooking you dinner, I'm not paying you anything."
"That is rather cheap of you, Angeal," Sephiroth comments dryly, but he's smiling a bit, too. Angeal is always cheap when it comes to himself, and hungry for a good deal when it comes to a lot of other things in life too. The only things he's not cheap about are keeping his territory safe and healthy, and sending money back to his parents in Banora.
Sometimes Sephiroth knows how to coax more out of him... but most of the time, he doesn't. He likes Angeal too much, respects him too much, to abuse the trust that he's been given in turn.
And he wouldn't trade anything in the world for the way that Angeal bumps his shoulder against his, and hands him a plate to fill as he likes.
Not every person under Angeal can make it to the little meeting he hosts at the Honeybee Inn, on account of numbers and scheduling conflicts and everything else. Yet a great deal more people than even Sephiroth was expecting do show up, filling up the Honeybee Inn during some hours that are arguably for cleaning and are more often for messing around. Or, in this case, gossip about what Angeal is doing, and who he might be introducing to them all.
All Sephiroth can say to those that ask him is that he trusts Angeal, and that Angeal won't be retiring soon. Other than that, he must admit that he is in the dark as anyone else for just who Angeal has decided to choose to succeed him.
At least Angeal doesn't keep the group waiting in suspense for very long. There's a few minutes time given to any stragglers who might have caught a late train, or got delayed because of whatever else happens on this particular plate, which is anything and everything... But soon enough their boss steps up onto the stage in the main entertainment area where a lot of the shows are put on, because nowhere else in the entire building could fit what is probably the entirety of Midgar's sex network.
(This is probably an exaggeration. Sephiroth does not feel it is much of one. People go quickly to a boss that treats them well, and Angeal does not skimp on such things. There were a lot of people who slipped away to his employment once he was able. Anyone who chased after and thought they could pick a fight... lost.)
Unlike the last time he was swarmed by a group in the Honeybee Inn, Angeal doesn't have to whistle to bring order around him. Instead, just the presence of him is enough to quiet down all the chattering. Not a person is here who isn't interested in seeing what his plans for the future are, after all. This little fact does not escape Angeal. "I see that I've ended up fostering a workplace environment of nosiness," he comments dryly, which earns a couple of laughs from the workers. Where he's settled in a small booth to the side, Sephiroth smiles a bit as well. "Not that I guess I could have expected anything less from the group where someone's gossip kind of made me have to have this meeting way earlier than I would have liked.
"Most of you have an idea of what this is about. I would say that most of you have gotten caught up in gossip, so we'll clear that up first and foremost: No, I'm not retiring tonight. Or tomorrow. Not this week either, or this month. It's not in the cards for the entire year, either. Probably not a good few, unfortunately for me."
Some of the nervous energy in the room dissipates with just that simple reassurance. Sephiroth doesn't even need enhanced senses to tell that much. It's in the light way some of the hosts and hostesses smile at each other, relieved they won't have to worry about a boss that won't care if they make a complaint about a customer. He can hear it in the whistled out breaths of relief from other sex workers like himself, poledancers and strippers and the ones out on the streets who know they can call for help and have it answered. Someone somewhere in the throng claps their hand to the back of a friend - the bouncers of more than a few establishments in the place. Angeal knows how dirty work is. They rely on him like they wouldn't anyone else just here for the money.
Angeal lets a little bit of chatter happen for a second, understanding a release is needed, before he continues. "That isn't to say I don't want to retire at some point, because I do. And I intend to start working on that long before it actually happens. So you'll be seeing someone new around for a while trailing after me. It's not decided that he's going to replace me in the future. Consider it more of a... test trial."
That starts up the gossip all over again, which Angeal must have expected. Still, Sephiroth supposes this sort of thing couldn't be helped. Gossip would have started up one way or another if someone new just started hanging around Angeal for so long, so consistently. At least this way, Angeal can get out the truth to the most people at once. That's... something.
This time, Angeal does have to let loose a whistle again, the sharp sound bouncing up against the incredibly high ceilings. "How things run might change slightly, because it's not like I'm making a clone of myself," he says dryly, "but not the base things which are most important to all of you. Pay, protection - those are things I'll make sure stay in place even if I do leave. And if somehow they go wrong, you have my permission to throw the new guy into a ditch and drag me out of retirement again. Just try to give him a starting shot-"
A door in the back opens up. Most of the people in the inn don't look back at it. A couple do, because they're close enough. Sephiroth isn't close enough, by normal standards, but he still notes it regardless. It looks like a young man, black hair... Familiar, somehow? And yet Sephiroth is fairly certain that he's not seen him regularly at the Honeybee Inn, or out on the streets.
Before he has much more time to ponder this new arrival, or dismiss him - whichever would come first - the man perks up and energetically waves up at Angeal even as he shuts the door behind him. And it is at Angeal that he's waving to, not anyone else in the large group that's gathered tonight. Sephiroth knows that because Angeal actually shifts his head a bit, acknowledges this new arrival. "Speak of devils," he comments dryly. "Zack - you're late."
"Sorry, Angeal!" says this newcomer, Zack, although his body soon disappears in the group of people as he tries to make his way up to the stage. This would theoretically not be hard, since there is still plenty of room even with everyone here, but, well. Zack is the new guy of the hour. People are interested in him now that Angeal is actually acknowledging him, and Sephiroth thinks he can hear some laughter. "Whoa - hi, excuuuuse me, just - coming through, sorry about the feathers!" Angeal waits patiently up on the stage, before Zack finally manages to push through, and scrambles up to him eagerly. At least he's not lacking for energy, Sephiroth can say that much.
And some measure of optimism, too, showing in the way that he grins widely back at everyone even as he has to stand in front of so many. Someone, perhaps, automatically suited to the spotlight. Sephiroth can't quite relate.
Angeal just puts a hand along the back of Zack's neck, keeping him neatly in place. Smart idea; this one seems like the type that would leap right off of the stage and get into all sorts of nonsense before the rest of them have had a chance to even hear his name. But then, there's something familiar about the way that Angeal's hand settles, too... "For those paying attention, I probably don't have to explain much. For the rest of you, then this is Zack, and Zack is going to be hanging around to see how I do business down here in Wall Market. I'm trusting you all to take care of him while he's here with me. Got it?"
There's some actual verbal responses, some that aren't so verbal, but that hardly matters to Sephiroth right now. Instead, as he watches Angeal lightly shove Zack off back into the throng where he seems more than happy to talk to people, it occurs to him that he knows now why Zack had seemed so familiar.
This isn't the first time that he's seen Zack at Angeal's side. Granted, he's not seen him often, not like how Genesis and Angeal used to be absolutely inseparable, but... He had still noted, at a distance, the appearance of someone new at Angeal's side as he'd gone about to do some of his average business down on the plate. Walking off to check something with the younger man in tow, keeping him waiting in a chair somewhere at HQ before he came out for something... Only a small smattering of occasions like that. Nothing noteworthy at the time. Sephiroth had honestly thought that he was another sex worker at first that Angeal was dealing with for whatever reason.
He had also caught sight, once, of Zack against a wall, mouth desperately trying to devour or be devoured by Angeal's own, hands pawing at that muscular chest. He'd been whining for it, hungry.
Admittedly, that last part had done a lot on the impression that this was just another sex worker being taken into the fold. Angeal didn't normally lay a hand on his own workers in that matter, but, well. Sephiroth knew better than anyone that there could certainly be the occasional exception.
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That is something of a question, considering that Sephiroth's experiences with Zack so far have been seeing Zack follow after Angeal, Zack being late for a meeting where Angeal introduced him, getting excited being around so many people, and the time he practically tried to grind himself to completion against Angeal while digging his fingers against his chest.
Still, it's all enough to at least give him something to work with, for now. Sephiroth leans back in his seat, observing the potential boss. "He has a lot of energy," he remarks after a moment, which he supposes is rather like stating that the sky is nonexistent this far down in the plates. "And he seems to be making a good impression on a lot of people already." At least, those immediately around him don't appear to be actively glaring at him, and more than a few are smiling and laughing at whatever it is that he's talking about. "However... What does he actually know about running a business like this?" Sephiroth frowns somewhat. "And how well does he know Seven? I've never seen him around Wall Market before."
Important questions, for whoever is going to take over Wall Market if Angeal truly does accomplish his dream of a simple retirement. Yet Angeal doesn't seem perturbed, just drapes his arms along the back of his seat. "He knows absolutely nothing," he says, upfront and honest. The words aren't exactly reassuring, but Angeal's honesty, funnily enough, is. "But neither did I, when I first arrived in Midgar. And neither did Gen, although he had a slight edge in knowing how to handle a business."
"So you're going to spend your time teaching him, then."
Angeal shrugs. "I was always going to have to have to spend a lot of time teaching anyone I decided on," he says matter of factly. "There's more to this place than just business. More to this place than just knowing it. I have a duty to the people here in Wall Market, and it'd tarnish my honor if I just tossed it aside without even the slightest attempt to keep it going after I was gone."
Sometimes, Genesis rolls his eyes at the idea that Angeal seems to have of honor - especially as a crime boss, of all things. Sephiroth likes it. It's something... distinctly Angeal. Some sort of ideal that seems to keep him better than anyone else out on the streets.
After all, a great many people really would just hand it off, and wash their hands of the whole affair.
"I suppose that is why you said that it would at least take a few years for you to retire," Sephiroth muses. If he's going to be teaching someone everything about Wall Market, from the location itself to the business to its people, their people, then a good few years is the very least that is required. Probably even better would be many years of it, but, well, Angeal had said he wanted to retire. Too many years would be too long. "Although I do wonder where you picked him up in particular."
"Well, it was a ShinRa thing-"
That sounds like an interesting start to a story already, but Angeal doesn't have time to properly go into it. Instead, Zack manages to make his way out from the throng of people - most of which have lessened now as jobs and homes had to be gone to - and heads straight for the two of them. "Angeal!" he exclaims, the name an elated sound on his lips, before he stumbles a bit at the sight of Sephiroth, too.
This isn't a reaction he is unused to, by any means. He is one of the most striking individuals in the employment here in Wall Market, and even people who've heard of him tend to be caught off guard by the actual sight of him. In the many years he's worked in the business of sex, Sephiroth has learned how to use that to his advantage.
A part of him ponders doing that right now. Angeal had said to test his potential successor... and seeing how well he'd respond to a pretty face is a good measure of judgment on just how reliable he can be. For the time being, instead of going all out, he teases him, just a bit.
It doesn't take much. Just a tilt of his head, making sure that his silver hair catches the lights just so. Draws attention to the curve of his neck, exposed for once thanks to the long neckline of his current black shirt. Looks over to him from underneath pale eyelashes, bright green all the brighter in the dim lighting of the Honeybee Inn.
Zack, having gotten his feet under him again, nearly trips on a step up towards their table.
A soft snort of amusement comes from the side, Angeal, but no doubt his face is a little more schooled into place. He's rather good at that; it absolutely infuriates Genesis at times. "Eyes up, Zack," he says dryly, and that seems to be enough to get Zack back in working order as he bounds up the rest of the short steps. "So, going to tell me why you were late? I distinctly recall telling you that this was going to be fairly important."
There is this to be said for Zack: he has a rather boyish, almost puppyish, kind of charm to him. It was no doubt apparent from the very start, when he first started to make his way through the crowd, but it's especially apparent now as Angeal rebukes him. His shoulders rise up a bit, sheepish as his hands spread out helplessly, and his wide blue eyes are quite expressive even from beneath crumpled brows. "C'mon, Angeal, don't be like that!" he protests, a hint of whine to his voice. Sephiroth tries to recall how similar it is to the one he made when he was kissing Angeal. "I couldn't help it! I got delayed!"
"Delayed doing what, exactly?"
Not only expressive eyes, but expressive hands, too, flailing all about as Zack gestures. "I was helping some people out! And, I know, I know that you told me that this was important, and I wasn't trying to ignore that on purpose. I just thought, hey, this will take just a second, right? Except then things might have kiiiiiiinda spiraled out of control, so..."
"Funny how things tend to spiral out of control with you," Angeal remarks dryly, before he shakes his head. No doubt he's shelving this for a later, when he can grill Zack a little more effectively in private. "Anyway... This is Sephiroth." He inclines his head in his direction, as though introductions ever really have to be made when it concerns him. Most people, if they have any idea of what they're doing when they come to this area of town or when they contact the market's many "offices", know well enough who he is. Introductions are really just a nicety at this point. "Don't forget him, since you'll be working with him at least a few times."
That could mean anything, really... but Sephiroth has some confidence in Angeal. Enough to imagine that, if he ever has to work 'alongside' Zack in any capacity, Angeal will talk with him about it first.
"I don't think I could ever forget him," Zack says immediately in response. It almost sounds like a line, honestly, and Sephiroth has heard more than his fair share of them since settling on Seven. But he looks in those wide starry eyes set in a fidgeting frame, and. Hm. This is 100% non-scripted and actually genuine, isn't it?
A rare occurrence, although not impossible. Sephiroth finds himself smiling slightly before he really thinks to stop himself.
This wouldn't really be a problem in any other situation, but Sephiroth can tell even without looking that Angeal is doing that little quirked up smile of his. The one that shows in his eyes more than anything. Honestly. He must have known that something like this was going to happen. Terrible. Sephiroth doesn't bother to wipe the smile from his lips regardless. "I'll look forward to working with you, Zack," is what he says in the end.
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"Go?" Zack's expression twists into quite the amusing countenance, torn between elation and disappointment. It's painfully clear that he'd rather been hoping that he could stick around a little while longer - whether in the flash of the Honeybee Inn, or perhaps for Sephiroth himself. He's not so arrogant as to make a guess on which. "Where are we going?"
"Most of the important people who need to know you, know you. We can go around and making some proper introductions, now. Get you an idea how the main areas of Wall Market work."
"Do I have to take notes?"
"You'd lose any notes you took," Angeal informs him plainly, and Sephiroth hides his smile behind his fingers, a bit. "Just try to pay attention for when I have you actually doing things."
The prospect of doing apparently anything seems to perk Zack up well enough. "Yessss," he cheers quietly, pumping his fist like this is some massive victory. Someone who learns best by doing, it seems. "Then let's get a move on! Where are we going next?"
"There's a few places around the immediate area you could probably stand to get a handle on... We'll try some of the big businesses first." Resting his hand on the back of the booth, Angeal inclines his head towards Sephiroth, now. "Thanks for showing up for today. I'll keep you updated on how things turn out." And with that, he takes his leave, lightly rapping his knuckles along Zack's shoulder to have him follow after. This doesn't, of course, stop Zack from peering over his shoulder and waggling his fingers excitedly at Sephiroth in good bye.
Really, it's as though Angeal has picked up an energetic little puppy. Actually.... Hadn't he heard Angeal commenting to one of the Honeybees recently about finding a cute new puppy, even though Genesis had clearly made no reference to any such things? Honestly now. Sephiroth waves back.
Of course, when Angeal talks about keeping him updated, it's also just as much keeping Genesis updated.
A crime boss and a casino owner - together they might just make for the richest pair in all of Midgar, even if individually they can't hold a candle to something like ShinRa. However, that means both of them have to do a great deal of things to keep it all running smoothly, and exactly as they want it. Especially with how so many people would be glad to leap upon any perceived weakness in either Wall Market or the Golden Saucer. Anything to take it for themselves, or make steps towards that goal.
In contrast, Sephiroth has considerably less on his plate. Due to his popularity and the prices Angeal makes sure don't dip for any of his people, it's not as though he's lacking for money, either. So, even though none of them really agreed to any of it out loud...
One way or the other, he always finds a way to the Golden Saucer, where Genesis is more than happy to spoil him.
Today, that means being near the chocobo racetrack, where the redhead is applying affection to a particularly brilliant blue stud. "What do you think?" he asks him, palms braced carefully along the edge of the massive bird's beak.
It was a good choice to dress a little more plainly today, even if there is still a lot of leather involved. But that's a tactical choice. Stray feathers don't stick quite as easily to his leather compared to any other material he could wear, and that's a benefit as he walks a little further into the stall. Tall boots were also a smart choice; Angeal was right to insist he get at least one sensible pair all those years ago. "A new acquisition?" he asks, taking in the rather patient temperament. No anxiety at the prospect of another and very new person into the stall, just a quiet observation of him - silver reflected in that large black eye. "The feathers seem to be a bit different than that which I'm used to. Were you talked out of buying another red?"
"Oh, hush," Genesis says, with a click of his tongue. "I would have you know that I have more sense than that and you very well know it. While a flock of brilliant crimson would certainly be a sight to behold, it does not fair well on the racetrack. There, they are most glorious when bedazzling the crowd in a mosaic of color, like stained glass in a forgotten church."
"Very poetic."
"Thank you, I am glad that someone can properly appreciate my talents."
That draws out a soft chuckle from Sephiroth. Well, it is good to see that Genesis is in a fine mood, today. Perhaps his new companion is helpful in that regard, for it has quite a calming sort of personality. At least, it just makes a soft little trill in its throat when Sephiroth runs his hand along its long neck, and ends in a little beep.
Yes, this close, and being able to touch the creature... It is quite different from the chocobo that Genesis normally buys for the track. There's something about that sensation which is far smoother than a chocobo feather normally is. A different breed entirely, perhaps?
"What kind of environment does this one grow in?" he asks, curious despite himself. "With how slick they are... A water-inclined breed?"
It would explain the slight difference in the feathers, and, now that he's closer, he thinks there may be something different to its feet, as well. Yet, still, it is undeniably a chocobo. Genesis chuckles a bit, fingers sinking through the feathers and guiding themselves along one folded wing. "Truly, nothing gets past you, does it, our eagle-eyed partner?" he teases. "But yes - this is a rather rare little breed that I heard about, so when I heard there was a chance to get it for myself, I knew that I would be daft to pass it up. I have thought about having some construction do to make a more water-themed route for the races, but... Well, that would perhaps end up far too pricey as an immediate venture."
"So this one will become a more minor side attraction," Sephiroth concludes with a small nod. "At least unless you can breed more of them. Well, for all that this one has moved quite a ways from its original home, it seems happy enough here." His hands fall away from the bird, just to give it a bit more space. "...His name is Zack, if you were interested. Last name Fair."
Immediately, Genesis's nose wrinkles, and he pulls his hand away. "What a poetic surname," he sighs. "And yet I cannot be particularly pleased about it. I haven't heard anything about him in Midgar. Where on earth is he from and how did Angeal find him?"
Fortunately, these are questions that Sephiroth had as well, and that Angeal had at least shown some courtesy by leaving a quick note at his place. Everything else, well, he'd picked up from gossip.
There are a lot of gossips, fortunately, at the Honeybee Inn. He doesn't think that they started there, or that Angeal picked them for that particular quality, but it is most certainly how the hive has turned out regardless. Sometimes, it works out well enough to all their advantages.
"The details are somewhat lost on me, or, at the very least, I can't yet tell you what fact or fiction is," Sephiroth begins, "but everyone seems to be on agreement that he managed to poach him from the SOLDIER recruitment process." He pauses, so that Genesis can get out his sharp bark of laughter. ShinRa is an important source of revenue for both the Market and the Saucer, of course, or at least its employees are... But, well, strong powers will always be at odds with strong powers. It's simple to say that there's no particular love lost between them. Sephiroth can take some bitter amusement from the whole thing as well.
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"Gongaga?" Genesis wrinkles his nose. "That sounds positively backwater."
A moment passes. Genesis squints at him. Sephiroth politely says nothing, especially nothing on the fact that they both know that Genesis can't really say anything on anyone being from somewhere backwater. Banora may have its rise to acknowledgment with posters for the apples everywhere you turn even in Midgar, but it's still... very country, from what Sephiroth understands. While Angeal seems to think that it's amusing that some "country hick" like him can become a crime boss in a place like Midgar - the crime boss, really, depending on who you ask - Genesis seems as though he would much rather blunt force trauma everyone in existence so they remember what Banora is.
Another little difference between them.
"Regardless, that he was in the running for SOLDIER proves that his physical capabilities should be worth something," he says, eventually. Certainly nothing worse than what most thugs there in the Market, honestly.
All Genesis does is scoff, bending down to pluck a stray feather off from the ground inbetween his fingers. "Please, as though SOLDIER is anything special," he says dismissively. Not a lot of people would say something like that, but... From someone like Genesis, with more than enough reserves in him to set no small portion of Midgar alight. Angeal, from what Sephiroth can tell, never quite got a handle on materia in a similar way...
But Angeal can take that very same high level magic Genesis is capable of at point-blank range and get right back up again, looking no worse for the wear outside of burned clothing.
That's not even talking about Sephiroth himself. He'd prefer to keep it that way.
"There still has to be a reason that he caught Angeal's eye," he points out, earning a huff from Genesis's lips. "Still, energy and personality seem to be his strongest points... Not so much some other qualities that has helped Angeal settle Wall Market."
It is a very generous way of putting it. Genesis is not nearly so generous. "Oh, so he's an imbecile," he declares with a dramatic sigh. "And that is who Angeal wants to put in charge of the Market? After all the hard work he put into it?" He rakes his fingers through it, almost seemingly more annoyed at the changes happening in his partner's territory than anything that might occur in his own. Then again, the two of them have always seemed to operate this way: anything that's Angeal's is Genesis's, and vice versa. It's just that Genesis is the one most likely to meddle. "I normally understand everything going through that head of his, and yet I must admit that this is a mystery to me."
"You could always go down to see him yourself," Sephiroth suggests. Whether he means Angeal or his new protégé, well, that's up to Genesis.
The responding head shake is not entirely surprising. "No... At least, if I go to visit Angeal, it will be as I always do." His lips thin a bit, displeasure in very bit of the gesture. "He did say that eventually retiring was something he wished to do... And Wall Market is, in the end, his territory to deal with. Unless something truly egregious occurs, or it involves the Golden Saucer, then I suppose I do not have too much of a right to get involved."
Not too much of a right still means he has something of a right, of course. A neat little loophole for Genesis. Sephiroth doesn't call him out on this, either, only smiles. "Of course. Regardless, nothing of particular interest has happened yet... or else I would have a far more exciting tale to pass onto you."
"Oh, I imagine it is simply a matter of time before something fascinating happens," Genesis with a dismissive wave of his hand, brilliant blue feather fluttering with the motion. "It is Wall Market, after all. Well, enough of that." Reaching over, he deposits the feather right there behind Sephiroth's ear, and smiles a bit as though pleased with the picture that he's brought to life. "Shall I treat you to dinner, as compensation for having you come all this way?"
There's no actual need for him to 'pay' Sephiroth, of course. He came here because Genesis is someone dear to him, because he wants to make sure that him and Angeal are on the same page. Because it's nice, to be with the two of them.
It took... perhaps no small amount of time, and a bit of explaining from Angeal, that this is just another way that the two of them show affection to him. A way that they take care of him, and get to spend time with him. It seems kind of silly to make excuses for things that both parties clearly want - Angeal had conceded that much when Sephiroth had pointed it out to him - but sometimes the performance was a part of it.
Honestly, being close with Genesis has taught him a lot about the connection between performance and being human.
"If it won't get in the way of anything," he responds in turn, although he has to chuckle when the two of them exit the stables. "You know, the night that Angeal first told us about his idea of retiring... He also treated me to dinner."
Genesis shakes his head, but he doesn't seem particularly surprised. "All the money in the world, and he still insisted on having that little kitchen installed instead of simply hiring his own personal chef," he sighs. "What will I do with him? And he didn't even invite me." That last part, they both know, is the true issue at hand. Angeal has only really cooked for himself, family, and Genesis before he arrived in Midgar, and yet his cooking has a quality to it that Sephiroth finds hard to describe. Nice. Pleasant. Something he'd be happy eating every night, and he knows Genesis feels the same. "Well, it shall not be the fine dining of a crime boss's single suite in the back of a crime den, but you'll be treated to the finest of Golden Saucer cuisine."
While Sephiroth has other things to do in his life than stay by Angeal's side all the time, it's hard for even him to miss how much of a constant presence Zack soon becomes in the area. Certainly, he'd picked up on his existence once or twice before any announcement, but the difference from then and in the present is stark.
Not all of it is by Angeal's side, either. Oh, yes, he's there as well - tagging along behind Angeal as he goes through the territory, forced to sit down in the office with his head in his hands as terribly dull math is explained to him, running full sprint out the door while Angeal yells at his back to calm down not inside the building Zack. That much is just to be expected, in all honestly.
But more often than not, he can be found all throughout Wall Market, and even in a few areas beyond... although Sephiroth cannot say with any concrete certainty how much of his time is spent in or out of the area. As Sephiroth thought, Zack is a doer more than someone who learns from sitting about being told things, and Angeal had clearly spotted that as well. He has an eye, for things like that. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing useful for a crime boss, but...
So Sephiroth sees him running around doing apparent errands for the various and actually legal businesses down on the plate. Spots him doing bodyguard duty for a few of their people through parts of town both mundane and dangerous. Once, after he's finished meeting up with a client, he even spots Zack rushing around in the backstage of the Honeybee Inn looking absolutely out of his depth.
"If you're going to run a business right, then you need to know the ins and outs of it," he tells Sephiroth plainly one night , when they've both decided to take a break and have decided to visit the Golden Saucer just to see how the races are going. "I'm not expecting him to become an expert in any of those jobs, don't get me wrong."
"But he needs to get it in his head what he's actually running."
Angeal flashes him a short, small smile. "He needs to have an appreciation for where all his money and success is really coming from. Guy like me - I just keep the rails straight and smooth. Nothing more, nothing less." A rather humble view of himself for a crime boss, but that really is just so like Angeal. They don't have much time to keep going with that line of conversation before one of Genesis's people manages to track them down and lead them to a private viewing room where Genesis awaits.
At least it's almost pleasant, to see Zack running about everywhere and the impact he has on others. Even if their passes rarely cross directly, Sephiroth can still observe the effect he has on other people. That might not seem like a lot to some.
In Sephiroth's opinion, however... It's incredibly enlightening.
From that very first night, he had deduced that Zack was a sociable and amicable sort of individual with how he hadn't shyed away from being in the spotlight, and had leapt right into the waiting crowd of Angeal's people to get to know them for himself. With a chance to prove himself all the more, a long leash that lets him go throughout all of Wall Market... he seems to leave an even better impression on everyone, wherever he meets. You know, those who are not already disinclined to anyone who possesses a sufficiently cheerful or energetic personality.
"He tried to pretend he wasn't dying when I explained to him the ins and outs of acupuncture," Avi says, branding the newest set of needles with a grin from within the Inn's more specialized rooms. "Wasn't so great at it when I did a practical demonstration. It was funny."
"That big fight a couple nights ago? He got involved," Gale says with a sigh from within the Tonberry Tonic, one of the many bars that makes up business on the plate, and yet it's said with a faint smile. "Broke some glasses. Came back in just a couple of hours with new ones and all the apologies in the world."
"He broke the squats record," a couple of the folks from the gym.
"Why are you telling me about a squats record," Genesis asks him suspiciously with a squint, over his desk where he's looking over some proposals for new machines from a few businesses.
Sephiroth's smile is small and impossible to miss for someone like the redhead. "I thought it would be amusing," he says, and is rewarded by Genesis's eye roll. "Besides, at least it does show that there's some good physical training in there, so we can confirm at least some sort of training was present, even if not from SOLDIER."
"No wonder it sounds as though Angeal is running him absolutely ragged, then." Genesis sounds rather satisfied about that little fact, however. "Still, nothing interesting, really..."
Probably a lack of anything interesting is why Angeal has decided now is the best time to do something like this. Genesis just likes things when they're a bit more dramatic, a bit more explosive. No doubt that will come in due time; Wall Market rarely stays quiet for long. But they both know Angeal's reasonings, and Wall Market's ways. For now, Sephiroth leans against the desk, and his smile shifts in a way he's learned from both experience and the man seated right there in front of him. "There is always us," he points out.
Genesis's eyes light up in that eager predatory sort of way, and Sephiroth knows without seeing his own that they match in turn. "There is," he purrs, the sound just a little jagged there in the back of his throat.
When sufficiently distracted, Genesis burns bright and hard - a wildfire whose hunger never falters in the slightest, for want of everything the world has to offer him. Even in all the time he's been in this line of work, in all the time that he's been free and exploring even the wide world that Midgar composes of, Sephiroth doesn't think he's ever met anyone else quite as ravenous as Genesis.
It does appealing things, to one's sense of being needed and desired. It also keeps Sephiroth stuck in that office, and then Genesis's apartment, for hours on end. He suspects that the only people that can keep up with Genesis like this are him and Angeal.
Of course, being with Genesis also means indulging in rather lazy mornings - something that had been a foreign concept to him once upon a time and yet which he allows some indulgence in when it comes to Genesis. Most of the morning passes before Sephiroth is able to untangle himself from Genesis's arms - always seeking heat - and help his friend go off to work with as large a cup of espresso as is possible for a human being to down. He thinks none of it, honestly. It all seems rather mundane.
Only when he finally returns to Wall Market does he sense tension in the air.
Most can't get a feel for it. Not the average person, even those who live around the Market themselves. But Sephiroth can pick up on the way the guards near HQ glance at one another, the rare worker who hurries past with furrowed brows. It's enough to, on instinct, have him turn towards HQ and seek out Angeal.
As fortune would have it, the two of them run into one another right at the doors. "Ah, Sephiroth. Hey," he says, a dark sort of calm settled over him. Against his back, the buster sword patiently hangs there.
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More sensible souls, not being spurred on by senseless bravado or rage, look at a man who can cart around a giant sword with little trouble and think twice on the choices that have brought them there.
But sometimes, she still finds a use. Sometimes, she still is pulled out when Angeal finds it truly important to use Buster and nothing else. It's just always hard to tell when that moment will be until it happens. So if he has Buster out...
Sephiroth doesn't go inside HQ. Doesn't go back home. Instead, he steps to the side, falling in step with Angeal through simple habit. Behind them, he can feel Zack sticking close almost more than he can hear his footsteps beneath all the bustle of the Market. "Who was it?" Sephiroth asks simply.
"Skuppa, from the gym," Angeal tells him matter of fact, not breaking his stride in the slightest. It's a calm voice, and arguably on as calm expression as can be found on a severe face as Angeal's. However, it doesn't go past Sephiroth that there's a churning sort of darkness in Angeal's eyes. The kind of quiet wrath that is just being held back until it can be set upon the appropriate target. It matches a certain quality in his voice, too, something dark and low that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Genesis refers to it as growling, although Sephiroth has never heard a definite growl leave Angeal's throat.
There are a lot of people in Wall Market, and more people who work for it beyond the little territory. Getting to know all of them is something that even Sephiroth struggles with, sometime. But he thinks he recalls the name, can match it to some sort of face. A little bit older, the kind of muscular type that some liked.
The kind that people never think would run into trouble, but that's exactly why they sometimes do.
But perhaps just as importantly as Angeal's own quiet fury... Sephiroth glances back past the two of them, taking in the way Zack's fists are clenched, trembling, how they match the rage that's sparking behind his own eyes. Like an ember about to land a little too close to a fireworks stand at a gas station.
Skuppa. Sephiroth had spoken to him briefly at the gym. He'd been laughing about the looks on everyone's faces when Zack had broken a record. Hadn't Angeal just sent him to the gym but a few days ago?
There's no need to ask if Angeal needs any back up. If he felt he did, then surely he would have gotten it already from any of the guards in his employ, or asked for him, or asked Genesis. Maybe once upon a time, Sephiroth wouldn't have thought to ask him. Even so, in the face of all those facts, Sephiroth still asks him, "Do you want anyone to come with you?"
Angeal forces out a steadied breath from between his teeth, finds some sort of center in himself. "I'll be fine," he says after a moment. "Thanks for the consideration. But I do have Zack with me."
Behind them, Sephiroth can hear Zack's steps stutter and stumble for a brief moment. Recognition of his own ability by the boss; what a pleasant thing. And Sephiroth supposes that Angeal does have a point. He chose Zack for a reason... and this, too, is going to be one of the things he will have to deal with as the boss of Wall Market.
"Then I'll be waiting for you when you return," Sephiroth answers simply, before he turns back to Zack. Apparently he's caught him at a slightly inopportune time; Angeal's protégé is still trying to school his expression back when he does so. "We'll be relying on you to keep him safe, then."
They've all paused, now, and Zack stands up ramrod straight. Sephiroth thinks he can see the slightest ghost of the SOLDIER he might've been in that, even if it is just the ghost of an eager young recruit. He thinks he can even see his hand jerk, almost prepared to go straight into a salute. "You got it!" he says, finding some brief measure of excitement and confidence in the situation despite itself. "Zack Fair, here to do the job right!"
Angeal scoffs a little bit under his breath, but Sephiroth thinks that his own ire has lessened a bit. Someone may still very well die tonight, depending on what's happened to Skuppa, but that's none of Sephiroth's concern. His priority is, and always will be, Angeal and Genesis, and Angeal is who is in front of him now.
"Then Zack Fair needs to keep up with me if he wants to do the job right," he says, continuing onwards, stride as long and quick as ever. "Don't lag, Zack."
"I'm not lagging! I'm not!"
Sephiroth declines any other jobs for the rest of the day, once they've disappeared from view - whether that's to use the train or any other questionable form of transportation that Angeal chooses. He's fortunate that he's had nothing else really planned for the day, honestly, although he would have cancelled any appointments even if he did without even a second thought. Instead, he lets himself into Angeal's more private rooms - the little suite, of course, but also his office, the makeshift infirmary that would make any field medic jealous, all sorts of little spaces that once used to be declarations of luxury and now have been transformed into something more in accordance with Angeal's practical nature even if he'd been to cheap to construct over the glintz and gaudiness of it all.
In a way, it's almost amusing. Angeal likes to hang coats on top of a gold-coated monster statue of some sort, "just to hide its ugly face, I do not understand rich people's tastes at all".
It only takes a few hours for Angeal to return in the end, and Sephiroth suspects that most of that was time spent traveling - whether by automated transport or simply hunting through the streets as he tracked down the person who made the ill-advised choice of hurting or taking one of their own. Zack and Skuppa are there with him... Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Zack and Angeal are with Skuppa, bracketing both sides of him like a pair of guard dogs.
Skuppa's smile is a bit sheepish as he settles down onto an infirmary bed that they stole from the back of a truck, once upon a time. Sephiroth can spot the bruises around his neck even before the other man lowers the coat from his shoulders. "Kinda embarrassing, to get caught like that," he says, while Angeal looks over the medical supplies that Sephiroth pulled out hours earlier. "And I thought it was just going to be normal play."
And that's how so many get them, isn't it? "You wouldn't be the first," Sephiroth tells him, because it's the truth. "I am simply glad the system worked."
The system where any of their people can protect themselves if they want to learn how from Angeal, and Genesis. The system where, even with that in place, everyone is meant to check in so that they can react immediately to the first sign of something amiss. Angeal had insisted upon something like it, ages ago, before he'd even really solidified his standing in the Market.
Of course, with the things they'd seen at the lowest tier in the hierarchy as they'd been fighting... That'd only made sense.
Angeal is the one who tends to him, in the end, because Angeal has a surprising amount of field medic knowledge for someone who grew up in the middle of nowhere, and Genesis is the one who is better at using healing materia. That leaves Sephiroth to step back a bit, and he looks towards Zack.
In contrast to the fire he'd clearly had coaxed along in him when he was first setting off with Angeal, he seems a bit quieter now. Contemplative, perhaps. He almost doesn't seem to notice Sephiroth's approach at first, and only jolts in realization when he takes the seat besides him. "Oh! Sephiroth! You - Uh -" He starts to flail his hands about, seeking to make some sort of understanding gesture, and not making a single bit of sense at all. "Hey!"
While he gets flustered, Sephiroth takes this time to look him over. Angeal, he had only needed to glance at to get a good idea of his state of being. Angeal rarely seems to take damage - or, if he does take damage, it rarely seems to last until the next morning unless the damage is truly serious... and that only seems to count if someone manages to actually stab him.
Magic aimed directly at his face? Blunt force trauma to the head? Sephiroth has seen him take on all of this and more, only to be up on his feet again moments later. In that respect, they seem rather similar. Sephiroth has found that he's rather durable as well.
But Zack? Wide eyed, energetic, prone to impulse and doing before thinking? Someone that Sephiroth has not spent years at the side of? Well... Sephiroth imagines that one can understand why he is a little more interested in checking things over with Zack.
And yet Zack seems to be in decent enough condition, at a cursory inspection. His already messy hair has only been made all the more wild, no doubt from running and fighting, and he's far filthier than he was when he first stepped out from HQ. Quite a tall order; sometimes it can be difficult to stay clean at all when one is doing all sorts of odd jobs throughout the Market's many streets. The inside buildings are often kept as clean as can be expected... but down here towards the bottom of Midgar, all the filth seems to filter down here.
The filth is the worst of it, on some level. Zack doesn't hold himself gingerly, isn't favoring one limb over the other. As far as physical injury goes... there is just a large bruise along his jaw, a mottled sort of yellow that will no doubt bruise into splendid purples and reds, with a cut there in a jagged little cross.
Sephiroth tilts his head towards it. "Injured in the line of duty?" he asks, just to help get Zack's mind focused on something again instead of scattered to the four winds. While Sephiroth may be used to that happening around him, it is somewhat an obstacle here right now when he is just trying to talk to the young man.
At least it's enough to snap Zack's mind out of it, as he had hoped. There are a couple of befuddled blinks, and then Zack laughs a little bit, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, this?" he says, hand lowering just so it can jerk up towards his face. Truly, he is a man of near infinite energy that has absolutely no idea where it wants to go. "That's nothing! You should see the other guys! I just got this when I was a little too up close and personal."
Really, he would like to see the other guys, but he doubts there's much more to them that he could really do. Not after Angeal has already dealt with them.
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Zack is making a face, and Sephiroth can't quite tell if it's in response to the question or the sight of the medical supplies. "Got us going all over the plates," Zack complains, fingers curling along the edge of his seat. "I think he was probably trying to make it hard for us to follow after him. But Angeal - jeez, he didn't hesitate in the slightest in where he was going."
"Well, it is Angeal," is all Sephiroth says. He doesn't think most people are aware of just how sharpened Angeal's senses are, or Genesis for that matter. Not him, either. The way that Genesis can hear a whisper across a crowded room, how Angeal can track down anyone if you give him enough time...
Angeal has always told him, in private of course, that none of them are infallible. Too much noise, a million different sounds clashing against each other, puts Genesis's teeth on edge. If someone were to just dump a bomb filled with different powders at the right intersection, Angeal would get mixed up on just where his right mark was. And Sephiroth? Well, he's more than aware of his own limitations. Sharp eyesight like his only has so many places to go, in the crowded and claustrophobic streets of Midgar.
But no one else needs to know that about them. All they need to do... is underestimate the bosses of Midgar's underworld.
Not even Angeal's little protégé, cute and eager and trusted as he might be. So Sephiroth simply follows up with, "Now hold still." While he's rarely ever needed it, Sephiroth has been in this business long enough to know that it stings, even if mostly from the experiences of other people.
Very predictably, Zack does not stay still, although he does a rather commendable job. His head stays still, which is really the most important thing here. It's just the rest of his body that wiggles impatiently in the face of careful fingers cleaning away dirt and germs from his cheek. "Ugh I never should have let him get that cloooose," he grumbles. "This is - it sucks."
"A learning experience," Sephiroth tells him, taking in the clear redness that lays beneath everything else. It'll look uglier when a day has passed. "Does it hurt that much?" Does he need to worry about loose teeth or a dislocated jaw? Not that it seems likely, with how much Zack is still talking, but...
Zack wrinkles his nose. "What a learning experience, but I guess that's just like him." They both know who he's referring to. "But no - it's fine. You know, I wasn't thinking that you'd be here waiting for us, when we first left!"
"And why is that?"
There go Zack's hands again. Sephiroth think he might come to like that aspect of Zack, the way his hands are so expressive. Genesis has a similar energy to him, in everything he does, although there's no doubt he'd make a face at being compared to someone like Zack. "Well, I thought you'd have other things to do. And I didn't know that you knew first aid? I mean, it's you, so you must be in high demand."
"Even I have my days off," Sephiroth tells him, putting down the cotton so that it can be discarded later. "And I had made sure I would have some time today... because of a job I took last night." It's always wise to have a recuperation period after meeting with Genesis. Just in case. "I would have cancelled even if I had."
Zack stares at him, hands going still. "Really?"
"Of course." And then, on a bit of rare whim, Sephiroth leans in and does something he used to see Angeal and Genesis do one another a million times before early on in their territory claim. He presses his lips, gently, to the wound there along Zack's face. "I was going to wait for you both no matter what."
When he pulls away, Zack's face is red all the way to his hairline. "Oh," is all he has to say.
A very cute reaction, really, although Sephiroth is left to wonder if perhaps Angeal is rubbing off on him in some terrible ways. Before he can press much more on this, or Zack can say anything else, Angeal's voice rises up from behind. "Alright, I think that's as good as we're gonna get. Everyone's staying here tonight."
Technically, Sephiroth knows that Angeal means the people most likely to be targeted by anyone left over by the most recent 'hunt' - in other words, the person who was originally targeted, and then the two men responsible for getting into a violent scrap to emerge victorious. He doesn't let that stop him from following right after Angeal, however, until they're all situated in the boss's little suite and both of them are working at the kitchenette together.
"You're a real heartbreaker, you know," Angeal says mildly, as they both start assembling some thick sandwiches that will go into the warm oven. Thick ham, salami, pastrami, olive slices, various cheeses... It's enough to clog someone's arteries. Angeal seems to love it for nights like this.
This isn't the first time Sephiroth has heard a comment like this. Usually it's from people with a bit more bitterness to their bite. "Is this about Zack?" he says back, well aware of the scene behind them: Zack and Skuppo, the former energetically telling some story or another. Something silly, an event from one of his shifts at a bar, Sephiroth thinks. "I'm not sure I want to hear that from you."
While he may be a crime boss, Angeal still has the decency to look at least a bit embarrassed. "I have a weakness for puppies, what can I say," is all he manages weakly.
"I suppose he is a rather cute puppy," Sephiroth agrees, lips teased into a smile. Certainly all the exuberance of one, the sheer energy, and maybe even a bit of sharp puppy fangs to get him where he needs to be. "And yet you can't bring him home to Genesis."
"That's because Genesis gets territorial," Angeal says, waiting for Sephiroth to top the sandwiches with a bun before he tugs the foil up over them so that they can deposited onto the tray. "And, even worse, I'm trying to train the puppy. Genesis has a bad habit of undoing all of that if I take my eyes off of him for five seconds."
"Are you referring to me as a puppy...?"
Angeal actually laughs, and Sephiroth can spot Zack and Skuppa glancing over in curiosity at the noise. "Oh, no, I knew from the day we laid eyes on you that were you a cat."
One of these days, he really is going to interrogate Angeal on just what qualifications he assigns animals to people... But then, Sephiroth has thought that for years, now, and it somehow always slips his mind. Either way, he waits until Angeal has finished closing up the oven before he speaks up again. "He does seem rather fond of you."
All Angeal does is shrug. "It's just because of how I'm the boss," he answers, settling with his back against one of his little counters, watching Zack get right back into his energetic conversation with Skuppa. "Admiration mixing into attraction. But you he's really fond of."
"It's just because of how I'm your most famous earner," Sephiroth shoots back casually. "Attraction mixing into admiration."
They stare at each other.
"I should never have let Genesis teach you how to be sassy," Angeal says, as though he is free of having anything to do with influencing Sephiroth down this particular path. "Anyway, I'll probably start sending him your way a little more. Your turn to use him as your errand boy, for whatever you'd like."
His turn, is it? Sephiroth thinks he can understand why that is. Why Angeal is choosing now, of all times, to do so, after he's already seen Zack running around. Helped patch him up, after a rough spot. He closes his eyes, considers it.
"I'll see what I can do, then."
The food is delicious, because of course it is when Angeal has had a hand in making it, and the bed is just barely large enough for all four of them to clamber onto it. Angeal especially is a problem, broadly built as he is, but they manage well enough. No doubt the bed will see far worse than him barely hanging onto the side, and Skuppa to the other, leaving Sephiroth and Zack to make up the middle. Snug, but... not that bad. A good thing, really, that he both likes the heat (although never as much as Genesis ever does), and that there is a decent air conditioner in HQ.
Sleep comes easily enough for him in such a situation, reminded of the times when it was him and Genesis and Angeal finding warmth with one another. At the same time, he awakes just as easily when that warmth is disturbed.
Angeal is gone. He'd noted that some while ago, in the hazy space between sleep and consciousness. That much is normal. And yet it had been Zack's movements that had dragged him all the way into awareness, clumsy movements against the mattress as he'd done his best to be delicate. Sephiroth stays still, waits until the weight is off of the bed completely and the soft pad of bare feet has stopped, before he slides open one eye.
Even if the room were completely dark, he'd still be able to see through it, clear as day. Something done to him in the labs, he thinks. But he doesn't even need it, with the small little lamp that is set there on the floor right by where Angeal sits with his legs crossed and various paper in his hands. Sephiroth isn't exactly in the best position to see all the fine details, of course. Nonetheless, he can take a decent guess at what they are: maps of various parts of Midgar from the city overall to the sewer system, notes written by the various workers on things they've noted from enemies or ShinRa, updates on repairs to various parts of the Market. Angeal runs Wall Market like he'd run his own house, keeping an eye on every little thing that might affect him and his own.
And there's Zack, rubbing at his face, shuffling over to him until he can flop down onto the floor besides Angeal. All the other man does is adjust, making it easier for Zack to lean against him with his cheek smooshed against his shoulder. Midgar never really sleeps, never really stops making noise... but tucked away in HQ, in Angeal's suite, it's easy enough to hear Zack's sleepy murmur. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Checking to see what gangs and groups were related to where we took down the idiot who touched one of our own."
"Mmgh. Way too many words. Explain 'em all to me? Like I'm an idiot."
"That's because you are an idiot." But he says it fondly, mouth to Zack's hair, ignoring the protests. "Alright, so there's a gang over here..."
Sephiroth closes his eyes, and goes back to sleep.