Author's Note: After spending months writing in a First Person POV, writing in Third Person is horribly awkward.

Telephone

"Stop calling, stop calling, I don't want to talk anymore." ~ Lady Gaga, Telephone

After interrogating three infantrymen, two lab assistants, and a Turk, Genesis finally picked up a promising lead on the location of his quarry. Cadets threw themselves out of his way as he swept down the hallway, but Genesis ignored them and kept his head held high as though he made regular visits to the cadet barracks. Kicking the community bathroom door open, he waltzed in like he owned the place. The cadet brushing his teeth at a sink choked on his toothbrush. Genesis heard water sloshing and muttering from the far stall and strode over to peer inside. The infantryman who had returned his coat was there, furiously plunging the toilet.

"If anyone else forgets to flush another one of these toilets, I swear to the goddess, I'm going to—"

Genesis cleared his throat.

"Is there not another stall open, or are you just blind? Because I'm kinda busy."

"I can see that, Cadet."

The boy jumped, wheeling around, and nearly fell over backwards into the toilet. "C-Commander Rhapsodos!" he squeaked, nearly hitting himself in the face when he lifted the plunger in a hasty salute. Water dripped from the rubber end, splattering on the tile.

Genesis estimated the boy to be no older than fifteen. His small stature and baby face was most likely what had gotten him demoted to toilet duty, and those pretty green eyes peeping out from underneath his shaggy, brown hair weren't helping him look any more fit for SOLDIER. He was perfect, Genesis decided.

"At ease, Cadet."

The brunet dropped his plunger. "Is, um, there something wrong with your coat, sir?"

"No, there's nothing wrong with my coat. You took very good care of it. Thank you."

"There are bathrooms on the SOLDIER floor, aren't there? You couldn't have come all this way just to thank me."

"Clever boy." Genesis smiled, leaning against the stall partition. "I have a proposition for you."

The cadet looked pensive, as well he should have. "What kind of proposition?"

"How would you like to be my new best friend for the next couple of days?"

In the year he and Genesis had known each other, Cloud could only recall two occasions when Genesis had been late for a training session. The first time, Genesis had been five minutes late because one of the two elevators that serviced the ShinRa building had gotten stuck on the 69th floor. The second time, Genesis had been over fifteen minutes late, but that was because Lazard called him into his office at the last minute and he'd called Cloud to let him know he was going to be late.

Cloud glanced at the clock in the corner of his PHS for the millionth time. It was almost twenty minutes after their usual meeting time and he'd received no note, no call, no nothing, and Cloud was starting to worry. Not to mention that Genesis wasn't answering his phone. He'd texted both Zack and Kunsel, but neither of them had seen him, and Angeal wouldn't be back from his mission until the next day. In a last-ditch effort to locate his mentor, he dialed Sephiroth's number.

"This is Sephiroth speaking."

"Hey, it's Cloud."

"Hello, Cloud."

"You haven't seen Genesis, have you?" A pair of Seconds entered the training room, chattering and laughing. Cloud moved away from the noise.

"I just left his office. Are you looking for him?"

Cloud made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat and frowned. "Yeah, we were supposed to meet for training. What's he doing in his office?"

"I believe he was playing ChocoboKart on his computer." There was a pause. "Is there something going on between the two of you?"

"No." Then Cloud remembered Genesis' threat of not speaking to him from the previous day. "I mean, kind of. But I didn't think it was that important."

"...I see."

"I'll talk to him, I promise. Sorry to bother you."

Cloud hung up, slipped his PHS back into his pocket, and left the training room to head for Genesis' office. He would have been lying if he said he wasn't miffed that Genesis had blown him off. Sure, he'd been late to training last week, but it had only been the one time. It wasn't anything for Genesis to get all passive-aggressive over.

He knocked twice on the commander's door before letting himself in. Genesis was seated at his desk, completely absorbed in whatever was on his computer. Sitting not six inches away, was his PHS.

"Hey," Cloud said, failing to mask his irritation. "I thought we had training."

One of Genesis' eyebrows went up, but his attention remained firmly fixed on the monitor in front of him. "Did we?"

"Um, yeah."

"I must have forgotten."

"We've been meeting at the same time for the past eight months. How could you possibly have forgotten?"

Genesis shrugged. "Must've slipped my mind. I've been busy."

"Sephiroth said you've been playing ChocoboKart."

"And I've almost beaten my high score."

Cloud's patience snapped and he stormed across the room. "Look, I'm sorry I was so late last week, but this isn't fair. You're supposed to be my mentor. The least you could do is let me know you're not going to show up for training so I can find someone else to spar with. I'm not going to make Second Class sitting on my ass."

The only response he got was the high-pitched engine noises and chocobo warks coming from the computer's speakers.

"...Are you even listening?"

"No."

Throwing up his hands, Cloud spun around and marched back over to the door. "You're impossible!" He paused in the doorway, casting an ugly glare at Genesis. "Maybe I should train with Sephiroth instead."

"Keep dreaming, Cloud."

"...so I totally accidentally sent him a picture of the Information Desk Lady's boobs that I'd forgotten Reno took last week, and he sent it to Angeal, and Angeal showed it to Lazard, and Lazard told the Information Desk Lady, so not only did Angeal confiscate my phone for a week, but the Information Desk Lady won't speak to me anymore. Reno thinks it's hilarious."

Cloud nodded absently, only half-listening to Zack's story. He was more focused on the SOLDIER on the other side of the Mess Hall. It certainly looked like Genesis. He had Genesis' hair and Genesis' coat and Genesis' hand gestures, but the Genesis Imposter had overlooked the tiny detail that Commander Rhapsodos didn't socialize with cadets, Commander Rhapsodos didn't smile at cadets, he didn't laugh with cadets—

The legs of his chair scraped noisily across the floor as Cloud lurched to his feet.

"Cloud? Where are you going?"

Paying Zack no mind, he stomped across the Mess to give Genesis an angry tap on the shoulder that was a little more of a shove than a tap. Genesis twisted in his seat and his cheerful expression soured. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Cloud echoed incredulously. "I thought you were supposed to be in a meeting with Lazard!"

Genesis shrugged a shoulder. "It ended early, so I decided I'd have lunch with Storm."

Storm? The cadet's name was Storm? Cloud couldn't hold back a dry laugh. "C'mon, Genesis, you can do better than that. Really? Storm?"

The cadet peeked up at him through his bangs. "It's my real name."

"Shut up," Cloud snapped. "Nobody asked you."

Much to his surprise, Storm didn't back off like he'd expected him to. Instead, the cadet stood up and marched over to him so they were nose-to-nose. Cloud almost shrank back out of reflex until he remembered that he was the mako-infused SOLDIER. "Since when isn't Commander Rhapsodos allowed to have other friends?" Storm asked.

"He is! But you're—I mean..." Cloud glanced helplessly between Genesis and the little brunet in front of him. "Since when are you friends with cadets?" he asked Genesis.

"I'm friends with you, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but I'm not a cadet anymore."

"So you aren't. Congratulations!" Genesis stood up as well and clapped Cloud's shoulder. "Since you're no longer a cadet, that must mean you are no longer in need of training. You have officially graduated my tutelage!"

Cloud's jaw dropped and tears began to prick behind his eyes. "Y-You don't mean that!" Genesis couldn't just abandon him like this!

"And since I won't be training you anymore, I can devote all of my time to Storm." Genesis threw an arm around the brunet cadet's shoulders. Storm squirmed slightly under the weight of it. "It's been fun, Cloud."

"Genesis, wait! This isn't fair!"

"Ta-ta, Cloud."

It wasn't until Genesis and Storm had vanished through the Mess doors that Cloud realized how many pairs of eyes were on him. A tear trickled down his face and he wiped at it furiously, spinning on his heel to head for the opposite door. He brushed past Zack, whose hurried footsteps trailed after him as he stomped out of the Mess. He didn't stop until he'd reached the elevator and jabbed the button for the 1st floor. He needed some air. Zack slipped in just before the elevator doors slid shut. His worried expression should've been comforting, but it just irritated Cloud more.

"You wanna talk about it?" Zack asked.

Cloud tightened his arms across his chest and stared stubbornly at the wall.

"Oookay, then." Out of the corner of his eye, Cloud saw Zack do a few squats. "You wanna get Wutaian or something?"

"Whatever."

"You sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine, Zack," Cloud snapped. "Just let it go."

Zack put up his hands defensively. "Alright, alright. Sorry."

Silence filled the elevator and Cloud's thoughts seemed much to loud without any sound to drown them out. The scene in the Mess replayed over and over in his head until he couldn't take it any longer. "He's so stupid!" He aimed a kick at the elevator wall, denting the metal a little. "I'm supposed to be his dumb student, not Storm."

"Why is he so upset?"

Cloud leaned back against the wall and stared down at his feet. "Well, I guess I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to him lately," he muttered. As if on cue, his phone vibrated. He automatically started to take it out of his pocket, then decided he just didn't feel like talking to anyone else. "And I was late to training last week."

"Why were you late?" Zack asked.

"I was distracted. I was..." Cloud waved his hand. "...talking to you."

Zack furrowed his brow. "No, you weren't. Were you?"

"I was talking to you and playing a game on my phone and I guess I just lost track of time."

"Oh, Spiky," Zack groaned, banging his head against the elevator wall. "You have much to learn. You can't just lose track of time in SOLDIER. There's a time for goofing off, and there's a time to be showing up for training sessions."

Anger blossomed in Cloud's gut. How dare Zack call him out like this! They were supposed to be on the same side! "But Genesis totally overreacted—"

"If you haven't noticed, Genesis overreacts to everything," Zack said, laughing. "A month ago, you two were practically at each other's throats because he thought you stole one of his can openers. You guys fight all the time."

"He's my best friend," Cloud defended.

If Zack took offense at being reminded that he'd been usurped by Genesis, he didn't show it. "I know that," he said patiently. "That's why you've gotta cut him a little slack. If you've been ignoring him, of course he's going to be upset."

The elevator finally shuddered to a halt and the doors slid open. Cloud followed Zack out into ShinRa's main lobby, hands shoved deep into his pockets. Maybe Zack was right.

Four days later, things had only gotten worse. Genesis hadn't outright kicked him out, but with the amount of time Storm Fairbanks had been spending in the apartment, Cloud wasn't particularly interested in hanging around. He stayed with Zack for as long as he could without alerting Angeal that something was up and spent the rest of his time wandering the ShinRa building. He tried to fill the empty space by texting Reno and Kunsel and some other SOLDIER named Arin, but Kunsel had this holier-than-thou attitude that Cloud found off-putting, Arin couldn't spell properly, and Reno was... well, Reno. When the vibrating of incoming messages got too annoying, he switched the sounds on his PHS to silent. And after several too many games of Ticktacktoe, he just turned his PHS off.

He was bored. Bored and lonely. Missing Genesis was like missing a limb. He was so accustomed to his mentor's presence that it became awkward to walk into training rooms without him and his stomach knotted every time anyone mentioned him. It wouldn't have been so bad if Genesis hadn't decided to replace him.

Wearily, he trudged down the hall to Sephiroth's office and rapped on the door. It was unlikely that the general had any helpful advice, but being with him was better than being alone. Sephiroth, however, looked rather apprehensive when he entered the room.

"Is there something I can help you with, Cloud?"

Cloud shook his head, shuffling across the carpet to take a seat in the chair across from the general. "No, I'm just... having a bad day."

"You and Genesis aren't speaking."

"I've tried talking to him," Cloud said. "Genesis is the one who isn't speaking to me."

Sephiroth grunted and leaned his elbows on the desk. "I'm not speaking to Genesis either, but that has more to do with the fact that he threw my computer out the window." Tilting his head contemplatively to one side, Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. Cloud fidgeted under the close scrutiny. "I should be jealous of you, you know."

Cloud's eyes popped open wide. "Jealous of me? Why?"

"Because Genesis has never thrown computers out of windows on account of me before. If he's upset enough to destroy expensive equipment, that means he must care about you a great deal. I don't believe he wants to be at odds with you." Sephiroth smiled faintly. "I think a part of him does want to be at odds with me."

Feeling very small, Cloud pulled his knees up to his chest. "But I haven't been ignoring him that much," he argued. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to check the message. He'd asked Zack to text him a time they could meet up to spar later.

"And to what degree can Genesis tolerate being ignored?"

Cloud sheepishly lowered his phone. A rosy blush colored his cheeks. "Zero."

"Exactly. Now, I have some paperwork to do, so if you wouldn't mind...?"

"Right." Cloud got up and turned to leave the office, but paused in the doorway. "Um... thanks."

"You can thank me by going to see Angeal the next time you have a problem like this."

Genesis glanced up from his paperwork when his office door slid up, expecting to see Angeal or Lazard, and was surprised to find that it was Cloud instead. His student looked subdued for a change; not at all the sour teenager he'd been for the past couple of days. Storm had expressed to him on more than one occasion that he was afraid Cloud was burning effigies of him and would show up in the barracks to strangle him, but Genesis had assured him Cloud would never do anything like that.

At least, he hoped Cloud would never do anything like that. Genesis could never be too sure of anything with him.

"Do you need something, Strife?"

Cloud visibly shrunk at the use of his surname. "Can I talk to you?"

"I don't know, can you?" Genesis didn't bother masking the bitterness in his tone. "Or do I have to take a number?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" Cloud blurted. "I'm sorry I've been blowing you off. I'm an idiot and, yeah, maybe I don't deserve to be trained by someone like you. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Genesis rose from his chair and skirted his desk to lean against the front of it. "I would've liked to see a bit more grovelling, but I suppose that will have to do."

"I really am sorry, Genesis."

"If you don't have time for me, I don't have time for you. It's as simple as that," Genesis said. "Are you a SOLDIER?"

Cloud nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Then I expect you to act like one. As for me..." Genesis channeled his inner-Angeal and gave his student a thoroughly disapproving look. "I would like some eye-contact every once and a while."

"Yes, sir," Cloud repeated, more softly. He awkwardly rubbed his arm. "I didn't mean to ignore you so much. I wasn't trying to, it's just that Zack was always wanting to talk to me, and then Reno, and then Kunsel, and it's really hard to respond to everyone all at once."

"Then don't. Because the next time you stop to answer a text message in the middle of training, I won't think twice about running you through."

Cloud paled a satisfactory two shades. "Yes, sir."

"If that's all, then I expect to see you for training this afternoon."

"Wait—what about Storm?"

"What about him?"

"You said you were done training me," Cloud said, "and that you were going to train Storm instead."

"Oh, that." Genesis swatted the air. "I asked him to hang around in exchange for getting him out of cleaning the barracks' bathrooms for a few months. My father was a politician—do you really think I'm above buying my friends? Storm's not a bad actor, either. I'm almost impressed."

"You're stupid," Cloud told him, but he said it with a smile.

Genesis arched an eyebrow. "But do you love me?"

"You make it really hard not to, considering what you'll do to me if I don't."

"That's good, because after I take your PHS, we're going to be spending lots of quality time together reading LOVELESS."

A/N: I have zero good reasons why I didn't finish this a long time ago. But this means that everything (besides Intelligent Conversation) is labeled "Complete" and I will have no guilt whatsoever if I start on new projects, because I'm not leaving anything else unfinished.

On that note, I have joined social media in the form of Twitter! You can find the link at the bottom of my profile. Feel free to follow me; I will be using it primarily to post updates about fanfiction (and, you know, random other nonsense) because I think it will be easier than constantly updating my profile page. If anything super important comes up, though, I will also have it up on my profile as well. This is just my way of trying not to vanish on you guys. :)

Thank you oh-so much for reading!

RegenesisX