Chapter Text
Let a little bit after the confession (I think)
6 months later
Shopping was a necessary evil of life. Shopping was not enjoyed. It was suffered through. Retail therapy was a lie because in no way could buying things be considered relaxing. There were so many unconscious steps that went into shopping when money was tight. There was the stress of looking at how much things cost versus how much money Cloud had. Going to shops was a hassle with trying to compare prices. What could be left to another time and what needed to be bought immediately. Does he spend more money and get something better and might last longer or even be safer or does he buy the cheaper option and spend the money somewhere else?
The only exception was books.
Books were Cloud’s Achilles heel.
The bookshop closest to the tower and still sold things in Cloud’s price range was almost at the edge of the plate itself. It was a little shop that sold books second hand. His monthly allowance sat heavy in his pocket. Cloud knew exactly how much he had to spend and what his budget was, and was determined not to go over. The shop had a modest amount of people milling about with some parents in the children's section and a few scruffy looking teenagers looking in the Young Adult section. Some men with thinning hair looked over cookbooks together.
The classics section was a little small but if Cloud got lucky he’d find a gem hidden in the rough.
The spins of the books greeted him like familiar friends. Some of them were clearly loved while others were near new. Cloud crouched down to look at the spines along the bottom shelf. Someone else wandered into the classics but Cloud didn’t pay them any mind as he scanned the books.
Loveless
Translation by Ben Tannet
It was in mint condition with not a pen mark to be seen. There had been mixed reviews on this, but it was cheap enough that Cloud felt good enough to take the chance.
“Oh please tell me you’re not going read that,” An unfortunately familiar voice says above him.
Genesis Rhapsodos stood next to him. He looked giant from Cloud’s position on the floor. He wore a loose red long sleeved shirt and black pants. Despite being a very plain outfit it still screamed wealth.
“Well? Are you?” Rhapsodos’ tone made it very clear that there was a right answer to this question.
“No,” Cloud answered while placing it slowly back on the shelf.
“Good, here, this one is much better than that,” Rhapsodos placed a different book in his hand from high up on the shelf.
Loveless
Translation by Olga Cao
It was a translation of Loveless from a Wutain woman. Cloud flipped through it. The pages were in good condition, and there was minimal highlighting.
“Ben Tannet’s translation is so simple it misses the point of epic poetry. Its not a 5 gil novel, it deserves thought and study when it's being read. Cao’s translation brings in her experience of Shinra’s slow take over of Wutai, and its leagues better than Tannet’s,” Rhapsodos finished. His voice took on a somber tone toward the end when he talked about Wutai.
Cloud chewed on that idea. A story about three men trying to find the Gift of the Goddess translated by a woman who’s home had slowly been colonized with no hope of support. That did sound good. That sounded like outside of his budget too.
“I can’t afford this, but thank you for telling me about it,” Cloud dipped his head respectfully.
“Nonsense, It deserves to be read. I’m paying for it. I’ll leave it at the register,” Rhapsodos waved him off.
“Sir, I appreciate it–” Cloud began
“Good, you should. It’s my favorite, other people have to pay for my opinions on literature. Cao’s work with the ancient language is influenced by wutian being her first language and its makes her prose just gorgeous if different from anything written in standard, for someone first reading of the poem its a good place to start,” Rhapsodos continued.
“Thank you sir,” Cloud said at this point just to shut him up. His points were interesting, but Cloud loathed being made out to be an amateur in a text he’d been reading his whole life.
“Still no spine then private?” Rhapsodos sighed gesticulating with the book.
Cloud froze.
He hadn’t expected the commander to remember him. Why would he that was one week, months ago.
“Shame,” Rhapsodos didn’t sound sorry at all. “Meet me here in two weeks at 9am and tell me what you think about it and we’ll call the money repaid,”
There was part of him that wanted to refuse the book just on the principle that he didn’t like being given time limits on reading things or being told what to do on his time off. The other part said to shut up and do it and get rapsodose out of his life forever.
Better sense won.
—----
Rhapsodos was right. Cao’s translation was beautiful.
In the short two weeks from when Cloud had left the bookstore and when Rhapsodos told him to meet him again, most of Cloud’s time off was spent reading.
Loveless was epic poetry, meaning it was long. The play that most people know shortened it considerably which was fine but it did leave out most of the commentary on ancient life and political structures.
Which admittedly was kind of complicated if you had a social life and didn’t live on a mountain with nothing else to do after work.
Rapsidose may have given him two weeks to read it but Cloud tore through the story in one. He spent the next week annotating. He highlighted and underlined and put colored tabs on the side.
On the day they were supposed to meet, Cloud trekked out to the edge of the plate. Rapsodose had the nerve to be two hours late.
“Oh you’re here, I thought you would have left,” Rhapsodos commented. He wore another expensive looking outfit. This time a maroon suit with a striking red tie.
Cloud just shrugged in lue of a proper answer to the implied question of why he was in fact still there two hours later.
“Apologies, I had to attend an emergency meeting,” Rapsodose flipped some hair into place. Cloud let the question about what the emergency die on his tongue. He didn’t need to stick his nose where it didn’t belong.
The book store had a small coffee shop next door. Where there were books there were naturally hot beverages.
They sat, Rapsodose ordered, Cloud didn’t, so Rapsodos ordered something for him.
“Go on, tell me,” Rhapsodos sat primed, legs crossed and leaned forward as if getting closer would lead the words to his ears quicker.
“Her writing carried an entirely different rhythm to the poem than most translations. Her background and culture bled through into her work not in a bad way but I did see an influence. Her work is good but it sometimes feels too fancy, like she's compensating for something, maybe being Wutain in a field where most of the famous translations are from the down south. Compared to works like Hollykid and Gent, her work makes the story feel like a love story almost,” Cloud took a gulp of whatever thing had been ordered for him, vaguely cinnamon-y.
“Orato also makes it feel like a romantic tragedy. I don’t know if you know that translator. They write under a pen name and they don’t get a lot of attention because they’re not a classicalist so people write off their work, but I like their translation best because of the way it words the poem to be something performed rather than read. Orato’s translation is gorgeous. Have you read it? Oh gods I’ve been talking for way to long,”
The moment his anxiety caught up to his mouth it was too late, he’d already word vomited about his hobby of nearly a decade. Cloud could feel himself go scarlet as Rapsodose’s tie.
“Can I take you out to dinner?” Rhapsodos stared intensely enough Cloud believed he was serious.
“What?” Cloud managed to squeak out through his mortification.
“Dinner, you, me, some rather nice steak? Unless you don’t eat meat,” Rhapsodos explained like it wasn’t insane and completely out of nowhere.
Would saying no get him fired?
Could Rhapsodos fire him?
Who was he kidding, if Genesis Rhapsodos wanted him fired he could do it literally with materia.
“Uhh,” Cloud’s head was full of a thousand different thoughts that they all melted together.
“Well?” Rhapsodos flicked his hand out in a way that insisted on Cloud’s answer. Cloud sank into his seat burning with a blush.
“Oh the blush goes up to your ears, that’s darling,” Rhapsodos leaned forward to see him as he slouched forward. Cloud desperately felt like the mouse a cat was toying with. He resisted the urge to hide in his hands. This wasn’t the monster in the closet, even if he couldn’t see the commander, Rhapsodose could still see him.
Rhapsodos sighed and sat back in his seat, still oozing grace and power.
“If it freaks you out this badly, you can just say no,” He straightened his tie and gathered Cloud’s annotated copy of Cao’s translation to absent-mindedly flip through.
“I-hm I might be taken?” Cloud managed to eke out of his overwhelmed brain.
“Might?” Rhapsodose raised an eyebrow.
“It's complicated?” Cloud tried, and this the commander seemed to understand.
“Ah, a situationship,” He said, humming thoughtfully. That was a good description of whatever the hell he had going on with Sephiroth
[Fun fact, Genesis was supposed to have a bigger role with Cloud but that ended up getting scrapped in order to avoid overfilling the cast of characters. Orato is the pen name Genesis writes under. I like to think his love for Loveless isn't just quoting he lives and breaths it. He just never thinks his academic work will always be overshadowed by his fame as a Soldier.]
Alternate version of Cloud’s arrest
Cloud gets arrested for killing a man (Zack’s room was bugged)
Reno: Nah, these bugs are brand new, your regular scrambler doesn’t work on them
Meet the Turks plus Zack visitation
“Visiting your boytoy Zack?”
“Fuck off Reno– don’t call him that”
“I call it like I hear it’
Later
“Wdym. hear it?”
“The face you either were or are fucking a little infantry trooper is old gossip Fair.”
“I’m– we’re not–”
“Hold up you’re not? Can I try– woah hey, easy with the guard dog routine,”
“One, no. we’re friends(?). Two, Cloud is an adult who can mess around with whoever he wants when he’s out of jail. I don’t need him thinking that he can’t say no to you because you hold the keys to his cell,”
“You’re not the meathead puppydog everyone says, are you Fair”
“If you so much as breath near him with the intent of getting in his pants while he still has those handcuffs on, I’ll show you exactly how strong the mako made me”
While in holding Tower Sephiroth comes in and gets him out.
“You looked at me and saw neither an idol or a sword. That’s rather rare. I would like to keep you out of jail,”
“How did you get me released?”
“I asked”
“Oh”