This was originally supposed to be a oneshot, but I'm going to post it in two parts since I'm not entirely sure where the plot will go. This turned out different than I thought it would, but that's turned out to be a good thing :)

OOC and SephxGen. The next part will have plenty of SephxGenxCloud, I promise!

"Absolutely not."

"But Seph!" Zack whined on the other line, "I already reserved a room for you and Gen, and they won't refund the money!"

"Why did you have to get us such a cheap motel to stay at?" Genesis complained loudly as he leaned against the jeep. Sephiroth currently had his cellphone set to speakerphone so that both the General and his redhead boyfriend could yell at Zack for completely ruining everything, yet again, as he was commonly known to do.

"I thought this was supposed to be the weekend getaway you've been promising us for forever. This place," Sephiroth gestured to the motel complex angrily, even though Zack couldn't see, "is a dump."

From the peeling paint to the weathered, graffiti-strewn buildings, it was clear to see that the Modeohiem Heights Motel was not all that it was cracked up to be. The snapshots on the brochure just couldn't be the same place – Genesis tried to use his imagination to picture that somehow, the broken-down complex might have once looked like the majestic one pictured on the brochure, but it just wasn't happening.

Refreshing poolside lounge! The brochure promised. Genesis saw a cracked lawn chair next to an empty concrete hole in the ground, which must have at one point been a pool… or a garbage dump.

Bird's-eye view of the wonders of Modeohiem! The only thing he could see was that the miserable motel was on its own little island of a lot in the middle of virtually nowhere. And since when the hell were there any "wonders" in Modeohiem, anyway?

Friendly staff and service in the highest quality! …He really, really doubted that.

The only indication that the place wasn't abandoned was the retro neon "OPEN" sign that flickered on and off in the window of the Customer Service building, most likely due to faulty electrical wiring. That, and the rusty old truck parked off to the side of the building were signs that they weren't the only people at the sleazy little motel. Compared to this place, the slums in Midgar seemed like paradise.

So why had Zack chosen such a god-forsaken motel for them?

"I got a special discount coupon from the owner, okay?" Zack huffed as Sephiroth began unloading their luggage from the ShinRa-issued military jeep, which stood out like a sore thumb in the dingy parking lot.

"Just because you have a coupon doesn't mean you have to use it," Sephiroth snapped, rolling his eyes. Judging by the state of the motel, it was a wonder they could afford to give out coupons anyway. "Why couldn't we have stayed at ShinRa Towers? It's not like we're poor."

"Because they were all booked, and most of the place is being renovated anyway!" Zack explained, clearly exhausted by the whole argument. "That was the first place I tried to make a reservation. But Rufus couldn't make any exceptions. No, not even for you guys," he clarified as Genesis made an irritated sound. "Look, I'm really sorry, okay? I'll make it up to you."

Sephiroth scoffed. "Isn't that why you sent us here in the first place? To "make it up to us" for the fact that you set the entire first floor of our house on fire last week?" To Sephiroth, there was nothing quite like coming home one evening to find half of Midgar's fire department parked outside his house, and visible flames shooting out of the kitchen windows. "You are never permitted to cook anything at our house ever again."

"I SAID I was sorry!" Zack cried. "And besides, you kept complaining you wanted your kitchen remodeled anyway!"

"I wanted it remodeled, not burned to the ground!" Sephiroth snapped.

While the pointless argument continued, Genesis began wandering over towards the building marked "Customer Service", figuring it was better to explore the dumpy motel a little rather than listen to Sephiroth and Zack continue their bitchfest over the phone.

Genesis approached the building cautiously, as it looked as if it were very literally about to fall over. There were half-ripped posters from years and years ago still tacked to the wall, badly weathered and barely legible. What wasn't faded or torn off the posters was covered in all sorts of lewd graffiti, the kind that would astonish even the roughest Nibelheim mountain man. There were a few slurs directed at ShinRa, but none were about Genesis or his boyfriend so he wasn't really concerned. Still, he found them rather amusing to read. Who didn't know that Hojo was a batshit-crazy pathetic excuse for a human being? It was a wonder that President ShinRa hadn't kicked the old geezer off of the research team already. And Rufus ShinRa being a "flamboyant psychotic wacko?" Well, duh. It was hard not to notice.

As he rounded the corner, he found himself standing in front of the door, which had a rather tacky "WE ARE OPEN" sign nailed to it. The rickety old door didn't look like it quite fit the doorframe, and made an awful ear-splitting noise as the wind howled through the whole dumpy little wasteland.

Some getaway this was going to be.

Genesis shrugged, counted to three, and then knocked on the door. A moment later he heard a low muffled voice, and the sound of someone – or something – scrambling around inside. Genesis was surprised and disappointed at the same time; he couldn't believe someone was actually still running the shitty little motel, but he had been hoping for it to be totally deserted so that he and Sephiroth wouldn't be able to stay there.

He rapped on the door again, rather obnoxiously this time. No wonder this place sucked. They probably hadn't had a customer in months, and they were making Genesis wait? The staff ought to be beckoning to his every need for the $39 plus additional fees he and Sephiroth were spending here. Well actually, Zack had paid all of the expenses for them, but still. They were Commander Genesis Rhapsodos and General Sephiroth of the whole goddamn ShinRa army! They were the elite of the SOLDIERs! Genesis was well aware that SOLDIERs didn't have to wait around for the manager of a dumpy little motel to greet them. Actually, SOLDIERs didn't usually stay in dumpy little motels anyway. Genesis and Sephiroth were much accustomed to staying in grand, high-class hotels whenever they traveled.

Genesis sighed as the sight of ShinRa Towers popped into his head. He sure was going to miss the fluffy towels, the lavish spa, and even the 400+ HD channels he and Sephiroth never watched but took comfort in knowing they were available. He would especially miss the fancy mint chocolate that housekeeping left on the pillows in the morning that he didn't really care for, but liked because it made him feel special. He hadn't seen the motel's rooms yet, and was rather afraid to. He had a feeling that the whole "beauty is on the inside" spiel didn't apply to this particular situation.

As Genesis stood in front of the door, steadily losing his patience by the second, a sudden thought crossed his mind. What if the motel really had been abandoned, and now homeless people or criminals on the run had taken up residence? Or maybe… escaped lunatics? Anyone who was secretly residing at Modeohiem Heights Motel couldn't be right in the head. And besides, Genesis was pretty darn sure they'd passed an insane asylum on the drive down. Even though he dealt with basket cases on a regular basis at work (Rufus ShinRa was not exactly the sanest person he'd ever met), it was still a scary thought. And so, he decided that he didn't really want to stick around to see who was on the other side of that door, mentally stable or not.

But as he began turning around to head back to Sephiroth and the jeep, the creaky old door flew open. Startled, Genesis whirled around and held his fists up defensively, ready to pummel the crap out of any psycho nut job that ran out.

"Welcome to Modeohiem Heights Motel!" A disheveled, scruffy-looking man stumbled out of the doorway, hastily throwing on a jacket. Genesis hadn't been too far off the mark when he'd guessed that the man had just woken up. "My name's Cid Highwind, and this is my assistant manager, Cloud Strife," the man introduced, stepping out from the doorway and pointing a finger behind himself.

And from out of the building came the most fucking adorable blond Genesis had ever seen in his life.

"N-nice to meet you, sir." The young man looked up at him shyly with big, baby-blue eyes, and Genesis immediately melted. His hair was a bright shade of blond, and was spiked up in such a way that it seemed to defy the laws of gravity.

The man named Cid reached over and patted Cloud roughly on the head, grinning. "I'm training my little nephew here in the fine service of hospitality that Modeohiem Heights has to offer!"

Genesis mentally scoffed at the idea of 'fine' being used to describe such a squalor place, but simply muttered "Oh, I see." Cid seemed friendly enough, and besides, he really didn't feel like starting any trouble. Especially not with the cute little blond standing right there.

"So, Cloud!" Cid began scooting his nephew in Genesis's direction. "Why don't you go show the man to his room?"

"Don't I need to sign papers or something?" Genesis asked as Cloud awkwardly shuffled towards him.

Cid looked at him as if he'd just asked about taking a math exam. "You like signing papers, huh?" he asked, scratching his head.

"Well, I'd like to know this is a legitimate business, and not a scam," Genesis replied, crossing his arms.

To the redhead's surprise, Cid let out a hearty laugh. "A scam, you say? Well, it's not in the best of shape, I agree, but I'm running quite the legitimate motel service here. You don't need to worry about signing a thing, Zack already took care of that." He didn't miss the look of absolute confusion on Genesis's face, and continued his explanation. "Zack's a good buddy of mine. He asked me a couple weeks ago if you guys could stay here for a special vacation, so how could I refuse?" Cid reached behind himself and rested a hand against the rotting old building. "I was a bit surprised, though, considering you guys are SOLDIERs an' all. I figured Zack would have booked a room at ShinRa towers or somethin'."

"There are a lot of renovations going on there," Genesis informed the man.

Cid gave a big grin and laughed. "Aww, did Zack really say that? Just so you guys would come and stay here? What a great buddy he is." And with that, he stepped back into the building and shut the door quickly. "Enjoy your stay! Cloud will assist you with anything you might need!" he bellowed from behind the rusty door.

Genesis was fuming. Zack had known what a despicable, filthy place this was, and yet he'd sent them here as an apology?

But on the other hand, Cid was brimming with joy that two SOLDIER guests were gracing Modeohiem Heights with their presence (and money). Because of this, Genesis felt a small pang in his heart that told him he was doing a good deed.

But he knew for a fact that Sephiroth wouldn't see it the same way at all.

"Right this way, sir." The boy had such a soft voice, with a lilt of a Nibelheim accent, that Genesis had barely heard him speak. Cloud began making his way towards the gloomy buildings in the back of the lot, each covered in more cracked paint and graffiti. The paneling on the roof had turned a scary shade of rusty orange, and Genesis felt that it might very well be possible to get a tetanus infection just by looking at it.

Cloud led him around the side of the building and back to the parking lot, where Genesis could see Sephiroth still hanging around by the jeep. He had finished bitching Zack out over the phone and was leaning against the side of the vehicle, surveying the area. A look of relief washed over the General's face as he realized that his lover had returned unscathed from his wandering around.

"Can I help with your bags, sir?" Cloud asked softly, turning to face Genesis as they approached the jeep.

"That's alright, I think we'll be able to manage it ourselves." The two men were not the overpacking type, and had managed to cram all of their clothes into one suitcase. Besides, Genesis really didn't want to make the adorable little blond lug their bag around for them anyway.

While Sephiroth hoisted up the suitcase from the backseat of the jeep, Cloud dug into his sweatshirt pocket and pulled out a small ring of keys.

"Follow me, please."

The little blond began leading them over to the least-dumpy looking building in the complex. Genesis looked over at Sephiroth, wondering if he found Cloud as insanely attractive as he did. His boyfriend was sneakily eyeing Cloud over behind his back, watching as the blond's hips swayed gently back and forth as he walked. He looked over at Genesis, and tilted his head towards the little Nibelheim boy. So fucking cute, the silver-haired General mouthed to him. Genesis simply grinned.

Cloud headed for a battered-looking door marked "7" in neon orange spray paint. He fumbled with the ring of keys for a few minutes before selecting the right one, and then jammed it into the door. Rust sprinkled down onto the pavement as Cloud twisted the doorknob and pushed open the door. Genesis held his breath, not quite sure what to expect from the little motel room.

Cloud bravely entered the room first, while the two SOLDIERs peered in nervously from the doorway. Genesis heard the blond fumbling with the light switch, and then a single light flickered on overhead, casting a dingy glow over the little room.

Genesis' jaw literally dropped. During the war he'd been forced to stay in some pretty awful, bombed-out accommodations, so he had a higher tolerance for this kind of thing. But he would have never guessed that a motel room could be this horrific.

The room was much hotter than the temperature outside, and had a musty, stale smell. It looked like one of those haunted hotel rooms in movies, only a lot shittier.

The little blond calmly ventured further into the dingy little room, seemingly used to the filth and decay. "This is one of our better rooms," Cloud explained, unfazed by the rat that scurried past his feet. "We had a better room set up for you earlier, but the ceiling kind of caved in. But this is the best we can do for you now." Genesis looked over, expecting Sephiroth to make a snarky comment or something, but surprisingly he didn't.

"Here are the beds," Cloud gestured to the two pitifully tiny twin cots that were jammed into one corner of the room. One bed was just a mattress on the floor with sheets haphazardly thrown on top, and the other bed was slanted towards the wall, and slightly bent in half, with rusty springs poking out of the sides of the mattress. "I'm sorry about the size, but they're some of the better beds we have." Genesis and Sephiroth exchanged disbelieving looks.

"The TV should still work," Cloud gestured to a ancient little TV in front of the beds. Genesis took a closer look at the TV's table, and realized that it was being leveled by a small stack of beer bottle caps under one table leg. "We can't get cable out here, but there's a tape player and a couple of movies here." One VHS tape had been completely gutted of its film, which was strewn all around the cracked case, while the other tape looked intact and was titled "A Very Raunchy Modeohiem Christmas." Genesis quickly crossed 'movie watching' off his list of things that he and Sephiroth could do to pass the time.

"This used to be the kitchen area," Cloud ventured into an area further back in the room, which looked like it had been bombed out.

"What happened?" Genesis dared to ask.

"Uhmm… there used to be problems with the gas line," Cloud answered uneasily.

"What kind of-" Sephiroth answered his own question as he looked up and discovered the large, charred hole in the ceiling. "Ah." Thank Gaia the forecast wasn't calling for rain that night.

"And over here's the bathroom," Cloud led the two men over to a tiny, cramped little bathroom. The door swung into the bathroom and couldn't get past the toilet, so the little blond had to flatten himself against the wall and shimmy past the door to get inside.

"The toilet's in pretty good shape," Cloud explained once everyone was crammed inside the bathroom. Genesis felt a wave of relief; he'd seriously been expecting to have to pee in the bushes or something. However, the brunet's happiness was short lived as he actually looked into the toilet and saw that the water was a nice neon green, with several bugs swimming around in it. Yeesh.

"The shower is here," Cloud pulled back a tattered, grimy shower curtain to reveal the shower, which was covered in all kinds of shades of mildew and grime and –

Bullet holes?

"A-are those…bullet holes in the wall?" Genesis gaped at the wall, taken aback. He knew a lot of crazy stuff could go down in a motel room, but…man. "What on earth...?"

"Uhm..." Cloud shifted uneasily, looking away from the SOLDIERS' disbelieving stares. "Uncle Cid says I'm not allowed to talk about it."

Sephiroth and Genesis were both itching with questions, but they decided it was best to leave it at that.

Just as Genesis thought things couldn't get weirder, he leaned over and peered into the bathtub. Deep scratch marks covered almost every inch of the cheap-looking porcelain. What the hell had happened in here? "...Claw marks?"

"Oh, we had a guy hiding ShinRa monsters in here, we had to kick him out." Cloud explained. He then realized he was in the presence of ShinRa employees, with mako-wielding capabilities, and his eyes bulged. "It, uhm, it happened a long time ago," he stammered quickly, as if the SOLDIERs would interrogate him on the spot.

"Doesn't matter," Genesis dismissed. He wasn't too happy about it, but he came to the decision that he really could go one night without a shower.

Cloud breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that's the end of the tour," he stated cheerfully as he shimmied around the door and out of the bathroom. Once everyone was back out into the living room, Cloud gave a small bow. "If you need anything, you can use this phone and simply dial - " he quickly realized the phone he was pointing to was missing several keys, and that the cable was completely frayed. "uh, you can call the main desk with your cell phone. The number is listed here - " he pointed to a pink Post-It note on the wall, but the phone number on it had been crossed out and now read 1 - 872 - FUCK - U. "Uhm, never mind. Here." The blond reached into his pocket and quickly handed Genesis the motel's business card. "Please call the number here, I would be happy to assist you with whatever you need."

"Thank you very much," Genesis smiled, fighting back the urge to run out of the motel room screaming. "I'm sure we'll enjoy our stay." Sephiroth, who had ventured over to the TV table and was inspecting the tapes, rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Well I'd better head back to the main building," Cloud said, taking a small bow again. "It was a pleasure to meet you!" And with that, the blond hurried away, leaving the two SOLDIERs alone in the dingy room.

"Well, this is just fantastic."

"I know," Genesis groaned, giving a sickening look at the bugs crawling around in the kitchen sink. "But what can we do? It'll take all night to reach the next town. And there isn't enough space for both of us to sleep in the jeep."

Sephiroth put the video down and kneeled in front of the TV, searching for the power button. Fussing around with things was a habit of his in order to distract himself when he was angry. "I had a feeling that trusting Zack with this was a bad idea. I've had enough of him trying to "make it up" to us." He realized the TV wasn't plugged in, and dropped to all fours in search of a power outlet.

"Agreed," Genesis sighed, plopping himself down on the rickety stool in the kitchen. "But we're here now, and we have to deal with it. It's only for one night. We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning."

Sephiroth successfully turned the TV on, and was now straightening the antennae. "That's true," he agreed. "And besides," he turned his head towards Genesis, a mischievous smile spreading on his lips, "we have that adorable blond to call whenever we want."

Genesis grinned, as he had been thinking the same thing. "Exactly." He walked over and kneeled next to the silver haired man, slipping a hand around his waist. "Let's make the best of this situation, shall we?" Sephiroth nodded in agreement, and kissed Genesis on the cheek.

The redhead grinned and rested his hand on Sephiroth's shoulder, planting a kiss right on his lover's lips. Sephiroth moved to turn his body towards Genesis, eager to return the affection.

However, when Sephiroth moved his legs, he accidentally kicked the TV table, which shuddered and creaked from the force. The table leg not held up by beer bottle caps cracked, and the entire table slanted sideways. The TV, which had finally begun to work, did a somersault off the table and crashed to the floor, now lifeless. Both men looked down at the floor in disbelief.

"We'll have them charge Zack for that."

Thanks for reading! I'm hoping to have the next part up by the end of winter break, along with a bunch of other fics I have yet to finish writing. Some of them are almost done! Please keep an eye out for them. :)