![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: Alliance
Characters: Lazard, Kunsel
Series: FFVII: Crisis Core
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1415
Executive positions had damn better come with their perks, Lazard thought. Didn't he deserve some benefits for all the hours he put in? If there'd been roosters in Midgar they would have been crowing by now.
He caught sight of his reflection in the highly polished desk and scoffed. The men he was responsible for often thought him something of a dandy, too primped and impeccably polished, too concerned with elegant details to really understand a company of fighting men. Never mind that two of their very best were just as finicky about appearance, given the time.
Well, they got bloody and muddy. That probably made the difference. Meanwhile, there was a rumor among the Third Classes that Lazard had suffered a meltdown upon spying some dirt beneath one fingernail. Really.
Lazard groaned at his reflection. If the men could see him now all that talk would go right out the window. He slumped over the desk in his shirtsleeves, cravat long gone, white pants speckled with the leftovers of the prepackaged pastry he'd hurried from the vending machine in lieu of dinner. It wasn't mud and blood but at least it proved he wasn't unnaturally phobic.
He leaned backwards in his chair and stared up at the ceiling to rest his eyes. The backrest bounced a little, cushioning his motions. At least he did have some perks at this hour. There really was nothing like a good, high-backed executive chair, unless one considered a wide, silk-sheeted bed, but he'd checked and Supply was fresh out of those. So chair it was, and a very nice one at that. Lazard ran his hands appreciatively over the plush upholstery.
He stretched his legs out, the action causing the chair to roll back on its coasters. Maybe it was the hour, or his complete exhaustion, but Lazard began to swivel the chair back and forth. It was a small arc at first, but then he reasoned that the building was deserted. He chuckled to himself and kicked off.
The first spin took him around twice and left him pleasantly dizzy. Laughing again, Lazard used some force and propelled himself across the room. Ah, to be five years old again when this would have been expected, if not perfectly acceptable. Lazard let the chair roll to a stop and sighed. What the hell, he figured. The building was empty and he'd earned it tonight for sure. With pressure from his toes, he edged the chair out the door into the tiled hallway beyond.
The wheels were noisier out here but so much faster. Lazard pushed off against the walls and let himself take short trips back and forth. More often than not he slammed into the opposite wall a little further down and one time, drifted into the water cooler. “Whee!” He threw his arms up in the air and kicked off again, rolling right to the end of the hallway.
He bumped to a stop at the crossroads. The passage here was longer, the tile just a little smoother. It would be really fast but he'd need just the right amount of force. If Lazard had had a helmet and goggles at that moment, he would have strapped them on.
He stood. He drew the chair as far back as he could and gave it a few testing thrusts. He had to get it just right, start it rolling straight and keep it on course to the end. He steadied himself, positioned the chair in front of him, took a deep breath and ran.
On the fifth step he lept up into the seat, standing like a pirate in the crow's nest, hurtling towards glory. A slight wobble made his heart skip but the chair was racing with Lazard right on it and he'd guide his ship to the end. Eyes wide and hair flying, Lazard let go of the back rest, threw his hands up and cheered.
He spotted the SOLDIER at the third left corridor. Lazard's heart tried to escape his chest as the chair's wobble became a definite tilt. There were only two words for the situation. “Oh shit!”
The chair hit the wall with a mighty crash and Lazard toppled backwards. He managed not to hit his head or his spine, and had just enough cushioning on his rump to keep his tailbone intact. That was the least of his worries.
As soon as he was able he was on his feet, righting his ergonomic executive chair and herding it back to his office in as dignified a manner as possible. Maybe it was just nerves, he reasoned. People were bound to get a little paranoid doing not-exactly-acceptable things at all hours of the night. But when he passed the corridor on the way back, the SOLDIER was still there.
Lazard didn't know this one by name. At least, he didn't think he did. The Second Class was wearing his helmet and something that looked like a smirk. “Long night, Director?” he asked.
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Lazard said, straighting his cuffs with as much dignity as he could manage. “What are you doing here at this hour?”
The SOLDIER almost shrugged. “Checking the security discs, Sir.”
Lazard went as white as his pre-pastry pants. “Discs?”
“Yes, Sir,” the SOLDIER said. “They see everything.”
Lazard absorbed that. “I see. And if they see everything, who sees them?”
“The guard mostly, Sir,” the SOLDIER replied, “and the Turks on occasion. Sometimes the Generals.”
“I see.”
The SOLDIERs smirk grew a fraction wider. “There's a reason I check the records first, Sir, if you're interested.”
Lazard swallowed. “Oh?”
The SOLDIER held one unlabeled disc up. “If I may be frank, Sir, I think we both know this organization can be full of some pretty strange, if harmless happenings.”
“Yes,” Lazard said, not sure where this was going. “Strange.”
The SOLDIER straightened. “Well, Sir, for the good of the company, I've taken it upon myself to ensure that certain... activities remain the way they should be.”
Lazard frowned. “You mean... secret?”
“If you want to put it that way, Sir.”
Was the SOLDIER expecting a bribe of some sort? “And what becomes of these secrets, SOLDIER?”
The smirk was a smile now, and a little too satisfied. “I maintain a record bank, Sir. Secrets can be useful.”
Definitely a bribe. How many people were being blackmailed within the ranks, Lazard wondered, and was he about to become one of them.
“Don't worry about it, Sir,” the SOLDIER said. “If you want that little chair ride gone, it's gone, just say so and that's all there'll be to it. It's nothing next to some of the things I've seen.”
“Really?” Lazard felt a thin thread of hope for his mangled dignity.
“Really.”
“Hm.” It was a no-brainer, really. “Then, have it 'disappeared', if you will.”
“Gotcha, Sir.”
Lazard made a motion to leave, but soon turned back. “SOLDIER!”
“Yes, Sir?”
Propriety begged Lazard to be silent, but propriety didn't have much standing tonight. “What other things have you seen?”
The smile was back. “That would be telling, Sir,” the SOLDIER chided. His voice was friendly though. Lazard, used to reading the minutiae of more cryptic men, couldn't find this one especially shady. It was a game to him. Lazard knew how to play games.
“Telling would be unthinkable,” he said, turning away, “but if you ever feel like sharing...” He could feel the SOLDIER thinking about it behind him.
“It is a lot for one person to bear,” the SOLDIER agreed.
“Oh?” Lazard turned.
“And while it's best that certain parties remain unaware, you are the Director of SOLDIER itself.”
Lazard gave a very slight nod, feeling the wheels turn. The SOLDIER crossed his arms. “One might even say, Sir, that it's in the best interest of SOLDIER as a unit that you know what's going on.”
“One might,” Lazard agreed, careful not to push. He set off towards his office again.
“Do you work this late often, Sir?” the SOLDIER called.
“I might begin to,” Lazard replied. “Mind if I ask your name, SOLDIER?”
The Second Class smiled. “It's Kunsel, Director Deusericus.”
“Kunsel,” Lazard repeated. “Well, you know where to find me.”
“I certainly do.”
Lazard could hear the smile in Kunsel's voice. It was matched by the smirk in his own. Oh, yes, Lazard mused, pushing his oversized office chair. This was the start of something beautiful.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 03:35 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-03 01:29 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 03:51 am (UTC)From:I would love to see where this goes, if it does decided to go somewhere. It sounds like fun.
(Oh, and Ardwynna, you have a typo - plus upholstery, instead of plush upholstery.)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-03 01:30 am (UTC)From:Kunsel and Lazard have been scheming in the back of my head for months and can't get their act together yet.
(Thanks! *fixes*)
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Date: 2009-02-02 05:28 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-03 01:32 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 06:47 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-03 01:33 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 08:34 am (UTC)From:Anyway. Beyond cute, this fic. This will be a beautiful alliance. Any future dealings will be *very* well recieved.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-03 01:34 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 04:08 pm (UTC)From:And in many ways, Lazard + Kunsel = SO MUCH TROUBLE, lol! :3
no subject
Date: 2009-02-03 01:35 am (UTC)From:Oh, trouble, you haven't seen anything yet! X3
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Date: 2009-02-02 05:32 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-03 01:42 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-03 02:00 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 08:01 pm (UTC)From:Ooh, Blackmailing!Kunsel is branching out from his usual sexual recordings. Must be a slow day with Zangeal or something. :)
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Date: 2009-02-03 01:48 am (UTC)From:Kunsel's just looking for somebody to gossip with. He can't talk to Zack about Zack after all. It's hardly slow around here, anyway. ;D
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Date: 2009-02-03 05:15 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-04 06:44 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-05 02:19 am (UTC)From:That is its own kind of triumph. ;p
no subject
Date: 2009-02-04 03:08 pm (UTC)From:Racing through the corridors in a chair.
With a pilot hat and aviation googles.
OMG. I think that image will NEVER leave me now. XD Thank you so much for sharing this, it was absolutely priceless! Now to find out just what exactly is hidden in that Secret Stash of Kunsel... Oh, do I support more of this. :D (And just why do I suddenly have Shinra Asylum Files flashing in red before my mind's eye?)
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Date: 2009-02-05 02:25 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 06:50 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-05 03:31 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-08 06:26 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-07 08:15 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-02-08 06:25 pm (UTC)From:Kunsel sees all and knows all. XD
no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 09:14 am (UTC)From:...But DAMN this is an amazing fic!
Lazard is just cute XD
*adds to memories*
no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 02:09 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 01:22 am (UTC)From:Thank you for writing this and thank you whoever was looking for it and thank you
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Date: 2009-09-06 02:12 am (UTC)From: