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Aerith couldn't help but wonder what Zack was doing at this very moment.
Was he paralleling her, drinking his aches away in public? Was he breaking something, a trinket of hers she’d forgotten at his place or some unlucky, random object that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time? Was he looking for comfort in the warm, welcoming arms of another woman? There was a twinge in her stomach that Aerith pretty sure wasn’t just the alcohol swishing around her insides.
She simultaneously hoped for and for anything but the woman. Even though was much too fresh not to feel the sting, the thought of her ex with someone else made her feel the slightest bit less guilty for breaking his heart. It may have been the less painful choice in the long run but she had hurt him all the same.
“Rough night?” The bartender asked.
“Sorta. I broke up with my boyfriend of five years a couple of weeks ago and today I moved the last of my stuff out of his place.”
“...Have a shot on the house.”
Aerith was not exactly a shots girl, she preferred her alcohol in a sugar-rimmed glass, drowning with fruit juice and simple syrup. She was also not a girl who turns down free drinks though so she snatched the shot once it was poured out and knocked it back as fast as she could, in an attempt to taste as little of that nasty antiseptic flavor as possible. Unfortunately, Aerith may have overestimated the bodily force necessary for the motion because she felt herself starting to tilt back off her stool.
Just as she was thinking that she should yank the shot glass away from her mouth so it didn’t potentially break against her face on impact, a pair of warm hands landed firmly on her shoulders from behind, steadying her.
She turned to greet her savior, maybe buy a drink to thank them, which she’d of course purchase along with another drink for herself because wouldn’t be rude to let someone drink alone?
“Thanks, you’re my h-” Aerith’s usually open mouth fell shut as she found herself looking at none other than Cloud Strife, pretty much the second to last person she wanted to see tonight. “Hero. You’re my hero. Wasn’t expecting to see you here. Aren’t you full of surprises?” Aerith forced a smile on her face.
She was going to thank him properly because he saved her from splitting both her head and face open. And because he was Cloud and he couldn’t stand being in her presence, he would surely find a reason for needing to be at the other side of the club immediately and then she would be left alone to wallow in peace.
If Cloud was surprised that his damsel in distress was her, he didn’t show it. He had just been staring at her this whole time, his eyes slightly narrowed and scrutinizing, as if attempting to decipher some code engraved on her face. It dawned on her that his lack of surprise suggested that he knew exactly who she was when he interrupted her fall. The realization formed that he might have actually recognized her and made his way over with full intent to speak to her.
Maybe he was fueled up on liquid courage and wanted to apologize for the way he completely iced her out without any warning months ago. Or possibly now that she and Zack have split up, the freely pouring alcohol had melted that cold shoulder, firing him up to finally come and tell her all the reasons why he hated her so much, since there was no reason why he’d ever have to see her again after this.
Aerith was actually pretty excited to witness either outcome unfold. Anything’s better than a blank page.
“You’re drunk.” Well, that was a boring turn of events. Aerith rolled her eyes, making sure to maintain her smile so the gesture came across as playful rather than pissy. Which she wasn’t. She was only a tad disappointed that Cloud wasn’t offering her much to entertain herself with. Besides, she didn’t tend to hold grudges. Not for very long at least.
“Yes sir, that’s usually the goal when someone sits at a bar.” His gaze hardened which Aerith assumed was a sign he was going to leave her alone.
It was not.
“You’re drunk. Who’d you come with?”
“I’m appropriately tipsy. And I came by myself because I make for great company.”
“I’m taking you home. You can’t be all alone and plastered in some club. Who knows the trouble you’d get in?”
“Um no, you’re not. I’m having fun and I can take care of myself, thank you very much. If you don’t wanna have a drink with me, feel free to take your services elsewhere.”
“Can you? Pretty sure I just stopped your head from bouncing off the ground. And I didn’t come here to drink, I came for a delivery and apparently to be your ride.” Aerith struggled not to glare at him as she pouted. Alright, he may have gotten her there but she wasn’t ready to leave and she was absolutely not ready to leave with him and flatter his sudden altruistic interest in her well-being.
“That was a rare, once-in-a-lifetime event that you got the pleasure of witnessing. Won’t happen again, after all, lightning never strikes twice. So, since you’re seemingly done with work, why don’t you quit worrying over lil ole me and go tear up the dance floor? I heard you’ve hiding some killer moves.” Aerith wagged her eyebrows at a visibly embarrassed Cloud. Bet he hadn’t known that she knew about that fun fact. He had to be done with her now!
“Aerith. I’m taking you home.” Cloud’s voice was firm, leaving no room for protest or debate. She didn’t know why he was still harping on about this. And she didn’t care. She would push and shove to make space if she had to.
She slid off the bar stool in one smooth, carefully controlled to appear effortless motion. Cloud’s hand immediately shot out to her arm when she started to move, a gesture of support and concern for her safety that was both unnecessary and frustrating.
Why was he only there for her now when she didn’t want him to be?
Aerith shrugged his hand off and took a step closer to him. It didn’t evade her attention that her proximity caused him to stiffen. That was a good thing right now. It was. She stared him directly in those beautiful, baby blue eyes of his. A lot like Zack’s.
Prettier even, though she’d never admitted it to anyone.
She smiled, letting all the pain and sadness and anger from not only Cloud abandoning her but from the entirety of these last two weeks to bleed into her eyes and burrow into his.
Cloud was a good guy, regardless of his disinterest in being her friend. In fact, he was a nice guy. Only a nice guy would come to the aid of someone they didn’t even like. And Cloud certainly was not fond of her.
Aerith couldn’t imagine anyone would be thrilled at the thought of their boyfriend’s best friend disliking them, but Cloud’s coldness toward her particularly stung. She had genuinely liked him. In a way, she still did. And she actually thought they were on the path to becoming friends, good friends even, before his walls shott back up out of nowhere. Far higher and impenetrable than they had been when Aerith had met him. She’d tried to reach out to him, to figure out what went wrong. But he’d avoided her every attempt at reconciliation or reconnaissance.
Aerith should’ve appreciated this act of kindness and goodwill. But she didn’t want to. She was drunk and sad and she wanted to be a bit childish. She didn’t want help from someone who’d hurt her, as good-natured as he may be.
“I already told you. I’m super duper. And you know what, even I wasn’t, it’s not your problem. You’re not my friend, Cloud. You’ve made that perfectly clear.”
Cloud winced, which was not a reaction that Aerith had anticipated but both her sobriety and usual firm grasp on her own emotions were long gone, leaving her momentarily incapable of the absorption and consideration she’d usually give such a curious and potentially revealing crack in Cloud’s armor.
No, tonight she simply barreled on. “You don’t like me. That’s fine. But don’t come up to me out of nowhere and pretend to be my friend just because you feel bad for me. I appreciate the sentiment but I’m a big girl. I’ll take care of myself.” With that, she strutted past Cloud, leaving him standing by her bar stool with the muscles in his arms all taut and his lips pressed together tight.
Screw him.
Though she had to admit he may have been right about her not being totally alright because after her first few steps, she was convinced someone had turned off the gravity in the club. If Cloud saw her stumble, her bad bitch exit would be pulverized so she summoned every amount of physical and mental fortitude she possessed to will herself to walk like a semi-sober human being until she made it to the hallway where the bathrooms were tucked away.
With the muddling mix of hypnotic music, colorful strobing lights, and other drunk people spinning all around her, Aerith felt like she was trying to run in a dream.
She could not stumble. She shall not trip. She would not fall!
Just a few more steps.
She finally, finally turned the corner, practically throwing herself out of sight from any blondes with overzealous hero complexes who could be possibly surveilling her from the bar.
Her little catwalk performance had taken its toll, and she collapsed against the wall. A few girls lined up for the bathroom shot her a you good? look. Aerith shooed away their concerns with a smile and a double thumbs up.
She was all good. She was great.
She would just take a quick break here until her sense of balance returned and the floor stopped tilting. She had just closed her eyes and lolled her head back to rest against the wall when she felt an arm loop under her knees, and another squeezing in behind her to wrap around her shoulders.
Aerith’s eyes snapped open and the bewildered verdant set was immediately met with a beautiful blue gaze.
“We’re leaving,” Cloud stated firmly, offering no room for protest as he stood up with her slight figure cradled in his arms.
“Okie-dokie.” Aerith was aware that she could kick and scream, call out for help that would surely step in and yank her out of Cloud’s arms and probably kick him out so he could be someone else’s problem.
She was also aware, inebriated as she may be, that to do so would be uncalled for and borderline cruel. It was time to accept that she had lost this battle and the night was over, as one must do when another had to literally pick them up off the floor.
All the tension and the animosity left her body once she mentally admitted defeat. Aerith wrapped her arms around Cloud’s neck without hesitation, briefly lifting up her hand to wave goodbye to the still waiting for the bathroom gang. Cloud stiffened a little against her embrace but whatever.
She was a sore loser tonight and he was so very warm.
The night air was a cool contrast to the nearly sticky warmth of Honeybees, and though the crisp breeze was refreshing after breathing in other people’s air for the last two hours, Aerith couldn’t help but shiver as the cool air bristled against her exposed skin. She instinctively pressed herself even tighter against Cloud, trying to draw the heat from his body into her own.
Aerith expected Cloud to (begrudgingly) accept his temporary position as her human hot water bottle. She didn’t expect him to rub the skin of her arm gently with his thumb, in a useless but sweet gesture to provide her more warmth.
“It won’t be much longer, I’m parked nearby.” Cloud sounded apologetic even though he hadn’t done anything worth apologizing for tonight. He hadn’t programmed the weather nor made her choose not to bring a jacket with her.
Aerith couldn’t help but giggle. It was him, it was really him. This was the Cloud she had been missing. This was the Cloud she wanted to meet again.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how cute you are.” Aerith would’ve sworn on her favorite watering pot that Cloud’s skin slightly raised in temperature seconds after those words left her lips.
“Stop teasing me. I’ll drop you.”
“I am not! It’s true. You’re so cute, Cloud. Besides…” Aerith tightened her grip around his neck. “I know you won’t.”
Cloud loudly exhaled in response. Which was so Cloud, and therefore, also so cute. He stopped in front of a car and even though she was admittedly very inebriated, she was very positive that she had never seen Cloud claim ownership over a four-wheeled vehicle before.
“Um, Cloud? This is a car.”
“No shit.”
She stuck her tongue out at him.
He rolled his eyes, the corners of his lips tugging upwards the slightest bit.
“What I’m trying to say is, where’s Fenrir?”
“You rem-um, it’s in the shop for repairs. They gave me this rental. Wait, did you think I was gonna drive a drunk person home on a motorbike?”
“...yes?” Cloud shot her the most judgmental of looks. She scrunched her nose at him, smiling big enough for the both of them. “It would’ve been exciting, admit it.”
“You are such a handful.” A little while ago, that sentence would have had her squirming out of his grasp and beelining back to the club, but things were already different than they had been then.
All the hurt and bewilderment had dissipated, and she’d been left simply with Cloud. It was strange how easy it was to be with him. Like breathing after being submerged under water for a couple seconds too long. It burned at first, having been deprived for so long, but after a few moments, it was so natural a reflex you forget you were even inhaling.
So she merely giggled. “I’m a handful that you chose to pick up.”
Cloud’s eyes lefts hers, and he cocked his chin slightly to the side. He seemed to be contemplating something with himself, a consideration he was not interested in making her privy to. It was hard to mind too much, though. His features got so soft when he was thinking to himself like that.
Whatever he was debating, he came to a conclusion only seconds later, a small smile on his lips that she didn’t think he even realized was decorating his face. He shrugged, Aerith’s skin brushing against his with the movement.
“Fair enough.” He walked toward the passenger side, opening the door and gently placing her in the seat. Aerith let her head rest against the cushy headrest as Cloud reached over her to buckle her seatbelt, one hand on the doorframe to keep him balanced.
“You know you’ve got a prime automobile when the seats are this comfy.”
“Not sure about that. Besides, I’m sure your bed back home is more comfortable.” Aerith nearly jumped out of the super plushy seat when Cloud mentioned home which startled him so badly that he hit his head on the car roof.
“Oooops sorry,” Aerith apologized, wincing. That sounded like it hurt.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cloud said cooly, his hand twitching in what she assumed was its attempt to resist the urge to rub the spot that was surely getting ready to bruise on his scalp.
“That was a pretty loud bang, Cloud.” Aerith reached her hand out to his golden locks, tenderly running her fingertips along the crown of his head, the strands tickling her fingers.
Cloud started at her touch but quickly tempered like a pouting puppy being spoiled. Cloud pretended to meet her eyes. He was actually staring at the tip of her nose. That was fine. She had a pretty adorable nose.
“I don’t know what you mean. Why’d you jump like that?”
Aerith bit her lip.
“I really don’t want to go home just yet.”
Cloud raised an eyebrow.
“Mom will never let me hear the end of it if she realizes I got drunk all alone in public. You know how she is.”
Cloud grimaced. He and Elmyra got on like oil and water. “How’s staying out late better than going home drunk?”
“Because I’ll tell her I was only out so late because I was with someone keeping their eye out on me. I’ll preach the power of the buddy system. And I’ll be sober so I’ll be able to choose my words veeeery carefully.”
“Huh.”
“What?”
“I didn’t realize you knew how to speak carefully.”
“Cloud!” She went to bat at him playfully. Cloud leaned back out of her reach, gripping the doorframe for leverage. He used the same leverage to pull himself back to a standing position, Aerith realized only then that he’s been half-kneeling this entire exchange.
“Watch out,” Cloud warned as he started to shut the passenger door. None of her limbs were anywhere near the door but Cloud still closed it slowly. It wasn’t long before he was sliding into the driver's seat next to her. “So, should I drop you off at Zack’s?” Aerith tried to keep her face neutral but alas, alcohol. Cloud’s face responded to her expression with surprise, inquiry, and something else that she can’t name. “Did something happen? Is that why you came here tonight?”
“Can’t we go for a drive?”
“Maybe we should get you some water firat,” he said as he started the car and began to pull out of the parking spot.
“Hey, Cloud?”
“What?”
“...I think I’m gonna hurl.”
The first thing Aerith thought when she woke up was that an ice-cold glass of pink lemonade would taste amazing at this specfic moment. Her throat was dry and her stomach was queasy. The second thing she wondered, as her eyes adjusted to the dark and she noticed the ceiling above her was not her ceiling, was where the hell was she?
“You’re awake.” That was Cloud's voice and after he switched on a lamp on the dresser, his face confirmed his identity, the dim light and the concern in his eyes softening his features. “How are you feeling?” It was downright dreamy, the sight of him as he took a seat next to her on the bed.
She blinked once, twice, and then all the memories of drinking half her body weight at Honeybees and being carried off like a princess by her ex-boyfriend’s best friend and violently throwing up off the side of Cloud’s car, which wasn’t actually his car, came back to her.
“Cloud, I’m so sorry!” Aerith shoved herself up to a sitting position, moving to get out of the bed and out of what she assumed was Cloud’s apartment and leave the poor guy in peace. Cloud’s hands immediately pressed down on her shoulders, gently but firmly, pausing her mission to make a run for it.
“Sit down and don’t push your…” Cloud trailed off, staring at Aerith. She wasn’t sure she had ever seen this expression on his face before. His eyes were so wide and blue, like an uninterrupted sky stretching out above every corner of the earth. Aerith felt like she was being swallowed up.
Strangely, she sorta liked it.
“Is something wrong?” Cloud shook his head, she wasn’t sure if the movement was intended as a response or if he was trying to stir himself out of the trance she’d unintentionally cast him into.
“N-no, nothing. I just… I’ve never seen your hair down like that. It’s really…”
Aerith instinctively reached for her hair, only registering the tendrils of hair kissing her arms and draping down her back now that Cloud’s mentioned it. Her ribbon must’ve come undone, but where is it?
Aerith’s eyes scanned the duvet that Cloud pulled over her and the floor by his feet. He must have sensed her panic and managed to guess what she was searching for because he reached across her figure and grabbed something under her pillow. A pink ribbon.
“My hero! How’d you spot it!?”
Cloud dropped the ribbon into her cupped hands.“I’ve got a good eye.”
Aerith smiled, curling the fabric of the ribbon between her fingers. “You sure do. Thank you, Cloud. That’s three times now you’ve come to my rescue. You’ve been so sweet to me, even though I said some pretty mean stuff to you.” Her smile remained but it crumbled at the corners, dulling from a ray of sun to a light more reminiscent of a moonbeam reflecting the water, luminescent and lovely yet dim and melancholic.
Cloud’s gaze left the hair flowing down her shoulders, finding a fascinating spot on the wall to focus on. “It was nothing. And you didn’t say anything worth apologizing for. I deserved every word.”
Aerith shook her head, her hair bouncing with her movements. It wasn’t necessarily her intention but the airborne strands recaptured Cloud’s attention, beguiling him away from the intriguing square inch of wall and back to her.
“It wasn’t nothing. And if you really think it was, then you’re an even nicer person than I thought.” In what little visibility the lamplight offered, Aerith could see Cloud’s cheeks were tinged the faintest of pink. It was a pretty color on him. “I shouldn’t have said those things. I didn’t mean them, honest. I was just drunk and upset and I took it out on you because you were there and you were telling me a truth I didn’t want to hear. And I…” Aerith offered him a pathetic smile. “I was hurt that you stopped liking me. Because I really like you, Cloud. Truly. I have so much fun when I’m with you. But that’s my problem, not yours. Especially now. You’re not obligated to like me.”
“I did like you. I do like you.” Cloud’s voice was as firm as it was when he was kneeling next to her, determined to sweep her up and take her home.
Aerith felt nearly as off guard as she did back then.
“But…why then? You stopped coming out with me and Zack. Anytime I tried to meet up with you, when I said I wanted to talk to you about something, you made up an excuse. And I know you made them up because you’re super bad at coming up with excuses. You told me you had to get your oil changed three times. In the span of one month.”
Cloud’s mouth opened, most likely to protest given the width of his parted lips and the objection in his eyes, though Aerith wasn’t sure whether it was the obvious avoidance of her that he wanted to refute or his ineptitude in the art of lying.
She never found out because his mouth fell closed before he said a word and then he was just thinking to himself for a moment, his eyes directed at her face yet not truly taking her in. When he looked at her again, really looked at her, his eyes were laced with determination and something that smoldered.
Aerith could never have conjured up the expression on his face right now, no matter how hard she tried. And she had a pretty good imagination. She didn’t even want to blink, she wanted to drink in the sight of Cloud gazing at her like this as long as she could. “Cloud-”
He hugged her.
It happened so fast that Aerith hardly saw him move, had no time to think before she was pressed up against Cloud, his arms wrapped around her.
“Do you get it now?” he asked softly, his lips so close to her ear that she felt the words more than heard them. He was holding her so tightly that it actually hurt a little. Aerith welcomed the twinge of pain. It proved that this is really happening, that she wasn’t having some alcohol-induced fever dream.
And any discomfort that is offset by the idea, the reality, that Cloud Strife was embracing her like it was their last night on the planet.
“No. I don’t get anything at all,” she breathed out. She meant it. She understood what this all indicated, what Cloud must be getting at, but she didn’t get it.
All this time? Cloud? For her?
Cloud sighed into her hair. She was not making this easy for him, she knew that but she couldn’t help it.
“I wanted to see you. I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to…too much. You’re with Zack. Whatever spat you might be having now, you guys will get over it. I know it. You’re good together. I don’t want to get in the way. So I got out of the way. Otherwise…it was just too hard. I know that was pathetic of me. I never meant to hurt you. Just give me some time. I’ll get over it and things’ll go back to normal.”
“...I’m not with Zack.”
Cloud released her from his vice-like grip, his hands instead resting on her forearms as he stared at her. “What?” Cloud’s voice oozed disbelief.
“We broke up a couple weeks ago. It’s not a spat. It’s over. For good. That’s why I was in the bar alone tonight. Why I didn’t want to go to his place.” Aerith wasn’t absolutely sure Cloud was breathing, given how still and quiet he’d gotten. The knowledge that she and Zack weren’t together anymore seems to have short-circuited his brain.
“I didn’t know- I wasn’t expect- I mean, I never thought…” Cloud stumbled and stammered over his words. Aerith struggled not to grin as she watched a man practically drown on air. She didn’t want to laugh when he was so raw and overcome yet she couldn’t help finding Cloud adorable when he dropped that cool and collected act and tripped into the lovable dork he truly is.
“What… what happened?”
Aerith shrugged. “Nothing really happened. Other then time passing by and us getting older. I really loved him. I still do love him but in the beginning, it was so different. I thought he was the most charming, sweetest guy I’d ever met. The time we spent together was different than the time I spent with anyone else. I felt something for him I’d never felt for anyone else before. But in the last few months… I had this feeling that we were only still together because we were already together. And I didn’t want that for us, either of us. To be with someone out of habit or because we’d had something special once. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah”, Cloud said. “It does.”
The pair sat in silence. Debating what to say now that the time to talk about past loves had ended, marking the time for the present to unfold.
“So…you like me? Like you like like me?”
Cloud snorted. “You sound like a kid.”
Aerith smirked. “Oh yeah? Well, you’re the one who like likes this kid. So what does that say about you?”
“I’ve got bad taste.” There was the silliest smile on Cloud's face. It softened as he rubbed the back of his head. “So…um, how do you feel…about me? Like do you want…you know, with me…”
Aerith bit her lip. There was talk that still needed to be had. “Truthfully, it’s kinda too soon for me. Not even a month has passed since Zack and I split up, and even though I don't doubt it was for the best, there are still so many emotions I’m sorting through. I’m nowhere near ready to jump into another relationship.”
Cloud nodded, averting his gaze. “I get it.”
He didn’t but that was okay. She was about to show him.
Aerith leaned in, the surprise in his blue eyes the last thing she saw before she pressed her lips against his.
It was a short, sweet kiss.
Cloud’s mouth hardly moved beneath her own. He was so easily caught off guard. That was okay too. There would be plenty more kisses. And even shocked still as a statue, his lips were soft and warm. Like the rest of him, underneath all that icy self-preservation. The surprise in his eyes remained when she pulled away, smiling gently at the knight in shining armor that she didn’t ask for but needed all along.
“I’m not ready now but I will be one day. So could you wait for me a little longer? Because I really do like you, Cloud. Like, like you.”
His eyes only widened further, and she could see the sky opening up with all its possibilities ready to swallow her up in them, for a moment. The thought of that endless sky seemed like an exciting one if Cloud was floating up there with her.
Then he relaxed, his eyelids lowering and his lips smiling.
“I’d wait for you forever.”