Concrete Flower

A small laugh falls past the redhead’s lips as his arms tighten around her – almost protectively. “C’mon, you can say I’m hot like everyone else. It’s okay.”

?????

Lea’s just gonna take this chance to hug-n’-go like a weirdo or something.

puts firewood in her arms

“I certainly do my best to keep myself in one piece. Gotta have a plan in place for everything, you know? It’s nice to know that if I ever need it, I can come back there though.” And maybe when all things were said and done, he would. 

“And you too. Those smug looking turks still sniffing around like they own the place?”

"Mmhm!" Worst case he was always welcome at her place. She was sure her mother wouldn't mind. Well... assuming he somehow changed fate and lived. "Mom would be glad to have you over some time too." Fingers laced together and her eyes closed.

“Huh?” Terra was startled as his arm was grabbed, but it wasn’t enough to put him on the defensive. Brows raised as blue eyes studied the woman’s face, confusion clearly written out across his features, his head slightly tilted to one side, like a confused puppy.

“Oh, it’s no trouble. I’m sorry I’m not the person you were looking for,” He hummed, offering the woman an apologetic smile.

“Do you need help? I’m not so sure how much I can do, but I can at least try.”

Head falling, the brunette shook her a quick ‘no’. “Don’t apologize, it’s my mistake.” Though there was a uncanny similarity to Zack, she still should have known better.

“Ah...” Her expression fell only for the briefest of moments before she plastered a smile on her face. “No, it’s all right. I’m fine.” For now at least. Still she couldn’t stop the clenching pain in her chest.

Fingers danced through brown tresses, green eyes surveyed the cityscape before her. Familiar, dull scenery. It was the same old thing. To be honest it wasn't a beautiful sight by any means. It was people though that added all the colour to the city. Everyone had a story, if you listened long enough you would see all sorts of adventures that you never expected. The Cetra tried to meet everyone she could, and loved it.

It was her relationships that brought rumours floating to her ears. A rumour about a mercenary. At first she thought it may have been talk about Cloud. But soon that thought was put to rest upon hearing descriptions of the man.

It was those descriptions that had her racing out to look for the man in question.

She shouldn't hold onto the hope... but there was a chance this would be different. A small chance but it was better than nothing.

The good thing about hope though was sometimes... it proved to be true.

Wow. If the lighting in the bar weren’t so soft, it’d have probably been evident that she’d put some color in the mercenary’s face. Turning away a bit after the clarification of her wish, Cloud coughed.

This was just what Aerith was good at, always keeping him off-balance, and making it impossible to know what to expect next.

“Well… Um…. I don’t know if that’s much of a wish.” He mumbled, still averting eye contact, “But if it’s what you want, you beat my score, so it’s only fair that we spend more time together.”

If this was meant to be her wishes combined, what exactly did this chick have in mind? While lingering on this he leaned against the wall again, “So, did you have a particular activity in mind, or were you wanting to throw more darts?”

"Maybe not, but it's still the thing I want the most," her response came soft as her eyes lowered to her boots. She hadn't fulfilled that wish with Zack... She didn't want to miss it the chance with Cloud too.

When he agreed she quickly moved to stand in front of him, head tilting so she could stare up at his face. "It's a deal then. I'm going to hold you to that. Oh, and I don't mean just today. In general, I want to spend more time with you." She held her hand out to shake on it.

As he managed to catch up, he saw that grin. Sweet Gaia he wanted to kiss that smirk right off of her beautiful face.

“I think there’s plenty of room for two totally charming 10s in this relationship, don’t you?” Zack asked with his own mischievous grin.

Right after she gave the nod, though, the ex-SOLDIER closed the distance, briefly sneaking a peck from Aerith’s lips, the gleam in his eye even stronger as he pulled back. “Something like that, what you were hopin’ for?”

Eyes fluttered shut as his lips brushed against hers. It was only the briefest of kisses, but she definitely felt a bubbling sensation welling up from her stomach and chest.

Reaching out she laced fingers with his hands before tugging him back in close to her. "Not quite what I had in mind." She let go of his hands before dragging hers up his arms and locking at the nape of his neck.

“Woah…”

That was all he really had to say. Not only did she only make a single bullseye that entire time, she blew the old record that had apparently been there for a long time out of the water. Even trouncing his own new high score.

The blonde’s mouth was agape for a long moment, before pulling himself out of it. “Y-Yeah, I saw that.”

Recomposing, and trying to keep to his cool and collected energy, Cloud answered, “I suppose that entitles you to a wish now, yeah?” Trying to play it off casually, “So, what do you want?”

She was still reveling in the victory, almost having forgot about the prize that she had just earned until he spoke up. There was a momentary pause as she turned toward him and leaned in to get a good look at his face.

“Well then... I guess... If I have one I’m going to have to combine my wishes, huh?” A finger tapped against her lip, as she remained in the half bowed position thinking it over as though she didn’t already have her mind made up.

Pushing himself off of the wall, specifically when she teased him about it, Zack groaned, “Awww c’mon, how can I kiss my girlfriend when she’s all the way over there?” Though his longer strides were closing the distance pretty quickly as he followed her, all things considered.

“Can’t help that I’m weak for your charms, can I?”

“Didn’t I just say? I’m playing hard to get.” She turned back towards him holding her ground instead of moving any further away. A self-satisfied grin resting upon her lips. “Hm... And here I thought you were the charming one, Mr. ‘One-date’.” Well, if it wasn’t for that, they wouldn’t be where they were now. And she definitely wouldn’t have been half as happy.

“Midgar needs more optimistic people.” He smiled stretching his arms out a little. People like Moggy and Aerith made the people happy and more carefree. Especially there in the slums. They could always use a pick me up. 

“Yeah, I thought so. I try to come by when I have the time but things are pretty hectic over in the other sectors. She does a good job in my place.”

“Well, as long as you come back safe and sound every now and then, that’s all that matters.” She nodded quickly. “Definitely makes everyone happy. Emphasis on the safe.”

“Hmm… Just try to narrow it down to one, if you can.” Cloud would probably fulfill multiple wishes if Aerith asked, just because he’d feel bad having set the number initially, but he didn’t want to give Aerith too big an inch, in case she went for the whole mile.

Leaning against the wall behind her, he watched. Wow, she actually managed a pretty significant number of points with that.. 161? Even though she only got one bullseye, she’d manged to already beat his first round. Still, he had to keep himself calm, it wasn’t as if her streak could go this hard, when it was Aerith’s first time playing, right?

“Don’t worry, just relax, you’re doing great.”

Aerith let out a sigh and walked over to pick up the darts. Just a few more, right? That was a fair number of points, even if they weren’t where she wanted them to land... She would just have to adjust it a bit.

With a deep breath she patted the dartboard doing her calculations. Just... 140- left, right? She could land two sixty’s and a twenty... maybe? Hopefully.

With a deep breath she moved back into position and stared at the darts. “Please just go where I want, okay?” She half begged them, knowing that it likely wouldn’t work. “We got this.” She was speaking almost as though the darts could hear her.

“Gah!” He groaned as she stepped back, Zack had even kind of fallen into it a bit too. “You’re being such a tease right now.” He complained, though he really didn’t seem to mind all that much.

Slumping back against the wall as his face still had its deep red color, the ex-SOLDIER let out a deep sigh, “Guess my girlfriend knows just how to torture, me, huh?”

“Don’t be silly, Zack.” She peered up at him through half-lidded eyes. “Maybe I just want to play hard to get.” She took another few steps away before letting out a soft hum.