❛    . . . . .    ❜     brows crease once foreign hands place a flower into his jacket  ;  confusion tugging at features as a momentary lapse in personal judgement comes into play.      ❛    ...    what are you   ...   what are you doing ?    ❜

        what if she doesn’t want to see me ? what if by returning, i hurt her more ?

        there were eyes upon him, and zack knew that it wouldn’t be long until someone approached. though one sight of the sword strapped to his back and his jumpiness had probably deterred anyone curious enough to ask what his business was. a soldier. a shinra dog. where did the people’s allegiances lie five years later ? what about his ? what was he supposed to be ?

        familiar petals catch in the corner of sky - tinted eyes on his twenty - seventh loop ( as if on a march, he couldn’t help keeping track of each step, each set, each back - and - forth ). his steps slowed, attention captured by something so delicate. one of aerith’s, he noted. there was another, and another, all along the sector, in shops and doorways. would things be the same topside ? there was only one way to find out. he’d have to ask.

        twenty - eight.

        this time, zack did press on.

        “ some guy had his eyes on you. he nearly lost ‘em too. ”

     merging into a crowd heading in her direction was easy—— he got a few odd looks, which wasn’t unusual as people usually didn’t bring kids to wall market, but everyone turned their heads a different way as soon as something else flashy caught their eye. after a brief CHECK to ensure the woman was looking somewhere other than at him, he struck. his hand reached out, fingers secured around a pouch of gil, & in a quick movement it was all his with a quiet, celebratory, ❛ gotcha! ❜

     he took a step forward with the crowd, & then another, & with no shouts or rapid footsteps in his direction he was sure he was in the CLEAR.

        “ it really isn’t safe for you here, miss ancient. i can’t promise that i won’t be forced to act if any of the higher - ups should discover you’re still alive and on the run. ”

@petaleir​                                             AERITH GAINSBOROUGH

He now plays with fire by silently ascending ShinRa’s emergency stairwell to seek out a woman he barely knows. This put him at risk, his mother, his sister, he’s not even armed, unless a well-tailored suit counts. And yet he still couldn’t say no when asked to free the green-eyed flower seller. Squall recalls buying flowers from her for his sister Ellone. She missed their garden from Costa del Sol greatly, and Aerith’s flowers had made his sister smile again. He owes her.

It’s not difficult to locate her position after hacking into the security camera’s on the floor that he knows to have prisoner cells. A lot of effort had gone into it when he studied ShinRa’s building structure before having landed a job here. Fortunately, he also knows that this place is more or less dead during early hours, they should be safe.

@petaleir​​ said: "How much you wanna bet that I can pick you up right now?" She rocks back and forth, heel to toe, hands clasped behind her back and a wild grin on her face as she waits for his estimate. And then she leans in to whisper in his ear, "That uniform sure looks nice on you... it'd look better on my floor."

        a warm chuckle at the posed question and hands settled ‘pon his hips, zack shook his head in incredulity. “ you can sure try, but i’m kinda heavy, aerith. ” what else could she mean ? there was nothing that crossed his mind as she so innocently rocked on her heels. until, of course, the former soldier considered that wild grin. he’d not quite seen that before. suddenly, fear began to trickle down his spine --- or was it anticipation ? just what was this new side of aerith like ?

        a confused smile took over his features, accompanied by a furrowing of his brow, and he habitually brought his head lower as she leaned in. what he expected --- a kiss on the cheek, perhaps --- was not what he received. rather, it sounded like something he’d say nowadays. a grown man and not all that much of a boy anymore ( though, sometimes, he wondered if such thoughts were accurate, all things considered ).

        “ that uniform sure looks nice on you... it'd look better on my floor. ”

        a gasp undid his grin. it was far from exaggerated, as would typically be the case. really, who the hell was this woman ? she’d changed, and --- zack found that he liked it. so, it was not too long before he recovered, confidence returning full force to pick up the slack. okay, if that was how she wanted to play, then zack couldn’t deny the challenge.