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After the first fight in the Don Corneo tournament was over both Cloud and Aerith had directly gone to the side room to rest, as she took some items from the vending machine and he sat down at the bench with a sigh.
Why did they even have to fight through this tournament...? At least it was just actual fighting, which was something he was pretty good at, god knows what else Madame M could have asked in exchange for giving them that recommendation letter. That hand massage had been strange enough...
“Are you okay?” Aerith asked, taking him out of his thoughts as she sat down next to him “You don't need my healing or anything...?”
He quickly nodded “I’m fine, I just need to rest a bit”
“Well, that's good” she relaxed a bit, leaning on the bench. She looked over to him and smiled, “You know… that little victory pose you made at the end of the fight…”
He groaned a bit in embarrassment, remembering that he had done that without even thinking about it. That was such a ridiculous thing to do, how could have just done that in front of people... “Um, yeah, well it just kinda… happened…”
“Oh no don’t be ashamed, it was kinda cool!” she quickly reassured him, he must have looked confused at that because she continued “How you twirled that big sword so easily… you know, next time we see those kids in the Leaf house you should show them that, they'd love it” she suggested, making Cloud tilt his head in confusion.
“They would…?”
“Yeah, I mean they clearly think you are cool” she easily answered, laughing “They were really cute, weren’t they? Carrying those makeshift swords around just to be like you...”
He glanced down, not sure what to say to that. He didn't exactly know how to react to being looked up to… after all he didn’t think he should be admired. He was just an ex-SOLDIER turned to mercenary now, not exactly a role model.
He guessed he did admire the members of SOLDIER when he was young though… hell, Sephiroth had been his hero back then. The war hero Sephiroth… he had seemed like such an ideal hero back then to the poor and weak country boy he was, someone so strong and amazing… all he had wanted to be. It just went to show what bad judgement he used to have.
“… I’m not sure they should look up to me like that” he said, “They should probably find someone better to imitate. Besides, I’m not good with kids…”
“Are you kidding me? They adored you, Cloud” Aerith replied, a bit confused by his reticence.
“Well, I had kids run from me before… there was a little girl who just hid when I tried to talk to her” he said, remembering how Marlene had just run away from him at the bar.
“Really? You must have given her one of those hard stares you tried giving me at first” she said, as she gave him a very angry looking frown which looked very out of place in her face “Something like this?”
“I don't look like that” he protested, and she just laughed.
“No, I guess you look more natural frowning than I do” she admitted “I bet you didn’t even realise you were putting on the scary face when approaching that girl. But you didn’t really scare off the orphans, actually you were pretty nice to them...”
“I… guess…” he mumbled, confused. Now that she pointed it out, he had been very relaxed during his adventures around the sector 5 slums… actually he had been very relaxed since he had met Aerith in general, now that he thought about it. She hadn’t been scared off by his attitude as most people were, and so he had cut back on trying to make her go away and just accepted it. Maybe that had made him relax so much that it had been why the orphans hadn’t been scared off either.
Apparently satisfied with his little realization, Aerith nodded. “Changing topics slightly, I've been meaning to ask… can I see your hands?” she suddenly asked.
“What? My hands?” he repeated “Why?”
“Well after Madame M gave you that hand massage I've been a bit curious...” she explained, making him huff. Of course she would be curious, after... that.
“We are about to be called into battle, we don't have time for me taking off my gloves” he tried to argue.
“Oh come on, we still got a while till they call us back” she protested “Just take off your right glove, you don't have to take that whole armband thing on your left. I will be satisfied with just one hand!”
He tried to glare at her, and as usual he was unsuccessful in trying to make her back down. It seemed he really was going soft around her, as he couldn't find it in himself to even fight her on this. He just sighed and obediently took off his right glove while she clapped excitedly at seeing she got him to agree. He gave her his hand, a bit worried at what she could possibly have planned. “Here, though I don't see what you could possibly get from seeing my hand...”
“Well, I think it's interesting. Your hands will probably tell me more about you” she said, as she took his hand with hers.
She started by looking it over, looking at his hands from various angels before starting to pay more intense attention to it. She brushed his knuckles before turning his hand over, touching his palm and fingers with a surprising tenderness. Unlike the massage he had gotten, which had been stress relieving in the end he had to admit, but also very forceful at points, this was… different.
It was… nice. The direct contact from her delicate fingers on his hand was something he hadn’t realized he was craving until he got it.
“Your hands are still a bit soft… despite how rough they are from your sword and all…” she said as she examined the inner side of his fingers.
“If… you say so…” he mumbled, watching her look at his hand with more interest than he'd like to admit “It’s hard to tell how my own hands are…”
“I can tell” she said, smiling at him “They are pretty much like you. You also seem very rough at first, but are actually soft”
“I-I’m… not that soft…” he weakly protested, and even he knew he was not being very convincing before she giggled.
“It's not a bad thing, you know?” she remarked “In fact... I like it”
“...what?”
“Well… to be the strong and detached guy that's too cold to let anything affect him might seem cool and all, but… I think it's nicer to see that softer side of you” she said, thoughtful “That gentler side that cares deeply… yes, I think I like that side of you very much”
After a brief pause to let those words sink in, Cloud asked in a voice so low that if Aerith hadn't been right next to him she wouldn't have heard “... why would you…?”
To be seen as soft seemed too close to be seen as weak. He didn't… like being seen as weak. Wasn’t that the whole point of him going to join SOLDIER in the first place? He had wanted to become a strong and capable man, someone that could actually protect those he cared about. Not who he used to be, the little kid from a small village in the middle of nowhere who just wanted to be amazing. He wasn’t that kid. Not anymore. Didn’t want to be.
There was… something off there. Almost like he had some kind of feeling of shame, of unworthiness, that he didn’t understand. It was a strange feeling he got everytime he remembered his childhood dreams, and it seemingly made no sense since he had been a SOLDIER, first class even. And yet… sometimes it felt like he needed to remind himself that he was, needed to repeat those words to himself. It was strange...
If he tried to think about it too hard he had the feeling his head would start hurting again. So he tried not to think about it. But it was still there sometimes… that feeling that he was pretending to be someone he wasn't.
It was something he couldn't quite grasp, but that apparently Aerith was seeing. She was seeing whatever he was failing to understand about himself… that part of him that was soft and gentle as she said, the part that didn’t fit the image of an ex-SOLDIER, that part he tried to hide out of shame. She was seeing right through him, and instead of seeing him as less… she liked him. He wasn't sure why, but he knew that was something important.
“Cloud…” Aerith smiled softly, as Cloud just stared at her mesmerized “This may come as a shock, but… I would really like to get to know you…”
He felt his heart skip a beat at those words.
Slowly, she took his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles softly. He felt a blush appear on his face despite his best efforts, as she also blushed slightly after realizing what she'd just done “I… I’m sorry, was that too much? It was too much wasn't it” she stammered, flustered “I got carried away, I probably shouldn't have…”
“No, no, it's… fine” he interrupted her apologies, as he himself tried to calm down his racing hearth. “I… didn't dislike it…”
She looked at him surprised at that, and then laughed softly “...why can't you just say you liked it then…? You are always so complicated...”
He frowned a bit at the slight mocking, but he wasn't really angry. He very slowly put his hand on her face, caressing her cheek and softly tucking some of her hair away. It was amazing how it felt to feel her soft skin without any gloves on. It was just… her.
“Aerith, I…” he began, unsure of what he even wanted to say. He just kept softly caressing her cheek as she got slightly closer, leaning in as she tended to do. Usually he backed off slightly at that, often taken by surprise by her sudden closeness, yet this time he found himself also leaning in.
“Yes…?” she asked, apparently as lost for words in this moment as he was.
He stared deeply into her eyes. His own eyes were blue with the glowing tilt of green, but it was the unnatural green of mako eyes, but hers…. They were as green and as natural as the plants she so lovingly tended to. They were beautiful. She was beautiful. And she was looking at him with wonder, like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, it was glad it was happening. As she said it was like she actually… saw him.
He started leaning in closer, closing his eyes...
When suddenly the announcement for the next battle stopped them right in their tracks, making them both jump in shock with its loudness. He had never hated an announcement more in his life.
They both were breathing loudly from the shock, and just looking at generally the other direction from where the other was, too nervous to acknowledge what had been about to happen. Aerith recovered faster than him, as she took a deep breath and managed to calm down for the most part while he still was flustered and staring at the wall.
“L-looks like we need to get back to the tournament” she said, as she quickly got up, and Cloud couldn't help but notice when he managed to look her way still with a blush on her cheeks “We should probably just… do that…”
“Y-yeah…. Right…” he said, as he algo got up, putting his glove back on and going over to take back his sword as he tried to think of what to say. The moment had been interrupted horribly, but… it had happened. He should probably say something “I um... that was…”
“We… we have a tournament to win, and your friend to save” Aerith said “We should… focus on that. After all that's done, then… then maybe we could talk about... that...” she said, finally looking to him again.
“...that's probably a good idea” he agreed. They did have more pressing things to do at the moment, what had just happened could wait until they were done there.
Besides, Aerith's mother had warned him to stay away after all, had actually insisted he should leave without saying anything even, she probably would object to such a thing…
Not to mention that he was just a mercenary who used to work for the people who were hunting her, and a wanted man for helping Avalanche. And possibly he was being hunted by the ghost of a man he killed… either that or he was losing his mind, and he didn’t like either of those options.
The headaches had gotten worse lately too, and he didn’t know what to make of that….
Meanwhile she was wonderful. Everyone in her sector loved her, they had been stopped so many times on the way to her house just by people wanting to say hi to her or thank her for something, even all those kids in the Leaf House adored her. She was hunted by the Shinra Turks for some reason yet she had stopped him from killing the redheaded one when he had the chance, she clearly still cared deeply about people.
What could he possibly offer her. What could she possibly see in someone like him, with blood stained hands and a bad attitude that kept everyone at bay.
And yet... she hadn't been deterred in the slightest. She said she would like to get to know him…
“You are getting stuck in your own thoughts again” Aerith said, giving him a flick in the forehead.
“Like you weren't just now…” he complained, rubbing his forehead a bit even tough it didn’t really hurt.
“Well… yes, but you do it more” she quickly replied “Let's just go win this tournament and get through this, alright? We will have a better talk when we actually have the time for it…” she finally relaxed, as she smiled brightly “Maybe then we will also talk about that date I own you for being my bodyguard”
“... that would be good” he smiled back without even thinking.