Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Alright, that will do it!” Zack exclaims as he finishes putting together his new apartment in Midgar. He steps back and admires his well decorated living room with a grand smile on his face, at this moment he feels like giving himself a pat on the back.

Zack loved his home in Gongaga, he loved all of his neighbors and locals and carried them in a special place in his heart. But, there was a lack of opportunities for him. He was getting older—his twenty second birthday being a few months ago—he missed the endless Midgar buzz. 

It was great, he got a real nice apartment. Not too big, not too small—a decent sized kitchen and living room, big enough for hosting a small party, and a beautiful bedroom that connected to his bathroom. And on top of it all, his favorite, the beautiful window view. 

His good friend Aerith, also his ex-girlfriend, offered him a position in her flower shop until he secures something serious. 

Zack walked over to his brand new couch and flopped down on it, his limbs stretching out far and high before relaxing against the soft, blue cushions. He let out a small satisfied sigh. Zack was excited. 

Tomorrow he would start his first day in the  Ancient Petals shop. It would be his first time seeing Aerith in person again in four years, after they split ways and Zack moved back home to Gongaga after briefly being stationed in Midgar for school. Throughout the years Aerith and Zack have of course kept it touch as much as they had time for, but it wasn’t the same. Not nearly as often as either of them wished. 

This was good, being able to see Aerith normally again. As well as other friends he made during his time here. This was great. 

Zack walked thoughtfully down the busy streets, taking in all the buildings and colors. He took in the crowds of people passing by, considering all of their different outfits and clear motivations. He didn’t walk slowly, there was certainly a pep in his step, which all people of Midgar had to have, but he walked just slow enough to take time to appreciate it all. 

Even from the beginning of the block he saw the flower shop all the way at the end. The sign stood out proudly, a light pink wood border around the white birch wood that had big elegant letters spelling the name of the place plastered on top. There were tons of various plants potted outside and there seemed to be some simple doodles of flowers done with a washable marker on the huge window that allowed you to see inside the building. 

Zack sped up just a little bit, and the closer he got the clearer the decorations became. It was a cozy place, very fitting of someone like Aerith. 

Finally, he stood in front of the door. He already saw her through the window, bent over organizing something behind the cash register, Zack’s excitement only built up higher. His heart was pounding and his face beamed with joy. He pressed his palm against the door and pushed forward, the soft jingle of the wind chimes rang through the quiet place as he stepped in. 

Aerith stood up to greet her customer, only to let out a small gasp as she saw the Zack Fair standing in the center of the room. Her eyes warmed and she opened her arms wide before she even managed to get over to him. Zack laughed as Aerith bumped her side into the corner of the cash register while she rushed forward to him. 

“Oh my goodness, Zack!!”

Aerith cried as she wrapped her arms tightly around her friend, he let out more hearty laughs as he returned the hug just as tightly. “Aerith! It’s been way too long!” he yelled as he spun her around. Their giddiness and pure joy filled the room and threatened to escape the walls and into the ears of passersby. 

After a few moments he let her down and took a small step back to get a good look at her. “I’m glad to finally be back!” 

Aerith nodded in agreement, “It’s good to have you back! I’ve missed my favorite puppy.” she giggled. Zack faux-frowned, “Aww.. come on Aerith, not cool! I regret ever letting you talk to Angeal!” 

“No way, mister! I’m never giving it up!” Aerith pointed at his chest teasingly, smilingly with a glint in her eye before backing up and turning back to what she was doing previously. “Your shift doesn’t start for another two hours. By no means am I complaining! But—I didn’t expect to see you here so early!” 

Zack walked forward and leaned against the counter adjacent to the register, “Well, I thought about being one hour early to be trained before my shift starts but then I was like—why be one hour early when I can see Aerith sooner and be two hours early!” He crossed his arms proudly, “Then it’s sooner and more Aerith time and even more practice and learning time! Genius!” 

Aerith giggled more, something she always found herself doing constantly around Zack, “This job isn’t very difficult, and it’s definitely not something you need to know everything about right away. I was just planning on teaching you throughout the work day.” She explains as she rises again and places a sticky note on her notebook that sat atop the surface of the register. 

“Hmmm okay.. so, just more Aerith time then! That works! Catch me up a bit!” 

Aerith flips through her notebook, “Hmmmm ok… what is there to update.. well—hold on! What about instead of me, how about you, mister!” She says almost accusingly. 

Zack scratches the back of his head, “Me, huh?” He looks around the place a bit as he thinks about what to even start with. He walks forward with his hands in his pockets, openly thinking. He settles behind Aerith and watches her flip through the pages, catching glimpses of names for orders and different types of flowers. As well as numbers for many things.

”Well, if you remember Cissnei, she’s looking after my parents for me right now while I’m over here. I probably wouldn’t have left if there wasn’t someone I knew and trusted taking care of them for me.” 

Aerith nodded, “Yeah I remember her! I’m happy she’s doing that for you. You know, I’d be real sad if you were never able to come back..” she teased, faking a pout. 

“Awww, I knew you missed me!” Zack laughed and placed a hand on her head. Aerith shook her head defiantly but didn’t make a move to get away from his hand, “Only a little bit!” 

Zack gave her head one last shake before removing it and crossing his arms, “I heard there’s a real cool motorcycle shop around here. Not now—but, eventually I’d like to check out that place.” Aerith nodded and hummed to herself as she scribbled down her last note in her notebook before closing it shut softly. “Hmm.. I think I know a connection there, if we’re thinking of the same shop.” She mumbled, almost to herself, as she turned to him. 

Before Zack could question any further, the sound of the wind chimes rang again. The two looked over in sync, tilting their heads in a similar way. A lean, tan skinned man with black hair that was swept to the side and kept stable with a red bandana walked into the shop. He held a big brown box with his left arm and dragged a small wagon filled with more brown boxes behind him.

“Hey, these shipments of yours finally came in! Noticed your name on them when I got to work, thought I’d bring them over personally.” The man’s voice is friendly, a nice smile is plastered on his face. He looks proud, in a way. If he’s proud of himself or Aerith isn’t exactly clear, Zack figures it’s probably both. 

Aerith runs over in excitement and takes the big box right out of his hands, “Biggs, thank you so much! As helpful as always!” She cheers before turning on her heal and skipping over to the storage room located in the very, very back. She’s not there for long before she hurries back and takes another box, this time out of the wagon. 

Biggs, Zack learns his name is, looks over to him and waves. “Heya, don’t believe I’ve met you before, I’m Biggs.” he lends out the same hand for a good shake. Zack nods and takes a step closer to grasp the man’s hand. “Nice to meet ya! I’m Zack. I’m an old friend of this crazy lady.” 

Aerith, holding 3 boxes at once and looking like she’s going to fall backwards, perks up. “Yes! Biggs, Zack used to live here a few years back. He’s a good one, you two will get along!” She says as she slowly walks towards the room in the back, Zack looks over at her with disbelief before grabbing a box of the top. “Just ask for help, yeah?” 

Biggs watches as Aerith tuts at Zack and walks past him. Zack laughs to himself for a second before reaching for the wagon and grabbing two boxes himself. “So, you used to live here, huh?” Biggs makes small talk as he also reaches over to help carry boxes. Zack nods and Biggs follows him to the back. “Yup! Originally, I’m from Gongaga, bu—“ before he can continue Biggs cuts him off, “Gongaga? never heard of that place If i’m being honest.”

”Yeah, most people haven’t! It’s a pretty small place. It’s great, though!” Biggs nods along, taking in the information. He gestures for Zack to continue once he put down the boxes. “A few years ago I came up here for school which is when I met Aerith! once I finished that though I moved back home for my parents.” Zack tidies up some of the mess in the storage room as he speaks, a fond and nostalgic look on his face. “Decided to finally come back here though, as much as I love my small hometown, I really missed how busy and fun Midgar is.” 

Biggs walked over and clapped a hand on Zack’s back, “Yeah I understand that. Glad to have you back, though! Aerith could use the help in here.” Zack smiled at him, motivation and determination clearly coursing through him. “I’m more than happy to help! Help is like—or people helper—is like my middle name!” 

Biggs made a funny face at that, clearly finding humor in what Zack just said. He chose to not point out how silly he sounded, and simply chuckled. Biggs was already getting a good idea of what kind of guy Zack is like. Just as the two were about to go get the last of the boxes, Aerith came stumbling in with the last 4 in her arms. She handled it surprisingly well, as Zack is sure he’d probably drop them or trip if he tried that. 

Aerith put the boxes down and clapped. “Awesome! Thanks, guys!” Biggs and Zack exchanged looks but nodded anyway. “Pretty sure you did most of the work but no problem Aerith.” Zack offered. Aerith shook her head, “Nope! you both helped plenty.” She lifts both her arms and extends them towards the two men, “High five?” 

Easily, Zack and Biggs lift both their hands as well and the sound of their hands clapping together fill the room. They all laugh as they celebrate their job well done. “Alright, well,” Biggs begins as he starts walking backwards and towards the abandoned wagon. “Nice meeting you Zack! and have a lovely day, Aerith.” he says as he bends to pick the handle off the floor. “See you both around!” he bids his goodbye and leaves. 

Zack waits until he’s out of sight before turning to Aerith with a huge grin. “I’m liking that guy! When’d you meet him?” he asks. “Met him about a year ago.” Aerith answers, oddly vaguely. Zack picks up on this immediately and hums to himself. “Right, right…” 

Aerith turns her back to Zack and begins busying herself. “So how’d you meet ‘em? He your delivery man?” Zack prods, leaning over Aerith with his hands on his hips. There’s a beat of silence before she speaks up. “I met him from a.. friend of a friend… of a friend.” is all she responds with. There’s almost something teasing about her voice, like she’s hiding a secret and is finding it fun. “And what’s that supposed to mean?” 

At that, the girl in question looks over her shoulder at him. There’s a sly smile and a glint in her eye as she responds, “You’ll know!” 

“Huh? And what does that mean?” 

Aerith doesn’t bother answering. “The nice old man down the street ordered a bouquet for his wife. He’ll be coming soon, so let’s get started on that, shall we?” She says as she already begins grabbing the wrapping paper. Zack huffs, “You’re gonna explain this friend of a friend of a friend stuff to me!” 

Aerith nods a few times, clearly dismissing what he’s saying. “Yup yup, ok now come here so I can give you your first run through!” 

“Alright, alright..” Zack rolls his eyes. He walks over to the small table and watches as Aerith grabs pretty baby blue tissue paper out of one of the drawers. “Lucky for you, everything is labeled! So this drawer is all the wrapping papers and the one underneath is all the ribbons. Easy peasy!” 

“For sure! Easy peasy!” Zack parrots. Aerith holds her tissue paper out, “Ok, so—the first step is grab your paper and place it diagonally, ok? Because we want the flowers to look nice and comfy in there. Got it?” Zack sticks out a thumbs up, “Totally got it!” before taking the paper and doing just as Aerith said. He carefully lays it down on the table and angles it diagonally and then looks at her for the next step. “Awesome! Now, we need to gather the flowers that he wants.” She points to the rows of flowers along the wall. 

Zack already sees it, each section labeled for the type of flower. With pride, he walks over, “Hit me with it! I got this!” he exclaims as he stares intensely at each and every row. “Ok, four lilacs,” Zack listens intently and immediately finds that section and carefully acquires the four lilacs. He does it quickly like he’s for some reason being timed. “Ok and now three orchids,” he repeats the same steps and swiftly gets the three orchids. Aerith notices the fast pace Zack is going at and laughs, “Being fast has nothing to do with a good bouquet, you know.” 

Zack looks over at her like she just spoke gibberish. “Ummm yeah it does! I gotta be efficient!” he says as he walks over and lays down the flowers he picked. “We don’t get enough customers for you to have to be so fast to be.. ‘efficient’.” 

Zack ignores this. 

“What else?” he opts for instead. “Lastly, three white carnations. Then we can move on to placement!” Aerith instructs. Zack turns to pick those last three flowers, once again in record time, and then places them down. Slowly, Aerith shows Zack how to neatly secure each flower in bouquet, she holds his hands to demonstrate the kind of gentleness he should have while dealing with flowers, then picks up each side of the paper and folds them over. “See? Now we just need the ribbon.” 

“Okay! What color?” Zack asks as he crouches beside the drawer and pulls it open, peering inside at the tons of different shades and hues inside. Aerith points to the silver one and Zack takes it in his hand and rises back from his crouch. “Now, we want to treat this bouquet like it’s a baby. A super fragile baby! So wrap the ribbon around softly and don’t tie it too tight.” 

Zack’s tongue pokes out the side of his mouth as concentration takes over his features. He doesn’t really breathe again until he ties the bow, and then waits for Aerith’s approval. She stares and inspects for a minute or two before clapping and cheering, “Perfect! You’re a natural, Zack!”Suddenly all the nerves leave Zack’s body at once and he jumps up and down in excitement. 

The two go over the steps a few more times for the next couple of orders. Each time, of course, having to celebrate when Zack does well. Until a customer walks in mid victory dance, Zack’s hands in Aerith’s as they jump, twirling in circles. 

The customer clears her voice awkwardly and the duo pause immediately, snapping their heads over like a deer caught in headlights. Aerith lets go of her friend and rushes over to the woman waiting, “Hello there! What can we help you with?” Her voice is easy, almost as nothing just happened. Zack on the other hand, is slightly embarrassed. He stands there scratching the back of his head, a light flush to his cheeks. 

Aerith notes down the flowers as the woman lists them off, nodding and smiling. Zack decides to make it his goal to be a super star at this job for Aerith and already begins grabbing what the woman wants. Aerith catches him zooming around the flowers out of the corner of her eye and lets out a laugh while the woman is mid sentence. The woman looks at her confused, and maybe a little offended. “A—Alright, we’ll get that fixed up for you!” Aerith manages through the laughter threatening to escape. 

Aerith brings the woman over to the counter as Zack is also making his way over with the flowers. “What color would you prefer?” Aerith asks as she opens the drawer to show the woman the generous variety. Said customer looks over at Zack and with a hesitant voice, “Thank you for your.. efficiency..” she clears her voice before turning back to Aerith. “Just white is fine, thank you.” 

Zack gets busy with putting his knowledge to the test, assembling the bouquet with eagerness. “This is Zack, he’s a good friend of mine. Today is his first day helping out.” Aerith explains to comfort the confused customer. She lets out a little, “oh…” in response. 

They wrap up the exchange and bid the woman goodbye. 

“Zack,” Aerith starts gently, after hearing his hum in response she continues, “I think your hyper-ness is just a tiny off putting, so dial it down just a little bit, ok?” She says as she puts a hand on his shoulder. Zack carefully considers the words, nodding to himself like he’s taking them to heart. Again, he decided to be a super star coworker and he’s damn determined on that. 

The day flies by. They get around 14 in-person customers and 5 call ins. Zack gets the hang out of it quickly, with Aerith periodically reminding him to chill out. Zack’s energy has always been sky-high, Aerith remembers being a little startled by it when they first met. His nickname “puppy” is a lot more accurate than he likes to admit. It’s around 7 p.m. when Aerith begins closing up shop. 

“You did great today, Zack! Go home and get some rest now.” 

Even though Zack feels like he’s perfectly up for more and remembers Aerith needing to plant some seeds, he decides against arguing. Figuring Aerith would grab him by the ear and drag him right out if he tried. So instead, he pulls her into a quick bear hug. Aerith squeezes just as tight right back before they both let go. Zack’s halfway out the door when he says, “See you tomorrow! I’ll be here same time!” he closes the door shut behind him before Aerith can protest. He’ll show up two hours earlier if he wants to, thank you very much. 

‘Oh! The motorcycle shop!’ he suddenly remembers and stops in his tracks. He looks around his surroundings for a second, trying to remember where it is. ‘Wait, yeah.. If the bar is down that road—it should be the next one over.’ He thinks as he turns towards that road. ‘Complete opposite way from home but—a little more walking’s fine with me!’ He concludes.

Zack doesn’t plan on trying to work there right away, but he’s heard so much about it he really just wants to check it out. He strolls down the street and commits all the signs to memory. Back when he lived here, he was in a completely different area than this. It causes the feeling to be new yet familiar when he checks everything out. He passes by one of the most popular bars in Midgar, Seventh Heaven. He remembers hearing about it way back when, just never got a chance to make his way over. Zack remembers being told this place has been around for a while. 

He slows his pace to peer inside the windows. Seems pretty busy, but also pretty family friendly for a bar. There seems to not just be old men drinking their sorrows away, but also fathers. Or, maybe just one father? He catches a little brunette girl running by with an over-filled cup that’s probably apple juice, If Zack had to guess. A man runs after the girl to steady her grip so the juice doesn’t spill and Zack can’t help but smile to himself. 

He only sees one bartender, a tall woman with long brown hair and wispy side bangs. Her eyes are a deep red that are just filled to the brim with warmth. She smiles easily, talking to a few of her customers. Zack also quickly notices the slight bulge of her muscles and comes to the assumption that’s probably why everyone in there seems to be so nicely behaved. 

The lighting is a warm yellow-y orange and it just looks comfortable inside, like when you step in you’d be wrapped in a fuzzy blanket. Even from outside he can feel the friendly atmosphere. Zack kind of wants to go in, just for the hell of it. Besides, it’d be nice to become familiar with the locals, right? He fishes his pocket and takes out his phone to check the time and his hopes come crashing down. It’s almost eight now, and he’s not sure how long the motorcycle shop stays open. Zack sighs longingly and shakes his head in disappointment before picking up his pace again.

He can wait to visit the bar tomorrow. He doesn’t have the patience to wait for the motorcycle shop, however. 

Just the next street over and he’ll be there. He practically jogs down the sidewalk and around the corner. It’s then that he sees it coming up, and a woman with a red bandana that looks identical to the one Biggs was wearing walk right in. Zack catches up quickly, the woman only a few steps inside before Zack is right behind her.

There isn’t a pleasant jingle like there is in the flower shop, instead just the loud squeak of the door which immediately catches the attention of said woman. She spins on her feet to see who’s behind her and ends up face to face with Zack. Only a few inches between them, shock takes over the both of them at the same time. In unison, the two jump backwards and while Zack is still frozen in shock the girl throws her head back and starts crying of laughter. 

“Where the hell did you come from?!” She asks between her laughter, she hunches over and holds her stomach while she tries to regain her composure. “You really snuck up on me there, what’s your deal?” She points an accusatory finger at Zack. Just as Zack puts his hands up and tries to apologize, the strange girl suddenly snaps her fingers. “Sike!” She winks, her sentence punctuated by her tongue sticking out. 

Zack stands there dumbfounded. ‘What… is up with this girl?’ Is the only thought that he’s able to form. “So! What do ya need help with?” She questions, idly grazing one of the shelves as she walks by it and deeper into the store. Zack clears his throat and follows after her, “You work here?” 

She laughs again. “Nope!” is all she says for a second as she grips the handle of a door with a glaring sign that reads ‘employee’s only!’ Her hand twists the doorknob but instead of pushing it open, she pauses. “I help out occasionally—I know a thing or two.” She explains before letting go of the door and leaning her back against it, crossing her arms. 

“Uhhh..” Is what Zack says. 

‘I’ve gone through like 10 different emotions in the past 5 minutes with this chick!’ Is what Zack thinks. 

“So you need somethin’ repaired? A part or two you need?” She tilts her head, waiting for an answer. “Um… no, no.. I just came by to look—“ Zack starts feeling out of place, shifting on his feet. Maybe this was a dumb idea. “I heard a lot about this place and just uh, wanted to see it.” He finishes. She pushes herself off the door and spreads her arms, gesturing to the whole room. “Well! Go ahead and take that look of yours!” 

Zack slowly nods and backs away hesitantly. He turns his attention to the motorcycle that’s on display in the corner of the room. It’s absolutely gorgeous looking. Zack skips up to it and while he runs his fingers against cold, black and shiny surface, he hears a masculine voice call out from behind that employee’s only door. “Jessie, you out there?” 

That gets Jessie’s attention, “Yup! Right here, boss man!” Jessie responds. Then, with no hesitation she swings that door right open and walks in like she owns the place. She winks at Zack one last time as she shuts it behind her. Zack still wonders about the red bandana. If the exact same placement and color is really a coincidence or if these two people know each other. ‘Aerith did briefly mention a connection…. maybe this is who she was thinking of?’ Zack ponders, it seems like a pretty reasonable conclusion. 

He debates whether or not he should ask her if she comes back out the room. “No harm to be done, right?” He mutters to himself. The only harm is dealing with her interesting antics. Zack sighs, taking a step back to look at the artwork high on the walls. One of them being a framed drawing of a pinup lying on her side, posed on the floor next to a Harley. Between two shelves is another, this one seems to be of an older art style, with very thin wispy lines and slightly off proportions. It depicts a man with light blonde spiky hair pulling his goggles over his eyes as he grips the handle of the bike with his other hand. 

Both of the artworks are simply stunning. Zack might have never been much of an art kind of guy, but he knows when to take a moment to appreciate good artwork. And that’s certainly right now. His eyes move over to the shelves, the one on the left is massive, in both height and width. It holds an array of different helmets, some with solid colors and others with intricate designs. The shelf on the right isn’t as huge, containing different parts and accessories. 

Zack moves down a little bit and on one of the tables sees a design book. He picks it up carefully and begins flipping through, the book contains various different designs that they offer and next to each picture is a date for whatever bike was painted. The dates range from 2 years ago to about a month ago, Zack finds it impressive that this is constantly being updated. 

A grin breaks out on Zack’s face as he starts feeling giddy and excited. “This place is truly as fucking sick as I’ve heard!!” He means to think— but instead comes tumbling loud out of his mouth. On that, he claps the book shut and puts it down. He’s not very good at containing his excitement, okay? 

“Fucking sick, huh?” 

He jumps at Jessie’s voice loud in his eardrums, her breath tickling his neck. Noticing Zack’s scare, she backs up and laughs like she told the funniest joke in the world. “Got you back, we’re even now!” She says patting him hardly on the back. Zack lets out a deep breath. He crosses his arms and frowns at her, his eyebrows furrow and his lips pout a bit. Jessie finds this even funnier. 

“You’re enjoying your look around, I see.” She smiles. “You like those designs, yeah? My buddy did those. He’s stupidly good at them.” She points at the book Zack had hurriedly put down. “He’s not the only one here who does that kind of stuff, but—I’d say he’s the best at it.” Jessie says, a proud look on her face. 

“Wait, mentioning buddies..” Zack starts and Jessie tilts her head with a hmm?

“You know Biggs?” 

Jessie looks shocked for a moment before placing her hands on her hips with a huge smile. “How do you know Biggs?” She drawls out the ‘you’ leaning in towards Zack. “I met him earlier, he delivered some stuff at Aerith’s. I had to ask because of the identical bandanas!” Zack feels a lot more confident talking with this girl now, like a barrier was just shattered between them. Jessie gasps and smiles wider, “You also know Aerith!? Wow! Wait—What’s your name? There’s no way I don’t know you!” 

Zack laughs and shakes his head, “Nah, you might not know me. Name’s Zack!” He says, reaching out his hand. “I’ve lived in Gongaga up ‘til now.” Instead of taking his hand immediately, Jessie stares at him for a second. She leans even closer than before, studying his face like it will make his whole story pop into her mind. Zack stands still, waiting for her to be done. He’s already getting used to this woman’s oddities. 

Finally, she sighs defeatedly and steps out of his space. “Nope, I don’t know you.” She mutters disappointedly. “You’re from Gongaga—Did’ya just meet Aerith today, then?” She questions. “No, no, 4 years ago I lived here and that’s when I met her. We’ve been keeping in touch since I had to leave.” Then, “Hey! Wait a minute!” He comes to a realization and Zack clutches his heart and pretends to be wounded. “So she doesn’t talk about me at all, huh!? Ouch, Aerith!” 

Jessie pats Zack on the head, “There, there!” She says, mock-soothingly. Then she takes Zack by the shoulders and manually straightens him back up, “So, now I’ve got to ask, what had you coming to look at my shop? You know stuff about bikes?” She asks while still holding him by the shoulders. Zack quirks an eyebrow at the ‘my’ part of that sentence, pretty sure she just said earlier she only helps out here sometimes. He doesn’t bother verbally addressing it though. 

“Hell yeah! Back when I first lived here, on the other side of Midgar, I used to help at this one guy’s place. He got older and shut down shop though around the time I was leaving. Been a while since I’ve got my hands on a bike but I loved workin’ with them.” Zack recites his time very fondly, but then clears his throat. “What’s the hiring rate around here?” He asks while gesturing with the turn of his head to the whole store. 

“Hiring rate… Sorry, cranky pants is a little strict when it comes to that. Best you’d get is helping clients check out, not really any hands on action.” Jessie informs, letting go of Zack’s shoulders. She glances towards the employee’s only door briefly and then gives Zack an apologetic look. “But even that you’d have tough luck getting.” 

Zack visibly deflates at that, but doesn’t look as hurt as Jessie was expecting. “Ah, man… well. I’m not in a rush to get hired here anyway, I’m with Aerith right now. She was nice enough to offer me a job at her place.” He shakes his head. “Maybe some time in the future this guy’ll need some help.” Jessie looks like she has something to say to that but she doesn’t go through with saying it. She instead sticks two thumbs up and smiles, “Atta champ!” 

Zack puts up two pairs of his own thumbs and smiles with her. “Speaking of, by the way, what are the hours here? Job or no job, still would like to continue checking this place out. Hoping to buy a bike sometime soon, would love to take it here for whatever it needs.” He glances at the design book, “Would love one of those sick designs your buddy does, too.”

Zack can tell Jessie gets really proud of this friend of hers, her face lightens up just like it did earlier. “The hours are 9 a.m to 9 p.m. Don’t be a stranger, Zack!” 

Zack is liking her more and more. Aerith’s friends are great, he’s learning. 

He figures it’s about time he gets going, but there’s one last question on his mind. He turns his attention to the two framed pictures from earlier and points, “Who drew these? They’re beautiful.” In response, Jessie throws her arm over Zack and stands on her tippy toes. She smiles brightly and points to the pinup girl, “My buddy did that one!” and then she moves her arm to point at the one of the blonde man. “And that, my good friend, is a portrait of my buddy made by the actual owner of this place.” 

Zack is taken aback. He’s a little stunned if he’s being honest. “Woah.. this guy seems to be a real hotshot, huh?” He mumbles. Jessie snorts, swinging her arm off Zack. “Nah, don’t go saying stuff like that. It’ll go to his head! He’s lame, I promise.” 

She then pushes at Zack’s side playfully, glancing at the clock near the register. “8:52, my friend. About time you get going!” Jessie winks. Zack chuckles and nods, he makes his way over to the door without argument and waves. “See you later, Jessie!” And out the door he goes. He’s a few feet down the road when he realizes Jessie never even introduced herself to him. 

He’s going to sleep good tonight, he thinks. It’s been a pretty satisfactory day, he’s made good progress in just one day learning at the flower shop, and he got familiar with the motorcycle shop he’s been dreaming about. And on top of it all, he’s already befriended two awesome people. 

On Zack’s way to work this morning, two hours early of course, he decides to stop by a cafe to get himself and Aerith some breakfast. He really should’ve gotten Jessie’s or Biggs’ number the other day, because he’s not really sure what the best cafe is here—and he wants it to be a surprise for Aerith. He pulls out his phone and tries looking it up, hoping he can trust Moogle not to lie to him. Like it did that one time, and Zack got lost in Kalm, thinking he was still in Midgar. 

Zack groans uncomfortably, choosing not to dwell on that memory too much. As he scrolls through the searches, he spots a familiar name. Seventh Heaven. He had no clue it served as a regular cafe in the mornings, and he’s already heard good things about them. Not to mention he knows where it is and had been planning on stopping by that place soon anyway. Sounds perfect to Zack. 

He’ll have to walk right past the flower shop to get there but, just like last night, Zack has never minded a little exercise! On the way, Zack tries his best to remember what Aerith’s favorite order was. He knows for sure she always got an iced chai latte opposed to actual coffee, and if Zack remembers correctly, which he’s 99.9% sure he does, she always put both vanilla and raspberry flavoring in it. For food though, she always got a sweet treat like a donut rather than something sustainable. 

Zack checks the time. It’s early in the morning, she could use something with a little more fuel. Well, he could just see what they have there first. Zack passes by and sees Aerith in the window, putting together a huge basket. She looks beautiful and it warms Zack’s heart. 

Now, Zack needs to think of something to order for himself. “What do I feel like today…chocolate, maybe..” He trails off, thinking aloud. He doesn’t come to a decision until he’s standing in front of the wooden doors. When he walks inside, it’s not busy yet like it was the night prior. There’s only one person sitting at the bar, an older woman with slicked back hair in a ponytail that is a big puff behind her head. She wears hoops for earrings and a nice gold and blue necklace. 

She’s the only person Zack sees in the establishment entirely, actually. The long haired brunette woman with the muscles is no where to be seen. As soon as Zack walks up too close, the elderly woman snaps her head back and looks him up and down. “Um, hi?” Zack greets, awkwardly. She continues to stare, her eyes squinting. “Good morning, Miss. I’m not uh, intruding, uh—am I?” He puts his hands together in a sign of apology, lowering his head and smiling sheepishly. 

After another pause, she unexpectedly smiles. “Hello, boy. Tifa’s out right now.” She speaks, standing up from her spot and promptly walking around and into the back. “What do you want?” She asks, arms resting on the counter. Zack’s eyes widen and he stutters while trying to process if this woman actually works here. “Um, Hi, May I get a large iced chai latte?” He starts. She nods, grabbing the pen and notepad from somewhere behind the counter. Zack watches her write it down and her bracelets knock together loudly. 

“And uh, If you have it—Add pumps of vanilla and raspberry, please?” 

She nods again. When the woman finishes writing she looks back up at him, “I haven’t seen you around before.” She states, raising an eyebrow to encourage him to explain. “Oh yeah, I just moved back from Gongaga.” Zack explains for the third time in the past 24 hours. He’s going to be repeating this same sentence a lot, for a while, he’s realizing. Not that he really minds though. All apart of the experience, he supposes. It’s a good icebreaker, anyway. 

She hums, “Makes sense. I’m Marle, you’ll see me around. Unfortunately even in the old age I find myself working.” Marle sees the look on Zack’s face, like he’s about to apologize and even offer help. She interrupts him, “It’s my fault. I like to stick my nose in places.” Marle jokes. Zack feels and looks relieved. “Anyway, continue.” 

“Right, and a medium iced mocha latte. And then, for food..” He stops to think. 

Marle scribbles it down and waits a second before recommending, “The yogurt parfaits are popular.” and Zack lights up at that, he holds up two fingers, “Two of those, please and thank you!” Marle laughs and gets to work on Zack’s order. Zack still feels slightly guilty, and also still a little confused as to whether she actually works here or not. He assumes it must be another Jessie situation, not exactly employed at the place but knows enough to help a customer out. Zack honestly shouldn’t be too taken aback, because this is exactly how he was back at home. Generally helping out at a million places instead of being tied down to one. People would really run into him just about everywhere. 

He takes out his wallet and slips a few bucks in the tip jar while he waits. It doesn’t take too long, maybe 8 minutes max before Marle is handing him a tray with his two drinks and two parfaits, which look delicious. “How much?” He asks as he takes the tray. “10 bucks. I’ll give you a newcomer discount.” She tells him while opening the cash register, her stretched hand out awaiting the ten dollar bill. 

Zack gives her 15 with a look on his face that means no funny business. No way he was taking that discount. Besides, does Marle even have the authority to do that? Doesn’t that take away from the money the woman who actually owns this place gets? ‘Yeah, not happening.’ 

Marle tuts but takes the money anyway. “Rude man.” She says, but Zack can tell she doesn’t actually mean it. Something about the tone of her voice tells him that he made that right decision to refuse the offer. “Nice meeting you, Marle. I’ll see you around.” He bids his goodbyes and leaves, Marle doesn’t say anything in response. But he can feel her staring at him until he passes the windows. 

Zack runs down the street, excited to show Aerith what he’s got. He holds the tray as tight as he can and to his chest to prevent anything from spilling while he practically moves with the force of a tumbling boulder. He almost knocks into someone but swiftly moves around them, the people on the street must think he’s late for something. When in actuality, his patience has simply been used up. 

“Aerith!” He calls, his voice in harmony with the wind chimes when he opens the door with one hand. “Good morning, Zack!” Her voice comes in a similar sing-song voice from the storage room. Zack follows her voice and into the room, finding the door inside that leads to the break room. He walks in and places the tray on the round table in the middle. “Aerith, come look!” He calls out again. “I’ll be there in just a second!” She immediately calls back. 

Zack sets up the food, placing Aerith’s drink on one side, he uncaps her yogurt and places the spoon inside and then sets down next to the drink before repeating the process with his own stuff on the opposite side. Zack looks at his work with pride swelling in his chest. Then he stands in front of the door to wait for Aerith. When he hears her footsteps coming he stretches his arms in the door frame to prevent her from seeing inside. “Oh? What’s this?” Aerith questions. “You ready, Aerith?” Zack exclaims, noticeably bursting through the seams. “Yes, sir! I’m ready!” Aerith exclaims back, she brings her hand up to her forehead in a salute.  

“Brace yourself!” Zack yells, then jumps to the side and shows off the table with jazz hands. “Taaaa-daaa!” He sings. Aerith gasps and beelines for her drink, picking up and inspecting it. “You remembered my order!?” Her jaw drops in disbelief. Zack throws his head back and laughs, “Uh, of course!” 

Aerith takes a sip of her drink and squeals in delight. She jumps up in joy for a second before placing it back down and engulfing Zack in her arms. “Aw, aren’t you just the sweetest!” She coos. Zack pats her on the back and then backs up, “Let’s dig in, huh? It’s that bar, I’ve never had it before!” 

Aerith nods and they both take their respective seats. “You went to Seventh Heaven? You’ll be pleasantly surprised, then.” She says while taking another sip. Zack takes a hold of his own drink and takes a large gulp, and the coffee is perfect! It’s, in his opinion, perfectly sweet. He takes another large gulp. Aerith watches knowingly, “Delish, isn’t it?” 

“Absolutely! Definitely lives up to its reputation!” Zack cheers. He goes in to take a bite of his yogurt but stops abruptly, “Oh! By the way, I met your friend Jessie last night.” He comments, then taking his bite of yogurt. “How did you come across Jessie?” Aerith asks, then taking her own bite of yogurt. “I went down to check out that motorcycle place. She happened to be there.” 

Hearing this, Aerith has a peculiar look on her face. “Say..” She drawls out, “Was anyone else there?” Her tone is slightly higher, she’s acting similar to how she was yesterday when Zack asked who the friend of a friend was. “Aerith.” Zack squints his eyes at her, leaning over the table slightly. “You’re hiding something from me! I can tell!” He accuses, squinting even more. He’s supposed to look intimidating, but he just looks silly to Aerith. Zack can sure as hell be genuinely intimidating, but right now he looks like an upset puppy. “No, I’m not hiding anything!” Aerith teases, purposefully sounding sarcastic. 

“Aerith! Tell me!” Zack gives up and turns to begging. Aerith makes a zipping motion over mouth and Zack whines dramatically. “Aerith!!” He begs again. “Calm down Zack, eat your parfait!” She tries redirecting his attention only for it to fail miserably, “Aerith, come on!” Zack looks like he’s about to pounce over the table at her. “Like I said before, you’ll know soon enough! I promise!” She comforts, rubbing a hand up and down on his arm. “I’m seriously holding you to that, Aerith.” Zack grumbles, turning his gaze defiantly away from the florist to focus on his coffee. 

The two continue on with their breakfast. Aerith rambling away about different things as Zack grumbles. He isn’t actually all that mad, however, so he still is the one to take initiative and stand up to clean both their messes when they finish. When Aerith mentions getting to work and Zack is still pouting, she pats him on the cheek. “Come on, your second day in my shop will not be spent slacking off!” 

Zack is putting together an order for a basket of 30 flowers for a regular and Aerith is finishing checking out a child who is getting some flowers for his mother’s birthday when Aerith’s phone begins ringing. “Oh, Zack, can you finish up at register for me while I take this?” She asks, already fishing her phone from the pocket in her red jacket and walking towards the break room. Zack places the rose he was holding snugly in the middle before getting up and helping the boy out. 

“Thank you, sir!” The young boy says while hugging his small bundle of flowers to his chest. “No problem, kiddo! Be careful with those, ok? Don’t hug them too tight.” Zack advices and the boy fixes his grip in a flash, worry spreading over his features. “Have a good one, and happy birthday to your mom!” He calls out, watching the boy walk very carefully out the door, like one wrong step will cause him to drop the gift. Zack finds it amusing and heartwarming how much the boy cares. 

Zack decides to go check on Aerith before returning to his basket. He skips over to the back and pops his head through the door of the break room. Aerith is standing with her back facing the door and she’s swaying as she giggles on the phone. He walks in and stands behind Aerith, ducking his head down towards the phone to hear who’s on the other side. Aerith lets out a small gasp and says a quick “hold on!” to the person on the line and holds the phone to her chest. “Um, what do you think you’re doing, mister?” She whispers, puffing her cheeks out in annoyance. “Who’s that?” Zack asks, leaning closer. 

“Um, Aerith? What’s going on?”  

An extremely muffled voice comes through the phone. Zack registers it as similar to the voice he heard call out to Jessie the other day. Aerith puts her hand on Zack’s chest and begins pushing him out. “Hey wait!” Zack struggles, grabbing the frame of the door, trying to not let Aerith bulldoze him over. 

“…Aerith? Who is that?” Comes the voice again.

Zack grips onto the door frame harder as Aerith turns around and starts using her back to push against Zack, using her full body force. She brings the phone back up to her ear as she continues trying to push him out. “Uh, give me a minute!” She says, irritation evident. “Aerith you’ve been so secretive! Tell me who it is!” Zack whines. 

”Uuh..um, ok?”

The guy’s voice sounds confused and heavily concerned, and for a second Zack feels bad for him. He would take a step back to let Aerith finish her call with this poor guy, but she’s been too secretive and Zack’s had enough of it. “Zack, quit it!” Aerith yells, beginning to ram her body weight against his chest. “No, I won’t! You know damn well If we switched places you’d be even worse about finding out!” Zack protests, now also hooking his feet on the door frame. “That’s beside the point, Zack!” Aerith yells back. 

“U—Um.. should I call back later..?” 

However, the two are too busy arguing and struggling to even hear this. Aerith backs up a few feet from Zack and then throws herself onto him and Zack loses his grip and they come crashing down onto the floor. “Ouch!” Zack yelps as his head hits the floor and Aerith lands right into his gut. During the crash, Aerith’s phone had gone flying behind them. They both scramble to grab it, Aerith crawling on top of Zack and her knee almost hitting him in the face, Zack narrowly dodging it. 

Eventually, Aerith is victorious and successfully gets the phone. Zack, now on his hands and knees with one hand stretched towards Aerith, wails in defeat. He gives up, letting himself fall back onto the floor. He lay there wallowing in his failure. He doesn’t lift his head back up until he hears Aerith curse, “Dammit!” 

He then learns that by the time Aerith got the phone, the mystery man had already hung up on them. Aerith makes a crying noise, “Ugh!” She then turns and chucks the phone at Zack’s forehead. “Hey! Hey! Truce!” He yells, arms coming up to block his face. Aerith sits there on the floor with her arms crossed, pouting. “I’m mad at you, Zack.” 

Zack peeks at her through the middle of his arms, still on high alert. “Why won’t you just tell me!?” He asks, then flinches and curls in on himself for protection. “Just trust me Zack!” Aerith whines. “It’ll be worth it, I promise!” She says, standing up and looking down at him with her hands on her hips. “Just be patient!” Zack drops his arms and looks up at her. “Patient for how long?” 

Aerith rolls her eyes and moves to leave the room. “Just until tonight, I promise!” And with that she leaves. Zack sits on the floor for a little longer, sighing. “We still have a job to do!” Aerith calls and Zack huffs. “Yeah, yeah!” He calls back, then slowly standing up. He trudges his way back into the main room and gets back to work on the basket he should’ve finished 20 minutes ago. 

Aerith walks over to him and reaches up to pat his head and then starts helping him on his basket. Her silent way of apologizing for making him wait. 

They work together nicely, humming some tunes. Aerith places the last rose when the door opens slowly. Zack could tell from the slow sound that whoever is at the door was hesitant. He doesn’t look up right away, figuring Aerith can deal with this one while he wraps the bow around the exterior. He sees from the corner of his eye Aerith moving to great the person, and then he hears it—

“U—Um, Tifa told me to come check to make sure you’re ok.” 

Simultaneously, Aerith gasps and Zack’s head whips at the direction of the door so hard he thought it was gonna snap off. Aerith runs up to the man and hangs onto his shoulder in clear excitement and Zack’s mouth opens a little. There, he sees the man from the artwork in the flesh. Jessie’s friend. 

And… wow

Chapter Text

Zack’s mouth hangs open a little wider. He doesn’t mean to be weird but, seriously, this guy is one good-looking dude. 

The man who stands in the middle of the room is of average height with a lean build. He wears a fitted black turtleneck with one sleeve cut off, showing off his admittedly damn good muscles. His face is filled with very light freckles, his eyes are bright blue and his blonde eyebrows are furrowed. His jawline is sharp and his lips are full, Zack thinks he has a very slight feminine look to his face. His hair is blonde and spiky which frames his face well, Zack’s first thought is whether or not the look is natural or styled. 

He wears black jeans and shoes, sporting an all black look other than the buckle of his belt being a bright silver. He looks uncomfortable and uncertain, even as Aerith hangs on his arm with a bright smile. Zack stands up to introduce himself and the guy’s eyes dart to him quickly, his eyebrows only furrowing further. Aerith notices and looks at Zack as well and she looks like she just remembered something. She lets go of his arm and instead walks forward to grab Zack’s hand with one arm and gestures to the guy with her other. 

“Zack, this is Cloud! He was the one on the phone that you heard.” She introduces him. It clicks for Zack then, that the man Aerith has been so secretive of is also Jessie’s buddy. Zack grins and puts out his hand for  Cloud to shake. “Nice to meet the man himself! I heard about you from Jessie the other night, didn’t realize you were also Aerith’s mystery man!” He laughs. Cloud just looks at him. He doesn’t respond and he doesn’t make a move to grasp the hand either. 

Zack isn’t too concerned at first, considering it seems to be normal for him to have awkward first meetings as of late. It always turns out fine, though. He thinks, remembering how it started with Jessie and Marle. He slowly brings his hand back to his side, but doesn’t stop his friendly smile. Aerith looks between them and lets go of Zack’s hand to go back to Cloud, she takes hold of Cloud’s arm again. Cloud still doesn’t make any sort of move. 

“So, Zack..” She starts. “The reason why I wanted to wait was so I could introduce you properly!” Aerith gives this as an explanation for her previous odd and secretive behavior. “Properly?” Zack asks, waiting for her to continue. 

“Zack, this is my boyfriend! We got together a month ago, and I’ve been waiting to introduce him to you!” Aerith finishes and Zack immediately gasps. 

“Aerith! Congrats!” He cheers, running over and hugging the both of them. Aerith laughs and wraps one arm around Zack while he squeezes them. “Oh my god, this is so exciting!” Zack cries. The celebration doesn’t last long though, as Cloud pushes Zack off roughly. Aerith’s giggles die down and Zack stumbles. “Aerith, who is this guy?” Cloud finally speaks, his voice low. Not exactly sounding very friendly, to Zack’s disappointment. “Uh, sorry, really sorry.” Zack apologizes without a beat, “Should’ve asked first before jumping you like that.” 

Cloud only glares at him in response. Aerith smacks his arm lightly, “Be nice!” She whispers at him. Zack feels really out of place, now. “I’m Zack, Aerith’s friend.” He says, trying to fix his mistake. Cloud’s eyes squint at him, “Don’t care.” Is all he says. Zack feels dumbstruck. Now he’s not sure if this is a result of his own actions, or if this guy is just a dick. Cloud moves to look back at Aerith, who is no longer smiling. “I just came to make sure you were fine. I’m leaving.” With that, he untangles his arm from her grip and starts walking towards the door. “Wait, Cloud!” Aerith yells after him. “Come on, where do you think you’re going?” She pouts. 

Cloud sighs and glances at Zack. “Why do I have to meet this guy?” He deadpans. Doesn’t even bother to whisper or anything. Zack feels just a little offended. “Because he’s my best friend! I want you guys to get along.” Aerith tells him with her arms crossed. Cloud huffs to himself and looks back at Zack. 

“Listen, dude, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have hugged you without asking. It won’t happen again!” Zack apologizes again, feeling horrible. This is Aerith’s boyfriend and he feels obligated to be on his best behavior to make a good impression. Cloud’s quiet for a second, looking at Zack with a blank face. “I don’t care.” Is again all he says. Zack’s not sure if he means he doesn’t give a shit for Zack’s apology, or if he means he isn’t mad at him. Aerith sighs. “Don’t worry about it Zack, he’s not upset about that.” 

‘Then what is he upset about?’ Zack thinks to himself. He presses his lips together and nods tightly. “Um, so..” Zack starts, “Why don’t we chill in the break room? Not many customers today.” He suggests, trying to clear the awkward air. Aerith nods, “Sounds good to me!” She looks at Cloud, “Yeah?” 

He sighs in response and begins walking towards the back. Zack catches up to him and walks by his side. “I was at your work the other day. Those designs of yours are just straight up awesome, man!” He compliments, hoping this is a good way to break the wall between them. “Why were you at my job?” Cloud grumbles, not bothering to make eye contact. Zack really just wants to ask this guy what his problem is, but the last thing he wants to do is start a fight, so instead he bites his tongue and moves on. “I heard about it being a great place, so I wanted to check it out, y’know?”

“Whatever.” Cloud says, then picks up his pace and walks in the room first. Zack groans and Aerith rubs his shoulder with, looking sorry. “He’s not great with meeting new people, he’s like this with everyone. Don’t take it personal, ok?” She whispers and then follows Cloud in. “Alright..” Zack mumbles. He’s just got to break through Cloud’s shell over time. 

Zack walks in last, Aerith sits at the table and Cloud is standing against the wall, not looking at either of them. “Cloud, you can take the second chair.” Zack offers, wanting to be as polite as possible. “No.” Cloud responds, Zack’s learning blunt and monotone is going to be a constant. “You sure? I’m good with standing, man.” He tries again and only gets the same response. A solid “No”. 

“Okay… If you feel like it, it’s all yours.” Zack says, hesitantly taking the seat. “So stubborn!” Aerith tuts. Zack leans back in his chair and angles his body to face Cloud’s direction. “How long have you been working on bikes for?” Zack tries again. He waits for a response for at least two minutes before Cloud responds with, “Stop.” He still doesn’t even look in his direction, or Aerith’s. “Um? Excuse me?” Zack’s patience is beginning to thin.

“Just… Stop.” 

Aerith stands up from her chair, “Cloud.” 

Zack chooses to stay seated. He’s annoyed, but he doesn’t want things to escalate so he keeps an even tone. “What do you want me to stop?” He asks, phrasing it in the least provocative way possible. Cloud’s eyebrow twitches but he doesn’t respond, nor does he look actually angry or even annoyed. He simply looks like he just doesn’t want to be there. Aerith looks between them, Zack can see that she’s disappointed at how this is unraveling. The air is tense and Zack is just at a complete loss. His own eyebrow furrows in frustration and confusion. 

“Aerith, I’ll see you later.” Cloud finally says, he brushes past her shoulder without another word. This time, Aerith doesn’t bother running after him and Zack knows if he were to try, it might end up in him getting socked in the face. Aerith and Zack don’t move or say anything until they hear the chime of Cloud opening and closing the front door. 

Aerith looks dejected and Zack feels so sad for her, it was clear that she was excited for them to meet. He gets up and takes her by the shoulders. “Sorry that didn’t go well.” He comforts gently. Aerith shakes her head, “It’s fine.” She sighs. 

“No I don’t think it is.” Zack argues. He pulls her in for a quick hug and then braces himself for what he feels he has to admit, “I’m sorry but, that guy’s an asshole. I don’t like him at all.” Aerith doesn’t seem too affected by his admission, “Yeah, I don’t blame you. But I promise he’s not actually bad.” 

‘Definitely not believing that. Not until I see it, at least.’  Zack knows it’s not the best to say that right now, though. Instead, he nods and decides to shift the conversation to something brighter. “What did you two end up meeting?” Zack asks, quirking up a smile. It seems to do the trick because Aerith’s face lightens up again. “Let’s sit back down while I tell the tale!” 

The two sit back down at the table. “Alright, tell me all about it!” Zack encourages. “Around a year ago,” She begins.

Aerith was strolling the streets of Midgar, flower basket in hand. She had just come back from the small park hidden behind the many houses, one of the only places in Midgar where flowers naturally grow. 

The streets were extra busy that day, due to rumors spreading that President Shinra may be planning to declare war on Wutai (Which got disproved three days later). It was difficult navigating, as people were running around in deep stress trying to get home. Some even already had their bags packed and ready to leave. 

Aerith was being pushed and shoved left and right. Constantly losing her balance and therefore knocking into other people, who would shove her right back. No surprise, inevitably she fell on her bottom and dropped her basket. She reached for it to the best of her ability through the herds of legs. Her hand ended up getting stepped on and someone’s knee knocked into the back of her skull. She yelped in pain, but she had no space to move. 

She put her head in her hands, trying to protect herself the best she could. She was stuck there for 10, 15, maybe even 20 minutes. But then all of the chaos around her stopped when she heard someone yell, “Out of the way!” and then “Oh my gosh, are you ok?!” A woman’s voice yelled out to her, Aerith heard the rustle of the woman dropping to her knees next to her. An arm was wrapped around her and it gave Aerith the courage to look up. 

But when she did, she didn’t see the woman whose voice she heard and whose arm she felt, rather she saw the baggy pant legs of a man. She looked up frightened, and that’s when she saw a blonde, spiky haired man holding her basket. The few flowers that were salvageable were picked up and sat inside of it. He leaned down on one knee and held the basket out to her.

Aerith was stunned for a minute. She then remembered the woman next to her and slowly turned her head towards her. She was face to face with big red doe eyes, who studied her with immense concern. “Hey, you alright?” The woman asks, her eyes searching all over Aerith’s face. Aerith nodded dumbly in response. The woman then took her forearm with her free hand and helped Aerith stand up. 

“Thank you..” Aerith said, still in shock. “Let’s get out of here.” The man speaks up. The woman’s eyes flicker to his then back to Aerith, “You ok to move?” She asks, still speaking as gently as ever with one arm still wrapped around Aerith’s shoulders and the other still holding her forearm. Aerith has to focus in order to close her own mouth and nod. The three of them start moving, the woman keeping Aerith supported and the man holding Aerith’s basket while pushing people out the way. 

Aerith feels safe, protected. Her heartbeat starts to go back to normal and she feels herself coming out of her state of shock. She doesn’t even know where they’re bringing her to, but she feels like she doesn’t have to stress. ‘These are good people’  her subconscious provides, and she trusts that feeling. 

Slowly, they make their way out of the crowds and in front of 2 big wooden doors. She doesn’t recognize it immediately, but once she’s lead inside she figures out it’s the popular bar, Seventh Heaven. The woman guides Aerith into sitting down at one of the tables and the man places the flower basket next to her, then backs up. Aerith lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was still holding. “Thank you two, so much.” She says, sounding tired. “It’s no problem, don’t ever mention it. My name’s Tifa.” The woman, Tifa, responds. 

Aerith looks up at her and smiles, Tifa smiles back warmly. “Well thank you, O’Tifa!” Aerith thanks again, regaining herself just enough to joke a little bit. “O’Tifa, huh?” Tifa repeats, sounding very amused. Aerith then turns her attention to the very silent blonde man, she stares at him and tilts her head, waiting. He stares back for quite the few minutes before getting the hint. “Cloud.” Is all he gives for an introduction. 

“Cloud..” She repeats his name like she’s considering it carefully. “Thank you.” Her tone is warm and gratitude weighs heavy on every syllable. It clearly takes Cloud back a bit, his eyes widening ever so slightly. Aerith stands up from her seat and grasps both of Tifa’s hands, she looks between the both of them while she speaks, “I really mean it. Thank you two.” Aerith feels like she can’t express it enough. Tifa shakes her head and Cloud remains silent. “It’s fine, don’t you worry about it.” She reassures. 

Aerith is about to respond when Cloud interrupts her. “Your name.” Aerith takes a second and then realizes she forgot to introduce herself. She lets go of Tifa and salutes, “Aerith! Aerith at your service, good ma’am and sir!” She winks. Tifa laughs and Cloud rolls his eyes. “Now, how can I repay the both of you..” She thinks aloud, a finger on her chin. Tifa waves her hands in protest, “Really—“ 

“I got it!” Aerith claims suddenly. “1 date! 1 date oughta do it!” She offers as she sticks one finger up, looking at the both of them. “Oh!” Tifa yelps in surprise, her cheeks flushing. Cloud on the other hand, has no reaction. “No thanks.” Is his immediate response, no hesitation whatsoever. “Aww come on! Doesn’t anyone want to hang out with an awesome girl like me?” Aerith teases, swaying in place. 

 “In the end, they both rejected me that day.” Aerith laughs to herself as she wraps up the story. Zack is in shock, not expecting such an intense first meeting. But before he addresses that, “Hey! You used my line on them!” He points out. “Well, it worked for you that day, didn’t it?” She reasons. Zack chuckles, “Hell yeah it did! But not so much for you I’m hearing?” 

“No, not one bit!” Aerith confirms and Zack only laughs harder. The laughing only lasts for a short period before it dies down and Zack feels the need to address the seriousness of the situation. “But, wow.. I’m really glad they were there. That must’ve been terrifying.” He sympathizes. Aerith nods, “Yeah, I was really scared that day. I’m lucky they found me.” 

“That was just a really hectic time here in Midgar. The rumors turned out false and all but.. that didn’t mean people weren’t still paranoid.” Aerith continues solemnly. “I bet, it’s not easy to recover from a scare like that. That was big, too. I remember when word reached Gongaga.” Zack remembers exactly where he was too, he had been helping an older man who lived on the same strip as him clean out his house.

The man’s wife had died two years prior and he was finally ready to downsize his home, he explained to Zack that in the large house without his wife he had simply felt unbelievably lonely. Zack remembers rubbing the man’s back and telling him he doesn’t have to be alone, that there’s people who are more than happy to spend their time with him. The man laughed sadly, “You’d be surprised. Most people get tired of an old man’s rambling quite easily.”  He placed a palm on Zack’s face and patted. “You’re one of the very few ones who don’t.”

Zack at the time frowned at that, and wondered if there would be anyone willing to listen to him when he’s older. He didn’t get much time to delve deeper on that thought though, because Cissnei came bursting through the door, looking worried. It was then that she delivered the news about President Shinra and Wutai. The old man, who had grandchildren in Wutai, was distraught. 

Zack remembers like it happened yesterday, the way he spent the rest of that day sitting on the kitchen floor with the man trying to comfort him to the best of his ability. When he got home that night, he called everyone from Midgar that he had the number of. Which at the time was Aerith and a guy he met during school, Kunsel.

“You called me around 3 in the morning. I was surprised you even knew, I didn’t expect news to spread so quickly.” Aerith commented, looking deep in thought. “You were the only person to check up on me, you know, other than Tifa and Cloud.” 

“Speaking of which.. I’ve heard the name of this Tifa girl a few times now, she’s the owner of Seventh Heaven, right?” 

Aerith nods, “Yup! She took over it a few years ago. That reminds me, you went to Seventh Heaven this morning. Seems like you didn’t meet her?” 

Zack leans back in his chair, his right arm over the back of it. He shakes his head, “No, she wasn’t there. This woman named Marle was.” 

“Ooh, you met Marle? How did that go?” Aerith leans forward, looking like she’s expecting a crazy story. 

“She was a little off-putting at first.. she stared me down for a hot second. She was nice afterwards, though!” Zack tells her, “Her being … strange, it’s the usual I take it?” He infers. 

Aerith giggles, “Yup. But it sounds like you got lucky, she liked you right away. She still hates Cloud.” 

Zack wants to say it’s because Cloud isn’t exactly the most pleasant person, but just like he’s done every other time, fights against it. “She must’ve been attracted to my natural charm!” Zack goes to joke instead. 

“That is definitely the case!” Aerith agrees sarcastically. Zack pouts. “Hey! I do too have a natural charm!” Aerith just hums and nods dismissively. “Meanie..” Zack mumbles. 

“But, Zack.. by the way.” Aerith’s voice is low again, she puts her hand on top of Zack’s, seemingly to put him at ease. “We met on way different circumstances.. but, Cloud wasn’t the most open to me either when we first met. I promise that’s just how he is with new people, he’ll lighten up to you soon.” 

Zack grimaces, having a hard time really believing that. This doesn’t slip past Aerith, “I heard he was the exact same when he met Wedge, one of Jessie’s friends.” She tries to comfort again, “Wedge tried bonding with him and all he would say was ‘not interested’” Aerith puffs out her cheeks and furrows her eyebrows as she attempts to mimic Cloud. Zack can’t help but smile at her silly attempt. 

Aerith drops the Cloud act to say, “They’re great friends now.” 

“Alright, alright, I get your point.” Zack concedes, giving into Aerith’s points. ‘Just maybe, she’s right.’

Aerith jumps up to her feet, “Next time you see him, don’t let his meanness get in your way, ok? Just playfully push back at him. It’s what I did!” She says, pumping one arm to encourage him. Zack gets up next, “I got this, Aerith! Don’t worry!” 

He wasn’t really sure if he believed what he was saying, but he could try. Aerith wouldn’t date a bad person, Zack knows that. 

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. They planted some seeds with some of the neighborhood children and had playful banter with their parents, which in turn got them a few new customers. It was a fun day but over all pretty calm. 

Zack had just left, he was only two feet away now from the doors. He had checked his phone and it was only 7 p.m.

A breeze came through and brushed Zack’s hair back, the sun had set not too long ago. It was a comfortable night out, the type of weather where people could be fine in just a t-shirt and jeans. Not humid or hot by any means, but still warm enough that the wind passing through was welcome. Zack appreciated the glow of the street lamps as he worried his bottom lip between his teeth. 

Too early for him to go home, he’d just be bored. 

What Zack really wants to do is go back to the motorcycle shop, but if Cloud happens to be there, then he’s definitely not welcomed. Zack’s not sure if he wants to tackle dealing with Cloud on his own, not today anyway. And if Jessie happens to be there, he has a feeling she would be an instigator. 

Zack sighs, his hands in his pockets. He can’t stand around here wondering forever. 

‘Seventh Heaven? Maybe?’ 

He’d love to actually meet Tifa, rather than just seeing her from afar. She looked incredibly sweet, and she sounds like she is too by Aerith’s story. And if Tifa isn’t there again, he wouldn’t mind chatting with Marle.

Zack makes up his mind, and his legs start carrying him there, he’s been through this area only once before but for some reason it feels like he’s following a life long routine. He chuckles to himself, “I’m feeling real homey already here, aren’t I.” 

When he walks in, excited to feel that atmosphere, he’s taken by surprise as something hits his legs. Zack finds that the small force is the same little girl with the over-filled cup of apple juice. He goes to bend down to help her up, when a pair of hands already has grabbed her and lifted her into the air. 

Zack straightens his posture, 

“Oh my god.” 

Cloud, who was checking the girl for injuries, snaps his neck towards Zack. His own mouth falling agape. Cloud’s eyes narrow at him and his mouth opens and closes, not sure what to say. 

“Hey, didn’t expect to run into you here.” Zack greets, he extends his hand with his best smile. As expected, Cloud doesn’t bother to shake his hand—or properly greet him back. “What are you doing here.” The phrasing would be considered a question, but the tone of his voice confirms that what he really means is, ‘I don’t want you here,’ or maybe even, ‘How dare you be here.’ 

The little girl studies the both of them, like she’s trying to solve a puzzle. Zack feels bad, so he waves at her. The girl curls in closer to Cloud. “Daddy says not to trust anyone Cloud or Tifa don’t trust.” 

Zack has no idea what to say to that. If she’s living by who Cloud trusts, then there must be absolutely no one she trusts. With the exception of Aerith, probably. Zack puts both his hands in his pockets, not sure how he can come off as least harmful as possible. Usually smiles and kindness works, but that’s got no shot here with Cloud. “Just thought I’d come meet Tifa. Aerith told me about her.”  

He redirects his attention back to the girl, “My name’s Zack, I’m new around here so I’m trying to make friends.” He explains, hoping she understands that better than Cloud does. “You know Aerith?” She asks, with a look of wonder in her eyes. Zack nods, “I sure do! Aerith’s my best friend!” 

She smiles brightly and it’s adorable. She has the cutest chubby cheeks and she’s missing a front tooth. Zack confidently smiles back, this time. 

“Tough luck, Tifa’s not here.” Cloud’s voice cuts through. 

“That’s fine with me, I’d still like to hang around.” Zack argues against the point he knows Cloud is trying to make. “Besides, you never really did tell me much about yourself.” Zack says, moving to walk further inside. He can see Cloud trying to think of a counterpoint in that mind of his. Zack decides it’s best not to wait for Cloud to come up with one and sits himself down at the bar, hoping Cloud will follow. 

He doesn’t. 

Zack groans and knocks his forehead on the table. 

Cloud sits on the opposite of the room in on one of the benches with the little girl. Zack watches them, for a bit. The girl has a coloring book and colored pencils, she babbles about something and Cloud sits there in silence with his arms crossed against his chest.

’Fuck it.’ 

Zack gets up and sits directly next to Cloud, but doesn’t acknowledge him. “Hey there, what are you coloring? Mind if I join?” He asks, waving to the girl. She looks up in excitement and claps, “You can color the puppy!” She tells him, doing a poor job of ripping the page out of the book. It’s fine, Zack doesn’t mind if the entire left corner of his picture is gone. “Awesome, thanks!” He tucks his fingers in for a fist bump and reaches across Cloud, who looks disturbed. “I told you my name, what’s yours?” He asks, ignoring Cloud. “My name is Marlene!” She cheers.

Marlene passes it over and puts the pencils in the middle. Zack then finally turns to Cloud, who is looking at him with pure disbelief. “What’s your favorite color?” Zack asks, choosing to ignore Cloud’s issue. He reaches a hand towards the box of pencils but doesn’t take one yet, he waits for Cloud to respond. 

The blonde grits his teeth, visibly irritated. 

Zack sighs, exhausted already. “Dude, what’s your problem?” He lets himself ask. He’s held off for all morning but seriously this is ridiculous. “Why are you bothering me.” Cloud practically growls. “Why can’t we just chill, man? Can’t I just want to be your friend?” Zack tries to explain to Cloud. 

“Why would I want to be ‘chill’ with my girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.” 

Zack almost flies out of his seat in shock with that one. “What?” He says exasperated, sounding like he just got punched in the gut. “Wait, how do you even know that?? You don’t know me!”

Cloud looks away. “Aerith mentioned you before.” 

Zack’s eyes dart to Marlene before continuing any further. She’s blissfully in her own world coloring, thankfully. “Dude, so what if I dated her? That was literally four years ago.” Zack stresses how long ago it was. Cloud doesn’t move to make another comment. 

“I can’t believe this is what your issue is..” Zack pinches the bridge of his nose. “I promise I don’t have feelings for her anymore.” 

Cloud’s lips press together, like he’s holding himself back from saying something. Zack searches his face for anything else, any sort of answer or change of mind. 

Nothing.

Zack gives up and grabs the light blue coloring pencil, getting to work on his puppy that Marlene so kindly gave him. His mind races. 

‘Why is he so upset about this?? Who cares that I dated Aerith—Years ago!!! Literal years ago!? Is he one of those possessive guys or something!? Does he just not trust me to not flirt with her? 

Zack only stresses himself out more and more as he thinks, so he starts making conversation with Marlene. Such as their favorite colors, fruits, games, etcetera. 

“Why are you still here?” Cloud mutters. Zack doesn’t look at him, he stays focused on coloring in the lines. “I’m playing with Marlene. Something you’ve been failing to do.” Zack snaps. Logically, he knows he’s should be controlling himself better right now. This is still Aerith’s boyfriend, and Zack has respect for Aerith. 

But, god—does he make it so hard. 

Cloud spends the next half an hour in silence, looking off into the distance. Marlene and Zack finish their pictures while talking about anything. Scary stinging jellyfish, honey eating bears, ‘Daddy’s best cooking, the many different shapes, favorite bedtime stories, what it means to be brave, and so on. 

Marlene presents to Zack her finished product. A cute kitty cat with yellow eyes, purple fur with what Zack thinks is supposed to be blue polka dots, red nails and the words ‘I Love Daddy’ messily written and squished on the top of the paper. Zack then shows Marlene his own work, a puppy dog with blue eyes and fur that is an ombré from yellow to red, resembling fire. “This is my awesome fire fighter dog, do you like him Marlene?”

“Shouldn’t you be leaving by now.”

Zack feels a headache start to form. “I don’t get your problem, seriously.” 

“Didn’t I just tell you?” Cloud retorts back with upmost sass. 

“Aerith is my best friend, you’re not getting rid of me.” Zack states blandly, picking up the scattered colored pencils and putting them neatly inside their container. “Aerith isn’t here right now, though. So why are you?” Cloud grumbles. His voice is low and barely above a whisper when he speaks, his eyebrows are furrowed, per usual, and he hasn’t looked Zack’s direction once. 

“What? Would you rather me be with your girlfriend right now?” Zack retaliates, looking straight at Cloud. 

Apparently that strikes a nerve, Cloud practically growls out “Leave.” His tone is as firm as steel and Zack really thinks if he stays he might get into a fist fight. Zack scoffs and stands up. He leans over to pat Marlene’s head and bid her a proper goodbye. “There’s no reason for this, man.” He says to Cloud and waits a minute for something back. He doesn’t get anything after three minutes and promptly frowns. Disappointed, he leaves. 

Zack debates calling Aerith on the walk home. He feels bad, especially because she was so clearly upset this morning. It might be the wrong thing to tell her it’s not going any better. 

And he feels a little bad, because technically he provoked Cloud with that comment of his. 

Everything was so great and fun yesterday, and now Zack is stressed out his mind. Everyone seems to be friends with this guy too, so Zack’s the minority here. Which, Zack would genuinely love to be Cloud’s friend too, the thing is Cloud just won’t let him. He really did try. He’d love to excuse all of this on Cloud having a really bad day, but he went and brought up Zack and Aerith’s dating history. That sort of thing can’t really be a ‘accidentally being mean because you’ve had a rough day’ accident. Sound’s to Zack like Cloud’s actually thought about this. 

This also definitely doesn’t seem like a general attitude type thing like Aerith initially said—with the story of ‘Wedge’ and all. This feels really personal. Zack is two seconds away from banging his head against a lamp post. 

The next day when Zack comes into work, Aerith is actually standing by the door waiting for him, with a guilty look on her face. Her hands are clasped in front of her body and her shoulders are slumped. 

“Hey Aerith,” Zack says slowly, concerned as he walks in. “What’s the matter?”

Her eyes flicker up to him in a flash, “Hey Zack.” She begins, sheepishly walking closer. “I just wanted to apologize for yesterday, and—also apologize for tonight..” She says, the first half sounding sincere and the second sounding hesitant. Zack frowns, “Don’t worry about yesterday. And what do you mean tonight?”

Aerith’s mouth opens and strains in a slight frown, her clenched teeth showcased. Her eyebrows are drawn up in the inner corners, a clear look of nervousness. “So.. tonight, I was going to go to an event that raises money for the orphanage with Biggs but something came up and he couldn’t make it anymore,” She pauses, letting the information sink in. 

Zack nods, listening intently. 

“The problem is, Biggs already bought a ticket and he doesn’t want it to go to waste.” She says, the implied question hanging in the air. “Are you asking me to go? Of course that’s not a problem, I’d be happy to help support that kind of cause!” Zack says, crossing his arms. An easy smile making his way into his face, “That’s not a problem at all.” 

Aerith shakes her head, “No, that’s not what the problem is…” 

Zack drops his arms, one coming to land on his hip. “Then… what’s the issue?” 

Aerith eyes trail away, no longer making eye contact. She start’s fiddling with her dress. “Aerith? What exactly are you getting at?” Zack questions, starting to be worried for himself. Aerith sighs and slowly looks back at Zack. Her head is lowered like she’s ashamed, but her eyes look up at him. “Cloud is coming too. So it’ll just be us three..” and rushed she adds, “It’ll go better than last time!” 

Zack wants to just collapse and fall face first into the floor. He already feels exhausted. Aerith notices and places her hands on his shoulders, “It’ll be fine! We’ll all have fun, promise!” 

‘No. It definitely won’t be.’ Zack complains in his head. ‘If last night is anything to go by.. which, she doesn’t even know that happened.’ 

Zack sighs dramatically, his own shoulders slumping and he hunches over like he’s already been beaten down and defeated. “Okay..” Is all he manages to get out, already mourning and dreading the night ahead of him. 

Chapter Text

Zack spends the entire day wallowing in the feeling of pure dread. Never has he ever prayed for time to go slow before. Doesn’t take long for Aerith to notice, considering Zack is usually so upbeat all the time—his gloomy mood hits like a ton of bricks. 

When Zack fearfully looks at the clock and sees 3:34 p.m. he winces a little bit. Just about 4 more hours. 

When Zack takes a peak at the clock and it says 4:51 p.m. he winces just a little bit harder. Less than 3 hours. 

At 5:49 p.m. Zack winces so hard his entire body jolts. Zack doesn’t want to think about the little time he has left. 

6:28 p.m. Aerith notices Zack looks like he’s about to cry. She hesitantly pats his shoulder. 

6:57 p.m. Zack starts mentally preparing himself like he’s about to get the death penalty. 

Every second of the next four minutes feels like five thousand years. Zack stands as still as a brick behind the cash register, bracing himself for the impact that will be Cloud walking in. Aerith re-twists her hair happily as she sits on the counter waiting for her boyfriend to arrive, she hums a joyful tune. 

At 7:01 p.m. the door to the flower shop clicks open and the usually calming twinkle of the wind chimes instead sounds like the bell of doom. Aerith jumps off the counter and runs to the Cloud, who already has a scowl ready for Zack cemented into his face. “You’re here!” She cheers, and raises on the tips of her toes to give Cloud a big kiss on the cheek. Zack sweats bullets as Cloud’s eyes lock into his. 

‘Alright, just going to be the longest and most awkward night of my life of all time. No biggie. No big deal.’ 

Zack laughs awkwardly, making his way out from behind the register to the couple. Aerith interlocks her fingers with Cloud, smiling brightly. “Okay, let’s mosey!” She says, raising her free hand and pointing to somewhere in space. Aerith is the first to leave, dragging Cloud behind her. Zack follows behind them. 

“It’s not too far, It’s in that park just a few blocks down from Cloud’s work.” Aerith informs Zack, looking over at him with a smile. Aerith stands between the two boys, still holding onto Cloud’s hand. The man himself is looking the opposite direction, like he always does. Zack’s noticed he’s seemingly always zoning out. Well seemingly is the key word. Zack can’t tell if he’s actually listening or not. 

“I’m pretty hyped about this!” The event itself of course, in no way is he hyped about how it’s going to go with Cloud’s attitude. “We used to do things like this pretty often in Gongaga. I like playing around and having fun with the kids, y’know?” Zack reminisces. Cloud scoffs, “You’re always mentioning Gongaga. Why’d you even bother moving here?” That could’ve been a genuine question just phrased wrong, but unfortunately Zack knows damn well what Cloud is saying. 

Aerith does some damage control, “Zack loved his time in Gongaga! But sometimes, even if you love the place, you hit a dead end when you’re there.” She explains, looking at Cloud. Zack nods, “Aerith’s got it right on the nail!” He chuckles. “There just wasn’t many opportunities for me there, nothing that was going to bring me anywhere. Might be a country boy at heart, but I love the buzzing city.” 

Cloud doesn’t say anything to this, but his eyebrows furrow a little more. He’s clearly deep in thought, and Zack wishes so badly he had a clue as to what any of those thoughts are. He attempts conversation, which didn't work at all before, but he’s got nothing else to do but try. “Where are you from, Cloud? You born here in Midgar like Aerith?” 

Cloud looks a little pained, but just a little. His face is hard to read, harder than anyone Zack’s known before and he’s known some tough cookies. 

“No. I’m from Nibelheim.” A short, quipped answer. Per usual. At least he responded honestly, though. 

Zack does perk up at this, “Oh? I’ve never heard of that place before. You a backwater boy too?” He asks, genuinely curious, Aerith sees some sparkles in Zack’s eyes and giggles. He leans forward to try to catch Cloud’s face. Cloud looks at him with a frown, “And I’ve never heard of Gongaga until you mentioned it.” 

‘Of course he would’ve taken that as an attack.. ugh.’ Zack groans in his head, but keeps smiling. “Woah dude, didn’t mean anything bad by it! I meant it more as in we’re similar that way, y’know?” 

Cloud looks even more upset by this. “We’re not similar at all.” His voice is firm and a little more loud than usual, determined to make this statement of his clear apparently. “Don’t go saying that, we hardly know each other yet! Who knows, man. Maybe we are similar.” Zack pushes. Aerith takes it all in silence, simply smiling as they talk. Zack wishes he knew what she was thinking but Aerith is real good at masking herself. 

“We’re not.” Cloud growls out and Zack takes a step back. 

‘O-kay, absolutely no more of that then.’ 

Zack turns back to look straight ahead instead of at Cloud, he whistles idly. Aerith ignores all of that. It’s silent for a while until they start coming up the same street as Seventh Heaven.  “We have to stop by Tifa’s.” Cloud grumbles, out of the blue. Aerith looks at him with curiosity, “Oh? How come?” She asks. “She wants us to spend her money.” Cloud supplies, very vaguely. Aerith seems to get it, though. “How sweet of her! Even if she can’t go, she still wants to support them. I get that.” 

Zack smiles at that, “Wow, Tifa really does sound crazy nice! I’m excited to meet her.” He truly means it when he says it, from all he’s heard this woman sounds like an absolute saint. Cloud doesn’t seem to share the sentiment. Looking upset at the idea of Zack meeting Tifa. 

Zack decides to prod at this, even thought he definitely shouldn’t. “So, Aerith told me how you two met. Tifa was with you that day too, are you guys close?” 

Cloud unlocks his hand with Aerith to cross his arms against his chest. Zack widens his eyes a bit at that, personally he would never let go of his girlfriend’s hand just to be a grump. But that’s just him…

Aerith doesn’t look too dejected, but Zack knows from back when they were dating Aerith likes to hold hands when walking. She used to complain about not knowing what to do with her hands when she just stands around, so she prefers holding onto something. Zack wonders if Cloud knows that or not. He figures that Cloud should.

”Tifa’s my childhood friend.” Is all he ends up offering. 

Zack notices Aerith’s arms beginning to swing by her side, a habit that she has when she’s not using them. Aerith is a lot more graceful, elegant even (sometimes), but she’s always been just as hyper as Zack is. Usually, Zack wouldn’t think anything of before reaching out to her, but he thinks that might be disrespectful now. He personally doesn’t think of it as having to be romantic at all, but he has a gut feeling Cloud isn’t one for friendships with a little bit of intimacy. 

So instead, Zack waits for Cloud to notice and make a move. 

Even as they get closer and closer to Tifa’s, he never pays any mind to it. It bothers Zack a little. Being considerate is like one of the most important factors of upholding a relationship. By the time they arrive, Cloud has barely even glanced at Aerith. He steps up to the door himself, swings it open and walks inside. Zack picks up his slack by catching the door before it closes and letting Aerith go inside first, before following behind her. 

Zack’s lips press together in distaste. 

‘Come on man! Holding the door open for your partner is literally like step number one!’ 

Aerith still looks fine. But Zack feels like it definitely shouldn’t be fine. 

He tries his best not to think about it as they make their way deeper into the busy bar, like it was that first night Zack saw it. Up ahead, chatting with Marle he sees Tifa making someone’s drink. He finally gets a good look at her. She was pretty from far away, and she’s even more stunning from up close. Zack also once again immediately notices her toned arms. He should ask her what her workout routine is. 

“Tifa!” Aerith calls out, being the first to run up to her. It catches her attention immediately, and she smiles warmly at Aerith. “Aerith! Nice to see you!” She leans forward over the counter to give the flower girl a quick hug. “I’m sorry I couldn’t join you guys!” She apologizes. Aerith refutes it and reassures her it’s fine, they fall into light conversation and Zack ends up falling behind next to Cloud. Marle takes a sip of her wine and glares at Cloud. “Enough of your grumpiness, it’s tearing down the cozy atmosphere.” 

Aerith mentioned Marle not liking Cloud very much and he believed her easily, but seeing Marle be so blatant about it gives Zack a little entertainment. Marle tsks, “I hope Aerith finds someone better soon, you bad man. How she chose you, I’ll never understand!” 

Zack stifles a chuckle, he feels horrible for kind of enjoying this but Cloud deserves it.

Cloud grumbles a few defensive responses and Marle rolls her eyes. She notices Zack out of the corner of her eye in the midst of her motioning to shoo Cloud away. She pauses and smiles, “Oh, you from the other day!” She greets, getting up from her chair and pushing Cloud to get to Zack. She squeezes Zack’s arms lightly, “Poor boy, I see you got stuck with that pathetic man.” She consoles. 

Cloud looks deeply and highly offended, his eyebrows are raised and his mouth is open. Zack feels a little bad, but it’s also a little funny. He also thinks in the back of his mind that this is definitely going to make Cloud hate him even more, which he doesn’t want. “Aw, come on Marle. Cloud isn’t so bad!” He says to make the consequences of the situation lighter on him later, but also because he really would feel too bad if he talked shit about Cloud.  

Cloud opens his mouth to either defend himself or make some snappy comment about Zack, but Zack’s not sure because in the end Cloud doesn’t say anything. He looks frustrated, and maybe even a little defeated as he crosses his arms and turns away. Zack doesn’t like this reaction one bit — it only makes him feel bad. He immediately feels an apology on the tip of his tongue, but Marle doesn’t let him have the chance to speak it. 

She grabs Zack’s sleeve and pulls jo towards the counter. “Tifa, honey, I don’t believe you’ve met this young man yet.” She announces and Zack see’s Cloud scowl out of the corner of his eye. Tifa, who was focused on Aerith, shifts her attention to Zack. She lights up and leans over the counter to reach her hand out toward Zack. 

“I’m Tifa, It’s nice to meet you.” She says, her voice is comforting. Zack beams back at her, he takes her hand and gives it a good shake. “So I finally meet her! It’s nice to meet you too, I’m Zack! Aerith’s told me about you!” He introduces himself. Tifa squeezes his hand with a smile before letting go. “I’ve heard about you too, actually.” She laughs, hands on her hips as her head tilts. 

“Oh really?” Zack drawls out teasingly, glancing at Aerith. 

“Aerith used to tell me all about what a good boyfriend you were, you really set the standard.” Tifa jokes, giggling. Zack laughs and leans into Aerith’s space and repeats himself, “Oh really, is that so?” He teases her once again. Aerith pushes back at him, “Don’t go letting that get to your head, mister!” 

Zack goes to make another joke, but he suddenly remembers his interaction with Cloud the previous night. 

Zack frowns when he thinks about it. He can’t put his finger on it, but this situation doesn’t seem so funny anymore. Tifa and Aerith continue to laugh while he glances as Cloud, who stands with his arms cross and his head down. His frown deepens and he’s lost in thought, drowning out most of the girls’ words until Aerith mentions the man he’s wondering about. 

“That was all before I learned about what a sweetie Cloud is though, Zack doesn’t stand a chance now!” She winks and skips over to Cloud. She grabs onto his arm like she usually does and smiles, she kisses his shoulder and snuggles up to him. Cloud hardly reacts, he looks conflicted about something. Tifa seems to notice as well, and her eyes try to find Cloud’s, but it doesn’t seem to work. 

Zack knows that it’s all fun and games to them, that just about nothing that was just said was serious. 

He begins to worry now that Cloud doesn’t realize that. 

The exchange wraps up pretty quickly after that, due to not only an influx of incoming customers for Tifa to handle but also because of the time. 

Aerith is holding Cloud’s hand again, skipping along while Zack trails behind them. He can’t get that interaction out of his head and it’s really messing him up. He bites his lip in frustration, looking down at his shoes while he walks. 

“So, now you let the marvelous Tifa, Zack. How was it?” Aerith asks. Zack’s head snaps up but Aerith isnt looking at him, she’s still looking ahead. Cloud, however, is looking at him. It make’s Zack a little nervous. 

“Tifa was so sweet! Later, I’d love to talk to her more. I really wanna ask about those muscles of hers!” Zack replies, smiling even though the only person who cares to see it isn’t looking. “Tifa’s muscles are so great, I could never be as strong as she is.” Aerith comments, sounding like she’s in awe. “Cloud works out with her sometimes.” She adds, finally looking back at Zack. 

It’s then when Cloud does the opposite and looks ahead, averting his eyes from Zack. He says nothing. 

“Yeah? So what’s the routine look like, eh?” Zack questions Cloud, speeding up a little to come to the man’s side. “You have quite the muscles on yourself.” He nudges at him with his elbow, smirking. 

Cloud’s eyebrows furrow and Zack knows immediately he somehow fucked up. 

“Stop mocking me.” Cloud whispers, anger woven into his words. His body tenses up as he speaks, and he looks like he’s craving to punch Zack in the face. Zack can’t figure out how the hell Cloud came to that conclusion, and as usual when it comes to this guy — his mind is fogged with pure confusion. “What?” He asks, he’s starting to also get pissed off. It’s irritating, not being able to talk with Cloud because he make’s everything Zack says out to be an attack. 

Aerith, noticing Cloud’s stance rushes to get in between them. “Alright boys, no fighting under my watch, got it?” She scolds the both of them, each hand on one of their shoulders to push them apart. “I wasn’t trying to mock you, man—where did you even get that from?!” Zack asks, zeroed in on Cloud. He ignores the force of Aerith pushing him further from Cloud. 

Zack doesn’t want to fight, he just wants an explanation. 

Cloud looks at him like Zack just insulted him again. Aerith begins to look nervous and takes a different approach. She lets go of Zack entirely and instead places both her hands on Cloud’s chest. She tries pushing him back but Cloud bulldozes past her like she wasn’t even there and steps up to Zack’s face. “Cloud!” Aerith yells, she recovers from being pushed out the way and wraps her arms around his waist, trying to pull. 

Two inches separate them. 

Zack is angry, he feels disrespected, but he can’t help but notice the details of Cloud’s face as the man glares up at him. Zack reckons in that moment that his features look like his face isn’t mean to be bunched up in anger like this. 

Cloud’s features are so soft. The sharp edges that Cloud forces upon it look so unnatural and that takes all of Zack’s attention. His breath hitches and when Cloud snarls, “you’re not better than me.” Zack hardly processes it at first. 

He’s locked into his eyes, chasing the blues that slowly back away. Zack stands in shock, his mind is blank but so full at the same time. He can’t make one coherent thought, he can’t really process or make sense of the million thoughts in his mind. He feels like he’s in a frozen blizzard, every snowflake is a thought or question of his, but they’re frozen in time. Everything around him is white and Cloud stands in the middle of it all. 

Zack doesn’t snap out of it even as Cloud’s figure gets further and further away. His eyes are blown wide and he stands as still as a stone statue. 

He hears some muffled commotion and then Aerith steps into his face. She takes him by the shoulders, “Zack, are you ok?” 

Zack blinks and then world comes back to him. Aerith is in his face and Cloud is at the end of the road, turning to the next block. “U—Um, yeah, yeah.” He starts, trying to relax his body again. “Yeah, I’m okay, Aerith. Just—Shocked, confused..” He says, finally moving his body. One arm comes up to scratch the back of his head and the other pats Aerith’s shoulder. 

Aerith is still staring at him, she looks so sad. Not mad at either of them. Just sad. It reminds Zack of the other day when Cloud left the flower shop. “I’m sorry it’s been rough between us, Aerith. I know you want us to get along.” Zack whispers, rubbing Aerith’s shoulder. Aerith shakes her head, “It’s really not your fault, Zack.” She mutters, backing up from his space. They’ve had this conversation before, and probably will continue to. They both know that.

Her hands grip her dress. “I wonder if I just made the right decision, though.” She says solemnly. “Maybe I should’ve run after him instead, but I wasn’t sure what to do. You looked like you were out of it and Cloud’s no good to reason with when he’s angry.” She pauses, her eyes begin to water. “But maybe he wanted me to run after him anyway. I’ve been trying so hard to find him, his feelings and thoughts—” She sounds choked up, tears fighting to not fall. 

Zack sighs, his own heart hurting for her. “Cloud isn’t so good at communication, huh?” He tries to joke to lighten the mood. If only works kind of, Aerith smiles defeatedly. “Yeah. Not really.” She responds. Zack gestures ahead, “Let’s try to make the most of our night. This doesn’t have to ruin it all.” 

Aerith looks at him, and rubs her eyes. “You’re so positive, Zack.” She smiles. “Okay, let’s mosey. Cloud is going to beat us there.” Her voice is weaker than usual, it doesn’t hold the strength it usually does. She’s bothered by it, she’s hurt. And Zack can’t really do much about it. 

She begins moving forward and he follows, the two morph into a jog as they round the corner — an attempt to catch up to Cloud. He’s far gone, though. 

They don’t see him until they approach the gates to the park. He’s leaning against the black fence, arms crossed. He looks cool, even. Zack would’ve preferred to see some remorse on his face if he’s being honest. 

Cloud is difficult. Maybe behind that careless expression of his, he does feel remorseful. Or maybe he still feels upset with Zack, for whatever the hell he did. There’s not really any way of knowing, and it kills Zack. He hates to be left wondering. 

‘You’re not better than me.’ Cloud had said to him — had snarled at him. Zack didn’t process it at the time, but the words came out deep. They were served to him from the pit of Cloud’s burning something. Zack doesn’t know what to make of it. 

He hopes that at the very least, Cloud feels guilty for making his issues a problem for Aerith. 

“Let’s get going.” He says, and begins walking towards the entrance. His steps falter, and he hangs back for a second. He looks unsure as he lifts his arm out, leaving a perfect space for Aerith to hold on to. Maybe this is Cloud-Speak for ‘sorry’. 

She walks up to him and slips her own arm through and Zack watches as Cloud leans towards her, his lips moving. Their backs are facing Zack, he can’t tell what Aerith’s reaction is to whatever Cloud is muttering. 

“I’m not the one who needs an apology though, Mister.” Aerith replies, unmasked. She doesn’t attempt to be discreet or hide their conversation from Zack, she makes it clear as day. She only emphasizes her point by looking behind them, straight at Zack. Cloud follows her gaze to look at him, his mouth opens and closes. He doesn’t want to apologize to Zack. 

It would be a waste of time to sit and wait for Cloud to figure his shit out. Zack’s sure it would only serve to upset everyone here for their own respective reasons if Zack waited for Cloud to apologize. Aerith would be bothered by how long it will take Cloud, Cloud himself will be pissed for having to apologize in the first place, and Zack will probably be upset because the words are half-assed. 

“It’s fine. Make it up to me by having fun at this event, yeah?” Zack offers, taking initiative to go through the gates first. He doesn’t turn to look behind him until he hears them follow through. When Zack does look, smiling with intentions of forgetting this whole fiasco — Cloud is pissed again. 

‘What the fuck?’ 

He’s not saying anything, and his body isn’t tense like he’s getting ready to punch like it was earlier, but Zack has learned by now the tell-tale signs of Cloud being upset. Unfortunately. 

‘So I can’t be nice to him either?’ 

Zack knows better than to say anything about that. “Alright! So where should we start?” He asks instead. 

Aerith runs forward, tugging Cloud with her. “I say we go make crafts!” She cheers, pumping her first. Zack laughs and nods, “Oh hell yeah! I’ll make an awesome puppet!” 

They make their way towards one of the tents set up, inside there is a long table that runs along the circumference of the room. There are some children of the orphanage behind the table, they have bins of small paper bags, stickers, markers, pompoms and all sorts of decorative creative items. 

Zack watches as several adults struggle with making their puppet, failing to glue the eyes on properly as their kids laugh at them. Aerith rushes forward to the beginning of the table, taking out her money and placing it in the hands of the little girl who’s running the payments. “Three puppets, please!” 

Cloud beside her looks bewildered. She turns to him and tuts, “Yes, you are making a fun little craft too!” 

Cloud looks like a cat being forced to bathe and it’s so silly Zack can’t help but smile giddily. The little girl laughs too, and thanks Aerith for the money. She hands her the three paper bags and directs them to the next section. 

“Hmmm.. what should I make..” Zack wonders out loud, as he stares at all the possibilities. Aerith snickers mischievously, “I’m going to make a certain grumpy someone.” She pokes at Cloud. He sighs to himself, accepting his fate. “So what are you going to make?” She asks him.

Cloud chews on his lip, “Um.. I don’t know.”

Zack moves next to him, a risky move, “I’ve seen quite the creative mind you have, buddy!” He says, referencing the artwork he’d seen at the motorcycle shop,  both the designs and the painting. Cloud looks embarrassed. “That’s a whole lot different from making some paper bag person, dumbass.” 

Aerith gasps and slaps his shoulder lightly, “Watch those words at a place like this, Cloud!” 

“Uh, paper bag person? You mean a puppet?” Zack says, glossing over the swearing and Aerith. Cloud rolls his eyes. “Does it fucking matter?” 

Aerith’s own temper seems to be ready to fire off, looking more genuinely angry by the minute. 

‘God this was a bad mistake.’ 

Chapter Text

Zack is usually surprisingly pretty good at watching his mouth. He has his dumb moments, but truly — he’s good at being careful about what he says. Rarely does he ever let his emotions get in the way of that. 

Unfortunately, the one time it really mattered the most he kind of fucked up. 

Cloud and Aerith’s heads snap towards him and it takes a beat for him to realize what just happened. “Oh shit..” He mumbles stupidly. 

He didn’t realize he said that out loud. 

He didn’t mean to say that out loud. 

“What? So I’m a fucking mistake?” Cloud barks out and Aerith slaps her hand over his mouth. Zack’s heart beats so fast he thought it would burst out of his chest and run away. He looks around nervously, the children and parents are all staring at them in disbelief. Some parents look appalled while others look ready to forcibly escort the trio out themselves. 

“Wait—Sorry, No—“ He’s sweating bullets, he puts his arms out carefully like he’s trying to calm a beast. Cloud moves Aerith’s hand off and marches up to him for the second time within thirty minutes that day and grips Zack’s shoulders. He feels the pressure border-lining pain of Cloud digging his nails into his shirt sleeves.

His eyes glare daggers into Zack’s and he throws him to the side before walking out. Zack stumbles into the table and hears the sharp yell of the child behind it. Quickly, he regains his balance and his hands automatically come up in a sign of apology. He turns around to the kid and bows his head, “I’m so sorry,” He says, but it sounds like a beg. 

Someone places their hand on his chest, pushing him to stand upright. Zack lowers his hands to look, Aerith is standing there. He’s never seen so much anger fill those eyes of hers before. Aerith is so patient, so easy going — she gets peeved, upset, but never furious. Never so furious, hurt, disappointed. 

Those emotions have never been directed at him before, and never did he expect it to come from Aerith. 

She huffs at him and leaves the tent. 

Zack is left there standing. He’s out of place. Everyone is staring at him. 

Being near Cloud has been a ticking time bomb since the first second of being in his presence and he can’t figure out why. Zack can’t stand here longer, it’s upsetting the people who just want to have fun. When he walks out of the tent he’s lost. 

His hands form fists. More than anything, he wants to find Cloud and demand him to let up on what the issue is. 

‘But what good would that even do?’ but, also — ‘..What has standing around doing nothing about it done, either?’

Zack sighs, it comes out ragged. ‘We probably haven’t even spent two collective hours together and it’s already gotten so bad.’ 

Zack makes up his mind and begins rushing through the crowds of people to find the exist. Cloud moves quickly, who knows where he is at this point. He could have already made his way home for all Zack knows. He has to try, though. If he wants something to change, he’s gotta put in the effort. Zack learned that at a very young age. 

Zack’s pace picks up into a run as he exits the gate only to come to an abrupt stop. Cloud hadn’t really gone anywhere. 

At the spot where they initially met up, Aerith and Cloud are arguing. 

They don’t notice him — too caught up with each other. Aerith’s eyes are glossy, she’s standing tall and firm. “Emotions are complicated sometimes, I know. But that doesn’t justify treating someone so badly, talking it out —“

“You don’t get it—And you never will.” Cloud butts in, interrupting Aerith.  

Aerith doesn’t waver, “No, I don’t right now.” She pauses for a moment, “Cloud, take a moment to breathe and calm your head a little.” She steps closer, standing on the tips of her toes at an attempt to match his height. “Your mind can’t be read, Cloud.” 

Cloud looks down, avoiding her eyes. He’s trembling. 

Aerith lowers her voice, “Explain it to me,  It’ll help.” She reaches for his hand and holds it gently, gazing at him patiently. Cloud’s jaw works, moving as he considers what to say. His shoulders relax a little and his mouth opens and closes a few times, Aerith just smiles in encouragement. 

The blonde’s eyes wander, looking anywhere but at Aerith. Zack curses under his breath as he accidentally catches Cloud’s eye, who had initially grazed over him under his mind caught up with who he just saw. 

Cloud’s reaction to seeing Zack is instant. Immediately hate takes form in his features, his entire face scrunching up. Aerith lets go of Cloud’s hand and hurriedly looks behind her, only to see Zack’s awkward presence. In a moment of anger, he shoves Aerith, storming past her. 

Aerith stumbles back, losing her footing. She falls backwards onto the pavement, yelping in shock.

The sight of Aerith on the ground confused and Cloud walking away without a care makes something snap in Zack’s soul. Like the thick layer of restraint encasing his temper has just been sliced through with a butcher’s knife. Aerith sits dumbfounded, like she’s just more completely, utterly shocked than anything else. 

Cloud is almost out of sight — stomping away like an overgrown toddler. Zack charges towards him and the wind slaps him across his face as he picks up his speed to reach out and tug Cloud roughly by the elbow. Adrenaline rushes through his veins as he whips Cloud around, seeing a glimpse of those crystal-like blue eyes widening as he reels back his arm to punch the man square in the face. 

Zack is ready, but the sight of the blonde’s soft face makes Zack change his course last second and goes in for the gut instead. Cloud gasps at the impact, stumbling back just like Aerith had. Cloud recovers quickly, using all his strength in an attempt to push Zack to the floor in one concentrated motion. Zack seethes, digging his feet into the ground and narrowly dodging to the left as Cloud’s fist flies at him. 

“What the fuck is your problem!?” Zack screams, catching Cloud’s fist. Cloud struggles against Zack, trying to break free. “Who the fuck do you think you are?!” Cloud screeches back, so loud and high pitched his ears ring at the sound. Zack groans, releasing Cloud to punch him twice more in the gut, “No, no,” Zack laughs humorously, bewildered. “Who do you think you —“ Zack’s voice begins to strain as he brings himself to deliver a punch to Cloud’s face “—are!?” 

The moment Zack comes in contact with Cloud, the world suddenly drops to a dead silence. Cloud’s hand rushes up to hold his face as he backs up, the imprint Zack’s fist leaves is like a burn. 

“Fuck..” Zack mumbles to himself as the adrenaline slowly dissipates. He can feel the sweat that formed at his forehead start to run. A droplet slides down the path of his nose while another hangs on his high cheek bone, he lazily throws the back of his hand across his own face, wiping away the sweat like his arm weighs 300 pounds. 

Zack watches Cloud intently, waiting for something, anything. 

The blonde’s face is disturbingly blank. He stands there hunched as he regains his breath, hand still firmly planted on top of the bruise. 

“Just cuz you got some weird problem with me, doesn’t mean you can take that shit out on Aerith.” Zack spits coarsely, fixing his posture and crossing his arms. 

Cloud’s arm slowly drops by his side, that blank look never leaving. Zack can’t really tell if it’s due to him processing a million things at once or if he’s processing nothing . 

Zack gets sick of waiting around for a response, tired of this utter bullshit. 

Just as he turns on his heel to head for Aerith, Cloud grips him and copies Zack’s  previous move, spinning the man around and then — contrary to Zack, does not hesitate — and goes straight in for the target. Zack groans so loudly it’s more akin to a deep throated yell, his nose pulses in pain.

“Get the fuck out. It’s your fault. It’s all your fucking fault. I wish you never fucking existed.” Cloud rants almost deliriously, the venom runs dry and by the end he just sounds pathetic. 

Cloud left in a hurried fit afterwards, and Zack sighed heavily before pushing all his concerns that had anything to do with that boy to the side — focusing on Aerith. 

He cradles Aerith’s hand softly in his own as they walk side by side on the path to her home. She’s uncharacteristically quiet, curling in to the jacket Zack lent to her. They haven’t done much talking .. or any talking at all really. It was a wordless process, helping Aerith up and draping his jacket over her shoulders as they mutually reached out to hold each other’s hand. Didn’t need to be spoken about where they were going, it was late and they were tired. 

“Hey,” Zack whispers, “I don’t think you should be around that guy.” 

Aerith sighs leaning towards Zack’s shoulder to rest her head upon it. “I know. I didn’t know he was capable of acting like that.” 

Zack lets go of her hand in order to wrap his arm around her shoulder, pulling her in.  Aerith continues, “I don’t know what it is about you that makes him act like that..”

Zack frowns, “Doesn’t matter to me. What matters is he has a problem with me but he let that anger hurt you. That’s messed up.”

Aerith nods in understanding. “I feel bad. We never got to do anything for the event, or use Tifa’s money.. we’ll have to give that back.” 

Aerith’s house comes into view, and Zack can see the small bit of relief on his friend’s face. 

“Don’t worry about that, I can handle it for you. Just rest up tonight.” 

Aerith shrugs the jacket off, handing it back over. Simultaneously, she fishes for the cash Tifa handed her. “You think you can deliver it back to her tonight?”

Zack flashes a smile, taking the jacket and money. “Yes ma’am!” He salutes, Aerith laughs and it’s refreshing. “Alright, well go get on it, Soldier!” She replies with a nasally, poor attempt at a deep stern voice.  

Zack hangs by for a second to make sure Aerith gets inside safely, she notices him watching and sticks her tongue out playfully before closing her front door. 

Zack jogs his way to Seventh Heaven, wanting to get this all over with and start a new fresh day tomorrow. 

By the time he turns the corner leading up to the bar, his legs begin to ache shallowly. The night’s air is cold and all he wants is to curl up in bed. Up ahead, he can make out a silhouette of a person leaning against the doors, cigarette in hand. It doesn’t take long for the smell of the smoke to reach Zack. The scent of smoke is a nostalgic familiarity, unconsciously he breathes it in deeply like he’s taking a whiff of a nice candle and holds it before he exhales, soothing himself.

Zack’s steps falter as the light illuminating from the cigarette enhances the prominent features of Cloud’s face. He looks deep in thought, stressed. His hair is tousled, the wind and their little brawl showing its effect on him. Zack’s glad, in a way. He hates how unbothered Cloud can look sometimes, like not a single thing occurred. Here, it’s showcased in front of him — what happened, did happen. And Cloud’s obviously fighting the after battle of his actions, the air is melancholy and his lids are shut tightly.

Zack’s nose still pulses in deep pain, something he had to shove to the side. 

“You’re a reaal piece of work, you know.” 

Cloud startles, he fumbles a little and almost drops his cigarette. The crystal blue slowly drags itself towards Zack’s direction, the bone-deep exhaustion evident in his sluggish movements and his slacked face. He lets the back of his head hit the building, a small thud sound. Cloud drags his cigarette again, once again lids falling shut. 

“Don’t tell me you followed me here. You really don’t know when to get out of someone’s space.”  

Zack rolls his eyes so hard that it strains, “Get your head out of your own ass, I didn’t know you’d be here.” He hisses, crossing his arms. “I came here to return Tifa’s money, since you blew the event before anyone had a chance to use it.” 

“Then go. Go on, give the money to Tifa.” 

Zack shakes his head frustratedly, “No, man. While I’ve got you here, we need to talk about whatever the fuck this is.” He steps forward, closer into Cloud’s space. Cloud groans, like the feeling of Zack getting any closer physically pains him. “Fuck, man. Fine, be stubborn and have some weird one-sided problem with me —“ 

Cloud takes one last drag and drops his cigarette, grinding it under his shoes. He pushes himself off the wall lazily, ready to walk right past Zack like he’s not even there. Zack quickly steps right in front of him, “Hate me all you want, but don’t let that hatred hurt people you care about. You fucked up with Aerith today.” 

Cloud stares blankly into the center of Zack’s chest, pointedly not making eye contact. “Right. So selfless you are.” Cloud mumbles, sounding bored. Zack squints in disbelief, “Wh-What?” 

“Hate me! Bother me! Just not my friends! It’s only because you’re so on top of the fucking world you get the privilege of acting all selfless like that.” Cloud spits, giving up on trying to escape Zack and leaning back against the building. “I’m… I’m sorry, to Aerith. I let my temper get ahold of me. I was.. shitty to her today. She didn’t deserve that..” Cloud whispers, so weakly. “I don’t need you here to act all high and mighty. I know I fucked up with her, and I feel so fucking guilty. I don’t need your bullshit inspirational pep-talk.” 

Zack clutches the cash tightly in his hand, wrinkling it like a ball of useless paper. “I’m not—…Is this how you see me, Cloud? Like I’m some arrogant asshole? I’m not trying to be holier than anyone else, or give you some….pep-talk,” Zack strains, stepping closer. “You’re avoiding the problem at hand, man — and It’s fucking obvious.”

Cloud sneers, “I’m not avoiding anything. I’m addressing it all head on, you fucking think you’re so much better than me and you love to rub it in. Don’t fucking deny that.” 

Zack sputters absurdly, looking at Cloud like he’s staring at a lunatic. “Where did you even get that idea from!? This—This is all in your head!” 

Cloud barks out a laugh. He turns to look at Zack straight on for the first time during this .. exchange. “It’s all in my head?! Fuck off.” He heads for the doors, “Give me the money, I’ll give it to Tifa. You get the fuck out.” 

Zack huffs, “What? So I can hurry back to your girlfriend? Are you even planning on apologizing to her anytime soon, or are you gonna leave her hanging? Gonna pretend like this didn’t happen so you can avoid your own guilt and accountability? Listen, I’m not going anywhere. You can’t throw fits like this every time I’m around.”

Zack gets in Cloud’s face, grabbing Cloud’s hand and roughly punching the crumpled cash into it. Zack’s sad, sad that he’s getting so used to the resentment in Cloud’s eyes. “I want to talk this out. I want to fix whatever this is. But fine, have it your way. Be stubborn and avoid it, keep throwing fits and hurting your girlfriend. Just know I won’t stay passive about it. See how that ends up.”  

He stares deeply in Cloud’s face, only an inch distance between them. He studies his sunken eyes, the outline of a bruise on his cheekbone, his lips a little patchy, a little raw. “I’m done.” Zack breaks, then he lets go.

Physically. Mentally.

 “I’m open to talk when you decide you’ve finally had enough of being stubborn.” He murmurs before pushing Cloud’s hand back into his own stomach and walking off. 

The next morning, Zack calls Aerith with an offering to run the shop for her today. She declines, says being with her flowers is her ‘happy place’, that it’s better for her to work than for her to sit around the house dwelling on Cloud. Zack can’t really argue against that. 

The sun shines in bright through the windows and Aerith thrives in it, swaying and dancing along. The soft rustle of petals and the occasional creak of the wooden floor as Aerith twirls around are the only sounds to be heard in their little sanctuary of sunlight and solace. Zack watches her with a soft smile, lazily trailing her as he bathes in the golden warmth. It’s been a slow day, not many customers, but it’s not boring. It’s peaceful, calming. The two are quietly healing from the previous night, simply relaxing and soaking up the sweet smell of their plants. 

Zack feels a bit like a sunflower, he sits in the spot with the most direct sunlight stiller than he’s ever sat before. It’s nice and warm and he can feel his energy building back up. He starts to hum a little happy tune, and Aerith hums back. The tightly coiled tension in Zack’s chest unwinds the more he sinks into his little cozy corner and submits himself to his and Aerith’s song, and he feels like he can breathe again. 

Zack’s lips curl into a playful grin, “Those lilies seem to really like when you sing to them.” He chuckles to himself, “You’ve got some sort of like… flower-whisperer magic or something.” 

Aerith laughs brightly, “The key to growth is love, after all. You think these little flowers could really manage all on their own with just a little water?” She teases, watering the marigolds. “They need their daily dose of joyous tunes to be big and strong.” 

The day drags on, the peaceful atmosphere remains draped over the shop like a protective shield.

Zack feels better, and he knows Aerith does too — but the weight of Aerith and Cloud’s now fragile relationship takes a nice seat right on top of him carrying the mass of an elephant. Zack can’t stop worrying. Cloud is completely inhospitable, the moment Zack is in his presence he becomes someone entirely different. The idea of Aerith continuously getting caught in this crossfire alights an anger inside Zack that he’s not used to feeling. 

He doesn’t know what direction their relationship is going to go after this. Aerith is so compassionate, she’s so understanding — and he can’t stand for Cloud to take advantage of that. 

Selfishly, Zack wishes Aerith would just break up with him. She’s a gorgeous, intelligent, and spunky girl, Zack knows she could find someone else easily. But he also knows love isn’t that simple. Aerith clearly cherishes Cloud. 

“Hey, stop brooding over there.” Aerith invades his storm bubble, placing a hand on his shoulder. She clears the moody fog a little. Zack gnaws on his lower lip, folding his arms. “He hasn’t apologized to you yet.” 

Aerith hums, leaning her body against Zack’s back. “No, not yet. I rather him take his time to give me a real apology than a half-assed one, though. So maybe it’s better he hasn’t said anything yet.” 

Zack gets it but still.. 

“It’s unfair to you, though. For him to leave you hanging after fucking shit up like that.” 

He feels Aerith’s head moving in disagreement against him, “Space isn’t always a bad thing… at least I don’t think so.” 

“Sure, but…” 

Theres a beat of silence that passes as Zack considers his next words. Aerith waits patiently, rubbing little patterns into his shirt with her finger. 

“You’re angry with him, right?” Zack indulges his anxieties, letting Aerith in on his core fears. How he’s afraid, afraid of Aerith letting Cloud walk all over her. Aerith scoffs a little, “Of course I am. Even when he apologizes, can’t say I’ll accept it immediately.” 

A small sprout of relief breaks out of it’s shell in his chest, “Good.” He mutters. 

The two relax in their corner, Zack trying his best to clear his mind again while Aerith leans against him. He focuses the best he can on her breathing, the shuffling of her feet as she gently kicks her legs, and the patterns she draws into his shirt. Just anything other than the looming shadow of Cloud in his mind. 

The wind chimes ring into the quiet shop, accompanied by the creak of the heavy door. There’s a crack in the protective shield. 

Zack doesn’t rush to look up at who it is, and Aerith rolls her head calmly to address their visitor. 

“Oh.” Is all she mumbles before letting go of Zack and standing upright. 

Someone clears their throat painfully awkwardly, “…I came to say I’m sorry.” The words are spoken low, like he’s embarrassed to have to utter them. 

Aerith nods, “You hurt me yesterday.” 

Zack finally locks into the conversation, turning to see Cloud standing shrunken in on himself by the entrance, he’s positioned as if he’s ready to run out of there at any moment. Zack narrows his eyes at him, critiquing quietly. Cloud isn’t looking, but he knows damn well that Cloud feels Zack’s gaze. Zack figures that his presence might be the reason he’s acting so unsure in the first place. 

“I know…I’m sorry, Aerith.” He strains, eyes cast downward. “I.. I need a better grip of my temper. I shouldn’t have let it affect you.” 

“Okay.” Is all Aerith supplies. She responds like Cloud just told her the weather. 

“O—Okay..?” Cloud repeats, shrinking even more impossibly into himself. Aerith nods, “Okay. Thank you for the apology, Cloud. But you need to prove to me that you won’t make this mistake again.” 

Cloud sighs, his eyes finally flick upwards to search Aerith’s face. “Okay.. I’m sorry.” He says again. Aerith gives a small smile, turning her back to him, “Alright, I’ll see you later, Cloud.” She waves goodbye and steps into the back room. 

Zack sits expectantly. 

Thick tension suffocates the both of them. The room is no longer the peaceful sanctuary it was before, it’s now a foggy, heavy mess. The ceiling seems to be closing in on them, and Zack seems to be sinking into quicksand.

”Maybe I shouldn’t have let it escalate as much as it did. But I don’t regret what I’ve said to you, and I can’t bring myself to regret punching you back.” Cloud says evenly. Cloud’s words come off detached, plain, like the words are meant as a formality to make his exit easier. It gets under Zack’s skin, how he stands there still so unwilling to look Zack in the face. Cloud’s not only trying to brush it all off, but he’s also doubling down. 

That harsh unfamiliar emotion begins to bubble inside of Zack again. His gaze is sharp and he knows it’s making Cloud uncomfortable. Zack sucks in a breath, trying his best to calm down. “Yeah, didn’t expect anything meaningful to come out of your mouth anyway.” He responds, just as detached as Cloud. 

Zack crosses a leg over the other, trying to pull himself up from the imaginary sand sinking him under. 

Cloud growls, “What the fuck does that mean.”

Zack waves him off dismissively, “You know exactly what it means. I told you I’m willing to talk and work this out, but of course you’d double down against me instead. I’d be stupid to expect anything else.”  

Zack watches as Cloud looks ready to explode, to beat the man in front of him to death. It makes him sad, just sad. “Cloud,” Zack whispers. “I don’t even know what it is I do that sets you off and I wish you’d be honest with me.” 

Zack takes a confident step towards Cloud, “You can’t attack people and then get upset when they attack back. But the thing is Cloud, I wish you wouldn’t fight me in the first place. You think I was happy to throw that punch at you? No, Cloud. I was devastated. I wanted last night to go well. I wanted that night at Seventh Heaven to go well, I wanted our first meeting to go well.” Zack rants a little desperately, “I never wanted problems in the first place. But you have one.” 

Cloud’s lower lip wobbles a little, and he grinds his teeth together. 

“This isn’t all me, Zack. You fucking called me a mistake last night.” He grits out, like the admission that Zack’s words affected him makes him even more infuriated. Zack’s taken aback, Cloud’s words drop into his heart like a stone dropping into a pool of infinite water. “I never called you a mistake?” Zack wants to claim, but it sounds more like a question. 

He thinks back to the events, the stuffy and awkward walk there where he somehow upset Cloud and almost got punched, the five seconds inside the craft tent before Cloud lost his shit. 

It dawns on Zack slowly, a slow realization that bewilders him. “Wh—Cloud, I wasn’t calling you a mistake. I—Okay, I was upset because it wasn’t going well and I meant that it felt like a mistake for us to all go together since you can’t get along with me. And okay, I’m sorry for blurting that—but I only said that because you weren’t acting right!” 

Zack presses forward, “You had a problem with me way before that happened. That’s not the cause of all this.” 

Cloud turns away defiantly, like he’s pissed that Zack doesn’t understand something. 

“Cloud, I’m sorry that my words came off that way. I didn’t mean for you to think that. I mean this when I say it: I’m sorry.” Zack apologizes earnestly the best he can, and he can see the cogs in Cloud’s brain working. 

Ultimately, of course that apology isn’t enough. “Whatever.” Cloud mutters, resigned. He doesn’t look at Zack as he walks out the door. 

There’s still a problem brewing. Nothings been resolved and Zack doesn’t know where to go from here. He can’t really go anywhere, Cloud has to make the change. 

Chapter Text

Cloud hasn’t slept in a few days.  

Not because a lack of trying, but because the way his brain refused to give him a goddamn break. Cloud’s sluggish in his movements around the kitchen, his body mourning from it’s deprived state. Despite it all, his mind is relentless. His thoughts run like hellhounds behind his sunken eyes. 

The memories won’t stop replaying in his mind. Zack’s cockiness, his stupid smirk and his taunting words until when it all dropped, and he muttered the word that’s been echoing in Cloud’s ears since. Aerith trying her best to comfort him, and how just the sight of him. Zack — just ruined it all. Cloud might’ve admitted things he wasn’t ready to admit to Aerith if he hadn’t notice Zack watching them. He can still feel the phantoms of where Zack punched him and he remembers clearly the blood-rush in his ears. 

Cloud takes one last sip of his coffee before pouring it down the drain, too nauseous with guilt to get anything down. He watches the dark liquid disappear and the shining sink reflecting Cloud’s face back at him. His cheek has bruised ugly and his lashes are clumped together like he cried at some point. Maybe he did, honestly.

He hears his phone buzz and the last thing he wants to do is check it. He wishes more than anything he just turned his damn buzzer off, so he could exist blissfully unaware of his responsibilities until inevitably they come knocking at his door in the form of Tifa, sick of his shit. 

He knows it’s not Aerith on the other end. He knows she’s not going to call or text, that it’s up to Cloud to reach out. She said what she had to say and now she’s letting him have the space to process it. 

The messages are probably mostly Tifa, probably asking him how he’s doing and why he hasn’t come by in a while, spiraling into angry demands to tell her what happened that night and why everyone is acting off. Maybe one from Cid or Jessie asking him when he’s going to get his ass back in the shop. He’s surprised Cid hasn't sent Jessie to come rip him out of his house yet, actually. 

He never did say anything. 

He just… stopped showing up. 

Cloud stood outside of Seventh Heaven for around an hour before he got the courage to step in, he sighed in relief when Tifa was too busy chatting with customers to confront him and had given the cash to Marle, telling her it’s Tifa’s and that was it. He ran out afterwards. 

The next day he stayed in bed until around late afternoon. Took more strength than he wants to admit just to get himself showered and dressed. He pulled himself along to Aerith’s flower shop. He was ready to give a full-fleshed apology to Aerith, he wanted to. 

Couldn’t bring himself to when he saw them together through the window, though. Relaxing against each other like it was the most natural thing in the world. 

Everything he wanted to say slipped away and was replaced with insecurities and bitterness. 

Hurt even more when Zack looked at him like that. 

Cloud remembers all too well the day he first heard of Zack. 

They were at Seventh Heaven late in the night, Tifa was closing shop while Cloud sat side by side with Aerith. He hadn’t known Aerith for very long at this point, only a month or so. Cloud was still a little cold around the edges, not yet completely defrosted. It didn’t seem to bug Aerith at all, though. She was persistent.

Cloud kind of liked that about her even if he would never admit that. He kind of liked that she was so persistent on getting to know him, made him feel wanted.

Zack’s like that too. Persistent on getting close to him — Cloud would like that under different circumstances.

(Maybe, deep down — he does like it.)

Aerith had picked up her phone and was scrolling through her image gallery, showing off all her different species of plants and explaining them to Cloud. Cloud tried to fight back the smile creeping up on his lips the best he could. 

Aerith was explaining the story behind a particularly silly photo, an orange cat in an alleyway dragging a beautiful bouquet — when she received a notification. Someone sent her a photo. 

Aerith only scooted closer to Cloud, angling  her phone so they could both see clearly. “Oh, Zack sent something!” She had said, opening the message. 

Cloud’s heart began to beat a bit too fast for his liking when he took in the man in the photo. 

He’s handsome. Undeniably. 

The guy was grinning from ear to ear, pure joy radiating off of him, Cloud could almost feel it warming him up through the phone. His teeth were perfect, nice pearly whites that contrasted nicely against his rose-pink lips. He had pitch black slicked back hair, a few strands bouncing over his face. His skin was a nice tan and he had a mysterious scar on the side of his jaw. 

Cloud had found himself subconsciously tracing the outline of the man’s well  sculpted, structured face. The sharp edges of his moderately high cheek bones were alluring. 

His shoulders were broad, and his muscles seemed to be straining against the tight black shirt he was wearing. 

At the time, Cloud had been so memorized he hardly noticed the potted cactus the man was holding, nor the bandage on his thumb and index finger. 

Aerith’s laugh had brought Cloud back to reality, she read the message accompanying the photo out loud and laughed even harder. Cloud had never seen her so hysterical before. 

She had thrown her head back, unable to control her fit of giggles. Her hands shook a little as she zoomed into the photo, focusing on the large crack in the pot Cloud hadn’t notice. “Leave it to Zack to get bullied by a baby cactus!” She cackled. 

Aerith’s eyes watered and her face scrunched as she laughed and Cloud couldn’t help but stare in amazement. She wiped her eyes trying to calm down, “H — He said — that he got pricked a number of times but the cactus is his baby now anyway.” 

Aerith leaned on Cloud’s shoulder, letting out a giggly sigh. “Oh boy, I don’t think he even has any clue how to take care of a cactus. He’s going to kill it and then whine about it.” 

Cloud had felt stuffy. He usually liked when Aerith laughed, but this felt different. Maybe it’s the softness in her voice, maybe the clear tell-tale signs of adoration. 

“Who is this guy?” He asked, gruffly. 

Aerith straightened up, smirking at Cloud. “My best friend. He doesn’t live around here anymore, though.”  

Cloud’s not stupid. He feels the familiarity and the closeness between the two, already. Just from Aerith’s reaction and the smug, proud way she talks about being ‘best friends’. 

It made him feel a little sick. He didn't want to stay on the topic of Zack any longer. 

“Cool. Show more of your flowers, you didn’t finish.” Cloud redirected the conversation, speaking dismissively. Aerith complied easily, opening back up her camera roll. “Mmmm! Okay, where did we leave off?” She thought aloud, looking through. “Ah! Here.” 

“This one is a white peony!” She chirped, and began sharing little fun facts. 

Cloud was gone. 

He fell into his own secluded world. For some reason, the picture had seemed to sear itself onto Cloud’s brain within the minute or two it was pulled up. Something ugly was stirring in his gut. 

Cloud tried his best to forget about it, but only a week or so later Aerith mentioned him again. 

Tifa and Aerith were talking relationships, gossiping and laughing over crushes they’ve had and their experiences with dating. Cloud sat out on that one, having nothing he could contribute to the conversation — with a bit of a sour feeling in his chest. Cloud was always on the outside, everyone around him was in on a little secret and they taunted him for not being privy to what it was. The boy couldn’t make a decent, platonic connection for the life of him — anything dating-wise was out the window. 

Listening to the two women speak made him feel like he was on the outside of them, too. Cloud bit down on his lip and started sketching a new design he could try to sell to Cid. He curled up on the couch, attempting to concentrate on the way the pen smoothly glided over the paper and the satisfying scratching noises when he pressed down with a bit more force. 

He tried to let his mind run loose with different swirls and shapes but the girls’ conversation kept stomping on his creative flow. 

“Jessie.. wasn’t a bad girlfriend. She was really thoughtful and loved to spoil me, her biggest flaw was just… time management and balance, I guess. Even now, she still can’t be contained in the slightest. One day she’s in Midgar and by the next she’s in Mideel… and you don’t know when you’ll see her next.”  Tifa trailed off before she got too emotional, it was evident this was something she still struggled with. 

Aerith nodded attentively, reaching out to comfort Tifa with a hand on her knee. Sympathy swirled in her green eyes as she gave Tifa her undivided attention. The woman in question was a little embarrassed by the attention, and gestured for Aerith to take the wheel. 

“Sorry.. I guess I can’t really relate too much. Zack was a perfect boyfriend, honestly. He would get caught up in things all the time like school work or other shenanigans.. but he always made sure to call me. When he lived here, we would see each other practically daily, and if we couldn’t because he was busy — he would call me at least four times that day.” Aerith laughed to herself, “Maybe he was a bit too attentive.” 

Tifa giggled a bit herself, “The way you describe him, he really does sound like the perfect guy.” 

Aerith crossed her arms and pouted, “Nobody’s completely perfect! Trust me, Zack has his flaws! He just didn’t let them really affect our relationship, I guess.” 

“Which is something the perfect guy would do. You hit the jackpot, apparently.” Tifa teased, poking at Aerith. 

Cloud wanted to vomit. 

Unwillingly, his mind unhelpfully supplied the photo of Zack and the stupid cactus again. It flashed in his pupils painfully, Cloud ground his teeth together in response. Aerith and Tifa never noticed his discomfort. 

Similar situations happened often after that, even got to the point where Tifa started asking for updates about Zack. It upset Cloud to no end. 

When Cloud was younger, he felt like he had to constantly fight for a spot in Tifa’s life — yet now comes the golden boy, some idiot Tifa’s never even met before — and he’s already unknowingly secured his own space in Tifa’s heart. Pissed Cloud off. 

It wasn’t completely rational — a tiny voice in the very, very depths of Cloud’s mind knew that. Zack was just some guy living his life somewhere, he wasn’t voluntarily involved in any of this. Zack hadn’t done anything wrong.

But that was kind of the problem. 

Zack had never done anything wrong, if Aerith’s anecdotes are trustworthy. 

Cloud was always fucking up. With every step he took, every time he opened his mouth, he dug himself deeper and deeper into a hole of mistakes — a hole of isolation. If Cloud decided to just disappear one day, to just fall off the face of the planet — Tifa might be concerned for a week or two, but she would move on. And then all traces of Cloud would be gone. 

But Zack.. Zack wasn’t even around. He didn’t even text or call Aerith too often, it was only once in a while when he had the time — and yet the essence of him practically filled Seventh Heaven. He exists in a place he’s never been to, in the hearts of people he’s never heard of, in the soul of a person he hasn’t even been in the physical presence of in years. 

Cloud could never have that impact. 

Cloud remembers when it finally clicked for him that he and Aerith’s relationship was deepening in a way he’s never felt before. 

They were at a night festival, just the two of them, hand in hand as they walked side by side. Aerith pulled him along, squeezing his hand tight. “Hey!” She squealed in excitement, “Cloud, let’s go on the ferris wheel!” She jump up in down, looking at him with those big eyes and sweet smile. Cute, Cloud thought. He wasn’t a big fan of heights, or rides — but he couldn’t really bring himself to deny the woman. 

“Sure.” He replied, a smile tugging at his lips. Aerith celebrated and ran off, Cloud made some surprised noise as he tried to keep up with her. He remembers feeling a little free almost, running with Aerith — hands still interlocked. 

Once they were situation the ferris wheel, sitting across from each other, Aerith gave him a mischievous look. Cloud frowned automatically, “Aerith..” He questioned her, on guard. She just giggled and stood up, “Wait!” Cloud yelped instinctively, Aerith ignored him and wobbly made her way over, plopping herself right next to him. “Aer—Aerith! Wait! Won’t the balance be off?!” He panicked a little, looking out from their seat, down at the ground way down below. 

Aerith had placed her hand on Cloud’s thigh, “Aw, don’t you wanna sit next to me?” She pouted playfully. Cloud looked back up from the ground, into her flushed face. “I—I…” He stuttered, unsure to even say as Aerith rested her head against him, wrapping her arms around his own. “Let’s enjoy this.” She whispered, so Cloud shut up and did. 

There was a noticeable shift after that. When they would sit down somewhere, they mutually reached out to sit next to each other. They would knock their knees together purposefully, and Aerith would give Cloud a look that was meant for only him, and Cloud would respond with a bashful look of his own. 

When they would talk, they would lean a little closer than needed — their eye contact more intense than it needed to be. They found each other holding hands more often, just softly caressing each other’s thumbs. It was so soft and tender, they took it slow and natural. Aerith dropped her playful flirting and replaced it with something more raw and emotional. 

It took Cloud a while, but he became more open too. He would let his guard down a little to tell her about Nibelheim and his mother. 

After months of their developing relationship, Aerith asked Cloud if he wanted to make it official. 

He did, he liked Aerith, and he liked what they had. He finally felt like he had that special connection, that was someone was in his corner. 

He hesitated, even thought he didn’t want to. He just wanted to blurt out ‘yes’. 

Something was still gnawing at him. A pit in his stomach that was growing every day. 

‘This wasn’t that special’ the pit told him. There was someone before him, and someone that had a stronger connection with her than he could ever hope to have. There was someone who could swoop in and take this away from him, someone who Aerith knows would never mess up — would always be the perfect, ‘ideal’ boyfriend. 

Cloud wanted to feel special to Aerith, but the ghost of a man he didn’t even know loomed over him. 

“What Zack and I have isn’t romantic anymore, and I would never want it to be again. We work better off as friends. He’s not a boyfriend to me, but he’s… still ‘my person’ you know?” 

”I’ll always be grateful for the friendship I have with him. It’s nice to know there’s someone who will always be in ’your corner’. I just get him, and he just gets me.” 

Aerith’s words rung in his ears as a painful reminder of what the reality was. In the end, he still wasn’t something special. He got so close, but he still wasn’t there. 

He remembers how Aerith must’ve noticed how lost he was and took her hand in his, forcing him to focus on her. “There’s no need to rush this if you’re not ready, Cloud.” She tried to comfort him, but it made Cloud feel worse — like the opportunity to at least be something was just seconds from slipping through his fingers. 

“No. I want this.” He blurted, and Aerith smiled. 

Their relationship moved just as slowly as the building up to it did, it was calm and subtle. There wasn’t any huge changes, other than stolen kisses on the cheek and more dates alone together.

Aerith tried to kiss Cloud on the lips once, he almost leaned into it but he swore he saw the shape of Zack’s lips instead of hers for a second and it caused him to jerk back. 

Aerith looked a little disappointed, but she was patient. Cloud apologized stupidly, and she was very understanding. ‘There’s no need to rush something you’re not ready for’ He found Aerith telling him often. 

Aerith was so patient. It made Cloud feel guilty, and his thoughts always circled back to Zack. How Zack was probably ready in no time, how he probably never left Aerith waiting. Made Cloud hate him even more.

By the time Zack actually came into town, Cloud still had never been able to bring himself to kiss Aerith. He wanted to, and he would try to — but everytime he got too close, just almost there — he would back out. Every picture he had ever seen of Zack would fill his brain in an instant. Sometimes, when Aerith would peck his cheek, he thought he was feeling what he imagined Zack’s lips would feel like. 

The day he walked into Aerith’s flower shop and he saw the man that had been haunting him for months in the flesh, so tall he was now physically towering over Cloud — it felt like the whole world was crashing down. It took all the strength Cloud could muster to hold it together as much as he did. 

Zack Fair. Right in front of him, no longer just a story, no longer just pictures, no longer just a ghost. 

Cloud’s heart pounded and his mouth went dry. This was the sickest he’s ever felt. 

His features were now clearer in a way Cloud couldn’t handle seeing, his bright blue eyes and his long nose, those lips he had real life nightmares about. His color pallet even more vibrant. That dark black hair and his warm tan skin, Cloud could see the slight dip his scar made. Cloud was overwhelmed. 

The pictures were nothing compared to the real thing. 

Cloud fucking hated that. 

Deep down, Zack had to be some sort of conceited bastard. There’s no way he wasn’t. And Cloud rather shoot himself in the face than ever give this dickhead the satisfaction of being well known. So he brushed it all off, pretended like he had no clue who he was, as if the guy wasn’t haunting his dreams. 

Then he had the nerve to rush in wrap Cloud in his nicely muscled arms, and Cloud was forced to breathe in his sensual, velvety cologne. Pressed up against Zack’s body, feeling strands of wispy hair tickling his face, Cloud wanted to fucking murder him. 

Yeah. He’s got to be some narcissistic, self-centered asshole if he thinks he has the fucking right to just welcome himself into Cloud’s space, just assuming it’ll be fine because who wouldn’t want a hug from him — because everyone likes him. The guy clearly has never once had to fear rejection, so of course he would never even consider it. 

‘Dickface.’ Cloud seethed inside.

Cloud was already keeping himself from losing his shit by a very thin thread, then Zack mentioned his job. He went to his job. The one place where Cloud has importance, where Cloud is arguably the most important. The place where Cloud showcases bits and pieces of his soul to be seen, his creative outlet — his safe place. 

That’s Cloud’s breaking point and Zack just keeps pushing his buttons, keeps mentioning it, keeps asking. It’s mocking and it’s humiliating. Zack has been intertwined into Cloud’s life for months without even being there. Now the first day he’s here, he’s already invaded Cloud’s second home. 

Cloud couldn’t take it anymore, so he left. He knows he upset Aerith but he had to just leave. 

Then Zack showed up again. 

Cloud should’ve anticipated this, Zack showing up at Seventh Heaven was the inevitable. He’s just thankful it wasn’t when Tifa was there. 

And again, Zack keeps pushing and pushing and pushing. 

He has the audacity to start throwing a few insults Cloud’s way, as if he isn’t the one who’s been taking over everything. He could’ve just left, or better — never shown up at all. He has no right to sit here and insult Cloud.

When Zack finally listened and left, Cloud only frowned more when Marlene complains. “Awww, why’d he have to go?! He’s fun!!” She whined, looking at Cloud with her puffy angry face. Of course, Marlene would also like him right away — and eventually, Barret will like Zack more than he’s ever liked Cloud too. 

Zack was crumbling his life. 

Cloud almost wanted to cry when Aerith told him she’d be asking Zack to join them at the charity event. 

Cloud thought festivals, fairs, events were their thing. Just Cloud and Aerith, just their special thing they always do together. He wanted it be just their thing. 

But of course not. Obviously, Zack had to tag along. Obviously, there’s nothing Cloud can have without Zack in it. He was stupid to ever think otherwise. Zack was going to sink his teeth into every little aspect of Cloud’s soul. A fucking parasite. 

The entire day Cloud felt like he was drowning, there was no air to breathe because it was all Zack’s. 

When 7:01 hits and he opens the door to the flower shop, he's already scowling. The chimes above the door ring, too sweet, too happy — they don't match the storm brewing in his chest.

Aerith runs over in a heartbeat, kissing his cheek, which should’ve been a loving gesture — but Cloud’s pupils bore into Zack’s face as she does it, and again — he feels Zack’s lips pressing into him. He can’t remember the last time a kiss from Aerith actually felt like Aerith to him.

She doesn't see what Zack's presence does to him. Or maybe she does and hopes they'll just ‘get along.’ That Cloud will ‘work through it.’ She probably has faith in him, but Cloud’s known for letting people down. 

Aerith and Cloud walk side by side like they always do, and that fact is a little comforting. A little. 

From the corner of Cloud’s eye, he can see Zack’s shadow behind them — eliminating any true peace. Zack trails behind them dauntingly, a stupid dog that refuses to detach. 

Then Zack catches up to them, and starts reminiscing about Gongaga . A stupid name for the home of a stupid boy, Cloud supposes. He wants to roll his eyes so far back they get lost in his skull. Of course, Zack’s the perfect boy next door, family friendly cheery dude who handles children perfectly. Probably the type of guy that all the mothers fawn over, wishing they had a son just like him — or maybe wishing he would give their daughters a chance. The type of guy that fathers would invite out for fishing or golfing just for fun, the type of guy a father would want to teach manly things too and then rave over how naturally good he is. 

Cloud sucked in a sharp breath, trying to school his face back to neutral. 

Zack had proven to never once know how to stop. The casual suggestion that they could possibly be “similar” drives Cloud over the edge. He breathes a little raggedly and tries not to let the sting in his waterline bother him. 

Here Zack is, doing charity work before getting to the actual charity. 

How kind of him, how good of him. 

Zack knows they’re not. He knows and he’s subtly rubbing it in Cloud’s face. Zack knows that they both know, Zack is everything Cloud could never ever be. Zack knows he shines brighter than the sun from miles away, he’s sociable and inviting, caring and selfless in a way that comes off so genuine. Like it comes from the very bottom of his pure heart. 

Cloud would’ve rather Zack just openly spit at him than try to be so sneaky about it. 

Tifa only salted the wound with her excitement, acting as if she was meeting a damn celebrity. Which to her, Zack kind of was. Cloud’s forced to take it in and then watch Zack glow in the attention. Doesn’t help that Marle joins in, berating Cloud like she usually does. It feels worse this time though, he feels embarrassed when Zack’s here to witness it. Marle’s just further proof of what must be Zack’s already preconceived notion of Cloud, that he’s nothing more than the dirt beneath Zack’s feet. 

Cloud clenches his jaw and it stings when Zack laughs softly with Marle. Zack tries to soften it afterward, and maybe it would’ve helped if it didn't feel so rehearsed. He was just managing Cloud's reaction, simple damage control. Most likely for the sake of Aerith and not for Cloud himself. 

Tifa mentions Zack’s status as the perfect boyfriend again. Cloud knows that it’s lightheartedly, that Tifa is just teasing Zack, but it hurts so, so bad. Even when Aerith skips over by Cloud’s side, the words stay plunged into Cloud’s side like a poisonous thorn. 

Cloud refuses to meet Tifa’s eye when she gives him a look. 

Cloud’s blood boiled so hot he could probably have an egg cooked on his arm. He thought leaving would make it better, and it did just a bit, now that there wasn’t Marle there and Tifa’s overseeing eyes he wanted to duck away from, but it didn’t help enough for Cloud to cool off at all. 

Not when Zack was making fun of him again. Zack knows he’s bigger than Cloud, that his biceps are two times larger than Cloud’s. He’s showing off in a way he thinks will go undetected by Aerith, he knows it. 

It happens by impulse, Cloud’s fiery anger becoming too much for him to handle, Cloud regrets it. 

The way Zack gives him his attention easily, his jaw-slacked look and his intense gaze become too much. Cloud fucking flops what could’ve worked as an intimidation tactic because Zack is too distracting. That cologne fills his senses again and he can feel Zack’s natural body heat radiating softly. They’re so close. Their noses could touch if Cloud leaned closer.  

Cloud’s stuck in a trance for a hot minute before he recognizes the way his heart starts beating faster. It knocks roughly against his rib cage and tries its damnedest to fly out towards Zack. ‘This isn’t entirely anger’ Cloud realizes belatedly, it wakes him up and he stomps off. That was scary. 

He apologized to Aerith. He’d been too caught up in Zack and it’d been causing him to leave Aerith in the dust. 

"I'm not the one who needs an apology though, Mister," she says, turning to look straight at Zack.

And that makes Cloud want to disappear all over again. He doesn't want to apologize. Not to Zack. Not when everything about Zack feels like a threat.

Zack lets him off the hook. "Make it up to me by having fun at this event, yeah?" Cloud should be grateful. But somehow that makes it worse. Like Zack's handing him mercy.

Zack gets to act like the bigger person. Better than Cloud, again. 

He feels it — that twisting inferiority. And he hates it.

Inside the tent, he feels trapped. The little girl laughs. Zack's smiling. Everyone's laughing. Everyone except him. Again, Cloud is on the outside. Zack nudges his way beside him again. "You've got quite the creative mind, buddy!" A reference to Cloud's artwork. The one thing he's proud of. The one thing he desperately needs Zack to get out of his fucking mouth. 

Cloud ruins everything. 

He knows he does, because of the way he’s able to make Zack frustrated like no one else can, and the shock on Zack’s face and the anger he’s never seen before on Aerith’s, he knows he just crossed a line. Cloud let his temper take control of him. 

Then the rest is history. Horrible, fucked up history that keeps Cloud awake at night. He wishes he could just burn it like any other history book. Pretend like it never happened afterwards. 

Another day passes and Cloud still hasn’t picked up his phone. He still hasn’t seen anybody. 

Cloud’s curled up on his couch sketchbook in hand, colored pencils beside him. Cid’s going to be upset with Cloud when he gets his shit together and finally clocks into work. Cid likes Cloud, so he’s really lenient with him, he basically lets Cloud have control over whatever he wants in the shop, but Cloud knows he can push it sometimes. One thing Cid really doesn’t like is being left hanging. 

The least Cloud can do is show up with some designs, prove that he wasn’t completely slacking off. Then he’ll just take on any maintenance jobs from Cid, work a little bit harder than he usually does for a few weeks. It’ll get him back in Cid’s good graces.  

Cloud was confident in this design. It was bold, electric blue and sharp. Cloud hummed pleased with himself as the graphite danced around the paper, sharp flicks up for those fine, dagger-like lines. He placed down his pencil for a pitch black colored pencil, adding details and giving the design depth with the bold black against the bright, vibrant blue. He defined his shapes to be even sharper, striking black spikes. He ran the vivid blue down against the paper in a very loose ‘X’ shape, it reminded him of something. 

It all felt very familiar, actually. Like the design has been cooking in the back of Cloud’s mind for months without him even knowing. 

The blue, the black, the sharpness of it all.. it reminded him of something. 

Cloud pressed his lips together, staring down at the paper intensely. 

A certain person started to flicker in Cloud’s vision. 

Suddenly, Cloud’s blood ran ice cold, sweat hanging off his eyebrow. His heart dropped like he was coming down from the highest roller coaster in the world. He was so nauseous. 

There was no where he was safe from it. 

Zack. 

He couldn’t shake him from his mind and now the memory of Zack is torturing him, he’s seeping through Cloud’s finger tips and manifesting in Cloud’s work. 

Cloud wanted to scream. He wanted to throw the whole sketchbook out, he felt like he was about have a fit and burn the whole place down. 

He wants to blame Zack for this, wants to claim that he’s doing it on purpose and it’s all his fault — 

But Cloud can’t. 

Because Zack has been living in Cloud’s mind before Zack even knew who the fuck Cloud was. 

It’s his problem, it’s not Zack’s. But he wishes it was, wants to somehow convince himself it is Zack’s fault just to make himself feel better. 

Cloud buries his face into his palms, his fingers gripping at the ends of his hair. 

Fuck.