.Fairytale.
—
The Olympus Coliseum is a proud sponsor of the Hollow Bastion Committee, blah blah blah…
The Olympus Coliseum is also…dead.
As in CRASHBOOMflitzflitzflitz…gone.
Aerith, have I ever told you I love you?
—
"Whaddya want?"
Yes, that has been Yuffie's greeting to every customer so far.
Oh dear…she's not friendly enough? She's scaring away the poor widdle customers?
Then Aerith should have freaking sent her here! (Well, it was really Squall who sent her here, but is was Aerith's idea.)
"Here you go," She intones, sliding the cup across the counter as the next stepped up. "Yo. Welcome to the Olympus (tourist trap coughNOTcough) Coffee shop. Whaddya want?"
"A small green tea, please."
Yuffie just nods along, her hands moving robotically to get the cup. Water. Pour.
(Che, she had to do all this stupid work. Stupid Meg and her day off, stupid Squall, stupid Aerith and HER IDEA…)
"Coming right up…" She trails off as she looks up at the customer.
Whoa.
No way.
Bells ringing anyone?
(...dong.)
A pin could have dropped, and the sound would have echoed over miles.
Eyes trail over the familiar face, mouth dropping open.
She's speechless.
Absolutely utterly speechless. Like peach, except with a less added onto it and an s in the beginning. S(peach)less.
…She's hungry.
"…Cloud?"
But before she can say anything else (or rather, before she can strangle him for abandoning Aerith and tie him up and take him home), he takes the cup out of her loose hand, and puts some munny on the table.
"Thanks." He murmurs quietly and walks away.
Yuffie remains staring…and staring…and staring…
…and staring.
A cough interrupts her reverie.
"Ahem…um…miss? Can I have a small frappucino?"
—
Ring ring. Ring Ring. Ring rin—
"Hello?"
Yuffie sits up, a grin spreading across her face.
"Heya Aerith."
"Oh, Yuffie? How are you?"
"Sucky as usual. Hey, I was wondering…what would happen if I brought Cloud home?"
A sigh.
"Yuffie…"
"I know, I know, we've been through this already. I'm not planning on going on some search for him like Tifa or anything…I was just thinking, you know?
"Yuffie…we all miss him. He'll be back. Believe in him okay?"
Her grin widens.
"Yeah…Hey Aerith, if Cloud comes back before me…will you promise to call me back from this evil place?"
Aerith giggles.
"Oh Yuffie…What's got into you today? Are you harboring a secret crush on him or something?"
"What?" Yuffie shrieks, jumping off her bed. Meg, from across the room, gives her a weird look. "Me, like Cloud? That's just…EW! Grossness!"
"Yuffie, you don't need to hide it from me…" Aerith sings, and Yuffie can practically hear Aerith's smile.
"Aeeriiith, I don't like boys. They're just…weird. Seriously. If I had to have a sexual preference, I'd be lesbian. Because girls are cooler. And…and…I've told this all to you before!! Aeriiith! Stop making me talk all weird!" Yuffie whines.
Aerith just laughs.
"Yuffie, you're much too fun to rile up."
Yuffie hits herself on the head, groaning as she wonders how the conversation turned out like this.
"Aerith…Have I ever told you I love you lately?"
—
It had been a habit of hers ever since that day. Her eyes would skim over the crowd, searching.
"Yuffie, are you looking for someone?" Meg asks one day. She quickly turns to a customer. "Here you go, 50 munny please."
Yuffie keeps her eyes glued to the tops of head, looking for the familiar spikes of a certain person. Her hands move automatically out of habit, doing all the work for her.
"No, of course not. Here's the two tazo iced teas."
Meg gives her a quick look before taking the cups and putting them on the counter.
"87 munny. Welcome to the Olympus Coffeeshop, how may I help you? …Here, write it." She turns back to Yuffie. "Oh really?"
Yuffie's gaze doesn't move.
"Yup. Hey, Meg, by any chance have you seen a funny looking dude?"
"Hey, someone wants a…iced decaf triple grande five pump soy no whip Mocha. Define funny looking."
Yuffie stops, her gaze finally going to Meg.
"…What?"
Meg holds up a post-it.
"A iced decaf triple grande five pump soy no whip Mocha." She says simply, and hands the piece of paper to Yuffie. "Next in line, step up please. Now…about this guy you're looking for?"
"...Er…He's tall, kind of…Kinda girly looking…Has hair that defies physics…and it kinda looks like pee…" Yuffie responds distractedly, as she tries to understand how to make the drink. "Er….Meg, how about I take over the cashier?"
Meg is steadfast.
"No way. I'd actually don't scare away the customers. Oh…and add a Crème Frappuccino to that order."
Yuffie groans.
"Yeah yeah…well, tell me if you seem him, okay?"
"Name?"
"Cloud."
"…As in the fluffy things that float in the sky?"
"Yeah, that was my reaction too when I first met him"
—
"Ahem…Yuffie."
Yuffie doesn't hear her, her head bobbing up and down as she attempts to catch up on some sleep while trying to stay awake..
"…Yuffie. Yuffie!"
Yuffie jolts up.
"Wha…Meg?" She mumbles, yawning as she rubs the tears out of her eyes.
Meg coughs again.
"Yuffie…don't you want to take the cashier? Because I really want to take a break…" Meg asks carefully, tilting her head subtly to something…
…Yuffie gasps, suddenly awake. For at the end of the line, staring into space, was Cloud. (Ha...ha...ha...It be fluffly thing! ...Whoa, she was tired.)
"Oh my gawd…thank you…" Yuffie lets out in a hushed whisper and her eyes are riveted on the man. Meg just gives a smile.
"Anytime. But if you don't take that cashier in two seconds, I might change my mind…" Meg warns.
Yuffie's at the counter before Meg can even finish her threat.
"YO! Welcome to the Olympus Coliseum Coffeeshop! Now hurry up and give me your order."
—
Yuffie swears it was eternity before Cloud came up. She can feel her heart beating fast, like as fast as OMGDOODI'MGOINGTODIE fast and all the words that she had planned are suddenly running away and…
OhmygawdI'mgoing to die. Oh my gawd I'm going to die in a coffeeshop because the plan is going to fail and I'm never going to escape and when I grow old I'm going to be a pervert old lady cause I'll be drooling over all the hot girls and…MY GAWD I'M GOING CRAZY AND I'M GOING TO DIE…
"A small cup of green tea plea—"
"Are you okay?" She blurts out, before she can stop herself. Immediately, she slaps her hand over her mouth.
…Ever have a moment when you're battling the voice in your head and you accidentally talk to yourself out loud…?
…Yeah. Nothing else to be said.
She busies herself with the cup, because man, was that label just to pretty…and look! That "y" had a little loop…yay for loops…
"So, how's life? Good? Yeah, I'm sure. By the way, what are you doing in the Coliseum? After all, it's pretty much dead, save for the construction going on…"
She puts the cup on the counter, about to hand it to him, when she stops. She's waiting for something…Oh yeah, she asked him a question. Right.
She looks at him, her gaze flickering briefly on his eyes before settling on his hair. She's not going to let him get away without some piece of information.
"…So?"
She wonders if she's pissing him off by withholding his drink for him. She wonders why he's so silent.
She wonders why she suddenly wants to call him OrangyMcOrange. His hair really did remind her of an orange somehow…
"I work here."
Yuffie pauses for a moment, processing his words.
"You're helping rebuild the Coliseum?" She pries. Each thing he says is only a chain to another question and another question…she wonders if she'll ever find an answer.
His eyes seem to narrow, and suddenly it's like there a wall falling down between them.
"…How much?" He asks, his eyes glancing down at his drink in her possession.
Yuffie suddenly realizes she's still holding onto his drink, her hands flying off like fire.
"50 munny."
As he puts the munny down, she feels like taking the cup and pouring it over his head while yelling at him to come home already so she could get a decent excuse to go home and so Aerith would stop worrying about him and so Tifa would stop tiring herself out and so Squall would stop having to take care of everything all the time and…
"Thanks."
As he walks away, Yuffie feels like hitting herself. She feels like she let everyone down, like she had a chance to bring him back but didn't…
…Because she was too scared?
She blinks and he's suddenly just another back in the crowd of unfamiliar strangers.
...She'll see him again.
Because that's how fairytales work. She'll see him again, and she'll slap him silly until he realizes what a stupid idiot he's been…
She'll see him again.
And once she sees him again, she'll make sure that when he walks away from her, she doesn't feel so bad.
Once she sees him again…
Maybe someday she'll believe in her own words.
AN: Whoa. This is really bad. Like yuck. (I was challenged to write a Clouffie with a non-emo Cloud and a non-hyper Yuffie. I so very much failed. :D) Yeah...It's not done, so I'd like any pieces of advice on what to work on.
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