"Aeris, I wish you'd stop seeing that Zack boy. How can you be certain he won't let them know where to find you?" Them meaning Shin-Ra's goons. Aeris wished her mother would stop harping on about this, would let her be normal, at least for a while, and she resisted the urge to just obey and break up with Zack so that her mother wouldn't worry about her as much.
"Mom, they already know where to find me, you know that as well as I do. But Tseng's the one who's in charge of looking for me, and you know that he's doing his best not to actually catch me. Zack's another excuse he can use for his 'failure'; as long as I'm involved with a SOLDIER he can say that he's worried about how Zack would react if I 'disappeared' somehow." And this was one thing that really should be Aeris' choice and her choice alone, not the sort of thing her mother should be trying to control - even if she understood the reasons behind that attempt at control, and even if she'd seen other girls deal with their mothers trying to do the same, for far less reason. "I'll be careful, I promise. But it would be a lot worse if I hurt him by breaking it off now, don't you see?"
"You shouldn't have got involved with him to start with, but you're right. Just don't let him force you into anything, don't let the risk of hurting him push you into doing something you don't want to."
"I won't Mom, I promise." She was the one who'd decided that her first time was going to be tonight, with Zack, and he'd accepted her choice easily enough, almost too easily but she didn't want to think about that. It had to just be that he'd liked her taking the initiative with him, or an eagerness to get laid, although that wasn't too likely since he'd been honest about having another lover. She'd told him about her fears, why he'd had to work so hard to earn her trust, and he'd been honestly mystified about why Hojo would want her, so she knew Zack wasn't involved with a plan to capture her, and she liked that, liked how it made her feel normal. "I have to go now, okay?"
"I suppose. But I want you back by eleven at the very latest."
"Yes Mom." Aeris kissed her mom before she went out to meet Zack at the end of the garden, rather than make him come to collect her at the door and face her mother.
"Hey babe. When do you have to be back?" Zack cupped her cheek with one hand, and she leaned into that hand, nuzzling it for a brief moment.
"Eleven, at the latest, but...ten might be smarter." She was still only sixteen after all, and she had no intention of antagonising her mother any further when it came to Zack, unless she had to.
"So I can make a point of delivering you back to your mother early, all safe and sound, and totally unharmed? Yeah, sounds good to me. Want a hand up?"
"I'm not that small." Aeris pulled away from Zack's offered hand, and climbed onto his motorbike herself while he held it steady, putting her helmet on before pushing back to let him take his place in front of her. "So, where are you planning to take me tonight?" And she skimmed a hand over Zack's flat stomach, resting just above his groin to make it clear what she meant.
"I've booked a hotel for the night. I figured for our first time we should do something a bit better than going to one of those sleazy pay by the hour places and I can afford it." And it wasn't as if they had anywhere private they could go apart from a hotel, or perhaps the church where Aeris grew her flowers.
"Mmm. Sounds good." Aeris spoke into the quiet after Zack had turned the engine on, while it was idling before they set off, and she shifted her grip on him to something a bit more secure. "I'm ready to go if you are." Aeris never had any attention to spare for conversation when she was riding with Zack, he drove too fast for that, and she needed all her focus to stay on behind him. But it was certainly exciting, and she laughed as Zack handed the bike's keys over to the valet when they got to the hotel, heart pounding with the adrenaline and anticipation.
There weren't any problems getting to their room, even if the receptionist looked down her nose a bit at Aeris she obviously knew better than to challenge a SOLDIER over his choice of lover, and Aeris could put up with an idiot's snobbery, or better still, ignore it. The room was pretty simple, but the furniture and the bedcovers were better quality than anything Aeris had ever seen, in a way that impressed Aeris more than any level of ostentation would have.
"Like it?" There was a hint of anxiety in Zack's voice, and Aeris smiled to make him feel better.
"Yes, it's elegant I suppose, simple, but all really good quality, not over the top like I was scared it might be." Like she'd heard the rooms in the Honeybee and places like that were.
"Did you really think I'd take you somewhere trashy like that?" Now there was a hint of a pout in Zack's voice, contrasting with the teasing grin on his face. "After I said I didn't want our first time somewhere sleazy?"
"Have you seen some of the programmes they put on about ShinRa execs?" Aeris rolled her eyes, thinking of the broadcasts she sometimes caught glimpses of through the shop windows when she was selling her flowers. "Everything's so over the top in their houses, but you can't exactly say that's sleazy, can you?"
"Well, not to their faces anyway. So, any preferences?" He was giving her the choice again, making sure it was her decision what they did here, just as it had been her decision when they'd consummate.
"Kiss me." She pulled him to her, knowing that he was allowing it; then waited for Zack to make the next move, to kiss her as ordered. But he was far too gentle for what Aeris wanted. She intended to lose her virginity tonight, and she wasn't weak enough to need the reassurance and coddling he seemed to be offering her with his almost tentative kiss, barely stroking her lips with his tongue before he tried to withdraw.
Aeris didn't let him, one hand tangled in his hair, just short of pulling at those wild spikes, she pressed her lips to his as he pulled back, hard enough that he had to open to her probing tongue, or know that she'd bruised herself on their teeth, and with her other hand she pressed against his groin, assessing his growing arousal. When he began kissing her back properly she moved that hand, and started stripping him, giving up her grip on his hair more reluctantly, and in the course of taking his clothes off - and letting him take hers off - she moved them around so that his back was to the bed.
She'd stripped him down to his boots and trousers, and he'd gotten her down to her bra and panties when she had them both in the positions she wanted and she pushed him backwards, onto the bed, falling down on top of him. He caught her by the waist, grinning up at her and she pushed herself back up to a sitting position with her hands on his shoulders.
"Did you mean to do that?"
"Yes. You don't mind letting me be on top at first, do you?" Aeris offered a mischievous grin that she knew Zack liked a lot, running her hands down his chest, tracing those wonderful muscles of his.
"Not at all. But this isn't the best position; want to get off so I can move?"
"Stay there until I can get you naked, then move." But Aeris wriggled back off Zack's legs, and started by pulling off his boots, setting them down beside the bed, and stuffing his socks into them before she got to the good part, unfastening his trousers. She grinned with delight once she'd got his flies open and slid a hand inside to stroke his dick. "Going commando, SOLDIER?"
"Yeah." He thrust up against her hand, and gave a soft groan when she withdrew it to pull his trousers down and off his legs, taking advantage of his raised hips.
"Good." She stepped back then, and watched Zack's eyes as she unfastened her bra, stroking her breasts as she pulled it off, and then stepped out of her panties, all while Zack moved to lie fully on the bed. She ran her fingers between her legs, checking to see if she was as ready as she thought she was, and enjoying the little gasp of pleasure Zack made as she licked her juices from her fingers before crawling onto the bed to join him. "Just stay where you are, let me do this, please?"
He just lay there obediently, not even replying as she moved over him, straddling his hips, and reaching down to guide him into her, and that felt wrong to Aeris, even if she couldn't say why. It hurt when she pushed herself onto him, and she moved as swiftly as she could, trying to get the bad part over with. She couldn't help but whimper though as she pushed up, letting Zack slide out of her, only to push down just as fast and hard as the first time. And it was as much frustration as pain. It was supposed to get better, so why wasn't it?
"Hey, Aeris, this might be easier for you if I was on top. I promise I won't hurt you."
"I know you won't." She snapped the words out as she pushed up again, too slowly to feel good, before slamming down onto him one more time. "I wouldn't be doing this if I thought otherwise." But easier would be nice, so she leaned forward to kiss him, tangling her hand in his hair again, and maintaining her grip when she pulled back to speak. "Go ahead then."
It was just a little frightening how easily he rolled them both so he was on top, but Aeris knew she could trust Zack, and she let her hand fall from his hair as she waited to see what he would do. He kissed her, far more carefully than she'd kissed him, but she didn't try to deepen the kiss, or make it more forceful, enjoying the way he skimmed one hand down along her ribs to rest on her hip before he started to move. Every single movement he made told her how much control he was exerting, how much he was holding back and she could only put up with it for so long before his kisses and caresses stopped distracting her.
"Zack, stop playing about and just take me already!"
"You sure?" He looked a bit shocked, and actually frozein place, instead of moving the way she wanted to, so Aeris didn't hesitate to dig her fingernails into skin before pulling them down his back.
"Yes! Move!" She was tempted to use her other hand to hit him, in the shoulder, but she knew better. It wouldn't actually hurt Zack, but it was the principle of the matter. And what she had done worked. He kissed her almost viciously this time, and started moving faster, harder, nearly hitting that spot every time, but not quite. But when she started to move her hand between their bodies, so that she could get the extra stimulation she needed Zack grabbed her wrist, pinning it to the bed beside her.
"Let go."
"No. You wanted rough, you'll get rough." She hissed at that, and bit him, not hard enough to taste blood, but enough that he let her go, and she moved her hand to his shoulder, wrapping her legs around his waist as she tried to adjust the angle for more pleasure. "That works." And he didn't protest it when Aeris used her nails on him again as she finally climaxed, more violently than she'd expected. Or when she rolled them back over so that she could ride him until he finished, leaning forward to lie on top of him afterwards, but before disengaging.
He reached up, resting one hand between her shoulders while the other one stroked her hip, a faintly dazed smile on his face, and she kissed him once more, slowly this time, enjoying the hint of languor in his response. "That was amazing love. I've never felt like that before."
"Not even with this other lover you told me about?" Aeris hadn't expected to hear that, to learn that she'd given her SOLDIER such a new experience.
"I...no." He shook his head, regret and confusion in his eyes, and that was enough to firm her resolve to make the request she'd decided on.
"Then...do you think it would be safe for me to get involved with your lover as well? Knowing that I can't afford to let Hojo capture me again, and being with you is already coming dangerously close to betraying myself to ShinRa." She'd trust Zack's judgement on this, she loved him too much not to and he seemed to sense how important his answer would be to her, because he made a point of taking the time to consider her questions.
"No, it wouldn't be safe." Zack clearly hated telling her that, and Aeris wondered if he already knew what she was going to ask him to do. This was it, her last chance to change her mind, but she wouldn't, she couldn't, she'd agonised over her choice for long enough already.
"I hate to ask this, but...will you stop sleeping with him then? I'm...just not comfortable sharing you with someone I can't be with as well. At least, not someone you sleep with on a regular basis." She could handle it if he had one night stands while he was assigned away from her, or fuck buddy relationships with other SOLDIERs, but this was more than that, and she'd rather risk losing Zack now than worry about a lover she'd never see, not for long enough to get to know him.
"I...can you give me time to think about it. Please?"
"Yes, I can do that." Aeris tried to hide her relief at Zack's request, but he could probably see it. "Only, I do want to know what you've decided on our next date."
"That sounds fair." Aeris kissed Zack at that, once she'd got the implied promise that she needed, and from there they moved on into a more gentle bout of lovemaking.