Linked to "A Beautiful Friendship"

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

Enjoy.

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Proposal Misunderstanding

Cloud and Aerith were both at the church, happily tending the blossoming flowers together like they always did every day. The two did a lot of things together; they were like two peas stuck in one pod, siblings from another mother, best friends forever and ever and ever…and they always had fun.

Cloud had finished watering a small patch of flowers when he had saw a bud beginning to blossom in the light of the sun. His eyes widened in fascination as he made his way to the bud and crouched down looking at it closely with his giant blue eyes in awe. "Hey Aerith, come over here…" He was entranced by the way the bud had glistened in the sunlight but was still able to prompt Aerith to come over. The young girl walked over to her friend and kneeled down beside him, she tilted her head to the side and looked at Cloud. "What is it?" All she got as a response was his small finger pointing to a small bloom in the sunlight. She laughed.

Hearing his friend's laughter, he looked up to her with confusion written all over his face and asked her. "What are you laughing about?" Aerith replied between fits of laughter. "You, Cloud." His face scrunched up as a reflex to her reply and he pretended to be angry, glaring at her with slight annoyance as she continued to laugh. All of a sudden her laughing ceased and she stared at him with her intricate jade green eyes, he thought he had done something that made her mad and stopped glaring at her. Aerith continued to stare at Cloud and began to lean in closer to him, he slowly backed away from her and gulped in fear.

What is she doing? Is she going to hurt me? I'm sorry Aerith, I didn't mean to glare at you!

He bit his lower lip in worry as he continued to back away from the in-coming Aerith. He was literally balancing on his heels and was about to fall when Aerith stopped advancing on him and smiled ever so sweetly. Clasping her hands together, she joyfully chirruped aloud. "Cloud, let's get married!"

What?

He lost balance and fell on his back, this was the second time the flower bed had cushioned his fall. As he looked up to the hole in the roof, Aerith's voice repeated in his mind.

Cloud, let's get married! Cloud let's get married!…

What in the world was she thinking?

Cloud continued to stare at the hole, he was so confused that he didn't think of getting back up. Green eyes popped over him, blocking the hole he was staring at. He was now looking into Aerith's eyes which looked more amused than serious, the sight relieved him somehow. Oh… She's only joking…

"I'm not joking!" He widened his eyes in shock and almost fainted at the seriousness of Aerith's tone. Grabbing his sunshine bright hair, Cloud finally sat up and playfully bonked Aerith on the head. "Are you crazy? We're too young to get married! What's wrong with you today, Aerith?" Cloud hadn't known Aerith for long but he knew sure enough that she wasn't the type to say things like that especially at such a random time!

Aerith held her head where Cloud had bonked her and looked at him with sad eyes. The way he responded both surprised and saddened her. She pursed her lips and averted her gaze. "You don't like me then…" Once again, Cloud's eyes widened in shock and surprise. He grabbed her arm and pulled her in just close enough to put his hand on her forehead. While feeling her temperature, he blurted out his worries rather quickly, Aerith could barely understand what he was saying.

"Are you okay, Aerith? Are you sick? Did you fall on your head while coming here today? Maybe I should bring you back home!" His words were so fast and strung with distress that Aerith ignored it and replied with her own answer. "But, but… You don't want to marry me!" She tore away from Cloud's hand and looked at him with saddened eyes. "If you don't want to marry me then that means you don't like me, Cloud!" She was on the verge of tears now and that affected Cloud greatly. He looked at her, shocked for the millionth time, and muttered the one thing that came across his mind.

"You really did hit your head while coming here today, didn't you?"

Aerith's mouth went agape and she glared at him furiously. She balled her hand into a tight fist and was ready to slug Cloud in the eye for his lack of compassion but before she could, Cloud quickly shook his head and began waving his hands in front of him. He gulped, realizing that his response was stupid and began to explain.

"I-I mean! Just because I don't want to marry you doesn't mean I don't like you Aerith! You're my best friend! Of course, I like you! In fact, I like you so much, I think I love you!"

Went a little too far there…

It was Aerith's turn to be shocked, "Did you just say…" Her voice was barely audible as she was still registering what Cloud had recently said in her mind. Before she could finish her sentence, Cloud quickly denied it with a rapid shake of his head and an embarrassed, "No!" But the blush deepening on his face told Aerith otherwise. She stared at him, an amused grin was stretching across her face. All of her denials had quickly diminished as she watched Cloud struggle with trying to hide his blush which Aerith knew all too well as to why he was doing so. She giggled at his silly attempt and stopped him by grabbing his hand in hers.

The way her hands held his made him blush even more but he didn't care because when he saw her lips curve up into that gentle smile he always loved, his heart went 'thumpity thumpity thump' and that was all he could think about. Aerith looked at Cloud reassuringly and tightened her hand around his, she grinned at him with a smile that rivaled the sun and finally spoke. "It's okay Cloud because…"

Quickly wrapping her arms around Cloud's neck, she pulled him into a friendly hug and held him tight in her arms while exclaiming the last bit of her sentence with the utmost of joy and naiveté.

"I love you too!"

Aerith laughed gleefully while Cloud's face continued to shine a bright tomato red but it wasn't long after until he joined his best friend in a delightful laughter that somehow turned into a playful game of tag which in turn, came out to be yet another day filled of enjoyment for the two best friends.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the lack of updates and stories. School suddenly dumped a bunch of mid terms and homework on me but it's over now.
Anyways, this story is linked to my other story, A Beautiful Friendship (which I will be updating soon), meaning that Cloud and Aerith are both in their young ages... I think it was...6 or 7? Somewhere around there, which explains their playfullness and naiveté. I tried to make them both cute, dunno if I accomplished that but if I did, please tell me through a review ! - ahem...- xD
See you in the next story!