drabble no. 11: Picnic

Disclaimer: I own nothing. :(

When Life Gives You Lemons...

Cloud was staring outside, his eyes were set on a large tree stump found in the back of his yard which ruined his view of Aerith's garden. He drummed his fingers on the table irritably as he tried to think up of a way to get rid of that ugly thing. He finally came up with a great idea and immediately stood up to get started, his mind was so fixated on getting rid of the stump that he didn't realize that Aerith had walked down the stairs and was waiting for him to greet her.

He passed by her without a word, the brunette stood still and watched as her beloved opened the door. "Where you going?" She asked, curiosity got to her.

Cloud, not realizing Aerith was downstairs, jumped at her bright-sounding voice and turned around to look at her. He smiled, barely, and answered her with a few words.

"That tree stump has to go."

With that, he went outside the door to go retrieve a shovel and start shoveling the trunk out of the ground. Aerith blinked twice as the door closed shut, wondering what in the world Cloud was talking about. She crossed her arms over her chest, placed one finger on her chin and knitted her brows together,

"Tree stump…?"

Sounds of shoveling could be heard from the backyard of their house, Aerith finally knew what Cloud meant back then and watched as he created a hole in her beautiful backyard along with piles of dirt to make it look even more ugly. She shook her head at the mess he was making and sighed, "He's only making it worse…" Turning on the tap, she continued to wash the dishes which she used as a task to keep her from watching Cloud wreck the beauty that was once her garden…

--

Dusting off his hands, Cloud looked at his accomplishment smugly. The stump was still there… but everything around it was gone! He had created a huge hole surrounding the stump and wasn't aware of the mess he had made, he was too engrossed by the fact that he was going to get rid of that tree stump once and for all. Cracking his knuckles, he positioned himself sturdily in front of the stump and, wrapping his arms around it, he tried to pull it out with his own brute strength. He grunted, pulled with all his might, sweat began to drip from his forehead as only one thing was going through his mind while he pulled.

This stump has got to go! I'm going to get rid of it once and for all! This tree stump… has.. got.. to… GO-oo! Oof!

He found himself on the ground, the upper part of his shirt was moist with perspiration, he had failed to pull out the tree stump… Glaring at it ferociously with his blue orbs, Cloud stood up and attempted to pull it out again. His voice strained as he pulled hard on the stump causing Aerith to look out the window again.

Aerith held her face and shook her head in shame at Cloud. "Does he really think he can pull a tree stump out of the ground like that?" She whispered to herself as she continued to watch her husband struggle with the tree stump, "I thought you were smarter than that Cloud…" Aerith looked away and sighed, disappointedly. Walking to the fridge, she opened it and saw her ready-to-go lunch sitting on the many shelves the box contained. She was hoping to go on a picnic today but if Cloud kept up with the whole "the stump has to go" thing, she'd never be able to leave. Seeing a few lemons, she decided to make some lemonade, perhaps that would coax Cloud into leaving the stump alone, then she could go on her picnic!

She jumped at the sound of the door slamming shut. Aerith closed the fridge, and walked towards the hallway with a few lemons in hand. She saw Cloud walking towards her and smiled gently at him, noticing that he was annoyed beyond belief. Despite how he was feeling, she thought this was the perfect time to voice her plans for the day but first...

"Oh Cloud. Did you give up with the tree stump? I hope you fill the hole up again, I don't it to stay in our backyard. "

Cloud stopped walking and looked at her, his eyes were still glaring though not towards her.

"By the way, how does a picnic sound today? Maybe we could go somewhere else, instead of the lake we always go to." Aerith locked her eyes with Cloud's and a delightful smile illuminated her face. Cloud didn't smile back though, he continued to frown and said one thing before leaving to retrieve something.

"That stump… Has got to go…"

Aerith watched as he retreated up the stairs and sighed, boy was he ever determined to get rid of that stump… She shook her head again and went back into the kitchen, knowing that she wouldn't be able to go on her picnic today. "I guess it can't be helped…" She muttered to herself before pulling out a few more things to fix up a nice, cold lemonade.

--

Cloud came out of the house once again, brandishing his Buster sword at the stump violently as he stared at it with sheer loathsome.

"Ha-hah, you're definitely going to go now!"

Aerith came out just in time to stop Cloud from slicing the stump to bits. She yelled, running towards him with a tray of lemonade in hand.

"Cloud! Stop!"

Just as he was about to slash the tree stump, he paused after hearing Aerith's cry. He looked at her confusedly, and regained his normal stance when she ran up to him with the lemonade. Aerith stared at him, shocked at what he was about to do. She handed him a glass of lemonade while questioning his actions.

"Cloud, do you really think chopping up a tree stump to bits is going to help?" Cloud grabbed the glass of lemonade and remained silent, he continued to look at Aerith, knowing that she had more to say.

"It's only going to make our yard look worse, I mean… You've already made it worse by digging up the hole and throwing dirt everywhere!"

Her voice had switched to a rather angered tone and Cloud looked around him, realizing that what she had said was true. He bit his lower lip, looking down to the ground in shame. "I'm sorry, I didn't realiz—"

"I don't see why you always have to get rid of something that isn't potentially bad in the first place! I mean, it may seem bad but there's always a good side to things, you just have to take the time to think about it!"

It was obvious that she was annoyed because she didn't notice Cloud's apology. Cloud continued to look down in shame, occasionally sipping on the lemonade but he never took his attention off of Aerith. What she was saying seemed to have caught him attention. Aerith grabbed her own lemonade glass now and lifted Cloud's chin so that he would look at her. She stuck the glass in his face and continued to fume.

"Take this lemonade for example. I had two lemons that I didn't need and it was crowding my refrigerator but instead of throwing it out, I used it to make lemonade. See? If I hadn't thought of a good alternative for these lemons, I would've thrown it away and wasted it and we wouldn't have this lemonade right now…. Do you understand, Cloud?"

Cloud slowly nodded his head, and eventually smiled, Aerith made a very good point. He took a sip of his lemonade and grabbed Aerith's waist, dragging her with him back to the house.

"You're right. I'm sorry, Aerith. I'll go fill the hole back up but in the meantime, let's enjoy our lemonade."

He chuckled lightly and held her closely to his side, planting a small kiss on the top of her head. Aerith smiled, and took a sip of her lemonade before whispering something to Cloud.

"When life gives you lemons…"

She rested her head on Cloud's shoulder and heard him laugh again.

"You make lemonade."

The two walked back to their house and sat down on the sofa, enjoying their lemonade together.

Aerith relaxed on the sofa, reading a magazine while Cloud went outside to fill up the hole and return their backyard to its former glory. She felt accomplished today, having taught Cloud a valuable lesson in life though she still wished she could've gone on that picnic… It was after noon now, even if they went now, the lake was too far away, they wouldn't have made it. The young flower girl sighed, placing the magazine on the table and rested her head against the sofa. Just then, she felt two hands cover her eyes and she screamed in surprise but then a familiar voice had reassured her it was okay.

"Shh, it's just me. I wanna show you something… Keep your eyes closed though, okay?" Aerith nodded and shut her eyes closed under Cloud's hands.

Slowly removing his hands, Cloud confirmed that Aerith closed her eyes and then grabbed her hand to guide her to where they were going. He led her outside, to the garden and stopped in front of a cloth-covered table.

"Okay, open your eyes."

Aerith did as she told and gasped at the unexpected sight. There, standing right before her, was a beautiful table set with plates and forks on opposite sides, and a vase of a flowers standing right in the center. Her picnic lunch was distributed on the plates as well as orange juice poured respectively in the glass wines standing next to the plates.

Cloud smiled at her reaction and gently pushed her to her seat. Aerith sat down, looking at Cloud joyfully but a bit confused. She was about to ask when she saw him shake his head and smile. Cloud sat down and smiled at Aerith, looking at her lovingly.

"I searched for a good side to the tree stump and got this." He looked at the table.

"I realized that it could be a table where we could eat… That way, we could have picnics in our own backyard and still be surrounded by the beautiful things that our own yard possesses." His eyes quickly darted to where the flower garden was and then he looked back Aerith, "Like your beautiful flower garden."

He smiled again and Aerith melted at his thoughtful idea, grinning widely like an idiot.

"Oh Cloud, this is such a great idea. I think it's the best you've come up with yet!" She winked at him, only teasing, and laughed. Cloud pretended to glare at her but ended up laughing along with her. He reached over to Aerith and placed his lips softly on her own. He held her face gently and mumbled something against her lips,

"I think it is, Aerith. The best yet…

He slowly reclined back into his seat, his gaze never leaving hers, and he smiled one last time before stuffing his face with the peanut butter jelly sandwiches that Aerith had prepared earlier.

authors notes: Aww, here's some light fluff from me to you. I haven't written adult CloudxAerith in awhile, I missed it.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please review, if you truly want too. :3

Later days