.

—

.

He wasn't exactly sure how he got into the situation, but he was somewhat sure it had to do with Sephiroth.

Cloud sighs as yet another giggling girl comes up to the table.

"I'll have some punch, thanks!"

As he pours the red juice into the cup for her, he remembers that it had to do with Leon. A bet that he and Sephiroth had made about Leon; Sephiroth had said he would get a date to the prom, Cloud had said he wouldn't. Cloud knew that Leon would be far too lazy to go through the trouble of getting a date.

But then again, he hadn't expecting someone to ask Leon out, Aerith no less.

And so here he was, serving food and drinks at the senior prom. Wearing the lunchlady's apron. And hairnet.

Somehow, he knew, it all made sense but right now he just couldn't understand.

But before he can contemplate his fate even more, another girl comes up. (Perhaps he should be glad it wasn't a guy…?) But this one is different; instead of the usual giggling fangirl (as Sephiroth had so aptly named them), this one seems to be nervous, anxious somehow, and kept glancing over her shoulder to where her group of snickering friends was.

And suddenly, a great feeling of dread descends upon Cloud.

"Could I have some…" The girl quickly glances into his eyes, only to look away in panic when she sees him looking at her. She bites her lip as her eyes fly to look at the dishes. "…Carrots?"

Cloud, blinks his surprise, but then goes to dump some carrots into a cup before handing it off to the girl. She takes it hesitantly and turns to leave—

"Here, take it as a tip!"

And before he can even wonder what happened, the girl is quickly skittering back to wherever she came from. Cloud looks down at his suddenly realizing that a dollar bill has been squashed into it.

It is only when Sephiroth drops by later does he notice the writing on it.

"What, are you charging people now?" Sephiroth asks, seeing the money on the table. "Oh wait, there's something written on it—Picking up girls already?"

Cloud merely shoves Sephiroth away. "No, I'm afraid I'll never be quite the womanizer you are, sorry."

"One day, Cloud, one day," is all Sephiroth says before he goes to mix (and flirt with some girls probably) in the crowd. Cloud can only shake his head, having never been quite able to understand Sephiroth.

Then, his eyes catch sight of the dollar bill, and he can see that Sephiroth was right, something was written on it. Curiously, he picks up and squints as he tries to understand the barely legible black scrawl.

Hey, you. With the wig. Wanna dance?

.

—

.

The Torture, Part II is what Sephiroth calls it as he releases Cloud from his duty of lunchlady to go drown in his anti-socializing tendencies as he is forced to mingle among the crowd of the dance. Oh yes, Cloud and socializing, whatever was he going to do? Man, just because preferred not to interact with others doesn't mean he couldn't.

Still, nonetheless, Cloud goes to search for a nice little hidden corner to disappear into, not really wanting to be approached by girls wanting to dance or something of the like. And luckily, right by the doors, he finds the perfect shadowy little spot to hide in. It is here that he finds that girl, the weird girl who had given him the dollar bill.

She looks much calmer than when he had last seen her, and it is now that he sort of recognizes her. Though it wasn't much of a surprise, considering their small school, he can remember noticing this girl in the hallways. She was always the shortest one of the group, but despite that (or perhaps because of that), she would always be loudly chattering, a big grin splattered across her face. Now however, she seems somewhat less hyper—in fact, the way she's crouching and leaning into the wall makes it seem like she's almost hiding…?

As he nestles himself comfortably against the wall, the girl seems to suddenly notice him, a suspicious sort of gleam seems to enter her eyes. She gives him a long, appraising look and an off-beat moment of silence passes between them. Then, she starts to talk. "I only asked because I was dared to. I really don't want to dance."

Cloud shrugs. He didn't really care, either way.

There is more silence between them. Dance music blasts at the front of the room and Cloud watches the people dancing, his mouth twitching slightly when he catches sight of his friends. It wasn't much of a surprise to find Leon dancing with Aerith, but to see Sephiroth moving along with Tifa of all people—talk about love-hate relationship. He can only wonder who asked who.

Then, he remembers something.

"It's not a wig."

The girl looks up, confusion briefly flickering across her face before recognition seems to sink in. Suddenly, her mouth is open in awe and shock as she gushes, "Wait, so how do you get your hair like that?"

"It's natural." He replies. It a lie, but he's not going to tell this girl that he spent a half of an hour every morning, carefully styling his hair with hair clay to get it to look like that. (Of course, he wouldn't have to do this if his mom didn't feel the need to test her hair-cutting skills by attempting to layer his hair every once in a while—and failing.)

The girl scoffs. "Yeah, sure. If you can prove to me that's natural—hell, I'd even kiss Leon to see that."

Her comment piques his interest, and tries to imagine Leon's reaction—probably utter utter horror and disgust. Then he would probably go to re-tousle his hair after he was done freaking out, being the girl he was. Cloud glances over at the girl beside him curiously. "Would you really?"

The girl's face flushes slightly as alarm replaces the disbelief, her arms waving back and forth as she stammers, "N-no way! I'm just kidding! Like I'd want to kiss that guy!"

Cloud breaks his gaze with the girl, feeling the end of the conversation. "Pity."

And once again, it is quiet between the two, and Cloud can't help but feel somewhat let down. He sort of wanted some conversation, some way to pass the time—if he was going to be forced to stay at this thing, then he wanted at least something to do.

"So…what's your name?"

Clouds looks over the girl, surprised at her attempt at another topic. Perhaps she too was forced to come? Wouldn't be a surprise, considering how she too was hiding in the corner, probably from her friends.

"Cloud." He replies shortly, and when he sees her grin, he can already anticipate her reply.

"Cloud? Like the—"

"What's your name?" He interrupts before the girl can complete her crack. And people wonder why he's so anti-social.

The girl just continues to grin knowingly. "Yuffie."

.

—

.

But of course Yuffie knew who Cloud Strife was. Everyone knew who Sephiroth and his group of friends were. She had only asked to try to start the conversation again.

Sephiroth, Leon and Cloud were one of those guys that everyone knew about. Considering the overly large female population and the unfortunate lack of even decent-looking guys, those three were hailed as the untouchable holy oh my gawd freaking HOT GODS. It was one of those things were nearly everyone had a crush on them, even it was only a second before the person realized, "OUT OF MY LEAGUE BY THREE UNIVERSES" and all that.

Yuffie's crush, however, had been a rather on-and-off one with Leon that had started ever since he had insulted her in 9th grade English. Which is why, as she is speaking here with Cloud, she doesn't feel that uncomfortable. She had always regarded Cloud as a bit too quiet for her tastes anyway.

"You're not going to dance?" Cloud asks, startling Yuffie out of her thoughts. Yuffie shakes her head, a grimace settling on her face.

"Yeah right. My friends can go have fun with that by themselves. I'll just stay here taking pictures," She says, holding up the camera around her neck. "Oh that's right. I'm supposed to be taking pictures. Smile!"

And as she takes a picture of Cloud he doesn't move, merely blinking owlishly as the flash blinds him momentarily.

"You're part of the yearbook staff?" He questions. Yuffie half-shrugs, half-sighs.

"Yeah, kinda got tired of the guidance counselor complaining all the time that I didn't have any extracurricular activites. That and it gives a decent excuse not to dance."

From beside her she can hear Cloud chuckle—whoa, wait, Cloud can laugh? And it's the type of laugh that almost seems to make her hear beat faster, the type of laugh that makes her straighten up—a laugh that can shake the world.

(And now she knows she's been watching waaay too many movies lately.)

"Haha…She's been bothering me about what college I plan to go to," Cloud says, running a hand through his hair. Yuffie perks up.

"You too! Let me guess, she's trying to "subtly" push you towards State, right?"

"Yeah…the same for you?"

Yuffie shakes her head. "Nah…she's warning me about taking a year off; says I should stay in school until I'm at least 20."

And just as Yuffie is about to go on, her eyes spot a certain group of girls staring at her and—oh crap. They found her.

She stands up suddenly, a sheepish grin on her face. "Ahaha…I just realized I promised I had sort of promised my friends that…I'd…" She risks a glance at Kairi who was walking closer and closer with a particularly menacing look on her face. "Yeah, maybe I'll see you later!"

And with that, she takes off running to another hiding spot before they can catch her. Sneaking one last look at Cloud, she finds herself somewhat surprised when she sees him giving her a short wave.

Right. Now to get away...

.

—

.

Later, at the end of the prom, Sephiroth finds Cloud. Cloud pushes himself up, stretching his arms out as he yawns a bit. Finally, the thing was over.

"So, did you have fun?" Sephiroth asks as they walk out. Cloud pauses for a moment, thinking it over.

"Maybe."

.

—

.

Days later, Yuffie transfers the pictures onto her computer and sifts through them, looking for something that might be useful for the yearbook.

…Damn. She didn't take very many at all did she.

However, her mouse stops when she finds the one picture of Cloud she took. For a moment, she's just looking over it, thinking about their conversation and can't help but get somewhat giddy. She actually talked to Cloud Strife! THE Cloud Strife! He was no Leon, but…HELL YEAH! YUFFIE IS AWESOME!

She decides to keep that picture for herself.

.

—

.

Author's Note: This was a challenge fic...that was due yesterday. Ehehe. But yeah, I didn't give the prompt justice AT ALL. ("Hey you, with the wig, want to dance?") I mean, it could have turned out so much funnier than it did but...gah, I must be out of practice, not having written a Clouffie for a while. I just couldn't figure out how to end it! But yeah. Feel free to give me your honest opinion on it.

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