Drabble #65: Balloon
Summary: Whatever Aeris wanted, he would give her.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot. Characters and places belong to SquareEnix.
"Cloud?" she whispered softly as she clasped his hand delicately and used their entwined fingers to point ahead of them. Cloud looked up, following the direction she was pointing and trying to ignore the way his heart had sped up at her touch. All he could see was a balloon stand.
"What?" he asked dumbly.
"The balloons!" she replied with mock annoyance, smiling so that he knew she was joking. He raised an eyebrow and looked between the stand and the girl who was staring expectantly at him. He scratched the back of his head with his spare hand before clearing his throat.
"What about them?"
She rolled her eyes. "Can I have one? Please! It'll only be one gil from the fund!" she begged. Cloud blinked and his expression seemed uneasy.
"Aeris, wouldn't that cause problems travelling?" he asked slowly, glancing at her again. She pouted and lowered her eyes with a defeated expression. Cloud felt guilty. He hadn't meant to make her feel sad! "I mean, of course you can have one!"
Her eyes lit up. "Really? Thanks Cloud, you're the best!" she squealed, hugging him tightly. He stood rigid for a moment, his cheeks burning from her enthusiastic gesture. He came to his senses when he saw her peering at him with an amused expression.
"Money, Cloud?" she hinted playfully.
He scrambled into the money pouch by his side and handed her one gold coin. She smiled gratefully and skipped off to the stand. Cloud watched her, unable to stop the small smile on his face. Sometimes, Aeris acted like the twenty two year old she was and sometimes, like now, she would act like a child. Cloud didn't mind though. Aeris hardly ever annoyed him like most of his team did. He glanced at her again, watching as she picked out a large blue balloon and his smile grew a little wider as he made a silent promise:
Whatever his Aeris wanted, she would get.