Drabble #15: Balloon
Summary: Who would have thought that Cloud would be scared of balloons…?
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot. Characters and places belong to SquareEnix
The flower girl smiled as her eyes rested on a stall ahead of her that was selling balloons. They had always been one of her favourite things to play with when she was little, the different shapes and colours had always fascinated her.
She ordered a large round pink one with "Girls Rule" written on it in gold writing and handed over her Gil, walking around the Gold Saucer with interest as she ignored the strange looks directed at her. It was if they had never seen a twenty-two year old woman with a large pink balloon before.
Eventually though, she got bored as she just ended up in the same place repeatedly so she headed back to the hotel, the string holding the balloon held tightly in her hand as a large gust of artificial wind hit her. However, Aeris was not bothered by this and just entered the hotel, knowing it was one of Dio's little tricks to try to scare people.
The reaction she got from Cloud upon entering the hallway was not at all, what she expected. She had expected him to glance at her, nod to show he had acknowledged her presence and if she was lucky, a small smile, or a 'hello.' She did not expect him to suddenly stop in his tracks or his eyes to become wide as they stayed fixed to the balloon.
"Cloud?" she pressed after a moment of awkward silence. Cloud's eyes slowly moved to meet hers.
"Can you…get that out of here…please?" he asked, taking a step back. Aeris blinked and glanced between him and her balloon.
"What? Cloud, it's only a balloon!" she replied with a small laugh. Cloud shook his head.
"I don't like them," he muttered with frown. Aeris stared at him hard for a couple of moments before it dawned on her.
"You're not scared of them, are you?" she asked softly. His inability to answer made it clear that he was. His eyes darted towards the balloon every couple of seconds in nervous manner and Aeris had to suppress a giggle.
"It was when the war was going on at home and we could hear the guns firing and then once they stopped. There was a balloon by the fire and the heat burst it. It frightened the hell out of me because I thought it was a gunshot. It sounded like one!" he defended himself, as if he knew that she was dying to laugh at his odd phobia. However, she merely shrugged and kept her smile under control.
"Well, I'll put it in my room then," she assured him, walking up the stairs, and keeping distance between him and her balloon. She smirked slightly and shook her head.
Who would have thought that Cloud would be scared of balloons?