Chapter 3
I'd never realised it was possible to make those blue Shinra uniforms look attractive...
She realised she was staring just before Tifa clocked her as they adjusted their stolen uniforms. Aerith hoped her cheeks didn't look as red as they felt hot, even as she brushed imaginary dust from her sailor outfit.
It didn't really make any sense; the bulky blue uniform covered much of what she'd categorised as the parts that made up the whole of Tifa's stunning beauty: shoulders, arms, midriff (oh the midriff!), ridiculously long legs... Even that luscious mane of thick raven hair had been stuffed up into the helmet.
But somehow, Tifa in that uniform...
"I can't believe I'm wearing this thing," the fighter muttered, straightening her jacket. "I mean, I get it; it's a good plan. I just..."
"I know," Aerith said gently, only just about resisting the temptation to rest a hand-of-understanding on the younger girl's arm. "I know, they're horrible and they represent horrible things." Red eyes met hers in the cracked and dusty mirror they were stood in front of. She couldn't help smiling a little, not only at the thought she was about to voice but at the fact that she knew she could probably get away with it now. "At least you somehow manage to make it look good."
That darling little blush flooded across Tifa's cheeks the moment the words were out of Aerith's mouth, but it was accompanied by the most gloriously bashful smile that any human had ever possessed.
Aerith was fairly certain that if she'd said something like that a month or so ago, the fighter's response would have been much more prickly, defensive even. Something had softened the younger girl; she didn't know whether it was a specific event or merely the fact that they were no longer strangers but Tifa, who she had barely managed to make crack a smile in Midgar, was slowly beginning to let her in.
"Hardly," the young fighter protested, in obvious and adorably bashful pleasure. "Although, you in that sailor suit..."
Tifa's blush intensified and Aerith almost couldn't believe the way the martial artist's dark eyes rested on her for a moment, as if on the precipice of saying something even more blush-inducing.
"Y'all ready in there?" Barret's question was accompanied by the pounding hammer of his fist on the door. "Cos we need to get goin' if we gonna catch that boat!"
"Uh-" Aerith tried to speak but made a rather strangled squawking sound instead. "We'll be there in a sec!"
Tifa's brilliantly burning red eyes held hers for just a split second longer before she cleared her throat, eyes dropping to grab their packs from the floor.
"Here," she said, holding Aerith's pack out to her. "We should go."
Aerith did her best not to think about the clichéd 'spark-of-electricity' in her skin as her fingers brushed Tifa's to take the pack; she was unsuccessful.
