Hello! As from the summary, welcome to this AU mess I'd like to call my second Clerith multi-chaptered fic. For those who are big fans of INE (my other clerith story), this story came to be because of the false promise I gave to my early readers about how INE was supposed to be lighthearted and fluffy. Guys, I have come to write this story to redeem myself LOOOL (since INE is coming to a close). Taking a break from the OG timeline for a bit, I present to you this college-based fic that will hopefully bring smiles, warmth, and a little bit of angst into all of your guys' hearts xDDDDDDD Hopefully I don't disappoint.
As always, leave a review to let me know what you guys think of this new fic! Because haha, it's time for the insecurities again that come with a new story :) Without further ado, here's to a new fic!
P.S. updates for this fic will be relatively slow because I am working on the last two chapters of INE, but the moment it finishes, I will pick this one up ASAP! Stay tuned!
Cloud Strife was not happy with the second cup of coffee he had downed in less than thirty minutes in the library for a variety of reasons.
The first was that he was now horribly caffeinated. He had his first cup of coffee two hours ago, so stacking it up with another cup so soon made his chest all fluttery and muscles all jittery like some hyperactive kid who got fed too much chocolate mixed with some caramel.
The second was that the asshole who made this second cup—he wished he had paid attention to the guy's face so that he could forever blacklist him—somehow screwed up the filtering, so he drank remnants of actual grinds of the coffee beans with every gulp he took. It was delicious, really, the feeling eerily similar to sand just running down his throat, scratching every corner and crevice it could before it finally admitted defeat and sank into his stomach. Truly delicious—delicious enough to warrant an official complaint.
The third was that the coffee was not doing its job, hence the purchase of the second cup and the revelation that he was not going to finish this report on time. He would probably have to whip up an eleven-page report along with an apology email just to ask for an extension within the next twenty-four hours. For a cup of coffee that the cashier assured had two shots of expresso, it could have triple the amount, and it'd probably have the same effect because he got scammed.
The fourth was that even though the coffee was not doing its first job of keeping him awake, it would eventually do its second in giving him a good ol' knockout, aka the sweet consequences of a caffeine crash that followed every intake of coffee. He didn't know how it did it, honestly—how it made him more incapable of doing work rather than boosting him with that extra energy to outdo the performance of the average human just for a couple of more hours.
The last was that he was doomed, and this second cup of coffee had utterly failed him.
"Ugh," he groaned to himself as he ran a hand of denial through his blond locks. His eyes remained trained on the screen of his laptop as if doing so would magically type the words out. Disability as a trope for entertainment was, he agreed, wrong, and shouldn't be perpetrated just for the sake of a plotline, but when it was two a.m. in the morning with the library security guard looking at people like him with pity and sympathy, Cloud could barely draw the inspiration to make a sound argument for something he unfortunately didn't feel too strongly for.
He took his two hands and patted himself on the cheeks, waking himself up as he shook his head a bit to get it out of the gutter. A part of him reasoned that he'd do more work if he just went back to his apartment, showered, and actually ate something, but the other part knew not to because in his apartment was his bed, and his bed was a very dangerous thing at the moment.
And so, knowing that he was, indeed, already screwed and that he shouldn't dig the grave any further with every hour of late submission, Cloud suppressed his desires to just say "fuck it" and began typing blasphemy by the second.
Because of his fury, he didn't notice the girl who sat in front of him. Seats were filled to the maximum on the first floor because, just like him, there were people rushing deadlines and study hours; empty seats were a rarity in the library. The girl had had her curious, green orbs on him the moment he quietly groaned out loud, amused at how frustrated he sounded. She studied the way he looked so irritated yet at the same time so concentrated as he slowly got the job done, word by word, with those fast fingers of his across the keyboard of his laptop.
Quietly giggling to herself, she packed her stuff since her own night was done while his was probably just starting. Before she left, however, she snuck a piece of strawberry candy over to his side of the table, making sure he didn't notice.
He didn't.
And without another sound, the girl went out the exit of the library, and her spot was quickly taken by someone else.
~.~.~
"Cloud, dude, are you alright? You don't look so goo—"
"Just…" interjected Cloud, eye twitching a bit from both annoyance and from the lack of sleep, "don't say anything. Get to the point, Zack—why am I here?"
Currently, the two college friends were outside in some weird, frilly shop—a shop that Cloud had never paid attention to even though he would always pass by it on the way back to his apartment from campus. When he took another gander at it, he quickly found a probable reason why.
It was way too pink, and it was way too girly for someone like him to ever take notice of. The front lined with rows of flower bouquets, and the windows that stood on both sides of the building were framed by lacy, silky curtains. At first glance, it seemed like a typical flower boutique, but when he took a whiff, he expected to smell only the scent of flowers.
Not coffee.
Immediately, his mind took the next step in the thinking process. His eyes shot up to look at the name of the shop and had to stifle a small, small laugh at the lack of creativity behind it.
"'Coffee and Flowers'? Really?" Underneath the name were cute drawings of a steaming cup of coffee and a yellow flower—as if it hadn't been obvious enough. He was quick to move his eyes back to Zack to give the taller man a glare, who only gave him a pleading look back in return. Cloud hadn't received a single wink of sleep since he had finished his eleven-page essay two hours ago, and right before he was about to go to bed, Zack had rung him up for an "important favor." Now, as he stood in front of this odd shop with the strange combination of concepts, Cloud knew he had been fooled.
"Look, Cloud, I know you just finished a huge paper and hadn't slept at all," Zack began. Cloud's blank look never disappeared as he shot a dubious brow up. Even to his close friend, Cloud was not afraid to show him how much he annoyed him sometimes.
"You knew, but?"
"So, like, there's this girl I've been talking to."
Cloud sighed immediately the moment his ears heard those cursed words, and they were enough to count him out.
"Bye," he deadpanned. Swiveling on his feet, Cloud turned towards the direction to stalk back to his apartment, but a strong hand grabbed him by the elbow to stop him.
"Wait, wait, hear me out, buddy," Zack insisted, sighing in relief a bit when Cloud turned around to listen to what he had to say. "I'm serious this time. Really."
"You're… serious?" Cloud repeated, stupefied. His other eyebrow joined the already-raised one to show the surprise that he didn't even try to hide.
Being his friend since freshman year of college, Cloud was confident enough to claim that the raven-haired never lacked a girl's presence ever. This company came in many different forms, whether it be right by his side or through the texts that blew up his phone. While the guy was a good person—Cloud wouldn't be hanging around him if he wasn't—he had terrible luck with choosing the right people as partners. So many times had Cloud been the unintentional middleman for his affairs since the girls would always come over to him whenever they had problems, and he was starting to get sick of working without pay.
So, to hear that Zack was serious was strange; Zack Fair had never been serious with a girl, period.
And it was all-the-more a reason for Cloud to stay out of it because that just meant a fulltime job as a love counselor.
"We met through a mutual," Zack explained, but Cloud could already hear the words go into one of his ears and fade out through the other. Out of respect for his friend, he tried to continue listening, but most of his mind was preoccupied in suppressing the yawn that threatened tears to fall out of his eyes. "I wasn't interested in her because she's not my usual type, but Cloud, seriously, she is one of the nicest and funniest girls I've ever met. There's something about her, and I just really want to get to know her better."
"And this?" Cloud jerked a thumb over to the shop.
"She works here. I just found out from my friend just an hour ago that she works here every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at twelve as part-time. I really don't want to mess this up, so I've been taking it slow and trying to get her to notice me a bit more."
"You haven't tried talking to her?" That usually worked, him just talking to the girl. Zack Fair was an attractive man, and any girl that didn't notice him for his looks deserved a trophy. One word from the guy and he would probably win her over in an instant, so for him to drag their two butts over to a weird coffee-flower shop meant something.
"I have, but, uh, she doesn't seem interested quite yet. So, I need an excuse to see her more often."
"And you've decided to drag me along so that you won't look like a loner doing so," Cloud finished for him, highly unamused at this "important favor" bestowed upon him.
Zack nodded enthusiastically, puppy ears already sprung up on his head as he gave Cloud a hopeful look. "Yeah, I don't want to seem like a stalker just visiting her here, so I need someone to tag along with me so I don't look like a creep."
Cloud rubbed his face with his two hands in a poor attempt to somehow just wipe off the fatigue, but none of it came off as he blinked tiringly at his best friend. He had so many questions, such as why it had to be him and why it couldn't have been another day, but Cloud didn't bother wasting the energy to ask them. He'd probably ask them later, but for now, he was going to take advantage of the situation.
"I'm not buying anything here with my own money."
"You got it, pal!"
Cloud allowed Zack to lead the way into uncharted territory. After his unfortunate encounter with the library coffee last night, the smell of coffee beans intermingled with the smell of flowers that wafted throughout the shop gave him a slight reminder of what kind of nightmare he lived just a few hours ago. Nose scrunched and eyebrows lightly knitted together, Cloud tried not to show the obvious distaste too clearly on his face.
With the shop being close to campus and all, many people his age teemed the tables and the counters with their friends and their books for the upcoming exams. The blond began to get a bit interested with the way the drink combos came with a flower or two as well depending on the order. There was no doubt that most of their sales boomed because of the aesthetics of the two elements paired, even if the coffee itself was successful with its taste.
"So, who is she?" Cloud dared to ask as his eyes lazily scanned the counter to study the workers behind it. He wondered what kind of girl could get his well sought-after friend to just come to a place like this because Zack hated coffee. Unlike the rest of the population here, he had a good schedule, and people with a good schedule never needed to be caffeinated.
"She's over there making a drink right now." Zack discreetly pointed to her as they stood in line, and Cloud followed the direction of the finger until he found what he was looking for.
Cloud blinked. Then, he blinked again. And again until her whole image sank into him slowly like a butter knife.
"Her?" Cloud clarified, not believing his eyes at all.
She really wasn't Zack's type at all.
With long hair tied neatly in a braid and dress traveling down to her shins, the girl that somehow made Zack hopelessly in love harbored a homey, goody-girl image—the opposite of what Zack usually went for. The smile that adorned her face literally brightened up the entire place as her hands busied themselves in pouring a drink into a small, cute, white cup before she tossed it up for the order. When she turned towards their direction, Cloud was able to catch a glimpse of her face. With green, emerald eyes large with mirth and heart-shaped face carved delicately to meet her small chin, the girl radiated a type of innocence that was rare these days.
"Yup, that's her," Zack said almost proudly. "Isn't she cute?"
"Er," Cloud let out uncomfortably, not too keen on this sort of talk as he tried to register the fact that his best friend wasn't going after some busty woman this time. "She's a bit, uh," he tried to find the right words so that he didn't come off as offensive, "boring relative to your tastes." The girl wasn't bad looking or anything—she was just a bit different from what he had expected since he was preparing to see a lot more from the girl that got his best friend all serious and everything.
"Look, I know that she's not the type I usually go for, but I swear to you, Cloud, if you hold a conversation with her, you'd—geez, if I say anymore, I'm just going to sound stupid," Zack sighed dreamily as his eyes never left her figure. Cloud simply snorted as a response before he crossed his arms and tried his best not to just fall asleep standing.
When the two of them reached the front of the line, the girl recognized Zack and happily waved at him, and Cloud gave him a weird look when he giggled and smiled back.
There was no saving the guy—he was whipped.
"Aerith, hey! What the, I didn't know you worked here!"
Cloud tried not to visibly roll his eyes because this was just getting too corny.
"Hi, Zack! Didn't know you were a guy who went for coffee; you don't look it," the girl mused as she tapped a few things on the tablet. Her eyes never left the screen as she punched a bunch of buttons. "Is this your first time here? I can recommend you some stuff if you'd like!"
"Oh, no worries, I think I know what I want. Can I get a large, iced Americano, the one that comes with the white carnation?" Zack completely ignored the intense, questioning look Cloud burned into his back as he pretended to scan the menu for any more potential items before he nodded. "Yup, and that'll be it. Oh, that's right. Cloud." He handed the blond his card before he gestured towards a table for two which was getting cleaned up. "Let me go grab that seat, so go ahead and order what you want. It's on me."
Cloud sighed as he played along with Zack's cool-guy act as the black-haired rushed over to secure a table because if he didn't, they would've had left to stand somewhere else, and that probably wasn't what Zack wanted. Bracing himself to stay here for another hour or so, Cloud mentally let out an anguished groan as he approached the cash register.
"Hello, what can I get for you?" the girl asked politely as she managed a small smile towards his way. He didn't get to meet her eyes, however, as his own sapphire ones actually did what it was supposed to and read the menu. Feeling bad that he should've done it before he reached the front of the line, he hurriedly chose some random black tea minus the flower; there was no way he was going to drink a third cup of coffee.
"Iced black tea is good," he said, stifling a yawn as he switched Zack's card for his own. He had been kidding about receiving some sort of payment earlier for his services and felt a bit weird using Zack's card when he wasn't here, so he quelled the itch by just paying for the whole thing. He didn't notice the way the girl gave him a quirked eyebrow.
"Coming your way!" She took his card and inserted the chip in for him. During this brief moment of time, he took a sneak peek at her name tag—he had already forgotten her name earlier when Zack called out for her—and pronounced it in his head.
Aerith.
It was a nice name—not common at all.
"Thanks," he said when he received his card back. Before he left to join Zack, she spoke up one more time when she handed him his receipt.
"No more coffee? Did the coffee last night at the library scare you?" she giggled.
"Excuse me?" he blurted out as a first response, but he never got his answer as she skipped over to the counter and got replaced by another one of the workers. He quickly made it out of there when the person behind him in line kept shooting him looks for not hurrying it up, but his eyes never left her form as he tried to remember where he could've possibly seen her last night for her to witness his terrible time with the library coffee.
"Something the matter?" Zack asked when the blond took the seat in front of him. Cloud handed him his card back before he shook his head.
"Nothing. So, how long do you plan on staying here, Mr. Americano?" Cloud didn't miss the chance to grill the guy about his order. "You can't handle any type of bitter stuff without looking like you're gonna gag."
"Oh, it can't be that bad, right?"
"Sure."
When Zack received his order with a cute, crisp, yellow flower taped to the side of his cup, he tried tasting it immediately. Cloud rarely laughed, but it took everything he could not to show it as he watched the way the raven-haired tried not to wrinkle his face the moment the liquid touched his tongue.
"Holy sh—" Zack kept himself from cursing as Cloud clicked his tongue in mockery.
"Told you."
When his order of plain, black tea rung up, Cloud left the guy to contemplate his bad decision. His eyes tried to search for the girl again when he approached, mind still unable to give up on trying to remember where he could've seen her before, but when her back kept facing his with no indication of ever turning around, he simply gave up at the end—it didn't matter anyway.
When he took his drink, he didn't notice how a yellow lily was taped to the side of it.
He didn't even order it.
To liven up his boring drink, Cloud fished out the mysterious piece of packaged, strawberry candy that he had found last night in the library from his pocket and popped it into his mouth, silently thanking whoever had gifted it to him.