|Disclaimer: Go see other chapters for a full disclaimer. I'm too fed up
with it right now -.-;;|
----~----
Aerith tapped the pencil's eraser against her chin, trying to think. Starbucks at one-thirty in the morning wasn't technically the best time to be preparing for a romantic . . . something-or-other (they weren't sure about what they were going to do yet) but proved to be a better time than during the day, as they had spent nearly the whole Saturday taking care of the limp-as-Aerith's-pasta Yuffie and the hibernating bear known as Squall. They had finally gotten the two of them to fall asleep without waking up after five minutes and complaining, and had also taken the liberty of setting the cordless by Yuffie's pillow and Squall's cell phone on his nightstand (where it was likely to get knocked off with the alarm clock) with a list of names and numbers to call should they wake up and need something. But now . . . now they were at a loss, after using their brilliance on the phone-by-the-bed bit.
"How about Sachs Fifth Avenue? Yuffie can shop and Squall can buy her lunch afterwards," Aerith finally suggested, shrugging hopelessly at Cloud and tracing around the edge of her large black and white - or, the 'cookie of peace', if one watched Seinfeld.
"Nah," Cloud said, shaking his head and taking a sip of his coffee. "Heard the food was three times as expensive - and that's saying a lot in Manhattan - and it sucks. Off the list," he said dully, and Aerith nodded once before lowering the pencil and striking a long, deep line along one of the many places she had listed. Nearly half of them were crossed out, either by her or Cloud - who, in her time of knowing him, had no romantic experience but knew Squall better than she - and they were running out of ideas.
"Well, anything's better than the library!" she said angrily, then burst into a fit of giggles. She still could not believe that, for a first date, Squall had taken Yuffie to the public library. Cloud and her reminisced for a few minutes and then grew silent, contemplating their next plan of action. Aerith was just beginning to list all of Manhattan's restaurants in alphabetical order for the fifth time when Cloud snapped his fingers and jerked up his head of spiky blonde hair, a broad grin plastered on his face.
"I'm a GENIUS!" he shouted, leaning over to kiss Aerith squarely on top of the forehead. The few other people in the coffee shop stared at him before shaking their heads and turning back around, but Aerith looked at him with confusion. He slapped his forehead, as if what he was thinking was obvious to everyone. "A show, Aerith! They could go and see a Broadway show! I mean, how cunning am -I-?" Aerith's eyes widened, and she stood, nodding furiously.
"Cloud, I never thought I'd say this, but you ARE a genius. Oh, crap . . . did I just say that?" She shuddered for a minute, and then sat back down, mentally running through the shows currently playing. "Off Broadway or on?"
"On, obviously."
"Musical or a play?"
". . . Musical. Yuffie doesn't seem like the type who can sit through something like The Crucible, no matter how many stars it has in it. And Squall . . . if we pick a good one, he'll deal with it. But something sophisticated, not really peppy . . ."
"So I guess that rules out Mama Mia and Thoroughly Modern Millie?"
"'Fraid so."
"So what've we got left?"
"Beauty and the Beast!" Aerith rolled her emerald-green eyes at him.
"Yeah, right. Can you picture Squall, no matter how remarkable the show is, sitting through something like that? He doesn't believe in fantasy or anything. So . . . we just need . . . Phantom!"
Cloud scratched his head, utterly confused, now. "What? Aerith, are you seeing things --?" Once again, the woman clad in pink rolled her eyes, and slammed her fist on the table.
"No, stupid, Phantom of the Opera! It's perfect, don't you see? Its sophisticated enough for Squall, has great music which is sure to make Yuffie love it, and the whole thing is a big love triangle and a romance story! It's absolutely perfect! Man, if you're a genius, I'm a brain surgeon, Albert Einstein reborn, and a prodigy," Aerith said, grinning proudly.
"Think we can get 'em tickets at the half price booth?" Cloud asked hopefully, but Aerith slapped him, looking appalled.
"Dummy! Of course we can't, that's so . . . not . . . right! I mean, its perfect for a matinee or something, but we want evening performance, orchestra seats, and an event that'll make both of them ready to cry. So we go online," she replied simply.
----~----
"W-what? Tickets to a show? Are you crazy? What do I need these for?" Yuffie asked, completely confused. Aerith had given her orchestra seats to a nine o'clock showing of Phantom of the Opera - for free? She couldn't remember the last time she went to a show, let alone got tickets for free, and two at that. Aerith pointed, grinning from ear to ear, at the two tickets that Yuffie had plucked from the envelope.
"One for you, one for Squall. A formal date, without stomach viruses or crabby librarians. C'mon, it'll be so romantic! And I guarantee you'll both love the show; I know I did. I'm sure Squall'll go with you if you say that you're going; I've seen the way he looks at you . . ." she added snidely, smirking broadly.
"Shut up!" Yuffie shouted, going a brilliant shade of red. Kids were leaping around on the mats with Riku yelling at them to stop it and actually start the exercises they were supposed to be doing, but was having little luck. "But still, Aerith . . . this is a really big favor, and I'll never be able to -" Aerith cut her off mid-sentence, smiling serenely.
"Do. Not. Worry. Just go and have a good time, and consider me rich, okay?" Aerith turned to go back into her office, but stopped abruptly, turning to face her with a bright smile. "And kiss him, please?"
----~----
Am tired. Very tired. Had to watch fifteen minutes of All About Eve, and then had to bandy words with my brother. As well, finished the extremely LONG first chapter of _A Chance of Rain_, my brand-spanking-new Lord of the Rings fanfiction. So, I'll do a shameless plug: if anyone likes pre-LotR angst, action, adventure, and Aragorn getting sick and Legolas getting injured and Glorfindel getting pissed, it's the story for you.
Okay, bad chapter. But in the good news: Aerith and Cloud are geniuses, Riku's having serious problems with karate, and Squall's . . . still asleep, somewhere o.0 But, next chapter is going to be fuuuun: Yuffie gets dressed up, Squall acts like a gentleman, and Cloud and Aerith spy on the happy couple. Nothing beats that, right? And it'll be long. I promise!
Review Button: To get rid of this horrid excuse for a chapter, please click me, and I will ensure that the next chapter does, in fact, sound good.
----~----
Aerith tapped the pencil's eraser against her chin, trying to think. Starbucks at one-thirty in the morning wasn't technically the best time to be preparing for a romantic . . . something-or-other (they weren't sure about what they were going to do yet) but proved to be a better time than during the day, as they had spent nearly the whole Saturday taking care of the limp-as-Aerith's-pasta Yuffie and the hibernating bear known as Squall. They had finally gotten the two of them to fall asleep without waking up after five minutes and complaining, and had also taken the liberty of setting the cordless by Yuffie's pillow and Squall's cell phone on his nightstand (where it was likely to get knocked off with the alarm clock) with a list of names and numbers to call should they wake up and need something. But now . . . now they were at a loss, after using their brilliance on the phone-by-the-bed bit.
"How about Sachs Fifth Avenue? Yuffie can shop and Squall can buy her lunch afterwards," Aerith finally suggested, shrugging hopelessly at Cloud and tracing around the edge of her large black and white - or, the 'cookie of peace', if one watched Seinfeld.
"Nah," Cloud said, shaking his head and taking a sip of his coffee. "Heard the food was three times as expensive - and that's saying a lot in Manhattan - and it sucks. Off the list," he said dully, and Aerith nodded once before lowering the pencil and striking a long, deep line along one of the many places she had listed. Nearly half of them were crossed out, either by her or Cloud - who, in her time of knowing him, had no romantic experience but knew Squall better than she - and they were running out of ideas.
"Well, anything's better than the library!" she said angrily, then burst into a fit of giggles. She still could not believe that, for a first date, Squall had taken Yuffie to the public library. Cloud and her reminisced for a few minutes and then grew silent, contemplating their next plan of action. Aerith was just beginning to list all of Manhattan's restaurants in alphabetical order for the fifth time when Cloud snapped his fingers and jerked up his head of spiky blonde hair, a broad grin plastered on his face.
"I'm a GENIUS!" he shouted, leaning over to kiss Aerith squarely on top of the forehead. The few other people in the coffee shop stared at him before shaking their heads and turning back around, but Aerith looked at him with confusion. He slapped his forehead, as if what he was thinking was obvious to everyone. "A show, Aerith! They could go and see a Broadway show! I mean, how cunning am -I-?" Aerith's eyes widened, and she stood, nodding furiously.
"Cloud, I never thought I'd say this, but you ARE a genius. Oh, crap . . . did I just say that?" She shuddered for a minute, and then sat back down, mentally running through the shows currently playing. "Off Broadway or on?"
"On, obviously."
"Musical or a play?"
". . . Musical. Yuffie doesn't seem like the type who can sit through something like The Crucible, no matter how many stars it has in it. And Squall . . . if we pick a good one, he'll deal with it. But something sophisticated, not really peppy . . ."
"So I guess that rules out Mama Mia and Thoroughly Modern Millie?"
"'Fraid so."
"So what've we got left?"
"Beauty and the Beast!" Aerith rolled her emerald-green eyes at him.
"Yeah, right. Can you picture Squall, no matter how remarkable the show is, sitting through something like that? He doesn't believe in fantasy or anything. So . . . we just need . . . Phantom!"
Cloud scratched his head, utterly confused, now. "What? Aerith, are you seeing things --?" Once again, the woman clad in pink rolled her eyes, and slammed her fist on the table.
"No, stupid, Phantom of the Opera! It's perfect, don't you see? Its sophisticated enough for Squall, has great music which is sure to make Yuffie love it, and the whole thing is a big love triangle and a romance story! It's absolutely perfect! Man, if you're a genius, I'm a brain surgeon, Albert Einstein reborn, and a prodigy," Aerith said, grinning proudly.
"Think we can get 'em tickets at the half price booth?" Cloud asked hopefully, but Aerith slapped him, looking appalled.
"Dummy! Of course we can't, that's so . . . not . . . right! I mean, its perfect for a matinee or something, but we want evening performance, orchestra seats, and an event that'll make both of them ready to cry. So we go online," she replied simply.
----~----
"W-what? Tickets to a show? Are you crazy? What do I need these for?" Yuffie asked, completely confused. Aerith had given her orchestra seats to a nine o'clock showing of Phantom of the Opera - for free? She couldn't remember the last time she went to a show, let alone got tickets for free, and two at that. Aerith pointed, grinning from ear to ear, at the two tickets that Yuffie had plucked from the envelope.
"One for you, one for Squall. A formal date, without stomach viruses or crabby librarians. C'mon, it'll be so romantic! And I guarantee you'll both love the show; I know I did. I'm sure Squall'll go with you if you say that you're going; I've seen the way he looks at you . . ." she added snidely, smirking broadly.
"Shut up!" Yuffie shouted, going a brilliant shade of red. Kids were leaping around on the mats with Riku yelling at them to stop it and actually start the exercises they were supposed to be doing, but was having little luck. "But still, Aerith . . . this is a really big favor, and I'll never be able to -" Aerith cut her off mid-sentence, smiling serenely.
"Do. Not. Worry. Just go and have a good time, and consider me rich, okay?" Aerith turned to go back into her office, but stopped abruptly, turning to face her with a bright smile. "And kiss him, please?"
----~----
Am tired. Very tired. Had to watch fifteen minutes of All About Eve, and then had to bandy words with my brother. As well, finished the extremely LONG first chapter of _A Chance of Rain_, my brand-spanking-new Lord of the Rings fanfiction. So, I'll do a shameless plug: if anyone likes pre-LotR angst, action, adventure, and Aragorn getting sick and Legolas getting injured and Glorfindel getting pissed, it's the story for you.
Okay, bad chapter. But in the good news: Aerith and Cloud are geniuses, Riku's having serious problems with karate, and Squall's . . . still asleep, somewhere o.0 But, next chapter is going to be fuuuun: Yuffie gets dressed up, Squall acts like a gentleman, and Cloud and Aerith spy on the happy couple. Nothing beats that, right? And it'll be long. I promise!
Review Button: To get rid of this horrid excuse for a chapter, please click me, and I will ensure that the next chapter does, in fact, sound good.