(for disclaimer, please refer to chapter 1.)
Chapter 12: As I lay me down
The SOLDIER and the Cetra entered the Ghost Hotel and walked past the comically spooky decoration toward the front desk. The bell gave a loud screech as Cloud rang for service. As he did, a mock ghost called Mr. Hangman dropped from the ceiling. Even though it was expected, it's sudden appearance never failed to cause Aeris to jump.
"We'd like rooms," Cloud said. For some reason it didn't strike him at all odd to talk with a battery operated puppet made to look like a corpse.
"I'm sorry," it said. Mr. Hangman's voice was designed to be spooky but came across as silly. "There's no more room here tonight for the living"
"Nothing, huh?" Cloud didn't know whether to depart or to argue. It turned out he didn't have to do either. Aeris interrupted.
"You don't even have a single room? Not one?" she asked. Unlike Cloud, she felt a rather peculiar talking to the figure before them.
"There's no more room here tonight for the living." It repeated.
"Come on, we aren't going to get anywhere like this." Cloud told her with a tug on her arm.
"Where?" She asked. "Where else do we have to go to?"
Cloud put his hand to his chin and thought hard for a moment. "I guess we could see if Dio would put us up. I doubt it, though. … Or maybe Ester. 'Course I didn't see her at the track and well, I barely know her…." He let his words trail away into nothing.
"I wonder were Cait Sith used to sleep?" Aeris asked.
"You know Cait Sith?" somebody spoke up from the corner of the room. They looked to see an actual living breathing human caretaker in the hotel. The man's face had been painted to make it look more like a skeletons and he wore a bowtie decorated with little cartoon bats. He was at least in his forties, nearly bald, and somehow less frightening than the rubber bats hanging from the ceiling.
"Yes," Aeris told him. "He's our friend."
"Well, why didn't you say so? For Cait Sith's friends we can make an exception. Perks of the job you see," he said with a half wink. "I wish you would have given us a prior warning though. Right now, we only have one room we have that we're not using. I warn you though, it's not pretty." The man told them. "Frankly, we're not even supposed to have anybody in it. Run down, and all, but considering you're friends of …,"
"We'll take it." Cloud jumped at the offer. They quickly paid the man a surprisingly low rate and he led them to their room after a quick detour to the linen closet for fresh sheets. It had been a long day and both travelers were more than ready to turn in for the night.
"Down the hall. Last Door. Very last door," the man told them as he pointed down the empty hallway. Cloud looked down at the room number engraved on the key. They approached the door to find a comically ominous sign hat said, "This room sealed for your protection" in lettering designed to resemble either dripping blood or slime. It was hard to tell in the poor lighting. Cloud turned his key in the lock and struggled with it a little bit. It hadn't been opened in a while, it seemed.
Stale musky air met them as the entered. The rest of the building was designed with a mocking run down appearance to give it a sort of silly creepy feeling. This room however was the real deal. It was completely run down. White sheets covered the furniture, they in turn were covered with a thin layer of dust. The air condition was laying against the wall in pieces from where somebody had attempted to fix it. A drop of water fell on Cloud's head as he was scanning the room. Apparently the room leaked to.
"How…." Aeris paused to look for a word that wasn't too insulting, "… quaint."
Cloud walked to the bed and flipped the dusty cover off the bed and did little more than flop the new sheets they had been given into place. He debated whether it was worth actually making the bed up or not. Eventually he decided to go ahead an make it, but only because Aeris was there. He would have been happy to just toss then down and gone to sleep himself.
"Oh." she said without meaning to as certain thoughts quickly crept into her mind. "I have to go get something real quick." She excused herself and quickly dashed out the door to retrieve the items she had left in the lost and found earlier.
It was all fine by Cloud, he needed a moment anyway. He stripped down to his pants and then tossed rest of his clothes in the corner. It felt so good to get those heavy boots off. He sighed in relief as he plopped down on the bed. With his hands folded behind his head, he waited for Aeris's return. After a few minutes, he got up, folded his clothes and laid back down. No use looking like a total slob, he reminded himself.
Several minutes passed as Cloud laid on the bed. He was tired, but he wasn't particularly sleepy. He had way too much on his mind. 'Too much to think about and not enough energy to concentrate on anything in particular,' he thought to himself. He glanced back at the closed door. No. that wasn't true. There was one person that took a unusually large portion of this thoughts at the moment. He chuckled. He knew he was just trying to lie to himself. Things weren't that simple. Not that he really had the time to do anything about his problems as long as Sephiroth was still out there. He weighed his options and toss around ideas though his head while he waited.
Aeris returned several minutes later, clutching the stuffed toy Cloud had given her earlier as well as a small bag. The toy had already slipped his mind completely. She stood in the open door way for a moment. Cloud spoke up without moving from the bed.
"Ready to call it a night, or what?" Cloud said to her. "I was kinda' waiting for you to get back before I crashed." Aeris looked around the room nervously.
"Well, yeah. I'm ready…but…," he could tell from the tone of her voice that something was troubling her already even before she finished. "…um…we only have just that one bed." Her face was blushing as brightly as the jacket she normally wore.
Cloud sat up partially and looked around. He was tired alright. The sleeping arrangements had never even flickered across his mind. "I'll sleep on the floor," he said raising up.
"No!" Aeris quickly shouted out. "I mean…" her face seemed flooded with embarrassment. "I mean, we're both responsible adults. Friends. I mean, we can both sleep in the same bed without …, you know, any problems," Aeris flushed with embarrassment. "as friends," she finished.
"You win." Cloud said smacking an empty space on the bed next to him. Aeris blushed even redder. Cloud didn't notice. In fact, he was completely oblivious to all her anxiety and awkwardness.
"Not … not what I meant. I mean…," she really had no clue what she meant. She had never slept in the same bed as a man before and in a way she couldn't be more excited, but in another way she couldn't have been more nervous.
She would never admit it to anyone, but she had never been more nervous in her life. Even when they had faced down Jenova in the Shinra cargo ship, she had a certain confidence about her. This was different. Much different. She wasn't sure how far things were going to go between them, how far she wanted them to go, or even how far she would LET them go.
"You going to just stand there all night? I thought you wanted to get ready to sleep," Cloud interrupted her thoughts. She tried to respond him but her words got caught in her throat.
"oh…oh yeah…," Aeris mumbled when she finally found words. It was then she remembered the bag she was still holding. "Just let me get … ready," Aeris hoped she didn't sound nearly as nervous as she felt. She tried to tell herself that this was just like any other time in the field. They had slept side by side on quite a few occasions. This was different though. This wasn't just the field. This was a bed. She wasn't sure why, but that made all the difference in the world.
She bent down to untie her boots and slip them off. She stood up and handed them over to Cloud, gesturing to him to place them next to his at the foot of the bed. "Thanks. Now could you please turn around while I…um…you know," she asked Cloud. He did as she said without any argument. "Okay, now don't turn back around until I say it's alright. I'm changing. No peeking, okay?"
When she was sure that he had turned around and wasn't going to peek, she began to undress. Nervously she fumbled with the buttons on her dress, thankful that she didn't wear a dress that buttoned up the back like most women.
When she had slipped her dress off, she stood there for a moment trembling. "what's gotten into you, Aeris?" she whispered to herself and burst into silent giggles. 'I can't believe I'm doing this,' she thought. 'I wonder what would happen if he turned around right now?' she thought. Then an even naughtier thought appeared. 'What would happen if I told him it was okay to turn around right now?' It was a wicked idea and one she knew she could never go though with, but the inkling stayed with her.
Cloud sat there completely still, waiting for the word from Aeris. He was perfectly aware that from the other side of the room, less than twenty feet away even, Aeris was standing there at least partially undressed. Naturally, he couldn't help but think about it, despite how the notation of sharing a bed with her had completely eluded him. None the less, he wasn't going to turn until he was one hundred percent positive that she was dressed. Anything else, and she would never talk to him.
Aeris continued to undress. 'I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm doing this.' Aeris kept repeating in her head. I never even let Zack see me in a two piece swimsuit and here I am almost naked, she thought.
Lost in his own imagination, ti took Cloud a moment to realize that he was still holding Aeris's boots. Hoping she didn't notice how he had spaced out, he quickly set her boots down next to his. It took a high concentrated effort for him not to glance backwards as he did. He continued staring at wall, waiting for Aeris to finish changing. What was taking her so long, he couldn't help but wonder. Glancing back down at the boots, he pushed his socks further down in them. Where they had once been white, they were now a dirty gray and even brown in spots. Definitely not anything he needed her to notice. Something about Aeris's boots caught his eye, and he spent a moment studying them to try to figure out what it could be.
Aeris turned. Cloud was sitting there on the edge of the bed with his back to her. She was almost naked and filled with both wonder, expectation, embarrassment and shame. It was so tempting. So very tempting. …
Cloud chuckled lightly. It took him a minute but he finally figured out what it was about the boots that caught his attention. They were almost the same size. He had noticed Aeris's large boots before but had never put two and two together and thought that big boots might come from big feet. It actually made him feel better about himself and what he thought of her. Proof that she wasn't quite as perfect and pure as she sometimes seemed.
"You can turn around now," Aeris said startling Cloud. First he quickly shot a look down at her feet. He had been right. The he looked up at the rest of her.
Aeris had slipped on a long nightshirt that looked brand new. It came down about as far as her dress but hung much more loosely on her, completely hiding her figure.
"Nice." Cloud said pointing at the picture decorating the shirts chest.
Aeris pulled her shirt down slightly and looked at the design herself. It was a cartoon picture of Dio waving as he rode a smiling chocobo. "Oh. You like it? Well it was either this or the line of moogles dancing. I liked this chocobo better and Dio actually looks kinda cute with the oversized head and everything."
"Are you alright? You look a a bit redfaced." Cloud asked her.
"It's nothing. I was just thinking about something. Still, is it just me or is it just a tad warm in here?" She smiled as sweetly as she could. She would never tell him what she had been thinking. Ever.
"Ready for bed then?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."
Aeris and Cloud each walked to their own side of the bed. Cloud pulled the cover back and slid in. Aeris, knelt by the opposite side of the bed, closed her eyes and bowed her head.
"Huh?" Cloud muttered feeling awkward laying in the bed that she was knelt by. "What's up?" Aeris held up one finger motioning him to wait. After a few more seconds, she opened her eyes, raised her head and climbed into bed, careful to leave at least on layer of sheets and a bit of space between them.
"What was that?" he asked.
"I was praying, silly"
"Okay," he said. The tone in his voice was that of a child who wanted to know something but was too afraid to ask the question.
Aeris smiled kindly. Sometimes he could just be so clueless and cute. "I was asking the Planet to watch over us. To guide us along and make sure that everything works out in the end. Don't you have anything that you believe in?"
Aeris turned to face Cloud but he had turned himself. She was left looking at the back of his head.
"Fairy tales." he muttered. "just fairy tales."
"What?" she had heard him plainly but wasn't sure what he meant. It sounded like he was insulting her, but it didn't fit his character at all. He couldn't be insulting her beliefs, could he?
"I believe in fairy tales." He paused for a moment and then continued. "Or at least I used to. You know, knights riding in at the last minute on white chocobos, wielding their magic swords and rescuing the princess just in time. Happy ever after. You know, fairy tales."
"Is that why…"
"I joined SOLDIER…" Cloud paused. "Maybe. I dunno really."
"I'd like to believe in them." Aeris chirped. "I think ever girl would like their hero swoop in and save them."
"I promised Tifa…," he paused and she did too. It was the first time either of them had really thought of her in the last few days. "Anyway, I promised Tifa once that I'd come save her if she was ever in a jam. Instead I got to sit their and watch her bleed after Sephiroth nearly sliced her open. She still has the scars."
"Don't blame yourself. You always focus on the bad stuff. How many other times have you came through for her since? Or for me? If it wasn't for you, I'd still be in Hojo's lab," she shivered as she thought of what that mad doctor had planned for her.
"Thanks." Cloud said with a tired voice. "Thanks. … Just for being you. … G'night 'Ris. Glad you finally got to go on the skyride." Cloud clicked off the lamp on the night stand enveloping the room in darkness.
"Sweet Dreams, Cloud."
Aeris stayed awake for a few moments longer. She would have hated herself if she had give in to her more base desires. Just being here with him was nice enough. She could hear his breathing, smell that strong musky smell that men always gave off, and feel the heat from his body. Such a nice feeling, she sighed with a grin so wide it threatened to overtake her entire face. Then she laid back and waited for sleep to take her.
Suddenly her eyes grew wide and the shock of what Cloud had said shook all the sleep from her system. Just a few little words. …
Nobody ever called her 'Ris and she had never told anyone how much she had wanted to go on the skyride.
Nobody that is, except Zack.
Coming Next Chapter: Workin' for a living
