Wonderful World
An AU parody inspired by "As Good As It Gets"; beta-read, reviewed and edited by Howling WereWolf.

No, I can't believe how fast I'm writing either. But the end is in sight, and I can't bring myself to just let it go.

Back home, Aeris sat by the kitchen table surrounded by Tifa and the kids, as she handed out souvenirs and answered questions.

Denzel picked up the metal plate, admiring the engraving. "Wow. Who did this?"

"A friend of mine; I was his model."

"It's real pretty."

"Thank you."

Tifa eventually cut the chatter short as she picked up Aeris' small bag of used clothes. "I'll take care of this for tonight; you look like you need to use the phone."

Cid lay spread-eagled over the top of his mattress, eyes shut and breaths deep. Angelo, having ventured in for his attention, now settled on his stomach.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a door opening and closing.

Cid barely twitched.

"Where is my big, hairy boy?"

Cid's eyes promptly snapped open as he sat up quickly in alarm, the puppy rolling off him and onto the bed. It looked up at him and grunted in confusion.

"Angelo? Come here, snookums!"

Cid promptly heaved a very big sigh of relief.

Cloud entered the room, then halted as he realized the situation.
"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know you were...you know, in bed."

Cid nodded quickly, not looking his way.

"I just thought Angelo shouldn't get too used to sleeping in here..."

It was then that Cid answered with his own defense:
"Come on, look - the dog's already comfortable."

Both were interrupted by the phone ringing. Cloud looked at Cid, then back at the phone. When Cid did not move to retrieve it, he offered: "Should I get it?"

At another quick nod from Cid, Cloud left the room, a clicking sound the hint that he had picked up the phone. Then his voice carried.

"Hello? ...Hi! ... Yeah, it's me... He took us in... Yes... Hold on a second; I'll get him here."

He reappeared at the door and nodded toward the phone. "It's Aeris."

Cid promptly jumped up and swept Angelo into Cloud's arms. "Here - take the dog and go back to your room."

"Sure. Good luck," Cloud replied after him, the puppy snuggled contentedly and sleepily against his chest.

"... Hello?" Cid's voice filtered in.

Aeris drew in a deep breath.
"Yeah...well..."

"How you doing?"

"... I'm not sure anymore."

"That seems like a good choice."

"I don't know whether I'm being harsh or sensible."

"Maybe both?"

"See, there's an example; now I don't know if you're being crazy or trying to be funny."

"Go with funny; I like it better than the former."

Aeris sighed in exasperation before she replied. "Cid, you don't have to answer everything I say. Just listen to me...alright?"

There was silence on the other end; a consent. Aeris steeled herself before speaking again.

"It's really something that you're looking after Leon and Cloud. And what I said earlier tonight - that was a bad thing to say...and it made me sick to my stomach...and I'd be lying if I didn't say that I enjoyed your company...
"But the truth is, you do bother me enormously, and I know...think...that it may be for the best that I don't have contact with you... Because you're just not ready to have a long term friendship with people, and you're a pretty old guy to not be ready...and I'm not sure I can ignore that.
"But there were extraordinary kindnesses that did take place... So...thanks for the trip..."

Still silence, and Aeris played with the cord in her awkwardness over that silence.

"Well...bye, then."

"Okay if I say something now?"

"Go ahead."

"I should have danced with you."

"... Okay. Goodbye."

"So long."

As Aeris hung up, she could feel the headache that threatened finally coming down upon her.

Cid was pacing, moving in anxious circles in the same direction over and over again.

After what had to be his three-hundred-and-sixty-fifth circle, he finally made a beeline straight for the door to the newly-furnished bedroom just a door away.

"Are you gonna come talk to me or not?" he yelled at the door.

There was the telltale rustling of movement, then an ominous squeaking. Finally, the door swung open to reveal Leon looking up at him. Then Leon came out from the room and closed the door behind him.

"Cloud and the dog are asleep; you'll have to make do."

Cid sputtered, then threw his hands skyward before storming down to his workshop. Leon followed at a safe distance, then stopped to watch him pace some more.

"...aren't you gonna ask me what she said?"

Leon sighed. This was going to be a long night.
"...fine; what did she say?"

Cid halted long enough to wave his hand skyward again.
"That I'm a great guy...and that she doesn't want any contact with me."
That said, Cid resuming pacing.

"So you holler through the door because you're afraid to lose her friendship," Leon concluded.

"Aren't you queers supposed to be sensitive and sharp?"

"Then you tell me."

"I don't know..." in the pause, the pacing quickened.
"Let me sleep on it...figure it out... Because I'm stuck! She's the one who just walked through my door handing out fliers, and now she's the one backing out on me! Now I'm going nuts!"

"Did you like it that much?"

"It was heck lot better than this," Cid muttered, than glared pointedly in Leon's direction.
"Look, you, I'm very intelligent. If you're going to give me advice or conversation or consolation or hope, you got to try harder; you can't be the least bit entertaining, then just shut the heck up.
"I'm drowning here, and you're describing the water!"

Leon met his gaze evenly.
"And picking on me is supposed to help, how?"

"It has to, or I'm really in trouble."

Leon gave Cid ten counts to calm down before speaking up.
"Cid Highwind, do you know where you're lucky?"

"Absolutely not."

"You know what's going on here; you know what you want.
"Don't sleep on it - do something. Don't let it calm down, it'll only get worse."

"Oh, and what do you know?"

"I know more than enough; don't go there."

"Fine... Hey, I'm charged here... But any right-minded person would maul me for showing up at their door this late."

"Then get into your jammies and I'll read you a story," Leon rebutted.
"You want this friendship, then take this chance. The one thing against you is her logical thinking; the one thing for you is your willingness to humiliate yourself for whatever that means something to you. So go - catch her off guard."

"...okay..."
The circles ended as Cid made a beeline for the glass doors.
"Thanks a lot. Here I go."

Insomnia had left Aeris sitting at the kitchen table, reading some strangely crude romance novel by Melvin Udall. She had never heard of the man before - until now - but his books were supposed to be good. At the moment, she wasn't so sure.

Then there was the briefest sound of the doorbell, so brief she was not certain it was coming from her doorbell. That is, until the same brief sound repeated.

Hesitantly, Aeris set the book down and went to the door. She opened it to see a nervous Cid Highwind standing there.

"... What do you want, Cid?"

"Were you asleep?"

"Really: what do you want?"

"'Cos if you were asleep, I'm sorry; you could be grouchy."

"...grouchy?"

"...'cos of being woken up, and it would make my job impossible; then I wouldn't even try."

"...what job?"

"Were you asleep?"

"Cid, just what is it you want?"

Neither heard the sound of a bedroom door opening, nor did either one notice someone watching them.

Cid finally raised his hands in a pacifying gesture as he beat a retreat.
"Sorry I woke you; some other time-"

"I wasn't asleep. Now tell me what this is about."

Cid breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, more for his own benefit.
"I had to see you."

"...because?"

"...because I've been tense since we last talked...and I felt better just sitting on the curb in front of your house, than even on the mattress in my home."

Two pairs of eyes widened in surprise by the sincerity, one pair out of view.

"...wait, I'm overstating...maybe not the curb; maybe the inside stairs. I don't want to sit with my feet in the gutter; what does that serve? It only-"

"Cid, stop!" Aeris cried out in exasperation.
"Stop it already! Why can't you be an average Joe? Why can't you be a normal guy? Just once, can't I have a normal friend who doesn't go nuts on me?"

"Everybody wants that, Aeris; it doesn't exist."

Both Aeris and Cid turned and spotted Yuffie standing in the door, grinning from ear to ear as she ducked back inside.

"Sorry; didn't mean to interrupt!"

The bedroom door closed with a "click", and then they were alone again.

Aeris finally gave in.
"Come on in and try not to ruin the moment by being you."

"Maybe we could live without the wise cracks."

"Maybe we could."

Cid took a step inside, then looked around and stepped back out.
"It feels a little confined in here; let's take a walk."

"...it's four in the morning; what would people think?"

Cid shrugged. "If you need an excuse, there's a bakery on the corner; it should open soon. That way, no one will care; we'd just be two people who like our rolls fresh from the oven."

"... Okay."

"Whatever this is, Cid, it's not going to work."

Cid muttered something unintelligible as they stopped walking. After several minutes of tense silence, not much headway had been made.

Finally, he decided to do something about it.

"You know, being out here and walking with you... I'm feeling better already."

"Cid, I don't know what you're trying to say, but the truth is, you don't know me all that well, and I don't know you all that well. I really don't know if this is going to work."

"I'd like for it work; for us to know each other all that well.
"I've got a proposition: I want to tell you all about what made a man called Cid Highwind. All you have to do, in turn, is tell me all about what made a lady called Aeris Gainsborough."

When she did not answer immediately, he fidgeted, then nodded at a silent decision.
"While you think about it, I've got a great compliment for you. Just let me talk, this time...
"... I'm the only one on the face of the earth, that realizes you're one of the greatest women on earth. I'm the only one who appreciates how amazing you are in every single thing you do...in every single thought you have...in how you are with children you took in and cared for like your own...in how you say what you mean, and how you almost always mean what you say, and that's all about being straight and good...
"... I think most people miss that about you, and I wonder how watch how you bring them fliers and bring them food orders, and never get that they have just met one of the greatest women alive... And the fact that I get that...makes me feel good. About me.
"...is there a reason to walk out on that?"

Stunned, Aeris shook her head as she recovered her voice.
"... No; certainly not... I don't think so, no."

Cid's expression was smug as he knew he had succeeded. "So...you'll take up my proposition?"

Aeris smiled as well and nodded this time. "Absolutely."

Across the street, the bakery store came alive as workers turned on lights, opened the door, and prepared for a day of business.

"... Come on. We can talk over some rolls fresh from the oven, and I can tell you about a woman called Sierra..."

One year later...

Leon sat at the workbench to Cid's workshop, the can of red spray paint set down as he looked through the letter he had just received. There, the car he was working with stood, receiving a new artistic design that Cloud had worked out for it.
While it was nothing like weapon engraving, it felt good for them to earn their keep.

As Leon looked through the letter a second time, he heard Cloud whistle for Angelo. Soon ,the now adult border collie bounded into sight, panting from a good long jog alongside Cloud. As Cloud let the dog off the leash, he noticed Leon's expression.

"...what is it?"

Leon held up the letter for him to see as he grabbed the can and shook it again.

Cloud took a turn to read, and his eyes widened slightly.
"...he's giving you back the Ragnarok?"

"I don't know what he's up to either."

"Must be a conspiracy we worked out with the boss; you know how anal-retentive Cid gets over late deliveries."

"That's hardly funny," Leon countered, not bothering to hide the smirk that made its way across his face. "Now get that dog away from my paint. And you're supposed to take care of the new signboard."

Cloud picked up the signboard and a hammer before he went outside a second time, the dog following eagerly. As he reached the hole in the ground, he positioned the signboard properly and hammered it into place.

The sign that now read H C L Repairs and Paintjobs.

With the last strike, Cloud lowered the hammer and studied the sign. Finally satisfied, he went back inside. Angelo remained by the signboard, sniffing it carefully.

And it was this day that ends this story, that was like any other kind of day one liked; the air was cool, but there was no rain. The morning was setting in, but the rising sun's glaring rays weren't hurting anyone yet. It was one kind of day that people loved to go out on, to smell the flowers, watch the birds and just feel happy about living.

Well, most people, anyway.

As Cid came back toward the shop, he spotted Angelo by the signboard, doing something completely different from mere sniffing now. He promptly blanched.

"Get the hell away from there!"

Well...the end!

That's the official final chapter of Wonderful World. Thank you for hanging around and sticking with me to see this end; it means a lot to me.

Special thanks to Howling WereWolf for beta-reading and editing, Flypipe for the character contribution and tips of advice, JadeGem for her feedback via Howling WereWolf, and all my good reviewers.

koyuki-san: Well, here is the final chapter; I hope it, too, is to your tastes.