Tifa must have been imagining it, right? There was no way that the woman that appeared in front of them was the exact same Aerith that Cloud has been dreaming of for the past 2 years but that thought was immediately thrown out the window when she realized just how still Cloud was after that whole altercation with the raven haired male who was with the woman named Aerith which started to make her worry. She knew that Cloud was usually a quiet guy but even now he seemed far too quiet for her liking so she walked up to him, grabbed his wrist and made him turn around to face her.
"Cloud, snap out of it."
She said in a gentle voice, not wanting to frighten him. His eyes locked with hers which made her feel a squeeze around her heart, not used to making such direct eye contact even after knowing him for so long. She forgets just how beautiful his eyes were so she just stood there for a while just looking at them before she remembered that she was supposed to be helping calm down but just as she was about to ask what that whole interaction was about he beat her to the punch.
"That was her Tifa, that was Aerith. She's the one I see in my dreams and.. and I think she also knows me. It looked as if she recognized me."
If she didn't know the man she would have thought this guy was delusional but luckily (or unluckily) she has known him for a long time and knows about the dreams he has been having. Even so, she didn't believe that this girl was the one that Cloud had dreamed of and not wanting Cloud to be hurt any more she grabbed both of his hands and gently squeezed them so he would turn his focus on her.
"Cloud, let's be rational here. This girl who appeared in your dreams for 2 years appears in front of your very eyes. Why would she appear now after all that time? I mean, maybe she isn't even that girl from your dreams! She could just be someone who looks like her."
Cloud bit his lower lip, a nervous habit he had as he squeezed her hand back as he calmly listened to her, knowing that in the back of his head that she was right but his heart said otherwise. He felt that he has known her for a lifetime with all the dreams he's had but it could just be because he has had those dreams for so long that some of his dreams were starting to feel like memories.
I know how you get Cloud, you're going to obsess over this so I want to put a stop to this before it goes too far. You.. you know I care for you." More than he would ever know. "So I don't want you to get hurt."
Those words meant a lot to him, knowing that Tifa said this with a lot of love. He knew he was lucky to have a friend like her. After her little speech Cloud began to start thinking rationally, thinking that Tifa did indeed have a point and that this could all just be a really weird coincidence. Maybe he saw this girl in passing 2 years ago and just started dreaming about her. He did read somewhere that the people one sees in their dreams are someone they must have seen somewhere because the human brain, as amazing as it is, is incapable of dreaming up a new face.
"Thanks Tifa, you really are the logical side of my brain, huh?" He tried to joke to brighten the mood a bit.
It seemed to have worked because she began to shake, trying to hold in her laughter as she let go of his hands, moving them up to her mouth to try and muffle her laughter.
"Cloud, I was trying to.." She paused, a stifled giggle coming out. Have a serious moment with you!"
Giving up, she let her hands fall down to the side and began to laugh softly, appreciating his attempt to get rid of the serious mood from before. After calming herself down Tifa took out her Nokia to check the time and sucked in a breath when she saw how late Cloud was going to be if he didn't leave now. Seeing her reaction to the time he already guessed it was time for him to go so he simply nodded a farewell to her before making his way to the entrance of the building but right before he entered he turned to look at her once more and gave her a sincere look.
"I don't think I tell you this enough but thanks Tifa. For everything, I really am lucky to have you as a friend."
And with that he left. Tifa was awestruck, her face burning red as a giddy smile was plastered on her face. Cloud wasn't the type to openly express words like that often so in the rare chance that he did it was like she was on cloud 9. He said he's lucky to have her! Tifa couldn't be any happier as she covered her cheeks to try and calm down the red that was evidently present. The door to the postal office opened suddenly which started the woman. Thinking it was Cloud she quickly turned around, calling his name in a flustered tone.
"So that's his name, huh?"
Instead of a spiky haired blonde coming out of the building there was a raven haired man, the one from before looking at her with a watchful gaze, his arms crossed against his chest. Tifa studied the man and he seemed like he had calmed down quite a bit when compared to how he was mere minutes ago. Still, one should still be careful, especially when someone is pretty mad at your best friend for pulling on his girlfriend like that. Is she his girlfriend? She hoped that girl was his girlfriend; it would make things a lot easier for Cloud… and her.
"Look, I'm sorry about what he did, he has been having some rough nights these past few days. He was going to apologize before you guys went inside, I swear."
"I'm not the one who should be apologized to and you're not the one who should be giving the apology miss..?"
"Lockhart. Tifa Lockhart and you're right. I'm sorry."
"Geez lady, stop apologizing. You're making me feel bad here since you've done nothing wrong. "
Zack shifted around a bit, letting his arms fall down from their crossed position to extend one of his hands out towards her. He knew that she was no harm and seemed like quite a nice woman if she apologized in her friends' stead. This Cloud guy sure is lucky. Not as lucky as him though, he didn't get a hand crocheted scarf by the one and only Aerith Gainsborough after all. If it wasn't obvious, Zack was still riding from his high of getting the scarf from Aerith as well as having that small intimate moment with her inside the postal office.
"Zack Fair's the name and it's a pleasure to meet you Tifa Lockhart. Even in these circumstances."
Ruby eyes looked at the hand for a few seconds before finally making up her mind and taking his hand in hers. As they shook their hands they noticed that the other had the hands of a fighter. Tifa felt calluses on his hands which led her to think that he may have served in the military. There was a certain roughness that one would only gain if they were in the front lines. As she looked up at him she finally saw his face and noticed a scar on the side of his face. 'He seems to have gone through a lot.' With having such rough hands and a scarred face one might think this guy is stern and cold but when she looked into his eyes he seemed like the opposite; lively and bright. She couldn't help but smile back at him when he showed her a toothy smile. Who wouldn't smile back at such a goofy smile?
On Zack's side he felt how rough her hands were but not as rough as his. If his guess was right she must do some kind of martial arts. Aside from her hands he scanned her body and noticed that she looked quite fit. Even with her jeans he could see how toned her legs were. 'I should ask for her routine. I'm guessing she knows self-defense, something I should teach Aerith soon now that she's here.' He moved his eyes from her legs to her hands, and then finally to her face. Her eyes were a unique color, he almost let out a gasp when seeing the color. Deep ruby eyes were not what he was expecting, he almost felt entranced when she looked at him. Zack was not sure why but he felt heat begin to rise up his body. Was he getting nervous? Why would he be getting nervous? As they were looking at each other he couldn't help but smile goofily at her.
Both realized that they were holding hands longer than what is normally acceptable so they quickly drew their hands back, a little flustered that they were holding hands for so long. Zack was the first one to snap out of it as he cleared his throat a little loudly to try and clear the tension that was in the air.
"So.."
They surprised one another by speaking at the same time, eliciting a small laugh from Tifa and a soft smile from Zack. Being the gentleman Zack believes himself to be, he offered to take Tifa out for some coffee which Tifa surprisingly didn't reject. Usually when offered out somewhere she would make some sort of excuse to not go but Zack seemed like a nice guy and she was enjoying his company more than she thought she would.
"Lead the way."
Once inside the building Cloud made his way to his locker in the employee break room to hang up his jacket. As he was making his way there he managed to come across the man who was with Aerith outside. Zack, if memory serves right and it usually did. When they got close to each other it looked as if Zack was winding up to say something but decided against it so all he did was shake his head and walk past him. Cloud wanted to turn around and start something up but he knew that he really didn't have the right so he left it at that, walking into the break room to hang up his jacket instead.
"Cloud, was it?"
He felt his heart shake when he closed his locker and turned to face the brunette who was now changed into the work uniform for the postal office. She was the new worker? What are the chances of this kind of thing happening? One in a million? No, maybe one in 10 million? No, there are basically no chances of this kind of thing happening so what was going on with his luck. Was he going to die?
"Or am I wrong?"
Cloud had been quiet for too long which he saw made Aerith nervous since she was shifting around, playing with her bangles which he was surprised the boss allowed her to wear. Feeling bad for making her uncomfortable he shook his head, walking up to her as he shoved his hands into pockets.
"You weren't. Name's Cloud Strife."
"A pleasure, I'm Aerith Gainsborough and if you haven't noticed today is my first day here. I'm the new mail processing clerk!"
The girl chippered up quite quickly which amused him, a subtle smile appearing on his lips as she extended a hand out to him. Her hand looked rough, not as soft as one would expect a girl like her to have which only made him even more curious about this Aerith. Green eyes looked at him expectantly but with patience, not looking like they wanted to rush him which made him feel relaxed since not many people were patient with him. Deciding that he made her wait long enough he took her hand and gave her a firm but gentle shake before letting go, stuffing his hand back into his pocket.
"I'm a mail sorter so I mostly work in the back."
"Pity, does that mean I won't be able to see more of you?"
"Huh?" If he was flustered he didn't let it show, only pausing for a moment to look at her before answering. "No, we still work together so we'll see each other."
"Promise?' She put on a little show, winking at him as she clasped her hands behind her back and leaning forward a bit.
This seems to get a reaction out of him, his eyes widening a little and he tears his eyes away from her, seeming to find the post office propaganda on the wall far more interesting. Was this what people called flirting? Cloud's mind was radio silent, not sure exactly how to respond and Aerith noticed this so she took a step back and waved off the question. She already messed with the young man enough. For today at least.
"I only came here to let you know that you shouldn't worry about earlier. Seems like you confused me for someone else."
That seemed to snap him back into reality. Cloud straightened himself up and took a quick moment to examine the girl. Unlike in his dreams her hair was pulled up in a ponytail with her hair running down her back, the ends curled ever so slightly. Other than that everything about her looked the same. Her bangles, her eyes, her lips, and the unique way her bangs shape her face. Wait, why was he looking at her lips? He must really be going crazy, he wasn't the type of guy to notice things like this so why was she messing him up like this. Glancing at what held up her ponytail he felt his body stiffen when he noticed the ribbon. Sure it wasn't the same color, it instead complimented the color of the uniform, but it still shook him up a bit that she wore a ribbon too for some reason.
"I should still apologize. Sorry."
The simple apology seemed to please her a lot more than he expected, her smile seeming so bright which made him wonder how such a simple thing could make her so happy. The brunette nodded and decided to make her leave, saying a quiet 'see you later' before leaving the locker room. Cloud turned back to his now shut locker and smacked his forehead against the metal which made a loud smacking noise.
"Why does this woman make me feel like this? Is it because she looks like her? But there's no way they're the same."
Cloud took a moment to calm himself down, taking a minute to look back at their very awkward first interaction.
"Wait, how did she know my name before I introduced myself?"
She messed up. Gaia, she was lucky that he didn't catch on that she knew his name already. Aerith jumped when she heard a loud smack coming from the locker room. Feeling it was best to leave him be, she made her way to the front desk. Though many, many things were on her mind right now she still had to focus on work. 'The flower shop is riding on the money I'll get from this job.' She encouraged herself, pumping her fists up in the air slightly to psych herself up.
"BOO!"
"AH!"
She yelled as she jumped away from the source of the noise, one hand clasped around the other and held close to her chest. A few moments of silence followed this before she heard a loud laugh come from her. Realizing that she was safe, she let her guard down and peeked behind her to see a young girl with short jet black hair clutching her stomach as her body shook from her laughter. This was Yuffie Kisaragi, the one who she introduced herself to in the front counter and gave her the work uniform just moments ago. From the short conversation they had, Aerith learned a lot about the girl. She was 18, went to college, was a part-timer like her, used to have a crush on Cloud before he opened his mouth, and in her own words 'the best mail courier to ever exist!'
"Yuffie!" Aerith whined, crossing her arms against her chest.
"Aw man Aerith, I knew the moment I saw you that you were going to be so much fun to work with, phew!"
The older woman sighed and set her hands on her hips, giving the girl a stern look, one a parent would give their child before they were given a scolding.
"Yuffie Kisaragi, you know better than to scare me like that! What if I fell back, huh? What then?"
"Well you didn't fall so really there isn't any issue here is there.." She mumbled, thinking that Aerith wouldn't be able to hear her.
"Oh really?"
The younger girl immediately straightened up, feeling a shiver go up her spine as she saw the usually gentle eyes glare at her. Feeling like she may have gone a bit too far, she decided to fall back to plan B, making her feel bad. This plan wasn't normally used since most people already knew how she was but since Aerith was new this should work.
"You gotta see it from my point of view here! I have only been surrounded by men for so long in this workplace that I am in utter agony! Knowing that I have such a friendly coworker like you is going to make the work environment so much more fun now, way better than dealing with a pair of boring blondes who never react in a fun way. Bleh!"
Aerith couldn't help but break character and chuckle. Her eyes softened as she looked at the raven haired girl, beginning to think of her as a younger sibling. She had been an only child and though she knew her parents wanted to spend all day with her they were unable to, which left Aerith alone most of the time. When she was younger she would constantly badger her parents for a younger sibling but was never given that wish so when Yuffie was acting like a child and teasing her she enjoyed it a little bit. Something like this is what siblings would normally do.
"Good to know I'm good teasing material for you, Yuffie."
"Aw man, don't say it like that! You're making it seem like I only use you for giggles. I also use you for gossip. Now that I have you here Ms. Gainsborough, may I ask what your relationship with our dearly beloved Cloud is? Are you the long lost love who has come to fight for his love against Tifa? Or maybe it was love at first sight? I saw how he grabbed you so it can't just be nothing so don't you dare say that!"
"It really is though, he just- wait. I didn't see you out there when that whole commotion happened... Yuffie, were you eavesdropping?"
"Huh? Me? Eavesdrop? Never! I just happened to pass by the scene while I was finishing up my rounds. Yup, totally just happened to come across you guys.."
As sly as she tried to be, Aerith could see the beads of sweat starting to form on her face and how she was biting the bottom of her lips, most likely to stop herself from saying anything else. The brunette let out a low hum, her eyes scanning her once more before she decided to shrug it off.
"I see, since you are saying so then it must be true."
"But I really gotta know, I saw Cloud walk into the break room a little while ago and you just walked out. You were in here for quite a while so I can only assume you two were- Goddamnit Kisaragi! Get yer ass in here!" A loud yell coming from the back room made the teenage girl jump.
"And that's my cue to leave. Would love to chat but my shift just happened to end and I don't want my ass to be grass, I'll see you at the drinking party later Aerith!"
"Language!"
Yuffie was talking so fast that Aerith almost didn't catch what she said before rushing out of the lobby doors just as an older man rushed into the lobby. She let out a gasp when she saw that his hand was covered in what seemed to be blue ink. It took all her willpower to not laugh, biting her lip and looking away as the man stood near her, muttering a million curses as he tried to wipe off the ink with a rag he had hung over his shoulder.
"Damn kid is lucky her father is such an important person or else she would've been fired a long ass time ago."
No matter how much he tried to wipe off the ink it didn't look like it was going to come off completely any time soon. Deciding to give up he folded the dirty rag before tossing it on the front counter desk and finally noticed Aerith standing there, looking at him.
"The hell are you looking at?" Aerith wasn't sure how she should respond so she simply kept quiet, looking at him with an awkward smile, not used to this kind of personality but for some reason she felt like he was kinder than what his exterior showed. It took him a second but he finally noticed that she was wearing the uniform.
"You're the new clerk with the hella complicated last name, right? The fuck were yer parents thinking when picking that last name?"
This comment made Aerith laugh, her shoulders shaking a bit. This was not the first time she has gotten comments like this about her last name.
"I would also like to know but yeah, that's me! I'm Aerith, and you are?"
"Cid Highwind. I'm the boss 'round here but my wife Shera also runs some things. She's not here today but she will be joining us for the drinking party later. She let everyone know that we're going to be holding a drinking party to welcome you to the crew after work."
She didn't have any time to process what Yuffie had said earlier because of all that was happening in the span of a few seconds but now she recalled that she also mentioned a drinking party. A drinking party where all her coworkers would get together. All her coworkers. Cloud would be there. She began to get giddy, looking forward to the get together where she would be able to interact with Cloud more but then she remembered that Zack would come to pick her up when her shift was over. Zack didn't have the best first impression of Cloud so he might be hesitant to letting her go to the party by herself and would want to come along.
"Hey Cid, would I be able to bring a friend?"
"If Cloud can bring his chick you can bring yours, not my problem. You guys are going to be payin' anyway." He shrugged before focusing on his hands, trying to pick at some of the ink that had begun to dry under his nails.
"Cloud has a chick?"
"Oh, you must've seen 'er when you came. Tifa's the one that walks Chocobo Head to work and usually picks him up too. Joined at the hip those two. Surprised they haven't gotten together yet with the way she looks at his dumb face. Kid's dense as a rock when it comes to noticing her feelings, almost makes me feel bad for her." He let out a long and low sigh, massaging his temples after thinking about their dynamic before cursing, remembering that there was still some wet ink on his hand that was now on his face.
'Tifa...' Rather than feeling jealous she was curious about the girl. When seeing the woman with Cloud she felt like she had known her but that wasn't possible. Aerith would have totally remembered seeing a woman like her before so why did she feel like she was an old friend? Thinking a lot made her have a bit of a headache so she decided to let it go and instead focus on Cid again.
"Yuffie explained most of what I had to do already so I was wondering if there is anything else I need to know?
"I'll walk you through what you need to do for the first few days before leaving you by yourself. You seem smart enough and the job is not that difficult, you'll catch on."
For the next 2 hours Cid walked her through what she needed to know in full detail, making sure that Aerith did it the exact same way he did as well as making sure that she knew what she was doing. When it was finally time for her break she was so mentally exhausted, having to take in so much information really did a number on the person. Cid would constantly emphasize how important her job was as the mail processor which was starting to overwhelm her a little but she took in a few deep breaths, calming herself down before she went to the break room.
"Oh!"
Blue eyes met hers as he paused mid bite, his mouth staying open for a few more seconds before snapping his mouth shut and setting his sandwich down. Aerith had not expected to see him so soon but she couldn't say she wasn't pleased with this. They stayed quiet for a moment, both looking at one another before the woman decided to make the first move, heading over to him. With every step she felt her heart beat faster and faster. She still couldn't believe that he was real and right in front of her.
"On your break too?"
His voice was a little different than in her dreams. It would be warm and gentle as he talked to her about his past adventures or talking to her about their journey. Now, it seemed a little distant but that was to be expected since this was only their third meeting. Outside of her dreams that is.
"Why yes, I am finally free from the iron grips of Cid Highwind."
Just hearing his name made a shiver run down the two coworkers backs, fearing the wrath of their boss. Since she ate before coming to work she was not hungry and decided to use this free time to get to know the blonde again. Noticing that he was on his last bite of the sandwich she decided that it was prime time to strike up a conversation so she sat down across from him.
"You're attending the drinking party, right Cloud?" She asked, her elbows on the table with her fingers intertwined as her chin rested on top of them. Curious greens made the blonde still for a moment as if he was entranced by the way she looked at him before dumbly nodding. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to go before but now he had to go. How would he break the news to Tifa that they are going to a drinking party with the girl that he has been seeing in his dreams? She would most likely punch the living daylights out of him to rack some sense into him which he seems to lose whenever he is in this girl's presence.
'I'm royally fucked.'