A/N:
Heya~!
If you've liked this, feel free to check out my Tumblr because the amazingly awesome waifujuju made two pieces of wonderful art for this!
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"Wow! You're really good at that!"
Cloud, satisfied with the state of his latest hotfix patch job, shut down the table torch. The blond man casually flipped up the bulky welder's mask so he could level a droll scowl at his commentator. "Don't you have an actual job, SOLDIER boy?"
Zack Fair, comfortably seated at one of the small tables piled high with odds, ends, and project schematics, just graced Cloud with a bright, unrepentant grin. "Aw, don't be like that, Spike!" The dark-haired man fiddled with the metal bits in his hands as he turned his attention back towards his self-appointed project. "I brighten your day!"
"You something my day." Cloud muttered without heat as he critically eyed the clamps that were holding his mostly-repaired piece in place while it cooled, wiping his hand on a rag as he did so.
"So mean, Spike!" Zack pouted at the blond man who was giving him a highly unimpressed glower. "And I'm not here that often. I only get a chance to come visit you, like, once every few days. And it's usually really late in the afternoon, so you're working at that factory of yours and grumpy!"
"For the past month or so." Cloud drawled bemusedly, the barest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips as he sauntered over towards Zack and took a seat at the table the other man was tinkering at. "Randomly popping up at the factory after I've spent the entire day dealing with idiots. And yet you keep showing up."
"Yes! And I help!" Zack proclaimed proudly, choosing to ignore the small snort that escaped Cloud as he did so. "Besides, now you're almost ready to fire up your forge-melter-thingies."
"Forge-melter-thingies?" Cloud choked out incredulously, his eyes bright with mirth. "Are you sure you're a big, bad SOLDIER? I distinctly remember them having an IQ requirement….."
Zack puffed up in mock-offended indignation, having become somewhat inured to Cloud's rather fatalistic, sarcastic sense of humor over the past month. "Yeah, well, because of all my awesome help you're almost ready to move your operation to the factory, so ha!"
Cloud gave Zack one of those super sweet smiles that were shy but full of warm affection. "Yeah. Thanks."
Zack nearly melted into a puddle of contented goo.
It might have only been a month of sporadic meetings with the blond man, but Zack was already firmly attached.
Cloud was a snarky little shit, but there was an undercurrent of compassionate steel to the man that just made Zack's insides squirm. Not just his insides either, if he was being entirely honest. Zack adored the stubborn expression on Cloud's face when he was problem-solving; the one where he set his chin defiantly and pursed his lips in thought always made of Zack's blood abruptly rush south. Then again the way Cloud's normally stern expression would melt into one of warm, pure affection when Aerith and Tifa dropped by always made Zack's pants a bit uncomfortable, too.
Well, Aerith or Tifa or Cloud's Ma or Mrs. Gainsborough.
Even the cocky expression that would overtake Cloud's face when that asshole Cid would show up and inspire nearly Genesis-level bitchy friendly banter made Zack a bit warm under the collar.
"What's with the dopey look?" Cloud's lazy drawl snapped Zack out of his reverie and the SOLDIER gave the other man a sheepish grin as he internally scrambled to recover from his mental lapse.
"Nothing!" Zack sang brightly, going back to fiddling with his busy-work project. "I was just thinking about those awesome cookies that Mama Strife made the other day!"
"Ma does make awesome snickerdoodle cookies." Cloud allowed with another one of those affection-laden grins blooming on his pretty pink lips. "She made awesome Ginger Snaps back home. We used to dip them in hot cocoa or spicy cider whenever we ended up snowed in during the deep winter."
Zack gave Cloud an incredulous look. "You dipped cookies into apple cider?"
Cloud broke out into soft chuckles at the utterly aghast expression on the other man's face. "Wow." Cloud finally managed after a few moments of mirth. "You should see your face, Puppy. You look like I just announced that- I dunno, afternoon walks or naptime was cancelled!" Cloud dissolved back into his amusement when Zack's countenance transition from culinary indignation to take on the visage of a pathetically kicked puppy.
Before Zack could make his passionate case for the proper protocol when enjoying homemade cookies, the door to the small shop burst open admitting Aerith, Tifa, and the already prolifically cursing Cid.
"Oh, hi Zack!" Aerith chirped brightly, skipping over to give the SOLDIER a friendly peck on the cheek before she continued on to go fuss over Cloud.
Cloud immediately squawked in offense as Aerith began scolding him for something or other.
Tifa, who had finished setting down a few items she had apparently been carrying for Cid- who was still muttering a steady stream of curses- meandered over as well. She gave the SOLDIER a friendly punch to the arm instead of a kiss, but the sentiment was the same.
"You're not usually here this early in the day, brat." Cid growled from the other side of the shop after a few moments of almost silence.
Almost silence, because Aerith was standing with one hand planted on her hip with the other was formed into a traditional 'you're-in-trouble-mister' finger that was insistently poking Cloud in the chest while she continued to scold Cloud. Unfortunately the scolding seemed to be taking place in the language of inside jokes as Zack couldn't make a lick of sense of the words, despite being able to technically understand them.
"Yeah, well-" Zack answered the other man, reluctantly tearing his eyes away from the bossy brunette and wide-eyed blond that was firmly in her sights. "-things have been pretty easy lately, since most of the Firsts were recalled to Midgar. Supposedly we're supposed to be having a seminar or something, but it hasn't happened yet."
Cid harrumphed derisively. "As if it's unusual for Shinra to drop the damn ball hallway through the game."
Aerith whirled around and pinned Cid with a disappointed frown. "Cid." She chastised the instantly contrite Cid in a tone that was rife with underlying threat. "We do not make digs at Zack's job. It's not his fault Shinra's management is mostly full of self-absorbed idiots."
"Yes ma'am." Cid grumbled in reluctant acquiescence, turning back to his project and proceeding to seemingly ignore the interlopers in his shop.
Cid was not feeling charitable enough to pay attention to the fact that the shop was actually Cloud's. The blond brat was the reason why the Shinra smart aleck and the diabolic duo were currently taking up space.
Ergo, the shop was Cid's and he was the only sane man in the damn place.
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"Well, whatddya think?"
Cloud tore his eyes away from the bustling factory floor and offered the brightly grinning Aerith a slight, but no less happy, smile of his own. "It's amazing." Cloud murmured as Aerith bounced closer and imperiously tucked herself under his good arm.
"Yea, well, you've worked really hard to get everything up and going so quickly!" Aerith chirped excitedly as Cloud tugged her a bit closer and she rested her head against his chest.
"Had help." Cloud muttered somewhat bashfully, as his hand idly toyed with the ends of Aerith's hair. The blond glanced down and met Aerith's happily shimmering green eyes with his own nearly glowing blue. The action caused them both to smile- Aerith's smile softened while Cloud's widened a bit, but both expressions were full of tender, wholehearted affection- and Cloud paused to press a tender kiss to her hair before he turned his gaze back to the lively activity below them.
"Ugh. You two are so cute it hurts." Tifa's amused voice cut through the moment easily but she merely sauntered closer and wrapped her arms around the two from behind, propping her chin on Cloud's bad shoulder. "But don't sell yourself short, Cloudy. Without you this place never would have come together." Tifa gestured towards the floor as Cid came hurrying through the masses, shouting orders and generally being a pain in the ass. "This place is employing nearly three hundred people, starting today. That's not including the hundred or so that are operating the dropoff points throughout the Slum Sectors to supply this place with raw materials. Think about all the kids who are going to be able to eat now, just from picking up trash and turning it in."
"Not to mention that these three hundred are just the first shift of people." Aerith added cheerfully. "They are working eight hour shifts, so there is room for two more shifts of people."
"And if we do half as well as Cid expects, we'll be adding those in less than a month," Tifa helpfully reminded Cloud, snuggling a bit closer and yawning widely into Cloud's shoulder. "Then Mama Strife and Mama Elmyra should be able to get their schoolhouse operation off the ground."
"They are so excited about that!" Aerith laughed. "They plan on doing what they've been doing- focusing on trades and the like- but also trying to teach the basics to the younger ones."
"Tifa wants to open up her bar, too." Cloud reminded them with a slight grin directed at his fellow Nibelheim native.
"The Slums needs a good old hometown-style bar." Tifa defended sleepily. "A bar like Chancey's back home. One with soft lighting, quality drinks, good food, and games like pool or card tables to keep things constructive and positive. We need some music, too, but a section where people could sit and chat while watching a game or something, too!"
"That's our Tifa." Aerith said warmly, lacing her fingers with the ones Tifa's had near her waist. "Of course, she also wants to kick the jerks who would dare to start fights at her bar in the teeth."
"Before she hurls them out the door." Cloud added helpfully. "Full body contact with the ground."
"You'd better be-" Tifa yawned widely. "-elive it."
"Nap time?" Aerith suggested around her own yawn.
Cloud made a small noise of protest, but allowed himself to be led away to the 'emergency nap room' Aerith and Tifa had set up in a small side-room to Cloud's office.
Originally it had most likely been for records storage or perhaps a secretary, as it had held a door and only three walls. The girls had gleefully filled the small room with plants, all manner of comfy pallet-style squishy materials to nap on, and Aerith had even painted a decent approximation of the stained glass from their church nap room on one of the walls. Sadly, the room did not have a window, but the girls had sneakily enlisted the help of Zack- and Cid, who had been highly amused at their subterfuge- to install a much larger fan in the ceiling in place of the original light fixture. The door had been replaced with a rather flimsy sliding door from a Wutainese thrift shop, but the glow in the dark plastic that Aerith had littered through her wall art gave the room plenty of soft light, so the small room seemed cozy as opposed to suffocating.
"It's different." Tifa murmured drowsily as she and Aerith arranged their pliant and obedient human pillow to their satisfaction. "But it's comfortable enough for those days when we don't have time to go all the way back to the church."
"Hmm. Agreed." Aerith sighed happily as she pulled in deep breaths of her favorite scents. Green met red-brown and both women smiled dopily before they settled down to rest, content in the knowledge that the world would burn before Cloud allowed anything untoward to touch them.
In a place like the Slums, with its Don Corneo and a thousand and one other things that lurked in the shadows to prey on young women, being able to sleep deeply was a luxury.
It made the hours they spent resting while Cloud kept watch over them all the more precious.
That and their Cloudy-wolf was just that damn comfy.
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Feel free to leave me a note on your way out~!
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