raisedbymoogles (raisedbymoogles) wrote in kinkfest, @ 2007-09-23 12:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | a: raisedbymoogles, f: final fantasy vii, p: aeris/cloud/sephiroth/zack, september 23 |
Final Fantasy VII (Seph/Zack/Cloud/Aeris)
Title: What They Wore For Her
Author: raisedbymoogles
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Implied het (and a very lucky Aeris)
Word count: 1216
Summary: Pregame AU: three unrelated scenes
Prompt: Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud/Aeris: Clothes fetishization (uniforms) - "Her mother hated their Shinra uniforms - Aeris loved them."
"Cloud! Oh, look at you... come in, before you get soaked."
Cloud couldn't stop blushing as Aeris fussed over him, exclaiming admiringly over his brand-new (slightly damp from the rain) Trooper First Class uniform. Personally, Cloud wasn't sure about it - it was too stiff, too new, and he had long since gotten sick of the omnipresent Shinra blue. Charcoal would be better, he found himself thinking, and made an impatient face at himself.
"I know, I know," Aeris laughed, mistaking the look as meant for her. "I just can't help it! You're one step closer to your goal, right?"
"Near enough," Cloud admitted. He had no delusions that just because he'd made FC he was on the fast-track to the Soldier program, but at least it was a step. "I get the first round of injections next week."
Something faltered in Aeris at that; she ignored it with an effort. "Well, this calls for brownies, don't you think? Get some bowls for me, would you, dear?" She was already halfway to the cabinet as she spoke, going for the half a plate of brownies she knew was there.
"Yes'm." Cloud obeyed with military-drill precision, setting out a pair of bowls and their accompanying spoons on the countertop. "Um, Miss Aeris..."
"It's just Aeris," the girl laughed, tucking a carton of vanilla ice cream under her arm. "Do you want chocolate sauce?"
"No thank you."
"Neither do I," Aeris grinned, shutting the freezer door. "All it does is mask the taste of the ice cream."
Cloud found himself smiling in agreement at that. "And vanilla ice cream is too good to cover up," he offered, and was rewarded by another sunny laugh. "Hey, um, Aeris... what kind of fabric softener do you use?"
"Hm?" Aeris raised her eyebrows at him as she set the ice cream and brownies on the counter. "I didn't know they made you do your own laundry."
"Well, they don't, usually." Cloud shrugged uncomfortably. "It's just - the jacket's a little stiff."
"Is it? Let me feel." Aeris slipped her hand down Cloud's arm, bunched the fabric at his wrist. "Well, it's kind of a tight weave..." she said doubtfully.
"I know, but I thought if I washed it a few times it'd loosen up." Cloud lifted his hand, bringing Aeris's along with it. "And your clothes are always..."
Aeris's eyes lit, wickedly pleased, even as Cloud swallowed the rest of that sentence. "Oh, love," she said, mock-serious, "that's not fabric softener, that's just age. Everything feels better once you've broken it in."
"Um," Cloud offered. Somehow Aeris's words meant more than they should have, and he struggled to translate her girl-speak into his own native language. "Want to - help me break it in?"
"I'd be honored," Aeris smiled, reaching up to palm his cheek, and Cloud sighed - relieved he'd done it right.
The ice cream, sadly, was not rediscovered until the next morning, by which point it had melted into soup.
***
Aeris could count on one hand the number of times she'd been on top of the Plate, and never alone. For one thing, it was unnerving being up so high - even if the Plate was so big you couldn't see how high up you were in most place, Aeris was always uncomfortably aware of how far off the ground she was, and how many layers of metal lay between her and solid earth. For another thing, the Plate was the stomping grounds of all kinds of dangerous things - not drunks or perverts, which she was used to, but other things. Religious fanatics. Swaggering military types. Turks.
Plenty of people wear blue suits, Aeris reminded herself as she squared her shoulders, trying not to look like a victim, and walked out of the train station without flinching.
And shrieked as someone grabbed her from behind, automatically lashing out with her purse. She hit something warm and solid that yelped affrontedly - "Hey, easy, doll! Geez, break my nose..."
"Zack?" Aeris whirled to confront not Shinra-issue blues, or Turk navy, but soft, heathered charcoal cut with black leather. "Zack, you scared me, you jerk!" she protested, flinging her arms around him and holding on tight.
Zack's arms curved around her, warm and solid and fitting perfectly under her shoulder blades. "Sorry, babe," he chuckled. "Can you blame me bein' a little overenthusiastic?"
"I could if I wanted to," Aeris grumbled, but she was already relaxing, and Zack was laughing as he took her shoulders and steered her through the crowd. The same people who'd nearly crushed the petite flower girl parted before the First Class Soldier, his shabby grays suddenly taking on an official-looking gleam. Aeris wrapped her hands around Zack's wrists and allowed herself a small, proud smile.
***
Five years had passed since she'd seen him, but time could not diminish the secret thrill in the pit of her stomach when she opened her door to find him standing there. "S-Sephiroth?"
"Aeris." The General looked - well, imposing as ever, really, but his carriage was a little too erect, as if he was trying too hard to keep himself from falling over, and there were lines on his face Aeris didn't remember being there. "I apologize for the intrusion."
"N-no, not at all." Flummoxed, Aeris shook her head and drew him inside. "I only - the papers said you were dead. Missing in action, anyway, which amounts to the same thing." Questions whirled like frightened birds in her head, accompanied by a steady thrum of green in the back of her mind. Not now, everyone, she thought firmly.
Sephiroth graciously allowed himself to be pulled, closing the door behind him, and sat in the first chair he came to in a very controlled collapse. "I know you must have many questions," the General began.
"It can wait," Aeris said quickly. "You're exhausted. And your coat - " Sephiroth's beautiful leather coat was in tatters, half a sleeve missing, the hem ripped out of the bottom in great gashes.
"Yes, I'm afraid it's all I had." Sephiroth brushed at the ruined leather with resigned humor.
"It'll never be the same," Aeris lamented. "Here, give it to me. I'll get you some real clothes."
Sephiroth hesitated - none of the eerie obedience he used to display, Aeris was both troubled and pleased to note - but finally acquiesced, peeling the leather back from too-pale skin with some difficulty. Aeris bundled it respectfully in her arms and took off for upstairs. Elmyra had kept some of her husband's clothes even after all this time, and it was those that Aeris had in mind to give Sephiroth. Certainly, the man who would have been her foster father hadn't been nearly Sephiroth's height, but his taste in clothes had run baggy so there may be a shirt or two that would fit Sephiroth just fine.
First, though, Aeris laid the ruined coat out on her bed, assessing the battle damage with touch and smell and green-sense as well as with her eyes. Oh yes, she had many questions for Sephiroth indeed, foremost among them being the fates of Zack and Cloud, but she could be just a little patient yet. First there was a broken-eyed man in her kitchen who needed tending, if she was reading the story true in his beautiful, tattered coat.