Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ New Love ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

New Love

 

Chapter 3

 

“Now I'm just feeling like a total idiot, because they're all hooting and hollering at me, and Cid even flashes a ten at me,” Cloud continued. Aeris was burying her face in her arm on her desk, her laugher muffled. “Then, Barret comes onto the stage and actually tries to dance with me!” Aeris' laughter continued with renewed fervor as she lifted her head.

 

“What did you do?” she giggled.

 

“I pulled off that damn wig and refused to go through with it any more,” Cloud replied. “It's his bachelor party and I wasn't going to have him put the moves on his best friend!”

 

“How embarrassed were you?”

 

“Not as much as Barret was!”

 

Cloud joined in the laughter. He had only told the story of Barret's bachelor party a handful of times and only when called upon by one of his friends. Somehow (he was sure he was probably drunk at the time), Cid had talked him into dressing like a woman, complete with wig and perfume, and walking onto the stage of the strip club they were at. That was a night he had tried to forget many a time. Cloud stopped laughing and looked down at Aeris, who was staring at him with a strange smile.

 

“What?” he asked, confused.

 

“I think you'd make a pretty girl,” she grinned. Cloud blushed, sending her into another fit of laughter. It was Thursday and they had settled into a comfortable semi-formal relationship with each other, not all that dissimilar from the one he had with Yuffie. She still called him Cloud as he asked and they spoke a lot, but otherwise she was still hard-working, except when they somehow fell into random conversation like they had five minutes ago when she mentioned being distraught over going to a friend's bachelorette party without a date. That of course had forced Cloud to top her with his own tale of woe and cross-dressing.

 

“Strife!” Cloud jumped as the door to Aeris' office burst open. “Where the hell is the Hirasho file, I told you I wanted it on my desk this morning when I came in!” Rufus Shinra raged, glaring at the blonde.

 

“Good morning to you too sir,” Cloud said dryly. He had gotten through Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday without dealing with Rufus. Seemed like his luck had run out this week.

 

“Cut the pleasantries Strife, I want results and you haven't given them. Well?” Rufus crossed his arms and waited.

 

“Sir, I passed the file along to your secretary before I left last night,” Aeris said quietly from the desk. Rufus finally seemed to notice her and turned his head.

 

“Who are you?” he asked.

 

“Aeris Gainsborough, I transferred here on Monday from the Wutai off-”

 

“I didn't ask for your life story, what was that about the file?” Rufus interrupted.

 

“I it on your secretary's desk myself sir, if you'd like I can go and find it for you,” Aeris explained.

 

“Fine, get going,” Rufus ordered. “As for you, Strife, how goes the Hojo account? You know that client means a lot of money to me.” As Rufus turned back to Cloud, a wide-eyed Aeris pulled a file folder from her desk and waved it at Cloud, jerking her head towards the door.

 

“Ah, sir, I believe they wanted me to send them a fax but the machine is broken,” Cloud stammered.

 

“Well fix it!”

 

“I tried sir, I'm not sure how.”

 

“You're useless, move.” Rufus pushed Cloud aside, and Cloud watched as Aeris bolted up from her desk, file in hand, and rushed down the hall to the stairwell. Cloud sent her a small prayer and followed Rufus inside. Rufus had flipped open the panel on the top of the fax machine.

 

“So what's the problem?” he asked, raising his head to look at Cloud.

 

“The, ah, paper feeder,” Cloud made up. “Doesn't work.”

 

“Doesn't work how?” Rufus said, looking down at the rollers for the feeder. Cloud reached over and grabbed a paperclip from his desk.

 

“Not sure sir, just doesn't receive paper,” he shrugged. Rufus rolled his eyes.

 

“You're useless Strife, you know that? God, I have to do everything around this place!”

 

“Yes sir,” Cloud agreed. Rufus Shinra was daddy's son, the heir to the company with an ego the size of his wallet. Rufus had taken an instant disliking to him on his first week. Cloud had no clue why, but Rufus just liked making him miserable for some reason, making it clear that Cloud worked for him. And if Cloud didn't pull his weight, Rufus could quite easily call up his father and get Cloud tossed out, or he could just do it himself.

 

“I don't see anything wrong,” Rufus snapped. Cloud leaned over and frowned.

 

“Maybe the circuitry is busted?” he suggested. Rufus snorted and flipped up the panel for the machine again. His boss' view temporarily obstructed, Cloud reached over and dropped the paperclip into the feeder tray. It clinked and slid onto the rollers.

 

“What was that?” Rufus asked. Cloud looked through the open door of his office. Aeris wasn't back yet.

 

“Not sure.”

 

Rufus ignored him and closed the lid of the machine.

 

“Strife, the damn thing works fine,” he said, looking back down the paper feeder. Cloud looked up and noticed Aeris coming back down the hall, nodding. Cloud looked back as Rufus brought his hand up.

 

“There's your problem,” Rufus muttered, finding and fishing out the paper clip. “Figures it would be something stupid with you.”

 

“Yes sir,” Cloud droned as Rufus left his office.

 

“Did you find it?” Rufus demanded.

 

“Somehow it ended up under a stack of papers, sir,” Aeris shrugged innocently.

 

“Good, at least one of you two has your head on right. Strife, send them whatever fax it is they want and get back to work, I don't pay you to sit on your ass and look pretty.”

 

“Yes sir,” Cloud repeated. Rufus left and Cloud waited for him to vanish into the elevator. “So?”

 

“I talked the secretary into letting me off easy since it was my first week.” Aeris shrugged as Cloud let out a breath.

 

“How come you forgot it?”

 

“I didn't, you forgot to give it to me, I found it on your desk just after you left yesterday while locking up. I had to take it home and fill out the paperwork last night, just got it in the computer this morning.”

 

“What?” Cloud's face fell and he slapped his forehead. “Why didn't you tell me?”

 

“So you wouldn't feel like you do now,” Aeris replied. “Relax, we're in the clear.”

 

“Yeah, but…I screw up and you would have taken the fall…thanks,” Cloud said. “Really, I mean it, Rufus is a hard-ass, he wouldn't care if you're new.”

 

“No biggie,” Aeris waved her hand. “Just don't make a habit of it.” Cloud nodded. Aeris had just saved his ass and almost thrown her own in its place in the process.

 

“Thanks, really.”

 

“No problem like I said, Cloud. Now, its still business hours,” Aeris replied. Cloud nodded and retreated back to his office. He looked at the printout sheet of emails regarding some of the faxes Aeris had sent and called up the program to input the various responses to the deals, contracts, etc, they had sent out. The email on the Hojo account had indeed come back. He'd been dealing with them for some time now, a few months at least, and was close to closing the deal that would make all the parties involved very rich. If they could close it, of course.

 

The Hojo family ran a successful alcohol company in California, and state-wide were quite the high-class name. They had not expanded beyond the state however, and Rufus, after vacationing there and tasting their red wine, had made it his mission to get the Hojo name under his own. The problem was that while the company president was a small, timid man, his son who oversaw the business in actually had proven himself a shrewd negotiator and a skilled opponent in the business world. He had made it clear he saw little to gain in signing a national marketing contract with Shin-Ra and had equally little interest in doing so. Cloud had managed to convince him to consider all that Shin-Ra could provide, and if the email message in his hands was any indication, the younger Hojo had finally begun to take his offer into consideration.

 

Cloud smiled as he reread “I shall consider it” on the printout. Rufus would be happy to hear that. Best to tell him on Monday then, hope his good mood lasted the week.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

It was two hours until the work day ended, and Cloud had just finished sending out a fax, stamping it and slipping it into the appropriate tray. There was a knock on his door, and Aeris poked her head in.

 

“Cloud, you have a visitor,” she said. Cloud looked up as Aeris opened the door and stepped inside.

 

“Tifa,” Cloud said, standing up. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Zangan sprained his ankle and ended the class early, so I decided to stop by and see you. Unless you're busy?” his girlfriend asked.

 

“I'm always busy, but I have a few minutes,” Cloud replied, coming around the desk.

 

“Rufus works him like a pack mule,” Aeris agreed. Tifa turned her head.

 

“I'm sorry, I didn't get your name.”

 

“Aeris Gainsborough, I transferred here on Monday,” Aeris said, holding out her hand. Tifa smiled and took it.

 

“Nice to meet you. You were Yuffie's replacement?”

 

“Yeah, you knew her?”

 

“I'm fairly certain she swiped a twenty from my pocket one day, the little klepto,” Tifa muttered. The three shared a small chuckle at the thought. “So, Cloud, I just wanted to ask if there was anything you wanted me to pick up on the way home for dinner, we're a little short on supplies and I'm not in the mood for take-out two nights in a row.”

 

“Um…let me think.” Cloud thought for a moment as Aeris quietly left the two alone and returned to her desk, closing the door behind her. “Hm…how about spaghetti?”

 

“Sure, it's been a while,” Tifa replied. “I'll grab a package.”

 

“Great,” Cloud nodded. It was a little awkward, Tifa had only come to see him at work a handful of times in the past. It wasn't that she couldn't, he was always willing to speak to her on the phone when she called for whatever reason. He just wasn't expecting her in person.

 

“So your new sectary doing alright?” Tifa asked.

 

“Aeris? Yeah, yeah she's doing great, works hard.”

 

“She seems nice.”

 

“She is, she's always got something witty to say.”

 

“Huh.” The two fell back into silence for a moment. Cloud looked up at dark brown eyes and mentally fidgeted. Was there something else she wanted to say?

 

“So…anything else?” he asked at last.

 

“No no, it's just…you don't seem happy to see me,” Tifa said. Cloud flinched. Ah, that was it.

 

“I am, you know I am, it's just…I have a lot of work,” he explained.

 

“You said you had a minute.”

 

“I lied. You're my girlfriend, I'm not just going to give you a cold shoulder,” Cloud rolled his eyes as if that information should have been obvious. Tifa bit her lip and walked up to Cloud's desk.

 

“Cloud, we love each other, and we're in a relationship. I like to think I can be honest with you about anything, and I'd like you think you'd say the same about me. You don't have to lie.”

 

“I…” Cloud trailed off. Well, he had just admitted he had lied. “I just didn't want to tell you to go away. You're my girlfriend and we both work a lot, if you have a break from that you should be able to come see me if you want to.”

 

“But I don't want you to compromise yourself. I wouldn't do that to you if you came to the dojo. We're equals Cloud, always have been,” Tifa said. Cloud lowered his gaze to his desk. Why did he feel like he was missing something again?

 

“I know that, I just…” Damn, and it wasn't a Monday like it had been with Aeris earlier that week. “Sorry.”

 

“It's okay, I'm just teasing you,” Tifa smiled, reaching over to rub his shoulder. “You've been acting a little off lately when you come home. If there's anything wrong, I think you'd come and talk to me about it.”

 

“I would, but there's nothing wrong,” Cloud said, serious this time.

 

“Okay then. I'll go and pick up dinner.” Tifa reached up to tap Cloud on the nose and smiled as she left. Cloud leaned back in his seat and took a breath. Where had that come from? He hadn't been acting any differently, not that he'd noticed. But then if he hadn't noticed, wouldn't that itself be odd, that he was acting strange and not realizing it?

 

“Cloud?”

 

The man jumped and looked up to see Aeris standing in front of his desk. In his trance he hadn't even noticed her there. “You okay?” she asked. Cloud thought for a moment. Come to think of it, he'd been spacing out a lot lately, thinking about work more often, and not just because of the Hojo client he was close to nabbing. Tifa had caught him staring off into space twice last night. Was she right after all?

 

“I think so.”