florant | 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎?

𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎?

𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎?
– 𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘹.

➤ open to picture prompts ( shippy / smut / gen ), overflows from tfln, continuation or beginning of texts ( midnight / sexting / misfires ), PSL goodness — anything! typically, assumed CR is okay, however, if you feel more comfortable discussing before hand, message me! feel free to drop something in at random.
➤

permamemes ! feel free to tag in to the following at any point and time to spoil me. bed sharing / shipping pic prompt / phone sex/ting / body heat / random scenario / gen texting / texting pic prompt.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

— tfln.

hm. i'd ask what decision, but... i don't want to bother.
if you do want to talk about it though, i'm here. okay?

( aerith's curiosity knew no bounds, but every so often she recognized that line. )

thought what?
that'd i'd be picky about my company?
i think most people are. if they're not, they should be. we never know how much time we have left. why spend it with someone you don't want to?

You spent plenty of it with me. I was just some guy that fell through your roof.

maybe then
it didn't take long for you to become more than that. to me, anyway.

besides, if you look at it that way...
i was just a girl in the right place at the right time. but you've spent it with me, too

That's different, you're kind to everyone.
You befriend people as soon as you meet them.

is it really so different?
my people, i care about them. i do my best to look after them, for what i can.
but otherwise i'm on my own

at least, i was. until i met you
...would you rather i spend my time elsewhere?

You're not

[There's a very long pause that follows, because Cloud doesn't know what to say. But he also doesn't know how to put words to it. How to articulate truths he's tried not to look at. How to touch a part of himself that he keeps trying to hide. What he means is you don't try to pull away and you connect to people or maybe you reach for people. What he says instead is-]

I like spending time with you.

( but there's different kinds of loneliness, isn't there? the last of her kind. to be known, to be understood, it was a near impossible feat, even if she did reach. sometimes, that reach could only extend so far. it may not seem it, but not every part of her was open and blooming, willing for others to see and read. she allows him glimpses of her that others wouldn't recognize, things that she doesn't want others to see.

in their own ways, they guard themselves. )

i do choose where to spend my time, you know. even if i am friendly.
you have a lot more people around you than you think.
even if i'm not around you, i...

well, i want to be

[It's easier in a way, to hear things like this from Tifa. After all, there's history there, even if his version's been a little unreliable. He knows where they stand, is able to read the ins and outs of their movements. It's different with Aerith. She doesn't give him the same outs and there's no shaking her off. But it's more than that too.

It's uncomfortable, to be seen.
To feel as if maybe, maybe he might want to be.]

If you were, I don't know what the flowers'd do without you.

( a petite smile at that. )

they'd be okay. they stuck it out while we were in sector 7, and with shinra, remember?
besides, they have one another to keep company.

( putting herself out there, it wasn't... easy. tending to the flowers, she was used to that. but it seemed all of those around her, everything human faced the risk of being bruised because of what she was, because of what chased her, followed her. what always would. so maybe she's selfish, wanting him closer.

but she does all the same. )

tell me what you're thinking about?

[What is he thinking about.

For a moment Cloud closes his eyes. He thinks back to the smell of the flowers and the way their petals had wafted to and fro in the breeze. He thinks about Aerith's tenacity and wonders if it's the kind of thing someone is born with, if it's already in the seed when something is planted- or if it's cultivated along the way.

He's thinking that when he turned in for the night and poured his first drink, he couldn't imagine anyone else sitting there with him while he moped. And he's thinking that maybe that isn't the same as wanting to be alone after all.]

I'm glad you answered.

( she aches to get inside that mind of yours, cloud.

someday, she'll hear it from those lips themselves, but for now she's content with the wondering, blinking up at a newfound sky. there's a few moments that pass between his reply and her own. between them, she thinks of herself, here and now—and then she thinks of him... the warmth of him beside her, always within reach, never quite touching.

it isn't a secret which she'd prefer. )

i'd like to be there with you. ( if you'd let me. if you want me. )

[Honesty isn't really his strong suit. Cloud doesn't go out of his way to be deceitful, but he knows there are things he'd be able to explain, that he might be able to find an answer to if he was willing to follow it a little deeper within himself. If he tried to look without glancing away. It makes talking with Aerith easy in some ways, and difficult in others.

She can be pretty direct and she doesn't sidestep when she gets too close- she doesn't tiptoe around him, the way other people do. But she doesn't try to carry any of that weight either. Instead she just keeps shouldering her own, and invites him to walk with her.

He doesn't feel press-ganged into helping her out or keeping her company.
She says i'd like to be there with you and Cloud looks at the words for a very long time. He doesn't want her to be here, in his cramped, empty apartment. But-]

It's late but.
The park was nice.

( on the contrary, she finds that he has a rather sharp honesty. one that doesn't worry over words, but in gestures, the tiny sounds that pass his lips. maybe it's because she analyzes, pays too much attention, but it's the little details of another that tell you the most. there's a lot she doesn't know of him, perhaps even more than the pieces he's yet to find of her. but she's patient; after all, it's kind tending that yields the best blooms.

she's not worried about the hour, certainly not where it is she might join him. growing up in the steel slates of shinra, growing older yet in the sector five slums, appearances weren't everything. )

i don't mind. i'm not so tired, yet

( but she'll leave it to him—if he wants to be alone, she won't press. )

Then I'll be waiting.

[It's easier than he thought, to get the words out. Maybe because it's already been made safe to say them. Maybe because he can repeat her words in his mind and hear her voice along with it. i'd like to be there with you]

Don't rush. I won't go anywhere.

( half of her had been prepared for denial—she didn't take it personally, with him. she understood that need to curl into oneself, that wish to remain hidden in plain sight. so much has changed around them, she couldn't blame him if he needed the night to himself. and so she's pleasantly surprised by his response, a warmth brimming in her chest, a tiny flutter of something taking flight.

don't rush. but she can't help that she's eager, that she'd rather be tucked in with him anywhere than in that room by herself. he'd given her the location on a small, torn piece of paper, one she folds into the pocket of her jacket. )

save a drink for me, okay?

( the phone is all that illuminates her surroundings, but soon she's able to follow the streetlights, biting lips together in anticipation as the breeze stirs through her hair. it's not wound in its typical braid, instead let down in a loose, messy one draped to one side of her neck. there's a distant rumble of thunder above, just as she ducks toward the door with those aged, metal numbers looking back at her. )

i'm here ( she opts for a text, as not to startle, lingering before the front steps. )

in the pictures there's a flower in my hair and also a lobster, i need those things explained

i KNOW you're responsible for at least one half of that.

and why exactly would you think that??

it just so happens that i have no idea what you're talking about!

it would take a strong blow to the head for me to believe that for a second

well. you do have a knack for picking fights
are you sure you don't just have a concussion?

( she will not rescind. )

want me to give you one so we can compare how we feel?

no, i'm pretty sure i know the difference between a concussion and a hangover

that's not very nice.
didn't anyone ever teach you not to put your hands on a lady?

oh, well that explains it!
who says you didn't do it to your own photo, huh? i get a little forgetful if i drink, too. happens to the best of us, merccy.

besides, i dunno what the big deal is anyway.
i think it looks cute.

nope.

nope.

aaaaaand nope.

literally nothing you said is true or correct, that's almost impressive

why would i lie!
you flatter yourself enough to accept one compliment

do you even like lobster?

( focusing on what matters. naturally. )

in my mouth, yes

anywhere else, the score drops pretty harshly

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎?

– 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨.

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tfln delivers, au where he also lives in the slums idk slum life yo

SLUM BOY MERC

living in the trash where he belongs

she'll decorate the can w/ flowers at least

the life of luxury he deserves(???)

(y) can confirm

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