On Zack's days off, he and Aerith don't do anything extravagant. Most of their time together is spent hanging around various areas of Sector 5, talking to each other. Sometimes Zack gets roped into doing tasks for the townspeople, and Aerith will tag along to watch (and not help). Occasionally, he'll sit at her kitchen table, waiting patiently, as Aerith tries out a new baking recipe for him to eat.
She often worries he'll get bored with her, or too frustrated by the fact that they can't really go anywhere together. Why be with her, when he can have any beautiful city girl he wants? Someone he can freely show off to everyone, anywhere? Zack's handsome and charming; he can be with anyone. He tells her—more often than he should, she thinks—that he doesn't care about the restrictions. He doesn't want any girl. He wants her. Aerith believes him, but the doubt continues to persist no matter how much they try to challenge it.
Today they're in the abandoned church, sitting amongst the garden. Aerith has a bundle of picked flowers in her lap that she's weaving into a crown.
"You're really good at that," he says, eyes trying to catch up with how quickly she's braiding the stems together. His first attempt at weaving resulted in a sad lump, and Aerith forbade him from trying again before he killed all the flowers.
She chuckles, slowing down as she reaches the end to tie the crown off. "My mom taught me how. We used to make them all the time." She holds up her masterpiece, the flower crown glowing from its sunny yellow petals. "Come here."
He scoots closer to her, sliding his arm around her back so they can be hip-to-hip. Aerith tries to smooth his hair down so she can lay the crown flat on his head. Yellow is a good color on him, so is the rose pink spreading up his neck.
"There! You look like a prince," she teases. She brushes his stray bangs aside, not because it's messy, but because she wants to keep touching him. "Prince Zack . . . and Princess Aerith." It sounds childish to say, but she likes the sweet feeling inside her that results from it.
Before she can drop her hand, Zack takes her wrist in his hold and kisses her palm. Her mouth clamps shut; the sweet feeling in her starts to boil.
"If you're a princess, I think I'd rather be your knight." He's still holding her hand as he lowers it.
"Why's that?" Not that knights aren't nice, but wouldn't it be a step above to be a prince?
"Knights are meant to protect, right? And they're seen as symbols of courage and strength. That's what I want to be for you. Someone who'll protect you, but also show you how to be brave."
Part of her wants to tease him and asks if that's what he says to his comrades to help with their motivation. Show people that you're someone who'll protect them and someone to learn how to be brave from. The other part of her is feeling extra emotional today and might tear up. She wills herself not to cry.
Zack's close enough that she doesn't have to lean far. Aerith tilts her head and presses her lips to his.
Okay, that last one was mean. Genesis/Angeal or Genesis/Sephiroth?
I love how you think that, considering I still scour the net searching for Hollander/Hojo. |D
This one's easy though. Most definitely Angeal/Genesis.
From the moment I saw them together, I've felt that they're meant to be. *brick'd* Grew up together, continue to mesh well, and they just seem to fit together, being the other's other half. They seem to make up for each other's weaknesses (such as Genesis being a dick, and Angeal being a pretty top bloke).
I dunno... I literally can't see either of them with anyone else.
As for Sephiroth, I actually... Don't really care too much about him. Not to say I don't like him - it's just that if he were to randomly drop off the face of the planet, I'd not really notice outside of how it effected his friends. Which could be the reason I don't really ship him with anyone. :| If I were to pair him off though, it'd be with Zack. Just to get them both out of the way.
I actually have no real good reason to like them together, other than I love the thought of them growing up knowing of each other and at least one of them obsessing over the other because they're rivals in a similar field of science. Which - when they meet - turns into some weird-ass attraction not even they understand.
As they grow older, they continue those little rendezvous, though they think very little of them. Because, y'know, the other's just a lowly scientist, totally not worth the other's time, and that chick down in bio-engineering's pretty hot.
