Chapter Text
She wasn’t sure where he had come from, that was business between him and Sora, yet now that he was someone, as Cid mentioned once in a discussion with Leon - that finished in a hush hush once they noticed she was at earshot. - Lea just seemed to hang around, aimlessly walking through Radiant Garden. Did he even have a place to live?
Pulling the weeds out of her garden, Aerith kept her head down wondering why her thoughts had gone in that direction when so much had been keeping her mind busy for the last few months. Now that Cloud was back, he and Tifa finally started sorting things out. There was no resentment towards her friend, Aerith knew the fighter spent years and spared her light just to make sure Cloud found his way, and back to her it was. It was the right outcome, destiny had planned it out long ago, however a part of her, the romantic fool part of her, hoped for the longest time that he would come back for her. To her.
Nevermind that, they seemed happy and already moved to their own spot together, which made the house empty. She could do with empty, but the silence… Aerith would often humm. Whenever tending to the flowers, tightening up the house, doing errands for her friends, there was always a song in between her lips, it helped to keep the crush of solitude away.
“So, what kind of flowers are those?” the question nearly sent her into the flowerbed.
Looking over her shoulder, there was Lea with a curious, innocent look, leaning over her to have a better view of the plants. His tone couldn’t be friendlier, it simply took her by surprise.
“Lilys.” Then after a moment: “They are my favourite.”
“You must be their favourite too, considering how many grow in here.” Aerith was sure it was not his intention to sound flirty, yet here they were.
The day had that pleasant autumn chill common to Radiant Garden; a rare occasion where the florist found her hands free to take care of the flowers without interruption, or so she expected. Not that Aerith had any reason to give him a crooked glance: Now that he dropped the absurd black coat that did nothing on make him look friendly, Lea was starting to become quite popular among the citizens of the town: you could never find him in a foul mood, strolling down the streets with his high boots and short sleeved shirt and jacket, the spiked hair easy to spot high up the head on an already tall man. Small city, and people would talk, especially other women who spared no sigh, stare or blush whenever he passed by.
Standing up and brushing the dirt out of her skirt, Aerith looked at Lea who so patiently watched her tending the flowers and now peaked at her with a curious look. She once took him for a more rowdy boy, the momentary encounter they shared was a mere glimpse of Lea letting his fire run wild during a fight. His appearance reminded her of… someone else. Before he was known as Axel: Short fused, persistent, a menace, as if the fire he conjured was the true master of his will.
But the man in front of her was different, this one was…serene. Something about how the wind was playing with the tip of his hair, the heavy eyelashes crowning the green orbs, the small smile in his lips. Aerith caught herself being completely inappropriate with the amount of quiet staring, prompting her to smile as if the entire time had been spent on consideration towards her next question:
“Are you busy tomorrow?” The question seemed to catch him by surprise.
“I’m never busy.”
“We are having a get together. All of us. You should come.” And then she smiled like they were old friends.
Invitations didn’t come easy to Lea, seeing not long ago he was siding with the enemy, barely being able to be considered a person for all that mattered. So he was surprised by the sudden request, but not by it coming from her: He always heard Aerith to be kind and welcoming.
“I’ll be there.” He was so soft spoken. Once Yuffie complained about being unable to figure him out now that he was no longer Axel, but Aerith felt Lea was the type of person where you get what you see.
“Wonderful! I’ll send a message to Sora and the others, too: it’s been a while since we’ve seen them.” The initial plan was to have just the old crew, but there was no harm in bringing more friends under her roof; besides she felt Lea would be a tad dislodged from the rest by himself. “See ya tomorrow!”
And there he was. Hours earlier looking the same as yesterday as if time had passed only for her. In all fairness she had never mentioned when the event was to start, so for him to be standing at her door so suddenly must mean he had been looking forward to it. Letting him in and rushing back to the kitchen, Aerith felt the presence of the man right behind her; it wasn’t threatening, but Lea was still a stranger, a big stranger, and to accept he meant absolutely no harm was a feeling she was working on.
Perhaps with a few trust exercises and talk, then.
“Would you mind helping me with setting up?”
Months ago there was always someone in the house with her to either assist or make her company, now…:
“That’s why I arrived so early.” Said Lea in a pointless attempt of saving face.
As she explained what needed to be done while working on decorations herself, Aerith learned that Lea stared. A lot. Not in the rude way that made her uncomfortable, but the florist did feel self aware: his green eyes followed her every movement, from her lips to her hands as if he was trying to memorize all which fit in the scene. You could see him realizing here and there what he was doing, then Lea would rapidly blink and let his eyes wander for a bit, but he ended up going back to being transfixed before knowing it. It was sweet, there were not many that kept a blinkless gaze on someone and did not seem ill intended; to her it was almost like a curious child trying to learn the ways of the world. Not malicious, attentive.
Asking him to fetch the pastries from the oven, Aerith turned to look for the mittens when she saw him reaching for the baking pan:
“Lea, careful! It’s ho-!” she stood there, oven mittens in hand, staring at him holding the baking pan with his bare hands straight out of the hot apparel with a confused look on his face.
Oh, yes, the fire powers. Supposedly piping hot metals were nothing when you could conjure flames through your fingers.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s fine, I forgot-” shaking her head, Aerith put a hand on her chest. “So, can you still cast after…becoming Lea?” There was no sensible way of asking that, and she refused to say ‘getting a heart’ to someone as sweet as him.
“Yes. I also feel more connected to my powers.” He looked at his hands with a simmer of interest. “Although it does feel like I lost some of my strength.”
“You also lost your charm marks.” Clasping her lips together, Aerith looked back at him to find Lea staring at her, surprised by her comment. He raised his fingers to his cheekbones where the red slashes used to be. “I suppose just the marks, the charm is still there.”
Taken aback by the comment, he went to stare at her only to find the florist already busy with preparing the finger food: chips, plates of veggies, pastries. There was a heat crawling up his face that had nothing to do with his powers nor the over: Did she talk to everyone like that?
Scratching the back of his head, Lea desperately tried to think of a subject that would move away from him:
“So, where is everyone? Last time I was around here the whole gang was staying in the house.” He knew that was a sensitive subject before even finishing the question: Aerith mood shifted, her gaze lost its spark and the smile that had been tugging the corner of her lips lost its grip, leaving her face an emotionless mask. She looked like a dying flower.
“They moved on.”
“Hm?”
Aerith told him that after everything that happened , either by enlightenment or need to distance themselves, they all went on their own path and were trying to move forward. Although happy for her friends and wanting nothing more for them to succeed on their quest, eventually Aerith stood behind in an empty house that once was filled with camaraderie.
A heavy silence felt between them and for the first time it felt uncomfortable. “But it’s fine, I have my flower shop that gets me going. Plus, they come to visit every now and then.” Even her voice had a lonely echo.
That last bit Lea wasn’t so sure of: Regularly when he was wandering through the alleyways of the town, Aerith was hard to miss with that ethereal aura the woman carried together with her gardening tools, so beautiful, but so alone. Very rare were the occasions where he found the florist in the company of somebody.
“What about you? Spending time with, what’s his name again?-” ‘Isa.” “Yes!”
“He is doing fine. Seems to be on his crusade around the Worlds to find himself.”
“And you didn’t join?” She knew well of that distant gaze he was wearing, a numbing realization that life for those around him was moving on in their own directions while you seemed stagnated, not so much with a path to choose, more like lost in the woods.
He shrugged. “It seemed that everywhere I went, my memories were always following me. So I decided to stay where they are and spare myself the trip.”
The conversation quieted down as they worked on the cheese plate with urgency as their time alone was about to run out. Every now and then Aerith could feel his eyes on her, but was unsuccessful in catching Lea. There was tension now in the air, maybe due to the expectations of guests knocking at any time, but Aerith was pretty sure it felt different, like a cork about to pop off a bottle; Nevertheless, she was grateful for his company.
It came as a relief and a scare when Lea finally spoke: “You know, now that you said you’ve been by yourself, I think you’ve been doing pretty good.” Her eyes widened as she was sure a sound escaped her lips. Aerith looked at the towering man next to her who kept smiling down at sliced brie he was arranging. “Taking care of the gardens in the town, managing your shop and hosting your friends: that takes a lot of will and care.”
Aerith pressed her lips, looking at the cheese plate that had a pleasant balance to it. She didn’t need his approval, it could not possibly mean something to her, but it did. Lea didn’t know her like that, yesterday was the first time they’ve really talked, and yet he seemed to have been observing her for a while. It reminded Aerith of…
No. Not like that.
For the silence to not grow even heavier, she sighed and said: “You are the one who goes fighting the bad guys, I’d say that takes even more will and care.”
“Well, yeah, but I got help from the others. Plus the training to become a Keyblade wielder did make me more resourceful…”
The words rang something inside her while she finished the decor on the cupcakes. Looking back at Lea, she said:
“You wouldn’t happen to know how to make potions, would you?” His long fingers scratched his chin where a few red hairs were starting to poke out.
“Alchemy and potion crafting are some of the subjects that me and Kairi started with. Merlin really wanted us to get everything covered.”
Her eyes widened like tea plates, her fist hammering down on her open palm.
“Could you help me, then? I know a lot of people come to my shop to buy ingredients for their potions, but if I sold the final product there I could make more profit!” Somehow they’ve landed on the topic of business with cheese still stuck under their fingernails. “I’ll pay you a salary, of course. We can share the margins.”
Lea stayed frozen on his seat, never seeing this level of excitement coming from her, Aerith’s face possibly a few inches of his with a golden smile crowning her expression. Hustling was more of his line of work: Lea would go into the ‘Job Board’ in cities and do whatever vendors, citizens and rulers posted there in look of the kind, brave or powerful soul to take it.
Before he could mutter so much as a word, a knock on the door saved him from giving an answer he was not ready for. If his silence bothered Aerith, then her glee on finally having her friends arriving masked it like a brand new coat of painting on a stained wall.
Leon was the first to step inside, Yuffie in tow who seemed to have not stopped rambling through their whole walk there.
“-And I have to show up for training tomorrow at 6am, which MEANS I have to head back to the Hero School tonight! Talk about a bummer, man!.” she shouted through the four winds, hands immediately finding its way to a bowl of chips.
“Didn’t you beg Phill to take you as a trainee?”
“The great Yuffie never begs!” She had. Through the whole winter. Which made Hercules feel bad, which then made Phill annoyed with his best prodigy getting distracted. He folded with the ase of marble, however have been training Yuffie with such vigor you’d think he was punishing the girl for daring to ask.
Tifa and Cloud arrived not much after, the latter eyeing Lea when he got the door while Aerith listened to Yuffie. He saw the ex-soldier was about to make one of his snarky remarks when Tifa pulled him inside the house:
“We are here!” It was outstanding to her how Cloud managed to find something to be sour about even at an event like this, but Tifa became a master of forcing him to move on to the next good thing, which meant sitting with their friends and enjoying the afternoon. They haven’t seen Aerith in a while, let alone manage to get the whole gang together since their last conflict.
They all have their individual tasks when it comes to restoring Radiant Garden, which looked far different from when Sora first arrived, yet much could still be done for the town and the people in it. It was far more peaceful now, especially with the place being a visiting point to so many keyblade masters, and for that their committee was grateful;
In between Cid’s updates about his exchanges with Tron and Leon report of the drop on crimes that Cloud finally let that obvious tension on his shoulder be voiced by the question: “And what is he doing here?”
Both Tifa and Aerith who have been chatting about plans for the end of the autumn followed his gaze to the tall newcomer who seemed entranced by his exchange with the young ninja.
“Helping me! We bumped into each other yesterday and I invited him.” Aerith did not miss the judging glare Cloud gave Lea, she just hoped the fire master didn’t hear any of it by standing near them as Yuffie’s went over the smell coming from the underworld gates.
And yet the other man didn’t seem willing to drop the subject.
“I don’t like this, you know he looks like-”
“Shush, now. I’m sure this is not here nor that.” Tifa rushed, putting a hand on his knee. “He is just making sure everyone here is safe, I’m sure.” Aerith gave her a friend a grateful look.
But..
“I’m just saying Reno would also keep a close eye on Aerith by looming around her house, too.” The flower girl took a sharp breath not wishing that Lea was ever exposed to a piece of information to the Turkey they’ve once met.
“He wasn’t ‘looming’, he was-”
“-Stalking you. Making sure Rufus Shinra always knew where you were.”
“Please, Cloud, it’s not like that. Lea is my friend.”
“He was once siding with the enemy.”
“So were you.”
For the first time the flower girl saw some of the changes that Tifa’s light brought up on the swordsman: not long ago Cloud would have taken the reply as a blow on his pride, scoffed and left without minding leaving an uncomfortable silence behind. But the man in front of her simply took a deep breath, shook his head to recompose himself and not draw the exchange further than it needed to be. It was a way to defuse the tension only displayed by Tifa until now:
“Look, I’m just saying I’m not sure about this. I don’t know the guy, but I know the one he looks like.” Raising his hands in a surrendering gesture, Cloud gave her an apologetic, yet indecisive look. “I’m just worried about you.”
“Don’t, Cloud. I can take care of myself.” she chuckled, tensing her arm in a display of a barely visible muscle growing in the area. That earned her a giggle from Tifa, who moved on the subject to the endeavors they’ve been up to since Cid allowed them to take his ship and cruise in between worlds.
It was no Costa Del Sol, but it was what they had around there. Tifa was in the middle of a story about a seagull being very persistent on Cloud’s hair when the door opened and screams were heard across the house:
“LEA!” It seemed that Namine and Kairi had spotted without much difficulty the tall redhead in the crowd.
The girls sprinted through the living room, colliding with the man one after the other in a tight embrace. Aerith sure felt Lea getting stiff with the sudden contact , giving a friendly pet on their shoulders while shooting her an awkward smile, not knowing what to do with himself. The flower girl grinned back, shaking her head while turning again to Cid’s mumbling. It was those small vouchers that made her stomach flip: more and more she felt good about having him around.
“Hey, how is it going?”
“I can’t believe you are living with Roxas and I managed to miss you the whole summer!” Namine had been busy with her own art career and studies that the little time she had for her boyfriend was clearly dodged by the firemaster.
“How have you been?” asked Kairi with her ever sweet voice.
“Doing less amazing than you two, if you can believe it.” He looked up in time to see Sora, Roxas and Riku approaching. “You three treating the ladies well?” They better be.
“You know it.” said Sora while putting an arm around his girlfriend’s shoulder. “Kairi was thinking of having everyone go to see Jack on Halloween this year.”
“I’m sure she just wants to make sure he keeps Santa alone.” Said Namine in between chuckles.
“At least I stick to the Town, you always try to wander to Santa’s workshop even though you know he is busy!” Sora pouted at the girl’s comment: last visit, she had spent so much time with Goofy and Donald Kairi was starting to sound like them.
“I haven’t seen you much on the training grounds, Lea.” Riku commented, turning his aquamarine eyes to the fire master: this last summer it seems that his body did a final push on his height, making him almost as tall as the redhead.
The other’s eyes wandered to the sofa where Tifa and Aerith were all smiles and soda sips: “Yeah, I’ve been busy.”
With an empty cup and no refill in sight, the flower girl excused herself to the kitchen: Unfortunately the pantry was designed in a way that, in order to grab whatever was located on the left shelves, Aerith had to squeeze into the closet and close the door. Often she got afraid of the lock breaking and she had herself trapped in there, especially now that she lived alone. So as she shut herself in the pantry and grabbed a new bottle of soda from the corner, the flower girl was considering having the door removed all together when she heard voices from the kitchen:
“...more soda…” It sounded like Roxas, and the other one was definitely Lea.
“I’v heard they started making sea salt flavours in Twilight Town…”
“Don’t. They are horrible. It was very expensive and I barely took a sip.”
Aerith leaned against the door and held her breath: why she found the need to basically spy on the guys was beyond her, maybe it would be awkward revealing herself from the closet, and by this point she had been listening for enough time that announcing herself would make her look weird. Plus those two seemed to be having fun, everyone knew Roxas and Lea were kindred souls that connected through universes and different versions of themselves.
“So, how are things around here?”
“Pretty chill, if you ask me. Which means I’m damm good at my job.”
“Job, right… That’s what we are calling it now-”
“Hey. Don’t start on me, blondie.”
There was a moment of pause where Aerith thought they had left, but-:
“Hey, man, if you are ok with it, I wanted Namine to sleep over.”
Another pregnant silence before Lea finally spoke.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll crash at Yuffie’s or something.” The woman felt herself frown before making sense of what the exchange meant…
Wait: Didn’t Yuffie say earlier that she was returning to the Coliseum after the party? Aerith was pretty sure he had caught onto that, so why was he using the ninja as his fall back plan?
“Sorry about that, man.”
“Don’t stress. Enjoy your girl.” Hearing that Roxas was starting to head her way, Aerith quickly shimmered back to the main room with her cup sadly still empty.
The conversation replayed in her head: Supposedly Lea was staying at his friend’s place, which implied he would not be sleeping there tonight to give Roxas…privacy? That was the best way she managed to puzzle the words together. But, by Lea’s response and knowing what they knew, he would end up having nowhere to go, right? Was that why he arrived too early, not having a place to stay? The thoughts pulled strings on her heart: Lea was quietly making sacrifices to not disturb his friend’s happiness, and that was an act she knew too well.
Finally able to take a moment to catch up, Aerith found a corner on the sofa where she and Tifa had access to the snack bowls without being bothered by the hungry hands of their comrades.
It was hard for her to focus on the conversation, partially because now all of her friends seemed too removed from her life, her routine, her town. More and more the path they were heading lead to different routes, being theirs either way, and while Aerith felt her heart full as her house was at the moment by knowing they were happy, it made her feel like she was stuck in a moment: The others were exploring, expanding horizons, trying new things for the future, while hers seemed a lifetime stuck in that town, running her shop, as it was before, as it will be forever.
And those thoughts came to her before finding out about Lea’s situation, now all she could worry was making sure he knew Yuffie would be unable to open her home to him since she wouldn’t be there. Unless...
Unless he knew it. But did not wish to make Roxas worry.
“Hello? Planning on coming back?” Tifa chuckled as she waved her hand in front of her friend’s face. “Guess you have a lot on your mind.”
“You know me: always getting distracted by the voices in my head.” reaching towards her friend, Aerith smiled. “I hope you are doing wonderful in this new chapter, Tifa. I’m very happy for you!”
“...We try our best, but we miss having you with us.”
Guilt chewed inside Aerith knowing she’d put some distance between them not because she wished to give them space, but there was a sting from watching the couple being jovial and in love. She suspected that Tifa was aware of it, not pushing when the flower girl started to miss get togethers and avoid them altogether, respecting that all healed in a different manner. However today came with a pleasant surprise for Aerith as she felt absolutely no shadow of jealousy when they both came inside, her feeling no need to steal glances at Cloud or daydream of what could have been. It made her feel ashamed of having to reassure and remind herself that it was for the best, she was their friend, be good and out of the way, perhaps that was what made the gap between her and Tifa grow the most, the self awareness that occasionally she had selfish thoughts.
However, not tonight. No more.
It was later at the party where bowls were sitting empty and cups were full of crumpled napkins that Aerith caught a moment with the redhead in the kitchen while putting some of the waste away.
“Lea…” He looked up from the trash bag with an inquisitive look. She stood there with that pensive look of hers, hand on the chin and studying him up and down to the point he wondered what he had done wrong. “You can stay. Later.”
His green eyes scanned her with that calm that she couldn’t read.
“Of course. I was going to help clean. What do you take me for?” He chuckled, putting another stack of paper plates on the bag.
In an attempt to get his full attention to show she meant her next words, Aerith laid a hand on his wrist.
“I mean you can stay for tonight. The whole night.” She hoped he was not reading anything suggestive with those actions and words, rather perceiving a concerned friend trying to do the right thing.
Seeing he was about to refuse for whatever foolish reason, the woman pressed on. “Look, I have plenty of rooms available, and…I enjoyed your company today. Plus, if you are going to stay to help, it will get too dark for you to go back.” it was a low hanging fruit of a reason, but as long as it worked…
He chuckled with the idea that she was worried about him walking alone late at night.
“Are you sure?” He didn’t want to intrude there like he intruded on his best friend’s house. Roxas never said anything, but he could feel his presence might sometimes be an inconvenience, and they were two very close guys; He couldn’t imagine how it would be with Aerith.
“Cross my heart!” Her pinky marked an ‘x’ on her chest and forced a laughter out of him despite feeling inadequate and somewhat vulnerable. “And you can stay as much as you want: the night, the week, it’s up to you.”
That was quite a change of behaviour to the nature of their relationship: Up to now the flower girl had given no indication they were already that close for them to be having a sleepover. It came so out of the blue, and yet-:
“You overhead Roxas, didn’t you?”
“Erm…”
“Listen, I like you, but I don’t need any handouts. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can.” Even with his colder demeanor she kept her smile, noticing how warm his skin was under her fingers. Has it anything to do with his powers? “But there is no one else in here now, so I was thinking: why not make good use of it? It’s not like the others are coming back anytime soon.”
To her surprise, he scoffed:
“I suppose I can stay until one of your buddies moves back in.” So that was what this was all about: he did not want to settle just to be thrown out of the loop again.
Taking the bag from him and setting aside, Lea marveled at her boldness on taking both of his hands, forcing him to look at her.
“If I tell you to pick a room, it’s yours. No one is coming from nowhere and taking it from you.” She shook her head, which made her bangs sway side to side. “But if you want, consider this a payback for helping me with potions until I make the sales and be able to give you actually munny.”
“I… don’t know.” Her friends already made clear they were not pleased with the idea of him hanging around for events, what would happen if he simply moved in? The possibility of waking up one day with Cloud swinging his sword at him crossed his mind.
“Why don’t you think about it and tell me by the end of the day, hm?”
It disarmed him, her smile. Better than any parry Sora and the others have thrown his way. Lea found himself not wanting to let go of her hands, yet there they went with her back to the living room carrying another round of snacks in a bowl.
Would it be incredibly indecent of him to accept the offer? Even in the newfound life of his Lea was pretty sure living with a woman might raise some eyebrows, at best get him some taunting from his friends. He did not want to put Aerith in a position where she would be criticized by the people she loved. Not that he wanted to do anything remotely inadequate under her roof, Lea always thought of himself respectful of the women around him, even with Larxene trying his nerves back in the days. His friendship with Kairi blossomed into a healthy stage, with her coming to him whenever shadows creeped into her heart and Sora having no problem with that.
It should count as something about his character, right? If someone was to move in with Aerith, it had to be with someone with his level of consideration.
Lea shook his head feeling like his mind was starting to find excuses to point out he was the best candidate as a roommate. His arguments became more biased as they went, some brushing into the forbidden territory that he always had a thing for Aerith.
Dammit, that was neither the time nor the place to go there and invite a flagging blush while surrounded by people very protective of the florist to witness. Focusing on the memory of the the time he had eaten a sea salt popsicle that had clearly expired, Lea returned to Roxas’s group around the table
The rest of the night ran smoothly despite Cid having to practically drag Yuffie out of the door if she wanted to carpool on his ship on the way to the Coliseum. Leon decided that was his cue as well, giving Aerith a pat on the head before leaving. Polite as always, Lea handed back the jacket of each guest finding their way to the other side of the door; Roxas gave him a grateful look and Cloud, a suspicious glare. They haven’t said much to each other, but Lea no doubt knew what he was thinking. The door closed behind the last to leave; the flower girl and the flame master once again alone, with her feeling a growing excitement on seeing that Lea was not reaching for his own jacket.
They looked at each other: Him leaning against the sofa, Aerith with her hands clasped on her back.
“Well, you are still here…”
“I am.”
“To help me clean up?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And…?” A note of cheerful hope.
How could she possibly be so kind? Offering a roof, a job, to him of all people, a complete stranger that caused so many problems? Lea was trying to do good, make amends, he was putting his all into that, so was Aerith the something to give and offer the first steps of redemption? It could be worse, so much worse, in fact, Lea couldn’t think of a better scenario than her offer besides managing to get a place for himself.
“I’d like to take your offer. If it’s ok with you.” his hands made this wide gesture that let Aerith flushed for some reason. She noticed he didn’t mention for how long he would be staying, but if they were to be like that, she could work with it.
Without another word being said, they both started the less than pleasant clean up process. For a get together with some friends the house did take a toll on the amount of trash. It did feel odd just the two of them, again, going through the rooms, with quiet ‘excuse me’ and ‘sorry’ being the only sound besides the rummage through objects and secret glances stolen when sure that the other was not looking.
A soft sound coming from the lips of the flower girl made Lea stop while rearranging the pillows on the sofa: she was humming. Again those complicated feelings brewed in his chest, was a heart even supposed to beat so fast? How he wanted to follow her into the kitchen and simply hear that sound for as long as she would allow it. But Cloud’s words stop him with the seed of doubt that was earlier planted starting to sprout: did she, at any extent, fear him? His past as a Nobody, the dangerous nature of his power, and now the newfound truth about his other version that likely tormented her, all would make Aerith at least apprehensive of him.
And Lea could not have that, not with him under her roof making the woman uncomfortable. When they were at the upper storage area trying to find him bed clothing, the question came:
“Was my other somebody…a bad person?” Aerith’s head popped from the wardrobe, confused. “I’ve heard Cloud mentioning I look like someone you know.”
So much for him getting riled up with her eavesdropping:
“Hmm…That is a difficult question. He worked for an organization run by a power hungry man.” Lea gave her a knowing side look which made her chuckle. “But I think the similarities stop there. And the hair.” It wasn’t entirely true: when catching a glimpse of Axel she felt the same hesitation whenever Reno allowed himself to be sighted, such similarity they held.
She would not go onto the little she knew about the Turk, with a picture of a taunting agent that kept pestering whenever she stepped out of routine or when the man felt entitled to do so. She also knew that, despite being laid back and acting unbothered, Reno was a very capable fighter, feared by many of the community as a Turk usually was. Rather keeping the spirits peaceful, Aerith was vague as if describing a stranger which she encountered by passing.
Was Reno inherently evil? She couldn't honestly tell. Cloud had also worked for a bad company, undoubtedly doing bad things, so if she was able to turn the page on his past deeds, would she be able to do it with Reno? Most likely not.
But she could do it with Lea.
“In the end, he was him, and you-” her smile hung on like the silence, her eyes looking at him as if she could finally see the full picture of “I’d say flowers would prefer you.” The shy smile he gave her made the comment worth it;
He ended up deciding for the chamber closest to the stairs. It kept one room in between him and Aerith plus she did feel safer with him basically guarding the only access to the second floor.
“If you need anything, just wake me up.”
“Hey… Thank you again. For letting me stay.” He might have probably kept wandering through Twilight Town ‘till morning, or crashed at Merlin’s training grounds, either way the following day was always the worst with Lea feeling incredibly burned out and dizzy. He was not about to complain with Roxas letting him be there for free, no strings attached, only giving him house rules to follow and, once in a blue moon, asking for privacy when his girlfriend was around.
Then was Aerith.
When he spotted her yesterday and hovered by the garden, Lea wasn’t expecting the events to unroll that way. She brought him a list of feelings that were alien to his new heart: never before he wanted to hold someone with such tenderness, his carelessness with his flames were of no concern before he knew it could hurt the flowers she loved so much. She had the qualities he inherently found himself drawn to: her kindness felt warm, her care was which he wished to be under, her selfless ways and courage. He was a keyblade wielder and fire master, therefore jumping into battle was nothing to raise an eyebrow at, but Aerith was prominent with healing skills only and, regardless of having less means of defending herself, joined the others on fights as if concerns over her wellbeing was something to be brushed off.
Plus she was beautiful. He could firmly say Aerith was the most enchanting woman across a whole dimension filled with worlds. Like a fool under a spell, Lea used to astray from the main paths on the city and get to upper street so he could see her running her store in the little white apron, usually carrying a pot of plants, the sun hitting her hair just right-
The sound of cicadas outside brought his thoughts crashing down and Lea was back to the moonlit hallway where they both stood, him staring at her across the wooden floor and Aerith watching him back with a curious smile.
Lea was so obviously beautiful, more than Reno, more than Cloud. The florist was not one to be shallow, it was pointless to even compare him to the ex-soldier who for so long has been clearly in love with her friend, but now that Aerith let Cloud go, she had to ask herself how come she had never noticed Lea - or Axel - before? Would he stay for her and not stray with his endeavors and pursuits? Wasn’t that what he was doing that night by sleeping over? And if he was to leave, would he hold her hand and bring her with him to explore what was far beyond? Aerith felt the tug in her belly, a pull towards him to let Lea embrace her and, hopefully, not let go.
But not tonight. Not this soon.
“Well, thank you for the help today.” Her eyes squinted, trying to decide if she should say the next bit: “Hmm, it was one of those days I want to get memorized.” Then she turned and disappeared behind her bedroom’s door leaving Lea with a growing warm feeling in his chest that had nothing to do with his powers.