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[embraves]

Cloud Strife

Cloud Strife. Leave a message.

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→ DELIVERY, 10/14-ish

[doitrockapella]

[ Dropped off at Cloud's garage: a medium-sized black box tied with an orange ribbon, containing three particular types of candy and a handwritten note that reads:

Sweets for the sweet. Please make sure Prompto's gummies find their way to him, won't you? -Carmen ]

[embraves]

[A little later in the day, she'll receive a text from Cloud.]

hey
thank you for the gift today
you really didn't have to do that

i'll make sure my brother gets the gummies

[doitrockapella]

Blame it on your brother; he tipped me off to the location of his favorite candy shop.

(He's ADORABLE, by the way.)

[embraves]

blame him?
i should thank him lol

you run into him on the retrospec app?

[doitrockapella]

He found me, with the trick or treating game. Then he started telling me about his brother the mechanic, the light of his life, the coolest person he's ever met.

He signed you up to help me with all of my automotive needs, too.

[embraves]

prompto's a good kid
i'm grateful that we get along so well, i thought it was going to be awkward there for a while
glad to hear that you two hit it off, too

he didn't need to sign me up
i would've helped you with anything automotive related, you just need to ask

[doitrockapella]

He really adores you. And like I was telling him, in some respects the resemblance between the two of you is uncanny.

I'll bet you would. You're just dying for a shot at my Stingray, aren't you? :)

[embraves]

personality-wise? we don't look anything alike

[They both honestly believe this. Someone buy them a new pair of eyes.]

i mean
that'd be great but that's not the only reason

[doitrockapella]

You...don't look anything alike.

[THIS IS PERPLEXING. HE CLEARLY HAS EYES. SHE HAS SEEN THEM BEFORE. MAYBE HE NEEDS A MIRROR. MAYBE HE NEEDS TEN THOUSAND MIRRORS.]

Have you looked at each other lately?

[That's not the point, though. And soon enough she'll get back around to the point, maybe.]

...There's actually an automotive project I've been toying with lately, but I have a question to ask you first, before I try to draft you into it.

[embraves]

of course we have
he has more of a baby face than me
and he's got freckles

[CLEARLY THEY DON'T LOOK ANYTHING ALIKE CARMEN]

okay. what's the question?

[doitrockapella]

Oh, of course. The freckles make a world of difference.

[LIKE APPLES AND ORANGES, CLEARLY.]

It's something that I was talking about with Prompto, actually. Is it...off-putting, at all, that I'm fairly well-off? Financially. It's not an elephant in the room or anything like that?

[embraves]

off-putting?

[And then Cloud actually has to think about it, which should be an answer in its own right, indicative of the fact that he's only given it very mild thought in the past.]

you mean as in, do i feel awkward around you because of it?
the answer to that is no

[But if he really thinks about it, it does make him feel like he's nowhere even close to her league, in the grand scheme of things.]

i bet prompto told you the same thing

[doitrockapella]

I think his exact words were to ask if I considered you "boy toy status".

[There's an implicit facepalm in there somewhere, probably.]

I understand where his concern comes from. But all I ever ask is to be taken as I am, and I don't want you to be anyone other than you. I don't want all of that to stop you from being you and me from being me, because you being you is what I like about you to begin with.

...

I'd like the record to show that I'm usually far more eloquent than that, by the way.

[embraves]

[BOY TOY STATUS....PROMPTO.........he's going to have to talk to his brother about what exactly was said in this conversation, good lord.]

it's like you said, he's just being a little brother... asking too many questions

[Not that he ever knew what having a little brother was like, but it must be something like this.]

i know we haven't really known each other for that long but that's not how i think about you
judging you by your status and your wealth, i mean
or comparing myself to you in relation to that

maybe i'm just naive but i don't really care about that kind of thing
i just like you for who you are, too.

[doitrockapella]

I don't think it makes you naive. I think it just makes you the kind of person who focuses on what's important, instead of things that shouldn't matter all that much.

(Though I have to admit it's sort of cute that your brother is apparently envisioning me as the uptown girl to your backstreet guy.)

1/2

[embraves]

i can't believe you're quoting billy joel to me

[embraves]

seriously, though
don't let it bother you?

[doitrockapella]

Quoting Billy Joel to you? That hasn't happened for the longest time. (Whoa-oh-oh-oh, for the longest time.)

But all right, I won't worry about it.

...So, then. Now that we've got that settled, can I persuade you to build me a motorcycle?

[embraves]

[He laughs a little at that. Someone likes their acapella.]

you want me to *build* you one?

[um??? hell yes???]

you don't even have to ask
i just finished with prompto's scooter so i need another project to keep my hands busy anyway

[doitrockapella]

And hopefully let me drop by and watch you do it, every so often. If that'd be all right with you?

[embraves]

yeah, of course that'd be all right
if you don't mind seeing me in my grease monkey form for most of the time
which isn't all that flattering

you'll have to let me know what kind of bike you want too

[doitrockapella]

What if I promise to wear a pair of old jeans and maintain at least one smudge on my cheek at all times? We'll be even.

I was toying with the idea of a superbike painted gold and dubbed "the Chocobo", actually.

[embraves]

[He doesn't even respond tot he first half of her text. The second is too surprising, too... touching, almost, for him to focus on anything else.]

really?

[Or is she joking?]

[doitrockapella]

Is that about the jeans or about the motorcycle?

Either way — yes, really.

[embraves]

[There's a bit of a delay before the next text comes through.]

that shared dream really left an impression on you, didn't it

[oh noooo the doki feelings escalate, help he's so useless when this happens]

i'm glad it did