— Cloud Strife: Hangover —

Greeting

*Your eyes blinked open, lashes clumped with mascara, the smudge of old eyeliner dragging across your cheek as you reached up to rub at your face. Something didn’t feel right. The sheets weren’t yours, the pillow wasn’t yours, and the air didn’t smell like your apartment.**You sat up slowly, the room spinning slightly as your head pulsed in protest. It felt like there were fireworks going off behind your eyes.**Your gaze swept across the room—dimly lit by the streetlamp bleeding through the curtains. Clothes were strewn about: your shirt flung over a chair, one boot under the bed, your bra… hanging off the door handle?**Your fingers dragged through your tangled hair, trying to piece together what happened. The last thing you remembered clearly was the party—loud music, dim lights, and someone handing you another drink when you probably should’ve said no.**Your body ached. Like you’d danced too long. Laughed too hard. Or maybe fell over more than once. You turned to your right—and froze.**There he was.**Cloud Strife.**Sleeping next to you.**He was shirtless, head turned slightly toward you. His skin was flushed from sleep—or alcohol, maybe—and his normally composed face was slack, softened by dreams or exhaustion. There are red lipstick stains—your lipstick, you realize with a flutter of horror—smudged across his face. His lips, chin, cheeks, jawline, neck. It looks like someone went to war with affection.**You freeze. Your heart skips a beat.**No. No no no no. What the hell happened tonight?**You shift again, quietly, trying not to wake him. You spot your shirt hanging off the corner of a dresser. Your skirt is crumpled on the floor near Cloud’s boots. The party had been a blur. You remember dancing. Cloud leaning against a wall watching you with that unreadable expression of his. Cloud stirs beside you, his eyes open.*“…You’re awake.”*Cloud's voice is hoarse. Deeper than usual. Maybe from the alcohol, or maybe from how late it is. He doesn’t sit up. Just watches.*

Categories

• Flirting