jessara40k_lj (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jessara40k_lj) wrote2009-01-23 09:38 am
jessara40k_lj) wrote2009-01-23 09:38 am
Entry tags:
FIC Courtship Part 4
Title: Courtship
Fandom: FFVII Cetra Restoration AU
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: implied slavery, implied het, implied slash, cross-dressing
Zack had printed the photos of Aeris’ five short listed candidates for her spouse out onto proper photographic paper, written the names on the back, and put them into those cheap cardboard frames you sometimes got professional photos delivered in when you didn’t pay for anything better. It bothered him a bit that he was the one pushing for the woman he loved to find a spouse, but at least this way he’d have some influence over her choice, and by doing it now they’d have the best possible selection of candidates. He shuffled the photos as he took them through to Aeris’ bedroom for her to look at when she got back to their quarters, and sat down to wait for her.
“Zack.” Aeris sounded annoyed, not that Zack could really blame her since she’d spent the day arguing with the Triumvirate and he quickly organised the photos into a pile on the side of the bed. “What are those?”
“Photographs of your potential spouses.” This might not be the best time to bring the subject up considering how much dealing with the Triumvirate could stress Aeris, but she’d probably be...irritated however he brought the matter up. “You need-”
“To make my mind up, I know.” Zack didn’t care that Aeris had cut him off, but the aggression in her tone did bother him. “Go and dress up nicely for me and I’ll look through them with you.”
“Thank you Aeris.” Zack knew what ‘nicely’ meant when she used that tone of voice, and he started by showering in his quarters, grateful for the fact that he didn’t have to worry about shaving for this the way he knew Tseng did from when Aeris roped him into playing dress-up doll for her. She’d sounded a little impatient, so he grabbed the first bag of female underwear he could find, dark blue and lacy, the sort he liked to see on Aeris, and pulled the bra and knickers on quickly, followed by the garter belt, and slowing down to pull the sheer black stockings up his legs carefully rather than risk putting a ladder in them and having to start again.
The dress next, he preferred to leave faffing around with those plastic things to give the impression of breasts as late as he could, and he pulled a dark purple dress from the wardrobe. It had a full skirt and billowed shoulders, intended to make his waist look a lot smaller than it really was, and he stepped into the dress, fastening it around his waist before he positioned the plastic fillets in his bra and fastened the bodice up with all those fiddly buttons at the front. He could get aware with leaving his nails bare, but he still had to do his make-up, and make at least some effort with his hair - just running a brush through it wouldn’t do, he knew that.
At least it was still damp, and Aeris had made sure he had products that would keep it down, at least for a while, and he used combs set with amethysts to keep it like that. Then the make-up, and Aeris liked it when he made it as dramatic as he could get away with, so he used strong colours on his lips and eyes, with black liquid liner edging his lashes, and after a quick final check in the mirror he made his way back to Aeris’ bedroom.
“My lady, you wished my presence?” Zack swept a deep curtsey and waited, holding his position, to see how she reacted, what she wanted of him.
“Yes, come over here and sit with me.” Aeris didn’t use his name, so she wanted him to play the shy maiden and Zack cast his eyes down as he stood to obey her. She’d spread the photos out on the bed beside her, and he settled down on the other side of them, drawing his skirts out of the way with a smile. A smile that Aeris returned, telling him that her temper had eased at least a little.
“So, have you come to any decisions so far my lady?” He honestly didn’t know what he wanted to hear, if he wanted the chance to guide Aeris to a particular man, or if he wanted her to choose entirely without his input so he wouldn’t feel any sense of responsibility for whatever the result might be.
“Not this one.” If the...man in the photo Aeris handed to Zack wasn’t an albino he was pretty damn close. His long loose hair was pure white, his skin was the same colour as Sephiroth’s, and his eyes were a very pale blue-grey - and he looked so delicate Zack wasn’t quite sure if he was a man or a boy. “He looks too much like a younger weaker version of Sephiroth, and I don’t want the gossip that could cause.” That Aeris had been secretly lusting after Cloud’s consort, or that Sephiroth had too much power in his relationship with Cloud, or something Zack hadn’t thought of.
“And he looks really young, barely legal.” Zack handed the photo back to Aeris, only for her to drop it to the floor.
“True. And I think I should eliminate this one for similar reasons.” This time the photo Aeris handed to Zack showed a man with black hair cut as short as a warrior caste’s, green eyes and pale skin, a man Zack thought was quite frankly beautiful with his high cheekbones and aquiline features. Aeris didn’t sound happy about her decision this time, and he made a small enquiring sound to get her to elaborate for him. “He looks too much like my consort, and it might invite comparisons I don’t want.”
Zack was tempted to accept her decision, but he’d seen how reluctant she was to discard this photo, and he thought that the man in it had been on her initial shortlist, just like the man she’d refused first. “I think you should keep him as an option my lady.” He didn’t give the photo back to her, instead putting it down on the bed with the other three. “I mean, what’s the worst people will say about it? That you’ve got a physical type? That isn’t so bad my lady. And I can see that you find him attractive.”
“Yes, I do.” She smiled at Zack, and put the photo on the bedside table. “And I find him attractive too.” The colouring was certainly exotic, dark red hair, tied in a braid that he’d pulled forward over one shoulder, dark blue eyes, and olive skin, but Zack couldn’t see the attraction. Despite the man’s colouring and his full sensual lips his appearance as a whole seemed oddly bland to Zack’s eyes, as if he’d reached his mid-twenties without really forming any character. But Zack’s opinion on that wasn’t important, he wasn’t the one who’d have to bed the man.
“Well my lady, there certainly won’t be any question of comparisons with him.” Then Zack remembered the picture of Rowan he’d seen in her file. “At least not with any of the men around you. While I like his colouring, do you think people might compare him to Rowan should Cloud choose to espouse her?”
“Hmm...no, I don’t think so. His face is a classic oval shape, not at all like Rowan’s heart shaped face, and the eyes are a different colour.” Aeris put the photo on her bedside table and moved on to the next. “I don’t like this one, he looks, I don’t know, sort of dissipated.”
Zack examined the photo carefully, at first glance it looked like a fairly normal man, not particularly attractive and that would be reason enough for Aeris to reject him without any need to justify herself. He was clearly part Wutaian from the shape of his eyes and their amber colour, exotic but far more common in paler people. But Aeris liked Tseng, so her reaction wasn’t a sign of any sort of racism, and now that he was looking for it Zack could see a certain puffiness to the man’s skin, and the grey streaks in his slicked back brown hair showed his age in a way the other candidates didn’t.
“I hadn’t noticed it, but I can see what you mean.” Zack watched as Aeris dropped the photo on the floor, picking up the last one left. “And what about this one?” He looked as if he’d gotten into at least one bad fight with his broken nose - and Zack had to wonder why a healer-caste wouldn’t bother to have it set properly. Although...the man, and the blond was definitely a man, wasn’t handsome anyway, not to Zack, and the broken nose...fit with his square jaw and strong bone structure.
Aeris bit her lower lip as she looked at the photo. “I don’t know. He isn’t really attractive, but there’s something about him and he isn’t ugly or unattractive either.”
“I think the term is character, and for what it’s worth, now that I think about it, he reminds me of Angeal a bit.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” She put the photo on the table with the other two she wanted to actually meet in person and leaned forward to kiss Zack. He was tempted, very tempted, to just go along with her, but he knew the rules for this game, and he had the perfect way to distract her as well. He let her kiss him once without giving opposition to her exploring tongue, but pulled back as soon as she let him.
“My lady, should we not see what the names of the men you have chosen are?”
“I don’t want to go and look them up on the computer, I want to stay right here with you.” Her hand wasn’t large enough to circle Zack’s wrist, but the position was enough to let him know that he needed to stay right where he was.
“You don’t need to check on the computer my lady. The names are written on the back of the photos, if you will but remove them from the frames.” Zack didn’t really like this almost artificial way of talking, but it helped with the innocent maiden act, reminding him to be submissive and make Aeris work for anything past chaste kisses.
“I’ll look then. But I want you to take my boots off for me while I do that.”
“Yes my lady.” Zack slid to his knees on the floor when Aeris released him, and pulled her left boot into his lap, unfastening each of the twenty tiny buttons along the outside of her high heeled boot, careful to keep the two inch narrow heel from digging into his thigh or groin. Then he shifted a bit so that he could slowly pull the boot from her foot, followed by her black sock. He was just finished unfastening her right boot when Aeris spoke to him.
“Did you know?”
“My lady?” Zack didn’t need to pretend to be puzzled by her question.
“That the second photo I showed you, the one you convinced me not to discard was of a man on my short list?”
“I...believed so my lady.” He finished the task she’d assigned him as he spoke. “But even if I had been wrong, he is attractive, more so than I in fact.”
“Thank you then, but I find you far more attractive than any stranger could be. Come, sit by me again, only closer this time.”
“As you wish my lady.” Zack let his very real pleasure at Aeris’ compliment show in his voice as he obeyed, and he didn’t object or pull back when she wrapped her arm around his waist and rested a hand on his hip. “What will you do with the names?”
“Oh, use them as part of the guest list for a party or something far enough in the future that they won’t be able to claim prior appointments.” Aeris waved her free hand as she spoke, then brought it to rest on his thigh, and Zack had to find something to distract her again.
“Mayhap if it is a few months after the Midgar Zolom are culled you could make up the rest of the list with those who know Rowan, and pretend it is her you are curious about?”
“That’s a very good idea, it solves the last problem, what sort of cover story to use.” Aeris kissed him again, and this time Zack had no distractions ready, so he could give in to her, slowly.
Fandom: FFVII Cetra Restoration AU
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: implied slavery, implied het, implied slash, cross-dressing
Zack had printed the photos of Aeris’ five short listed candidates for her spouse out onto proper photographic paper, written the names on the back, and put them into those cheap cardboard frames you sometimes got professional photos delivered in when you didn’t pay for anything better. It bothered him a bit that he was the one pushing for the woman he loved to find a spouse, but at least this way he’d have some influence over her choice, and by doing it now they’d have the best possible selection of candidates. He shuffled the photos as he took them through to Aeris’ bedroom for her to look at when she got back to their quarters, and sat down to wait for her.
“Zack.” Aeris sounded annoyed, not that Zack could really blame her since she’d spent the day arguing with the Triumvirate and he quickly organised the photos into a pile on the side of the bed. “What are those?”
“Photographs of your potential spouses.” This might not be the best time to bring the subject up considering how much dealing with the Triumvirate could stress Aeris, but she’d probably be...irritated however he brought the matter up. “You need-”
“To make my mind up, I know.” Zack didn’t care that Aeris had cut him off, but the aggression in her tone did bother him. “Go and dress up nicely for me and I’ll look through them with you.”
“Thank you Aeris.” Zack knew what ‘nicely’ meant when she used that tone of voice, and he started by showering in his quarters, grateful for the fact that he didn’t have to worry about shaving for this the way he knew Tseng did from when Aeris roped him into playing dress-up doll for her. She’d sounded a little impatient, so he grabbed the first bag of female underwear he could find, dark blue and lacy, the sort he liked to see on Aeris, and pulled the bra and knickers on quickly, followed by the garter belt, and slowing down to pull the sheer black stockings up his legs carefully rather than risk putting a ladder in them and having to start again.
The dress next, he preferred to leave faffing around with those plastic things to give the impression of breasts as late as he could, and he pulled a dark purple dress from the wardrobe. It had a full skirt and billowed shoulders, intended to make his waist look a lot smaller than it really was, and he stepped into the dress, fastening it around his waist before he positioned the plastic fillets in his bra and fastened the bodice up with all those fiddly buttons at the front. He could get aware with leaving his nails bare, but he still had to do his make-up, and make at least some effort with his hair - just running a brush through it wouldn’t do, he knew that.
At least it was still damp, and Aeris had made sure he had products that would keep it down, at least for a while, and he used combs set with amethysts to keep it like that. Then the make-up, and Aeris liked it when he made it as dramatic as he could get away with, so he used strong colours on his lips and eyes, with black liquid liner edging his lashes, and after a quick final check in the mirror he made his way back to Aeris’ bedroom.
“My lady, you wished my presence?” Zack swept a deep curtsey and waited, holding his position, to see how she reacted, what she wanted of him.
“Yes, come over here and sit with me.” Aeris didn’t use his name, so she wanted him to play the shy maiden and Zack cast his eyes down as he stood to obey her. She’d spread the photos out on the bed beside her, and he settled down on the other side of them, drawing his skirts out of the way with a smile. A smile that Aeris returned, telling him that her temper had eased at least a little.
“So, have you come to any decisions so far my lady?” He honestly didn’t know what he wanted to hear, if he wanted the chance to guide Aeris to a particular man, or if he wanted her to choose entirely without his input so he wouldn’t feel any sense of responsibility for whatever the result might be.
“Not this one.” If the...man in the photo Aeris handed to Zack wasn’t an albino he was pretty damn close. His long loose hair was pure white, his skin was the same colour as Sephiroth’s, and his eyes were a very pale blue-grey - and he looked so delicate Zack wasn’t quite sure if he was a man or a boy. “He looks too much like a younger weaker version of Sephiroth, and I don’t want the gossip that could cause.” That Aeris had been secretly lusting after Cloud’s consort, or that Sephiroth had too much power in his relationship with Cloud, or something Zack hadn’t thought of.
“And he looks really young, barely legal.” Zack handed the photo back to Aeris, only for her to drop it to the floor.
“True. And I think I should eliminate this one for similar reasons.” This time the photo Aeris handed to Zack showed a man with black hair cut as short as a warrior caste’s, green eyes and pale skin, a man Zack thought was quite frankly beautiful with his high cheekbones and aquiline features. Aeris didn’t sound happy about her decision this time, and he made a small enquiring sound to get her to elaborate for him. “He looks too much like my consort, and it might invite comparisons I don’t want.”
Zack was tempted to accept her decision, but he’d seen how reluctant she was to discard this photo, and he thought that the man in it had been on her initial shortlist, just like the man she’d refused first. “I think you should keep him as an option my lady.” He didn’t give the photo back to her, instead putting it down on the bed with the other three. “I mean, what’s the worst people will say about it? That you’ve got a physical type? That isn’t so bad my lady. And I can see that you find him attractive.”
“Yes, I do.” She smiled at Zack, and put the photo on the bedside table. “And I find him attractive too.” The colouring was certainly exotic, dark red hair, tied in a braid that he’d pulled forward over one shoulder, dark blue eyes, and olive skin, but Zack couldn’t see the attraction. Despite the man’s colouring and his full sensual lips his appearance as a whole seemed oddly bland to Zack’s eyes, as if he’d reached his mid-twenties without really forming any character. But Zack’s opinion on that wasn’t important, he wasn’t the one who’d have to bed the man.
“Well my lady, there certainly won’t be any question of comparisons with him.” Then Zack remembered the picture of Rowan he’d seen in her file. “At least not with any of the men around you. While I like his colouring, do you think people might compare him to Rowan should Cloud choose to espouse her?”
“Hmm...no, I don’t think so. His face is a classic oval shape, not at all like Rowan’s heart shaped face, and the eyes are a different colour.” Aeris put the photo on her bedside table and moved on to the next. “I don’t like this one, he looks, I don’t know, sort of dissipated.”
Zack examined the photo carefully, at first glance it looked like a fairly normal man, not particularly attractive and that would be reason enough for Aeris to reject him without any need to justify herself. He was clearly part Wutaian from the shape of his eyes and their amber colour, exotic but far more common in paler people. But Aeris liked Tseng, so her reaction wasn’t a sign of any sort of racism, and now that he was looking for it Zack could see a certain puffiness to the man’s skin, and the grey streaks in his slicked back brown hair showed his age in a way the other candidates didn’t.
“I hadn’t noticed it, but I can see what you mean.” Zack watched as Aeris dropped the photo on the floor, picking up the last one left. “And what about this one?” He looked as if he’d gotten into at least one bad fight with his broken nose - and Zack had to wonder why a healer-caste wouldn’t bother to have it set properly. Although...the man, and the blond was definitely a man, wasn’t handsome anyway, not to Zack, and the broken nose...fit with his square jaw and strong bone structure.
Aeris bit her lower lip as she looked at the photo. “I don’t know. He isn’t really attractive, but there’s something about him and he isn’t ugly or unattractive either.”
“I think the term is character, and for what it’s worth, now that I think about it, he reminds me of Angeal a bit.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” She put the photo on the table with the other two she wanted to actually meet in person and leaned forward to kiss Zack. He was tempted, very tempted, to just go along with her, but he knew the rules for this game, and he had the perfect way to distract her as well. He let her kiss him once without giving opposition to her exploring tongue, but pulled back as soon as she let him.
“My lady, should we not see what the names of the men you have chosen are?”
“I don’t want to go and look them up on the computer, I want to stay right here with you.” Her hand wasn’t large enough to circle Zack’s wrist, but the position was enough to let him know that he needed to stay right where he was.
“You don’t need to check on the computer my lady. The names are written on the back of the photos, if you will but remove them from the frames.” Zack didn’t really like this almost artificial way of talking, but it helped with the innocent maiden act, reminding him to be submissive and make Aeris work for anything past chaste kisses.
“I’ll look then. But I want you to take my boots off for me while I do that.”
“Yes my lady.” Zack slid to his knees on the floor when Aeris released him, and pulled her left boot into his lap, unfastening each of the twenty tiny buttons along the outside of her high heeled boot, careful to keep the two inch narrow heel from digging into his thigh or groin. Then he shifted a bit so that he could slowly pull the boot from her foot, followed by her black sock. He was just finished unfastening her right boot when Aeris spoke to him.
“Did you know?”
“My lady?” Zack didn’t need to pretend to be puzzled by her question.
“That the second photo I showed you, the one you convinced me not to discard was of a man on my short list?”
“I...believed so my lady.” He finished the task she’d assigned him as he spoke. “But even if I had been wrong, he is attractive, more so than I in fact.”
“Thank you then, but I find you far more attractive than any stranger could be. Come, sit by me again, only closer this time.”
“As you wish my lady.” Zack let his very real pleasure at Aeris’ compliment show in his voice as he obeyed, and he didn’t object or pull back when she wrapped her arm around his waist and rested a hand on his hip. “What will you do with the names?”
“Oh, use them as part of the guest list for a party or something far enough in the future that they won’t be able to claim prior appointments.” Aeris waved her free hand as she spoke, then brought it to rest on his thigh, and Zack had to find something to distract her again.
“Mayhap if it is a few months after the Midgar Zolom are culled you could make up the rest of the list with those who know Rowan, and pretend it is her you are curious about?”
“That’s a very good idea, it solves the last problem, what sort of cover story to use.” Aeris kissed him again, and this time Zack had no distractions ready, so he could give in to her, slowly.