Author's Note: Written for the hetchallenge community on livejournal, for participant Lithica. This story was plotted out and started by SharkCowSheep, and completed by me.
Warnings: roofies?
Disclaimer: at end of story
A Moment of Weakness
The Turks were in the bar again. Somehow it didn't seem to matter how many times she told them to get out and recruit somewhere else, they always came back. Yes, Shin-Ra had been blown to hell and most of its personnel lost in one way or another, and yes, there really wasn't much else for Turks to do at the moment other than replenish the ranks, but that didn't mean Tifa had to let them do it in here.
The only reason she hadn't thrown them out yet was Rude. Bastard or not, at least he had the good manners to look embarrassed in his stone-faced way at the manner in which Reno was trying to schmooze a couple of the other patrons.
"Don't get me started on the pension plan," Reno was saying as Tifa rolled her eyes and tucked a few freshly-wiped glasses into the shelf under the bar.
"He means that," she said, swinging out from behind the bar to approach the table. "Please don't get him started."
Rude snorted. It might have been a laugh.
"Both of you get one drink. Just one, and then you're out. Understand?"
Reno slouched back in his chair and smirked at her. At least he didn't do the tongue thing. "I'll have a…shit. Whatever Rude's having. And we're gonna need something for Shin-Ra's future here, 'acourse." He flapped a hand at the two young men across the table from him.
"Beer," said Rude solemnly.
"Beer it is," said Tifa. "And then Shin-Ra's future can happen in someone else's bar."
"Whatever," Reno shrugged, turning back to the two hopefuls. "Now, I understand why you'd be kinda reluctant, I mean, yeah, the whole massive cataclysm thing…"
Tifa rolled her eyes again, but she went and poured four beers and brought them to the table. She retreated back behind the bar—there was really nothing to do, it was a slow afternoon and she'd finished wiping mugs, but damned if she wasn't going to keep an eye on Reno and Rude's glasses. The second they got even close to empty, she'd toss the both of them right out.
The two guys they were schmoozing didn't look like they were falling for the pitch. Good.
A couple of minutes later, Marlene came in from the back to show her a caterpillar she'd found on a tree, and insisted that it might be a baby Zolom because it was grey with a yellow stomach and had a fat head. It took a while to convince her it was a baby butterfly instead—it wasn't that Marlene didn't know caterpillars turned into butterflies, of course, it was just that she thought it a baby Zolom would be a much more interesting thing to keep in a jar.
By the time Tifa sent Marlene upstairs with her jar—air holes punched in the lid, of course—and had a chance to look back to the Turk table, one of the prospectives was looking a little off.
More than a little off, actually. The second guy was looking a little askance at his friend, if they were even friends, and no wonder. The guy was unsteady in his seat, his eyes glazed, his mouth slightly open, and Tifa knew damn well that it wasn't the beer that had made him that way, since the guy had barely touched his. That looked like the effect of a Sleep or Slow, and that meant both Rude and Reno were leaving her bar right now. She stalked over.
"Out," she announced without preamble, pointing toward the door.
"Hey, hey," Reno protested. "Still got my beer, look." She didn't bother looking.
"That stops mattering when you start using Materia on my customers," she pointed out, and shook her finger again toward the door. "Do I have to throw both of you out?"
Rude, bless him, stood up and straightened his jacket. Reno stayed lounged in his seat.
"Materia?" he asked. "Rude, do we have any Materia?"
Rude said nothing, dropping into the silent waiting posture Tifa usually saw him in.
"Nope, don't have any," Reno informed her, smirking. "Not in my pockets anyway. Might have one lost up my ass again, though. You want to check?"
"OUT," she ordered, fisting one hand so hard her knuckles cracked audibly.
"Shit, fine, I'm going…don't have to be all like that. Damn."
The two of them sidled out, followed after just a couple seconds by the two guys being recruited. The one who'd gotten the Slow or Sleep or whatever was doing all right, but the other one had to help him steer for the door. The Turks turned left out of the door and the recruits followed, and Tifa decided that she didn't much care today. Instead, she collected the glasses. Not a one of them had more than a mouthful missing. What a waste. She watched the beer bubble gently in the glasses for a few seconds before she realized she was staring vacantly and heard Marlene clumping down the stairs again. She turned away from the bar.
"What do Zoloms eat?" Marlene asked her, holding up the jar. The caterpillar wriggled around in it, but the jar was otherwise empty.
Pretty much everyone was Tifa's first thought, but of course it was just a caterpillar. "They eat grass," she explained, leaning down to examine the little thing. "And leaves, and sometimes flowers… why don't you go to the church, and pick some grass for it?"
"'Kay," Marlene said cheerfully, bouncing off again.
Tifa had just turned back to the glasses again when the door opened. She looked up and couldn't help but smile - Cloud was back early today. Also spattered with mud up to his knees and tracking it inside, but nonetheless, back early.
She was about to greet him when Marlene came back, wanting to know if she could take Denzel and some sandwiches and have a picnic at the Church. Tifa broke down and went to make some peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches while Marlene introduced Cloud to her baby Zolom, which Cloud assured her would surely grow to a fearsome creature and make a fine pet.
When she returned, she handed the bag of sandwiches to Marlene (who bounded outside to find Denzel and leave), and turned to finally greet Cloud.
Cloud was drinking from one of the mugs of beer that the Turks had left. Tifa scowled and folded her arms. His eyes flicked toward her and he gave a guilty start, quickly setting the mug down.
"Didn't... want it to go to waste," Cloud mumbled. "Nobody else here..."
Tifa raised an eyebrow, trying to keep a straight face. That was such a childish thing to do... On the other hand, she remembered, Cloud was missing a few years. It was hard to keep that in mind all the time.
And he did have a very good point. Nobody else was here.
"I suppose you're right," Tifa sighed, walking past Cloud to the entrance of the bar. She quickly flipped the sign hanging there to read "closed", locking the door.
She rejoined her friend, nudging the beer back toward him as she sat next to him. She took another mug, but only closed her hands around it, staring at the bubbles rising to the surface.
"So, um..." What did she think she was doing? Cloud had just gotten in and surely he was hungry and obviously thirsty and he needed to go get cleaned up and he wasn't going to want to hear this anyway...
"Yeah?"
Tifa stared at her drink, trying not to look at him, no matter how pleasant his voice sounded. "Don't... don't take this wrong..."
"I won't."
Her head jerked up. Cloud was smiling serenely at her, like he knew what she was getting at all ready, when all she'd done was sit down next to him. Maybe this wasn't that bad an idea after all, she thought, blushing madly.
"Um," she started again, and found herself smiling back. "Um. Well. We've known each other... for... well, forever... and... we... uh..."
"We what?"
He was still blinking almost sleepily and smiling like he knew her better than she did. Maybe he did. Tifa looked away again, wondering if it was possible for a blush to make your cheeks hurt. Maybe it was the smiling. Hers, not his. Even if she wasn't used to seeing that kind of smile on his face... it had been a long time since she'd seen it so readily. "Well..." She took a deep breath. "Cloud, we're... we're together, right?"
Cloud gave a small laugh. A real laugh. Tifa's heart leapt and she looked up at him again; he was looking down just as she had been. "Right," he echoed, sitting up and tilting his head at her. She'd never seen him smile so much in her life, she was certain.
Her heart was thumping almost painfully now. "R-really?"
"Really," he murmured, staring into her eyes as though lost there.
Tifa stared right back. It seemed like that was all they did for a long time, but that didn't seem to be a problem, either...
...But Tifa finally noticed, and decided that she'd had enough of wasting time. She ducked in and kissed Cloud.
And he seemed stunned for a moment, and then kissed back.
And then fell off his barstool, but Tifa didn't mind. The floor was clean.
Well, clean enough.
Morning came too soon, as far as Tifa was concerned. She slowly opened her eyes, blinked at the dawn sunlight illuminating her bedroom, and closed her eyes again. Her arm was... touching someone, and after a moment of remembering just what all had happened since yesterday afternoon, she decided that she and her arm were staying exactly where they were for a good while longer.
She still got out of bed before Cloud. He was still sleeping soundly, his face so relaxed as to be angelic.
It had been so long since she'd seen him resting so peacefully that she couldn't ring herself to wake him. Instead, she simply dressed and headed downstairs.
Denzel and Marlene were asleep on the floor in front of the television in the living room, apparently having decided to watch a movie. At least she'd made sure to call the neighbor and have her give them dinner so that they hadn't decided on cookies for supper. Cloud and Tifa had long since shut themselves in Tifa's room at that point.
She headed for the kitchen, almost humming to herself. This was the first new day, wasn't it. The first day of them officially being a couple. She'd been right - she'd always known that if she waited for him long enough he'd come around. Things were finally going to work.
She was making pancakes when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. "Uh, hey," Cloud said, stopping in the doorway to the kitchen and rubbing his eyes. He was wearing nothing but dark flannel pajama pants; Tifa couldn't help but smile again.
"Good morning, Cloud," she said brightly, flipping the pancakes. She was about to tell him to sit already when he spoke again, wandering over to the refrigerator.
"I'm uh..." He pulled out a carafe of orange juice. "How... did I end up in your room? How long was I there?"
Tifa stopped moving entirely, simply staring at the pancakes even after they started to smoke. "What?"
Cloud was frowning, staring at the orange juice. "I just... do you know where I was yesterday? I remember coming back..."
Tifa calmly turned the head off on the stove. "And?"
"And what? That's it." Cloud took a gulp from the orange juice. He still hadn't looked at her more than to acknowledge her as he'd entered the room. "Oh well," he muttered, standing again. "Couldn't have been so important, I guess. I'm gonna go get -"
The subsequent shouting - all Tifa's - awoke Denzel and Marlene, who peered into the kitchen in time to see Tifa outright throw Cloud through the window over the sidewalk. The window had metal bars over it, right up until Cloud broke through them.
"Grown-ups are weird," Denzel muttered to Marlene.
Marlene nodded, pulled the cookie jar from the counter, and headed back into the living room. Her Zolom had to be getting tired of eating nothing but grass by now anyway.
It was hours before Tifa figured out that the Turks really hadn't used Materia the day before. Whatever they had used left a film in the beer mugs that wouldn't wash out.
But that didn't stop her from making Cloud try.
Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII compilation (in particular, Advent Children), its story, and characters are the property, copyright and trademark of Square Electronic Arts L.L.C., and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.