"Get up!" Tifa exclaimed, shaking Cloud.

"What's the emergency?" Cloud sleepily groused, realizing he was at her place.

"Today's the audition, and we need to look our best. That way we'll get lead roles, and finally become those stars we were meant to be." Tifa reminded him.

"It's too early to be awake." Cloud complained.

"It's not too early when our careers are at stake…I'm tired of being cast in bit roles as some damned floozy…today's going to change all that. So get your ass out of bed!" With that, Tifa pulled the pillows out from under his head, ignoring his cursing as she got out of bed.

"Thanks for that." Cloud snapped as he unwillingly got out of bed as well.

"And thanks for staying up late at the club last night just because those starlets thought you were a big star." Tifa responded heatedly on her way to take a shower before prettying herself up properly for the audition.

Cloud was glad Tifa didn't see him smile. He knew how jealous she got when he was around other women, and he did like to bait her. Besides, their relationship was constantly switching between on and off states, so if she caught him with another woman, it was because he could never remember if they were together that week or not. That's one reason they kept separate apartments. It might be better if they permanently called it quits, but neither of them was quite willing to take that step, because they had been together since they were kids, and didn't know how not to be together. So they kept reuniting, and the makeup sex might be one reason for their having such a tempestuous relationship. And he hadn't yet met a woman with better breasts to replace his ideal pillow.

Elena woke up in Rude's arms, feeling happy and nervous at the same time. Happy to be celebrating their one year wedding anniversary tomorrow, nervous because of the audition today. She had decided to run for mayor of Midgar, but even though she was still young herself, her advisors suggested some kind of a stunt to capture the youth vote, and staring in an action movie that was going to be filmed in Midgar seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that the day had arrived, doubts were surfacing. She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Happy Anniversary." Rude startled her, she hadn't noticed he was awake too.

"That's not til tomorrow." Elena reminded him.

"Well, can we start celebrating now?" Rude asked.

Elena sighed as he tightened his arms around her. She had wanted him since the first time she saw him, catering a charity event where she was the hostess. It wasn't just that he was eye-candy and his English accent had done things to her that she had never told anyone, he was also an extremely talented gourmet chef. Elena had not been able to help herself, and had started hiring him for all the charity fundraisers she hosted in her job as chairwoman of her family's philanthropic foundation. Finally she had gotten sneaky, and had asked him to privately cater a dinner for two, and then pretended that her date had cancelled on her. Rude had felt that she shouldn't be forced to eat alone, and so they had had their first date, and eight months later he had proposed. Elena hadn't been happy with all the fuss it created in the society papers, especially when there had been a subtle trend of making Rude seem like nothing more than a glorified burger-flipper who had gotten his hooks into the Mackintosh heiress. It had taken considerable restraint on her part not to sue the reporters within an inch of their lives for slander.

"Elena?" Rude brought her back to the present.

"Oh, sorry, I was thinking about…"

"Starting our celebration early?" Rude asked hopefully.

Elena sighed again. "I wish we could, but I've got a full schedule this morning, I won't be free til after that silly movie audition. I don't know why I let myself get talked into it…"

"Because you're smart enough be the first woman elected mayor of Midgar. Why don't I meet you there?" Rude suggested.

"Would you? " Elena was grateful at the thought of having someone there with her who wasn't trying to tell her what to say and do like her political team was doing. Like she hadn't learned image control growing up in the spotlight. But Rude was right, she wanted everyone to know that she wasn't just another brainless socialite. Even getting two Master's degrees, one in international business, and another in business law hadn't stopped the gossip, they merely decided that the degrees were bought and paid for.

"Of course I will. You're tensing up, and you need to be relaxed today." Rude said, caressing her arm.

"Yes, yes I do." Elena smiled at her handsome husband, running her hands over his chest. The first time they had had sex, she had been amazed at the shape he kept himself in…it was obvious the first time she saw him that he wasn't out of shape, but he worked out as much as he cooked, and she loved to feel his muscled body under her hands. "Would you help me relax?" Elena's eyes twinkled as she asked him.

"Your wish is my command." Rude covered her body with his.

A little while later, Elena appeared in the foyer of her family's mansion, where her election team had been waiting for quite a while.

"What took you so long? We're half an hour behind schedule already!" her campaign manager exclaimed. "And you're a mess!"

"So let's hurry and catch up." Elena said as she put her other shoe on. "I'll get myself prettied up on the way." She started heading to the door where her limo was waiting, then stopped and look back at the unmoving group. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!"

"You, uh, missed a few buttons." her publicist said.

Elena looked down at her blouse and saw that her bra was clearly visible due to the three buttons she had forgotten to fasten. She blushed as she hurriedly corrected her error. "Okay, let's get this day over with!"

"Hey honey, look at this!" Yuffie exclaimed, circling something in the newspaper before handing it to her husband over the breakfast table.

"A movie audition? Why would that be interesting?" Reno asked.

"We could use the extra money. And it might be fun." Yuffie replied.

"Yeah, we sure could use the extra money." Reno agreed as he handed the paper back to her, thinking of their student loans, hers for medical school, and his for his Master's degree in art history. "I've got to head to the museum now. What time is the audition?"

"1 pm." Yuffie told him. "I'll text you a reminder."

"Thanks dear." Reno kissed Yuffie absentmindedly on the cheek before leaving.

Yuffie frowned…she loved Reno, but he had seemed so boring lately. When they were first dating, she had found his passion for preserving culture through art as fascinating, and on their honeymoon he treated her like a priceless work of art. And now five years later, once she was in private practice and no longer besieged by the demanding training to become a doctor, that spark wasn't as bright as she remembered it being. Reno only seemed interested in sculptures or paintings by the old Masters lately. She was hoping that being movie stars for a little bit might get their marriage back on track.