Final Fantasy VII and all related characters belong to Square Enix

Song and lyrics belong to Rodney Atkins

Country Boy

It was just another normal day at the Seventh Heaven bar and Tifa was going through the inventory, seeing which drinks she was running low on and checking the pantry to see how their food stores looked. Everything seemed fine for now. she could go another week without a trip to restock. She had started wiping down the bar counter when Denzel walked in. He had his skateboard under one arm and he was looking rather confused.

"Denzel, sweetie, you okay?" she asked and the boy just turned his confused gaze on her. "Cloud's actin' weird. I know he's in the garage, but.."

"He needed to do some repairs on Fenrir, so he took the day off to fix it," she replied wondering if he meant it was weird that Cloud was home.

"No, you don't get it," he shook his head and put his board down. "He had the radio going, to country music!"

Tifa tried to hide a smile. "What's wrong with country music?"

"Nothing," Denzel replied, though he preferred rock. "I heard Cloud and...he sounded weird. He had a weird accent and he was singing along with the music, in perfect sync, accent and all! Come on!"

He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out the door. She sighed, but went along. Who knows? This may end up being fun.

. . .

Cloud was in a rare good mood. He hadn't gotten a day off in a while and even though it was to fix his beloved bike, he didn't mind. It was like therapy to him anyway.

He was in such a good mood that he decided to turn on the radio and change the channel from the normal rock channel to a different station.

He knew Tifa was busy and the kids were out playing, so he felt safe enough to open up to one of his hidden secret pleasures. Among Cloud's many talents he could also sing, however there was one slight issue. He could only sing with his country accent. He had tried singing normally, but it didn't sound as good.

Still, Cloud figured even he was allowed a guilty pleasure every now and then. He began singing along with the radio while he began turning the wrench to tighten a loose nut. He didn't hear Tifa creak the door open a little as both she and Denzel listened in.

Tifa smiled at what he was listening to, but she didn't hear anything else. She was about to close the door and give Cloud the privacy he thought he had when she heard it. It almost made her blow their cover as she tried her hardest not to laugh.

"These are my people, this is where I come from~

We're this life everything We've got and them some~

It ain't always pretty, but it's real~

It's the way we were made, wouldn't have it any other way~

These are my people~"

The second verse started and she listened to the way he sang it. She noticed that he had changed some of the lyrics. for example, instead of 'green light tavern' as the actual song said, he changed it to the name of her own bar. The lyrics that followed immediately afterwards made her smile as she realized, he was comparing this particular song to his own life. She had to admit the song did seem to share similarities to what they had been through and the friendships they had with the rest of their group.

She nudged Denzel to follow her and they left the swordsman slash mechanic slash country boy to himself.

. . .

Two hours later Cloud had come in to get something to eat. Fenrir was fixed and running smoothly again. His hands were stained with grease and oil so his first stop was over to the sink to wash up while Tifa had just finished making a sandwich for Denzel.

"Lunch is ready!" she called up the stairs. Denzel came down, eager to dig in when he noticed Cloud who nodded a greeting towards him.

The boy didn't meet his gaze, grabbed the plate and ran back upstairs. Cloud looked over to Tifa. "What's with him?"

"Hmm? Oh, he just had a run in with the local country boy," she replied smoothly.

"Huh. Wonder if I know 'em?" he asked, half to her, half to himself.

Tifa couldn't help but smirk as she placed a plate of food in front of him. "Oh, I think you know him well enough."

She walked away singing, "These are my people, this is where I come from~"

Cloud instantly face-palmed. Well, his reputation as a cool role model for Denzel just went up in smoke.

It's 2am and I was tired. However as I turned on my radio this song was on and since my mind has been focusing on my FF7 stories lately my mind starting playing with ideas on its own. This was the result. Mainly because somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered that Cloud is a country boy. I'm also really curious to find out now, Can Steve Burton sing?