Disclaimer: Final Fantasy Seven still isn't mine. Darn.
Timeframe: Sometime after Advent Children, most logically.
Genres: Humor, eventual romance. If "all-over character interaction" and "happy" were genres, I wouldn't have listed this as 'General'.
Author natterings: Whoo hoo, new Final Fantasy Seven one-shot. I haven't done one of these for about EVER, so yeah, I'm a little rusty. I just read 'Case of Tifa' a few days ago (I know, I know, I live in a box), and it was just full of happy Cloud. I was inspired. The Cloud in 'CoT' is the Cloud here. (No angsty bastardization!) I also included a bunch of other characters because they all act like one dorky, dysfunctional family, and I thought I'd try that for once, haha. First attempt at Yuffie and at Denzel.
I appreciate feedback tons and tons. Since I haven't done this kind of story before, I'd love to hear what you think.
Final Fantasy VII: Case of Family
"Wait one fuckin' minute!"
"Yuffie, stop swearing so much," the older woman reprimanded. Geez, Yuffie was spending way too much time with the Highwind pilot. He must've spit into Yuffie's mouth to get it that dirty.
"Whatever," the ninja waved her hand irritably, getting back to the issue at hand. "You live with him, you have two children, and you're not humping each other?"
Tifa shut her eyes tight and pinched the skin between her eyebrows. Oh, Shiva. "That would be right."
"Are you at least planning on humping him? EVER?" She asked this with such an expression of incredulity that you'd think she'd lost her stash of materia.
"I'm not discussing this with you, Yuffie." Tifa now had moved on to debating if she should just lie her head on the table and not get up until Yuffie left. She would not discuss her sex life with Cl-- her sex life. Period.
"Oh, yes, you are." The ninja planted her bottom on a sturdy stool, making it clear she was in for the long haul. The throwing stars in one of her many pouches jangled, the noise followed closely by the slapping of her palms on the surface of the counter. "Question one."
Tifa didn't hide her sigh.
"How do you restrain yourself?"
"Yuffie--"
"Oh, come on, Tifa. We all saw that you were bonkers for him. How do you do it? Alcohol? You think of what the kids might see? You picture Don Corneo naked?"
She wrinkled her nose at that last one, her mouth pulling back in her face. "None of those." Yuffie opened her mouth again, but Tifa cut her off, "I don't restrain myself." She'd take the non-commital route. Yuffie had to tire eventually.
Oh, poor, poor misled Tifa.
Confusion mounted in Yuffie's face. "What?" she blurted. After a few seconds of no reply from the martial artist, a disbelieving light sprung into the ninja's eyes. "You aren't with someone else, are you?"
"No," Tifa fought to keep from exclaiming it. The very thought was ludicrous - her with someone else? She'd need a mission to confuse Denzel and Marlene beyond all belief for that to happen. And about a gallon of liquor.
"So how do you restrain yourself?" The ninja was progressively leaning closer and closer to Tifa, getting more intense with each question.
"I'm happy with the way things are. I don't have anything to restrain myself from."
The ninja blinked. "Hah, right. And I'm a six foot tall caped guy with a thing for red."
Tifa let out a breath. She wanted to yell at Yuffie to get it through her skull, but that would be interpreted badly. She could just hear the taunts. She took a deep breath in... "I. Am. Happy."
The sound of a door shutting took both women away from their conversation.
"Oh yeah? Happy about what? Hi, Yuffie." Cloud breezed in, as he often did around this time of day. Except he never breezed. He always walked, or trudged, or ran. His expression was light and happy, those mako-infused eyes clear.
Tifa did not miss Yuffie's scary predatory grin at the new arrival, and she wished she could kick people through the counter. "Oh, I was just telling Yuffie how we were doing," her retelling of the past few minutes not inviting any exploration. To make sure, she asked, "How are you?"
His eyes brightened and the warmth transmitted to his smile. "Great." He strode past Yuffie to behind the bar counter, where Tifa stood. He then placed a hand behind her head and kissed her right in the middle of her forehead, his movement natural, albeit a tad shy. Tifa's spine became ramrod straight.
"Where're Marlene and Denzel?" She could feel his words brush her skin.
"The back, I think," she said tightly and without much concentration, flinching more under Yuffie's intense stare.
"Okay." He turned to view her profile, not catching much except for her eyes, large and self-conscious of their blinking. He felt something in his chest sink a little. Had he done something wrong? He was given no time to think however--
"Cloooouuuud!" called a happy voice from past the wall, "Come back here!"
He heeded Marlene's call. She never asked for something like that - something was up. But before he left, his hand found its way to Tifa's upper arm.
"See you soon," he said in a low voice. Then he did a double-take, remembering to bid Yuffie the same, though his sentiment was obviously different.
Once the blonde was safely out of earshot, Yuffie turned her grin up to full-blast. Her voice was chipper, "Happy, huh? If you were happy before, what's that?" She bluntly pointed straight at Tifa's face.
"What?" Tifa made a valiant attempt at playing it cool, but failed miserably.
"Do you know how red you are?" Yuffie was enjoying this, clearly. "I could probably fry an egg on your face."
"Thanks so much," she thanked Yuffie, and picked up a rag, some part of Cloud's old sleeping shirt.
"I think you should be thanking Cloud," the ninja obnoxiously remarked. If she had gum in her mouth, she would be smacking it. "If you get that happy over a kiss, and not even a real one..." here she trailed off, noticing a new presence in the room. Ninja training skills, don'tcha know.
"Hi, Miss," said the boy. He had a serious case of bedhead, but was cute anyway. "Are you here for Tifa's party?"
"Of course I am," Yuffie replied nicely, and hopped off her stool. "Denzel, right?"
"Yup. And you're Miss Yuffie."
"I sure am." She gave an enthusiastic swing of her arm. "Didja know I'm a princess?"
"Really?" His eyes widened in fascination. Then, realizing boys weren't supposed to like princesses, promptly narrowed them again. "I mean, I don't believe you."
Tifa looked up from not cleaning the countertop at Yuffie and Denzel speaking, the ninja bent over slightly. She smiled a little to herself.
"Tifa!" Marlene exclaimed from the doorway of the backroom. She was dwarfed by Cloud, looking more comfortable having stripped away most of his protective gear, the red ribbon on his arm bright in the room. He held a folded piece of paper in one hand.
"We have something for you! Right, Cloud?" She looked up at Cloud, tilting her head so much it was comical.
"Right," he said.
"Look!" She unfurled her own piece of paper and held it up. "Go, Cloud!" she spurred him on, bouncing up and down with her paper rippling. Cloud carefully unfolded his piece.
HAPPY BIR THDAY TIFA, it read, altogether. Decorated around the letters and edges were multiple hearts and stars (some missing a fifth arm), and pictures of Marlene, Denzel, Cloud and Tifa herself, often in a crayon blue dress.
"Do you like it?" Marlene asked over her giant piece of paper. "Denzel drew you," she added, obviously proud of and for him. "He made you really pretty."
"But not as pretty as you really are," Denzel added quietly from where he stood with Yuffie, a touch of shyness in his voice.
One of her shoulders had risen up while the other remained down. "I love it, Denzel, Marlene." She smiled the smile a bride might before she burst into tears at her own wedding. "Thank you." She went right to the boy and hugged him, and he hugged her back loosely in return. Though he seemed a little awkward and nervous, she treasured it all the same.
She went to Marlene next. "Thank you."
"No problem!" the girl smiled, and then she started laughing, Tifa hugging her past the paper. "You're crinkling it!"
"Sorry," she said quietly. As she stood up, she laid a hand on Marlene's hair. Marlene tilted her face up and smiled, eyes closed.
She moved down the line. Cloud was still holding the paper that said 'THDAY TIFA' when she took the few steps to him.
"Hey."
She tilted her head a fraction, her earrings swinging. "Thank you," she looked at him, then looked down at the giant paper. She looked up again. "It's... wonderful."
"Well, it was mostly Marlene and Denzel." He smiled bashfully, and fisted a hand in his hair. The paper started to droop, but he grabbed it deftly, his reflexes as fine as ever. "I just did these four."
Her eyes followed his arm to his wrist to his hand to his index finger, which was pointed at a cluster of four figures - Denzel, Marlene, herself and himself. It looked purposefully childish, their hands little circles, all linked together. Her eyes softened.
"Cloud drew some hearts too," Marlene informed them, and Tifa smiled immediately at this. She rose from looking at the drawing.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," he said in return, already folding the paper, a little embarassed at Marlene revealing his secret. He almost asked, did you like the k--, but then he didn't.
"Where's Vinny? Where's the old man?" Yuffie complained suddenly, though her heart wasn't in it. Denzel promptly asked her who Vinny and the old man were, were they people who helped save the Planet? Yuffie duly responded, full of tales, and tried to keep out the swearing.
Marlene watched Cloud and Tifa watching Yuffie and Denzel. She walked up to the former pair, and plucked Cloud's paper from his hands. "I'm going to put these up."
Tifa said, "Let us help you," in unintended unison with Cloud. They blinked at each other, smiling. Tifa smiled crooked and Cloud smiled with a very faint blush.
Marlene shook her head with a wisdom that surpassed her years and smiled too. "Let me do it myself."
"Are you sure?" Cloud asked hesitantly, as if cautious of speaking in chorus with Tifa again. Marlene knew he wasn't asking out of the uncertainty that she couldn't handle it on her own.
"Yep," she said softly, in her little kid way. And she went off presumedly to look for tape, leaving Tifa and Cloud with only each other.
They both stood in silence, until Tifa looked his way and saw him looking her way. He reacted like a kid caught in the act, and looked away quickly. But then, in the blink of an eye, he turned back to her and smiled, his shoulders inching upwards.
They were both a little awkward with each other now. But... someone had to take the first step.
"Do you... want to step outside?" He jerked his thumb to the door behind him.
She saw nothing wrong with that, but the tips of her ears threatened to burn pink. "Sure."
He held the door open for her. She took it gently from his grasp to close it, the most natural of exchanges.
They were both people of little words. It didn't make for the best of conversations, but they understood each other. She could sense that Cloud had something to say - something he couldn't say in front of the children, or Yuffie.
She let him start.
His lower lip quirked, and he bit it for a second or two. "You're my age now."
She wanted to laugh suddenly, but just nodded her head, happy undertones coming out in her voice, "I am."
His neck arched melancholy fondness. "You know, it always seemed to me that... that I was the younger one. You've helped me so much, Teef. I don't know if I've ever said that." His eyes flicked briefly to hers. "... If I've ever thanked you."
She clamped her red eyes on his blue. "I know you... you say it other ways."
His smile was a little broken when he summoned it again. "Would you mind... if I asked for something more?" Uncertainty laced his voice, gentle stitches.
"No," she answered.
His hand came up from his side. His knuckles were red without his gloves on, and it tickled and stung where they met Tifa's hair. When he rested his palm against her bare shoulder, he realized he was shaking, but only a little. His other hand dipped under her chin, and slowly, with deliberate care, he placed his lips on hers.
She kissed him back. It seemed a very careful kiss, soft and chaste. It was a first kiss.
Inside, Marlene smiled to herself. Denzel tried not to gape. Yuffie turned her head to look out the window right then, and her eyes lit up and her mouth opened to exclaim.
Outside, Cid, Vincent and Barrett approached, spotting them already. Cid grinned. Barrett upturned his lips, proud. Vincent smiled behind the red of his cape.
Flowing in the earth, an Ancient and a Legend sensed a settling in their hearts, and could move on.
They broke apart, though still entwined. They had each other. They had their family. They had all they needed.
They always had.