In Love With A Wall
AN: I own nothing in this story. Please R&R.
Duke's cold nose drew Tifa's attention away from her current train of thought, the fist fighter smiling a little at the dog's whine.
"Don't worry girl, we'll go out for a walk soon."
Duke barked a bit at the word walk and jumped up a bit on her hind legs, whining fiercely.
"Okay, okay, we'll go now."
The dog's eyes gleamed and soon enough the pair were outside among the cobblestones and citizens of Radiant Garden, Duke's nose sniffing every which way while Tifa was content to let the dog lead her. An occasional tug would stop Duke from straying a bit too close to a baby or from starting a barking war with a larger dog, but on the whole it was a relaxing walk.
Families were enjoying the cloudless day, couples were walking hand in hand, she swore she even saw Scrooge give out free ice cream.
All of it was too surreal.
Didn't they remember the Heartless? The years of separation and hiding? Their world transfigured into a den of shadows?
How was she supposed to start a normal life with those memories?
The walk seemed to end in the blink of an eye, Tifa opening the door and unleashing Duke, the dog dashing inside. Taking one last look towards the outside and the contentment beaming from the world, Tifa shut the door, the sound echoing longer than it should have.
"Normal," she muttered, shutting the blinds as well, the outside now completely blocked out.
/
He didn't need to hear Duke's whines to figure out that something was wrong. The dog was pawing at the door to their bedroom, looking up as she realized he was here, soon bounding over to him, ready to knock him to the ground.
"Easy girl, I missed you too."
Duke's joy was short-lived, because she soon started pawing at the bedroom door again. Taking the hint, Leon opened it to find Tifa curled up with a pillow on the bed, Duke jumping up and sniffing a bit.
Tifa responded by mechanically rubbing the top of Duke's head and her eyes met Leon's.
"Hey," she murmured.
He nodded at her and soon moved around towards the empty side of the bed, laying down beside her. She sighed as he brought his arms around her middle and pulled her against him.
He didn't question what was bothering her, didn't offer any words of comfort. He knew she didn't expect that from him anyway.
After a few moments, he felt her press closer, turning her head to look at him, her fingers touching his most prominent scar.
/
The scar felt warm against her fingertips, his body tensing a little as she continued to press against it.
Eventually though, she removed her fingers and cupped the right side of his face, her front now facing him. Her dark brown eyes gleamed as she gave him a sad smile.
"Can I be normal?"
His answer came in the form of a kiss, as passionate as she could remember from him and one that sent her heart racing. All at once she wasn't a fighter, wasn't a star-tossed vagabond with more scars than she could count. All she was was a woman being kissed by a man, one of the happy contented outside at this very moment.
She gasped a bit as they parted, snuggling into him until she could hear his heartbeat.
"Thank you Leon."
"It's Squall."
Smiling just a bit at her gobsmacked expression, he gave her a tight hug. "I'm home now."
"Yeah, you are," she replied. "Welcome back, Squall."
/
He observed her for a few silent minutes, saw the life back in her eyes and the dark thoughts that had been troubling her vanishing.
"Thanks and I'm glad to see that you're not Cloud anymore."
"And what does that mean?"
"You were moping just like he does."
"He's getting better."
He just nodded and rubbed a bit of the blanket on her hair, some of it sticking up due to the static. "Now you look the part."
Tifa glared at him for that but soon enough had him on his back and tickling that one spot that reduced him, for all his stoicism, into a giggling mess of a man.
Duke bashed into the pair, licking all over both.
Suddenly, a loud roar rang out.
Squall started to look at Duke when he noticed Tifa's face turning red, a hand going to her middle.
"Guess I'll be starting dinner then, huh?"
"I'll do it," Squall replied. He got out of her embrace then and started to leave but not before turning back to look at her. "Wouldn't want to get sick."
He barely managed to avoid the pillow aimed squarely for his head, dashing towards the kitchen with Tifa in hot pursuit.
"We'll do it together and you'll show me how to make that garlic bread of yours," Tifa muttered into the right side of his neck, nipping a bit at his ear for the earlier dig against her cooking skills as they stood before the stove.
All she got in reply was a light grunt of complacency, making her roll her eyes.
He might not be the most talkative of men but she wouldn't have it any other way, she thought as she settled into a perfectly normal evening with the wall she loved.