Swings

Marlene and Denzel had spent the last week pestering their guardians to take them to the new park that had finally been completed a fortnight ago. Eventually Cloud gave in and told them if they would behave and finished their dinner, their guardians would take the following day off work and take then to the park. The kids immediately got all excited and went to hug their father like figure, Tifa gave Cloud a questioning look and Cloud just grinned at her which in return made Tifa's heart flutter as after all Cloud hardly smiled so to see him properly grinning like the Cheshire cat had indeed kicked Tifa's heart into overdrive and hopefully now that he was around more often maybe just maybe she could finally admit her true feelings for the blonde warrior.

The following morning the guardians kept their promise after the children had indeed kept theirs and had behaved the previous night, eating up all the dinner, scraping their plates clean, Marlene even washed up without being asked, they went to bed without complaint so the adults had to make fair with their end of the deal.

Tifa was preparing a picnic for their lunch and Cloud he was busy making sure they would have everything else they would need including a fully stocked first aid kit and more than likely several cure Materia as Denzel would no doubt finish the day with scars, cuts and bruises covering him from head to toe not that the young boy would mind after all he had lived in the ruins of sector 7 slums for sometime on his own and he also took after Cloud when he was little he also was one for coming home with cuts and buries scattered across his body.

The kids came running down the stairs both dressed in simple clothing both in jeans, Marlene's were slightly ripped on her legs and she wore a pink tee with it she was almost the spitting image of Aerith with the way she had her hair. Denzel had on a pair of black jeans and a dark green t-shirt which would of course come back filthy by the time the day was over. Tifa had finished packing the lunch and joined the family in the lounge.

"Ready to go?" she asked scanning the faces of the room,

"Yes" Yeah!" and nod was her reply she smiled and they left the house with Tifa locking the door behind her.

The kids ran on ahead as Cloud and Tifa walked slowly behind them at a more leisurely pace and between them they had managed to carry out small talk but in the silence that often filled the air as they made their way to the park.

The park was larger than they expected and was filled with potted plants that had been imported from all over the world, white roses from Wutai, the famous red lilies of Nibelheim, Jasmine from Gongaga and several other various plants all in cute little plant pots around the park, a privet hedge had been brought in from various places across Gaia to create a large maze. The park was also filled with benches and plentiful areas where you could picnic as Rocket town had supplied turf to get some 'natural' grass back into the city that surrounded Midgar. The kids had run ahead to the play area that was filled with climbing frames, slides, roundabouts, swings and other usual playground apparatus.

Cloud and Tifa took a perch on one of the surrounding benches of the play area but for Cloud there was no rest for the wicked as Denzel and Marlene had called him over from where they were on the roundabout begging him to come push it and make the kids go faster than they could managed. He smiled at Tifa as he got up and jogged over to the roundabout where the children were eagerly waiting.

"Hold on tight then" Cloud grinned and Marlene and Denzel grabbed a bar each like their life depended on it and with Cloud pushing it probably would.

"Faster!" Denzel shouted Cloud grinned and pushed the roundabout faster.

"Alright I'm going to sit back down and if I keep going your both going to end up dizzy" Cloud explained, he could see the children nodding so he jogged over to the bench where Tifa was still sitting watching the children enjoying themselves.

When Cloud rejoined Tifa on the bench Tifa was smiling sweetly.

"It's good to see you smile again" Tifa said looking into Cloud's deep blue pools

"Well I do feel lighter now" Cloud shrugged smiling softly. Tifa giggled and in seconds she grabbed the pack and the picnic basket and dashed off to the vacant swings.

Dropping the bags and picnic basket by the end of the swings she hosted herself on and started to propel herself into the air. Cloud had been staring at her and after a few seconds of watching her on the swings he got up and headed to join her.

"Hey" Tifa smiled as Cloud took a perch on the swing next to her and started to swing himself.

"Hey what you thinking about?" Cloud asked seeing the look in Tifa's eyes that always meant she was thinking something deep or reminiscing over memories.

"Just about when we were kids and we used to play at the park in Nibelheim" Tifa sighed, Cloud nodded he could recall the times when he was younger and playing at the small park in Nibelheim, where Cloud had first developed his crush on Tifa all those years ago as she found herself also crushing on the blonde shy boy. Cloud's mind had also drifted into his passed memories of his child hood that he was unable to stop himself for what he did next, jumping off his swing he pulled Tifa's swing waking her up from her daydreams of her past.

Tifa was flung from her perch on the swing and would of had a nasty fall if it weren't for Cloud catching her in his arms and supporting her bridle style, his heart was beating a mile a minute as was Tifa's. Before Cloud could stop himself he allowed his lips to dance over Tifa's top lip and she shuddered against his touch and weakened in his embrace and within seconds she reached round to place snake her head through his soft blonde spike and pulled his lips closer to hers and she indulged herself in tasting his lips something that she had always wanted to do from that very first day.

Around 16 years ago (not good with time lines) anyway Cloud is 6 years old and Tifa is 5 in this flashback

Five year old Tifa was playing on the swings at the tiny play park of Nibelheim that only held a swing set, a slide, a roundabout and a battered up seesaw. Tifa was alone at this time lost in a world of her five year old thoughts when a young boy a little older than herself joined her, the boy had cold soft blue eyes, blonde untamed hair and a few light freckles across his face and he was dressed in rugged clothing, a tatty pair of jeans and an equally tatty t-shirt. Tifa had looked up when she heard him and immediately thought he was cute when her young eyes swept over him.

"Hi I'm Tifa Lockhart what's your name" Tifa smiled stretching her legs out as the swing lifted her into the air.

"Cloud Strife it's nice to meet you" the blonde haired boy asked

"It's nice to meet you too. Do you want to play a game" Tifa giggled

"Yeah what kind of game though?" Cloud asked

"Well how about we swing really high then jump off and see how far away we land" Tifa explained.

"Alright" Cloud agreed and started to swing into the air.

"Okay I'll go first" Tifa declared and leaped from the swing only to find herself getting closer to the ground and landing so she would have a mouthful of dirt. Cloud seeing this jumped of his swing and rushed to catch Tifa who was still on a descent to the ground, he caught her just in time she land on him knocking him to the ground. Giggling Tifa got up off Cloud and dusted off the slight dirt that had stained her clothes, she offered her hand out to Cloud who gladly expected her hand and pulled himself up. As he brushed off the dirt from his own clothing and as he did that he jumped back in surprise.
"Thanks for saving me just now" Tifa said as she gently kissed Cloud's cheek.

And just like that Tifa ran off home leaving Cloud standing alone with his hand resting on his cheek wearing a stupid smile and he knew then and there he that this girl Tifa Lockhart had stolen his heart.

Back in the present

They pulled away from each gasping for breath and blushing redder than the common strawberry, when they heard the giggle from the little girl and the sound of disgust from the boy. Cloud gently placed Tifa down on the ground but did not remove his arm from around her waist no matter how much the pair was blushing.

"Does that mean you love each other" Marlene asked finally breaking the silence, Cloud and Tifa exchanged a fleeting glance and Cloud also starched the back of his neck.

"Well um... Marlene... I ...suppose it... does" Cloud said clearing his throat many times.

"Yay!" Marlene called and ran over to hug her guardians.

Once Marlene had realised her hold on her guardians she ran back over to Denzel and dragged him over towards the maze. Cloud and Tifa shared another kiss and Cloud pulled her closer wrapping his arms tightly around her as she tightly wrapped her arms around him.

"I love you" Tifa whispered huskily against Cloud's ear as she tried to get her breath back.

"I love you too ever since that day you kissed me on the cheek for saving you from hitting the ground" Cloud whispered back when his breathing settled.

"Same" Tifa replied and pulled Cloud back towards the swings.

Okay not overly happy with this ending but I do find this very fluffy, it's so fluffy I could die. The idea for this came when I went to get the bus into the closest town and I while waiting for the bus I was looking out to the deserted park (it was because it was 10am in the morning on an overcast school day) and I just came up with this suddenly and I had to write it. I so hope you enjoy it and it didn't take long to write sometimes I'm get a good streak without writers block and I'm deffiently in that streak just now