Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Square Enix does.
Other: This is the only story I'm concentraiting on.
Cheap Fix : Chapter One
Tifa was walking home from a bar in Midgar where she as now working. It was 2 am, but people still were on the streets. Homeless children, homeless adults, adults going out for drinks. The dirty city was alive, even in the middle of the night. She made a turn down an ally, where two figures stood. One was hunched over on the ground, making grueling, gulping and yelping noises. The other one stood, his hands in his pockets.
Tifa didn't think much of it, until the one hunched over called her, his large torso having spasms as he had his hands on the ground, sitting his knees.
"H--Help me..." He moaned, before vomiting god knows what on the ground. Tifa raised an eyebrow, and walked into the direction of the two. He larger man threw up again. Tifa suddenly recognized the two men standing under the single street lamp in the shady ally way.
Reno and Rude.
"Rude?" She worriedly said, walking over to the man hunched on the floor. Sure, they were all once enemies, but hey, the dude was sick. And everyone knows that Tifa doesn't hold grudges. She bent over next to Rude, who still was clutching the cement ground. She looked up at Reno.
"What was he smoking?" She commanded an answer, knowing that Reno always played games. She put a reassuring hand on Rude's back, rubbing it slightly.
"Nothing," Reno cockily replied. Reno coolly eyed his best friend hunched over the ground. "You don't see that everyday..." he mumbled, running his hands through his hair, still watching Tifa and Rude on the ground.
"Did he drink something bad?" Tifa asked again, trying to calm herself. Reno made her want to wring her hands around his chicken neck sometimes. She started grinding her teeth.
"Nope," Reno said, just as he did before. He started to whistle some random tune.
"Then what happened?!" She snapped at him. Tifa always had patience, but something in Reno just made her angry. Rude started to make gagging noises again, and he lifted up a hand and grasped Tifa's arm.
"Come on Rude, get it out of your system," Tifa reassuringly said to the man. It was weird to see him like this -- on his knees, his tanned skin looked pale and putrid, his breathe stung Tifa's nostrils. Such a strong man in such a weak position.
Reno started to talk again. "Well, you see, had a lot of mayonnaise..." he laughed at his own idiotic lie. Tifa looked back at Reno, his nostrils flaring.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She barked back at him, gawking at the red head who was towering over her squatted body. "The day I start to even remotely understand you will be the day that pigs fly."
"Okay, okay. Can't cha take a joke?" He said, spitting on the cement next to Tifa, taking a deep breath. "Some chick offered him some drink at the bar we were just at, and he stupidly accepted it before making her drink some first. And obviously, it had some type of a drug in it," Reno told Tifa. She sighed, feeling the need to yell at Reno some more.
"Well, you should have been watching him instead of some skanky girl on the dance floor!" She yelled at Reno, looking back down at Rude, who was starting to stop the crazy antics of his stomach acid.
"Did I ask for your opinion, Lockheart?" Reno replied, taking a cigarette out of his jacket pocket, and lit one, the tarry smell made Tifa cough.
"No but --" Tifa started to retaliate, helping Rude stand up, his knees slightly buckling. Tifa put Rude's arm around her shoulder so he'd have some support.
"Thank you," Rude muttered, obviously embarrassed that the girl he used to like had to help him walk, when she was half the size of him.
"So then don't tell me what I already know," Reno said, throwing the half burned cigarette on the street, stepping on it to put it out. He sighed deeply, "We need to take him back to my apartment I guess, it's much closer than his." Reno walked over and put Rude's other arm around his own shoulder, and then the two lifting the big guy off of the ground. Rude's feet skidded against the sidewalk and they walked down the dark ally, turning out of it.
"What bar were you guys at?" Tifa said, breaking the icy silence that surrounded them like a cloud. A big, heavy could that didn't want to be broken.
Rude started to let out muffled laughs. Tifa smirked as she looked into Reno's deep emerald eyes. 'They're so pretty,' Tifa thought to herself, forgetting who she was thinking about. But she wasn't the only one who was losing track of who someone else was.
Reno found himself smiling, like an open wound, his eyes locking onto Tifa's. But figures, the two are both very stupid, and they look away. They weren't watching where they were walking, and Reno tripped over a crate laying on the dark sidewalk, sending the trio onto the hard cement.
"Fuck," Reno muttered, rubbing the back of his head that hit the ground. Tifa looked at Rude, who was still a bit intoxicated, laughing at Reno and Tifa. Tifa crossed her arms.
"You're so stupid," she told Reno, standing up and helping Rude up, who still was weak from up chucking his insides. Reno stood up as well, cursing Tifa under his breathe. He didn't look at Tifa, which was good for her because she was blushing pink all over her face. They walked down another few streets in the awkward cloud of silence, Tifa and Reno both too stubborn to talk, until...
"We're at my apartment," Reno hazily said, stopping his foot steps in front of a black, iron cast door. Tifa looked through the door. It was placed at the bottom of a staircase, and to the right of another white door. Tifa sighed.
"I'm guessing we have to go up the stairs?" She groaned, turning her attention to Reno. She was exhausted to begin with, since she left her work about an hour ago. Tifa looked up the staircase that looked like it never ended as Reno let go of Rude, unlocking the iron door.
"Yup," he replied, opening the door, motioning for Tifa to bring over Rude. Tifa was a strong girl, but Rude was a big guy. Tifa sighed as she carried Rude along, and when she got close enough to him, Reno held onto the guy too, carrying him up the first few steps and then through the doorway.
"I have an idea," Reno said, stopping at the bottom of the large staircase set out before them.
"What?" Tifa said, taking in a deep breath.
"You carry Rude up the stairs, or well, his upper body, because obviously the stairs are not wide enough to have the three of us in a line or whatever," he scratched his head, "and then I walk behind you, carrying Rude's legs?" Tifa sighed, nodding and agreeing with him. Tifa started to head up the stairs, wishing she was in her cozy bed, drifting off to the sounds of her TV set.
Reno grabbed the feet of his best friend, Rude practically unconscious. He stared at Tifa's butt as she walked up the stairs, spunk in every step she took. Reno smirked. "Hey Tifa?"
"Yeah?" Tifa called from a few steps up, but it seemed like a million. Tifa was at the top step, on the landing. She was slightly out of breathe, but she didn't mind too much. She liked to help people.
"Nice ass," Reno said back, holding the mans feet with one hand, digging into his pock to find his house keys. He tossed them at Tifa, and she caught out of her arms linked with Reno's. The back of her head was facing the back of his, she kinda wished that she was Rude right now. He didn't have to do anything for the past hour, just throw up and a free ticket to a place to sleep. Tifa unlocked the door, rolling her eyes at the slanderous statement, and then got a better grip on Rude, carrying him into the unfamiliar apartment.
Reno quickly followed behind her, "Make a right, and go into the first door on your left." Tifa did what she was told, looking around at the wooden walls that haven't been painted. She walked into the small, stuffy room without windows, and threw Rude on the bed in there, and felt like the world was lifted off of her shoulders. Tifa thought that she could fall asleep right then and there. She turned around to head out of room, but ran into the hard chest of Reno.
"Toots, I know I'm a babe magnet, but this is getting ridiculous," Reno said, looking down into the angered eyes of Tifa.
"Reno, I swear to god. If I wasn't to tired--" Tifa started to stay, her eyes shooting daggers at Reno's cocky smirk.
"You're tired? Just crash here," Reno said, walking out of the room, taking off his shirt as he did, throwing it in a pile in outside of the doorway. He walked out of the hallway into another part of the house, obviously not wanting to play whatever game Tifa wanted to start.
"...Sleep here?" She said to herself, crossing her arms and considering the idea as she looked at the slumbering body of Rude, who was sucking on his thumb slightly. Tifa sighed. Her apartment was really far from here, and he did seem to have a few extra rooms. She wandered out of the room, trying to find Reno.
"Reno?" She called, walking into the kitchen area. He wasn't there. She walked into the bathroom, he wasn't there either. Tifa walked around a bit longer, looking for him. The only room she hadn't checked was the main bedroom. Would she dare go in there? God knows what the hell could be going on. Knowing Reno, there have probably been a hundred or more different girls in this apartment for his various one night stands, maybe even a few prostitutes on his off nights.
Tifa held her breathe as she walked into Reno's cold room. His whole apartment was cold. Reno stood there, shirtless, his lean and muscular stomach. He was standing in front of the tall mirror in his room, feeling the multiple scars over his torso. Reno didn't notice her come in. But the emotion on her face would have made Reno laugh.
"Reno..." She said, walking over to him, frowning. He looked at her from the mirror.
"Tifa," He replied, more of an acknowledgement of her being there than anything else. He kept tracing his thin fingers over his scars. Slashings, gun wounds, stabbings. Tifa eyed him. Reno looked at her straightly for the first time the whole night, and he actually saw her for who she was. The silky brown hair that embraced her hips, her wide, brown curious eyes... her huge boobs. Reno shook his head, turning to face her.
"I think I'm going to take you up on that offer," Tifa smiled, crossing her arms. She'd gotten past the whole "shirtless hot man" thing.
"Sleep where you please, my home is your home," He said, turning his back to her again, his face almost looked like he was blushing.
"I don't want to intrude," Tifa replied, standing in the same position.
"If I didn't want you hear, I would have kicked you out already."
"But--"
"Don't worry about it, okay? You worry too much. Calm down."
"And how would you know I worry too much?" Tifa was getting agitated.
"For one, you're close with Cloud. That is enough to make anyone go crazy, turn them into the walking dead or something." He still looked at her from the mirror. He reached over to the dresser next to the mirror and took off some spray deodorant, and put some on, filling the air with scents of spearmint. Rain started to tap on the window of his bedroom and the roof. It sounded like leprechauns were tap dancing on the roof.
The tiredness in Tifa's head was trapping her, making her whole body sore with every time she filled her lungs. "Don't talk to me about cloud, please?" She sincerely said, she ran her hands delicately through her hair, yawning.
"Go you sleep," Reno said, turning around and walking out of the room. "I'm going to sleep in the den, gonna fall asleep watching some porn," he joked. Was he joking? Tifa didn't pick up on his humor, she was in a daze. Her voice started to become raspy.
"Thanks again, Reno," She muttered, tiredly turning off the lights in Reno's room and crawling into his bed.