A/N: For the one and only Doc, who plays the best Tifa you'll ever see. Also inspired by a super-hot fanart.
Limit Break
"Hey, partner," Reno says one night at a bar when they're both a little drunk and outside their best judgment, "got somethin' to tell ya."
"Shoot," says Rude, who doesn't realize a bad idea when he hears one.
"Remember me asking you a while back 'bout who you liked? And you said you liked the Lockhart girl?"
"Sure. What about her?" Rude asks, slowly, not knowing why Reno's suddenly bursting into laughter.
"You won't believe this, man," his wiry partner says in between fits of laughter. "I told her."
"You what?" Rude is torn between taking a gun to either his head or Reno's.
Then he remembers the bar's policy against firearms, so he throws a punch to Reno's nose instead, hears a nice crunch of bone and blood.
Reno's left on the floor screaming "fuck, Rude!" in every language he knows how to say it in, and he isn't given more than a few seconds before Reno's right in his face again, all smiles and electricity, and it isn't long before the world goes black.
---
He wakes up with his face too close to a gutter, a horrible headache, one hell of a scar on his arm, and another broken pair of sunglasses. His backup has been spared, and he quickly whips them out to shield against the bright early morning sun.
He should have never trusted Reno with such sensitive information, but it had seemed to be the proper thing to do at the time. The other two were divulging secrets and so, to remain on good terms, he did too.
But now that he knows his secret is no longer safe, he starts evading her.
He takes longer rides to work, takes longer rides home, walks through backstreets to avoid the neon lights of the Seventh Heaven, to avoid any place where they might cross paths.
He thrives in silence but he knows she does not, and if he's found he's screwed. But he's heard things about her and about Cloud that may-or-may-not be true. But either way he will not come between it.
If he leaves it alone, they can pretend like nothing ever happened, they can pretend that Reno actually kept his mouth shut.
---
He doesn't even suspect it when it happens. It's one of his days off and he lets himself sleep in until nine in the morning, unlike when he wakes at six when he needs to work. He's showered and dressed as usual, ready in case the President needs to call him in when it happens.
He feels his limits break, feels something crash around him. Shit, shit, the apartment walls are falling around him and something must have hit them hard and before he knows it, he sees her above him, red ribbon fluttering, pants low on her hips, dust gathering in her long hair. She looks like she's broken all her limits to come and that she's here to take what she wants.
He's vaguely surprised that she's holding down so hard. He's still half-asleep without his customary cup of black coffee, but it's Tifa over him. She commands his full attention and he gives it.
"There you are. I finally found you," she says simply, eyes focused on him like her life depends on it. She has him pinned to the sheetrock and his sunglasses are askew but he really couldn't care less.
"Couldn't knock?" he asks simply.
She smiles. "That takes too long. And I had to make sure you wouldn't try to leave."
Like he'd ever want to move. She has him right where he wants to be.
"Fair enough," is all he can come up with before it's her mouth crashing down on his. And maybe, he thinks, this wouldn't turn out to be such a bad day after all.
---