Pairing: Cloud/Tifa

Summary: Tifa stood all night waiting for him to come back and Cloud finds her in his room, wearing only one of his shirts. He already knew what was going to happen next.

Timeline: Three years after the game. Right before the events on Dirge of Cerberus.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Square Enix owns Final Fantasy and its characters. There is no copyright infringement intended.

"Longing"

After the long day at work, Cloud comes back to 7th Heaven from his delivery job. He was exhausted for the long way back and all he wanted to do was to get some sleep. He approaches to the bar and puts First Tsurugi behind the counter, like he always does and then goes upstairs.

As usual he goes into the children's bedroom to check on them and to make sure they were tucked in their sheets; but for his surprised, the children weren't there. He remembered that Barret came by to visit that afternoon, so he assumed that the kids were with him. He closes the children's door and goes to the next room. He knocks a few times before entering Tifa's room, but there was no answer. Maybe she's already asleep, he thought; and so, he went back from whence he came.

As he walked through the hallway, he hears a strange sound coming from his bedroom. He stopped in front of the doorway and then slowly entered the room. Once there, he stood there with a puzzled look on his face. He wasn't expecting to see her there.

He finds Tifa sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing his jersey. She stares at him with deep longing and Cloud blushes. They stare to each other for a moment and Cloud gets lost in those deep browns eyes of her. She stood up from his bed and approaches him slowly, without taking her eyes of off him. Cloud looks at her bewildered as she comes closer to him. It was crystal clear that she had been waiting for him to come home and he could see her desire through her eyes. He already knew what was going to happen next.

Once in front of him, she slips one of her hands around Cloud's waist, to lock the door from behind his back. Cloud swallowed hard after hearing the click from the lock and gently, she grabbed his face and claimed his mouth. After the contact, she wraps her arms around his neck to pull him close. Her kisses were soft and tender, and Cloud responded by closing his eyes as he gets carried away by her tender touch. While they're kissing, Tifa teases him a little by licking his lips with the tip of her tongue so that he opens his mouth even more, allowing her tongue to go inside.

Cloud begins to moan softly in her mouth as she continues to massaging his tongue with hers and also wraps his arms around her waist. Cloud liked when she kissed him like that. It was like a drug to him. The more she kisses him, the more he wanted her. Soon, he began to be consumed by lust and could feel his cock filled up with blood. Tifa pressed herself against his body and moaned softly upon feeling his arousal against her core. He was already hard for her and she was beginning to feel moist as well.

Gently, she pulls him from his shirt without separating their lips and begins to walk backwards with him in her grasp. Cloud follows her obediently into the bed and begins to undress himself while Tifa plays along with his tongue in her mouth. He wanted to be inside of her, so desperately that he totally forgot about his exhaustion and made love to her all night.

The next morning, Cloud wakes up first and realized that he spent the whole night on top of Tifa. It was almost 8 am in the morning and they were still in bed. He just couldn't believe that he actually survived last night's episode with Tifa. Good thing he had the SOLDIER's cells in his body, otherwise he would be dead by now. There's no way a normal guy could survive such encounter.

Meanwhile, Tifa was still sleeping like a baby. Her face was shinning like the sunrise and there was a slight smile on her lips. Cloud couldn't help but stare at her while she's sleeping; admiring the effect he caused her with a slight smirk. He was crazy about her and felt so proud of himself for being able to please her as much as she wanted.

After several minutes, Tifa begins to toss and turn underneath him and Cloud strokes her face using his nose in order to wake her up.

"Tifa, wake up..." he said softly while he caresses her face. Tifa opens her eyes slowly and then meets a pair of blue orbs staring at her.

"Hey…" he smirked.

"Hey…" she also replied with a warm smile.

"You okay?" he asked with concern in his eyes.

Tifa stretched herself and wrapped her arms around Cloud's neck. "Never been better…" she pressed a soft kiss on his lips. "You?" she asked her gently.

"Alive." He said smirking.

Tifa laughed at this and he also pressed his lips against hers. They shared a tender but passionate kiss for a minute and then separated their lips to search for each others eyes. Tifa blushed and bit her lip as she chuckled.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing." She narrowed her eyes. "I just can't help but smile when I'm with you." She smiled tenderly at him and Cloud chuckled. "Who would have thought that we would end up this way…" she stroked his hair with her fingers and Cloud closed his eyes.

Cloud let out a soft chuckle upon hearing her sweet words. "I know what you mean." He replied and then he begins to kiss her neck. Tifa throws her head back allowing him to continue with his tender touch.

"Is this for real?" she mumbled. "I mean, is this really happening? Or is it just a dream?" she trailed off.

Cloud lifted his face from her neck to see her in the eye. "I'm not sure," he said. "But if it's a dream," he leans forward and rubs his lips against hers. "…then I don't wanna wake up." Once again, he claimed her mouth and she responds to the kiss with the same passion. Tifa moans softly into his mouth while he provides her more satisfaction with his tongue. And just when things were starting to heat up, Cloud's cellphone starts to ring. However, he doesn't pay any attention to it and keeps on kissing her. Tifa on the other hand, pulled away from his lips for an instant to say a few words.

"Aren't you gonna get that?" she mumbled in his lips.

"No." he replied simply, and continued what he was doing.

"But what if it's important?" she said pulling away from his lips again.

"I don't care…" he hushes her up putting his mouth in hers. They keep kissing passionately but the cellphone keeps on ringing. That's when Cloud pulled away from her and sighed in frustration.

"Damn it!" he said weary. Tifa was fighting a chuckle upon hearing his reaction and couldn't help the giggles. Cloud let out a sigh and stood up to pick the phone. "Hold that thought." he kissed her briefly and then answered the phone. "Strife Delivery Service? Oh, it's you. Um… well, I was kinda busy." He winks at Tifa playfully and she bit her lip in response. They intertwine their hands as he continues chattering on the phone. Suddenly, Cloud's face changes abruptly and Tifa notices this. She gets worried that something might be wrong and after he hangs up she asks him about it.

"Who was that?" she asked puzzled.

"That was Vincent." He said while picking up his clothes.

"What are you doing?"

"I gotta go. Something came up." He begins to dress himself.

"You're leaving now?" she frowns.

"Yeah, I'll explain later."

"But, I was hopping you could stay."

"I know. I'm sorry." Tifa sighed and lowered her head. Cloud turns around and looks at her with regret in his eyes. "Hey…" he approached her, "Why the long face?" and then sits on the edge of the bed.

"I don't want you to leave." She trailed off.

"It's not like I'm leaving for good." He gave her a slight smirk.

"I know. Is just that when I'm not with you everything feels so…" she sighs and Cloud narrows his eyes. "Do you really have to go?" he looks at him.

Cloud then responds with a nod and Tifa lowers her head. He grabs her chin, in order to gain her attention. "Don't worry." He said stroking his thumb in her chin to reassure her. "I'll come back as soonest I can."

"You promise?"

Cloud nods again and smiles tenderly. Tifa wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him close. He also embraces her and presses a soft kiss on her shoulder while he caresses her face with his.

"Don't be late…" she whispered in his ear.

"I won't." he released her from the embrace and kissed her tenderly. "I'll see you around." He said as he pulled away from her lips. He leaves the room and Tifa wraps her arms in her legs and places her head on her knees. She decides to stay in his bed for a few more minutes before opening the bar.

The End.