I've had this half-written for... well, a year or so after Razmatazzy planted the idea in my head, and finally got the guts to post it. I'm a chicken. Thank MusicofPoetry12 for giving me a nice kick up the- *brick'd*
Tifa opened her eyes blearily, not surprised to see the walls and ceiling of her room. What she was surprised to see was the thick head of golden spikes standing in the corner of her room. She sat up, blinking and puzzled.
"Cloud?" she questioned, frowning slightly. What the hell was he doing in her room?
Not that she minded, of course, it was just unexpected.
"Barret took the kids for the day," he told her in a flat, emotionless voice. However, his cerulean eyes sparkled, leading Tifa to believe that he was up to something. Whether for good or bad, she didn't yet know, but something was definitely up.
"O… kay?"
She really didn't know how to respond to that. If Barret took the kids, it usually meant they were gone for the whole day—morning to night—and they would have absolutely no thoughts of coming home because they were having so much fun. Tifa sat up, tendrils of near-black hair slipping limply over a bare shoulder. "So… we don't have to worry about them today…" Glancing at the clock, Tifa's wine-coloured eyes suddenly went wide. "Cloud, it's late morning! Don't you have deliveries?!"
"It's Sunday."
She blinked. The dry tone of his voice, it made her think that was something painfully obvious that she really should have realized. And in a way, she should have. Sundays were the one day the both of them got off a week, and today was now truly a day they could relax. Denzel and Marlene always thundered around the house on Sundays, preventing either Cloud or Tifa from resting at all. Tifa knew that poor Cloud had been dragged outside to give them rides on Fenrir more times than she could count, and it almost made a smile touch her face now.
"So… in other words, we have the whole day to ourselves," she murmured, swinging her long legs over the side of the bed. Cloud gave her a simple nod, and Tifa felt his cerulean eyes on her as she put her arms up, way up over her head, trembling slightly as she stretched.
"Well… There's not much left to do until tomorrow, when we have to open the bar," she observed, biting her lip thoughtfully. Then she stood, and lightly grabbed Cloud's upper arm, proceeding to manhandle him out of her room. "Okay, you need to scram so I can get dressed," she said crossly, but with a faint smile reaching her features all the same. Cloud appeared both bewildered and amused at this, but didn't protest when she closed the door behind him. Tifa allowed herself a smile as she retrieved her clothes for the day from the small dresser in the room, and got out of her pajama outfit, changing into her usual clothes; a short white tank top with a leather vest, and then leather shorts that nearly stretched to her knee. Sure, they didn't reveal as much as what she used to wear (and that's a good thing, in her mind), but they were a bit more comfortable either way.
No sooner had she looked in the mirror and been satisfied with her appearance than a quiet knock sounded on her door, and Tifa shook her head admonishingly as she opened the door. However, much to her surprise, she was greeted by a small, chaste kiss from the huge blonde warrior, and when he pulled back she smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"So… what are we doing today?" she asked Cloud with a playful smile, and he appeared to think about it in that quiet way of his before offering up an answer without words. His mouth closed over hers almost immediately, and Tifa eagerly responded.
Not four months ago, he had been morose, quiet, and withdrawn; just like almost always. And then she had been sitting next to him one evening, just watching the stars, and everything had changed for the better. A slight smile curved her lips against Cloud's persistent mouth at the memory, before Tifa just stretched up to keep kissing him.
"Well," she commented briefly, "I was thinking… The bar really does need a thorough cleaning…"
"You think so?" he asked quietly, and she nodded, keeping with her line of thinking.
"I think so. Now…" Reaching into a closet on her left, Tifa pulled out a bucket, and shoved it up between them. "Go fill this with water."
The blonde warrior simply shook his head helplessly at her, taking the bucket and vanishing. Tifa smiled slightly to herself, and reached into the supply closet, also tugging out a mop, and several other cleaning supply items.
Okay… clean the floor, the walls, wax floor, re-organize the drinks… Tifa mentally ran through the list of things she wanted to do today, and nodded once to herself before grabbing an armful of things and heading downstairs. There's so much that needs done. The bar needs to be kept CLEAN. Upon reaching the lower floor, she heard the water from the bathroom upstairs beginning to run. So, Cloud was actually listening to her instructions, was he? She smiled to herself as she started to set things out. After a few moments, Cloud came downstairs with the bucket, three-quarters filled with soapy water.
"Okay. I'm going to mop," Tifa started instructing, "And you will start cleaning the bar." There was a quiet grunt of assent, and she grabbed the mop, putting chairs and stools on top of the tables before starting.
The pair worked in silence for another two hours, during which time Cloud had completed the small, "safe" job Tifa had set him and Tifa was wrapping up the mopping.
Waxing is next, her subconscious reminded her, and she sighed to herself, tossing the sponge back over her right shoulder to join where the bucket of water was. Instead, there was a squelch-thud-plop.
Oh crap.
Almost dreading to know what she had hit, Tifa slowly turned her head (and only her head, not her shoulders) to the left to look behind her. Cloud had his eyes shut, face dripping, and the sponge making a tiny puddle at his feet. She allowed herself a small intake of breath, and bit her lip. She wasn't even going to try to apologize, because she knew that with Cloud, words meant almost nothing. He could usually read people, her most of all. She simply watched him fearfully, almost worried for no reason she could name. His eyes opened—the pure intensity of the sky blue startling her—and without a word to her, leaned down, picked up the sponge, and soaked it. Then he snatched it back up and lunged, catching Tifa around the waist with his other arm before she could move, then proceeded to wring out the sponge over her head.
"Ack!" she squeaked, scrambling for the first time to get out of his embrace. When she did manage, a wide, child-like grin was set in his features, blue eyes gleaming with satisfaction and humor, and Tifa's head was almost completely soaked. She crossed her arms, fighting to keep the smile tugging at the corner of her lips off of her face. Then she frowned at him, slowly walking around him without breaking eye contact, and retrieved a small rag off the bar. Tifa then swiftly dunked it in the bucket of water, twisted it up, and snapped it at Cloud, hitting his upper thigh. At this point, neither could keep away the smile, and it turned into a full-blown water fight. More wet sponges and rags were thrown between the two, and two kinds of laughter was echoing through the bar—a high, thrilled, shrieking laughter and a low, deep, near-silent rumbling laughter. At some point in time, Cloud darted behind Tifa, and snatched the bucket, dumping the remains of the soapy water over her head. She was simply frozen with shock for a moment, and he took this opportunity to comment:
"You know, I always thought we should have a wet t-shirt contest," the blonde warrior said in a low voice. Cloud let out a grunt as Tifa lightly smacked him upside the head with her wet towel for the suggestion, then he chuckled, a low rumble that sounded a bit like thunder running through him. Tifa then snatched the bucket and refilled it in the sink as she shed her vest, still glaring playfully at him.
And so it was that when Barret returned later with the kids, Cloud was laying on his back on the bar floor with Tifa sitting on his stomach without her vest, preparing to dump what remained of the soapy water over his head. Both were soaked, and despite the water that saturated it, Cloud's hair remained spiked.
At the sound of the door opening, two pairs of eyes flew to the doorway, and froze. Tifa blinked, Cloud shook his head lightly to get suds out of his face, and Barret just spluttered in a very undignified way while Marlene and Denzel giggled, running upstairs to give the adults some space.
For about a solid minute, they could have heard a pin drop. Hell, Tifa realized as a blush started crawling up her cheeks, a bomb could go off and Barret probably wouldn't notice.
Then both she and Cloud jumped as Barret roared, "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?!"
Biting her lip, Tifa glanced down at Cloud, and saw a devilish sparkle in his eyes. A shy smile curved her lips, and they looked at Barret, replying simultaneously, "Cleaning."
As I was saying before I got brick'd... Poor Cloud would have been sitting there with his head soaking for a long time yet. ^^" Anywho. :) Tell me what you think! I know there's just a bit of OOCness in Cloud... but it was fitting. :D
Juliet