I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any characters thereof, and will not be making any money off of them.
The whole thing was Aerith's fault. Tifa was almost completely sure of that. It had an Aerith feel about it. Oh sure, she would claim it was a joke, but Tifa knew that behind that sweet face was a devious, troublesome mind. It was one of the many things she loved about the other woman. Although occasionally she wanted to wring her pretty little neck.
""The first one to finish all of the lawn mowing, leaf clearing, weed pulling, and any other yard work as seen fit by one (1) Aerith Gainsborough will be treated to one (1) dinner date by the hero of their choice (heroes chosen based off of availability)," Tifa read off of the paper Aerith had just handed her. "So you're telling me that the reason all of those chores have been done while Leon and Cloud were away was because you conned a bunch of star struck teenagers into doing it?"
"Not conned, exactly," Aerith said in her slightly nervous but sweet iI'm not going to really get into trouble for this, am I?/i voice. "It is a valid contract. Even had it witnessed by Merlin and Yuffie." She leaned over, her breasts pressing into Tifa's arm, to point to the signatures. By accident, of course. Because everyone knew that Aerith was a nice, sweet girl, right?
"Did it occur to you to ask the hero in question if they iwanted/i to have dinner?" Tifa crossed her arms over her chest, trying not to think of some kid staring at it and trying to make awkward conversation. Who were the likely candidates, anyway? There was Seifer, and Tifa had a feeling she would end up stuffing the kid's ugly hat up his nose if she had to deal with him for more than an hour, and there was Hayner, who was nice enough in an awkward kind of way. And, now that she thought about it, there was Pence, who was sweet, in a puppy dog kind of way, and there was Rei, who seemed more awkward than anything else. Well, hopefully it would be Pence…. Why was she thinking this? That meant she was agreeing with it, which she wasn't going to do. Right?
"Wellll…." Aerith turned her big green eyes up at Tifa, and her lower lip stuck out in the merest suggestion of a pout. "I was thinking it would be a favor. For me."
Tifa sighed, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. She knew that Aerith knew that she couldn't resist that face. "You're going to owe me such a big favor," she said in a belabored voice.
"Oh, thank you!" Aerith gave Tifa a chaste kiss on the lips. "You'll be meeting the lucky winner in front of the house tonight at 6:30." She patted Tifa on the arm, then bustled off towards her garden.
"Aren't you going to at least tell me who it is?" Tifa called after her, opening one of the cabinets to take down a box of cookies.
"Why ruin the surprise?" Aerith called back, and Tifa could hear the laugh in her voice.
And then it was 6:30, and someone was knocking at the door. Tifa answered the door, feeling self conscious. She hadn't changed her clothes - Aerith had said that it would add to the appeal, if she still looked like her hero self, and besides, this was one of the few outfits she had that didn't over-emphasize her breasts. However, when she opened the door, she received a bit of a shock.
"Olette? You're the one who did all of those chores?" Tifa tried to remember the names on the contract. She didn't notice Olette's, but apparently she signed it, because the girl is stranding in front of Tifa, wearing a short black skirt that was a size too big, a red blouse that was a size too small, and an utterly terrified expression. She was holding a flower as well, a pink daisy.
"Yes," Olette said in a tiny voice. She held out the daisy to Tifa. "I, um…." She took a deep breath, her face coloring. "Here. I, um, thought you might like…." She trailed off and examined her feet in their sandals, curling her toes. The nails were painted orange.
"Thank you," Tifa said, feeling just as awkward. She took a sniff of the flower, then, not knowing what else to do with it, she tucked it behind her ear. "If you could hold on for one second, I need to talk to Aerith about something." She awkwardly patted Olette on the shoulder, noting the way the girl turned pinker then the flower when Tifa touched her, and closed the door.
Aerith was sitting on the staircase wearing a wicked grin. "What's wrong, Tifa? It isn't any of those obnoxious boys you were so worried about, right?" Her voice was full of laughter and trouble, like it usually was when she talked to Tifa.
"I can't go on a date with that… baby!" Tifa gestured wildly towards the door, keeping her voice at a loud whisper. "She looks like she raided her mother's closet!"
"Why not? She's older than Pence and Roxas, and you were willing to go out with them…." Aerith idly twiddled her thumbs, looking up at Tifa through her eyelashes.
"That's… different," Tifa said, knowing how stupid it sounded.
"How is it different?" Aerith stood up and walked over, wrapping her arms around Tifa's waist and kissing her on the mouth, gently.
"Because…." Because while Tifa didn't see the appeal of some slavering teenage boy, the girl in front of her was so… cute. So innocent. So exactly Tifa's type. She absently put her hands on Aerith's hips.
Aerith rolled her eyes and gave Tifa a pinch on the ass. "Go. Have fun. Give the girl a good time." She winked and let go of Tifa, wriggling from her light hold and opening the door. "Hi, Olette," she said, and she smiled her sweet and innocent older sister smile.
Olette's terrified expression relaxed somewhat. Everyone knew Aerith, everyone liked Aerith. It would annoy Tifa, except she liked Aerith so much.
Aerith pushed Tifa forward, still smiling. "Have fun, you two!" She fluttered her fingers at Tifa, who looked over her shoulder, then mouthed "put your arm around her".
Tifa shot Aerith a Look, but then the door was closed, and it was just Tifa and Olette on the front porch.
Olette looked up at Tifa, and her face went back to it's terrified deer in the headlights expression. Which was actually kind of cute.
"So…." Tifa tried to think of something to say. "Thanks for… cleaning out our yard." She takes a step closer to the girl and smiles awkwardly.
Olette smiled as well, tentatively. "And the garage," she said, and there was a hint of nervous humor in her voice as she said it.
"iAnd/i the garage." Tifa was impressed in spite of herself. Cloud had been promising to clean out the garage for two years. "Wow."
"It wasn't so bad," Olette said, cautiously moving a bit closer, until her arm was juuuust close enough to brush against Tifa's. When it did, Olette blushed bright red and inched away again as the two of them made their way towards the restaurant.
It was a nice enough restaurant, although not very expensive. Hero she might have been, but Tifa wasn't exactly swimming in cash. Tifa and Olette were seated by their waiter at a small table in a corner. It was a bit of a squeeze, and Olette's knees would occasionally brush against Tifa's, making the young woman blush dark red.
"So… what do you want to eat?" Tifa tried to be hearty and not sound as… stupid as she felt. She tried not to jiggle her knee, because she knew that if she did that, poor Olette might just faint.
"Um…." Olette looked down at the menu as if she had never seen letters before, let alone words. She kept peeking up at Tifa through her bangs, then blushing and quickly looking down to examine the menu. "I'll have the… pasta."
"Good choice," Tifa said, and she smiled at Olette, one of her million watt smiles. Her smile grew brighter when Olette smiled back at her.
"So… why did you want to go to dinner with me?" Tifa took a drink of water, looking at Olette over the rim of her glass. She was curious - it was obvious that the girl had a crush on her, but she didn't know any other details.
"Well, um…." Olette put her hands on the table, her fingers beating out a nervous tattoo. "I've always been a big fan of yours, since… forever." She looked up into Tifa's eyes, green on brown. "You're a real hero."
Tifa blushed. "I'm not," she said, and it was her turn to examine her hands.
"Yes you are!" Olette reached out and held Tifa's hands in her own, blushing at being so forward but holding on all the same. "You save people and you fight monsters and… you're a good guy." She looked down at where their hands were together and made to move.
Tifa looked at the girl, gently holding on to Olette's wrists. "What happened to your hands?" She gently stroked one palm - they were blistered and looked a bit painful to the touch.
"Oh, it's nothing," Olette said awkwardly, and made to tug her hands back into her lap.
Tifa kept holding on to them. She turned them over, gently, to look at the palms, and winced. "That looks painful," she said, gently stroking one blister with her fingertip.
Olette shivered and flushed. 'It isn't a big deal," she mumbled, biting her lip and blushing harder.
"You did all of this, just to talk to me?" Tifa held Olette's hands in her own, gently stroking the backs with her fingertips. She could feel the blood rushing to her head - this adorable girl did all of that, just to talk to Tifa?
"…yes," Olette mumbled, blushing harder. "I didn't think you'd want to talk to me any other way because I'm not really a hero or an interesting person or anything, and I thought you'd like me more if I-" She stopped, the stream of chatter cut off by one of Tifa's fingers on her lips.
"I think you're an interesting person," Tifa said quietly. Impulsively, idiotically, amazingly, she acted without thinking. She leaned forward, knocking a water glass over with her chest, and pressed her lips against Olette's.
It was a chaste kiss, barely more than a peck, but the girl colored, from her face to her neck. "That…."
"I'm sorry," Tifa said, and she was flushing as well as she tried to mop up the mess all over the table. "That was entirely too forward of me, and I understand completely if you want me to take you home right now. You're a very nice girl and -"
It was Tifa's turn to be cut off. Olette put one of her raw, ragged fingers on Tifa's lips. "Thank you," she whispered. "That was my first kiss." She drew her hand back slightly, then moved it to cup Tifa's cheek gently. "And I'm glad it was you."
Tifa smiled again, blushing as well. "I'm glad you're glad." She pressed Olette's hand against her cheek, gently. "Would you want to go out another night? You won't have to do any chores, even." She wasn't sure why she was doing this, but she could feel butterflies fluttering about in her stomach, and it was a nice feeling. Maybe Aerith had set the whole thing up knowing this would happen. Tifa wouldn't put it past her.
Olette bit her lip but looked at Tifa through her eyelashes, blushing as well. "I… I'd like that," she mumbled. A bit nervously, she stroked Tifa's cheek and the petals of the flower tucked behind the older woman's ear.
Tifa smiled at her, and it was a genuine smile. She kissed the palm of Olette's hand and let it go, gently. Who would have thought that Aerith's harebrained scheme to get the yard work done would result in a possible romance? Well, Aerith. But Tifa was willing to forgive her nosy, troublesome friend and lover. Just this once.