A/N:To those of you still in high school- make these 4 years of no regrets, just love.

Standard Disclaimers (FFVII) apply. Background music: Teenage Dream by Katy Perry


"Teenage Dream"

By MakoRain

It started off the same as any other day did with the lockers and the chalk boards and the teachers blah blah blahing but there was something different in it at the same time. Tifa could feel it even as Aerith did something totally normal like leaning onto her desk, getting ready to spill her daily dose of gossip. Or so Tifa thought.

"So, what do you think of Cloud Strife?"

Well, that was honestly something she hadn't been expecting. "Cloud?"

What did she think of Cloud? Tifa looked down at the corner of her notes, catching the sight of a penned-in heart she'd been doodling there. She sighed and moved her elbows over the notebook, guarding her doodles from prying eyes. "Cloud's..."

Her words drifted off as her eyes finally looked up from her desk to follow Aerith's gaze to land on the person in question. His hair looked lighter with the suns' rays shining on it through the window, his hand racking through it making it even more all over the place if possible.

Tifa had to hide her smile at how adorable he was as Aerith turned back to face her, a smile on her own face and the look in her eyes expectant. It was so weird to see that same dreamy-eyed gaze in the girl's green eyes that she was sure reflected in her own brown ones.

Oh, the dramas of high school.

"Yeah, I mean you've been friends with him forever, right?"

"Right," she said warily, not liking the glint in Aerith's eye. It was the look she got whenever she was about to obsess hard core about something or someone.

Poor Cloud.

"Cloud is...very nice and considerate of other people. He always holds the door open for me," Tifa explained.

"Cute! What about what he likes and stuff?" Aerith bubbled giddily, leaning in closer.

Tifa mentally groaned at how ditzy-sounding her friend was getting over some boy. Of course, it was Cloud.

"He likes typical guy stuff," she evaded, picking up her pen to doodle and then hastily putting it down again as she eyed the heart carefully. "He's shy, Aerith. What else can I say?" She shrugged, hoping that would be the end of it.

Aerith gave her a look that made her sigh so hard her bangs flew out of her face. "Come on, Tifa. Please! I need your help with this!"

"Cloud likes wolves and his motorcycle and making s'mores in his backyard." Tifa knew she was talking fast and rambling but she couldn't help it, she always did so when she was nervous. And looking at the back of Cloud's heavenly glowing head while playing match maker for him with Aerith was making her so nervous her stomach was doing flips.

"You talk about him like he's more than just a friend, Tifa. What, do you like him or something?"

The brunette balked, looking everywhere but at Cloud. "What? No, of course not. He's a friend, Aerith. Practically my best friend. I've never thought of him as anything more than that."

She tried her hardest not to wring her hands together, keeping her fingers away from the wolf ring he'd given her when they were kids. To let her know she could count on him, he'd said. Ugh, if only she could do the same for him.

Just then Cloud turned around as if he knew they were talking about him and gave her that small smile with a shy wave in Tifa's direction. She sheepishly returned it before snapping out of her reverie, her stomach now in knots. He caught her twisting the ring around her finger and shook his head as if scolding her to stop fidgeting which she inadvertently did, making his smile broaden.

"Right, friends. Cloud and I are just friends."


What she witnessed after school shouldn't have come as quite a shock and yet she couldn't help it. Tifa should have known from past experiences that what the dainty flower girl wanted, she always got. And yet...she'd hoped for a miracle. Unluckily for her, Cloud's locker was right across the hall from hers so she had a front row seat to view the whole thing unfold.

"Hey Cloud, can I talk to you for a sec?" Aerith's sweet voice carried above the din of the hall and Tifa groaned. She was hoping all the noise would spare her by drowning out their conversation.

Cloud looked at her from around his locker door and had the decency to close it before continuing their conversation. Always the gentleman.

"Um sure, Aerith. What's up?"

Was it Tifa's imagination or was Cloud nervous? He was trying his best to look at the girl's face out of politeness when his feet were fidgeting as if urging him to get the hell out of there. Tifa would have laughed if the whole situation hadn't been so morbidly surreal.

"Soooo," Aerith said, drawing out the word as if it were never ending while using this segue to put her hand on his arm. Tifa was glad she'd skipped lunch after her upset stomach in class or she was sure to have seen a repeat performance of what she'd eaten all over the floor right about now. "I was thinking it'd be really great if you and I went out or something."

Or something? What else did she want! She already had the guy of her dreams dangling on a string even if Cloud looked like he was a proverbial deer-caught-in-the-headlights-about-to-become-road kill.

"Out? Like, on a date?" Cloud gulped, looking down at the hand now moving up and down his arm. Yep, that was her Cloud, oblivious yet gullible to a fault.

"Of course, silly." Aerith giggled and Tifa closed her eyes as if the sound were nails on a chalk board and not tinkling bells.

As if by some miracle or some act of fate intervening, Tifa was no longer able to eavesdrop on their conversation because she was too busy being body-checked into her locker as if by accident-on-purpose.

"Oh, damn. I'm sorry. Are you okay?" The dark haired guy sounded sincere and so Tifa let him pull her off of her locker door, now decorated with a small imprint of her back.

She couldn't help being impressed by how strong he was to make a dent in the metal like that, even if it was her body that acted as the mold in a way. Aerith's giggle and Cloud's half hearted laugh in return broke through her thoughts and she rubbed her temples.

"Why couldn't you have given me a concussion so I wouldn't have to remember this?" She said and the new guy chuckled.

"An ex I take it? Yeah, I've been there, done that." He said good-naturedly until he noticed who it was giggling so gaily before the couple came over to her side of the hall.

"Aerith? Hi."

"Oh my god, Zack! How are you?" Aerith squealed before giving the dark-haired stranger now known as Zack a hug. Cloud was oblivious to the whole encounter as he focused wholly on Tifa, uncomfortably so.

"Tifa, are you alright?" Cloud asked, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking her body up and down, assessing the damage. It was more attention than she was used to getting from him face to face and she cringed, feeling her face heat up in a blush. "Do you have a fever? Your face is all red."

Tifa blanched, placing her hands over her face. Thankfully and unexpectedly Zack came to her rescue.

"Tifa? I'm sorry I ran into you like that. All these damn kids are so pushy."

"You should be more careful next time, man," Cloud said in a low, clear voice, startling and yet thrilling Tifa at the same time. Was he acting jealous? Over her? All she could do was blink while Zack came to the rescue again before an uncomfortable and overcharged silence could grow.

"Zack," the dark-haired guy chimed in, holding out a hand for Cloud. After a moment the blond fist-bumped with Zack, still second-guessing the guy with his eyes. It was just then that Tifa decided to push aside her own thrilling confusion to turn to Aerith.

"Wait, did you hug him? Do you know each other?" She waved her hand between Zack and Aerith and both gave a conspirators confirming laugh.

"Well, Aerith and I..."

"We used to date." Aerith finished and both shared a smile, recalling the good memories apparently before turning somber.

"Ah," Cloud and Tifa said at the same time, understanding dawning on them. Zack showing up just as Cloud and Aerith were about to hook up. Great, this was just great. Or maybe it was...

Tifa's sudden hope that maybe Zack would be the answer to her Cloud-obsessed Aerith problems shattered as Aerith reached over to take Cloud's hand, trying to be nonchalant but failing miserably.

"Well Cloud and I are going out now so-"

"You're together already?" Tifa squeaked, her voice high pitched with anxiety. Aerith just laughed.

"Not yet. We're going to go out on a date and then we'll see what happens." She gave a wink that made both Cloud and Tifa step back, startled. "Besides it was practically your idea, Tifa."

"Oh, well, that's just great." Tifa tried to compose herself with a smile but it was 30 watt at best. "Wait, what?" Her idea?

Zack was standing there taking it all in silently on the sidelines while watching her out of the corner of his eye, she could feel it. It was distracting her and for that she was grateful or she'd have a melt down right then and there. At least it gave her enough strength walk away from taking the blame for this.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Zack. Have fun Cloud, Aerith. Call me." Tifa went through the motions, looking each person in the eye as she talked to give some sort of false sense of sentiment before getting ready to bolt.

"Hey, I have the best idea ever!" Aerith was practically jumping up and down with excitement. "Why don't we all go out together!"

"Aerith, wait," Zack tried amiably to stop her in her thought process in its tracks but it was too late.

"Um, won't that be. I don't know, awkward?" Tifa said, to which Cloud agreed. "Exactly."

"No, of course not! We're all friends, aren't we?" Aerith looked at each of them as if she were besties with them all, Cloud a little more so as she kept hold of his hand. Tifa looked to Cloud as he did the same and shrugged. Zack did his best to look as if this was something he wasn't used to but the way he smiled and offered Tifa his arm, this was something he was low on the crazy ideas he'd been involved in with Aerith.

And so that's how Tifa found herself arm in arm with a guy who she wished was the guy she was sitting across the table from on her double date from hell.


Somehow Zack found the whole thing freaking hilarious. Starting with the juice spilled in Cloud's lap so Aerith could dab it off and feel up his leg fiasco to wiping spaghetti sauce off of his shirt and ending with desert. And those are only the incidents she cared to recall as they were forever burned in the back of her brain. Zack wasn't helping any.

"Oh, come on! You should have seen your face when Aerith went to lick whipped cream off of Cloud's nose."

"Will you drop it already!" Tifa whined, rubbing her temples. It was bad enough she had to view it live once without reliving it over and over again. Thankfully, Zack came clean with knowing about her when Aerith was washing her hands and Cloud was getting a refill. She had "that look" whenever Cloud was in the room, apparently.

"I'm sorry, really. I was the one who tried to stop the double date from happening in the first place, remember?" Her new dark-haired friend pointed out, giving her a hip bump as they walked up to her door.

"Yeah well you didn't try very hard," Tifa huffed before bumping his hip back, finally starting to loosen up for the night.

"You could have stopped this whole thing yourself, ya know."

"What do you mean?" Tifa asked, hedging around the confession she knew he had an idea of but didn't want to admit it out loud.

"You could have told Cloud how you feel."

And so there it was out in the open. She was torn between keeping up the façade, saying she only cared for Cloud as a friend or to let the walls fall and have someone she trusted share her secret.

"It's not like it matters," she finally sighed, setting the truth free and herself along with it or so they say. "He likes her. I could see it on his face...in his eyes."

Zack sighed with her. "Aerith can be a little..."

"Forceful?"

"Zack laughed. "I was thinking more along the lines of that she tries too hard but her heart's in the right place. It makes her all that more-"

"Annoying?" Tifa grumbled, stomping her feet like a child up the front walk to her doorstep. Zack conceded. "Maybe, but it's also what makes her so damn cute."

Tifa sighed, all the fire and spite slipping out of her again. "Cloud's a goner."

When no witty retort came, she let go of her pity party and finally looked at Zack. "Maybe he's not the only one?" The look Zack gave her said everything he couldn't and she felt like a complete ass for putting her foot in her mouth like that.

"I'm so sorry," she said softly, giving into the friendly urge to hug him. It became more than friendly when she went to pull away and suddenly he was filling her frame of view, becoming all that she could see. He was close enough that she could smell the after-dinner mint on his breath with the brush and felt heat where his lips brushed against her cheek.

After only spending a couple of hours in his company, she picked up that Zack was always the one with a one liner or a laugh to share. He lightened the mood and made everyone smile, especially Aerith. Tifa could see how the other girl still cared for him but was still trying to move on. The break up hadn't been horrible obviously but there were still lingering feelings there that she didn't want to step on.

"Zack...I think we should keep this strictly platonic. Friends, right?"

The dark cloud that she had seen float over his eyes lifted. "Right. Just friends." Before she could object, he wrapped her in his arms with a squeeze and let go to ruffle her hair. She laughed despite herself and he smiled in appreciation before skipping down her walkway.

Silly boys.


"So, how did you enjoy your date last night?"

That question came from the last person she had ever expected nor wanted to hear it from.

"I could ask you the same thing," she reflected, evading with funny banter. It usually worked with Cloud but he looked completely caught off guard which was hard to do with someone you've known for years.

"But I asked you first." Cloud retorted, looking everywhere but at her as they took the scenic route to school.

Copy Cat.

"It was..." Awkard? Weird? Totally inappropriate? A freaking disaster? Not with you? "It was nice."

"Nice," Cloud deadpanned, finally looking at her to give her an arched eyebrow.

She finally cracked a laugh. "What? It was nice to do something different."

"Different as compared to...?"

"As compared to this. You know just hanging out or catching a ride or whatever."

"Oh. You want something...different."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Tifa felt like an idiot. "Not different per say, just..." Cloud turned his full gaze onto her and she was floundering faster than before. "Something serious."

"Serious?" Cloud kept echoing her and it was seriously getting on her nerves. He had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look once again only this time she didn't feel sick from seeing it turned onto someone else, she felt jittery from it being turned onto herself.

"Was it really your idea for me and Aerith to date?"

The question took her so off guard that she didn't even bother with thinking up a lie even if it was somewhat true.

"She asked for my help with you, that's all."

"Your help?"

"What you like," she clarified and Cloud gave a wide-eyed stare that Tifa missed. "Your hobbies, that kind of stuff."

"Oh," Cloud breathed a sigh of relief. "That makes sense."

At Tifa's blank stare, he reiterated. "After our date, she said she wanted to ride home on Fenrir even though she was scared out of her wits screaming the entire ride to the restaurant. She practically strangled me, you can probably still see the ligature marks."

He leaned closer, angling his neck to give her a good look at the crook of it and it was all she could do not to lean in closer and close what little space remained between them with her lips on his shoulder. Tifa wished she could have said it was her will power that made her stop when in all actuality it was just simply bad timing.

"Cloud! Tifa! There you guys are!" Aerith squealed, causing both of them to jump apart before she grabbed them in a bear hug. "Wasn't last night just the funnest thing ever?"

"Cloud and I were just talking about it," Tifa replied amiably to which Cloud quirked an eyebrow and she couldn't help giggling. Unfortunately she was trying so hard to cover it up that it turned into a snort that had both of their eyes on them, Aerith's questioning and Cloud's full of hilarity.

It was Cloud who took the lead for once.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that, Aerith."

"Yes?" She turned expectantly, waiting for him to speak there and now. Tifa stood by quietly, shifting between the urge to rabbit for her own safety and her sick curiosity to hear what sort of love admission he was about to make.

He looked from Aerith to Tifa, his gaze falling back to Aerith. "Um, alone." His blue eyes gave Tifa a pleading look over Aerith's shoulder. Pleading to understand, to step out of the way, to go quietly, she wasn't sure. Whatever it was, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"Yeah, ok. I'll talk to you later."

Aerith gave a vigorous shake of her head, all smiles and sunshine. It made Tifa's good mood plummet even farther than Cloud had just sunk her.

"Teef, it's not what you think." He came up behind her quietly, placing a hand on her arm while motioning for Aerith to stay put for a minute. As if. She turned to face him and there were no words that could come out. She couldn't say how confused or upset or angry she was, not even to the person she could tell all of her secrets to. Well, all except one.

"I'll do what you want, Cloud. I give up. I'll go."

And with that, she withdrew.


Not five minutes later Tifa found herself trying to stop tears from filling her eyes and falling down her cheeks. She was fighting a losing battle when her new hero found her, slipping an arm around her shoulders and guiding her to some privacy. The instant the storeroom door closed, she was crying her eyes out and hiccupping from holding back her sobs for so long.

The whole time she had her breakdown, Zack went from holding her to letting her breathe, putting some space between them by just patting her back in slow smoothing circles. In the end, she was fine in outside appearance for all except for the mascara tracks running down her eyes.

Pulling out a compact from her purse, Tifa attempted to repair the physical damage while awaiting the emotional. "Don't you want to know what happened?"

When Zack didn't answer, Tifa looked up into those eyes filled with sympathy, understanding, and a touch of pity she never wanted to see. "No pity. I did this to myself, you know."

"By almost giving into your heart?" Zack asked, keeping the distance she had set. He answered her questioning gaze. "I saw the whole thing outside."

"Ugh I wonder who else did." Tifa groaned, putting her head in her hands once she didn't look like a raccoon anymore.

"Not many, I'm sure," he said reassuringly. "So...do you want to talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about? I was this close to showing Cloud how I felt and in walked Aerith. That's fucking fate for you?" She slumped over, placing her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands.

"Fate…or really bad timing. Which Aerith is known for, believe you me," he said with a wistfulness that got her thinking.

"Why'd you and Aerith break up anyways?"

Zack chose then to stare at his shoe scuffing the linoleum floor as if it were the most festinating thing in the world. "She was moving, I was staying. Neither one of us had a say in the matter. Long distance relationships never work so we ended it. It's for the best, really."

Zack sighed, finally looking into Tifa's chocolate warm gaze.

"I didn't believe that either," he snorted, leaning in the door frame with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, contemplative. Finally able to face the hallway, Tifa took his hand. "It'll all work out for the best, right?"

"I sure hope so," he sad, leaning his forehead against hers and closing his eyes as if reveling in the moment. Tifa didn't pull back and she didn't know why but she really didn't want to. It was him who ended it before anything had begun and she smiled, happy she could keep one relationship with a guy totally platonic in the way of things.

"Thanks, Teef."

She squeezed his hand, enjoying the feel of it in hers. It was almost like she was walking with Cloud, almost except for the lack of tingles. But still, it was nice.

"Time to face the world."

Because when you're in high school, it feels like the whole world.


That world seemed to crumble around Tifa when she decided to take Zack up on his offer to go with him to a party and meet Cloud and Aerith there. Zack had been psyching himself up all week to tell Aerith how he still cared for her and it was sweet and all but it was something Tifa couldn't be included in. She didn't want any part of breaking Cloud's heart, even if her own shattered every time she saw her friends together.

Zack squeezed her hand, as if to assure her as well as himself that this was a good idea. She wasn't stupid; she'd heard the rumors flying around the school ever since they walked out of that storeroom hand in hand after Tifa's melt down. Apparently they had been getting hot and heavy according to every gossip girl in the school but it wasn't true. They both knew that and that was all that mattered. Tifa didn't want to admit to herself that there was only one other person's opinion that mattered more than anything.

"Hey, Cloud," Zack greeted with the classic male macho fist bump which Cloud had grown accustomed to, returning it if only half-heartedly. Aerith was flittering at his side but disappeared as soon as Zack and Tifa got closer which was odd. Come to think of it, Tifa hadn't recalled seeing Cloud and Aerith together much around school and the rumor mill had halted completely on them when Zack and Tifa had hogged the spotlight unintentionally.

"Want anything to drink?" Zack asked Tifa just as Cloud handed her a Coke.

"Thanks," she said, holding onto the pop can for dear life. Parties with alcohol made her nervous-peer pressure sucks, no matter how old you get that never changes. "I think I'm set."

"Right," Zack commented, his attention totally lost to them both as he searched the room. "I'll be right back." He winked and Tifa couldn't help giving him a good luck pat on the shoulder. "Take your time."

She turned back to Cloud and saw him giving Zack a look that should have made smoke sprout from between his shoulder blades. "Is everything okay, Cloud?"

"Huh?" Typical Cloud. "Yeah, everything's fine, Teef." A few awkward moments filled with pounding dance music had him changing his mind. "Wanna go get some air?"

"Sure," Tifa yelled over the music, happy to escape the constant boom boom boom of the music.

It was soon replaced with the pounding of her heart as they stood on an outside balcony overlooking the ocean, the moonlight shining so clean and clear and in control. She didn't know what was happening but it was something big and she took a deep breath, needing no more signs from the night thus far to know what she had to do.

For once, Cloud beat her to the punch.

"I need to tell you something."

Tifa blinked a few times before laughing to herself. "You took the words right out of my mouth."

"Brain twins," he said with a smile and she agreed as both reached for the other's hand. Neither spoke for a minute, taking in the moment of connecting again.

"I broke up with Aerith."

Oh.

"Oh." That was unexpected.

He looked down at their interlaced fingers and she had the urge to shake his hand free but her stubbornness to hold on overruled. Still, she had to be the comforting best friend. Friend being the key word. Time to consol.

"How do you feel about that?"

That got a smile out of him at her odd word choice. Friend-1 Girlfriend-0.

"All things considered, pretty good."

With a sigh, she gathered her thoughts into something resembling helpfully friendly which somehow turned into scolding, no longer able to look him in the eyes. "Cloud, you don't have to hold everything in. She was your first love, it's okay to be upset."

"Wait, she's not...Is that what you think?"

"She's not what?" Tifa said in a hushed tone, unsure she heard him with the music and the waves mixing in the background.

"You think I keep everything in?" He was looking at her so intensely that she forgot what she was really focusing on in the first place. Say the first part again! What did you say?

"Well, Cloud. Come on, let's face it. You've clammed up to me ever since you found someone else to open up to." She was a little shocked at what she had just admitted but come to think of it, it made a lot of sense. He talked to her less and less when he was with Aerith and had even sent her away. She never wanted to admit it but that still stung.

"You haven't exactly been around to talk too either." Cloud said as a matter of fact.

Um, say what now? "Excuse me?"

He pulled his free hand through his unruly spiked hair, swinging the one he still held back and forth between them a little as he figured out how to put his thoughts into words.

"It's just that you and Zack have been hanging out a lot."

"And?" She was going to make him say what he thought of that out loud after the hell she'd had to put up with witnessing the Clerith era.

"I've heard the rumors."

"You can't believe everything you hear, Cloud." Tifa sighed, loosening her hold on his hand. Obviously this wasn't going to work.

He kept his hold of her hand and she looked up, startled.

"I saw you two at your house. The night of our date." Shock was clearly written all over her face and so he corrected himself even though that's not why she was shocked. "The double date."

"Were...were you spying on me?" She said indignantly, unable to cross her hands over her chest in her pissed off pose he knew so well with her hand still held captive in his.

"I was just looking out for you, Teef. You agreed to a date with this guy and you didn't even know him!"

"Aerith did!"

With the most perfect timing ever, Aerith's squeals and titters of joy were heard coming from an open window a story above the two out on the balcony. Sticking his head out, Zack waved down to them to which they waved back in a daze. "She said yes!"

Seconds later, her head popped out the window with his as she waved her hand dramatically as if the diamond now there would catch the moonlight and blind them.

"We're engaged!" She screamed happily before throwing herself at Zack and the couple below were privy to the start of a heavy make out session before Zack had the sense to pull his bride to be back inside and closed the window behind them thank the lord.

"And obviously she knew the kind of guy he was," Tifa added, pulling Cloud from the stunned silence and back into their argument, albeit quieter than before.

"The kind of guy who screws girls in storeroom closets?"

Just when she thought they'd gotten past the yelling, he went and said something stupid like that.

"It's not what you think!" She threw his words right back in his face and was satisfied with the sting they gave him before the pain dulled and she calmly said, "Nothing happened."

He snorted and she smacked his arm. "He was comforting me."

Cloud looked at her warily and she pulled on his hand still attached to hers to bring him a little closer.

"He was being a friend...after...after my best friend wasn't being my friend anymore." Tifa swallowed back tears, set and determined not to cry anymore for that stupid incident. One must have slipped past because in an instant Cloud's thumb was brushing the tear away and then he left his hand there, cradling her cheek.

"Teef," he finally breathed, "don't ever think that."

"Think what? I don't know what to think anymore."

"Don't ever think I'm not your friend. Your best friend." Cloud kissed her cheek and her heart stopped, unsure if it would ever start again. She'd always ever be just his friend. Just friends, so pathetic.

He kept talking and she forced herself to listen for it was very rare that he was ever this open and honest in so many words all at once.

"Don't ever think I told Aerith anything that I never told you. You're the person I tell all my secrets to." He leaned in to give her an Eskimo kiss and she couldn't help the giggle that escaped. No matter what, he always knew how to make her laugh, even after knowing how to make her cry.

"And don't ever think she was my first love."

That made her giggles freeze in her throat. "What?

"Aerith's not my first love."

And then the most amazing thing happened. The clouds slid over the moon, covering them in complete darkness but it didn't matter, they never needed light to see each other. Nothing else besides each other is ever needed when you find your soul mate. Being neighbors and best friends for so many years was just an added bonus. So in the dark of the moon Cloud's lips found Tifa's and something came together.

"It's always been you, Teef."

Just one touch made her believe this was real to take a chance and never look back and they kissed as if their lives depended on it. They finally came together in their teenage dream, it only took almost all of their teenage years but they had made it nonetheless.

*As it was meant to be*

The End.


A/N:I hope the format stuck since the computer and I were having a little argument about it. I've been in a very teenage high school angsty mood and I believe this story fit that just right. Please R&R :)