Morning Glory

.ch.2.

"You should have seen her face."

Reno, like always, gave no warning of arrival. But Tifa had been prepared anyway, the coffee fresh and warm in the pot. Today, she had made the marginal effort to look a little bit neater. But only a little.

"Yeah?" She asked interestedly. "What was it like?"

Reno sat himself down and took the initiative to pour a cup for himself. "She didn't actually say anything, but her eyes… they got all wide and suspicious and you could see that she wanted to ask. But not yet. Gotta break her a bit more before she'll do that."

"Oh, we're trying to break her now, are we?" Tifa asked in amusement.

"Precisely," Reno confirmed. He took a gulp before looking around curiously. "Hey, where are the little tots anyway?"

"They're at school."

"School…" Reno frowned a bit at the word.. "That's so… mundane. It's weird."

"Well, not everyone has quite as fulfilling a job as you do," Tifa said.

Reno puffed up in pride. "Why yes, it is quite a cool job isn't it. But you have an fulfilling job as well, Ms. Bartender." His eyes gained a suspicious gleam. " Give men what they want and get to rough them up when they misbehave…"

"You should see me with my whip," Tifa added smoothly. His eyes grew as wide as a Chocobo's, wishful and incredulous at the same time. "That was a joke," she added quickly.

Reno narrowed his eyes. "That was mean."

"You flirt too much."

"Tease."

"Man-whore."

Reno opened his mouth to respond, and then closed it as he realized what she just said to him. "… Did you just call me a man-whore?"

"If the shoe fits…" She trailed off.

For a moment, Tifa felt five again, playing with all her male friends. She had been the leader, the adventerous one, the one that never dained to play with the girls. Admittedly, she had been a snob, now that she thought about it, but the boys always had more fun, always had the cooler games. Then, they became teenagers, then they stopped including her in their immature jokes, always becoming quiet when she tried to join them. She had turned to Cloud then, if only to feel like she was a part of something again.

But Reno brought her back to that immature stage, fifteen, brash and always trying to beat the boys. She almost felt embarrased by her lack of restraint. Almost.

Unable to come with a dignified response, Reno instead finished his cup of coffee and dug out the tie from his pocket. "Will you do the honours?"

Moving her chair closer to him, Tifa took the tie and went through the motions, ignoring the tight feeling she felt in her chest as she did so.

"When does your hand heal?"

"What, already tired of my company?" Tifa gave him a pointed look that asked if he really wanted to set himself up for that. Reno grinned in response. "Somewhere around a week. Probably."

"Well, at least it's just your left hand," Tifa said. "You never did tell me the story of how it happened, by the way."

Reno gave a shrug. "Someone might have mistaken me for a woman."

Tifa giggled at the image. "Oh come on, that can't have been the first time that's happened to you though…"

He gave her a withering look. "Are you saying that I look like a girl?"

In response, she finished the tie with a final tug and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Well, at least the tie makes it marginally better." She raised her eyes to his and with only the barest hint of a smile added, "Now they'll only mistake you for a woman from the back."

.2.

Author's note: This really is becoming such a silly story. Admittedly, I think I'm making Tifa a little bit too much like Yuffie (that girl is my one true love), but oh well! No shame!

Tell me what you think, thanks.