Disclaimer: FanFiction! Final Fantasy VII belongs to SquareEnix and Tetsuya Nomura. Yay! To their awesomeness!
Good news! Dirty Dishes has been hit 1,153! Dances with joy C'mon! Dance with me! I was SO happy when it hit 1,000 then it suddenly jumped 130 more times. Seriously, thanks a lot. : D – I'm happy my story didn't end up somewhere in the pile of unread fan fiction. Since you were the ones who made the numbers jump, give yourself a hand! I know I've been clapping for a while!
With that out of the way, on with the story!
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"Really!"
"Yep. That's exactly what happened. She just said, c'mere baby. As easy as that."
Cloud tried very hard to ignore the drunken men. He couldn't think of anything but his rotten luck. Of all the places to stop for a while, he had to choose this one, with these men, talking about those matters. He was trying really, really hard. His fists were clenched and even with his gloves, he could feel his nails digging a little against his skin. He drank from the glass, focusing on the ice clanking as he raised it to his lips and on how the bubbles fizzed against his upper lip.
But the men continued.
"Yes sir. Let me tell you. No more than that. They so easy, you can have twenty and none'll care."
"And they all of like that."
"Trust me boy, they all the same." Then he ran his hand over his red hair. Cloud thought it was so red someone must have emptied a can of catsup on it and he'd been unable to wash it all out. Maybe they'd been angry at him and thrown the paste on his head. In any case, he felt like emptying a ton of the red stuff on him. Or maybe he just wanted to make him be quiet so badly. "Just visit them, they'll serve you a drink, and that's all." Or was it that he wanted to hurt him so bad that he'd accept catsup as a substitute for blood?
"Yep, I love those bar tenders." Then he laughed, his red hair moving every time he tried to breath. "Indeed, I do love, those bitches."
And that was it. Cloud was unable to control himself any longer. In one swift movement he put his glass down on the counter and was in front of the man.
"You shouldn't talk that way." He said his teeth grinding and the blood rushing through his temples.
"Why, I can talk however I want to." Then he repeated the curse word over and over.
"Please, stop." His temples were pounding now.
"Why don't you make me?" And he was down. Cloud made sure his fist made good contact with his nose. He hit harder than he wanted to, or thought he should of, sending the man halfway across the room. The man stood up wiping the blood from his face. "Why you son-of-a—" And he was down again. Cloud felt his knuckles itching with the desire to hit him again. But he controlled himself.
"Please, please stop." said the women behind the counter. The people who were eating at the diner stared at them with curious eyes.
"Damn it." He whispered. He hated having all those eyes on him. But he wanted to hit him again. And the man was about to charge on him. Damn. He swung and merely caught Cloud's cheek. "Damn it. I need to pay more attention." And he struck the man on the stomach, sending him to the floor again.
"Bitches." The man said as the blood seeped out the corners of his mouth.
"Please," kept saying the women. "STOP!" Their voices were suddenly becoming annoying.
Cloud walked to the man and grabbed him by the collar of his neck. The man looked back at him, defiant. And he spit on his face, Cloud's face was covered in red little specks and some brown tobacco stained ones. Cloud pulled the man out of the diner, wiping the spit off of his face; a few others followed them with such intense curiosity. The man struggled against his firm grip and finally forced Cloud's hands open by biting them. Cloud pushed him back and the man slid across the dusty floor like a sack full of potatoes.
He stumbled a little until he found his balance and stood. "Listen to me blondie." The man said with a smug look on his bruised, red-stained face. "It ain't my problem if one of those whores ain't paying attention to you, or you fell in love with one, or whatever your problem is. It ain't with me."
"No." Cloud said, his voice cold and alarmingly cruel. "My problem is with you. Not all of them are like that."
"Bah!" The man roared. "Boy, I've been alive just as long as you've, if not longer, and I know for a fact they all like that. Those whores never love anyone. ARE YOU LISTENING! THEY ARE ALL A BUNCH OF BIT—"
Cloud struck his face again. Would this guy never be quiet? Was he that much of an idiot? And he suddenly felt a kind of guilt. "Idiot. Then you don't know anything." Cloud said as he walked over to the man and grabbed him by the collar of the shirt again. "Nothing." He said a few inches away from his very light green eyes. They were so light they gave the man a crazed look. Cloud dropped him again and walked away, unsure if he'd won or not.
"Come back here!" The man shouted. "I'm not finished with you!"
But Cloud ignored him. He turned Fenrir's engine on and let it warm up a little. The man ran towards him flinging his arms. Cloud took the brake off and drove away, letting the man choke on the dust.
"They're not all like that." He said to himself. "And what if I am in..." It caught him a little off guard. He repeated himself several times, unable to finish his sentence for a reason unknown to him. "What if I am?" And then another thought struck him. "And what if she's not?" And he grew a bit scared and then he thought maybe he wasn't and that was why he'd never said anything and then maybe because he was he didn't say anything and maybe he just didn't know what to say and maybe that was because he didn't want to lose her and maybe she didn't say anything because she didn't and even if she did and he did neither had said anything and he did or at least he thought and now he was really confused.
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It had been a while since he had thought so hard about anything, especially that. And he'd thought about it several times, he just stopped worrying about it for a while. But now, he couldn't. His temples were pounding as the blood rushed through them. "Idiot." He said as he parked his bike in the garage. He walked into the house and heard some drunken laughter. He sighed heavily. For now, he didn't want to see anyone drunk. But the laughter came again and it roared with its feminine chimes.
"I wouldn't go anywhere near there." Denzel said. "Two of those ladies got really drunk."
"They're still here?"
"Yep."
"But the bar's closed already isn't it…And why are you still out of bed."
Denzel scratched his neck a little. "I couldn't go to sleep with those ladies laughing all the time. Besides, Tifa said I could wait for you to get back."
"Does she need help?"
"I don't know. But I'm willing to bet she wouldn't mind some." Then he grabbed his arm and hugged it a little as he led him to the living room.
"Thanks. But you know. I'm back. So you better get to bed."
"Ahh. C'mon, could I stay up a little longer."
"You've got school tomorrow, Denzel. You better get to bed."
"Okay, but tomorrow I'm not letting you sleep in a little. I'm gonna wake you up at the same time."
"That'll be fine." Cloud ruffled Denzel's hair and sent him up the stairs calling back to him reminding him to brush his teeth.
The two women were sitting on the couch with Tifa in the middle supporting them. She looked a bit frustrated, and a little entertained, and she looked very pretty, a bit tired, but pretty. And he cursed. He really hated that he couldn't focus. The women there were Kristi, the wife-to-be, and Alice, the 'just a little' over drunk woman. Their make-up was smeared and their hair was messy.
"Hey Cloud." Tifa said when she noticed him on the doorway, he nodded.
"There ya'ar!" screamed Alice and she ran to him and hugged him. "I want 'im tah marry me." Cloud blushed. "It's not fair ya're tha only one that get tah be married. I wanta marry him." And she hugged his neck. Cloud took her wrists and pulled her away a little. She grunted a little and asked. "Am I not perdy?" with a voice that sounded as she was going to cry.
Cloud was completely speechless.
"C'mon Alice." Tifa said taking her by the shoulders. "I think you need to get home now."
"It's not fair! Ya wanna keep 'im all to yerself!"
"Of course I do!" Tifa said. "Wouldn't you?"
Cloud blushed.
Why did she have so say something like that? But maybe that was the way she was used to speaking to people when they were drunk. She was smiling at Alice, it was as is she was joking. And she probably was Cloud thought. He scratched the back of his neck. Watching as Tifa sat Alice down on the couch again.
"Cloud could you come here a second?" Tifa asked as she led him out of the living room. "We need to get them home." And she looked a bit desperate. "The others left as soon as they felt they were over their limit, but these two…"
He looked at her as she stretched her neck.
"Anyway." She continued. "I tried taking Kristie but she won't leave until Alice is gone. Could you give me a hand with one of them?"
"Sure."
"Kristie is about to be married. It would be a bad idea if you showed up with her like that." She found some paper and a pen and wrote down an address. "Alice has gotten like this before. This is her address, it's not too far. Her roommate had me help her get her there a while back…"
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Cloud drove for a while with Alice hugging his waist tightly. And he couldn't wait to finally get her to her home. When he finally arrived at the building, he didn't bother to turn his bike off. It was a bit cloudy now and he was worried if he took too long he'd be caught in the rain. He took Alice up to the ninth floor of the building and walked a long hallway until he finally found the room. She didn't seem to mind having him so close. Cloud knocked.
"Coming." A woman said. She opened the door. "Oh, no! Alice why do you keep doing this. I'm sorry if she cause trouble. I knew I should've gone to visit Tifa too. Well, I'm really sorry." She took Alice's arm and pulled her inside. Cloud helped get her to a couch. "Thank you so much, do I owe you anything?"
Cloud shook his head. "No, it's okay. Just take care of her now."
"You bet I will. I'm sorry I can't lead you out."
"It's okay, really." He was glad to have her off of him.
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It was raining. Despite how much he'd tried to make it before it rained, the water started pouring. And to his luck, the man he'd beaten up earlier was right behind him, trying to send him into a ditch. They were racing through the empty streets. The man kept honking over and over. Cloud drove as fast as he could but he hadn't had time to put on his goggles and the rain was pouring so hard it was difficult to see. The man drove besides him and Cloud lost a bit of balance. He and his bike were sent into a muddy pit.
"Damn you!" Cloud thought as he shook the mud away from his clothes. He took Fenrir out and made sure no mud was caught on the exhaust. Cloud turned the engine on again and sped behind the man.
They continued racing, passing each other. The man pulled out a gun from somewhere and was trying to shoot him. "He really is an idiot." Cloud thought as he dodged one of the bullets. He was becoming really tired of playing this game. He overtook the truck and suddenly stopped right in front of it as it speed directly to him. The man's eyes jumped and he twisted the steering wheel, he rolled out of the road and one of his tires gave out. The metal of the bare wheel screeched against the pavement. Then another one gave and whatever contents the truck had spilled all over the road.
Cloud looked on as the man stepped out of the truck.
"COME HERE, I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!"
Some people never seemed to learn. Cloud turned around and headed home.
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He looked at himself after he'd parked Fenrir. He was so muddy he looked like a monster. He stepped out of the garage and into the rain to get some of the dirt off. It was taking too long. He saw the water come clear out of one of the gutters. He was going to shower anyway. He stepped under it and saw as the water under his feet turned from brown to clear. Suddenly he heard laughter.
"Cloud what are you doing?" It was Tifa and she was laughing so hard she was having trouble breathing.
"Why don't I get to play in the rain?" Denzel said pointing at him.
Cloud stood frozen under the gutter, suddenly feeling very stupid.
"You want to play?" She asked.
"Yes!" Denzel said.
"Let's go then." And she ran out of the doorway and to where Cloud was, still standing under the gutter. Denzel came running after her.
They played in the rain for a while and under the gutter too. Then Denzel and Tifa hugged him as they stood with the water pouring over them. And he couldn't help but think that he really, really liked hugs.
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YAY! How about that, longer than the first chapter. (or at least I think.) I bet no one was expecting anything like this to happen? Or maybe you were? I don't know. In any case, thanks for your support. And remember I don't know how my story is going unless you review.
Again, no time to proofread. I know this one took a bit longer to update, but I've been a bit busy. I'll try to let you know what progress I make through my profile.
Thanks to RikkuMcClowFox, Annie, me (not me, but the reviewer), Alyde, Toons, LoveIsAForceOfNature, Biskitty, and FDJ. Thank you for reviewing!
Well, I suppose that's all! Thanks for reading! I'd like to hear from you!
