Review Responses: lovelymokotan27: Yes, it was somehow the only way I could envision Yuffie thinking. It really suits her, though, doesn't it? And Cloud is crazy. Everybody's crazy! It's why we love them. TornAngelWings: I try! I try so hard, and I'm very sorry this one was so late! Babyviolin: Thanks for the review! I got a lot of positive response for the Yuffentine, maybe more will come? Who knows… kerapal bubbles: Yes, laughing Sephy is the height of creepry. If you have nightmares, we have them together. And Tifa will gladly deliver hugs for the good of all. ** (): Good to see you again! And what the heck, why are you predicting my story for me?! *wink* I think you'll like this chapter. LadyTeefStrife: Yeah, I know it was really only a concept idea, but I liked it, and so there. And yes. CloTi is joy. vLuna: I'm glad you liked it! I promise much CloudXTifa in the future. Vanilla Raindrops: Yes, I love my creepy Seph and my angsty CloTi. And I'm glad you liked my Yuffentine, I had the time of my life writing it. Toriga-Okami: I'm glad you like it so much! I promise, I won't let a break like that happen again. kitsune13: What is WITH people predicting my story? Yes, Zack and Cloud have a past, and it will appear later. You really got the whole intimacy of my touching moment, *dies of joy.* And yes, we should all run in fear from the very very scary Sephiroth. itsanobsession92: I'm very glad you started reading despite your trepidation! I opted for a 'nice' asylum rather than a 'scary' one, and I think it suits things better. And I'm glad you like my pairings! I just pick my favorites. Cloud will get his Tifa time, never fear. NamioftheSea: Glad to hear you're interested! More is on the way, I swear!
WELCOME TO FAIR HELP CENTER
Chapter Six: Scarred Sleep
(Once upon a time, there was a person who owned Final Fantasy VII. This person was not me. They lived happily ever after, and I wrote fanfiction. Then I was happy, too.)
She could feel his heartbeat under her palm.
Thrum, thrum, thrum.
Cloud drew her other hand to his face. Halfway there, she took over the motion, lifting her fingers to carefully play with one of the longer spikes hanging down his by his right cheek. His hand, in turn, reached out to her face, his pale fingertips trembling very slightly as they brushed over her lower lip.
His mouth went dry.
"Um…you, uh," he mumbled, searching for words. She smiled against his fingers and lifted an eyebrow at him. "You, um, you board here, right? You're going to stay at the Center?"
Tifa tilted her head. "Yeah?"
Her breath was warm and damp against his fingertips. Gritting his teeth, he curled his fingers into a fist and lowered his hand to his side. "Look, will you—come here? Tonight?" When Tifa's hands dropped from his face and chest, his breath went ice-cold in his chest. "No! I didn't mean—no! No, no. Look, I just—I never got the chance to fall asleep next to y—anyone. I only want sleep. That's all." His hands, listless, dropped into his lap.
For thirteen seconds, Tifa pondered.
Her fingers lifted his own from his calves, twining together. His head lifted, sky eyes finding warm spiced wine, and she smiled.
"You're gonna have to put the bed back together," she laughed, and Cloud smiled very slightly in response.
"I can do it, " he promised.
Tifa giggled and leaned forward to kiss his forehead lightly. "Then I'll be here at ten."
Just a little bit dumbstruck, Cloud waited until she'd flounced out of the room before he let his fingers wander up to trace the tingling memory on his forehead and whisper, "It's a date."
…XxX…
"D'you think we should've told her about the security cameras before we sent her to his room?" Zack mused, rubbing his jaw. Aerith, standing next to him, stared devoutly at the floor and didn't respond. Looking down ruefully, scratching at the back of his head, Zack muttered, "All right, yeah, I shoulda told her, but then she wouldn't have reached out like she did, and I really think that's exactly—"
"That was so cute!!!" Aerith squealed, her eyes huge and sparkling. Zack backed away several steps out of sheer shock, then burst out laughing as Aerith continued to squee exuberantly. Slowly, his laughter faded into a predatory grin, and he began to advance on the smaller woman. His steps were just a little bit longer, his stance a little bit lower, his usual blithe vibes just a little bit more dangerous than normal.
A few steps more and he had her backed to the wall, arms on either side of her head, and with just a stare from pale violet eyes and she's shaking and wide-eyed and breathing fast for him.
"Don't tell me you're some sort of voyeur, Aerith," he purred low in his chest, and his manly pride gloried to the hitch in her breath and the glowing of her eyes in response to his proximity. He leaned down to gently nudge her bangs away with his nose, his lips skimming the skin of her forehead and temple. She sighed his name.
"Doctor Fair…"
Zack clicked his tongue disapprovingly, bending further to brush his nose along the curve of her ear. "Wrong," he growled, the word rumbling low in his throat. Twisting, he lightly grazed her earlobe with his teeth, prompting her to speak again.
"Z-Zack…"
"Good!" He praised, before slipping his tongue along the shell of her ear. She whimpered and squirmed in his hold, so he moved a hand to cradle her cheek, keeping her in place. Pleased, he noted the warm red tinge of her ear and face—the most pink woman in the world—and chuckled to himself.
"And just what is going on in here?"
He reeled away from Aerith to find Tifa standing in the doorway, hands on her hips and a knowing grin on her face. Zack said nothing, half-grinning, not sure if he should respond with bragging and charm or beg her to keep quiet, and Aerith was blushing so fiercely he wasn't sure she was actually capable of speaking.
Tifa approached slowly, her stance threatening, her face predatory. Finally working up the nerve, Zack swallowed and began, "Lockhart, look—"
"You were spying on Cloud and I, weren't you?"
He paused.
Tifa walked past the dumbstruck couple to glare at the screen, still showing the feed from Cloud's room. When she reached it, she flicked her hair over her shoulder and gave Zack a look that very explicitly said, I know and you know that I know but you haven't said anything and so I'm assuming you don't want anyone to say anything so I'm not saying anything but I KNOW. Then, with a fat wink to Aerith, she affixed an expression of righteous offense. "That was a massive violation of my privacy, you know."
Zack grinned ruefully and scratched at the back of his head. "Yeah, well, he is kind of unstable, and I had to know if you needed help, see…"
Aerith still hadn't said anything. Zack wondered if the sheer amount of blood flooding her cheeks had deprived her brain of the flow and given her some sort of permanent damage.
Tutting lightly, Tifa shook her head one last time before dropping her act completely. "Could you hear? What he said at the end?"
Following her attitude, Zack released his bravado, too. "'Bout you coming to his room tonight? Yeah, we heard."
"And?"
Scrubbing harder at his skull, Zack contemplated. "It's hardly textbook methodology, to say the least, but the thing is, you have to go now." A tilt of her head indicated Tifa's lack of comprehension. "I've thought for a long time that Cloud's issues with touch are deeper-seated trust problems. The fact that you can touch Cloud shows that, in some way, he has let you into his heart. You're the first person he's trusted for the last seven years."
Tifa swallowed.
"And now you've gone and made him a promise—just a little thing, but a promise all the same. At this point, for you to break that promise could very well destroy that fragile trust Cloud's placed in you, and there's no telling the long-term effects that could have."
"Oh. Oh, gods." Tifa backed a few steps away from the screen, where Cloud was busily reassembling his bed. "I'm so sorry, I really didn't think, he just seemed like he really needed me to say yes right then and I—"
Zack held up a hand, calling for silence. "Lockhart, will you please stop apologizing for shit?!" Tifa paused at that. It was the first time Zack had cursed in front of her, and she wasn't sure if it was an indication of anger or ease. But pale violet eyes caught hers and she knew his irritation wasn't directed at her. "Look, there's a reason I opened up my own center instead of working somewhere else. I like to work by my own methods, however weird they may be. I give my patients what they need, not what some washed-up doc writing psychology textbooks says I should. And when I see Cloud Strife, the man who can't even touch another person, looking into my attendant's eyes and asking her to take a nap with him, I have absolutely no problem with it."
He glanced over his shoulder at Aerith, who had managed to stop blushing and was now staring at him, slightly awestruck by his intensity. When he looked back to Tifa, Zack's eyes were lighter, his attitude less fierce. An already-familiar grin reasserted itself on his face, and he leaned against the wall next to Aerith before continuing. "I don't know what the hell you are, Tifa Lockhart, but you might just be exactly what these people need. Do what you think is right. Love them or kick their asses as you see fit. I trust you."
The dark-haired woman looked both intimidated and gratified. She ducked her head with a whispered, "Thank you," before fleeing the room.
Zack spent a moment staring at the security camera feed and nodding in satisfaction. As he did, Aerith slowly snuck up next to him and hugged his arm. When the doctor looked down at her, Aerith colored just slightly pink again and pouted out her pale lips. "You never said anything like that to me," she muttered sulkily.
A grin quirked at Zack's mouth, and he brought his other arm around to gather Aerith into him, leaning her body into the slant of his. "You love everyone, Aerith. And people need that love, but once in a while they need sense slapped into them, too." Gently, he brushed her bangs out of her eyes, green as life, and she smiled up at him. "But even though you love everything in the whole world, you love me especially, right?"
Her cheeks were already pink again, but the brunette nodded.
"In fact, if I recall, we were just interrupted in the middle of an exercise of that love, weren't we? I don't suppose you recall where we were?"
Aerith passed the point of pink and went full-out crimson blush, but she nodded again and pointed to her ear shyly.
Grinning, Zack leaned down to press kisses from the skin behind her earlobe, down her jaw, until he reached pale pink lips and claimed them as his own.
…Xxx…
Ten o' clock came, and Tifa found herself in flannel pajamas with a pillow under her arm, outside Cloud Strife's room.
Hesitant despite herself, she lifted a hand and knocked lightly.
"Come in," he rumbled from within.
"'Fuck off' is as close to 'Yes' as you'll ever get from Cloud."
The memory made Tifa chuckle even as she pushed open the door.
Cloud, sitting on his reassembled bed, quirked an eyebrow at her. Tifa lifted a shoulder as she approached the bed. "Just something Aerith said today, that's all." She paused at the edge of his bed, unsure, fiddling with the corners of her pillowcase.
Another subtle smile lingering on the corners of his mouth, Cloud lifted his hands to Tifa. "Give me the pillow." She obliged quickly, and he threw it carelessly in the corner of the bed before reaching up again. "Now give me your hands."
She slipped her fingers into his, relaxing as the warmth of him spread into her. Gently, he tugged her forward, until she was on her knees on the bed. Pulling more insistently on her hands, he coaxed her into his arms, wrapping her tightly in his arms. She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder as he buried his face in her throat, the tips of his fingers playing with the ends of her hair.
Slowly, his motions so smooth that Tifa almost didn't notice them, Cloud rolled them towards the side, turning their position so they faced away from the door. Then he gently eased them down onto their sides, shifting his grip on Tifa so she faced away from him. Curling around her, he pressed her back into his chest, nosing into the hair at the nape of her neck. She sighed, and he cooed in her ear. "Good, good. Just like that. Just sleep…"
Tifa hummed lightly, content. Cloud's breath was warm on her neck and his arms were warm on her waist and his chest warm on her back and she could feel his warm heartbeat through their clothes.
…
It was long past ten before Cloud Strife moved again.
Tifa had been asleep for hours—long enough that she wouldn't wake when he did finally shift. Carefully, slowly, a millimeter at a time, he worked her shirt up her back. His fingers brushed lightly over each vertebra as it was exposed, keeping her calm and soothed, unaware.
At length her shirt was hitched up to her shoulders, her whole back exposed.
Fingertips—just his fingertips, just the lightest of touches, the faintest trace of a feather—traced the thick white scar tissue from the curve of her shoulder to the small of her back. Leaning forward, he pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the edge of her shoulder blade, where the scar was widest and deepest.
"I'm sorry," he murmured, and his tears were hot against her skin. "I'm so sorry."
…XxX…
A/N
I AM SO SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! This was due LAST SUNDAY. *wails* I had finals, and then my father stole my laptop because he thought I couldn't sleep because I use it in bed. The what? But I'm back now, and finals are over—thank the gods—so normal updating should resume!
I had a bit of a time with this chapter, especially my Zerith moment—I had a really hard time with it for some reason, so I apologize if it sucks. And I'm beginning to have to write review responses longer than my actual update. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH. *collective glomp*
Read and review and I'll see you on Thursday!