"We'll have to try that again sometime." Reno gasped, trying to catch his breath.
"I think you're right." Tifa smiled as her 'husband' was his usual cuddling self as they recovered from another extremely successful 'meeting'. The sparks between them on their staged wedding night had never faded, and with her watchers expecting Reno to be coming around to her place now that they were supposedly married, their exchange of information never failed to take place in her bed. Tifa's smiled deepened as she corrected herself. It wasn't always her bed, there was the shower, occasionally her kitchen counter or table, and his unmarked car once or thrice.
"You got anything to eat?" Reno asked her.
Tifa laughed, having been waiting for him to ask her that. "I think I can find something. She got out of bed, and Reno whistled at her backside when she headed towards the kitchen, so she slowed and walked more seductively, enjoying teasing him. She grabbed a few slices of his favorite pizza she kept on hand for him, reheating it in the microwave,
"You're the best, you know that?" Reno had snuck up behind her and put his arms around her.
"And don't you forget it!" Tifa said with mock anger. The microwave beeped and Reno took out his pizza, wolfing it down. Tifa could never understand how he could eat that stuff, she wasn't big on the smell.
"So any news?" he asked her between bites.
"AVALANCHE is planning something big, but I'm not sure what. They usually don't announce it to the team that's going to carry it until it's time." Tifa reminded him, heading back to her room to get dressed. "Don't forget to lock up when you leave." she told Reno when she came back to the kitchen fully clothed. "I've got to get to work now. See you next week!" She kissed his cheek before leaving, not wanting to kiss him on the mouth while he tasted like his pizza.
As she headed to her bar, Tifa struggled to maintain her usual cheerful attitude. It was getting harder and harder for her to lie to Reno, especially when they started behaving like a real happily married couple until the truth invariably reared its ugly head that they were working for organizations who were trying to destroy each other. Hopefully something would happen to make it all work out…hadn't she suffered enough? It was bad enough that Sephiroth had obliterated her hometown, he had also tried to kill her, but only succeeded in killing her chances to ever have her own family.
"Cloud!" Tifa exclaimed as she caught sight of him on her way to the grocery store after work. Reno had an appetite like a chocobo on brownie grass, and she was constantly having to stock up on what he considered essential food groups. At least he always gave her money for groceries at least, so it's not like she was going to bankrupt keeping him fed for his weekly visit.
Cloud stared blankly at Tifa when she called out to him. "What do you want?" he asked coldly, in character with the new persona he had adopted for himself. He had been a SOLDIER First Class, but now he was a mercenary. He answered to no one, and no one could mess with him. Having only allowed himself to remember Nibelheim and the reactor as if he was Zack, all he knew was that he had been strong enough to take out Sephiroth, and that's all that happened. He didn't care to remember much else about his life. The past didn't matter, only the present and his next job did.
Tifa frowned. "Is that any way to greet an old friend?"
"Friend? I don't have any friends." He started remembering her as the guide to the reactor on Mt. Nibel. She had grown up into a very attractive woman, who still seemed to like showing off her body. A voice in his head called her a tease, and he shivered, not knowing where the voice came from. 'I asked you what you wanted."
Tifa's frown deepened. Something was obviously wrong with him, this wasn't the Cloud she remembered. "I want to make you dinner." she replied, wanting to talk to him in private and find out what he'd been through since they last met. The look in his eyes made her feel extremely disturbed, especially since they hadn't been blue before.
Cloud hesitated…he wanted to get away from her as fast as possible for reasons he couldn't explain, but he was hungry, and a free meal was a free meal. Besides, he could disappear afterwards.
"Where is he?" Cloud asked Tifa as he looked around her place while she cooked dinner.
"Where is who?" Tifa asked distractedly as she was finishing up making what she remembered to be one of his favorite meals.
"You have a man here frequently." Cloud said as he came out of the bathroom, wondering why that bothered him a little.
"It's…it's a long story." Tifa was annoyed to find herself blushing over her relationship with Reno. She put the food onto plates, and carried them to her table. "Chow's up!"
Cloud sat down and started eating, giving only monosyllabic answers in between bites to her many questions.
"If you're a mercenary now, I might know of some jobs available for someone with your skills." Tifa cautiously told him, thinking about the upcoming planned attack on Mako Reactor No. 1. Something told her that she needed to keep him close, because he'd need her help as much as she would end up needing his.