Title: Hide From the World
Words: 412
Summary: It's just one of those days.
A/N: It's been a rather depressing morning. "Suffer for your art" indeed…
A/N2: This piece and the above author's note was written a couple of months ago... but well, it's a reminder that we all have bad days, Final Fantasy heroes notwithstanding. It's one of my favourites.
It is days like these that make her feel like screaming.
Days when nothing, and she means absolutely nothing, seems to go right. The sink is clogged up and in the process of trying to fix it, she causes another pipe to burst. The wall paint is peeling but she has neither the time nor the energy to repaint it. The stove is acting up again and may need repairs. Her customers are sending back their alcohol because it's all gone flat despite only being made two days ago and she has to make it up to them (and later… interrogate her supplier about the quality of the ingredients he's been giving her).
Denzel and Marlene are not on speaking terms because of some incident they refuse to tell her. And while she knows this can only last for less than two days, it's driving her up the wall since her two charges won't even breathe the same air as the other. They've been ignoring each other's presence, which makes chores difficult and slow to do. (What she doesn't know is that after noticing she's being touchier than usual, the two have made up again with a common goal: avoid her as much as possible)
This is why Cloud finds a rather large lump underneath Tifa's covers when he comes home. Marlene and Denzel had caught him by the arm and tugged him to the side earlier, warning him to be careful since Tifa has gone "pretty nutty".
He sees reason to heed their cautions. Treading lightly, he goes to the side of her bed and carefully sits down on a chair.
"Bad day?" he inquires softly but unnecessarily.
The lump shifts a little and her voice comes out muffled. "What do you think?"
"…really bad day?"
There is a sigh and the covers retreat just a little to reveal Tifa with disheveled hair and an expression that borders on harassed. "I need to… hide. Just for a while."
He nods. "I'll wait with you."
She can't smile but her eyes seem to light up slightly. "You're willing to do that?"
An affirmative nod as he resolutely settles back in the chair for the long haul.
Now she offers him a tiny smile and the thick comforter covers her head once more. Cloud sits in his chair, gazing at the lump in the bed.
Sometimes protecting someone means you have to wait for them to come out of hiding from the world.
.
End.