Chapter 14

Elena had been so excited to start this day that she came to work early… her first day on the job was not to go without celebration.

The Junon Branch stood tall and stilted in the middle of the city, the first to be crowned by the morning sun. She had been inside the place a handful of times when it operated as a part of Shinra; how different it looked now wrenched oddly into her memory of it. It seemed that a lot of things in her life were that way, anymore—refitted memories, and repainted familiar things...

But, setting herself up at the front desk, she was positively ecstatic about this change. She finally had a job—no more reason for her to feel like dead weight! And no longer would she be lying around and eating too much and watching soap operas and watching Rude drink out of the carton when he didn't think she was looking.

Upon hire she had gone shopping to celebrate, and now had some great new heels, a real lethal-looking pair that would make Reno think twice about saying anything remotely insulting to her. She had also hung up a new calendar, open to the page with a baby seal. Every now and again she glanced at it for affirmation of her spirits: it was looking to be a very good, very cute month.

After some time Reeve hobbled into the office, clutching his cat and all but dragging his briefcase, miraculously on time despite his sleep deprivation. Elena stood neatly at attention with a tight smile but he scarcely looked at her as he passed, muttering an exhausted but not impolite "good morning." He disappeared from her view and into the hall, but then after a brief moment he back-tracked until he was in front of her again, gazing at her with glazed bewilderment.

"Did I—?" he started to ask. "Um, what did... why are you...?"

"Your secretary quit last week," Elena informed him quite patiently, as she had anticipated his query from the look on his face. "And you hired me, so here I am starting my first day."

"Oh," said Reeve after a moment. "That's right... I did hire you." He shook his head, cleared his throat, rounded his shoulders, and went back on his way to his office after accepting Elena's offer of strong coffee. She put some on and then went back to her desk, waiting excitedly for a phone call or for someone to arrive. When a man came in to deliver the mail, she jumped up, soundly thanked him and set about to sorting through it.

Reeve wandered back to the front desk after getting everything settled in his own office, apparently to make sure that she knew the ropes and didn't have any outstanding questions.

"I think I've got it all down," said Elena, who then held out a couple of magazines separated from the pile. "These just go out to the waiting room, right?"

"Yeah." Reeve made a wry face as he picked up one of them, a local tabloid. "Though stuff like this is just litter box liner, if you ask me," he added, carelessly flipping through it. "A lot of sleazy, contrived stuff printed for the mindless public to—"

He suddenly screamed.

He waited for her in the nook next to the entrance of the coffee shop right near the edge of Upper, huddled there exhaustedly, in disbelief of how low the sun still hung in the sky. Of course this was because of her, or else he wouldn't be out at such an early hour.

Except that—even more unbelievable still—he had gotten here before her. So he was left hanging in bleary anticipation and mild incredulity as to whether this was the place they'd agreed to meet, until he finally did see her coming his way. When she reached him he un-slumped himself until he was taller than her again, ginger like a cat in a patch of sun, but with a sharp wide eye on her that demanded explanation.

"What?" Tifa asked. "I took my time because I thought that you would be late…"

"Oh," Reno said, rolling his eyes. "Well, thanks. Maybe I should have just gone back to sleep for a couple more hours, if that was what you were expecting…"

"I'm," she started, her eyes widened as she gave him a once-over. "I have to say, I'm really surprised that you actually showed up early!"

"Well," he was quick to retort, unable to understand why he was becoming flustered. "What do you expect? You called—you said to meet at this place at this time, so… I did…"

She didn't pursue it, and in his bleary mental state she was a wonder to look at, so fresh and faintly contented at so ungodly an hour; she didn't look like she needed any, but she got some coffee with him and they promptly went back out into the morning.

They were nearer to the ocean with the crispness of the view heightening as the sun climbed the sky, perched on the edge of a fountain that they found near some opera hall, one with structure and molding that made it look much older than the city itself actually was. Reno sat next to her, willing away a headache and staring down into his to-go cup as she sighed wistfully (like she always missed something, like every pleasing thing was reminiscent of some other time) and remarked on the beauty of the day.

"Do you really hate it anymore, Tifa?" Reno found himself asking. "Can't you stand to live in Junon after all?"

Her back had been arched and her neck inclined to see the sky; slowly she sunk from that posture and turned to face him, and the city fell off where the ocean met in her eyes. "No," she said evenly, but in alive and working deliberation. "Well—I think I may have gotten used to it a little, but… I miss other things too much. It's usually so drab and cold here—the feeling of it, I mean, not the weather—and most people aren't nice, they don't know you and don't care to know you. There's not enough life here, and ever since I've had this crazy urge to grow a garden again. I want things ripened off the vine—store-bought doesn't cut it! And I want to grow some flowers, too, maybe moonflowers and morning glories, like the ones on the latticework behind my old house in Nibelheim…"

She always volunteered this sort of information when Reno didn't ask for it, when he didn't think he'd do the same if he were in her shoes. But at the same time it forced him to recognize that she wasn't bothered by thinking of these things again. It never stung her, and he wondered why.

Tifa appeared to notice that she had been talking for so long without him interjecting some sly comment, or saying anything at all. She dropped off and looked to him. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

He held onto her gaze, finding that there was no way to respond to that. "Nothin'," he brushed it off, somewhat coyly.

She would have pursued that if his phone hadn't begun to ring. Never neglecting his coffee, he reached into his jacket pocket with his free hand and silenced the ringer.

"Who was that?" asked Tifa. "Why didn't you answer?"

Reno waved it away. "Oh, it was just Elena… she's been tryin' to call all morning."

He should have known that was the wrong thing to say. "Just Elena?" Tifa started. "What's that supposed to mean? Reno, what if there's an emergency? You can't just ignore your friends when they—" She stopped, briefly stiffened in her seat, and then she dove forward, her hands going for his jacket pockets. "Give me that phone—"

Reno let out an odd yelp before trying to put up his own fight. "Woman! You need to learn to respect peoples' personal space—!"

But thanks to Elena's persistence (and Tifa's brute strength), there was no way out of this one. She had weaseled the phone from his grip, and with pursed lips, sat straight and took the liberty to answer it herself. "Hello, Elena?..."

Reno's irritation at their interrupted morning lost out to his curiosity, because Elena only urged them to come by. He and Tifa promptly found themselves clamoring up the stairs of the Junon Branch, following the signs, until they came upon Reeve's office. A slightly harried-looking Elena stood up when they entered and greeted Tifa. She was holding a magazine with her thumb to a certain page.

"What's up?" asked Reno.

She hesitated, regarding Tifa's accompaniment. "Well," she said, directing her attention back to the publication in her hands. "You… need to see this. Both of you."

Reno took it from her after she folded it back to that certain page, and he didn't immediately know what to look at. But it didn't take long to find it: a small photo in the bottom corner. Of himself and Tifa. From last night.

"That," gulped Tifa, at his side. "That doesn't look…"

"I know," said Reno, his brow furrowing as he read the little blurb next to the picture. It said what he feared it would; about her being spotted with him at the venue and alleged "sources" extrapolating a full-blown romance out of it. Not much more attention than that was paid to them, as it was only a small section that briefly mentioned local gossip.

"I can't believe this!" cried Tifa, her eyes still wide on what she had just read.

"Yeah," Elena said oddly from her desk, eyeing the two of them with her chin on her hand. "I can't… either…"

Reno didn't care to look at it anymore; he dropped it on her desk. "It doesn't talk about us anywhere else, does it?"

"No," said Elena. "That's all I saw. But I thought you should know about it, and… be careful about… being seen out together…" She trailed off at the apparent lateness of her advice.

"Gosh," said Tifa. "They left me alone for a while; I was hoping they were off my back for good," she went on to recall, exasperated. "It was so bad right after we defeated Sephiroth—I saw the most ridiculous things on the covers. One time they got a picture of me about to sneeze and turned it into a story about me punching some girl and vandalizing her car because she flirted with Cloud, or something stupid..."

Reno turned a disappointed look on her. "You mean that didn't actually happen?" He dissolved to smirking at the face she made in response, but he soon didn't think it was funny anymore after she hit him hard enough in the arm.

"THE PHONE IS RINGING!" gasped Elena, and she dove across the desk to pick up the receiver.

"Always the overeager rookie," Reno observed slyly, and she stalled a moment to more professionally poise herself before answering. The redhead and the brunette decided to take their leave then.

"I had no idea," Tifa said, "that there was someone there taking pictures. And people were even talking about us!"

They took the steps down from the second floor. "Maybe you should get used to the idea now," Reno said sourly, "'cause I bet you we'll be getting a lot of crap from everybody about this tonight…"

How silly, thought Tifa, as she walked the long block from her car to the Jukebox that night. I went with Reno to his gig because he's my friend, and… well, and because he badgered me into going. How could anybody think we're dating? People can look at us and think they know—but they really don't, that's for sure…

She pulled open the red door and let herself into the empty venue, feeling a slight apprehension as to what she should expect to put up with tonight. After settling her things behind the bar, she busied herself with getting the place ready to go.

It wasn't long before Dragen came out from the back, probably at the noise of her activity. He skulked around to get a look at her, a betrayed and long-faced stray.

"What's wrong with you?" Tifa asked him.

"What's wrong?" started the high-strung little musician. "Last night, neither of you were here. I asked the boss and he said that Reno had a gig and you were sick… he said you had a really horrible-sounding cough—" (Tifa had to roll her eyes) "—and you were staying home. Then today, I hear you were with Reno at this other place last night!" His face fell. "Tifa… I thought you were above this…"

"Okay," admitted Tifa; she figured she may as well be honest from the start. "I wasn't actually sick. I just—"

"Well," Dragen allowed, still quite miserable. "I guess that explains why you were able to make out with him in the parking lot afterward…"

"I WHAA—?" Tifa shrieked.

"Well that's what I heard!" he shot back almost incriminatingly.

"No!" cried Tifa; this was already getting out of hand. "NO. That didn't happen! We didn't… make out, we're not even dating. Okay?"

"Whatever," Dragen said after giving her one last look of betrayal. He tossed his black head back and miserably worked his way back to the auditorium.

"No, really—HEY!" She felt herself becoming desperate. "You don't believe me? Come back here!"

The front door fell shut, and Tifa didn't know if she was ever more glad to see Reno. She knew it before a second had elapsed; by now his impression was more than familiar on her eyes: any part of it—his stance, his ease, the way his clothes hung off him.

"Havin' trouble already?" he asked her as he sauntered on in.

It was worse than she'd thought. The patrons who weren't already aware of their little tabloid appearance were quickly informed by those who were. Tifa tried to be a good sport about it, laughing it off and denying it when she had to, conveniently changing the subject to what she could get them to drink, but some people were a little too persistent about it and others got a kick out of making her blush.

Most frustratingly, she had to suffer through most of it alone: Reno was missing until about halfway through intermission. "Where were you?" she hissed as he finally appeared to take his usual spot at the bar.

"I was talkin' to the boss," he said with a smile, "making sure you weren't in trouble, since your cover got blown. I told him you skipped at my insistence, but it's still no big deal to him." His eyes shifted. "Probably 'cause we're getting a lot more business, now…"

Tifa knew he wasn't kidding. The Jukebox wasn't the most popular establishment, but the bar was bustling with a lot more new faces than usually ventured in here… even for a Friday, the second-busiest night of the week.

She returned to him immediately after going to serve another customer a beer from the tap. "I heard a couple of them calling out in there," she said empathetically.

"Yeah," said Reno, looking severely unimpressed. He slumped forward a little on his elbows to keep the conversation between them. "And then that one smartass decided to make a joke about us right after I announced him. But it wasn't too bad, I just——what, what, WHAT?" he called out over stray cheers and whistles, turning hotly to face the other stretch of the bar.

"He's talking to his GIRLFRIEND," muttered an embittered Dragen, who was already nursing his fourth beer. Tifa made a mental note to cut him off soon.

"Okay," said Reno, who clearly didn't want to hear any more. "Let's get this one thing straight: don't take the word of some tabloid when you can get the truth from the people concerned." He turned back to her. "Tifa, are we in a relationship?"

"No," she said, looking right at him.

He was looking right at her, too. "Was last night even a date?"

"No."

"There you have it," he said coolly. "Leave the poor girl alone, will ya?" He clipped his tone enough to leave no room. "And if you're one of those alleged 'sources,' let us know so she can PUNCH you."

He ended on a lighter note, but the point was still made; it didn't matter if everyone was convinced, but it mattered greatly to Tifa that she didn't get much more trouble than that for the rest of the night.

Reno went on to talk about his impending gig at Speed Square because someone else brought it up. He'd been in contact with the agent from Dio's office and it was a definite go. Tifa stayed near when she could to hear him, but it was then that she started to notice…

Why did it seem that he looked only at her; when he spoke, it was as if only addressed to her? A joke wasn't funny until he saw her reaction to it.

She blushed unconsciously with the observation.

Since when…? she wondered, because she knew it was not always like this. At that moment she also noticed for the first time that there was no sign of those annoying girls who once flanked Reno and vied for his attention and shot dirty looks her way… he used to be so smug and dismissive to her, but his shift in attentions as he finally came around must have looked like something else to them.

But he only became my friend, she immediately thought. He's not actually interested in me like that. However, all it took was the tiniest amendment, the slightest question in her mind: …is he?

Tifa tried to dismiss that but there was no way of writing it off; the impression on her heart was already made and she couldn't hold back whatever came from it now. In a matter of minutes she became flustered every time she drove a straight look into his face, because it felt like he was already seeking out hers.

No longer did she try to plant herself near where he sat; she thought it would help if she moved away from him—but most disconcertingly, she was still too wary of him in her blind spot, and the urge to keep shooting a glance his way was not any more diminished. She was so preoccupied now that she served someone nearby a drink that he hadn't asked for; and of course Reno saw it, of course he was right on her with some teasing remark and endearingly lazy smile. Tifa gripped the side of the bar and forced herself to laugh too, thinking that she would rather go somewhere and die than have to match his disarming gaze.

She moved on, her head never leaving that place, turning her frustration at her reactions toward herself. Why did it have to mean anything? It could not be the fact alone that he was acknowledging her like this; she put up with much more blatant (and less tactful) displays of interest from guys on a daily basis, and she never gave a second thought to any of them. For a long time now, the only man she ever wanted attention from was Cloud. So why was she noticing Reno's?

Oh, no… it can't be that I'm……?

Intermission was already over, somehow, and Reno stayed back as per usual. Tifa found herself painfully self-aware under his gaze; he was never shy with eye contact and she hated that it only bothered her now.

He gathered the glassware for her at the other end without her even asking. "Thank you," she said while not quite looking at him.

"I'm glad that's over with," he said, sounding tremendously composed.

"Me too," she replied, tight-jawed, feeling like a complete idiot in comparison. The glossed swirl of wood grains had never held her attention for so long.

"Dragen's been lookin' at me funny all night," Reno went on, scratching the back of his neck. She practically heard the teasing smile break crooked on his face. "You broke his heart! And none of it's even true…"

"Yeah," Tifa forced out, feeling her face get intolerably hot. She turned away to grab a rag, a bit abruptly. He's still here?… just go…!

"Well," he said after a moment, "See ya in a bit…"

"See ya," she said without turning around. As the doors fell shut, she stole a wild look after him, still blushing, and fell sliding against the cabinets to the floor.

Tifa was left alone with her thoughts, her spinning head and all the anxious feelings churning in her stomach. She thought she had patched herself together, but her nerves got the better of her when everyone else had left except for him. She tried to talk herself out of it, tried to muster a good outward façade, but one split second of their eyes meeting was all it took to bring it apart. She knew what was coming next, too.

"Hey!" Reno said, practically hanging over the bar. "You wanna go hang out after—?"

"I," said Tifa, still not able to look at him. "I… don't think so. I don't feel up to it."

There was a beat of silence. "Oh," was all he said, and she heard him pull back. "Okay. That's cool…"

Tifa could not, for the life of her, get herself to turn back to him as the silence filled her ears. It stretched longer, and she noticed that he wasn't saying anything that he was supposed to by now; he wasn't pulling her out of her shell, he wasn't trying to bother her into going anyway… he wasn't even asking her why she didn't feel up to going. He never simply accepted it when she said no!

She couldn't stand this anymore. She whirled around and opened her mouth to say something—she didn't even know what—but just as she did so, she jumped at the sound of the front door falling shut… leaving her to stare after, completely washed over in shock. He had left…

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Post-Chapter Notes: I'm not gonna lie, I took a long break from this story to work on something else, after I got frustrated enough with this chapter. When I came back to it I realized why it wasn't working, even though every scene had been written: there were whole parts or lines that just didn't belong, that I thought were necessary but were just dragging the rest of it down... after they were removed, it magically wasn't so depressing to look at anymore.

This chapter was really hard to write, sorting through Tifa's thoughts and all! It was a real mess for a while there. And I'm still puttering on with this story, working on the next installment now that I'm back in the game. Next chappie, expect angsty Reno and anxious Tifa and... well, you'll see what happens...

Thanks for reading, you guys. :)