Title: The Fashion of Tifa Lockhart
Characters: Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart
Pairing: Cloud/Tifa (Small hint of Aerith/Tifa)
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone/anything from the forum Final Fantasy. Square Enix owns Final Fantasy and its characters. There is no copyright infringement intended. I do not make any profit/money or take any credit.
Summary: She always asks the same question, and each time, Cloud reflects.
Timeline: Post ACC
Warning: Spoilers for the dresses in Remake Part 1
Author's Notes: Yes! I can join in Tifa's week this year. I hope you enjoy it, regardless though. (I won't be doing all of them because…bunnies .)
#1 of Tifa's Week – 'What do you think would suit me?'
The Fashion of Tifa Lockhart
"What do you think would suit me?"
It had been a simple question, and it's a question she still asks, even to this day, even reminding him to match her whenever he tells her what would suit her.
And he always did.
It was a funny question, now he thinks about it. He doubted there was anything unflattering on Tifa.
The dresses she used to wear when she was younger, always covered in dust from running through town, her hair flying back and her laugher filling the air.
That laugher had died at the same time her mother did.
The white dress with the little black bows. The way her hands would fit on her hips as she tried to cajole him into playing with her, stubborn as ever with that little pout.
The blue dress that had nearly matched the night sky when she met him at the water tower, the promise he held close to his chest – not knowing at the time she held it close to her.
The dressed fitted her growing body, giving a hint to her future yet still retained her innocence.
The cowgirl outfit never failed to make him smile when he thought back on that. She had been mortified that he remembered the outfit, whacking him on the shoulder and covering her blushing face as he teased her about it.
Even though heavy memories followed the outfit, it was still a reminder of Tifa Lockhart, a small-town girl at heart. Always exploring the mountains – much to her father's distress.
She never let her accident prevent her from conquering the mountains and he once asked her why she still went.
Because they're waiting, for one day, when she would cross the mountains herself.
It had taken nearly everything inside of him to not deny her request to go to the mako reactor when they reached their false hometown.
Everything inside of him screamed at him to take her away, to get far away from the memories of the fire, the smoke, the blood…the death.
But it also helped him to remember how stubbornly cute she had been in that cowgirl outfit, throwing a childish temper tantrum when Sephiroth had barred her entrance to the Mako Reactor.
That little stomp of her foot, the way she stuck her tongue out at him when he stopped her from chasing Sephiroth, the way she turned and crossed her arms, huffing out her cheeks.
She had still been the same Tifa Lockhart, despite the growing up she did in the short amount of time they had been separated.
Then there was her bartending outfit. The white cropped top and black sport bar. The pleated skirt with the shorts (and thank Gaia for that because damn it, the flare of that skirt had been distracting enough).
The arm length gloves and the damn thigh highs…those thigh highs had been a distraction, a major distraction.
They had been a favourite part of her clothing – not that he would ever admit it to her, though he suspected she knew.
(And he wasn't the only one who had been distracted by the thigh highs. He had seen Aerith eyeing Tifa's legs with admiration and lust.)
The swimsuits Aerith had made Tifa wear, citing that the girl needed to relax in the sun and sea for a moment.
He knew why Aerith had done it, and he had been forever grateful to the flower girl. She knew when to push Tifa to walk forward and when to pull Tifa to slow down.
The swimsuit Aerith picked had fitted Tifa perfectly. It started light blue at the top before darkening toward the bottom, the white sparkles glinting under the sunlight had reminded him so much of that fateful night under the water tower.
And wasn't it funny that he was always reminded of that night?
The promise he made to be her hero.
The memory of Tifa laughing and playing with Aerith in the water. Yuffie jumping onto Tifa's back. Tifa sunbathing with Nanaki resting nearby.
Barret grousing at the sand getting everywhere.
A smile touched Cloud's lips. How long has it been since he heard everyone's laugher?
The trek up the northern crater had forced them to slow down, to get warmer clothing. He had been near frantic with worry trying to keep her warm, ordering her to put on more layer.
The poor woman eventually had to remind him – forcefully – that she needed to move to walk, never mind fight that he relented. She wore a winter jacket and warm leggings with gloves and a scarf.
(He would never admit how much he missed the thigh highs. Yuffie can threaten him all she wants; he'd never give that information up.)
Then there were the dresses. The Dresses. With a capital D. Because they just about gave him a stroke he saw her in them.
The first one was the slinky blue dress that she wore when he said he wanted to see her in something mature for the first date – a date that never happened thank to that cock-blocking air-buster and even now, he'd still go back and destroy the damn thing ten times over just for disrupting his plans.
(And yes, he may still hold a little bit of resentment and bitterness toward Aerith for taking so damn slow, for refusing to listen to him when he said he needed to go back to Sector 7 and for taking a long way while claiming it was a short-cut.)
It had been because she had matured so much from the last time he had seen her, throwing a tantrum to running her own business, helping out the people of Sector 7 and above. Looking after Marlene, and him.
She had worn the damn dress for Don Conreo instead, to gain information on why the Don had been seeking information on Barret (and Avalanche).
The dress had been temptation incarnate. It had been short, backless and showed off her curves more than it hid and never in his life had he been so damn turned on.
She even teased him, throwing her arms out to the side and swaying her hips, smiling as she asked him how she looked.
He had been so tongue-tied that he couldn't say a thing, only let his eyes roam over her body and wished that they were on their date at that moment.
A date he had waited years for since he never got the guts to ask her out.
However, he asked Tifa to let him make it up to her for missing their date, and after a few moments of her wide dark eyes, blushing cheeks and cute stammering, she eventually agreed to a new date with a shy smile.
So, she asked him again when they reached The Golden Saucer.
"What do you think would suit me?"
He had chosen sporty. Can't be any more distracting than that hot little blue number, right?
Wrong.
He can still hear Aerith's gleeful laugh when Tifa revealed her floor-length tight fitted patterned dress, with the thigh-high split, the little window that provided a delightful tease of her cleavage and damn it! The fish-net tights.
She even did her hair up in twin buns and he thought his heart might give out on him before the night was over when she smiled sweetly at him.
Of course, Yuffie had to steal the moment, proclaiming how hot Tifa looked and how much of a waste it was that he was the only one getting to have the fun.
Aerith had decided to join in the fun, caressing Tifa's body as she reminded Tifa of the date they agreed to have.
Cloud managed to extract Tifa from their clutches and took her on a date within the Gold Saucer and it had been heaven. They had managed to forget, for a moment, that they were trying to stop Sephiroth. That he was able to pretend they were just a normal couple having a date.
Then the damn cat upped and proved his suspicion about being a traitor, thus the date was over, and the chase was back on.
And, of course, it would be ages before they were able to make another date, this time Tifa offering to make it up to him.
He eagerly accepted and once again, she asked him what would suit her.
Remembering their time in Wutai – he had chosen exotic before he knew what he was saying. He stammered before Tifa just smiled, pressed a kiss to his cheek and told him that she understood what he meant.
And she had shown up in that short black kimono with thigh-highs. It shouldn't have been that sexy but on Tifa? The damn thing was sinful as he stared at her, tugging at the collar of his shirt as he tried to stammer out some compliment.
Marlene – of course – had stolen the moment as she squealed how beautiful Tifa had looked, getting a bright smile from her adopted mother and seriously, had he really been jealous of a 5-year-old?
But the date – finally – went well. There had been no interruptions, no chases, no saving the world, not even a fight.
It had been worth the wait and effort to see Tifa lightning up. She laughed, she smiled, she held his hand as they strolled through New Midgar City Night Life.
They had made a few stops in clubs so they could dance, stopped a few places to eat and drink, even shared an ice cream.
It had been good to see Tifa acting her age instead of being the one everyone relied on to keep the peace, the one who acted older than her age.
(He remembered Cid grumbling about how Tifa needed a break, glaring at him as he lit up another smoke and getting a worried plea from Tifa to think about his health. It never failed to amuse him when Cid would eventually crush his smoke, unable to deny Tifa's dark eyes.)
And of course, the dress looked just as great on the floor next to his bed when he stripped it off her to celebrate them getting through the date without any issue.
Cloud sighed as he rested his head on the couch, listening to the humming coming from the kitchen where Tifa was making up their snacks.
It was funny how thinking about clothes makes him realise how much Tifa has changed yet hasn't changed since their childhood days.
When the weather was warmer, she'd return to her dresses. Summery dresses that were always in shades of green and blue.
Decided She even had that little knock-out black dress that she wore once – they never made it out of the bedroom.
'What do you think would suit me?'
He smiled when Tifa made her way out of the kitchen and walked toward him, balancing a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk, wearing a t-shirt that belonged to him and a pair of shorts and that smile.
The smile only he could put on her face.
Everything.
Tifa Lockhart suited everything.
Especially that smile.
The End