Summer Nights

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Everything belongs to their respective owner which is Square Enix.

A few weeks passed since The Opera of Draco and Maria and Sephiroth and Tifa fell into a comfortable routine. At times he would visit the bar during lunch when he had time. Most times he would wait for her shift to end, gaining extra hours at work as he did so. He would drive her home, to the park, or at the edge where you could see the city lights flickering from afar. He courted her as per the advices given by his colleagues, albeit most of them forgotten in the process. Tifa would occasionally prepare him a packed lunch the morning after she would stay at his place and he gratefully accepted the offer.

Currently, they are a mess of tangled limbs on the couch, his legs entangled with hers as she snuggled closer to his warmth. He draped his arm over her shoulder and brought her closer, earning a satisfied hum from his partner. He watched her as she stifled a yawn, eyes fixated on the television. Sephiroth checked the time on his phone. 11:59 PM it read.

"Tifa,"

"Mmmm?" she replied absent-mindedly.

"It's getting late, we should go to bed." he said, caressing her hair. Rolling over, she looked at him, her hands propping her chin up.

"Is it? What time is it?" Tifa asked, stifling another yawn with her hand.

"It's midnight. Don't you have work tomorrow?" He replied as he continued to caress her hair, sometimes tucking stray strands behind her ear.

"No, I covered for my coworker yesterday, remember? Soo I'm all yours," she grinned, earning a chuckle from the silver haired man beneath her.

"Well if that's the case, why don't we take our time tonight shall we?" he whispered slowly in her ear. Goosebumps rose on her skin and her cheeks felt hot. Peering at him through half lidded eyes, she saw him with an intense look that only brought a heat on her belly.

"Mmm, should we? It's been so long after all," she replied, dancing her fingers on top of his chest until she reached his jaw. She guided his face down to hers, she could feel herself getting restless as the time seemed to go slowly. His body shifted, propping himself up to a better position. His back rested on the arm of the couch and he went down to capture her lips.

She tasted sweet like honey, probably from the desert they had earlier that evening. He enjoyed her sweet supple lips and how they molded with his perfectly. He could feel her fingers playing with the hair at his nape. He angled his face and he kissed her deeper, iliciting a small mewl from the woman in front of him. God, she's a minx, he thought.

A noise rang out in the living room, popping their bubble. Sephiroth groaned as he ran his hand over his face while Tifa straightened her hair and her top. Sephiroth took his phone and answered the impromptu call. Who in the hell calls at 12:10 AM?

"Hello?" he said irritatedly.

In the midst of his phone call, Tifa went to the open kitchen to get a glass of water. She was a little annoyed with the disturbance but there could only be one of two reasons anyone would call at this hour. Either it's an emergency or it's something work related. She finished the drink before refilling it for Sephiroth. As she walked her way towards him, he sighed as he threw his phone on the table.

"What's wrong?" she asked, handing him the glass.

"Thanks," he said, downing the contents swiftly. "They called to inform me that there have been changes with Genesis' project. I have to look into it but it's not due until later."

"Later? But it's a Saturday?" Tifa was shocked. She couldn't believe that they only notified him now about these changes for a report that's due in a few hours.

"I know, I'll just have to finish it now so that we can spend the whole day tomorrow, how does that sound?" he ask, as he took her hand in his and rubbed comforting circles. He must have seen how blue she looked upon hearing the news.

"It's alright, you really should prioritise it. I know how hard you and Genesis have been working on it. I just find it a bit unfair is all," she replied, putting her other hand on top of his in a comforting manner gave it a soft squeeze. She looked up and gave him a small smile. Which he reciprocated with one of his own.

"Ahh, what'll I do without you," he dropped his forehead onto hers gently and peered at her. She smiled sheepishly in return. "I'll finish it quickly. So that you won't be lonely in bed for too long," he gave her a sly smirk.

"I'll be waiting for you," she said, giving him a kiss before she sauntered off to the bedroom. She gave him one last look before disappearing from his sight.

The silver haired man groaned at his physical response to her tantalising walk. He shook his head and cleared his thoughts before walking towards his study. He worked on the revision vigilantly while part of his head was thinking of the woman of his dreams next door.

When he finished the revision - reading it for the second time for good measure - he walked towards his bedroom. He quickly remembered that Tifa was in the room waiting for him and he hoped that an hour wasn't too long to put her out of the spirit. When he finally reached his doorstep, he saw her body sprawled on the bed, her top riding up showing her midsection and her face beautifully…. asleep.

He gave a low chuckle at the sight before him and walked to her side of the bed and tucked her in. She moved a bit in the middle of it but still remained asleep nonetheless, and he walked over to his side and climbed underneath the sheets. With one last look at her peaceful slumbering face, he turned off the light and brought her close. Hugging her as he gradually fell in sync.

"Hurry! We're running late as it is," a tiny brunette can be seen running through the crowds, a larger man followed behind her.

"Calm down Marlene! I'm sure they won't mind if we're late," he huffed as he tried to catch up with the bundle of energy zapping through the crowd. "besides… whose idea was it to stop by the souvenir store?"

"I wanted to buy the moogle plushie!" Marlene replied as she glanced at her adoptive father, a few steps later she ran into something hard, knocking her down in the process.

"Owwww…." She said as she rubbed her slightly bruised elbow. She looked up to find a towering figure in front of her and she swore she could see the person's eyes glow. The man extended his hand toward her, but she flinched in response. She inched backwards, an instinct to run away.

"Barette! Marlene!" A voice rang out in the crowd, and a familiar figure appeared next to the man in front of her.

"Tifa!" The young girl lunged towards her awaiting arms. Tifa hugged her tightly in a warm embrace and caressed her head.

"I think she dropped this," the man behind her offered the forgotten moogle plushie, brushing off the dirt from the white cloth. The young girl looked at the stuffed toy and back at the man with glowing eyes before tightening her clutch on the woman before her. He looked dejectly for a minute before turning his head to look at the approaching man. He was catching his breath, holding both what seemed to be his luggage and the little girl's.

"Marlene," huff, "I told you to wait," huff. After catching his breath, he looked up to find a soft smile from his friend, which he returned. "Tifa, always a pleasure to see you again. How are things here in Midgar?"

"Oh, you know. The usual, still working at the bar and all that," Tifa replied happily, giving a quick hug to dark man in front of her. "Well, there is something new though," she said as she hooked her arm around the tall figure beside her. "Barette, Marlene, I would like to introduce you to my boyfriend, Sephiroth."

"Woah, you're finally settled down huh? Here I thought you and Cloud were gonna patch things up," He said as he eyed the silver haired man in front of him. Marlene walked over to her father and held his hand as she looked at the man yet again.

"It's nice to meet you, I wish we could have met in better circumstances," Sephiroth offered his hand towards Barette which the other party took, giving him a hard squeeze that did not seem to faze the silver haired man. Barette gave a hearty laugh and patted his shoulder, giving him a hug, which came as a shock to Sephiroth. Releasing from a hug, the darker man turned towards Tifa.

"Oh, I like him Tifa! Didn't flinch at all," he said in a half teasing whisper which made Tifa giggle. Marlene walked towards the taller man and tugged his coat. He kneeled in front of her, keeping the plush close and clean.

"Thank you for picking up my toy," she thanked shyly, trying to hide herself behind her bangs. A ghost of a smile spread on his lips before he patted her head softly. Marlene glanced at him behind her bangs.

"It's not a problem at all," he said as he offered her the plush again for the second time. "Keep it close, okay?" The young brunette nodded her head before taking her moogle plush from silver haired man. She walked back towards her dad and clutched his hand in hers.

"Well then, shall we go? I believe Zack and Aerith are expecting us," Sephiroth said, breaking the conversation between Tifa and Barette. Tifa nodded her head followed by her friend. "The café is not too far from that station, so we should arrive in a few minutes."

"That's great, I'm sure Barette and Marlene are starving after the trip they made," Tifa replied as she held his hand in hers. Soon after, the entangled their fingers not noticing the watchful gaze of the child trailing behind them.

"Yeah! I could eat a whole cow!" the bigger man replied with a laugh, the adults chuckled in response. "What about you Marlene? What would you like to eat?"

As if broken from her reverie, the young brunette lifted her head to look at the awaiting gaze of her father. "Mmmm… Pancakes and Hot Chocolate!" she grinned.

"Pancakes and hot chocolate! Seems like we're on the same boat," Tifa ecstatically replied as she glanced back to look at her as they walked. "We didn't get to eat breakfast after receiving Aerith's message."

"We were already on our way to Midgar for a vacation when they messaged me too," Barette replied.

"I wonder what they wanted to tell us?" Tifa mused as they turned the corner towards the café. The establishment was only a few doors down and it seemed desolate save for a few customers inside. As they stepped in they searched for the familiar porcupine like hair of their friend and found them sitting a few tables away. It seemed that Cloud was already there as his spiky chocobo hair were any indication.

"Hey guys! Over here!" Zack exclaimed, causing a few customers to glance his way. He grinned widely as he beckoned them over. The party walked towards the table and saw two phones set up on the table. Aerith gave a hug to each of them before they sat down, save for Sephiroth.

"Omg! Is that you Yuffie?" Tifa greeted as she saw her friend waving from behind the screen.

"Tifaaaa~! I missed you! Where's that boyfriend everyone was talking about?" the younger one replied as she scanned for said boyfriend.

"Oh! He went to go get some food for Barette and Marlene, I'll introduce you to him next time!" the raven-haired woman replied whilst rubbing the back of her head. She wondered how much her three friends told the youngest of them all.

"Awwww, I was looking forward to it," she pouted and leaned back in her chair.

"You shouldn't be so nosy, Yuffie," a deep voice said was heard from a different phone. "It's nice to see you again Tifa, my apologies if I'm not there with you all. I'm a bit held up."

"Vincent! So nice to see you again, and don't mention it, it's all impromptu anyhow," she said as she waved at the vampire.

"Speaking of impromptu," a voice walking towards them, two cups in hand, gestured to the couple that initiated the small gathering. "What's this about?"

"Well," Zack gulped, as he watched the silver-haired man take his seat, not noticing the look of shock on Yuffie's face. "We all asked you to meet up today because," he turned to look at the brunette next to him and gave a sweet smile.

"We're getting married," Aerith reciprocated his smile and grinned at the rest of the party. Tifa did a spit take on her hot chocolate, Sephiroth soothing her back and offering a tissue. Barette almost choked on his coffee, Marlene glanced at the couple in front of her. Cloud took a sip from his coffee calmly, a small smirk curled on his lips.

"What!" a voice could be heard from behind the couple and the rest of the party turn to look at the source. An older man with an unlit cigarette on his lips stood shell shocked at the scene in front of him. A few steps behind him were two familiar figures, the redhead had to repress his laughter while the man beside him held a camcorder.

Author's Note: Hey all! Hope you liked this chapter. Sorry for the late upload! I started this during Summer of 2020 and well with school and everything going on I found it best to update it this summer! This will be a 12 chapter story or maybe 13, it depends! But it will be ending soon and I thank you all that followed, favourited, and reviewed during my absence. It honestly helps a lot! I still need to work on my story telling more but I hope you'll continue to support this to the very end :3