Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII with the characters, items, places, etc. are the property of Square Enix, Inc. No infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Prompt for Endless Summer 2019 for the CloTi-Zerith Week on Tumblr. I picked "Drunken Confessions" and a take on the quote "Surpise I love you" for the June 28th prompts.

My first AU story and I've gotten so much feedback the first day I posted! Shoutout to Denebola Leo, a great friend, and author, for betaing this story and taking the time to read again for a review. For my next update, which will be a while, I'll need to take time to brew up more for this piece. Perhaps more on Cloud and Tifa's past before he ships off to Midgar and leaving a love-struck girl behind? Thanks again and please review!

The title of the story was inspired by Utada Hikaru's song "Final Distance".

-. Final Distance .-

Chapter III: Revelations

Between the kisses with Cloud and the effects of the alcohol that night, Tifa wasn't sure how they both made it from the cab to the door of his apartment. It felt good kissing him, as well as the warm liquid swirling inside her body from her drinking that night. But being with him right now wasn't going to be a regret from too many cocktails. She clutched onto his shoulders as their lips danced, his hands cupping her flushed cheeks to gradually end the exchange.

"Tifa," he breathed out as he leaned his forehead on hers, still holding her face. "We need to slow down. You're...not well."

"But I feel fine, Cloud," she said as she circled her fingers at the nape of his neck, tilting her head to the side while giving him a big smile. "Really, I am."

"You're gonna have a killer headache in the morning," he argued while pulling his head back. His hands smoothed down her skin to rest on her shoulders, his blazing cobalt eyes meeting hers for a second, and then darted away. In that moment she could see a battle of distress and desire before he pulled her hand and guide her to the kitchen area. They passed the small dining table and stopped in front of the countertop island. As the silence settled between them Tifa smoothed her hand across the cool black marble as Cloud opened the fridge behind her. Turning around and closing the cooler, he opened and handed her a small bottle filled with lavender liquid.

"Here. It's a remedy for hangovers," he explained as he twisted the top off of his own share. "You'll still feel a little rundown in the morning, but no headache or nausea."

"Oh, thank you," Tifa softly replied, holding the bottle to her lips and taking a small sip. After a surprising taste of grapes and raspberries, she finished the bottle as well and placed it on the counter next to his empty bottle.

He had been leaning his hip against the cabinet, his eyes roaming up and down her body with the same craving she saw on the balcony of the bar. But she noticed a hint of confliction in a sea of blue. All she knew was that she wanted to kiss him again. Needed him to have his lips on hers again. They both wanted this, but he seemed to be slightly hesitant. He would look at her, and then shy away again.

She could see him swallow hard when she took one step closer, her hand on his waist with her body nearly inches from his. Scratching the back of his head, he avoided eye contact and cleared his throat. "I can take the couch tonight, and you can sleep in my bed," he offered quietly.

"You don't need to do that," she chimed back, rubbing her thumb affectionately over his clothed abdomen.

"But I'm taking care of you tonight," he stated gently, brushing the hair out of her eyes and trailing his fingers through her long locks, landing his hand on the small of her back. He looked like he wanted to kiss her again but was holding himself back. She watched his Adam's apple bounce again from another hard swallow.

Encircling her arms around his waist, she pulled him closer and let the liquid encouragement in her system speak boldly for what she truly wanted deep down inside for the longest time. "Then take care of me the way we both need you to, Cloud."

Pressing her lips tentatively to his, she sought his returned affections. Her tongue breached out to taste him, prompting his to play back when he slanted his mouth over hers. For a moment she thought it wasn't going to take her much effort to convince him, but then he broke the kiss, his breath heavy against her cheek.

"This is just the booze talking."

"This is me...and you," she persuaded into his ear. "This is us."

"Us on one night," he kissed her cheek, thinking he was right. Thinking it had to be all the booze and bliss from a reunion. Part of it was, but a greater part of it wasn't. Not to her.

"...Years," she whispered. "It's been years...for me."

His face alongside hers, his hand on her back while she embraced back, Tifa could feel his body still at her confession. The only sound he made was his even breathing that fanned her ear, making her shudder as she turned her face away and into his chest.

"Tifa?" He broke the silence with her name, bringing his hand gingerly up her back. "What do you mean by…'years'?"

She gripped the fabric on the back of his shirt. "That I had feelings for you, and I didn't realize until it was too late. You were leaving, so I couldn't say anything back then. And all of a sudden you're here again...so, this isn't just the booze talking. It's me."

"It's...you," he reiterated, his voice in disbelief as his lips skirted across her face to pull away and look at her. Gently, he tipped her chin to face him, his cyaneous eyes were so clear, almost glowing with anticipation to what she was telling him.

"Surprised?" Tifa responded bashfully, focusing her claret eyes on his chest. She was shocked herself when she became aware of her true feelings way back when. Biting her lip for a moment as her cheeks tinged pink, she continued. "I was kind of in love with you back then."

Inching his face to hers, he made a brief confession of his own. "Same here."

Her eyes widened at his truth, but got wider when his mouth captured hers when he tipped her face back, cupping her cheeks. When her lips parted in surprise, Cloud took ample opportunity to slip his tongue inside, curling around hers. Closing her eyes and moaning against his mouth, he turned her body to pin her between the counter and himself. She began to kiss him back as she matched his passion, moving her hands up his back to pull him closer.

He ran his hands down her sides, taking it slow along the curves of her breast before reaching her butt, scooping her up to the surface. The bottles knocked over and landed onto the floor were forgotten. Tifa squealed in surprised delight when she pulled away from his lips, making him kiss along her jawline as he pressed himself between her open legs. The skirt of her dress scrunched up again, but she didn't care with how he was sucking on her neck just right.

Grazing his tongue over her collarbone, he gave a hearty squeeze to her breast, pinching his forefinger and thumb around her clothed nipple in perfect tempo of teasing her. She let out a whimper as her hands trailed down his back, tugging the material of his shirt to loosen it. For a moment he stopped his affections to help her lift his shirt off. Tifa discarded it behind her as he went back to kissing her reverently, suckling her bottom lip hard til it was swollen.

He pulled the zipper of her dress down slightly, propelling Tifa to undo the strap, making the red fabric top to fall to her midriff. Enfolding her legs around his waist, she brought them chest to chest, hip to hip. Feeling his apparent arousal against her inner thigh, she shifted her lower body between kisses to properly align, edging herself closer to him so he could penetrate her through clothes. He groaned into her mouth, releasing himself from her lips to suck along the top of her fleshy mounds. Twisting his fingers around her bud she bucked her hips forward as she cried out in pleasure, earning yet another groan from him.

"Tifa…" her name being moaned from his mouth before he enveloped her rosy peak, coiling his tongue as he sucked down hard on her bosom. When he increased the pace with his tongue, she raked her fingers through his golden spikes, pushing her breast into his mouth harder. On his final suck he tugged his teeth around her nipple, earning a small cry while trailing kisses up the porcelain column of her neck.

His fingers were trailing up her thigh, pushing aside the dampened fabric of her panties to brush her clit. Rubbing and pivoting around her sex, she shuddered intensely at the contact, spreading her legs out more for him. Placing his hand on the small of her back, Cloud looked at her with heated eyes as he pushed his fingers inside her.

Rosy lips parted when she moaned at the beginning of his smooth strokes, but he crushed her mouth with his own. Harder and faster he worked as he kissed her to mute her cries. Her nails dug into his shoulders while the warmth between her legs raised up higher, his fingers surely coated in her essence with how good it felt. And it felt too good. Mewling into his kisses as Cloud continued to assault her from below with his hand, she bit down on his lower lip and sucked hard. He groaned back, pumping rigorously into her with his fingers as small whines escaped from her between kisses. A muffled cry into his mouth, Tifa came wordlessly as she held herself tight against his bare chest.

Her body still trembling, she broke the kiss and whispered into his ear. "Where's the bedroom?"

Caressing her mouth with his lips again, Cloud lifted her bottom up as she encircled her legs around his waist, hoisting her up from the counter and to carry her away. Opening a door with one hand, he stepped through and kicked it closed behind him as their tongues mingled with each other. When her back hit the mattress she giggled in glee as he crawled above her, holding himself up by his arms as he panted hard, looking dazed as his azure eyes wandered up and down her falling bare chest from her deep breaths.

"Are we...are we really doing this?" he asked between breaths, holding her gaze.

"Yeah, we are," Tifa confirmed, hooking her fingers into her scrunched up dress and underwear to slide off her body. Lifting her bottom up, he helped ease off the red material, his hand skimming down her thigh as he did so while her fingers fumbled with his belt buckle. Shaking the rest of his pants off, he pinned his body to hers, skin to skin. Being covered by him completely naked sent an electric current down her spine. Beyond excited to have him, she encircled her arms around his neck as he leaned his arm to the side. Hearing him fumble for his nightstand drawer and grabbing a square plastic wrapper that he ripped opened with his teeth quickly, putting on the condom below.

Adjusting his legs, he slid in between her wet petals, still drenched from her earlier arousal. Her breath hitched as he entered her, his face buried in the crook of her neck as he kissed her tenderly along her sweaty collarbone. Cloud was so warm and hard, the friction too good to be true below. Tifa wasn't one to seek sex, only being with one man before now, but she did miss this attention to her needs. But this was something bigger than just ecstasy, this was the two of them being together finally. Her life being finally lit up after he left their hometown. She was so into him then, and even more now. Thrusting forward, he went long and deep inside her core, over and over again.

"Oh, Cloud!" she cried out, feeling his breath ragged against her neck as he continued moving inside her. Digging tiny crescents into his shoulders, she moaned louder when he picked up the pace. Lifting her hips up with one hand, anchoring his other arm from under her, he angled down hard, his strokes hitting her just right. Tifa could feel the sweat dripping down his brow, landing on her shoulder at his rough ministrations in the deepest part of her. Heat pooled between her legs as she was overcome with pure bliss, wave after wave at each assault.

"Tifa!" Cloud gasped out as he rode out his own release, slowing down before kissing her fervidly. His body slumped against hers, bringing them both down against the cool comforter that lined his bed.

Slowing down their heated kiss, Tifa licked her lips nervously as she looked into his half-lidded eyes. "Can we...again?"

His cerulean eyes perked up enthusiastically at her request, a smirk appearing on his face. "Yeah, yeah we can."

His lips picking up where they left off, Tifa melted against his mouth as she hooked her legs up to roll them over on the mattress. Cloud was surprised, but said nothing as she roamed her hands up his chest as she straddled him, kissing him passionately. She had never felt so complete in her life.

Definitely no regrets about this night.

He woke up an hour ago, the sun beaming through his balcony door, glittering off the wall behind him as the air conditioner jostled the curtains covering the large window. Cloud felt somewhat tired, but no blaring headache to greet him this morning. He laid still in his bed, his sheets covering up to his waist as he faced the sleeping girl next to him.

Tifa was in his bed.

Her breath was even as she slept peacefully, bunching up the blanket around her chest as her hands were tucked under the pillow to keep warm. He remembered they cuddled a bit last night, after a few rounds of...well.

A night he never experienced before himself.

"Morning," Tifa blissfully said to him, tucking her hair behind her ear as she smiled at him. They were still laying next to each other, side by side faced in the bed.

When did she wake up? His eyes had been wandering her sleeping form, perhaps that's why he didn't notice. Cloud reached out and brushed the back of his fingers across her blushing cheek. "Hey."

"I've...I've never done this before," she began after biting her lip, searching his eyes with her carmine ones.

"Neither have I," he replied, nodding at what she was saying. Going home with someone from the bar and having mindblowing sex while drunk was new to him, too. She was fidgeting under the sheets, and a wave of guilt washed over him. Was she saying…

Her lips on his made his fears vanish, caressing his mouth slowly with a few kisses with her hand on his chest when she got closer to him. His hand was going through her hair, down her back and up her arm, cupping her shoulder with a small squeeze as her lips moved with his. "You look worried, but you don't need to be Cloud," she whispered before kissing him again. "Last night was special to me."

"Same here." He wasn't much for words, but he confirmed it was mutual. Last night meant the world to him, but how he had to get there was starting to plague him. Bits and pieces of the earlier events the night before were becoming clear to him after all the drinking that occurred. Cloud had lied to her about his line of work to avoid shame. And now Tifa was still here, in his arm...how was he going to tell her? He was a lowly Shinra grunt for far too long than most candidates trying for the SOLDIER program. Now he was stagnant in Second Class when he should've been in First by now. Zack was accepted after the first test, while he failed and had to wait his turn. He was only pretending to be important, and once she knew the truth it would ruin everything from their night.

"Cloud? Are you okay?" Tifa questioned him, holding the sheet to her chest as she sat up, staring at him. He felt like a lost cause with her.

"Yeah, yeah I am," he shrugged off while looking for his pants. "Let's get you something to eat."

"Can you hand me my dress first? I mean, I know you've seen me, but…" Tifa's face reddening, shyly looking away as he got put a shirt over his chest. He chuckled while he tossed her the scarlet ensemble that was forgotten on the floor the night before.

To him, she was beautiful even while being very demure with him.

His keys jiggled as he twisted them into the lock, opening the door to his apartment with a swing. Last night was quite the celebration for his girlfriend, but he had to get back home to rest before setting off on a mission tonight. Zack was thankful for the hangover remedies that Aerith had on hand, or the early morning call from Lazard wouldn't have gone over well. This morning was supposed to be more perfect for them…

Stepping into his apartment, he could very well see it was perfect for two other people instead. A girl he recognized in the arms of his best friend, kissing him. Finally, Spiky got laid!

"When I said I would be hoping to see more of you again Tifa, I wasn't expecting it to be so soon," Zack called out with a grin. The brunette shied away from kissing Cloud, covering her mouth with her hand as she her face go beet red.

"Umm...hi, Zack," she greeted sheepishly, avoiding his gaze as she tucked her arm under her elbow. She still had the red dress on from the night before, but had a white button up shirt over it, tied in the front. A fashion trick Zack used himself in the past when a girl would spend the night so she wouldn't look so out of the ordinary on her walk home in the early morning. Especially when love marks were apparent on a female's skin and needed to be covered up.

Oh yeah, he most certainly got laid.

"Hi Zack, you're back early," Cloud said while scratching the back of his head.

"I should probably get going," Tifa stated, tucking a loose strand of chocolate hair behind her ear. Giving the blond a quick smile, she continued. "Call me?"

"He will," Zack intervened, grinning while adding a wink towards the shy girl. "I will make sure of it."

She giggled while Cloud rolled his eyes back at him, passing by him as he escorted Tifa to the door. Zack observed his friend linger at the door for a moment, watching the girl walk down the hallway before closing the latch.

"So the old 'shirt over the dress' trick, huh?" Snapping his fingers at Cloud, who only looked back annoyed at what he was implying.

"I didn't want her to get cold," the blond dismissed, walking to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"Oh, so...nothing happened?" Zack probed again, noticing a discarded ebony shirt on the floor, his indigo eyes perking up at the bottles around the corner of the cabinet.

"Nothing that you're thinking."

"Sure looks like something happened," he called his friend's bluff, holding up the article of dark clothing in his hands. "I thought you would have more self control but then again, a girl you've been pinning for years went home with you last night."

"Zack…stop," Cloud muttered, letting out a deep breath in frustration, staring at him hard with cobalt eyes before taking a sip of his hot beverage.

"Just tell me you told her the truth, about your real job. Bending the truth until it breaks doesn't sit well with me," Zack stared back while placing his palms flat on the counter. "I know Tifa means more to you than just a lay."

"She does…" he clarified in a low tone.

"Then why lie to her?" He fought back. Seeing the grimace on his friend's face, he pushed forward again. "Is this still about your days as a Shinra grunt? She won't care about that from what I've heard, what I've seen."

"I had to work hard to get where I'm at—"

"And that makes you better than the rest of us in First!" Zack threw his hand in front of him for emphasis, standing upright to face his stubborn friend.

"—but I still fall short, Zack," he said while placing the mug down on the counter before walking away. "And I'm going to tell her after I get back from the mission."

"Wait, you're being deployed too?"

"I'm assisting for backup for the monster infestation near Kalm."

"Cloud, everything is gonna be okay! Just hang on," Zack called to him. At least it sounded like him. His voice was a mixture of hope and worry. He couldn't see anything, but he heard a couple car doors close above his head after he was moved while on a flimsy bed with wheels.

Was he on a gurney? Was he injured? Was he at...the hospital?

The last thing he remembered was a haze of green mist upon the final blow against the giant emerald monster with no face, except for the plump red lips and white sharp teeth. Cloud threw the sword to split the head in half, but the Marlboro had one last trick left, and slashed his abdomen with a whip of its tentacle. After that it was a blank, but if that happened he would be in pain right now. There was no pain.

"Zack, you have to step back," an older man said. "We need to treat him quickly so the poison won't spread any further."

"All right, all right," Zack obliged, his voice sounding far away from where he was.

"Urgh," he moaned, rolling his head to the side.

"Cloud, can you hear me? You're back at HQ in the infirmary, safe and sound." It was the same male voice.

He opened his eyes, seeing cream colored ceiling tiles zip by above him with a ceiling light blinding him every few seconds. The doctor above him looked panicked as he continued to move him down the hallway, turning the gurney into a private medical room. Cloud recognized the middle-aged man from past injuries of his.

"Yeah…Dr. Hollander, I can."

"I need that new nurse practitioner in here! Stat!" The older doctor yelled towards the door, grabbing a small handheld light from his lab coat pocket. Taking the device he shined the light into his mako eyes, giving him a quick exam before moving onto placing a heart monitor on his chest. Unzipping the sweater vest the doctor stuck the tabs to his skin in a few spots, turning on the monitor next to him. "The blindness finally wore off, that's good."

"How bad is it?" Cloud groaned, trying to sit up until a wave of pain rang out in his stomach. Placing his hand over the sight of pain, his fingers touching blood that seeped through cotton cloth under his ribs. He threw his head back, clamping his mouth shut due to the severe tenderness that suddenly became apparent.

"Pretty bad. You got an open abdominal wound with Marlboro spikes lodged in," Dr. Hollander explained, grabbing gauze on a tray next to him for the injury. The doctor lifted his hand to dab the cloth at the dripping wound that was irritated by his movement. "Don't worry though, we're gonna get those out."

Grimacing, he managed to nod at his doctor friend. Releasing a deep breath, he asked, "soon?"

"Cloud, what're you doing here?"

Her voice was clear and light, bringing his searing pain to a halt by just speaking. Cloud could recognize her sweet tone anywhere, but was hoping his mind was playing tricks on him because of the poison coursing through his veins. But there she was, standing there at the foot of his bed in pure shock at the sight of him, injured. Injured in a SOLDIER hospital, wearing a military uniform of Second Class. She was dressed in blue scrubs, a name tag attached to her shirt pocket and a stethoscope around her neck.

"Tifa?" A wave of nausea was taking over, his vision becoming blurry as the room spun. Clenching his chest he began to black out, but not before hearing the racy beeping of the monitor ringing through the room or his name being yelled.

Author's Note Continued: I'm so happy everyone has been enjoying this new story. It's more than I was expecting, and I was actually apprehensive about even posted it at first. I'll be working on the plot more for this piece but in the meantime, besides Don't Think Twice my next story update will be for Play the Game. Please be patient in the meantime, and thank you all so much!