AN: Written for windrider1 and published many years ago at my (now-defunct) LiveJournal. You could say it belongs in First Dates-verse.

Prompt: Cloud/Tifa, oil change.

Tricks are for kids.

There was a trick to it—a few tricks, actually. And since he'd been spying on Tifa for as long as he could remember, he was pretty sure he knew all of them.

Take The Fenrir Trick, for instance. It was one of his favorites.

His bike could not only be polished to a mirror finish, but it also possessed all kinds of little nooks and crannies with which to watch Tifa. And he found if he positioned himself just right, the dip in the seat, combined with the length of his foot, combined with the way he balanced his toes, combined with the angle of his bangs, combined with Tifa bent over a table as she repotted her little collection of herbs, combined with the spot of dirt just below her back pocket...

"Cloud!"

Gaia help him, he jumped. "What!"

It was Marlene—it was always Marlene. "Whatcha doing?"

Checking out Tifa's— No, he couldn't tell her that. "I'm, uh...I'm..." Think, think, think! "...Changing Fenrir's oil."

Wrong thing to say. Marlene's face lit up. "Can I help? Oh, please, Cloud—I'm a really good helper. Tifa says so all the time. Please?" She began hopping in place. "Please, please, please, please?"

Think, think, think! "You know, Marlene..." Cloud unscrewed and screwed the cap to the gas tank and rose from his crouch with an air of finality. "I'm just finishing up. Maybe next time."

The hopping stopped. "Oh." Marlene's mouth turned downward at the corners and she scuffed a foot on the pavement. "Well, okay. Next time."

That was easy. "Next time," Cloud echoed.

"What's going on, guys?" Tifa had breezed over with a pot in her hand and was looking between the two of them with a little smile.

"Tifa, Cloud just changed the oil of Fenrir!"

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, and he promised I could help next time!"

"Next time! Oh, really?" Tifa's eyes went to Fenrir, then to the table where her herbs sat, then to Cloud, then finally to Marlene. "I see," she said. "Well, in the meantime, Marlene, can you help me get dinner ready?"

"Sure!"

"I'll just be out here," Cloud announced. "You know, cleaning up and all."

"Of course," Tifa said. "Come on, Marlene."

Cloud allowed himself a smug, congratulatory smile as he watched Tifa and Marlene head inside. His eyes drifted back down to the dirt spot on Tifa's pocket, then a little lower.

"Do you know how to change oil, Tifa?" he heard Marlene ask.

"No, but I do know you need an oil pan and some oil," Tifa answered.

"But, Cloud didn't—"

"I know. Amazing, isn't he?"

Cloud's eyes snapped up just in time to catch the knowing smile Tifa turned back at him. Dammit!

It was time to find some new tricks.