Cloud paused for a minute in the business district of Midgar to enjoy the May sunshine on his face. The rainy season's finally over...Cloud thought, glad that he no longer had to get soaked everytime he stepped outside. The kids will be glad they can play outside now...he thought with a smile. Though a month and a half had passed since that day Cloud had found Denzel passed out in a gutter, Denzel still remained at the Seventh Heaven. Marlene and him were already thick as theives by the time Cloud and Tifa woke up the next morning. Cloud didn't know how the two children became such good friends, but what he did know was that there was a surprising increase in the amount of missing sweets ever since their friendship began.

Cloud cringed a bit guiltily as he thought about this. Poor Tifa...he thought shaking his head. She has no idea where all her food is going. It just so happened that a sweet tooth was something he, Denzel, and Marlene all had in common. And he often found himself succumbing to their puppy dog eyes and grabbing sweets for them in all the hard-to-reach places. Besides, he thought, examining a store to his right. Somehow, they know exactly where Tifa hides all the sweets.... He laughed to himself quietly. Denzel fit in perfectly to his and Marlene's strange friendship. And Cloud had a soft spot for the kid, because he reminded him so much of himself when he was young. I wonder if he reminds Tifa of me when I was young too? he wondered, peaking into another store. It had taken Denzel barely three days to become attatched to Tifa. I doubt anyone ever took care of the poor kid the way Tifa does before... he thought eye-balling the items on sale. The kid can't help but love her...

Where in the world do you buy glasses? he thought with frusteration as he left the store. In the past two hours, he had found countless stores that sold individual ones, but none of sold whole sets of glasses. I need at least thirty...he thought, passing by several more businesses. Somehow, Marlene and Denzel had managed to completely shatter all of Tifa's brand new glasses. He winced, remembering the state of his hands after he helped Tifa clean it up. But then he laughed to himself, remembering what Denzel had said after the castastrophy.

"Are you gunna beat us up with your metal knuckes Tifa?" he had asked fearfully. "Or with the spiky ones?"

Tifa had stared at him, agape for a minute before turning towards Marlene.

"What did you tell him?" she scolded.

Marlene had smiled nervously and wrapped her arms around Tifa waist, looking up at her adoringly.

"I told him you were the prettiest lady in the world!" she said, fluttering her eyelashes.

Cloud chuckled to himself. Marlene could charm herself out of any sticky situation. He was afraid sometimes, that she was a bad influence on Denzel. Sometimes Tifa said that Marlene was a bad influence on Cloud. It's probably true...he thought, shaking his head.

Glasses! he thought with relief as he stepped into the next store. He looked around at the numerous designs with a sinking heart. Now...what kind does Tifa want?

The sign on the door of the Seventh Heaven said "Closed until further notice." Cloud chuckled and unlocked the door, using his knee to push it open since his hands were full with the box of glasses. The bar area was complety empty. Cloud shut the door behind him and placed the heavy box on top of the bar. He began to head behind the bar and into the living room, but sounds coming from the room to the left of the bar area stopped him. He could hear Marlene and Denzel's giggles and Tifa trying to be firm but laughing anyways. He swung open the kitchen door.

Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel were huddled around the kitchen counter, working intently on a bowl of batter. They were all covered in flour from head to toe. Tifa had pulled her thick, dark hair back in an attempt to keep it clean, but there were still white streaks in it. She had her hand wrapped around Marlene's little wrist which was hovering over the bowl.

"No more sugar!" Tifa said, trying to direct Marlene's handful of sugar back towards the sugar jar.

The second Tifa turned her back to put the sugar back into the jar, Denzel dropped in a handful of sugar. He and Marlene exchanged sly smiles behind Tifa's back.

"Okay," Tifa said lifting Marlene up to the counter. "You can stir."

Denzel tugged on her arm, leaving white flour splotches on them.

"What about me?" he asked.

Tifa smiled and wiped flour off his nose.

"You can stir too..." she said, helping him up onto the counter.

They stirred vigorously, banging spoons and splattering batter everywhere.

"When can we eat the cake?" Marlene said, licking her spoon.

"We'll wait for Cloud to get home...Don't put that spoon back in the batter!" she exclaimed, stopping the spoon Marlene licked from re-entering the batter.

Denzel wrinkled his nose at the spoon.

"Eew...Marlene germs!" he taunted.

She stuck her tongue out and flicked some batter at Denzel. He flicked some back at her.

"Stop flicking the batter everywhere!" Tifa said exasperated. "We won't have any left to make the cake."

"I don't think we have enough cake for Cloud too, Tifa!" Marlene said, eyeballing the batter.

Denzel gave her his best shy smile.

"Since you don't like cake Tifa..." he said, still stirring. "Me and Marlene should probably just eat it."

"Traitors..." Cloud mumbled under his breath.

The three of them jumped, knocking what little was left of the batter, onto the floor.

"Cloud!" Tifa said happily, rushing forward to give him a hug that left him covered in flour.

"Cloud! Cloud!" Marlene and Denzel shouted, ignoring the puddle of batter on the floor that was supposed to become their beloved cake.

They pounced on him. Cloud was now as flour-covered and batter-covered as all of them. He laughed, ruffling Denzel's hair and letting Marlene climb up on his shoulders. Marlene tugged one his spikes happily.

"Look Cloud!" she said, pointing to the messy kitchen. "We were making a cake for you!"

Cloud snorted.

"Liar!" he said, grabbing her and flipping her upside down.

"Denzel! Tifa!" Marlene shouted, laughing so hard her face was bright red. "Help!"

Denzel ran and tackled Cloud's legs, causing him to lose balance on the slippery, batter-covered floor. Tifa quickly uprighted Marlene before Cloud fell onto the floor. Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel laughed as he landed in the puddle of batter.

"Cloud?" Tifa asked, stopping mid-giggle when he remained spread-eagled on the floor.

She came a little closer...only to receive a faceful of cake-batter. Marlene and Denzel laughed harder, clapping their hands with glee.

"Cloud Strife!" Tifa sputtered, a glob of sugary batter dropping off her nose.

She turned her back to him, crossing her arms. Cloud bit his lip worriedly.

"Uh oh..." Denzel whispered to Marlene.

Marlene grinned happily in anticipation.

"She's gunna beat his butt!" Marlene whispered gleefully.

Denzel scoffed.

"Cloud could beat Tifa any day!" he told Marlene confidently.

Cloud placed a floury hand on Tifa's shoulder.

"Sorry Tifa..." he said warily.

She turned around, and by the time he saw the huge grin on his face, it was too late, she grabbed his arm and flipped him into a pile of flour.

"Toldja so!" Marlene said triuphantly to Denzel.

But then Cloud, grinning wickedly, grabbed Tifa around the waist and lifted her over his shoulder, before dumping her into a messy pile of egg, sugar, and flour.

Denzel gave Marlene a triumphant grin. "Who's right now?"

"Tifa's still gunna win!" she said, with a scowl.

"No way!" Denzel shot back.

They stared at each other for a second, before turning their gaze back towards Cloud and Tifa who were still fighting playfully. They shrugged their shoulders.

"Who cares." Denzel said, turning back towards Marlene.

"Yea..." Marlene said, grabbing Denzel's hand. "Come on! There's a whole bag of sugar behind the counter!"

Cloud and Tifa were oblivious to their departure, still intent on their battle. Sprawled on her back in the mess, Tifa swung her leg around, catching Cloud behind the ankle and causing him to land beside her with a messy plop. Tifa laughed and squished some of the gunk into his spikey hair. Cloud gave her a look of mock anger.

"You're gunna pay for that one!" he said, grinning deviously.

Tifa clutched her stomach, bent over double with laughter and tried to scramble away from him, but he grabbed her around the waist again and flipped her upside down, much like he had with Marlene minutes ago.

"Cloud!" Tifa shouted, still laughing, "You better put me down now!"

"I don't think so!" Cloud chuckled, swinging her gently so her hair dipped into the sticky batter.

"Eyaghh!" Tifa screeched, covering her eyes. "Don't drop me!"

"Drop you?" Cloud asked playfully. "Okay!"

"Cloud, no!" Tifa wailed.

He chuckled and turned her upright. She clung to his shoulders for a minute, breathing heavily, before tackling him to the ground. Cloud groaned as batter splattered all over his face.

"That'll teach you to drop me!" Tifa said, her body slung across his stomach, pining him to the ground.

Cloud just laughed and tried to wipe his face clean, sitting up as he did so, causing Tifa to slide into his lap. The laughter died in his throat as he felt two soft hands on his face, gently cleaning the sticky mixture off his eyes. He opened his eyes. Tifa wasn't laughing anymore either. Her cheeks were still flushed from being upside-down and she still had one hand on his cheek, no longer cleaning the batter off, but holding it there with a feather-light touch. Cloud let the hand that wasn't wrapped around Tifa's waist, to push her flour-covered hair off her face. Never been this close to her before...he thought, her hot breath on his cheek causing shivers to run up and down his spine. Both of their eyes closed slowly, and Cloud was now close enough to feel Tifa's eyelashes tickle his cheek. They paused for a moment, enjoying it too much to pull back, their hearts pounding too hard to move forward.

The sound of about fifty brand new glasses shattering caused them to break apart.

If Cloud had known what the future held, he would have pulled Tifa to him and kissed her anyways. But instead, he helped Tifa to her feet and followed her into the bar to survey the damage.