Worth

dien04neko

Disclaimer: I disclaim Final Fantasy VII and its characters. (Unfortunately) They are not mine---because they belong to Square©.

Act Two: Something's Wrong

Reno and Tifa walked together in silence. They were heading for Tifa's house and neither of the two has spoken a word.

A few meters away from the Lockheart residence, Tifa stopped on her tracks, her head looking stiff at the ground as she did.

Reno stopped either, a few inches in front of her.

"Why did you stop?" he asked, not turning to look back at her.

Tifa slowly looked up, hoping he'd turn to look at her.

"Why…why did you come up with such conclusion?" she asked quietly, her hands limp on both her sides. "Do you honestly believe that?"

Finally, he turned to face her. He wasn't in his usual cheerful mood.

"What if I do?" he replied.

Tifa looked away. "Honestly…I'm not sure of what I feel for you either."

Reno smirked, half-heartedly stifling a laugh. "Really now?"

Tifa stared off at the opposite direction, still avoiding his intense gaze. She knew for sure that she wasn't falling for him nor is she actually smitten by him. What she's sure of is she's afraid of feeling guilty in the end. She didn't want to be blamed of anything stupid yet she knew how stupid she was in the first place.

Reno walked towards her.

She still didn't look at him.

As soon as he was in ample distance from her, he brought his hand over her cheek and gave it a soft caress, as if he adores the smoothness of her perfectly fair skin.

"Yo," he whispered.

She slowly turned to him.

"I'll play your game," he softy said, a genuine smirk plastered on his lips. "If by any chance, you decide to stop it, I'll gladly accept it, Tifa-chan."

"What---"

He immediately pressed his lips against hers, stopping her from asking questions for he believes that it's now his turn to explain what he feels and what he literally has in mind.

As soon as he pulled off, he stared down at her.

"Since I agreed on being your cover-up boyfriend…just to get over somebody…whatever happens, I'll take it as it is," Reno said, his hand still touching Tifa's cheek.

He slowly retreated his hand from her face and planted a small kiss on her forehead. Reno walked past her, having no intentions of looking back whether she stops her or not.

"Okaeri," her father cheerfully greeted as Tifa took a step on their residence's doorstep.

She looked up, forcing a grin from her lips. "Ta-tadaima."

Her father was already dressed in his working clothes. He's a medical technician in a private hospital and his shift is usually at night, leaving her alone with her brother at night. She has been experiencing this since she first started junior high---the year her mother died of some congenital disease.

She gave him a brief, polite nod and walked over the staircase.

"Oneechan," a small voice called.

Tifa turned, finding her sickly brother on top of the staircase.

Reportedly, Denzel is asthmatic. He inherited his sickly nature from their mother. He is currently twelve years old, supposedly a sixth grader but he has to stop school this year because he needs rest over fatigue.

She grinned at him softly and turned to her dad. "Ne, bye dad. Take care."

"Bye dad!" Denzel bid as well.

Their father gave them both a grin and left the house with his usual cheery face.

As soon as he did, Tifa began to frown gravely, concerning Denzel.

"Are you sad?" he asked.

"No, I'm just…" but she trailed off, finding the appropriate words to say. She is not depressed nor is she mad…but then it struck her. She might be feeling the least thing she had wanted to feel from the beginning---guilt.

"Ne, oneechan," Denzel called. "I want to see Cloud soon…I want to play some video games with him again! It's been weeks since he last visited here."

Cloud is very close to Tifa's family. He has planted his presence in her father and most especially, her dearest brother. Since the both of them have known each other since they were very small, Cloud has been part of their life.

Though, there are bitter moments between the two of them when they were very young. Tifa got into an accident that caused her to fall into a coma for a week. Cloud blamed himself for the accident since Tifa's father seemed to blame him for it.

So, when Tifa recovered, he promised to be her knight. Somehow, he did become a knight…but Clous found himself another princess to protect.

Tifa snapped out of a sudden---surprised of falling into such reverie.

"I'll be having a rest," Tifa told Denzel. "Dad seemed to cook supper. I smell food from the dining room. Eat well, okay?"

Upon saying this, she disappeared into her room.

Reno kicked his small end table off as soon as he got into his room. He was living alone in a small apartment, his trustworthy uncle paying for his daily expenses.

He was orphaned at a very young age. His uncle, his mother's only brother, took him in and is now residing in Kobe for he is destined in that place. His uncle treated him as his own son since he has no family yet.

Reno slumped against the wall, slowly sagging.

He buried his head on his hands as he started to sob in a throbbing manner. It hurt him so much to be in a situation where he's Tifa's number 2. He didn't know if Tifa was telling the truth or if his instinct is the one that is trying to show him how stupid he was.

Nonetheless, he accepted the challenge to be her cover-up even though he's not sure if Tifa was treating him that way.

"Kuso," he cursed in a low tone.

Reno stood trembling in front of the cool, calm and collected Tifa as he stuttered to tell her something. His hands were uneasy, rubbing against each other in a perturbed fashion. His eyes weren't on hers, anxious if she would reject him.

"I..Tifa-san," he started.

Tifa continued to stare at his state.

"I know I'm cool and handsome," Reno started, slowly regaining confidence as he started to look up at her. "So if you reject me, it'd be a shame for an intelligent woman like you."

Yes, she was an honor student and the volleyball team's vice captain. He has often wondered why a rebel rock star like him would ever want to catch a goody-goody girl's attention.

Tifa's brow jerked. "Reject you? About what? You barely told me anything at all---and saying that it's a shame for me, rejecting you is actually possible."

Reno frowned. "Oh right, I was acting way 'cooler'. Well anyway…I'm here to tell you that I'm…I'm falling…"

"Falling…?"

"Falling…apart!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm falling apart because I can't tell you right away that I love you," Reno quickly confessed, his eyes tightly closed as he was saying this.

The two of them fell silent.

And then a few seconds later, a hearty laugh escaped from Tifa's lips.

"So you want to be my boyfriend?" she asked.

Reno blushed, a childish frown in his face. "What? You mean it's not obvious?"

Tifa sighed. There wasn't any trace of blush or even awkwardness in her face. She wasn't acting strange unlike the other girls. Girls usually blush when guys tell them that they like them---but Tifa acted casual.

An unexplainable look---of sadness or glumness---came upon her face.

She looked up, her face suddenly switching into a sweet, positive look.

"Well then, let's date," she declared.

Furiously, Reno's alarm clock rang on the floor. Why was it there? The end table he knocked over yesterday was the end table that holds the digital alarm clock he has.

His eyes flung open, staring at the blank ceiling before his eyes.

"I have to…pick her up," he told his self out loud.

"Bye!" Tifa told her father and younger brother. She walked out of the small gate as she decided to proceed on the bench across the street and wait for Reno to come. Upon sitting down, Tifa stared at her cellphone.

She looked at its back. A photo-sticker of her and Reno were attached to it however the marking of an old sticker just peeled off was still visible. She peeled off Cloud and her photo-sticker a few weeks ago after having another one featuring Reno and her.

Reno looked very happy. She looked happy too, however if you look closer, her smile is not as cheerful as Reno's smile in the photo-sticker is.

"Oi," a voice called.

Tifa looked up in an instant.

"Re-Reno-kun," she said, standing up from her seat.

"I see you're looking at our photo-sticker," he said, a smirk in his lips. He pulled out his cellphone and showed her his and her photo-sticker together too. He gave her a wink afterwards.

"Good cover-up plan, huh?" he mocked playfully, leaning close to her.

Tifa frowned. "It's not a cover-up. I want another photo-sticker."

Reno raised his brown. "Zo to (Yo)…we have a lot of copies of that certain sticker…why want another one?"

"Because…" she said, clutching her arm around his. "I want to look good in that sticker, got it?"

"But you already look---"

"What I said is what I said, so let's go to school now," she ordered, pulling him along.

Reno stared at her as she pulled him across the street.

Being number 2 is tolerable for him…as long as Tifa's with him.

As he was bracing his self for school, all he has to think is that he is Tifa's boyfriend.

Author's notes: Chapter 2 up! I hope you had fun…next chapter would be updated in a matter of days…? Or let's say the next chapter would come by Friday. I'm at school so I have to focus on schoolwork more than but honestly, I like this story. Note: it's AU, obviously.