Disclaimer: I don't claim to own anything in the FF7 universe. I am just a meek little college-bound girl whose grandchildren are probably going to be paying off her student loan debts. With this story I am holding up my end of a gift-fic bargain with the lovely and talented Sabriel41. Let's not... speak of how late this is...

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It was all because she mocked him.

When Reno initially called her to enlist Cloud's help with the silver-haired beauty pageant contestants, he was very aware that he was not contacting an old friend. This would have been the first time they had spoken in two years, and he was certain that it was not going to go over well when she picked up the phone. He still managed to approach this with his usual lazy manner despite it… but to his utter bemusement, impersonating him was about the first thing she did. She was easy-going; she joked around a little, and not one bit of it was derisive.

For the record, he knew he was talking to Tifa Lockheart and did not bother pulling anything with her: she was being overfamiliar with him. Why didn't she hate his guts?—how could he not be intrigued?

Even after they helped get rid of the Sephiroth look-alikes and a homeless kid shoved a hand up his nose and the whole world was saved once again, he was still curious. So one night he went to the Seventh Heaven alone, without telling even Rude. Her gratefulness for the fact that he and his best friend protected her orphans was the first thing she had to say, and it very easily went on from there. Reno had previously never known this open and friendly Tifa, and somewhere along the line he decided he liked it.

He managed to stop by the past few consecutive nights, the only problem being that now his comrades were suspicious. They were certain he was seeing a girl, but he didn't offer them a word of explanation; Reno, who always made everyone else's love life his business, was maddeningly private on the matter when it concerned himself.

Besides, it wasn't a conscious thing from the start. He felt that it was her fault for catching him off-guard in the first place, and later, for looking the way she did and… being who she was, and making him aware of more things about her that caused him to marvel at how very lucky and monumentally stupid Cloud was at once. The hero, who was currently away on some delivery, was a subconscious annoyance for a while there, but Tifa was counted as his loss and Reno didn't give him a second thought.

It was closing time when he arrived, as per usual. By now he was familiar with the place and he could rely on everything about it: there were clean lines, at least where there could be, with corrugated metal and bare pipes on the ceiling, as well as so many odd pictures hanging off the walls. Little lamps hung above the span of the bar, pooling white luminescence over her as she worked behind the counter.

Tifa looked up at his entrance, and he couldn't help a slightly roguish smile, though it wasn't enough for the lazier side of his mouth. "Evenin'," he said as he made his unhurried way across the room, hunched over more than usual with his right hand gripping his left shoulder, as he realized he really shouldn't have used that arm to push the door open.

"What happened to you?" Tifa asked him as he stopped in front of her.

Taking a pause from massaging his shoulder, Reno's eyes earnestly flew to hers. He thought at first to brush it off, but he noticed how she looked at him with such genuine interest and concern. Leaning delicately over the bar, he took the affect of someone who should indeed be sympathized, but was too humble for it at the same time. "Oh…" he said with a cavalier sort of meekness, as his eyes trailed across the surface of the counter. "I was just… saving these orphans from a burning building, and—"

"It was Rude, wasn't it?"

Reno's shoulders slumped a little, and he kept his eyes were they fell on the polished wood. "…maybe……"

He could hear her smile, a teasing simper, in her voice. "So he finally snapped, huh?"

"Well if he'd stop blamin' me every time he breaks his sunglasses," Reno said in his defense, as she turned to hang up the wine glasses she had just cleaned. He was not content to sit and watch, so he started to come around to her side of the bar. His hands were in his pockets, his black zippered blazer pulled further open over his rumpled yet clean button-down shirt. A long scarlet ponytail swept over his shoulderblade as he turned his head. "You wouldn't believe how CLUMSY that guy is…"

"Look who's talking," he heard her murmur.

Reno looked at her in surprise; his blue-green eyes narrowed as he caught onto her smirk. She always made these jibes at him! "What was that?" he asked suspiciously, before the little swinging door didn't give when he expected and he slammed right into it.

It was completely unintentional and he felt pretty stupid, considering he was about to defy her point. She had herself a good laugh while he figured the thing out and shouldered in next to her. "Lemme help," he offered. "C'mon… Rude didn't twist my arm THAT badly."

Thoughtfully, Tifa watched him hang up a glass, her lips barely parted. Then she looked down until he couldn't see her face, as the light chased her black hair and it looked as if it spilled forward over her shoulders. "Why do you always come here alone?" she asked him honestly, quite different in tone from the way she had spoken to him tonight. "Shouldn't you be going out with your friends?"

Reno quickly rejoined without thinking of what he was actually saying. "Shouldn't you… be…" he began, but briefly trailed off and found himself only staring into her hair. "… endorsing shampoo commercials?"

He saw her eyelashes bat once. "I mean…" She continued to look down at her glass as she handled it. "You don't even come here to drink……"

As if on cue, she looked up at him; he looked down at her, and in an instant he knew why he didn't confide this in anyone. He knew what they would all say. It was a bad idea, it wouldn't work… Rude was Exhibit A, and Tseng wasn't a bad example himself. But Reno didn't see the use in damning something before it could happen. She was looking up at him now, with her questioning amber eyes and her bangs caught in her lashes—and she was this close, and he thought that this time, maybe he didn't want to talk his way out of answering…

But then he heard little feet bounding down the stairs, with a bit too much energy for this time of night. Reno looked up regrettably and Tifa whirled to face the doorway. A pajama-ed little girl appeared at the bottom of the flight, her brown hair long and crimpy, taken out of its usual braid.

"Marlene!" Tifa said with a certain parental tone, as she rushed to the girl. "What are you doing up?"

"Cloud said he's coming home tonight!" she cried, nearly unable to contain herself.

…kid needs a hobby, Reno thought as he hung back somewhat sulkily, leaning with his good arm on the counter.

"Why don't you go back to sleep, like Denzel is?" Tifa suggested, as she kneeled down to her level. "You'll see Cloud when you wake up in the morning."

"I'm too excited to go back to bed!" the little girl shrilly insisted. She paused, then added for good measure, "And I'm thirsty."

Tifa gave in, picking her up and setting her on a stool directly across from Reno, who actually didn't mind being around Marlene because she never tried to jam her hand up his face. He rarely saw any kids running back and forth when he stopped by here, and so far never had to interact with Tifa's adopted son. But the last time he spoke with Marlene as Tifa took care of something in the back room, she cheerily announced to him that she could count all the way to one hundred, and then proceeded to do so… as far as he could tell, he was all right by her.

The door behind them came open and they heard footfalls of heavy boots on the floor. Marlene, already forgetting the glass of water she was just handed, was the first to react. "Cloud!" she cried, jumping down from the stool and running toward the blonde man who just came in. Though he was not as moody these days, he was in his usual dark blue garb with too many belts and his hair was as unruly as ever.

"Hello, Cloud," Tifa said pleasantly.

"Hello, Cloud," echoed Reno with the same inflection.

What little smile of greeting the other man had for Tifa disappeared as his eyes fell on the redhead, who stood behind the bar next to her, beaming at him obnoxiously. It seemed to take some effort to tear his gaze away and address his childhood friend as he carried Marlene back to her.

"Are you happy now?" Tifa asked her, and she nodded. Cloud in the meantime had gone back to staring incriminatingly at the Turk, which didn't go by her unnoticed. Reno found it difficult to keep a straight face; he put his hand over his mouth as Tifa punched the blonde in the arm and whispered something fiercely to him.

As delighted as he was to see Cloud's reaction, he decided he shouldn't stay any longer and just let him fill in the blanks. "Think I'll just go now, Teef…"

"All right," she replied as she readied to take Marlene back upstairs. "See you, Reno."

"Later."

"G'night, Reno!" Marlene cried out.

"'Night!" he called back as he made for the door without turning around. He was unable to keep down a smile for the way he knew Cloud had to be glaring after him just now. Tifa wasn't his yet, but this just made his day…

"Reno."

The redhead stopped just at the door, figuring he should have expected that. He steeled himself and pivoted on foot to look back and see the blonde catching up to him and glaring with such hostile outrage. The Turk in turn wore an expression of extreme concern, to deliberately understate Cloud's apparent mood. "You seem a bit… flustered," Reno said with incredible mildness (he remembered that Tseng used to do this to him whenever he was very angry, and he thought it might drive the hero up the wall as well). "Is something wrong?"

"Who do you think you are?" Cloud demanded, keeping his voice down.

"A patron," Reno replied simply, turning his body the rest of the way so that he could face him. Their severe dislike of each other was mutual, but unfortunately Cloud was not clever enough to be very subtle about anything.

"We're closed," the hero said, his freakish mako-blue eyes further narrowing, "and you're full of it. I know what you're really here for."

"Yeah?" the redhead responded, remaining guarded and cool, though the blonde didn't miss the challenge in it. "What's that?"

Cloud didn't stop glowering. "Stay away from Tifa," he said in a much more threatening tone.

"Ah," said Reno, who pretended to be very touched. "The overprotective childhood friend. It's very heartening, and just a little cliché."

"You can't just… hang around her!" the heated hero said scornfully, and with slight desperation. In his own head, he still seemed to be coming to terms with what he had just come home to witness.

"Why not?" said Reno with a decidedly defiant note. "She doesn't have a boyfriend, does she?" When the other man missed a beat, he went on. "Listen, Cloud. You may have saved the world once again, and you may have your fancy updated cutlery, and they may still let you get away without combing your hair—but that obviously doesn't mean you're man enough to make a move, which is all she wanted from you the whole time." He was not cowed into averting his gaze, and was actually very bold in his disdain. "It's really kinda sad, how she'd wait around forever for you..."

"What's between us," Cloud cut in, "is—is none of your business. And I know how special Tifa is. But I think she's too forgiving. She doesn't feel like she can blame anyone for anything that happened before… but at least I know not to excuse someone who's acting a little too proud for who he is."

The redhead barely sighed through his teeth as his eyes cast upward. "What're you talkin' about now?..."

Cloud stepped up to get into Reno's face, which annoyed him severely. "I'm talking about the fact that," he began low and detestably, "you still have the nerve to waltz in here, in that suit, and hang around Tifa when you crushed her friends at Sector 7, and act friendly to Marlene when you almost killed her, too." He paused, considered him with hard eyes; he had become quite calm. "Do you even know why Denzel is an orphan?"

Reno's aggravation was barely showing through. "I don't know, hero. Why's that?"

"He's also from Sector 7," Cloud explained, barely curbing his scorn. "And he had a family, but you dropped a PLATE on their heads." He waited to see his reaction; the redhead didn't give him the satisfaction of one, as he was no longer looking at him. "Do you really think Tifa would betray her son like that? Even more—" he was becoming almost feverish in letting him hear it, "—Why should she condescend to you when you're obviously so ignorant of what you've done to everyone here?"

Reno said nothing as he continued to look away, a dark gaze for the red smiles at his eyes, with his dignity in his posture, acting impatient and rather as if he weren't listening.

"What have you got to be smug about?" Cloud asked him. "You're fooling yourself if you think you can waltz in here and win her over and expect it to be like nothing ever happened... I won't let you near her again, but maybe it's all right, because nothing could come of it, anyway—"

"I'm outta here," Reno said in dismissal somehow without heat; he was sick of hearing him. He turned to go, but found himself stumbling out onto the street as Cloud gave him a shove. Righting himself, he whirled back to face the door, which had already slammed shut and locked. "Jackass," he said loudly, and hoped he heard.

Outside it smelled like cold and exhaust. He looked annoyed as he turned his head up and down the lane, for the moment slightly dazed or aimless as to where he was headed.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and crossed the street, watching the pavement in front of him with his shoulders squared narrow and rigid. Under failed light, into near darkness, he cut through an alley, cursing him under his breath. He was no longer considering the ground as he thought of Tifa, then Marlene, then Denzel… then Tifa…

And he kicked a trash can clear out of the alley, with a sharp and shuddering aluminum report, because damn if that idiot was right, damn it if he could remember two years ago, when he planted the bomb at the pillar and he was so proud and he wore it proud—when his hands were at the wires and she begged him to stop and he wouldn't have heeded her for the world.

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Notes: I think the idea for this came about when I was thinking about the way the Turks acted in Advent Children. From looking at fandom, I guess a lot of us thought that the post-Meteor Reno would be all washed-up and bitter and angsty. In the movie, he was just as confident as ever, the same exact person, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that he's still utterly oblivious to what his work has done to families and children like Denzel. So I thought that if he still doesn't feel the least bit guilty for anything, what could make him finally get it?

Sabe asked for a ReTi (which is, uhh... about the only part of her request I honored, but then again it could be possibly one-sided), and it all fell together from there. As I worked on this I realized that with Tifa, his regret could all be centralized in that one action he took at the Sector 7 plate. It's obvious that he's so proud of being a Turk, but I wrote this as a possible way that he could see what he's forfeit at the same time. The "holy hell" bit in the summary is of course a reference to what a SOLDIER tells Reno in the game, which I didn't quite get but always took to mean, "you're really gonna get it!" Except that this time it's not just flowers he's trampled.

Er.. I promise I'll write something happier next time. Thanks so much, Sabe, for your patience! Well, I'm grateful to everyone, really, because I know that it can be like pulling teeth to get something out of me. :) I'm interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on this. Thanks again!