The sun's barely climbing out of the horizon when Tifa returns to the hotel room she shares with Cloud.
Her guesstimate tells her that the time's probably 5:45ish am.
The likelihood of Cloud being awake at this hour is zero, which would be a genuine relief to her. She doesn't want to spend another few hours dragging and dealing with the shitty awkwardness that's been happening between them.
Besides, she's been fucking another woman that got her into trouble with him the entire last night. There's no doubt that he would be able to sniff the smell of sweat and cum from her right off the bat.
She enters the hotel room, making sure that she shuts and locks the door as quietly as she possibly can. Cloud's an extremely light sleeper that you can wake him up with a single slight sound.
Sometimes she wonders if he's been a dog in his past life.
She tiptoes across the room and raises her chin to take a few peeks at the bed, expecting to see Cloud sound asleep.
"Hey."
She almost stumbles onto the floor at the sound of his voice.
Her eyes quickly dart towards the armchair, and there he is, still in the shirt and shorts he's wearing the last time she saw him.
It's almost like they've switched places.
He's now the one who's been waiting for her all night long in the musty hotel room, on the same miserable piece of furniture.
As soon as he rises up, she stops walking and waits for him to come closer. Her eyes never leave his until he's hovering in front of her.
He reaches out a hand and starts caressing one of her cheeks.
"Are you… alright?"
In these past few years, he's never spoken to her in that incredibly tender way. Hearing it prickles her chest with nostalgia. It's like the Cloud who's standing in front her now's reverted back to that thoughtful and loving Cloud of their good old times.
She nods, holding his hand that's on her face gently.
"Where have you… been?"
"I was… with Aerith."
He nods a couple of times.
He doesn't ask questions – doesn't ask about how, what and why. He simply nods before looking down onto the floor, or probably his toes.
He pulls her into a hug and buries his face onto her shoulder.
He feels really warm against her skin.
"Sorry… I'm sorry," he's mumbling, voice shaking like he wants to cry.
Tifa's just standing at where she is, speechless and dazed over the weird turn of events.
A sincere apology from him isn't what she envisioned when she's walking back to the hotel room. She expected more silent treatment, and then an ultimate confrontation where they'll accuse one another of being shitty and end whatever there is between them.
Even if none of that's going to happen, she's still planning to end them. What's there to keep when all they do is hurt one another?
But he's hugging her now so fiercely like she's his lifeline and all that she can think about are…
Those car rides he's given her when he found her alone in the streets, running away from home for the umpteenth time.
Those times when he used to clean and patch her bruises, or took her to the hospital for treatment when the damages on her body were too severe.
Those times when he lent his shoulders for her to cry on after breaking up with Emilio, Lester, Tyler, Reno, Rude, Rufus – who else? She can't recall all their names but it's just one cunt of a guy after another.
Those times when he willingly chose her over his family during the holidays because he knew she would be nothing but a sobbing mess if left on her own.
That time when he offered to live with her because she could no longer pay rent to Marle, and because, as he said, he couldn't take being apart from her anymore, even for a second.
That time when they first had sex and he promised afterwards that he'll make her happy.
He's loved her for the longest time.
And she just can't leave him when he still wants to hold onto her.
So she just wraps her arms around him, returning his hug and wordlessly telling him that she gets him.
She's letting him have her again.
But there's one thing that she won't give to him: her apology.
She's not sorry for falling in love with Aerith. She's not sorry for wanting Aerith as more than a friend. She's not sorry for having sex with Aerith after he's hurt her.
She's not sorry for not really being present when he's fucking her on the bed soon after. All of their fucking sessions will all feel performative and more like a chore to her from here onwards, but again, she's not sorry.
She'll stay but her heart will be too far gone.