A/N: Thanks to everyone for their support! I'm so glad to hear you're all enjoying! :D
Sorry if there's some OOC, I'm not sure if there is but I try my best to make them stay in character unless I make it funny/parody! :D
Disclaimer: I own nothing and please no rude reviews!
Tifa for the day
Rated: T
Characters: Cloud, Tifa, Denzel, Marlene
Setting: Seventh Heaven, sometime after ACC
Tifa For The Day
Tifa woke up, her head felt like someone was pounding it with a hammer, her nose was clogged and her throat was sore.
"Sick or not, I'm not going to just sit here in bed all day!" Tifa told herself, wincing a bit at how husky her voice sounded.
Tifa hated being lazy and useless. Now that they were starting to become like a real family, Tifa was to play the mother part.
The mother part was to look after, cook, clean, and care for everyone right? Well how could she do that when she was sick!?
The answer to that was she couldn't. That's why she had to just ignore it, she was a trooper, and a little cold couldn't stop her.
However, as soon as Tifa got up from bed, the entire room started to spin violently, everything span around her so fast that she had to lay back down.
She groaned, throwing her head back against her pillows which was a bit to fast because now all she could see was black and her head was starting to pound.
Tifa held her head In her hands and groaned, her voice cracking.
"Oh dear, I really am si-" was all Tifa got out before she started to have a violent coughing fit, that sounded just as raspy as her voice.
This is what I get for pulling out all those weeds around Aerith's Church in the rain yesterday! She thought to herself, but lately her and the rest of the gang have visited the Church more often to repair it for their beloved friend.
Tifa winced at the series of tapping outside her bedroom door, causing her ears to ring loudly. Her voice was way to sore to speak so she just coughed in response, hoping that whoever was behind the door would get the message.
"Tifa?" The voice asked from behind the door. It was Cloud, and he sounded concerned.
No! Reno! Who else would be in our bedroom at seven in the morning? Tifa thought to herself with a slight roll of her eyes but she decided to respond anyways, Cloud was never the type to just walk in on her without knocking, even if they've been together for some time now.
"Come in..." Tifa rasped quickly pulling her mouth into her forearm to cough loudly.
The door opened instantly,before she could even blink Cloud was sitting at the edge of the bed besides her. He gently rubbed her back with one of his gloved hands and waited for her coughing fit to be over. There wasn't much he could do and he couldn't think of anything to say...as usual.
"I feel...awful..." Tifa said after she had finally finished coughing, weakly resting her head against Cloud's shoulder and sniffing loudly to take in his scent but her nose was so congested she couldn't smell anything.
"I can see that, you better stay in bed." Cloud replied, his fingers messaging her scalp tenderly. He knew that was the trick to helping Tifa fall asleep when she couldn't or when she did not want too.
"But...the bar..." Tifa said hoarsely as her eyelids abruptly closed.
"I'll handle it, the kids too." Cloud said gently grabbing Tifa's arms to help her lay back down on the bed, she didn't fight back and she didn't argue. Tifa was so drowsy she didn't have the strength to move.
Easier than I thought, Cloud said to himself as he slowly got up from the bed to walk out of their room and shut the door softly behind them. He then made his way downstairs to were the board of sticky notes was, the sticky notes or tacked pieces of paper was the daily chores that Tifa always set up before she went to bed.
Cloud nearly had a heart attack once he saw the list of his chores, now usually Cloud didn't have to do much except for run deliveries but combined with Tifa's list of chores which was:
Set Table
Make Breakfast
Clean Up Table
Wash dishes
Put Away Dishes When Dry
Wash Sink
Wash Counter Tops
Wash Tables
Wash Bar's Floor
Put Away Clothes
Sew Cloud's shirt
Set Table
Make Lunch
Do Marlene's Hair
Bring Marlene to Ballet
Help Denzel With His Math Homework
Organize Closet
Dust the Chimney
Clean Windows
Pick Up Marlene From Ballet
Start Dinner
Set Table
Clean Up Table
Wash Dishes
Put Away Dishes When Dry
Wash Sink
Wash Counter Tops
Get Kids Ready For/To Bed
Pack Kid's Lunches For School
Go to bed! :)
The only chore that seemed pleasant to Cloud was the last one, he hasn't done a single thing on that list and he was already tired! He wasn't even sure if he could get passed the second chore on the list!
Make Breakfast
Make Breakfast!? Cloud could hardly cook toast without burning it! But Tifa was always there for him, now it was his turn. He just hoped that he'd be helpful and not end up burning down the place!
"We have a fire extinguisher around here... somewhere..." Cloud thought to himself as he ripped the note off from the board.
"Why would we need the fire extinguisher, Cloud?"
"Huh?" Cloud whirled around and looked slightly down to see Denzel in his pj's with his hair messy and full of bed head, and Marlene by his side still in her nightie cradling a teddy bear stuffed animal in her little arms.
"Um...So I don't burn the place down from using the stove." Cloud replied awkwardly scratching the back of his head as the two children studied him carefully.
"Why isn't Tifa making us breakfast?" Marlene asked.
"Tifa's sick." Cloud replied before bringing his eyes back down to the list of chores, or in Clouds case, list of death.How in Gaia was he going to fit in his Delivery routes when he had all this stuff needed to be done? He'd just have to postpone them.
Marlene and Denzel got on their tip-toes to read it too, being curious like most children.
Denzel's dark blue eyes widened once he caught a good sight of the chores written on the list.
"You've got to do ALL of that!"
"Mmmhhmm." Cloud replied, not thrilled at all.
"Is that what Tifa does everyday!?" Marlene added looking up at her guardian curiously.
""Mmmhhmm." Cloud repeated.
"Is that all your going to say!?" Marlene asked following him and Denzel into the bar.
""Mmmhhmm." Cloud repeated once more.
The first ten things on the list weren't so bad as Cloud expected, cleaning the bar was nothing he couldn't handle and it was just luck that Tifa had leftover Waffles from the other morning for the children that he just had to pre-heat for them, and at least the bar was closed for the day since The Seventh Heaven was never opened on Sunday.
The rest on the list couldn't be as bad, right?
Wrong.
The next thing on the death list was for Cloud to sew his shirt.
"How the hell do you sew!?" Cloud wondered out loud as his gloved fingers shook violently when he tried to slide the string through the tiny loop of the needle. He growled when he realized he still had his gloves on, he quickly shed them off his hands before picking the needle and the piece of string back up in his fingers, but once again, he was having a difficult time.
To his luck, Marlene was laying on the floor by his feet coloring and humming a sweet tune to herself. It calmed Cloud's nerves a little to see the girl so happy, he didn't want to bother her either but he'd be there forever doing the same thing if he didn't ask.
"Hey Marlene...do you...think you can help me?" Cloud asked the girl, feeling pretty idiotic as he held up the needle and piece of string in his hands.
Marlene smiled and placed the purple crayon she was using before skipping over to a very bewildered Cloud.
"Sewing?" She asked as she took the needle and string for him, Cloud just nodded in response as he watched her work the string through the loop of the needle faster than a bee and how quickly she dipped the needle in his shirt than back out than back in, repeating the process a few moments before she stopped and handed it back over to him.
He raised a brow. "That was quick!"
Marlene giggled. "It's not finished! I was just showing you how! You'll never learn if you don't try Cloud!"
"What?" Cloud asked in disbelief, feeling like more of a child and Marlene was more of the adult.
She only giggled again before returning back over to her coloring book.
"You can do it, Cloud! I know you can!"
"Humph. You sound like Tifa." Cloud replied but picked up his shirt and started to sew, repeating what he saw Marlene do, but for some reason...it wasn't going so well.
His eyebrows furrowed as he struggled to sew in a straight line, his hands started to shake once more causing the needle to get caught in the fabric. Cloud scowled and tried to tug the needle back into its place but instead, ripping his shirt even more. It made a loud tearing noise.
Marlene looked up from her coloring book, seeing Cloud with an irritated expression holding his shirt that looked more like a rag.
"Just Perfect." Cloud growled getting up to his feet. "I'm gonna go check on Tifa."
Cloud watched Tifa sip the cough syrup and pop a few Advil's in her mouth for her headache. It didn't take her long to notice the torn shirt in his hand.
"What happened?" She asked trying to fight off a smile.
Cloud growled in response and just shook his head.
Tifa held out her hands and Cloud gave her the shirt hesitantly.
"You sure?"
"I've got nothing else to do. Is everything alright?"
"Mmm...how about you? Need anything?"
"Another blanket? My toes are still chilly." Tifa replied wiggling her toes in Clouds lap, he smiled and bent over to kiss her foot tenderly before he left the room to get her another blanket, however before he got a chance to reach the closet, Denzel grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the bar counter.
"Denzel?" Cloud asked baffled as the boy hopped on one of the stools and opened up a binder.
"My math homework! We're doing prime numbers!"
"Prime...numbers?" Cloud echoed, racking his brain for what a prime number was but it seemed so long ago since he was in school last. All he could remember was getting shoved into a wall by kids bigger than him or being called "Chocobo-head" or "freak"
"Yeah, and multiplication! They are so hard! Okay, so here is the first problem!" Denzel replied shoving his paper in Cloud's face. Cloud raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes to get a better look at the problem.
12x12
What the hell? How am I suppose to know that? What's up with the X!? What does THAT mean?
Cloud thought to himself as he studied the problem.
"Ccccclllllllloooooouuuuuuuudddddddd!" Marlene shouted running into the room in her pink tutu and tank top, in her hands was her ballet shoes and stockings, and between her teeth she held a ribbon and hair tie.
Cloud set Denzel's homework down to take a quick glance at the list:
Set Table
Make Lunch
Do Marlene's Hair
Bring Marlene to Ballet
"Oh damn. What time is your class Marlene?" Cloud asked rushing over to the stool she was sitting on to help her get her feet in the stockings.
"At two!"
Cloud took a quick glance at the clock, it was ten minutes from now.
"Damn it! I didn't even make you two lunch yet!" Cloud cried out, now forcing the fabric over the girls legs. making it look like she had lumps on them. Her hair and shoes didn't look better, instead of bows on her shoes, they were sloppy knots, along with the ribbon in her hair that was literally in a messy bun slowly falling out into a pony tail.
The two children watched the ex-SOLDIER move swiftly in the bar, pulling out a loaf of bread and some turkey. They're eyes widened as Cloud frantically tossed slices of turkey meat onto their sandwiches and shoved it in their hands along with a juice box.
They've never seen a meal made so quickly. Not even sandwiches.
"Cloud! You still have to help me with my homework!" Denzel said as he and Cloud got back to the Seventh Heaven after dropping Marlene off to her class. She wouldn't have made it if Cloud didn't speed on the Fenrir. Boy did he love that bike.
"Yes...I will let me just get this blanket for Tifa." Cloud replied giving the boy a quick pat on the head as he made his way over to the closet. Denzel sat at the bar stool and waited patiently for him to return when suddenly a series of loud crashing and cursing caused the boy to dart out of his seat and over to the closet were Cloud was laying on his back buried in a heap of blankets, hats,gloves, socks, and more.
"Okay...heres a note...always grab the blanket folded on the TOP!" Cloud roared shooting up to his feet and kicking all the junk off of him. Denzel watched him with wide eyes as he stormed up the stairs with a fleece blanket tucked under one arm.
"Do you want me to clean this up?" Denzel called after him.
"YES!"
It was around six and Cloud was over tired, and fortunately the place was all in one piece. It was a blessing. Now the children sat in front of Cloud who was starting to doze off with his handful of plates, they were about to start the table for dinner.
"Cloud are you okay?" Marlene asked gently shaking his arm, Cloud's eyes snapped open and he shook his head slightly to wake up.
"Yeah...yeah...what would you two like for dinner? Something easy I hope?"
The children laughed.
"Long day?"
Cloud shrugged.
Marlene and Denzel looked at one another, they were both trying to think of something easy as possible for him to cook. They also agreed to do the dishes and tuck themselves in bed tonight.
"Mac and cheese?" Marlene suggested over to Denzel in a whisper, Cloud was to busy trying to keep himself awake to notice. He didn't know why he was so worn out, this was a piece of cake to fighting Sephiroth!
Denzel shook his head. "Something easier, how about those Chicken nuggets you heat up in the microwave?"
"Yeah!" Marlene nodded her head before rushing over to the freezer to pull out the package of chicken nuggets. Cloud stifled a yawn with one of his hands as Denzel took the plates from him and quickly set the table.
"These!" Marlene said shoving the package in Cloud's arms. Cloud nodded before he poured out the nuggets into a large serving plate, the kids got their drinks as he set the timer on them for the microwave. Then they swiftly ran up to their bedroom to change in their pj's before heading back down to the kitchen for their dinner.
"Thanks Cloud!" Denzel said happily chewing on a nugget.
Cloud rubbed his eyes lazily. "Mmhm."
Marlene put down her nugget to wrap her arms around Cloud's waist, hugging him tightly. "Thanks Cloud!"
Cloud tensed from the sudden contact but relaxed quickly and patted the girl on the head.
"Mmhm..." He wanted sleep, maybe it was figuring out all the math for Denzel's homework that got him.
"Is that all you're going to say?" Denzel asked.
"Bedtime?" Cloud drawled and the three of them laughed.
"Almost!" The children replied, Cloud watched them eat with tired eyes, it was a long day. However, he wouldn't want it any other way if it were spending time with them and helping Tifa out, because that's what a real family was like.
Marlene and Denzel helped wash up after dinner, giggling when Cloud absently put a wash clothe in the freezer by mistake. He wasn't as organize and as good as Tifa was with cooking and caring for them, but they were just thrilled to spend time with their spiky-headed hero.
Cloud's eyes widened when the children threw their arms around him tightly.
"Goodnight Cloud, we love you!" They coursed together before racing off to their room.
Cloud was a bit stunned, he wasn't use to hearing those words and it was going to take him awhile to get used to it. But it was good to know he was loved and that he was somewhat useful.
A small smile but tired smile appeared on his lips as he slowly started up the stairs, hunching over a little. It seemed like hours since this moment would come of him just falling into his and Tifa's warm bed and falling asleep.
He was too tired to notice Tifa wasn't in bed when he entered their room. His mind was blank, and he just collapsed onto the bed, burying his face in the pillows and allowing his eyelids to close. He wasn't planning on moving from that spot or changing out of his clothes either.
When Cloud was close to dozing off, he heard the door to their bathroom open from the mako infusions inside him. Tifa smiled softly as she walked over to her lover who was sprawled out on their bed. It was a shame Cloud was missing out on the sight of her in an over-sized shirt of his but he'd see it in the morning.
"Tired?" Tifa poked his back gently.
"Hmm." Cloud muffled against the pillows.
"What was that?" Tifa giggled crawling in bed besides him she turned of the light by her bedside before scooting close to Cloud and rubbing her foot against his.
"Hmm." Cloud repeated, he was slipping out of consciousness now.
Tifa smiled before pressing a kiss to his cheek, that caused Cloud to wake instantly. He slowly moved his face out from the pillows to look down at her, a few of his spikes were hanging in his face.
"Thank you." Tifa said lifting a hand to brush his spikes away from his beautiful blue eyes.
Cloud shrugged before allowing his head back against the pillows and pulling her close to him, he entangled his arms around her waist and nuzzled his face in her neck, breathing in her shampoo.
"Just showing you how much you mean to me." Cloud whispered closing his eyes once more.
Tifa felt warmth fill up her heart before she closed her eyes as well.
That was his way of telling her he loves her.
"I love you too, Cloud." Tifa whispered before falling asleep with a smile on her face.
She was starting to feel better already.
A/N: Sorry, this was sort of long one-shot! Hope you all enjoyed! There will be many more! :P
Also I know that I made Cloud seem like he had no idea what do do with math, that's only because he's not very good at multitasking and has been running around all day XD