An/N Hello!
I want to first say that this past week has been an absolute blessing on my soul. The incredible love and camaraderie of the Cloti fandom is something I really never expected. I've been in the FF7 fandom in one form or another on the internet since the late 90s, but I never was so heavily obsessed by the Cloti side of things until this past year, even though this has always been my ship (when i was a dumbass teenager i was more obsessed with the hot ass Shinra guys, but whatevs, I mean, they are still hot, and I'm still obsessed, so what am I even saying? goddamnit). But Cloti really snagged me in this shitty 2020, and I have to admit, the support and the love and the GLORIOUS content from everyone this past week and pretty much every fucking day fills me with so much joy, you have no idea.
This is a quick one-shot in response to a poke from Luxa1997, who suggested I write a fic based on this gorgeous art /Baka_neearts/status/1319233571459125248?s=20 by the forever amazing Ria ( Baka_neearts).
This piece is a sort of follow up to what I imagined the events in that photo depicted. I hope, Luxa, that you enjoy, along with everyone else!
Huge shoutout to Spaceodementia for beta'ing this at the drop of a hat. I don't deserve her, y'all. But she is mine and I love her. And she is one of the best fucking writers in this fandom so go check her out ASAP if you haven't already.
Hope you enjoy this little bit of nonsense my brain spit out at 9pm on a Saturday night.
Gasoline Hearts and Small Desires
"Tifa…. Tifa, wake up, please."
Cloud's ears were still ringing with the sounds of the bullets that had rained down on them just minutes ago on the pillar, moments before it had self-destructed and brought the entire plate crashing down on the Sector7 slums below. They had escaped from the pillar just seconds before it imploded, the flames of the explosions searing their backs as they held tight to a pulley and chain that carried them into the slums of Sector6.
Tifa had not been fully conscious during their escape, and Cloud had to carry her and hold her tight against his body when Barret secured the chain to the three of them before they jumped. She had been bloodied and knocked out, her skin torn through by an onslaught of bullets that shred her delicate flesh into ribbons.
Cloud had been engaged with another helitrooper when it happened, only moments after Reno and Rude had abandoned the plate. It was just after Tseng's stern, smirking face appeared on the screen above the control dock to warn them that their lives were in peril, the countdown to the plate's crash echoing against the clamor of the firefight that erupted all around them. It was Barret's curse that alerted him to the exact moment that Tifa had fallen, dropping to her knees with a whimper that Cloud's enhanced hearing could detect even from where he stood twenty feet away.
His body reacted without the aid of his brain, moving in her direction, a snarl marring his face as he watched the bullets from the helicopter above spark the metal grating of the pillar's floor all around her. He had been too late, though, watching as some of them began to connect with her flesh, sending spurts of blood in every direction as she leaned forward on one hand, unable to protect herself from the incursion.
Cloud had fallen right behind her with a curse, crouching over her with his legs around her body, shielding her in the protective shell of his own as he held up his sword to block the volley of ammunition that poured violently from the turrets mounted to the Turks' chopper. As soon as he was at her side, she had fallen backward against his chest, her arm falling limp across her lap as she drifted into unconsciousness. Barret had quickly moved in with an assist, his gunarm firing back at the chopper and distracting Reno and Rude enough that they turned their attention to him, giving Cloud a small window of opportunity to gather Tifa into his arms and pull her away to safety behind a couple of gas canisters.
The anger that he had felt staring down at Tifa's bloodied, broken form in his arms was unlike anything that Cloud could conjure in recent memory, and he had been angry a lot lately. He felt it coursing through his blood, instilling in him a bloodthirsty rage that was eager for vengeance, and his eyes had glowed vividly with viridian when he turned back to look up at the helicopter that hovered and spun in the black sky above Midgar, Barret assaulting it as he screamed and swore.
The Turks had quickly abandoned them, though, the pillar seconds from dropping, and Cloud had gathered his wits and shoved his fury away just enough for him to pick Tifa up again and follow Barret to where he'd found their means of survival.
Now, after crashing into Sector6's Undercity, Cloud found himself kneeling over Tifa where she lay in the dirt among the wreckage that had fallen from the destruction of Sector7. Vaguely, he could hear Barret's gruff voice as it broke into sobs, somewhere in the distance behind him, the thunder of fist against metal as his comrade's own rage began to fall unfiltered from his mouth, soon deteriorating into desolation at the realization of what had occurred on the other side of that wall.
Cloud couldn't worry about that, though. Not when Tifa was laid in front of him, her body twisted and covered in blood, her flesh torn open from the graze of bullets. Her shirt was ripped, and her hair was a tangled plaster of black ink around her body, sticking to the sweat that lined her skin.
"Tifa," he tried again, cocking his head to the side, gently brushing her hair out of her face. But her eyes remained closed, and she stayed unresponsive, the only indication she was even alive was the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.
"Fuck," Cloud heard himself swear as he stared down at her, his leather-bound fingers tracing the outline of her face, smoothing over her skin that was covered in ash.
Cloud felt the panic rise along with the bile in his stomach, setting his nerves into a whirlwind and spiking his brain with pain. In the days since he'd returned to Midgar, he found himself in a perpetual state of anger and annoyance and anxiety, all of it blending into a thick fog in his skull that left him feeling dazed and confused throughout most of his waking hours. And ever since that first mission with AVALANCHE, when they'd taken out the reactor in Sector1 and attracted the attention of Shinra, the despair and the confusion began to build. It left him seeing fiery apparitions in his mind, befuddling him and making him think he was actually seeing and feeling things that weren't there.
Sephiroth.
Nibelheim.
Dark, empty mako tanks, his skin cold and his heartbeat slow.
But Tifa. It was only Tifa who could calm this despondent rage, only Tifa who could settle the wildness that threatened to throw him out of character anytime someone looked at him too long or in the wrong way. Tifa was a steady rock that held true despite the crashing rush of water downstream in his brain. She was a support pillar, steady and reliable. It was in the warmth of her deep, scarlet eyes that shimmered and sparkled whenever she looked at him. It was in the way that she would lean forward, her lips parted and her brow furrowed with concern whenever he would bring his hand to his head at the onset of pain. It was in the way that her hand would brush over his forearm, her fingertips light, the feathers in her glove tickling his skin when she touched him consolingly.
And now, the most precious person in his life was laying on the ground, close to death.
I can't keep failing you. I promised.
Thinking quickly, Cloud raised an arm, closing his eyes in concentration. He conjured a Cura spell, the materia in his bracer glowing faintly as the magic was activated. It transferred to her with a green wave, washing over her skin and sealing some of the more serious wounds that were carved into her flesh.
But still, she didn't open her eyes.
"She alright?" he heard Barret's gruff voice behind him.
Blinking back the embarrassing sting of tears that Cloud felt forming under his eyelids, he turned and looked up at Barret, who towered over him, shadowed by the sun lamps overhead. He had torn off his shades, and Cloud could see that his hazel-brown eyes were also misted over.
"She's alive," he finally answered, turning back to Tifa, brushing his hand over her forehead again, watching her breathe. "But she's not waking. I just used a Cura on her. It helped a little, but it's not enough."
"Goddamnit!" Barret raged, slamming his good fist against a nearby pile of rubble, startling Cloud with the sudden outburst and causing him to wince.
"We need to move," Cloud said in response after a moment, and he scooped Tifa up in his arms, careful not to move too swiftly or irritate any of the still open wounds on her flesh. As soon as he rose to his feet again, Tifa's head lolled to his shoulder, and she moaned as her cheek greeted his sweater.
Tifa was light in his arms, her warmth flooding over the front of his body, and even though she was unconscious, the sensation was still managing to instill a sense of calmness over him where violence and rage had previously lived. He held her close, looking up at Barret, who was staring down at her with concern before his eyes met Cloud's.
"Marlene," was all he said, and Cloud just shook his head.
"Marlene… she might be okay." He looked back down at Tifa. "Tifa had Aerith get her to safety before the plate fell."
"So where the hell is she?" Barret demanded, and Cloud winced again, aggrieved by his bluster and his tone.
"We should get to Sector5," Cloud answered as calmly as he could. "Aerith's mother's house. It's the only logical solution."
Swearing, Barret spun around without another word, making his way for the road that led to Sector5.
Cloud sighed, following behind him, cradling Tifa carefully in his embrace as they traversed the winding, dirt paths that cut through Sector6. He listened to the sound of Tifa's breathing as he carried her, ignoring the stares of Undercity residents as they passed through neighborhoods that were teeming with interest and shock in the wake of the devastation and the explosions in the Sector next door. Even Wall Market seemed to pulse with a new, nervous energy, patrons and clients no longer enjoying its wares and delights but rather standing outside, murmuring quietly as they stared up at the red streaks in the sky.
"You sure Marlene is with this woman?" Barret thundered over his shoulder at him when they'd passed Wall Market and were making their way through another shantytown.
"No," Cloud answered truthfully, and this sent Barret off into another expletive-laden rage, cussing so loudly that nearby residents ceased their conversations about the plate drop to stare with mouths agape at him.
As much as Cloud was worried about Marlene - and knew that Tifa would be, too - he couldn't think about anything but the warmth in his arms that was making his heart ache. All he wanted was for Tifa to be okay, to not be in any pain, to look up at him with rubies in her eyes, offering him that cute, shy smile that made his heart eclipse.
Cloud admitted to himself that he was having a hard time conjuring a lot of his memories. There were wide gaps in his historical record, chunks of time where he couldn't find anything but black. And everything was bordered by pain and anguish, the memories that he did retain flooding his awareness with vestiges of hurt from long ago in his past.
Tifa inhabited a part of his memory that was sheltered and protected, and the more time that he spent with her, the more of those memories were unlocked, stirring feelings inside of him that he didn't understand. He'd catch glimmers of them from time to time, flashbacks that reminded him of who she had once been to him, but they were always foggy and unclear, disjointed from fuller pictures.
But it was the memory of their promise that had changed everything for him, and now, the feelings of attraction that he had naturally felt since she'd found him in Midgar had shifted away from his inability to ignore her pretty face or her dark red eyes or the toned curves of her body. Instead, they had shifted to something deeper, to something that Cloud knew was buried deep inside of him, that made him blush every time he thought about it.
So most of the time, he tried not to think about it, instead steeling his emotional defenses to the world to keep from inviting any further pain or confusion, his attitude cold and careless to everyone who looked in his direction.
Yet Tifa was the only one who could break past it, and he didn't know why; why he found himself turning so soft with her, why his voice always dropped an octave when they spoke, why his heart pounded and why he found himself sometimes even flirting with her.
No matter what any of it meant, he knew that he had to protect her, knew that he had to take care of her. He'd promised.
They reached Sector5 less than an hour later, and Cloud could feel the fatigue of the night's events begin to settle over him. When they made it into the Sector's proper, Cloud took the lead, Barret grumbling behind him as they pushed past residents, deeper into Sector5 where Aerith's house lay.
"What kinda shit is this?" Barret woofed as they climbed the wooden path that led to Aerith's home. "I ain't never seen so many flowers and green shit in my life."
Cloud didn't bother answering, mostly because he didn't feel like entertaining Barret's nonsense, but also because he really didn't have a good answer. He himself still didn't understand how Aerith managed to grow so many flowers on this property in the slums, or why Elmyra's house was so much nicer than everyone else's in the Sector, or where the hell the waterfall behind the house even originated.
Instead, he knocked on the front door, shifting Tifa's weight in his arms a little, hearing her moan quietly again as if in pain, her hand subconsciously gripping at his sweater, even as she remained knocked out.
It made Cloud's cheeks rise with warmth, made his heart begin to pound.
The door opened, and Elmyra appeared, wiping her hands on her apron. Her eyes narrowed the instant she saw Cloud, before they dropped to the girl he was carrying in her arms. She stared at Tifa for a moment, absorbing her injuries and the limp state of her body before she looked up at Cloud again.
"Oh. It's you," she said, stepping out of the way. Cloud opened his mouth to say something, but realized that the words on the tip of his tongue were nasty, and so he bit them back and simply stepped inside the house without saying anything at all. Elmyra held the door open, her eyes widening slightly as she drank in Barret's tall, wide frame as he ducked his way into the house.
"Is Marlene here?" was the first thing he said.
Elmyra closed the door, and Cloud watched the way her eyes narrowed again as she folded her arms over her chest, staring up at Barret, who towered almost two feet over her.
"And who are you?"
"I'm her goddamn father," Barret roared in response, his anger hitting the floodgates, and Cloud winced again. He wasn't particularly fond of Aerith's mother, but he also found Barret to be unnecessarily crude.
Elmyra, however, had a will of steel and was not fazed by his outburst. "The girl is safe. I've just fed her and sent her upstairs to get some rest. She's very traumatized."
"I need to see her," Barret announced, and formalities were abandoned as he turned and made for Elmyra's stairs, not even bothering to ask her for directions or permission.
Elmyra had opened her mouth to protest, but Barret's long strides had carried him out of the room so quickly it became fruitless.
Instead, she returned the focus of her sharp gaze to Cloud again, dropping her line of sight to where he continued to hold Tifa against his chest.
"What's going on here?" she demanded.
Cloud inhaled deeply. He realized, with great annoyance and a little bit of panic, that he was going to have to explain the entire messy situation they were in to Aerith's mother. He was almost certain that she was going to blame him for all of it, and part of him figured she would be right to.
"Shinra collapsed the plate on Sector7," he began flatly, the words foreign and unbelievable as he spoke them. "And they took Aerith. We are going after her, but…" he looked down at Tifa.
There was a long pause, Elmyra drinking in the implications of his statement, turning them over in her mind. She stiffened slightly, but she was not quite as surprised as Cloud suspected she would be. Instead, she glanced back down at Tifa.
"She looks badly hurt," she stated the obvious, flaring Cloud's perpetual headache with annoyance.
"Yeah, I healed her with a materia, but she needs rest and to have the rest of these wounds cleaned." He stopped there, considering his next words. He could faintly hear the rumbles of Barret's voice upstairs through the floorboards as he greeted Marlene.
"Can we stay here tonight?" Cloud asked. "Before we-"
Elmyra sighed so loudly that he cut himself off. "I suppose so. And I wouldn't worry about Aerith too much. Shinra will never hurt her."
"You don't know that," Cloud protested. If he remembered anything at all about his past, it was that Shinra was not to be trusted. Ever.
"Trust me," Elmyra continued, her hands falling to her hips. "She is too valuable to them." She softened her expression slightly as her eyes dropped to Tifa again, and she expelled another deep sigh.
"You can have the spare bedroom. I assume that man will want to sleep in the room I put Marlene in. You can use the bathroom to clean her up. I've some salves and bandages under the sink."
Relieved, Cloud nodded his thanks, turning to make for the stairs as Tifa pulled at his sweater again.
His heart still loud in his chest, Cloud looked around the upper floor of Elmyra's home, hearing Barret and Marlene's voices through one of the bedroom doors. He decided not to disturb them, and anyway, his most pressing need was to finish healing Tifa.
He soon located the bathroom, and he pushed the door open, finding it small and cramped but workable. His arms were finally beginning to ache from carrying Tifa for so long, and he spotted the tub, carefully placing her into it. Her body remained limp when he laid her back against the porcelain, her head tipping to one side, her face breaking out into a slight frown.
Now in the lighting of the bathroom, Cloud became aware of how dirty they both were. Tifa was covered in cinder and ash and blood, and now in this tight, confined space, Cloud realized that they both smelled like iron and smoke. A shower was a really, really inviting idea, but Cloud wasn't sure how Elmyra would feel about that. They were already asking so much of her.
As if hearing his thoughts, a knock came at the door, followed by Elmyra's voice. She cleared her throat instead of calling his name, and Cloud left Tifa's side to open the bathroom door.
The woman's face was still pinched with consternation, but she was holding a carefully folded pile of linens in her hands. As Cloud opened the door, she lifted them up to him.
"Here," she offered. "All of you are filthy, and I'd rather you not get into my bedsheets in this condition. I found some of Aerith's things for her to wear, and some of my husband's old pajamas that you can borrow. I gave Marlene a bath earlier and gave her some of Aerith's old clothing. Unfortunately, I don't have anything nearly large enough to fit that man."
"Barret," Cloud informed her, finding himself constantly seeping into moody annoyance whenever he conversed with this woman.
Elmyra skimmed right past that piece of information, glancing over his shoulder to where Tifa lay in the tub.
"Is she still unconscious?"
Cloud looked back, nodding. "Yeah."
Elmyra folded her arms under her breasts again. "So, I assume you will be washing her, then?"
Cloud's cheeks darkened so deeply that he thought he felt his face melting off from the heat. Instantly, he averted his eyes from Elmyra, finding sudden, great interest in the tiled floor of the bathroom.
Elmyra persisted. "Is she someone special to you?"
Cloud was really starting to dislike Aerith's mother. "Um, I don't… it's - "
"What about Aerith?" Elmyra demanded.
Cloud's head snapped up, his eyes widening. Elmyra was staring at him with a purely expectant look on her face, her hazel-green eyes sizing him up as she waited.
How could a petite, middle-aged woman be so threatening?
"N-no," Cloud stammered in response, his face still warm. At his answer, Elmyra seemed visibly relieved, and her entire body relaxed, the tension slipping away.
"Good," she told him, scanning his uniform up and down again the way she had earlier that day when Aerith had first brought him over, and Cloud just stared at her in disbelief. "The last thing she needs is another one."
She glanced over at Tifa again, shaking her head a little before she continued. "I will let you handle your business how you see fit. Just please, do not track any of that dirt in my beds. Leave all of the dirty clothes on the floor in here. I'll have them washed by tomorrow morning."
"Th-thanks," Cloud found himself stuttering.
Elmyra only offered him a curt nod, backing away from the door. "I'm going to ask that man to sleep on the floor tonight," she informed him. "I cannot have my sheets soiled."
Barret, Cloud wanted to shout, but he kept his mouth shut, watching as Elmyra disappeared, closing the door behind her.
Cloud turned, facing Tifa, who was still passed out in the tub, one arm draped over her belly, her hair a dark river of black around her shoulders, contrasted with the smooth white of the tub. He thought of Elmyra's words again, and instantly, his cheeks grew hot at the notion of disrobing Tifa and washing her naked body. There was no way he could do that without shattering into a million pieces from the embarrassment.
Goddamnit, Tifa. Please, just wake up.
But she didn't of course, and Cloud stared at her for an eternity, deliberating his next move. He thought about rinsing Tifa off while she was still dressed, but that would defeat the purpose. He wondered if he could manage to get through all of this while keeping his eyes averted. Maybe he could cover her most intimate parts with a towel while he washed her clean.
At that thought, his eyes fell to her breasts, straining against the cotton of her tank, and instantly Cloud realized that he'd stopped breathing.
Still, this was an emergency situation. Tifa needed to be cleaned up and her wounds needed to be addressed, and she needed to rest in a warm bed so that the concussion or whatever had afflicted her brain could heal. He had to get over his embarrassment.
He and Tifa were friends. Best friends, even. He knew that they would both do whatever they had to in order to take care of one another. That much had become apparent to him in the way they fell together naturally as battle partners, always there to defend and have one another's backs. He knew that Tifa would easily do the same for him.
They were friends, and there was nothing for him to be embarrassed about.
Right?
Cloud flung his thoughts to the side and got to work, moving into SOLDIER mode, methodically gathering the first aid supplies before he crouched by the side of the tub.
Unfortunately, that facade did not last long, because just the sight of Tifa was unraveling him, forcing him to flush at the uncomfortable thought of peeling her clothes off of her. He inhaled deeply several times, trying to remember that this was a matter of serious importance and was not sexual or impure, had nothing to do with the way his heart was flopping in his chest or how his pants were suddenly feeling painful and tight.
Fuck. Pull yourself together.
Carefully, Cloud began to peel Tifa's clothing away, chanting inwardly to calm his nerves and distract himself. He started with her armor, pulling her gloves off and dismantling her armguards, carefully placing everything on the floor before rubbing the red, chafed skin that it had been covering with his palm. He moved next to her boots, unlacing them and pulling them away to drop onto the floor. He stared then at her legs, so long they took up nearly the entire tub, wrapped in those thick, shiny black thigh-high stockings. As he realized that he would have to pull them off, too, he felt himself flush again, forcing him to sit back against the tile for a moment, draping his arms over the tops of his knees.
He'd be lying if he ever said that he was not driven to pure distraction all of the time by the sight of her legs in those stockings. Every time they fought together, he would catch a glimpse of her kicking or somersaulting through the air, those legs high above her body, and his line of sight would drift to the white space of her thighs above that black fabric. Cloud couldn't imagine a sexier sight, and he hated himself for thinking about her in this way, knowing how embarrassed she would be if she knew and highly doubting she would appreciate it anymore than she appreciated the way the other men in Sector7 constantly ogled her.
This was only making his present task all the more difficult.
Get. It. Together.
Shaking his head and steeling himself, Cloud kneeled forward again and began to unwrap her legs, carefully pulling the stockings away. His fingers trembled as he moved, and he watched Tifa quietly shift against the tub when his fingers brushed along her skin. He found himself falling into a new panic, but she didn't open her eyes, instead letting her head fall to the opposite side.
He breathed slowly, drinking in her perfect, smooth legs once he pulled both thigh-highs off of her feet, the fabric torn and her flesh only marred in places by the gashes bullets left behind. Her legs were pale and shapely, the muscles perfectly toned from all of her fighting and hard work. And her feet. Cloud had not expected her feet to be so pretty, and he had definitely not expected for her toenails to be fucking painted. They were swathed with a dark blue color, and instantly Cloud's head was clouded over with mist as he thought about Tifa finding time to sit crouched over on her bed, quietly painting her toenails.
He shook his head out, not sure if he would be able to complete this task. He had half a mind to get up and just ask Elmyra to handle this, but he doubted that the woman would do so, and he didn't want to be a coward, either. He had promised Tifa that he would be there for her, and he was pretty sure that this moment counted as such.
Still, even as his fingers reached for the next piece of fabric, he realized that he could not do this, not when she was knocked out and his feelings were so dark and tempting, leaving him crumbling inside, and he knew that he couldn't go any further.
Instead, he sat back on the tile, shaking his head and dropping it into his hands, trying to figure out what he should do next.
"Cloud?"
Moments had passed before he heard her voice, tiny and tentative. He looked up to find her awake, looking up at him, her arms crossed over her belly. Her red eyes were glassy and shining, awareness slowly seeping back into them.
"Tifa," he breathed, terror seizing his heart and sending it into his throat.
"What happened?" She asked him softly, looking down at herself and the situation she found herself in, half naked and covered with bloody wounds in a strange tub, in a strange bathroom.
Cloud had been concussed a few times in his life, more than he cared to admit, actually. He knew the thick haze of confusion that one felt when trying to navigate through it. He knelt closer to the tub again, speaking slowly despite the way that his voice shook.
"You got hurt on the pillar," he began carefully. "You - fell, hit your head or something, but you've been knocked out for hours. Shinra took Aerith - so we brought you back to her house. Marlene and Barret are here, too. I wanted to clean you up so I could tend to your wounds, but…"
He blushed, trailing off at their current situation.
She noticed this, because she offered him a small smile. "Oh, I see…" She looked down at herself, and she too started to blush, before she turned back to look at him. "It's okay, Cloud."
He felt his heart palpitate. "What?" He asked stupidly, his tongue thick in his mouth.
"You can wash me, Cloud, it's okay," she told him, her voice even smaller. "I feel so dirty, and everything hurts. It's hard to move."
Cloud tried to breathe, but suddenly it was like he'd forgotten this very basic function. "Tifa…"
"I trust you, Cloud," she whispered to him, and he watched with a blend of fascination and terror as she carefully slid out of her skirt and shorts and tank, pulling her sports bra over her head, dumping everything outside of the tub. Cloud averted his eyes as soon as her breasts, heavy and full and peaked with pink, spilled out, not daring to let his gaze venture anywhere near the space between her thighs.
He heard more shuffling as she moved in the tub, his heart loud in his ear and his bloodstream a raging river that thundered through his senses when he realized that she had dropped all remaining articles of clothing onto the floor outside of the tub. He glanced up to find her leaning forward, turning the water on, adjusting it to the right temperature before she sat back again. He realized that she was grimacing as if in pain as she settled back against the porcelain.
"Please," she suddenly pleaded, her voice a slight whine. "Take care of me. I can't do it."
Cloud exhaled, feeling his insides implode, and he admitted to himself that the feelings he was now having were definitely, absolutely sexual in nature.
The tub was filling, and so Cloud nodded at Tifa as she closed her eyes again, relaxing her body into the water. Mercifully, the water blurred her nakedness as she sank into it, which made all of this slightly easier for Cloud to handle as he leaned forward to turn the spout off and retrieve a washcloth and some soap.
Slightly.
He avoided looking down at her body too closely as he wet and lathered the cloth. Instead, he focused on the precision of the task at hand, carefully washing her shoulders and neck, leaning her forward a little bit to reach her back. He blushed when he washed her arms and her front, careful not to irritate the gashes in her skin, keeping his eyes on her face so that he wouldn't be tempted to look down at her nakedness. He kept the same tactic when he moved to the lower half of her body, not daring to look down at her center where it was hidden beneath the bathwater as he moved to wash her legs.
When he'd finished, finding that she was sufficiently clean considering the circumstances, Cloud pulled the stopper from the tub. As the water began to drain, he heard Tifa coo at the head of the tub.
"Cloud?"
He looked up at her, finding her eyes heavy-lidded. She looked so sleepy, and all Cloud wanted was for her to rest.
"Yeah?"
"Come here?"
His heart stuttering, Cloud crawled over to her, leaning over the edge of the tub. As the water began to drain, more of her body became visible, and Cloud caught sight of her perfectly shaped pink nipples, and instantly, he turned away, looking straight in her eyes instead.
She brought her hands up to his cheeks, cupping his face in her palms.
"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for saving me, and for taking care of me."
Cloud could barely hear over the sound of his own heartbeat. "Tifa, I - "
"You've always been there for me," she continued, and then, to Cloud's great amazement, she was pulling him in and pressing her lips softly to his.
His brain misfired several times as he realized what was happening. Her lips were warm and pillowy, and he could feel the wetness at their seam where they were slotted over his. She didn't try to force her way into his mouth, content simply with the press of both their mouths together. It set his entire body on fire, inflaming him with more dangerous heat than the sight of her body ever had. It was sweet and tentative, but it was laced through and through with desire and something deeper, an emotional need that made the connection he'd always felt with her suddenly so much more real and apparent.
After a long moment, she pulled away, her cheeks bright pink. His mouth remained parted, stunned at what had just happened, at all of the deep-seated feelings of longing and need for her, feelings he'd tried and failed over the last several days to repress, bubbling up to the surface.
"Tifa…"
"Cloud, I'm so tired," she told him, dropping her head back against the tile.
Cloud nodded and stood up, careful not to let his eyes fall on her naked body. He grabbed a towel, holding it open before he turned back to look at her face.
"Can you stand?"
Tifa nodded, slowly pushing up to her feet. Cloud turned away, closing his eyes until she took the towel away from him and wrapped it around herself. He could see that some of the wounds that she had were puckered now from being submerged, red-rimmed and puffy.
He picked up the first aid kit at that thought, along with the pile of clothing that Elmyra had brought. Carefully, he held Tifa's arm, making sure she was steady as they walked out of the bathroom and crossed the hall together.
It was dark and quiet in the house, save for Barret's snoring that Cloud could hear even through the doorway of the guest room into the hallway. He shook his head, but figured after the day they'd had, it was no wonder that Barret was already knocked out, especially now that he knew that Marlene was safe.
Tifa held onto him, moving tentatively and wincing with every step as they made their way into the second guest room on the furthest end of the hall.
The room was dark, only the artificial starlight of the plate above and a pale sliver of moonlight from the cracks in the plate filtering into the room. There was one small bed, a desk and chair, and a simple armoire in one corner. Blue flowers lined the windowsill.
"You okay?" he asked her, seeing the pained look on her face as he closed the door behind him. He led her to the bed, and Tifa carefully took a seat on its edge.
"I'm just in a lot of pain," she admitted, looking down at her lap.
It tore Cloud up to hear that, ruined him to realize that she was hurting. He pulled up a chair to sit in front of her, opening the first aid kit on the bed.
"I'm gonna take care of it," he promised, and Tifa nodded at him, their eyes meeting, hers glimmering under the light that carouseled into the room from the window.
Fortunately, most of Tifa's wounds were on her extremities, which meant that she could keep her towel wrapped around her body while he worked. He doused a thick pad of cotton with a potion, pressing the healing tonic into the gashes and tears in her flesh to rejuvenate and heal. He then carefully smeared dabs of salve into her skin, covering each wound with a piece of gauze. If the potion did its job, she would mostly be healed by morning.
He stood up, and she offered him a grateful smile. He returned it with only one corner of his lips turning up, his face warming again.
He pointed to the pile Elmyra had left. "Elmyra, Aerith's mother, left you those to wear. You should get dressed and go straight to sleep. I'm gonna take a shower."
She nodded, reaching for the pile, and Cloud left the room, his heart pounding again.
—
After showering and dressing in Elmyra's late husband's pajamas - a striped, blue and white ensemble that quite frankly, he felt ridiculous in - Cloud returned to the bedroom where he found Tifa buried under the covers, sleeping quietly. He found himself swallowing hard as he approached her, taking a seat on the edge of the bed and watching her as she slept peacefully, the frown lines in her forehead gone now.
She was so beautiful, he was thinking for the thousandth time in the last stretch of days. When he'd flirted with her at the bar the day before, his words had been playful, but ultimately, he meant the sentiment. He had never seen a woman who was quite as beautiful as Tifa Lockhart was.
He found himself rooted in place, frozen, unable to move as he watched her quietly breathe, deep in sleep. His thoughts began to wander, far beyond her physical beauty, but to the wholeness of her heart, of the kindness and thoughtfulness that she constantly displayed, of her resourcefulness and her seemingly endless well of talents. He thought about her shy nature and her strong will, two seemingly oppositional traits that somehow created a perfect balance within her. And he thought about her endless support that was somehow specific to him, the way that she was always right at his side, how she'd made his first week in Midgar tolerable, even though his better instincts were driving him to flee the city.
His memories of their shared past were vague and fragmented, and Cloud hung onto every moment that returned to him, precious and tender, sealing them up and away so that they could never be lost again. Just like the rest of his ruptured psyche, Cloud was eager to piece together his entire past with Tifa, to understand fully why he felt so connected to her, why she occupied so much of his headspace at any given minute of any given day.
He thought of the kiss that she had pressed to his lips not long ago, tender and sweet after he'd carefully, lovingly, and shyly washed the tragedies of the past day away from her skin.
Seeing her hurt so badly had collapsed something inside of him, making him realize that if anything ever happened to her, he would not be able to go on.
He could not lose her.
Not ever.
As that thought was chilling him with terror, Tifa suddenly stirred, waking. Her eyes fluttered open, and she glanced over at him where he sat in the darkness on the edge of the bed, her crimson eyes shining as she blinked.
"Cloud?"
He offered her a little smile. "Go back to sleep, Tifa. You need your rest."
She returned his smile, hers slightly misbehaving as she slid back on the bed, closer to the wall. She held up the covers for him.
"Not until you join me."
Cloud felt his heartbeat begin to stagger again, catching her in a pink t-shirt and gray leggings, clearly Aerith's clothing. The bed was small, made for one person, which meant this was going to be a tight fit. He had been planning to sleep on the floor.
"The floor is okay, Tifa," he told her.
She shook her head, waiting for him to join her. "I want you with me," she whispered, and Cloud felt his face heat up all over again.
Finally, he relented, despite the fear and anxiety that was curling through his gut. The bathroom situation had been embarrassing enough, but he wasn't sure he could handle sharing a bed with her through the night, especially not after the way that their lips had been pressed together. And he could see every curve of her body, Aerith's clothing clearly two sizes too small and tight on her figure. Her breasts were full and her waist was narrow and her hips were wide, and Cloud wasn't sure he could survive laying next to that body and its warmth.
Despite this apprehension, he found himself crawling under the covers next to her, moving in close due to the limited space. He could smell the clean scent of the soap he'd used to clean her still clinging to her skin, and something about this sent flames in a wash over his body, his erection suddenly painful, him desperate to conceal it.
But to his great dismay, Tifa was wrapping herself around him, throwing a leg over his waist and an arm across his chest, pulling him in close to her until their centers were aligned, and he knew that she could feel him and he was in serious trouble.
"Shit, Tifa, I'm-"
"Shhh," she whispered against his chin. "It's okay."
She held onto him tightly, and Cloud just tried to breathe, half of him wishing he could disappear and the other half wishing that he knew how to handle situations like this, that he had any fucking clue what he was doing, because goddamn if he didn't badly want to be with Tifa Lockhart right now.
He tried to distract himself. "You feeling okay? Pain?"
Tifa shook her head against his chest. "The pain is much, much better, Cloud. And my head feels a lot clearer. Thank you, Cloud. For being there for me."
"Always," he found himself whispering.
Tifa squeezed him in response, and Cloud couldn't stop himself from wrapping his arms around her, holding her tight. Suddenly, the emotions that had hit him before were returning, and he found his mouth opening as everything that had been haunting him came tumbling out.
"Tifa," he whispered into her hair, his hand stroking her upper arm listlessly as he spoke. "I was so scared when you got hurt. I… can't lose you, Teef. Nothing can ever happen to you. I - I need you. You're so important to me."
He stopped there, not sure what else he could say before his words took a turn that even he wouldn't understand.
She was stroking his cheek now. "I need you too, Cloud," she breathed in reply. "More than you could ever know. You mean everything to me."
Cloud could hear his heart in his ears again, and he opened his mouth to respond, but just as he did, Tifa was kissing him again.
His entire body lit up when their lips met, and this time, hers were parted, inviting him in to her mouth, her tongue darting out to explore his. The moment that their tongues crashed into each other sent white hot flames to his groin, and Cloud realized that he was still hard and that she was still pressed against him, the space between her thighs dangerously hot. It made his brain swim with disorder and chaos, plunging him into pure disbelief that he was this close to Tifa and that they were actually pushing their friendship beyond this boundary, into something new and bold and thrilling, something he couldn't understand or name but something he suddenly realized that he desperately wanted and needed.
Her lips were wet and soft like dewy rose petals, and Cloud could hardly believe that he was kissing a mouth that felt and tasted as sweet as hers did. And her mouth was demanding. Cloud quickly realized that Tifa - despite her injuries and her concussion and her demure, shy nature - was taking complete control of this situation. She was kissing him hungrily, biting his lips when she wanted, sucking them between hers and running her tongue across them. He found himself stunned by her assault, and soon he could do nothing but lay his head back on the pillow and let her have at him.
This soon became accompanied by the grind of her hips on his, and it was at that point that Cloud knew he was not going to survive whatever the hell was happening here.
He could feel her heat through their layers of borrowed clothing, searing his cock as she wound her body over his. She was suddenly moaning, and Cloud watched her in fascination when she pulled her lips away and continued to grind on him, her face contorting as she concentrated on chasing pleasure.
He'd never seen anything so relentlessly sexy in his life.
"No," she suddenly cried in frustration, halting her movements, and Cloud wondered if he had done something wrong. "It's not enough."
"What do you need?" Cloud asked her, surprised at how low and throaty his voice had gotten. He was now desperately eager to please her, and damned if he didn't hurry up and blow his own load before his dick burst from the pressure.
"I need…" she trailed off into silence, pinching her eyes closed in the darkness. She shook her head as if in thought, and Cloud tried desperately to figure out if he should be doing something with his hands to assist.
Moments later, she was shifting under the covers, and Cloud realized when he felt her bare skin that she had divested herself of Aerith's leggings. He didn't dare peek under the covers to see the sight that was now under there, his cheeks already bright just at the thought of it.
"Tifa?" he questioned when he felt her fingertips at the waistband of the pajama pants he was wearing, but she said nothing in reply, only began to tug at them until he lifted his hips so that she could pull them away.
As soon as they were gone, Tifa resumed her earlier position against his body, hugging him close to her with her leg wrapped around him. But this time, their contact was skin to skin, hers hot and wet as Cloud realized the slick seam of her pussy was suddenly flush against his cock, and he hissed sharply, feeling himself grow impossibly harder.
"Oh," Tifa moaned at once, and she began to slide against him, rotating her hips again in a seeking grind, lathering his flesh with her wet heat.
Cloud heard the fizzles and pops as his brain short-circuited, but there was nothing for him to do but accept the assault on his senses as she worked herself into a frenzy on his cock. He closed his eyes when she kissed him again, but he was too mystified to react properly, letting her completely dominate his mouth. Instead, he tried to concentrate on the dark sensations she was pulling out of him, his length twitching every time she ran her folds up and down on him. She was mewling now, and Cloud was desperate to plunge himself inside of her, feeling his tip only centimeters from her tight entrance. He didn't dare, though, stifling the groan that tried to erupt from his throat.
Tifa's keens were growing bright, her breath hot across his neck, and Cloud realized with horror that she was starting to grow loud. He thought about Barret and Marlene in the next room over, of Elmyra sleeping elsewhere in the house, and impulsively, he brought a hand up and clasped it over her mouth.
"Tifa, you have to be quiet," he scolded her gently, his voice dim with lust. "Or we're gonna have to stop."
She laughed as if she dared him to try that challenge, but she nodded, her pupils wide as she continued to grind against him, and Cloud moaned darkly when she began to alternate the rotation of her hips.
She brought a hand up, pulling his away from her face, and her eyes connected with his as her lips fell open.
"It feels so good, Cloud," she whispered, her voice thick with the pleasure that was spiking through her body. She twirled her hips a new way, and Cloud realized that she was soaking him, leaking all over him and probably on Elmyra's precious fucking sheets, too.
He didn't know whether he should be horrified or thrilled by that.
Tifa was still holding his hand, and he found that she was pulling it between their bodies. She turned his palm, directing his fingertips to the apex of her sex, and pressed them hot against her wet, heated skin. Cloud thought he might pass out when he felt the warm flesh, a slick, firm little button under his fingers, but he truly fell apart when he felt Tifa glide her hand to his cock and push it downward a little, right to her entrance, letting only the tip of him hover and settle within her tight rim.
She patted his hand. "Touch me," she whispered her order.
Cloud didn't know what he was doing, but he was willing to listen and learn. He began to move his fingers right where she had positioned them, drawing slow, tight circles over the stiff nub she had pointed out to him, until her hips were jostling and she was mewling and moaning again, trying hard to keep her decibels under control. He realized that the simple movements of the pads of his two fingers against this tiny, slick pebble of sensitive flesh was sending her skyward, driving her crazy in a way that Cloud never thought he would see Tifa but always dreamed that he might. Her reactions, the way that she tried to stifle her passion for the sake of keeping her noise down, drove him wild, especially as she teased the head of his dick with her tight opening, not allowing him to plunge into her or breach her rim. It made him suddenly bloodthirsty, and his fingers began a deft assault on her clit, playing and experimenting, flicking and flirting, tapping and testing, pulling and pressing until her breathing was desperate and her hips were lifting fully off of the bed as she leaked everywhere.
She managed to keep her voice down, understanding the severity of the situation, but he saw the exact moment that she broke apart and came. It was reflected in her eyes, a thousand gemstones bursting apart into glittering specks of diamonds across the garnet and rubies in her irises, her pupils wide, black saucers. The scream of his name that she wanted to emit was mercifully caught deep in her throat, and the sound came out more like a strangled sob, and she pitched her forehead against his chest, murmuring something unintelligible as she came down from the high.
Cloud could only lay there with his brain in a brand new haze, carefully pulling his hand away from her sticky hot slickness. His tip was still buried in her entrance, his entire dick coated in her slick, but he had no idea what to do next. He knew that if he did not alleviate this ache, he might end up seriously hurting himself, but Tifa had not given him permission to press inside of her, and so he hovered there on the brink, trapped in a stagnate mirage of pleasure while Tifa happily bubbled and trembled her way down through her euphoria.
She seemed to have picked up on this a moment after her head cleared, though, because her hand was wrapping around his length, and Cloud's eyes widened when he realized that she was steadily pumping him up and down, her palm soft but her grip firm and tight. He winced instantly, feeling a new surge of pleasure rush through him, and he closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensations she dragged out of him, unable to stop himself from moaning when he finally couldn't take anymore and came all over her hand.
Tifa was kissing him as soon as he spilled, and the feel of her lips on his after she'd brought him to an orgasm that was unlike anything he'd ever brought upon himself was too much to handle. He tried to hug her and hold her, the way that he vaguely knew that girls liked to be held after sex, but his arms felt floppy and weak. Instead, he let her kiss him silly until both their mouths grew tired and sore and Tifa fell back at his side, once again anchoring her body to his, floods of sticky wetness between them.
Elmyra was going to be so pissed about these sheets.
"That was so good, Cloud," Tifa was whispering up at him under the cover of darkness, the glittering artificial lights beyond the window spotlighting her hair with white shimmers. "You're so good."
Cloud only smiled, feeling his heart swell with pride, not really thinking he did much at all.
Tifa was good at a lot of things, he thought, but she was really good at this.
"You're pretty good yourself," he finally tossed back at her. "But now, you really need to get some sleep. You need to rest so your body can heal and the potion and Cura magic can do their work."
Tifa hummed against his chest. "Oh, but I feel sooo much better now."
Early the next morning, Cloud woke first, finding Tifa still sleeping peacefully beside him. He could smell something fried drifting through the floorboards from the kitchen below, and he sat up in the tiny bed, the sunlight streaming through the window temporarily blinding him.
He winced and then stretched, looking down at himself. He was still wearing the ridiculous pajama top, but the pants were gone. Instantly, his face flushed, remembering how he and Tifa had rubbed themselves ragged and raw against each other last night, Tifa's mouth hungrily devouring his. At that thought, he remembered something horrifying, and he pulled back the covers to discover the trio of white stains that had now solidified into Elmyra's delicate floral pink sheets.
Shit.
Tearing that from his mind, Cloud pulled the pajama pants back on, leaving the room to find that Elmyra had already left their clean clothes and their armor outside of the door. He grabbed everything before retreating to wake Tifa.
"Teef."
She always looked so peaceful when she slept, and he was content to watch her for hours, not really wanting to disturb her. But she rose, yawning as her eyes opened.
"Hey, Cloud," she greeted him, sitting up on her elbow.
"How are you feeling?" was the first question out of his mouth.
She smiled, her claret eyes lighting up with happiness at his concern that was couched in affection. "Much better. I'm not in any more pain. And my head feels a lot clearer."
Cloud sighed, relaxing, feeling that a huge weight had been lifted. "Good. I think one more potion before we leave should do it. You really scared me, Teef."
"I love you, Cloud," she blurted, and as soon as she said it, her cheeks were matching her eyes, and she covered her face with her hands.
Cloud found himself at a crossroads of panic. He had no idea how to respond, her impulsive sentiment throttling him and leaving him shaking.
But he thought about the night they had just shared, about the terror that reigned supreme in his heart when he thought she might be dying, about the way that his fucked up mind could only function properly when she was near, and he realized that, whatever she was to him - his best friend, his childhood sweetheart, his partner - that he loved her, too.
"Hey," he stopped her, leaning forward to pull her hands from her face. "It's okay, Tifa. I love you too. You mean everything to me."
And with that, she leaned forward and they kissed again, this time chaste and languid and sweet, before Cloud pulled away and they both shyly and quietly dressed for the day.
Cloud tucked the comforter tight over the sheets on the bed, hoping that Elmyra would not notice the white stains for a long, long time.
When they got downstairs, Barret had already devoured breakfast, Marlene on his lap. At the sight of Tifa emerging from the staircase, the little girl leaped off of him and ran for her.
"Tifa!" she cried, and Cloud watched as Tifa knelt down, opening her arms to accept a hug from the child.
"Marlene! I missed you so much. How are you? Are you okay?"
"Yes, Tifa! The flower lady saved me. She's so nice! Papa says you are going to go and help her today!"
Tifa nodded, and she looked up at Cloud, who nodded his agreement before Tifa turned back to Marlene. "That's right," she responded. "Don't worry, though. We'll be back in no time."
Marlene smiled even brighter, but then she randomly switched gears in the conversation, in the way that children often do. "You look so pretty, Tifa. You look really happy!"
And then Marlene turned to look at Cloud, offering him the same bright, sunny smile, before she turned and skipped away, back to Barret.
Cloud could only scratch the back of his neck, not really understanding children at all.
They strategized over breakfast, listening to Elmyra's story about Aerith and her true history and why the Shinra Company was after her. Well, Cloud had known for sure that the Turks weren't following her because they wanted to recruit her for SOLDIER, but now, things were beginning to make a lot more sense.
Eventually, it was time to leave. They thanked Elmyra for her hospitality, Barret lingering in his goodbyes to Marlene, lacing them with promises. It made Cloud flinch a little bit, and he turned to look at Tifa, remembering his own promise and once again reaffirming to live up to it in every way that he possibly could.
When Elmyra shut the door behind them, leaving them standing in the sun with the brook babbling at their sides, Cloud turned to the pair.
"We've got a lot of work to do before we go Topside," he told them.
"You ain't lying. But I'm glad we got this night, got to spend it with Marlene," Barret responded. "Hey. How the hell are y'all so clean? I still smell like shit!"
Cloud wasn't going to dare answer that, especially not when they were still standing outside of Elmyra's door. Tifa began to laugh, and then she looped her arm through his.
"Come on," she told him. "Let's go find Aerith."
She smiled at him, and Cloud returned it, feeling the tempests in his skull retreat as soon as she touched him.
There was nothing he wouldn't do for her.
"Yeah. Let's go."
They started to walk off together, arm in arm, heading for the pathway that led into Sector5. Barret scratched the top of his head behind them.
"Y'all better cut this shit out when we start climbing up to the plate! If you leave me hanging again, SOLDIER boy, I'm taking it outta your ass!"
But Cloud couldn't hear Barret, staring down into Tifa's captivating eyes, realizing that in those pools laid the cure to everything that ailed him.
As long as he had her, he knew he would be alright.
And he would never stop protecting her.
Ever.