The Stars in Her Skin
I wasn't admiring the freckles on your skin,
I was stargazing.
& when I said I wanted to make love to you,
I meant all of you.
& when you felt my fingers tracing poetry over parts of you
that were supposedly broken,
Know that all I saw were prisms, refracted light,
& everything I wanted to make mine.
-Amanda Torroni
—
When morning came, it brought with it the deep, dewy chills that the rainfalls of the night before had left behind, and Cloud felt it deep in his bones, threaded into his blood when he opened his eyes to the morning sun that streamed in through the wispy leaves of the weeping willow trees that surrounded them. He had slept lightly, awakened often throughout the night by the sounds of owls hooting in the nearby trees and the distant howls of the Midgar wolves who prowled on the outskirts of the forest in search of the moon's unforgiving glow. Even though his sleep had been light and brief, the mako that coursed through his veins and ignited his neurons ensured that he felt reasonably well-rested when he finally fully opened his eyes that dawn.
Immediately, he looked down at the warmth that centered his lap. Tifa was still there, cradled in his embrace, her face tipped forward into his chest and shielded by the long cascade of her thick, dark hair. Her knees were bent over his leg, pulled in close to his body to trap what little heat that they could to her, her arms folded under her breasts, one hand clutching slightly at his sweater. He could still feel the dampness from last night's rain in the fabric of his fatigues, and glancing down at Tifa, he could see the shimmer of water along the leather of her skirt and the translucent wetness of her white tank top.
He admired her for a long moment, watching her chest expand and deflate with every gentle breath that she took in. Despite the wet chills that ran through them both, prickled incessantly by the wind that blew by, Cloud felt the warmth of her body seeping into his, calming the raging storms that lived inside of him. Even now, with his first awareness of daybreak, he could feel the dark confusion that crept around the black recesses of his mind, threatening him with thoughts of violence and vengeance as he thought of their battles that lie ahead, of the evil that they had to pursue, and the vile, terrifying purple threads that seemed to tether him to their enemy. But with Tifa in his arms, so, so close to him, it was as if she was a barrier that had been erected to shield the most vulnerable parts of his brain from those bleak, puzzling intrusions, a gentle calm against the tempest that lived inside of him.
His arms still wrapped around her, sheltering her from the dangers of the forest night they had survived through, he shifted slightly and lifted one gloved hand to brush the hair away from her face, turning her cheek gently away from the protection of his chest.
"Tifa," he called to her softly. "Teef, wake up."
He felt her give a slight start, and he cocked his head to the side, waiting and watching as she tentatively stirred and ultimately pulled away from him. He watched her blink, a flicker of bewilderment passing over her features as she adjusted to the sunlight and looked around, deciphering her surroundings. Cloud caught the glimmer of garnet in her eyes when she finally looked up at him, their pools widening as she drank him in and realized her closeness to him, her cheeks quickly matching the hue of her irises.
"Cloud…?" she whispered, her voice thick and groggy with sleep.
"Tifa," he answered, his voice level and steady, trying to ground her the way that she always grounded him. "Morning. You sleep okay?"
"Morning," she greeted him back, and it seemed that awareness and memories of the previous night began to return to her, as she blinked a few more times and then sat up straighter in his lap, bringing her feathered fists up to rub gently at her eyes and face. "I slept okay. I'm so cold, though."
Impulsively, Cloud ran one hand over her shoulder and the top of her arm in response, trying to chase the chills away. "I know," he responded. "We're about twenty or so miles outside of Kalm. If we get moving now, we can make it there by dusk."
"I'm so hungry," Tifa complained.
He started to respond, but stopped at the sound of branches cracking and leaves rustling nearby. Narrowing his eyes, he reached for the hilt of his sword where it lay right at his side in the grass.
"Tifa? Cloud?"
The bright, sunny voice broke through the nearby thicket, and Cloud relaxed the tension in his body that had him poised to flip over and assume his battle stance. But it was only Aerith, her braid frizzy and disheveled, the lace hem of her dress damp and soiled with mud. Spotting them, her eyes widened slightly at their intimate pose, but Tifa was already scrambling out of his lap, gathering herself to her feet.
"Oh, sorry," Aerith mumbled, a coy smile pulled at her lips, even as she looked away to give some acknowledgment of her intrusion on their attempt at privacy. Cloud shook his head and pulled himself to his feet, glancing over at Tifa, who was now even redder-faced and brushing the grass and dirt from her stockings and skirt.
Aerith finally looked back up, her eyes first scanning Tifa, the cuts of jade in her irises lighting up as her smile widened. She then looked at Cloud, her gaze knowing, and clasped her hands together in front of her.
"Barret is in a really bad mood this morning," she announced finally. "Any idea of how to get to Kalm, or how long it will take? I think he might lose it if he doesn't get something to eat in his system soon."
Cloud crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, I think I can figure it out." For whatever reason, his memory seemed to have maps laid across it, not that he could recall where or when he had downloaded such knowledge. "It will probably take us at least six hours, maybe seven if we get caught up with too many monsters. I'd like to get us there before nightfall."
Aerith nodded, then turned to Tifa, who was now finally no longer staring with embarrassment at her boots. "Okay, then. Come on, Tifa. There's a little stream just beyond those trees where we can clean up before we get moving. No peeking, Cloud!"
He shrugged, watching as the two women made off together, Aerith looping her arm through Tifa's and pulling her in close.
Their entire party took turns making their ablutions downriver, and by the time the sun was high in the sky, they were trudging their way along a poorly maintained highway that cut through the plains outside of Midgar, the grass bordering each side growing more verdant and floral the further away they drifted from the floating city of mako. The wind was still howling in the aftershocks of last night's rain, and it left the air with a harsh December chill that none of them were dressed appropriately for, the cold only growing fiercer the deeper into the foothills they drifted. Cloud found himself wishing he still had the Hardy Daytona that he'd hijacked from the Shinra Tower.
Aerith remained glued to Tifa's side at the front of their pack, the two women arm in arm and exchanging each other's warmth, Red XIII a few paces behind them. Cloud held the rear, blue eyes scanning the fields around them for the emergence of monsters, Barret grumbling a few feet away.
"You sure you know where the hell you're going?" Barret roared, sidling up beside Cloud on the beaten path. "I can't take much more of this walking shit. And why the hell is it so damn cold? It was hot as shit in Midgar for the middle of December!"
Cloud shrugged, not really in the mood for this shit right now.
"And we ain't eat shit in at least two days, you realize that?" Barret went on. "I don't know what that mako shit done to you, but the rest of us can't go on like this. I wonder what lab-rat-dog taste like."
"I heard that," Red tossed over his shoulder with a snarl, his tail whipping from side to side, its flame flickering.
"We'll be in Kalm before dusk," Cloud answered with a slight edge of annoyance in his tone. "But we'll get there a lot faster if you quit bitching and just walk."
"You know what would get us there a lot faster?" Barret was thundering in response. "That goddamn truck and motorcycle. Why the hell did we leave them shits in Midgar?"
Cloud found himself sighing, rolling his eyes heavenward. The simple, logical answer was that there had been no way to get the vehicles down to the ground from the expressway on the plate, as it were they'd had to climb their way down using a service tunnel. But Cloud was pretty sure that Barret wasn't interested in logic, so he avoided a response and instead let his eyes fall back to Tifa.
She now had her arms wrapped around herself, one still looped with Aerith's who was still pressed close to her side. It was obvious from where he stood that both girls were frigid, Tifa especially since her arms and legs and even her midriff were exposed. He could see the way that she trembled slightly every time the wind soared by, tossing her hair up around her shoulders to dance in dark tendrils behind her. He found himself feeling unimaginably helpless, having nothing to offer her to keep her warm, not even a jacket or blanket to throw around her shoulders. They'd left Midgar woefully unprepared for such travels through harsh conditions, and all of this left him feeling the sting of inadequacy like he'd failed her again, pulling at his memories of their promise and how badly he wanted to make sure that he fulfilled it to her in every way possible that he could.
He was going to have to start doing much, much better.
"Bet you don't do nothing about it," Barret was now haranguing at his side.
Cloud turned to him with a nasty glare. "What the hell are you talking about now?" he snapped.
Barret was unfazed by his attitude; all of them were a little snippy due to the circumstances. He nodded his head up the road toward Tifa. "You know what the hell I'm talkin' about. You been making eyes at her since we blew up that first reactor. Left me hangin' more times than I can't count, you were so worried about what she was doing. Damn near dropped my ass thirty-six times climbin' up Topside. Good thing my grappling gun came in handy. You ain't shit sometimes, SOLDIER-boy."
"Whatever," Cloud responded, staring straight ahead and not daring to look over at Barret, knowing his cheeks would immediately rush with blood.
"I'm just fuckin' with you," Barret added, his voice a little softer as he nudged Cloud's arm with his elbow. "But you need to take care of that, cause shit's about to get real from here on out and we can't have you distracted coz' you're thinking with the wrong head."
This time Cloud did blush. He frowned, turning fully away from Barret and shaking his head in frustration.
Thankfully, Barret backed off, catching up with Red to dump his complaints miserably on the fire-tailed beast. Cloud remained at the back of their troupe, hands at his sides and ready to capture the hilt of his sword if they were attacked.
The entire time they walked, his eyes remained on the back of Tifa's body, outlining the lines of her curves as he wished that Aerith would release her so that he could find an opening to go up to her and replace her arm with his.
It never happened, though. Battles came and went as they progressed through the terrain, attacked by assortments of monsters that had been born from the infections of mako that were leaked into the surface of the earth by Shinra's activities all around the planet. Even when they broke apart to fight, Tifa usually emerging at Cloud's side instantly, having days ago fallen into an organic rhythm as his battle partner, Aerith was quickly at her side when combat ended. Eventually, he gave up and let the girls have each other.
The sun was beginning to dip toward the line of the horizon, leaving the sky shadowed in indigo, dark clouds gathering when Cloud heard the rumble of thunder far in the distance. He started to frown, feeling a headache come on just at the thought of them getting caught in the rain again, just as Red came to a halt near the head of their group and stretched his neck out, his nose high in the air and one paw raised as if pointing like a dog.
"I smell humans," he informed them. "I believe the village is a half a mile ahead, beyond that bend in the road."
"Finally," Aerith exclaimed. "I can't wait to get out of these clothes and into something warm."
As they continued on, Cloud thought about that statement. They were carrying nothing but the clothes on their backs, their weapons, and a few limited healing items. He considered their stash of gil, realizing that they were going to have stock up significantly on an assortment of provisions when they finally reached the village.
They arrived in Kalm just as the sun had fully disappeared and the rainclouds were opening up, the heavens drenching the earth in a steady downpour. Exchanging curses and swears, Barret the loudest, they found cover beneath the awning of a general store.
Kalm was a sleepy and quiet little town, quaint with picturesque houses and cobblestone streets. It reminded Cloud of his hometown on the other side of the world, though far less dusty and windy, not surrounded by vicious mountains the way that Nibelheim was. Watching residents scurry between shops and houses beneath their umbrellas, something prickled against the restless cracks and gaps in his brain, causing Cloud to wince and hold the side of his head.
"Are you okay?"
He could feel the warmth of her hand on his bicep before he turned to her. Tifa was at his side again, claret eyes wide with concern, scanning his face and searching his own dark blue stare for something that she could latch onto. He shook his head out, marveling at how she always managed to find her way to him when he was on the verge of splintering apart.
"Yeah, I'm fine. All good," he lied, offering her a shrug.
She started to open her mouth, but Barret was grumbling about the rain behind him, and Cloud was tired and hungry and wet and wanted to get them secure for the night. He turned away from Tifa, facing the rest of the group and quickly taking command of the situation.
"Alright. The shops are going to close soon, so we need to make haste and pick up whatever provisions we can. Then we can head to the inn for the night."
"And eat," Barret interjected immediately.
Cloud said nothing, just taking in the exhausted looks on everyone's faces. Tifa was back at his side, looking up at him.
"Cloud," she began, "We really need to get some changes of clothing. We have to launder all of this and we need comfortable clothing to sleep in. There is a boutique down the road beside the apothecary. If you guys give us your sizes, Aerith and I can shop for some reasonable substitutions that everyone can wear while I take care of our laundry. You guys can get everything else we need, and that way we can save time shopping before everything closes for the night."
"That's not a bad idea," Cloud found himself saying, always impressed with how quickly she could reason out situations. Having her at his side at moments like this was always a valuable asset, and he wondered how he would function as the leader of this group without her thoughtful efficiency. "But you don't need to wash our clothes, Tifa."
"It's fine," she replied with a shrug, as if doing laundry was the most mundane and simplest task that could be requested of her.
Aerith had her arm threaded through Tifa's once again. "What would we do without you, Tifa? C'mon, let's hurry."
Cloud watched the two girls turn away, running through the rain in the direction of the shops before he nodded his head at Barret and Red.
"Let's go."
—
"What a fascinating story…"
Red XIII's pondering statement was the last thing anyone said before Cloud pushed away from the plate of beef stew he'd just cleaned, shaking his head at the group. They were sitting in the small dining room of the inn's tavern, surrounded by the gentle flicker of candlelight, the rain now beating the windows and the wooden siding of the building outside.
"I need to take a walk," he announced to the group.
He found himself outside, staring up at the sky from beneath the inn's awning, watching the rain continue to pelt the cobblestone, lightning dazzling the horizon beyond the village's borders. It didn't seem like he'd be walking much of anywhere in this weather, but he needed to get out of that cramped tiny tavern and out from under the pleading, questioning eyes of his friends before his sanity collapsed fully around him.
His head was pounding at this point. Despite the fulfillment of their hot meal and the gracious hospitality of the inn's owners - they had been provided with extra blankets and logs of wood for the fire burning in the hearth - every cell in his body was choked with agitation. He had just spent the last hour rehashing what his memory could conjure about the events in his past that he believed, as honestly and truthfully as he could, constituted the current mess they were in and led to the chain reaction of events of the last forty-eight hours involving Shinra and Sephiroth. Barret was full of questions, instantly mapping out a strategy for their next move that Cloud found far too reckless and poorly constructed for them to even consider. Aerith appeared disturbed by the story, interrupting only to ask a question or two, but otherwise keeping her hands clasped together as if in prayer as she listened.
And Tifa remained silent, staring at her hands and picking at her food in a way that bothered him, when the rest of them had practically inhaled their meals.
Thinking of Tifa, none of this was helped by the fact that he was annoyed with their sleeping arrangements for the night. The inn had only two rooms still available, and naturally, Aerith had the helpful suggestion that they should separate by guys versus girls. It was reasonable, but it ticked Cloud off in ways that were almost unbearable. He had wanted so badly to spend the night with Tifa, the burn of her lips still hot on his despite the hours that had stretched between them since their last embrace. His body was on fire with the desire to follow up on that moment under the willow in the rain. He had even promised her that they would.
Recalling the shy, sad look she had offered him from beneath her lashes when he stepped up to the counter to pay for the rooms, Cloud realized it was just another promise broken.
This minor inconvenience was overshadowed by the fact that his comrades were demanding answers, the threats of the last few days now looming overhead as they faced the uncertainty of the future. And so Cloud had done his best to provide those answers, despite the way that every effort he made to drag a memory to the forefront tore his skull asunder, leaving him with a throbbing ache. The more that he prodded and spoke, the more he realized that he was wading through a thick, black fog - that he was missing time, and a lot of it. There were gaps so wide, he felt as if he was standing over the precipice of a cliff within his own mind, staring down at the chasm of darkness where his core memories had been scattered. By the time he had finished recalling the violence of his hometown being burned down - Tifa at that point had her head in her hands, Aerith's eyes misted over with tears, and Barret with his mouth hanging open - Cloud felt like he was suffocating over the broken terror of his past. It was at that point that he ended the story and insisted he needed to take a fucking walk and breathe.
He wasn't sure at all how he was going to wade through the pulsating mist that was wrapped thick around every neuron and left him feeling incapable of moving forward. And every time he thought about Sephiroth, the dull, throbbing ache returned, assailing him with a pain that threatened to black him out and send him into ruin against the concrete. Even now, as he leaned against the side of the inn, leather-bound fingers pressing divots into his temples, he felt himself on the verge of a complete mental collapse. It threatened the borders of his mind like vile, vicious phantasms, prodding away at his sanity with the intention to rip it away and leave him forever fragmented.
He badly needed a distraction before all of this blew up inside of him, knowing he would erupt into a berserk rage that he couldn't stop himself from falling victim to.
Tifa.
As the pain crawled an icy, chilling trail through his brain, he thought instantly of her, the only salve he knew that truly soothed away the mental and emotional pain he'd been under constantly ever since he'd first found himself in fucking Midgar, a city that he hated. Cloud despised that war zone of a city, a hellish metropolis that advertised wealth and progress but truly offered little more than oppression and complacency, in the slums where people toiled and struggled for morsels and shanty houses made of scrap, and Topside, where people filed through an endless procession of mindless, corporate technocracy. He hated its heat during a season that was supposed to bring chills and holiday traditions and the warmth of a hearth, not sweat and grime and music that was too loud and people who never shut the fuck up.
Tifa had been the only thing that kept him tethered to that unbearable, unseasonable, miserable fucking place, and now he knew that he was tethered to her. All he could think about was the press of her lips against his, the feel of her firm, wet tongue, and the soft press of her breasts against his chest, the warmth of her body as he wrapped his arms around her.
Regretting once again the unfortunate nature of their room assignments for the night, Cloud decided that maybe they could at least find somewhere quiet to sit and talk for a little while before they went to bed. He would fall to pieces if he didn't finally get a brush of her skin against his or at least have a moment to look deep into her warm, crimson eyes that held the softest of looks, solely for him.
He went back inside, first stopping by the room he was sharing with Barret and Red to shower and pick up one of the extra fleece blankets they'd been provided with by the proprietor. By the time he'd showered and changed into the black sweat pants and pullover henley Tifa had picked out. Barret was already out cold, sprawled out on top of the sheets, snoring loudly. Clearly, the clothing the Aerith and Tifa had purchased him were poor fits, the hem of his sweatpants barely reaching the center of his calves, let alone his ankles. Red was in one corner by the window, still awake, his front paws over his head, covering his ears.
She emerged from the bathroom, the beast looked up at Cloud. "I may have to sleep downstairs if he keeps up like this."
Cloud only shrugged, not really interested. He swiped the blanket off of his bed. "I'll be back later."
He made his way down the hall, skull still ricocheting with pain. He stopped at the room that the girls were in, hesitating for a moment before raising his fist to knock at the door.
A moment passed before the door opened, Aerith filling out its frame. The room was dark behind her, lit only by the candelabras lining the walls. Her chestnut hair was loose from its braid, brushed out around her shoulders, and like Barret, she was wearing sweats and a pink hoodie, all of which seemed two sizes too big for her petite frame. She smiled brightly when she saw Cloud on the other side of the threshold.
"Hi, Cloud. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah," he responded, glancing over her shoulder, trying to find Tifa. "Uh, I just wanted to talk to Tifa for a minute."
Aerith's smile seemed to transform into something coy and knowing, and she stepped out of the way for him to enter. "Sure. She's still in the shower, though. Why don't you come in and wait for her?"
At the mention of Tifa being in the shower, Cloud couldn't stop the way that his cheeks suddenly grew warm, and he turned quickly away from Aerith with a swift nod, ducking past her and slipping into the room.
Aerith shut the door behind him, finding a seat on the bed closest to the door while Cloud stood awkwardly in the center of the room. She ran her fingers through the waves in her hair, still holding a slightly amused look on her face. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and tipped her head at him.
"Cloud, that's Tifa's bed," she pointed to the bed closest to the window. "Why don't you sit down? You don't have to be so nervous."
Cloud felt his cheeks brighten even further, and he turned away from Aerith, crossing the room toward Tifa's bed and taking a seat at its edge. Aerith really had a cleverly skilled way at getting under his skin, and he could feel the pressure of her emerald stare even from where he sat. He refused to look up at her, focusing instead on his now gloveless hands, listening to the sounds of water beat against tile from inside the bathroom.
"Are you alright?" Aerith asked after a long moment.
Finally, Cloud turned to look at her, finding her with her hands folded in her lap as she stared. "Yeah," he answered in a measured tone. "I'm good."
"Are you sure?" Aerith persisted. "That was a lot to take in downstairs. I'm sure it couldn't have been easy for you to talk about."
Cloud just shrugged, really not wanting to get into that fucking mess again, already feeling fresh stabs at the sides of his skull.
"I'm really glad you came by, actually," Aerith went on. "Tifa was… she seemed pretty upset after dinner. I tried talking to her, but she was really avoiding opening up to me. I think she was really affected, reliving what happened to you guys five years ago."
"Shit," Cloud swore, clenching the fist he had been staring at.
"It's not your fault, Cloud," Aerith reminded him softly. "But you're here now, so you can comfort her. You both need each other."
Cloud said nothing.
"I know you said she's not your girlfriend, but-"
"It's complicated," Cloud found himself snapping.
Aerith only laughed, and then she was rising to her feet, pointedly leveling a mischievous little smile at him. Cloud looked up to catch it, quirking an eyebrow at her.
"What?"
"You know something?" she began, tapping a finger on her chin, "Why don't we swap rooms for the night, Cloud? I think you and Tifa have some things to work out."
That idea sent a thrill through him, reigniting the stain of pink on his cheeks, but also left him feeling guilty at how readily he was willing to jump at the offer. "Uh, we don't have to do that, Aerith. I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable or -"
"Oh, please," Aerith flared dramatically. "Barret is the last person I'm worried about. Or Red, for that matter. They won't mind, do you think?" Already she was gathering her blankets from the bed.
"Barret is already asleep," Cloud answered in response, "But he's snoring something awful, Aerith. You don't want to go in there."
"Oh, I'll manage," she laughed in reply, twirling the silver and copper bangles around her wrist. "I'm sure its nothing a little bit of magic can't help."
Mystified, Cloud watched as she backed away toward the door, offering him a wink.
"Work it out, Cloud," she warned him before she left him alone in the room.
When the door closed, Cloud let out a slow, steady breath, bracing himself with his hands across his knees. He heard the water shut off inside of the bathroom, his heart picking up speed inside of his chest as he listened to Tifa's movements inside, his enhanced hearing suddenly able to pick up the squish of her wet feet against the bath mat and the brush of the towel against her skin as she dried herself. Just the thought of her naked and running a soft towel over her body was filling him with an electrified heat, the depths of his desire tamping down the anxiety that was flaying his brain with panicked pain.
As he waited for her, he found his thoughts drifting to this time just a night ago, when he had her pressed close to him, their lips melded under the cover of darkness and clouds that were full of rain, their bodies both shivering, cold and wet. Her body had fit so perfectly in the shell of his, and for those brief moments, he believed somewhere deep inside that she had been designed solely for him.
That couldn't be, he thought, just as he heard the bathroom door creak as it opened. No way would a poor bastard like him ever be that fortunate.
Tifa appeared in the doorway, instantly stopping with a start when she spotted him sitting on her bed. Her hair was still slightly damp, falling around her shoulders in long, clingy black clumps. But what socked Cloud square in the center of his chest was the fact that she was wearing nothing but a white tank top that barely met her hips, and a simple pair of light blue panties.
His jaw fell open as he stared.
"Cloud!" Tifa exclaimed, dropping her hands to try and capture some modesty. Catching himself, Cloud quickly turned fully away from her, his face on fire.
"Sorry, Tifa, I - " he trailed off, feeling the burn of embarrassment and desire melt away his cheeks, the image of her too-long legs and the outline of her soft womanhood seared forever in the front of his vision.
"I forgot my sweats in my bag," she explained, her voice shaking and anxious. Cloud brought his hand to his forehead, shaking it, wondering if he should just flee now and abandon this entire endeavor.
"I won't look," he promised her, closing his eyes.
He heard Tifa sigh, and then she was quietly scampering across the floor, rustling through her bag and then tussling with fabric. The seconds that passed as she finished dressing felt like hours, and Cloud was plagued by both a blistering heat that coursed through his entire body and a painful stiffness in his pants that had him ready to keel over.
"Okay," she finally whispered, her voice seemingly only inches away.
Cloud opened his eyes and carefully turned back to her, finding that she was standing right beside him, her hands behind her back as she looked down at him shyly, the tops of her cheeks pink. Instantly, Cloud was wrapped in the scents of her soap and her shampoo, fruity and citrusy, making him think of the strawberries that lived her eyes. As his own connected with those sparkling red pools, he fought the rising, desperate urge to pull her into his lap.
Instead, he watched her as she slowly sank into a seat on the bed beside him. "I wasn't expecting you to be here," she told him, her voice tiny and shy, the most adorable sound he'd ever heard in his life.
"Sorry," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just came by to see if you wanted to talk for a little while, but Aerith insisted that we swap rooms. So… she left."
At this, Tifa let out a little laugh. "She's been pestering me a lot about you, you know."
No big fucking surprise there. "Oh?" Cloud remarked.
"Yeah," Tifa continued, looking away and blushing again, staring at her hands. "Asking me if you're my boyfriend."
Cloud was beginning to feel like he couldn't breathe, his heart was racing so fast in his chest. He swallowed thickly, letting his stare fall to the perfect profile of Tifa's face, admiring her dark lashes against the porcelain of her skin. He chose his next words carefully.
"What did you tell her?"
Tifa glanced back over at him again, the corners of her lips turning up into a smile. "I told her it was complicated," she responded.
Cloud laughed at that, shaking his head slightly. Tifa tipped her head to one side and leaned a little closer to him.
"What?"
"Nothing," he answered. "It's just… I told her the same thing."
Tifa's smile widened, and then she was blushing again, looking away, biting her bottom lip.
"So it is."
Cloud tried to think of a way to prolong the conversation, but once again he was failing, his thoughts glued together in incoherency and his words tangled in the back of his throat. Maybe, if he wasn't such a goddamn coward, he would have asked her if they could uncomplicate things right now.
Maybe, just maybe, he could have asked her if she wanted him to be her boyfriend, if she wanted to be his girlfriend.
Instead, he let the moment pass, far too much time stretching by until it was lost forever. Swearing inwardly as the air grew more awkward and thick, he stared down at his palm, clenching and unfurling his fist with internalized frustration.
"Cloud, are you alright?" Tifa was suddenly asking him.
He glanced over at her, their eyes instantly meeting. Hers seemed to plead with him, begging him to unload his burdens on her. She was always right there at his side, ready to listen, fighting alongside him, helping him survive. Just her presence alone allayed the ache in his soul, soothed that disjointed feeling in his bones. Simply hearing her breathe made him remember that, despite the brokenness he was mired in, she was keeping him alive and keeping him whole.
"I'm okay," he found himself whispering.
"Nibelheim…" Tifa started, a question dangling from her lips. But she let it die, shaking her head instead. "I just… those memories are so distant and fogged for me. And I can't help thinking about how much has been stolen and destroyed. We have nothing left, Cloud. Everything… everything is gone."
He realized with a fascinated horror that the longer that she spoke, the more that her voice cracked, as if her heart was breaking right there in front of him, and soon the first tear spilled from her eye, followed by a trailing succession of droplets. Her shoulders began to tremble, reminding Cloud of the moment in Aerith's garden when she had unraveled in front of him and he had tried to tie her back together in his arms.
"We still have each other, Teef," he consoled her softly, bringing his thumb up to her cheek to wipe a line of tears away.
She looked up at him, a sad smile pulling at her features, and then she was leaning into him, wrapping her arms around him and assailing him with the sweet flavors that lived in her scent. Inhaling, Cloud folded both arms around her and held her close to him, his embrace tight, trying to pull out of the anxiety and misery out of her with his strength.
He realized, then, catching the moonlight and the wash of the stars filtering in from the window above the bed, that the painful drumbeat in his skull had ceased the moment that she sat beside him.
They remained that way for long, silent moments, Tifa humming quietly as she lay cradled in the circle of his arms, her breathing steady and rhythmic. Cloud felt the fog that was invading his awareness dissipate as he absorbed her warmth, feeling her fingertips dig into the soft material of his henley, along the ridges of his spine. In turn, he began to run the flat of his palms along her back, gently rubbing the tension out of the muscles that lived there.
Now acquainted with this sweet feeling, he could hold her like this forever, he decided.
"Cloud?" she looked up at him after another stretch of moments, her voice now with its quiet, tentative edge again.
"Yeah, Teef?" he breathed, their eyes meeting.
"Um… you did promise that you would bring me to an inn," she began, pausing to trap her bottom lip between her teeth as she considered her next words, and Cloud felt something white-hot soar straight to the center of his groin. "Will you… will you kiss me again?"
His heart stammering in his throat, Cloud tried to catch his breath, feeling a weight on his chest. Without thinking, without responding, he brought his hand to her jaw, tilting her head back, and instantly she parted her lips, her eyes closing.
He pressed his lips to hers, immersed their pillowy softness that rekindled something fiery and dangerous inside of him. His hand that was still on her back pressed her closer to him, and she squeezed her arms around him even more tightly, moaning quietly against his mouth.
Spurred on by the responsiveness that was awakening in her, he separated his lips just a little, slotting his lips over hers, their mouths fitting together like two puzzle pieces snapped carefully into place. Tifa was eager this time, remembering their exchanges of a night ago, and she was looping her tongue against his, awakening a starburst inside of him. The heat of their exchange this time was electrifying, filling him with a longing that ached, the throb that had formerly lived in his skull now in his heart and his groin.
She was mewling, the sounds she was making growing needy and desperate, and Cloud rubbed her back to comfort her, not knowing how far to take this. Their kiss was turning rough; she was pulling away to suck his lip or nip at it gently, running her tongue across his teeth, toying the tip of her tongue with the tip of his as if they were flirting with one another. It prompted him to respond with the same giddy crudeness, biting her lips when he could and stringing saliva between them, poking the center of her tongue until she moaned. Judging from the way that she began to writhe beneath him, her hands now traveling his back, clawing their way under his shirt and finding his skin, her breasts pressed soft against his chest and her hips twirling slowly, this was headed somewhere dangerous. He found himself trapped between not knowing how to stop it or continue it.
Tifa seemed to have figured something out, though, because she was then pushing him, forcing him to slide further back on the bed so that she could climb into his lap. She wrapped her legs around him, settling her body tight against his, their centers aligning, sparking his brain with a flare when he felt her heat come into contact with his erection, pitifully sheltered by thin, soft fabric. As soon as she brushed against him, she felt it too, and she began to grind against him, the volume of her moans increasing, her hands now wrapped around his face as her kisses grew more passionate and further demanding, and Cloud was almost certain he was dying.
She pulled away after a moment for air, and their eyes met, sparks flying between them as if they were connected to one another by a live wire.
"Cloud," she whispered, her voice low and filled with a tenebrous husk, "I need you. I want you inside of me tonight. Please."
Cloud was sure he had forgotten how to breathe as he stared back at her, the look her in dark crimson eyes pleading, begging him. Him. She wanted him, and her words were better than any fantasy he'd ever conjured in his life about the girl who, one way or the other, always lived next door to him, whether it was back in Nibelheim or back in Sector7. It was better than any dream he'd ever had about the woman who was always at his side, who took care of him and made sure that he was steady on his feet, who quelled the thunderclaps in his mind and was a balm on the ruptures of his soul.
Tifa. Tifa was always there for him, the perfect woman, made just for him. Tifa was his best friend and his partner and maybe she was the love of his life.
And she wanted him.
She wanted him inside of her.
He nodded slowly, but staring back at that needy look in her eyes, Cloud determined that he was going to set his own pace for this. He wanted to savor every millisecond of his first time with Tifa Lockhart. He had memorized the taste of her lips. Now it was time to learn the taste of every part of her.
He made a mental note to thank Aerith the next opportunity he got.
Wrapping his arms around her, Cloud pushed up to his feet, lifting her with her legs crossed around his waist. She looped her arms around his neck, anchoring herself to him as he carefully turned and crawled across the bed with her dangling in a tight grip from his body. Gently, he placed her at the center of the bed, pulling away from her just enough so that his eyes could recapture hers.
There were no words to be exchanged here, just his question deep in the glowing cerulean of his eyes, now swirled with the sparks of mako that pulsed in beat with the passion and desire that was running hot through his blood. Tifa just looked back at him, giving him a silent nod, her legs falling open beneath him, her fingers threading through his soft hair at the nape of his neck and tickling his skin, sending a shiver across his scalp.
He dropped his forehead to hers as if both acknowledging what they were about to do and thanking her for the honor, his head bowed in reference. He pressed his lips to hers again, sharing a deep kiss that she immediately opened wide to accept, and Cloud could taste every color of the rainbow as her tongue danced messily with his.
A breathless moment later, he pulled away to find her lips swollen and bruised, Tifa panting as she exhaled heavily. Awestruck by her beauty, by the sloping curves of her heart-shaped face, by the pouty fullness of those lips, by the almond-shapes of her eye and her spill of glossy black hair that bordered all of her like the night sky, Cloud wondered how the fuck a poor, hopeless bastard with a broken psyche and an even more damaged track record could pull together enough luck to wind up in a position like this.
His lips burning, Cloud was suddenly hungry to have her naked. He pulled off his shirt and tossed it somewhere, before he tugged on the hem of her tank top, dragging it up to expose the flat planes of her stomach, the lines of her abdominal muscles instantly sending him skyward. So many times they had fought side by side, and he found himself distracted in battle by the sheen of sweat across that expanse of skin, enough distraction to slip him up to almost missing an incoming enemy attack or forgoing the opportunity to aid a comrade in need. More than once, Barret had pointed this out to him rather angrily.
Tifa sat up for just a moment, lifting her arms so that he could pull the fabric over her head. It was gone in seconds, tossed somewhere forgotten behind him. His vision was instantly captivated by the sight of her soft, full breasts, each peak perfectly shaped against her torso, everything culminating in alluring lines that started at the juncture of her neck and her narrow shoulders. Shyly, Tifa crossed her arms in front of her, centering them in the valley between them as she lowered herself back against the sheets.
Cloud realized almost instantly that she was covering the scar that was carved there.
He felt the dull pain ring like a bell at the back of his brain, the memories returning bright and ugly, his failures vivid in his mind's eye. He flung them away, reaching for Tifa's wrists with both hands and gently forcing them apart, lowering them back to her sides. He placed his palm over the scar, looking deep into her eyes as he felt her heartbeat rush against his touch.
"Don't be afraid, Tifa," he whispered. "It's just me."
She nodded, closing her eyes and dropping her head against the bed, her hair fanning out around her like a spill of midnight. Cloud ran his fingers over the scar, silently apologizing for the failures of the past and vowing new promises, ones that said he would never leave her side and never let her be hurt like this again.
He backed away a little, now finding the waistband of her sweats. Eagerly, she lifted her hips, and Cloud slid them down her endlessly long legs until they too were thrown away, forgotten. Her arousal, blended with the bright, sugary scents of her soap that drifted off of her skin, was intoxicating him, a heady alchemy that was making him giddy with longing. He gently palmed her thighs apart, and Tifa began to roll her hips, silently begging him as his eyes fell to the center of those tight blue panties, discovering the dampness there.
He had to fight to keep from passing out.
As his fingers skirted around the hem of them, ready to peel them away, he let his eyes travel back up her body, drinking in every part of her until their eyes met again. The candlelight from the wall across the room glimmered in the shine of her eyes, sending flames of red and orange staring back at him through a glassy, tear-filled pool of starlight. It stole his breath away, made his heart ache every time he inhaled.
He realized, looking into the sparkles of amber that lived in the scarlet oceans of her eyes, that it hurt him to breathe. It hurt because every breath he drew in just proved that he couldn't live without her, that any time they spent apart was far too much and sent him into ruin, back into the depths of a bleak hell that was bordered by restless, forgotten memories and a parasitic rage and vengeful panic. Whatever disease inflicted him, she was the cure. He understood this fully as the celestial sky above shined down on her body in an ethereal glow, the stars in her skin.
Leaving her underwear alone for now, Cloud lay atop her, pressing the first of his trail of kisses to her lips, before they worked their way down in a worshipful descent, discovering every part of her that he could taste. He kissed her eyelids and her cheeks, down her jaw and the tip of her nose. He focused his affections on her neck with alternating bites and nips and gentle sucks, finding and pressing his lips to her clavicle and her shoulder, even lifting her arms to kiss the undersides of her wrists, right against her pulse.
He took his time when he reached her breasts, kissing the jagged line of her scar, kissing and sucking both of her dusty pink nipples under his tongue until they were sore, before brushing his teeth across them. He kept up this careful assault in alternating assaults between both peaks for so long that Tifa wrapped her legs around his upper back, pressing her hips upward until he could feel her damp center against his belly.
"Cloud," she whined again. "Please, I'm…"
She trailed off, writhing her hips greedily. Feeling pleased with himself, Cloud finally pulled away from her breasts, leaving them wet and shining under the galactic beacons above. He lowered himself between her legs, lifting one and pressing his next line of kisses against the inside of her ankle, trailing them down her calves and the back of her knee, repeating the same on the opposite leg. He stopped at the line of her thighs, lowering them back down and finally squaring his sight on the blue cotton that shielded her most intimate parts from him, Tifa still rolling her hips.
He brought his fingers to the waistband again, brushing across the skin of her lower belly and raising gooseflesh. She lifted her hips, waiting. His heart now raging out of control, his erection spiking his cranium with a different sort of pain, Cloud smirked at her to disguise his own nervousness as he began to carefully pull them away.
He couldn't have tossed that tiny strip of fabric out of his hands with any more joy and excitement if he tried.
His eyes fell to her center, Tifa widening her thighs for him, placing herself fully on display in the most submissive gesture he could wrap his head around. Her hands were laying flat across the sheets at her sides, ready to dig into them. But Cloud could only focus on the pink, wet sight in front of him, her lines and folds and split of drenched flesh beckoning him like a rose covered in dew. He realized, once, again, that he had stopped breathing.
Trying to shake the fog from his brain, Cloud looked up at her again, their eyes meeting. Hers had grown dark, and he knew that his were clouded over in a similar fashion.
"Give me that pillow," he demanded quietly.
Tifa reached over her head for the pillow behind her and handed it to him. He tapped her bottom, and she raised her hips, letting him place it under her. Soothingly, he ran his hands along the outsides of her thighs.
"Just try to breathe," he coaxed her gently.
Tifa nodded and closed her eyes again as Cloud settled between her thighs, spreading them wide and holding them open with his arms wrapped around them. He started by carefully kissing their insides, trailing his lips along the creamy flesh until she was trembling. Cloud found himself grinding his own erection against the bed, insatiable at the way that he was causing her to react.
Expelling a breath, he refocused his attention on her pulsing, spread center of need, watching her arousal continue to slide out of her in a steady stream. He found himself captivated by the rim of her tight opening, imagining him pushing deep into that enveloping warmth. He traced the lines of her inner lips, marveled by their bright pink slickness. But his eyes fell ultimately to her clit, a tiny nub at the apex of all of this wonder, hard and swollen and a darker pink than everything else.
Cloud hadn't been with any girls before, but he'd read and seen and heard enough in his lifetime to know something about what they liked. He figured he would take his chances and let her body guide him the rest of the way, and so he lowered his face and pressed his next kiss tenderly to her clit.
"Oh," Tifa moaned breathlessly, tossing her head from one side to the other.
That was a very, very good sign, Cloud determined, and he decided to keep at it, pressing kiss after kiss to that delicate bundle of nerves until she was sighing his name and her thighs were trembling, her fingers curled in the sheets. He smiled devilishly at her, adjusting tactics, letting his tongue dart out and running it smooth along the sides of her clit. She moaned louder, hips lifting up from the pillow, and Cloud began a steady assault, licking and flicking, tapping until she was moaning with abandon.
The way that her hips turned and her back arched was driving his wild with lust, and he could tell from her breathy, fragmented puffs that she was close. He wanted to taste more of her before she peaked, so he lowered his tongue to give her clit a break and began to lave her folds with gentle, balmy strokes, soothing her flesh, gathering her leaking, honeyed wetness across his the flat of his tongue before he pressed it inside of her, learning the feel of her entrance in a very unique way. The tenor of her moans had changed at this juncture; they became husky and mournful, seeking release.
"Cloud," she whined needily.
After torturing her for long moments, Cloud dragged his tongue, now fully drenched in her arousal, back up to her clit. He licked with the flat of it a few times before he wrapped his mouth fully around her nub and began to suck earnestly, pulling the pleasure right out of her, his tongue tapping against its tip.
"Oh, Cloud, Cloud, please," Tifa began to cry, leaning upward slightly, her eyes glassy and wet as she stared down at him. "Please, Cloud. Oh, oh, oh my god. Cloud, I can't, please… I'm gonna…"
He moaned against her skin, producing vibrations that sent her over the moon. She arched her back, her climax bursting from her with a long wail, and Cloud held her firm, his mouth still on her most sensitive part until she rode it out fully, the lower part of his face soon soaked. When she finally lowered her back and settled against the sheets again, her breathing heavy and deep, Cloud tore his lips away from her flesh with a small pop, grinning down at her with a sense of triumph as he rubbed the tops of her thighs, still holding her open.
Finally, he had tasted every part of Tifa Lockhart.
He sat up and licked his lips, wiping her excess desire from his chin. He then crawled his way up to lay next to her, and she rolled toward him, pitching her face toward his shoulder. He slid his arm behind her back, settling beside her and glancing down at her flushed body.
"You okay?" he asked her, watching the rise and fall of her chest.
"Mmm," was all she could muster in response.
Cloud found himself grinning again, and he had only just gotten started. Tifa wanted him inside of her, and far be it for him to keep her from anything she wanted.
Shifting them both slightly so that she was laid back against his chest in the cage of his arms, Cloud sat up and positioned her between his knees. He wrapped one arm around her waist, holding her tight against him, his other hand dropping to flirt between her thighs as he gently encouraged them to spread open for him again.
"Cloud…?" Tifa queried in a tiny gasp, her voice registering with a mild edge of shock.
"Shhh," Cloud whispered into her hair. "Just take a deep breath, okay, Teef? I need to get you ready for me. Is this your first time?"
He felt her nod, and the triumph in his chest expanded two-fold. Tifa trembled in his arms, a tiny moan escaping her lips as he squeezed her tighter in his hold around her waist. He could feel the race of her heart through her back, leaping into his chest to join his. His breath hot against the side of her throat, he dropped a kiss there before his long fingers began to stroke between her folds.
He purposefully avoided her clit, knowing that she was probably still oversensitive there. Instead, he focused his attentions on her tight opening, teasing it gently with alternating rotations of his fingertips, finding her delightfully slippery from her first orgasm. She breathed harder when he carefully slid one finger inside of her, pressing deep but careful not to move too quickly or too roughly. When Tifa began to try and spread her thighs even wider, he added a second digit to join the first, pushing deeper inside and now curling against her walls, gently scissoring them inside of her to work her open for him.
She started to mewl, whining his name again in the way that made him feel like he was on top of the world, a sound that he could live with forever chiming in his ears. Her hips were now winding between his thighs, and his own arousal was so stiff and painful in his sweats that he knew he needed to move this along before he hurt himself. He began to move his fingers with a little more speed, then dropped his thumb to her clit, rolling circles over it until she was crying out his name again, lifting her hips from the bed while he fingered her so hard that he could hear a splash with every pump as she soaked the sheets and his palm.
Eventually, she broke for a second time, and he stopped, savoring the way that she whimpered her way all the way down from her climax, his name falling from her lips in prayer. He breathed heavily while she hiccuped and gasped, and he slowly pulled his fingers away from her heat, bringing them up to his lips and turning to her to meet her eyes as he licked her release right off of them.
"Fuck, Tifa," he whispered, and she was looking back at him, completely mystified. "You taste so good."
She murmured something unintelligible, but Cloud was on the verge of self-destruction, and so he pulled away from Tifa, lying her back on the bed. He slid off of the bed just long enough to kick off his sweats and boxers, freeing his erection and instantly taking it in his fist to temporarily ease the throb. Tifa's eyes dropped to it, and then she was leaning up, reaching out to take him in her own hand, but Cloud backed instantly away, crawling back onto the bed between her thighs and the puddle that was forming there.
He knew that if she got her hands or, worse, her mouth on him the way that her misbehaving red eyes were alluding to, he wouldn't last another second.
Instead, he redirected her attention to his hands on her thighs, gently pushing them back before he lined himself up between her folds, caressing the tip of his cock against her clit. Instantly, she was focused on him, her legs bending back and spreading just a little more, her eagerness leaking out of her.
"You ready for me, Tifa?" Cloud whispered, his eyes meeting hers again, his heart somersaulting in his chest as they stared at each other, love traversing the space between them, the shine of the stars illuminating them both with their blessing.
"Yes, Cloud. Please. Now."
He nodded, and finally rested his tip at her entrance, feeling the pleasure instantly wrap itself around his brain at the first sensation of her hot, tight, wet flesh around him. She was like a vacuum, drawing him in deeper until he found himself sinking fully inside of her, unable to stop himself as he became submerged in her sweet, heated depths.
She hissed sharply, and Cloud stopped, glancing down at her, seeing her face contorting slightly. Concerned, he reached up and tenderly brushed an errant lock of hair from her face.
"You okay?" he asked her softly.
She nodded, and her arms were looping around his neck, tugging on him gently. "I'm okay, Cloud. I just want you closer."
He smiled at her, warmed over by her affection, and he lowered himself to rest atop her body. She hugged him close, wrapping her legs around his waist, encouraging him by pressing her heels into his ass to get him moving.
He kissed her once, raising his arms to cage them around her head, before he began to move his hips, plunging himself deep. It started as a slow grind, Cloud learning the depths and angles of her insides, uncovering the movements and thrusts that drove her wildest. Her incantations started as breathy moans, soon escalating into wild, vivid cries when he began to pull fully out of her and drive himself back in deep, twirling his hips with a rotating grind. Wanting to see her break apart a third time, he lifted off of her slightly, pushing her legs over his shoulders so that he could balance himself on his palms above her, and he began a swift, punishing rhythm, now driving into her deep and mercilessly.
"Cloud, oh Cloud, please. Oh right there, yes, yes, please, Cloud!"
Her cries became desperate, and Cloud slammed his eyes shut as he felt her walls tremble and grip him, the resistance fierce as he pounded into her. He stopped only when Tifa arched her back with a violent wail, singing his name from her throat. Suddenly, he was briefly concerned about the thickness of the walls in this inn.
It was only the mako coursing through his veins that were keeping his endurance, because Tifa was breathless and spent again, and he was still steel inside of her. Swearing, he scooped his arms under her back, lifting her up, her body almost as limp as a rag doll. He pulled her in close, showering her face with kisses and calming the giddiness of her orgasm as he sat back and settled her into his lap, pressing his forehead to hers.
After giving her a moment to collect herself, still buried inside of her, his dick now twitching at intervals and causing her to gasp, Cloud slid one hand between their bodies, the tips of his fingers finding her clit and beginning to circle over it with a gentle, coaxing rub. Instantly, Tifa began to mewl again, once again wrapping her arms around his neck, her hands surging into his hair.
"Tifa," he urged her gently, still stroking her sensitive flesh slowly, "Make love to me."
Tifa purred, dropping her face in the crook of his neck and shoulder. She began to twirl her hips, a slow grind as she wove circles over hi, his length sliding in and out of her, the contentment a slow, agonizing build in the pleasure center of his brain. She was so tight, so hot and wet on him, slowly working herself up into a frenzy, Cloud almost lost his wits, certain he would not make it out of this experience alive.
She began to move faster on him, finding a rhythm that had him hitting a spot deep inside of her. Enamored and fully drugged by the feel of her, Cloud crowded her even closer to him and whispered sweet nothings and praises into her ear, encouraging her to work hard for her fourth climax.
"That's so good, Tifa," he growled through the threads of her hair, now pasted against her cheek with a stamp of sweat. "Fuck, you feel so good on my cock. I love it when you fuck me like this. Keep going, Teef. Come for me again."
Tifa gasped out a moan, now locking her hands into grips on his shoulders as she threw her head back exposed her throat and her beautiful, pendulous breasts. He watched her in fascination as she bounced herself on him, her hips rotating with perfect harmony, and Cloud squeezed his eyes shut tight as he felt himself grow closer and closer.
Soon, though, Tifa had brought herself into a new, desperate release on his length, and she shuddered and paused with a wild cry of his name, wrapping her hands around the back of his throat as she came. Cloud grunted and cursed as she rode it out, feeling her leak all over him, her walls fluttering around his needy, anxious cock.
"Oh, Cloud, fuck," she cursed, and Cloud lost it at that. He had never heard Tifa swear.
"Fuck," he responded in tandem, and then he was pulling away from her, gently pushing her to her knees.
"Turn around, Teef," he rumbled, desperate now for his own release. "On your knees, hands holding the headboard."
The look she shot him was pure terror, and Cloud almost pushed the raging desire out of his brain.
Almost.
"It'll be okay, Tifa," he promised her, rubbing her bottom as she turned away from him. Damn, what an ass she had. It always looked so good in her skirts, a perfect, perky curve, but seeing it fully bared like this set off a gunshot somewhere in his head.
Tifa nodded, trusting him fully, and widened her knees as she bent forward and placed her hands on the headboard.
Wiping his mouth, now overcome with lust, Cloud crawled behind her, gathering all of her hair into his fist to anchor himself to her as he lined up with her, seeing the way her slick anticipation streaked down the insides of her thighs. Unable to wait another second, he sank himself inside of her to the hilt, her back arching as soon as she was wrapped around him, her voice breaking when she cried out his name. He tugged on her hair a little as he began to thrust, mercilessly taking her pussy from behind, Tifa beginning to wail and moan with a new, dark cadence in her voice he had not heard erupt from her throat before.
"Cloud," she pleaded, the headboard slamming into the wall as he railed her into it, "That… feels… so… good… oh…"
"You feel so good," he snarled back at her, feeling him edging closer to his own breaking point. He wanted to see her fall apart one last time before he permitted his own release, and he grit his teeth, his body glimmering with sweat and his free hand digging divots into her hip as he drove into her with viciously deep thrusts that pulled her insides apart.
Soon, Tifa was becoming desperate for her orgasm, and she slid her hands away from the headboard, dropping her palms flat on the pillow, lowering her face between them as she arched her back and widened her thighs, letting him plunge in even deeper. His brain misfired at this, and hearing her forlorn cries, he closed his eyes and concentrated on making her come.
It didn't take long, and he felt her tense up around his cock again, her walls fluttering and squeezing. He was becoming intimately acquainted with the responses of her body and was learning how to adapt to her needs. He continued to thrust as she came apart around him, driving himself finally to his own release as she cried his name over and over again in delirium.
Finally, he felt it seize, running through him white and hot and nearly splitting him in half. He finally stopped moving inside of her, vaguely aware of the violent sounds of Tifa's breathing as he felt his dick spurt into her insides. He pulled back, both hands now spreading her ass wide as he slipped out of her, watching with fascination as his thick, heavy white spend dripped out of her, blending with the evidence of her own multiple successions of release and trailing hot down her beautiful, sweet pussy and the insides of her thighs and onto the sheets.
"Fuck," he swore again, his brain full of mist, his thoughts incoherent and his executive functioning temporarily disabled as the dendrites in his brain fizzled and popped.
"Cloud," Tifa suddenly whined, and Cloud turned to her, finding her looking up at him from her pillow, her face stained with tears.
Instantly, his instinct to protect and care for her kicked in, and Cloud found himself crawling to her side, laying beside her and gathering her into his arms as she sobbed the elation of her release against his neck. He cuddled and soothed her, rubbing her back and running his fingers through her hair, whispering softly into her ear.
"You did so good, Tifa," he professed, he breath warm against her skin as he held her tight. Despite the collection of wet stains littered in the bed, Cloud gathered the covers and pulled it over them both, sheltering them in its warmth as he held her even tighter. "You're amazing, Teef. That was the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life. I love you."
Those last three words rushed out of him before he could stop himself, unprovoked but completely sincere. He winced, hoping that he hadn't crossed a bridge too far, despairing at the thought that he might have ruined this perfect moment between them with his overzealousness. But Tifa only curled closer to him, wrapping her arm around his waist and kicking a leg over his hips.
"I love you too, Cloud," she confided, her voice a song. "So, so much. I've been waiting for this night since you came back to me in Midgar. I've wanted you so bad, all this time. So many times I wanted to just come to your room and tell you."
Cloud breathed out at that confession, squeezing her gently to let him know how much he appreciated her words. He had none of his own to offer her, already feeling like he had poured so much out into her, that he had eclipsed into one with her. Instead, he focused on the steady, calming sounds of her breathing, only closing his own eyes when he was sure that she had fallen completely asleep.
—
The next morning, Cloud woke to the sun tearing through his eyelids, the sounds of boots padding quietly across the floorboards elsewhere in the room. Sitting up with a groan, he wound the sleep out of his eyes with his fists, looking around to find himself still naked, wrapped up alone in the sheets.
He was moments from panicking at not finding Tifa beside him, but he soon spotted her across the room by the dresser, fully dressed in her battle fatigues of white cotton and black leather, folding something neatly on top of it. When she heard him stir, she turned to him, gathering the pile and walking it over to him.
"Good morning, Cloud," she greeted him with a bright, warm smile, sending his heart into flight again. She held the folded stack out to him. "Here you go. Everything is clean."
He returned her smile, accepting his clothes from her. "You did the laundry already?"
She nodded, still smiling, her eyes unable to keep from wandering along the lines of his chest. Catching her checking him out, Cloud felt a smug swell of pride well up in him, and he leaned back a little to offer her a better view. "Yeah, I was up early. Everyone is getting ready now. We are going to head down to have breakfast so you can let the group know what our next move is."
She blushed slightly, then turned away, gathering her new purchases and healing items into the rucksack she'd bought for their upcoming travels, offering Cloud some privacy so that he could dress. Once he'd pulled his sweater and pants on, she pointed to his pauldron and harness that were sitting on Aerith's vacated bed, and he slipped into those too, finally strapping his sword to his back from where Tifa'd left it for him against the wall.
Having gathered everything, they left together to greet the others downstairs where they waited in the hallway before heading to breakfast. Red was biting into his fur, seemingly trying to burrow something out of it, purposefully avoiding looking at them. But Aerith was smiling wickedly at them both, and Barret had his arms crossed over his massive chest, tapping the toe of his boot expectantly on the floor.
"…What?" Cloud finally demanded after putting up with their stares for long enough.
Aerith giggled wildly in response, and ran for Tifa, instantly grabbing her wrist and pulling her in the direction of the dining room. "You have to tell me everything," she insisted, and Cloud saw the way that Tifa's cheeks darkened as she dragged her away.
"Really," Barret woofed, and Cloud had half a mind to storm out of the inn, not in the mood to put up with any of this. "I ain't think you had it in you, truth be told. But these inns ain't made of steel, jackass. Next time, keep it down. I was getting good sleep, and ya'll woke me up, fuckin' like jackrabbits. I ain't never wanted to hear Tifa sound like that in my entire life. Make sure that shit don't happen again, or you and me gonna have problems."
Cloud just stared at him, not daring say a word.
Red sighed audibly, rising to his feet and padding between them. "I'd rather none of us discuss Cloud and Tifa, or any humans for that matter, mating after this. These are not conversations I am exactly delighted to be privy to. I am simply glad I chose to sleep down here last night."
With that, he followed the girls into the tavern.
Barret pulled his glare away from Cloud with a grunt, scratching the top of his head as he made his way into the dining room as well. Finally feeling his cheeks fully burning, Cloud shook his head, wholly embarrassed and wishing he had at least tried to keep Tifa's voice down.
And on top of that, he still had to figure out how they were going to deal with Sephiroth.
The unknown journey continues.