A/N: Hi friends! This is a oneshot I planned that got too long, so I'm splitting it up into parts. You'll notice the chapter titles are all classical music pieces. For each corresponding chapter, they will either be referenced in some way, or they are a reflection of the mood at a certain point. You can listen along if you feel like it. I'll always name the piece and the composer at the start of the chapter.

Well, enjoy!

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Élégie Op.3 no.1 – Rachmaninoff

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A Sea of Silence

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1: Élégie Op.3 no.1

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The day Tifa gets a new neighbor, it rains.

She thinks of how the guy with blond hair must hate himself for choosing "today of all fucking days" to move. He keeps muttering and grunting and cursing in this low, hoarse voice; she doesn't have to strain her ears to hear him, the walls are just that thin. He's got a friend with him, a guy with a much louder voice, who keeps laughing, swearing, then laughing again.

It's 10:00, and she's getting ready to head out to class. When she passes them by in the narrow hallway, they're struggling with an empty bookcase; their first meeting is tight smiles, a muttered "good luck", a hissed "thanks", and that's it.

She doesn't think about it for most of the day. Her building is in poor condition, with a shitty landlord and annoying neighbors; people come and go all the time. The guy moving in next-door is the third occupant in a year. And when she comes back after class only to head out again for work, there's music seeping through the walls, so she figures he made himself at home.

They don't talk—then again, she doesn't bother talking with the other neighbors either—and all she sees of him for weeks are flashes of blond hair as he goes down the stairs on Tuesday mornings around 7:30, which is around the same time she opens her door to head out for school.

He's not a loud neighbor. He doesn't seem to have a lot of friends over—if there's no music, it's always quiet on his side. She sometimes thinks he plays so much music to drown the silence he lives in.

Their second meeting leaves an unpleasant taste in her mouth.

One Tuesday morning, she breaks their clockwork routine of him leaving at 7:30 and her following less than a minute after. Her friend is supposed to pick her up today, so she leaves a little earlier. Once she gets outside, it's pouring; her friend isn't there. She waits in front of the door, sheltered from the rain by the low-hanging parapet. When it's been ten minutes and Aerith still isn't answering her texts or her calls, she gives up and heads back inside to grab an umbrella. As she gets to her floor's landing, she bumps into her neighbor.

Tifa reaches out for the railing to steady herself. The guy stumbles back. She can't help but notice he's wearing a T-shirt and an unzipped hoodie; no raincoat or umbrella in sight. As she goes to give him a quick apology, he brushes past her in silence and runs down the stairs. Her eyes follow him as he disappears.

Her first thought is, rude. The second, weird.

Then, it's her turn to run as she grabs her umbrella and sprints to the bus stop. She doesn't bother mulling over it for the rest of the day, but now, whenever she sees that unruly mop of blond hair at 7:30, the words rude jerk light up in her mind like a neon sign.

It goes on like that for a while. But the third time they meet, things shift. It's the start of something—Tifa has no idea what to call it. It's far from friendship, and he's barely an acquaintance; she still doesn't know his name.

It's raining again. Tifa walks into her favorite coffee shop; she spots his unruly hair as she gets in line. Her neighbor sits at a table near a window, a frown marring his features. He steals glances at his phone once in a while, looking more and more confused as time goes by. Tifa orders her latte to go. As she passes by her neighbor's table, she peeks at his phone—simple curiosity. She takes a sip of the burning drink to hide her smirk.

Her neighbor is confused by a map.

The urge to stop is too strong. Tifa halts and swivels to face him.

"Hey," she says.

He raises his head, still frowning; his expression goes blank when he spots her. The lack of reaction disarms her, and she grows unsure of her choice to help him. That time he bumped into her without apologizing runs through her mind.

"Hi," he finally replies.

The sudden spark of recognition in his eyes pushes Tifa to keep on. She gestures at his phone with her cup. "I'm just taking a guess here, but you're lost, aren't you?"

He hesitates, biting his bottom lip before sighing. "Yeah."

Her eyebrows rise in a wordless question.

"I ran in here to get away from the rain, but I don't know this part of the city very well." He drops the phone on the table.

It takes a lot of willpower for Tifa not to chuckle. She takes another sip of her drink. "So… basically you have an awful sense of direction?"

He removes his cap and runs a hand through his hair. "Kinda."

Tifa refrains from commenting how terrible it must be considering they're less than a fifteen minutes walk away from their apartment complex. He'll find out soon enough. "Well, come on, then." She tilts her head towards the exit. "I'm going back."

He gets to his feet. "Thanks."

They walk outside; it's still pouring, so Tifa opens her umbrella. Her neighbor adjusts his cap and pulls his non-water-resistant jacket's hood over his head. Tifa doesn't offer to share the umbrella; it's a small travel one and wouldn't cover them both.

They keep a brisk pace on the way to their building and arrive within ten minutes. As they get inside, Tifa peeks at her neighbor, noting his obvious frustration. He stays silent as they climb the stairs to their floor. It's as they reach their respective doors that he speaks.

"Sorry." He blows out a loud breath. "I know it looks ridiculous considering how close we were."

"No worries. It's not like I had to make a detour or anything."

Her neighbor nods. Tifa takes in the hunch of his shoulders, his hands shoved deep within his pockets—he definitely feels awkward, and she puts him out of his misery.

"Well, I'll see you around," she says with a generic smile.

She's opening her door when he thanks her again. A quick look over her shoulder reveals he's still standing in the hallway; her door shuts and the neighbor is gone. Tifa doesn't dwell on their third encounter, not really. From time to time, she wonders if she should have asked his name, but then tells herself he didn't ask for hers.

As the weeks go by, music keeps on playing from his place. Once in a while, she hears laughter—but it's always the same person who's laughing, their voice loud and full of mischief. It reminds her more of the friend who helped him move in than of her neighbor himself.

Then one time he orders food, and the delivery guy knocks on Tifa's door. When he realizes he got the wrong apartment, the guy apologizes twice before going on the knock on the right door. But silence reigns from the apartment; he's not playing music this time. Tifa watches from her doorway, curious. The delivery guy keeps glancing at his phone, growing more anxious and frustrated.

"Is it paid for?" She asks when he's knocked for the third time.

The delivery guy startles at her voice, not having realized she'd stayed. "Yeah."

Tifa sighs. "Leave it there, I'll tell him."

The guy hesitates for less than two seconds; he drops the paper bag and races down the stairs with a 'thank you'. Tifa waits to see if her neighbor will show up; after a minute, she goes into the hall and knocks on his door.

"Hey, the guy left your food at your door. It's gonna get cold."

She doesn't stay to check if he grabs it. But as she enters her apartment, she hears his door open. Though she finds this strange, she doesn't let it bother her—at this point, it's just one more weird thing she learned about him.

Then it happens again. And again. The third time, Tifa is fed up. She makes sure her voice is loud and clear when she knocks.

"Would it kill you to open your door?"

There is no answer, but she hadn't expected one, anyway.

Tifa gets her car soon after the third food incident. It's an old beaten up thing she got for a good price; it still has a cassette player and its golden paint is more than outdated—but Tifa doesn't care. She's just happy she won't have to run after the bus anymore.

An afternoon after she's done with university, Tifa decides she'll stop by a shop. She browses the racks, but nothing catches her eye. It doesn't take long for her to exit the store and walk back to her car. As she unlocks the doors and is about to slip in, she hears the yells. She looks over to her left and nearly drops her keys when she sees her neighbor being chased by a police officer. Her neighbor spots her, and Tifa gasps as he runs for her car. When he throws the passenger's door open and gets in, she does the same out of instinct.

"Drive!" He shouts.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" Tifa shouts back even though she starts the car.

"Just drive!"

The car groans as Tifa steers it away from the sidewalk too fast and into the street; someone honks at her, but she doesn't slow down. The officer grows smaller into the rearview mirror until he disappears when she takes a turn.

"What the fuck? What the fuck?"

"I'll explain, just—"

"You'll explain? I fucking hope so!"

Her neighbor twists his head to check if anyone is following them. "Look, it's not my fault."

"I don't care! Tell me where to go!"

He gives her vague instructions, and she remembers how bad he is with directions.

"Give me an address or something. You're not making any sense." Tifa takes a deep breath, doing her best to focus on the road as she gets on a busy street.

Her neighbor looks at his phone first, then tells her an address that's a fifteen minutes drive from here. Luckily for them, Tifa knows the neighborhood. Silence falls down as she heads for the place he chose. Five minutes in, she can't take it anymore.

"What is wrong with you?" She tries to keep her voice level to hide the frantic energy that's taken hold of her. "You don't get into people's cars like that!"

"I'm sorry," he rushes out. "I wasn't thinking. I just saw you and acted."

"What did you do? Do I even want to know?"

"It wasn't me, it was my friend." He ruffles his hair. "He vandalized a guy's house. I was just tagging along. When we got caught, we ran in opposite directions, but the cop went after me."

Tifa grits her teeth. "I am going to kill your friend."

"Get in line," he grumbles.

They fall quiet again. Tifa's heart still beats fast, and she keeps her eyes peeled for any police cruiser. As they near their destination, the bustle of downtown Midgar fades away, and their surroundings switch to old townhouses and apartments.

"What's your name?" She finally asks.

Her neighbor turns to look at her. "I'm Cloud."

"Tifa."

Cloud clears his throat. "Thanks. Again."

It's on the tip of her tongue to say whatever, but she opts for, "This is the last time I'm saving your ass."

To her surprise, he laughs. It's far from the loud laughter that comes from his apartment sometimes. Instead, it's a deep, muted sound.

Tifa slows the car down until they come to a stop in front of a building. "Here you are."

Cloud gets out of the vehicle but keeps the door open; he leans his head inside. "Do you want to come in?"

"Is it your friend's place?"

"Yeah." His lips lift in the shadow of a smirk. "I thought you might want to give him a piece of your mind."

"As tempting as it is…" Tifa says, voice wry. "I'll pass, thanks."

"All right. I'll see you around."

"Sure."

He shuts the door. She doesn't wait for him to get into the building before driving back to her apartment, hoping the entire time that the cop didn't get a good view of her license. She gets home without a hitch, changes into her PJs, and orders pizza. As she watches a random movie she never heard of, her thoughts of her neighbor—Cloud—and his antics fade away.

That is until there's another food delivery incident. And this time—this time, Tifa's had enough. People knock on her door now that they got used to her damn neighbor not answering, and she doesn't want this to go on. So when the delivery arrives and they do their little routine of leaving the food with Tifa, she waits until the guy has left before glancing at Cloud's door. Seeing as there's no sign of life after thirty seconds, Tifa decides it's fair game to keep the food.

It might also be childish payback for that time he jumped into her car.

Cloud ordered pizza, and she takes a slice (or two) on a plate, then goes into her living room to continue studying. As she sits down, she checks the time; it's 19:43. The knocking comes as it hits 19:47. Tifa takes her sweet time wiping and washing her hands before going to open the door. A confused Cloud stands on the other side.

"Hey," Tifa says, all innocence. "What's up?"

"Hey… Do you know if the delivery guy came? I thought I heard something." He plays with his watch, visibly feeling awkward.

Tifa rests her shoulder against the doorway. "Yeah, he did."

Cloud frowns but stays silent. Though part of her feels bad, she doesn't let down.

"Did you want anything else?" She asks with a smile. "My food's getting cold."

At this, he opens his mouth as if to speak but nothing comes out; he closes it soon enough. Finally, he says, "You took my food." There's a slight note of accusation in his voice, but mostly it's disbelief.

"Your food? Hm, that's weird, they delivered it here." Tifa makes a disapproving sound. "They do that a lot these days."

Cloud stands speechless for a few seconds; he runs a hand through his messy hair, a habit of his it seems. To Tifa's shock, he chuckles.

"All right, that's fair."

Her eyes narrow as curiosity takes hold of her. "Why don't you answer, anyway?"

"That's…" He sighs. "First time, I was on the phone and didn't hear him."

"Are you gonna give me an excuse for each time?"

"No—no, I'm not. I knew what I was doing after that. I'm sorry, I just…" He takes in a deep breath. "I don't like dealing with people. Strangers make me nervous."

Something softens inside Tifa at his admission. She can tell by the way he seems to fold unto himself that he's not making it up. Her mind flashes to their previous encounters and how he always acted awkward and distant.

"Well," she says, "I got enough pizza for two if you don't mind sharing."

Cloud's eyes snap up to hers. He shuffles his feet, hides his hands in his pocket.

"You can take half and eat at your place," Tifa amends, seeing his fidgeting.

"No." He clears his throat once, twice. "I mean, no, I don't mind sharing."

Tifa gives him a gentle smile. "Okay. Come in, then."

She pushes away from the doorway to give him space to walk in and goes into the living room to get her now cold food. As she heads into the kitchen, she notices Cloud is still in the entryway.

"You can actually enter, you know."

She doesn't wait for his answer before disappearing into the kitchen. It's as she's putting pizza on a plate for him that she hears noise indicating he followed her.

"So," she says to break the quiet, "you don't like strangers, but you climbed into my car pretty fast." She smiles so he knows she's not being serious.

He leans against the counter and crosses his arms. "Still sorry about that. I told him I'm never hanging out with him again."

"And how long is that gonna last?"

Tifa takes his food out of the microwave and hands him his plate. He mumbles a thank you. They sit at the table facing each other.

"It lasted about a week."

She laughs. "A+ for effort, I guess. Why was he even doing that?"

Cloud waits until he's finished chewing before answering. "He got into a prank war with another guy from uni. It degenerated."

Tifa gives him a 'no shit' look. "Has this other guy retaliated?"

"Not yet." He wipes his hands. "I told him that Reno wouldn't let this slide, but he's not taking this seriously."

Tifa freezes, her slice of pizza halfway to her mouth. "Reno? As in Reno Johnson?"

Cloud nods. "You know him?"

"Unfortunately. You guys are totally losing."

"You mean Zack's losing. I'm just a bystander."

She tilts her head to the side, eyes narrowing. "That's not what I remember."

"I will never live this down, am I?"

"Nope."

They chat as they finish eating; conversation flows between them, and Tifa can barely believe it. She has difficulties reconciling the rude and aloof neighbor she would bump into with the quiet but friendly guy sitting across of her. She discovers Cloud Strife studies Computer Science part-time; he's 23 and will graduate next year. He works two jobs, moved to Midgar when he was 18, and likes all types of music. Tifa doesn't bother telling him she already knew the latter.

It's over an hour later when he goes back to his place. Tifa sprawls on the couch once she's alone, not wanting to study anymore. She takes out her phone as curiosity strikes her—but after a few minutes of searching through all social media platforms she can think of, she finds no Cloud Strife. She's not that surprised, but she could say she's a little disappointed.

With a long sigh, she picks up her laptop and textbooks, forcing herself to get through the materials she needs to revise for tomorrow.

For once, when the music reaches her from Cloud's side, she allows herself a slight smile.

Things don't change much despite getting to know each other. On the rare times they cross paths, they say hello and not much else; both are always in a hurry, so they never get to talk. It surprises Tifa when she realizes she feels disappointment at this. Living alone gets lonely at times—though she wouldn't admit it to her father, who hates the thought of her being on her own in Midgar. And having a neighbor she can chat with just sounds nice. But she doesn't push her ideas on Cloud; if things are to develop, she'd rather they do naturally.

And eventually, they do.

Two of her friends from university text her to get ready late on a Friday. Tifa doesn't need to be told twice to ditch her homework; she changes from her hoodie and leggings to jeans and a long-sleeved top. When Aerith and Yuffie arrive at her apartment, Tifa's still putting on mascara. She lets her friends in before going back into the bathroom; their idle chatter drifts through the open door.

"Did he say why he canceled?"

"No." The sigh comes from Aerith.

Tifa puts on her earrings as she comes out of the bathroom. "The date you mentioned a few days ago?"

"Yup. It was weird, he called me earlier and just said something came up."

"Whatever," Yuffie says. "You're better off with us, anyway."

Laughing, Aerith gets to her feet. "You're absolutely right."

They leave minutes after. As Tifa locks behind them, she glances at Cloud's door, but the apartment has been silent all day. Yuffie leads them to a trendy bar she heard of; they go down a short staircase and into a large dimly lit room. Tifa raises her eyebrows at the size of the crowd—and also at the tropical-inspired neon decorations. It doesn't seem to dissuade her friends as Aerith snags a small booth and Yuffie heads for the bar. Tifa sits next to her friend, waiting for the other girl to come back.

"Are you going to go on another date?"

"I think so?" Aerith shakes her head. "Zack said he'd call me tomorrow. I guess I'll see."

Tifa frowns a little at the date's name, thinking she's heard it before. When nothing comes back to mind, she dismisses the thought, figuring Aerith must have mentioned him in passing before.

"I was really looking forward to it," Aerith adds with enough casualness it would fool anyone else. "Well, I'm sure he had a good reason."

Before Tifa can pretend to agree, Yuffie comes back with drinks and plops down on the opposite side of the booth. She raises her neon cocktail with an umbrella, inciting the other girls to do the same.

"Here we goooo!"

Tifa hides her fond smile as she takes a sip. It's been a while since they all went out together like this, and she missed this. As the night goes on, Aerith knocks back drinks faster than she usually does, and not being a big drinker to start with, the alcohol affects her in no time. Tifa notices and slows down her consumption to keep a clear head, knowing her friend will need help to get home. Once Aerith finishes her fourth drink and makes to go get another one, Tifa slides her a glass of water.

"Here, I got you this before."

Aerith doesn't even ask what it is before gulping it down. She grimaces when she realizes it's water, but then giggles. "You tricked me."

Across from them, Yuffie snorts. "And she's gone. What's up with you, Short Stuff?"

Tifa rolls her eyes at the nickname her friend hates. Aerith glares, leaning forward to face Yuffie.

"Nothing is up, you bite-sized gremlin!"

"Ooooh, I know! Are you that disappointed about your date?"

"That's—no!"

Yuffie lets out a snicker. "If you say so."

Aerith huffs and falls back in her seat. She takes hold of her braid and begins unraveling it. She only ties back the front of her hair in a lopsided, messy bun.

"Uh-oh," Tifa says as she takes in their friend's loose hair, a rare occurrence. "You pissed her off."

"Yeah, yeah." Yuffie waves her hand around dismissively before finishing her second cocktail. "It didn't take much."

"I want another drink," Aerith declares.

Before they can react, she stumbles out of her seat and navigates towards the bar. Tifa looks at Yuffie, who shrugs. With a sigh, Tifa follows Aerith, struggling to get through the crowd. She finds her resting heavily on the bar, ordering a shot. The bartender hands it to her and moves on to another customer.

"Aerith—" Tifa shouts to be heard over the noise and music.

Too late—Aerith knocks back the shot. She freezes as the liquor goes down; Tifa reaches for her right as she straightens.

"Come on, I think you've had enough." Tifa guides them back to the booth. This time, she makes Aerith go in first so she can't run towards the bar anymore.

They stay a little longer, but it soon becomes apparent that Aerith isn't enjoying herself anymore. Once she groans and lets her body fall against Tifa, Yuffie brings the night to an end. They take care not to jostle their friend too much as they get her out of the booth and outside. Aerith leans against Tifa the whole time, doing her best to stand up but with little success.

"Should I call for a taxi?" Yuffie asks.

"She's bound to get sick before we get to her apartment. I think it's better if I bring her back to my place. It's a quick walk from here."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Do you want to come with us?"

Yuffie shakes her head, already dialing a number on her phone. "I'll just ask Reno if I can crash at his place."

Tifa doesn't hide her scowl but says nothing.

"Yeah, yeah, I know—he's a douchebag who's gonna break my heart. You've told me a hundred times before." Yuffie brings the phone to her ear, waving goodbye at her friends. "Hiii, can I come over? No, I don't mind walking—why, what happened to—" Her voice trails off, listening to Reno on the phone.

"I won't say I told you so!" Tifa shouts after Yuffie as she walks away; the girl gives her the finger over her shoulder.

"Ugh." The moan comes from Aerith. "Don't yell."

Tifa winces, feeling guilty for not having thought of that. "Sorry. Come on, can you walk?"

Aerith makes a valiant effort for about five minutes until she can't hold upright anymore and clings to Tifa. They've advanced less than a meter when Aerith groans something sounding suspiciously like 'I'm gonna be sick'

"Woah, woah, all right." Tifa ushers them towards the sidewalk, hoping to make it to the bus stop and its trashcan in time. They do, but Aerith instead supports her weight on it and pukes on the sidewalk. Tifa lets out a sigh as she holds her friend's long curls out of harm's way. It's as she makes sure Aerith doesn't collapse that she spots the two guys trying to break into a car a little farther down the street. Tifa's eyes narrow in recognition at the mop of blond hair.

"Tifa," Aerith whines, grasping for her friend, "I want to sit down."

"We're just going to go a little further, okay?"

"Nooo, I don't wanna."

Tifa doesn't heed her; she half-carries, half-drags Aerith towards the two guys, one of whom has unlocked the car's door. The other plays lookout and sees her first; Cloud's eyebrows go up in surprise.

"Hey," Tifa says, "you mind helping me?"

Her voice startles the dark-haired guy, who turns around. "Fuck, Cloud, you had one job!" His eyes widen when he takes in the girls. "Aerith? What the fuck?"

Cloud is already at Tifa's side, supporting half of Aerith's weight. "You good like this? I can carry her. And that's Zack, by the way."

It takes a lot out of Tifa not to roll her eyes. That's where she'd heard the name before. Aerith's dreamy date just had to be Cloud's troublemaker of a friend. "Did you really ditch her for another prank?"

Zack glances at the open car door with a confounded expression. "How do you know—oh, you're Cloud's accomplice."

"If by accomplice, you mean onetime escape route, then yeah, I guess so." Turning to Cloud, Tifa adds, "Help me get her back to my place?"

Cloud nods, and with Zack's help, they lift an out-of-it Aerith on Cloud's back.

"Aerith, can you do something for me?" Tifa makes sure her voice stays soft, coaxing. "We're gonna help you get home, okay, but you gotta hold on to Cloud. Can you do that?"

"You can't hold on to a cloud," Aerith grumbles. Still, she complies, tightening her grip on his neck.

"Oh, sweet lord. How much did she drink?" Zack tugs at some strands of Aerith's hair. "She let her hair down."

"Not sure why that's relevant," Cloud mumbles before getting to his feet. He keeps his balance as he straightens, and Aerith's hold doesn't slacken.

"She does that when she's upset." Tifa sends Zack a wry look. "Which she was."

Zack has the nerve to appear puzzled. "I told her I'd call tomorrow."

"Whatever. You're gonna lose to Reno, anyway, so ditching her won't have been worth it."

"What the hell, how much does she know?" The question is for Cloud, who shrugs unapologetically. Zack swivels to face Tifa. "I don't even know who you are."

Cloud signals at Tifa to follow him with a jab of his head. "She's my neighbor. I'll text you later, okay? You gotta finish here."

Tifa gives Zack a wide, sardonic smile before wriggling her fingers in a goodbye and taking off after Cloud.

"I know that much." Zack's voice echoes behind them. "Hey, neighbor! Let me know if she's all right!"

Despite her initial unfavorable impression of Zack, Tifa turns so he can see her nod in answer, softening at his concern for Aerith. Next to her, Cloud grunts; Tifa glances his way to witness Aerith clutching too tightly at his neck and looking both dazed and panicky.

"Tifa, why am I moving?" She slants her head forward to get a peek of Cloud's face. "Who are you?"

"That's Cloud. He's helping us go home." Tifa lets her weariness from the last half-hour of the evening shine through her voice.

Aerith giggles and stage-whispers to Tifa, "He's cute, but his name is silly."

Tifa pinches her lips to keep from laughing; when she sees Cloud's smirk, she lets out a chuckle. Aerith babbles from time to time, filling the otherwise silent walk. Once they get to the building, Tifa holds the door open for Cloud to slip inside; they climb up to their floor, doing their best to make as little noise as possible. Tifa shuts her door behind them and falls back against it, feeling tired. She allows herself a few seconds of rest, then pushes away from the door to help Cloud. She gestures at him to come with her and heads for her room.

"Sorry for the mess," she apologizes reflexively.

Cloud snorts. "That's what you call messy?"

She chooses to ignore the comment. "Let's get her on the bed."

Together, they convince Aerith to let go—no, she won't fall and hurt herself—and tuck her into bed. Tifa places a trashcan next to the bed and a glass of water on the side table. It takes seconds for Aerith to drift off; Tifa stays in case her friend gets sick again. Once she's reassured, she exits her room, leaving the door ajar. Cloud sits on her couch, phone in hand; he looks up when she collapses next to him.

"Rough night?"

"Not really," Tifa says. "I'm just tired. Is that Zack?" She points at his phone.

"Yeah. I told him everything's fine."

"What were you two doing this time?"

His lips twitch like he doesn't know if he should laugh or not. "Zack wanted to leave a surprise for Reno's friend."

Tifa rolls her eyes. "I don't even want to know."

Cloud tosses his phone on the cushion and shifts to face her. "I was wondering—how do you know Reno?"

"One of my friends is kind of dating him." The words have her text Yuffie, asking if she made it back. "Emphasis on the 'kind of'."

He nods as if he has no idea what to say to that, and it makes Tifa chuckle. Her phone vibrates with an incoming text—Yuffie confirming she's fine.

"So… Why the prank war?"

"It's so dumb," The amusement in his voice contradicts his words. "They've always had a—a kind of rivalry, I guess. Nothing big. But then they got drunk one night, and… well, I'm sure you can guess what they decided to compete about."

"Oh, boy," Tifa mumbles. "This is gonna end badly."

Cloud doesn't hold back his laugh this time. "Probably."

He looks down at his phone when it lights up and frowns. There is no hiding the sudden tautness of his body, and Tifa figures this is where they say goodbye.

"Thank you for helping me tonight," she says, pushing away from the couch.

Cloud doesn't miss her cue, though he appears distracted; his eyes keep go back to his phone as the screen brightens with another message. "Uh, yeah. No problem."

Knowing better than to ask what's going on, Tifa walks him to the door. "All right, take care. I'll see you around?"

The question slips in without her meaning to, and she tenses. Apprehension fills her; it makes her want to shove him into the hall.

But Cloud at last puts the phone away and looks at her again. There is no more humor or light-heartedness in his eyes, only wariness and exhaustion. He gives her a stiff smile.

"Yeah, of course. Goodnight, Tifa."

Cloud pads towards his apartment and disappears without another word. The music starts up minutes later. Tifa does her best not to let it bother her—she checks on Aerith again and makes herself an improvised bed on the couch.

Tonight, he chose classical music. There's something sinister about the melody drifting from his place, something soft and foreboding that harmonizes with Cloud a little too well.

She closes her eyes and listens as the piano's melancholy voice shifts into a wishful crescendo—and allows it to rock her to sleep.

—