Author's Note: I caved and wrote something for Tifa's birthday, after all. And I wanted to write something a bit happier for them... but since Cloud is lost in his own head, it couldn't be. But I'm okay with this-more than okay with it, even-because to me, it feels fitting for this part of the Remake.

Truth

"Cloud... I don't want to get too hung-up on this here, since I've also kept my own distance from you before... but we hugged. Are we going to talk about that at all?"

Cloud let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Because the truth was, he did have feelings for Tifa—he had for a long time, of course—and if he was as brave as he pretended to be, he would talk to her about it... but he couldn't. Because ever since she had found him at the train station in Midgar, he'd felt disconnected from her—in a way that he hadn't when they were kids—and he had no idea why.

Cloud supposed that maybe it was because he was trying to play cool all the time, and thus thought that being too emotional would make him seem weak or needy.

…Except that, when had he ever needed to pretend to be cool? Hadn't he figured out the best way to present himself, and leave everyone in awe by it, when he first made it into SOLDIER? Ugh. Cloud felt a headache coming on, as he pressed a hand to his temple and even went as far as internally wishing for the room to stop spinning.

"Cloud?" Tifa asked with a concerned lilt in her voice now, as she cocked her head to the side—Cloud could see that out of his peripheral—and questioned him. She was using a tone that she had with Marlene the last times they'd seen her, Cloud noted—so he must have really been a basket case right now, if Tifa was deciding to drop her romantic insecurities and go into mom mode. Best to get it together, then…

"…I don't know what to tell you, Tifa," Cloud said as he straightened up and offered her a small smile, that somehow felt out of place right now. Why did his head always hurt these days? "You were- you were hurting- So of course I was there for you when you needed me… like I promised all those years ago. Anyone else would have done the same."

That had not been the right thing to say—and Cloud regretted it instantly; what if she now went and ran into Johnny's arms or whatever—because even though neither of them had slept in a few days (since the fall of the Seven Plate and Aerith's capture) and this bench in the sewers was the best place they could get some much needed shut-eye right now… Tifa looked like she was about to forego resting altogether and go find Barret who was comforting Leslie over his fiancée, rather than be anywhere near him right now.

But then Tifa seemed to get her bearings—though Cloud wished she hadn't have had to… that he hadn't been a jerk—as she got up and then kneeled front of Cloud, so she could see him better. "Cloud, I'm sorry. I know this really isn't the best time right now… with Aerith and everything else. I guess- after losing everything again, I'm just trying to find something to cling to. Ignore me."

Except that Tifa shouldn't have been ignored, and neither should her pain have been (or Aerith's), and it made Cloud clench his fist angrily just thinking about it… in just imagining that she was hurting right now, and he of all people was the one to do that to her.

Cloud wanted to promise things to Tifa once more, like he had when they were kids… anything to make her feel better and to put some light back into her life. But he couldn't make himself do it. There was just too much he didn't know… and the world was going crazy right now, so who even knew if he'd mean anything he said in the end? In situations like this, no one was ever in their right mind.

But Cloud found that he couldn't just leave the situation like this, either, and completely resist telling her some truths.

She must have thought their conversation was over… because before Cloud knew it, Tifa had gone over to the vending machine to buy a drink… but right now, it looked like it had taken her gil without giving her the soda that it owed her.

Tifa was about to push the button on the machine that would give her her money back, Cloud saw… but before she could—because oh, she was getting this small luxury—Cloud sidled up behind her and punched the damned thing with all of his built up SOLDIER strength… and was rewarded with three Cokes for his efforts, instead of just one.

Tifa laughed—and even now, it was like music to Cloud's ears—and started to say, "My her- oh!" But before she'd finished her sentence, Cloud had hugged her from behind before he could lose his nerve. "Cloud?" she asked once again… though this time she sounded uncertain and perhaps a little bit excited. "What's-"

But he had to speak before he lost his nerve, too, so Cloud interrupted her as he hid his face in her hair. "Tifa… you mean more to me than you know. Just focus on that, okay? …If I didn't have someone from Nibelheim like me, who knew what I went through then… and if I didn't have someone believing in me all the time—after realizing I'd never accomplish my dream, not really, since working for Shinra was a bore—I… Just know I'll always be there for you, Tifa. Count on that."

And Tifa turned around in Cloud's arms now, and smiled at him. She also opened one of the pop's that was in her hands… that sprayed Cloud's face as she did so. And maybe Tifa had meant for that to happen—as a kind of cover, so he perhaps wouldn't notice her standing up on her tiptoes and kissing his nose… but Cloud did. And despite everything, it left a SOLDIER first class feeling weak at the knees.

Especially when Tifa nodded at him and even looked about to cry. "I will."

And she slipped her hand into his for just a second, before she went to find Barret.

And later, in the Lifestream, when he was doubting whether he was the real Cloud or not, Tifa's touch from that day would be one of the things that anchored Cloud to the truth. For it had felt the same as when he had held her hand for just a second at Mt. Nibel.