Cloud walked into the busy candy store, his head already swimming. White and yellow streamers decorated the displays and littered throughout. People crowded around, pointing at all of the different treats being offered as they, too, tried to pick out nice gifts for important people in their lives.

He gulped, feeling nervous amongst the crowd, and tried to find a store clerk who wasn't busy. He didn't want to be here, and felt the need escape rising in his throat, but he had to make sure he got something nice. He'd already been to five stores throughout the week, and he was running out of time. But this one was so busy – he almost felt like he was going to vomit before he had the chance to speak to anyone.

"Hi! How can I help you?"

He turned wide-eyed to a young woman wearing a bright yellow shirt under a white apron. Her kind smile helped him relax.

"Hello… I'm looking to… get something nice for a friend."

The clerk nodded. "Okay. Is it for White Day?"

Cloud had seen and heard talk of White Day over the past couple of weeks. From what he could put together, it was when a guy gave a gift to a girl in response to what she gave him for Valentine's Day.

"Yes, I think that's it."

"You think?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "I'm not… from around here. I'm unfamiliar with it."

The girl nodded in understanding. "No problem! So, how do you want to respond?"

Cloud tilted his head to one side. "What do you mean?"

"How do you feel about her?"

He could feel a faint blush spreading across his cheeks. He wasn't sure he could voice such intimate thoughts about Tifa to a stranger, so he tried his best to keep it vague.

"Well… she's been a very good friend to me. And I want to show her that I… appreciate that."

The clerk nodded, motioning for him to follow her through the store. They stopped at a display full of cookies and different marshmallow treats.

"So, she's a good friend of yours. That's it?"

He thought for a moment. Tifa most certainly meant a lot to him – she had done so much for him in the past few months.

"Yes. She's my closest friend."

The girl picked out a white box wrapped with a blue ribbon.

"Does she like chocolate?"

He chuckled, despite this nervousness. "Yeah. She gave me some nice ones for Valentine's Day and ate half of them herself."

The clerk blinked as she handed him the box. "What kind of chocolates did she give you?"

Cloud hummed in thought. "Uhm… they had fruit fillings?"

"But were they giri or honmei chocolate?"

He stared at her.

There are different kinds of chocolates?

"She… didn't say? I don't know."

The girl sighed. "Well, these are chocolate chip cookies with marshmallow bites. You give this kind of gift on White Day to show someone they're a friend."

Cloud smiled, feeling relieved. It was certainly a very nice box and the treats inside looked delicious. He knew she liked almost anything with chocolate, and he'd seen her eat marshmallow fluff before, so he figured this should be a great gift.

Besides, he had other plans to try and make the night as special as possible.

"Thank you very much."

He'd gotten help from one of Tifa's friends to set up a nice dinner on the roof where he lived. He'd spent all week practicing this meal in Yuffie's apartment to make sure he got it right, and she had been a perfect taste tester. It wasn't until yesterday that she finally approved. As soon as he got Tifa's gift from the store, he got to cooking with the younger girl's help.

Yuffie finished putting up the last of the string lights on the rail and turned to him, her hands on her hips.

"You know, it's unfortunate you had a leak in your apartment so you couldn't have dinner there. But the rooftop is a good backup plan."

Cloud only nodded as he rearranged the tableware. She didn't know he lived in this abandoned building and therefore didn't exactly have a working kitchen. It hadn't been a total lie that there was a leak – a few floors were waterlogged from the recent rains. Luckily the one he slept on remained dry, but there wasn't a working kitchen.

"You're really going all out huh?"

Cloud smoothed the tablecloth for the fifth time.

"What do you mean?" he asked without looking up.

She clicked her teeth and walked over to him. "You're being so… romantic."

He nearly choked, jolting upright. "Wh-what? Is that bad?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "You know, she couldn't stop gushing about how nice Valentine's Day had been with you…"

Cloud gulped. Did she tell her…

"…watching the fireworks from the roof and all. Pretty smooth move by the way," she added with a wink.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Tifa hadn't told her own best friend about him, and he was grateful.

But she couldn't stop talking about that night…?

"Now all of a sudden you're a nervous nelly! Maybe she exaggerated how cool you'd been."

Cloud cleared his throat. "No, I just… want to do this right. Give her something nice in return."

She nodded. "You better! She spent all day on those honmei chocolates!"

He blinked. Honmei…?

Yuffie shook her head. "Stop grabbing at your shirt! You're gonna wrinkle it!"

He looked down and saw that he was clutching his button down again. He immediately let it go and went to smooth his hands over his pants but remembered they were white, and he didn't want to dirty them. Luckily the shirt was a dark blue, so the small wrinkles he did leave were barely noticeable.

"She's going to love this!" Yuffie reassured him before checking her watch. "I better be going." She started to leave, but paused. Looking at him over her shoulder with a glint in her eye she said, "I'm sure you're going to have a great time!"

The heavy metal door slammed behind her.

Cloud took a deep breath, exhaled, then took another.

It's going to be fine.

A few minutes later, he was down in the nearby alley waiting for her. He found himself pacing back and forth, needing to expend his nervous energy.

"Cloud?"

He turned quickly to look at her. She was wearing a white dress that flowed to her knees. A navy-blue ribbon kept her hair back and her silver drop earring glittered in her right ear.

Cloud almost felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.

She smiled shyly, her hands in front of her as she approached him. He straightened up and wrapped her in a hug before grabbing her hand.

"You look… amazing," he said, trying his best not to stammer.

Tifa's grin got wider, pink tinging her cheeks. "Thanks Cloud." She twirled her hair around one finger. "So, what did you want to do tonight?"

He started to lead her toward the building. "We're going to the roof."

"Are we…" she lowered her voice, "flying again?"

Cloud turned back and saw her eyes shimmering with… fear, excitement? He wasn't quite sure. After getting over her initial shock the last time, she seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps she'd want to go again after all.

"Maybe. Let's see how you feel after dinner."

"Dinner?"

They made quick work of the stairs, Cloud using his abilities to practically float them to the top. Tifa gasped as soon as they emerged onto the roof. She walked toward the table, spinning around to try and catch as many details as she could, stopping at one of the chairs. He moved it back for her and she sat down. As he settled into his own seat, she stared down at the food – chicken alfredo – accompanied with a glass of white wine. She looked at him across the table with wide eyes.

"Did you… do all of this…?"

Cloud cleared his throat. "For you. Yeah."

She bit her lip, staring down at the table for a moment. He held his breath, watching her face carefully.

Is it too much? Does she hate it?

Tifa sniffed, then looked back up with a glowing smile.

"Thank you. I… I really don't know what to say!"

He exhaled. "Hopefully you'll tell me how good it is."

She picked up her fork. "I didn't know you cooked."

Cloud chuckled. "I don't… but I practiced this all week."

Tifa paused, her fork halfway in her mouth, before biting down slowly and chewing for a few thoughtful moments. He waited, not breathing once again, until her eyes crinkled on the sides.

"It's pretty good!"

They talked about their days throughout the rest of dinner – Tifa was grateful for the upcoming mid-semester break, but not about working more hours at the bar; Cloud was spending a lot of his time outside and finding new nooks to explore throughout the city. Even though he'd been here for several months now, he still managed to stumble across an unfamiliar corner here or there.

"You went all the way out to Saitama?!"

"Yeah I… misread the train directions."

She giggled, drinking the last of her wine. "How'd you stand the ride for so long?"

Cloud shrugged. "I just found a corner and closed my eyes. I guess I fell asleep."

"We could've made a nice day trip of it had you told me you were going!"

His brow furrowed. "But I didn't know I was going at first."

Tifa outright laughed at that. They had both relaxed considerably, but he felt apprehension coiling in his stomach again. He knew he had to present her with the gift eventually, and he figured now was better than never.

"I have… something else for you."

She blinked, tilting her head to one side. "Something else?"

Cloud reached under his chair and brought the white box onto the table. Tifa's mouth opened slightly as her eyes flickered from it back up to his face.

"This is for you too."

She gingerly took it from him and set it down in front of her. She hesitated, her fingers hovering over the bow. He could almost hear her heart thundering in her chest – or maybe it was his own – as she undid the bow cautiously and lifted the lid.

The look in her eyes immediately changed. She chewed on her lower lip harshly, and he saw her gulp.

"What's wrong?"

Tifa's head snapped up. She was smiling, but this time it didn't reach her eyes.

"Oh, nothing! It's… nothing."

Cloud felt his palms getting clammy.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, staring back down into the box. "Yeah…" Her voice was low.

He stayed silent, unsure of what to do next. This wasn't the reaction he was expecting.

She hates it!

Suddenly, Tifa got up with the box, nearly tipping her chair over. She wouldn't look at him.

"I should uhm… I need to go."

Cloud followed her to the door.

"Wait! Tifa, what's wrong?"

She shook her head, still not making eye contact as she reached for the handle. She was speaking too fast.

"It's nothing, I just remembered, I have to cover for someone at the bar."

He thought he heard her muttering something about being stupid.

Cloud gently took hold of her wrist. Tifa finally looked at him, and he could see why she wouldn't before. Her face was beet red and tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

Oh no… what did I do?

"Tifa…"

She swallowed, then smiled again. "It's really okay Cloud! These are… these are nice."

"But… they're not what you wanted…?"

She sniffed. "No! No, it's okay, I love chocolate chip cookies."

Cloud let her go but stepped closer. "Tifa, please tell me what's wrong. What did I do?"

Tifa stared down at the box in her hands. "Well… I just… I thought… after Valentine's Day and you… accepted my honmei chocolates and you… were so…" she gulped again, and he could hear her voice cracking, "…you were so… you took me flying and… kissing my forehead… so I guess I just thought…" She sniffed again, reaching up to wipe her face. "And then all of this tonight, I thought… I'm so stupid," she whispered.

He held her by her shoulders. "You're not stupid! I was hoping tonight would be special."

She met his gaze. He could tell she was fighting hard not to cry.

"The fireworks…?"

"I'd heard about them and I thought you'd want to see them from a different view than everyone else. I thought that would be nice."

"It was nice!" she squeaked, before clamping down on her lip once more. "It was… so nice."

Cloud squeezed her arms just a bit. She was so tense.

"But now it's… not?"

"I was hoping you…" She furiously wiped her face again. "I was hoping you felt the same way… I did."

He blinked. "What?"

Tifa looked at him. "I gave you honmei chocolates!"

He shook his head. "Tifa I… the clerk asked me about that, but I didn't know what they meant."

She sniffled again. "You… didn't?"

"No. I just thought they were really nice chocolates."

Her shoulders slumped a little. "You…" Tifa exhaled a shaky breath. "You don't know what honmei chocolates mean…" She sounded like she was piecing something together.

"No…"

"So that means you… don't know what… this means…?" She held the box up.

"The clerk told me you give them to someone to show they're a good friend," he explained quickly. "And you… well, you've been so kind and wonderful to me. I wanted to get you something and I know you like chocolate and marshmallow, so I figured these would be okay!"

She took another breath. Her shoulders shook, and he realized she was laughing.

"I am so… silly!" she said as she threw her head back and rolled her eyes. "Of course you wouldn't know!"

Cloud only stared at her. His confusion got worse.

"I did something wrong, didn't I?"

Tifa took his hand and led him to the edge of the roof. She sat down and swung her legs over the side, holding the box on her lap.

"Cloud…" she started as he sat down next to her, "on Valentine's Day, a girl gives someone honmei chocolates when she… has strong feelings for him." She tucked her hair behind her ear with a blush.

His eyes widened in understanding, but she didn't give him a chance to ask a question.

"On White Day… if that someone thinks the girl is special in return, they give her… candy."

Cloud nodded slowly.

"So when a guy gives a girl cookies and marshmallows instead, that usually means he only sees her… as a friend."

He swallowed hard, complete realization finally dawning on him.

I rejected her!

"Tifa, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay!" she tittered. "You didn't know."

He continued to stare at her. They both giggled for a few moments before doubling over in laughter.

Cloud scooted closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders. Tifa grabbed a cookie for herself, along with a marshmallow bite, and offered some to Cloud. They both chewed in silence, but once he finished his treat, he took a deep breath and asked his question.

"So… you feel strongly about… me?"

Tifa shoved another marshmallow bite into her mouth, the blush on her cheeks deepening. Cloud decided to channel some of that coolness Yuffie talked about earlier and gently kissed her temple.

She looked up at him and swallowed the rest of her marshmallow. He kissed her forehead next.

"I… would've gotten you candy if I did know."

Tifa blinked slowly. Her mouth opened just a bit, but she didn't say anything back. The string lights glimmered in her eyes, and he nearly thought he'd drown in them. Before he could, he closed his own and inched forward.

He tried to be delicate. Her mouth was so soft he was afraid of bruising it if he kissed her too hard. But soon enough she began to respond, curving her lips to his and leaning into his embrace.

After what seemed like eternity, he pulled away just enough so they could breathe, resting his forehead against hers. She giggled again, moving the box to her side and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Tonight really was special, Cloud," she finally said.

He relaxed, the smile spreading on his face.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. And Tifa?"

She tilted her head up and he kissed her again.

"I'm really glad I have you."