Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy

Cloud sighed as he removed the goggles from his eyes. He was truly a sorry sight. Around his eyes and on his face there was dirt and mud with the shape of his goggles apparent. His goggles themselves were pretty much caked with mud. It had been a wet day, and the back roads of his delivery route had been particularly dirty.

"I think I'll take tomorrow off…" he mutters to himself, stepping off the bike and going into the diner. A shower sounded really good at that moment.

His steps left a track of mud up the stairs and down the hall that he was sure Tifa wouldn't appreciate, but at last he came to the bathroom. As he reached for the knob the door suddenly opened and out walked Marlene.

"Cloud!" she says, excitedly, about to hug him. Cloud held her back by the shoulders.

"You probably should wait for a hug until after I'm clean." He says, looking down at her.

"Okay, Cloud." She says, smiling, and begins to run down the hall. "Don't forget!" she calls back, "Tomorrow's my birthday!" she laughs excitedly and goes down the stairs and into the kitchen where Tifa was getting food.

Cloud sighs, and grabs a towel from under the sink. Turning on the shower he begins to think about all the deliveries he had made. He sighed, and closed his eyes for a moment, just thinking.

Cloud walked down the hall, later that night, contemplating on whether or not he wanted to question Yuffie about Tifa's excuse. For one thing, Cloud was pretty much sure that Yuffie didn't know. Another thing is that Tifa always smiled that odd looking smile when she lied. He didn't want to not believe her, but the facts seemed against her. Then again, where else could she have gotten that information?

As he walked past her room he noticed that diary again, and he couldn't help but pause in the doorway, staring at it. He looked down the hall one way, then the other, then the other way again before going inside and picking it up.

Sighing, he set it back down. "No. Not again. That's Tifa's life, not mine…" he muttered.

"But it's about you." Someone argued with him in his head.

"So?" he asked his thoughts.

"What does she think about you?"

"I don't care."

"Yes you do."

"Shut up. Go away. You're stupid."

"I'm not the one who has conversations with myself."

"Yes you do. You…Shut up." Cloud thought, smacking his forehead with his palm.

He looked down at the diary, his ears turning red, as they usually did when he became nervous. (He was glad his hair was long enough to cover it). He wanted to read it really, really badly. He wanted to know what she thought about him. Maybe there was something in there about Reno, like last night.

"Yeah." He reasons with himself. "It's okay if I look just to help out Reno, isn't it?"

And with that sorry excuse, he picked the diary up once more. He sited on Tifa's bed, and opened it, for the third time, to the third entry.

'Dear diary,

'Ever notice that Cloud looks really hot when he smirks?' That's what Yuffie told me anyway. I dunno. He doesn't smirk that much to even notice.'

"Note to self: Never.Smirk.Again." Cloud thought, making a mental note within himself.

'Anyway, that's beside the point. It kept bugging me all day and I had to let it out. I couldn't tell Cloud, could I?'

"I'm glad you didn't."

'So, today was my birthday. It went really well, at least, I think so. Cloud took the day off, and I closed the diner and he took Marlene, Denzel, and me to a beach. Marlene and Denzel went swimming. I didn't want to get wet, and neither did Cloud so we just watched. We took a picnic with us, and so we ate on the beach and then all of us built a sandcastle. I had a blast. Marlene and Denzel gave me a necklace for my birthday that they had saved up by working for Cloud and making local deliveries. Cloud gave me a matching bracelet, but I think he gave me a better present than that. He smiled at me. In fact he smiled the entire time we were at the beach, and that meant more to me than any bracelet that he could have given me.'

"What? Vincent was right?" Cloud thinks to himself as his brow creased. When Cloud had asked Vincent what he thought Tifa would like Vincent had responded: "Just smile." And so, Cloud had done just that, along with the bracelet, but he had no idea that the smile would mean so much to her.

'When it got dark we all packed up and Cloud drove home. Me and Marlene were riding in an attachment Cloud had put on the side, while he and Denzel had ridden on the motor bike. Marlene fell asleep in my arms on the way home. Luckily Denzel stayed awake. Otherwise he would have fallen off the bike. Well, I have to go. It's one in the morning, and I'm wiped out. Good night.'

Cloud closed the book and sat it on the night stand before placing his head in his hands and thinking. So, all this time all Tifa wanted is for him to smile. Okay, he could do that, or at least he thought he could. Maybe later though, when his head wasn't buzzing and there wasn't a ringing in his ears; it sounded like a cellphone...

Or rather, it was. His pocket began vibrating with the ringing of his phone and made a loud buzzing noise.

Swiftly, he grabbed the phone, flipped it open, and placed it against his ear.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hey, Cloud. Listen I need your help." It was Reno.

"What for?"

"What should I do, about…you know?"

"Rufus and Rude are right behind you."

"Maybe."

Cloud didn't want to answer, but he very well couldn't keep it in...could he? It's not like he had any reason to stop Reno.

"Be less immature, get along with children better, and act like you care."

"Why don't you date her instead, if you know so much about her?"

"Becuase you'd probably attack me, and I don't feel like killing you."

"Touche. Okay, see ya. Wait what should I--"

Click. Cloud hung up on him.

R&R