Tifa reached for the bronze door handle and gently pushed it down, the cool evening breeze brushed past her skin as she closed her eyes to take in the evening weather of Midgar.
She opened her eyes when she felt a shadow suddenly loomed over her figure.
As usual, the obnoxious smirk was on his face.
"What are you doing here?"
Her question had sounded more like an accusation.
"Well, nice to see you too Lockheart." Reno replied sarcastically.
"I'm sorry. How may I be of help, sir?" Tifa replied with the equal hint of sarcasm.
Reno chuckled as he ran his hand through his messy crimson hair.
"I left my key here."
"Key?"
"Yeah, key. You know, those thin little metal things that you use to lock and open the doors?"
Tifa rolled her eyes.
"How very dictionary-like of you. Yes, I know what a key is."
"I thought you didn't know. Tifa Lockheart…you really do surprise a guy." Reno said with faked surprise.
"Well, I always try my best to."
"Are you gonna let me in or do you plan to leave me out here?"
Tifa bit her lower lip and stared at him for a moment before stepping aside to let him into her bar.
"Where did you leave your key?"
"If I fucking knew, I wouldn't be finding for it right now."
"No, I mean, where in here, did you leave it?"
Reno shrugged as he looked under the chairs. Tifa stood by the door and watched him.
Without even looking, he knew her eyes were trained on him.
"Help me look will you? Don't just stand there and watch me like I'm some lab specimen." He said without looking up at her.
"If you say please."
"Go to hell." He replied.
Tifa sighed. She got down on her knees and started searching with him.
"Where did you sleep anyway?" Tifa asked.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Curious."
"Curiosity kills the dog."
"Cat." She corrected him.
"Yeah whatever."
"So where did you bunk in?"
Reno stopped searching and his gaze locked on hers.
"I have a few babes who are always willing to take me in." He replied with a grin.
"Figures."
"Are you jealous?"
"Why would I be?"
"Because I didn't go to you."
Tifa snorted in response. 'Once a jerk, always a jerk.'
"I have better things to be jealous of and you are not one of them, unfortunately."
"I'm deeply hurt Lockheart."
"And I'm deeply not interested."
Reno smirked. 'This is the first girl that doesn't fall for my charms or looks. Interesting.'
"I found it!" Tifa exclaimed as she emerged triumphantly from under a table with a silver key in her hand.
She handed it over to Reno who took it without a word of thanks. She shook her head and went behind the counter to get ready for the evening.
Reno's eyes followed her every movement. Tifa eyed him.
"What?"
"I'm hungry."
"There's a restaurant down the street." She offered.
Reno nodded.
"What?" She said again as Reno made no move to go.
"Well if you're gonna be such a brat then I guess I shouldn't bother asking you to join me."
"You're asking me?"
"No, I'm asking the ghost next to you." He answered sarcastically.
He then proceeded to pretend conversing with the invisible person supposedly standing next to Tifa.
"Hey. Wanna go for dinner? We could have steak or something. And then maybe go kick a few puppies and burn a house or two. Then knock out some store and steal all their stuff. I dunno, what do you say?"
She couldn't help but laugh.
"It's okay Tif. You guys go ahead. Tristan and I will be able to handle it." Mae said as she came out of the washroom.
She obviously had overheard their conversation.
"Are you sure?"
Mae smiled reassuringly.
"You need to eat. Go."
"Thanks." Tifa replied with a grateful smile.
"Just don't forget to grab something good for me." Mae said with a wink.
Tifa nodded and reached for her coat.
"Hey, remember to tell Tristan that we need to get a couple more glasses. Quite a few have cracks."
Mae nodded.
"Oh yeah, don't forget to change the table cloths. And also to change the water filter, it's getting a little murky." Tifa added.
Mae nodded again with a small smile. Reno caught her eye and smirked with a nod at Tifa's direction. Mae laughed.
"If you're done being a great-grandmother, can we leave now?" Reno said impatiently.
A slight hue of redness appeared at Tifa's cheeks. She quickly nodded and followed him out.
……………………………………………………...
"10 questions."
Tifa raised an eyebrow.
"I'll ask you 10 questions about yourself. And in return, you get to ask me 10 questions about myself."
Tifa debated it for a little while before nodding. He grinned.
"Wait. What are the limits?"
"None."
"None?" She repeated.
"None. We can ask each other anything. And no lies."
"Okayy…." Tifa answered with uncertainty.
"I'll go first."
Tifa didn't even bother to argue.
"What is the color of the lingerie you are wearing right now?" He asked with a mischievous look and a huge grin on his face.
Tifa almost choked on her water at his question. Her cheeks went red and she could feel her ears burning.
"That's not a question!"
"It was presented in a question form." Reno stated, clearly enjoying himself.
Tifa took a deep breath. 'I should have known this was coming. Why in the world did I agree to this anyway?' "Black." She answered with a flustered look.
He raised an eyebrow with interest.
"Alright. My turn." Tifa quickly said. "Why did you join the Turks?"
He leaned back in his seat and shrugged. "I didn't. They recruited me in and that's how I got there. I thought about just getting a little fun here and there, didn't really expect to stay long but damn, the things we Turks do…I would be crazy not to stay."
Tifa looked at him with slight anger. 'Fun? Killing people is fun for him?' But she kept her mouth shut and didn't say anything, though inside she was burning with the urge to punch him there and then.
"Next question…" Reno paused and thought about his question. "What do you do before you go to bed?"
Tifa stared at him like he was some kind of lunatic. 'What normal person would ask this kind of questions?' She was starting to regret agreeing to this in the first place.
"I take a long shower, curl up with a good book on the couch. If I don't feel too sleepy, I will play a little of the piano." She rambled nervously.
He chuckled and nodded.
"What do you do before you go to sleep?" She suddenly asked.
"Take a drag out of a cigarette or two before hitting the showers and then strip naked and plunk into my bed." He said casually.
She snorted lightly at his last words and shook her head.
"Then, what's your favorite thing to do?" He asked in a low voice as he leaned forward.
"Playing the piano."
"You can't be serious."
She gave him a rueful smile.
"No, actually, I like to strip dance." She said in a low, husky voice.
Reno's eyes widened. Tifa laughed at his reaction. 'Typical Reno.'
"Of course I like to play the piano. What else?"
"You nearly got me excited there Lockheart."
"Sorry to burst your bubble." She replied with a wry grin. "My turn. What's the first thing you do in the morning?"
He snickered at her question but answered anyway.
"I roll out of bed and hit the showers."
"Don't you brush your teeth first?"
"Nope. I don't even bother to."
She wrinkled her nose at his answer.
"Okay, my turn again. Two questions."
"What? Why?"
"Huh, four questions for me then."
Tifa stared at him for a moment before realizing that her previous words had came out in a question form. She nodded dejectedly, mentally kicking herself for wasting three questions just like that.
"K…what's your favorite ice cream flavor?"
"Lime."
"What's the one thing you would never do?"
"Uh…Playing the piano in front of a large crowd."
"Only that? Wow. So I guess it would be okay for you to fuck in an elevator?"
Tifa glared at him. He quickly held up his hands in surrender.
"Okay okay. No need to get so touchy."
"Last question then it's my turn."
"I only asked two. When did I ask the third question?"
"You did with the elevator thing and you just asked the last one."
Reno sat back with a slight pout on his face, feeling unsatisfied.
"Why did you ask me out for dinner?"
"I was hungry and presumed so would you." He answered simply. "What's your deepest secret?" He asked in a low voice, leaning forward towards her again.
She leaned in closer to him, like she was about to tell him the biggest secret of the year.
Their gaze locked on each other.
"Like you said, it's a secret." She whispered.
"Tell me. I can keep it." He replied in an equally low whisper.
"Excuse me, your food is served." A voice suddenly said, breaking their closeness and eye contact.
Reno shot the waiter with an annoyed look but said nothing. Tifa just thanked the waiter politely.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Huh, another question for me." Reno smirked.
She shook her head and proceeded to take a bite out of her noodles.
"Was that spiky hair ass your first love?" He suddenly asked.
Tifa nearly choked on her noodles. She grabbed the glass of water that Reno held out to her. He waited patiently for her to swallow.
"I guess." She answered softly.
Tifa shrugged and looked up at him.
"What about you?"
Reno shifted uncomfortably at her question. 'Why couldn't I just keep my big-mouth shut in the first place?'
"Well, I…no, nothing. Not yet." He mumbled.
Silence suddenly seemed to loom over their table. Both said nothing for a while.
"So last question…" Tifa spoke up.
"You go ahead."
Tifa nodded.
"Why did you stay in Midgar? I mean really."
"I just wanted to. No particular reason." He answered without looking up from his food. "My last question…" He then looked up at her.
"Would you fuck me in an elevator?"
Tifa's eyes grew wide at his question. Reno couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.
"I was only kidding. Really." He said in between his laughter.
Tifa shook her head, feeling slightly annoyed but a smile crept onto her face anyway.
……………………………………………………...
"Heading back to your bar?"
"Actually, I was thinking along the lines of dessert." She replied as she patted her stomach.
"I've never thought you would be such a pig." He said with a smirk.
"Excuse me. Take that back. I am not a pig."
She looked at him and noted the slight wry grin on his face.
"What's with that smart-ass look you have on your face?" She said as she gestured with her hand.
"You can't take back words that you've already said." He answered casually.
"Fine. Don't take them back." She answered defiantly.
"It's not that I don't want to. I can't. Didn't you hear what I just said?"
"Okay, okay. I got it." She said exasperatedly.
He smiled to himself, enjoying the fact that he was still able to annoy her at times. He shoved his hands in his pockets as they continued walking.
"Hey, there's an ice cream corner over there." Tifa suddenly said.
Her lips formed a full grin as she grabbed his sleeve and pulled him to follow her.
He rolled his eyes but allowed himself to be tugged along.
"Hi. Do you have the lime flavored ice cream?"
"I'm sorry miss. We've just finished the last scoop a few minutes ago." The girl behind the counter said.
The smile on Tifa's face fell as she heard the girl's words.
"Just get another flavor will you?" Reno spoke up.
Tifa shook her head and gave a small smile to the girl.
"It's okay. Thanks anyway." She said before walking away.
"Hey. Why didn't you just get something else?" Reno said as he caught up with her.
"I just prefer the lime flavored ones."
"And why's that?"
"The taste of the lime gives me a little rush whenever I eat it. I like that. The other flavors are nice…but they are pretty boring." She explained.
"How very fickle of you." He commented.
She smiled and shrugged good-naturedly.
"If you want dessert so badly and must have that lime-flavored ice cream of yours, then let's go looking around of it. There's still time before your bar gets swamped." Reno suddenly said.
Tifa stopped and looked at him with a surprise look. Reno stopped too, as he realized the words that had just flew out of his mouth. 'Where the hell did that come from? Did I just offer to help her look for that stupid ice cream?' He groaned inwardly.
"Would that be okay with you?" She asked tentatively.
He shuffled his feet for a moment. 'Smart move Reno. You really have a bloody big mouth. Say no. Shake your head. No.'
He nodded. He could have said no, but for some reason that even he didn't know, he didn't.
Tifa grinned at his response.
"Hey, maybe we could try the next street, I think they have an ice cream place there."
He nodded again and unwillingly followed her. Unfortunately for them, the ice cream place didn't have the lime-flavored ice cream either. They then went around to another few more places, and neither one had the ice cream Tifa wanted.
"This must be my unlucky day." Tifa said glumly as they walked out from the ice cream place.
"Maybe that place over there has it."
Reno pointed to a small café just up ahead. Tifa looked up and shook her head.
"It's a café. What are the odds they would have ice cream? Especially lime-flavored ones."
She sighed.
"Forget it. It's okay."
Reno glanced at her before glancing back at the café and then back at her. He rolled his eyes. 'Whatever. She looks desperate.'
"You stay here. I'll go check it out."
Before Tifa could say anything else, Reno was already making his way towards the café.
She watched him walk into the café and resignedly sat herself down at the curb. 'I've never thought there would be a day where Reno and I would actually have dinner together. Who would have thought? Former Turk and former AVALANCHE member?' A giggle escaped Tifa's lips as she imagined how Barret's reaction would be if he found out about this. 'He would probably be so mad.' She mused. She sighed softly as a wave of emotions hit her. 'I miss those times…back when we were all together. Back when…' She stopped her thoughts and forced herself to think something else.
"There! Finally!" Reno exclaimed as he plunked himself down next to her, breathing heavily.
In his hands were two ice cream cups. He held one out to her.
She looked at it before looking back at him. He raised an eyebrow.
"What? It's that stupid lime flavor you wanted."
She took the ice cream from his hands. She looked at it and smiled. She then looked back up at him again. Tifa watched as he placed a spoonful of lime-flavored ice cream into his mouth. He grimaced as soon as the taste of the lime reached his taste buds, but after he swallowed it down, a small smile of satisfaction crossed his features. He then noticed her staring at him.
"You've obviously never seen a good looking guy before, haven't you?"
She shook her head amusedly before turning to eat her ice cream.
A/N: Finally, an update! I know I took a long time, sorry bout that. I actually had this chapter done but then I wasn't satisfied with it, so I kept changing and editing it. So here it is, my third chapter. I'm not quite sure if it's better than the previous, personally, I think I like my previous chapter better…Lol. Anyway, special thanks to my good friend Mags who took her time to read this and to review and to help me with whatever strange grammar I had suddenly popped out into the story. Lol.
To Dragon Girl323, Aleatoric, Empress Eerian-Shadow, The Highwaywoman, Shinju, Santeira, Izzia, WrexSoul, RandomRenoFangirl, Lucian's Angel87, Nando the RPS King, GreenEyedJo and RebelliousNekoAngel…thank you so much. I'm really thankful for all the reviews/comments/compliments…Thanks again and take care.