Tifa awoke to yelling and the combined weight of Denzel and Marlene nearly launching her off the bed. She rubbed her eyes as she tried to figure out just what the children were actually saying.
"Happy Birthday Tifa!"
"Happy Birthday!"
"We made you a card-"
"-A present! And we made a cake but Denzel killed it"
"Did not Marlene!"
"Did to!" Tifa hid her smile and shushed the children; touched they were so pleased and happy.
"Now one at a time" she told them. She hadn't expected the children to still get so excited for her birthday, especially Denzel now that he was getting older. We're a family though she thought smiling, this is what families do.
Marlene spoke first, "we have a gift for you from all of us but we have to wait for Cloud because he helped us pick it out." She was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, her bright eyes glowing in anticipation.
"No need to wait" a voice husky with sleep floated down towards them as Cloud Strife also took a seat on the bed as the mattress groaned in protested of it's forth occupant. "I thought the house was on fire or something the way you two were going on." He smiled and ran his fingers through his tousled bed head while Tifa tried hard not to stare at him. His white shirt showed off hard muscles and hugged his abs. Even if the planet wasn't in danger Cloud still did his exercises routinely to stay fit.
Just don't think of him that way Tifa! She mentally berated herself until the feeling went away. He's handsome but he's off-limits! He doesn't like you that way! She was only awakened from her thoughts when Denzel, impatient to get things going poked her in the shoulder.
"We've got school remember Tifa? I wanna see you open your gift before we go." He thrust the pale blue box under her nose. "We worked real hard to pick it out, we each chose-" whatever he was going to say was cut off by Marlene, who promptly covered his mouth,
"Shhhhhh" she scolded in such a tone that made Cloud and Tifa raise their eyebrows in amusement. "You want to spoil it for her?" She then turned her attention to Tifa, "Open it!" She ordered.
Tifa unwrapped the box letting the paper fall to the bedspread and she gasped as she lifted the lid. Nestled inside the blue tissue paper was a silver charm bracelet, its delicate links glimmering in the morning light. Attached to the bracelet were three charms: an anchor, a crystal drop and a heart. "This is beautiful," she breathed taking the bracelet out of the box and holding it up to the light so that the crystal cast little rainbows onto the walls. She looked up at Cloud who was staring at her, his mako eyes unreadable. "How did you-"
"Marlene and I saved up our allowances and Cloud did extra deliveries." Denzel smiled obviously pleased Tifa liked the gift. "The crystal is from me and the anchor is from Marlene-"
"Because you hold the family together" explained Marlene proud of her choice in the matter. Then Tifa's throat went tight as she realized that Cloud had picked-
"And Cloud picked the heart" Denzel finished. Tifa felt tears swim behind her eyes as she looked up at Cloud's still unreadable expression. Stupid, stupid man she thought trying hard to be angry with him but failing miserably. She's trying her best to ignore her feelings and then he goes and does something like this?
It was only when Denzel's stomach let out a loud groan did she manage to turn away from Cloud. "Oh Denz you're hungry what would you like for breakfast?"
"No, no, no" Marlene told Tifa "this is your birthday so you can't make us breakfast!"
"Yeah" Denzel added, "We'll just grab some cereal or something and then head to school." Both children kissed Tifa on the cheek before heading downstairs. "See you when we get home okay?" they each hugged Cloud and then scooted downstairs.
Cloud chuckled when they left and started to move closer to Tifa but when she shifted away he stopped and grinned, clearly amused. "I won't bite you know."
Tifa froze and stared at him. Had her dream been real? What had she have possibly been thinking? Tifa couldn't tell Cloud how she felt, she just couldn't. How on earth could Aerith possibly have thought Cloud might have romantic feelings for her? The dream had shaken her normally strong walls that she had carefully built around herself so as not to alert Cloud to her real feelings.
Cloud sighed at Tifa who tried to quickly cover up her thoughts; she knew he could tell she was stressing out about something. "Well I should hope you won't Cloud, one normally grows out of that stage by age 8." That got a smile out of him and cleared the air of any awkwardness still lingering.
"So do I get to see how it looks?" Cloud inquired. Tifa nodded and reached for the bracelet but Cloud had already taken it. "Hold out your hand" he ordered as Tifa made herself breathe calmly and extend her wrist. Gently Cloud attached the clasp and took his hands away.
Tifa touched the charms and whispered a thank-you to Cloud who had gotten up and headed towards the door. She could literally hear the mattress sigh now that all the extra bodies had gotten off the bed. She stared at the heart charm as it glinted and suddenly felt the question bubble inside her and burst form her lips before she could stop it. "Why?"
Cloud stopped at the doorway and looked at her inquisitively. Why what Teef?"
Tifa took a deep breath. "Why did you give me the heart charm?"
Cloud smiled and her and walked back to the bed where her leaned in and kissed her cheek, his morning stubble gently brushing her face. "Because I love you Tifa, you're my best friend." He shot her a crooked grin before finally leaving the room.
See? Tifa thought bitterly as she watched him go, sending mental waves of anger towards Aerith. He doesn't even think of me as anything more then a friend. She sighed and laid back, her head resting on the pillow. I'll be whatever he needs me to be; she repeated her mantra in her head. Even if all it does is hurt me in the end.