Here we go, the penultimate chapter of Green! As thanks to a reviewer who said that they wanted to see something between Tifa and Luke… Well, you'll find out soon enough.

It's been about a month since our gig at Mako Reactor. Aerith and Cloud are once again on speaking terms after she rejected his proposal. Aerith had explained to all of us, including Cloud, that she loved him…but not enough to marry him. Cloud totally understood, and they were friends again; in fact, they were like brother and sister.

Now there's something that I've noticed before. Sometimes, if a relationship doesn't work out, the two parties become like brother and sister. Don't believe me? Feel free to check out my Facebook page, and look at my siblings. You'll see two girls there, one named Elena, the other Cissnei. I'd dated both of them when we were in high school, and it hadn't worked out. But they became like family.

I haven't spoken to either of them for a while. I'll have to do that at some point.

You know, you really shouldn't let me wander off like that. We'll be at this forever if that keeps happening.

Anyway, Operation Green had reached its climax, which was also the hardest part: breaking up the fake relationships to build real new ones. We'd have to convince Cloud that he's in love with Tifa (he just doesn't know it yet), as well as end my 'relationship' with Tifa, and Yuffie's supposed infatuation with Zack.

Now that Aerith was no longer a part of the problem, we let her in on the plan. She seemed a bit shocked about it all. She'd obviously believed that my dating Tifa had been real, so finding out that it wasn't would've been a shock.

It was Aerith who actually came up with a workable plan. Only thing was it made me look like a jerk.

"You want me to what?" I shouted at her when she revealed her idea to us one day.

"Get seen with Yuffie. You know…all secretive and cutesy."

I gave her my 'you really wanna risk me getting my balls cut off by Cloud' look. By the way, that look is copyrighted. And I'm serious about that.

"I'm serious!" she said innocently.

"It's workable," Zack mused.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I shouted at him. "Why am I the one who has to look like a total douche?"

Zack seemed taken aback by my passion on the subject.

"Why is this getting you so riled up?" Tifa asked.

That shut me up. I crossed my arms and looked down. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Come on, tell us," Yuffie urged.

"Alright, alright! My parents broke up because my dad had been screwing some floozy on the side. You happy now?"

Tifa's eyes widened, and she impulsively hugged me. "I'm sorry."

"Er…don't be," I stammered, a bit shocked by the attack-hug.

"How about a compromise?" Yuffie asked us then.

"Like what?" Aerith queried.

"Like maybe Tifa's the one who cheats on Luke."

Tifa let go of me and sat bolt upright. "What?" she asked flatly.

"Hear me out," Yuffie protested. "Let's say you kiss Cloud in front of Luke. He breaks up with you, then you're free to move on to Cloud."

Tifa's face went all dreamy when Yuffie said "kiss Cloud". It eventually took me snapping my fingers in front of her face to snap her out of it.

"Huh?" she asked, bewildered.

"And she's back," I deadpanned.

**GREEN**

For some reason, Tifa wanted me to walk her home that night. "You know," she said to me suddenly, "this has been fun."

"What, me walking you to your house?"

She punched my arm playfully. I still have a bruise from that friendly punch. "No, this whole 'pretending to date you' thing."

"Oh, that." We'd reached her door by now. "Yeah. It was pretty fun, wasn't it?"

She hugged me suddenly. "I'm gonna miss you," she said tearfully.

I chuckled. "It's not like I'm moving away, Teef."

She laughed into my chest. "I know. It's just…"

I couldn't resist. I disengaged her arms from my waist and straightened her up. I smiled slightly as I gingerly took hold of her chin and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.

She seemed strangely willing to keep that kiss going for a while (I have no idea why), and she pouted as I pulled away.

I laughed at her upturned lip. Then I paused. I was thinking deeply. I do that a lot. "Here's an idea."

"What?"

"If we're not with anybody by the time we're, say, 35 or 40, we marry each other."

Her eyebrows furrowed in thought. About a minute later, her face lit up. "Not a bad idea. You'd make a good second prize if things don't work out with Cloud for some reason."

"Thanks," I said dryly.

She laughed and kissed my cheek. "See ya tomorrow, ex!"

I laughed back at her. "Right back at ya, ex!" Still laughing, I put my hands in my jeans pockets and walked home.

The way I saw it, no matter what, I was gonna end up with a beautiful woman. If things worked out between me and Yuffie, great. If not, Tifa was my back-up wife. I grinned. Everything's comin' up Riordan, I exulted in my head.

I knew that back-up wife plan would work, too. I'd seen it on an episode of How I Met Your Mother, and almost all my wisdom comes from that show. Mainly Barney.

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