Chapter 7: Triangles

"And Yuffie" Yuffie chimed in and Tifa pulled her eyes from the – the surprisingly shifting blue of Cloud's to spot his sister at his side. The younger girl was grinning widely.

"You're getting cross-over pics, aren't you?" she asked the two girls with the cameras. "That's so cool! Let me get some too. There's a real big Tempest/Rita fanbase out there. The hits on my website will go through the roof. I'm going to have to dedicate an entire section to Rita now."

"What?" Tifa managed before Sai looked over at Cloud with an evil light in her eyes. Cloud wasn't looking at her though. He and 'Tempest' seemed to be having some silent form of communication going on.

"What we need is a love triangle," the 'director' decided.

"What?" Tifa repeated herself.

"Oh! Perfect!" Yuffie bounced in excitement.

"It is only fair," 'don't' agreed. "The whole Iris/Clash/Rita thing is getting boring but a Tempest/Rita/Clash thing would really get the fans worked up."

Aerith was nodding in easy agreement and then raised her hand in a nonverbal shrug at Tifa's look.

"Oh, come on!" Yuffie caught at her brother's arm, dragging him over toward the mosaic wall. "You two can glare at each other over her head and act all possessive and stuff. You know 'guy stuff'. It'll let you get out your pent up aggression over me using up all the hot water at the apartment this morning."

Without really thinking about it, Tifa slid a hand off Tempest's chest and reached out for Cloud's arm.

"You did use up all the hot water" Cloud's voice was a low rumble as mild and calm as his face but he came to stand behind Tifa and slid his arm around her waist. His hand spread over her stomach. Which jerked in response. Bare stomach, Tifa thought. She'd forgotten the midriff top and Cloud's hand was warm even through his glove. His other hand joined it and his fingers linked over and against her bare skin there as he stepped forward so that she could feel his heat against her back as well. She tipped her head back over her shoulder to look at him but he was already in character and giving Tempest a colorless look, face expressionless but his eyes were just the littlest bit tight and the brows over them were tight as well. In automatic response, she slid one of her own hands down to curve her fingers against the top of his. He shifted his fingers so she could slide hers through his longer ones but he didn't look away from Tempest.

Who was also giving a really good imitation of a possessive man too, Tifa noticed as she shifted her face to look at the dark haired man. She lifted her other hand to rest it on his bicep.

"It's a good thing we're only pretending," she stated, making her voice light. "Because even pretending you two are both scary guys."

It caught Tempest's attention and he broke away from his dark glare at Cloud, or 'Clash' rather, to look down at her with a smile.

"We're not that scary" he shrugged without letting go of her. "And I thought girls liked to have guys fight over them."

"Not when they're standing in the middle" Tifa joked and felt Cloud's fingers tighten on her bare skin, making her stomach do that funny little loss of gravity thing again.

"Smiling isn't 'dark romantic angsty love triangle'" the 'director' yelled.

"I don't know what 'angsty love triangle' is" Tifa protested helplessly. Cloud's chest was against her back now and it was very tempting to just lean back, just a little. Her body certainly remembered how comfortable and warm and nice that had felt yesterday. She was standing closer to Tempest than she'd thought too though and if her hand hadn't been against his chest, her own chest would have been. Tifa would be the first to admit that - sometimes, her chest got in the way. Tempest's white shirt and the metal pendent of his necklace made a strange contrast against her palm. She looked over at the girls taking the pictures, torn between laughing and feeling – well, a little flushed and thinking it was time to move away from the situation.

"Oh, perfect" Sai took another picture. "Now instead of doing 'torn and confused' can you look 'smug', Rita? I mean, you've got the two hottest guys in video game history holding you! Oh, that's great, Clash. Glare at the camera again!"

Tifa couldn't do it anymore and between the flush and the awkwardness and the embarrassment the sheer strangeness of the situation won out and she started to laugh.

"I'm sorry" she apologized as she covered her face with a hand. "I just – this is too weird."

Sai made a noise but 'don't' and Aerith were both grinning in amusement too. Yuffie bounced over to start pushing the trio apart.

"You're doing it wrong," she informed them with mirth. "We need more anime. Cloud, you stand there. Come on" she pushed him as if she was moving a bookcase until he was reluctantly standing where she'd told him. "Now Rita you come here and stand like this. Back to back and lean up against him. Cloud, don't move or you'll make her fall. You can lean more, Rita, he's not going to make you fall. Lean more… Right – like that! Now Tempest you come over here like this and kneel right in front of them so you're kind of between them."

"Yuffie, that would make me sitting on his back!"

"So what? – oh, short skirt – sorry. Right – well, just kind of lean on Cloud a little bit more and put your hand on Tempest's shoulder like that for support. Can you rock back on your heels?"

"Why do I feel like I'm in the middle of a game of Twister?" Tifa muttered, feeling Cloud's back behind hers jerk in a grunt.

"Jello Twister?" Tempest asked unhelpfully because it made Tifa start laughing.

"Tempest, stop encouraging her. Put one of your hands over your knee. Other hand. That's better. Cloud, stop fiddling with your sword handle and put your hands in your pockets. You're sullen. Not glaring, Cloud, sullen. You know, moody. Different than your usual moody. Oo, Tempest, keep the cheek resting on the hand, that's great! Now grin. Rita, lay your head back against Cloud's back and roll your head so you're looking at us. Look… wistful."

"Smug."

"Confused."

"Torn."

"Just like that!" all three of the girls chorused as Tifa gave them a helpless, exasperated look. Her hand clamped fairly hard over Tempest's solid shoulder as she tried to keep her balance and she felt his own hand rise to rest over hers. Which she hoped was an 'all in this together' move and not a 'you're leaving dents in my shoulder bone' type of thing.

"I'm about to fall over" she told the girls taking the pictures through her teeth and felt Cloud shift. It did knock her off balance and she had a brief moment to feel accusatory toward Yuffie since she'd promised her brother wouldn't let her fall, when her body jarred up against Cloud's as he wrapped his arms around her to keep her upright. Through his shaggy blond hair she caught a glimpse of his eyes in the moment it happened and she felt a jolt straight down through the center of her. They were the most rolling, concentrated aqua blue she'd ever seen before, even on him, and it knocked the breath right out of her lungs.

"Cloud – " she didn't know why she said his name or why it came out the way it did, soft and – and gently reaching. Instinctive she wrapped her hands around him, fingers tangling in his shirt and in the fabric of his sleeve. And it wasn't to keep her upright but rather… rather why she wasn't sure. The muscles in his arms under her fingers relaxed a little and he settled her on her feet more firmly. Tifa was left feeling confused, as if she'd just missed something very important but couldn't touch what it was. Tempest rose to his feet with an easy smile and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, that was exciting" he remarked and it made Tifa smile. But her fingertips wouldn't seem to leave Cloud. "How did the pictures come out?"

Yuffie had been learning from 'Edward' Tifa had to admit as she looked at the pictures, everyone crowding around her and Cloud and Tempest to show them the various shots and angles. At least I don't look sappy this time, Tifa thought to herself. Panicked, confused, trapped, embarrassed, flushed – but not sappy. Tempest nodded in satisfaction at some of them and even Cloud exhaled a low sound over one or two while the girls chirped excitedly. Tifa tried to concentrate on the pictures but couldn't help but notice that Cloud's arm was still around her waist and he was still standing against her back and looking over her shoulder, blue eyes on the camera screens. On any other guy she would have labeled it possessive and found it annoying. And it might have been just a little bit possessive though Tifa couldn't imagine why but there was – something more to it. Something more to the way Cloud held her without either one of them admitting what he was doing. Tifa had the weirdest desire to hold him in her arms the way she did with Denzel sometimes. She felt the strangest desire to tell him... 'it's okay.' Which didn't make any sense at all.

Instead she slipped a hand down over Cloud's where it was resting against her waist while everyone around them talked. His fingers didn't part to let hers slip between them again – but he didn't let go or pull away either.

"Okay – email exchange." Tempest was fishing a copy of a flyer for the Chandi Chowk To China movie screening out of his jacket pocket. "That way everyone can get everyone's pictures."

Aerith, the ever prepared, fished out pens for everyone and there was a concentrated scribbling of names and addresses on various pieces of loose paper. Tifa wrote hers several times. She noticed Cloud didn't write his at all, in fact, he didn't move or let go of her but Yuffie seemed to be doing enough talking and exchanging and writing for both of them. Tempest looked at the slip of paper in his hand and met Tifa's eyes with a smile, ignoring Cloud entirely.

"Tifa" he pronounced the name and the smile reached his eyes. "Now I don't have to call you 'Rita' anymore."

"My connection's slow," she warned. It was an expense she couldn't afford but it really did make a world of difference to Marlene and Denzel. Everyone was equal on the internet. Tempest nodded and his eyes met hers.

"It's okay. Email letters load a lot faster than pictures." He handed her a slip of paper. "There's mine. My real name's Leon. Drop me an email and let me know you survived the crazy fan girls at the convention." Tifa looked down at it curiously and he leaned in to check it. "That's my cell number too. That's a three, not a five." His eyes met hers. "Just in case."

She blinked at what she saw in his eyes.

"Thanks" she whispered and he smiled quietly and shrugged.

"Let me know" he reminded, tapping the paper, and then he was giving them a casual salute, touching two of his fingers to his forehead and heading off. A large black gloved hand took the piece of paper out of Tifa's and held it up for fierce scrutiny over her shoulder while Yuffie giggled.

"Oh, score!" Yuffie was cheerful. "Way to go 'Rita'. He was cute too."

Tifa snatched the paper back from Cloud, feeling her cheeks heating. Strangers and pointless banter was one thing – anything vaguely romantic or emotionally intimate was another entirely when it came to getting embarrassed.

"Don't you people have anything better to do?" she stepped away from Cloud and distracted herself with getting her own camera back and slipping the papers into its case. Yuffie laughed.

"Probably. But this is more fun" she answered shamelessly. "Here's my email address too by the way. And Cloud's – though he never answers his. And our cell phones in case you ever want to call."

Tifa took them with a chuckle and slipped that paper into the camera case too. Then she slipped her arm through Aerith's. Her best friend – and there was a reason 'best' was on the front of the job description - took the cue.

"Well, we've got to go" Aerith chirped with a smile. "I promised a friend I'd help him get in the right mind set to be a Malkavian and that can take a while if he hasn't had enough sugar."

"Hey, come by the costume competition this afternoon" Yuffie piped. "Edward and I have a skit worked out and everything!"

"Sounds like fun" Tifa agreed and was very careful, as they left, to avoid eye contact with blue eyes.