all right, let's get this show on the road. Today's updates come early because my schedule at work is screwy. I see a lot of new readers and welcome, welcome, welcome. As for my best beloveds - Ktisis - oh, welcome back. You were very much missed. Best of luck with the finals. May your mind remain unfried by speedo wearing body builders (lol - man! I think I'm STILL traumatized by the 'Group Room incident' myself). oceanee - I adore your chapter by chapter reviews! well, now you know what 'the boys' were up to. And 'the boy' himself doesn't improve much in the next couple of chapters either - lol. Glad you approved of Tifa's 'hands off!' moment and yeah, I was watching my nephew play FFVII the other day and caught myself smiling like a sop as Cloud twirled his sword and slapped it back onto his back. I snicker and yet, can't blame, all the girls that fall for Cloud in the game (which my nephew, being only 10, finds more distracting than amusing. I figure it will take a few years but he's on the right track. He's already bringing Tifa everywhere with him in the game). Dis - yeah, lol. I'm with you. I just didn't think I could seriously write Cloud getting turned into a frog and having to b-slap the monsters down. Fun in the game, a little too awkward to write in a story. As for whether Cloud ever fesses up to the 'prison incident' remains to be seen however ;) Jini - LOL!! how you made me laugh with your RAWR! it was great. Well, I figure with the left over adrenaline, hopped up aggression from the fights and being a bit more inside his body than his head for a change, Cloud would slip up a little when it came to Tifa. He tries to be a gentleman but come on - lol. And yeah, I couldn't abuse Leon. He's a good guy, just not for Tifa (hear that OTP war?!) Calenlass - it's okay. You can yell at him too. Just as long as he gets cuddles afterwards. OCV - wow, I LOVE a review a chapter trades. They taste delicious! For 'Nature's Mysteries' I actually had the old (before they made cleaned it up and made it slick) Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum stuck in my head - lol. That place used to be a trip. Though I will now have to look up Ratchet and Clank on YouTube. And the Buster sword is in Wutai. Cloud's using his. Zack's using - uh, standard issue? Ciel - hey! welcome to the party! drinks are in the fridge ;) Glad you're enjoying. I'll do my best to keep the cliffhangers coming ;) oh writer - how happy you make me. I'm glad, I tried to keep the emotions on the raw side and if it came out that way I must have done something right. I couldn't resist giving the girls just a little bit of time to be girls and just have fun before I dragged them under again though. Fun, then evil. Then possible snuggling. And I'm glad it's pulling up memories of the game. I had too much fun playing that and now that my nephew is I'm getting to relive it all over again in a slightly more 'who cares about chocobos, we've got a maniac to kill!' goal orientated way. Tae! LOL. Why? (said innocently) is there something wrong with UST? ;) I can't ask Cloud, you know. fairheartstrife - I don't know. You throw dark chocolate in there and I just might be swayed - lol. But welcome back and I'm glad you enjoyed the catch up. The following chapter mush is for you. falynn - w00t! welcome to the party/jungle/mad house! lol - yeah, Cloud isn't as innocent as Tifa thinks. It's fun to write. Your review left me goobsmacked and I'm beyond flattered. Thank you. Just... wow and thank you. I hope I live up to it. I've made a promise that short of ffnet woobles, I will update every Sunday night/Monday morning. So far, so good. jianre - there shall be MORE Yuffie and Zack team up in later chapters! I couldn't resist the two of them. And hey, there's a dedication in here for you that you've only been waiting for for months now ;) as for vincent.... well, he IS on the airship with Red.... lol demonegg - drat! you figured out my plot to have Cloud kidnapped by a lonely chocobo! curses for writer's intuition. I'll just have to throw in more 'Cloud fighting' bits to distract us all. vx-luna-xv - yeah, that is a creepy one. I think that little lantern weilding turtle without a shell scares everyone. as for the rest of the night... akuma - hey, snacks are in the fridge so help yourself! so glad you hopped on for the ride! Moar updates! Heck, with reviews like that, I'd be forced to update even if I hadn't already made a pact with my best beloveds. Thanks for the awesome words! Hope you enjoy the next chapters just as much.

and a special congrats to Peeka-chan who couldn't beta edit me this time for a good cause. She's graduating, peeps! So break out the cake and ice cream and join the rest of the group having the party in chapter 80 to celebrate!

Chapter 78: Shower Incident #3

They agreed to meet everyone that was running around the amusement park at the Haunted Hotel but it was also decided that Cloud should probably clean some of the blood and monster gore off himself and change before the real kids got back. Aerith suggested they all go to their rooms to freshen up but when Tifa tried to go with her to the room they were supposed to be sharing, Aerith put her hands on the backs of Tifa's shoulders and pushed her down the hall in the opposite direction. Shera watched expectantly from behind her, cheerful behind her large glasses.

"You go be with Cloud," Aerith stated and Tifa's cheeks heated.

"Aerith – " she protested. Even if it was what she really wanted. Aerith shook her head.

"Don't worry, Teef. We know you're not 'like that' with him. So it's okay. There's no reason you can't go make sure he actually takes care of himself instead of collapsing on the bed and going to sleep."

Shera nodded.

"It's why we made Leon go find Yuffie and Barrett. And then called Yuffie and told her to not be findable."

"You did what?" Tifa asked, on more solid footing now and Shera wiggled the PHS and smiled. Aerith grinned.

"Go on. We'll bring you clean clothes so the kids don't see you smeared with smeared monster goo. Go make sure Cloud isn't collapsed in a chair."

Even though she'd just kissed the man, apparently in front of a large number of viewers, Tifa still hesitated over simply walking up to his bedroom door and demanding he strip down and take a shower. Aerith solved the problem for her by having already pushed her in front of the door while she was arguing and now her friend knocked firmly on the door with a beatific smile.

"Aerith?!" Tifa protested as Shera made pleased humming sounds next to them and conveniently blocked Tifa from pulling a quick spin and getting out of the way.

"Tifa!" Aerith repeated in the same tone and then the door opened. Cloud stood on the other side of it, his shirt half unzipped and his feet bare, looking vaguely puzzled as he found three women outside his door. His eyes focused on Tifa and then, eyebrows rising, moved to Aerith as the obvious source of trouble.

"We need to use your shower," Aerith announced and Shera nodded enthusiastically from behind Tifa. "See, there's three of us and you know women take forever to shower. So we're going to split and Tifa's going to use your shower and Shera and me are going to take turns using ours. That way it's even and we'll all get done in time for dinner."

"uh-" was Cloud's response. Aerith gave Tifa a push toward him.

"We'll bring over clean clothes for her in a minute." With a last grin, as evil as – well, more evil than anything Tifa could think of, Aerith went swinging back to her room with Shera skipping along at her side. Tifa felt the heat spread up her throat and across her cheeks again and she looked up at Cloud where he stood in the doorway, looking vaguely puzzled. Then his blue eyes shifted to find her and his face softened. Tifa was suddenly aware of just how close Aerith had pushed her to him.

"So... you're sharing my shower?"

"Yes. No! Uh – " Tifa tripped over concepts and words were even further behind that. The edges of Cloud's lips twitched.

"We've got really nosy friend, don't we?"

It melted the awkwardness and she smiled.

"Yeah."

Cloud stepped away from the door and moved his head to indicate she should come in and suddenly it wasn't awkward at all. Just – just like coming home, comfortable and warm and relaxing. Tifa stepped into the room and saw it had three beds and a long, thin window at the other end from the door. Cloud shut the door behind her and watched as she wandered around the room, fingertips touching absently at things. She turned back to look at him over her shoulder and her face softened as she came back to him. Gentle, she rested her fingertips on his chest, careful to not touch skin.

"You should take your shower."

His hands came down and curved around her hips, drawing her closer to him.

"You first. It's a hotel so you don't have to worry about using up the hot water."

It made her smile and she found his eyes, shaking her head.

"If I take my shower first, you'll be asleep by the time I get out and you'll never get your shower."

Cloud's head lowered the short distance to hers so that she could feel the exhale of his words against her lips.

"You could always wake me up."

"You need your sleep," she whispered back, lifting her chin and she felt the way their lips brushed, barely there. She was starting to have to struggle to remember what they were talking about.

"I don't like sleeping without you against me." His lips brushed over hers again, soft and gentle.

"I don't either," she managed as she turned her face to follow his mouth with hers. She felt his smile just before her mouth found his and his lips answered without words then.

The knock at the door interrupted them and Cloud, who hadn't stepped far away from it, reached out and opened it without letting go of Tifa or raising his head. His hand came back with folds of cloth and he let the door swing shut on its own as his mouth returned to what had been interrupted. Which was making Tifa go completely and entirely boneless.

"Shower," he murmured against her mouth and she made a humming noise and didn't stop kissing. His hum was lower than hers and he started to step forward, stopping himself with a barely there laugh just before he had her up against the wall.

"Tifa… shower…"

"Mm," she agreed helpfully and her arms slipped up to slid around his shoulders. With a low exhale that sounded a little like a rumble, he wrapped both arms around her waist and lifted her just enough that her feet left the ground and her body was entirely against his and completely supported. She felt the hunger – and the restraint in him – and she simply loved him more for it. Still kissing her, he carried her into the bathroom and set her down. She felt tile under her soles and laughed against his mouth at his determination.

And then the water came on.

Tifa gave a stifled noise and jumped, eyes flying wide. Cloud tipped his head back out of the shower's stream and laughed. Really just laughed, full and rich and real.

Tifa thought it must be what heaven sounded like.

That didn't change the fact however that he'd turned the water on both of them and they were fully clothed and getting soaked.

"Cloud!" she protested, torn between laughing herself and absolute mortification. "What are you doing?"

"Torturing myself," he answered, still holding her against him as he reached past with the other hand to adjust the water temperature.

"But we're still dressed!"

Cloud's blue eyes looked down at her and she saw the laughter in them as he raised his pale brows at her. It struck her what her words could have been taken as then and her face, even dripping with water, went bright red. Light, she hit him on the arm and he grunted.

"I didn't mean it like that!" she laughed and he grinned as he looked down at her. Looking young and boyish with the light in his blue eyes and his pale hair plastered down against his face. Reaching up with both hands, he pushed the hair back from her face, still smiling at her.

"Now we don't have to argue about who gets the shower first."

"You're crazy," she told him and there were no shadows in his eyes as he pulled her close against him and covered her mouth with his again. Tifa raised her arms to wind them around his shoulders and answered without words.

Eventually they got around to washing each other's hair and laughed about the way they got soap taste in their mouths when they kissed. Tifa could tell that Cloud was being careful about his reactions to her and she was so grateful. To be able to be together and laugh and be silly – it made something in her soul settle completely.

She'd been... so scared for him...

She left him in the shower to finish cleaning up. Unlike her, who'd only gotten gore on the outside of her clothes and superficially on her skin, Cloud had been soaked through. So Tifa slipped out of the shower giggling – her – giggling! She hadn't known she could giggle. To her knowledge she'd never actually giggled before. But she did giggle as she slipped out of his reluctant arms and closed the shower door on him to gather up a couple of towels for herself and the haphazardly tossed clothes Aerith had sent over. Letting herself out of the bathroom she closed the door and checked the room before dropping the deadbolt into place. The last thing she wanted was Leon – or Zack or Barrett - letting themselves into the room at the wrong moment.

Satisfied, she moved over so she wasn't visible from the bathroom if the door opened and toweled off her hair before slipping out of her soaked clothes and quickly toweling off. She ran into problems however when she shook out the clothes Aerith had sent over.

For one – it was a dress.

For two – it was a short dress.

Tifa narrowed her eyes at it for a brief moment. Absolutely sure that she didn't own a dress like this. Her mind quickly jumped through her options however and it was either put it on, put back on her soaked clothes, or sneak out into the hall wrapped in nothing but a towel and demand Aerith give her real clothes. It took a very short amount of time – and the realization that Cloud usually took impossibly short showers – to have her slipping into the dress. Which was a very pretty blue and fit her. Indicating that her friend had bought it at some point intentionally for her. Tifa smoothed a hand down the soft fabric that swirled around her legs when she moved and couldn't decide if she should be angry or delighted.

There was a hairbrush in with the clothes and so she used it to comb out her hair. She was going to have to get it cut, it was really getting ridiculously long. She stood at the window as she worked the brush through its length and then there was a tapping at the bathroom door.

"It's safe," she called with a smile, feeling the joy bubbling in her veins. Cloud opened the door and came out, already dressed in a long sleeved shirt and dark pants. Apparently he'd already been getting ready to wash up when Aerith had showed up to commandeer his shower for her nefarious purposes. His hair was already starting to spike again as he rubbed a towel over it carelessly and he pulled to a stop as his eyes focused on her. Tifa suddenly felt self-conscious and put her hands behind her back, shifting on her toes.

"Aerith's fault," she apologized and Cloud came over to her, bare feet silent on the carpet, eyes young and holding something she couldn't read.

"It's blue," he managed and all of the sudden Tifa realized – he had memories of her in a blue dress from their childhood. She couldn't help the smile that bloomed and she twisted a little so that the skirt of the dress swayed.

"Do you like it?" she asked and his eyes found hers and suddenly flooded with pleasure and laughter. He scooped her up and spun her easily around the room and she put her hands on his shoulders and laughed.

"That's a 'yes'?"

"Yes," he agreed. Setting her down but only so that he could cup her face in his hands and kiss her. "Definitely yes."