Thirty six
Tifa and Cloud lay face to face after their night of ultimate passion. The brunette cursed herself for letting herself be helpless when it comes to the love of her life. But then, it was Cloud Strife after all, the hottest guy in the planet. No one can really resist him.
"Was that really your ex?" She suddenly asked. Cloud's eyebrows shot up.
"Who? Zuri?"
"I don't know her fucking name Strife."
"Yeah... Well, she was."
"Aerith told me she lasted with you."
"We dated for seven months. And that was a long time ago." He said, Tifa snorted.
"She calls that 'lasted'?" Tifa paused. "Oh, right, you're Cloud freakin' Strife. 3 months is equals to 3 years of dating when it comes to you."
"Hey..."
"Don't you 'hey' me." Tifa said before her phone started ringing. She sat up to grab it from the nightstand. Cloud sat up as well before he started kissing her cheek and neck. "Yellow?"
"WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?!" It was Yuffie. Tifa pulled her phone away from her ear wth a wince before she slowly pulled it back to her ear.
"Is that how you say sorry after you slapped the hell out of me?"
"No, but. Okay, I'm not sorry for my actions. You were planning on killing that red headed bitch, so before we all get humiliated because you got arrested for killing someone, I had to beat the crap out of you." Yuffie paused. "NOW WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
"You didn't beat the crap out of me. And besides that is not possible for you to do because I'll beat you up first. You better watch your back because I'll make you pay. You should be scared. Are you scared?" Tifa asked, Yuffie didn't speak for a while, the brunette could only hear muffled loud music on the background until Yuffie finally answered back.
"...Petrified."
"Spoken like a true sidekick."
"Who the fuck are you calling a sidekick?!"
"I'm just kidding. Maybe not."
"You know..." Yuffie calmly said. "I'm starting to get really pissed off because you still haven't answered MY QUESTION!" Tifa shrieked in surprise. when Yuffie suddenly yelled.
"Which question?"
"JUST WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"
"I'm with Cloud, I don't think I'll be coming back to the party, tell Zack I'm so so sorry. And sorry for worrying you."
"Yeah. Okay, I thought something happened to you."
"Like what?" Tifa said while she pulled away from Cloud with a frown, who continued kissing her neck.
"Like you jumped off a bridge or slit your wrist or something." Yuffie said. Tifa looked perplexed.
"You think I would do something like that over something so stupid?" Tifa said again while she pushed Cloud's face away from her with her palm.
"Yeah, whatever. Bye. See you later. Tell Cloud to go fuck himself hard and fast." Then there was a click.
"Yuffie told me to tell you to go fuck yourself hard and fast." She said as she flipped her phone shut. Cloud raised an eyebrow with a chuckle. "Until you get pregnant with your own kid even if it's impossible for you to bear one because you don't have a uterus."
"She did now, did she?"
"Yes. But I added the last part." Tifa said, Cloud snorted.
"Not if you're here, I have someone to fu-"
"Shut it Strife." Tifa said firmly while she pointed a forefinger towards him. "You deserved to be kick in your grade-A ass for being a jerk at the party." She said before she stood up to put on her underwear. Cloud raised an eyebrow in amusement about her comment on his bottom.
"Grade-A?" He asked with the still amused look.
"Yes, grade-A, as much as I hate you at this moment, I can't deny that fact about your butt. But right now, it deserves to kicked until it looks like hamburger meat." Tifa said before she slid in the bed to lay on her side, facing away from him. Cloud started laughing.
"What are you doing?" He asked with a sudden frown.
"I'm going to sleep. I have a photoshoot for a bridal magazine tomorrow." Cloud raised an eyebrow again.
"Bridal, eh? I would love to see you on a wedding dress baby." He said, but Tifa didn't respond and just went to sleep. "Hello?" No response.
The next morning, Tifa and Cloud went back to the latter's home so both of them could get ready for work. Cloud has a shoot for a billboard while Tifa for a bridal magazine, she would be wearing designs from various designers. Somehow, she had a very bad feeling about that day, and she will be proven right later on.
She had her last wedding dress on for the shoot, which was a beautiful strapless ball gown, the skirts had many layers that it looked like she floats while she walked, and her hair was down in loose curls which was draped in one shoulder.
"Beautiful." The photographer commented while he clicked his camera. "That's it, gorgeous." He said when Tifa tilted her body to the left. "Thank you for your hard work." He said finally before Tifa bowed her head with a smile.
"Thank you, too." She said before Nathan approached her with a bottle of water.
"Tifa, you have a call from Tseng." He said as he handed her the phone.
"Thanks Nate." She said then she grabbed the phone to answer it. "Tseng."
"I need you and Cloud right now, in my office. NOW." Tifa furrowed her eyebrows, he seemed angry by the sound of his voice.
"Okay? But what is th-"
"Now." Then there was a click. Tifa stared at her phone in confusion, the same reaction Nathan was sporting while staring at her.
"You alright?" He asked.
"Well, I am. Tseng isn't."
She's proven wrong about that one the moment she reached Tseng's office, where she found Cloud already sitting across from the annoyed looking manager. Cloud looked over his shoulder to look at her before he looked ahead again with a sigh. Tifa was now confused more than ever so she took a seat next to Cloud.
"What's going on-" Her question was answered when Tseng tilted his laptop in front of her. Her eyes widened when she scanned the headline of a news from a website. There was a photo of her, Cloud and Zuri.
CLOUD STRIFE, TIFA LOCKHART CHEATING SCANDAL.
Then she started reading the article.
The male supermodel has been caught cheating behind his fiancee's back during Zack Fair's birthday bash last night at Formula night club. Cloud Strife was seen flirting with his ex-girlfriend, Zuri Arryn, while his fiancee was just on the dance floor and just having a good time with the birthday boy-
Tifa didn't get to finish was she was reading when Cloud flipped the laptop shut.
"What are you doing? I was reading that!"
"Don't read the rest of it, it will just ruin your mood." Said Cloud. Tifa scoffed.
"Just reading the headline already ruined my mood, Strife. Just look at what your stupid actions do! You and your rash decisions!"
"Would you two mind telling me WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED?!" Tseng yelled the last three words which made Tifa jump with a shriek. She sighed before she angrily relayed to Tseng what had happened. Their manager didn't speak for a while, just staring at the two of them with a bored but irritated look on his face.
"Now, even if some people think that it isn't true and maybe this is Zuri's way of getting herself back into the limelight because, let's face it, she's irrelevant now. And being a fame hungry human that she is, she will use you, Cloud, to gain attention, so we need to do some drastic measures."
"Stupid Cloud." Tifa said to herself but Cloud heard what she said.
"Now, wait a minute!"
"Well, aren't you?! You pull a stunt like that and look where you've gotten yourself into! Its because of you and your flirtatious behavior!"
"I whispered a joke on her ear and that's it! Even if she comes forward and says I flirted with her, I can defend myself, I never said anything lewd or I didn't tell her how beautiful she was or any of that shit!"
"IT DOESN'T MATTER, BECAUSE OF ONE SINGLE STUPID MOVE YOU DID, WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS STUPID SCANDAL!"
"Since you two are acting like children, you need to do something grown up to turn things around." Tseng said before Cloud could retort. Tifa and Cloud looked at each with a scowl before they stared at their manager once again.
"Which is?" Tifa asked.
"Damage control. You will do an interview Cloud, where you will just laugh it all off, then after that..."
"What." Tifa said. Tseng stared at both of them once again, but it took him a while before he finally spoke.
"You two are going to get married, ASAP." He said before he started scribbling away on the paper in front of him. Cloud and Tifa's jaws dropped. Then they both clamped their mouths shut almost at the same time before they looked at each other.
The truth was, both of them could just quit doing the business, maybe open a business of their own, but Tifa loved what she did, from the modeling to her own talkshow where she gets to help women with issues, she wanted it. Maybe someday, she could still find a way to reach her dream and become an anchor. Same goes for Cloud, he loved his job, and he didn't want to give up any of it just yet, and also because he knows somewhere on the globe, his past tormentors were watching him, the revenge was just too sweet.
"Do you wanna get married?" Cloud suddenly asked his fiancee.
"Yeah. I'll go get the strippers." Tifa said before she stood up to go out the door. Cloud furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Wait, what?" He asked but Tifa was already out the door.
A/N: When Yuffie asks Cloud if he was scared of her ninja skills in the original game, he responded with the same word. '...Petrified.'