Sir Reno of Nothing sat painfully up from his bed and groaned as this aggravated his wound. He was bare except for the stained bandage wrapped around his middle that covered the wound dealt to him by a sword during a skirmish gone bad.
"Oh, thank the Goddess you're okay" his wife said with such relief and tenderness in her voice that he'd never heard directed towards him.
He looked to where she sat beside him in chair, noting the dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep and how her lids were swollen from crying. Had she been crying all night at his bedside because he might have not have survived the night? He questioned himself.
"I'm fine" he said and then she was in his arms, holding him like he was the most precious thing in the world to her.
"I was so worried" she said pushing his floppy hair back to reveal his startled eyes.
"But...I thought you didn't like me. You seem to just want to treat me like I'm just a sex toy" he said with surprise in his voice.
"I find I can't share a bed with you without developing feelings for you. I care for you. But I know that you're unhappy. I have spoken to my brother and he's willing to release you from our marriage. You can keep the money, just allow me a pension to survive on" she requested, lowering her eyes at this.
"What if I said I don't want to be released? You're my wife" he surprised himself by furiously saying and kissed her hard.
"Oh good, because I'm expecting" she said hugging him.
"Expecting what?" He stupidly asked her.
"Your baby, silly" she said.
"My what?" He squeaked, suddenly prepubescent again.
Suddenly, he paced outside of the delivery room, where he could hear her cursing his name and shrieking unflattering things about him that would have made a sailor blush with shame, to her pained cries. "How did this happen?" He demanded of Rufus.
"Do you seriously want me to answer that? She's a royal Princess; they always get pregnant on their wedding nights. Don't worry, she's stronger than she looks" he assured the nervous looking man.
"I'm not worried about her" he insisted, wishing he could be in the room with her, to hold her hand at least and not be outside pacing uselessly. He felt like knocking that flimsy barrier between them off its hinges and wondered at the rule that the husbands must be kept from their wives as they gave birth. They certainly had been present for their children's conception...
"Right, where did she learn that language?" He mused as he looked at the now blushing man.
"Congratulations, you have a beautiful baby..." The doctor said.
"Doctor, I think her labour pains have started again" his nurse called to him.
"Girl" he said thrusting the tiny bundle into Reno's startled arms and hurrying back to his patient.
"She definitely hasn't been cheating on you, as if I believed she ever would" Rufus said, noting the tiny girl had his red fuzz on her head. While Reno could just look at her as if stricken dumb and unmoving by the Goddess, herself as the tiny girl squirmed in his arms.
This happened one more time. "You have two beautiful daughters and a son: triplets and your wife is doing just fine" the doctor told him. Princess Scarlet had joined them and taken charge of the two cooing bundles from the shell shocked looked man as she held them in her arms and murmured to them. The doctor went to hand him his son...and Reno fainted.
Reno stood before Tifa as she lay in bed exhausted from her delivery. "I hope you don't mind my having so many children. I...I'll understand if you wish to set me aside, just please look after them. Perhaps, I can convince your Sir Cloud to marry me instead?" She said in a small voice.
"He can't have you...besides, he has his own Prince" he said and she looked up at him quizzically at this.
"You're my wife and those are my children and you all belong with me. Because I love you" he declared taking her lips in a kiss that she joyfully returned as she sobbed out how she loved him too as the music swelled with the intensity of the emotional scene.
"And cut, that was great work. This concludes Obsidians' story" the announcer paged to them and they reluctantly parted after their loving declarations as the emotions lingered for a few extra seconds when reality set in and they looked at each other in confusion.
Tifa got out of bed and pulled herself together. "nice working with you. I wonder where they found all those redheaded newborns?" She wondered aloud to change the mood.
"Who knows where they find the bit part actors?" he reminded her with an amused grin.
"I'm sorry what I said" she apologized.
"You want to go to karaoke later?" He asked her.
"I think we should take a break" she said looking to where Cloud and Sephiroth were laughing about something.
"So, I'm no longer your leading man?" he asked her, wondering why that hurt so much.
"I like you but..." She said, she liked him but she had to get her life back on track. He was an unnecessary distraction, she told herself. Feeling like she was lying to herself. Had that been pain in his voice just now?
"Save it" he snapped at her and went to change.
She felt bad as she went past him to talk to Sephiroth and Cloud to try and convince of one them to date her. They were her future, not Reno. She'd known that as soon as she met them on the set of the video game the first day. She had planned her carefully organized life around marrying one of them, she didn't need an impulsive redhead to ruin everything...no matter how he made her laugh, was fun to be around and a tiger in bed...she quashed that thought.
"I was wondering if either of you wanted to check out the new museum?" She asked them.
Cloud was sick of Tifa always meddling with his and Sephiroth's plans. He knew what she hoped would never happen and was sympathetic that neither of them could offer it to her. But she was forever trying to butt into his plans with his boyfriend and making eyes at them both. "Damnit Tifa, we're going out for a romantic dinner because it's our second anniversary and then going home to make love if he agrees to marry me...or even if he doesn't. Tifa, we're gay!" Cloud snapped at her.
"You want to marry me?" Sephiroth asked him with happiness in his voice.
"I have a man's engagement ring in my pocket for you and everything. It was supposed to be a surprise...and Tifa had to go ruin my plans by making me mad" Cloud fumed at him as he showed him the ring. "It was to be slipped into your glass of champagne" he told him.
"Yes" Sephiroth said.
"Really?" Cloud asked him and then they were kissing while Tifa ran from the set without even bothering to change.
"Tifa" Reno called after her as he witnessed the scene.
Tifa changed into a large t-shirt she wore in place of a nightgown and flung herself onto her bed and sobbed like her heart would break. She'd based her entire life around being the wife of either man, she had wanted them since the second she'd met them. She'd been so young and they were like gods to her in their flawless beauty. She moaned as her buzzer rang.
"Yes" she said answering it in a dead sounding voice.
"It's Reno, let me come up!" he all but ordered her.
"No, I just want to be alone" she said in small voice.
"Open this door or I shall break this flimsy glass thing and let myself in" he threatened.
"Fine" she said buzzing him in.
He knocked on her door and she let him in with a sigh of defeat, she winced that he looked like a thug as usual in worn blue jeans and a beaten-up leather jacket. "Why are you here?" She asked him.
"I came to make sure you were okay" he said giving her the absolute truth.
"Couldn't you just take another woman out and leave me alone?" she asked him.
"Another woman? How many women do you think I'm with? I've been with your every night for three weeks...until you dumped me. I'm hardly going to call up another girl and ask her on a date when I'm worried about my best girl" he replied to her.
"Best girl? But I thought you just wanted the sex. You hardly seem the faithful type to me" she said in confusion.
"The sex is stellar, but I happen to care about you. I was always curious what lay behind your tight-laced façade. You're the most controlled woman I've encountered, but I like you. I brought you ice cream" he lamely said holding up the bag. "Tifa, sex isn't hard for me to find. I know you're upset about Cloud and Sephiroth. It must be devastating to find out that way you did and Cloud's sorry about that" he said and she dissolved into sobs at this and he was soon holding her as they sat on her bed.
"Why does it have to be this way?" She asked him.
"Everyone's changed over time, most are in relationships and have become different. Some got involved with other cast members or found relationships elsewhere. I was barely twenty when I joined the game playing the character of Reno, but I'm not the character I portrayed. I sowed my wild oats when I was younger, but I'm not that man anymore" he promised her and she looked up to him.
"I planned my entire future around Cloud or Sephiroth. I bought this place to fill it with a family" she said.
"And it's a nice place. Is that why you never wanted to invite me in? I wasn't upset; I know how important your privacy is to you" he assured her.
She tearfully nodded.
"I'm getting you some of that ice cream" he announced. She gave him a sad smile.
"Double dark cherry? My favourite" she said in surprise.
"I noticed you always got it from the catering truck. I have a vivid recall for stupid things. I guess that makes me an idiot savant. Do you want me to leave? I don't want to intrude" he said.
"Stay the night with me. I don't want...could you just hold me?" She asked him.
"I would love to" he answered.
Tifa woke up snuggled into Reno's body and feeling cozy and warm. Lips brushed her own "I was wondering when you were going to wake up" Reno teased her, propping his head up on his handmas he stroked her cheek with his other hand. She yawned and stretched, wondering why it felt so comfortable for him to be there with her.
"You're the first man I've ever had in this bed" she admitted to him.
"You're not saying you were a virgin that first time..." He asked her in a shocked voice.
"No there hasn't been that many men in my life. I been waiting for..." She said, looking to the side.
"It sounds like you need a new plan" he said putting his arms around her and she snuggled into his solid chest.
"I realize that I don't know anything about you" she said, changing the subject. "You were raised in the slums?" She asked him.
"No Reno was" he corrected her. "If I tell you the truth, will you promise not to tell anyone?" He asked her.
"I swear" she answered.
"Okay, if by the Slums, you mean Barrhaven" he said mentioned one of the richest suburbs in Midgard. "My mother's a doctor and my father's a lawyer and are still together after being high school sweethearts. I'm sure they're engaging in rousing game of scrabble challenge as we speak. The closest I got to the slums was going to a grocery store where you're expected to bag your own groceries. I was privately school educated and the school valedictorian and even hold a Masters in electrical engineering. Heck, I was a mall rat" he explained to her.
"Your accent is gone" Tifa noticed.
"It's a put on. Women seem to like me better in the character of Reno. They get off on his bad boy image. So, I act the part so much that it became who I am" he admitted with a blush.
"You're a total fake!" she said with a smile. "No slums, from a happy family. What next. Are you hiding a wife somewhere?" She teased him.
"I promise you I'm not" he said. "Come on, I'm making us some breakfast. If you have red wine and eggs, I can make us eggs poached in red wine. Yes, I can cook" he said.
"What are your parents like?" She asked him while he opened cupboards and her fridge and started to dig things out to prepare their breakfast, looking completely comfortable in her kitchen.
"My mother loves to cook and taught me everything I know, she didn't want me to drive my future wife bonkers by not knowing how to cook. She's a kind, loving woman, who likes to take care of her house and family' but is a total feminist. My father and I both had chore lists posted constantly. I'm an only child. My father is very laid back and allows her to rule the roost. He's charming with a whimsical sense of humour. Sound familiar? Both are very intelligent and a have possible scrabble fetish. They play it every day" he explained. "Taste" he said holding out a spoon to her.
"That's delicious" she proclaimed.
"I have to let it boil down and we're ready to eat. Would you like to meet them? I'm supposed to have dinner with them this Sunday" he said, feeling nervous at his offer.
"I would love to" she said.
"I don't want Cloud. All I want is you" Tifa promised as she knelt between Aerith's thighs and started to orally love her.
"Thanks, nice job" the announcer called to them. Tifa slipped into her bathrobe and helped the heavily pregnant woman up and into her own.
"Thanks, I wish these yuri writers would wait until I give birth" she complained as she put on her glasses that made her look like sexy librarian and unbraided her hair and shook it loose and got into her usual black clothes. The real Aerith was a very nearsighted who refused to get corrective surgery and a super intelligent woman. She was married to Zack, who wasn't much different from his onscreen persona.
"Let's hit the food truck. I'm eating for three after all" she groaned. Tifa was happy for her friend for having a devoted husband and a family on the way, but a little envious. She watched as Aerith tucked into her pasta salad like she'd never eaten before.
"Okay spill, you're glowing. Do you have a new beau?" She suddenly demanded.
"What are you talking about?" Tifa stammered with a blush.
"Who is he? I know you were hung up on Sephiroth and Cloud, but you have the glow that only a very sexually satisfied woman gets. Do I know him? Is he cute?" Aerith demanded between bites as she attacked her chicken like it was about to attempt to run away.
"Reno" Tifa said with a blush.
"Reno, but I thought you hated his guts? You were always going on how he contributed nothing to the video games or movies. How did that happen?" Aerith said in shock.
"I agreed to go out with him one night when feeling low. A week later, we first, er...made love in his car" she admitted, unable to look at her friend.
Aerith broke into peals of laughter, "you in the backseat of his car...a week later. He must have really managed to take the stick out of your bum. You're normally so careful who you take to bed and make them wait forever for that" she said with a smile as she shoved food into her mouth like it was her last meal. "But seriously, Reno was never as bad as you thought he was. He's a friend of Zack's and say what you will about Zack, he's an excellent judge of character. There was a reason why he was in our wedding party" Aerith assured her.
"But he's been with so many women" Tifa said.
"He was young back then, like we all were. We all had our flings with co-workers, we're a good looking bunch. Most of us have settled down, like Zack and I, Vincent with Tseng, Yuffie with Barret, Rude with Shera and now Cloud with Sephiroth. People change as they mature. Reno back in the day was hot and sexy and fun in bed" Aerith explained to her.
"Did you and Reno?" Tifa asked her.
"There are things married woman can't talk about" Aerith said with a blush. "Why shouldn't you be with Reno? It's no different from Zack and me. You knew I thought he was an idiot when I had to act opposite him, pretending to be much younger girl, who was a total goody goody. I refused to have anything to do with him outside of work, even during the fanfiction. It was totally by accident that I let him talk me into going for a drink, that led to many and we slept together. One broken condom later and I was an unwed mother to be. I told him I could raise this child alone, but he showed up the next night with a chili dog as that was all his mother could eat when she was pregnant with him. He also brought with him, listings for houses and had researched the merits of each to be able to argue their selection when we got married and bought one of them. I was bowled over that so flighty a man was so deadly serious about our marrying. He wooed me daily and by the fifth month, had worn me down. I know you like to plan every aspect of your life but sometimes, it's the ones you didn't choose that are your intended. Just think on it. He's never been in love as far as I know. I think you...like him more than you think. So tell him because if you glow anymore, I'm going to rent you out as an alternate light source" Aerith teased her. "Or you can try how Zack and I got together."
"So, you're suggesting I should approach him with a condom I punched a couple pin holes into and let nature take its course?" Tifa asked her with a frown.
"If necessary. The expression on his face would be priceless. Personally, I could see him as being the fainting type" she smoothly said to Tifa's shock. "I'm kidding. Let's blow this pop stand" she suggested, pushing the remnants of her huge lunch away. "I really could go for a pepperoni pizza with green olives, pineapple, onions and bacon, oh with a huge scoop of chocolate ice cream on top" she added.
"Come on, let's go get those for you" she said leading her friend to their car, lost in thought as she considered Aerith's advice. She hadn't considered a future with Reno, she thought he'd find another woman and move on as she considered him to be little more than a tomcat. What if she's been wrong about him? She'd come to care a great deal about him in so short a time. Was it possible to have more? It was food for thought. Speaking of food, she was glad Aerith wore mainly black as she dove into her extra-large pizza and her face was soon smeared with pizza goo and melting chocolate ice cream. It was beyond endearing when she would surface long enough to give her friend a happy smile, before diving back in.
Going to Barrhaven
"You really do look nice" Tifa said as she admired how Reno looked, his spiky hair had been slicked back and tied into his tightly bound ponytail giving him a more polished appearance. He wore a gun metal gray turtleneck under a nice black blazer, with well-fitting black dress pants and polished black shoes.
"I could hardly show up for Sunday dinner looking like a scarecrow" he said. His parents had stressed this many times, actually, their exact words were "don't show up looking like you just rolled off of someone and got dressed while her husband chased you out of their place" but Tifa didn't have to know that part.
He told himself to relax, men did what he was doing all the time. It wasn't abnormal, nor stressful to introduce your girlfriend...wait since when was Tifa his girlfriend? His panicked thoughts were all over the place. He loved his parents to death but suddenly wished he was the abandoned orphan his character was. Okay he'd never brought a woman home before. What horrors had his far too whimsical parents dredged up to humiliate him with? How many naked childhood pictures had been unearthed? Embarrassing stories remembered to be causally brought up at dinner? Surely the commercial he'd been in his brief career as a baby model hadn't been downloaded? He wouldn't put it past them. His parents were wonderful, had been those cool parents where your friends were always welcome and always had a listening ear from problems, even for other people's children. But they had seemed way too excited at the idea that he was bringing a woman to dinnner to introduce them to...
"Reno, the light" Tifa reminded him and he cursed and drew to an abrupt halt. "Reno Honey, you seem really distracted. Would you prefer I drive?" She asked him.
"It's okay, Sweetie. I'm just worried about tonight" he said and patted her knee, than froze...Sweetie, he never used terms of endearment with anyone!
"Are you afraid I'm going to embarrass you?" She asked him.
"Far from it, it's the other way around. I'm afraid they might embarrass me" he assured her.
"Don't worry about it, they seem lovely the way you described them" she assured him.
"Tifa" he said in a strangled voice.
"Yes Reno" she said and could have sworn his face was glowing it was so red.
"My name isn't really Reno, that's a moniker that I bestowed on myself that the people running the game also liked" he said in a small voice.
"So, what is it?" She asked him.
They were greeted at the door by a smiling, busty redhead middle aged woman and a handsome, lithe man of like age. "Junior!" They cried and both attacked their son with huge hugs.