Ink Addiction
Part II
His walk was composed and strong when she saw him, shoulders slant as he took a drag from the cigarette. One hand was stuffed in his leather jacket pocket. He shook his head briefly, as if he were in deep thoughts, blowing out the smoke as he came to a stop.
She could see the icy air come to life.
He just stood there, pinching the cigarette; then, just like that, he threw the cancer stick on the floor and made his way to the cafe.
Her fingers tightened around her teacup.
Ding
Cloud walked up to the queue, shrugging off his jacket and slugging it over his shoulder.
Tifa glazed her eyes across his physique and cut her gaze away.
It's been almost a month since she had last seen him. He had been in her head after that strange evening in the tattoo parlour. Every time she saw someone with spiky blond hair, she was hoping it would be him, but when they didn't have the tattoos or the piercing blue eyes, disappointment sank into her skin like ink.
She wanted to apologize for leaving so suddenly, but being busy with her clothing store, she barely had time to socialize with her friends. Then again, how much of that was true, and how much was an excuse to avoid him?
It was confusing.
He was confusing.
Tifa shook her head. She just needed one minute to stop thinking about him.
Taking a sip from her tea, Tifa looked out at the window and saw clouds rolling in. It had been such a beautiful day that the sudden change of weather was a little surprising. But in Midgar, the weather was always unexpected when it came to winter. This season had no mercy on people.
Taking another sip of her tea, she tapped her cup with her index finger, trying not look back at a certain blond haired man that was in queue...but it was hard when that certain man was in the same place as her. Sighing in defeat, she turned her head and saw him still standing there blithely, just looking at the menu.
He was always distant. Always so frozen and composed that it sometimes made her just want to shake him a bit to see a side of him that she rarely saw. He'd been like this since they were kids, and the feeling had never gone away.
She must have been staring too long or too hard; the next thing she knew, he turned around to find her looking at him. His eyes took her off guard, but she recuperated enough to give him a small smile and a wave. Cloud only nodded and looked back at the menu.
Tifa looked the other away and thought how stupid she was to get caught staring at him. She tried not to pay attention to her increased pulse, that feeling in her lungs wanted to give up all their air. This was definitely not a good start after not seeing Cloud for a month. She should probably leave, save herself from embarrassment.
Tapping her foot against the floor, she took another sip of her tea and shook her head. She really needed a vacation.
"May I?"
Her throat burned with a fast gulp of tea. Mug in hand, Cloud was staring at her, and suddenly all of that heat was in her face.
"What?"
Cloud's lip twitched upward. "May I sit with you?"
Tifa kept on starting at him, still registering what he said. "Umm-yes, go ahead. Sorry."
Tifa bit her lower lip and felt like choking on her tongue. How could he ask that after catching her staring at him? It was more than awkward, and Cloud being quiet wasn't helping either.
"What have you been up to?" Tifa asked, touching the handle of her cup.
The blond just grunted and answered, "Work."
"Ohh..." Tifa furrowed her brow at the short answer. She shouldn't have expect more from him, it was Cloud; he spoke only when needed. So, when she saw him look at her and then back at his drink, she was a little surprised when he instigated a question.
"What about you?"
It took a while to respond, but when she did, Tifa smiled and answered, "Work as well."
The blond nodded his head. "It's seems like we've been busy then."
"Yes, it does seem so."
She glanced again at his body and noticed she wasn't able to see his tattoos today since he was wearing a long sleeved shirt. It was such a shame to not be able to see his beautiful art; she almost wanted to ask him to show her again.
"Do you remember Marlene, my cousin?" Tifa needed to stop thinking about him.
Cloud glanced at her and raised his eyebrow, then nodded his head. "Yes."
"She saw Yuffie's tattoo and fell in love with it. She says that you are the best tattoo artist that she has ever seen." Tifa smiled. "You got an admirer."
Cloud drank his coffee and said nothing. Shocker. She sighed. He was always a loner and a critique, doing his own thing and hunting for the smallest mistakes to get better at whatever it was.
He'd always been hard on himself.
"She also told me that the wait to get a tattoo from you takes two months." Tifa's eyes didn't waver when Cloud looked at her. "Read it in a magazine interview."
Cloud shrugged his shoulder. "Yeah."
His understanding was written in the tension lines of his shoulder. Why did he open the shop a week in advance after asking him to tattoo Yuffie when everyone had to wait a regular time?
Tifa remembered Marlene's assumption clearly "He totally likes you! He would never tattoo anybody unless it was by an appointment. He likes you!" …and frowned.
Did she want it to be true?
"You're my friend."
Something unsettling stirred inside of Tifa, but she decided it must have been the weather; it always played with her mood.
She nodded. "Thank you again."
The brunette took a sip out of her tea. She needed to leave soon, but it was hard to walk away from him. The brunette needed a breather, needed just normalcy at the moment. His gloves caught her attention, and she jumped at the chance to bring it back.
"You took Fenrir out for a ride?"
"Yeah."
"It's too cold for you to go riding a motorcycle." Tifa said, pointing out to the dark grey clouds.
The blond raised an eyebrow and looked at her with half a smirk."Says the person that doesn't have a jacket."
Tifa kept on looking outside, and her grip on the teacup tightened. She shuffled her feet, only to brush her leg against Cloud's. The contact made her flinch. "Sorry."
"It's okay."
Usually, he'd shy away from any unexpected physical contact but to her surprise, he didn't. He kept his leg there, looking out the window with a grim face.
"What's wrong?" Tifa asked.
Cloud shook his head with a hollow, "Nothing."
Liar. But she didn't say anything; she wasn't going to push him if he didn't want to tell her. She opted almost jokingly for, "Well, whatever you are thinking about, look at the bright side. You are here sitting with me," and giggled when he almost snapped his neck jerking it around to stare at her.
It was just a joke to take off that bleak look on his face, and Tifa had to say, it was working perfectly.
Cloud watched her silently and liked the way she was smiling. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders in a way that made him itch to touch it. She didn't know how true her words were. That it did make his whole day.
"Let's make the best out of what we have at the moment, okay?" Tifa smiled at him and his stomach churned. "Or I could brood with you."
"Don't."
"Don't what?" Tifa asked.
"Don't sulk."
As if that settled the matter, she nodded and leaned on her hands. "Then you don't get to either."
Tifa saw him smile and swore it was contagious because it made her smile too. For a moment, she just took it all in. She didn't know when it happened, but it had always been her goal to make him smile whenever she could. It was a challenge, but a challenge that made her feel empowered, knowing that that small dimple on his right cheek was because of her.
He'd been the only one whose approval and kindness she actually…wanted.
Drip
Drip
The rain had started. People ran for shelter, though some came prepared with umbrellas and kept on going their way.
"You do know that you are going to get wet." Cloud said.
"I do," she said, "but I don't mind it. I love the rain."
Cloud was quiet for a while, staring at the rain, but eventually offered, a low, "Yeah, I know."
She looked at him questioningly and saw him twirl his cup, his gaze on the brown liquid instead of her brown eyes..
"You used to sneak out of your house to play in the rain," was all he said.
Tifa smiled at the memory. It was true; she would always sneak out of her house to dance around the rain but would always get scolded by her father. He would try to usher her in the house and tell her that it wasn't an appropriate thing to do as a girl. It didn't matter to her; the rain made her feel liberated.
"It's true," Tifa said, still smiling as her father would count to ten when he wasn't able to get her in the house. "How did you know?"
The blond took a while to reply, but when he did, he responded apprehensively and looked at his cup instead of her. "I would be in my room and look out of the window and see you, but…mother."
Tifa nodded solemnly; she understood his situation. His mother hadn't always been in the greatest conditions when he was a kid and needed to take care of her.
"Your father didn't like me though," Cloud said, giving a small smile. "He always told me to not be outside when you were out."
She looked at him with a blink. She'd always thought he hadn't liked outdoor activities.
"Yeah." Cloud scratched the back of his head, absently. "He didn't like me and told me to be far away from you."
The brunette shook her head and stared at him. This couldn't be true. But then again, her father was over-protective so anything could have happen. Her father didn't talk to many people and always kept to himself, he was almost like Cloud, but more bitter and broken.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Tifa inquired, "I could have just-"
"-tell your father to stop it?" Cloud finished, "I don't think an eleven year old would have been able to. He's your father; anything he says goes."
It might have been a stupid and pointless thing to do, but at least she could have tried to stop it. No wonder every time she went outside, Cloud went back in his house and not even give her a glance.
"Why?"
Cloud shrugged and avoided her gaze. "I don't know."
"You're lying." Tifa said, furrowing her eyebrows. "Why?"
Cloud shook his head until Tifa took a hold of his hand, startling him, and said his name. Just a word, but he felt himself crack. "He said I was distracting you."
Her grip tightened up a bit.
Of all things, her father thought Cloud was distracting her. She almost wanted to laugh because it was so ridiculous. Tifa couldn't deny that there were times when she would sit outside to wait for Cloud in order to talk to him, or strain herself trying to catch up on the walk home from school.
"I can't believe he did that."
Cloud shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. It happened years ago."
"Yeah, but you were just twelve! Who would say that to a twelve-year old?" she said, pouting.
"Well, I'm here now. He can't do anything, can he?" Cloud questioned back, sipping his coffee.
Well… Her father always took control when she lived with him, always telling her what was disapproving and unacceptable. But, she supposed,her father wasn't able to control her anymore, nor tell her what she could and couldn't do.
"I think your father would still kill me if he figured out you were here with me." The blond said.
"Me too," Tifa said, laughing. "I think he would tell me he raised me wrong."
His face didn't flinch, but Tifa saw his fingers twitch.
Drip
Drip
Drip