A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.

This chapter shares some similarities with "On The Way To A Smile: Case Of Shinra," but again, this story does not take place in the Advent Children universe. This takes place in the Remake Universe, and there was never any geostigma or the remnants.

Updated 6/20/2020: Edits throughout. Added a new scene with Rufus and reworked the scene with Reno and Tifa in the alley to make it less creepy.

Chapter 7:

"So, are you ever gonna make your move?" Reno asked Rude as they patrolled the streets of Midgar.

"…"

Reno needed the brunette out of his head. The fastest way to do that was to get her with Rude or to get Rude over her. If he could get her to go out with Rude, it'd be much easier for him to stop thinking about her the way he currently was. In the meantime, he was in a losing battle with his own desires. He knew he shouldn't take her phone or text her, but he did it anyway. It was like his heart and fingers were working against his brain.

The Turks were walking down the main street of Edge – the one that led right out of the city. The sun was out as summer was in full swing, light shining down on them as they patrolled. They'd thought the heat would keep the monster attacks to a minimum, figuring even fiends would seek shade or cooler areas than a wide-open city. No such luck.

Flashback…

After Meteor wreaked havoc on Midgar – and Shinra – the Turks banded together to formulate a plan. For a couple weeks after the calamity, they believed their boss had been killed and their employment ended. They didn't know what do next, as their lives had been consumed by taking care of Shinra's dirty work. Without dirty work to be done, what could they do? Find different careers, move apart, and blend into society like a bunch of filthy normal people?

They kept living in one of the dome relief tents to watch over Tseng as he recovered and they tried to figure out where to go from there. Reno was surprised when Reeve, begrudgingly, contacted them soon after Midgar was destroyed. They'd helped him during the calamity, but the antipathy between him and them was still present. Reeve said he was undertaking the development plan for a new city called Edge, and though he loathed the Turks as an organization, he needed their help to ensure the city streets were safe while he trained a citizen police force and raised funds for professionals.

What Reno didn't know was that Reeve assumed he could get the Turks cheap, fearful as they were of having to live normal lives and work regular nine-to-five jobs.

He was right.

Part of the reason Reeve hated the Turks was because of their arrogance; their air of superiority. They knew they were untouchable so long as Rufus was around, so they walked the halls of the Shinra building as if they owned the place – especially after Rufus took control. Part of the reason Reeve needed the Turks was their fighting abilities and the fear they instilled in the average person, whether that person knew who they were or not. That was the other thing about the Turks; whether they were laughing or walking quietly or even passed out drunk, they carried with them an aura that they were not to be messed with.

Reeve envisioned a more supportive police force in the future, but for now he would settle for what was cheap and available. If people knew the Turks were patrolling, he could keep the peace with just a few people while he built up the police department.

In the beginning, Reno and Rude were able to split up, since the monsters inhabiting the plains around Midgar were weak. So weak, in fact, that the townspeople themselves could usually handle the creatures. Still, Reno and Rude were being paid and the work wasn't difficult.

Reeve quickly began contracting them to return to Midgar proper and retrieve supplies, weapons, and equipment for the reconstruction effort. Most of it was stored in warehouses in Sector 5, but they occasionally needed to make trips into the old Shinra building.

It was on one of those trips that they decided to climb up to Rufus' old office and have a look around. They planned to tell Reeve that the trip simply took longer than expected due to the damage; he was too busy to pay attention to how long they were gone anyway. So, Reno and Rude climbed the staircases they never had to take when the building was still in operation – the same staircases Cloud and his friends climbed on two occasions, though the Turks didn't know that. When they reached the 59th floor, they moved to the other main staircase, climbing over debris and breaking down doors as needed. Their keycards no longer worked, but the security system holding the doors sealed didn't work either, making said doors much easier to break down than if the power had still been on.

When they opened the door to the 68th floor, they felt the rush of wind on their faces, reddening their cheeks as it whipped by at the high altitude. A giant hole had been blown in the side of the building, and the staircase was gone.

Nearly defeated, the duo looked up for an alternate route, finding only one: A long steel I-beam that was bent, but not broken, and stretched between the two floors. It was precarious, as the beam was still nearly vertical and the walls and floor around was almost nonexistent. Just a small patch of flooring connected the beam to the rest of the floor, and the Turks could see miles of rubble hundreds of feet below them.

Reno looked at Rude with red hair flailing wildly in the wind and whipping his face painfully, hoping his bald friend would have some other solution. Rude stared back with his impenetrable gaze behind dark-tinted sunglasses and said nothing. Reno looked back to the steel beam and took a deep breath.

"Well, time to climb," he said, mostly to psych himself up.

He reached around the beam and tried to shimmy up but didn't get very far due to its awkward shape. He next tried to stand in the cross-section of the "I" and place his legs against one side of the steel and his back against the other in an attempt to walk up the beam. He quickly fell on his ass with a string of curse words.

Rude watched Reno's pitiful attempts with his arms folded across his chest. He was amused, but his face showed no such emotion.

After watching Reno let out an agitated grunt as he ran toward the beam and tried to jump onto it as high as he could before attempting to shimmy up with a foot pressed against either side of the parallel steel, Rude decided to interfere. Reno was going to kill himself before he figured this out.

He walked past Reno's form, which had fallen once again to the ground, and picked up a stray piece of cloth that had once been a curtain. He held onto one end of the cloth and threw the other around the beam. It took him three tries to catch the other end due to the wind, but once he did, he wrapped the ends around his wrists. He then leaned back and simply walked up the cross-section of the beam to the next floor, using the cloth to brace himself.

Reno glared at his comrade from the floor below and found his own tattered curtain to use. When he caught up to Rude, he sneered.

"That was my next idea," he said.

The stairs leading up to Rufus' office were destroyed on the right side, but the left set of stairs were largely intact and provided the Turks no difficulty in climbing. Rufus' office – if it could still be called that – was not a room that had survived Meteor. Some beams that had once held up walls still remained, as did a portion of the floor and the desk. Shards of glass littered the floor around the desk from the window that once provided an astonishing view of the world outside. Now that window existed only in bits, many of which had been blackened by Weapon's attack.

In fact, there was an obvious trail of burnt debris, glass, and remaining building where the attack struck. Reno realized at once that no one could have survived up here, and he braced himself for what he was about to find. He slowly made his way to the desk, taking care to avoid the exposed electrical wires that were blowing about. Rude walked up on the other side of the room to cover the most ground.

When Reno reached the desk, he noticed a distinct lack of Rufus – no bits, no pieces, no charred remains. He turned back to the direction he had come, considering the possibility that his former boss had been blown out the back of the office and down to the streets below.

Reno looked at Rude in dismay, the gravity of what they had just found weighing on both of them. It was then that they simultaneously heard a rapping sound under the desk.

Now that they had noticed it, they couldn't not notice it, as it quickly became deafening. They both crouched down to look under the desk to find the source of the annoying sound.

On the floor was a small, square piece of sheet metal – it couldn't be more than five-square-feet in size. It was bent at one corner and tapping against the desk, but it wasn't flying away. Reno reached to pick it up and found that it was attached to the floor with two hinges. He could see that below the piece of metal emanated a soft white light. As he inspected closer, he saw what appeared to be a tunnel.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, bumping his head on the desk above him. Rubbing the crown of his head, he retreated from the area so that Rude could see for himself.

"An escape hatch," the bald Turk said, as if he had known all along that it was there.

"You knew about this?" Reno asked. His voice held the quality of a person who had just learned they were left out of a secret. Rude shook his head.

"No," he said simply.

"Where does it go?"

Rude shrugged.

"Well, only one way to find out," and with that, Reno disappeared into the floor.

Rude listened for a moment to Reno's screams. After the initial shock wore off, it appeared the red-headed Turk was enjoying his fall into oblivion. Hearing no obvious agony, Rude decided he had given his partner enough time and eased himself down into the hatch.

Rude had not expected the lights to go out so quickly, or for the drop to be so steep. True to form, he remained silent throughout the ordeal, letting out only the softest of grunts as the incline began to shift to a more pleasant degree and the shaft began to twist around and around, as if he were in a water park slide. He could no longer hear Reno's amused outbursts and wondered if he had just thrown himself to his death. He hadn't feared death, but he did have one regret: He had never asked out Tifa Lockhart.

Rude saw a bright white light coming toward him at an uncomfortably fast speed. Yep, he was dying. Oh well.

The bright light suddenly became all he saw for a brief moment before Reno's back suddenly appeared. Rude plowed into his partner feet first, and they were both thrown against a wall.

"Fuck…" Reno said, staggering to his feet. Now his head and back were in pain, and he had no clue where he was.

Rude was the first to recover and assess his surroundings. They were in a small room with white plaster walls and not much else, except for… President Rufus Shinra sitting on a cot?

"Boss!" Rude said with more gusto than he had possibly ever exerted in his life.

The word caused Reno to snap out of his stupor and spin around on his heel as if pulled by a string.

"President!" he exclaimed before running to meet his employer.

Rufus had woken up when Reno came flying from the hole in the wall but said nothing as he wondered why it took someone so long to find him. The first amusement he had in weeks came when Rude crashed into Reno and they both hit the wall.

"It's about time," Rufus said impatiently.

"We thought you were dead!" Reno offered.

"No, just trapped in his room with a broken arm and dwindling supplies."

The three immediately realized that they were all trapped together now.

"There's a pin-code lock on the door, but I can't figure out the combination," Rufus said, pointing with his good arm.

Reno stretched his arms, interlocking his fingers to crack his knuckles and indicate he was ready to get down to business. Apparently, there was a generator somewhere that kept this door working when the others didn't. Must have been an extra safety precaution.

"Leave it to me, boss," he said, strolling over to the lock like he already knew the combination.

He tried a couple different strings of numbers before hitting the damned thing, which didn't work either.

"My father must have built this before he died," Rufus said as Rude used the bedsheet for a makeshift sling.

"Your dad, huh?" Reno asked, stroking his chin.

He input another set of numbers. They didn't work. He tried a second combination and gasped in excitement as they all heard the distinct sound of the door mechanism unlocking. Rufus stood up quickly and was behind Reno in an instant.

"What numbers did you push?"

"Your birthdate," Reno said, placing his hands behind his head in satisfaction.

Rufus let out an agitated sigh. He could have kicked himself.

"The absolute last combination I ever would have tried," he told the Turks.

The next few months were spent at Healen Lodge with Rufus as he "recovered" from his ordeal of being cooped up in a bunker for a few weeks. Okay, so he was running out of food since the shelter wasn't meant for long-term living, but still. It wasn't like he was near death's door like so many other people were after Meteorfall.

The fresh air and open spaces of Healen were hell for Reno. It gave him the same feeling that a claustrophobic person would experience in cramped spaces. The flowing waterfalls, the babbling brooks, the greenery – it all stifled the red-haired Turk. He grew up in Midgar, and even though it was a wasteland, he'd take garbage and metal and glass over the peaceful tranquility of Healen any day of the week.

It was too quiet at Healen. All they did was sit around while Rufus did whatever he did to recover. Nurses were constantly entering and leaving his domicile, giving him unknown medical treatments while the Turks played on their phones or read magazines. Sometimes Rufus would dismiss them for the evening or weekend. Elena would go wherever Tseng went – and Tseng usually stayed closed to Rufus, but Reno and Rude would use the time to go back to Edge and help the rebuilding effort. They'd check in with Reeve to see if he needed anything from Old Midgar and then do what was needed.

"Status report?" Rufus asked one day after a mineral bath.

Reno stood quietly, having no clue what Rufus could mean. They hadn't had any missions and had been at Healen for weeks at that time, there wasn't anything to report. Thankfully, Tseng found something to say.

"Sir. Reeve continues to build Edge," Tseng began. "The city is moving off mako power and onto oil and coal. The people are starting to heal."

"And what do they say of Shinra?" Rufus asked. Tseng cleared his throat nervously.

"They're glad it's gone."

Rufus fell silent for a while, turning his back to the Turks and looking out the window of the large domed hut he inhabited at the lodge. He ran a hand through his hair to sweep back the errant lock of hair that always fell in front of his face.

"Shinra needs to be part of the rebuilding effort. The people need to know that Shinra works for them now," he said, not looking at the Turks.

"Sir?" Tseng asked.

"I'll fund the reconstruction," Rufus said, spinning around to face the Turks again. "We'll keep it quiet at first, so the people accept the new city. Then we'll let them know that it was Shinra who rebuilt their lives."

None of the Turks said anything.

"In the meantime," Rufus continued, "keep your ears to the ground for rumors about power brokers. I don't want anyone trying to leech off my work."

With Rufus alive, Reeve was no longer forced to carry the entire burden of Edge on his shoulders, freeing him to develop the town as he saw fit. With Shinra back in action, the Turks could resume their former lives, though Rufus asked them to still patrol the streets when they weren't on assignment, especially once the monster attacks became more regular.

The other rehired Turks returned to their hometowns as remote employees, conducting clandestine missions and staying on the lookout for anti-Shinra syndicates. The former Midgar-based Turks – Tseng, Reno, Rude, and Elena – became Edge-based Turks. Since the monster attacks had increased, they were on edge, relegated to patrol duty rather than any of the fun "Turk shit" Reno promised Tifa they no longer participated in. He hadn't lied to her when he said it, as by then they really weren't conducting assassination missions. Well, Reno and Rude weren't, at least.

It was now nearly two years since Rufus Shinra was discovered alive, and Edge had its own professional police force. Reno and Rude requested that if they were going to continue "keeping the peace" in their own way, they be allowed to focus on just one section of town. Luckily, the section they wanted was also the main road in town, making it appear as though they were hungry for work. Predictably, there was one notable feature of the main road: It contained a little bar called Seventh Heaven.

Present day…

"Oh. My. GOD. Would one of you make a move already so I can stop hearing about this?!" the shrill voice of Elena could be heard behind Rude and Reno.

With the police force handling the majority of the monster attacks elsewhere in the city, Tseng asked Elena to join Reno and Rude with their patrol, since the main road had become infested with monsters. It was now almost as dangerous to live in the city as it would be to live in the open plains nearby.

Rufus couldn't have that. Not in his town. He had learned that the monster activity had heightened around the world, and he had been devising a way to get it under control. What that plan was, no one knew yet.

The two male Turks stopped dead in their tracks after Elena's exaggerated snipe. They turned to face her, with Rude giving Reno a suspicious stare down and Reno shrugging his shoulders to indicate he had no clue what she meant.

"What do you mean, one of us?" Rude asked.

Elena realized that Rude still didn't know that Reno had a crush on the same woman and decided it wouldn't be her place to inform him. Besides, it might be a little fun to see the boys fight each other instead of always ganging up against her.

"I mean that I just want someone to make a move on her so I can stop hearing about her all fucking day long!" Elena said, her hands on her hips and bending her shoulders toward the boys. They looked at each other again in confusion. Elena groaned.

"Ugh! All day it's 'are you gonna ask her out?' 'I'm waiting for the right time.' 'It's always the right time, yo'" she said, mimicking their voices for their parts of the conversation.

"I am waiting for the right time," Rude said, sternly.

"Oh, come on!" Reno groaned, rolling his head along with his eyes. "She already knows you like her. Hell, everyone and their sister knows you like her! They overheard everything in Gongaga."

"…"

"What do you even see in her, anyway?" Elena interrupted, letting out all her pent-up frustration on the subject. "You do remember she's tried to kill us before, right?"

"Yeah but," Reno made a crude gesture with his hands to indicate Tifa's breast size.

Elena scoffed and looked at Rude.

"And you?"

"…" Rude was not one to describe his feelings.

"You two are pathetic."

Elena shoved her way through them and continued walking down the street in a huff. Rude gave Reno another suspicious glance as they turned to follow their blonde comrade.

Later…

Elena again found herself sitting in Seventh Heaven against her will. This time, Tseng didn't join them, and she settled in for a long night of being ignored. Why not just leave? She wanted to, but she also got the distinct impression that one of those two goons would make an attempt to woo the – in Elena's opinion – overrated barmaid. Should that happen, she might be in for a little amusement.

They were seated back at the bar. Reno was on his third scotch, as was Rude, and Elena had just ordered her second vodka soda. The men hadn't said a word yet. Reno sat with his back to the bar as usual, scanning the room for women. Elena watched closely as Reno's gaze would turn to Tifa whenever she was working the tables and had her back to him. When she was walking back toward the bar, the redhead would lock onto some unsuspecting woman elsewhere. Rude, as usual, faced the bar but buried himself in his alcohol.

Elena rolled her eyes. They really were pathetic. The blonde noticed Tifa was acting different than she had a week ago – the last time Elena was in the bar. Tifa wasn't sashaying her hips or constantly glancing over at Reno. Instead, she seemed to be trying to avoid him. Whenever their eyes met, Tifa would quickly look away with a frown. Elena narrowed her eyes. Tifa was avoiding her feelings, trying to suppress something. Elena didn't think she could really have developed a genuine crush on Reno, but she certainly seemed on edge.

"I'm gonna go for a smoke, yo," Reno said to no one in particular.

Without waiting for a response from Rude or Elena he slipped out the front door and removed a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket. He opened the pack and pulled out a cigarette with his teeth, reaching for his Shinra-branded lighter from his coat pocket. He held the filter with his teeth and flicked on the lighter, watching as a little puff of smoke exited the tip of the cigarette upon his first quick drag.

Tifa hadn't texted him back, which he expected – hoped for, actually. If he could prove to himself that he had no chance with her, maybe he could get over her. Or at least, that's what he thought at first. But since she hadn't texted back in a week and seemed to be avoiding him at the bar (it was subtle, but he noticed) it made him want her more. Maybe he just needed to hear her turn him down?

Rude watched Reno leave, his eyes narrowing and his nostrils flaring just slightly. Reno was his best friend, but Rude was starting to suspect there was more to Elena's question earlier. What did she know that Rude didn't? Why did she demand "one" of them ask out Tifa?

A moment later, Tifa exited the back door of the bar carrying two large trash bags. She struggled with the awkward shape of them as she walked sideways down the narrow alley toward her trash containers. She set one of the bags down on the pavement and lifted the heavy lid with her hand, giving it a firm push to ensure it would open enough for the lid to rest upon the alley wall. She flung the other trash bag she was carrying into the carrier, then picked up the bag on the ground and deposited it as well.

"You never responded," a cool, silky voice whispered as she turned back toward the bar.

It was dark out, and she could see no one between her and door to her bar, as an outdoor lantern lit the area just outside her business. The sound came from behind her, too close for comfort.

She whipped around, ready to punch the owner of the voice, but her fist was quickly caught by his hand and pushed up against the alley wall. She was now backed up against said wall and feeling quite vulnerable. She knew it was Reno. She punched again anyway. As she did so, she was again surprised to find her hand caught and pushed above her. He now held both her hands in one of his own, large, calloused hands, his fingers long enough to nearly wrap around both her small wrists and push them up against the brick behind her.

They both looked at each other a moment, breathing heavily, noticing the tension of the situation. Reno's heart fluttered – he really hated that feeling. Tifa's chest was ever so lightly grazing his dress shirt as she breathed and he hoped there wasn't enough light in the alley for her to see that his chest and cheeks had turned red. Tifa felt heat in her cheeks, too, but quickly regained her composure and kicked Reno in the gut, sending him back against the other alley wall, which was only a couple feet away. He held his gut as she ran toward the back door of the bar.

Her survival instincts had kicked in, but so had his Turk instincts. This was not how he had planned this moment going.

"Geez, I forgot how hard you kicked," he said, still bent over.

"What the hell, Reno?" Tifa yelled at him, whipping around from the door to face him. "Was this some Turk mission all along? You two were just nice to me until I let my guard down? Is Rude about to show up too?"

"Easy there, Lockhart. No trick. I just wanted to talk to you alone," Reno said, standing back up and staggering toward her, holding his hands up in defense. "Honest."

"Well, stalking me in a dark alley isn't the way to do that!'" she said darkly.

Reno laughed. "I'll remember that for next time. Old habits die hard, yo."

Tifa smirked, realizing that she wasn't actually in danger. Two years ago, yeah, this would have been a bad situation. But now? The Turks were friendly, and she didn't see them as a threat, even in a dark alley.

Tifa crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at Reno, shifting her weight to one leg. "So, what was so important you had to sneak up on me in an alley to say?"

Elena's words had struck Reno, and he figured they had lit a fire under Rude as well. He knew how his best friend felt and that Rude actually liked Tifa, but when he heard the back door open while he was out smoking his cigarette, he found himself moving toward her. He wanted to say it was against his will, that his legs just carried him without even thinking, but...

He rounded the corner just as she threw away the garbage and approached her, forgetting for a moment that she hadn't been infused with mako and therefore able to see relatively well in the dark.

He walked up to her now, close enough for her to detect the distinct odor of a masculine lothario. And cigarettes. The light from the lantern above the bar door illuminated his face, revealing that sly grin of his.

"Reno?" Tifa asked.

He hadn't answered. He felt like he might have well been a little kid holding a note that said, "Do you like me? Check yes/no." He realized now he wasn't getting out of this situation with his dignity in tact.

"You never responded," he said again, his voice a raspy whisper.

"How did you get my phone?" she asked angrily.

"I have my ways."

This made Tifa even more uneasy. She now kept her PHS locked behind the bar, along with any other personal items Reno might want to "borrow." She also spent the morning installing a new deadbolt lock on the door to her apartment. She didn't think Reno or Rude would actually do anything to her, but the experience reminded her that she lived alone now and needed to be more aware of her surroundings.

"What are you doing?" Tifa asked, shrugging her shoulders a little and narrowing her eyes.

Reno didn't know how to answer her question. What was he doing? He had taken her phone to get her number and now he was alone with her in a dark, secluded alley. It would be hard to explain those actions as innocent to Rude if he were to find out. Reno scratched the back of his head. He needed to change the subject.

"You wanna tell me about your dream?" Reno asked, his icy blue eyes fixated on Tifa's own burgundy ones, as he regained his usual casual Turk demeanor.

In the glint of light shining down the alley, Reno saw her pupils dilate. He could nearly see his own upside-down reflection in them. A sly, toothy grin crossed his lips. She had just given herself away.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, turning her face to look past him down the alley. She focused on a tuft of grass poking through the space between two slabs of concrete at the end of the alley, where it met the sidewalk beyond. It was one of those curious city things, how greenery always seemed to try its best to eke out a living in a world of concrete and glass and metal.

"Oh, I think you do, Lockhart," Reno cooed, his voice now smooth and oddly comforting. He stepped toward her, standing directly in front of her.

Tifa snapped her head to look into his eyes once again. Her pupils were still large, and she scanned his eyes to see if she could glean any information regarding how, exactly, he knew about her dream. Was he just bluffing? He was a sneaky bastard.

"How…?" she heard herself ask, quickly placing her hands over her mouth to stop the word from escaping. It was certainly not what she meant to say, but there it was, out into the cool night air like the smoke from one of Reno's cigarettes, which she could smell on his breath.

Reno's smirk twitched wider.

"I didn't," he said, his smile widening as he leaned over to her ear. "But I do now."

With that, he pivoted and casually walked down the alley away from the bar and turned the corner. Tifa stared after him for a moment, processing what had just happened. Her breath caught in her chest and a shiver ran down her spine as she watched him walk away. She cursed herself, again, for that stupid dream. Her heart was racing, and her cheeks were flushed. He knew about the dream. She was mortified, yet somehow relieved. Maybe now she could forget about the dream and stop looking at him like he wasn't one of the men who destroyed Sector 7.

She composed herself and re-entered her bar.

As she came inside, Rude was waiting for her. She didn't realize this, thinking he just happened to be near the back door while heading to the public restrooms. She glided past him with an uneasiness she had not possessed since the Turks first started coming into her bar.

"Tifa?" Rude asked, causing her to stop abruptly.

"Oh no…" she trailed off. Rude's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, which Tifa could see above his sunglasses. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"Huh?" Rude asked. Tifa rubbed the bridge of her nose to release her aggravation.

"Oh, I'm sorry, that wasn't directed at you," she said, her voice pleasant even though she was clearly agitated. "I've just had a long day."

"Well, I'd like to try and make it better, if you'd go on a date with me," Rude offered.

Tifa looked at him in shock. She knew Rude liked her. Or at least, he did years ago while there were all chasing Sephiroth. But he had never said anything before, and she kind of thought he had maybe moved on – hoped that was the case, actually.

As she considered his proposition – she didn't want to lose him as a customer but she wasn't interested in him, given his lack of shown personality and his role in Sector 7 – she saw Reno re-enter the bar. He gave her a wink and a roguish smirk before sitting back on his stool. Rude had his back to his coworkers, leaving him still unaware of what Reno had been doing.

"I'll… I'll think about it," Tifa said.

She thought she saw a hint of a smile on Rude's lips before he nodded with a short grunt and promptly returned to his friends. She watched a moment as he said something to his colleagues. Reno then slapped him on the back in celebration. Elena placed both her hands on Rude's right shoulder and gave him a hopeful little shake. Rude seemed to ignore them both and return to his drink.

"It's about damn time!" Reno said.

If only Rude had asked out Tifa five minutes earlier, then Reno could have avoided making an idiot of himself in the back alley. He had momentarily lost his cool around Lockhart, and he wanted it back. Now that Rude had asked her out, Reno figured he could go back to simply imagining Tifa naked occasionally (more than occasionally) but nothing more. This weird, annoying, awful feeling in his chest would go away and he could concentrate on his partner and best friend's happiness.

"Finally!" Elena cheered. "What'd she say?"

"She'll think about it," Rude replied, continuing to stare at his drink.

Reno winced. That wasn't the answer he needed from her. He needed her to say "yes" so that his partner could be happy. He also would have accepted her saying "no" so Rude could get over her. But "thinking about it" wasn't an answer and meant this torture would continue.

"She just needs more time to see the real you," he told his partner.

"Yeah, she's only accepted you guys for the past couple months, right?" Elena asked, more concern her in her voice than she meant.

"Maybe," Rude said, finishing the last of his drink and standing up to pay. "Think I'll head out."

"I'll walk with you," Elena said.

"I just ordered another drink, I'll catch you guys tomorrow," Reno said, giving Elena a knowing glance and a nod as she turned back to look at him suspiciously just before she and Rude disappeared out the door.

Reno clenched his teeth and swiveled back to the bar as Tifa came to collect his friends' tabs.

"You should give him a chance," Reno said to her as she counted the gil she had just picked up. "Rude's a good guy. The best of us, actually."

"What's with you all of a sudden?" Tifa snapped, stunning Reno.

"I, uh, what do you mean?" he stammered.

"You take my phone. You corner me in a dark alley. And now you're telling me to go out with your best friend?"

She had a way of making him feel about two feet tall. He squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, getting his confidence back.

"He's my best friend, Lockhart," he said, rising and reaching into his back pocket for a wad of gil. "I'd give up anything for him."

Before Tifa could ask what he meant, he was out the door.

She watched the door for a moment after he left, trying to decipher what he had just said. She thought he was showing interest in her – in some kind of clumsy Turk way. Maybe she had just read too much into it because of her dream. Reno was anything but clumsy around women, so why would she think that was the case?

But his words... "I'd give up anything for him," what did that mean? Was she the thing to be given up? She shook her head. She didn't want to be having these thoughts. She didn't like Reno - or anyone else - in that way, she told herself. She supposed she was just still lonely and wanted to feel like someone liked her. Yeah, that was it, she was just lonely. So why did she seem to want Reno to like her?

And she didn't know what to do about Rude. He was a good customer, and becoming a kind of friend, but she didn't see him as anything more. She was also surprised to learn that he still liked her after all this time. Him liking her at all had always surprised her, but the fact that he had held this flame for two years was astounding.

She closed up the bar later that evening and walked upstairs to her home, her steps heavier than usual. Why won't Cloud just come back?