Sparks and Steel

by T.C.Rose

Tifa must choose between the man she's loved since her childhood and a man she once considered her enemy. Cloud/Tifa, Reno/Tifa. Incorporates some elements of OTWTAS and AC but does NOT take place in those worlds. Lime/Lemon Content. Ongoing rewrites to improve the story. Chapter 27 replaced 7/26/2022.

24. Definitely A Bad Decision

A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies. If you do not like sexual scenes, you can skip Tifa and Reno's reunion at Seventh Heaven.

Updated 12/27/2020: Massive edits throughout to clarify Tifa's thinking and to bring this chapter in line with past changes. Extended the reunion between Tifa and Reno by a substantial amount as well.

Chapter 24:

It was good to be back in her own bed again. As much as it was nice to be with half the remaining members of AVALANCHE, nothing ever quite felt like sleeping in a bed that was all her own. Tifa hadn't had her own bed since the plate fell on Sector 7, spending the next few months living in hotel rooms and tents – and that one stranger's house in Lower Junon. She became accustomed to falling asleep in a variety of places and under a variety of conditions.

In hotels with air conditioning or in cooler climates, like Junon, Tifa found herself wishing she had the courage to leave her shared room with Aerith and Yuffie to join Cloud in his bed, imagining his arms wrapped around her to keep her warm. Worrying about what the rest of the group would think always made her reconsider, and then she would spend far too long tossing and turning, chastising herself for being cowardly. Aerith, she always thought, would have no trouble with such a maneuver, and Tifa was always jealous of her for that.

Some nights while on the road, Tifa would awaken to find Aerith missing from their room at an inn, her bed unmade but no lights turned on. When it first started happening, Tifa sat up and tried to listen for voices or footsteps; something to tell her that Aerith had just gone to the bathroom or lobby for some reason. The martial artist would then lay back down and pull the covers up to try and stop the torrent of dark thoughts from choking her heart, crushing her spirit in their swirling depths. She told herself it wasn't true, that Aerith hadn't snuck out of their room to quietly join Cloud in his bed, obtaining the attention and warmth the former bartender so desperately desired. But even though she fought against those ideas, she couldn't stop picturing the two of them lying in one of the inn's twin beds together, Cloud's arm draped across Aerith's ribcage and hugging her close to his body, a gentle smile on her face as she slept soundly in his embrace.

The worst was in Nibelheim. Tifa had spent the day broken and disoriented upon learning that her hometown was exactly as she remembered it before the fire that left her disfigured and orphaned. Her body felt as though it was filled with lead as she and Cloud, along with everyone else, inspected their former homes for signs of change. Tifa's heart had dropped into her belly, heart rate sped up, as she questioned her memories. Had she really felt the heat of the fire singing her skin and filling her with dread? Had she really heard the screams of the innkeeper or Claudia Strife as they attempted to flee the burning buildings that had gone up in flames more rapidly than physically possible?

Cloud was the only person who could confirm what had happened, even though at the time Tifa didn't know how he knew about Sephiroth destroying the town, since he hadn't been there at the time. He had stood silently beside her as they searched their childhood homes, occasionally picking up items to test if they were real.

That night, as Tifa struggled to sleep, trepidation filling her mind and making her question what she knew to be true and her own sanity, she found herself wanting to be alone with Cloud more than ever. The note they found on the desk in her childhood bedroom couldn't be true, she insisted. Could Shinra really have hired actors and rebuilt the town down to such minor details as the knick knacks in the Strife house and Tifa's plush toys? With everyone around them, she couldn't speak with Cloud to process what they had seen, though she could tell he was struggling with the information as well.

Flashback…

Tifa sat up in bed, determined to seek him out and get to the bottom of everything surrounding the events from five years earlier, but when she swung her legs out from under the covers to reach the ground, she noticed Aerith was gone. The familiar burn of distress and jealousy stung her chest, coiling around her like a cobra's tail. She had to know.

She left their room that night and padded down the hall, pausing at the boys' door to take a deep breath and prepare herself for the inevitable heartbreak. She pressed her ear against the door, but heard nothing, so she placed a hand on the knob and tried to twist it, finding the room locked.

Defeated, she decided to take a walk to clear her head, thinking that at least the stars in Nibelheim couldn't have been replaced in the previous five years. She left the inn, feeling a sweep of crisp wind across her bare shoulders. She was wearing just her pajamas and hugged herself in an attempt to keep warm, taking a single step past the threshold of the inn before hearing the familiar lilt of Aerith's soft voice. Tifa looked to the water tower, where so many memories were kept, where promises were made, and goodbyes were said without any inkling of what the future would bring.

She could partially see Aerith sitting on the wooden deck constructed around the tower, her knees bent and shins hanging off the edge, feet dangling gently. She was talking to something, though she was whispering so Tifa couldn't quite make out what she was saying. The martial artist tried to calm her racing heart as she stepped around the opposite side of the water tower, expecting to see the familiar brown boots of a certain ex-SOLDIER hanging next to Aerith's. She kept close to the base of the tower to avoid detection, but after she passed the point where she should have seen Aerith's companion and realized no one was there, she froze.

"It's okay, Tifa, it's just me," Aerith said even though she couldn't yet see Tifa, as if she knew exactly why the bartender had ventured outside.

That kind of insight frightened Tifa, making her wonder if Aerith could hear her thoughts among her many other talents and abilities. The brunette stepped forward to reveal herself officially and stood below the tower, looking up at Aerith.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked, the relief in her voice shadowed by her confusion.

Aerith didn't look down at her, instead continuing to scan the stars with a peaceful smile spread across her lips. She hummed, as if answering a question that Tifa had not asked.

"Talking to the Planet," she said after a beat of silence.

Of course.

Tifa climbed up the water tower to sit next to her friend, drinking in the stars she had missed so much while living in the slums of Midgar.

"Why now?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, I've always done this at night, it's the only time I can really hear the cries of the Planet without people around," Aerith replied.

The realization hit Tifa with the force of an oncoming freight train. All these months of worrying her new best friend was sneaking off at night to be with the man she loved but couldn't admit her feelings to; nights of disjointed sleep over envious thoughts and resentment – it was all wrong. Aerith hadn't been sneaking away to be with Cloud, she was listening to the Planet as part of her heritage as a Cetra. Tifa could have kicked herself for losing so much sleep over an unverified fear.

"Is it tough?" Tifa asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Listening to the Planet, hearing all those cries, how can you make out any one voice?"

"Usually I can't, I can only hear people I'm connected to, like my mother, but if the Planet wants something bad enough, I'll hear the message."

Tifa hummed in response, not really understanding what Aerith was saying but too cold and tired to keep the conversation going. Just being in Nibelheim was giving her the creeps, calling to mind the train graveyard back in Sector 7. The place was haunting, but not in a ghostly sort of way. It was her memories that were haunted, speckled with uncertainty and threatening to consume her.

"Everything will turn out okay, Tifa," Aerith said, as if she sensed what the martial artist was feeling.

"What will?" she asked. Aerith smiled at her.

"I'm tired, wanna turn in?" she asked, scaling down the water tower to reach the ground, where she dusted off her dress. Without waiting for Tifa to respond, Aerith began walking back toward the inn.

Present day…

Tifa found it much easier to sleep while traveling after her encounter with Aerith in Nibelheim, but now that she had gotten used to her own bed – queen size, plush mattress, warm blankets – she found it more difficult to sleep fully elsewhere. Sure, she slept in Cosmo Canyon, but the air was dry, and the furniture creaked like she was in a log cabin in the woods, making it a fitful sleep.

She almost immediately crashed when she and Yuffie returned the night before, exhausted from two intercontinental journeys, days in an arid climate, and hours inside a musty cave without fresh air. Her beautiful truck had gotten pretty banged up on the trip and she would have to find someone to repair it, unable to handle the idea of one of her most prized possessions from Cloud ending up as an analogy for their broken relationship. Its once gleaming body lost its shine, now looking like it had driven through a war zone with all the scrapes and puncture marks from the fiends that tried to attack.

She usually unpacked when she got home, always wanting to keep her home constantly clean, but this time she just went upstairs, changed into pajamas, brushed her teeth, and collapsed on her bed, unsure how she even made it through the ritual. She didn't even know whether Yuffie stayed the night or decided to leave immediately upon their return.

She slept clear into Sunday, so it wasn't like she had to open the bar that night, and her thoughts were soon ragged with concerns as to whether Cloud was suffering like the fiends that contained Jenova cells.

It was already the afternoon when she first fluttered her eyes open to find herself in a well-lit room, gripping her pillow as if she were hugging another person: Cloud. Bands of sunlight streamed through the blinds on her bedroom windows, casting skewed mirror images of bright shapes on the floor beneath.

She knew Nanaki was trying to reassure her, but she found herself wanting to rush off to the Forgotten Capital without waiting for the others to meet her in Edge. She knew that was unwise, since the fiend population had exploded, particularly in the North. As it was, she and Yuffie were barely able to make the trip to and from Cosmo Canyon without a stash of supplies at their disposal, the near-constant fights draining their energy as they traveled.

Tifa had just a few days to prepare for Nanaki, Vincent, and Yuffie to meet her in Edge before they made the trek to the Forgotten Capital, a place now even more torturous than she could previously imagine. She wasn't looking forward to making the trip in her truck, really hoping the Highwind would be fixed by then so she wouldn't have to drive out and around Edge to the north, across the intercontinental highway that was probably filled with fiends, through Bone Village and the Sleeping Forest, before finally reaching the city that held just as many grievous memories for her now as Nibelheim.

She knew Cloud could ride his bike all the way to the lost city of the Ancients, but that was much faster than her truck and Cloud never seemed to get tired of his vehicle. He had probably made the trip in a single day since he didn't like stopping to rest.

Cloud.

The information she learned in Cosmo Canyon was deeply troubling. His previous words and actions had hurt her, but if he were suffering from the same affliction as the fiends, he could be in serious trouble. She may have abandoned him when he needed her the most, even though his words stabbed her like a knife to the heart. Perhaps this trip back to the Forgotten Capital would give her a chance at redemption if he were truly injured or in distress, though the trepidation at seeing him again after what happened caused her heart to tumble. She hugged the pillow to her chest a little tighter and scrunched her eyes to stop the tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes.

Time to get up, Tifa.

The marital artist shot up and looked around frantically, finding only the furniture in her room as her company. She could have sworn she just heard Aerith's voice reassuring her. Nah, that was crazy, right?

Well, she was awake now, might as well look decent. She stretched her arms and yawned as if to greet the day – or afternoon – and slipped off her side of the bed to head into the bathroom. Just as it felt good to be back in her own bed, the floral scents of her carefully selected soaps soothed her after using cheap hotel versions in Cosmo Canyon. She let the hot water calm her aching muscles, letting the stress and the strain of her trip melt away from her as they disappeared down the drain along with the dirt and grime.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and finished her wash, her muscles feeling only marginally better. Sleep had helped, but days of fighting had taken its toll. Maybe she was getting old… at 22. No, that wasn't it. She wasn't just dealing with physical pain, but emotional turmoil as well. And it wasn't the jealousy and guilt she felt while chasing Sephiroth now, either. It was fear, concern, confusion, anger, and a number of other emotions she couldn't explain relating to Cloud and Reno.

She turned off the water and dried herself, wrapping a towel around her long, wet hair. She wrapped herself in her red satin bathrobe and strolled into the kitchen for coffee, her moistened feet sticking slightly to the wooden floorboards as she walked.

"Now who's the late sleeper?" Yuffie asked childishly before taking a sip of her coffee. She was sitting at the kitchen island and her question seemed as if she had been planning to say it for a while, the satisfied grin on her face giving away her scheme.

Tifa nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her friend's voice. She should have known Yuffie was still in the house, but she was surprised, nonetheless.

"It was a long week," Tifa replied, picking up the coffee pot and pouring herself a cup.

"Gonna see Reno soon?"

"Heading back to Wutai soon?" Tifa retorted, taking a sip from her mug. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so harsh."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah," she said, her eyes narrowing impishly. "I can tell you want the place to yourself," she added with a wink.

Tifa groaned.

"Yuffie, after everything we learned in the Canyon, I can't even think about him right now," Tifa replied, her voice cracking as she felt her mouth dry out with the words. "I can't stop thinking that Cloud needs me right now."

"Of course he needs you," Yuffie blurted, to Tifa's surprise. The admission caused the bartender to stiffen, bringing a hand to her chest as her eyelids drooped. "He's always needed you. We all know that; even he knows that, but he ran off instead."

"Yuffie…"

"Tifa, I don't know how to say this," the ninja began, her voice laced with concern, "but I don't think Nanaki's theory is right about Cloud." She paused, unsure how to tell her best friend what she saw as the truth. Tifa looked up from her coffee cup but didn't make eye contact with Yuffie, nor did she inquire further, too worried that Yuffie would remove the hope created by Nanaki. "I mean, if he were affected like the fiends, wouldn't he have been violent before he left?"

"I guess…" the martial artist replied, her words deflated as she remembered that Cloud had been far from violent in the six months he pulled away before leaving. Just the opposite, in fact; depressive, withdrawn, avoidant. If he had been raging, he hid it from her, which didn't seem consistent with the theory that the Lifestream caused monsters to become more violent.

"Well, was he?" Yuffie insisted.

"No…"

"Was he crazy horny?"

"Yuffie!"

"I'm sorry! But was he?"

"…no," Tifa responded, her thoughts drifting back to the incident that ended everything; the last night Cloud spent at Seventh Heaven, before he broke her heart officially and left. The dress. The heels. The humiliation. The heartache.

"Okay, then maybe he isn't being affected like the fiends."

"I don't know…" Tifa had to admit that Yuffie made some good points.

Nanaki's theory was that the Jenova cells in Cloud reacted to the Lifestream, but if that were the case, Cloud would have been violent and over sexualized, when in fact he was the opposite – or at least, as far as Tifa knew.

She shuttered at the thought that Cloud was hiding a searing rage from her and satiating himself elsewhere as he pulled away during those final months. That couldn't possibly have been the case, she thought, her stomach feeling empty as she stood silently in her kitchen. But if Cloud weren't handling those conditions apart from her, then Nanaki couldn't be right about the Lifestream.

Yuffie continued to sit awkwardly at the kitchen island, unsure of what to say to her friend, who was clearly trying to process numerous possibilities at the moment; possibilities that all seemed to end in heartache.

"Are you okay?" she finally asked as Tifa had seemed to withdraw into herself. Her words snapped the bartender out of her pensive state, her eyes darting to the younger girls' in an attempt to seem more stable than she was.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah," she lied. "I guess there's no way to know until we go to the Forgotten Capital."

"That'll be soon, in the meantime, try to take care of yourself, will ya?" Yuffie suggested.

"Of course, Yuffie," Tifa said with a forced smile that failed to reach her eyes. "Are you going back to Wutai before we leave?" Truth be told, she didn't want her friend to leave her right now, even if it was just for a few days.

"I probably should," she replied. "I have more materia I wanna bring if the fiends are gonna be anything like what we dealt with the past couple days."

Tifa nodded, finding her mind shifting focus to less stressful thoughts.

"How did you even get here, anyway?" she asked, suddenly realizing she never figured that out.

"Ninja powers," Yuffie said, demonstrating with a few quick air punches.

Tifa just shook her head. Yuffie seemed to traverse the world rather quickly for someone who didn't have a car or airship and who was prone to motion sickness. The bartender decided against pressing further. Let Yuffie have her secret.

"I was planning on heading home in a little bit, just gotta get packed," Yuffie offered after a few moments of silence.

"Take your time, I didn't mean to make it seem like I was kicking you out."

"I know, don't worry."

At least the ninja could take a joke.

True to her word, Yuffie left not too long after she finished her coffee, showered and dressed, and packed. Tifa waved goodbye from her front door as the young woman trotted off down the street toward the ladder that led to the rooftops with a backpack and her satchel of materia, not heading in a direction of any sort of public transportation.

Tifa closed the door to her bar and leaned back against it, resting the back of her head against the wood and shutting her eyes in an effort to keep out the dark thoughts. She had the rest of the day to herself – alone – and needed to keep busy to avoid thinking about Cloud.

She unpacked and cleaned her apartment, then the bar and checked its inventory. She would need to put in an order for some supplies but could manage a few days. She was out of the Turks' favorite scotch, but she didn't feel like fighting today. She'd grab it tomorrow on her way back from the theater.

The busy work did little to blunt her pessimism, though what Yuffie said did make sense. But if Yuffie were right, then Cloud wasn't affected by the Lifestream, at least not in the same way as the fiends, and his words to her in the Forgotten Capital months ago really were his feelings.

As the competing theories clashed in her brain, she felt heat in her chest as her fear began shifting into anger. She couldn't hold out hope that Cloud just needed her to fix him – again – and everything would be alright. How many times was she expected to do that before he truly became whole? Could she continue the cycle over and over again for the rest of their lives? Was that what it would take for him to love her?

She flopped back on her couch after everything was put in order, still tired from the trip home and worried about what she might find at the Forgotten Capital. She needed information and she needed it now, and, unfortunately, there was only one person she could get it from before heading to the northern continent. She closed her eyes in distress, her meandering thoughts turning from Cloud to Reno and what information he may be willing to share about the increase in fiend attacks.

She began overanalyzing the last text she sent to him, her thoughts slipping seamlessly from worry about Cloud to angst over the red-haired Turk and whether he would even agree to give her any information now. The last text she sent was so… clinical. He was clearly trying to flirt (or something) and she responded with "Nice photo" and an itinerary. The more she thought about it, the more she wished she had said something more flirtatious, like "Oh, natural redhead?" or even sent a photo of her own, though she'd never done something like that and wasn't anxious to start with Reno since he'd probably share it at work or do something mortifying like posting it on a billboard somewhere. She had sent the text just before she and Yuffie left Cosmo Canyon, at a time when she was still fretting over Cloud, before the ninja's counter evidence made her reconsider, if only a little.

She'd never had to do something like send a flirtatious or scandalous text before. She lived with Cloud and he was, initially, never away from her for too long, so if they were feeling romantic, they could just act it out in person. And they certainly did, at first. Somehow, putting Cloud's conscious back together reset his hormones to when he was a teenager. He would paw her back then. She couldn't walk past him without him pulling her in for a kiss or grabbing her ass or trying to tickle her. He'd join her in the shower, in the back room of the bar, even in her truck (while it was in the garage, of course). Years of pent up… aggression… seemed to pour out of him, and Tifa found herself sore for days on end, but her desire for him made her just as eager.

She just hoped that Nanaki was wrong about the Jenova cells. Cloud had fought the influence before and lost several times, and Tifa couldn't imagine what he was going through right now, all alone, possibly injured.

And just like that, she realized she was thinking about Cloud again, shaking her head to clear her thoughts and considering how she could get Reno to give up the information he owed her.

The text she sent Reno probably made him think she wasn't interested, but she at least answered, right? She hadn't done that at first… and he probably still remembered their encounter in Junon, though she figured he'd probably been with a handful of women in the time since.

As if the universe were reading her thoughts, she felt the familiar buzz of her PHS from her pocket.

"1 text message from Reno."

It's like he always knew when she was thinking about him.

"Home yet, babe?" it asked.

Tifa considered answering. Then she considered not answering because she hated when he called her "babe," but she needed to know what he found out in Junon, and she couldn't deny that she wanted to see him after everything that had happened the past few days.

If Yuffie was right about the Lifestream, then Cloud had really broken Tifa's heart and she needed to accept that. It was something she needed to be prepared for, and if what she learned from Reno confirmed that, then having him around would help her troubled psyche, since he'd been the only one in the past few months to make her feel lighter than air. Excited, even.

Reno had made her feel alive, been the only one to make her laugh so consistently, to comfort her so easily with just a simple, quiet embrace, and had made her body ache for attention. His attention. Those feelings hadn't evaporated simply because a few old books in Cosmo Canyon held depressing information.

Still, she was exhausted from the past week, so she decided to nap before responding.

Meanwhile…

Reno was sitting in a bar (no surprise) with Elena and Rude, trying to figure out how he could broach the subject of surveilling Tifa without making Rude uncomfortable. The red-haired Turk was hunched over their table with his elbows resting on it, one arm bent into the air to hold up his drink just inches from his lips as he stared into the amber liquid inside, swirling it gently as if it would tell him the answer. Beneath the table, his legs were spread wide, his left heel tapping nervously as he considered their new assignment.

Surveilling Tifa sounded like the perfect assignment, at first, aside from the obvious strains it would place on his already fractured friendship with Rude. Spending hours at her bar, chatting her up, trying to get close to her – it all sounded like the perfect mix of business and pleasure, a way for Reno to show dedication for his job in a way he hadn't been able to in the years since Midgar fell. Old-fashioned surveillance work was preferable to standing around looking tough for Rufus or fighting fiends like a trainee, but the idea of bugging her home and all that entailed – breaking and entering, invading her privacy, and setting himself up for a potential future fallout – began plaguing his mind.

In the past, bugging some building was one of his favorite parts of the job; it was potentially dangerous, required stealth, and cemented their above-the-law status. Now, however, he thought about what would happen if Tifa found out and what devastating information he might learn from her conversations. He was all for the other aspects of the surveillance, and he was sure Rude was supportive as well, but Rufus had to go one step too far.

If it were up to Reno, they'd start working on the more agreeable surveillance techniques today, even though it was technically their day off. Did Turks really have a day off? He couldn't just suggest that to Rude, as it would look too obvious that he wanted to be around her. It might even look like he liked Tifa, and he couldn't have that. But he did really want to see her. It had been a pretty agonizing week in Junon and then back in Edge while she was still away.

He considered faking an illness and starting the job himself, but he knew Rude would see right through his excuse. He never got sick. He worked through all his raging hangovers in the past without a single complaint and had been perfectly fine all week. He might be able to get away with heading toward her home once everyone parted, but for now he'd have to wait, and he hated waiting.

He wasn't even sure if Tifa was back in town, to be honest. He and Rude had gone to Seventh Heaven each night since Rufus gave them the assignment, but each time it had been closed. He sent that text a few hours ago but she hadn't responded yet, the anticipation nearly choking him. He also couldn't tell Rude and Elena that he knew when she would be back in town because, well, they didn't know he had her number or that he had been talking to her outside of the conversations seen by his fellow Turks.

Reno felt his phone buzz in his pocket, which sent a little thrill up his leg, causing his foot tapping to momentarily stop as heat pooled in his belly, splintering out to his heart. He slowly moved his free hand off the table to remove his phone from his pants pocket without Rude or Elena noticing, acting as though he was going for an itch. He then pushed off ever so slightly from the table and hunched his back further to create a larger gap between his torso and the table. Holding his phone between his legs, he took a sip from his scotch and opened his PHS.

"1 text message from Tifa."

He tried to stifle a smile and took another sip to mask his jubilation as he pressed a button to open the message.

"Missing my tan lines?"

He just hoped his colleagues didn't notice the shiver that ran through his entire body, making his limbs twitch and a soft, but audible inward grunt as he felt his cock stiffen just a little at the thought of seeing her creamy white skin juxtaposed to warm brown tones. Of course, it was the lighter skin, untouched by the sun's rays, that he wanted to see the most, since it covered the most secluded parts of her body.

No matter what she said, it got him flustered. His mild sunburn had disappeared (at least Tifa didn't get to see much of that), but he now worried the other Turks would see him turn red after reading her text.

Rude seemed lost in thought. Elena seemed distracted by her phone. Who could she be texting? Reno considered snatching her phone, but worried she'd return the favor. He was faster than her, but she had nails and didn't hesitate to use them.

He checked his watch: 7:30. Too early to suggest calling it a night. They were Turks, they should be working surveillance right now, on someone, somewhere.

"Think we should swing by Seventh Heaven to see if she's back?" Rude asked.

Oh, thank God.

Reno took another swig from his drink. Had to look like he was disinterested or too lazy. He yawned and stretched his arms up over his head – still holding his beverage – before setting the glass down and bringing his hands to rest on the back of his neck.

"Eh, might as well," he said nonchalantly, closing his eyes to emphasize how little he cared and crossing his ankles under the table.

Rude eyed him carefully, knowing Reno was putting on a show for his sake. The bald Turk thought he'd gotten over the whole Reno-Tifa thing in the past week, but he realized it was just because she wasn't around. Now he felt that white-hot jealousy welling up inside him as they paid their tabs. His nostril twitched into a sneer ever so briefly as he caught a glimpse of Reno's smirk when the redhead moved to stand up.

Elena… didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Who ya textin'?" Reno baited, leaning over to try and look at her phone once he was standing fully next to her.

"N-no one!" Elena said, a bit too defensively, nearly dropping her PHS at first in surprise before clutching it tightly to her chest.

Reno tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at her as she looked up at him with the face of a teenager who had just been caught by their parents. He had his suspicions about who she might be texting, judging from the rosy tint to her cheeks and guilty look in her eyes, but decided to leave it alone so he and Rude could get away. He tossed down some extra gil to cover Elena's tab so she could continue with whatever she was doing.

The two male Turks left the bar to travel the few blocks toward Seventh Heaven, stopping when they were just a few roofs away to avoid detection.

"You take the front and the side. I'll take the back," Reno told Rude.

The bald Turk nodded his head in agreement and kept to the shadows as he approached the front of the bar. The lights were off downstairs, but Rude could see a soft glow emanating from the upstairs windows. He tried to appear casual as he rounded the corner, knowing she couldn't see him and not wanting to appear suspicious to anyone brave enough to be out on the streets.

He approached one of the windows of the bar and peered in, able to see inside somewhat thanks to a nearby streetlight.

Nothing. Everything appeared in place for closing – the chairs were upside down on the tables, the liquor bottles were all facing forward, the glasses were all racked. No sign of anyone inside. Rude continued on down the street to meet up with Reno.

Reno had already slinked around to the back alley – now only his second-favorite alley in the world – and looked up at a lighted window upstairs. He had been able to climb up to the second floor awhile back to get into her bedroom, but that window was now dark – and closed. He could still use its sill to scamper up to the roof, but he figured she was more likely in the room with the window that was next to her bedroom, whose light was on. He could climb up to the bedroom window no problem, contemplating how he would then move across to the window he now stood under.

He navigated his way up to the bedroom window and hung there for a moment with his toes pressed against the wood siding. It was rough enough that he wouldn't slip, and he started to sidle over to the next window, his fingers carefully finding perch among the old wooden planks.

When he reached the other windowsill, he dropped his feet to hang, taking a moment to settle down to avoid suspicion from the noise he had already caused.

He listened a moment for any sounds coming from inside but heard none. He slowly began to pull himself up to see inside the window, taking care to avoid scuffing the side of the building and drawing attention to himself. He was able to see into her living room, noticing immediately that it was a good thing he hadn't let Rude take the back alley.

Tifa was lying on her couch with her back to the window, wearing her standard tank top and mini skirt with one knee bent upwards. She held her phone in her hands slightly above her head, and Reno could see that she had his picture up on her screen. He grinned. Her text about it being a "nice photo" was clearly an attempt to be coy. The photo had worked perfectly.

Reno continued to stare at her, hoping he'd get to see her do something with the photo (he was already imagining it in his head), but she just looked at it for a while. He dropped back to the alley below and swiped his hands together to clear the dirt he had collected when he heard footsteps rounding the corner, knowing Rude's gait anywhere.

"She home?" the bald man asked, arms folded across his chest as he took notice of the grin threatening to break free from Reno's hold.

"Yep," the redhead responded. "She's just chilling upstairs, yo, playin' on her phone."

He bit the insides of his cheeks to keep from smiling so wide his teeth showed. Surely Rude would see them in the moonlight.

"So?"

"So?"

"Let's get to it," Rude said.

Reno groaned, his voice a huff in the darkness, dreading what they were about to do but knowing he couldn't refuse. He buried his hands in his pockets and walked around to the side of the bar, helping Rude check the windows as they went and praying to Ramuh that Tifa couldn't hear their meddling upstairs. After discovering all the windows locked, Reno felt pride swell in his chest as his ego assumed it was because of him and his past sneaking. Locked windows were no problem for the Turks, though it did mean they wouldn't be able to enter the establishment tonight with her home.

Rude turned to Reno and sighed. "Can you get in?" he asked.

Reno could tell it pained his partner to ask that question, but he was a consummate professional through and through. So, Rude hadn't completely forgiven him, but at least Reno had an opening.

"I can try," Reno said, trying to make it seem like he didn't think it was possible.

He pulled out his phone and sent her a text, knowing the action would give him away and cause Rude to question how long the redhead had Tifa's phone number and how often they conversed via phone. The bald Turk brought a hand up to his face and lowered his sunglasses slightly, eyes narrowed on his partner as Reno's thumbs flew across the buttons on his PHS without hesitation. His relationship with Tifa clearly had been going on for a while, and Rude had to resist the urge to punch his partner again.

"And now we wait," Reno said, lacing his fingers behind his head without noticing Rude's consternation.

Rude folded his arms across his chest and lowered his head. He wanted to know how long Reno and Tifa had been texting, but he was trying to forgive his friend and move on. Still, it stung.

He heard Reno's phone vibrate and felt his own heart drop, a heavy weight within him keeping a barrier between himself and his best friend. He watched as the slender redhead opened the device and checked eagerly.

"She said the bar opens tomorrow," Reno said glumly.

Rude snorted in amusement. Perhaps there wasn't as much between them as he thought.

"Works for me," he said, turning back to the street where a small pack of Kalm fangs were rummaging through garbage across the road.

Rude had actually hoped Reno wouldn't be invited in, unsure he could handle that just yet. Tomorrow would be better anyway; they could unlock a window while in the bar and come back later to easily get inside and bug the place. He really didn't want to break a window, it'd be too obvious.

"Call it a night?" Reno asked as he shoved his hands back into his pockets and hunched over, dejected.

Rude checked his watch. Still pretty early, but an early night never killed anyone.

"I suppose," he said as the pair started walking away from Seventh Heaven and back toward the rooftop ladder next door.

Reno pulled out a cigarette and lit it up as they climbed above the streets, the sounds of fiends clashing ringing throughout the city. The slums of Midgar were loud at night, but Topside had always been relatively quiet except for the sounds of cars and normal city noises. The fiends of Edge reminded him of his childhood in the slums, erratic and dangerous. He and Rude stopped when they reached the place where they typically separated, an air of distrust hovering between them.

"When do you want to meet up tomorrow?" Reno asked, trying to hide his timidness. He rubbed the back of his head nervously as he waited for his partner's response, the tension between them hot and sticky despite the cooling Edge weather.

"Nine," Rude said stiffly. "Bartenders are not on a normal schedule."

"Sounds good, buddy, see you then," Reno said, giving Rude a pat on the back he hoped would signal he wanted things to be okay between them.

The two parted ways and Reno started walking toward his home, sucking in tobacco as he again considered how he had mistreated his partner. Now Rude knew Reno had Tifa's phone number, which brought any number of additional issues between them. Reno supposed he could have hidden that nugget of information from Rude a little longer and simply knocked on Seventh Heaven's front door, but if Tifa answered and allowed him inside it would probably hurt Rude even more.

Reno crossed a few more rooftops and turned back to be sure Rude was far enough away before he changed direction and trotted back toward Seventh Heaven, skillfully avoiding some dying guard dogs looking for a fight just beyond the ladded her used to descend from the rooftops near Seventh Heaven.

He arrived back at Tifa's bar within minutes, making sure he wasn't being followed or detected, and knocked on the front door. He pulled out his phone and sent her a text: "Downstairs, yo," just to be sure.

He hated lying to Rude, but he needed to see her. Spending a full week away from her was just too hard at this point, and his nerves were frayed from lacking the satisfaction he received simply being near her. He supposed it was because other women just couldn't satisfy him anymore.

Tifa had been fine on her own that day. She didn't spend it wallowing in loneliness despite her wayward thoughts, but when a text from Reno came while she was looking at his picture, she was excited just enough to make what she knew she would come to see as a bad decision.

She padded down the stairs, turning on the lights to the bar at the bottom, and opened the door to find Reno leaning against the outside frame, one arm resting on the wood above his head, his right ankle crossed over his left; his whole demeanor easy and detached.

"Hey babe," he said coolly, casually tossing the butt of his cigarette out of view.

"Hello," Tifa responded in a warm tone to deflect his relaxed attitude, which made her insides jump with the nervousness that he either didn't really want to be here or expected some action due to the late hour.

Standing there, he could have been modeling for some expensive suit company – the perfectly tailored fit of the jacket and pants, his shirt unbuttoned down to his chest, and the wild, untamed red hair moving gently in the night breeze. His facial expression, however, was unexpected, as he looked disinterested; like it had been a burden for him to come over.

Tifa brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, nervous that his behavior toward her had changed, given the flirtatious texts he had sent over the past week. Reno took a few steps toward her, passing her on his way into the bar and glancing around like he expected to find someone else inside. Tifa was forced to step back out of his path as he ignored her, the familiar woodsy scent of his cologne filling her nostrils and reminding her of all the times he had held her. She closed the door behind him but stayed where she was as she waited to see what he was doing. After the door clicked shut, Reno turned back toward her, his gaze meeting hers, before strolling purposefully back toward her and lifting his hands up to her face to bring her lips to his in an aggressive kiss.

"Dammit, yo, I can't go a week without kiss—, er, seeing you," he revealed, his cool façade cracking as his desire bubbled to the surface.

Nice save.

She smiled her trademark simple, sweet smile as her nerves calmed, relaxing as she realized he couldn't keep up that act around her for too long.

Reno spun on his heel, aided by the smooth floor, and walked to the bar to sit on his usual stool, hiding his mirth as he tried to calm his hormones. Tifa instinctually walked – nearly skipping – to her place behind the bar as if he were just a customer and she were just his bartender; two people with a purely transactional relationship who never gave a second thought to each other. She absentmindedly reached for his favorite bottle of scotch before realizing she was out, whipping around and leaning against the liquor cabinet with her hands gripping its counter.

"I'm sorry, I'm out of your scotch," she said, a little frantically.

Reno's scotch. He and Rude were the only ones willing to shell out the money to drink it, but suddenly she was calling it Reno's. The money the Turks spent on it did more than pay for a new bottle, so in a way she could argue it did belong to them.

Reno huffed and started to stand up from his stool.

"Guess I'll be leavin' then," he said, halfway off his stool before he caught her expression. Tifa almost looked as if she accepted his statement. "I'm kidding, yo," he said, sitting back down and settling in. "Just give me whatever. Booze is booze. I'm here for the company."

Tifa smiled again and turned around to find her second-most expensive bottle of scotch, which was rarely touched. Her regular customers were not, as you'd say, picky. They were more of a beer and bourbon crowd, with the occasional request for a simple cocktail even though she came up with fancy spirit recipes and advertised them each week. She mechanically grabbed a glass from the shelf and spun it in her hand to set it down upright before opening the bottle and pouring a drink with a flourish. She turned to Reno and gently set the glass down in front of him, one hand placed on her hip as she swayed while stepping toward the bar. He picked up the drink and tilted the glass toward her as a "cheers" before taking a sip.

Tifa waited as Reno let the liquid swish in his mouth to discover its full taste profile. It wasn't as smooth as his regular bottle, but it was better than the shit he had to endure at other bars. She watched him nod his head in approval and take another sip before she placed her elbows on the bar, hands clasping her opposite arms, and leaned slightly toward the redhead in order to capture his attention before speaking.

His eyes first landed on her breasts, where the fabric of her tank top stretched across her form as her chest was pushed up by her arms. Realizing that he was being too obvious, he quickly tilted his head upward to meet her crimson irises, which were sparkling under the light of the bar and instantly filled him with a kind of homey warmth he had never experienced before. Staring into her eyes, in that moment, made him feel like warm chicken noodle soup, comforting and stable, like he belonged right where he was.

"So, what did you learn in Junon?" she asked just as he was beginning to melt underneath her glow. It brought him back into the present, shifting whatever familial thoughts he had in his head right out the door as he realized he had been played.

"Right to business, I should have known," he replied, one corner of his lips curling upward in a smirk to hide the melancholy that had unexpectedly pierced his heart. Of course that's why she agreed to see him so soon after her return. She couldn't possibly have missed him like he had missed her.

The revelation caused his spirits to dip, if only briefly. He wasn't the one who would catch feelings, and he remembered that all he had missed was the feel of her breasts and the taste of her lips, nothing more. Certainly not her beautiful face or her smile or her apparent concern for his well-being or her wit.

"It looks like the Lifestream pissed off the fiends and made them horny," Reno said, switching back to Turk mode to push any other thoughts from his mind. "Rufus said Jenova cells were what made them so vicious."

"And fiends all have Jenova cells in them…" Tifa added, trailing off.

"Yeah, but the weird thing is that it doesn't look like humans were affected," Reno continued. "I got mako injections but I'm not destroying cities and breeding like some wild jumping."

"Oh? You're not?" Tifa asked with a sly smirk, catching Reno off guard. Was that a note of relief he detected in her voice?

"None of the SOLDIERS stationed outside Midgar have shown any signs of this shit, either," he continued, before taking a long pause and rubbing his neck. "But…"

"Hmm?"

Reno looked up to the ceiling and exhaled. He knew what he needed to say, but didn't know how Tifa would react and whether it would change the dynamic of their relationship.

"Ah," he stammered. "There's only one human alive that we know of who was injected with Jenova cells…"

"…Cloud," Tifa finished his sentence for him. Reno nodded.

Reno's information seemed to confirm what she had learned in Cosmo Canyon, but also what Yuffie suggested. While the fiends of the world were getting violent, Cloud became despondent. And he certainly wasn't romantic.

Tifa felt her blood beginning to boil just a little; a low simmer just under the surface, a nagging feeling at the back of her neck. Humans didn't seem to be affected, and Cloud hadn't acted the way the fiends were before he left; again, just the opposite. She felt heat rise to her chest and she stood up straight, keeping her arms wrapped around her ribcage to keep her fists from trembling.

She twitched, her mind flooded with anger and resentment in place of the sorrow she usually felt when thinking about Cloud. He left her. Whatever his other problems were, he left her and refused to let her help him. He abandoned her, after everything she had done for him, from nursing him back to health in Midgar to saving his life countless times to putting his Godsdamned brain back together in Mideel. None of that mattered to him.

Reno sensed her change in attitude and stiffened, unsure whether she was angry at Strife or the information he had just provided.

"That bastard…" Tifa mumbled under her breath, and Reno had to force himself not to grin.

She was finally coming around to his way of thinking. Strife was a pansy who didn't deserve her, with deep psychological issues that made Reno constantly question why so many women seemed entranced by the guy.

"Pour yourself one, I'll pay for both," he suggested, motioning toward her with his glass of scotch.

Tifa considered his offer, knowing it wouldn't just be one drink and not wanting to lower her inhibitions when she was alone with a man like Reno, at least not again. Her memories of Junon hadn't dampened much while she was in Cosmo Canyon. Still, she supposed one glass of Corel wine wouldn't hurt. At the very least, it would dull her senses and keep her from getting pissed off. She grabbed a wine glass from the shelf and filled it halfway, immediately taking a large sip to calm her raging nerves.

The alcohol hit her exactly as she hoped, feeling her vexation dissipate, returning to her original state of appreciative calm. She found herself studying Reno in those moments, thinking back over the past few months and how their relationship had changed from villainous to virtuous and maybe even a little beyond. He simply stared into his glass of scotch with an unreadable expression on his face while she noted the way his shoulders slumped as he ran his finger around the rim of his glass, propping his chin up with his opposite fist. He seemed so peaceful, unconcerned with the struggles of the universe, or anything else for that matter, and she instantly envied him. She wished she could let things go like he seemed to, ignoring troubles as easily as flicking one's own wrist, laughing them off and never thinking about them again.

She wasn't even used to sitting on the stools at her own bar, so she continued to stand behind the counter as if she were working, leaning back over it toward Reno as she continued to sip her alcohol, though she slowed down her imbibing considerably after that first taste.

"Take a seat, yo," Reno said, patting the stool next to him. Rude's usual seat.

Tifa hesitated. There was an intimacy in sitting next to someone at her own bar counter, as she had only joined Cloud or the other members of AVALANCHE in doing so. Sitting next to Reno somehow cemented their budding relationship, creating a reality that she could still plausibly deny existed. He continued to tap the stool and looked into her ruby eyes with a kind of boyish charm she wasn't used to coming from him, somehow vulnerable yet in command.

After another moment, Tifa obliged and walked around the bar to approach the stool, but before she could pull it out to sit, Reno reached out to grab her by the waist and pull her against him. She stumbled and nearly dropped her glass, suddenly finding herself with the side of Reno's head against her breasts.

Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be anything sexual about his actions, appearing as though he simply wanted to hold her and feel her warmth against his own. She held her arms out to her sides, elbows bent slightly, unsure at first what she should do in response, imagining this was how Reno and Cloud had felt the first time she reached out to embrace either of them.

When he didn't immediately let her go or move his hands to a more obscene part of her body, Tifa reflexively began to stroke the spikes of his hair, as she had done with Cloud so many times over the years. Reno's hair was surprisingly soft, something she hadn't expected given his carefree attitude and impossibly high spikes. Then again, Cloud's hair was also always soft, like the chest feathers of a chocobo. They must use the same hair tonic. Her fingers lightly combed his locks as Reno relaxed into her, his body settling against her almost as if he needed her to hold him up.

"Rough day?" Tifa asked in a low voice, peering down at the top of Reno's head, his goggles pressed into her sternum and slightly off kilter. She couldn't imagine that he had experienced anything as traumatic as she had the past week, yet his embrace didn't seem as though he was comforting her, rather, that he needed the commiseration.

He tightened his grip around her, digging his fingertips into her back and gently nuzzling his head between her breasts, though again, it didn't feel sexual.

"Rough week," he admitted into her bosom.

Tifa couldn't believe that he had opened up to her at all about his work. The Turks were a closely guarded bunch, and though Reno was more emotional than the others (mostly anger, however) he still never expressed what he thought of his job. Sure, he'd mentioned a little of his childhood before, but his life as a Turk still seemed off limits.

"What happened?" Tifa asked, though she didn't think she'd get a real answer.

"Nothing," he responded. "Literally nothing."

"That sounds like a safe week in your line of work."

"Exactly. I hate 'safe.'"

A smile formed on Tifa's lips and quickly disappeared. She couldn't imagine anyone else being upset that they didn't have a near-death experience for a week. She wouldn't tell him about her own week, how she was nearly poisoned to death by a giant stinger in a cave beneath Cosmo Canyon. She couldn't risk him finding out why she was there and potentially notifying Rufus.

"You Turks must be the only people who feel that way," she said.

He tried to lift his head to look into her eyes, but the position he had chosen initially did not allow him to see anything but part of her breast. He wasn't complaining.

"I thought you AVALANCHE types lived for danger," he said.

Tifa chuckled like a mother whose child had just asked a silly question.

"Maybe some of them were like that, but I never was," she said. "I mean, not truly."

Reno loosened his grip on her waist and pulled away, leaving his hands to rest on the small of her back, his fingers outstretched and his pinkies slipping beneath the waistband of her skirt.

"Huh," he said. "I guess I got a different impression during our fights."

He grinned and looked up at her. She laughed.

"I'm sure it certainly looked like I lived for danger when I was kicking your ass," she responded.

"Kicking my ass? Honey, I let you win."

"Oh, you did, did you?" she asked with a wicked half-smile and a cocked eyebrow, the anger she felt earlier completely evaporated and replaced with levity.

Reno stood up, never moving his hands off her back, and pulled her close to him once more before sliding his hands down to grip her rear end with a quick squeeze, causing Tifa to yelp.

"I just didn't want to hurt that pretty little ass of yours," he cooed, looking down into her disbelieving eyes. "But if you wanna take me on, I'm all for it."

He was now grinning from ear to ear, but he couldn't trick her. She pulled back out of his grip and raised her index finger as if warning him, a little shocked at his brazenness, though she had always assumed he would pull a move like that at some point. Honestly, she was more surprised that he hadn't simply grabbed her ass until now.

She knew she should be irked at his violation, and maybe it was the small amount of alcohol she had consumed or the indignation she felt over Cloud, but she actually felt heat rise to her cheeks instead.

"Watch your hands," she informed him, unable to allow the breach to go unmentioned, even if it did excite her more than infuriate her. "And don't think for one second that I don't know why you want to fight me."

"Oh, come on, spar with me. I'll even turn the mag rod setting down," he pleaded, that devilish grin returning to his face.

"You really think you could beat me?" Tifa asked, just a little curious as to how they would have matched up without other Turks or AVALANCHE members around.

"I don't think, I know," he baited, one eyebrow flicking upward.

Tifa narrowed her eyes at him. She knew what he was doing, but some part of her felt her pride had been attacked. The Turks always gave up when fighting her and AVALANCHE; there was no way he could defeat her one-on-one.

"Fine," she sighed. "But no using pyramid, no using the mag rod there, no materia, and we stop before someone gets seriously injured, alright?"

Reno was all for it.

"Whatever you want, my dear," he said as he carefully removed his gloves and jacket and draped them neatly over his barstool before rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. Tifa watched as he did so, enamored by the look of a man in a dress shirt with rolled up sleeves. He was somehow professional and casual at the same time, preparing for business while showing off his toned forearms and bony wrists. Something about the image caused heat to pool in Tifa's belly, a small jolt of stimulation right to her most sensitive area and causing her cheeks to redden.

She turned from him quickly to push a table toward the wall, realizing what a bad idea it was to fight such a skilled attacker in her place of business but knowing that an indoor spar would cause less suspicion than an all-out brawl outside. To her surprise, Reno helped move furniture out of the way, and she couldn't help but notice the way his veins protruded from his forearms as his muscles constricted with the lifting.

She shook her head and pulled out her Premium Heart, stretching the battle-worn gloves over her hands, making sure Reno could hear the crackling of the leather. Reno unhooked his mag rod and snapped his wrist, extending the weapon and powering it up while lowering the setting to what he affectionately referred to as "pleasure." Tifa winced just at the sight and sound of the electricity flowing through the weapon, unable to forget the electricity coursing through her veins or the sinful way her body reacted when he turned the intensity down in Nibelheim.

She bent her knees and placed one foot behind her to get into her fighting stance, bringing her fists up to prepare for battle. Reno also loosened up, seeminglly unconcerned with an official battle stance, though he did appear to be sizing her up and remembering what attacks had worked well in the past. For that, however, Reno was at a significant disadvantage, since his first fight with Tifa involved him repeatedly trapping her in a pyramid and during his second battle he was too turned on to really take stock of her weaknesses.

He held up his hand toward her with his palm up and bent his fingers, inviting her to make the first move and signaling that he was ready to fight.

Tifa lunged at him, jumping into the air and slamming into him foot-first, knocking him back and reminding him of all the pain Rude had inflicted on his face after he found out about him and Tifa. The injuries had healed thanks to a hi-potion he had taken after leaving Junon, but the length of time between the punch and the cure left him plenty of time to experience the pain.

Before Reno could get up, Tifa had him pinned to the ground, straddling him at the waist and lifting him up by the collar of his shirt, her hand balled into a fist and pulled back into the air, ready to punch.

Reno smirked at how quickly she had knocked him off balance. Even Strife had failed to do that until after they had exchanged quite a few blows. He also couldn't ignore the fact that she was on top of him just like in his fantasy from the other day, and glanced down quickly to see the white fabric of her panties underneath her skirt. White cotton and lace encircled by black leather, something he couldn't have ignored even if he didn't want to ogle her, and he felt his pants grow a little tighter.

The chance to prove he could beat her in a fight quickly lost its former pertinence and he reached out to wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her down against him. She struggled, still in fight mode, so he grabbed her wrists in his hands and held her arms behind her back.

"I think I win," he whispered.

Tifa jolted at his words and broke out of his hold, jumping back to her feet and raising her hands in front of her face defensively.

"I don't think so," she growled.

She again reached for him, this time delivering a series of blows to his chest and causing him to take a few steps back. He reached out with his mag rod and drove it into her side, sending a subdued wave of electrical currents into her ribcage that crackled and fragmented throughout her body. It wasn't the pain she was used to from the device, but it was enough to cause her to cry out, perhaps because she anticipated a much greater shock.

She batted the electro-mag rod away and dropped to a crouch on the floor, sweeping her leg toward him and dropping him to the ground once again. Instead of pinning him and giving him another opening, she reached down to pull him up by the collar and then slammed him to the ground again, the nearby furniture wobbling from the reverberating impact.

Reno sputtered a moment before grinning at Tifa and leaping up to rush toward her, lowering his shoulder into her stomach to push her back into the wall before again bringing his mag rod to her side. She struggled and kicked against him as he pinned her to the wall, trying to at least avoid the electricity. She wasn't used to his brute strength, having mainly experienced his weapon and magic during their previous fights, but she couldn't deny that he was strong, maybe even as strong as Cloud even though he was so lanky.

She lifted a leg, bending her knee and pressing her foot into his chest, flinging him backward as she landed gracefully back on the ground. He again lunged for her, pressing her up against the wall before she could dodge and grabbing her face in his hands to kiss her. At first she struggled against him, as she was still ready to fight, but she soon removed her hands from his chest and reached up to cup his face with one hand while resting the other on the back of his neck.

They were both breathing rapidly as the fight turned into a passionate make-out session, each seemingly still fighting the other with their tongue. Reno reached behind her neck to grab her hair and pull it down so that he had access to her neck; kissing, then nipping, then sucking, and occasionally even straight up biting her skin from her neck to her shoulder, giving special attention to her pulse point. She moaned and brought one leg up to wrap around his waist as she had done back in Junon, her knee resting just above his hip bone. He gladly lowered one hand to hold her upper thigh while snaking his fingers toward the edge of her panties.

This was it, Tifa thought, the moment she was making the worst decision of her life. Going any further with Reno would necessarily revoke her AVALANCHE membership – not to mention amount to spitting on the graves of Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge.

She clawed at the back of Reno's head as she felt his thumb glide over the front of her panties to feel her sweet spot, already damp with desire. She felt him smile against her neck as his index finger slid along the edge of her underwear, teasing her with entrance.

"Tell me what you want, yo," he breathed into her ear, his voice heady.

And Tifa honestly didn't know. Physically her body wanted more, but her mind just couldn't get past the fact that this was Reno. What was happening was torturous, but she didn't know how much further she could go without completely hating herself. So far, over the course of many months, she had allowed him to feel her breasts and kiss her – but the idea of allowing him access to her most sensitive area right now was too horrifying. Maybe she could turn the tables and make him uncomfortable for a change, if that was even possible?

"I want…" she whispered back into his ear, finding it difficult to speak as his fingers threatened to defile her. "I want… to see what's in that picture…"

It was the safest thing she could ask for, honestly. It would keep him from getting too close to what he ultimately wanted but might show whether he was really willing take things at her pace. He pulled away from her and grinned as she slowly lowered her foot back to the floor and adjusted her skirt, holding her knees together in embarrassment.

"Do you now?" Reno teased, drawing a nod of agreement from Tifa.

His smirk turned smug as moved to oblige her, unbuttoning the last few buttons of his dress shirt while pressing his hips into hers back against the wall. Tifa could see his lean physique, every muscle of his torso and almost every bone as well, his skin pale and thin, accented by numerous patches that shimmered differently under the light. She ran her finger down his chest, taking care to feel the outlines of his abdominal muscles and trace a few of his scars until she reached his belly. She then slowly, with just the tip of her fingers skimming his body, traced the line of neatly trimmed hair from his belly to his belt, her eyes fixated on the trail as her insides summersaulted.

He was almost as narrow as she was, with skin stretched over his hip bones that stuck out from his thin frame and those "V" muscles pointing her in the direction that she wanted to explore.

He waited patiently as she weighed her options, the anticipation exciting him and causing him to torture himself by not simply throwing her to the ground and taking her as he wanted. He threw his head back and closed his eyes, letting the trail of her fingertips ignite his craving, not noticing how her eyes locked on his belt buckle and the hair that disappeared underneath.

Was she crazy? She suddenly found herself breathing far more rapidly than she had been. She was panicking but fighting through it, running through the sequence of events that led her from mining him for information to now. She wanted this, and she had to stop worrying about Cloud. If Cloud loved her, he never would have left in the first place, never would have taken her for granted, or shut her out, or let his demons take control and refuse her help.

Reno, on the other hand, had defied her expectations, keeping his promise to tell her what he learned from Shinra and providing her the comfort she so sorely lacked.

She hesitantly brought her hands to his belt buckle, rubbing her thumb over the face of it as she stalled – partially to gather her own resolve, but also to torture him as he had done to her so often. His loins tensed when she unbuckled his belt and she could see his erection twitch underneath his pants.

He lurched his head forward as she attended to his buckle, surprised she was actually following through with this. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected this evening to take such a turn. She lifted her head to look him in the eye as she lazily felt around for the button on his pants. His eyes were dilated and intense, staring back at her with a feral gaze that begged her to keep going, the speckles of mako shining brightly in his irises.

Unbuttoning his pants allowed her to see more of his happy trail, and she felt her own insides tense with desire. She kept her eyes trained on the line of hair as she slowly unzipped his fly, following the trimmed curls down to the hem of his underwear. He let out a moan as she pulled his pants down to his thighs before they fell to the ground, revealing his black boxer briefs underneath. Tifa could see the outline of his member now, angled up and to the side, the tip poking out above the waistband of his boxers near his hip, blush creeping across her cheeks.

She admittedly didn't have much experience with men, but she hadn't expected Reno to be so… big. Yuffie had been right, his long, lean frame translated into a long member. Not that Cloud was small, by any means, but Reno did have him beat in that department. Tifa assumed this must be why Reno was so confident around most women.

Reno was finding it difficult to let her keep going without pawing at her. He wanted her to explore him, but he was really hoping she would be a bit quicker. She was still fully clothed, so all he could focus on was her tank top and imagine what those perky breasts of hers looked like naked. He considered himself lucky that Tifa had even gone this far with him, especially after their conversation earlier, so he was especially surprised when he felt her fingernails sliding along the edge of his boxers, just above the base of his shaft. He thought for a moment that perhaps he had left Seventh Heave after telling Tifa what he learned in Junon and was now asleep in his bed and dreaming – it was the only explanation. All Tifa said was that she wanted to see what was in the picture he had sent her; he hadn't expected her to be teasing him or wanting to see more.

He had long ago let go of any embarrassment he had over the color of his pubic hair, the same scarlet color as the hair on his scalp, as it never stopped a woman from moving forward with him before. Sure, he would get comments, sometimes even gasps, but his reputation preceded him, and whatever initial hesitation the women may have experienced was quickly forgotten as he continued with their foreplay.

Yet now those fears were creeping back up his spine, since he was merely standing in the Seventh Heaven bar as Tifa slowly undressed him. They were no longer kissing and he didn't think the situation would advance much further. He didn't know what to do; usually at this point he would be removing the woman's clothes and sucking on her nipples, keeping her occupied elsewhere and unable to concentrate too long on the shock of vermillion between his legs.

He let out a low, breathy moan as he felt the fabric of his boxers sliding down along his skin, his cock bouncing upward upon its release. He looked down to watch Tifa's eyes widen as she looked upon his erect member, the same look all women had when they first saw his full size: Shock and hunger. He was quite proud of it.

Still, the fact that he was now fully exposed in a public, but empty, establishment next to a woman who was still completely covered began to weigh on him in a way he hadn't expected.

"Uh, babe?" he asked her, his voice quaking. "I'm feelin' a little underdressed here."

He looked down between them, his pants and underwear around his ankles and the only stitch of clothing on his body an unbuttoned dress shirt whose hem reached just a couple inches under his scrotum, covering nothing.

The bar may be empty and the window shades may have been closed, but that didn't detract from his sudden feelings of being on display. He had always been proud of his body, would have gladly walked naked through the streets of Midgar to show off his impressive physique, but right now he felt like he was naked in front of the former Shinra executives against his will. It was a feeling as if he were one of Hojo's experiments, being poked and prodded and not treated as human, even though that's not what Tifa was doing at the moment.

But Reno had never been so outmatched. At any moment, Tifa could walk away and leave him quite literally hanging and on the path to a wretched case of blue balls. Knowing how sweet and innocent she was, she probably wouldn't even know she was doing it, and he would be left standing shamefully out in the open.

"Umm…" she stammered, wondering what she could offer that wouldn't lead to sex.

Reno's confidence was shaking, and he needed to even the score, so he pressed himself back against her to the wall, probing her mouth with his tongue and letting his left hand cup her breast. She relented without protest, her back against the wooden wall and her lips locked with his, hot and moist. She again lifted her leg to his now bare hip, and he shifted to allow the tip of his cock to gain access beneath her skirt. Tifa let out a breathy gasp as she felt his tip press against her damp center, attempting to enter her if it were not for the lace barrier that covered her entrance. She felt the same sensation she had in the dream all those months ago and knew Reno could tell how wet she was, her body set aflame by his touch.

His hand moved from her breast to the hem of her tank top, his fingers flirting with the edge of the fabric and daring her to reject his advances.

"I, umm," she stammered again, removing her lips from his and bringing her hands down to stay his.

"Seriously?" Reno asked, genuinely thinking that she would at least let him under her shirt considering he was naked before her.

"I'm sorry, it's just that…" she sounded afraid, just as she had in Costa del Sol when he had tried to get under her bikini, her words laced with self-consciousness.

Reno let his hand drop to her waist, worried that her hesitance would be the end of the evening and he would be left standing in front of her, flaccid.

"What's wrong?" he asked, barely above a whisper as his lips traced the shell of her ear, trying to salvage what he could. "You got nothing to be ashamed of in that department, Lockhart."

She leaned into him and shuttered as his tongue darted out to tease her and trail kisses down to her earlobe. As he moved on to her neck, she placed her hands on his shoulders, working up the courage to repay him. Reno, however, took it as a sign that he would be working through another fantasy tonight if he wanted to finish what he had started, utterly mortified by what had transpired.

Tifa wrapped her arms around her waist and hugged herself, still leaning against the wall as she looked down at her boots, torn between moving forward with Reno and running up the stairs to hide. Even considering what she may be about to do was beyond anything she had ever done with anyone other than Cloud, and though Reno made her feel secure, she couldn't ignore the discomfort.

But Cloud was gone, and Reno was right here, right now, offering her a path forward. He'd accepted her rejection before, and she no longer wanted to reject him, she was just afraid of how he would react when seeing her disfigurement.

She met his aquamarine eyes, filled with something hovering between dread and concern, and exhaled the breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Um, I just want to warn you," she began, feeling her heartbeat against her chest so strongly she was sure he could hear it, "when I was 15…"

Reno tilted his head as she spoke, his interest piqued that even if he didn't get anywhere physical with her, he was about to learn why and have the option to figure out how to work around the issue in the future.

"Sephiroth… he… came to Nibelheim and…"

Reno's eyes widened at her admission. He knew Sephiroth had gone to Nibelheim when Tifa was 15 and burned the town down, he had read it in her file and knew about the incident from Shinra, he just didn't expect it to be blocking him at this moment. What had Sephiroth done to her besides destroy her town that would make her not want Reno to see her tits? Had he…?

"I have a scar," Tifa finally blurted out, shaking Reno from his thoughts.

He blinked and caught her stare, so innocent and full of serious concern that if she didn't warn him, he would freak out. He almost wanted to laugh, the idea that something like that would keep him – or any other man for that matter – from wanting to see Tifa Lockhart's tits tickling his insides. But he suppressed the urge, seeing how seriously she was taking this admission.

Instead, he moved his free hand up to her face and forced her to keep his gaze, which was warmer than she had ever seen it before.

"Hey, no biggie," he said. "We all got scars, yo."

Forgetting for a moment that his pants were around his ankles, Reno twisted to the side and held back his open shirt to show Tifa his ribcage, each bone visible, along with a long scar the crossed several of them. It glimmered under the light like the other scars she had noticed when he unbuttoned his shirt, smooth and paler than the rest of his skin, with distinct edges that were similar to the ones on her own scar.

"Got this one from the man myself," he said, tracing a finger along the blemish.

Before she had a chance to respond, he turned turned to his other side, which contained four long, thick lines of scars.

"And this was from a damn gagighandi outside Gongaga when we were waiting for your fine ass to show up," he continued, as if he were just showing her points on a map, no different than a geography lesson.

He twisted around until his back was nearly to her, the movement made slightly awkward by the location of his clothing, and shrugged his shirt down to his elbows to reveal his left shoulder, where Tifa could see the end of what looked like a pretty massive scar that ran down his entire back.

"Oh, and this one was from your boyfriend at the top of the pillar," he said with some degree of malice.

"None from me?" she asked, her tone now light and easy, apparently missing or ignoring his comment about Cloud.

Reno smiled. Check mate.

"Hah, of course," he said before turning to her and lowering his head so that she could see the back of his hair above his ponytail.

He grabbed her wrist and moved his free hand to the back of his head, one finger searching through his locks until he found what he was looking for and raising her hand.

"Feel right there," he said, releasing her wrist and waiting as she found the small, hairless patch of unnaturally smooth skin that was invisible to the naked eye but noticeable to the touch.

"I did that?" Tifa nearly giggled, the mirth returning to her voice.

"Yeah, you did," Reno replied, standing back up and falling forward to pin her to the wall again with one hand against the wood beside her head. He was painfully aware that his erection was gone and trying to keep Tifa from noticing until he could show her his full size once again. "You got that one in before I got a pyramid around ya."

Tifa snickered, a little proud of herself that she had left him with a lasting mark. She leaned back against the wall and brought a hand up to the back of his neck, her eyes meeting his with a sensual glow.

Reno knew he had her then. The smile disappeared from her face and was again replaced with a look of trepidation as she removed her hand from his neck and brought both to the hem of her tank top.

"Okay…" she said before taking a deep breath and slowly lifting the garment up, struggling to get it over her breasts before finally releasing them with the fabric around her neck.

Reno's left eye twitched as he gawked. She was wearing a white sports bra, which covered most of her tits but had a lower neckline than her shirt, allowing him to see one end of the scar the stretched over the top of her left breast. He looked across her chest and down to her right side, catching a glimpse of the other end just under the hem of her bra.

She removed the tank top and let it fall to the floor beside them, pressing her back into the wall as she stalled and allowed him to prepare.

He had shown her some pretty gnarly scars, but she still felt hers would have more of an impact, given its location and severity. She took another deep breath as she studied his expression, wild with hunger and anticipation that spurred her on.

Reno wanted to rip that item right off her chest and bury his face between her breasts, but he thought it would make her feel better if he allowed her to remove the shirt on her own. After taking a beat to watch his eyes twitch and dilate, she reached for the hem of her sports bra and slowly began to lift it. Reno licked his lips, noticing first the perfectly round underside of Tifa's breasts as she bubbled out from under her bra. With a little more effort, her breasts were released from the undergarment and he lost track of it, his eyes glued to his prize. He may have seen a small flash of white in his peripheral vision, but he couldn't be sure and he certainly didn't care.

And suddenly, her arms were across her chest, hiding them from Reno's view. He couldn't say he had even noticed the scar with so many more desirable places to look – her taught, pink nipples; the round, full shape of her breasts; or the scoop between her clavicle and nipples, the cleavage she never let anyone see.

"Oh, don't be shy now," he purred.

Tifa exhaled and relented, releasing her arms and allowing Reno the chance to study her figure. He slid his thumb over his bottom lip, moistened with saliva he had barely contained while ogling. His erection had returned to full staff and he considered his next move, unsure where to start.

"My Gods," he said, scanning her body from head to toe and back up again, lingering on her breasts before locking onto her eyes, "you're beautiful."

Tifa's cheeks flooded with heat at the seeming sincerity of his statement, though she couldn't quite be sure he wasn't just saying that in the hopes of getting up her skirt. This was Reno, after all.

As soon as the words left his mouth he wished he could shove them back in. He didn't call a woman "beautiful" at this point in his courtship dance; it was a word reserved for picking up a woman at the bar and making her think he was a gentleman. He never used it when he already had the woman half naked, instead using "hot," "sexy," or some similar words. He feared he had given himself away, or at least given her another clue that he wasn't as vicious as he had once been; another crack in his armor.

His mind flashed back to his 10-year-old self, seeing a pair of woman's - well, girl's - breasts for the first time. The girl was 13 at the time, with boobs that were like mosquito bites compared to Tifa's, yet at the time Reno had savored them. He had been a gangly child and teenager, teased for his red hair and pale skin, but this girl, suddenly, gave him attention. By 12 he was having sex - it was the slums, after all - but he would never forget how lost and awkward he felt the first time he had access to a girl's body.

He suddenly found himself just as unprepared.

He eventually decided he should say something about the scar to reassure Tifa and reached out a finger to trace the line of it from the top of her left breast, almost to her shoulder, to just beneath her right one.

"Yanno, if you hadn't told me about this thing, I wouldn't have even noticed it, what with everything else you got goin' on here," he said, motioning with his hands around the outer shape of her breasts and regaining his bearings.

"Really?" Tifa asked, her nerves settling with his humorous comment.

Cloud hadn't been turned off by the scar, though it reminded him of how he had "failed" her, but she had thought it would affect Reno. He had been with so many women, so many who probably didn't have a single mark anywhere on their perfect bodies and had never had to fight for their lives. So, of course she thought he'd be disgusted by such a gash.

"To be honest, I don't know where to start," Reno admitted, his eyes never meeting Tifa's as he continued to stare at her chest, missing the arrogant smirk with which she responded. "There are so many good options."

He had always wanted to sink his face between her tits and shake his head to feel their pillowy softness on either side of his head, but now that he had the chance, so many other possibilities were calling to him. He didn't even realize he had hesitated so long until the magnetic pull of desire forced him into action.

His hands became greedy, roaming over her breasts as if they were keeping him alive, and he pinned her to the wall with his hips once more. The contrast in her skin tones from their trip to Costa del Sol was now apparent, and he traced the line that separated tan from pale.

"So, you did miss my tan lines," she cooed with a prideful grin.

"You know it," he responded before letting his hands drop to her breasts once more.

He squeezed them both to feel their tender flesh before rubbing his thumb over one of her nipples and bringing his lips back to hers. His mouth was warmer than before, and his tongue was more aggressive once he coaxed her into allowing him entrance. It seemed like as soon as Tifa lost herself in his kiss, nearly forgetting that he was naked and she was topless, making him the second man she had allowed to see her breasts in a non-medical context, his lips were leaving hers and traveling south.

Kisses so gentle she couldn't believe they were coming from Reno forged a trail to her chin, up her jawline and to her earlobe before traveling down her neck, already sore in the places he had left marks, and finally down to her chest, where he kissed the entire line of her scar. He then brought his tongue to her right nipple, sliding his muscle around the areola before nipping gently on the aroused bud. Tifa's legs shook beneath her. This was definitely too far. Reno was certainly at that man's "point of no return" and she wasn't sure if she were brave enough to continue on – or to stop him. It seemed he was determined, however.

He continued to suck on her nipple before aggressively kissing and nipping his way to her other breast, bringing his hands down to rest on her hips, with several fingers grazing the waistband of her skirt.

Tifa, unfortunately for him, was still overdressed, so he decided his next move was to remedy that. He pressed his bare chest against hers and again allowed the tip of his cock to find her core, now soaked with yearning. He again sucked on her neck, bringing his hands down to the hem of her skirt, lifting it up to her hips and sliding his hands to her back and down the curves of her ass.

She hadn't stopped him yet, and her ministrations made it clear she wanted him, so tainted with thirst that she was ready to explode. Reno thought the Gods must have been smiling down at him that night to allow him this far with her after months of cold showers and blue balls. He was on the cusp of landing Tifa Lockhart, the rarest prize on Gaia.

He wanted her and she knew it, but she wasn't ready to go any further, already embarrassed that he was so close to being inside her. When his hands skimmed her soft skin up to her hips and his thumbs looped under the sides of her panties and began to pull them down, she met his hands with her own and held them in place.

"Reno…"

He knew what that tone meant: He had gone too far. He was so close, but he couldn't say he was surprised that his luck had run out. It had taken him two-and-a-half years just to see her tits; he knew she wouldn't be giving everything up all at once, even if it really seemed like that might be the direction tonight took.

He could salvage this. He could walk away with something and still make her feel like he was a gentleman respecting her boundaries.

He raised her panties back up to her hips and gave the sides of her thong a little pat when they were in place. He then lowered her skirt but stayed pressed against her, burying his face in her chest. He gently kissed his way back up to her lips and parted with her, searching her eyes for an indication that she was okay with at least a little more play. She smiled, and he knew he could get away with a little more.

He wasn't going to humiliate himself by getting off from dry humping her; that wasn't his style. He continued to kiss her but caught her wrist and lowered her hand to his erection. She at first jumped at the feel of his skin, but he held her wrist. She timidly ran her fingers up and down the shaft from the hilt to the tip and back, before swirling her thumb around the tip and wetting it with his precum. Nervously, she gripped his member in her hand and began to slowly work the shaft, her hand hesitating as her inexperience clouded her thoughts. She had learned how to give a man a hand job with Cloud, but surely Reno would require a more advanced technique than Tifa was used to and would feel nothing from her amateurish demonstration.

Reno, however, moaned at her touch and threw his head back to concentrate on her movements, closing his eyes and heating up at the sensation of her fingers wrapped around his cock. She was surprisingly good at this, despite her inexperience. Strife had been a lucky man – how could he have given up this woman? Reno returned his gaze to Tifa and looked at her hungrily, his eyes focused like a wild animal. He again lurched for her and thrust his tongue into her mouth, treating her with little regard as he pumped his hips to help her down south. This wasn't his first – or second – preferred method for getting off, but he figured this was a big enough step for her that he would not pass it up. He felt awkward, but knew that one day – soon – he would be releasing into her instead of onto her.

He felt his own gratification coming after a while and prepared himself for release, knowing it wouldn't be sexy or even pretty. He pressed against her so that she was forced to let him go, and he finished in his own hand, with some of the evidence dripping onto the floor between Tifa's boots.

"Oh…. Fuuuuuuck…." He said as he released his load, feeling a fraction of the satisfaction he knew she could provide.

Tifa held him as he stumbled into her, his weight momentarily shifted onto her slight frame as his knees weakened, nearly buckling. She wrapped her arms around his body, above his ribcage, splaying her hands to disperse his weight. He, in turn, nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck and brought his hands to her waist, his thumbs reaching up to skim the underside of her breasts.

"Damn, girl," he cooed into her ear after kissing a line up from her pulse point.

Tifa was nervous, excited, and embarrassed by the whole situation. It had been hot, but she was now in so deep she wasn't sure she'd be able to get back out. She had seen him at his most vulnerable, gotten a brief glimpse into what sex with him might be like – and she was curious.

This was so out of her character, she thought, that maybe the Lifestream really had an effect on her. Maybe she had only been so lustful with Cloud because of what the Lifestream had done to them after Sephiroth and Jenova were defeated.

She would certainly buy that as an argument for why she was at this moment standing topless in her bar, holding up the naked form of a man she had once considered her enemy.

She shifted beneath him as he regained his balance, moving so that she now had access to his ear. And then she whispered the words she never thought she would ever say to him: "You can stay, if you want."