Wager

AN: I own nothing in this story. This is for fire mystic so enjoy. Please R&R.

It had started with four words.

"You need a haircut." Reno looked up at Tifa as she said this, a smug grin on his face.

"Why should I?" Tifa sat down beside him at his reply and started to stroke his right cheek.

"Because you love me and I know you wouldn't want to sleep on the couch for the rest of the month." Reno nodded at her observation and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing the crook of her neck.

"Let's make a wager. If you make me kiss you, I'll get my haircut with no complaints. But if I get you to kiss me you have to get your hair cut. How does that sound?"

"Fine but I hope you're ready to lose because we both know you can't struggle against me. I know your weak point," Tifa whispered in his ear.

"First we have to agree on some ground rules. Rule one: we each take turns on trying to seduce one another. Rule two: we can't call anyone for tips on seducing each other. Is that okay with you?" Tifa nodded and Reno clapped his hands.

"Alright, so do you want to go first?"

"No, I'll at least give you a chance to win," she answered. Reno shook his head at her cocky attitude and looked into her eyes.

"It's really hot outside, did you know that?" Tifa shook her head and Reno quickly removed his suit jacket. Then he unbuttoned the top button on his white undershirt. Tifa's pulse rose a fraction. Reno unbuttoned the next one, giving the barmaid a peek of his bare chest. Her mouth was dry and when Reno took of his shirt completely and flashed that smirk of his, she had to count to ten to stop herself from jumping him right there and then.

Reno watched her face and soon shook his head.

"I figured that wouldn't work."

"It was kind of predictable," Tifa said, although it still affected her. Tifa's arms wrapped around Reno's neck and pulled him close until her face was up against his chest. Looking up into his eyes, she gave him a giddy, almost inebriated grin.

"So you're in love with me, huh?"

"Well not currently, no. Right now you're just some crazy woman I have to keep from kissing me if I want to keep my hair...but generally speaking...yes." Tifa laughed then and her eyes got very wide, her lip jutting out into an adorable pout.

"May I kiss you right now?" Reno shook his head.

"Please..." she whispered, biting her trembling lower lip.

"That's not going to work," Reno said but his voice betrayed him. He was engaged in a desperate struggle not to kiss her.

"Don't do it! Resist the temptation!" his shoulder angel yelled in his ear, strumming on his harp a little.

"Look at her man! She's right there for the taking. So what if you lose some of your freaking hair!?" the devil yelled right next to him, his cloven hooves pressing against Reno's shoulder. Reno shook his head and banished the two.

Tifa dropped her puppy dog face and slumped over a little, sad that she hadn't made him cave in.

"You came very close," Reno said, trying to cheer her up. He didn't want this to turn into an angst competition after all.

"It's your turn," Tifa muttered, staring at the floor.

Reno moved closer to her and Tifa thought he was going to try her previous strategy but instead he moved past her and into the kitchen. Tifa looked up when she heard the freezer door being opened.

Reno had grabbed a carton of Fudge Ripple ice cream, Tifa's favorite dessert and the mortal enemy of her trim abs. She moved closer and saw that Reno had unbuttoned his jeans, the only thing holding them up being a prayer. He had opened the carton and spooned some into a bowl, taking a bite and enjoying the rich chocolate and vanilla mixed with fudge. A dribble of the ice cream ran down his chin and a few drops landed on his chest.

Tifa licked her lips at the sight of her two most favorite things, Reno and Fudge Ripple ice cream, coming together in one sexy yet sticky package. Her shoulder angel popped up on her right, her robes and wings as white as vanilla. In her hand she held a harp and was playing a soothing tune.

"He certainly is handsome Tifa but you must be strong. You wouldn't want to grow back your hair now, would you?"

On her left shoulder, her shoulder devil appeared a moment later. She was dressed in black leather, showing off every feminine asset she had and her high heeled shoes covering her cloven feet dug into her shoulder.

"That's one hunk of man right there. Let's take him and the ice cream Tifa! He's just asking for us and you know it!"

Shaking her head, the two beings vanished, leaving Tifa to walk alone up to Reno. And as she got closer she saw something horrible: Reno had finished the last of her ice cream.

"Reno...you ate my Fudge Ripple," Tifa said, eyes widening. Reno held up his hands in supplication.

"Babe, I didn't mean to, honest..." but Tifa cut him off with a glare.

"It's my turn next," she grumbled. "And you're buying me two cartons of Fudge Ripple to make up for this transgression, got it?" Reno gulped but nodded.

And so time passed, each round driving both Tifa and Reno closer and closer to a kiss. Finally, after Tifa's most recent turn, their faces were inches apart. Brown eyes stared into aquamarine. Then their lips met and all of it; the bet, the haircut, and even the Fudge Ripple wasn't important anymore. There was just the two of them.

And that was all they needed.

Floating in the air, Reno's shoulder angel and Tifa's shoulder angel watched the couple.

"Well they're not as romantic as us, are they?" the male angel asked. His celestial girlfriend shook her head and wrapped her arm around his robed side.

"They're endearing in their own way though, unlike another couple we know," she replied, gesturing to their demonic counterparts who were furiously making out in the bowl of melted remains of ice cream, bodies covered in the dessert.

"You know what I'm going to do to you next Red?" Tifa's shoulder devil purred, her white fangs gleaming.

"No, but it can't be worse than what I'm going to do to you, you minx," he growled in reply, stroking the horns growing from her head possessively.

Once the mortal Tifa and Reno broke apart from their kiss, she pressed her forehead against his.

"So...who lost the bet?" Reno kissed her on the lips once more and after he was finished, he smirked.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yeah, we both have to get haircuts anyway," Tifa said. Reno managed to do a great impression of a guppy fish then and Tifa laughed.

She couldn't wait to see what he looked like with short hair.