This fic is set within the time period covered by On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa before Cloud meets Denzel in Sector Five.

It had all started so innocently. Tifa and Marlene had been wandering through the gradually developing Edge streets, checking what was available from the various scavenging runs into Midgar as work continued on the new bar. The ground floor of the establishment was almost complete and there was going to be a brief delay before work began on the first floor. Despite that it meant that after so long the four of them had somewhere they could call home. Tifa had finished practising making Corel Wine for the day and was giving Marlene a break from the less then hospitable building site.

The young girl stuck close to Tifa, but stared curiously at the displayed wares dragged from within the abandoned city. Many of the stall-holders were still sleeping in the hastily constructed communal dorms the WRO had been setting up on the perimeter of the growing Edge and as a result looked perpetually exhausted. The former capital, despite the ravages of Meteor and the energy damage of the attacking WEAPON was still a treasure trove of objects and supplies. Immediate necessities sold for the highest premiums and so on down to the currently utterly useless but potentially one day vital appliances and fixtures.

"Tifa, look!" Marlene pointed at one stall selling a selection of crockery. The plates and mugs were in remarkably good shape, and despite a high price, were not outside her budget. What had really attracted Marlene though were matching sets of plates, cutlery and mugs. "Can we get these? For Papa, and you and me and Cloud?"

Tifa looked critically at the sets. They were not strictly intended for adults, but she had to admit that having actual plates would be an improvement on their current circumstances for meal times. She could take the stack of bigger plates for use in the bar, and these sets as their first home items. She smiled at Marlene's resourcefulness and then asked her to pick one for each of them.

"Tifa can have red," Marlene began emphatically. "And papa's favourite colour is green, and I want the pink one..." She trailed off, brow wrinkling as a question occurred to her. "Tifa? What's Cloud's favourite colour?"

"Oh, it's-," she halted, a yawning sensation opening in her stomach. What was Cloud's favourite colour? And like water through a broken dam more questions flooded into her thoughts. Did he like dogs or cats more? What had he wanted to be when he grew up before his desire to emulate Sephiroth? What was his favourite television program, film, band, book? She felt dizzy, only stopped from clutching at her own head in shock by the sight of a confused and now nervous Marlene.

"Tifa?"

The martial artist let out her breath slowly, forcing herself to smile, to mask the revelation she had no desire to address just yet. "It's nothing. Why don't you choose for Cloud? I'm sure he'll like whichever you pick."

"O-kay," the young girl replied, looking at her quizzically. She perused the displayed sets and after a bit of thought settled on blue for Cloud. Tifa dumped the requested gil into the stall-owner's hands and hefted the stack of plates, while Marlene carried the dinner sets. They strolled back along the crowded streets, Marlene happily humming to herself, excited for the surprise to show Cloud and Barret when they got back. Beside her Tifa maintained a smile she didn't feel.

Inside she was in turmoil; she knew so little about Cloud, the man whom she had spent what could have easily been her last night alive with. It was admittedly not as if there could have been anyone else for her to see that night; she was glad she had been with him as he had no one else either. Both were orphans and neither had a family left. Now at least they had each other. And Barret and Marlene. But the revelation still gnawed at her; she had spent so long believing her own corrupted memory of their past, that they had been friends throughout their childhood that she had never recognised the implications of the truth.

She and Cloud had never been childhood friends; and as a result she barely knew anything about him. The newly revealed void that their assumed shared past had filled had never been addressed; upon leaving the Lifestream she had been too pleased that Cloud had escaped his Mako-induced coma, and then they had been preoccupied with halting Shinra's destructive actions and the eventual defeat of Sephiroth. Even after that life had never been truly calm, helping build Edge and living in the post-Mako era kept them all constantly busy. She and Cloud had never had reason to delve into their pasts even when alone together; they had carried on as they had while travelling the Planet, bolstered by Cloud's fulfilment of his promise. He had come for her when she needed him and through his actions delayed Sephiroth's rise to power.

But now she couldn't escape the truth; she had now spent so long in the company of Cloud Strife, but she didn't feel she truly knew him. She had barely interacted with him as a child, never really spoken to him until their promise at the well as teenagers. But they had been through so much, spent so long together; it felt like she knew him, even though she couldn't remember, didn't know such trivial details as what his favourite colour was. She spent the rest of the day in a distracted daze, worrying that her closeness to Cloud was as insubstantial as smoke and that while they truly were close in the present, the foundations of their relationship was a mistaken memory and would eventually crumble destroying everything currently between them.

Was it too late to do anything about it? Was it too late to fill in her knowledge of the other Nibelheim orphan and learn those little details she now felt vital? She needed to try at least. She got her chance a few days later once the ground floor of the bar was finally complete. Barret was taking advantage of the delay before they began work on the first floor and was taking a brief holiday to Kalm with Marlene. She and Cloud were going to be on their own in the bare, but structurally complete ground floor of the building.

Tifa's nerves increased as the day wore on, her anxiety hitting fever pitch once Cloud completed his deliveries for the day. The bar-maid mixed up another batch of Corel Wine and the two ate while chatting agreeably, though Tifa could not help but feel distracted by her worries. She'd resolved to talk to Cloud once he'd finished securing the building's perimeter and was ready for bed. It didn't seem entirely necessary; both were fully capable of handling themselves should anyone try to break in, but having an uninterrupted sleep sounded far more appealing then fighting in the confined space. She looked around the building as Cloud cleaned up in the mostly functioning bathroom; the walls and ceiling were unpainted concrete, the hard surfaces echoing the slightest noise right back at her, the reflected light of the electric torch giving the room a harsh, barren look.

She tried to imagine what it would look like when finished, placing furniture, pictures, tables and chairs in her mind's eye. The bar would go back there, and span most of the room. They could have booths along that wall, tables and chairs in the middle there. She'd put the menus on those walls, the ranks of spirits would go over there. The mental image looked good. Maybe a little too good. Whatever it wound up being named, the bar couldn't possibly replace the Seventh Heaven. Despite it's age, and the decidedly shoddy nature of the building, it would always be special to her; it had been her and Avalanche's home. This place may be structurally and aesthetically superior but she didn't believe for a second it could ever have anything approaching the same character.

Cloud interrupted her thought process as he walked back into the main room with clumping foot-steps, and as he moved to lie on his futon, Tifa made herself voice the first of her questions. There was nowhere to run now; while Edge hadn't been plagued with problems, she'd rather stay inside then run the risk of walking the city streets at night.

"Cloud? Could we... talk for a bit before sleep?"

He looked at her puzzled, but nodded and sat down looking at her expectantly. Well, she'd started it, so she had better carry on. She didn't want to just blurt out the question that hovered on her lips, so instead she related the events of her shopping trip with Marlene; finding that stall, seeing the plates, Marlene suggesting they buy the sets, the young girl's innocent question and then what that had made her realise.

"You want to know my favourite colour?" Cloud asked slightly confused when she finished.

"Yes. No. I mean, yes, but not just that. It's..." she trailed off, sorting through the words in her mind. "I feel I know you Cloud. We had all those experiences together when we were pursuing Sephiroth. But there's so much I don't know about you; what you like, what you don't like..." She looked at him, meeting his Mako-tinged gaze at last. "Do... do you mind if I ask my questions?"

Cloud smiled. "Only if I get to ask you questions after." Tifa nodded and and with a deep breath, began.

"What is your favourite colour?"