Disclaimer: Ha. I wish. I own as much as those of you reading do.
Author's Notes: Haven't played the game. Haven't even gone online to TRY to understand what the hell happened. Personally, don't really care. But I HAVE seen Advent Children a few million times and decided I loved Cloud and Tifa. So there.
Warnings: Aw c'mon. It's rated PG-13. I have a stupid sense of humor. So warnings? Well, you may get stupider after reading this.
Dreams are just wishes put into subconscious form. Wishes are just desires voiced inside. Desires can always be obtained. Wishes can always be granted. Dreams can always come true.
Tifa knew she had no choice. She had to do it now or she would keep putting it off and then the whole wall would look like crap warmed over.
She sighed and looked helplessly at the roller in her hand.
Damn the highness of the wall.
Damn her genetics for making her so short.
Damn Cloud for not being home so he could do it instead!
Muttering nothing too polite under her breath, Tifa started the trek up the stairs. Of all the places to peel, the paint had decided to do it on the highest place known to man. On the surface facing outward from the stairs of course! The place where no normal being could ever reach without the risk of breaking his or her neck into tiny smithereens!
She damned Cloud again for not being home so he could do it instead. He was taller, after all.
Once she was halfway up the steps, Tifa looked up and uttered a long groan. The wall started right at the halfway point...she couldn't put a ladder there or else it would just fall. She couldn't jump...unless she wanted to kill herself. She couldn't do much of anything, seeing as how the wall started four feet above her head while she was on the freaking stairs!
Her arms might have been long but they weren't THAT long.
This task would've been soooo much easier if she had a longer roller, but she had never had the patience to go and buy one. Too much haggling involved.
Boy, was she regretting that now.
"Crap." She said blankly and continued to stare upwards. Where the heck was Cloud? Did he really have to pick today of all days to go out and lament about Aeris?
Tifa regretted the bitter thought as soon as it crossed her mind. Nobody was home except for her, but she felt ashamed anyway. Aeris and Cloud were her best friends; it was none of her business if they had chosen to love each other.
Sighing for the umpteenth time, she dipped the roller into her bucket of white paint and reached up in vain to try and splatter some paint on.
All that really accomplished was her dripping a blotch of white paint smack dab on her nose.
The situation would've been comical if anybody else had been there.
"Damn!" She said again and carefully tried to wipe it away. Standing on her tiptoes, Tifa once again reached up to splatter some paint on.
She wisely closed her eyes when paint once again started dripping down. She avoided them the best she could until her arm got sore and she gave up completely.
She was standing on the stairs, contemplating what to do when the doorbell rang.
"Crap!" She said again, realizing she had no time to wash her face or hands and threw away the worry to go get the door.
However, being in the hopeless situation she was in, Tifa accidentally said the completely wrong thing when she opened the door.
"Cr-"
"-ap."
Cloud's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.
He watched Tifa quickly blink twice and then smile sheepishly.
"Hello to you too..." He said slowly and made his way in. "I'm not even going to ask why your hair's streaked in white and there's a huge paint blotch smeared from your nose to your cheek."
"If you're not going to ask, then I'd appreciate it if you didn't comment at all!" Tifa half-heartedly scolded at him.
Cloud turned around, not being able to help the kind smile forcing his mouth upwards, and couldn't resist a grin when Tifa pouted cutely back at him.
"What exactly were you trying to do?" He dared to venture.
Tifa's eyebrows knit themselves together. "I was trying to paint that peeling spot on the wall but I couldn't reach it and then got paint all over myself!"
Cloud sighed.
Feeling like he was silently making fun of her, Tifa added her two cents.
"Just so you know, it's completely your fault."
Cloud narrowed his eyes at her. "Tifa. I'm not 10 feet tall."
She shrugged and looked away to suppress a laugh. "Well, that's your fault too."
"Is that so?"
"It is."
"Are you sure?"
"I am."
Cloud couldn't help but grin again. Damn Tifa for being so damned lovable!
"Well, if it's my fault, then I guess I just won't help you paint it."
Not looking to see if she believed him, he turned and began walking upstairs to change.
"Wha...?" She trailed off in surprise and took only a second to stare at his back before running after him.
She believed him.
"Cloud Strife!" Tifa said sternly, "You are going to help me paint this wall or else...I'll...I'll..."
"Yes?" She heard his voice ask from his room.
She thought about it for a while. What could she possibly threaten him with?
"If you don't help me," She came up with at last, "You're not getting dessert tonight!"
When no answer came, she decided to go upstairs and check in on him.
Princess Tifa dressed in black,
Went upstairs to get him back.
When she climbed up the last stair,
She was met with gold blond hair.
"Cloud!" She said and huffed with a vengeance. Making her climb the stairs to get him...it was absurd.
"Clou-" she said again but cut off abruptly when he suddenly appeared right in front of her.
"Oh..." Tifa squeaked, feeling heat creeping into her cheeks. He was so close she could kiss him. When did he get so close?
"What?" He asked gently, and she felt herself melt under his intense gaze. Those eyes...those beautiful, mako eyes. Gagh! It was driving her insane!
All she wanted to do was grab him and kiss him until she either stopped breathing or he decided to propose marriage to her and have a numerous amount of children.
She had no idea that all he wanted was the exact same thing.
Princess Tifa realized,
She really loved his mako eyes.
"What?" He repeated and hesitantly took a step back to refrain from tackling her.
Snapping out of her reverie, Tifa shook her head and reluctantly looked him in the eyes again.
"Honestly..." She said, "I had wanted you to help paint me."
He blinked and she put her hand up to her mouth.
"NO!" She said quickly, "I meant kiss the wall!"
His eyebrows shot up and disappeared.
"NO!" She wailed in embarrassment, "I meant I wanted you to kiss me!"
Tifa uttered a tiny scream of horror and squeezed her eyes shut. What was the matter with her? Had the paint fumes completely destroyed her brain cells and self-control?
Crap. Crap, crap, damn, crap, damn, crappity crap crap.
She took a deep breath and looked up to correct herself, but she never got the chance.
When she looked at him again, he had already closed the distance between them and gently gathered her into his arms. Without another word, he lowered his head, closed his eyes, and kissed her with all he could offer to give.
Tifa felt all her emotions intertwining and squeezing into her heart. Before her mind could tell her to do otherwise, she closed her eyes and softly wrapped her arms around his neck.
She wanted to stay like that. She had never felt as happy as she did then.
It made her happier later when he told her he had felt the same way.
He kissed her sweet,
And loved her true,
By saying sweet nothings,
And "I love you."
They finally had to break apart when their red blood cells started to malfunction due to lack of oxygen but that still didn't mean they wanted to.
"Cloud..." She breathed, now completely unsure of what to do. Cloud was supposed to love Aeris. Aeris was supposed to love Cloud.
Tifa felt herself being buried under a wave of guilt and doubt. No, no, no. Her love for Cloud was supposed to be unrequited. He wasn't ever supposed to know!
Well, Cloud must've seen the doubt in her eyes because next thing she knew, he had crushed her body against his and started to stroke her paint-streaked hair.
"I don't care what you're thinking." His voice was gentle but firm and commanding. "I honestly don't even really care what you're feeling at the moment. But I do care if you don't know how I feel. And I definitely care if you think that I don't love you."
Tifa tensed and felt her breath stop. If it could, her heart would've stopped too.
"The hell..." She whispered, fighting the urge to start weeping like a little girl, "What the hell kind of crappy love confession is that?"
Cloud smiled before closing his eyes and let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding.
After a few minutes of her sniffling into the crook of his neck (and driving him insane with her sweet scent and warm breath), she pulled away just a little to stare into his captivating eyes.
"What about Aeris?" She asked. "I thought you loved her."
"I did." He replied without missing a beat, "And perhaps I still do. But Aeris is different from you, Tifa. I thought you knew that. You will always be different from anybody, more to me than anyone. Don't you know why you're special?"
Tifa shook her head, eyes wide and feeling slightly embarrassed of the whole scene taking place in her hallway.
"Because," Cloud answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I love you too much. I love you so much that I can't even begin to start putting it in words. Hell, I can't even really grasp at it myself, but you're so much more to me than anybody could be. And…and this would be so much easier if I were the least articulate about things…and such…"
"I would've known better if you had just told me." Tifa stated flatly to him, but he could see the joy shining from her chocolate eyes.
Both of them knew,
That neither could be wrong.
They had found a happy place,
A place where they belonged.
Before he could reply, she had kissed him again and he felt all willpower leave him. He was completely helpless when Tifa was around, but she didn't have to know that.
"Just so you know," Tifa said afterwards, "I love you too. In case you hadn't figured it out, I've loved you since we were like...little people."
He laughed at her choice of words and saw her smile warmly in return. She loved it when he laughed. He did it so rarely and when he did, it felt like the sun was always going to be out.
Which was totally corny, and Tifa hated corn, but she didn't mind that much.
It was Cloud after all.
After a few more half hours of kissing and other things definitely not PG-13 around the house, Tifa finally found her self-discipline and pulled Cloud to the stairs.
"You need to paint that." She said firmly and pointed ominously at the peeling wall. Was it just her or had it gotten bigger?
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Don't you start that with me again, Cloud Strife. I won't give you dessert if you don't comply."
When she saw that he was about to refuse anyway, she quickly added something to change his mind.
"I don't mean the edible kind either."
Cloud clamped his mouth shut and they stared at each other for a while.
"I'll go get the paint." He said and quickly turned, desperately trying to keep the naughty thoughts from entering his head from all the different meanings Tifa's sentence could've meant.
When he finally brought over the paint, she once again put the stupid roller into her hand and sighed hopelessly.
The peeling was definitely getting bigger.
Tifa knew that unlike before, this time she really didn't have a choice. If she didn't do it now, she would have to put it off until eternity ended.
Damn the highness of the wall.
Damn her genetics for making her so short.
And now that he was home, damn Cloud for being so damned distracting and making her want to tackle him and do unmentionable things to him!
Shooting him a withering glance, Tifa motioned for him to stoop down. Complying because he never could say no to her, Cloud crouched precariously on the stair and felt his eyebrow twitch dangerously when she climbed around his shoulders.
He put his hands on her legs to balance her and stood up slowly so she could reach the wall with the roller.
Cloud ground his teeth together to keep from letting his hands trail further up her legs. Her long, smooth, creamy, se-
Goddamnit!
For two supposedly pure people, they sure were dirty...
And needless to say, they didn't get much accomplished. Tifa ended up giving Cloud his dessert anyway…and multiple servings at that!
Oh, and in case anyone wants to know, the wall did get painted. But that's only because when Vincent came by to visit one day, his OCD had kicked in and forced him to paint it himself.
There they stayed for all their life,
Princess Tifa,
And Prince Cloud Strife.
The End
Thank you! Thank you all so much for reading! This is indeed my first FFVII fic and I hope all of you enjoyed very much! Don't forget to drop a review and tell me how it went…I really enjoyed writing this, spur of the moment as it was.
Oh, and sorry for the ending that is The Random. I'm feeling a bit brainless right now…hehe.