Warnings: Sexual innuendo, sexual thoughts, sex in general.
Word Count: 3200-ish
Prompt: Cloud/Tifa: Unresolved sexual tension - She was jealous of a motorcycle. A motorcycle!
Summary: After dealing with the troubles of a post-Meteor world, all she wanted was the comfort of the man she loved… Was that too much to ask?
General Timeline: Roughly a year post-Meteorfall. After Tifa has opened the new 7th Heaven, but before Denzel entered the picture.
A/N: Several references to The Case of Tifa are made, so it would make a lot more sense if you’ve read that.
She leaned over the counter with a sigh, slumping down to rest her chin in her hands and her elbows on the bar. Tifa Lockhart wasn’t one for regrets. She’d watched her hometown burn around her and seen a sword piercing her father’s body. She’d joined up with terrorists to save the planet from the ShinRa Electric Power Company. She’d fought with eight of the closest friends she’d ever known—one of which had wound up dead—to save the world from a madman.
Yet she still had her doubts about the lone night she’d spent as one with her boyfriend. If he could even be called that anymore. Sure, they shared a bed and he greeted her with a kiss and vice versa, but their relationship was lacking the physical aspect she felt was necessary. Ever since he made that call and asked her what would be an appropriate trade for a lifetime’s supply of free drinks.
Later that day, he’d come home with that motorcycle. That God-forsaken motorcycle… Ever since, all his waking hours had gone to running his regular trips via chocobo of getting her supplies while making a few deliveries on the side or fixing that stupid bike. It was like he never paid any attention to her anymore.
All she ever got from him was a kiss when she woke up, a kiss when he walked in the door, and an arm around her shoulders and a kiss on the forehead before going to sleep. Well, damn it! She was a part of this relationship and she had her needs, too! She’d make damn sure he paid more attention to her!
“Miss Tifa?”
All she wanted was a little more- She looked up at the scruffy man across the counter and gave a shy smile. “Sorry, Alleck. I got lost in my thoughts. Corel wine?”
“Nah, I gotta pay my tab and get back to work. There’s still a lot to do before we can actually call this dump a town.”
“Yeah… At least there’s a place you know you can get liquor!”
“I’ll remember that. I’ll come back when the day’s done.”
“You know I appreciate it!” She flashed him her best hostess smile as he walked away. Tifa sighed and slumped down again as the bell on the door to the empty bar jingled. She looked up with her smile plastered on her face again and greeted, “Hi! Welcome to Seventh-”
She cut off as she recognized her visitor. The teenage girl bounced in with a near-endless amount of energy and came to a stop before hopping up onto one of the stools. “Hey, Tifa! What’s up? Where’s your little Chocobo-Butt?”
Tifa crossed her arms stubbornly. “First off, don’t call him that, Yuffie. His name is Cloud. Secondly, we’ve been just fine. How about you?”
She sighed and dropped down on the counter, just as the older woman had done before. “Oh, not much. Still helping stupid ol’ Reeve with his new ‘restore order’ plot. He’s got me running all around the world even though he knows that every known source of transportation makes me sick… I just came by from Kalm an’ he’s already shipping me off to Corel… Ugh… I thought I’d stop by and see how the two of you were… getting along.” She gave a smirk.
Tifa sighed. “Our relationship isn’t like that. We don’t need sex to be together.”
“He’s that against it?”
“I don’t know! It’s like he’s oblivious to me! Ever since he brought that bike home, he’s been devoting his life to that chunk of steel and chrome!”
“Geez… You sound about to blow your top. When was the last time you two did it?”
“Over a… Um, it’s been awhile.”
“How long is ‘awhile’?”
“Well, the Highwind was still around the first and last time…”
“Oy, geez… No wonder you’re so tense. What the hell has that stiff-assed moron been doing?”
“It’s that motorcycle! All he does anymore is lock himself in the garage with it, leave the house to get more parts for it, or sleep! If I even try to get closer to him at night, all he does is wrap an arm around my shoulder and that’s it!”
The worst part of it all was that when he fixed his bike, he did it shirtless. It was like he knew exactly how to turn her on and yet he still did nothing about it. Tifa felt it was better not to mention that, though.
“Hmm…” The seventeen-year-old girl tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Have you tried a black teddy?”
“Well, no, but I don’t really want to resort to that… I want our relationship to be one that’s based on a mutual attraction… I don’t want to use my figure to get him to notice me. I shouldn’t have to use my figure.”
“Yeah, but men are still stupid for a woman in hardly anything.”
Tifa raised an eyebrow. “And how do you know this, exactly?”
She waved her hands frantically. “I don’t! It’s just what I’ve heard…”
She smiled a little. “Hmph. So you say…”
“Can we change the subject, puh-leese? We’re talking about you, here!”
“Fine. So what do you suggest?”
“I say you go out and get yourself some sexy clothes and seduce him! If that doesn’t work, then I’m sorry. Well, not really, but-”
“Yuffie!”
“Oh, right. If that doesn’t work, then Chocobo-Butt is a few greens short of breeding a chocobo or something.”
“But what about Marlene? We’re still taking care of her.”
“Oh, well, hm. You can’t exactly go at it with a five-year-old around…”
A devilish thought occurred to Tifa and she leaned down on the bar to give the girl her best smirk. “I know where she can go…”
Fear entered the Wutaian girl’s eyes. “You wouldn’t…! No! I know nothing about taking care of kids!”
“All you have to do is keep her out of trouble and have fun. Think of it as a vacation.”
“But Reeve is sending me off this afternoon!”
“You said you’re going to Corel, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“So… Who’s leading the oil digs?”
“Barret, so?”
Tifa just gave the girl a ‘duh!’ look and waited for her to figure it out. Finally she jumped off her stool and shouted, “Oh, yeah! Barret’s Marlene’s father!”
“Hurray, she figured it out.”
“But… It’s like a three day trip out to Corel… How is that gonna work? You payin’ me to baby-sit?”
“If you take Marlene out of my hair for a few days—weeks, even—then I’ll give you my Mastered Fire and Ice materia.”
“Hm, but… those are some of the most worthless ones…”
Tifa mentally ran through her personal supply of materia. “Um, well…”
“Oh, fine! I’ll call Barret and see if he wants me to bring Marlene out there.”
She raised a hand to stop her. “No! You can’t! We can’t risk him saying ‘no’!”
“But you know he’ll go ballistic if I just show up with her…”
“Fine. I’ll give you my Mastered All materia… Worth a full million gil. If you take the blame for showing up with Marlene, I’ll throw in the Fire and Ice ones, too.”
“Hmm…” She stroked her chin for a moment. “Fine! You got yourself a deal!”
Tifa smiled. “I’ll give you the Fire and Ice now and the All when it’s all over. Just to make sure you don’t back out.”
“Hmph! Fine…”
***
Two days later, Tifa watched as Cloud walked down the stairs, shirtless, and shot her a smile before disappearing into the garage. She grumbled to herself for a moment before scooching off her countertop and grabbing her purse from underneath. Pushing the door to the garage slightly open, she leaned in to find Cloud already at work on his motorcycle.
She gave a sigh and closed the door before heading outside to the shopping district of the slowly building-up Midgar-Edge. Sifting through the small markets, she looked around for a lingerie shop and felt the heat rise on her face just for looking for the store. Her eyes fell on a different clothing store and the outfit hanging in the window caught her attention. That is too perfect… Not too sluty, not too decent.
***
That night, Tifa stood in her bedroom as she slipped out of her usual leather clothes. She lifted her shopping bag and examined the denim outfit she’d purchased. Her fingers trailed over the fabric as she started to reconsider. She shook her head, deciding it would be worth the attempt. She lifted the short skirt and pulled it up her long, creamy white legs before fastening the button. Freeing the hook on her bra, she slipped it off with a sigh. She picked up the denim vest with the rustic gold buttons and pulled it on, buttoning it to leave most of her cleavage exposed.
She looked in the mirror and examined her new ensemble. It was very similar to the style she sported as a teenager in Nibelheim, except she opted for a vest that buttoned and left the shirt behind. She smiled to herself and pulled a pair of white cowboy boots from the back of her closet, tugging them on before plucking a matching hat from the shelf and set it on her dark hair with a smile.
The sound of a door shutting downstairs alerted her out of her ‘sexy girl’ trance. She looked towards the bedroom door in panic, knowing the only thing that could mean was that Cloud had left. Giving a sigh, she dropped down on the bed. Now she just had to waste time until he came home.
Or…
She grinned to herself and stepped out of the bedroom before running downstairs. Cloud never took long when looking for parts. He always seemed to have some uncanny sense of knowing exactly where to find whatever he was looking for. She smiled to herself as she slipped into the garage and closed the door behind her to keep Cloud as unaware as possible for as long as she could.
Walking neatly through all the spare parts and tools he had spread around, she made her way over to the bike itself with raised eyebrows. It looked nothing like the dumpy piece of crap he’d brought home. She assumed he still needed to paint it, considering it was still drab shades of black and grey with a few spots of rust here and there.
She took her time, finding a nice spot to lean against that didn’t make her look too much like she was asking for it. Footsteps sounded outside and she resisted a smile, trying to force an innocent look forward instead.
The door to the garage opened and Cloud walked in with a box in his hands, freezing when he saw Tifa half-sitting, half-leaning against his bike. He set the box down and took a slow step, an unreadable expression on his face. She gave him her best innocent eyes and slowly ran a finger along the metal frame. “I just wanted to see…”
He swallowed, taking his sweet time before speaking. “…Tifa. Get off, please.”
“Cloud… I’m not hurting it at all.”
“Tifa, please. Can you get away from Fenrir?”
Her jaw dropped open. “You named it?”
“Tifa, come on… This isn’t funny. And…” She watched as his eyebrows slowly knit together. “What are you wearing?”
She smirked inwardly. It was about time he noticed. “Oh, just something I found while I was out shopping. It reminded me of Nibelheim. You like it?” She pushed herself off the bike with an enticing arch of her back to stand straighter and spin in a circle to show her outfit off.
She watched Cloud’s Adam’s apple as he swallowed slowly. “It’s, uh, different from the clothes you used to wear…”
She smiled brightly. “Do you think so? I was hoping it wouldn’t make me look like a kid again. Maybe I’ll wear it while working the bar tomorrow. What do you think?”
“Tifa, that’s… You shouldn’t…”
She smiled a little. “Shouldn’t what?”
“You shouldn’t wear… that in front of other people.”
“Why not? It doesn’t show much more than what I wore while fighting alongside everyone.”
“But, Tifa…”
“But what, Cloud? I’m a bar hostess. I can’t be afraid to show a little skin.”
“A little, yeah, but that… You don’t have much skin left hidden.”
“You didn’t seem to care what I wore last year.”
“But you weren’t a parental figure then.”
“You still aren’t.”
He blinked for a moment. “What?”
“Cloud, we’re in a relationship! I would think that’d mean that when I take care of my friend’s daughter, you would help me! Instead, you’ve been cooped up in this garage, fixing that damn hunk of chrome and steel!”
He blinked. “Tifa? Is that what’s been bothering you lately?”
She felt tears start to prick at her eyes and fought with them, not wanting to break down like a child. “Cloud, I…” She swallowed her spit and bit at her lip, leaning back against the bike for support.
He took a step forward, watching her carefully. “Tifa? Is that what this is about? You want me to help with Marlene more?”
She brushed angrily at her cheek as the first tear started to fall. “I didn’t think you were that dense, Cloud.”
“I- Tifa, what…? I have no idea what you’re talking about. If it’s not Marlene, then what?”
She slapped a hand down on the seat of the bike. “It’s this stupid motorcycle! All you do anymore is lock yourself in here with it and you never pay any attention to us!” Her voice dropped to whisper as she averted her gaze and corrected, “You never pay any attention to me.”
A hand gently cupped her cheek and raised her eyes back to his. He studied her face silently, searching her gaze. Finally, he slowly leaned closer and pressed his lips to hers briefly before pulling back about a half-foot. “Tifa… Why didn’t you say anything? I thought you were happy getting the bar going. I thought you’d be happy that I was staying out of your hair.”
She shook her head, softly at first and then more violently. “No, Cloud! I don’t know what gave you that idea! ‘I’ll be okay because I have you this time’… That’s what you told me the day we killed Sephiroth. You said it was different than before. Was I wrong in thinking you wanted a relationship? To be boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Tifa, I… You know I-”
“-Missed out on five years of your life, right? I know, Cloud.” She wiped her arm across her face to rub her tears away again. “I’m trying to make this work between us, but it seems like I’m the only one trying sometimes…”
He reached up with both hands to cup her face and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears. “Tifa… I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m such a screw-up. I meant what I said that day, I just- I’m sorry.”
“Quit apologizing already!”
“Will you let me make it up to you?”
“How? And when? I’m sure you want to finish your precious Fenrir first.”
“Tifa…” He looked away for a moment, contemplating how to answer. “Tifa, I was thinking right now and… whatever happens.”
She blinked and focused her ruby eyes on his cobalt ones. “Cloud… You mean it?”
He swallowed, knowing full well what he was saying. “Yeah. It’s… what you want, right?”
She shook her head in his hands, barely believing she was, and said, “Only if you want it, too.”
He didn’t reply, but leaned closer and kissed her instead. His hands shifted from her jaw to slide down her arms before settling on the bare skin of her waist. She shuddered under his ghostly touch as he moved closer to press his body against hers. Her arms came up to rest her palms flat against his chest, curling her fingers to scratch at the muscles of his naked torso.
Her body started to act on instinct alone as she angled her head to fit her mouth over his better and shifted to grind her hips against his. She moaned against his lips at the feel of his growing arousal against her lower abdomen and lurched forward, pressing as close as she could. One of his hands moved up to nudge the cowboy hat from her head while his other wormed its way in-between them and pulled at the two buttons to her vest, pushing it off her shoulders and throwing it elsewhere.
His hands slid down her hips to finger the hem of her tiny skirt before shoving it up to her waist. Her arms moved up to link behind his neck, pulling him as close as she possibly could. One of her legs moved up to hook around his, her body hating the vertical position. She reached one hand down between them and pulled at the fly to his cargo pants before unfastening his belt and undoing the button.
Cloud’s hands trailed down and tugged at the backs of her thighs, pulling her off her feet. Immediately, her booted ankles came around him to hook together behind his back. He sat her down on the seat of Fenrir, still busy making sure her mouth stayed fused to his. She was only happy to comply, feeling her need deepen as his erection rubbed against her.
Finally reaching his wit’s end, he slipped a hand between her thighs and shoved her panties to the side. His fingers moved inside of her to make sure she was ready before he pushed his way into her. She let out an audible gasp at the feel of his entrance and started to shift her hips to take as much of him as she could. She broke the kiss off to take a much-needed breath as his hips started to thrust into her, making her sought-after breath come in weary gasps with each motion.
Her chest heaved against his, her arms and legs linking behind him to pull him close. His arms stayed wrapped firmly around her waist while his lips moved to press to ragged kisses to her neck.
She bit down on her lip to keep her screams down as she came. She rode out the waves of pleasure before finally slumping down against Cloud and resting her temple on his shoulder. His body stiffened in her hold as he released with a low grunt, his arms tightening around her waist as one hand fisted in her dark hair.
His body relaxed slightly as he started to recover and he pulled back a little to nudge her head up so he could touch his forehead to hers. He managed to speak while still finding his breath, “Tifa?”
Her reply came as a grunt more than anything else, “Hn?”
“I think we christened Fenrir before it was ready.”
***
Tifa lay in bed that night, resting her cheek on Cloud’s bare chest with a content smile on her face. He turned to look at her and pressed a kiss to her hair while tightening his hold on her waist. She shifted a little to get more comfortable while sleep slowly came for her. So... Fenrir. You can have him during the day. Or at least while the bar is open. She felt a giggle rise up in her throat and shrugged when Cloud asked. I get him at night, though.