Cloud x Tifa - Out of a Broken Place (FFVII)

Out of a Broken Place

Out of a Broken Place

Tifa hated grappling hooks.

They never discharged quite the way that she planned or timed. They always deployed a few seconds later than she imagined and it always left her doubling up on her feet or nearly dropping Barret, who could operate his own with perhaps half the efficiency that she could.

But not Cloud. For whatever reason, every time that Cloud discharged his hook, it soared over the nearest wall and landed with an assured finality. When he was anchoring them, she never worried.

She was unsure under her own hand, and under Barret's, she worried even more.

Hence her current situation. She was secured against him, the steel and velvet of his muscles and skin within her reach hidden just beneath the surface of his sweater. She'd nearly fallen, but he'd been right there to catch her when her boots missed the slab, carrying her away as he effortlessly shot his hook onto a beam above.

Tifa didn't understand it. Ever since she'd found him at the train station a week ago, she'd been awestruck by her long-lost friend and his abilities. His wielding of a sword had been impressive enough, but then he could also fling magic from his wrists and heal others and was handy with mechanics and had the slickest, smoothest mouth with some of the roughest people in the sector that she had ever seen or heard.

Everything about his effortlessness was intriguing, but at odds with her memories of the sweet, shy boy who had lived next door to her and had a wild streak of untamable impulsiveness that had him lashing out at every other boy in the village. He was all collected and calm now, rarely losing his cool or his temper, even when he and Barret went back and forth to the point that Tifa thought her head might burst.

Those days and nights in Sector7 had unwound her. She couldn't figure him out, no matter how deep she dug into her cache of memories. He was elusive and surrounded by an impenetrable layer, and the more she realized how deep it ran, the higher her anxiety rose and the harder her curiosity and her melancholy hit, bringing back memories of a painful past she couldn't ever get back or reconcile.

As soon as he'd woken fully from his stupor when she brought him back to Stargazer Heights that first night, his eyes had found a way to glue themselves to her. He was quiet and observant those first few days, rarely rewarding her with more than a monosyllabic response whenever she checked on his physical well-being. But soon, a day or two later, the ice began to melt, and Tifa felt like her dearest friend had returned to her, only now wrapped in the strong, protective case of a man.

A man who was stoic and impatient and so damn hot Tifa found that she couldn't stop staring at him, blushing whenever their eyes met until she was cursing herself and trying to find a corner where she could tamp down the way her cheeks and her entire body flushed.

It was a bit too much for her to handle, especially when he started to hang around Seventh Heaven as he waited and searched for work, his eyes hovering a little too dangerously on her body. Tifa was well acquainted with men's stares, had learned to fight them and their accompanying advances ever since she had first moved to Midgar.

But this was different. Cloud's eyes on her body left her feeling hot and exposed in a way that made her feel good , made her feel beautiful, made her want to lay down in the sun and stretch her body out for him and him alone to admire for as long as he wanted.

It took more than she cared to admit to swallow down her constant excitement whenever he was near. It wasn't helped when they went monster hunting together, blood and sweat and industrial fabric soon becoming the only barriers that separated them. The way that his biceps clenched every time he reached for his sword and the manner in which he praised her anytime she cut down an enemy had left her feeling pleasantly surprised by the way they had fallen in rhythm together, and she was embarrassed as all hell by the fact that her panties were soaking wet when they finally made their way back to Wymer and the Watch.