Delightful Yet Poisonous

Chapter 9: The Art of Fantasizing

~ "Fine, then I'll do it myself, as usual." ~

Rule 1. You can either ask us to do something, or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

"Hmm... Let's see..."

Okay, so the room was fully decorated with red and pink hearts and balloons, and glitters everywhere (courtesy of Marlene). The cookies, drinks and other delicacies were ready to be served as soon as the guests appeared, and the kitchen... That was where she had to pause on her checklist.

Tifa sighed deeply when she saw the poor state it was in. Unfortunately, some things would never change here.

"Why is the kitchen in a mess, again?"

Cloud looked up from the paper he was reading, giving her a look as if he didn't understand the question. "Don't know. All I had to do was-"

"Yes, I asked you to do the dishes, not to make a warzone out of the kitchen."

The ex-SOLDIER shrugged. "...My bad." After all, all she'd asked him to do was to do the dishes. She had never told him how he should do that. That was up to him.

Tifa narrowed her dark eyes at the short reply. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'll clean it up later," the blond replied dismissively, hoping that she'd drop the case already.

Tifa was a real sweetheart, but sometimes she seemed to not get the hint when it came to letting things go.

"...Cloud, you're not going to clean that up right now?" Tifa asked in a sing-song voice. "Well, then I guess I should punish you for that, hmm?"

That made him pause. "Wh-what?"

He frowned, wondering if he'd heard it right. Tifa winked coyly at him, before slowly starting to unzip her vest, her dark eyes never leaving his. Cloud already felt panic bubble up in his throat. This was going way too fast! What if one of the kids walked in on-

"Cloud!"

Cloud shook his head and was just too late to dodge the decorative heart-shaped pillow that Tifa threw at his head. He realized that he'd been daydreaming (...or maybe more like fantasizing about her) all this time, without paying any attention to what she really had to say...unfortunately. Tifa's frown had intensified tenfold now.

"Fine, then I'll do it myself, as usual," she said with a huff, before stomping away and leaving him alone with his thoughts.

...Damn.

This woman was going to be his death one day. And that new outfit that she was wearing didn't help one bit. That was the only thing he liked about Valentine's Day; Tifa's outfits. The woman had taste, and she seemed to know exactly what he liked on her. And if he wanted to see more of that, he should probably apologize to her now.

With that thought in mind, Cloud got up and headed to the kitchen, where Tifa had already started on the task at hand. Her back was turned to him, but he wasn't sure whether that was a bad sign or not.

"Tifa, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," came the immediate response.

"Then why are you still angry?"

She took a moment to reply this time. "I'm not angry. I'm just...disappointed."

Cloud frowned once again. "Huh?"

She turned around to face him, watching him with a pained expression. "You can't expect me to do everything in the household, right? Sure, I am a woman, and yes, my job is closer at home than yours, but that doesn't mean that I have to do everything alone. That's not fair... I thought we were a family."

He stepped closer to her, so that he could hold her. She was more than right; he was part of their little family now, and it was about time he started showing that he cared about them. And that was exactly what he was planning to do from now on.

"I'm sorry, Tifa... It won't happen again, I promise... You know I love you right?"

She nodded, burying her face in his chest as she tightened the hug. "I wuv yuh tnn" she muttered.

"Tifa?" She looked up at him with a questioning gaze and he seized the moment to capture her lips with his own. "Happy Valentine's Day."