The Sugar in My Coffee - A Humorous (and Fluffy) Cloti and Zerith Fic
https://archiveofourown.org/works/63758122
Summary: A few weeks after Advent Children, Cloud and Tifa are still somehow being awkward and distant with each other. Aerith and Zack, then, decide to discreetly step in to help them, and humor ensues.
The Sugar in My Coffee
Aerith’s PoV
"Zack… why is Cloud suddenly acting so helpless when it comes to Tifa?" asked Aerith, exasperated, as they watched over their friends from the Lifestream.
Normally, she wouldn’t have done this, of course. It was a massive invasion of privacy, so Aerith would usually only ever pay attention to her friends’ lives if she sensed that the planet was once again in danger.
But after Sephiroth had once again been defeated, and weeks later Aerith had sensed so much pain still coming from Cloud and Tifa’s hearts, she hadn’t been unable to resist the urge to take a peek to see what was going on there.
And Zack, it seemed, had been right there with her.
"Well… he was recently dying from Geostigma. Maybe we should cut him some slack,” Zack suggested—squinting his eyes so that he might better peer into the scene that was unfolding before his eyes, Aerith thought. He, after all, wasn’t a Cetra, so it was harder for him to see what was happening back on Gaia, when Aerith opened a path, than it was for the Ancient herself.
And Aerith wanted to agree with Zack here—because the truth was that their friend really had been through far too much—but even she had to draw a line when she learned that he was ignoring Tifa. Again!
Even after his Geostigma had been healed so expertly, if Aerith did say so herself, and Tifa had been cute and forgiving enough to blow him a kiss as soon as he'd been healed—after he'd ignored her the first time—but now this?
"He's breaking Tifa's heart again, Zack, and I won't have it. Nuh-uh."
Zack smiled at Aerith serenely for a beat—maybe thinking she was the greatest thing he'd ever seen, because she was, Aerith knew—before asking, "Okay, then, so what do we do? Pep talks again?"
That was possibly a good plan; and Aerith understood why Zack would suggest it, because not only had it helped Cloud recently, but a certain man named Kadaj that it really seemed that she had become the mother of, Aerith thought as she looked back towards her “son,” ruefully.
"I say we help him figure it out by giving him a nudge that he does need to talk to Tifa now," explained Aerith, thinking wistfully to her dates with Zack and Cloud, where she’d nudged them both in the directions she’d wanted them to go there. "And if that doesn't work, we'll get Denzel and Marlene involved. Who can say no to them?"
Zack looked at Aerith in shock for a moment, no doubt taken aback that she’d bring out the big guns. But then he grinned widely and nodded his head enthusiastically.
Okay, so it was a plan, then!
Time for her to get to work…
…
Cloud’s PoV
"Cloud… what's wrong? Why are we- why are we still having issues?" Tifa asked, turning around to face him as he sat at Seventh Heaven’s kitchen table, going over his deliveries for the next morning. It seemed to Cloud that she'd finally given up on finding busy work to do in the kitchen at the same time he was in here (like writing on the cream of tartar that it wasn't the same as tartar sauce: a mistake he'd learned the hard way when baking with Marlene a few months ago, so he was thankful to her for doing this), and finally decided that they needed to address the matter at hand.
And how Cloud wanted to kick himself for Tifa thinking they needed to address anything at all, because they were fine… should have been fine, anyway. She hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't her fault he still had problems communicating.
"I just… I guess I don't know how you forgave me so easily, Tifa?" Cloud started. And then inwardly cursed himself, not knowing where he was going with this, because hadn't he just been thinking they were fine… should have been fine, but was now contradicting the thought?
But taking a deep breath and deciding to let his heart do the talking, Cloud found himself continuing with, "Sure there instantiating circumstances when I left when I had Geostigma… but I still left you. With so much to take care of when I did. And don't you deserve better than that?"
In realizing what the problem was now, Tifa smirked a little and seemed to choose this moment to act "tough," as she asked Cloud point-blank, "Isn't that my choice?"
And it was. It really was. Tifa was so strong and forthright. And she… She really knew and loved him. It was hard to believe so, but she did. And that- that was why he loved her, too.
"It-it is,” Cloud said--standing now, so that he could begin walking towards Tifa the second the moment allowed. “And don't get me wrong. I don't want to push you away, when someone like you is…"
Oh, God, he was going to mess this up. Looking all around the kitchen for any kind of inspiration to use here, he found himself saying, "the sugar in my coffee…" and while that may have been true—and hey, Tifa's eyes were even the color of coffee—Cloud knew how horrible an analogy it was, and in not trying to ruin things, he was pretty sure he just had.
But Tifa just seemed to blush, tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, and look around the room herself a little before saying, "U-Umm, thank you, Cloud. I appreciate that. B-but maybe you shouldn't be the one to teach Denzel and Marlene about metaphors, huh?"
Cloud snorted, suddenly finding his shoes very interesting, just as he broke out in gooseflesh. Well, he couldn't argue with that.
"So, then, are we-"
"But if we're going to use such, uhh, awful metaphors, know that you're the sugar in my chamomile," Tifa whispered, her face tomato red now, before she started to step away towards the living room-joint bar.
"Tifa, wait-" Cloud started, using a bit of his SOLDIER speed so he could get to her before she was gone and grab her arm to halt her.
And was it Cloud… or could see the ghostly form of Zack and Aerith again, at the edge of the room. Cloud scrubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but nope. His friends were still there.
"Aerith?!" Tifa choked with tears evident in her voice, indicating to Cloud that he wasn’t going crazy and this time she could see the pair, as well.
"We were going to step in to make sure you two were really going to sail this time, but it looks like you’ve got it covered—cheesy lines and all,” Aerith winked at her friend.
And Tifa sobered up then a little, brushed away her tears, and laughed lightly. “Yeah, I guess we do.”
"I think they learned a cheesy line or two from us, dear," Zack reminded his girlfriend. And Aerith giggled at that. And if that wasn't like the feel of her "Healing Rain," Cloud didn't know what was.
"Well, we have to go now. Be good. And take care of Marlene and Denzel!" Aerith urged them, with something there in her voice Cloud couldn’t quite make out.
And holding hands, the couple walked away and disappeared back into the Lifestream—not unlike how they had a few weeks ago.
Tifa watched them in awe, just like Cloud had, before she turned to him with a big grin on her face and fell into his arms. "Our lines were cheesy… but at least we knew that, I guess. Still, I can't help feeling Denzel and Marlene are doomed."
"But at least they'll know they have two parents who love them like no other," Cloud reminded Tifa. 'And we love each other,' he thought, kissing the top of her head.
Sitting down, then, to a warm glass of coffee while the kids continued to play “Monopoly” in Denzel’s room, Cloud reflected that everything truly was alright.
Author's Note: A rewrite of a story I wrote… probably about sixteen-seventeen years ago. o_0 And I partly rewrote it, because I don’t think I’m the best at writing comedy anymore? But I do think the original, at least, was really funny (it had my friend Michael, at least, bursting out in laughter as he read it).
So, I rewrote it to somewhat try and practice comedy in my writing again and recapture that feeling. I don’t know if it’s AS funny as it once was, because tbh: the original was probably a little OOC (as I was very new to writing then), and I very obviously wanted to stay true to the characters here. But I tried.
Hope you all enjoyed:)
And this is dedicated to my old friend, Michael. Michael, we’ve admittedly drifted apart. And I’m not going to message you about this or anything like that (though I do know you’re still a fan of FFVII and you used to read fanfiction, though I don’t know if you do anymore). But if you ever do just happen to find this on your own, know that this is dedicated to you, of course, and I still love you, my friend, and hope that you’re doing well.
Edit: Oh, and the tartar sauce and cream of tartar thing was a reference to some of fanfiction author "Qwi-Xux's" wonderful CloTi work, where in one of her works Cloud DID mix those two things up while baking with Marlene. LOL
