"Cliché"

Summary: Because, if you stripped off the 'heroes-of-the-Planet' complex, the two adopted children living under their care and their ShinRa-induced terrors, it was the typical, clichéd love story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Advent Children or On the Way to a Smile or Dirge of Cerberus (I don't even own a copy of that game!). I don't think I referenced Crisis Core or Before Crisis, but I don't own either. Gah.

It all started when Tifa was mindlessly washing dishes in the closed-up 7th Heaven.

Breakfast laid on the counter, the smell of eggs and bacon wafting through the air. She had just gotten the children to calm down from their playful antics long enough for them to wash up and start gobbling down their first meal of the day. Shelke had disappeared to the WRO Headquarters, being hired by Reeve not long after the Deepground attack on Edge.

That was fine. People often came in and out of her home. Some people stayed, such as Marlene and Denzel. Some of them chose to leave when they thought it fit to. Shelke, as well as Cloud, fit that category quite well. Although, the barmaid noticed that the latter was growing to fit the first category quite well…

Cloud needed a little more time. She couldn't deny that she was a little ticked, but Tifa agreed to be a little more patient. He needed time to recover from the Geostigma-slash-Sephiroth-remnant epidemic.

But Tifa wouldn't be lying if she said that she was relieved when she started noticing Cloud's presence more around the house. Not because he was a rare sight in the bar she called home, but simply because he was here more often.

So here they were, approximately a year past the onslaught of the series of post-Meteor attacks. Finally, they were growing to be a true family.

Still, she couldn't help but be uncomfortable when he decided to leave for an extra-long delivery. Tifa was still holding her breath for the verdict.

At this point though, she just wanted to know if Cloud was going to permanently leave for good or not. She wanted to talk to Cloud so that she would know his decision and just stop waiting.

The barmaid listened tenderly as Marlene chattered on about an incident involving Denzel, the girl who always carried a Moogle around (her name was Aria, wasn't it?), and a misunderstood gesture regarding a kiss on the cheek. She 'hmm'ed' and 'ahh'ed' at the appropriate parts; even laughing at the story's conclusion, unfortunately at the expense of a furiously blushing eleven year-old boy.

"Hey!" He retorted back at a giggling Marlene. "That didn't mean anything!" The emphasis on the last word was dutifully noted on both females' parts.

"Really?" Marlene raised a brow towards the reddening brunette, mouth suddenly pressed into a thin line. "I don't buy that."

Eyes pleading, he turned to Tifa for help.

With a resigned sigh, Tifa offered Denzel a sympathetic smile and turned towards the other girl with a slightly stern expression. "Marlene," she started but her makeshift daughter just shook her head in defeat.

"Fine," she pouted shamelessly. "But don't come crawling back to me or I'll just be saying, 'I told you so!'"

That was the moment Cloud Strife happened to come treading back into 7th Heaven, bags of groceries in his hands and a small, content smile graced upon his features. "What's going on, Marlene?" He had only heard the last bits of their conversation and was, therefore, thoroughly confused.

"CLOUD!"

The two voices jumped with glee, pouncing on the mako-induced man with a vigor that caused him to stumble back a little.

Seeing this, Tifa slid away from the bar counter and tossed him a grateful smile before slipping the bags into her grasp. This allowed Cloud the freedom to carry the younger of the two into his arms into a lifted hug. The smaller of the two swung happily, draped on his neck. If he had not been enhanced by mako, he would've been feeling the strenuous pain that came with the affectionate act.

"Woah." He stared at the pig-tailed brunette with amusement. "You're getting bigger, Marlene." He put Marlene down and opted to ruffle Denzel's hair as a form of affection.

"Cloud! Okay, here's the thing. Denzel has a girlfriend."

"Do not!"

Cloud looked over Marlene's shoulder to see a bright-faced boy in front of him. He could not help but be amused. "Oh?"

"Yeah! There was a kiss and everything!"

He turned to Tifa, who simply shrugged and gave him a soft smile. She then turned to put the groceries away; it was Friday and there was going to be a spike in customers that day. She needed to prepare.

As Marlene and Denzel led the spiky-haired blonde to the bar counter, the former relayed the story once again. Tifa noticed Denzel slowly putting his fork down, his face in evident turmoil. Shoving the last of the groceries in their corrective storage areas, she leaned in against the bar counter in the direction of the shaggy brunette.

"Denzel?"

He looked up, surprised. "Yeah?" His voice had a nervous tremor to it.

"Don't let Marlene get to you."

"It not that," he replied abruptly, effectively cutting off Tifa's next response off. "I… don't want to be cliché."

Tifa blinked. She hadn't been expecting that.

And from the looks of Cloud's and Marlene's faces, they hadn't either.

Denzel didn't even notice that the other two had been paying attention to their conversation until Marlene piped up a, "you're not being cliché."

"But I am!" He exclaimed back, startling everyone in the room. "Aria… she doesn't like cliché."

"How do you know that?" Tifa inquired. "And why would it matter? As long as you like the person…"

Too abruptly, she was reminded of the well, their promise under the Nibelheim stars. Feelings lost from a past self she could barely remember, a past that wasn't burdened with responsibility and the turmoil of events that led her to today. Staring at Denzel now, she forgot what it was like to innocently pine over someone without dealing with the baggage she had on her back.

"Because… we were reading these stories for school. We were studying clichés. A lot of them were romance stories – ones of knights rescuing princesses and becoming heroes and all that. Then we read about the more modern ones. Ones where best friends were in love with each other and where the nerd got the pretty, popular girl."

Tifa stiffened.

But Denzel, oblivious to his older caretaker's sudden discomfort, continued. "The worst was the one where these two neighbours who knew each other their whole life ended up falling in love with each other. They didn't really know each other, because the girl was kind of popular and the boy wasn't really liked. He was a bit of a loser, actually."

Tifa didn't dare look at Cloud at this point.

"What's wrong with that? That's adorable!" Marlene squealed. "What happened?"

Denzel gave his younger sister a look. "He ended up leaving to become a hero so that he could protect her. She ended up falling in love with him after he left. Kind of stupid, if you ask me."

"That's so sad! How is that clichéd?"

"It just is!" Denzel snapped. He sighed. "Aria and me read that story together. She said that it was the most clichéd story she's ever read, and if she ever had a boyfriend, she would never want it to happen like that. And then I overheard her other friends talking about me, and how I keep protecting her and everything… it's exactly what's happening in the story."

Tifa couldn't find her voice. Rapid memories flooded in her mind, from the ones as an eight year-old child staring down at Cloud's beaten-up figure in the town square to the night at the well. And then the AVALANCHE bombing mission. Sephiroth. Cloud's mako poisoning. Geostigma.

She never once thought that their relationship was a cliché.

She didn't know how she felt about that.

Surprisingly, it wasn't her who was the reassurance to Denzel's predicament.

"I don't think that's cliché."

Red-brown irises shot up to bright blue ones. They were determined as ever, staring down at Denzel with an intensity that she hadn't seen in a long while with him.

"Huh?" Was Tifa's stupid comment.

But Cloud shook his head. "No. I don't..." He paused. "I… it shouldn't matter. If you care about the person and the person cares about you, whether or not your story is a cliché shouldn't matter."

"I guess," Denzel answered.

Tifa looked incredulously at the adult before him. A lot of things were left unsaidthere.

"Cloud's right! Besides, that would mean Cloud is a cliché."

Tifa caught Cloud's frozen expression from the corner of her eye. If she wasn't utterly confused by the mass of advice that he had just given Denzel, she would've giggled at the hilarity.

"How?" Denzel gave Cloud a look and frowned. "Cloud's too cool to be a cliché."

But Marlene nodded, oblivious to the scent of irony in the air. "Uh huh! Clichés are those corny heroes with the swords slaying the dragons and saving the day and all of that! So, he is Prince Cloud, Ruler of the Chocobos!"

This time, Tifa couldn't help but giggle.

"Then…" Denzel paused to think. Then his blue irises lit up. "Then that would make Tifa… Princess Tifa!"

"But that makes no sense! Princesses are helpless and need a hero to save them. Tifa's not helpless!"

"But I bet Cloud can save her when she's in trouble."

"Yeah… but they're not together."

The two were definitely rolling into forbidden territory. Looking between the two flustered children, Tifa didn't think that they cared at this point. Cloud, on the other hand, looked as if someone had spilled bleach on his face.

"Princesses and heroes always end up together. They need to kiss – like a happy ending! That would make them cliché!"

Marlene cringed with disgust. "Ewww!"

"Guys!" Thankfully, Tifa had found enough of her voice to break it up. "Finish your breakfast, and then homework."

This was followed by twinning wails of contempt, but the threat of no dessert after dinner was made, and that immediately halted their complaints.

The rest of the time in breakfast was filled with the chatter of Marlene's and Denzel's small talk and other stories they forgot to relay to their older family. Tifa listened intently; Cloud somehow ended up being dragged into conversation with them, the previous topic already forgotten.

At first, Tifa couldn't believe how normal Cloud looked, smiling and listening along to the kids like he was doing now. It was as if he always belonged there.

Tifa shook her head. She couldn't let those feelings resurface again. She had just finished burying them in her past self's grave. Besides, although she knew that he had forgiven himself for Aerith's death; it didn't mean that he was over her. Right?

And what the kids said earlier…

As sad as it was, they were right. In a way. Cloud was always there to save him, even though he left like he did those couple of years. In the end, he was her hero, and she was his princess. Now that the bad guys were gone, were they going to get it?

Tifa put the cup in her hand down and frowned. What was their happy ending? Is this it? Were they just going to be friends who lived in the same house together?

The martial artist shook her head. She was complicating things. She had to leave it alone, like she had learned to do for the past three years or so. There was no use in running in circles in her head when she didn't even know what was going on. She didn't even know what she wanted out of Cloud anymore. She thought she wanted a family, but how could she even ask him of that if she didn't even know the parameters of their relationship? Was he going to leave again? Did he even care about them anymore?

Stop, a warning voice in her head chided. You're done. This is the happy ending, Tifa. Leave it alone. You're being clingy.

Tifa took a deep breath and nodded mentally. Yes. She was done now. She was happy. Family. Marlene, Denzel, Barret, Shelke, and the rest of the gang; her family. She had all of them, healthy and alive. And although Cloud weaved himself in and out of her life periodically (which frustrated her to death), Tifa was grateful that he was just there. She could handle herself – since when did she have to depend on Cloud for anything?

At that moment, Tifa remembered herself again, the woman she vowed to be after the Geostigma incident. The woman who no longer needed to cling onto a certain blue-eyed, spiky-haired man she once loved. The woman who had a job, a home, people to depend on her. She couldn't afford to be weak now. Right.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a simultaneous clatter of utensils on the counter. Lifting her eyes back to reality, Tifa watched as the two children hopped off the stool and raced upstairs. "Be careful up there!" The barmaid sighed when she heard a thump against the floorboards.

"I'm okaaaaay!"

Tifa waited for a few moments. When she heard laughter coming from the other room upstairs, she let out a sigh of relief and continued on her preparations for the day.

Meanwhile, Cloud stared.

It made Tifa uncomfortable.

Finally, the busty brunette put her knife down and lifted her eyes at the figure sitting across from her. "What is it, Cloud?"

Although Cloud's presence was sensed more often in the walls of 7th Heaven, it didn't mean that Tifa was used to it just yet. Cloud still worked a lot. One-on-ones with each other were rare; Cloud was often home so late that Tifa ended up falling asleep on the couch before they could have a decent conversation. And even though he picked up his phone more often while on the road, they never really had the time to talk.

And they had a lot to talk about.

"Nothing." Cloud didn't know how to start that conversation off. He was surprised; to say the least, to hear Denzel, out of all people, criticize one of his most treasured relationships so passionately. Not that the boy knew it.

And what he had said… that certainly was a spur of the moment.

Finally, Tifa put the glass that she washing down, and turned to the leather-clad blonde. "Did you really mean that?"

"What?"

"What you said." Cloud wasn't the most vocal of people, but it was… surprisingly nice to hear.

Suddenly, she looked up, and was met with the most intense gaze she had seen on him. He almost looked… furious. Ice cold and yet, she felt like she was being burnt under the searing hot intensity of it.

"Yes, I meant it. Look," Suddenly, Cloud looked sheepish. It was cute. "I… know that our relationship is… odd, but I… I cherish you, Tifa. I hope you know that."

Tifa couldn't deny the smile threatening to erupt. Was that Cloud giving her his answer? Is the suspense finally done?

But Cloud being Cloud, he continued on his little announcement. "Tifa. I'm going to be taking more deliveries off the continent for a bit."

All hopes for a family shattered at that moment. Tifa frowned. She didn't think she was hoping for anything beyond an answer on Cloud's part.

I guess not.

But just as Tifa was about to open her mouth, Cloud continued. "Only for a little while," he added after seeing Tifa's heartbroken face. He winced mentally; he knew it was bad when Tifa didn't bother to hide her hurt expression. "After that, I'll be limiting myself to deliveries to around the continent. More likely just around Edge."

She felt her heart magically mend itself once again. False alarm, her mind squeaked sheepishly. Still, she was confused at the sudden change of events.

"But… why?"

Much of Cloud's income for his business came from the farthest of deliveries, considering the price that he charged for them. Plus, the monsters that he slayed getting there provided gil and treasuries that he often traded at the market. He would be losing profits, if anything.

"Because I want to be with the kids. And you. I… kind of wanted us to be a real family. I'm sorry for running. I… it was difficult being in the same presence as you."

"What?"

Cloud cringed. He definitely did not word that right. "But… I…"

Suddenly, he remembered what Tifa had told him, the night before they left to fight Sephiroth, under the Highwind. Those words echoed in his skull with a paining clarity that inspired his next move.

Words aren't the only way to tell someone how you feel.

With that, Cloud leaned in and kissed her.

Electricity flitted Tifa's veins, pulsing through her, along with the memories and feelings she thought she had left behind. It gave her heart quite a shock and in response, was pounding rapidly against his. After a moment of taking this all into stride, she kissed him back, passionate and wild as ever.

And when they finally let go, Tifa felt her face burn hot. From a glance of Cloud's face, he could tell that he was embarrassed too.

"I kind of… fell in love with you," he said sheepishly, nervously rubbing the back of his head and blushing. That was a bit overboard. At least his kiss wasn't rejected – he wouldn't have known how to face one of his closest friends if she had rejected him.

Much to his surprise, Tifa smiled. At that moment, everything was clear. Sadly, and painfully, because at that very moment, Tifa quickly replayed the current scene in her head and was tempted to cringe from the cheesiness of it all.

Despite the odd series of events, Tifa followed along. "I love you too." She giggled and added, "My hero." She nudged towards the garage and gave him a sly smile. "Now, take me to your stallion and ride off into the sunset!"

Cloud wasn't too sure, but he could've sworn that Tifa was teasing him. "Funny," he smirked back. "I guess we're a cliché then, huh?"

Tifa shrugged and pulled him down for another kiss. "Who said there were any issues with that?"

Both Cloud and Tifa ignored the excited squeals of Marlene: "Denzel! See! Not all clichés are bad! And they got their happy ending after all!"

A/N: Wow. I certainly did not want the fic to go that way. But it kind of just… wrote itself. Did not picture Cloti being like that at all. I tried to make it as "canon" as possible, but I don't think it really worked. R&R…? Heheheh…