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It wasn’t strange to hear laughter coming from the bar. It had become a pretty common place thing ever since Aerith moved in to help Tifa with the kids. It was a decidedly nice change of pace from what their lives had been previous to that.
Cloud walked into the bar, package in hand. It wasn’t all that often that he was there, but when he was there was a deep sense of home that he knew had to come from whatever it was that Aerith did to make the bar so full of life. And he knew that it was Aerith’s doing because the bar hadn’t felt like this before she moved in.
The woman in question was behind the bar washing a glass. She looked up, coy smile on her lips at the sight of the male, “Another delivery?”
He nodded in response, holding out the package, “Special delivery from Barret to Marlene.”
Her eyes lit up and she took the package, “She’ll be thrilled. I’ll give it to her when they get back from the store.”
That would explain why the bar was so quiet despite it being the middle of the day. Tifa must have taken the kids with her to give Aerith a bit of reprieve. The Centra was the one who usually watched the kids while the bar was open and Cloud could only imagine how exhausting that ordeal would have been.
It was part of why he had moved out as soon as Aerith had moved in, finding another building that he could run his business out of. Well, that and he found it a little awkward to be on the outskirts of what had clearly become a family unit.
He eyed the woman as she took the package and put it in a safe place under the bar before she returned to cleaning her glass. She paid him no mind for a moment, patiently waiting for him to say what it was that he wanted to say. It took all of five somewhat comfortable, somewhat awkward minutes before he took a seat on one of the stools in front of the bar.
“How are things with you and Tifa?”
She looked at him then, searching his face for any sign of hidden hurt or resentment and found none. She relaxed a bit. It was rare they talked about personal lives, but she knew that Cloud had held a flame for Tifa at one point and frequently worried that the blond warrior had stepped aside at the cost of his own feelings.
It seemed that her worries were unfounded, however.
“They’re great,” she admitted, small smile gracing her lips at the thought of the other woman. It had been a bit of a surprise to the group as a whole when the two developed feelings for each other, but they had all been supportive, if sometimes awkward about it.
Though, Aerith felt some of that awkwardness could be attributed to the fact that their friends were just awkward sometimes naturally. Especially the blond sitting before her. He smiled faintly and nodded a bit.
“Glad to hear it.”
The two turned at the sound of the door opening and shouts of “Cloud!”. Denzel and Marlene ran up to the man and babbled at him a hundred miles a minute and poor Cloud looked faintly overwhelmed.
Leaving him to his plight, Aerith came around to the front of the bar and took the bags from Tifa who smiled at her before turning to go and grab the rest of the bags. Aerith took her bags into the kitchen and started putting things away, Tifa joining her shortly with the rest of the bags.
They worked in relative silence as they listened to the kids telling Cloud all about their adventures since the last time he had been at the bar and he tried to keep up with them. Tifa giggled a bit and Aerith looked over at her with a faint smile. She loved that sound. It had been something that she heard far too rarely for too long and now she cherished it.
“What’s so funny?”
Tifa turned to the other girl, eyes bright with laughter, “I was just thinking that Cloud sounds like he’s going to try and make a break for it… and that he’s not going to get very far.”
That drew a soft laugh from Aerith as she finished putting away the groceries and moved over to the other woman, kissing her softly before smiling, “Think we should save him?”
Tifa hummed a bit into the kiss before shrugging faintly at the question, “He’s a big boy. I think he can handle himself.”
Aerith smiled and kissed her again before pulling away, “In that case, maybe we should start making dinner while we can.”
Tifa nodded a bit in agreement and moved to pull ingredients out of the fridge for dinner, “What is Cloud doing here anyway?”
“Oh, he had a package for Marlene from Barret. It’s under the bar.”
Tifa nodded a bit as she started cutting up some chicken to be seasoned, “Do you know if he’ll stay for dinner?”
“With Cloud, who knows?” Aerith quipped back as she started dicing the vegetables, “But it’s probably a safe bet.”
Tifa hummed quietly again to show that she had heard her and they worked in silence for a bit before she spoke, “Do you think it’s weird for him?”
Aerith didn’t have to ask what it was that Tifa was referring to, shaking her head a bit in response, “He’s pretty content, actually. He asked how we were doing earlier and seemed relieved to hear that we were good.”
“Really?” Tifa turned to actually look at her companion, “He hasn’t asked before.”
“No,” Aerith agreed, “I was a bit surprised myself, but he seems genuine in his intentions. I think he’s happy for us. I know I am.”
That caused Tifa to smile, “I am too.”
They went back to cooking in a comfortable silence, broken on occasion by asking to pass something or giggling as they bumped into each other. Soon enough the smell of food drew the kids and Cloud into the kitchen. They had Denzel and Marlene set the table while Cloud went to wash up.
Tifa had started dishing out the food while Cloud tried to fish a piece of pasta out of the pot still on the stove and Aerith smacked his hand away, “You stay out of that. You have worse manners than the children.”
There was no bite to her words, though, as she took the pot over to the table and dished out the pasta onto the plates while Tifa came back over to Cloud. She smiled at him, realizing that she hadn’t actually spoken to the other since she got home.
“How’ve you been, Cloud?”
Cloud gave a faint shrug as he sucked the sauce from the pasta off his finger before replying, “Busy.”
Tifa snorted in response as she moved over to the table, Cloud falling into step behind her, “Talkative as ever I see.”
Dinner was a casual, if somewhat awkward affair and Cloud left afterwards, leaving Tifa and Aerith to send the kids off to bed before the bar could be opened. Tifa leaned forward to steal a kiss. Here in the fading light from the setting sun with Aerith's soft lips pressed against her own, Tifa found herself at home.