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It started out as a bet.
Even though they had a bunch of “anonymous” donors, gil was still pretty tight among AVALANCHE. Not that it mattered too much in the slums, where everyone was struggling, but sometimes it was nice to have a little extra gil to throw around.
They kept it flowing between them with bets. Most of them were pretty stupid, like betting which drink a patron at the bar would order next, or what swear word would come out of Barrett's mouth. Pretty tame stuff.
That was why Jessie was a little surprised when Biggs nudged her one afternoon with a sly grin on his face. “Fifty gil if you can make Tifa blush.”
“E-Excuse me?!” She was more surprised at the offer than the notion of making their beautiful bartender blush. Ahem. “What brought this on, huh?”
“Just thought it'd be interesting.” Biggs leaned back in his chair, tilting it on its back legs. “What? You're not up for the challenge?”
“Oh, you bet I am!”
She could've sworn he was laughing when she abruptly stood up and went to the bar, but she didn't turn back to look. Nope, Jessie was on a fifty-gil mission. No time to be distracted!
It was that time of night when things were picking up a little, so there were already a good number of patrons at the bar. Tifa expertly mixed and poured drinks, her movements so at ease that it almost looked like a dance. Jessie absolutely didn't think that because she found it fascinating, nope.
With that thought firmly planted into her mind, she swung into a free stool and laced her fingers together, resting her chin on them in what she hoped was a flirty manner. She was gonna get Tifa so red that everyone would wonder if she was delirious with fever!
“Hey, Jessie.” Tifa made her way over, totally not noticing Jessie's flirty stance. “What can I get for you?”
“The beautiful bartender's specialty, of course.” She winked, trying to act as suave as possible. It was a little different than the roles she normally played back when she'd been an actress, but it still felt weirdly natural. Maybe because it was Tifa.
However, Tifa wasn't swayed and just gave Jessie a confused little smile. “Coming right up.”
Hmmm. Not quite…
The drink was made quickly with usual expertise. When Tifa came to deliver it, Jessie pulled a move she knew was usually frowned upon, but she figured she'd be safe from getting decked in the face since they were...friends and all.
“Why, thank you,” she said in as smooth a voice as she could, reaching out to cover Tifa's hand with her own. “This looks almost as amazing as you...” Another wink. “Almost.”
“Jessie…?”
For a very long moment that seemed to slow time around them, the two stared at each other with soft eyes and an eager touch. Jessie couldn't really say why her heart suddenly started pounding so hard. It definitely wasn't Tifa's big amber eyes, nope.
The moment was soon broken when Tifa pulled her hand away with a quiet laugh. “Have you already one? You're acting weird.”
“Not at all.” Jessie took a long sip, lingering for a moment at the amazing sight before her.
Were Tifa's cheeks pink?
It was only when the crowd started getting rowdier that Jessie rushed back to the table where Biggs and Wedge were waiting. “You see?! I did it! Got her to blush and everything!”
Biggs looked unimpressed. “Just a trick of the light. I couldn't see it from here.”
“Oh come on!”
He laughed, even when Wedge nudged him to hush. “I'll give you til Friday to fulfill your end. Sound good?”
“You're on.”
–
It was easy to up her game over the next couple of days. Jessie wasn't afraid to be a flirt – sure, she got all fluttery around people she liked, but she had a feeling it was her theater training that gave her confidence.
The problem with Tifa was that, the more she tried to win the bet, the more that fluttery feeling came in full force.
Jessie realized this a couple of days after that first attempt and she leaned against Tifa in what she thought was a 'friendly' way, their shoulders brushed together and faces just a liiiittle too close. Tifa's nose was totally pink, but Biggs again claimed it wasn't enough.
Somehow, she didn't really mind. It was fun, in a way, to find ways to make Tifa speechless for a moment or to bring that little smile on her face. Nobody had any right to be that beautiful, seriously.
There were a few times when Jessie let her touch linger just a liiiittle too long or their eyes would lock and her breath would be caught in her throat. Fun and fluttery, all for fifty gil. Totally fine.
She wondered what all those butterflies really meant. Sure, she'd had crushes on people before, but this was just to win a bet! Nothing to it, right?
“Are you all right, Jessie?”
She blinked a couple of times, that voice startling her out of her thoughts. “Oh, Tifa! Yeah, just fine.”
“You've been acting a little….weird lately.” Tifa leaned down on the bar, crossing her arms for comfort. “Anything you want to talk about?”
“Oh, you know me. Always thinking about the next plan.”
“...Yeah.” Tifa sighed, looking a little distraught for a second, but the expression was gone as soon as it came. “Can I get you anything while I'm back here?”
Here was another chance! “Oh, I don't know...something sweet?”
“Really? I thought you went for the hard stuff.”
Jessie couldn't help but grin. “Maybe it's just sweeter coming from your hands.”
It was the kind of thing she’d been saying all week. Anything to get Tifa red and, consequently, win the bet, although the bet was the farthest thing from her mind right now. All of her flirty little lines had only resulted in a confused laugh or a head shake or something along those lines.
But now, in the dim lighting of Seventh Heaven, Jessie saw it.
Tifa blushed.
Her cheeks and nose were unmistakably tinged pink and something in her expression was bright and hopeful, if not a little confused. It was like she didn’t know what to make of this sudden sport of flirting and now it’d all just gathered in that one stupid line.
Jessie’s heart pounded at the thought and she felt weirdly lightheaded. It wasn’t until Tifa reached out and gently touched her arm that something smacked her like a monster popping out from the rubble.
She liked Tifa!
It didn’t make any sense! She’d just been doing this for fun, because it was lovely to flirt with her and talk to her and spend time with her and...oh damn.
“Uh,” Jessie croaked.
Tifa gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “You know, it’s going to be a few hours before the crowd starts coming in. Why don’t we go back to my place and talk about...things?”
“Sure.” Jessie still felt a little dazed, but when Tifa came around to the front and offered her hand, Jessie took it, a weird satisfaction fluttering in her chest when she realized Tifa was still blushing. “I think we have a lot to talk about. Y’know, besides AVALANCHE.”
“Definitely.”
The floor beneath the pinball machine – which led to the secret hideout – suddenly whirred, bringing Biggs and Wedge back to the bar. Biggs’s gaze immediately flickered to Jessie and Tifa’s joined hands, his eyebrows going waaay up.
Jessie didn’t give him a chance to say anything. “We’ll be back in awhile. Watch the bar, ‘kay?”
“Uh...huh.”
Jessie wondered if Biggs had noticed Tifa’s pink nose and cheeks, but she didn’t really care. Suddenly, fifty gil didn’t seem all that important. She put it completely out of her mind as she and Tifa left Seventh Heaven, still hand-in-hand as they walked to the apartment.
Meanwhile, Biggs stared at the empty space where the two women had stood, not moving until Wedge gently slapped his shoulder. “Told you!”
“I still can’t believe it.” Biggs didn’t know whether to feel proud or shocked. “How the hell could you have possibly known this would happen?”
“I read a lot of romance novels,” Wedge admitted. “Now what was it, a hundred gil?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Biggs dug in his pockets and slapped the gil into Wedge’s outstretched hand. Sure, his friend’s happiness was worth the loss, but no way had he ever imagined those two would get together. And he owed Jessie fifty now – he’d seen that blush on Tifa’s face. Maybe he could figure out some way to make it all up.
“All right then,” he said. “Fifty gil says Tifa still manages to come back and open the bar on time.”
Wedge laughed. “You’re on!”
Unfortunately, when Tifa and Jessie scurried into Seventh Heaven over late, both of them blushing a bright pink, Biggs lost again.