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Tifa had just one singular rule whenever her birthday rolled around each year: Cloud was not allowed to spoil her with gifts.
The concern had started after her first birthday following all the world-ending events they had prevented since their finances had started to become an issue, especially since they had blown through so much gil travelling across the world and Tifa was no longer receiving income from the destroyed Seventh Heaven. Additionally, Barret had entrusted them with raising Marlene and so suddenly caring for a child as well did not come particularly cheap, especially when Marlene was still quite young at the time, too. Of course, Denzel had also followed not long after, which did not help the situation, especially when the boy didn’t have anyone else to turn to and so Cloud had had to take him in and give him a comfortable home with them. It was certainly better than the streets, and way safer too given Denzel had been badly suffering from geostigma when Cloud had found him.
Now however, things were much more stable. Marlene and Denzel were much older and could fend for themselves (mostly). Tifa had managed to get Seventh Heaven back up and running, the new location being part of their house in Edge, and it was proving to be as popular as ever, if not more popular than before back in Midgar due to the amount of people who fell in love with Tifa’s bartending skills while they were journeying across Gaia chasing after Sephiroth. Even though Cloud had taken up his own delivery business, Tifa’s bar still ended up racking up the most revenue for them. It didn’t help that so many customers naturally loved her kindness and compassion and so she ended up with tons in tips by the end of each night.
Tifa still insisted Cloud not spoil her this year though, claiming that she doesn’t need anything big or fancy for her birthday to be happy. It was followed by playful teasing from Cloud about her being sappy because spending time with him was enough for her, but she seriously meant it.
Which presented the issue Cloud was facing now, as his idea for a birthday present was not within Tifa’s proposed budget, but he still wanted to go ahead with it because it was important to him. In the end, he ended up stuck on what to do, and so when he met with Barret for a day after he found himself near Corel, he decided to swallow his pride and ask for advice, despite how much his younger self would have stubbornly tried to deal with it himself. And despite the fact that Cloud was aware that Barret was never going to let him live it down.
Luckily for Cloud, he wasn’t even the one who brought the conversation up in the first place.
“So, you got Tifa anything for her birthday yet?” Barret asked, always being interested in how much he could see his two best friends (not counting Red, his talking dog best friend) deeply cared for each other despite the awkwardness that always arose whenever they were aware they were around other people. In fairness, Barret had an annoying habit of making unnecessary (and sometimes inappropriate, especially for the kids) jokes whenever he was visiting. Which unfortunately happened quite a lot and often spontaneously due to them taking care of Marlene still and him wanting to check on his “baby girl”. (Cloud often ended up pointing out how Marlene was almost ten now and there was nothing “baby” about it, but Barret ignored it like normal, and Tifa often just laughed at how nothing had changed between them.)
“Not yet,” Cloud replied honestly. He was secretly hoping that Barret’s mind would assume it was more of him not being able to find something nice to give her rather than him thinking Cloud didn’t care for her anymore. However, this was also Barret and who knew where his mind went, although Cloud found it highly unlikely that he would ever doubt what they had between them. Not when Barret had been the unfortunate first person to have to endure their constant flirting when on the way to Mako Reactor 5.
Of course, Cloud had still been living in denial of those feelings back at the time, even if apparently it had been “excruciating obvious” that Cloud “had it down hard” for Tifa (Barret’s exact words).
“What? You don’t know what to get her?”
The question had been said with an intonation of confusion even though literally anyone could tell you that Cloud had never been the best romantic, even though an improvement had been slowly surfacing over the past few years. Tifa had always kindly assured him that everything he did was enough for her, even if it was either super awkward, or super embarrassing at times as Cloud genuinely had absolutely no idea what he was doing. That was why he had let Tifa plan and arrange what was their first official date (not counting the time at the Gold Saucer, even though they had technically kissed that night).
“No, that’s actually not the issue I’m having this year. I know what I want to do, but Tifa would greatly disapprove of the cost, even though it’s something a bit more... permanent.”
“You’re not thinking of something crazy, are you?” Not that he doubted Cloud would do anything excessively crazy, but it was still good to get some reassurance. “Like I understand you love the girl, but you don’t want to buy her like a whole amusement park, right?”
Cloud’s initial response was a brief moment of confusion at the over-the-top suggestion, as if surprised that Barret would even suggest such a ridiculous thing, but then his actual answer consisted of an outraged traditional Cloud stare that screamed ‘why would you even say such a stupid thing’. “If I did that, then we’d definitely be unable to afford it, and Tifa would definitely give me a few lectures about why I absolutely went against her wishes.”
"What are you thinking of?"
Going against the usual cool and confident Cloud personality, he hesitated for a second, as if fighting with himself over whether to tell Barret his idea or not. It was being torn between the unpredictable nature of the other and not knowing whether Barret would support his choice or laugh and title him a fool for even suggesting such a silly thing. If this had been Cloud before Tifa had bravely rescued his true self, he definitely wouldn't have hesitated, or been this nervous about everything, but since that day, he had to curse his true anxious side that came out now, even though it was all internal since in reality, he would never be anything but grateful towards Tifa for what she did that day. Especially when she didn't have to do all that, put her own life in danger to make sure he made it out the lifestream intact, but she chose to, and she didn't even care afterwards because she was too busy crying in joy at the Cloud she knew all that time finally returning to the surface. No more fragments of Zack in his memory messing with his personality, and no more Sephiroth to push her away constantly.
He was forever indebted to her, for a number of reasons actually, and in the end, that was why he was so confident in his decision for her gift this year.
He decided to just get the inevitable torment over with and tell him. "Actually, my plan was to, sort of, ask her to marry me." Wanting to avoid uncomfortable silence, he kept going with his reasoning. "I mean, it makes sense when you think about it, right? We've been together for years and I just keep procrastinating it over and over again."
He left the conversation there as he didn't want to admit, and certainly not to Barret of all people, that the reason was mostly because of fear.
Somehow he had shocked Barret into a stunned silence and it was slightly nerve-wracking. "Well? What do you think?"
"Shit, man. Of all the things you could have said, this wasn't what I was expecting."
Yet Cloud was expecting that reaction since he was the least likely person to do anything remotely romantic without guidance. The fact that he had decided he wanted to do this without the idea being implanted in his brain by someone else had surprised himself at first. Well, actually the idea had been briefly suggested by Marlene a few times over the years she had been living with them, but she had never implied that she was actually bothered if they decided to or not. And Denzel just seemed happy to have a family that cared for each other after everything he had been through and never even paid any attention to the fact that Cloud and Tifa had just been extremely close partners for years and nothing more.
"The thing is, Tifa deserves the best, but she'll know if I buy something expensive, 'cause ever since we rebuilt the bar and started living together, we've had a shared financial- thing. You know what I mean. So as much as I want to give her a big grand gesture and the whole display, she'll know I spend money on her and that's literally her one birthday rule, no matter how special I think the gift is."
“So then, what exactly are you going to do?”
And there was the question that threw Cloud for a loop. He knew the answer, or at least he knew an answer. Unfortunately, the answer was not what he wanted to do, since there was no way of going against Tifa’s wishes, or rather, Cloud found that he himself didn’t want to disappoint her, even as important as this meant to him.
“Surely she’ll excuse something like this, right?” Barret tried to assure him. “A big romantic gesture from you of all people.”
“I don’t want to get punched and find out, personally,” he replied. Barret assumed it was a joke at first before realising he was completely serious, and he could see it given how powerful Tifa was.
“Hey, why don’t you just get someone else to buy it for you?”
“Like who...?” Cloud questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, name one person we know who has been practically obsessed with you and Tifa since we met who may be convinced to do anything for you, and who has a shit ton of free cash to spend.”
“Yuffie,” Cloud realised. “What makes you think she’ll drop everything so suddenly and help me-”
“Please!” Barret’s voice bellowed out, actually making Cloud jump for a split second. “I’ve seen that girl drop everything and head to Tifa’s just because Tifa told her over the phone that she had made chocolate chip cookies with Marlene one day.”
“Why does that somehow not surprise me?” Cloud sighed. “But there’s still the issue that she’s in Wutai right now and Tifa’s birthday is in less than a week now and she’d have to come all the way here to help.”
“It was just a suggestion, man. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I don’t think you have all too many other options.”
For the rest of the day, that was the decision Cloud had to debate in his mind. Did he want Yuffie’s help with this or not? On one hand, Yuffie would definitely be willing to help given how much she had made it excruciatingly obvious that she was rooting for them to date for ages before they actually did. Plus, then it would stop the issue of Tifa being able to know if he bought something expensive for her if he was not the one who made the purchase. On the other hand, he had no clue if Yuffie could even make it all the way over to Edge to help before Tifa’s birthday rolled around, or if she was even going to be willing to help at all. Perhaps she would charge a fee for her services that he would have to pay, which most likely wouldn’t amount to the cost of the present but Tifa would still know that he paid something.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long of pondering the options for him to realise that Barret was indeed correct and that he did not have too many options. Especially since he was completely determined to go ahead with this idea. Mainly because if he didn’t do it now, he knew he would just keep putting it off again and again, and her birthday was the biggest and most important day to her for him to do this, hence why he had to. Well, other than maybe his birthday which she always did an excellent job of making enjoyable for him despite him constantly telling her that he didn’t want to celebrate it.
Defeated, he searched the list of contacts in his PHS until he found Yuffie at the bottom (as her name was often always last due to the alphabetical sorting). Since he had no idea if she was busy, or what she even did in Wutai in the first place these days, he decided to send a message instead of calling her. Also because he despised talking over the phone to people, as he found it especially awkward, unless it was Tifa because he always seemed to find confidence to speak to her, and definitely when they were unfortunately separated for days on end due to him travelling so much.
Hey, Yuffie. Don’t know if you’re busy or not but reply as soon as you’re free.
What he hadn’t expected was a response in literal seconds. Apparently she was not as busy as he had assumed she would be.
What is it spikes
Choosing to ignore how grammatically different their messages were, he continued.
I was wondering if you wanted to hang out. Sort out things for Tifa’s birthday?
Once again, Yuffie’s reply was practically instantaneous, albeit full of atrocious grammar.
OMG i'd love to i can be over in two days sound good
Apparently the worry had been completely unnecessary, and Barret had been absolutely right that she would drop everything and see him, even without any further context of why he wanted to see her needed. He imagined that she would change that from two days to instantly if she found out it was to do with him wanting to propose to her best friend.
I’m in Corel for the night but should be returning home first thing tomorrow.
K
With Yuffie’s lack of words, he assumed the conversation had ended. There didn’t seem to be anything left to say anyway since he would just explain all the details to the ninja once she arrived in the town. Even if he didn’t, Yuffie’s extreme prying into anything supposed to be personal or private would mean she would ask non-stop pestering questions about why he was so desperate to have her come over. Then again, she could also just be wanting to sort out a gift for Tifa by getting his opinion on things since he knew her the best. Knowing Yuffie as well as he did by now told him that both options were viable.
Now that arranging a meet-up with Yuffie was sorted out, the only other thing he had to do for the night was wait for Tifa’s call. Not wanting to repeat his mistakes of making her leave constant voicemails to him like he had done all those years ago, ever since they had started being a family, or the equivalent to at least, again, they had made themselves a little promise to each other. Whenever Cloud was unable to return home for the night due to distance, Tifa would call him before she went to bed and they’d share a conversation, mostly about the events of the day for both of them (although Tifa’s days were usually more interesting than Cloud’s), as long as Cloud actually answered the phone so they could talk instead of leaving a message.
So far, there had been no days since this had been implemented where one of them didn’t uphold their half of the deal.
When his PHS started obnoxiously ringing and the ID placed the call at Seventh Heaven, he answered it faster than he would have if it had been anyone else. Since he was stuck on another continent for the night, he desperately wanted to hear Tifa's voice again.
"Hi!"
Her energetic greeting filled him with immense relief. It seemed that nothing too choatic or bad had happened while he had been gone.
"I had a busy day with customers here so is it okay if we keep this brief? I feel like I'm going to collapse into sleep at any moment."
She couldn't see it, but Cloud smiled a little to himself, mostly grateful that she could be in this tired condition and yet still want to make time to uphold their silly little promise.
"That's fine. I don't want to push you too much anyway."
"So, I happened to see that you're not working on the 3rd. Any particular reason why?"
Her stiffled laughter only revealed that the question was definitely supposed to be a trick. She always loved testing Cloud like this, but he never failed her little tests because it turned out that he really did care a lot about her and thus paid immense attention to everything she said. Like she was the most important person in the world, and she was to him at least.
"It's your birthday," he replied, playing along and acting like it was completely obvious the whole time. "Unless you don't want to do anything special for it, then I'm sure I can work it instead."
"After I just arranged for Barret to take the kids for the day? No way!"
Immediately after that comment, she yawned on the other end of the line.
"Guess I was more tired than I thought."
"Hey, I'll be fine. You should get some sleep. Don't worry about me. I'll back tomorrow anyway."
"You sure? We didn't really talk for very long. I'm sorry about that."
"Don't apologise, Tifa. I completely understand. I'd rather you get some sleep, alright?"
"Uh, okay! I guess, I'll see you when you get back tomorrow?"
"Goodnight, Tifa."
"Night, Cloud!"
The *click* of the PHS disconnecting filled the room. For Cloud, the one thing he had managed to take out of that interaction was that he was absolutely certain he was doing the right thing. He didn't want to imagine a world where their relationship went nowhere, especially when it was incredibly obvious just how much they cared.
It just all came down to how much Yuffie was willing to help.
Yuffie had actually been much more willing to help than even he had imagined at first. She had arrived prompted, apparently having taking a ride with Cid's airship as it was faster than attempting to travel all the way from Wutai using the normal means of transportation to Edge. As soon as she had gotten in the town, she had happily greeted Tifa and then headed out.
Tifa had questioned Cloud's sudden choice to spend time with Yuffie randomly, but the girl was already dragging him out of the bar before he could reply. All he knew was that Tifa's interrogation was likely to continue when he returned home later.
Of course, Yuffie immediately pestered him with questions about what he was getting her, and he had no choice but to come clean on his plan right away. Yuffie was stunned and speechless before excitedly celebrating the idea like a little child being allowed to play on a playground.
Safe to say, she was definitely for the whole idea.
Of course, he still had to break the news that he needed her to buy what he needed.
"Hey, Yuffie, the thing is, I can't afford to do this. At least, not without Tifa knowing."
One thing he should have been prepared for was Yuffie being smarter than she used to be. She immediately picked up on how she had inevitably been tricked and called here for some ulterior motive and not just because she greatly cared for her friendships with both Cloud and Tifa.
"Hey! What are you implying?" Yuffie pouted. "Did you drag me all the way out here so you could get me to buy it for you?" She dramatically gasped for effect, to which Cloud felt his eye roll repsonse was perfectly valid. "I'm appalled! Offended!"
"Yuffie..."
"But- I also know how much you two are absolutely perfect for each other, and I'd hate for this to never happen cos of some silly financial issue. I was the one who kept insisting you two get together all those years ago, remember?"
"How could I forget all that?"
"However, are you aware that if I, the great and powerful ninja Yuffie, do this favour for you, you will forever be indebted to me and my incredible power?"
"Of course I know that," he replied, slightly surprised at how she could still have that childish tone even after all those years. "If you want to pay you back for this, I will. It'll just likely be small payments over a large space of time-"
"Nah," Yuffie interrupted abruptly. "You don't have to pay me back. I just request one, and only one favour from you."
"What?"
"When you and Tifa have children, you have to promise me that you'll make me the godmother, got it?"
Ignoring how embarrassed, and red, Cloud went at that request (although he ensured it was barely visible), he simply just cleared his throat and gave Yuffie her desire. Not like he really had much of a choice in this situation. "Fine."
"Yay!" Yuffie cheered. It was followed by an unnecessary hug that Cloud eventually wormed his way out of.
"Also, don't think I didn't notice you say when and not if in that request."
"Let's go, grumpy!" Yuffie dodged the remark, grabbed Cloud by his single sleeve, and began leading him through the streets. She wasn't even the one who lived in the town and yet she was acting like she knew exactly where everything was. Perhaps she did though, since it was likely that she came round a lot to go shopping with Tifa when he wasn't around.
Plus, he was aware that even when he was at home in Edge, he tended to just stay at Tifa's bar, their home, and spend time with the family rather than going out.
In the end, they hadn't spent too long in the store before Cloud had decided what he wanted. Yuffie happily elected to pay, and then wished him luck before saying that her people at home in Wutai needed her. Of course, she also left an ominous message about Cloud's fate if he didn't immediately text her Tifa's response on the day.
Now all that mattered was the actual day itself, and hoping that Cloud wasn't going to back out in fear like he, ironically, was scared of doing.
Yuffie would kill him if she spent all that money only for him to wuss out though. Only time would tell when the day arrived.
"Happy birthday, Tifa!"
Marlene and Denzel's cheers rung out through the house the very moment she had woken up that morning. Cloud had already been up for a while, having made breakfast for the kids before they were supposed to leave with Barret. And by breakfast, he managed to somehow make them both toast without burning down a house. A miracle, he silently considered it.
Tifa thanked him for his consideration when she came down to the bar, but said she was completely fine making herself breakfast. Basically, she didn't trust Cloud's cooking one bit, and he was not going to blame her in the slightest.
By lunch, both the kids had left and the pair were on their own.
It was likely now or never.
"Hey, Tifa. Can we- talk?"
Tifa dropped the glasses she had been cleaning from breakfast and turned towards him sat at the bar. Already she could see that something was on his mind since he was clearly a little uncomfortable and avoiding direct eye contact. She knew him well enough to know the signs.
"Shoot," she said, approaching the counter so that they were at least close when having what she figured would be an important conversation from the way Cloud had been acting.
"It's about your present."
She raised an eyebrow. "Right...? Cloud, what did you do?"
"Nothing! I swear!"
"So, what's this about?"
Cloud sighed. It was clearly some sort of reassurance. "Tifa, I did get you something. I mean, of course I did, you mean the world to me."
Sensing a shift in emotions in the air between them, Tifa came out from behind the bar so she could sit right nect to him rather than opposite on two different ends of the bar counter. She was more concerned for why he seemed to be acting so nervous when usually he was so natural around her, and she completely missed the way he was fidgeting with something inside his pockets.
"Cloud...?" Her soft words brought comfort to his racing mind.
"Tifa," he managed to get out, barely audible.
That was when she noticed something in his hand.
"Hey, what's that?" she asked, gently. "My gift?"
He nods, just once. She understands.
"I wanted to get you something thoughtful. Something you could never forget. So, I got something that could be classed as more permanent than other gifts, that's for sure."
It all clicked together in Tifa's mind too fast. She wasn't stupid, after all.
"Cloud... Are you asking me to marry you...?"
His eyes shot up towards her because she had successfully managed to guess what was happening. Like an idiot, he had screwed up and become a fumbling mess. There was an awkward silence between them for a few seconds.
"Yeah, I am."
The statement had that usual Cloud confidence in it, a complete stark contrast to how he had been a few seconds ago. Tifa had learnt a long time ago not to pay too much attention to it.
Instead, tears began to well in her eyes. Before he could even see her coming and react accordingly, she had him dutily wrapped in her arms. "Yes!" She smiled, a smile so precious and large that the entire world could likely see how happy she was in that moment.
Cloud, on the other hand, was rendered speechless by her enthusiasm. When she finally separated and allowed him to breathe yet again, he showed her what he and Yuffie had selected for an actual present to seal off the deal.
Tifa originally had scolded him for how expensive this must have been, but was assured that Yuffie paid for every penny and she didn't even demand any recompensation. Well, other than the fact that he sent her a quick message on his PHS when Tifa was admiring the ring.
She said yes.
When Tifa suddenly decided to kiss him, he knew he'd made the completely right choice with all this. It didn't take long for Tifa to want to show her appreciation in other ways, either.
"Well, I say since you didn't pay for anything for me, you have to fo what I want for the day."
"And what would that be?" Cloud asked.
The mischievous smirk on her face before she kissed him again gave him a wonderful clue to her ideas. He wasn't going to be one to argue, either.
Before Tifa dragged him back upstairs to their bedroom, he noticed an unread message from Yuffie.
Told ya she would ya had nothing to fear
Immediately afterwards, another one popped through.
Don't forget about our little deal k? :)
Shaking his head at Yuffie's playful banter, he pocketed the PHS and chased after Tifa, happy that they were moving on to another chapter of their lives.
"Hey, Tifa. I feel like I should mention something about Yuffie buying this for me. You see, I sort of promised her that-"