Love is Never Silent

OneWingedAngel's Note: I don't own any of the songs that are referenced in this chapter/story! If you can name any/all of the songs I use, kudos to you! ^_^ 

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Tifa woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. She slowly opened one eyes and then the other. "Dear lifestream! I'mnever going to drink again." She moaned as she put a hand on her head. She closed her eyes again, willing herself to go back to sleep.  



Just as she had closed her eyes, she was awoken by a loud banding sound. She moaned again, covering her throbbing head with a pillow. "Not cool! I'm going to seriously hurt whoever is making this noise!" She said, throwing her pillow against the door. 



She slowly stood up and covered her eyes at the sun peaking through her curtains. "It's too freaking bright! Go away sun!" She glanced at her side table and saw a pair of sunglasses sitting there. She picked them up, briefly wondering whose they were. The style was familiar to her, but she couldn't place whose they were. She blushed as a thought came to her, -Wait did I sleep with someone last night?- She quickly looked herself over, she blushed even more as she realized she wasn't wearing a top under her leather jacket. 



-What on Gaia did I drink last night?- She thought as she slowly walked down the stairs, trying to make as little noise as she could. She vaguely remembered Barret telling her he was taking Marlene to the oil site, to give her a tour and to let her visit with Denzel. She sighed happily as the banging noise stopped, only to be replaced by a man singing loudly about men dressed sharply. "Gaahhh!" She cried loudly, attempting to cover her ears from the loud noise. 



She ran down the stairs more quickly, trying to find the source of the noise,  she paused at Cloud's room, checking as she did every day to make sure that he hadn't come back in the middle of the night. The only thing that had changed was there was a thin level of dust covering everything. 



-How did I let this place get to be such a mess?- She thought as she looked around, noticing that every room in the house was worse than the previous one. She finally got to the door leading to her bar, wincing as the blaring noise became almost unbearable for her. 





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Rude was hammering at the framework that would soon become a window. His jacket, tie and gloves were hanging in plastic, as far away from the dust and dirt as he could make it. A small radio sat beside him, blaring music. The song ended and changed into one about a man singing about his girl with brown eyes. He sighed a little, replaying the events from the previous night in his head. 



She had hugged him and touched him, several times. She had even admitted that she thought he was cute. He couldn't take her word for it though; she was completely drunk at the time. He had been tempted to take the bottle to get it analyzed, just to see what Reno gave her. Then of course, the most important thing, what she had started to say before she had passed out. "Y'know Rude your not tha' bad. In fact I gotta say you're pretty-" He had spent the entire night trying to figure out what she was going to say, he had almost driven himself crazy. Then of course, she said Cloud's name after her put her in her bed. Not his name, never his. Cloud's name. Cloud had been gone for almost 2 months and yet Cloud was still causing him pain! 



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"What do you think you're doing making so much noise this early in the morning???"



Rude looked up and saw Tifa coming out of the bar, very much annoyed. Part of him couldn't help but admire how attractive she was while wearing his sunglasses. 



Rude cleared his throat a little, when she caught him staring. "I'm fixing the window." He said, stating the obvious.



Tifa rolled her eyes under the sunglasses. "I can see that." She looked at Rude and then finally recognized whose sunglasses they were. "These are yours!" She gasped as her face turned a bright red. "We didn't have sex last night did we??" 



Rude's face turned as red as Tifa's as he quickly shook his head, clearing his mind of the images that popped up. "We didn't." He knelt down to the tool box, pretending to look for a tool, trying to hide his face, praying silently that she didn't read minds. 



Tifa took a big sigh of relief, or maybe it was a sad sigh? She couldn't tell. "Good. Last night is very fuzzy to me. Oh, I guess you'll want these back." She said, lightly tapping them. 



Rude glanced up at her and shook his head once. "Keep them. They're a gift."



Tifa smiled again, very please she wouldn't have to subject herself to the suns' brightness. While Rude had his back turned to her, she couldn't help but look at him, she was very surprised (and to her shock) but also very pleased to see how ripped he was. If she was being completely honest with herself, there had been numerous times when they had battled that she found herself staring at the quiet and mysterious Turk. Tifa blushed a little as she noticed that he was looking at her, as if expecting her to reply to something he had said. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What did you say?" She asked, very embarrassed. 



"I asked if you were feeling okay. I know how nasty hangovers can be." 



"I think I'll be okay in awhile. I just gotta wake up a bit more,get some coffee in me. Or maybe go back to sleep. By the way, thanks for letting me keep these." She tapped the sunglasses again. 



"You're welcome." He finished pretending to look for a tool and stood up as he and Tifa looked at each other for a few moments. The song then changed to a slower song, a man began to singing about wanting to know about love. 



Tifa blushed a bit as she just stood there looking at Rude, feeling like she should thank him for last night, but not knowing what to thank him for. She tried her hardest to remember what happened, but she kept getting distracted with thoughts of Rude. 



Rude went to straighten his tie, but then realized he didn't have one on. So he let his hands awkwardly fall to his side. He noticed that she was distracted and felt compelled to say something. "You seem distracted."



Tifa blushed again, noticing how easily Rude was able to read her emotions. "I was just thinking." 



"If you need to go back to bed to sleep I can come back later on." He said nervously. 



Tifa shook her head. "I was just thinking about different things." She said quickly turning to look at his handiwork. -Don't say that you can't keep your eyes off him. Don't say that he looks gorgeous right now. Just say something normal.- "I was thinking about how great a carpenter you are and how you have a great style." 



Rude blushed a little as Tifa complimented him. "Thank you, I always thought that you should make a good first impression on someone, so you need to look your best. As for my carpentry skills, when you have Reno as a partner, you need to know how to fix things." 



Tifa giggled a little, behind her hand. "I can see how he might be a bit of a handful." 



~~--~~



"Man! What the hell happened last night?" Reno asked as he walked outside, standing in between Rude and Tifa, completely oblivious to their entire conversation. "It's too bright out here." He said, covering his eyes from the sun. "Hey Rude buddy, can I borrow a pair of sunglasses?" 



"No." Rude stated simply. –God damn it Reno! Thanks for ruining this moment.- He thought, noticing that Tifa quickly blushed and pretended to be once again interested in the building. "You break too many pairs." 



Reno sighed annoyed, "You're mean Rude." He looked over at Tifa and grinned, noting how she was dressed. "Hey Tifa, we had sex last night didn't we?" 



Tifa blushed, she had forgotten that Reno was there too. –Please! Don't let me have slept with Reno last night! Please! Please!- She thought, begging to the lifestream. 



Reno seeing her reaction grinned even more, his hangover completely forgotten. "Well that's pretty awesome! I had sex with you. Hey Rude, I had sex with the girl of your dreams before you did! Another point for me!" He laughed. 



Rude growled under his breath, his hand automatically becoming a fist. There were times when Reno really pushed his buttons and this was one of them. Just as he was pull his fist back to punch him, he saw Reno, once again go flying into the bar, breaking some tables and another door. Rude's mouth fell open as he looked over at Tifa. 



Tifa raised an eyebrow at him, "How else were we going to get him to shut up? Even if I was drunk I don't think I'd sleep with him." 



On the inside, Rude was grinning like a fool, on the outside he kept up his calm demeanor. "Nice moves Tifa. If you keep punching Reno through things this place will never get fixed up."



Tifa smiled up at him shyly. "Well it's a good thing that I know a great carpenter to fix it up." 



Rude gave her a smile, even though it was a small one. "Thanks." 



The two stared at each other again for a few more moments, just smiling at the other.  This time, the silence didn't seem so awkward. 



"So I think I need to repay you for all your hard work." Tifa said as she once again broke the silence. 



Rude quickly shook his head and held his hands up. "There's no need. Reno is the one who broke everything." 



Tifa laughed a little. "Well it was my fault in a way. I'm the one who punched him, so I need to make it up to you. So how about we have some dinner?" 



-I never realized it before, Tifa has such cute laugh.- Rude thought, momentarily distracted. "Dinner?" He asked as he finally caught up with what was said. 



"Yeah, dinner. You know the last meal of the day? Or don't Turks eat dinner?" 



"No, we eat dinner. Just like everyone else." He said quietly. -Oh my. Is Tifa asking me out on a date? Did she just ask me out on a date?- He thought, grinning a bit on the inside. 



"Well I wasn't thinking anything big or something. Just a quiet dinner here." 



"Just the two of us?" He asked nervously. 



Tifa blushed as she shook her head. "Oh no, Marlene will be here too. So it'll be the three of us. Is that okay?"



Rude quickly hid his disappointment and nodded, "Sure. That's okay with me. I don't mind." 



Tifa smiled as she kissed his cheek. "Great! I'll see you tomorrow night then." Tifa began to walk back inside, but then paused at the door way. "Oh, and I'm going to try and go back to sleep. So if you could keep the noise down a bit, that'd be great. Oh and as soon as Reno wakes up again, could you please get him out of my bar?" 



Rude just nodded as he watched her walk away. When she was out of his site, he slowly put his hand on his cheek where she had kissed him. -She kissed me. Tifa just kissed me.- He said as a smile appeared on his face. He turned his music down and began to work as quietly as he could installing the window as his insecurities about him and Tifa began to disappear.