Forbidden - Chapter 27 - House of Cards
Ohhhh, it's been a while, even since I said I was going to update, but the moon must be in the right phase for me right now, because the writing was good this weekend and the ideas floooowed! Oh, what a relief it is!
Oh, and the formatting is horrible. Sorry! I still haven't got this figured out on my mac. Oh, the shame!
Enjoy. (It's all under the LJ - cut!)
House of Cards
“She’s kidding, right?”
Even given the seriousness of the moment, Tifa wished she had a camera. Yuffie sprawled flat out on the floor leaning up on one elbow, looking completely scandalized, was at least worth a picture. She scrambled to her feet, trying to fix the chair at the same time but merely creating even further clatter. Finally getting her feet under her, she contemplated the chair for all of two seconds before turning back to Tifa, leaving the chair where it fell.
“Tell me it’s a joke, Tifa!” Yuffie was too shocked to laugh, but she wanted to think that this was all a huge misunderstanding that they would all be laughing at later. “I mean,” she continued, waving one arm helplessly in the direction Marlene had exited, “how is that even possible? Reno?” She shuddered, the action over-exaggerated. “I, I mean, are we really talking about the same person? That Reno?”
Tifa didn’t bother nodding. Reno was Reno. As far as she knew, he was the only one they knew.
“Well, hot damn!” Yuffie’s expression was suddenly too bright, too enthusiastic, too cunning. “Wait till I tell Cloud!”
“No!” Tifa had to calm herself after nearly shouting the word. Yuffie certainly had her quirks, but she was usually far more observant than this, always falling into situations she shouldn’t be involved in, seeing and hearing things that usually ended up being nothing but trouble. It worried Tifa to no end that if anyone around her was going to find out about Geneisis, it would be Yuffie, if only by accident, which was why it surprised Tifa that Yuffie didn’t already know about Reno. But now that the truth was out there, it was clear that if Yuffie had known about Reno, it would have been nearly impossible for her to keep her mouth shut. And wasn’t that the problem now? How did one shut Yuffie up?
“What are you talking about, Tifa?” Yuffie had stepped into Tifa’s space and was examining her far too closely . “We have to tell him. It’s only a matter of time before...”
“Absolutely NOT, Yuffie. You are not to tell anyone.”
“How is that going to work, Tifa. Eventually everyone is going to find out, and then what?”
“We deal with it when the time comes.”
“But...”
“It’s not our secret to tell.” And there was the bottom line. Tifa didn’t like the idea, and she realized too well what Yuffie was talking about, but the truth of the matter was it wasn’t their secret to tell, a subject that Tifa was highly sensitive to at the moment. She had her own secret, and until she was ready, she would hope that others would do the same for her. Whether they would be that sensitive was questionable, but she could hope.
Yuffie was staring at her, the expression on her face fluctuating slowly, from confusion to curiosity, to thoughtfulness.
“Tifa?”
Tifa slumped down into a chair, resting her head on the palm of her hand.
“Are you still seeing the man you met while you were away?”
Tifa was already sitting still, but she felt the air freeze in her chest as her heart skipped a beat. How was she supposed to answer that without arousing suspicion. The only thing she could think of saying was ‘why do you ask’, but in her mind that sounded a little too much like ‘yes, but I don’t want to admit to it’, which wasn’t exactly the truth. Or was it?
No, it was different, Tifa was sure. She just wasn’t sure how. But for now, maybe a little truth was better than total evasion.
“Yes.” She bit her tongue to keep from asking why Yuffie wanted to know.
“Why haven’t we met him yet?”
Either Yuffie had picked up on what Marlene had said before she admitted her truth to Yuffie, or Yuffie was starting to piece together her own puzzle.
“It’s complicated,” Tifa muttered.
Yuffie snorted. “More complicated than Reno?”
Tifa let her eyes slip closed as her head started to pound, hoping that Yuffie didn’t seriously want an answer to that. Her cell phone buzzed, a welcome relief, and she distractedly pulled it out of her pocket to answer it.
“How are you feeling?”
As if the man knew people were talking about him.
Hyper-conscious of her present company, Tifa had to concentrate to keep her tone moderate, her breathing even.
“I’m fine. You?”
There was silence on the line, enough so for Tifa to wonder just how clipped her response had been and realize she was too tired to worry about it. And then Genesis laughed, a low breathy laugh laced with the deeper timbre of his voice and bordering on being too intimate, a sound that tickled along the surface of her skin delicately and seeped in, reaching for other more intimate things.
“I was thinking about you,” Genesis continued, and Tifa was immediately sorry that she might have hurt his feelings when he was calling simply to express his concern. Sorry, that is, until he continued, his tone now matching that laugh, his words reddening her cheeks, making them burn with heat. “I was thinking about you, spread out beneath me, your arms stretched out above your head, hands reaching and then clenching closed as I push into your body. How your body rises up into my touch, your skin soft and hot, and how you respond to my kisses, to my mouth and tongue on you, how sensitive your belly is, how you clench tighter around me when I draw your breast into my mouth. How your legs feel wrapped around me, drawing me closer, pulling me into you. How you gasp for breath and then moan my name and ask for more. And how flushed your skin is when you finally come.”
He paused, and Tifa, paralyzed, aroused, could only wait.
“Is your skin flushed like that right now, Tifa?”
It took a moment for Tifa to pull herself together enough to realize he had asked her a question and was waiting for the answer. Exhaling a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, she blinked and wiped at her face, feeling the evidence of heat there.
“Yes,” she breathed into the phone, and he chuckled again.
“And is your guest enjoying it as much as you are?”
“Guest? What?” And reality slammed home. Raising her eyes, she was staring right at Yuffie, who had sat down in the chair directly opposite her and was watching her as if Tifa were a television and the entire fantasy were being played out across her face, Yuffie’s eyes as round as Tifa had ever seen them, and her jaw hanging ajar.
Tifa flipped the phone closed in her hand. Let him just try to complain about her hanging up on him.
“I have to go.” Tifa jumped out of her chair, heading for the door, and hoping against hope there was a way to avoid the questions Yuffie was bound to ask.
Not possible.
“Was that him?” Yuffie raced after here as she made her way through Seventh Heaven, slamming through the door onto the street. She had no idea where she was going, but her instincts were in full flight mode. What she needed to do was get some rest, but that was going to have to wait. She picked up her pace on the street, forcing Yuffie to jog to keep up as she fired questions and exclamations at her. “That was him, wasn’t it? What did he say? You should have seen your face! I’ve never seen you look like that! What was he saying?” And on and on she went, until Tifa finally turned on her, stopping short.
“I am not going to talk about this right now, Yuffie. I’m...” and her next words faded away as he caught a flash over Yuffie’s shoulder. Her reaction was enough to make Yuffie spin around to see what distracted Tifa, but of course there was nothing to be seen and then Tifa was dragging her down the street in the opposite direction, checking over her shoulder occasionally.
“What’s wrong with you?” Yuffie questioned, and Tifa thanked the heavens for the small favor that her actions had at least distracted Yuffie from her barrage of questions.
Tifa waited to answer, pulling Yuffie around a corner and through the door of a small, dark cafe. A petite waitress showed them to a table, and they sat down, Tifa keeping her eye out the window the entire time. Yuffie huffed, blowing her hair out of her eyes.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?”
“I think we’re being followed.”
“Followed?” Yuffie glanced around wide-eyed. “Who would follow us?”
The person in question rounded the corner, spotting Tifa through the window of the cafe, and making no attempt to hide the fact that he had been following her. In fact, the easy, relaxed swagger in his stride and the smile which Tifa thought was meant to be charming, made it clear that he had wanted to be caught.
“Do me a favor and order for me Yuffie. I’ll be back in a minute.” Leaving her with the task, Tifa made her way to the restroom she had spotted in the back of the cafe, and once out of sight, slipped out the back door. In the alley behind the cafe, her pursuer was already waiting.
“What do you want, Reno?”
“You’re pretty observant, Lockhart. Didn’t take you any time at all to figure me out.”
“Just get to the point, Reno.”
“Whoa. What’s the problem, Lockhart? I figured you’d be all happy, me backing off with the little one and all.”
Little one. Just the fact that he called Marlene ‘the little one’ made a chill run down Tifa’s spine. The more she thought about the two of them together, the creepier it got. And what was this about backing off? Did he really mean for it to continue? If only Tifa could figure out what Reno was up to.
“Stop playing games with me Reno, and just tell me what you want. I have things to do.”
His chin tilted slightly as he studied her inquisitively, moving slightly closer to her, slowly, and an alarm went off in Tifa’s brain, sending a wave of panic through her. Was he stalking her? The way he was looking at her, moving towards her, was almost, well, seductive. Instinctively, she stepped back from him, once, twice, her body stiffening as the tiny hairs on the back of her neck rose. Her back touched the wall behind her, and Reno raised an arm, placing his hand on the wall by her shoulder, slightly caging her, and then there was nowhere to run.
What the hell? A claustrophobic feeling rose in Tifa’s chest and she was struck by a wave of nausea. Trying to slide out to her left, she was shocked when Reno’s other hand skimmed delicately up her arm.
“What’s the matter, Lockhart? Don’t you like me?”
What the hell, indeed! His words, thankfully, broke the momentary paralysis her body was suffering from, and in a last ditch effort to get away, she shoved at him violently, nearly sending him into the opposite wall.
“Are you kidding me?” Forgetting about the back door to the cafe, Tifa turned to the entrance of the alley, where there was at least more light and fresh air, and finally voiced what she had been thinking, though not quite so politely. “What the fuck?!” And as quickly as she made her way down the alley, her need to know what Reno wanted in the first place faded.
Reno followed, not trying to stop her, but keeping an easy pace with her and sounding far too amused with himself.
“But why?” He whined girlishly. “What is it you don’t like about me?”
Tifa wheeled on him. “Where would I even start? You’re a Turk? You work for Shinra? You’re despicable? You’re an ass, and you’re after Cloud for something and you’re using Marlene. Is that enough?” She blurted as she returned to marching her way out of the alley. “Or should I throw in a comment about your hair as well? Or maybe those stupid goggles.”
“I’m sorry,” Reno called after her, totally lacking any sincerity. “But I thought you had a thing for red-heads.”
Instantly, the paralysis returned. For a blind second, Tifa stared into nothing, and then Reno was standing in front of her again, blocking the light.
“Something wrong, Lockhart? Did I touch a nerve?”
Tifa shook her head dumbly, her lips moving automatically.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No? That’s strange. Perhaps we should take a walk together. I’m curious to see what you find so interesting about that old Shinra place.”
Oh, and the formatting is horrible. Sorry! I still haven't got this figured out on my mac. Oh, the shame!
Enjoy. (It's all under the LJ - cut!)
House of Cards
“She’s kidding, right?”
Even given the seriousness of the moment, Tifa wished she had a camera. Yuffie sprawled flat out on the floor leaning up on one elbow, looking completely scandalized, was at least worth a picture. She scrambled to her feet, trying to fix the chair at the same time but merely creating even further clatter. Finally getting her feet under her, she contemplated the chair for all of two seconds before turning back to Tifa, leaving the chair where it fell.
“Tell me it’s a joke, Tifa!” Yuffie was too shocked to laugh, but she wanted to think that this was all a huge misunderstanding that they would all be laughing at later. “I mean,” she continued, waving one arm helplessly in the direction Marlene had exited, “how is that even possible? Reno?” She shuddered, the action over-exaggerated. “I, I mean, are we really talking about the same person? That Reno?”
Tifa didn’t bother nodding. Reno was Reno. As far as she knew, he was the only one they knew.
“Well, hot damn!” Yuffie’s expression was suddenly too bright, too enthusiastic, too cunning. “Wait till I tell Cloud!”
“No!” Tifa had to calm herself after nearly shouting the word. Yuffie certainly had her quirks, but she was usually far more observant than this, always falling into situations she shouldn’t be involved in, seeing and hearing things that usually ended up being nothing but trouble. It worried Tifa to no end that if anyone around her was going to find out about Geneisis, it would be Yuffie, if only by accident, which was why it surprised Tifa that Yuffie didn’t already know about Reno. But now that the truth was out there, it was clear that if Yuffie had known about Reno, it would have been nearly impossible for her to keep her mouth shut. And wasn’t that the problem now? How did one shut Yuffie up?
“What are you talking about, Tifa?” Yuffie had stepped into Tifa’s space and was examining her far too closely . “We have to tell him. It’s only a matter of time before...”
“Absolutely NOT, Yuffie. You are not to tell anyone.”
“How is that going to work, Tifa. Eventually everyone is going to find out, and then what?”
“We deal with it when the time comes.”
“But...”
“It’s not our secret to tell.” And there was the bottom line. Tifa didn’t like the idea, and she realized too well what Yuffie was talking about, but the truth of the matter was it wasn’t their secret to tell, a subject that Tifa was highly sensitive to at the moment. She had her own secret, and until she was ready, she would hope that others would do the same for her. Whether they would be that sensitive was questionable, but she could hope.
Yuffie was staring at her, the expression on her face fluctuating slowly, from confusion to curiosity, to thoughtfulness.
“Tifa?”
Tifa slumped down into a chair, resting her head on the palm of her hand.
“Are you still seeing the man you met while you were away?”
Tifa was already sitting still, but she felt the air freeze in her chest as her heart skipped a beat. How was she supposed to answer that without arousing suspicion. The only thing she could think of saying was ‘why do you ask’, but in her mind that sounded a little too much like ‘yes, but I don’t want to admit to it’, which wasn’t exactly the truth. Or was it?
No, it was different, Tifa was sure. She just wasn’t sure how. But for now, maybe a little truth was better than total evasion.
“Yes.” She bit her tongue to keep from asking why Yuffie wanted to know.
“Why haven’t we met him yet?”
Either Yuffie had picked up on what Marlene had said before she admitted her truth to Yuffie, or Yuffie was starting to piece together her own puzzle.
“It’s complicated,” Tifa muttered.
Yuffie snorted. “More complicated than Reno?”
Tifa let her eyes slip closed as her head started to pound, hoping that Yuffie didn’t seriously want an answer to that. Her cell phone buzzed, a welcome relief, and she distractedly pulled it out of her pocket to answer it.
“How are you feeling?”
As if the man knew people were talking about him.
Hyper-conscious of her present company, Tifa had to concentrate to keep her tone moderate, her breathing even.
“I’m fine. You?”
There was silence on the line, enough so for Tifa to wonder just how clipped her response had been and realize she was too tired to worry about it. And then Genesis laughed, a low breathy laugh laced with the deeper timbre of his voice and bordering on being too intimate, a sound that tickled along the surface of her skin delicately and seeped in, reaching for other more intimate things.
“I was thinking about you,” Genesis continued, and Tifa was immediately sorry that she might have hurt his feelings when he was calling simply to express his concern. Sorry, that is, until he continued, his tone now matching that laugh, his words reddening her cheeks, making them burn with heat. “I was thinking about you, spread out beneath me, your arms stretched out above your head, hands reaching and then clenching closed as I push into your body. How your body rises up into my touch, your skin soft and hot, and how you respond to my kisses, to my mouth and tongue on you, how sensitive your belly is, how you clench tighter around me when I draw your breast into my mouth. How your legs feel wrapped around me, drawing me closer, pulling me into you. How you gasp for breath and then moan my name and ask for more. And how flushed your skin is when you finally come.”
He paused, and Tifa, paralyzed, aroused, could only wait.
“Is your skin flushed like that right now, Tifa?”
It took a moment for Tifa to pull herself together enough to realize he had asked her a question and was waiting for the answer. Exhaling a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, she blinked and wiped at her face, feeling the evidence of heat there.
“Yes,” she breathed into the phone, and he chuckled again.
“And is your guest enjoying it as much as you are?”
“Guest? What?” And reality slammed home. Raising her eyes, she was staring right at Yuffie, who had sat down in the chair directly opposite her and was watching her as if Tifa were a television and the entire fantasy were being played out across her face, Yuffie’s eyes as round as Tifa had ever seen them, and her jaw hanging ajar.
Tifa flipped the phone closed in her hand. Let him just try to complain about her hanging up on him.
“I have to go.” Tifa jumped out of her chair, heading for the door, and hoping against hope there was a way to avoid the questions Yuffie was bound to ask.
Not possible.
“Was that him?” Yuffie raced after here as she made her way through Seventh Heaven, slamming through the door onto the street. She had no idea where she was going, but her instincts were in full flight mode. What she needed to do was get some rest, but that was going to have to wait. She picked up her pace on the street, forcing Yuffie to jog to keep up as she fired questions and exclamations at her. “That was him, wasn’t it? What did he say? You should have seen your face! I’ve never seen you look like that! What was he saying?” And on and on she went, until Tifa finally turned on her, stopping short.
“I am not going to talk about this right now, Yuffie. I’m...” and her next words faded away as he caught a flash over Yuffie’s shoulder. Her reaction was enough to make Yuffie spin around to see what distracted Tifa, but of course there was nothing to be seen and then Tifa was dragging her down the street in the opposite direction, checking over her shoulder occasionally.
“What’s wrong with you?” Yuffie questioned, and Tifa thanked the heavens for the small favor that her actions had at least distracted Yuffie from her barrage of questions.
Tifa waited to answer, pulling Yuffie around a corner and through the door of a small, dark cafe. A petite waitress showed them to a table, and they sat down, Tifa keeping her eye out the window the entire time. Yuffie huffed, blowing her hair out of her eyes.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?”
“I think we’re being followed.”
“Followed?” Yuffie glanced around wide-eyed. “Who would follow us?”
The person in question rounded the corner, spotting Tifa through the window of the cafe, and making no attempt to hide the fact that he had been following her. In fact, the easy, relaxed swagger in his stride and the smile which Tifa thought was meant to be charming, made it clear that he had wanted to be caught.
“Do me a favor and order for me Yuffie. I’ll be back in a minute.” Leaving her with the task, Tifa made her way to the restroom she had spotted in the back of the cafe, and once out of sight, slipped out the back door. In the alley behind the cafe, her pursuer was already waiting.
“What do you want, Reno?”
“You’re pretty observant, Lockhart. Didn’t take you any time at all to figure me out.”
“Just get to the point, Reno.”
“Whoa. What’s the problem, Lockhart? I figured you’d be all happy, me backing off with the little one and all.”
Little one. Just the fact that he called Marlene ‘the little one’ made a chill run down Tifa’s spine. The more she thought about the two of them together, the creepier it got. And what was this about backing off? Did he really mean for it to continue? If only Tifa could figure out what Reno was up to.
“Stop playing games with me Reno, and just tell me what you want. I have things to do.”
His chin tilted slightly as he studied her inquisitively, moving slightly closer to her, slowly, and an alarm went off in Tifa’s brain, sending a wave of panic through her. Was he stalking her? The way he was looking at her, moving towards her, was almost, well, seductive. Instinctively, she stepped back from him, once, twice, her body stiffening as the tiny hairs on the back of her neck rose. Her back touched the wall behind her, and Reno raised an arm, placing his hand on the wall by her shoulder, slightly caging her, and then there was nowhere to run.
What the hell? A claustrophobic feeling rose in Tifa’s chest and she was struck by a wave of nausea. Trying to slide out to her left, she was shocked when Reno’s other hand skimmed delicately up her arm.
“What’s the matter, Lockhart? Don’t you like me?”
What the hell, indeed! His words, thankfully, broke the momentary paralysis her body was suffering from, and in a last ditch effort to get away, she shoved at him violently, nearly sending him into the opposite wall.
“Are you kidding me?” Forgetting about the back door to the cafe, Tifa turned to the entrance of the alley, where there was at least more light and fresh air, and finally voiced what she had been thinking, though not quite so politely. “What the fuck?!” And as quickly as she made her way down the alley, her need to know what Reno wanted in the first place faded.
Reno followed, not trying to stop her, but keeping an easy pace with her and sounding far too amused with himself.
“But why?” He whined girlishly. “What is it you don’t like about me?”
Tifa wheeled on him. “Where would I even start? You’re a Turk? You work for Shinra? You’re despicable? You’re an ass, and you’re after Cloud for something and you’re using Marlene. Is that enough?” She blurted as she returned to marching her way out of the alley. “Or should I throw in a comment about your hair as well? Or maybe those stupid goggles.”
“I’m sorry,” Reno called after her, totally lacking any sincerity. “But I thought you had a thing for red-heads.”
Instantly, the paralysis returned. For a blind second, Tifa stared into nothing, and then Reno was standing in front of her again, blocking the light.
“Something wrong, Lockhart? Did I touch a nerve?”
Tifa shook her head dumbly, her lips moving automatically.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No? That’s strange. Perhaps we should take a walk together. I’m curious to see what you find so interesting about that old Shinra place.”