Fanfic time!
Title: Birthday Wishes
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Characters: YuffiexCid, mention of Tifa, Elena, Cloud & Tseng
Prompt: 091: Birthday
Word Count: 768
Rating:G
Summary: On her 18th birthday, Yuffie is surprised by more than just herself
Author's Notes: I'm not sure why I like this pairing, but it just makes sense to me. This came to me all at once one night :)
She hated the word “crush.” More than hated-she loathed it. It was girly, giddy, and everything she wasn’t. She hadn’t realized how much she hated the world until she was sixteen, and found herself constantly bouncing back and forth listening to Aerith talk about her crush on Cloud, and Tifa agonizing over whether or not Cloud had a crush on Aerith. She quickly grew sick of watching two strong and intelligent women completely lose themselves over a damn man.
Personally, she had more important things to worry about. And maybe it was due to this absolute confidence that she was able to fall head over heels without even realizing it.
He was different than the rest of her companions. Vincent was cold and distant, Barret just got on her nerves, Cait and Red weren’t even human, and even if she had liked Cloud’s brooding and soul-searching she was so disgusted by the other girls’ ridiculous infatuations that she never gave him a second thought.
But this guy was her kind of guy. Loud, vulgar, and self-assured, and not in the control freak way that Barret was. There was something very charismatic about him, and though he tried to act cool and unattached, he was one of the most dedicated and caring people she’d met-and the fact that he concealed it with sarcasm and bad language just appealed to her more.
Of course, she was not going to let this affliction show. Though she considered talking to the girls in hopes of getting them to change the subject of Cloud for once, she knew admitting it would make it real. And even more embarrassing than having to admit to a crush, would be if she did tell them, and they passed it off as a cute and girlish admiration of someone so much older than her.
Cute. The girls could keep those C-words to themselves. Cute. Crush. Cloud. It could make her cry.
Fortunately, her pride had more influence over her than her heart, and she learned to ignore any feelings of longing she might have felt-even as far as when the group separated and she thought she may never see him again.
But now on her eighteenth birthday, the group was still together-they’d even gained a few-and she was still pretending that her feelings didn’t exist. She was just as disdainful as ever about love and as she looked around the room and saw her friends each standing individually she knew why-several of them had felt “true love” at some point, and this is where it had gotten them? Her eyes fell on Tifa and it was only true friendship that prevented her from rolling her eyes as she watched her friend hand Cloud a glass of champagne with her ever present hopeful expression, and then the oblivious manner with which he accepted her gesture.
Her friends gathered around the table where she was about to blow out the candles on her cake, and she told herself that her wish would be to put the “crush” behind her. The birthday song drew to a close and she went to close her eyes.
“Make a wish, Yuf!”
I wish to stop fooling myself and just say something to him.
Shocked, her eyes popped open to expectant faces.
“Well, blow the candles out or it won’t come true!”
She cocked her head as she looked at the tiny blond girl and her tall, long-haired companion who had entered the room just in time to call out their birthday advice. She gave the suited couple just the tiniest nod and blew out every candle on the cake, as their sudden appearance ignited the part of her brain that knew that sometimes, there were such things as happy endings.
Everyone cheered for her and as the party went on she wondered how to take on this completely foreign task. She saw him step outside for a smoke, and decided to just go for it.
“Hey, I-“
“Is it because I didn’t get you a gift?”
“What? No, it’s-“
“Because I did.” He leaned in towards her, and instinctually she held up a hand to stop him.
“Come on, Yuf. It’s been over two years.”
Before she had time to register confusion, she felt his arms wrap around her as he pulled her in for a kiss. Over his shoulder she saw Tifa and Elena quickly look away and exchange looks of pride. For the briefest moment she wondered how they knew, before finally letting go, giving up her pride and giving in to destiny.