His life had been going non-stop ever since he became head of his division at Shinra, and even after the company's fall, there had been very little, if any, time to take a breather. However, on this particular day, he wasn't swamped with paperwork or flooded with requests from people who demanded his time, and decided to take advantage of it by paying a visit to friends he had never met in person before.
       He didn't need to ask directions, as he knew where it was, having heard about it from some of his subordinates. It was fairly plain on the outside, almost too much so; for a moment, he wondered if he had the right place. Then, he shrugged, figuring he didn't have much to lose, and walked inside. The few customers present stopped their chatter as he felt their eyes turn toward him. He did his best to ignore them as he strode up to the bar. There was a young woman there, her back to him as she busied herself with the cash register. She finished up whatever it was she was doing and turned around. Once she laid eyes on the newcomer, the young woman opened her mouth to speak, but paused. He smiled warmly.
       "Miss Lockheart, I presume?"
       Her surprised expression turned into a smile, yet she still found herself unable to say anything. After a moment, she shook her head and laughed slightly. "You can call me Tifa. It's nice to finally meet you, Reeve—I mean, the real you."
       "Same here. I hope you've been well. I haven't been able to keep in touch with you or the others lately… just been too busy."
       "So I've heard. Can I get you anything?"
       Reeve had never been one to drink early, but this morning he had to make an exception. He didn't want to be impolite, after all. "Sure. Just hit me up with whatever you think is good."
       Tifa nodded and smiled. "All right."
       As she gathered the necessary ingredients to make Reeve's drink, he gazed at her. For the entire time that he had known her, Reeve had only been able to see her through the lens called Cait Sith; those grainy black and green heat-sensor images that his robot doppelganger beamed to him back then were nothing compared to what his own two eyes could now see before him. He found her face beautiful, her hair radiant, her body pleasing. It was this latter part of her he found especially hard to tear his eyes away from. Still, he had to force himself to do so once she turned around, a glass in her hand. Fortunately for Reeve, she must not have noticed anything odd because she simply set the drink down before him and said, "It's on the house."
       Now it was Reeve's turn to be surprised. "What? I couldn't possibly allow you to—"
       Tifa gave a small smile and placed a hand over Reeve's, which was resting atop the bar. "Don't worry about it. You've done so much for me in the past, so just consider this a small token of my thanks. Besides, we're friends, aren't we?"
       Reeve was speechless. He found his eyes wandering to Tifa's left arm, where a pink ribbon was tied, which reminded him of Cait Sith's, as well as his own, underneath his left shirt sleeve. Yes. They were all friends, and he shouldn't forget that, or do anything to jeopardize their friendship. She wouldn't have wanted them to.
       Best not get any funny ideas, he told himself.
       Tifa removed his hand and Reeve lifted his glass to drink, then paused. He looked over at Tifa. "Are you going to have something as well?" he asked.
       She laughed. "But I'm working!"
       "Doesn't matter. How are we supposed to drink a toast if you don't have a glass?"
       "Very well," she sighed, taking a glass and filling it with water. "Now, what are we toasting to?"
       "To our friends and their health."
       Tifa clinked her glass with Reeve's. "And here's to the success of Edge and the WRO."
       "And to that of Seventh Heaven," he finished off. Their toasting done, they each took a drink from their respective glasses. Reeve found the drink Tifa had made for him to be quite good. He set his glass down on the bar once again.
       "So, I hear Cloud is living with you. Is he around?"

       As construction on Edge slowed down, Reeve found himself with more opportunities to relax and take it easy. Sometimes, he would just stay at home and read, or go out and visit old colleagues from his Shinra days, but mostly he spent his free time at Seventh Heaven, talking to Tifa. Sometimes Marlene would be there as well, though this didn't happen very often. Since Reeve had, in the past, kidnapped her and Elmyra in an effort to blackmail Cloud into letting Cait Sith stay with his group, the little girl was understandably wary of him at first, though she seemed to grow more comfortable with his presence over time. As for Tifa's other housemates, Barret was away in Corel on a journey to settle his past, and Cloud was always out running deliveries. Because of this, Tifa and Reeve usually found themselves free to talk by themselves.
       One day, Reeve entered Seventh Heaven and started toward his usual spot when he saw a large, imposing figure on the stool adjacent—a bald man in a dark suit. Reeve immediately recognized this man, but said nothing as he sat down. He nodded a curt greeting to the man, Rude of the Turks. Behind the bar, he heard a voice address him, but could not see anyone. Reeve leaned over the bar, coming face to face with Marlene.
       "Did you hear me? I asked if I could get you anything."
       "Tifa's not here?"
       Marlene shook her head. "She said she was gonna visit the Flower Lady's mom and asked me to look after the place."
       "All right," Reeve replied, momentarily disturbed by the idea of a six year old serving him alcohol. "I'll have the usual—no, wait. Scratch that. Can you make me a Lifestream cocktail?"
       Marlene nodded and started bustling around behind the bar. Reeve sat back down and sighed.
       "So, you came to see her as well."
       Reeve turned toward Rude. The stoic Turk was facing straight ahead of him, a half-empty glass of bourbon on the rocks sitting before his folded hands. "What's that supposed to mean?" Reeve asked.
       "You know," Rude continued, his voice low, presumably so that Marlene wouldn't hear him, "you wanted to see Tifa. That was your whole reason for coming here."
       At that moment, a highball glass filled with green liquid was set before Reeve. He placed the appropriate amount of gil in Marlene's small hand and waited for her to leave before speaking again.
       "She's a friend. Everyone else from our party either lives on another continent or is busy during the day. There's not many people I can talk to like I can with her."
       "I know, but there's something else about you. You have that look in your eyes. That hunger."
       Reeve felt a hard lump form in his throat as he took hold of his glass. "I—I don't know what you're talking about."
       It was then that Rude turned to look at Reeve. Even though the Turk's eyes were concealed by dark sunglasses, Reeve could tell that the expression on his face was a disapproving one. Rude simply stared at Reeve, saying nothing.
       Reeve sighed. "You don't believe me, do you."
       "I think there are certain things you want to believe, but…" Rude trailed off.
       "But what?"
       "Listen. With women like Tifa, there's always a catch. Remember that." Rude drained his glass and stood up to leave. Meanwhile, Reeve remained seated at the bar, thinking over the Turk's words—how would Rude of all people know what he was feeling? He turned around just as Rude was walking out the door, and noticed another person coming inside. This newcomer paused before Rude and exchanged silent nods with him before stepping into the dimly-lit main room. Even before he could make out the newcomer's features, Reeve knew who he was by his spiky-haired silhouette. Acting on a sudden urge to leave before this newcomer could spot him, Reeve slipped off his barstool and sneaked toward the back entrance, leaving his Lifestream unfinished on the counter.

       Reeve's encounter with Rude that day unnerved him. On that first visit to Seventh Heaven, a desire had awakened in him, which would only prove to grow stronger upon subsequent visits. Yes, it was a hunger; the most irrational kind. His was a selfish hunger that didn't care about her feelings, only what his hands felt, what his ears heard, and where his cock went.
       He had no idea why he was feeling this way, especially since he had known Tifa before he stepped into the bar that fateful morning. However, Cait Sith's Tifa had been an abstract concept, a certain heat wave pattern with her own distinct personality. Reeve's Tifa was something else entirely. She was flesh and blood.
       A very tempting piece of flesh and blood.
       The days continued on, as did his occasional visits to Seventh Heaven, and much to his own chagrin, he found himself become ever more obsessed with Tifa. He knew these thoughts of his were unhealthy, and that he had to do something about them, but he couldn't help himself. Not only that, but his visits to the bar had now taken the form of a regular schedule, and, as a creature of habit, he was reluctant to put a stop them. Certainly, he had to do something about this problem of his, and soon. Reeve sighed; his mind was made up. He stood and pulled on his jacket, then left the office.
       Night had fallen over Edge, and aside from the streetlights and some brightly-lit windows, it was fairly dark. Up above, there were even a few stars twinkling; Reeve stared at them, thinking about how seeing stars at night had been an impossibility back in Midgar. For the time being, he pushed these ponderings to the side and continued on his way to Seventh Heaven.
       He found Tifa standing in the doorway of the bar, staring up at the sky, as he had been doing only minutes before. Without saying anything, he stopped and just stared at her. She must've felt his presence, because soon she lowered her gaze and caught him standing there.
       "Reeve? What are you doing here? The bar is closed for the night"
       He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words.
       Tifa's eyebrows pinched together as she made eye contact with him. "Is there something wrong?" she asked in a concerned tone.
       Averting from her gaze, he said, "I've been having these irrational thoughts lately."
       "Do you want to talk about them?"
       Yes, but only with you, since you're the cause of these thoughts. "Only if we can do so in a place where we won't be disturbed."
       "The children are asleep upstairs, and Cloud took a delivery job to Wutai, so he won't be back until tomorrow evening. Come in. We'll talk at the bar."
       Reeve nodded, and followed Tifa inside.

       He never once stepped foot in the Seventh Heaven after that night. He couldn't even bring himself think about what had transpired; doubtless, Tifa felt the same way. As he rose from his bed the next morning, he thought about the last time he had seen Tifa's face, the unspoken agreement that had passed between them to never tell anyone about this incident. However, perhaps it had been worth it, as he no longer felt consumed by thoughts of her.
       There wasn't much to be done that morning, so after taking care of what did need doing, Reeve stepped out of the WRO office building into a bright, sunny day. Following habit, he started in the direction of Seventh Heaven, but stopped himself as he came to the town square. He lingered a little while by the Meteor memorial, then began walking south instead of continuing east; there was a skyscraper that some of his men were working on in that part of Edge, and he figured he'd go see how the construction was progressing.
       On the way there, he happened to see Rude walking toward him, coming from the opposite direction. Reeve greeted the Turk as he approached. Rude, on the other hand, stopped before Reeve and silently stared at him.
       "What is it?" Reeve asked.
       "I see that the hunger is gone," Rude replied. "So, was I right?"
       "Right about what?"
       "There was a catch, wasn't there. With Tifa."
       Mustering as blank an expression as he could draw, Reeve answered, "Yes, there was a catch." He was afraid that Rude would press for more details, but instead, the Turk simply nodded and continued on his way.
       Reeve watched him go, then continued on his own trip. For the first time in weeks, he suddenly became aware of the pink ribbon, tied snug around his upper left arm. He smiled to himself; there was still much he wanted to do with his free time, and the day had barely just begun.

---

Written October 24, 2005 | Copyright 2005, Reeve.