#and bring the cloti tag into it

[elysifer]

FFVII probably has the worst shipping wars i've ever seen.

i don't consider myself a multishipper by any means, but i guess FFVII brings out that side in me (everyone's pretty shippable with everyone). so i like to dabble in this and that, check out the main tags of my fave ships for some cute & spicy content, etc. not really expecting the amount of, honestly, ridiculous behaviour clogging those tags.

every other post is a nonsense explanation about why [insert ship here] is superior to other ships or why [insert ship here] is bullshit and fake. if you're tearing down the "competition" to prove your point, you've already lost. your ship should rely on their moments together; it has nothing to do with a character who isn't apart of the ship itself.

don't use cloud and aerith's relationship to promote cloti.

don't use cloud and tifa's relationship, and aerith's and zack's relationship to promote clerith.

it's rude, disrespectful, and fucking childish. you do that shit, and don't expect others to take anything you say seriously. you've proven yourself to be biased and unreliable when it comes to canon information. pinpointing facts just to twist their meaning and squinting at blurry screenshots just makes you look desperate as fuck. instead, use that energy to talk about why you fell in love with your ship in the first place. there's gotta be a reason that doesn't involve other characters.

i also don't get why some of you act like a romantic relationship is the be-all end-all for cloud. the entire story is centered around found family and creating precious bonds that transcends just romance. cloud doesn't have to end up romantically involved with either tifa or aerith for their relationship's journey to amount to anything. platonic relationships are just as important and intimate as romantic ones. they aren't "less than" or just a "step towards" romance; they are complete on their own. your ship can stay platonic and still be "real" and "canon" in your eyes.

i'm going to finish this off by saying don't spit on tifa and aerith's relationship by diminishing them to just "love rivals". they love and care for each other so deeply that labeling them as "friends" doesn't do them justice. i don't feel like any label does, actually, but as i previously said, all the bonds in FFVII are precious. i highly doubt they would care about any of these bullshit ship wars.

cloud's not a prize to be won, he's just some dude.

[iamluzgar]

Wow, you accuse me of being a Cloti when I also criticize them a lot. Those posts were tagged #anti clerith, NOT #clerith. Anti OBVIOUSLY means they are against it. Just Mute the tags: #anti clerith, #anti-clerith, #anti CA, & #anti-CA. I couldn't care less about either ship. I just want to enjoy my favorite characters in peace but ALL OF YOU toxic shippers aren't helping. Whenever Aerith or Tifa are mentioned, I can't go one second without witnessing people speaking hateful things about them.

Oh yeah they really put the "anti-cl*rith" tags, as you can see here in a screen I already put:

I guess I'm blind and can't see the "anti-cl*rith" tag that was "obviously" put in both post but somehow I missed it (no). Being called insane and bringing long discourse in tags is ok and fine because Cl*rith should just give the other cheek and shut the fuck up in front of slander and misinformation, otherwise we get nasty anons trying to bring us back to the line. Fuck off.

If those post were really into "anti-cl*rith" tags instead of cl*rith, you wouldn't see them either since I suppose you're not browsing that tag or you blocked them, so you shouldn't even be able to see me going on about them in those posts. Be logical 5 seconds next time, this wouldn't happen if those people didn't cross-tag, which I brought proof that they do.

On top of that, there is one user that purposely put "anti cl*rith" tag so that people would see in the cl*rith tag (which is toxic as hell), but you don't go see them to ask them to politely try to find a way so that their post don't end up in the cl*rith tag, no, you go see the people who actually calls out the people cross-tagging. Biased much? I'm not the only one complaining about it either:

Imo any FF7 or A*rith fan worth their salt who has an issue with another blogger wouldn't come into anon to bait rage people and outright lie, but would come in DMs to talk things out like a civil adult, which you didn't.

Edit:

A new example to show you. Let me know where the anti-cl*rith tag is here and why I should be supposed to just shut the fuck up when there's so many canonically wrong stuff being said there.

[controlaltdelete-my-existence]

Rude and Tifa would be cute together

[im-an-air-conditioned-gypsy-blog]

There are some clerith posts out there [ones that leak into the cloti tag, i don’t go looking for trouble.] where after you’re done reading it, you just sort of sit back, scratch your head, and wonder, ‘did they strain themselves? reaching like that?’

[silver-wield]

Can we talk about the scene where Cloud and Aerith wake up after inhaling the gas and when Tifa is telling Cloud why she decided to go see Corneo, Cloud drops his hands and says “seriously??” to Tifa, clearly upset that she put herself in a dangerous situation. It was my first time playing FF7, but I can definitely see how much Cloud is in love with Tifa - it’s so obvious.

Hey, Nonny, ff7 and remake is a wild ass ride so hold on tight and enjoy lol

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven't played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and for once this is gonna be short and sweet.

Also, this is one person's interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that's cool and we'll agree to disagree.

You're also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I'm grabbing them from Youtube and it's frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone's interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis) 

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog) 

Tifa character analysis 

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory – I should probably update this since I've had other ideas since then) 

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti) 

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis 

Cloti reunion analysis 

The Promise Analysis 

Andrea's approval (Cloti ask response) 

Leslie analysis (not mine, but a good read) 

Cloti action touching 

Aerti friendship analysis 

Cloti body language chapter 3 

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

Quick recap time. Cloud and Aerith successfully infiltrate Don Corneo's place, get knocked out and dumped in the basement. Cloud wakes up to see Tifa leaning over him.

The scene starts off with Cloud looking relieved af that Tifa's not hurt. We know he acted like he wasn't worried about her, that he knew she can kick all the ass, but he totally pouted at not being allowed to help her and was probably hiding that worry throughout the entire section. This is further backed up by his expression in the seconds before he agrees to dance. That firm nod and eyes squeezed shut, you can hear him think to himself that he's doing it for Tifa, and I honestly don't think he'd have done it for anyone else.

I'm sorry, I'm fucking dying at that second screen! It's like he's literally just come back to himself and realised what he's wearing in front of his crush! This is not how he wants her to see him lol This is definitely a real!Cloud expression and I love that we get to see these deep hidden feelings come to the surface, but they’re also not just “omg I love Tifa”, so Cloud’s personality is very much mutifaceted and not just one note.

Poor bby is so embarrassed. He's lucky Tifa agrees to never bring this up again, which she doesn't when we get a callback to it later in the game. His eyes are everywhere but on her and as I've pointed out like a million times in other analysis, Cloud and Tifa do eye contact very well. Usually Cloud is all for staring into her ruby reds, but this time he's doing his best to avoid her. There's no judgement from her, she's just surprised. We probably won’t get this since we’ve moved well past this point, but I’d like for Tifa to acknowledge the lengths Cloud went to for her and thank him -- cue another cute moment?

And this is the moment you're after, Nonny. Cloud is feeling very self-conscious and defensive, which is why he has his arms crossed. He can't do much about his appearance besides put up with it and go full on SOLDIER!Cloud until this nightmare is over lol

At the same time, he can’t go full on SOLDIER!Cloud because he’s with Tifa and his real feelings always surface. He acts instinctively to protect her and shows her favour all the time. He’s always aware of where she is and how she’s feeling, so it’s nice that this hard ass persona he’s crafted to protect himself has such a big flaw that Tifa isn’t even aware she breaks through.

Remember, I just said he's avoiding Tifa's gaze out of embarrassment? Well, now his eyes are back on her and this is one of the few times he's disapproving towards her. Which is actually a good sign because most of the time Cloud is soft af towards Tifa, but this shows he's not just some weak ass puppy with a crush. He doesn't view her through rose tinted specs. He understands that she’s just as flawed as anyone else and can make mistakes.

Conclusion

This is very much a couple moment for Cloti, like plenty of others. It's different in that we're seeing something close to a lovers' tiff. Cloud is disappointed in Tifa's method and shows it, which is good for him because having him be infatuated with her and never question her judgement doesn't make for a healthy relationship. He knows she's mistaken here and doesn't hesitate to voice that to her. Tifa doesn't get a chance to engage with this side of Cloud because Aerith jumps in, so we can only speculate what she's thinking. I didn't get the impression she was about to throw down with him though, more like a lengthy discussion which would likely end in them agreeing they need to continue with her insane plan because they need the info, though Cloud would not be happy about it. All in all a nice bit of relationship development for them.

[levi-supreme]

Hey Rei! Anon here!

I wanted to talk about this post. I won't tag the person who made it, but I was interested in your opinion on it. They bring up a great point in their tags as well.

I know for me I get really drained from writing. Not because I feel it's a chore, but writing, reading, editing, rereading and writing again can get quite exhausting and I feel that I don't even really want to read anyone's work after that.

This extends to me struggling to read other's writing who normally I might read, but can no longer do just because of being tired of words.

Anyway, I was wondering if you or other people felt this way as well since the post does have a lot of notes. Happy Tuesday!

Hi!!!!! Sorry I took so long to answer this T.T I'll answer below the cut because I'm prone to verbal diarrhoea lol!

A little background info, I started reading fanfics since 15 or 16, and I read loads of fanfics written of/about kpop idols (character x character, character x oc), Harry Potter (mainly Ronmione, AU, and canon-divergence), Digimon Adventure (the original 1998 characters hehe), and Final Fantasy (Cloti for life!!!!).

I wrote my first BTS fanfic in 2016, I write kny fics but I did not post any, and I only started writing for snk (specifically Levi) in 2021 after mustering the courage and getting over the shyness and anxiety lol.

I consider myself as a reader more than a writer because I don't think I'm good enough to be called a fanfic writer haha. Still, I'll give my comments in two parts. First as a writer, and next as a reader!

As a writer

I totally get what you mean!! Like, the constant brainstorming, writing, planning, and editing, it burns people out, and I feel like that too. Sometimes I feel like I am in the right headspace to write. But when I open up my Google docs, my drive suddenly just goes away.

And sometimes as a writer, I feel like I don't want to read fanfics for mainly two reasons:

1. I don't want to remember what I read in others fics and accidentally use it in my own fics.

Unfortunately my memory is pretty good lol, and I don't want to remember a scene, a line, or an idea that I read from a fic, and accidentally use it in my own writing.

And seeing as how I literally only write for Levi, and I tend to read more Levi x reader fics, I never ever want to risk the chance of me liking and remembering something that I've read, and then using it when I'm writing my own fics. I know to most this is just a small thing, but to me I feel like this is something that I should avoid in order to give that fic writer the respect and credit for writing something so good.

2. I don't want to read other people's writings and inadvertently compare it to my own.

I'm not sure about you, but despite the cheerful, friendly, sweet image I may give off to all of you, I'm actually very self-conscious and feel very inferior in terms of writing. I always have this feeling that my writing sucks, I'm mediocre, and no one likes what I'm writing.

Of course confidence is something that needs to be built and it takes time. But then, I don't want to read works of other writers (especially those that have a good number of audience/have really good 'representative' writings/are what you call the more 'popular' writers) and then comparing it to my own writing, because I know I will unknowingly tell myself "lmao haha you can't write something as good as that can you?"

And also, I feel like if I have a certain idea that I want to write, but I already see it being written, I'll feel demoralised to write it. I will think that oh, people might compare my writing to someone else's, and obviously mine going to be the inferior one.

As a reader

Also, I don't know about you, but I feel like fanfiction has changed a lot. Or maybe, it's because I've grown up and the type of fics I enjoy reading are now different.

Back when I was still an avid kpop fan, the amount of fanfics I've read were SO many, and they're all in different genres and AUs. Coffee shop au, spy au, police/mafia au, office au, magic au, super power au, canon-divergent, etc.

Yes these tropes are still being used in writing for anime fanfiction, but it just feels so... different? Like, the fics I read about a kpop character x oc/Ronmione/Cloti/Squinoa (Squall x Rinoa from FFVIII) feels so different from those written for anime characters.

But as a reader, I feel like these are the reasons why I don't see myself reading a lot of fanfiction nowadays.

1. The fics are chaptered/long fics are time consuming.

I'm not saying they're bad, I actually LOVE long fics. But then, I feel like I need to be in the right time to properly read them because just like reading a book, I want to be able to read these chaptered/long fics without distractions.

I feel like since these chaptered/long fics are like reading a book, I want to really enjoy the writing and imagery, so if I'm not in the correct 'mood' I find myself unable to focus and enjoy the fic as much as I want to.

2. There's nothing I like available.

I don't know about you, but I'm aversive to a lot of dark content and popular tropes. For one I really don't like the daddy kink, sugar daddy/baby kink, stepcest. I also can't stand like any rough play/three or more some/sex pollen and more. Yup. I know I am very vanilla. But do I care? Lmao no. It's my preference and it's who I am.

I love reading fluff and the occasional hurt/comfort and smut, but somehow that's about it. And I'm not bashing anyone, but there's so many fics with dark content, and then resulting in me having nothing to read. Of course the writers are free to produce whatever content they want. It's for their audience who love those tropes and ideas, but I just happen to not be one of them.

So, it just ends up with me not having that many things to read eventually, and somehow I just re-read old stuff that I really enjoy.

3. I have no time.

I mean... like okay yes it's an obvious answer, but I really don't have the time? Shift work (12hrs and above) is a pain in my ass, and I have to study too, and fulfill my duties as a daughter and as a girlfriend. WHERE TO FIND THE TIME???? I don't even have a lot of time to sleep lmao, don't talk about reading fanfics haha.

Bringing back to point 1, I can read like short fics but when it comes to anything 5k words and above I'm like "Okay let's kiv this first I'll read it again next time" and therefore, I have too many fics tagged under my 'save for later' tag T.T

I don't know if I answered your ask or not anon I'm so sorry if I didn't, and I made you read through paragraphs of crap.

And also disclaimer: I'm not spilling the tea on anyone, and these are just my own thoughts and opinions. Please also remember that I am actually very pessimistic and inferior, and I really tend to always think of the bad stuff first before the good lol, which may make me sound really cynical and negative here.

And if you've read until here, thank you for standing by my verbal diarrhoea <3

[winterune]

Here with Me

A CloTi Valentine’s Day special fanfiction for the Final Heaven Discord Server’s CloTi Confessions 2020 event

Rating: T

Summary: It is Tifa's first Valentine's Day with Cloud as a couple and she wonders just how she is going to celebrate it with him. 

Word count: 2860

A/N: not sure where it is set. A mixture of modern AU but still set in the FF7 world lol

Also available on AO3.

~*~*~*~*~

February 14 was just around the corner and all Tifa could see were boxed chocolates, wrapped heart-shaped cookies, or a variety of cakes on display in pastry shops and bakeries. Even now, a week before Valentine’s, there were already long lines of women and girls wanting to buy whatever chocolate they could get their hands on. She remembered how, when she was back in school, her classmates would prepare heartfelt chocolates for the boys they liked. She remembered how those boys would compare with each other how many chocolates they had gotten.

It wasn’t Tifa’s first time buying a chocolate for a boy; not when she had been giving him friendship chocolates for as long as she could remember. Every year, she would stand there in line with a couple chocolates on hand: one for her father, one for Cloud. Yet now, as she stood before the heart-shaped chocolates on display, she couldn’t bring herself to choose which one she would buy.

In her hands was a red box tied with red ribbon. Inside it was a variety of high-quality heart-shaped chocolates. She checked the price tag.

“Three thousand gil?” she murmured to herself.

Beside it was a stack of boxes containing truffles coated in a special mirror-like glaze: 3,800 gil.

There were other boxes on display too—fancier ones, simpler ones. One was a two-tier black box with gold sakura patterns that no doubt contained one of the best confectioneries in the city. Another one was heart-shaped filled with all kinds of chocolates and the message Be My Valentine at the center.

Five thousand… Six… Eight thousand gil?!

That was ridiculous. Who would in their right mind buy such an expensive chocolate just for Valentine’s Day?

Tifa returned the box to its stack and quietly sighed. Of course; she had gone into one of the top-branded stores. What had she expected?

“Find anything yet?” a voice said from behind her.

Aerith was standing there, her long brown hair in its usual braid. She had offered to accompany her on her hunt for the perfect chocolate, but from Tifa’s frown, she knew the hunt had been in vain.

“Should we look at another store then?” she offered.

They had scoured every inch of the shopping district, visiting all the pastry shops, bakeries, and confectionery stores they could find. They had even went inside some department stores in the hopes they would sell some kind of chocolate for Valentine’s, but alas, not one of the stores had the chocolate Tifa had in mind. Not that she had any particular chocolate in mind. She did find some of the cookies and cupcakes in previous stores cute, with their kiss me or I love you messages, but they lacked…delicacy. They were not something she wanted to give him.

“Let’s just go home for the day,” Tifa said, leading her friend away from the display and exiting the store.

Outside was cold. Even in the last throes of winter people still crowded the street, especially school girls, giggling with their friends as they left one store or another, each with a bag in hand. Tifa stared at them for a few moments, her finger twitching and her lips pursing, before she covered her nose with her scarf and stuffed her gloved hands into her coat pockets.

“I never knew picking out a honmei chocolate would be this hard,” Tifa mumbled through her scarf.

“That’s why I said you should just make him one,” Aerith replied, “instead of wasting all that money on some branded chocolate.”

“Yeah, but—” Tifa began, but found herself speechless now that she was going home empty-handed.

This was something they had debated before. It wasn’t that Tifa was against the idea. But…homemade? And on Valentine’s Day? She knew people said a homemade honmei chocolate carried more meaning than store-bought one, but—

“What if I mess it up?”

“You won’t mess it up,” Aerith said. “He’ll be happy with whatever you give him.”

“That’s the problem! He’ll accept whatever I give him that sometimes I wonder if they’re any good.”

Aerith sighed through her nose. “Tifa, listen,” her friend said firmly. “Everyone loves your cooking, including him. Has he ever said anything about not liking them?”

“Well, no, but—”

“And you often make cookies or cupcakes as freebies in your bar and everyone’s always loved them.”

“I guess, but—”

“Then there you have it. You won’t mess it up. I’m sure of it!”

Aerith was beaming but Tifa bit her lower lip.

“But those weren’t Valentine’s chocolates.”

“And why are Valentine’s chocolates any different?”

Tifa met Aerith’s gaze from the corner of her eyes. She found genuine curiosity in there and it made it all the more difficult to voice her reason, because it was lame and stupid and she was already twenty yet she still didn’t know the first thing she should do when it came to the boy she liked.

Aerith was still looking at her and those piercing eyes really put her in the spot.

“Because they’re supposed to be special?” Tifa mumbled. “I don’t know. Kind of like heartfelt? Romantic? Personal?”

“Wouldn’t it be more personal to give him your homemade chocolate rather than a store-bought one?” Aerith asked the question that had been bugging Tifa the most. Because yes, she knew that it would make the chocolate more personal and heartfelt and romantic and he would know the effort it took for her to give him one, but to put her feelings out there for the world to see… Tifa couldn’t help but feel nervous every time she thought about it. With a store-bought chocolate, she wouldn’t really need to make herself be so vulnerable, but with a homemade one, it would be her effort and her feelings mixed inside the chocolate, and if they weren’t enough—

“There’s that insecurity rearing its ugly head again,” Aerith said, interrupting Tifa’s train of thoughts.

Tifa glanced at her friend, who was staring ahead. They were already at the intersection. They would need to separate here, but Aerith was already grabbing her hand and said, “Come on. We’re going to my house.”

***

“First thing first,” Aerith said when they had arrived in her house—a cute little house in a small neighborhood. Her mother was there, already preparing dinner in the kitchen. Tifa was invited, and after happily accepting it, Aerith immediately led her up to her room in the second floor. She grabbed a Valentine’s-Day-special food magazine they had just bought in the bookstore along the way from her bag and sat on her bed, flipping through the pages until she reached the section on snacks and deserts. “We’re going to look for inspiration.”

Hesitantly, Tifa sat down beside Aerith and looked through the magazine with her. But there weren’t anything new, only more cookies and cupcakes and shortcakes and cheesecakes and even more chocolate cakes and chocolate hearts and chocolate truffles. Cloud didn’t have a sweet tooth, but he wouldn’t say no to chocolate. Tifa didn’t think there were any flavor he was particularly fond of or any he particularly hated. She had seen him eat chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, caramel, hazelnut over the years.

“Oh, this looks nice!” Aerith said, pointing to a certain box of chocolates at the bottom of the page. They looked like truffles coated in mirror glaze, much like the one Tifa had seen in the confectionery store before, but these ones looked uncannily familiar. There were 5 truffles in a box: green, red, blue, yellow, and purple. Where the truffles from before looked like tiny planets, these one looked to be so glossy and shining like materias.

“Materia chocolates,” Aerith read the caption out loud.

“They really made materia-inspired chocolates,” Tifa mused.

“These look really cool!” Aerith said. “I bet Zack would be ecstatic if he got these. Let me check how they’re made.”

Aerith grabbed her phone and started browsing for some recipe, while Tifa stared at the picture of the materia chocolates. They looked so real they were practically jumping out of the pages. Maybe Cloud would love to get one of these, too. However, even as she thought that, it was also not something that perfectly conveyed her feelings for him.

“Do you always give Zack homemade chocolates?” Tifa asked.

“Yep.”

“Don’t you ever feel nervous?”

Aerith looked up from her phone and met Tifa’s gaze. “Sure I did,” she said. “When I gave him my first homemade honmei chocolate, I broke into cold sweats wondering how he’d react. It was also my first time making chocolates, mind you. I didn’t know how it’d taste. I was sure he wouldn’t like it. But you know what? When I gave him those tiny chocolates all wrapped up in cheap plastic I bought in a convenience store just outside the neighborhood, he smiled. He had this bright smile—the brightest smile he had ever given me—and it was one of the most precious things I had ever seen. All my worries were completely erased.”

Aerith had a small nostalgic smile on her face and Tifa found herself smiling back. “Sounds nice.”

“It is,” Aerith said. “So, even though this is your first Valentine together as a couple, don’t be scared. You’ve been together with Cloud for years, and if you ask me, all I’ve ever seen is the face of a boy in love, even before you two started dating.” Then she smirked. “And I’d say the same thing about you too.”

Tifa felt her face heating up as she bit her lip. That was…old news. Tifa didn’t remember when she stopped seeing him as a mere friend and started seeing him as a boy—when she stopped giving him homemade cookies and instead bought him chocolates from convenience stores on Valentine’s Day every year; when she started looking at the girls at school confessing their feelings on this particular day and wondering if she would ever have the courage to do that.

“Aww, now you’re all embarrassed,” Aerith said with a teasing smile, dipping her head to peer into Tifa’s face, because Tifa, not knowing what to do with herself, had hid it behind her dark hair.

“Shut up,” Tifa said but she was smiling and she couldn’t stop it.

Aerith grinned. “Come on. Let’s make the best chocolate that will make Cloud speechless.”

***

Valentine’s Day rolled in before she knew it and finally, the chocolates were done and ready and placed inside a cute yellow box she had found in the convenience store outside Aerith’s neighborhood. When she had not been tending to her bar, Tifa had been spending her days with Aerith in her home or in the florist Aerith owned just down the street from the 7th Heaven, trying to come up with an idea on what kind of chocolates Tifa would want to give to Cloud. It hadn’t been until Yuffie strolled down the street and said that she had just seen Cloud and Zack riding their chocobos out of town that an idea struck her.

“Chocobos?” Aerith had asked her.

Tifa had nodded. “Cloud has been saying how he missed riding out on a chocobo, so maybe I can make a chocobo-themed chocolate?”

“Oh! That’s a nice idea! But, how will that work, exactly?”

Tifa had the image in her mind. A chocobo standing on a field of grass, with a simple message on the side, with one character on one square block of chocolate. She later spent most of the remaining days until Valentine’s Day in Aerith’s house, finalizing her chocolate idea and finally making it.

And now it was morning and they had promised to meet in the bar. Tifa was killing time by wiping the counter even though it was spotless clean, because her heart was hammering and her hands were sweating and she needed to keep herself busy lest she’d puke.

It was weird. They had known each other since they were children, been together since anyone could remember, and this wasn’t the first time she had given him Valentine’s chocolates. And though they had been going out for almost a year now—a fact she was still amazed of until this day—it didn’t stop the butterflies from wreaking havoc in her stomach.

It was going to be all right. He would come in. She would give him his chocolates. And they would live happily ever and after—

Dammit! This is not the time for that!

Tifa braced herself against the counter, letting out a loud sigh through her lips. Had Aerith given her chocolate to Zack yet? Tifa wondered how it had gone. She and Yuffie had pitched in to help make them—those materia chocolates. Tifa chuckled. She couldn’t believe Aerith actually managed to make them. Though in the end it didn’t end up looking like the pictures, because the mirror glaze was quite hard to make. They had just coated it in cocoa, strawberry, or matcha powder, nuts, and other sprinkles. Tifa could just imagine Zack’s astonished look when Aerith handed it to him.

How would Cloud look when she gave him his chocolate?

She checked the clock on the wall and was surprised to find it had already been half an hour past the time they were supposed to meet.

Tifa sat up straight and grabbed her phone. Did Cloud say anything about being late?

Just as she was about to check her mails, however, the door to the bar burst open, and there stood Cloud, in his dark coat, his blond hair disheveled. His appearance was so sudden that all nervousness and anxiety were driven away from Tifa’s mind.

“Cloud?” she exclaimed.

“Sorry, I—” He was breathless. His shoulders were slightly slumped, his chest heaving, as though he had run a mile. When he finally looked at her, she saw that his face was flushed, his jaws set, and with eyes that looked straight toward her, Cloud took several long strides until he reached the counter. But before she could do or say anything, he had procured from the pocket of his coat a single red rose, which he offered to her. “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Tifa blinked once, or twice, absently taking the rose from Cloud’s fingers with a quiet thank you. It happened too fast. Her brain was still trying to catch up with the sudden change of events.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen, was it?

Her eyes were drawn toward the rose. A red rose, still fresh. Cloud had probably just bought it then. Or he could have plucked it somewhere in his rush to see her.

Tifa looked at him, really looked at him, and she realized the flush in his cheeks was more than due to exertion or the cold. The redness that had spread to his neck and ears, the pursed lips, the stiff back—Cloud had been nervous. Had he been too nervous that he ended up buying the rose on a whim? Had he bought it to alleviate his nervousness?

Whatever the reason was, Cloud’s unexpected gift made her giggle.

Her laugh seemed to unwind some tension off of him and Cloud looked at her in confusion. “Tifa?”

“Sorry, it’s just—” Tifa smiled. “Shouldn’t I be the one to give you something on Valentine’s Day?”

“Ah—” Cloud said, as though he had completely forgotten about that and the realization made him blush even more.

Tifa couldn’t stop herself. Her smile turned to a grin, which turned to a chuckle and a laugh. It seemed as though Cloud’s purpose in life was to make her laugh or smile to death because her heart was already filled to the brim with love for this awkward boy she had known all her life, and if he didn’t stop blushing, Tifa feared her love for him would spill and they wouldn’t know what to do with her.

Tifa placed the rose on the counter and gave him the yellow box of chocolate she had kept in the fridge. A simple yellow rectangular box with printed chocobo silhouettes, tied in a simple yellow ribbon. On its front was a handwritten card that said: Happy Valentine’s Day. Thank you for always being here with me.

Cloud looked at her, then at the box, before taking it in his hands and carefully undoing the ribbon. Inside were rows and rows of square blocks of chocolates of various colors: whites, blues, greens, yellows, reds, and dark chocolates, all forming a pixelated form of a chocobo standing on a grassy field under a vast blue sky, with the characters I, heart, and U on the side.

“Did you make this?”

“Is it weird?”

Cloud shook his head and when he looked at her, she saw him smile the brightest smile he had ever given her that made time seem to stop. Aerith was right. It was the most precious thing Tifa had ever seen.

“This is the best thing ever,” he said, and he pulled her into a quiet kiss, before whispering, “Thank you.”

~ END ~

[spyder-m]

Melt

Summary: After taking a bad hit while clearing out monsters in the slums, Tifa turns to Cloud for help with patching up. Lime. Prompt 'Since the invention of the kiss, there have been only five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.'

A/N: Originally written for Day 4 of the Cloti/Zerith Endless Summer Week, only sharing now because I’m bad at Tumblr.

Ao3 / FF.net / Twitter

.

One might think that living underneath the plate would come as an advantage in the Summer, the steel sky shading grounders from the sun above. But the arid desert air still beat relentlessly against the Sector, thin and muggy with sweat. Some of the usual, more questionable odours of the slums were coated in an extra, unpleasant layer.

For Tifa, a job as routine as clearing monsters from Scrap Boulevard became noticeably more difficult.

It was harder to regulate her stamina, the speed and strength behind her blows slipping somewhat. It was only exacerbated by the drool that spilt from monsters' open mouths as they barred their fangs; they the dust kicked up, clinging to the sheen of her skin.

Still, she wouldn't let the weather keep her from helping with neighbourhood watch. For the profit, the reputation it brought to Avalanche and the well-being it ensured their little community.

That made it all worthwhile.

Tifa’s grimaced, pinching the damp fabric of her tank top between her fingers as it clung to her undershirt, before wiping her brow with the back of her hand. She lifted her arms above her head, a familiar, practiced stretch, hoping the exercise would cool her down.

Having a second set of hands did help ease the load somewhat. Though not much for the conversation, she appreciated the company. And if the heat was bothering her cohort, he hid it well; the picture of a stoic, disciplined Soldier.

Still, she couldn't help her smirk, noticing his blond spikes drooping slightly, sweat building along his hairline. Noticing her dither, Cloud lifted an eye.

“Could use a shower,” Tifa commented idly. “It’s a good thing we just changed those water filters.”

A country boy at heart, Cloud liked to think he was accustomed to the heat. Particularly in Midgar, having become familiar with the city in his time training under Shinra.

He hadn't, it seemed, spent enough time in the slums. He had not realised how suffocating it could get down there.

In particular, there was something disconcerting about the plate that loomed ominously above upon; the steel feeling as though it was closing in on them. It woke an unnerving discomfort for him. Vague memories of being crammed in a small, tight space, prodded and poked.

Must've been another one of those weird dreams.

Though, the season proved a blessing in helping Cloud get more work. There weren't as many willing to brave the harsh conditions.

As, he was getting to know his way around Sector 7, Tifa insisted on tagging along. She didn't have to push particularly hard to change his mind, not that he'd care to admit so aloud. He much preferred her company to Barrett's.

Though all of Avalanche had shown themselves useful in dire situations, he felt much more comfortable placing his trust in Tifa.

"So, how much further?" He asked, sheathing his Buster Sword, after they had felled the latest pack of Gorgers.

"We should be coming up on it soon, according to Wymer."

"Lead the way."

"Right. We should wrap up soon. I'll need to get Seventh Heaven ready and open before the lunch rush."

The mark in question was a lesser drake, lingering outside one of the factories.

Cautious, it kept to the skies as it circled the scrapyard, wanting to leave a distance between itself and potential threats. Tifa smirked, fixing her glove before she cocked her fist.

"Looks like it’s not going to make this easy."

With a nod to Cloud, she vaulted herself upward, catching their target in the ribs with a whirling uppercut. The drake gave gave a ragged, cry of pain, the wind was knocked out of its lungs; not having expected her to take to the air so easily.

Not allowing their mark a moment of recovery, Tifa continued to rain rapid, powerful blows to its body, hoping to stagger it. With its attention was focused on her, Cloud cycled through different spells, trying to uncover its weakness. Desperately, it began to flap its wings in wild arcs, sending powerful gusts of wind in their direction.

The cool air lashing against their heated bodies almost came as a relief.

The force blew Tifa back, but she managed to tuck her body into a roll, cushioning the impact. She cringed at the dirt that coated her arms in sticky clumps, before returning to her fighting stance as the bird swooped at her.

As she weaved out the drake's path, it abruptly changed direction, kicking up dust to keep out Cloud's reach. Tifa intercepted, soaring up and twisting her body into a kick, looking to deliver the killing blow. This time, however, the drake anticipated her attack, bearing its claws. It caught her across the back in a frantic, clumsy swipe. With a cry, Tifa was swept aside. Unable to brace herself for the fall, she collapsed heavily onto the ground.

"Tifa!" Cloud cried out, before noticing the drake turn its attention towards him. He growled, wanting to check on her but also knowing that it would be dangerous to let his guard slip.

Cloud racked his brain, needing a way to finish this fight quickly. Lowering his sword, he noticed the Wind materia Chadley had given him earlier for compiling Battle Intel. It was the one materia he hadn't tried yet.

Quickly conjuring an aero spell, the drake shrieked as it caught in a powerful gust, dragged towards Cloud. It collapsed to the ground, its wings clipped, leaving Cloud open to bring the Buster Sword down across its neck.

As soon as the drake's body dissipated back into the Lifestream, Cloud ran towards Tifa. His hands resting at her shoulders, helping guide her upright. Though, he kept her at something a distance, not wanting to exacerbate anything if she was hurt.

"Tifa! Are you alright?"

"Y- yeah. Although, now I'm definitely going to need that shower."

"We've done enough for today. Let's get you back to the bar."

.

Cloud was in a foul mood when they returned to base, hardly an ideal time to have to report back to Barret. He didn’t have the patience or energy to respond to his sarcastic quips and Barret was equally unimpressed to find Tifa had not returned from their routine job unscathed. He was met with an icy glare from Cloud when he tried to pass the blame for Tifa's injury on him.

No matter how Tifa tried to placate the Avalanche leader, insisting it was nothing more than a mistake, Barret remained adamant. Being an ex-employee of Shinra, Cloud was already skirting a thin line, and the lone slip-up was enough to vindicate his distrust.

As if having his skill called into question wasn’t’ enough, the idea that he would play a role in harm coming to Tifa; indirectly or otherwise; left a sickening feeling in Cloud’s stomach. He left the bar in a huff, retreating to his room.

Lounging back on his bed, Cloud found himself tempted to seek out more monsters, thinking perhaps it might quell his anger. Though, he realised it probably wasn’t the best idea. They had just returned from a hunting job, after all, and he wasn't in the clearest headspace.

If he was being honest, he felt that Barret’s words did hold some weight. Perhaps that was why they stung so much.

It was his fault Tifa had gotten hurt. He'd made a mistake to stay back and fight at a distance when she charged in. If he'd been up close, with her, they could have worked together. They probably would have beaten the drake much sooner that way.

At the very least, he could have taken that blow in her place.

He felt guilty. Avalanche had hired him to fight, to keep their members safe and it was a job he tried to fulfill to the best of his ability. Admittedly, he did so out of obligation, wanting to ensure that he got paid in full. But with Tifa, it was different.

Tifa was one of the few left he cared for, one of the first and only people in the Slums to show him kindness. Protecting her was something he took genuine care and pride in.

He truly didn’t want to see her get hurt.

She hadn’t left her room since they'd gotten back.

Cloud was beginning to grow worried.

Tifa had been insisted, stubbornly, that it wasn't a big deal and she would be fine after taking a quick break. One of the cardinal rules of Sector 7, after all, was that bed rest could help cure whatever ailed you.

Cloud hadn't been entirely convinced. So, he kept to his own room, wanting to be to close and keep on an eye on her, without violating her space or request not to be fussed over.

He couldn't make out much noise at first, sensing that perhaps Tifa had been telling the truth and was just sleeping.

After a moment, though, he could hear her shuffling around, the sound of someone setting things on the floor and muttering to themselves as they paced back and forth.

Tapping his fingers against the mattress, Cloud wondered what the problem might be. Why, if she was awake, was she staying cooped up in her room for so long? Did he need to check on her?

Sitting up from his bed and moving to open the door, Cloud eyes strained under the sudden burst of sunlight that assaulted his senses. Having adjusted to the shade and soft colours of his room, the relentless glare was an unwelcome shift.

Shielding the glare with his forearm, Cloud shuffled towards Tifa's door, stopping at the threshold. Exhaling, Cloud lifted his hand, wrapping his knuckles firmly against the door.

"Tifa, are you there?"

"Cloud?" Her voice broke after a moment. "C- can you come in?"

At the quiver carrying through her words, Cloud had to restrain himself from forcing the door off its hinges. He barged into her room, any inhibition he may have harboured evaporating, as concern for her well-being became the sole priority.

For as much she'd undersold her decoration job, Cloud was impressed by how homely Tifa had managed to make the drab apartment feel. The pictures lining the walls, the little nick-nacks on her desk and bedside table. Her clothes, books, CDs. The traces of her presence throughout the room made it feel lived in.

It certainly seemed warmer and more welcoming than his own room. Not that that bothered him. All he needed was a place to sleep.

"Cloud?"

As he turned, Cloud's eyes bulged upon reaching Tifa, stood underneath the shower head. Her gloves, boots and skirt strewn in a pile at her feet. Nothing but the dark material of her undershirt, shorts hugging her long, toned legs.

The shock churned into alarm at the sight of her white tanktop, stained with blotches of red, haphazardly tossed by the foot of her bed. His body, impulsively, staggered towards her, hands reaching her hips at either side.

It seemed the healing spell he'd used earlier hadn't quite been powerful enough. The Materia he'd gotten from Jessie was far from being mastered. There were still cuts littering the middle of her back, blood seeping into the material of her shirt from where the drake had slashed her.

"Do you think you could... help me out?"

Glancing up, Cloud followed her line of sight, spotting what she was talking about. The rags and bottle of rubbing alchohol lined in front of her shower, the bandages. The wound was in a somewhat awkward place to reach, even with Tifa's flexibility.

Even if she could, it was out of sight and she'd have no way of knowing if she was cleaning it properly, letting alone bandaging it up.

His mind eventually catching up to his body, Cloud noticed their close proximity and the way he was holding her. His hands ripped swiftly back, eyes lowering as he coughed.

"S- sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's alright."

Cloud was surprised she would ask for his help with something like this. Though they all received basic training, Soldiers were known more for hurting than healing, and... He wasn't exactly one for being gentle.

He'd scared away Marlene just trying to talk to her.

They hadn’t seen each other for years, and hadn't exactly been the closest friends when they were kids. Wouldn't it be awkward to have him cleaning her wounds when she was half-naked? Surely Jessie would have been better suited.

After all, from how casually Jessie and Biggs examined Wedge’s bare ass for burns and gunshots wounds, Cloud got the sense the group were more than comfortable being half-naked around one another.

Though, he had come to realise that there were secrets she kept even from Avalanche. From the brief words they'd exchanged, it seemed Barret didn't even know what had happened to her parents.

It made sense that she wouldn't want to mention the scar stretching down her chest, right between her breasts, from where the Masamune had slashed her. The very sight awoke a burning sensation in his stomach, a similar entry wound lining his abdomen.

It was a night that he too had lived through. The same pain that he had experienced.

For that reason, perhaps it was easier to ask him.

Sensing that he was the only one she felt comfortable turning to, made it almost impossible to turn down.

The thought that he had a connection, an intimacy with her that no one else did, stroked his ego. He wanted to flaunt it in the face of all those men in town who flirted with her, to their landlady who seemed convinced he wasn't good enough to even be around her.

It was so rare of Tifa to ask anything of someone else.

She had taken him in. Found him lying half-dead at the station when others seemed content to let him rot. The fact that he had been dressed in a Shinra uniform probably hadn't helped.

Yet Tifa had found him work and a place to stay, helped him build his reputation around the Slums and earn money, all the while holding her tongue, resolving not to bother him with the many, burning questions she likely had.

This was the least he could do to repay her kindness.

"Are you sure?"

"Mmm." Tifa hummed, coy. "I trust you."

Though Cloud, for a second, wouldn't hesitate to help her. He sensed they were teetering on the brink of something... dangerous. That if they were to go beyond this point, it could make things uncomfortable between him.

He knew how important their relationship was to Tifa, to him, and wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardise it.  

Though, there was something about those soft, pleading, red eyes that coursed warmly through him, penetrating through his guard. Those eyes reassured him always that everything would be okay.

As long as he kept himself restrained, respectful, it should be alright.

Though, after all they'd been through together, he wasn't entirely sure they hadn't mean boundaries left to cross. They were already intimately familiar with each other's greatest hardships, their most personal scars.

There was a strange comfort in having someone see you at your lowest, most vulnerable point; a trust and sense that you no longer have anything to hide from them.

"Alright." He conceded eventually. "Turn around."

Swallowing, Cloud swept the thick curtain of Tifa's hair aside, reveling briefly in its weight and softness. He'd always thought she had pretty hair as a teenager, and now it had grown much, much longer. It must have been difficult to maintain. Yet somehow appeared free of tangles, even after the fights they'd just had.

Still, it couldn't have been comfortable in this heat, and would probably get in the way of him patching her up.

"Hang on," Cloud said, releasing the tie at the end of her hair. Her eyes lifted over her shoulder, curious

Recalling the ponytail he'd worn as a teenager, Cloud's fingers sunk into the dark tresses; softer than he had imagined. He shifted the band higher, tying them out of the way in a sloppy bun.

Tifa sighed, blissfully, as the itchy weight of hair was lifted from her shoulders, fresh air cool caressing against the heated skin. She relaxed at the touch of his strong fingers against her scalp.

The reaction was puzzling to Cloud. The sound coming from her not something he had expected. After having spent years training and perfecting his body as a tool, a means to fight, it felt alien for it elicit such pleasure.

He stepped back, suddenly conscious of the bare flesh he had exposed. The slender column of her neck, the strap of her tank top as it slipped slightly from her shoulder.

With a defiant shake of his head, Cloud steeled himself to lower his gaze, concentrating solely on the task at hand.

His hands hovered over her ribs, strangely apprehensive to cover the last modicum of distance between them. It was skin he had seen several times before, had already brushed against or caught a hold of, in the adrenaline of a fight.

Yet, without the rhythm of battle guiding his movement, anything else to capture his attention, Cloud became overtly conscious of the way his fingers traced each dip and groove of her body, the feeling it evoked within him.

There was obvious tension in her muscles. Something Cloud was unsure if he could attribute to the stress and heat of their work wearing on her, or discomfort from being so close to him. Perhaps once the lingering ache of her injury passed, she would be able to relax.

With practiced care, Cloud took the cloth in his hand, dipping it into the bottle of rubbing alcohol. With measured, delicate movement, he carefully worked the cloth over one of her cuts.

Tifa's muscles cinched up at the contact, hissing as her eyes crinkled into the slightest flinch. The reaction would have been imperceptible to most, but Cloud's hand ripped back swiftly, as though he'd burnt her.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," Tifa said. "Keep going."

Cloud frowned, upset at the thought of causing her any discomfort. Even if it was only fleeting, even knowing her strength and that she had endured far worse; that it would ultimately help her; he wished he could make it more pleasant.

Tifa had asked specifically for him. He didn't want her to second-guess herself or think that trust in him had been misplaced. Secretly, he wanted her to rely on him. To know that even she no longer needed a hero to save her, he would still support her.

Cloud needed to show her that he cared. There had to be something he could do to bring her comfort.

He tried to recall his mother. How she had tended to him when he fought with other children.

Though he would try to be strong and mask his pain, she would always know; lovingly pressing kisses against his forehead whenever a particularly bad wave took him. It made him feel safe and made all of his aches magically disappear.

It was the old cliche, kiss it better.

Looking down, he could make out beads of sweat trickling from the pores of her shoulder, Cloud's tongue slid across his hot, cracked lips.

He was drawn to the familiar, comforting scent of her; a fragrance attached to some of the few, precious memories of his childhood. Yet, there was something equally invigorating about the shape of her body, the parts of her he wanted to discover more.

Somehow, despite the humid weather, he was tempted by her body heat, feeling himself drawing unconsciously nearer. The desire to comfort her, to dip his head and trace his lips over her shoulder in a brief, feather-light caress, was taking over him.

She was so close to him already, it would be so easy.

Cloud urged himself to hold still and concentrate, not to be driven by selfish urges. There was a haze clinging to his consciousness, muddling his thoughts. It must have been the heat must have been making him light-headed.

Still, as he shifted back into place, delicately touching the cloth to her back, a silence rang out through the apartment. The room had become a private space for them, away from the rest of the world.

There was nothing for him to focus on but her.

For Tifa, the sting each stroke of cloth left was passed quickly, worth enduring to revel in the care that Cloud quietly expressed. The way his free hand rested against her lower back, supporting, occasionally massaging her flesh. The way his voice would dip, soothing apologies or words of comfort vibrating from his throat.

It was rare glimpse beneath the layers of snark and stoicism Cloud usually shrouded himself in. The Cloud from her memories, she could still sense traces of. It was a side she felt touched to know, he was comfortable enough to show around her.

Eventually, Cloud washed away the last flecks of blood and dust, leaving only the jagged, broken lines of skin. The scar Tifa would carry on the way to healing. Clearing his throat, Cloud set the cloth and bottle down, letting her know he was finished.

As Tifa turned back to face him, Cloud found himself engulfed by those soft, smouldering red eyes once more; holding him in a prolonged, unbroken touch. He shuddered, rapt by how such a seemingly innocuous, silent gesture could express such intimacy.

In how they knew him so well, could read the desire written in his expression. It was disarming, compelling him to lower his guard, to breach the distance they had always placed between one another. The tension once plaguing Tifa's muscles had melted away under his hands, leaving her slipping toward him. Her hands clasped his cheek, emboldening by the desire to penetrate further beneath those hard edges.

Her face hovered dangerously close to his own now, eyes wide and shining as he sunk deeper in, pulled unconsciously forward. Cloud's heart surged erratically as he felt her breath scorching against his skin. He couldn’t place what was coming over him, lulled by her the delicate flutter of lashes as her eyes closed, lips swelling.

His head tilted, covering the last vestige of distance between him.

His mouth sought hers without another moment to think, to hesitant. It was a movement that came so naturally, the cathartic release of years of pining, of feelings that seemed to daunting and complex to properly convey.

The touch of her lips was sweet, a gentle caress steadily growing firmer, and more confident, each time it was reciprocated. It was a gesture so inherently her. The way she kept him at a slight distance, wanting to show him affection but frozen by hesitance and fear that it might turn him away.

His arms surrounded her tightly, an embrace he hoped might help to ease any doubts about his affection for her, basking in the weight of her body as it melted against his. Her hand cradled the back of his head, fingers massaging soothingly against his scalp. Their kiss broke as a moan ripped from Tifa’s mouth.

The deep, throaty sound racked his body, a dull, throb coursing through his head. Cloud flinched, images burning, one after the other, into the recesses of his mind. Tifa, lying naked underneath him, her hair unbound and spread over patches of grass. Her body bathed in moonlight, face flushed and voice cracking in a series of eerily similar moans as he rutted against her. Her head resting against his shoulder as dawn bled into the sky.  

Overwhelmed, Cloud slipped back, his breathing shaky. The room silently felt incredibly stifling, his head still swimming. Tifa's eyes were half-lidded as they pinned him quizzically, pants spilling from her swollen lips. The vision was almost enough to pull him back.

“I’ll, uh…" Cloud coughed, glancing down. "I’ll leave you to finish getting cleaned up.”

“Oh... Right. Thank you, Cloud.”

Keeping his gaze drawn to the floor as he left, he'd miss the flash of disappointment in her eyes.

[holysmotez]

i was working on a cloti recently and got completely stuck about 7k in, and every day that passes where i don't make progress on it i feel myself die a little more inside. any advice for how i can get unstuck (since quietly telling myself "do it for bisexual tifa" hasn't worked so far)? writer's block is my greatest enemy in life and i still haven't learned how to overcome it 💀

YES, I'm happy to offer some suggestions!  Especially if it'll bring more cloti into the world!  You also had me at bisexual tifa...pls tag me when you do publish it.

It's funny you ask me this because I'm riding on the same struggle bus these days with my Honeybee Inn AU, which has accidentally become 10k+ at this point.  So I feel you, and as a disclaimer, I still struggle with the suggestions I'm about to give you.  

I think the first suggestion I have is just a reminder to be kind to yourself.  Having a consistent writing schedule is something I 100% recommend for a longer fic, but don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day or need to take a break.  While you DO have to make yourself sit down and write through the less exciting stuff sometimes, forcing yourself through a bout of creative fatigue can be a bad idea because then you risk burning yourself out.  Your irrational/lizard brain will then start associating negative feelings with your fic.  Once that sets in, you’ll start avoiding it even more, and that's basically when the block turns into a black hole from which it is even more difficult to escape.  So take it easy, and remind yourself that having 7k already down is really, really damn good.

The second thing that helps me is paying better attention to my sleep hygiene.  It took some years into my adult life to figure this out, but I've made the connection between how easily frustrated I get with my writing and how bad my sleep hygiene habits are, lol.  It's easier said than done when there's anxiety and life responsibilities added in the mix, but trying to cut down on caffeine in the afternoon/evenings, nixing alcohol altogether, and putting myself to bed earlier tends to help my brain figure out where the log jam is with my fics.  It's not a magic bullet, but treating myself like a fussy toddler who needs their nap is pretty much what it is. LOL

Third and lastly, sometimes it just helps to talk about your concept with someone else.  Get yourself jazzed up about your own idea, and see what someone who isn't haunted steeped in it has to say about it.  I’m willing to lend an ear if you need!

That's probably my top suggestions I can think of to offer, because otherwise it is sometimes just a matter of making yourself write SOMETHING, regardless of how garbage it is at first.  Or making the heartbreaking decision to cut something out and/or start over (my advice is to save stuff that isn't working and try to relocate it, rather than delete it).  

It feels a bit silly of me to write this much when the topic is writers' block, but I hope these may give you some ideas to try!

[carrotnchappy]

The right Scene for Cloud Dialogue on the next Day

I still gonna bring up the Tifa's hugs as the Awkward no matter how much you dislike me posting it. 😄😄

P/s : not gonna tag any clerith or cloti shippers.

[officialclotiweek]

Hello! Long time, no talk! I wanted to just gently remind everyone Promise Week is our event and held by us! It’s always an end of the year celebration for clotis. I know December is a hectic month, but it is the month that Cloud and Tifa made their promise. 

I know it’s a little bit of a ways away, but I’d like to go ahead and get ideas for what themes you’d like to see. Also, what days would be most beneficial for you guys! I have to make sure I plan ahead of time so things are in order.  

I’m sorry we didn’t hold a promise week last year, but this year we’ll definitely bring it back. 

Not everyone checks the tags so if you could please reblog this post, that’d be lovely. 

Thank you so much! 

[strifelockhart]

I wanted to say, because there was a long drama related post in the CT tag... that I will not be answering asks or questions about it. My twitter was screenshot in there, and my name was used... I am not even involved in this “current drama”. 

My belief is that personal dramas should not be dragged into a fandom tag. This blog is about, and always will be about CLOTI and loving the ship... and being friendly towards other ships!

Personal dramas should be kept out of the fandom tags... what we are here to do is to love not just the pairing, but the characters, the creators of our favorite content, to support each other in fandom.

I do not believe in bringing any personal drama onto this blog. I just want people to be safe, happy, and to enjoy what they love. No one needs to “take sides” on a drama that doesn’t directly involve them. I block and dont reblog from blogs I do not agree with it. It is very simple.

Block who you need to (even if it’s me!) and enjoy what you love. (which here, it is Cloti!) 

Continue to love the ship, you have all been rockstars on this blog ive enjoyed every conversation, interaction, and person I have met through this blog!  I hope to keep this blog a fun space, no matter what is going on outside in the fandom.

I will never ask fandom to “choose who to believe” or ... whatever. Just enjoy what and who makes you happy.

[aerithly]

@heavenlyfist7​ ’m going to reply to you here because i think that post is already too long, i hope you don’t mind.

First of all, I don’t know who Cali is, but based on the tags I went through (looking for blogs to follow) the toxicity she exhibits to everyone is uncalled for. Again you’re enabling her by defending her. The proof is there and you choose to ignore and defend this person tooth and nail, not to mention single me out. If you go through any tag, I’m sure you will eventually bump into her; not sure what you’re trying to gain from this. You in fact are being toxic right now, if you want to go there. You did single me out.

It just seems like they’re politically correct and hyper empathetic when it’s convenient for you guys.

a troll, i’m assuming posted this, what does it mean? like I’ve said before they’re all over the tags, hence hard to miss. So, I took time to translate this, and I got “cloti ho bag must die” where did this get posted? not sure but that page posted and you didn’t seem to respond to them. Honestly, you don’t need to know this person to know the type of person she is based on the screen shots posted by the other cloti in this post. SO, it’s okay for that person to go around responding to others, she isn’t toxic but cloti are? this posts has countless of screenshots of her cross tagging, and responding to multiple accounts on tumblr with hostility and passive aggressiveness, not to mention homophobia. The hypocrisy undeniable.

I don’t know need to know this person to figure out the type of person she is based on the screenshots provided on this original post, in fact I think I’ve come across her on twitter. I am new, and im glad this post was posted cause it was informative to me, she already blocked me so ….who’s being hostile here really? I am freee to post my thoughts and opinions, but you’re doing too much by calling me toxic. Again, every fandom has its bad side aka rabids you’re grasping straws, doing way too much.

“Again you’re enabling her by defending her“, my intention was not to defend her, but bring attention that because people are angry at her, they are being toxic towards an entire community/fandom

“The proof is there and you choose to ignore and defend this person tooth and nail,“ you can think i was defensive and i understand why i sounded like i was, but don’t you think that “defending her with tooth and nail” is a bit of a reach? or to say i “ignored proof”? look at what i said

Yes, Cali has said a bunch of stuff that’s pretty bad and I think we should address this. I’m talking to her about this behind the scenes, because I don’t believe in witch hunting someone, I believe in helping each other grow.

“You in fact are being toxic right now, if you want to go there. You did single me out.” i literally said i agreed with you... i’m so confused.

“It just seems like being politically correct and hyper empathetic is when it’s convenient for you guys.” i’m genuinely very confused by this. are you saying i’m pretending to be politically correct and empathetic? how can i be anti-latino i’m brazilian???? of course it upsets me as a minority to be called a nazi. really goes to show about the generalization i was talking about. the other person i’m talking to said, “no one is saying all cleriths are bad”. because one clerith was not politically correct, i can’t be?

“that page posted and you didn’t seem to respond to them“ from the layout it looks like it was posted in the CXA forum. i’m not that active there, and i certainly wasn’t in 2006. i think i joined the forum 2016. around then. english is not my first language and i was 13 around that time, so i wasn’t around when this happened and i barely knew how to speak english, so the only ff7 community i was in was brazilian. but anyway, when you say “that page posted and you didn’t seem to respond to them”, unless you mean this was posted as some receipts somewhere, which i didn’t see, i couldn’t have respond anywhere else. this is the first time i’m seeing this. if you want to see my CXA account, it’s from 2016: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/cloud_x_aerith/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1659

“SO, it’s okay for that person to go around responding to others, she isn’t toxic but cloti are?“ i never said that, i said i didn’t agree with her behavior and that i was trying to talk to her to try to help her see things. i don’t know where you got that from.

“you singled me out and therefore implying I’m toxic right ?“ i said i agreed with you

“you’re grasping straws“ idk if you read anything i said at this point

[silver-wield]

Omg thank you so much for speaking out. Liking ships doesn't mean that's all we care about, that our entire FF7 experience revolves around shipping. Cloti is cute and sweet so I ship it, but I'm personally a bigger fan of the story as a whole and Tifa as a character specifically. It's not our fault that Cloud's love for Tifa is a massive part of his character motivation, and therefore a massive part of what drives the story as a whole. The devs made it that way and we're just sticking to facts.

My blog heading has FF7R listed first and I only added cloti/Tifa to it to warn dumdums they won't find a warm welcome here. It wasn't a notice to say this is a shipping account.

If people paid attention they'd see even in a lot of "ship war" tagged asks it's talking about the plot because the sub tag is "for the plot". I just tag ship war cause it'll end up in the main fandom search otherwise.

Imagine being considerate being so badly misconstrued 🤦‍♀️

The compilation as a whole interests me, which is why I watched CC and DC playthrough to learn more about it. It's why I bought otwtas and the kids are alright because they're companion stories to the game, and unless people been hiding under rocks, I always recommend kids are alright to people when I bring it up. It has like 2 paragraphs with Cloud and Tifa. It's not about Cloud and Tifa. It's about Evan and Kyrie, the Turks, Rufus and a set up for the remnants. It's a great story. I couldn't put it down ❤️

People who misunderstand the story always try to diminish Cloud's love for Tifa like it's embarrassing he loves the girl next door and does all this stuff to be worthy of her. Nobody says shit with Squall literally launches himself into space for Rinoa, or Tidus is seen kissing Yuna. It's part of the plot. It's just Cloud's feelings that get ignored, but only towards Tifa. He's allowed to have those feelings for Aerith, which he doesn't.

It's the weirdest shit I've ever seen. Cloud canonically loves Tifa, but people only accept this fanon bs that he loves Aerith. Totally nuts.

[astoryofalove]

This isn't really meant for public, but do you think this "clerithtown" user is legit? They just joined yesterday, reblogged a ton of clerith stuff, then posted a couple of random clerith fanarts xtagging cloti/zerith and it seems a little coincidental. Wondering if it's a rabid cloti behind it, the timing is too perfect with all the "false peace" talks and the absence of any actual clerith fans xtagging, that one would suddenly appear right now...

I know you wanted this to be private, sug— but they’re a clear troll and I have to expose them. 

Reason for doing so? They’re crosstagging clerith artwork into the zerith and cloti tags:

First of all, I’m not saying every clerith follows my blog, but quite a lot do and:

Here’s the ONLY account that liked their crosstagging clerith art post:

Notice how the blog doesn’t have any final fantasy content at all and is even said to be inactive. Why the random lone like of a clerith art? It tells us that this haikiyuu person is the one who owns clerithtown. If I click their twitter link it brings me to: 

I don’t really know who they are but they have my clerith twitter blocked. 

Maybe it’s just a coincidence, it could be. But my gut is saying no. This person is a rabid posing as a foreign clerith and crosstagging just to make us look like rabids. And IF they are a real clerith fan, then I advise them to stop crosstagging and I don’t support their behavior.

[winterune]

A Place to Call Home

Entry for Cloti Fall Festival 2019 Day 1 by @clotiweek. 

Prompts: coming home

A/N: my first cloti/FF7 fic. Sorry if it’s weird or too long. So sorry for the late entry too!

Also available on AO3 and FFN. 

~*~*~*~*~

Home.

It was such a lovely word. Not so much as a place you live in but more of a sense of belonging. A place you belong to. A person you belong with.

Ever since Tifa left Nibelheim when she was fifteen, she never really had a place to call home. Her father was dead. Her town was burned to the ground. Sometimes, she wished Zangan hadn’t rescued her back then. Sometimes, she wished she had died with her father. Death felt like a better option than this crushing hatred, anger, and hopelessness she bore against the Shinra Company.

The Seventh Heaven bar she ran in the slums wasn’t much. It was only a deserted place of which someone needed to have their hands washed off. But Zangan had been about to leave and Tifa needed a place to stay—a place to work—because she had to move. She couldn’t stand still. Otherwise, she knew that one day, she would be consumed by these raging emotions she had locked deep within her heart.

So, Tifa opened the bar, and gained what little popularity the slums offered. Then one day, a man with a gun for his arm came and introduced her to Avalanche, an ecoterrorists set on bringing Shinra down.

“Aah~” Wedge sighed contentedly at the counter, a half-empty mug in his hand. “Home sweet home.”

Biggs, who was sitting beside him, smacked him across the head playfully. “Where do you think is your home, huh?” he said with a laugh, his own glass still full.

Tifa was filling Jessie’s glass when she chuckled at the interaction. “It’s all right. It’s everyone’s home,” she said. “So, do you want something to go with that?”

“Snacks, please!” Wedge’s hand immediately shot up. “Any kind is okay.”

Biggs shook his head at his friend with a click of his tongue, bringing his own glass of beer to his lips. Tifa just smiled and said, “Coming right up!”

Jessie, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and laughed under her breath. “You’re too kind, Tifa,” she said, drinking from her own glass. Tifa knew it was only a harmless comment, but for a split second, her hands stilled as she was about to take out plates from the cupboard, her fingers curling slightly.

She wasn’t kind. Not really.

The team had just returned from a covert mission above the plate. That was what they did: infiltrate bases, hack into computers, map out the reactors. Sometimes, Tifa would tag along. Most times, she would stay at the bar and gather what information she could glean from her patrons who had had a couple drinks too much, while also taking care of Barret’s six-year-old daughter on the side.

Tifa hadn’t come with them that day. From what she had heard at their meetings in her basement, they were planning to infiltrate and destroy the Sector 1 Reactor. She had actually come across Jessie building the bomb one night, and the sight of it had made her freeze.

Tifa despised Shinra. She wanted to see them burn for what they had done to her and her family. She still had dreams sometimes—of blazing fire under a scarlet sky, of heart-wrenching screams and dying wails, of her father lying in a pool of blood. She would wake up in cold sweats in the middle of the night, her pounding heart in her chest felt like it would burst. Her body would tremble, and she would curl on her side, shedding silent tears.

She could still see the silhouette of the silver-haired SOLDIER. The tip of his long, thin sword. The maniacal look he had as he cut her down. The scar still smarted sometimes, even though it had recovered a long time ago.

Sometimes, she would go and get water in the kitchen. Other times, she’d go outside for some air. Tifa would look up, expecting the stars would soothe her restless heart, only to frown at the vast metal plate spreading as far as the eye could see. How could people even live here? Without seeing the sky; without feeling the sun; cooped up under some pretense of a utopia that was sucking out the life and blood of the planet.  

If you get really famous and I’m ever in a bind, you’ll come save me, all right?

From the far reaches of her mind, the promise she had made with a certain boy came back to her, and the thought made her smile ruefully.

He never did come and save her. He never returned. Tifa had tried looking for him when she arrived at Midgar, but no one seemed to know him at all. It was as though he had fallen off the face of the earth.

Tifa pursed her lips and clenched her fingers over her coat, wondering where Cloud was and if he were all right.

***

At one point, Tifa had forgotten about it. Running a bar and being a member of Avalanche had made her busy that she didn’t have time for idle thoughts. Gathering information, equipment, and arms; looking for promising new recruits; helping the team form plans—and finally, in a meeting a day before the big day, Jessie came up and said, “Everything’s in place. We have the map, the guard rotations, and of course, the bomb. If we’re careful, we may be able to finish this unscathed.”

Nods and grins. They were confident in this. Tifa knew she should feel the same, but bombing a reactor…did they really have to go to such lengths? What if innocents were caught in the crossfire?

With no objections, Barret closed the meeting and wished everyone good luck and a good rest. Wedge immediately proposed some drinks, followed by Biggs’s “Here, here!” and Jessie’s “A glass for me!”

But Barret frowned and hit the table with his fist. “You dimwits! Drinking the day before your big mission?”

“Come on, Boss,” Biggs said. “One glass won’t do us harm.”

“Yeah,” Wedge added. “It might even pump our energy for tomorrow.”

Barret’s scowl deepened, then shifted his glare at Jessie, who just shrugged and gave a resigned grin. “We’ll have it really light.”

“Real light. Sure,” Barret scoffed. He looked at Tifa, who cocked her head and smiled inquiringly. Of course, she knew that drinking tonight would be a bad idea, but Tifa also felt like she should give them what they wanted. Their first big job—against a giant, billionaire corporation at that—of course they needed to wind down their nerves if they were to have their best performance tomorrow. Barret probably knew that she understood the stakes, and that was probably the only reason why he finally, begrudgingly consented their demands.

They returned upstairs, where Marlene was keeping the few guests in the bar company. Tifa knew she shouldn’t put the girl to work, but she’s actually quite the genius. Keeping the stove off and every knives and other sharp utensils out of reach, Tifa only needed Marlene to take orders for food that she had already prepared in the kitchen. Marlene understood that perfectly and she never once made a problem.

At the sound of their footsteps climbing the stairs from the basement, Marlene looked up from her seat at the counter. Her face split into a bright smile at the sight of her father. “Daddy!” she squealed, spreading her arms wide.

“There’s my little girl!” Barret exclaimed, scooping Marlene up to his arms and giving her a big bear hug.

“That’s probably the only time you’d see a great big goofy smile on his face,” Biggs muttered under his breath, eliciting chuckles and snickers from the rest of them. They went to take their seats on one of the tables, while Tifa walked behind the counter to prepare their drinks and meals.

“Thanks, Marlene!” she said as she passed the father and daughter. “I’ll take it from here.”

Marlene’s reply was a grin and a wave and Barret walked over to his team with her riding on his shoulder.

Behind the counter was one of her favorite places. Not too near the crowd that their chattering and laughter were deafening, yet not too far either that she felt lonely. The perfect in-between place and at times, she could lose herself wiping the glasses while listening to the hum of conversation in the background. Not now, though, as now she had to prepare a pitcher of not-too-strong-but-not-too-weak drink, something that could ease their worries but still had them sober through the night.

Tifa was busy concocting one such drink that she didn’t realize someone had taken a seat at the counter.

“You holding up good, Tifa?”

Tifa almost jumped in surprise when she heard Barret’s voice so close. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. For someone so big, sometimes he could be so stealthy—or was it because her mind hadn’t been truly present?

“What do you mean?” she asked, getting back to her work.

She could feel Barret’s eyes on her for a while. Maybe she did know what he was talking about. She had told him what a girl from a backwater town like Nibelheim was doing in a metropolis city like Midgar—the abridged version at the least. But she pretended not to know, and Barret finally grunted.

“Well, if you’re good then that’s fine.”

Truth be told, she was as good as could be. Avalanche’s presence in her life helped a lot. The bar was as good as their home with how much time they had spent together in it. They were practically like her family now if she thought about it. So yes, she was holding up quite good.

“And about our plan,” Barret went on. “Do you have anything to say about it?”

“Do you want me to say anything about it?” she asked.

Barret clicked his tongue in irritation. Tifa glanced at him from the corner of her eyes before getting back to preparing their drinks. She didn’t answer until she finished pouring everyone’s drinks in their respective mugs. “I’ve said it before,” she finally said. “I’m not too fond with the bombings, but I can’t think of any other way right now, so I’ll follow your lead.”

Barret huffed and offered no reply. Tifa took that as cue that the topic was closed, so she brought the drinks on a tray to their table, where they accepted their drinks graciously. Barret joined soon after while Tifa brought them their snacks. They had saved her a seat and Wedge was telling her to join but Tifa just smiled and said she needed to take out the trash.

It wasn’t much of an excuse, but she felt she needed to take a breather around the town for a few moments. Why she wasn’t too keen with their mission was that bombings meant fire, and fire reminded her of that day. Sure she told herself that she didn’t want innocents to get hurt, but was that really the reason? In her heart, Tifa knew that the real reason was she didn’t want another Nibelheim incident to happen.

The barking of a dog interrupted her reverie. When Tifa came to, she realized she had strayed from her neighborhood and reached the train station. A dog was barking at a man slumped over the sidewalk, with one of the station guards standing over him.

“Hey,” the guard called. The man’s reply was a groan. “Hey!” the guard called louder, shaking the man’s shoulders.

The slumped man seemed to wince in pain, followed by more grunting and groaning. The only response he could utter seemed to be just that.

The guard bent down to look at the man’s face. “Hey, you all right?” he tried again to no avail.

A drunkard? Tifa wondered. Maybe she shouldn’t get too close. But the man’s face was contorting in pain as he groaned and panted, pounding his head or clutching his chest. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t really leave him be, not now that the guard seemed to have given up and left him by himself. The dog started to whine, sitting on his haunches and nuzzling the man’s listless hand on the ground.

Tifa approached the man tentatively. On closer inspection, the blonde hair and the blue sleeveless garb seemed familiar. She crouched down before him. “Are you all right?” she asked, softly.

The man didn’t answer. He only grunted as he had his head down, his eyes shut, hands pressed over his head, fisting over his hair, as if there was a pounding headache he wanted to be rid of. Tifa pursed her lips.

Tifa gently touched the man’s shoulder again and slowly, quietly, said, “Hey.” She bent down her head to look at his face, and as the man slowly opened his eyes and met her gaze, Tifa froze, feeling a tug of familiarity at the face.

…you’ll come save me, all right?

“…Ti…fa?”

That voice. It jogged her memory.

He shut his eyes again, his head falling back, his whole body tensing at some invisible pain. A silent scream followed by a groan, Tifa panicked when she saw him about to hit his head with all the force he had. She grabbed his arms and held him back. He was so strong that it took all the energy she had in her to stop him from hurting himself. She should call a doctor, but she couldn’t leave him here by himself. The guard was nowhere to be found.

Then before she knew it, his body went slack again, his chest heaving with exertion.

Tifa bit her lip. “Come on. You can’t stay here,” she said. “Let’s get you to a doctor.” She moved around to his side, was already moving to put his arm around her shoulder to lift him up, when an indiscernible mumble that sounded so much like her name stopped her.

She looked at him, at the hair plastered to his head with sweat, at the face slowly rising up to meet her, at the glazed yet glowing blue eyes. He was looking at her—really looking at her—as if he knew her. Clarity entered his eyes by the second, and slowly, his lips formed a wearied smile.  

“Tifa,” he called again, somewhat weakly.

And in her mind flashed a memory of a water tower. Tifa! He’d called her. Seven years was a long time and boys had their voices change around that age.

“Cloud?” she asked tentatively.

The grin on his face grew and the pain and exhaustion she had seen in his eyes melted away until there was no more trace of them. She let go of his arm.  

“Yeah, it’s me!” he said, and his eyes were bright, and his grin was lopsided, and it brought back all the memories she had tried so hard to lock away. But it wasn’t the fire nor the deaths—it was the warm and happy times, the smiles of the townspeople, eating dinner with her father, playing the piano in her room. Her friends, and…Cloud—the boy her age who lived next door, whom she would sometimes spot from her window. Before she knew it, tears sprang to her eyes and she had pulled him into her arms and hugged him tight.

All the pent-up feelings she had held for years came bursting out. She hadn’t realized it until she met him, but Tifa had come to miss him over the years, wishing constantly to find him somewhere, to meet him, to make sure that he’s all right. But now he was here, and she hugged him tight, fearing he might leave her again.

Cloud winced and groaned at the sudden embrace and Tifa leaped back, her hands up and eyes wide, forgetting how much pain Cloud had been in a moment ago. “Sorry, did I hurt you?”

“No, that’s OK,” he said, though she could see the grimace on his face as he tried to shift to a more comfortable position. “I mean, it’s been so long, right?”

That grin again. That boyish, lopsided grin. It pulled at her heartstring and made her eyes wet with tears.

Cloud cocked his head to the side, concern lining his face as he said, “Tifa?” She noticed the hand reaching up to her face just as a tear slid down her cheek.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, wiping away the tears and forcing herself to smile and nod. “I’m just—” so happy to find you here. The words were lodged at the back of her throat and for some reason, she suddenly felt embarrassed for thinking such things. “I’m fine,” she corrected herself. “Anyway, what happened to you?”

I looked everywhere for you, but I couldn’t find you anywhere.

Because she had noticed the hollowness in his cheekbones and a gauntness in his face. She had seen the pain in his eyes and the way his body seemed listless just a few minutes ago.

But all Cloud said was, “I’m fine,” and, “Help me get up.” And she did, and she watched as he leaned on that big sword that seemed familiar somehow, and maybe he was fine. Or maybe she just didn’t want to think otherwise. Because Cloud was back. Cloud was with her. And there was no word she could find that could describe how happy she was.

Cloud swayed on his feet, and Tifa immediately had her hand on his arm, only to feel how feeble he seemed. His muscles seemed to be wasted. He looked so thin!

Tifa bit her lip. Who was she kidding? No matter how she wished it to be otherwise, Tifa knew that Cloud was far from “fine”.

Cloud thanked her with a smile, but Tifa only tightened her grip. He looked at her and noticed her concern. “I’m fine, Tifa, really,” Cloud tried to convince her. “I just got dizzy. Nothing a meal couldn’t fix. Besides, we haven’t seen each other for years.” He paused, and for a split second, Tifa noticed his face contorting in pain again, before he said, “Five, was it?”

Tifa froze.

Five? If memory served her right, it had been seven years since they last met. Five years meant the fire incident. Did she remember wrong?

She looked at him and could find no deceit. Had he really been at Nibelheim at that time? She would remember if she had met him somewhere else, wouldn’t she?

Tifa had thought that having Cloud back in her life would mean feeling more like home. She did, for a short while. She was so happy to have her childhood friend back—she didn’t think she would meet anyone from Nibelheim ever again. Having him with her made her feel like she could finally breathe. The oppressing atmosphere was finally subsiding. Everything would finally go back to normal.

However, there was something different about Cloud. Tifa couldn’t tell what. An uneasiness about his behavior and inconsistent memories that she wondered if it were all her imagination and that she was the one with the inconsistent memory. And when he suddenly announced that he would be leaving the city the next day, Tifa felt that solid and warm ground she had finally found after all these years started to crumble once more and she did everything she could to make him stay.

***

Tifa told herself that she only did that because she needed to keep an eye on him, because he wasn’t well, but maybe that wasn’t all either. The uneasiness that had gnawed at her was only an excuse to be with him.

If she were truly being honest, Tifa didn’t want to be separated from him again. He was the last connection to her lost childhood. But, more than anything, she wanted to stay beside him, because not once in the five years she had lived in Midgar had she felt more at home than that moment she found Cloud delirious in the train station.

~ END ~