bakerstreet | The Domestic Meme

The Domestic Meme

RULES!
❧ Leave a comment with your character's name, fandom, and any preferences you have.
❧ When replying, RNG for a number between 1 and 15. The number corresponds to the scenario that you will play out in whatever way you want to.
❧ Go from there!

THE LIST!
01] baby
Suddenly, there's a new addition to your family! Are you expecting? Adopting? Struggling to find the perfect name for your child? Or maybe you're up at a ridiculous hour in the morning because they're crying like crazy.

02] just married
Congratulations! You and your loved (?) one are about to start a whole new life together! It's time for the honeymoon...

03] house hunting
Are you seeking out an apartment? A dream house? Or just any old place, as long as you're with your other? Make sure to weigh your options very carefully...

04] household chores
It's time to clean/cook/garden/take care of something! Do you work together, or does one of you hide until everything is done?

05] shopping
Whether it's for furniture, groceries, or something in between, shopping is something that everybody must do at some point in time! What varies is if they like it or not.

06] family vacation
WE'RE OFF TO DIDNEY WOOOOOOOOORL or wherever
... well, as long as the kids are happy, right...? You may not be happy (or maybe you are), but it's mainly about ~family bonding~.

07] romantic retreat
It's you and your loved one's anniversary, and you decide it's time to take some time off and take them somewhere nice, where you only have each other.

08] comfort
Is somebody sick in bed? Or perhaps they just had a bad day? Sometimes, a good breakfast in bed or a home-cooked meal can really lift the spirits! Or perhaps you want to try medicine, or laughter, or something else?

09] pet
Suddenly, you have another addition to the family! Is it a puppy? A kitty? A fierce dragon? Whatever it is, make sure to give it a name and to take good care of it!

10] holiday
Happy birthday/New Years/Christmas/Valentine's Day/whatever! It's a very special day that only comes once a year, so make it count!

11] argument
Oh, no, who left the stove on... Or maybe it's about why they were out late last night? Either way, there is a lot of tension today, and one of you may or may not be sleeping on the couch tonight.

12] making up
It's time to make amends for that fight/divorce/whatever you had before! After all, you love each other... right?

13] surprise, surprise
You are feeling rather loving tonight, so you want to remind the other person how much you cherish and appreciate them... if it's by something cute and adorable or hot and sexy is completely up to you.

14] proposal
~~SHUT UP THIS TOTALLY FITS~~ You've been with your other for what feels like forever, and finally you want to tie the knot with them. Will you go down on one knee before them, or get a little creative?

15] other
I know I'm forgetting like a bajillion and one different things here, so this is the option for that!

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[ There's nothing at all fancy about their cramped little hole-in-the-wall apartment in the city. There are cracks in all the ceilings, creaks in all the floorboards; they've got more duct tape than pipe underneath the sink and everything leaks...

But he wouldn't rather live anywhere else on the Planet, and that's enough to keep him plugging along, determined to make this place seem at least semi-livable in his time off-duty, for whatever all his meager housekeeping skill is worth. Tifa deserves that much, anyway, and as another glance at the clock (twelve minutes behind, but he's always forgetting) assures him that she's probably managed to wade through the evening traffic most of the way back from HQ, by now, he glares at a sink only half full of dish soap and hot water. The faucet is just as pathetic determined as he is, and there's probably something sad about how well he feels, in a moment, he can relate to a busted plumbing fixture, but he doesn't have it in him to examine that any further.

Maybe if the streets are particularly busy, or her completely routine training mission ran long -- fat chance -- maybe he still stands a chance of finishing off the chores, if not getting ready for dinner, before she gets home...

...Unless that sound he just heard is the click of a key in the lock and (damn it) he really should have asked to borrow the Time materia, today. A Haste could solve all of his problems. ]

[It's been a long day. A good day but a long day and Tifa's so very glad to finally be home. Fitting her key into the lock is a good feeling, solid and reassuring and she exhales the tension of the day, shoulders relaxing a little even before she habitually lifts and pushes the door in the little trick that pops it open and steps inside.]

I'm home.

[she calls it in case Cloud beat her home and she calls it because it's still one of the sweetest things she gets to say. It may be small and filled with second hand furniture and the carpets a little bare in places but it's clean and it's theirs. Hers and Clouds and it's just for them and all for them.

Using her hip to get the door to stick itself shut again, she flips the lock before starting to unbutton and wiggle out of her jacket. Work stays at work. When she's home, she's just herself. Thinking she hears the determined whine of the kitchen sink as she heads down the short hallway toward it, she calls hopefully:]

Cloud?

[ I'm home.

Even as he's lamenting his only slightly half-assed plan to have everything over and done with by about two hours ago, he can't quash the momentary (and eternally clandestine) lightness those two simple words inspire in him. It's stupid (and he knows it's stupid), and she probably doesn't even mean it the way his heart always so boldly assumes she means (they ran away together, of course they'll stay together, that's all).

But there's simply no help for such an idiotic organ, and his brain definitely assures him that it knows well better before he's even opened his mouth to respond. ]

In here.

[ Just loud enough to be heard over the sound of pouring water and complaining faucet-- The inconstant awareness of just how thin the walls are, around here, and just how much their neighbors (fellow Company employees or not) love to complain always reminds him of the corporate housing they could have elected for.

And he always quashes the thought as deliberately as he can. Because those arrangements aren't ideal, either, when they work for completely different departments, and he's still selfish enough to want to stay with Tifa as long as she stays with him, under whatever mistaken obligation she's so fortunately come to hold over him. ]

{I'm here.

She's an idiot and she knows it but her heart never fails to expand painfully and threaten to clog up her breathing for a second whenever she hears him say that in his quiet voice. It makes her inhale deeply for the first time today and the exhale brings a smile with it.

He's here. With her.

Tie only half loosened, jacket tucked safely under one arm until she can put it on its hanger, she leans, hair that's gotten much longer in the two years they've been gone hanging down sideways as she pokes just her head and shoulders into the doorway to the kitchen with its curling linoleum and lone occupant, hands carefully held behind her back. What she sees in the flickering light from the overhead makes her go just a little silly inside. Cloud, up to his elbows in suds with that determined little scowl on his face. He's doing the dishes and she knows it's just for her and not because he's got some fixation with dirty dishes (that's her tic actually). He's also still in the blue uniform of a SOLDIER third. She likes that blue. It makes his eyes bluer too and that helps because she's still getting used to the strange green in them now.

She tells herself not to notice how handsome he looks and fails miserably.}

Good evening, Mr. Strife. {it's a happy chirp because suddenly today doesn't feel so long anymore and she doesn't feel so tired.} Due to performance of duties far above and beyond the call of your usual SOLDIER responsibilities, the company has decided to reward you for a job well done. Would you like your bonus in gil or the bags your flatmate happens to be holding behind her back at the moment? {and for good measure, she rustled them, just for proof.}

[ Of course he's still in uniform; he's hardly changed since his promotion, even wearing it in his hospital bed all throughout the agonizing weeks for which he'd been relegated to the infirmary after his last round of mako treatments.

(And Zack had laughed at him, for that, but that'd been okay, because he'd laughed a little, too, and even though he'd thought there was a chance they would retroactively reject him for his body's apparent rejection of the modifications, at least he'd made it.)

So it's a slightly rumpled blue uniform and the first vestiges of one of his eternally wan smiles in which he greets the picture perfect image of her in the doorway (a not at all disillusioned teenager, he's pretty sure she always looks perfect, even in the smartly tailored dark suit that carries with it all the foreboding of the Turks' signature).

Quietly shutting off the tap, he taps a foot against the tacky linoleum (in just his socks, at least, so he doesn't quite appear to be about to embark on a very serious mission involving scrubbing the remains of breakfast off the plate in hands). After an appropriately contemplative pause, he shakes his head-- ]

How much gil?

Cloud -

{it doesn't matter that she's older, the way she says his name in that moment is still the reprimanding little girl version that would have been a whine if it wasn't said with such affection. Making a face, because she knows he's teasing her and this is her way of teasing him back, she straightens up and steps sideways so she can put a shoulder to the frame between where she is and where he is. They've both gotten taller but he's ahead of her now by at least a few inches (two or three of which she thinks he suddenly added the second he put on that uniform) and she leans forward from the waist just a little to look up at him, paper bags slightly the worse for wear and with the name of his favorite eatery printed on them visible behind her back.]

Don't you trust your roomie?

Zack says -

[ The eternal mantra: he's gotten worse about it, lately, now that it's working together and training together instead of just running into each other at the weirdest of times. But goodness knows he's half as in love with his other best friend as he is with her, and the hero worship is like second nature to him, completely unconscious.

Setting aside the by now very clean dish in his grasp, he turns to her in his poignant pause, a soapy hand to his chin. ]

...When a girl asks you a loaded question like that, you should never take it lightly.

[ And if his too-bright eyes leave her face just for a second in the middle of his filibuster to catch a glimpse of the edge of a familiar logo on the bags she isn't hiding very well, it certainly isn't obvious. Not at all. ]

I trust you.

{the noise she makes is blown between pressed lips but her eyes don't stop smiling despite the dismissive sound and she steps forward to lightly catch the high neck of his shirt in a hand as if she's going to rattle him - or pull him closer. She's still playing though because she just rolls her eyes at him and sticks out her tongue.}

You'd better. {because it's easier to play than admit that... she knows. She knows he trusts her without question and it makes her heart swell in her chest again but it also wakes the part of her that's slowly being turned into a Turk and that part of her points out how dangerous his unquestioning trust could be for him if she ever went bad. She can't bear the thought of ever using something she finds so precious against him though and shunts it away, concentrating instead of the bags she's balanced in one of her hands and the way the fabric of his shirt is warm against her skin with his absorbed heat and the fact he's left soap suds on his growingly angled chin with his fist.}

Usually I'd say you shouldn't be taking Zack's advice when it comes to women. {which is what had merited the snort. She liked Zack. It was impossible not to like Zack. And if Cloud played his shadow a little it was okay because Cloud stays Cloud at the end of the day and as long as he doesn't try to become Zack she's okay too. When it comes to women though... Zack - not the one Cloud should probably be taking advice from most times. Leaning in, she bumps her nose lightly against Cloud's with a smile before settling back on her heels.} But this time he's actually right. I guess that means you get the gil AND your surprise too.

[ As quick as he is to take the bait whenever she starts teasing him like that, Cloud's never once finished an argument with her (sincere or otherwise). Because she always does something like that--

And he remembers being fourteen and equal parts terrified and exhilarated as he waited beneath her window in the middle of the night, remembers falling asleep shoulder-to-shoulder as stowaways in a cramped storage space in the underbelly of a Shinra cargo ship, remembers every time she's laughed at something he's said, every time she's pushed him to not just stay strong but be stronger. Every moment since then is exactly as important as the next, as cherished as the last.

Even as he ducks his head defensively in his embarrassment, bright red blooming in his cheeks and his attention intense again on the dirty dishes left floating in the half-full sink.

It doesn't really help when he belatedly realizes he's just admitted that he talks to Zack about girls, either. (Or, rather, Zack talks about girls to him -- there's really no talking with Zack, most of the time, but in the end Cloud just likes that about him, too.) ]

Mm. That's okay. How about just my surprise? Don't wanna be greedy.

{something inside her goes soft and helpless at the sight of that color across his growingly sharp cheeks.

That's for her...

She knows she's not the only one that can make him blush... but he does it a lot for her and it feels so sweet inside her when he does. She doesn't know why but it makes her want to step in and snuggle close against his chest and of course she doesn't - but it's getting harder and harder not to these days.

For a moment, her own chin ducks and the smile on her lips is young and shy and pleased. Without saying anything right away, she sets the bags down on the counter, knowing quite well he's already seen them and starts to roll up one of the sleeves of her dress shirt, stepping in next to him so that she can help with the dishes, shoulder gently bumping his. Before she starts the next sleeve though, she pauses.}

Are you sure? {she ducks her head to peer at him, reaching up to his far ear, finger tips brushing for a second before her hand comes away with a shiny gil in it} Because I'm pretty sure I know where to find both.

[ At her hokey magic trick, he pulls a face, surprised at first as she reaches for him, but clearly less than impressed with the reveal. There's a very particular wrinkle that always runs across the bridge of his nose when he thinks he's being treated like a child - very apparent, at the moment, but always worse when he's not saved by the good grace of lingering amusement.

He's fast, but his fingers are slippery still as he makes a grab for the coin. ]

One gil? Is that all? You can't buy anything in Midgar for one gil.

[ And are they really teaching her such silly parlor tricks in her training? No wonder there are so many weirdly upbeat Turks... ]

{she doesn't try to keep the coin when he reaches for it. There's really not a lot of definition when it comes to whose money is whose most of the time between them but she's also disappointed. She recognizes that nose wrinkle. She's proud of herself at least. It's not easy to make things disappear when you're still holding them and she'd really had to practice to make it easy. Using it for the coin trick was supposed to have been for fun. A shoulder shrug and she lets him have the coin, telling herself it's okay if he doesn't think it's interesting. The Turk she'd learned it from had.}

They wouldn't let me take the tracking devices out of the building. {It isn't as if the Turks go around planting coins on people. Then, as an afterthought, she adds:} You can buy flowers for a gil in the slums.

{Hanging her jacket on a cabinet handle safely out of the way, she starts rolling up her other sleeve, flashing him a quick smile while she watches what she's doing with her hand, determined not to lose their happy mood of earlier.}

So what other pearls of wisdom did Zack drop on you today?

[ He's young and still a little inconsiderate in his bluntness (a trait he'll probably never grow out of, sadly), and he doesn't notice her disappointment, but he senses something. A useless and indistinct premonition.

He puts a little more enthusiasm than he really feels into his next question, trying to resuscitate the conversation he probably just trampled all over. ]

Where'd you hear that?

[ Glossing easily over that bit about "tracking devices"... It doesn't strike him as all that important, anyway: just work talk. And once they're both safely consumed by the tiny, insignificant universe that exists only in this nondescript, in no way special fifth floor apartment, the Shinra and the whole rest of the world sometimes temporarily cease to be. So he can't be bothered with the potential moral quandaries of her occupation, when all of that's so far away.

Or at least not while he's busy pretending to be so intent on a spot on the glass in his hands (the gil tucked safely away into one of those bottomless SOLDIER pants pockets, for now -- flowers in the slums? he'll have to investigate).

Setting another soapy dish aside for later rinsing, he shakes his head, playing off his lingering embarrassment as a pleasantly mild sort of disinterest. Talking about the weather, running down the day's events, it's the same as always -- and that's completely, perfectly okay. ]

Just... Training stuff.

{she's been told, by her Turk mentor among others, that SOLDIER don't understand Turks. That they're too caught up in their mako fueled exercises and hitting things on the head with their big swords, to really pay attention to people that aren't inside that green eyed circle. She's been told that Cloud's going to find his place in the SOLDIER ranks and he's going to move on and leave her behind. That he's going to forget about her. That that's why being a Turk is so important. Because she'll always have a home with them and they'll always understand what no one that's not a Turk ever will. She's not entirely naive. Not as much at least. She recognized indoctrination when she hears it.

It doesn't mean that, sometimes, there isn't the little traitorous voice in the back of her head that isn't afraid, deep down, that maybe they're right. And that makes her a little mad and determined to prove them all wrong.

So she scoots closer to Cloud than necessary at the sink, shoulder to shoulder and almost hip to hip. Reaffirming with physical closeness that they're still in this together and that it's okay if they don't always understand each other, they understand what's important.

...she hopes...}

Didn't. {she picks up the dish he's washed and rinses it, falling into the easy routine of working at mundane things next to him and it helps that little worm fear in her heart.} I saw her. She sells flowers near the main train station. We kept an eye on her the other day.

{she starts to relax, setting the plate in the rack to dry and reaching to take the next one from him. Reassured enough by the simple comfort of being back with Cloud and safe again to even tease a little.}

Training, huh? With weapons - or girls?

[ Maybe he doesn't understand the finer points of Turkdom, and it probably is true he never will. But he's never understood her any better, and that's got nothing to do with who she works for or whether or not his eyes are the color he was born with anymore.

He doesn't understand why she came with him. He doesn't know what she thinks of him. He's half sure she still blames him (but this last usually only after one of those awkward teenage fights that always seem to end in wholly unsatisfying stalemate).

But none of that has ever changed the way he feels about her, the way he looks up to her, the way he struggles to surmount so many impossible things just to impress her, as if every little bit of her attention is enough in each piece just to so briefly validate his existence.

And as she sidles up next to him to help with the dishes, he's already planning to visit as many train stations in Midgar as he needs to to find this mysterious flower girl. Maybe he'll even make the trip down to the slums, even though he hates the long, spiraling ride the train takes, twisting around the pillar, almost more than anything. He won't hand it to her or try to surprise her with it, once he's managed to hunt down his gift. He'll probably just leave it in an old, cracked glass in the middle of the wobbly kitchen table (one leg shored up with a folded-over cardboard carton so ancient that any sign of label or identification has long since worn away). One little burst of cheer in the otherwise modestly gloomy room.

It's no grand romantic gesture, and he won't pretend so. But maybe she'll smile when she sees it, and right now that's enough for him. ]

Weapons.

[ And just replying to that makes him flustered, again, shaking his head as he recovers from nearly dropping the glass in his hands. ]

We... Don't talk about that stuff that often.

{her dark eyes flick over to him from their corners as he fumbles the glass and just the very edges of her lips curve upward but she keeps her chin tucked and rinses off the plate she's holding. She likes teasing Cloud. He's one of the only people she does that to, in fact, not comfortable with most others enough for silliness. She's always careful when she teases him though, never wanting to go too far. Cloud's sensitive to what other people say about him. She is too but she understands, without knowing why, that it's different for him. She thinks he's the bravest person she's ever known but everyone has weaknesses over parts of their heart and so she does her best to guard and shore up that part of him as much as she can. Still, she can't help but prod sometimes about other girls. Just... just to check.}

Not that often, huh? So that means you do talk about it sometimes.

{he's a year older than her and in SOLDIER blue now. He hangs around with Zack's who's got a reputation for being a ladies' man even if she's not sure he really deserves it. And more to the point, Cloud's ridiculously good looking. She knows better than to tell him but she's sure that if even she's noticed, everyone else in the world must be aware of it. He's gone from cute to good looking and shows no signs of stopping on his way to jaw dropping. It makes her worry. Because what happens when he finds a girl? Tifa can't find it in herself to trust some faceless, future woman with something as precious and fragile as Cloud's amazing heart. She thinks she'd rather put her own on the chopping block than see anything ever happen to hurt Cloud's.

Except she's his friend and she's supposed to help him. As a girl friend it's kind of her duty to make sure he knows what he's doing with other girls. Right? Her hands are wet so she leans over and nudges his ear with her nose instead, making sure she has his attention.}

Just don't believe everything Zack says about girls, okay? I like your style better than his.

...Sometimes.

[ And just like that, that miserable blush is back in his carefully avoidant expression. He doesn't act like this very much, anymore, but it's hardest around Tifa to keep up the rough-edged stoicism he's tried so determinedly to cultivate, over the past couple of years. Because she has the advantage on him, there, knowing more about him (and who he really is) than anyone else in this entire city. She's only getting better at pressing his buttons without meaning to (or maybe she does mean it, but he's no good at reading her).

So absorbed as he is in his scrutiny of the silverware he's about to hand off to her, he doesn't catch her leaning closer until it's much too late. Cloud ducks his head, a soapy hand going to his ear as he takes one hasty step to the side. ]

I don't! [ It's defensive, all shock and no anger, and the rest of her words don't even register for another handful of seconds.

(My style...?)

As if he has one. ]

Just forget it. Like I never said anything.

"Good."

{She catches the mishmash of silverware from him, a mixed set of forks and knives and spoons that don't match but happen to be one of their first purchases for the apartment once they'd gotten a few weak paychecks under their belt. It had made them feel accomplished, like adults now, instead of having to keep rewashing the plastic ones they'd taken from a long left behind restaurant. Rinsing them now she flashes him a smile and then focuses on what she'd doing, giving him time to collect himself. One slightly convex pot to go and while he's distracted, she shifts over to start washing that, always feeling guilty when she comes back to find him finishing up the dishes without her. Without looking up, she adds:}

"And I don't forget what you say. You're important. But I promise not to tease." {Much. She promises not to tease much. About other girls. If he's still acting like that when she mentions them than she's safe for a little while longer in not having to share him. Maybe loose him...

She lifts her head to give him a shy, hopeful smile. Truce? She'll be good for the rest of the night. The smile moves into her eyes and goes softer though as she focuses on him. A little sideways tip of her own head.}

You've got foofy soap on your ear.

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The Domestic Meme

Tifa Lockheart/ FFVII: Crisis Core

4! I can picture this all too clearly

right down to the goldenrod colored fridge

in which they keep all manner of questionable things the science dept "lends" her

I'm sure it's amazing how much she gets 'lent'

but Tifa, if you're the klepto, then who was Yuffie

the... hyperactive bartender at the Turtle?

1. that is the best mental image and 2. this explains those damn fliers so well

I swear those things were in the weirdest places - Yuffies really the only way they make sense

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