Author: Wallwalker
Title: Blackout
Fandom: FFVII
Characters: Barret/Tifa
Challenge: Candles
Word Count: 500
Rating: SFW, no warnings apply
Summary: The power outages are much less frequent outside of Midgar, but Tifa is still prepared for them.

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For a second, when the power first went out, Tifa thought she was back in Midgar again.

The feeling passed quickly, of course. There’d been no insects singing in Midgar, and she could see the moon when she peeked out of the window. But outages had been a frequent occurrence back in the slums, and after stumbling around in the dark a few times, she’d learned to adapt.

“Hey, Tifa,” she heard Barret yell from the other room. “You still out there?”

“I’m fine,” she said, sitting back up on the couch. She powered down her phone quickly, as not to drain the battery.

“Okay, gimme a sec!” She heard him fiddling in the cabinets. “I don’t guess I can ever tease you ‘bout keeping all these candles ever again, can I?”

She smiled thankfully. “I hope not,” she called back. “You found some?”

“Yep!” She heard the scraping of a match, and saw the sudden flash of flame. The glow dimmed, guttering slightly, then grew more intense again as Barret came out, candle in hand. She could see the light of another candle behind him, back in the kitchen.

She smiled, breathing in; the smell of hot wax and smoke reminded her of home, when her parents had insisted on using candles instead of the newly-installed and expensive energy from the reactor. That was part of the reason why she kept so many, both back in Midgar and now here in Edge. “Thank you,” she said as he put it on the table next to her.

“Don’t mention it,” he said, sitting down and pulling out his phone. He pressed a few buttons, then closed it. “Looks like a line got knocked over,” he said, shaking his head. “They’re workin’ on it. Might take a while, but the message said it’ll be done before mornin’.”

She looked upstairs, where the children were sleeping. “We should check on Denzel before we go to bed,” she said. “He might not be used to this.”

“Heh. Lucky kid.” Barret smiled, not making any move to stand now. He still smelled faintly of newly-struck matches, and it took her back home. She relaxed next to him, heard his voice grumble in his chest as he continued. “‘Course, Marlene’ll help him out. I’m sure she remembers.”

“How could she forget?” The Shinra hadn’t cared as much about maintaining the power to the slums; most of their efforts were spent on the people living above. They’d considered a night-long blackout to be a short one. “I’m not ready to sleep yet. Hand me my book?”

“Sure thing.” Barret grabbed two books from the table, and handed her the one she’d been reading, a decent historical novel written and set in Wutai. “You need another candle?”

“Nah,” she said, even though the extra light would’ve been helpful. She was comfortable like this, she thought, turning so that she could catch the light on the pages. Nothing wrong with enjoying it for a little while.