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When I first played Final Fantasy VII, Tifa and Barret hit me as a married couple with a daughter (Marlene), and that impression remained with me even after I became aware of Tifa's obvious feelings for Cloud. For a while, especially during my old times of strong CloAer addiction, I actually believed in the future pairing up of Tifa and Barret as a possibility. Nowadays, I realize it can't nor will it ever happen within the context of the game: however, I still maintain my theory on Barret's "special" feelings for Tifa.

Not only are Barret and Tifa close friends, they share one very special thing: their love for Marlene. Tifa plays the role of a mother in the little girl's life, while Barret plays that of a father: together, they're raising her the best way they can. In my opinion, the fact that Tifa loves his adopted daughter so much has a strong effect on Barret; not only is he thankful and touched (keep in mind that she took him and Marlene in when they had no other place to go in Midgar), he also feels a deep kind of affection towards our barmaid herself. Then there's AVALANCHE and the common goal they're both fighting for; all this creates strong bonds between the two of them, whether we want to see it as friendship and companionship or something more. It is quite obvious that Barret looks up to and cares for Tifa much more than he does any other character in game: even with Aerith, whose safety he truly seemed to be worried about, things were different. He admired her optimistic view on life, found faith in her existence and cared for her, but feelings ended there. Tifa was the only one he ever felt the need to cheer up during the hardest times; the one person he trusted most and was always there for.

A couple of times in the game, Barret does voice his special care for Tifa; for instance, on the airship, after the Sister Ray incident, he says to Cait Sith:

"Dammit! Why didn't ya tell me you could fly an airship!?
I thought...... Tifa was gone for good."

Of course he would have worried about any other friend equally, but there's something in the way he always refers to Tifa that shows a special kind of affection. There's no point in making reference to other moments in the game where Barret expresses his worry (sometimes even a twisted kind of jealousy about Tifa's feelings for Cloud) or goes out of his way to help Tifa; the bonds the two of them share are obviously strong, and if you play the game you'll notice a lot of situations and quotes pointing that way. Now, there's no actual proof that what he feels for her is romantic love or anything of the kind; along with a lot in FFVII, that's left for the player to decide individually. However, it seems to me that he at least feels something stronger than friendship for her, though he is not the type to express it the best way nor do something about it.

Either way, his feelings would never be returned, for Tifa's only love is, and probably will be for a long time, Cloud. She is aware of the special trust going on between Barret and herself, though she probably doesn't see anything beyond that.

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