Resurfacing

Vincent sighed, looking out of the bedroom window. Downstairs he could hear Shera bustling around, humming to herself some cheery, overly annoying tune. He was sure she was doing more laundry, like she always seemed to do on a regular basis (Vincent didn’t have to ask why she washed sheets daily), and while he was upstairs in his own room, Cid was downstairs and outside working on the always broken engine three.

They’d stayed another day in Wutaii, spending most of their time discovering the tiny, unnoticeable things about each other. Vincent had found a particularly sensitive spot behind Cid’s knee he took blatant advantage of while Cid realized Vincent’s hair curled when it was wet, but only slightly, and that he loved roses. It was only when Reeve had reminded Cid that they still needed to get back to Edge that both men realized it was also time to return home. Vincent thought he had controlled his disappointment very well when the Shera had landed back in Rocket Town and her namesake latched herself around Cid like a chocobo in heat. He had merely nodded to her and crept up to his room, hoping a pillow over the head would drown out any noise the couple made downstairs during their “reunion”. It was only when Cid had knocked on his door later that night he realized he had fallen asleep, unsuccessfully smothering himself.

“Vince?” Cid turned the knob, opening the door a bit. He knew Vincent was a private person despite the fact he’d been sleeping with the man for three days now. The stretched out figure on the bed shifted a bit, and a hazy eyed Vincent lifted his head and turned to look at him. “Heh, woke you up, huh?” The famous Highwind smirk met his face as he sat down next to the gunman, resting his hand on one bony hip. “You tired?”

Vincent shook his head, trying to get the sleepy feeling out. He hated waking up as much as he disliked sleeping- the disorientation one felt while awakening annoyed him. “No, I was trying to get the idea of what Shera must have been forcing on you out of my head by smothering myself...it didn’t work.” He yawned, sitting up as he stretched his arms above his head. “I had a nightmare you had become intimate with your plane..”

“Ew.” Vincent turned to look down at the blonde man sitting beside him. Cid’s face was scrunched up at the nose, one eye half shut and his eyebrows narrowed. “I love flying, but that’s a bit much even for me.” Cid shook his head and looked up at Vincent, blue eyes meeting dark red ones. “By the way..” Cid held up a small ivory envelope that had already been opened, a small heart shaped seal torn at the flap. “Guess who’s getting married in three weeks?”

“So soon? They’d barely said anything about something so sudden last we spoke.” Vincent opened the flap and pulled out the card inside, lifting an eyebrow as he read out loud. “‘You are hear by invited to the wedding Ceremony of Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart, to be taken place September 30 at 3 p.m. You may bring one guest’.” He flipped the envelope over, Cid’s name written in Tidy cursive on the front. He frowned slightly, tucking the card back inside. He couldn’t see the blonde staring up at him with knowing eyes, the smirk falling to the small smile he seemed to reserve for the gunman. “When it says ‘guest’, are they referring to Shera or to me?”

“I thought you’d say something like that..when I got the invite, I called up Strife and asked him why you didn’t get one too. Hell, you’re part of the team, I told him. He said Tifa only sent one ‘cause she knew you lived with me an that it’d be easier to send one invite instead of two..so, sorry Valentine but you’re invited whether you like it or not.” Cid smiled up at the brunette as the obvious annoyance on Vincent’s face slowly disappeared. “You didn’t think they’d forget about you?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.”

Cid frowned. He wasn’t quite sure if it was what Vincent said or how he said it that suddenly annoyed the piss out of him, but it did. He reached up and snatched the envelope out of the ex-Turk’s hand, grabbing at the ruffled collar as his shirt as he did so to bring Vincent’s face barely an inch away from his. “What kind of complex do you have that makes you think no one cares about you?”

Vincent blinked calmly down at the sky blue eyes flaring up brighter before him. “Because thus far, you have been the only one who has shown me they do.” He smiled, leaning his face down the rest of the way to trace his lips along the stubbled chin and jaw line to Cid’s ear, nipping at the lobe there. Underneath him Cid shuddered, the hand grabbing at his collar releasing to trail its way up Vincent’s neck and into his hair. The gunman sighed, resting his face in the crook of Cid’s neck. “I haven’t been away for you for 24 hours and I already miss you.” He closed his eyes as he inhaled the scent that was Cid, tea and cigarettes mixed together with his natural musk.

“...Me too.” Cid sighed, nuzzling the cheek in front of him. “Don’t worry, I’ll try and make us some time...maybe if I faked my death?”

That conversation had been two hours ago, and now Vincent sat up in his room, for once feeling the cold that settled around him when the heat source he’d come to love wasn’t around. He sighed and glanced out of the window. The skies had become darker with each passing minute, and now they loomed over Rocket Town. Faint streaks of lightening flashed in the distance, carried on the waves of thunder. He was sure the wind had picked up, and it was when little but growing splashes of the first sheet of rain hit his window he stood up and walked to his door to go downstairs.

The house was dark, the only source of light the fish tank that was nestled in the corner. He’d been given it as a gift during Cid’s ‘let’s cheer up Vincent ’ stage, and he watched the fish swim before he walked into the kitchen. He settled into the nearest chair and sighed, playing with the lock of hair that fell over his shoulder. The thought of Cloud and Tifa’s wedding was still fresh in his mind, and it wasn’t so much the fact that he didn’t receive an seperate invitation so much as he was expecting to get one. Was he really that easy to forget?

“Hey...what’re you looking all pouty about?”

Vincent lifted his head from his thoughts straight up at Cid, who he didn't even hear come into the room, much less the back door open and close. The blonde was drenched head to toe, his normally loose clothes clinging to his body, hair hanging in his face. He was holding a pointlessly wet towel in his hands and both it and he were causing a large puddle to form on the floor. “Cid...you’re drenched.”

“Yeah...it’s raining.” He jerked a thumb out towards the kitchen window towards the heavy rain that fell outside. Cid shrugged, shaking his head as he walked out of the kitchen towards the hallway linen closet. “Like I said, what are you being so pouty about? You still stuck on the whole invitation thing?”

Vincent shrugged as he watched Cid walk back into the kitchen, casually drying his hair out with a new and thankfully dry towel. “I don’t know why it bothers me so much....I shouldn’t have expected them to remember me.” He played with the salt shaker that was in front of him, sighing again. “Even if I did help save everyone’s ass three times.”

“Hey now, you’re starting to sound like me. Don’t do that.” Cid glanced down at the kitchen counter top, a small white peice of paper catching his attention. He picked it up, quirking an eyebrow at the note scribbled on it. ‘Went to see Mom, be back later tonight. Dinner’s in the fridge, don’t work yourself to death, Shera’ “Seems Shera went to go see her mom.”

“And the relevance of that to me?” Vincent didn’t mean for his words to come out half as bitter as they sounded. He glanced up at Cid to see whether or not the pilot had caught the tone, but Cid remained as composed at his cynicism as ever.

“That MEANS, oh cranky one, that Shera’s on the other side of town and stuck there until the rain stops.”

“Oh...” Vincent looked back down at the kitchen table, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks. It was very rarely that Cid caught Vincent being inattentive to such details, but the scrapping of the chair beside him and the blue eyes he caught as he stared up at Cid didn’t seem to mind. It was when the large, strong hands he’d gotten to know so well wrapped around his waist and Cid’s chin stubble scratched him as he was kissed did the blush spread, Vincent casting wide eyes around the kitchen to make sure no one was watching. “Cid, don’t Shera... ”

“Is, like I said, on the other side of town and stuck, and if I know how Rocket Town storms work, which I do, it means you have a couple hours of alone time with me...and you know how much I hate seeing that sad look on your face.” Cid smirked up at Vincent with a lifted eyebrow.

“I see...and what, exactly, do you propose we do with those few hours of alone time?” Vincent was still hesitant to return the hug to the other man, and instead opted to rest his hands on Cid’s left arm.

“Well, first I wanna fuck you senseless...then after that...” Cid grinned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I haven’t worn a suit in for-fuckin’-ever.”

“I can’t exactly see you in one, much less owning any kind of a suit at all.”

Cid glanced back at the man sitting on his bed with a scowl. “I used to work for Shinra, remember? It was mandatory we owned one.” The pilot looked back into his closet, pushing old, unused sweaters and jackets aside to take out the heavy, plastic covered article from the back of the closet. He had neglected to completely dress and now stood in front of the closet with his jeans hanging loosely off his frame. He dusted the plastic sleeve in his hand off slightly and plopped it over the edge of the bedframe.

Vincent sat there watching him, covered from the waist down with what used to be a clean sheet, the faint after burn of a sex induced blush still on his face. He was sure he’d heard every little noise that could possibly be someone coming into the house before Cid had assured him there wasn’t and proved his point quite...forcefully. He was sure the pilot was the only person who had, since he was younger, screwed him literally senseless. Now he just watched Cid as the pilot dug through his closet for the long lost shoes to match whatever could be inside the heavy plastic jacket. Vincent shrugged and dragged the thing towards him, unzipped the zipper the kept it closed and shoved it aside. He was more surprised than he thought he’d be, really. Underneath was what looked like a brand new, plain black suit, a white collared dress shirt and black tie to match. “Ah, the classic black outfit. Never goes out of style.”

“Yeah.” Cid tossed a pair of what looked like black wing-tips on the bed next to Vincent, watching the ex Turk examen the suit. He smirked to himself before he took the thing out of Vincent’s hands to look at it himself. “This was my daddy’s. He and I pretty much were the same size so he gave it to me before he died. Not sure if it still fits, though.”

“Put it on, and see.” Vincent leaned back onto his hands, watching the half dressed pilot before him. He’d never seen Cid in anything more than the blue shirts and khakis he wore, much less something as formal as a suit.

Cid shrugged. “Sure...can’t look at me til I’ve got it all on though, kay?”

The gunman sighed with the roll of his eyes before laying back down, staring at the ceiling. As annoying as it was that Cid lacked the confidence to let Vincent watch him, Vincent couldn’t say anything himself. Even after making love to the man and seeing each other nude several times, he still found it hard not to cover his body around the pilot. He knew Cid was aware of the barely visible sets of scars running over his body, but the pilot never said anything about it. In his eyes, Vincent was nothing but beautiful...the gunman couldn’t understand why Cid wouldn’t believe his own words about himself. Still, he figured, even if he had to wait a while longer he would at least get to see the man dressed up. “Are you almost done? I tire of finding shapes in your ceiling.”

“Yeah, done.”

Vincent lifted his head, then sat up in complete shock at the sight before him. The suit, though slightly more snug that it should be, fit him wonderfully. The still pitch black of the outfit made his tanned skin and pale blonde hair stand out more, his eyes even brighter than before. He'd never imagined Cid since he'd met him to ever be able to look dignified, but the suit certainly helped. “Wow.”

The pilot grinned slightly, turning a pale shade of pink. “Well, coming from you I’ll take that as a compliment. Think it still fits alright? Feels a little tight.”

“I assure you no one will be complaining.” Vincent felt a smile come to his face, and he let his eyes take the time to do the once over of Cid’s new outfit. “You look very nice in a suit, Cid. I doubt anyone of our original party would recognize you even if you were wearing a name tag.”

“Heh...OH, speakin’ of parties, I got a call from Strife today while I was working in the hanger. Seems Barett is throwing him a bachelor’s party. You n’ me are both invited, by the way.” Cid began to take the suit off, trying not the let the red eyes intently watching him bother him.

“Wonderful. That’s just what Cloud of all people needs, incentive to watch female strippers and drink before his wedding.”

“Yeah, he said something about it but he didn’t seem too happy at the idea. Hell, if you’re getting married to a dame like Tifa who the hell needs a stripper dancing for ya the night before?”

“Eloquently put, as always Captain.” Vincent mulled over the idea as he continued watching Cid undress. “Still, I suppose a slight amount of exposure couldn’t hurt for him.”

“Couldn’t hurt for you, either.”

“Meaning.”

“Meaning, you ARE going to go. No one but Reeve’s heard from ya since the Omega thing and even though no one says anything about it, they all worry about ya and how you’re doing. I think it would set their minds at ease if you were to come out with me and put on a smile.” Cid tossed the jacket, tie and shirt back onto the bed, sighing as the tightness around his neck and chest was released. He sat down next to Vincent, kissing the gunner’s bare shoulder before resting his chin there.

“I believe that if I actually followed your advice and ‘put on a smile’, I would scare the more insecure ones.”

“You know what I mean...if you don’t wanna do it for Strife, then at least consider it for my sake? Strife expects me to be there and while I like Barett, Reeve, Red and the kid I don’t wanna have to put up with all four of them alone.” He closed his eyes and inhaled the smell of the man beneath him with a smile. “And truth to be told, even if it was for a few hours I wouldn’t want to be away from ya’. I’d worry an miss you too much.”

Vincent smiled despite himself. “You as well?....Alright then, Cid. I will go, but only with you and only for a couple of hours. I won’t promise I’ll enjoy myself but I’ll try, for you.”

“Thanks, baby...oh, and one more thing? You’re leaving your gun at home.”

“Whatever for?” Vincent scowled a bit at that. As much as he trusted Cid, he trusted his extensively sensitive trigger finger more.

“In case you get agitated and decide you want to shoot someone, which you will. No gun.” Cid smiled up at the growing frown on Vincent’s otherwise smooth face.

“Damn. You just took all of the excitement out of going, too.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

“Cid Nice t’ see you again, old man ”

“You’re older than me Barett, so kiss my ass.”

“Heh, ya still haven’t changed have you Highwind?” Barett glanced over the shorter blonde’s shoulder at the tall brunette following him. “Hey, Valentine. Long time no see.”

“Hello, Wallace.” Vincent tried to keep his voice as friendly as possible without it become threatening at the same time.

“Heh..you haven’t changed either, have you Vincent?” Barett wasn’t surprised, really. The only thing that struck him as Vincent changing even in the slightest (and it was actually quite a change) was the fact he’d abandoned the full leather body suit and red cloak for jeans and a t-shirt. He looked...well, normal. “Come on in you two, the kid’s already in there with Reeve and the others.”

“Who, might I ask, are the ‘others’?” Vincent lifted an eyebrow as he walked in after Cid, looking around the room.

“Old man Highwind and the Vampire! How’s it going, yo! ”

Vincent groaned. He recognized the voice of the redheaded Turk anywhere. He opened an eye, not knowing he had shut them, and made out through the swiftly approaching headache Reno, Rude, and Tseng all sitting around a table with what was surely alcohol in hand. Reeve and Cloud sat a ways away, talking to each other quietly. “Hello, Reno.” He merely nodded in their direction before he followed Cid towards where Cloud sat. Vincent was sure he had Tseng’s eyes on his back.

Cid grinned down at Cloud as he sat beside him, already beginning to light a cigarette. “Hey Kid. S’your bachelor party, so what’re you looking so down about?”

Cloud sighed, looking up at the older blonde. “It’s nothing, really. You shouldn’t have to worry about my life. This is a party after all, right? You should be having fun.”

“No, YOU should be having fun, and in case ya haven’t noticed, Strife, just cause you think it’s ‘your’ problem doesn’t mean it is’t our problem, too. Hell, back when we were all traveling together trying to stop Sephiroth, everyone’s problem was everyone ELSE’S problem....cept for maybe Vince’s.” Cid took a drag on his cigarette, smiling up at the red eyed man that stood beside him. "an that's mainly cause if we tried to help him with anything, his glare and his gun would make us change our minds."

"Yes, Vincent...I'm sorry I haven't been more polite." Cloud looked up at the gunman, smiling softly. He was tired, really, and while Cloud knew Cid MEANT well by barging into his life on friendly terms, he was sure no one but Vincent could really understand his want to not talk about it. "Maybe I should take a page from your book and carry around a big gun too, huh?"

"That, Cloud, is what your sword is for. Cid, if Cloud doesn't want to talk about it we should respect his wishes. Bring up something more important or at least more interesting to talk about." Vincent quirked an eye down at the pilot, the look on his face indisputable.

"Alright, alright...hey Barett." Cid turned to the gunarmed man talking to Reeve. "Who'd you get for the stripper? I might know her."

Vincent resisted to urge to either slap his own head or Cid's. He did neither, and decided it would be best to shake his head instead. "Not what I meant, but alright." Vincent sighed and opted to lean back into a darkened corner by where Cid sat, thinking he could at least watch the man at a safe distance but still be far enough away to avoid temptaion. He was sure no one in the room except for Reeve and Tseng knew about his more-than-friendly-relationship with Cid; Tseng was a Turk and even if Vincent was an EX-Turk, confidentiality among them was notorious. Reeve was just smart enough to know when to keep his mouth shut about it, now not being the right time as he had mercilessly teased both him and Cid the entire way back to Edge. Out of the two men, though, only one seemed to bother him.

He let his red eyes trail across the room, passing over faces as he made his way towards where Tseng sat. The Wutaiian was sitting across from Reno, his brown eyes occassionally darting around the room to look between Cid and where Vincent stood. Red eyes met brown ones, and Tseng quickly looked away. A small scowl met Vincent's face. Tseng had been acting strange around him ever since he opened his mouth about Cid during the Creation Festival, and now the Turk wouldn't even look at him. A nagging suspiscion had crawled into the back of his mind ever since, but his thoughts were pulled away about it when he felt a touch on his shoulder. He looked down, and he caught the blue eyes and blonde hair that could only belong to a chocobo headed Cloud. "Srife."

"I'm sorry. Did I startle you?"

"You know I am imcapable of being startled by you. Congradulations on your marriage, Cloud. I sure myself and everyone else were wondering when you two would finally get around to this."

"The Bachelor party?"

"...The wedding." Vincent let a small smile slip to his lips as he corrected Cloud.

"OH, yeah...well, I'd actually asked Tifa before the whole...clone thing..but you know how that went."

"Yes, as Cid would say 'to high Hell'...but everyone pulled through it, together, again. That's what is important. Now you and Tifa can finally settle down and be truely happy...that's what is most important." Vincent mulled over his own words, his eyes unknowingly settling down on the broad back of the pilot in front of him. His fingers twitched in his folded arms, and he made a mental note to himself to mess with Cid's hair at the closest possbile moment. "Finding the one you love is the most important thing in the world..."

Cloud blinked as he stared up at the taller gunman, one eyebrow narrowed as he watched Vincent's face change. The normally hardened expression of disconcern softened, and Cloud followed Vincent's eyes to where they landed on Cid's back. "I suppose so...so how has living with Cid been?"

"It's been fine. He gives me the privacy I want, asks very little of me and even goes out of his way to make sure I'm comfortable." He looked back down at the Ex-SOLDIER. "I heard from Reeve that everyone was worried about me being over in Rocket Town. I assure you, I'm fine. Really."

"Hmm....Vincent, can I ask you something?" Cloud wasn't sure how to put this- his mental puzzle was slowly coming together peice by peice, but he wasn't sure if what he guessed was right.

"Certainly." Vincent let his eyes wander back towards his lover, watching the blonde man attempting to win an arm wrestling match against Barett and losing miserably.

"The way you look at Cid...is that the way you used to look at Lucrecia, too?" Cloud drew in a nervous breath as Vincent grew rigid, actually turning his whole head to look down at him.

"what makes you think that, Cloud Strife?" Vincent kept those blue eyes attached to his own, a breath caught in his throat. Crap! He hadn't thought about Cloud figuring it out, and he made a mental note to never doubt Cloud's attention span again.

"Because that's the same look I used to give....Aeris.." Cloud's voice trailed off, turning his face away to look towards the group of Turks who were all five seconds away from getting totally plastered. He knew the blood red eyes of the older man were still on him, but he couldn't look at them...not right now, or not until he knew Vincent wasn't going to kill him, at least. It seemed like forever before Vincent sighed, and Cloud turned back to look at him. Vincent's face was softer, the intensity of red gone from his eyes as he smiled and shook his head.

"Yes."

Cloud exhaled sharply in relief, wiping away a bead of nervous sweat that had formed on his brow. "For real?"

"Yes."

"wow...then I guess there's only one thing I can say.."

"And what, praytell, would that be?" A very Cid-like grin pulled at the corner of his mouth as he watched Cloud stumble for words.

"....Didn't know you went for older men."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN- I'm BAAAAAACCKK!! *gets slapped and pumelled by her best friend who's been waiting forever for an upsate* AND IN PAIN!!!! *twitch* Blame World of Warcraft..

Amanda- I DOOO!!!! >X( *sweatdrop*

Edited 3/11/08