Resurfacing

“Okay, explain to me one more time why you chose...” Cloud kept his voice low as he turned from the gunman to point at a swiftly-getting-drunk Cid, “HIM?”

Vincent sighed, trying to keep his patience in check. Cid was right to keep Vincent’s gun at home- he was sure he would’ve just blown Cloud’s head off by now. “I have already explained to you why TWICE.”

“I know, just tell me one more time and I promise I’ll stop asking.”

“I doubt that, but very well.” Vincent sighed again and cleared his throat. “When you and the rest of the group first found me, I admit I was...difficult, to get along with. My moods, I’m sure, didn’t help the rest of the party’s attitude towards me. Of all the people in the group, you and I had a deeper understanding, yes. However, among all of you it was Cid who extended the invitation of friendship slightly more...forcefully, than the rest of you. He was the only one who really talked to me during our quest to stop Sephiroth and meteor. After everything had ended and we all had gone our separate ways, it wasn’t long after that the clones arrived and we all met up again. After that whole..fiasco, drew to a conclusion, it was Cid and Reeve who attempted to keep contact with me. Understand so far?”

“Yeah, yeah, keep going.”

“During the whole Omega situation, Cid was one of the people who helped me the most, in all of his ways. Which, by the way, I do not want to talk about, discuss over coffee or write a memoir about what happened. I intend to forget about it and erase it from my memory, much like what Hojo had done to you. Understand?”

“That was a low blow, Vincent.” Cloud frowned slightly, scratching the back of his head. “But yeah, I got it.”

“Good. After all of...THAT,” Vincent waved his hand with a frown, “Cid extended the invite for me to come live with him and his...Shera. I had no where else to go, and Cid was so adamant about it I eventually gave in. I’m glad I did. He was nothing but considerate to me, and as much as I thought I didn’t want him to, he tried to incorporate me into his life. It was an...interesting, experience.” Vincent snorted slightly as he continued to watch Cid talk with Barett and Reno about something that was making all three of them laugh. “He was trying to make me live..to make me happy. It took me a long while to realize that. When I did...well. I found out I WAS happy.”

“And that you had a huge crush on an older, cranky, chain smoking, alcohol inducing foul mouthed and married pilot.” Cloud lifted an eyebrow as he shook his head. “I have to tell you Vincent, you’ve got weird tastes in men.”

“I MUST, because I found YOU attractive at one time, Cloud.” Vincent turned his head back around from looking at Cloud, snorting at the faint pink blush that spread over the swordsman’s face. “Yes, Cid is far from perfect...but to me, he is.” Vincent said nothing else as he left that sentence linger there. “Just like you felt this way for Aeris without being able to help it, neither can I for Cid.”

Cloud nodded to himself, running his hand through his gravity defying hair. “Yeah..I know what you mean...it’s just...” Cloud sighed as Vincent turned his face to look down at him, eyebrow raised. “I just...never pegged you as being gay.”

“I DO still like women, Cloud. I just happen to be with...” Vincent stopped mid sentence, his normally placid face scrunching up into a deep frown. Cloud blinked in confusion when the gunner stopped, following the direction of his scowl with his own eyes.

“Uh-oh.”

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“So tell me, old man. What’s it like to live with Valentine, of all people?” Reno took his fifth shot of vodka, roughly putting the shot glass back down on the table as he tried to make out his hand of cards.

Cid lifted an eyebrow as he shuffled his own hand around, shrugging. “Like living with anyone else, I guess. He pretty much keeps to himself, dodn’t make a lot of noise. Eats like a fuckin’ rabbit, salads and fruits every damn day. I’m pretty sure a steak of two a week wouldn’t hurt ‘em either.”

“Hasn’t changed much, huh?” Barett chuckled as dealt out the rest of the cards to the men playing. Cid had dared the Turks to a game of poker, and exactly what they were betting on no one was sure. They would just figure it out when someone lost. “He still mopin’ and moanin’ after that woman?”

“What, Lucrecia? No, not anymore. He pretty much got all of that settled with himself after the Omega thing ended.”

“So he’s not seeing anyone?”

Cid lifted his eyes from his cards, and they met aquamarine ones as Reno stared back at him, a smirk on the Turk’s face. “Not that I know of. Don’t think he’s ready to start seein’ anyone, though. Why?” The pilot tried to keep his voice steady as he asked, pretending Reno was only curious because he was a nosey little asshole. Out of the corner of his eye, Tseng shuffled uncomfortably as he stared back and forth between the two men.

“Just makin’ sure.” Reno’s smirk grew bigger as he poured himself another shot, downing it quicker than the first one.

“Why, you interested in Vince or something?”

“Between you and me, old man, I don’t know a sane person who wouldn’t be. The man’s fuckin’ drop dead gorgeous, got a body like a lynx and is probably a total yuke.”

Cid snorted, putting his cards down as he stared with an even face at Reno. “Then go right ahead and dig your own grave while you're at it, kid, but I’m telling you that you don’t have a chance in hell at gettin’ with Vince.”

“Oh yeah?” Reno snorted, tossing his hand onto the top of the table as he stood up, adjusting his Turk jacket. “Watch this.” Four sets of eyes watched as the red haired man did what could only be called a strut towards the silent figure in the corner, leaning against the wall as he smiled up at the red eyed gunner. “Heya Valentine.”

“What do you want Reno.” Vincent frowned, not even bothering to put it in the form of a question.

“So I was talkin’ to old man Highwind, and he told me you were, ya know, single and all, that right?”

“Relatively.”

“That a yes?” Reno grinned up at the gunner, scooting closer to him along the wall.

“Yes.”

“Oh. Well, that in case, what are you doing tonight after the party?....ya wanna ditch the old man for a while, get hm out of your hair?”

“No.” Vincent looked down at Reno, a bored look already on his face. “I neither want to do anything WITH or anything TO you. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not ever. Now go sit back down before you get yourself hurt.” An audible sigh escaped his lips. Over Reno’s shoulder Vincent could see Cid, eyes narrowed and one hand clenching his cards so tightly they were crumpling in on themselves.

The smirk on Reno’s face grew wider as the scowl on Vincent’s grew deeper, each man staring at each other in a showdown. Tseng’s eyes darted over to Cid, and he shifted uneasily in his chair. Across him, Reeve was standing from his seat, already prepared for the immanent blood bath that would happen in Reno didn’t leave Vincent’s personal bubble in the next five seconds. The two Wutaiian men exchanged glances knowingly. They were sure HOW the other man knew the other man knew, they just DID. Reno shifted on the wall, smiling up at the stoic gunman. “You know, you’re cute when you’re playing hard to get.”

“I am NOT playing hard to g-..” Vincent was cut off as a pair of lips pressed into his. They tasted like cheap vodka, and before Vincent so much as blinked the contact between them was quickly severed. Vincent inhaled, his vision suddenly clear, then filled with the back view of Cid as Reno flew across the table on his back, landing in a heap, bloody nose and all, on the other side. “CID!”

Reno stumbled up, his left hand holding his bleeding and (to be sure) broken nose as he glared over at Cid, red face and angry. “WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM, OLD MAN?!”

“YOU’RE MY FUCKIN’ PROBLEM, ASSHOLE! Ah told you not to fuckin’ mess with ‘em, then you go and pull THAT little fuckin’ stunt?!” Cid was red faced himself, his face set in a glare as his sky blue eyes flashed dangerously. Both hands were clenched in fists as he stood in front of Vincent, murder on his mind as he looked at the taller Turk across the room.

“What the fuck’s it matter to you?!”

“BECAUSE HE’S MINE!” Cid screamed it out before he could catch himself, and his voice caught in his throat. All motion in the room stopped, the only sound heard anymore the whirring of the fan above their heads as everyone in the room, even people they didn’t know, stopped and turned to look at him. “Y..You heard me, he’s mine! My fuckin’ friend, and in case ya didn’t know Reno he ALSO happens to be living with me, so that makes me his fuckin’ landlord too! Next time I tell you to back the fuck off, BACK THE FUCK OFF or this old man’ll break your fuckin’ neck, got it?!” Cid didn’t wait for an answer before he turned, grabbed Vincent’s wrist and proceeded to drag the gunman out of the room. The front door was met with a violent kick, swinging wide open and nearly off its hinges as Cid stormed out of the bar into the cold air of Edge nighttime.

The room was dead silent, everyone looking at each other as they tried to figure out just what the hell happened and who started it. Cloud sighed, standing up from his chair as he stretched with a yawn. “Well,” he joked, “I think that’s the most exciting thing that’s happened all night.”
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AN- heh. and what follows a fight? make up sex. yay. :P

Edited 3/12/08