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Resurfacing	By : dreamsofcrows Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 685 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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It was strange. Truth to be told it was more than strange, his current situation, it was -awkward-, and akward was one thing he had always tried to avoid. He opened his eye as the alarm clock next to his head woke him up, screaming out something that was a cross between a buzz and the slurring twang of some kind of country song. A needle dropping into oblivion would have woken him up just as well, but in such a house like this he doubted there was even a needle -to- drop. ‘It would be best if I just stayed in here. I don’t think anyone would mind if I did.’ He was wrong, of course. “ALRIGHT BOY, TIME TO GET YOUR PASTY FACED ASS UP AND GET T’ WORK! I DON’T TAKE LOAFERS IN MY HOUSE, DAMN IT! ” The screaming voice was accompanied by the hard banging of a fist against the bedroom door. “And oh yeah, Shera says breakfast is ready. ” Vincent Valentine sighed, lifting the pillow from under his head and holding in his breath as he attempted to smother himself. When five minutes had passed and he had yet ceased to breathe, he sighed, throwing the pillow and the blankets covering him aside. He stood, yawning as his muscles stretched and tingled as they woke up, unused to sleeping on such...plush, surfaces as a bed. Slipping what loose and comfortable clothes he posessed on, he opened the bedroom door, walking downstairs where the waft and pop of bacon frying met his senses.
He was tired. He admitted that now. Even only a week ago when he realized with an amazed sense of loneliness that the once ever present Demon, Chaos, was gone, mind and body, Weiss defeated, Omega destroyed, Lucrecia....he couldn’t think about her right now. The days and nights he'd known since then had been spent in silent contemplation, and at times he actually found himself missing the voices that had been in the back of his mind for so long. And had it really been only such a short time since Cid, his closest companion, had all but forced Vincent to stay with him in Rocket Town? Free room and board for as long as he needed to get back on his feet. It was a gracious offer, one he was sure he would have turned down had not the blonde pilot been so adamant about his offer. He was sure that was one of the only times he’d had his OWN gun pointed at his face. So now, here he was, staying in the top floor guest room of the Highwind house. He wasn’t sure how he was going to adapt to this certain lifestyle of living after being first stuck in a coffin, then trotted around the world with Avalanche. The floor barely made a noise under his feet as he padded downstairs. He could hear the radio in the kitchen playing, a country song (as country seemed to be the only thing that was clear in Rocket Town, unsurprisingly) while Shera hummed along with it. The popping of bacon frying in the pan and the smell of strong Cinnamon tea brewing in the kitchen drifted to his senses as he walked into it and across to the small dining table, sitting down in a vacant chair.
"Morning, He lifted his head up, eyes drifting over to the speaker as he leaned his arms against the table top. Cid Highwind, even in the course of five years, had yet to change. His personality, of course, was the same. The same, sandy blonde hair, though no longer pushed back by goggles, was swept back, bangs falling into his face. The same bright blue eyes shone out over his trademark grin of confidence. Though still very much a pilot, he had taken to wearing these days a simple pair of tatty blue jeans, usually torn at the knees, his boots and a plain black shirt that usually sported different degrees of stains. A simple cup of tea was in his hands and as he sipped on it, glanced over at Vincent with laughing blue eyes. Vincent was in no mood for a verbal greeting, ignoring the pilot but thankful for the steaming cup of coffee Shera handed him. “How in the hell can you drink that shit, Vince?” Cid’s nose scrunched up in disgust as Vincent sipped on the coffee. It was just the way the gunman had always taken it, dark and black.
“The same way everybody does, Highwind; with my mouth. Good morning, Shera.” Vincent gave her a small nod. He liked the brunette- she reminded him of his EARLY memories of Lucrecia- the ones that actually used to bring a smile to his face. He ignored Cid’s amused guffaw and surprised grin.
“Good morning, Vincent. Sleep well?” Shera walked back over to the stove, turning it off as she held up the pan of bacon to deal out.
“As well as can be with all of the noise.” He stared down at the bacon popping grease spots on his plate, wondering if bacon was a daily ritual in this house. They had eaten the same breakfast every morning for the past three weeks. Shera’s face went red- Cid chuckled, then stopped with a grunt of pain as her foot promptly made contact with his shin. Vincent smiled, catching her thought. “No, not that kind of noise. Rocket Town has much more noise at night that Nibelheim, and with my," he paused thinking of a good enough word, "'mental tenants', gone, I just happen to hear everything I didn't before.” He took another sip of his coffee. “Even the way Highwind groans in bed.” He took some satiisfaction from the embarrassed look Cid shot at him through a glare, the way his face lightly pinkened. Vincent had learned, sometime during the weeks he’d been there, that a vague sense of his buried humor had started to resurface, sarcasm and all. He blamed the pilot, really.
Shera only laughed, shaking her head. “Cid’s groaning aside, what are you doing today?” Vincent looked at her, eyebrows raised. It took her a moment to figure out what she had said wrong, her face flushing as Cid shot her a look.
Vincent allowed the smallest of smiles. “The same thing I’ve done all week, I suppose.” He looked up at Cid’s derisive snort.
“What? Sit up in your room, thinkin’ bout your life and where it’s been an’ where it’s goin’ and thinking ‘bout all those demons being gone and feeling sorry fer yourself? That kind of shit? My ass. ” Cid took a loud slurp of his tea. “Nope, today you me n’ Shera’r going into Edge. We got stuff t’ take care of and we need t’ get you some new clothes to wear other’n all that leather cat suit you got. ”
Vincent scowled at Cid for the 'cat suit' comment. It had long standing joke from Cid, and Vincent never found it funny.
“Not to mention,” Shera said before Cid could get into another tirade, “ you probably need to get all that hair of yours cut off.”
Vincent lifted his eyebrow, his only mark of surprise. He hadn’t thought about something as trivial as his hair in years. He’d gotten so used to having it the thought of getting it cut really didn't occur to him. He opened his mouth to comment when Cid beat him to it. “CUT HIS FUCKIN’ HAIR MY ASS! There ain’ nothing wrong with his hair an it don’t need to be cut! ” Cid slammed his cup down on the table, scowling deeply as the brown liquid spilled all over the white tablecloth beneath. “Man wouldn’t look right with his hair cut. Hell, he got it cut an’ we wouldn’t be able to recognize his skinny ass if we were staring right at em! ” He ignored Shera’s lifted eyebrows of surprise, refusing to look Vincent in the eye as the gun man stared at him, equally surprised.
Truth to be told, Cid WAS against cutting Vincent’s hair, but not just for the reasons he’d just screamed out. True, while Cid thought nothing, nothing at ALL, was wrong with Vincent’s hair, his internal reasons were purely selfish. Cut Vince's hair? Rediculous. Spike had his overlarge compensation sword, so did Sephiroth, Barett his gun arm and Yuiffie her annoying voice. Those were just part of what made them all up, and to Cid, as he eyed the long black hair that framed Vince's face, that hair was Vince's familiar black flag.
Blue eyes met crimson ones as Vincent cleared his throat, breaking the tense silence. “Well, if you’re so against it, Highwind, I will not do anything to upset my landlord, will I.” Vincent gazed calmly at the other man, hoping to take some of the fire out of the air in the room.
Cid snorted. “Thas’ right. No more talk of gettin’ hair cut and get your ass upstairs an’ dressed. ” The pilot pointed, quite forcefully, up the stairs in a ‘don’t you think about arguing with me.’ look.
Vincent blinked. “First of all, I -am- dressed, Highwind, and secondly...my breakfast first?”
Cid just smirked. “If you insist.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Edge hadn’t changed much since he had last been there during the Clone incident. Stores and shops were now going up in an abundance- mechanic shops (for Cid and Shera), clothing stores (for Shera and now he could only assume, Vincent) and ammo shops galore (for Vincent, most decidedly). Though it seemed Shinra was trying to make up for its past mistakes, signs of the recent abuse were still evident. The blast hole made by Neo Bahumat while under Kadaj’s control had been sparingly patched up over the years; the buildings surrounding it that had been destroyed by its fall in death slowly being rebuilt. Edge was slowly recovering from the incident. It seemed, Vincent mused, that he and the city were slowly coming together with each other, one building, one day and memory at a time. He was pulled out of his thoughts- literally- as Shera grabbed his arm, guiding him through the busy alley way lined with shops. He scowled slightly in annoyance at the mass of people around him, but she easily ignored it. It didn’t surprise him- she’d suffered through years of abuse and isolation from Cid before their marriage, one more unfriendly face would be nothing. “Alright, let’s see...where to take you?" She looked at him. "Better question would be what to put you in, I suppose. Cid told me you were 27 when you stopped aging, though that's obvious. You're too young for anything that makes you look and too old for anything too young..." She paused, musing. "Well, we'll find something." She smiled as the grip on his arm tightened, and she continued steering him through the crowd. Vincent held in a sigh; he supposed if he could endure more than thirty years of demons whispering in his mind, he could tolerate thirty, or more, minutes with Shera. He hoped.
“Cid?” The young, blue eyed man lifted his eyebrows in surprise as he watched the older blue eyed man walk through the door to the Seventh Heaven.
"Heya Spikey. How goes?” Cid smirked, the lit cigarette in his lips bobbing up and down as he spoke. Cloud blinked, trying to register the man standing in front of him with the last memory he had of the pilot. He hadn’t seen Cid or Vincent since the Omega incident (not a coincidence, he figured, since last he heard Vincent was living with him) and the pilot’s sudden arrival in the bar struck him as odd, if not surprising. Cid looked the same, talked the same, but there was a certain kind of relaxation that he hadn't had back then. Then again, Cloud thought, none of them had had that back then.
“What in the world are you of all people doing in Edge?”
“Nice to see you too.” Cid scoffed half heartedly, sitting down at the bar as he put the cigarette out. “I’m here with Shera an’ Vince.”
Cloud’s ears perked up as looked at the pilot, one eyebrow lifting. “Vincent’s with you? How’s he been doing since...?”
Cid shrugged. “Enh, he’s himself, though I hoped he’ll start to loosen up a bit. Shera’s got the poor guy an’s dragging him halfway around Edge playing dress up with em’. Can only imagine what kind of clothes he'll be in next time I see em. How you and Tifa an’ all the brats been doin?”
Cloud shrugged himself, walking around the bar to sit a few seats away from Cid. Cloud, Cid noticed, looked a lot better than the last time he took a real good look at him. He seemed happier, smiles flitting to his face easier than before. “We’re fine, I suppose. I’m planning on asking Tifa to marry me soon.”
Cid smiled, patting Cloud roughly on the back. “Bout time, Spike! Guess it’s us blondes that get all the hitchen’ done and out of the way first, huh?” Cloud smiled, grunting slightly from the over exerted pat on the back.
“I suppose. How are you and Shera doing?” It still came as a surprise to Cloud that Cid had ended up marrying his engineer after all, especially since so much time and anger had passed between them.
Cid shrugged, smiling. “Doing pretty good, I suppose. Tryin’ to make up fer all the crap I put her through for so many years, but I know it’s not as simple as just marrying her. She’s talkin’ bout starting up a family, kids n’ everything, but I’m kind of hesitant. I’m not as young as I used to be. Ain’t getting any younger and I don’t have much time to think about it. I’m turning 38 pretty soon. Thought scares the piss out of me, ya know?” Cloud just nodded- he himself was turning 26 soon. Four years from thirty, though he didn’t feel it. “Still, only one thought makes me feel better bout my age.”
“What’s that?”
"Vince will be turning 62 soon.”
Cloud quirked an eye, thinking about that. “But he still looks 27, right?”
“Younger, and don’t remind me. I’m trying to think about the positives, Spike.” Cloud laughed, shaking his head.
“If you consider that positive thinking, Cid, by all means.”
“So where IS the soon to be Mrs. Strife?” “
"Out with the kids.” Cloud lifted his head up, eyes turning to the door to the Seventh Heaven as it opened. “Hang on, Cid....sorry kid, but the bar is closed.”
“Funny, Strife.”
“......VINCENT? ” Cloud’s mouth dropped, his blue eyes going wide as he registered the tall frame, the dark crimson eyes and the death glare that could only belong to Vincent Valentine. “HOLY SHIT! ”
Cid blinked, turning around to the door. If it was bad enough to get Cloud to curse, something had to be wrong or amazingly right. He wasn’t sure yet. As his eyes settled on the gunslinger that had walked through the door, the cigarette dropped from his lips. “HOLY SHIT!”
Vincent sighed, knitting his brow as he looked anywhere but in the direction of the two men in front of him, their faces registering nothing but unflattering shock. He clenched his fists, bound and determined not to look as embarrassed as he felt. Sure, he felt odd, dressed differently, but was it really as bad as that to get a such a reaction from Cloud of all people? His black leather pants had been replaced with casual, straight legged and stone washed blue jeans, hanging loosely at his hips, artful rips in the knees. Black boots were replaced with open toed sandals, and his normally black shirt, while still black, was a plain cotton t-shirt that had a skull and crossbones across it, the skull in wide mouthed, fanged death glare, the crossbones two revolvers that had roses winding in and around the handles. BIG GUNS TALK, a foreboding warning, written under it all, reflected the look Vincent wore as he turned his patented Valentine glare in their direction. The golden claw, since the end of the Omega incident, had long been taken off, but Vincent still held his left arm with his right nervously. Behind him, Shera waved, smiling as she held two or three more bags in her hand.
“Hi guys! How are you Cloud?”
"Vincent?” Cloud finally sputtered out as he stood, walking towards the older, taller man. Yes, it was definately Vincent, there was no denying that look.
“YES, STRIFE?” The clear hint of annoyance was present in Vincent’s voice, his left eye twitching slightly.
“Holy shit, Vincent, you look...” Cloud tried to find the words to say, still at a total loss. He was used to the red cloak, black leather body suit and silence that usually clothed the other man. With those on he looked intimidating, powerful and deadly. Now he just looked like any other normal teenager, albeit a still very dangerous and good looking one. “You look...um...”
“Damn Vince, you look GOOD! ” Vincent lifted his eyes to Cid speaking, angry at himself for the red blush, faint as it was, that showed up on his normally placid face. His eyes met blue ones, brightened by the sudden light that had come into them. Cid sat there, as open mouthed as Cloud, but sporting an idiotic grin and amused but surprised eyes. He didn’t even seem to notice the cigarette that fell from his mouth as he stood, walking over to the tall gunslinger.
“Highwind...” Vincent barely murmmered out the word that was supposed to be a threat, still too embarrassed over it all.
“No, REALLY Vince, ya look good! Damn good! Shit, I’m so used to seeing you in your cat suit ah almost didn’t recognize you!” Cid laughed, genuinely taken aback in a good way. Sure- he had always wondered what Vincent might look like in what he would call ‘normal’ clothing, but this was a far cry from what he had pictured. While still clad, even remotely, in black, the long straight legs of the jeans made Cid realize just how MUCH leg Vincent had. It was shocking to see the man’s feet so pale, and the shirt, Cid had to agree with his wife, definitely suited the man. It reflected his trade, attitude, and basically everything about Vincent. Vincent’s hair, he was relieved to see, was still long, falling down in his face in that characteristic black flag. He laughed again at the faint pink blush his friend wore. “No really, ya do! Shit...I wonder if I dressed like that if I’d look five years younger too.”
Vincent just scowled slightly, shifting a bit. Compliments, even well meant ones, were still new to him. He’d rather have received the look from Cloud on the pilot instead of the one he actually wore. Part of him just wanted to say Cid was just lying to be nice, but knew the pilot didn’t lie about such things,which made this all the more uncomfortable. He didn’t notice Shera moving behind him, smiling as she sat the bags down on the ground. “Well, I’m off to do more shopping. You boys have fun and don’t pick on poor Vincent! ” She gave the man in front of her a matronly pat on the shoulder before exiting the bar, shutting the door behind her. Honestly, she thought, Cloud was just being slightly mean. Sure, Vincent didn’t look the same, but he didn’t look bad either, in her opinion. If she wasn’t married she’d have had no problem flirting with the dark haired man. Still, at least her husband (she still sighed happily over that fact) had said something nice. Cid was doing a good thing, she thought, trying to take care of and cheer up Vincent. God knows, she thought as she paused at a store front shop window, that the both of them, she and Vincent, were owed that from Cid. God knows, she added, they had both finally stopped being abused.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 6/16/11. Gods. It's been forever since I've been here. Three years, that's insane. Well, the writing bug has come back and I am, as promised, going through and making changes. I also expect to finish up A cool clean cotten (eventually). Some chapters will grow in length, some will shrink, but the yaoi will remain! As Kakavegegurl says, enjoy a steaming cup of yaoi. <3
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Resurfacing