INCOMPLETE.

[mercyrule]

Who: Duke, Vincent.
When: after they both see that Grimoire ends up at ShinRa HQ safe and sound; also after Vincent has retrieved Rinoa.
Where: ShinRa HQ.
Rating: PG-13ish.
Warnings: Language. TBD.
Summary: Vincent and Duke start back home after seeing Grimoire off.

Comments

[mercyrule]

Good question.

Though it was one that Vincent didn't really know how to answer. Instinctively, his fingers dug a little harder into the wall in front of him as he focused more on the street, on the concrete and on the dirt, timing each careful breath as he inhaled slowly. It was a rhythm he wasn't used to, and he visibly trembled again when Duke's hand slid over his shoulder to steady him. It was a good question, but it was one that Duke should have already had the answer to. Vincent couldn't. He couldn't, and he wasn't going to, because he knew he'd fall apart, and if he fell apart in front of his father, he wasn't sure where he was supposed to go from there.

"I can't," was his reply, and it was soft, and quiet, barely there at all. "Have to get back. Rinoa's waiting. Everything's falling apart, Duke. Have to be there with Rinoa."

He had to get back where he didn't have to think about his father, and where he didn't have to think about everything else he thought he'd forgotten. Memories were funny like that. Nothing was ever really forgotten, even when it was taken away, because that person would always remember something about it. It would always be familiar, and there would always be something there. Something that couldn't quite be placed, but it existed, nonetheless. Vincent figured that was enough.

He turned a little. Turned until he was facing the Turk, and until dark eyes could narrow in on his face.

"Left," he repeated. "Left. Yeah. Got it."

[el_legendaire]

"Ah." Rinoa. "Of course."

It wasn't fair of him to feel the pinprick of anything at Rinoa's name, much less undeserved jealousy. The girl had been possessed. Of course she needed someone there, and of course Vincent would want to be that someone. The world was ending and everyone would be wanting someone there. Veld would need the both of them.

Or maybe just Vincent.

Maybe Veld had never needed anyone except Vincent.

Maybe no one in this city had ever needed--

Vincent turned to face him, and Duke thought about the rifts in the sky, and the tremors, and all the posts that were talking about the end of the world, and finally thought about the fact that all the instincts he used to have regarding Vincent had changed, one by one.

You think of him like Veld, now.

He did.

You think of him like Jericho, and like anything that's ever been under your care.

He did that, too.

You think of him as yours.

Duke sighed and stepped in close, his lips brushing the shell of Vincent's ear.

"Vincent," he murmured. "Wait."

Of course it was a bad idea. He didn't seem to have good ideas anymore.

Of course it wasn't a good time, but they were running out of time period.

And maybe it was too much of a risk, because he still wasn't sure he believed Vincent's confession, not after this stuff with the aging, and maybe that made it invalid, but still...

"Before we go back."