Chapter 2: Finally
Title:Stranger things ….
Author: Aidan Bard aidannwn
Pairing: Cloud x Vincent and a few others
Rating: NC-17/Adult -Eventually. I think by around PG - 13 for now
Warnings: Romance, Comedy, Action, crack and all else. I normally write crack so it bleeds into everything I write.
Summary: The love life of heroes is never smooth sailing.
Beta: x_cybergoth_x
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. What I’m doing is strictly for fun. I do not gain anything from this apart from a few reviews.
Part 1
Vincent reached his destination in the early hours of the morning, with a couple of stops to dispatch a few wandering beasts. He pointedly tried not to think of the Galien Beast’s mating spree as he dispatched the monsters; it was not as if he was supposed to feel any kinship with any of the ones he’d killed However, it was with some relief that he reached his destination, glad to give Death Penalty a rest.
It was an old mining town, one that was slowly regaining its’ feet now that Mako energy was no longer running the planet. It was still something Yuffie would have referred to as a ‘one-chocobo town’ and Vincent mentally agreed with her though he would never have admitted to that. The only way it was distinguishable from all the other towns that had sprung up was Fenrir sitting proudly outside a dilapidated shack with ‘Bar’ painted on the side.
There were people on the streets though the sun was yet to come up; miners going to work and the night shifters coming back from the mines by the look of it. The moment Vincent walked into town he was the centre of attention as he knew he would be. His clothes, his long hair as well as his red eyes, seemingly drew the attention of everyone and as he walked towards the building where Cloud was being held, Vincent surmised that this was the most excitement the town had ever had.
Vincent did not bother to knock as he walked into the door of the Police station where a group of miners were seated around a table, on which, he realised with a sudden cold feeling, lay Cloud’s sword. He wondered how many men it had taken to lift the damn thing. From experience, Vincent knew the sword was extremely heavy and no one was able to swing it with the same ease its’ owner did.
His first instinct was to grab the sword; it was as much a part of Cloud as his yellow spiky hair was and Vincent did not like the implication that Cloud had been separated from his main weapon. However, two things stopped him from doing jumping into action. One, Vincent did not want to stir up trouble before it started, and two, he did not think he could carry the thing, no matter what Cloud claming that the sword was really light and could be wielded by anyone with a firm grip.
“I’m here for the owner of the sword,” Vincent growled at the man seated at the head of the table. The miner was tall and heavily built, reminding Vincent of Barrett but expression on his face did not match Tifa’s fiancé. This man had a calculating look on his face, like someone who had survived by pushing down people and stepping on their backs.
Vincent smirked when everyone around the table flinched when he spoke, taking a small satisfaction in knowing he was able to cower them all by simply opening his mouth. Well, he was channelling Chaos but they did not need to know that. He smiled inwardly as the idiot in charge look at Vincent as if unsure of what to say and glanced down at Death Penalty before wisely, keeping his comments to himself. “Where is he?” Vincent pressed when there was no answer forthcoming.
Vincent was not worried … much. He would have smelled blood in the air if anyone had died; though his nose was not as sensitive as Nanaki’s he could still smell death clearly enough. The town was intact and most importantly Cloud had called him on his cellphone so it could not be anything serious. But to part Cloud from his sword meant all was not right and that worried Vincent.
“He’s in the lock-up,” one of the men finally admitted.
“Then get him out,” Vincent said in exasperations since the conversation was as inspiring as the rest of the town.
“Not without bail,” the large man said reluctantly and then, when Vincent did not threaten to suck his blood, continued, gaining momentum as he spoke. “He beat up that nice girl, he did, broke her arm and all.”
Vincent’s’ first though was to call the man a liar, shoot the rest, grab Cloud and get out of town. The second was that for Cloud to attack someone, there had to be a damn good excuse. The third, rather belatedly was that Cloud had let a bunch of miners take away his sword and lock him up so perhaps the kid had finally…
“I want to see him,” Vincent said, keeping his face blank but letting his frustration bleed into his voice. “Now.” Chaos spoke loud and clear in that one word.
Cloud was in the back room; a hastily erected prison with rusted iron bars which Vincent knew the kid was capable of bending with his bare hands. The lock up had one fold up bed, a bucket and filthy bowl on the floor. Cloud stood, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest, his face flushed red, but his eyes meeting Vincent’s directly, challenging the ex-Turk to say something. What startled Vincent was not the fact Cloud had chosen to stay locked up, but rather at what he was wearing. Or more clearly, what he was not wearing.
“Where are you’re pants?” Vincent asked finally.
“There wasn’t enough time to put them on,” Cloud growled, his eyes narrowed, daring Vincent to say something in appropriate. “And in case you haven’t noticed, my pants are not the only thing missing.”
“Why would you take your clothes off…” Vincent started, surprised. The blond slept with his clothes on and he did not think Cloud came all this way on his bike to take a shower so… “Oh,” he said, as realization dawned. In a way Vincent could understand why Cloud had not wanted anyone else involved. If it had been anyone else Vincent might have been quicker catching up but really, this was Cloud and for some reason Cloud and sex did not mesh.
“Just heal Jes and we can be on our way.” He pulled up his shirt which was slipping down his shoulder since he had not buttoned it properly then stopped when Vincent’s eyes automatically swooped lower. “My face is up here,” he snapped. Vincent decided he had been hanging around Yuffie far too much since the first thing he wanted to say was, ‘but your butt is down there,’ even though he couldn’t see much. It was a long shirt, probably belonging to someone a taller and wider than Cloud. The blond did have nice legs though, well muscled and slender, and suddenly Vincent was curious as to what this Jes looked like and how exactly Cloud has hurt her. Or why? Cloud was not the violent type.
“Care to tell me what happened?” Vincent asked instead as he looked around. He had been escorted into the holding cell by the largest miner he had spoken to and was probably eavesdropping on the other side.
“Did you bring the heal materia?” Cloud asked blushing all the way down to his chest. Vincent realised he had rarely seen the leader of their little group so uncomfortable. However he did not look guilty of his actions, more like uncomfortable of the situation he found himself in. But Sephiroth had run around, trying to take over the planet it convinced he was correct - or God.
“As soon as I’m done, we’re going to talk,” Vincent said pulling out the healing potions he had brought and showing it to Cloud. He also had a heal material, levelled up but he was not going to show that unless it was really necessary.
“Just heal Jes,” Cloud said impatiently. “I’ll wait, it’s not like I’m going anywhere dressed like this. I was stupid enough to get into this mess in the first place but really, just help her.”
“Fine,” said Vincent, realising that the conversation would go much smoother if he were to just heal this woman. He walked to the adjoining room where the large man was hovering, close enough to hear but far enough to dodge should Vincent run out with his gun blazing.
“She’s resting,” the man snapped before Vincent could ask and Vincent did not bother to speak. Instead he stood, keeping his eyes locked with the man’s until he crumbled. “But I guess … you can go and see her.” He shuffled his feet. Being stared at by Vincent usually had that effect on nearly everyone. “Doesn’t mean the punk gets to go free without paying for the damage he did. People can’t just walk in and hurt one of the girls here and think it’s all right. He’ll pay for this…”
“Where is she?” Vincent asked very slowly, almost spelling the words out, in his frustration. Things were too skewered for him to figure out what was happening but he needed to do this now. Perhaps if he followed up on things in a sequence of steps maybe everything would fall into place automatically. “And how much do I have to pay to get him -“ Vincent titled his head back towards Cloud’s holding cell so the man would not miss out on whom Vincent was referring to “… out of here?”
- - - - - - - -- - -- -
Vincent discovered a few things in a short amount of time.
One, Jes was a hooker. Or what passed for a hooker in a small mining town who lived on the top floor of the building named ‘Bar’ in front of which Cloud’s bike was parked.
Two, she had her left arm wrenched out of her socket rather violently, almost pulling it off completely. The limited medical capabilities of these people meant that she would have eventually lost her arm or been crippled for life if had not been for the healing potion.
Three, someone had stolen one of Cloud’s boots, shades, leather coat and armour. He was able to retrieve Cloud’s pants, and a single boot, which he left behind since he could not see Cloud hopping around on one foot, and a nice pair of pink socks with Tifa embroidered on the edge.
Vincent also thought Cloud was worth a lot more than he paid for but he was not going to tell anyone that. And that was beside the point he decided as he gave Cloud his pants, the sooner they got out of this miserable town the better.
------- - - - - - -- -
Cloud dressed mechanically while Vincent stood guard at the door. He did not think anyone would be foolish enough to come and watch but he did not want to push his luck.
“So do I need to tell you want happened or can you guess?” Cloud asked as he tried to pull on his trousers hopping from one foot to the other, trying to insert disinterest and some aura of casualness into his voice but failing as his cheeks blazed red. Vincent did not think Cloud was clumsy, just extremely nervous and embarrassed by the …situation.
Vincent wondered what the correct thing to do in such a situation was. It was not as if it came with a hand book or anything but Cloud had called him and not anyone else so there had to be a reason. There were several way of handling the whole “incident” but really, none of them seemed quite right.
“It was an accident,” Cloud said when Vincent did not speak. He put on his socks and looked around for his boots then gave up. “I didn’t mean to, I just pulled her up, I didn’t realise her hand was going to come off.” He shuddered as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest Vincent did not think Cloud was feeling cold; despite being a hardened soldier, Cloud did not enjoy hurting civilians and this had come as a shock to him. “I mean, I do the same thing to Tifa and her hand doesn’t come off.” Cloud paused and considered what he had said. “Well, not in the same situation and I guess I wasn’t thinking straight just then.” This confession was accompanied by a full scale facial blush which made him look even younger that he already was. Tifa, Vincent did not bother pointing out, was a hardened warrior in the body of a lithe female and Jes was obviously not. Additionally, Vincent did not think Cloud touched Tifa a whole lot, Cloud was not the most tactile person around and the only thing he handled a lot was his sword. A sword which was almost four times as heavy as Cloud and his body was probably used to compensating for the weight. If anything Cloud had gotten stronger with time and in a moment of passion lost control.
“But I really didn’t think I exerted so much force. It was a single rotation of my wrist ….” As Cloud got technical, mostly to cover up the fact he was coming down from the shock Vincent wisely kept his mouth shut. “They all rushed in when she started screaming and I didn’t know what to do. It was either to jump out the window naked or pick up my sword and do a Sephiroth and kill everyone in the town. Or go with them and deal with the consequences.” He shrugged self-consciously. “They let me keep my phone.” Pause. “And gave me a spare shirt to wear.” Silence.
Vincent looked up from examining the stone work to see that the blond was watching him closely waiting for a reaction. “You came all the way to some unmarked town in the middle of no where to find a …prostitute,” Vincent said since it was obvious Cloud expected him to make some comment.
It was, he thought reflectively, not the correct comment since Cloud’s fists’ clenched noticeably, and his shoulders hunched. He straightened up and strode past Vincent towards the exit, back stiff. “Let’s just leave,” he said briskly, his voice strained.
As Cloud brushed past him Vincent reached out and caught him by the arm, again surprised by the power such slender arms could wield. “I did not mean to offend you,” he said smoothly. “I meant, you are a little out of the way for a … tryst.”
“I make deliveries here,” Cloud said, not pulling his arm free, though he could have. “I bring mining supplies and things they need.” He did not look up at Vincent, keeping his face averted as he spoke. “But today was the first day, I …” He paused and gave Vincent a sideway look. “Let’s just get out of here. Do you know where my shades are?”
“Shouldn’t you worry more about your boots,” Vincent asked since the real question he wanted to ask was whether it was Cloud’s first time with a woman or just with Jes.
“I can ride my bike without my boots, I need my shades to keep my eyes from tearing,” Cloud said as he picked up the sword and look at it. “I don’t suppose you found my shoulder harness, did you?”
“Sorry,” Vincent replied. “Maybe I could go and look for it.”
“It’s probably with the same person who took my underwear,” Cloud muttered under his breath. “Let’s just get out of here,” he said almost pleadingly. “We don’t have to go far, you live close by don’t you.”
“Relatively closer to here than anyone else does,” Vincent replied knowing the only way Cloud could have gotten that information was by talking to Cid, who dropped in on Vincent regularly. He did not know what to do but really, he knew he had to talk to Cloud before the kid decided to repress the whole incident and shove it aside. Repressing urges didn’t do anyone any good as Vincent knew from experience and anyway, he did not think the blond should be left alone. “I’ll tell you where to go when we leave the town,” he said instead.
Part 3
Author: Aidan Bard aidannwn
Pairing: Cloud x Vincent and a few others
Rating: NC-17/Adult -Eventually. I think by around PG - 13 for now
Warnings: Romance, Comedy, Action, crack and all else. I normally write crack so it bleeds into everything I write.
Summary: The love life of heroes is never smooth sailing.
Beta: x_cybergoth_x
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. What I’m doing is strictly for fun. I do not gain anything from this apart from a few reviews.
Part 1
Vincent reached his destination in the early hours of the morning, with a couple of stops to dispatch a few wandering beasts. He pointedly tried not to think of the Galien Beast’s mating spree as he dispatched the monsters; it was not as if he was supposed to feel any kinship with any of the ones he’d killed However, it was with some relief that he reached his destination, glad to give Death Penalty a rest.
It was an old mining town, one that was slowly regaining its’ feet now that Mako energy was no longer running the planet. It was still something Yuffie would have referred to as a ‘one-chocobo town’ and Vincent mentally agreed with her though he would never have admitted to that. The only way it was distinguishable from all the other towns that had sprung up was Fenrir sitting proudly outside a dilapidated shack with ‘Bar’ painted on the side.
There were people on the streets though the sun was yet to come up; miners going to work and the night shifters coming back from the mines by the look of it. The moment Vincent walked into town he was the centre of attention as he knew he would be. His clothes, his long hair as well as his red eyes, seemingly drew the attention of everyone and as he walked towards the building where Cloud was being held, Vincent surmised that this was the most excitement the town had ever had.
Vincent did not bother to knock as he walked into the door of the Police station where a group of miners were seated around a table, on which, he realised with a sudden cold feeling, lay Cloud’s sword. He wondered how many men it had taken to lift the damn thing. From experience, Vincent knew the sword was extremely heavy and no one was able to swing it with the same ease its’ owner did.
His first instinct was to grab the sword; it was as much a part of Cloud as his yellow spiky hair was and Vincent did not like the implication that Cloud had been separated from his main weapon. However, two things stopped him from doing jumping into action. One, Vincent did not want to stir up trouble before it started, and two, he did not think he could carry the thing, no matter what Cloud claming that the sword was really light and could be wielded by anyone with a firm grip.
“I’m here for the owner of the sword,” Vincent growled at the man seated at the head of the table. The miner was tall and heavily built, reminding Vincent of Barrett but expression on his face did not match Tifa’s fiancé. This man had a calculating look on his face, like someone who had survived by pushing down people and stepping on their backs.
Vincent smirked when everyone around the table flinched when he spoke, taking a small satisfaction in knowing he was able to cower them all by simply opening his mouth. Well, he was channelling Chaos but they did not need to know that. He smiled inwardly as the idiot in charge look at Vincent as if unsure of what to say and glanced down at Death Penalty before wisely, keeping his comments to himself. “Where is he?” Vincent pressed when there was no answer forthcoming.
Vincent was not worried … much. He would have smelled blood in the air if anyone had died; though his nose was not as sensitive as Nanaki’s he could still smell death clearly enough. The town was intact and most importantly Cloud had called him on his cellphone so it could not be anything serious. But to part Cloud from his sword meant all was not right and that worried Vincent.
“He’s in the lock-up,” one of the men finally admitted.
“Then get him out,” Vincent said in exasperations since the conversation was as inspiring as the rest of the town.
“Not without bail,” the large man said reluctantly and then, when Vincent did not threaten to suck his blood, continued, gaining momentum as he spoke. “He beat up that nice girl, he did, broke her arm and all.”
Vincent’s’ first though was to call the man a liar, shoot the rest, grab Cloud and get out of town. The second was that for Cloud to attack someone, there had to be a damn good excuse. The third, rather belatedly was that Cloud had let a bunch of miners take away his sword and lock him up so perhaps the kid had finally…
“I want to see him,” Vincent said, keeping his face blank but letting his frustration bleed into his voice. “Now.” Chaos spoke loud and clear in that one word.
Cloud was in the back room; a hastily erected prison with rusted iron bars which Vincent knew the kid was capable of bending with his bare hands. The lock up had one fold up bed, a bucket and filthy bowl on the floor. Cloud stood, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest, his face flushed red, but his eyes meeting Vincent’s directly, challenging the ex-Turk to say something. What startled Vincent was not the fact Cloud had chosen to stay locked up, but rather at what he was wearing. Or more clearly, what he was not wearing.
“Where are you’re pants?” Vincent asked finally.
“There wasn’t enough time to put them on,” Cloud growled, his eyes narrowed, daring Vincent to say something in appropriate. “And in case you haven’t noticed, my pants are not the only thing missing.”
“Why would you take your clothes off…” Vincent started, surprised. The blond slept with his clothes on and he did not think Cloud came all this way on his bike to take a shower so… “Oh,” he said, as realization dawned. In a way Vincent could understand why Cloud had not wanted anyone else involved. If it had been anyone else Vincent might have been quicker catching up but really, this was Cloud and for some reason Cloud and sex did not mesh.
“Just heal Jes and we can be on our way.” He pulled up his shirt which was slipping down his shoulder since he had not buttoned it properly then stopped when Vincent’s eyes automatically swooped lower. “My face is up here,” he snapped. Vincent decided he had been hanging around Yuffie far too much since the first thing he wanted to say was, ‘but your butt is down there,’ even though he couldn’t see much. It was a long shirt, probably belonging to someone a taller and wider than Cloud. The blond did have nice legs though, well muscled and slender, and suddenly Vincent was curious as to what this Jes looked like and how exactly Cloud has hurt her. Or why? Cloud was not the violent type.
“Care to tell me what happened?” Vincent asked instead as he looked around. He had been escorted into the holding cell by the largest miner he had spoken to and was probably eavesdropping on the other side.
“Did you bring the heal materia?” Cloud asked blushing all the way down to his chest. Vincent realised he had rarely seen the leader of their little group so uncomfortable. However he did not look guilty of his actions, more like uncomfortable of the situation he found himself in. But Sephiroth had run around, trying to take over the planet it convinced he was correct - or God.
“As soon as I’m done, we’re going to talk,” Vincent said pulling out the healing potions he had brought and showing it to Cloud. He also had a heal material, levelled up but he was not going to show that unless it was really necessary.
“Just heal Jes,” Cloud said impatiently. “I’ll wait, it’s not like I’m going anywhere dressed like this. I was stupid enough to get into this mess in the first place but really, just help her.”
“Fine,” said Vincent, realising that the conversation would go much smoother if he were to just heal this woman. He walked to the adjoining room where the large man was hovering, close enough to hear but far enough to dodge should Vincent run out with his gun blazing.
“She’s resting,” the man snapped before Vincent could ask and Vincent did not bother to speak. Instead he stood, keeping his eyes locked with the man’s until he crumbled. “But I guess … you can go and see her.” He shuffled his feet. Being stared at by Vincent usually had that effect on nearly everyone. “Doesn’t mean the punk gets to go free without paying for the damage he did. People can’t just walk in and hurt one of the girls here and think it’s all right. He’ll pay for this…”
“Where is she?” Vincent asked very slowly, almost spelling the words out, in his frustration. Things were too skewered for him to figure out what was happening but he needed to do this now. Perhaps if he followed up on things in a sequence of steps maybe everything would fall into place automatically. “And how much do I have to pay to get him -“ Vincent titled his head back towards Cloud’s holding cell so the man would not miss out on whom Vincent was referring to “… out of here?”
- - - - - - - -- - -- -
Vincent discovered a few things in a short amount of time.
One, Jes was a hooker. Or what passed for a hooker in a small mining town who lived on the top floor of the building named ‘Bar’ in front of which Cloud’s bike was parked.
Two, she had her left arm wrenched out of her socket rather violently, almost pulling it off completely. The limited medical capabilities of these people meant that she would have eventually lost her arm or been crippled for life if had not been for the healing potion.
Three, someone had stolen one of Cloud’s boots, shades, leather coat and armour. He was able to retrieve Cloud’s pants, and a single boot, which he left behind since he could not see Cloud hopping around on one foot, and a nice pair of pink socks with Tifa embroidered on the edge.
Vincent also thought Cloud was worth a lot more than he paid for but he was not going to tell anyone that. And that was beside the point he decided as he gave Cloud his pants, the sooner they got out of this miserable town the better.
------- - - - - - -- -
Cloud dressed mechanically while Vincent stood guard at the door. He did not think anyone would be foolish enough to come and watch but he did not want to push his luck.
“So do I need to tell you want happened or can you guess?” Cloud asked as he tried to pull on his trousers hopping from one foot to the other, trying to insert disinterest and some aura of casualness into his voice but failing as his cheeks blazed red. Vincent did not think Cloud was clumsy, just extremely nervous and embarrassed by the …situation.
Vincent wondered what the correct thing to do in such a situation was. It was not as if it came with a hand book or anything but Cloud had called him and not anyone else so there had to be a reason. There were several way of handling the whole “incident” but really, none of them seemed quite right.
“It was an accident,” Cloud said when Vincent did not speak. He put on his socks and looked around for his boots then gave up. “I didn’t mean to, I just pulled her up, I didn’t realise her hand was going to come off.” He shuddered as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest Vincent did not think Cloud was feeling cold; despite being a hardened soldier, Cloud did not enjoy hurting civilians and this had come as a shock to him. “I mean, I do the same thing to Tifa and her hand doesn’t come off.” Cloud paused and considered what he had said. “Well, not in the same situation and I guess I wasn’t thinking straight just then.” This confession was accompanied by a full scale facial blush which made him look even younger that he already was. Tifa, Vincent did not bother pointing out, was a hardened warrior in the body of a lithe female and Jes was obviously not. Additionally, Vincent did not think Cloud touched Tifa a whole lot, Cloud was not the most tactile person around and the only thing he handled a lot was his sword. A sword which was almost four times as heavy as Cloud and his body was probably used to compensating for the weight. If anything Cloud had gotten stronger with time and in a moment of passion lost control.
“But I really didn’t think I exerted so much force. It was a single rotation of my wrist ….” As Cloud got technical, mostly to cover up the fact he was coming down from the shock Vincent wisely kept his mouth shut. “They all rushed in when she started screaming and I didn’t know what to do. It was either to jump out the window naked or pick up my sword and do a Sephiroth and kill everyone in the town. Or go with them and deal with the consequences.” He shrugged self-consciously. “They let me keep my phone.” Pause. “And gave me a spare shirt to wear.” Silence.
Vincent looked up from examining the stone work to see that the blond was watching him closely waiting for a reaction. “You came all the way to some unmarked town in the middle of no where to find a …prostitute,” Vincent said since it was obvious Cloud expected him to make some comment.
It was, he thought reflectively, not the correct comment since Cloud’s fists’ clenched noticeably, and his shoulders hunched. He straightened up and strode past Vincent towards the exit, back stiff. “Let’s just leave,” he said briskly, his voice strained.
As Cloud brushed past him Vincent reached out and caught him by the arm, again surprised by the power such slender arms could wield. “I did not mean to offend you,” he said smoothly. “I meant, you are a little out of the way for a … tryst.”
“I make deliveries here,” Cloud said, not pulling his arm free, though he could have. “I bring mining supplies and things they need.” He did not look up at Vincent, keeping his face averted as he spoke. “But today was the first day, I …” He paused and gave Vincent a sideway look. “Let’s just get out of here. Do you know where my shades are?”
“Shouldn’t you worry more about your boots,” Vincent asked since the real question he wanted to ask was whether it was Cloud’s first time with a woman or just with Jes.
“I can ride my bike without my boots, I need my shades to keep my eyes from tearing,” Cloud said as he picked up the sword and look at it. “I don’t suppose you found my shoulder harness, did you?”
“Sorry,” Vincent replied. “Maybe I could go and look for it.”
“It’s probably with the same person who took my underwear,” Cloud muttered under his breath. “Let’s just get out of here,” he said almost pleadingly. “We don’t have to go far, you live close by don’t you.”
“Relatively closer to here than anyone else does,” Vincent replied knowing the only way Cloud could have gotten that information was by talking to Cid, who dropped in on Vincent regularly. He did not know what to do but really, he knew he had to talk to Cloud before the kid decided to repress the whole incident and shove it aside. Repressing urges didn’t do anyone any good as Vincent knew from experience and anyway, he did not think the blond should be left alone. “I’ll tell you where to go when we leave the town,” he said instead.
Part 3