Chapter 7 is up
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 just passed this around in my head a couple of times and finally wrote it down.
Summary: Cid drops in for a visit and gives Vincent a false scare. Tifa takes time to express her displeasure of Cloud’s actions for …
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
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Chapter 7
“Tifa, what do you mean what’s wrong?” Cloud said starting to sound like Denzel after he had eaten all the cookies in the jar. “Nothing’s wrong … I just needed a little break and… that’s all.”
“You decided you needed a break while on a routine delivery and dropped off the face of the planet for two whole days!” Tifa did not sound angry. She sounded like someone who had just finished being angry and was on the way to exploding. “I was worried. I thought you had run your stupid bike into ditch or something and Marlene had nightmares when you didn’t come home like you were supposed to …”
“I’m so sorry,” Cloud tried to put into the tirade. He did feel bad about not contacting Tifa earlier and he knew the kids expected him on Wednesday to read them bedtime stories.
“…and Billy called, wanted a down payment on the greens to feed your chocobos,” she continued brutally. “I told him I didn’t have money to feed them Mimett greens so he said he was going to give them something called Ga--Gahshyl…”
“Gysahl,” Cloud corrected.
“Something like that,” Tifa ignored the interruption. “For this week… but he said if you wanted to take your golden chocobo for racing you might have to fork out a couple of thousand to feed them.”
Cloud rolled his eyes. As long as he was in Tifa’s good books, they were ‘their’ chocobos but the moment he did something to make her angry, they became ‘his.’ Still, he knew Tifa meant well and was genuinely worried about him.
“…and a couple of Turks dropped in yesterday…”
“What?” Cloud asked as he sat up straighter. “Did they come in or …”
“Cloud,” Tifa said in mock patience. “I run a bar; of course they came in and had a drink.”
“Oh,” he said at a loss for anything else to say. He did not particularly like the Turks, who was he kidding, he did not care for them at all, especially Reno and his bald partner who was always staring at Tifa’s chest. “Are the kids safe?”
“Now you ask,” Tifa said dryly but she sounded as if she had calmed down. “Are you alright Cloud? Really? Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not hurt,” Cloud said honestly. “I’m really, really, fine. But I don’t know when I’ll be back, maybe next week.” He liked it at Vincent’s. There was no pressure and he had not realised just how much of his free time had been taken up by the kids. While he loved kids, a break from all of them seemed like such a relief. He felt guilty that he had saddled Tifa with everything, the kids, the chocobos, the bar, answering the phone for his delivery service, collecting payments from clients, planning her wedding since she did not have anyone to help her out… alright, he was being an ass and hoped Tifa was not too angry with him for abandoning his duties.
He took a deep breath and tried again. “Erm, Tifa, I need a favour,” he said carefully.
“What is it?” Tifa sounded worried as in ‘are you hurt’ way and not, ‘oh, no, not another burden’ which was rather positive overall.
“When Cid comes around to drop off the supplies, can you send some of my clothes with him?” There was a silence on the other side of the phone. “Tifa?”
“What happened to your clothes?” Tifa sounded stilted.
“Nothing,” Cloud assured her hastily. “I mean, I need a spare change since I don’t have any and …” He was bad liar but really, that was plausible.
“And you want Cid to fly it to you,” Tifa sounded strangled. “What happened? Did you play strip porker with Reno or something.”
“You know I don’t associate with Turks.” Cloud wondered where Tifa got her imagination from, it certainly was not her father. Still, he wished he had thought of that excuse which seemed more believable under the circumstances. “Tifa, please, just something to wear.”
“You’re not going to tell me what happened are you?” Tifa said sounding weary. “Fine, I’ll send you something to wear. Any preference?”
“Just anything,” Cloud said, pleadingly. He did not think he could wear Cid’s clothes any longer. The sweats tended to slide down his hips and he needed to constantly pull them up when he walked, which was very tedious. However, most importantly, he felt uncomfortable wearing clothes that belonged to a man who might have been or still was Vincent’s lover. “Thank you,” he added for good measure and hoped Tifa was not too angry with him about his latest adventure.
--- - - - - --------------------------- -------------------------------------
“So, Vinny what really happened?” Cid demanded as he chewed on his unlit cigarette.
Vincent wondered if he should pretend he did not understand what his friend was referring to but the rather obvious presence of Cloud, tinkering with Fenrir’s engine outside made him realise it was pretty useless. “Nothing,” Vincent tried anyway and looked out the window to make sure Cloud was indeed outside as he had been since Cid’s single engine airplane he had named “Mustang” in memory of “Tiny Bronco.
“ had landed. While he was not hiding, Cloud was clearly avoiding Cid.
“He showed up at your door step on his bike, naked?” Cid mused aloud.
“No.” Vincent gave the pot steaming on the stove a look and decided it was in no danger of boiling over.
“You two had wild, wild sex and you tore his clothes to shreds with your teeth and …”
“Cid!” Vincent wondered if he sounded as scandalized as he felt. Cid had been hanging around the wrong people far too much if he could come up with something like that unless he and Shera … no, Vincent did not want to go into that line of thought, thank you very much.
Cid shrugged, obviously not giving a damn about Vincent’s fragile sensibilities as he walked around the cabin … which took about three seconds. “So, how long has he been here?”
“Two, maybe three days,” Vincent said with a shrug then looked at Cid. “Are you going to talk to Rufus ShinRa?”
Cid looked up sharply and grinned. “Changing the topic that crudely, Vinny I’m shocked!”
Vincent did not bother replying as he opened the lid to the pot and stirred it before looking around.
“What’ya making?” Cid asked out of the side of his mouth as he leaned over Vincent’s shoulder to peer inside. “Vinny, my boy, are you actually cooking?”
“Its rabbit stew,” Vincent said ignoring the rest of the conversation.
“Vincent,” Cid said seriously. “The rabbits here have poison dripping from six inch nails.”
“I cleaned them,” Vincent said as he waited for Cid to ask why Vincent was cooking when he did not need to eat. However Cid seemed to know he had pushed Vincent as far as he would go since he shrugged and sat on the camp bed which Cloud was using, before reaching for another cigarette.
“Not like you or SOILDER boy out there will die of poisoning,” Cid finally remarked, looking amused by the conversation. It was very rarely that he got the upper hand of Vincent in a conversation.
Vincent glared at Cid, not that it did anything to intimidate the pilot.
“Just don’t get him pregnant,” Cid added, looking pleased with himself.
He probably expected Vincent to react to that comment, either glare even more or snap something about that been an insane remark. When Vincent remained silent as he tried to process the information, Cid got up confidently; seemingly pleased he had managed to stun the ex-Turk into speechlessness.
Cid walked up to the pot, picked up, Vincent’s long handled, multi-purpose spoon and opened the lid to see what exactly was cooking. Vincent sat, mind reeling as he assimilated what Cid had said. It was not as if he had not thought of it, his monsters did not come with user manuals and he had not looked into the mirror or consciously examined himself during a transformation to see if all his bits were male or female. He did not know what sort of sick joke Hojo had played on him, perhaps making him less than human. He had been feeling nauseated and dizzy; in random spells but still, it had started when Galien had gone on a mating spree with …
“I think the stew is just about ready,” Cid interrupted his train of thought before it could progress any further. “
“I think it’ll be wise if we all go and speak to Rufus,” Vincent latched onto the first topic he could think of as conversation. “If there is a threat, it’s best if he hear about it rather than waiting for it to come find us.” Even before Reno had showed up with the material, Vincent had been curious as to why they were needed. He had thought his Turks days were over but it seemed his instable curiosity had survived a thirty year sleep. Additionally, he had been one of the first to know about Kadaj and the gang and he was not about to let something he had been investigating slip through his finger.
“And ShinRa would never have called us if it was to blow out the candles on a birthday cake,” Cid said, agreeing. “Did Cloud convince you or did you convince Cloud?”
“I suggest we all choose some neutral ground and call for a meeting. He came to you first,” Vincent ignored that last sentence. “So you can call him up and let him know where and when we want to meet since he made first contact with you.” There, that would teach Cid to keep him mouth shut and his nose out of unnecessary business.
“It’s not going to be Healin is it?” Cid said with a grimace.
“No, that is ShinRa owned,” Vincent replied. “We need somewhere they don’t control.”
“I’ll think on it,” Cid replied and Vincent let the matter drop.
“Let’s call in Cloud if the food is ready. He’s bound to be hungry,” Vincent said instead.
“No need,” Cid nodded towards the door. “He’s here already.”
Vincent looked over his shoulder just as Cloud walked in, looking slightly distracted as if he wasn’t all there. Just as Vincent was about to open his mouth to inquire what was bothering him Cloud seemingly tripped over something invisible and fell onto Vincent, hard.
--- - --------- ------------- ------------------- ------------------ -------------------------
Cloud looked at the cabin again as he spit on a particularly hard patch of dirt and scrubbed it with the wash cloth. The grit remained stuck to the black paint job like a Mideel leech to a divers’ facemask.
He looked at the cabin window, again.
Before, he had been able to see Cid and Vincent move around a little but now, it seemed as if they had stopped moving. ‘Maybe they are sitting down,’ Cloud reasoned. Although the only place to sit down comfortably was on the bed, another part of his mind pointed out.
‘Grease,’ thought Cloud, forcing himself to concentrate. ‘I need to grease the piston rings and the hydraulics need looking in to and … I don’t care,” he reason. They can do what ever they want… I…’ He closed his eyes and shook his head to centre his thoughts before opening them again to find himself kneeling mid-thigh in the grass.
Only, it was not the same grass a few second ago. There was no Fenrir in front of him for one and for another, the air felt sweeter, some how lighter as if he would float away if he were to breath too much of it. There was the sound of flowing water, some one, female, giggling in the back ground and the feel of a very warm, solid presence at his back. His eyes watered as he tried to focus on the surroundings, which were blurred around the edges. Whenever he looked at something in the distance, it would jump into focus sharply before fading away as if his eyes were playing up.
Cloud, already familiar with the lifestream and his random conversations with dead people started to turn, a rare smile gracing his lips. “Aerith, I…” he started but a hand on his shoulder steadies him making him stay still. A large, warm hand, far too large and firm to be feminine.
“Aren’t you even a little curious as to what they are up to in there?” a familiar voice asked, almost in his ear. “Perhaps they’re doing some horizontal tango …”
“W…what if they are?” Cloud stumbled on the first word, realising that it was Zack who was talking to him instead of Aerith as usual. His throat clogged and for a moment all he wanted to do was turned around and look but he stopped himself. He felt as if he was split in two, one part holding a conversation while the other part was leaning into the heat generated from Zack’s body. It was strange that some one dead and gone could feel so real, especially when he couldn’t be seen.
“Admit it, Spiky,” Zack said and Cloud could feel the smile in that voice. “You want to know.”
“So what if I did,” he countered. “It’s none of my business really.”
“Even though you’re sharing your bed with a vampire,” the friendly voice continued. “Even if you ogle at him when he undresses.”
Cloud could feel a blush start somewhere near his neck and work it self up to his cheeks. “I’ve travelled with him you know,” he said defensively. “He’s my friend.”
“But I’m your friend and you ogle my ass every day,” Zack said sounding far too cheerful for a dead guy. Again, somewhere in the distance, some one giggled and Cloud wondered if Aerith was standing in a corner enjoying the conversation. She did have a rather questionable sense of humour and some of her pranks were worse than Zack’s.
“Did not,” Cloud snapped back, reverting to a childish retort out of defence. It had always been that way with him and Zack, they would argue over the most ridiculous of topics, mostly something Zack had thought up on the spur of the moment. Looking back Cloud could remember himself being more annoyed by those arguments than amused but now, he realise he had missed those witty come backs and funny one liners.
“But it’s such a waste…”
“I am not interested,” Cloud ground out through gritted teeth.
“Temper, temper, Spiky,” Zack thumped him on the shoulder cheerfully. “You still have that if nothing else.” Then he sighed and Cloud could feel the cheerful mood evaporating. “Guess I should get down to business since we have limited time.”
Cloud stiffened at that. Aerith never told him anything directly and he never asked but for Zack to speak to him, it had to be important.
“Walk with me,” Zack said and Cloud was transported to his cadet days. Zack would catch up with him in-between corridors and say the same thing, “walk with me” and they would walk up to Cloud’s next class, catching up with the events of the day in the little time they had to themselves. It had been so familiar that Cloud had to blink away tears again. It was also the same three words that had led him to following Zack to all the madcap pranks he had played on others (Turks, Scarlet, to mention a few), which he had wanted Cloud to witness in person.
Cloud stood up automatically and almost looked over his shoulder before he stopped himself. It was an unspoken rule, you did not look at the dead directly unless they wanted you to. “Where to?” he asked.
A firm grip on his upper arm steered him across the grass. Cloud could see the dark purple uniform from the corner of his eye and wondered if the lifestream did not allow people to change clothes or if they appeared to Cloud in their familiar garb. He was still too short, he realised as they bumped shoulders; he was never going to be as tall as Zack as he had always hoped to be and he had an uncharacteristic urge to turn around and throw his arms around his friend.
“You’ll be meeting a couple of people soon,” Zack told him as they walked.
The grass felt springy, almost buoyant, and Zack’s breath felt warm on his ear. Cloud did not turn his head since he did not want his friend to disappear but he could feel his resolve weakening. “How soon?” he asked to keep himself in focus.
“Soon enough,” Zack replied. “Time is relative here, hard to tell.” Cloud could practically feel the shrug. “Anyway, you’ll know because they won’t be your friends.” Another shrug. “At first.”
“You want me to help someone?” Cloud guessed.
“Save is more like it,” Zack replied. Already Cloud could feel his surroundings fading like transparent film through which he could see the next room. “I’ve got to go Spiky,” he said, sounding sad and a hand patted his head as if he was a child. Before, Cloud would have shrugged it off, now he froze, afraid to move in case the contact broke even though he knew it was pretty useless.
“Zack…” his throat clogged.
“One more thing.” Cloud looked up in alarm since that tone did not bode well for anyone. If memory served, it was the tone just before being flung off a building into the pool below or just before a cherry pie was slammed onto his head.
Even as he turned, Zack gave an undignified yelp. Cloud caught sight of a strong, muscular arm with fingers pinching Zack’s ear in his peripheral vision. As he was dragged backwards like some wayward child, Zack stuck out his leg and tripped Cloud, who had not been expecting that move.
Suddenly, he was in the real world, in Vincent’s cabin, tumbling into Vincent’s arms, knocking them both over. Vincent froze, as Cloud knew he would. Had he been an enemy he would have been pushed away. However, since Cloud was not, Vincent simply took the brunt of the fall, landing on the cabin floor cushioning Cloud with his body. It was not a particularly hard fall, just unexpected and as Vincent brought out his arm to grip Cloud, his gauntlet snagged in the waist of the loose sweats Cloud wore.
There was a brief struggle as Vincent tried to push Cloud to a side while Cloud tried to stand up, resulting in a tearing sound and the sweats calling it a draw to the tug of war. Cloud paused as Vincent tried to move his hand back down and landed on Cloud’s now, bare bottom.
They froze; Cloud half on Vincent, half off, his face inches away from a bony shoulder bone, smelling the almost wild scent that permeated around Vincent, animalistic with a hint of something herbal, probably his soap or shampoo. His hip was digging into Vincent’s middle not that either one of them ever complaining. And to top it off, Cloud could feel his body responding to the close contact with someone warm, unquestionably alive and well, he hoped it was because of that and not because he was on Vincent specifically. It would be uncomfortable if he wanted to grind his hips against his friends’. Especially when said friend did not consider him to be anything but that … and he really, really hoped what he was feeling was one of Vincent’s guns against his thigh.
This was starting to get …
“Have you two considered getting a room,” Cid said conversationally from his perch on the camp bed. They frozen then got to their feet with surprising acceleratory, Cloud holding his sweats up. “Well,” Cid shrugged. “Food’s ready, grab a plate or a bowl.”
Cloud wished the ground would open up below him as he stood there. “Uh, Cid,” he finally said, hoping he could distract the pilot. “Did Tifa give you anything for me?”
“Oh, yea, she did,” Cid nodded as he reached for his backpack. From there he pulled out smaller carryall and threw it at Cloud who caught it one handed, the other hand occupied with keeping his clothes on. “Didn’t look too pleased with you, though.”
“I hope she’s not too pissed off at me,” said Cloud as he pulled down the zipper and found out, just how angry Tifa was with him. She had packed for him a pink dress with ruffles and his bikini briefs from the HoneyBee Inn.
Part 8
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 just passed this around in my head a couple of times and finally wrote it down.
Summary: Cid drops in for a visit and gives Vincent a false scare. Tifa takes time to express her displeasure of Cloud’s actions for …
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
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Chapter 7
“Tifa, what do you mean what’s wrong?” Cloud said starting to sound like Denzel after he had eaten all the cookies in the jar. “Nothing’s wrong … I just needed a little break and… that’s all.”
“You decided you needed a break while on a routine delivery and dropped off the face of the planet for two whole days!” Tifa did not sound angry. She sounded like someone who had just finished being angry and was on the way to exploding. “I was worried. I thought you had run your stupid bike into ditch or something and Marlene had nightmares when you didn’t come home like you were supposed to …”
“I’m so sorry,” Cloud tried to put into the tirade. He did feel bad about not contacting Tifa earlier and he knew the kids expected him on Wednesday to read them bedtime stories.
“…and Billy called, wanted a down payment on the greens to feed your chocobos,” she continued brutally. “I told him I didn’t have money to feed them Mimett greens so he said he was going to give them something called Ga--Gahshyl…”
“Gysahl,” Cloud corrected.
“Something like that,” Tifa ignored the interruption. “For this week… but he said if you wanted to take your golden chocobo for racing you might have to fork out a couple of thousand to feed them.”
Cloud rolled his eyes. As long as he was in Tifa’s good books, they were ‘their’ chocobos but the moment he did something to make her angry, they became ‘his.’ Still, he knew Tifa meant well and was genuinely worried about him.
“…and a couple of Turks dropped in yesterday…”
“What?” Cloud asked as he sat up straighter. “Did they come in or …”
“Cloud,” Tifa said in mock patience. “I run a bar; of course they came in and had a drink.”
“Oh,” he said at a loss for anything else to say. He did not particularly like the Turks, who was he kidding, he did not care for them at all, especially Reno and his bald partner who was always staring at Tifa’s chest. “Are the kids safe?”
“Now you ask,” Tifa said dryly but she sounded as if she had calmed down. “Are you alright Cloud? Really? Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not hurt,” Cloud said honestly. “I’m really, really, fine. But I don’t know when I’ll be back, maybe next week.” He liked it at Vincent’s. There was no pressure and he had not realised just how much of his free time had been taken up by the kids. While he loved kids, a break from all of them seemed like such a relief. He felt guilty that he had saddled Tifa with everything, the kids, the chocobos, the bar, answering the phone for his delivery service, collecting payments from clients, planning her wedding since she did not have anyone to help her out… alright, he was being an ass and hoped Tifa was not too angry with him for abandoning his duties.
He took a deep breath and tried again. “Erm, Tifa, I need a favour,” he said carefully.
“What is it?” Tifa sounded worried as in ‘are you hurt’ way and not, ‘oh, no, not another burden’ which was rather positive overall.
“When Cid comes around to drop off the supplies, can you send some of my clothes with him?” There was a silence on the other side of the phone. “Tifa?”
“What happened to your clothes?” Tifa sounded stilted.
“Nothing,” Cloud assured her hastily. “I mean, I need a spare change since I don’t have any and …” He was bad liar but really, that was plausible.
“And you want Cid to fly it to you,” Tifa sounded strangled. “What happened? Did you play strip porker with Reno or something.”
“You know I don’t associate with Turks.” Cloud wondered where Tifa got her imagination from, it certainly was not her father. Still, he wished he had thought of that excuse which seemed more believable under the circumstances. “Tifa, please, just something to wear.”
“You’re not going to tell me what happened are you?” Tifa said sounding weary. “Fine, I’ll send you something to wear. Any preference?”
“Just anything,” Cloud said, pleadingly. He did not think he could wear Cid’s clothes any longer. The sweats tended to slide down his hips and he needed to constantly pull them up when he walked, which was very tedious. However, most importantly, he felt uncomfortable wearing clothes that belonged to a man who might have been or still was Vincent’s lover. “Thank you,” he added for good measure and hoped Tifa was not too angry with him about his latest adventure.
--- - - - - --------------------------- -------------------------------------
“So, Vinny what really happened?” Cid demanded as he chewed on his unlit cigarette.
Vincent wondered if he should pretend he did not understand what his friend was referring to but the rather obvious presence of Cloud, tinkering with Fenrir’s engine outside made him realise it was pretty useless. “Nothing,” Vincent tried anyway and looked out the window to make sure Cloud was indeed outside as he had been since Cid’s single engine airplane he had named “Mustang” in memory of “Tiny Bronco.
“ had landed. While he was not hiding, Cloud was clearly avoiding Cid.
“He showed up at your door step on his bike, naked?” Cid mused aloud.
“No.” Vincent gave the pot steaming on the stove a look and decided it was in no danger of boiling over.
“You two had wild, wild sex and you tore his clothes to shreds with your teeth and …”
“Cid!” Vincent wondered if he sounded as scandalized as he felt. Cid had been hanging around the wrong people far too much if he could come up with something like that unless he and Shera … no, Vincent did not want to go into that line of thought, thank you very much.
Cid shrugged, obviously not giving a damn about Vincent’s fragile sensibilities as he walked around the cabin … which took about three seconds. “So, how long has he been here?”
“Two, maybe three days,” Vincent said with a shrug then looked at Cid. “Are you going to talk to Rufus ShinRa?”
Cid looked up sharply and grinned. “Changing the topic that crudely, Vinny I’m shocked!”
Vincent did not bother replying as he opened the lid to the pot and stirred it before looking around.
“What’ya making?” Cid asked out of the side of his mouth as he leaned over Vincent’s shoulder to peer inside. “Vinny, my boy, are you actually cooking?”
“Its rabbit stew,” Vincent said ignoring the rest of the conversation.
“Vincent,” Cid said seriously. “The rabbits here have poison dripping from six inch nails.”
“I cleaned them,” Vincent said as he waited for Cid to ask why Vincent was cooking when he did not need to eat. However Cid seemed to know he had pushed Vincent as far as he would go since he shrugged and sat on the camp bed which Cloud was using, before reaching for another cigarette.
“Not like you or SOILDER boy out there will die of poisoning,” Cid finally remarked, looking amused by the conversation. It was very rarely that he got the upper hand of Vincent in a conversation.
Vincent glared at Cid, not that it did anything to intimidate the pilot.
“Just don’t get him pregnant,” Cid added, looking pleased with himself.
He probably expected Vincent to react to that comment, either glare even more or snap something about that been an insane remark. When Vincent remained silent as he tried to process the information, Cid got up confidently; seemingly pleased he had managed to stun the ex-Turk into speechlessness.
Cid walked up to the pot, picked up, Vincent’s long handled, multi-purpose spoon and opened the lid to see what exactly was cooking. Vincent sat, mind reeling as he assimilated what Cid had said. It was not as if he had not thought of it, his monsters did not come with user manuals and he had not looked into the mirror or consciously examined himself during a transformation to see if all his bits were male or female. He did not know what sort of sick joke Hojo had played on him, perhaps making him less than human. He had been feeling nauseated and dizzy; in random spells but still, it had started when Galien had gone on a mating spree with …
“I think the stew is just about ready,” Cid interrupted his train of thought before it could progress any further. “
“I think it’ll be wise if we all go and speak to Rufus,” Vincent latched onto the first topic he could think of as conversation. “If there is a threat, it’s best if he hear about it rather than waiting for it to come find us.” Even before Reno had showed up with the material, Vincent had been curious as to why they were needed. He had thought his Turks days were over but it seemed his instable curiosity had survived a thirty year sleep. Additionally, he had been one of the first to know about Kadaj and the gang and he was not about to let something he had been investigating slip through his finger.
“And ShinRa would never have called us if it was to blow out the candles on a birthday cake,” Cid said, agreeing. “Did Cloud convince you or did you convince Cloud?”
“I suggest we all choose some neutral ground and call for a meeting. He came to you first,” Vincent ignored that last sentence. “So you can call him up and let him know where and when we want to meet since he made first contact with you.” There, that would teach Cid to keep him mouth shut and his nose out of unnecessary business.
“It’s not going to be Healin is it?” Cid said with a grimace.
“No, that is ShinRa owned,” Vincent replied. “We need somewhere they don’t control.”
“I’ll think on it,” Cid replied and Vincent let the matter drop.
“Let’s call in Cloud if the food is ready. He’s bound to be hungry,” Vincent said instead.
“No need,” Cid nodded towards the door. “He’s here already.”
Vincent looked over his shoulder just as Cloud walked in, looking slightly distracted as if he wasn’t all there. Just as Vincent was about to open his mouth to inquire what was bothering him Cloud seemingly tripped over something invisible and fell onto Vincent, hard.
--- - --------- ------------- ------------------- ------------------ -------------------------
Cloud looked at the cabin again as he spit on a particularly hard patch of dirt and scrubbed it with the wash cloth. The grit remained stuck to the black paint job like a Mideel leech to a divers’ facemask.
He looked at the cabin window, again.
Before, he had been able to see Cid and Vincent move around a little but now, it seemed as if they had stopped moving. ‘Maybe they are sitting down,’ Cloud reasoned. Although the only place to sit down comfortably was on the bed, another part of his mind pointed out.
‘Grease,’ thought Cloud, forcing himself to concentrate. ‘I need to grease the piston rings and the hydraulics need looking in to and … I don’t care,” he reason. They can do what ever they want… I…’ He closed his eyes and shook his head to centre his thoughts before opening them again to find himself kneeling mid-thigh in the grass.
Only, it was not the same grass a few second ago. There was no Fenrir in front of him for one and for another, the air felt sweeter, some how lighter as if he would float away if he were to breath too much of it. There was the sound of flowing water, some one, female, giggling in the back ground and the feel of a very warm, solid presence at his back. His eyes watered as he tried to focus on the surroundings, which were blurred around the edges. Whenever he looked at something in the distance, it would jump into focus sharply before fading away as if his eyes were playing up.
Cloud, already familiar with the lifestream and his random conversations with dead people started to turn, a rare smile gracing his lips. “Aerith, I…” he started but a hand on his shoulder steadies him making him stay still. A large, warm hand, far too large and firm to be feminine.
“Aren’t you even a little curious as to what they are up to in there?” a familiar voice asked, almost in his ear. “Perhaps they’re doing some horizontal tango …”
“W…what if they are?” Cloud stumbled on the first word, realising that it was Zack who was talking to him instead of Aerith as usual. His throat clogged and for a moment all he wanted to do was turned around and look but he stopped himself. He felt as if he was split in two, one part holding a conversation while the other part was leaning into the heat generated from Zack’s body. It was strange that some one dead and gone could feel so real, especially when he couldn’t be seen.
“Admit it, Spiky,” Zack said and Cloud could feel the smile in that voice. “You want to know.”
“So what if I did,” he countered. “It’s none of my business really.”
“Even though you’re sharing your bed with a vampire,” the friendly voice continued. “Even if you ogle at him when he undresses.”
Cloud could feel a blush start somewhere near his neck and work it self up to his cheeks. “I’ve travelled with him you know,” he said defensively. “He’s my friend.”
“But I’m your friend and you ogle my ass every day,” Zack said sounding far too cheerful for a dead guy. Again, somewhere in the distance, some one giggled and Cloud wondered if Aerith was standing in a corner enjoying the conversation. She did have a rather questionable sense of humour and some of her pranks were worse than Zack’s.
“Did not,” Cloud snapped back, reverting to a childish retort out of defence. It had always been that way with him and Zack, they would argue over the most ridiculous of topics, mostly something Zack had thought up on the spur of the moment. Looking back Cloud could remember himself being more annoyed by those arguments than amused but now, he realise he had missed those witty come backs and funny one liners.
“But it’s such a waste…”
“I am not interested,” Cloud ground out through gritted teeth.
“Temper, temper, Spiky,” Zack thumped him on the shoulder cheerfully. “You still have that if nothing else.” Then he sighed and Cloud could feel the cheerful mood evaporating. “Guess I should get down to business since we have limited time.”
Cloud stiffened at that. Aerith never told him anything directly and he never asked but for Zack to speak to him, it had to be important.
“Walk with me,” Zack said and Cloud was transported to his cadet days. Zack would catch up with him in-between corridors and say the same thing, “walk with me” and they would walk up to Cloud’s next class, catching up with the events of the day in the little time they had to themselves. It had been so familiar that Cloud had to blink away tears again. It was also the same three words that had led him to following Zack to all the madcap pranks he had played on others (Turks, Scarlet, to mention a few), which he had wanted Cloud to witness in person.
Cloud stood up automatically and almost looked over his shoulder before he stopped himself. It was an unspoken rule, you did not look at the dead directly unless they wanted you to. “Where to?” he asked.
A firm grip on his upper arm steered him across the grass. Cloud could see the dark purple uniform from the corner of his eye and wondered if the lifestream did not allow people to change clothes or if they appeared to Cloud in their familiar garb. He was still too short, he realised as they bumped shoulders; he was never going to be as tall as Zack as he had always hoped to be and he had an uncharacteristic urge to turn around and throw his arms around his friend.
“You’ll be meeting a couple of people soon,” Zack told him as they walked.
The grass felt springy, almost buoyant, and Zack’s breath felt warm on his ear. Cloud did not turn his head since he did not want his friend to disappear but he could feel his resolve weakening. “How soon?” he asked to keep himself in focus.
“Soon enough,” Zack replied. “Time is relative here, hard to tell.” Cloud could practically feel the shrug. “Anyway, you’ll know because they won’t be your friends.” Another shrug. “At first.”
“You want me to help someone?” Cloud guessed.
“Save is more like it,” Zack replied. Already Cloud could feel his surroundings fading like transparent film through which he could see the next room. “I’ve got to go Spiky,” he said, sounding sad and a hand patted his head as if he was a child. Before, Cloud would have shrugged it off, now he froze, afraid to move in case the contact broke even though he knew it was pretty useless.
“Zack…” his throat clogged.
“One more thing.” Cloud looked up in alarm since that tone did not bode well for anyone. If memory served, it was the tone just before being flung off a building into the pool below or just before a cherry pie was slammed onto his head.
Even as he turned, Zack gave an undignified yelp. Cloud caught sight of a strong, muscular arm with fingers pinching Zack’s ear in his peripheral vision. As he was dragged backwards like some wayward child, Zack stuck out his leg and tripped Cloud, who had not been expecting that move.
Suddenly, he was in the real world, in Vincent’s cabin, tumbling into Vincent’s arms, knocking them both over. Vincent froze, as Cloud knew he would. Had he been an enemy he would have been pushed away. However, since Cloud was not, Vincent simply took the brunt of the fall, landing on the cabin floor cushioning Cloud with his body. It was not a particularly hard fall, just unexpected and as Vincent brought out his arm to grip Cloud, his gauntlet snagged in the waist of the loose sweats Cloud wore.
There was a brief struggle as Vincent tried to push Cloud to a side while Cloud tried to stand up, resulting in a tearing sound and the sweats calling it a draw to the tug of war. Cloud paused as Vincent tried to move his hand back down and landed on Cloud’s now, bare bottom.
They froze; Cloud half on Vincent, half off, his face inches away from a bony shoulder bone, smelling the almost wild scent that permeated around Vincent, animalistic with a hint of something herbal, probably his soap or shampoo. His hip was digging into Vincent’s middle not that either one of them ever complaining. And to top it off, Cloud could feel his body responding to the close contact with someone warm, unquestionably alive and well, he hoped it was because of that and not because he was on Vincent specifically. It would be uncomfortable if he wanted to grind his hips against his friends’. Especially when said friend did not consider him to be anything but that … and he really, really hoped what he was feeling was one of Vincent’s guns against his thigh.
This was starting to get …
“Have you two considered getting a room,” Cid said conversationally from his perch on the camp bed. They frozen then got to their feet with surprising acceleratory, Cloud holding his sweats up. “Well,” Cid shrugged. “Food’s ready, grab a plate or a bowl.”
Cloud wished the ground would open up below him as he stood there. “Uh, Cid,” he finally said, hoping he could distract the pilot. “Did Tifa give you anything for me?”
“Oh, yea, she did,” Cid nodded as he reached for his backpack. From there he pulled out smaller carryall and threw it at Cloud who caught it one handed, the other hand occupied with keeping his clothes on. “Didn’t look too pleased with you, though.”
“I hope she’s not too pissed off at me,” said Cloud as he pulled down the zipper and found out, just how angry Tifa was with him. She had packed for him a pink dress with ruffles and his bikini briefs from the HoneyBee Inn.
Part 8