Cliffie: Gooooooodness. I've had this plot bunny FOREVER. As in, since high school - so at least for four years. Gosh. And it was really so simple, so easy to write, and I have no idea why I didn't do it before.

But last night I got to thinking about Vincent and Tifa, and wrote about half of this and finished the rest this morning, and I'm glad I didn't write this four years ago. I hadn't really discovered my penchant for dark!Tifa then, and it would have ended up sillier than this finished product.

Not that this isn't supposed to be silly. Please, don't take it too seriously; I'm not entirely sure I can see Vincent doing this, and it's really supposed to be shameless fluff and humor only now it has some angst to round it out.

I've never written from Vincent's perspective before, so I'm not terribly confident in his voice, but I really do think he cares a lot for his companions and just can't quite show it most of the time. Like Cloud, a bit, I suppose.

But anyway! Takes place after a certain event, so beware SPOILERS if you haven't reached the halfway point in the game. And as a confession, I haven't reached that point either since I get distracted easily, so I have no idea what really happened immediately after Aeris's death. Sooo artistic license there.

Anyway, now that this author's note has become really, really long, I hope you guys enjoy the story! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters. They belong to Square Enix. This is for entertainment purposes only.

They were stuck in the middle of God only knew where, snow pounding at the door, and Vincent couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Tifa smile.

It shouldn't have been a big deal. He was Vincent: as icy cold as the snow outside the inn, as Yuffie would say. Not reachable, but it was easier to stay silent more often than not. It shouldn't have mattered whether or not Tifa smiled, yet, for some reason, Vincent found that it did.

In truth, he did care for his companions, even annoying Yuffie. He had become ensnarled with them, as tightly as anyone could be, and he would see this quest out partly because he wanted to prevent the destruction of the world as much as they did, and partly because he didn't want to see any more of them die.

That was the last time he'd seen Tifa smiled, Vincent realized. Before Aeris died.

She'd attempted her soft smiles for a while since then (that god-awful night as she lay sobbing and screaming in his arms because Cloud was lowering Aeris's body into the lake and Tifa couldn't bear to watch and Vincent couldn't bear to see her in such agonizing pain). But then, slowly, those smiles sifted away, falling off one by one until she didn't even attempt anymore.

The two of them sat at a table by the fire in the inn's common room. It was late, and the others had long retired to bed, but they two sat and stared into the fire. Tifa hadn't been sleeping well lately, and Vincent didn't sleep much in general. He'd had enough of that before Cloud woke him. They found themselves like this often, neither speaking, but the knowledge that the other was there was somehow important.

Perhaps it was because of these late night moments that Vincent cared whether or not Tifa smiled.

"Vincent?"

He acknowledged her soft word with a brief glance in her direction. She didn't look at him, but at the fire, one finger absently twirling around a loose strand of hair.

"I've been thinking a lot about what we're going to do when this is all over," she said, voice low, thoughtful. She wasn't sad, per se; that wasn't why she didn't smile anymore. It was simply because she had grown more pensive, shocked into reality by Aeris's death. The future had suddenly become an enormously bleak thing. But to speak of an "after" told Vincent that perhaps she hadn't given up as much hope as he'd thought.

He'd always known she was strong, but now he was thinking she was perhaps unbreakable.

He didn't say anything; she didn't expect him to. If they talked at night, it was always her, with perhaps an idle comment on his part. She talked because she was compelled to, not to fill the empty space of silence. If she talked, she needed to, and equally didn't need him interrupting her.

"And I know what I'll do - go back to 7th Heaven. And I got to thinking maybe I'll start a garden, ya know, because Aeris would like that. And I'd tend to the flowers in her church. But then I got to wondering what you'll do." Vincent shifted, not really uncomfortable that she thought of him although maybe he should be, but merely wondering where her thought process was taking her.

"And then I got to thinking about you, and whether or not you had any hobbies."

It was an utterly ridiculous thing, and Vincent smiled in his hand. "Really now," he said, unable to help it.

She heard the amusement in his voice, eyes flickering to him. For the barest second, the shadow of a smile flitted across her face, but it disappeared just as quickly. Vincent found himself frustrated over how easily that smile was lost, and, before he could catch himself, began to wonder how he could bring that smile back.

He wasn't quite sure why he cared so much. Tifa was strong; even if she didn't smile, she would make it through this. But he missed that smile, missed the brightening of her entire face, as if nothing could be quite so joyous at whatever was making her grin.

And a silly thought popped into Vincent's head, something so ridiculous he nearly tossed the entire idea out immediately, born from a comment Yuffie made long ago. But then he paused, and looked at the young girl sitting next to him. And he thought, for her, he would do it. He would drop his dignity and be everything he wasn't - silly, unthreatening, downright clownish - just for a moment, if that moment was enough to banish this shadow on her soul and make her realize life was too short not to smile while she still could.

Tifa wasn't like Yuffie. He'd never even contemplate doing something like this with Yuffie. He liked the kid well enough - minus her inability to shut up for even a minute - but she would see this behavior as something to taunt him over. It would bring a smile to her face, no doubt. But Tifa was the one who would see past the ridiculousness of the whole thing, see that he was trying to cheer her up, and she would let it drop at that. She wouldn't go around the inn saying that Vincent had lost his bloody mind.

There were many reason to prefer Tifa over Yuffie, now that Vincent thought about it.

In reality, Tifa was the only one Vincent would do something like this for. Well, perhaps he would have for Aeris, too, but Aeris always had those bright, trusting eyes, and he knew she didn't need him to cheer her up. They had an agreement, him and Aeris; he wouldn't question what was hiding behind her smile, and she didn't ask him anything about his past.

But it was Tifa who walked besides him as they made their way closer to Sephiroth, Tifa who hummed and watched the sky and asked silly questions like whether or not he liked the rain, all innocence wrapped up in hard hitting fists. He liked the girl who walked beside him because she wasn't afraid, who didn't chatter constantly like Yuffie but would try to engage him in conversation just the same. And, sometimes, he would let her, and the smile she rewarded him with was enough for Vincent to think maybe it wasn't such a bad thing, to talk with her.

But now she watched him with too-serious eyes, and it didn't really matter anymore if he liked the rain or not. All she could see was Aeris dying, and maybe he would be next, or Yuffie, or Cloud. And that reality scared her so much she couldn't bring herself not to obsess over it.

And Vincent, to his complete and utter shock, found himself missing the silly little tunes she hummed, and how she talked without expecting any real answers.

"Vincent?"

He rose at the questioning tone, meeting Tifa's eyes squarely, face completely straight. "My hobbies?" he repeated. Tifa nodded, garnet eyes never leaving his.

God. The things he would do for this woman (really, he would have to sit down with his subconscious and have a good long talk with it about why it mattered so much to him that Tifa would smile, but now was not the place nor time for such a discussion).

"My main hobby," he said, staring down at the wide-eyed barmaid, "is swishing my cloak."

He barely had the time to see Tifa's mouth drop open in shock before he turned, grasping the cloak in one hand, and bringing it around to swish rather magnificently, if he did say so himself.

And Tifa's delighted laugh echoing around the room definitely made the entire indignity worth it.

Yuffie's gaping face just outside did not, and Vincent called himself nine times a fool for not checking the stairs to see if anyone had come down. Slowly, painfully, Yuffie's shock disappeared into an upturned grin, delight written across her face as she came up with at least a dozen scenarios on how to use this against him.

Well. Fuck.

But, Vincent conceded with a sigh as Tifa followed him out of the common room, it was worth braving Yuffie to see the silly grin on Tifa's face, the way she snickered as she looked at him, and the look in her eyes that didn't say anything about death or the future or if there would be an "after."

Really, he was getting so soft to fall for her doe eyes and not turn away when she patted his arm in thanks.

"Barrett, Cid, Clouuuud! Guess what Vinnie did!"

Vincent sighed, and Tifa chuckled next to him, and yes, he grudgingly admitted, it really was all worth it.