Title: Unexpected talents
Author: Enide Dear
Pairing: Valenwind
Summary: Another cute drabble
Author's note: These Valenwinds keep on being so cute they're probably going to give me tooth aches....
Hair. It was a problem.
Standing under the pouring shower, Vincent swore quietly under his breath and tried once more to get the shampoo evenly distributed throughout his long raven black tresses. The struggle was not aided by the fact that he could only use his human hand, or risk cutting his own scalp off with his metal claw. The procedure took forever and had quickly earned him a reputation amongst Avalanche to be meticulous, not to say obsessive, about his personal hygiene. Not that most of Avalanche were the type to worry overly much about cleanliness.
He'd probably been in the shower for an hour or more, and the stall next to him had already served both Cloud and Barret. Through the soap in his ears Vincent could now hear Cid entering the small cubicle next to his, the pilot whistling and humming snatches of song as he turned on the water.
"Aaaarrgh! Gods fucking damn it!" The water was quickly turned off, Vincent heard the sound of a door banging shut, and then the door to Vincent's shower stall was thrown open. Vincent almost drew his gun, before realising it wasn't there.
Cid glowered in on him, short, naked, trim, fit, tanned and not the slightest amused.
"Yer the one who used up all the damned hot water." He growled, not even making a question out of it.
"I…um…oh. I'm sorry." Embarrassed, Vincent blinked shampoo out of his eyes. "There's still some left in here."
"Then I'm fucking getting in here. Ya've been in here for an hour; ya got to be clean by now." Cid frowned and got up on his toes, looking at Vincent's head. "Then again, I might be wrong. Ya've missed quite a bit there."
"Never mind. Let me just get my things and I'll go." It suddenly hit Vincent that he was naked as well, suds running down his body. Blushing he tried a bit belated to cover himself with one hand and scooped up the shampoo and conditioners with his other hand. The shower stall at once seemed very small.
"What, with half yer hair dirty and the other filled with suds?" Cid suddenly grinned. As far as Vincent had seen, the captain could never hold on to anger very long. "That ain't going to help yer big bad Turk image, ya know."
"Maybe I'll just cut it off then." Vincent mumbled and tried to edge around the nude blonde, but Cid didn't move.
"Yeah. And maybe I'll stop shaving and grow a beard. And maybe Chocobo-head will finally realise there's such a thing as too much styling gel. But it ain't going to happen any time soon." Cid leaned over and took a bottle from Vincent's unresisting arms. Opening the cork, he sniffed it. "Evergreens. Nice. Turn around."
"What…" but Cid grabbed his shoulder and gently turned him. It was all Vincent could do to keep Chaos down; it was far too long since he had any physical contact with anyone, and the last person had been Hojo. The memories of those clammy, cold, skilled hands breaking his body and reconstructing it as it pleased almost made him panic and the demons howled inside him.
Warm, callused, gentle hands started moving over Vincent's hair. Clever fingers worked through the tresses without pulling them. Fingertips massaged in shampoo, rubbing over his scalp and temples. Lather rose around his head like a crown.
Vincent felt his shoulders slump as tension he wasn't aware of ran off him. The demons subsided as he relaxed into the smoothly working hands.
"Cut off this hair," Cid muttered just audibly over the running water, "over my dead body."
Vincent smiled and realised that this was the first time he'd smiled since Hojo as well.
"You are…very good at this," he stammered, hoping it didn't sound as awkward as he felt saying it.
Cid shrugged, his strong hands now slipping down to massage soap along a marble-pillar neck.
"I ain't just a handsome kick-arse fighter, the best Gods-damned pilot in the world, and the only man who can build ya a spaceship out of some tinfoil and firecrackers," he grinned. "I've got some unexpected talents as well."
A finger trailed down Vincent's spine, sending goose bump all over his skin.
"Ya just let me now if ya want to find out any more of them…"