-ducks flying tomatoes- Yeah, so I'm putting up another chapter fic. Don't kill me! Spawned between myself and the devious little mind of one RavenChristina, I promise that I'm not going to abandon everything else and work on this. It's just what we do in the evenings when homework gets too much- for her- and for when the roommate is really bothering- for me. And then the whole thing gets edited and turned into...this.
Vincent Valentine was usually not one for self-pity. He usually tried to keep his emotions in check, and pity usually made things worse. That didn't explain why he was sitting in a bar, staring down at the bottom of a bottle of something sweet and tangy with the pleasant burn.
I think you should stop. You're on your fifth one.
Vincent chuckled sardonically. "Since when do you care?"
Great, now you're talking out loud to me. You really need to stop.
"Would you prefer if I spoke aloud in Wutain? I could use the practice."
"I'd like to hear how bad your accent is," Tseng murmured, dropping onto the stool beside Vincent. He'd been sitting in a booth halfway across the bar, but curiosity had gotten the best of him and here he was, talking to man who was talking to himself.
He waved the bartender over. "Vodka and cranberry juice. And another of whatever he's drinking."
"I'll have you know my accent is flawless." The alcohol had loosened his tongue, and Vincent could hear Chaos yelling at him, but he eventually tuned it out, forcing the demon in submission. The bartender handed him his drink and he slammed it down, the liquor burning his throat.
Tseng chuckled, sipping at his own drink. "Somehow, I doubt it would be flawless right now." He stole Vincent's glass and sipped at the dregs. One eyebrow went up. "How much of this have you had?"
Vincent blinked. "Four? Five? I can't remember."
Ah. That explained a few things. "And....you think you're going back to Tifa's as drunk as you are? She's not going to let you get through the door." He took another sip of his own drink. "I know I wouldn't, and I work with Reno."
"Work with him? Is that what they call it these days?"
Tseng shrugged, not particularly interested in how Vincent knew that he was sleeping with Reno. Rufus didn't care, so why should he?
"I also do other things with him. But not when he's drunk."
"Ah." Vincent blinked again, then signaled the barkeep. "Glass of water please." He turned back to Tseng, his eyes unglazed but bright, and he smirked. "I bet he's a screamer."
"He would be if he wasn't also a biter." Tseng smiled faintly. "I've been known to scream on occasion myself."
Vincent chuckled. "I know what that's like." He swallowed down the water. "Lucrecia wasn't."
"Wasn't what?" Oops. It felt like he was stepping into very dangerous territory, but when would he get another chance at peeking under that cloak? He could always blame his own mouthy tendencies on the alcohol.
"Wasn't a screamer. Oddly enough, she was really quiet. At the time I supposed it was because she didn't want to get caught." Vincent's expression sobered for a moment. "Of course... when I found out I... I figured that she was... merely humoring me."
"Women are like that," Tseng muttered into his glass. "But I doubt she was humoring you. Any woman would want to be able to say she took a tumble with someone who looks like you at least once in her life, and when you look at what she was married to..."
Vincent shrugged, feeling the self-pity wash over him again. "I suppose so."
"And I take it that's why you're out here drinking yourself under, hmm?"
"Maybe. Why would you care?"
"You aren't the only one who has given everything he has to being a Turk. I just haven't died yet."
Vincent was quiet. After a moment he looked at Tseng. "Why are you talking to me? I mean, you've never been rude to me, but that's just it. You've never talked to me before."
"You did save my life, and the life of my subordinate. Why shouldn't I talk to you?" He tossed back what remained of his drink and signaled for another.
"Dunno. That whole mess was kind of your boss' fault- I think we're all just lucky Kada... Kaday... whatever the fuck his name was didn't get what he wanted."
"Kadaj," Tseng corrected, resisting the urge to laugh at how alien crude language sounded coming from Vincent. He examined his fingers for a moment. "If you can't find a good reason, then I can talk to you, if I want to. And there is the added note that I've never run into you here before."
"All right."
Vincent drank another glass of water, and then he laughed.
"Something funny?"
"I was just thinking about how I'm old enough to be your father."
"But you don't look it, and I don't care. If you want to think I'm coming on to you, then I am." Tseng smiled. "Not interested?"
Vincent raised an eyebrow. "A little late. Kinda lamenting over the death of my lover, thanks. Maybe another time."
"Then talk to me. Get it off your chest. I'm a good listener."
He ran a hand through his hair. "I wanted to marry her."
"That much was clear." Tseng methodically cracked each of his knuckles, then steepled his fingers and looked at Vincent over them. "She didn't want you. She made that clear over thirty years ago. What are you hung up on?"
"I couldn't save her from the two-faced son of a bitch who killed me and then locked me in a coffin for 30 years."
"She made a choice. A bad choice, but it was hers to make. You couldn't change that."
"No. I suppose not."
"Then why the sulking?"
He drank his sixth glass of water and shrugged again, the alcohol beginning to wear off. "Maybe it's because I knew and didn't want to admit it to myself."
"And you spent thirty years sulking about it? I know small children who get over things faster than that."
Vincent stared at him.
Tseng gave him a look. "I'm serious. You aren't the world's first jilted lover."
It was at that moment Vincent felt the world tilt on its axis. "Shit" he mumbled as he fell off the bar stool.
Muttering a few things in Wutain that will do unwritten, Tseng slid off his stool and crouched at Vincent's side. "You need to go home," he murmured.
"Ok. I don't think I can get up."
"Come here," he muttered, pulling Vincent up. "Just lean on me. You might as well come how with me anyway."
"Oh... ok..."
I told you this would happen. Did you listen to me?
"Shut up."
"I beg your pardon?"
"No no, not you. The...the one inside my head."
"Ah. Do you have to speak to him out loud?"
"No... I usually don't."
"But you're too drunk to keep it quiet? Wonderful." He straightened completely, pulling Vincent's arm across his shoulders and putting his free arm around Vincent's waist.
"I like it."
Vincent couldn't help it; the smell of Tseng's aftershave was...familiar. "Say... odd question...What kind of...of aftershave do you use?"
"Mmmm? Nothing special. Why do you ask?"
"It's... I've smelled it on Reno before."
Of course you would, you dolt. Now stop hanging all over the man and let him carry you.
"Oh? And what have you been doing with Reno that put you close enough to smell him?" Never mind that Reno frequently spent the night and used Tseng's aftershave, and never mind that they weren't exclusive....Vincent and Reno?
"You forget..." Vincent cracked a smile. "I have... heightened senses. And Reno... isn't my type."
"He uses my things as he pleases," Tseng sniffed. "Not that it's any of your business. Now, at least try to walk, or this is going to take forever."
"Ok."
Heaving himself upward, Vincent plodded along carefully, using Tseng as a balance.
"You're lucky I live near here," Tseng continued, nudging the door open. "Were you planning to stumble halfway across the city to get back to 7th Heaven, or was the idea to just pass out in an alley?"
"I wasn't... planning on getting this drunk." Vincent pulled himself onto the sofa and sighed, his head pounding.
"Serves you right, then." Tseng kicked his shoes off and stretched. "The past is the past. If I spent my time wallowing in it, I'd have given up a long time ago. Get over yourself." He leaned over Vincent, eyeing him critically. "Want something for your head?"
"Please. And some tea, if you don't mind."
"Mmmhm. What kind?" He headed for the kitchen, removing his tie and unbuttoning his shirt on the way. Guest or no guest, it had been a long day and he was entitled to a little personal comfort in his own home.
"Whatever you've got."
"I have peppermint, raspberry lemon, chai, cinnamon, chamomile, green, black, and jasmine."
"Peppermint. Lucrecia...she liked chai."
Tseng smiled. He was fond of chai himself. "It's a very calming tea. Do you want sugar?"
"A little, please. Once, I brought her some for her birthday. You would've thought I'd found a diamond or something the way she carried on about it."
"A thoughtful gift is always the best kind." He rattled around the little kitchen for a minute, then returned with a glass of water and a couple of pills. "Here."
"Thanks."
"Any time. I've been in your place often enough to know what it's like."
Vincent swallowed the pills and water, leaned back and closed his eyes. "Care to share?"
"You forget that I left my family, my home, my friends, and my country to be a Turk. I tried to drink that away a few times." He snorted. "Reno can be surprisingly sympathetic when he wants to be."
"Did you leave a girl behind?"
"We were engaged."
"Oh. How did she... how did she take it?"
He traced a narrow scar over his left side. "She tried to kill me."
"Wow. Mine was just a crazy-two-timing bitch."
"I was abandoning her for the mortal enemy of my people. She felt it was better to lose me to death than to lose me to ShinRa. I felt differently."
"Fair enough. Knife?"
"Shuriken. And a bad throw."
"Ha! Well, that's what she gets, I suppose." Vincent opened his eyes to observe Tseng, surprised to see someone normally so cold and calm looking so relaxed and at ease around him. "Did you love her?"
Tseng shook his head. "I liked her. Our marriage was arranged, and I was still getting used to it, but I think I would have eventually loved her. I just found something else to love first."
Vincent nodded. After a moment he sat up, the pills he'd taken finally taking effect. "So…you were honestly hitting on me?"
Tseng grinned. "Of course."
Vincent propped his feet up and leaned back, letting the cloak fall off his shoulders. "And what makes you think I'd be interested?"
Tseng shrugged, perching on the end of the couch. "Nothing made me think you wouldn't be."
"Well... It's been quite a while. Since anyone has really shown any interest, I mean."
"A pity. You're worth it." The kettle shrieked, and Tseng slid off the couch to go deal with it.
Vincent watched him go.
Not a bad view from back here.
For once I think I agree with you.
Tseng was back shortly, carrying two mugs. "Peppermint, lightly sweetened," he murmured, handing one to Vincent. "And chai, heavily sweetened, for me."
"Thanks."
Vincent sipped carefully.
What do you think?
Do you want my honest opinion?
Might as well.
He gets off with Reno. That I see. But he might be looking for something more. I know we are.
Tseng settled on the couch beside Vincent, drawing his legs up under himself and cradling the mug to his stomach.
So what should I do?
I've got an idea.
"When was the last time you were ever on a date?"
Tseng choked on a sip of his tea. "On an actual date?" Well. He'd have to think about that. "Suffice it to say that you were still boxed up."
Vincent chuckled. "Funny." He drank some more, feeling his confidence rise. "Tifa is... well, technically it's Cloud's birthday next week and she managed to wrangle some reservations to a nice restaurant."
"Are you asking me on a date?"
Vincent turned and faced the man. His red eyes were intense and focused. "I've been wallowing too long in the whole 'self-pity over lost love' pool, as the one in my head likes to call it. I want to try and get out of this funk. Since you seem to be interested- and I have to admit that the thought had crossed my mind... but I have one stipulation. If you want something like you have with Reno..." He hesitated for a moment.
Go on, tell him. Might as well put it out there before we get in too deep.
We?
Yes, we. Now don't leave the man hanging, talk to him.
"Then I don't want anything to do with it. I'm all for a good lay, but that's not... what I need." He swallowed. The last time he'd been this vulnerable he'd... confessed to Lucrecia.
Tseng shook his head.
"No, I'm just...surprised. It's been a long time since anyone asked for anything that wasn't quite....physical." He smiled at Vincent over his mug. "I'd like the chance. Assuming, of course, you're willing to deal with my rusty skills at courting."
A huge sigh of relief, both inward and outward, and Vincent grinned back. "I would. So, everyone is supposed to meet at the restaurant at quarter to five." He finished his tea and got up, putting his cloak back over his shoulders. He walked over to the door, and then turned back, feeling not like the broken and defeated man he'd become, but more like the young love-struck teenager he'd been so long ago. "I'll pick you up?"
Tseng just grinned. "You'd better be on time."
Smiling, Vincent turned the knob and stepped out. He turned back once more and grinned, feeling perfectly silly but really not caring. "It's a date."
"Oooh, I'll have to pretty up," Tseng laughed.
"Good night."
"Good night. Have fun with that hangover."
