Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is the creation of Square Enix, not mine.
Summary:Sometimes... it doesn't matter.
Author's notes: Written for Livejournal community Spring Kinkfest, prompt: October 25 - Final Fantasy VII, Cid/Shera/Vincent: Cuddling/afterglow: "but we all have our wounds".
Threshold Not Crossed
by monitor screen
-o-
Shera withdrew gradually from dream, stretching in content, fingers subconsciously sliding over smooth sheets. The familiar snore was at her ear, a solid arm comfortingly around her.
But something was amiss.
She blinked the sleep from her eyes, and finally found in darkness the figure that did not belong. His profile was stark against the dim glow from outside, distant and impassive, so at odds with the nest of warmth he had strayed from.
Shera sighed, slipping out of the welcoming snugness. The floor was cold under her bare feet, but his back was colder. He must have been standing by the window long.
"Vincent."
He did not acknowledge her; yet Shera could almost feel the muscles flex beneath her fingers. She sighed again.
"Come back to bed."
Another bout of silence. And then the deep, dark voice, quiet and musing - "Do you ever think..." But was sabotaged before anything else came out.
After a few moments with nothing coming forth, Shera took a breath, biting her lip and stepped forward. His frame was slighter than it looked, bones and sinews almost jutting out of the pale skin. She pressed close, the ridge of a scar scraping her cheek. "Sometimes... it doesn't matter."
She could feel him holding his breath, waiting, for whatever it was that he looked for. But then there was a loud grumble in the other side of the room, and the duvet got kicked half off the bed in a fit of tossing. Shera could not help but smile.
"Come on." She leaned back, edging towards the bed, even as she kept a hold on the sculptural wrist. He followed her tug along tacitly.
In no time she was cocooned once more in the shelter of bodies and beddings. The familiar scent of tobacco and sweat surrounded her, reassuring and enticing. The mattress dipped and shifted, as Vincent settled in.
... And although the freezing brush of his lips gave her shivers, Shera smiled as she let herself sink back into sweet oblivion.
-o-