Disclaimer: Alas, 'tis not mine.

Warnings: Not much, just a tad bit of swearing.

Written By: Charlie O.

Overall Rating: T

Authors Note: I honestly have no idea how this idea came to be. I was just looking at one of the peacock feathers on my desk and suddenly the idea was firmly lodged into my brain. Only intended this to be a drabble but somehow it ended up being just over a thousand words. Not much thought went into it, just typed it up. Not much editing either.

Birds of a Feather

Vincent frowned; for some reason (and he couldn't fathom as to why) there seemed to be a heavy silence surrounding the motley crew of would-be heroes that he had found himself in the company of. He could hear Yuffie's voice from ahead of him, chattering away with Red XIII about some materia or another. Further consideration revealed a persistent Tifa talking to a moody Cloud, Aerith humming to herself as she wandered beside them, and a grumbling Barret who was moodily trying to rid himself of the cheerful toy cat that was traveling at his side.

His frown deepened. He hadn't been a member of this "Avalanche" as they called themselves for very long, but there was definitely something missing. He let his eyes drift close, his mind mentally sifting through his few memories of the group. The pilot. His eyes snapped open and scanned the group for the cursing blonde.

He widened his strides ever so slightly, soon finding himself walking right beside their unofficial leader. "Highwind seems to be missing." He said calmly.

"The old man?" Yuffie asked, butting into the conversation.

Vincent's eyebrows drew together in faint confusion. He was relatively certain that Barret was older than Cid. Beside him Cloud huffed in frustration and stopped. "I guess we'll just have to stop here and hope he shows up."

"We get a break?" Yuffie asked in excitement, already seated upon the soft grass growing beneath their feet.

Cloud nodded. "Just for a bit. Hopefully it won't take long for him to catch up. We don't have much time to waste."

Vincent rolled his eyes at the younger man's attempt to sound angry. It was obvious that Cloud was just as eager for a chance to rest his feet as the rest of the party. "Perhaps it would be quicker for us to search for him rather than the other way around." He suggested softly.

Cloud shot a hesitant look at the rest of their team then gave Vincent a rather sheepish looking smile. "Would you mind going out to look for him?"

Vincent sighed, he really should have seen that coming. He turned and began making his way back in the direction they had come from, pushing through heavy ferns and bushes in an attempt to recreate the exact path they had taken the first time. It wasn't long before the drone of his teammates' voices faded away and he was consumed in the silence of the forest.

It wasn't until a heavy gust of wind flew through the branches that Vincent caught the scent of cigarette smoke. He quickly began pushing in the direction the wind had come from, eager to find the pilot and be out of the thick forest.

When he finally stumbled upon the blonde ball of profanity he was greeted with a disturbingly endearing scene. Had Vincent been more acquainted with peaceful sleep he would have checked to see if he was dreaming.

Cid sat in the middle of a small mossy clearing puffing away at one of his cigarettes, several large golden feather scattered about him. When he saw Vincent standing on the outside of his vision he promptly stood and began grabbing the scattered feathers. "What's up Vince?"

"We lost you." Vincent stated simply.

Cid scratched the back of his head with a feather laden fist and gave an apologetic huff. "Sorry 'bout that. Got distracted."

"By feathers?" Vincent asked it faint disbelief.

"Hell yeah by feathers." Vincent promptly found a feather being thrust forward into his face. "Ain't it neat?" If Vincent didn't know better he would say that Cid vaguely resembled a small child that had found something interesting on the ground and expected his parents to be proud of him for it. His eyes focused onto the end of the golden feather. Now that he was closer he could see that towards the end were tints of blue and orange swirled into the gold.

He felt his lips twitch upwards into a faint smirk. "Congratulations Highwind, you found chocobo feathers. What will you do with them now?" He asked, humoring the shorter man.

"Hell if I know." He considered the feathers in his hands and grinned. "Maybe I'll keep collecting them and make a giant pair of wings that I can wear." He claimed sarcastically, flapping his arms for added effect.

Vincent gave a snort of disbelief, just managing to keep in the laughter that was threatening to bubble up. Ever since he had joined the strange terrorist group Cid had been constantly trying to make the usually silent gunman laugh, an act that Vincent hadn't failed to notice. He gave the feathers another careful look before swiping them out of the pilot's hands and circling around to look at the other man's back.

"Sorry Cid, but it looks like you'll be collecting feathers for a while." He then used his human hand to carefully slide the handful of feathers into the pilot's deep back pockets." These are tail feathers." He couldn't help the smile that crossed his face when he saw the faint red blush that had stained the shorter man's cheeks.

"These seem a bit fuckin' big to be tail feathers." Cid grumbled.

Vincent gave the feathers another appraising look and shrugged. "They're used for attracting a mate. The bigger the better, I suppose."

Cid pulled on a cocksure grin as they began making their way out of the clearing and in the direction that Vincent hoped would lead them out of the forest. "Think it's working?"

"Hmm?"

"D'you suppose these feathers are helpin' me get a 'mate'?" To add emphasis to the statement the pilot jerked his hips to the side, feathers swaying with the movement.

Ignoring the way his pulse fluttered lightly at the comment, Vincent let his eyebrow raise in disbelief. "The only thing those ridiculous feathers will attract is stares."

Cid laughed loudly, birds scattering from the tree branches above. "Give it time, maybe it just takes a while for it to work."

Vincent let another small smile flit across his usually frowning face. "Perhaps, Highwind."

-End-

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