Title: When Happiness Dies
Summary: Vincent finally realizes what his happiness is and refuses to let it slip past him this time around.
Warnings: Implied yaoi, could be friendship.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Vincent set down his notebook and pen onto the roof as he peered down at the blonde in the yard, a smile coming to his face as he watched the short pilot toss his wrench behind him with a loud string of curses. Sitting back, the brunette continued to watch the younger man as he tried to fix whatever was wrong the hideously pink plane. From what he could hear, the blonde was frustrated with something not being aligned properly. Picking up his spiral notebook once more, the brunette flipped through the pages and smiled as he looked through the little notes that he had made about the blonde over the past few months.
A slight smile graced his face as he looked down at the scrawling words across the lined paper. Small things that he had come to notice about the pilot since they had saved the world and gone their separate ways: Things that he never realized while they had traveled together.
Without the pressure of a giant meteor crashing down over their heads, the brunette could tell that the blonde had mellowed out quite a bit and had fallen into a certain schedule.
Tea and cigarettes were both utilized at certain times of the day; but that did not mean that when the pilot was feeling the need to relax he did not overlap the two activities. His days concluded with a drink at his local bar after spending a day working on his creations, fixing the sunken wreckage of the Tiny Bronco that he had hauled out of the shallow water by the shore, and helping Cloud with his newfound delivery service. Vincent had come to realize that Cid had the signs of an oral fixation; if the butt of a cigarette was not clamped between his teeth, a toothpick or some tool was. The blonde had rarely strayed from the quiet, little town that he had built around him; quickly finding time to help out those around him that had requested help from him. The quaint town rarely had visitors so crime was practically nonexistence.
It was not until a few months into watching the pilot bustle about in his backyard that the gunner had began to notice all of the little dangers that lurked around the blissfully ignorant human. Heavy pieces of metal dangled about his head, poisonous creatures lurked about in the tall grass by Cid's hangar, the rare visitor plotted against him... He was certain that Cid began to notice the little changes around him; support chains were reinforced practically overnight, nothing that could start a fire was kept near anything combustible, ruffians were taken care of before they could get close to the honorable mayor of Rocket town in their drunken state...
It was not until the blonde had deviated from his usual schedule a few days ago that Vincent had realized that something was severely wrong. A panic had seized his chest, anxiety clawing at his heart as he hurried into the small town and over to the quiet house. Peering inside the window, the brunette noticed that Cid was sound asleep on the couch, snoring softly as the television cast him in a soft glow. Another smile had graced his face at the sight before he turned away, making sure to get back to his observation spot before Shera would awaken and begin her cleaning regimen around the blonde's house. Affection bloomed in his chest as the ex-Turk turned back to his notes, making a small note on the last page of that notebook.
He had come to realize that being around the pilot, even if the human did not realize that he was, had brought a sort of satisfaction to his days; something that sitting alone in Lucrecia's cavern would easily destroy. The was an art to everything that the blonde did and a reason to his actions. Vincent watched as Cid tossed another tool over his shoulder while more curses flew from his lips. There would come a day when the blonde would pass on; when he would leave the gunner behind after years of time slowly wearing him down until he faded from existence.
It was during that realization that Vincent decided that because Cid had managed to be the only person to show him what happiness was, then he would have to return the favor by making sure that happiness never died for either one of them, even if it meant making sure that the blonde would live forever.
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