Pairings: Cid/Vincent

Warning: …I….can't really think of an- oh, bad words! And AU.

Comment: Sexy mysterious man in a mask? Always good.

Author Comments: It completely changed from when I first wrote it but I like this version better. Anyways, cheers for the new Cid/Vincent series. It's more modern day.

The Mask of Chaos 01

"Hey, have you heard anything about the recent robberies?"

"Heck naw, I haven't." Cid frowned sitting and chattering with the other guys in the construction yard. Yeah, he was a contractor currently working on helping build a new four story building for some new upcoming big shot company. So far they had the overall frame work done, but they still need to set up the wiring and put up the walls. It was easily at least another two months of work left to do. But that wasn't the point right now. He was on break, he didn't need to be thinking about work, damn it.

He looked over at Zack, being one of three who was listening to the story right then. Apparently these particular types of robberies were starting to spout up all over the place. And it seemed to be becoming more frequent too. Someone was running around, stealing all the money from these top corporations and putting them out of business. Normally, a robbery wouldn't have brought that much of a second thought to him, but these types of robberies were odd.

There were rumors flying around that a beautiful man in a black mask and a red cape was the one causing all of these robberies. Honestly, Cid thought it was a bunch of crap, but the other guys in his group thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Bunch of pansies, if you ask me.

"Yo, hurry up and tell us 'bout it!" Barret said, just thankful for a moment of rest as he took another bite out of his sandwich. He was probably about as interested as Cid was, but hey, it was something to talk about at least.

"Well they just hit one of Shinra's top corporations this time," Zack continued, not bothered by the impatience the others were showing him. "It took a big hit. It surprised everyone because no one would have thought that the guy would target a place like that. And they're saying the guy isn't finished yet. There's rumor he's aiming to get to the other Shinra buildings before going after the big one."

"That isn't likely," Cloud said leaning in close and frowning a bit. "Besides it being the most heavily guarded building out of all Shinra, it also has the most complex computer system in the world. He probably got lucky getting into the first Shinra building."

"They probably just left it open so they can set a trap for the dummy," Barret said, before shoving the rest of his sandwich into his mouth.

"Well you ladies can sit here and keep on gossiping," Cid said standing up and rotating his right arm, getting the kinks out of it. "I'm going back to work before Sephiroth shows up with his PMS."

"Yo wait up, Imma going to," Barret said hopping up.

"Alright fine," Zack said though his lips poked out in a slight pout. "You old people don't know news when you hear it. Go on back to your knitting."

"Kids today," Cid said grumbling as he stuck a cig between his lips. "They got a lot of mouth but they ain't got no balls."

"I hear ya," Barret said laughing as he walked off ahead. Cid started to follow after him, until his eyes caught sight of something and he slowed down staring off to the side, seeing a man, bright red eyes looking around. When their eyes did meet, Cid thought he might collapse right there just from the sheer brightness of those red eyes staring back at him. The man had paused by the wooden fence surrounding the construction sight, just watching Cid before he turned his eyes away and left disappearing behind the fence.

It definitely made the middle-aged construction worker wonder what just happened. He felt an urge to follow the man and demand answers. Just what had that look been? Was it pity? Anger? What?!

"Vincent Valentine," Zack said coming to stand beside him, a look of awe in his eyes. "I never thought I'd ever get to see him, and walking around casually." He turned his eyes on Cid and, seeing the confused look, decided to explain. "You ever heard of Chaos Ward, the clothing company that's been hitting it big with the kids these days? Well, Vincent is the owner of that company." Cloud came over standing beside Zack, listening to explanation, the small group enough to cause even Barret to come and join them. "And while all these other companies are being hit, being a smaller company, he's starting to grow in popularity, though not enough to match Shinra, yet. I won't be surprised if the robbers hit him soon too."

"I doubt it," Cloud said glancing over at Zack and the others. "He has a growing company but he isn't big yet. It's not enough to make these kind of robbers want to go after him." Cloud looked back towards the fence where the guy named Vincent had already disappeared. "Besides, not many people have ever seen him before. No one even knows where his corporate office even is or if he has one."

"It's not like it's that important," Cid said turning and walking away from them. "Let's just get this place finished before we all grow old." The others looked at each other before they turned and followed.

Somehow, in a strange way, the two months went by fast. The whole building wasn't complete, but at least most of it was. Right now, Cid was up on the top floor, halfway done with painting the walls to the room he was currently working on. This was, at least, the last floor they needed to work on. But it wasn't small, just like the others. So right now his other friends were spread out throughout the building, fixing up loose wires, working on the ceiling, and basically doing all the crap he was doing. And in the portion of the building he was in, he was pretty much alone. Which was probably why he felt himself jump when he heard the voice speaking from behind him.

"Everything is looking pretty good," the voice said causing Cid to turn at the sudden voice before cursing at the paint dripping from the brush onto the floor.

"Don't sneak up on a guy like that," Cid said kneeling down and wiping the paint off the floor with a white rag. He knew he should have put a sheet down, but then he never had problems with dripping paint in the past…until this guy showed up.

"I apologize." The man said causing Cid to look up at him again. It was the same guy he'd seen walk by the building several times during construction. The very same man with the bright, red eyes.

Are they contacts?

It didn't matter what he was doing, but it was usually around the same time of the day that he'd seen the man walk by, looking as calm and cool as ever before leaving again. At first, Cid had wondered about why the man was checking the building out. But he finally did get his answer when he just so happened to see the man talking to their boss, Sephiroth.

"You're the owner of this building, aren't you?" Cid said deciding to take a break as he left his brush in the bucket of paint.

"Yes," was the answer he got though, there was no further pursuit of conversation. Vincent glanced around the room, taking in the gothic like design and the semi-painted walls before he gave a nod of his head as if in approval.

Despite the strange design, Cid couldn't help feeling good at the approval of his hard work. "So you like this huh?"

"Yes," Vincent said looking back at him again. "This should work fine for my office."

Office? ...Creeeeepy.

"So you're this clothing guy everyone's been talking about." More like the guy Zack won't shut up about. In fact, when they met outside of work, Zack was often wearing Chaos Ward clothing. What was with these kids today anyway? Couldn't they just settle with some normal clothes?

But then again, this guy looked anything but normal. Red eyes regarded him casually making him wonder just how old was this guy. He looked like he was about 24 or 27 or something. But those eyes of him made him look much older. Actually, he could see how girls were falling head over heels for him. He was definitely a pretty hot guy.

Not that I'm into that sort of stuff.

"I don't make clothes for pleasure," the man said looking away from him, the sentence coming out almost as a whisper. "And…I don't make it for the money either." Strange…then what other reason could a person have for making clothes?

"Well, whatever the reasoning, it doesn't matter to me," Cid said as he reached into his chest pocket for his cigs. "I'm going outside for a smoke." He eyed the taller man from the corner of his eyes as he spoke the next words cautiously. "You're welcome to join if you want."

"I don't smoke," Vincent said not even bothering to look at him.

"Dun gotta be so fuckin uptight about it," Cid mumbled before he walked off heading out the room. He didn't bother looking back, causing him to miss the look that was passed his way.
Well if the bastard wanted to be a bastard then so be it. It wasn't like Cid was going to get to know the guy anyway. Once he was done building this place up, he'd just move on to the next site and start all over again. "Tsk, guy just doesn't know good talent when he sees it," Cid said lighting up the cig as he kept walking. He stopped out in what was supposed to be the lobby area as he glanced around, blowing out a puff of smoke and wondering how far along the others were.

What kinda guy would make a job he didn't like?

Hell, what kind of guy didn't work for the money? If you weren't working for money or for fun, then what was the point? What was the goal?

"Hey." Zack popped out of one of the rooms and ran up to him before he stopped, not effected by the smoke from Cid's cig, used to it now. "Sephiroth said we're having a meeting downstairs in the main lobby."

Cid frowned looking over at him. "For what? We're almost done here."

"Yeah I know," Zack said also frowning. "I'm not sure what the reason is though. We should just go see what it's all about." Cid stared at him for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders and started walking off.

"Fine, whatever," he said grumbling under his breath about long haired freaks who didn't know what they were doing. "Let's go see the big boss."

Zack nodded following right behind him. "The others should already be downstairs waiting for us. I'm sure this won't take too long."

"What the hell?! Why?!" Barret yelled standing up sharply and glaring at Sephiroth. "Yo, that don't make no sense! Why the hell we gonna stop now?!"

"If the man that hired us wants us to wait a week before finishing our work," Sephiroth said glaring back at him, "then we're not going to go against him. He's going to continue to pay for the week off. There must be good reasoning for it."

"Yeah, the guy's a fucking lunatic," Cid said, having long sense gotten rid of his cig, since the big boss wasn't too fond of his cigarette smoke, or of him for that matter. He was thinking about Vincent, how content he looked when he was looking at the room that was to be his office. "Probably wants to jack off in every room before it's finished."

"Watch your mouth," Sephiroth said before looking at them all again. "If you have complaints then take it somewhere else."

"Tsk." Cid glared at him but he didn't say anything else as he folded his arms. He knew when to call it quits. "Whatever," he said letting the battle for words and common sense end there.

"So what are we supposed to do for a whole week off?" Cloud asked gaining the attention of the group before everyone looked at Sephiroth.

"Do whatever you want," Sephiroth said, "just don't do it here."

"You hear that?" Cid asked smirking as he looked at the others. "That means don't go bringing any girls here tonight hoping to get lucky."

"Darn," Zack said grinning like a fool as he snapped his fingers. "And I had two hot babes I hoping to bring to a creepy little place like this too."

"Alright, knock it off." Sephiroth shook his head as he turned away from them. "Relax while you can, cause I'm planning on working your butts off once this week is passed. Enjoy your free weekend." He left them there, standing in the lobby as he left out the front door. Staring after him and waiting until he was gone, the others looked at each other daring the other to say something.

"So, I guess that's it for now," Zack spoke up resting his hands behind his back as he continued to stare at the others. "Guess I'll go waste my money on booze and women." He smirked looking at Cloud. "You wanna come along? I mean all of you are welcome to join me if you want."

"Nah, I promised Marlene I'd take her to the circus when I got the chance." Barret smiled. "You know her, she loves her daddy."

"'Keep that up and you'll spoil the hell out of her," Cid said sticking his cig back in his mouth and lighting it. "I ain't got time to hang out with a bunch of dudes hoping to find a girl."

"Not that you'd get a girl," Zack said laughing out loud, "but you'll be missed." He smiled then and looked at Cloud. "Come on, let's go before we catch the old disease. I want to avoid being lost in my own house for as long as I can." He started walking out, Cloud glancing at the other two before he followed.

"Haha, very funny, you little…. "Cid grumbled puffing on his cig looking like an angry dragon before he looked at Barret." Best get going before the boss comes back trying to figure out why we're still here." Actually, the break wouldn't be so bad. This building and its creepy design was starting to get to him. He'd be glad to get away from this place.

He watched Barret walk off then started to follow before he frowned glancing back finding the creepy owner of the joint staring at him. And just like that, the long haired freak turned and walked off disappearing from the doorway. Cid had right mind to follow but shook his head against that decision. The last thing he needed was to get murdered in the very building he didn't even get to finish building.

Cid gave a glance back before he turned and went out the room, feeling like eyes were following him even though he didn't see anything. Damn, he couldn't wait to get this building finished with so he could move on.

TBC….

There goes that new story. I've been thinking about this one for a while so, I hope it works. So far, I like where it's going.