Vincent was leaning back against the bare corpse of an old tree, his eyes kept closing slowly. He felt so content just sitting out under the warm evening sun, it made him want to sleep. His ear twitched toward the sound of something sitting down beside him. His eyes opened lazily as he saw Red XIII stretch out next to him. "You remind me of when my cousin Nana got into the catnip the first time."

Vincent just shook his head lazily, "Warn me if we get anywhere near catnip… The warm sun is enough to make me feel drugged."

Nanaki couldn't help but chuckle as he set his head on his paws, "Yeah, I know. You get use to it." He looked over toward the quiet gunner, he was sound asleep. Every exhale resulted in a purring sound. Nanaki shook his head and rested contently beside the sleeping gunner.

"Vince, come on, time to get moving."

Vincent blinked at the nudges to look up at Cid's smirking face. "What?"

"You were just snoring is all," Vincent looked confused, he didn't snore… At least not without being about six sheets to the wind and past out on a couch somewhere, which hasn't happened since his college graduation, thank Gaia.

"Oh," was all he said as he got to his feet, his tail swaying softly as he followed after the still smiling pilot.

***

"Are the bastards still being quiet?" Cid asked as they continued to trail after the rest of the party.

"They haven't said a thing since this happened… I'm starting to wonder if they're gone or if they're just trying to fuck with me enough to finally drive me insane," Cid's eyes shot over to the gunner, he was cursing again and he could see the dark ears shifting forward as the man's thoughts turned inward. "It's so quiet; it's starting to scare me." Cid's eyes softened. The poor man was so use to having others to talk to, even if only in thought, that he was speaking openly when there was no one answering in his mind.

"The next town is just up ahead, we should make it before dark. I say we find the nearest bar and just get shitfaced and have a good laugh about this," Cid offered in his usual fashion.

"I don't think that would be a good idea. I'm still getting use to balancing with… my tail; I don't need to be getting drunk." Besides the last thing he wanted was to be stuck in a room full of people looking like this. He already had problems with women, and men, hitting on him when he looked like his usual self… he didn't want any incidences with drunken cat boy fans.

"Hmm, fine, I'll grab a bottle of whiskey and we'll hold ourselves up in the room and let the kids go make idiots of themselves," Cid said. Vincent blinked, unable to figure out how the pilot seemed to know what he was thinking all day. "Better yet, Scotch, we haven't had good aged Scotch in awhile!" Vincent's tongue was seen touching against his bottom lip at the thought of tasting a glass of it. He had completely forgotten he wasn't hidden by his cloak and Cid wasn't about to remind him if the smile on the gruff pilot's face was any indication. "Then it's settled! I'll go find us a good bottle after we find an Inn."

***

Vincent looked up, so in thought he hadn't realized they had reached the end of a smaller town. "Why don't you put your cloak on until we get to the Inn?" Cloud said more than asked, Vincent was already throwing the garment over his shoulders. "Here, pull it up like a hood," Vincent's ears twitched nearly uncontrollably at the sound the rustling the fabric made against the fur when Cloud pulled the flap wrapped around his shoulders over them.

"Vince, pull your tail up to your back, the cloak will hide the rest," Cid offered, his hand brushing the fur covered appendage when he moved Vincent's cloak for him. Vincent shivered at the odd feeling. "Sorry."

"It's alright," Vincent said as he shifted his tail so that the end was tipped down rather that its usual up. His cloak did hide it; it just felt really weird when the material slid over the fur.

"There, you look like your normal self Vinny!" Yuffie's sing-song voice made his eyes close. He shook his head under the red 'hood' as they continued into the town to find an Inn.

When they found an Inn the party broke up, Vincent and Tifa would take care of getting the rooms and Cloud, Barrette and Yuffie would get the supplies they needed for the next stent of travel while Cid offered to take care of getting Vincent's ammunition while the gunner was 'indisposed' along with the promised bottle of Scotch in hopes of cheering the man up.

"We need rooms," Vincent said, still hidden by his 'hood'. The Inn keeper seemed a little leery of him.

"How many?" The older woman asked timidly.

"We have quite a few of us," Tifa gave her usual, tell me all your worries, bartender's smile to sooth the woman's worry.

"We have three rooms, will that be enough?" The woman said after checking her log.

"Are they singles or doubles?" Vincent asked; the woman flinched.

"There're two double beds and one single…"

"I can share a bed with Yuffie," Tifa said as she checked to make sure the party members would all be cared for. "Red would have to sleep on the floor or share a bed…"

"It's been warm, he'll sleep on the floor to keep cool," Vincent responded as he scrawled on the log for the rooms.

"Here you are, the doubles are at the top of the stairs and the single is at the end of the hall," the woman said to Tifa as she handed over the keys.

"Thank you," Tifa said all smiles.

Vincent opened the door of the room and instantly ripped his precious cloak off of him and threw it into the corner somewhere, his tail flicking furiously once it was free. "I'm not doing that again!"

"Vincent?" Tifa couldn't help but give a soft giggle at the look of the fierce gunner's tail flicking back and forward in twitching jolts. "Would you like something to eat? I was going to go get some dinner."

"No, thank you, I'm fine," Tifa's brow rose when he didn't look back at her, his tipped back ears said otherwise.

"Alright… Vincent," this time the man did look at her, "We're here if you need us," then she left the annoyed gunner be.

Vincent sat down on one of the beds, he growled at the mussed fur of his tail as he swiped at it to straighten it out. Cid got back before the rest of the group, grumbling to himself about how could Vincent carry so much weight and still be agile and quick footed. He got a smile from Tifa when she saw him and pointed him toward his room. He froze when he saw Vincent licking at his tail, red cat eyes flicked up at him before the tail swung away and he swore he saw red creep into the gunner's face as he looked away. "Uh…" Now he was sure he saw the gunner blushing.

"Ya know, yer gonna get hairballs if you do that," Cid said with a sarcastic smile.

Vincent could tell he was beet red just from the heat he felt. It wasn't like him to get caught off guard, and he still couldn't believe he had actually started licking at his tail when he couldn't get the fur to settle properly. Cid for the most part was enjoying the image of Vincent's cheeks matching the color of the stripes running along his neck and face. "Didn't even think you could blush…"

"Neither did I," Vincent grumbled to himself, hoping the chuckling pilot hadn't heard it.

"So, how 'bout that drink?" There was a deep laugh from Cid as he grabbed the bottle from the dark bag. "Damn thing cost a shit load of Gil so it better fucking be worth it!" Vincent's eyes risked a look, his brow quirked when he saw it said twenty years. It couldn't be bad at that age, unless they royal screwed the cooking process to begin with.

"Alright," Vincent said as he was handed a full glass. "But only a few… I really don't need to be hindered any more than I already am."

"Ah come on, I got this nice big bottle ta share and ya want me ta drink it all myself?" Cid tried to pout; the expression doesn't look right on such a gruff work-worn face.

"Chief," Vincent shook his head, one of those rare soft true smiles were on his lips as he took his first drink of the night.

Six shots in and Vincent felt himself getting close to being buzzed. Cid was tipsy from the way he was slashing his drink a little when he grabbed at the filled glass. "You need to slow down Chief, you're going to be hung-over tomorrow if you keep going at that pace," well his mind was still working, he could have a few more.

"An' ya should speed up, ya ain't nowhere near trashed yet," Cid had a slight slur to his thickening accent. Vincent's brow tipped up, he could always tell when to call it quits just by the thickness of the accent and by how quick he starts slurring, the alcohol would slam the poor pilot right in his skull in about three shots. Vincent jumped when Cid refilled his glass and splashed his arm with some of the liquid. "Sorry."

"It's ok," make that one and a half, two at the most. Vincent brought his wet arm up to lap at it, his tongue making a slight scratching sound as it ran over his still gloved right arm.

"What does that feel like?" Vincent blinked at the question; he looked up at a suddenly sober Cid.

"What does what feel like?" he asked as he cleared the taste of the glove with another small drink.

"Your tongue," Vincent caught the pilot when he leaned forward too far to keep balanced. "Sorry, got dizzy," was muffled by Vincent's chest before the man pushed up to give the gunner his space.

"It's alright; it's not the first time you've landed on me." Vincent started to say something when Cid suddenly pressed his lips to his, a tongue slid into his mouth when he gasped.

Cid felt that velvet soft, yet somehow abrasive tongue hidden behind Vincent's pale lips and instantly became addicted. "Damn that was better than I thought," Cid whispered when he pulled away.

Vincent was still shocked by what had just happened. Cid had kissed him, not only that but with tongue! And he had intended to, he could tell that just by that look of triumph burning in the pilot's eyes, dear Gaia he hoped that was just triumph. "Why did you just…?"

"I had to know what it felt like, sorry. Maybe I have had too much, no way would I've done that sober."

Vincent was still trying to shake the fact that Cid had kissed him! Even drunk to the point Vincent had to drag him back to the Inn had he never done that. He had even hit on him, mistakenly thinking him a woman in his inebriation, and he still backed off the moment he recognized the voice as male or seen him clearly. Never once had he even hinted at liking him that way.

"Oi, Vince, ya still in there?" Cid waved a hand in front of Vincent's distant red eyes, the gunner looked at him with the same distant look.

"You just kissed me, Highwind," oh shit, he was fucked. He went and pissed him off. Blue's eyes widened a little nearly all trace of alcohol was washed away in a flood of adrenaline.

"Yeah…" Cid confirmed, unsure if he'd live to see tomorrow.

"Just to find out what my tongue feels like," Vincent said in a voice that left Cid unsure if it was a question or fact.

"Yeah, I guess so," he cringed.

"I need another drink. Why didn't you wait for my answer instead of kissing me?" Vincent said as he took a large swig out of the bottle. Cid only shrugged, his eyes never once looked up at the gunner. Vincent's head spun after his second long drink, he'd had more than he thought.

"I'm sorry, I just… I'm going to bed," Cid left the gunner drinking the last of the bottle to lay down on one of the beds.

Vincent was feeling dizzy once he had finished off the bottle. He gave a sigh at the pleasant buzzing that made the whole incident fade into the background. A smile could be seen as he got up and stumbled toward the bed, his tail slid along the floor behind him he was so mellowed out by the alcohol coursing through him. "Liddle too mush at ones," he mumbled as he crawled beneath the covers. He'd have a headache tomorrow, honestly didn't care nor could he think of what had caused him to down the other half of the bottle in so few swigs.