Drinking Coffee
Rye and butter. Check. Eggs. Check. Sanity? …We are gonna need some Coffee.
The random aspects of life that make everyday worth living: As brought to you by Vincent Valentine.
Quickly approaching was the marriage of Tifa Lockhart and Cloud Strife. Yuffie Kisaragi, along with a flamboyant man by the name of Cristobel Hastings, started to plan a wedding to suit the happy couple.
One man was not happy.
His name was Vincent Valentine. And this man lived with a young girl by the name of Shelke Rui.
Shelke Rui made his life hell. Reeve Tuesti made it even worse.
That's why Vincent was on a boat.
A boat to nowhere.
A boat to nowhere that led to Icicle Inn.
The coldest place on the planet…if you did not count Hojo's heart, that is.
Or Shelke's eyes, as Yuffie once stated.
He looked into the icy waters of Icicle Lake. The name, he thought, was not very creative. Like Yuffie's cat, Dog.
Well, Denzel was to blame for Dog's name. Not Yuffie, but she did have a fish named Vincent; because it was easy to remember she claimed. Vincent exhaled and saw his breath in the air. He pulled his red cloak tighter around his nose and mouth. Hopefully land would be in sight soon.
Why was he on the Hell-boat to Icicle Inn? He was getting papers on DeepGround for Reeve. The man was too busy at the moment, with something. He always had his fingers (or paws) in something new.
Vincent did not like this. He wanted to be in Edge, warm Edge, and sunny Edge. Watching the football game (The Edge Patriots verses the Nibelheim Cavaliers; he had his money on Nibelheim) with Cloud (Who was staying at his flat to stay out of the wedding-crazy Tifa Strife to be, along with Shelke it made the flat crowded).
On the other hand, he would rather be reading his newest novel, "A Doll House" by Ibsen and having a hot cup of tea. He knew that would be ruined by the fact that he would be stuck watching the Children with the Ninja…
He did not hate Yuffie.
More like Yuffie disliked him.
Ever since she was pulled away from Nero, she had been acting strange….
…And that is when Vincent's crimson hues hit land…
He almost felt like laughing as he saw it…but alas, the man turned his back to the land and walked back to his room. The gods had always loved him.
Why was this?
Because it was snowing…and Vincent hated snow.
Golden boots sunk into the snow and he pulled the hood over his head (Shera had modified one of his capes to have a hood, for pointless missions like this, while she was expecting her son Chaz). He felt pinpricks in his shoes and wobbly walked to the Inn.
Hopefully he would be out of there soon.
He looked around the Inn. Dingy and cold. He flipped his hood down and most of the teenage girls recognized him.
"Is that Vincent Valentine?"
"Yeah!"
"On three we jump him."
"Alrighty!"
Thank god, he had a limit break that enabled him to disappear. Hopefully soon would come.
Soon turned into three and a half days in hell.
And he didn't even get the papers needed; a little boy threw up on them and Vincent threw them over board.
When he landed in Edge, he had three choice words for Reeve.
"No. More. Missions."
And with that, Vincent flew into the sky.
He unlocked the door when he got home to see a threat on his couch and a red head doing dishes. "Nibelheim is up by fourteen, but Edge has the ball at the seven yard line."
He sat his pack on the table, "How is Tifa?"
Cloud took a sip from the beer that was leaving rings of condensation on his glass table. "Terrible," Shelke stated from the sink. "She kicked Yuffie out yesterday."
Vincent stopped. Yuffie?
"She's asleep now…" She stated drying the dish. Vincent blew past her knocking the dish out of her hands and having it shatter. She sighed.
Vincent only had three bedrooms. She was not in Shelke or Cloud's room so she had to be snoozing on his bed. He opened the door and Yuffie was sitting on his bed reading a book and listing to music softly. The sound of the music emitted from his black laptop.
"The password?"
"Infelix. It means unlucky in Latin," she said from behind the book. She looked up and his square reading glasses where on her nose along with a pipe by her side.
"Where did you get that?" he asked. He knew it was a present for him.
She looked at it, "Cristobel found it." She threw it at him, "Merry Christmas."
He caught it, "Christmas was five months ago."
"Happy Solstice," she said. It was a nice try, "Now where am I going to sleep?"
"Do I just attract you?"
She raised an eyebrow, "In what way?"
He mentally slapped himself, "Do I attract people who are thrown out by Tifa?"
She smiled, "No…Shelke's here and she's the Ice Queen."
Vincent grimaced; he was never going to Icicle Inn ever again. Not while Yuffie was still alive anyways.
A plate shattered in the distance and a yell of "TOUCHDOWN!" was heard. Yuffie looked up and then looked at Vincent. He undid the top of his cloak and Yuffie outstretched a hand. His eyebrow rose.
"I'll get your stuff unpacked." She said from the bed, "Since your keeping me."
Vincent's eyes widened and he placed the cloak on the bed and then swept out of the room.
"HEY I DON'T HAVE COOTIES!"
Yuffie walked into the room later with her hair tied back. Vincent and Cloud were pointing at the screen talking about football. Shelke had a textbook open and was working on trig formulas. Shelke looked up, "Hello Yuffie."
"Hey!" she declared. She watched Vincent and Cloud take sips from their drinks. Vincent, red wine and Cloud, beer. "Boys, dinner?"
"Can you cook?" Cloud asked.
She took her tatami flat off her foot and chucked it at Cloud. He ducked and it hit Vincent in the head. He blinked and called out.
"First down Cavaliers."
"That didn't count! He stepped out at the thirty-first yard line!" The referee then announced first down. Vincent outstretched a palm. Cloud grumbled and handed him a Gil note.
Yuffie sighed, "I'm making sandwiches. And you'll eat them or die," she said turning into the kitchen. She emerged with takeout in her hands. "Okay you guys are on your own, I have Jin-hwa take out." She sat down on a chair and sat there eating.
Vincent sometime later found something to eat in his home. His own home. When he came across what he was going to eat, he found himself wondering where Yuffie would sleep. She was sitting on the counter doing dishes with Shelke.
"Yuffie?"
"Talk to me!"
"…what?"
She sighed, "I could have said…talk dirty to me…but I'm a princess!"
A snort from Cloud and another tatami flat was thrown in his face. "What was that for?"
"Snorting, delivery boy!" She said swinging her tiny bare feet. Vincent threw her a strange look. "Fine, Cloud and I will go back to Tifa's tomorrow. Will you enjoy having two dead friends?"
Cloud raised his hand, "I was going back anyway," He put the hand behind his head, "Tifa and I have to learn how to Dance…and you two…" he said pointing to Yuffie and then to Vincent, "have to learn how to keep from killing each other…"
"Why is that?" She said with a cocked eyebrow.
Cloud coughed, "Well…youhavetodancetogether."
"WHAT THE HELL!"
Vincent smiled smally, grabbed one of Yuffie's hands, and pulled her off the counter in one swift motion. "So, can you dance princess?" She blushed and looked at Shelke and Cloud who were laughing at her lightly. Cloud crossed his arms and looked amazed as Vincent and Yuffie began to slowly dance in the middle of their kitchen to the soft jazz that Yuffie had never turned off from Vincent's computer.
It was strange. Vincent had not been this open with anybody in years, and today it was so simple. He thought it was the wine and his heavy winnings in his pocket.
He could not be openly flirting with the Ninja.
The Ninja that chased after him three years ago.
The crush that she had died with Midgar, he thought.
So why was he? Why were they dancing, literally, around each other today?
Was it to embarrass her?
No…
He didn't want to do that. She was a good friend and he cared for her deeply. Too deeply.
Too deeply for a man his age.