Cid knocked on the door, careful of the tray in his other hand. Charli had all but ordered him to take dinner to Vincent. She couldn't actually tell him what to do, but she'd just talked him around in circles until he agreed without meaning to. "Girl's too smart for her own good." He grumbled. "Vin? You awake?" No response. Cid sighed. He really didn't want to invade Vincent's room without the gunman's permission, but Charli's directions had been specific.
"Could you make sure he eats?" she'd asked. He'd responded in the negative. Only an idiot tried to wake Vincent, and only someone with a death wish tried to make him do something if he didn't want to. He was neither, and was being asked to do both. Charli pointed out that she'd survived it, so he should too. "He needs to eat something. Tell him I said so, if it'll help."
"It won't help." Cid grumbled. The tray wobbled, and he steadied it, reducing himself to opening the door with his hip. It swung open on a dark room. Cid could just make out a lump under the blankets on the bed that must be Vincent. "Hey, Vin?"
"Mmmnn? Whazzit?" Uh-oh. He'd been asleep.
"I brought dinner for you."
"Not hungry. Go away." Cid paused for a moment, taken aback. Vincent generally used language much more intelligent than that. Surprising what a little cold could do to a person.
"Charli said you had to eat, and I had to make sure you did."
"You can tell her I said no."
"And I can tell you that I'm not giving you a choice." Vincent and Cid both jumped. This resulted in Vincent going over the far side of the bed, and Cid dropping the tray. Charli caught it. "You didn't eat anything when you came back, and you're not going 'til tomorrow morning without eating something."
"I'm not hungry." Vincent growled, pulling himself back onto the bed and burrowing under the blankets again. "And I can."
"Mmhm. Maybe I should talk to the demon in your head? I'll bet he'll be more reasonable." Vincent glared at Cid over his blankets.
"I'm going to kill you, Highwind." He hissed, then pulled the covers over his head as Charli approached.
She's a smart one, isn't she? Chaos murmured. She's got the sense to try and reason with me. I like her. Vincent didn't respond. Charli sighed.
"Suit yourself." She handed the tray back to Cid and climbed onto the bed. A little shoving ended with Vincent lying flat on his back, with Charli sitting on him. Cid stared. "Still gonna argue?"
"Yes." Vincent growled.
No Chaos said.
"Suit yourself. Cid, would you hand me the soup please?"
"Don't do it, Highwind."
Do it!
"Please?" Cid weighed his options, and decided that, since Vincent didn't seem capable of chasing him down and attacking him at this point and Charli did, he'd better help her. He held out the bowl, taking care to stay out of Vincent's reach. "Thank you."
"Sure." Charli got a spoonful of soup, handed the bowl back to Cid, and turned back to her victim.
"Last chance to surrender."
"Never."
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
"I wo- mmph!" Charli took advantage of Vincent's mouth being open and shoved the spoon in before he had a chance to react. Then she smacked a hand on his mouth and kept it there until he swallowed.
Smart woman. And dumb host. If you'd kept your mouth shut, that wouldn't have happened.
"I'll continue this until you just eat." Charli warned. "Give?" Vincent nodded.
"Do I have to eat all of it?" he asked, in a tone that could almost be classed as hopeful.
Wimp! Wimp!
"At least half. Deal?"
"Deal." Vincent sighed.
Loser!
"And Cid, can you make sure he does?"
"Highwind." Vincent growled warningly.
"Uh…yeah, sure. I will."
"Thanks." Charli said, and left as silently as she'd come.
"She's as quiet as you are, Vin." Cid breathed, watching the door to make sure she didn't come back. "Kinda scary." He turned back to the gunman on the bed, and found him eyeing the soup with an expression of distaste. "What?"
"Are you going to make me eat it?"
Of course he is, moron. That's why he's still here.
"Vin, I can't make ya do anything, but she did have a point. Ya really should eat somethin'."
Oh. Well, I was close. Sort of.
"And you're going to stay here and watch until I do?"
I bet he won't.
"Since the other option is to go and explain to her why I didn't, yeah, I guess I am." Vincent stirred the soup thoughtfully for a moment.
"You aren't afraid of her, are you?"
"No. But I think she can throw me from the common room to the kitchen, so I think arguing with her is a waste of time if there isn't an impenetrable barrier between us. Like a 3-foot thick metal wall."
Oooh…scary.
"She's definitely interesting." Vincent murmured. He absently ate a spoonful of the soup. "She handles Reno well."
"Yeah, I thought it was some kinda trick at first, it was so weird. Almost like she's his big sister or somethin'."
"Reno having siblings is not a thought I'd like to cultivate before bed, Highwind." Vincent said flatly, pointing at Cid with the spoon. "I have enough nightmares as it is."
"I don't see what the prob- oh. Yeah, that would be a pretty scary thought." Cid shivered, and Chaos gave Vincent a mental smack.
Quit flirting.
Cid went quiet, and Vincent turned back to his soup, trying to hide his blush. He really needed to teach Chaos the concept of bad timing. The soup wasn't bad, but definitely had something in it that didn't quite belong, meaning Yuffie had been on KP duty today. Whatever it was, it seemed kind of…spicy. A rather nice change, but irritating for his throat.
Either give it up, or go back to flirting, moron. Chaos growled. Vincent ignored him, and continued focusing on his soup. His gaze roamed around the room, since he'd long ago learned to never look at any soup or stew Yuffie had made. The people of Wutai seemed to think that if it was still looking at you, it tasted that much better. Vincent and Chaos found it disturbing.
Eventually, he ended up looking at Cid. The blonde pilot was tracing a pattern of pen lines on his forearm; it looked like someone had gotten bored and used it for an impromptu easel at some point today. Cid looked up and caught Vincent's gaze, then followed it to the markings on his arm.
"Got bored listenin' to Shera on the phone earlier, an' started to doodle. Guess I got a little carried away." He twisted around so Vincent could see the marks properly. Most of them were just that, lines of blue ink ranging from a single stroke to nearly an inch across, but there were some images buried among them…lightning…something that reminded him of ocean waves…clouds…and a vaguely lionish shape half-formed from a flurry of lines that made him think of the wind.
"It's interesting." He murmured. Much to his surprise, Cid blushed. This made him, in Vincent's eyes, even more attractive. It also made his stomach do that funny twist sort of thing it had a habit of doing when Cid was around. Vincent decided eating any more would be a bad idea, and set the bowl on the table beside the bed.
"Not gonna finish?" Cid asked, eyeing the bowl. Vincent shook his head.
"I don't think I can keep it down." He admitted, trying hard not to meet Cid's gaze. That would make his stomach do funny things again, something he didn't want to handle right now.
"Stomachache?"
"Something like that." Vincent mumbled. He burrowed back underneath his blankets, but not before Cid leaned over him and checked his temperature. His hand felt nice, a little rough, but strong and warm. It was hard to stomp on the idea Chaos had to butt the hand like a cat hoping for more attention.
"Y' still have a fever." Cid commented. He pulled away from Vincent, and fussed a bit with the blankets, using it as an excuse to stay in the room for a moment or two longer. "Well…if ya need anything, just holler, 'kay?"
"Sure." Vincent yawned. "Thanks." He saw Cid smile as he left, and rolled over with a little sigh. He might be feeling miserable, but it wasn't so bad when Cid was caring for him, at least in part.
Cid closed the door carefully, and headed back to the kitchen with the remainder of the soup. Charli was waiting for him when he got there, sitting on the counter and lecturing Reno. From the sound of it, he'd played some trick on Yuffie.
"And if I ever- Oh, hey Cid – ever catch you being that stupid again, I will personally see to it that you are hung from some very high place by your ponytail and left there for a very long time. Understand?" Reno nodded. He actually looked like he was going to obey orders. "Good. Now shoo." Reno shooed.
"What was he up to?" Cid asked, setting the bowl by the sink and hopping up to sit beside Charli.
"Ambush. The genius decided to crawl into the vents and scare Yuffie. I caught him before he went all the way in and dragged him out…you didn't hear him yelling?"
"Uh…no. Should I have?"
"Everyone else did." Charli said. She eyed Cid. "You weren't…messing around…with Vincent, were you?" Cid turned a spectacular shade of red, and Charli cracked up.
"I did not! Even if- git yer mind outta the gutter!- and he isn't- you sick little- we wouldn't- I'd never- Aaarrgh!" Cid couldn't put a proper sentence together, so he settled for a frantic babble in which he attempted to state all the points he deemed important. It made little to no sense, but Charli got the gist of it, and laughed even harder. Cid resisted the urge to pout and stomp his feet, and rummaged around in the freezer instead.
"I was just kidding, Captain. Reno was at the other end of the ship, and the only reason everyone else heard him is because I dragged him into the common room, where they all were. With the exception of you and Vincent, of course. No need to get so worked up about it." Cid glared at her over the carton of ice cream he'd located. "Okay. Sorry. I was just messing with your head. You're easier than Reno, y'know?"
"Am not." Cid sniffed. Charli leaned over his shoulder to peer at the ice cream. "It's Turtle Sundae, and it's mine."
"Jeez, territorial much?" Charli sniffed. Cid grunted. "Uh-huh. Did he eat?" If the sudden subject change surprised Cid, he gave no sign of it.
"Some. Not quite half though. And before you start on how he said he'd eat half, he said he didn't think his stomach could handle it. His fever's risen a bit too."
"If I had to guess, I'd say he's got a mild case of the flu. It's been going around. Reno had it, about two weeks ago. He lost his voice though…it was really quiet around work. I'll check on Vincent again before I go to bed."
"I can do that." Cid offered. "I go past his room to get to mine."
"Sounds good. Got anything else for me to do?"
"Nah. No work after dinner unless it's an emergency." Cid said.
"Great. I'll be playing cards in Yuffie's room if I'm needed."
"No strip-poker, you hear?"
"Do I want to know why you're telling me that?"
"No."
"I thought not. Well, I'll keep that it mind. G'night Cap'n."
"Night." Cid mumbled, waving vaguely. He was more interested in the bowl of ice cream he'd dished up. Charli laughed, slid off the counter, and left.
When every last bit of Turtle Sundae had been scraped out of the bowl, Cid left it and the spoon in the sink and checked the clock. Quarter after ten. Bedtime. But first, he had to check on Vincent.
Thankfully, Vincent hadn't locked his door. This either meant that he just didn't want to get up to lock it, or he didn't mind/actually wanted company.
"Vin?" No response. Good. He needed the sleep. Carefully, Cid crept to the side of the bed. Vincent had kicked his blankets mostly off, revealing that, at some point this evening, the gunman had changed into black pajama pants and shirt, which was unbuttoned enough to display the smooth, pale skin over his collarbone. Doing his best to ignore it, Cid pulled the blankets back up and checked Vincent's temperature; it was the same as it had been when he'd left. Vincent shifted at the touch, and rolled onto his side, bringing him to the edge of the bed and Cid's hip.
Mentally, Cid swore. Now he couldn't move, because Vincent's precarious balance depended on him staying put. Moving him at this angle would be awkward if he didn't want to wake him…
Blissfully unaware of the situation he'd gotten the pilot into, Vincent leaned into Cid a little more, unconsciously seeking the warmth Cid's body provided. The blonde braced his feet, praying Vincent didn't try to roll again. If he did, it was likely they'd both end up on the floor. Vincent sighed and turned his head, causing his bangs to fall over his eyes. Without thinking, Cid reached out and brushed them back out of the way.
/Meanwhile, in Vincent's head/
Valentine? I suggest you wake up.
Chaos, go away.
Can't. I'm stuck in here.
No, I mean just for now. I want to sleep.
I know you do, but it's important! Wake up!
Okay, okay.
/Vincent's room/ Vincent mumbled the last two words out loud, and rolled over. Normally, he slept on his stomach, so getting up required rolling over. The extra weight on Cid made the blonde lose his balance. Gunman and pilot ended up on the floor in a tangle of limbs and blankets.
"Highwind?" Vincent mumbled groggily, trying to make some sense of the situation.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Cid explained, trying to figure out which legs were his so he could free them.
"'s okay." Vincent said, kicking at the blankets hopefully. It didn't help. He sighed and managed to sit up, then pulled Cid into the same position. Together, they found one edge of the blankets and started to unwind themselves. "Just out of curiosity, Highwind…what are you doing in my room?"
"Charli said someone should check on ya before bed…I volunteered." Vincent gave up trying to free himself and leaned against the bed. He was quiet for a moment, then smiled slightly, a fact Cid failed to notice.
"Since when does Captain Highwind take orders from a Turk?"
"She ain't a Turk."
"Close enough. She baby-sits one."
"I don't take orders from her, I volunteered," Cid sniffed. Vincent shook his head.
"Right. She's got you backed into a corner and you know it. In fact, I do believe she also has a gun to your head. What I'd like to know, however, is what the bullet is that she's loaded her gun with."
"What?"
"She obviously has some sort of edge. Holding something over your head, so to speak. Care to explain?"
"No." Cid growled. He finished untangling his left foot and tried to stand. He managed, and stood there, wobbling only slightly, as he worked on the other foot. Vincent let him do it, assuming the ability to wing-walk in the middle of a storm had something to do with Cid's admirable balance. Or it seemed admirable, until Vincent thought about it. Cid lost his balance and fell onto Vincent.
I think he's falling for you. Chaos snickered. Vincent made no response, because he'd been completely winded by Cid's less than graceful landing. And the blonde pilot's elbow had been jammed into his stomach, which was retaliating by doing unpleasant things. He needed to get Cid off him. Now.
"H-Highwind." He managed.
"What?" Cid growled impatiently, struggling with the blanket a bit more. When Vincent didn't reply, he twisted around to look at the gunman. Vincent had his right hand clamped over his mouth, and he looked decidedly frantic. Realization dawned in Cid's eyes, and he scrambled to get off Vincent. The ex-Turk succeeded in staggering to his feet, and bolted out of view.
Cid sat still for a minute, still processing what had been a very sudden chain of events.