Tifa beamed when Vincent walked through 7th heaven's doorway followed closely by Yuffie, who had an icecream cone in each hand and was trying to finish off the first one before it melted.
Marlene perked up at the sight of icecream.
"Ooooohhhh," she started, sliding close to Yuffie. "Can I have the other one?" the girl asked, pointing to the untouched cone.
For a moment, Yuffie's face wilted. But she handed the cone to Marlene, whose grin was so big that Yuffie couldn't help but smile back.
"Sit down and I'll get you guys something warm to drink," Tifa said as she went to wait on a table.
They sat down next to each other on barstools, and Yuffie felt a pang of jealousy as Marlene edged her way next to Vincent, tugging on his cape. The man held out on arm so Marlene could duck under it and lap at her icecream cone inside of her favorite little shelter.
Why didn't she get to use Vincent's cape? Soooo not fair.
When Tifa came back behind the counter, she pulled out three mugs and began to fix something for them.
"Is that Reeve's jacket you're wearing?" Tifa questioned.
"Yeah…..uhh… industrial accident?" Yuffie offered, not willing to give up the details of what she was covering up. She didn't want Vincent to see her – everyone else had thought it was horrible!
"And why are you wearing stilettos?"
"……whattos?" At Tifa's pointed gaze, Yuffie realized she meant her shoes. "Oh. Uh…. I was going undercover. Yeah."
Tifa set down the three mugs, which were now full to the rim with hot chocolate. At the sight of the warm concoction, Marlene immediately clambered her way up onto Vincent's lap, reaching for her own mug.
Yuffie couldn't help but scowl at the younger girl. Vincent would probably be uncomfortable if she tried to get that close to him. It was no fair! Marlene only got to because she was so little. Yuffie was little too! Just not in the same way! Argh!
It was right about then that the door to 7th heaven opened again, and something far too small to be a person burst in.
The scratching sounds alerted Tifa, and she, Vincent, and Yuffie turned to look at the newcomer.
Cait Sith was dragging in a bag far bigger than his small cat-like body, and Yuffie instantly brightened.
"MY CLOTHES!" Bouncing over, she picked up the bag, hauling Cait up with her. "I don't have to wear Marlene's clothes!!!!" Yuffie wailed happily. "My underwear's in there too, right?"
Cait scrambled down from the bag. "Everything's in there except for your old clothes!"
"Yay! Underwear! Did you get the pair on the shower door too?"
Cait Sith seemed to sputter. "YOU LEFT A PAIR ON MY SHOWER DOOR?"
Vincent once again narrowed his eyes as he watched the puppet Reeve was in control of exchange a conversation about underwear with Yuffie.
"I'll take that as a no. But I have the rest of my undies, so it's okay! And my boots! Ah, my beloved boots, how I've missed you!"
Thoughtfulness lit up Yuffie's face. Now that she had her clothes, she could change out of the hideous dress. It didn't matter if they saw her in it for a minute; she'd been out of it soon enough.
The buttons were undone before Cait could utter any warnings.
Reeve's jacket was tossed onto Cait Sith's head, momentarily blocking him from the reactions of the people around him. Leave it to Yuffie to strip in the middle of a bar.
A glass shattered as it hit the floor.
Tifa stared.
Vincent stared.
Tifa covered Marlene's eyes.
"Thanks for the jacket, Reevie! I'm gonna go change into something Elena got me."
She had turned around to go upstairs when she caught Vincent's hard, unrelenting stare.
Wordlessly, he kept his gaze fixed on Yuffie, who was starting to fidget and look like a deer caught in the headlights.
"Jeeze! If you think I look that bad in a dress, you could just tell me, okay? It's not my fault I make a horrible girl!!!!"
A very distressed Yuffie scrambled up the stairs, tripping several times over her high heels before making it into the hallway, disappearing into an extra room.
Uncovering Marlene's eyes, a very stunned Tifa looked to Vincent to gauge the man's reaction. His vision was still focused on the top of the stairs, where Yuffie had disappeared.
"I think we hurt her feelings. She seemed to be under the impression that the dress was unflattering, and we were staring at her because she looked bad."
Tifa wondered for a moment if her explanation fell on deaf ears. Vincent heard her, but was occupied with the realization of why Reeve had been so eager to keep his jacket on Yuffie.
Vincent felt a twinge of anger that every male in the bar had been fixated on Yuffie's slender, nearly-naked form.
"Yuffie was wearing a dress? I wanna go see! I bet she looked pretty!" Marlene suggested, wriggling her way out of Vincent's lap.
Tifa came around the corner to stop her.
"She looked very… pretty," Tifa agreed. "But I think we hurt her feelings, sweetheart. Vincent should go check on her, okay?"
Red eyes turned on crimson.
Tifa smiled encouragingly.
It took a minute, but Vincent reluctantly made his way to the stairs, never seeing Tifa's cunning grin behind him.
This was perfect; Vincent needed a shove in Yuffie's direction. Tifa knew Vincent held Yuffie in esteem; all of them did. She was the youngest in their group, and they all treasured her as the one who kept them in high spirits whenever things began to look nasty.
Step one: realize Yuffie no longer had the body of a sixteen year old girl.
Someone else had beaten Tifa to accomplishing that goal. And by the way Vincent hadn't been able to look away from her, he had to have realized something.
Now, to move on to step two….
