Boiling Over
Cid was an early riser. He was always up at the crack of dawn because there was always something to do. As captain of his ship, it was his duty to do the rounds and make sure everything was running smoothly and his crew was doing what they were supposed to. Even grounded, Cid couldn't take the few extra hours to sleep in and relax. He headed downstairs to the bar to start off his morning with a cup of tea. He cursed loudly when his heel slid off the second to last step and he thudded down the rest of the way to the floor. He stayed in the splayed position he fell in for a few seconds as he waited to see if he'd woken anybody up. He grumbled in annoyance when he realized that not one person had stirred. He could have broken his neck and nobody would have known. Great team he had.
Cid irritably picked himself up off the floor and stomped towards the bar. He made a point to clang as many dishes together as he could as he went about fixing his tea. If Avalanche wasn't concerned for his health, then he wasn't concerned for their sleep.
"I do not remember asking for a wake-up call, Highwind."
Cid yelped and dropped the tea cup he was holding on the floor. It shattered instantly. "The fuck?" He spun around to stare at Vincent across the bar, eyes wide as he clutched his heart. "Vin? You tryin'a give me a heart attack or what? ….Fuck," he panted and swallowed, "When the hell'd you get down here?"
"I was always down here, Highwind. You were just too busy making noise to notice." Vincent got up from the booth and stretched. "And please, don't let my presence stop you. Continue making a racket. I think the rest of the team is still asleep."
Cid growled. "Still waking up on the wrong side of the bed, huh? Maybe you should try sleeping in an ACTUAL bed, Vin. Sure as hell won't do ya any harm." Vincent narrowed his eyes and grunted, looking away. Cid rolled his eyes. "Look, you want some tea?"
Vincent shook his head. "No, thank you, Highwind," he answered curtly.
Cid scowled. "Oh yeah. Right. Forgot you drink motor oil," he muttered, believing that it wouldn't kill Vincent to answer him in a more pleasant tone.
The gunman turned his gaze back to Cid. "At least I am not gradually killing my friends with second hand smoke."
Cid growled again. "You tryin' to start something this early in the morning, Vin?"
Vincent shook his head and approached the bar. "Not at all. It is not my fault you are offended by the truth."
"Fuck you're a bitch, Vin." Cid said hotly, shaking his head. "Didn't think the psycho scientist guy shoved a tree up your ass at the same time he was experimentin' on ya."
Vincent's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Watch it, Highwind," he warned him in an icy tone.
Cid faced the bar and leaned on it heavily with his elbows. "Why? What are ya gonna do Vin? Run away again?" Vincent's angry stare lessened a little and his face tinged red with embarrassement. Cid snorted. "You want some advice? Shoot whatever idiot told you that that was intimidating. Now what the hell happened yesterday?"
Vincent stared at him, looking very uncomfortable and then dropped his gaze. "I ran away," he mumbled. "I assumed you saw that much."
"Of course I fucking did. What I wanna know is why ya took off instead of pullin' a gun on me, Vin."
Vincent frowned, still averting his gaze. "Why would I aim my gun at you?" he asked quietly.
"'Cause I pissed you off?" Cid suggested. "You were never one to run when there was a fight. Why the fuck did you do that to me?"
The gunman looked at him out of the corner of his eye, curiously. "You wanted me to fight you?"
"No," Cid shook his head, frowning. "I wanted answers, Vin. And I still do. What the hell's it gonna take? Do I gotta grab you again?"
"No!" Vincent's eyes widened and he held his cloak to his face, keeping it out of Cid's reach. The pilot's brow furrowed.
"I wasn't gonna grab you," he said, hearing the kettle boil, he walked over to pour his cup of tea. "I was askin' in case that was the way to get a straight answer from ya."
"I…," Vincent hesitated before sighing loudly. "I wanted to get away."
"Why?" Cid glanced back as he fixed his tea. "Cuz I was in your face?"
"Exactly." Vincent nodded.
"Uh huh…" That wasn't quite enough for the pilot. "So runnin' away and leaving me with your damn cloak was the best way to get me outta your face?"
"I-"
"And you really expect me to fuckin' believe that, Vin?" Cid spun around, angry, leaving his tea on the counter. "You think I'm that stupid? I know there's something else goin' on here." He stomped over to Vincent, stopping right in front of him; he slammed his hand down on the counter.
Vincent cowered slightly under his intense stare. "People are sle-"
"Don't you fucking bring 'people' into this, Vincent Valentine," Cid barked irritably. "We're talking about YOU here. You and ME." He pointed to both their chests as he spoke. "If you wanted me outta your face, you coulda just told me to let go. You coulda pushed me the fuck away. OR you coulda pulled one of your goddamn guns on me. Runnin' is not your style and you wouldn't of fuckin left your cloak behind. So what the fuck is going on?"
Cid hadn't been this pissed off in a while and he could tell that Vincent was shocked, maybe even a little frightened by his anger, but he wasn't going to let up. The gunman had been pushing his buttons way too much since they'd met up yesterday and he was tired of wondering why Vincent was being such a jerk to him. He was going to get an answer from the gunman, no matter what.
"Well?" he pushed, narrowing his eyes. "Why, Vin? Why?"
Vincent started panting as he began to panic and pointedly averted his gaze from the pilot. Cid growled. This was getting to be too much like last night.
"Vin!"
Vincent jerked his eyes back to Cid and they were as wide as saucers, very much the cornered animal look. Cid's eyes widened as well, realizing what was going to happen next.
"Don't you fucking dare, Valentine!"
Vincent bolted.
Cid dove over the bar top after him and managed to catch Vincent's cloak in his fist. He yanked Vincent back as he nose dived to the floor and he barely saw the gunman's feet fly up over his head. They both groaned as they smacked into the floor, but the gunman was the one who had been stunned by the fall. Cid had just smacked his shoulder, though it screamed at him as he crawled quickly towards the gunman. He had a sneaking suspicion that the straps on Vincent's cloak had broken during the fall and he wasn't going to give the gunman a chance to run again. Cid pounced on him and pinned him down. Vincent started struggling immediately, trying to buck him off of him. Cid grunted with pain and effort as he tried to keep him down. It was like grappling with a fish.
"VIN!" he yelled. "Fuckin calm down!"
"Cid?"
The blond pilot shot his gaze to the stairs where a groggy Cloud was standing in bare feet, the rest of Avalanche trailing behind him on the steps.
"What are you doing to Vincent?" Tifa asked, brow furrowed.
"Yeah!" Yuffie piped up, "Get off of him, Old Man! You're gonna crush him!"
Barret looked as if he wondering if Vincent and Cid had done anything while he was sharing a room with the pilot. Nanaki was just watching calmly and Cloud was staring at Vincent, a strange look in his eyes.
Cid growled and quickly scrambled off of the gunman. "He was trying to run again and I…," he scratched his head, "I just wanted to know why he hates me," he said in frustration.
All eyes turned to the gunman, waiting expectantly for him to respond to that.
"I-I have to go." Vincent muttered quickly, avoiding eye contact with everybody.
"Oh hell no-" Cid began but Cloud interrupted him.
"Let him go, Cid," he said. "He needs to go. Let him."
"But-"
No time for 'buts'. Vincent was already gone.
Cid growled.
To no fucking end…
