Yay! Exams are over, and I'm back! A few of the new chapters I wrote are going to be short, but they aren't that bad. Anyway, send in some requests! I'd love to write some.

Crime & Punishment

Vincent sat on his couch with his second love in his lap. He slid a cloth over the gun, making sure every inch was perfect and spotless. He gave a sigh as he lifted the rag and put it on the side table. Finally, the weapon was clean and ready for, well, any action that was brought up.

Vincent frowned as he looked down at his gun. He hadn't used it in quite a while, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He loved action in his life, but now that he had more things to worry about – more like the safety of them – he was careful to make sure that there was as little danger around as possible.

He didn't hear Cloud come in and jumped a little when the blonde's hair tickled Vincent's cheek as two arms gentle slid around Vincent's neck. Cloud kissed Vincent's cheek, then put a hand on the couch, hopping over the back of it and landing next to Vincent.

"What's up?" Vincent shook his head.

"Parts of life are… boring." Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Boring? Are you talking about the fact that you haven't killed anything in nearly a year?" Vincent didn't speak. Cloud sighed and lifted his hand to squeeze the back of his lover's neck; it was incredibly tense, but Cloud was gentle all the same. "I know that your… hobby is to destroy." Vincent gave an exasperated look at such a blunt statement, and Cloud blushed. "Sorry, but you can't disagree. Anyway, look at what you have now! I mean, do you really have to spend all your time killing?" He eyed the gun. "Or do you just want to refresh your battle status?"

The last sentence caught Vincent's attention.

"Why, are you offering?" Cloud grinned.

"Well, I haven't had a good workout in a while… what do you say? Should we call anyone over?" Vincent shook his head.

"No. Let's do this between you and I." Cloud nodded.

"Cool. I'll get ready, and you wait."

Oh, shit… Cloud lunged behind a tree, using momentum to flip sideways and land in a half-squatting position. He held his sword behind him, arm bent and up above his head. From where he had landed, Vincent could probably see him if he moved a little to the left. But there was no motion, and Cloud calculated Vincent's next move.

He hasn't gotten me from behind yet, Cloud thought quickly, but from where I'm sitting, he would know better than to attack when my easiest way to defend is to simply bring my arm around. I would have seen him by now if he were coming from around the tree.

Cloud's eyes widened. The tree… He smirked and brought his arm up higher, then swung it around so the sword just barely brushed the ground, and very soon he found his sword being held in the air by his arm still, but it was completely horizontal, and on it stood a man with a gun. The gun was pointed directly at Cloud's face.

Vincent gave a crooked smile and jumped off Cloud's sword. "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Cloud returned the smile and put his arm around Vincent's shoulders after sheathing his sword.

"Well, be grateful I didn't realize I was sitting behind a tree earlier. I would have won. But we'll deal with the tie." Vincent blinked.

"Tie? Are you serious? I had you cornered… one more move and I could have killed you if I wanted to. Not to mention I was standing on your own weapon… you think we ended evenly?"

"Nope."

"Oh… well good then."

"Yes, it is. Because now that I think about it, I did figure out the strategy that you thought I wouldn't figure out. Plus, you weren't in the best position to have killed me anyway; I could have easily twisted that sword to where a certain area of yours would have had a serious problem."

Vincent laughed at this and rolled his eyes. "All right, all right. We tied, okay?"

Cloud shook his head. "Oh hell no. You aren't getting away that easily. Either I won and you accept that, or you won and…" Cloud thought for a moment, then grinned. "Or you won and I get to punish you for being a bad sport."

Vincent quirked an eyebrow and smiled. "So I get to choose, right?"

"Yep."

"You win."