Red roses mean love
By kimetara
Multipart
Chapter Eighteen
Tifa awoke suddenly, her eyes sleepy and unfocused. It was dark, late at night or extremely early. Nearly pitch-black. Why had she woken up? Some strange remnant of a dream wisped away...
A small yawn escaped her, and she settled her head back down onto his chest, her body relaxing in the warmth of two arms. She had always longed to be held so protectively, even as a child. Yes. It made her feel loved...cared about...it was her secret longing, hidden and transferred into caring for others. Tifa absently placed her hand beside her cheek on her pillow, dreamy fingers playing with the tips of silken hair. It was so fine...soft but strong. She wished her hair could be like that.
And with that, Tifa fell back asleep.
Morning. She stretched and yawned, the ever-brightening sunlight and sounds of resuming construction being her alarm clock. Tifa blinked blurrily, immediately noting that Vincent was nowhere to be found. Oh well. She didn't really expect to wake up beside him...he was much too careful.
Tifa smiled to herself, remembering that short moment in the middle of the night. Proof in her mind that he had fallen asleep next to her. That cold shell that had always bothered her in AVALANCHE seemed to be melting.
The day passed fairly routinely. After lunch, she slipped off to the Highwind to prepare a few dishes for the party the next day, but besides that, everything went as normal.
The evening was uneventful as well. Tifa sat at the table in the kitchen, sipping hot cocoa while Vincent leaned silently against the wall. Nanaki lay on the kitchen floor, reading a book. All in all, a decidedly comfortable scene.
"Shouldn't you read with a little more light, Nanaki?" Tifa asked at one point.
"My eyes are more cat-like than human," he replied. Tifa nodded, and that summed up the conversation for the day.
Tifa mused idly to herself, watching the wispy steam over the rim of her mug. She enjoyed, in an oddly detached way, how the smoke curled and raveled upwards. Occasionally she breathed lightly and watched the steam swirl wildly.
Tomorrow, she thought, Yuffie would be coming. Barret had simply been too busy "getting Corel back on its track" to come, and they all understood. He did always place duty over socializing.
So that meant she, Vincent, Yuffie, Nanaki, Reeve, and Marianna would be there. She hoped they had made enough food. Yuffie was also bring some sort of Wutain food, dukgook or something of the sort. Marianna was bringing something too, so that should cover it...
Her mind drifted back, returning to its aimless floating. Abruptly, she stumbled over an old thought left unresolved.
"I'm going for a walk," Tifa announced quietly, throwing a meaningful glance at Vincent before standing and placing her mug in the sink. She stepped out the door and into the darkness.
Five minutes later, Nanaki noticed he was alone in the kitchen. He picked his book up in his mouth – really, why couldn't he have been born with thumbs? – and placed it on the table before padding upstairs to Mr. Farol's room. Perhaps he'd add another 5 gil to that bet...
Tifa was sitting on the log, the cool night breeze gently lifting her bangs from her face. Deliberately relaxed. It took a little while, but eventually she managed to sense out Vincent. He was very difficult to trace, and she had to rely on intuition more than anything.
"Vincent?" she asked softly. He stepped forward and dropped a jacket in her lap. She had neglected to grab one, and it was still slightly chilly from winter, so Tifa gratefully slipped it on. "Thanks."
"Is there something you would like to talk about?" he said in reply. Tifa paused.
She didn't really want to ask straight out...she didn't want to offend him or make him angry or upset. But it was important to know... "How have you been?" she decided at last. Simple and broad enough.
"The same." Vincent wondered what she was getting at, but he could be patient. Obviously it was something that she worried would bother him.
"You...haven't had any problems?" she asked after a short moment.
"..." This was beginning to sound vaguely familiar...he had a sinking feeling about where this was going.
"Vincent?" Tifa pressed.
He hesitated, as if about to answer, but stayed silent.
Tifa sighed. "Alright. Nevermind. Tomorrow's Cid's birthday, don't you think it'll be fun?"
Vincent was extremely thankful Tifa had let the subject go. "I wasn't expecting to attend."
"What?" She whirled to look at him, bewildered. "Why on earth not?"
He shrugged. "I do not usually."
"But you should!" Tifa protested. "It's the closest thing to a reunion we've had in the past four months!"
"...so?" Most likely, they would socialize and he would stay in the shadows. If he wished to speak with any of them, he'd do so on his own time.
Tifa was staring at him, obviously at a loss for words. How cold you explain how important it was to stay in touch with your friends? She clung to hers fiercely, having had so many taken away, but maybe... "Did you have many friends? I mean," she amended hastily, "before Hojo...you know..." Tifa bit her tongue after saying that, watching her anxiously.
Vincent unconsciously moved his hand to the rifle hanging at his side. "...no." Back then, Turks were not permitted to have friends. Emotions couldn't become a handicap.
"Oh." Tifa took a moment to process this information. "Well, you should come anyway," she decided. "Please?"
"...fine..." It really wasn't very important to him whether he went or stayed, in all truth. And at least, he would be able to watch Tifa.
"Thank you!" Tifa chirped happily. "Speaking of which, we'd better be going to bed. Or at least, I should," she amended. "I can't function without a good nine hours anymore," she added, ruefully amused.
"Very well." He turned around and walked away, stopping after a few paces to glance back.
Tifa had her head tilted upwards to the sky, searching, he knew, for her wishing star.
"Let's go!"
Tifa grabbed her purse off the table and slung it over her shoulder, her step bouncy and her whole aura practically glowing. Vincent had to smile watching her. She caught it and blushed lightly, but defiantly continued her bubbling cheerfulness.
"Come on, we're going to be late!"
"Tifa," he stated calmly," if we leave now we will be nearly two hours early."
"Well, there's still a few preparations we need to do!" she exclaimed. "And we need to pick up Marianna. Besides, I'd like to be able to greet everybody!"
"I want to see them all too," Nanaki agreed, waiting by the door. "So please hurry with your breakfast."
Vincent lifted an eyebrow, but obliged, placing his bowl in the sink. "I have finished." Since he was coming, he was actually fairly eager to see everybody again as well, but of course that stayed hidden. "Shall we go?"
"Yes!" Tifa replied, then paused. "Wait, do I have everything?"
"I'm sure you do," Nanaki answered impatiently. "Let's be going now, alright?"
"Okay," she laughed. "Let's go!"
Five hours later...
"Time for cake!" Tifa yelled across the boisterous deck of the Highwind.
"CAKE!" Yuffie squealed, pushing past Reeve to get to the table, only to nearly trip over Nanaki. The three then entered an argument, or to be more accurate Yuffie started screeching her head off about Nanaki trying to break somebody neck, Nanaki 'accidentally' kept moving his flamed tail a little too close to the girl's clothes for comfort, and Reeve was trying to be the diplomat – although it seemed he felt more like smacking both of them upside the head at the moment.
Vincent watched in amusement, thoroughly entertained by his old colleagues. He didn't mind coming at all. The party hadn't been one to be remembered years and years from now, perhaps, but it was enjoyable. And the devil's food cake was delicious, as everybody agreed when they were finally all seated.
"Hey Teef, bake my b-day cake too, will ya?" Yuffie managed out between bites. Tifa grinned.
"I'll see what I can do. I'm in pretty high demand, y'know," she teased.
"That's right! She's already agreed to be my cake-maker!" Reeve added cheerfully. Although not quite as bubbly as his mechanical counterpart, he definitely wasn't the depressed quiet type either.
"Must've meant after me, Mr. Fortune-teller," Marianna replied playfully. It had been slightly awkward at first, but they were a good-hearted bunch, and Marianna slipped in nicely after the first hour. Besides, Yuffie and Reeve were always great icebreakers.
"What?!" Reeve replied in mock shock. "Is this true?" he turned to the chef in question, who couldn't suppress a grin of embarrassed pleasure. Tifa was one of those people who could never properly tell a joke because she always started laughing in the middle of it.
"`Fraid so," she quipped, barely suppressing a giggle.
"Aww! Fine then, I'm next!" he announced.
"YOU before ME? I don't think so!" Yuffie declared. And so it continued, all of them ignoring the logic of whose birthday simply came first. It finally ended when Cid yelled at them.
"Shut up and eat your $#@&% cake!"
"Stay out of this! You already got your birthday cake!" Yuffie shot right back.
Alright, perhaps ended was not the correct word. 'Diverted' was more like it.
"Yuffie, slow down!" Tifa laughed. "We've still got one more dish after the cake."
"Something after the cake?" The ninja's ears perked. "What?"
Tifa and Shera glanced at each other. "It was just an idea..."
"And we did want to try something new..."
"So...we decided to make confetti fishsticks!"
Blink blink.
The entire table stared at the two as if they'd suddenly started singing "You Are My Sunshine" and danced around waving painted yellow paper plates. Finally, Yuffie broke the silence.
"...confetti fishsticks?"
Well. After they had all tried some of the...festivised cuisine, which actually wasn't that bad despite its speckled appearance, they returned to hanging out for the remainder of the night. They had decided to sleep over, "just like the old times!" as Yuffie had put it. Tifa of course had invited Marianna, but the redhead had declined cheerfully and left early. Tifa had gone to escort her back, just incase. Vincent had resisted the desire to go with them.
Yuffie was playing catch with herself while chatting with Shera, using a bright red summon materia. It was a pretty bauble, glimmering and sparkling even in the dull florescent light of the ship.
Suddenly, she missed, and it rolled next to Cid's foot, who was currently playing chess with Nanaki. The pilot picked it up casually. Reeve and Shera, as if by some instinct, immediately looked up from the last rounds of their poker game, readying themselves for the oncoming outburst.
To the surprise of all, Yuffie shrugged. "You can have that one, old man. I've got another anyway," she declared, pulling a purple one out of the bag and resuming her game. Cid blinked.
"Uh..." he took a closer look at his new materia, making sure it wasn't defective and thus explain why she was giving it to him, then let out a low whistle between his teeth. A mastered Bahamut ZERO. "Thanks kid," he told her, tucking the materia into his coat pocket.
"Don't call me kid!" she protested.
"Don't call me old man!"
"Well you are, ya geezer!"
"I'M NOT OLD!"
"You're older than everybody else here! So nyah!"
Yes, as entertaining as ever.
For the next hour in the afternoon, Cid continued finding his gifts in other indirect manners – none of them wanted to get into an argument whether he should accept the present or not. Shera had informed them all about his odd quirk through a thoroughly entertaining story involving an old Shinra co-worker, some china, and a set of tools at a lavish dinner party. Vincent would have loved to see Cid in a tuxedo, but the basic moral of the story was: Unless you owe him something, he wouldn't take gifts directly, especially in public. Doesn't like the "&*$#@ fuss." Which would explain why he ended up nearly sitting on a beautifully carved marble ashtray – the Canyosmos had taken a liking to stonework after the petrified body of Seto was revealed. It also explained Reeve's casual announcement of restarting the Space Program and in need of a capable pilot.
Might as well go give his gift. Cid had departed for the deck, away from the noisy hull, so there shouldn't be too much difficulty...
"Cid."
"Whoa!" Cid yelped and whirled, spear in hand. "(&^%# Vince, do you always gotta be sneaking around?" he grumbled, setting the weapon back down. "What do you want?"
Vincent shrugged. "I'm simply delivering your gift." He set the carton down next to the door and turned to go back inside.
"Hold on a minute." Cid leaned back against the railing and puffed on his cigarette. "So, how've you been? Haven't heard so much as a whimper out of you until we picked you guys up. Might of thought you'd gone back to that &%#@^ basement if Tifa hadn't mentioned you in her letters."
"...fine." Vincent turned around and merely stood next to the doorway. "And you?"
"Same old." He flicked his cigarette over the railing, the ashes blowing away in the orange sky. The sunset was nearly over. It had been a "desert sunset," as Tifa called them, ones that left the sky washed in a faded rainbow, from orange to indigo. Where was Tifa? She had left almost an hour ago. Perhaps he should have gone with her...ah, wait, there she was, on her way back to the Highwind. Naturally, he had worried unnecessarily.
"You like her, huh?"
Vincent snapped back from his musing. "...why would you think that?" he replied, keeping his tone carefully neutral, with the slightest hint of surprise. Enough to sound sincere, yet imply a negative.
"Let's see, maybe because you were staring at her?" Cid grinned.
"..." He couldn't exactly make a comeback to that, now could he?
"Hey Vince," Cid started again after a moment, "when's your birthday anyway?"
"October 13th."
He stared. "$@%#, you're just loaded with unlucky coincidences all around, huh? Don't tell me, it was a Friday."
"Most likely," Vincent replied dryly. "I will be leaving now."
"Yeah, I better be getting back before Shera starts nagging," Cid grumbled, walking over. "What'd ya get me anyway?"
Vincent lifted an eyebrow, but picked the box up and handed it over. Cid opened the top and stared disbelievingly...at a mop.
"I thought it might come in handy," was Vincent's only explanation. Cid's gaze went from the mop, then to Vincent, then back to the mop.
"Wasn't my %@*$^ fault the &^$@# broomstick hit harder than those pansy spears," Cid defended himself.
"Of course not," Vincent agreed. "I preferred remembering the time when you somehow managed to get your own head tangled in it."
"You little S.O.B..." Cid tried to sound pissed, but failed, grinning instead. "Get your @#$ back inside before I use this thing."
"My pleasure."
AN: Thanks to Kikasetai for the idea for Vincent's present! I liked it much better than my original one. =)
Well, this was a difficult chapter to write (got writer's block again), but I forced myself through it, so here's a nice long chapter. This fic ought to be wrapped up pretty soon...
And...very sorry for how long this chapter took to come out. I was trying to fit this one event in, but my knack for writing more than I expected returned, so I suppose you will see it all in the next chapter! (Which had better be up within a week, or else I'm in trouble.) Well...R&R please!