Waiting for the black to pass, he held his head quietly, cursing under his breath. After it had cleared, he looked over at Vincent, who had picked up his pencil and was sketching what seemed to be automatically. The form came out quickly, a familiar thin, long-haired figure, bleeding and curled up on the ground.
"Don't worry about that #$^#, Vin..." Cid whispered, knowing what Vincent was trying to convey through his drawings what he couldn't convey through his facial expressions. "He's a #$^#in' #$^#@#$ with a #$^#in' stick up his #^#%in' #^# a #$^#in' mile long."
Vincent didn't respond, only writing in thin, spindly script on the edge of the paper nearest Cid. "I'll be okay. Can't risk talking, might break."
Cid nodded quietly after reading the note and rested his head on his hands, his headache still throbbing in the back of his skull. "#^#@in' hangover...what the #^@#..."
Fortunately the rest of the class passed without incident, although they continued to get stares from the rest of the class. Hojo apparently was done humiliating the two of them and didn't call on them for the rest of the class. They left relieved and tired, thankful that the rest of the class had been uneventful.
"What a #^#%in' piece of #$^#-#$#^ that class is." Cid grumbled as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Vincent walked alongside of him, keeping his eyes to the ground. He smiled slightly.
"That's a new obscenity, I must admit..."
Cid smiled back. "Oh, you haven't really seen me go yet, I make up #$^$in' strings of #^#$ that don't even make sense. It's #$#^in' great."
"We should go get something to eat..." Vincent turned his head slightly towards the stairwell. "You know...so your headache'll stop."
"Right." Cid rubbed the back of his head slightly. "$^#@in' headache."
They headed down the stairs quietly, noting again the constant stares they were getting.
"I hate being stared at..." Vincent mentioned as they were walking out in the hot day towards the dining hall. The sun was shining brightly and fiercely on the campus. "Did I ever mention that...? All my life, I've hated it..."
"Don't worry, Vin. They're #$^#in' morons, don't look at 'em." Cid shrugged, trying not to let the staring bother him as well. Despite his best efforts, it was getting to him, but he didn't want to mention it. "%&#^, there are other people who look a #%^#load weirder then we do."
"I don't think it's how we look that's getting attention..." Vincent whispered softly. Cid tried to continue with his point, even though he knew Vincent was right.
"See? Look over there, there's someone who looks a #$^#load weirder then us."
The man was sitting on a bench, his elbows resting on his knees and his head on his hands, staring forward. He had what appeared to be black cat ears coming from his short black hair and twitching near him was a long black tail, coming from underneath a red and black t-shirt, flicking lazily in the heat. His elbows rested on his black pants, his hands hanging. He had a small thin goatee and a sad look in his eyes as he stared forward listlessly.
Vincent sighed. "There are other people who have tails here, Cid. For example, there was that one blonde person I saw-"
"Shhh." Cid walked towards the man on the bench, gesturing for Vincent to follow. Vincent shrugged and followed him, not sure of what he was doing.
"Hey!" Cid sat down next to him, noting the nervous reaction he got from the cat-like man. "How's it goin'?"
"Um...fine, I guess..." His reply was hesitant and unsure. Vincent sat down as well, trying to think of a way to calm him down.
"I'm Vincent."
"I'm Cid Highwind!" Cid held a hand to his chest and smiled. He turned towards the other man. "Who're you?"
"I'm Reeve..."
"Great!" Cid smiled again and leaned his head back, apparently enjoying the sunlight. Vincent sighed.
"I'm sorry about this, he wanted to talk to you." Vincent shrugged. "I'm sorry if we're interrupting anything..."
"No, it's alright..." Reeve twitched one of his ears. "I just didn't expect anyone to sit next to me, that's all."
"Why not?" Cid asked before Vincent had a chance to respond. Reeve looked at his hands and held one of them up. He flexed his fingers and small claws appeared from his fingertips.
"...It's complicated..."
"Ah #$^$, how complicated can it be?" Cid didn't appear to be paying a great deal of attention. Vincent sighed again. "Just cause you look like a #$^#in' cat, it's no big deal."
"I'm Reeve..." He put his hand down, seeming to ignore what Cid said. He returned his stare downwards. "And I guess...you could also call me Cait Sith."
"Cait Sith?" Vincent held up a hand to silence Cid, who seemed to want to say something. "What do you mean?"
Reeve closed his eyes for a moment. "Right now I'm Reeve...but sometimes...if something bad happens or I can't deal with something...Cait Sith shows up instead..." He shook his head sharply and buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry, I'm not making any sense...I do this all the time..." He thumped his hand into his head for a few seconds. "Why do I always do this, I always do this..."
Cid grabbed Reeve's hand quickly. "Woah woah woah, calm down!"
Reeve sighed deeply. When he spoke, his voice had changed and become more casual. "Sorry, didn't mean to freak out on you guys there, it was an accident. I do that sometimes, it's no biggie."
Cid and Vincent exchanged glances.
Vincent opened his mouth to say something, but Cid cut him off. "Want to come eat with us, Cait?"
Reeve looked up at Cid in surprise, his large eyes blinking. He turned to Vincent, finding him nodding as well. Reeve turned to look at his hands again and nodded slowly. "Sure..."
"Great!" Cid stood, putting his hands back in his pockets. "Don't worry, Cait, we'll be your friends."
"If you want us to be..." Vincent added, not sure of whether or not Cid was scaring Reeve away. Reeve's white-tipped tail was flicking back and forth rapidly.
"Sure, sure!" He had a slight accent now that hadn't been present before. "You guys are great, thanks a lot! Reeve has some problems talking with people, he ain't exactly all there, if you know what I mean." He pointed to his head. "That's why he'll trip out and hit himself or start talking weird. But don't worry, he'll get out of it eventually."
Vincent blinked slightly, but Cid seemed to take this completely in stride. He began walking, smiling happily as he kept his hands in his pockets.
"Nothin' like warm days." Cid turned to Vincent. "Almost makes me forget my #$^#in' headache..."
Vincent nodded, not sure of what to say. Reeve walked on Vincent's other side, his tail sweeping along behind him as he smiled brightly. Vincent leaned towards Cid, whispering quietly.
"I think you did Reeve a favor by talking to him..."
"#$#^, you did him a favor by talkin' to him too, don't give me all the credit here." Cid smirked. "Besides, we all need friends, right? #$^#, I know I do."
Vincent just stared at Cid in surprise and heard Reeve humming happily near him. He shrugged and continued walking.
When they entered the dining hall, everyone seemed to stop for a moment to stare at them. Vincent began to wonder if he'd ever get used to this. Cid seemed to not care as he handed over his ID card, which he had apparently gotten out of his old clothes beforehand. Which reminded Vincent...
"Highwind, where'd you get that knife...?"
Cid turned to him. "Hmm? Oh that..."
Vincent handed over his own ID, noting the awkward look on Cid's face. "I just do, y'know, in case #$^# happens or somethin'...makes me feel better to have it, really..."
Cid then turned and began walking towards the main area, seemingly oblivious to the stares of everyone around him. "Now, I wonder what they got today."
Reeve paused near Vincent, looking at him with an almost catlike grin on his face. "He's real energetic, you know that? Real sparker."
Vincent didn't quite get the metaphor that he used, but he smiled slightly. "Yes, you're right."
Reeve walked forward, his tail lifted and held high for once. He looked back at Vincent with the same catlike grin. "Oh, and I'm Cait Sith. Not Reeve. You'll know when he's around."
Vincent nodded again, scratching his head softly as he walked forward. He could feel the strain on the wounds on his arm and sighed deeply. He really didn't want to go back to that class in two days, but what could he do...?
He thought back to the previous night. Cid had said he was scared and frightened...is that why he seemed to seek out other people who felt the same way...?
Vincent shrugged and picked up a tray, deciding that he should think about it later, when he knew more about Cid and Reeve, and most likely himself.
It took him a while to find where Cid and Reeve had chosen to sit. Vincent had never been good at picking faces out of a crowd, and he felt awkward without Cid's presence near him. He had forgotten how strange it felt to not have the shorter young man's comforting aura of strength. He finally located them near a corner, where they waved to him cheerfully. Vincent would have waved back, but his hands were full.
As he walked there, the stares seemed to increase and seemed to have a touch of hostility instead of the questioning blankness they had before. Vincent didn't like this development.
He slid into his seat and both Cid and Reeve smiled at him.
"Took you long enough, Vin!" Cid had picked up some rather high-energy food, which didn't really surprise Vincent at all. All of the food that Reeve had chosen seemed to have some kind of element of seafood in it. Vincent, however, had stuck with the vegetarian selection.
Reeve leaned forward, whispering in a not-very-confidential way. "Hey, I don't know if y'guys know this or not, but everybody here is staring at you."
Cid stared at Reeve levelly and flicked his nose. "Jesus, Reeve, what the #$^# gave you that idea?"
Reeve backed away, his ears lowered, and rubbed his nose in annoyance. "I'm not Reeve, I'm Cait Sith, I told you that already."
Vincent nodded quietly and sipped his drink. "Yes, we are aware of that though, Cait Sith..." He shook his head quietly. "I believe rumors are spreading that are untrue. Today's class couldn't have helped."
"Oh wait..." Reeve looked thoughtful for a moment, his ears pricking up. "You mean, you're those two guys everyone's talkin' about?"
Cid and Vincent both stared at Reeve for a second. They had different reactions.
"Talkin' about?"
"Everyone?"
Reeve took a drink from his glass and then blinked at them in surprise. "Yeah, jeez, I would've thought you would know by now!"
"I may have guessed..." Vincent rested his head on his flesh hand. "But what are they saying?"
Reeve looked back and forth for a moment and held his hands up, his ears lowered again. "Don't kill me for this, I'm just a messenger, but they think you guys are majorly boffin' eachother."
Vincent stared in incomprehension while Cid grabbed a fork almost compulsively. Cid's voice was very strained.
"They what?"
"Hey hey hey hey." Reeve seemed to lower himself in his seat, holding his hands up again. "I said don't kill the messenger, okay? There's all this stuff going on about how you came out of his room, and how there were weird noises, and how you're wearing his clothes, and everythin'! They say it's really obvious you guys are sexin' it up all over."
Cid's eye twitched. Vincent buried his hands in his hair. "I left the TV on, no wonder there were strange noises..."
"WHAT THE #$^#-" Cid slammed the fork into the table and stood up, knocking the chair back sharply. Reeve curled up in his chair, the fur on his tail rising in alarm.
"Agh! Don't kill the messenger, don't kill the messenger!"
"Highwind, please!" Vincent reached out and took hold of Cid's arm, pulling him back down. "We don't need to attract any more attention then we already have!"
Cid began to string curse words together, muttering under his breath with his arms crossed as he went and retrieved his chair, pulling it back up and sitting down angrily. Reeve finally uncurled, seeing the danger was over, and looked at both of them in surprise.
"So you mean it isn't true an' all?"
Cid glared at him while Vincent was the one who responded. "No, it isn't. I'll explain what happened later, this isn't exactly the place."
Cid looked around and noticed that almost everyone was staring at them again, more actively then before. Reeve raised one eyebrow.
"Right...sorry 'bout bringin' that up, I probably should've kept my mouth shut."
"It's alright." Vincent noted with concern that Cid was staring at the table in silence, something that seemed very uncommon for him. He leaned on his elbows and sighed. "I guess my assumption was right...I didn't think it was that far though, I only thought that they perhaps thought there was an emotional relationship, not a physical one..."
Vincent was masking his words more then he intended, but it was a natural reaction of his when he got upset. Reeve toyed with a fishstick on his plate. "Either way, you guys are targets, MAJOR targets. You should be careful." He pointed at both of them with the fishstick. "I don't want you guys to get hurt, you're the only people who talk to me."
Vincent nodded and touched Cid's arm. "Are you alright...?"
Cid took a deep breath, then exhaled, the tension that Vincent could feel in his arm lessening. It took him a while until he could speak. "Yeah, I'm #$^#in' fine, just didn't think they thought we were #$^#in', that's all...stupid #$^$s..."
Vincent looked down at his plate, his appetite suddenly gone. "I do agree though...I think we should be careful..."
They bid farewell to Reeve outside of Vincent's dorm. Although Cait Sith wanted to stay with them, Reeve wanted some time to himself, and so they said their goodbyes. They promised to meet up again at some time, however, and exchanged room numbers. They also agreed that they shouldn't walk alone, any of them, and to be careful. It hadn't taken Vincent and Cid long to become friends with Reeve, who was really a nice guy, if a bit confused at times. His physical abnormalities weren't so much as a disfigurement then a characteristic of Cait Sith, and therefore became perfectly normal to them both. They did understand, however, how Reeve could have no friends, considering that even if someone got beyond his appearance, they had to get past the Reeve/Cait Sith complex, and that took effort. However, outcasts as they were, Cid and Vincent didn't give up easily.
It was assumed that they'd be heading to Vincent's room, considering that it was the most hospitable place for the two to stay, considering how touchy Reno could be. As they headed up the stairs, a high-pitched laugh seemed to come from their floor. Heading for Vincent's room, they noted a woman with blonde hair and a extremely lowcut red dress, laughing in an extremely high-pitched tone. The minute she saw them, her eyes hardened with a sadistic glint.
"Well well well, what have we here?" Her voice arced at strange points. Vincent whispered under his breath at Cid, who was tensing up angrily.
"Don't say anything, ignore her..."
"It's the little homo and his #$^#@. Going back to his room to go #$@%?"
"YOU #$^#IN'-" Cid lunged for her, only stopped by Vincent grabbing his arm before he could reach her. She pressed against the wall, laughing hysterically as Cid continued cursing randomely, still trying to reach her as Vincent held him back.
"Highwind, calm down! Please! We can't give her what she wants!"
This made her laugh louder. Cid eventually made an angry frustrated noise and began walking quickly down the hall, his fists clenched in fury. Vincent followed, his own anger masked perfectly.
"#$^#in' #$^#@. I'll get you!" Cid turned and pointed at her. "I'll #$^#in' beat the #$^# out of you, don't think I won't!"
"I don't think so, shorty. You aren't man enough to even TOUCH me."
Cid was trembling, but managed to control his rage enough to not go lunging after her again. "I bet every #$^#in' guy HERE has #$^#in' touched you, you #$^#in' slut-whore! Go #$^# a bedpost!"
The woman turned on him angrily, her face contorted in fury. "No one calls Scarlet a slut!"
"You're a #$%^in' slut-WHORE, didn't you #$^@in' hear me!?" Cid shouted at her. Vincent touched his shoulder, his door open.
"C'mon Highwind, just forget her..."
"I won't forget this!" Scarlet shouted after Cid as he followed Vincent.
"Shut the #$^# up, slut-whore!"
Cid slammed the door to the room and instantly curled into the corner of the bed, pressing his head against the wall in frustration.
Vincent rubbed his arm awkwardly, trying to think of something to say. "Look, I wouldn't listen to her. Her opinion isn't worth considering..."
"$^#% her, Vin. #$^# 'em all..." Cid slid onto his side, pressing his hands into his head. "#$^# the doctors an' #$^# the dizzy spells an' #$^# that #$^#er Hojo an' #$^# college an' #$^# life in #$^#in' general...#$#$ em' all..."
Vincent sat on the edge of the bed, sighing. "I have a feeling this isn't going to be the end of this...and to think..." He stared at his hands. "This is only our second day..."
"And already we got the entire #$^#in' school against us. We must have a #$^#in' gift." Cid curled onto his side and tried to hide underneath the blankets, his voice angry and tight. "Oh, I forgot to mention, #^#^ this piece of #$^#in' #$^# hangover, god#$^# it..."
Vincent fell back himself, letting his arms fall outwards. He sighed as well. "Well, at least it can't get any worse..."
There was a pounding on the door and deep voice shouted through it. "Did one of you #$^#ers in there call Scarlet a slut-whore!? You get out here right now-"
Vincent reached over and picked up the remote, turning the TV on and turning up the volume until it drowned out the shouting and the pounding. He slid back towards the wall, sighing as he settled into his old position. Cid finally got out from underneath the blankets and sat next to him like before, sighing deeply.
"#$^#, Vin, this is just beginnin. We're goin' to get dragged through #$^#in' #^$# before this is all over."
"And it's all circumstance..." Vincent sighed and changed the channel. "We're victims of circumstance..."
"#$^# Vin, everyone is. We're not #$^#in' victims, we're #$^#in' TARGETS. #$^#in' targets of circumstance..." Cid took the remote from Vincent and began flipping channels rapidly. "#$@^ it, #$^# it all, I #$^#in' hate this..."
"We'll get through this somehow..." Vincent tried to make himself believe it, but somewhere he simply couldn't. "They can't keep this up forever..."
"#$^# 'em all." Cid responded, continuing to flip through channels rapidly. "#$^# the #$^#ers to #$^#in' #$^#, the pieces of #$^#."
Vincent sighed and waited for Cid to stop on one channel. "I'm afraid I'm inclined to agree with you..."
Cid paused for a moment, then began clicking through channels again. "#$^#."