Sierra still looked at us. I imagined my death quite clearly in Cid's rage at her comment.

"You're fuckin' kiddin', right?" Cid asked, his eyes still wide in shock. I felt quite relieved when I heard Sierra laughing.

"Of course, Cid! As if YOU two would get married," she said. And then she winked at Cid and stood up from her seat, the backs of her legs pushing her chair behind her. She picked up our plates since we were obviously finished, and went to the kitchen sink to begin her morning chores.

Cid was left dumb founded. I couldn't tell whether or not he was angry, somewhat…happy…or just stricken with idiocy. I had been waving my hand in front of his face for quite some time, calling his name, and even banging on the table. Sierra took no note of me, my only knowledge of this because when I looked to see she did not turn around and had not been looking in the first place. It might have only been two or three minutes that we sat at the table like this, but it felt like eternity.

Finally, Cid pushed himself away from the table and, without scooting his chair back under the table, he left the house through the front door. It didn't take long for me to gather myself from the sudden-ness of his rising. I quickly pushed his chair back under the table and followed after him.

I hoped he wasn't going to hit the bar…

---

Of course. Just as I had suspected. As soon as I walked out of the front door, he was already on his way to the bar. Did he always need a drink after breakfast when he came home? I hadn't the foggiest.

"Cid!" I called. He turned his head to try and see behind him without having to turn his whole body. I guessed he could see me from the corner of his eye.

"What?" he replied, stopping only briefly to just continue walking on again.

"Why are you going to the bar? It's ten in the morning! You don't need a drink… Would you please come back inside?" I asked, following him still.

"What for? I'm not in the mood!" he said. He sounded pretty agitated… But he didn't need to be drinking all the time. It didn't take me much effort to reappear in front of him.

I guessed it was a good thing I had been tampered with…but only to an extent did it please me.

"Cid, could you do a friend a favor? Stop drinking. It's going to kill your liver. Just come back inside…or we can pack our things and head to Costa de Sol? Are you done with what you need to do here? Can't we just go instead of having to wait a whole week for you to get your head back together? If something is bothering you, Cid, can't you just tell me what it is so we can work things out instead of drowning yourself in alcohol to make you feel better?" My hands were gripped on his shoulders so he couldn't move away from me. I didn't want him like this. I could hear him sigh. He lifted his right hand and motioned me to let him go.

"Alright, alright… But you can't stop me from having a drink… I just…won't drink a lot." He furrowed his brow and crossed his arms as I let him go. "I guess, maybe, we should talk somewhere. Don't think it's such a good idea to be talkin' bout us in the bar, right?" he laughed in spite of himself. I only frowned. I didn't want him to drink at all, but I guessed it wouldn't hurt to let him drink a little… And I assumed to myself that I would be drinking right along with him.

Cid pulled me by my gauntleted hand towards the house. But he did not go toward the house, rather, he went to the side of it and through the fenced back yard. We were going to the field next to the rocket…

----

The grass was lush and wonderful. It was high enough to cover my boots so it was very soft and comfortable. The sky was amazingly blue and the wind was just perfect…

"I don't remember many days of this part of town ever being anything other than sunshine…" Cid said, leaning on the palms of his hands as he sat in the grass, looking up at the sky. He was smiling.

"Yes," I said, "I can't imagine this place any other way…" I, too, smiled. It was just such a beautiful area. I couldn't believe it. It was only sky and grass and where the rocket used to be…but it was still so beautiful no matter how you looked at it.

"I really miss the rocket…but since I finally got to go into space, the emptiness kind of gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment… But it's jus' a rocket, right? Heh…" Cid shook his head and sighed quietly. "It still kind of upsets me, though…"

I watched as Cid said all this. He looked so sincere and truly hurt by the absence of his rocket.

"Anyways, I jus' kinda wanted to tell you that what I had to tell Sierra… Well, it was jus' about…well…you." He didn't look at me. But I looked at him. He was blushing. His blush made me just as red, perhaps even more than he. I lifted my elbows from under me and began to lay on my back in the grass. Even as my head hit the ground it did not hurt because the grass was so thick and tall. It was like a bed. Cid looked over at me as he heard me shuffling so much but then looked away again as he finished what he was going to say. "I wanted ta' know what she thought about you… Y'know, if anything between us happened. I was so damn worried 'bout what she was gonna say that I just blew up and completely lost myself… I'm real sorry about that, Vince… I've been feelin' like complete shit ever since I did it. I really fuckin' mean it, I'm real sorry…" Cid looked down at me, leaning down on his elbows now to get more comfortable and to see my face better. I pushed myself up quickly and planted a kiss on his forehead.

"I forgive you, Cid…really." I smiled and pulled him down beside me. He wrapped his arms around my neck and hugged me tightly against him.

"Man, Vinny, you jus' don't know! I was so damn upset…about what Sierra had told you… I thought you were gonna fuckin' kill me or hate me and leave me forever. Or even tell the gang that I'm…" I felt him squeeze me tighter as he said these things. Especially when he tried to say "tell the gang that I'm gay".

"Cid, it's ok… We already went through this, remember?" I laughed. He laughed with me, but he rolled away from me some. He pushed himself up from the grass and looked at me again.

"Yeah… I know you wouldn't ever do anything behind my back… Or anyone's back, for that matter. I jus' don't think sometimes… Costa de Sol, then! Let's get back and pack some stuff. I've got enough gil from the chocobo racing that we won't have to worry about starving for years!"

Cid had seemed to transform once again. Serious and upset to happy and carefree. I wanted so much more out of this blonde but I could not do a single thing… His touch was such a wonderful thing… I couldn't believe I had kissed him on my own. It surprised me as much as it surprised him…