Author's note: Have I mentioned yet that I like Cait Sith? For some strange reason, I used the little bugger as my cover healing character the majority of the time in FF7. People may think he was annoying, but hell, I adored the dang cat.
Characters within the story belong to Square Enix unless otherwise noted.
Oh no. A huge dialogue filled moment. Damn Cait Sith! Eheh.
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"Ohmhmhmhmhm," Cait Sith snickered as he resided upon Denzel's bed. "Spill the beans, Vincent. What have you done?"
The two decided to talk in the children's room while Tifa worked in the bar and while Marlene and Denzel were outside playing.
"I didn't do anything."
"You kidding me? What explains the clothes, mrr?"
Vincent felt irritated with Reeve. Was he mocking him? Stop using that damn persona and talk to me with your real voice.
"I am not in battle. It…couldn't hurt to wear casual clothes."
"What about that claw of yours? Where's that? Heeheehee! So there was an arm under there!"
"Cait Sith, cut it out."
"Did she pity you?"
"Stop it…"
"Ohohohoh! Were you sulking over the love you could never attain?"
"Cait…"
"Oh, Vince is lost. Vince is lonely. He just needs to be lov-"
"REEVE, STOP IT!"
Seeing the rage building within Vincent, Cait Sith's head slowly hung for a second as the toy body stood up upon the bed. The faint sound of frequency could be heard within him. His head rose once there was an audible 'click'.
"How did it happen?" Reeve asked calmly through Cait Sith's body, the volume low at first to test the audio change.
Vincent stared at the cat doll with narrow eyes then puffed out a heavy breath, falling back into a chair, his body leaned back and his limbs spread. His head tilted back, rocking a few times while he stared up at the ceiling.
"I have no answer to your question, but I would like to know too…" He replied, his voice a low rasp. "Who knows if it even meant anything, you know? I mean…Cloud."
Cait Sith moved over to Vincent then hopped up to sit on his lap, staring up at him strangely.
"Did you like it?"
"How could I have…?" Vincent questioned, actually feeling more uneasy to hear the questions coming from Reeve's voice. "It was a split second moment."
"True, true…but be honest with me, Vincent. If you had a chance to be with Tifa, would you take it?" Cait Sith slowly stood up, pressing his nose against Vincent's "To love and hold her in your arms and be more than just friends…would you?"
Vincent stared right into the toy's face with a sour expression. Silence. Cait Sith pressed his gloved hands against his cheeks and gave his head a soft shake as if to pry an answer from him. No response. He hissed a sigh, releasing him.
"I could use a drink," Reeve muttered. "We'll talk more when I come over there. I won't take long. I'm not too far away."
With a soft smack to Vincent's cheek, the robotic cat fell limp and lifeless upon his lap. Holding his cheek with a grunt, he picked up the toy to set it on the table.
"Reeve…"
He felt helpless. What was happening? Things were going too fast to comprehend. In fact, was there something happening at all in the first place -to- comprehend?
Vincent dragged himself out to the bar area. Once he was there, his heart skipped a beat to see Cloud by the counter, talking to Tifa. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or heart-broken. Whatever the case, he didn't have to deal with the situation while the spiky blond was there. However, his relief was abruptly broken once he turned around to see Reeve right in front of him. He nearly jumped, but caught himself before a scene could be made.
"Oh brother," Reeve said as he placed his fists to the sides of his waist. "This truly is serious if even I can startle you."
He gestured him to take a seat at a vacant table far from the counter before he went to order a drink or two. Vincent watched him as he went to sit down and wondered why he cared. As Reeve returned, he sat across him, handing him a glass of red wine as a little tease to lighten the situation while he ordered himself a mug of light rum. The two sat there for a moment as if to make sure that they were sitting far enough so they wouldn't be heard by the other two.
"Your way of life is quite…petty," Reeve started before he took a small gulp of the rum. "Honestly, you roam constantly with little goal. Do you ever plan on doing something with your life?"
"I am in no hurry," Vincent responded, swirling the glass in his right hand.
"Right. You've been genetically altered, so now you're artificially 'immortal.' Such a sad excuse."
Vincent gave him a long, hard stare as if to ask 'Why are you lecturing –me-?'
"I have plans for the future to make things better for the world," Reeve smirked. "You'll see."
Vincent continued his silence. He had nothing to say. He didn't know what to say.
"She's looking over here," Reeve noted.
Vincent looked over to the counter to see that both Tifa and Cloud were looking at him. She smiled sweetly while his attention was more engrossed into what he was wearing and the lack of what he was wearing. He stared at Vincent for a second longer then continued to talk to Tifa while she watched Vincent a moment longer. It didn't take too long before Cloud said his goodbyes to go work once more.
"Well…of course, Cloud was looking over as well," Reeve added, his tone bizarrely serious. "Vincent, consider this. The love between Tifa and Cloud is still at a haze between sibling and romantic love. That being said, their love is more directly from Tifa and not Cloud. It's like a puppy following an oblivious small child…or a dog chasing its own tail, thinking that the tail belongs to another it could perhaps interact with."
"How crude…"
"That doesn't mean it's not true. Cloud has his distant tendencies. His way of 'protecting who he loves.' If Tifa realizes that there is more to life other than waiting for Cloud to love her, why not take the opportunity for you to love her? Who knows if he is truly over Aeris just yet. If you think about it, your romantic points of views are quite similar. Seeing as how Lucrecia chose H-"
Vincent held out a hand in front of him to tell him to stop.
"I've heard enough."
Lowering his hand down on the table, he looked downward, never taking a sip of the wine. His face twisted as if he were holding back either anger or tears. He didn't want to hear any of it. He didn't want to think about it. Regrettably, it was too late. The seeds had been planted in his mind.
In one fell swoop, Vincent swigged the entire glass of wine then swallowed roughly. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand slowly. After, he rubbed his temples in an aggravated manner.
"Personally, I think you would look good together," Reeve said in attempts to comfort him. "Especially if you continue to be open minded about your fashion sense. You've known each other long enough by now. It wouldn't be such an awkward relationship."
Vincent looked to one side meekly then rose to his feet slowly to leave him. Before he did, he pulled some gil from his pocket to pay for his share even thought it was not asked for. Lost within himself, he drifted his way back upstairs to change his clothes. Tifa saw the sorrow in his behavior, which made her lips arc into a frown.
X-X-X-X
It was late and 7th Heaven had closed for the night once again. Night showers thundered briskly outside, the raindrops pattering against the windows quietly. Tifa was doing her last minute clean-up before she called it a night to sleep. Her mind wandered, wondering what Reeve and Vincent had been talking about. She wondered what could have upset Vincent. Wondered if he was okay. It was a busy day, so she had no opportunity to check on him after he went upstairs hours ago.
One by one, she put away cleaned glasses and plates. One by one, she threw rags into a basket to put them in the laundry later.
Satisfied with her cleaning, she carried the basket into the laundry room then placed it next to the washing machine. She wiped her forehead with the palm of her hand and turned to leave the room. However, she paused. In the darkness, she saw a familiar tall silhouette. Complete with cape and gauntlet claw.
"You finally come downstairs," she said softly. "Guess you'll be on your way now, hmm?"
Emotion had been robbed from his pale face and he made no signs of replying back. Instead, he walked closer until they were face to face. He looked down at her, his eyes vacant and empty.
Tifa cocked a brow then crossed her arms. She looked up at him and imitated his expression to mock him. They stared at each other stubbornly for several minutes until Tifa gave up with a huff. She stepped by him to leave, but was soon stopped by the cold claws of his golden gauntlet. As she felt the metal graze her upper arm, she realized that it was wet. He was wet. He had been walking outside in the rain.
"Vincent…?"
"I snuck out to have some time for myself to think."
He threw his soaked cape down by the laundry basket then pulled her close to him carefully since he was holding her with his gauntlet. He encircled her with both his arms then arched down to lean his head close to hers. He brushed his lips past hers before pressing them together. He kissed her lightly to give her a chance to resist. Instead, she linked her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. He was cold to the touch, but she didn't care. Their eyes closed in unison and they began to kiss more passionately. Within a minute or two, they broke off then kissed again, but kept the second brief.
Finally releasing their embrace, they stared into each other's eyes. Both filled with question, fear, and desire. Vincent stroked her cheek with his exposed hand then gave her a tender smile.
"I've decided. I shall stay a little longer."
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My thoughts were fighting each other upon whether or not I should have written the time break moment. In the end, my older sister just had to push me on. M'heh.
I wonder if Reeve would really behave this way. Or talk that much, for the matter. I guess only Dirge of Cerberus could shed some more light to his personality.
Did I mention yet that this is my first ever fanfic? I mean, I usually only use the game's universe with fan characters. Never the game's actual characters.
