A.N.: I apologize if this fic still seems a little slow. This chapter was originally supposed to include what will now be the third chapter, but I decided to keep it as it is so I could dedicate more effort to each scenario without worrying about the chapter being too long.
This is my half-assed way of promising that it will get better from here. XD I suppose I can't really promise such a thing, but just trust me.
XXXXXXXXXThe look of joy and relief on her face made his decision absolutely worth it. Her entire face opened up into incredulous elation. "You… you'll stay?" she asked with wide hopeful eyes.
He nodded once. "Yes, if that is what you wish."
When she broke into a genuine smile, he was suddenly very glad he had chosen to stay. "Yes," she said, grin broadening as she pulled him inside, as if in fear that if she hesitated he would change his mind and she would never get him back. She really was quite beautiful like that, smiling not because she felt she had to, but because she wanted to.
Once the door was closed, she wasted no time in throwing her arms around his neck and embracing him tightly. Months ago he would have practically cringed at the open physical contact, but it was a habit he had since been forced to get rid of. Tifa was what he supposed many described as the 'touchy-feely' type. It had at first made him a bit uncomfortable, but he had speedily gotten used to it. Moments like these, feeling every curve of her body pressed solidly against him, had considerably quickened the process.
He returned the hug with surprising enthusiasm. She in turn squeezed him more tightly, holding him closer, and he could feel her contented smile against his chest. Taking a chance and being a bit bolder for her sake always seemed to pay off.
She pulled away and lapsed into silence, looking at him gratefully. He didn't mind. She could stare at him forever if she wanted to—as long as she looked happy. "Right," she said, abruptly switching to hostess mode. "You wanted to know where you'll be sleeping."
Her fingers were intertwined with his and she was leading him upstairs before he had a chance to protest. However, he most likely wouldn't have. Part of him knew that he was perfectly capable of finding his way around without being led by the hand, but an increasingly insistent part of his psyche was too busy enjoying the contact that she so readily offered.
"Umm, you'll be staying in my room. And well, it was Cloud's too I guess, when he was here, if you wanna think of it like that," she explained, pushing open the door at the top of the stairs.
When he saw the lone bed in the center of the room, he frowned for oh-so-many reasons.
She laughed weakly as he stared at the bed. "Yeah, there's only one… I didn't plan this out too well, huh?"
But that wasn't what troubled him. She and Cloud had been… sharing a bed? The concept was unpleasant enough to make him wish he had chosen to stay away. Not only was it maddening to think that Cloud was intimate with a woman he was so undeserving of, but it was positively infuriating that he could have left that woman without a word after sharing something so deep and personal.
Vincent's frowned intensified. A man of Cloud's character and experience was unlikely to have the capacity to treat that kind of closeness with the respect and care it needed. That no doubt explained why he was gone.
Tifa cleared her throat awkwardly at Vincent's brooding silence. "Well… there used to be two beds in here. You know, mine and Cloud's. Mine was over there," she said, pointing to the window side of the room. "When he left I thought, hey, I might as well take his bed, you know, cause it was farther from the windows and I get cold sometimes…" She trailed off but pressed on immediately afterwards, perhaps hoping she would say something that would pull him out of his reverie. "But then I thought… why have two beds and use only one, when I could have a big bed and have it all to myself?" she said with a feeble laugh. "…Maybe it was more like… an act of defiance," She shuffled her feet. "Got some pretty good money when I sold the twin beds… and then I bought this one."
Vincent's relief was immense. His most recent resentment towards Cloud was indeed a waste of energy, but his mind was so put at ease that he didn't worry about it. He wasn't sure why he should care whether or not Cloud and Tifa were lovers, but something made him glad over the heavily implication that they weren't. At any rate, he was proud of her for getting rid of reminders of Cloud. Disposing of his bed especially showed that she was not leaving a place for him in hope that he would return.
"I guess I should have thought about that before I asked you to move in," she said, smile seeming less forced as he dropped his fretful countenance.
The corners of his mouth twitched slightly in response. He really wished she'd smile more often. "I suppose you should have," he said with a teasing eyebrow raised.
"Oh well," she said with a faint blush. "Anyway, I'll take the couch downstairs, and you'll get the bed until… we get another one I guess."
He instantly shook his head. "I cannot take your bed from you. I'm enough of an intrusion as it is."
"Vincent," she said sternly. "You're not an intrusion. I asked you to be here. And that makes you my guest, and I'm not letting my guest have anything other than the bed."
"And I would never allow a woman to sleep on a couch while I slept in her bed." His nearly forgotten code of chivalry was strictly against it.
She pursed her lips and the two stared each other down, both too courteous and too stubborn to accept anything other than what felt right to their consciences. Each one's morals were too strong to concede to the others.
"Well," she said with a soft sigh, gaze dropping to the bed, then the floor. "We could always share the bed…"
He blinked at her.
"I mean, we're obviously not getting anywhere this way."
His eyes darted to the bed and back to her.
"…It wouldn't kill us," she insisted.
A million forbidden thoughts raced through his mind at the mere idea of sharing a bed with her. His urges were easy enough to keep in check when he kept a considerable distance from her, both emotionally and physically, but this would be too much.
…What was that word he'd used again?
He watched Tifa lick her lips, waiting for a reaction from him.
Temptation. Yes, that was it.
If he were between the sheets with her, how long would it be before he had to give into the impulse to convert their definition of the term 'sleeping together' from the literal to the figurative?
Wouldn't kill her, perhaps, but it might kill him…
"No, of course it wouldn't," he affirmed.
She seemed to brighten considerably now that he had finally responded. "Exactly," she said nodding. "I mean, we must've slept next to each other at some point during the whole AVALANCHE thing, right?"
No, never. He would… remember something like that. "Right."
"We'll just… go look for another bed tomorrow."
"Very well."
"Hey," she said, stepping closer and touching him affectionately on the arm. "Are you hungry?"
"Starving," he admitted.
She smiled at his hyperbole. "Let me get you something to eat."
As she walked out of the room, he remained a moment to enthusiastically take in her apparel. She had discarded the layers of leather she had acquired since opening this bar. Vincent thought it was a good choice—those clothes hadn't really suited her, in his opinion. Her figure was much better appreciated when it wasn't swathed in thick fabric. Now she had adopted a style not unlike the one she had while they were fighting Sephiroth. 'The more skin, the better' wasn't generallya philosophy he believed in, but when that skin was just so enjoyable to look at…
"Vincent…?" Tifa's voice called from halfway down the stairs. A moment later she poked her head into the room with a playful smile. "Thought you were hungry."
"I believe the word I used was 'starving,'" he corrected with a smirk.
She put her hands on her hips with a look of mock annoyance. "Well whatever adjective you'd like to use, we can't do anything about it up here. Come on."
It may have been a tad superfluous for her to lead him upstairs, but he definitely knew where the bar was. This time when she held his hand, he knew it was entirely unnecessary. And that made it entirely more enjoyable.
He seated himself on a barstool, something that had easily become routine in his visits.
"Umm… is a sandwich okay?" she asked, opening the fridge and bending over to get a better look inside.
"Yes that would be…" His words were briefly lost when he caught sight of her form. "…Fine." If she leaned over any more he'd be able to see her—
She laughed a bit, turning away and combining the ingredients she took from the fridge. "I wouldn't really be able to offer you much else anyway," When she turned back to him, he noticed that her smile disappeared just a quickly as it had formed. "…Cloud actually used to do most of the grocery shopping. It was easier for him to do it, because he was out all the time anyway," She pushed a plate towards Vincent, resting her elbows on the counter and heaving a sigh. "It was… nice having him around to do those kind of things," Her eyes dropped to the counter, watching as she dragged her fingernail in aimless circles on the wooden surface.
Vincent ate in silence. She would often lapse into pensiveness this way, whenever she thought of him. All Vincent could do was wait patiently and let her say whatever she wanted to say. Sometimes she would go on for nearly an hour. Sometimes she grew almost indignant. Sometimes she would begin to cry.
During those times, he wished he could hold her, soothe her, do anything to take her pain away, make her forget that Cloud ever existed. But she was still too fragile and he was still too unsure.
"Well…" she said, a smile forming on her face. "It was convenient having him around anyway."
He was beginning to rethink his current assessment of her feelings. She wasn't completely over Cloud, and it would have been hypocritical of him, of all people, to expect otherwise. It had taken him long enough to accept that whatever longing he felt for Lucrecia would only destroy him from the inside out.
Perhaps Tifa was on that same path as well. Her little jest at Cloud's expense showed immense promise. Maybe it would take a little insistence on Vincent's part to get Tifa to regard Cloud as nothing but a distant memory.
Tifa giggled. "But now I can make you run out and do things for me," she teased, leaning close, allowing him to see the amusement in her eyes.
His gaze was once again tempted into traveling well below face. He hadn't really noticed the way her shirt exposed an ample amount of cleavage, or at least he had been trying not to. But when she hunched over on the counter like that, his baser instincts told him to notice, almost abandoning any notion of being surreptitious.
…And he was going to be sharing a bed with her, while she wore her no-doubt revealing sleepwear? Oh God…
"It's not necessary that I run out. I can… do things for you wherever you want." There was innuendo in that statement and he knew it. The question was, did she?
But just then her eyebrows rose. A smirk appeared on her face and he donned one to match it. "That's an enticing offer," she admitted slyly. Her tone had become a bit subtler, more seductive to his now over-active imagination. "My last housemate wasn't quite so…" She paused, obviously for effect. "Generous."
He leaned closer as well, allowing his voice to become a little less casual and a little more seductive. "I aim to please."
"Whenever I ask?" she said, also leaning forward with interest.
His eyes were once again helplessly drawn to her ever-descending neckline. "Absolutely. I am at your beck and call."
"Hmm…" she said, taking his empty dish and putting it in the dishwasher. "Then you'd better be ready when I decide I want you for something."
He was ready already.
"We should get to bed," she suggested. "It's getting kind of late."
"Yes, it has been a long day."
She placed her hand on his arm again when they reached the landing outside the bedroom. "I'm gonna go change in the bathroom. You can have the bedroom."
Before he could get a word in she had darted into the bedroom to retrieve something to change into and the bathroom door swung shut in his face. He retreated and sat down on the bed.
When she emerged a few minutes later, he was dismayed, but admittedly very pleased, to find that his prediction about her sleep attire was entirely correct. Perhaps her nightie wasn't overly tight or skimpy, but the material was paper-thin. It clung to her skin when she moved, painting a very clear picture of the body underneath it.
He opened his mouth to speak but the words were lost somewhere along the way. To his surprise, she cut him off.
"Yeah I know," she said, "I just realized you didn't bring anything with you."
"Yes. I just wanted to tell you that I was going to leave and get some of my things."
"No, no, no," she said, sitting next to him with a slight laugh. "Don't be crazy. Stay here."
He eyed her with a bit of skepticism, without turning towards her. "I will need something to sleep in."
She nudged him. "No you don't."
He couldn't help but smirk at her words. "Why…" he questioned huskily. "Do you have… plans for me that don't require clothes?" It couldn't hurt to ask.
"You know what I mean!" she said, promptly blushing in a way that made him wonder if the answer to his question was a whole-hearted yes. "Just make yourself comfortable. It's only for one night," She reached to her night table for a bottle of moisturizer. "There's some stuff of Cloud's in the drawer over there too."
Wearing anything of Cloud's was out of the question. Aside from the fact that he was against the idea in general, he and Cloud were simply not of the same size. So Vincent opted to 'make himself comfortable,' as she suggested.
Now… how was he going to do that?
He normally slept in his underwear… or less. That too was out of the question. He'd figure something out. He was relieved had hadn't completely gotten into the habit of sleeping in the nude. If that were the only way he could be comfortable, he'd be in a bit of trouble.
He started by pulling off his bandanna, getting up and crossing the room so he could place it on the dresser. There, that was one garment out of the way. Kicking off his shoes, he decided that his cloak would be next to go. He certainly couldn't sleep in that. He started undoing the buckles, slowing down considerably when he looked at Tifa again.
She had placed a foot up on the nightstand so she could better apply the lotion to her legs. Her already short clothing had ridden high, and he took a good look while he knew she was turned the other way. He wondered if that moisturizer really made her skin feel as soft as it looked.
He went to the door to hang his cloak on a hook, and looked down at his shirt. That wouldn't be 'comfortable' either. He discarded it and hung it up with his cloak. His hands automatically went to his belt, He started to unbuckle it, knowing that thick leather would be worse to sleep in than even a heavy cloak.
As he undid the button, he noticed Tifa's eyes on him. Her mouth was slightly agape, and she blushed quickly and looked away. He was also a bit embarrassed as he realized he had been effectively stripping in front of her, without even any warning.
But the pants had to go. He was reserved when the moment called for it, but he wasn't going to go as far as sleeping in those damn stifling pants. Besides, she didn't seem to be complaining. He hung them over a chair and sat on the side of the bed opposite her.
"…Can I turn the light off?" Tifa asked quietly.
"Yes," he said, taking one last moment to will away every dirty thought he was having before sliding between the sheets. "Go ahead."
The room plunged into darkness, and Vincent stared at the barely-visible ceiling, not feeling much like sleeping. This wasn't really how he pictured his first time in bed with her.
He heard her let out a soft moan as she finally found the right position on the bed.
…Well, perhaps there were a few similarities between fantasy and reality. Absence of former love interest—check. Lack of clothing—definite check.
He cast that thought away and turned on his side, inching as close to the edge of the mattress as he could without falling out. The bed really was smaller than it looked. He had at first thought that Tifa was already halfway into slumber, but he suddenly sensed her unrest.
She shifted so she was facing his back. "Vincent…?"
He turned over to look at her as best he could through the darkness, trying hard to study her face as she hesitated. There was something she wanted to say but was afraid to. He had seen that look so many times.
"I just…" She paused in a final effort to decide if she should voice her thoughts. "…wanted to say goodnight," she finished lamely.
He wished she'd had the courage to say what she had been thinking. "Goodnight Tifa."
She smiled faintly and turned away again, and he did the same.
Through the corner of his eye, her figure was clearly visible even beneath the blankets, and he fought unsuccessfully to keep his mind out of the gutter. He would be okay this first night, he decided. It would be difficult, but he would prevent himself from acting on hormonal inclination. But it would only be a matter of time before he could no longer resist the impulse to touch her, kiss her, undress her. That would have been a concern even if they had been staying in separate rooms.
He could only imagine the dreams that would be visiting him once he fell asleep.
XXXXXXXXXA.N.: Thanks to all the usual people. Winde for beta-ing, Steph for convincing me to stop there. I think it'll work about better in the end.
Please, click that little review button. These numbers are pathetic compared to Wild Ride! XD
