A Coffee Shop Instead

Gabreilla Moushigo

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Tifa swore as she woke up in a puddle of her own drool. Must have been snoring, she thought as she wiped her face. A crick in her neck formed overnight from falling asleep on the damned table. Ugh… what a crappy day.

Someone had called last week, eager to buy her establishment. The price they offered was very generous and she decided to sell it right away. The new owners were going to scrap the bar and turn it into a coffee house. What a neat idea, she should have thought of that.

Tifa's situation started to dawn on her. She needed to move out… but to where? Would she go to Kalm still? Would Vincent be there? Was he delayed?

Now she wondered why she sold 7th Heaven in the first place. She rubbed the back of her tender neck. Tears pricked her dry eyes as she wondered what she would do now. Tifa had just assumed he would be here already. She blinked a few times, determined no to cry before she pounded the table with her free hand, causing it to rattle angrily. "Damnit Vincent!"

"Yes?" An answer from somewhere to the left came.

"Shit!" Her head snapped up, her neck protesting against the violent movement, the sharp pain shot down her spine. "Ow…." She lowered her head for a moment, rubbing her tender neck again.

Vincent was sitting at the bar, eating from the cherry bowl left out the night before. "Watch your mouth… Cid." She knew he was smiling after he said that.

"Hey!" She huffed indignantly, getting up. "And just where have you been?"

Her expression reminded him of Marlene when she threw a tantrum. "I was walking here of course." He explained, as if she were stupid, at least she thought so.

"What?" She asked dumbly, "Why didn't you call?"

Vincent reached into his cloak and pulled out his cell phone, clearly a bullet had gone through it. It was now nothing more than a mess of plastic and wires. "Sorry." He looked away, sensing her anger in the air.

Feeling very much the fool, she walked over and sat down next to him before hanging her head in shame. "No, I'm sorry," She apologized herself. "I thought that you might have changed your mind."

"Why would I do that?" He mimicked her earlier huff and helped himself to a few more cherries.

"I don't know," Tifa felt idiotic. "I guess I just… with all the Lucrecia and Shelke business that maybe. I dunno." She didn't even want to finish her sentence.

"Huh," He gave a shadow of a laugh. "I don't think so."

"I know it's stupid." She put her hands on the counter and twiddled her thumbs. "I guess when it took you a month to come back… I guess I began to worry a bit."

"I'm sorry to have made you worry." Vincent pushed the bowl of cherries out of his reach, removing the temptation. "I would have used Shelke's phone, but she dropped hers in the river." He made a stop at Cid's house too; he didn't have a phone at all. He asked if Cid wouldn't mind flying him back to Edge and the pilot agreed with a gleam in his eye. The bastard just dumped Vincent off in the middle of no where. Vincent was only too happy that Shera would probably beat the flyboy within an inch of his life when he got home and told her the story. He wouldn't be able to resist.

If she didn't… he would have to think of some fun prank to pull on him when he saw him next.

"Where is she now?" Tifa wondered aloud, still thinking about Shelke.

"I'm not sure, but I think she said something about finding her place in this world." Vincent sounded a little melancholy.

"How did you feel to know she had Lucrecia's memories?" Tifa finally asked. There was no point in dancing around the issue anymore than she had to.

He sighed, apparently knowing it would be coming. "It was strange I guess, having someone I barely knew… know me so well."

"I'll bet." Tifa nodded.

"I guess she unnerved me more than anything, but she is like me in a way." Vincent tapped his foot soundly on the foot rest. "We are both experiments. It's not her fault that she is the way she is, but I still find it… odd."

"I see."

"Really Tifa," He looked over at her with a grin. "Did you think I was interested in her?"

"Well no," She lied and then… "Maybe."

"I see." He mimicked her earlier statement. "Obviously no one knows my type then."

"What is your type Vincent?" She smiled at his softening tone.

"It certainly isn't someone who has my figure." He smiled at her lewdly as possible. "It's nice to have a little something to… grab on to once in a while."

Tifa turned beat red at that. "Vincent!"

"It's true."

"Have you been taking notes from Cid or what!" She poked him.

"I just had a drink with him, that's all." He laughed at her flushed expression. "That certainly did not leave enough time for him to rub off on me." He was feeling a little adventurous today, so he went on. "Although we have discussed your attributes in times past."

If he thought she couldn't become even redder, he was sadly mistaken; her blush now covered her ears and part of her neck. She smacked him smartly on the arm. "I cannot believe you!" She covered her face and laughed a little. She was embarrassed but silently glad that Vincent had found a friend to warm up to.

Vincent decided to show her some of the mercy she had shown him in the past and changed the subject. "Are you leaving everything in your house to the people who bought your establishment?" He noticed that everything was in the same place as it always had been.

"Yeah, I think so." Tifa nodded, giving it a sweeping look. "I'm not really attached to anything in here anyway."

"I would have thought you might have at least sent all this liquor to your new business." He continued to pop one cherry into his mouth after the other. "It must cost a lot to start up again."

"I was thinking of making a coffee shop instead." Tifa threw the idea on the counter.

Vincent made a mental note to steal all of the cherry jars Tifa kept in the back. He hoped that Yuffie wasn't rubbing off on him. "Huh, so instead of seeing people coming in after a bad day of work, you are choosing to see people who are about to have a bad day at work?" He smiled then, and she saw a flash of teeth. His cloak was undone for the benefit of eating the cherries earlier. He didn't have anything to hide anyway; it was just the two of them. "Which is worse?"

"I guess I'll find out." Tifa said, craning her neck around.

"I guess you will." He repeated thoughtfully and then asked, "Tifa?"

"Yes?"

"Did you mean it?" His elbow sat soundly against the bar as he rested his chin against his hand.

She knew what he was talking about, on the phone. "Yeah."

"I'm glad," He looked away from her then, a bit of an uncharacteristic flush coming to his face. He looked content.

Tifa decided to change the subject, so he would feel more comfortable. "Did you listen to Shelke and go talk to her?"

"I see she told you about the message." He looked back at her. "Yes, I did go see her."

"Ah," Tifa nodded. "And?"

"And I feel, like I can go on now." He smiled. "She wanted me to live life, so I should." The guilt that had been dragging him down for years was lessening. The dreams he had for around thirty years, finally stopped.

"That's good." She patted his shoulder fondly.

"Tifa?" He prodded, leaning into her arm.

"Yes?"

"I love you too." He placed his lips on hers before he rested his clothed forehead against her naked one. This was quickly becoming his habit of showing his great affection towards her. "Now let's get the hell out of here."

He only needed to say the word. "Ok."

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This was by far the most enjoyable chapters I've written so far.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have a few more little weird, tie-up-the-loose ends chapters a bit later (with Cloud and all that). I hated to bring in stupid angst about a 19 year old (but looks like a 9 year old) girl. It's not something I felt like I could sweep under the rug and ignore completely, but I wanted to address it and get it the heck off of my plate as soon as possible. I cannot believe I found a couple even more gross than YuffieXVincent! (Sorry to all your fangirls out there but eewwwww!) VincentXShelke - bleh! I guess that they both are completely legal at age 19… but still. Ew!

Just be happy knowing that this is the last time I'm going to mention Lucrecia or Shelke in any romantic angst context. (Still feels grossed out). There is no point in drawing it out and beating that necrophilia/pedophilic dead horse in the head anymore than it has to be beat. (Ok, I made myself laugh with that one).

Anyways, Tifa is 23 years old and Vincent is 30 during DoC… I think that 7 years difference is enough thank you very much.

The main thing is – is to focus in on Tifa and Vincent's relationship – and that's what I would like to do. I hate it when stories that are supposed to be about two certain people – are clouded over by… well… Cloud.

Vinny The Vampire – I cannot believe you gleaned that off of the second chapter hehe. It's like you read my mind or something. I absolutely agree that a Shelke and Vincent relationship is crossing over into the twilight zone. I think that Shelke might have had some feelings for Vincent from her facial expressions, but it was just too gross to really consider. I almost wonder if they did that on purpose so he would never… ever have anything more than a platonic relationship with anyone. The girls are either taken or too young.

Lady Shiva: I'm glad you liked it and I'll do my best!

Ok – that's two chapters in one day. Please leave reviews and tell me what you think. It will be just a little while before I get the next chapters up. They are semi-written but I need add a few details and edit them a bit. A week at most… hopefully.