Chapter 7: New Plans, Same Old Cid
Yuffie clicked her pen with a very much satisfied air.
In front of her was three days of carefully collected notes, all concerning one tall, dark, and brooding crush of hers.
She stretched, wincing as her neck creaked in protest. For three days she had, when it was all said and done, stalked Vincent, often resulting in her being holed up in small spaces for long periods of time. Judging by her stiff muscles and joints, her body was not pleased with her recent activities, but she ignored the aches, grinning instead as she studied the fruits of her efforts. She had meticulously and studiously recorded every moment of Vincent's last three days, not leaving out a single detail.
In truth, the only part of his day that she really needed to know about was when he took a shower, but she had found herself incredibly enjoying the look into his habits. Although she'd be the last to admit it to anyone, she was completely fascinated by him, to the point where it scared her and brought up feelings beyond simple physical attraction that she refused to think about.
She studied her notes. There were several pages of them, but the truly important parts were circled. These circles indicated when Vincent showered.
When she had first come up with her rather desperate plan, Yuffie had been worried that Vincent never showered at all, due to one of the rarely-mentioned 'enhancements' left to him courtesy of Hojo – maybe Vincent simply never got smelly, or something. But her fears had been put to rest, as it turned out he showered every single day, though whether that was because he actually needed to or because he just liked to take showers, Yuffie was not sure. It didn't matter either way; he took showers, and that was all Yuffie needed to know.
His showers, she discovered, were always taken in the God forsaken early hours of the morning. She wanted to yawn just thinking about it. She did yawn, due to the fact that she had barely slept the last three days as she completed her stake out on Vincent. Hyperactive teenage ninja aside, it was starting to tell on her, and dark circles had begun to form under her eyes.
Just one more day, then you can sleep all you like, Yuffs, with many pleasant dreams as a bonus. She set her jaw in determination, refusing to let any more yawns escape as she checked over her newly made planning sheet once more.
Her plan was simple, and was more dependent on luck then she would've liked, but so far it seemed that Leviathan was smiling kindly on her. She had decided she would 'accidently' walk in on Vincent after he took a shower, snap a picture using her camera phone, then flee for the getaway car (which didn't actually exist, but she liked to pretend it did as it seemed much more secret agent-like).
The bathroom in their hotel room had an automatically locking door, which, once locked, could only be opened from either the inside or with the room key. Vincent, after her little escapade in the snow, had kept the hotel key on him at all times, though they both knew she could pick the lock if she felt like. However, picking the bathroom lock, or even using the key, would not be noiseless and therefore allow Vincent time to do something before she got the door open. Fortunately for her, however, the lock on the door was separate from the actual handle, and could therefore be taped so the door would still close but not lock.
The other very, very, important part of her plan was that she not walk in too early on Vincent. As much as the idea appealed to her (though she always blushed just thinking about thinking about it and therefore tried to keep her hormones away from that line of thought) she did not think it would be wise to walk in on Vincent when he was completely starkers. She was quite sure that would end up with her head at the pointy end of Cerberus, as a matter of fact. And so timing was everything – she would stand by the door, and listen for him to put his pants on (she had practiced her listening the last two days) before walking in on him. If she left it too late, he would have his shirt on, and that simply would not do.
Content with her plan, Yuffie folded up the paper and carefully tucked it into a secure pocket, before she opened her phone and started casually deleting unimportant pictures to make memory space for pictures that would soon adorn her display background and make her drool every time she opened her phone.
As she waited for one picture to erase, she glanced at the clock. It was after six in the evening, and Vincent would be back in the next hour or two. He still insisted on investigating the 'supposed illicit activities' they had been sent out here to investigate in the first place. Yuffie had refused to go, calling it a waste of time - which, in all fairness, it was. Vincent didn't seem too unhappy about her refusal, instead appearing rather relieved that she would stay put indoors (or so he thought, unaware of her other intentions that involved following him absolutely everywhere).
Vincent's earliest shower in the last three days had been at – Yuffie suppressed a shudder at the thought – four-thirty in the morning. Which meant that tomorrow she would be up at four. She again became aware of how sleep deprived she was when another yawn forced its way out of her mouth, and she contemplated going to bed early to catch up a bit, now that she didn't need to watch Vincent's every action. She immediately decided against it though, not wanting to alert Vincent to anything being wrong.
Done purging her phone's memory, she plugged it into the charger. The last thing she needed tomorrow was a shirtless Vinnie and a phone that was out of batteries.
She flicked on the TV, surfing rather listlessly, her thoughts already on tomorrow and the hopeful sights it would bring. She wondered if Tifa had managed to get spooned and/or a picture of Cloud shirtless yet. She was curious, but she would find out soon enough. Cid was flying Tifa and Cloud back from Rocket Town and picking up Yuffie and Vincent on the way. He would be arriving in two days.
By that time, Yuffie planned to be 200 gil richer.
Tifa sat in Cid and Shera's kitchen, sipping a cup of tea. They had arrived in Rocket Town earlier that day, three days after leaving Frelt and two days after finishing their delivery in Corel. Tifa had taken advantage of their stop at Corel to pick up some genuine Corel-grown herbs for refilling Seventh Heaven's stock of wine ingredients.
The front door opened, and Shera appeared, arms full of groceries, closely followed by an oil-spattered Cid, freshly returned from his workshop at the airfield. Tifa put down her tea and rose to help Shera with the groceries. She grinned at the pilot as she did so, not having seen him in some weeks.
"Hi, Cid," she greeted him.
"'Eya, Tifa, what the hell you doin' 'ere?" Cid replied, returning her grin. He stopped suddenly and did a second take, squinting at her.
"What?" Tifa asked, feeling suddenly self-conscious.
"What the fuck's got you so happy?" Cid asked, frowning. Shera was frowning too, but hers was directed at Cid and his choice of language. Tifa privately thought that Shera was fighting a losing battle if she was trying to clean up Cid's vocabulary.
Tifa shrugged. Shera had asked her and Cloud the same question when they had arrived. Apparently they both were in a much happier mood than usual. Though she couldn't explain Cloud's increase in positivity, she knew perfectly well her own reason. Currently it was tucked away in between a pair of panties in her bag.
She smiled at the thought of it.
"See!" Cid exclaimed. "Look atcha, all happy-go-fucking-lucky for no fucking reason at all."
Tifa laughed.
"I'm not sure why I'm in such a good mood, Cid. Maybe it's the change of scenery."
Cid snorted loudly, sitting down heavily and propping his feet up on the table. "Change of scenery my ass, if I didn't know better I'd say you got laid," he said, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket.
Tifa instantly flushed red.
"Cid," Shera reprimanded, throwing an apologetic look in Tifa's direction and tearing away the cigarette pack from the blonde, which was promptly tossed in the garbage.
"What?" Cid asked, frowning at the garbage can as if it it was the one who had confiscated his precious cancer-causers.
Shera was saved the trouble of answering by Cloud returning from his delivery.
"Hello again, Cloud," Shera smiled at him.
Cloud smiled back, and opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a loud exclamation from Cid.
"You too? What the fuck? Why're you so happy too, huh?" he gestured wildly at a bewildered Cloud. Then he stopped, and his gaze shifted to Tifa, then back to Cloud.
"AHA!" he yelled triumphantly, startling the other occupants of the room. "You guys laid each other, am I right or am I right? About fucking time, if I say so myself!"
Tifa felt her gut turn in mortification as her whole face heated up. She didn't dare look at Cloud, but out of the corner of her eye she saw his jaw drop and his face turn a previously undiscovered shade of scarlet.
"CID HIGHWIND!" Shera shrieked, smacking Cid on the arm. "Have I taught you no sense of decency at all?"
"What?" Cid whined, rubbing his arm. "I'm just sayin', is all."
Shera shook her head in exasperation. Tifa studiously avoided looking at Cloud, instead entertaining herself with various imaginings of her causing Cid serious bodily harm. Her gaze flickered to Cloud momentarily against her will. From the glower on his face – which was still quite red – he was entertaining similar thoughts.
"Right, well, how about you help Cloud with his things, Cid?" Shera suggested in a do-it-right-now-or-you-are-on-the-couch-the-rest-of-your-very-very-short-life kind of tone. Cid apparently picked up on it, because he clapped his hands together and grabbed Cloud's bags, giving Shera a quick kiss on the cheek before lugging his load upstairs with Cloud in his wake.
Shera watched them go with narrowed eyes, waiting until they were all the way upstairs before turning to Tifa to apologize once more. Seeing her intent, Tifa help up a hand to forestall her.
"Don't worry about it Shera, it's just Cid being Cid."
Shera gave her a sympathetic look. "I know he's crude about it, but he really just wants the best for you two."
Tifa raised her eyebrows, and before she could stop herself, asked, "He thinks the best for thing for us is for us to sleep with each other?" She blinked a moment later, realizing what she said, and felt the blush from Cid's comment, that had begun to diminish, return in full force.
Shera now gave her another look, which was decidedly less sympathetic and much more the satisfied smirk of a woman who had finally gotten her friend to admit she has the hots for boy next door.
"Cid's eloquence aside, he's perfectly right about you two being less broody than usual." Shera said as she finished packing away the groceries. "If you don't mind my prying, did something happen between you two?"
"Well..." Tifa began, squirming slightly. "I did, erm..."
Shera leaned against the kitchen counter, arms folded across her chest as she waited patiently.
"I got a picture of him with his shirt off," Tifa finished in a rush, sure that the heat from her face could power a small town.
Shera's eye widened slightly, then she beamed. Seeing Tifa's embarrassment, she came over and patted her lightly on the arm, sitting next to her.
"To be honest, I'm surprised that Cid and I are the only married couple in our merry band of ex-terrorists," she stated bluntly. "Everyone thought you and Cloud would've gotten together ages ago."
Tifa shrugged, frowning, her awkwardness disappearing in face of a sympathetic ear from a woman ten years her senior and with infinite more experience in the field of love.
"It was really hard for him to let go of Aerith. He felt guilty for her death, and the fact is that he did love her, back in the day," Tifa said softly without any bitterness. She and Aerith had been like sisters, and she would never hold anything against her. She could hardly blame Cloud for loving Aerith or Aerith for loving Cloud. She knew you didn't choose who you fell in love with.
"Be that as it may, he can't keep living in the past. I think he's already realized that, though," Shera said, looking thoughtful. "Because, unless he took a picture of you without your shirt on," she glanced at Tifa, raising an eyebrow in silent enquiry. Tifa giggled, shaking her head. Shera continued. "He is in an inexplicably good mood. I swore I saw him whistling to himself as he left to do his deliveries this morning."
Tifa frowned in puzzlement at the words. Now that she stopped to really think about it, Cloud was in a much lighter, happier mood than he usually was. Especially since Frelt, which confused her. He obviously hadn't taken pleasure in her pictures of him, so what had made him so happy?
"I take it you have no idea why, then," Shera asked. Tifa looked up, startled from her thoughts, to see Shera studying her closely. Tifa slowly shook her head.
"None, I'm afraid."
They sat in silence a few moments.
"Have you tried asking him?" Shera asked suddenly.
Tifa opened her mouth, about to respond with Of course but paused, realizing that would be a lie. "I...no, I haven't."
"Maybe you should make an inquiry," Shera suggested wryly. "I've always found communication to be easier when you actually speak with the other party."
"Does communication work well when half the conversation is 'fuck'?" Tifa asked, grinning innocently.
"Depends what the conversations about," Shera replied without hesitation, grinning back at Tifa, who let out a loud burst of laughter at that. Tifa sobered quickly though, and she looked at the older woman earnestly.
"Do you enjoy being married?"
Shera gave a small smile. "It has its ups and downs, as does everything else, but..." She idly spun the ring on her finger, staring at the softly reflecting light off the gold as she considered her answer. "When you find the right person, it's the best experience in the world, waking up everyday next to them, making meals with them, brushing your teeth with them, just simply being there with them. And you can have that all without being married, of course, but when you're actually married, it just seems to make all those things...I don't know, a hundred thousand times better." She gave a self-conscious laugh, shaking her head and grinning ruefully. "I'm sorry. The answer is absolutely, I love Cid and I love being married to him."
It was the absolute truth. Tifa could see the complete sincerity in Shera's eyes and hear it in her tone. She wanted to ask her more about it but was interrupted by Cid and Cloud tramping back down the stairs. Shera, giving her one last smile, got up to start making dinner, leaving Tifa to her thoughts.
Tifa watched Cloud out of the corner of her eye, musing over the conversation in her head. She imagined momentarily being married to him, but she quickly turned away from that train of thought, as it filled her with a sickening amount of both terror and hope. Instead she settled on observing his mood, noticing with startling clarity the truth of Cid and Shera's previous statements; Cloud truly was in a good mood. And for the life of her, she could not figure out why.
She resolved to ask him the first chance she got.
A/N: I'm sorry for the wait in updates, but I had to put this on hiatus so I could focus on my exams. That said, exams are all over and done with, so back to writing I go. Hope the longer chapter helps make up for the wait. I'd also like to say that I really appreciate all the reviews I've gotten so far – you guys all rock, and if I could, I'd bake you all cookies, but if I did all you would get are charred lumps of something. I do make killer Kraft Dinner though, if anyone would like some. That aside, though, I am truly grateful for all the feedback.
A slightly serious chapter, but expect more fun and fluff in the next one!