"So he's a customer, a friend, sometimes you talk about your lives past and present, and you two met while he was injured and you were out on a hunting trip?" Tifa reiterated mostly for Yuffie's benefit while chattering with the woman.
"You know that's right. Why are you so bent on giving me the third degree tonight about him?" Maiya hid a reminiscent smile behind her glass as she knocked back the last of her drink before ordering a water. Looking at Yuffie she saw that she was under intense scrutiny. "Something wrong Yuffie?"
Shaking her head she grinned. "Nothing really, just wondering if you two are ever going to go out on a real date."
Maiya slapped a hand over her mouth as she pulled her glass away to prevent herself from drenching the hostess in what would have been a classic spit take. "What?! Where in the world did you get the idea that Vincent and I were interested in each other like that?"
Yuffie started counting off the reasons while ticking off fingers. "One, you and him are always talking to each other after he comes back from a mission. Two, he's told you things I don't think he's told us willingly. Three, I don't think anyone else would stand up for him the way you do save for those of us inside our little group of heroes. Four, have you two seen the way you look at each other?" Looking triumphant she looked over at Tifa who was also thinking over the evidence and she too was starting to get the smile on her face that boded no good to anyone.
Maiya chuckled as she handed over her water glass and ordered another drink. Glancing at the two she knew they thought they had her cornered so she shook her hair back over her shoulders and with a smirk looked at the two, well prepared to poke holes in their attack. "One, Of course we're always talking when he comes back from a mission. If the WRO is dumb enough to send him out on the most dangerous, stupidest missions they can find, he's going to come back with mangled clothing, which in turn I have to repair in short order. Two, some of the things he's told me in confidence were so I could maintain his clothing properly. Others I read from the clothing itself. Three, he's one of my closest friends. He's been nothing but kind and generous to me and if some rat bastard wants to bad mouth him behind his back, well I'll be the one to see that it stops. Four, how do we look at each other? for all I know you're misreading the situation since Vincent and I know each other well enough by now that sometimes silence is a better conversation. You're a ninja, don't tell me you haven't learned the art of reading body language as conversation." The smirk that appeared when Yuffie blushed and lowered her eyes was deftly hidden by her drink glass as Maiya glanced over at Tifa who seemed a bit amused and slightly surprised at the verbal jab at her friend.
"But, but! I know what I see, and you two have it BAD for each other." Yuffie came out of her self imposed embarrassment to forward her opinion one more time. This time however Tifa chimed in.
"It does look like the two of you have something... More, going on than just friendship." The bar mistress smiled as the seamstress simply stared at her over the rim of her drink as if she'd lost her mind.
"Have you been drinking your own products Tifa, or do I just have something crazy in my ear? 'Cause I thought I just heard you agree with Miss Hyper-bot here that you both think that Vincent and I are more than friends." Maiya ignored the protest at the nickname from Yuffie while she looked Tifa in the eye, looking for an answer for what was going on between the two women. Shaking her head she knocked back a large portion of her drink without stopping causing both women to go wide-eyed at the performance.
This act however gave her the few moments needed to pull together what she knew about the other women that they knew the others in their little clique didn't know, yet. "So what about you Yuffie? You just sparring buddies with Rude, or you got a little something more going on after practice?" Catching the woman as she was stuttering her denial that there was nothing going on while her face turned several shades of red that had yet to be invented, Maiya turned to look at Tifa, "What about you. Join the Mile High club with Cid or are those flying lessons going to waste?"
Smirking into her drink she let the other two that had been picking on her see her amusement as she turned their game around on them neatly, without drawing the attention of the crowd in the bar. Seeing that the two were ready to loudly voice their denials she spoke up after swallowing the last of her drink. "Quietly ladies. The last thing any of us need is the city gossip mill talking about this because they over heard us teasing each other at the bar."
"But.. But..." Yuffie spluttered trying to argue her way out of the bag she was in.
"You started it, if you wanted to have a gossip session about our personal lives you should have come over to my place while my shop was closed on the weekend and we could have been noisy as I have no neighbors." Maiya pointed out bluntly.
Tifa smiled and nodded her head seeing the out for what it was. "All right. We'll come over next weekend then a few hours before I have to open 7th Heaven and we can have a Girl Talk then. We'll also keep in mind that you debate rather viciously and are not above embarrassing the daylights out of us to win an argument." Tifa chuckled self deprecatingly.
Maiya shrugged. "If you're willing to bring up my social life, or lack there of in a social setting where it doesn't belong, then I'll do the same to you. So long as you play nice, I will too." Her mild demeanor turned into a shark eating grin that made the other two nervous and made Yuffie especially wonder if it was such a good idea to hound her about that topic of conversation.
Paying up her tab, Maiya waved to the two and made her way out the door, saying goodbyes and good nights to others she knew as she went. Yuffie and Tifa watched her go and looked at each other with mild trepidation. "You think we should leave her along about this?" Yuffie asked. Both thought about it for a moment and with grins replied in unison, looking forward to the next weekend's Girl Talk. "NAH!"