Muse Notes: Hehe. I love reviews! I love friendly Beta-ppl!

Rating: M

Warnings: Yaoi, eventual lemon.

Author: JaDeDwithScArS

Disclaimer: Still not mine...curse it all!

Beta'd by the Wonderful: SF! Any mistakes left are my own, -Thnx again SF!-

Authors Notes: Wow, I am so glad you people like this! And thankyou so much for the reviews! JoY! I have a Beta! Maybe all you guys out there will be able to understand this now.I can only hope!..Stay with me here and I will update asap!

n,n

Jaffa

xxxooo

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Chapter Two: Oh...crap...

Vincent waited patiently in the park, where the snow had covered the ground, but was no longer falling. He was still wearing his normal clothing, well, normal for him anyway. His long, thick, red trench coat and black denim pants were clean, but still not party clothes. Despite the fact it would be good to see them all again, he really couldn't be bothered to dress up. He never had been one for parties.

"This is boring." Nanaki commented after they'd been waiting a while.

"Patience Nanaki, she'll be here." The raven haired man informed him quietly, though inside he was laughing. It wasn't that he didn't trust the fire-tailed beast with his feelings, just that he still wasn't sure how to express them... Hojo had bled them out of him, and retrieving them was more difficult than losing them had been.

Nanaki growled lightly in the back of his throat and shifted his body, resting his head once again in the quiet man's lap. "They are taking too long." He muttered, twitching his long red tail, the shift of the flaming tip causing the shadows to fall over Vincent's eyes, making his eyes almost glow in the lighting.

"Nanaki! Vinnie!" Yuffie's sweet and bubbling voice sounded, startling the fighters from their brooding.

"Yuffie." Vincent finally greeted her, standing with the beast. "You're late."

The ninja smiled sheepishly. "To be honest, Cloud didn't want to throw the party. We were all fighting with him, trying to make him dress up, but he refused. For someone who's gay, he certainly doesn't dress like it."

Nanaki chose to ignore the (most likely false, knowing Yuffie) statement that his once-leader Cloud was a homosexual and shrugged his furred shoulders. "He's never been one to dress for elegance rather than comfort."

"If he didn't want to throw the party, then why should he have to dress up for it?" Vincent stated calmly, though for some reason he felt disappointment that it wasn't Cloud's insistence that had bought him the invitation. He was still caught up in the first part of the statement, not even hearing the second.

Yuffie shrugged. "All in fun." She sighed. "Well! Are you all ready to go?" She looked him over and sighed. "You didn't dress up either." She sounded put out, but the red-eyed boy wasn't about to apologize, so she instead smiled at the red beast at his side affectionately."Hello Nanaki, it's good to see you too."

Inclining his head in agreement, the beast padded after the girl, commenting on the weather, or something equally as mundane.

The tall man wasn't listening though, he seemed lost to the world. Why had Yuffie said that Cloud really wanted to see him if it wasn't true? Could she have guessed that he wouldn't have gone otherwise? He doubted he was that obvious. He didn't know why he felt this way so it would be unlikely she did.

They moved through the streets, Vincent behind the other two who he almost ran in to them when they stopped. Nanaki shot him a strange look.

"W-What?" Vincent asked, stopping his own feet, shock for once easy to see on his face.

Yuffie giggled at him, never before seeing him in less-than complete control. "We're here." She indicated the door to their left.

He looked up, then followed the other two as they entered. Music was playing and somebody (Marlene?) was giggling.

"VINNIE!" Tifa's annoying, whining voice called out over the music as he entered. Vincent immediately stepped back, practically hiding behind the stock-still Nanaki as the woman bounded towards him.

"Tifa, let them in at least, will you!" Yuffie scolded cheerfully, pushing Vincent and Nanaki in towards the other guests.

Cid Highwind threw them a lazy wave without looking up from his argument with Barret once the door opened.

"Hello again Nanaki, Vincent." Marlene smiled sweetly, waving her small, pale hand towards them. Nanaki padded towards the girl, leaving Vincent to suffer Tifa as she hugged him tightly, her chest pressing against him almost painfully.

"Tifa!" A soft, familiar voice called from the kitchen. "Let him breathe." Came the chuckle

With a groan at being told what to do twice in one night she released the raven haired beauty and slid back onto her own feet. When she stepped aside to scowl at the speaker, Vincent's red eyes met Cloud's mako blue ones.

The blonde smiled politely. "Good to see ya again Valentine." He chuckled, fighting down the desire to give the man a hug of his own. A hug that may or may not be accepted by the tall gunman. Most likely not.

"And you, all of you." Vincent murmured, though his eyes stayed locked with Cloud's. "It's been a long while."

"Too long." Barret chuckled. "We were starting to think you'd run off and got hitched to some unsuspecting farmer girl."

Cloud winced at the words, but shifted back to lean against the wall at the same moment to hide it. He half lowered his eyes, indicating he was bored, when he truly wanted to hear what Vincent had been doing all this time.

"Just staring at the sky more like it." Nanaki commented, his voice on the edge of purring as Marlene petted him softly.

The cloaked man shrugged. "More or less."

Cloud didn't bother biting back his chuckle, and it blended in with Yuffie's giggle easily. "That's exactly what Cloud's been doing." The ninja confessed loudly. Cloud shrugged and dipped back into the kitchen, but no matter how fast he moved, Vincent still caught the faint traces of a blush on lightly tanned cheeks.

Why the hell would that make him blush? He wondered, but returned his gaze to Nanaki, still so close to purring and stalked further in, sitting beside Cid comfortably. The pilot shot a grin in his direction and Barret stretched backwards a little, to adjust the sound on the stereo higher. Vincent leaned back in his seat. Well, isn't this fun? He thought sarcastically. Knew there was a reason I never came to one of these before. He thought, feeling his boredom grow.

He let his eyes flutter closed slightly. This was supposed to be a party, not a bloody sit around. Things now were just like they were when they were hunting down Sephiroth, when they all sat around the fire, not yet ready to go to bed, but asleep anyway. There was a difference though. It was comfortable then, where as this was almost unbearably boring.

His eyes opened again, hearing the kitchen door swing open again. Tifa was pushing through to see Cloud. He watched closely, wanting to see their relationship for himself. He'd heard all the rumors that they had gotten together, even a few that they had gotten married. He knew the second part was way off, Cloud would never marry someone, no matter how much he loved them, or vice versa. He didn't think it was important to have a ring and a little piece of paper saying you loved somebody.

Cloud was always a hopeless romantic.

He'd talked about Aeris with Vincent, and grieved openly when she died. Now he felt that way about Tifa.

Suddenly he tensed, feeling someone sit between Cid and himself. He glanced over, surprised to see Yuffie looking at him. "What?"

Yuffie smiled softly, inclining her head towards the closed kitchen door. "I still feel sorry for her."

Vincent raised a dark eyebrow. "Who?"

"Tifa." Yuffie sighed, somewhat sadly. "It hit her pretty hard, when Cloud told us he was into guys." She smiled faintly. "If they knew it, they'd all be hurt to." She confessed, gesturing to the door.

"Cloud's gay?" Vincent asked, dumbfounded.

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "I told you and Nanaki when I picked you up, dope." She informed him. "He was dating someone for a while too, poor Tifa was heartbroken when he told us." She fiddled with her shirt. "Though they didn't last any longer than the girls did. Hard to please that one."

Vincent hummed in apparent agreement, and when Tifa returned he looked her over properly. Her smile did look a little forced, and her eyes had a distracted look.

She cleared her throat suddenly. "Cloud says that dinner's ready."

"Finally!" Cid announced, drawing yet another giggle from Marlene and Yuffie, as they all crowded to the dining room, leaving the music pounding and the room deserted.

Well, maybe Vincent had misjudged the situation after all.

But, why did Cloud being single make his stomach tighten, and butterflies take flight inside?

Oh... Crap...

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A/N: Yes, This was pretty short too...Please review, im in a slump...never been to good with non-drunken party scenes, lol.

If you read it. Review it.

Love ya,

Jaffa

xxxooo