Enjoy your sap!

Warnings: Is this yaoi, you ask? Of course it is! I write nothing BUT yaoi! For those who are still hopelessly green, yaoi is boys with boys (or in this case, men with men, rawr). The pairing is, or eventually will be, Cid/Vincent. If you don't like that then you either stumbled across this by accident, or you're in some serious denial; whatever the reason, just hit the back button.

Disclaimer: The story is mine, but sadly the characters are not - they belong to Square Enix/Squaresoft, and that Japanese guy whose name I can never remember. I can't prevent it, but please don't steal the fic idea; you can come up with your own. You're welcome to use Rocket Fields, but since it doesn't technically exist in-game, you may want to explain that it's where the Rocket used to be.

Chapter ten, otherwise named: 'Profound romance gives you heart problems.'

I wonder if I've made the right choice.

"Vincent?" He heard Shera's voice through the closed door to his bedroom, but no effort to answer, "Mr Valentine, are you alright in there? You didn't come down for breakfast..."

I don't think I could break it off now even if I tried. But living in such close quarters with both Cid and Shera...it's only a matter of time before she finds out. You can't keep a secret like this hidden for long.

"Mr Valentine? I'm coming in, okay?" He heard the door open, apprehensive footsteps. He couldn't see anything, since he was facing the wall, but he didn't need to. He could already picture her worried face, and sure enough it matched her next words: "What's wrong, are you ill?"

"Shera, is Vince in there?"

"Hm? Yes captain, he's here on the bed."

"Oh good," There was obvious relief in the voice; Cid had probably thought that Vincent had run off again.

"I think he might be sick, though..."

"I'm fine, Miss Shera," Vincent finally spoke, evidently startling both her and Cid, "Just tired, that's all."

"You said that yesterday...maybe you caught something from being out in the rain for so long," She sounded slightly as though she were scolding him for being irresponsible; his lips quirked briefly at that, "I'll heat you up some soup, okay? You'll feel better in no time."

"There's really no need-" But he could already hear Shera leaving. Evidently Cid wanted to stay, but he heard a 'He's ill, let him get some rest!' before the pilot was dragged off as well. That was probably for the best - he needed time alone to think.

I wish she'd stop being so nice to me. I wouldn't have a problem if she was cruel and cold-hearted, because then I wouldn't feel guilty.

It was perhaps ten minutes later that there was another knock on the dooor, this one not so quiet and cautious as Shera's. He heard what he'd come to recognise as Cid's heavy footsteps, and the dull clink of a bowl being placed on the bedside table.

"...Vince?"

No reply.

"I nagged Shera into lettin' me see you," Cid continued, "I got some chicken soup as well, if you want."

"...I'm not hungry."

"Didn't think you would be," A pause, "You 'aint sick, are you? Just worried."

Vincent stirred slightly then, "What makes you think that?"

The pilot snorted; "You're Vincent Valentine. You never get sick."

"..."

"It's about Shera, isn't it?" Cid asked softly, "You don't need to worry. She doesn't know."

Vincent rolled onto his back to face him, crimson staring into cerulean, "I know."

"So it's the guilt?"

A sigh. "She's such a kind-hearted person, Chief...really, you couldn't have married a nicer woman. She deserves better than the two of us."

"I'm starting to think you're fallin' for her, the amount of praise you shower that woman with."

The gunner quirked an eyebrow, amused; "Jealous, Chief?"

Cid laughed then, but it soon died down, and his words became serious: "I know I'm hurtin' her, and I feel bad for that...but Vin, I 'aint willin' to give you up. Planet help me if it's my downfall, but I wanna be #!£&in' selfish."

"Chief..."

"Shush, I 'aint done," Cid scolded, "These past two years...I thought I was copin' by keepin' myself busy, but I always felt so #!£&in' restless. I felt like that before I met AVALANCHE as well; runnin' about, seein' to that damn Rocket all the time...but when I got to know you, it was like I calmed down. Heh, kinda hard to be restless when you stay so #!£&in' still all the time," He smiled in fond memory, "It was like that when you showed up on my door. Well, not quite. I was still kinda on-edge. But that day in the fields, you remember it? I 'aint ever felt so happy."

"You were happy in the sky, Cid."

"Yeah, but I traded it for marriage," The pilot's voice grew quiet, "I could live without the sky, though, if you were with me. Half the time it feels like I'm flyin' anyway."

Vincent was silent, knowing the weight of Cid's words. He also knew that the man was clumsy with emotions, and so he wouldn't talk like this lightly. He could feel his chest tightening considerably, but he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"It's..." He rasped, and tried again, "It's not a good idea to have emotions that strong, Chief...they could be used against you."

"That's a Turk thing, isn't it?" Cid questioned, "Seein' emotional attachments as a disadvantage, because you might be dead the next day...maybe not the case with some if the young 'uns like Reno and Elena, but with Tseng and Rude...they share a similar attitude to you."

"..."

"Same stoic silence thing goin' for 'em as well," Cid muttered, "But don't you think you could stop bein' a Turk for a while? Allow yourself to feel just once?"

"..."

"'Cause I seem to be the drivin' force behind all this, whereas you want to give it all up, maybe even never see each other again. So I gotta wonder, Vince...do you really feel the same way I do? Or feel anythin' at all?"

"..."

"I hope you do. I really hope so. But if you don't, I'll understand. An' if you really wanted to end it 'cause you weren't happy with me - not 'cause of guilt - then...I'd accept that."

"Even though I make you happy?" Vincent asked at last.

"You do," Cid confirmed, nodding, "But I can't just think of myself. So if you really 'aint happy...you tell me."

"..."

"Think it over. I'll be by the window," Vincent felt a single barely-there kiss placed on his cheek before the pilot walked away, and left him to his thoughts.

An hour had passed, and the soup had long since gone cold. And Vincent Valentine had thus far managed to conclude this:

Cid Highwind was easily his closest friend out of everyone in AVALANCHE.

Cid Highwind was not, and never had been, affected by Vincent's frightening appearance and unsociably quiet demeanor. Similarly, Vincent was one of the few who saw past Cid's smoking, swearing, and brutally honest opinions.

Cid Highwind was the only person Vincent would consider staying with long-term, including in the romantic sense.

But he still felt guilty about Shera.

If I stay here, I'll hurt Shera. If I go, I'll hurt Cid, He thought in resignation, The question is, who am I less willing to damage? Cid or Shera?

The answer was Cid.

Unquestionably.

With that in mind, he finally dragged himself out of bed, attracting the attention of a nearby pilot, who was sat silently at the window, sky-blue eyes wacthed in puzzlement as Vincent made his way over to the wide window-sill, and took a seat next to Cid.

"Let me guess," Cid's voice was hoarse, "You're not happy with me, right?"

Vincent tilted his head sideways, then leaned into kiss him.

"Why Chief," He said when they had parted, and Cid was staring at him in shock, "I didn't think you had so little faith in our relationship."

"So...you really...?"

"You mean the world to me, Cid," Vincent murmured quietly, "I would not have come back to Rocket Town otherwise."

"Thank #!£&in' Christ. I don't know what I would've done if you'd said you wanted to break it off," The other man sighed in relief, relaxing against the window, "So much for Turks havin' no emotional attachments though, eh?"

"That attitude will probably always remain, Chief. But when I'm around you, I seem to become...less Turkish, so to speak."

"Less Turkish?" Cid snickered, then laughed, and kept laughing after that. And with happiness that infectious, Vincent couldn't help but join in.