Lean On Me (FF7)

14

"You're staring at me."

"Sorry, just thinking," I sigh.

"About me?" he raises an eyebrow and bumps my shoulder. I gasp and his eyes widen with realization as I nearly fall over the edge.

"Shoot," he whispers quickly as he catches my arm and pulls my back to my feet. "Sorry!"

"It's fine. They really need a rail in this thing," I shake my head and glance down at the black hole. Of death. That's purple. Yeah.

"Yeah, they do," he agrees.

I think it's funny how days ago we were beating each other up and now we're acting like civilized friends. Life does strange things to people. We reach the top and continue to leave the town. Vincent must be a lot heavier than he looks because Cid's steps start to become more forced and Cloud's become slower as he readjusts his grip on his feet. Rude puts away his gun and tugs the door to the Highwind open, kicking the retractable step out. We don't usually use it, but we kinda have to in this situation. Reno places his hand gently on my shoulder as I watch them enter.

"Tell him get well soon and all that crap for me, okay?" He smirks and pats my back before walking away with Rude. I hop into the aircraft before the door slams shut.

~Cloud's POV~

Yuffie is already in the miniature hospital we have set up on the Highwind when we stumble in with Vince. He's so heavy for someone so thin. Tifa rushes in behind and steps out if the way so that we can set him down on the metal table. I release my grip on Vincent's legs and let out a deep breath, letting my tense shoulders relax. Yuffie taps her chin a few times before spotting the deep stab wound in his shoulder.

"How deep?" she searches through the cabinets bolted to the walls.

"To the bone," Tifa bites her lip. There's something about the way she's looking at him that makes my insides heat with jealousy. Granted, I have turned her down several times, but she is still my beautiful best friend.

"I need his shirt off," Yuffie says, still grabbing random things off the shelves. No one would have ever guessed Yuffie is the medic of the group. But she has a natural gift in medicine. That and a thing for decapitating her enemies. Forget I said that.

"Fine," Cid and I groan at the same time. He unbuttons while I tug his arms out of his top. This is extremely awkward... I never imagined having to semi undress my friend today. Yuffie sighs and places all her crap on the table.

"This dang hair," she shakes her head, pushing his thick, black hair off his shoulders and away from the bleeding cut. Then she looks up at Cid.

"Can you go get me some of that extra Anesthesia in the storage closet upstairs?"

"Sure thing," he nods.

"Just needed to get him out of the room," she smirks at me before looking back down at Vincent. She soaks a cloth in some sort of alcohol and has Tifa help her clean the room. The smell of blood and the sight if the stab make me nauseous and I have to leave the room, but being smart, Cid installed a window just outside, so I sit on the bench and stare inside.

"She kick you out?" Cid raises an eyebrow. I shake my head, my eyes never leaving Tifa. He shrugs and enters. Yuffie takes the bottle gratefully and the proceeds to make him leave.

"Well she kicked me out," he sighs, sitting next to me.

"She needs space," I shrug.

"She's Yuffie, she won't be content until she owns the universe," he rolls his eyes. "Maybe not even then."

"Probably," I laugh a little.

"I'm gonna go make sure Barret's not being a poop to the rest of the guys," he stands.

"You do that," I turn my attention back to the window. The girls struggle to lift his back enough to wrap the bandages around him. To cover the spot, they need to go over his injury and around under his other arm. You can't use materia to heal something this deep. I sigh and stand, pushing past the door and walking over to Yuffie's side.

"Need help?"

"Just hold his back up," she instructs immediately. I slide my hands under his back and lift, my arms straining under his weight. How is he this heavy!? He's so thin! He's also got a monster living inside him, I remind myself. I wonder what it feels like to have something that... demonic living in you, prepared to take over any minute. I shudder, Reno's words ringing through my brain. You are a monster. I shake my head. He was just teasing me, though I couldn't help but lose it. I tried to ignore the guilt in my gut when he caught me walking away towards the mountains, two dark bruises at the base of my neck. And then he lied to Tifa when she looked at him weird.

"Thanks," Yuffie says, her signal to me for me to put him down. "Cid got us dinner from that place in Sector 8," she adds, leaving the room.

"Sounds good," I say back, looking at Tifa, whose gaze is on Vincent. "Coming Tifa?"

"Not hungry," she plops down in a chair next his 'bed'. I roll my eyes and leave. At least someone will eat dinner with me.

~Tifa's POV~

I watch as Cloud leaves the room, hands jammed in his pockets. I spot him catch up to Yuffie and grab her arm gently. They talk for a few seconds before Yuffie nods excitedly and loops her arm through his and he laughs. Then they disappear from my view. I bite my lip hard enough to draw blood and look back at Vincent. Don't take this awkwardly, but I couldn't stop stealing glances at him while me and Yuffie took care him to best of our ability. With the high collar out of the way, I have a perfect view of his sharp jaw and perfectly shaped mouth. He has a perfectly shaped abdomen, and his muscles looked as if they were chiseled in by an artist.

I force my gaze back up to his messy hair and don't realize my hand is moving until it meets his arm. I trace lightly against his skin with my fingertips and frown. Since magic can't heal this sort of thing, he'll probably have to wear a sling. But I'm slightly confused. Why could Yuffie's impalement be healed faster? Maybe because there are two ways to apply the magic? I don't know. I absent mindedly push his black locks out of his face and sigh. What is it about him that forces me to enjoy being around him, despite his usually sullen attitude? It can't be his good looks, no one on board this ship is anywhere near ugly. It's like a magnet in my eyes is forcing me to look for him in every crowd, ignoring the other faces.

"Mm," Vincent makes an odd sound in his throat and his eyebrows dip in.

"Awake?" I say quietly.

"Mhmm," he keeps his eyes closed. Yuffie said he wouldn't wake up for a while longer... that's one of her big faults. Her sense of time. We'll say five minutes and two minutes later she'll be saying it's been an hour.

"How bad is it?"

"Can't fumliniet," he mumbles. I force a grin away. "Sure it'll feelicrat."

"Can't feel it, sure it'll feel like crap?" I guess out loud.

"Yeah," he mumbles, his lips look like they're trying to smile, but he's too tired.

"Yuffie says you might have to wear a sling for a few days until it heals all the way."

He groans, and this time I laugh. Poor Vince'll have to leave that arm at least for awhile.

"I'm tired," he mumbles.

"Then sleep," I smile and he does.

LONG UPDATE!!!! YAY! (VIFA OR TIFCENT?)

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