'Puppy Love' III

It had been a total of two days since Vincent was taken from his confined sleep. For those two days, he hadn't slept a wink, but rather wandered around town. It hadn't changed at all, excepting there were more people engaged in dwelling within their pitiful, sad homes.

He sat on the edge of the old town well, his thoughts scattered. The bridge near the well was where he and Lucrecia had spent most of their time together, chatting the day away. Giving a longing sigh, he turned his eyes sky-ward, watching the thin clouds roll by lazily. Such a quiet town.

"Hey! Vinnie!" Zack's voice called out, breaking the silence of the town as he came running up to the stoic man, his face beaming, eyes shining with the same lively gleam they always had.

In the two days since he had dragged Vincent into town, Zack had been doing his very best to stick close to the man as best as possible, shamelessly bugging him and attempting to maintain the delicate balance of 'hero' and 'rescued princess' between him and Vincent.

Of course, there hadn't been another incident like there had been the first day, and Zack seemed unphased by the fact that he had been caught with Vincent by not one, but two people. Still, he had let the gunman have some room to breath... for about five minutes.

Groaning and rolling his eyes, Vincent decided it best to ignore the soldier. Some silence ought to do him good.

"Aw come on!" Zack whined, pulling himself up beside Vincent, pretending to be dejected. "It's been two days, Vincent! Don't tell me that you're still giving me the cold shoulder!" He smirked and quickly pecked his 'captive' on the cheek. "And we had so much fun that first day! Now you've done nothing but ignore me...."

"Don't call me Vinnie." Vincent blinked slowly, keeping his eyes trained down, acting as though the kiss was nothing. His cheek started to tingle, but he ignored it easily. "What do you want?"

"Just to be with you!" Zack laughed, putting his arm around the man, trying to get a reaction of some kind out of him. He pulled him close to his side, a huge smile on his face, now that Vincent had at least started talking to him again. "And if I can't call you Vinnie, then what can I call you? It'll get boring if I keep calling you Vincent!" He paused and thought for a moment, before snapping his fingers. "I got it!" He proclaimed proudly. "I'll call you Vinnie-chan!"

"No." Vincent said with more force. He would not allow Zack to use such childishness with him. He was a man proud of his name. It held great strength and just the sound of it described him so well.

Zack sighed heavily again, looking even more dejected.

"You're absolutely no fun..." he muttered, pouting slightly, before looking at Vincent, his face and voice a bit more sedated. "Hey, uh, Vincent... I want to ask you something."

He looked out over the town, trying to figure out how to ask something that seemed so awkward, even for him. Still, it was a question that needed asking, if only to satisfy his curiosity.

"Uh, I was just wondering..." he started, scratching behind his head idly, trying to form the question properly. "You seemed a bit more comfortable with what happened when we first met then someone who wasn’t into a guy like me would be... did you, uh, you know, experiment with someone in the Turks?"

Vincent's eyes widened and his cheeks burned a bright pink. He stared at Zack, shocked. Too shocked to speak, actually. It took him a moment to soak it in, trying to come up with an answer.

Clearing his throat, he stated, simply, "No."

Zack smirked, leaning in, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Aw, come on! You can tell me! I won't say a word to anyone else! Cross my heart! You can't tell me you didn't even think about it, huh?" he asked, nudging him with his elbow. "Huh?"

"Stop it!" The gunman scooted away from the soldier, lips pursing, not liking where this conversation was going. Was sex all Zack ever talked about? Honestly. "I did no such thing!"

"Okay okay! Geeze!" Zack chuckled, patting the gunman on the back with considerable force. "No need to get so testy. It was just a question!"

He quieted down for a moment, and then looked at the man almost appreciatively. "You're really something else though, you know that? You're like... well, I don't know. Kinda like a brother or something I never had. Cloud was the first, and you're the second! I feel like I'm slowly getting a family, with Sephiroth as like the big brother over us all, you know?" He paused, looking out again. "Guess I'm just saying I'm grateful you've stuck around as long as you have already."

"Well... I don't really have any where to go." Vincent looked down, calming down a bit, hair falling against his face, the sun hitting it at the perfect angle and creating angelic high-lights. It was true. He didn't have a family that was alive. Possibly. Or if they were still alive, they would've thought he was dead being gone for so long.

"Well, you can stay with me wherever I go!" Zack grinned, putting his arm around Vincent's neck and pulling him close. "I found you, so I guess it's my responsibility to take care of you!" Granted Vincent was most certainly not a pet, but Zack wasn't going to abandon him to just go back to his coffin again, especially after waking him up like that.

"But if you're going to be awake and everything we definitely need to work on your moodiness! You're pretty cute when you're looking down and all, but I bet your smile is even cuter!"

Vincent's brows furrowed. He did not appreciate being grabbed like this. Shrugging Zack away, he gripped onto the top of his gauntlet and stared at it. He had almost forgotten about it. It was probably the reason most of the towns folk avoided him. "I don't smile."

"Yeah well, people probably wouldn't be so nervous around you if you did," Zack replied, looking very serious. "Come on! Just one little smile! I promise not to kiss you or anything for the rest of the day if you give me one real smile right now!"

Vincent sighed heavily and jumped down from the well, landing perfectly on his feet. "You're impossible."

He turned and left Zack, hoping to find some other place of seclusion.

"Hey! You didn't smile!" Zack called, jumping down and following after the gunman. He ran up behind him and pounced hard, his arms going around his neck, pushing him forward. "Come on! Just one!" He put a pout on his lips, but moved them close along Vincent's collar. "For me? Please?!"

"Ack!" Vincent fell over, not expecting to be pounced on. He rolled onto his back, attempting to push Zack off him. "Get off me! Stop it!" His legs kicked and he felt completely helpless. This must be what a girl felt like being raped in an alley, or close to it. "Zack, stop it!"

"No way!" Zack replied, grunting as he tried to avoid being kicked, and yet still hold down his 'catch'. "Not until you smile! Come on! Just one!"

"No! Stop it!" Vincent tilted his head back, thrashing like a fish out of water.

Finally, Zack had enough. Bringing his boots down on Vincent's ankles, his hands on his wrists, he held the man down, looking more serious then he had in a while. "Look, you can't go through life being depressed all the time! Especially when people around you are trying their best to be happy! You may not like me, but I like you, and I know that you have a smile worth fighting for like this! Now quit being a baby!" he grunted again, looking Vincent dead in the eye, "And smile! Just one! You're so busy moping that you don't even realize that you have like, a million reasons to be happy!"

Vincent was a bit angry, but slowly, that anger deteriorated. Zack was serious. Unable to look him in the eye any longer, he turned his head to the side, calming down. "I'd rather not."

"But why? Is it because of that Lucrecia girl?" he asked. Normally, he wouldn't have been so serious, but he knew and understood that she was really a sore spot for him. His voice softened, but he didn't loosen his hold. "Look, I know it must be hard loosing someone you really love like that. But this whole guilt thing isn't going to help you or her or anyone! Do you really think that she would have wanted you to mope around like this? If she was as great as you make her sound, then there is no way in Hell she would want you to keep beating yourself up!" His eyes grew softer, almost sad. "You seem like a really wonderful person, but all you've done for the past two days is hide! Come on! I know that you've got to be braver than that!"

"Zack, you don't know what it's like..." Vincent took in a shuddering breath, keeping himself calm and forcing himself not to over react in a situation like this. It wouldn't do any good. He wouldn't want to see Zack angry, guessing it wasn't good. "All I did was watch. I could've stopped her. It's my fault. All of it."

"You think you're the only one who’s gone through something like that?!" Zack barked, a tiny glisten of a tear forming in the corner of his eye. Angeal... the man he respected more then even Sephiroth... Gone because Zack wasn't strong enough to help him when he needed it. He wasn't able to help at all because he was too powerless to do a single thing!

"I know exactly what that feels like! And even then, I've kept going, not for me, but for him! Angeal was the greatest guy in the world, and yet bad stuff happened to him... stuff that shouldn't have. But I haven't spent all this time crying about it! I've gone on with my life for him! I'm living for us both, finishing what he started! Doesn't this Lucrecia deserve that much from you, at least in memory of what she meant to you?"

Vincent looked up, a bit surprised to hear this from someone so chipper. Zack had gone through hardships, yet, he didn't act it.

Pondering over his words, he eventually nodded in acceptance. "I see."

"If you see, then you should understand what I'm trying to tell you completely," Zack replied, his tone becoming stronger again. "You should know that this is why I want to see you smile...Because you deserve to live now in the present, and not in the past like you have been! That's why you were in that coffin, right? Because you were guilty about what happened?" He couldn't believe what he was saying himself. He hadn't felt this passionate about anything in a while. "I want you to smile because then I'll know that you're ready to live again...Until you can smile, then I know I've still got work to do." He smirked, his eyes regaining their coy playfulness. "So, until you give me a genuine smile, you're stuck with me."

It was then the gunman decided he didn't mind Zack's company. He was truly amazed by how easily Zack swayed between total seriousness, romance, and silliness in a manner of a few seconds. It was... interesting, in the least.

"Lucky me." He said in a flat tone.

"Hey, you can't blame anyone but yourself, Vinnie-chan!" Zack barked out a laugh, leaning closer, preparing to steal a kiss. "After all, it'll be really easy to get rid of me. So, until then, how about a kiss?"

Vincent's eyes regained their complete stoicism, as well as their mystery. Blinking lazily, he pushed Zack off, finding an opening and taking it. "Not now."

"B-but I asked nicely!" Zack pretended to whimper, letting Vincent get up. "I asked like you told me to! What about positive reinforcement and all that!?"

"I'm not in the mood." Vincent said simply, getting to his feet and brushing himself off.

"You're never in the mood..." Zack grumbled, crossing his arms and looking away, pouting once again. "If you had your way, I'd have to tackle you just to get close..." He turned and winked, the smile returning. "But, whatever. You'll end up alone at some point, and then..." he let the threat hang in the air.

There was a long pause between the two. Not bothering to break it, knowing exactly what Zack meant, Vincent turned and walked away silently, deciding not to rock the boat further.

"H-hey! Where you going!?" Zack called, running after Vincent. "I wanted to officially introduce you to the Sephiroth! He'll be coming back up again soon!"

"Sephiroth..." Vincent let the name roll around on his tongue, tasting its unique flavor. He had a few questions for this Sephiroth. "And where will we be introduced?"

"Well, he should be back soon...I think he may have run out of food by now," Zack shrugged, linking his arm into Vincent's. "Come on! Let's go!"