Vampire weekend - for bothourlives and shotgunsalute

[hartbeats]

[ It had been about a week prior that Tifa had woken up one morning and nudged Cloud where he was curled up beside her. “We haven’t heard from Vincent in a while, have we?” she said. “Let’s give him a call. Get him over for dinner sometime.” Cloud, still mostly asleep, had made a noncommittal noise before burying his face in her hair, and Tifa took that to mean ‘Yes, my darling, light of my life, let’s definitely do that’ and made a mental note to ring him up once it wasn’t quite so early.

Now, they’re finally all seated together, Tifa beams at her little family over the spread of food she’s prepared for them. There’s a huge platter of smoky barbecue in the center of the table, flanked by dishes full of corn and carrots and green beans. Everyone has a buttery baked potato on their plate (with a spare one for Cloud waiting in the oven in case he’s still hungry later), a variety of toppings for them to choose from in little bowls. ]

We’re so glad that you could make it out to visit with us, Vincent. We really should try to do this more often. Barret is actually coming down from Corel tomorrow to take the kids to Costa Del Sol for a few days. That’s going to be fun, isn’t it?

[ Marlene nods enthusiastically, obviously excited to see her dad, but Denzel seems more focused on their guest where he sits across the table. Even though Vincent had come to help fight the Remnants when they’d been terrorizing Edge, Denzel hadn’t really gotten a chance to know him before he’d blown out of town in the aftermath of their victory. He seems far more wary than his little sister.

“Are you a vampire?” he asks unprompted, and Tifa feels a muscle in her jaw clench. ]

Sweetie, we talked about this. Mister Vincent isn’t a vampire. He’s a very nice man, and he’s been our friend for years now.

Comments

[bothourlives]

[Despite a few possibly warped interpretations he's still grateful for Tifa's ability to mostly understand what his wordless replies mean- whether drawn from her favored style of ambush in murmuring plans and probing questions when he was lost somewhere between wake and sleep, or the way his gaze shot to the side to meet hers, lips pressed together in somehow restrained almost amusement before he turned to hide what was absolutely a cough and not a laugh into a loosely balled fist.

We did find you in a coffin.

A bit of knowledge he knows better than to share because while initially this sort of thing was cute in the way only kids could achieve with their blunt line of questioning and total lack of any social grace it's something they'll latch on to like some feral fiend with a bone and none of them would ever hear the end of it.

He likes Vincent, after all. Didn't need him getting ambushed with pilfered garlic sneak attacks in the middle of the night.

There's not much use for good cop bad cop when Tifa was still often the only cop left in charge but I'm not mad I'm just disappointed had been a swiftly learned formidable weapon for both of them in those stumbling early days of crash course pseudo parenting and both kids all but wither in their seats once Cloud exhaled a sigh and shifted his gaze again, over to them this time, narrowed and unimpressed.

Don't pester guests. Meant more for the occasional rowdy crowd that stumbled through their doors even if none of them were dumb enough to draw the ire of Jenova War Heroes by messing with their kids- but while Marlene had grown up behind a bar counter and Denzel had done his time surviving the slums there were still plenty of lessons Cloud didn't want them learning the hard way.

Still applied. Sort of. (he wants to join in but that's a bad example and he's trying not to set those these days.)]

No such thing. [probably. fuck if he knows, honestly there's always weird shit popping up but Vincent had survived his own trips to Costa Del Sol so.]

'Sides... he showed up here when the sun was still out, didn't he?

[Logic. It's enough to get them both to straighten back up, to ponder this new bit of information and eventually agree. (a few eye rolls and a hissed "See?" notwithstanding but at least dinner seemed more interesting than interrogation again and Cloud just tucks back in to the plate in front of him.

conflict resolvedhe didn't even battle in that game)]

[hartbeats]

[ Look, Tifa isn't immune to the humor of the situation. Vincent has a certain... aesthetic, and it's absolutely true that they first met him sleeping in a coffin hidden in the basement of a spooky old mansion. If that doesn't scream vampire then what would?

Still, she appreciates Cloud diffusing Denzel's line of questioning, and she shoots him a little wink when their eyes next meet. They have a guest so she's not going to flirt too openly, but there's a bright smile on her face as she makes sure the kids have enough veggies on their plates. ]

Vincent, please help yourself. There's plenty for everyone, so take as much as you want. Can't have a guest go hungry, you know?

[ Though she's not entirely sure where his metabolism is these days, she wouldn't even mind cooking more if he needed it. ]

It feels like ages since we've seen you. What have you been up to these days?

[ Keeping it PG in front of the kids goes without saying. ]

[shotgunsalute]

[ Between his answer and Cloud's follow up logic, it seems they've dispelled the idea that he was a vampire. Marlene looks slightly smug as she nudges Denzel. And Denzel, well, he's convinced but still seems troubled.

Either way, the small tension breaks and Tifa cuts through any possible silence, moving on from the topic. Vincent nods his assent and thanks in one, appreciative of her thoughtfulness as always. There's a gentle clattering as dinner officially begins, the adults serving themselves and Denzel occasionally helping Marlene reach things. ]

Cleanup, mostly. DEEPGROUND left a mess. [ He says, carefully spooning chives onto his potato. Reeve hasn't been sending him out too often—citing that he'd leaned on him a lot in the last few months and that he deserved a break. But he had enough access to the WRO incident files to keep himself busy. At the very least, it's been straightforward work. ]

Reeve sends his apologies for not visiting lately. [ If there was a busier man in the world than one Reeve Tuesti, he would be shocked. ] I am sure he will make up for it in excess, somehow.

[ Whether that meant he sent Cait along in some new contraption that included a moogle singing telegram...well, it was possible. ]

How have you fared?

[ They both look well, he thinks. Perhaps a little tired, but he supposes that's to be expected with pseudo-parenting. ]