Wing Man

Rating: PG
Category: AU
Pairing(s): Cid/Vincent, Cloud/Reno.
Warnings: Sap. Language.
Summary: Reno gets a flying lesson, and Cid and Vincent share some alone time.
Notes: Not a request fic per se, but a trade fic for Animama. I truly hope you enjoy it, hon, and it makes you feel a bit better. Hugs.

Reno peered nervously over the edge of the cliff, gazing down the sheer drop to the ocean far below, the marine breeze ruffling his long hair. It toyed with the black feathers on his wings, and overhead seabirds wheeled in a blue sky dotted with a few white clouds.

“I don’t think I want to do this,” Reno said.

“It’s very easy, Reno,” said Sephiroth quietly. “You just spread your wings.”

“You said I can’t fly, yo.”

“You can’t.”

Reno considered the two hundred foot drop. “Then, uh… why exactly would I want to jump off this cliff?”

“You cannot fly. But you can glide.”

“What’s the difference?”

“True flight is, well, flight. Gliding is like falling slowly and with style. And if you catch a warm updraft then you can stay aloft for hours.”

Reno did not look appeased. He continued to stare down the sheer drop. “I still don’t…”

With a casual motion, Sephiroth thrust his hand into the small of Reno’s back, shoving him off the cliff. There was a great deal of screaming; at first it was falling screaming, fading as it plummeted down the cliff. Then it became loud shill non-falling screaming as Reno’s huge wings caught an updraft and he was flung high into the sky, scattering the gulls. Sephiroth watched him with mild annoyance.

“Reno stop screaming.”

“I CAN’T! HOW DO I GET DOWN?!”

Cloud meanwhile gazed worriedly up at his less-than-graceful husband; Reno didn’t seem to be flying or gliding, he seemed to be tripping over himself in mid-air. He glanced at Sephiroth, then looked up again.

“I don’t think he’s enjoying that.”

“He’ll get it sorted,” said Sephiroth with that cool, dismissive tone he used when watching new recruits. He then leapt off the cliff, catching the same warm current as Reno and rising up; a massive black and silver bird. His next words were uttered with the same bored tone tinted with annoyance that Cloud had heard so often when he first joined SOLDIER.

“Reno stop screaming.”

“NO!”

As Cloud gazed worriedly at Reno, he felt a friendly hand rest on his shoulder.

“He’s okay, Cloud,” said Cid.

Cloud found himself wishing he could fly. “He’s not. He’s scared.”

Cid chuckled and placed the bundle he was holding on the ground, unwrapping it and beginning to assemble the lightweight frame.

“He’s okay, Seph won’t let him fall.”

Cloud watched Reno dip and weave in the air like an alcoholic bumblebee. “So why can’t he fly?”

“Not enough lift being generated by his wings. He’s basically a big ol’ flying squirrel. He’s got enough surface area to catch an air current and ride it, but not really enough to keep him up when he flaps. Human beings are not birds; they’re too heavy and not balanced right. In order to fly he needs more wing, better balance, and less weight.”

Cloud watched a figure casually walk over to the edge of the cliff and fall off. There was a loud ‘whoosh’, and Vincent rose high into the sky, riding on gigantic leathern wings.

“Like that,” said Cid.

Cloud did not miss the pride and affection in Cid’s voice. He watched Vincent beat his enormous wings with a sound like dragons passing, and sighed.

“I just want Reno to be okay. He doesn’t look like he’s having fun up there.”

“Ah once he catches on you won’t be able to keep him on the ground. Can you hang glide?”

“Yes, though I haven’t done it in a while.”

Cid finished assembling the hang glider. “Well here you go, Spiky, one for me and one for you. Beautiful day for flying. Now get up there before Reno does a death spiral into the ocean.”

Cloud did, buckling himself into the harness and leaping off the cliff. Soon he had joined the collection of unlikely avians circling high above. Cid began working on the second hang glider, assembling it with careful precision. He glanced around at the area, breathing in the warm sea breeze, relishing the feel of it on his skin as he gazed at the blue sky dotted with a scant handful of little white clouds. Far below, the calm sea gently washed against the white sand beach. It was a perfect day for flying. His rig at last assembled, Cid buckled himself into it and leapt off the cliff.

There was a loud rush of wind, and the flap of sails, and suddenly invisible hands caught him and threw him into the sky. He adjusted his rig and began heading away from the feathered chaos that was Reno, drifting towards a distant beach, isolated from most people by rocky outcroppings and reefs. The only way to get to it at all was, in fact, by hang glider.

Something above him blocked out the sun, and there was a slow, powerful whoosh of wings beating. Then the form banked and wheeled like a gigantic bird. Cid grinned.

“Show off!”

Vincent did a victory roll, then folded his wings and shot straight down towards the ocean, pulling up at just the last second and shooting low over the waves, the tips of his wings creating wakes of white water in his passing. Then he shot up to the sky again, rising high, slowing, then stalling, then spreading his wings to catch himself as he fell.

“Cock tease,” mumbled Cid, then cast a sour glance at his hang gliding rig. “I need wings, dammit!”

Vincent came to fly beside him like a strange gull, keeping pace with Cid. “You would need a very, very large set of wings. You’re not exactly small.”

“I know,” Cid groused. “I actually sat up one night and worked it out. But I still want them.”

Vincent smiled, the expression looking eerie in his Chaos form. “Well you could ask Sephiroth for a cup of blood.”

There was a long silence. Vincent glanced at Cid.

“Don’t tell me you’ve thought about it.”

Cid pouted. “A little,” he admitted. “It would have some advantages.”

Vincent rolled and flitted, then offered a prayer to the heavens. “Oh great Gaia, please let Cid drink some of Sephiroth’s blood. It would mean so much to me to see him shove out a fourteen pound baby.”

“That’s wouldn’t happen!”

“Oh I beg to differ, my love, it will be the first thing that happens, I’ll personally see to it. Believe me, I will take great pleasure in watching you curl up in a foetal position, crying your eyes out in misery as you try to figure out whether you want to eat or vomit, and I can sit in the livingroom drinking beer and watching football shouting ‘Suck it up, Highwind!’ I live for the day.”

“That was once and it was before I knew you were pregnant. And I said I was sorry.”

Vincent snorted. “I don’t know why I put up with you.”

“Because I love you?”

“You better.”

Cid grinned. At his side, Vincent flapped his wings with the slow dignity of a dragon.

“So,” said Cid. “If I did… take the blood…”

“Cid…”

“No, really, hear me out. What would you think if I did that?”

“I think I’d be worried sick! I mean yes there are advantages but there are serious risks, too. Sephiroth and Genesis are both emotionally unstable, largely due to the concoctions in their blood, and Angeal is not far behind. To use your own comparisons, you would go from a bush plane to a fighter jet. Yes, you would be more powerful, but in many ways you would be far more delicate. Look at Cloud! He’s the least modified of the bunch and look how difficult it is for him to function.”

“Reno seems okay. And Zack.”

“Two out of six. I don’t like those odds. Frankly Cid I like you just the way you are.”

“You wouldn’t like me better with big bulging muscles and powerful wings and…?”

“I like you as you are.”

Cid gave him a look of confusion. “You wouldn’t change me at all?”

“No. Would you change me?”

“Uh-uh. No way. I’m not messing with that cute little ass, I might damage it.”

Vincent cast him a sidelong look. “So for you it’s all physical. You’re not worried about who I am in the inside?”

“Who gives a fuck what’s in the package when it’s wrapped like you are?”

“Cid…”

“Look you don’t want to change me, I don’t want to change you. I love you just the way you are, especially with them big-ass bat wings.”

Vincent looked puzzled. “You like the wings?”

“Oh yeah. Some men like legs, or asses, or big tits. Me, I’m a wing man. So I had to marry you. Moment I saw those come out, I had to have you.”

“Well only going for people who have wings must have limited your options.”

“A bit. But I held out. And look what I got.”

Vincent smiled. “Correct me if I am wrong but… isn’t a ‘wingman’ the pilot who positions his aircraft outside and behind the wing of the leader of a flying formation?”

“Yeah.”

“And he’s a subordinate.”

“Yeah.”

Vincent smiled and increased his speed just slightly, so that he was just slightly ahead of Cid, who was now gliding just behind Vincent’s right wing. He expected to hear some muttering and cussing, but he didn’t. After a few minutes he glanced over his shoulder towards Cid.

“No screaming and ranting?” he teased gently.

“Nope. The wingman may be the subordinate but he’s also the guy who has your back. He’s the guy that can save your life, the man who looks after you. Nope. I think I’m right where I belong. I’ll be your wingman any day.”

Vincent smiled. For a time there was silence, and just the two of them gliding in formation over the water, waves flashing gold beneath them, their private little island just ahead.

Slowly Vincent drifted back until he was flying just behind Cid’s left wing, neither saying a word.