Guilt’s Cost: Part LXI

Cleaning Up

Reno pulled Vincent mercilessly back to the room he and Angel shared. Once inside he locked the door and turned to Vincent. Reno examined him thoughtfully. "Shit."

Vincent looked at him vexedly. "What?"

"Shit." Reno said again. "You look like shit."

After glancing down, Vincent saw that he was still in Reno’s loaned outfit. Like it or not he had to agree with Reno’s assessment of his appearance. "Oh, yeah."

"Get your sorry ass in the shower and clean the Hell up." Reno’s tone made it clear this was an order. "I’m gonna go find your skinny butt something decent to wear."

Vincent couldn’t help himself. "You are the one who picked this out," he reminded him flatly. He had no idea why he was humoring Reno.

"Now we got to get you out of your jammies." Reno turned toward the door. "I’ll be right back, so don’t even think about leaving or I’ll hunt you down like a dog. You got that, Vinny?"

Vincent just stared back blankly. He did not have the energy to argue as his recent stasis had left him weak.

Once Reno had departed Vincent went into the bathroom and latched the door. He leaned over the sink and examined his image in the mirror. His hair was a tangled mess with several matted tresses hanging before his face. Thanks to his Wutain heritage Vincent rarely needed to shave, but now was one of those times. His dark beard was sporadic at best and only served to make him look worse. It wasn’t the kind of five o’clock shadow that some men (Cid for one) could pull off; some how making them look very masculine. Rather it was more like that of a sickly fifteen-year-old, exaggerating his deathly appearance.

Vincent looked down to the counter and spotted Reno’s razor. He picked it up, disgusted to see that it was covered with Reno’s orange stubble. He turned on the tap, letting the water get as hot as it could and rinsed the blade. After five minutes of careful work his face was once again smooth.

He then pulled off his clothes and stepped into the shower. Vincent turned on the water and allowed it to soak his hair. After he was shampooed and bathed, he remained beneath the running water, letting his mind wander.

Vincent knew that being out of the stasis box was a mistake, but Reno had destroyed the functionality of the thing. Even though he hadn’t been awake to see Reno do it, he was certain that he had. Stasis boxes didn’t just ‘stop’ working. He should get out of the shower and dress before running from the base as fast as he could. Tifa’s safety was in danger, and Vincent cursed Reno under his breath for waking him. How could it be that even when Reno was trying to do something nice it turned out pissing someone off?

Reno finally returned and pounded on the bathroom door. "Hey Vinny, you in there?"

Vincent turned off the water. "Yes."

"Oh, good." Reno sighed. "Just wanted to make sure that you didn’t go and slit your wrists with my razor or something."

Vincent allowed an uncharacteristic smile to grace his lips. "Don’t give me any ideas."

"Fuck that." Reno kicked the door lightly. "Knowing your girl, Angel would probably make me clean up the mess or something."

Vincent moved from the shower stall and pulled a towel from the wall. "I wouldn’t want to make you have to scrub blood from the grout now would I?"

"You’re a good guy, Vinny." Reno dropped the bundle of clothes in his arms before the door. "Got something here for ya. You know how hard it is to find a store with a depressed skinny ass guy department?"

Vincent made no reply as he picked up a brush from the counter and started to tame his hair.

"Well it ain’t easy." Reno answered for himself as he flopped onto the couch. "But I think I managed to put together a rather lovely ensemble if I do say so myself."

"You are a regular fairy God mother." Vincent said, more to himself than Reno.

"I heard that, Vinny." Reno flipped through the channels on the television endlessly. "There you go with the friggin’ jokes again. I thought we had a talk about that."

Vincent cracked open the door and pulled the clothes inside. "So sue me."

"You’re just full of them today aren’t you?" He sighed, finally settling on the weather channel.

Truth be told, after the nightmares Vincent had been suffering in the stasis box, the prospect of having Tifa in his arms again was getting to him. He had a new resolve to fight Chaos. Nothing was going to come between him and Tifa. Nothing. If a side effect of this was for him to be a little more on the happier end of the spectrum, then so be it. "You just bring out the best in me, Reno."

"Aw shit, don’t tell me you’re going all gay on me. Having to deal with your brother is bad enough." Reno closed his eyes and slouched down between the cushions.

Vincent cracked the door open and looked at Reno, his eyebrows raised. "You know about Tseng?"

Reno glanced over at Vincent. "Well no duh, I have known him forever."

"Oh." Vincent shut the door again. Reno was turning out to be a little more perceptive than he had given him credit for.

Vincent laid the clothes Reno had brought for him out on the counter. There was a black dress shirt, amazingly enough in the right size to fit Vincent properly. The pants were also the correct size and too were black; a narrow leather belt with a silver buckle, black dress socks, black leather military boots, and last but not least there was a package of underwear. Even here Reno didn’t miss a joke. The boxers that he had brought for Vincent were black with little yellow smiley faces on them. Despite this, Vincent had to give Reno credit, it was a decent outfit and everything fit. He couldn’t help but say something to Reno. "You make fun of Tseng for being gay but you managed to know my exact measurements by just looking at me. I think you have a possible future in the clothing industry."

"Shut the fuck up and get dressed." Reno didn’t appreciate the taunt. He could dish it out, but when it came to being on the receiving end, well…

Vincent finally stepped out of the bathroom dressed in what Reno had brought. He had managed to find a rubber band in the drawer and had his wet hair tied back with it. "Hey Reno."

He looked at his charge approvingly. "Now there’s the Vinny we all know and love."

"Yeah, thanks." Vincent managed a pathetic smile.

"Don’t mention it." Reno turned his attention back to the television. There was a special on tornadoes coming up, and he didn’t want to miss it. Suddenly he remembered something that made him feel unusually remorseful. "Hey Vinny?"

"What?" Vincent made his way to the couch and sat to lace up his boots.

"Sorry I hit you the other day." Reno was obviously uncomfortable with his apology.

Vincent sat back up, leaving his laces undone for the moment. "Uh, I had it coming."

Reno furrowed his brow. "Yeah, you did."