Disclaimer: Final Fantasy belongs to Squaresoft and various other interested parties, not me. I'm not making any money from this, and no infringement of copyright is intended. This is a work of fandom, intended as appreciation of the original work.

Chapter 5

As they went past 7th Heaven towards the alley behind it, Cloud grimaced when he saw the 'open' sign and heard the sound of raucous drinking coming from inside. He'd been hoping they would get here before Tifa opened for the day, but they'd slept so long in Kalm that it was later than he'd thought it would be.

No help for it now. They could come back tomorrow, of course, but Tifa would kill him if she found out he'd been in Midgar with Zack for an entire day before coming to see her.

Assuming that she didn't declare this to be some kind of twisted hallucination of his, but Aerith's response to Zack in the church had eased most of his fears on that count. If he was bad enough off to hallucinate Aerith acknowledging Zack, then he'd probably hallucinate Tifa accepting him as well. He knew there were still parts of his mind that were significantly broken, but he didn't think he was that bad.

Coasting into the alley, he pulled to a stop and kicked the stand down, leaning the weight of the bike to that side so he could stand. Zack slid off behind him, but for a long moment Cloud just sat there, staring at the back door and chewing his lip as he considered his options.

"You just gonna sit there all night, kid?" Zack asked curiously when he turned and saw that Cloud wasn't following him. "Everything okay?" He was more than a little nervous himself, truth to tell. The last time he'd seen Tifa Lockheart, she'd been broken and bleeding on the floor of the Nibelheim reactor. Given what Cloud had told him AVALANCHE had been through against Sephiroth, he wouldn't blame her in the least if she had a serious hate on for SOLDIERs and anything associated with Shinra.

"No, I..." Cloud shook his head, struggling for words to explain as he reluctantly slid off the bike. Before he could get any further the back door slammed open and a small, dark-haired form came flying out.

"Cloud!" the little girl cried happily, throwing herself off the second to last step and straight at him. Automatically he moved forward and caught her to keep her from falling, scooping her up to hold her against his chest. "Cloud, you're back, you're back! Are you staying long this time? You promised, you said next time you wouldn't leave for a while!"

"I remember, Marlene," he agreed, shifting her so she was sitting on one of his arms with her side braced against his shoulder, his other arm keeping her from falling. She was really getting too big for this, but with the strength of a SOLDIER he had no trouble holding her up. "Things have changed a little. I might not be staying here, but I won't be going anywhere for a while. You'll see me."

Watching in bemusement as the little girl pouted at his friend, Zack tried to put two and two together and couldn't come up with four. "Either a lot more time has gone by than you told me, or you were up to a lot of things on leave that you never told me about, or...?" He trailed off and looked at Cloud expectantly. The girl was too old to be his friend's daughter, surely, but that was sure what it looked like. Other than the fact that she called him 'Cloud' and not 'papa' or something, anyway.

It took Cloud a few moments to figure out what Zack was getting at, but then he sputtered and nearly dropped Marlene in his embarrassment. "What? No! Gods, Zack, she's not mine! She's one of the kids Tifa looks after, she's Barrett's adopted daughter!"

"You're blushing," Marlene observed, clearly fascinated by the very idea. The words made Cloud flush harder, of course, and Zack choked on a snicker when Cloud glared at him for laughing. Had Marlene really never seen him blush before? Considering how easy it was to get him to do it, that seemed amazing.

Then again, he hadn't had much reason to blush in the last few years. Or smile, for that matter. The heat in Cloud's cheeks faded as he considered what her mental image of him must be, and didn't really like what he saw. He'd done his best to protect and defend her and Denzel, and he loved them both, but even on the occasions when he'd played with them he'd been too wrapped up in his own emotional and physical pain to really relax and just be their friend.

Well, that was going to change. Zack was an expert at poking and teasing people out of bad moods or being withdrawn, and he was especially good at it where Cloud was concerned. At least, he had been, and Cloud didn't think that much had changed.

Still stifling his laughter, Zack watched Cloud and the little girl with amusement dancing in his eyes. He remembered Cloud mentioning the kids now, but it had been a pretty funny thought while it lasted.

"Marlene, can you get Tifa for me?" Cloud asked, ignoring Zack's obvious hilarity. "Tell her I need to talk to her in private, please." He did not want this particular reunion to happen in front of a crowded bar full of strangers. Tifa would never forgive him for it, for one thing. When Marlene only looked at him, he sighed and added coaxingly, "I promise I won't go away again without spending some time with you and Denzel. Okay? But I need to talk to Tifa first, and it might be a few days before I have time."

Clearly considering it, Marlene finally nodded. "Okay, I'll get her. But don't forget you promised!" She slid down out of his arms and ran for the back door. Leaning back against the nearest alley wall, Cloud crossed his arms over his chest.

"Out here?" Zack asked, seeing the younger man apparently settling in. They were going to have this conversation in an alley?

"Better here than inside," Cloud explained quietly. "The walls are thin, and she won't appreciate having everyone in the building know it if she's shocked." Zack nodded, that made a certain amount of sense. So he settled in as well, sitting perched on the seat of the bike and trying not to watch the door apprehensively. He knew how much Tifa meant to Cloud, and if she didn't react well to his presence for one reason or another it could mean real trouble. Fervently he prayed she wasn't the type to hold a grudge against people who hadn't actually done anything to her.

Inside Tifa was moving from one end of the bar to the other, filling drinks and taking gil, cleaning the condensation and spilled alcohol from the surface as she went. It wasn't packed, still too early in the evening for the sort of wall-to-wall crowd she sometimes got, but it was busy enough to keep her moving. Thanks to her connections outside the city, particularly Cid and his airship, she was able to get alcohol from places that hadn't been as badly destroyed as Midgar and offer it at something resembling a reasonable price. That made 7th Heaven the most popular watering hole in Edge, and while she was grateful for the continued income it did leave her exhausted sometimes.

Spotting Marlene peeking through the door that led from the taproom to the rest of the building, Tifa made a face and flapped a towel at the girl. "Marlene! You're not supposed to be in here, you know that. Go back to your room, sweetie."

Shaking her head, Marlene gestured her closer. Tifa frowned at being ignored but walked towards her anyway, because Marlene was usually a good girl and didn't disobey without reason. "What is it? Is something wrong? Is Denzel okay?"

She felt a flash of fear, and tried to stifle it. Denzel had been healed of the geostigma by Aerith's miraculous water just like everyone else, but there was a tiny part of Tifa that was still afraid it was too good to be true and that it had only been a temporary cure. She lived in terror of seeing that ugly discolouration on the boy's skin again; not only because it meant watching him suffering once more, but because it meant Cloud would likely fall prey to it again as well.

To her intense relief, however, Marlene was already shaking her head. "No, he's okay. Cloud is back! I saw him out the window, he's in the back alley with a friend. He asked me to tell you that he needs to talk to you in private."

Tifa made a surprised noise. If Cloud had been with one of the other AVALANCHE members then Marlene would have identified who it was, not just said 'a friend'. If it was one of the Turks Marlene would have said that, too. Cloud has other friends? she found herself thinking, and shook her head.

"All right," she agreed out loud, wiping her hands on the towel and setting it aside. "You go back to bed, Marlene, okay? I promise I won't let him leave again without coming to see you."

The little girl nodded and beamed. "He said he'd spend some time with us before he left again. I'm going to go tell Denzel!" She scampered off, and Tifa breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She'd been afraid that Cloud showing up with a stranger meant trouble, but he wouldn't have promised Marlene that he would stick around unless he was sure he could do it.

"Mikey, watch the bar for me will you?" she called to one of her more level-headed - and less drunk - regular patrons. "You can have one on the house when I get back." He nodded and moved to come around to the back of the bar, and she vaulted neatly over the top to the door.

As she moved through the building to the alley, she tried to think of a reason Cloud might have brought a stranger home. There weren't really any that occurred to her. He didn't like exposing her and especially the kids to danger, but if it had been an emergency then he wouldn't have promised Marlene that he would be around for a while.

Both Cloud and Zack tensed as they heard footsteps inside the building, several moments before Tifa actually opened the door. Zack did his best to look casual sitting there on the bike, and Cloud hugged his arms a little closer to him. This was it, the moment of truth.

Stepping outside, Tifa's eyes went automatically to Cloud. His blond spikes drew the eye more in the dim twilight than the stranger's dark hair, and anyway she always tended to look at him first in a crowd. She put a hand to her mouth and her eyes went wide as she saw what he was wearing. When was the last time she'd ever seen him in something so casual? Granted, he'd set aside his uniform after Sephiroth's defeat in the North Crater, but he wore his usual outfit like it was just another uniform.

"Cloud, why are you..." she started, but then the other man stood from the bike and drew attention to himself, and she got a good look at him. The words died in her mouth as she froze, her mind spinning in little circles. It wasn't. It couldn't be. He was dead.

"That's not funny," she declared abruptly, her voice half an octave higher than usual as she pointed a trembling finger at Zack. "Cloud, that's not funny at all. When I said you needed to get a sense of humour, that is not what I meant!"

Well, Zack decided, all things considered that was a better reaction than it might have been. He exchanged a glance with Cloud, who looked at a loss for words, and shrugged. "Tifa," he said, taking another step forward. He didn't need Cloud to confirm that this was who they were looking for. It might have been more than seven years, but the friendly, pretty girl he'd known briefly in Nibelheim was still evident in the strong, beautiful woman who stood before them now. "It's good to see you again. Especially in one piece."

The moment the words were out of his mouth he regretted them, wincing. Way to rub her nose in the reminder of exactly what had happened the last time they'd seen each other.

"I don't know who you are or how Cloud talked you into this," Tifa sputtered, her heart clenching in her chest. "But... but... it's not funny!" she repeated, shaking her head to try to clear it. Her memories of the charming SOLDIER 1st Class who had accompanied Sephiroth to Nibelheim were fuzzy with age, but the man in front of her certainly fit him. He was paler, older, and far more care-worn, but still the same in an indefinable way.

Except that it couldn't possibly be him, so he wasn't 'still the same', just a very good approximation. Realizing belatedly that she was still pointing at him like an idiot, Tifa dropped her hand to clench it into a fist at her side.

"It's not a joke, Tifa," Cloud finally spoke up, moving hesitantly away from the wall. He looked up at her uncertainly, hoping against hope that she would be able to accept this. "It's not, I swear. You should know I'd never joke about something like this. I... I found him. In a secret lab of Hojo's. I wasn't on a delivery run, I was looking for the records Hojo kept on me."

Staring at Cloud, Tifa saw the truth in his glowing blue eyes. At the very least, he believed this was really Zack, the best friend he'd lost so long ago. Tifa still wasn't sure she was convinced, but it was clear that she wouldn't be able to argue against Cloud's conviction.

"I'm sorry," Zack apologized abruptly, making both Cloud and Tifa stare at him. Moving to the base of the steps, he looked up at where she stood on the landing and put every bit of sincerity that he could into his expression. "Tifa, I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am for what happened. If I'd been paying more attention to how oddly Seph was acting instead of teasing Cloud about not wanting you to know he was there, I might have seen it coming in time to stop him."

That was a guilt he'd been carrying for far too many years, the one thing he'd never admitted even in all his babbling to the comatose Cloud. Deep down inside he couldn't help but feel that the disaster in Nibelheim was at least partly his fault. He'd known Sephiroth better than anyone, and he should have seen the warning signs for what they were. He should have at the very least been standing guard so he could mitigate the initial damage, instead of being asleep in bed while Sephiroth set the town ablaze.

Tifa tried to deny the evidence, but there was no way to get around it. Those words, heartfelt and heavy with guilt, could only have come from one person.

"Odin defend us, it really is you," she whispered into the hand still covering her mouth. "Oh gods. How? Why? Cloud was sure you were dead!"

"It's a long story," Cloud told her, sighing. "And this isn't really the place for it. I just didn't think you'd appreciate getting this kind of shock in a public setting."

Snorting with laughter despite herself, Tifa had to acknowledge the truth of that. "All right. Come inside and wait in the back while I clear out the main room." The patrons wouldn't be happy to have her close up abruptly like that, but Tifa thought she was entitled under the circumstances. She wanted to hear this story now, not at three in the morning when she was exhausted from working. And there was no way she would be able to concentrate on work when she knew these two were waiting.

As predicted everyone protested when she walked in and announced the bar was closed, but a promise of a free round to everyone soothed most of the ruffled feathers. An explanation of a private emergency eased the rest of the irritation; most people in Edge were aware of the part she had played in defeating Bahamut and bringing the healing rain, at the very least, and they all knew that a 'personal emergency' undoubtedly had something to do with Cloud.

Waiting in the back, Cloud and Zack followed the progress of the exodus by the muffled sounds that came through the door, both showing their tension in their own ways. Zack had started pacing, stepping carefully so that the noise he made was minimal despite his weight and heavy boots. Cloud was leaning against the wall again, chewing on his lower lip and lost in thought. When he tasted the copper of blood and felt a brief sting in his lip he realized what he was doing, and flushed. Not only was it a reminder of what he'd been up to in the shower that morning, but that particular nervous habit was something he hadn't indulged in for... years. Not since before Nibelheim. The more memories Zack's presence brought back, the more he seemed to be returning to his old habits and mannerisms.

Finally Tifa opened the door and gestured them into the deserted bar. She'd locked the door and pulled the metal shutters down on all the windows, leaving them in the dim artificial lights. Electrical power was still an uncertain resource, especially here in Edge, but 7th Heaven had a gas-powered generator of its own that ran the lights and appliances. It was enough to keep them going, and that was all that mattered.

"I suppose you're hungry," Tifa said automatically, knowing Cloud's habit of eating only when it occurred to him. He always seemed to be hungry when he showed up at her place. She didn't really mind feeding him; it gave her a chance to fuss over him a little without him pulling away from her again. He worried her, sometimes, though he had been getting better since the end of the geostigma.

To her surprise though, it was Zack who answered her. "If you have anything handy, that would be great," the former SOLDIER said, running one hand through the spikes of his hair in a gesture she recognized from when Cloud was feeling sheepish. Or maybe Cloud was the one who had picked it up from Zack, she realized belatedly. The two of them certainly had remarkably similar expressions on their face as they hovered near the doorway uncertainly, watching her like they were afraid she was going to jump at them and bite them.

The thought made her stifle a slightly hysterical giggle. How much of what she knew of Cloud from recent years was actually Cloud, and how much had been an echo of Zack? "I'll see what I can find," she said, waving them towards the tables. "Sit down already! You make me tired just looking at how tense the two of you are."

Without thinking about it Cloud chose a table in the corner that would let him sit with his back to the wall and see the front door clearly. He paused halfway down when he realized it wasn't the table he normally chose; that one let him watch both doors but had his back to empty space. It always made him itchy, but he'd decided long ago it was more important to be able to see both entrances. So why the sudden, unthinking change?

He realized why he'd altered his usual choice when Zack dropped into the seat next to him, also with his back to a wall but facing the other exit. Without even stopping to consider it Cloud had trusted Zack to watch the door he couldn't see, as Zack had apparently trusted Cloud to do the same. And this let them both put their backs to a wall.

"What is it?" Zack asked, seeing Cloud hovering halfway into his seat with a surprised look on his face. "Somebody spill something on that chair? We can switch it out."

"No, I just..." Cloud shook his head and sat down the rest of the way with a small smile that Zack couldn't quite interpret. "I was surprised by my choice of table."

"Why?" Zack blinked, looking around at all the other possibilities and confirming that this was the obvious choice. Cloud had taken the seat that Zack would have chosen if he'd gotten there first, but really it was just as important to watch the 'safer' back door as it was to watch the front. And, as he kept reminding himself, Cloud was every bit as capable now as Zack himself. He didn't have to give the younger man the less taxing or less dangerous jobs any more.

"Because I'm not used to having someone I trust to watch my blind side," Cloud informed him wryly, leaning back in his chair. It wasn't that he didn't trust Tifa and the others to do their part in a fight. It was just that other than Vincent none of them had the training that would make them stop to think about where the doors and walls were before they sat down somewhere.

"Ah." Zack nodded, understanding. Cloud was used to working alone, whereas Zack had been trained to work either on his own or as part of a group. But the fact that Cloud had adjusted to having a partner so quickly pleased Zack. It meant that once he accepted the idea that he could count on Cloud as an equal, they'd be able to work together smoothly instead of fighting against each other all the time.

The smell of food distracted both of them, and they turned as one to see Tifa emerging from the rear door with a platter heaped with sandwiches. "If you eat half as much as he does when he comes home hungry, this isn't going to be enough," Tifa said to Zack, using forced levity to hide the nervousness and disbelief she still felt. "But it's a start."

"A good start," he agreed, his eyes alight with more than just mako as he fell on the sandwiches like a starving man. He snatched one right out from under Cloud's hand, grinning when the blond man threw him a disgruntled look, and bit into it happily.

"I suppose you want to hear the whole story," Cloud said reluctantly, taking another sandwich and picking at the edges of it as he tried to think of where to start.

"That would be nice," Tifa agreed, deceptively mild. The dangerous glint in her eyes warned that she would settle for nothing less than the complete truth, but she was willing to let them tell it at their own pace. That it would be a hell of a story she had no doubt.

So they told her, taking turns to fill in details and allow the other to eat. Zack explained how he'd been recaptured on the cliff outside Midgar, and how he'd given up on fighting after being told that Cloud had died. Cloud related his quest for Hojo's hidden lab, and the reasoning that had started him looking for his records in the first place. The story of the rescue was a little more jumbled, with both of them interrupting the other constantly to add details or make corrections, but she got the gist of it.

When at last they seemed to have run out of things to say, they both chewed at their food and waited for her to respond. Tifa considered it all, trying to make her brain stop hurting long enough to think. To say that it was a shock would be a gross understatement. To say that it was unbelievable was slightly more accurate, but still didn't encompass the sheer improbability of the whole mess.

More, she knew they weren't telling her everything. She wasn't sure if they just weren't ready to talk about it or if they were trying to shield her somehow, but there was definitely something going unsaid. Cloud kept looking at Zack and then hastily away again, and at one point when mentioning stopping by the church Zack had faltered briefly before continuing as if nothing had happened. They'd both also danced around details of what exactly had been done to Zack in the lab, but frankly she was just as happy not to hear that part.

Well, she'd let them keep their secrets, at least for the moment. Tifa had more than enough on her plate to deal with, she didn't need to go hunting for extra problems. "I swear you have the most uncanny ability to put yourself in the strangest situations," she said to Cloud at last, shaking her head in disbelief. "Your entire life from the moment you left Nibelheim has been one long series of improbable or impossible events and coincidences. I don't know why it should surprise me that you've stumbled into another one."

Relieved that Tifa seemed to be accepting things at least on the surface, Cloud ducked his head. "You're telling me," he muttered, and took a big bite of his sandwich so he wouldn't be expected to say anything else.

"It's a talent of his," Zack commented dryly, grinning at Tifa as he relaxed. "I could tell you stories you'd never believe, man. Like how we met - his chocobo threw up all over my shirt as I was making an inspection of the mounted troops. He swore up and down that he hadn't done anything to the poor bird, but I still think he was just trying to get attention. Or how he passed out - he says from blood loss - the first time he ever gave a report to..."

"Zack!" Horrified at the track the brunet's words were taking, Cloud lunged across the table and clamped a hand over the older man's mouth. He moved so fast Tifa jumped, not having seen him coming, but Zack didn't even try to dodge. He just laughed behind Cloud's hand, his eyes sparkling.

"She does not need to hear about every embarrassing moment I ever had in the army," Cloud hissed, his cheeks flaming as he glared at his best friend. And more than that, stories that involved Sephiroth, however amusing, were probably not good conversation fodder in this company.

Zack had already realized the massive mistake he'd been about to make, of course, and he nodded slightly to indicate his gratitude that Cloud had stopped him before he said the forbidden name. Cloud let go and leaned back to his side of the table when he was sure Zack wasn't about to complete the sentence, leaving Tifa watching both of them with a slightly astonished expression.

"Anyway," Zack continued cheerfully as if he'd never been interrupted, "it really is sort of a trend with him. Between that and the lucky silver spoon rumour has it was shoved up my ass at birth, really we shouldn't be surprised that we both survived and managed to find each other again. It was fate, or inevitable, or something."

"Clearly I hadn't done enough to atone for whatever horrible thing it is I did to saddle me with you for punishment," Cloud muttered, and Zack just grinned at him.

"Or maybe you had and that's why we got separated for so long. Clearly you need to misbehave more, so it doesn't happen again," Zack chided him. "Don't worry, I think it's a self-correcting situation. With me around, you'll never get enough good karma built up to get clear of whatever cosmic mistake I'm the punishment for."

Tifa winced as she saw Cloud bite his lip and look away, his gaze going down and to the side to hide his expression from them. He did that sometimes, usually when he was with a group of people who were laughing and joking around. Occasionally he recovered quickly but more often it would take him several minutes before he could participate in the conversation again, especially if he'd been the target of the teasing. She still remembered the horrendous way he'd been treated as a child in Nibelheim, with a sense of shame for the way she had often ignored him as well, and could only assume that the teasing reminded him of a time when he'd been very much the outsider instead of part of the group.

Usually when she saw him do it she hastily changed the subject to something innocuous or at least less centred on him, and it generally worked to draw him back into the conversation immediately. This time, however, Zack beat her to it - and he did the one thing she'd always carefully avoided doing. He drew attention directly to Cloud.

"You!" the brunet exclaimed, pointing at Cloud. Cringing, Tifa debated whether it would be too drastic to kick him to shut him up. To her shock, Zack continued with a grin, "What are you laughing at, huh?"

Giving up on suppressing the smile that had wanted to work its way onto his face, Cloud choked on a snicker and looked up at his friend with an expression that was a mixture of rue and amusement. "You," he retorted, his voice trembling around a laugh he refused to give voice to. "You haven't changed a bit. She's going to think you never take anything seriously. If I didn't know better, I'd think so!"

Grinning in genuine delight at the teasing, Zack shook his head. "I haven't changed? Says the guy who still can't just laugh like a normal person would. Why do you do that, anyway?"

"Because laughing would encourage you," Cloud told him, rolling his eyes. "And encouragement is the last thing you need." Had he developed the habit of stifling his amusement before or after he'd become friends with Zack? He couldn't remember, honestly. It might have been a side effect of his isolation as a child in Nibelheim too... but if so, it had certainly become an essential tool of survival where Zack was concerned.

"Hey!" Zack protested, and grabbed the nearest item to hand - a wadded up napkin rather than something heavy or breakable, thankfully - to throw at Cloud's head. That startled a very brief but genuine laugh from the younger man, and Zack mock-glared at him. "You make it sound like I'm incorrigible. Or maybe 'encourage-able', considering the context?"

Cloud snickered again, covering it by coughing into his hand, but his eyes gave him away. Knowing Zack would continue until he'd gotten a full laugh out of him, Cloud looked around and latched onto the closest excuse to get away for a moment so he could get himself under control. "I'll get more sandwiches," he said, standing and picking up the tray before almost fleeing into the back room.

Still in shock, Tifa stared after him with wide eyes. That was... that had not been the Cloud she knew, or had ever known. She had, on rare occasions, seen him startled into a laugh or excited enough to forget himself briefly - winning chocobo races had often brought out his childish side for just a moment as he bounced gleefully, before he recovered and sobered again. She'd encouraged him to race more than they'd really needed to, just to see that look on his face.

But this? Smiling and teasing, his expression more open than she could ever remember seeing it... no, this was not 'her' Cloud. Even as a child he'd been shy and withdrawn. The closest she'd ever come to seeing what she thought of as 'the real Cloud' had been the night he'd made the promise to her at the well, just before he'd left for Midgar and SOLDIER, but that had been nothing like what she'd just witnessed either. Yet Zack had made it look easy to coax him out of his shell.

"Man, I swear," Zack said, shaking his head and chuckling as Tifa transferred her gaze to him. "He's so damn difficult sometimes, and he does it on purpose! Do you have any idea how long it took me to figure out that he's laughing when he does that little 'look away and bite his lip' gesture?"

"He's laughing when he does that?" Tifa repeated weakly. It seemed like a stupid thing to say, given that she'd just seen for herself that it was laughter that Cloud used that gesture to cover, but it was the only thing she could think of. How many times had she pushed the conversation in another direction to avoid hurting or embarrassing him, never realizing that she'd been depriving him of something he'd found amusing?

Looking down into her shocked brown eyes, Zack's expression softened and his voice gentled. "Yeah, well, like I said, it's not very obvious. He's good at hiding what he's feeling, or misdirecting you." He'd thought that as Cloud's oldest friend she would surely have known the gesture for what it was; he didn't think Cloud had developed it just for him, the younger man had done it through the entire time Zack had known him.

It obviously upset Tifa that she hadn't known it for what it was, though. A lesser person might have chided her for not knowing something that important about a man she was supposedly close to, but Zack wasn't the sort to rub other people's noses in their mistakes.

"Of course, the fact that he's so stubborn about hiding it when I'm amusing him just makes it all the more fun to try," Zack declared, raising his voice enough for Cloud to hear him if the younger man was nearby. "It's an art form, really. And hearing him really laugh is worth the effort."

"I... I'm sure," Tifa stammered, flushing. Not that she would know. Had she ever heard Cloud laugh? Really, truly laugh, without restraint or sorrow? Not that she could remember.

"Teasing him is the easy way to do it, but it can backfire on you," Zack continued, his eyes twinkling as he settled into 'lecture' mode. "If he takes it personally he gets all grumpy and sulky, and then it takes forever to placate him or make him forget he's supposed to be upset at you." He heard Cloud's footsteps just before the door opened, and looked over to grin at his friend.

Cloud was scowling back at him, his expression back under control, but the glare didn't reach his eyes. It was a game, he remembered, a constant competition between them to see whether Zack could make him forget himself or if Cloud could hold onto his self control. He'd missed it.

"Will you stop trying to corrupt her?" he demanded, setting the plate of sandwiches down and settling back into his chair. "Bad enough I've got you to deal with again, I don't need you finding reinforcements."

"Hey, show some appreciation for the effort I'm going to for your sake," Zack replied, his grin widening. "Ungrateful brat."

"Unmitigated jerk," Cloud retorted.

They paused, looking at each other speculatively as the familiar insults caused a memory to surface for both of them at the same time. Tifa looked back and forth between them in confusion and was just about to ask what was wrong when they started talking again.

"Tenderfoot," Zack accused him, and Cloud snorted.

"Overconfident!" the blond shot back. "Arrogant, too."

"Hey, that's two at once, no fair!" Zack protested, snickering. "Wet-behind-the-ears bootlicker!"

In total astonishment Tifa watched as the two young men shot insults back and forth at each other, getting progressively more intense and creative. Zack's voice was strangled with laughter, and Cloud's whole face was alight with the amusement that slowly morphed into a smile no matter how hard he struggled to hide it. Finally they began to wind down, running out of inventive terms to use and falling back on the old standbys.

"Bastard," Cloud said breathlessly, biting his lip hard to keep the smile from getting any more out of control. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had this much fun; trading insults with Zack was always entertaining. They'd once had Sephiroth sitting there looking at them in shock much the same way Tifa was doing now, which had always added hilarity to it. The memory didn't even hurt as much as he'd expected it to.

"My parents were quite happily married, thank you," Zack replied, chuckling. "At least, so they've always asserted. Asshole."

Fishing for something else, Cloud came up with nothing and fell back on the one thing that Zack could never top. "SOLDIER!"

"Owww," Zack mock-groaned and clenched at his heart dramatically, giving Tifa a pathetically wounded look. "Did you hear that? Worst insult any trooper can give a SOLDIER, bar none. There's nothing I can say to go one up on that. Not fair!" He made sad eyes at Cloud. "You shouldn't be allowed to use that one."

The blond was unmoved; this was a familiar part of the argument as well. "Don't start a fight you know you can't win," he said unsympathetically. "I never understood why you thought you'd ever get me to agree to give up my trump card in the one thing I could always beat you in!"

"I get no love," Zack complained melodramatically. "No appreciation at all. Are you going to be as mean to me as he is?" he asked Tifa.

"If you deserve it," she answered without thinking, still too surprised at the childish name-calling war to really process anything. "You two are worse than a pair of five-year-olds!"

"Funnily enough, you're not the first person to say that," Zack informed her, eyes glowing with mako and mischief.

"Actually, I think the phrase he used was 'worse than a pair of drunk troopers at the end of a week of leave," Cloud put in dryly. Sephiroth had said more than once that he didn't know whether to declare the two of them 'hopeless' or simply 'amusing'. Zack had taken just as much delight in trying to get their general to smile and laugh as he had with Cloud, and with a surprising amount of success.

Up until the end, anyway. Sometimes Cloud wondered if the general wouldn't have snapped if they'd tried just a little harder to get the man to relax, or if the fact that they'd gotten Sephiroth to laugh at all was just an indication that Zack could wring a smile from a stone.

But he wasn't going to think about that, or any of the rest of the depressing things that had come after, he decided gamely. He was having too much fun playing with Zack as if nothing had ever come between them. And the shock on Tifa's face was priceless.

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