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 7

Waking up slowly was a rare luxury for those in Shinra's Security Division, SOLDIERs most of all. When they weren't on base for reveille to sound out bright and early, they were in the field and up long before dawn to get started on their work for the day. Only on leave - that infrequently granted and oh-so-precious commodity the 1st Class almost never got - did they have a chance to wake at their leisure.

So when Zack drifted partly awake and realized he was warm, comfortable, and somewhere quiet, he let himself remain relaxed and come out of sleep gradually. 'Comfortable' meant he wasn't in the field, and 'quiet' meant he was somewhere private. The warm, lithe body pressed up against him put the clincher on it; if he was sleeping with Aerith, then he had to be on leave.

Shifting, he draped his arm over her waist and pulled her a little closer, still without opening his eyes. She was curled up on her side facing him, but she tangled her legs with his and let him draw them more together. Content, he settled in again, tilting his head so he could bury it in her hair. In a minute he would wake a little more, and maybe see if he could find a very pleasant way to wake her and take advantage of his too-infrequent time with her, but spending another minute just enjoying her presence wouldn't hurt anything.

Except she didn't smell right. Not the living earth or warm sunlight scent he'd expected, but the harsher tang of metal and leather. And instead of the indefinable scent of 'life' that she somehow always carried with her, there was the sharp stench of mako.

Frowning, Zack abandoned the opportunity to laze in bed and pushed himself quickly towards full awareness, his muscles going tense as he forced his eyes open. For a sickening moment all he could see was silver through a haze of green mako.

Then, just as he tensed to yell and jerk himself away, he blinked and the world suddenly had colour again. Bright, sunny colour; soft gold strands of hair against lightly tanned skin, with the morning sunlight pouring in through the window to spark a halo of light off it.

Not Aerith. Definitely not Sephiroth, but not Aerith, either. Letting his breath out slowly Zack forced himself to relax, grateful that he hadn't woken Cloud with his antics. The younger man was still soundly asleep, and the dark rings under his eyes testified to his need for it. Zack knew all about nightmares and how they could eat at you until it felt like you never slept at all; he'd lived with it the entire year he'd been on the run with Cloud.

If Cloud was dreaming now, though, it didn't show. His brow was smooth, his face soft in sleep and looking much younger than Zack knew him to be. When Zack relaxed he murmured something incoherent and snuggled closer, his head bent so it was resting on Zack's shoulder, and Zack couldn't help but smile. It was adorable, and if Cloud knew he was doing it he'd be mortified.

He had no idea how he could possibly have mistaken Cloud for Aerith, even half asleep and with his eyes closed. Cloud was a match for him in size, whereas Aerith had fit into the curve of his arms perfectly. Cloud was also significantly broader in the shoulders and a hell of a lot more muscled than she had been. He could feel the strength in the legs tangled with his, feel the muscles rippling in Cloud's back and side where Zack's arm was draped over his waist.

Despite the differences it felt good to have the younger man there. It made Zack feel warm and satisfied in a way he associated with Aerith, so maybe that was why. It certainly wasn't a bad thing to have a hard, strong body against his instead of Aerith's soft lushness. In fact, Zack ventured to say it felt just as good, though in different ways. He'd been with guys a few times, before he'd met Aerith; men in his squad, or other SOLDIERs met in the field who'd decided a bit of tension release would benefit them both. He'd never had a chance to wake up next to any of them before, though, so this was a novel experience.

In fact, it would probably be even more fun to wake a guy up with sex than it would be with a girl. Certainly easier, since just about every guy woke up at least partially aroused, and it was easier to get at the interesting spots on a guy without waking them.

When he realized he was stroking his fingers along the curve of Cloud's spine, Zack groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, silently cursing himself. What was he thinking? He should not be considering how much fun it would be to have Cloud wake in the middle of sex. That was wrong on so many levels it wasn't even funny. For one thing, this was not an established relationship like he'd had with Aerith, and it would be nothing short of rape to touch the younger man without his permission. For another, it would be seriously wrong of him to take advantage of his friend's need for comfort after a nightmare to start something. Not to mention that he'd have to be the worst kind of cad to play on the other man's crush like that. And on top of all that, there was a reason that making a move on your subordinate was a court martial offence!

That was when it hit Zack, like a Bolt3 spell to the head. Cloud wasn't his subordinate any more. Nor was he underage. He wasn't even breakable - he was every bit as strong and tough as Zack, probably more so after Zack spending all that time in the lab instead of keeping himself in condition.

What Cloud was, was a strong, extremely attractive adult who already occupied one of the biggest places in Zack's heart. And whether her spirit was hanging around or not, Zack was pretty sure that Aerith being dead qualified him as 'single'.

Every wayward thought Zack had ever had about his blond shadow came home to roost now, multiplied tenfold. His body was urgently reminding him just how long it had been since he'd had any kind of release; that sort of thing hadn't exactly been high on his list of priorities in the rare moments of privacy he'd had in the lab. Cloud wasn't off limits any more, and while all the arguments Zack had been giving himself for why he shouldn't wake his friend with a handjob were still valid, all he had to do was wake the other man first and he knew Cloud would be happy to give him all the permission he wanted. It wasn't wrong to play on Cloud's crush if Zack was planning to follow through, right?

Taking a deep breath, Zack struggled to rein himself in. He wasn't eighteen any more, damn it, and he was not going to rush into something like this because he'd woken up horny and Cloud was willing and available.

Of course, it was an unassailable rule of the universe that the worst possible scenario would always be the one to happen. Before he could actually register the importance of the sound of soft footsteps in the hall, there was a tap on the door and one of the very important reasons why Cloud was still off limits stuck her head inside.

"Hey guys, what do you want for break...fast?" Tifa's cheerful words trailed off in shock and horror as she took in the scene before her. She hadn't thought twice before coming in, because Cloud was always up with the dawn and they'd been living together long enough to be comfortable casually invading each other's space. If she'd been thinking, she might have waited for someone to answer the door out of concern for Zack's comfort, but never in a million years would she have anticipated this.

'This' being Cloud curled up on the floor with Zack instead of in his own bed, lying in Zack's arms and looking far more comfortable about it than he'd ever been holding her while they slept, even during the best part of their relationship. If either of them was wearing anything it was hidden beneath the sheet that had been pulled up to their waists.

Under different circumstances Tifa might have appreciated the view, but the only thought that was making itself heard through the whirl of emotions was 'so that's why we never had sex'.

"Tifa..." Zack's deep voice, hoarse with sleep - and probably something else - jerked her out of her thoughts. She blushed such a bright red she could feel her cheeks and ears heating.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out, and backed away hastily. "I'm so... oh gods, I'm... I'll just... I'll be downstairs when you're ready for breakfast!" Not even thinking to close the door again behind her, Tifa turned and fled down the hall.

Cursing, Zack fought to untangle himself from the nest of Cloud and blankets. The look on her face when she'd seen them had been heartbroken, and he had to fix this. Now, before he caused an irreparable rift in his friend's relationship.

His movement finally dragged Cloud out of sleep, and the blond blinked up at him drowsily. "What...?" he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes with one hand and yawning. "Zack?"

"It's nothing, just... go back to sleep," Zack hushed him. "I'll take care of it."

Before he could push himself to his feet, Cloud locked his hand around Zack's wrist and looked up into his friend's eyes. He could tell it wasn't 'nothing', but his sleep-fogged brain was still too unfocused to think anything beyond that. "You'll be there when I wake up, right?" he demanded, still needing to hear the reassurance.

"I promise," Zack agreed, his eyes softening. That earned him a sleepy smile that made him want to lean down and... damn it, he should not be thinking about kissing his friend while said friend's girlfriend was fleeing with entirely the wrong idea about what had happened last night.

Cloud had released him, though, content with the promise. Zack scrambled up and grabbed the first shirt that came to hand, not caring which of them had worn it the day before. With that and the sleep pants Cloud had loaned him he judged himself decent enough, and bolted for the door.

Despite his weight Zack could move quietly when he wanted to, and he strained his ears to listen for Tifa as he pelted down the stairs from the 'office'. If she'd gone to her room to cry or something this could get awkward, because he doubted she would let him in the room willingly. Thankfully the sound of something sizzling in a pan and the scent of frying meat told him she'd gone to the kitchen instead. Now, if only the kids weren't present.

Whichever god had seen fit to send Tifa to look in on them at the worst possible moment had apparently lost interest in them, because Zack's prayer was answered and he found her alone in the room. Bracing himself against the doorway with one hand, Zack studied her for a moment to try to judge her mood.

Trying not to do something stupid like sniffle, Tifa cracked eggs into the pan with the bacon and focused on that instead of everything else whirling through her head. If she could have she'd have gone down to the cellar where she kept a punching bag and some mats for her to practice on; she really needed to beat the crap out of something right about now, and a good workout always helped her empty her mind. She knew she was going to have to face this sooner or later, but she was hoping for 'later'.

Unfortunately breakfast needed to be made; the kids would be up soon and wanting food, and gods help them all if Cloud came down hungry and tried to cook for himself. For all she knew Zack might be a good cook, but...

But that was bringing her right back to thinking about the things she didn't want to think about, so she veered away from that line of thought. Rubbing at her eyes with the back of her wrist, she fiercely ordered herself to stop crying before someone came down and saw her like this.

When Zack saw her wipe away tears, he winced. Yeah, he'd fucked this one up royally. "Tifa," he said, and she jumped. She'd been about to flip the contents of the pan by tossing them and catching them again; without intending to he'd managed to time his interruption so it came at the worst possible moment and the eggs and bacon went all over the floor and stove. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry!" he apologized, wide-eyed as he moved forward to help her clean it up.

"No, it's okay, I've got it," she assured him hastily, surreptitiously wiping at her face again before turning to face him and bending to grab for the fallen bacon. "Really, it's fine," she tried to insist when he knelt to help.

"It's not fine, and I don't just mean the food," Zack said, finally managing to meet her eyes and wincing when he saw the expression she couldn't quite hide. "Listen, Tifa, it's not what it looked like, I swear."

She laughed, and if it came out sounding a little bitter she thought she was entitled. "Zack, it's okay," she said wearily, standing and throwing the ruined food into the garbage. "I'm a big girl, I can handle it. At least now I know why it felt like I never really had all of his attention; he'd never had a chance to get over you because he didn't realize he needed to."

She felt like an idiot for not realizing the truth earlier. If not before Zack returned, then she certainly should have noticed afterwards. The way Cloud had kept glancing at Zack and then away again quickly while they'd told their story the night before - she'd thought it meant he was hiding something, but it had never even occurred to her that the 'something' might be attraction.

"That's not... well, no, that's probably partially true," Zack was forced to admit with a grimace. He stood and watched as she grabbed more food out of the fridge, once again refusing to meet his eyes. Hell. How was he going to fix this? "He did have a crush on me and it may well have affected him subconsciously; he's certainly still blushing around me the same way he used to, so he hasn't gotten over it." He rubbed at the back of his head with one hand, sheepish. "But honestly, on my honour, what you just saw was not what it looked like. Cloud and I are not and never have been sleeping together."

Not that he hadn't been thinking about it at the moment she'd walked in, and that made things a little sticky, but Zack figured she shouldn't hold it against Cloud that Zack had woken up a horny letch.

Tifa wanted to snap at him not to patronize her, or ask if she really looked that stupid, because what the hell else could it have been other than what it looked like? She of all people was intimately familiar with Cloud's need for personal space, and she just could not picture him sleeping even half that close to someone. Let alone being all tangled up together like they had been.

But there was something in Zack's eyes, something steady and sincere, that promised he would never lie to her. She hesitated to trust it, but at the same time her gut instinct was telling her that he was being honest. "All right, then," she said, looking at him with a challenging expression. "Convince me. What was it?"

Sighing, Zack leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest, looking back at her soberly. "Nightmares," he said succinctly. "We were both having them last night. Sometimes it helps to have someone else who understands, really understands, with you." His eyes darkened further. "You can be sympathetic to him when he dreams about the labs, but you can never understand. And trust me when I say we're both grateful that you can't, so don't feel bad about it."

Well, Tifa could certainly understand that. She'd seen Cloud suffering from nightmares often enough herself, and afterwards he'd invariably left the bed to go walk it off no matter how much she'd tried to offer comfort. "That explains why you ended up sleeping on the floor together," she allowed, not willing to believe just yet. "It doesn't explain the way you were tangled up together. I've never seen him sleep that close to someone. Or even get that close to someone, willingly."

"Ah, yeah, that. Right. That was mostly a matter of habit," Zack explained awkwardly. "See, when we were on the run, sometimes he'd wake up enough to move under his own power, though he never really seemed to understand what was going on around him. If I didn't keep an eye on him, he tended to wander off. So I took to sleeping with him in my arms so I'd wake up if he tried to get up. And," he admitted, ducking his head, "I found it comforting to have him that close. Helped keep the nightmares away then, too."

Oddly, it was the moment when he lowered his eyes that convinced her, along with the slight flush that infused his cheeks at the words. She'd seen exactly that expression often enough on Cloud, when he was admitting something he thought she might think less of him for. And if there was one thing she would never suspect Zack of, it was molesting Cloud while the younger man was comatose, so it couldn't be that sort of embarrassment.

Wrapping her arms around herself, Tifa turned away to get a moment of privacy to think. Zack had admitted that Cloud had a crush on him. Well, that was glaringly obvious now that she knew what she was looking at, so he couldn't have hidden it. Zack's presence was going to change things in her relationship with Cloud, there was no way around that.

Then again, if it really was an unremembered crush that had been preventing Cloud from letting go of his past and moving on, maybe having Zack around would give him the chance to get over it. "So it's just one-sided?" she ventured cautiously. "You're not interested in him?"

To her dismay this time Zack's uncomfortable look clearly was that sort of embarrassment. "I'd be lying if I said I'd never thought of him that way," he admitted, wincing. "I'm only human. But Tifa, I was his commanding officer, and I had a girlfriend. I'm a flirt and I always have been, but I don't cheat. And I don't poach, either. I'm not going to try to steal him away from you."

Thinking about the looks Cloud had kept giving the older man, and the utterly content expression that had been on his face when she'd seen him in Zack's arms, Tifa wasn't sure Zack would need to try. But that wasn't his fault, and she shouldn't take it out on him.

"He's not mine any more," she acknowledged painfully. "I'm not sure he ever really was. I mean, I was his crush before you were. Maybe he got over me and we've been clinging to something that's not there any more."

"Hey." Worried by the hurt in her eyes, Zack frowned and shook his head, reaching out to touch her lightly on the shoulder. "Listen, Tifa. Don't ever think he doesn't love you. Yeah, you guys were young enough that the promise he made you back then was probably out of infatuation, not real love. If he had revealed himself at Nibelheim, the two of you likely would have spent a day or two being awkward and then acknowledged you were over each other. But what you two have been through in these last couple years? That kind of hell blows childish infatuations out of the water, or else turns them into something more real. He loves you. I heard it in his voice when he was talking about what all had happened, every time he mentioned you."

Startled that he knew about the promise Cloud had made her before leaving home, Tifa blinked up at him. "You know about that?" she asked, incredulous and a little embarrassed.

To her surprise, he laughed and gave her a genuinely delighted smile. "Are you kidding me? Tifa, I probably heard about every moment he ever shared with you, half a hundred times each. He talked about you all the time. You were his reason for wanting to be a SOLDIER, so he could impress you and show you he was worth something. He always said he wanted to make sure he'd be strong enough to keep his promise to you if you ever needed him."

Something relaxed inside Tifa that had been hurting so long she hadn't even realized it was there. In those first days Cloud had been with AVALANCHE, when he'd denied remembering the promise and then shrugged it off when she'd reminded him, she had been hurt. Of course since then she'd learned about all the many and varied ways he'd been fucked in the head at the time, and she knew he couldn't really be held responsible for how he'd treated her at that time. Intellectually, she knew it; but not, apparently, emotionally.

If Cloud had said that about wanting to be strong enough to keep his promise, though, then he hadn't really forgotten or stopped caring about it. It was just that it had been lost along with everything else. And maybe that shouldn't mean as much as it did, but she couldn't help feeling about a hundred times better about everything.

"Let's just not turn it into a competition," she said finally. "I can't say I won't be hurt if he turns to you now that you're back, but I want him to be happy. If it happens, it happens."

"All right, but I really don't think it will," Zack told her. As much as his wayward hormones were enjoying contemplating the thought of it, he really did believe Cloud would end up with her in the end. Unless Zack pushed the issue and took advantage of Cloud's crush on him, but that wouldn't be fair to any of them. "Once he's had a chance to get over the hero-worship of me, you'll see. I mean, sure, the two of us went through hell too, but he wasn't even conscious for most of it!"

"Maybe," Tifa agreed cautiously. She thought perhaps he was underestimating Cloud's feelings for him, but then again, what did she know? Maybe Zack was right. It certainly seemed he knew Cloud better than she ever had. She wasn't going to give up; she'd never run from a fight in her life and she wasn't going to start now. But she didn't think it was quite as guaranteed as he was making it out to be.

"Where is he, anyway?" she asked, deciding it would be better to change the subject rather than keep thinking about it. "Hiding up in his office? I suppose he decided to let you come down and beard the dragon in her den first?" She rolled her eyes. Cloud was very good at avoiding things he didn't want to deal with, which was why it was so bloody difficult to get him to stay home for long.

"Him?" Zack laughed and shook his head. "Sound asleep, probably. He kind of half woke up when I jumped up to chase after you, but he went right back to sleep again."

"What? Still?" Tifa was surprised. "It's almost eight already! He's usually been up for hours already." She'd been surprised enough to find him still in bed, but the surprise had been somewhat eclipsed by the shock of which bed she'd found him still in.

"Huh?" Now it was Zack's turn to be startled. He looked at her, more than a little bemused. "Are we talking about the same Cloud Strife, here? The guy whose squadmates sometimes had to haul him bodily out of bed and throw him into a cold shower before he was awake enough to pass inspection?" He'd never known Cloud to willingly get out of bed before at least ten.

Frowning, Tifa tried to think if Cloud had been a late riser when they were kids. She honestly had no idea; it had been too long for her to remember if the occasions when they'd been together had been early morning or not. Certainly from the moment she'd found him outside the train station in Sector 7, he'd almost invariably been up with the sun. Or earlier.

"He's never slept well," she offered. "I guess maybe his dreams kept him from sleeping in. Still, I can't remember the last time I saw him sleep this late."

"Maybe he's just catching up on it," Zack suggested, but he pushed himself away from the counter. "I'll go check on him, though. Just in case."

"I'm coming with you," Tifa declared, using a towel to cover the raw breakfast ingredients she'd been ignoring and heading up the stairs. Now that she'd realized how odd it really was that Cloud would sleep so long, she was getting worried. Unless, of course, it was just another way he was reverting to old habits now that Zack was around.

She reached the door first, but Zack was taller than she was, so they were both able to see inside. Cloud was curled up on his side with one hand fisted in the blankets were Zack had been, his brow furrowed. Despite the fact that he was obviously dreaming, he was almost unnaturally still.

"Damn it," Zack swore under his breath. "Early riser or not, I think we'd better wake him up. That doesn't look pleasant." He started to move forward, but before he could stop her Tifa had knelt beside Cloud to shake him on the shoulder. "Tifa, don't...!"

"What..."? she glanced up and started to ask what was wrong, confused, but her touch had set off a reaction she hadn't expected. In an abrupt explosion of movement Cloud twisted and lunged for her, and the rest of her words were caught in a strangled yelp.

The lunge turned into a tackle, and she went down half under him. Before he could get a good grip or hit her further, however, she kicked up hard enough to throw him over her head and into the wall. She might not be a SOLDIER, but she sparred with him on a regular basis and she'd been strong enough to help him fight his way through the North Crater. He couldn't take her down that easily.

He hit the wall and the cot with a crash that didn't bode well for that cot ever opening again, and rebounded into another attack. Her attempt to ready herself to deflect him was spoiled when her foot got tangled in the blankets and she half tripped. She braced herself for the impact, twisting to take the blow on her shoulder instead of her face and knowing this was going to hurt.

Instead of Cloud's fist hitting her, though, Zack was suddenly there between them like he'd appeared out of thin air. He caught Cloud's wrist and shifted his weight to throw the blond over his hip, sending him crashing into the cot again. Before Cloud could get up Zack was on him, twisting the hand he still held so that the younger man's arm was pinned against his back in a painful hold.

"Cloud!" Zack shouted, doing his best to apply enough pressure to let the pain shock Cloud into awareness without using so much his friend interpreted it as another attack. "Cloud, damn it, wake up! It's just us, Zack and Tifa!"

Cloud went still, his chest heaving as he panted for air, no longer struggling against Zack's hold but not declaring himself awake now, either. For a sickening instant pain stabbed through Zack's head and the world went green, like it had when he'd first woken that morning. He choked and let go of Cloud, staggering back as far as he could go in the tiny room.

The sudden movement made Tifa look at Zack instead of Cloud, and what she saw made the blood run cold in her veins. His eyes were green, not the dark blue she'd expected; green, and slitted like a cat's. She knew those eyes. They haunted her nightmares, too.

Then Zack blinked and shook his head, and when he opened his eyes again they were back to normal, if somewhat pained-looking. Wondering if she'd imagined it, Tifa stared at him while he stared at Cloud.

"What's going on?" a frightened voice came from the doorway, and she turned to see Marlene and Denzel peeking into the room. It was Marlene who'd spoken, her voice high and uncertain. "Are you fighting? Did a monster come?"

Taking a deep breath, Zack forced his expression to relax and turned a sheepish grin on the two kids. "This, boys and girls, is why you don't roughhouse inside. We got a little carried away and Tifa was trying to break us up, that's all." Marlene eyed him, looking dubious, and Denzel gave him a hostile look. "Right, Cloud?" Zack added, hoping his friend was awake enough to hear him and understand what was going on.

Apparently he was, because he groaned and pushed himself into a sitting position. "Everything is fine," Cloud assured the two children, his voice hoarse. His head hurt, and he wasn't quite sure what the hell had just happened, but he knew enough to try to reassure the kids. "Denzel, Marlene, this is my friend Zack. I thought he was dead, but he's come back to torment me, apparently."

"Hey, somebody has to do it," Zack answered him, relaxing a bit for real when Cloud spoke coherently.

"Go on, you two," Tifa shooed them off, her heart in her throat and praying she didn't look as scared as she felt. "Go downstairs, I'll be down in a moment to get breakfast. Marlene, if you want to help you can start laying out the ingredients for me, but don't touch the stove."

It was such a normal, everyday thing to say; warning the little girl away from the hot stove seemed almost absurd, but at the same time it made Tifa feel better. Still looking doubtful, Marlene and Denzel turned to head back down the stairs.

The moment they were out of sight she stood and closed the door firmly. It would keep them from eavesdropping from the bottom of the stairs, and she trusted Cloud's senses - and Zack's too, come to that - to hear them if they crept closer. "All right," she said, hands on her hips as she looked back and forth between the two men. "What in the name of Odin just happened? Cloud, you've never attacked me when I woke you from a nightmare before this!"

"Is that what I did?" Cloud asked, shaken by the thought. Yes, Tifa could hold her own against him in a sparring match, but half asleep he wouldn't have been pulling his blows at all. He could have killed her, or damaged her beyond the limits of what even magic could repair.

"I tried to warn you," Zack said ruefully. "He flailed at me last night, too."

"I think I'm just... a little high strung right now," Cloud said softly. "Tifa, the last time you woke me out of a nightmare was before the geostigma got really bad. I've been sleeping worse than usual since then, so I'm probably more on edge now." He couldn't quite remember what he'd been dreaming about, but he remembered sensing mako and his presence. Small wonder he'd lashed out.

"This is another good argument for him moving in with me," Zack pointed out with a sigh. When they both looked at him blankly, he tilted his head towards the door. "Unless they're a hell of a lot better behaved than most kids I've known, and never come in to wake him?"

Cloud blanched, and Tifa looked a little green. "They're almost never up before me, but it has happened," Cloud said slowly. "I guess we've just been lucky." If it had been Marlene or Denzel who'd woken him... well, judging from the damage, there wouldn't have been much left of them to try to heal. The thought was terrifying. He would never be able to live with himself if he hurt one of them that badly, even by accident.

"Right. I'm not sleeping here again until I stop being on such a hair trigger," he declared firmly. He sent Tifa an apologetic look, and she gave him a slightly fragile smile in return.

"Probably for the best," she agreed. Silently she scolded herself. She was not going to think of this as 'letting him go', damn it. "Just make sure you get back here often enough, or we will come hunting you down!"

Cloud raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, and Zack chuckled and reached out to ruffle his hair. Cloud ducked the motion and swept one of his feet out to knock Zack's legs out from under him, but the older man saw it coming and dodged easily. "None of that, this room is already ruined enough," Zack said, looking around and wincing. "We'll clean it up, I swear."

"I don't know why you look guilty, you're not even the one who did most of the damage," Tifa pointed out, somehow managing to find amusement in the situation. "You guys clean up, and by the time you're done I'll have breakfast ready. And then we'll all go see what we can do about making that church actually habitable."

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