Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 isn’t mine. Which is unfair.

A/N: I wanted to write a companion piece to my last fic; Thank You, purely because it’s been bugging me that I shouldn’t just leave things the way they were. However I think it works really well as a standalone piece, hence the new fic, rather than a new chapter.

Cloud couldn’t sleep.

He’d always had problems with insomnia. He guessed it was because of when he was younger, since it wasn’t as if he’d really had a smooth upbringing. His father had left, amid heavy arguments and violent fights, leaving him and his mother to fend for themselves. However, when he was younger, he was able to creep into his mother’s room at night and climb under her covers, while she held him and sang lullabies into his ear.

Unfortunately, he now had no such comfort. He tossed around in his bed restlessly, entangling himself in his sheet and getting more and more irritable. Why couldn’t he just go to sleep, for god sake? It wasn’t even if he had the threat of nightmares much anymore. A couple of months ago, he could attribute these long nights to the nightmares he had when he was asleep. Since he moved in with Tifa though, they seemed to ease up, until they were almost gone completely.

Giving up on trying to get to sleep, he sighed roughly and thrust himself off his bed and onto his feet. Angrily, he grabbed a pair of trousers and a small black t-shirt, and headed downstairs. The one known cure he’d found for insomnia was the advantage of living above a bar. He could drink himself to sleep.

He walked quietly through the house, his bare feet padding gently on the wooden floor. It was three in the morning, he reminded himself. He didn’t think Marlene, Denzel and Tifa would appreciate being woken up.

The cold nipped at his bare forearms as he briskly grabbed himself a glass. Reaching down under the bar, he pulled out a bottle of strong whisky. He looked at the label and grimaced, before pouring some out for himself. He never used to be much of a drinker. However, Insomnia forced him to become one.

He felt the amber liquid burn his throat as he downed the first, and set the glass on the worktop a little harder than he meant to. He froze, listening for any disturbance upstairs, meaning that he’d woken up one of the kids. There was silence.

The bottle of whisky was emptying itself rather quickly, as Cloud had glass after glass. He could feel himself becoming dizzy, and poured out another, in order to reach the desired effect. Everything seemed to be becoming twice as funny to him, as he ran past thoughts and memories of the day in his head. He remembered that today Denzel and Marlene had decided they wanted to try making pancakes, since Cloud had done it that morning for Tifa. Laughing quietly at the thought of how he must have looked with flour all on his face, his hair dripping with bubbles, he poured himself another whisky. He’d had to take another shower after making Tifa’s breakfast this morning, which seemed hilariously funny to him at the moment, and he’d made more mess doing the dishes than there was before he’d started.

Sipping his whisky with a drunken giggle, he didn’t realise the long haired brunette standing behind him, a worried look on her face.

‘Cloud?’

He jumped, spilling whisky all over himself, which promptly sent him into a fit of silent laughter, suddenly realising how much noise he was making. She looked at him questioningly, before reaching for the now empty bottle behind him.

‘What’s going on? How many have you had?’

‘A few,’ he said, his speech slurred, a lazy grin on his face. ‘I couldn’t sleep.’

Staring at him, confused, she slowly turned and sat on the stool beside him.

‘You’re drinking yourself to sleep?’

He nodded proudly, and gestured to his empty glass.

‘Trying to. Any left?’

She pulled the bottle beyond his reach, and he frowned, trying to reach behind her to get it.

‘What the hell, Teef…?’

Getting to her feet, she took the bottle from the bar surface and drained the contents down the sink, before throwing the bottle in the bin. He could only look at her confused as she grabbed his glass and set it down next to the sink, ready to be washed in the morning. She then turned around and fixed him with a beady stare.

‘Come on, outside. You need to sober up.’

‘Tifa,’ he began, his speech slurring slightly. ‘I think you’re missing the point here…’

She grinned blandly, and walked around the bar. Taking his arm, she gently pulled him outside into the garden.

It was a clear night outside, he noticed as she directed him onto the wooden bench in the garden, although with his current vision, the stars were blurred and indistinguishable. Just the way he liked it. He turned his gaze away from the stars as Tifa sat down opposite him, the sides of her mouth turned up into a serene smile.

‘What’s going on, Cloud?’ she said, simply.

‘Oh, you’ve ruined my buzz now.’

‘Cloud?’

‘Yes?’ he turned towards her, his mako eyes glowing faintly in the dull light. ‘What do you want me to say, Tifa? I have nightmares? I’m afraid? I’m full of guilt? I’m gonna run away again? That’s what you expect me to say, isn’t it?’

Tifa stared. He immediately regretted saying it, since he knew she didn’t want to think of him that way. After all, it was probably his fault that she did.

She was looking at him with a slightly shocked expression on her face, and even in his drunken state he knew why. Cloud had trouble stringing two sentences together when it came to talking about things like this. All his past mistakes, everything that had happened to him in his life, were all subjects that he didn’t like talking about. Of course, Tifa had approached him on the subject, several times in fact, but when it came to it, he would always either change the subject completely, or be ridiculously stubborn and give one word answers for everything, forcing her to give up. For him to bring up the subject on his own, well, obviously it was the drink talking.

‘Well, I’m not.’ He replied to his own question, and ran a hand distractedly through his hair. ‘I’ve made enough mistakes by now.’

‘Cloud, I never said that I thought you were going to run away again…’ Tifa tentatively placed a hand across the table, reaching out to him. ‘I just want to know why you’re doing this to yourself.’

‘Honestly, Tifa…’ he sighed deeply and rested his forehead in his hands. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know why I can’t sleep, but it’s driving me crazy. I feel uncomfortable in my own skin. D’you know what that feels like?’

They sat in silence for a while, contemplating each others words; Cloud absently running his hands through his hair, Tifa sitting still and serene. When the silence became too heavy for them, he lifted his head towards the heavens, and slowly closed his eyes.

‘You know what?’ he began, and he felt Tifa stir opposite him. ‘I once told Zack, that I was afraid of the natural sky.’

She was silent, urging him to continue. He swallowed nervously.

‘I only ever told him that. I didn’t want anyone to think I was stupid, but Zack… he never made me feel that way.’

He opened his eyes, and looked out into the stars. Tifa lifted her head too. It really was a beautiful night, a smattering of stars shrouded in the smallest amount of cloud.

‘You know, I never felt as at home anywhere, apart from with Zack, and with my mother.’

He saw Tifa drop her head, and he realised how this must have sounded to her.

‘Teef… that came out wrong…’

‘Did you love him, Cloud?’

His eyes went wide as his blonde eyebrows disappeared underneath his hair.

‘No! No, no, I’m not gay, Teef… really, I’m not. I’m just saying… he accepted me. So did my mother, obviously. All my life I’ve been treated like dirt… the kids when we were younger, my father, the army, Hojo…’

‘Cloud,’ she interrupted, making him drop his head from the heavens to look her in the eye. The corners of her eyes crinkled as she gave him a beautiful smile. ‘Is that what this is about? You don’t feel accepted? You don’t feel wanted?’

She reached over and placed a hand across his own, and lifted it, looking at it with a serene smile on her face.

‘You know what Denzel said the other day?’ She changed her tone so quick Cloud was confused for a second as to which conversation they were having. ‘We were at the park, and he picked up a long stick and started to swing it over his head. He was swinging it so hard, it flew out of his hands and hit Marlene on the head. There was a big fuss.’

Cloud laughed and shook his head. ‘I bet there was.’

‘Uh-huh. And do you know what he said when I asked him why he did it?’

‘No, what did he say?’

She looked at him, and her eyes twinkled as her smile grew. He didn’t know whether it was the drink or not, but he could almost recall that feeling he had at 16, when he saw her again for the first time in two years. That rush of blood that pulled at the back of his stomach when he saw her.

‘He said ‘I only wanted to be like Cloud.’’

He sighed, which obviously wasn’t the reaction Tifa was hoping for. She grasped his hand tighter, forcing him to look at her.

‘Why, though?’ He began to skim his thumb lightly over her knuckles. When he was younger, it was one of the things he’d always wanted to do; to touch her skin. He always thought it would be velvety; it had that kind of luxurious look to it. ‘Why would he want to be like me?’

She laughed, and he gazed at her questioningly.

‘He adores you, Cloud. He wants you to be his father figure. Marlene too. They both adore you. I think you’re pretty neat too.’

He smiled, visibly relaxing.

‘You’re pretty neat too, Tifa.’

They sat in silence for a while, their eyes locked. He went over and over all the things Tifa had told him in his head, and realised that of course, he was wanted. He was needed. Things weren’t like the way they used to be. Of course, he’d never get his best friend back, or his mother. Nor would he get back the closest thing he had to a voice of reason; Aeris. However, he knew that he had so many other things, and one was sitting right across from him, her skin painted silver in the moonlight.

‘I’m feeling sleepy now.’ He said lightly. They both laughed.

‘Me too. Come on, time for bed.’

Seeing as though Cloud was still a bit drunk, Tifa practically carried him up the stairs. They were both giggling to each other silently as Cloud did silly drunken things, such as fall into the wall, but even as Tifa tried to shush him, he would laugh and shush her right back.

When they finally got to Clouds room, Tifa half-carried him over to the bed, where he flopped unceremoniously onto the duvet. She laughed gently as he kept a hold of her arm and pulled her roughly down beside him.

‘Are you alright now?’ she said, catching her breath from laughing too much. ‘Or do you need me to help you get into bed?’

‘I can dress and undress myself, thanks,’ he replied, his eyes shut and his breathing heavy. There was a cheeky smile written on his face. ‘Though if you really want to help…’

‘Cloud, you’re terrible.’ She laughed.

She sat up and slid off his bed, turning around just as he shuffled himself into a better position. Smiling down at him, she lent down and ruffled a hand through his hair, jokingly.

‘Hey,’ he batted her hand away. ‘You know I hate that.’

‘Yup. That’s why I do it.’

They both laughed and looked at each other, as the laughter faded into silence, the smiles still fresh on their faces. As he gazed into Tifa’s face, everything, the emotions from before, the things she said, the feeling of her skin beneath his fingers… everything swam in his head until he couldn’t think anymore.

‘Stay with me.’

‘What?’

He watched her intently, the smile gone from his face. He knew he was drunk, and he didn’t know how much of this he would regret in the morning, but for now, he didn’t care.

‘Stay with me. Just for tonight.’

There was a long pause, and for a moment, he thought she would turn and walk away, until a small smile spread across her features.

‘Of course I will.’

After they had removed everything that would have gotten in the way of sleeping, Cloud slipped underneath the duvet and shuffled right to the side of the bed, holding the duvet open so Tifa could pop in beside him. They snuggled right down into the bed, as Cloud brought his arm around Tifa, winding his fingers through her hair. He felt her breathe deeply as she nuzzled her nose under his chin.

This was the most comfortable he’d been in months, he thought, just as his eyes started to grow heavy. The last thing he knew was realising that the warm breaths against his chest had slowed to a steady rhythm, before he shut his eyes.