Chapter Text
”Hey Strife! You sick or something?”
“Huh?” Cloud was caught off guard by squad mate’s question. He was still half asleep as he dug through his bag to find clean clothes to wear for that day. He was wearing only a towel, his hair was still wet after shower and he was shivering from cold.
“You okay man?” Question sounded innocent enough, but Cloud distrusted it instinctively. Perkins was a jackass and not prone to worrying about the rest of his squad. Least of all an antisocial teenager like Cloud. He no longer got in fights all the time, like had barely a year ago, when he was still living in Nibelheim. That was more down to army’s strict discipline than any new social skills he had developed.
“Yes. Why?” Cloud turned to watch his often tormentor.
“You suuuure?” Perking drew out the last word in a manner that always got on Cloud’s nerves.
“What is it?” he snapped.
“I heard you laughing last night when I came in. Thought you must be sick, cause you never laughed before. Thought they didn’t know how to laugh in that backwater town you came from.”
“Shows what you know.” Cloud shot back automatically, while his mind raced back to last night. What had he been dreaming about to laugh in his sleep? He felt like he usually did at this time of the morning. True, he didn’t laugh very often, last time he had laughed with someone was during Modeoheim mission when he met Zack. The young SOLDIER had infectious laugh and his gentle ribbing was always good-natured. Hardly anyone could resist his charms. And then he remembered his dream and felt a blush creeping on his face. It had been fairly innocent, but Zack Fair had had a leading role in that dream last night. No wonder he had laughed.
He had dreamed about that one mission he had had with the SOLDIER first class. But in the dream, he had done everything right. He had caught escaping scientist and held him until Zack had caught up with them. Whole mission was success thanks to him and Zack had been so impressed that he had recommended him for the SOLDIER program and became his mentor and best friend. He sighed. Okay, maybe he spent way too much time thinking about Zack Fair. SOLDIER had probably forgotten him as soon as they landed back in Midgar.
“Oh, was it that kind of dream?” Perkins leered. “Did little Cloudy had his first wet dream?”
“Shut up!” Cloud yelped and hid his now furious blush inside his uniform shirt, spending more time than strictly necessary with pulling it over his head. Perkins was such an ass, always treating him like a child, never mind that he would turn fifteen in two weeks and the rest of the squad was at least sixteen. He had lied about his age when he had signed up, no one in their right mind would have let a fourteen-year-old join the army. He could hardly fool his squad though. His small frame belied his true age, never mind what his official paperwork said.
“If you must know, I dreamed how you got your ass handed to you during last mission. Funniest thing I’ve seen since signing up.”
“You little brat!” Only the swooshing sound of door opening saved Cloud from Perkins’ revenge. He didn’t take cheek from anyone smaller than him. Luckily for Cloud, it was their commanding officer, informing them about new mission with the Turks. Apparently some scientist needed extra security while travelling.