Chapter Text
The first time Cloud fell asleep on Zack, it took him some time to remember he’d even done so. What, with the helicopter crash and hiking through the mountains. It had taken Tseng quietly asking about his earlier nausea to remind him.
xxxxx
“You doing okay there?” Zack’s kind voice had reached out to him through the haze.
Cloud was staring out the window on the right side of the chopper, leaning against it and letting the condensation on the window cool his panic-heated skin. He wanted to nod his head, but already the tensing of his neck made his head ache worse, so he simply grunted and kept looking ahead.
Zack chuckled, laying a friendly hand on his shoulder, “I heard keeping your eyes on the horizon helps.”
Again, Cloud started to nod before his head reminded him that was a bad idea. Instead he whispered back, “Easier said than done in this blizzard.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Zack clicked his tongue. “In that case…” Zack leaned forward as if to peer into Cloud’s face despite the helmet still covering most of it. “Close your eyes and lean on me. Pretend you’re falling asleep in a hammock in Costa del Sol.”
Cloud chuckled but nodded finally, though very, very slowly, and closed his eyes. He laid his head on Zack’s shoulder and took deep, quiet breaths, matching his breathing to Zack’s without noticing. Slowly but surely he calmed and fell into a dazed trance, listening to the sound of Zack’s steady heartbeat through his shoulder.
xxxxx
He awoke to the shock of being jerked forward. The harness holding him in place cut into his shoulders as he was thrown forward – the chopper waving back and forth in the skies, the smell of smoke filling the cabin.
“The chopper’s going down,” Zack’s said, “Hold on.”
Cloud pulled off the harness, holding on to the remnants of it to keep himself upright. As the ground came into view, Zack pushed himself forward and grabbed for the door.
“We’ll have to jump,” he grunted as he pulled the door open. “Are you ready?”
Cloud nodded, looking around the cab at the other troopers and turks attempting to get the chopper flying straight again, and trying to keep their feet about them. When they were nearly down, someone shouted “Now!” and all of them were out, landing in various lumps of snow – the impact causing most of them to pass out on contact.
…
When he awoke again, Zack was already up, and Tseng was dusting snow off himself.
It was only the three of them from there on.