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"Ah, shit."
His boyfriend's exclamation dragged Squall's attention away from the stack of Triple Triad cards in front of him. He was in the middle of carefully sorting through his collection in order to put together a deck for Cloud, so he could teach him how to play. Irvine had called it the "lamest date idea ever" when he'd heard (from Selphie, who'd heard it from Zell, who'd heard it from Quistis, whom Squall had asked for advice on the best cards for a beginner deck). Squall, however, figured that a friendly – but competitive – game of cards in the quiet of his rooms in the Garden fit the two of them just as well, if not better, than any moonlight stroll through Cosmo Canyon or fancy dinner in Deling City.
Putting down the cards in his hand, he looked over at Cloud where he was lounging sideways on the sofa opposite the table. "What's up?"
Cloud sighed as he sat up properly, typing something into his PHS. "I'm sorry, Squall, I have to call a rain check on today. I gotta leave for a while."
Squall purposefully ignored the automatic spike of hurt at the statement. He'd gotten much better since start of their relationship at recognizing and handling his fear of Cloud leaving, but it didn't mean the feeling ever went away completely. He was just better at not letting it control his responses.
Taking a moment to remind himself how Cloud had promised to always, always come back to him, Squall sent him a soft smile. "Alright. I'll have this sorted out by the time you get back, so we can get right into it. Where are you going?"
"That was Bill, the owner of a Chocobo ranch located in the Grasslands near Midgar," Cloud informed him, as he walked over to where he'd put his boots, pulling them on, "Their barn got damaged a storm that passed by, and some of the Chocobos stabled there ran off."
"You've worked with them before? Is that what they're calling you for help?" Squall rose from the sofa, trailing after Cloud to the doorway. He knew Cloud was very much a jack-of-all-trades, and master of several of them too, but he hadn't heard him mention working as a Chobobo rancher before.
"Nah, it's not that. Well, actually, it kinda is? I never worked for them, but they're the ones handling my Chocobos when I'm not racing them."
"… You race Chocobos?"
Cloud looked at him, confused for a moment until his expression cleared. "Ah, right, you've probably never been to the Gold Saucer, have you?"
"The amusement park? No, I haven't. I know Irvine and Selphie has gone, and Rinoa mentioned visiting once, but I've never seen the need," Squall said, wrinkling his nose.
Cloud chuckled at his response. "Should've figured, Commander."
Squall flicked his forehead. Cloud retaliated by biting at his finger.
"Anyway," Cloud continued, as Squall rubbed at the bite mark, "There's all sorts of games and entertainment, including Chocobo racing. Some people just bet on the races, but you can enter them too if you have your own chocobo. It's fun, you should try it sometime."
Squall would rather not, thank you. "I think I'll leave it to the professional."
"Hm. We'll see," Cloud said, opening the door. "I'll have to take you there one day, though, so you can watch me win."
"Oh? Confident are you?"
Cloud smirked, "Let's just say I'm the sure bet."
"Hm," Squall scoffed, amused at his audacity.
"And if you don't like that, there's plenty of other games – or you could try your hand at the Battle Square, since I'm not allowed anymore. Something about 'being too good, making it boring'," Cloud rolled his eyes, before landing them at Squall, now sparkling with mischief. "I wonder what they'll say about you, then."
Squall punched him in the shoulder, before shoving his boyfriend out the door.
"Go catch some Chocobos, you damn chocobo head. And… fine. I'll let you take me to the Gold Saucer sometime. It's a date."
For a brief moment, Cloud's smile fell, before returning a little softer than before.
"At the Gold Saucer, huh… Yeah, it's a date."
—
In the evening, six days later, Squall was pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to ward off a headache as he cast his eyes over the monster sighting reports on the coffee table in front of him. Xu always looked disapprovingly at him whenever she saw him bring work back to his private rooms, but Squall had nothing better to do than this or train, and training was dull these days if he didn't have Cloud to team up with – or go up against.
Considering his headache, though, he could admit that maybe Xu was right, and he did need to find a hobby that wasn't fighting or trashing other people at cards.
He was about to get up and grab a glass of water when his door opened and a tired-looking Cloud shuffled in. Squall perked up at the sight. He'd feel self-conscious of his reaction, but there was no-one but the two of them here, and Cloud had seen him do worse. Not that Cloud looked like he was paying attention to anything as he kicked his boots off and listlessly wandered over to sit down heavily on the sofa across from him.
Slightly alarmed, Squall gave him a quick once over, trying to spot any damage to be healed or new scars to soothe, but he found nothing of note. Cloud heaved a big sigh as he sank even further into the sofa.
"Hey, welcome back," Squall said, getting a bit worried when it took Cloud several seconds to respond.
"… Oh. Hey, Squall."
Squall waited a bit, but Cloud offered up nothing else.
"What's wrong?" Squall tried asking instead.
Another moment passed before Cloud looked him the eyes, and Squall could swear Cloud's were dulled and missing his usual spark.
"Hm? … Nothin' wrong," he mumbled, eye contact slipping away as he closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa. "I'll try and sleep it off. Just… Got sad, 's all."
Oh.
That was not what Squall had expected. Not like Cloud had never been less than content in front of him before; Squall knew he'd been grieving lost friends, wounds that would probably never fully heal, only scab over. A grief that some days rose closer to the surface and found Cloud in a somber mood… But he'd never acted like this, like there was a heavy cloud – no pun intended – weighing down on him. Hopefully no one had gotten injured or died during his mission.
Squall watched him for a couple of moments, before moving to stand. He wasn't the best at comforting people – as Selphie and Rinoa could both attest to – but that didn't mean he wouldn't try.
… Though maybe not with words. They weren't his strong suit.
Picking up a blanket that laid across the arm of the sofa, Squall unfolded it and carefully draped it across Cloud's still form as he passed by on his way to the little kitchenette in the corner of the room. He wasted no time boiling up some water to make two mugs of tea, and made sure to double the sugar in Cloud's before bringing them over. He leaned over the back of the sofa to hand over Cloud's mug, then used his now free hand to brush aside enough spiky bangs to place a tender kiss on his forehead.
Cloud hummed inquisitively as Squall rounded the sofa to sit down next to him, close enough to share warmth.
"Hmn… What are you doing?"
… Maybe some words were needed after all.
"Cheering you up?"
It took a second before Cloud opened his eyes and lifted his head, giving Squall a look that was so full of fondness it had brought back a little life to his eyes.
"Ah, Squall… I knew you were a big softie," he said, before leaning over to snuggle into his side, burying his face in the ruffles of his jacket. Squall adjusted himself a little, scooting down just a bit to make it more comfortable for Cloud, as he continued, "But you know I meant it literally, right? About sleeping it off?"
"Hm?"
Cloud huffed a laugh into the fur, so quiet it was almost inaudible.
"The sadness. It's a side effect from fighting those stupid Elfadunks roaming the Grasslands."
What.
"After we rebuilt the barn, we went to round up the Chocobos and had to fight 'em. Used up all my hypers, 'n decided to just keep fighting like this," Cloud mumbled, sagging further into his side.
Beside him, Squall was blushing furiously, and he wished he could blame it on the proximity of his boyfriend, but no. This was all embarrassment, and a little bit feeling stupid, for misunderstanding what Cloud had said and putting in effort to fix a problem that didn't exist in the first place.
Feeling a sudden urge to escape, he made to stand up, but was stopped immediately by Cloud slinging an arm across his chest.
"Don't. Stay here."
"But–"
"Please?" Cloud looked at him with his bright, blue-green eyes, still a little dull from what he know knew to be an artificial melancholy. The knowledge didn't make the puppy eyes less effective, though. He settled back into the sofa with a huff.
"I thought something had happened, that someone had gotten hurt," he told Cloud, figuring he might as well explain himself.
Cloud hummed, the arm across Squall's torso tightening in a hug.
"Fortunately, no one got hurt. All my Chocobos accounted for, even. Bill asked if I wanted to stay another night, recover a little from the last fights, but I just," Cloud sighed, eyes closing, "I just wanted to come home, to you."
"And you're calling me a softie," Squall joked, to cover up the way his heart was hammering at Cloud calling the Garden 'home'. The thought of it warmed him more than the tea, and Squall couldn't help himself; he leaned over to place another kiss on the top of his boyfriend's head.
"Hmn, well…" Cloud said, "It might not cure the sad, but this is nice."
He paused for a moment. "I do have one request, though."
"What?" Squall asked, moving away just far enough to see a muted but unmistakably playful look on Cloud's face.
"Do it again tomorrow, so I can appreciate it properly."
Squall huffed a laugh, lingering embarrassment fading into fondness, and gave his promise easily.