Chapter Text
The clock ticked over to ten PM, and their dog yawned.
Well, he did ACTUALLY yawn, but his collar glowed and gave out the fake yawn sound.
“I am very tired, can we go to bed?” he asked, his head turning to look at the group of four as he panted.
“Are you Dug?” Aqua asked. She smiled as she went back to knitting some sort of scarf. It was an experiment right now. If she kept track of her stitches, would it hold off any of the Little Sister urges? “Or do you just want to be on the bed?”
“Both!” Dug barked after a moment. He danced around their living room. Haphazard, but cozy. Aqua was knitting on the love seat, one that was a blue that matched her scarfs and hair. Zack lay across it, his legs dangling over the arms, his head in her lap as he tried to read a book. Cloud was on the floor, resting on an incredibly plush rug, headphones over his ears as Tifa occasionally changed records. If she wasn’t doing that, she was stretching, with the salvaged TV playing a DVD absently and a bit muffled. The walls were covered in fresh paint they had worked on doing together, and the windows had a few boxes of flowers and vegetables. Not a lot, but enough that the room had a real stab at being a home.
“Fine.” Zack yawned, the book dropping on his head. Aqua giggled. “Bed?”
“Finally.” Tifa muttered as she got up and stretched. “I’ve been half asleep for the last hour.”
“You should have said something.” Cloud tried to get up, but couldn’t balance right. Tifa grabbed under one arm while Aqua grabbed the other. They helped him up, though he took a second to lean on Tifa, then straightened up to face the door.
“Okay, Dug.” Zack said. “What are you thinking?”
It didn’t take long for everyone to get washed up, and then the tetris of their sleeping arrangements kicked in. Aqua, comfy in a big sleeping dress and long linen pants, ones with flowers on it, fell onto the big bed first, closest to the middle. Zack, blue sleeping pants and a matching t shirt, took the side closest to the bed from her, so he was the little spoon so to speak. Cloud was behind Aqua, loose fitting black sleeping pants with a sky design on them, and a muscle t-shirt, The bed was marked where he would toss and turn. Next to him was Tifa, sleeping shorts and sleeping shirt, though looser than any of the others. She curled up in Cloud’s arms, fingers running over his boils and arthritic callouses. Dug lay down at their feet as soon as they were all settled. Cloud though would shift in the night, sometimes making sure Aqua was there next to him.
“The bed is better than before.” Zack finally said. Cloud groaned in a way that made him echo a whale.
“For you.” He finally said. “I liked being in the middle like that. “
“Cloud we slept on the ground sitting up straight.” Tifa reminded him. “We needed a proper bed.”
“And that was because you stayed as Mr. Bubbles.” Aqua reminded him. Her own voice gave a small distortion. “I like Mr. Bubbles, but I like Cloud too.”
“I.. like I’m not alone.” Zack whispered. There was shifting as they all heard him.
“Zack?” Aqua asked.
“Well.” Zack sat up in bed, throwing off everyone’s precise arrangements so they could look at him.
“You were with me in the Realm of Darkness for years.” Aqua said in a slightly confused manner. “What do you mean by alone?”
“That’s fair, but even if we weren’t technically alone, we were alone.” Zack replied. “You know full well the realm of Darkness is just surviving. We didn’t eat, we didn’t even really sleep, we were constantly fighting, Dug helped-”
“I did!” Dug barked.
“Yes you did. But it… that wasn’t a life.” Zack absently waved his hands. “It’s just Surviving. Which we all did.”
They grew quiet. Aqua’s life of sacrifice, Zack’s own unexpected one, Cloud searching and searching after his city fell and he thought himself the only survivor, and Tifa’s own powering though even if she was gone searching when Sora found Leon and company.
Aqua sat up and pulled Zack close in a hug, her head resting by his neck. Her hands wound through his hair, and they rested like that for a bit.
Until Cloud got over and lay on Aqua. They wavered but it held… until Tifa joined.
Unfortunately, Zack did not have Cloud’s Big Daddy endurance or stability, and after waving a second, fell off the bed onto the carpeted floor, as they all slid down on top of him.
“Ow.” He muttered. “Aqua, Cloud, you’re crushing my sternum.”
“Sorry.” Both muttered and worked to pull themselves apart and off of Zack. Tifa was half tied up in the sheets, and Dug was making obviously fake snoring sounds. It took a few minutes, but eventually Zack was able to crawl out and stand up.
“... should we try that again?” He asked. His three others looked at each other, and simultaneously decided that “That” was a hug.
Zack fell down again.