@pctatcs-museical-mcss asked: Sharing a nap (Altair)
Unspoken Fluff Starters - accepting!
It had been a long night, longer than most and it was dark by the time he’d returned that evening. The bar was silent, save for the low thrum of the refrigeration units and the distinctive buzz of a neon light flashing behind the counter.
Tifa must have forgotten to switch the sign off before closing up for the evening, so Cloud makes his way behind the bar shutting off the sign at the mains and casting the room into a peaceful darkness, the only illumination coming from the small fridge at the rear of the counter. He stands there for a time, just appreciating the quiet and the light chill hanging in the air, the faint wisps of a smile pulling at each corner of his mouth.
It was always so good to be home.
Eventually, Cloud trudges up to the living quarters, deftly avoiding the steps that creaked underfoot, and he stops momentarily at the closed door leading to the master bedroom, placing a single hand against the hard wood panel. He didn’t see a point in waking Tifa at this hour - chances were that she probably wouldn’t thank him for it in any case - so it was with this notion in mind that he meanders instead to the sitting area, allowing his tired body to flop down on the large three-seater situated in the centre of the room.
He doesn’t even bother to take off his boots, and he lays there for a while with an arm draped over his eyes basking, almost, in that distinctive fuzziness of impeding sleep beginning to creep into his head. That was until the telltale shuffle of feet on hardwood causes him to lift his arm, only a fraction, and shift his bright gaze in that general direction. Cloud doesn’t shift from his spot there on the sofa, however, not even when his body dips with the extra weight filling the space next to him. But this instance was simply one out of so many others, and he doesn’t hesitate to draw the boy into a soft embrace.
Cloud had never truly believed he would see past twenty-six, back when the geostigma ravaged him from the inside out, never mind into his thirties or beyond even that. There’d never been a clear future for him, cursed, it seemed, to live a life of uncertainty. But here he was, nonetheless, with a beautiful hardworking wife, and a son created between the two of them.
Not a word was breathed between them, as they lay there in the dark, his hand threading through Altair’s soft blond hair and burying his nose into those very same locks. He still held onto that very same scent he remembered from when he was a baby, addictive in every sense of the word. And life was good in that one simple moment, as sleep once again began to overtake him.
