Zack learns the hard way

 

Going to sleep was Zack's favorite part of the day. It meant curling up with Cloud and pretending that they weren't on the run, that trained soldiers weren't chasing them down. That no one was trying to kill them, or worse, send them back to the labs. Nighttime also meant that Cloud would close his eyes and Zack could pretend that he wasn't in a coma, that he was just his normal spikey all tired out from training that day.

Sleep meant that everything was okay again.

Sleep also meant nightmare's too. Not just his, but Cloud's. Cloud's nightmares were the worst though. They started with screaming and thrashing (It scares Zack that they are bad enough to move the blond from his normally still state) and ended with Cloud sweaty, shaky and in some kind of pain.

The first time they came, they scared Zack half to death. He couldn't wake Cloud up, couldn't do anything and Cloud was screaming and Zack just held him and rocked the frail body back and forth until it stopped, feeling more helpless then ever and when was it going to stop? Afterwords he held that thin (too thin, he was way too thin) body as close as he could as he listened to the sound of the forest. They heard, he was sure and they were on their way to kill them, kill them because Zack wasn't going back to that place alive and hell if he let them take Cloud.

But they never came, Zack didn't hear anything that night except the too loud breathing still coming from Cloud but even that had slowed by morning. The next day they were back on their way to somewhere (because Zack hadn't thought that far yet).

The second time it happened, Zack had been worried that Cloud might bite his tongue, so he thrust his fingers into the blond's mouth. The screaming stopped and Cloud just lay there suckling on the fingers and occasionally moaning. He was still in pain, but he seemed to take some comfort from the simple childish act. That was fine with Zack, perfectly fine. Eventually Cloud drifted back to sleep while Zack kept watch for the rest of the night.

It became routine after a while, Cloud would cry out and Zack would put his fingers in that tiny mouth before the screaming started and they would both go back to sleep. It worked, even if it did leave Zack a little uncomfortable sometimes, thinking way too much about the sucking and wetness and he so wasn't going there.

The nightmare's still came once in a while but Zack took comfort in the fact they they were coming less and less. It meant that Cloud was getting better and maybe someday soon Cloud would look at him instead of through him.