If only Zack could be as gentle as Cloud was being with Sephiroth's hair. What was he doing back there? It felt like he was grooming him. Kinda like a monkey. Too lazy to try and stop the other man playing with his spikes; Sephiroth was right there and impossible to ignore. Odd how quickly his teenage adoration of his hero resurfaced in the wake of their victory against the second Jenova entity and after the SOLDIER's resurrection, after they had saved each other's lives more than once in the frantic battle. And still it was odd to be so close, to just touch his hair. Sephiroth should be a mythic being - far beyond a mortal's touch. And yet here Cloud was, right beside him - his fingers brushing through soft and silky hair on his day off.

Just what conditioner did the man use? Assuming that he had needed to; maybe soft hair was an after effect of resurrection. Maybe Genesis, Angeal and Zack were likewise affected. That would be a good investigation later. Still; something to look out for when he made his next delivery. Luxuries like that were still scarce as the world moved on from Mako and Meteor. Strife Delivery was very much in demand - and now the staff had expanded. A few people did query if spiky hair was a requirement for employment with the company and Cloud just smiled in response. There was a tickle of memory at the thought of conditioner; some list or email from years and years ago. How had he managed to read that - or who had been able to find out that detail? Had it been from one of the SOLDIER fan-clubs perhaps? The thought seemed to evaporate even as he tried to grasp it. He suppressed his sigh and refocused on Sephiroth. The man once the object of utter hatred and now a lover was right beside him. An unexpected realisation that he might not be as opposed to the man's presence as he might once have been.

The presence of both Aerith Gainsborough and Zack Fair certainly helped relieve remaining tension between them; his two greatest failings alive and well once more. Still hard to overlook the past - as much as Sephiroth insisted it had been at Jenova's direction that he injured Tifa and slew Aerith, as much as he had long forgotten Cloud's family in Nibelheim and the death of his mother. Battle helped forge a new trust between the men and things became easier. The casual ease of interactions with Zack spread to the others and soon even Genesis was teasing him like they had known each other for years. Angeal still remained a little distant, a little aloof - Zack privately mentioned he might have concerns about the state of the Buster Sword.

Zack tugged a strand of hair harder than before and Cloud made a half-hearted swipe at him. The man just grinned and continued to preen. Comfortable and familiar; tinged as it was with the last vanishing traces of guilt. Zack's presence made him oddly relaxed - as far as his memories allowed him. They had never spoken as much as he might have liked and there were only vestiges of memories from that year they spent evading Shinra and tracking down Genesis. And after all Zack did, Cloud somehow still forgot him - more guilt despite Zack's protestations everything was now okay.

Fragments of memory bubbled up from the murky depths of his mind every now and again; Zack insisting he would do everything to keep him safe. Zack guiding his stumbling, awkward steps as they fled the reconstructed Nibelheim. Zack hiding him as the Shinra army cornered them. Not once had Zack entertained the notion of abandoning him and saving himself. His presence was calming and always had been; a vital aid in the final moments of the Geostigma crisis - and a voice of reason when Sephiroth came back to life.

Angeal was something of an engima still. His reputation as a traitor to Shinra was one of the few things Cloud could actively recall from his past life regarding the man. Not something best blurted out when meeting him. Easier to hang back as Zack succumbed to excessive over-excitement at their reunion; Angeal called him an over-eager puppy. The comment drew louder laughter from the three older SOLDIERs, Zack grumbling and Cloud perplexed. The original owner of the Buster Sword too - Cloud had never formerly stopped to consider the history of the blade he once wielded. Zack had offered to return the sword from the church, but Angeal insisted it stay, preferring to take a training blade from the remains of the Shinra building. Typical was Zack's sole comment.

Even if Angeal was the most guarded of the quintet - Genesis certainly seemed to want some matters left unsaid. Though he filled the remaining silences with quotes and flourishes and it was impossible to resist his wry smile and dry humour. A floating feather drifted down and Cloud looked up as Genesis descended. Less well known to him in the past than Angeal - even if they had come into close proximity on a number of occasions. Cid had muttered something about the man frequenting theatres in Edge - and the time he was dozing, forced awake and then quizzed about the current final act of Loveless. The man's obsession with the play-text was a running joke with the other four - even the sight of the book enough to prompt a succession of groans from Angeal and Sephiroth. But despite that obsession, the man seemed to set his undivided attention upon Cloud. It made sense to a point; he was the most recent addition to the group - and the one with the least connections with the relationship. And maybe that was what drew Cloud's attention to both him and Angeal - the unfamiliar. The man still seemed a little at a loose end even now with his theatrical career. Maybe he could join Strife Delivery at some point too.