Through the Years

Favourites

This house was full of his favourites.

The long-haired person was a little hard to read. Sometimes he could sense forms of distress coming off them but the human always looked unphased, and didn't act any differently. But they always picked Cloud up and pet him and spoke to him like he was a human too if they were alone together.
The little girl was nice too. Cloud didn't mind her at all. She was always cuddling him, picking him up, talking to him, feeding him delicious snacks, and falling asleep curled up with him all warm and cosy.

He particularly liked the warm human. His lap, chest, stomach, anywhere Cloud could get a nap on his body was ideal for him.
He learned pretty quickly that some days the warm one would leave the little girl alone and when he came back he'd go off to his room and sit in there for a while, running his hands through his unruly hair until Cloud jumped up onto the bed too.

It was the best time to cuddle up with him and leech off his heat.

Especially now the girl has been gone for a little while. That meant that there was no-one holding Cloud from getting even more pets elsewhere.

So when the warm one comes back, kicking his shoes off and immediately heading for his room, Cloud makes a show of meowing constantly as he follows hot on his heels.

"Oh, cut it out." The warm one says tiredly, but closes Cloud in the room with him, flopping face-down onto the bed.

"Mmrrowww." Cloud meows as he bumps his head against the warm one's shoulder.

This earns him being dragged right into the warm one's body, his scarred and metal arm wrapping around him tight, and his face being pressed into Cloud's fur.
Cloud can't help but purr immediately, reaching his paws out so he can knead at the bedsheets while he's being held. He likes it when they hold him like this, especially when he can feel their worries fading away the longer they lie together.

"Therapy alone sucks." His human complains into his fur.

Cloud purrs louder merely at being spoken to, kneading the blanket even more enthusiastically.

"I'm not always self destructing am I, Cloud? Otherwise I wouldn't be here." He continues to say.

"Meow."

"Yeah, I know, right? Total quack." The warm one replies, kissing Cloud's head.

"Mreeeow."

"Gotta go make dinner before 'Mura comes back." He continues to mope. "I miss Star."

Cloud rolls over a little more so that the warm hand can pet his belly in the way he likes and has him purring like a chainsaw.

"Let's have a lil' nap, yeah?" He asks Cloud, who gives a small meow in response. "Tomura doesn't need to know."

Cloud continues purring as warm fingers pet his stomach, his eyes closing slowly as the petting slows to a stop.
He's warm, so he's happy to snooze for a little bit exactly where he is.

*•*

The bed dips, making Cloud wake up, lazily lifting his head up to blink dazedly at the new fingers scratching the top of his head.
Dark grey eyes look down at him with a softness that was rare from the long-haired human.
Cloud chirps at him curiously as he slowly lays down next to him.

"Shh." Is the soft response back.

Cloud meows again, refusing to give up his spot curled up against the warm body behind him as the long-haired one tries to shoo him away.

"Cloud, move." He says a little more firmly, trying to use his arm to scoop him up.

Cloud begins to growl at the back of his throat, unhappy with being forced away so soon after waking up, and this wakes the warm one up from beside Cloud.

"Mh?" The warm one asks, confused.

"The cat won't move."

"C'mere." The warm one grumbles, sweeping his arm in the air and alarming Cloud enough to make him jump off the bed.

"Good nap?" The long-haired one asks, sounding amused as the warm human pulls him to his body, holding him close like he had been to Cloud before he came home.

"Sorry, babe. Didn't mean ta sleep for so long." The warm one yawns, and then buries his face into the mass of white hair behind the grey-eyed one. "Ll' make dinner in a bit. Don't get mad."

"I'm not mad." The other responds as Cloud jumps onto the bed again.

The two share a chaste kiss, but the long-haired one remains in the warm one's space, brushing his cracked lips against the scarred bottom lip of the warm one.

"Tomura." The warm one murmurs.

"It's our last night together." The long haired one says just as lowly to the other.

The warm one hums and kisses him again, slower. Cloud tries curling up between them, but the long-haired human scoops him up wordlessly, dropping him off outside the door and closing the door behind him.
Cloud takes a second to process what had just happened before yowling and scratching at the door, only for loud music to start up and drown him out.

He carries on batting the door and meowing for a little while before giving up and wandering off to the girls room. It was empty in there, no human to give him love, but he could curl up with all the soft toys on her bed and have a good nap there until the older humans were free again and remembered to feed him.

*•*

Cloud gets fed eventually, and even gets given extra treats from the humans plates later on while they're cuddled up on the couch together, with Cloud on the warm one's lap purring loudly.

"Skeptic managed to find one of those tablets you were talking about."

"Mm?"

"He's going to pick it up tomorrow."

"Okay, babe." The warm one yawns.

"For Star."

"Mm."

A short pause.

"...I miss her." The warm one admits.

"It was your idea." The other reminds him, smirking a little. "We needed time to sort things out. Remember?"

"Didn't think it was any good for her to be around us arguin'." The warm one huffs.

"Mrreow." Cloud meows, earning an amused huff from the long-haired human, and a little rub behind his ears.

"Staying with Giran will have done her some good. You know he would have spoiled her rotten."

The warm one makes an uncertain noise, and the other bends down to kiss him softly.

"Feel like I'm failin' her. Us." The warm one admits, his blue eyes rolling away from his company.

His partner looks down at him quietly for a moment or two as Cloud flops onto his side on the scarred man's lap.

"You're doing fine. Just don't let women get all touchy with you again." He replies, sounding like he's trying to be lighthearted.

"I won't." The warm one sighs. "Never drinkin' again."

"She loves you." The white haired human says. "You're trying."

"Do you love me?" The warm one asks, avoiding the others eyes as he scratches Cloud's belly.

"Touya..." The other tilts his head back.

The two lock eyes and Cloud grabs the scarred wrist with his paws when it goes to retreat from his stomach.
The warm human rolls his eyes and rubs Cloud's stomach roughly in a way that makes his whole tummy wobble.

The two share another kiss, and Cloud chews at the gnarled wrist of the scarred man's arm as he continues to play roughly.
This was another reason why Cloud liked the warm one.
He liked playing, and pretending to kill his favourite cuddle buddy.

He especially likes when the long haired human joins in with playing with him too.
This house really was full of his favourite people.