Day 47: Lunch

[idontregret]

Heat was able to ignore the still faintly throbbing spot on his head as he was led back into the cafeteria for another meal he had no intention of eating. He kept himself from rubbing at what he knew would be a small bump because dammit it didn't hurt that much. It was embarrassing, was what it was

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[notthistrain]

The conversation with Yuffie's friend had been... interesting, but Cloud supposed that was the sort of thing he should expect from someone who could befriend the ninja so easily. It was a good thing, he reminded himself. Everyone needed more friends and allies in this place.

There weren't many people in the cafeteria when he arrived, meaning he didn't have much of a chance to approach (or avoid) any of the others from his world before he was being urged to find a place to sit down with his tray. It did smell appetizing, even if it all looked fried. The fruit evened some of that out, right?

He dug in not soon after sitting down, hungry now after barely touching his breakfast. Maybe he'd be able to get enough down before something else came along to send him into shock again.

[Free!]

[host_club_honey]

[tiny cute thing ok?]

Despite the scuffle last shift, Honey was feeling pretty good. Not as happy as this morning, but at least he'd managed to stop his friend from being bullied. There were only a few people he recognized when he walked in, though he did make sure to wave to Sen and Sai before he got his tray. Fish and chips. Honey's face clearly displayed just how thrilled he was about that. After the pancakes this morning, it was disappointing, but much as he might wish for it, he knew that here they couldn't have cake with every meal like they did back home.

As he picked up his tray and scanned the room, he did see a lot of newer faces, or at least, ones he didn't recognize. And it never hurt to try to make new friends. Well... almost never.

He bounced over to the first one he found sitting alone and set his tray on the table before climbing into the seat and tucking Usa-chan into his lap.

"Hi!" he greeted the other cheerfully, smiling up at him from across the table. "I'm Honey! What's your name?"

[notthistrain]

Cloud was startled by the new arrival, who appeared to be no more than a child. What was this place, that it was willing to bring children into its nightmarish setting? At least this kid still appeared cheerful, which either meant that he'd remained unaffected by the monsters and psychological trauma, or he was new. Somehow, he was hoping for the first.

"Cloud Strife." The man held out his hand with a smile, trying not to show how much he was bothered by his current train of thought. This kid didn't need any of that, and if he'd been here a while he was sure to have others watching his back anyway. At least he hoped so. "It's nice to meet you, Honey. Have you been here long?"

There. Expressing concern in a general fashion might work.

[host_club_honey]

"Cloud!" Honey repeated brightly, a gentle giggle in his voice, "I like that. Like a big fluffy cloud in the sky." The good thing about a name that was already cute was that he didn't really have to shorten it. Hopefully he wouldn't mind if Honey didn't use any honorifics, since Cloud hadn't used any either, maybe it was okay

[notthistrain]

Right. Just like a big fluffy cloud. The blond tried to look put out, but failed miserably in the face of such open enthusiasm. How could someone this young have been in the Institute for two weeks and still be this cheerful about everything? Maybe he should take it as a sign that a little bit of optimism could get you a long way. Or perhaps the kid was just really oblivious to it all.

"Usa-chan, huh? He's cute." Though it made him wonder how he'd gotten a hold of that toy here. Had the nurses given it to him? No one else he'd seen had anything from home they'd be allowed to carry around during the day. Yuffie had been brainwashed to get her shuriken, and unless this kid was also some ultra powerful ninja and he just didn't realize it there wouldn't be any reason for them to turn him against the patient body armed with a stuffed toy.

It wasn't worth worrying over for now, he decided. "I've only been here a couple days. You're a real veteran compared to me."

[host_club_honey]

"He is!" Honey was quick to agree and rubbed his hand over the top of the rabbit's pink fuzzy head. Those who were nice enough to acknowledge Usa-chan were also those lucky enough for Honey to offer to let them hold the toy. "My Nana made him for me. You can hold him if you want to

[notthistrain]

"Ah..." Cloud didn't know what to do when being offered the chance to hold a plush like that, so he just shook his head. "No... that's okay. I wouldn't want to accidentally get any of my lunch on it." A truthful enough statement, given that he wasn't sure what they'd do about washing it here. Mostly he'd just feel awkward.

He hadn't played with many dolls when he was young. It had seemed such a childish thing to do despite being a child himself. He wouldn't know what to do with one if it was gifted to him - stick it on a shelf?

"I'm doing as well as can be expected," he assured the boy. "It is a lot of crazy stuff to take in, that's for sure." Come to think of it, he hadn't dealt with a whole lot of kids in the past either. He was sure it had something to do with how he'd tried to grow up so fast, avoiding that stage of life even when he was well past it.

Well, was it ever really too late?

[host_club_honey]

No? Well Haruhi had said that at first too. Honey just nodded as if Cloud's reasoning were very wise indeed and set the toy on the table near his tray while he worked on his lunch. He went through the fruit quickly, leaving only the fish and chips behind and trying not to seem thoroughly disappointed at the prospect of having to eat it.

"That's good. You shouldn't push yourself too hard, there's a lot of dangerous stuff!" he explained, finally taking another bite of his fish, though he did try to hide his sour face.

"Do you have anyone you know here?"

[notthistrain]

Pushing himself too hard wasn't the problem. He hadn't even gotten far enough to where that would have been an issue. There was one time he'd come close to fighting anything and the night had ended before he'd really had a chance. Cloud almost wished there was an opportunity for him to push himself and test his limits. At least then he might feel as if he was getting things done.

At Honey's question, he automatically looked up to scan the room for familiar faces. "Yeah, I know a few people." Yuffie, Aerith, the Turks, and... He tried not to stare too long at that tall figure and spiky black hair. At some point he was going to have to confront Zack. That would be better than letting the other man run into him first. Avoiding the issue would be impossible. "What about you?"