01 -- Two Boys and a Bed -- Video

[flamesbond]

[A general Mognet post today because Lea and Isa need anyone who can help.

Lea points his camera at the mess of wood and metal that is going to be their bedframe.

Eventually.

He hopes. Currently it’s just a disaster with Isa sitting in the middle of it, fuming and sweaty. Their apartment, like so many, is powerless.]

So...anyone know how to read backwoods Wutaian? At least I think that’s what the directions are in...or was it something else, Isa?

I think that’s what it is.

[He squints at the directions before holding them up for Lea’s phone to capture.]

[And yeah, it’s some dialect of Wutaian that two boys from Kalm would never have learned to read. Lea sighs]

Never buy a bed from a backalley furniture store, guys. Even if it’s a great deal for a queen-sized bed.

[Yes. Two teenaged boys got one queen-sized bed. No, they don’t see a problem with this.]

Okay, you’ve asked. Turn that off and go change the laundry to the dryer already.

You nag, you know that?

I wasn’t nagging. Nagging would imply I asked you more than twice.

[He pauses.]

You’re not still filming this are you?

[Lea snorts]

I'm getting it, I'm getting...Nag

[It cuts off.]

Comments

[video]

[flamesbond]

Don't we what?

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

... live together.

[There's a little cringe and Cloud shakes his head and hopes he's not blushing.]

Never mind. Isn't it too hot to do something like that?

[video]

[flamesbond]

We do, which is why we bought the bed. S'cheaper.

[See? Logic!]

Maybe, but we need to do it.

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

... I guess so, yeah.

[He can see the logic in that, really, but still. Maybe part of the issue is just what he's comfortable with or not... Except Cloud's not sure that's just that.]

Power went out after you'd already gotten it and now you've got nowhere to sleep? [He shouldn't but he does snort a little.]

[video]

[flamesbond]

Pretty much, yeah. And at least it's not a bunk bed.

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

... what's wrong with bunk beds?

[Cloud pauses and then snorts.]

Aside from the noises the second someone moves.

[He's well-familiar with bunk-beds and the noises they can make. Unfortunately. Though he thinks that's only when they're cheap or old, right..?]

[video]

[flamesbond]

I get up and down a lot and would step on Isa's face...and Isa's a violent sleeper, so he'd through things down.

[action]

[aiza]

[Isa lightly kicks Lea in the leg.]

Why did you have to tell him that about my sleeping?

[action]

[flamesbond]

[Cackles]

[action]

[aiza]

[Kicks him again.]

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

... I guess that means you get creative and don't use the ladder to get down. [That's the only thing that makes sense, and Cloud smothers a grin, though he's a little confused as well.]

Like what..? Pillows? [Then Isa would just have deprived himself of them and they'd hardly hurt, coming down... Also, if the other's such a violent sleeper, why would they want a single bed to sleep in, even if it's large? But... he won't ask that because clearly they must have thought about that already.]

[video]

[flamesbond]

Pillows. His giant dog. Whatever else is up there.

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

... I was going to ask what else, but... [he shakes his head, a small, wry smile on his face.] Whatever he wants to keep there, right? I forgot you actually can do that usually.

[He scrunches his nose a little. He knows other troopers certainly dared to keep things in their bed, chancing to have the time to put the stuff elsewhere come inspection, but he hadn't.]

[video]

[flamesbond]

Well, he's a nerd, so...

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

Nothing wrong with books. [He's not sure why he feels the need to defend it, but he does.]

... but I'm not sure I'd want to keep them in my bed, really.

[Unless he fell asleep reading?]

[video]

[aiza]

What Lea said. But why are you so confused by this?

[Enlighten him, Cloud because he is confused as can be about what you're getting at.]

It is too hot, but I don't want to sleep on a mattress on the floor again. And we got rid of the old bed already.

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

Never mind, I just... [Don't make him talk about this, okay? Cloud squirms, mostly not visible, and shrugs.] ... I've never really shared a bed with anyone.

[And while there might be... might have been someone he could see doing that with, it wasn't because they were really good friends (which they were) and that was also why it would never have come up. Anywhere.]

Not even for a day or two? [a pause.] I could... try help? But I don't know any Wutaian.

[So his help would be as inexperienced and based on guesses as their own attempts.]

[video]

[aiza]

We have lots of times, though never one this big.

[The hotel they stayed in on their way from Kalm to Edge only had a room with a twin bed left. Everything else was taken. Though they were pros at sleeping two to a twin from all the sleepovers they had at Lea's aunt's house.]

That would be great if you could. Maybe a fresh set of eyes will do the trick.

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

[Shaking his head, Cloud very silently muttered something that was probably 'don't doubt it', promptly blushed, and shifted in his seat.]

Doesn't it get uncomfortable with something smaller..?

[You'd end up real close, and while there's certainly positives to that...]

I'll try. [He smiles a little.] In... a few hours? Maybe it's cooled down some, then...

[He's not looking forward to walking in this heat.]

[video]

[aiza]

Yeah. Which is why we got a bigger bed.

[He nods.]

That sounds like a good idea. See you then?

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

Guess that makes sense. [But it's said in a wryly hesitant way because seriously.] Or at least you will have a bigger bed. At some point.

[Sorry, Isa, he probably shouldn't grin, but he is, just a little, before he nods.]

Yeah. Text me the address?

[He thinks he has a good enough grip on some areas of Edge and the maps now that it shouldn't be too much of a problem.]

[video]

[aiza]

[Isa sighs and shakes his head in amusement.]

I should have seen that one coming.

I'll send it to you now.

[He texts their address to him, with directions from 7th Heaven just in case.]

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

[The grin grows a little at that response and Cloud blinks, managing, somehow, to look innocent.]

Possibly.

[Briefly, he pulls away to check, then pops back in view to nod.]

Got it. [Then there's a tired grimace as Cloud rubs his neck; he's getting very tired of the feeling of sweat.] Might... take a bit since I don't know the way.

[Patrolling Midgar those first few months, especially as he'd gotten there as spring became summer, had been hell, hardly knowing the routes and having to deal with the uniform and the heat. Even having short sleeves hadn't helped much.]

[video]

[aiza]

It's not too hard to find, but call if you get lost.

[Isa's always been good with directions.]

[video]

[backwatertrooper]

Shouldn't be. [Cloud agrees, shrugging.] I think I'm finally starting to not assume I'm in Midgar anymore.

[Sure, the ruins should be a big tipoff, and they are, but the ruined spire of the ShinRa Tower messes him up some, and Edge is still built more similar to Midgar or Junon than the town Cloud is most familiar with.]