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Cid is at the top of a ladder, reaching for something on one of his high shelves, when he hears a curse from the other room. He barely has time to stabilize himself against the shelving when the room shakes ominously, and he’s just congratulating himself on his quick thinking when a monkey wrench teeters off the top shelf and slams into his hand on its way to the floor. Now he’s the one cursing, only with a great deal more fervor.
“… sorry,” says Cloud’s voice from the doorway.
Cid glances down, his mouth half open to tell Cloud to stop damn apologizing for stupid shit, but the words die in his mouth when he sees the hint of a smile playing on the corners of Cloud’s lips. It means a lot, somehow, that the other man has become willing to show his sense of humor in Cid’s presence.
Cloud shakes his head and tromps towards the wrench, which he examines with his usual muted curiosity. “Where’d it hit you?”
“Just my hand.” Cid awkwardly climbs back down the ladder one-handed, giving up on the thing he’d been aiming for. What was he even looking for before? Damn old age getting to him, he can’t remember now. “Everything all right in there?”
“I broke another socket wrench.” Cloud holds up the offending item with a rather sheepish look on his face. In typical Cloud fashion, it’s not just the socket that’s been snapped off; the entire wrench is in about six pieces. How exactly Cloud manages to do this Cid has never been able to figure out, because Cloud prefers privacy while working on his bike, but Cid knows it’s accidental, which makes it really hard not to laugh.
To cover up his amusement, he smirks and gestures at the broken wrench. “Think you can do that on purpose?”
Cloud blinks and looks at the pieces blankly. “Why?”
Cid kicks the monkey wrench across the floor to his friend. “I don’t think I want that anymore.” To emphasize his point, he rubs his aching right hand.
Cloud bends to pick up the wrench with his free hand, and when he stands up again, he’s smiling—a real smile this time. “I’ll see what I can do,” he says.
Cid grins and tries not to revel in the fact that he’s one of the few people privileged enough to see that smile regularly.