"Well, nothing we backwater experts can't handle then, right?"

It's said so automatic in turn. And it's such a dumb joke, really. But then so was Cloud's. So dumb and an echo of a conversation that feels like an age ago. Enough to make Zack pause. Enough for his original train of thought to suddenly crash and burn, left forgotten in the midst of the attempted smile and the attempted reassurance and the attempted humor.

But maybe that's exactly why Zack laughs so loudly, almost too abruptly. Seriously, he's in hysterics and might seem like he's going utterly insane. Because it really is such a stupid joke. It's always been one, but there's something in it that's just so outlandishly normal after so much that hasn't been, that's far from been. It's the last thing he'd ever thought he'd hear him say and that's if he'd ever thought he'd even hear him say anything again never mind have a sense of humor.

By the end of it, he's wiping tears from his eyes. But when he's finished using Cloud's shoulder to hold to to lean on while he recovers, he's got a smile on his face brighter than before and an anchor to his words that wasn't there until then either.

"I'm glad you're here, too. Well- maybe not here, here. But.. aw, you know what I mean."