Really, the scent of mako around his older self isn't any more than what could nearly always be smelled on the wind growing up. It'd probably have been worse if the scent was stronger; in the reactor, it'd almost been like you were choking on it...

Briefly, he squeezes his eyes even more firmly shut at that thought, but the hand in his hair and the weight of a chin on his head slowly seeps warmth down and Cloud relaxes again.

"... it's stupid," he says quietly, a low burn of embarrassment in his gut, but he doesn't want to move either - this is just as good as any of Zack's hugs, and he's just not going to think about that. But the presence and the weight of it is... similar, and he leans in, the heartbeat reassuring. "There wasn't even any... any actual flames."

Just dirty, black smoke and a smell that had been unpleasantly familiar.