I don't normally qrt like this. But "Eh? ".

Cloud has trauma that leads him to play out an ideal of a cool SOLDIER thus he is putting on a cool tryhard facade. & everyone including Tifa & Aerith can see right through him. https://twitter.com/firdagniriel/status/1312080471459876864

He flirts with T in OG too. Because he wants to impress her and show her how cool he is. Cloud himself though tends to make jokes & is sweet and shy around women. Not too awkward as you see he intiates flirting w Tifa carries Jessie & Aerith has banter w each girl and Barret.

Yes he does moan in Alone At Last turn up the volume, he is a normal quiet guy with bad circumstances. And he's passive in general around pretty girls the girls in honeybee in all feel him up and Jessie kisses and hugs him & Aerith pulls him around.

Notice how even 14 year old Cloud called Tifa to a popular date spot yet in the night to try an impress her yet people think he's completely incapable of flirting?

Cloud looked to Zack as an ideal hero because he wanted to be hero for Tifa & to protect everyone he loved

But acting out his false persona has never meant Cloud IS Zack. More that he is emulating him so he can be the cool confident hero he desires himself to be. His ideal.

So while Cloud might not be as confident to openly flirt w Tifa he feels he can as his cool try hard SOLDIER self. It's what he has always wanted

Weirdly enough saying his persona is OOC? Yeah the point is he's not acting like himself? So he's got this try hard cool guy attitude that falters when others call him on his BS. But he acts that way because that's what Cloud has always wanted.

In conclusion SOLDIER Cloud is not a completely different person but is Cloud's false self because he's acting out a fantasy version of himself in which he's oh so cool. This persona acts on his true desires because he's in there underneath.

So while real Cloud would try to flirt but be too shy to do it so boldly, his persona is cool and confident enough to let him. This is the Cloud everyone including Aerith. & the Cloud everyone starting w Wedge can see right through him. Heck, even Marle can see through him.

Notice how he isn't a block of ice. Because he never was. Not even in OG. And he has a strong will and always has. And he is really kind and sweet underneath it all. He tries to act cool and tough bc that's how he thinks SOLDIERS should act.

So in conclusion real Cloud wants to flirt and would he just wouldn't be so bold abt it.
You're calling a persona OOC like you don't know he's putting on an act by saying what sounds cool.
But he is in there & pretty much a normal guy.

Signed, someone on her 5th playthrough.

*of of OG. *and lover of Remake