I always liked my mental canon of Cloud being all practical because even though he's fucked up in the head in the game, and falling apart in AC, he still keeps going and Gets Shit Done. Even if he has to be poked a bit along the way sometimes.

...I'm gonna do a bit of hand-waving at that particular little plothole because it'd ruin my amusement otherwise. Maybe he sees Ed raging up a storm and is all, Huh, it's like the guy that pulls the hair of the girl he likes on the playground.