This all comes from an AU on tumblr called liverpepper. I seriously recommend checking it out, it's awesome!

(16 year old Squall had a potty mouth and nothing shall convince me otherwise)

Age 16

They'd seen it. They'd all seen it. This fucking medication was doing Cloud more harm than good. Which is why Squall was currently sitting in a chair next to a hospital bed with Cloud lying unconscious in said bed.

He was going to punch the doctors in the face. Zack would help him.

So now Squall was sat with his head in his hands as he waited for Cloud to wake up, please just wake up, you dumbass! He knew Cloud wasn't dying. You can't die from geostigma once you started treatments. But it felt like Cloud was dying. Why hadn't Squall opened his goddamn mouth and told Cloud to stop taking that dumb medication?

Ever since he'd started taking mako, Cloud had slowly been slipping away from them. Half the time he could barely process what was going on. He'd forget what was happening. Be all zombie-like. The doctors insisted that this was normal, that Cloud was going to be fine. This is how to treat geostigma. This was what Cloud needed. Bullshit. Squall was going to punch those fucking doctors in the face.

Cid was probably worrying his old head off with Squall not turning up back home. Not that he was going to leave Cloud like this. Somebody had to drag his ass over to the hospital when the seizure died down and the meds did more harm than good. That same somebody wasn't going to leave until he knew his friend was doing slightly better.

"Wuh…where…?"

Oh God. Squall flew off the chair and crouched down next to the bed. Cloud began to shift underneath the covers and blink his eyes open unsteadily.

"Cloud?" Squall said, voice quiet. If he spoke too loud, it would be like a ton of bricks smashing into Cloud's head.

"Who…? Where am I?" Cloud asked, turning to face Squall.

His eyes were heavy-lidded and his expression vacant. A cold and shaking hand reached out to where Squall was crouched down. He took it within his own and grasped it tight. If he let go of this hand then he would be letting Cloud slip away. Squall was not going to let Cloud slip away.

"You're in the hospital. I brought you here," he answered.

"Hurts," Cloud groaned.

"Yeah. Stigma started acting up. You took some mako and then everything got worse," Squall said.

"How long?" Cloud mumbled, trying to focus on Squall.

"Three hours ago," Squall replied.

Cloud's eyes scrunched up as he tried to move. Squall would never know how he managed to live through it all. Day in day out with pain settling in somewhere. The hand in his own curled and tightened.

"But… who…?"

Fuck the doctors. Fuck the mako.

"It's Squall. Don't think too hard."

Zack had better help him punch them all. Maybe they should get Tifa to help. Break their noses or something.

"Squall… you staying? Please?"

"Of course."

Age 23

Babies are not allowed in certain hospital wards. This really pisses Squall off because he wants to visit Cloud so badly but he can't take the twins with him. Just when he'd started to open up and let Cloud help him with them.

"I'm sorry Mister Leonhart, but it's a health and safety risk. If it were the babies' mother, then perhaps we could make an exception but since it's just a family friend we can't," said the smarmy receptionist.

The stupid woman refused to listen to him when he explained that no, Cloud wasn't just some family friend. He was Squall's boyfriend and by extension, the twins' second father. She just laughed at him and then Sora started crying because he was hungry, which set Roxas off, which had a whole bunch of people looking at Squall disapprovingly ("young people these days!"), which meant he had to leave without getting to see Cloud.

Even with the newer medication, materia, there were still times where everything got a little too much and Cloud had to spend a day or two (or three) in hospital. Until recently, Squall had been aware that the babies were too young but he hadn't thought it would be a problem now. Hospitals should advertise clearly how old children had to be before they were allowed into certain wards.

"Zack and I will look after the twins," Aerith had said to him later. "You go and visit Cloud."

"But I wanted to take them with me," Squall protested.

"Squall, you worry yourself sick whenever Cloud's in hospital, more so if you don't get to see him. You know we can handle the twins for a few hours. Go," Aerith gently insisted.

So he went.

"Where are the boys?" Cloud asked as he walked into the room.

"With Aerith and Zack," Squall said, sitting down in the chair. "Hospital refused to let them in. I tried to explain who you were to them but they wouldn't listen."

Cloud didn't say anything. He just shrugged and let his hand fall to the side. Squall picked it up and clutched it between his own. This was a ritual now. Squall always held Cloud's hand when he was in hospital. Sometimes he'd feel sixteen again as he grasped them but when he saw Cloud staring back at him with an aware expression he knew. He knew that things had changed and they weren't sixteen.

There was no more mako. Cloud was no longer zombie-like and forgetful and Squall (and Zack. And Tifa. And Aerith. And Yuffie.) were no longer arguing with stony-faced doctors against the medication that was doing more to take their friend away from them than any disease could.

"How are you feeling?" Squall asked.

"Tired. Ill. Aching. The usual," Cloud replied, shrugging once more. "Sorry about the hospital."

"It's fine. At least we know now. We can try again when the boys are older," Squall said.

They sat in comfortable silence for a short while. At one point Cloud gestured for Squall to sit down next to him on the bed, which he did. Cloud let his head fall onto Squall's shoulder and they sat together. They were seventeen year olds again, not because of the hospital, but because of the way they sat at that moment. If they closed their eyes the hospital room would melt away and they'd walk through time until they reached the attic where they'd sit on an old mattress just like this. They'd sit on that mattress and be together and not have to worry for a short while about medication or school or anything.

"Remember sitting like this on that mattress?" Squall asked.

"Does Cid still have that mattress in the attic?" Cloud responded.

"He gave it to me. Something about not wanting it to defile his attic," Squall said. "Which means he either knew all along what we did in that attic or Yuffie told him."

"Mmm," Cloud hummed, relaxing further into Squall's shoulder. "Love you."

"Love you too."

Age 27

Five year olds are allowed into the ward. Squall had to promise the staff that he'll keep the twins in check and that they wouldn't disturb any other patients. At least the new receptionist was kind to them this time. Squall held their hands as they followed one of the many doctors to the room where Cloud was staying. Sora tried to pull ahead and look at every single detail he could see while Roxas was content with staying closer to Squall. That isn't to say he wasn't trying to look at everything.

They were shown into the room and straightaway the twins unhooked themselves from Squall's hands. They rushed over to the bed with excited squeals of 'Pa!'. Cloud laughed and helped pull them both up so that they could sit next to him. Squall leant against the wall and watched fondly on as the boys began to hug Cloud.

"We missed you Pa!" Sora exclaimed, snuggling into Cloud's right side.

"You're not gonna die, are you?" Roxas asked.

"I'm not going to die, Roxas. Somebody needs to keep an eye on your dad," Cloud replied, adjusting his arm so that the IV drip didn't get ripped out by the twins.

"But Dad always says he keeps an eye on you," Sora said.

"We keep an eye on each other," Squall said, before Cloud had the chance to open his mouth. "But I do the protecting for the most part. I'm the one who fights off the boogeyman."

Both of the twins shuddered at mention of the dreaded boogeyman. Cloud rolled his eyes and bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. Squall just grinned like an idiot.

"So what have you two done at school?" Cloud asked.

Sharing an excited glance, the twins launched into a barely rehearsed spiel about how their teacher was helping them with writing and how they'd been doing paintings of their parents. They told Cloud every minute detail they could remember: how Tidus had gotten paint in his hair and how Yuna had painted her daddy and her mommy and her uncle Auron. How Naminé refused to go down the slide and only Kairi could get her down. They babbled on and on and on.

"When are you coming home?" Roxas asked.

"Tomorrow. The doctors think I'll be feeling better then," Cloud replied.

"So we can watch Incredibles together?" Sora said. He'd been obsessed with that movie.

"Of course," Cloud said.

He put his arms around both boys and gave them a hug.

"Daddy! Come and hug us!" Sora called out.

Squall peeled himself from the wall and walked over. He sat down and put his arms around his fiancé and the boys. He could hear Sora and Roxas giggling and feel Cloud place a hand as close to one of his as possible. Squall moved his own hand and clutched Cloud's. He tightened the hug and heard Sora laugh out loud as he wriggled against his fathers and his brother.

"Missed you," Squall whispered into Cloud's ear.

"Missed you too, goofball," Cloud whispered back.

Age 37

There had been a bad seizure the night before. Cloud started hallucinating at one point, screaming as his geostigma forced him to look at the ghost of his dead mother. Squall did everything he could. He'd given Cloud some materia, made him comfortable, sat next to him and told him that whatever he saw wouldn't hurt him. His mother just wanted to check on him. Cloud had sobbed into his shoulder through the pain and the fear. Sora and Roxas stood uncertainly at the door until Squall ordered them to ring Zack and get him to come over and help him drive Cloud to the hospital.

It's always painful when the boys have to witness a bad seizure. They don't happen too often but when they do it's frightening for everyone. Both twins were still at home. Aerith would keep an eye on them and make sure they got to school. Zack had stayed with Squall and sat next to him in the waiting room.

This had been the worst one in years. In a moment of clarity, Cloud had begged Squall to use the emergency mako injection hidden in the medicine cabinet. Squall had been torn. Cloud had been in so much pain that he was willing to risk his memories again. But Squall had been too scared to take that risk.

He didn't want Cloud to wake up forgetting him or, God forbid, the boys.

Aerith had whispered to him as he and Zack carried Cloud out of the house and into the car.

"You did the right thing. He doesn't need that anymore."

A doctor walked in and told Squall that Cloud had woken up and was asking after him. Zack gave him a pat on the shoulder and went off to buy another cup of 'the shittiest coffee to grace the planet'. Squall numbly followed the doctor, retracing steps he had taken hundreds of times over the past twenty plus years.

When they reached the room, Squall dashed over to Cloud and sat next to him on the bed. He pressed kisses to Cloud's forehead and kept his arms around him. Cloud clutched at his shirt, body dealing with the aftershocks from his attack.

"Why didn't you use the mako?" Cloud asked.

"I couldn't. Not after what it did to you. I'm so sorry," Squall replied. "I'm sorry."

He felt tears slowly crawl down his cheeks before falling and colliding with Cloud. Cloud felt them too.

"It's fine. Didn't really want you to use it either," Cloud mumbled.

They sat together but were not still. Squall reached down and kissed Cloud properly on the mouth. Times like these were the times where he was terrified that he'd lose Cloud. He knew that he wouldn't but it still scared him. Cloud kissed back, aware of Squall's fears. He grounded Squall in the same way that Squall grounded him after hallucinations made him doubt the world around him.

"She wasn't real," Cloud mumbled, pushing his head into Squall's shoulder.

"No. She wasn't. But I'm real. I'm here," Squall said.

"The boys okay?" Cloud asked.

"Shaken but fine. Aerith's got them. Zack's in the waiting room," Squall replied. He suddenly felt Cloud shake, as if sobbing. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm real. I love you."

"You're here."

"I'm here."

"You're real."

"I'm real, Cloud. This is real. You're safe."

"I love you."

Age 37 – at home

The boys had gone off to Tidus' place. Something about a friendly Smash tournament. This gave Cloud and Squall some time to be alone together in the house. They sat together on the couch, in the same way they would sit together on hospital beds and rickety old mattresses hidden away in dusty old attics. They were still wearing the same clothes they'd worn when they'd gone to bed last night. Both were exhausted; Cloud hadn't been able to sleep and Squall decided to keep him company.

It wasn't like they needed to go anywhere today.

Something was on TV but they weren't paying any attention. Today they were allowed to just sit together and ignore everything else. Cloud was still tired from the hospital and the seizure five days ago. He relaxed against Squall and ignored whatever the TV was saying. His hand brushed against a piece of paper.

"Did Roxas leave one of his scripts in here again?" he asked, picking up the paper.

"Must have," Squall said. "Which one is it this time?"

"4.48 Psychosis," Cloud replied. "Can't be the weirdest thing the hoodie cult have done."

"No," Squall mused.

Cloud discarded the script, watching as the paper floated to the floor. He slumped down and leant against Squall, relishing in the warmth he could feel from his husband. The phone suddenly started ringing but neither of them wanted to get up and answer it. They let it ring on until the answer phone sounded.

"Leonhart-Strife house. Leave a message after the tone. If it's about Sora, we apologise in advance."
"I RESENT THAT ROXAS!"

Huh. The twins had changed the message again. The tone sounded and they could hear as the person on the other side of the line left their message.

"Hey guys. Yuffie here! Just wanted to let you know that I'm glad that Cloud's out of the hospital. Also wanna know if you're still down for that barbecue we had planned at Cid's place on Tuesday. Are you? Let me know? Actually pick up the phone lovebirds? Well, 'whatever', to quote Squall. See you later!"

The message ended. Cloud laughed as Yuffie made her little 'to quote Squall' comment. Squall grumbled slightly before sighing.

"Hey. You okay?" he asked.

Cloud thought on it for a while. He hated being asked that because fairly often he wasn't doing okay. Today, however…

"Yeah. Fine. You're here, aren't you?"

Okay, so if Jay is reading this, hi! I freaking love your AU and I'll probably write a few more bits and pieces for it! I love what you've created and I hope you don't mind me doing this. I wasn't 100% how geostigma worked in your AU so I just went with what you've said and built on that where needed.

I also have no idea how the American school system works so if 5-year-olds haven't started school yet I apologise. They'd would have in Britain.

And if anybody's wondering the title of the fic comes from the play '4.48 Psychosis' which is why I just mentioned it casually in that last little bit. It's a line somewhere.

Hope you enjoyed! (love, Kia)