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Cloud hadn't been car sick in some time. It had been awful when he was a kid but had evened out at some point. It probably had something to do with growing up on an airship. His first week in the air had been hell but he'd thrown up in private and hidden it from the captains as much as possible. Eventually... it got better.
To now be in his mid thirties and car sick... he was not a fan.
He was no longer taking the strong pain medicines and had moved onto the over the counter stuff as needed but he preferred to be aware of his pain to handle it. Being blind to it would only cause problems in the long run. He never cared for being heavily medicated.
That alone had wrecked his body coming out of the hospital. The injuries were bad enough but the medications were another problem.
"Let me know if i need to pull over." Leon muttered, noting how green Cloud was looking.
Cloud swallowed and kept his eyes shut. Looking out the window was just making things worse. "It's like, two more turns. I'm good."
"Mhmm." Leon said, not willing to argue about it. He'd been picking his battles very carefully lately, still devastated by the sight of Cloud in a hospital bed. It was nice to not have a snippy fight over everything while he wasn't feeling good, but he couldn't wait to have his cranky Squall back.
He wanted to be back at a hundred percent and take that tension out of Leon's expression.
He'd been home for weeks, and they still had people popping in every couple of days to check on him. Cid called daily if he didn't just show up. Told Cloud to deal with the attention. Suck it up.
Cloud was more touched than anything that his pops cared so much.
Tifa and Rude traded off days of making them dinner with Aerith and Marlene and some nights, Laguna just had something ordered and delivered without even telling them. Bless his heart, Leon was trying and he could cook far better than he could when Cloud met him but cooking for nine daily was no easy task and even Cloud had a slandered pizza night, and a make your own sandwich night just to give himself a break around the night or two Leon cooked a week.
It blew him away how fortunate they were to have friends like theirs.
Denzel would come over to entertain the kids or take a couple of them out for a few hours and Prompto had showed up to offer similar services. Riku had become really enchanted with Prompto’s photography which was nice.
Prompto also usually brought food or some kind of dessert with him. Once he brought enough pie for him and the kids to really enjoy more than a sliver of and found out later his mom had made it and sent it over with him.
That was something Cloud would unpack on a different day.
He was healing, his ribs still tender and painful but they weren't snapped like twigs anymore. His cuts and bruises had mostly faded and light sensitivity was still giving him trouble. All things that would continue to improve. The big clunky boot cast had been replaced with a more simple brace and he could walk on his own if he used crutches.
He hadn't planned on actually using the crutches but Leon had turned their children into baby spies who would judge him with disapproving looks. Reiku was somehow the worst, giving him devastated eyes that he would dare risk hurting himself worse while he was still healing. Fuck, he hated crutches...
Vanitas had been healing well too. He'd had the rod removed from his arm and still seemed to have a good, favorable range of motion. He was told to take it easy and still wore his sling in solidarity to Cloud's own recovery. The bunny had done wonders, the soft little thing he'd named Flood for some reason had been--emotionally-- exactly what Vanitas needed. If he was home, the bunny was in his lap. A rule had to be made for his pet to be put away during meal times and Vanitas was just a little upset that he had to leave his bunny home whenever he left the house.
That was precisely why he was pouting now as they headed to the Soldier's Manor, dubbed so because Cloud was not going to call it the Crescent, Hewley, Rapsodos, Fair Manor. Seriously, they needed to find a way to narrow that down.
As promised, Leon had done his own research into the physical therapists that Sephiroth had recommended and one had been picked.
A nice guy who made house calls and was happy to help Vanitas too even though he was only there for Cloud. The exercises helped, and Cloud grit his teeth and barreled on through the pain, stopping to ice his ankle, ribs and whatever else was sore by the end of the appointment.
He was going longer between his PT appointments now but kept up the work on his own. He’d been cornered by Genesis however on the day Vincent had driven him to work and helped him inside. He’d needed to get some papers, and get a little work done even if he couldn’t teach any of his classes.
Vincent watched him like a hawk but it was unnecessary. Had Cloud not been so eager to get out of the house for a minute he would have remembered it was the time for his women’s class and Genesis was all too happy to halt the lesson so all of those women could rush to Cloud and check on him. All of them mothering him in their own way.
Genesis, the bastard, had enjoyed it, but in return, many of the women had spoken about Genesis and Angeal both and how wonderful they were. The uncomfortable look Genesis wore was worth it.
It did mean that Genesis demanded Cloud bring himself to his home to use their equipment to aide in his recovery. It had been thoughtful, really, but Cloud was okay. Vincent however, thought he should take every route offered to him. He told Leon, who agreed like a traitor.
To make matters worse, the children were promised a pool day with Zexion and Ienzo so even they couldn’t be used as an excuse.
“There’s a bottle of water on the floor beside you.” Leon said, pulling onto the long driveway in front of the manor. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Better once the car stops.” Cloud agreed, already exhausted. The kids had been chattering happily in the freaking SUV they had to drive when all of the kids were with them and Cloud tried not to let his grumpiness ruin their good moods. The second Leon had parked all of the kids were out of the car. Zexion and Ienzo must have had their faces pressed against a window, awaiting their arrival because both boys flew out the front door to greet their guests and collided with the Strifehart children.
“Look on the bright side.” Leon mused. “Swimming will wear them out and we’ll have an easy bed time tonight. We'll chill on the couch with a movie.”
Cloud heaved a sigh, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Sounds nice, Lion.”
Leon returned the look before getting out of the car and moving around to Cloud’s side, crutches already in hand.
“Heey Cloud! Leon!” Zack greeted as he strolled out to the SUV casually. “Need any help.”
“I’ll cut you.” Cloud said instead, but it only made Zack grinned.
“I’ve been cut before, Cloudy, you’ll have to do better than that.” Zack said, but he waited patiently as Cloud slid out of the car, Leon only letting go of the crutches when Cloud had his balance. “How you feeling today.”
“Like shit.” Cloud muttered, but chances were good that most of that was the car sickness.
Zack just nodded patiently, but well, Zack understood injuries. “Lucky today is more for fun. Angeal wants to see your exercises again and then you can just chill in the hottub, the water will do you good.”
“Yeah.” Cloud muttered, knowing that was how they’d talked him into this.
“Need me to carry you up the stairs?” Zack asked.
Leon chuckled softly. “Crutches are a weapon in his hands, Zack. Be careful.”
Zack sputtered out a laugh. “Oh. Don’t i know it! Sephiroth is bad and Genesis is worse!”
Cloud grumbled, and he was hoping he would relax now that he was out of the car. Without help, and moving on his own spite and stubbornness, Cloud got himself up the stairs and into the manor without help. He could hop a little if he needed to and he fully ignored the way both Leon and Zack hovered in case he needed them.
There had been so many occasions recently where he’d had to put his pride aside and ask his husband for help.
“C’mon, it’s just towards the back.” Zack said as if they hadn’t been in the house before. They’d had the monstrosity built to their very specific specifications. There hadn’t been any other options since four men lived there. Each of them got exactly what they wanted and that had been before they’d adopted the boys. They’re gym and spa were on the first floor, and all of them had had physical therapy in mind when that decision had been made. They could all just walk down stairs to their movie room, or upstairs where their rooms were located, but no one wanted to do stairs when PT was a possibility.
It had Cloud breathing a sigh of relief to know he didn’t have to go up another flight of stairs. At the back of the house was a pool, and to the side was the indoor gym. Zack had told them once that they’d been using it less lately because they’d been getting good exercise teaching at Cloud’s studio.
“Hello Cloud.” Sephiroth greeted, hair wet and braided, dripping like he’d just come out of the pool. He probably had given that a pool day was all the kids had been talking about that morning. Zexion and Ienzo had probably been with him until they heard the car pulling up. “Hello Leon.”
“Seph.” Cloud greeted, muscles relaxing when Leon put his hand on the small of his back. It did something to distribute his weight and helped immensely.
“Sit down, Spike.” Zack said, leading Cloud to one of the benches. “Any idea where the others went, Seph?”
“Angeal will be here in a moment, he’s likely waiting for the kids to run back out.” Sephiroth said. “Genesis was on a call with the academy and will be out soon.”
Leon hummed. “They still trying to get him to teach?” Sephiroth and Angeal taught courses at the military academy now that they were mostly retired. They were trying to add Genesis to the roster but he was resisting.
He liked his side quests of helping children find their forever homes, lately he’d focused on children from war zones. He was also helping out at Cloud’s studio while he was out and they all knew he was working on a novel.”
Sephiroth just looked amused. “He’ll never say yes. Not any time soon, but he enjoys listening to them beg.”
“Yeah, that’s a thing he likes.” Zack said, voice a little hoarse before he cleared it. “How you feeling, Cloud? Better now that you can move around some?”
“You’d think, that sorta just makes it worse.”
Sephiroth nodded in understanding, and Cloud knew he did. Being told to be ‘active’ when you were injured didn’t have the same meaning as it usually did. You were bored but could move a little and couldn’t go back to your regular routine. It was probably one of the most annoying stages of healing.
“Restless.” Leon said, “But he’s putting on a good face, especially for Vanitas.”
“And how is he doing?” Sephiroth asked, voice pitch lower even though the children weren’t around yet.
Leon took the crutches from Cloud and leaned them up against a different piece of equipment that likely wouldn’t be using today. “Better. Much better but it still aches sometimes. Normal they said while his muscle mass returns to normal and such. He’s been fuming that he can only use one arm on the punching bag and that he can’t go to kickboxing classes.”
“Poor kid.” Zack said sympathetically but Sephiroth just hummed in thought.
“Swimming will be good for him, as long as he takes it slow. He might be sore tonight.”
“We’ll ice his arm if he needs it.” Cloud muttered, stomach finally settling but he was still tired. They each looked up as the children reappeared, all of them having changed into their swimsuits.
“Wait for Seph!” Angeal’s voice called after them. “No swimming unsupervised!”
“I believe that is my cue.” Sephiroth said, turning and heading back towards the pool. It was ridiculous that they had once thought he would be hesitant around children. Sure, there had been a learning period but he took to it well.
When Angeal made his way over, he smiled and greeted them, crouching down in front of Cloud without being asked. “How’s it feel today?” he asked, reaching for Cloud’s braced ankle and raising it off the floor.
“Tight.” Cloud sighed, and starting going through the PT exercises of rotating his ankle this way and that way before Angeal could even ask to see.
“Point your toes up and hold it.” Angeal said. Cloud always remembered Angeal being the gentle mother bear of the group. He was the best when it came to nutrition, and when it came down to it, he was best in situations like this too. All four of them had medical training to some degree, they needed to have that knowledge in a pinch but Angeal was the patient one.
“Toes down.” He continued as Cloud followed his instructions. Sometimes to distract him from the slight pain Angeal would have him do both feet. The whole time he sat on the floor in front of Cloud while Leon sat beside him.
“Cloud is always going to be his favorite in times like these.” Zack commented, nearby still but he was looking through the large glass windows at the kids playing. They could hear the splashing and screams of delight that only children could have.
“He doesn’t whine.” Angeal said absently, but he wasn’t disagreeing. “You whine. Genesis bemoans his life, and Sephiroth pretends nothing’s wrong until even his pain tolerance isn’t enough. Cloud isn’t as bullheaded.”
Leon snorted. “He’d try if he thought he could get away with it.”
“Hey…”
“Reiku is the biggest leverage i have. We’ll have to see if it works for you.” Leon mused. “He guilted Cloud into behaving in about forty-five seconds.”
Angeal laughed out right. “I might take you up on that.”
They worked on his ankle for another ten minutes before Angeal led Cloud through other slow stretches. The pace was nothing, and this wasn’t about how many he could do in a set. It was slowly moving his body, slowly stretching in a way he hadn’t for a few weeks. His bruised ribs didn’t agree to this at all, and the one time he winced a little too loud he had to assure Leon he was okay.
He hated… the way Leon paled at the thought of him hurting himself.
Cloud was sitting with his fingers clasped, held behind his neck while he tried to lean back. It wasn’t as far as he could normally go and with Angeal standing right behind him, he could only go so far anyway. Still he trembled from the strain, his ribs and shoulders screamed.
“I think that’s enough.” Angeal said finally and Cloud hated the way he was nearly out of breath. “You did great.”
“Yeah.” Cloud puffed out a breath, relieved to lower his arms again. He was truly miles better from where he’d been weeks prior but getting back to where he started was going to take time.
“You okay?” Leon asked, moving to sit beside him again. He’d left only briefly to watch the kids but they were well looked after and Leon couldn’t help himself but watch his therapy with Angeal.
“Yeah.” Cloud repeated, more tired now than before, but he was looking forward to sleeping later. He always slept better when he was worn out. He needed his ribs to be a hundred percent again because he was really tired of sleeping on his back when he could be spooning the man he slept with nightly.
“Darling you look worn out. What did Angeal do to you?” Genesis said as he finally made his way into the room. “He’s such a bully about these things.”
“Excuse you?” Angeal raised a brow.
“I said what i said.” Genesis winked at his partner before turning his attention back to Cloud. “Finished? You two just slide right into the jacuzzi. It’ll do you some good.”
“Gen…”
“Nope. No. I don’t want to hear it. I know Leon forced you into swim trunks too. You deserve this. The kids are occupied. You did your PT. Let’s go boil you.”
Cloud snorted and could admit… it was tempting.
“C’mon.” Leon muttered and he didn’t hesitate to shed his outer layer of clothes. Both had worn their swimming trunks under their clothes and when he was standing there under Genesis’ wandering gaze, Cloud relented.
“Fine, might need a hand. Everything’s sore.” Cloud muttered. Really it was all he had needed to say and both Leon and Angeal helped Cloud out of his clothes. Even the brace was taken off and he was thrilled over that part…
He ignored the crutches altogether and slung an arm over Leon’s shoulders. With his husband's arm around his waist, and slow hops they made their way out the double doors. The jacuzzi wasn’t that far from the pool. It was close enough in fact that they could see Zack racing the kids from one end to the other and Sephiroth was teaching Vanitas, Ventus and Reiku different swimming strokes. It was obviously just some special treatment that would keep Vanitas from overdoing it.
“You need help getting in, Cloud?” Genesis asked and for once, his tone was soft and not snarky.
“Not as long as Squall is holding me up.” Cloud said.
“I got you.” Leon agreed. It was slow, one step in on his good leg and he was already seeing the merits of this idea. Genesis and Angeal both hovered in case his leg buckled but in only a minute he was sitting, Leon beside him.
Genesis turned the jets on, and Cloud was sitting between them. The steaming water was amazing and the currents were nice but his ribs wouldn’t thank him for that just yet so he avoided it.
Leon didn’t have that problem. He sat right beside Cloud, pressed against him and the sound he made at the jetstream of water slamming into his spine was a good one.
“You okay?” Cloud was the one asking this time, his leg was on top of Leon’s still keeping his foot elevated even in the water.
“Yeah.” Leon grunted. “It’s nice. Didn’t even know i had a knot there.”
“It’s great for that.” Angeal chuckled. “You two relax, and Leon, don’t try to get him out by yourself. Yell when you’re ready to get out.”
“Will do.” Leon muttered.
Angeal nodded his approval and grabbed Genesis by the hand to pull him towards the pool. It really was too many kids for Zack and Seph to keep an eye on alone even if they’d disagree. Genesis sat on the edge with his legs in the water and Angeal dove in next to Zack.
Cloud heaved a sigh, his head on Leon’s shoulder. “I hate recovery. I feel like i could sleep for a week.”
“I love recovery.” Leon muttered. “It means you're still here.”
Cloud rested a hand on Leon’s thigh, the water really was helping his chronic aches. “You were not getting rid of me that easy, Lion. I dunno what i’d do without you.”
“That is very much my line. One i spent nearly three days agonizing over.” Leon muttered. “What the hell would i have done if you hadn’t woken up?”
Cloud didn’t care for how quiet his voice was, how emotional. “I’m right here, Squall. It’s okay.”
“Yeah…” Leon inhaled and pressed a kiss to Cloud’s hair. “We’re doing this more often. There are no down sides. The kids get all their energy out in the water and i get my spine and shoulders abused in this thing.”
Cloud snorted softly, his first real smile of the day tugging at his lips. “Alright, if that’s what you want. I can’t say i hate this either.”
In fact, he might have to mention to Laguna how nice this was. It would give his father-in-law ideas and maybe they’d find a surprise the next time they visited him in Balamb Garden. Leon deserved nice things too, especially after all he’d been through recently. Pain wasn’t always physical.
Cloud sighed softly, listening to the children play. This wasn’t bad at all.