A/N: Here's a little oneshot I managed to put together other the weekend during my short lived meme time. Work has been keeping me busy, not to mention my co-op report and monthly daries. Hope you enjoy!

Peace out
Kawaii Hitsuji

EDIT (15/08/07): Yeah, I know its only been like, what, 3 days since I posted this and already I'm changing it? Well I really didn't change anything at all just the very last sentence (cause I really didn't like how I had ended it -- I was tired and just wanted to get this up) and a couple of glaring errors (to my eyes anyway) that just kept nipping at me (Yeah I'm a bit of a perfectionist) The reviews are great! Thank you for your comments I really appreciate them.

Disclamier - I obvouisly do not own Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and anything SquareEnix. Though, when I do embark on my world takeover, things could change :)

WARNINGS - This story does contains a YAOI paring (boyxboy) and also lots of fluff. If these two themes DO NOT float your boat (why fluff would be a problem I haven't got two clues) then PLEASE make good use of the back button, for that is why it exists.

Bed Monsters

Cloud couldn't sleep. It wasn't because he was hot, or restless, or sick, or a combination of all of the above. No, it was because he had to go potty…really, really badly.

He took pride in the fact that he no longer wet the bed and that he could wake up in the middle of the night and feel the need to go potty. With a big smile on his face he would call for his mommy and she would come and escort him to the potty room, where he would then proceed do his business without mommy's assistance. He was four after all, and he no longer needed mommy standing by his side while he went potty.

The only problem with that routine was that mommy wasn't here. She had to work tonight, and since Cloud's dad died a couple years ago she asked her silly friend Laguna if he wouldn't mind taking Cloud for the night. He agreed of course and had set up the bottom buck of his son's bunk beds just for Cloud. He even read him a story before bed too. But Cloud couldn't call out for Laguna to take him to the potty because it would be bad manners to wake the person who took you in for the night.

So that brings us back to the issue at hand. Sure he could just crawl out of bed with his stuffed chocobo in tow and go potty. The potty room was only down the hall and it wasn't too dark for him to see where he was going. There was even a night light next to the potty room door so that nobody would miss it.

Cloud bit his lip and hugged his chocobo tighter. He couldn't hold it in anymore. He had to go so he wouldn't wet the bed. He couldn't wet the bed, he just couldn't. What would his mommy think of him? What about Laguna and his son Squall?

After squirming around a little more he finally sat up and peered over the side of the bed. Nothing was there. He gazed towards the open bedroom door then back down to the floor. Still, nothing was there. He grabbed his pillow and held it out over the side of the bed before he dropped it on the floor. A quite thump was heard but nothing else had happened.

"What are you doing?" a groggy and annoyed voice asked.

Startled, Cloud looked up to see a very sleepy Squall tiredly blinking down at him.

Should he tell him the truth or lie? His mommy always told him lying was bad and that the person you lied to could get really hurt by it. Squall was nice, quite but nice, and he didn't want to hurt him, but what if he laughed at him and called him a baby because Cloud didn't know the adult name for potty.

He looked down at his pillow on the floor, tears welling up in his eyes. He had to go pee-pee sooo bad that it hurt. He didn't know what to do. He wished his mommy was here.

"Why is your pillow on the floor?" Squall asked a little more awake now.

"To see if it's safe," Cloud mumbled into his chocobo, gaze never leaving his pillow.

"To see if it's safe?"

"Yeah," Cloud answered into his chocobo. "There're smart. They know it's just my pillow and not my feet like they hoped."

Silence, then a creak was heard from the top bunk indicating that Squall had shifted. "They? Who are you talking about?"

Cloud's eyebrows furred down in confusion. They? Didn't Squall know who 'they' were? He looked up to Squall's questioning face with a confused one presented on his own. Squall looked like he really didn't know who Cloud was talking about, which was odd because Cloud's mommy always knew who he was talking about.

"You mean you don't know?" Cloud questioned.

Squall raised a single eyebrow, "Well I wouldn't have asked if I didn't already know."

Squeezing his beloved chocobo Cloud pondered for a moment or two before he answered. He wanted to make sure that telling Squall about them was the lesser of the two evils that plagued him. Besides, Cloud had already told him that they exist, and he didn't laugh, so maybe it was safe to explain to Squall who 'they' actually were.

"They're the bed monsters."

"Bed monsters?"

Cloud nodded his head. "Uh-huh. They come out through a black hole that is under the bed. The hole only appears at night so you don't have to worry about them when it's daytime. It's only at night that you got to be careful."

"So why do you have to be careful?"

"Because they'll get your feet!" Cloud answered with a bit more enthusiasm. "They like to eat little kids feet because they're small and easy to chew on."

Squall looked confused. Apparently he didn't understand what the problem really was. Cloud didn't know what else to say. Telling Squall about going to the potty room was out of the question, but maybe he could tell him that he had to go pee-pee. That was ok to say wasn't it? Saying pee-pee didn't sound like a baby word did it? His mommy used it whenever she asked him if he had to go potty so it must be the right term.

Looking up at Squall with big blue eyes he chanced it. He had to go potty too bad to really care at this point what Squall thought of him. "I have to go pee-pee."

"Ohhhh..." Squall said his face instantly turning from confusion to realization.

He looked away from Cloud deep in thought for a minute before he suddenly swung himself down onto Clouds bed. Cloud gasped when he did this both in surprise and fright because he could have fallen on the floor and hurt himself giving the bed monsters the opportunity to get his feet.

Squall smirked at him in a way that told him he was silly for worrying because he's done this a thousand times or more, which made since. These were his bunk beds after all.

Crawling over to the end of Cloud's bed, Squall quickly reached down and grabbed something. He then crawled back over to Cloud, a smile on his face, where he presented him with a pair of bright yellow slippers. They even had a glow in the dark chocobo printed on them.

Cloud looked up to Squall's face in utter confusion. Sure the slippers looked cool, but what was he supposed do with them?

Squall seemed to sense Cloud's confusion and so answered his silent question. "They're for your feet." He explained. "The chocobo printed on them is magical. That's why it glows."

"Magical?" Cloud questioned a little skeptical. He may be three years younger than Squall but that didn't make him stupid. There was no such thing as magical slippers because if there were then why didn't his mommy get him a pair?

Squall nodded his head, "Yeah. They're really rare. My dad won them at some competition but they were too small for his feet so he gave them to me. I use them whenever I have to go to the bathroom at night. But since I haven't needed to go at night anymore you can have them."

Cloud's eyes widened with wonder about where the slippers had come from and what they could do. "And the bed monsters won't get at your feet?"

"I'm pretty sure. I know that the closet monster doesn't come out when I have them on and I've never had a problem with bed monsters."

Cloud stared down at the magical slippers for a second before he placed his chocobo beside him and took the slippers from Squall. They were obviously too big for his feet, but as long as he was able to put them on then who cared?

Once he had them on his feet he looked to Squall to see if this would actually work. When he was satisfied with Squall's genuine expression that this was indeed no trick, he pushed himself off the bed and onto the floor.

Cloud stood there with his eyes closed waiting for the bed monsters to come and eat his feet but they never did. He opened his eyes and turned to Squall with a big smile on his face. The slippers worked! The bed monsters had no idea that he was on the floor!

Squall smiled brightly back at him before he pointed towards the door. "Hurry to the bathroom. You don't want to pee yourself do you?"

And Cloud did just that. He scurried off towards the 'bathroom' and did his business with extreme joy. Joy, not only because he was finally able to go potty but because he no longer needed mommy's assistance at night anymore. Magical slippers, who would have thought!? And to think he didn't believe Squall at first.

Once he was finished he flushed and put down the potty seat. His mommy always said to put down the seat when he was done because it was rude otherwise. It was strange though, he could have sworn that the potty seat was up when he came to use it. It must have been his imagination since he had to go potty too badly to care anyway. Laguna and Squall were definitely not rude people.

He stepped up to the sink where he moved his hands across the bar of soap a couple of times before he turned on the water to rinse all the soap off. He looked around for a towel to dry his hands off with but he couldn't see one anywhere. He shrugged and just used what was available…his pajama bottoms.

He gave the potty room a quick glace over mentally checking off the things he did. He had to make sure he didn't miss anything and this was the best way of doing it. Once satisfied that he hadn't missed a single thing, excluding the towel of course since he couldn't find one to begin with, he sped back to the bedroom.

As he ran through the door he noticed that Squall had climbed back up to his own bed. Cloud couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Squall hadn't waited for him to return, but it was the middle of the night so could blame him. Squall wasn't an adult and so he needed his sleep.

He quietly climbed back into bed since Squall was fast asleep and he didn't want to wake him up for a second time that night. He slipped the slippers off his feet and arranged them neatly at the end of his bed before he grabbed his stuffed chocobo and crawled under the covers.

A quite 'thank you' was heard before the sound of steady breathing ensued.

19 years later…

Leon (formally known as Squall) was currently doing a 'spring clean' of Cloud's and his bedroom. Aerith had said their room was the worst of all the rooms in their tiny abode, which Leon couldn't understand since he and Cloud owned very little to begin with.

It had only been a month before Leon's and Cloud's relationship had developed to the point where the two felt comfortable enough to share a bed with the other. They hadn't really done anything besides sleep and cuddle which was perfectly fine with Leon. Having Cloud beside him when he woke up in the morning was all he ever really wanted anyhow.

Apparently Aerith thought otherwise. Or maybe Yuffie was spreading one of her rumors again?

Leon remembered the last one, which she started just two weeks ago. Her room was situated next to his and ever since Cloud had moved in with him Yuffie would complain about their bed banging up against the wall every…single…night. She made them sound like they were a couple of raging rabbits!

Ohhh he would get his revenge someday. But first he had to clean his sparsely decorated room.

He had finished organizing the closet, which took all of but five minutes of his time, wiped out the dresser, picked up any clothing that was lying on the floor, and made the bed. There was nothing else left to clean so why did Aerith say their room was in such a desperate need of a clean.

"She meant under the bed Squall."

Startled, Squall turned to see his spiky haired 'bed partner' walk through their bedroom door. He was shirtless and currently drying his hair with a small white towel, which indicated that he had just come from the shower. Yeah, their relationship had yet to reach the 'sharing a shower' point too.

"Under the bed?" Leon had never put anything under his bed for as far back as could remember. So why did Cloud say Aerith meant under the be…oh. It wasn't just 'his' bed anymore but his and Cloud's bed.

Cloud dumped the towel into the hamper and started digging through the dresser for a shirt to wear. "I'd just leave it alone through," he said while putting the shirt he found on. "I'll just put it all back there if you move it up to the attic."

Curious as to what Cloud had under there, Leon crouched down and lifted up the duvet to take a look. What he found made him blink…twice. There, sitting neatly under the bed, were eight large cardboard boxes. None of them were labeled, and they all were very dusty.

Leon gave Cloud an odd look before he reached under and attempted to drag one out. Yes, attempted. The box he inadvertently grabbed happened to be a tad bit too heavy for one of his arms to drag out. He had to use both his arms and then some. Cloud would pay dearly for letting him damage his own ego in this way. Thank the heavens Yuffie wasn't around to see it.

After a couple minutes of under the breath cursing, pulling, and shimming, Leon had managed to get the cursed box out from underneath the bed. As he placed his hands on top, ready to open it, he rolled his eyes up to Cloud's placid looking face. When Cloud gave no sign of stopping the inevitable, Leon proceeded to opening the box.

"The hell!?" Leon exclaimed. Inside were carefully packed encyclopedias', and by the looks of them, they were all from the castle's library. He picked one up and looked at Cloud questioningly.

Cloud just stared back with that placid look of his. "What?"

"Encyclopedias'?"

"Yeah."

Leon looked down at the box then to the book in his hands then back up at Cloud. When Cloud didn't get the gesture Leon continued with words. "Why do you have eight boxes full of encyclopedias' under our bed?"

"Well the slippers obviously don't fit anymore. And even if they did, I lost them when the heatless came 10 years ago." Cloud causally answered while walking over to Leon. He crouched down and took the book from Leon glancing at it briefly before putting it neatly back into the box. He then closed the box and shoved it back under the bed using only one arm with effortless ease.

Despite the ever increasing damage his ego was getting for the past five to ten minutes, Leon just stared at Cloud completely dump struck. "Slippers?"

Cloud leaned in and gave Leon a quick peck on the lips. "You know the ones you gave me so that the bed monsters wouldn't eat my feet?"

Leon slowly nodded vaguely remembering such a thing.

"Well," Cloud continued, "I had to do something so that I could go to the bathroom at night. That's what the boxes and encyclopedias' are for. They block the bed monsters entrance so that they can't come out from underneath the bed and eat my…our feet."

Leon…couldn't…believe it. After years of being in the darkness, battling Sephiroth, and having to deal with heartless on a daily basis, Cloud was still afraid of 'bed monsters'? Scratch that. Cloud still believed in 'bed monsters'. Wow, talk about childhood trauma.

Cloud gave him one last peck before he stood up and stretched. "Ugh…I'm hungry. I wonder if Aerith has made lunch yet." He then left the room without a second thought or questioningly glance back to his completely stunned boyfriend.

Leon didn't move from his position on the floor. So many thoughts of what Cloud had just so casually told him continued to race through his head, and all of them lead back to one single thought. Yuffie would have a field day with this.

Forget protecting his boyfriend/bed partner from bed monsters! He needed protection from the evil incarnate currently known as Yuffie.

Leon lowered his head in complete hopelessness. Maybe it was time for him to start building that house Cloud always talked about, particularly one with a Yuffie proof fence and 'magical' floors to keep the bed monsters at bay.

End