Chapter 26

Cloud

The magistrate building wasn't the most elegant, quiet or best suited for the occasion today but the weather was nice and they would have a quiet dinner after this with the three people they had taken with them to be as both witnesses and as their only guests. The pair of them tried to be all cool about the situation but kept fidgeting time to time from sheer nervousness, both grimacing at the lack of freedom of movement because of the formal suits they wore. But.. it was just for today. Maybe some other day in future if there ever would be need to wear a formal suit Cloud would feel less awkward in all white. He didn't mind wearing the suit as it seemed to turn Squall into a horny teenager..This morning when Cloud had been dressing up Squall had seen him in the middle of the process and not being able to resist his boyfriend half naked appearance and the white pair of suit pants unbuttoned on, had managed to turn the putting clothes on into taking them off and into a morning fuck. Of course.

What a douche.. Cloud smiled to himself. He was picking on his sleeve again his fingers fidgety and nervous. A hand glad in black lace glove stopped him in the middle of it and Cloud looked up to meet a pair of brown eyes.

"It's going to be fine. Don't frown so much, you'll get wrinkles." Tifa sat next to Cloud dressed in a pretty black dress and her hair up in a loose bun that made her look even younger. She patted his fingers. Ever the saint, she was. Cloud offered her a small smile before sighing.

"I know. I'm just.. I.." Cloud grimaced. He didn't want to fuck up anything today. "It's a huge thing and I don't want to mess it up." He breathed out finally. It felt good to confess his worries out loud.

"Seriously. It's going to take about 5minutes and then you'll be waving your freedom goodbye for good. How on earth could you mess anything up in 5minutes?" She cocked one fine eyebrow at him.

"You'd be surprised what I'm capable of doing in a short amount of time.." Cloud muttered and hung his head low closing his eyes. His blond hair kept falling over his eyes but even with his best efforts to control the uncontrollable Cloud had given up. He didn't want to resort to hairpins or cut it too much so it had been left the way it usually was; spiky.

"Tsk, don't I know that." Tifa clucked her tongue at him then slapped Cloud none too gently in the back. "Woman up, Cloud. You'll be fine." She smiled at him the smile that always made Cloud feel like he must've done something good at some point in his life because he had a friend like Tifa. He smiled back at her and straightened his back, inhaling deeply.

"Yeah." Cloud breathed out and tried to relax his body and mind. He let his thoughts go back in time to marvel at the changes in their lives and to forget the unnerving waiting in the present time.

This particular day had been chosen rather carefully. They had just moved to Twilight town after a long and hard search of a house to buy, which they had eventually found and bought. And by now the house was furnished and boxes unpacked and life was starting to look better with every passing day. So, they had decided to take the last step and legalize their relationship as a kind of a mile stone for having a bright future ahead of them now. A short talk later they had end up inviting only Tifa to be there for Cloud and the twins for Squall, because a big fat wedding would've been a total fiasco for people like the of them were. It had been enough to attend the Irvine and Selphie's gigantic party.

Both he and Squall had started at their new respective jobs. After they had signed the deal to sell off the company both of them had started to hunt down new jobs. In the end a sudden stroke of luck had landed him with the perfect job in the world; a teacher at a local martial arts center in Twilight Town where Squall had already been looking up the jobs. He had gotten the tip off from Barret who apparently knew all the right people and thus Cloud had end up spending his days teaching people how to hurt each other. In a safe kind of way. Of course it wasn't enough so Cloud had a decided to extend his recently acquired degree at teaching and had decided to take the program to certify him as a personal trainer and a physiotherapist.

Squall on the other hand had, after some snooping around, wiggled his way up to some high ranking IT-company. Not all that surprising as the man was a wizard with shit like that anyway. He knew someone somewhere who had managed to slip a possible opening in the company. Being the straightforward person as Squall was he had called up the person in charge, managed to get an interview and naturally landed the job.

Cloud smiled at his thoughts. It was really rather unbelievable how smoothly the change in their life had happened. One moment they were living in that dodgy apartment on the edges of Midgar, fresh in their friendship and pudding love, the next they had bought a house, moved and were insanely happy together. And now this.

Their wedding day had arrived.

Cloud swallowed as the familiar anxiety tried to rise up inside him. Was it really a good idea? Would he be able to cope with this kind of commitment to just one person for the rest of his life and be content thru the years to come? The answer came to him without any hesitance; Yes. There was no other option for him. This was the thing that made his days full of happiness and contentment. Along with all the bickering, fighting and annoying each other out like hell. It was all part of the picture.

A door creaked open and Squall stepped into the hallway the twins trailing behind him. Cloud felt his breath caught up in his throat as he looked at Squall walking towards him, his eyes shining in anticipation and happiness. He looked so good Cloud wanted to rip off the black suit and fuck him senseless against the wall. A formal black suit with white collar shirt and black tie along with shiny black dress shoes and the brown hair neatly cut and brushed. Cloud felt his mouth water dangerously and averted his eyes before his staring would betray his naughty trail of thoughts.

"You're looking so sexy in that outfit I want to make you cry right now, right here.." Squall bent down to whisper hoarsely in Clouds ear and quickly licked the blonds' earlobe. Cloud shivered and felt his resolve wavering rapidly. He tried to too keep his cool and turned his head enough to breathe warm air to Squalls neck.

"I did say I would wear all white when I'd get married. Your fault getting all too excited about it. Like this morning already proved." Cloud hissed and nipped Squalls neck with his teeth. Too bad there were other people with them and all they could do was to rile each other up.

"Alright you two, knock it off. It's still few hours before you can go home to give in to your carnal desires as spouses." Roxas cut in to end the banter between the husbands to be with an amused sort of grin on his face. Sora was sniggering next to him, swaying on his heels and looking like he would explode soon with some happy emotion he carried inside him. Both of them looked unusually clean in their white collar shirts and black jeans. Squall had pointed at the twins how it would be nice if the two of them would actually clean up for once in their life.

Before Sora could burst out from happiness the closed door they were sitting near opened and the judge came out smiling. She was a middle aged woman with wavy black hair and narrow eyeglasses placed over her pointed nose.

"We are ready for you now." She said, looking down at the suddenly very pale fiancées. "If you'd be so kind to enter." She returned inside and Cloud got up grabbing Squalls hand in his and squeezing it tightly. He looked at Squall, his breath caught again somewhere in his throat and his mind suddenly quite blank. This all felt so surreal and he wanted to laugh to make it all normal again.

"I'm here." Squall muttered, squeezing Clouds hand back and together they walked inside the small room and stopped before the table where lay open a heavy book with a couple of candles on both sides of it and a small vase of blue flowers. Tifa and the twins followed and the door clicked behind them, locking them inside. Both Cloud and Squall inhaled deeply and steeled themselves. The judge smiled again and then took the open book in her hands.

"The purpose of marriage is establishing a family for the greater good of those involved and for the longevity of society." She started, looking at Cloud and Squall in turn. "Marriage is meant to be permanent, so that family members could create a happy home together." Cloud felt his entire body trembling and his palms sweating. Squall stood next to him silent, steady and reliable. His heart nearly exploded with all the love he felt at that very moment for his partner."In front of these witnesses I ask you Cloud Strife; Do you want to take Squall Leonhart as you lawfully wedded husband, to love him in sickness and in health?" Time seemed to stop as Cloud felt a wave of nausea course thru him and he looked at Squalls eyes that were gazing at him. He swallowed hard.

"I do." Cloud managed to say without sounding all that nervous he felt.

"And do you, Squall Leonhart, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband and to love him in sickness and in health?" Cloud gazed deeper into the blue eyes, the love shining in them visible and felt his poor heart skipping more than one or two beats. He was so nervous and stressed he almost laughed but managed to keep his face steady even if the trembling of his hands gave him away.

"I do." Squall squeezed Clouds hand in his and smiled faintly, a small trembling in that gesture betraying his similar condition to Cloud who felt enormously happy he wasn't the only one to feel like the world had gone mad around him suddenly.

"After saying yes to these questions I pronounce you husbands and life partners. You have now been wed in the bonds on matrimony. As spouses you are equal. In your marriage show love for each other and mutual respect and act for the greater good for your family." Then she smiled softly and closed the book she was holding in her hands. "You can now kiss." And she winked. Cloud almost flushed bright red but didn't have time for that when he felt the oh, so familiar hands reaching to cup his face and the softest, the most careful kiss placed upon his lips as Squall leaned closer to him.

"I love you." Squall mouthed his lips still in touching range from Clouds lips. Cloud was unable to say or to do much else than to hug his husband and nearly cry from the happiness swelling inside him. After a while they smiled in unison and then turned to their friends hand in hand both beaming radiantly.

Squall

"See, you didn't fuck up at all!" Tifa was whacking Cloud on his back and wiping her own tears at the same time. She had started to squeal the moment they had stepped out of the magistrate and had flung her arms around both Cloud and Squall exclaiming them to be the cutest couple ever in the history of weddings. Ever. Squall grimaced and silently was grateful they had agreed on a small celebration at their house after the ceremony was over.

Roxas was driving the car and Sora was sitting next to him in front, leaving the rest of the three to squeeze in the back. It felt a bit unnatural to see either of the twins doing something as mature as to drive a car but Squall was a bit too high on his happy cloud, the pun intended, to care. Cloud was quiet and still held Squalls hand in his, the thumb caressing his skin probably without even thinking. Squall took few deep breaths and turned his attention out of the window.

He liked the new neighborhood they had moved in. The house was large, single building with too many rooms for the two of them to occupy but it had that potential of being the last house they'd ever have to live in. If they decided to make their family grow there would be more than enough room for smaller feet to go about. Squall hesitated at that thought. The question had not been raised but he was pretty sure he wouldn't say no to kids, not what he had been thru with raising the twins. Of course it had been a thorny path but this time he was older, wiser and he wasn't alone. Squall was sure Cloud would be excellent father one day. But, they had time. And in their case it would take some serious planning and paperwork anyway.

Roxas pulled the car on the driveway and Squall halfheartedly noted the street to be rather full of cars than it usually was. A party at some house, most likely. It was early summer anyway and people usually celebrated on sunny days like these. He just wanted to drink the coffees, cut the cake, idle for a while (kick the guests out) and then to rip off the white suit Cloud was wearing and get down to making disgustingly sweet love to his husband.

Squall wished the visiting to be over as soon as possible and paid very little attention to Sora babbling on about something to Cloud and leading the small group towards the front door. It was too late to run away after the door had opened and Squall felt his heart jumping out of his poor chest as there was a spectacular roar of greeting them as they stepped inside. From somewhere a burst of confetti flew over them.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" A mass of people were standing the brightly lit hallway and Squall blinked in utter astonishment at the familiar faces he now saw coming at him and hugging him, telling him how happy they were, how good he and Cloud looked and how marvelous the house was and would there be any kids in the near future. They were all there; his friends and family. Ellone was squeezing him tightly with her little twin girls holding the arms of their father who was smiling fondly. There was Axel and Reno. Cid. Yuffie. Some slim dark haired guy who looked vaguely familiar to him. Riku had turned up also. Irvine and Selphie. Zell. A massive dark fellow whom Squall recognized as Barret. A tiny frail girl next to the big man had to be Marlene. Ventus and Vanitas appeared from direction of the kitchens.

Squall was only able to gawk at this point and glancing at Cloud he saw the blond standing there as nonplussed and confused as he was.

"Surprise!" Sora came to hug Squall and smooched him on the cheek just to be an ass. "I know you said you wanted it to be just us and Tifa, but c'mon guys. You two getting hitched is pretty much the biggest thing happening so who could possibly want to miss celebrating it!" He lowered his cheery voice only a notch. "So you gotta keep it in your pants a bit longer and let us be happy for you.." Sora grinned wickedly and wiggled his eyebrows before fleeing from their vicinity just to be on the safe side if Cloud and Squall decided to get violent.

The newlyweds glanced at each other, took a deep steadying breaths and turned to their waiting guests. They would endure the love their closest ones wanted to shower them with and then they would get down to being happy and content together.

A/N

O. M. G. I never thought I would actually finish this! So, there you go. The main story is going to end here but I have one last chapter waiting just to be edited. And then the long (insanely long) journey of writing this is over. Just one chapter left.. just one.