Gladio Amicitia

                                                Gladiolus Amicitia

“Thank ya!” Prompto ducked into the restaurant in front of him and glanced around. It reallywas quiet in there and most steakhouses usually weren’t. There were a few people seated at tables, their conversations not stopping just for Gladio and Prompto walking in. That was good enough for him to relax a little bit.

He requested a corner seat from the hostess and they were guided over to a raised platform in the corner, giving them a good look at the rest of the place. Menus were placed on the table and the woman walked off, announcing she’d be back.

“Really quiet,” he commented. Prompto sat sideways in the seat, having a similar issue to Gladio. He never liked not being able to see his surroundings but it was mostly his anxiety that acted up. “Smells good though so it can’t be a total flop.”

“Yeah. I mean, how bad can you really mess up a steak? Just chuck it on the grill and you’re good to go.” Unlike most people, Gladio wasn’t terribly picky about the way it was cooked. He’d enjoy them anywhere from rare to well done, as long as the cut was decent quality. 

Even though they had a fairly good idea of what they were ordering, he still grabbed a menu off the back of the table and flicked through it. Hilariously, there was a pretty large dessert section, and a lot of it looked good. Maybe they would indulge a little in some of that. Iggy didn’t need to know. 

“Hey now, I have my own money, I can buy too!” He laughed happily and grunted when Gladio’s hand came down on his shoulder. “Sugar, huh? That’s the last thing you have to worry about with me. I’m other trouble. You won’t even be expecting it!” 

Gladio wasn’t wrong though, Prompto and sugar didn’t go well sometimes. It was partially why he wasn’t allowed to get the gummy sweet ropes at the convenience stores anymore. He’d go through a whole package of them without remorse. Peeking up at the restaurant, Prompto tilted his head. 

“Not too busy tonight from the looks of it. You’d think everyone and their cousins would be here for that deal,” he muttered.

       “Maybe we beat the main rush,” he chuckled, smirking to himself at the first statement. He liked it when Prompto challenged him with those little threats. It kept him alert, plus it always had him pondering up good ways to retaliate, even if his own usually tended to involve more brute force than clever trickery. “And yeah, I don’t doubt that at all.” 

       When they reached the door, his hand made it to the handle first, pulling it to hold it open for Prompto. He might be a bit crass and brazen at times, but no one could ever say that Gladio didn’t have good manners. It didn’t matter if there was a full house inside the restaurant or a mere two people. That wouldn’t change it. 

      Being randomly licked by strangers....wasn’t the strangest thing to happen to Gladio, but it was one of the more unexpected ones.  

“I refuse to do anything today. I’m just going to lie here and do nothing.”

“We need a plan.”

He stays still as Gladio stands and starts to pace. An expression of agitation, if anything else, and Ignis sighs as he averts his gaze. Certainly, he’d not expected a positive response but…

“I won’t. But, trust me, Gladio, if I knew he bore ill-intent towards Noct then I wouldn’t allow him near any of us in the first place. However, he hasn’t asked me anything about Noct, hasn’t shown the slightest interest in the war itself nor garnering any information from me on our journey and what we’re going to do.” Ignis inhales. Gods, that’s the most he’s spoken in a while. He truly does feel highly about this enough to defend it so verbosely. Perhaps he is in over his head.

“I promise, Gladio, I won’t allow any harm to come to Noct,” Ignis says quietly, “you know I won’t.”

          Rationally, Gladio knew Ignis wouldn’t purposely allow Noctis to be exposed to any dangerous situations- at least, none more so than what they already encountered on a daily basis. Still, as his Shield, he had to worry. 

        He paced a few more strides, then huffed a heavy sigh and sat back down, his head in his palms. Right. He could handle this. It was all simply his overthinking getting the best of him, always imagining every worse case scenario. 

“Not… entirely,” he says haltingly, already wondering if this was a good idea. Then again, it never does well to hold back information, especially when he wishes to make time for, ah, his… partner. Significant other? Boyfriend seems a term too juvenile and lover is far too involved. They’ve only begun, after all. Ignis groans inwardly at his inexperience with these things.

“We’ve… we seem to be dating.” The uncertainty in his question makes him cringe. They are, technically, if the dinners and the lunches and the rare breakfast says anything. And the quiet meet-ups. And the texting. And the–the calls. Gods. “And I’m quite sure. You’ve nothing to be wary about, Gladio.”

          Nothing to be wary about? So why did Gladio suddenly feel like he had everything to be wary about? He stood from his seat and began to pace, almost subconsciously. “Dating?” 

“Mm… not quite.”

He can tell Gladio is attempting to make light of the situation if only to calm his nerves but it doesn’t work. Ignis can’t even crack a smile.

Perhaps he’s overreacting. Perhaps Gladio will be okay with it. He certainly seems fine with the very fact that Ignis is dating in the first place, and that is something Ignis had misjudged horribly in the first place.He lets out a tiny sigh and mentally prepares himself for the backlash.

“I, ah, I’m involved with the Chancellor of Nifleheim.” He swallows. “You may… recall him being the one to… save us during our excursion with Titan.”

      For several seconds, Gladio could only stare at Ignis. When he’d assumed that the prior confession was the most unexpected thing he could have heard, he was wrong. So wrong. 

     “What...? Wait... ... What?” The Chancellor of Nifleheim? “The hell, Iggy?” He balked slightly, sitting up straighter. “Wait. Like, seriously? This isn’t some joke or something, is it?” 

“Seems that way.” He looked over to find that the path was moving much faster with Gladio’s long legs taking him away. Was it like that with everyone? 

A little laugh left him and Prompto patted Gladio’s back. “We can do that. Wasn’t there a nice steak place not far from here? I could have sworn I heard a group of ladies talking about a two for one deal!” It was a good one for two twenty ounce steaks. 

Prompto tried to get a look at where they were going but doing that upside down was a little difficult.

            Gladio laughed and stopped walking for long enough to set Prompto back on his feet. “Of course you’d go and pick steak when I say I’m buyin’.” It was only a jest. That did sound really good, actually. “Works for me, though. As long as whoever’s cooking them actually knows how to make a medium-well right.”

“Ah…” Anxiety crawls up his throat. He isn’t one to even be in a relationship in the first place; it seems more the other’s boys’ jurisdiction and yet here he is, dating… hmm. He swallows and averts his gaze. “Someone you don’t know very well, if I’m being honest, and someone you may find–suspicious.” Gods, maybe he should’ve kept this secret if it’s going to be this hard to say the name.

      Ignis’ obvious unease was more than enough to make him a bit nervous. Something was...off, but Gladio couldn’t quite place it. Perhaps it was just the whole novelty of the conversation. 

     “Oh yeah?” He moved closer to sit beside the other, trying to quell some of the tension. “That big of a deal, huh?” A smirk was offered in an attempt to lighten the mood. “You ain’t gonna’ tell me it’s someone I’ve been eyeing up or something, right? ‘Cause then we might have an issue.”

        Of all the topics that Gladio would expect to be brought up, this one was the last of them. He stared at Ignis for a moment, as if wondering if he’d heard him correctly. “Huh? What…?” 

“Aw man… I can’t find my glasses…”