#blustersquall

 For a man who could easily be looked at as a brutish warrior, Gladiolus appeared quite the opposite in the care and keeping of the one he loved. His fingers, with ease and delicacy, began to unbutton her shirt till Isla felt the cool chill of the night breeze in the house upon her skin, which was soon exposed. A breath of delight escaping her lips, the Shield worked onward into urging the fabric out of his way and onto the bed before the gasping, hot breath of his own moan caressed the nook of her neck to distract her mind as he worked with ease at the straps of her bra.

 As her upper body was exposed, Isla acted on impulse and moved forward to embrace Gladiolus as his kiss upon her neck sharpened to that of a gentle bite by tenderly raking his teeth across her skin only to pause when he felt her urgent movement.

 “Isla…?” he questioned, his arms about her all the more in worry he may have done something wrong.

 She found comfort in his strong embrace—a world that was her own that nobody could intrude upon. Brow wrinkled with inner torment at what the sunrise would bring, Isla breathed out a quivering breath as the gentle beating of Gladiolus’ heart pounded in her ear (the rhythm a bit quicker than normal as he was no doubt excited for what was to come). Shaking her head as if to deny anything was wrong, the bar owner spoke, “I wish I could stay like this forever.”

 Gladiolus sighed once more with regret at what awaited him the coming morning and instead of urging her away or damning the moment, he cradled the back of her head while the other hand rubbed her exposed back sweetly. His nose buried within her black hair, he let Isla find her comfort there in his arms as she usually did. “What matters is what time we have right now, so let’s not waste it,” his low voice urged in a whisper as if he were fearful of waking someone else in the room.

 She knew he was right, but Isla almost refused to budge till the gentle warrior insisted on it. Isla could joke and gloat all she wanted that she was stronger than Gladiolus, and perhaps in some ways that was true when it came to her words, but in terms of physical strength, the Shield outshined her—always. His hold gentle, he took to Isla’s wrists and escorted her down to the sheets below them to admire her partially naked form that the shadows and the moon’s light had the pleasure of caressing in the moment, he merely the honor to gaze for a second.

 {EDITED}

 Gladiolus didn’t need to see the time of the nearby clock to know it was against him. He knew the moment he shut his eyes, it would pass in a moment, and he would be forced to head to Noctis’ apartment and then to the Citadel to be on his way to Altissia. The kiss he planted within her dark tresses was a long one—one of wishing it could indeed just stay as this forever.

 “I love you, Isla,” he murmured in the dark, his embrace upon her only tightening all the more as his other hand found the time to lightly stroke her exposed middle back.

 For some reason, those words felt damning in the moment to her as Isla’s lower lip quivered just out of sight for the gentle giant to fully see as she remained safe and hidden well there in his embrace. She breathed out her contempt for what had to transpire in the coming morning and merely nuzzled against the Shield’s chest for added reassurance he was there and that he did indeed love her.

 “I love you too, Gladio,” Isla whispered pathetically in return, letting the night be enjoyable in the sense he was there at least. The gentle, rhythmic hum of his heart and the occasional sigh that made his chest press against her reminded Isla of such a warming fact.

    Isla hadn’t realized how exhausted she was till the sudden sound of her phone going off caught her by surprise and warned her of the hour. Jerking to attention at her alarm she set every day, she reached over to the nightstand to turn it off but come to the realization that her bed was empty and Gladiolus was nowhere to be seen when coming to her senses fully.

 “Gladio…?” Isla called, eyes darting about in weary confusion as to where he could have gone.

 Empty. Not a trace. Only the covers held a reminiscent memory of him, showing he left not too long ago, but before Isla could sigh somberly over the thought of being without him, she saw a piece of paper on the opposite nightstand where Gladiolus was resting during the night that had her name upon it and a small pouch of sorts.

 Moving across the bed, Isla took to the note first to read it, figuring it had to be from the man she adored.

 Isla,

 I am sorry for the pain I may have caused you in springing this on you at the last second. Honestly, I didn’t mean to…words failed me on what to say and they still do.

 I take my position with honor and pride, but I hate that at times it means I have to leave you to the side as I tend to Noct. Maybe I’ll find a better means of which to juggle both duties in regards to your heart and to his health.

 The Astrals know that boy is hopeless without me, but I know while you do present yourself well in acting like you don’t need me, there are times I know you do and are too stubborn to admit it.

 I am sorry again for what I’ve done. I feel I cannot write or say it enough. You’ve been through a lot of my shitty times and been a bright spot for me, and I hope you know that. I should have treated you with more respect.

 Again, be careful with the Niffs in town. I want you safe. If you could do me a favor and stay with Jared and in the comfort of my home when they are there, I would feel a bit more at ease with everybody under one roof protecting the other…

 Knowing you, you won’t close the damn bar down even for a day just to do this for me, but I do hope you’ll take it into consideration. You are tough, my dear, but not enough to take on an entire army. Keep that in mind.

 I left some gil for you to use to repair your sign. Take it. Fix the sign or don’t, but in the end, it’s no longer mine to use. I feel this is the least I can do.

 Love you, beautiful—I’ll talk to you later tonight. Stay out of trouble while I am gone.

 Gladio

 Isla smiled a bit through the letter, shaking her head as her eyes drifted to the pouch that she knew now was money for her to use towards her bar repairs. Honestly, she would feel dreadful using it for anything else, and so she knew to lecture him about leaving that money for such a thing later as it wasn’t necessary.

 Her feet finding the carpeted flooring, Isla popped her weary muscles and bones before heading quickly to the shower as she knew she best get in gear if she was to open the bar as intended on time.

 --

 Gladiolus’ mind drifted from time to time when out on the road as they drove further from Insomnia and soon, Hammerhead. He tried to find comfort in his reading material but found that lacking in such a job as his mind and heart raced back to the situation at hand.

 “You’re anxious about something,” spoke Noctis rather forwardly as he was watching Gladiolus move about in the car as though he needed to get out and be anywhere else.

 His amber eyes turned to the young Prince, frowning in a sort of playful manner as if to wave away he was worried of anything. “And how can you tell?”

 “You’ve not sat still for more than a minute since we left Insomnia,” Noctis pointed out as he leaned on his knees there in the Regalia. “I don’t think I’ve seen you this jittery in a long time.”

 His eyes rolled, again playing down the thought he had his mind anywhere else other than his duty. The Shield didn’t even offer up a response in the matter as he felt he shouldn’t have to.

 “Should we set down somewhere?” Ignis asked from behind the stirring wheel, curious himself as to what could possibly have Gladiolus’ attention but didn’t chime into the conversation. “I would prefer we find suitable accommodations for the upcoming evening then be tasked with camping once more.”

 “Something wrong with camping again?” the Shield asked with a raise of his brow, arms crossed upon his chest as he always found himself more at peace when outside roughing it in the wild.

 Prompto turned in his seat, giving a playful look to his disgruntled companion. “Uh, yeah—a nice bath would be something the great outdoors don’t have.”

 Gladiolus smirked at the thought of teasing Prompto as he would never miss the chance to mess with him now and again. “There are lakes and rivers, ya know.”

 The gunman cringed, teeth gritted together at the mere thought of bathing in such waters. “Yeaaah, I’d rather take my chances bathing anywhere that doesn’t have something that might bite my—ya know.” With that idea put out on the table, he turned back around and sat in his seat.

 “We’re coming upon Lestallum soon, so let’s rest there for the night,” instructed Ignis hoping to put an end to the debate.

 At the moment, Gladiolus dug into his pocket to pull out his phone and looked over the blank screen to not see a single message from Isla. It didn’t worry him that much, but he assumed she would have at least sent him a ‘love you’ sort of text since he hadn’t heard from her since late last night when she got off from work. But, in the moment, he had to remind himself that she was a bar owner and there were times she practically ran it by herself.

 “Sounds good to me, I guess,” spoke Gladiolus before pocketed his phone once more. “A decent signal wouldn’t be bad now that I think about it.”

 Noctis gave the Shield an odd stare but it appeared it went unnoticed. While he knew Gladiolus was seeing Isla once, his friend rarely spoke of the woman to the point Noctis just assumed they stopped being with one another. He never liked to pry into his friend’s love life, merely assuming that whenever they wanted to talk about it they would do so. Still, he was a bit bothered at how distracted Gladiolus seemed at times merely because it felt very unlike him.

 Isla did have bursts of customers now and again when it came to her time at the bar in Insomnia. There were moments like that (and through the obnoxious and wolf howling customers) she became a bit resentful she couldn’t just do whatever she wanted to but the bar was passed down to her from her family, and it was in their honor she took it with pride.

 The TV screens were buzzing with news in regards to Niflheim soon to be arriving for the peace treaty and all kinds of praise and worries hissed from the speakers and filled the customers’ minds with delight and doubt.

 “How do you feel about this, Isla?” one of the waitresses Isla had hired asked, her tone in a bit of a worrisome panic as she seemed to be dreading the day they would arrive.

 Isla turned to the young blond with a lopsided smile, shrugging her shoulders as if to shrug away the problematic thoughts in regards to their visitors. “If they try anything, they have the King and his men to get through first. I have faith in our line of defense.”

 Her dainty hands tightened upon the empty tray she held against her chest, brown eyes wavering in nervousness as though the very idea the enemy empire would be on their soil was plaguing her for days. “But you don’t think they will…do you?”

 Isla sighed out softly wishing she had an answer. “I hope not,” she spoke softly to herself but loud enough for her employee to hear. Before she could hope to continue with that thought, her phone began to buzz in her back pocket. “Sakura, do you think you can handle things without me for a moment or two?”

 “S-Sure,” she stuttered but merely stammering over her words because of Niflheim being within Insomnia tomorrow.

 Digging into her back jean pocket, Isla pulled out her phone before stepping out of sight to answer it within the back room. She had caught in that brief moment that it was Gladiolus. “Evening there, Gladio,” she spoke while casually leaning up against the nearby wall where a few crates of product still was waiting to be used nearby.

 “Hey,” he responded simply as if wanting some sort of explanation for her silence most of the day.

 Isla could hear it in that single word that something was on his mind and she couldn’t help but twitch a bit, hoping it was nothing urgent. “You’re calling a bit early. Something wrong?”

 “You were just quiet all day,” Gladiolus admitted as he was leaning against the railing of the Lestallum balcony at the hotel room they had booked for the evening. “I’ve never known you not to send at least a text or something my way in the morning or afternoon. Are you alright?” His fingers began to drum impatiently for an answer on the iron bars.

 Out of habit, Isla looked out the nearby door to be certain things were still going well in her absence. “Yeah, everything is fine. I was just a bit late getting up this morning, and I am sorry for that.” Just hearing the patrons on the other side of the wall screaming and yelling she felt the need to check in on what was causing the commotion though she was sure she already knew—some chocobo racing thing they were watching or some beast beat-em-up that was being filmed live from Altissia that was riling them. “Otherwise I would have called or something.”

 “Are you going to head to my house when the Niffs show up like I asked you to?” Gladiolus asked, getting right to the point of the matter as he couldn’t keep his worries at ease any longer. He lowered his head, right foot tapping impatiently on the craftsmanship of the balcony he was on.

 “Gladio, you know I cannot do that,” Isla insisted. “It takes money to keep this place up and standing—you know that!”

 “Isla, dammit,” he hissed in disapproval, the palm of his free hand smashing down quietly on the railing. “One day isn’t going to hurt anything.”

 She frowned at his tone, not appreciating his failure in seeing the full picture. “It hurts more than you know, Gladio.” Isla’s teeth rolled over her lower lip to prevent herself from being aggressive as she knew he was just worried. “I told you that I can handle myself, okay? If anything happens, I’ll get out safely. You have my word on that.”

 He hated not being there. He hated not being able to defend everybody he cared for. It wasn’t just Isla who was still in Insomnia but his family too. “Your word is hardly enough to put my mind at ease,” he whispered to himself, but he was sure she heard him as well. “If anything happens, you get the hell out of there and you head to my family, alright? They will protect you and there is safety in numbers.”

 Isla was relieved he couldn’t see her eyes roll, but she felt his rising concerns weren’t needed with everything else already a burden on her shoulders. The last thing she wanted to imagine was being displaced because of a war. “Alright, alright—I promise.”

 There was a deafening silence that was hard for either one to break. Gladiolus knew he was being a bit too forward and assertive, but he couldn’t handle the idea of anybody falling, him miles away and powerless to assist.

 “Can I call you back later?” Isla asked, breaking the deafening quiet as she slightly moved side to side in place to get the worries from her. “I’ve got at least five more hours till this place closes, and I cannot leave Sakura out there alone for too long with what a nervous bundle she is.”

 “Everyone is nervous,” Gladiolus sighed in correction as his palm moved over his face to rid the fear from him. “Yeah, sure. Call me when you have the time no matter the hour.”

 Isla shook her head in the privacy of the room she was in. “Look, I love you, big guy—just…keep it calm, alright?” she cooed gently as her finger idly did away with some dust she saw on one of the nearby crates. “I am here, and I am not going anywhere.”

 His next breath expelled through his nostrils as he nodded at her soothing comment, knowing she was right. “Thank you for that,” he praised in honesty, finding those words to be like drinking water after a long trek through the middle of a desert. “Same here—I am not going anywhere either.”

 A smile tugged upon Isla’s lips as she fondled with a pierce of her partially braided hair, finding equal comfort in his expression. “Bye for now, Gladio. I love you.”