Egret 26. It's time to talk.

[callmegladio]

Who: Gladio and Ignis
What: Talking.
Where: Quiet Room
When: Day after the mission, day 26.
Warning: Not sure how this will play out... Could be hugs. Could be a punch. Could be an atomic wedgie. Who knows?


It had been a few days. By rights Gladio knew he probably should have sought Ignis out right after everything had happened. Or at least the day after giving him time to mourn the loss. But he hadn't done that. His last talk with Ignis had not gone well at all... Their relationship had become... strained at best. At worst, damn right toxic. And he hadn't known how to handle Ignis after that.

But on the heels of that last mission, Gladio had gained a little clarity of thought. Being locked in the train for so long had played havoc with his mood and being injured and useless on top of that, he'd found himself in a depressed slump that he'd struggled to get out of. It may have only been for a few hours, and the return back to the train had not been good at all... But those few hours had saved his sanity... mostly. He felt a deep sadness at the loss of those green hills and blue skies, but he held hopes he would see them again.

It was that hope, and the calm that came with it, that had him hunting down Ignis the next morning.

Maybe he should gone armed with coffee or something. But Gladio didn't want any distractions. He wanted to sit Ignis down and he wanted to talk with him. So, he started in all the usual places and was a bit perturbed to find Ignis was in one of the quiet rooms and not in the kitchen stress cooking like he'd half imagined him to be doing.

Gladio took a deep breath and lifted his hand to knock on the door.

It was now or never.

Comments

[callmegladio]

Gladio outright grinned. "Don't doubt it." Well, maybe he was a bit surprised, but given what he knew about Tony and his flirtatious manner, and the sly looks Ignis had sported over the last few weeks when saying nothing at all, Gladio could hazard a guess that their conversations and habits were not entirely innocent.

Not that he really wanted to know the details.

He gave Ignis' hair another ruffle, just for good luck, and then let him go. "Much better look on you!" He declared, laughing.

[faithfulsupport]

He didn't try to move out of the headlock, as this was Gladio's way to play. Roughhousing had always seemed to be his style. And even if at times Ignis didn't understand it, (because who in their right mind played with a smart kid in place to protect the future king? Children weren't really around due to Noct being who he was, and children would shy away from him because if they hurt him, he could go report it to the prince and king and they'd be in Big Trouble.) he envied the shield's ability to drop all pretenses and roll around on the ground. The only one who would play with Ignis was Noct and there wasn't much physical roughhousing. Tickling yes, but wrestling no because the advisor as a child had worried about Noct's back injury.

So he grunted through receiving the hair ruffle and was let go of. Ignis gave Gladio a disenchanted look, but it was covering up how much he'd needed to be 'told' he was loved and needed. "I'll endeavour to keep that in mind." That came out in typical Ignis deadpan, but there was a smile at the shield in the green eyes.

[callmegladio]

"You do that." Gladio smiled and began pulling away, sliding out of the seat to get to his feet. He was pretty sure he was done here. He still had people he needed to speak to after all, and Ignis clearly wasn't feeling as chatty as he had been a minute ago. Maybe he'd pushed a little more than he should have done? He'd remember in future.

"I'll go check on Tony now. I'll see you later, Iggy." He stepped out of the room and closed the door quietly behind him. He knew he'd probably given the advisor a lot to think about. Time to himself would help with that. Gladio took a deep sigh and closed his eyes for a moment, he could feel a headache brewing but knew he needed to get this done before he lost what energy he'd gotten from that world.