Chapter Text
The only reason Gladio takes the metro is because he’s late. He glances at his watch and curses, shifting the backpack on his shoulder as he sequesters his precious cargo into his jacket, doing it up enough to hide the ball of fur. It’s not allowed, but he only has a few stops to go and no one spares him a second glance, aside from a business woman who shoots him a glance when he coughs to cover up a noise. He’s tense the whole trip, until he can breathe in the fresh late summer air and shift his secret out of hiding.
Finding the usual spot is a cinch, Gladio weaving his way past the crowds of people out for evening strolls as he avoids the bikes and kids darting about. The heat of the day is finally ebbing away as the sun slips over the crowns of the high rises, the industrial metal releasing the warmth is had absorbed. It’s cooler in the lush foliage of the park - one of Insomnia’s largest, a belt of green set between the heart of the business district and the edges of the citadel inner circle.
All the color and fresh life is a relief to Gladio’s eyes, bright and revitalizing. He craves the further reaches of Lucis beyond the maze of highway and wonders when he’ll be able to convince the others to go camping with him again.
Most of them are already there when he arrives - Noctis sprawled across the gingham blanket with his eyes closed, Luna lounging back against Nyx as he piles gras on her knee, and Ignis already working at the small folding table set up near the grill.
“No Libs or Crowe tonight?”
“Nah, they had to work-” Noctis breaks off, frozen mid-wave as he stares up. “Is that a dog?”
Gladio hikes up the tiny puppy tucked in the crook of his elbow, content to ride along like the pampered pooch she is. “Yep,” he says, gently raising one of her little paws to wave at them, but she’s more interested in nibbling on his finger than saying hello. “Everyone, this is Lilium.”
“Lily,” says Ignis dryly as Gladio sets the backpack down for him to dig through. “How fitting.”
“She’s absolutely adorable,” says Luna. “We’ll have to bring Umbra and Pryna along next time.”
When he steps over to the blanket, Nyx grins up at him cheekily. “Gotta admit, I always pictured if you got a dog it’d be something more… intimidating.”
Running a hand over the white star on Lily’s head, Gladio shrugs. “Iris gave her to me.”
He wasn’t sure what he was expecting when she’d asked him to close his eyes and hold out his hands, but it certainly wasn’t a wriggly Shih Tzu puppy small enough to fit in one of his hands.
“To keep you company away from home,” she’d said, as if he’d moved all the way to Lestallum, instead of down near LoHi, with all its neon buzzing lights and street performers. When he’d protested, she shot a pointed look at his cramped apartment, sparse aside from piles of books on the tables and near the bed.
It’s terrifying - cradling something so small, so fragile, in his rough palms - and Gladio knows if he’d insisted Iris would have taken the puppy home instead, but then it’d gone quiet, content to lick over the soft skin of his wrist and he was done for.
His apartment changed rapidly in the space of a few days - his books aligned tidily on his shelves to avoid being chewed or peed on, twin bowls in his kitchenette and a stocked fridge, a fluffy dog bed she ignored in favor of curling up along his warm chest, and an assortment of toys that hurt worse than a Lego to step on during his occasional 2am bathroom runs.
The responsibility of taking care of another living creature pushed him to take better care of himself and he can’t help but think that may have been Iris’ plan all along. Gone are the days of losing himself entirely in a story that he forgets to eat or nights of coming home from work with barely enough energy to pour hot water into his noodle cup. He wakes up mid-morning to walk her to the nearby block park and then goes for a run afterwards simply because he’s already up - something he hasn’t done since he set out on his own.
Lily pushes him to be better and she makes coming back to his apartment much more bearable, filling up all the empty space with a warm presence he can’t imagine going without.
“Noct, watch her for me?”
He sets her in Noctis’ lap despite his sputtered protests and delights in the way she dives in to make herself at home, mussing up his perfectly styled hair until Luna rescues him.
Laughing, Gladio makes his way over to the grill, falling into tandem as Ignis seasons the meat and vegetable skewers before plopping them over the fire for him to monitor. “Will she be alright while you’re at work?”
Rotating the first round over the grill, Gladio rubs at his scruff. “Once she’s potty trained yeah and I’m with her throughout the day.” He laughs and adds, “Think it’s more about if I’ll be okay while I’m away.”
Ignis hums thoughtfully, but there’s a tilt to his lips that speaks of approval as they turn their conversation to other topics. It’s peaceful out - the grass taken up by others enjoying the fresh air, playing games of frisbee and cards as the trees whisper with the breeze. Crickets have already begun to sing, heralding the arrival of evening. They’ve moved on to the second round of grilling when a shout rises up across the park.
“SILENE NO!”
Gladio’s sneaking one of the cooled kebabs for a ‘taste test’ when something barrels into him and sends him flying. The sky wheels in a swirl of blue and gold and he stares up at the edges of the trees as he tries to catch his breath. There are paws everywhere, digging into his sternum and gut as he fields off the wet nose pressed to his neck, and there’s laughter behind him - Noctis he’s sure - as the meat is yanked from his hand.
“Sorry! Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”
Someone lifts the dogs off of him and a hand reaches out to offer assistance as he’s drowned in a waterfall of apologies. Gladio's head is still spinning when he grabs it and looks up into the face of an angel.
His hair is blonde, soft and feathered as it glows in the light overhead, and freckles span across his nose like constellations. The crooked, nervous grin on his face is brighter than the sun and it’s hard not to notice the biceps that flex and pull as he helps Gladio stand.
“Are you okay?”
Gladio blinks slowly. “Yeah.”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to crash your picnic. We’re working on Silene’s manners.” He crosses his arms and stares down at the large Niflheim mountain dog with a red leash at his feet who’s licking her lips. “Aren’t we?”
There’s a pack of six or seven dogs milling about beside him, leashes bunched like balloon strings as they wander about - a few piled in Luna’s lap as she laughs and some playfully wrestling with Lily, who’s tugging on an older dog’s floppy ear. Ignis has taken over the grill, stoutly ignoring his canine audience as he transfers the remaining food to a plate.
“It’s okay,” Gladio says as he gathers his wits. “Seems like you’ve got a lot to handle.”
The boy shrugs, grinning widely as he pats one of the dogs’ heads. “Usually they’re well behaved. I’m Prompto by the way.”
”Gladio.” They shake hands, Prompto's small but strong in his grip, until someone clears their throat pointedly and he launches into brief introductions.
“I don’t suppose you’d care to join us?” asks Ignis, not so much as flinching when Gladio shoots him a look. Normally he'd jump at the chance, revel in the thrilling dance of flirting, but something about Prompto had his heart racing. It feels like the equivalent of casually inviting a god to come down and dine with them on their grass stained blanket.
“Nah.” Prompto shifts the leashes in his hold. “These guys aren’t going to walk themselves.”
“Perhaps next time then,” says Luna as she scratches the scruff of a terrier mix. “We’re here often enough and we’d love the extra company.”
Prompto’s responding smile is blinding. “Hopefully!” He shoots Gladio one last lingering look and rounds up his dogs. “I guess I’ll see you around?”
“Yeah, see you.”
Then Prompto’s off, jogging across the field with his pack leading the way. Everyone’s staring at Gladio with varying degrees of amusement and he shifts awkwardly. He knows he's acting unusually, but he'd rather not talk about how awkward he was acting. “What?”
“Nothing,” says Noctis with a fond roll of his eyes and his focus is quickly captured by the food brought over to the blanket.
In the distance, fireflies have started to emerge like glowing embers in the shadows. Lily clambers over to Gladio excitedly and he picks her up as he sighs. Prompto’s no longer visible in the distance and some part of him is gravely disappointed. He should have at least gotten a phone number, or something. The flock of butterflies that have moved in are new and he presses a hand to his chest to try and calm them down, feeling ridiculously like the swooning love interest of one of his paperback novels.
Behind him Nyx snorts. “If you don’t get your ass over here I’m gonna eat your share.”
“Like hell you are,” says Gladio and he settles down onto the blanket, tuning into the chatter and trying desperately not to think of Prompto anymore with little success.