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The metal blaring through Gladio’s earbuds fades into the background as 8-bit video game music rises in its stead—the shield sighs, setting down his weights and moving to the unoccupied bench near the weight rack. He grabs his phone and swipes to answer his prince’s call, wondering what nonsense Noctis is gonna bother him with this time.
“Gladio,” Noctis pants, not even waiting for Gladiolus to speak. “You gotta come to my apartment. Well—the alley around the corner from my apartment. There’s this kitten who’s all alone and--”
“Hello to you too,” Gladiolus grumbles. He wipes the sweat from his brow and grunts as he bends to chug some water.
“What are you doing?”
“Working out, which is more than can be said for your skinny ass,” Gladio teases. “What’s this about a cat?”
“A kitten ,” Noctis emphasizes. “It’s all alone, shivering at the bottom of this dumpster in the alley, and...”
“And what, princess,” Gladio sighs fondly. “You really think Iggy is gonna let you have a pet when you can’t even throw away your fast food bags?” Gladio doesn’t have to see Noctis in person to know that he’s pouting.
“At least come help me rescue it!” Noctis cries, spinning back to the dumpster. The harried mewls coming from inside keep breaking his heart. “Prompto’s at work, and Ignis isn’t answering--”
“Yeah, cause he’s in the council meeting that you should be attending instead.”
“ Pleeeaaaaaseeeee ,” Noctis begs, desperate. “At least come help me clean it up and find a shelter for it, it’s so small, it doesn’t even look like it should be weened yet--”
“I swear,” Gladio grumbles. He grabs his water bottle and his sweat towel, making a beeline for the lockers so he can grab his keys. “You’re doing double time tomorrow.”
“Anything,” Noctis agrees, near tears. “Please come help me get this kitten.”
As annoyed as he is, Gladiolus can’t stay mad at Noctis for long. The prince has a bleeding heart, and a particular soft spot for animals. If it were up to Noctis, Gladio knows that the prince would have no qualms about living in an actual zoo.
“All right, I’m coming now,” Gladio says, making his way out of the Citadel training rooms and out of the side door to where his truck’s parked on the curb. He waves to the guards as he passes and tries not to preen under the hungry eyes they shoot his way—he's shirtless and in short gym shorts, because he wasn’t expecting to play humane society this afternoon. Noctis is just going to have to deal .
“Okay, I’m here. Where is it?” Gladio barrels through the back alley, weaving around piles of trash bags, dumpsters, piles of flattened boxes ready to be hauled to the nearest landfill. “Six, Noct, what are you doing in here anyway?”
“I was taking a shortcut to the comic book store,” Noctis says, face crestfallen, brows furrowed in worry. He pauses, sizing Gladio up. “Where’s your shirt?”
“You wanted me to come straight here!” Gladio exclaims. “So, sorry, no shirt. I was in the middle of reps, so this is what you get.”
Noctis swallows, blushing. “No fair, that other people get to see you like this.”
Gladio smirks, rolling his eyes as he ruffles Noct’s hair and bends down to peck him on the lips. “Sorry princess, I won’t let it happen again. Now. Where’s this cat?”
“In here,” Noctis laments, leading Gladiolus to the dumpster. He has to stand on his tip-toes to look in, but Gladio clears the lip just fine.
“Aw, poor little guy.”
“Or girl. It could be a girl,” Noctis muses.
“There’s an old hoodie in my truck,” Gladio instructs. “Go get it. Back seat.”
“Right.” Noctis warps to the end of the alley, grabs the jacket, and warps back, folding the hoodie in his arms.
“I’m showering at your place.” The shield hauls himself over the ledge of the dumpster, scoops up the screaming kitten in one hand, and leaps back out, holding the tiny animal out to Noctis.
The prince takes it and wraps it in Gladio’s old hoodie, cooing to it and scratching its tiny head. “There we go, I got you, you’re safe now.” He sniffs, snapping his eyes back up to Gladio. “Thank you so much.”
Gladio’s heart unravels itself, and he hugs Noctis to his bare chest. “It’s okay, Noct. We got it. Let’s go home, we can bathe it. After I shower, we’ll see what rescues are currently taking animals.”
“Or,” Noctis starts, stepping back and shooting a pleading look at Gladio.
He holds his hands up in defense. “Nah-ah. Nope. You’re not getting me to undermine Ignis’ rule.”
“We could name it Snowball,” Noctis coos, rubbing the dirty white ball of fluff with Gladio’s hoodie.
“Baby,” Gladio sighs. “I know how much you love animals, but this is beyond me. You’re gonna have to level with Iggy on this one.”
Noctis huffs, but follows Gladio out of the alley and around the corner to his apartment complex, hugging the abandoned feral kitten to his chest, already plotting on how he’s gonna get Ignis to finally say yes to having a pet.