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Rays from the sun descend upon the field like a fervent embrace, the heat giving the air a shimmering illusion and mercilessly wrapping around every surface. Enveloped underneath the golden glow, a strikingly vibrant patch of flowers have blossomed in the midst of summer, painting the area in hues of bold reds and sunny yellows and royal blues. The sea of foliage is so alarmingly conflicting with the view of Yellowtooth corpses nearby and Noctis can almost smell the sweet, intoxicating fragrance of the blossoms underneath the heavy scent of blood and sweat and the beginnings of rot. Almost.
Noctis barely registers Ignis' call for him up ahead as he stands rooted where he is, staring unblinkingly at the tapestry of colors and petals in front of him. "Coming," he calls back, but makes no real effort to move, aside from turning his whole body in the direction of the floral cluster.
He picks up on the sound of Gladiolus approaching him from trailing behind the group, likely wondering why he'd suddenly stopped. Gladio stops beside him, eyes flickering warily between Noctis and what he continues to gape at. "See something?"
Noctis shakes his head. Doesn't shift his gaze elsewhere. Gladio waits patiently, nods at Ignis and Prompto up ahead as a reassuring gesture to keep going when they'd paused and looked back at their slower companions.
"The flowers," Noctis finally says. "They're the same ones that grew in Insomnia. They're rarer out here."
Gladiolus raises an eyebrow, crosses his arms and looks at the flowers himself. "Yeah. That a problem?"
Noctis shakes his head once more. "Didn't really think I'd see them again."
He points, and then he can't stop himself from opening his mouth and rambling. "Thing is, they're the only genus in their subtribe, and they're a small genus of bulbs too, they only have like..." He frowns as he tries to remember. "Two, three species? I didn't expect them to be so far out here. I mean, they're not like an Insomnian staple or whatever, but I'd read they were mainly native to that area. I didn't know they could be yellow in color either."
Gladiolus blankly stares at Noctis as he rattles on. Noctis feels a heat different from the ruthless beat of the sun creep from his neck to his cheeks under his gaze; flushing in embarrassment, he realizes how he must've sounded. "Or whatever," he adds lamely as a finishing statement.
He nearly cringes as Gladio lets out a bark of laughter.
"Never knew you to be a botanist," Gladio says, amusment evident on his face. "Not very usual for a prince."
Noctis' mouth suddenly feels dry. His eyes are now scrambling to look anywhere but back at the flowers. "Whatever," he repeats, and with that he abruptly turns and continues to trek back towards the haven, quickening his pace to catch up with Prompto and Ignis. He feels even more sheepish when he feels Gladio's eyes on his back for a few more moments before he decides to follow again.
Whatever.
The heat of summer is still as harsh the next day.
Noctis sits at the edge of the haven, leaning back on his elbows and squinting at his bright surroundings. Ignis is shuffling about behind him, likely organizing and counting their curatives and food stock, while Prompto lounges in their tent on his phone, complaining about the sun beams despite it probably being hotter in a significantly smaller, cramped space. Gladiolus had vanished somewhere, which wasn't uncommon when they spent the day at a safe haven. He doubted Gladio was that far, anyway, since he usually insisted on keeping a safe enough distance to rush back in case anything happened.
The heavy footfall behind him signified that Gladio was back, however, and was approaching where he was lazily sprawled. He closed his eyes and only opened them when he heard Gladio seat himself beside him, turning to face him, and furrowing his brows when his eyes land on the handful of flowers Gladio had seemingly picked on his own and set between them.
Noctis looks up at Gladio and back down at the flowers a few more times.
Gladio lets out a humorous huff. "You like flowers, right?"
Noctis nods slowly, sitting back up. "Figured, so I found these nearby," Gladio continues, poking at the poorly assorted handmade bouquet. "You're welcome."
"Thanks," is all Noctis replies after a moment of silence. He's still not entirely sure if this is Gladio's form of a playful jab at his special interest.
Gladio's lips tug into his notorious grin. "Noct, I got 'em for you so you can tell me more. You know, like you did for me yesterday."
Noctis feels himself flush again, more out of appreciation than embarrassment this time. The sentiment is sweet, and it squeezes his heart and fills him with a warmth caused for a reason different than the swelter that latched onto them uncomfortably. The gesture is thoughtful, amiable, and so very Gladio. Chances are he's trying to express that he didn't intend to embarrass or upset Noctis yesterday.
He reaches for the flowers, picks a few up and studies them carefully. Feels some of the petals between the pads of his fingers, gentle as not to rip them. The stems are cool, and he can tell they were picked with care. Gladio watches as he brings a particular blue one to his nose and gives a tentative sniff, a smile erupting on his face as he breathed in the aromatic scent. He garners the entire batch in his hands and looks down at them fondly.
"There are all from the same family," Noctis starts, slowly and cautiously, glancing up at Gladio who only gives him an encouraging nod to continue. "They're common in Lucis, but that's what makes them special - they're Lucian, just like sylleblossoms are only common in Tenebrae. I mean, people overlook these here, just cause they're everywhere during summer and spring, but they're still beautiful," Noctis ends his sentence with a tone of indignation that elicits a good-natured snort from Gladio.
"See this blue one? It's the signature color, and it stands for longing. It's mentioned in some old Lucian classics about romance." Gladio lets out an appreciative hum at the mention of literature. "This pink one, it's a lot more unusual, you can only spot it in wilder areas, like out here..."
Noctis continues to explain the meaning behind the different colors, the family they're from, their classifications - and feels himself squirm internally at the sight of Gladio's impressed face, and he can tell his Shield is actually listening. It's extremely pleasant; he only ever gets to talk about flowers with Luna, taping smaller flowers he'd picked that caught his eye around Insomnia on their journal and sending it back to her for her opinions, cherishing each blue sylleblossom she'd send back. He would gladly take the opportunity to verbally dump all the information he'd harbored from older books detailing floriculture and floriography collecting dust in the Citadel's library, that he'd just so happened to stumble upon when bored of his academic middle school textbooks one day.
He beams so brightly whenever Gladio asks a question, and he feels his jaw beginning to ache from how long he'd been smiling for.
"Thank you," he says again, really means it. The look on Gladio's face makes him quickly look anywhere else, a spark of nervousnsss flashing through his body - the amount of adoration in Gladio's eyes would cause his heart to falter if he held his gaze for a second longer.
"No problem, princess," Gladio replies, and there's an undertone of genuineness despite the teasing words.
Noctis doesn't say anything else for a few beats. Then, he hesitantly offers a blue flower to Gladio, only to jump to his feet and dash over to Ignis and offer (almost plead, much to Ignis' surprise and incredulity) to help in any chore as soon as Gladio takes it from his hand. Gladio's eyes stay on him for a few more moments before locking onto the flower, the grin lingering on his face.
Neither Noctis nor Gladiolus elaborate on why there was a blue flower kept within the front pocket of Gladio's shirt for the following weeks.