Gladiolus Amicitia (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sword_chocobro) wrote2022-07-17 05:05 am
sword_chocobro) wrote2022-07-17 05:05 am
The Leville; Lestallum,Cleigne; Eos. Sunday, April 2nd, 757 ET [ 07/17 FT].
Gladio definitely knew something was up. Even if he hadn't known what day it was, Prompto and Iris had rolled back into town yesterday and hadn't stopped exchanging smirks and glances since. If he hadn't been aware of what day it was, he might have actually been a little bit concerned about those looks between them. But it was the same energy that Prompto had had a few months ago, in February, when he'd tracked down Coctura after having disappeared for about a week collecting ingredients to make a veritable feast (as close to one as anyone could get these days, anyway), for Ignis' birthday.
And, well...
Today was Gladio's birthday.
In a way, part of Prompto's obsession with continuing to mark time and keep track of dates, when there wasn't even a night and day anymore, just endless darkness, seemed a little superfluous, but he couldn't really blame the guy, either. He was still clinging to some kind of normalcy, and he still hadn't given up on trying to get through back to Earth, even though it had been....what? Almost a year now? Damn. Gladio grunted faintly as he shook his head. Time flies when you were having fun....
But, yeah, clearly, Prompto had recruited Iris into some sort of scheme to celebrate his birthday, made all the more evident when Ignis dragged him out for a hunt that wound up being a bit of a wild goose chase that ended, conveniently, when Ignis got a call on his phone telling him that they should make their way back to Lestallum and back to the Leville post haste.
So he was definitely bracing himself for something ridiculous when he and Iggy made it up to their room, and Iggy gestured for him to go ahead before him. He was not surprised, then, when that open door was met with a cheerful greeting of 'surprise!', followed by little poppers and thrown confetti, and a crudely made banner draped over the windows wishing him happy birthday, a few choice celebrants there joining in on the little make-shift party.
But what did surprise him was...
"...is that Cup NoodleTM?" he asked, eyes going wide for a moment at the stack of three....three!....cases sitting there on the table, and he instantly gravitated toward it with a spark of excitement, and Prompto laughing, having snapped a quick picture, no doubt of Gladio's shocked face, that he was now sharing with Iris, who didn't even try to fight off her giggles.
"Oh," she said, "that's perfect!"
"Where did you guys even get this?" Gladio then asked, marveling a little as he picked up one of the boxes and tentatively took a look inside, half expecting it to be empty and to be told it was all just a joke, but, no, they were full, neat little cartons of noodles all stacked up and packed in. "The truck supply ran out months ago, and since they're made in the city..."
He honestly thought he might never have Cup NoodleTM again, just another grave tragedy tossed onto the heaping pile of terribleness that had happened since last year.
"We found some in a raid a while back," Prompto explained proudly, shooting another smirk over to Iris, "down in those old warehouses in that rest stop under the Cauthess arches. Just sitting there, collecting dust."
"There were a few other good supplies there, too," Iris added. "You probably remember, we sent you and Talcott to deliver some of it down to Hammerhead. But we definitely kept some of it to ourselves...until now, anyway."
"Happy birthday, big guy," said Prompto, his pleased and proud grin softening into something a little more wistful as he set a hand on his shoulder. "These should last you....what? Until the end of next week?"
Unable to really help himself, Gladio laughed, taking a moment to put one arm around Prompto's shoulders and pull him in, the other going around Iris' and doing the same, hit with an strong surge of gratefulness that he didn't really know how to express. It had been a rough year--that was an understatement! And there definitely hadn't been many good moments since Altissia. But this....this right here. This was a good reminder that things may be rough, but they were always the darkest before the dawn. And that didn't mean there couldn't be little bright spots along the way, either.
"Yeah, right," Gladio muttered with a snort, pulling back to attempt to mess up Prompto's hair for a second before giving Iris that little bit of an extra squeeze before letting her go. "Something this valuable's going to be rationed even more tightly than our magic reserves. But that doesn't mean we can't crack open at least a few of them now to celebrate. Hey! Iggy! Go put on a kettle!"
He'd turned toward the door just in time to catch the faint grin on Ignis' face as he turned away and lifted up a hand. "Already on my way," he assured him, as Iris hurried past with an offer to help him out. Not that he needed it, of course, but he'd long since stopped insisting upon it.
And Gladio was left looking at the Cup NoodleTM container in his hand, shaking his head again, and then glanced over at Prompto with a faint smile. "Thanks," he said.
And Prompto, despite the fact that he was clearly proud of himself (and with good reason!) for this one, just sort of shrugged, ducking his head, never really able to escape the pervasive undercurrent of sadness to everything for too long. "Don't even mention it," he said. "Happy birthday, man."
[[ nfi, nfb obviously, paying respects to the almighty Cup NoodleTM always welcome, as we realize the TRUE tragedy of the Apocalypse is the Cup NoodleTM we've lost along the way ]]
And, well...
Today was Gladio's birthday.
In a way, part of Prompto's obsession with continuing to mark time and keep track of dates, when there wasn't even a night and day anymore, just endless darkness, seemed a little superfluous, but he couldn't really blame the guy, either. He was still clinging to some kind of normalcy, and he still hadn't given up on trying to get through back to Earth, even though it had been....what? Almost a year now? Damn. Gladio grunted faintly as he shook his head. Time flies when you were having fun....
But, yeah, clearly, Prompto had recruited Iris into some sort of scheme to celebrate his birthday, made all the more evident when Ignis dragged him out for a hunt that wound up being a bit of a wild goose chase that ended, conveniently, when Ignis got a call on his phone telling him that they should make their way back to Lestallum and back to the Leville post haste.
So he was definitely bracing himself for something ridiculous when he and Iggy made it up to their room, and Iggy gestured for him to go ahead before him. He was not surprised, then, when that open door was met with a cheerful greeting of 'surprise!', followed by little poppers and thrown confetti, and a crudely made banner draped over the windows wishing him happy birthday, a few choice celebrants there joining in on the little make-shift party.
But what did surprise him was...
"...is that Cup NoodleTM?" he asked, eyes going wide for a moment at the stack of three....three!....cases sitting there on the table, and he instantly gravitated toward it with a spark of excitement, and Prompto laughing, having snapped a quick picture, no doubt of Gladio's shocked face, that he was now sharing with Iris, who didn't even try to fight off her giggles.
"Oh," she said, "that's perfect!"
"Where did you guys even get this?" Gladio then asked, marveling a little as he picked up one of the boxes and tentatively took a look inside, half expecting it to be empty and to be told it was all just a joke, but, no, they were full, neat little cartons of noodles all stacked up and packed in. "The truck supply ran out months ago, and since they're made in the city..."
He honestly thought he might never have Cup NoodleTM again, just another grave tragedy tossed onto the heaping pile of terribleness that had happened since last year.
"We found some in a raid a while back," Prompto explained proudly, shooting another smirk over to Iris, "down in those old warehouses in that rest stop under the Cauthess arches. Just sitting there, collecting dust."
"There were a few other good supplies there, too," Iris added. "You probably remember, we sent you and Talcott to deliver some of it down to Hammerhead. But we definitely kept some of it to ourselves...until now, anyway."
"Happy birthday, big guy," said Prompto, his pleased and proud grin softening into something a little more wistful as he set a hand on his shoulder. "These should last you....what? Until the end of next week?"
Unable to really help himself, Gladio laughed, taking a moment to put one arm around Prompto's shoulders and pull him in, the other going around Iris' and doing the same, hit with an strong surge of gratefulness that he didn't really know how to express. It had been a rough year--that was an understatement! And there definitely hadn't been many good moments since Altissia. But this....this right here. This was a good reminder that things may be rough, but they were always the darkest before the dawn. And that didn't mean there couldn't be little bright spots along the way, either.
"Yeah, right," Gladio muttered with a snort, pulling back to attempt to mess up Prompto's hair for a second before giving Iris that little bit of an extra squeeze before letting her go. "Something this valuable's going to be rationed even more tightly than our magic reserves. But that doesn't mean we can't crack open at least a few of them now to celebrate. Hey! Iggy! Go put on a kettle!"
He'd turned toward the door just in time to catch the faint grin on Ignis' face as he turned away and lifted up a hand. "Already on my way," he assured him, as Iris hurried past with an offer to help him out. Not that he needed it, of course, but he'd long since stopped insisting upon it.
And Gladio was left looking at the Cup NoodleTM container in his hand, shaking his head again, and then glanced over at Prompto with a faint smile. "Thanks," he said.
And Prompto, despite the fact that he was clearly proud of himself (and with good reason!) for this one, just sort of shrugged, ducking his head, never really able to escape the pervasive undercurrent of sadness to everything for too long. "Don't even mention it," he said. "Happy birthday, man."
[[ nfi, nfb obviously, paying respects to the almighty Cup NoodleTM always welcome, as we realize the TRUE tragedy of the Apocalypse is the Cup NoodleTM we've lost along the way ]]