43 Unicorn Street; Monday Evening [11/11].

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio had not run his usual errands that Monday. Training, yes. Errands? No way. Today was Nell's birthday, and he decided that one of the things he was going to do for her was surprise her by trying to make her dinner for a nice relaxing evening.

A dinner that wasn't Cup Noodle^TM!

(Although she should only be so lucky!)

He'd consulted with Iggy, of course, for ideas for something easy enough that even he could pull it off, and, with it being fall and all, he decided he'd try his hand at a nice, meaty, spicy chili that he felt was honestly going pretty well!

He was much less confident in the cornbread he tried to make (from a box, don't get too excited), and he already knew the cake looked a hot mess, but that was part of its charm, right? It was kind of lopsided and tge green icing was kind of messy, but that was how you knew it was definitely made with love.

He was definitely feeling pretty convinced to keep leaving the cooking to other people, though.

[[ for she with the birthday! ]]

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[mylandmyrules]

Nell was spending some time up on the roof with a good book while Gladio cooked. That way she wouldn't be tempted to take over peek at what he was doing. She was just so touched that he wanted to cook for her.

And whatever it was, it did smell delicious!

The kittens had deserted her to bother Gladio, and she could only smile as she imagined them underfoot.

[sword_chocobro]

Oh, sure. It smelled good then, but just wait. The timer for the cornbread had gone off and Gladio had nearly fallen as he went to turn it off from those kittens underfoot. The beeping was replaced by a loud protesting yowl as the tip of a tail got stepped on. Gladio immediately winced and stopped a nd lift his foot, looking down with a Disapproving "Godsdammit, Rigel! Come on!"

Cornbread forgotten, he scooped up the fuzzy little offender, holding his easily in one hand as he lifted him up to peer into his meowing face and shook a finger at him.

"If you're gonna be in here," he said, "you gotta watch out, or you're gonna get squished. Or worse. I'll just put you right in the chili."

The next meow sounded like a challenge.

"Oh, you don't think I will, huh? That something you wanna test?"

Rigel started to purr.

"Yeah," Gladio grunted as set Rigel down. "That's what I thought."

And he'd barely straightened again when he heard the pot bubbling and splattering a little, and remembered what Iggy had said about simmering and stirring, and grabbed the spoon and turned down the heat and then left it a moment to get a treat to distract the kittens with...

Then he noticed the faint burning smell with a frown, wondering where it could have been coming from.

Then he saw the first whisps of smoke.

"Oh, shit." He flung open the oven door and was two seconds from just grabbing the hot pan before remembering the oven mitts and pulled out the smoking but maybe still salvageable cornbread with another grunt, waving a fitted hand over it to clear some of the smoke.

"How the hell does Specs make this all look so damn easy?" he grumbled.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell heard the yowl and laughed quietly to herself. She set her book down and considered whether she should head downstairs or not. On the one hand, he might appreciate a little help. On the other, he had been determined to take care of all of this himself...

He'd been so sweet all day, making her oatmeal to start off their morning, which made them both laugh as they remembered that morning when they'd woken up as kids and fought over it. She hadn't had to lift a finger to clean up or do anything but be pampered all day.

It was delightfully odd to have an entire day of being taken care of. She'd puttered and read and lounged, with a little afternoon delight to make things even better. Now, dinner was, at least theoretically, being prepared at this moment.

... She'd give him a little more time...

[sword_chocobro]

Well, it wouldn't be long before Gladio went up to the roof, everything safely turned off (he'd triple-checked), and letting out a weary huff as he went over to give Nell a kiss.

"I'm just gonna call birthday dinner on now," he informed her, "before anything else has the chance to go wrong."

[mylandmyrules]

"I'm sure it's wonderful," Nell said, stretching up to kiss him.

She set her book aside and took a moment for a hug before heading downstairs. Her eyes might have widened a little at the remaining smokiness, but it went unremarked upon.

"Is that chili?" she asked. "It smells delicious!"

[sword_chocobro]

The extra smokiness was for...atmosphere. Sure. Why not?

"It is chili," Gladio confirmed, and then he had to laugh, "And you don't have to spare my feelings, you know, if we just need to dump it and order take-out instead."

Which wasn't going to be necessary, because it actually wasn't all that bad, but Gladio knew his taste buds were...

Well...

About as tough as he was ans way more forgiving.

[mylandmyrules]

Oh no, it was going to have to be absolutely, completely, no way around it, unedible before Nell would say anything. It was just a bonus that she wouldn't have to.

"I'm sure it's wonderful," she said. "And even better because you did it all for me."

Rigel came over to yowl a song about his tail, but Nell just gave him a snuggle and even if she'd understood she'd have told him he deserved it for being underfoot. Cygnus was smart enough to just watch the proceedings from a perch.

[sword_chocobro]

Oh, she'd still get to put that resolve to tye test with the cornbread, at least!

"That guy," Gladio said, pointing at Rigel for emphasis, "is a pretty crappy sous chef, by the way."

But he was grinning and leaning in to kiss Nell again with a hand briefly against her back as he nodded to the table.

"Go have a seat and I'll bring it out and everything."

And the table really was set up for atmosphere, with candlelight to better hide all the flaws and flowers and everything.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell settled herself in at the table, enjoying the rarely used candles and the flowers. "It looks beautiful," she called out.

The cornbread would surely taste fine with butter and honey. Or dipped in chili if all else failed.

"So, the little rascal was underfoot, huh?"

[sword_chocobro]

A faint snort answered before Gladio's words did. "Always," he said. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think he likes getting squished."

He emerged bearing two bowls with a few of the best pieces of the cornbread he managed to hack off, and he was actually looking pretty damn proud of himself, too, as he set one of the bowls down in front of Nell.

"Bone apple teeth," he said, winking at her before going to take his own seat. "And, hey. Happy birthday."

[mylandmyrules]

"Mmm," Nell said, smelling the chili. "Smells spicy. Perfect."

She tried her best not to smile too much at the cornbread pieces, clearly the source of the smokiness. A spoonful of the chili had her smiling at him. "Very good. A wonderful birthday present. You're spoiling me."

A little extra butter and honey and the cornbread wasn't so dry and was tasty enough that she didn't have to pretend to eat it. "A very successful dinner."

[sword_chocobro]

"And I haven't even gotten to the cake yet," Gladio pointed out, eagerly digging into his own, and you know what? The cornbread wasn't all that bad, either! Not too shabby for some rich kid who always had someone else on hand to cook for him!

He probably would not object to Iris and Ignis continuing to kick him out of kitchens, though.

"And it's your birthday," he added. "You deserve to be spoiled. Well, even when it's not your birthday, too, if you ask me, but..."

[mylandmyrules]

"I get cake, too?" Nell said, as surprised and delighted as a young child. "Really? I didn't expect that!"

She beamed at him. "What a wonderful treat! You can surprise me whenever you want."

[sword_chocobro]

"You gotta have cake if it's you're birthday," Gladio insisted, chuckling a little at Nell's genuine surprise, although it was tempered a little with a marveling shake of his head, and that little pang that always went with moment when he did something he would consider so average and baseline or even expected, and it just caught her off guard. And all the reasons for it. It made him feel a little bad that what he'd ordered for her present hadn't shown up yet, but it was also probably good, spread it put a little so she didn't get overwhelmed.

"Just don't go expecting it to be pretty now that you know you're getting one," he warned her, teasingly, "because it is not."

[mylandmyrules]

That got a laugh. "Pretty is not necessary," she assured him. "Just a cake is far more than I expected."

Gladio always made her feel so special - and as if she should just expect to be treated that way. She couldn't imagine ever just expecting that, but it was an amazing feeling.

"You are too good to me."

[sword_chocobro]

"You know," said Gladio, after a moment to finish chewing the bite of cornbread that took maybe slightly longer than one would have expected and he shook his spoon at Nell a little before it went diving in for more food, "I wanna argue with that because this sort of thing should just be standard, but, on the other hand..." That spoonful of chili went into his mouth before he continued, "I am pretty great, so I feel that puts me at kind of a standstill."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell laughed again. "Very true," she agreed. "You are awful great and I'm awful lucky to have you!"

She smiled at him in the candlelight. "We're both awful lucky." Yes, they'd said it before, many times, but it bore saying again.

"Think we can still get away somewhere next weekend?"

[sword_chocobro]

"We better be able to!" Gladio said with a decisive sort of grunt. "I'm gonna be kinda pissed if something tries to get in the way of it. Even if it wasn't for your birthday, it's been a while."

Some of that firm stubbornness against the universe melted into a lopsided grin across the table.

"And it'll just be real nice to get away, just the two of us,for a few days."

[mylandmyrules]

"I'm always in favor of time alone with just the two of us," Nell said softly. "Especially out somewhere beautiful."

She had another few bites of chili, then she smiled up at him. "Let's sit out under the stars in our hot tub tonight. Enjoy the beauty of the night sky."