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! ]]

Comments

[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."