wanna traumatize Gladio!Enji even more? have something Bad have happened when his Quirk came in. like, he burned somebody, /badly/. maybe even killed someone by accident. possibly he can't eat cooked meat very frequently if at all, because, well. /That Smell/ haunts his nightmares almost as often as images of the ruin Toshinori might push his body to become.
How dare you. How dare you hurt me like this I refuse.
BUT.
I will agree that Gladio!Enji RARELY eats cooked meat, and CAN’T STAND to cook it himself because the smell- reminds him of things.
The Long Night was Bad™ okay? People died in all sorts of brutal ways and LOTS of those ways involved fire. Think about it, Fire Bomb daemons, Cerberi daemons, Red Giants- there are a LOT of daemons that set things on fire somehow and so the Smell is ... pretty ingrained in Gladio’s brain.
That final fight with Ifrit doesn’t help either.
The first time Toshi tries to do something nice for Enji by cooking him a- an American style hamburger or something Enji is NOT prepared (it was supposed to be a surprise) and so he bursts into the kitchen with wild eyes and then the moment he registers that there’s no danger to Toshi he turns around and throws up in the trash can. Violently.
Toshi never asks why Enji reacted like that, why Enji is so VISCERALLY repulsed by the smell of cooking meat but ... he probably guesses something like what you said.
There are a lot of rumors on the internet about Gladio!Enji and why he only ever uses his own quirk in absolute emergencies, and most of them aren’t pretty.
Ardyn: “I’ll lead in a cat-and-mouse game through a fortress of horrors in search of your friend and your destiny. You-”
Prompto: “Ghk!”
Ardyn: “I’ll have thrown into a snowy wasteland to confront the terrible secret of your origins and slay the twisted creature that was once, technically speaking, your father. You-”
Ignis: “Hisss.”
Ardyn: “I’ll face with a fascinating dilemma. How far will you go to protect your prince, I wonder? And you-”
Heyyyyy Racc ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) how flustered do you think Gladio would be if he found out Ignis had a twin??.. (sister or brother, your choice! )
Hahahaha, Y E S!!!
I’ve had this here for quite a while but I can’t stop thinking about it and probably won’t. I’ve been laughing at the mere mental images this brings me, and I so have to share something about this!!
First off; Ignis with a twin? HNG, YES.
I’d LOVE both cases, because if it was a sister then we could have some sort of Fem!Ignis at least visually and ASTRALS ABOVE, yes.
But imagine if it was a brother. I think that that would mess with Gladio a little more. No, wait, I just had ideas for both scenario ahaha, awman, I need to write stuff for this! Due to length this only includes Brother but ohman. I’m having so much fun writing this.
Edit: *dEEP BREATH* I ADORED AND LOVED WRITING THIS, this is now one of my new absolute favorites, thank you so much!!!
[Adding a Keep Reading at some point]
Gladio dealing with discovering Ignis has a twin brother (& their adventures after he does):
I’ve been adoring the idea of the situation being like that rumor from Marvel’s Avengers on Chris Evans and his troubles with identifying whether he’s talking with Scarlett Johansson or her stunt actress.
Same happens to Gladio: is this Ignis or is this his twin brother?
First time Gladio interacted with him, he still had no idea Ignis had a sibling, let alone a twin.
Gladio was fourteen.
Ignis, due to his great intellect and potential, was taken to the Citadel since very little, but he couldn’t bring his brother along, so Brother is staying with their Aunt at the Scientia house, while Ignis stays at the Citadel with their Uncle.
Ignis isn’t the most talkative on his personal life and, when young, he was very damn shy, so he didn’t bring up to conversation he has a brother (it either didn’t occur to him or he just was too shy to talk on his private life).
So, despite all the years together as friends, Gladio has literally no idea Ignis has a sibling.
One day, Ignis’ brother was visiting for a proper tour around the Citadel. He waited in the hallway while Ignis went into the bathroom.
Gladio happened to stumble upon him.
“Yo, Iggy! Hey, what are you doing ‘round here? :)”
“Oh. I’m not-”
“I was looking for you, say, I forgot to give you your pen back at school yesterday, so here you go.”
“Thank you :)”
“No worries, Iggy.”
“I’m-”
“*gasps* Oh, no, dad will kill me if I’m late. Sorry. See you later, Iggy!”
“Oh. Well, hurry, I wouldn’t want you to die, big friend from school.”
Gladio was a bit ?? because what the fuck did Ignis just call him, but the almost naive way in which he said the rest made him laugh a lot, so he just shrugged it off and left.
That was literally his first interaction with Ignis’ twin.
Jkssks this idiot.
You cannot judge Gladio, the Scientia have the same bloody hairstyle and both wear glasses.
They’re like waterdrops, except Brother has a darker shade of green in the eyes and a different birthmark.
Gladio continued to live unaware that this was not Ignis.
One day, Ignis was very, very, as in absolutely v e r y sick.
Still, he insisted to go to the Citadel because “he has work to do”.
Brother smacked him.
“LISTEN HERE, I already knew the way you’re going stress would kill you in a year or two, but I can’t believe you want to fasten the process by also throwing yourself into the Stress Pit while agonizing.”
Ignis tried to insist he’s fine and kept it very, very clear he can’t miss work and someone has to do it.
Guess who’s going in his place.
Twin bro is the shit.
Twin bro is taking Ignis’ clothing and going to work in his place so Ignis doesn’t miss his work day but also gets to rest in bed.
It wasn’t in the plan to pretend being Ignis. He just happens to look the same.
Across the day, Bro waves back at “Hello, Ignis”s and “How are you, Ignis?”s and he doesn’t mind.
There’s a few who recognize he’s Brother (king Regis and Noctis, as well as Clarus and Cor), but the majority mistake him by Ignis.
He doesn’t mind nor is he correcting them.
Guess who happened to stumble upon him again.
“HEY, Iggy!! You’re looking good, yesterday you looked kind of bad, are you okay?”
“Oh. Well, Ignis is fine.”
Gladio’s laughing because “haha Ignis is refering to himself in third person.”
“I’m happy. Say, the other day, at my house. Thank you. The way the teacher puts it, it’s ridiculous, but you helped me understand very well, and today I got a 100% on the test.”
“Ah, I’m glad about it! :)”
“Yeah. You know, I used to think tutoring embarassing, but it’s very helpful. I know I’m not awful at school, but you make it a thousand times easier. You’re so smart, how does your head not explode? Nice sweater, by the way. Are these glasses new?”
“Oh? Ah, no. I’ve always had them.”
“Hm? I thought they were black, but I may just be an idiot. Do you want a candy? I saw Monica and she gave me a few.”
“Oh, that’d be nice! :)”
“Here you go. Do you like orange or strawberry better? Don’t tell me. Orange.”
“Hah, yeah :)”
“Nice. Also, did you know about Beric?”
“Who’s Beric?”
“Ahaha, Iggy, you’re extra funny today. Beric from school. Turns out he [blah blah blah]”
Gladio talked long and comfy with him having no idea this isn’t Ignis.
Brother has literally no idea what Gladio’s talking about.
He doesn’t mind, though.
Brother let him call him Ignis and talk with him as he pleased and never corrected him and just agreed or laughed even though he doesn’t understand what is going on.
That night, Brother told Ignis everything that Gladio told him.
“I think he thinks I’m you.”
“Hm…Gladio’s not as silly. He’s very perceptive. He’s got a very sharp eye and great intuition. I guess he must have noticed by now.”
Ignis’ expectations of Gladio are too high.
As time goes and by the time they’re 15 and from then on, sometimes brother goes to the Citadel to help.
Sometimes it’s to replace Ignis when he worries Ignis is stressing too much, sometimes both are around the place attending different duties.
Brother is in charge of minor ordering of archives, messenger activities, etc., while Ignis continues with his major ordering, Council and etc.
Even when both are at the same time at the Citadel Gladio still doesn’t notice there’s a Second Ignis.
The Scientia twins are coming and going everywhere all the time, so they’re barely ever together or in the same place.
So, Gladio only sees one.
“Woah. Iggy? I thought…I thought you were…ahaha, never mind. Good day! :)”
“Hey, Iggy! How did you get here so fast? I last saw you at the hallway of the throne room! Winged feet, huh? :)”
“Oh? They told me you were during Council meeting lessons! What are you doing here? :)”
“Lmao haha Ignis wtf you couldn’t have come here so fast.”
“Ignis, literally what the fuck, I just…around the corner and… *takes a look* *stares at Brother* *stares around* *stares at Brother* How the fuck.”
“Gladio, have you seen Noctis?”
“He’s at the training Hall :)”
“Thank you! *leaves*”
Gladio’s tying his shoelace and stands back up to find Ignis standing in front of him.
Gladio’s flinching and yelping in a jumpscare.
“Hi, Gladio. Excuse me, do you know where Noctis is?”
“Lmao, Ignis, wtf. I just literally told you he’s in the training hall.”
“What? Oh, right. Okay, thanks. *leaves*”
Gladio watches him leave, shakes the head and thinks he’s just hallucinating, so he turns around and goes, only to find Ignis coming from the other hallway a few seconds later.
“Ah, Gladio! I’m sorry, which way is the training hall?”
“IGNIS WHAT THE FUCK.”
“Did I upset you? :’(”
The Scientia twins have literally no idea they’re messing with Gladio.
Gladio still has no idea or clue Ignis has a twin.
Whenever Gladio happens to engage in conversation with Brother, he has no idea it’s Brother.
Literally, Gladio will stand or sit there with him and talk like this is Ignis and call him that.
Brother has long assumed and has it a hundred percent for sure that Gladio’s just kidding when he treats him like it’s Ignis.
He assumed that Gladio knows him and is aware that he’s Ignis’ twin, and both because he doesn’t know his name and because that’s his way of kidding about the whole situation, as if doing this on purpose in some way of laughing at himself for their first interaction, he just calls him Ignis.
Truth is Gladio really thinks he’s Ignis when they’re interacting.
When Gladio’s sixteen he starts growing feelings for Ignis.
He adores just staring at him instead of the chalkboard at school, he really likes his hair and his brain and his feelings and his heart and his eyes and everything about him.
It was eventual, but he figured he really adores the guy and has a crush on him.
“Besides, I feel…Iris, I feel I’m seeing him everywhere all the time. That must mean he’s got me bad.”
Hahahahahahaha, oh Gladio.
Gladio spent most part of his 15′s and part of his 16′s hiding the feelings because “They’re ridiculous, I’ll get over this” but lol nope, it only got worse, to the point he’s agonizingly, desperately, insufferably, profoundly and excruciatingly crushing on Ignis.
Can’t look at him without going red to the ears and entirely stupid.
This state, of course, makes it impossible for him to pay attention and notice there’s two Ignis.
The poor thing.
One day he couldn’t contain the feelings anymore and had to confess so he went straight towads Ignis.
Except that’s not Ignis.
ahahahsdioashdasiohaha this mess, I love it so much.
“Uhm…Ignis…can I talk with you for a moment? >////<”
“Sure, Gladiolus. What’s wrong?”
“I…I uhm…I was…I was wondering…I mean- no, it’s not- no-”
“:) ?”
It took Gladio veeeeeeery long to get anywhere.
“And I just want to say… >////////<”
Look at that sixteen year old Gladio. His undercut hairstyle, his still hairless face, so young and smol and inexpert and silly and shy, entirely red in the face and almost sweating from the nervousness, standing in front of Brother, who’s just all (・・ ) ? holding his clipboard and blinking up at Gladio.
“Listen. You are…you are…the most incredible person that I know. Ignis, I am- I want- I just want to say- you don’t need to pressure or feel engaged or guilty or anything, I just want to say- Ignis I’m- thing is…you are…the way you make me feel. It’s stupid and I’m getting tired of it, because I can’t sleep because I think too much and it’s always you in my head, and I can’t look at you without having brain death, I literally sometimes forget how to speak just because I saw you, and I can’t eat because it tickles so much inside I’d throw up, and I’m…what I what to say is…Ignis just don’t- I don’t- I am-….”
“ (・・ ) ? “
“…Ignis, I really really really really like you like you have no idea and I wanted to offer we go somewhere you’d like!” he bows to him, “I-I have no troubles if you say no!”
There’s a very long and dead silence.
Trembling 16 y.o. Gladio’s still in reverence in front of Brother who’s still all (・・ ) ?
“…I’m sorry. :’(”
“Why?”
“I…don’t know. I don’t mean to upset you. I just…really like you. And I would really like to go…to go…out? Sometime…someday…anywhere…just as long as…as it’s…with you?” Brother is impressed Gladio’s face has not exploded from how red it is. “Uhm…you don’t…have to say yes if you don’t wanna. Sorry, Ignis.”
There’s another long, dead silence and nobody’s moving.
“…oooooh…you’re- oooh, *gaSPS* GLADIO THAT WAS SO SWEEEEET!! ❤ ”
“Really? :D”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll love it!”
wat
Gladio’s now all (・・ ) ?
why is Ignis referring to himself in third person wtf.
He’s too scared of ruining things between them so he just rolls with it.
“Uhm…yeah?”
“Gladio, that was so sweet, I’m sure he will say yes, just wait and- omg I’ll tell him to go look for you tomorrow, this is so sweet, I had no idea you- *histerical contained giggle* YOU TELL HIM THIS EXACT SAME TOMORROW, it’s so sweet! You’ve got this, IT’LL TURN OUT FINE AND HE WILL SAY YES”
“…?? (・・ ) ??”
Gladio’s very puzzled and also a bit creeped out.
What just happened
Is that a yes
Brother broke out running because HE’S SO EXCITED OMG IGNIS WON’T BELIEVE THIS
Gladio’s just standing there staring into the void and frowning lightly and feeling so confused he feels lost because
wtf is Ignis doing
Was this his way of telling him “I need to think but I’ll tell you my answer tomorrow”?
“I’ll tell Ignis”.
Wtf.
Ignis
Ignis wtf r u doing
Gladio’s V E R Y confused.
Brother thought that Gladio was rehearsing.
Jjkdsjksdjsfsd THESE IDIOTS ｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡
Brother thought, once he understood what Gladio was asking, that Gladio had wanted to ask Ignis out for a while now, but has been way too shy and can’t gather the courage; as a solution, he thought about approaching Brother and pretend it was Ignis since the beginning, so while he knows this is not Ignis, he’s pretending he is and imagining this is the moment, so he can let it out and get rid of the shyness, so this is his rehearsal for the real thing.
Brother’s expectations of Gladio are too high, too.
The next day Gladio’s going around the Citadel when Ignis appears from a hallway a bit shy like
“Hi, Gladio. Uhm, Kaji told me you wanted to tell me something important, but he refused to tell me-”
“Wait wait wait. Who?”
“Kaji.”
“Ignis, listen, I don’t know what’s with you but you’ve been acting very weird. Listen, if it’s because of what I said yesterday, forget it, really. You don’t have to act like you’re mentally insane or something as crazy.”
“…excuse me?”
“If you just want to say no, say no, no need to invent madness or anything.”
“Gladio, what are you talking about? Kaji said-”
“Who the hell is Kaji?”
“Kaji. Kaji Scientia?”
“….who?”
“My brother?”
Dead silence again before Gladio’s shaking the head. He’s going all dry and cold on Ignis.
“Fantastic. Great. This is amazing. I thought you were better than this, Ignis. I’m very disappointed. I understand I’m not your type, but to invent a twin brother just to pretend it wasn’t you I was talking to yesterday? Wow. You, you really are incredible.”
“What?”
“Your sarcasm really knows no limits. How incredible of you.”
Ignis is about to reply, but he doesn’t get to say anything and he’s just frowning at Gladio with confusion when there’s a yell from behind the Shield.
“HEEEEY GUYS! Did he already tell you!? :D”
Gladio’s turning around.
Kaji Scientia walks towards them.
Gladio’s eyes grow so wide his eyeballs almost fall out their sockets, his jaw drops so low it almost touches his chest, and he’s turning to look at Ignis, back at brother, Ignis, brother, and continues until Kaji stands at his other side so Gladio’s standing between the Scientia Twins.
Kaji’s all naive smiles and Ignis is all sarcastic raise of an eyebrow.
It took a second.
The Citadel had never ever before witnessed a louder “WHAT THE FUCK” in all its history.
It takes literally twenty minutes before Gladio can calm enough just to listen and half comprehend.
“IGNIS YOU HAVE A BROTHER!?!?!!? IGNIS YOU HAVE A TWIIIIINNNNN!?!?!?!”
“I thought you knew!”
“YOU LET ME TALK TO YOU ALL THIS TIME LIKE YOU’RE IGNIS AND NEVER CORRECTED ME!?!!??!”
“I thought you knew!”
“I’VE SPENT AN ENTIRE YEAR WITH THE TWO OF YOU IN THE SAME PLACE AND I HAD NO IDEA!?!?!?”
“We thought you knew!”
It’s yet another half an hour before Gladio comprehends better and stops panicking.
“WAIT A- WAIT. WAIT, DOES THAT MEAN THAT-” he turns to look at Ignis. “WHAT I SAID YESTERDAY I SAID…” slowly turns to brother without making eye contact “…I-I….I-I said…to you…”
“It was ADORABLE, you have to repeat the same words to Ignis because hnngffgf.”
“Wait, what was adorable?”
“Gladio wants to conf-”
“NOTHING.”
“Kaji, what was the important thing you said-”
“NO-THING”
“Gladio’s too shy but he wants to ask you-”
“I SAID NOTHING.”
And that’s the story of how Gladio ended up wrestling with poor Kaji Scientia while Ignis smacked Gladio to force him to let go and Gladio’s confused the entire time because he’s fighting an Ignis while another Ignis fights him and how in the world.
Everybody’s making fun of him for the rest of his life.
“I am surprised you only noticed when you had both in front of you. I thought you were an Amicitia but you may as well have been adopted.”
“Dad >:’‘‘( “
“Hah, you didn’t notice before? Pscht, talk about brute.”
“NOCT >:(”
“*insert a Regis joke about this all*”
“…your Majesty :’‘(”
“What a poor eye. And you call yourself a Shield.”
“Cor, stop >:’(”
Tbh it took Gladio a while to stop feeling flustered whenever he interacts with neither of them.
He’s profoundly embarrassed for not having noticed, ofc, but he’s also personally embarrassed with Kaji for not knowing his name or proper existance, and he feels personally bad for Ignis because he doesn’t want Ignis to think he doesn’t care about his personal life, so not knowing something like the fact that he has a twin makes him ashamed of himself.
None of the brothers mind, and they’re both moved by the way Gladio takes this so personally.
“Omg he cares.”
“See, he’s a good choice, say Yes, Ignis.”
“Omg no, I can’t do that.”
“But why, don’t be shy.”
“What if I’m not what he expects?”
“OMg Ignis he’s literally dying for you, he expects nothing.”
“Hnfgnmf, Kaji I can’t.”
“But he’s such a good choice for you, don’t tell me you don’t like him.”
“Well ofc I do but-”
“His face, Ignis.”
“OMG I know he’s so handsome”
“His physic”
“Hnfgmnf yes”
“He cares”
“I KNOW”
“GO TELL HIM YES.”
Basically Kaji is the romance devil on Ignis’ shoulder who whispers to him ‘yes omg do that’ when Ignis doesn’t want to do a thing.
The twin brothers are gossiping on Gladio matters.
After the initial weeks of flustering whenever he sees any of the two, Gladio starts just laughing at the situation and rolling with it.
As time passes, he still confuses them, though.
The twins are now doing it on purpose.
Sometimes Gladio will go with one and talk with him like he’s the other, and he won’t say a thing and will see how long Gladio takes to notice he’s talking to the brother of who he thinks he’s talking to.
“Wait, you’re not Ignis.”
“Ten minutes, two seconds.”
“Why are you writing that?”
“Ignis and I are taking note of how long you take to notice you’re talking with the wrong twin.”
“Wat”
His record is five minutes forty nine seconds.
The twins literally have a list for that.
The only moments the twins break the fun is whenever Gladio wants to get affectionate (if it’s Kaji).
I forgot, ofc Ignis said yes and now they’re dating, how lovely.
So, you know, sometimes Gladio mistakes Kaji by Ignis so he’ll be chilling and talking with him, and sometimes he’ll try to grab his face and smooch, but brother always yelps out like a pterodactyl and shoves Gladio off him.
“GROSS”
“Wha- WAIT YOU’RE NOT IGNIS.”
Kaji’s ace, btw, so no troubles there.
You can understand it’s sometimes super startling for Gladio because he has for sure this is Ignis so
“Haha, aw Iggy. You really have no idea how much I love you…”
“Eeeewwww.”
“…well aren’t you the most affection- WAIT YOU’RE NOT IGNIS”
“Twenty minutes three seconds.”
“Come ‘ere, you idiot! *bear hugs and tries to kiss his face*”
“EWWWWWWWWWWWWW AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! S O M E B O D Y H E L P M EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”
“YOU’RE NOT IGNIS!”
“You’re so cute, Iggy. Come here, you moogle nose, adorable creature, sweet angel, my dearest heart, piece of my soul, part of-”
“UUUUUUGGGGH I AM DISGUSTED.”
“Wow, okay, no need to- *GASPS* YOU’RE NOT IGNIS, DAMMIT”
“Forty minutes, fifty three seconds.”
Ignis plays, too.
“So the other day I was telling him ‘So how do you expect me to know when you’re lying? You were raised a strategist, you’re too good keeping secrets but it’s not always a good thing’, you know”
“Uh huh”
“So I was like, ‘you shouldn’t be keeping things like that from me, you know I’m your boyfriend and your friend’
“Uh huh”
“And he was like all sass and class like ‘it’s not like I make any harm’ you know”
“Uh huh.”
“And then I was- ………….”
“……”
“WAIT YOU’RE NOT KAJI”
“Nineteen minutes, thirty four seconds. Also, your impression of my voice is pretty…unique.”
“So I was like ‘mother of Shiva, Noctis, you can’t do that’ but he was like ‘Eh’”
“Ah hah.”
“And the little shit almost convinces me to go to the arcade and skip training.”
“Oooh.”
“Yeah and I was like “Omg Ignis is going to be so angry at me.”
“Uh huh.”
“And it took a moment and I almost surrender but I didn’t give in to that.”
“Nice.”
“Yeah. Just don’t tell Ignis, the mere idea that I considered it will make him angry at me.”
“…..”
“….”
“….”
“….wait yOU’RE NOT KAJI.”
There was this once, omg read it
Gladio thinks he’s with Ignis and he’s ‘made sure’ according to himself, so they’re alone at the training hall and they’re a bit older and hormones are a bit crazy, okay
So some innocent smooching ended up heating up until he was making out with Ignis, and until he had the guy pressed to the wall.
And Ignis is gently biting at his lips and their tongues are a mess, and Ignis may or not have hooked a leg with Gladio’s and Astrals above the kiss is so good.
And then when they break apart it’s just for air and Gladio has the forehead resting on Ignis’ and Ignis then caresses his face and looks at him with dark eyes and some lust and then he says in almost a pur
“I’ve always had this fantasy and temptation. Always.”
“Really?”
“I’m so glad you’re giving in to it, too” so the brown haired in his arms and against the wall hugs him closer to whisper at his ear “Let’s just not tell Ignis. Okay?”
Gladio swears his heart stopped for five minutes.
Needless to say, he immediately broke apart, stared at whoever he’s holding, eyes wide and face pale, and he’s not even able to talk, he just mouths “…really?”, before the other guy gives him a little dark giggle.
Gladio fucking shoved him off himself.
“…you’re not Ignis.”
And another of those playful smiles.
He stepped away pretty roughly and only stared long and long and long before he could say or do anything.
“Kaji. Listen. This should have never…I didn’t- I don’t mean to-. Whatever you thought-…how could you do this? Pretend to be your brother, and then do this to me? And worse, you dare do this to him? Kaji, I don’t feel towards you like I feel towards him and I will never do. He’s…my only one. You look the same, but you’re not the same. So if you thought for a second that I’ve ever wanted…”
Kaji’s looking at him with teary eyes and a moved expression.
Gladio at first took it by sadness and he continued to lecture and nag him and it lasted about five entire minutes before he got an unexpected reaction.
Kaji started smiling.
It was very very clear he’s trying to contain it and he only looks at Gladio and he doesn’t seem ashamed or anything, just very very very amused and trying not to burst into laughter.
And then Gladio catches it.
“….wait…you’re-you’re…”
Scientia burst into laughter.
“Ignis! >:(”
“I’m so sorry, Gladio, dear, ahahahaha!!”
Gladio has the most perfect (ಠ ヘ ಠ) face that has ever existed.
Gladio was (`ヘ´) all the rest of that day.
Ignis had to feed him Noodles so he could talk to him again and stop being all moody.
Tbh Ignis was particularly and especially cuddly and clingy with him for the following days/weeks, so #WorthIt.
“You care (´︶`)♡”
“You know, you could have put me to test some other way, now I can’t look at your brother without feeling odd. Thank you for the trauma.”
Ignis regrets nothing.
Him and Kaji have had some good laughs about it.
Back to Gladio sometimes mistaking Kaji for Ignis and trying to be loving with him and Kaji screeching like a pterodatyl:
Every time this happens, Gladio gets super flustered.
He really doesn’t mean to mistake them, it just happens.
So he gets super flustered and embarrassed when he gets affectionate with brother.
He’ll burn red in the face like when he was sixteen, will lower the head, avoid eye contact, and be an apologizing mess.
Gladio never feels more embarrassed than in those moments.
He feels super bad and exalted.
This is Ignis’ damn own brother and Gladio almost smooches his nose, omg, earth please swallow me I cannot cope with the shame I am terrible
It’s already bad to have Kaji walking on in them cuddling
Ofc Gladio gets super mega incredibly flustered when he mistakes him for Ignis.
Gladio had no idea those levels of embarassment are possible.
They’re so big they stalk him whenever he thinks about any of those moments.
At least Kaji takes it the fun way and screeches.
Sometimes the Scientia twins like to go full fake drama on him if it happens that Ignis walked on in Gladio mistaking Kaji for him.
“*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH*”
“OMG YOU’RE NOT IGNIS”
Ignis, from the door: “*GASPS* Gladiolus!! You’re cheating on me!!”
“IGNIS! NO, I’M- *sigh* Omg please no don’t do this to me again”
“And with my own brother! :’‘(”
“Ignis, he’s forcing me!! :’‘‘(”
“Oh no! The misery! You cheat on me with my own brother and you’re forcing him into this!”
“Guys, this has never been funny >:’(”
“Oh Ignis. Brother of my blood. I cannot look at you anymore.”
“Oh, brother of my soul, do not talk like that. It was not your fault.”
“Oh, brother of my heart-”
“GUYS >:’‘(”
“- please *unnecessarily super mega dramatic* forgive me.”
“I forgive thee, brother.”
“Oooh, Ignis. You merciful soul *hugs his knees*”
“COME ON THIS IS GETTING OLD”
“Brother, shall we go and comfort each other and leave this heretic to his own luck?”
“Yes, we shall. Give me your arm.”
“Guys, please”
And that’s how the Scientia twins leave for an ice cream leaving Gladio behind just for fun.
How has Gladio not gone mad
“Excuse me, Iggy-”
“Not Iggy.”
“Sorry, Kaji. Uhm, Iggy- wait you’re Kaji.”
“Try again.”
“…so…Ignis? I- wait no, Kaj- no, wait I am confused.”
This is usual.
“Ig-”
“Not Ignis.”
“Sorry. *is about to leave* Wait. Are you sure you’re not Ignis trying fool me to think you’re not Ignis just because you’re busy?”
“You’ve got me. I’m Ignis.”
“…wait are you Kaji covering your brother?”
“*sigh* You’ve got me again. It’s Kaji here.”
“…wait.”
This is super usual.
Sometimes Kaji helps in their relationship.
He’s Ignis’ confidant, so Ignis tends to tell him most of his stuff he doesn’t talk to others.
Stuff from his relationship with Gladio, for example.
Kaji knows both mean only good for each other and that Gladio’s a good guy, but he’s also aware misunderstandings and accidents happen.
He’s also very painfully aware of how much Ignis can ignore himself or think himself obstacle or a bother, so brother understands sometimes Ignis doesn’t open up to Gladio in matters that he should and only tells Kaji.
Guess who can’t keep the mouth shut.
Kaji wants their relationship to work out bc of how aware he is that these two are sincere with each other, so he assumes it’s fine to sometimes give a hand into it.
This one day, Gladio’s going around and Ignis approaches him, looking a bit embarrassed/upset.
“Uhm…Gladio…I uhm…here.”
He’ll just hand a folded paper and leave.
The note contains a polite message from Ignis saying something like ‘It’s all okay, but I didn’t like your comment about (X) last night. It made me feel a little sad. Sorry I tell you via this. I’m not upset, I only wanted to let you know. - Your Iggy’.
Did I mention Kaji has mastered how to fake Ignis’ handwriting and that that was not Ignis?
Gladio’s usually going to look for Ignis, apologize, and hug him.
Ignis has literally no idea it’s Kaji’s doing.
This is usual.
It doesn’t really matter; things get solved and his relationship with Gladio improves.
And the best part is that this eventually gives Ignis the confidence so he himself opens up to Gladio later in the future.
Best brother award goes to Twin Brother.
After entire years dealing with the Scientia twins messing with him both accidentally and on purpose, there’s a point where Gladio hits the limits that are past his limits and he can’t deal with this anymore.
“YOU TWO DO SOMETHING, YOU’RE TWENTY AND STILL LOOK THE SAME, OMFG, CHANGE STYLES, NE OF YOU BECOME GOTH OR SOMETHING, OR CUT YOUR HAIR, OR WEAR LENSES, OR SOMETHING, YOU CANNOT BE TWENTY AND STILL BE IDENTICAL FFS.”
“You’re right. It’s supposed that once we hit adulthood we’re supposed to shift and transform and look entirely different from our TWIN BROTHER.”
“Do not sass me, Ignis >:(”
“I am not Ignis.”
“DO NOT SASS ME, KAJI.”
“No, I am Kaji, he tricked you.”
“THAT’S IT, I’M DONE.”
Gladio’s grabbing the first one he reaches and starts messing with him.
Thing is this Scientia’s offering fight, so they end up wrestling and the event repeats itself and Gladio ends up wrestling one while the other smacks him, except this time he has no idea who is who.
Gladio didn’t reach to hurt, he aimed to mess with the hair.
“Ew Gladiolus what are you doing!? Let go of me, no, no!! What are y- eewww, why saliva!! Stop it this instant, I’m going to- kfgjnf, no!! What are you doing to my hair, stop!!”
And that’s the story of how Gladio invented Ignis’ sticking-upwards hairstyle.
This is the only way he can difference the Scientia twins from afar, understand him.
….sometimes the twins exchange hairstyles during a day.
You know what’s also very usual?
“Not that I complain or anything, Gladio, but all this talk on what you’re planning to get Ignis for his birthday makes me feel a little left out. You forgot mine.”
“*GASPS* NO WAY, KAJI, ARE YOU SERIOUS!? When was it!?”
“You don’t remember? ;(”
“Kaji, no, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I forgot, I’m-”
“….”
“…”
“…”
“You goddamn idiot, your birthday is the same fucking day.”
Kaji likes to make a drama out of what Gladio gifts him on their birthday.
“Of course. Ignis’ is better.”
“Of course not, just the thematic is different.”
“OF COURSE. Who says I don’t want a gift like that?”
“Kaji, he’s my boyfriend, I can’t gift you the same things.”
“Yes of course, because nobody loves poor Kaji.”
“Kaji you’re asexual.”
“Leave me alone to die out of loneliness and isolation.”
Just as a side note, imagine Scientia twins musical duo
I THINK I’M BREATHING FOR THESE BROTHERS I’m loving the visuals omfg.
Gladio likes but also hates when both brothers pamper him just to mess with him.
Like he has Ignis kissing his face and Kaji stroking his hair.
He has Ignis playfully biting at his ear and Kaji massaging his hand.
He has Ignis hugged to a side and Kaji to the other. Well, they are hugging him.
He has Ignis piggy-back style and Kaji’s clinging from his leg.
Ignis is smooching his face and he’s got Kaji koala-hugged to his back.
Too much love.
They’re identical.
Stop.
Romantically, Gladio loves only Ignis.
Visually, the gods damn, he has a pleasure buffet when he sees the Scientia twins together.
Kaji trained for Crownsguard too, so while not acrobatic like Ignis, he’s got the same body, basically.
Kaji’s identical to his boyfriend, were you expecting for Gladio to not like him at least visually?
Omfg how dare are these brothers so attractive.
You know the kind of impossible fantasies people have, as in, the one fantasy (in any sense) that they know impossible so it’s not a goal? Only just that, an impossible fantasy? As in something very wild they know they won’t look for, just fantasize about?
Gladio’s is, but of course, having these two for threesome.
Again, that’s only in his mental archives of Impossible Fantasies, not a goal and certainly not something he’ll die without.
Still, imagine the possibilities.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Maybe they Scientia agree.
I wanted to do Sister too, but I gave all my imagination to Brother so currently I don’t have things for Sis :(
But I have to point this out:
Gladio’s very, very, v e r y flustered about Ignis’ twin sister because
“This is what Ignis looks like. WITH BOOBS.”
You can tell Gladio’s constantly avoiding her because he turns red and all idiot and fights not to stare at her boobs.
It’s not her boobs, it’s not them why he’s staring.
It’s the idea of “this is what Ignis looks like boobiefied” what has him staring.
But ofc he can’t explain that to Twin Sister. But also can’t lie with “I like your boobs”.
I mean he likes them.
But it’s not that why he’s-
See, this is the kind of mess Gladio’s trying to avoid.
…Gladio may or may not have the same impossible fantasy here.
Do not judge me, have you looked at the Scientia twins!?!? Geez.
Hahaha, imagine Sis cuts her hair short.
So she looks even more like Iggy now.
“THIS IS WHAT IGNIS LOOKS LIKE WITH BOOBS.”
Why is Gadio thinking so much about that, anyway
This was so much fun to write, you literally don’t have an idea how much I enjoyed it, ahahah, aaaaaaaaaaah!!! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS GOLDEN ENTRY, I’m loving all the visuals and I hope you did so too! o(≧▽≦)o
PS: ‘Kaji’ means Fire in japanese, or so said the internet. :)
Edit: Look at these two arts for the Scientia twins! Here & here!
How about Fluff #5 "Are you warm enough?" for Gladio and Isla OR Fluff #21 I made you some breakfast." for Cullen and Nevena? I hope one of them is of some sort of help. I know you can beat the block!
Hmmm….
Set during the game, pre-time skip. Established relationship. Gladio sneezes so much in the game. Boy has allergies. I can relate.
“Are you warm enough? You’ve been sneezing all day!”
Gladio peered through watery, stinging eyes at the concern on Isla’s face from where she sat across from him. Squeezing his eyes closed for a minute, trying to push the irritation away he nodded in silence, biting back yet another sneeze.
“Al… aller…allergiesahchoo–” he covered his nose and mouth just in time but was unable to bite back the growl of annoyance while he rubbed his face in his palms. The moment his hands touched his eyes there was a respite from the stinging, pricking pain. Before he knew it, he was rolling the heels of his hands against his eye sockets, groaning a little. In the long run, it would make everything worse, but for those brief moments, it was heaven not to feel the needling pain.
“Stop that,” Isla chided gently. When Gladio removed his hands, he saw she was nearer to him. They sat a small distance away from the rest of the group, out from under anyone’s feet. Ignis was busy cooking, with Prompto hovering nearby, while Noctis looked half asleep in his chair. No one was paying any mind to them. “Have you taken anything?”
“Ugh,” Gladio pinched his nose, trying to squeeze his sinuses where they were pushing against the front of his face. “Some standard allergy meds. Doesn’t do much. Need to stock up on the tough stuff.” He cleared his throat against the scratchiness he felt as he spoke. “Sorry, this is pretty pathetic.”
“Oh, babe,” Isla chuckled softly reaching over and squeezing his knee, “it’s kind of cute.”
He lifted both brows, treating her to what he hoped was a look of disbelief - though he couldn’t be sure. Half his face felt numb from the pain of sneezing. “Being a snot machine is cute?”
She laughed louder, attracting Prompto’s attention. “Not when you put it that way!” Her fingers tightened on his knee. “But, it’s nice to know you’re not so indestructible.” She poked the end of his reddened nose, “you’re pretty intimidating sometimes, or weren’t you aware?”
Gladio batted her hand away, covering his mouth and averting his head as another series of sneezes came over him, shaking his whole body and causing his already tired muscles to complain. When it was over, Isla was gone - talking animatedly with Ignis and Prompto was standing close by, camera in hand.
“You better not have any pictures of me like this on there,” Gladio growled out, wiping his hands on his trousers. They were due to stop in Lestallum soon, he would get them washed there.
“Heh,” Prompto’s automatic grin slipped into view, “I have a few. But, if you want me to delete them it’s no big. Taking photos of you and Isla is way more interesting anyway.”
“I don’t wanna know.” In any normal circumstance, Gladio would have been curious to see the photos Prompto was baiting him with, but right now he was tired and feeling sorry for himself.
“You’re different with her, y’know?” continued Prompto, swaying from side to side while keeping his eyes focused on his camera in his hands. “Just… I dunno, she’s brings out a nicer side of you.”
“Is now really the time to have this conversation?” Gladio sniffed, peering towards Prompto blearily.
“You bet! You’d grab me in a headlock if I tried to talk to you like this any other time.” Prompto bounced when he moved, always on edge, ready to dodge if need be. “Having it now means if you go for me, I can run away before you’re on your feet!”
“Have fun with the daemons.” Gladio snorted. He lay back on the ground, covering his face with his arm and tucking his other arm behind his head. Applying the weight and pressure of his arm against his nose helped somewhat, at least it did for a few seconds until everything started to feel bunged up again.
He felt a hand on his arm, shoving it away from his face and grumbled in protest. “Prompto quit it!” He swung lamely and without aim, his arm going a foot wide passed Isla’s head. “Shit, sorry! I thought you were–”
“Prompto, I know.” Isla teased him with a smile. “Here.” She shifted, to sit behind him and guided him to place his head in her lap. Gladio adjusted his upper body for comfort. When he was settled, he saw Isla holding a damp piece of cloth above his face.
“What is that?”
“A cold, wet cloth. It won’t make the allergies go away, but it should open up your airways, and calm some of the irritation down.” She explained, “a little bit at least.”
“Won’t work.”
“Babe,” she huffed down at him. “Humor me.”
With a deep, resigned sigh, Gladio shrugged his shoulders as best he could and closed his eyes, signally she might as well try. He felt the cloth, cool on his wet skin, and within moments the urge to scratch and rub receded a little. Gladio realised Isla was combing her fingers back through his hair.
“That’s a good look, Gladio!” Prompto crowed, his voice followed by the familiar ‘click’ of his camera shutter.
“I’ll get you for that later, Prompto!” Gladio replied, shouting in the vague direction he thought he was in. “Don’t let me fall asleep, okay?” He directed his words towards Isla. “I’ll wake up with dicks drawn on my face otherwise.”
“Don’t you worry,” she chuckled, and then he felt her lips brushing his sweaty brow. “I wouldn’t let anyone else but me draw dicks on your face.”
Gladio and the allergies i’m almost certain he has. poor thing. these shorts are nice. considering i haven’t written for what feels like months. they’re nice little bursts. maybe i can do some work on what i’m meant to be working on in the morning.
Send me ‘✂’ and my muse will kill yours. Right now. Brutally, horribly, bloody. Just do it.
They both knew that it was coming, but Cor knew that Gladio did not want to die like this, sitting in a crude hospital, watching the nurse drain black infection out of his side. Nobody who was infected could be cured. The oracle had taken that one last gift with her. The doctor from Altissia has a thick accent, but he makes it very clear.
“We can’t do anymore.”
So Cor takes Gladio home. He tries to convince them that he’s gotten better, but he knows the truth, and Gladio knows it too. He’s not home because he’s better. He’s home, because this might be the last time he gets to.
Cor listens to him wheezing, sees the tube the nurse had put under where Gladio’s lung is punctured, thick syrup-like black is draining into a bowl on the floor beside his bed. Cor sits by the window, watching. He hopes Gladio will die, now suddenly, randomly, swiftly and painlessly as possible, and it will be taken well and nobody has to hurt anymore. But death is already a luxury they can’t afford, and it comes only through suffering. They know what they have to do.
“You have to walk.” Cor spoke, low and quiet. “You want to do this you have to walk.”
“…I know…” He wheezes, unable to speak properly. “Are you… keepin up your deal?”
“I will.” Cor replied. “If you can walk. If you can not look sick, if you can get out of the house without your heart hammering so hard you feel like you’ll pass out… then I will.”
Gladio shuts his eyes, and squeezes them tight, brow furrowing, hand slowly coming out from under the blanket to touch the tube in his side. “I’ll try…”
“Go to sleep.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Just go to sleep.”
Gladio nods. His eyes are still shut tight. Cor can see greyish tears running down his face.
“Thank you.”
Cor nods, and shuts the door behind him.
He can’t do it. Cor is almost sure of it. Yet Gladio somehow manages to get out of bed one day, only to collapse on the floor, crumpled up. He looks hollow inside. His eyes have bags because even bedridden Gladio can’t sleep. He needs to do something, and there’s nothing that would find him worth their time.
Iris cleans the bed, and changes the bandages and the drain and empties out the bowls in a safe place, and Talcott brings Gladio food, and both of them help Gladio out of bed to get to the bathroom, and he cries himself to sleep because he feels guilty, because someone whose whole life is made to shield someone else cannot devolve to being cared for. It never should’ve come to this.
On good days, Gladio can get out of bed, get a cup of water, or something from the kitchen, lean on the countertops, and hobble back to bed, having to lean on the walls to ease the pain he feels in every step he takes.
“Cor… soon…” Gladio is urgent as Cor visits him, and Iris and Talcott take note of the fact that Gladio doesn’t want anyone in the room when they speak… so they have constantly stood by the door, and Cor can see the shadows of their feet, and hear the sound of a cup pressed tot he wood.
“You want to see the world?” That had become the code.
“Tomorrow.”
“There’s not much left of the world to see…” Cor looked to the door, seeing feet shuffling. “Can you make it to the car?”
“I can.”
“If you can’t?”
“Then leave me to die in the parking lot.”
“Gladio.”
The shield says nothing for a long while.
“Tomorrow.” Gladio told him. “Please.”
The night, and all of next morning consists of Iris and Talcott and Prompto and Ignis all wondering what Gladio is talking about. And Cor explains. Gladio wants to see the world before he dies. They grow quiet when Cor so blatantly says ‘before he dies’ because they didn’t want to think about it. Talcott is very adamant they shouldn’t. Iris tells Cor that Gladio can get better, that he will get better, he’s an Amicitia. And knowing those are the regurgitated words of her father he doesn’t reply. Prompto tries to help, suggest he take photos and bring them to Gladio. Ignis just weighs the options, but he seems to be thinking a lot, and not speaking, and Cor has a feeling he’s on to them.
It doesn’t matter. The next ‘morning’ Gladio is in the bathroom, by himself, trying to wash his hair, and he sinks down onto the seat they have in the shower, and he’s panting, gasping for air, he’s so out of breath, and his heart is beating so hard it’ll leap out of his chest. The thin lights of Lestallum are faced into the city, to denote that it is ‘morning’ and the lights will get harsher in the ‘afternoon’ and they will fade in the ‘evening’ and face outside the city at ‘night’. That had become the rhythm the town was used to.
Iris helps Gladio dress. He wants something nice. His Crownsguard uniform. It’s a task all in itself to slide on his own pants, then Iris helps him put the shirt on. He already wants to lay down and rest, it has exhausted him, but he cannot. He puts the chain on, but his hand is trembling so hard Iris must clip it for him. His hair is dripping wet still.
“Gladdy.” She whispered to him while Cor is watching, because everyone has gotten antsy around Cor. “Please…” She knows she can’t convince him not to go. “At least take your cane.” She gestured to the wooden cane Gladio had used to get around the house.
“No.” Gladio huffed. “I feel like an old man with that thing.”
“You are an old man.” Iris returned.
Gladio smiled. He tried to sigh, and not looked tired out. “It’ll just be a little ride around Lucis… Cor’s a good driver… I don’t need a cane. I’ll get to the car and we’ll go.”
“I can’t come with you? Are you sure?”
“Iris.” Cor cuts in. “He wants to be alone. I’m just there to drive him. This is just for him.”
“It’s like you said, the world is hell now, what’s left to even see out there?”
“Iris… please.” Gladio huffed.
She looked between them. “I’m still walking you to the car.”
So she did. She was urging Gladio not to go. He barely made it out the door, and had to lean on the railing. They made it down only a couple sets of stairs, and he sank to the ground and she followed her brother there, cupping his face and his wet hair and telling him to stop forcing himself. And Gladio looks so pained, but he still pushes her away. He has to gather himself. He stands up, and he starts to slowly limp out. She follows behind.
“There’s more pipes and drains and a bowl in the backseat.” She tells him. It’s about half an hour later that they reach the car.
“I know.” Gladio is panting, wheezing, but he collects himself, clutching his side because it stings worse than ever before.
“Please, take it easy.” Iris told him, clutching the car door so tightly.
“I will.” Gladio replied.
“See you later.”
A long pause.
“Yeah…” Cor answers for him, and Gladio shuts his eyes when the car starts, because he doesn’t want to see his sister as they drive off.
They drive. Gladio leans on the car door for a bit, but the pain is too much, and he reclines the seat back a bit until he’s eye level with the bottom of the window. They put the top down, and the wind howls through the car, and Gladio feels it in his hair, and in his wound as well. He wheezes. That’s the sound Cor hears for the most part. Wind howling, and Gladio’s slow harsh breath.
They pass the Disc of Cauthess, and drive, and Gladio is looking up, up into the Pleiades, and sees them, parting from the sky which is so dark with soot, but sometimes the sky opens up, and people can catch a glimpse of how the stars used to look. He looks, and sees the stars, and sees there are so many and he wonders how he ever got to live in a world where it was always there for him to see, and how he did not cherish it enough, and how he lost it… and how he would never see it again.
Cor assumes they might not go through with their plan, but a long drive out of Duscae, they’re around the Three Valleys, close to Hammerhead, and Gladio is still staring at the sky and he says “Here. This spot. This is good.”
Cor doesn’t ask. He slows down, and eases to a stop, quietly he turns off the road and into the dusty Leide desert. The sky out here is open tonight, and Cor can see stars, and it mingles with the soot, black and deep blue. He unbuckled the seatbelt, and gets out of the car. He gets on Gladio’s side, and helps pull him out.
“I can’t bring you back.”
“Nobody can.” Gladio replied.
“I mean your body. I can’t bring it back.”
“What do you mean?”
“If I tell them you turned on me, you would turn into that–” Cor points at the gaping wound dripping black out of Gladio’s side. “Like any other daemon. You’d just turn into that. Into sludge and blood.”
“So you’d leave me here?”
“I’d have to.”
Gladio blinks, he nods his head. “Okay.” He doesn’t sound scared, just sad. He pulls off his dogtags, and offers them to Cor. “Take this at least.”
“No. Afterwards. I’ll take them. Let them get scuffed up in the fight.”
“Right.” Gladio mumbled.
It’s embarrassing, but Gladio knows the truth. He hasn’t summoned his sword in months now, and he can’t hold it. He’s so weak, he feels himself, frail and starting to fall apart, and he hates every moment. He summons the greatsword, bracing, and it clatters to the ground, and Gladio follows it to the ground, and he feels his wound tear – and he cries out. “Fuck.”
Cor just watches. It’s pathetic. He can’t turn his eyes away and he wants to so badly. Gladio can’t even lift the handle high enough off the ground for him to get a good grip around it. So he’s uselessly scrounging around on the sand until finally he starts digging… and the sand is too hard, and it’s too much work to even dig, and Gladio is panting.
“Will you bury me here?” Gladio huffed.
“I can’t very well leave your body out like that. Someone will see.”
“You prepared to do that?”
Cor gestured to the car. “There’s a sheet and a shovel in the trunk… and some flowers.” He admits, he cut some of the plants in his house… just for the occasion. He had brought a few flower bulbs from Iris’s garden too, but he never let Gladio see any of this.
“Cor… please just do it.” Gladio huffed. “I can’t fucking take this.”
“We made a deal. You uphold it. You know how this is supposed to go.”
“I can’t…”
“You can’t what?”
“I can’t do it…” Gladio hits his fist into the ground. “I can’t– fuck, I can’t fucking…”
“Stop. Don’t cry. You’ll tire yourself out if you cry, and your nose will get clogged and it’ll get harder to breathe. Don’t cry.”
Gladio wheezed. He’s shuddering. He tries not to cry. For a long while he knelt there, clutching at his sword’s handle.
“Get up.” Cor told him.
“I can’t pick it up.”
Cor feels a sinking feeling in his stomach.
“I know. Get up.”
“We have to do this.”
“I know. Now get up.”
“I can’t keep living like this.”
“Gladio, get up.”
The shield sits there, he puts his hand on the sand, but he’s worried he cannot push himself up. He gets off one knee, and then pushes, and quickly puts his foot under himself, and somehow, he manages to stand up.
Gladio feels all the stars in the sky are behind his eyes now, he’s so dizzy. The sword fades, and Gladio summons it again, and lets it go blade first into the ground, and Gladio leans on it, feeling the engraving, the chips and dullness, and knows it has served him well, and he will use it one final time.
“Good Gladio…” Cor tells him. “Go. Come on. You remember warp summoning… strike me with it. You don’t even have to hold it tight… just swing down.”
Gladio phases out, a streak of red light remains for a second, and Cor sees a greatsword coming over him, and Gladio at the other end, like he is falling through the sky, and Cor covers his face with his arms and doesn’t do anything more than that.
It’s like a sword falling on him, if it wasn’t so heavy, it wouldn’t have done any damage, because Gladio just dropped it. There’s a large cut on his left and right arm now. Cor huffed. “Good. You did it.” Gladio is wobbling, he’s panting, shaking.
“Please…” Cor doesn’t realize until he speaks that Gladio is crying again. “Please… isn’t that enough… just do it, I can’t…. I can’t do this…”
“I’m scared.” Gladio’s voice just sounds so harsh, and it aches Cor, because he has never said it in his whole life, Gladio had never said something like that, has never admitted it before.
“You don’t have to want this, Gladio. I know deep down inside you don’t.” Cor whispered. “You don’t have to like this. You don’t have to want to do it… but don’t be scared. I’ll be with you. The whole time. I’ll be right here. So don’t be scared.” Cor speaks with more conviction that he has ever spoken before, and Gladio senses that. He wipes his eyes, gathers his strength and his breath, and he fights.
It’s not a fight. Nobody would call it that. Cor will. He’ll retell them how Gladio scarred him, and how he died strong, and put up the worst fight he’d ever seen, a fight big enough to have the Immortal himself stumble away limping.
Yet it’s just the two of them, standing in front of the headlights of the car, the light blinding them, while Gladio just drops his sword on Cor, and Cor would hit back, but then Gladio would be too weak to fight. So Cor is scarred all over his arms and his foot is crushed by the weight of the sword, and Gladio is panting and gasping… and he can’t even speak to Cor when he dies.
Cor slashes him a bit, makes sure the dogtags are charred, and cut, and Cor delivers them to a crying Iris. He slashes one of the tires, and cracks open a headlight to make it look like Gladio turned while he was sitting in the car, like Cor could not control him.
It was a wild and vicious fight, and Cor doesn’t tell them anything of how pathetic Gladio looked when he cried, and how peaceful he looked when he finally died. They grieve, and grieve, and Cor has to console them, and explain what has happened over and over, and he knows that this would happen, he was willing. Iris carries her brother’s bent and charred dogtags with her, always. Cor takes the greatsword, and they decide to retire it, and make a small cenotaph for Gladio in Lestallum’s graveyard, melting the metal from the sword to make the plaque with his name, and all the loving things Iris and the others can say for him is written into it.
In the desert, near Three Valleys, a patch of Gladiolus flowers begins to grow.
My partner in sin and I found ourselves wondering what the guys would be like as gamers, so I decided to give it a shot and write my first HC! (My apologies if it’s not very good, I hit a roadblock with it so many times!)
Devised by AsukaSin
The boys use video games in their own different ways.
Noctis is the achievement hunter.
He will often buy games based on how many it has and how easy they are to do.
He’s a well known couch potato and will often find the easiest way to get them without putting too much effort in.
His skill is above average due to playing lots of different games throughout his youth.
Enjoys third person shooters the most but will often play first person shooters online with Prompto.
Owns a microphone but only ever uses it in private party chats with Prompto.
Gladio is the button masher.
He’s a technological n00b.
He often has no idea what he’s doing, but will try to join in the fun whenever Prompto or Noct ask him to play.
Much prefers to play King’s Knight.
The only electronic game he’s good at.
Will often coax the others to playing good old card games with him instead.
Guess you can say he’s old-fashioned.
Prompto is the rage quitter.
Yup.
He will abuse your ear holes into oblivion if you piss him off. No joke.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to calm him down when he’s playing online. Noct often tries but is met by a wall of rage.
Futile attempts are futile.
It’s a good thing he only uses his microphone in parties with Noct cause oh boy, he’d have to make an endless amount of new profiles so he could play.
He loves first person shooters the most, but will play other games with Noct whenever he wants.
Ignis is the calm one that uses video games to unwind.
Most of the time.
Will often find himself playing casual games.
Unless he’s had a bad day.
Oh man.
He becomes just as bad as (if not worse than) Prompto when he’s angry.
Difference is Iggy doesn’t speak over the microphone.
He believes in being more cautious than Noct to hide his identity.
Forever cautious.
He’s spoke to Noct about it before.
In one ear…
Forever Momnis. ♥
All four of them have a whale of a time playing together.
They will play competitive games.
Prompto’s favourite is Dance Party 3.
(I know).
He coaxes Noct into dancing with him.
He hates it at first, but soon winds down and enjoys it just as much as the hyper blonde.
Gladio tried once.
And only once.
He was barred from joining in again after nearly destroying Noct’s living room.
Oh, how sad he was…
Ignis just flat out refuses to dance.
But the others are determined to get him drunk enough one night to get him to do it.
