Prompt 8 was: Forget it. You fucking suck. (with a request for Gladnis, and that is one request I will never deny!)
Hope you enjoy this, Nix. :)
“Forget it. You fucking suck.”
Gladio’s jaw dropped in shock at hearing such blunt words cascade from his lover’s mouth, wrapped in scorn and hurled with the same precision with which he slung his daggers. Gladio didn’t have much of a chance to react to those harsh statements, however, since Ignis immediately turned and stormed out of their apartment, slamming the door behind him with enough force it rattled the pictures in their frames.
He knew he should give Ignis time to calm down. It wasn’t often his boyfriend lost his temper, but every man had his breaking point, and apparently Gladio had found Iggy’s. All he’d wanted was to do something nice for his partner, and his efforts had backfired most spectacularly. Fan-fucking-tastic.
With a guilty look around the kitchen he had completely destroyed in his mission to give Ignis a break from cooking, he sighed. Time to get to work.
Two hours later, the room was restored to the immaculate standards of Ignis “If you can’t take the heat, stay bloody well out of my kitchen” Scientia, and Gladio was fucking wiped.
He swore a solemn vow to any of the Six that might be listening that he’d never, ever interfere in Ignis’s sacred space again. Not without explicit permission and detailed directions. Fuck.
Gladio pulled out his phone and frowned. He didn’t have any messages from Ignis, but he had about two dozen from Noct. As he began to scroll through them he growled in frustration, breaking up the silence of the apartment. Deciding it would be easier to just call than attempt to type so much on his gods-damned phone (seriously, who thought it was a good idea to make those letters so small?), Gladio hit the appropriate icon and listened impatiently as it rang.
“Wow, guess Iggy needs to work with you on proper phone etiquette, Prince Charmless,” Gladio snarked.
“Seriously. Specs is here right now and he’s pissed. What the fuck did you do?” Noctis’s voice was hushed, clearly attempting to make the call without being detected by the keen ears of his advisor. “He’s… angry cleaning? Is that a thing?”
Gladio couldn’t help but smile. That was his Iggy, all right. “For him it is, yeah.”
In terse sentences, he explained the situation. Fuck, there wasn’t much to explain.
And Gladio was not amused by Noct’s laughter.
“You must have a death wish,” Noctis cackled gleefully. “I’d better ask Cor to start training me a new Shield.”
Gladio decided the best response to that was to disconnect the call. Tossing his phone on the couch, he began to pace around the room. Shiva’s tits, Iggy could be at Noct’s for hours with how slovenly the Prince’s housekeeping habits were. Gladio supposed his hopes for a nice, romantic night in were pretty much dashed.
He decided to try and make the most of the time and shoved the coffee table back against the couch, giving himself more space to work with. Sure, he’d already trained for hours at the Citadel earlier that day, but there was little else that would help calm his frazzled nerves while he awaited Ignis’s arrival. Gladio stripped off his shirt and tossed it on the couch, not noticing that it landed on his phone, completely obscuring the screen. He quickly fell into a simple calisthenics routine, focusing on getting each move exactly right, putting himself through the motions with painstaking precision.
Sure, it was basic fundamentals. But without a solid foundation, the rest went to shit quickly.
And no, that was not a fucking metaphor for his relationship with Ignis, dammit.
Gladio got so involved with his workout, pushing himself harder and harder in an effort silence his snarled thoughts, that he didn’t realize Ignis was home until he felt a gloved hand on his shoulder. He spun around reflexively, grabbing Ignis’s forearm and slamming him against his body, arm across Ignis’s neck in a choke hold.
“Shit, sorry,” Gladio said, inwardly cursing himself for his apparent inability to do anything right tonight, unwinding his arms with alacrity and stepping back a pace to give Ignis some space.
Ignis rubbed his throat, and cleared it before speaking. “It’s all right, Gladio,” his tone was rueful. “I should’ve known better.” Those manicured eyebrows drew down in confusion. “Didn’t you receive my texts?”
“My phone’s over there,” Gladio jerked a shoulder in the couch’s general direction. “Sorry babe.”
“Please, stop apologizing, Gladio,” Ignis drawled in that velvety tenor, lips quirking in a small smile. “If anything, it is I who should be apologizing to you.”
“I didn’t mean to get so wroth with you,” Ignis explained, clasping one of Gladio’s hands in his and twining their fingers together. “It was a long, frustrating day, but you didn’t deserve to bear the brunt of my temper. Honestly, I appreciate the gesture. Truly I do.” His voice was earnest, loving.
Gladio smiled back, warmth glinting in those expressive amber eyes. “How about we both stop apologizing and figure out somethin’ for dinner? Unless you ate with Noct.”
Ignis held up a grocery bag Gladio hadn’t noticed until now. “I stopped on the way home. Set the table for me while I prepare it?”
The two worked in tandem, orbiting each other with the practiced ease of those who had spent countless hours sharing the same space.
Gladio decided his nose must be playing tricks on him. Surely Ignis wasn’t preparing what he suspected.
“Cup Noodles!” he bellowed with unrestrained glee. “You really are the perfect man.”
“Yes, well,” Ignis smirked. “I’m adding some decent vegetables and meat, in an effort to make it more palatable.” He adjusted his glasses, voice a bit pedantic as he continued, “I also stirred in some seasonings, and I’m boiling extra noodles in case the pre-packaged portions are too skimpy.”
“So… basically you’re making your own home made recipe, and putting it the cups?”
Gladio threw back his head and laughed. Gods, he loved this man.
And while it wasn’t what he’d had in mind, it was shaping up to be a pretty good evening after all.
