shatteredlenses | LifeAfter Inbox

"Mmm...you're certainly something there though," Ignis chuckles, wiggling his fingers as he jokingly tries to free his hand from where it's been pressed against Gladio's stomach. As he considers the answer to Gladio's question, he hums contentedly.

"Your choice? It's your surprise after all."

He's actually enjoying their current position more than he should, so he's not going to rush the decision no matter how curious he may be about said surprise.

He hums, tightens his fingers over Iggy's hand. There's a moment where he considers coaxing those playful fingers a little lower. And then Leopold bumps his leg impatiently and Gladio lets out a slow breath.

He slips away from Ignis' hand, raising it to kiss his knuckles. "Never gonna get out of bed that way." And it is late and there is a surprise and... he wants to set up something closer to a proper date before anything goes below the belt.

Even if it takes all of his willpower to pull away.

But there's something potentially more interesting for Ignis to start feeling up. So here he is, gently settling the soft blue chocobo egg into Ignis' lap instead of himself, crouching in front of the bed so there's absolutely no chance of it rolling away.

"There are worse ways to spend the day." Despite the joke, Ignis is saddened when Gladio pulls away, though he does a good job of covering it all aside from one soft sigh that escapes his mouth as he pulls himself to the edge of the bed to take up the place that the Shield so recently vacated.

He's about to ask Gladio if they need to go out for this surprise when there is a large, round object settled into his lap. Gently, he runs his fingers over it and as he does, a variety of emotions pass across his face--confusion, disbelief, hope, and then finally excitement. When he speaks again, his voice is a soft, though thrilled tone.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Maybe on a day we don't have turtles to protect, yeah?" When he has some time to set up something romantic. He's honestly a little surprised that Ignis was so willing to stay in bed with him. A fact that he doesn't let himself linger on because he's watching the play of emotions across Ignis' face and he can't help grinning, then laughing at the excitement on his face.

Gladio leans in to brush a kiss across the knuckles of the hand feeling over the egg. "Depends on what you think it is I s'pose." Light and playful, hands settling on the bed beside his legs. "If you're thinking it's a pretty blue egg with a friend for Coco then..."

Another kiss to his fingers, and then the egg beside them. "...you'd be right."

Ignis is frankly a little surprised himself, but it almost hurts to hold back now that he's realized what he was missing all those years that he walled himself off and focused solely on Noctis. He has so much catching up to do and there is part of him that is afraid, deep down, Gladio will vanish just like Soma did.

Fortunately, it's hard to focus on such depressing thoughts with Gladio so close and the smoothness of the chocobo egg under his fingertips, "A blue chocobo to go with the brown and black. Lovely Petal, I don't know what to say." He leans down toward Gladio to press a kiss against his lips, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You didn't have to do this for me."

He's still adjusting to the idea but Gladio doesn't have plans to go anywhere. Maybe if things had gone differently he'd be more concerned about getting home but as it stands right now? Knowing that he'll go right back to where he was? He's holding onto this with all he's got.

Which is why his fingers burrow into Iggy's hair when he leans in for that kiss, holding him long enough to to make it linger before letting him sit back up. "Don't go thinking I'm too generous. This is totally selfish."

"See when that lovely violet egg Leo's napping around hatches and grows up I want someone to go riding with so... kinda had to get you one too, huh?" He's grinning as he says it, that's clear in his voice, excited and eager.

A soft laugh slips from Ignis' mouth once the kiss ends, "You aren't suppose to tell me that part, Gladiolus. Wait. So there is another?" He turns from Gladio then, facing toward the nook where he knows Leo tends to sleep. The tigerlily has grown quite a bit and he looks concerned, "He's not too heavy for the shell, is he?"

Honestly, Ignis is sure Gladio would have shooed Leo away if he was any threat to either of the eggs, but for some reason he's already feeling very protective of the new members of their little family.

Geez, one would think they were their kids or something.

"He's not on them, Igs." He's laughing as he says it and then he's scooping the egg up out of Iggy's lap to put it back beside the other.

"Come on, come here, babe." Come sit with him and feel both eggs and Leo's lazy rumbling too. Because seriously this is the cutest thing ever and Gladio is dying a little.

"Of course, he's not!" How stupid do you think he is, Gladio? "But you didn't say how tightly he was wrapped around them."

There's more than one way to crush an egg, after all!

Still, Ignis doesn't fight as his egg is taken from him and Gladio pulls him down to sit. He frowns a little, but that frown really has no staying power when faced with Leo's happy purrs. Gently, Ignis trails his fingers over both the eggs and the contently sleeping tigerlily.

"He reminds me a little of Noctis, you know. Most happy when he's sleeping."

"Would I be teasing you if he was going to hurt them?" Honestly, Iggy, calm down. The eggs are fine, Leo's fine, everything's fine.

"Sleeping or causing trouble." Gladio smiles as he says it, scritching hard just above Leo's tail and Ignis will feel it in the way the tigerlily rocks from the strength of the scritch. He laughs when he gets an annoyed tail flick and one golden eye opens to glare at him for the offense.

"Yeah, just like Noct.

Listen, if both Prompto and Noctis are going to tease him by calling him 'mum,' then he is going to bloody well mum!

Except 'dad' seems to have things well in hand, so for now Ignis is just going to smile contentedly at Leo's annoyed tail flicking, "And you're bothering him early in the morning instead of letting him sleep. Yes, this all feels very familiar."

He chuckles suddenly, then, turning his face into Gladio's shoulder, "Oh, Prompto's going to be so thrilled. He will never stop taking pictures just like he did with Coco."

And that too is very, comfortingly, familiar.

Of course 'dad' has things handled!

Gladio laughs at the comparison though. Yeah, yeah that all sounds about right. "Yeah, Prom showed me some of the photos from when Coco was bitty. Cute little fluff."

And now he'll have 2 more fluffs to take pics of. It's so close to normal it's actually really reassuring.

"I recall once not long after Coco hatched, he went out to get some water for Shion while he was visiting," Ignis relaxes against Gladio and closes his eye as he tells the story. "Shion and I had time for a full conversation before we realized Prompto hadn't returned. It turned out, he found Coco sitting on rock looking out over the water and just had to take photo after photo until he got it just right."

He laughs softly, "It's sure a good thing Shion wasn't all that thirsty."

Gladio laughs at that too, a little harder than Ignis, grinning at Prompto's predictable ridiculousness.

"That sounds adorable. Once these two hatch we're never going to get anything worthwhile out of him. Two chicks? And Coco on top of that? He's doomed."

"Indeed, but I suppose it is better than him wandering into trouble or bothering the ladies on the island too much," Ignis leans into Gladio, laughing. "Oh, he's going to be so upset if we both end up with females. Coco will have a harem before he does then!"

"Hey I specified color, not gender." He didn't want to ask too much of Tory. They've had a rough time of things.

"And the idea of Prompto with a harem is kinda hilarious."

"It is, though I get the impression he is a little jealous of me and mine," Ignis signs, arm moving around Gladio's waist so he can give him a squeeze. "I can't imagine why. He's seen how difficult it can be. Especially with Ardyn. You know I adore him, but can you imagine Prompto trying to do the same as we have been?"

"Are you implying I'm some sort of concubine?" A laugh, bright and amused as he leans into Iggy a little more, ducking his head to press a kiss to his throat.

"Of course he's jealous. But fuck, Ardyn would've ripped Prompto apart once and the kid would never recover. You're just a glutton for punishment."

Ignis tilts his head back to give Gladio more access to his neck. You can just keep doing that big guy. He doesn't mind in the slightest. He does laugh, though.

"I am not a glutton for punishment! I'm merely extremely devoted to the causes I choose to champion."

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