Monday Night at Nell's

[mylandmyrules]

There was no gingerbread on the menu tonight. Nell had had enough of that nonsense. Instead she'd made a macaroni and cheese casserole and a smaller veggie casserole. She also had homemade hot chocolate ready to go as well as an assortment of frosted Christmas cookies carefully labeled as to which ones were vegan.

The gas fireplace was on and she spent some time contemplating whether she should get a Christmas tree or not. She'd never actually decorated for Christmas, though she'd enjoyed seeing the decorations around town.

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[sword_chocobro]

And Gladio was going to casually glance at that gift bag, before casually lifting an eyebrow at the person placing it, and then he was going to (you guessed it) casually pick it up.

"What's this?" he asked, though he was probably about to find out, since he was already opening it to look inside.

[deathsmajesty]

"Open them and find out," Liliana said with a small flicker of a smile. "I know I'm new here, but I'm fairly certain that's how its usually done."

Inside, he'd find an ornament she'd picked up at the market today. She'd laughed when she'd seen it, but what had made her buy it was Ignis' expression when she'd told him what she'd found. Sorry, darling, some things were just too perfect to pass up.

Beneath that, however, was a box that Ignis and Prompto would both find very familiar, though Gladio's only held three locket frames and they were not engraved.

Inside the first were two pictures - one of him with Prompto and one of him with Ignis. Inside the second was only one - Nell, still from Halloween, though by herself, surrounded by greenery and illuminated by moonlight.

Inside the third there were two more. One was him posing with Noctis. The second, a candid shot of him with a young woman Liliana hadn't recognized. Prompto had probably begun leaking again told her that the young woman's name was Iris.

Iris Amicitia.

[sword_chocobro]

Yeah, Gladio sort of figured his question was going to be met with a smart-aleck comment like that, so he just snorted a little, but it managed to work its way up to a laugh as he held up the first ornament and shook his head, but then it caught in the light a little, and it was impossible to not admire the beauty of the logo shining back at him.

"Almost looks good enough to eat," he noted, and he'd definitely be poking through Nell's pantry later for the back-up rations he kept here at her place. But he set it aside to go digging a little more for the other box, setting the bag aside now, as well, so he could open it and see what was inside.

HIs head tilted, thoughtfully, as he plucked out the first one, opened it, and then looked at Liliana with just a lifted brow, before his attention shifted to the second one. When he opened that one, something in his face softened and he just sort of looked at it for a good, long moment before a light smile surfaced. Another shake of his head and the sort of moment that seemed to suggest that he was definitely waiting to see what was in the last one before he'd let himself say anything.

Ironic, really, because when he did pop open the third one, and saw the pictures there, he didn't really know what he could say. There was a grunt, wedged out of him, a tightening of his jaw, and his snapped it shut much quicker than the others. Lowered his head and sighed, his other hand lifting to rub his forehead a little.

He was....definitely going to need a moment, and a lot of that was just trying to figure out exactly what to make of all that, and wondering if really, Liliana should have quite while she was ahead with just the Cup Noodle^TM.

Head still lowered, hand thumb and forefinger still poised on his forehead, he lifted his eyes toward her.

"Prompto?" he guessed, as the only....logical explanation on how she might have gotten those pictures, because, man, if she got them some other way, he was gonna be real interested to know exactly how.

[deathsmajesty]

Look, she'd given them to the other two, she wasn't going to leave you out of it, Beefslab.

"Of course," Liliana said, from where she was pouring herself some soda and very much not looking at him or his reactions. "We spent an afternoon going through the old pictures. Congratulations, I think I laughed at your hair the least."

She'd still laughed at it, absolutely. But considering the competition...

[sword_chocobro]

A hand went over Gladio's shoulder to push his hair back, with maybe a small shake of his head. "I always did have great hair," he agreed, although, really, she was right, that bar was so low you'd trip on it.

There was a small moment after that, and he considered Liliana a little more seriously.

"But thanks."

A soft huff. Maybe even a faint smile, and a lift of his chin.

"Guess I gotta go get you something now, too, huh?"

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana just laughed. It was an I've got a secret laugh.

"If you'd like," she said. "I assure you, Gladio, I never expected you to."

[sword_chocobro]

Was it that laugh or that answer that got the most of that somewhat amused side-eye out of Gladio? Hard to tell.

"Well, now," he said, "I really have to get you something."

[deathsmajesty]

"I look forward to this most thoughtful and not-at-all-spite-driven gift," Liliana said, biting back a smile.

[sword_chocobro]

"I don't know what anyone could find spiteful about a free lifetime membership but only for the morning hours at the gym," Gladio said, not bothering to hold back a smile at all. In fact, he seemed to insist on it.

[deathsmajesty]

"Oh, that's definitely a gift I can imaging getting a lot of use of," Liliana said. "It's been very difficult with Ignis being such a late riser, when I can think of nothing better than seeing the sun rise while doing all that...exercising."