Monday Night at 43 Unicorn

[mylandmyrules]

Nell had decided recently that living on Unicorn Street must have been a sign because the odds of her having such amazing things in her life had been as unlikely as finding a unicorn outside of Fandom.

She had decided to make a large batch of spgahetti for the gathering, one pot of sauce with meat and the other vegan. Surprisingly enough the pasta itself - most of them anyway - were actually vegan.

In any case, the rich smells of the sauce filled the house, welcoming whoever made it over tonight.

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[sword_chocobro]

Another added benefit of living here now was that Gladio had a good idea of what Nell would be making for everyone on Monday nights, and could then tailor his beverage selection to that!

Ignis would be so proud.

So when he did get back from training, gym stuff, errands and shopping, he returned bearing a pretty good sounding (in his opinion anyway!) strawberry basil drink and some new sweatpants.

Hey, it was buy one, get two free! He was practically losing money if he didn't!

Ignis would be so proud of that, too!

[mylandmyrules]

"Nice sweatpants," Nell said with a smile. "And that drink looks wonderful!"

[sword_chocobro]

"Right?" Gladio agreed, looking overly proud of himself as he lifted up the case and gave them another look. "I like how simple the design is, you know? No bullshit, just drinks, and, you know, basil's supposed to go good with pasta, right? So it seemed like a good pick.

"And thanks," he lifted up the bag in his other hand and his grin went a little crooked. "Got some for you, too, you know. The sale they got going at the store was too good to pass up."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell just looked at him for a moment, processing. "You...you'un bought sweatpants for me too?" She swallowed hard. "Ain't no one ever bought me something just 'cause. That's... I don't hardly know what to say, 'cept thank you."

She was still another moment, then just wrapped her arms around him.

[sword_chocobro]

And for something he'd mostly just done because it seemed like a funny thing to do, that he didn't he even think anything of it, because they were just sweatpants, to get a reaction like that caught Gladio off-guard. It took him a moment to really process what was happening, and once he did...his arms wrapped around her, too, curling in slightly for a tight (not too tight) embrace.

"You're welcome," he said softly, and just let that sit for a moment before adding, "it's really no big deal, you know. It just seemed like the thing to do."

[mylandmyrules]

"It is," Nell said. "I mean, Liliana gave me that beautiful book for my plants, but a man - I know you're not like the men from back home, but I never could have imagined... it's different."

SHe couldn't begin to put into words why an unexpected gift from another woman was so different from a man buying her something, just because. And as if it was no big deal. "Anyway just... thank you. For always being you."

[sword_chocobro]

"Don't know anyone else I'd rather be," Gladio said, snorting faintly into Nell's hair, before pressing a kiss on the top of her head. "With anyone else, either. But if I'd have known this would be this big a hit, I'd've at least picked you up some fancier ones. Like the ones with the rhinestone words across the butts."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell pulled away enough to look up at him in mild horror. "No... there isn't such a thing. Is there?"

She shook her head. "Oh no, I'm not wearing any words across my bottom!"

[sword_chocobro]

And Gladio just had to grin fondly at Nell, her reaction to that perfectly unsurprising and all the better for it.

"Don't worry," he assured her, "the ones I got for you are totally plain and without embellishment. Just some nice, un-elaborate green, brown, and gray."

[mylandmyrules]

"Much better," she said. "Those I will wear very happily." Now that she'd started wearing sweatpants at least some of the time.

[sword_chocobro]

"And totally fine," Gladio said, since he was feeling the need to be particularly clear on a point like this for some reason, "if you wouldn't be, either. Completely up to you, and no business of mine."

[mylandmyrules]

"Thank you," she said, stretching up again to kiss him."You are very kind and thoughtful and I love you for it."