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“I can't tonight. I have a date.”
Gladio dug his hands into his pockets and tried not to let those words cycle around in his brain. A date. Iggy had a date.
With who? Gladio hadn't even known Iggy was dating. He'd never mentioned anything, but then, Iggy always kept his private life pretty quiet unless Gladio asked, and Gladio hadn't thought to ask. He should have asked. Iggy probably had girls lining up around the block for a shot with him. He was handsome, and smart, and charming, well dressed, witty, and caring, and he always smelled nice.... He looked pretty good in a pair of shorts, too, although Gladio was pretty sure only Iggy's sparring partners had ever seen that.
Of course Iggy had a date. Some lucky girl had gone and caught Iggy's eye before Gladio had got it together enough to ask him out. He'd been dancing around it for weeks. They hung out, a lot, especially lately, but Gladio was never quite sure how to cross that threshold from friends to dating. He wasn't even sure if Iggy was into guys. He'd never got up the guts to ask. Every time he was around Ignis the words came out wrong, and it was always easier to backtrack to just being friends.
Being around Iggy made Gladio feel like a dumb musclehead. Ignis was just so smart, and quick, and cultured, and eloquent. It didn't matter how many books Gladio read, he could never seem to find the right way to say what he meant. Iggy never seemed to have that problem. He left Gladio behind, stumbling over his own words, trying to figure out some way to have the 'I like you like you' conversation without sounding six years old.
He'd messaged him tonight, hoping he'd get another chance. “Wanna hang out?” he'd asked, as if they hadn't done that a thousand times. As if Gladio hadn't bailed out of asking if Ignis might be into him a thousand times, and as if he wouldn't have done exactly that tonight, too. He was scared of the answer, because if it was no it'd suck, and the last thing Gladio wanted was to weird Iggy out so they stopped hanging out at all.
He valued their friendship too much to ruin it like that.
”I've got a date.”
Fuck. He was way too late.
Gladio's phone buzzed in his pocket and he took another look at the message chain. “Tomorrow?” Iggy was asking.
Gladio swallowed and breathed out, slowly. “Yeah,” he typed back, steeling himself for every word and hating the way each letter forming on the screen dragged his heart down a little further. “You can tell me how it went.”
Maybe if he went a few rounds with Cor he'd be too tired and sore to spend the rest of the evening thinking about what Iggy was up to. Whoever Iggy's date was, she was lucky as hell.
***
With no Iggy to hang out with, Gladio trudged his way home from the Citadel. There was a frosty bite to the air, and the handful of stars in the Insomnian sky glittered valiantly overhead. It was gonna be a cold one. Gladio kept his hands jammed in his hoodie pockets. He hurt all over because Cor never pulled his punches, but at least the exertion had left him with that pleasant post-exercise ache.
His path took him through the food quarter. The smell of street vendors and busy restaurants permeated the crisp night air, and Gladio had to dodge around some obliviously happy couples on his way. Valentines was coming up fast, and it was a nightmare getting reservations anywhere decent at this time of year. There were plenty of early celebrators milling around, guys with their arms around girls, or girls hanging off guys arms.
Gladio kept his head down. He hoped Iggy wasn't in with this lot. That would mean he'd planned his date tonight for weeks and never said anything, and Gladio would have hoped he might have volunteered having a girlfriend serious enough for that sort of effort.
The thought of it threw Gladio's heart into his feet again, but his stomach growled at the smell of food wafting into the street. He'd worked out hard, and it had been a long time since lunch. Iggy had given him a tub of leftover stew a couple of days ago that Gladio could have, but somehow, the idea of eating it made Gladio lose his appetite.
A shoulder bumped into Gladio's. The “Sorry” was out of Gladio's mouth in his next breath, and Gladio was forced to sidestep and back himself up against a restaurant's glass frontage to let a happily oblivious double date squeeze between him and the flower stand opposite. Gladio didn't think they even spotted him, but at least one of them had spotted the flowers.
He edged away, and re-thought his dinner plans. What he wanted, what he deserved, right now, was cup noodles. The snag in that plan was that he didn't have any at home, and it was out of his way to go and get some now.
There was a noodle bar around here somewhere. There were two, really. Gladio had always known about one because it was on the main strip, and the noodles were okay, but pricey for what they were.
He'd gone with Ignis once to the other. A hidden gem, Ignis called it. Every so often he and Iggy would find out of the way restaurants and eateries, down side streets and behind more appealing buildings. The food was always that bit cheaper, but they were always somehow better. Iggy said it was because a place like that relied on the quality of its product instead of coasting by on its location to get sales.
The noodle bar they'd found had been great. Not as classy, sure, but the noodles were fresh, and the soup was rich, and one bowl had been enough to fill even Gladio's hefty appetite. Gladio had always wanted to come back to it again.
He spotted a familiar looking side street jutting off the main road. He'd earned it tonight. Between getting his ass kicked by Cor and his heart broken he deserved some salty, noodle shaped goodness to perk him back up.
There were a couple of restaurants up the side street. Their frontages looked familiar enough that Gladio was sure he was on the right track, and there was an enticing smell of something promisingly salty and spicy leading him on. Leaving the happy couples behind, Gladio started to feel a bit better. He didn't want to think about the fact that he was alone and other people weren't any more, and with the promise of noodles on his mind he stood straighter and walked faster.
He had to do a double take when he passed the window of one restaurant. Inside was a familiar shock of sandy hair, bent over his phone, and sitting at a table alone.
Gladio stopped, and looked closer. It was definitely Ignis, a half drunk glass of wine on the table in front of him, and a frown of concentration on his face.
Where was his date? There were no plates; the cutlery was all laid out for two, neat and untouched. Only Iggy's glass had anything in it, and that was halfway to empty. Gladio watched as Ignis pulled his phone out and began tapping at his screen. Just as suddenly Ignis stopped, his shoulders falling as he put the phone down on the table and picked up his glass.
Shit. Iggy was being stood up.
Gladio glanced at the doorway to the restaurant. He and Iggy had been to this one weeks ago, before the solstice. Iggy had liked it, Gladio had thought it was okay. Would the staff remember them? He couldn't leave Iggy to get stood up, that was for sure, but he also wasn't exactly dressed like he was meant to be meeting up for a date.
Gladio looked back at Ignis, who had started scrolling miserably through his phone with one hand, his nearly empty glass of wine in the other. It looked like he was about to give up and go home. He hadn't even eaten.
“Hey,” Gladio said, dashing to the doorway and addressing the greeter. “The guy sitting alone, Scientia? Don't let him leave, I'll be five minutes.” Gladio flashed his spread fingers at the man for emphasis.
The greeter looked Gladio over, starting with his sneakers and moving up to his hoodie. “He's been waiting for you,” he said. “I'll make sure he gets the message.”
Gladio's legs ached as he ran back to the flower stall. It wasn't exactly going to be ideal if he walked in to a nice restaurant dressed like he'd just come from the gym, and even less ideal to be sweating like it too, but Iggy was stubborn and if he'd set his mind on giving up on the date, he might just leave regardless of whatever message got passed on. But Gladio couldn't just walk in there like this, either.
He ran back to the restaurant, light an extortionate amount of money for a simple bouquet, but cradling an armful of deep red roses interspersed with violets. It was at times like this that Gladio wished he'd ever asked Iggy what his favourite flower was. He'd have to make sure he asked later. For now he just hoped Iggy wouldn't laugh at him. At least if Gladio distracted Iggy by making himself look like a dork, Iggy might forget about the embarrassment of being stood up.
The greeter at the restaurant gave Gladio a knowing look as he glanced at the flowers, and then pointed him over to Iggy's table. Gladio gave himself a few seconds to catch his breath and run a suddenly nervous hand through his hair before he approached.
“Sorry I'm late,” he said, when he was just behind Iggy's shoulder.
Ignis looked up sharply, confusion writ in every line on his face. “Gladio?”
The bunch of flowers seemed even more appropriate when Gladio offered them out to Ignis, with the cheesiest grin he could muster to try and cover up his own nerves. “Can I sit down?”
“Of course,” Ignis answered. He took the bouquet in both hands and looked at them as if he was hoping they might provide him with some answers, instead of just raising more questions. “What are you doing here?”
“You have a date tonight, right?” Gladio asked, slipping into the chair opposite Ignis.
Ignis's lips parted as if he was about to reply, but there was no sound. He looked intently at the bouquet, admitting to them in a voice barely above a whisper, “The daughter of one of my Uncle's friends. She didn't show."
Someone Ignis didn't really know, then. Gladio felt the relief wash through him. “Guess I'm Plan B,” he replied, flashing Ignis another cheesy grin to try and take his mind off the rejection. Seeing Iggy look self conscious and unhappy sucked. He was meant to be on a date tonight, and Gladio was going to make sure he got a date. Gladio might not look the part, and he didn't feel the part, and he was pretty sure he could have done with washing his hair before he went to any restaurants, but he was in the best state he could offer under the circumstances, and he was here instead of wasting a chance with Ignis Scientia. Obviously, that put him far ahead of whichever daughter of one of Iggy's Uncle's friends was supposed to be in this seat.
“You're never Plan B,” Ignis told him, finally meeting his eyes. Gladio's heart swelled and surged, and then stopped in his throat when Ignis's expression turned from gentle to critical and confused. “Though I have to ask what possessed you to bring me red roses and violets?”
Gladio scratched at the back of his neck. He probably wasn't going to cheesy grin his way out of that one. “It was all they had with purple,” he confessed.
Ignis maintained his composure for all of three seconds before he lost it to a guffaw, covering his mouth with his hand. His eyes crinkled up behind his glasses when he laughed, and for a split second, Ignis looked like a twenty year old laughing at a joke. “I see. Well, thank you,” he said, between chuckles, his eyes lighting up as he caught Gladio's gaze. His mouth was curved in a smile that wouldn't go away.
“You're welcome,” Gladio answered, feeling warmth seeping through his bones and aching muscles. “Should we eat? I'm starving.”
“I'm ravenous,” Ignis agreed, gratefully. “I was just about to go home and reheat some leftovers.”
“And waste the table?” Gladio asked, picking up a menu and shaking his head. He didn't know how tricky it had been for Ignis to get a table this close to Valentines, but it'd be a shame to waste it now.
“Quite so,” Ignis conceded. After a moment his voice came again. “Gladio?” Gladio looked up, and found himself caught in bright green eyes that sparkled in the light. It made his mouth go suddenly dry. “Thank you, truly.”
Gladio shook his head. “You can repay me tomorrow,” he said. “I was heading to the noodle place up the street.”
“Consider it a date.”
Gladio's heart thumped in his throat, and then seemed to stop. His eyes were still locked with Iggy's. “If you want it to be.” That had probably sounded way more casual in his head.
“And if I did?” Ignis asked. His voice was quiet enough that Gladio was tempted to lean in and ask him to repeat it just so he could be sure of what he'd heard.
Gladio swallowed around his suddenly dry throat and mouth. “Then I guess I'd have to dress the part.”
The corner of Iggy's mouth ticked upwards in a faint smirk as he bowed his head to look at the menu. His eyes left Gladio's at the very last second.