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Atlas Gym; Tuesday [07/11].

Even though his conversation with Eric last night had done a lot to help shake off some of the weighty seriousness of the past weekend, it was still a rather thoughtful and reflective Gladio that came into the gym that morning, almost reverent as he went about his opening tasks, did his tours around the place to check in on equipment and regulars, even in checking emails and messages in the office. Thinking about how much had changed since that day he'd wandered in here just wanting to get his pump on and wound up with his name democratically elected onto a deed. And the little ways in which he'd sort of morphed it into his own since then, from the Cup Noodle^TM machine in the lobby, to the constantly replaced punching bags, the plethora of training weapons in the open training space, and the influx of people occasionally earning their stars.

And, throughout the whole day, something Noctis had told him, in those ~~offscreen~~ hours where they just sat for a bit and talked:

"Maybe we all had to give her up to save her."

That was the crux of a lot of it, really, with Noct. Of course he'd understand sacrifice better than any of them, and he pointed out how they'd all had to give something up: he had to give up his life, Ignis had given up his vision, Prompto had given up his innocence about who he was. But what had Gladio had to give up?

Maybe it was Eos. Maybe it was his dedication to who he was. But what use was a Shield of the King if there was no King?

It was definitely some food for thought, and those thoughts lingered as he went about the new routines of this new life, and how maybe Noct was right, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all, that it was starting to feel so comfortable.

They'd all had to give something up, but that didn't necessarily mean they hadn't gained something else in return.

Atlas is open.

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If anyone asked (not that she suspected anyone would), Summer had come into the gym much later than her usual morning time because she had to get the sangria for tonight started. Which she did! So, you know, true! And there was no other reason, clearly.

(Untrue).

But she did still have on a new cute outfit to show off, though her focus was definitely in getting lost in the sweat of it all rather than just flaunting it and trying to look cute.

Honestly, Gladio had been a little worried when Summer didn't show up at her usual earlier morning time. Not that he was concerned that something was wrong, or anything. He figured, it was Summer, she was busy enough that it was actually kind of surprising she'd been able to consistently make it in the way she had been. But it would have been a sad day if one of the longest running sticker streaks got broken.

So he was definitely pleased to see that the streak was not broken, just delayed, as he headed over to hand her her gold star.

"Summer," he greeted with a nod, "late start today?"

It hadn't even been the first time, after all.

Nell was here bright and early, ready to work on her forms and maybe do some strength training - those warrior women were strong! She smiled at Gladio as she came in, maybe a little more shyly than usual after having met his king and all over the weekend. She was also - worried was too strong a word - maybe a bit concerned about how he was doing after the weekend and having to say goodbye yet again.

"Morning!"

It was definitely a quieter, more subdued Gladio at the gym that morning, though, of course, he wasn't really one to let himself dwell on anything like that. And he'd expected Nell would be by, too, so he was prepared to hopefully not letting on that one of the things that had him so quiet and reflective today was her.

There had been a lot of talking, that weekend.

He grinned when Nell came in with her usual bright eagerness, unable to stop the flow of warmth that came along with it, with just that little kernel of something (worry was exactly the right word, not too strong at all) tempering it slightly.

"Morning, Nell," he greeted back, as he peeled off another gold star for her for another consistent week of working out. "How's it going? You get to work with your warrior women again yesterday?"

She took the star with her usual solemness and added it to the paper she'd begun carrying for just that purpose. "Thank you."

After tucking it away she smiled up at him. "I did," she said, "And I think I need to do more strength training to be able to keep up with them - and so I can swing around that sword more easily! How are you doing today?"

She detected a hint of something, but wouldn't push.

Gladio shrugged a little, and his first impulse was to just sort of brush everything off, but since it was Nell, and a lot of those conversations were very heavily focused on him being more honest with how he was feeling, his answer came out much more sincere than the usual brush-off bullshit.

"I'm doing...okay," he admitted, with a nod. "It...I think I needed that, this weekend, seeing Noct again. Really helped...put some things into perspective, y'know?"

Nell nodded. "It must be incredibly hard," she said. 'To get to see someone you care so deeply about and get to spend time with them, but ultimately have to let them go again."

She reached out to touch him lightly on the arm. "So, I'm both happy for you and sad for you. And... I'm here for anything - if you want to talk about it or just be or whatever. And my roof is always open to you."

Such a light touch had no business being able to race through Gladio and stir up all sorts of things that had already been whipped up into a frenzy the way it did, but, well, there they were, and it just confirmed in him that he really needed to say something about it soon.

Not now, although it was tempting, to just get it out, once and for all, but it wasn't the right place or time...

He just had to make sure he didn't find himself using that as an excuse, over and over again. Good thing he hated excuses to begin with, and the last thing he'd want to do is go and ruin not only Nell's entire day, but her evening, too, by throwing a wrench in everything for Tuesday nights...

But they did have tonight...

"I think it helps," he said, "that we've already said good-bye to him before. We all knew what was coming. We had plenty of time to make peace with it...so this was just...kind of a nice surprise, really. For me, anyway. I don't think any of us could have expected what happened after we did what we knew we had to do, so that was....good. To get his thoughts on..."

Nell didn't know any of the details about what they did or what happened afterwards beyond them saving Eos and Noctis dying. But those were conversations for another time - if and when Gladio wanted to talk about it with her. For now the best thing she could do was be a warm and supportive listening ear.

"It was almost like a gift, then," she said. "To be able to have this extra unexpected time with him. Still hard to say goodbye again, but maybe tempered a little with getting a second chance?"

Gladio could help a snort of a laugh. "I think," he said, "the real gift was the fact that it was only a couple of days. Long enough to get something out of it, but not so long that we'd remember what a little shit he could be sometimes."

But that wasn't true, because he had dragged them out fishing for pretty much a full day.

Edited 2023-07-11 13:19 (UTC)

Nell laughed. "Isn't that always the way? Like finally getting to eat all you want of a favorite food, but if you induge too much you feel miserably sick from overeating. I can definitely see your point. But I'm glad you had the time."

"Well, I don't know about that," said Gladio, with a faint chuckle and a grin sent Nell's way. "Pretty sure I could eat Cup Noodle^TM all day until I just about explode and still never get sick of it."

Which was a totally normal and healthy thing to believe.

"And I'm glad, too," he added, "really gave me some good food for thought..."

A statement that caused that smile to go a bit thoughtful and linger a little longer than he realised, before he shook his head slightly.

"Thanks, by the way," he added, "for being such a hood host on Sunday, especially with making sure the bees didn't go and threaten His Highness' delicate constitution."

Nell laughed. "You and your Cup Noodles. Good thing they actually turned out to be delicious or I'd worry about you!"

She noticed the smile and it made her dip her head and blush just a little before looking up to laugh again. "Poor Noctis and the bees. They were very well behaved though and I think he actually enjoyed himself."

"Good thing you agreed that they were delicious," Gladio said with a bark of a laugh, "or else I might've had to worry about you!"

And question so, so much.

"And he did," he settled back into that smile again. "A lot, I think. He...I don't think it was what he expected, but he said it still works, we each still get to do what we love here, and he's happy for us."

"I'm glad," she said. "Especially glad for you guys because I know it's been hard being here and not home."

Gladio opened his mouth with a response, but then stopped himself, closing it again with his brow furrowed slightly. Seemed to sit on it for a moment of thought and indecision before trying again.

"It's not really so bad," he said. "As it used to be. I think I was just...angry about it. And who could really blame me, you know? But I think...it's not so bad now. I've kind of...gotten used to it, you know? There are definitely worse places to be stuck."

"I can understand that," Nell said. "You were brought here against your will and couldn't get home. It makes sense you'd be angry." She'd been more frightened than angry, but she'd certainly been frustrated at times. And hers was, of course, an entirely different situation.

"For what it's worth," she said softly. "I'm awful glad that you're here."

There was a soft huff and a subdued smile at that, and that little twist in his chest and the acknowledgement that he really was in this pretty deep now, wasn't he? And comments like that sometimes even made him wonder if maybe Nell feeling the same way wasn't such a wild idea after all...

"I'd say," he said softly back, "that that's worth a lot."

And, slightly more difficult to add, but it felt...important: "I'm glad I am, too."

Nell just smiled at him. It was one of those moments that just felt so right, felt like they were connected in a way she didn't quite understand and hadn't felt before, but just felt so perfect. Maybe she stayed there smiling at him a little too long, but she didn't mind and he didn't seem to.

But after that long moment she just quietly touched his arm again for a moment. "Guess we both got lucky,"

"I would really like to stop turning into an otter," Steve grumbled, stomping into the gym.

"Well," Gladio grunted in amusement, which he felt a little bad about, but not by much, "guess that answers my question in how your weekend went..."

"Wet and full of fish," Steve confirmed, pursing his lips. "Did you get a visitor?"

"Yup," Gladio confirmed, with a shake of his head, but there was a wryly amused expression on his face, "which meant my weekend was also full of fish. Or, well, that was the plan, if they were actually biting, but, thankfully, I got to skip the wet part."

Steve laughed. "Well, there are worse ways to spend a weekend. Danny won't go fishing with me any more. Last time we went out for tuna we ended up getting hijacked and slightly marooned."

How can you be slightly marooned, Steve.

"What I wouldn't've given for something like that to happen while we're fishing," Gladio groaned a little wistfully. "Or pretty much anything exciting to actually happen...

"Did you being an otter save you from getting any visitors this weekend?"

"It did," Steve said, "which is a good thing. My dad had a tough enough time on his last visit when he discovered I was dating a man. The otter might've dipped him over the edge."

"Now you've got me wondering what my father would have thought about a place like this," Gladio snorted, "and his son being a plant sometimes, but if you ask me, that's on him, he's the one who named me."

"Yeah, that was really just setting you up for the obvious joke," Steve said with a grin. "Meanwhile, I never turn into a seal. It's confusing."

"Would you rather be the seal?" Gladio now had to wonder. "Or are you pretty happy with the whole otter thing?"

"Well, the otter's more portable," Steve said, "which is...less ideal when I would rather not be moved."

Gladio had to snort a laugh at that, because that was coming along nicely with a good visual.

"Did you have that problem a lot as an otter?"

Steve sighed. "Yes. Danny tends to tote me places."

There might have even been a patriotic hat on the Fourth.

Stark had tried drinking last night to deal with his feelings. It had sort of worked. Briefly.

This morning he was here to try another sort of way to distract himself. Perhaps lifting weights with intent. It had been a couple of weeks since he'd gone for the weights.

He nodded to Gladio on his way in. Definitely didn't look for any ginger gym regulars as he entered the gym though. Definitely not.

Gladio nodded back, and, dutifully, pulled out his sticker sheet to peel off a gold star for, really, at this point, the next most consistent sticker-earner, even if it was going to be pretty hard to catch up with the top two.

"Stark," he greeted, wondering if there was anything to the rarity of him getting here before Summer did. "How's it going?"

Maybe Stark ought to get a gym mask just to put stickers on. For now it was going on his shirt as usual.

And no Gladio. Obviously not. Nothing to see here!

"It's...fine."
Oh no, burpees again.

"Still processing the weekend. And you? How are you?"

If weeks like these ones kept happening, Stark was going to be a burpees expert.

"Still processing the weekend," Gladio said, with a faint, sympathetic smile, "seems to really cover it for me, too. Who'd you get?"

Stark was going to be in such great shape from all those burpees.

"Zhaan came back. Again. My... my Zhaan. She died before I ever came here."

"I'm sorry, man," Gladio offered, with a faint expression of sympathy. "That can't be easy....did you have a nice visit, though, while she was here, at least?"

"It's always good to see her. Always. We did. She spent some time with Summer."

Dundundun.

"Mostly we were just together. Was yours good?"

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Atlas Gym; Tuesday [07/11].

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