fandomtownies | PW Saturday: Plant Parenthood

Gladio was finding out that there was actually a limit to how much crap he could give Ignis before it started to lose some of its fun, and, without any guests this weekend for obvious reasons and not really wanting to dwell on that fact too much, he figured he'd swing by and see how Nell was doing.

"Hey," he said, as he came in, looked around a little for a bit of Spot the Kittens on his way over to Nell. "Any big sales from any of the visitors this weekend yet?"

"Nope, quiet as can be," she said. "So I'm grateful for the company and at least triply grateful that the company is you."

Both of the kittens were very happy to see him and sniff any new smells on his shoes and pant legs.

Sorry, boys, no new smells there! But their curiosity would not go unrewarded, as Gladio swooped down to pick them both up, cradling them easily in his arms and giving one a scritch between the ears before then offering the other one some, too.

"At least, huh?" Gladio asked. "Anything I could do to bump that up to a solid quadruplely grateful?"

He had an idea, in case she didn't.

Nell pretended to consider this for a moment. "I'm hard pressed to come up with something. Hmmmm... Oh, I know! What about a firm handshake!"

"Hmmm." Gladio considered this request for a moment, especially in the form of looking at the kitten in his arms. "You know, that might actually be a little hard to pull off right now, but what about this instead?"

Which was, of course, when he leaned in and bent down to give her a kiss.

It was...kind of like a handshake, right? Just with your mouth!

"Oh..." she said innocently after the kiss. "Sooo much better than a handshake."

And giggled.

"I thought so, too." Gladio's grin was slightly more crooked thanks to that giggle, and now that he no longer needed an excuse for avoiding a handshake (and due to the fact that Cygnus was feeling a little adventurous by trying to climb up out of his arms and onto his shoulders), he carefully went to put each of the kittens back on the floor where they were much safer from an eventual death-defying fall if they managed to wriggle out of his hold. "Did you make it out to that meet and greet yesterday?"

"No, I wasn't feeling much like being in a big crowd, so I just opened the store for anyone who might want to stop by. You?" she asked.

Gladio shook his head. "Nah," he said. "I was thinking about it, but I got kind of caught up in a book and then fell asleep on the couch for a bit."

Here, he chuckled a little.

"It wasn't a very good book. Plus," the grin grew even broadened still, "I think Iggy might've slipped something into my lunch to get me to get me to stop teasing him for a little bit."

"What are you giving him such a hard time about?" Nell asked. "So much that he'd try to put you to sleep?

The grin was now at capacity, so that Gladio's amusement had now spread into a lift of his eyebrows. "Liliana," he said, simple and to the point and clearly pretty thrilled to be able to extend the circle of this particular topic beyond just him and Prompto.

"Liliana?" Nell said. "I've met her. She seems very nice. She brought me a beautiful leather book to write my herbal blends in."

"Iggy seems to think she's pretty nice, too," Gladio said with an amused snort, before his head tilted a little thoughtfully, the expression going a little more softly pleased. "I didn't know she got you a book, though."

Well, well, well, look who had even more reason to drop in on Liliana once he got the chance now.

"That's pretty great, actually. You have the chance to fill it up yet?"

"Aren't you glad Iggy meet someone nice?" Nell asked. "And yes, it's beautiful with a tree on the cover that looks like one of my Soulwood trees - hang on."

She went and got the book to show him. "The really pretty detailed drawings are hers there. Mine aren't as nice. But I love it and it will take me ages to fill it up."

"And to think," said Gladio, who's smugness about it had still not run out, especially not after subtle disappearances after evening phone calls, "he didn't even want to go to those Three Minute Dates..."

He knew, too, as soon as Nell mentioned Soulwood, that that journal was going to be a good fit for her, so there was really no surprise when he saw it and confirmed it and really had to admire it. Not just the book itself, but the clear thought that had gone into it as a gift.

"That's perfect. Anything really good that you've added in so far?"

Nell smiled. "Good thing you talked him into going."

She leafed through the book and showed him one of her pictures - better than she believed it was, but not nearly as good as Liliana's. " Tulsi," she said. "Or Holy Basil. It's good for so many things."

"Like what?" Gladio asked, tilting his head with interest as he peered over at the drawing in the book, and then shifted his attention back to Nell.

"It helps reduce fever and your basic cough and cold symptoms," Nell said. "It's also supposed to be good for your heart and for kidney stone problems, but I know for sure about the fever and cold stuff."

"A little easier to see the results of something like a fever and a cough than those other things," Gladio agreed. "Good to know, though."

"Oh I'm a font of information on herbs," Nell said with a smile.

She rested a hand on the book for a moment, appreciating it. "Gladio?" she said after a moment. "Would you ever want to come visit Soulwood with me when I go? I mean, I usually slip in and out so people from the church won't know I'm there, so I've gotten pretty good at that."

"Would you want me to come with you?" Gladio asked, even though, if she was bringing it up, he could probably guess the answer. But that seemed more important to him than anything else, especially knowing how important Soulwood was to Nell...and how contentious things were for her back there, too.

"I'd love for you to see it. And if we go late on a Saturday and stay over till Sunday, the church people will be too busy to notice I'm there." She smiled at him. "We could camp in my woods if it's nice or stay in my house if it isn't."

"Then I'd love to go," Gladio smiled back. "Like I'm going to be able to turn down camping."

Nell beamed at him. "I can't wait to show you my woods," she said. "They're so beautiful. And, well, I think you'll be able to feel the spirit of them."

"Not nearly as much as you can," Gladio pointed out, "but that kind of goes without saying. I'd love to get to see them with you."

And, if any of the church folks did notice them and decided to try and give them trouble, he'd love to give them some trouble right back.

But that probably went without saying, too.

"Did you have any idea," he asked, "when you might want to go?"

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