fandomtownies | Friday at the Onsen: Time to Relax

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Friday at the Onsen: Time to Relax

After the week she'd had Nell definitely could use some time to relax and refresh. After she'd finished her chores and her workout, she'd headed for the Onsen.

After leaving a note for Gladio in hopes that he'd join her when he was done with his business for the day.

While she soaked and waited she thought about the events of the past year and how much her life had changed. Imagine if she'd never tried to make her way home from the clinic and been rescued by Gladio!

She'd admired him from a distance, of course, how could she not when he was so handsome? But finding out how kind and funny and smart he was had been an even bigger draw. And then to discover he was the kind of person who was also comfortable with silence , well... that was amazing to her.

The rest, as marvelous as it was, couldn't compare. Not that she'd trade any of it for anything.

[For the handsome man in question.]

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Yeah, like Gladio would come home to a note like that and not immediately reroute how he was going to spend the rest of his day by grabbing his swim trunks and heading out for the onsen to join Nell.

"Think there's enough room for one more in there?" he asked, emerging into the bathing area with a towel slung over his shoulders and a grin on his face when he spotted her still there.

"Mmmhmm," Nell said. "Saved a space just for you, right here next to me."

She closed her eyes. "I think I could stay here all day."

"Good thing I'd still love you even as a raisin, then," Gladio noted, slipping into the pool easily and smoothly beside her. His arms draped and stretched on the edge behind his shoulders as he settled into the comforting warmth of the water with a grateful sigh.

"But I definitely feel you on that one," he murmured, slightly grunting, as he closed his eyes and tilted his head back to soak it in a little more.

"Good thing," Nell said with a laugh. "Because it's a definite possibility."

She raised a leg with her toes pointed and watched the water running off it. "Why does soaking in hot water feels so good?"

"Blood circulation," said Gladio, with a faint smirk at having the answer pretty mich locked and loaded, even if there was a good chance Nell had only meant the question rhetorically. "The heat gets it flowing better, so the rest of your body feels even better as a result. S'why it makes your muscles feel better after working 'em hard, too. Helps it get more of what it needs to recover."

"And the heat relaxes them," Nell said. "In any case it feels pretty magical once I'm in the water and after the craziness of this week it is a wonderful treat."

She smiled over at the handsome man she was so lucky to have in her life. "And, of course, having you here makes it even better."

"Well, that's true," Gladio agreed. "Everything is better when I'm involved."

Modesty, thy name was Gladiolus.

His arm dropped lightly around Nell's shoulders to shift a little closer. "Definitely enjoy it, though. You definitely earned it."

Nell was happy to snuggle in a little closer. "I did," she agreed. "This week was crazy."

She smiled up at him. "I know I said it before, but thank you for the rose."

It had meant the world to get a flower from someone she loved.

"Didja notice?" Gladio asked, with apparently plenty of that slightly smug pride still in place. "I made sure you got one with the thorns already stripped, too."

There was a small pause to just appreciate how much it really had meant to her before he added, "Next time, there'll be more."

"I did," she said fondly, " and I truly appreciate it.". She stretched up to give him a kiss.

"More?" she said. "Oh boy. Well, I don't need more, but I'll be happy with whatever you do."

"Well, you didn't really need just the one, either," Gladio pointed out, although, really, he could and would make the case that, actually, yeah, she kind of did, "but that's not the point anyway."

Nell snuggled in a little closer. "You're right, I didn't, but I liked it a lot anyway."

"Good," said Gladio, hugging Nell close and turning his head to press a kiss into the top of hers. And he might have left it at that, slipping into one of those quiet moments of just enjoying comfortable silence together, but he also liked light teasing and gentle conversations, too, so, eventually, he asked, "What are you going to do now? With all this free time on your hands again?"

She laughed. "I'll enjoy the relative quiet for a few weeks, then start getting everything ready for spring. You have to get the seedlings started early so they're ready to go out - or at least into the greenhouse - when the weather starts warming up consistently."

She reached idly for his hand. "You'll be sharing space with more growing things than you can imagine soon. I'd apologize in advance, but you knew I was a plant person."

"Wouldn't even know what you were even apologizing for." Gladio leaned his shoulder against Nell's, grinning, as he entwined his fingers in hers. "Sounds pretty great to me. Can't wait."

"You'll learn to be careful in the sinks and tub," she said with a smile. "Those I'll try to warn you about first."

Seedlings were everywhere in the spring.

There was, very briefly, an initial reaction of thinking that, clearly, Nell was just being hyperbolic, but, well, then Gladio looked over at her with an eyebrow quirked with consideration and it didn't take long for him to realize that she really probably wasn't.

"I might," he informed her, "have to draw the line if it comes to finding seedlings in our bed, but I guess if you manage to just keep them mostly on your side..."

"I think I can safely promise you that there will be no seedlings in our bed unless an errant one attaches itself to me and I miss it," Nell said solemnly, though a grin wasn't far behind.

Seedlings in the bed. Ridiculous. They might get damaged!

"Guess maybe I'll just have to do a good, thorough check for any clingers before bed, then," Gladio suggested, "you know....just in case."

Nothing about that grin or the way his eyebrow moved or how he nudged his shoulders against Nell's seemed to suggest it would be at all just in case, though.

"Oh, you just might," Nell said. "I'll have to strip down so you can do a thorough search!"

She nudged him back with a grin of her own. "You'll have to be careful you don't miss any stragglers."

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Friday at the Onsen: Time to Relax

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