fandomtownies | Tuesday: Plant Parenthood

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Tuesday: Plant Parenthood

Nell had definitely had more sugary treats last night than she had in, well, ever, probably. Not that she regretted it, it had been delicious and fun to spend the evening with Liliana. But today was definitely a day to have a more balanced diet.

She'd brought the vase of gladiolas down with her to the store since it was just downstairs and the kittens would be down there as well. They'd developed an adorable habit of taking turns sleeping curled around the base of the flowers - as if they knew it was Gladio and still wanted to be close to him, which given that they seemed to be done version of Fandom oddities themselves, what with never seeming to get any larger, was probably true.

Nell went about her work, chatting to Gladio as she went, and planned as usual to settle in to read a book out loud to him when she had her tea break in the afternoon. In the meantime she was very interruptible.

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And Gladio was, for the most part, continuing to just be a plant, because the thing with actually turning into flora rather than fauna like most people was that the whole thing wound up being pretty chill. He was vaguely even aware of the thing going on around him, but, without much to do to respond to it, he mostly just vibed with doing plant things like drinking water and soaking up the sun, and just being glad that the fact that he had Nell to take care of him now meant he was unlikely to get any new scars on him from his vase being accidentally knocked over and smashing into pieces.

Although he was a little nervous when Liliana and Ignis came over last night. You'd think maybe Iggy being a bat would mean fewer chances of being knocked over, but you never knew how easily he'd taken to flying. It could have been a disaster!

Thankfully, though (and who could blame him, honestly?), it seemed the little Batnis had been more than content with just sticking to or around Liliana's cleavage.

So it was generally just idle thoughts about Ignis finally going through one of these and about what Nell was talking to him about that occupied the slightly dulled ether of his plant-mind that afternoon when, seemingly as random as the moment he'd turned into a plant, Gladio's plant-mind became much more of a human mind, and his body was much more of a human one as well.

One that felt like it had been incredibly cramped for the better part of a week, and took the opportunity to stretch now that it could, with little concern to his position perched on a surface or his current lack of clothing. He mostly just seemed interested in rubbing his neck with a little bit of a groan and a thought that he was getting too old for this transformation shit.

And then, eyes adjusting, he looked around for Nell, to greet her with a lopsided grin once he spotted her.

"Hey."

"Oh my," Nell said ~~causing George Takei to smile somewhere~~. "I guess this table is pretty sturdy."

She beamed at him. "Hello! Welcome back to being you! Though..." she glanced out the window, "Perhaps there could be a little less of you for passersby to see." She hurried over and closed the store blinds, flipping the lock and sign to closed as she did.

"Gonna come down and hug me or do I need to climb up there?"

Gladio, naturally, gave a small wiggle where he sat to test this table's sturdiness a little more, grin only growing as it met that beaming look on Nell's face. When she started moving toward the window, though, he had to laugh.

"You sure about that?" he asked. "Might help drum up some new business..."

In fact, anyone who just so happened to pass by at the right moment would catch a perfect golden second of quite the view indeed as the blinds were just about to close as Gladio got off the table.

And then seemed to regret it as he landed his feet on the ground just as her inquiry hit.

"Well," he said, "that second one would be pretty good for testing the table's sturdiness even more."

But no, he'd been a plant for over a week now, and while Nell, more than anyone, had a special way with plants, it was no substitution for her special way with him, and his arms were sweeping her up into a hug as soon as they got the chance.

"Oh Gladio," Nell said as his arms went around her. "I'm so very happy to have you back." She stood on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him down for a kiss.

"We can try out the sturdiness of the table another time," she murmured just before their lips met.

"Are you sure about that?" Gladio asked, because, well, he was naked and they were kissing, and he'd been a pot of flowers for a week, and you tell him not to take an opening that wide.

But that grin on his face softened to a very content smile, maybe with the slightest hint of a sigh to match, when he was able to lift a hand to Nell's cheek and actually brush his fingers against the warmth of her skin, and he had to just kiss her again.

"Didn't even knock the vase over once," he noted.

This was his first time coming out of one of these without any new scars, it was kind of a big deal, actually.

Nell laughed at the first, then pulled away at the second to give him dramatic wide-eyed horror. "Of course I didn't knock the vase over! Heaven forbid! Even the kittens were careful when they snuggled with you!"

She did take a second to look down at his feet to see if there was soil on them. She had put Soulwood soil in the vase.

"And I gave you little bursts of extra energy every time I walked by or sat with you!"

If the scars from his broken vase stayed after he turned back, then surely the soil would stay, too, clinging between his toes and likely to leave a little bit of a trail once he started making his way upstairs. Gladio followed Nell's glance toward his feet and gave his toes a little bit of a wiggle, and then used that moment to also land a grateful kiss on the top of her head.

"You were great," he said. "I'd expect no less. Thanks, Nell."

He'd compliment her ability to be a much better plant caretaker than Ignis was, but it was too risky that Ignis might still manage to overhear it.

Please. Nell. Plants. There was no contest. And no offense to Ignis. He was not part plant himself after all. Not that Nell knew that yet, so shhh.

"No thanks needed," Nell said and smiled down at his feet. "I was able to keep an eye out on you long distance- well, so to speak."

"So you're telling me it's a good thing I didn't give into all those urges I had for a bunch of wayward plant shenanigans, huh?"

Nell laughed. "You could have tried," she said. "I would have liked to see that."

"Maybe for next time," Gladio said, with a crooked grin. "Although I hope that next time isn't for a while now. For now, I'm thinking I could really go for some long overdue Cup Noodle^TM and maybe a pair of pants..."

The grin tilted just a little more, as he gave Nell a nudge with his arm, something else he also greatly missed getting to do while a plant. "Well, the pants are pretty negotiable, actually."

Nell laughed again, she hadn't done all that much of over the past week (except while she and Liliana were eating dessert for dinner last night), and nudged him back. "As long as pantless doesn't become the new shirtless."

She stretched back up and kissed him. "Come on. Let's get you upstairs and on the outside of some Cup Noodle."

"I don't know," Gladio mused, and his grin was for the teasing, for the most part, sure, but it would never pass his notice that it felt a little remarkable that Nell's reaction to him just strutting around without a stitch of clothing on was met with laughs and nudges and even kisses. Pretty far shot away from when he'd practically go scrambling for a shirt if she was around, huh? "I've been crammed into a pot for a week, this freedom feels pretty nice right now..."

"Upstairs," she said firmly, though the grin never left her face. "And you can be as nakedy as you like. Though I'm warning you right now, don't come crying to me when the kittens jump up on your lap to snuggle and their sharp little claws catch you in uncomfortable places."

Oh any other person would have her covering her eyes in horror, but this was Gladio.

Gladio started marching his way toward the stairs, but stopped a moment to look down at the welt of a scar across his chest, and then looked back at Nell with his eyebrow arched underneath the scar cutting across his forehead.

"I think I can handle a few cat claws."

She gave a pointed look at another far more sensitive part of his anatomy, as yet unscarred. "Mmmhmm... Like I said, sharp little kitten claws catch you in certain places, well... you get no sympathy from me."

He would, but she might tease him unmercifully about it.

Gladio smirked, and preening became a full body affair as he made sure Nell got the most put of that pointed look.

"Won't have to worry about that if you're in my lap instead."

He stepped in closer, to slide his arm around her again and pull her in for another kiss, one that was pretty pointed in its own right.

Nell laughed against his mouth. "You keep that up and I'm thinking you're not going to get Cup Noodle anytime soon."

She rubbed up against him, sliding her arms up his back and into his hair. "I mean, I already ate, so I'm... hungry... for other things, but I wouldn't want to deprive you..."

"Well, the good thing about Cup Noodle^TM," said Gladio, in that low and rumbling tone of his that he got when he was practically grinning right up against Nell's lips, "is that it's ready whenever you are. And I think I've definitely got some other appetites to satisfy first."

And, if there was any doubt possibly left about what those appetites might be, that kiss should definitely resolve them.

"Cup Noodle^TM can wait."

But Gladio wasn't sure if he could, but there was a pretty easy solution to that, in picking Nell up against holding her against him tightly, kissing her more as he carried her up the stairs to see if they'd actually make it to the bedroom or nah.

At this rate they might not make it all the way up the stairs, which was a little shocking to Nell. No, shocking wasn't the right word. Exhilarating? Daring? Wildly wonderful?

Well, maybe at least safely up the stairs, though she found herself as eager as Gladio to satisfy this particular type of hunger.

He was back and she wanted all of him.

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Tuesday: Plant Parenthood

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