The sun hung at its apex, casting light upon Insomnia. It was midsummer when Prompto was again summoned to the Citadel. He'd assumed Prince Noctis had some business with him there, perhaps involving chilling in the aviary while reading the new M-rated comic Noct had recently sneaked from the library, but when he arrived, he found that the royal shield had called upon him instead on this, his day off.

Gladiolus met him in the grand foyer — tall, wide-bodied, orderly stubble and partially shaved hair quickly growing into a mane. The sight of the young man took Prompto by surprise every time, gruff, tan exterior belying a softer nature behind those sultry auburn eyes. Fresh upon his face was a long, vertical scar, still red hot. Noct had texted him about the whole event: how Gladio had been the perfect shield that night, how sudden it had been, how ashamed he was that this had happened on his account. Not that the prince had said as much to Gladio; after all, the man was only doing his job. Gladio still appeared unfazed. In fact, he seemed cheerful today.

"Hey. I wanted to show you something."

Prompto and Gladio took their leave of the royal court. Prompto took on a quieter nature en route to wherever it was Gladio was leading them until he was sure the two were alone. Then he slipped closer beside the taller man and carefully threaded his fingers around his companion's, keeping pace alongside him. Silent tension melted into mutual calm.

"Was it scary?"

"More of a nuisance than anything else."

"Noct seemed pretty upset about it."

A dry laugh. "The kid needs to focus."

"I'd be concerned, too!" Prompto stopped abruptly, stepping in front of the buff man, reaching up to place the faintest of touches upon Gladio's left cheek. "I mean, look at you…"

"He has other things to concern himself with. As do you." Gladio pointed his face away. "Look."

Following Gladio's gaze, Prompto saw splashes of rainbow color beyond the pillars of the open corridor. Deeper within, sharp angles of Lucian craft gave way to a mesh of natural shapes — myriad flowers, ferns, and trees of different season greeted them at the edge of the grand indoor garden.

Gladio gestured in the direction of the pathway leading into the garden.

"After you."

Prompto ran ahead into the garden, admiring the sights. Butterflies and bees danced between a beautiful array of tulips, many in colors he had never before seen. More summer blossoms dangled from trees above, continuing to cascade along the far wall along with vines woven into trellises. He had no idea something like this lay within the palace — much of its depths still remained secret to him. "Noct never told me about this! This isn't even a part of the aviary!" Prompto whipped out his camera to take a few quick snaps of the lovely blossoms.

"He probably doesn't think much of it, but I thought you'd appreciate it."

Prompto turned again to meet Gladio's eyes, ocean blue irises glistening with sun raining from the skylights. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Gladio caught up with Prompto, taking his hand again. "Heard that if it weren't for the current political climate, they'd consider making it open to the public."

"That would be nice… So many people would enjoy it."

Prompto caught sight of a koi pond that lay just beyond the patch of tulips, dividing the path in twain. Flecks of gold, white, and red slipped between lily pads and lotus blossoms, tiny heads bobbing to the surface when they saw Prompto near. Stooping over, still holding onto Gladio, Prompto's reflection in the water bore a large grin as the fish began mouthing as if to ask him for something. He mirrored their fishy expressions for a moment, eliciting a chuckle from Gladio, who joined him.

"Sorry, guys, I don't have anything for you today," Prompto said, smiling. "Maybe next time."

As he stood straight, the blond looked down the path leading to other chambers of contiguous garden. Donning a playful grin, Prompto stood on his toes to peck Gladio on the cheek, then, unthreading their fingers, quickly ran off down the path.

"Hey," Gladio chuckled, taking pursuit.

He chased Prompto into the next chamber, keeping his eye on the tuft of yellow hair dodging between tall sunflowers and dangling pitcher plants. Prompto was certainly good at playing hard-to-get…in a literal sense. He passed several more themed groups of flowers in an attempt to catch up with the blond boy, following the sound of his laugh.

Just when he thought he'd actually lost sight of Prompto, he rounded a corner of buttercups and softly bumped into the smaller man. He had come to a stop in front of a patch of flowers quite familiar to him, resting coolly beneath a verdant cherry blossom tree.

"Good timing," said Prompto. "Gladiolus, meet gladiolus." Prompto gestured to the flowers below.

"Haven't heard that one before," Gladio said, a wry grin crawling onto his face.

"They're gorgeous, aren't they? Which one's your favorite color?"

"I'm partial to the orangey-yellow ones."

Prompto picked one of the yellow blooms' stalks and tucked it behind Gladio's ear. "There! Flowers for Gladio."

Gladio looked to the side, ever so slightly embarrassed, the left side of his face kissed by yellow blossoms. "Gladiolus means sword, you know." He had long owned his name fully; he found his feeling a more sincere reaction to being treated so tenderly by such a small and genuine soul, an emotion to which he wasn't quite acclimated. Yet he felt the fondness within him continuing to grow.

"Yeah, and you're lookin' sharp!" Prompto paused with his hand at the side of Gladio's face, again captured by the tall man's eyes as he turned his gaze back forward. "It really…brings out your eyes…" Normally, he'd want to snap a photo, but, lost in thought, the urge completely slipped his mind.

Prompto withdrew his hand, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. Chuckling, Gladio placed his arm around Prompto's waist.

"You can look at 'em anytime."

Prompto's heart went thump-thump as Gladio drew him closer to his body. Even now, arms mutually drawn around each other, he marveled at how soft the man felt. It was easy to conflate his body with a stone pillar when just looking at him, but he was every bit as fleshy as Prompto himself, and when they were together like this…well, Gladio basically turned into a big, soft pillow. Leaning against his chest, it was easy to become absorbed by his gentleness. He found himself thanking the gods that he got to view this side of Gladiolus Amicitia, a privilege perhaps only he had ever won.

The pale blond drew away from his companion suddenly, looking flush. How was he even allowed to be this close to him? Wouldn't he just prove to be a distraction, ultimately, for the next time Gladio had to protect Noct, and every time after that?

Looking concerned, Gladio held his arms out toward Prompto. "What's the matter?"

"Ah, I, just…" Prompto hesitated, unable to look right at Gladio. "Just…"

"You're acting awfully anxious. Hope it's nothing I did."

"Oh! No, no way!" Prompto perked up reflexively, meeting Gladio's gaze finally. "You're, well, perfect right now. You haven't done a thing." Prompto nervously grabbed at his right wrist, wringing the wristband lightly. "Thing is, and you've probably noticed, but I tend to get a little…well, anxious, sometimes." He paused. "Okay, all the time."

"What for?" Gladio seemed puzzled now. "Usually you seem pretty upbeat."

"I try to cancel it out — after all, I don't wanna be a constant bummer, y'know?" Prompto kept fidgeting, certain that he was making himself less appealing to the man on whom he'd had a dire crush for some time now.

"I think if you feel a certain way, it's better to just get it out there instead of masking it." Blunt, but true — Gladio certainly seldom stopped short of speaking his mind.

"Yeah…" Prompto held his arm slightly less nervously. "It's still like… Just now, I felt like an idiot for just, like…wanting to be close to you. And earlier today, I felt like an idiot when I responded 'You too!' to the bank teller after they said 'We hope to see you again'…" Prompto turned red again just thinking about it. "Even if I correct myself, or talk about it, I still feel bad."

"That's nothing to feel like an idiot about," said Gladio, shrugging. "You're not an idiot, Prompto."

"I know, but—"

"One of those things is just an honest mistake. And the other thing? I want you to be close to me, like, a lot."

"Gladio, no…" Prompto blushed more deeply.

"You're brilliant, Prompto. You're one of the smartest people I know. Not many get to be so smart and so damn cute." Gladio winked with a soft smile.

Prompto buried his face in his hands. He could feel it burning against his palms. He may not have gotten his explanation across, but he felt like melting nonetheless.

"If you're feelin' anxious, I'll hug you until you're not. How about that?" Gladio held out his arms again, and Prompto accepted.

Prompto buried his face between Gladio's pectorals, breathing deeply to calm himself. It was futile. His heart couldn't help but run at full capacity, jittering like a jackhammer inside of his chest, as he felt Gladio's own chest rise and fall, his own heart skipping beats.

At least he knew that Gladio felt the same way about him. His heart couldn't lie.

Prompto rested against him a moment more before he began picking up the scent of of something extraordinarily sweet-smelling. Was it Gladio? Did he smell this way the whole time? Wait… "Hey…is that lavender?"

"There's a patch of it over there."

Taking his hand again, Prompto followed Gladio's lead toward the lavender outlining patches of taller flowers. Unable to resist immersing himself, Prompto stepped through the patch carefully, breathing deeply as he was enveloped in its scent. It was overwhelming. Tracing the tips of the flowers with his hands, he was so happy to share the moment with Gladio, but when he saw what waited for him beyond the lavender, his heart throbbed against his ribs.

Laid out on a soft patch of grass was a large blanket and a wicker basket full of fruits and wrapped sandwiches. A whole little picnic area had been set up.

"Gladio, did you—" He looked at the larger man with wonder.

Gladio smiled and nodded. "Well, I did just kinda interrupt your lunch plans."

"Oh, you know me, I'm never doing much," said Prompto with a nervous laugh. He still couldn't believe this was happening. "It's not my birthday until October."

Gladio took Prompto's hands and sat down with him on the blanket. "We don't have to wait until a special date for something like this."

Prompto unwrapped one of the sandwiches, eating it eagerly. Turns out he was pretty hungry, on top of the sudden flurry of emotions taking him by surprise. Gladio partook in his own sandwich and an apple, content to sit with Prompto under the sun and enjoy the afternoon.

After finishing his sandwich and a few fresh strawberries, Prompto turned his eyes up to Gladio beside him. "Hey, when are you on duty again?"

"Not 'til later tonight." Gladio tossed his apple core aside.

"Wanna take a nap?"

Gladio laughed. "Heh, Noct's been rubbin' off on ya."

"Naps rule, dude! I miss naptime, to be quite honest."

"Can't say I'm familiar with it."

"Oh. My. Gosh. C'mon, big guy. Let's experience this together."

By now, the shade of a nearby tree had reached them. Scooting closer to the top of their blanket, putting their picnic stuff aside, they lay together on their backs in the cool shade. Prompto swiftly took the larger man's larger hand into his own. Gladio turned his head to the side, smiling at Prompto. Prompto grinned back.

"Not bad, right?"

"It's perfect."

Rolling onto his side, Prompto pulled Gladio closer to him so he could place a soft, sweet kiss on Gladio's face, being gentle next to his scar. His lips moved to Gladio's own plump, delicate lips.

Gladiolus reciprocated, enjoying the taste of strawberry on Prompto's lips.

There they lay together, relishing a private afternoon nap in the comfort of each other's arms.

h/t to Tara for beta reading

h/t to glomptopromptio for the anxiety idea