Gladio had opened the door to find her standing there, crying.
But that wasn't how the day had started.
It had started with him coming back from an early morning meeting with the others about the whole situation with Noctis. Kimbr had been on a mission for the past few days and just gotten back, so when he arrived at the apartment they shared, she was curled up on the bed still in her Glaive uniform.
Gladio chuckled and walked over to her before brushing her hair back and running his thumb over her cheek. "Hey sleeping beauty." He said softly.
Kimbr whined and curled up in a ball, clearly trying to quickly go back to sleep since him talking had waken her up.
"Hey you're still in your uniform, you can't sleep comfortably in that." Gladio said lifting her into a sitting position.
She yawned and pouted. "But I'm too tired to careeeeeeeeeee!" She whined. She sounded like Prompto when he was tired.
"Well I know that's a flat out lie." Gladio started unbuttoning the coat of the uniform, like he was helping a child. Which, considering she was half asleep and exhausted from the mission that had taken longer than she had wanted it to, Kimbr would be due to lack of sleep.
The Glaive sighed and shrugged off the coat before slipping of her boots and wiggling out of her pants with Gladio hanging up the coat and putting her boots with the rest of her shoes. He grabbed her one of his t-shirts and tossed it at her as he put her pants into the hamper. A moment later she had tossed her Glaive top at him and it landed on his shoulder. He chuckled and threw it in the hamper as well before walking back over to her and draping the covers over her.
Kimbr sighed and curled up, snuggling down into the blankets. "Thank you…" She murmured sleepily.
"Of course. Get some sleep." He kissed her forehead and a smile appeared on her lips.
"I love you…" She mumbled before falling asleep.
"I love you too." Gladio said softly, running his fingers through her hair as she dozed off.
After Kimbr had fallen asleep, Gladio went to take a shower and get something to eat, closing the bedroom behind him so he wouldn't disturb her with the banging of pots and pans as he cooked a simple meal.
Sure Gladio wasn't great at cooking, but Ignis and Kimbr had taught him so things so at least he could cook something and not had a pot of water catch on fire unlike a certain person of royalty.
So he went to the kitchen after changing into some comfortable clothes and started making himself something to eat.
It was a few hours later that he started to hear stuff coming from the bedroom which Kimbr was in. He frowned and set the book he was reading aside on the coffee table before getting up to check on her. Was she having another nightmare? Had she rolled off the bed again?
When he opened the door, he found her on the ground with a small box in front of her and a photo in her hand that was becoming littered with her tears as she cried.
Kimbr looked up at Gladio, sniffling. "I-I.." She couldn't even finish her sentence before a sob escaped her and she hugged the photo tightly.
Gladio walked over and sat next to her, picking her up and pulling her into his lap and hugging her tightly.
She had found her old photos of the Glaives. She had always had Prompto take pictures of everyone when he could and after everything, when they had found out that all of the Glaives had died when Insomnia had fallen she had just broken down. Prompto got the pictures he had printed out and gave them to Kimbr so she would have something to remember them.
Of course after everything, she had hidden the photos because it became too much to look at it. But it seems she had been looking for something in the closet and stumbled upon them once again. The mission had been stressful and she was still exhausted so that combined just made it easy enough for her to break once she even looked at one of the photos.
Gladio gently pried the photo from her hands and looked at.
It was a photo of Kimbr with Nyx and Libertus, the two she had grown up with in Gahald and Insomnia. It was of them at the bar, all smiling and laughing.
"I remember when Prompto took this." He said softly, rubbing her shoulder with his other hand. "He had said some stupid joke to get you all to laugh after one of your missions and then quickly took a photo." He looked at her. "Then you proceed to chase him all over downtown Insomnia."
Kimbr's cries and sobs had turned to sniffles by this point since being curled up to Gladio was calming to her.
"And Prompto saw me and decided to use me as protection from you." He chuckled. "I have never seen you as made as you were that day. Even though I hadn't actually met you properly yet."
A small giggle escaped Kimbr.
"And of course you snapped at him to stop hiding and show you the picture so you could decide whether or not have him delete it." Gladio said while wiping away the last of her tears that lingered.
"And you stepped in, telling me that it was 'quite rude to say such a thing to one of the Prince's friends.'" Kimbr said softly, her voice shakey from crying.
"And you said that 'taking pictures of Glaives after missions wasn't a pretty thing and no one needed to see it.'" He kissed her head. "But I see all the time and I'm pretty sure you're still the most beautiful thing I've seen."
This caused Kimbr to blush and hide her face in his shirt, a muffled squeak being the only thing he could hear.
Gladio chuckled and ran his fingers through her hair. "Still can't take a compliment, can you?"
"Shut up you tree." She mumbled.
"Since when was I tree?" He said.
"Since we started dating because you're tall as fuck."
"Says the Oompa Loompa."
Kimbr looked up at him with a gasp. "How dare you!"
Gladio grinned. "What? It's true."
"I am NOT an Oompa Loompa!" She huffed, crossing her arms.
The shield touched his nose to hers. "You sure seem like one." He mumbled.
"And why would you date an Oompa Loompa?" She said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Because she's the best Oompa Loompa I know." He smiled and kissed her. "I love you Kimbr."
"I love you too Gladio." She curled up to him once again. "Thank you…."
"Anything for you."