Rox awoke with her head resting against a cushion and she blinked blearily a few times, becoming increasingly aware that she wasn't in her own bed but on a sofa which wasn't her own.
A sofa?
And then it all came flooding back.
She sat bolt upright, her mind racing. She'd slept in Gladiolus' apartment, actually falling asleep on the man if her memories served her right after what had been one hell of an evening. He wasn't with her now though and as she craned her neck to see if he had moved in the night, she realised with a wave of surprise that his bedroom door was entirely open with the bed seemingly empty. Straining her ears quickly ruled out the chance of him being in the shower; she couldn't hear anything. A quick hunt for her phone revealed that it was little past eight thirty am and given that it was a Saturday, she doubted he'd needed to be up for work and if he did, surely he would have woken her and made her leave?
No, of course he didn't have work, he wouldn't have introduced the whole idea about breakfast if he'd needed to rush off early in the morning.
So where was he?
Rox prayed that he wasn't planning on doing the whole cliché thing she'd seen countless times in movies where one of the characters wakes up alone after spending the night with their lover, thinking they'd been ditched only for said lover to return with coffee or some kind of food. She doubted it was really his style, after all, he wanted to take her out for breakfast and besides, they certainly hadn't slept together.
No, instead he'd thrown her up against a wall and kissed her until she'd forgotten her own name only to deny her everything in a last minute act of chivalry and now leave her furiously questioning just what was going through his head.
Sadly, looking round at his empty apartment wasn't going to help her find any answers. With a sigh Rox looked to her phone, beginning to write him a text only to spy a piece of paper sat on the coffee table that she was certain hadn't been there last night. Abandoning her phone, she leant across and grabbed the paper which was written on in the same messy handwriting that had been on the note left for her in the library.
'Gone for a run. Should be back before you're up but if you are, feel free to make yourself at home. Hope you're hungry!
G x'
Rox chided herself for not thinking of it before; of course that was where he had gone. Gladiolus probably had an insanely strict fitness regime that couldn't be deviated from, no matter what day it was or whose company he was in. At least she'd woken with enough time to at least dive into the bathroom before he could truly see her in the light of the day. Mornings were not her favourite at the best of times but given that she'd slept with all her makeup on and her hair left free to its own devices, she reckoned she could probably give even the most horrifying daemon a run for its money. Also judging by the itchy dryness of her eyes, sleeping in her contacts hadn't done her any favours either.
Grabbing her bag, Rox went in search of the bathroom and after switching on the light and locking the door, she finally faced herself in the large mirror that covered most of the back wall and couldn't help but laugh.
It was a miracle the glass hadn't smashed with the bedraggled monster that was staring back at her. Keen to not look too long for fear of blinding herself, Rox popped out her contacts and scraped her hair into a tight bun before switching on the shower and stepping under the stream of water. Taking a few minutes to enjoy the invigorating heat and glorious water pressure that made her own shower seem like a pathetic lukewarm trickle, she began scrubbing herself down and, feeling rather more human, she reluctantly stopped the flow of water and stepped out.
Grabbing a clean towel from the shelves just off to the side, Rox quickly dried herself off and then put her clothes back on with a sigh, praying they weren't too noticeably worn. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for thinking to pick up her makeup bag when she had left her apartment for work the morning before. Not only was the idea of facing the world and more crucially the Prince's Shield completely barefaced absolutely abhorrent, her delightful ex had left quite the mark on her cheek which was starting to bruise and turn a nasty purple. Doing her best to cover it up, Rox turned her attention to her hair, failing to even remotely tame it and eventually giving up and just leaving it in a ponytail. Another pat on the back came for always bringing her glasses out with her 'just in case'. No makeup would have been grim but being unable to see would have been a complete disaster, although given Gladiolus' previous comment about her glasses, he was bound to say something again.
Feeling as presentable as she was probably going to get, Rox gathered her things and unlocked the door, heading back towards the sofa to wait for Gladiolus to return.
As it was, he was already reclined in the spot where she had been sat and he twisted round as she approached.
"Hey," he said with a smile and the mere gesture set her heart off into acrobatics, her mouth instantly going bone dry. His presence startled her as she was sure she hadn't heard him come back but it wasn't exactly unreasonable for Gladiolus to be sat in his own apartment. She told herself fiercely to get a grip. It was going to be a long morning if the mere sight of him turned her into some nervous wreck.
Her faltering composure wavered dangerously as her eyes briefly dropped from his face and flowed over the material of his top that was slightly damp with sweat and clinging to the landscape of his sculpted chest and she quickly snapped her gaze back up.
"Hey," she replied, trying to reciprocate his smile and hoping it didn't look as forced as it felt. "I hope you haven't been waiting too long."
Gladiolus got to his feet with a sigh, stretching his arms high above his head and grunting as the muscles pulled.
"Nah, only got back about five minutes ago. You manage to work the shower and everything alright?"
Rox nodded, hating how cripplingly awkward she felt. There couldn't have been more than two paces between them but it felt like an eternity and yet far too close all at once.
"Yeah, thanks," she said, her mind quickly scrambling for something else to say. "Good run?"
"It was alright. I was tempted to drag you along with me but figured you needed the sleep after you straight up passed out on me last night." He suddenly chuckled and rubbed his back, wincing as he did. "You were right about crashing on the couch though, my back is killing this morning."
Normally Rox would have gloated at the revelation of being right but instead mortification gripped her tightly.
Not only had she fallen asleep on him but she had presumably stayed like that for the entire night since his sofa wasn't anywhere near big enough for her to lie down fully with Gladiolus sat on it too.
"Why didn't you move?" she demanded and Gladiolus shrugged.
"I was comfy, although my body would say different. Don't worry, you didn't snore that badly," he added jokingly although as Rox laughed half-heartedly, he finally seemed to sense the awkwardness between them. He took a step forward, his dark eyebrows raised slightly. "You alright, Rox? Not like you to be this quiet."
Rox shook her head dismissively, forcing her smile even more.
"I'm fine, mornings just aren't my best. Speaking of which, you better get showered and dressed or you'll be taking me out for lunch, not breakfast."
Gladiolus seemed to ignore her response, coming even closer still as his eyes flowed slowly over her face as if he was drinking in every inch of her features until the amber of his gaze settled on her eyes and he bent his head down, his hand finding the small of her back and pulling her towards him. Their lips met in a brief but searing kiss and Gladiolus broke their contact, leaning back enough so he could look into her eyes again.
"I hope that answers your question." With a sigh, he straightened up. "Right, I'll just have a quick shower and then I promise I'll feed ya. Won't be long, darlin'."
With that, he and strolled off towards the bathroom, pulling his tanktop over his head as he walked. Rox watched him until he disappeared from sight, acutely aware of how his kiss still burned on her lips and her cheeks tingled from his rough stubble. Clearing her throat, she finally thawed and headed back to the sofa, sinking into the leather and looking for anything that might take her mind off the frustration that seemed to have awoken with renewed vigour. The sexual tension had been bad enough the previous night but now it was almost unbearable coupled with the agonising ambiguity of just what was going on in their relationship, if they could even call it one.
And just kissing her wasn't going to make it any clearer.
Determined to occupy her mind with something, especially since Gladiolus had begun singing with full gusto in the shower, his rich, husky voice reverberating off the hard tiles, Rox pulled the pile of books towards her that was resting on the coffee table. There were a few that she hadn't read, alongside a copy of the book that Gladiolus had recommended for her when she had been at the library the week before.
She was close to finishing it and as she had predicted, a tragedy had befallen the cantankerous female lead and, upon being saved by the man she had previously barely tolerated and nearly killed a few times simply out of irritation, she had realised that perhaps he wasn't so bad after all.
A sharp laugh tumbled from her lips; it wasn't wholly unlike what had occurred between her and Gladiolus.
How meta.
Her gaze moved onto the book below which, she realised with a barely supressed giggle, was a rather cheesy romance novel she herself had read a little while back. It was painfully tragic and sickly sweet but once she'd accepted it for what it was, it hadn't actually been that bad a read, even making her cry a little at the end. It certainly wasn't what she would have predicted to be Gladiolus' taste and she was suddenly impatient for him to get out the shower so she could question him and, more importantly, ridicule him about it.
Turning slightly in her seat, she opened the book and flicked through the pages, searching for her favourite scene where the stable boy had led the princess into the barn in a moment of spontaneous passion only for the princess' pompous, obnoxious suitor to arrive and complain indignantly that there was no one there to relieve him of his horse, forcing the pair to hide in a large pile of hay until he left in a rage.
She was so engrossed in her reading that she jumped when a deep chuckle sounded behind her.
"Damn, there's just something about you in them glasses. Beats me why you don't wear them all the time."
Rox whipped her head up to see Gladiolus leaning against the doorframe, his arms folded and a huge grin on his face. He'd since got changed, opting for white jeans which were only slightly less offending than his other pants and he'd covered his arms with a dark green leather jacket. He pushed himself off the wall, walking towards Rox, craning over her as he tried to get a glimpse of the book in her hand.
"Whatcha reading?"
Rox flipped the book over and held up the front cover, raising an eyebrow questioningly at Gladiolus.
"Didn't have you down for a fan of heart-breaking tales of love, especially ones as soppy as this. The gossip columns would have a field day if they knew."
Gladiolus just laughed, folding his arms against his chest once more.
"What can I say? I'm a romantic at heart. Probably best to keep that between us though. Got a reputation to maintain after all."
Rox couldn't help but scoff.
"Yeah might kinda ruin the whole terrifying, no nonsense Royal Shield thing, although your ridiculously oversized female fan club would probably lose their minds. By the way, if you think these sort of books will give you tips on how to seduce a woman you'll be seriously disappointed. If you tried to kiss me in the rain I would tell you to stop being so stupid and drag your sorry ass back inside."
"Don't need any tips when you're already the master of seduction," Gladiolus countered smugly. "I did like the idea of that barn scene though."
Rox quickly slid her thumb out of the page she had been reading, destroying the evidence that she had in fact been reading the exact same scene.
"Of course you did," she groaned, rolling her eyes and returning the book to the table. "The Prince better steer clear of any farms in that case. Saying that, since you're a gentleman, you probably wouldn't do such a scandalous thing anyway."
Gladiolus' eyebrows twitched and then he suddenly leant in close to Rox, a toothy grin spreading across his face as her breathing visibly quickened and her eyes widened.
"I may be a gentleman but that doesn't mean I don't love being a scoundrel too, Rox." He paused for a moment, enjoying the little flushes of pink that were spreading across Rox's cheeks before he winked and straightened up. "Let's go eat, I'm starving."
Rox let out a long breath as she watched Gladiolus walk over to the door and slip his feet into his shoes, concluding that she was probably going to need a week just to recover from the small amount of time she had spent with him.
The man was simply exhausting.
Pushing herself from the sofa, she grabbed her bag and threw her shoes on too, following Gladiolus out into the corridor and back along the labyrinth to the elevator. Once they'd descended and stepped out, Gladiolus checked his phone quickly and instead of heading towards the monstrous doors that marked the exit, he gestured down a large corridor to their right.
"Come with me a sec. Wanna show you something."
"Umm…ok?" Rox said a little confusedly before following him once more as he began to walk away, clearly insisting on showing her whether she wanted to or not. He led her in silence until they emerged through an archway and into a room that had a staggeringly high ceiling and windows of jade green glass that cast beams of ethereal light and revealed the swirls of dust that drifted through the air. It was more breathtakingly beautiful than any church or ballroom that Rox had ever been in and yet it seemed to serve no more purpose than just another corridor leading from one section of the Citadel to the next.
"What is this place?" she gasped, not wanting to speak loudly for fear of breaking the almost divine peace that surrounded them.
Gladiolus was watching the awe on her face, a smile spreading across his own.
"Nowhere in particular, just somewhere I walk through on patrol sometimes. I wanted to bring you here because…well…" He broke off, sighing and running his fingers through his hair as he hastily checked his phone again. "I wanted you to sing." He bit the inside of his lip to stop himself laughing as Rox proceeded to look at him as if he had three heads.
"You want me to sing…" she repeated slowly, unable to decide if she was missing some joke or whether Gladiolus was being genuine. Much to her surprise, it seemed like he actually wanted her to sing.
"Look Rox, you sounded great up on that shitty stage the other week but I promise ya, the acoustics in here will beat any mic you've sang down. Just try it and see for yourself."
Rox still wasn't convinced.
"But won't somebody hear? I'm not even supposed to be here, let alone singing in some corridor that looks like it was pulled right from a fairy-tale castle."
"Nahh, it's too early, no one will be around yet."
Rox's fierce reluctance wavered as Gladiolus proceeded to sigh deeply and rub the back of his neck, looking almost sheepish, if that was possible given the size of his ego.
"I don't think you realise how good you are, Rox. Forgive a guy for just wanting to know what you sound like in here."
She stared at him incredulously for a few seconds before she shook her head and laughed.
"You're an idiot, you know that right?"
Gladiolus grinned, clearly knowing he'd won her over.
"The biggest." He gestured to the centre of the room. "Floor's yours, darlin'."
Rox walked a few steps forward, swinging her arms gently as she wracked her brains for something to satisfy Gladiolus' rather random request. Given the location, there was one song she knew of that seemed fitting, namely a little prayer written in one of the ancient languages thanking the gods for blessing the land with the promise of eternal peace and salvation from the darkness.
The moment the first note left her lips all of Rox's inhibitions instantly melted. The beautiful but haunting melody soared into the air and she closed her eyes, drifting away into the song as it echoed around her, floating upwards as if it was to reach the heavens and the very gods themselves. She forgot Gladiolus was watching and even that she was in the Citadel, truly enchanted by how ethereal and beautiful her voice sounded.
Gladiolus was right; the acoustics were more glorious than she could ever have imagined.
As the final note faded away into silence, Rox took a deep breath, grounding herself once more before she finally opened her eyes.
"Well, as much as I hate admitting you're right…"
The words died on her tongue as she turned around to face Gladiolus and realised she had gained a much larger audience during the time she had been singing, and a royal one at that.
Her heart plummeted into her stomach as she caught sight of none other than the King himself surrounded by several rather official and notably confused looking people. Gladiolus was stood just to the side of them looking exceptionally pleased with himself and Rox glanced at him in a mixture of outrage and panic until the King began to speak.
"I've never considered the corridor beside the council chambers to be a place for music before but perhaps it should be. That was truly beautiful." He turned to Gladiolus who bowed his head reverently. "Is this a friend of yours? I don't believe we've been introduced."
Gladiolus nodded, standing straight once more.
"Your Majesty, may I present Miss Ferox Venustas, a friend and a singer, although I imagine you probably already knew that."
King Regis laughed.
"Quite." He turned to address Rox once more. "It is a pleasure, Miss Venustas."
"The pleasure is mine, Your Majesty," Rox said shakily, not sure whether she was supposed to bow or curtsey and she ended up doing an awkward combination of the both. "I hope I didn't interrupt your meeting."
Regis smiled warmly, shaking his head.
"Not at all, we were just finishing and it was lovely to hear such a talented voice. Tell me, do you sing often?"
"Not really…" Rox began, flashing a glare towards Gladiolus as he risked a smirk in her direction. Judging by the fact he had been frequently checking his phone and was now looking beyond smug, he had known of their meeting and the fact that it was due to finish just as they had arrived.
In other words, he had set her up.
It seemed he wasn't quite satisfied yet, however.
"She's just being modest, Your Majesty," he urged, his expression deeply sincere as he looked to the King. "I've heard her sing on stage before. She was singing something a bit more modern but it was just as impressive. Multi-talented I would say."
The King seemed to ponder Gladiolus' words for a second although it felt like an eternity to Rox as she stood before them all, painfully aware of every eye that was on her.
"Do you know if Ignis has organised any musical entertainment for Noctis' birthday celebrations yet, Gladiolus?"
"Not to my knowledge, no, Your Majesty."
"It may be worth mentioning Miss Venustas' name to him then, if they aren't already acquainted." He turned back to Rox. "If that's alright with you, of course."
Rox couldn't quite believe what was happening and she swallowed hard, suddenly feeling like something was blocking her throat.
"It…it would be an honour, Your Majesty."
Regis smiled once again, leaning on his walking stick as he began to turn around to leave.
"Excellent. Well I won't keep you. I look forward to seeing you again, Miss Venustas."
Rox hastily bowed again with a mumbled 'Your Majesty', not relaxing until she could see the King no more and silence had fallen upon the chamber again. She immediately turned to face Gladiolus as he began to speak.
"Singing at Noct's twentieth, eh? Doesn't get much better than that, darlin'."
So much adrenaline was pumping its way through Rox's veins that her body was trembling slightly and she didn't know whether she wanted to throw her arms around Gladiolus to hug him or to strangle him.
A torrent of accusations were about to burst from her when Gladiolus threw his hands up in warning, his grin widening.
"I can see you're dying to shout at me but perhaps you better save it until we're outside? Your voice kinda carries in this room."
Rox sighed crossly, grumbling to herself as she began to follow Gladiolus.
"Oh really? I hadn't noticed..."
They walked through the Citadel in silence but the minute they began descending the Citadel's steps, Rox finally erupted.
"I can't believe you set me up! You knew the King was in some meeting with his advisors or something next door and you made me sing?! It's a fucking miracle I didn't have a heart attack…You know you might be used to seeing the King everyday but it's kinda a big deal for the rest of us!"
She broke off and took a deep breath, having not paused at all during her rant and turned to see Gladiolus was laughing at her.
"Now that you've got that off your chest," he chuckled as he felt the heat of her glare fall onto him, "let's look at the facts. Ok so I might have set you up a little and perhaps I might have heard from Iggy that he still needed to sort the music for Noct's party but in my defence, if you'd had known the King was in earshot you never would have opened your mouth. And given how incredible you sounded just then, that would have been a damn shame. You can't tell me you haven't dreamt of singing on a big stage in front of an actual audience, not just the drunken regulars at that shitty bar of yours."
"Of course I have…I just didn't imagine in my wildest dreams it would be in front of the royal family!" Rox exclaimed, finally letting herself smile as the reality of what had just happened truly dawned on her. "As much as I wanna be mad with you I can't. You're forgiven but only because this is actually pretty damn insane."
Gladiolus shrugged, rolling his shoulders back and sighing smugly.
"Not only have I just kickstarted your singing career but now I'm gonna buy you breakfast too. You can't deny it Rox, I'm the best."
Rox threw him a weary look.
"How do you carry that ego around all day? Must be exhausting."
"I'm used to it," he replied with a wink. An idea suddenly struck him and he pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocking the screen and tapping it a few times before holding it out to Rox. "Here, take Iggy's number before I forget. He'll be far more use at organising the party stuff than I will."
Rox took his phone with a nod and pulled out her own, setting about creating a new contact for the Prince's advisor as they walked through Insomnia's sunny streets, heading for the centre.
Gladiolus' phone buzzed in her hand as she was copying Ignis' number over and she instinctively glanced at the notification as it flashed up on the screen. Instead of closing it out of politeness, she found herself staring at the name of the sender, her heart suddenly thumping in her chest and before she knew it she'd opened the entire message and stopped walking, hot, angry tears pricking at her eyes.
Gladiolus glanced to the side to see he was alone and turned around to face her in confusion.
"Sorry Rox, thought you'd be alright typing and walking…"
Rox slowly looked up to meet his eyes, her face taut with fury and hurt.
"Who's Liv?"
Gladiolus' expression suddenly dropped, his dark eyebrows knitting together into a deep frown.
"Just some girl I was talking to a while back but I broke if off with her…Why?"
"Oh really? 'Cause she just texted you asking when, and I quote, 'are you gonna ditch that bit on the side?'." Rox took a deep breath, furiously forcing away the tears that were threatening to come spilling down her cheeks. "She wouldn't be referring to me, would she?"
Gladiolus looked more confused than concerned.
"Rox don't be ridiculous. I don't know why she's sent that, we haven't spoken in weeks…" He gestured urgently for his phone. "Let me see that."
"Sure," Rox spat as she shoved the phone into his outstretched hand. "That way you can let her know that your 'bit on the side' won't be a problem anymore."
"Rox come on…" Gladiolus groaned, trying to catch her arm as she began to storm past him but she swiped his hand away.
"Don't fucking touch me," she snarled and Gladiolus just stared after her in shock, watching until she'd disappeared out of sight before he came to his senses. He looked down at his phone, reading the message that was on the screen.
'Word on the street is that you've been a bit of a bad boy but you know I like that. Seriously when are you gonna ditch that bit on the side? I know you miss me baby. It's obvious you're only trying to make me jealous by fooling around with her. Come see me later, ok? xxx'
He cursed fervently, anger and remorse crashing onto him simultaneously.
Suddenly, he wasn't so hungry anymore.
Noctis grunted in pain as he was thrown heavily to the floor of the training room once again and instead of leaping up and throwing himself back into the fight as usual, he propped himself painfully onto his elbows and stared at Gladiolus pointedly.
"On your feet," Gladiolus demanded, slinging his greatsword over his shoulder and wiping the sweat from his brow with his other hand. "We're not finished yet."
"Not until you tell me what's going on."
The stern expression that was on Gladiolus' face intensified.
"Nothing's going on," he growled dismissively. "Feet. Now."
The lethal glare that burned down onto Noctis just confirmed his suspicions; something was definitely going on. He sat up fully, pulling up one leg and resting his arm on it, leaning the rest of his weight back onto his other hand.
"The size of my bruises would say different. I usually only get this kinda beating when I've pissed you off or someone else has. You might think you can hide stuff from me but I know you better than anyone, Gladio. Besides, it isn't just me. Iggy and Prompto have noticed something's up too."
Given the fact that Gladiolus had been acting like an enraged behemoth with a thorn in its foot all week, nearly reducing Prompto to tears for merely accidently bumping into him and tripping them both slightly, it had been pretty impossible for them not to notice. Noctis knew better than to antagonise him with accusations, however.
Gladiolus stared down at Noctis, every instinct screaming at him to just drag the Prince to his feet and forcibly continue his weekly combat training. It was his job, his duty as Shield to push all of his own worries and emotions to the side to protect Noctis, sensing when something was troubling him and doing everything in his power to fix it. It seemed rather alien the other way around but Gladiolus knew Noctis as closely as a brother, being able to tell the moment something wasn't right and so it wasn't exactly surprising then that he felt the same.
He was a military man but he was still human and Noctis' next words winded him like he'd been punched in the stomach.
"That girl you met at Somnus…what was her name again?"
Gladiolus' glare darkened; he knew exactly what Noctis was trying to do. The Prince stared pointedly up at Gladiolus, entirely immune to the warning that was churning threateningly in the amber of his Shield's eyes, a look that would have even the most fearless men running for their lives.
"Rox," he grunted, determinedly ignoring the way his stomach tightened at the mere mention of her name. "What about it?"
Noctis shrugged nonchalantly, picking at a loose thread on his t-shirt.
"Nothing really, you just haven't mentioned her name for a while. Figured something must have happened."
Gladiolus could feel his resolve weakening as Noctis expertly dangled the bait in front of him, waiting patiently for him to bite like the skilled angler that he was. With a huff, he acquiesced and vanished his greatsword, dropping to the ground beside Noctis and crossing his long legs, resting his arms upon them.
"I screwed up, Noct."
Noctis didn't meet his eye, his attention still on his fraying clothing.
"How?" he asked coolly.
"It was all going great, apart from the fact she got beat up by her ex but even that kinda worked out…"
He broke off, staring at the space on the floor to the side of him where she had managed to knock him to the ground and they had stolen a fleeting but ardent kiss before she had all but obliterated his composure with her advances. He wrenched his eyes away, glowering at his feet once more. Noctis looked across to him, silently urging him to continue.
"There was this other girl I was seeing a month or so back. She was alright, we had a laugh but things kinda fizzled out as they do. I got busy and we didn't speak for a while. It seemed obvious to me things were over and I thought she felt the same. That was until she texted me last Saturday claiming I'd been trying to make her jealous and asking when I was gonna ditch my 'bit on the side'."
Noctis' eyes widened.
"Shit…I take it Rox saw it?"
Running his fingers through his unruly hair, Gladiolus nodded.
"Yup. She read the damn thing first as I'd given her my phone to take Iggy's number and she stormed off before I could explain."
"Before you could explain that you hadn't technically broken up with this other girl but just not texted her back for a while?" Noctis challenged, watching as Gladiolus' shoulders slumped slightly.
"Exactly why I've screwed up. Rox clearly doesn't believe me that I wasn't seeing her anymore."
Noctis just rolled his eyes; for all Gladiolus' prowess with the ladies he seemed to find himself in ever increasingly more trouble, not that he usually let it bother him.
"Ever think women are more effort than they're worth?"
"All the damn time," Gladiolus scoffed.
A thought suddenly struck Noctis.
"You said Saturday…did she stay with you Friday night?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well then you got what you wanted, right?"
Gladiolus felt something grip his stomach painfully again and he stared solemnly at the floor.
"You make me sound like a real gent, Noct. But no, she wanted to but I just couldn't. Not after what her ex did."
Surprise burst through Noctis.
"Huh. Not like you to turn down a night with a girl. I thought this was supposed to just be a one time thing?"
"Yeah, so did I," Gladiolus sighed, his head snapping towards Noctis as the Prince suddenly groaned.
"Oh no…"
"What?" Gladiolus demanded, his hands instinctively curling up into fists.
"I've seen that look before. You're in trouble. In fact, we're all in trouble unless you sort this out."
"What do you mean…" he began heatedly but Noctis cut him off.
"Message her now and ask if you can talk."
Gladiolus closed his eyes, sighing heavily.
"Believe me, Noct, already tried that. Surprisingly, she ain't answering."
"Well try again. That's an order."
Gladiolus just stared at Noctis for a few seconds, unable to decide if he was annoyed or amused.
"Anything else, Your Majesty?" he asked sarcastically and Noctis got to his feet, placing his hands on his hips.
"You bet. Tomorrow night we're going to Somnus. If she won't talk to you then I'll have a word. Can't exactly ignore the Prince, can she?"
A low, exasperated sound rumbled in Gladiolus' chest.
"I wouldn't put it past her."
Noctis crossed his arms.
"Phone, now. And then you can get back to beating my ass."
Gladiolus felt a smirk pulling at his lips; despite the fact that Noctis was by far his superior, it amused him when the calm, indifferent Prince bossed him around. Secretly, he knew Noctis loved it but he could just never usually be bothered.
"Fine," he growled, pulling his phone from his pocket. "But you can't say I didn't warn you."
"You look rough as hell, Rox."
Rox shot Sergio a withering glare as he placed down yet another drink in front of her.
"Jeez, thanks," she retorted, taking a deep swig and sighing as the potent alcohol hit the back of her throat.
Sergio held his hands up.
"Forgive a guy for making an observation. It's just you have something on your face that's kinda hard to miss."
"Yeah, thanks. Hadn't noticed."
Folding his arms, Sergio stared sternly at Rox from across the bar.
"Has anyone ever told ya not to bite the hand that feeds ya? Those last two drinks were on the house you know." He sighed deeply, coming to lean his arms against the bar's surface. "I know you've probably had this all week Rox but seriously, what happened?"
Rox's scowl finally dissolved and she closed her eyes, dipping her head slightly.
Her week had been nothing short of horrendous.
The bruise on her face had only seemed to worsen with each passing day, turning a disgusting combination of yellow and purple that no amount of makeup could cover. Naturally such a mark brought her all kinds of unwanted attention, particularly at work where she had nowhere to run and hide from all the pointed looks and hushed gossiping that followed her everywhere she went. Of course, the office busybody, Gerrae had rushed over to her and outright demanded to know what had gone on, claiming there had been some very disturbing rumours going around about the Prince's Shield.
"Did he hit you, Rox?" she had asked, her question immediately followed by the creaks of countless chairs as practically the entire office had craned their ears for her answer.
"Don't be ridiculous," Rox had grumbled, feeling her fraying temper rising as Gerrae had proceeded to place her hand on Rox's shoulder and give her a sickly sweet look of painfully obvious fake concern.
"It's ok, you don't have to tell us. Just make sure you tell someone, ok? We're here for you, Rox."
Rox had just sunk down onto her desk after she had watched Gerrae saunter away and settle herself back at her own desk, immediately catching the eyes of several of their eagerly awaiting co-workers and nodding meaningfully.
They were going to believe what they wanted whether she corrected them or not.
She had expected better than that from Sergio, however.
"Can't deny it Rox, I've been worried about you," he continued when she didn't respond. "Heard some pretty fucked up rumours concerning the Prince's Shield saying that he's the one responsible for that mess on your face. Please tell me he wasn't the one who hit you…"
"No one did," Rox muttered with a shrug. "I walked into a wall."
"Rox…" Sergio groaned in frustration. "Come on, we both know that's bullshit."
The alcohol that Rox had drunk seemed to all make its way into her bloodstream at the same time and she sat up, suddenly laughing loudly and slamming her hands down onto the bar.
"Fine. You wanna know? Yeah he hit me alright." She sighed, burying her face in one hand as she took a drink with her other before speaking far quieter. "Right in that stupid little bit of my heart that always decides it's a good idea to trust people."
Sergio looked around anxiously, frowning at Rox.
"Shit Rox, I know you're upset but you gotta watch yelling accusations like that. Rumours are bad enough as it is…"
"No one's listening, Sergio," Rox grumbled. "And you know who hit me."
"You better hope not. I did wonder. So what's loverboy done that's so bad then?"
Rox proceeded to recite the text Gladiolus had received from the woman named 'Liv', knowing every word off by heart since she had played it over and over in her head throughout the week that had passed.
Sergio mulled her words over.
"And has he explained himself?"
"Tried to. Wouldn't stop texting me for three straight days before he got the message that I didn't give a shit and gave up."
"Do you think there's a chance you overreacted? Not that you have in the past," he added teasingly as Rox narrowed her eyes at him.
"I don't have the time or the patience to be messed around by him like all the men in this damned city seem to do. I don't want anything more to do with him and that is that."
Sergio quirked an eyebrow up.
"You sure you mean that?"
Rox was about to berate him for asking such a question when her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out only for her mood to turn even fouler as a message from Gladiolus flashed up on screen.
"Fuck's sake," she swore viciously , immediately slamming her phone face down.
"Speak of the devil?" Sergio asked and Rox nodded, grabbing her drink and draining what was left of it. Sergio gestured wearily to her empty glass. "It's not even seven yet. You're gonna drink me dry tonight, aren't ya?"
Half smiling, half grimacing, Rox pushed the glass towards Sergio.
"You bet."
The following evening, Noctis and his retinue were gathered in his apartment, enjoying a few drinks and a bit of food before they braced themselves and ventured out into Insomnia's Saturday night crowds. Noctis had told Ignis and Prompto of his plan and, since Gladiolus' text had yet again gone unanswered, the Prince was adamant that he was going to put things straight, a prospect they all very much approved of.
"We gonna head off soon, then?" Gladiolus asked gruffly as he checked the clock on his phone for the fifth time in as many minutes.
"Nervous, big guy?" Noctis teased, crying out as Gladiolus shoved him a little too hard in retaliation.
"No. Just wanna make sure we get seats. Probably gonna be busy."
Although Ignis could tell Gladiolus was clearly on edge, he was nothing if but a diplomat.
"Nerves or not, Gladio is right. It would be wise to think about leaving soon."
Prompto, who had been sat in silence on his phone, a frown sinking deeper and deeper into his face, suddenly looked up at the three men around him.
"Uhhh…I'm not sure that's the best idea."
"What do you mean?" Noctis asked in confusion and Prompto held his phone out which Ignis took and began to study the article that was on screen.
"Ah. Yes that does rather complicate matters."
"What does?" Gladiolus demanded and Ignis flashed him a look as if to brace himself as the four men crowded round Prompto's phone.
Silence fell on the room as they read and one by one they all looked to Gladiolus whose expression had become impossible to read.
"If anyone needs me I'll be down in the training rooms," he mumbled before he stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him, leaving the others to stare at each other in shock.
Meanwhile, Rox had been pacing her tiny apartment for some time, unable to shake the feeling that she had been a massive idiot.
More than normal, anyway.
Now the red mist of rage that had consumed her had gone, she had been left with a huge void that she had not anticipated and Gladiolus' text from the previous night had just exacerbated it. She stared down at the words once more, unable to fight the emotions that they conjured.
'Rox, I swear that it was over between me and her, at least I thought it was. You were never a bit on the side, you mean far more to me than that. What happened last week proves that, I hope. I'm around tomorrow night if you wanna talk.'
Her finger hovered over the reply option before her willpower gave in and she began to type a response.
"Meet you in an hour in that shitty bar I love so much?'
She sent it before she could change her mind and then launched herself across her room, collapsing onto her bed with a groan and burying her head with a pillow.
Minutes passed, twenty four to be exact until her phone buzzed twice in quick succession. It had landed somewhere in the folds of her duvet and Rox threw down the book she had forced herself to read to go in search of her phone.
To her surprise, both messages were from Gladiolus and after a few hasty and infuriatingly incorrect attempts at unlocking her phone, Rox pulled up the messages only to feel as if the bed had disappeared from beneath her.
The first simply read:
'Don't think that's a good idea.'
Rox stared at it in confusion, her mind trying to comfort her by continuously reassuring her that he probably was just a bit reserved about going to Somnus after all that had happened there and that his second message would contain a different location for them to meet.
As it was, the other message contained a link to an article from one of Insomnia's well-known gossip websites.
Rox's eyes widened, icy panic shooting through her veins and guilt gripping her forcefully as she read the title yet another time, willing what was before her eyes to be some kind of joke.
'VICTIM OF ATTACK BY PRINCE'S SHIELD CONFIRMS SHOCKING RUMOURS TO BE TRUE.'
She clutched her chest, suddenly feeling as if she might be sick.
Sergio had been right; someone had been listening and had heard her say exactly what they had been hoping for.
The reality of what she had done hit her with full force and the words on her screen became blurry as her eyes filled with tears.
Gladiolus was never going to talk to her again and quite frankly, she didn't blame him.
