Hello my good pals, what's cookin'!

After last time's angst, let's have a silly one this time.

Hope you enjoy - I certainly had fun writing it!

Noct couldn't remember the last time he and Dad had spent time together, really spent time together, not just spoken on the phone or sat beside each other in a meeting.

He understood, of course, that Dad was busy running a country and all, and he'd spent his entire childhood coming to terms with that, but that didn't mean he wasn't at least a little bit salty about it.

So, when Dad called him on a random Tuesday afternoon and offered to take him out for dinner that same evening - really take him out, to a restaurant, not just dining together in the Citadel's big hall, Noct said yes before he even properly thought about it.

When the call ended, Noct set his phone down, enough of a half-smile on his lips for Ignis to ask, "Good news, Highness?"

"Dad wants to go out for dinner tonight," Noct told him, and then, apologetically, "Sorry, I know you already planned for a meal."

Ignis waved his hand in dismissal. "Nonsense. I haven't started yet, so there's no harm done. You just enjoy your dinner with His Majesty. Will you be requiring a lift?"

"No, Dad's sending a car."

"Well then, I suppose that means I get tonight off," Ignis concluded. "Whatever shall I do with this much free time?"

Noct laughed. "Knowing you, you'll probably spend it working anyway."

His mood drastically improved and his spirits lifted, even his Old Lucian homework almost completed itself, earning him praise from Ignis who, once Noct was done, left for his well-deserved evening off.

If Noct spend a little (a lot) longer than usual to pick his outfit for the evening, well, it wasn't like anyone was around to judge him. His hair was stubborn as always, and he half-wished he'd kept Ignis around to help him tame it, but after a few more tries, he got it to look decent enough. Dad would approve, he thought, and that was really the only goal here. That, and he wouldn't look bad in the inevitable paparazzi photos, which meant Ignis would approve as well.

Once it was time to go, he took the elevator downstairs, greeted the Glaive in civilian clothing whose turn it was to hang around the lobby and catch anyone looking suspicious, and made for the black car already parked in front of the building.

"Hey, kiddo," Gladio greeted him when Noct slid into the backseat next to him. "Lookin' sharp."

Noct rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and you're wearing a shirt. How long'd it take them to make you put that on?"

Here was the thing: Dinner with Dad outside the Citadel never meant dinner with just dad. It meant dinner with Dad and Clarus and Gladio, an entire bunch of Crownsguard placed strategically around the restaurant and a handful of hidden Glaives outside for good measure.

Noct would never stop feeling guilty about Gladio having to put his entire life on hold every time Noct wanted to go somewhere, but this, at least, was just dinner, and Gladio wasn't immune to good food.

In fact, Gladio was already looking at the restaurant's menu on his phone. Safe to say he was excited.

"Nerd," Noct muttered under his breath, earning himself an elbow to the ribs. "Ow!"

Noct helplessly stared at the menu, as if it would magically start making sense to him if he just tried long enough.

Because of course, when Dad picked an authentic Accordian restaurant, that meant so authentic that the menu was completely written in Accordian, full of dishes Noct had never heard of and probably couldn't pronounce if his life depended on it.

Gladio, who was really more of a nerd than people gave him credit for, had ordered his food with perfect pronunciation and without having to think, because he actually spoke some Accordian and also he had already looked at the menu in the car beforehand.

Suddenly, Noct very much wished he had done the same instead of making fun of him.

It was too late for such regrets, though. Everyone else had already ordered, and the poor waitress' smile was starting to look a little strained as she waited for Noct to get his act together and pick a dish.

Quickly, Noct searched the menu for the dish with the name he was least likely to butcher horribly.

"I'll have the… ca-po-nata. The caponata, please," he said, closing the menu with feigned confidence. "Thank you."

"An excellent choice," the waitress said, visibly relieved as she collected their menus.

Gladio's devilish grin immediately destroyed any hope Noct might've held of having made a good choice.

What the fuck is this, Noct desperately wanted to ask as he stared at the steaming bowl of… he'd already forgotten the name. Wanted to ask but couldn't, because he was the Prince, dining with his dad the King.

His Shield nearly straining a muscle in his face from grinning so hard did not help him feel any better, thank you very much.

Vegetable stew. He'd ordered a traditional vegetable stew.

Meanwhile, Gladio had on his plate some kind of delicious-looking roast meat, and Noct was forced to admit that maybe it would've been a good idea to check the menu beforehand after all.

At least his dad didn't seem to notice his predicament, too busy arguing with Clarus about the bouquet of the wine they were having.

Still, he couldn't just not eat. He had to at least try and eat as much of it as he could, and then maybe he'd get away with claiming he was full. Even if that meant he couldn't have dessert.

Mentally steeling himself, Noct loaded up his fork and shoved it into his mouth before he could second-guess himself.

Okay, this isn't so bad, he thought and ate another forkful. It took all his willpower to keep himself from shuddering. Okay, yeah, it was that bad. The taste was one thing, but the texture…

Miserable, he stared at the plate, distantly wondering how he was ever going to eat enough of this to make everyone happy.

"Tasty, Your Highness?" Gladio asked innocently, the teasing edge hidden just well enough that Dad and Clarus wouldn't notice, but Noct very much did.

"Very," Noct deadpanned, resolutely digging his fork into the stew again.

"Mine's great," Gladio supplied helpfully.

"Awesome. Happy for you."

"Here. Try some."

Gladio cut off a big piece of the meat on his plate and placed it on Noct's.

Noct risked a glance at Dad, but Dad seemed more interested in wine tasting than in watching his son embarrass himself over some vegetables.

Small blessings.

"What are you doing?" he hissed at Gladio, who was in the process of shovelling a significant portion of Noct's stew onto his own plate, cheerfully ignoring the murderous glares his own father shot him.

"Sharing," came the unperturbed reply. "It's custom in Accordian culture to share dishes."

Noct wasn't sure if Gladio was just bullshitting him. But seeing as the result was considerably less vegetables and more meat on his plate, he didn't really care much either way.

It turned out the vegetable stew, while still not great, was much easier to stomach if it could be eaten in between bites of roast meat.

Noct very deliberately did not make eye contact with Gladio on the ride home. And yet, he could feel the smug looks his Shield was giving him.

"Well, whatever smartass comment you're sitting on, just get it out of your system!" he finally snapped.

"I share my food with you, and this is how you repay me," Gladio lamented.

"Shut up."

"Aw, don't be like that. Y'know, maybe next time you could stand to be a bit more of a nerd to make sure you're not ordering vegetable stew again."

Gladio's low chuckle swiftly turned into a hiss of pain when Noct's elbow connected with his ribs.

Noct only felt a little bad about it.

Me, googling Italian dishes made from veggies and cackling like a deranged witch when I found a traditional Sicilian vegetable stew.

I was going back and forth with myself about the logistics of a king and his son dining out at a random restaurant, but then I remembered Noct quite literally goes to public school and canonically got a job flipping burgers or some shit, and also it's my fic so y'know, I can do what I want.

So, yeah! This was fun, I really gotta write more Gladio and Noct, they've got a fun dynamic (especially when they're not at each other's throat).

I've got chapter 29 written but not 28 so hopefully the prospect of getting to post 29 will spur me into writing 28 faster. Until next time, and thank you so much for being here!