"Now that I don't believe." Gladio lifts a hand to brush through Iggy's hair, tracing fingers around the shell of his ear. "I mean, I believe that you believe it, and that you mean it when you say it. But I had a lot more growing to do over the years than you did, so I don't know how good of a role model I could really be said to be. I even managed to wreck as good of a thing as us for awhile, and it was me who needed to fix myself to get us back on track.

"And yeah, I would have done that work on myself regardless of you or anyone else, because you know me - I'm not going to just sit back and give anything less than my best. I don't think I could if I tried. But becoming the kind of man you deserved, a man worthy of being by your side...nothing could have motivated me as much as that did. And that feeling's been guiding me practically since we started dating. Not just to be better, but to be better for you. And I think if you asked pretty much anyone who knows both of us, they'd say I've changed more than you - that I needed to change more than you - and that if anyone's been good for anyone, it's you who's been good for me." He rests a hand over Ignis' on his chest, stroking a thumb along the back of it. "So if I'm a good man now, any kind of beacon worth following...it's because you lit my way first."