Everything Gladio says is hardly a surprise. Men like them are always men of high standards, never truly satisfied with where they are in life. Always needing more of themselves, always striving to improve, always viewing any little flaw with the harshest criticism.
Still. Really now.
"Sometimes, I daresay you put me on a pedestal," Ignis murmurs, resting his hand over Gladio's just to take in more of his warmth. "Or perhaps it is that we have been together for so long in one way or another-" Because clearly even when broken up, they never truly moved on. "-that you think only of the most recent moments."
His fingers idly shift up against Gladio's palm, feel the callouses that feel near permanently etched in there. "But I was a clumsy youth, Gladio. Perhaps you've put it behind you, and yet there's still no denying it even when I met you here. I had lived my entire life in such a narrow little cage.... With no complain, mind you." He chuckles lowly. "All I wanted to do was be helpful to Noct. So my life was all classes, all focus. I would never say I was unhappy, exactly...
"But I could always have been even happier. And somehow, I never quite connected the dots. Never saw the most obvious path in front of me."
Sighing, he shifts his head until his lips can brush against Gladio's skin. "Not until, one day, you asked if I wanted to see what the night sky looked like, unblocked by the lights of the crown city, and we went camping."
It's a memory he'll always hold fondly in his chest. How could he ever let it go? "I don't believe I will ever forget that night for as long as I live, you know. All of my worrying on the way there about all the little things I was leaving behind, the big things that wouldn't fall just because one single teenager was missing... And then the content way in which we set up camp together, a little domesticity even in the face of so much potential danger."
And...
"The way the stars looked - stars there before my eyes, no equipment necessary, shining so brilliantly there over the trees, more color than I thought could ever exist in the night... And you, there besides me."
Ignis smiles, achingly fond, just recalling it all. "I had such a revelation, looking at you there in the moonlight. Seeing the way the stars showed every beautiful curve of your jaw, shined in your hair, lit up your eyes. I realized that you lived in such a different way to me, and it was such a wonderful way. I'd always known you were courageous, and talented, very attractive-" This is said with a low laugh, Ignis twisting their hands so he can hold onto Gladio's, bring it up where he might kiss his ring finger.
"But it was then that I realized... You lived a more open and full life than I did. That you knew how to do that was incredible to me, back then, where I had never even thought to step outside my life in my uncle's apartment, later my own, and the Citadel. I don't think you realize how incredible you've always been to me, my love, and how you became ever moreso.
"Perhaps I'd always known all of that deep down... but it was beneath the stars that it was brought into crystal clarity for me. That you lived out there in the rest of the world, incredible and courageous and kind, good, and not afraid to go out to see the stars with your own eyes."
Gently, with purpose, Ignis takes Gladio's hand, and moves the other so that he can press something small and cool into it.
A ring, the metal curving and twisting like branches, with hints of the stars and moon peeking through, and a single beautiful green gem in the midst of it all not too unlike Ignis's own green eyes.
"Gladio... I want to be in that world with you, beneath the stars, for the rest of my life."
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Still. Really now.
"Sometimes, I daresay you put me on a pedestal," Ignis murmurs, resting his hand over Gladio's just to take in more of his warmth. "Or perhaps it is that we have been together for so long in one way or another-" Because clearly even when broken up, they never truly moved on. "-that you think only of the most recent moments."
His fingers idly shift up against Gladio's palm, feel the callouses that feel near permanently etched in there. "But I was a clumsy youth, Gladio. Perhaps you've put it behind you, and yet there's still no denying it even when I met you here. I had lived my entire life in such a narrow little cage.... With no complain, mind you." He chuckles lowly. "All I wanted to do was be helpful to Noct. So my life was all classes, all focus. I would never say I was unhappy, exactly...
"But I could always have been even happier. And somehow, I never quite connected the dots. Never saw the most obvious path in front of me."
Sighing, he shifts his head until his lips can brush against Gladio's skin. "Not until, one day, you asked if I wanted to see what the night sky looked like, unblocked by the lights of the crown city, and we went camping."
It's a memory he'll always hold fondly in his chest. How could he ever let it go? "I don't believe I will ever forget that night for as long as I live, you know. All of my worrying on the way there about all the little things I was leaving behind, the big things that wouldn't fall just because one single teenager was missing... And then the content way in which we set up camp together, a little domesticity even in the face of so much potential danger."
And...
"The way the stars looked - stars there before my eyes, no equipment necessary, shining so brilliantly there over the trees, more color than I thought could ever exist in the night... And you, there besides me."
Ignis smiles, achingly fond, just recalling it all. "I had such a revelation, looking at you there in the moonlight. Seeing the way the stars showed every beautiful curve of your jaw, shined in your hair, lit up your eyes. I realized that you lived in such a different way to me, and it was such a wonderful way. I'd always known you were courageous, and talented, very attractive-" This is said with a low laugh, Ignis twisting their hands so he can hold onto Gladio's, bring it up where he might kiss his ring finger.
"But it was then that I realized... You lived a more open and full life than I did. That you knew how to do that was incredible to me, back then, where I had never even thought to step outside my life in my uncle's apartment, later my own, and the Citadel. I don't think you realize how incredible you've always been to me, my love, and how you became ever moreso.
"Perhaps I'd always known all of that deep down... but it was beneath the stars that it was brought into crystal clarity for me. That you lived out there in the rest of the world, incredible and courageous and kind, good, and not afraid to go out to see the stars with your own eyes."
Gently, with purpose, Ignis takes Gladio's hand, and moves the other so that he can press something small and cool into it.
A ring, the metal curving and twisting like branches, with hints of the stars and moon peeking through, and a single beautiful green gem in the midst of it all not too unlike Ignis's own green eyes.
"Gladio... I want to be in that world with you, beneath the stars, for the rest of my life."