To Gladio, Noctis did roll his eyes. It was more or less the response he'd expected to get, but that didn't make him any happier to receive it. "Don't be a dick, Gladio. He helped save your life too, or were you not paying attention?"
Not to mention saving the king... though Gladio wasn't mollified, scowling and crossing his arms, stubborn as ever. "Yeah, putting on a solid act to earn your trust. Looks like he's doing everything right, huh?"
"What the hell would be the point in keeping my dad alive just so he could get us alone and kill us later?" Noctis threw his hands up in the air. He was already over-tired, he did not want to just stand around arguing about this. Gladio standing his ground just made Noct more annoyed, so he grabbed Prompto by the wrist and marched past his Shield, shooting him a glare just daring him to do something about it and not stopping until he was at his father's side, crouching down to brush a hand carefully over the man's damp and dirty hair. He still looked pretty bad, but his chest rose and fell steadily enough that just the sight of him was the most reassuring thing Noct had seen all day. He pointed to a spot nearby for Prompto. "Park it. You're staying. Gladio, what'd you spend all those years training me for if you think I can't handle a single 'Niff punk' on my own? I'll be fine. You're the one who's got two kings to shield tomorrow, so get some rest before I do something crazy like order you around."
That netted him a snort from his Shield, which he considered a victory, though it was easy to tell that Gladio was still mad about being asked to leave. He wondered briefly if maybe he should have left Prompto to sleep and taken watch with Ignis, but the truth is he was still feeling incredibly restless, and he would much rather have Ignis and Gladio both fully-rested and at their best. Most of his sleep-deprived flaws can be balanced out with magic and fast healing, and the others didn't have that luxury. Anyway, he and Prompto had some work to do.
Thankfully Cor stepped in to help again, gripping the other man's shoulder, and between Cor and Noctis outnumbering him and matching his stubbornness, he finally snapped, "Fine, but when shit goes south I'm gonna run you through a hundred drills before I let you apologize for being wrong." Token threat given - and after growing up experiencing plenty of Gladio's 'I'm mad at you' drills, it truly was a threat - he reluctantly turned to head for the door, Cor a step behind him after exchanging a nod with each of them. He had his own reasons to be wary, but thankfully was more reasonable.
"His name's Prompto," he called out after them, and he could feel Gladio's scowl in the returning silence. Still, they left the garage, and when Noctis and Prompto were left to their own devices and he took a moment to exhale and settle in for the long haul. "Don't worry about all that, he's just doing his job. Today was... hard on him, too."
He could sympathize. Clarus is almost certainly dead, so Gladio has even less reason to feel charitable towards any Niff right now. Iris probably hadn't responded to his calls yet, either, else he would have mentioned it or texted. Losing one's entire family was more than reason enough to hate every Niff on sight.
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Not to mention saving the king... though Gladio wasn't mollified, scowling and crossing his arms, stubborn as ever. "Yeah, putting on a solid act to earn your trust. Looks like he's doing everything right, huh?"
"What the hell would be the point in keeping my dad alive just so he could get us alone and kill us later?" Noctis threw his hands up in the air. He was already over-tired, he did not want to just stand around arguing about this. Gladio standing his ground just made Noct more annoyed, so he grabbed Prompto by the wrist and marched past his Shield, shooting him a glare just daring him to do something about it and not stopping until he was at his father's side, crouching down to brush a hand carefully over the man's damp and dirty hair. He still looked pretty bad, but his chest rose and fell steadily enough that just the sight of him was the most reassuring thing Noct had seen all day. He pointed to a spot nearby for Prompto. "Park it. You're staying. Gladio, what'd you spend all those years training me for if you think I can't handle a single 'Niff punk' on my own? I'll be fine. You're the one who's got two kings to shield tomorrow, so get some rest before I do something crazy like order you around."
That netted him a snort from his Shield, which he considered a victory, though it was easy to tell that Gladio was still mad about being asked to leave. He wondered briefly if maybe he should have left Prompto to sleep and taken watch with Ignis, but the truth is he was still feeling incredibly restless, and he would much rather have Ignis and Gladio both fully-rested and at their best. Most of his sleep-deprived flaws can be balanced out with magic and fast healing, and the others didn't have that luxury. Anyway, he and Prompto had some work to do.
Thankfully Cor stepped in to help again, gripping the other man's shoulder, and between Cor and Noctis outnumbering him and matching his stubbornness, he finally snapped, "Fine, but when shit goes south I'm gonna run you through a hundred drills before I let you apologize for being wrong." Token threat given - and after growing up experiencing plenty of Gladio's 'I'm mad at you' drills, it truly was a threat - he reluctantly turned to head for the door, Cor a step behind him after exchanging a nod with each of them. He had his own reasons to be wary, but thankfully was more reasonable.
"His name's Prompto," he called out after them, and he could feel Gladio's scowl in the returning silence. Still, they left the garage, and when Noctis and Prompto were left to their own devices and he took a moment to exhale and settle in for the long haul. "Don't worry about all that, he's just doing his job. Today was... hard on him, too."
He could sympathize. Clarus is almost certainly dead, so Gladio has even less reason to feel charitable towards any Niff right now. Iris probably hadn't responded to his calls yet, either, else he would have mentioned it or texted. Losing one's entire family was more than reason enough to hate every Niff on sight.