While Gladio loved the apartment they currently inhabited it was way too small to keep the lot of them together and for the small army of cats Noctis was plotting on fostering. So it wasn't hard to think about saying goodbye to it. It had served its purpose - both at home and for a time here, but it was time to move to bigger things. Somewhere with room to keep his sister close but with still giving Iris her own space, same with Talcott.
They'd mostly settled on building. Then they could figure out a space that would work exactly the way they needed it. But the professionals they'd talked to suggested looking at listings in the size and price range they had in mind, to gather ideas of what they liked and more importantly, what they hated.
So Gladio had some listings up on his pad, a notebook on the kitchen island between him and Noct so they could jot some thoughts down. There were the easy ones of course: a kitchen suitable for Ignis, a large bedroom for the four of them to fit the giant bed and still leave room to breathe.
But the first listing he had up had him immediately laughing and he turned his pad to show Noct the photo. A room filled with various dolls, all placed and posed around different furniture and other doll sized items in the room. "How much would Prompto freak out that the whole damn thing was haunted if we made a room like this?"
Noct was coasting on a high that had gone on for weeks. Ever since Disney. Ever since the obvious. He was - maybe - a little emotional about it all. Quietly, of course. Because Noctis was old hat at keeping his more embarrassing emotions under wraps. He just couldn't quite believe things could be this good. For him. This was where something was the noose of fate was supposed to tighten around his neck. Where he'd get ripped out of the polyamorous life he'd not only gotten used to, but expanded, like the greedy royal he was.
But no, he was looking at houses with Gladio. For their house. That they were going to build. He felt a little dizzy as he sat, perched on the island. He leaned back on an elbow to squint one-eyed at the screen Gladio showed him.
"Gods," he snorted, reaching over to swipe to a few more pictures of the creep house. "He'd do the high-pitched scream. And probably dump us. I'd dump us." He would never "dump us", but he said it with lazy charm. "Is the house with the giant slide in the backyard on there?"
Gladio settled a hand on Noct's thigh near him as the other started swiping through the photos. Henruit curled at his feet under the island overhang and the whole thing was just so ridiculously domestic it hurt if he sat on it too long. So instead he just enjoyed it. The quiet moment that would never be afforded them back in Eos.
He laughed at the mention of the giant slide. "Ignis would dump us," he joked, keeping in the theme. A pause as he shot Noctis a teasing grin. "That and either you or Prom would end up hurting yourselves one night on that." One too many drinks and Gladio could see it ending in disaster.
Gladio's big hand on his thigh made Noct warm. Like his bones might turn to liquid if he didn't keep his focus on the screen. That didn't stop him from covering Gladio's hand with his own, of course. He stroked up over his wrist, higher to the edges of the tattoo that always drew Noct's eye no matter how many years he'd been looking at it.
"Yeah, probably both. I would like a big backyard. Maybe a pond?" Straightening up, he rubbed at the back of his neck with his free hand. "Something like a little garden for Ignis's herbs and a place we can relax?" He was picturing a homier version of the royal gardens, where he'd befriended many a stray cat and gotten into an assortment of trouble.
Gladio gave Noct's thigh a little squeeze as Noct's hand moved over his own. He smiled softly at the picture Noctis painted, his own mental image also going to the gardens, mixed with the ones on the grounds of his own childhood home. But something they could make entirely theirs. Fish in the pond Noct had brought up, and probably a giant slide somewhere despite his earlier comment because watching Noctis and Prompto be ridiculous had its merits. Plus it would come in handy, eventually, for Viv. They could set up a clearing for sparring, an area for Henruit (and the rest of the dogs Galdio was sure would eventually be taken in when they had the room) to run. Catios for the cats Noct was bound to collect.
Big backyard/garden/pond/find a landscaper was written in the notebook.
"What about a sunroom?" Gladio asked and looked back up. "For when the weather's bad, we can at least be sort of outdoors? And Ignis can grow a few herbs year round that way too."
“Oh, yeah. Somewhere for you to read even when the weather’s good.” Noct smiled. He’d probably end up sprawled on top of Gladio’s chest some of the time. It was one of his favorite places to nap, using one of them for a body pillow. And he didn’t mind when a book was propped up on his back. Sometimes Ignis listened to his podcasts and Noct would fall asleep to the distant murmur of voices and a steady beating heart. He liked confirmation that they were alive and relaxing as he drifted off. He didn’t realize how much until now.
“Maybe a real library too? Inside, I mean.” Snorting a little laugh, he stroked his hand further up Gladio’s arm. “Not that an outdoor library doesn’t feel perfectly you, but still. We could make sure it’s on the opposite side of the house from wherever our gaming stuff is set up.”
"With a big ass chair so you can take up your usual spot?" Gladio said lightly, fond amusement as he looked at Noctis. There were absolutely no complaints though. He loved those lazy afternoons with Noct sprawled out over him as he read. A solid and warm weight, the steady thrum of a heartbeat reminding him that they were all together, alive and far from the weight of duty they'd left behind. It settled something deep inside his very being that closeness. Not necessarily more than with the others, but different. Wrapped up in the generations of magic between them.
"You planning on blowing out the speakers with your gaming?" he teased as he stood, keeping his hand on Noct's thigh as he put the other on the other side of Noctis, leaning in to press a soft kiss to his lips. "But a library sounds good, gotta put all those books somewhere," he agreed. Get some new built-ins put in to cart over the collection he had at the apartment here.
"Maybe with one of those ladders so you can go up a few rungs and be the taller one for once," he added with a smirk.
“A big, wide…sofa chair. You know, those like fainting couch things.” Chaise was the word he was looking for, but Gladio was super distracting. Noct breathed out a laugh and shifted his seat on the counter to trap Gladio’s hips between his knees. He made a mental note to add “kitchen island” to the list, though he doubted it was necessary. Ignis would make sure the kitchen was everything he wanted. Maybe even more than he’d allowed himself to splurge for the apartment renovation.
Noct snarled his nose playfully at the short joke and leaned up to nip at Gladio’s jawline. “I was planning on blowing a lot of things, but maybe we need a ladder more,” he joked. His ankles hooked easily behind Gladio’s back even though he tried to turn his own focus back to the screen with its beckoning houses. “We need a photo studio for Prom too, right?”
"For all your swooning?" Gladio asked with a grin at the suggestion of a fainting couch and nipped playfully at Noctis' lip.
He gave a suggestive brow raise at the blowing comment, a little huff of a laugh. "You're a menace," he teased lightly. But it was just that, a tease. More than made clear as he hooked an arm around Noct to tug him in closer. He took a moment to kiss Noctis deeply, getting lost in it for a moment before pulling back with a smile.
"We do," he agreed. "We'll have to try to get some notes out of him for what he'd really want for that." Not just a dismissive oh whatever, or you guys don't have to, that Gladio knew Prompto would try to pass off.
Noct was starting to think he needed the fainting couch right now. The combination of domestic house planning and Gladio's steamy kiss made him lightheaded and breathless. "Maybe. It's my royal right to swoon okay," he joked petulantly. His hands stayed looped around Gladio's neck and he leaned in to rest his cheek against Gladio's shoulder, his forehead tucked against his throat. He liked this spot right here. Surrounded by Gladio.
"He's still working through some hang-ups, he says. But I think if we teamed up…" Noct pulled back to waggle his eyebrows. "...We could probably get him to admit exactly what he wants. We should do something else for Specs too. I know he'll have the kitchen handled and I can get the magic closet moved over. Maybe a smart fridge? A knife-throwing range in the basement?"
"As is mine to catch you when you do?" he replied, that light teasing smile still on his face.
A smile which turned into a very intrigued look as Noctis mentioned teaming up on Prompto. Which, yes, he knew was really about finding out about the studio stuff - but Gladio's mind was very easy to wander into other territory with that. And he was sure Noctis' was too. "Maybe we can do some research first? Figure out what other people have done and then we can ask him about specific things and he might be less likely to just dismiss it?" Or at the very least they could gauge some reactions and go from there.
He was quiet a moment as he gave thought to Ignis, his hand slipping up under Noct's shirt to splay across the skin of his back. "An office?" he suggested. Not that he wanted Ignis to be a workaholic, but he knew Ignis liked to keep his mind busy. "Somewhere he can work on menus and other things for Gladin, with a chaise," he smirked as he provided the word Noct had been looking for earlier, "too so we can all thoroughly distract him from time to time."
Noct flushed. He liked being caught in strong arms. Carried too. Manhandled. He didn't need to say any of that since Gladio was more than aware, so he just sighed happily and burrowed further into Gladio's chest, humming at the touch under his shirt. It was tempting to stay here for awhile but Gladio had made the mistake of inspiring Noct with this image of the future.
"Those are both really good ideas. Pretty sure I'd think everything out of your mouth is a good idea right now, but still." He stroked his hands up Gladio's back and pulled back to squint up at him. "Let's look up photo studios now and then loop Specs in and see what he thinks. I watched him present ideas to the council over and over and get them to agree to everything he wanted. We can ask if he's ok with his office being in a shared space too. He might want a lock to keep out the riff raff," he smirked.
"Riff raff, hey?" Gladio mused, he'd dipped his head down and his lips bushed over the side of Noct's neck as he talked. "Pretty sure he kind of likes us riff raff," he pointed out with a grin against Noct's neck. A shared office might have its merits though. Not that they really did much office things, at least not like they once had. But somewhere to keep tabs on bills and everything else that didn't double as a dining table would be nice. His mind wandered to the idea of working in a comfortable silence with Ignis, picking away at things until one of them decided to make use of the desk in other ways.
"Good idea to bring in Iggy on this though," he said. "He's always been the most - persuasive of us," was added with a smirk. He grabbed the pad with one hand, his other tight around Noct's back. "Let's move this to the bed, I can rattle of some more brilliant ideas with my mouth," a sly grin at that as he lifted Noct off the counter easily, "and then we can start looking up photo stuff."