I was uptight, wanna let loose

[piercetheheart]

Who: Gladio & whoever
What: Recovery and trying to be a helpful member of society?
Where: locker room, outside, laundry room
When: 5/8-12ish
Warnings:


The first week or so after opening things up, Gladio spends most of his time laid out on the back of the locker bank they've turned into a bed pallet heavily medicated or sleeping or in too much pain to do much. Sure he makes a point of trying to move and maintain his muscles but between the low supplies of food and water and how much his body aches there's not much he can force himself to do. Especially with his hands in the condition they're in. A couple of books keep him from going stir crazy and he could've kissed Prompto for that.

It's not until day five or six that he finally is able to get up and move around a little, looking past that table curiously into the spaces beyond.

Finally on the seventh he sits himself on the edge of the table and scoots his way across to the other side, using one of the heavy mop handles Scott had brought him to use as a walking stick to help push himself across. He hates feeling so weak and useless but it's better than staying cooped up in that room any longer.

Over the next few days he can be found limping his way from the laundry room and back, wheeling one of the little carts along with him. Dragging every last blanket and sheet out into the outdoors he can get. He ends up with another stick, this one once having had a broom head screwed onto it, jammed into the earth about 8 feet from the front steps, a length of rope creating a triangle between the stake and the stair railing at top and bottom. The blankets and sheets get tossed over the clothes line. They were clean when they went into that cabinet, sure, but after sitting for gods know how long everything smells stale and dusty and Gladio just wants to freshen things up a bit.

Once the first few rounds are done he's also going to try standing on their bed pallet to hang a couple sheets from the ceiling to offer a little privacy. Not the same as having their own room but for now it'll make things cozy.

Comments

[endoftheuniverse]

Seeing as it was not long ago that Liam, himself, was rescued from near helplessness, the older man feels he owes Gladio a significant debt. He leaves the first day or so of Gladio's care entirely to the healers, not wanting to disturb them when his pain would undoubtedly be at its worst - but around the time Gladio is awake and coherent enough to talk, Liam kneels near Gladio's pallet with a not insignificant amount of concern drawn across his face. He's brought him a plastic cup of fresh wellwater, which he sets down within reach - a grossly insufficient token of his appreciation, but all he could do, for now. He hadn't known these people long, but Liam was very easily endeared by the people around him, regardless of whether the feeling was mutual. Gladio's altruism and drive had placed him near the top of those among them whom Liam already knew he could respect.

"Hey. Anything I can do for you, my friend?" He has a feeling that asking how he was feeling would be spectacularly useless for a few reasons. And what Gladio had done to end up in this mess had been stupid - beyond stupid - but Liam had no intention of rubbing it in his face. The man had been kind enough not to question why Liam had done what he'd done. He would at least afford him the same.

[piercetheheart]

Gladio flashes Liam a smile when he approaches. It's weak, pain only making the anxieties that have been plaguing him since arriving worse. He's not usually one to get too caught up in his head but being here and what it means in the larger picture has been gnawing at him. Part of what drove him to do something so stupid and reckless in the first place. Better to put himself in harm's way than anyone else, after all.

Liam kneels down next to him and Gladio is quick to reach out, patting the older man's shoulder. It would be more solid, more of a squeeze, but his hands are wrapped firmly in bandages and moving too much will only reopen wounds that are finally beginning to close.

"Unless you know someway to get me back on my feet quicker..." He trails off with a quiet chuckle but it's a little dark, not as dismissive as he'd meant it to be.

"C'mon, sit up here, it's fine." He uses his other hand to pat the back of the lockers beside him. "Just, mind the Shield. Rory will get huffy if you knock over her perch." Because now that it's not in use Black Prince is once again stood in the corner, resting against both walls and thus giving the full width of the shield as a perch for the firebird. And her dad's instructed her to stay here and keep his idiot boyfriend warm so at least it's cozy over here.

[endoftheuniverse]

Liam smiles, grateful for the light touch on his arm. He'd come from decades of a tight fraternity between him and his men, and the touch is evidence enough that he is on the track towards such a loyal band of friends, once more. It's the single best piece of news he's received since his arrival.

Somewhere inside him, a metaphorical alarm light blinks; he knows he should be less inclined to trust in the ways he had when he was young, but it seems he cannot help himself. "Unfortunately, only rest is going to do that for you," Liam answers, his voice softly sympathetic. "But there is a way of getting time to pass more quickly, at least." That is company, of course - which Liam is more than willing to offer.

He accepts Gladio's invitation, taking a seat where he is directed, careful not to disturb anything. He looks in the direction of the firebird, staring curiously at it as he had a tendency to do with the strange creatures that had found themselves contained here. "This place must have more animals than I've ever seen in my life," he remarks, as though that were the average human experience. "Alive, at least. They're fascinating..."

[piercetheheart]

Touch was always something Gladio welcomed, a fact that had gotten him in trouble on the Islands. Laurent stabbing him the most obvious reminder but not the most hurtful. It's nice to have someone so accepting of the contact, especially given their current, showerless, state. Once Liam gets settled on the pallet beside him Gladio might just... lean a little. Shoulder to shoulder, nothing too invasive but taking comfort in the offered company.

"Her name's Aurora but we mostly call her Rory. She's a little tetchy with new people so if you wanna pet her or anything gotta ask Iggy." He was definitely not the one to be trusted with the firebird. He and Rory had a mutual respect, they both help Iggy so long as they stay away from each other. She was a good girl but Gladio was too big and loud and... Gladio for her tastes.

"You wanna get up close and personal with a bird, Ti and Lani are all for random affection." To the point that even saying their names had the dark purple chocobo teen plucking her head out from under her sisters wing to cheep curiously from the opposite corner of the room.

[endoftheuniverse]

Liam settles into Gladio's touch eagerly, unable to stop himself from feeling a little lucky for it. He knows definitively that Gladio is off the market and that isn't what this is - and truthfully, Liam no longer cares to pursue anyone here - he's simply glad to be able to get close to a good person like Gladiolus, and that someone understood it was natural to want platonic contact. He decides so long as he keeps one eye open at night, so long as he keeps the part of himself that was vulnerable closed off, it would be fine to let himself grow to like the people here. At least, for now.

Liam appraises the firebird with a sort of jealous fondness, but then smirks. "I think I'll avoid getting a bird bite today," he laughs, remembering how cool Iggy had been to him on their first meeting. He wasn't going to force it. But when the chocobo lifts her head to investigate, Liam's eyes light up with an almost boyish interest. Remarkable birds, these. All of these animals made him wish he could have stuck more faithfully to his vegetarian values throughout his restrictive and troubled life.

"Hey, come here," he coos, extending his arm the way one might hail a cat.

[just_another_hill]

"Hey, Big Enough." Scott was smirking as she strolled up through the tall grass to where Gladio had just finished hanging out another load of clothes to be aired out. She looked exhausted and outright filthy...but there was a large basket of what looked like eggs and fruit on her arm.

Apparently, she'd gone climbing.

"Take a break, put one of these in your mouth." She handed him one of the palm sized fruits and gestured over towards the shade of the building.

[piercetheheart]

Exhausted and filthy was good, though. Satisfying at least, when there's something like fruit and eggs at the end of the day. He flashes her a smile, snags the fruit she offers and eyes that shady patch uncertainly. "I sit on the ground I dunno if I'm gettin up, Scott."

He absolutely despises that he has to admit that but, honestly, it's the truth. And he doesn't want to think about the potential consequences of her having to go get Iggy or Asch or both to drag his sorry ass off the ground. Still fruit is good, fruit is a nice change of pace from whatever canned nonsense they could get their hands on. He eyes the piece in his hand, bringing it up to give a good sniff before he considered breaking the skin.

[just_another_hill]

She snorted, not changing her direction at all. The stairs were in the sun and that trek back from the forest was enough to leave the back of her neck more than a little red. "I'll get you up, don't worry. Besides, there are tons of people who don't have legs at all and they get up and down just fine. You just gotta remember to use the body you do have."

Sorry, Gladdy. She's as no nonsense as they come and wallowing in an injury isn't something she's going to allow on her watch. She's seen the after effects of war too much to let something like a bum leg keep him from his life.

"Peel it. The skin is sour as all hell, but once you get past that, it's nice. Kinda....lemon meets starfruit in a bar and they both end up going home with a kiwi."

[piercetheheart]

"I easily weigh twice what you do." He's limping after her but he still has no intention of sitting down. He will, however, lean against that wall as he examines this little fruit, trying to determine the best way to go about peeling it.

He ends up reaching down to pull the little hunting knife out of his boot, his nails far too short and ragged to be of any use peeling the damn thing. "Starfruit? Kiwi? I dunno those ones. Not something we ran into on the islands. We had apricots, though! Never had one before, they're tasty... sorta like ulwaat berries but not quite tart enough."

[just_another_hill]

She snorted, giving him a once over from his hair to his toes. The result was another snort and she shook her head.

"You're about the same size as Z and I've hauled his ass up off the floor plenty of times. It's a matter of leverage, not strength. Besides, it's not like I'll be doing all the heavy lifting. You've got plenty of muscle, you can put some of it to good use. Now sit."

Cause she wasn't going to sit until you do.

"So...you're really not from my Earth, are you?"

laundry

[bloodyashes]

Gladio will probably hear the approaching footsteps, at least if he has a mind to pay attention to anything else. Asch, freshly returned from checking the various snares around the woods, just has to stop and stare for a long moment.

"For the love of Lorelei," he finally mutters. At least when he tried to walk off a debilitating injury, there was the whole end of the world hanging over his head.

When he actually comes up next to Gladio, it's obvious where his actual training is, makeshift medical staff or not. He has far more of a commander's set to his shoulders than any kind of bedside manner. "Sit. I don't know what the hell you're thinking, but laundry isn't worth screwing over your recovery."

[piercetheheart]

He is, if anything, extra vigilant right now because the weight of his Shield or sword would be enough to unbalance him right now. The flash of violently crimson hair is indication enough of who it is and he goes back to... honestly at this point just leaning against his makeshift walking stick for balance and enjoying the fresh air.

"I can't just sit around and do nothing." Aaaand there goes the good mood. Yeah, he hurts but he's not completely crippled and he's not about to act like it.

[bloodyashes]

"Then find something you can do sitting," is the immediate response, all the flippancy of a teenager in full swing.

But then there's a slight softening of Asch's tone and a relaxing of his shoulders - not anywhere near a slump, but enough that he's no longer trying to draw up an aura of command against a man with fifteen years and a foot of height on him. "I get it, trust me. But for once, the world isn't going to end if any of us takes a break for a little while."

[piercetheheart]

"I've been sitting around stoned off my ass for a week. I can handle a little bit of stretching, okay." Because like hell he's going to just keep babying it. That's a good way to make things worse.

"Look I've done the same thing to my shoulder more times than I can count when I was younger. I've got some idea how this is supposed to go and losing all the muscle strength from favoring it is not the way to keep it in place, kid." Not kiddo, not a sign of affection like it is with Iris and Shion or even Lance but a subtle prod. Gladio is a grown ass man and so far all Asch has done is try to be in charge and tell him what to do and he's honestly? Pretty fucking done with it. Asch may have plenty of history with Ignis and Ardyn but that does not immediately put him on good terms with Gladio. Sure it means he gets more of chance than someone else might but he'd have told anyone else to take their opinion and shove it awhile ago.

[bloodyashes]

The prod lands about as well as can be expected. "I'm not a kid," Asch snaps, and while it certainly does make him sound his age, there's an undercurrent to it that's more than just a teenager snapping back. Gladio has, with all of his usual grace, managed to step in something that genuinely pisses him off.

"And I don't want to hear a damn word after seeing you try to fit through that window in the first place. If you want to claim you know your body best, then act like it."

[press_start]

Chiaki's facing a slightly different problem- hikkikomori that she'd been, not to mention other spoiler reasons, she's thoroughly unsuited to rough living. The dust and the dirt itches; the stale air crackles against her face where-ever she goes in the compound. It's living itself that sucks, partly. But she's reacting to it the same way, that is, running around as much as she can to keep her attention off such things.

Base-building is therapeutic. So when Chiaki spots this huge man pulling out an armful of fabric she figures he's working on some kind of project, which is interesting and worthy of support rather than weird.

"Hey... what're you doing?"

[piercetheheart]

Gladio pauses near the door with his current armload, eyeing Chiaki curiously. She's been a little.... scattered, honestly so he's surprised she's taken an interest in his laundering project. But he shrugs a little and nods towards the door.

"Airing some of this shit out, everything smells like dust and gross." He makes it out into the sunshine, pauses, and frowns down at himself.

"Which is kinda stupid considering how bad we all smell but it's something."

[want_to_belong]

Many things were the same as back on the islands. Prompto found himself fighting to keep everyone fed, hunting, checking traps and laying out new ones, doing what he could in town... Amazingly, he was still up and going after all this time. Who would have thought Prompto would end up being the least injured one in the end?

He saw Gladio setting some blanket curtains up and wandered over, smacking him very gently just above his butt.

"Hey big guy. How are you holding up?"

[piercetheheart]

Gladio's always going to be the first one hurt, come on Prom, don't you remember the whole bleeding out on the floor cause Laurent shanked him thing? He jumps a little at that swat, light as it is, grateful it's not as low as Prom usually swings. His whole hip is bruised to hell from the disaster that was the door opening.

Amber eyes flick from what he's doing down to Prompto and then back, a smirk tugging at his lips. "It ever occur to you that it might be considered inappropriate to go around smacking the asses of dudes that have asked to make out with you?"

He fully anticipates the response being blushing and stuttering from Prompto though so he just keeps talking, moving on to save him from answering if he doesn't want to. "I'll be alright as long as I can keep busy. Figured buying us some privacy was a good start."

[want_to_belong]

"That was a fully platonic slap. Come on, man, it's been like that since well before you ever let on that you dug guys."

He folded his arms and leaned back on one leg. He didn't really think of it as romantic. He did it to Noct and Iggy, too, after all.

"Did you get to check out all the rooms yet? I was thinking maybe we could find a way to brighten the place up. It's just super creepy right now. I almost want to lock the door back up and forget about it."

[piercetheheart]

Gladio rolls his eyes, ties off the corner of the sheet and reaches out to snag Prompto's shoulder. If he's going to stand there he may as well be useful. Not that Gladio needs to brace against him, he could scoot down and brace against the wall, but Prompto's there and convenient.

"Haven't gone through most of it, crawling over that table's sort of a bitch right now. Just snagged some clothes and a few snacks and called it good... you think it's that creepy? Idk maybe we could make some paint or somethin?" He made something close back on the islands, more of a stain really, so why not?

[savedbyasong]

"Gladio..."

Shion has been a shadow, though he's tried to not be too annoying. He's kept a silent vigil over him, watching for any sign of the wound reopening, infection or anything to suggest he had damaged something when he put his hip back in.

With every day Gladio got stronger Shion relaxed a tiny bit. Even dozing at one point for a couple of hours, face pressed into Cobweb's fur before nightmares woke him up. He instantly regretted it when he woke up to find Gladio gone. Panic soared through him as his mind helpfully produced every terrible scenario.

He finds Gladio as he's climbing up onto the bed pallet. "Do... Can I help?"

He wants to tell him to sit down, but he knows how Gladio feels about being injured. The same Shion would feel if he was stuck unable to do anything. He's also aware he had done a lot of things against Gladio's wishes, even though he didn't regret them, because it had led to Gladio being well again.

[piercetheheart]

He didn't mean to scare Shion he was just sleeping so peacefully at the time and... well he had to get up eventually. A fresh pair of sweat pants, a pile of clean blankets and an utterly selfish indulgence of a bag of chips all stacked on the bed. Gladio glances up when Shion comes back in, flashes him a sheepish smile.

"Hey..." And he catches the way that question gets redirected. "Not doing much. Just thought a little privacy might be nice. Now that I can move, anyway." A roll of his eyes but he does step carefully down. He doesn't want to worry the poor guy any more than he already has.

[savedbyasong]

"Oh. Privacy, I should have thought of that..." He hadn't. Because privacy is one of those luxuries that got lost somewhere down the line and he often forgets about. But he probably should have tried harder to make sure Gladio had somewhere private to rest.

Still Gladio had managed to not over exert himself, hopefully. "It doesn't hurt at all when you walk? No unusual stiffness?"

[piercetheheart]

Privacy for resting isn't really what he's concerned about. Mostly it's that Prompto gets weird when he and Ignis are too affectionate and... well Iggy is stressed out and so is Gladio and he'd like something resembling private time with his boyfriend. Most of the time the "curtains" will be open but just in case.

"It's stiff yeah but..." He shrugs a little, gently shifting his weight. "It aches but it's a good ache. A stretchy kind of ache. Too stiff from sitting around and a little swelling but not like horrible pain or anything. Gonna take it easy as much as I can for a bit still." He offers Shion a reassuring smile, squeezing his shoulder.