I think Gladio comes
across as this very intimidating guy, and that is a fair assumption to make,
but Gladio is one of the kindest souls in Lucis. He loves his family, takes his
job seriously, and would die for his friends. It’s hard to find a man more
devoted. I think at first he may come on a bit too strong, considering your
past you may be hesitant to look his direction. However once you come to know
him as a person and realize the man he is, you will come to really love him. And
once you open up to him about your past, Gladio will work harder every day to
prove that he is worth it. To prove he will never hurt you and prove that you
are always safe with him.
Gladio really admires
your artwork, impressed with its designs and intricacy. He often lets you
practice stamping him with tattoo outlines and even allowing you to practice on
him. Mostly its touchups to his already enormous eagle across his back, but hey
maybe you can convince him someday? I bet he wouldn’t mind having your initials
on his chest near his heart.
He fully supports your
hobbies such as playing video games and reading comics. Gladio reads as well
and often takes your comics to read for himself. He will read whatever he can
get his hands on. And as far a video games go, many promote strategy, which he
is always willing to practice.
How You Met:
You had dreamed of
being an apprentice for a long time. You had been at the tattoo shop for a few
months doing trivial things such as sanitizing stations, sweeping the parlor,
and putting tattoo outlines on customers. You would watch your mentor for hours
as he created intricate designs on customers skins, noticing everything such as
how he held the tattoo gun, talked to nervous guests, and completely pieces
quickly, yet beautifully. When he finally told you that you would be able to
tattoo you about bounced around the parlor in excitement.
However, the moment
you saw the man you would be tatting enter the shop you halted your excitement in
shear fear. He was large, maybe the largest man you had ever seen. Tall and
muscular and his expression serious. He was someone who you would never want to
get into any form of altercation with, and yet you did notice the softness in
his amber eyes. They were the one thing that seemed kind about him.
Noticing you tense
demeanor your boss put his hand on your shoulder, “Hey don’t worry you’ll do
great. His tat is a work in progress. If you mess up I can always fix it. He
already said he was fine with letting you practice.”
“Promise me he won’t pummel
me into the ground if I screw up?”
“Gladio,” he
questioned, “Nah he would never do that. Dude’s super cool.”
“If you say so,” you replied
hesitantly. Your boss waved the behemoth of a man over and as he approached
there was a wide grin of his face as he said hello.
“Hey,” he started, “Guessing
you’re the apprentice in charge of inking me today?”
“Yep,” you said a bit
to enthusiastically, but he didn’t notice.
“Cool,” he nodded,
turning to your boss, “Same table right?”
“As always,” your
instructor replied, leading Gladio and yourself to the inkbed.
As he stripped off his
shirt you felt your cheeks begin to slightly blush at the sight of him. Not
only was he attractive but it was as though his muscles had muscles. With his
back to you, you noticed the outline of the giant eagle that took up the
entirety of his back and flowing over his shoulder. It was a massive tattoo and
had a long way to go until it was finished.
“Alright Y/N,” your
boss began, “I already have the ink loaded up for you, and I went ahead and
sanitized his back so all you have to do is ready yourself and start. You’re
going to outline part of piece in a darker black and if you need me to take over, I
can. I’ll be sitting right over there,” he said pointing to a small desk about
ten feet away, “Super easy, you can do this.”
“Alright,” you nodded,
taking your place next to the bed and watching as your boss walked off.
“Don’t be nervous,”
Gladio said, making you look at him, “At least you aren’t getting pricked with
the needle.”
You casually laughed
and began.
Gladio sat perfectly
still, as though he was un-phased from the pain. You were doing pretty well.
“So I’m your first
right,” he asked quietly, making sure he didn’t move to much.
“Pardon,” you asked.
“The first person you’ve
gotten to tat?”
“Technically yes, but
no,” you said shaking your head, “Some of the other artists in the building
have let me practice on them.”
“Nice.”
He asked you a few
more questions and as time went on, you found yourself becoming less tense. You
carried on conversation with him much easier than you had initially anticipated
you would. He was a ‘guard’ at the citadel he had said, and explained that the
eagle was a symbol of his families lineage in working for the crown. You both
discussed interests of yours and at one point talked about novels you both
enjoyed reading. After talking for so long you did not even realize you had
finished outlining the area you were told to tat.
“Done,” you said
triumphantly, calling your boss back over.
“Wow,” he said with a
smile, “Looks good!”
After helping you put
up the tattoo gun, the both of you worked to cover the raised skin. Once that
was out of the way and your boss walked to the back to grab some lotion for the
guard, Gladio stood up finally able to stretch.
“Gods,” he roared, “I didn’t
know how much longer I could lay like that.”
“Sorry for taking so
long,” you apologized.
“Don’t apologize,” he
grinned, “This was fun.”
“Yeah, I bet having a
needle dragged through your back is everyone’s idea of a good time,” you
laughed.
“If you’re the one
doing it then people don’t know what they’re missing,” he smirked, “But
seriously I appreciate your time.”
“Of course,” you
smiled, “Thanks for letting me practice.”
There was a moment of
eye contact that lasted a bit longer than necessary until Gladio finally shook
his head and just blurted out, “We should do this again.”
“Tattoo your back?”
“Hang out and talk.”
He was looking at you waiting for a reply and you felt your heart beat a little
faster than normal at his suggestion, but you found yourself saying the same
thing and nodding your head in agreement, making his beam from ear to ear.
“Cool,” he sighed relieved,
“We’ll make it a date.”
~My Tumblr Back-Up And Stuffs~ 