A Good Other

Gladiolus "Gladio" Amicitia

"Is that her Gladio?"

"Iris be quiet."

Cocking your head to the side you couldn't help but glance over your shoulder to see who was behind you. Of course behind you were other people walking on the sidewalk, some who were talking on their phones, walking with friends or their animals. However you couldn't pin point exactly who was talking.

Alas you couldn't tell who was maybe talking about you.

Nervously you slid your hands into your pockets and began to walk even faster down the sidewalk. Maybe by walking faster you could get to a busy street and hopefully lose whom ever may be stalking you.

It was the afternoon, daytime, so it couldn't be the darkness.

Or at least that's what you hoped.

Turning around the corner of the sidewalk all of a sudden you were hit with a mixture of different smells. Having to blink your eyes a couple of times a grin spread across your face. Luckily right in front of you was an entire street fair. Far as you could see were different tents with either food vendors or other vendors trying to sell random items.

Not only were you excited in getting rid of your possible stalker(s), but you couldn't even think of the last time you had been to a street fair. Maybe you hadn't been to one at all. Well, here goes nothing.

Disappearing into the crowds was easy enough and soon the eyes that was burning into your back slowly went away. It was hard not to turn around and begin the backwards search of trying to find these weirdos, but it was even harder not to stop at every food stall to buy something.

"Ah fuck, Iris!"

With a beef skewer hanging out of your mouth, you had turned around to find a tall, rather attractive, looking man in a black tank top and some dusty dark jeans and boots.  One thing that you couldn't help but stare at would be the tattoos that ran from his wrists all the way up toward his shoulders where it looked like to his back.

Ah shite, was that a blush you could feel across your face already?

Removing the skewer from your mouth you walked up to the much taller male with a concerned look on your face. "Hey, is everything all right?"

While everyone else didn't pay much mind to the tattooed man, he was used to it. But here Gladio was, hearing a sweet voice asking him if he were all right. Looking at you Gladio was at a loss for words. Iris had heard about 'that night' from Prompto and some other people and she wanted to meet who ever [Name] was.

Iris was extremely noise and of course she'd pull him into it.

Shaking his head Gladio took in a deep breath. No use getting worked up and losing his mind. "My sister Iris, she .. wanted to come down to the festival and dragged me along. Yet she's gone off and disappeared."

This probably sounded stupid to some people but to you it was obvious that whomever this guy was that he loved his sister a lot. That he was that always desired older brother that parents always wanted as a child.  Grinning with confidence you nodded your head to no one but yourself. "I'll help you find her."

Even if you didn't know that he was the one stalking you, Gladio found himself being surprised with the fact that now you were helping him.

"You shouldn't worry about it," Gladio sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes flickering about in search of maybe seeing Iris somewhere. For all he knew was the chance that she was hiding somewhere and watching this play out.

All it took was for you to shake your head with a soft smile. "It's all right, it's a big festival. Even if I don't know what she looks like at least I know her name."

Damn it, looks like he was stuck with you now.

Grumbling to himself silently Gladio huffed out a little hot air. "Thanks. Name's Gladio by the way."

"[Name], nice to meet you."

Of course with not knowing what Iris looked like, all you could do was call out her name at random points as you and Gladio walked up and down the street. Some strangers gave you and Gladio some dirty looks while others asked what was happening. With further explaination they said they'd keep and eye out for her after Gladio explained what Iris looked like.

Another thing that was on your mind happened to be the strange inkling that Gladio looked familiar. But the reason why he looked familiar wasn't coming to mind. But there was just something about him.

However..

A squeal erupted from the far back of Iris' throat, strangers flinching away and whispering to one another. Peaking around from behind a food stall a not evil sinister grin grew across the younger Amicitia's face.

"Prompto I wish you could see this, Gladi is a mess."

"Iris..? What are you talking about?"

"I gotta go, I think they spotted me!"

"Iris!"