Final Fantasy XV One Shots

211) Fluffy Disaster-Gladiolus

~(Y/n)'s POV~

"Oh, dear gods..." I murmur at the sight of Gladio. Instead of the normal brute I'm used to seeing, a chocobo sat in his chair. The feathers matched his hair, which was another indication the man had been transformed into a chocobo chick. "Y'know, I think you deserve to be stuck like this. You've been an ass all week."

Gladio jumped from his chair with his short legs and ran over to me. He squawked harshly as if to deny my accusations. Prompto stood next to me as the chick began pecking at my shoes. "She's right. You shoved me into a river, pushed Noctis too hard during training, and even yelled at Ignis."

The bird sent us a glare as a warning to be quiet. Not heeding the kind of cute look, I placed my hands on my hips. "And since you're in this form, no cup noodles 'til you're back to normal." Gladio's beak dropped at my rule. Then, he shook away his shock and ran into the tent. Following him, I saw he was pecking at something. Kneeling behind him, I was able to see what he was messing with. "Gladio, no! Bad chocobo!" I snatch the cup noodles away as he started picking at the uncooked noodles and vegetables.

A loud and obnoxious 'kweh' escaped Gladio as he chased after me to get back the busted container of cup noodles. I left the tent and sat the container on the table beside the portable stove. Ignis raised an eyebrow as he continued to cook breakfast once he spotted the cup noodles. "Gladio's tryin' to get into his cup noodles. I told him he couldn't have any while in his current predicament."

"Obdurate even now, I see," Ignis sighs.

"We should hide-ow!" I yelp as I felt pain in my leg. Glancing down, I saw Gladio was pecking at my skin. I nudged his fluffy body away with my foot. "If you don't stop, I'm gonna throw you like a football!"

My snappy commentary made Noctis and Prompto burst into laughter. The prince grinned as he looked at me. "You should totally throw him. Like you said, he's been an ass all week." The baby bird charged at Noctis and jumped, causing raven haired boy to lose his footing and fall to the ground of the haven.

"Gladio, you're supposed to protect Noctis, not hurt him!" I snarl, picking the chocobo up in my arms. He squirmed in my grip, but I refused to let him go. "What has gotten into you, Gladiolus?!"

Hearing his full first name, the chocobo chick froze in my arms and stared into my (e/c) eyes. Knowing I wasn't going to get an answer while he was in this form, I sighed and sat down in my chair with Gladio in my lap. To my surprise, he didn't try to run away or peck at me. Seeing that he finally had calmed down, I trailed my hands through his soft plumage. "Just sit here and do nothing. Once you're back to normal, I hope you'll tell me what's wrong."

Ignis passed out breakfast and handed me a plate of steamed vegetables for Gladio. Fortunately, he wasn't the prince and would have no issues eating his breakfast. When Ignis sat the plate down on the ground, Gladio didn't budge an inch. Confused, I poked his head to get his attention. "What's wrong?" All he did was look between me and the vegetables. I connected the pieces and smiled. "Fine, I'll feed you." Carefully, I switched the plate of my breakfast with the vegetables. With my fork, I took a piece and fed the greedy Gladio. He finished his vegetables and snuggled closer to me as I ate my breakfast.

"Ready to head out?" Noctis asked me.

"Yeah, let me just gather a certain fluff ball and I'll be ready."

With Gladio in my arms, I follow Noctis to the Regalia. I sat in his usual spot and plopped his feathery behind in between me and the prince. The moment Ignis started the car, Gladio hopped to his feet and crawled into my lap. Grumbling incoherently, I lift him up and put him back in the middle. "Stay." When I saw him disobey, I wasn't surprised one bit. "Why? You have an entire seat to yourself. You don't need to sit in my lap!"

Gladio ignored me and returned to my lap. Seeing as my words were not reaching his small bird brain, I gave in and let him sit in my lap. Prompto stood on his knees in his seat and spun around, snapping a few pics of chocobo Gladio. "What if he's super mad when he returns to normal?"

"He'd do more than just kick our asses if he is," Noctis said.

"I won't let that happen. He's got a lot of explaining to do once he's human again," I reassured the two boys.

Ignis pulled into Hammerhead, bringing the car to a halt. "(Y/n), please remain in the car with Gladio. We shall proffer the wax to Cindy."

"Will do, Iggy."

The trio exited the car and bounced over to the garage. The moment I went to stroke Gladio's feathers, he jumped out of the car and dashed off. "Gladio!" Following him, I hop out of the car and follow the chocobo chick. Curses flew through my mind, but I prevented them from spilling from my lips as I chased the bird behind Takka's Pitstop.

Turning the corner, I ran into something hard and forced to take a few steps back while covering my face from the surges of pain. When I almost lost my footing, someone grabbed my arm and steadied my body. "Thank you," I say, removing my hands from my face.

A deep, familiar chuckle resounded from the person who had saved me from a nasty spill. My eyes widen as I was finally able to see who it was. "G-Gladio! Y-You're back!"

"Putting me through hell sayin' I can't have my cup noodles," he said while crossing his arms.

"A chocobo shouldn't eat cup noodles! That's why Iggy steamed up some vegetables for you!" I glare up at the shield. That's when I remembered his behavior from earlier this week. "You've got some explaining to do, too!"

"I know you're pissed at me, (Y/n), but I'll tell you why."

"Then tell me!" I placed my hands on my hips impatiently.

With a huge sigh, Gladio told me how he was hit by a spell from a daemon while we were near the Vesperpool. Apparently, it had blinded him with anger and it also was why he was changed into a chocobo chick this morning.

"That's... an odd spell. Well, at least you told me." I spun on my heels to walk back to the car, but Gladio had grabbed my wrist to stop me.

"So... you're not pissed anymore?" He asked, raising his brows.

"No, because you told me the truth. I wish you would've told me earlier, but now I know why you didn't. There's no reason for me to be mad."

Suddenly, Gladio pulled me towards him and used his other hand to tilt my chin upwards. "You still wanna throw me like a football?" A smirk played across his lips as he leaned down to my height.

"If you ever keep something like this from me again, I'm skipping the throwing and gonna kick your ass all the way across Eos."

He chuckled and kissed me on the lips. "Yes, Ma'am."