"Ah, some magitek engine remnant! We should deliver this to Miss Aurum the next time we arrive at Hammerhead when His majesty crashes the Regalia again."

"Appreciate the confidence Iggy, but what makes you so sure that Cindy needs one of those for? Prompto hangs on to her every word and he didn't mention it once."

The King's Shield chimed in on the conversation while the blonde gunman turned various degrees of red. "Well you see Noct, while Prompto was too busy staring at Cindy, our boy Iggy here was listening to her when he was reading his shopping list." Gladio caught Ignis stare at him in disbelief and guffawed lightly. "Come on Iggy, we've been pals since we were five, don't think I don't know how you eavesdrop on conversations by now.

The Advisor cleared his throat in an attempt to change the subject (and save himself from further embarrassment.) "Alright now, even though this conversation proved quite thrilling I suggest retreating from this cave. I can sense it's getting dark and I would rather not fight daemons all night."

"As much as I enjoy watching Ignis' cool exterior crack, I've gotta agree with him. I bought a flavor of Cup Noodles I haven't tried before and I don't want to waste any more time in this shithole.

Gladio saw Ignis' faces turn sour at the mention of his favorite food and said "Hey Iggy, why are you so angry for us eating cup noodles? It saves you the work of cooking for us!"

"Ah Sweet! finally food as it was meant to be- full of carbs, salt, and artificial flavourings!" Yelled the elated sharpshooter "And the best part? No freakin' vegetables!"added the king.

After admonishing his companions for being excited at the prospect of eating such garbage Iggy drove the men to Hammerhead to eat and rest up. He knew that while they didn't need to go to Cindy's garage he found himself longing to return there. Gladio was spot on in his observations and Ignis knew that he was enamored with the mechanic. While he was initially ambivalent to her "wardrobe", her kind nature won him over. He admired the fact she was so optimistic in spite of the death of her parents due to daemons (in fact, their deaths drove her to invent the anti-daemon headlights). The fact that she appreciated his cooking a lot more than his companions did was just icing on the cake.

Meanwhile, Gladio was forming his own plan to bring Ignis and Cindy together. While he was aware of Prompto infatuation with Cindy and thought it was cute, he knew that the punk crushed on every girl he came across. Now Ignis admiring a girl was a rare sight for the Shield. He's sure that Iggy only crushed on two, maybe three girls back when they were in the Royal academy. Now's his chance to give his hard-working friend something special. "Besides, I got Noct to finally man up and ask my sister out, how hard could this be?"

As they pulled up to Hammerhead they heard the familiar drawl of the Blonde mechanic. "Hey boys, does the Regalia need a repair?"

"Nah, we just need to stop here for a night or two" answered the King casually "and besides we bought you something we thought you might need" Noctis motioned for Ignis to bring out the piece of magitek they held. Cindy's emerald eyes widened at the sight at the rare, almost mythical piece of technology. She had to fight off the urge to shriek in delight. "THANK YOU BOYS SO MUCH FOR THIS" she yelled catching everyone around her off guard.

"Don't thank us" Gladio quickly interjected "It was all Iggy's idea" Before Ignis could react to his friend's revelation he was caught off guard by Cindy practically jumping on top of him and giving him a hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" exclaimed Cindy. Prompto's jaw dropped and Noctis belted out a hearty laughter at the sight of his stoic adviser turning as red as a tomato. Meanwhile, Gladio's satisfaction was palpable through his smirk. While everyone else saw Ignis blush, only he had the view of Cindy's flustered face. He knew this was gonna be a piece of cake.

Gladio's thoughts were cut off when Cindy detached herself from Ignis, the fact that she hugged the royal adviser was now dawning on her as she attempted to backpedal away

"Damn, Ignis must think I'm crazy after the stunt I just pulled" thought the grease-monkey. Meanwhile, Ignis was fighting off his urge to scream a thank you to the Gods for what just happened.

"Uh...sorry about...jumpin' on top of you there Iggy."

"It's no problem Miss Aurum...at least I know you have a good sense of gratitude" Ignis quipped to Lighten the awkward mood.

"Alright, who wants Cup Noodles™!" Yelled Gladio ready to dig in into his favorite meal. Noctis and Prompto enthusiastically agreed to his suggestion (leaving Ignis quite disgusted). Surprisingly, Cindy also objected to his choice of dinner.

"I may not be a top chef myself but even I wouldn't call this cup soup crap "food", 'sides doesn't Ignis cook gourmet food for you? Why would you not want to eat his cooking 24/7?" Iggy felt his face light up considerably in response to her dismissal of that "cup soup crap"

"Finally, another soul with some semblance of taste in this world! Miss Aurum would you like to accompany me to dinner tonight? I'd hate to waste food all by my lonesome."

"I would love to have dinner with you Iggy. Why don't you cook in my kitchen? I bet you've never seen a real one in a long time. And the Gods know I won't use it. I'm gonna take a shower in the meantime."

Ignis was elated at this prospect. Not only will he serve food to someone who appreciates fine dining, he'll get to use an actual kitchen and not a dinky outdoors grill!

As Ignis and Cindy disappeared from view Gladio mentally pat himself on the back. "Huh, I didn't even try to get Cindy on a dinner date with specs." Gladio thought to himself "I must be better than I thought. I just hope Ignis doesn't screw this opportunity up. Eh, I doubt it, I mean he's not Prompto". Shaking himself out of his stupor Gladio yelled at the two people leaving his sight "Hey, we're gonna pack it up after we eat! Take as long as you want having Dinner!"