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When Prompto was upset he made sure everybody knew. Not intentionally—he didn’t scream and throw fits and snap at others—but he wore his heart on his sleeve and despair on his face. Stress showed on his face like green on the grass or white on the clouds—it was just the way Prompto was and there was nothing he could do about it.
Lucky for Gladio it made reading his boyfriend all the more easy, not that he really needed help. But Prompto was one to dismiss his own emotions and sweep his worries under the rug, so the sooner Gladio knew about something that was troubling him, the better.
Today, Gladio found Prompto sitting alone at a table for two on the far wall of the Citadel’s cafeteria, his hand idly curled around a cup of water as he gazed out the tall windows that lined the wall. His stare was full of frustration and sadness, his brows furrowed as he was deep in thought.
“Hey Prom,” he greeted as he slid into the chair across from him, shocking Prompto out of his daze. “How’s it goin’?”
“Oh, um…” he stalled, trying to find words. How was he? He was fine, but he couldn’t say the same for his best friend. “I’m alright I guess. Just have…a lot to think about lately.” He gripped the water cup tight and took a drink, trying to look a little more natural in the busy cafeteria.
“Wanna talk about it?” Gladio offered.
Prompto glanced around the room, eyeing all the ears that could be listening. “Not...here. Somewhere quieter, maybe.”
“Come up to my room then?” Gladio asked, one eyebrow raised like he’s trying to be suggestive.
Prompto smirked and blew air out of his nose at his boyfriend. He knew he’s just being Gladio, trying to make a tense situation a little less so, so Prompto trusted him. The mac and cheese he tossed onto his plate out of pure habit had gone lukewarm, but Prompto finished it up regardless before slipping out a side door with Gladio.
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“So what’s eatin’ you, buttercup?” Gladio asked once the door to his quarters was shut, he and Prompto moving across the room to sit in the living area. They usually sat together on the couch, but Prompto chose the armchair instead.
“It’s…mostly Noct.”
“I didn’t mean literally, Prom.”
“Gladio!” He snapped back, only a little red in the face. No matter what was happening behind closed doors, that wasn’t what this was about. He told his boyfriend as much. “This is serious.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, that one was just too easy, Prom,” Gladio smiled waving his hand in the air as if to will away the bad feelings. Prompto let it go.
“But yeah, it’s mostly Noct. He’s…he’s really depressed, Gladio,” Prompto said, the compassion in his eyes taking Gladio’s breath for a moment. Well, his eyes and the topic at hand. Being the shield he was inexorably linked to Noct, so he couldn’t just ignore Noct’s current mental state…except for the times he did.
But it was hard, you know? The kid’s dad was slowly withering away and he had the immense weight of responsibility that he wasn’t ready to bear on his shoulders. That wasn’t something one could just fix in a day.
“I, uh…” Gladio stumbled over his words, realizing the Prompto probably wanted an answer. “Yeah, you’re right, Prom. It’s something Ignis and I have noticed, too,” he said, deflated.
Prompto raised his eyes a little, just enough to meet Gladio’s briefly. “It makes me so sad, Gladio, seeing him sad. He doesn’t get out of bed some days, forgets to eat, won’t clean up after himself…” he trailed off for a moment to think.
“I love him Gladio, I really do. He’s the best friend I’ve ever had and watching him get worse and worse is stressing me out. Like you wouldn’t believe. I can’t-I can’t get through a day without thinking about him,” Prompto confessed, his hands framing his face as he stared at the floor. “And it’s killing me, Gladio. I’m going crazy trying to figure out what I can do to help him.”
Gladio said nothing when Prompto met his gaze again, his expression pensive and emotionless. Prompto continued.
“Like, the other day, we were hanging out at his apartment and I noticed his laundry basket was like, really, really full,” he described. “And I figured I could wash my school uniform while I was at it so I offered to help him with his laundry. I mean, first of all, he told me I didn’t have to, but I wanted to, so I go over to the washer and dryer only to find that his old laundry was still in the dryer from last time,” he said, speaking with his hands the entire time.
“So in the end I ran the dryer again for those clothes, washed the other ones and then we folded and hung them all together. Everything was so nice and neat in the laundry baskets and I offered to help him put it away in his room, but he looked so upset,” Prompto clutched at his chest.
“He said he’d do it later. Gladio, I know he won’t do it later. They’re probably still sitting by his bedroom door, right where we left them.”
“Prompto.”
“And I just don’t understand Gladio. Why does he have to be like this? Why isn’t anyone helping him?” Prompto continued, his leg bouncing rapidly as he tried to deal with the nerves.
“Prom, I gotta…I gotta tell you something,” Gladio sighed, labored as Prompto was eager. He raised a hand to his boyfriend to stop his obsessive chatter and Prompto fell silent.
“We’ve been…me and Iggy…we’ve been trying to help him for a long time, Prom,” he started and Prompto flinched at his words. “And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with you helping him out, but I think you should consider how deep his depression really runs.”
Prompto cocked his head to the side and Gladio continued. “Noct’s been this way for…a while. And he knows it. He’s fully capable of asking for help or asking one of us to help him find a professional to talk to. He could get medication or go to therapy sessions or…anything he wanted, really,” Gladio shrugged. “But he doesn’t do it.”
“And that’s part of depression, Glads, that’s why we—”
“Prompto, I know. I know that’s part of depression,” Gladio stopped him again. “But my point is that, until he is ready to do something about his mental health, we have no reason to intervene past supporting him from day to day. You’ll drive yourself into depression, Prom, trying to solve problems that aren’t yours.”
Prompto didn’t notice he was crying until he felt the first few tears roll slowly down his cheeks. How could he just leave Noct alone? His best friend?
“And I know it hurts, Prom, I really do. It’s something that Iggy and I struggle with all the time, every day it seems like,” Gladio said, clenching his fists. “So I have to say sorry that we didn’t think about you, too. With how close you are to Noct, it’s no surprise that you feel the same way.”
“So I should just…not care about him? Not help him with anything?” Prompto stuttered, wiping the tears from his cheeks and trying to regain composure before he lost it further.
“N-no, not exactly,” Gladio said. “You can’t fix him, Prom. We’ve all been through that, thinking that we can fix him and make everything better,”-he shook his head at the memory- “but you can help him. Help him with the little things. Make sure he remembers to eat and drink. Remind him to clean up a little. Listen when he feels like talking. Be there for him, but give him space to be himself.”
“I know it’s painful to watch sometimes. It is for me, too. But you can’t, you can’t just,” Gladio heaved a long sigh. “No one can solve Noctis’ problems but himself. If he asks for help, then we help him, but until then all we can do is stand by his side,” Gladio finished and a silence passed between them.
“And that’s…a hard lesson to learn. But it’s something you’ve got to accept, Prom. You can’t keep going on like this. It makes me worry for you, too,” he said, scooting closer to his boyfriend and holding out a hand. Prompto took it, sniffling as tears still trailed down his cheeks.
“Yeah…”Prompto croaked out between tears. Gladio was right, he thought, but he needed a moment to think. He’d been so obsessed with making Noct feel better recently—it was difficult to reconcile just dropping all those emotions.
“I’m sorry,” he finally said, almost sobbing as the words left his mouth. “It’s just…I’ve been thinking about this for so long. And not just this…everything’s really been getting to me lately.” He moved from the armchair and joined Gladio on the couch, snuggling into his side as he grasped his boyfriend’s hand.
“I’m always so tired from training and worried about school—I just want to finish senior year and say I did alright, you know?” he said, pressing his face into Gladio’s shoulder. “I never do the things that make me happy anymore—I don’t take pictures on the weekends or play video games with Noct. I mean we do, but it seems more like a chore, sometimes.”
“I-I guess I’m just…sorry, if I was ignoring you or Iggy for the past few months. Thinking about Noct all the time…I didn’t know how much it was affecting me,” he said, his leg still bouncing at a rapid pace.
Gladio wrapped and arm around his shoulders and squeezed, pulling him closer in a half-hug. Just like he knew Noct and his signs of falling into a bad depressive episode, he knew Prompto’s tells of being overwhelmed by anxiety.
“It’s alright, Prom,” he said, not letting up on the hug while he slipped off both his and Prompto’s shoes with his feet. Prompto would be fine, he knew—he just needed a few minutes of losing his composure before he could really gain it back. “C’mere, babe, you’re gonna be fine,” he mumbled, almost purring as he pulled Prompto fully into his lap.
Prompto’s arms wrapped around Gladio’s broad back as he sat in his boyfriend’s lap, pressing himself in to Gladio’s comforting weight and warmth like it was keeping him alive. With some slow shifting Gladio maneuvered them to lie down, Prompto pressing his face into his boyfriend’s neck and curling up on his chest when he couldn’t hold the hug any longer.
Gladio reciprocated with a hug of his own, giving his boyfriend the pressure he knew he loved as he worked on calming down. A few more tears leaked from Prompto’s eyes and he couldn’t help the slight shiver running through his body, but they were forgotten with Gladio’s comforting presence so close by.
Prompto’s heart still ached for Noct. It always would, he guessed. But knowing that Gladio and Iggy were there for him, just like he was there for Noct, made him feel things he couldn’t describe. He had to trust in them, in all of his friends, because their support for each other was the only way any of them would move on.