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It had been five days since Gladio had just up and left them. Five days of trying to get by on their own. They discovered the hard way exactly how hard it was going to be when they had gone to set up camp the first night. None of them really knew how to start the fire. They had never really had to fend for themselves, and Gladio hadn’t taught them. That first night, as he watched Ignis and Noct struggle to light the fire, he contemplated asking Gladio to show him how it was done, given that they might need to learn to fend for themselves again. Ignis said they would just have to make do with sandwiches or something that did not need cooked. Noct was about to throw a fire flask into the pit but Ignis grabbed his arm to stop him. The night didn’t seem like it was going to get that cold anyway, so they likely weren’t going to need the fire.
Except after they ate dinner, they realized none of them knew how to pitch the tent. Since it was too late for them to drive anywhere, they ended up spending the night in the car, Noct stretched out across the back seat while Ignis dozed up front. With Gladio absent from the backseat, he had the space to put his seat down and to curl up on his side. He kept his phone tucked close to him, just in case Gladio tried to get ahold of him.
He thought a lot about that last night they spent in Gladin Quay, a few days before Gladio had gone off to do about whatever it was he thought he needed to do. About the way Gladio had tried to comfort him. About the way he had promised to never let anything else snatch him away as long as he was around.
In hindsight, he probably should have paid more attention to what he had been saying. In his own way, he had been trying to tell him that he would be leaving them. He couldn’t have been bothered to say for what or for how long. He supposed he had been too wrapped up in the feeling of being in Gladio’s arms to really notice what he had been saying. If he closed his eyes and thought back, he could still feel the warmth of Gladio’s palm against his cheek.
Not to mention, for a brief moment there, he had thought Gladio desired him. There had been a moment there, when he had been seated on Gladio’s lap, his hand splayed on Gladio’s chest, that he had thought about making an offer. To lay it all out on the table, to stop dancing around those feelings that he had been trying to deny to himself for quite a while. Something about sitting in Gladio’s lap out on a balcony at one of the most romantic spots in the country had emboldened him, and he had almost made the suggestion. Then his own head got in the way, reeling with all the possibilities that could go wrong. Ignis or Noct could wake up and catch them. He might have completely misread the situation, and Gladio might turn around and push him away. Things could end up really awkward, especially the next time they had to share a bed. Or Gladio might just let him go through with it and pretend like nothing had ever happened. He didn’t think he could live with that possibility, and at the last minute, he lost his nerve and had lamely suggested that he could wake Ignis up.
Now, laying on his side in the front seat of the car, he had to face the possibility that Gladio might never come back. They didn’t know where he had gone, or what he was doing, or if he even had any intention of coming back. Gladio could die, seeing as how that was a constant threat for all of them. He had tried to pry the information out of Gladio, but after a few days, he had forgotten about it. But if Gladio never came back, he would never know if he had missed his opportunity or not. He couldn’t let these thoughts eat away at him. Getting some sleep in the car was going to be difficult enough without him being plagued with thoughts of Gladio.
He tried desperately to think of something else. Like chocobos. Nice, harmless chocobos. Like the chocobo plush Gladio had won for him at that festival. Chocobos had feathers like the feathers on Gladio’s arms and back. No, he was supposed to be thinking about chocobos. Like how much fun it was when they were all together riding them. Or that one time Gladio had nearly lost his thumb when he had been staring at him, and he had pretended not to notice for the sake of Gladio’s pride. Ugh, it was hopeless. He was supposed to be thinking about something other than Gladio. He cleared his thoughts and tried to focus on his breathing instead.
Things just got worse after that first night. They hadn’t bothered to try to camp again. After that night in the car, they had opted for hotel rooms. Ignis complained about the expense, but didn’t offer any other solutions. He tried not to think about Gladio, but it was hard not to notice his absence. The seat behind him was empty when he glanced in the side view mirror. Whenever Noct and Ignis went off to talk strategy, he was left alone. When they went to dinner, he had no one to sit next to. He felt Gladio’s absence the most when they were caught in a battle. He felt like he had to be watching his back all the time, and he felt like the other two were reluctant to take chances that they would not have hesitated to take on if Gladio had been with them. He would wait for his turn at the shower after they checked into the hotel for the night, then step into the hot spray and try to ease away the ache in the various bruises he had acquired over the course of the day. It never worked though.
By the third day, he was starting to think maybe the whole night at Galdin Quay had been in his imagination. Just a byproduct of an overtired mind stressed by the incident with the giant snake. Gladio would not have offered to take care of him. If Gladio really cared, he would not have left them high and dry, to try to fend for themselves against the might of the Empire. It wasn’t just him Gladio had left behind; he left Noct too, when he had a sworn oath to protect him. He was starting to think Gladio didn’t care about any of them at all. He hadn’t thought about them when he had decided to run off.
Noct had decided to take a fishing break after their last fight against the Mts, partially to help him unwind and partially because they needed something for dinner that night. He snapped a quick photo of Noct before he sat down on a nearby log. He started looking through some of his older pictures. It didn’t take long for him to come across a picture of Gladio and Noct smiling and being general dorks around each other.
“I wonder what Gladio’s up to,” he accidentally said aloud. He hoped the other two wouldn’t think too much about it. He was starting to miss Gladio far more than he was even willing to admit to himself. Plus, he still had no idea what to think about that night on the balcony.
“I dunno,” Noct said as he recast his line. “Probably picking up girls.”
“Son of a bitch!” he reacted before he could stop himself. Noct didn’t seem to notice much since he was back in the fishing zone, and Ignis didn’t seem to care much either. Why would they? Neither one of them really seemed to care much that Gladio had run off on them. Ignis had said something about it exactly once and that had been the end of it. He busied himself with his camera before one of them could decide to ask questions.
He hadn’t thought about the possibility before, but what if Noct was right? What if Gladio had grown tired of being with them and had gone off on his own for a hook up? Of course Gladio would have said anything to comfort him that night. Prompto wasn’t much use to Noct if he was constantly paranoid about something taking him. All their focus needed to be on keeping Noct safe. He should have known better. Gladio was always going to think of him as Noct’s pesky best friend who was occasionally useful for keeping Noct alive. He shouldn’t have expected anything different.
They had to sleep in the car again that night because they were too far away to make it to the nearest caravan. He blamed Noct and all the time he had spent trying to catch a single fish. At least they had something decent to eat for dinner that night. They crawled back into the car to sleep, and he immediately put his seat down, turning his back to the other two. He turned his phone off before sliding it back into his pocket. Not that he thought Gladio was going to call him. If he was going to, he would have long before now. At this point, he wasn’t even sure if he would answer it.
The next two days went by in a haze. Aranea helped them to collect Mythril, and then back to Lestallum where Noct had run off into the power plant to clear out some daemons. Which left him and Ignis alone. This was turning into some sort of epidemic. Soon the group was going to consist of just him.
But when Noct finished with the job, he didn’t come out of the power plant alone. He brought someone else with him.
“Hey, Big Guy!” he said excitedly before he could stop himself. He blamed it on the fact that he hadn’t been expecting to see him. It had nothing to do with the fact that the mere sight of him had set his heart to racing and made his palms sweaty. Still, he found himself looking over Gladio with an appraising eye. At the scar across his forehead, to the deep gash along his chest and even the much smaller one next to his belly button. He supposed he hadn’t realized how close they had actually come to losing Gladio for good. He forced himself to look away; he wouldn’t give Gladio the satisfaction of staring. In fact, maybe he just wouldn’t talk to him at all. Give Gladio a taste of his own medicine. He could avoid him for a long time if he really wanted to. There was plenty he could do that didn’t involve Gladio. Like playing on his phone or taking a nap.
He was so focused on ignoring Gladio that he completely missed the other three making plans on where they would be spending the night. They needed to rest up before they continued on their journey. At least in a hotel he would have a better chance of avoiding Gladio than he would in a tent or a caravan. They checked into the Leville and took their bags up to their room. He dropped his off onto the same bed Noct dropped his on and excused himself, making his way back to the lobby. As long as Gladio was in the room, he didn’t particularly care to be there. Not unless they were both sleeping. He was sure Noct would understand. If Noct really wanted to spend some time with him, he could come down to the lobby with him. He sat down on one of the chairs and pulled out his phone. No new texts. He opened up King’s Knight instead.
He hadn’t been down there that long before Noct came down after him. “Hey, we’re going to grab some dinner. Care to join us?”
“Is Gladio going?” he asked coldly. Maybe Noct would catch on to his attitude and tell Gladio Prompto wasn’t exactly friendly toward him at the moment.
“Probably,” Noct told him.
Well, that wasn’t going to do at all. If they were at dinner, Ignis and Noct would probably sit next to each other, and then he would be forced to interact with Gladio.
“I’m not really that hungry,” he said. That wasn’t true, he was starving. But once everyone was out of the room, he could grab something from their rations. “I think I’m just going to go for a walk then head up to the room.”
“Are you okay?” Noct asked him, staring at him intently. “You’ve been acting strange ever since...”
“Ever since what?” he asked defensively. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know how Noct would plan on finishing that thought. He had not been acting strange since Gladio left.
“Never mind. Just be careful on your walk okay?”
“Always am,” he said before putting his phone away and exiting the hotel. This was a stupid idea. But he wasn’t ready to face Gladio again. Not yet. Noct and Ignis would probably understand. Eventually. He wondered over to the market and found some change in his pocket. It was enough for a piece of fresh fruit, so he paid for it and relished every bite. Once he decided he had stayed away long enough for the other three to leave, he made his way back to the hotel. The room was blessedly empty when he arrived, but someone was taking a shower in the room next door. He collapsed onto the bed and flung his arm over his eyes.
Stupid Gladio. Why did he have to come back now? Why hadn’t he gotten in touch with them sooner? Had he meant anything that happened back at Galdin Quay or did he view him as another tool to help keep Noct alive? Not that he could ask Gladio any of those questions. He was afraid that he wouldn’t like the answers.
Damn room was too hot. He couldn’t think straight. Whoever was in the shower had the right idea. Maybe he should think about taking a cool shower while the other three were out when he could stay in there as long as he wanted without someone asking awkward questions. Would they discuss how awkward he had been being while they all sat around having a good time without him? They hadn’t had a good time while Gladio had been gone. They had really struggled in his absence.
The shower stopped, and their bathroom door opened. They were all supposed to be at dinner so he could wallow in misery by himself. He sat up on the bed, fully intent on scolding whoever it was who had decided to stay behind.
That was until Gladio stepped outside the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel slung low around his waist. That one scar running across his chest ran awfully close to his heart. They had nearly lost him and they still didn’t know for what. He hoped it was worth it, but he supposed they would never know. To his credit, Gladio looked just as taken aback to see him as he was.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at dinner or something?” Gladio asked him gruffly, breaking him out of his trance. He was the one who had left them. He didn’t get to come back and dictate how they lived their lives.
“You just got back,” he shot. “Are you that sick of seeing me already?”
“Isn’t that why you hightailed it out of the room as soon as we checked in? Because you didn’t you want to see me?” So Gladio had noticed that he was giving him the cold shoulder. Good. He should know how it felt to be completely ignored by someone he thought was his friend.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about me being there, so you can just get dressed and go find them.” He would be the bigger man and let Gladio go out for the evening.
“I’d rather stay in,” Gladio said as he rolled his shoulders and the towel inched lower. “I’m still a little stiff from the Trials.”
Trials? What trials? It didn’t matter. Why did he want him out of the room so badly? In the brief time they had been in Lestallum, had he already found someone to meet him in the room? Was that why he had taken a shower? So he didn’t smell like Gladio sweat and ash when the girl showed up? If he had to take a shower to impress her, she wasn’t worth the effort. Besides he wasn’t going to leave so Gladio could have his hookup.
Gladio made no move to get dressed and collapsed face first onto the bed. Maybe he was actually sore from his excursions. Or maybe it was all just an act to get him out of the room. He had recently discovered how good of an actor Gladio could be. There was one way to find out.
“I could stay and give you a massage,” he offered from where he was still seated on the other bed. That would get Gladio to crack if nothing else would. Gladio was not frequently amicable to being touched by him, which really should have been his first clue that Gladio thought of him as nothing more than a comrade in arms. Worse, even. He didn’t seem to have the same aversion to Noct touching him.
“Do what you want,” Gladio mumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow he had buried his face in.
He didn’t think Gladio would like it if he did whatever he wanted to him. If he wanted to get rid of him, the best way to do that would be to call his bluff. Then he could go back to sulking over the fact that Gladio wanted nothing to do with him. Couldn’t even be bothered to spend an entire evening in his presence. Not even the entire evening. More like a couple of hours. He made his way over to the other bed and crawled onto it before quickly straddling Gladio’s waist. He could see the muscles in Gladio’s shoulders tense as soon as he had gotten near him. Well, if he didn’t like it he could just get up and leave any time he wanted. It wasn’t like Prompto was pinning him down or anything.
“Where’s the tension?” he asked, even though he could see it was everywhere. Like Gladio was disgusted by the fact that Prompto would even think about touching him. He could at least try to pretend that he didn’t find him repulsive. He had done a much better job of pretending before he had taken off.
“Everywhere,” Gladio groaned without lifting his face from the pillow.
Okay, so he could probably safely start with his shoulders then. He wiped his palms briefly on his pant legs. It was just normally when they were touching, Gladio was wearing a lot more than just a towel. A very thin towel he realized now that it was the only thing separating him from Gladio. He took a deep breath and placed his hands to Gladio’s shoulders. Gladio would give up soon and arrange to meet with his hookup somewhere else. He certainly wouldn’t want her to walk in on him like this, nearly naked and straddled by another man.
He had been so distracted by his fantasy that his hands started to move of their own accord. He kneaded the muscles in those broad shoulders, trying to erase the tension. Gladio really was all muscle. He moved his hands further down Gladio’s back, feeling the tension just seep out of him. Maybe there was no girl. Maybe Gladio just did want some extra time to relax from whatever had happened out there.
He found himself relaxing too, as his hands glided over Gladio’s skin. He was just giving his friend a friendly massage like friends did. And he definitely was not enjoying it too much, the warmth of Gladio’s skin under his hands and the distinct quiet moans that were only barely muffled by the pillow. He smoothed his hands down Gladio’s side, thumbs tracing over the feathers on his back.
His hands stopped just above the towel, his thumbs pressing into the small of Gladio’s lower back. Should he continue? Any lower and they were headed directly out of friend territory and into uncharted waters. But Gladio had said that he was tense everywhere, and he might be expecting Prompto to finish the job he had started. Maybe. Maybe they should have a serious conversation about what had happened at Galdin Quay. It was what adults should do. It was what two people who didn’t have a higher duty to their king would have done. There was no denying that their ties to Noct complicated their relationship. Would they even be friends if they didn’t have Noct to tie them together?
“Gladio?” he asked softly, unsure of which of the million questions he was going to ask him. There was one whose answer had eluded him for years, and every time he thought he had found the answer, it would slip out of his grasp. Somewhere along the way his silly infatuation with Gladio had gone away and had been replaced with something he didn’t quite have a name for.
“Gladio?” he tried again a little louder when he realized Gladio had not responded to him. It was the second time that he noticed the little changes he had missed, the laxness of his body, the way his breath had evened out, the fact that his quiet groans had evolved into soft snores.
The bastard. First, he goes away and leave them high and dry, and then he falls asleep right in the middle of when Prompto was giving him the best massage of his life. Or, at least, he supposed he was pretty good if he manged to put Gladio to sleep. He crawled off of him and flopped on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Gladio usually didn’t nap for long. When he woke up, they would still have some time before Noct and Ignis returned. He fingered the band on his right wrist, remembering the feel of Gladio’s hands wrapped around his bare wrist. He was the only one besides his parents who had ever seen that mark.
When he woke up, they could talk. About everything. About the tattoo. About the chocobos. About what had happened at Galdin Quay. About whatever this thing was between them. He had put this off for too long already.
He was quite rudely awoken later when Noct threw his duffel bag at him, hitting him square in the chest. “What was that for?” he asked indignantly, sitting upright in the bed.
“You don’t get to switch sleeping arrangements just because you decided you’re talking to your cuddle buddy again,” Noct said as he dropped down across from him on the other bed.
Shit. Gladio. How much had those two seen? He chanced a glance next to him, dreading to see Gladio still in the towel or worse. Gladio must have woken earlier and gotten dressed and was now seated next to him, book in hand.
“He’s not my cuddle buddy,” he mumbled, quickly averting his eyes. He still wasn’t entirely sure he had forgiven him for taking off on them. And it looked like their conversation would have to be put off once again.