While Gladio had been happy to find Prompto in that room when they woke up, it had also been a lot. It was nicer now, getting time to reconnect and get back to a routine, to show Prompto all that Vallo had to offer (though not much compared to getting time with Noctis), and just getting a chance to just exist in a day to day life in a way they hadn't had since before leaving Insomnia.
Including picking up running together again.
Gladio had spent a lot of time over his past while in Vallo trying to pinpoint the whens, when the little seeds of this person could be someone had started to take hold. For Noct, for Ignis, and for Prompto even while he was gone from them. And it had been this for Prompto. Meeting up for all those runs back home, slowly going from friend of a friend to being comfortable as friends themselves. And from there it had just sort of spiraled, like it had with Ignis and Noctis.
But all that was firmly in the category of things he was not supposed to be saying yet.
So he just went along with life as usual, and usual that morning had him bribing Henruit into sitting nice in front of the little waterfall on the route, and then backing out quickly but not in a way to pull attention so Prompto could get the shot. For the tenth attempt in a row. He stumbled a little on the last couple steps and laughed.
"Six, tell me you got it," he said between laughs. A model Henruit was not.
Since arriving in Vallo proper, Prompto had been through a whirlwind of emotions. Relief, happiness, wariness, and surprise...there had been so much to learn about the place and about the time that the guys had spent here without him there to experience their growth together.
But he was working through it.
Slowly, but surely, he was falling into routine with them. It was like putting on a glove and breaking it back in after some time of not wearing it. Sure there were some kinks that needed to be worked out, but it fit. They fit. And any strangeness he felt could be put off to them not seeing him for such a long time, of him adjusting back to having Noctis in his life again, of having the sun back.
Because there were times he felt like they were staring a little too long, a little too intensely when they thought he wasn’t paying attention. That paranoid part of him that was prone to intrusive and insidious thoughts, insisted it was because they weren’t okay with him being a clone. But Prompto had put those fears to bed years ago, so he stifled those feelings back down.
This was a big adjustment. For all of them. Nothing was wrong.
It was easy to go along with that party line in the brightness of day, with Gladio being a goofball and Henruit being the absolute best. The familiarity of the activity - of stopping to take pictures while running - made it easy to forget any strangeness he might still be feeling.
“Pretty sure I did, but I’m not looking to check until we get home or else we’re going to be here all day,” Prompto laughed, as he tucked his phone back into his pocket and moved forward to give Henruit some scritches. “You did so good, buddy. Yes you did.”
"There's worse ways to spend a day," Gladio pointed out with a fond smile at Prompto's words. "But I'm sure you do, you always wind up with great shots," he added. They tried to take pictures the past year, phones filled up with goofy faces, pets, the evidence of the relationship they got to explore here. But it wasn't the same, and Gladio was excited to see how Prompto would see Vallo.
Henruit seemed more than content to accept the love and Gladio smiled warmly at it. "Keep that up and he's gonna start liking you more than me," he teased lightly, but there was nothing put out about it at all.
Prompto was easing back into the role of group photographer like he had never left it vacant and the amount of pictures he had taken so far between his new digital camera and his phone was, frankly, ridiculous. He would need to get a hard drive to keep them all stored, soon enough.
Looking away from the dog, he beamed a toothy smile at Gladio that was all sunshine as he declared, “That’s exactly what I’m going for. I’m determined to win all of the house pets over.” Giving Henruit a parting nose boop, he stood and stretched his arms above his head, causing his shirt to rise up a bit. Dropping them back down, he poked Gladio in the arm and said, “Race you for the next half mile?” He was already starting to walk backwards away from where they had stopped for their impromptu photoshoot.
You need to give him time had become something akin to a mantra for Gladio. One that he repeated many times as he watched Prompto stretch. It wasn't anything he hadn't seen before, hell the little sliver of skin was down right tame compared to the half dressed states they'd seen each other in, an inevitability of living in such tight quarters during their road trip and the times they'd hunt in the dark. But much like it had been with Ignis, it was a floodgates open situation. Gladio had stopped compartmentalizing, had addressed the feelings he had for the three of them and with that the want that had always simmered below the surface and that he tempered was now at the forefront of his mind.
"You're on," Glado said with a smug grin and started off in the direction.
He knew he wasn't going to win - Prompto would always have the speed advantage. But that was alright, the view from second place definitely had its merits.
He slowed to a jog and then walked the last few steps to the next trail marker. "You think I'd learn by now you'll always win a race," he said lightly and moved to the railing on the path.
Gladio leaned against it and took a moment to catch his breath before he looked over at Prompto. "It's nice though, getting back to this - in the sunlight," he amended with a small smile. Running for the hell of it and not because they were being chased.
Given how often they had all come to death and the like, it was no surprise that all of them had seen each other in all manners of state and undress. But it didn’t occur to Prompto it meant more now. When he had gotten to Vallo and the other three had explained that they had been in a relationship for awhile now, yeah there had been a moment of ‘Wait, what about me?’ But he had quickly pushed that out of his mind and focused on being happy for his friends. Because that’s all he ever wanted for them.
So he had accepted the situation at face value and had chugged right along, not entertaining the idea of why three wasn’t four or if there was even an opportunity there. He had always refused to let himself think of the others in that sense before and that didn’t change now just because it had changed for the three of them.
That meant flashing a little skin here and there? Prompto didn’t see anything wrong with it. It was normal and everything as it always was, with his relationship with the three of them.
Slowing down to a half assed jog when they reached their next pit stop, he laughed at Gladio admitting who was faster. “Hey, you get to be the strongman of the group, Iggy’s the ninja, and Noct’s the Chosen One. Let me have small and scrappy, yeah?” Squinting as he peered up at the sun, he hummed as he nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty great. I didn’t miss how easily I sunburn, but I’ll take it over the eternal night thing we had going for us.”
Though speaking of sunburn…he pulled out a little tube of sunscreen. “Time to reapply, I think. I’m pretty sure I sweated it all off by now.” Plopping down on the ground against the railing Gladio was resting against, he started to slatter on the sunscreen, starting with his face.
Gladio gave Henruit a scratch behind the ears as the dog butted up against him. There was a laugh at Prompto's descriptions of all of them and Gladio gave him a wink. "You're not small, you're fun sized," he said, and alright, it was more than a little flirty.
He watched as Prompto sat on the ground and then moved to sit behind him. He held his hand out for the sunscreen and sighed. "Get your face and then hand it over. Ignis will kill me if I bring you back burned," he said and wiggled his fingers a little for Prompto to pass it off. Which, well, Prompto could probably handle it himself but Gladio was taking the opening.
“Fun sized,” Prompto mused aloud, before nodding to himself, grinning at the wink. Given that Gladio was always a flirt when things weren’t going to hell in a hand basket, it was hard to take it seriously. “Alright, I accept. I’m fun sized and scrappy. And will always kick your ass when it comes to a race.” Here he stuck out his tongue, before grinning and elbowing the larger man when he sat down next to him.
Dutifully, he finished up with his face before handing over the sunscreen. “I could do this, you know. I’m flexible enough to reach my back,” he pointed out, amused. Though there really was a good chance Ignis would do the ‘I’m not surprised, but I’m still disappointed’ look he had in his arsenal, so Prompto didn’t argue against this.
"You're a hell of a lot more than just scrappy," Gladio pointed out, and there was a hint of pride there in the tone. Prompto had come a long way from when they'd first started combat training, and Gladio would count Prompto among some of the best fighters he knew. And he knew damn well how hard Prompto had worked to get there.
"Tell me more about this flexibility," Gladio teased lightly as he squirted out some sunscreen. "It sounds promising," was added before he started to rub some into the back of Prompto's neck.
Prompto had a hard time taking compliments, having received so very little when he was younger. Compounded with the inferiority complex he had given himself by hanging out with a royal retinue, he flushed red in a way that had nothing to do with the sun and ducked his head. “I’m better than scrappy, sure.” He had worked hard to be able to go out on his own these days and he did take pride in it. Prom just needed to get better at being confident about it.
But his lack of confidence fell away when he snorted out a laugh and reached out to shove at Gladio for the flexibility line. “Shut up and make sure you don’t miss a spot.”
"I mean it, Prom," Gladio said at Prompto's dismissal. He wouldn't push it more, but Gladio wasn't one to hand out praise where it wasn't earned. And Prompto had more than earned it.
"So demanding," he teased as his fingers dipped under the collar of Prompto's shirt. Where, admittedly, it was already covered by the shirt but in the name of being thorough. Gladio's fingers skimmed along Prompto's skin, pressing the sunscreen in. Once he was sure Prompto was covered in the neck area he picked the tube back up and grabbed some more to start on Prompto's arm.
"How are you settling in? With - everything?" he asked as he started to work the lotion into Prompto's bare shoulder. Lacking the earlier teasing it was a gentle nudge. A clear I'm listening if Prompto wanted to talk.
It always meant a lot, getting praise from any of the guys, but especially Gladio when it came to his fighting ability. So despite the flush of red creeping up his neck and into his face, he turned his head enough to smile at Gladio. “Thanks, that means a lot, big guy. Especially coming from you.”
He hummed to himself and sighed, letting himself enjoy what honestly felt like a massage at this point because Gladio did not need to linger that much on his arms, but he wasn’t going to be the one to say something and stop it. “It’s going well? It’s only really been just over a week so I’m sure that’s why it still feels…off a bit. But with you guys around, I can handle it. I’m lucky that you guys were already here and established and I know that.” He hesitated though. “Still feels strange to know that you guys experienced a whole year here without me though. It feels like I’m struggling to catch up a bit?”
It felt like a massage at this point because it basically was. Something Gladio was aware of, but in no hurry to change. He'd never really been one to shy away from physical contact, and that was even more so now. And alright, maybe he was gauging the situation a little lately. Pushing at old boundaries, getting a feel for where Prompto might be before he dropped the whole it wasn't just Ignis and Noctis he wanted to be with.
He worked his hands down Prompto's arm, making sure the sunscreen was getting over all the skin as he talked. "Yeah, I get that," he replied. "I feel that a lot with Iris, don't get me wrong I'm happy she's here, but it's weird - missing those years. That history."
He paused, idly wondering what things would look like had Prompto showed up earlier. Would they be together now? Would they have sorted it all out? But it didn't really matter. He was there now and that was all that did matter.
He laced his fingers through Prompto's as he reached the end of his arm and gave the hand a squeeze. "I know it's a lot, Prom, and I know maybe it doesn't always feel that easy right now - but I'm glad you're here. It doesn't feel the same without you."
Honestly, even hearing Gladio knew how it feels to be missing years with someone, was enough to settle Prompto's unease over the situation. Squeezing Gladio's hand in return, he bumped his knee to the other man's. "I'm glad I'm here now too. Frankly, you guys suck at taking pictures and clearly need me around to chronicle your adventures."
And just for a few seconds, he leaned into Gladio's side and rested there. It felt right, it felt grounding, and when he had his fill of it, Prompto pulled away and scrambled to get back to his feet. Any longer and he would have felt like he was taking liberties. Something he never worried about before, but now…
"Come on, we should turn back soon so Iggy doesn't start breakfast without us."
The closeness was nice and far too easy to get lost in. To pretend like they'd already gotten their shit together and neither of them had to worry about taking liberties. But he was content to let Prompto lean against him as long as Prompto wanted, his arm loosely sliding around Prompto. It took a little self restraint to not do more.
He was a bit slower to get up but followed suit. "Listen, just because my thumb is in half of them doesn't make them bad," he joked. But really he knew he was pretty hopeless at it.
"Hopefully there's bacon," he said with a grin and motioned for Prompto to start back into their run. "After you."