WHERE: Vallo City WHEN: August 23rd, 2022, 3 AM WHAT: Prompto can't sleep over old insecurities and Ignis reassures him of his place in their relationship.
WARNINGS: N/A STATUS: Complete
It had a been a hard few days - after all, no one would think it’s a piece of cake to deal with a soulless soldier version of you that was just out to hurt your friends - but the anxiety and terror of the situation was finally over and all Prompto had left to do was deal with the feelings left over from the whole ordeal.
Easier said than done.
Thankfully, he hadn’t had to watch anyone he loved have to put this version of him down. Instead, the clone had disappeared and that had been that. A nightmare brought to life because of a sick magical girl, gone just like that. Prompto had no complaints, obviously, and was thankful for the anticlimactic ending to it all.
Still, a nervous energy resided in him over the whole situation. It brought up old feelings of doubt and lack of self-worth, feelings he thought he had dealt with after the train incident. Apparently not as well as he thought he had. Or maybe it was a continuous journey toward growth, that these would be feelings he would battle for the rest of his life.
Astrals, he hoped not. It sounded exhausting. After all, who wanted to be woken up from old nightmares at 3 AM? Because that’s what had happened and instead of tossing and turning in his bed with the others, he had slipped out of it to go hang out in the living room until he could settle enough to go back to bed.
He had thought he had done a fairly good job of sneaking away, until he heard soft footsteps come from the direction of the master bedroom. Even in the low light of the table lamp he had on, he could spy familiar blond hair and Ignis’ sharp features from where he had been laying on the sofa.
“Hey, did I wake you?” Prompto asked, sitting up and making space on the couch in case Ignis wanted to sit.
Between the four of them, there was enough baggage carried along it could have used it’s own bed in their room. It was not strange for one of them to slip out to not disturb the others. With that standard familiarity, following wasn’t always necessary.
Lately though, with everything that had happened, Ignis had a nagging feeling Prompto wasn’t doing well with all of it. He had not been sleeping particularly soundly when he felt Prompto slip out from where his hand had draped cross the blonde, and opted to follow when it was clear that Prompto wasn’t just going to the bathroom.
“Not really, no.” Ignis took the place Prompto made for him, sliding down easily. His hand reached out to touch Prompto, a light thing that held no pressure or force behind it. Something meant for comfort rather than expectation. “I imagine sleep hasn’t been the easiest to come by for you as of late. Are you alright?”
That was a loaded question, if there was ever one. Physically? Sure. Nothing but a few scratches and bruises, which in the grand scheme of things, was nothing. But mentally? Eh… He shrugged, gripping the hand that Ignis had extended and then tucking himself into the other man’s side. A few months ago, he wouldn’t have dreamed of being able to do this, but now he didn’t give it a second thought as he made himself comfortable against his boyfriend.
“It just brought up old insecurities, you know? Not being enough of my own person, a person of worth, to be with you guys, to serve the kingdom.” Those had been feelings he had constantly even before he had found out about the clone stuff. It was hard to feel like you were anything when you had men like Gladio and Ignis around to serve and protect Noctis. The feeling of isolation when Ardyn had tricked them all on the train hadn't helped things either.
He sighed, worrying his lip with his teeth. “I know it’s dumb. It’s all in my head, but it’s hard to…just let it go. It’s easier during the day when I can fill the silence with chatter or have you guys awake to reassure me. It’s harder when everyone’s asleep.” Huffing, he put on a small smile, looking up at Ignis. “Sorry.”
Ignis let his arm drape around Prompto and he pulled him just a little closer. If his comfort helped in any way, Ignis wasn’t sure, but it didn’t stop him from trying. “It isn’t dumb,” Ignis could hardly disagree that it was an incredibly disarming thing, to recover from everything in one’s life shifted as dramatically as Prompto’s had.
“It isn’t dumb,” He repeated, with more conviction, in case Prompto needed to hear that. “But you are your own person, no matter what your brain lies to you about. You are ours. No one else.”
To that, he leaned over to press a kiss to the side of Prompto’s head - easier said than done when it came to that blonde mop, but he made do. “One thing I’m never fussed about is giving you a little extra reassurance. I’m sorry we haven’t been more proactive about it.”
It was nice to have the occasional reassurance, that they really did want him around and not just because he was Noctis' hanger on or some other stupid thought of lack of worth. But Prompto felt incredibly selfish asking for it, which led to not being forthcoming with his need for more notes of affection, verbal and physical.
It had a lot to do with coming into this relationship so late in the game. He still felt like he was catching up and figuring out how to shift his individual friendships to a more romantic scope. But with each passing day, he felt more and more even footed because the guys DID do a lot to help feel like this was more than just some far fetched dream.
Still. He was needy. And he needed to own that. "Don't be sorry. There's nothing to be sorry about. Just…maybe pinch my butt more. Tell me what to do more often. Let me know when you need me? I want to be useful to all of you."
Ignis hummed and nodded, agreeing all too easily. They were small asks in the grand scheme of things, ones he was happy to provide. And he knew that if Prompto were to mention them to the other guys, he would get drowned in the same sort of reaction.
“I shouldn’t be shocked that your response is that you’d like me to manhandle you and boss you around. So much like Noctis.” He smiled down at Prompto, “I can do all of that, yes. And I appreciate you saying something instead of insisting it’s fine, we’re here to build each other up.” Ignis paused, “And I know I’m not always the most attentive when needed, though I’d like to do better in that regard.”
"Listen, I'm completely unashamed about that," Prompto insisted, even as he turned red and proceeded to bury his face into Iggy's side. Okay, so maybe sometimes he was shy about the more physical side of their relationship. It was hard not to be, when Iggy came off so calm and collected about everything. A muffled, "So unashamed," sounded from against Ignis' stupidly expensive feeling pajamas.
Blue eyes peeked up at Ignis' again. "You take care of us so well though, so don't doubt yourself. This is all part of the dating thing, right? Open communication and stuff. You're super skilled in a lot of things, but not telepathy." The quirk of a smile could be felt against those pajamas. "Come on. I brooded enough for tonight. Let's get back to the guys."
“Completely unashamed,” Ignis deadpanned right back, smiling to himself as Prompto buried into his side. He ran a hand down Prompto’s side before tweaking at the fuzzy fleece chocobo printed on his pants. “Don’t worry, love, it’ll be our secret.” Or rather a secret they shared with two others, but secrets between the four of them were all the same as two.
“You’re the best of us, Prompto. We’ll muddle through this.” But he couldn’t fully hide the flush of his cheeks at Prompto’s mention of how well he took care of anyone. It was something of great pride to Ignis. He didn’t stand right away, but curiously peered down at his boyfriend. “Are you actually tired now or are you simply trying to spare me?”
“Iiiii...should be tired?” He played with a stray piece of thread that was coming off his borrowed nightshirt. “I can just fuck around on my phone until I finally fall asleep, yeah?” A very small part of him was worried that the imperial infantry version of him would show up via nightmares again, given what they had just gone through, but mostly, he was still just wide awake now.
Prompto’s plan had been to find something on Netflix that would hopefully lull him to bed, but with Iggy here…“Or,” he said, coyly looking up at Ignis. “You could help put me to sleep. You know, if that was something that you were okay with.”
Ignis didn’t miss the coy invitation, or the way Prompto looked at him through his delicious eyelashes. It immediately made his pulse pickup just a bit, though on the front of it all, his expression didn’t change.
He raised an eyebrow, “Certainly. A round of cards, perhaps?” He couldn’t resist the light trolling, in the most Ignis of fashion, which meant he was prim and proper about it but his long fingers still found their way to the very edge of Prompto’s shirt to touch the skin he found there. Possibly the only indication that he was joking.
Prompto didn't think he would ever get used to this playful boyfriend side of Ignis yet, so he missed the subtle indication that this was just Iggy putting on airs. His face fell a bit, but then it brightened up again because any time with the guys was a good time for Prompto. Even if this wasn't exactly what he had in mind, at least the man had hands on him. "Sure! I'll go get some cards. You want a snack? I think I have some string cheese hidden away in the fridge. Don't judge me." Iggy would only be right to judge him.
Ignis snagged him before he could move away in any sort of excitement to go grab said offensive string cheese. “We have real cheese, you know.” That wasn’t the point. He knew that wasn’t the point, and still couldn’t resist playing right into Prompto’s cheese bait. “As easy as it was to get you to agree to that - I’ll keep my ego from being too offended - I was just teasing.”
Ignis gave himself leave to look over Prompto with a heated gaze, that softened in time. “Unless, of course, snacks and cards are want you want, and not to have your “butt pinched”, as you put it so plainly earlier. I am at your beck and call for either.”
Letting himself fall back into Iggy’s side, he bit his lip and decided to be bolder than he normally would be with the man. Prompto swung a leg over Ignis’ lap and settled himself nice and snug against him. “I mean, if this is on the table, string cheese who?” He smiled at him, a flush working its way down from his face and disappearing down his neck into his nightshirt.
Even bolder, he leaned down to remove Iggy’s ever present glasses and put them on the side table. Holding the man’s face with both hands, he leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. “I love you a lot, you know that?” He murmured a few moments later against Iggy’s lips, refusing to pulling away despite the sudden case of shyness he was feeling.
“There we are,” Ignis was typically happy to be forthright and take over any reins offered to him, but he was quietly pleased - and aroused - whenever the others took the initive. His hands easily settled on Prompto’s hips, and after a moment, his fingers pinched the soft skin he found there.
It was only a moment of teasing before he went soft again and he smiled against Prompto’s mouth. Ignis pulled him in even closer. “I love you too, a great deal.”