Chapter Text
Prompto: Adagio
His thumb brushed over the button slowly, perusing his day’s prizes on the tiny screen of his camera. A selfie of himself grinning as he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the Wiz Chocobo Post’s sign. A shot of Gladio on the back of his bird as he sped by the group with that smug grin on his face; the winner of a race Prompto hadn’t known he was part of. And a really spectacular view of Ignis twisting over Noct’s shoulders, his daggers having just been flung out of those skilled fingers as Noct’s entire form blazed blue; the photo captured the instant before a warp-strike. That one Prompto was really proud of. Getting a shot of Noct in the act of warping wasn’t easy, and he’d been working on gauging the Prince’s timing just for this. Catching Noct and Iggy teaming up in the same moment was print-worthy. Probably even earn him some good money if he decided to sell copies down the road.
It was always something impressive to watch the guys in a fight. The way they moved around and over each other like a well oiled machine could twist Prompto’s stomach in envy. His handguns made fighting like they did not even worth the risk. He could keep a healthy distance from the baddies while still doing a decent amount of damage. Oh sure, he and Noct had fun messing around in the field; launching off of one another for laughs, or swinging around Noct’s lance like kids on a playground. But it didn’t really add anything to the fight other than thrills. And the stuff he and Noct came up with sure wasn’t the trained and precise movements the rest of them seemed to pull off without thinking. His combo moves didn’t need his strength or flexibility. Just really good timing.
The picture of Noct and Iggy on his camera flashed white briefly as he locked it down to prevent it from being deleted. At least he knew he had the timing part down.
“Whatcha got there?” An arm flopped over his shoulder and Noct’s dark hair partially blocked his view of his camera as his best friend tilted the screen towards himself. “Nice one, Prompto. Hey Specs, look at you!”
Another shadow fell over Prompto’s opposite shoulder soundlessly as Ignis appeared, bringing the smell of freshly cut peppers with him and Gladio not a full second behind. “Nice Iggy,” Gladio’s smile was clear in his voice from his place behind Prompto and Ignis huffed his amusement through his nose.
“Come now, it’s nothing special.”
“Check it Noct,” Prompto tilted the camera back towards his best friend, “pre-warp-strike. Oh baby, you know how long it took to perfect that shot?”
“Was wonderin’ why I was hearing your camera’s shutter more than your gun lately.” Gladio rumbled, nudging the blonde between his shoulder blades and sending him lurching forward slightly. Prompto’s grin spread.
“Like Noct has anything to worry about when you’re in the action, big guy,” the gunner twisted in his chair and caught the cocky smirk that painted the man’s face.
“Damn right.”
They spent a few more minutes going over the rest of the contents of Prompto’s memory card, looking over pics that were perfectly balanced between the four of them. They poked fun at selfies, each other, and praised the more impressive shots before falling back into their evening routines. Camp wasn’t a hotel, but Prompto didn’t hate it as much as he and Noct pretended they did. They could be a little rowdier at camp, didn’t have a strict check-out time - not that Gladio would let them sleep in anyway - and Ignis’s cooking was the absolute best!
Speaking of which…
Prompto’s nose twitched as the smell of dinner promised something that set his mouth watering. “Oh man,” he groaned, popping upright in his chair eagerly, “is that curry?”
“A bit of spice to stave off the evening’s chill.” The older man’s eyes twinkled kindly and Prompto’s guts twisted in a way that had nothing to do with the dinner he had just been looking forward to. “Besides,” Ignis pressed at the bridge of his glasses with a long finger, “infusing vegetables into a sauce is the only way I can ensure Noct will actually eat them.”
Prompto’s best friend instantly jumped to his own defense, effectively stealing the attention the blonde had briefly earned from the Hand. But that was normal, and Prompto let it go easily enough. Noct was Ignis’s charge, his Prince - er - King, and the reason they were out here. Of course he would get first dibs on Iggy’s attention.
Besides, Prompto was a Crownsguard now. Right? He could handle himself just fine. And as a Crownsguard his duty was to the crown - to Noct. That meant that he had to put his personal stuff on hold. Family, relationships, it all came second to having Noct’s back. The up-side to all of that at least was that he didn’t have to sacrifice all friendship. Prompto was lucky enough that his best friend in the whole wide world was the very same person he had sworn to defend. So he never had to worry about ignoring one for the sake of the other.
Another upside was that their traveling party also included the hands-down hottest man on Eos. Yeah. Definite bonus. Not that Prompto was attracted to Ignis only because of his looks. Hell no. Ignis was the complete package. Smart, talented, kinda funny in a stuffy-old-dude way, which was weird since he only had a couple years over Prompto and Noct. And his hands. Gods , he was good with his hands! From his daggers to a soup spoon to the way he held the Regalia’s steering wheel, Prompto could watch his hands for days.
Oh yeah. If Prompto was attracted to someone, chances were good that they had gorgeous, talented hands. Long fingers, and gloves preferable because it was like wondering what was inside a really pretty birthday present.
It was also what had kicked off his attraction to Cindy. The way her fingers could fly through the repairs of the car, apply a decal like an artist, or manipulate a piece of tech was straight up out of this world. That she was gorgeous, sweet, and had that killer accent didn’t hurt.
Oh yeah. Accents. Add those to the list, please. Ignis’s accent was super fancy but dangerous in his mouth, like it was waiting to eat you. Cindy’s was warm and slow, like a sunny afternoon. He dug both of them.
Cindy he could at least go ga-ga over, and made it a point to do that vocally in front of the guys. It gave them something to tease him about, which he kinda liked. It almost felt like he belonged when they did. Like he’d never been on the outside looking in. That and the guys were cool; Cindy would probably never hear about his crush.
Even if she did Prompto was certain she would just smile that gorgeous, pure smile of hers and thank him, then move on. Cindy was safe.
Ignis was not .
Ignis was his best friend’s advisor. Ignis was part of their traveling party. Ignis was serious, and smart and definitely - definitely - out of Prompto’s league. There wasn’t even a question about it. Admitting his attraction to Ignis would only get him a super quick - though probably very polite - rejection, followed up by the gods-knew-how-many weeks of weirdness… most of it probably from Prompto himself.
Nope. Not gonna happen.
So Prompto did what he was good at - in spite of popular belief. He hid the truth, just like his wrist and the worries those dark lines on it had given him for as long as he could remember. He took no more pictures of Ignis than he did the others, and he consciously avoided staring. No one even knew he liked guys as well as girls. That was taboo enough even without the Ignis factor, though probably not as much as he thought. Prompto was really good at feeling like an outsider, and anything that made him different wasn't something he wanted out there. It also didn’t help that he’d seen a couple of kids in school get some serious harassment when they’d come out, and almost no one had done or said anything to stop it. That more than anything kept Prompto from spilling his guts on being bi. So, being used to the effort of not giving his sexuality away, Prompto had adapted pretty quickly to hiding his attraction to Ignis.
Okay. Maybe he had taken one small risk. But claiming permanent shotgun in the Regalia had been easily disguised as a gunner’s pun. And he was smart enough to frequently whip the camera out and take some amazing scenery shots, justifying why the seat was so important to him.
It was no sweat. Prompto could handle this. He could totally crush on his best friend’s retainer without making things weird.
He had this in the bag.
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Ignis: Adagio
“Hey Specs, look at you!” Noct’s amused call had come at the precise moment Ignis had been chopping peppers for dinner, yet Ignis was experienced enough with a knife to not slip at the sudden lapse in undivided attention he had been paying to the task. Setting the blade aside and wiping his hands on his kitchen towel, Ignis lowered the temperature of his saucepot before joining Noct at Prompto’s chair where the two had been inspecting Prompto’s accomplishments of the day. A heavy hand upon his shoulder announced Gladio’s interests had also been piqued.
Adjusting his glasses to allow him to peer down his nose at the camera’s display, Ignis found himself looking upon a photo of himself performing an acrobatic twist across Noct’s shoulders at the precise moment his liege was initiating a warp-strike. Even in the tumult of battle the picture was focused to crystal clarity - the ferocity of he and Noct’s piercing glares and glint of white bared teeth identifiable even on so small a screen. Prompto’s position and angle at which he had snapped the picture were remarkable, infusing the image with the power and speed at which his subjects had moved, though they were now frozen in time within scene.
The artistry Prompto could exhibit so casually was remarkable, and Ignis found himself once more thoroughly impressed with his keen eye. Distantly he heard himself receive a compliment from Gladio - no doubt for his athleticism - and Ignis brushed it off good-naturedly. Conversation over the content of the photo continued for another minute, granting Ignis the opportunity to savor its intricacies before the young photographer began cycling through the day’s collection. Each succeeding photo had been taken with the same care and attention to detail as the first, though for the most part they were dismissed by the others as less than comparable - especially the images Prompto snapped of himself. Ignis did not believe Prompto’s self-photos were in any way less worthy than the others, but to argue the point would only encourage further taunting from the others, and so he wisely chose to let the subject go.
Once the final picture had been reviewed Ignis returned to his saucepot and vegetables, Prompto to his camera, Gladio to his inventory of found treasures, and Noct to his reel and spool of fishing line. Banter flowed pleasantly between the four until one voice in particular bubbled up joyfully above the others. “Oh man, is that curry?” Prompto’s excitement was palpable and Ignis was gratified to find his choice for the evening’s meal would not go unrewarded.
The cool weather gave a justifiable reason for the menu selection, as did his goal of getting Noct to ingest some form of a vegetable, yet if Ignis was to be completely honest with himself these were not his primary motivators. Curry was among Prompto’s favorite foods, and the gratitude those darkened periwinkle eyes exhibited each time Ignis prepared such a meal was positively delightful to witness. Their newest Crownsguard was a veritable font of positivity on any other occasion, but Ignis would be inaccurate if he claimed that having the glow of Prompto’s happiness directed at him personally did not make him strive to earn it just a little more than he should.
But that was only if Ignis was to be completely honest with himself. Which he would not. For, to be completely honest with himself would require Ignis to acknowledge his fascination with the way the left corner of Prompto’s mouth quirked whenever he was slightly amused, and pulled slightly higher than the other when he smiled outright. Or how the blonde’s eyes - while full of naive innocence - held in their depths the glimmer of something very nearly dangerous, even when they sparkled with laughter, or inexplicably appeared lost and sad. It was an intoxicating mixture Ignis was not altogether certain should be legal; not when combined with such angelic features as the ones Prompto wore with casual ease.
Honesty would also require that the self-contained man admit to knowing just how often Prompto slipped into those soulful reveries when he clearly thought himself to be unobserved. And how each time Ignis saw these lapses he found himself confronted with the desire to brush his fingertips over the freckles which dusted perfect cheeks and dash the sadness from crystalline blue eyes with feather light kisses.
Ignis would also have to acknowledge a certain level of deception on his own part. Prompto was of the implied - if not outright spoken - opinion that he among their group of four received the least attention from the fairer sex. Yet Ignis had witnessed many a time where the blonde’s laughter, exuberance, or general appearance would garner the approving glances of young ladies in his presence. Undoubtedly Prompto’s own modesty blinded him to the admiration he had been receiving but Ignis was not so unaware, and the attention at times was such that Ignis found his thoughts turning towards what could almost be defined as jealousy. Thus Prompto never learned of his admirers from Ignis.
No indeed, such thoughts and acknowledgements had no place in his mind. He could dismiss his interest in Prompto easily enough and for a number of reasons.
To start, he and his fellow guardians on this venture had one and all sworn a duty to Noctis that brooked no room for exceptions, though it did not strictly require the sacrifice of one’s self entirely. But Ignis was well aware that distractions would serve no purpose in that obligation.
And then there was the more troublesome obstacle of Prompto’s heart having been captured by another. When this was over, the young man often told them, he was going to travel to Hammerhead and tell ‘her.’ And there had never been any question as to who the unnamed lady was. Prompto spoke of his affections for Cindy frequently enough for his feelings to have become a topic of banter within their circle. And his regard for the fair mechanic was genuine, for he seemed to bask in the taunts that rose up from those in their company. Mention of her name, even in jest, instantly drew a light to Prompto’s eyes and an eager rise in pitch to his voice.
Prompto was unabashedly honest where his preferences lay. He enjoyed his friendships humorous, his food spicy, and the objects of his romantic interests lovely and female.
If Ignis was to be honest with himself he would have grieved the hopelessness of his situation.
So it was fortunate for him that he had chosen instead to steep himself in denial.
Ignis would simply have to content himself with calling the young man his friend. It would not be difficult. He had been trained in decorum. He was fully capable of engaging in perfectly pleasant conversations with people he detested if he so desired. That was arguably far more difficult than what lay before him now.
And because he was now so thoroughly immersed in avoiding honesty with himself, Ignis could say with confidence that holding Prompto as nothing more dear than a friend would be practically effortless.
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