Fanfiction: Education (Final Fantasy XV, Prompto/Gladio)
I really need to stop feeling that the things I write for 
ffxv_kinkmeme somehow aren't 'valuable' enough to post elsewhere. Silly, cute writing isn't inherently worth less than serious, tragic writing! It's okay to write fiction with the goal of making people smile; making people smile is actually a pretty great thing.
The original prompt is here.
Title: Education
Fandom: Final Fantasy XV
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Prompto/Gladio
Wordcount: 1,500
Summary: Prompto asks Gladio for advice on flirting. It doesn't really go the way he'd planned.
“Hey, Gladio,” Prompto says, sidling up to him. There’s a chance he doesn’t sound as casual as he’d hoped. “You’re popular with the ladies, right?”
Gladio snorts with laughter. “You want love advice?”
“I mean.” Prompto can already feel himself starting to redden. “I want advice. And maybe that advice would be in... certain... fields. I don’t know if I’d say...” Who is he kidding? “Yes. Please.”
“I can tell you my best technique. You’re not gonna like it.”
There’s a pause.
“Is it ‘look like you’?” Prompto asks.
Gladio shrugs and smirks. “It works.”
“Well, sorry if we can’t all be the size of a garula,” Prompto mutters.
“Hmm.” Gladio looks him over in a way that makes Prompto feel extremely self-conscious. “I guess we might be able to work with this.”
-
“Okay.” Gladio hits ‘play’, and the film starts. “Show me what you’ve got.”
They’re sitting on the hotel couch, a person’s width between them. Prompto casts a couple of furtive glances over at Gladio, then tries to shuffle towards him, close that gap.
“Not subtle, Prompto,” Gladio says, not taking his eyes off the screen.
Prompto looks away, his face burning. Okay. This is fine. He can be subtle, he can totally be subtle. He just needs to subtly get his arm around Gladio’s shoulders, and...
That is definitely, definitely impossible. Gladio is too tall and too broad. Putting your arm around his shoulders isn’t something that could ever plausibly just happen. It’s like accidentally climbing a mountain.
“No,” Prompto mutters, scooting away. “This is stupid.”
“What, giving up already?”
“I can’t do it. Let’s just - let’s just do something else.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” Gladio gestures at the screen. “Let’s finish watching, anyway.”
Well, fine, okay. The Chocobo Prince is one of Prompto’s favourites. It might be nice to take a break from humiliating love lessons and just watch a movie.
At the end, when the chocobo turns back into a human at last, Prompto finds himself surreptitiously trying to brush away tears. He always does. Even though the prince is a lot less handsome as a human than he was as a chocobo.
Tough to do it stealthily, though; Gladio’s definitely going to notice him shifting around when they’re so clo-
When-
Prompto jerks sharply away from Gladio’s chest. “What?”
Gladio looks way too smug.
“What?” Prompto asks, again. “What? How was I-” He gestures, frantically. “How did that happen?”
Now that he’s thinking about it, he guesses he kind of - he kind of remembers getting comfortable against Gladio’s chest, Gladio’s arm settling around him, but how was he not really conscious of any of this?
Gladio grabs the remote and hits the ‘pause’ button. “You were really into the film.”
“Well, yeah! It’s a good film! That doesn’t explain your weird cuddle powers.”
“You were getting closer,” Gladio says. “Real slow. Thought you were just getting better at the subtlety thing.” He shrugs. “Then you didn’t go for the arm around the shoulders, so I figured I’d show you how it’s done.”
“I didn’t even know I was doing it,” Prompto says, slightly terrified.
“Well, that’s a tip for you to remember when you’re picking up girls.”
“What, just wait for them to be drawn in by the gravitational power of your abs?”
“You don’t have to do all the work yourself,” Gladio says. “If you’re doing all the work yourself, maybe it’s time to look somewhere else. You can’t have ’em all. If she’s interested, she’ll want to get closer.”
If she’s interested. It’s kind of hard to imagine. Prompto can’t picture someone actually being into him; he just has to pursue everyone until he can trick one of them into liking him somehow.
“Thanks,” he says, a little reluctantly. ‘Find someone who actually likes you’ wasn’t exactly the advice he wanted to hear.
“Anyway, want to watch the last scene?” Gladio holds out an arm invitingly, smirking. Prompto sits firmly on the other end of the couch instead.
If she’s interested.
He glances at Gladio. It kind of feels like there’s a burn across his shoulder and chest where Gladio’s arm was resting.
Did he really shuffle up to him without realising?
-
Someone’s trying to nudge him awake. Prompto groans and burrows into Noct’s side. They cycle bed-sharing duties so nobody gets stuck with Gladio every night, and this time Ignis is the sacrifice.
“Hey,” Gladio’s voice says, low in his ear.
A strange shiver runs down Prompto’s back, and he opens his eyes. There’s light filtering through the caravan’s windows; it must be early morning. Gladio was leaning over him, but he straightens up (as far as he can manage without hitting his head on the roof) when he sees that Prompto is awake.
The smell of chocobos hangs comfortingly in the air. That’s right; they’re at the chocobo post, aren’t they?
“What’s up?” Prompto asks through a yawn.
“Did you know they have chocobo races here?”
Prompto sits bolt upright, ignoring Noct’s disgruntled noise. “What?”
“You interested?”
“Yeah, I’m interested.”
“You wanna get some practice in before the other two get up?”
Prompto is already out of the bed, tugging on his clothes. “Let’s do it.”
-
Gladio wins their first race. And their second. But that’s fine, because Gladio’s riding a normal chocobo, and Prompto’s chocobo is the most perfect, beautiful bird in the world.
They attempt a third race, but Prompto’s bird veers sharply off-course halfway through and plunges into the undergrowth. There’s a slightly terrifying moment where Prompto’s just clinging on for dear life, wondering whether Cindy’s kidnapping him to sacrifice him to the chocobo gods. He can hear Gladio in pursuit, yelling his name.
She pulls up back at the chocobo post. Turns out they took the chocobos out before feeding time, and Cindy just knows when to expect her breakfast.
Prompto’s laughing when he dismounts, half in exhilaration and half in relief. He turns to see Gladio standing nearby, smiling slightly.
“This put you off chocobos at all?” Gladio asks.
“As if,” Prompto says. He takes a step and nearly falls, his legs unsteady after forty minutes on chocobo-back. Gladio catches his arm to steady him.
“Guess we’re not finishing that race,” Gladio says.
“We finished it,” Prompto says, firmly. “Turns out the finishing line was the chocobo post. I won.”
Gladio snorts. “Whatever you say.”
Prompto glances towards the caravan. “Should we go wake up the others?”
“They can wait. You want to grab something to eat?”
“Uh.” Prompto shifts on his feet. “I kind of spent all my gil on greens. And, like... fifty days of chocobo rental.” He just... his chocobo is perfect, okay, and he doesn’t want to risk the rental running out and finding he has to ride some other chocobo.
Gladio’s smile is so knowing that Prompto finds it hard to look at for more than a few seconds. “Not a problem. I was gonna pay for you anyway.”
“Really?” Prompto asks. “Thank - wait.” He stops dead.
Gladio still hasn’t let go of his arm.
No way. No way.
“Is this a date?” Prompto asks, suddenly high-pitched. “Like... a romantic date?”
“It’s a lesson,” Gladio says. “Wasn’t hard to tell you’d be into chocobo racing. You find out what she’s interested in, maybe you’ll be able to spend time alone with her. If you’re lucky, she’ll start looking at you differently.”
Prompto stares helplessly at Gladio’s hand on his arm. He’s starting to feel kind of disconnected from reality.
-
Prompto stares at himself in the bathroom mirror. Splashes water on his face, slaps his cheeks. He can do this. He can do this.
He dries his face and takes a long, deep breath, and then he steps out into the motel room.
Ignis and Noct are still playing cards in the corner. Gladio, sprawled troublingly on the bed, raises a hand. “Yo.”
“Gladio.” His breathing is getting way too quick already, but he clenches his fists by his side for strength. He’s not going to back down. “Can you teach me how to kiss?”
Ignis and Noct both look sharply over at him.
Gladio looks startled. Which actually feels pretty good. Yeah, Prompto’s not always the guy on the back foot.
“You know that’s not a normal thing to ask, right?” Gladio asks. “Kind of a step past dating tips.”
“I know,” Prompto says. “I’m asking anyway.”
They look at each other. Prompto can feel Ignis and Noct’s stares still on him. The air feels too dense, somehow.
“In front of these two?” Gladio asks.
“You’re saying you might if they weren’t here?” Prompto asks, instantly, desperately.
Gladio shrugs. “Makes no difference to me. I just thought it might bother you.” He waves Prompto towards him.
Prompto, his heart hammering in his throat, takes a step closer.
“Well,” Ignis says, “if this means Prompto is likely to begin sharing Gladio’s bed consistently, I’m all in favour.”
ffxv_kinkmeme somehow aren't 'valuable' enough to post elsewhere. Silly, cute writing isn't inherently worth less than serious, tragic writing! It's okay to write fiction with the goal of making people smile; making people smile is actually a pretty great thing.
The original prompt is here.
Title: Education
Fandom: Final Fantasy XV
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Prompto/Gladio
Wordcount: 1,500
Summary: Prompto asks Gladio for advice on flirting. It doesn't really go the way he'd planned.
“Hey, Gladio,” Prompto says, sidling up to him. There’s a chance he doesn’t sound as casual as he’d hoped. “You’re popular with the ladies, right?”
Gladio snorts with laughter. “You want love advice?”
“I mean.” Prompto can already feel himself starting to redden. “I want advice. And maybe that advice would be in... certain... fields. I don’t know if I’d say...” Who is he kidding? “Yes. Please.”
“I can tell you my best technique. You’re not gonna like it.”
There’s a pause.
“Is it ‘look like you’?” Prompto asks.
Gladio shrugs and smirks. “It works.”
“Well, sorry if we can’t all be the size of a garula,” Prompto mutters.
“Hmm.” Gladio looks him over in a way that makes Prompto feel extremely self-conscious. “I guess we might be able to work with this.”
-
“Okay.” Gladio hits ‘play’, and the film starts. “Show me what you’ve got.”
They’re sitting on the hotel couch, a person’s width between them. Prompto casts a couple of furtive glances over at Gladio, then tries to shuffle towards him, close that gap.
“Not subtle, Prompto,” Gladio says, not taking his eyes off the screen.
Prompto looks away, his face burning. Okay. This is fine. He can be subtle, he can totally be subtle. He just needs to subtly get his arm around Gladio’s shoulders, and...
That is definitely, definitely impossible. Gladio is too tall and too broad. Putting your arm around his shoulders isn’t something that could ever plausibly just happen. It’s like accidentally climbing a mountain.
“No,” Prompto mutters, scooting away. “This is stupid.”
“What, giving up already?”
“I can’t do it. Let’s just - let’s just do something else.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” Gladio gestures at the screen. “Let’s finish watching, anyway.”
Well, fine, okay. The Chocobo Prince is one of Prompto’s favourites. It might be nice to take a break from humiliating love lessons and just watch a movie.
At the end, when the chocobo turns back into a human at last, Prompto finds himself surreptitiously trying to brush away tears. He always does. Even though the prince is a lot less handsome as a human than he was as a chocobo.
Tough to do it stealthily, though; Gladio’s definitely going to notice him shifting around when they’re so clo-
When-
Prompto jerks sharply away from Gladio’s chest. “What?”
Gladio looks way too smug.
“What?” Prompto asks, again. “What? How was I-” He gestures, frantically. “How did that happen?”
Now that he’s thinking about it, he guesses he kind of - he kind of remembers getting comfortable against Gladio’s chest, Gladio’s arm settling around him, but how was he not really conscious of any of this?
Gladio grabs the remote and hits the ‘pause’ button. “You were really into the film.”
“Well, yeah! It’s a good film! That doesn’t explain your weird cuddle powers.”
“You were getting closer,” Gladio says. “Real slow. Thought you were just getting better at the subtlety thing.” He shrugs. “Then you didn’t go for the arm around the shoulders, so I figured I’d show you how it’s done.”
“I didn’t even know I was doing it,” Prompto says, slightly terrified.
“Well, that’s a tip for you to remember when you’re picking up girls.”
“What, just wait for them to be drawn in by the gravitational power of your abs?”
“You don’t have to do all the work yourself,” Gladio says. “If you’re doing all the work yourself, maybe it’s time to look somewhere else. You can’t have ’em all. If she’s interested, she’ll want to get closer.”
If she’s interested. It’s kind of hard to imagine. Prompto can’t picture someone actually being into him; he just has to pursue everyone until he can trick one of them into liking him somehow.
“Thanks,” he says, a little reluctantly. ‘Find someone who actually likes you’ wasn’t exactly the advice he wanted to hear.
“Anyway, want to watch the last scene?” Gladio holds out an arm invitingly, smirking. Prompto sits firmly on the other end of the couch instead.
If she’s interested.
He glances at Gladio. It kind of feels like there’s a burn across his shoulder and chest where Gladio’s arm was resting.
Did he really shuffle up to him without realising?
-
Someone’s trying to nudge him awake. Prompto groans and burrows into Noct’s side. They cycle bed-sharing duties so nobody gets stuck with Gladio every night, and this time Ignis is the sacrifice.
“Hey,” Gladio’s voice says, low in his ear.
A strange shiver runs down Prompto’s back, and he opens his eyes. There’s light filtering through the caravan’s windows; it must be early morning. Gladio was leaning over him, but he straightens up (as far as he can manage without hitting his head on the roof) when he sees that Prompto is awake.
The smell of chocobos hangs comfortingly in the air. That’s right; they’re at the chocobo post, aren’t they?
“What’s up?” Prompto asks through a yawn.
“Did you know they have chocobo races here?”
Prompto sits bolt upright, ignoring Noct’s disgruntled noise. “What?”
“You interested?”
“Yeah, I’m interested.”
“You wanna get some practice in before the other two get up?”
Prompto is already out of the bed, tugging on his clothes. “Let’s do it.”
-
Gladio wins their first race. And their second. But that’s fine, because Gladio’s riding a normal chocobo, and Prompto’s chocobo is the most perfect, beautiful bird in the world.
They attempt a third race, but Prompto’s bird veers sharply off-course halfway through and plunges into the undergrowth. There’s a slightly terrifying moment where Prompto’s just clinging on for dear life, wondering whether Cindy’s kidnapping him to sacrifice him to the chocobo gods. He can hear Gladio in pursuit, yelling his name.
She pulls up back at the chocobo post. Turns out they took the chocobos out before feeding time, and Cindy just knows when to expect her breakfast.
Prompto’s laughing when he dismounts, half in exhilaration and half in relief. He turns to see Gladio standing nearby, smiling slightly.
“This put you off chocobos at all?” Gladio asks.
“As if,” Prompto says. He takes a step and nearly falls, his legs unsteady after forty minutes on chocobo-back. Gladio catches his arm to steady him.
“Guess we’re not finishing that race,” Gladio says.
“We finished it,” Prompto says, firmly. “Turns out the finishing line was the chocobo post. I won.”
Gladio snorts. “Whatever you say.”
Prompto glances towards the caravan. “Should we go wake up the others?”
“They can wait. You want to grab something to eat?”
“Uh.” Prompto shifts on his feet. “I kind of spent all my gil on greens. And, like... fifty days of chocobo rental.” He just... his chocobo is perfect, okay, and he doesn’t want to risk the rental running out and finding he has to ride some other chocobo.
Gladio’s smile is so knowing that Prompto finds it hard to look at for more than a few seconds. “Not a problem. I was gonna pay for you anyway.”
“Really?” Prompto asks. “Thank - wait.” He stops dead.
Gladio still hasn’t let go of his arm.
No way. No way.
“Is this a date?” Prompto asks, suddenly high-pitched. “Like... a romantic date?”
“It’s a lesson,” Gladio says. “Wasn’t hard to tell you’d be into chocobo racing. You find out what she’s interested in, maybe you’ll be able to spend time alone with her. If you’re lucky, she’ll start looking at you differently.”
Prompto stares helplessly at Gladio’s hand on his arm. He’s starting to feel kind of disconnected from reality.
-
Prompto stares at himself in the bathroom mirror. Splashes water on his face, slaps his cheeks. He can do this. He can do this.
He dries his face and takes a long, deep breath, and then he steps out into the motel room.
Ignis and Noct are still playing cards in the corner. Gladio, sprawled troublingly on the bed, raises a hand. “Yo.”
“Gladio.” His breathing is getting way too quick already, but he clenches his fists by his side for strength. He’s not going to back down. “Can you teach me how to kiss?”
Ignis and Noct both look sharply over at him.
Gladio looks startled. Which actually feels pretty good. Yeah, Prompto’s not always the guy on the back foot.
“You know that’s not a normal thing to ask, right?” Gladio asks. “Kind of a step past dating tips.”
“I know,” Prompto says. “I’m asking anyway.”
They look at each other. Prompto can feel Ignis and Noct’s stares still on him. The air feels too dense, somehow.
“In front of these two?” Gladio asks.
“You’re saying you might if they weren’t here?” Prompto asks, instantly, desperately.
Gladio shrugs. “Makes no difference to me. I just thought it might bother you.” He waves Prompto towards him.
Prompto, his heart hammering in his throat, takes a step closer.
“Well,” Ignis says, “if this means Prompto is likely to begin sharing Gladio’s bed consistently, I’m all in favour.”