Prompto Argentum, according to his friends, and he, himself, was anything but dumb.
Okay, maybe he got distracted quite easily, and was quite the shy, ladies man. But still, he was smart. And quitting was something he absolutely never did.
Cindy realised that a year after they had met on their car accident. She had found out about Prompto's crush on her the same day they had met and, to be honest, she was glad, but he was not her type…
At all.
He was shy, he was short, he wasn't muscular. He wasn't what she thought that a man needed to be to earn her… Or well, at first, he wasn't.
And she even tried making it clear to him that it wasn't going to happen without hurting him in any ways. But he didn't get it! His whole group of friends got it, but not him.
And thus he kept trying, and trying and trying. Making excuses to visit her, making his friends treat her better, complimenting her, even buying her lunch, or telling her he made it himself even when she was sure Ignis did it.
She was starting to feel bad about it, him trying his best, giving her everything he had, all his time, and efforts. And her not giving him anything in return other than, well, smiles and thanks.
And, she thought, this time was no different. They were arriving in their beautiful Regalia and Cindy could already smell Prompto's eagerness to get closer to her heart...until they parked up.
They parked up next to their usual place to stay in Hammerhead, since it was dark time already, but something was odd.
There was no Prompto with them.
He wasn't there, he wasn't anywhere, he didn't get out of the car because he wasn't in the car either. And no one was telling her anything.
They just waved her a hello and went towards the camper to sleep, making her question herself if Prompto ever existed.
She touched her left wrist and felt the bracelet he once gave her, telling her it'll give her more stamina and happiness at work. And it did, so he wasn't actually, non-existent.
Where's the blonde boy? She thought to herself after seeing how he was nowhere to be found.
It was late, probably 10:00 pm and she knew for a fact that being outside at those hours wasn't a good idea.
She wondered if something happened to him, and couldn't help but bring her hand to her bracelet again, feeling the cold, metallic touch that reminded her how not so badly injured he was when he gave it to her.
Yeah, Prompto really did give her such precious bracelet, didn't he? She had heard their big guy, Gladio say once, and decided that wearing it was probably a good thing to do.
Cindy looked inside of one her ragged pockets for her cellphone, and decided to text him.
She opened the chat to find it full of cute little messages from Prompto that he sent every other day when they were away travelling. She did reply to them, just not as affectionately as he was.
"Prompto?" She typed, making it simple and normal, but her expression changed to one of real concern after she sent it.
Message wasn't received.
He was out of signal.
And her heart started beating really fast.
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"Cindy?" Noctis asked with a worried tone the next morning, finding the lumpy, lazy way of walking rather weird on Cindy.
The usually cheerful blonde turned, and even Ignis gawked in horror.
Her smile was gone, and she had visible, dark eye bags.
They all internally smirked when she stepped closer and asked, without even a single hello, where was Prompto.
"Ah, him? Oh, he's, uh…" Gladio acted as if he didn't know, earning a huff from the blonde.
"Come on, Gladio, you shouldn't make the lady wait" Ignis stepped in Gladio's mocking session, "He is with an acquaintance of ours, her name is Aranea. Prompto implored her to help him, something about training and becoming stronger" Noctis nodded and Cindy's heart stopped beating so fast.
"He'll be gone for a week, but don't worry, if Aranea is anything else than beautiful, that'd be being stronger than hell" Okay, now her chest felt slightly heavier than normal, and her heart was beating fast, again.
"F-For a week, huh? That's fine by me" She acted it up and returned to her garage, surely there was some work waiting for her over there. She kept an ear up to hear their conversations like usual.
She was trying to busy herself with sorting tools when they started talking with old man Cid.
"And where is the fancy boya?" The now even more tired than usual Cid asked, fixing his hat just quite a bit.
"Ah, he's training with a chick somewhere near the lake" Gladio responded naturally, "We keep telling him that he shouldn't push himself that much only because of a girl but Jesus, Promto's the definition of persistence" That made Cindy's heart stutter, and she accidentally dropped a tool that almost fell of her feet.
"Everything alright over there, young one?" Cid asked her with a chuckle, remembering how since the first day the blonde boy had met his daughter, he had been bee's knees for her.
"Y-Yeah, Cid! Everything's okay!" She muttered loudly, trying to sounds as casual as possible.
Prompto was training for her? Her heart did a thing.
"So he's still into my little girl?" Cid asked the group, who had made themselves at home, dragging some chairs and sodas and placing them around Cid. That was what they usually did when they decided to take a break.
"Yeah, pretty much. Seems like he doesn't realise how much she isn't into him, hah" Gladio laughed at Noctis comment, "We tried telling him, but we can't seem to find a way to not break his heart, y'know, and a crying Prompto isn't an enjoyable Prompto" Ignis nodded at Noctis statement.
"He should just give up" Ignis mentioned, and Cindy suddenly felt too sad to even pick up that heavy tool, "Even Aranea seems to be willing to give him some kind of chance" Noctis chuckled.
"Yeah, she even accepted to spend a week with him, training him! If that isn't a chance, then I know nothing about girls" Noctis said, crossing his arms.
"Well, to be fair, you know nothing about girls" Gladio mocked their King, making him huff in acted frustration.
"Anyway, let's hope something changes Prompto's mind, he should get some love from time to time, and Aranea looks like a great chance for him" Ignis continued with his reasoning, "He's been wasting too much time on Cindy" He sighed, "He even gave her his bracelet, even when he said it was the most precious thing he had" Gladio laughed bitterly.
"That's true" He stood up, "At least she wears it" He ran a hand through his long, dark hair, "I've seen many scenes in which the guy doesn't get the girl, but holy shit it's the first time I've seen a guy trying so hard and still nothing" She bit her lower lip in an attempt to hold an squeak.
Has she really been so blind?
Yeah, no matter, we have a guy that would do anything for you, She remembered when she tasked the prince and his friends to get her some supplies.
He would do anything for her?
Her phone buzzed for a second and she desperately searched for it in her pocket
Only one person she knew texted her instead of calling her.
"Hey there, you called me? :D" It was a message from Prompto, and before she could reply, she received another message, "Sorry for not replying yesterday, I didn't have signal!"
Her lips curled into a smile, and her mind went wild, wondering if…
He would do anything for you.
She knew he was training hard, and that he was having a hard time, and that he wanted to become stronger for her. To the point of asking such high prestige woman for help.
But still she could help it.
"Can you come here?" She typed fast and sent it, relieved that he received it this time.
It took some time before his status changed to typing, and when it did, her heart started feeling heavy.
"Ask Ignis, and just Ignis, for my secret picture box, and look for a section that has your name. You'll see that I'm always there for you" He had sent her before he logged off, and suddenly she wondered if he's always been this charming.
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She waited until they stopped talking with Cid to get closer to them, and when she saw the opportunity, she spoke.
"Hey, Ignis?" The mentioned blonde turned around from his path towards the hunting zone to see her, and she motioned him to come closer to her, "So, uh, I got informed about...a certain picture box?" She asked, and internally smiled when his brows rose for a second.
Ignis didn't say anything and just made her follow him until they reached the Regalia.
"Close your eyes and turn around, it's a secret place where it is hidden, after all" She did and giggled when she heard some things being moved around the Regalia.
A minute passed before he told her that she could turn and open her eyes again, and when she did, something moved in her heart.
In front of her there was a big, carton box. Prompto's amazing adventure, is what was written on the front part.
"Just take care of it, it's very important to Prompto. I'm seriously impressed he trusted you with it, but it's his decision at the end" He let her pick up the box and left to reach his friends, who were going on some hunting missions like usual.
She skipped to her little place next to the garage in hammerhead and closed her front door, leaving her house keys on the key holder, and walked quickly towards her little sala.
She placed the box and opened it, finding a lot of files in it.
Ignis adventures.
Noctis dumbass adventures.
Big guy adventures.
She skipped a few names she didn't know, until she found her own name but instead of being written in black ink like the other ones, her was written in yellow, and she smiled at the little hammer next to her name.
She took it and closed the box again, opening her file and instantly smiling at the cover.
It was a selfie he took with her almost a year ago, the day they met. She had her face a little dirty from work, and she could see his cheeks a little reddish.
She turned the pages full of picture of her and him together, even pictures she didn't know he had taken. A lot of them with him smiling and her not even noticing. And she noticed how much time he had actually spent with her without her noticing him that much.
Se found a picture with her and the Regalia, and she almost took it for herself. And then she reached the end, with more pages left to be filled with memories…
Memories she suddenly felt the need to share with him.
She held the file close to her chest after she finished reading it, closing it carefully, and a smile quickly creeped into her face, even make her cheeks flush red a bit.
She took out her cellphone, and selfishly started typing…
"Please come back soon"
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Short, I know. But it may or may not be just a one shot. It'll solely depend on how many people like it, I guess haha.
Loves&Paws- PawsLover