Author's Note: Yet another offshoot of the main project in the works. The idea for this one popped in my head on Valentine's Day, though it's not very sweet or fluffy. Again, this is one chapter out of two. Think of it like Episode Ignis, with a V1 and V2 route.

Kink warnings for xenophilia, cockwarming, bare-backing, biting, humiliation, sadism and masochism, dacryphilia, post-orgasm torture, very light bondage, implied breath-play, and rough sex in general.

The Trial of Titan should've been a success. It was one where it mattered the most. Noctis earned Titan's blessing fair and square, despite the interference on the part of Niflheim sending its Magitek troopers to fell the Landforger before he could do that. By all means, they should have been congratulating each other on a job well done, especially Noct.

But it still felt like an unmitigated disaster, and Gladio knew damn well why, but the last time he said anything about the problem, he had a Silence spell lobbed at him and couldn't speak the entire goddamn Trial, so maybe this time he wouldn't open his mouth. Not just yet, and not when he'd gotten the spell lifted a short time ago. He'd wait and watch.

He'd watch, even when his annoyance reached the point where it burrowed into the backs of his eyeballs.

None of this added up to anything positive. Didn't anyone else see it? Ardyn following them around, offering them help, showing up in the nick of time to help them.

No… of course they didn't. They couldn't entertain anything negative about the particular problem. They thought what they wanted to about Ardyn, sure, yeah, they agreed he was up to no good and couldn't be trusted. That was easy, he was a stranger.

But…

Prompto was a fucking issue. In fact, he was the fucking issue.

Gladio's blood was set aboil from the mere recollection of the others' reactions. The sheer stubbornness of their denials when he voiced his concerns in the caravan they spent the night in, halfway on the trip to the Disc.

'You are not suggesting that Prompto is the weak link in our group,' Ignis said.

'Prompto is sincere, maybe to a fault … but he's loyal to Lucis and to Insomnia. ... He's honest about that, and he's our friend. Ardyn wouldn't get anything more from him than what he'd learn from looking at us,' was Noct's opinion.

They were hopeful. Too hopeful. And that's exactly what a guy like Prompto would count on.

Prompto, who somehow obtained the approval of Cor the Immortal, and got into the Crownsguard despite his common birth and lack of extensive training. Who claimed his parents 'just weren't around' but still managed to get signed consent from someone to get into any place that mattered. Who befriended Noctis despite the Prince's generally withdrawn nature that had turned everyone else away.

Prompto, who Ardyn took such a liking to, it bordered on unreal. Who followed Ardyn all the way to his car before he remembered he left the others behind. Who defended Ardyn when the others had their own words to say about the guy. Who told Ardyn where they were headed when they all wanted to avoid exactly that. Who had the nerve to leave his friends in the Regalia and instead sit in the passenger seat of Ardyn's car with probably nothing else pushing him but the spite pumping in his veins.

That Prompto.

That he wound up learning Ardyn was the Chancellor before the others got to hear it didn't change jack shit. There was something wrong with him. Especially with what he pulled right at the gate. A "very good friend," Ardyn called him. Yeah, Gladio would bet. Sitting on that creep's lap and making out with him was a surefire way to get something of his up, if not his opinion. Prompto could keep saying that was 'just an act'. Looked too convincing for that.

To think, that Gladio himself had considered Prompto's actions before that to have a sound reason. The guy came off earnest, and a bit of a magnet, with a cross between schoolboy charm and bad boy looks that should've been absurd but worked somehow in his favor. Considering the others' clear hostilities toward Ardyn, and that they thought him a suspicious stranger, it would be easy for said stranger to gravitate to Prompto, seeing none of the negativity in him. The young man was trusting, and he'd be trusted in turn.

Gladio had thought Prompto was doing that to wheedle what he could out of Ardyn, like a four-man Good Cop/Bad Cop routine. Now that he lined up all the other details, truly looked at them, he realized his error.

And he couldn't get that kiss out of his head. The way Prompto clung to Ardyn, and-

No. That didn't matter so much anymore. He was too focused on what he saw and not what it meant.

The way those two had pulled that off, the guards in charge of the gate to Titan didn't get a good look at Prompto's face. They barely got to check his hair color, considering he was wearing Ardyn's hat. But they could tell who the three chumps in the fancy black car were just fine. That very good friend, though?Free of real scrutiny and the little red dot of a laser sight roaming his chest, thanks so much.

Infuriating, that the others didn't see how obvious this was, but then again, they were close… and still managed to fall short of the real point. Maybe that was just how well Prompto had them wrapped around his finger. Hooked them with his puppy dog eyes and his constant whining. He was hungry, he was tired, he was sleepy, he felt dirty and needed a shower, his feet hurt, he wanted to sleep in a bed and not in a tent… funny, how all those complaints straight up vanished around Ardyn, and Ardyn paid for that caravan without ever hearing a word from Prompto about how much he hated camping. He must have known beforehand.

He must have known. Because that, and the way he proposed that he and Prompto share the same bed- that Prompto agreed to that without a single objection- couldn't have been coincidence.

In material space, Gladio was aware that he'd inhaled sharply through his nose and rubbed at his eyes as if they were tired. But no one paid it any mind. They'd made it to the rest area at Taelpar, and parked the Regalia at the motel. They would rent out some rooms at Three Z's for the night.

When they all got their keys, Ignis and Noctis decided they wouldn't go in just yet. They opted instead to take advantage of what bits of sunlight were still afforded them to make an inventory check and get any supplies that they lacked, then refine or replace their weapons. Ignis in particular would go through the next day's itinerary, and he'd spend more than enough time being thorough and leaving no potential paths unconsidered. And, maybe, he'd have a bit of space in there for Noct's whims.

A good enough opportunity as any to do all that, Gladio figured, but he spotted Prompto about to tag along and invite himself into the conversation already underway (the usual ploy for attention, now that he thought about it). He put his hand on the blond's shoulder. "Not this time. I wanna talk to you."

Prompto looked down at his shoulder, then at Gladio, then shrugged that hand away and moved to keep walking towards the others.

Gladio answered back with a firmer grip, a dig of his fingers into the shoulder, this time. "Didn't you hear what I said?"

That grip was strong enough to stop the blond in his tracks and even pulled him back a little, but again he looked down as if such a thing were only a minor inconvenience.

"Didn't you get the hint I'm ignoring you, or should I ignore you harder?" Prompto asked. His world blurred for that brief second he was spun around, and Gladio's fingers were twisting up his collar. He should have felt threatened. Should have been scared. Instead he cast an impassive glance at the shirt bunched up in that massive fist.

"Mmm…? You really think this is a good idea, Gladio? Let's not make a scene."

"You're right, let's not," the Shield growled, and shoved Prompto away. The gunner didn't lose his balance like he would have if others were watching, and the smile on his face was too snakelike to fit him and yet exactly like him. He walked toward their room, didn't make a sound, didn't suggest that anything was amiss.

He moved like he had everything under control, and it pissed Gladio off even more.

Prompto was barely in the room before Gladio came in after and shut the door, and the swordsman followed that by the quick-cast of Silence on the door and walls.

Incantations weren't really his style, though they gave the spell more power and a sharper focus. A quick-cast could hit a wider area at the cost of power, and regardless, it still reached into the concept at the core of the spell itself; in Silence's case, it was 'soundproofing'. A Silenced person couldn't talk, but their footsteps would still give them away if they approached. A Silenced room would muffle any noise in it, and keep attention away.

When the spell finished its sweep, Gladio turned his full attention to Prompto.

"Didn't think we needed all that to even start talking," Prompto said, such a put-on softness to his voice that it was cloying.

"We do. And whatever the fuck it is you think you're doing, it needs to stop."

Prompto tilted his head to address him. "What, you're not strong enough to stop me yourself?"

His fingers clamped around Prompto's throat before he even registered that he'd crossed the distance to do exactly that.

The little bastard had the nerve to expose more of his neck in response. "Not helping your case any, buddy."

"I'm not your buddy, you little shit. You're working for him, aren't you?"

"And if I am?" Prompto batted his eyelashes. "What's the big deal about that?"

"You know what the deal is!"

"No… you're gonna have to explain it to me."

If Gladio held on any tighter, Prompto wouldn't be conscious to hear anything, much less an explanation. He relented, but only for that.

"Ardyn sent you to spy on us. Fed you information to tell us so we don't suspect anything, while you kept him updated on our whereabouts. That's how he knows where we are all the time. Gets anywhere before we do. Do I have that right so far? I wanna hear the answer from you, before I decide it best to beat it out of you."

"Mmm… I can see why you'd think that..." Prompto's voice came slick as an oil spill and ten times as noxious.

"You gonna give me a straight answer, or not?" Gladio's voice in turn was a hurricane waiting to make landfall.

"Depends on what more you ask."

With every step Gladio took towards Prompto, Prompto took one back, keeping the distance between them even until he felt his back press against the wall, their bodies flush against each other. Again, the blond should have felt the chill of fear, but he instead looked like he awaited something interesting, hadn't gotten it yet, not even with the rage that simmered behind the swordsman's eyes.

"You're a spy for Ardyn," Gladio started again. "Were your parents in on that? If they were even real?" Seemed right to ask if this traitor had any support anywhere, the answer could suggest how long he'd been doing this for.

Prompto took a glance down and to the left, and just as quick was his response. "They were real, but they weren't... part of this."

It would be easy to believe that that was the reason the younger man had consistently told them all that he didn't have anyone to go home to after school, that his parents were busy with work. Anyone that absent in their kid's life couldn't be expected to know what their kid did. Then again, a traitor like this having a heart? What good would it do him protecting two people while he was selling out the entire world's future?

"You expect me to believe that?"

"I'd expect you wouldn't be asking me anything at all if you thought I was lying to start with."

He wouldn't concede to that aloud, but continued his visual search for anything to suggest with finality that Prompto wasn't lying. For a moment, he entertained asking more about those parents. About how Prompto felt about the fact that they didn't survive the fall of Insomnia, after all that effort their son put in to protect them. He wanted to see if there was any spark of humanity left in those hollowed eyes.

But whether or not they were alive, it wouldn't change the fact that Prompto was working with an enemy of Lucis. He was doing that, even now. And Gladio needed to know why and for what.

"You're here to stop Noctis from getting the blessings of the Six, then?"

"If he's lucky, then yeah."

"And if he's not?"

"Then it wouldn't be me stopping him, now would it?"

Prompto couldn't be human. Not with the way he giggled when the Shield's fingers dug into his hair and the back of his head met the wall just behind him. "Mm, struck a nerve there, didn't I…"

"Cut the bullshit. You know exactly what you're doing."

"And you don't!" came the happy little announcement. "That's how I can keep giving you all these answers without you understanding a damn word. I mean, come on, Gladio, use that brain of yours… how would Noct get all of the Six on his side, anyway? Keep count here…

"The Glacian was killed by the Empire. The Infernian died in the Great War ages ago. That's two down. Noct has the Archaean, the Hydraean is asleep, and no one knows if the Fulgurian is still around. He might've gotten killed by the Empire too, for all we know. And has anybody even heard from the Sixth in the Hexatheon? We just know he exists, because some book says so. Not much to go off of. So at best, Noct can get only half of the Six."

"So what if he can't get all of them? You stop Noct from earning their favor, the whole world stays under the control of Niflheim. Don't you get what that means at all?"

Noctis had to earn the blessing of the Six for more than that; from what Noct had said about the matter, Titan expected him to 'banish the Scourge'. Unless the gods hated Niflheim so much that they gave them a fancy title, that term made this quest a far bigger deal than stopping the 400 Years War between a Kingdom and an Empire, but Gladio could only guess at that.

"Better under Niflheim than under a bunch of careless gods," Prompto insisted. "We all saw what happened in the Trial, and that was just the first. You think it'll get any easier for Noct, the more gods he meets up with? They might actually get him killed, at the rate they're going. Then what's everyone gonna do, huh? Who's gonna 'reclaim the Crystal' then?"

The seething didn't let up for a single degree as Gladio reviewed what he himself knew of the Hexatheon and general history. Meanwhile the blond scrabbled for his morsels of amusement as he continued,

"You nobles are so stupid… you worship gods that don't care about you or your country or your world. Not enough for them to save it. I mean, why wait until Insomnia's gone to shit before letting the people know they're real? Why not stop Niflheim from conquering the rest of the world, stopped the Empire before it got powerful? Doesn't Lucis have its own 'patron god', too? A patron god that let the Crown City get blown up, that's left its own people in these outlands to die if not for the Nifs occupying the towns… Oh, right, that's the absentee god… yeah, totally worth a hair of respect, don'tcha think?"

"Your parents must have believed in them too! Or you gonna tell me they didn't?" Gladio found that hard to swallow. The people of the Crown City knew of the Six, not out of force or to conform, but because it made sense. Titan held up the Meteor, Ifrit's remains were left at the Rock of Ravatogh, Shiva's was in Ghorovas Rift. The other three were likely to exist off of those facts alone. Faith in those gods was - or should've been - passed on from the adults to their kids. Even the Messengers were recognized as gods in their own right.

Prompto shrugged. "No, they didn't, really. Growing up, I heard about Reapers, mostly. Emissaries of Death. That's the thing, Gladio. Your gods vowed to protect this world, and they don't do anything at all except let it go to shit. But Death itself? It's fair. It'll come for everything and everyone eventually. Even the gods."

Gladio had already thought Prompto was grating with the helpless whiner act, but now that the mask was off? What a pretentious fucking snot he was. He thought he was ahead of the curve theistically, because whatever cult he was into slapped a name onto a force of existence? Because he's sided with the same Empire out to kill the gods that did exist just to prove their shitty point about not needing them? And he had the nerve to call nobles ignorant. He was stupid down to the last fiber, with all this talk.

The Shield couldn't help but scoff at that. "Where does that leave you?"

"With you."

Gladio wasn't blind. Couldn't make a claim to that. He'd first met Prompto years ago, when he initially joined the Crownsguard at 18. He'd taken note of things then- the color of the newcomer's hair, brighter than the hair on most people in Insomnia, who otherwise carried shades of black or brown or at best dyed a non-natural color like midnight green or navy blue; his eyes, hooded, gave him a bit of a resting sleepy face, though when he opened them up more they'd catch the light and gleam like stars in the night; his skin was fair, a smattering of freckles on them all the time, and it always felt like that skin would bruise easily with so much as a tap. Gladio saw these things, knew them all.

Prompto still had those same features, even now, but it was funny how they morphed into something worse with just a change to the way he carried himself. His hair was the color of a flame that burned more fully than before, ever closer to consuming anything it could reach. His gaze wasn't dark enough to reflect exactly his opinion on the others around him, but it would have to do. And as worn out as he complained he was at the end of any battle, he didn't have anything to show for it, did he? Only once, outside of a fight, when Noctis held onto his arm too hard and left a mark. The Prince didn't know his own strength sometimes, but had tons to spare. That was what it took.

There wasn't a single thing human about Prompto except superficial looks. No way there was. But it felt like there could be… as he closed his eyes, guided Gladio's hand down along his cheek, turned his face just enough to press lips to rough fingertips (fuck, his lips were soft…), opened his eyes and cast the kind of look that could make a man's cock lurch and spit (wait, wait-).

Gladio's fingers were around Prompto's neck again. The blond held them there, as did he with their eye contact.

"You know what you need to do," he said, "so go ahead. Do it."

The fuck? Was he serious? "You're sick..."

"Am I? You already know why I'm here… what I'm about… if you're really out to protect Noct, then squeeze. End it right here. If not, then let go of me and we pretend this never happened. But… I know your type. You won't choose either thing. You wanna know why?"

"No."

"Because you're a coward. Always have been, and always will be. Your problem… is you don't have any real conviction. I mean… who the hell are you, compared to a guy like Ignis? He works every day to keep his position at Noct's side. I've even seen the way he looks at the guy, like his whole life is connected to Noct's. To be honest, it makes me sick… but it's pretty hard to deny that level of devotion. But you? You say you're the King's Shield, but you don't think it, you don't act it, you don't believe in it."

"Shut your fuckin' mouth!"

"Why? It's true…" Prompto let his gaze roam up and down what he could see of Gladio, a smile forming on his face as if he liked what he was seeing. "You think you're imposing… you've got a solid hundred pounds over me, by my guess, but it's not the body I'm not afraid of. It's the guy in control of it." That smile blew out into a grin. "You think I'm really gonna shake in my boots over some asshole that got his job through nepotism? Hahaha!"

That laugh, that face, that look, it was grating on Gladio's last goddamn nerve, yet-

"Your dad had it right, you know? He saw right through you. Gave you a babysitting role when the Prince was still little. He'd give the real Shield job to someone else, like… I dunno, Iris? Too bad he died before he could make that official… but hey, he kicked the bucket knowing damn sure you weren't cut for the job. You couldn't fool hi-"

Prompto's head snapped to the side. That slap might've cracked his cheek. Gladio should have done that sooner. Wondered why he didn't.

But the traitor was ever the insufferable one. He pressed his fingers to his face. "Huh… Iris really does hit harder than you."

The next slap sent him to the floor.

"You really think that's the best I can do?"

Prompto's body shook with each quick huff of air. He brought a hand to his face again, a partial cover to the grin that was still there. "It's not, and that's your problem too. If Ignis were here, or even Iris... I'd be dead already. They wouldn't let me get anywhere near Noct. You're too indecisive to protect him like you should. There isn't an honest thing about you, is there?"

'You know what the problem is with you? Sincerity. You lack sincerity.' Ardyn had said that. It figures that Prompto would parrot him in that way.

"Do all you Nifs sound the damn same?"

"Only the ones worth a damn, yeah."

The kick to the ribs flipped Prompto onto his back. He clutched at his side, a grimace finally working its way along his features. Gladio was starting to feel a little better at the sight of that. Not so much at what Prompto would say next.

"Useless flirt… that's all you are…" The blond started to crawl his way along the floor to the other wall, closer to the double bed, until he could prop himself up at the bedside. "Burns you up inside, doesn't it? Me, some commoner, earning anyone's favor… Of course you'd wanna think some shit about how evil I am, how I'm working for the enemy, or something..." Prompto curled his fingers to simulate quotation marks.

"The hell are you going on about now?" He'd talked for long enough. Were more of his words meant to stall for something?

"What, need me to spell it out for you? How do you lie to someone? I mean - really - lie to them?" He pulled himself up to the bed and stood there, doubled over the mattress, his chest rising and falling with each slow breath. "You tell them something they already agree with... even if it's ridiculous. They won't think twice about anything that fits their worldview. That's all you gotta do. And what they agree with tells you a lot about them."

That piece of shit…! He'd said all that just to prove a point!?

"What part did you lie about?"

The blond let a titter of a laugh slip out of him. "Wouldn't be any fun if I told you."

"What part?"

Gladio grabbed Prompto by the back of the head and shoved his face into the mattress. Could try to smother him there. Should. (Wouldn't.) What part had he lied about? No, no, Gladio couldn't get caught up in that. Prompto could have told the truth and only lied here to mess around with him, to get him to doubt everything he'd heard up to this point. All this talk, must have been to buy time for something. Had to be. Had to find what else he was hiding.

Prompto purred, unconcerned with the fervor in which Gladio tore his clothes away from his body to expose as much as possible of him, even when the belt was pulled off from around his pants and used to tie his hands behind his back.

"It doesn't matter anymore," he said. "I know something more about you, now. You're jealous, and you can't stand it. You can't stand that Iggy does a better job of protecting Noct. Can't stand that if it were a choice between you and me, they'd choose me over you. You're just filler. It really fucks you up, doesn't it?"

"You're still gonna rely on that winning charm of yours, after all this? I could just leave you here…"

"And you'd say what to the others? You think you'd be able to walk out of here, tell Iggy and Noct exactly what I told you, word for word, and they'd believe you? Not Noct, especially not Ignis, and not in the state I'm in. Yeah, it really does fuck with your head… wondering what part of it is because they trust me too much, and what part is that they don't trust you at all."

Gladio yanked Prompto back until their bodies were flush against each other. Hand around his throat again. Could feel his pulse going a mile a minute. Human after all, or just pretending?

"Shut. Up." It'd be the last time he'd say this.

"Make me."

He should have done this ages ago. Better late than never, though. He clasped his hand over the blond's mouth. No more words, just action this time.

Warm breath. Soft skin between his teeth. The tang of iron. A scream against his fingers, a strangled whine, a moan. No struggle… just the opposite. Hips grinding, that cute ass pushing back against his clothed cock.

Much better… Much better when Prompto didn't run his mouth off.

Whether or not Gladio saw through whatever act there was anymore didn't matter. All he was concerned with now was putting the brat in his place.

He at least agreed that Prompto would say whatever he thought someone else needed to hear, do whatever he needed to, to get them anywhere he wanted. Alone, for instance, like this. Just like this.

"You wanted my attention so bad… you should've just asked for it," he growled into the shell of the younger's ear.

The way the other whined and moved his hips suggested it just wouldn't be fun if he'd asked. No, it'd been much more entertaining for him to pose a big enough issue that Gladio would easily part from Noct's side, and work him into a jealous frenzy. That was just how well Prompto had the swordsman wrapped around his finger, and his hand wrapped around his cock.

Gladio drank in every breath and moan that came from Prompto's lips as he stroked away at the blond's dick and felt it pulse in his hand. Fuck, he sounds like he's been waiting for me to do this…

Filthy, masochistic traitor.

Fucking gorgeous, naughty little minx, too.

Such undeniable charm packed into every bit of him, in the bend of his throat and the arch of his back, in every grind of his hips. He had the face of an angel and the body of an incubus. It should've been absurd, but he made it work, made it work so good that it didn't matter if he didn't believe in any of the gods. Gladio wanted to fuck him until he called out for them anyway.

Or… maybe not for them. Only because Gladio loved the way his own name sounded when Prompto cried that out instead and came all over Gladio's hand. Loved it far too much to deny.

"Sounds like you practiced that…" Gladio kept pumping away, making Prompto squirm and writhe in his grip, making him throw his head back and whimper out with what breath he had left to manage it. Gladio was gonna work every last drop out of him and stretch his nerves to the breaking point. "Did you, you little slut? Sounds like you, alright… trying to work a couple fingers in your ass, wishing it were me… probably wished I could hear you whenever my name left your mouth, huh? Wanted me to catch you in the act just to see what I'd do?"

It was sublime, watching Prompto turn into a quivering mess as all his sensation focused onto his increasingly overstimulated cockhead. It kept dribbling out cum, it didn't know what else to do. He didn't know what else to do, except whine and plead for pleasure and pain to regain their familiar boundaries once more. "Hnnhh~…"

"That a yes?"

"Y-yes, yes, yes!"

"Good. That's what I wanna hear…" But he still kept going. It wasn't enough to get the blond to that state. There was more punishment to give him yet. He wanted Gladio's attention? He got it. And the Shield had him. "Want me to stop?"

"Please!"

"Make me. You strong enough to stop me yourself, or not?"

The way the blond moved his hips more insistently to fuck into that hand, and the noise that erupted from his throat as all sense of coherence left him, told Gladio everything he needed to know. The orgasms rolled into each other as Prompto reached crest after crest after crest without the dip of a valley to give him a moment's respite from the sensations, and he fell limp against the older man, legs close to giving out underneath him, a dreamy, glazed-over look in his eyes.

Was this the vainglorious brat from earlier? This slut with a drooling dick, the flush of ecstasy on his body?

What a lovely look on him.

Gladio freed Prompto from his restraints and turned him around. Held his head still and claimed his lips with a kiss. It was nowhere close to gentle, instead a hungry, primal thing as the urge to mark the blond surged to the surface. Gladio was going to make sure Prompto could still feel the kiss long after they'd stopped.

Prompto didn't feel like he'd mind that, he melted so thoroughly to the contact as it happened. He let Gladio's tongue into his mouth as if it belonged there, allowed the older man to push him onto the bed and pin him down. His fingers trailed paths along Gladio's scalp, threaded through dark and wild locks.

Little trails of saliva connected their mouths as they pulled away to catch their breath, and Gladio swept his smoldering amber gaze along his prey. Prompto's cheeks were flushed to the same tint as his mouth, his dark lashes fluttered over eyes heavy with lust. His shirt was in tatters, exposing the nebulaic blemish on his side, and his pants hadn't fared much better either. His cock stood at attention again, rivulets of pre-cum making trails down to his balls. Wait, seriously? He just finished, and he was raring to go again off of just a kiss? That was … rare, Gladio supposed. Maybe more proof that the blond wasn't as normal as he pretended to be. But that's about all he'd think of that.

He had a conquest to keep making his mark on.

It didn't take much for Prompto to flip himself over and prop his ass up. Just a touch, really, a hand to trail down there and suggest, and he knew what to do.

"Trained that well, huh?" Growled words, equal parts envious of the 'trainer' and grateful for the spared effort on his part.

Only whimpers as response, as the blond spread himself open, exposing his deep pink pucker that pulsed for something nice and hot in it.

So tempting, so fucking tempting… How the hell did anyone else resist this? Did they? Prompto could have anyone he wanted with so much as a look. He knew how to work people. So maybe that was it. He had a type. The type that could work him over in turn, until he was that thoughtless mess Gladio had seen earlier.

Heh. He could do that, then. Seemed easy enough.

The soft little ring quivered at the feel of a warm fingertip tracing it, and Gladio kept it up until the blond's hips began to buck and push back in order to get that finger inside him and relieve the building pressure. But not yet. Something that soft and pretty needed a careful touch first, for once, and Gladio was more than ready to deliver on that too. He leaned in and nipped at round, silken ass cheeks, then lightly traced his tongue between them and earned a trembling moan.

"Fuck, Gladdy…" escaped Prompto's mouth, as Gladio slid in and started tongue-fucking him. The blond writhed at the feel of that slick muscle inside him, and he whispered something that sounded suspiciously like 'More...' and sobbed in pleasure as the request was answered with wet kisses and sharp nibbles at his ring, vigorous nips and suckles there too, and hands kneading his ass. He worked his hips as if he wanted to reach his peak soon, and moaned as if he never wanted it to end.

Pre-cum spurted out of his cock. There was surely more where that came from, and Gladio continued to work the fluid out of him with well-timed curls and flexes of his tongue, and pressed his tongue against the spot he knew was there. Prompto's hips bucked more vigorously, and his hands fumbled for what they could reach of the older man's head to hold him in place.

It was beyond satisfying to hear him cry out when he finally came. Every bit of his body trembled from just Gladio's mouth. His walls clamped on the Shield's tongue. His cock jerked and spilled out cum without even being touched. It took a bit for the shaking to subside, and he relaxed onto the sheets, limp again.

When Gladio withdrew and replaced his tongue with two of his fingers, the blond's mewls were even sweeter. Gladio could feel his prey's walls tremble and give way to the digits, and he curled his fingers and pulled back until he felt it press to the same spot as before, and he massaged it, pressed hard enough to milk more fluid from the blond yet.

Damn, he was tight, though. It'd take a bit more than just this to get him ready, so Gladio added a third finger. "How'd you think you'd manage to fit my cock inside you when you're like this?"

"Dunno, don't care…" Prompto whispered.

"Really?"

"Mmmh… just fuck me… don't care if it hurts," Prompto whined.

"You'd like that, would ya? Fuckin' slut."

"Yours… your slut."

Gladio loved the sound of that. "Good… Show me just how much." He pulled his fingers out, and the noise Prompto made at that let him know that he made the right choice. He got up from the bed just as the younger man was turning around to chase his touch, and the pout and glare that followed him around was just too cute.

"Why're ya lookin' at me like that for? I'm gonna give you a little break. Well… not so little," Gladio said with a chuckle as he unfastened his pants just enough to get his cock out.

Prompto took it upon himself to do the rest- he adjusted himself on the bed for a better reach, and pulled the pants down to mid-thigh. He couldn't dare hide the elated sigh at the sight of Gladio's cock already dripping with need, and he brushed his fingertips along to tease it, allowed the glistening fluid to stain his fingers. He worked it until it was slick, and brought his mouth close to press his tongue flat to the shaft and lick a long stripe up to the tip. He gave the cockhead a kiss, and cast a mischievous glance up to Gladio that let the man know he would have more than just fun with this.

He wasn't shy of showing where else he could put his mouth, too, going just a bit lower than usual and taking one of Gladio's balls into his mouth. He sucked on it, adding rough pulls and swirls of his tongue before turning his attention to the other and giving it the same, then running his tongue at the seam between them.

Gladio found himself thinking that they should have done this far earlier than they were. Wondered if Prompto was this good and eager when he first joined the Crownsguard. The swordsman couldn't entertain the illusion that he'd have changed the gunner's allegiance with a good fuck or five, but he'd at least make him reconsider.

If Prompto was thinking the same, he didn't show it. He was caught in the present moment of enjoying the flesh offered him, and after a while, drew away just enough to adjust himself so that he was supine. His new position would let him tilt his head back to receive that thick cock. He opened wide for it, and took it right in to his lovely mouth, the spongy head of it working past his soft lips. He was warm, wet, inviting. And greedy. He took inch after inch into his mouth, had it buried so deep its thickness made his throat bulge, and Gladio could see the outline where his cock was lodged in. Prompto took it all, til his nose was brushing against Gladio's balls, and held on just to give the Shield that stunning sight of what his dick was doing.

A growl left Gladio's mouth. There was a note of something approaching affection in it, but it wasn't quite there yet. He held Prompto's head still and rocked his hips, thrust his dick into that mouth.

What a sweet little cockwhore Prompto was. So eager, that it wasn't enough that Gladio was fucking his face. Prompto flicked his tongue at the head every time the tip was almost out, swirled his tongue around the underside whenever he got the chance. He was earning every twitch and throb, and fuck, he was phenomenal. He moaned with each thrust, gagged on it so good while the Shield picked up his pace and pounded him hard and fast, enough to bruise his lips. The swordsman even closed his fingers around the gunner's slender neck and took out every frustration he'd ever had on him.

Prompto didn't care, he only moaned for more, and he even hummed in satisfaction when Gladio shot his cum down that awaiting throat. Swallowed it all, nursed the taste of it, tried to suck out more of it than what he was getting. Gladio could see each gulp as he took it… such an exhilarating sight.

The blond whined when it was over, when the cock came free from his wet, drooling mouth with a slick pop. He sat upright again. Brushed his fingers along his chin to get whatever threads of spit and cum still clung there. Licked it all up. Gladio wouldn't get enough of that dreamy gaze Prompto gave him then.

"You want more?"

Prompto nodded.

Gladio got himself completely free of his clothes, and took his seat on the bed. Prompto was ready to wrap his fingers around the older man's cock- he intended to pump it until it was completely hard again, but Gladio took his hand away. "No teasing. You want it in, you're gonna take it like it is."

The gunner licked his lips, and no objection left them. He climbed on top of Gladio to straddle his lap, and worked the half-hard length in past his walls. Once it was done, relief slipped out of his mouth in a soft sigh. He thought he'd move his hips and work that cock back to full length the fun way, but Gladio's hands on his hips kept him still. He failed to bite back the whine of frustration.

"Y'know… you're fuckin' cute when you don't get exactly what you want."

Prompto had to stifle a growl next. "You just want me to hate you, don't you."

"Comin' from the guy whose idea of foreplay is insulting me? Yeah, I do. What're you gonna do about it?"

"... Hrrrhh…"

"Thought so."

"Mmmhhh… I really do hate you," Prompto whined. The fact that Gladio was kissing his neck with surprising gentleness wasn't going to change his mind anytime soon, it looked like. "Can't you move just a little?"

"Nope. Not gonna."

"But I want it…"

A few minutes where he wasn't lost in Prompto's everything and was allowed to recollect his thoughts. Was that too much to ask for? It started to feel that way. Prompto knew how to sound needy, and how to appeal to the lower brain in both meanings of the term.

"C'mon," the swordsman goaded in return, "just gotta keep it warm for me. You can do that, can't you?"

"No, don't wanna."

"You're gonna have to."

"You sure about that?" Again Prompto reached out to run his fingers along dark hair, and his warm breath skimmed Gladio's cheek as he whispered into the swordsman's ear, "I could get you hot, instead…"

He didn't need to catch the way amber eyes darkened with lust; he'd feel as much when calloused hands roamed from his hips to his ass, and fingers teased at his already stretched entrance.

Even then, there came the low snarl like a mountain lion seconds away from pouncing, along with the warning, "You don't want that... trust me." Hearing Prompto blab about in a lusty haze was one thing, but his insistence on this so soon was… Gladio didn't want to say he was worried. He wasn't going to say it.

"You didn't hear me earlier…? I do want it. Wouldn't be here if I didn't..."

Their lips met, and their tongues slid against each other. Gladio caught the lingering bitter taste of his own release, and felt his pulse quicken with the desire to … what? What did he want to do? He didn't have any clearer idea than each beat of his heart seemed to match pace with the voice in his mind that whispered more, more, and that the voice had started to sound like Prompto. So he thought to himself, he could try to satisfy that voice. Give it what it wanted. He could try.

Prompto should have panicked. Gladio was expecting him to; not many of the guys or girls he'd gone out with could handle him as he was, and having something in one's mouth was much different than having it in more sensitive spots. But traces of fear had been absent in the blond since the beginning of this encounter, so if anything it was far too late to expect them to show up now.

All that mattered was that as Gladio's cock swelled its way to fullness inside of Prompto, a harsh breath left Prompto's lungs, and his lips pressed into a tense line. The blond's walls were stretching to their limits already, and he couldn't tell when that dick inside of him would stop growing. But not a single whine in the negative left the rosy seam of his mouth, they wouldn't leave past the teeth that bit down on his bottom lip.

Was he pretending he could take this?

"You alright?"

"...What?"

Did Prompto not hear him? "I asked-"

"No, I know what you said. Why would you even bother? The hell is wrong with you?" Prompto looked away. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. I was right anyway." His bitter laugh crackled in the air between them, and their gazes met again. Gladio saw what glimmers of humanity he thought he'd ever get from the younger man. "You can't commit to jack shit. That's what all this is… You're treating me like you want this to mean something all of a sudden."

Was he doing that? Even he didn't know anymore.

"You can't make any decisions on your own, when it comes down to it," Prompto mused. "You want me, but you don't say so. You hate me, but you won't leave me alone. You try to do both. But you'll never," another laugh, "you won't get that."

He reached back to grasp the base of Gladio's cock, and held it still. Lifted his hips to pull that length out of him until only the tip was left, then slammed down hard on it. A searing wave of heat went through Gladio's body starting from his dick, and judging from the moan that escaped Prompto's lips, he felt the same. And, gods, those walls, they clenched harder than before.

Gladio threw his head back and cursed aloud, and Prompto started up a rhythm at that response, adding a delicious swivel to his hips with each slide up and down. To bring the older man to his peak would take little time at all at this rate.

"Oh, fuck, you're good…" Gladio groaned.

"Ah.. hah…" Prompto breathed back. "Wish I could… say the same…"

A spark of anger flickered in the swordsman's gaze, accompanied with a low snarl. "The hell did you say?"

"Want me to say that again?" A breathy laugh. "I mean... I know what a real man feels like, and you don't make the cut. Nowhere close… not with your issues. And, I can honestly say," he paused to lick his lips as if savoring his next words before they left his mouth, "what I'm getting from you doesn't hold a candle to what I got last night."

Gladio snapped.

Prompto should have cried out when calloused fingers gripped his hips hard enough to leave an indentation. He should have cried out when he was flipped over onto his back and pinned down. He should have cried out when Gladio began to set the pace with wild, hard thrusts, and it looked like he wanted to split the blond in two that way.

He should have cried. He didn't. And Gladio wanted to make him.

Gladio's every thrust was rough, brutal. Whether or not it hurt didn't matter to him. He felt nothing more except the grip on his cock and thought of how much deeper he could shove it in to that body, lewd slaps of flesh on flesh driving him further. His voice rumbled like a distant storm as he growled out curses at the blond. Filthy slut. Fuckin' Nif traitor.

The cheap beds in this place were good for something after all. They held up under the force, creaked rhythmically to each thrust, but they couldn't drown out the sobs and moans and hungry little pants of the minx that clutched the sheets and bunched them between his fingers. The gunner whined and feigned hurt even as his legs crossed around the swordsman's hips and tried to lock him in place as best as he could.

That Gladio felt the blond relax around his cock was some side effect of their rut. An error he would correct. He pounded harder and faster at that, more brutal an assault on the blond's rim. He wanted to give it to him in ways no one had ever thought before, though he knew he wasn't really planting a flag anywhere, so to speak.

Maybe this is what Ardyn saw in Prompto. An easy fuck, someone whose hair he could yank, whose tender neck he could bite and get his hands around, whose skin he could bruise and welt with fists and belts, whose mouth still begged for more, more, more.

A cockwhore.

A traitor.

But Prompto still mewled from too deep a thrust. Still spurt fluid from his cock. Still felt unbelievable when he clung to something that thick filling him. Still wouldn't cry from any of this.

Gods, why wouldn't he just cry?

Instead his moans were sopping wet with need, desperation laced into each note. Looked like he was fading, losing himself in each thrust, the feel of every vein and contour of the invading cock coaxing a surrender from his body. He begged for Gladio not to stop, and he kept on begging until he felt his own coil snap and his back arched off the mattress, until thick ropes of hot cum painted his abs and chest and had him shaking. His walls quivered and tightened in a vise grip so intense that Gladio followed after.

The swordsman's cock jerked and spilled its pent up fluid, but he hadn't stilled like the gunner had. His hips continued their rabid piston against that body, and Prompto's mouth hung open in a moan accompanied by the wet slaps of cum-covered cock against an abused hole. Then came the final thrust, the grind of his hips in circles. Gladio chased after that release, crushing his lips against Prompto's in a bruising, hungry kiss, and they stayed that way until the feeling subsided and they were spent at long last.

Prompto's body sank back onto the mattress. Gladio pulled out and rolled over to rest at Prompto's side. He resisted what urges came to let himself collapse atop the blond. He wouldn't - couldn't - make this mean any more than what it was. But he would lay eyes on his handiwork.

There was no denying how obscene they had been, but the way Prompto looked, it didn't matter. The sweat collected on his forehead. His hair was so disheveled and damp from it that it formed a halo around his face. Dark lashes fluttered down starry eyes, and only when he mouthed 'Thank you' with his bitten and bruised lips had they stayed shut completely. His chest rose and fell with long, deep breaths. There was a serenity to him that could only have fit someone that asked for nothing more and received nothing less than what he wanted.

Gods, maybe he didn't know the difference between pain and pleasure, and took both whenever he could get it. Maybe he'd spent so long being empty, he'd do anything to fill the hollow where his soul should have been.

Maybe he wasn't human.

That was fine.

Gladio didn't feel like he was human, himself. Nothing but base urges cocooned in human flesh. The concept of emotional honesty was as hazy to him as his childhood memories.

Was he ever only himself when he was pissed off? Or was it just because he didn't have to think of anything except himself, and hurting others? Things were simple that way. He couldn't deny that.

He hated it. But he wouldn't change.

He wouldn't.

Sleep pulled him under, and he thought of nothing more.

He woke up with a finely-honed edge of cold steel at his neck.

"Don't even think of moving," came the silken, accented voice. The ire was just as sharp as the blade. "You're liable to suffer an unfortunate accident if you do."

By 'unfortunate accident', Ignis meant a deliberate beheading. Gladio didn't doubt it for a second.

"I'll ask this once. What - did you do - to him?"

"Nothing he didn't want."

The dagger came closer to breaking Gladio's skin. "Nothing you didn't make him want." Ignis corrected.

The swordsman didn't object. That was what it looked like. Prompto wasn't a traitor in their eyes. He was a faithful friend that wore his heart on his sleeve. He would be heartbroken if he'd heard that even one of them thought he had plotted ill against them. He would give anything of himself to protect Noctis, to protect any of his friends. He'd do anything to prove his loyalty to them, even if it'd mean his body was left bruised in whatever way the aggressor saw fit.

They'd all been watching out for Ardyn, questioned his intentions. But tonight, he hadn't been the one to make any marks on Prompto. He was far and away the least capable.

Gladio closed his eyes. Ignis could put him out of his misery if he wanted to. "For what it's worth… sorry."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to. As misfortune would have it, you've managed the revolting feat of having harmed more than one person I happen to care about."

"Hn…?" Wait… oh, shit. "Noct…?"

After a silence and a harsh inhale from Ignis, "Yes. And the only reason I haven't bled you out like the animal you are is because he still imagines he can try and understand the likes of you." He drew the dagger away from Gladio's throat, and added, "He's outside. I know how difficult a task this is for you, but at least try to make yourself decent. The sight of you as you are has made me sick enough for all of us."

Gladio said nothing in response, and slid out of the bed. He cleaned himself up, got dressed, and wished that, just this once, the retainer could ignore whatever Noct said and follow his own instincts instead. It would spare them all so much trouble.

Prompto stirred awake as Gladio was on his way out, either finally registering that no one was taking up space beside him, or realizing that Ignis was there. What it was he whispered, Gladio didn't hear. He shut the room door and left Prompto and Ignis alone.

Noctis was seated on the streetside railing near the gas pumps. His shoulders - no, his whole body - shook from fits of sorrow that snuck up behind him and leapt onto his back. But he didn't make a sound save for hiccups and rattling breaths in his attempts to steady himself as if nothing were wrong.

"Noct…" Gladio began, and as soon as the Prince's name left his mouth, he wanted to take it back. He didn't want to talk. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't be honest… supposed he didn't deserve that, if he never had been that way before now.

Noctis stilled like tension wound up tight around him and drew every part of him closer inward. He relaxed, but with a cold seeped into his muscles.

"… Gladiolus."

The Shield never heard his own name that way before.

"Anything to say for yourself?"

What was there to say? "... No."

"… Then … was it true? What you said, about…" a brief sniffle betrayed the Prince's composure, "about Prompto?"

Gladio took in a breath and ignored the way his eyes burned as he tilted his head back and looked up at the night sky. More beautiful than he deserved. Like everything else in his life.

"No. It wasn't … I was wrong about him."

The laugh from the Prince was short, barely there. "I told you he wasn't a traitor." And again sorrow weaved itself into his words, "But I don't know what to call you anymore."

Gladio reached for his liege- "Noct-" and managed a feather-light brush of his fingers against a sleeve when-

"Don't touch me!"

The magic- Noct's magic- burned in Gladio's veins, did more than that. The roar of the magic filled his ears as it swept through him, choked his every nerve until their seams cracked and burst open and shriveled in the heat of it. Left behind ashes to be swept away in the next breeze that whistled past. Gladio questioned why he was still alive after this, questioned whether it was a mercy to still be breathing.

Noctis stood on sturdier feet than before, and he turned around to finally face the man meant to be his Shield. His eyes had the same uncanny glow to them as when he summoned Titan, and the tear streaks were yet visible on his face.

"I told you that there'd be a time when you wouldn't be around to protect me," Noctis said, a wistful note of reminiscence in his voice.

Gladio fought the urge to speak. There was no more point. He nodded, instead.

"Then you know that time's come sooner than we thought. You're dismissed, Gladiolus. Live whatever life you want, away from us."

There was no longer the thrum of magic in the back of Gladio's mind that would hint to him of Noctis's emotional state. He couldn't feel any of that at all. He was nothing to him anymore, their connection severed, and their distance grew greater with each step Noct took towards the motel room.

Noctis had made it to the doorway, and Prompto finally surfaced. He'd likely spoken to Ignis already, covered his own tracks, implicated Gladio even more. Maybe Ignis's opinion on Gladio couldn't get any lower, or maybe that opinion grabbed the nearest shovel and started to dig its way into Hell. Who knows?

Their mouths were moving in grave conversation. Noct looked like every word out of him only made the weight on his shoulders more real. He was close to sobbing again. Prompto embraced Noctis, exactly like a friend would. Noctis got his arms around him like he needed that.

He gave Noctis a few more consolatory pats on the shoulder as the Prince went in, and then slowly pulled the door closed. No longer within sight of the others, the traitor sauntered toward the dismissed former Shield. Slithered his way there, with the snakelike smile that said he had everything under control.

"What, gonna twist the knife in some more?" There wasn't any rancor in the swordsman's scoff. "Just shove it between my ribs and get it over with."

"Why waste my time with that? Your heart's hollow enough that you wouldn't even feel it."

"Hm."

The blond sidled up to him, and leaned his head in, a feigned show of needing comfort. "I'm not the one responsible for this. You are."

"You're completely innocent. Sure."

"Of course I am!" He sounded so proud of that, too. "Me, I only had to follow some really good advice." He placed his hand above his eyes to mimic a visor, or rather, the rim of a hat. " 'If someone thinks little of you, use that against them. They've just handed you the leash to lead them around with'."

"Ardyn told you that."

"Correctamundo. A real shame no one told you the same thing. But, don't worry about it, big guy," he clapped Gladio on the shoulder in a parody of familiarity, "you've got all the time in the world now, to learn lessons like that. As for Noct… I'll take care of him."

As Prompto walked away and returned to the others, a question snaked into the back of Gladio's mind and curled up there.

What did he expect would happen? He didn't have it in him to protect anyone the way they needed. He didn't have enough conviction for that.

Prompto had seen that. Now everyone else did, too.