I don't have much to say for this one except I hope you enjoy, have some Gladio whump :)

Prompts:

No. 23: "It's gonna get me by the end of the night."
Shadows | Stalking | "Who's there?"

Warnings: (Mentions of) underage drinking


"Are you gonna tell Ignis?" Noct asks when he's finally gathered the courage to speak.

Gladio's grip on his wrist tightens. "Of course I'm gonna tell Ignis, he's been worried sick about you two morons!"

"But we're fine, " Noct protests. Normally, he would have possessed enough self-awareness to know that he should just shut up, but, well. He didn't have a lot to drink tonight, he's not that irresponsible, but still enough to loosen his tongue and make him careless.

"Noct!" Prompto hisses as he struggles to keep up with Gladio's long, angry strides. He's been telling Noct how bad of an idea this is all night, but Noct wouldn't listen and now they're paying the price in the form of Gladio forcibly dragging them back home like a pissed dad.

The idea makes Noct laugh involuntarily, but he quickly shuts up when he catches the murderous look Gladio gives him.

"C'mon, don't be like that, I just wanted… wanted to be normal," Noct tries, attempting to evoke some sympathy, but it seems to be exactly the wrong thing to say because Gladio stops in his tracks and stares him down, and finally, Noct realises he's messed up big time.

Gladio looks more furious than Noct has ever seen him, and Noct expects him to start yelling at him until his ears start ringing right then and there, but what actually follows is far more frightening.

"Noctis, you are not normal. " Gladio enunciates every word in a voice that's much like the sea at night, right before a storm - quiet but dangerous and utterly terrifying. "You do not get the luxury of trying to be, and you certainly don't get to sneak out and get drunk at some random club!"

"But-" Noct tries, but Gladio cuts him right off.

"No. You don't get to speak right now. You are going to listen to me, for once in your life. I don't care if you want to get drunk, okay? Neither does Iggy, or your dad, or anyone. But even for normal people, what you've done tonight, both of you, was stupid - you're underage and people are not nice! If you want to drink, fine, but do it at home! Tell me, or Iggy, and we'll get you some stuff and we'll drink with you, but you can't do it like this. Understood?"

For a moment, Noct can't even speak. He feels horrible, hearing that Gladio and Ignis would've let him drink if he'd just trusted them, and instead, he went and broke their trust as if it never meant anything at all.

"Yeah," he mutters. His eyes are stinging and he wants to bury his face in Gladio's chest and tell him he's sorry, but he doesn't think the gesture would be particularly appreciated right now.

"Good. And don't believe there won't be consequences to this. Now-" Gladio falls silent all of a sudden, his eyes fixed on something behind Noct and Prompto.

Noct turns but doesn't see anything.

"Move, quickly, but don't run. Stick close to me," Gladio says, none of his previous anger remaining in his voice. His eyes are sharp, focused, and he firmly pushes the two of them to walk in front of him.

"Gladio, what-" Noct tries to ask, but Gladio shushes him.

"We're being followed." Gladio doesn't elaborate further, but the simple statement lets Noct's heart plummet into his stomach. He walks a little faster and everything inside him screams at him to start running, but Gladio said not to and so he doesn't.

They've rounded a corner and now that they're walking along a straight road, Noct can see the small group of people who's following them when he sneaks a glance behind him.

Gladio subtly presses a hand against his back, steering him off the curb and onto the road. "Other side of the road, c'mon."

They do as they're told, and sure enough, the group follows them to the other side.

"What do we do?" Prompto whispers. Even in the dim streetlights, Noct can tell that he's white as a sheet.

"Keep walking. Don't turn around, don't respond to them." Gladio's calm is reassuring. It's fine, they've got Gladio with them, Gladio knows what he's doing.

Except, their pursuers suddenly break into a run, closing the distance between them.

Gladio whirls around, putting himself like a wall between Noct and Prompto and the group of men. There's three of them, and they reek of alcohol.

"We don't want any trouble," Gladio says calmly, hands slightly raised so the men can see them.

"Yeah? That's cute, but what we want is your wallet. Don't get fancy boys like you in the area very often," one of them drawls.

Gladio slowly pulls his wallet from his back pocket. "Alright, here." He tosses it to the ground, away from himself.

One of the men starts cackling. "Kind of a pussy for such a big guy, aint'cha."

He bends down to pick up the wallet and dips into an exaggerated bow. "Thanks for the donation. Have a nice evening."

When he turns to leave, one of his friends follows him, but the third remains, squinting his eyes at them, and then his gaze locks onto Noct.

"Why do I feel like I know you?"

Gladio crosses his arms in front of his chest and makes himself as tall as possible. "You don't. We're leaving."

But the guy isn't deterred, getting into Gladio's space, and when he makes the mistake of reaching for Noct, Gladio has him on the ground faster than Noct can process.

"Hey!" the guy's friends shout and come running back. One of them, the one who took Gladio's wallet, takes a swing at him, but Gladio dodges him effortlessly.

He dances around the guy, grabs him by the wrist, and twists his arm around his back, but then, Noct spots something out of the corner of his eye - the third man, approaching Gladio and he has something in his hand-

"Gladio, he has a knife!" Noct shouts, and then everything happens very fast.

Later, Noct doesn't remember how exactly things occurred, but he does remember a pained grunt, all three men on the ground, and something red on Gladio's face before he urges them to run.

They don't stop until they're at the car, and it's only then that Noct realises that Gladio is bleeding.

"Shit, Gladio, your eye!"

"'S fine, didn't cut my actual eye," Gladio waves him off. He wipes his hand across the wound, but the bleeding doesn't stop and he's getting blood into his eye. "Shit."

"I'll drive you to the hospital," Noct blurts out without thinking, but Gladio immediately shuts him down.

"You're drunk, you're not driving."

"Uh," Prompto pipes up. He looks terrified, like he's expecting Gladio to tear off his head for the suggestion, but powers through nonetheless. "I can drive? I didn't drink anything, promise."

"He really didn't," Noct immediately confirms. At the time, he kind of bullied Prompto for it, disappointed his friend wasn't going along with his self-destructive plans, but right now, he's stupidly grateful for it.

Gladio eyes him warily for a moment before he sighs, resigning himself to his fate. "Don't crash the car, kid."


Prompto drives them to the hospital without crashing the car or killing a pedestrian, and by the time they arrive, Gladio's starting to look a little pale.

His wound is still bleeding, though Noct isn't sure if it's enough to be concerning - maybe he should have paid more attention to Gladio's lessons in field medicine after all.

The waiting room is packed, but one of the nurses recognises Noct and arranges for them to be seen by a doctor immediately, which only makes Noct feel worse. Not only was Gladio hurt because of him, but now someone else has to wait longer just because he gets special treatment for being the prince.

Suddenly, he feels like crying again.

He watches as the doctor examines Gladio's eye and confirms that the eye indeed wasn't hurt. The wound is cleaned, closed with butterfly stitches, and then dressed, and after less than half an hour spent in the hospital, Gladio is sent on his way with painkillers and instructions to take it easy for a while.

"Hey, kid," Gladio says, addressing a stunned Prompto once they're in the parking lot. "Think you can drive us to Noct's? Damn thing's messing with my depth perception." He points at the bandage that's covering up his entire eye.

"S-sure!" Prompto squeaks and Noct isn't sure if it's from nerves or from glee. Probably a bit of both - Prompto's always been enthusiastic about driving, but there's a reason why he doesn't get to do it very often.

Tonight, he's doing a pretty good job, though, probably because he doesn't want to test Gladio's patience any further. He doesn't even talk while he's driving.

This means it's dead silent in the car, and Noct can't stand it.

"Hey, Gladio?" he starts and then trails off, unsure how to continue.

"Hm?"

"Thanks. For. Y'know. Coming to get us. Protecting us. Everything."

Gladio sighs, long-suffering, but Noct thinks he hears a hint of fondness too. Or maybe he's just imagining it. It's not like he could blame Gladio for still being mad at him for tonight.

"Yeah, well. Can't just leave your sorry asses stranded somewhere."

"Why did you come and not Ignis?" Noct can't help but ask. He didn't question it at the time, too worried Gladio was going to kill him to think about much else, but normally it's Ignis dragging him out of his messes.

Gladio snorts. "Because Iggy would probably have flayed you both. Still might, actually. Now that he no longer has to be worried, he's gonna be pissed. "

Even from the backseat, Noct can see Prompto pale several shades, and he quite has to agree.

"Yeah, that's… probably fair," he says weakly and starts mentally planning his funeral.


My parents always told my brother and me to get drunk at home the first time we felt we wanted to try it, and I always found that pretty solid parenting advice. If your kids want to get drunk they're gonna do it anyway, so it's better to create a safe environment for them to experience it instead of just straight up banning them from drinking alcohol and expecting that to keep them from making bad decisions.

Kind of unrelated but I spent all day thinking about yesterday's fic and it bothers me that it's so unfinished, it could really benefit from a second chapter. So the way I'm feeling about it right now, I really do plan on giving it another chapter, but I can't say when. The smart thing would be to keep the momentum from Whumptober and do it right after, but we'll see.

Stay tuned for tomorrow, we've only got one more week to go!