Hi, so, this is a weird one in the sense that I originally wanted to focus on Prompto here in terms of whump. For a while I was really tempted to do something self-harm related, but I recognise that it's a topic that needs to be handled in a sensitive manner and even more so since it's a topic I don't have any personal experience with, but I don't have the time to do enough research to do it justice, so I scrapped that idea.

Instead, I ended up with this. Even though Prompto is the one the prompt refers to, it really more turned into emotional hurt for Noct. Also, there's no real point to this or anything, it's more of a character study kinda thing, I just have a lot of thoughts lmao.

Either way, I hope you enjoy!

Prompts:

No. 27: "You drew stars around my scars; But now I'm bleeding."
Matches | Scars | "Let me see"

Warnings: None

Gladio has had scars for as long as Noct can remember. They didn't meet as children, but apparently, he was a rowdy child who got hurt a lot, so he was already littered with scars of varying size and severity by the time Noct met him. Later, as his duties became more serious, so did his scars. The first really memorable one was of course the one on his face, the one he received protecting Noct from some drunk strangers, but more followed over the years, like the huge one on his chest or the other one on his face. But the scars suit him and give him a rugged sort of appearance that he seems strangely proud of, and Noct doesn't think he's ever been bothered by them at all.

He never imagined Ignis with prominent scars. His hands are scarred quite a bit from handling knives, both while cooking and in training. He doesn't nick himself a lot anymore, these days, but both skills took time to master and during that time, he cut himself pretty frequently. He also has a small scar on his right wrist from when his chronic tendonitis could no longer be treated by conservative means and had to be fixed with surgery. But Ignis isn't in the direct line of fire, and so Noct thinks him relatively safe of major scarring. He is, of course, horribly wrong as he finds out after he wakes from his extended sleep in Altissia and finds Ignis' face marred with silvery burns along with his entire left shoulder and arm.

And of course, Noct has his fair share of scars of his own. The biggest one and the one he hates the most is the one on his back from his childhood accident. He can't see it without a mirror, but the look of it is burnt into his mind's eye. It's not a heroic scar like Gladio's or Ignis', it's not something to be proud of. The only thing it is is a permanent reminder that he has a target on his back simply because of who he is.

The only one out of the four of them who is blessedly free of scars (except for the one on his abdomen from getting his appendix removed) is Prompto. Prompto is not a fighter, and he hasn't gone through rigorous training since he was old enough to walk - he's just a civilian who gets dragged into one mess after another through no fault of his own other than being best friends with Noct.

After ten years of being locked away in a crystal, it's hard enough coming to terms with your friends having lived a third of their lives without him in them, but so far, the changes have been subtle enough for Noct to ignore them or at least easily get over them. Gladio got even more ridiculously jacked and handsome, Iggy learnt how to fight blind, Prompto has a patch of hair on his face and tries to call it a goatee. A little unexpected, some more than others, but ultimately no big deal.

But when Noct enters the sleeping quarters in the Glaives' hideout beneath Insomnia, he catches a glimpse of Prompto's body as he's out of his uniform and only wearing his boxers, and he freezes mid-step.

Prompto is absolutely covered in scars. Some small, some bigger and more serious-looking, and they're on his legs, his torso, his arms, and Noct feels sick.

"Oh, hey, Noct?" Prompto says when he notices Noct in the door. "What's up? You look a little pale, you okay?"

"Where did you get those?" Noct voice cracks at the last word.

Prompto frowns. "Get what?"

"Those!" Noct croaks, gesturing at Prompto's everything.

"What's those mean?"

"The scars! Where the hell did you get so many scars?!"

Prompto looks down on himself as if it were the first time he became aware of the marks on his skin. "Oh, those?"

The nonchalant way he says it, accompanied by a shrug, makes Noct want to grab him by the shoulder and shake some sense into him.

"Just, y'know. It's a dangerous world out there, these days. This wasn't a specific event or anything, they're just from ten years of fighting," Prompto explains. He makes it sound like it's no big deal, and, shit, Noct knows Prompto, knows when he's just putting up a front, but this? This sounds like he genuinely doesn't think it's a big deal, and that, for some reason, is enough to break some kind of dam inside of Noct.

It's all his fault. If he hadn't taken ten entire years to become strong enough, a worthy King, if he had been there then he might have prevented this. Even from his short time back among the not-crystallized, he's seen how much they've suffered, how much they've lost, all because he wasn't strong enough to do his duty for Ten. Fucking. Years.

The weight of everything is concentrated in Prompto's scars, a permanent reminder of Noct's weakness, his failure.

He can't vocalize any of this, though, has neither the emotional capacity nor the words for it. The only thing he manages is, "You shouldn't have those."

Prompto, even after all this time, is still as good at reading people as he was ten years ago, and so he catches on immediately.

"Hey, it's fine, c'mon, let's sit down," he says, gently grabbing Noct by the shoulder and making him sit down on a bed. When he sits next to him, he's close enough that their shoulders and knees are almost touching, and the proximity is both comforting and punishing - Noct doesn't deserve to be this close, he just hurts everyone he loves with his presence.

"I know what you're thinking, I can see the gears turning inside your head, so let me just preface this by saying that those are in no way your fault," Prompto starts. He knocks his knee against Noct's in a familiar, friendly gesture. "Also, most of those weren't even that bad. We just had to ration the curatives we had left, so we couldn't just fix every little cut with a potion like we were used to, so stuff would just scar."

"Is that why you have so many?" Noct's voice is barely above a whisper. "Do the others look like that too?"

Prompto sighs and leans back on his hands. "Kind of? I mean, Not quite as many as me, but still a fair share. Look, the reason why I'm covered in scars is because I couldn't fight for shit for the first year or so. I learnt a lot of stuff when I was on the road with you guys, but it's still different from hunting daemons in an apocalypse, y'know?"

He pauses then, seemingly searching for the right words to explain.

"Gladio was a badass from the very start, it didn't take much training for him. It was harder for Iggy, but the fighting itself was mostly muscle memory. It just took some time for him to adjust, but everything's dark anyway so he wasn't much worse off than we were. Me, though? I realised real damn fast that you guys carried me through most fights back then and I was kind of useless most of the time."

"That's not true," Noct says immediately and without thinking, but that doesn't make his protest any less true. "You weren't useless!"

"It's fine, I know I was." Prompto smiles wistfully. "Either way, it's a different world out there now. The daemons are bigger, stronger, smarter. It was a steep learning curve for me, and the result was a lot of bleeding wounds. But I'm fine and I only got stronger from it. I'm pretty damn good at fighting now, you know."

To that, Noct doesn't really know what to say, and for the first time, it hits him how grown up Prompto sounds now. It's still undoubtedly Prompto, his best friend, but it's obvious that he's changed - they all are. They've lived through things Noct can barely begin to imagine, and they're all real, proper adults now, while Noct…

Well, Noct is technically, physically, also thirty years old now, but being stuck in a rock for ten years doesn't really compare to fighting for your life and that of others for ten years.

Regret and guilt fill his chest at once, and he balls his fist in his lap.

"I'll make it worth it," he promises. "Everything you've fought for - you, the guys, everyone else, I'll make sure it wasn't for nothing."

It's the least he can do, he owes them that much. He knows his fate now - Bahamut hasn't really left much up to interpretation. All that's left for him to do now is to step up and do his job, even if he knows he won't live to see the dawn.

Prompto doesn't know that, though, doesn't know any of it, and so his smile is no less bright and cheerful than what Noct is used to from him when he says, "I know you will, buddy."

And Noct intends to keep it that way as long as he can

Do you ever think about how Noct's friends had ten years to grow up, and grow up in a world that'll inevitably change you forever, and Noct was just. Stuck in a rock for ten years. Like, he never even got the chance to properly grow up, the crystal just spits him out in a thirty year old body one day, but what about his mind? He didn't get to have any experiences, no chance to emotionally mature or anything, and you cannot tell me he wouldn't feel left behind by his friends who are no longer the people he once knew. I don't have the words to properly verbalize this, but this month, writing all these prompts and stuff has made me think about the tragedy of Noctis far more than I ever have. And while it's always fucked me up, now I just feel like, if I think about him and everything about him for too long, I'm gonna fucking cry, like genuinely, it's just, man, none of it is fair.

Ahhh. Thank you for listening to my disjointed rambling, and of course thank you even more for reading! Four more days! I'll be thrilled if you guys stick with me til the end!

Take care, see you tomorrow!