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#gonna go back and do it for realsies later but its late and i need to sleeb
bosspigeon · 1 year
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mrfutureboy · 3 years
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I would like to know when you started drawing and where your passion for fanart started 😊
Oh FUCK dude i did not see this i’m so fucking sorry this is so late 😭 damn you, tumblr, for not fucking notifying me!! Anyway buckle up this is gonna be much longer than you asked for <3
Honestly ive kinda been drawing all my life! I hope that doesnt sound dumb cuz obviously almost everyone drew pictures when they were kids, but i know that it’s been a consistent hobby for me since i was little. By the time i was in 3rd grade I was hoarding notebooks to draw in. Cuz that’s something fun about me: i had a real huge habit of drawing in things that werent sketchbooks. Through middle school and beyond I did buy/receive sketchbooks, but I started out with various kinds of notebooks. One I had from like 2nd grade was like a hardcover, stationary-type notebook that I drew cats in lol, and I have 2 velvet lisa frank notebooks from 3rd grade. In high school and college I had a really bad habit of drawing in the margins on my notes and on handouts the teacher/professor would give. Those classes where the prof just prints out all the notes beforehand and gives them to you to follow along? Oh man, I spent so many classes barely listening while I drew on them! I also used to draw on my physics homework and tests and sometimes I even got extra credit for them (thank you jeff :D). I actually have a folder of various drawings I’ve kept from that 8yr time period and a lot of them are on classwork 😂
Obviously, I’ve been doing a lot of digital art lately, which I’m sure is what u were more curious about rather than the shit about drawing on my homework. I got a surface pro as a graduation gift in 2016 bc prior to that i had a wacom tablet and a janky ass laptop, so the gift was kinda a 2-in-1: i can do schoolwork AND art easily! i like digital art a lot and honestly im still learning new things abt it every time i draw. I use Leonardo currently (i’ll skip that story) but I started out doing digital art on sketchfu WITHOUT the wacom tablet in maaaaybe 2012??? 2011??? does anyone on this site remember sketchfu? Honestly couldnt even tell u how i found that site hahah the internet was just full of wonders back in the day. RIP sketchfu. Once i got the tablet tho some time later i used sketchfu still (i think) but also gimp and krita i believe.
Oh i suppose I should mention that i took art all four years of highschool and also minored in it in college! So it’s something i did academically as well as for fun. I keep thinking about going to art school for realsies but idk. I’m already $$$ in debt from my first degree i dont feel like adding to that 😅😓
Ok now for the second part of your question: I’ve also pretty much always done fan art! Ive never really been one for OC’s, EXCEPT for the self-insert superhero double life “comics” i wrote about a poodle named Sassy when i was in third grade. And then the knock off “comics” i wrote at a later time which honestly it was weird that i did a knock off of my own thing rather than just adding them to the original or making it a spin off with at least one of the og characters. Cuz it wasnt a spin off!! But anyway there wasnt really much to any of these characters; i just needed vessels to get my weird ideas out.
So anyway yeah most of what ive ever drawn has been fan art or self portraits, because its just easier for me to take characters that already exist and bend them to my will (artistically). Well excluding art assignments in school i guess because i would usually have to draw something specific and therefore not something self indulgent. But yeah ive drawn for lots of fandoms like the earliest i remember is warrior cats. Then theres things like pokemon and warriors and random other books i read thru middle school (i used to read a LOT but now im practically illiterate); spn, sherlock, and marvel through high school; and then marvel and bttf thru the end of hs and beyond. Idk i also have always loved looking at other peoples fan art and so im like “shit i wanna do that too!”. Tho i will say marvel was my biggest fandom and the one i had the longest interest in, so that was probably where the passion REALLY came from cuz I was drawing marvel stuff for such a long time (tho not posting shdjsk u have to trust me), but ive been doing fan art forever :)
(Of course, a lot of the fan art i was making prior to recently was drawn in lined notebooks or on homework sheets or what have you, and I wasn’t posting really any of it, but i was still making it and a good chunk of it still exists. Oh i should also mention most of it was with pencils or ballpoint pens like i wasnt doing anything too fancy. There was some digital art in the highschool-college time frame but it also really wasnt…much. Honestly i barely posted any of it here but I know some of it’s on deviantart)
I cant pinpoint the exact time I started getting more “serious” about my art in general, but i know the first pandemic lockdown gave me more free time and i was less stressed about schoolwork so i just kinda had a good outlet. (Tho i will say that prior, I had been in a life drawing club for a short while, and i had also been working on a personal sketchbook project that had me pretty ~inspired~ to do art. Also i watched twin peaks around this time and it inspired a lot of Feelings and i was making funky collages and other art pieced that were sometimes related to that. Some of those are on deviantart)
Honestly I think the Big thing with my digital art was coincidentally getting back into BTTF the summer of the 35th anniversary bc the fandom here was THRIVING and i was like “oh shit wait i want to contribute!” But as i kept drawing i kept wanting to improve and that leads us to right now where im constantly trying new things (whether subtle or obvious) and challenging myself to do full body drawings with different poses, and doing screencap redraws and what have you for various reasons (backgrounds, proportions, pose, etc)
So yeah :) Basically I’ve been doing fan art forever (I didnt even get into all the mediums ive tried but that’s another conversation bc this is already so long and convoluted) and it’s kinda coincidental that ive suddenly really gotten back into it and have improved dramatically in such a short time. Thank you so much @rovermcfly for the ask and again im really sorry you had to wait so long for a response! Stupid tumblr
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kineticallyanywhere · 4 years
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I'd love to hear those fusion thots :eyes: the pacific rim ones were V good
If you’ve been around this house for a hot minute you might know that fusion aus are My Entire Jam Garden so you might imagine I’ve already put some thought into this and you would imagine right. The following was brainstormed in consort with @aryashi my second brain. 
The basis for this au is that fusion is possible in the forgotten realms and is just a thing people there can do. This also applies to sudden interdimensional travelers. 
tl;dr I wrote basically a one-shot’s worth of words down there but in short fusion is rad but also there's an unexpected amount of drama. which is basically a summary of the podcast but replace "fusion" with "fatherhood"
(preface: fusion is not a sex metaphor, just like pacific rim. Platonic fusion is normal. Familial fusion is normal. Okay, continue.) 
First inter-dad fusion: “I silence his dumb ass with a kiss” except its “I silence his dumb ass by accidentally fusing our bodies and consiousnesses into a single being w h o o p s” 
I like to name fusions as something other than their romantic ship name so let’s call him… o h yeah we named all of Henry’s fusions after animals. So this guy is Hare (like Darryl). Hare is pretty stable from the outside, but their internal dialogues clash really hard so they're incredibly slow to make decisions. 
Internally, Henry feels like he's crossed Darryls boundaries. They have to hold it, but he lets Darryl take the wheel and all similar mistakes are made. They make it through the thing with the Lance before unfusing. Darryl has no idea what that was and already has a lot of intimacy issues, so he’s not particularly inclined to try that again for funsies. Henry is curious, but there’s a buried part of him that’s making him deeply unsettled by the whole experience. He can barely have a straight thought about it, much less articulate the feeling, so he doesn’t try. He lets it go. 
First sons fusion: When the Lord of Chaos throws back his robe, yelling “Dad! !” it’s a GIANT Lark&Sparrow. They’re like trying to fuse two rubies together, you just get a bigger ruby. This changes a bit later, when the twins start to diverge from each other vis a vis Love Wolfism, but basically the Lord of Chaos is an Oak Twin the size of their dad. But still looks 12. It probably actually takes the Love Wolf speech from Henry and their divergent reactions to get them to unfuse. 
Second inter-dad fusion: That other time Henry and Darryl smooched while high on drug flowers. It was very unpleasant, they don’t talk about it, they don’t try that again for a while. 
They get a book on fusions from the Library that reads almost like a birds and the bees talk and there is minor culture-shock panicking about whether fusion is Like That, but something in Henry is telling him “No. It’s not Like That.” He doesn’t really know why he’s so solid in that belief. He understands that fusion is unique and powerful and a wonderful thing, but something about doing it is just… getting under his skin. 
Third inter-dad fusion: Glenn and Ron. I’m not even sure the exact context or anything. Maybe they were just vibin’. All I really know is that I imagine these two occasionally fuse for the weirdest things, like
Fourth inter-dad fusion: also Glon, fishing magic items out of a giant toilet. They needed to be taller. 
Glon is… gosh, what the heck is Glon. Performative out the ass, for sure. Down for basically anything. Allowed to wear bootie shorts. 
Back up a hot minute though, because first dad-son fusion: almost happens on the Tower of Terry. It comes so close. They’re in that hug, and Ron thinks maybe if they fuse, the magic won’t take TJ. Or even if it takes them both, that’s better than TJ getting taken alone. They don’t have to say “I’m sorry” or “I love you, son” out loud, but before it really takes, Terry gets ripped away. Because Willy can’t have that, can he? 
Fifth inter-dad fusion: is Glon again, but the circumstances are way different because Ron just saw the mummy of his wife and Glenn is trying to help him breeze past it and it works until it doesn’t and they fall apart with Ron a crying mess. 
Sixth inter-dad fusion buckle up because we’ve reached Ravenloft. Before dad-fusion 6, Henry gets caught in his dad’s claws. He feels something very familiar and rejects it with everything he has, and escapes to grab Glenn. Then he gets hit by Calm Emotions, Glenn reaches up, trying not to fall, and Henry is already super chill about everything all of a sudden, so when Glenn tries to fuse out of panic, Henry goes for it. 
Gila—Henry and Glenn—can do actual bard magic. They’re like Opal, in that a single moment of disconnect is enough to snap them apart and finding that disconnect is not difficult. But when the situation is saving their kids and telling their asshole dads to get lost, that’s plenty enough connection to cast an actual magic-ass thunderwave with a guitar and maybe a bit more. 
(Barry didn’t like that.) 
So another fun thing about adding this factor to cannon is that this lets the dads have glimpses inside each other’s heads. So certain conversations could change a little bit. For example, in the van while they’re driving away from the Ravenloft fight and Henry’s explaining a few things. 
Henry: I don't have a lot of memories from that time in my life—  Glenn: Not a lot? Try "not any.” Henry: Glenn—  Glenn: Dude, none of my business, but your brain was weird.  Henry: Glenn.  Glenn: Like did the government get to you when you showed up on earth or—   Henry: Glenn what the fff—rick are you even saying just shut up Darryl: …
Darryl had noticed, too, but Glenn has other fusion experience to compare with. Henry could catch glimpses and imprints and trains of thought which ground in different points of Darryl/Glenn’s entire life, and Glenn and Ron can do that equally with each other. But a bunch of things for Henry, if you try to backtrack to where the decision comes from it just. Stops. Especially with using magic, which Glenn got to do. And Henry’s thoughts on fusion end dead hard. 
(filtering all of this through Freddie’s headcanon that Glenn always figured Henry was from Faerun but was just wildly wrong about all the details is so much fun)
This is the part in the fic series where there’s a one-shot about Henry having a panic attack just outside of the camp at night, and the most he can explain is just that something about seeing his dad again set him off. 
And then we get to a lighter turn for first dad-son fusion but for realsies this time: Ron Stampler nat 20s to hug his son and then also is the son. And that dad. And dads are supposed to be inside to do a ritual for a demon cow. 
RJ is the sweetest dude. Also if you don’t sit on him he will wander off and do the most extreme version of the first thing that comes to his mind for a problem solution or release from boredom. And he will not tell you about it in advance, so seriously. Sit on him. 
So they stand there for a second like "yes... Yes. Yes... Okay. Im... I'm the dad. But I'm the kid? But im. The dad. And all the other dads are also the kid so... Dad... Trumps kid status. And I'm the dad... Cool." and they go in to help with the demon cow. 
The kids are flipping out outside. 
Henry spots them and drops the cage, almost like he’s Garnet and just spotted Stevonnie. While all the other dad’s are freaking out/fawning/curious, Glenn lifts their glasses and theres four eyes and he drops the glasses and never mentions this again. 
Rj: hi um. I'm a dad.... Yeah. So I'm here tooooooo frickin kill a demon cow let's do this Rj: got the good dad vibes comin out of my butt
For realsies though Terry should be outside, so they unfuse for the cow thing and the bbq but then Dennis happens. 
Second dad-son fusion: Dennis: are you sure you've got this?  Ron: i can do it  TJ: he can DO it dad GIVE ME YOUR HAND
RJ’s an arcane trickster and it’s real cool and Dennis looks so jealous ha ha ha and also they separate after the fight and suddenly Terry’s unsettled and needs to talk to Ron for a second because “Hey Dad is Dennis not real????????” 
Third dad-son fusion: is way less eventful, but who the heck can say no to more reasons to cry about the Wilsons at the tail end of the Supper Bowl arc? 
Fusion is not a replacement for talking, but it is a bit smoother in communicating emotions. It doesn’t happen until the end of their talk, when Darryl’s got his arm around Grant. I don’t think either of them are super attached to this whole fusion thing, (If Grant is, it certainly wasn’t his dad he’d been thinking about trying it with. Maybe one of the other kids… “maybe Terry.”) so they may not even pick a name. Henry certainly cries at least twice as hard, but when they want to just get something to eat and maybe just hang out for a while, nobody pushes. 
I think the most important part of this is that it gives Grant a kind of… emotional break. Lets him feel something nice again— like he does in the show, too, but in a way that’s a bit more stable while it lasts. Like the feeling when you’re a kid on a long car ride with your parents, one that ends in getting home late and you’ve fallen asleep and they carry you out of the car. 
Good things for Grant Wilson for til forever. 
Somewhere in that arc, though, Glenn approaches Henry by themselves. Glenn’s not really a feelings guy, but whatever’s going on in Henry’s head is a problem. It’s a one-up the o-dads have on them, and they can’t afford that right now. 
Glenn: so you like... Really don't hardly remember being a kid?  Henry: Glenn, I don't want to talk about it  Glenn: I bet your dad's gonna wanna talk about it  Henry: well... i don't care what he wants  Glenn:... You seriously don't know how you got to earth?  Henry: [exasperated] the frick are you-- I got to earth like anyone else, Glenn. You know where babies come from, right?  Glenn: of course i fucking know where babies come from. A mommy and a daddy love each other very much and then their kid runs away so hard he skips dimensions  Henry: wh-- wait you-- do you think I'm an alien?  Glenn: obviously  Henry: Glenn that's-- [sighs, rubs his face] Glenn this isn't the kind of time for your conspiracies  Glenn: hey as far as I'm concerned, a man who sleeps with an axe under his pillow is a fool every night but one. and you shoot poison from your hands and shape shift into bears
Which adds nicely to the slide of heading to Oakveil next
Henry: y'know what. When we leave here, we can get my kids next.  Glenn: your interdimensional kids  Henry: to prove to you you're being crazy. Again.  Glenn: De Nial is a river man, and we left it back on earth
And one more dialogue bite, because…
Glenn: claim your powers latched onto you from this world all you want. But that language you and your dad spoke, didn't come out of the air, it came out of the door in your head
...fusion means the other dads get to learn about the metaphorical brain door. 
This brings us into the most recent arc, heading into Oakveil. He and Ron sneak in, and Beary tells Henry he’s home, and pieces start to click together. Henry’s from this world, so he understands why he’s had such a particular view on fusion and that basic cultural understanding. That it’s considered normal. And that it’s even normal for a kid’s first fusion to be with their parent. Their parent who loves them and knows them wants to see them grow. 
Bear Ry’Oak is not that. 
First O-dad fusion: Henry’s first fusion was with his dad. 
I think the worst thing is that, when fused with his dad, Hen doesn't feel like he's not himself. one of the interesting things about the Oaks is that they're kind of all slight alterations on the same traits. Like as gross as it feels to admit, Beary is just Henry but with the condescension turned up to a billion and his high horse is basically an elephant and no self-awareness or care for how others might have different perspectives from him
But Beary is still so overwhelming to Henry that it just flattens pretty much anything that makes Henry, Henry. Specifically the parts that Barry dislikes. like Henry's anger. To directly quote Aryashi: “Beary thinks using fusion for combat is barbaric. obviously fusion is for Conflict Resolution. Fuse with Beary so he can sort out your disagreement with him!”
(and then bathe in bleach)
So Beary finds them in Oakveil and Henry starts panicking and he tries to Handle Henry like he did when Henry was a kid, fusing with him to stomp down on his feelings to cut a panic attack or outburst off at the pass. If Henry's in no place to fight back it usually works, but if Ron's there--literally pressed against Henry's back--to see the fusion coming, maybe he reaches for a fusion, too, and lets Henry's instincts choose which pull to follow, and Henry's instincts choose Ron.
Seventh inter-dad fusion: Wren is suddenly there before Beary can even start his attempt to coach Henry through breathing (his half-effort to help Henry and be able to say that he tried freakin hate him) and is sitting on the ground and the disgusted look Beary gets seeing this. (Fusing with an outsider is something he considers so beneath his son.)
Beary:... Ah. Ronald.  Wren, existing, suddenly, and mostly being Ron's processing power as Henry's mental wheels try to slow down to match Ron's pace (cultivated through a childhood of dealing with Willy) rather than amp them both up: uhm... It's just Ron, actually Beary: would you mind... (there's other people around so he can't say "decontaminating") liberating my son. (as if ignoring the role his son had in choosing this fusion over his) Wren: Henry is uh... (me? Not me? Yes me, not up for this, we should go somewhere else that usually works fine, we can just leave and find the others and that'll be fine) he's good. We're good, we're gonna... (looking at the other people who look like Henry and the "not amping each other up” thing is working less and less)  Wren: bye
And then they just stand up and fast-walk away
Wren is either chill af and rolling with every punch or the living equivalent of a coke bottle that you popped a whole roll of mentos in and then closed immediately. At this moment, it’s very much the coke bottle side. Beary lets them go because he knows Henry will be back, and they make it just outside of town to where the others have just shown up before they fall apart. 
Ron: We found the door!  Darryl: what door?  Ron: the one in Henry's head!  And all the dads know what he's talking about Glenn: did you open it?  Henry: no  Ron: a little bit  Henry(probably now starting that panic attack): the anchors in there  Ron: his dad came out of it  Darryl: his dad???????? Henry, vulnerability, Oak: I AM FEELING VERY VULNERABLE RIGHT NOW AND I HATE IT  [chorus of mumbled sorrys] Ron: oh also Oakvale is Henry's home Darryl: WHAT Glenn: Uh hey anyone gonna pick up the phone cause I FUCKIN CALLED IT Henry: That's not my home! My home is with Mercedes back on Earth! Glenn: Yeah, this is just where you were born.  Henry: Glenn I swear to God-- Glenn: Dude lay off, I was agreeing with you! Home's where the heart meds are and all that jazz Darryl: Wait, you have heart meds? At home? When was the last time you took your heart meds? Glenn: Uhh... not since I came here? It's fiiiiiine. Never felt better! Ron: Not to interrupt but Henry's on the ground breathing funny. Glenn, are you sure you don't have any heart meds? Henry: being hugged by both of his sons in a simultaneous way that is not their normal simultaneous way (i.e. the Lord of Chaos way): WHY ARE MY SONS TALLER THAN ME Glenn: I'm more surprised that they're hugging you  Lord of Chaos: to assert dominance! Any moment now, we will turn this hug into a suplex!
And that basically brings us to now? I want a Triple Oak Fusion (the King of Chaos) but with how the fight with Beary went I’m not sure where it’ll go. OH YEAH. 
Autumn stopped fusing with Hen even when he was a kid because she couldn’t stand to see how much her son craved the approval of that evil man who stole her life away. And whether or not Henry ever fuses with anyone ever again after finding out he’s got Eldritch in him has gotta be up in the air. 
And at this point I could easily be convinced that the next inter-dad fusion is Darryl and Glenn, those beautiful idiots. They could be… Denn. Glarryl? We’ll workshop it. 
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loveiscosmicsin · 7 years
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The Final Frontier
Older Glompto/Promptio is a blessing, and yet my heart’s in a drought. Give me lots of content for this ship and those two in their thirties, please and thank you. Ao3 Link
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“You had me at hello, goodbye and everything in between.” - Shannon L. Alder
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Prompto Argentum had the perfect plan.
It’s a mission that had constantly been on his mind for the last five weeks. Weeks spent rehearsing in front of Iris, enduring much-needed pep talk from Noctis and Ignis, and kicking nasty thoughts of not being good enough. All that’s left is for him to just go for it. Go big or go home sort of deal, go where no man has gone before: asking Gladiolus Amicitia to tie the knot.
Yet, Prompto got tongue-tied when he felt ready to propose.
The timing was never the issue, Gladiolus’ undivided attention easy to summon for brief periods away from rebuilding Lucis and shadowing the king. Instead of feeling confident after streaming late-night videos of best proposals of all time, Prompto felt a little out of his league. Gladiolus was out of his league. But for whatever reason, they’re been steady for ten years.
There wasn’t any doubt in Prompto’s mind that Gladiolus was the future Mr. Argentum or he himself be Mr. Amicitia. It didn’t matter. The surnames clicked better than what he expected after a moment’s deliberation. Anyone who knew how the Sworn King’s Shield was with words would want him on the spot. Gladiolus always made it look so easy with how he connected to people and it’s not even reflected on the fact that he’s a blue blood. The impressive eagle tattoo and the muscles were something a little extra for Prompto to appreciate.
That’s why if Prompto was to propose to his boyfriend then he’s going to take the grease-monkey goddess’s mantra and do it right. Because they’re practically a little bit married, just needed a ring to go with it.
He may not have a theater troupe to reenact a favorite film or a carriage drawn by a team of glorious chocobos, but Prompto’s heart was in the right place. He was ninety-seven percent positive that Gladiolus wasn’t a fan of outlandish ceremonies. He had to make the moment special, just enough to stun him for a good minute before saying yes.
Prompto met Gladiolus when he was in high school, fifteen and eighteen respectively; Noctis introduced the two of them. The bodyguard definitely fit the bill for intimidating thug more than bodyguard, that was probably the point. The blond thought of him as nothing more than mean-spirited guy who could break cinder blocks with his head without batting an eye, and there were times that that assumption was justified: Gladiolus was a jerk at times. But Prompto had never met a more driven and compassionate man.
Maybe that’s why Prompto was drawn to him and didn’t realize it at first. The livewire was determined to get Gladiolus to crack a smile and laugh at his puns, bad as they were and recycled as they were. (Of all people, Ignis laughed at his jokes long before Gladiolus did, Ignis.) Occasionally, the joking got Prompto in trouble and Gladiolus had always been there to bail him out.
It was probably love somewhere between the lines of that relationship. Maybe it happened when Gladiolus playfully returned the jabs or the day the two laughed to the brink of tears and the older man noticed that the blond had dimples, calling them pretty. Or when Gladiolus suddenly recited poetry word for word and Prompto had no idea what he was saying but listened because he was so pleasant to listen to. This might be reaching, but it had to be that day when he and Noctis showed up at Prompto’s house unannounced, a bloody gash over the Shield’s eye and a startled prince at his side. No, it had to be during the epic road trip where Prompto proved he could carry his own weight and had Gladiolus’ back in battle. Maybe it got more serious when the world got fucked up beyond belief some years later.
Prompto sighed into his hands, blowing exaggerated huffs of air at imaginary crumbs on the counter. Now wasn’t the time to be wistful of the memories. Long story short, they had been through thick and thin, the final chapter to the King of Light’s story recorded for the legends, and the lucky ones got their happy ending, remembering the beloved that helped pave the way to this conclusion. But tales don’t end there, new ones had to be written. This tale had just begun when the blond let it simmer on the back burner of his head. It was what he wanted to do when this was over, only to have recently shared the idea to his friends.
He stared at his palm, a ring crafted of orichalcum with a matte finish, a relic he had picked up during his travels. It wasn’t around any skeleton’s finger and it definitely wasn’t the Ring of the Lucii 2.0 so Prompto can safely declare it safe to wear. Though the thought didn’t occur to him until after the light was restored to the world, it screamed ‘instant noodle-loving, Coleman pack rat bibliophile’ when he found it. Not literally, of course. The size was perfect and it didn’t look like just any conventional wedding ring.
Prompto dropped the ring into a Cup Noodle he just prepared and buried it in the stringy noodles and vegetables. He knew Gladiolus loved to eat them right after a workout. At one point, the big guy admitted that he loved Cup Noodles almost a little more than he loved Prompto. He could hear the wedding bells now.
It was just too bad that someone got to the noodles first.
“Nooooct! Nooooo!” Prompto cried out, lunging to secure the stolen cargo as the hapless Lucian king tilted the cup up, soup and all going down in two gulps.
As crazy he was for thinking it at that moment, Prompto should’ve guarded the Cup Noodle with his life.
“What’s with you?” Noctis demanded as he leaped back, dropping the Cup Noodle.
It was all in vain. The bottom of the container was empty. The soft, merry harmony of wedding bells that had went through the gunslinger’s head became a jarring cacophony of cymbals being repeatedly clashed together by a band of not-so-talented goblins.
Prompto wanted to tear his hair out, but decided against it remembering who his biological father was. He would like to keep a full head of hair for as long as he could, not go bald early. “The ring was in that!”
Noctis went pale as a sheet, clutching his stomach. It didn’t take him long to figure out what ring he spoke of. “You got to be kidding me!”
“You didn’t feel that going down? At all?”
The king balled up his shirt, looking unwell. “No.”
Instead of throwing an obscene comment accusing Noctis of swallowing things bigger than rings, Prompto defeatedly threw himself on the counter. “I can’t believe you ate the ring, man.”
“Ate what?”
Gladiolus entered the kitchen with a towel draped over his neck, shirtless and glowing radiantly from post-exercise. The blond’s jaw would be on the floor at the sight if he wasn’t so wired from the fact the ring was in his best friend’s stomach.
“The noodles!” Prompto yelped, his voice cracking as he trashed the evidence. “That I made for you!”
“That’s pretty generous of you, but I was thinking over what you said about eating healthy.” Gladiolus announced as he walked straight for the refrigerator. He pulled out a plastic container. “I’m gonna stick with a kupoberry salad for lunch.”
“Yeah? That’s great, honey boo bear because I care about you staying healthy.” Prompto patted his boyfriend’s rear with a grimace though the professed sentiment didn’t come close to matching his inner thoughts:
Whaddaya mean you’re going healthy now? You just gotta throw a curve ball at me, don’t cha? Why today of all days you decided to listen to me? At any rate, it doesn’t even matter. Big guy could’ve swallowed that ring or dumped it down the drain.
Prompto forced a laugh and as if there was any way that Gladiolus had overheard his inner monologue, he added, “Love you.” He winced, despising how weak that sounded aloud.
Gladiolus raised an eyebrow at this, reaching out to touch the shorter man’s forehead before laying a big smooch on it. “Love you, too. Catch you later.” He shook the salad in a sort of inconspicuous farewell to the king and Noctis meekly waved back.
Once Gladiolus was out of earshot, Prompto gave the finger guns and clicked his tongue, “Start gagging.”
Noctis crossed his arms with a scowl. “Prompto, I can’t just throw up on cue.”
“Noct, I love you, man.” Prompto, undeterred and unsatisfied by that answer, laid his hands on the king’s shoulders. “You’re the greatest buddy in the whole universe and I couldn’t have picked a better best man, but that ring is coming out of you, one way or another.” He pointed to a package of bran muffins. Fiber always got the job done and best friends don’t stick fingers in each other’s mouths, induced vomiting’s just a little too far. “Eat these.”
Be it that maybe Prompto was ten years early or ten years too late, he needed to hear it from Gladiolus’ lips. Some part of him is relieved that he could delay the proposal a little longer.
“Anything for you, I guess,” Noctis sighed, taking a bite out of a muffin with disinterest. That piece fell out of his mouth. “Ugh, stale. You know, you went about this all wrong. Said 'today’s the day I’m gonna spill my guts to the majestic eagle guy’.” He picked up a muffin and threw it at the blond’s shoulder. “'Noct, can you do it for me? The words aren’t coming out.’”
“I don’t say say that.”
Noctis gave him a stern look.
“Okay, okay, once that ring’s out, then I’m going to propose. For realsies this time.”
Obviously, the anxious gunslinger couldn’t follow Noctis all day, they both had other things to take care of. Lucis couldn’t stabilize all on its own and the king left after choking down four muffins. Besides, Noctis promised to let the blond know when the ring would be ready. Well, that was long before he set his phone off to silent and Prompto’s calls had to go to voicemail. That was criminal. Still, there are other ways around this, a second assurance.
“I came as soon as I could. What’s the emergency?”
Prompto may had told a tiny fib to get Ignis to come over. He felt a little guilty for that.
Before the prince consort could remove his jacket, Prompto took his hand and laid a box of sandwich bags on it.
“Iggy, when Noct poops, you go in there and scoop it up in one of these and call me ASAP.”
Ignis weighed the box of bags, running the clear packaging between his fingers with an undecipherable expression and gave the blond a sarcastic, “Ah-ha.”
“Please, Iggy,” the blond clapped his hands over his head, knowing that the gesture would fall short in the blind man’s range of perception. “I’m begging you.”
“I fail to understand the nature of this request,” Ignis deadpanned, “though I doubt your explanation or Noct’s would prove worthwhile.”
Prompto made a noise of discontent.
The corners of the prince’s lips curled in amusement. “But if you were this forthright with Gladio, I’m most certain he would appreciate it.”
The blond gasped. “The all-knowing daemon strikes again.” Whatever excuse he had to gain Ignis’ attention, it wasn’t anywhere related to the proposal and Noctis hadn’t been with him since this morning. Ignis had eyes and ears where they shouldn’t be other than on his body, but he knew everything going on.
Ignis frowned at the nickname received about a seventh sense that emerged from his blindness. “Enough of that. I receive plenty provocation from my husband. This is your future at stake here, Prompto.”
“Thanks for your blessings all-knowing one.” Prompto whispered, hoping he wouldn’t be heard as the older man had his back to him. “Don’t poison our water supply, burn our crops, and deliver a plague onto this house.”
Ignis flicked him across the forehead. “I heard that.”
-
“What? You’re leaving?” Prompto bolted upright from his comfortable position on Gladiolus’ chest. He immediately regretted it when he saw the room spin.
Gladiolus nodded, stroking the blond’s shoulder. “Gave you a heads-up three weeks ago, remember? You’re the first person I told.”
Prompto searched the older man’s face in silence.
The Shield chuckled. “You don’t remember, huh?” He held out a finger inches away from the blond’s nose. “You’re giving me that same look you made three weeks ago.”
“Does a behemoth ever forget?” Gladiolus opened his mouth and Prompto interjected, “No, no, they don’t do there. I didn’t forget.” He scoffed, “Pfft. But refresh my memory where you’re going and how long again?”
As Gladiolus explained, suddenly all the words became white noise and it would’ve been the perfect opportunity for major ad-libbing, Prompto’s mind drifted off to a whole separate train of thought:
Ohhh… That’s why Ignis had me try on clothes and brought like five outfits. Knew they were a little too fancy for casual wear. Still can’t get over how that man has a great sense of fashion no matter what. Did Gladio tell him what we’re doing just so I can be reminded?
“So,” Gladiolus broke Prompto out of his thoughts and none the wiser of how he spaced out completely, “are we still good for dinner tonight? Like I said, I head out pretty early.”
“Yeah, sounds perfect, big guy.” Prompto grinned, patting his boyfriend’s hand. Or it would’ve been if he had the damn ring on him! All the more reason to get it as soon as possible.
-
“It’s been six hours and you still don’t feel you gotta go?” Prompto exclaimed once he finally cornered the wayward king.
“And whatever you told Ignis earlier made my life harder.” Noctis sighed, putting his hands on his hips. “Surprisingly, he can’t be deterred from the false calls you pulled. He wants results.”
“I know, I know!” Frustrated, the plucky blond threw his hands up. “But without the ring, this would be a bust.”
“Better think of something. Gladio’s going to be gone for a month.”
“A month?” Prompto was desperate, but not before an idea hit him. “What if I just cut you open?” Noctis was stupefied by the suggestion so the other man added sternly, “If you love us, man, you would do this.”
“Surgery?” The king was flabbergasted. “L-look, just let buy you a new one…”
“That’s not the same!” The blond rubbed his chin, eying the king’s midsection. “I knew that watching the medical dramas would come in handy one day. You won’t feel a thing. Probably.”
“You’re not performing surgery of any kind.” Noctis narrowed his eyes. “Why couldn’t you just slip the ring in a book and give that to him?”
“Um, dude, that’s like how you proposed to Iggy. Learned Braille in secret and wrote the question out yourself. It’ll be copying if I did something like that.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Rude. At least one of us don’t got a ring in his belly. That’s new.”
The king rubbed his forehead into his palm. “Are you sure you put the ring in those noodles?”
“Yeah, and that’s how we got here.”
“Fine,” Noctis sighed, shaking his head. “But I’ll do anything, but not surgery.” He added immediately before Prompto pressed further.
-
“So when I asked if we’re good for dinner, I thought it’ll be just the two of us. Uh, no offense, Your Majesties.”
“Pardon the intrusion on your soirée,” Ignis elegantly swirled a glass of white wine between his fingers. “We thought this would be a more fitting get-together before sending you off.”
“Don’t mind me.” Noctis poked at his plate in annoyance. “Prompto won me over with a free meal… by candle light. Real romantic.”
“Is there a reason why you’re not touching your food?” Gladiolus asked.
“I had a big lunch.” The king replied, cheekily, shoving vegetables into a cloth napkin.
“Right.”
Gladiolus had made reservations at a high-end restaurant. Prompto made it a condition that Noctis be present while Ignis wished to be a spectator to the grand proposal. At a compromise and invitation, it was a double date. Everyone was dressed in their finest tonight.
Prompto barely tasted his food and water did nothing to save his parched throat. He didn’t want to risk touching Gladiolus with clammy hands. “I got something really important to ask you and it can’t wait until you get back.” After receiving subtle nods from Noctis and Ignis, Prompto took a knee, albeit rather slowly, his foot was trapped around a leg of his chair. He wiped his hands down. “Gladiolus Amicitia, will you marry me? Come on, crown citizens, let me hear you! Tap your glasses in the name of love!”
Ignis commenced with the polite chinking of glass tapping before the patrons of the establishment joined in. He turned his head when Noctis didn’t join right away and the king groaned.
“Wow, I wonder if I was this obnoxious before proposing to Ignis.” He said under his breath.
“You knighted your husband Gentleman of the Bedchamber before crowning him as the prince so shush!” Prompto sniped in a hushed whisper.
“I’d appreciate if everyone forgot that time.” Ignis protested calmly, voicing his dissent in the word choice. “Or choose not to mention it in my presence.” The tapping of glasses ended and the entire room waited on bated breath.
In all the commotion, Prompto realized that he was forgetting something. He laid his hand on the king’s stomach from beneath the table. Noctis gave him a look, but it wasn’t any less uncomfortable for Prompto either. It gave him some comfort in knowing where the ring was. This was more for Prompto’s belief in luck and reassurance that this would be nothing less of perfection.
“I don’t have the ring on me,” Prompto admitted in a half-truth to the Shield. Technically, it was in someone. “But trust me, it’s nearby and I’m pretty serious about this. About you.” He clutched the front of Noctis’ suit tighter and prayed. “About us.”
Gladiolus grinned. “Yeah, I’ll marry you.”
“What? Just like that?” Prompto lowered his hand. “Did someone rat me out?”
“Nah, ever since you asked me where we’re meeting in the afterlife, figured you’re gonna pop the question eventually.”
“At the ice-cold pool of Jetty’s right next to the chocobo farm! You do remember!”
“We ain’t dead yet so don’t try going before me.” Gladiolus rolled his eyes, but Prompto wasn’t fazed by it, not when the Shield’s grin was the brightest he’s ever seen. “I love how you purposely sing off-key in the shower. I love that you pour cereal while wearing one of my favorite jerseys. I love how your smile’s liquid sunshine even when the weather’s shit. And nothing’s sweeter than that look you get on your face when you gotta show me a cute animal you caught on film.”
Prompto’s stomach had performed a hundred somersaults and at least a dozen backflips by now. “Oh em gee.” His eyes were starting to water, yet he couldn’t avert his gaze, smirking endlessly like a fool in love.
“I love you even more when you say things like that.” Gladiolus fondly stroked the blond’s goatee. “When I’m not feeling by best, you boil the best ramen and we eat straight from the pot. Where I’m getting at is… Yeah, I love you and I want the rest of my life to be with you.”
Prompto reached up and weaved the Shield’s loose ponytail between his fingers. “H-hey, I’m supposed to be the one proposing here. You’re stealing my thunder.”
Gladiolus inched closer until their foreheads were touching. “Needed to set the record straight,” he whispered huskily. “Before we get hitched.”
When they kissed, whatever doubts he had before, it was the perfect marriage proposal in Prompto’s mind. Applause went off like fireworks. If he wasn’t on the floor, his right foot would be raised just like in the rom-coms.
“Was that perfect or what?” Prompto was beaming from ear to ear as he waltzed to Noctis’ side as his fiancé and the prince consort made way towards coat check.
Noctis was walking exceedingly slower than usual. “I’ll give you that…”
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Need to head to the restroom… right now.”
“The ring’s coming? We’re having the ring today?” Prompto cupped the king’s stomach. What timing. “Hey, big guy, Ignister, we’ll be back.”
Gladiolus nodded, waving a hand that bore a ring fashioned from the foil of after-dinner mints, a temporary accessory until the real ring could be procured, before the older man turned his attention back to the counter. Ignis called the ring charming and vintage, praising the ring maker. It still made Prompto giddy with joy as he pointed it out to a random couple in passing:
“That’s my fiancé.”
And once more to every guest, employee, stuffed animal, and inanimate object along the way for good measure. He was certain to indicate where said fiancé was even when he had to squint, turn his head, and visually and physically lead them there.
“What are you doing?” Noctis’ face was flushed, ducking away before people got a good look of his face. “I don’t need you in there!”
“Of course I’m coming in with you! You’re having Gladio’s ring. I can’t miss that for the world.” The plucky blond threw his arm around the king’s shoulders. “You know, Noct, this is the best day of my life. Scratch that, I mean, I still have other milestones to look forward to like being a dad. Maybe. Still gotta talk to my future hubby about that. And uh, launching my own magazine, but I’ll get there eventually. I’m not rushing this at all.”
-
“So that’s what you meant when you said it was nearby.”
“But I promise you I washed, steam-cleaned, and polished it a good thousand times before giving it to you.”
The Shield chuckled, watching the band glimmer in the light. “Well, I’m always on Noct’s ass.”
“And now you got a bit of him around your finger.”
Gladiolus gave Prompto a hard look, one that spoke of how unimpressed he had to learn of this a year later.
“Right. That was bad, but think of it this way: not everyone can say their wedding ring was blessed by the King of Light. I mean, once it finally cruised through the digestive system and he pushed it out, it still counts. We couldn’t been happier. Right?”
“Ask me again in another ten years.”
“Gladioooo!”
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