Barrage (Patreon)

Barrage.

(cw:gaslighting/seflharm)

Indridason

it looks like the bab is thinking he messed up

iggy leading him by the arm

Kaciart

hes not the only one thinking it

Asidian

Oh nooo

Prom's face looks so dejected here :((

Oh no

Man, between Ignis' annoyed face

And Gladio with that LOOK

Kaciart

its almost like....

a barrage

Asidian

XD

And is Gladio poking Prom to drive his point home? Ouch D:

Kaciart

just shoving him along

and yeah Asi

emphasizing his points with jabs for sure

Asidian

And I love how Gladio doesn't even need both hands to lift him

He can reach up with one to shove Prom along

Kaciart

Gladio and Ignis are both berating him

And honestly from Ignis' 'we're going to sit down when we get back to camp' implies that it hasn't even started yet

Gladio dumps Noct in the tent

And Prompto is made sit down while they pick apart every little thing that he's done wrong that day

And while we're at it

How about that time when

And his stomach is rolling from the stress

'Oh don't start that!'

As he starts to scratch at his cuff

'You always do this'

'Here come the waterworks'

And after they're like 'Well, have you anything to say for yourself'

'I'll try harder'

'You better believe you will'

I feel like it was either some event that knocked him off kilter

like a text from his parents

And not a good one

and then whatever they were hunting put him right on top of one of his phobias

So he panicked

and used a spell

and caught them all up in it

Noct who was fine

ended up in stasis defending them

while they recovered

So aside from ready to sleep for a day

he's the least injured of them

So they finish their lecture

and Gladio tells Prompto he'll be training him every morning seeing as he clearly needs it

It was also a build up and bad mood on their part

Like Prom does things that bother them

and theyre kind of used to getting things their way a little

They've been raised int his life

Prompto is thrown into the deep end

They decide thats enough lecturing for one day

And Prompto goes to 'wash off the soot' aka try to fight down the panic attack thats threatening

He tries not to cry too

because apparently thats a thing he does

a lot

so he's going to have to stop that

He probably pulls teh cuff off and starts scratching at the barcode until theres blood under his nails

which helps a little

MsChievousArt

y'see guys

crying is a healthy coping mechanism

self-harm is not

Kaciart

yes

But in promptos eyes right now

One is more easily visible

So he washes and heads back

And he probably tries so hard to be normal for them

Noct wakes much later in the day

And somethings up

but he's not sure what it is

theyre all a bit grumpy but he figures it was the spell

Imagine if

Time has passed

Prom is a bit of a wreck

trying to please everyone

And maybe he's goign for a shower

And asks Noct to keep hitting some button in his game of KK

theres some event happening

and you can collect something every five mins

so Noct has his back

and a text comes in

Asidian

True friendship :)a

Kaciart

and he accidentally taps it

And...accidentally reads

He's just short of busting the door down into the bathroom

I figure his parents have stopped ghosting him

and are now being nasty

Like having had a nif kid was alright when the empire hadnt destroyed their home

and ruined their lives

and by alright they just didnt have much to do with him

Now they're telling him how much he owes them

Theres bills

insults

And it started that day

and theres been a text almost every day

So Noct tries to be patient

But if he doesnt talk to Prompto in 5 seconds

hes going to reply to them

And he knows Prompto wouldnt like that

So he starts banging on the door

Ignis and Gladio are like WHAT THE F

They've been pretty cool with Prompto

but he's improved

So theyre not too put out

Asidian

"improved"

Kaciart

Noct hears shuffling

'You better have a towel on, but honestly i dont care'

'No no wait'

And Noct shoves the door open

Prompto *does* have a towel on

But he's also using tissue to scrub drops of red frantically

SirLadySketch

Does this mean the barcode is out in the open, too?

Kaciart

he'd have covered that first

XD before the towel

Asidian

Priorities XD

Kaciart

he's also probably moved on

because its a small area

MsChievousArt

oh man where is he scratching now?

Kaciart

stretch marks were next

basically everything he hates about himself

Nocts freak out probably draws Ignis

Proms starting to gasp

Because he cants do that thing

No waterworks allowed

Ignis is probably frozen because Prompto is tryign to assure him that everything is fine

He's totally cool

As he has a panic attack

Just trying to force a smile

while wheezing

Tryign to push Noctis out of the bathroom

Noctis just hugs onto him

He got too close

Noctopus strikes

'N-Noct I'm all w-wet'

'Shhhh just calm down a sec'

After he calms he gets him out and Ignis and Gladio are none too subtly listening

Probably think he's gonna be like 'gladio and ignis were mean to me boohoo'

So Noct first asks about the injury

'Cut myself shaving....'

'Show me'

'...my pubes'

Asidian

........................

Kaciart

'....Youre lying, but we'll shelve that for later'

'Why are your...parents threatening you?'

'What??' says Ignis

I figure Noct knows Promptos passcode for his phone

So he hands it off to Ignis because he'll fix it

he always does

Except you know, when he and Gladio make a mess of everything because theyre petty

Ignis scrolls back and sees the date and timestamp of the frst threat

And all that before that is pleading messages from Prompto

trying to see if his parents are alive

Of course tehy hadnt considered this

they probably assumes Promptos parents had gotten in touch

They knew it was unlikely they were even in insomnia

so NOW the guilt is setting in

because its obvious why he wasnt with it

Asidian

Yeah... that'll mess with your head :(((

Kaciart

because he's an adult now

They're probably threatening lawsuits

Surreptitiously mentioned the code

So he wont tell anyone

'you can hide it all you like, we all know what you are'

he'd be trying so hard not to cry too

Noctis is all

'rubs back* let it all out, you'll feel better

Prompto is 90% sure he will only feel guilty

And Ignis and gladio both notice him glancing their direction

another stab in the conscience

'Can I go into the bathroom?'

'Only if i can come with you'

because he can let himself go if Gladio and Ignis dont see

Ignis would probably be asking searching questions

like they knew his parents were negligent

but were they abusive while he was young

'Not really'

'why does it matter?'

I figure Ignis drafts a very formal terrifying email

That gets sent to his parents

and that stops the texts

Gladio pulls back on the training

gruffly saying that he didn't really need them anymore

he was doing way way better and...cough...maybe it was all a bit of a misundertsanding....and they might have been harsh....D:

which would normally be promptos cue to joke

and say that it was the most words in a row he'd ever heard from gladio at one time

But he just mumbles 'ok, if you think its alright'