Chapter Text
Prompto decided the best place to start would definitely be the media installation, at least until his boss battle.
He followed a small crowd into the gallery, using the bodies of the attendees to block his view from anyone who might not want to see him.
A good photographer is invisible, and Prompto was determined to use every one of his skills as a social outcast to make that real tonight. He was a professional… And also scared shitless.
The media installation was composed of a half dozen pieces of fabric suspended from the ceiling, with abstract animations projected onto them in a dreamy pattern. Prompto took a moment to take in the full effect of the piece before mapping out a good place for some action shots. Towards the end of the room, the largest fabric piece swayed gently with the flow of traffic.
Not only would that be an amazing place to subtly capture the crowd, but it would also shield him away from anyone he might not want to be seen by.
He scanned the floor underneath the fabric, making sure no one else was utilizing his hiding spot before he carefully tucked himself into the corner.
It would’ve been nice if he could’ve stayed there the whole evening.
Diligently, Prompto raised his camera and began snapping photos of the gallery. It was easy to capture the ethereal tone of the installation, and paired with the well dressed visitors Prompto was able to grab a handful of excellent shots.
Carefully walking back to the doorway, Prompto took advantage of the shadowy entry and crouched low to make himself unnoticeable, bringing the viewfinder up to his eye.
The backlighting from the lobby made a very moody atmosphere, and Prompto waited patiently for the perfect moment to capture the expression of the next attendee.
Click
Prompto’s stomach dropped, and he felt his hands shake as he brought his camera down.
“Well, if it isn’t young Mr. Argentum.”
“H-Hey, Ravus.” Prompto mumbled to the floor. He did his best to put on his professional smile, but the sudden rush of adrenaline had him focusing focusing less on how his face looked and more on not drowning in anxiety.
“I’m surprised such an established gallery chose such a fresh graduate for their photographer.” Ravus had his signature smile on, the one that never felt quite right. Prompto remembered a time when he used to find it charming.
“I mean, it’s been a couple years but I uh, suppose so.” Prompto chuckled awkwardly, looking everywhere but directly at Ravus. He managed to get up from his crouch, but was definitely cornered by Ravus’ intimidating demeanor. If Prompto could just manage to end the conversation and get back into the lobby, he could catch his breath and continue his job.
“Hmm. So I suppose you must have known someone then? Perhaps the ridiculous assistant curator?” His smile never faltered, and anyone walking by probably thought the two were having a pleasant conversation. Unfortunately, Prompto was beginning to feel his fear flaring into anger.
“Ravus why can’t you just lay off-”
“Is there a problem?” A cool Tenebraen accent halted Prompto’s agitated outburst, and he bit his tongue as Ignis entered the small gallery.
“Ignis, I was just greeting Mr. Argentum. I wanted to ask if he could send me the photos from the interview tonight.” Ravus turned his hostile smile towards Ignis, shutting down any retort Prompto had built up.
“I didn’t know the two of you were already acquainted.” Ignis' gaze flicked to Prompto, who turned his attention back downward.
“Oh, uh yeah he’s uh… He was my Assistant Professor in, uh… school.”
The three men stood in an awkward silence, Ravus and Ignis looking at Prompto, and Prompto keeping his gaze locked onto his camera.
“I suppose that was one facet of our relationship. Happy to see you’re as eloquent as ever.” Ravus finally responded, dropping his smile and taking his phone out of his pocket, signaling to Prompto that he was done with the conversation.
“Excuse me, Ignis.” Prompto felt heat rush up to his cheeks as he moved brusquely between the two taller men.
“Ravus, the gallery would be happy to forward you the photos from tonight’s event…”
Prompto was thankful Ignis had taken over, but not enough to make him turn around and acknowledge it. Instead, he bee-lined back into the lobby and went straight to the refreshment tables. He grabbed one of the filled wine glasses put out by the bartender and slammed back the wine in one long drink.
“You okay dude?”
Prompto jumped as a hand touched his shoulder, only to find Noctis looking at him with a worried expression.
“Y-Yeah man! All good. Just like… thirsty.” Prompto smiled at him, placing his glass back down onto the bar. He could tell Noctis didn’t buy it, but he also didn’t press.
“...Right. I just wanted to let you know we have about ten minutes until the interview, okay?”
“Great, I’ll head over now.” Prompto kept smiling as Noctis gave him a brief nod, turning around to begin corralling the guests into the gallery. Prompto watched him leave, and as if on cue Noctis looked back and gave a weak smile, flashing Prompto a peace sign.
Prompto could only reply with a thumbs up and a nod, which appeared to be enough to quell Noctis’ concern.
With one last sigh Prompto gathered himself up and headed into the gallery, doing his best to get back into work-mode. He hadn’t had very much to drink, but the new stream of alcohol in his system did alleviate some tension. Ideally in a couple of weeks this will be a very funny, not-at-all-traumatizing story to tell to his friends.
As people were finding their seats, Prompto stationed himself towards the back of the gallery, with a nice clear view of where Ravus and Ignis would be sitting.
Prompto made a mental note to emphasize in his retelling that half his job was spent staring and photographing two people he silently prayed he would never have to see again.
“Well, maybe just one…” Prompto mumbled to himself, fidgeting with his camera settings as he played through an imaginary scenario of what he was going to tell Cindy later.
“Just one what, exactly?”
“Oh! Ignis, Hey! Uh, nothing. Appetizers, haha!” Prompto gave a panicked chuckle and looked up at Ignis before diverting his gaze.
“Please feel free to have as many as you like. You’re also welcome to take any leftovers if you so choose.”
“Awe, thanks, that's super… nice…” Prompto couldn’t stop his brain from screaming at him to shut the fuck up as soon as possible, or risk dying of humiliation.
“Of course… I actually wanted to check in and make sure you were alright. I know Ravus can be an interesting character.” Ignis looked towards the front of the gallery where Ravus sat, cross legged and impatiently waiting while staring at his phone. Prompto noticed Ignis' jaw clench.
“What a polite way of saying insufferable fuckass.” Prompto muttered under his breath, being careful not to speak too loudly in case the guests might overhear.
Prompto looked up at Ignis when he heard a chuckle escape the taller man, but by that time Ignis was back to his regular stoicism.
“Indeed. I would appreciate it if you kept that between us.” Ignis replied. Prompto swore he gave him a hint of a smile before making his way towards Ravus, and the thought made his cheeks flush. Perhaps slamming an entire glass of wine wasn’t the best idea, even if it was turning out to be an effective social lubricant.
“Good evening everyone, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to come out and celebrate the newest work of one of Insomnia’s most accomplished artists, Ravus Nox Fleuret.” Ignis was seated across from Ravus, microphone in hand and looking just as polished as ever.
Prompto couldn’t help but recall a very spoiled, very annoying version of Ignis that had invaded his life once, but that was a long time ago. Definitely long enough for them to have moved on… mostly.
The interview felt pretty standard, Ravus talked about his life in Tenebrae before moving to Insomnia, and his experience in academia before starting his career. Prompto was impressed that Ignis could maintain the attention of the crowd with such a boring participant.
Making his way closer to the front, Prompto made sure not to block any of the guests' views, and crouched in the center aisle between the gallery chairs. He continued to take photos as the conversation drawled on.
“-And it was through academia I was inspired to make this work.”
“Were you building off of your thesis?” Ignis asked, staring intently at Ravus and inviting him to continue.
“No, actually. It was mostly inspired by a romantic encounter I had with a fellow student. I was trying to capture the inequity of the relationship through color and composition.” Ravus sighed, glancing at Prompto for a second before turning to look at the massive painting.
Prompto felt his stomach roll. He knew Ravus was an asshole, but it was obvious to anyone that that was bullshit. It was a red canvas with white lines, you could say it was about anything.
Prompto silently prayed no one had noticed that directed glance, but as he looked back into the viewfinder he caught Ignis shifting his eyes away from him.
Prompto’s hands felt sweaty, but he knew he couldn’t get up and walk away without drawing too much attention to himself. He did his best to continue his job as normal, working hard to not move strangely even though it felt like his whole body needed direct orders from his brain on function.
“How interesting. Is this the only piece related to this experience?”
“I suppose so. While I was painting I really took the time to ruminate on the relationship… It was the one time in my life I let myself be swayed by another person's emotions. I thought it would be fun, but it got old quickly. Especially when I realized the person I was seeing couldn't tell the difference between Jeff Koons and Robert Kuntz.”
Polite chuckles floated through the audience, but the only thing Prompto heard was the blood rushing to his ears. Ravus was such a fucking liar, and he was humiliating Prompto on purpose. Prompto stayed glued to his viewfinder to buy some time to compose himself. He would absolutely not cry on the job and he sure as hell wasn’t going to cry in front of Ravus.
As quietly as he could, Prompto stood up and turned to walk down the aisle, mindlessly clicking buttons on his display to look busy and unbothered.
“And your inspiration for the other works?” Ignis asked, obviously trying to move the conversation along to something more appropriate for a gallery opening.
“ Those were on my thesis. I was lucky that the affair only lasted a few exhausting months. I was able to wholeheartedly commit to my work without any unnecessary distractions.” Ravus spoke as if recalling an embarrassing story, and the crowd laughed empathetically. Prompto felt tears stinging the corners of his eyes as he rounded the back of the room, heading for the doors. He was almost out of the gallery, and he had all the pictures he needed of the interview. Prompto knew he hadn’t finished the job, but he needed a breather more than he needed any more crowd shots. He would just sneak back in when they were done talking, get whatever extra pictures he needed and then cry in the comfort of his own home.
“ Prompto- ” a voice whispered from behind him.
Prompto didn’t turn, he knew who it was. He just waved a weak peace sign over his shoulder and exited back into the lobby, desperately looking for any signs for the bathroom.
“ Hey , Prompto, dude, turn around-” Noctis touched Prompto’s shoulder, but that was his breaking point. Hot tears started spilling down Prompto’s cheeks and he tried to desperately wipe them away.
“Fuck, sorry this is so fucking embarrassing” Prompto muttered, looking out the obnoxiously large glass doors of the lobby instead of at Noctis, who was now gripping him by the shoulders.
“No fuck that guy, seriously. Ignis is gonna rip him a new asshole after this.”
“Noctis, if you tell Ignis anything I will actually throw up.” Prompto stuttered, furiously scrubbing at his cheeks and eyes. He had intended for that to sound like a joke, but Noctis just looked even more concerned.
“C’mon let's go, we can hide in the office upstairs.” Noctis said, pulling Prompto towards a staircase to the left of the small gallery doors.
“I’m not done working.” Prompto replied, extracting his wrist from Noctis’ grip. He knew he sounded exhausted, but he couldn’t afford not to finish this job, especially not for such a stupid reason.
“Come back for the public opening, it’s fine.” Noctis gestured back towards the stairs, but didn’t make a move to grab Prompto’s arm again.
“They might cut my pay, Noctis.” Prompto desperately wanted to hide upstairs, but he was still crying, and they were turning into frustrated tears at this point.
“They won’t cut your pay, promise.”
“How would you know that? You're just the assistant curator.” Prompto couldn’t help the small hiccup that came up at the end of the sentence, and he shook his head in annoyance.
“Okay dickhead, my dad owns the gallery. Now come .” Noctis reached for Prompto’s arm again, and this time Prompto followed obediently. He couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his throat at being called a dickhead by some obnoxious rich kid.
“Thanks, Noctis.”
The duo walked the short flight and entered into a skinny hallway with a few doors, everything painted in the same blinding gallery white.
Noctis opened one of the doors and ushered Prompto inside, closing the door behind them quietly.
“You can take off your gear, it looks heavy. Sit on the couch if you want.” Noctis gestured to a beautiful black leather sofa to the right of a large sleek desk. Prompto could barely register anything, but carefully began removing his equipment, taking the time to put everything in its place.
Being emotionally exhausted didn’t mean neglecting expensive gear.
“I’m gonna run down and get us some drinks, ok? My work is pretty much done tonight anyway, I think they’re wrapping up.” Noctis said as he exited the room. Prompto didn’t say anything, too busy on autopilot to register.
It was only a few minutes before Noctis came back in, and in that time Prompto had made himself comfortable on the cold cement floor, lying face up and staring at the ceiling.
“You good?”
“I can’t believe your dad owns the gallery.” Prompto replied, his voice monotone.
“Uh, yeah dude, how do you think I got the job here?” Noctis laughed, sitting next to Prompto and putting down a full bottle of wine.
Prompto turned his head to look blankly at Noctis, who met his look with a goofy smirk.
“I dunno, I figured Ignis had a thing for twinks.”
Noctis burst out laughing, but quickly covered his mouth when he realized how loud he was. His shoulders shook with barely contained giggles.
“Holy shit you better not let him hear you say that,” Noctis chuckled, letting his laughter subside. Prompto would have found it funnier if he didn’t know it was true.
“How do you guys even know each other? I mean, you do, right?” Noctis asked, taking a drink from the wine bottle before passing it to Prompto.
“We met in school. It was stupid. He was like… fucked up from doing his masters thesis.” Prompto replied, deadpan. He sat up on his elbows and took a long drink, staring off into space.
Noctis stared intently at Prompto, urging him to continue, but he just passed the wine bottle over instead.
“During his masters, huh…” Noctis replied, taking another swig and joining Prompto’s distant stare.
“Wait, Prompto, do you know Aranea?” Noctis asked, Prompto could hear some excitement building in his voice and it made him nervous.
“Kinda, I guess. We all went out to the bar together once.” Prompto took back the wine bottle upon seeing Noctis’ eyes light up, and took a drink that would have made Cindy impressed.
“Prompto, are you by any chance, Twink Drink ?”
The wine in Prompto’s mouth quickly found itself spilling down his shirt as he coughed, covering his mouth and handing the bottle back to Noctis.
“Oh my god, YOU ARE!” Noctis did nothing to contain the cackle that erupted from him, apparently no longer concerned at the amount of noise they were making. Prompto wondered if tonight could possibly get any worse.
“Holy shit dude I am so sorry, you are like, a celebrity in our friend group. You were the only person we’ve ever known to totally body Ignis!” Noctis exclaimed, slapping Prompto on the back, causing another coughing fit.
“I-I didn’t BODY Ignis-” Prompto sputtered, overwhelmed with the sudden knowledge he had been talked about at length with a bunch of people he had never met.
“No seriously, it's funny now but he was a total wreck for so long… Well, long for Ignis.” he remarked, gulping down the last bit of the bottle.
By this time both men were completely drunk, and Prompto realized too late he had only eaten a bagel that day.
“Noctis, I really like you but if we keep talking about this I will definitely cry again.” Prompto’s voice was hoarse from his coughing fit, and he laid himself back down to look at the ceiling.
“Ah, no sorry Prompto I didn’t mean it like that, seriously! I know he’s a total nerd, no one thinks you're a bad guy!”
“Noctis? Prompto? What are you doing up here?”