Noctis:

• He’s waiting for them to wake up, to tell them how much they mean to him.
• It had been late in the day when he gets a phone call from their phone, right before the sun dips below the horizon. 
• He answers and expects their cheerful voice to be the one on the line. 
• Instead, he’s met with the voice of someone who holds a grudge against his father for letting the empire take so much.
• Their act of revenge? Taking away someone they know he values. 
• The phone call ends when he hears their voice shouting for him to stay away.
• Instead, he goes to Ignis and lets him know that his friend is in danger. 
• No one argues, each of them eager to save them. They drive all through the night to the place he last knew they had been, and start from there.
• It takes them three days. Three days of the absoute worse scenarios running through his head of what’s befalling them. 
• So when they finally track down their captors, he unleashes hell. Even though it’s nighttime, the air is lit up with each of their attacks.
• But he doesn’t notice the sharp shooter stationed above them on a nearby ridge. 
• But his dear friend knows. Even though they’re weaponless and in pain, they make the choice to protect the prince.
• The shot rings out as the last kidnapper falls to them, and they all freeze. Each of them are eyeing each other with panic. 
• Who was that meant for?
• But then he sees them standing behind him, facing out into the night air with an expression of concentration. 
• Prompto is the first to see the glint of a gun, and shouts, “Sniper!" 
• He fires before the other moves, knowing he’s the only one to make the shot.
• And when they’re all sure the danger has passed, they all smile at one another.
• The happiness doesn’t last.
• His friend suddenly crumples, and none are near enough to catch them before they hit the ground. 
• Their eyes are fluttering closed as they press their hands to their stomach. 
• It’s a close call. They almost lose them in the time it takes them to dig out a potion. 
• They hadn’t awoke though. 
• They had set up camp and were just waiting for them. 
• What had given Noctis time to think.
• He thought about how terrified and upset he’d been during the days they had been searching for them.
• The elation he felt when they had reached them before anything truely horrendus had happened.
• The utter terror he felt when they had fallen to the ground and nearly vanished from his life forever.
• He needed to tell them everything.
• Maybe then they’d understand that his feelings had progressed to something beyond friendship.
• So much so, that he’d told the others that they would be traveling with them from now on. Clearly, someone had let it slip that they were important to him. Too important to be out of sight. 
• ~
• They do wake up, and he does tell them after helping them sit up. 
• They don’t respond at first, and Noctis can slowly feel his heart sinking.
• But then they lean forward and press a kiss to his cheek. 
• "It’s about damn time.”
• (They’re super pissed about having no choice in staying, but can’t find it in their heart to stay angry at the prince.)

Prompto:

• It was supposed to be a nice day outside. One of the few times they were all together again. 
• They were one of his friends from before…Well, Noctis. One he had lost contact with when the city fell.
• It was the first time they’d all gotten to see each other after bumping into each other in Galdin Quay of all places. 
• So when the MT’s attacked, it was wholly unwelcome. 
• Even more so when they realized that their target was THEM.
• They didn’t even think to question why they were after them, choosing to focus only on defending.
• But they were over whelmed, and beaten. Prompto tried his best to hold onto them, as they had found their way into each others arms as they fell into unconsciousness.
• He drifted in and out of consciousness, aware he was grasping them tightly one moment, feeling them jerked away from him the next, and watching them fight as best they could from their place over a MT’s shoulders in the last. 
• He passed out fully then, waking only hours later after a phoenix down was used on him. 
• They set out to find their taken friend, even getting Aranea’s help on locating where the ship was. 
• Noctis warped over and gained the rest of them access. 
• Ignis was the one sneaking around to find them while they caused as big of a distraction as they could on the ship. 
• Upon finding them, Gladio gave the signal for them all to get off. He was going to crash this thing into the sea. (He does and barely makes it out, but it was kind of fun to him.)
• They’d been in their hands for less than 24 hours, but clearly they had fought tooth and nail to escape.
• They were out cold, and Ignis guessed that it was because they had been drugged after not settling down.
• So they wait. And sure enough, they wake up.
• Without thinking his arms are wrapped around them, and he’s babbling about how scared he was and that they weren’t allowed to do that ever again and that he’s probably never going to let them out of his arms ever again so they should get comfy-
• They’d rest their head on his shoulder and laugh, and it’d send chills up his back because he can feel their breath on his neck.
• He doesn’t really get around to telling them, but he does indeed realize that he really loves them.
• (They guess though, since he literally doesn’t let them out of his arms for very long while they’re with him.)

Gladiolus:

• It’s in the form of a note left in Lestallum with Iris.
• Apparently, they’d been on a hunt alone, and taken unawares by opportunists. Ones who were convinced that since they knew how to fight and spoke with the same refined accent as Ignis, they must have been someone important before the city fell.
• And though they hadn’t wanted to say anything, after the fourth day they had cracked, and mentioned Gladio’s name as their friend, and mentioning he’s from a noble house. 
• The note also says that they refused to say which house he was from and mentioned that he wasn’t going to come for them. So they were going to test that by asking Gladio to bring them enough Gil for their ransom.
• If he doesn’t bring it they’re dead.
• Like hell he’s going to leave his friend with them. Considering they were Iris’ friend too, she asks to come with.
• (There’s such a startling look in her eye that he allows it.)
• But the time line. They had until the morning of the 8th day of them being held hostage. It was now the seventh day, and he curses himself.
• They quickly gather what they need for an assault, because there’s no way in hell he’s giving them money and letting them get away with this.
• (He also a little freaked out about what they meant by ‘they broke on the fourth day’. Were they hurt?)
• They all pile into the car and go to where they wanted to meet him, and he goes alone. Or so it seems. Truthfully, the others are somewhere sneaking in behind him.
• The first sight he gets of them has him seeing red.
• They’re laying on the ground knocked out, black and blue. He can make out half healed cuts and a possible broken arm. (He can’t bear to look at their hands.)
• He states that he’s hear for them, and then lashes out instead.
• The other join in the fray and the kidnappers are overwhelmed. Most flee. But the leader?
• He’s on the ground at Iris’ feet, an almost too sugary sweet smile on her face.
• He scoops his friend off the ground and they leave to go back to Lestallum to allow them to recover after being healed.
• When they awake, it’s from a nightmare. They swing at Gladio and he has to restrain them without hurting them because they’re fighting too violently and won’t listen to reason.
• Iris steps in and her face snaps them out of their waking dream.
• They don’t go into too much detail, and apologize for the trouble, letting a mask slip back over their face.
• He gets upset that they’re just going to pretend it didn’t happen.
• He asks to speak to them alone, and the others leave.
• It is then he confesses that while he didn’t realize it before, seeing them on the ground had forced him to confront that he cared for them.
• They sniffle, and say they didn’t want to be a distraction and had forced their own feelings away.
• He spends the rest of the day just cradling them. He’d figure out everything else later, but for now, he was content with them in his arms. 

Ignis:

• He’s a little shocked when he finds their phone abandoned on a haven. And then he grows concerned when the last thing in the memory is a video of them during the night, recording themself.
• They look disheveled, more so than he’d ever seen them. And it seemed like they hadn’t slept in days.
• They speak quickly into the camera of someone following them. Of the paranoia they felt.
• “If I go missing, please. Find who did this.”
• They then set their phone down, hidden but with a clear view and wait their attacker. And it turns out they weren’t parinoid. Someone does come for them.
• They fight tooth and nail, but whoever this was had an advantage. They were clearly well rested compared to them, and had been planning this.
• So they, in an unexpected move, rip off their mask and start listing details. Committing them to memory the attacker must assume, but truthfully, it was for the camera recording to pick up. Ignis turns off the video, and gets to work.
• It turns out, there’s a string of missing people that match his friends description. But this is the first time one of them was smart enough to leave a clue behind.
• He hurries to find them when they mention that when these missing people were found, none were alive.
• He takes the others with him to comb through the woods where they had slain deadeye, because that’s where most of the bodies had turned up. At first people had assumed it was the beast at work, but after a group of hunters had slain it (Cough cough) the real reason behind the bodies was revealed.
• It is there they find them, one the ground and limp, pale as death and barely breathing.
• They get them up and heal them as best they can, waiting for them to awaken, or for the person who took them to return.
• Upon waking up, they grab onto Ignis’ sleeve, like they had when they were younger, and says nothing.
• When they calm own, they let go and say that the man left them for dead because the wouldn’t shout in pain no matter what he did.
• Ignis just gathers them into his arms and holds them, because they are shaking rather badly.
• He loves them, he has know this for a while. This is just the first time he’s forced to acknowledge it. He knows that they cannot be anything more than friends. But he allows himself this. Holding them until the fear disappears.
• (He also swears, that he’s going to hunt down the man who did this and ensure he never does it again.)