Oh wow. Owch. 

Noctis:

He’d like them despite everyone warning him away from them. They’re terrible. He knows. They can be cruel to everyone near them. He knows. They’re taking advantage of him. He knows, he swears. But he can’t help it. Under their abrasive personality, he sometimes gets a glimpse of a sweet person. One who’s kindness more than makes up for how they behave regularly. And he’s sure that’s who they really are. And if he just….If he just gives them everything they ask for, bend to their will, perhaps if he just gives all his kindness and more….They’ll become that sweeter person. Permanently. 

It’s not until years later he realizes they won’t change. They’re still the same and he’s so tired of trying to change them. It’s emotionally exhausting. And it hurts. Because he still likes them. It hurts so much but he can’t be their friend anymore. And when they lash out and leave him in the dust, like they’ve done with so many other people, he can’t help but cry. 

This is not how a first love should go.

Prompto:

They’re sweet, and sickeningly kind. They’re all smiles and laughter, and cooed sweet nothings in his ears. And meant only for him. Because they’re friends right? So he’s sure he’s imagining it when they give him a backhanded compliment about much they love how he doesn’t care how he looks to another person. Or how much they envy his lack of responsibilities. He doesn’t notice them really…until they become more and more frequent. 

He especially hates when they remind him of how much he weighed. And If he ever mentions it, they always point out how it was a compliment, and how they really didn’t mean to hurt him and oh my gosh, how could they? He’d end up comforting them over their spite filled words. Eventually, this would wear him down to where it’s enough. ENOUGH. 

He’d distance himself from them, recognizing how they’d back him into a corner mentally, and make it seem like him being upset was his own fault. He’d have to take a few days just to breath, because his mind would occasionally flash back to those sweet words and secret smiles he’d fallen for. But he’d force himself to keep moving forward and away from them.

This is not how love should make you feel.

Gladiolus:

They’re pretty, but there’s something dangerous about them. Like they’re constantly dancing on the edge of some invisible cliff. Originally, this constant feeling of energy around them would pull him in. They’d be someone who could keep up with his life. They’d manage to stand beside him unflinchingly. When Gladio falls, man does he fall.

They’ve no care for safety, their own or others. They once convinced him to break into the ballroom of the palace on a whim, the one that had been closed off since he was a child. And he agreed because they had a daring smile, and had said please. But when they almost got caught, they left him, and upon confronting them later they just said it was his own fault for not being faster. 

“Don’t expect me to follow you into the dark.”

As they grew closer, he noticed how their attitude was stuck in the same process. Seek danger, cause trouble, abandon anyone who can’t keep up. A refusal to trust anyone. He’d want to prove he could be the exception. He would be there. Please please please, just trust me to be there. But they wouldn’t. They’d say they’re friends, and they do trust him, but even he can tell that they didn’t mean it.

He’d be forced to end the friendship for both of their sakes. And he’d be a little broken up when they just let him go, turn their back on him, and never speak to him again. Occasionally he still thinks of them, and hopes that they found someone they could trust finally. 

Love is about trust after all.

Ignis:

They’d be quiet and distant, and he’d want to reach them. He’d first give them small gestures, just wishing to be friends first off. And while they accept what he gives, they don’t ever drop the icy personality around him. But they smile a bit more, and greet him using his first name despite the cold treatment. Something that would give him hope. 

Ignis is a giver. And he’d keep giving and giving, hoping that maybe, he could lure them out of their shell. No one tells him that they’ve done this before. Charmed someone and drew everything they could out of them until they could give no more. Everyone knows he needs to learn this on his own.

He’d consider them friends, but they’d be reluctant to say so. But they’d give just enough affection to him to keep encouraging him. To keep him coming back to them. Just as friends though. He doesn’t know that friends don’t have to give friends gifts just to make them smile. 

Finally, after years of this, he really has no more energy to offer them. And, when they realized this, he’d absolutely shattered when they move onto a new person. Someone who like him thought they were beautiful, kind, shy, and quiet. Who just wanted to lure them out of their shell. He’d eventually move on as well, as any attempt to reconcile with them was met with that same steely distance and silence.

Love isn’t about only giving.