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Prompto hadn't realized deserts could get so hot.
Like he knew, objectively, that deserts were hot, obviously. But knowing that they were hot didn't mean shit when experiencing 100° heat for the first time in his life. It was a whole different experience. It felt like they’d walked into an oven, stepping out of the cool and air conditioned car. That cool air was blown away very shortly by the sun beating down on the car’s seats. Maybe it would’ve been better if they’d kept the top up for some shade…
Prompto tried to lay down on the tarmac while waiting for someone to hopefully hitch them a ride, but the second he sat down he immediately jumped back up with a yelp.
“It's black asphalt in the middle of the fucking day, what did you expect?” Gladio snorted. He leaned against the back of the Regalia carefully.
Prompto eyed the black paint warily. “Isn't that hot as fuck too?”
“Thick pants.” Gladio shrugged. “Wouldn't touch it with my bare hands, though. You guys should probably lose some layers. We might be out here a while.”
Prompto considered that and decided that his cool ass vest could sit in the armiger until he was actually cool and not roasting. He groaned and stretched his arms above his head. It had only been like, twenty minutes sitting out here and his tank was already soaked in sweat. At least it meant the slight breeze coming on felt nice.
“I'm good.” Noctis shrugged, hair plastered to his forehead. He pulled out a hat from the armiger at the least. Prompto wondered if he'd mind lending Prompto one. It was way too hot for one of his beanies, but he swore he could feel his head heating up like a hot potato.
Ignis took off his suit jacket, at least. Prompto didn't know how he was coping with his button up. Fuck, Prompto didn't know how Noctis wasn't dying in his jacket, short sleeves or not.
Gladio pulled out a bottle of water to sip and they began waiting.
And waiting.
Prompto felt his shoulders starting to feel extra hot after another fifteen minutes. He patted at them curiously. Was he sunburning? They hadn't even been out here an hour!
He groaned and pulled a can of sunscreen out of the armiger. His skin was more delicate than your average Insomnian but he usually didn't have to worry about burns for at least two hours of full sun! Deserts were fucking brutal.
“What, are you burning already?” Noctis snorted, squatting by the side of the car that had a little shade. Maybe Prompto should join him.
“Ugh, I think so, dude.” Prompto closed his eyes and squeezed his lips shut, spraying sunscreen all over his face. He made sure to get some on his ears and behind the neck.
“Dude you're frosting your hair there.” Noctis laughed.
“Go ahead and tease the pale skinned guy,” Prompto opened his eyes and blinked carefully to make sure he didn’t get any sunscreen drips. “You should put some on too, you know. You don't take too long after me to start burning, usually.” He began spraying his arms. It wasn't sticking very well because, of course, he was very sweaty and it was washing the sunscreen away in rivulets.
“Ew. No thanks.”
“Noct, I think it would be wise.” Ignis held a hand out and Prompto tossed him the can. He took off his glasses to spray some on his face, about the only thing showing other than his arms. He burned a lot less than them but Iggy was smart like that. The only person who tanned better than Ignis was-
“Hand it over.”
“You?” Prompto held a hand to his chest. “Don't you have that glorious tan you need to keep up?”
Gladio rolled his eyes, hard. “Uh huh. Skin cancer’s no joke, you know. And the sun is extra bad in the desert, Princess. Put on the sunscreen or I'll hold you down so Iggy can spray you down.”
“You wouldn't dare.” Noctis threw a pebble at Iggy.
“If he doesn't I will!” Prompto fanned his face. “You get so grumpy and cranky when your face is burnt.” Noctis had a habit of burying his face into pillows when he slept and that was not very comfortable when his cheeks were cherry red. This meant that everyone sleeping around him had to deal with him being restless and whining. Which was not going to fly on a roadtrip.
After enough needling from the three of them Noctis relented to a spray of sunscreen across his face. They settled back into their spots waiting for any help. Gladio stood in the road trying to wave down a car, Ignis sat in the driver's seat fanning his face with a stray piece of paper, and Noctis and Prompto ducked by the side of the car trying to get some sort of shade.
The longer they sat though the less shade they had. The sun was nearly right overhead by the next hour, leaving them nowhere to squat.
Prompto stood up with a groan.
His head swam. He stumbled a bit, but blinked his eyes and the world steadied. Sweat dripped off his forehead and stung his eyes with sunscreen. Prompto pulled out a water bottle and took a deep drink. Six bless Noctis’s armiger for keeping hot things hot and cold things cold.
Halfway through the bottle he had to stop, feeling nauseous. He breathed in carefully and let it out. Good thing he was used to swallowing down nausea huh? Anxiety for the win?? Crap he felt awful.
Another thirty minutes passed and Prompto felt like a wet raisin. Like the sun was sucking all of the moisture out of him and leaving it sitting in the fabric of his pants and tank top. His head felt hot, like his actual scalp felt fucking hot. Like his hair was on fire. Which, not cool, his hair was blond. Weren't bright colors supposed to reflect light?
“Is it like, getting brighter out here?” Prompto grumbled, trying really hard not to rub his eyes. But his contacts were itching. And he swore the sun was shining down even brighter than before. “Eugh. I think I got some dirt in my contacts, my eyes are driving me crazy.”
“Take them out,” Ignis said, sounding tired. “Wouldn't want any grit to scratch your cornea.”
Prompto bothered Noctis into pouring water over his dusty hands so he could clean them as best he could. Noctis was even more lethargic than his usual and just grunted at him. Then poured the rest of the water directly over his hat.
His eyes still itched like ants were running under his eyelids even without his contacts in. Prompto pulled his rarely used glasses out and popped them on, squinting out at the road. The heat mirage was crazy to look at with the sun flaring like that.
The clock kept ticking. He ended up pacing by the side of the road, arms lifted up in a recovery pose to help the rare breeze hit his sides.
The leather seats had begun to absolutely bake in the sun. Ignis staying in his seat was probably the only reason he wasn't burning alive but there was no way it was much more comfortable than the ground. Sitting outside the Regalia meant either balancing on the balls of his feet or sitting on burning hot dirt or blacktop. Prompto couldn't stand either of those choices, so moving was the only option left.
Noctis had chosen to crouch, looking like he was dozing. It was ridiculous how easily Noct could just fall asleep anywhere. Prompto envied him.
Ignis was covered in sweat when Prompto strolled by him. He had his arms crossed, head ducked, eyes closed. Not asleep, not if the light frown on his face said anything, but at least conserving energy.
They'd been out there a bit over three hours when maybe the fourth car to pass them honked and sped off. Gladio flipped them off. Prompto shot them double birds in solidarity.
“I think we can forget about hitching our way there…” Gladio huffed and stretched. “Thought people were friendly outside the city.”
“You can only go so far on the kindness of strangers.” Ignis said, sounding a bit muffled. He didn't even open his eyes. Prompto leaned over to wave a hand over him. Ignis opened a single eye to glare at him.
“Just gonna have to push her all the way.”
“What?” Prompto whined, wiping some of the dirt off his forehead. “No way!” Prompto already felt lightheaded and nauseous just standing around in the heat. He knew that getting up to exercise would just make it about ten times worse.
“Don't be a wuss.” Gladio marched over to where Noct was definitely dozing and smacked his shoulder. Noctis blinked, startled, and nearly fell over with a snort. “Oh, get up.” Gladio grabbed something - maybe shirts? - out of the armiger and wrapped his hands.
Considering he proceeded to put his hands directly on the black tail end of the Regalia, when Prompto swore he could feel the hot metal from a foot away, that was definitely a wrinkle-brained move. He grabbed a few spare shirts of his own to wrap his hands before taking position to the right of the Regalia.
Ignis shifted reluctantly, wiping sweat out from behind his glasses. He settled his gloves on the steering wheel with a light hiss. Lucky him having gloves so he didn’t have to touch the hot wheel barehanded.
Noctis groaned and rubbed his eyes while staggering to his feet and rounding to Ignis’s side. Not paying attention to what the rest of them were doing, he put his hands flat to the side of the car like a dumbass and yelled. He shook his hands with a shocked face.
Prompto giggled and Gladio guffawed shamelessly. Of course Noctis didn't think it was so funny and glared at them all while he found something to wrap his hands in. Prompto felt an obligation to fill the grumpy silence before anyone got snippy.
“Sheesh-” He really didn't think he would be very much help with the pushing. Most of his muscle was in the legs. Gladio was bound to end up doing like, 80% of the work. Hopefully if Prompto could just take a little of the strain off that'd be enough. “I thought the car was supposed to move us.”
Noctis snorted. “Wouldn't that be nice.”
“Can it.” Gladio said. “Ready… steady… push!”
They all groaned as the giant hunk of metal began to move. After just a minute of putting his hands on the door he could feel heat radiating through the cloth. Prompto did his best. He didn't think he was actually doing anything, though.
Nobody was in the mood to sass and argue with sweat pouring down their faces and muscles straining.
The longer they pushed the car, the wobblier he felt. His limbs started to feel like rubber.
He wasn't sure how long they'd been pushing. Had it been thirty minutes? An hour? He hoped they were covering ground faster than it felt. He swore it looked like they'd hardly moved a foot. It felt like he was moving through soup.
Should he ask to stop for a break? When he looked up Noctis and Gladio both had their heads ducked down determinedly, faces stoic. If they were giving their all he could hold it for a bit. At least another twenty minutes. Let them get a little further down the road before admitting he wasn’t feeling very great.
Then Prompto stumbled over his own boots. His hands slipped off the side of the car in slow motion. He was only a little bit aware of the asphalt coming up to hit him on the face before things just kinda stopped.
Gladio might've been doing the majority of the pushing, but he definitely noticed when it became a little bit harder. The car jerked briefly to the right before Ignis compensated at the wheel.
“Dude, what the hell?” Noctis complained.
“Prompto?” Ignis sounded concerned.
“What's the big idea, blondie? You wanna swap spots?” Gladio huffed before looking up.
The car slammed to a stop as Ignis put his foot on the brakes. “Gladio, check on Prompto!” He knew better than to question that tone of voice.
Ignis was right to sound so serious. Prompto wasn't holding onto the side of the car anymore because he'd apparently face planted right into the ground.
“Shit.” Gladio straightened out of his pushing position and hurried over as fast as he could with how damned sluggish he felt. It was kind of hard to get his body to agree to change tracks, he'd been so locked in. “Prompto?” He knelt down and picked him up by the chest, feeling his forehead. The obvious worry was heat exhaustion. Gladio cursed when Prompto’s face was bright red but clammy.
“Is Prom okay?” Noctis stumbled around the side of the car, nearly tripping over his own boots.
Gladio looked up with a heavy frown. Was Noct slurring? His eyes landed on the sweat stained black jacket and black shirt underneath.
“Noct, take off the damned jacket.” Gladio ordered and didn't give him a moment to argue. He grabbed a water bottle from the armiger and squeezed it in Prompto’s left armpit. “Ignis! You're the first aid guy! Prompto’s got heat exhaustion, at least!” They all knew the basics, but Ignis had the most training. He heard the car door opening and footsteps hurry across the tarmac. Gladio grabbed another cold water bottle and handed it to Noctis. “Put this under your left armpit, and again, take off the fucking layers.”
Noctis gave him a confused scowl but listened, peeling off his jacket and holding the bottle close. He let out an instant sigh of relief, hissing at the cold.
“Mmh..?” Prompto mumbled, eyes blinking open. “Wh'hppa?”
Ignis knelt next to them with a slight wobble. “You fainted, likely from the heat.” Ignis pulled a first aid kit out of the armiger and cracked an ice pack. “How are you feeling?”
“Uh.” Prompto blinked slowly, eyes unfocused. “Hot..?”
“Iggy,” Gladio realized, scowling. Noctis wasn’t the only one who hadn’t thought to change his damned clothes. The only reason he wasn't punching Ignis in the shoulder was because he still had Prompto’s upper body in his arms, skinny ass legs sprawled across the pavement. “You need to take off some fucking layers. Put on a different shirt. All of you.” Gladio had traded his black leather jacket for a gray tank as soon as he'd realized they'd be out in the sun for a while. He didn't know why he didn't think to warn the others to not be wearing black in the middle of the fucking desert.
Oh right, because he thought they all had at least some fucking common sense. Gladio didn’t expect to have to tell the idiots how to dress. But no. They were wearing all black, tight clothing with no air flow. In the damned desert. Prompto didn't even have sleeves to protect his arms from the sun. His pale ass arms had a nice red sheen to them.
Ignis blinked and then frowned, visibly confused. Realization sparked. He rubbed his forehead. “Of course. You're right, I can't believe I didn't think-” Specs sighed and set an ice pack under Prompto’s other arm before cracking another and standing up. “Heat exhaustion, certainly, if not the beginnings of heat stroke. Have him sip some Cactuarade, slowly. Noct, how are you feeling?”
“Tired. Hot.” Noctis said bluntly. “...back hurts.” The way he was standing, he probably hurt a lot more than he was willing to admit. The fact that Noct admitted he was in pain in the first place said it was already a lot.
Ignis held a hand to his forehead with some concern. “Heat cramps are a possibility. Chronic injury and illness will exacerbate the matter… I'm a bit more foggy minded than I ought to be myself, and nauseous as well.” Ignis certainly had a bit of a drawl to his own words that he didn’t usually have.
“Oh I'm ssso nauseous.” Prompto mumbled. Gladio grabbed a bottle and got the cap off one-handed with some difficulty, bringing it up to his mouth. “Oh hey, my favorite flavor…” Prompto drank a good mouthful before Gladio pulled it back.
“You're gonna puke if you chug it, moron.” Gladio huffed.
Ignis focused on getting Noctis to sip something as well before grabbing an ice pack and drink for himself.
“Well. I think we've all been quite foolish, today.” Ignis took his glasses off so he could rub some of the sweat off his face.
“I should've said something.” Gladio sighed heavily. “Been out hiking in the desert before. Just didn't think of it until just now. Don't wear black. Cover up but make sure your clothes can breathe. Wear a hat and sunglasses. Keep an eye on your water intake.”
“In all fairness,” Ignis tried to clean his glasses. Tried because his shirt was covered in sweat and dust. “None of us quite expected to be hiking through the heat.”
“I think I'd kill for some air conditioning.” Prompto said, trying to wiggle free. “I feel a bit better, dude.” The attempts were a little sad to be honest.
“Nope. You're staying down.” Gladio squeezed him tight until he yelped and stopped squirming. “People with light skin, light hair, and light eyes get the worst from heat. And you're such a stick I'm surprised you stayed up so long. Drink some water too.” He traded the Cactuarade out for a bottle of water. Prompto was a walking danger sign in the desert, he really should have thought to check on him before, damnit.
“Oh.” Prompto held the bottle in both hands, too quick to resign to being held for Gladio's comfort. “Having blue eyes makes it worse? Is that why everything's a little blurry?”
Ignis cursed under his breath lightly, crouching down again. He tilted Prompto’s head to the side carefully. “Well your face is a tad scuffed, likely from the fall, and your eyes are a little red... Your vision is blurry?”
“Yeah. Everything's like- way too bright. Like someone turned the brightness setting up irl way too high.” Prompto blinked a few times.
“Glasses probably aren't helping. Magnifying the light and all that.” Gladio shrugged. “You doing alright, Specs?”
Ignis adjusted his glasses, assessing. “A bit of a headache but nothing serious. We must move ahead to shelter as soon as possible. Even just finding a haven to put the tent up in will work, just to get ourselves under some shade.”
Noctis looked a little more alert now. “Is it that serious? I feel better already with just some juice.”
“Heat illnesses can be quite serious, if exacerbated.” Ignis frowned at him. “And while Gladio has experience in the outdoors and harsh conditions, the rest of us do not. Prompto having fainted means we need to get him somewhere cool immediately unless we want him to deteriorate and have a proper heat stroke.” Prompto made a face. “Not to mention you have a prior medical condition.”
“I'm not feeling all that great either,” Gladio pointed out. “I'll be fine but if it's hitting me then you three aren't gonna last much longer.” He could handle it. But the thing about being able to handle extreme conditions was knowing that you should avoid them if possible in the first place.
“Right.” Noctis blinked, shifting his ice pack around. “We don't exactly have much of a choice though.”
He had a point. Only three cars had passed them by in three hours and none of them had stopped. They weren't too much closer to Hammerhead than when they'd started pushing. They were about four and a half miles out, maybe?
“Think the two of you could make the walk?” Gladio asked, evaluating his condition. Prompto would be easy to carry. Sweating all over the guy probably wouldn't be great but like hell Gladiolus was risking the tiny guy passing out again.
Ignis visibly considered this while Noctis made a disgusted noise.
“I believe so.” Ignis said cautiously. “But if His Highness’s back is acting up already, it may be better to wait here for you to return with a tow. Just to be safe.” No sense fucking up Noctis’s back on the first damned day.
Noctis made a reluctant groan.
“I'm taking Prompto, then.” Gladio set him down and stood up. “Change into something lighter, with sleeves for you, Prompto. And some shorts.” He pointed to Noctis and Ignis. “Same to you two. Ditch the black.”
He pulled out his bag from the armiger and dug into it for a pair of shorts. He hadn't been expecting to go hiking anytime soon (they were supposed to be going to a gods damned wedding) so he didn't have shades or a hat. But he could borrow one of Noctis’s. Guy had at least six on him at any given time.
He changed out of his black pants without shame by the side of the car. Ignis was a little less enthusiastic, but he saw the necessity of it as well. Prompto was too out of it for shame and Noctis, well, he was less shy about showing his scars than usual.
“Oh man the air feels fucking nice.” Noctis groaned, stretching sweat soaked arms above his head.
“Put a shirt on, Noct, or you will get sunburned.” Ignis scolded. “Your face is already pink.”
Gladio snorted as Noctis protested just to be a punk. Little shit probably wanted to put a shirt on. He was just cranky and didn’t want Iggy to get the last word.
While Noctis and Ignis halfheartedly bickered like a married couple Prompto nearly fell over himself just trying to change his pants. Gladio was a bro and let him lean on him since leaning on the car was probably gonna end badly. He kicked off his boots with some effort and slid on some sneakers. He couldn’t actually stand on the hot asphalt in his socks, so he had to do a little bit of Floor Is Lava with shoes.
Prompto was amazed feeling the difference just not wearing black already made. Like stepping out of the oven and just standing next to it instead of inside it. He felt so damned stupid. But his head was so fuzzy he didn’t care much about berating himself for the dumbassery.
Between the four of them and Noct's hat hoard, everyone could put on a hat. Nobody had the foresight to bring sunglasses except for Ignis. Those were handed over to Prompto to hopefully protect his eyes from getting any worse. He was squinting without his glasses but honestly he felt dizzy enough he didn't want to keep his eyes open all that much. The darkness was such a relief. The gloss of gaussian blur irl finally stopped stabbing him in the corneas.
“What're you guys gonna do here?” Prompto asked, leaning against Gladio's arm. “It's gonna be at least-” His brain struggled to math. “-like. An hour until we get there?” It depended on how fast Gladio went with him on his shoulders. Good news was that Gladio was definitely an endurance runner, so he wouldn't be too knocked out by Prompto’s heavy ass.
“If we stay seated without any exertion and remain hydrated we shall be fine.” Ignis said. “The lack of shade is unfortunate, but we can’t bring up the Regalia’s top without the battery working.” They’d already tried that once the car broke down and the sun started to cook the seats.
“Sit still, chill, got it.” Prompto gave Noctis a thumbs up. Noctis smiled and gave one back.
“Be safe.” Noct waved. “If we manage to get someone to stop we'll hitch a ride and catch up.”
Gladio knelt down and pulled Prompto onto his back, hooking his arms under his legs. Prompto wiggled a bit trying to get comfortable. Gladio was sweaty and hot though, just as much as he was, so there was really no winning. They'd be sticky and gross no matter what.
He sighed and leaned over Gladio's left side, folding his arms around broad shoulders. Eugh. Getting carried by Gladio and he was too dizzy to even appreciate the bulging muscles.
“Watch him, Iggy.” Gladio nodded to Noctis before starting off at an easy walk.
“What am I supposed to get up to out here?”
“I shudder to imagine.”
“Thanks, Gladio.” Prompto mumbled, already feeling the heavy weight of exhaustion coming back. He had a strong urge to just close his eyes and take a nap. But that was… probably a bad idea, so he focused on the nausea in his stomach and kept his eyes squinted open.
“Next time, maybe say something.” Gladio huffed. “Can't have one of us knocking out without warning. You're lucky you just got a scrape on your chin.”
“Yeah.” It itched and stung something awful when sweat dripped over it. He was real lucky his glasses didn't break. Or his nose. “Sorry. Didn't realize I was gonna faint.” Prompto shrugged weakly. “Just remember the ground coming up at me all of a sudden.”
Gladio was quiet after that, focused on putting one foot in front of the other at a steady rate. At least they were moving. There wasn't exactly a breeze, but Prompto swore it was cooler than standing around.
“Hope car's not too busted.” Prompto mumbled, trying to fill the silence.
“She's an oldie. I'm sure the Regalia will be up and running fine once we get her to Hammerhead. Dad always had a lot to say about Cid's skill under the hood.”
“Mmm. What a start to the trip. Wasn't it supposed to be a lot closer?” He looked through lidded eyes down the road. At least he could see a fuzzy building instead of just empty desert and the strip of asphalt leading into the distance. “Literally next door.”
“Looks that way on a map of the world.” Gladio snorted. “Maybe learn to read a map right next time.”
“Mrhhh-” Prompto groaned. “Don't be mean to me, I feel like shit.”
The soft chuckle shook him against thick muscles. “I'll be mean all I want to the idiot who crisped himself to hell and back.”
“Ugh. Don't remind me. I think it's worse than the fainting.” Prompto could feel the hot coals against his skin where a sunburn had thoroughly set in. “Mm gonna look like a salt and pepper shaker.” The swarm of freckles after the burn healed was gonna be fierce.
Of course, Prompto was going to have to go through the entire burn process first. At least two days of brutal fire on his skin and being unable to sleep at night. Then the itching when the dead skin started to slough off, matched with equal burning still, because in a twist of fate life wasn't fair to the fair skinned.
If he was lucky the burn would be gone by the end of the week. He had a good sunburn lotion packed that worked wonders. But given where they were, Prompto was pretty sure he'd be attending Noctis’s wedding with a red face. No way his skin was going to be out of the sun long enough for it to heal. He'd probably just heal a bit and then burn again the next time they went outside.
He blinked a few times. The buildings were getting a lot closer. Gladio hiked his legs a bit further up his waist and pushed himself to a jog.
Gladio’s big broad hands were squeezing his thighs and Prompto was too nauseous to admire it. Admittedly, probably for the best. This would be an embarrassing time to get a boner.
When Gladiolus jogged into the parking lot heads turned and eyebrows rose. His head swiveled between the open garage and the gas station.
Apparently, Gladio chose the gas station for some reason.
He pushed the door open and a blessedly frozen wash of air made Prompto moan.
“Fuck that feels nice.” Gladio huffed, standing still for a minute.
Prompto was too dazed by the sudden change in temperature to make an actual comment. His skin itched. This was better than sex.
“Hey, our car broke down out a couple miles back and my buddy here fainted from the heat. He's not used to it.” Gladio said as he walked up to the register. “Figured it'd be cooler in here than the garage. Is it okay if I leave Prompto here to cool down while I go arrange a tow?”
“Of course, I'll grab a chair for ya.” The man said sympathetically.
“Mmmm I just. Want to lay down.” Prompto made grabby hands towards the linoleum floor calling his name.
Gladio snickered at him.
In the end he was settled on the nice chilled floor, with his back to a wall so he wasn't laying on it because Gladio was a spoilsport. Prompto sipped a bottle of water and nibbled on a bag of chips tiredly. Gladio left him with the promise of talking to Cid about getting a tow to pick up the Regalia and the others. Prompto just hoped they didn't have to head back out anytime soon because he was very happy here in the air-conditioned store.