Moving On
.....why did I do this to myself.
Just why
There are two versions of this-this is what I was writing yesterday and where it went when I thought of the complications that would come when falling in love with a ghost. I feel like if I could flesh this out a bit, this could actually be a thing. And then there’s a different version that’s not NEARLY as intense and was pretty much pure smut like my previous one.
That accidentally got deleted.
Son of a bitch.
So, I’m going to post this instead, the rough draft of this so it’s pretty raw, because I’m probably going to try and recreate my smutty version instead. But if you’re expecting pure smut like my Prompto Ghost AU, then I suggest you look elsewhere, because this shit is nothing but angst. Angst and just...why the fuck, man, just why the actual fuck.
Moving On
Gladiolus AmicitiaxFemale Reader
NSFW
Word Count: 3,621
"Did you bring the food?"
You look at Gladiolus Amacitia with a raised eyebrow as you brought the chairs over to the tent you two would share that weekend. You had set it up by the bank of the river, as something you two always loved to do was eat and watch the moonlight ripple over the water softly.
You put the chairs down and hold up the food bag that had some Cup Noodles, clean water and the stuff for s'mores. Sweat was starting to build on your sides from the humidity and you were greatful you were one skinny dip away from a sweat-free body.
"You don't eat," you point out.
Gladiolus leans towards you and licks his lip slightly when he notices the food bag, his gaze traveling from your head to your toe. He always did have this weird thing about watching you eat Cup Noodles...
It was your strangest relationship, but by far your best. You had a feeling that it would never get any worse, no matter what happened.
You had met Gladiolus when you were camping with some friends out by Lastallum, and he immediately caught your eye. He hadn't been wearing a shirt that day and was laying on the docks, sun bathing, with no real care in the world. When he sat up to pull the ponytail on the back of his head out, you suddenly forgot how to breathe. His dark brown, almost black hair tumbled down his shoulders and in front of his face, over his scar and amber eyes, casting a spell on you without you realizing it.
You had approached him and tried to strike up a conversation with him, but he had looked at you with absolute shock. It was like he couldn't believe you were there and even reached out to touch you at one point while you talked, jumping back when you reacted when he touched you.
When your friend came up and asked you who you were talking to, you realized that you had done goofed.
You had been able to see ghosts for as long as you could remember, but ghosts were tricky. They were just like humans, only intangible when they chose to be, so sometimes it was hard for you to tell the difference between someone who was alive and someone who was...well, dead.
But that didn't stop you from sneaking out after your friends had gone to bed and finding him still sitting on the docks, under the moonlight. You two sat there and talked until the sun rose up, where you talked about each other and Gladiolus seemed happy to have the social interaction.
You found out how he was one of the fighters during The Day of Light and how he had passed away during battle. You found out that while his other friends had moved on, he spent most of his time wandering around, not sure where he was supposed to be and the thought of him being alone for so long broke your heart.
You had developed the biggest crush on him that night, but never acted on it because, hello, he was dead. But you had a great friendship with him and you were happy with just talking about your favorite books and having him pop in occasionally to see what you were up to.
Somewhere along the line of your friendship, anything with a door would start slamming whenever someone of the opposite sex would walk in the room. Cupboards, fridge doors, window shades. You had to figure stuff out when Gladiolus accidentally shattered the front window of a coffee shop when the cashier tried to flirt with you.
Fed up, you sat Gladiolus down in your apartment that night, ready to figure out both of your feelings and what the hell was going on with you two. When you found out he was pretty much in love with you, it was the happiest you had ever been, despite the circumstances.
And you may or may not have had the best sex of your life that night.
...Okay, you definitely did.
Now, you two would spend pretty much every other weekend camping in the woods, with no one to judge you for walking by yourself in the city or neighbors thinking you were having a bit too much fun by yourself at night.
You both were sitting by the river, Gladio watching silently as you ate your Cup Noodles. Ghosts actually could eat, as they were much like people who were alive, Gladio just chose not to. But he loved watching you eat Cup Noodles, the way you would slurp the noodles with your chopsticks, your lips pouting slightly as the last bit of noodle went into your mouth.
"You're staring," you mention as you take another bite.
Gladio grinned, watching the way your throat moved when you swallowed, swallowing on his own as he noticed a drop of sweat from your hairline moving down your neck. When you face him, he looks into your eyes with a combination of emotions; lust, happiness...love.
You fan yourself as the flames from the fire grow a bit hotter, a reaction from his emotions. "Can you not?"
"Can't exactly control it," Gladio whispers, his husky voice now even deeper as he leaves his chair to reach over and catch another bead of sweat with his tongue.
You can't help but shudder, feeling good but also feeling a bit weird at him licking your own sweat. "That is just gross,"
Gladio winks at you, his grin never fading as he repeats the action. "Not my fault you taste good,"
"Gods," you giggle as he nibbles on a ticklish spot at the space between your neck and collarbone. He takes the Cup Noodles from your hand, placing it down on the ground before reaching up and cupping your breat with one hand, kneading it gently as he continues leaving soft bruises on your neck. You were gonna have to explain to your best friend again how that whether or not you had a secret boyfriend was none of her business.
Gladio hums, his deep voice resonating against your skin as your breathing gets more shallow. You lean forward to comb your fingers through his hair, but are instantly distracted by your shirt sticking to your back from the combination of humidity and sweat. Ick.
"Gladio, I'm soaked," you argue, pushing him away gently to get him to move.
Rather than move, Gladio quirks an eyebrow and grins micheviously as he reaches for your center, trying to decide for himself whether or not your words were actually true. You grab his hand before it reaches there, laughing as you realize your error.
"Okay, bad choice of words," you nudge him away and stand up, peeling the stuck shirt away from your sweaty skin. "Seriously, I'm gross-I think it's time for a little dip, wouldn't you say?"
Gladio's grin faltered, but he tried to cover it up by standing up and pulling you to him, reaching a hand under your shirt so he could trail his fingers lightly down your back. It might have been nice if you weren't so sweaty. "Maybe later..."
You hug him gently, knowing why he doesn't want to get in the water with you, but also knowing that you were horrifically sweaty and didn't want to start the weekend off feeling gross. "Just give me two minutes," you whisper, kissing his cheek and walking towards the edge of the river.
"Fine, guess I'll just wander around," Gladio called after you. You knew him well enough to know that he was upset about being in the river, and you had an idea why.
But you also had an idea on how to help him out.
"Whatever you want, Gladdy," you call as you strip out of your shirt, the slowly dying fire making your skin glow. The moon and fire gives you plenty of light as you slowly and deliberately take your time peeling away the shorts you wore to the trip, bending over to step out of them, making Gladio gulp at the sight.
Now, in your plain black bra and cotton underwear (you're camping, you were gonna keep it simple) you slowly make your way to the edge of the water, loving the way the damp sand squished against your feet. You slowly walk into the water until you're waist deep, then swim towards the center, the water now up to your shoulders.
You languish in your time, enjoying making Gladio feel antsy as you hold your breath and float on your back, tracing the constellations with your eyes as your hair floats in the water. Taking a deep breath, you dip under for a few minutes before resurfacing, your hair slicked back and you eye Gladio from the bank, who has gone to try and busy himself with tending the fire.
You pout and swim closer, trying and failing to splash him and the fire. "What?" he asked, careful to avoid looking at you. "I thought you said you were only gonna be a few minutes,"
Shrugging, you manage to get some sprinkles of water into the fire. He finally looks at you and rolls his eyes. "Alright, you have my attention," he glowered, standing at his full height.
The glow from the fire made the shadows around him dance as you take in his tall form, his glowing amber eyes and his muscles that bulged from his tank top. But his gaze is what holds you, because beneath the strong and tough exterior, you know that he's in pain. You want to show him that no matter what, you were with him until the very end.
But he was going to need some convincing.
You dip under the water and resurface slowly again, some river water falling from your mouth. You look back, wondering what Gladio was doing and see him now doing one armed push-ups, facing away from you.
Damn it.
But you weren't going to give up. Unhooking your bra, you take it off and toss the wet piece of clothing up on the sandy bank, landing just a few feet away from Gladio's right foot. "Hang that up for me, would you?" you ask slyly and start moving back in the center of the river, careful to keep your naked self under the water, trying your damnest to entice this guy in the only way you knew how.
You grin when you hear scrambling and clothes being discarded-guess ghost's need to worry about getting their clothes wet as well.
Turning around, you watch Gladio as slowly swims closer, stopping a few feet away from you, still in the shadows of the riverbank. His body and face are completely hidden from you and you know why he's hiding. When you try and swim closer, he swims back, still hidden in shadows.
You smile with encouragement and grab onto his hand gently. "Gladdy-come on," you say softly and pull him with you into the moonlight.
Ghosts were much like humans, but they were still ghosts. One way to tell a ghost from a human was water-for some reason, whenever a ghost would get wet, their skin would start to become transparent. They wouldn't be invisible, but they would be see through-you could still see, hear and touch them, but their skin was almost like looking through a piece of warped glass.
You could see the trees of the other side of the river through Gladio's head, but you were still able to look into his amber eyes, which were now containing so much sadness that you noticed a dip in temperature in the water around you. Grabbing his hand, you bring it up to your cheek, but he just looks at his own hand sadly.
Transparent and solid.
Human and dead.
Knowing that he could never be...normal again.
"Gladio?" you ask softly, reaching your other hand behind his neck.
He looks at you, still sad, but smiles because he knows you're trying. "Hmm?"
"You know I love you, right?"
He brings his forehead to yours and looks at your combined hands, still comparing the solid and transparency. Every second he stared at your hands, he just looked more and more miserable. "I know...it's just-"
"I'm not going away," you reassured him, wrapping both arms around his neck and pressing yourself up against him to hug him as tight as you could, even though to him you probably just felt like a noodle being wrapped around his finger.
He wraps his arms around you as well and you instinctively wrap your legs around his middle, pleased to find that unlike you, he had stripped down completely before getting in the river.
"I know," he whispers and kisses you once, so gently that you wondered for a second who this guy was and what he did with the rough and kinky Gladio you knew. "I love you, too,"
You bring your lips to his, gently touching your tongue against his bottom lip. He opens his mouth and you dip your tongue in, taking control as you ran your hand through his hair, loving the way the damp hair felt against your finger tips, transparent or not.
After a few minutes of control, you start to feel Gladio tensing up and holding you tighter as he began to get a little more forceful, sucking on your bottom lip and gripping your hips tightly.
"I love you," he whispers against your lips again and you reach down to stroke him gently, his member standing at full attention by now.
He breaks away from you and grabs at your breast with his mouth, more rough, like the Gladiolus you're used to. He sucks your nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue and you grip onto his hair, trying to get as closer as possible as you start to move your hand faster over his length.
His breathing is now about as shallow as yours is and he looks up at you with a smirk. "Was this your plan?"
"Maybe," you admit and trail your other hand that was in his hair down his back, tracing the wings of his tatoos with your fingertips.
"Hmph," Gladio grunts and reaches down to cup your sex, outside the underwear because he knew that drove you wild. He tries to take off your underwear, but the cotton combined with the river was not cooperating with your skin.
After a minute, you feel a sharp tug on your panties, the pressure from the wet clothing now gone, but you knew it wasn't removed conventionally. Grimacing, Gladio brings the now torn fabric out of the river by the tip of his finger.
"Seriously, Gladdy?" You pout a little, slightly frustrated. "Again?"
Gladio is actually blushing as he tosses the fabric onto the river bank and pulls you closer. "I, uh, don't know my own strength?"
"Yeah-huh," you sigh as you feel his member gently rubbing against your center, seeking entrance. "I think I'm gonna ignore that for now,"
"Damn straight," Gladio bites down hard on your neck, smoothing the spot with his tongue as he pushes into you, not too forcefully, but not too softly either. The water from the river makes it much easier to maneuver as Gladio starts to thrust into you, making you cry out softly, your cries echoing off the water.
Gladio buries his face into your neck as he continues to thrust. After a few minutes, you feel his shoulders shaking gently and you feel your heart breaking as the water gets even colder.
"Gladdy," you pull his head back, forcing him to look at you as you stare into his amber eyes, making sure to focus on his eyes and not the water that you could see through him. He stops thrusting when he focuses on you, the heartbreak reading on his face. It was the first time you'd ever seen Gladiolus so raw and...hurt.
"I'm here," you whisper, brushing his hair away from his face. "I'm here,"
Gladio shakes his head and buries his face again into your neck. You have a suspicion that he doesn't want you to see his face scrunch up from the pain of accepting his mortality and your heart is breaking piece by piece.
Gladio starts to move you onto the river bank with the intention of continuing your love making in the tent, but doesn't make it that far. Instead, you both collapse into the sand, your body feeling a bit awkward as bits of sand stick to your body.
Gladio sits up and moves to enter you once again but stops, staring at you with every bit of heartbreak now openly displayed on his face. But there's something different, like he's...realized something.
"I'm...I'm dead," Gladio whispers the words so softly that you almost don't hear them.
"Gladio-"
"I'm dead," he pounds one of his fists into the sand a few feet away from your side and rakes his hands through his hair, gripping the back as if trying to force horrible thoughts out of his head.
Now it was your turn to cry and you felt tears well up as you reached up to hold him. "Gladdy-"
"I-I've finally met someone who...who..." Gladio grips his hair tighter as he stutters his words. "Who understands me, who is there for me always, who I love with every bit of my soul,"
You now see the tears in his eyes as he screams to the world, his shouts forever unheard of by anyone except you. "I finally find you and I'm FUCKING. DEAD!"
You grip onto his shoulders and pull him so he's lying down in the sand on top of you and you hug him with every bit of strength your body can offer. He buries his face into your chest and you hear dry sobbing, the first and probably only time you would ever witness Gladiolus Amacitia cry.
"Why-why didn't I meet you before I-"
"Stop, Gladdy," you whisper, having a hard time containing your own tears. "I'm here now-I'm here now and I'll never let you go,"
"But-"
"But nothing," You pull his head off of your chest and force him to look into your eyes. "I love you. I love you so much. I'm not leaving, I'll never leave you as long as I sit here and breathe. Please believe that,"
Gladio covers his face with one of his hands, unable to hide his tears from you. "It'll never work,"
You pause, not sure how it would work between you two.
"I...I feel like I'm holding you back," Gladio whispers, his breath tickling your face. "What kind of life can you possibly have with me?"
You bite your lip.
"A life with you," You finally answer.
Gladio shakes his head. "You-you really want to-"
"I'm here, aren't I?" You kiss his lips and pull him into you, joining you two together once again. You sigh as he fills every single inch of you up, feeling like you two were made for each other. You're also fighting tears as you begin to feel that life was especially cruel as well.
"You're here," Gladio agrees, still whispering and begins to thrust gently.
"I'm here," You whisper back. "I'm not going to leave,"
Gladio nods, seeming to finally understand. He kisses you, tangling your tongue with his as he begins thrusting into you. It's so gentle, so quiet, but the intensity is like nothing you had experienced before. Being with someone you truly loved felt like the ultimate high and you both never broke lips as he thrust lazily into you and you both eventually tumbled together.
You wake up in the tent and stretch lazily, feeling refreshed and just...in love. Gladio repeated his love making process to you three times after the first, each time being equally as lazy and drawn out. He pleased you over and over again and you did the same to him. It was the most wonderful thing in the world.
But as you reached over to hold Gladio closer to you as the sun rose, you felt nothing but air.
You sit up and stretch, wanting Gladio to be here with you as you leave the tent and tell him to come back and try to sleep in for once.
When you leave the tent, though, there's no one there.
"Gladio?" You call and look around, wondering where he could have gone. It wasn't like he went hunting or anything, daemon's and animals were very violent towards ghosts. Then why...
You walk towards the fire that was still crackling after being forgotten in the hazy passion of last night. When you hear Styrofoam crunch beneath your feet, you look down and notice a lone Cup Noodle container that was completely empty.
You had thrown yours away in the trash bag you two had brought.
Grabbing the cup and looking around, you suddenly feel more alone than you ever had before. You run towards the bank of the river, some minor hope in you that he was swimming in the river.
He wasn't.
He was gone.
The heartbreak you feel is immense and fierce, forcing you on your knees as you can't hold back the sobs ripping from your chest. You knew, you knew it was only a matter of time but you had hoped...
You had hoped you were enough.
As you continue to sob, you almost don't notice the sound of scratching in the sand near your knees. When you feel something poke at you, you look down and see four gentle words, a promise, etched into the sand.
I'll always love you
And even though you’re sobbing, you’re smiling. Because you know that wherever he is, he’s finally at peace.