burstmodes | ( ic contact ) / duplicity

[ through some miraculous series of events, they survive the trauma, leaving ivy worse for wear. she's exhausted, physically and emotionally, and as much as she loves being around prompto, she needs space for once in her life. with a kiss on his forehead, she finally leaves her bed after what feels like a twenty-four hour nap, steps over the mess and broken furniture, and steps out for a little to clear her head. or at least try to.

eventually, though, she misses him again and ends up sending a message. ]

morning.... or afternoon, haha
you want anything from outside?

[ it feels strange being back in the city.

prompto hasn't even really had a chance to cope with it, having floundered his way through the entire journey and keyed up in an effort to protect both noct and ivy. noct because it had almost felt like home, for just a second, and because he's his best friend and prince (king?). and ivy because... because he's pretty sure he loves her. not just in the friends kind of way or the she's his dom kind of way. it's confusing, and he thinks he's just messing it up all the time. which is where his mind immediately goes when he wakes up and finds himself alone in the bed.

he vaguely remembers her getting up, but he'd been too tired to question where she was going. now, the anxiety is starting to kick in. at least until he reads her message. ]

oh yeah wow
it's late huh?
ummmm
do you wanna get us something to eat?
food sounds so good right now

[ and not the stuff they'd been serving them at fort harmony or the random things they'd eaten during their escape. ]

i never crave this but i'm gonna find a burger with a fried egg on it because i think my body needs that and a mountain of fries. you in?
i'll probably just come back with bags of food so we don't have to leave for a while.
i needed some air but i kinda just wanna come back to you.

[ why she is the best as emotional honesty over the phone, she doesn't know. ( or rather she doesn't but won't acknowledge it. ) but ivy likes having that space to make her confessions, following it up with verbal confirmation. she's been in love before but nothing like this, never bonded with someone not just over trauma but over finding something soft in a harsh world. she has someone to come home to and wouldn't trade that for anything. ]

oh man
i think anything not jail food is 👌👌
so i'll have whatever you're having
fried egg and fries and all

[ he flushes a little at the confession, but... things have always been sort of like this between them. hasn't it? prompto honestly can't remember a day when it hadn't been natural and easy; even that very first one had opened them up to a lot more. and rather than sulk in bed, he rolls himself out of it and tries to pick up some of the stuff around the apartment. there's a handful of photos he picks up from where they'd been knocked off the wall, wanting to rearrange them again but unsure what to really do with them or himself. ]

i'm not going anywhere promise
so come back when you're ready

you got it, babe.

[ ivy tries to remember where she last got a good burger that wasn't room service. it doesn't feel right to her to order after all that's happened. prompto's assurance is just what she needs to push forward today, continuing her walk in the cold for now to find some peace.

she pauses on a street corner to continue her message. ]

we're nearing three months, you know.

[ just the affection in that text makes it feel like everything's okay. nothing is out of place except some of their stuff that's still scattered about on the floor, and prompto's so focused on trying to clean it up that he almost misreads the second text. but the words sink in full-force when he realizes what they're about, and it's an unconscious motion, the way his hand immediately presses against his throat where the submissive mark is. ]

oh yeah
i guess time flies huh?

does that mean

[ he can't bring himself to type out anything that might insinuate he wants to stop this thing he has with ivy. ]

what do you wanna do??

do you want to still be with me?

[ it's such a loaded question because he's always worried about saying the wrong thing and messing up. prompto writes out a thousand different messages before finally sticking with: ]

i don't think i wanna be with anyone else
i mean
unless you do??
then i guess we can figure that out

i don't want to be with anyone else either.

sorry, i should have said this all to you in person.
it just kinda came out while i was out here.

nah i get it
sometimes it's just uh easier

[ because he definitely knows what it's like to face the world through a text. ]

so we keep going right?
like nothing's different??

[ ivy doesn't hesitate in responding. ]

i think we're both a little different. but that's okay.
that doesn't change what i want or how i feel.

[ he can't say he gets it unless she's talking about the last couple of weeks. ]

oh right
well i still wanna give us a shot
see where things go from here yknow?

me too. i think we're onto something good despite everything else happening around us.

yeah

[ sorry about his lack of in-depth replies. he's trying to have everything straightened up before she comes back. ]

you're not thinkin about it are you?
like... that stuff back at harmony
i mean too much anyway

it's hard not to think about it.
it's kind of inextricable from all of us now and like i'm good at pretending but i'm not that good, i don't think.

i just wanna move past it.

me too
think we can help each other do that?

i think we can.
all i really want to do is to just never leave the room and just order food and stay safe but after they broke in, i know that's no way to survive either. and hiding isn't really healthy.
so we'll try to work through it, you and me.

[ prompto has to think about this a while because it's kind of a crazy idea, and he isn't even sure how it would work. ]

what if we like
i dunno
searched for a place we could move to that isn't here
i mean we can still stay here but
then we'd have that other place to go to if something happened
we'd be the only ones to know about it