Gladio exhales heavily. "No, I didn't. For one thing, I don't think I need his permission to have a boyfriend that's not him. He's got one that's not me, after all. He's obviously okay with poly relationships because he came to me and agreed to start one." He rakes a hand through his hair. "But that's really not the reason I didn't say anything - just why I didn't think I absolutely had to as some kind of...responsibility. We didn't talk about it because...none of us talked about you much while you weren't here, Iggy. Do you have any idea how bad we missed you? I think if it weren't for Prompto, Noct would've been in a full-blown depression by now. Even thinking about you hurt. So while you weren't here, and there wasn't any immediately pressing reason Noct had to know...it was easier to just not say anything."
He huffs out a breath. "Besides, if he was already upset about you not being here...I figured he wouldn't take the joke of our relationship being out there in plain sight for years and him never noticing it too well. Yeah, his obliviousness was funny then, but with him being so down about the guy who's closest to him in the world not being around - completely changes the mood." And he forces himself to admit, out loud, something that's been on his mind for a little while. "I'm kinda worried we let the joke run so long that he won't find it funny in any context, honestly. Not like we were trying to stretch it, we kept thinking he had to catch on, but it just kinda snowballed. Until it went from 'it's funny he hasn't noticed' to 'I don't know how to say it after it's been this long', and I don't know when we crossed that line exactly.
"And it'd have been me alone, having to answer for both of us. Having to maybe upset him with both of us, while you weren't even here to talk to him or make things right or apologize or defend yourself or...anything. Making that decision to tell him without you felt weird, too.
"It was never because I didn't want him to know, okay? Or that I was trying to hide it from him. It just became this weird, complex...thing, because it was something we didn't think we'd even have to say, and we ended up waiting so long for him to notice that it started to feel too awkward to bring up. That whole year we were on the road together, we weren't exactly subtle, and he never noticed a thing. And then...well, stuff happened, and we - I - lost any chance to tell him until getting to this place."
He sighs. "Look, you can blame me for this one. It was my idea that it'd be funny to see the look on his face when he picked up on it for himself, rather than make some embarrassing announcement to him. I didn't exactly push it hard, we just stopped thinking about it too much after awhile, but...you'd have told him from the start, and things would've been a lot simpler if I'd listened to you. If there's going to be any fallout from it, I'll take it. Even the Iggy who went along with my stupid idea shouldn't really be on the hook for this, but you have nothing to do with it at all. It's my problem to worry about."
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He huffs out a breath. "Besides, if he was already upset about you not being here...I figured he wouldn't take the joke of our relationship being out there in plain sight for years and him never noticing it too well. Yeah, his obliviousness was funny then, but with him being so down about the guy who's closest to him in the world not being around - completely changes the mood." And he forces himself to admit, out loud, something that's been on his mind for a little while. "I'm kinda worried we let the joke run so long that he won't find it funny in any context, honestly. Not like we were trying to stretch it, we kept thinking he had to catch on, but it just kinda snowballed. Until it went from 'it's funny he hasn't noticed' to 'I don't know how to say it after it's been this long', and I don't know when we crossed that line exactly.
"And it'd have been me alone, having to answer for both of us. Having to maybe upset him with both of us, while you weren't even here to talk to him or make things right or apologize or defend yourself or...anything. Making that decision to tell him without you felt weird, too.
"It was never because I didn't want him to know, okay? Or that I was trying to hide it from him. It just became this weird, complex...thing, because it was something we didn't think we'd even have to say, and we ended up waiting so long for him to notice that it started to feel too awkward to bring up. That whole year we were on the road together, we weren't exactly subtle, and he never noticed a thing. And then...well, stuff happened, and we - I - lost any chance to tell him until getting to this place."
He sighs. "Look, you can blame me for this one. It was my idea that it'd be funny to see the look on his face when he picked up on it for himself, rather than make some embarrassing announcement to him. I didn't exactly push it hard, we just stopped thinking about it too much after awhile, but...you'd have told him from the start, and things would've been a lot simpler if I'd listened to you. If there's going to be any fallout from it, I'll take it. Even the Iggy who went along with my stupid idea shouldn't really be on the hook for this, but you have nothing to do with it at all. It's my problem to worry about."