The sun was beating down on the Hammerhead station, causing Noctis to peel off his overshirt in an effort to cool off. Their first order of business was to fill the Regalia up with gas. Their second order of business was to go get dinner together, which Noctis was tentatively excited about. He was looking forward to just messing around with his friends without feeling like he had to look over his shoulder for monsters all the time. He would probably get told off for picking the vegetables out of whatever they got, but he was willing to take it for a chance to just relax.
He was standing by the Regalia, and was listening for the telltale 'all done' click of the gas pump. Ignis and Gladio, meanwhile, had ventured to the convenience store. Prompto had snuck off to find Cindy, and – click! There it was. Noctis replaced the gas pump back to its proper place and walked to the convenience store to find his friends.
He was welcomed by a blast of air courtesy of the air conditioner. He spotted Ignis and Gladio by the coffee display, and involuntarily shuddered for a second at the thought of downing another cup of bitter Ebony coffee in an attempt to look cool.
"Car's done," he said, approaching his friends.
"Good," Ignis replied, picking out a tin of coffee. "Shall we get going then?"
Noctis nodded, and the three of them made their way to checkout. The man tending the cash register had a scarf wrapped around his neck, despite the heat. This was inexplicably coupled with a t-shirt and a hat.
As they were being rung up, Prompto appeared, looking very happy and very pink in the face.
"Guys! Guys!" he said breathlessly. "Guess what!"
"You –" Gladio began, but was interrupted by Prompto, who was too excited to wait.
"Cindy's gonna teach me how to tune up a car!"
Noctis exchanged a look with Gladio and Ignis. "Good…for you…?"
"Is that really cause for such excitement?" Ignis asked, raising an eyebrow.
Noctis chuckled. "It is for Prompto, seeing as how he's head over heels for Cindy."
"I am not," Prompto mumbled. He pouted at his friends, who were now all laughing.
"When is this meant to happen?" Ignis asked, a smile still on his face.
"Oh, uh, tonight…?" Prompto said sheepishly. "Look, I know we were supposed to go out to dinner…and we've been planning it forever…and I'd feel bad about missing it! But I don't get to see Cindy that often, right? So I thought…"
"Don't worry about it, Prompto," Noctis reassured. "We'll see you later."
"Ah, thanks, Noct!" Prompto grinned widely. "I'll make it up to you, I swear!"
With that, he scarpered out of the convenience store.
"150 Gil," the cashier said impatiently.
"Oh. My apologies." Ignis began to count out the exact amount, much to the cashier's annoyance.
While this was happening, the cashier asked: "That guy back there…your friend?"
"Yeah," Noctis replied.
"Man, if my friend flaked out on a plan like that for a girl…" the cashier scoffed.
"Lucky he isn't your friend then," Gladio said, unimpressed with this exchange. "Hurry up, would ya, Iggy?"
Ignis placed the Gil on the counter, which the cashier took. The receipt began to print out in an agonizingly slow fashion.
"No bro code for you guys, huh?" the cashier continued.
"Excuse me?" Ignis asked, confused.
"Bro code, man. Y'know – rule number one: bros before hos. Your friend back there has obviously never heard of it."
"My receipt, please," Ignis said firmly, completely ignoring the cashier's previous statement.
Noctis and Gladio remained quiet as Ignis was handed the receipts. With the tin of Ebony coffee in hand, they hightailed it out of the convenience store as fast as they could.
Later that evening, Noctis was picking vegetables out of his dish and placing them on Ignis' plate.
"That cashier was something today, huh?" Gladio said over the din of the restaurant.
"Indeed," Ignis agreed. "What was it he was talking about? Some sort of code?"
"Bro code," Noctis recalled. "Something about bros…before…"
"Sounded like bullshit to me," Gladio said, cutting a large piece out of his steak. "What's the big deal in letting Prompto off the hook? It's just dinner. And we all saw how excited he was."
Ignis and Noctis murmured in agreement.
"Perhaps that's our code," Ignis said suddenly.
"Hmm?" Noctis paused and scowled, having accidentally eaten a piece of celery.
"We did not mind Prompto 'flaking out,' as the cashier so eloquently put it, because he was very clearly pleased with what had happened. And I have no doubt that the same would stand for any of us."
"Yeah, I definitely wouldn't stand in your way if you wanted to do something that'd cheer you up, Iggy," Gladio remarked.
"Sounds good to me," Noctis said, still picking vegetables out of his dish. "So how much do we want to bet that Prompto is going to somehow come back with some kind of injury?"
Prompto actually did end up coming back with a bandaged hand. But, as it happened, the bro code dictated that none of them make fun of him. Instead, they listened as he rattled off about Cindy, and told him that yes, it did sound like things were going well between the two of them.
It wasn't a bro code, really. It was just them supporting one another, as friends do.