Author's Note: To new and upcoming readers that may be coming across this work with no exposure to the previous fanfics that I'd published before this, I'd like to establish a few things regarding this story.
(1) You do not need to read Only You (And You Alone) or A Painted Face in order to understand this story. Those are branching stories based from this fic, so this actually serves to explain how the situations depicted in those previous fics come about, though it's not a 1:1 lead-in, and there are things that will be mentioned in Proof of Existence that didn't happen in the other two fics, or vice versa. For those that have already read those fics: Congrats, you know what ships will be here (or teased), that Fabula Nova Crystallis lore will be present in this story, and there's more magic involved (think, Final Fantasy XII's spells and skills) than basic Elemancy.
(1.5) Fabula Nova Crystallis lore will be present. Smut will not be. Don't worry, the word count that would have gone to smut will likely be devoted instead to having a named character telling someone else to go shove something up an orifice, with said occurrence numbering once per chapter on average. I'm positive that makes up for it.
(2) You might note from the word count of the first chapter alone minus this author's note, that I intend on making the story long as heck. As this is a canon-divergent rewrite of Final Fantasy XV that stemmed from the need to 'give Prompto a stronger character arc', the story will be long, detailed whenever possible to establish differences, and involves a lot of 'alternate interpretations' of characters to flesh them out within the bounds of existing characterization with a bit of bending to constitute further development. There will also be changes up to and including names in general, spellings of names like Aurea instead of Aulea, or terms such as Priestess instead of Oracle - the degrees of which will be evident by reading each chapter. Ardyn, for example, will be different. But that's all I will say about him.
(3) Because it's a rewrite, it might be tempting to skip to the canon portions or the action-filled parts. Don't. The 'canon parts' won't be in the places you'd think they are, ex: the events of Chapter 4 in the game (Noctis undergoing the Trial of Titan) won't be at Chapter 4 of the story. Not just that, but things mentioned in earlier chapters are meant to pay off later on, and then further still.
(4) This fic is intended to feature Promnis and NoctLuna, as the course of events in the story lead to their bonds growing stronger than they were at the start, and they start off pretty strong to begin with. If you read past the first chapter and by the end of the story you're still surprised those ships happened instead of something like Promptis or IgNoct or Noct with literally anyone except Luna, I don't know what to tell you, except that I commend your imagination.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Final Fantasy XV characters nor any of the canon dialogue that is directly taken from the game, but the text and situations the characters go through, if not paying homage to other Final Fantasy games or outside media, are about as original as anything can be in this age. Basically, this fic is going to be 'stuff you may have read or seen before but in an order that you haven't yet'. Any similarities or relations to other stories are completely coincidental and frankly unfortunate.
On to the story.
Chapter 1: Errand
His boots sank into soft ground, and with each squelching step he kicked up spurts of water that were cold despite the afternoon sun. He faintly registered the wet slaps of footsteps alongside him, as his friend also splashed through the marshwater. The stray branches of shrubs snagged onto his clothes, but he shook them aside time and again and kept running.
Their target was elusive, but they wouldn't be for much longer.
Through shallow puddles and sheets of slate, he and his friend kept on. His lungs were starting to ache- they begged for more air than he was already giving them, but they would get their break soon, the strain would be over, he just had to…
There it is! Finally! Right in front of him! He took a running dive, arms outstretched, he could swear he almost caught it-
He caught the slap of webbed feet in his face as the frog leapt right onto and over him, and then he hit the water. He pulled himself out from the cold and wiped runny mud from his face, regaining just enough of his vision to spot his raven-haired friend slow to a stop next to him and hold out a hand for him to take.
"You okay, Prompto?"
Prompto took the hand offered. "I'm good. Thanks, Noct."
"No problem." Noct grinned. "Almost had it, though, right?"
"Yeah!" Prompto would have better luck the next time, and with that in mind he picked up the chase again, after the red frog that was evading all four of the guys. Lack of trying had something to do with that, really; only he and Noctis were giving it their all and running full tilt after that agile amphibian, but Gladio and Ignis acted instead as if they had all day to chase for it.
"You're not gonna catch that thing if you're tired," Gladio said.
"But we will catch it, just you wait!" Prompto countered.
"And you're going to report back to Sania looking like that?" Bespectacled bystander though he was, Ignis would never skip the opportunity to chastise. He'd drop dead before that ever became a possibility.
The blond pouted- Ignis was so concerned with looking presentable, but who were they out to impress? Sure, Doctor Sania was Gladio's friend, but exactly that- Gladio's friend. Didn't he have to be the one to worry about looking nice? Then again, Prompto figured he'd be pretty upset if anyone in his circle of friends showed up to Cindy looking like they'd crawled out of a sewer. … Okay, in that case, he got the point.
While Prompto was thinking that over, Noctis had chased the frog out into the water. The frog skimmed the surface of the pond as if it were frozen- if any of them were newer to the area, they'd have gotten the impression that the pond itself was nothing more than just a wide but shallow expanse of water, rather than something they could get stuck up to their knees in. Prompto had figured out that whole 'knees-getting-stuck' thing the hard way, days ago.
Noctis stopped just at the edge of the pond, and Prompto did the same, only this time he'd be as ready to brave that water as he could get.
"Alright, time to give it a whirl!" Small currents of energy drifted along his hands and between his fingers, the currents flickering with pinpricks of light as if there were bits of glass in it that caught the glint of the sun.
"Oh man, you're really gonna try that out now?" Noct was curious to see how this would play out, and the question was met with a grin from the blond.
"Why not? Iggy makes it look easy!"
"I do that with everything," Ignis commented.
"Yeah, so how hard can it be?" Using a Float spell to hover above the ground wasn't exactly airship science, and he'd prove it. The current gathered enough strength that its flowing carried the whisper of a light breeze, and he figured that was long enough to charge it considering he went without an incantation to bolster its strength.
"Not a good idea," came Gladio's familiar baritone in warning. Noctis started to put some distance between himself and the epicenter of this particular spellcast.
Prompto didn't see what the big deal was, as he practically slapped the spell onto his shins, but when he went heels over head as if the ground had been pulled out from under him, he saw the big deal. He saw it clearly. But on the bright side, he was floating exactly like the spell was meant to do. He just needed to get himself right-side up.
"A little help…?"
Having to look up (or was it down?) at Gladio from a lower angle than usual was terrifying; his eye level was barely up to Gladio's knees thanks to this magic, and he couldn't imagine genuinely being that short in front of someone so tall.
"Word of advice, there's some magic you can't cast directly on yourself."
Prompto would have pouted but instead grimaced at the dizzying feeling of blood rushing to his head. "Then how did Iggy…?"
He saw the approach of minorly sullied dress shoes. "For magicks such as that, what you must do instead is cast the spell on an object, and then hold the object so that its properties transfer over."
"And you can't stack the effects, either," Gladio added. "Casting Float when you're already floating won't make you go any higher."
"Though I wish it would… it'd certainly give us all a break from you." Ignis must have pushed his glasses up, then. Prompto could practically smell the gesture.
The blond sniffled, loudly, to suggest he was close to tears. Ignis was unaffected, and walked away, his attention turned elsewhere.
Prompto found it best to change gears and steer the conversation away from the insult, then. "So… cast on object before holding object…" he echoed, "got it. So if I cast it on my clothes before putting them on-"
"You'd have to get naked first!" Noctis scampered past to deliver that comment. "If you wanna do that here, I'm not gonna judge, but I can't speak for everyone else!"
"That's… that's not what I meant!"
"Suuuuure it's not," Noct teased.
"It's really not! Is anyone gonna at least try to help me get down?"
Gladio rolled his eyes. He wasn't the type to let such a comment go without a real response, though, and to make things even, he grabbed Prompto by the legs and started to shake him up and down.
Prompto flailed in an effort to catch the loose coins falling out of his pockets from the vigorous shakedown. "Hey, hey! This isn't helping!"
"Is too; making you less top-heavy, for one."
The clink of different denominations of money attracted Noctis back to where all the commotion was happening. "Ooh, where'd all this free gil come from?"
"Wh- that's mine!" Prompto swiped at Noctis while Noct ducked around and picked up all the fallen coins, and just when the blond thought he'd grab a handful of jet-black hair at the very least, his fingers swept through the ethereal remnant of an after-image.
"Hah!" Noctis had rolled away and out of that grasp. "Don't worry about the gil, I'll just have it for safekeeping." The coins went away in similar glints of crystalline light, as if they'd never existed.
"Still an asshole move, Noct!" Prompto would have complained more were it not for the sudden spin of his whole body that aligned his head and feet to their proper positions. He'd have kept spinning like a wheel if it hadn't been for Gladio stopping that with his strong hands.
"Wait a minute and it'll wear off." A better admission than any that Gladio didn't have anything handy to dispel the magic.
Prompto would take what he could get. "Sure thing."
Gladio cast a quick glance over his shoulder before addressing Prompto again. "Look, about Ignis…"
"Don't worry about it. I told you, I can handle it."
"Good." Gladio left him to float upright on his lonesome.
With all the fun they'd had at his predicament, the frog had almost gone forgotten. Almost. Ignis walked along the edge of the pond with a pace that said he wasn't in any hurry, and he rolled a current of magic along his fingers as if it were a coin. The frog seemed to catch on to that and hopped across the surface in a similar way, but without the gesture of a spell gathering since it was a mostly magicant frog. The distance between each other didn't change.
If Prompto didn't know any better, he would think that the two were opponents sizing each other up before the real battle began.
He blinked and it was over.
The water burst from underneath the frog like a geyser and sent it spinning through the air. Quick gusts of wind from underneath it slowed its descent and made it look as if it still had enough actual surface to hop its way along, and then Ignis caught it out of the air when it got to a reasonable level. He returned to the group with the frog in his hands, and that thing looked too dazed to comprehend what just happened.
"As it turns out, the Aero spell was perfect for our little friend. So you see, that really wasn't so difficult." The corner of Ignis's mouth had started to turn up in a smirk.
Prompto exhaled through his nose in irritation. "You could have done that… the entire time."
"Yes."
"And you didn't do it earlier, why?"
"I wanted to see how you'd fare on your own before I stepped in."
"Jerk."
"Call me whatever you like, but I got the job done."
"Can't argue against that," Noctis said, scratching the back of his head.
The Float spell had worn off from Prompto's system, and they checked that they had the full count of five frogs that Sania had asked for. Red frogs native to Alstor, and they had to scour the low and lowest of the Slough to complete this particular mission. Noctis was just hoping she would pay well for their efforts.
The four started to walk to where they had their car parked, but Prompto's trek in particular was stopped with a gloved hand to his chest to stop his advance, and a quirked eyebrow from the same guy that hand belonged to. "You are not getting into the Regalia like that," Ignis said.
Prompto looked down at the mud-crusted clothes. It wasn't like he was going to rub himself all over the seats. That'd be uncomfortable to start with. "The Regalia isn't your car, y'know."
"But I am the one driving it, and as long as my hands are the ones on that steering wheel, I make the rules. You're going to clean yourself up, and that's that."
Prompto made a face, and began to head to the cover of shrubs and trees to make that change of clothes. An attempt to look more than halfway presentable had to be made, and Ignis followed to, if one believed his words, make sure that Prompto didn't somehow 'cheat' by turning his clothes inside out.
He left the dirty clothes in a pile at his side, and was busy with getting his feet into the correct pants legs when Ignis asked, "Is it too much?"
"Huh?" Prompto looked up from what he was doing; he didn't need to put too much attention to pulling up his leopard-print denims anyway. "Is what too much?"
Ignis mouthed, 'You know what I mean.'
That was answered with a roll of the blond's eyes and a little shake of his head, but no answer left his mouth while he put on a clean shirt and wrapped a sweater around his waist.
He and Ignis rejoined the others in the Regalia, and they reported back to Sania at the Alstor branch of Coernix Station. Fittingly, she rewarded them with treasure and not with gil outright. Noctis didn't mind, figuring it'd either be useful to wear, or fetch a good price at a shop somewhere.
Her study of frogs was important work, judging from the animated conversation she had with Gladio about it. The frogs were showing strange mutations now that the nights were getting longer, the nights were getting longer for a reason no one knew for sure yet, so no one knew why it was happening but they noted it as a phenomenon all the same, and they noted it back when Sania's grandfather was out treasure hunting back in his day.
It wasn't a sharp change by any means, so much as it was a case of little things adding up, and a trend to track. When looking at the trend at a distance, the longest days used to last fifteen hours, give or take a few minutes, and over the course of decades there was a steady decline to the present day, where the day lasted only eight hours before the darkness settled. Though the settling took its time: between the sun being up and the moon doing the same, what really got longer were the sunrises and sunsets- at least, that's what it looked like to the regular person. The skies were murkier, a rusted and sad reddish brown.
That was all useful to know, but they weren't talking solely about the longer nights. No, it just so happened that Gladio and Sania could talk about the single topic of frogs until everyone else was dizzy, or maybe that was just the effect they had on Prompto. Prompto felt his blinks getting longer and longer, and he shook his head quickly to get rid of that feeling. He let himself look elsewhere and spotted Noctis seated at a nearby table, resting his chin in his hands, a dreamy gaze focused on exactly the two people that Prompto was trying not to listen to anymore, though it was hard to tell if Noctis's interest was in Gladio, in Sania, in the topic of frogs ( probably that, the weirdo ), or a combination of those three things.
He wouldn't be any help, so Prompto looked across from the diner, to the billboard advertising the EXINERIS Power Plant. Ignis had parked the Regalia just in front of the sign, and he was there reviewing what was in the trunk of the car. Maybe he'd need some help, but even if not, Prompto needed a conversation, so he went over.
"Any plans?"
Ignis put away a lantern; he'd just finished a check on the oil levels and wick lengths of all of them. "None of my own, no. Gladiolus had planned on us camping at a haven."
"What?" Prompto made a face, and pointed over his shoulder to something a ways off. "But there's a caravan we can stay at, right over there."
"That caravan right over there costs gil that we'd best save for another, more necessary occasion."
"Got a point, but I still don't like it."
Ignis closed the trunk, and focused his full attention on Prompto. "Would you be willing to tell him that he wasted his time packing these camping supplies?"
Prompto looked skeptical of the tone in that proposition. "You make it sound like you care."
"I don't. I'm merely wondering if you've got it in you to make him feel bad."
"Anyone ever tell you you're pretty cold?"
"No, in fact, I hear I'm quite warm to the touch."
"You have a counter for everything, don't you."
"It may surprise you to learn that I don't, and you'll only find me doing this on two occasions."
"Which are…?"
"When it amuses me, and when it annoys you. How fortunate that I can achieve both at the same time."
"Again, you're a jerk."
"And again, call me whatever you like. It doesn't change what I actually am."
Prompto couldn't fight the smile coming up on his face. "It doesn't."
Ignis toned down the smugness to a seven, on a scale that only went up to five. "I thought not."
The Regalia didn't need them looking around in it anymore, so they took a stroll towards the oil stations, away from the other three. Prompto easily kept stride with Ignis, given that the brunet had weeks ago mastered the art of walking around without the urgency of having someplace else to be, a change from the habits he'd had to adopt back in their home city of Insomnia.
"I was being serious back there," Ignis said. "Do you think my comments are too harsh?"
Prompto tilted his head, wondering what had brought that question out.
Ignis gave a faint shake of his head, a smile just as slight on his features. "It's an odd question, I know. But I do wonder. I'm aware of how I come across— liberal applications of sarcasm here and there, a snappy remark whenever you do something inadvisable… but I want to know from you if it's too much. Do you ever think I get carried away, or cross a line?"
Prompto cast his gaze along the ground near his feet, and a smile crept up. "Looks like I gotta clear this up for you." He got ahead of Ignis, then turned around so he was walking backwards and the two of them were facing each other. "You are who you are," he motioned towards Ignis, "and I am who I am," he gestured to himself. "And sure, I'm new to the whole Crownsguard thing, I didn't work my way up from the Junior rank like you and Gladio, but don't worry about it." He shrugged. "Don't let me being me stop you from being you. You gotta treat me the same as you do everyone else, and that's the point, right?"
Ignis gave it some consideration.
Prompto took that silence for himself to add, "Fine, I'll admit, you're a total hardass sometimes, but I wouldn't hold that against you. You're usually pretty nice, so you're allowed less-than-nice moments. Wouldn't be here if I couldn't handle something that simple, right?"
"Figures that you would say that." There was an edge of knowing to those words.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you're right, and I shouldn't have asked this line of question in the first place. I'd made the mistake of underestimating you once before."
"More than once," the blond corrected with a sly grin.
If it were true, Ignis wouldn't admit it to that extent, but they both knew what was up, and Prompto was sure that Ignis was thinking specifically of the day when Prompto was officially instated as a Crownsguard member and was to meet Ignis and Gladio. Meeting Gladio didn't start out too well but had smoothed out into something workable. Meeting Ignis then was another thing entirely.
Ignis was doing the usual, as Gladio described it. He was curt with his speech, and often his eyes wandered Prompto up and down before catching his gaze and holding it. He was calling the blond's bluff before a word was even thought of to challenge at all.
Prompto knew it wouldn't look good to act as if he had this under control already, being new to the group. So he went over to Gladio. "What's his deal?"
"Don't worry about him, he does that to every new guy."
"Every…?"
Gladio nodded, and let out a short huff of air as he brought up recent memory. "His Highness's retinue would be a lot bigger, but it's really just us three. He's got a hell of a guard."
Prompto looked up to Gladio, brows knitted in question, and he raised a finger to point at the taller man. "But aren't you…?"
"Don't even ask. My family, the Amicitias, we're the King's sworn shields. I'm the Prince's shield for now, my father is his father's shield, and their fathers had the same thing going on. That's the way it's always been. But he," Gladio pointed to Ignis, "met Noctis first, before I did. Personally appointed by King Regis to be Noct's retainer, at the request of Auctus Scientia."
"Who's Auctus?"
"Ignis's uncle, part of the King's council."
Prompto mouthed 'Oh,' and nodded.
"Mmhmm. So ever since then, he's taken that job seriously. About a half dozen of Noct's classmates tried joining this group just off the fact that they knew him, but you'd better believe Iggy was holding them to a high standard. Tries to meet 'em as soon as possible and nip their delusions in the bud, you could say. I guess after they dropped out, eventually the rumor went around for the rest to stop trying. You got off lucky though; seems like he didn't find out you were with us until just recently."
"Sounds intense."
"He's intense." Gladio smirked. "So what are you gonna do about it? He's not gonna let up until you prove yourself somehow. Could take you months, could take you years."
Prompto considered his options. Making a move here wouldn't be too out of place now that Gladio had suggested in that direction. If anyone asked, he was following the Shield's advice.
So he straightened his posture the most he could, and turned around to face Ignis. "Hey, Specs!"
Ignis was in the middle of pouring himself a cup of Ebony coffee. He stopped that and set the pot down, sensing that he was the one being addressed by such a courteous nickname, but not feeling any bit obliged to entertain that notion with a word just yet.
Prompto tossed out an inverted nod in challenge. "You really gonna stand there?"
Ignis turned to face him completely with literal tongue in cheek, giving the blond a much slower once-over from toes to tip-top. "What do you mean?" He brought the cup to his lips, and didn't break eye contact.
That was met with a scoff. "I mean," Prompto was just as deliberate when he curled his finger in a beckoning motion, "quit stripping me with your eyes, get over here, and do it with your teeth instead. Put your mouth to good use."
There was a judder to Ignis's fingers that would have shaken the coffee right onto his shirt, but his restraint aside from that was impressive. He set the cup down as if nothing else was the matter and broke their gazes for that brief moment. Then he looked up again, eyes narrowed and tongue in cheek once more, and then turned to walk away.
Prompto didn't know what to make of it until Gladio clapped him on the shoulder. "Congrats, newbie. It's gonna take years."
The confident smile wasn't out of place. "I can handle that."
He did that about as well as one would expect across those next couple of years, and on some mornings the same smile from before would come back on his face and be met with a roll of the eyes and quiet little smirk of recognition from the retainer.
Ignis was so sure he could have won that were it a direct challenge for a battle. Prompto played his move too well.
But he still wouldn't admit it aloud, though. "No, I'm certain it was only once."
"Uh huh. Keep sleeping on that side, Iggy." Confusion flit across Ignis's face and Prompto added, "...It's a saying."
"Such funny idioms you have."
"Got 'em from Mom and Dad, who, by the way, totally not throwing this in your face or anything, sound like they miss you more than they miss me."
"And that's supposed to be my fault?"
"Yeah!? Or, no? I mean… Geez, why are you so you?"
"Hm… Must be my upbringing."
"Yeah, it must be," Prompto agreed after a few seconds of thought.
( Noctis was still seated at the plastic table situated outside the Crow's Nest Diner. His attention wasn't on Gladio and Sania anymore; she had other research to conduct, so their conversation was over.
He was looking in the direction of Prompto and Ignis, as they walked beyond the gas station.
"Hey, whaddya think they're talking about?"
Gladio shrugged. "Prompto's probably getting some more pointers on magic. He needs it, poor thing."
"Huh… yeah, he does," Noct agreed with a vague smile. )
"Then I suppose it's time we let them know how we're doing." Ignis was not going to correct that to 'how I'm doing', no matter how high Prompto raised an eyebrow at hearing 'we'. 'We' sounded like too many people involved.
Prompto pulled out his phone to check its charge and what service was available out here. The former was good, the latter not so much. "Tomorrow, maybe we'll be closer to civilization."
"We'll find the time then, certainly."
"Mmhmm." Prompto looked back to where he expected the others to still be, but instead he saw Noctis and Gladio looking right in their direction. He made close enough eye contact with Noct that Noct's expression brightened more than it already was and he waved at them.
"I think they want us back over there," he told Ignis.
"Best for us to heed that call. He has that look about him that suggests he's planning something."
Just as Ignis said, Noctis did have such a look, and waited until they were close enough before he conjured a map and laid it out on the table. He slapped an overlay on top of that so that he was free to mark up suggested routes without turning the map itself into a mess.
"So, we're here," he circled Coernix station, "Obviously. And Gladio had going to a haven in mind. Thing is, there are a bunch of them." He circled seven havens that were within a thirty-mile radius of the station.
Prompto clapped his hands together as if to pat them clean of invisible dust. "Well, guess if we can't decide on which haven to go to, we shouldn't go to one at all. Caravan time!"
Noctis fought back a laugh. "Aw, come on. What's wrong with camping?"
"Everything!" Prompto pouted. "Those sleeping bags cramp me up; I feel like I'm suffocating in 'em, and mine's never comfy enough for me to not feel the ground underneath. It's gross."
"You get to sleep outside the tent and on the grass instead of the haven, then. Problem solved," Gladio grumbled.
Ignis rolled his eyes but did nothing to allay his smirk. "The tent would be roomier without Prompto in it, that's for certain."
Prompto shot Ignis a disapproving frown. "Yeah, making 'more room' by taking out the little guy instead of the tree over here," he gestured to Gladio, "that's logical."
"You'll manage," Ignis assured him. "You're squirrely enough to find another tree to climb on, if that's your concern."
"I'm really hearing that 'squirrel' comparison from the guy that's on everybody's nuts? Is that what's going on here?"
"I'll tell you what's going on-"
By this point, while the blond and brunet bickered, Gladio covered his face with his palm like that would hide him from the unfolding spat, but he briefly removed his hand to mouth to Noctis, 'When the hell are these two gonna marry each other already?'
Noctis put a hand over his mouth to fake a pensive look that was just there to conceal his ear-to-ear grin. He answered Gladio with a shake of his head and a shrug, but aloud he said to the others, "Okay, okay you guys, quit it for the next… five minutes." That was a generous estimate for how long the two could keep quiet without another topic to go off about. On any given moment they got along like oil and water, and it was hard to tell when that combination would spill. "I figured I'd make things easy for everyone." He pointed to a haven south of the station. "We'll set up camp here, in Alsace."
Prompto's look brightened, while Ignis's did just the opposite.
"That's close to Wiz's!" Prompto was an out-loud victory fanfare away from declaring his battle won ten paces before anyone realized he changed targets.
Ignis let out a sound of blatant reproval, though knowing him, it was hard to tell if it was just because Prompto liked going to the chocobo post to begin with, or because of what Prompto going to the chocobo post would translate to afterward.
The blond gave a shrug as if to say 'Well, whatever' to that noise, and strolled his way over to the Regalia ahead of the others. As he left, he whistled the the positively jaunty notes of the chocobo theme.
Once he was out of earshot, Noctis motioned with his hands to smooth out some invisible wrinkles. "See that? No complaint about camping. To gain something, you gotta offer up something of equal value."
Gladio gave a sage nod. "Equivalent exchange."
"You got it."
Noctis and Gladio bumped fists.
Ignis's gaze flit back and forth between the two of them. "I'm at a loss as to how this was in any way an effective trade."
Noctis tilted his head in just the slightest in Gladio's direction. "Real quick, what do silence and chocobo feathers have in common?"
"They're golden."
"Got it again."
Another fist bump.
The show of camaraderie between Prince and Shield was all well and good, but Ignis pinched the bridge of his nose in pre-emptive exasperation. "He's going to go there, and he's going to come back to us reeking of chocobos."
"Come on, Iggy, let him have his fun." Noctis put away the overlay and the map.
Whatever Ignis was going to start his response with got choked back, and he tried again. "You're not the one he sits next to in the car."
"We'll put him in the back seat."
"Oh no, you're not putting him anywhere near me," Gladio said with a shake of his head. "Shove him in the trunk, for all I care."
"Can't, your stuff is in there."
"So's yours. Why'd you bring all those boxes with you, anyway?"
Noctis's mouth pressed to a tight line. "Sentimental value," he said simply.
"You kidding? All those notebooks wouldn't just grow legs and walk off while you're gone, Noct, you could've just left them where they were." Gladio let out a 'Hmph' and crossed his arms. "We're going back to Insomnia after we're done, anyway."
Noct went back to resting his chin in his hands. "I know, but I couldn't just leave 'em."
"Perhaps Prompto isn't the only one who should be allowed to have some entertainment." Ignis adjusted his glasses with a push of his finger. "Man wasn't meant to subsist off of pinball machines alone, or at all."
"Point taken. Between Justice Monsters Five and all those letters from someone he hasn't seen in twelve years, the letters at least keep him quiet," Gladio mused aloud, much to Noct's chagrin.
"Yeah, you say that," Noct regarded his bodyguard with an impudent tilt of his chin, "because you're jealous."
"Tch. What would a scrawny runt like you have for me to be jealous about?"
"I thought you were following this conversation, but let me spell it out: an actual girlfriend."
"Also known as, someone that can stand talking to you for longer than a minute," Ignis added, with such sharpness to that barb that it left both Noctis and Gladio reeling and trying to figure out which of them had been on the receiving end.
Gladio was sure Noctis had received the lion's share of the insult. "He just said you had low standards."
Noctis was sure that it was Gladio. "What, you're just gonna stand there and let him say you got no game at all?"
Ignis made his way to the Regalia while Noctis and Gladio got into a back-and-forth about what constituted 'having a girlfriend' and if a pen pal could ever count as one with such long distance. Noct would insist as he usually did that having a consistent conversational partner was better than making passes at random women that would never go anywhere, but Gladio was a man of habit, and couldn't be moved to give up his particular one of flirting.
Of course with the retainer knowing all of this, he had thrown the initial spark and back-stepped out of the conflagration of a conversation entirely, completely forgotten by the two in their debate, ensuring that he was the real winner of this, as he was always. He so loved his particular talent for inciting these types of situations.
"Man, you're good," Prompto commented.
Ignis got himself situated in the driver's seat. "Stating the obvious. And anyway, you come pretty close yourself."
"Oh, is one Ignis Scientia admitting defeat?"
Ignis wasn't looking at Prompto, but he could hear the grin in that question. "I'm saying the competition is real, which is different than 'admitting defeat'."
"Admit this, then; the way I flipped the 'squirrely' line nearly killed you."
"Nearly killed? That was barely a graze."
"You say that," Prompto said with a hum of amusement, "but I don't believe you."
"Believe what you like." Ignis allowed Prompto a quick glimpse of a smirk before putting it away as Noctis and Gladio were approaching the car, and they were still talking at each other.
"I'm telling you, you've just got a case of wanting what you don't have." Noctis got into the backseat and shifted enough that Gladio could get in after him.
"And you've got a case of flaunting what you don't got."
"Nah, pretty sure I've got it. But not to worry," Noct patted Gladio on the shoulder, "you'll find someone to make an honest man out of you. Sometime before you die of old age."
Gladio shrugged those pats away and brushed his shoulder off for good measure. "M'already honest."
Ignis got Prompto's attention and mouthed, 'You see what I have to deal with?' and started up the car to head for Alsace Haven.
The ride was relatively quiet, as Gladio had busied himself with the King Optimus Version of Origin of the Stars, and Noct had snuck in a power nap. Prompto, in the meanwhile, thought it apt to lean over to Ignis and whistle the chocobo theme until he got a glare in his direction.
"Eyes on the road, Iggy," Prompto teased.
It was rinse and repeat of that, until they all received the sign that Noctis woke from his nap. Said sign was, paradoxically, a yawn that escaped through the gaps in his fingers, and he rubbed at his eyes afterward.
"We there yet?"
"Almost," Ignis replied.
"Cool, cool… any idea of what we're having for dinner?"
"I'll think of something when we arrive." His gaze flit to the passenger on his right. "Curious… is there not an eatery attached to the chocobo post?"
Prompto wasn't taking that bait, though. "Cheating your way out of dinner? For shame, Iggy. You wanted to save money by not using the caravan, so we can save more with some at-camp cooking!"
"Ooh, watch what you say, Prompto," Noct said with a laugh, "he might think of roasting you over the fire."
Gladio looked up from his book. "Nah, wouldn't be satisfying. Guy's got no meat on him."
Prompto shot an offended look over his shoulder. "No-? Have you seen these arms?" He flexed to demonstrate his biceps.
"I have. They're nothin' to write home about."
"Psh." The blond faced forward in his seat, a frown forming on his features. "Figures it'd come from you. You're all bulk and no flavor. I'm more of the gamey type. Rich, flavorful, and packed with all the vitamins you'd ever need."
"You sure about that? I'd say I'd be a more satisfying mouthful."
"To anyone with shit taste, you sure are. But I wouldn't eat you if I were starving and you were the last thing on earth."
"Fine by me. I'd be too much for you anyway. You'd choke."
Noctis let out a laugh with all the mirth of a madman, and it was just a Noct thing to do; the funnier something was to him, the more maniacal his laughter sounded to untrained ears. The ultimate sign that something tickled every bone in his body was a laugh more appropriate for a despot that had hatched a flawless assassination plot that'd be reported in the papers as an accident.
Ignis, in contrast to finding humor in the conversation as Noctis had, instead flattened his mouth into a tense line and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else except in that car.
"Please let this conversation still be on the topic of cannibalism..."
"Oh, yeah, totally," Prompto said.
"The family-friendly kind," Gladio said.
"But if we're really having Prompto for dinner, I'll have his liver with some fava beans, and a nice Chianti," Noctis said, though not like himself. His voice had turned cold and precise, metallic in tone.
That made Gladio look over in his direction with actual startlement. Noctis met his gaze and answered him with creepy hissing. Gladio moved over to the furthest end of the back seat, away from him, while Prompto fumbled for his seat belt buckle and pondered a dive roll out of the car.
Noct slumped back in his seat and let his head loll back. "Ugh, you guys have never seen that movie." To say he was disappointed was an understatement.
"No!?" Prompto sounded more rattled than usual at the knowledge of where such words would have originated from. "Why would I wanna watch a movie about a guy that eats people?" His gaze darted to the road ahead of them and the road they were going past as he gauged his chances on that dive.
The tension seemed to trade bodies between driver and passenger; Ignis released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and straightened with a slow blink of his eyes. "You fly back to school now, little Starling. Fly, fly, fly…" he said, adopting the same tone that Noctis held.
Prompto's hand shot to his mouth to stifle a yelp. First off, he expected Noctis to be a weirdo, but Ignis imitating some cannibal guy's voice, fictional or not, was not cool. Second, well, come to think of it, Ignis didn't deny wanting to cook Prompto for dinner. And he even spoke to confirm that the topic was about people-eating before actually joining in the conversation. Prompto was starting to regret ever partaking in this talk; he might as well have slathered butter all over himself with every word out of his mouth. Third, where the hell did Ignis's accent go for that line?
Noctis wasn't nearly as taken aback by any of those points- in fact, he didn't even skip a beat. "A man of culture, I see!" He stuck a hand forward at the same time Ignis reached his own hand toward the back, meeting at the middle for a high-five.
Gladio shook his head, as if he thought Ignis better than the type to entertain Noct's antics. Prompto muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'You two are the worst' while Noctis and Ignis shared a laugh between themselves.
At the end of the ride, for reasons that in Prompto's mind amounted to some form of psychological torture, Ignis parked the car right at Wiz's Chocobo Post, perhaps to rub it in the more hungry passengers' faces that they could have had food right there, but they wouldn't, and just as they expected Ignis to cook, Ignis expected them to earn their appetite by running full tilt to the haven first, and then further by helping him set up.
They opened the trunk of the Regalia and took the camping equipment, then whisked it away into the warp space to carry it without the physical effort.
Prompto booked it to the haven with courier speed right after, regarding the Post's proprietor with a wave and a "We'll be back later!" The old man Wiz Forlane waved back, and kept his hand up as the others jogged by and gave their own salutations. He had himself a good chuckle at those boys.
The four kept at that pace toward the campsite, blocked briefly by the slopes of rock that reduced a straight-line path to something closer to impossible, and would make a sensible person run around such a thing and grouse about the longer route toward the person that put them there.
Key word being,
sensible person.
Prompto was no such thing.
"Guys, I didn't realize he woke up in Beast Mode," Noctis said to Ignis and Gladio, who were flanked at either side of him. They watched while Prompto clambered up the rock face and pulled himself up just when he seemed a hair's breadth from an awful drop.
The blond spared a few precious seconds to look down at the others. "You guys gonna get up here, or not?"
"We'll… go around. Yeah." Noctis traced a semicircle with his finger.
"Pff. Loser." Prompto kept on climbing.
Noctis smiled, though his friend wouldn't be able to see it. "That's fair."
They were on their way around, when Gladio asked, "Maybe my ears weren't working right back there… did Prompto really call you a loser?"
"Yeah! Not a surprise, though. He called me an 'asshole' right in front of you guys, once. Truth is, though, we go way back, all the way since… psych. Not telling you when we met. That's something we're keeping between us. All you all need to know is, I met him before any of you did, anyway."
Ignis acknowledged that detail with a 'hrm'.
Soon, they heard a breathless 'Oh, sh-!' and not long after was the thud of a body hitting the ground, followed by a pained whine.
Noctis picked up his pace as soon as he heard. "Crap, looks like Jack fell down."
Ignis remained undisturbed. "Let's hope he didn't break his crown." Though he sounded like either possibility was all the same thing to him.
At the other side of the rocks, they found Prompto sucking down the last dregs of a potion, nothing much to show for his injury save sparse tears in his clothes and vague scuff marks. He made a face at the slightly bitter taste of the drink, but took it all the same and wiped his mouth with his arm.
"Did… did any of you get the number of that thing?" he asked.
"What thing?" Gladio looked around and motioned at the relative emptiness of their surroundings for good measure. Nothing but trees and rocks and fog around them all. "We just heard you and came running."
"We were running anyway, but your stunt provided more incentive," Ignis corrected.
Prompto made a noise of disbelief, and pulled himself up to his feet. "You guys wouldn't believe this- it was some… horse thing."
"A… horse thing?" Ignis raised an eyebrow.
That got him a vigorous nod in return. "Yeah! A… it was pink! And starry, and, and it had a gold mane and-"
"You're right. I don't believe you. Moreover, you must have hit your head on something." Ignis stepped toward Prompto. "I'll check up on you right now." He was not going to take no for an answer on this one.
But he'd have to, for Prompto stepped away. "No, I mean it! I saw the thing, it was like it came from another world or… yeah, that's exactly what it was. It must have been from Mars!"
"A starry golden horse thing from Mars," Gladio repeated. He didn't find Prompto's words remotely plausible either. "Gonna need any help catching him, Iggy?"
Ignis had just finished almost having Prompto in his grasp. "I'll let you know when I need you." The blond was a slippery one, but he wouldn't admit it.
( Noctis felt something brush against his left side and nuzzle into his pockets. "Huh...?" )
Prompto darted behind a tree. "You guys gotta believe me! I'm not crazy!"
"You're not," Noctis said. "I know exactly what you're talking about."
That made them all stop and look. They all thought Noct was joking and expected the confirmation that he was kidding. He wasn't. He was threading his fingers along the silken golden mane of a spindly-legged… horse-thing.
The interesting part wasn't what Prompto had said about it, but what he didn't say. The horse didn't just have pink horsehide, it was a fairytale shade of pink. It had an eight-pointed star dead center on its forehead, and it was wearing a… was that a purple vest? Yes, a purple vest, with classic five-point stars. And instead of a normal tail, it had the head and neck of a guitar sticking from its hind.
Ignis took off his glasses, blinked at the creature with his bare eyes as he wiped the lenses clean, then put his glasses back on. What he saw didn't change. "Prompto, did you slip anything at all in my drink this morning?"
"No…? Wait, hey! Why would you accuse me of doing that?"
"Because you'd be the only one stupid enough to try it."
"How would we all be hallucinating the same thing?" Gladio posited. "And how would Noct be able to touch it?"
"I'll get back to you on that."
The fawn-sized equine pranced around the prince in circles, but when Noctis stepped toward it, it hopped back. He gave a half-hearted chase and had it bounding around the field, until it got the idea to turn around and hop its way towards Noct and chase him instead. He caught on to the game and kept it from catching him for a good few seconds until a quick stop on his part caused it to bowl him over with its deceptively tiny frame. It curled up atop his lap and nuzzled into his gloved hand, and he laughed and stroked its mane again. He tried to initiate a conversation with it as if it were a normal person, introducing himself to it and everything.
Meanwhile, the others debated the reality of what it was they were seeing. Or, at least Ignis and Gladio were pondering. Prompto pulled out his phone and thumbed through the camera app for a quick photo. He snapped the picture, but the flash from the camera made the starry horse look up in the others' direction, alert in the seconds between that and it bounding away.
Noctis watched it leave, and then cast a disappointed look at Prompto. "You scared it!"
"Sorry…" Prompto put his phone away.
Gladio shrugged. "It would have left at some point anyway, but at least we have it captured somewhere."
"Agreed. We wouldn't-" Ignis felt the need to wipe at his glasses again and make very sure there was nothing altering his sight more than necessary, "wouldn't be able to stay here for however long that creature would take to leave naturally. The night will fall sooner than we think, and in this wood..." he motioned around, letting the mist around them speak for itself.
Gladio nodded in agreement to that, and went over to Noctis to help him back to his feet. "So, get anything out of it, Dances-With-Horses?"
"Hah!" Noct grinned. "I think I might've gotten its name."
"What, seriously?"
"Well, not like it just said 'Hi, I'm So-and-so', but it kept making a noise at me. Uh, 'Jigi'...? Something like that."
"Jigi?" Gladio curled his fingers along his chin in thought. While naming a creature after the noise it would make was also a Noct thing to do, something about this sound was familiar. "Might've heard of it before, but can't remember it off the top of my head. I'll look it up."
"Or we could check if Wiz knows anything about it!" Prompto piped up. "His place is near here, after all."
"That too."
"We're to set up camp first. The reconnaissance can happen later." Ignis pinched the bridge of his nose; he sounded like the events of the last minute alone required he take a week hiatus from anything of note.
"Yes, sir." Prompto gave him a quick salute, and they all headed at a normal pace toward the haven, no hurried clambers over precarious surfaces or encounters with wild things needed. Prompto fiddled with his phone on the way there, and put it aside when it was time to set up the tent and prop the chairs up.
He'd completely forgotten about his hunger until the smell of peppered daggerquill breast hit him, and he got close enough to the stove that Ignis had to nudge him away with his elbow in the hopes it'd get him to wait until the dinner was actually done.
"Have you never heard of personal space, Prompto?"
"Mmhhh… maybe, once or twice," the blond whined.
"You should have at least heard of patience. You'd do well to practice it, by sitting quietly, over there." Ignis motioned to the chairs.
"But I want my food now."
"You're welcome to it, if you have a taste for undercooked meals."
Another whine, and Prompto retreated to join the rest of the group. He pulled out his phone again with a plan to mess around with a few of the games he had installed, but the notice that flashed on his screen made the wait more worth it.
"Hey, I got a message back from Wiz!"
"The old man knows how to use one of these?" Noctis leaned to the side to get a better look at Prompto's screen.
"Well, if not him, then somebody knows, and that's all that matters." He read over the message - and ignored a complaint from Noctis that the photo he'd sent of him and the horse was totally unflattering. "Alright… says here that what you just saw was a 'Gighee'. Sightings are rare, since the Gighee can only be seen by…" He squinted at the screen- "'Chosen Ones', great kings, virgins, or children."
Everyone looked at Noctis.
Noctis sighed deeply, but didn't take his eyes away from the phone screen. "Alright, I'll bite. Why do I feel eight eyes on me?"
"Very funny, Noct," Ignis said.
"I'm hilarious, thanks for noticing."
"To answer the question, you're not a 'Chosen One'..." Ignis began.
"Not a 'great king', yet..." Gladio continued.
"And obviously not a child!" Prompto finished.
Noctis looked at Prompto, then at everyone else. "So what do all of you count as?" He may as well have been tossed into a bucket, because he was feeling awfully crabby.
Ignis shrugged. "Perhaps sharing your magic with us allows us to see things that we otherwise wouldn't."
"Prompto saw the Gighee first!"
"Yeah, for like, a second!" The blond raised his hands as if to defend and distance himself from whatever accusation that was. "It stuck around for you for some reason, and we're all real sure of why."
Noct huffed and muttered under his breath, "Why does it sound like a bad thing coming from you guys…?" Still, he allowed himself a few minutes to shake off the funk he was in, then said, "So, now that we know what this is, what do we do about it?" He looked over to Gladio's direction, seeing as he was the consummate huntsman of the party.
Gladio shrugged a shoulder and took a sip of his drink. "Nothing. It hasn't done anything except frolic around in some fog and show up to play games, I guess."
The logic was sound; no need to get rid of something that wasn't an actual danger except accidentally, in the case of Prompto's fall.
After that was resolved, the dinner was finished and set on the table. Each of them went to get their plate, and they ate in relative quiet. Predictably, Noct began to feel drowsy post-dinner and retreated to the tent to go sleep, tossing an already drowse-laden protest of 'Meh, I'll do it tomorrow,' when Ignis advised him that he needed to brush his teeth before he conked out for the rest of the evening.
Gladio didn't skip the chance for personal maintenance, and got in some nighttime exercise to unwind, as well. He joined Noctis in the tent when he was finished, intent on getting enough rest to rise either with the sun or before it.
That left Ignis and Prompto alone by the campfire, with Ignis taking inventory of what ingredients and other materials they had or needed. He was rather meticulous about it, and would search through their medical kits as well, to check for what ointments or salves or oils he was missing.
"I used a regular Potion," Prompto said, to be helpful.
"Ah, I can make another in the morning then. Won't take me any time at all. Thank you."
"Mhmm."
For everything else that Ignis couldn't just replace after sunrise, he took note of what ingredients to pick up during their travels to complete their inventory.
Potions themselves were as simple as collecting some herbs and mushrooms, then crushing and boiling them in fresh water until they dissolved. Though, 'regular' was a misnomer. The truly normal ones were awesome enough on their own to be included in first aid kits sold in stores; it was a boost to the natural healing process, but with Noctis sharing his magic with his friends, that put the recovery from one of those on fast forward.
The magic didn't express itself in the outright ability to heal other people beyond pulling them out of a critical condition, though. Healing others all the way was best left to someone or something else.
While Ignis was checking through all that, Prompto inched closer to him, seat and all.
"So... 'Starling', huh?"
"Mm?" Ignis paused and looked up from what he was doing.
"Earlier, when you made that quote in the car. You called me a 'little Starling'. I think I've seen one of those before. They're like…" Prompto motioned with his hands as to their diminutive size, "they're like blackbirds, right?"
"Ah, yes. They are. They're in the same family, if I recall."
A grin broke out on Prompto's face that he actually tried to hide, and the sight of it caused a flicker of a smile to show on Ignis's face in turn. "Come, now. What's gotten you behaving that way, playing coy?"
"Nothing much, just," Prompto paused to play with a lock of hair by his ears, "reminds me of home. Mom would call me her 'little Blackbird'."
"Ah..." Ignis couldn't help the note of intrigue. "Why liken you to a 'blackbird' and not…?"
"Not a chocobo?" A short laugh. "Low hanging fruit, there. Everyone else would think of calling me 'chocobo'." He played then with a lock of hair falling in front of his eyes, the color allusion enough to the bird everyone would think of. "Blackbird is something else. It's special. Mom told me she and Dad saw them for days before I showed up into their lives. Like the birds were trying to deliver the good news."
The corner of Ignis's mouth pulled up in amusement. "How curious… as children, we're told that storks deliver us to our parents. And you were brought to yours by blackbirds instead. Too good for a normal delivery, I take it?"
"What can I say? I am pretty special. I can't deny it. Maybe I am the 'Chosen One' that Gighee thing wanted to look at?"
"I wouldn't fault it for wanting to. You're equal parts odd and extraordinary."
"Aren't those the same thing?"
"Different contexts."
"True…" Prompto nodded.
"Though… perhaps 'Starling' is an appropriate nickname for you. Beyond it being a blackbird."
That had placed glimmers of curiosity in the blond's eyes. "Really?"
The brunet nodded. "Starlings are especially notable for their intelligence and adaptability."
Prompto smiled. "Mom would call me that if she knew."
"But, one more thing…"
"Yeah?"
"Starlings are also loud, annoying, and an absolute pest."
The smile blew out into another brilliant grin. "She wouldn't say that."
"No, but I would, and I am not your mother."
"Thank goodness. Who would I have to piss off in a past life to end up as your kid? I like being me, thanks."
"Starling."
"Sheltie."
"Interesting choice."
"Appropriate, more like. All that barking you do is good for keeping a flock of sheep together, but annoying everywhere else, and I'm no sheep."
"Hm."
Ignis finished his check for items, and put everything away where it belonged, satisfied. And for the rest of the time he remained seated in his chair, gaze caught by the campfire that still crackled and licked at the air.
"I could stare at it forever," Ignis whispered, more to himself than anything as he watched the flames dance enticingly.
Prompto settled in his seat. "Brings back good memories?"
"... You could say that."
"It is pretty relaxing… or more like, entrancing, that's a word you'd use."
"That is what I was thinking of."
A silence lingered between them. Not an awkward one by any means, but one where the day's events could unfurl, and what tension held them up could slip away with each of their breaths.
"Do you still … remember the day that we met?"
Prompto gave it some thought. "First met, second met, third met...?"
"First met." Ignis couldn't help that he sounded amused.
"Haha, sure I do. Why would I ever forget that?" Prompto leaned close to whisper, "It was a night, for one…"
"Same difference, as you would say."
"Mmhmm."
Truth be told, the day Prompto joined the Crownsguard was the time they'd needed to act as if they had only seen each other then. They agreed to pretend that way before they both joined up as part of Prince Noctis's retinue, agreed to pretend not to know each other as well as they really did. A strange thing to anyone else, but they understood each other, the reasons why.
To Prompto's benefit, Ignis was one of those people that was worth meeting for the first time more than once. There were so many situations they met in, and different facets of themselves to show.
Their first first time was about ten years ago, on a long night that on the surface was like most other ones. The moon waxed full and loomed over the star-speckled sky, with not a single cloud to interrupt the sight. It was a night when Prompto could enjoy the cool air skimming across his skin, when he could turn his face up to the sky and breathe deep, and appreciate the fact that he could breathe at all.
The days were overwhelming for him, especially in the summer when the air was thick with humidity and the sun blazed bright like someone stuck a fresh pair of batteries into it. At best he could deal with indirect light, but his eyes were too sensitive for more than that, especially with his glasses, so thick winter curtains covered his room while the sun was up. Nighttime was a different story, one where he felt better, when he could take off the lenses and still see clearly.
He even snuck out of his window on those nights, and he would go out for a run too. Insomnia was a big place, winding alleys and sprawling streets, the former of which he used to avoid discerning gazes. He rarely saw the same face twice that way, which made meeting someone his age at that hour so funny. He couldn't find any other word to describe when he'd nearly bumped into another boy literally as they were each turning the same corner between buildings.
Prompto held up his hands in defense and stepped away, and the other boy merely froze where he was, like he was used to everyone else diverting their course around him like a river around stone.
'Hrm… what are you doing out and about at this hour?' the boy sounded older than he looked, like an adult patrolling the streets, and sounded like a noble as well.
'The same thing you're doing, probably.' Prompto wasn't going to be cowed by someone that could just do an impression of a grown-up, though, no matter how convincing.
'I doubt it.'
'Uh huh, you do that.'
'Where are your parents?'
'Home. Yours?'
The boy thought on it for a time. 'Same place.'
'In my house? That I'm doubting.'
'Just… home. In general.'
'In that case, I won't tell your parents on you if you don't tell mine.'
'How would you even know who to look for?'
'Pretty sure I'd remember a face like yours. I look for that, but taller and older.'
'You and your parents would be just as easy to find, then.'
'No, we wouldn't.'
The boy's mouth curled on one side in a way Prompto didn't have a word for yet. 'I'll humor you, then. My name is 'Ignis'.'
'Ignis… Not a bad name. Mine's 'Prompto'.'
'Fine then. Prompto,' there was a deliberation to the way Ignis said the name that Prompto had never heard from anyone else aside from his parents- most other people said it as quick as it meant, like they needed to get it out of the way of the rest of their words and it was just stuffy. 'I certainly hope we don't meet the same way twice. Could be a cause for concern.'
'But you are hoping we meet again.'
There was that curl to the boy's mouth again, and a faint twitch to the other side. Prompto realized then that Ignis was trying to smile. 'Don't know what makes you say that.'
They each went their separate ways until the next chance meeting, and although Ignis had warned about it all the way back on that night ten years ago, Prompto was endlessly curious to know what would happen had they met the same way on another day or another year. Would either of them speak to each other the way they had then, or was it just the thrill of another person spurring them on?
In the present moment he said aloud, "I remember that. But…" Prompto motioned to his own eyes, "You weren't wearing glasses back then."
"Neither were you."
The fact that both of them needed corrective lenses was something they found at the same time, not too much later, when Prompto was taking an entrance exam into secondary school and Ignis had been the assistant proctor. Ignis almost didn't recognize him, but the way Prompto pushed his glasses up and his brusque 'The hell are you looking at?' gave him away easily. Ignis had said nothing and walked to the next person after giving Prompto his booklet and answer sheet, and when Prompto looked back he saw the other shaking his head lightly in amusement at fate. He could guess the other was trying his best to smile then, too.
"Mm, doesn't matter now, I don't need them anymore," the blond said with a shrug. "You'd be surprised what a good visit to the doctor can do."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. What, you think I was wearing those glasses so I could slip by you incognito or something?"
"Is that your idea? Please, you look the same with glasses or without them. It's not as if they change what you look like entirely, unless you believe life imitates comic books."
"No, I don't," Prompto admitted, "but I do know it kinda makes you look different to other people. I mean-" he reached over and snatched up Ignis's glasses, and put them on his own face.
"Did you just-...?"
"Yeah, yeah, I … Huh?" He blinked, then turned his head to look around. "Oh… cool, I can see fine even with these," he said in awe. "Thought you'd have a stronger prescription or something."
"My vision is passable even without the glasses, for your information."
"Interesting…" Prompto looked in Ignis's direction to check how the other looked now without the lenses, but his view was blocked by a phone and a mischievous smirk. "Hey, what's the big idea?"
Ignis had taken a few pictures by then. "Oh, nothing, immortalizing this particular detail of how you look. Why, do you think you 'own' the concept of taking photos, hm?"
"Yeah? I'm the king of photography. You can't handle my throne, so gimme!" Prompto left his seat to snatch the phone out of Iggy's hands.
"You can't delete another man's photos, that's rude."
"And you can't take them without getting permission!"
Circling around Ignis to get the phone could've been an option, but Prompto didn't want Iggy solving that by the simple act of leaving his seat and walking away, so he reduced Ignis's evasive actions to twisting and leaning where he was seated, and it worked out well for him; he still managed to keep the phone out of Prompto's reach.
It was minutes into their struggle, with Prompto breathless and Ignis laughing, that a chance brush of their skin made the realization sink further of how close they were. He hadn't noticed how green Ignis's eyes were before now, not a vibrant hue that popped necessarily, but a subtle shade of sage. Neutral, calming. He supposed they fit.
"U-uhm…" He didn't know what to make of this. He was already straddling Ignis.
Ignis was similarly speechless, and despite himself, his gaze darted down to Prompto's lips the second the blond licked them in nervousness. He tried to correct that and brought his view back up, drew in a breath, and brought the phone close. "Here." As terse as he could be, with his gaze flicking elsewhere and a dry gulp pushing its way down his throat.
Prompto took the phone and sorted through the pictures. A stray thought fluttered by that Ignis was a natural at this thing; by the glow of the firelight, Prompto actually looked… nice.
One quick glance back up to Ignis, who still looked elsewhere, and back to the phone. Prompto swiped through each picture to figure out where the series of them started and finished, then tapped them all.
But he didn't delete them.
He hit the menu to make a new folder, moved the photos there, and set the password himself to lock it from view.
"Done."
Ignis allowed himself the sight of Prompto once more, and held his phone again. He spotted the new folder, but didn't have time to question its presence. He felt the other's lips brush against his ear, and the password was whispered right to it.
Another secret for them to keep.
Prompto put the glasses back where they belonged, too, and got up from Ignis's lap. They extinguished the campfire together then retreated to the tent to rest the night away.
While Prompto laid there in his sleeping bag, he could hear the soft taps of a finger against a screen, and he didn't fight the smile that crept up and the bite to his lower lip. The sound held him, and he allowed himself to relax to that. Then the lingering scent of the put-out flame curled its smoky tendrils around his senses and brought something else to mind, took him to a place he couldn't name, though he knew he'd been there once, years ago. Where was that?