Noctis glanced over at the seat next to him. Prompto's seat. It was still empty. Of course school had only began forty-five minutes ago. Technically it was still early for his blonde friend to be here, considering for almost their entire senior year Prompto had developed a habit of sleeping in. His friend slept in so late, yet always looked exhausted when he finally dropped into his assigned seat.

He had mentioned it to Ignis, Prompto's constant state of exhaustion, but his Advisor had said not to worry. It was likely the stress of their senior year eating away at him. Prompto always had been the more emotional of the two; he likely was just blowing things way out of proportions worrying about exams and what they were going to do with the rest of their lives etc.

Of course that was easy for Noctis. As Crown Prince he had once choice. It wasn't really a choice; he had one path, to be ready to take over for his father. He couldn't understand the pressure that Prompto was feeling. Sure being King was not an easy path to take by any means, but it wasn't something he had to get good grades to get into. It wasn't something he had to go about dealing with job hunting, interviews, and if it was going to support him financially. There were so many things that Prompto had on his mind that Noctis knew he would never truly understand. Their lives were completely different.

But they were still best friends. That would never change.

"Oh. Mr. Argentum. Nice of you to join us before second period today."

"Sorry Miss. Conwell." Came the familiar chirp that was Prompto's voice.

He slid into his seat not too gracefully and dropped his chin right into his palm. "Mornin' Noct."

"Morning sleeping beauty. Miss that alarm again?"

"Yeah… something like that."


"I don't understand how you can sleep that much." Noctis brought up the subject again during their lunch period. "I told Ignis and he said its possible you might have mono or something. Here." Noctis reached forward and lightly placed his hand on Prompto's throat feeling around it gently.

Prompto's freckles were suddenly more prominent on his blushing face. "Uh… what'cha doing there buddy?"

Noctis frowned then shrugged and returned to pulling apart his lunch. "Iggy said that if you had mono you might have swollen lymph nodes. But your neck feels fine to me. Does it hurt or feel sore at all?"

"Nope!" The blonde gave an awkward laugh.

Noctis gave him a long look, but finally took a bite of his food. "Its just strange that all the years I've known you, you just now have this sleeping issue. I mean Prom, you look exhausted."

"I told you. I just stay up late studying most nights."

"But we don't even have tests or anything right now. What are you studying so much?"

"Just trying to keep up. Not all of us are geniuses."

The look Noctis gave him told him just how little he was buying that lie. But he was going to let it slide.

"You up for some gaming after school today?"

"I really have to - "

"If you say study I will have Gladio drag you over to my place."

"Please don't send Gladio after me…"

Though… could he take Gladio now? The mutation from the spider bite made him stronger, faster, and his reflexes were so much better. And he had that crazy spider sense now too. It would be interesting to see if he could take Gladio now. Of course he couldn't really challenge the Shield. His job was to keep Noctis safe from anything and everything, and in doing so that meant that he studied all potential attackers. Prompto remembered when Spidey first become big in the media. For weeks they had tried to make him into a menace that was attacking people. Gladio himself had gone out to search for the Spider-man. If Prompto ever challenged the big guy to a fight now there is no way he wouldn't recognize the way he fought was the same as the masked hero of Insomnia.

"Prompto!"

"Huh?"

He looked up to see Noctis frowning down at him.

"Dude. If you aren't going to stay awake at school you might as well just stay home and sleep. I can get Ignis to write you a note or something."

"No I'm ok really!" Prompto bounced up with more enthusiasm then he had. He felt bad. He had been neglecting his time with Noctis.

Neither of them really had any friends. Except Gladio and Ignis. So if Prompto was constantly telling him no, odds were Noctis was just spending time alone in his own apartment all the time.

"You know what? I think I'm up for some King's Knight."

"You're on!"


Second chapter posted today, because a paper flower asked. :)