This is the part where Noctis scowls at a part-time job.
Excursions I
"Before we begin today, we'll have a small pop quiz," the teacher said, handing out a stack of papers for the first row students. A wave of muffled grumbling echoed through the room. "Everyone has a paper? Okay then, you have ten minutes."
Prompto eyed the three questions through and yelped. He had done his homework all right, but math was not his strong suit. At least not math pop quizzes. Ten minutes was not nearly long enough for him to fill it in, but he did his best.
Noctis glared at the paper as if it had done something to offend him. He knew the answers. It had almost the same questions as in their homework from the last lesson. It didn't take long for him to scribble down the numbers, and he was left with full minutes of staring out from the window.
Eve was sighing and puffing silently. She had absolutely no idea how to approach the any of the questions. The day before had gone swiftly by in the training field instead of with homework. She could have easily written down the theories on magic-use and warping, but that was likely not something the teacher would want to see.
'If I survive this, I'll devote more time for school,' Eve vowed fingers crossed, when it was time to pass the papers to the front.
"How did you do on the pop quiz?" Prompto asked when they were finally free from the last lesson of the day.
Eve was chagrined. "Major flop."
"Okay, I guess," Noctis replied shrugging.
"Wow, okay then. At least I won't have the worst score of the class," Prompto said and gave a pat on Eve's shoulder.
"Wanna go hit a café or something?" Noctis asked, "It's on me today since you two sucked on the test."
"I need a study group–" Eve was just about to say when she was interrupted.
"Hey Noct!" A cheerful voice rang out in the street making Eve, Prompto and Noctis turn to look behind them.
Wide-eyed Eve had to stretch her arm to stop the dark-haired girl from assaulting Noctis. The girl had round, brown eyes with an excited glint in them, and she wore a dark school uniform.
"Woah, stop right there young lady! What is your business?" Eve asked. She surprised of the girl's excessive familiarity in addressing the prince.
"It's alright, Eve. Hey Iris," Noctis calmed.
Iris shot an oddly familiar angry look at Eve, who frowned.
"Heyaz," Prompto said with a wave and earned a smile from the girl.
"Uh, okay," Eve said baffled by their acquaintance and let go of Iris's shoulder. She backed away behind Noctis.
"What's up? Are you just heading home?" Iris asked, thrilled to having met Noctis by chance.
"Yeah, how're you?" the prince said and frowned, "You're not alone, are you?"
"No, Jared is over there"–Iris turned to wave at an elderly man walking after her–"But I'm great! I'm on my way to meet Gladdy, we're gonna pick a present for dad's birthday," she said beaming.
'She's Gladiolus's sister then? They look alike all right,' Eve thought.
"Oh, right. It's Clarus's birthday soon. I should get one for him too," Noctis said.
"Are you Noct's bodyguard?" Iris turned to ask from Eve, not bothering to hide her frown. Prompto giggled.
"Uh, something like that," Eve replied.
"But you're a girl." Iris's eyes narrowed.
Eve let a half-smile spread on her lips. "Girls can be bodyguards too," she said realizing that Iris seemed really young.
Iris's lips formed a careful smile. "I'm Iris Amicitia."
"Eve Leonis," Eve said answering with a kind smile. 'I guess Gladiolus is a big brother off-duty too.'
"Now I gotta run so Gladdy doesn't get worried. It was nice to see you Noct, Prompto… Eve."
Iris waved as she skipped towards the centrum. Jared hurried after her, offering a light bow as he passed the trio.
"So there are two Amicitias running around the city," Eve mumbled.
"What's that?" Prompto asked.
"Nothing. Let's move on," Eve said quickly.
–
"You were saying something about a study group earlier, Eve?" Prompto asked and stirred the spoon in his hot chocolate. Despite them being at a café, none of them actually drank coffee. Eve had mint-flavored green tea and Noctis had ordered a soda, which he was lazily gulping through a straw.
To any outsider, they looked like three normal high schoolers, hanging out after school.
"Hm? Oh yeah. Maybe I should find one since I've got zero motivation towards school," Eve sighed meekly and stared at the cup in her hands.
"Is it just math you need help with?" Noctis asked leaning his elbow on the table.
"I'm not the only one here apparently." Eve grinned to Prompto.
"Hey! That's just plain rude," the blonde yelped.
"I could help you out if you want," Noctis suggested unexpectedly. Eve and Prompto looked at him, trying to catch the joke. "What? I'm serious."
Eve and Prompto traded confused glances, the latter shrugged.
"Okay then." Eve patted her hands on the table, getting all pumped up to study math with her friends. "Tonight?"
"You sure about this, Noct? You would do that for us?" Prompto asked, heartened by his best friend's offer. Out of all three of them, Noctis probably hated studying the most.
"Absolutely. Come at the Citadel," Noctis assured.
"Cool. I'll see you after dinner then," Eve said smiling.
–
"You coming? I'm already here!" Eve sent already a second text message to Prompto. He was not answering his phone, so she thought that maybe he was in the subway with poor reception, or his battery had died.
In fact Prompto really had wanted to come, but he had made the mistake of laying down for a quick rest after dinner and was currently snoring on his bed, blissfully aware that he was going to miss out on their math session. The next day he would whine about it until Noctis would agree to arrange a second meeting.
Eve skipped the Citadel stairs up, greeting the guards at the door. They most likely had no idea who she was, but greeted her back politely nonetheless. Eve walked over to the reception desk. She was somewhat acquainted with the woman working there as she visited the Citadel every now and then.
"Good evening, miss Leonis. Here to see your father?" the woman asked with a bright smile.
"Good evening. No, I'm actually here to meet with prince Noctis," Eve explained and watched when the receptionist looked at the large calendar on the table.
"Ah yes, His Highness called about two friends coming over… Never could've guessed it would be you, miss," she said, "Do you want a guest pass or?"
"I can just use mine if that's okay."
"Of course, I'll log you in, just a second. Enjoy your stay!" the receptionist wished.
"Thanks." Eve walked over to the elevators. 'Enjoy… Yeah. I guess that's what she says to all visitors. Oh well, maybe the pain of studying math won't be so bad in group.'
–
"Oh come on, Ignis! You need to have fun once in a while." Noctis had a mischievous glint in his eyes and a sly smile curving his lips.
Ignis let out a submissive sigh and nudged his glasses upwards. He had come around to deliver a stack of political reports, when Noctis's pleas of sneaking out from the Citadel had caught his ears. He had been bewildered and ready to go in full scolding-mode.
At first, Eve had just flatly refused to listen to Noctis's antics, but her determination had been gradually crumbling before Ignis had entered the room.
"Nobody will even notice we're gone," Noctis cooed.
"I should go home; I think I got the math now. Thanks," Eve said, beginning to collect her school books.
"Come on, Eve. Or do I really need to go alone? If Prompto was here, we'd be on our way already," Noctis said slyly.
Eve's hands stopped for a second and a winning smile spread on the prince's features. Her duty was to watch over him, and she could not just ignore a situation where he intentionally placed himself in a vulnerable position. Eve had understood that sneaking out from the Citadel was not a new thing for the Noctis. She didn't know whether she should dread letting him leave alone and getting yelled at because of that, or getting yelled at after they were caught. Eve refused to believe the guards would continuously fail to notice the crown prince leaving the Citadel unannounced.
"Alone? That would be a very bad idea," Ignis pointed out, his mind also occupied in weighing the options in the situation.
"So it's settled then, you two are coming with me!" Noctis slapped his hands together in excitement.
"To do what, pray tell," Ignis said and nudged his glasses again. From his body language, Eve could tell he was not as opposed to the idea as he said aloud.
'Here we go again… He planned for this. That's the only reason he would be willing to study math,' Eve though and sighed.
"We'll make it up as we go," the prince chimed and walked out the door.
Eve and Ignis glanced at each other and sighed in unison before darting after him.
–
"Noctis! What is the meaning of this?" King Regis's voice rumbled over in the hallway.
Noctis, Eve and Ignis turned slowly to face the king. His voice was calm. Not angry, but rather disappointed. Eve was wondering how many times he had been told that his son was not in his room and was nowhere to be found in the Citadel. Did they even look for him in the Citadel anymore, if he wasn't where he was supposed to be?
"Ah, dad. Uh, I was just, ah–," Noctis stumbled over his words. His father's eyes narrowed.
"Returning from one your nightly excursions?" Regis asked pointedly.
Noctis winced. Eve and Ignis stayed behind his back, ashamed of themselves. It had been a bad idea to leave the Citadel unannounced and they should have not let themselves be carried away like that.
The evening had been fun though. At first Eve and Ignis had tried to persuade Noctis to return, but in the end they all had been just smashing buttons at the arcade. The short-lived fun would not have been worth getting fired over though.
Eve had not felt this hollow and guilty since the day Noctis had walked up to her at the stairs of the Citadel.
"Go to your room. You're grounded," Regis said calmly.
Noctis opened his mouth to argue, but decided it best to just swallow his punishment. He left with slumped shoulders. After he had disappeared behind the corner, Regis turned towards Ignis and Eve.
"I take full responsibility, Your Majesty. I should have stopped him," Ignis said and bowed deeply.
"No. I am at fault too," Eve said throwing a look at him. She bowed too.
Regis's expression softened. He had to keep a stern façade for Noctis, but Ignis and Eve hadn't really done anything to earn his scorn. If anything, they had done well to accompany and guard the wayward prince. Regis was somewhat pleased that Noctis had guardians willing to protect him, even when he acted stupid.
"You were with him when he could have left alone, like he has done countless times. That is probably the best I can ask of my rebellious son," he chimed, "After all, I'm the one who has stressed him not to leave the Citadel alone."
Ignis and Eve traded confused looks. 'Is he… thanking us? So I'm not getting kicked out of the glaives?'
"As you say. Thank you, Your Majesty," Ignis said, "I shall take my leave then."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I'll head home too," Eve said following Ignis's example as he was far more experienced in dealing with royalty.
"It's late. You are welcome to stay at the Citadel, Evelia," Regis said knowing that the Leonis house was too far for a young woman to walk to alone in the middle of the night, a glaive or not.
"Um, thank you, Your Majesty."
"Ignis, would you mind showing her a room before you go?"
"Of course. Follow me, please," Ignis motioned Eve to follow. They bowed to the king once more before heading to the elevators.
"Looks like the prince took the worst of it," Eve said as they stepped in the elevator.
"Yes and as much as it repels me to admit it, he does deserve the consequences," Ignis said.
"You don't sound very repelled," Eve implied with a cocked brow.
"No, not at all." Ignis smiled.
'He seems kinda cool when he is not all about duty,' Eve thought smiling back.
Ignis showed her a room in the guest floor. She had never been in a fancy hotel, but she could tell that it was luxurious. The bed must've been bigger than her whole room back home.
"I'll leave now then. Good night," Ignis said.
"Okay. And thanks. Good night," Eve said.
She flopped on the bed when Ignis closed the door after him. Her back had barely hit the mattress when her phone buzzed. It was a text from Noctis.
"Home yet?" he asked.
"I'm staying the night," Eve typed in reply.
"Cool. Come over."
Eve tilted her head in confusion. "What?"
"I'm not allowed to sneak out, but you can sneak in."
Eve sighed. 'I wonder what he wants this time.'
"Fine."
She tiptoed at the room door and opened it as quietly as she could. The hallway was empty and silent. Eve hadn't seen any guards on their way up with Ignis. Noctis's quarters were two floors up, so she would have to use the elevator. Hopefully nobody would mind a lonely glaive-in-training stalking the Citadel halls in the middle of the night.
After very stressful five minutes, Eve knocked on the prince's quarters' door. She tried the handle and it was open.
"Are you decent?" she deadpanned opening the door just a little.
"Not really, but I'm wearing pants if that's what you're asking," Noctis's voice carried over from the room. "Come on in."
Eve closed the door and looked around her. The room was much bigger than the room she had been appointed to. The main pieces of furniture were a huge bed on the left and a large writing table straight ahead from the door, just before the windows. Behind the table were a few tall bookshelves. Eve wondered what kind of books His Highness had on the shelves. Far on the left side of the room was a lounging nook with a couple of couches and a large TV. Multiple shelves next to it were filled with video game cases.
Noctis was sitting back on the couch with a game controller in his hands. Monsters were exploding rapidly on the television screen.
Eve sat next to him, baffled. "What is this?" she asked slowly.
Noctis paused the game and tossed another controller on Eve's lap. "Here."
"What do I do with this?" she asked confused and grabbed the item. She was more or less familiar with arcade games, even decent in some of them, but console games were an uncharted area for her.
Noctis leaned in to press the controller button to turn it on. "Press X to shoot."
Needless to say, Eve was really, really bad at the game. Noctis's insane skills compensated up to some point, but he couldn't work miracles even though he could use magic in real life.
"I'm terrible at this," Eve said after her fifth death.
"Yeah, you are." Noctis grinned. "You just need more practice."
"I don't have time to play games," Eve said irritated and pushed furiously the buttons, already forgetting all Noctis's advices.
"They develop your hand-eye coordination, you know. Take it as training," Noctis pointed out as he leapt to save Eve's character from a killing blow once more.
"If you want to train, we could make use of the Citadel's training room!" Eve hissed and shot a monster in between the eyes.
"You already worked your ass off with math. Isn't that enough for today?" Noctis tried to save Eve again, but was too late and the game was over. He placed the controller on the table and stretched his arms.
"Huh? Oh, it's over. Well I'm guessing you'll have lots of time to focus on school now since you're grounded," Eve said.
Noctis frowned at her words. "Nah, I've got some games I haven't played yet," he said.
"Right… I should head in bed, it's one a.m. already," Eve said after stifling a yawn.
"What? Already?" Noctis pouted at her. "It's Friday night. No school tomorrow. I've got more games we could play." He tried to downplay his excitement to have someone to play video games with in the middle of the night.
Eve rolled her eyes and smiled. "Urgh, fine, but I'm happy with just watching."
Noctis walked over to the shelf and pulled another video game case. "Works for me."
–
Eve stared at her form in the tall mirror on her bedroom wall. After the intensive training to become a glaive had begun, she had seriously started to show muscle and the amount of bristles on her feet and hands had dropped. Instead, her palms had become calloused, but that didn't matter to her as the Kingsglaive was not a beauty pageant contest.
Eve's cellphone began chiming and buzzing against the wooden table surface. She quickly snatched the phone to see who the caller was.
"Hey Prompto," Eve greeted while still casting a quick glance in the mirror.
"Eve! Where are you?" Prompto sounded panicky.
"At home. What's going on?" Eve asked.
"Come quickly to the central station. We need to meet."
"Uh, okay. I'll be there in thirty minutes," Eve said puzzled. 'Must be something important, I guess? He sounded alarmed.'
Twenty-eight minutes later Eve jogged to her blonde-haired friend, who was anxiously pacing around before the main entrance of Insomnia's central station. Prompto had of course his camera hanging around his neck.
"I'm here Prompto. Are you okay?" Eve leaned on her knees to let her breath even out.
"Me? Sure. Come, you need to see this," Prompto said and practically dragged Eve along with him.
"What–? What is going on? Where are we going?"
After a few blocks, where Prompto refused to say where they were headed despite Eve's questions, they stopped in front of a small restaurant. It looked neat and quite new.
"Zing's Fried Rice? Prompto, what the hell is going on?" Eve was starting to get annoyed for being kept in the dark.
"I hope you're hungry." A wide grin formed on Prompto's face and Eve got even more confused.
They stepped in the restaurant. Prompto made a hushing motion with his finger on his lips and nodded towards the kitchen counter. Eve's jaw dropped.
The Lucian crown prince Noctis Lucis Caelum was standing behind the counter, wearing a hair net and a focused frown. The main chef of the restaurant was explaining something to him and motioning towards the heaps of plates and bowls before them.
"What. The. Actual. Fuck?" Eve gasped aloud.
Noctis heard her voice and turned.
"What're you guys doing here?" he asked. He was scowling.
Eve and Prompto burst out into a fit of snorts and giggles.
"Seriously…" Noctis muttered.
"I really thought it was a joke that you're going to have to get a part-time job!" Eve said wiping the tears of laughter from her cheeks.
"Uh, no. It was a condition for getting my own place, but whatever. Are you going to order something?" Noctis crossed his arms and forced something resembling a smile on his face.
"Oh, sure! I wouldn't miss this even if you paid for me. What should we get?" Eve asked turning eagerly to Prompto.
"I am paying you…"
"What does the cook recommend?" Prompto grinned.
"That you stop grinning and leave," Noctis muttered under his breath.
"Aw, don't be that way, Noct. I'll take the spicy shrimp. Eve?"
"Uh, I'll go with the same. But not spicy!" Eve said staring at the menu on the wall.
"So two shrimps, one spicy and one mild. Got it," Noctis iterated and went back to the kitchen, mumbling something incomprehensible by himself.
"He's really not made for customer service," Prompto said as they sat down. There were a few other customers in the restaurant, and they had been curiously following the conversation. One of them was a bald man in a black suit, sitting in the corner. He was obviously the prince's security detail during his shift.
Eve laughed. "That scowl though. I hoped you'd get a picture of it," she said nodding at the camera hanging around Prompto's neck.
"Ah darn, I should've!"
Eve realized how hungry she was when Noctis emerged from the kitchen with two plates of fried rice and shrimps.
"Ooh, looks delicious," Eve said when he placed the plate in front of her. His mood had improved a bit.
"Don't go counting your chocobos yet!" Prompto said grabbing a pair of chopsticks.
"Did you make this?" Eve asked digging in the food.
"Nah, it's only my second day in here. I'll make sure to send an invitation when they'll let me cook," Noctis informed with a light smile.
"No wonder this tastes so good! Ah, I've never been served by a prince before. I need to get a photo of this." Prompto's last words were muffled by the food in his mouth, but Eve and Noctis caught the meaning when he began snapping photos of them. Eve smiled brightly for the camera, but Noctis splayed his palm over his face to cover it.
"I need to get back to it. Enjoy your food," he said and turned to leave.
"Sure, have fun!" Eve said and waved with her fingers after Noctis.
That evening Eve returned home to find her father sitting in the living room, reading a book with his feet on the coffee table. Something that Eve was forbid of doing.
"Hello, father. How was your day?" Eve asked noticing him.
"Hello Eve. Come, sit." Cor lifted his legs from the table and put the book away. His expression was serious.
A tiny fear sparked in Eve's chest. Had something happened? She walked over to sit in the armchair opposite of Cor.
"What is it, father?" Eve asked. Her throat was suddenly dry and her heart was thumping.
Cor sighed.
"I'm sorry, I wouldn't want to have to talk about this, but since recent events…" he began and paused.
"What events?" Eve said furrowing her brows tightly together.
"I was told today that contrarily to your better judgement, you accompanied the prince in leaving the Citadel unannounced a few days ago," Cor said.
Eve didn't know what to say. Had Cor only learned that just today? She would have thought matters like that would've been brought to his attention at once.
"The king himself told me," Cor continued.
"Oh," was all Eve could say. Her father had sounded rather upset. 'Maybe I should've told him after all...'
"Eve, setting aside the fact that you should report these kinds of events to me; I'm still your father. What were you thinking?"
Eve's mood sank from the fun dinner with Prompto. "I'm sorry. I-I didn't think it mattered… or that you would've obviously heard about it straight away."
"I would've liked to hear that from you, Eve," Cor said.
"I'm sorry, father." Eve's eyes fell on the floor and her insides coiled in shame.
"Something could've happened. Never do something like this again, understood?" Cor said and his voice softened.
"Understood."
"And another thing–"
Eve grimaced. "Yes?"
"You shouldn't have any unnecessary contact with the prince outside your duties. I understand that you get along well, but that familiarity could be used against him in a way that you should be protecting him from."
Cor's words sank in Eve's heart and she nodded, her voice suddenly lost. 'My familiarity… with Noctis. That is a security threat.'
"I'm sorry, Evelia, but that is the way things are," Cor said.
Eve straightened her posture. "No, I'm sorry too, father. I'll correct my behavior, I promise."
"Just remember, that is the best for the prince," Cor reminded.
Somehow Eve felt like she had just lost a friend. Though she knew what Cor had meant, was that she should be mindful of her professionalism in Noctis's company. Even still, that would most likely mean an end to arcade visits and video games on her part.
