Prompto caught up with Gladio in the quiet restaurant, where the taller man was leaning against a table and smirking as Ignis interrogated the pretty blonde woman at the central island.

"Gee, do you think Iggy is gonna get lucky?" the photographer queried, grinning.

"I think he's more interested in the contents of her pantry than her pants," Gladio responded, chuckling as Ignis pointed at one of the gas fires and mimed a larger flame. "How's it going with his Highness, kid? I mean - Prom?"

"Good!" the blond beamed, his face crinkled happily. "He's asleep."

"Well, that goes without saying," Gladio snorted.

Ignis approached them, eyeing their shared amusement cautiously. "I hope nobody has any objection to omelettes for breakfast?"

"Not me!" Prompto grinned.

"You've cheered up," Ignis noted, smiling beneficently.

"What can you do, the kid's in love," Gladio shrugged.

Prompto stuck his tongue out childishly at the older man, before stomping off to secure them all a table.

They were finally sitting to eat, Prompto having bounded back over to the server to ask politely if she would make another portion for him to give to Noctis when he awoke.

"Good thinking, Prompto. Omelettes taste just as fine served cold as when served hot," Ignis had noted approvingly.

Gladio had just laughed. "If you start waiting on him now, you'll be doing it forever."

"Come on, I'm just trying to be nice," Prompto shrugged, though he had secretly preened a little at the thought of 'forever.' He pushed a forkful of omelette into his mouth before he spoke again, which caused Ignis to tut at his bad manners.

"I don't believe you, you know. All this 'we always knew you and Noct would get it on' stuff."

Ignis choked a little, as Gladio laughed. "It's true."

"But I'm just…a nobody," the blond shrugged, chewing thoughtfully.

"You do yourself a great disservice," Ignis told him, as he delicately cut through his omelette. "…Don't let Noctis know that we told you this, but…have you ever wondered why he sleeps so much?"

Prompto goggled at the random question, before chuckling. "Because he's a lazy brat?"

Gladio smiled gently, before replying. "When he was younger…like, twelve, thirteen…he was really down in the dumps..."

"Clinically depressed," Ignis corrected him.

"…And he told us, much later on, he preferred sleeping to being awake because it meant he could stop thinking for a while. Didn't have to deal with the world."

Prompto stared at the two older men, dumbstruck. "But…that's so sad!"

"Indeed," Ignis agreed laconically. "These days, however, he sleeps so much because…"

"…He's a lazy brat," Gladio finished, smirking.

"And I suspect his body clock is permanently skewed now. Anyway, he spent his early teenage years ricocheting between anger, disdain, sadness and fear at the duties he was to perform as heir. After a while, it mellowed into a sort of mute, if unhappy, acceptance," Ignis continued, taking a dainty bite of his breakfast. "But even before you, we had an inkling that his future marriage, in particular, might not be as simple an affair as may be expected."

"What do you mean?"Prompto asked, intrigued.

Ignis actually blushed. "Let's just say that there were a few concrete indications that he might be less interested in females than the average teenage boy."

"…Wow," the blond exclaimed, frowning in faint awe as he pondered the possibilities briefly. "But…what's that got to do with me?"

"He was suddenly happy again. Smiled for the first time in years. Wouldn't stop talking about you and got all embarrassed when he did," Gladio told him, scooping a hefty portion of egg into his mouth.

"He didn't have close relationships with anybody prior to you introducing yourself. No friends, certainly," Ignis shrugged. "Though I suspect that was just as much down to other people's reticence to approach him, as Noct's own shyness."

Prompto nodded mutely, before Gladio addressed him. "If you think you might wanna…you know, get together with Noct – you should know that the whole Palace, including Noct's dad, knew this day would come eventually. And in hundreds of years of the family's reign, don't think he's the first to bat for the home team, if you know what I mean."

"I guess that's…a relief?" Prompto mused, wide-eyed.

"We're glad it's you," Ignis said simply, gifting him with a small smile.

"Yeah, you're a good kid. We've been keeping an eye," Gladio winked.

Prompto laughed awkwardly, feeling the place under his skin burn fiercely with blushes. "What's it gonna take to get you to stop calling me 'kid?'"

"Dunno…a lifetime supply of Cup Noodles and Ebony might do it," Gladio pondered, shrugging his muscled, feather-inked shoulders.

Ignis nudged him in playful warning, before turning his attention back to the photographer. "And naturally, I trust that you will do right by your Prince, whatever may precipitate between you."

"I love him," Prompto said with an almost surprising absence of fanfare, his cobalt eyes calm and his voice unshaken. The only hint of the younger man's own surprise at his admission, was a quiet bob of his slim throat as he gulped.

"…Glad to hear it," Gladio smiled, and Ignis nodded in agreement.


An hour later, they were discussing the nocturnal hunts on offer at the Quay over green tea. Prompto was shielding his eyes from a particularly eye-watering lance of morning sunlight that was angled right into his face, when he peered at Gladio, who was pointing over his shoulder.

"Sleeping Beauty's up."

The blond turned, beaming, as Noctis skulked towards them with a quick wave and a wry smile, his black jacket not in evidence. His pale skin was already glowing from the tumultuous heat that had flared up again from nowhere and was sizzling the cool sea outside.

"Hey," the Prince said simply, giving Prompto's quiff a quick, messy ruffle as he passed, before sliding into the booth beside him, bouncing a little on the soft leather seats.

"Ack, not the hair! Jerk," the blond tutted fondly, trying to reconstruct his gelled hair.

Noctis ignored him, though he smiled to himself, retrieving the omelette that was wrapped, ready-to-eat on the table beside the photographer. "For me? You shouldn't have."

"You're right, I shouldn't," Prompto sighed, giving him a quick jab in the bicep.

Noctis tucked in without a word, half-listening as Ignis and Gladio filled him in on some lucrative hunts that were based nearby, if he was willing to stay another night in order to vanquish the nocturnal fiends.

"Sounds good," the Prince replied, munching happily on his omelette. "This is nice…what's in it?" he asked the group in general, scooping another big bite into his mouth.

"Onion, asparagus, potato," Ignis smiled, folding his hands elegantly and preparing to extol the virtues of the omelette further if required.

Noctis frowned, blanching, and speared a piece of the omelette on his fork to peer at it. "…Vegetables?"

"They would usually be considered vegetables, yes," Ignis nodded.

Seeing Noctis pout, Prompto laughed sweetly. "Dude, you just said it was nice. Eat it."

"…Hm," the Prince grunted, before grudgingly continuing his breakfast.


They were all digesting, and quietly rejoicing in the brisk sea breezes and newly-clear, pinkish sky when Prompto felt himself poked sharply in the thigh underneath the table. Glancing sidelong at Noctis, who was still engaged in one-handed fiddling with his mobile phone, he wondered what the problem was. Before he could question the engrossed Prince, his hand was snatched, squeezed, and held warmly, out of sight beneath the cool pine table.

Chewing back a happy grin with some difficulty, he rubbed his thumb across Noct's skin, and gave him a quick squeeze back.