Noctis climbed out of Ignis's car before letting Prompto join him at his side. He looked up at the school he hadn't seen in months but would be reentering again. He resisted the urge to grab Prompto's hand, but instead sent a bit of soothing emotion to him. They could do this; he was sure of it.

"Feel free to call or text should anything happen," Ignis said from behind the steering wheel. "Otherwise, you have your lunches, and I'll see you after school."

"Thanks Iggy!" Prompto said. "But I think we are ready to brave school once again."

"I'm glad to hear it. Have fun today," Ignis replied before he started off back to the Citadel.

Noctis took a deep breath. "Alright, let's go see how bad our schedules are."

"Hopefully we got some classes together. We should have photography at least, right? You still planning to learn my skills?"

Noctis scrunched up his nose but nodded. "I'm going to at least try. You're going to help me get a good grade in this class, right?"

"I'll help, but I won't let you cheat off my work. I want to see you create your own beautiful photos."

"Prom, honey, you've seen my photos. I need all the help I can get."

"Now you can learn," Prompto teased, reaching to hold on to Noctis's hand as they entered the school building.

Right away they were met with many eyes, many of them gasping at the sight of the two of them. As expected they could hear whispers and gossip coming from various groups as they headed down the hallway.

Noctis squeezed Prompto's hand gently as they headed through the halls. "Okay, it does seem like we were lucky enough to have the same homeroom. Come on."

The two came to the room that was meant as their homeroom class. Inside there were already some students sitting around, talking to one another. Eventually the two settled in by the window, ready to go over their schedules together. "So we have homeroom, photography. Looks like we get to suffer through more math together too."

"Only three classes a day? Do we at least have the same lunch together? I hope so."

"Hey, I'm still slowly going through it! Give me a chance," Prompto laughed. "Yup! We do have lunch together. And it also seems like we got Lucian history. Pff, that's going to be a breeze! Iggy has got us probably sixty levels ahead of what they'll teach us."

Noctis laughed at that. "That's cause he wants us to be proud of our family history."

"Why is Lucian history even required for you? It's your history," Prompto laughed.

"Cause he wants me to understand the public point of view and know what we are working with as rulers. And Dad is sometimes cruel," Noctis groaned with a little smile.

"Aww, well that just shows he cares. But this history includes stuff on the Amicitias, right? Would be good for me to learn even more about them."

"Usually the two families are entwined. Sometimes they aren't, but it's rare. I bet Clarus and Gladio would be happy to teach you, if you'd like," Noctis assured him quietly.

"Yeah, but I could also impress them with my powerful knowledge!"

"Uh," a small voice cut in. It was one of the girls in their home room. "Excuse me? Prince Noctis? Prompto? May I speak with you?"

Noctis froze a little bit before looking at the girl but he gave her a little smile. "Oh, yeah, of course. I mean, the teacher isn't here," He said a bit stiffly.

The girl bowed her head respectfully as she held out a small envelope. "My friends and I wrote you and Prompto a card when we heard you'd be returning. We are happy to have you back!"

With a more relaxed smile, Noctis took the card. "Thank you, we really appreciate it. It's nice to be back again," He assured her.

"Yeah," Prompto added. "Thanks for the warm welcome."

"Of course! And also you two are totally adorable together! I always knew you two would be perfect for each other," the girl beamed happily.

Noctis knew he was blushing at that. "Thank you. We're- we're rather glad it worked out alright in the end as well."

The girl smiled again before giving another bow and saying her goodbyes. She then headed back to her desk just as the teacher headed into the room.

The pair separated to get into their desks, side by side, as the teacher started their homeroom. She was quick to lead them through attendance, then the rules of the classroom, and handing out important paperwork for the school. Noctis wanted to go back to sleep during all of this, so he sent a stream of his boredom to Prompto.

Prompto grinned slightly, sending back a feeling of amusement. Even though they were apart, they still had their connection that made them feel like they were right besides one another. It honestly was going to make the day so much easier.

The thread of amusement helped Noctis feel a bit less bored, though he still hated the usual first day lecture. Especially when they soon were separated for different classes, where he felt incredibly bored and annoyed by the classmates wanting to know all about his absence or his relationship with Prompto. He had never been so happy to hear the bell ring to make them all move away from him.

"So that wasn't so bad," Prompto said as they exited the room. "And that was just homeroom."

"It was boring, but at least now we have Photography together."

"Oh yeah! Best class in the entire school!"

Noctis smiled a little bit at that. "I'll take your word on it. This will be my first time."

"You'll be fine," Prompto said as he sent a wave of calming comfort to Noctis.

"Thanks. At least no matter what, I'll have a better understanding to appreciate your photographs."

"Come on then! Let's get to the class before the bell rings!"

Noctis shook his head some but happily followed Prompto to their classroom so they could get a seat together.

Through the class the two of them listened to the teacher. It was only the first day though, so it was mainly just running through the course and explaining what they would be doing. The entire class period, Prompto made sure to send warm and confident thoughts to Noctis.

The class didn't seem too difficult, even if a chunk of it went over his head in the beginning. He was glad to have Prompto to help ease him into this, otherwise there was no way he would have taken this instead.

The class seemed to go quickly and the two were then off to their next class together, which was math. It was just the same as the prior, but before they knew it the bell rang for class to be over. Prompto sighed as they headed out the door. "I guess this is where we part ways until lunch."

"Yeah, just, call if you need me, okay?" Noctis offered as they came to the split of the hallway. "Otherwise, see you at lunch."

"I'll be sure to let you know. But yeah, see you then. Love you, Noct," Prompto said with his usual warm smile.

Noctis returned the smile and sent his feelings without saying anything. Too many lessons from Ignis kept him saying too much in school. He gave a little wave as he headed to his next class.

His next two classes were boring without Prompto to help keep him company, but he managed to stay awake and not cause any scenes, fortunately.

By the time lunch came around, he headed to the lunchroom and looked where Prompto might have been. It didn't take long before he saw the familiar bright blond hair sticking out among the crowd. Prompto saw him right away, smiling and waving. "Noct! Over here!"

Seeing Prompto among the crowd made Noctis relax some and hurry over to his side. "Finally. Your classes go alright?" He asked while pulling out the box packed for him to start eating.

"Yeah it was just gym and study hall. So nothing really big to do today," Prompto answered.

"Not bad. I can't believe I have gym at the end of the day. This is going to suck."

"Hey at least that means you can go right home and sleep! I got it third period! I gotta suffer with being tired for the rest of the day. And don't even get me started thinking about the swimming unit!"

"You don't like the swimming unit?" Noctis asked curiously. "Why?"

"Well you know, you gotta get all wet for like 30 minutes and then go through the rest of the day feeling tired cause you were swimming so much."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I like swimming some, one of the better rehab things they made me do," Noctis explained softly.

"I guess that makes sense. I got nothing against swimming, just wish it wasn't so early in the day for me."

"Yeah, I get ya. You'll survive though."

"Well I got a yummy lunch to look forward to and getting to spend it with you," Prompto smiled. "So I can survive."

Noctis laughed a little and pushed his shoulder gently. "Sap," He teased.

Prompto gave a push back. "Guilty as charged."

The pair settled to eat their lunch, and as the period got close to the end, Noctis got up from the table. "I'll be right back, save my seat, okay?"

"Sure thing," Prompto nodded.

Noctis headed out of the area, and only about a minute later. One of their classmates came to sit across from Prompto. "So dating the Prince huh?"

The hair on Prompto's neck raised slightly, turning to see the classmate. "Uh, yeah. What about it."

The classmate leaned in with a toothy smile. "So you think a Niff like you deserves to date him? You're just a novelty."

Prompto could feel his stomach churning. "Noct, he chose to date me. I didn't think I did, but Noct did."

"Well it won't take long for him to realize what we knew about you in primary school. Not much there below that blond hair."

Prompto wrapped his arms around his waist, trying his best to not let his emotions spiral out. He didn't want to worry Noctis because of this. He could be brave on his own, all for Noctis.

"Noctis doesn't care about that. He loves me for who I am. Where I come from doesn't matter to him."

"Oh you think that-"

The words were stopped as a hand settled on the classmate's shoulder heavily. "I think we're done here," Noctis said in a low, near growl.

"O-Oh Prince Noctis!" The student stammered. "I was just... well just talking to-"

"I think you were practically harassing Mister Argentum-Amicitia. You'd better leave before you dig a deeper hole," Noctis said as he removed his hand from the shoulder.

The student sneered as he got up. "Fine. Protect your little Niff. But I'm not blind to what this all is."

Noctis felt fury burn in him as he stepped closer to the student, unaware of the magic burning in his eyes. "And just what would that be?" He asked in a hiss.

Prompto quickly jumped to his feet, putting himself between Noctis and the other student. He tried to send calming feelings to Noctis through the rush of anger he felt from Noctis. "He doesn't have anything. He's just trying to bluff."

The calm and seeing Prompto in front of him made Noctis take a step back. "Just leave him alone, alright?"

The student scoffed. "Whatever. You just do your thing. The public will eventually see through the Niff."

Noctis couldn't help the low growl but didn't do anything as the student walked away finally.

Prompto sighed, slumping slightly against Noctis. "Whew, glad that's over."

"How long was he bothering you?" Noctis asked as he looked Prompto over.

"Not super long. Just a bit after you left."

"Are they always like this with you?"

"Yeah. Well, like they were before. You know, before we were dating."

"Why didn't you say anything?" He asked softly, and then cursed some when the bell rang.

"Didn't want to bother you with it before," Prompto admitted. "I know that's stupid now, but it was just something that worried me before."

"Don't worry about it anymore. You know what I feel, and no more secrets," Noctis whispered to his ear as he pulled him into a hug.

"Yeah. No more secrets," Prompto replied softly.

Noctis took his hand and quickly shoved their stuff into his bag. "Come on, time to get back to class."

"Noct, it's 7th period that we have together, not 6th," Prompto whined. "I've got to get to literature and you have to head to study hall."

"At least I get a nap after lunch."

"Don't slack off too much. Iggy will know!"

Noctis laughed a little at that when they parted. He couldn't help but worry a little bit during study hall that Prompto was getting bothered by another student.

Though during the next class, he only felt positive vibes from Prompto, no worry or discomfort like before. By the time the bell rang, Noctis ran all the way to his Lucian History class where he saw Prompto already waiting.

Prompto grinned happily. "Hey Noct, how was Sleepy Hall?"

"Sleepy. We don't even have that much homework to do, so nothing to do but stare."

"Well we will see what you'll say when we're three months into the semester. Oh, also," Prompto pulled something out of his backpack. "We had another fangirl I guess in my last class. I guess a bunch of them all made cards to give to us if they happened to be in a class with us."

"What. I guess we have cards to open when we're done with school." Noctis said softly.

"Yeah, it is kind of nice though. Washes out that lunch issue at least."

"And you're okay after that?" He reached out to squeeze his hand gently as the teacher entered the room.

"I'm fine. Knowing that you were coming to rescue me made it better," Prompto whispered.

"I'll do that as much as I can." Noctis whispered back.

"My prince in a fashionable school uniform," Prompto teased just before the teacher started the class.

Noctis was amused for the beginning of class before the doldrums of Lucian history he had known since he was a child started to bore him. He slouched into his chair and tried his best to not fall asleep right before gym class.

Every once and a while Prompto would give him a slight nudge, making sure he actually didn't doze off. "We're almost done with the day, stay with me here."

He turned to quickly stick his tongue out at Prompto before doing his best to stay awake for the rest of class and managing. As the bell rang, he got up to walk out with Prompto. "See you after class, right? Going to the arcade to celebrate?"

"Totally! First day of school survival calls for arcade fun!"

"Something to get us through the last class. See you then!" Noctis said happily.

The last period of the day seemed to go by the fastest for both of the boys and neither of them ran into any interruptions. By the time that final bell rang the two sprinted to meet at the front of the school, nearly crashing into one another as they did so.

"Hey there, miss me?" Noctis teased as he steadied Prompto.

"Every passing second!"

"Far too sweet," He said warmly. "Come on, let's hit the arcade to celebrate a successful first day back."

"Yeah. Let's roll!"