Days later the boys were standing at the front doors of the Citadel. They held their hands tightly as they watched a common looking car pull up to the front steps.

Noctis tugged Prompto hurriedly toward the car. "Come on. I want to see if I can beat your high score on Justice Monsters."

"Yeah right! But hey, you really think someone could best our amazing high scores since we were last there?"

"No, but I still want to try and beat your high score."

"Oh you're on!" Prompto said as the two of them got into the car.

Noctis buried his face into Prompto's shoulder and laughed at that. "I will crush you. Just you wait."

"Not until we play the new Zombie Outbreak game. I'll destroy you in that."

"You would demand that, you fiend. Why am I dating you?"

"Cause you looooove me," Prompto teased playfully.

"I do love you, but you are making this drive terrible" He laughed.

Prompto laughed as he laid down across Noctis's lap. "Am I really?"

"So distracting. It's so terrible. What will I do otherwise," He said flatly while trying to hide his smile when watching Prompto.

"I thought you wanted me to be your distraction."

"Not when I'm playing Justice Monsters. I thought you understood this," He teased. "Or should I get on you during that zombie game you love?"

"Noooo Noct! You can't distract me! I need to be in the game!"

"Yeah? Okay, I'll make sure to not distract you during your game." He laughed.

"Good! Sounds like a deal! Also we're totally doing DDR later!"

"What! No, we cannot. You're going to crush me."

Prompto stuck out his tongue. "Exactly my point."

"So rude! Just watch me crush you in these games." He protested.

The two continued their silly banter all the way until they reached the arcade. The car pulled up and the driver turned to face the boys. "Here we are, your highness. You may head inside and I will follow after you two shortly."

"Thank you." Noctis said. He got out of the car easily so he could grab Prompto's hand to drag him into the arcade excitedly.

"Zombie game first, yeah?"

"You bet!"

The two ran into the arcade, not even waiting for their guard. Inside they were met with the nearly long forgotten sounds of arcade games blaring music and sound. It was a wonderfully nostalgic feeling that overwhelmed them as they made their way to the front desk.

"Welcome to the Gamer's Zone," the woman working looked up from her computer. "Are you here to renew your points or buy..." she gasped when she realized who she was talking too. "Oh my goodness. Your Highness! We were wondering when you would return!"

"Yeah, it's been too long. I think I need to buy some points," Noctis said with a smile as he handed over his card easily.

"Of course! And how many points will we be buying today?" The woman said as she took the card.

"How about the usual amount? We can get more later."

"Alright, and what about you?" the woman said as she looked at Prompto.

"Oh uh, I guess the same amount for me too," Prompto said as he placed his card on the table. He then looked at Noctis. "Are we paying together? Or separately? Or...?"

"I've got you this time. You can get the next date," Noctis said.

"Okay deal," Prompto smiled.

The woman, who's name tag read Joan, smiled warmly. "I must say I am still in awe over your speech, Prince Noctis. Please know that I am 100% behind you on your choices in gay marriage." Smiling Joan pulled back her worker vest slightly revealing a small rainbow pin on her regular shirt. "My girlfriend and I really appreciated it."

Noctis knew he was flushing some at the obvious support. "I'm glad you liked the speech. Thank you for the support."

"Always welcome, Your Highness," Joan replied happily as she handed back the cards.

He took the cards and gave her a little nod. Then he smiled and grabbed Prompto's hand to guide him to the game.

"Wow," Prompto whispered. "Totally didn't expect that."

"Me either. That was, actually, really nice," He whispered back.

"It's so weird that people will be saying stuff like that to us. But yeah, it's nice."

"Just imagine what it'll be like when we get back to school."

"Oh geez. That could be even crazier!"

Noctis laughed a little. "School alone is going to be crazy. You wanna be player one or two?"

"Hmm player one of course!"

"Okay, get this sucker started." Noctis said while settling into his position. He was happy to settle into the feeling of an afternoon at the arcade once again.

As they played their game, they could notice various people walking by. Some of them stopped to watch for a bit before they moved away, others just moved quickly by. Many of them were whispering though. They were too quiet to be overheard, but it wasn't hard to notice how secretly they looked as they watched the duo play their games. The sudden group of people watching them more frequently was what finally caused Prompto to lose his focus, and lose his round in the game.

After Prompto lost the round, Noctis touched gently on their bond to see how he was doing and sensed all of his distraction. So he looked behind him to the crowd. "Want to switch games? Or, something else?" He asked quietly.

"I dunno. We'll be watched either way... your guard guy is around here somewhere right?"

Noctis scanned the arcade for the guard who had driven them and managed to catch the figure. "Yeah, he's here. And watching carefully."

"Yeah okay, that's good then. I guess it's still just a bit nerve-racking to be in public again. So many people watching."

"I get ya. Just ignore them. We'll eventually stop being interesting."

"Well to them maybe," Prompto commented. "But you'll always be interesting to me."

Noctis laughed at that and started to queue up another game. "You are such a nerd. I cannot believe you just said that."

"What? Cannot believe I complimented you? In a cute cheesy manner?"

"Not at all. It's like we're dating or something."

Prompto snorted as he gave Noctis a slight shove. "You're the real dork, you know that?"

Noctis scoffed at that and spared a look at Prompto while the game started. "What? How dare you." He said in mock offense.

Prompto stuck out his tongue. "Can't take the compliments?"

"You really think I'm interesting when I sleep?"

"You are adorable when you sleep!" Prompto said with a wink.

Noctis sputtered at that in some shock. "I'm going to beat you again in this round, just you wait. I know your weakness."

"Ooh? Do you now?"

"Yeah, me apparently," He laughed while knocking his shoulder.

"Well let's see if you can live up to that. We'll go again and this time I won't lose!"

"Fine, loser buys snacks." Noctis wagered.

"Deal!"

This round was much harder for Noctis since Prompto wasn't as distracted by the crowd. Still, he gritted his teeth and pulled the one move he remembered being good at the very end to eek out a win. He cheered a bit as he saw his character come out on top again.

"Ha! I told you I could beat you again!" Noctis cheered.

Prompto stuck out his tongue. "Meh I'll get you at the next game. Then you'll be the one buying the other nachos!"

Noctis laughed and took Prompto's arm to lead him over to the snack counter. He knew there'd be photos of them in the papers tomorrow, but this was at least decent PR. "I look forward to it."

While the eyes of various people were still on them, there were many who were smiling. There were even a few groups of girls who were giggling as they passed by.

"So..." Prompto whispered. "Does this mean I have a fan club now?"

HIs eyes scanned the area to catch on the giggling girls. "Yeah, think so. You might even start getting merch being sold of you. Especially when they learn 'bout Clarus."

"Oh geez. Do you get like royalties for that stuff?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes. Those get donated to charity."

"Wow, that sounds crazy. But I guess it doesn't sound all bad when I think about it."

"It's just. . . a lot of weird. I try not to think about it a lot. And, easy to do when Iggy's voice is just hammering etiquette lessons to remember when out in public."

"Yeah, you got a point there. I have no idea how you ever can remember all that stuff though!"

Noctis laughed a little bit at that. "Time? We started early? You'll get there, you're smarter than you think."

Prompto smiled as he went up to the counter to order some snacks. "So what do you want, Noct?"

"Get me some fries and an energy drink."

Prompto made the order and the two moved over to one of the tables as they waited. Prompto scooted his chair a little closer to Noctis.

"So what's the plan after food?"

"Racing game? Then some DDR."

"Alright. Sounds good. Get ready to be buying dessert!"

"Aren't I always?" Noctis laughed. "Come on, this is the only time I can really drive anything."

"But that doesn't make you a better driver just cause its a video game!" Prompto chuckled.

Noctis shrugged with a smile at that even as he got the game started for them to race with each other.

"Alright. Let's ride!"

The game made Noctis smile and laugh as they tried to knock each other off the road while staying in front of their NPC competitors. He focused on the game so much that he didn't end up taunting Prompto too much during those rounds. This game was a bit more balanced with Noctis winning by just one round there.

"Okay so that puts the score... I think 4 to 3?" Prompto asked after.

"Yeah, you've got it right. You won this round. So that means I get dessert eventually?"

"Yup, this time you treat me to the snack of my choice."

"Want it now, or should we play some DDR while we're between rounds?"

"Hmm probably after. Don't wanna be dancing on a full stomach."

"That's what I thought. Should we drop a level since it's been so long since we last played?"

"Probably. Gotta give a chance to warm up the bodies," Prompto said as he started to stretch.

Noctis watched Prompto for a moment in confusion. "Wait- you're seriously stretching before DDR?"

"Dude I always warm up! How else do you think I always wiped the dance floor with you?"

"Is that your secret! Dude!" Noctis hissed.

"I got so many secrets," Prompto teased.

"Dude. Video game secrets are the worst," Noctis teased.

"Too bad. You gotta live with alllll my dreaded video game secrets now!"

Noctis narrowed his eyes at him before smiling. "Well now that I know them, I can start stealing them."

Prompto gasped. "You wouldn't dare!"

"And give up a chance to catch up to you? Why not?"

"Alright! Prove it! Let's go!"

Noctis spluttered for a moment before going through a few stretches. Then, he joined Prompto at the DDR machine. "Let's see if I can keep up a bit better now."

"I'll be picking the first song," Prompto said as he began to scroll through the list.

"Please don't pick something too hard."

"Oh well start easy. Gotta get a good warm up. But also your choice if you want to set yourself on easy mode," Prompto said as he selected a song titled 'Simple and Clean" by Hikaru Utada.

Noctis scoffed and made sure to take the same difficulty as Prompto. "I am not backing down on this."

"Let's dance!"

With a laugh Noctis started to move his feet along with the prompts. He knew he wasn't doing as well as Prompto, but he was enjoying just having fun in the moment and ending up slightly out of breath and leaning against the rail.

Before the two of them knew it, a crowd had formed around them. Eager eyes watched as they finished up their first song, with Noctis's score coming up as a B and Prompto's as a B+.

"I guess we got a bit of a crowd now, ah ha," Prompto laughed nervously.

"Looks like it." Noctis agreed as he looked over the crowd to make sure they seemed friendly enough. And to make sure he knew where their guard was still, which was thankfully close.

"Feel like you can earn an A with this next one?" He asked, trying to help keep Prompto's mind off the crowd around them.

"Yup! Slowly my dancing powers return and I shall defeat you!"

"I don't think that was in question." Noctis laughed as he queued up another song.

"So what's your pick?"

"How about High Hopes by Panic?"

"If you think you can handle it," Prompto taunted playfully.

"I'm certainly going to try my best." Noctis laughed back.

Prompto chose his difficulty, this time a level above his last. He breathed out as he prepared himself for the song to begin.

Noctis stayed at his level for this song, still not sure how flexible he was. So, he felt confident he could keep up with Prompto as they began to dance to the peppy song.

At first Prompto kept a good streak, but once it hit the chorus, he started to slip up. His streak was lost and he had to try harder to keep up with the beats.

Due to the lower difficulty he didn't have as much trouble and managed to string together a decent streak for himself by the end of the song. He grinned as he found himself getting a B+ for the song.

Prompto had a C this time, but he had at least survived through the entire song without dropping into the danger zone.

"Whew...think we can last one more song?"

"I think so. Got one in mind? I'll try to keep up with you this time. Hopefully I won't crash and burn."

"Hmm, I don't know..." Prompto said as he started scrolling through the list.

Noctis was leaning in to watch the list and humming some. Someone in the crowd shouted, "Beethoven Virus!" Which startled him a little bit.

"Yeah!" Someone else shouted. "Do that one!"

"Oh yeah! That one's fun!"

Soon the rest of the crowd was all chatting "Beethoven Virus" again and again. Prompto looked nervously at Noctis. "I guess the fans have spoken? We do one of the more challenging songs to end it off?"

"Sounds like it should be an interesting way to end the day. Let's do it. I'm prepared to crash and burn."

"But only one of us will be the ultimate winner," Prompto said. "The other... hmm what should the punishment be for the loser?"

"Well I'm already getting dessert, so it can't be that. Maybe the winner gets a kiss?" Noctis proposed with a smirk.

The crowd let out a mix of gasps and giggles. It still made Prompto a bit nervous, but he knew he couldn't back down now. "Alright. It's a deal."

Noctis sent a smirk over to Prompto, while he was sure PR would probably kill them after this. "Deal. And we'll be on an even playing field. Same difficulty and everything. I am prepared to die."

"So Expert mode? Aka death mode?"

He sighed heavily before nodding. "Prom, you're going to kill me, but yeah, sure, let's do it. Death mode."

The two of them set their difficulty to Expert as they let the song begin. It started simple enough as any song did on expert, as it was all a lure to make the player think that it would be easy and they could handle it. But it soon started to pick up the pace with how many arrows they had to hit, one after another and after another. Prompto jumped from side to side as he tried his best to match up with the amount of arrows that started to fly up on the screen, but even he started to slip up.

Noctis gritted his teeth as the loading screen showed. He had done plenty of footwork training with Gladio, so he wanted to do at least decently. The song started off well, and some confidence filled him for a brief moment.

Then came the rapid footwork moments, and the bright red lights of the danger zone. That caused him to trip up on his own feet. He could almost hear the grind of his teeth as he zeroed in his focus to try and get out of the danger zone with little success before failing the song entirely before the end.

When the scores totaled up both boys had gotten a rank of D, but Prompto was too tired too care. He exhaled deeply as he stumbled over to Noctis's side and nearly collapsed into his arms. "Can I call that my workout for the next four months and be done?"

Breathing deeply to try and settle his heart rate, Noctis reached over to pat Prompto's arm gently. "Try and convince Gladio about that. I wish you luck. He'd just tell us to get good and it's good cardio. Who won?"

With the final scores from all three rounds finalized, it showed that Prompto was the overall winner. The crowd clapped and cheered from all around them, though Prompto didn't even have the energy to care anymore about that. "So can I get that kiss now? Or is it a kiss to go?"

Noctis smiled at Prompto as he pulled him in close. "I wouldn't deny you a kiss now." He said softly before pulling him into a soft kiss. Press could be damned.

The crowd was now all cheering loudly and clapping. In the end both Noctis and Prompto knew Ignis was going to find out about this, probably all before dinner. But in that one moment they didn't even heard the crowd. For that one moment it was just the two of them with their lips pressed against one another.

Eventually the kiss stopped, and fortunately for both of them it wasn't one of their heated kisses. Noctis smiled at Prompto as he kept him close. "Time to head back and grab that dessert I owe you?" he asked softly.

"Yeah and maybe a nap too," Prompto chuckled. "My legs are going to feel it in the morning."

"I'll send a warning to Gladio for some good stretches," Noctis teased. He kept his arm wrapped around Prompto as he guided them toward the exit and braved the crowd to guide them to the exit.

"So where will we go for dessert? Any place special?"

"I think that ice cream place you like would be good."

As they two got into the car, Prompto let himself collapse against Noctis. "Well hopefully we make it before I fall asleep on you."

"If you fall asleep, I'll just give you the sleeping beauty treatment so you can get some ice cream." Noctis teased as he made sure to hold Prompto carefully.

"That's rather tempting, though I thought you were supposed to be sleeping beauty?"

Noctis smiled down at Prompto and brushed his cheek gently. "I'm happy to trade the trait with you."

"You know," Prompto snickered. "Maybe I will be Sleeping Beauty. She has blonde hair anyways. But maybe you can be Snow White."

He snorted at that. "Perhaps so. That mean you're willing to wake me up in a coffin?"

"If it meant saving your life with a kiss, then yes."

"You're so sweet." Noctis threw Ignis's warnings into the trash as he pulled Prompto a quick kiss before guiding them over to their guard so they could head to their car for the day.

"That's what I'm here for," Prompto chuckled.

Noctis helped push them through the arcade crowd with a smile and weak thanks toward their guard. That guard was able to get them to the car waiting outside to get them back home safe and sound.

Once in the dark and quiet of the car, Noctis pulled Prompto into his arms to kiss him soundly. "A nice enough reward, or do you need another?"

"Can I say no? That way I could get more 'reward' kisses?" Prompto teased.

"Are you going to deny me a kiss?" Noctis asked in shock.

"Dunno. Are you going to deny me a reward?"

"Of course not." Noctis protested before pulling Prompto close to kiss him deeply in the privacy of the car.