Chapter 2: Bad Reputation

(~1 hour earlier)

It had been three long weeks of scorching summer heat and the small, wall-mounted air conditioner whirred loudly in a losing battle against the stifling, stagnant air inside Noctis' living room. Thankfully, the late August heat wave was finally starting to break, and with any luck in a day or two the rains would arrive and bring the rapid cool-down that all of the Insomnia weather forecasters were promising.

"Come on, dude. We should be out celebrating! Enjoying our youth!" the blond exclaimed in an attempt to convince his best friend to ditch their regular weeknight ritual of pizza and video gaming. "It's your birthday! How many times do you turn 16?" Prompto whined as he tossed his cell phone onto the coffee table for dramatic effect, and laid back against the expensive leather couch with a loud, deflated sigh.

"Only once, thankfully," Noctis murmured. The Prince didn't think birthdays were anything special. He had undoubtedly attended more than his fill of royal parties and birthday affairs when he was younger. Each passing year was only serving to mark the fact that he grew closer to the eventual reality of becoming King. It wasn't something he looked forward to, and he hated the idea that as King he would be forced to give up whatever minute freedoms that were currently afforded to him, and his life would no longer be his own. Birthdays were not really something he cared to celebrate. And this year, he had absolutely no appetite to leave his flat. In fact, all he really wanted to do to celebrate his birthday was to crawl into bed early and catch a few extra Z's. But Prompto was making damn well sure that wasn't happening.

"You even have the Regalia. We could go anywhere we want. Do anything we want! What do you say, buddy?" The blond leaned forward, an excited glint in his sapphire eyes illuminated by the glow of the television. "Shouldn't we go out and live a little?" he asked, staring down at his best friend sitting on the floor in front of the paused PlayStation.

"Don't think that's such a good idea," Noctis said flatly.

"Come on dude! Go out tonight, and you can do whatever you want for the rest of the week. I'll even leave you alone if you want some unlimited nap time, I promise!" bargained the blond, placing a hand upon his heart.

"Not gonna happen." Although the idea was quite tempting, Noct was stubbornly standing his ground. He tried hard to ignore the fact that he had been down this road so many times before, he knew he may as well just give in to the blond now and get it over with because once Prompto set his mind to something, he was relentless until he got what he wanted. And tonight, Prompto had decided that he wanted them to go out. Despite his best efforts, Noctis realized it was most likely only a matter of time until that happened.

Prompto's excitement rapidly devolved into a sad, droopy pout. Whenever Noctis refused his best friend, he would be given the face - that gloomy pout the blond would flash whenever he was feigning disappointment. Because Noctis found it insufferable, the face had quickly become one of the strongest weapons in the blond's arsenal. And that pout was usually the reason the raven-haired teen got swept along with whatever grand scheme his best friend was concocting since Prompto, being the playful, vibrant soul that he was, was almost always up to something. Ignis had branded the blond a 'Royal Troublemaker', and it was one of the few things Noct and Ignis actually agreed on these days.

It was true that the Prince found Prompto's seemingly care-free zest for life and never-ending source of energy refreshing. These were qualities he himself would never possess, and he figured they added a healthy balance to his otherwise mundane life. However, it was Prompto's desire for good-spirited fun that had landed the two best friends in major trouble on more than one occasion. Like the time Prompto started a food fight in the school cafeteria that got them both a week of detention. Or the time before that, when the blond practically blew up their chemistry lab experiment because he really just needed to see what happened if he added hydrochloric acid to their beaker. Somehow, that little stunt had managed to get the Prince grounded for three weeks with all electronic privileges revoked right after the release of the newest Assassin's Creed. Talk about bad timing. And he didn't even do anything. It was the longest and most painful three weeks of his existence, and Noct still hadn't fully forgiven Prompto for it.

Seeing that Noctis still needed more convincing, Prompto decided on a different tactic, his expression turning to one of devilishness. He knew Ignis had been riding Noctis hard lately about everything from grades, to eating more vegetables, to following road rules while behind the wheel, and so forth. The blond surmised he could use this to his advantage. "Hey, I know! Let's do something that Ignis would never approve of," he added, emphasizing the last few words to strike a chord with his best friend.

Noctis glanced up at Prompto, slightly intrigued. The blond was grinning ear to ear, the glimmer in his eyes looking like trouble already. Noctis could almost see his willpower breaking within the deep blue reflection. He contemplatively glimpsed at the clock. Half past nine, on a school night no less. And on top of that, his graduated licensing permit technically prohibited him from driving after dark. But on the other hand, Ignis, Gladio, and his father had all stopped by earlier to wish him a happy birthday. He was pretty sure he could easily slip out unnoticed. Plus, the chances of he and Prompto being discovering out and about this late were pretty low, especially if they kept a low profile. That might be hard in the Regalia, but honestly, what police officer would ever dare to interfere with the royal vehicle?

"Ok, ok, fine," muttered the raven-haired teen, finally rewarding the blond's perseverance.

"All right!" Prompto exclaimed with a fistful of enthusiasm. He was proud of his victory and popped up off the couch with newfound vigour.

"But I'm holding you to your promise," the Prince advised. There was no way he was agreeing to this if he couldn't cast off all social responsibility and spend the rest of the week napping at his leisure.

"Sure, sure. You got it dude!"

Groaning and rubbing his eyes, the dark-haired teen shut down his PlayStation and stood up. He could barely believe he was letting Prompto talk him into doing something that could get him grounded, again.

"Oh, and it's just for like an hour or so," Noctis advised. Any longer than that would surely raise the odds of them getting caught, and not to mention, interfere with his chances of getting a good night's sleep.

"Don't worry man, I'll make this worth your while!" the blond chirped excitedly, shoving his cell phone into his pocket and rushing toward the door before the Prince could change his mind. Noctis hastily threw on a vest and his favorite baseball cap, and grabbed the keys to the Regalia. "I've got just the thing, dude. Let's do this!" Prompto declared as the two stepped out into the refreshing evening breeze.

"Here we go again," mumbled the Prince.