Weeelcome back!
So yeah, here's the new chapter! I can't believe I tried writing a fluff fic and it turned into angst.
"Go back outside the wall where you came from, freak!"
The words cut through the air; accompanied by a stone which struck the back of Prompto's head. Pain seared throughout and white dots darted across his vision from the impact, leaving the young boy to drop the camera he'd been holding to the ground. To the puddle beneath his feet. He blinked in confusion as the device fizzled against the water; the screen turning black as the water spread to its circuits. Slowly, he turned to see who had shouted across the grass at him – words like that had to have been directed at him.
Pushing his glasses up his nose, he peered across at the small gathering of students; some of which he recognized, but the others were entirely unknown to him.
"W-..What?" He stammered, glancing back at his ruined camera before at the group that had begun to advance on him.
"You heard us! Mexir here saw you during Phys Ed – saw that thing on your wrist!" The lead boy smirked, gesturing to the other one who he'd mentioned. Prompto glanced down to his wristband, his breathing significantly increasing.
"Aw, is the baby going to panic?"
"I'm-.. I'm not, I just-.. I.." No good, his breaths were coming too fast for him to form logical thoughts; let alone actual sentences. The world was spinning, and a sick empty feeling was growing in his stomach; eating him up from the inside out-
"Prompto?"
He blinked, registering the familiar voice. It lacked the nickname he'd become accustomed to hearing in that tone; but he turned nonetheless to see Noct stood behind him. The park was gone; his surroundings replaced with a corridor from their school. Strangely, this didn't set off any alarm bells nor did it seem out of place. He found himself stood in the doorway of their classroom, fully dressed in his school uniform and no longer ten years old. No, now he was at the age he should be. Noct had a small frown on his expression, his satchel currently swung over his shoulder as he looked over at the blonde; clearly expecting an answer from before.
"Sorry, bud, zoned out. What's up?" Forcing a smile back onto his features, Prompto grinned away as he spoke.
Noct visibly flinched and recoiled; looking disturbed for a moment.
"I said; you're in my way." He remarked, tone lacking any familiarity. "They teach you to stand in front of Princes where you grew up or something?"
Prompto's grin faltered slightly. "What?" He blinked, not entirely sure he'd heard those words right.
Another student popped their head out from behind Noct, a sickening smirk plastered on their face. "He means move it, outsider."
Outsider?
Noct clearly wasn't in a patient mood, as the Prince stepped forward and pushed Prompto aside before crossing the classroom to sit down at his desk. The two students behind followed, though they were significantly rougher in shoving him aside. That left Prompto stood awkwardly aside the door for a moment before the blonde finally came to his senses enough to step outside of the classroom. He couldn't recall making his way to the bathroom; yet all of a sudden, there he was.
Stood opposite the bathroom mirrors.
Glancing down at his wrist, he carefully removed the slightly frayed wristband from where it constantly sat. Sure enough, he wasn't surprised to see the familiar black ink marking his skin. Even just looking at it made him feel sick; though what was even worse was when he looked up.
OUTSIDER.
YOU DON'T BELONG HERE.
NO ONE WANTS YOU.
The words were scrawled across the mirrors he'd just been looking in; written in bright red ink. Laughter from an unknown source filled his ears as he shakily backed up against the far wall, dropping to sit before pulling his knees up to his chest. Fingers grasped desperately at his hair, as he tugged on the strands and buried his head.
OOOOOOOO
Prompto shot up in bed, clasping a hand almost immediately over his mouth to suppress any noise that threatened to break free from his panic. His chest was heaving against his ragged and frantic breaths; skin slick from sweat despite the cool temperature of his room. It took a few moments for the blondes breathing to slow enough that he trusted himself to pulls his hand away, running it through his slickened hair instead.
Nightmares weren't particularly common for the happy-go-lucky blonde, but when they did occur; boy were they awful. His eyes desperately scanned over his wrist; where the material covered the object of his fears. Brushing his fingertips against the worn cotton, he very nearly made a move to remove it to check underneath out of some strange desperation; as if he expected to see unmarked skin.
A movement in the doorway stopped him.
Noct stood awkwardly there; which was surprising in its own considering the hour. He was still dressed in Prompto's clothes, which hung loosely from his form. Had he really been loud enough to wake the guy who could slumber through a Behemoth stampede? The thought of it only made him feel worse, and made him worry at whether he'd managed to say anything aloud. No, there was no look of disgust on the Prince's expression, only concern and indecision.
"Damn, pal. Sneaking around in the shadows like that, could give a guy a heart attack." Prompto joked, though his words were strained and lined with exhaustion. They certainly hadn't come out in the humorous manner he'd intended.
The smallest of smirks touched Noct's lips, barely visible in the darkness. "Sorry." He murmured before moving forward into the room and offered out a glass of water towards Prompto; who accepted it. As he gulped the contents down, relishing the cool and refreshing feeling against his currently sore throat, he spared a glance back up at Noct. The raven-haired male was busying his gaze by glancing over the various photograph that littered his room, no doubt to avoid making the situation any more awkward. He was trying to help, in his own way, and it was endearing to see his buddy worried. Finishing off the water, Prompto set the glass aside before grinning – and truly grinning this time – up at Noctis. It was a tired grin, but at least it felt genuine.
"Guess I woke ya?" Prompto suggested, despite how obvious the answer was. He wasn't going to discuss the reasons why; and doubted Noct would ask either. It was true that sound carried easily through the thin walls in the house.
He received a shrug in response as Noctis glanced back down at him. "No big deal. Bad dream?"
Or… Maybe he would.
Prompto shifted awkwardly under the weight of the question, crossing his legs under the warmth of the blanket. Silently, he wished he hadn't downed the water in one go; as merely the reminder of the dream was enough to dry his throat out. Still, he waved a hand dismissively and laughed.
"Should'a seen it. Dreamt we were both at school, and I managed to drop our reports into a huge puddle. Like, we're talking lake-size puddle here!"
Noct scoffed, shaking his head. The tension in the room eased slightly. He still stood above the bed, but was turned slightly towards the window at the far end of the room where moonlight spilled through.
"So yeah, there's me trying to fish these papers out of the muck, and you show up with this fishing pole."
"Let me guess. I fished them out of the puddle." Noct supplied, still smirking.
Prompto paused, before huffing. "Duuuuude, don't ruin the ending! Besides, you missed a bit. You didn't fish those reports up, it was some kind of huge centipede thing." Thank god for imagination, he was literally making this up on the spot and trying to sell it convincingly. Apparently, it was working, as Noct grimaced at the idea of fishing up bugs.
"Anyway! This thing is massive! And we end up in some epic fight, like one in Kings Knight! But yeah, it was terrifying, so I guess that's why I freaked out. Sorry, bud."
"You're telling me you woke me from my sleep... Because of a centipede?" Noct clarified, an eyebrow risen in the blonde's direction.
"A giant centipede."
"I guess they are pretty gross."
"All icky and stuff, totally, dude. Should have seen it." Prompto chuckled, shaking his head.
"Suddenly glad I didn't."
"Thanks though, sorry I woke you."
"Like I said, no big deal." Noct nodded, seemingly entirely oblivious to Prompto's long make-believe lie, which the blonde felt horrible about. But the truth would have been worse; he convinced himself. With that, the Prince made his way back out of the bedroom and Prompto was left alone to his own devices once more. Carefully, he pulled back the wristband and peered down through the darkness at the lines underneath.
It had just been a dream. One bad dream.
He wasn't entirely sure of the origins of the mark; only that it meant two things. Firstly, he'd been born outside of Lucis – though exactly where, he didn't know – and had been adopted at an early age. He couldn't recall life from before living in Insomnia, and at the same time he wasn't sure if he wanted to. He'd seen enough on the news about territories under threat from the Empire; how people constantly lived in fear unlike those who resided in the safety of the Wall. That wasn't a life he wanted to remember; but that didn't mean the fact he was an outsider didn't haunt him. When he'd been younger, a few children had found out and taunted him for it – but a change of schools to a different district had solved that issue; plus he'd been far more cautious from then on to make sure he kept his wristband on at all times. Secondly, he couldn't tell anyone. He didn't want to think about what people would say if the Crown Prince of Lucis was hanging around with an outsider; even the Kingsglaive were looked down upon – so what hope did the bumbling blonde have?
Lying to Noctis had left him with a sick feeling in his stomach, and just as he had in the dream, he brought his knees up to his chest and sighed. He wished he could say something, but he couldn't risk seeing the same expression that dream-Noct had worn on his real best friends face.
Glancing over at the clock on his bedside table, the digits clearly read 04.30. Usually he was up and ready an hour from now; usually so he could fit his run in before school.
Pushing his duvet aside, Prompto grabbed a towel and a fresh set of clothes from the pile of fresh laundry, as well as his phone, before padding quietly down the hall to the bathroom at the end. Shrugging free of his clothes; which were slightly gross anyway considering the state he'd woken up in and setting the phone on the side he stepped up into the shower and turned the faucet on. Hot water flowed free from the shower head above, washing away the panic induced sweat he'd been caked in; leaving him feeling far more refreshed and significantly less paranoid. Running his hands through his hair, he pushed it back before grabbing the bottle of shampoo and squirting the contents onto his hand. Rubbing that into his hair, and rinsing it through, he quickly washed before switching the dial back off again and retrieved the towel.
It didn't take long for him to pull on the fresh set of clothes. He hoped Noct was asleep- the chocobo print across the shirt was something you were more likely to see on a child's set of pjamas than a grown man's running shirt. Carefully and quietly he made his way downstairs and flicked one of the low-light lamps on to avoid tripping over his own feet.
Sure enough, the Prince was back to being sprawled out across the couch. The quiet yet audible intake and exhale of even breaths was enough for Prompto to deduce that he had fallen back to sleep. It wasn't surprising, but still brought a small grin to the blonde's lips as he made his way over to the door. Tugging his trainers on, he cast one glance back at the slumbering Prince before stepping outside into the early light of morning. Pulling his phone free from his pocket, he glanced through the older messages.
[21:02] Iggy: Well, I'll pick him up after school as he's suggested then. Perhaps the space will clear his head.
[21:03] Big Guy: Just make sure he's not late for training. Can't have him getting any scrawnier.
The messages continued on until around midnight, when clearly Gladio had fallen asleep. Closing the chat and opening the one with Noct, he tapped in a quick message.
[05:02] Hey dude! Just heading out for a run! If you wake up before I get back, there's bread in the cupboard. Try not to burn my house down with the toaster, kay?
With that, he set off in a light jog. The run in the mornings was always a pleasant one; it took him through the nicer parts of his neighbourhood and even few a couple of parks – where on more than one occasion he stopped to fuss dogs out on their early morning walk. Many of these dogs recognized him each time he came to pat them, some even going as far as to rolling over for belly scratches. The owners were always pleasant enough and provided a good bit of morning conversation. On from there, he continued to the deeper parts of the City; allowing him to get a good view of how the morning sun shone across the buildings of Insomnia, how the crystal's light danced between the clouds within the ever-protecting barrier that kept their city from harm. It was at this time in the morning where citizens were beginning to set up their shops for the day ahead, dragging signs and promotional content outside onto the streets to entice customers in. Ordinarily, he'd have gone far enough to see the overpowering and yet beautiful might of the Citadel – but with thoughts of the previous nightmare, and the fact the Crown Prince was unattended in his house, he turned back early.
It was nearly 7:00am by the time Prompto finally reached his house; he'd have been quicker, but the fluffy Pomeranian in the park had stolen his heart.
Stepping inside and kicking his trainers free from his feet, he was unsurprised that his saunter into the living room greeted him with the still slumbering Prince. He was sprawled out awkwardly across the sofa in a position that honestly couldn't be doing much for his back. The blanket still half hung on his body, and his breathing came in shallow yet calm intakes of air. As serene as he looked, they only had an hour to get ready and get out of the house for school. That left him with the ultimate challenge of the day.
How to wake Noctis effectively without putting him in a sour mood for the rest of the day.
First attempt: the alarm.
Fiddling with his phone and setting an alarm for ten seconds, Prompto ramped up the volume before standing infront of Noct.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
He placed the phone right next to Noct's ear.
Two.
One.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNGGGGG
The alarm sounded with a near deafening resonance – one which left Prompto using his free hand to clasp over an ear in an attempt to drown the noise out slightly. Despite having the option to have picked one of his favourite RPG tunes, he'd opted for the most obnoxious, annoying and loud sound he could find. Noct raised one hand to try and shove the device away from his ear, groaning out a complaint before turning over and putting his back to the blonde.
"Oh no you don't! C'mon, up you get!"
With that, Prompto stole the blanket next and leaned over to press the phone against Noct's cheek – now annoying him with both the sound, and the irritating vibration. This should have worked, alas, he was only met with further resistance as the Prince lazily reached a hand back to retrieve a pillow before shoving it in Prompto's general direction which he easily dodged.
"Five more minutes..." Came a barely audible groan after the attack. A pause. "Do we even have to go?"
The alarm ran out and Prompto ceased his bugging as he looked over at the Prince in bewilderment. Had he just suggested cutting class? Prompto was usually the one dragging him off away from lessons to the arcade, not the other way around. So, hearing the question only furthered his concern for what had brought Noct to his house in the first place.
"Uh yeah, buddy. School's kind of mandatory." The blonde chuckled, though concern lined his usually humoured tone. Even if they did skip, surely Noct was aware just how much trouble that would land the two of them in with Ignis. Hell, even with the King. Still, the blonde couldn't help but notice how the not-so-slumbering Prince's hand was clenched against one of the pillows, his face turned purposely away from Prom. To say the behaviour was unusual was an understatement.
Noct didn't offer a response, nor did he make a move to get up.
Oh Six, he was going straight to hell for this. Or Prison. Or maybe they'd just exile him?
"Tell ya what, think I've got some sweet games tucked away somewhere that I haven't played yet." Prompto suggested, despite his better judgement.
"Sounds good." Came a muffled response as Noct finally sat up. To say the Prince looked tired was doing the word tired an injustice. He looked knackered. Had he even slept the night before? It certainly would explain how he'd heard Prompto's discomfort from the nightmare. Making his way back to the kitchen, he began to busy himself with placing bread in the toaster; keeping a keen ear open as waited.
Eventually Noct made his way upstairs, and the blonde could hear the tell-tale sounds of the shower.
Prompto grabbed his phone.
[07:08] Say, Iggy…
[07:08] Iggy: Yes, Prompto? Why do I feel like I'm not going to like what comes next?
[07:09] How much trouble would I be in, if say… Hypothetically, of course! If I encouraged, well, no, er… If I agreed to… I don't know how to word this.
[07:09] Big Guy: Here it comes.
Prompto paused for a moment, staring at the keys before finally deciding to just be blunt about it.
[07:10] Noct and I are skipping school today.
A minute passed, no reply.
Two minutes.
Finally, his phone buzzed and Prompto nearly dropped the device in the sink.
[07:11] Iggy: On a scale of 1 to 10, we're talking 11. Or 12. Do I really need to explain why such would be such a bad idea, in both my own eyes and those of his father?
[07:11] C'mon Iggy! All you have to do is pick up the absence call yourself and no one would know!
[07:12] Big Guy: Hah! Look at this kid, breaking the rules! Prompto, you're supposed to be a good influence on his Royal Lazyness.
[07:12] I know, I know! He just seems like, real down still about yesterday. I don't think he slept either.
[07:13] Big Guy: Noctis? Not sleeping? I don't know Iggy, this does sound unusual.
[07:13] Iggy: I'll agree it does sound peculiar. That, and his rather spontaneous leave from the Citadel. Very well. One day, Prompto. Do me a favour and persuade him to at least return to his apartment by the evening.
[07:14] Big Guy: Tell him I expect to see him tomorrow for training, I'll let it slide today.
[07:15] Thanks guys! I'll totally make sure he's back at his place tonight!
With that, Prompto set his phone back on the side and plucked the toast from the toaster. He let his gaze wander to the stairs as his ears picked up the continuous sound of the shower; his thoughts drifting to the night prior and how Noct had clearly been awake for the majority of it.
Munching on the toast in his hand, he felt an unease in his stomach form with concern for his pal. Perhaps a day of gaming would get some answers out of him.