20160 – 336

10080

Within that morning, Prompto insisted that Noctis should check on Insomnia. Although it was his request to give up two weeks to be together, he never asked to ignore or avoid his responsibilities. Noctis refused at first, but as he thought about his father and Ignis doing his work, guilt struck him and decided to check turn his phone on and contact them. Maybe a webcam for a couple of hours to discuss important matters wouldn't hurt either. After all, Prompto let him without a complaint.

Prompto gave Noctis the time alone. As Cindy left to grab materials and buy groceries, Prompto decided to go out and have a breather. Before Noctis came with the papers for divorce, he'd been practicing mindfulness. It was difficult, but he was definitely trying, and it was getting him by.

"Why don't you stay with me?" Noctis asked just before Prompto headed out of their room.

Prompto shook his head and smiled. "You go ahead and focus on work, Noct. I've been keeping you."

A frown appeared on Noctis' face. "You know I don't mind."

Of course, you mind, Prompto thought to himself sadly. It's the reason why you're leaving.

"No, really. It's all good. I won't take long anyway."

Noctis didn't fight back, but he was aware of the sad smile on the blonde's face. "I won't take long either, Prom. I'll head right down afterwards."

A couple of hours passed and Noctis was almost finished with the things that Ignis wanted him to sign electronically. His advisor was fast-paced and if it wasn't for Ignis thinking ahead and taking advantage of the time they had, Noctis would have headed back to a pile of papers to sign and read.

By the time Ignis disconnected himself from their webcam, there was a loud knock on the door downstairs. Wondering if Prompto had forgotten his keys to the house, Noctis quickly put his things away before heading down to open the door.

It wasn't Prompto.

The man had maroon hair and amber eyes with a strong smile on his face. He wore a black fedora over his red scarf and hooded gray and white mantle—something a citizen from Lucis wouldn't wear. When Noctis met his gaze, the man removed the black fedora from his head and bowed in respect.

"Pardon my intrusion, but I believe Prompto Argentum resides here," he spoke lightly. "Is he home?"

Noctis felt an overwhelming feeling of danger around the man but kept his expression the same. "Prompto's probably outside. He said he was doing something earlier… who are you?"

Chuckling, the man shook his head. "That was rude of me, I apologize. I'm chancellor Ardyn Izunia from Niflheim."

Noctis crossed his arms against his chest. "So, you're the man everyone's speaking highly of back in Niflheim."

Ardyn observed Noctis for a while and his smile turned wider when his familiarity became clear. "You must be King Noctis! This is embarrassing. What are you doing at Mr. Argentum's house?"

Noctis raised his brow then lowly replied. "He's my husband."

"Oh?" Ardyn's voice raised in interest. "I thought you and the lovely Lady Lunafreya were close…"

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to check on Prompto. He and I worked together during an incident that happened not too long ago…"

"Incident?"

Ardyn had a taunting tone. "I believe you said you were his husband—surely you know about it."

Who does this guy think he is? Noctis kept his composure. "A lot of things happened."

"My, my…" Ardyn playfully teased then put his fedora back on his head. "Then it's best he tells you, instead of me. I should be on my way. I'll look for him and leave quickly."

Noctis watched Ardyn as he slowly left towards the direction of the lighthouse. Prompto must have been up there, because by the time he decided to go to the garden, he heard Prompto call out Ardyn's name and every ounce of uneasiness crept up his on body.

"How are you, dear Prompto?" Ardyn asked when he made it at the top of the lighthouse.

Prompto's face lit up weakly. "I'm great, Chancellor. Thanks for checking up on me. I know you said you were busy and everything."

"Nonsense, Prompto—and I told you to call me Ardyn. No need for formalities. So, tell me. How's your condition? I do hope after all the treatment, your condition's stabilized."

"Sort of…" Prompto rubbed his arm slightly, avoiding the man's gaze by looking out to the sea. "Let's face it, it's not gonna get better. I want to spend every moment I have left with the ones I love."

Ardyn hummed as he too looked out to the sea.

"I met your husband downstairs. You never mentioned you were married to the King of Lucis."

Prompto nervously chuckled. "It's not exactly something I should be saying to everybody. I'm nothing but a commoner."

"But you were the one he married, has he not? He must love you to have taken such a risk."

"Maybe back then, he did."

"Back then?" Ardyn blinked.

"We're getting a divorce."

"It didn't sound that way when he I talked to him downstairs."

That got Prompto's attention. "What?"

"He said 'he's my husband' in such a serious tone, I felt like he didn't like me at all."

With a snort, Prompto shook it off. "He probably didn't know what else to say. But yeah, now that you know that… please don't tell anybody about it?"

"Of course not. I swear on Ifrit's throne," Ardyn smiled. "Say… if the divorce does indeed go through, what do you plan on doing?"

It took a while for Prompto to answer. "I wanted to travel…" He said thoughtfully. "Noctis told me I could keep the estate, but I don't think I'd want to stay in a place that gave me so much to remember…"

"I see… Why don't you come to Niflheim?"

Blinking, Prompto gaped at the man beside him. "Huh? Why would I go there?"

"There's a very intelligent professional back in my country. Perhaps I could be of some help and find a cure for your condition."

"Chan—Ardyn, there's no cure for this."

Ardyn hummed once more. "Not if I can do something about it."

After their conversation, they headed back down. Ardyn watched as Prompto clutched against the rail, his breathing staggered and abrupt. He was in too much pain to see the quick, sly smile, on the man's face as one hand wrapped around his waist and another on his shoulders to support his stance.

"You alright?" Ardyn asked in a concerned tone.

Prompto slightly nodded. "I-I'll be alright, thank you."

When the elevator stopped, Noctis was right below, waiting for them. His face was serious, eyes on Ardyn's arms wrapped on Prompto. If it was jealousy, Prompto was not sure because his feelings were all jumbled up at this point. Ardyn let Prompto go gently, handing him over to Noctis and Noctis took him, his eyes never leaving Ardyn's as he wrapped his arms protectively around Prompto.

"Thank you for visiting, Chancellor," Noctis said quietly.

"Of course…" Ardyn slowly nodded, glancing at Prompto that gave him a meek smile. "Take care of yourself, Prompto. Please do think about what I said, hm?"

"Thanks… I will."

Once Ardyn was heading down the hill and far from them, Noctis cupped Prompto's pale face. "What did he do to you? What did you guys talk about?"

"W-What? He didn't do anything to me, Noct. He was just checking if I was okay."

"Then what did he want you to think about?"

Prompto's eyes slightly widened at his husband's sudden curiosity. "H-He—you know how I said I had a bad cold? I had this cold for a while now… and Ardyn was kind of hoping I'd go to Niflheim to meet a doctor so they could find a suitable treatment for me…"

"Treatment?" Noctis frowned. "Prom, you never told me your cold was that serious."

"It's not! I promise it's not, Noct."

"Then let me find a doctor for you, you don't need to travel to Niflheim to get your cold checked."

"No…" Prompto looked down, biting his tears. "I promise I'm okay…"

They curled up together under a blanket on the living room couch. It was supposed to be the three of them, but a civilian stopped at the bottom of the hill asking for help because his car had broken down, so it was just the two of them—Noctis and Prompto—who watched A Walk To Remember, one of Prompto's favorite sap-movies. Noctis prepared himself because he knew that Prompto would be soaked with tears in the end, but to his surprise, the weary blonde, who was once again too tired, had fallen asleep leaning against his shoulder.

It wasn't even half past eleven and they hadn't done much today. Yet, there Prompto slept. He looked peaceful even in the dark with only the light from the television illuminating his face. Noctis took mental note of it. With the television light, his skin colored pale and his freckles concealed.

Deciding that he didn't want Prompto waking up sore with a stiff neck from sleeping in such position, Noctis rose from the couch and picked Prompto up in his arms.

He paused and raised his brow at how quickly he managed to carry Prompto. Had he always been this light?

Cindy came in on time and washed her hands quickly to help, trailing right behind Noctis until he set Prompto in his own bed. Noctis pulled his shoes off and pulled on the covers until it covered his body up to his shoulders. He turned to face Cindy, who watched everything that he did.

"Was he always this tired?"

There was a pause. "Not always," she answered his question.

Looking at Prompto's sleeping figure, Noctis sighed. "He said he's had a cold for a while now."

"A cold huh…" Cindy softly repeated as she crossed her arms to her chest.

"I didn't think any of us could get a cold that bad."

"Mmm, well. It's different for everybody, I guess." Cindy mumbled dryly. "Yenno, different viruses and all…"

"He's real light too," Noctis' eyebrows knitted together. "Has he been eating well?"

"Why do you suddenly sound like you care?" She snapped. Noctis was taken aback from her tone. "My bad darlin', just a 'lil tired. You've been eating with him day and night; does it look like he's been eating well?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then that done answer your question."

Noctis didn't sound convinced. "Tell him to get medical attention if it gets worse. I'll even call our royal physician if I have to."

Cindy was about to say something, but as she opened her mouth words failed to go through. Her shoulders drooped and nodded. "I'll tell him." As she stood there for a few more minutes looking at the blonde before figuring out that Noctis wanted to be alone with Prompto. She said her goodnight and left the room.

Noctis' gaze turned complete onto Prompto as he walked up to the bed. Lifting his hand, he tucked the blonde locks out of Prompto's face. While touching the strands, he noticed the texture of them. They weren't as soft or slick like they used to be— or at least how he remembered. Noctis didn't know what to think again. In his head, he thought it might have been stress and he was adding on to it. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw the laptop that Prompto had open and his camera plugged in next to it.

In the end, Noctis rationed that it was stress probably from working too hard on his portfolio. He knew how successful Prompto has been and deadlines were probably eating his strength away. Leaning down, Noctis hesitated at first, but he surrendered to his desire.

Trying to make sure Prompto doesn't wake up, Noctis kissed the top of his forehead and let his lips stay there for a moment. His lips lingered at Prompto's warm skin and in a matter of seconds, he pulled back, looked at his husband once more and stepped out of the room.

"Goodnight… Prom."

AN: Sorry for the late update, currently dying in my advanced clinical classes. Will go back to my pace when there's less skill/written exams involved.