Two weeks passed before Prompto even realized, and that night of the gala was right before him. He barely even remembered being brought to the Citadel to get a suit fitted, but now here he was, tailored in the fanciest he would ever own.

"I feel like this suit is made of silk," Prompto commented as he stared at his reflection.

"I'm sure there is some silk and a bunch of other fancy materials," Noctis said as he shrugged. "But you're comfy in it?"

"Oh definitely! Like dude, I thought suits would be itchy and uncomfy, but this is. like so nice!"

Nocits smiled. "And it'll help you rock the gala tonight."

Prompto turned to face Noctis. "You think so? I won't mess it up and reveal myself to be a total pleb who doesn't know anything?"

"You'll be fine," Noctis insisted. "There's nothing you could do to mess it up. And besides, I'll be right beside you."

"I know you'll be."

Prompto's heart fluttered with that promise. To spend the entire evening by Noctis's side at a fancy gala… it still felt like such a dream. One dream that felt more real than just about everything else that he had experienced so far in his young life.

Well maybe there was one thing to compare it to, though he was sure that it was a pretty unfair comparison in the first place. He still had many thoughts back to that kiss he shared with Nightwing so many weeks ago. The memory would come back now and again, tingling in the back of his mind, warm and cozy.

But now he was going to be with Noctis tonight, and if he tried hard enough and played his cards right, maybe he could attempt to be brave. If he could try and ask Noctis, or even admit his feelings, he could figure out where he could direct himself in terms of his lovelife.

Noctis or Nightwing.

It still felt like the debate of the century, but it all depended on tonight. If he could talk to Noctis about the subject, and figure out how Noctis felt, then he knew he'd be able to sort things out in the end.

He only hoped his heart could take the possible chance of rejection.

The gala itself was just as grand as he expected. People were all over the room, sitting or standing, chatting amongst one another. All of them were dressed head to toe in such fancy dresses and suits, giving Prompto a little reassurance that he could try and blend into this crowd.

"So, want to do anything first?" Noctis asked him.

Prompto looked over at Noctis. "What can we even do? Mingle?"

Noctis snorted. "Mingle? Nah. The prince doesn't go out to talk to people. People come to talk to the prince."

"So does that include talking to the pleb friend sticking to his side?"

"Possibly?" Nocris shrugged. "Never had a friend at the gala before. But hopefully if people try to talk to us, it won't be about any serious stuff…"

"Like what?"

Noctis hummed softly. "Well, you know… politics and other stuff like… Well you know about Prince Ravus?"

"That he's still missing? Never returned home?"

There was a single head nod. "Yup. I don't even know what happened, but I know there's plenty of talk about it with other people."

Prompto frowned. He thought that he and Nightwing had helped Ravus, saving him from whomever tried to control him. But apparently something else was still afoot, and Prompto had good reason to believe it had to do with that arm. It hadn't been removed from Ravus after he was released, leading a theory to form that maybe there was something more to it than he originally thought.

But he wouldn't be able to do anything about it, not without knowing where Ravus had gone off it. It would have to wait until he got his chance to talk about it with Nightwing again. Right now he wanted to just spend the moment with Noctis and not worry about any superhero stuff.

"But I don't want to talk about that stuff now," Noctis added a beat later. "If we need something to do, we also have the food table we can go to."

"Food sounds tasty! Let's go do that!"

As they walked towards the table, Prompto looked around the room again. His eyes fell to the open floor beyond the tables, seeing the small band up on a platform beyond that. The music was playing a song and gentle tune, but no one was dancing. Everyone was still just talking all while the nice music played.

"Are there dances that happen? It feels like there could be dances here, or am I thinking of some other type of event?" Prompto questioned.

"Yeah, there's usually a dance or two at these things. I never try to participate in them though," Noctis answered.

"Why not? Got two left feet?" Prompto chuckled as he nudged Noctis's arm.

"Nah. Just… never liked being forced to dance with any random person here. I'd… You know. I'd rather just…"

Prompto held his breath, daring to ask what his curious heart wanted. "Rather just dance with someone you actually know?"

"Sure, yeah. Something like that."

If now was going to be the time to attempt anything, Prompto knew he would have to tread lightly. There was no jumping in without thinking, not if he wanted to not freak out Noctis immediately.

"Well why not Ignis or Gladio?" Prompto replied with a laugh he hoped didn't sound too fake.

Thankfully, Noctis laughed as well. "Oh gods no! That would be way too weird! They're basically my brothers, so… yeah, very weird."

Prompto held his breath, lingering on that small twinge of hope. "And what about me?"

"What about you?"

"U-Uh, you know…" Prompto couldn't help it as he turned his head away. "You said it would be weird to dance with Ignis and Gladio, but what about me? Is it… awkward?"

As he glanced back at Noctis, he could see there was a strange look upon his face. While he feared for initial disgust, that wasn't what he got. There was a surprised look on Noctis's face. It wasn't really an expression he had seen on his friend before, and it only led Prompto to worry what it was that Noctis was thinking.

"You? Well, I never thought about it before," Noctis replied, starting to rub the back of his neck.

Right away, Prompto just wanted it to be over. He couldn't take the tension of knowing if he was jumping too soon into the deep waters. "If it's a weird, stupid question, we can just forget I ever asked."

"No!" Noctis replied quickly. "I… I don't think it would be weird. Just never thought about it."

"So we could…? Maybe dance later?"

Noctis shrugged, having the faintest dusting of red on his cheeks, "If you want, I'm cool with it."

"He's cool with it? He really isn't bothered by it? But his cheeks… Maybe he's actually blushing? Oh em gee, if he is blushing… then that could mean maybe he's shy about it like me? Or maybe it's just stupid and embarssing but he doesn't wanna tell me 'no' or something. I have no idea anymore. Ugh, why is this so freaking hard!"

As Prompto let his thoughts yell at him, he saw Noctis go up to the food table, grabbing a plate as he started to throw some appetizers onto it. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but it was clear Noctis was trying to distract himself for whatever reason.

Swallowing, he pushed himself to grab his own plate and also start to look through what food he wanted to snack on at first. He kept glancing over to Noctis, pleading that he hadn't ruined anything between them. He couldn't be certain however, not without asking again. But even then, he knew Noctis would probably just try and brush it off.

But he couldn't deny the fact that Noctis had openly admitted he would be fine dancing with him. If they could share a dance, maybe then it would be a good time to talk about his feelings. There was no other place or time that Prompto felt it being appropriate, knowing he would only have limited chances like this.

"So we can catch a dance later? See who is the worst at dancing?" Prompto asked, finally trying to break the ice between them.

"Have a dance off? That'll surely enrage the noble families," Noctis chuckled.

"Is that a yes?"

Noctis smiled as he looked over to Prompto. "Why not? This gala already is way more enjoyable now that you're here, so adding a dance off would just make it even more fun."

They returned to their table, setting down their plates before sitting down next to one another. Prompto stared down at his appetizers, which mostly consisted of different pieces of fruit. He fiddled with the grapes, pushing them from one side of the plate to the other.

His internal thoughts were floating around in his head again about everything. He thought back to the conversation he had with Nightwing, the one where they said they would both try talking to whomever they were interested in. They promised one another they would at least try, and if all else failed they would still have one another to lean on.

But even if he liked the possibility of a future where he could date Nightwing, he knew he had to try with his first crush. He had to be brave and at least give it a shot… and hope Noctis wouldn't be too cold if he rejected him.

"Hey Noct?"

"Yeah?"

As soon as those deep, blue eyes were on him, Prompto started to bite his lip. Even with how gentle and friendly those eyes were, he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread entering his body from the gaze.

"There's something I want to talk to you about. Just… Don't know what to say or how to say it."

Noctis looked a little confused, obviously not getting what Prompto was slowly trying to hint at. "What is it?"

"I just… I wanted to tell you that I… that I'm-"

CRASH

The sound of a window shattering stopped Prompto's thoughts dead in his tracks. As an instinctive reaction he pushed himself up from his chair, staring across the room to see what the damage was. The large windows that overlooked Insomnia were shattered, with the band and orchestra running away from that side frantically. Already, there was a cold chill rushing through the gala now that the windows were gone, but what was more alarming was what was climbing into the gala from outside.

It looked to be a human form, but it was covered in strange armor, unlike anything Prompto had ever seen before. It looked like the armor was made of metal, but it had such a strange texture etched into the body along with pinkish-purple areas that seemed to glow around the face and the head. The head was even a weirder shape, with horns on its head and the chin area protruding outward.

"Holy mother of Shiva," Prompto cursed under his breath.

Noctis stood up beside him a moment later. "You got that right."

As calm as Prompto tried to make himself look, internally he was screaming. Out of all the times for an attack to happen again… it had to be during the gala. It just had to be during the moment he was openly trying to confess to Noctis.

"Does fate hate me or something! Seriously! What the hell! Why can't I just have one nice evening with Noctis without some crazy person trying to attack!"

He was pulled away from his thoughts as he felt Noctis grab his arm, starting to drag him away from the large armored monster or man.

"We need to get you out of here," Noctis said, looking around at everyone running towards the exits.

"And what about you?"

"You follow the public to safety, I gotta go the other way," Noctis said as he started shoving Prompto in the direction of the other guests.

"W-What? No way! I'm not leaving you!"

"My father has already been escorted off, I need to go to him. Just go! I'll be fine!"

Prompto shook his head. He wasn't going to leave Noctis, not when a large monstrous thing was walking towards them. Even if it meant risking his secret identity, he was not going to leave Noctis. "I can't just let you go on your own!"

"Prompto please, just trust me! It's best this way. You have to go before-"

Alarms rang in Prompto's head. He acted before he had time to process, shoving Noctis as hard as he could away from him, with the force strong enough to cause him to stumble backwards.

A second later a large red sword crashed down in the space that they had previously just been.

"Great. The big scary armored dude also has a sword. Just wonderful!"

"Prompto just run!" Noctis screamed as he scrambled to his feet, backing away to the door on his side.

There was no way he could safely get around the monstrous man, not without having to engage him in a fight or risk running past him. Noctis was already running out of the room by now, with the man followly slowly behind him.

Prompto hissed through his teeth as he finally turned around and ran the other way. "I won't be gone long, Noct. I'll be back before you realize it."

As soon as Prompto was out of the room, he looked for the closest stairwell, ran in and started propelling himself up from floor to floor. The quicker he moved, the sooner he could return to the ballroom with the hopes that the monster who ruined the evening would still be there.

Thankfully, Prompto knew to pack his Spider-Man suit with him when he came to the Citadel tonight. While he had wished nothing would have happened, he was glad that he had packed it, knowing what he had to do now to save Noctis and probably the entire Citadel again.