Chapter Text
The sun peeked through Prompto’s bedroom window, but he had already been up for at least an hour, his daily workout done and his shower taken. He draped himself onto his bed, towel wrapped around his waist. One leg hung off the side of the bed and an arm covered his eyes. Another morning in a completely silent house. No one was ever home but him.
An alarm went off from the clock on the other side of his room. Prompto let it go for a good thirty seconds before forcing himself up. He walked over to the clock and turned off the blaring alarm, picked up his camera, and took the daily picture of himself in front of the mirror. He sighed at his reflection. The fat child he used to be had left his mark on his body, and no amount of running would completely erase that part of his life. His fingers traced the jagged scars of what he used to be on his stomach and sides, striped divots of skin once stretch past its limit, discolored and spiteful. A constant reminder of how he could never change his past.
He got dressed quickly and packed his bag for school. The only thing he looked forward to was seeing Noct, his first and only friend. Seeing his face kept Prompto going. Upon a quick check in the fridge and finding it mostly empty, he realized lunch was going to be sad. He could always buy something in the cafeteria, but with all those choices, he didn’t need to choose the wrong thing. He was never going to go back to being the fat kid. Especially when he is now known as the prince’s friend. He had to make sure Noctis looked good, which meant he had to look good.
He pulled out some carrots and cut them to fit in his lunch box. The cuts were uneven and by the time he was done, they looked pretty mangled, but it was the best he could do. He heard that carrots were supposed to be good for the skin. If he had to deal with his paleness and drown in a sea of freckles, he was going to at least make sure his face would be clean and healthy. Drinking water helped a lot with that too. He then threw in a handful of pea pods. After reading that peas were low in fat and high in practically everything else, Prompto made sure to eat as much of them as often as he could. Low fat. Prompto liked the sound of that. He shook the lunch box and mixed the vegetables together before throwing chunks of dried tofu dusted with spicy chili pepper powder. Spicy food supposedly helped weight loss.
A couple chugs of milk from the carton and an apple tossed into his school bag for the walk to school, and he was ready to leave. He grabbed his bag and lunch and he was off, locking the door behind him.
“Morning, Noctis,” he said. He plopped onto his chair backwards. He ignored the loud chatter of the rest of the classroom echoing in similar morning greetings and quick catch-ups among friends before class started.
Noctis was resting his head on his hand, eyes closed. He slowly came to attention upon hearing Prompto’s greeting. A sleepy smile played at his lips. “Morning.” He yawned and stretched.
“Are you ready for that math test today?” Prompto asked. He rested his arms on the back of his chair.
“If I don’t know it by now, then I’ll just have to deal.” Noctis shrugged. He turned his attention to something beyond the window next to him.
Prompto stared at his friend. Everything about him seemed be perfect and effortless, almost like a flawless video game character. How could he not look like perfection? Ignis cooked him beautiful meals regularly and he trained with Gladio all the time. He never had to worry about reverting to the fat kid no one wanted to talk to or had to eat the same three meals because he didn’t know how to cook anything else. Prompto felt lucky Noctis even looked his way, let alone allowed him to be his friend, but sometimes how easily looking good and being able to catch anyone’s eye came to Noct made him so incredibly jealous. All the girls wanted Noct, while they tolerated him. He still couldn’t shake the title of kid with a weird photography obsession.
“Prompto?” Noctis’ words pulled him out of his thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“Want to go to the arcade after school?” Noctis never took his attention off the scenery outside, his eyes slowly starting to close again.
“Yeah!” Prompto realized how excited he sounded and leaned back to try and correct himself. “Yeah, sure, sounds cool.”
Noct smirked. “Good.”
The bell chimed and their classmates settled down at their desks and prepared for class to begin.
***
Even after a week of studying, Prompto could only stare blankly at the test in front of him. He tapped the eraser of his pencil against the desk as his brain churned to solve for x.
“Prompto,” Noctis whispered, “relax.”
Prompto glanced around the classroom. The teacher was making his rounds on the other side of the room. Figuring the odds of being caught was low, he chanced a peek behind him.
Noct leaned his cheek on his hand, eyes closed. All but one of the questions were answered on his test. His pencil was poised in his free hand, the lead touching the paper ready to write the final answer Prompto was sure Noct knew. Of course he knew the answers, he had access to all the top tutors if he ever needed them. It must be nice. If only he stopped being a loser and asked Noct for help, maybe he could finally pass a single test…
A throat clearing brought Prompto back to reality. He turned back to his own exam and tried his best to answer the questions. Skipping around, he managed to answer most of the questions by the time the bell chimed, and he hoped at least half of those were correct. He handed in the test and stretched. Lunch time.
“Hey, it’s a nice day, let’s eat outside,” Noct said as he handed his own exam in.
Prompto looked outside. It was the first warm spring day. The sun had finally come out and dried yesterday’s rain. The vibrant greens and colorful buds had returned after a winter’s slumber and it was too inviting to pass up.
“Yeah, sure, sounds good.” He dug his lunch box out of his bag. He needed the distraction of a perfect day to forget about blowing that test. Needed to forget how much of a failure he was.
“Grab your bag.” Noct swung his over his shoulder.
Prompto’s brow furrowed.
“You’ll see.” The corner of Noct’s mouth twitched. A restrained smirk. Prompto knew what that meant.
“What are you planning?” he asked. He narrowed his eyes, but picked up his bag anyway. There was no saying no to the prince.
Noctis chuckled. “It’s a surprise. Let’s get out of here.”
Prompto nodded and followed his friend out of the classroom and into the hallway full of other students eager to enjoy the nice day as well. His stomach lurched as he realized he did question three completely wrong, which meant questions four through six were wrong as well. Another failed test. A long sigh escaped his lips before he put on his happy face and grinned at Noctis and put an arm around his shoulders.
“Mind if I snap some shots while we eat?” he asked. “The lighting and colors are perfect.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you,” Noctis teased. He ruffled Prompto’s hair. “One of these days, you’re going to be a world famous photographer and math tests will be a thing of the past.”
Prompto’s bright blue eyes widened. “You really think so? That would be so awesome!” He pulled his digital camera out of his bag and turned it on. “Look at some of the shots of the sun rise I got this morning” He shoved the camera into Noct’s hands with more exuberance than he intended.
“I don’t know how you can get up that early. There’s no need to be awake before the sun if you ask me.” He looked at a particularly good shot of the sky gradually turning from dark blue to soft hues of lighter blues and finally soft yellows and oranges silhouetting the houses in Prompto’s neighborhood. “But you always manage to get the perfect shot,” he admired and handed the camera back to the blond.
A light flush painted Prompto’s cheeks. “Yeah?”
Noct laughed. “Yeah.”
The sun’s rays were blinding as they stepped outside. Prompto blinked to try to adjust for the sudden light. He inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh, earthy smell of spring, and tilted his head toward the sun, soaking in the warmth. There was nothing more relaxing. He followed Noct to their usual bench under a budding cherry tree. Prompto straddled the bench and placed his small lunch box in front of him.
Noctis plopped down opposite him and popped open a much larger lunch box. Every lunch he brought was restaurant quality, thanks to Ignis, well-balanced and beautifully presented. Today was marinated barramundi over a bed of coconut rice mixed with delicately cut zucchini. A perfect lunch for a perfect prince.
Prompto’s stomach growled just looking at Noct’s meal. He sighed and hesitantly opened his lunch box. Comparatively, his lunch looked like it was prepared by a blind person using a chainsaw for a knife. He picked out a pea pod and crunched down on it.
“Mom running late for work again?” Noct asked, eyeing Prompto’s lunch.
His cheeks burned. He nodded slowly, eyes focused on the food in front of him. Running late, never there, what was the difference? Gone before we woke, never home when he came home, always leaving the grocery shopping to him, he had stopped wondering if his parents wanted him. They made that quite clear.
“How can you eat that? Carrots? Peas? No thank you.” Noct shoved a balanced forkful of fish and rice into his mouth.
Prompto shrugged. “They’re not that bad.” He hated them. But they were high in vitamins and fiber, so he had to eat them. The only thing that sort of tasted okay was the dried tofu, but even then paled in comparison to marinated barramundi. He chewed slowly. The slower he ate, the faster he felt full, thus eating less. No more overeating for him. Never again.
He set his picked-over lunch down and whipped out his camera. It chirped to life and he went to work. A quick snap of the few pieces of carrot and pea pods left in his lunch box. A stellar shot of Noct’s half-eaten meal. He stood on the bench to get a close-up of a budding branch. He turned and snapped a still of Noct looking lazily up at him, fork in his mouth. Prompto smiled and squatted down.
“Perfection,” he said, quite proud of the last picture. He switched the camera to display mode and examined his handiwork. The sun gleamed on Noct’s silky midnight hair and his porcelain skin shone in the warm rays. Not a single cluster of freckles in sight. Prompto touched his own blemishes on his cheekbones and sighed.
“Prompto.” Noct’s voice snapped him out of his slow spiral into self-doubt. A forkful of rice and fish was shoved into his face.
He pulled back out of surprise and stared at Noctis’ offering. He really shouldn’t. He didn’t account for the calories today. It was just one bite. It couldn’t throw everything that far off balance, could it?
Noctis pressed the fork against Prompto’s lips. “Open.”
Hesitantly, he took the bite of food. The fish melted in his mouth and the sweetness of the rice cut the smoky marinade. He savored every last moment of it, chewing slowly. He swallowed and his stomach clawed at his abdomen for more. A noise of pleasure came out of Prompto that a high school student should never make, especially in public.
“Good?” Noct laughed. He stuck his fork into his food again, preparing another bite for his friend.
“Magical,” Prompto moaned. He licked his lips to take in excess flavor. Another bite was offered, but he pulled away. One taste was one thing, but another? Out of the question. But that fish was cooked to perfection. He tried to calculate how much extra work he was going to have to do that night if he took the second offering, but Noctis was not patient and insisted he share his food. Prompto sighed and took the bite. It was so good.
Noctis smile grew as he watched Prompto enjoy Ignis’ cooking.
The bell chimed to indicate the end of lunch. Prompto packed up his leftover scraps and stuff the lunch box into his bag. He hopped off the bench and started back toward the school, but Noct grabbing his hand stopped him.
“Come on,” he said. That playful smirk shone through unrestrained. He tugged on Prompto’s arm and nodded toward the exit.
“We’re are we going?” He didn’t really need to ask the question. There were only so many places they went together. He hoped for once Noct was joking.
“The arcade. Come on, let’s go.” Noct gave Prompto’s arm another gentle tug.
“But what about class?” He wasn’t doing well in school as it was. Did he really want to skip out?
“You deserve a break.” He raised his eyebrows expectantly.
Prompto sighed and stopped resisting. How could he say no to the prince?