Chapter Text
“This sucks,” Nyx muttered into his coffee. “This sucks.”
Crowe, on the other side of the room kept especially for the storage of Kingsglaive uniforms and halfway through pulling her shirt off, paused, and raised an eyebrow at him. “Coffee really that bad this morning?” She asked. “What, did you piss off some teenage barista?”
“No,” he grumbled. “I changed my route this morning.”
“For your runs?” Crowe said, and slid on a camisole, before pulling on a jacket and buckling her bracers onto her arms.
“Yeah, I get bored running the same route for too long; I try to change it every few weeks,” Nyx said. “I regret doing it today.”
There was a smile in Crowe’s voice with her next words, and Nyx couldn’t help but glare at her. “Why?”
“Because I still went to my coffee shop,” he said. “I mean, they know my order, you know?”
“Fair enough,” Crowe said, and sat down to yank her boots on. “Get to the point, already?”
“There’s this cute blond that runs my previous route,” he said. “I mean, we’ve never spoken, but like…we’ve made eye contact. Nodded at each other. Passed by and smiled. We had a runner’s bond.”
Crowe snorted. “Sure thing, Ulric,” she said.
“So, apparently we go to the same coffee shop,” Nyx continued loudly, over the top of her and her unwanted snarky commentary. “And because I ran a different route I got there at a different time, so he was there too.”
Crowe, fully dressed, pulled her hair back into a leather tie and just looked at him. “Please tell me you at least talked to the guy you’re apparently runner gay for,” she said.
“Well, no,” Nyx admitted. “But not for lack of trying – when I saw him, I went over.”
“And then what?”
“His best friend is the prince, apparently,” Nyx said. “Did you know, the Caelum death glare is hereditary?”
Crowe laughed out loud. “Does he know you’re glaive?”
“God, I hope not,” Nyx said fervently. “I wasn’t in uniform or anything, so…I doubt it. It’s not like any of the people in the citadel take the time to learn our faces outside of the coats we wear, and the prince himself hasn’t lived in the palace proper for years.”
“Maybe just try to avoid encountering him then,” Crowe suggested as she headed for the door. “The prince graduated a few months ago, you know. He’s been pulled into more and more meetings as of late; seems like the king is pretty worried about making sure he has all the politic stuff down but good soon.”
Nyx squinted at her. “Where’d you hear that?”
She grinned at him over her shoulder as she left the room. “I have my sources, Ulric.”
-x-
The rest of the day had passed normally for Nyx, if slightly tense – but he may or may not have gone to sleep expecting not to wake up. Like, he knew for a fact that there were very few places in the world one couldn’t get to if they had a warp strike, and the higher echelon of Lucis – wielding far more power than just a mere glaive – were goddamn ninjas. He’d never seen the prince in action like some of the rest of the glaive (or Crowe, who was a goddamn psychic with how much she just knew) but if he was anything like his old man, he was entirely capable of kicking Nyx’s ass – and getting away with it.
And honestly, he didn’t feel as if his fears were unfounded. It made him feel a little stupid, considering the prince was several years younger than him, barely just an adult – but with the way he’d been glared at by him this morning, he was kind of surprised he hadn’t just dropped dead. No one said it out loud in public, but they all knew that there was more to Caelum magic than anyone ‘in the know’ admitted. Given that they were just about the biggest Etro worshippers in existence, literal death glares weren’t too far out of the realm of reality.
He finally drifted off at some point around midnight, staring at the blinking red numbers of the digital clock beside his bed and wondering if the shadow in the corner of his room was actually just that – and woke up to the grey light of dawn shining in a clear sky that telegraphed that it was going to be actually a pretty nice day.
Even if he’d slept he apparently hadn’t slept well, and he was honestly tempted to see if he could somehow wheedle a sick day out of Drautos’ uptight ass – but more than that, he honestly just wanted to track down the blond and see if he could clear the awkward air from the morning before –
…that, or see if he could get the prince to chill it for him.
So, he pulled himself out of bed, shoved some toast into the toaster and pulled on sweats and a tank top – yanking the toast that had just popped up out of the toaster as he made for the door and eating it dry.
He knew for someone who relied on his physicality so much - for both work and leisure - he was remarkably unhealthy, but he wasn't a fitness but like Luche - so long as he could still run and give the Nifs a run for their money, he was good.
Instead of breaking into his normal run the moment his feet hit pavement, he turned in the direction that would take him on his old route - jogging at a steady pace to the stretch of sidewalk by the park that he and the blond always crossed paths at - smiling as he got there just in time to see him round a corner, heading his way.
"Hey," he greeted Nyx with a smile when he signaled him over, slowing to a stop as he pulled his headphones out. "I'm sorry about my friend, yesterday - you were just, like, really sweaty and suddenly there, and he can get really protective."
Nyx waved him off, even though an apology had been...pretty much exactly what he was looking for. "Its fine," he smiled, and cursed Crowe for ever putting the term runner gay into his mind. "Totally not your fault, and well - if some raggedly dressed, sweaty guy came up to me and one of my friends while we were out and started hassling my friend - I'd probably be protective, too."
The blond smiled. "That's no excuse for how he was acting," he said, "but thanks." He held out a hand, and Nyx shook it automatically. "I'm Prompto," he said, and his hand was warm.
"Nyx," he said, and let his hand fall back to his side as he returned Prompto's smile.
Prompto's own smile widened when he caught sight of Nyx's - and Nyx blinked as the sun suddenly seemed to brighten.
"Hey - if this isn't too weird...since we apparently go to the same coffee place, wanna like, head there? Together, I mean."
"Yes," Nyx said. "I mean, sure. I'd like that."
(Smooth, Ulric, Crowe's voice whispered in his mind, accompanied by a laugh track helpfully provided by Libertus and Pelna.)
Prompto all but sparkled at him, and when he tilted his head - the sun crossed his face at a certain angle and his freckles lit up like glitter; gold and scattered warm across his face.
"Let's go, then!" He said. "And like - maybe before my friend calls and tracks me down to hang?"
Despite himself, Nyx laughed. "Sure," he said. "Yeah - let's go."