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They had been going at it for hours, steadily progressing through room after room of the building that now stands in ruins, a monument to what it once was. Noctis can’t help but be reminded of a poem he’d read in high school about the fleeting nature of power, of the impermanence of greatness. What had it been called again? “Ozymandias”? That sounds right.
Hearing a string of gunshots ring out, Noctis refocused on the task at hand. Prompto had shot at the two approaching enemies, completely missing the targets that continued to shamble towards them. Pushing forward, Noctis eliminated the enemies with little difficulty. They were so easy to take out, in fact, that Noctis had to wonder – not for the first time that day – why Prompto didn’t take them out himself. He had been acting strange all day, shooting recklessly and at times drawing enemy attention seemingly on purpose. Noctis began to feel as though Prompto genuinely wanted them to get caught — or worse, killed. When they could creep past nearby enemies and avoid a battle, Prompto made sure to walk in their line of sight. When enemies were far away, allowing the two of them to silently slink into the next room to look for their objective, Prompto would shoot at them, drawing their attention and instigating a battle. After each blunder, Prompto always huffed a little laugh, ducking his head and apologizing to Noct.
Noctis wanted to believe that Prompto had the best intentions. He desperately wanted to believe. But as the mission progressed, it was becoming hard to convince himself that Prompto was on his side. The mission should have been relatively easy: sneak into the building, avoid getting caught, find the map, get out. And yet, the two of them had been in this building for three hours, needlessly fighting enemy after enemy due to Prompto’s sabotage.
Sabotage.
Noctis finally let himself think the word. Let himself come to terms with the truth. Prompto was sabotaging him.
Noctis schooled his expression and prepared to enter the final room: the map has to be here. Knowing that while Prompto definitely posed a threat, Noctis reasoned that he could deal with him later. If Prompto wanted him dead, he would have already made it happen by now. Right now, his focus had to be on the mission. While the previous rooms had only one or two enemies in them, Noctis knew that this room would be swarming with them. Getting that map was going to be hell.
Taking a deep breath, Noctis pushed forward and cracked the door open to peer inside. Then immediately paused. There were more enemies than he had thought there’d be. A lot more.
He looked at Prompto consideringly, and was met with indrawn brows, and a small “what?” hand gesture.
“You’re not coming with me,” Noct said flatly.
Prompto made a noise of outrage. “What? Dude, why not?”
Noctis raised his eyebrows in disbelief: was he really going to play dumb right now? After intentionally making this mission as ridiculously hard as possible?
“Are you kidding. You’re fucking everything up, Prompto. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you in there,” Noct replied, finality in his tone.
“Come on, dude, don’t say that! I’m trying my hardest,” Prompto whined.
Noctis let out a cruel bark of laughter. “You definitely aren’t. I’m finishing this mission by myself.”
“You can trust me,” Prompto swore, trying to school his expression into one of seriousness.
Noctis turned to Prompto, searching his face for a moment before locking eyes with him, eyebrows furrowed and the corners of his mouth pulled down in a frown. Prompto gave him a wavering smile. Noctis wanted to believe him. He really did. This was Prompto. But… “No, I don’t think I can,” Noctis murmured, casting his eyes downwards.
“Noct, pl—”
Swiftly, before Prompto could even register what was happening, Noctis swiped the game controller from Prompto’s hands, Prompto dramatically crying out in distress as he slumped back against the couch. Noct pressed down unyieldingly on the power button until it turned off, maintaining cold, unwavering eye contact with Prompto the entire time. The game they had been playing instantly became single player, the split screen seamlessly morphing to reflect the game’s new single-player status.
“Dude, not cool,” Prompto said, though it was apparent he was trying not to laugh.
“Oh, I’m not cool?” Noct said, his tone dripping with sarcasm, and underneath, fondness. “Dude, I’ve been working on this game forever, and you’ve been purposely fucking with me all day! A man can only take so much, you know.” Noctis laughed and shoved Prompto gently.
Prompto raised his hands in surrender, laughing. “I know, I know, I’m sorry, I just couldn’t not. You take this game so seriously, dude, like you think it’s real life—I had to fuck with you just a little bit.”
“You’re such a brat,” Noct said, smirking, his eyes softening as he looked at his boyfriend.
Prompto leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before moving a respectable distance away on the couch, gesturing to the controller in Noctis’ hand. Noctis looked at him suspiciously for a moment, Prompto batting his eyelashes and clasping his hands in the perfect image of an angel. Noct rolled his eyes at him before deciding that Prompto was probably done messing with him for this mission. Probably. He motioned for Prompto to scoot closer to him so that they could lean on each other, sharing each other’s space.
Noctis unpaused the game.