Chapter Text
“Oh what a beautiful evening~” Prompto crooned to the sky as he threw himself gaily around the Lachyrte Haven in a dance for one. The sun was slowly setting over Galdin Quay in a kaleidoscope of colours reflected in the open ocean while the temperature stayed steady with just a hint of a sea breeze to take away the heat; the words that he sang were as true as they would ever be.
Except-
“It doesn’t make sense to camp when civilisation is so close by,” Gladio growled. Prompto’s dance came to an end when the Shield dumped the tenting equipment that he had pulled from the armiger onto the rocky floor.
“His highness wished to use the opportunity to experiment in catching fish at different times of the day,” Ignis reminded him, his tone sneering as he set up his portable cooking station.
Prompto sighed privately. It was a hazard when the four of them were around each other all day every day that they would start bickering over petty matters, and the tension between Ignis and Gladio had been rising steadily for several days now. It always felt worse when they were the ones to squabble; them being the eldest two of the group, Prompto mentally likened it to when his parents would fight when he had been younger. The icy atmosphere that had settled into the evening was identical to the one he used to dread whenever he went home.
Prompto opened his mouth to offer some consolidation but was cut off when Gladio delivered an angry kick to the mass of canvas and tent poles. “His highness could do with a reminder that he’s not the only one in this party.”
“Stop bitchin’, start pitchin’,” Ignis snapped in a cruel mimicry of what Gladio had so often shouted at them during battle.
“I’mmm gonna check on Noct...” Prompto muttered as Gladio rounded on Ignis. He made it down to the edge of the haven before their shouting match rendered the air.
This is far too much like mum and dad, he decided. Doing his best to block out the spite-filled words, Prompto walked the distance up the Vannath Coast to where Noctis stood at the fishing spot, twitching the lure this way and that in an attempt to entice any fish to bite.
Noct turned at the noise and waved to Prompto. Grateful for the invitation they sat together, dangling their legs over the edge of the pier. Noct set the fishing rod between his knees and jerked his head towards the haven.
“They’ve been on edge all day, it's no surprise.”
“It's been a while since they argued this bad. It's awful when they're the ones to argue,” Prompto murmured.
Noct nodded. “It’s better to let them sort themselves out when they’re like this. Give them some space.”
“It feels horrible though,” Prompto pouted. Noct clapped him on the shoulder reassuringly and they stared off into the distance. Noct occasionally got excited as the lure bobbed in the water when a fish hit it, and Prompto photographed the sunset.
Within ten minutes the yelling had died down and they chanced a glance back towards the haven- both Ignis and Gladio were continuing to set up camp and seemed to be talking, stiffly but quieter than a few minutes ago.
Not wanting to miss an opportunity, Prompto leapt onto the beach with his camera in hand and took a few shots of Noct fishing against the rainbow sky. The fish seemed too docile to care for the lure, but the evening felt far more peaceful now that Ignis and Gladio seemed to have vented their frustrations. As Prompto made to check a photo, he spotted something.
“Hey Noct, check this out!” Prompto called. Crouching down, under the fishing shack he noticed a small rock pool had formed where the tide had receded. A cluster of miniscule crabs -camouflaged so that they were almost translucent in the seawater- were gathered there, scuttling over each other in the search for food.
Noct dispelled his rod and jumped down to his side, leaning in to look.
“Aw, they’re cute,” Noct smiled, reaching in and plucking out one of the crabs. It sat in the palm of his hand, tiny compared to the Shieldshears they had slain on the way to the haven. It waved its pincers in the air, confused by its sudden removal from the pool.
“There’s so many of them,” Prompto sighed, getting the shot of the rock pool.
“Hey.” Looking up, Prompto saw Noct was grinning. “How are Iggy and Gladio looking?”
Prompto looked back over to the haven. “They’ve finished setting up. Why?”
“You reckon we’d be able to smuggle these guys back to the tent? It would be a shame for them not to meet these little guys.”
It took a second for Prompto to catch his meaning. When he did, his eyes went wide and a mischievous grin stole over his face as he shrugged off his jacket. “Here- use this!”
Noct worked for a minute, scooping out all of the crabs that he could catch and tossing them into his makeshift vessel. Now came the tricky part. On approaching the haven, they saw Ignis and Gladio talking (amicably, it had to be said) over by the cooker, their backs turned to them. Their route to the pitched tent was clear, the sleeping bags set ready for them to collapse into later.
“Here you go, little guys, we’ve got a nice new home for you!” Noct crooned.
“Nice and warm in here!”
“No- get them right down to the bottom!”
“Ha ha!”
“Shhh!”
Giggling quietly, Prompto brushed the sand off his jacket and they slipped away from the tent, pretending to come back around from the fishing spot. Their prank probably wouldn’t make the atmosphere in camp any easier, but they felt that Ignis and Gladio could do with lightening up anyway. If nothing else, it might cause them to come together for revenge against them. Prompto shuddered. He hadn’t considered that before.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, or something like that.