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Prompto is out on his morning run when he passes a newsstand and receives the only warning he will get.
‘Hey, you’re on the front page.’
Prompto is friendly with the owner, they say hello to each other every morning as Prompto runs past the man opening up his stand for the day.
His comment makes Prompto stop and turn back. ‘What?’
He holds up a copy of a newspaper. It is a tabloid paper – one that Prompto wouldn’t give any attention to except that today Prompto’s face takes up a large portion of the front. Prompto wrinkles his nose – that is a terrible picture, surely they could have found a better one literally anywhere else. But then his eyes are drawn to the headline.
Prince Noctis’s Love Affair with His Favorite Guard
‘“Love Affair”? Really?’ He steps closer and the man holds out the paper.
‘Go ahead and take it – you’ll probably enjoy the story.’ He is barely holding back a laugh, so Prompto knows that he is in for a ride with this one.
‘Thanks, have a great day!’ Prompto waves as the man responds in kind and heads back to his apartment. It cuts his run short, but he doesn’t like running with things in his hands and a newspaper is definitely going to annoy him if he has to carry it for the whole rest of his route.
Noctis isn’t yet up when Prompto returns – he has a meeting in an hour, though, so Prompto decides to start the process of waking up his lethargic boyfriend.
‘Hey, you’re going to have to start getting up soon.’
‘Mreh.’
‘See, that is a good argument but have you considered this: Ignis.’
‘Nr. Hrim.’
‘Ah, I see. Well, if you wake up in time I have a fun story for you.’
‘Oerg.’
‘Thanks, you’re so sweet to me in the mornings.’
It’s silly, but Prompto can’t really deny that he enjoys having these one-sided nonsense conversations with Noctis in the mornings. Especially when Noctis insists that he replies to Prompto’s questions coherently – Prompto can only laugh at that.
Prompto sets a timer on Noctis’s phone for twenty minutes and leaves the room to get some food. It is finally starting to warm up, so Prompto’s run had been great. He is therefore in a good mood when he starts in on the morning’s article.
Prince Noctis has found love at last. But is it meant to be? Prompto Argentum, the prince’s apparent lover, is a member of the Royal Crownsguard – he was inducted earlier this year.
The two have been friends since they were in high school together, though it was obvious even then that there was something more to their relationship. Former classmates remember how the duo would always spend time together, even to the detriment of other friendships.
Brian, a classmate of Prince Noctis and Argentum, spoke of his time with the two and reminisces on the early phase of their friendship.
Prompto narrowly avoids choking on his water.
‘Noctis and I were really close before he and Prompto became friends,’ says Brian, who graduated with the Prince and Argentum. ‘Once they became friends I didn’t see much of the Prince – Prompto took up all of his time. I figure he was getting something out of it – you know? Hope the Prince isn’t too put out when Prompto leaves him for someone better.’
This author also hopes that Prince Noctis finds out about Argentum’s gold digger ways before it’s too late.
The water that Prompto avoided choking on is now coming out of his nose. Thankful that he isn’t drinking anything stronger, Prompto sets aside the paper to let his laughter calm down and finish his water.
‘What the hell?’
Noctis, looking like he just rolled out of bed, is standing in the doorway.
‘Sorry,’ Prompto apologizes through his giggles. ‘Did I wake you up?’
‘Nah, the alarm you set did,’ Noctis replies, walking over to slump over the table. Prompto is surprised – he hadn’t even heard the timer go off. ‘What are you reading?’
‘The story of our illicit love affair.’
That gets Noctis to look up. ‘Our what now?’
Prompto starts giggling again. ‘Apparently I’m a gold digger.’
Noctis stares at Prompto a moment before reaching to pull the paper over to him. ‘What the fuck?’
‘I’m not even finished with the article yet and it’s already the best thing I’ve ever read in my life,’ Prompto informs him as Noctis starts skimming, face growing steadily more and more horrified.
‘How are you taking this so well?’ he mutters, glancing up at Prompto before frowning at the paper once more.
‘Because it’s funny. It’s like they grabbed a thesaurus and were determined to use every single synonym for boyfriend that they could find.’
Noctis groans, setting the paper down to rub his temples. ‘Ugh, Iggy’s probably going to be here soon to talk about this.’
As though summoned by this sentence, Ignis lets himself in and nods at the two of them. ‘Ah, good, so you’ve both seen.’
Noctis groans again, so Prompto greets their friend. ‘Hey, Iggy! Help me out here – isn’t the story really funny?’
Ignis smiles. ‘It is indeed amusing; unfortunately it is also remarkably factually inaccurate.’
‘That’s what makes it so great.’
Ignis sets a copy down, heavily marked up. ‘It is still printed; therefore we must issue a statement with the correct facts. I’ve started the process of correcting the information – while Noctis and I are at our morning meeting, would you be so kind as to continue for me?’
Prompto nods. ‘Sure thing.’
‘Thank you, Prompto. Noctis, if you want to be on time we have to leave in five minutes.’
Noctis doesn’t respond, and when Prompto turns he sees that Noctis is just gaping at him. ‘What?’
Noctis shakes his head. ‘I just still can’t believe how ok you are with all of this.’
Prompto shrugs. ‘I mean, yeah it’s annoying. But it doesn’t really matter, you know? Like you and Iggy and Gladio and everyone at the Citadel know the truth – who cares what anyone else thinks.’
Noctis grins. ‘You’re the best.’ Prompto isn’t sure that is all that Noctis has to say, but he just grins when his boyfriend leans in for a kiss before he needs to get ready for his meeting.
Prompto has the day off, so he settles into the couch with a snack and both copies of the paper to get reading.
~
Prompto is on his usual morning run, but there are a lot more people out and about than usual. He doesn’t pay them any mind until he realizes that most of them are staring at him as he runs by. He is weirded out but continues on his way.
Until someone trips him. Nursing his scuffed hands and knees, he carefully ignores the taunts that are whispered at him and gratefully accepts the hand up that the newspaper stand owner offers.
‘What happened?’ Noctis demands when he sees Prompto washing off his scrapes in the bathroom.
Prompto waves a hand, careful of the dripping water, and grins. ‘I tripped – no big deal. There was a dog and I wasn’t really watching where I was going.’ He steadfastly ignores the blood dripping into the sink.
~
‘You’re a terrible person.’ ‘He deserves better than you.’ ‘Just you wait until he finds out the truth.’
~
A few days later, Prompto gets the impression that he is being followed on his way back to the apartment on his run. Not wanting to lead them to his home – or worse, to Noctis – he alters his course and runs to the Citadel. The followers are closing in slowly and Prompto speeds up.
Thankfully the guard on duty recognizes him – Prompto doesn’t have his badge – and waves him inside. Once he is sure that he is out of view of the road outside the gate, Prompto collapses under a tree. That turned into a much harder run than he had been planning because of his tail and he tries to catch his breath, lying flat on the grass.
It is a surprisingly long time before someone approaches, but it is Ignis so Prompto supposes that everyone else doesn’t want to approach first.
Ignis crouches next to Prompto, who is finally breathing normally again. ‘Good morning, Prompto.’
Prompto sits up and gingerly stretches, trying to pretend that there isn’t anything strange about him showing up out of uniform and without his badge a good half hour away from his apartment. Nope, just a normal day. ‘Morning!’
‘May I ask what you are doing here?’
‘Just… just wanted to try out a different route today,’ Prompto tries, unable to look Ignis in the eyes.
Ignis doesn’t even dignify that lie with a response. ‘Avi said that you were being chased and he got a good description of the gentlemen who turned away once you were on Citadel grounds. Do you know who they were?’
Prompto sighs, flopping back down to his back. ‘Nah, I just didn’t want to lead them back to Noct so I figured this would be a safer spot to ditch them.’
‘I see.’ A pause while Prompto hears Ignis take a breath. ‘Prompto, is there anything that you would like to talk about?’
Prompto opens his eyes to grin at Ignis. ‘Nope, I’m good! Just a little winded – that was a longer run than I’m used to in the mornings.’
Ignis’s eyes flick away and Prompto resists the urge to hide his scraped hands and knees. ‘Well then come along – I shall drive you home. Can’t have you late to work.’
~
‘You don’t deserve to be with him.’ ‘Such a disgrace – you’re so desperate for attention that you’d toy with the Crown Prince.’ ‘No one could actually love someone like you.’
~
Prompto isn’t sure if Ignis will tell Noctis about what happened, but Noctis doesn’t say anything to Prompto so he holds out hope. He also switches up his workout routine – rather than running from his apartment he drives Noctis’s car to the Citadel and runs there. When Noctis finally notices and asks, Prompto tells him that it is easier and he wants to see something different on his runs. Ignis doesn’t comment, instead just looking at Prompto as though he is reading his mind. (And Prompto is about sixty three percent sure he can.)
He is used to Ignis coming over and asking about his day, but lately Ignis has been asking a lot of unrelated questions. Like how long he has lived in Insomnia, where he went to primary school, his first job. Things that Prompto is sure are in his background check. Did he need to go through another one? Do things like that expire?
The opportunity to ask Ignis presents itself a few days later when they are sitting at the table after dinner – Prompto has an incident report to write up (a high school tour had some students trying to sneak into unauthorized areas) while Ignis is looking something over and Noctis is making fun of them both until Ignis hands something to Noctis that he has to read.
They are sitting in companionable silence while the radio softly plays in the background until Ignis speaks up.
‘Prompto, when did you obtain your motorcycle license?’
‘Uh, when I was eighteen. You were the one that helped me study for it.’ Ignis nods, remembering. ‘Are you background checking me again?’
Noctis interjects first. ‘You have a motorcycle license?’ He looks floored, and surprisingly turned on.
‘Yeah, just never quite had the funds to be able to buy myself one. And no,’ he stops Noctis from speaking, pointing a finger in his face. ‘I do not want to get one from you – I want to buy my own with my own money.’
Noctis frowns but nods petulantly and Ignis chuckles. ‘I shall hold him to that, have no fear. But no, there is no need to run an additional background check or anything like that. I’m merely writing some notes for the statements we must make tomorrow.’
‘You have to make statements tomorrow?’
Ignis nods. ‘We have to issue statements correcting any falsehoods about the Royal Family in media stories.’
‘That must take up so much time.’ Prompto knows that the People of the Citadel is a popular topic amongst tabloids and even standard press when it’s a particularly slow news day.
‘It does, we have an entire team dedicated to this kind of thing. I do not usually worry about it, but there have been a number of stories about you recently so I am personally seeing to those statements.’
Prompto blinks. ‘You are? I don’t want to make you too busy – I know there’s a lot out there. You don’t have to worry about it.’ Prompto has yet to see a stand where there isn’t at least one headline referencing him – how busy must Ignis be?
‘I do not wish to force you into the kind of interview that the corrections team requires. They can handle everything that you have already shared with me, I only take care of the new lies that are spread.’
Prompto just nods, unsure how to feel that he has a team at the Citadel dedicated to knowing about him. He absentmindedly rubs his wrist, though he knows that statements won’t stop the talk directed at him. He still appreciates the work that Ignis and this mysterious team are putting in, even as he continues to ignore the whispers.
It’s nothing he hasn’t heard or thought before.
~
‘You’ve had your fifteen minutes of fame, why are you dragging this charade on?’ ‘Maybe you should just die – it’s not like he’d take that long to move on from you.’ ‘Ugly thing like you? There’s no way he would mourn – he’d have someone better in a flash.’
~
They are walking through the Rogue Queen Park to celebrate their anniversary when Prompto hears a click through his earpiece. It’s the sound of another person joining the frequency, but everyone should already be online. No one else notices or says anything, but Prompto is instantly on edge.
He is playing a dual role – both boyfriend and Crownsguard – today, though, so he doesn’t say anything. The park, since it is in honor of the Rogue Queen, has a multitude of obstacle courses all throughout. Prompto wants to come back some day when he doesn’t have to be on guard – that one with the spinning monkey bars is calling his name.
They are about to walk along a section of wall when Prompto sees the flash of a rifle sight to his right and his step hitches. Noctis doesn’t notice, but another guard, Dustin if Prompto is remembering his name correctly, speaks up in his earpiece. ‘Argentum, report.’
Prompto’s mind races. If he tells them to move in now, the intruder on the line will hear and get out – they need to catch the person and make sure it’s not part of anything larger. ‘Just thinking about the last time I was here,’ he says, hoping desperately that they understand. ‘Remember how bright it was? Right at three o’clock too. Almost didn’t hear that huge bang.’
Noctis and Gladio look at him in confusion, especially since they know that Prompto has never been here before, but they are still moving. In just one more step, Noctis and Prompto will be out from the cover so he doesn’t have time to explain. His focus narrows – he needs to get Noctis out of harm’s way while giving the rest of the guard time to figure out what he meant. Gladio is behind them, he can keep Noctis safe. The moment they pass their cover, Prompto is moving.
He first flings Noctis backwards at Gladio, whose instincts kick in and wraps up Noctis to shield him. Gunfire rings out and people scatter, knocking Prompto off his feet and when he hits the ground he feels his earpiece fall out. He can feel the blood pooling under his shoulder and stomach, but something he doesn’t expect to feel is sharp jabs to his ribs. He can tell that he is losing consciousness quickly as blood continues to drain from the various new holes in his body, so he just tries to protect his head from the kicks. He hears a snap and dully registers that his leg has been broken as one person gets in a parting word.
‘This is for the Prince.’
Prompto doesn’t have the time to figure that one out before the crowd disperses from around him and he loses the fight to stay awake.
~
Prompto has been to the Citadel hospital many times. The first time had been when he started training with Noctis – he hadn’t dodged fast enough and Noctis sliced his arm. He’s been to the Citadel hospital for more potions than he cares to count, to visit friends who were sick, and even to get his head checked when he got a concussion.
For all that, he’s never woken up in the Citadel hospital until now.
The ceiling is blurry when he opens his eyes, but Prompto can immediately tell that he isn’t in his own bed. In the moment between realizing that there is someone in the room with him and that person realizing that he is awake, Prompto’s mind brings forth its last memory and Prompto shoots upwards. Ignoring the pain this sends across his entire body, he blinks in an attempt to find Noctis and make sure that he is safe. Thankfully for Prompto, calmer heads prevail.
‘Prompto, you are safe. Noctis is safe. You need to lay back down – you shouldn’t be putting any weight on that leg.’
It is Ignis’s voice and Prompto implicitly trusts Ignis, so he lets himself be gently pushed back into bed and shoots a sheepish look at Ignis now that he can see clearly.
‘Sorry, Igs,’ he says, or at least attempts to say. His throat is dry as the Leide desert and doesn’t produce more than a whisper.
Ignis holds out a glass of water but doesn’t let him take it yet. ‘Now, I’m sure you have questions. I shall do my best to answer them, but you must promise to not drink that too quickly. You have been out for a week and we need to reintroduce things to your system slowly.’
At the news he has been unconscious for a week Prompto’s eyes widen, but he dutifully nods and sips slowly once Ignis relinquishes the glass.
Ignis leans back in his chair once he sees Prompto is behaving. ‘Let’s see – the last thing you likely remember is the shooting at the park.’ Prompto nods, still sipping water. ‘Right. Your message to the rest of the guard was understood and acted upon immediately, so the shooter was apprehended after only three shots were fired. You still saved the prince by pulling him out of the way, so well done for that. He got out of there with only a sore shoulder and no small amount of worry for you.
‘You were shot in the shoulder, abdomen, and hip. Thankfully nothing too vital was hit, though you did need surgery,’ Ignis continues, his mask of professionalism in place. ‘You also had a laceration on your head, as well as a broken leg and bruised ribs.’ Prompto reaches up to feel the injury on his head but Ignis gently lowers the hand. ‘You have stitches, please don’t touch.’ Prompto feels the buzzed hair around said stitches – seems he’s got an undercut for a little while. ‘Those need a little time to heal naturally and your leg needs to set properly before we can administer a potion, so you will have a cast on for a week or two. What we have been unable to determine is how the leg and rib injuries happened – they do not seem like standard crowd injuries.’
Prompto, unfortunately, does remember. ‘Uh, that was people. Something about ‘this is for the prince’ and all that.’
The professional mask slips at that revelation and Prompto sees some rage poke through. Ignis has himself under control again quickly, and Prompto focuses on sipping his water. He belatedly thinks that he must be on some sort of strong pain medication – he normally wouldn’t have let Ignis know about that.
‘Why ever not?’ Ignis looks offended.
And apparently Prompto can’t tell when he is speaking aloud either. ‘Uh, it’s nothing you need to worry about,’ he tests his throat, hoping that it will still be too dry to talk. No such luck. Drat.
Ignis levels a look at Prompto. ‘I hope you will not take it too personally when I say that I don’t believe you. I have been sure that there is something you are not telling me for the past few months, ever since that first newspaper story. It seemed like it wasn’t hazardous to you, but clearly I was naïve in that hope. Will you please tell me the truth now?’
Prompto looks down. He hates getting the Disappointed Ignis Look, and it’s permeating the man’s voice as well. ‘It’s not a big deal, just people saying things. And tripping me while I’m out running. And… uh… apparently kicking me while I’m down. But they have good intentions. It’s all because they care about Noct.’ Prompto can feel his throat drying up again and continues sipping, not wanting to look up. He’s expecting some sort of comment on how he needs to share these things for the good of the Crown or something similar, so when Ignis just cards a hand gently through his hair he can’t help but lean into it.
Looking up, Ignis has a look on his face that Prompto can’t identify before it’s gone. ‘I’ve informed His Highness that you are awake, I imagine he will be here soon. Do you feel like you will be awake for any length of time? I have some things I need you to sign and merely want to know whether to bring them to you now or if tomorrow would be better.’
‘I think I’ll be up for a bit?’ Prompto guesses. ‘You can bring them over, even if I accidently fall asleep go ahead and wake me up – I don’t want to hold you up if they’re important.’
Ignis shakes his head, but he also has a smile on his face. ‘They can wait if you do fall asleep, do not fret.’
The door opens and Prompto is expecting it to be Noctis, but instead the King himself enters Prompto’s hospital room.
‘Your Majesty,’ Prompto says, habit kicking in as he tries to hop up and bow. He doesn’t get far – the leg in a cast throws off his balance and he nearly topples to the floor. Clarus and Ignis manage to save him before he breaks his nose again, and Regis is giving Prompto a fond look as they put him back in bed. ‘Uh, sorry, sir.’
‘No need to apologize, Prompto,’ Regis says, taking the seat Ignis offers with a grateful nod. ‘And I shall assume that your return to formality is merely due to some disorientation, not purposefully making me feel old.’
Prompto, if possible, turns even redder. ‘Uh, right.’
Regis chuckles. ‘Do not fret, Prompto, I’m not here to torture you. I just want to thank you for saving my son and to see how you are faring.’
Ignis ducks out of the room, leaving Prompto alone with the king. It’s been a while since Prompto was uncomfortable around Regis, but he still wishes that his friend had remained in the room. He doesn’t have any time to get uncomfortable this time, though, before the door flies open and Noctis appears so quickly that Prompto isn’t convinced he didn’t warp.
‘Prom!’ he says, launching himself onto the bed and wrapping himself around Prompto. Prompto tries to contain his grunt of pain but he must not succeed for Noctis quickly jumps back off the bed. ‘Oh gods, I’m sorry.’ He hovers, unsure how to help but clearly not wanting to leave.
Prompto doesn’t want him to, but he also thinks he now knows exactly which ribs are bruised. So he’s got that going for himself.
He grabs Noctis’s hand and Noctis, thankfully, takes a seat in a chair next to the bed. Regis takes pity on Prompto and keeps the talk light and mostly about the latest Citadel gossip, catching Prompto up on what he missed while he was out. Gladio joins and ruffles Prompto’s hair, gently, and they start talking about whether they think the café closest to the Citadel will close or not. It is a popular place for the denizens and employees of the Citadel, but it’s not convenient to any other local businesses so they don’t know if the business model is sustainable. Prompto has inside information – last time he was there the barista told him that there are enough Glaives with a caffeine addiction that they alone could keep the business running – but he enjoys Clarus bemoaning the fact that no one else knows how to make his favorite drink correctly and pesters Regis to make a Royal Decree that says Insomniac Coffee is not allowed to file for bankruptcy.
It’s during that time Ignis returns with an enormous stack of papers. Prompto’s eyes widen. ‘What even is all of that?’
Ignis gestures vaguely. ‘It is mostly to do with treatment for your current injuries, as well as some pieces about compensation for your time lost and a few other things. There is not a rush, feel free to read them and sign whenever you are feeling up for it.’
The door opens again and Prompto has a moment to wonder who else he knows that would come to see him while sick, but it ends up being a nurse with some food. Prompto can tell that she wants to say something – maybe visiting hours are over or something – but she can’t exactly kick out the King of the County, and the rest are all noble in their own right. Regis and Clarus make moves to get up and leave before she can figure out how to ask them to leave. ‘We shall leave you to your meal, Prompto. I am glad that you are awake and feeling better, even if my son decides to test just how powerful those painkillers are.’ Prompto laughs as Noctis pouts. Regis moves over and takes Prompto’s other hand. ‘Thank you,’ he says simply, but Prompto can see the enormous depth of his gratitude in his eyes. Prompto smiles back and says good bye to him, Clarus, and Gladio as they leave. Noctis moves like he is about to get up and Prompto tightens his grip on his hand – he doesn’t want Noctis to leave as well. Looking pleased, Noctis sits back down.
Ignis is on his way out as well but pauses in the doorway. ‘Prompto, I still do not wish to force you into something you would rather not do, but it might be wise to have an interview with the Corrections Office team.’
Prompto sighs. ‘Yeah, I should. I don’t want to keep making more work for you, and it’s literally their job to handle things like this.’
Ignis smiles. ‘I appreciate your concern, though I assure you that I am happy to help. I shall set up a time for you to meet them.’ He closes the door behind him and Prompto is left alone with Noctis.
‘Please don’t do that again,’ Noctis whispers after a few moments of silence. When Prompto looks over at him, Noctis is looking down and holding Prompto’s hand with both of his own. ‘Please. I can’t bear to see you getting hurt because of me.’
Prompto squeezes Noctis’s hand. ‘Hate to break it to you, buddy, but that’s kinda my job. I’m in the Crownsguard – I’m supposed to protect you.’
‘I know,’ Noctis sighs. ‘I just hated seeing you hurt and unconscious and not being able to do anything.’
‘And how do you think I’d feel if our roles were reversed?’ Prompto asks, and Noctis looks up. ‘If you were hurt and unconscious and I couldn’t do anything to help Especially knowing that you’ve already gone through something like that in your life.’
‘Yeah, I guess,’ Noctis concedes. ‘Just please try and be careful.’
‘I’ll do my best,’ Prompto says, reaching for his food. The conversation moves on to lighter subjects as he eats, and after the food is gone Prompto feels himself fading. Noctis notices as well and moves to take the stack of papers from Ignis away but Prompto stops him.
‘I don’t want to hold Iggy up if there’s something he needs to get done,’ he says, reaching out and grabbing a pen.
‘There is no way you’re going to be awake enough to read all that,’ Noctis observes. Thankfully Ignis has marked off all the places where a signature is needed so Prompto is able to go through everything quickly just signing where he needs to and not looking at anything else. As he goes, Noctis realizes what he is doing and snorts but doesn’t comment and helps Prompto fish out the pages that need signatures. Once they are all signed, Noctis moves the stack out of the way and takes Prompto’s hand while moving to sit in the chair. Prompto tugs on the hand, and Noctis only pauses a moment before climbing – carefully, this time – into the bed along Prompto’s good side. He lays his head on Noctis’s shoulder and feels a brief kiss on his head before his is fast asleep.
~
Prompto enters the Corrections Office and is immediately distracted by the number of pictures and papers that are tacked to the walls. He even sees his own face up there, which is more than a little disconcerting.
Before he can be too distracted, though, he is greeted by a woman. ‘Ah, Prompto, you’re right on time. I’m Ren – please come with me.’
Prompto does his best to not knock over anything with his crutches as he follows Ren to a side room. There is already a small group waiting for them seated around a table. There isn’t anything stuck to the walls in here, but there are notebooks with scribbled notes in front of each person.
Ren holds a chair for him to sit in and smiles. ‘I’m sure you have some questions for us, so let’s get those out of the way first. I’m Ren – I’m the head of the Prompto Argentum team within the Corrections Office here. We’re the ones who know all about you so that when something is written about you, we can issue a correction without having to bother you for details. We can also be a sort of PR team – if anyone asks you a question that you don’t want to answer you may direct them to us and we will take care of everything. And I can promise that all of us are very aware that this is a lot more people than folks usually want to tell their secrets, so we hold ourselves to the highest code of discretion. Anything you ask us not to write about will not be shared without your explicit permission.’
Prompto nods nervously and the group starts to introduce themselves.
‘Hi,’ a man behind Ren greets Prompto with a smile. ‘I’m Brad. I’m almost thirty and I never learned how to swim and am terrified of water to this day. This is in large part because I was assigned female at birth and never wanted to change clothes or wear a swimsuit in front of anyone before I got surgery to help my body match who I know I am.’
Before Prompto can wonder why he shared that, another woman speaks up. ‘Hey Prompto, I’m Sloane. I robbed a bank once, while I was still in high school. I got away with it too, in large part because my girlfriend at the time was a police officer. She helped me erase the evidence that I was involved, and we pinned it all on my accomplice. Said cop is now my wife, and she got a promotion based on her work on that case.’
Prompto thinks he sees what they’re doing – they’re sharing intimate details so that he won’t be the only one talking about himself like this.
An older man is next, and he waves. ‘I’m Isaak and my wife of 43 years still doesn’t know that I wasn’t a virgin when we got married. She also doesn’t know about my daughter from another woman or my grandchildren from said daughter.’
Ren sees that Prompto knows why they all said what they did and finishes up with her own admission. ‘I used to be a high school administrator. Every year we would award a scholarship to one graduating senior and I was in charge of reviewing the applications. I wrote a computer program that would weed out those applications that weren’t up to standards, but from there I picked the thirteenth one I saw every year without actually reading a single word of any application myself. And now you know something about each of us that we would rather not tell another soul, so hopefully you feel like you’re on a little more even ground. Do you have any questions for us before we get going?’
‘Uh, I guess just how long have I had a team here? And what all do you already know?’
Sloane is the one to answer. ‘We’ve been a team ever since you became friends with Noctis.’ Prompto is startled by that – they’ve really been all together and learning about him for that long?
Isaak seems to know what the look on Prompto’s face means and smiles. ‘Yes, Prompto, we know a lot about you by now purely because we’ve been learning about you since you were in high school.’
‘And Ignis Scientia has been a great help to us recently,’ Ren continues, ‘but there’s still a lot we need. Are you ready?’
Prompto nods, hoping that he looks more ready than he feels.
‘Good. Now, I understand if you don’t want to answer every question in exhaustive detail, but I do need you to try your best. Even if it is something that you do not wish us to share publicly, there have been times where the King or Crownsguard need information on a person and what we have on file is precisely what they need. Not to scare you, but as an example when Johann was kidnapped last year his team in this office had the perfect information that allowed the Crownsguard to find him quickly. So, my first question is: where did you grow up?’
And then Prompto is sharing. More than he has ever told any other person in his life – including Noctis. Most of it isn’t too terrible, but he does fidget and ask them not to share when he talks about his tattoo. Even though he doesn’t know what it means, he doesn’t like anyone knowing that it is there. And he can feel his face turn bright red when Ren asks if he is a virgin – she makes sure to tell him that one is an automatic no-share before he can even request it.
Then come the hypotheticals. There is an enormous list of scenarios that could happen, and they want to know what he would do, what he would say, what he might tell a reporter should one ask. So many scenarios that Prompto is left wondering what the office does with their free time if it’s not sitting around and coming up with random things that could happen to ask future interviewees about. Ren does most of the asking and she doesn’t take notes furiously like the others are – which Prompto is thankful for. He knows that she will get the notes from the rest after, but it helps the whole thing to feel more like a conversation rather than an interrogation. Even still, Prompto is completely drained emotionally by the time Brad wraps things up.
‘And that was our last question, we should be good to go. Going forward, we hopefully won’t need you to tell us things like this again. We may need more information, but if it’s not urgent we will send you an email. We will never ask you to send information back in an email, the email will ask you to meet us here at your earliest convenience. The benefit of you working in the Citadel as well is we have access to your schedule so we can find out if you’re busy and make sure not to bug you while you are working,’ Brad concludes the interview.
‘One last thing,’ Ren says, and politely doesn’t mention how Prompto deflates a little. ‘May I have your phone?’ He hands it over, admittedly apprehensively. Ren puts her phone number in and hands it back.
‘Now, I know that you said you sometimes leave your phone places and don’t worry about it, but you now keep this with you as much as humanly possible. We have a lot of information on file now, but I will occasionally need to call you when we need an answer urgently.’ Ren fixes him with a look. ‘And when I call, you answer. Even if you are with the Prince or even the King himself – they can wait, I do not.’
Prompto grins – he likes Ren, and the rest of the team – and agrees.
Sloane is the one to walk him out, and she shares a conspiratorial grin. ‘I just wanted to let you know that we were all cheering for you when you and Noct launched that fake dating scheme around Solstice. We knew that you were in love with him based on some things we had seen and learned, and we were so glad when Ignis told us that Noctis finally figured it out.’
Prompto snorts. ‘Yeah, I still don’t know how he didn’t know but hey – at least it worked out in the end.’
She reaches out for a fist bump which he returns before hobbling his way back to Noctis’s rooms to lay down and not talk or have to think for a while.
~
Apparently Prompto is suing the entire media.
He isn’t even sure that’s a thing he can do. Or, well, that Ignis can do in his name.
‘Since when can people sue in the name of others? I’m not dead or anything. At least as far as I can tell.’
Ignis looks at Prompto askance. ‘It’s called power of attorney. One of the forms that you signed for me gives me power of attorney for you. I was very flattered that you trusted me enough to sign that one as quickly as you did. Did you not read it?’
Prompto shrugs. ‘Iggy, I trust you more than I trust myself. If you hand me something to sign, I’m gonna sign it.’
Ignis looks pleased, but still shakes his head as Noctis sniggers. ‘As flattered as I am with that level of trust, it might be wise to read things that you are signing for yourself in the future.’
As Ignis goes on his furious rampage against every single newspaper and magazine that printed a story painting Prompto in a negative light, Prompto is discharged and allowed to go back to his apartment. He is admittedly mostly looking forward to getting to sleep in his own bed again.
Thankfully the apartment building has elevators – Prompto is still on crutches for another week and he never would have made it to the top floor before either falling or being forced to ask Gladio to carry him. While Gladio piggyback rides are pretty great, he is feeling useless enough without needing help to get into his own apartment.
Though when Noctis opens the door, he’s not convinced that he is at his own apartment after all.
‘What is all of this?’
The entire apartment feels like it is covered in flowers and balloons and chocobo plushies. The table holds a large stack of cards and envelopes. He hasn’t taken a step inside yet, so Noctis brings him one with his name written on the front.
‘It’s all for you.’
‘Dude, you didn’t need to get this all for me,’ Prompto says, blushing as he enters the apartment tailed by a laughing Gladio.
Noctis holds out more cards, all in different handwriting. And none in Noctis’s. ‘It’s not from me.’
‘Then who?’
‘Friends.’
Prompto snorts, sitting down on the couch and poking a plushie. It is very soft. ‘Yeah, right. I don’t have this many friends.’
It’s Noctis’s turn to snort as he dumps the pile of cards on Prompto’s lap. ‘Dude, I think you’re more popular in the Citadel than I am. People love you – they love talking to you.’
Gladio helps Prompto get situated comfortable and laughs as well. ‘He’s right, Blondie. Read some of those if you don’t believe us – we’ve been asked about you more this week than about ourselves.’
Prompto looks down, sceptical, but the first card he pulls is from Taako, the head chef in the kitchens. Prompto enjoys chatting with him during breaks when he ducks in for a snack. Then comes one from Roswell, the administrator of the Crownsguard. Prompto makes sure to say hello and ask about their birds whenever he sees them, and he enjoys hearing their stories about what antics said birds got up to since they last talked.
Lup, Barry, even Davenport sent something and Prompto knows how busy he is. He hasn’t even made it through all of the cards and his heart feels full to bursting – all of these people thought enough of him to send something saying that they miss him and hope he gets better soon.
It’s a good feeling.
~
Ignis has set up a series of interviews for Prompto and Noctis, and Prompto is nervous but the reporter seems to understand.
‘What can you tell me about Noctis?’
The questions all seem to revolve around Noctis and their relationship. After the solo interview, he and Noctis do one together and the reporter is smiling throughout, promising that their story will be printed soon.
And they don’t have to wait long. The following Monday, the day Prompto is going to get his cast off and take a potion to finish healing everything, Ignis enters the apartment and places a paper on the table.
Prince Charming
Prompto laughs when he sees the headline. ‘You’re my boyfriend and all, but I definitely wouldn’t call you charming.’
Noctis scowls, but Prompto can see a grin underneath. ‘Shut up.’
This article is a good one – the first so far to include comments from Prompto and, as far as he knows, the first to show him in a positive light. It’s already his favorite, and not just because he now has a new nickname for Noctis.
‘C’mon, Prince Charming, carry me down the stairs so that I can get this stupid cast off.’
~
‘So sweet together.’ ‘You can tell they’re in love.’ ‘I hope to have a relationship like theirs someday.’
~
Prompto is back to running from his own apartment in the mornings, though he isn’t alone – a stipulation from the Crown Prince himself. At first Noctis had tried to get Prompto to not run in the mornings at all, but Prompto had given that suggestion a firm negative. It would have escalated into an all-out fight very quickly if not for the remarkable timing of Ignis stepping in the middle. He reminded Prompto of Noctis’s position and how he has the unfortunate experiences of watching everyone around him get hurt purely because of who he happens to be. He then reminded Noctis of Prompto’s anxiety and how running helps to cope better than other methods. Both Prompto and Noctis were suitably chagrined and thankful that Ignis had a compromise prepared – Gladio now joins Prompto in the mornings.
Prompto is a little slower than he used to be and his endurance isn’t quite what it has been, but Gladio doesn’t seem to mind and Prompto does enjoy having someone there with him. They run past the newspaper stand and Prompto waves at the owner, automatically glancing at the headlines.
Not a single one mentions him.