Chapter Text
Hey Specs.
So here's week one done.
Doesn't feel too different from middle school, tbh. Only real difference is they gave us way more electives.
Prompto and I managed to get into most of our classes together, so there's that too.
I mean, I'm not really into photography and he sure doesn't care about biochem, but it beats not having a friendly face around.
You doing okay yourself?
How's dad?
I haven't heard from him since the "scholarship" ceremony, but he's in the news every two days.
Noctis paused. There was more he could say, so much more, but it was much better left unsaid. It was Friday, after all, and he, as a newly inducted high school student, had a duty to not ruin Fridays with angry thoughts of overly occupied fathers.
It was on this Friday, a beautiful, balmy day of gentle sunlight and caressing winds, that Noctis's life went to hell.
It started with the arcade. Noctis and Prompto went to the arcade every Friday during the school year, tearing out of their last classes at the first sound of the bell and dashing over as fast as their legs could carry them - or as fast as Noctis's legs could carry him, at least; Prompto, Mr. Track and Field Scholarship himself, took the trip as a mild warm-up. They had visited only sporadically during the summer, but now that school was in full swing, so was their old ritual: arcade, burger, and ice cream.
The arcade was closed.
They noticed this, not from the darkened interior or from the CLOSED sign hung, helpfully, at eye level, but from Prompto's face hitting the very definitely shut door as he tried to walk in.
Noctis, for his part, managed to stop himself.
"Ow," Prompto said. And then, "It's closed."
"Yeah," Noctis answered. "It is."
"But why ?"
Now that he'd had a chance to look, Noctis could see that, in fact, every single storefront in the small plaza that housed the arcade appeared to be closed.
"Dunno. Maybe some kinda holiday they didn't tell us about?"
Whatever the reason, it was clear that there was no arcading to be had, nor burgers, nor ice cream. It was time for Plan B.
Plan B involved going back to their dorm, making Cup Noodles, and watching movies on the internet. Failproof.
Except when it wasn't.
"It'd be just like our teachers to keep us in class on a secret holiday," Prompto grumbled as he opened and closed their kitchen cupboards.
Noctis made a noise of agreement and propped open his laptop. Neither he nor Prompto hated - or even mildly disliked - their teachers, really, but he was pretty sure they were obligated to complain about them. He'd somewhat regretted his offhand suggestion that it may be a holiday, because he was pretty sure it wasn't, and Prompto had taken the idea and run with it and didn't stop running, but it wasn't something he could very well take back now. All he needed was a distraction, like…
"Hey Noct, I can't find the noodles."
"Weird," Noctis said, glad for the interruption, until he processed the words. "Wait, what do you mean you can't find them? Bottom shelf beside the sink?"
"Yeah! I looked!" There was a shuffling sound, and Prompto came into view holding a large cardboard tray. "And all I found was this."
Noctis distinctly remembered reaching into that tray just a few hours ago and finding a cup for lunch. He did not remember whether or not it was empty after that.
"Well, anyway," Prompto continued, ignoring Noctis's not-at-all guilty silence, "we can just order a pizza or something, right?"
"Um. Well." Noctis took a deep breath. He'd been trying to make it work for the last however many minutes, but… "You're not gonna like this. The internet isn't connecting."
So after some declarations bemoaning their fates, Noctis and Prompto moved onto Plan C.
"C stands for Cafeteria," Prompto explained.
"Pretty sure Cup Noodles doesn't start with B."
"Look, that's B-side the point!"
So to the cafeteria they capered, cavorting cross the courtyard.
The cafeteria of Maagho High was, by all objective counts, one of the greatest school cafeterias in the country, contested only by Galdyn High's "Mother of Pearl". Important visitors touring Lucis Corp's schools and facilities often found themselves guided to Maagho around noon, where they were treated to a culinary experience worthy of presidents and kings. Food worthy of presidents and kings, as it so happened, usually carried a price tag for presidents and kings. This price wasn't an issue for the upper echelons of the student base but made the cafeteria an impossible choice for scholarship students like Noctis and Prompto outside of the most desperate of situations.
Rapidly growing hunger made this a most desperate of situations.
"Sorry, we're full," said the cafeteria attendant in the face of their hunger and desperation.
"Well, we sure aren't," Noctis muttered at the same time Prompto exclaimed, loudly, "What do you mean you're full?"
"Every seat has been reserved from this morning until midnight." The attendant, while sounding smug, looked just the right amount of apologetic. "If you'd like a walk-in spot, I could page you when we have one free, but you'd be numbers 937 and 938."
Prompto stared. Noctis stared.
"The outage in the city," the attendant said by way of explanation.
More stares.
"There have been major outages since last night," the attendant elaborated. "Most establishments in the city are currently out of commission. This school has a secondary power generator, so it hasn't affected our students, but we're finding ourselves with many extra mouths to feed."
That was one mystery solved. Noctis slumped against the wall. He was starting to not like mysteries so much.
"So… what now?" Prompto asked.
"Dunno." They didn't have a Plan D. Usually , the situation never escalated beyond Plan B - or even A.
"What about that girl you keep texting? Think she has any food to feed us?"
It took a moment for Noctis to process the question. His face burned once he realized. "I keep telling you, Specs isn't a girl. He's a guy who's friends with my dad. He just checks up on me while dad's out of the country on business."
The story rolled easily off his tongue by now, half-truths sprinkled with enough lies to hide his identity.
"Yeah, yeah, all right." Prompto waved his hands dismissively. "Think this guy you keep texting has any food to feed us?"
"I'm not contacting dad's friend to fetch us dinner!"
"But it's an emergency!" Prompto insisted with a pitiful whine. "Surely it'd be a breach of whatever he's told your dad about looking after you if you went and died of hunger!"
Noctis rolled his eyes. He was going to answer that they weren't going to die in one day. He was going to say that Specs had never once agreed to meet him, and he wasn't likely to start now. But then his stomach let out an earth-shaking rumble and he pulled out his phone.
No answer yet. That was probably just as well.
Hey Specs. I need your help.
Well, that was short and succinct. And probably gave all of the wrong impressions.
There's no food, Noctis added, feeling dumber by the second. But he couldn't take it back now. All the stores are closed, and the cafeteria's fully booked. Got any ideas?
He shouldn't have listened to Prompto, shouldn't have bothered his dad's secret agent with something trivial, shouldn't have eaten that last Cup Noodle earlier…
A small buzz a moment later alerted Noctis to a new text. Prompto read over his shoulder. "'Perhaps an overlooked school club may have food? Many would have refreshments for new members.' ...Omigod that's brilliant !"
"Yeah," Noctis said through a sense of pride and relief. "Yeah, it is. He is."
Thanks, Specs. We'll try.
Finding a club with food was easier said than done. Many clubs had refreshments, as Specs had suggested, but by this hour were down to some stale crumbs and smeared icing. Most had even wanted them to join for the privilege of eating those last crumbs, to which Noctis politely declined despite Prompto's puppy eyes.
("Maybe we can join the photography club!"
"Look, you can join it next week, when we're not hungry. They didn't even have snacks.")
And then, finally, finally , after what seemed like hours of searching, they came across a Cup Noodles Appreciation Club.
"We're saved!" Prompto cheered.
They weren't.
The club appreciated Cup Noodles, the sole member explained, not even looking at the two as he carefully painted a styrofoam hat shaped like a noodle cup. They didn't eat Cup Noodles. Well, at least they didn't share them with newbies who didn't even think to bring their own.
"I give up," Noctis declared after that fiasco.
"But Noct! Wasting your dear… father's... friend's valuable advice?"
Noctis sighed. His stomach grumbled and his feet whined, but his heart clenched a breath at that. Prompto was more right than he knew. Specs had said so, and Specs had never led him astray. He must have known something, just waiting for Noctis to discover…
"Hey, yous guys the ones checkin' out all the clubs?"
Noctis turned. Gelled hair, flashy jewelry, clothing that was just a touch too fancy to be casual and a touch too cheap to be formal. In front of them stood the most obnoxious-looking (and -sounding) upperclassman he'd seen in his entire week at school.
"Heard yous guys was lookin' for food," the guy continued, without waiting for a reply. "Well, I happen to run Maagho's premier cooking club and student cafe. Interested?"
Noctis changed his mind. In front of them stood an angel.