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Prompto was not going to start crying over his headset. Today, along with the sum of everyday of his life, had proved that he was pathetic, but he wasn't that pathetic.
"Wait, are you okay?"
Okay, maybe he was. Prompto had just wanted to play Battle Knights and forget about today but he couldn't even do that properly.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Prompto gritted his teeth, even to his own ears, his voice sounded all crackly and awful. Heavy. The word rang through his head and so did the image of Noctis literally running away from him.
There was a terribly long pause and Prompto was just about to exit the game. He'd been playing with Dark_Knight101 for nearly a year and it'd suck to lose the closest thing he had to a friend but-
"Okay," the other player didn't sound convince but he let it go, "Another battalion is entering on the South, I'll go for the archers if you-"
"Take the troops, got it."
The next few hours passed in relative peace, Prompto getting into the game enough to get distracted from the day’s earlier events.
A stifled yawn came through Prompto’s headset, he glanced at the clock on the top of his console, it was already well past midnight. "Do you need to be heading to bed?"
"Ugh, yeah. I have training tomorrow morning."
"Why didn't you say something?" From what he knew of Dark's training it was always early, and always hard. "You should have gone to bed aaages ago." Not everyone had a friendless, parentless weekend of lazing about to look forward to.
There was a hesitation on the other line and Prompto wondered if the other player had fallen asleep, it wouldn't be the first time it had happened.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. It's fine if you don't want to talk about it but...I'm here if you do."
"Oh." Prompto said. Then because he realised that wasn't really enough of a response. "Thanks."
There was another long pause, Prompto fiddled with the ball in his mouse trying to figure out if he should say something else.
"Well, I should be going to bed." Dark filled the silence between them.
"Oh. Yeah, yeah. Of course."
"Will you be on tomorrow?" Dark asked.
Prompto's mouth quirked up. "See you then."
"I gotta go, it'll be dark soon."
"But we're so cloooose," Dark whined.
They'd been at this for longer than either of them had expected, the game throwing curve ball after curve ball. "That's why the save button exists."
"There's still like three hours until the sun sets," Dark pointed out, the gate that lead to the final battle was tantalising close.
"Yeah I wanna go for long run." Prompto muttered, steering his pink haired avatar towards a glowing fire pit to save the game. He couldn't help but smirk as he watched Dark do the same, his avatar not running as usual but walking as slowly as the game would permit.
"You're literally always running." Dark muttered.
Prompto offered a one shouldered hug to his empty room, "Well you know, high schools’ starting soon."
"Uhh exactly why you should be doing as much nothing as is humanly possible right now."
Prompto snorted, "I just want to make friends this year."
There was a moment of silence across the line.
"I don't think having a sub 6 minute mile is going to be your selling point on that."
"I just-" It sounded stupid saying it out loud. "There's this really cool guy, and I want him to like me."
"Is this the dickhead you tried to make friends with when you were younger?"
Prompto rolled his eyes. He'd eventually recounted the story of why he started to randomly cry to Dark. "I just want him to see that I've changed."
"I think he's the one who needs to change." Dark grumped on the other side of the line.
Prompto sighed, he knew he wasn't going to convince Dark, logically he recognised that his friend had a point but maybe, just maybe, this year could be different. If he could outrun his old self, both metaphorically and literally, come to school looking different, acting different, maybe he wouldn't be such a loser for once.
"I'm going to miss this." Dark said.
"Miss what?"
"This." Dark emphasised the word and Prompto imagined the faceless boy gesturing at the empty room he was in. “DarkKnight101 and ChocobosRulezzz taking on the enemy!” The other boy declared with a dramatic timber.
"What you're not planning on quitting on me? We still need to save Xavier."
"Of course not, it's just..." He trailed off, letting out a long exhale, "Summer is meant to be the most chill time of year, and this summer was already stupidly crazy."
Between Prompto's borderline obsessive running and Dark being whisked off to various sessions with his "kind of tutor" and "sort of personal trainer" the two hadn't been able to have their usual gaming filled holidays; hence Xavier's still precarious position.
"We'll find time." Prompto was reassuring the other boy as much as himself.
"And I'm sure you'll be having fun with that random boy." Dark’s voice was laced with bitterness.
Prompto raised his eyebrows, "Jealous, much?" He asked, his tone light and teasing but it was a serious question.
Dark harrumphed on the other side of the line. "I'm just saying I think he's an idiot for not liking you since the get go and you're an idiot for not finding someone who really knows how cool and awesome you are."
Prompto couldn't help the smirk that spread across his face, "Like you?"
"Exactly! I mean- not me, obviously you deserve other friends too but I..." Dark trailed off clearly flustered.
Prompto sighed, "You're in Insomnia, and starting high school the same time as me, there's like a one in four chance we'll be in the same school."
The other line was silent. This wasn't a conversation they hadn't had before. The reluctance to share any details that would lead to the other finding out about them had been mutual at first, but curiosity had gotten the better of Prompto.
"It’s just, things would change if you knew who I was."
"That's so ominous." Prompto chuckled. "Maybe you're just a pervert playing the really long game."
Dark snorted, "You had first-hand experience of listening to my voice crack."
"A pervert with a really good voice coach."
Prompto was fairly sure he was going to die. Surely his body couldn’t withstand the rapid pace of his heart for much longer and the muscle would just stutter to a stop. Confidence. That was step one in Prompto’s grand Don’t Go Through High School as a Loser plan, and so far, he was failing it, real bad. Luckily step one had a subsection titled fake it till you make it. So, without further ado Prompto took a large gulp of air and prayed that his heart would hold steady just for the next fifteen minutes. He waltzed up to the Prince who was standing awkwardly in the courtyard, shoulders hunched as if to shield himself from the hundreds of students milling around the school yard.
“Hey Noctis! Welcome to high school. I’m Prompto.” He finished his greeting with a broad smile. Please let this come off as friendly rather than creepy.
The other teen stared at him for half a moment.
“ChocobosRulezzz?” The Prince drew out the final z’s.
Prompto froze, smile still on his face, as his head tried to catch up with the words that had just come out of Noctis’ mouth. “DarkKnight?”
“Yeah.”
Fuck. There were so many things that Dark knew about Prompto that Noctis was not supposed to know. Noctis was supposed to think he was cool, and fun, and that this persona came naturally to him; not exactly something he could pull off with a guy that had known him for years. A guy who had helped him practice what his opening greeting would be for god’s sake.
Noctis watched as Prompto appeared to self-destruct in front of him, “Hey,” He interrupted the blond’s speeding train of thought, “It’s awesome that I’m at school with my best friend.”
Prompto snorted, laughter bubbled up through his throat, “Oh god, I feel so stupid.”
Prompto swung his legs of the roof of the motel. The pair of them staring out into the distance, after the burger joint in front of them all the lights disappeared, giving into the overwhelming darkness of the desert. “So, how long have we been friends, now?” Prompto paused to calculate in his head. “Let’s see… beginning of high school… so that’s… five years?”
Noctis snorted, “I mean in person. But we’ve been friends since we were like five.”
“Still can’t believe it was you.”
“Still can’t believe you wanted to be friends for so long but didn’t say anything. We went to the same school the whole time.”
“Well, y’know, it isn’t exactly easy being in the presence of royalty.”
“And when we did meet in high school, you pretended it was the first time.” Noctis continued a playful smile on his face.
“Yeah, the first time I worked up the nerve to say something. Feels just like yesterday.”
“You should’ve said something sooner.”
“Oh Noct. You just wouldn’t understand. Back then I was - Actually, never mind.”
“Hey, you can’t just stop halfway through.” He encouraged his friend.
“Yeah, I know.” Prompto began, stopping for a moment to gather his thoughts into a presentable fashion. “I used to be super shy. Couldn’t talk to people. No surprises, but I had no friends… at least not real ones. I was always alone. And there were times when I felt, well worthless.”
Noctis looked at Prompto for a long moment, he couldn’t think of a descriptor less accurate to what Prompto was. “That’s what’s been bugging you?”
“I mean, when you look at me you wouldn’t think that I’m anything but a fun loving, happy-go-lucky joker. But that isn’t the real me. Behind all the quips and laughs I’m a mess of hang-ups. I’ve always felt inferior to you guys. I’m not royalty and I’m not strong. I’m nothing really. Unlike Gladio, I’m not good with people. The way he connects with them, he’s operating on a different level. Unlike Ignis, I’m not smart and I can’t cook to save myself. But when we hang out, it’s so much fun I forget what I’m not. Then reality hits me like a splash of cold water, and I remember that I don’t belong. But I want to. Every moment, I’m desperate to earn my place – to prove that I’m good enough.”
“Think what you will but you’re good enough for me.” Noctis told Prompto firmly, he grabbed Prompto hand in his, curling their fingers together as they stared up at the stars above them. “Always have been.”