Work Text:
Noctis sat on the edge of the boat, half drained can of soda at his side while he waited for another fish to nibble at his line. The sun was slowly creeping over the edge of the world, staining the sky with purple and pinks and a hint of yellow.
Prompto was somewhere off the back likely snapping away as always, Gladio was doing him morning pull-ups on a part of the ship Noctis was pretty sure a two hundred pounds body guard shouldn’t be doing pull-up from and Ignis was… doing Ignis things. Probably planning recipes to prepare with what had been caught so far while preparing breakfast, he guessed. Noctis already drooled at the thought of the feast the advisor was possibly planning considering he had already demanded they make a stop at the market whenever possible after that last tuna the prince had reeled in.
Fishing had lulled to a stop for the last twenty minutes or so and Noctis was about to call it a day when a small tug pulled at his line, so he waited. He was going to go check on the guys and inquire about food, but if one more fish wanted to challenge him before breakfast was served, who was he to refuse? So he sat back down, took a deep breath and waited. Another tug. Barely there, but there was definitely something playing around near the hook though not quite biting on it just yet. And another, but not quite. A few minutes later heavy footsteps came up behind him, followed by a gentle thud as Gladio sat behind him.
“Catch anything new?”
Noctis nodded no, focused on his hands and looking at the tip of his rod for a visible twitch.
“You almost look smart concentrating like this” Gladio joked, slotting himself comfortably behind his charge and planting a quick kiss on the back of his neck as Noctis protested and accidentally bumping the can off soda off the edge of the ship.
“Gladio!” he chided
“Oops, sorry.”
“You do know you’re going to go diving for tha-“ The line suddenly bent harshly as a heavy pull nearly dragged both rod and prince off into the sea. Noctis narrowly avoided being pulled off by reflexively kicking his feet up against the metal bars in front of him and Gladio thankfully grabbing him to hold him back.
“What the heck was that?!” Noctis wondered, fighting back and holding on tight to his rod.
“I don’t know, but either keep pulling or let the rod go!” Gladio warned. The pulled released a bit, then a stronger one nearly dragged both of them over board. Ignis and Prompto came running, Ignis calling for both of them to be careful while Prompto took obligatory shots of the struggle.
They fought to pull the line as best they could, but whenever they seemed to drag whatever was on the line a bit closer, it pulled back harder and gained double the distance seconds later. After nearly ten minutes of this there was a short pause. How the line had not snapped yet was short of a miracle. They relaxed a bit but remained alert, expecting the struggle to start back up in a short moment. Right on cue, the fish gave one surprisingly strong pull and ultimately dragged both prince and shield over the edge and into the abyss of the sea with an undignified yelp.
Noctis surfaced first, sputtering, and Gladio came up a meter away, cursing about having bounced off the edge of the ship on the way down.
“Noctis! Gladio! Are you alright?” Ignis’ voice called from above on the ship, dripping with worry. A flash of blonde peeked over the edge as Prompto looked over to see if his friends were alright, happy to see them alive and seemingly alright.
“We’re fine!” Noctis called up as he was pulled closer by Gladio who gave him a quick inspection before setting him free, satisfied. “We’ll swim around over to the back, wait for us there.”
Thanking the Gods the sun was high enough to clearly see around them and that neither of them had shoes on to make swimming difficult, Noctis headed around to the side with Gladio in tow when he felt an odd current under his feet and water rippled around them. His stomach sank with worry and looked back to see the same expression mirrored on his Shield’s face as they both realized that whatever had pulled them in was still there and swimming terrifyingly close just underneath them.
“Swim, princess! Double time!” Gladio ordered.
They reached the back of the ship in record time, Ignis helping them over the edge right as another current rippled the water beneath them. Whatever was in the water came again a third time, this time rocking the entire ship. Gladio and Noctis looked at each other, equals parts puzzled and terrified at what exactly was lurking under the surface.
Ignis opened his mouth to question what exactly they had hooked when a wave pushed the ship to the side and the water bubbled a few meters off the side of it, rippled, then blasted up several meters into the air to shower the vessel and its occupants before a giant horned grey and white mass emerged from the wave with an echoing cry, an almost ridiculously small in comparison fishing rod dangling from the side of its mouth.
It sank back beneath the waves and re-emerged beside the ship several times, displaying its size in a majestic show as Prompto cheered and snapped as many photos as he could and while Noctis and Gladio stood speechless by the edge.
Noctis felt a hand fall on his shoulder and looked up at Gladio who was looking at him with a smile that was equal parts amused and amazed.
“Warn us next time you plant on trying to fish out Bismark.”
Noctis laughed, watching the deity jump out a few more times. “I’ll bring a bigger rod next time”