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“Please. Pretty Please. You know I usually don’t beg,” Crowe laughed on the other end of the line, making Nyx roll his eyes good-naturedly.
“I think I’ll pass. Have fun, drink an ale on me, and next time I’ll join you guys again.” He could hear Libertus in the background throwing insults at him for sticking this one out which in turn made Crowe laugh even harder.
“Whatever you do tonight must be really good if you pick it over us. But okay. Be that way. And I bet you’ll have only half the fun that we have.”
It was the second phone call Nyx got that day from Crowe asking him to join their little tour across Little Galahd. He could tell she had a few ales between each call, as she got progressively more silly with every next one, trying to bully him into getting dressed and leaving the house to join up with them. At first he really debated if staying at home was the preferable option to hanging out with his friends, knowing sooner or later the walls would probably cave in on him. Like they always did.
Ceasefire had this effect on Nyx. Eventually his mind would begin to wander, seeing what was wrong with his situation and how much he missed Galahd. The real Galahd, not the makeshift one they created under the scrutinizing eyes of Insomnia.
Yep, it had been good for him to say no to Crowe, seeing his mind was already taking a turn for the worst. He knew not even his chosen family could change it. By now, Nyx had been in this kind of funk too many times and knew all he could do to make it go away was: sitting it out.
So sitting out he did, looking for a distraction by switching between the same three apps on his phone for a good hour before he admitted defeat. His friends were out and about so there was no one who would text him or join him on King’s Knight, so maybe some mind numbing show would do the trick. Yet, when he turned on the TV the only possible options were a quiz show, a very bad comedy movie, and a documentation about the Astrals, and each option screamed ‘boring’. In the end he stuck with the movie, rolling his eyes whenever the male lead made one of his horrible jokes to land with the gorgeous leading lady. As if this ever worked in real life.
During the commercials, Nyx decided he needed a beer if he wanted to make it to the end of the movie and maybe a snack or two just for good measure. He was just looking through his fridge when a very obnoxious jingle caught his attention, making him turn around with only the beer in hand and staring at the screen in disbelief.
Do you have enough of sitting alone at home?
Are you searching for the person who will make your day just a tiny bit brighter?
LoveMoogle will help you find your perfect match.
Nyx had no idea how or when he opened his beer, but he was glad he did as he took the first sip. He stood in front of the fridge, door open, as he watched a very sad Moogle sitting in an armchair with a blanket while watching TV. Somehow this picture struck a nerve and he gave his own armchair the side eye.
Not that it mattered. He wanted to be alone tonight, didn’t he? Yet something told him this commercial was still the saving grace of his night. If he truly wanted to get to know someone he could easily go out and do that in a bar or pub. However, this app would do for some distraction.
Movie forgotten, Nyx grabbed his phone as he slumped back into his chair. The app was quickly installed and an account set up for him to browse through different profiles of men and women alike. Some would consider him mean laughing at some of the descriptions, but the desperation was so obvious in each of those words, it seemed absurd how anyone would fall for it. As he scrolled through the profiles, he found some of these pictures came across more genuine than others and he realized pretty quickly that those were definitely fake. At least the faces they used for the purpose of finding ‘true love’ didn’t fit to how they described themselves. He didn’t dwell on this for too long, though, far more interested if he might be finding people he knew. After fifteen minutes of browsing he came across a picture of Tredd. Not very surprising. So was seeing Pelna, although he was sure Pelna could find some nice girl if he would join them on their little trips through Little Galahd. Nyx did laugh when he came across Libertus, though, and judging by the picture which showed a very drunk Libs, he knew it was Crowe who set the profile up. Libertus would be furious once he was sober and Nyx would show him.
And so Nyx kept scrolling and scrolling. Nothing really caught his attention, every profile pretty much read the same after a while. Until he kept scrolling, stopped, and then went back up again.
Right there on his phone screen was a picture of none other than Noctis Lucis Caelum. The Crown Prince of Insomnia. The Jewel of his Royal Majesty.
Nyx blinked. Once, then twice and then lost it, laughing so hard he had to wipe away tears. Pretending to be the prince, not only using his picture -- which would be bad enough because everyone knew his face -- but also his name, must mean this person had ginormous balls.
Curious how far this person was willing to go, Nyx clicked on the profile to read more. He didn’t know much about the prince, just what the public got fed by the advisors. Come to think of it their paths never crossed - even either multiple Citadel duty Drautos assigned him to. So it was hard for Nyx to say if Noctis truly liked to go fishing or how one of his favorite games was King’s Knight, but it all seemed plausible. Even the picture that was used looked more like a candid than taken by officials or for one of the magazine spreads about the royal family. Zooming in, Nyx saw it was taken by someone from the passenger’s side of a car, probably the Regalia, with the car top down and Noctis leaning forward as he smiled serenely into the camera. It raised the question how this person got their hands on such personal pictures.
Nyx was faced with three options now. He could leave this account be, trusting in the people not to fall for this trap; he could reach out to the person of this account and see what this was really about; but he could also report it to the higher ups. The last option was no real option. Whoever was doing this probably considered this a harmless joke. Maybe even one of Noctis’ close friends set it up, like Crowe did for Libs. Yet leaving it be didn’t sit well with Nyx either. So maybe giving the person a gentle nudge would do the trick.
Before he reached out though, Nyx decided to fill his own profile with some information, just enough to make it look legit: age, height, hair and eye color, he even dug up an old picture he had made to send to one of his exes. A picture of him resting his head on his arm on a table the other arm stretched out to take the picture; in the back his Kingsglaive’s coat was on display. Yeah, maybe he was showing off a bit, fully aware he was good looking. Not only in this picture but in general. He had no idea how many times he had been told what a charmer he was, a good package deal. Nyx just didn’t care, neither for the compliments or attention it garnered him.
Having one final look at his profile, he decided it was enough to come across as genuine and so he clicked on his recently visited profiles and found Noctis on top of it. The smile stretching across his face was of amusement, not sure how the person would react to someone with a connection to the Citadel reaching out to them.
Nyx didn’t think he would get an immediate reply, but when he saw the three little dots underneath his message appear, he was surprised. Somehow he thought the Crown Prince of Insomnia had better things to do than replying to random guys on the internet.
At first the answer didn’t make sense, until Nyx connected it with the letters Noctis had chosen as his chatname. It still hinted at royalty, but if this was the game the wannabe prince wanted to play, Nyx would go along.
Nyx laughed. This guy was good, even giving him the nickname the prince had reserved for the people around him. It wasn’t too big of a secret either and information to easily come by.
He had to read the last message twice, not sure if it sounded as flirty as it was coming off, but Nyx needed a good minute to think what to answer. Somehow he felt as if it did seem fitting for the character this guy was portraying, but he needed to remind himself this wasn’t the Crown Prince he was talking to.
The message was sent before Nyx could think about it twice. He didn’t want to flirt, he didn’t want to like this guy, but he did. His initial plan was to expose the imposter, not to bond with him. But here he was and he made a face as he watched the dots appear again.
This guy was cheeky, but Nyx didn’t take the bait. At least not at this moment. Maybe, just maybe, Nyx would see if there was more to this guy than just pretending to be someone else and only then he would suggest the impossible. A date. The thought was funny considering their conversation so far was short and superficial, but Nyx was intrigued. Very much so.
Not sure what to say at this moment, Nyx was surprised to get another message from the Fisher King.
So he did pick up on the coat in the back and it didn’t stop him, so Nyx saw it as a good sign.
Nyx actually was surprised to find no lie in there. If he was honest, he had expected some heroic stories about joining the Glaives behind the Wall to save the day, but here he was, saying he never had been to the battlefield. More kudos to him.
And Nyx wouldn’t. Whoever this guy was had a very realistic opinion on what was going on on the battlefield
Although it was their first conversation, Nyx appreciated the consideration this guy was putting into it. Not many people he met knew how to approach him about his trade. Having this stranger asking if he was up for more talk about his profession or rather talk about some random stuff felt like a breeze of fresh air.
“Who are you?” Nyx asked out loud as he looked at their short chat history.
He didn’t get an answer to this question that night or the day after. Yet they did keep writing, talking about King’s Knight, TV shows, Noctis’ distaste for vegetables, Nyx’s love for Galahdian food and even sending Noctis some recipes he still had from his mother when Noctis asked about it. Nyx was surprised how much Noctis wanted to know about his day to day life and Galahd, showing even real interest when Nyx mentioned his family.
There was no nice way to say it, knowing from experience how this could be a complete mood killer when talking to someone you wanted to get to know. Yet, Noctis didn’t seem put off at all and kept the conversation going.
Noctis’ mother had passed shortly before Nyx came to Insomnia, the whole Crown City still in deep mourning. Every tabloid kept talking about the little prince and the grief he was going through. Unlike Nyx, Noctis had been forced to process the loss of his mother in the public eye at the age of eight. Right before the attack that sent him to Tenebrae. Biting his thumb nail, Nyx realised he never considered how much Noctis had been through.
No, Nyx corrected himself, he still couldn’t be sure who he was talking to. So far everything FshrKng told him seemed legit, even the story about his father teaching him how to fish, but doubt was still knocking on the back of is mind. Even when he replied.
~
On day six, Nyx was surprised to find a picture in his inbox of a plate filled with Galahdian food and a message underneath reading:
And there was the flirting again. It came through here and there in their conversations, but never to this extent. As little as Nyx wanted to admit it, he got excited reading it. In his mind he still had to replace Noctis’ face with a blank as he still couldn’t be sure who he was talking to. Yet he liked the way they interacted, talking about serious issues in the one moment but also fooling around in the next.
Nyx tugged on his lower lip, rereading the last message a couple of times as he thought about the answer. This could be the chance to call him out on this nonsense and get whatever this was on a more serious route.
Silence. For the next two hours he didn’t hear back from Noctis. Of course there was a chance he actually was busy and didn’t get a chance to reply, but Nyx leaned to the more obvious explanation. If he would ever hear back from this profile, it would be with some lame excuse why he couldn’t take the picture, confirming Nyx’s suspicion of this person being an imposter.
Nyx didn’t want to worry about it -- although he did -- so instead he texted Libertus and asked for some company. Thirty minutes later and they both had their first ale, catching up on what was happening in Little Galahd and Nyx congratulating Libertus on his profile on LoveMoogle.
“Hey, how do you know about it anyway?” Libertus asked, clearly trying to distract from his own search for love.
“Was bored, scrolled around, found you and Pelna. I thought I was in good company.”
“As if you need that,” Libertus mumbled into his second ale, giving Nyx the side eye.
Somewhere in this was a hidden compliment, but Nyx brushed it off. They never appealed to him and he never took it too seriously, no matter what Libertus and the rest of his friends thought.
What excited him was the little buzz of his phone and the notification he got another message from FshrKng despite his earlier notion he wouldn’t hear from him ever again. And attached to the message was a picture.
Nyx froze. He didn’t think he would get a reply let alone his request granted, wondering what he would find when he opened it. Tempted to do it right at this moment, he pushed his phone back into his pocket. Whatever the picture would show, he wanted it to be for his eyes only.
Unfortunately this decision was testing his patience more than he expected. Usually he loved hanging out with Libertus and getting just a tiny bit drunk. Tonight though, he wanted to return home and go back to his conversation with FshrKng, wanted to solve this riddle.
It took three more ales and Pelna showing up and taking his place before Nyx could make his exit. As much as he wanted to wait until he was home, Nyx dug for his phone the second he was on the street and clicked on the message. The app immediately opened and showed the picture.
Nyx stopped in his tracks. The face looking at him through the screen was none other than the face of the Crown Prince of Insomnia, a lopsided smile on his lips as he held a piece of paper into the camera. The writing looked neat and read exactly what Nyx asked him to write. It seemed believable enough, but Nyx’s mind was still not convinced. In fact, he immediately wondered where this person got this picture from because it did look like it was taken in an apartment. Probably the one Noctis lived in outside of the Citadel. There wasn’t much to see except the backrest of a couch and windows showing the night sky, the majority of the picture showing his face and a bit of a clavicle his shirt exposed and wasn’t covered by the paper.
He was so busy taking the picture in, he nearly forgot about the added message that simply read.
Well, whatever this guy had in mind, apparently he was ready to come clean. And Nyx was all for it.
The rational part of Nyx said it would be stupid to hand his address out, but the other part was already typing, keeping his apartment number to himself.
Reading the last message, Nyx was already mentally prepared he wouldn’t be meeting the Crown Prince of Insomnia the next day. Maybe it was good it wouldn’t be him, but he found a small part of himself looking at the picture again and felt slightly disappointed. Nyx blamed the beer he had -- although he was far from completely drunk -- but a tiny piece of him thought it was a shame he wouldn’t be looking into these eyes.
The thought was scary and unexpected, but Nyx couldn’t dwell on it for too long. It would be better this way. Sooner or later he would have to go back to work and being sentenced for Citadel duty and them running into each other was a possibility. Having something akin to a crush on a stolen picture of the Crown Prince wouldn’t be too helpful.
In fact, so far, Nyx had been pleasantly surprised how much he liked their conversations and maybe, depending on the intentions of the person he was actually writing with, they could even become friends. As soon as he could convince him to stop using pictures of Noctis to bait people.
~
Nyx still managed to stay positive as he was getting ready the next day. Since his last message the day before he didn’t hear from the FshrKng and Nyx didn’t want to seem pushy, maybe even change the guy’s mind, by sending one himself.
Instead he took a shower and did his braids before getting dressed. By the time he was finished he still had twenty minutes left and Nyx found himself walking in circles in his apartment. There was a good chance Nyx got out of his sweatpants for nothing or for having been made fun of, but he would consider it a learning experience if nothing else.
At 6:49 his phone buzzed.
Nyx wasn’t ready. Nyx was close to texting that he was far from ready. How could he be ready when he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be ready for in the first place?
Fingers hovering over the screen, Nyx took a deep breath and messaged back.
Grabbing his leather jacket on the way out, Nyx decided he would take this as he took every fight on the battlefield. By being prepared the best he could and wing the rest. So far it helped and kept him alive; so taking the same strategy into this meeting/date/whatever it was couldn’t hurt.
Stepping out of his apartment, though, was still a hard thing to do. He ignored his rapidly beating heart as he skipped down the stairs, stopping as he made it to the sidewalk where he looked for his ride for the night.
Not that he had to look very hard, the black Audi R8 attracting attention by just standing there in the lights of the streetlamps. And its driver wasn’t very subtle either, leaning against the hood of the car with crossed arms, seemingly completely unfazed despite people looking at him.
Nyx was stumped. Shocked. Speechless. He never expected for the person he was talking to to be actually Noctis. Noctis Lucis Caelum. There was a good chance he was staring at him with his mouth open, looking like a complete idiot. Only when Noctis shifted, the high collar of his jacket revealing the lower part of his face, Nyx snapped out of his stupor and finally moved over to where Noctis was waiting with a smile on his face.
“You look like you’re seeing a ghost,” he teased the moment Nyx was within earshot, making this moment finally real.
“I feel like I’m seeing one. Didn’t expect it would be you.” As Nyx stopped in front of Noctis, he found him a couple of inches shorter than him, something he liked maybe a tad too much.
Lifting his hand to his chest in mock-shock, Noctis tried to sound indignant when he said, “How dare you? Impersonating someone of the Royal House is punishable. So either you had actually hoped for me to be someone else or believed in me being honest. In that case--” Noctis looked at the car and then back at Nyx again, “I’d still take you on a date if you want to.”
“So this is a date?”
Noctis tossed the car keys into Nyx’s direction and rolled his eyes. “Guess I’m really too subtle when it comes to my flirting game. Take this as your chance to teach me how to convince you I'm serious.”
Nyx watched Noctis getting into the car and then he followed suit. When Noctis asked him to show him around Little Galahd, he did so gladly. He showed him his favorite diner, the place he and Libertus hung out when they were off duty, the little market place with the stalls full of Galahdian goods. Nyx was surprised at the questions Noctis asked, not only about his past in Galahd but also his life in the Crown City. What did he think about the refugee quarter, what would he change, did he think it was enough for them to feel welcome, and what would he improve. The depth of the conversation caught Nyx off guard, but he appreciated it because Noctis listened, asking follow up questions whenever Nyx fell silent out of fear he already said too much.
Eventually they moved on to lighter topics and focused on them. About Nyx’s reason for signing up for LoveMoogle (boredom) and why Noctis had an account (Prompto made the account for him to be more out there) and their dating past.
Nyx had stopped at a stall to get them food and drove them out to an abandoned construction site, once meant to become a better future for the refugees fighting for the crown. The excuses why the project never got finished were plenty, and eventually the people in the refugee quarter stopped asking. Another broken promise. Maybe this was why he picked the place as Noctis told him to take him somewhere quiet. A broken promise turned into a new hope. At least for him. Now it would be the spot where he and Noctis had sat on the hood of the Star of Lucis with skewers and soda in hand on their first date.
It was the first silence between them since Noctis had picked him up, and it was a comfortable one. One Nyx used to process the situation he was in, unsure where this was going.
Nyx seriously liked Noctis. Although ‘like’ wasn’t a strong enough word to express what he was feeling, but everything else scared him. Especially considering their positions. This moment could get him in a lot of trouble in more than one way, but when he looked over at Noctis and saw the way he looked at him in return, he guessed it would be worth it.
“What?” Nyx chuckled.
“Just thinking that you’re even more handsome up close.”
A compliment was the last thing Nyx expected, especially from Noctis, but here they were, the only light the blue hue of the Wall dancing over Noctis’ face.
“Up close?”
“I’ve seen you around the Citadel. We never talked, but--”
Tilting his head to the side, Nyx waited for Noctis to continue, taking in the hair brushing over the high collar and his cheeks, hiding too much of those captivating eyes he couldn’t get enough of. He was nearly tempted to reach out and brush some strands away, but he didn’t want to scare Noctis off.
“I may or may not have had a crush on you for the longest time,” Noctis finally said as he turned his face up to the night sky. Where Nyx might have been handsome, Noctis was beautiful. Nyx’s eyes wandered from his straight nose to his slightly pouty lips. He needed to be punished for taking this long to realize.
Nyx tried to sound casual as he tested the water. “And now?”
“And now?” Noctis laughed breathily and shook his head. “And now we’re sitting on the hood of my car on an abandoned plot of land with food under the stars. I dunno, what could this probably mean?”
And he had humor. Nyx needed to accept defeat and admit he was lost.
Noctis still looked up at the stars, making it hard for Nyx to look into his eyes again, so he softly said, “Hey.”
Slowly, Noctis turned to him, eyes landing on Nyx’s lips. Such a small gesture, yet it made his heart rabbiting in his chest. Carefully he reached out, his knuckles brushing over Noctis’ cheek before his fingers graced his neck and combed through his hair, feeling his pulse quickening at his fingertips and Nyx felt him leaning into the touch.
Nyx couldn’t remember the last time he felt nervous before kissing someone. Yet he was in this very moment, when he ran the pad of his thumb over Noctis’ bottom lip, relishing how soft it was, noticing the warmest smile forming. Slowly, giving Noctis the chance to move away, Nyx leaned in, shuddering when Noctis pressed a hand against his chest right before their lips were about to meet. For a moment he expected to be pushed away, but instead got pulled closer, bringing their lips together. It was short, fleeting, a perfect taste to want more. And more they both wanted.
Their lips came together again, more passionate, more hungry than the last time. Nyx felt Noctis shifting, making it easier for him to frame his face as he licked into Noctis’ mouth, making Noctis grip his shirt a bit tighter. Nyx didn’t want this moment to stop and the only reason he would be able to was knowing he was allowed to kiss Noctis again.
After sharing each other’s breath for what seemed like forever while kissing each other silly, he found Noctis still had his eyes closed, kiss swollen lips slightly parted. Nyx was sure he had never seen anything more beautiful.
“I’m glad you finally caught up,” Noctis mumbled, sounding slightly breathless.
When he finally opened his eyes, shining brighter than any stars in the night sky, Nyx leaned his forehead against Noctis’. “Yeah. Me too.”