Work Text:
Prompto was on the balls of his feet, practically vibrating in excitement. So much was about to happen: Ami was coming home for the holiday, Dad was bringing her home alongside Prompto’s first official formal event Crownsguard uniform, and then he would immediately have to put it on as the annual Crownsguard Winter Solstice party was supposed to start in an hour, and oh yeah that too!
It was his first time attending the annual Crownsguard Winter Solstice party.
Technically he could have attended before now, if only his dad wanted to go. But despite being part of the service for decades, his dad the Marshal only ever showed up to make an appearance before coming right back home. One year, Prompto and Ami timed it. The turnaround time was thirty eight minutes.
“It’s not that great,” he’d said after finding out they had, “I’d rather spend the time at home with you two.”
Well, this year they would all be attending and Prompto would find out what, exactly, was so awful about an official royal party.
Plus Noct would be there, and with all the traditional diplomatic stuff he had to do, the only time they got to spend together was now officially on the clock. Which always meant Prompto would be standing quietly on the sidelines while Noct shook hands with orphans or lit the eternal winter flame torch or a hundred other boring ass things.
A party just for the Crownsguard meant a party where he wasn’t on duty and could just hang out with his best bud. And they’d both be wearing fancy ceremonial uniforms and looking all cool and stuff and there was apparently fancy food and an open bar!
And yet his dad always chose sitting at home watching cartoons for babies or playing video games with them instead.
Well, not tonight, he thought as he took one last look in the mirror to ensure his hair looked precisely how he wanted it. Just as he was pretty certain it was, the front door opened to the sound of a madly barking Daisy.
Prompto rushed out of the bathroom to meet with his dad, who was carrying a suitcase through the door followed closely by his exhausted looking big sister.
“Don’t touch my hair!” Prompto yelled as he threw his arms around her.
“Priorities!” she laughed as she hugged him back. “Okay, but you do look cute. Good job.”
Dad closed the door behind himself and dropped Ami’s suitcase, leaving just the fancy uniform in a plastic bag hanging over his arm. Prompto felt giddy once again seeing it there. The final fitting had been a week ago and he looked damn good in it.
“Speaking of hair,” Dad said.
“Yeah yeah yeah,” Ami sighed. Then she looked at Prompto from the corner of her eye and a dozen easily translatable phrases sprung to mind. Like, ‘Why me? I should’ve booked the ferry for tomorrow. Can’t you just go without me? I can show up looking like a trash mess right? How long will this take? Do I actually have to dress up?’
Instead she said, “Let’s get it over with,” and even feigned a little bit of enthusiasm for it.
Prompto took the heavy uniform from his dad’s arms and rushed back to his bedroom. While Dad and Ami wrestled with a hair curler, he tried to recall exactly how every piece was supposed to be fastened just so or clamped precisely there.
Luckily, Ignis made him a little pamphlet that outlined exactly that.
“Did you bring home presents?!” Prompto called out as he examined the order of operations for buttoning the jacket closed.
“Uh, duh? What’s the point of having a chief resident salary if I can’t buy my brother priceless antiques to smash in target practice?” Ami yelled back from the bathroom.
“Congratulations again, by the way,” Prompto heard his dad say.
“Yeah! How does someone become chief resident, anyway?” Prompto asked as he struggled with the lacing on his very shiny boots.
“You gotta pick out the biggest doctor on your first day of residency and beat the shit out of him!”
Even between doors, Prompto could hear his dad sigh.
“What? It’s funnier than saying I worked really hard.”
After a few more minutes spent fighting the tassels and shiny ropes, Prompto was finally completely dressed. He admired himself in the mirror, paying particular attention to how nicely cut the uniform was to perfectly fit his body. It was shiny and clean and…it made him look…different. Like, maybe a couple years older?
He couldn’t really place his finger on it, exactly.
But standing there, feeling the weight of the ornamental fixtures hanging from his shoulders and smelling the leather from the accessories…he looked different. He felt different. Even after wearing his day to day uniform this was…this was something else.
Huh.
“Oh you have got to be kidding me.”
“You had a chance to pick your own and you chose not to. So this is what you get.”
Prompto snapped out of his thought cave and back to reality. Apparently, Ami had been introduced to her very sparkly festive formal dress for the evening. The one Prompto knew at first sight would make her react exactly like this.
The bastard little brother instinct did not seem to wane with age.
“Fine, but I’m not wearing heels this time.”
“Amelia. You chose to wear those heels. That was all you.”
The three of them met back again in the living room, Prompto and his dad wearing their perfectly put together ceremonial uniforms and Ami in the green dress with a sparkly top and big bow on the side of waist.
“I’m just supposed to deal with this all night?” she asked, offended. “It doesn’t come off? Seriously? The ribbon is sewn into the dress.”
“It’s only a few hours, Amelia,” Dad said.
“Yeah, and besides,” Prompto nodded, feeling that shitty brother instinct kick back into high gear and adding with a devilish grin, “I bet Iggy will think you look super pretty!”
Amelia frowned at him, the disapproval highlighted by how red her face was turning.
“Prompto, don’t tease your sister,” Dad said while adjusting Prompto’s collar, “seriously, you’re both grown ups now.”
“So?” Ami asked.
“Yeah Dad, were you expecting us to be well behaved young adults? Because that’s on you,” Prompto said while giving his hair one final adjustment.
Dad sighed, then smiled. “Yeah, guess it is. You kids ready to get this over with?”
“I guess.” “Yeah!”
“Amelia, you’re still wearing sneakers.”
Ami stared at him for a moment. “What’s the problem, exactly?”
“Don’t you have something..nicer?”
“Hurry up!” Prompto yelled. “I wanna be there when it starts!”
“Okay, fine!” Ami snapped while removing her well worn shoes. “But next year, we’re not doing anything that involves a level of formality higher than sweatpants and slippers.”
“Agreed,” Dad said, “now go put on nicer shoes, I know you have some.”
Amelia stormed back to her old room, where a lot of her stuff still remained. As she made a loud act of rummaging through her closet, Dad turned back to him.
“Ready to watch all your dad’s friends embarrass themselves?” he asked.
“Oh my Gods, yes, Noct told me all about what happened last year!”
Dad looked off into the distance, exhausted, showing he knew exactly what incident Prompto was referring to.
“Clarus…he doesn’t hold his rum as well as other liquors.”
“So I’ve heard,” Prompto said with an excited grin.
Ami stormed back into the living room, wearing nicer looking shoes that kind of matched her dress. “Alright, fine, I’m all put together and proper, we can go now.”
Dad nodded and grabbed his keys before opening the door again. “Just…promise me you won’t get into trouble tonight.”
“Dad,” Ami said, “I am the trouble.”
“Not tonight, you’re not,” he replied, “and that’s the problem.”
“Miss Ami, I’m disappointed,” the teenage girl said with a very loud sigh, “I expected so much better from you.”
Amelia furrowed her brow and stared down at Iris. “What the hell are you even talking about?”
“That dress! It’s so…plain! Conservative! Seasonally appropriate! It’s almost like you want to blend in!” Iris folded her arms and looked at Amelia like she’d been betrayed.
“And what would you have me wear instead?” Amelia asked. She looked at Iris’ party dress that certainly stood out with a very fluffy and puffed out skirt. The silvery and pink getup was somehow even shinier than Amelia’s, highlighted by the little multi-colored lightbulb necklace that blinked around her shoulders.
Iris put on a show of thinking about the question before snapping her fingers. “A Shiva costume!”
Amelia grimaced. “So, a bikini?”
“You’d be so cold your skin would even look like hers, I bet!”
“Uh huh,” Amelia said before patting the troublemaker on the head, “how about you try that when you’re older and let me know how it goes?”
Iris laughed before skipping back to her family. Gladio seemed to admonish her about something before looking over at Amelia and waving quickly before snapping his head back to his sister.
Cool. So that was still weird.
Amelia finished eating the cube of cheese on a stick and made her way to the bathroom. She’d only been at the party for fifteen minutes and already she needed a quick respite. Everyone here knew her as the Marshal’s Little Monster, and they were obviously expecting as much from her.
And that sucked.
Sure, she was still stubborn and a little vocal about her principles, but she really was an adult. She was twenty freaking four years old! And a doctor! She was a doctor! She could conduct herself appropriately at one single function.
Probably.
Of course, there was a brightly lit mirror in the restroom that forced her to remember she was wearing a stupid formal dress again.
…it wasn’t that bad, really. At least it had sleeves. And she could walk in it. But that big stupid bow, it really just had to be there? Ugh.
Still. It was…pretty. And at least it had pockets. Amelia put her hand in one and got her phone out. She’d never taken a mirror selfie before but it seemed pretty self-explanatory. So she aimed, making sure the dress was on full display, and took the picture. Then she sent it to her girlfriend in Altissia before immediately deleting it from her phone.
Almost instantly Spira texted back, “Cuuuuuute!”
Amelia smiled. She missed her. She wished she could have brought her home with her. But then Spira was obviously going to spend the holiday with her family. And besides, Amelia just…wasn’t sure yet. About telling her own family.
She didn’t know why, she just…felt weird when she thought about it. Felt off. Nervous.
So, she decided she wouldn’t. Especially not now, not when this event was for Prompto. It didn’t need to be about her. She’d tell them about Spira later.
Way later.
“Oh, hi Amelia,” Monica said as she walked in through the bathroom door.
“Oh! Hi, I was uh…” Taking a selfie and thinking about my secret girlfriend I’m hiding for no good reason?
“It’s okay, there’s no shame in wanting to share your outfit with your friends. Just make sure you’re not critiquing yourself, okay? There are enough voices out there trying to tear down young women’s self esteem. You should always be lifting your own up.”
Monica smiled at her. She looked super sharp wearing the exact same uniform as Prompto and their dad (though Monica’s had different shiny bits over the chest).
“Thank you. That’s nice advice. Um. Hope you enjoy the party!” Amelia said while walking back towards the door.
“Oh, I intend to,” Monica replied strangely.
“...uh huh.” Amelia closed the door behind herself and frowned. This party had a reputation, one she’d only heard of second hand but was equal parts excited and terrified to see for herself.
The one night a year every member of the Crownsguard was encouraged to let loose and live it up at the crown’s expense. What could go wrong?
Apparently plenty, and it did every year.
She wondered if her dad’s presence would hinder or encourage that tradition.
The banquet hall was filling up. Amelia skimmed the crowd for any sign of her dad or brother. After coming up fruitless, she decided to simply walk back to the food table. Eventually everyone ended up there at least once.
Plus the strawberries looked delightful.
“Good evening, Amelia,” Ignis said while she piled half a dozen berries on a small glass plate.
She nearly dropped that plate in surprise. Amelia became wholly aware that she was surrounded by people who were experts at sneaking and spying around everywhere.
Great.
“Hey- uh, good evening Ignis. How are you?” she asked awkwardly. He was also wearing the exact same uniform, though with one shiny pin more than Prompto had. Instead of his hair being down or straight up, like usual, it was slicked back in a pompadour like style.
It…looked good. It looked very good.
Amelia. You have a girlfriend.
“I’m doing quite well, thank you. That dress looks very lovely on you.”
Ignis seemed to hold back a cough before taking a sip from his drink.
“Thank you,” she said instead of pointing out how this dress would’ve looked the same on anyone thus making that a really silly compliment.
Turn it off. Just for one evening, turn it off.
“Have you seen Prompto? I lost him after we got here.”
“Hm? I assume he’s with Noctis. He should be on that side of the hall,” Ignis said, gesturing towards their right with his free hand, “seeing as the opening ceremony will begin in a few minutes.”
Amelia blinked. “Opening ceremony?”
“Indeed. In which the current reigning monarch makes a show of dismissing all his Crownsguard for the evening. It’s simply ceremonial and part of the, how should I put it…shift in tone for the ensuing event.”
“Shift in tone…” He made it sound like some lewd stuff was about to go down. Like…like really lewd stuff.
“It was a bit intense for my tastes, the previous year. Despite being officially relieved from duty, I’m normally in attendance to assist Noct with his, but he insisted I take the night off. He normally retires before things get…festive.”
Amelia felt like her eyes were going to pop out of her skull. What the actual fuck was about to go down here? She placed a strawberry in her mouth and let it sit on her tastebuds for a moment, ensuring it was just a strawberry and there was nothing ‘festive’ added to it.
“It sounds as if the ceremony is about to begin. May I escort you, Amelia?” Ignis asked, offering his arm.
You have a girlfriend. You have a girlfriend and he’s just being polite, it’s what he does, he’s super into being old fashioned and chivalrous, get your brain together he’s like a hundred miles out of your league.
“Uh huh,” she mumbled stupidly. Amelia took his arm and walked with him through the crowd until Uncle Reggie came into sight. He stood as proudly as he could, bearing weight on his cane, and equally dressed in his usual ceremonial raiment. At his right was a representative of the Glaive, who would be on emergency call in lieu of the usual guard. Since the majority of them were Gahaldians, their holiday was more in line with their own cultural traditions. Their winter party was next week.
Noct stood next to Regis’ left, wearing the same traditional outfit as his father. And there, next to Noct, was Prompto. Who made eye contact with her before she could remove her hand from Ignis’ arm.
Prompto’s face said it all: Amelia was going to commit fratricide this evening, she just knew it.
“Hmm. Noct seems…rather cheerful,” Ignis murmured.
“Does he not normally?” Amelia asked. Anytime she ever saw the kid he seemed in good spirits. Then again, every time she’d seen Noct he was practically glued to Prompto’s side. The kid had a bad episode of depression years ago but seemed to be on an upswing ever since they started high school.
“He’s not exactly a fan of events like this. All day in fact he seemed to be just as moody and morose as usual. This is…quite the turnaround.”
Amelia watched as Prompto elbowed Noct in the side and pointed at the two of them. He whispered something and Noct laughed, covering his face with his mouth. Despite knowing it was at her own expense, it was kind of sweet. The way they just melded together and so obviously fed off the other’s energy.
“Amelia…” Ignis said quietly as Uncle Reggie began to call for the crowd’s attention, “you see it too, right?”
She almost asked what it was she should be seeing before it dawned on her in the form of her brother’s smile. “Yeah. For a while now.”
Ignis took another slow drink. Uncle Reggie began a solemn appeal to remember all the Crownsguard who had fallen the past year. He then thanked the members for their service, and welcomed their invited family to the event.
“It seems as though they are both in denial about their mutual affections,” Ignis whispered.
“Totally,” Amelia replied. She began fidgeting with the gigantic bow permanently attached to her waist. She’d accepted a long, long time ago that Prompto had a secret crush on Noct. So secret, in fact, that even Prompto did not know about it.
She’d also accepted that Noct was royalty, and despite how well he and her baby brother worked together, that would always come with baggage. Complicated, heartbreaking, expectation laden baggage. Any long term relationship between those two would be doomed from the start.
So, uncharacteristically, Amelia had decided not to meddle too much in that area.
But Ignis seemed like he was going somewhere with this.
“It's a bit frustrating to watch, isn’t it?” he asked before finishing his drink.
“...yeah.”
Uncle Reggie, with a very low bow, officially decreed that all Crownsguard were dismissed from duty until eight the following morning. Amelia was surrounded by the roar of applause and some vocal approval.
Then, something came over Ignis. An expression she’d never seen on the guy’s face before. Something a little bit…wicked. “Amelia, would you do me the honor of assisting in remedying this…persistent issue?” he asked above the cheering of the crowd.
Amelia smiled. Now this was her kind of trouble. She nodded quickly. “Oh, hell yeah.”
And this was usually when Cor would make his exit. After the brief mingling and the gesture of release from Reggie, things tended to get…boisterous.
It wasn’t like this under Mors. No no, this was a Regis thing through and through. When Mors was King, the Crownsguard winter solstice party was more like a solemn dinner with extended family you don’t know that well and didn’t care to try. And that was fine when he was a shitty teenage brat who thought he was better than the seasoned old timers who sat next to him.
It was a quiet, dignified, traditional affair.
And then Reggie took over and said to hell with all that. The party went from an annual obligation to something the staff looked forward to for weeks. An entire year’s worth of stress and obligation went out the window for ten or so hours. And, well, Cor had to admit morale did indeed improve.
People enjoyed watching the Shield of the King drink booze out of a fishbowl, apparently. (The fish had been fine, reportedly, rescued and placed in temporary housing elsewhere.)
Reggie’s idea of a party did exactly what it was supposed to do. It just didn’t do it for Cor, who once preferred the extra time to catch up on paperwork, and then to spend quality time with his kids doing the stuff they did every year: making cookies, watching that awful, offensive holiday classic film, playing a video game all together. Stuff like that.
It was nice.
Instead, Prompto insisted he get to do this at least once. So he was with Noct, and Amelia was probably hiding under a table somewhere, and Cor was standing with two of his best agents wishing he were anywhere else at all.
“You’re staying?” Dustin asked with a quirked eyebrow.
“Prompto’s first year as a Crownsguard, he really wanted to attend.”
Dustin smirked while adjusting his eyeglasses. “I can understand not wanting your son to attend this sort of event by himself.”
The sentence was punctuated by the sound of a bottle’s cork loudly popping.
“I trust him to make appropriate decisions concerning his own well being,” Cor said quickly.
Monica suppressed a laugh before crossing her arms. “What a very reasonable stance that was certainly pulled directly from a parenting book.”
Yes. Raising Teens. Written by someone who had six kids of their own. It helped out enough to justify the secondhand price.
“My only concern is him losing respect for his comrades. He’s still new to the force, and doesn’t need to see his fellow Crownsguard in uniform behaving in an undignified way.”
“Oh sure, sure,” Monica said, nodding her head along, “we wouldn’t want the newbies to get the wrong idea.”
“Perish the thought,” Dustin added, “they might think we’re human or something.”
“That’s not what I- …I’m gonna find my kid,” Cor said, not sure which one he meant. Dustin and Monica were very much not in his court on this one, as he should have guessed.
“Marshal!”
Instead of Cor’s kid, Clarus’ oldest grabbed his attention.
“Gladio. How are you?” Cor asked, hoping beyond hope the kid wasn’t planning to imbibe as much as his own father.
“Alright. I didn’t catch you last year. Guess Prompto has you staying a little bit longer?” Gladio asked.
Cor nodded. “Guess I have a reputation for ghosting this event.”
“Can’t blame you. Got a bit overwhelming last time. Honestly, I’m not too thrilled about Iris being here, but she threatened to, uh, cancel me on social media if I didn’t let her stay at least a little bit. Still not sure what that means.”
Cor stopped next to a waiter who held a tray of delicious smelling meatballs on sticks. He took one while Gladio took three. The two spoke for a little while about work, training schedules, the youngest batch of recruits and their progress, and of course the most recent chocoball match.
It was such a normal conversation that Cor almost forgot where he was, and soon realized he’d completely lost track of time.
“Oh, wow,” he said as he caught sight of a clock, “I should probably check in on my kids. Where’s your family? You probably want to be spending this time with them.”
Gladio shrugged. “Iris has probably tracked down Ami again, the kid idolizes her. Which is scary. And…to be honest, Sir, you’ve always kinda been more family to me anyway.”
Cor flinched. Not that the sentiment was anything surprising, but it was still strange to hear it spoken out loud. Gladio had always been expected to take the brunt of being a Shield, and the son of a Shield, with dignity and grace. Cor had heard more than once some well meaning adult tell the guy he was lucky that he even had a living father at all. Many Shields began their career very, very young.
There were many Lucian traditions that existed because no one ever thought to challenge them, but this was one you simply couldn’t.
Cor put a hand on Gladio’s shoulder and squeezed. “You did great this year, by the way. Really earned that royal commendation, in my opinion.”
Gladio smiled sheepishly, looking like he was beginning to regret his earlier confession, and nodded. “Thank you, Sir. You should probably find your kids now, make sure they aren’t about to commit arson or something.”
There was only one kid who could reasonably be accused of such. And she promised to behave tonight. And she really, really meant it this time.
“Gladio,” Cor called out as the young man began walking towards the bar. Gladio turned and looked at him in a practiced manner, awaiting orders. “Prompto and I were going to try and get tickets to the game next month. You wanna join?”
Gladio’s face instantly lit up.”Sure. Sounds great.” He gave a thumbs up and tried to play it cool, but anyone who knew him as long as Cor had could see he was barely holding back a scream of joy.
Maybe the kid wasn’t his son, but he held a little bit of a place in Cor’s family. And what the hell were the holidays for if not for remembering everyone you could call family?
As Cor heard the sound of yelling and a loud sudden crash, he very much remembered his own family. Every single part of it.
“There,” Ignis said, pointing up towards the ceiling.
“...uh, yeah? I mean it’s a nice ceiling but I’m not sure how-”
“No,” he said before ducking down to her level and pointing again in a slightly different angle. “There.”
“Oh?” she asked. Amelia followed his line of sight to a bundle of fresh moogleholly dangling by a bright silver ribbon from the doorframe. “...oh!”
“Exactly.” Ignis stood back up and adjusted his glasses. “We just need to arrange it so that both of them are under the holly at the same time, and then announce that we can see plainly that they are. Then,” he slammed his left fist into his right palm, “by decree of long held, sacred tradition, they’ll have no choice but to kiss.” Ignis momentarily swayed on his feet before snapping back to being fully upright.
“Um…are you okay?” Amelia asked. “I’m pretty sure in reality they’ll elbow each other and laugh then make excuses to run away in separate directions to avoid having to think about their feelings.”
“Amelia, this will work. I know, because I’ve seen it work before.”
Amelia squinted her eyes, paying particular attention to how red Ignis’ face was. “Um. How many drinks have you had there, buddy?”
Ignis frowned before raising his left hand and showing one finger. Then three. Then all five before quickly waving it back and forth. “It does not matter. The point is, once they are there and faced with the reality of their feelings, the confession will soon follow. Noct cannot keep hiding his affections for Trinit-I uh, Prompto. For much longer.”
“Wait. Wait a- you were…” Amelia gasped. “You were gonna say Trinity! Ha! Holy shit you’re- you’re just spouting off the plot to Three Solstice Wishes!”
“I…no, I wasn’t-”
“Wait though, wait, that’s the movie Trinity is from but she gets the guy by wishing on the crystal for him to remember the true meaning of Solstice. No. You’re thinking of the movie Waiting in the Snow!”
“No,” Ignis said sharply, “no they’re-”
“Yes it is! That’s the one where the plucky young librarian falls for the big businessman and after he chooses money over her, he has to win her back with a giant gesture of-”
“-of throwing a holiday party for all the orphans and the film ends with them kissing under the moogleholly.”
Amelia slapped her hands over her mouth and let out a high pitched squeak. “You’ve watched both of those!”
“Perhaps this alliance was ill conceived,” Ignis stuttered before taking a step away.
“Oh no no no,” Amelia reached out and grabbed his arm with both hands, “no Sir, we are not done here. I have a very, very important question for you. What did you think of the one where Emmie only had one day to find a man to pretend to be her husband to impress her family and ended up falling in love with the maintenance worker at the event hall instead?”
“What do I think? I think the maintenance worker plotline was from Silver Bells Ringing and you’ve confused Emmie, who had to find a fake husband to make her ex-boyfriend jealous in Home for the Holiday with Caroline who needed a fake husband to impress her snooty family in Tinsel Town Blue- oh my Gods you did that on purpose.”
Amelia had not laughed quite so hard in a very long time. “That’s five! Five of those formula holiday romance movies you’ve just admitted to watching!”
“Beg your pardon but you have admitted the same!” Ignis said as he shoved an accusatory finger in her face.
“Nope. I watch them ironically. It’s not the same.”
“Irony is not a witness in the court of bad taste, Miss Amelia.” Ignis grabbed a crystal flute with something colorless and bubbly inside from a passing silver tray. The contents just barely made it to his mouth without spilling.
“Holy shit. You aren’t going to remember any of this. Perfect. Okay. You still want to put this shit show on?”
Ignis finished his glass and placed it on a second moving tray with zero concern for what was already on it. He nodded.
Amelia smiled. “Good.”
“You know, you tell me you have hot chocolate, that’s good enough on its own. But then you put in alcohol that tastes like peppermint, and I’m like alright, alright, I see where you’re going here. And then you say you have vodka infused whipped cream made fresh in the kitchen five minutes ago on top, with sprinkles, and I’m gonna have high expectations. So why, oh why, does this taste like shit?” Prompto asked. He held out the oversized red mug dripping with chocolate and melting whipped cream with a sigh of dismay.
He peered down over the banister, where he and Noct both sat, legs dangling out and over. It was a lot more fun sitting up here and watching the party go on down below. Though, he was a little weirded out that he couldn’t find Ami in the sea of people. She did, after all, stick out of a crowd as much as he himself did.
“I told you. That’s why I stick to the classic,” Noct said, holding up his very sensible green mug with child-appropriate hot chocolate and whipped cream from a spray can. He took a long drink and smiled back over at him. “I’ve been to hundreds of royal kitchen catered events, just trust me when I say the booze sucks.”
Prompto begrudgingly took another gulp, swallowing before he could taste the spearmint gum flavored chocolate, and made a show of wiping the cream from his face with his sleeve.
“Dude, why are you still drinking it?” Noct laughed.
“As if I’d let anything from the royal pantry go to waste. That would be a severe dereliction of duty,” Prompto said, straightening his back and closing his eyes. He mimicked the act of pushing a pair of glasses up his nose, making Noct laugh harder.
“Yep. You’ve got Specs down. Speaking of, how’s it going so far? Working with him and Gladio, I mean.”
“Uh, great!” Prompto said, throwing his hands out in energetic glee without thought to the half full mug still clutched in his hand. “It’s like, I already knew them both so well but then I get to see them at work and it’s so funny. Gladio acts all serious and tough like he doesn’t give his sister piggyback rides all the time. And Ignis pretends like he rolls out of bed looking perfect but he gets up two hours early to get his hair like that. Noct. Two hours!”
“Oh, it’s only two now?” Noct asked. “It used to be three.”
Prompto leaned his forehead against the banister and laughed, feeling tears at the corner of his eyes. “Dude, we’re supposed to be the first and last line of defense for you!”
“...and?” Noct asked.
“It’s us! Three losers trying to pretend we’re not! That’s just so funny!”
Noct grimaced. “That’s…not very funny.”
“It’s hilarious,” Prompto insisted before chugging down more of the awful spiked hot chocolate. “It’s like, we’re the feared and awesome Crownsguard. We’re the only thing standing between monarchy and anarchy! We have cool uniforms and spin sharp blades around with ease! We’re the finest Insomnia has to offer, and also,” he gestured at the group of uniformed adults below their feet currently egging on a high ranking member to chug, chug, chug, “we’re that.”
“Yeah. Alright. It is pretty funny that Clarus trusted you with defending me.”
Prompto narrowed his eyes and frowned. “Wait…why do you think it’s funny?”
Noct leaned back, placing his hands behind himself and smirked back at Prompto. “Because you’re younger than me.”
“Pfft. And? My Dad’s younger than your dad!”
“Two whole months younger.”
“Dude.”
“Practically a baby.”
“Noct!”
“Just a baby waving a gun around. I guess the enemy is supposed to be disarmed by how cute the baby is,” Noct said before making a gun with his fingers and looking at Prompto with wide eyes, “Pew pew, Mister!”
“Cut it out!” Prompto yelled, waving Noct’s hands away alongside the notion that he kinda sorta called Prompto cute. “I’ll have you know, my birthday is just an estimate. In reality, I might be the older guy and you’re the baby!”
“What?” Noct laughed. “How can your birthday be an estimate?”
“Because I’m adopted! Duh!” Prompto yelled before finishing his awful beverage and slamming the mug on the carpet.
“Yeah but, wouldn’t Ami know for sure?” Noct asked.
“She didn’t- …wait, yeah, actuall- …” he paused as Noct’s thumb was suddenly pressed to Prompto’s cheek. “Um. Dude?”
Noct looked at him strangely as he gently rubbed his thumb across Prompto’s cheek. Then he pulled his hand back and placed that thumb in his mouth.
Prompto found himself staring hard, unable to form any sort of response or so much as a single thought in his burning hot brain.
“You uh,” Noct said, suddenly incredibly red, “you had some whipped cream…on your face.”
He needed to say something. He needed to bring up something, anything, to switch the mood. Immediately. Because this one was making his stomach feel weird and it was bad enough having that gross peppermint liquor in there if he kept feeling like this, with his cheeks all hot and his hands a little shaky, then surely he would-
“Ha! Told you I’d find them!”
AMI!
“AMI!” Prompto hopped up to his feet and swung his arms around her. “It’s so good to see you!”
“Uh. It’s been less than an hour, dude,” she laughed, “but I can see you’re getting right into the holiday spirit. Way to integrate with office culture, Prom.”
“It was one drink and it sucked,” Prompto hissed.
“So, you’re sober enough then?” Ami asked, very weirdly. Very suspiciously.
“...sober enough for what?” he asked.
“Shenanigans.” Ami took him by the wrist and began leading him back towards the large staircase.
“Ami. Be honest. Are these Dad-approved shenanigans?”
“Fuck no!” she snapped.
“Okay, I’m in. But, are you gonna explain what-”
“Unfortunately explaining the shenanigans would ruin the shenanigans,” she replied unhelpfully.
Prompto felt his eyebrows knit together in increasing anxiety. “Are these…shenanigans at my expense?”
Ami stopped walking and seemingly considered the question. “That depends.”
“On WHAT?!”
“Several factors,” she held up her free hand and began numbering them, “the ultimate outcome, who will be watching, how correct my intuition is, how good Ignis’ drunk plotting is-”
“I’m really not liking these factors, Ami.”
“You will…or you’ll hate me for the rest of your life. One or the other.”
“You know we’re surrounded by my coworkers, right? Like you do realize that?” Prompto asked in desperation as Ami began dragging him forward again. “And where is Ignis taking Noct? Is this part of the same shenanigan or are they separate? Ami? …Ami please.”
“Okay, here,” Ami said, coming to a stop and adjusting Prompto’s stance. She took one step back and smiled. “Perfect. Just stand right there.”
“...why?” he asked.
“Because Ignis is a stupid genius.”
“Just, tell me,” Prompto begged, clasping his hands together for dramatic effect, “is there something up there that’s going to be dropped on my head?”
Ami put her hand to her chin and considered the question. “...no?”
“I’m leaving.”
“No wait-!”
“Oh, there you two are.” Gladio walked up to them. “Your old man’s looking for you-”
“Gladio, move! Now! Leave!” Ami yelled.
“What? No, why are you-?”
“Just two steps to your left! Please just move two steps that way!” Ami pleaded while gesturing with both hands.
“Prompto! Come here,” Noct called as he too joined them, unescorted by his advisor. “Specs is drunk and I think he’s going to do something crazy like loosen his tie.”
“What? Noct, Ignis isn’t wearing a tie,” Prompto said as he attempted to make sense of the increasing chaos unfolding around himself.
“Noct! Move to the right!” Ami yelled again.
“What? Why?” he asked, looking over at Prompto. “Like, next to Prompto or…?”
“Yes, no wait right there under the door frame. You too, Prom. And Gladio, I’m not gonna say it again, leave!”
“No.”
“Miss Amelia,” Ignis said, slinking up behind Ami and putting an arm around her shoulder.
Ami immediately turned the brightest shade of red Prompto had ever seen.
“Miss Amelia I’m afraid…this may have been…a mistake.” Ignis leaned his head over, closed his eyes…and then went completely limp.
“...holy shit, Specs fell asleep on his feet,” Noct said.
“I told him,” Gladio sighed, still refusing to move, “one for courage, two to party, three to embarrass yourself, and four to pass out.”
“I think he had six,” Ami said, the dead weight on her shoulder forcing her to bend over.
“Seven. He had a shot while we walked over here,” Noct corrected.
“Perfect! That’s super. Gladio, a hand please?” Ami begged.
“No.”
“I’ll help!” Gladio’s little sister chirped. Iris bounced into the already crowded scene and placed her hands on Ami’s shoulders to try and push her back up.
“That’s not, that’s not very helpful,” Ami said through clenched teeth.
“Iris, you’re supposed to be heading back home with Jared.” Gladio frowned down at the young girl who was still pushing and adding to the problem.
“But if I leave now, Miss Ami will fall! Besides, this actually looks fun. What are you guys even doing?”
Prompto shrugged his shoulders. “We were having a perfectly okay time before these two ruined it!”
“Ignis is going to have some pretty hard regrets in the morning,” Noct whispered.
“Okay I’m fucking sorry Gladio, can you please come help me now?!”
Gladio crossed his arms, moved his jaw around, rolled his eyes, then made a big gesture of sighing before smirking at her. “Yeah, I guess I can help.”
As Gladio walked away, Noct took his place next to Prompto. His cheeks were bright pink, and his eyes were shining with tears from how hard he’d been laughing. “Gotta say, dude, so far this is the best Crownsguard party ever. Glad you convinced your dad to let you come.”
Prompto smiled back, feeling a light flutter in his chest. “Yeah…everything feels more fun with all of us together.” Prompto sighed, feeling wistful even while watching Gladio struggle to pull a limp Ignis off his sister while Iris found new ways to make the situation worse. “Think it’ll always be like this?”
“I hope so,” Noct replied quietly. Then his eyes darted up, and he blinked rapidly before shooting them back down to the ground. “Oh. So that’s- …you wanna head back to the bar? Maybe get some coffee or-?”
“Now!” Ignis yelled as he snapped back to reality. He struggled against Gladio and pointed towards Prompto and Noct. “The trap is sprung!”
“What trap?!” Prompto screamed.
But then, ultimate chaos erupted in the span of a second. Iris stuck out her leg. Ami took a step and tripped over it. Then Ami reached out to try and stop her fall, grabbing onto Ignis’ arm. Who was clinging to Gladio. And just like that, there were now six people under the door frame in an incredibly undignified pile.
“...kids,” Prompto heard his dad say.
“It’s not my fault this time!” Ami yelled from under Gladio’s back. “This is why I wanted to wear sneakers. They have tread!”
Prompto dug his way out of the pile, taking his dad’s outstretched hand to help stand up.
“Do I even need to ask what happened here?” Dad leaned over and helped Ami up, then frowned down at Noct, Ignis, and Gladio. “Well, you’re filling in for your predecessors quite nicely.” He reached down and retrieved Noct from the bodyguard avalanche. “Like father, like son.”
“Thanks, Cor,” Noct said, obviously suppressing more laughter. “Sorry for the trouble.”
Dad shrugged his shoulders. “Honestly, this is somehow less embarrassing than everything happening back there.” He gestured behind himself towards the main room. “Is Scientia alright?”
“He will be,” Gladio said as he stood up with Ignis leaning against his side. “I’m gonna get him home before he makes any more regrettable decisions. Iris.” Gladio turned his head to the quietly giggling girl who managed to avoid the disaster. “Jared. Home. Now.”
“Fine, Gladdy,” she sighed, rolling her eyes and curtsying to everyone before skipping back towards the main ballroom.
“So…about that coffee…” Noct said quietly while bumping his elbow against Prompto’s side.
“Oh, yeah! Noct and I wanted to hang out a little bit more before we leave, is that okay?” he asked despite being a full grown adult capable of making his own decisions.
Ami got that strange look on her face, the one Prompto could never place what it meant but always made him feel weird. “Yeah,” she said, “let’s go upstairs where it’s quieter. We can catch up while the kids drink their chocolate milk.”
“Coffee,” Noct corrected sharply.
The four made their way back to the staircase, large and inviting with all of its seasonal decoration wrapped around the banister. The further up they went, the quieter it became, and a weird feeling of peace finally overtook the previous chaos.
“So,” Prompto whispered to Ami as they walked together behind the other two, “you gonna tell me what that was all about or…?”
“Uh. Yeah. Don’t worry about it, it was dumb,” she said quietly while adjusting the gigantic bow on her hip, “Ignis had a bad idea and I was humoring him. Stupid choices all around. Just go hang out with your friend and enjoy the rest of the night. I’ll keep Dad busy with more stories about my bad choices.”
At the top of the stairs she pushed his shoulder, making him stumble towards Noct who easily took his hand and stabilized him.
“Have fun you two!” she yelled.
“We will!” Prompto yelled back, hooking his arm around Noct’s and walking with him back to a few moments of blessed solitude and hot drinks that didn’t suck.
“Uuuugghhh, I mean it. Next year? Pajamas and the couch. Nothing else.” Amelia let her head fall back against the old, worn in couch in her dad’s living room. The one she’d spent over a decade doing homework and watching movies on. The one with plenty of dog hair and a corner or two where cat claws had dug in and wrecked it.
“Aaawwe, you’re so boring you have nothing else to do but spend the holiday with your family!” Prompto said while elbowing her in the side.
“Oh yeah, how weird, wanting to be with one’s family on Solstice. Dad! The movie’s starting!” Amelia yelled.
“Coming,” Cor yelled back before returning from the kitchen with a plate of cookies. The exact same cookies he’d made for twelve years.
“I don’t understand why we watch this movie every year,” Prompto groaned, “it’s so bad! Like, insultingly bad!”
“Yeah, that’s why we watch it,” Amelia said as she reached in front of him and grabbed a fresh hot cookie from the plate.
“She insists,” Cor said, “and it is a little bit nostalgic.”
“You were too young to remember but you totally loved this shit too.”
Prompto grabbed two cookies and leaned back as “A Winter Wonderland Adventure” began playing on the screen, just like it did every year.
“Bills, bills, bills,” the main heroine in the movie sighed, “you know I don’t recall so many bills coming in when I lived on the farm.”
“That’s because you were too young to notice!” The antagonist said as he shook his fist in the woman’s face. “I know the math might be hard for a little lady like you, but that’s why you have me.”
“Gods he’s such a dick,” Amelia said with a mouthful of cookie, “I hope she goes home and meets a handsome young man who reminds her how cool farm life is.”
Daisy jumped onto the couch, settling in between Prompto and Cor. She laid her head on her favorite person’s lap before letting out a contented sigh.
The three settled in for a night of heckling, laughing, and singing along to the complete garbage that held an incredibly special place in their hearts. The cookies were warm, the lights were bright, and for just one evening everything was normal and good with their small, comfy world.