Chapter Text
"Hey, Noct! Check this out!" Prompto, shiny-eyed and brimming with excitement, set his phone down onto Noctis's desk, with the web browser open to their local arcade's website.
[JUSTICE MONSTERS III, COMING OUT THIS FRIDAY!!]
The two of them had been following the development of the latest installment in the Justice Monsters series for months. Justice Monsters II was easily one of the most popular fighting games at the arcade that they would frequent after school, on days where Noctis didn't have sparring practice with Gladio. After hearing that the next game in the series would be a shooter, the hype train pulled right into the station.
"Wait, Prom... this comes out on a school day, doesn't it...? If we go after class there's gonna be a ton of people already..." Noctis frowned. Day-1 releases of new arcade games were always like this, people queued up, waiting for their own turn to take a shot at it.
"You're the prince, can't you just... be like, 'I royally decree that you let us cut in line!!' or something?"
"Yeah... sure, and the next day have every newspaper talk about how the Prince of Lucius abused his title to hog a video game..."
"Aaah, good point... but I really want to see our names up on that ranking board, though!!" Prompto sighed wistfully. There had to be something they could do... He looked down at his seated friend, and a thought came to him. ...Nah, he'd never go for it, but it was worth asking. Prompto leaned over Noctis's desk and lowered his voice.
"Hey, Noct... Let's skip class."
Noctis's heart stopped for a second. Skip class? As in... instead of going to class, go to the arcade to play Justice Monsters III? Sure, occasionally he'd take a day off from school to attend some formal event at the castle, but this was different. This was... a terrible idea. If anybody caught them, he'd be marked as 'the truant prince' in every tabloid across Insomnia. His mental Ignis was screaming no, but looking at his friend, wide-eyed and looking like the gatekeeper to the world of high school normalcy, it was almost impossible to resist.
"...All right, I'm in." Noctis held up his fist, and Promptis shot him his million-watt smile before nudging it with his own.
"I'm off, now!" Noctis waved to Ignis as he stepped out of the car, palms sweaty as he gripped the handle of his school bag. Today was the day.
"Do be careful, your highness! Study hard!" The prince felt a twinge of guilt at his advisor's words, but proceeded firmly into the school gates. A familliar blonde came up to his side, playfully nudging his shoulder.
"Hey, Noct! You ready?" Prompto grinned.
"Yeah." Noctis gave as straight of a reply as he possibly could, despite his heart pumping a million miles per minute. He totally wasn't ready, clammy hands in a death-vice against his bag strap, his school uniform suddenly feeling more oppresive than it had any right being. He could feel Prompto wrap his hand around his wrist, notably firm and confident as he was led to a secluded area behind the gym storage room, near some bushes. Did Prompto skip class like this before? This escape felt oddly well-planned.
Together, they waited for the school bell to ring, the coast to clear, and then they were off.
Walking the familliar path from the school to the game center during this time of day was jarring, to say the least. Older ladies shopping for groceries shot them questionable looks, the streets were devoid of their fellow uniformed students. It was kinda quiet. Since it was still early in the day, there was still a bit of time before the arcade even opened.
"Hey, wanna grab some coffee while we wait?" Prompto pointed his thumb towards a cafe chain close to their destination. Chocobon, home of the Eos-famous chocolate cinnamon rolls. Noctis agreed and they headed inside.
They ordered their drinks, a medium coffee with nonfat creamer for Prompto and a large hot chocolate with whipped cream for Noctis. The prince's grip on his mug tensed a little as he looked around the cafe. He's been to this place a few times with Prompto after school, but it's always been packed, never empty like this.
"...Eos-to-No~ct, are you all right?" Prompto teased at his spaced-out friend, but the concern was real.
"A-ah, yeah, I'm fine! No worries, it's nothing!" Noctis, hurriedly took a sip from his drink. "This place really does have good cocoa, doesn't it?"
Noctis's voice was lighthearted, but Prompto's expression fell at that, slightly.
"...Hey, look, Noct..." The blonde set down his mug, and grabbed his friend's free hand. "If you're uncomfortable, or don't want to go through with this, just let me know. If
you want to go back to class, we can! No problem! We're still friends no matter what, 'kay?"
Noctis felt his lips crack into a genuine smile. His friend could be oddly perceptive at times.
"Thanks, Prom." He gently rubbed his thumb over Prompto's hand. "It's just... I've never really done anything like this before? It's always rules this, expectations that at the castle and... that's why I really want to go with you. This... skipping class, being at a freaking cafe when we should be sitting through Math about now, it's kind of freaking me out, but I'm really excited too?" Noctis confessed, looking away in slight embarrassment.
"Aw Noct. All right! We're gonna totally have to kick some ass and get our names on that fresh scoreboard before our classmates can! ...But first, we take down this Chocobon." Prompto grinned as he saw the waitress bring over a huge, fresh chocolate cinnamon roll for them to split.
They left the cafe hand-in-hand a reassuring gesture to let Noct know it's okay, they're together, the world isn't going to end.
Justice Monsters III was everything that they've been dreaming about for months. A large, bright LED screen showing the game demo, two plastic pistols seated in the holsters of the console, and best of all, they were first in line.
"Dude... this is really happening..." Prompto reverently pulled the pistol out of the holster. He brushed his other hand over the smooth plastic, admiring the glowing-blue runic 'engravings'. This was the Elemental Blaster. A button on the side could be pressed to change the element of the gun to Ice, Fire or Lightning, thus changing the color of the glowing runes. It even made a little 'whoosh' sound when that happened. Prompto could almost feel tears come to his eyes from finally having this beautiful marvel of Arcade technology in his hands.
Noctis turned his own gun over in his hands. Was skipping school bad? Obviously. Was it worth it to be here, right now, with his new best friend about to play Justice Freaking Monsters III? Also, obviously. This strange, liberated feeling in his chest, he wouldn't give up for the world.
They kicked ass.
Considering this was the first time they'd ever even touched the game, it was almost unfair how good they were at it. Between Noctis's experience wih handling pistols, thanks to Gladio's thorough coverage of a variety of weapons during training, and Prompto's own skills with a pistol gained from crashing said training (admittedly, to prepare for the release of this game), they were unstoppable.
[HIGH SCORE! Please enter your initials]
Without a second thought, Noctis smirked as he shot three letters in rapid succession, and nailed the CONFIRM key.
[F-U-K]
"...Seriously?? What are we, middle schoolers?" Prompo laughed, before entering his as well.
[F-U-K] [A-S-S]
"There. From now on, we'll forever be known as Team Fuckass." He grinned, returning the Elemental Blaster to its proper place.
"...Heh... Team Fuckass it is." Noctis shot Prompto a smile back.
The next day, their whole grade was talking about how nobody could even touch FUK ASS's score in Justice Monsters III's Team Mode.
The two best friends shared a secret smile.