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Prompto stared at the screen, his stomach sinking. He should have seen this coming – but he’d never thought it would ever get this far – he’d never meant for it to come this far – and how could he have anticipated this? There was nobody in his real world who’d ever cared enough for his attention to ask after it. Let alone someone like – him.
Prompto buried his face in his hands. He likes me.
Then he shook his head. No – that was wrong, wasn’t it? Nox didn’t like him – he liked xXchocobaby83, and that – she – wasn’t any more Prompto now than she had been five years ago when he’d first made her up.
His little avatar bobbed happily on the screen as NoxX ran impatient circles around her. She didn’t have anything to worry about. She was Level 284 and the leader of a guild. A guild.
His companion was typing again. A speech bubble popped up in the chat box. A panic bubble popped up in Prompto’s brain.
Prompto gazed hopelessly at the message.
There was nothing to even consider. There was absolutely no way he could say yes, no way they could meet. xXchocobaby83 was a sharp, confident, beautiful warlord with a silver crossbow and gold-rank magic and – and – and boobs.
Prompto Argentum, on the other hand, was a gangly seventeen year old boy, a Level 68 Idiot, and a first-class mess. They weren’t comparable in the slightest, no more than you might compare a stack of diamonds to a pile of on-fire turnips. He hadn’t started this account with the intention of playing anyone for a fool, had never meant for this ridiculous façade to have such an impact, but... Well, sometimes things just happened, and he’d let them go too far. No amount of kicking himself now would send him flying back those four years into the past to fix his mistake.
And now, if he were found out… Prompto would be ruined, and more importantly, Nox would be heartbroken.
Why wasn’t he typing? All he had to write was “no”. That was all! That was all he had to do! It really couldn’t be simpler – there was no decision to be made, there was no compromise that could be reached, there was absolutely no way he could give any other answer. Even if Nox was the single most wonderful, amazing person he’d ever met in his life. Even if his “please?” melted Prompto easily enough that he’d happily handed over almost half his accumulated wealth when Nox had only asked to borrow a mere two hundred gold for in-game fishing gear. Even if it meant the end of an almost four-year relationship – a relationship that had meant more to Prompto than any he’d ever had.
‘Relationship.’ All this time and he still blushed at the word, which was stupid. He was still hopelessly single. It was NoxX and xXchocobaby83 who had been together all this time, and Prompto wasn’t her.
He’s kidding. Don’t do this. Don’t do this. This is impossible. Just say no. Just type “no”. It’s easy. It’s so easy.
Idiocy level up! Con-KWEH-tulations!
+1 Accessory: Forehead Bruise from Smacking Face On Desk In Self-Disgust
+10 Intense Panic and Mortal Terror (In Bag: x3290)
Gained ability to Leap Out Window In Terror And Shame
+420 XP
Voice line unlocked: “You’re freakin’ doomed, bro!”
13 years old
Prompto fidgeted, refusing to look away from his mother’s feet.
“Are you going to explain yourself?”
Feet were fascinating, weren’t they? These ones were wearing socks. It was amazing. He should spend some more time studying them right now, for the sake of science.
His scientific observations informed him that the feet were tapping impatiently, and it was, scientifically speaking, terrifying. “Answer me,” she said, and he finally looked up.
“I’m sorry,” he squeaked.
She sighed.
“I’m very disappointed that you went behind our backs,” she said, twisting her lips in disapproval. “You know you’re not to sign up for anything without permission.”
“I’m sorry,” said Prompto again. “I’m sorry – I just – I thought – I thought you’d say no.”
His mother frowned. “So you went ahead and did it anyway?”
“I just really wanted to join,” Prompto burst out, well-aware that this display was not helping his case in the slightest. “I really wanted to! My whole class is playing this game and, well, one of my classmates let me have a go on her account and I really liked it and I – I was really good at it, Mom! I was really…” He faltered. “I mean,” he mumbled, “you know. For me, anyway.”
His mother looked at him a little strangely. “What does that mean?” she asked, and Prompto went back to fidgeting. “Prompto?”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly, staring at his own feet now. “I’ll delete the account. I’m sorry I used your email.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment. At last, she sighed, and Prompto finally dared to sneak a peek at her face. Her eyes were softer than before.
“You don’t have to delete it,” she said in a resigned voice. “Just – next time, ask me for permission first, okay?”
Prompto’s head shot up. “Really?”
“Don’t tell your mother,” she warned. “She wouldn’t take kindly.”
“You – you want me to lie to her?”
“You lied to me,” she pointed out, and he wilted. She softened again. “Oh, all right. Just this once, I’ll let it go. And don’t tell Almeta.”
“I won’t,” Prompto promised, and bounced a little on his toes before he could stop himself. “Th-thank you!” He hesitated, raising his arms. “Can – May I -?”
“Go on, then,” she said wearily, and he flung his arms around her waist with a happy squeak.
Prompto scowled at the character creation screen. Something wasn’t right.
Like, sure, he looked super cool. That was undeniable. His character wielded a huge battle axe – only wooden, since he was just starting out, but still inarguably awesome. His hair was close-cropped and spiky, and his face was rugged and battle-scarred. Where he’d gotten these scars, Prompto didn’t know; after all, the guy wouldn’t even officially have been born until Prompto clicked ‘Proceed’ – but they still looked really freaking neat. His expression was terrifying: all bared teeth and glaring eyes, and he stood with a wide, lumbering stance that told Prompto he had too many muscles to know what to do with. Also, his skin was blue. Prompto’s brain had informed him with some authority that this was a quality aesthetic decision.
It was more badass than anything of Prompto’s had ever looked in his life. It was – he looked at the clock – the culmination of a full hour and a half of his life.
He didn’t like it. He moved his cursor decisively to the ‘Reset’ button. But now the default male model stared blankly back at him, and that didn’t feel any more appealing than it had before.
Hesitantly, Prompto shifted to hover over the ‘Female’ option.
Could he do that? It felt like a lie; he wasn’t female, after all, and had never felt like he ought to be. But the other day, on his classmate’s account – her character had been an archer; graceful, and elven, and deadly. With her, Prompto had taken out three in-line enemies with one arrow and twirled his skirt over their dying bodies as he cheerfully looted their gold, and it might have marked the single greatest achievement of his life.
His classmate hadn’t liked her character and had confided in him that she planned to remake, but Prompto had seldom felt so at ease as he had with her. A character who so blatantly contradicted his true identity had felt, in some strange way, like a respite; like taking a break from the full-time job of being himself. And it was a break he needed. Truth be told, he wasn’t always the biggest fan of this particular job. It didn’t even have dental.
A lie, then. Perhaps. But who was to know the truth? His username was relatively androgynous, he thought – and wasn’t it just the perfect combination of cute and edgy?! – and not everyone in the class knew everyone else’s usernames, anyway. After all, on the Internet, nobody knew you were a loser.
He clicked ‘Female’ and started from scratch.
LOADING…
FUN FACT! Prompto Argentum has never been popular, funny, attractive, or cool. Prompto Argentum, in fact, has never been good at anything.
But he’s good at this.
It’s amazing how quickly
hexXchocobaby83 rises through the ranks. It’s amazing how many people suddenly want to behisher friend.It’s amazing how quickly he’ll destroy it all.
14 years old
Prompto’s parents were always telling him that he spent too much time staring at his computer screen. A full year on, now, from when he’d first signed up to the game – and he was maybe starting to agree with them. But maybe not for quite the same reasons.
He stared at the screen.
Never, in the History of Anxiety, had this sentence ever prefaced anything that hadn’t made his stomach churn horribly. Already Prompto’s brain was helpfully cataloguing the millions of things that could be going wrong and asking if he’d like them categorised alphabetically or chronologically.
Nox had discovered his secret, and hated him for lying. Nox hadn’t discovered his secret, but hated him anyway, for some irrelevant but equally valid reason (goodness knew there were plenty). Nox didn’t hate him, but was swearing off gaming in favour of an Amish lifestyle or something and Prompto would never see him again. Nox had finally realised that Prompto wasn’t worth bothering with, and was abandoning him in favour of his millions of other, much cooler friends –
Achievement Unlocked! SELF-REFLECTION DEFLECTION: Divert 10 uncomfortable emotional situations with bad jokes.
Stop.
Rewind.
Stop. Rewind.
Sto– Prompto’s brain froze into a mass of pixels and no amount of frantic fast-forwarding was bringing clear cognitive function back into view.
This… might be the most cryptic message he’d ever received.
Like, yeah, it looked pretty straightforward. ‘I like you.’ How many things could that possibly mean? ‘I appreciate you as a person.’ ‘I enjoy your company.’ ‘You have more gold than me and I ran out of fishing money again so I’m trying to butter you up to give me some more please and thank you.’
‘I have a crush on you.’ No. ‘I’d like to date you.’ No. He shook his head and quickly dismissed the thoughts. Impossibilities, non-options – at least, they were for him, because there was no way anyone, let alone someone like… like him…
Prompto gazed at Nox’s avatar, with his shaggy black hair and the dual-swords that more often than not went abandoned in favour of the healing staves. The little bobbing pixel figure that had come too easily to synonymy with the feeling of bubbling happiness in Prompto’s chest.
Don’t hope, don't you dare...
No. That didn’t mean what it looked like it meant. There was no way. Prompto mentally took out a club and bashed down his rising hopes with a desperate vengeance.
ELIMINATED BY: Best Friend Confessing His Love For Me
*ELIMINATED BY: Best Friend Confessing His Love For [REDACTED]
*ELIMINATED BY: Best Friend Confessing His Love For [The Person He Thinks I Am]
This was it. This was the End Of Times. This was the moment it all came crashing down. The best year of his life, brought to a crushing end by this. Shattered to pieces on the floor with words that he’d – that he’d… desperately wanted to hear. That he’d even more desperately tried to stop himself from wanting to hear, because this was impossible.
Prompto took a deep breath. His hands hovered over the keyboard, ready to confess the truth.
Right after he clarified, because, you know, those words were still pretty ambiguous, right? ‘I have a crush on you’ could mean anything. Maybe Nox wanted to, like, crush him with a giant cinderblock. Nope, that was worse. Probably.
ELIMINATED BY: F*CK. OH MY GOD. F*******CK
No, no no no no no, this was bad, this was really bad. Prompto let his head fall to the desk, eyes squeezed shut, silently cursing himself out. This was it, this was the proof that he never should have started this whole business or he’d end up hurting someone – Noct was already upset and he hadn’t even said anything yet –
Prompto covered his face with his hands. ‘You’re really brave’?! Who am I, a PARENT? Oh my GOD shut UP SHUT UP just STOP TALKING make an excuse GO OFFLINE –
Prompto scrambled to reply immediately.
Question? Prompto frowned. He scrolled up a little, squinting at the –
Oh.
Oh, dear.
FATAL ERROR: Prompto.exe has stopped functioning. End the program, and also his miserable terrible existence? [YES] [ALSO YES]
Alright, this was going too far. This was even more too far than the too far it had been going five minutes ago. Which was, in turn, more too far than the too far it had been going for the past year and oh god, he was really going too far, this was a disaster, there was no choice, he had to confess –
GAMER TIP! Not THAT kind of confession! You idiot! You absolute moron! Oh my god! Oh! My god!
Was his brain even in control of his hands anymore?! It seemed his fingers were typing away of their own accord, betraying the sole voice of reason in his head which was screaming so loudly that it seemed zero-point-two seconds away from losing itself.
And while his fingers were busy betraying his brain, his bright pink cheeks were betraying his pounding heart, and –
The server [PROMPTO] has crashed! If the problem is not resolved in five minutes, please contact the administrators and ask them to slap me in the face repeatedly with a fish.
No. No, I can’t be your girlfriend, because I’m not who you think I am, and I’m not even a freaking girl, and our entire friendship is one big giant lie and I don’t have a choice except to break your heart right now or else we’d have a relationship based on the Lie Friendship™ and I can’t be selfish, or at least I can’t be more selfish than I’ve already been, and I can’t be selfish this time the way I’ve been selfish for the past year because I care about you too much to let you hurt yourself over me and –
INBOX (1) Prompto’s Brain said: <(ur the literal worst lmao time to launch into the sun)
15 years old
th3 d4rk 3dg3l0rd wh0 is un1r0n1c411y 3m0 [online]
the best and most romantic boyfriend ever of all time [online]
16 years old
n0x r0x [online]
i could be [online]
17 years old
Prompto smiled. It was true that the hype for this game had long since died down. As far as Prompto knew, NoxX was the only one of his friends who still played it. But that was alright. It was still fun, and it was something they could do together in lieu of actual dates. And seeing NoxX’s avatar still made him grin like an idiot. After all, it was probably as close to seeing NoxX’s actual self as Prompto would ever get.
He ought to wipe this dopey smile off his face. He did not.
Things were… he was loath to admit it lest it all immediately fell apart, but things were going well. Prompto couldn’t remember when else he’d been as happy as he was with Nox.
And he was happy. He was really, really happy. Happy enough, maybe, that he could shield himself from the niggling doubts at the back of his mind.
His personal Voice of Reason had long since up and left, packed its bags from the moment Prompto (see: Not A Girl) had become Nox’s ‘girlfriend’. It had waltzed out the door with a dramatic “Don’t call me!” and Prompto hadn’t heard from any sort of Logical Decision-Making Facility since.
It was kind of nice. He might die, of course, but he’d been having so much fun in these few years that he barely cared anymore.
But. You know. ‘Barely’ wasn’t quite the same as ‘not at all’, just like ‘Prompto Argentum’ wasn’t quite the same as ‘Nox’s girlfriend’, and ‘sensible’ wasn’t quite the same as ‘any of Prompto’s decisions that he had ever made ever’. And there was one teeny-tiny-probably-very-significant suspicion that was beginning to rise to the surface of Prompto’s mind, like oil in water, but slightly less flammable (slightly).
There was a slight. And very probable. Possibility. That he might know Nox in real life probably a little bit maybe.
A very slight possibility, almost definitely, that Nox might actually perhaps go to his school and was probably even in one of his actual classes.
A very definite possibility that Prompto kind of wanted to punch himself in the face.
Of course, it could just be baseless paranoia. Right? Nevermind the little facts and figures that had cropped up in conversation that seemed to line up perfectly – they were the same age, in the same city, but of course that could apply to anyone – they’d had a history class at the same time, Prompto had discovered, and everyone in Prompto’s year at Prompto’s school had history on the same line, but of course that didn’t mean anything – Nox had mentioned the little hidden storage room by the library which contained nothing but empty jars and, inexplicably, three faded clown wigs – the four broken chairs on the left side of the cafeteria – the water fountain that made a horrible shrieking sound whenever you filled your drinkbottle – but again, all of that could be just about any school in the –
Determined as he had been to stay where he was, his Voice of Reason had apparently returned temporarily to drag him bodily from his home state of Denial. This was it. Prompto was going to have to move schools. And possibly cities. Heck, why stop there? He’d heard that Mars was nice this time of year –
– right after this mission, because like an idiot, Prompto still couldn’t say no to those damned pixels.
The final, crushing proof came several days later.
Prompto liked to think he was a good student. He took good notes. He revised for his exams weeks in advance. He paid attention in class.
Except that today he was not paying attention in class, because it was exceptionally hot, and he had a headache, and his patience with his lab partner was wearing thin, and if he heard them say “Chemistry is so fucking gay” one more time, he might scream.
Prompto let his chin drop to his chest, closing his eyes against the throbbing pain in his head. Class was nearly over – he’d survive – he just needed something to get him through the last twenty or so minutes, and he’d be home free.
Groaning in defeat, he pulled out his phone. Today’s lesson was lost on him, anyway.
perfect PROMposal [online]
“Mr. Lucis Caelum,” snapped a voice, and Prompto’s head popped up from his phone in time to see the teacher rapping her knuckles on a bench across the room. The offending student – a boy with choppy black hair whom Prompto vaguely recognised as the prince – sank down in his seat and hastily shoved his phone into his pocket.
“Sorry,” he said in a low voice, “won’t happen again.”
“It had better not,” the teacher said in a clipped voice. “Rules are rules, Mr. Lucis Caelum! I will not have cell phones used in my classroom.”
The prince had been clumsy, reflected Prompto. There was not a student in this classroom (save, usually, for himself) who didn’t use their phone from time to time – it was all a matter of knowing how not to get caught. Perhaps stealth-texting wasn’t a skill taught in Royalty School.
Prompto waited a few minutes before returning to his own phone, carefully arranging a line of beakers to hide it from sight. He went to tap out an apology for his absence – but there hadn’t been another message from Nox, either. Odd.
Prompto frowned. Weird coincidence.
Right?
This was stupid. It was just a coincidence, after all. There was nothing to be read into.
Still, Prompto couldn’t help but peek up at Prince Noctis as he pressed ‘Send’. Surely there was no way…
He watched as Prince Noctis shifted, his hand going for his pocket, and he glanced furtively around to map the teacher’s location before he pulled out his phone again.
A moment later, Prompto’s phone buzzed.
Prompto made a mental note to contact the school contractors, because there was no way floors were supposed to drop out from under you the way it was doing right now. He made another mental note to contact his own GP, because he was pretty sure hearts and stomachs were not meant to be in mouths, but it certainly felt like that was where they had set up shop.
Fingers shaking, Prompto shoved his phone back into his pocket. Across the room, he watched Prince Noctis do the same.
Prince. Prince Noctis. Prince – he was going to be sick.
He was catfishing Prince Noctis. He was going to get thrown in liar’s jail. No – no, that wasn’t right, he was going to get thrown in real jail, because Prince Noctis was a prince, and princes were royalty, and this was probably almost definitely some kind of – of felony, or blasphemy, or some other horrid legal word that ended in –y and oh god they probably had a dungeon and Prompto was going to be thrown in a dungeon and executed for accidentally being Prince Noctis’ online girlfriend for three years.
Absurdly, some vague part of his mind wondered if they had WiFi in dungeons, or maybe in the afterlife, so that he could keep talking to Nox.
Except that Nox wasn’t going to want anything to do with him after this whole business because Nox was Prince Noctis and Prompto couldn’t remember how to breathe.
The bell rang, and Prompto jumped so violently that he almost toppled off his chair. Dodging his classmates’ anxious inquiries about whether or not he was alright (spoiler alert, he was not), he shoved his things into his backpack and hightailed it the heck out of the school.
Arriving at home, Prompto headed straight for his bedroom, shoved his face beneath his pillow, and screamed.
The next day, bless Prompto’s amazing luck, they had Chemistry again. And – bless Prompto’s phenomenal luck – his partner from yesterday was away, and so was Prince Noctis’, and the teacher had the wonderful idea of pairing them with each other.
It was like something out of a bad fanfiction, Prompto reflected sullenly, as he slipped onto the stool opposite Prince Noctis. He wondered vaguely who the author of his life was and exactly what their intentions were with all this. To make him suffer as much as possible? Were they some kind of sadist? Maybe they needed to get a life.
Or maybe they could end his. Right now. Prompto prayed vaguely to an unseen, typing entity. Just make the Bunsen burner malfunction and set his hair on fire, or maybe he could mistake a beaker of hydrochloric acid for his drinkbottle, or, hey, you could never go wrong with a freak lightning strike –
“Hey,” said Prince Noctis, offering him an unenthusiastic smile. “I’m Noctis.”
“Yes,” squeaked Prompto.
Noctis waited. Prompto waited to die.
“What’s your name?” Noctis asked, after a long and uncomfortable silence, and Prompto started and kicked himself. Now you look like even more of a freak!
“Pr-Prompto,” he stammered, sticking out his hand and knocking over an empty flask. “Pleased to – to meet you. Your Highness.”
Noctis righted the flask and gingerly took Prompto’s hand. “Just Noctis is fine,” he said, and his voice was slightly resigned.
Prompto felt a twinge of something like pity, which was absurd. Someone like him, pitying the prince?
Still… Nox had never given him the impression that he was anything other than a normal guy. And – well – maybe he’d needed a break from being himself too.
If anything, Prompto could understand that. He straightened in his seat. “Right,” he said cheerfully. “Let’s get to work then, Noct!”
Noctis jolted at that, and he stared at Prompto with wide eyes. For a moment, Prompto envisioned buff bodyguards busting through the ceiling and throwing him in the dungeon before anybody even found out what he’d actually done to deserve it – but then Noctis grinned and nodded, and for the first time, the reality of what was happening punched Prompto in the face. Not the ‘catfishing a royal and probably facing dire legal consequences and impending doom’ reality – that had already beaten him up several times behind a Dumpster – but the ‘this is the guy you’ve been dating for three years and you’re finally seeing his face for the first time’ reality.
Which was rather a preferable reality, reflected Prompto’s dazed mind. Very preferable, in fact. Because Noct’s real face was kind of – nice. And his smile was kind of beautiful.
Prompto mentally slapped himself in the face.
As the lesson progressed, Prompto thanked his lucky stars that Noct wasn’t an idiot and was carrying his own weight in the experiment – mostly because Prompto was an actual idiot who was forcing Noct to carry his weight too, because he was too dazed to focus on – on – whatever it was they were doing today.
He was not, however, thanking his lucky stars for Noct himself. Because sure, Noct was turning out to be a total sweetheart with a gorgeous smile who laughed too much at all the dumb things Prompto was spouting in his nervousness, and sure it was more than he’d ever heard Prince Noctis laugh in all the time they’d been in the same class, and SURE Noct was looking at him with big, happy eyes that made him feel like he was the most interesting person in the world, and –
Prompto could not remember where he was going with this, but he was sure he had a point to make somewhere and that point was not how handsome and wonderful Noct was, even though that was definitely also a good and true point.
“Hey, are you okay?” asked Noct, and Prompto almost knocked over the flask again as he jumped.
“Y-yeah, why?” Smooth moves, Argentum! Stuttering gets all the guys hot, you’re really on fire today, maybe you’ll impress him so much he’ll DROP THE CRIMINAL CHARGES –
“You seem nervous,” said Noct, and Prompto wanted to melt into the floor. “I mean, you’re a pretty good student, right? But you seem kind of distracted today. Everything alright?”
Noct – Prince Noctis – actually looked concerned for his actual wellbeing, and this was officially too much for Prompto Argentum. “Yeah,” he said, “yeah, sorry, I –” Say something! ANYTHING! But not something dumb, so anything other than something dumb – “Um, I just remembered I have to, um…” Get out of here! “I have to, water, my –” Houseplant! Cactus! Home-grown lettuce garden! “Dog. Bye.”
And he bolted.
It occurred to him only after he’d run all the way home that he had not only just ditched a class, but that he’d ditched Prince Noctis (your boyfriend, his brain supplied helpfully, and he slapped it in the cerebral cortex) in the middle of that class to finish the experiment by himself.
New Record! Ruined x9999999 things at once!
Prompto stuck his face under his pillow again and screamed until the sound drowned out his brain’s running commentary on Prompto’s Life Failures: Greatest Hits.
It took five hours for Prompto to work up the courage to message Noctis. Because he had to, right? He couldn’t just leave the guy to finish their group project alone and not even apologise. This was the least of the things Prompto owed him an apology for.
Sighing, he booted up his computer to find the class page on the school network – only to find that there was already a message.
Prompto resisted the urge to locate the Scream Pillow™ again.
…There was a lot to take in here.
Noctis was not angry that Prompto had abandoned him to finish the work alone. Noctis was offering to lend Prompto his notes. Noctis paid attention to what Prompto normally did and did not do. Noctis had taken the time to send Prompto a message asking after him. Noctis was worried about Prompto.
To avoid dying, Prompto ignored all of this and elected instead to focus on grammar.
This seemed like a safer option, thought Prompto, desperately filling his mind with thoughts of commas and apostrophes instead of literally anything else.
It was a lot better than the grammar Nox usually used, Prompto noticed. Maybe he was nervous about messaging a classmate he didn’t know very well.
This was backfiring. Grammar wasn’t supposed to be adorable.
Prompto was in the middle of dying when another message came through.
Prompto collapsed backwards onto his bed, covered his face with the Scream Pillow™, and groaned. “He’s so cuuuuuute.”
sasuke is really cool [online]
The Present (and there isn’t a freakin’ gift receipt)
“…and then he knocked me on my ass again.”
Prompto laughed. “Wow,” he said, “this Gladio guy sounds kinda rough, huh?”
Noct grimaced. “You can say that again,” he said, and hoisted his backpack a little higher on his shoulders as they sauntered through the school corridors together. “He’s alright, really. Just a little intense.” He winced. “Likes mornings too much.” Prompto laughed again.
“Man,” he mused, and stretched his arms over his head. “Sure sounds wild, being a prince.”
Noct shrugged. “I guess,” he said. “So what’re you doing this afternoon?”
Prompto noted the subject change, but didn’t comment. “I dunno,” he lied. “I guess homework? What about you?”
“I…” Noct bit his lip. “Um, I’m meeting someone,” he said, voice suddenly a little shy. “Soon, actually.”
“Ooh,” teased Prompto, “like a date?” Yeah, Casablanca, like a date! With YOU! Because you ruined everything, remember?! Just like you always ruin everything, REMEMBER?! …Okay, keep it cool, Argentum.
Noct actually blushed. “I guess,” he muttered, looking away.
“Well, hey, want me to take off?” asked Prompto, silently evaluating how weird it would be to walk off only to circle back around in five minutes and reintroduce himself. “You know, give you two some time alone?” Like we’re having right now? Huh, BABE?! No, keep it cool, keepitcoolkeepitohgodohg–
Noct just smiled. “Nah, it’s okay,” he said. “I’m, uh. I’m kind of nervous, honestly, do you… Do you wanna maybe keep me company? Til we get to the place?”
Prompto didn’t know if this was better or worse. “Sure!”
It had been a couple of weeks since the incident in Chemistry now, and much to Prompto’s surprise, the two of them had actually become friends in real life. It was… nice. Prompto had always retreated to his games, to his online personas, as a way to – to escape himself, he’d always said. To take a break from himself, right?
Lately, he was starting to wonder if that still held true.
Sure, he’d changed his name, his face… but in some strange way, not being himself had made him feel more like himself than he’d ever felt in his own skin. Had somehow given him the freedom to be who he was, who he wanted, without fearing how people saw him – because it wasn’t him they saw, so why should he care?
Being with Noct… It kinda felt like that.
He’d only known Noct – truly – for three weeks. And he was royalty, while Prompto was a common pleb. And Prompto knew he couldn’t let himself feel at ease around the guy – not when he’d been trapped in Prompto’s own web of lies. Not when Prompto suspected that he might just have been Noct’s first actual friend in the same way Noct was his, and especially not knowing that he was about to rip that all away with one crushing revelation – namely, the revelation that Prompto freaking sucked.
But he couldn’t help it. Seeing Noct light up at the sight of him was like ripping some sort of mask from his face, like the first real breath of fresh air after spending years underwater. A freedom to be himself, even without the shield of his avatar.
Prompto loved it.
Too bad he was about to tear it apart. His phone buzzed: 4:30PM – Meet No(x)ct and try not to DIE. (He’d set another reminder for 4:40PM – Plan funeral.)
Noct glanced at his watch. “She should be here around now,” he said, and he sounded nervous.
Prompto let out an equally nervous laugh. “I’m sure she’ll be here,” he said in a high-pitched voice.
Noct nodded. “Yeah,” he said, smiling. “And in the meantime, I’m glad I’ve got you.”
Prompto laughed again, but it came out as another high-pitched giggle. “Yeah,” he squeaked. “Me too.” Moogle how to get your heart to stop pounding like a mofo?!
“Seriously,” said Noct. “I – I don’t wanna be weird, I mean, I know we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but…” He rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle. “I think you’re really cool. I’m glad we started talking, Prompto.”
Prompto swallowed.
“Me too,” he said again. Oh, come on! Say something more interesting than THAT! “Also, I’m xXchocobaby83. Um, nice to meet you.”
GAMER TIP! Not THAT kind of interesting! Shithead! Idiot! Oh my GOD, you can’t just SAY THINGS LIKE THAT –
Noct blinked.
Prompto tried to figure out if he could make a run for it before the Crownsguard appeared out of the ether and killed him on the spot.
“Wow,” said Noct.
“I know!” Prompto burst out. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I told you I didn’t look like my avatar but wow, I know you weren’t expecting this and I don’t even know why I did it but I just – I just – I really liked you and I didn’t mean to lie I just, I mean, I’m not, uh, I’m not a girl like I don’t – you know, I don’t feel like I’m a girl but I just kind of liked playing as one and oh no that sounds weird I promise it isn’t some weird sex thing or anything I’m sorry I said sex oh god I said it again and I didn’t do it on purpose to lie to you or anything but then we met and you said you liked me and I liked you too and I was gonna tell you but then I just couldn’t and then we were together and it was just, it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I didn’t want to ruin it and admit I was lying but then you wanted to meet and and I know you hate me now and I’m so sorry and I know there’s no excuse –”
“You’re even cuter in person,” interrupted Noct, and a wide grin spread across his face as Prompto went beet-red and stuttered like there was no tomorrow.
Noct