Chapter Text
"Only two months. I will save all the money. Then maybe I'll be able to move out."
It was a mantra that Prompto kept repeating to himself every morning as he pulled on his worn out boots. It was sleeting lightly and the cold kind of sunk through them but at the same time Prompto couldn't get rid of them.
"It's only two months!"
Prompto stood and shrugged on his jacket over a hoodie. His morning mantra put him in the mood for the working day - well sort of. His 'job' was to take photos of people in a cheap attraction. The festive period was pretty much well underway, and it was just something to capitalise on the 'festive spirit' which was just another way of saying 'take some saps money who was stupid enough to pay' and despite that - a job was a job. Well, actually, it wasn’t his job just yet – he still had the actual interview to get through.
"Maybe I'll buy some new camera stuff . . . No, house deposits then camera stuff," Prompto thought to himself as he paid his bus fare for the day and flopped down onto one of the uncomfortable seats. It was so easy to get distracted by other less important but more enjoyable things in life. "Two months. It's not that long at all."
It really wasn't and he just needed to get through it. Despite the job probably being a complete scam (and shady as fuck) it wasn't all bad. The day was bright, a cloudless blue sky hung overhead, decorative as it was still bitterly cold. A layer of frost clung to the branches of bare trees and as the bus rolled by them Prompto couldn't help but wish he could stop and take a picture of it - the scene was just too perfect, the way the light caught the frost, the blueness of the sky. Everything was just too perfect looking, and he was stuck going to a job interview, like an everyday poor sap.
"It's just two months."
The stall he had chosen to work at was tucked away in a corner of the large shopping centre around where there were a strange number of closed shops (and if that didn't just spell out the state of things) and Prompto had a sneaking suspicion that the stall, in its bright colours and generally large appearance, was to cover up the fact that the rest of the area was just about dead - the new 'coming soon: Food court' signs had been out forever but very little work was actually being done about it. But a job was a job, and, at the end of the day, he couldn't really complain.
He could count himself lucky, even if it was just seasonal work - a job was hard enough to come by. It looked good on the CV, that was the main thing.
"Hi, I'm here for a job interview," Prompto said cheerily to the rather sullen faced person who was already stationed at the booth. He looked at Prompto for a few moments, as though confused for a moment before shaking his head and nodding.
"Prompto, right? You did the phone interview the other week, yeah?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Oh okay, cool. Give me two minutes."
The guy rummaged around in a bag at his feet for a moment before pulling out his phone. Prompto stood, feeling a little awkward, it wasn't like he didn't know that it was a small stall - he just figured they'd be a little more prepared since they knew he was coming.
"The other guy is on a break right now, usually there is two of us, so when he comes back, I can go through the interview with you. If you want to wait in there, I'll be 5/10 minutes."
He gestured to the only open thing in the 'coming soon: food court', which was a coffee stand with a separate seating area inside one of the empty shops. Sitting in one of the seats in the back corner, he couldn't help but hope that nobody told him to move since it was technically part of the coffee stand and he hadn't bought anything.
After what felt like an age, the guy from before joined Prompto in the seating area, coffee in hand.
"Sorry that took so long."
"It's fine," Prompto replied, internally a little miffed - but at the same time, he didn't expect much more.
"Okay, so . . ." the guy proceeded to go over everything about the job, hours, expectations and so on. It was all standard stuff, most of which Prompto had been told before over the phone. "So yeah, that's all. Can you start next week? Next Monday if possible?"
"Yeah, that would be fine."
Despite knowing that he was basically walking into a job, Prompto couldn't help but be quite happy at the fact. Not so much at the job itself, but rather just at the prospect of making money that was his and his alone for the next two months. Not too bad.
"Great, I'll see you next Monday then."
And with that, the guy was gone leaving Prompto in the mostly empty seating area with a feeling of quiet elation.
It was his phone going off that woke Noctis up, which was the craziest thing since, on a good day, he could sleep through pesky phone alarms.
"'lo?" Noctis mumbled, sitting up and running a hand through his hair.
"Good afternoon," it was Ignis.
"It's not . . . " Noct took the phone away from his ear to look at the time in the corner. "Okay, afternoon." He could hear the brief half-laughter that Ignis let out, typical.
"Sorry to wake you but it was to remind you that you have a job interview later, and as much as I know you would rather spend the first day of your holidays asleep, a job interview is much more important."
Noct was only half listening, it wasn't that he was trying to be rude or anything, he was just tired. The last couple of weeks had been a sea of studying and essays and exams - he just wanted one day to lie in knowing that he didn't need to go into university to look something up in the library or study. But nope, even on his holidays, he couldn't have that.
"I know, I do remember. But it's nor for another 3 hours," Noct replied.
"You need the next 3 hours to wake up."
Noct might have been annoyed if Iggy wasn't so damn right.
"Mhm, thanks for the wake up call."
"You're welcome, I'll be around later tonight. Good day to you and good luck."
"Yeah, thanks. See you later."
Hanging up, Noct flipped back onto his bed. He probably could have gone back to sleep, but Iggy was probably right - it would take him about 3 hours to pull himself together enough that he didn't loom a complete wreck for the job interview.
It wasn't even like it was that important, it was just some dumb part time seasonal job to get him by and earn a little extra money on the side. A little extra money would be nice though, then he wouldn't have to worry about subway fares for at least the next few months.
After lying back on his bed, Noct eventually pushed himself up and pulled on his pyjama bottoms, venturing out into his apartment in search of some . . . well, brunch in an effort to wake himself up a bit more.
"Why did I agree for it to be on the first day of my holidays," Noct thought to himself as he poured himself some cereal - not exactly the most filling but he couldn't face the idea of anything else. Flopping down onto the couch, mindful of his cereal, he turned on the TV trying to find something to occupy his time before he dragged himself up to try and be a functional human being for a few hours.
It was harder than most people thought - adulting was hard.
Was it too late to cancel? Just not show up. No, he'd never hear the end of it if he flaked out. Dropping the empty bowl in the sink, Noct crossed into his bedroom. How was he even meant to dress? He'd been to functions and stuff in the past, but they were super fancy do's - not just a job interview. On top of that, 60% of what he owned was black (basically a walking funeral look) which was fine enough but not exactly dressy.
Why did nobody ever teach him how to dress for different occasions - actually, that was a lie, he had been brought up knowing the basics of being a presentable human being. Being tired and generally annoyed just caused all thoughts from Noctis's brain to exit until he was left with one barely functioning brain cell.
"Fuck it," he thought pulling the only light blue shirt he owned from his wardrobe and yesterday’s still clean jeans from the floor. That was the best the world was going to do.
Checking his phone, he still had half an hour before he had to leave but it would give him time to toddle rather than worry about being late - Ignis's insistence on being early despite everything might have just rubbed off on him after all. Maybe that was a good thing.
Making sure he had everything, Noct left his apartment - still half asleep and barely prepared for what was effectively his first job interview ever in his life. The very thought seemed to carry a lot of weight with it that Noctis didn't appreciate. It wasn't that he didn't know it would happen eventually - he just sort of wished he hadn't been basically bullied into it. Still, he knew it would be a good thing at the end of the day.
As much as he hated to admit it.
Everything would be fine. Just fine.
"I'm home!" Prompto called as he slipped off his shoes in the doorway.
"How was it then?" His dad, Garret, asked crossing from the kitchen into the living room.
Prompto sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's a job. I mean," he let out a little gasp. "I really hope I don't have to work with the same guy all the time. Just one of those people, y'know. Like. Kinda clearly not wanting that job."
"Well if it gets you through," Garret laughed. "You'll learn to ignore or mock the worst people you work with."
Prompto could only agree since, honestly, he had no other way of knowing whether that was true or not. Well, in fairness, it was kind of the same in university, the ones who were generally the most obnoxious frequently were made fun of behind their backs - childish? Perhaps. But that was just the way it was.
Following Garret into the living room Prompto spared a glance at the cases that were stacked against the wall, his mum was rummaging through a separate bag, pulling things out then putting them back before huffing lightly.
"You finished packing?" Prompto asked curiously since it was hard to tell.
"I'd like to think so, but you know your mum. She has to jeep checking that something hasn't gone missing or she's forgotten something. It's mad if you ask me," Garret whispered the last part to his son, both of them trying to stifle laughter as Riona threw up a silencing finger.
"Don't you laugh at me boys, you'll be the one complaining if we do forget something vital," Riona ceased looking through the bag to stand, cross the short distance to Prompto to pull him in, a not very, reluctant hug, holding his face gently in her hands. "Now are you sure you don't want to come with us. It's not too late you know."
Prompto smiled. "No, it's fine. I just got a job after all and it's for your wedding anniversary, you go enjoy yourself and hopefully the weather will be better than what we'll no doubt get here."
Both his parents watched him very carefully for a few moments, glancing between each other in a silent argument.
"Well, if you're sure."
Honestly, he was surer about staying home alone over the holidays than he had been for a while - no disrespect against his parents, but Prompto was more than ready to just have a month or so to himself. Even if he would be spending that time working - it was the idea of being virtually independent whilst also not being entirely independent at the same time.
Wasn't like he was going to go crazy or anything -parties weren't exactly his thing.
"Honestly. It'll be fine. You're worrying over nothing. The holiday will fly by, you'll be back in no time and you can tell me all about it "
The look across his mum's face still yelled 'but you're still my baby, I'm not ready to leave you alone for two months on your own' - despite the fact that Prompto was definitely able to look after himself. He had a job and enough money saved to get by, it was going to be great. At least that's what he kept telling himself to stage off a weird feeling that kept creeping over himself whenever he thought about being left alone. He hadn't quite worked out whether it was a good or bad feeling yet.
"Are you 100% sure?"
"Yes. It's not like I can just leave a job I've just started. You won't need to worry about a thing."
Exiting the conversation, Prompto headed back into his room, eyeing the camera on his bed. Despite having just come in - he had the sudden urge to go back out since he hadn't been able to earlier. Checking the battery was at least half full, he slipped it into his camera bag along with an extra lens before heading out again, shouting a quick bye to his parents.
The day hadn't warmed much from earlier and the frost and ice was still a prominent feature. Since it was already past midday Prompto didn't want to go too far from home, instead he wandered to a nearby park. It wasn't exactly the most amazing place but there was a river that cut through the place that had carved a deep gorge over time.
Walking down the path, careful not to slip down the narrow, leaf dampened stairs, Prompto followed the river along to an overhang where icicles were forming - to Prompto it didn't feel as though it should have been cold enough to have icicles forming. But hey, what did he know about the weather.
Eventually the sun began to set and the cold was very quickly turning his hands blue, Prompto began to walk back home. By the time he made it there the sky had darkened a small wind had picked up which blew bitterly through Prompto's jacket. Unlocking the door through shaking hands, the place was quiet and dark when he let himself inside.
"Hey, we went out for dinner. Will be back later tonight."
Rolling his eyes, Prompto walked through to his room and flopped down on his bed, unzipping his camera bag and going through the pictures he had taken of the icicles, the frost adorning the evergreen trees, ice breaking up on the small waterfall.
Prompto pushed himself up after a while as his stomach complained about the lack of food (he had conveniently forgotten to eat lunch). Not bothering to cook anything, he ordered something online before turning on music in his room and uploading the pictures onto his laptop.
"So you have any experience before this?"
"Um, no. I don't."
"That's fine, you'll get all the training you need in the first few weeks. After that, it just should become a habit."
Noct knew for a fact that something becoming a habit was definitely not something his body knew how to do. Unless it was sleeping - he was good at that. But he nodded dumbly along trying to seem as easy-going and appealing as possible. He was always told he had a natural confidence which was why people were drawn to him but Noct always felt out of his depth for some reason. He didn't feel confident despite being told that was how he came off.
Just because he was told something, didn't mean it was true.
"So you can start next week. Yeah."
The job interview went surprisingly well despite Noct having nearly been late to it despite having left early into order to not be late (if Iggy found out, he'd probably be dead) but the interviewer was very nice about the whole thing - probably helped that she was maybe only a year or two older than Noct himself.
"Yeah, that's fine."
"Great." The enthusiasm radiating off her, however, was something Noct was going to have to get used to, and dealing with people, and getting up early and just not having every moment to himself - why had he bothered to get a job again. Oh, it looked good on his CV and as experience, that's why. A simple, bullshit reason. "I'll see you on Monday then."
He had a whole week of freedom before diving into the world of work for the first time - oh joy.
Walking away from the interview, Noct pulled out his phone and sent a quick text off to Iggy.
"Got the job, woo."
It didn't take long for his phone to start ringing and Noct was half tempted to ignore it but he was going to see Iggy later anyway - if not the moment he got home - so it would be a pointless endeavour. Stopping and pushing himself against the wall in order to be out of the way for all the other people going past.
"Hey."
"How did it go then?"
"Yeah, fine. I mean they gave me the job so it has to mean something," Noct replied knowing full well that was a lie as all places were looking for extra, disposable, staff during the holidays and he was just one if many. "I start next week."
"That's good, you'll need to tell me more about it. I've got to go, I'll see you later."
"Yeah, see you later."
Standing for a few moments, an odd feeling came over him and he wasn't quite sure what it was. Dread? Fear? Something else entirely? Whatever it what, Noct didn't like it. It was like he knew something was going to happen, but he wasn't 100% sure what or why he suddenly felt so unsure.
A little part of him wanted to go back and tell whoever was in charge, no, he didn't want the job and then go home and hibernate until spring came. But, no, that was not how life worked and as much as he hated it. He had to start adulting a little harder at some point.
Maybe it wouldn't be too bad.