#ffxvkinkweek

"It'll be the exhibition match on Thursday afternoon, then the swearing-in ceremony Friday evening, then the banquet right after," Ignis says, thumbing through email on his phone as he pulls on his clothes. "Gladio, I assume you'll have His Highness in top form for the exhibition?"

"'Course I will. He's been training with the Glaives for the last couple weeks, right Noct?" Gladio prods Noctis with the ball of his foot, and Noctis swats him away.

Laying back on the pillows, Noctis says, "As long as I don't have to go against Nyx I'll be fine. That guy could kick Gladio's ass."

"Yes, well. I'm sure he'd let you win for show anyway," Ignis replies as he buttons up his shirt.

"I don't want to win for show -- that wouldn't help with the whole filling-in-for-my-dad in the ceremony. People already think I'm too young, or too weak, or too . . . whatever."

Ignis sits on the bed next to him, setting a hand on Noct's knee through the blanket. "Don't worry about what they think. You're going to do just fine."

"You think so?"

Ignis leans in and kisses him, soft and light. "I know so."

*

The exhibition is in the courtyard, with bleachers erected on both sides. Gladio eyes the crowd briefly, then turns to survey the arena. "Don't forget the Glaives can warp just as well as you can," he murmurs in Noct's ear. "You can't just warp out of the way and think you'll be able to hang out and catch your breath."

"Right," Noctis says, and Gladio can read his nerves in his tone of voice.

"You're fast, and you're flexible. The magic is yours, it's not borrowed. If you want to swap weapons you can probably do it faster than they can. Don't forget to watch your back, and watch your left side -- they probably know you're a little weaker there."

"Got it." Noctis is clenching and unclenching his hands, like he's ready to pull his blade from the ether, but his eyes are still darting around the crowd. Gladio steps in front of him to block his view, forcing Noctis to look up at him.

"You got this," he says. "Even if you lose, you're gonna put up a good fight and show 'em what you can do."

Noctis takes a deep breath, holds it, then lets it out. "Thanks," he says, and Gladio claps him on the shoulder.

In the middle of the arena, Drautos raises his arm and the crowd falls quiet. "Ladies, Gentlemen . . . new recruits," he says expansively, "thank you all for coming. Today we'll see a demonstration of the power of the Crystal, and the power of the Kingsglaive. His Royal Highness Prince Noctis will battle one of our fiercest warriors." Noctis takes another breath, and Gladio can see his public mask settle into place. He walks out into the arena, smiling and waving.

"Now," Drautos says, "let us see who his opponent shall be."

An assistant brings out a bowl full of scraps of paper and holds it out to Noctis, who reaches in and selects one. Noctis looks at the paper for a moment, his face carefully blank, then announces, "Nyx Ulric." Shit.

The audience bursts into applause and Nyx takes the field, grinning. Drautos backs away to the sidelines, and Noctis summons his Engine Blade in a shower of sparks. Nyx makes the first move, throwing his short blade and warping straight for Noctis. Noctis phases through the attack, then swings hard, nearly connecting before Nyx warps away again.

To a layman, what follows is just a blur of blue sparks and phase shadows, clashing blades and flying kicks. To Gladio, it's Noctis putting in his best effort and having it be just enough to keep him on his feet, barely dodging each of Nyx's attacks. Their weapons clash together a few times, but the fight is mostly a series of fast warps as the two of them flicker from one end of the arena to the other.

Noctis throws his sword up so it rams into a high post, warping to hang from it briefly, then as Nyx starts to follow him, Noctis yanks the sword from the post, lets it dissolve back into the ether, and pulls out a javelin instead. He throws, warps, executes a mid-air backflip, and dives down toward Nyx with the javelin in his hand. For a moment, Gladio's breath catches as he thinks Noctis might just pull this off.

But then, Nyx throws up a crystalline shield, and Noct's attack is blocked entirely. Before his feet hit the ground, Nyx drops the shield and swings, his blade slicing into Noct's arm.

"First blood to Ulric!" Drautos calls. Both men drop their weapons and step back, breathing hard. Gladio's heart is in his throat, waiting to see how Noctis will take his loss. But Noctis ignores the blood running down his arm and turns to Nyx with a smile. Nyx executes a perfect bow, and when he rises, Noctis extends a hand to him, which Nyx clasps firmly.

"Lucis is honored by your skill," Noctis says, loud enough to carry to the crowd. "May all the new recruits grow as strong as you."

"The honor is mine, Your Highness," Nyx replies, appropriately deferential like he never is in training.

Drautos reminds everyone of the ceremony to be held the next day, and the crowd begins to file out as a page brings a potion to heal Noct's arm. By the time Gladio gets to his side, any sign of the injury is gone.

Noctis keeps his polite smile on until they're alone in the locker room, then sinks onto the bench with a groan. "Damn it," he says, slamming his fist into his thigh, "why did it have to be Nyx?"

"Hey, that aerial attack with the javelin was quick thinking," Gladio says, tossing Noctis a towel. "You did good."

"I got my ass handed to me," Noctis grouses.

"But you did it well. Iggy's gonna be proud of you for how you handled that."

"I'm supposed to swear in the new recruits tomorrow but all they're gonna be thinking is, 'Why should we swear our allegiance to this kid?' Ugh. Remind me why Dad can't do this again?"

Gladio sighs. "His Majesty is tied up with the ambassador from Accordo. You know that."

"Ugh," Noctis says again, slamming the door to the shower stall on his way in.

*

Noctis is still fuming when he flops into his bed after dinner. Ignis and Gladio have gone home, since Noctis is too tired and cranky to be good company despite Ignis's best efforts. Spending the night alone isn't unusual -- Gladio only stays over rarely, and Ignis often prefers an earlier bedtime and can't sleep with Noctis still awake. Some day, Noctis will get a place with enough bedrooms for all of them to be comfortable, but in the meantime this works well enough.

He rolls onto his back and flings an arm over his eyes. His mind keeps replaying the fight, searching for everywhere he could have done something differently. Of course now that it's over he can easily see a hundred opportunities he missed, but it's too late now.

His phone chimes and he groans and wrestles it out of the pocket of his jeans.

Hey buddy, the text from Prompto says, saw a clip of your fight w glaive, those moves were awesome!

Noctis's face does something between a smile and a grimace. Nyx kicked my ass, he types back.

[Prompto] u kidding bro he's like the biggest war hero and ur 18 of course he did [Prompto] u looked awesome tho, flipping around and stuff [Prompto] flexible ~.~

He laughs at that, imagining the way Prompto is probably wiggling his eyebrows, and types back, lol u make it sound way sexier than it was.

The return message comes right away: ur always sexy. Noctis can't help the little thrill that runs through him; Prompto has been dropping hints that he's interested for a while now, but he always backtracks before making anything clear, leaving Noctis to wonder whether he ever really meant it at all. Speaking of which . . .

[Prompto] I mean [Prompto] the whole royal authority thing, bet it really works for you w Iggy and Gladio

Noctis types out does it work for you? but then hesitates over the send button and ends up erasing it.

[Noctis] guess so [Noctis] sometimes I just want to be me

He sighs, thinking of the royal duties waiting for him in the morning.

[Noctis] gotta do the swearing in ceremony tomorrow bc dad is busy [Noctis] rather be playing kings knight w you

[Prompto] the night is young, and your phone is already in your hand

Noctis grins and opens the app.

*

The ceremony is held in the throne room, with the recruits lined up in formation and Noctis standing in front of the throne. He holds himself tall, and nobody would know that only minutes before Ignis was adjusting the drape of his cape and fixing his tie and cufflinks while Noctis frantically repeated his speech over and over.

"On behalf of my father, the king, I welcome you all to the Kingsglaive. Today you join the ranks of Lucis's most elite warriors, and begin your service to the people and the Crown." Noctis's voice is strong, and Ignis sees a hint of his father in the tilt of his chin. He hesitates for a barely detectable moment, then says, "Are you ready to pledge your loyalty?"

As one, the recruits fall to their knees and bow their heads, a hush falling over the room as Noctis descends the stairs. He approaches the first recruit and lays his hand on the back of her head. "I give myself in service to the Crown and the Crystal," she says, "and pledge to use the power granted to me to protect the people of Lucis."

"Do you give your life to the Crown?" Noctis asks. Normally, with Regis performing the ceremony, the line would be, do you give your life to me? but Noctis had felt it would be disingenuous, and Ignis finds he rather agrees.

"I do."

His hand slides around the side of her head and cups her chin, lifting her face. "Then rise, and join the ranks of the Kingsglaive." The recruit stands, and Ignis can see the shine in her eyes as she rises. Noctis smiles at her before moving on to the next recruit. The ceremony is repeated for the whole group, Noctis receiving one oath after another, until they're all standing.

As the audience bursts into applause, Noctis ascends the stairs again. When he reaches the throne, he materializes his sword and swings it high above his head, then spins it in a flashy circle and slams the point down into the floor in front of him, in the crack left there by this very same ceremony in the past. "The Crystal welcomes you, as do the people of Lucis," he says strongly, and the newly minted Glaives cross their fists over their chests and bow.

The applause is thunderous, and when it finally starts to die down, Noctis banishes his sword and makes his way down the stairs. Ignis meets him at the bottom as the recruits and the audience begin to file out of the chamber. "Well done, Your Highness," he says.

"You think so? My sword has nothing on Dad's armiger."

"You saw the look in the recruits' eyes. They were proud to be swearing their loyalty to you."

"To my dad," Noctis corrects.

"It may have been him in intent, but it was you in practice. I remember swearing my own oath of loyalty to you, you know."

Noctis laughs. "You mean when we were kids?"

"We may have been children, but I've always taken it seriously."

Looking at him with a small smile playing at his lips, Noctis says, "Me too."

"Well then," Ignis says, "I believe the banquet is ready to begin."

*

Prompto taps his phone, rewinding the clip to the beginning to play again. Bless IBC for always putting news clips online right away, because after watching the live feed of the glaive swearing-in ceremony Prompto immediately wanted to watch it again.

And again.

And again, and okay, maybe he's got one hand in his pants while he's watching it but Noct looks so good all dressed up. Even the ridiculous cape lends him an air of authority.

Are you ready to pledge your loyalty? Noct asks in the video, and Prompto's hand tightens on his cock. There was a time when he hesitated to jerk off to photos and videos of his friend, but these days he's accepted the fact that his feelings aren't going away any time soon and he can still be a good friend to Noct despite wanting to suck down his dick until he chokes.

Do you give your life to the Crown? Noct asks, and Prompto breathes, "I do," as he jerks himself faster. The clip is almost to the end, and he bites his lip as Noct ascends the stairs, then gasps, "fuck, fuck, fuck," when Noct materializes a sword and swings it around his head. He comes as the sword slams into the ground, the camera catching the steely glint in Noct's blue eyes, the hard set of his mouth, the perfect fall of hair over his forehead. He looks like a king, and Prompto would gladly lay down his life for him.

"It really has been a long time since we've been here, huh?"

Noctis stopped and looked back at Prompto, whose gaze was turned to one of the many ruined buildings of their former home. "I guess so..." He walked over to stand next to him "What're you staring...at... Oh..."

"What are you two doing?" Gladio snapped at them, a hand on Ignis's back as he lead him down a set of stairs "The rest point is down here. Come on before more daemons come out."

"We'll meet you two in a minute, Gladdy." Prompto called back, glancing away from the half wrecked sign of their favorite arcade. 

"Don't be out here too long."

Noctis smiled "We won't."

--

"Think they put in a generator?"

Noctis shrugged and headed to the back of the arcade while Prompto brushed the dust off one of the machines. 

"Damn...this place mostly survived when the rest of the city didn't. Isn't that something?" The blonde laughed. The lights blinked on, followed quickly by the arcade cabinets themselves. "Ah! They liiiiive!"

Noctis grinned as he returned and wrapped an arm around his waist "I wonder if they still have our high scores logged in..."

"Wouldn't that be wild?" Prompto sighed and rested an elbow on Noctis's shoulder. The pair fell into a comfortable silence as the machines around them went through their booting sequences.

"Hey...you never did cash in on one of our old bets here."

"Hmm?" Prompto studied his face "What bet?"

"We bet that whoever got the most high scores by the time we turned 18 would get to do whatever they wanted with the other."

"Oh...I thought you won that." The blond scratched at the back of his neck. "Didn't you cash in on it?"

Noctis shook his head. "It was your win. I had Ignis come check the day after your birthday. You had one more than me."

Prompto studied a spot on the floor. "I...hadn't really thought about what I'd ask for if I won..." He smiled hesitantly up at Noctis. "How about a rematch? One two-player game. Same stakes."

The king chuckled a bit. "Sure. Let's see which one boots up first."

--

The pair eventually settled into a racing game, elbowing each other in the ribs and throwing jabs at each other over the starting menu as if they were in their teens again.

"Remember, whoever wins gets whatever they want from the loser." Noctis grinned.

"Yup. No matter the request."

"Don't fuck up, Prom."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

[START!]

--

"Seriously you two? We're trying to get to Ardyn and you're up here playing video games?"

Prompto barely spared Gladio a glance. "Uh, yeah? Unfinished business. Gotta take care of it before we can't anymore."

The shield sighed and shook his head. "We're moving out. Wrap this up."

The younger pair groaned as Gladio left, reluctantly quitting out of the game. Prompto counted on his fingers as they walked to the back where Noctis had apparently turned on the arcade's power. "So that's...5 for me...and...6 for you. Looks like this one's yours, buddy." He bumped their hips together in a familiar gesture. "What can I do for you, your highness?"

Noctis paused, one hand on the generator that was -in fact- conveniently stored in the back of the arcade. "You know, if this was one of Gladio's shitty books, I'd probably ask you to marry me."

The blond froze, color rising in his face. "Noct...we can't..."

"I know...just...hear me out?" The king sighed and looked at his friend miserably. "All I want now...is for you to remember stuff like this. Stuff that makes us both happy...even if I'm not there to enjoy them with you..."

"...okay..." Prompto pulled his camera out of the armiger with a sheepish look. "One in the arcade before we turn the lights back off?"

Noctis laughed a bit. "Sure. For old time's sake."

"Hey. I'm not old, I'm gorgeous." Prompto teased as they walked back among the games. Noctis wrapped an arm around his waist while Prompto threw his own around his shoulders. "Say 'chocobo'!" The blond didn't comment on the subtle addition of weight in his pocket, instead focusing on getting a good picture of them both.

"Come on! We aren't waiting anymore!" Gladio's voice boomed through the building, sending the friends into a frenzied set of giggles as they ran to turn off the power and meet up with the two outside.

--

"Where did you two get that one?" Cor looked over Prompto's shoulder as he scrolled through the pictures on his camera.

He chuckled, glancing at the door he was currently sat in front of with a fond look on his face "Noct and I broke into an arcade. I think he kickstarted a generator. Can royal magic even do that?"

Cor shook his head. "It wouldn't be the strangest thing I've seen magic used for."

"Oh, I'll HAVE to hear that story." Prompto laughed and rested his head back against the wall. "...I'm...really gonna miss stuff like this..." He vaguely waved the camera around.

Cor rested a hand on the top of his head. "I know. Just...hold on to what memories you have together. Then, someday, you can tell kids embarrassing stories of the King of Light."

The blond smiled up at the Marshal. "Thanks."

Cor nodded and walked off, leaving Prompto to his thoughts.

For a moment he just sat there in silence before he remembered a small detail from when they were in the arcade. He hastily dug into his pocket, freezing a moment when his fingers brushed smooth metal. Slowly he pulled the object out of his pocket, staring at it as it rested in his palm.

The ring was simple, something Prompto had seen in a magazine one of the times they'd gone to the convenience store in the middle of the night and jokingly told Noctis if he were to get proposed to that that was what he wanted. It was a plain white gold band with a single black diamond set into it. Prompto had insisted it was a joke ('That is way too much for a ring, Noct, even for you.'), but there it was, sitting in his hand.

Solemnly, he slid the ring back into his pocket. He'd put it on a chain or something later, he told himself, then he'd ask Noctis about it when he found the right time to.

--

He would never get that chance.