#Choiminohovevo

[ironchefignis-archive-blog]

For @choiminhovevo, I was your Secret Santa! I hope you enjoy your gift! :) @ignoctsecretsanta.

Title: Twelve Days Of Memories. Rating: Teen (SFW) Warning: None! Summary: Twelve days is all it took to turn Noctis’ life upside down, but not necessarily in a bad way- after all, he had Ignis back, after so long apart.

Find it on AO3!

The Crown City; the star of Lucis. Once home to the King of Kings, built to last with blood and sweat, only to be torn down hundreds of years later by the daemons that once roamed the planet. Rebuilt by the King Of Light's retainers, and by the hands of those the King of Light had befriended throughout his journey to banish the Darkness and daemons, it has stood for hundreds of years more.

Although peace has made the people of Lucis lulled into a lullaby, Sleeping Gods shall awake once more and when they do, history shall join with the present. One can only hope that the people of Lucis shall be ready for what shall come to pass.

* * *

“Rise and shine sleeping beauty!” The blonde teenager laughed as his best friend swatted at him, an unhappy groan falling from his lips as the raven-haired youth rolled over in his bed and buried his head underneath the pillow. “Oh c'mon now! Up and at 'em!” Prompto tugged at the pillow, crowing successfully when Noctis let it go.

“Did you have to do that right in my ear?” the assaulted one grumbled as he sat up. Running a hand through his hair, the squinted as he glanced around the darkened room, hardly able to make out the shape of the other. “Ugh, what time is it?”

“Eleven-thirty,” Prompto answered as he shoved open the dark curtains that blocked out almost all of the light in the bedroom; which prompted another groan from Noctis. “C'mon, dude. Your parents and I gave you long enough to sleep in, we've got things to do today, remember?”

Apparently Noctis didn't, if the bleary and confused look he was giving Prompto said anything.

“The new Assassin's Creed game comes out tod-!” Prompto let out an undignified yelp as the other teenager's bedding was suddenly thrown at him, nearly toppling over from under the weight of the heavy blankets.

“That was today?!”

Prompto shook his head, a resigned look upon his face as Noctis hurried around his bedroom, snatching a clean pair of shorts off of the floor before snagging a shirt from the closet. “You are so lucky you pre-ordered the game. I don't think we'd be getting it otherwise.”

“We still might not, depending on how busy the store it.” Noctis raked his fingers through his hair, trying to make himself more presentable before giving in and snagging a cap from his dresser.

“We're going to the little game store on the far side of town, so it can't be that bad, right?”

Of course, their luck wasn't all that great, and Noctis figured that Prompto should've accepted that by now. The little game store across the Crown City was, of course, extremely busy. Part of Noctis had been expecting it, honestly, with how popular the Assassin's Creed series was, but there had been the small balloon of hope that had been popped the second they saw the line for the game store was around the block.

A few hours had gone by, by the time they got out. Knowing that Prompto's place was closer than his own they decided to crash there for the day, and after sending a text to their parents (Noct's mother and father, and Prompto's dad) Noctis and the blonde made their way down the winding city streets, following the familiar path towards the center of the city.

There in the middle of Insomnia, was the Citadel. The grandness of the building never failed to take their breath away, but whenever Noctis got to close his heart began to trouble him, so the two never got much closer than the street across from the building.

“Y'know, sometimes I still think it's amusing that your family has the same names as the Royal Family,” Prompto said as they passed the Citadel. No longer used as a home for the Royal Family, but still mightily important for the Government, the Citadel was open to most. Only the bedrooms and many of the meeting chambers were off limits to the public.

“You say that every time we pass by here.”

“Well, I still do!”

Giving a quiet hum, the youth peered at his best friend, who was whistling the chocobo theme song as the walked. “You know, you have the same name as the King of Light's best friend, supposedly,” Noctis pointed out as they headed down the next street. It was something he had learned recently in history, and having a different class from Prompto, he didn't know if-

“I know, and that's awesome, right?” Prompto grinned widely, hooking his hands behind his head as they walked, practically skipping as he said, “Well, it's either Prompto to Laetus. It gets lost in the translation, but a name like Noctis isn't hard to forget, Mr. Nightlight.”

Well that answered that question. “Shut it,” Noctis groaned.

Prompto snickered as his best friend glared playfully at him. “I guess everyone can't have as cool as a name as Quicksilver.”

“Don't you mean dorky? You sound like a gun from a video game series. Wasn't there one in that one game, Final Fantasy VII, or something?”

“Mr. Night. Light. And yes, it was Vincent's starter weapon. It's in a lot of the Final Fantasy games, though. Almost as famous as Masamune, I presume. Always a gun- I don't understand your obsession with swords in video games, guns are so much better! Then again, you lose at first-person shooters all the time.” Prompto snickered.

“Touche, and I hate you.”

The other teenager threw his arm around Noctis' shoulders, playfully cooing. “Aww, love you too buddy.”

“No, I hate you.” Noctis lightly nudged Prompto's stomach with his elbow, causing the latter to fall away dramatically, wheezing.

“Nah, man. I know you, know what you really mean to say. After all, we've been friends since we were what, six, seven?”

“Something like that. First grade, at least.” Noctis gave a little nostalgic sigh. “Back when homework wasn't a bitch to do.”

Prompto grimaced his agreement. “Tell me about it. I'm so gonna fail the math quiz on Wednesday.”

“I keep tell you, Prom, just get Gladio to tutor you. Who knows, maybe he'll tutor you in other ways, too.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at the blonde, who blushed darkly, his freckles standing out like little beacons as he shoved a laughing Noctis.

“No way! Besides, we both know he likes girls and not guys. 'specially not scraggly little guys like me.” And there was that disappointment in his tone Noctis often heard whenever he teased the blonde about his crush on their friend and Prompto denied that Gladiolus would ever like him.

“Yeah, well, then he doesn't know what he's missing out.” Noctis was waiting for the two of them to stop dancing around each other. Whenever the three of them got together it was obvious (to him, anyways) that they looked at each other in obvious attraction, flirted without even knowing it. What annoyed Noctis most was that they both obviously ignored their feelings, with Gladio going out on a date every other week and Prompto whining like a love-sick puppy. “And you don't either. Now, c'mon! The cafe's nearby and I've starved.”

Nestled comfortably between two larger buildings along the side-road near the two was a small little establishment called Sagefire. Owned by a friend of Noctis' family, the two teenagers often find themselves in the little place, sitting in one of the booths eating lunch on the weekends or just stopping by for a drink to-go, Gladiolus occasionally joining them. Something always seemed missing to Noctis, but if Prompto felt it too he never uttered a word.

The bell above Sagefire's door tingled as Prompto pushed it open, Noctis just a step behind. Lunch rush had already passed, telling the two that their time at the game store was longer than anticipated. A faint smile curved Noctis' lips upwards as he noticed that their usual booth in the corner of the shop by the window was unoccupied and made a beeline for it.

“I'll go order. Only fair since you got the game and all. The usual?” Prompto asked once they reached it, barely getting a nod from Noctis before he was hurrying away. Settling himself comfortably in the booth, Noctis slipped his phone out of his pocket, immediately starting up his game of King's Knight. When Prompto joined him minutes later he was in the midst of a dungeon. “Started without me? No fair,” the blonde playfully complained as he slipped into the seat across from him. “Dude, there's a new guy here that I bet is totally your type.”

“Uh huh. You said that about that new guy at the game store the other week. Couldn't have been further off.”

“I'm serious this time! That's why I placed our orders separate, so that you can see him for yourself.” Ah, so Prompto knew him well enough that he wouldn't look up from his phone until they left. Fair enough.

“All right. Now get on, this Level Four is kicking my ass.”

For a while they only spoke when encouraging each other in the next dungeon, hissing out instructions for begging to be healed – more in Prompto's case than Noctis' own.

It wasn't long before, “Prompto.” was called out. Noctis' brows rose in curiosity at hearing the smooth, accented voice. Tenebraen? Now that wasn't an accent you often heard. Of course, Noctis was too drawn into his game to look up, uttering a quiet curse as the nearest enemy shot down his health bar by half.

“And that's me.” He hears the quiet scuffle of Prompto getting out of the booth and making for the counter,

“Highness.” It takes a moment, and another call of “Highness!” for Noctis to realize that the smooth accented man was calling out for him. Immediately the dark-haired youth's lips twisted into a scowl as he turned his displeasure onto Prompto, who did look puzzled.

“Haha, very funny.”

“Wasn't me, dude.” Prompto held his hands out, looking completely serious. He knew how much Noctis hated anyone calling him 'Highness', had for as long as Prompto could remember. “Was probably the bartender or something.”

“With a name as popular as mine you'd think they'd stop getting a kick out of it,” the dark-haired youth grumbled as he stood, purposefully letting his chair scrape loudly against the floor. Scowling as he made his way over to the counter where the bartender had turned around to deal with the next order, unable to see the man's face.

“Hey.” As he reached said counter, Noctis opened his mouth to complain about the stupid nickname and to ask the man not to do it again, the man turned around and the teenager felt his mouth dry. He was hardly older than himself, but the way he carried himself was with a grace of a man who had to be royalty. Even working in a place like this (a nice coffee shop, but not an extremely fancy one) he was dressed to his nines, a nicely pressed white dress shirt and black slacks, dusty brown hair pushed upwards into a pompadour.

Glasses framed his eyes, and that had been exactly what made Noctis freeze; his sapphire gaze meeting with a very familiar set of emerald hues.

“...Ignis?”

He watched as lips curved upwards into a smile, those eyes softening as the man greeted softly, “Hello, Your Highness.”