Speaking Without Words

[lokifan]

I never posted this here! :o

This was written in such a panic, haha, but it has a good rate of bookmarking on AO3 so I think it came out okay??? And I'm still so pleased I finally wrote cute werewolf fic.

Title: Speaking Without Words
Word count: ~10, 400
Characters/pairings: Noctis/Prompto
Rating: Teen
Summary: Being a werewolf wasn’t a big problem in Prompto’s life until he was about sixteen. But now Noct was definitely gonna find out - and then Ignis would find out.
Content notes: emotional hurt/comfort
Author’s Notes: This was written for maniikoi for the Promptis Exchange. Many thanks to the incredible patience and kindness of the mod, star54kar, and to sodsta for his beta-ing!

AO3 link


Being a werewolf wasn’t a big problem in Prompto’s life until he was about sixteen. It was weird and awkward sometimes -- he’d transformed at work once and had to hide in the walk-in freezer until he could run home, still in wolf-form. But the worst that had happened there was having his boss raise an eyebrow the next day as she handed back his jeans. He’d wanted to die of embarrassment, but it wasn’t like it was the first time that had happened.

He’d had trouble with it before, sure. Having to keep track of the moon, and make sure he was somewhere private for the transformation, was annoying. And the times when he’d transformed outside of the full moon without meaning to, and hadn’t known how to turn back, were kinda scary when he was a kid. But transforming was exciting, too, once he learnt how to change when he wanted to. Jumping around and smelling stuff and running for miles -- and he’d mostly just looked like a big puppy, so people didn’t mind seeing him around. As long as he was ready to skedaddle if someone looked round for his owner, the wolf thing was the fun part of all his weirdness.

And man, once he’d met Tiny, it was great. He hadn’t got to run around with her the way he’d wanted, because of her bad leg, but they’d still played and nosed at each other and collapsed into a puppy puddle. Some of the best times in his life had happened because he was a werewolf.

But now it was a problem.

To be more specific, Noct was a problem.

It wasn’t Noct’s fault! But Prompto hadn’t had friends before, and it was turning out to be a challenge on the whole “keeping a giant secret” front.

Like, when Noct leaned against him while they were gaming on Noct’s couch, so their arms pressed against each other. Cool, cool, that was fine. He liked it, actually; not in a weird way, though. He realised what was happening, feeling skin against his, and drew in a breath as slowly and quietly as he could, trying to control the smile on his face.

It wasn’t a big thing, but usually -- okay, always -- he was the one who reached out. Not in a creepy way -- he always paid attention to how Noct reacted, and he always seemed to like it, smiling at Prompto’s casual grabs of his arm and pounding Prompto’s back on the bro-hugs. This was new. Noct was so reserved, but Prompto wasn’t sure he liked being that way. He was just a kitty who’d been bothered too much, so he was huddled on top of a wardrobe out of reach.

Uh, the wardrobe of life. It made sense to him, anyway.

But now Noct was like, coming up to the edge of the wardrobe and sniffing at Prompto’s hand, and letting him stroke him. In the kitty metaphor. It was nice.

But it was summer, so they were both in t-shirts, skin against skin. Or silver watch against wristband, anyway. But then they both shifted as they stared at the screen, joysticks moving and buttons clicking, and Noct’s watch brushed against Prompto’s freckled arm, then pressed against it.

It took him a couple minutes to notice the burning sensation.

He hissed, yanking his arm away and shaking it instinctively. Luigi drove into a wall.

“Prompto?” Noct turned to him, Mario spinning out across the road. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I just, my arm -- ” He glanced down at it, and saw a red stripe flaring up below the wristband, with a coin-sized red circle in the middle. Like an allergy rash, kinda, or a burn.

Oh.

It’d never come up before. He didn’t know that many people who wore real silver jewellery, let alone people who got close enough to touch him with it.

“Oh, I’m, uh, I think I’m allergic to something in your watch, maybe?”

Noct frowned, glancing down at his own watch. “Weird. Are you okay? I can call Ignis, he’ll know what to do.”

“No!” he said hastily. He liked Ignis, but he absolutely didn’t want the strategist, the dude who was studying all these different daemons and their weaknesses in case he had to take them down, to hear he had a silver allergy. Ignis was way too smart to be allowed to know. “I mean, don’t bother him, man. It’s not a big deal, and it’s s’posed to be his day off.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah. Uh…” Noct looked around the room, looking a little helpless. Prompto felt a wave of affection for his useless bestie.

“It’s cool. I’mma just take an antihistamine and see what happens.”

They settled down again, and so did the rash. No problem.

Maybe it was just a one-off.

Except that now it was a few weeks later, the day before a full moon, and Prompto was drained. He felt exhausted, like the tides were dragging on his bones, and he’d spent all day shuffling from place to place. All his energy had been scooped out overnight.

At least this was his last class.

Prompto yawned again and Noct poked him. He realised his eyes were closed and forced them open again before their geography teacher could tell him off.

This was a bad one. His ‘time of the month’ was usually kinda rough, but okay. He’d be tired, eat a bunch of beef mince to try and get some energy, and come up with an excuse for why he couldn’t be out after dark for a few days. Usually he’d tell Noct his parents were home. Sometimes it was even true.

But for some stupid reason, this month was worse than usual. He supposed that might have something to do with all the late-night texting with Noct about the new Justice Monsters trailer this week, but it was definitely mostly the moon. After all, there hadn’t been any late-night texting last night; Noct had sounded a little hurt this morning, til Prompto’d claimed he’d had to work an extra shift at the diner.

Actually he’d been transformed the whole night and it’d taken it out of him. Prompto was still himself when he transformed, even during the full moon; but he couldn’t change back, and his wolf self was a little less inhibited. Sometimes even kinda dumb. He’d run round all last night, getting out his energy - he’d killed a couch cushion, he was gonna have to try and fix that somehow -- and now he just wanted to lie down and sleep. He couldn’t learn any more about Galahd’s changing demographics. It sounded like a cool place, but his brain had turned off.

He felt a finger jab into his side and jerked, blinking his eyes open. Right. Awake.

“Mr Lucis Caelum?”

“Sorry,” Noct said croakily, “but I’m feeling sick. My head hurts.” He pushed the heel of his hand into his forehead and winced. Ignis wouldn’t have been fooled for a second, but Ms Zevin was an easy mark. “Can Prompto take me to the nurse?”

“Fine, of course.”

Oh man. Relief swamped him as he struggled to his feet and grabbed his bag. The two of them staggered out together, leaning into each other and trying not to giggle.

“Should we just ditch? School’s over in twenty minutes anyway.”

“You sure, man? I know people watch you.”

Noct shrugged. “’S cool. I’ll come out and wait with you. You can get an earlier bus, and I’ll tell Ignis I needed some fresh air.”

“You’re gonna lie to Ignis for me?” He clutched his chest. “My hero.”

Noct gave a little smile.

***

Getting out in time to get an earlier bus helped; the relief of being done for the day, and not having to get a bus rammed with his classmates, was incredible. He collapsed into a seat and sent a string of increasingly incomprehensible in-joke thank-you emojis to Noct -- the thank-you hands, and a happy chocobo, and a sick face, and a sleeping chocobo, and the rockin’ hands for being a rebel, and the dead face for if Ignis found out, and the sword and another chocobo for how he’d protect Noct, and a scared chocobo for how… maybe not, actually. He knew Noct’d understand them all, and he was proven right with Noct’s reply: get some sleep so you’ll be ready to face him for me.

Surely even Ignis wouldn’t care that much about twenty minutes of geography, but you never knew… and that did sound like a plan.

He managed not to nod off until they’d reached his stop, which was a minor miracle. He powered through to his front door, keeping up momentum somehow, and then there was the couch. Even half-destroyed by wolf fangs, it looked like heaven.

He collapsed onto it without even taking off his shoes or blazer, and fell into sleep.

***

When he woke, it was dark and he was confused, and there was a lot of noise coming from somewhere. Banging. He growled, kicking at the cloth constraining him, pulling and twisting and tearing his way out of it, cotton ripping loudly. Right, wolf, he’d transformed in his sleep, what was so loud -

That was when the banging turned into one giant bang and he turned, already at bay. The door was hanging off its hinges and someone was there, silhouetted against a brighter light outside. He snarled, showing his teeth in instinctive fright, and then he recognised the voice.

Noct, somehow, Noct of all people, oh shit --

“What the - ? What - Prompto! Prompto! Where are you? Did you fucking - what the hell are you - ”

He was coming closer, not walking away, from a snarling white wolf. Prompto abruptly realised that he wasn’t only a wolf in Prompto’s house, but a wolf surrounded by the shredded remains of Prompto’s uniform.

He was gonna get blasted to bits by Lucian royal magic when Noct heroically avenged his own bloody death, and he’d be way too dead to appreciate the irony then.

He couldn’t fight Noct - he didn’t know all the ins and outs of what Noct had at his command, but he was pretty sure he’d lose. Worse, he didn’t know if he could fight anyone without seriously hurting them. Noct was stalking closer, and a fucking sword was materialising in his hand, outlined in blue light.

For a moment Prompto was tempted to run for it, every sinew of his muscle and beat of his heart telling him run, run, that’s how you survive.

But even through the weird colour-blindness and low-down angle of wolf vision, even with Noct coming closer with that killing blade and the smell of horror and rage coming off him in waves -- it was Noct. His best friend.

If he could just remind him of that, too --

He dropped onto his back, whining.

He couldn’t see Noct very clearly from this angle, especially with the door hanging open to some stupid-bright streetlights. But there was a pause.

Prompto’s heart was thundering; he fought a visceral urge to twist round, shield his vulnerable belly from this threat. His instincts were screaming at him; Noct smelled like danger, like fear and anger and metal and the electric smell of magic. He was a body-length away, he was impossibly tall, but he was Noct.

He whined again, tongue flopping out. Like an invitation, like he was saying don’t you wanna play with me?

Noct knelt down, and Prompto could finally make out his face: eyes dark and wide enough to drown in, face pale and set. But then the sword vanished in a blur of blue, and Prompto wasn’t surprised.

He wriggled on his back, awkward, trying to see Noct’s face better. And maybe it was that movement, somehow, because that was when Noct said “Prompto?” His voice was quiet, breathless, like he’d been hit in the stomach. Like he didn’t believe it.

Prompto gave an excited yip and flailed again before struggling to his feet. Noct reared back a little, probably nervous at the size of an adolescent wolf when Prompto was on his feet; they were pretty much eye-to-eye. Prompto stayed still, tongue out in a doggy grin, and Noct settled back to kneeling.

Prompto came closer, and gave another yip. He hoped it sounded friendly, the way he meant it. He’d never really tried to communicate with anyone but his parents as a wolf before.

Noct’s face broke into a smile. “It is you, isn’t it? I’m not being crazy?”

Prompto yipped again, a bit sarcastically, and Noct rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”

Prompto snuffled laughter and headed towards the front door, which was still wide open. Sheesh, good to know his neighbours’d be there if things seemed weird at his place.

“Oh -- uh -- sorry,” Noct said, before he could even get there to try and nudge it closed with his snout. “I kinda kicked the door in?”

He yelped.

“I know, I’m sorry. I just… you didn’t reply to any of my texts, or even when I called. And so I came over here, I got the Crownsguard to wait at the end of the street, and it was all dark inside but I could see you on the couch. And like, I couldn’t totally tell you were, uh, a wolf, that would’ve been hard to guess.” Noct grinned a little, and so did Prompto in his doggy way. “But I could tell it was your blazer, right, and you moved a bit, and the shape was all weird and I got freaked out that you were hurt or something. So…” He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. If it’d been anyone else, it would’ve looked like he didn’t care, but Prompto knew how to read serious discomfort on Noct.

He wished he could say don’t worry about it, man, you’re paying for it to be fixed. Instead he made a snorting sort of noise and went over to him, pushing his nose against Noct’s hand. Noct jumped a little, then grinned down at him. “I always liked dogs.” He started petting him, putting both hands into Prompto’s ruff and giving him the good fuss. Prompto made a happy creaking sound.

All too soon, Noct took his hands back. Prompto’s eyes slit open and he gave a grumble of complaint.

“Sorry,” said Noct. “The Crownsguard’s gonna come and check on us soon so I should probably go and meet him first, so he doesn’t see the door. But like… is that okay? Are you okay by yourself?”

Prompto barked, something closer to the big, booming barks he was starting to be able to produce than any of the noises he’d made so far tonight. Yes, he was okay by himself. He was literally a wolf.

“Okay. You don’t need, uh, kibble or anything?”

He snorted, turning his head to one side, judging. Noct laughed.

“Okay, sure.”

Noct gave him a scritch behind the ears before he left. It was amazing.

***

His eyes opened and he sat up in a panic. Okay, he was human again, it was morning, he was sitting in the remains of his uniform -- oh, shit, that was its own problem -- and Noct knew.

He fucking knew.

Oh gods.

Where was his phone? He scrabbled around for it, hands running over the carpet. It wasn’t there; he got up and started picking up his torn clothes, waving them around to see if his phone fell out of them. Where was it, oh shit, what had Noct said? What was he gonna do, in the cold light of day? Was he gonna tell?

Then it started to buzz with his alarm, and Prompto found it half under the couch. He swiped the alarm away, swallowed back the sick feeling in his mouth, and checked his messenger.

A bunch of ‘are you alive???’ texts from Noct from last night; they’d reached the point of crown and sword and cutlery emojis, threatening to send over the Crownsguard or Ignis himself, and culminated in actual missed calls from a guy whose favourite thing about being royalty was having people to do phone calls for him. No wonder he’d come over.

And then an all-night gap -- not as standard as it probably should be for them, they sent memes from midnight trips to the loo -- and then, from twenty minutes ago, a link to a video. Prompto tapped it, heart in his mouth.

It was a keeper feeding a baby chocobo. Super cute, but what the fuck?

He sent a bunch of question marks and exclamation points. The reply came seconds later; Noct was up early, for him. Prompto supposed that made sense. Hard to sleep like a baby when you’d just found out your bestie was a werewolf.

We’ll talk at school! Opsec, bro!

He stared at the message helplessly. Well… okay. At least that bro seemed like a good sign. And opsec. You didn’t use spy slang if you were planning to tell people the huge secret.

Unless you could tell the king’s spymaster, maybe. Fuck.

He sat on the bus to school jiggling his leg like a maniac and feeling like that was actually an example of incredible restraint. His parents would be proud.

Well, no, they absolutely wouldn’t, his friend had found out his secret and so had the Crown Prince of Lucis. And his parents worked for the crown, Prompto knew that much, they wouldn’t do anything to damage Lucis or the war effort, but he had no clue if the King or whoever would agree.

He got off the bus and Noct was actually there already, outside school. Super weird; Prompto was always there first, even with how much longer his commute was.

Prompto rushed towards him, then hit a few metres away and felt himself slow down against his will. It was like he was walking through syrup, some thickness in the air dragging at his legs. He desperately wanted to know what Noct would say, but he didn’t wanna talk to him, didn’t want to hear the words that told him it was all over.

Then Noct clocked him, and he rushed over. Noct never rushed anywhere, not at school - it was part of his unconscious emo mystique. “Hey!” Noct said. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah? Basically. Uh. Did you - are you - does Ignis, Gladio - ”

Noct’s eyes widened. “Nah, nah. I’m not gonna tell anyone!”

“No?”

“Of course not! Dude, I wouldn’t. I’m great with secrets. And y’know, if you didn’t even tell me… Anyway, I’m not an idiot. They probably wouldn’t let us hang out any more if they knew.”

Nausea roiled his stomach at the thought. They’d think he was dangerous, they’d cut him off.

“Dude, don’t look like that, it’s - it’s cool, yeah? Lips zipped. They’re just…” He waved a hand expressively. “Weird and overprotective.”

Prompto nodded, and managed a small smile, struggling for equilibrium. He was cool, it was fine. “Yeah. Honestly my parents weren’t sure about us being friends, at first.”

“Yeah?” Noct looked a bit pleased. Maybe just cos he couldn’t have heard that much.

“Well, they were kinda worried I’d tell you. Or there’d be a background check that threw up something weird, y’know.”

Noct did his weird little half-smile, and the tight bands of stress around Prompto’s chest started to ease. Maybe it actually would be okay.

“Parents can be so annoying about weird superpowers, right?”

They headed into school, already getting out their phones to compare notes on the current Justice Monsters event.

After that it was just… one of the things about him. When they were alone at Noct’s place, Noct asked about his powers. (Not many; he could basically just turn into a wolf when he wanted. Couldn’t summon ancient powers, or even hide candy like Noct did with the Armiger.) But Noct didn’t ask about why or how he was a werewolf. It was weird, but a relief. Maybe Noct was just used to the people around him having weird powers or curses.

Prompto didn’t know for sure why he was a werewolf. But he was pretty damn sure it was connected to the murky circumstances around his adoption, and his parents’ jobs that took them out of Lucis a lot, that he was never supposed to talk about, and the barcode on his wrist that no one was allowed to see. (Thank the gods that fur covered it.) Even with Noct knowing about his wolf side, he couldn’t let him know about all of that. Who knew what he’d think? If he’d think he was an infiltrator, some kind of spy, or just an enemy.

No. Noct couldn’t know about all the question marks around his origins. But him knowing about Prompto’s fluffy white wolf side was turning out kinda well.

Noct asked about the full moon, and its effects; Prompto told him how draining it was, that he couldn’t hold off the change. He went over the week before the next full moon and Noct had steaks for them. Thick, juicy rump steaks.

“Dude! Really? How come?”

Noct shrugged, not quite looking at him. “I asked Ignis. I thought it’d be good, y’know… for…”

Prompto smiled helplessly at him, watching him flush a little, always a bit shy when he was doing something nice for people, and that was the point where he couldn’t lie to himself any more. Noct was… Noct had… he was kinda really into Noct.

He wasn’t gonna tell him, he wasn’t that dumb. But in that moment, he couldn’t worry about keeping the secret, or anything at all. He just felt fondness and attraction glowing warmly inside him, swelling til his chest felt tight in the best way possible.

“Ignis is gonna come over and cook em, if we want, but I figured you could try transforming and having some raw, if you wanted? See if that’s better.”

“Yeah!” He hadn’t had the chance to experiment with his wolfy side - to have fun with it - in literal years.

“And Ignis left all these veggies for you to have on the side.”

“For me?”

“Yep, that’s what he said.”

Prompto rolled his eyes, smiling. Man, what a ridiculous person to have a ridiculous crush on. “Let’s find out if I still like carrots when I’m a wolf, I guess.”

It turned out he did. “Weirdo,” Noct commented, watching Prompto crunch another carrot happily between his canines. “Hey, should I get you doggy treats? We could see which ones you like best.”

Prompto gulped down the carrot, then let his tongue hang out in a canine laugh.

The next time he came over, they went and found eleven different types of treat for a taste test. Afterwards, Prompto transformed back and collapsed onto his back on the rug in front of the couch where Noct sat, trying to recover. He was too full even for video games.

“Luna’d be better with all this, I guess,” said Noct idly. “She’s good with dogs.”

Prompto raised an eyebrow. “A wolf, buddy. I’m scary.”

“Sure, yeah,” Noct said dismissively, which was a way harsher burn than anything he could’ve said on purpose. He shrugged. “I’m more of a cat person.”

Prompto laughed, knowing it was true. “You’ll just have to get used to the canine side of things. You’re gonna get licked a lot.”

Laughing, he transformed and put his money where his mouth was, licking all over Noct’s face. Noct laughed, yelping, and tried to fend him off. Not that hard, it had to said.

“Gross!” he said, beaming.

Prompto snuffled at Noct’s cheek, pleased with himself, and then lay down heavily on the couch to keep recovering from the treats, head in Noct’s lap. Noct turned on the TV and they half-watched a streamer for a while; Prompto was pretty sure Noct was even more half-asleep than he was.

Even so, it didn’t take long before Noct started scritching behind his ears. Fucking amazing. He made a grumbly, happy noise and Noct huffed a laugh. “Like that?”

He thumped his tail lazily against the couch.

Noct kept petting him. Between that and the treats, it didn’t take long for Prompto to fall asleep.

He woke fuzzily, a while later, feeling vaguely like his limbs were in the wrong place. Right: human again.

“Hi,” said Noct, round a yawn.

“Hi. Man, that petting took me out. How long was I asleep?”

“Like an hour.”

“Whoa.”

“You like the petting, then?”

“Yeah, gimme them scritches,” he grinned. “I mean, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind. You’re a pretty wolf,” Noct said, then blushed slightly. Even a slight flush, for Mr Alabaster-Skinned Royal, didn’t happen often. Prompto grinned, amused and enjoying the sight of it. He was too foggily content to feel awkward about thinking Noct was cute.

It was definitely better, having Noct know. (Even if he’d had to tell Noct more than once that he wasn’t gonna transform at the arcade or a park for fun. It was a serious rule: only ever at one of their places, where no one could glimpse anything by mistake.) Another day, throwing gummies in the air and trying to catch them in their mouths (Noct’s score: 4, Prom’s score: 7), Noct choked on his for a second. He managed to get it down, with a hacking cough and a ferocious glower; he hated it when Ignis’ dire warnings were proven right.

“Better call it there?” Prompto suggested innocently, and the glower increased.

“S’pose so!”

“Yes!” Prompto threw his arms up in the air. “Victory is mine!”

“Shut up!”

Prompto was in loose pyjamas, so he transformed without even bothering to get rid of them and threw back his head. “Awoo!” he howled his victory.

Noct burst out laughing. “Oh my gods, shut up!”

“Awoo!”

“Ssh,” Noct choked out past his laughter. “Ssh, or Specs and Gladio’ll find out you’re a werewolf!”

Prompto changed back, frowning as he adjusted his ever-more-stretched-out PJs. “Nah, nah. We’ll come up with something. A plan.”

It all ended in Ignis arriving the next afternoon to find Prompto and Noct giving firmly human “awoos” and dying of giggles. He gave them a puzzled frown which only made them laugh harder. They turned to each other once he left and high-fived, stomachs hurting from laughter.

Noct managed a half-credible serious face. “Now if they hear anything, we can just be like ‘we always sound like wolves, we don’t know what you mean’.”

“Genius!”

And the scritches, oh man, the scritches. Nobody had ever given him scritches before, really; he’d never hung out with his parents in wolf form. He’d had no idea how good it could feel. It wasn’t sexual; he wouldn’t have let Noct keep going, if it was, it would’ve been taking advantage. But it was just so cosy, and felt so good, and so safe. Noct experimented with stroking his ears and scritching behind them and rubbing through his ruff and along his back and his tummy, all sorts of stuff. It was the best.

He’d changed back into a human, cos Ignis was due over soon, but he was still rhapsodising about scritches. Noct rolled his eyes, smiling, then laughed outright as he went on.

“The gods’ sake, then, come here. Scritches for human Prompto.”

“You sure?” He clutched his chest, playing up the drama.

“Sure I’m sure.”

Prompto didn’t wait to be told twice, thumping his head onto Noct’s knee. Noct started scritching and petting his hair, massaging along his scalp, and Prompto groaned, only barely exaggerating. “Oh my gods.”

Noct’s hands paused, and Prompto squinted his eyes open in complaint, then opened them properly at the look on Noct’s face. Hesitant, and…

Was that want? Was he just imagining it?

He pulled himself up on his elbows, staring up at Noct. Not breaking eye contact for a second, barely daring to breathe. Was this actually happening?

Noct leant down, and he leant up, and their mouths met.

For a moment it was perfect silence, just that electric touch, that first kiss. Like being in a snowglobe, a bubble of silence and beauty.

And then they both took huge gulps of air because they’d been holding their breath, and burst into giggles.

Hesitation, another half-second of eye contact, and then a lot more kisses.

***

Their sleepovers were getting increasingly cuddly, even if they hadn’t… quite… dared go too far. That Saturday morning, Prompto was only just awake enough to be blurrily pleased at Noct’s warmth, the comfort of Noct’s bed and how they were smushed against each other. Their limbs weren’t quite where he’d have expected, something was a bit off, but the early-morning sunlight, Noct’s smell, and the vague sound of Ignis making breakfast were too cosy for him to do anything but go back to sleep.

The next thing he was aware of was an ear-splitting crash. He jerked up, a fumble of limbs, and found a spear in his face.

“Ignis, what the fuck!” Noct sounded just as panicked as he felt, and Prompto barked a question -

Oh shit.

Prompto transformed back, melting into himself, hands up in surrender. It didn’t change anything in Ignis’ face, and that was the most terrifying thing of all. Ignis could’ve looked ridiculous, standing surrounded by the shattered remnants of breakfast, his tailored trousers splattered with fried egg, holding some huge weapon in a messy bedroom. He didn’t. His eyes were cold and they followed every movement of Prompto’s with chilly precision. Prompto abruptly felt he’d never be half the predator Ignis was.

“A werewolf,” Ignis said, and it didn’t sound like a question.

“Yeah, he’s a werewolf.” Prompto said nothing, just shrinking back against Noct as much as he could, wishing he wasn’t mostly naked under the duvet. “So what?”

That got Ignis’ eyes to stop boring into Prompto. He looked at Noct, blinking, disbelief finally visible in his face. “You knew?”

“Of course I knew, I’m his best friend! And he’s mine, so stop pointing that thing at him, you’re freaking him out.”

“You knew,” repeated Ignis. “And you didn’t tell me?”

Oh shit. Prompto was somehow even more freaked out now. He was sure he could detect a thread of real hurt in Ignis’ voice - along with anger.

“I guess I thought you might freak out for no reason,” Noct said, voice heavy with sarcasm. He stood up on the bed, making the mattress rock, and reached for the spear. It dissolved into blue sparks under his hand, and Ignis moved out of his combat pose; it looked like easy acceptance but Ignis’ mouth was tight, and he was paler than usual.

The green eyes flickered between the two of them -- Prompto half-cowering under Noct’s Mario Kart duvet, Noct balancing on his mattress like he was ready to go to war, both of them in boxers. Ignis nodded, like he’d made a decision.

“Get dressed. I’m calling Gladio.”

He swept out, and Noct collapsed onto the mattress with a bounce. “Shit. Are you okay?”

“No, I - I’m not supposed to let anyone know.” Prompto’s voice was higher than usual, and getting more panicked as he went. “My parents are gonna kill me, shit, Ignis might actually kill me - ”

“He won’t, he was just overreacting cos he saw a wolf in my bed. You get that, right?” Noct grabbed his shoulders, their faces close together. Prompto gulped and tried to focus on the blue eyes, tried not to spiral. “I know he’s flipping out but I swear you don’t need to be this scared. Iggy likes you, okay, and so does Gladio, and they’ll understand why you couldn’t say anything.”

Prompto bit his lower lip hard, trying to hold back tears. It was even worse, somehow, having Noct reassure him and say all the right things while knowing there was a whole other secret Noct didn’t even know about. What’d Noct think if he found out Prompto was adopted, that he was pretty sure he came from outside the Wall? Would Ignis and Gladio even believe that he’d grown up in Insomnia, that he was behind the Lucians one thousand percent in this horrible fucking war?

Noct looked around his room, scrubbing at his messy hair. He was visibly frantic, not knowing what to do, and Prompto closed his eyes, trying to at least pretend he was calm. He didn’t want Noct to be left trying to help and not knowing how, that was a sucky situation to be in.

“Okay, I’ll… I’ll get in the shower. Get ready.”

“Yeah,” said Noct, nodding eagerly. “Good idea.”

It was a pretty intensely average idea, really, but it kind of helped. At least they were both dressed, and he felt like he had his shit marginally together, by the time the buzzer announced Gladio’s arrival.

Then Ignis opened the door and Gladio actually walked in. Ignis stood there talking to him in a low voice as Gladio toed his trainers off, and Prompto found he didn’t have his shit together at all. What was Ignis saying? Even if it was just the obvious, that he was a werewolf and he’d got Noct to keep his secret, that was bad enough. Were they gonna tell the King and everybody about him? Make Noct stop being friends with him? Did they know he and Noct were - not more than friends, there couldn’t be anything more, but did they know they were something else, too? Maybe they did know and they’d been chill about it before, which had to mean they were about to freak out. They’d found a wolf in Noct’s bed, for fuck’s sake.

Noct squeezed his wrist, and Prompto looked at him. “Hey, calm down a bit,” he murmured. “I can see the top of your head’s about to spin off.”

“Well, yeah.” His voice broke slightly from the panic.

“It’ll be okay. Just be honest with them, yeah? We’ll tell them everything and they’ll be okay. Maybe not today, but eventually.”

Prompto blinked at him. After a few seconds he managed, “how are you this calm?”

“Someone’s gotta be.”

He laughed shakily.

“All right,” Gladio said, louder now, clearly speaking to everyone. “Let’s talk about this.”

He looked a bit bewildered around the edges -- it wasn’t even 9 a.m. on a Saturday and already Noct was sleeping with a wolf in his bed -- but he was handling it. Impressive, honestly.

“Coffee?” Ignis said. Prompto said yes; they all did. Prompto was probably jittery enough already, but he needed something to hold onto.

They settled around the table. Prompto was trembling already. Noct’s face was creased in sympathy and concern. It helped, looking at him.

“So. You’re a werewolf.”

Gladio’s tone wasn’t harsh, but Prompto still felt his shoulders come up round his ears at the words. He nodded.

“How long?”

“As long as I can remember.”

“And how did Noct find out? Did you tell him?”

Prompto shook his head. “N-no. I was - he came over, when I was transformed, cos the full moons take it out of me. He could tell, at school, and then I napped after school and then the moon rose, so I didn’t reply to any of his texts. He came over and saw me.”

Ignis and Gladio both glanced at Noct as he spoke, and Noct nodded confirmation. Noct shifted along in his chair, pressed his shoulder and arm against Prompto’s in silent support. It helped; Prompto gulped back the tears that were threatening. His heart was fluttering in his throat.

“Were you in danger then, Noct?” Ignis asked. “When he saw you unexpectedly, in wolf form, in his territory?”

“No! No, the opposite. For a second I thought he’d hurt Prompto, actually - like, it was a wolf surrounded by the shredded bits of Prompto’s school blazer. I came at him with a sword, and he just fell on his back, showed his belly. Cos he knew I’d stop, I’d realise it was him.”

Prompto nodded frantically. Of course he’d known.

The others looked thoughtful. After a second Gladio said slowly, “Prompto. I gotta ask.”

Prompto looked at him, wide-eyed.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re… you’re freaking out even more than I’d expect, honestly. When you’re transformed, you’re more… primal, right? Can’t control your instincts the same way?”

“Right.” His voice was quiet, half-strangled by fear.

“Have you ever… hurt anyone, while you were like that? Killed anyone?”

“No!” His denial was echoed by Noct’s.

“So why…?” He gestured at him, clearly meaning why are you such a mess.

He didn’t know what to say for a few seconds; his mind was just screaming static. Noct put a hand on his arm, and Prompto looked at him. Just that reassurance helped him find his way to a coherent thought: Noct had said to tell them everything.

Prompto croakily managed to say at least part of the truth. “People are gonna think I’m a spy, that I was sent after Noct.”

And that could mean arrest. Prison. Death, even. They were at war, after all, and werewolves were mostly a Gralean thing. They liked the cold.

Gladio and Ignis looked at each other.

“I had been considering it,” Ignis said evenly. “A shared secret is an excellent way to get someone on your side, especially someone like Noct, who’s grown up under such scrutiny. The fellow feeling of it, the thrill of getting one over on us.” His lips pressed together tightly for a moment. “It’d be predictable that he’d like it.”

“What?” Noct exploded. “You can’t actually think that!”

“I’m… considering it. I have to, Noct, it’s my job,” Ignis said, more anger in his voice than Prompto had ever heard him aim at Noct.

“And you?” demanded Noct, turning to Gladio.

Gladio looked at them all in turn, clearly thinking. Prompto’s stomach swooped. He’d wanted so much for Gladio to say what, don’t be crazy, Prompto wouldn’t do that. For it to be automatic.

“Ignis is right, we have to consider it,” he said slowly. “But… when did you find out, Noct?”

“In, like… January, or something. There’s been three full moons since.”

“Yeah. You’d think Prompto would’ve told him sooner, if it was a plan like you said.”

“A strange coincidence, for Noct’s friend to be a werewolf.”

“Very weird. But could be one.”

Ignis nodded. His eyes were hooded; he stared into his coffee like he was trying to do calculus with a time limit, or something, his mind visibly working. “Could be. I’m going to call Cor.”

Prompto closed his eyes, trying not to make a sound. Noct went the other way, his voice loud, raised in a way he almost never did. “You can’t! Prompto’s not a spy, there’s no way! If you tell Cor then everyone finds out and it’s a whole thing, it’s not fair to do that to Prompto just cos he’s friends with me!”

There was a tiny silence. Prompto’s eyes opened, following the same instinct that told him to open his eyes when walking near a sharp drop.

Ignis said coolly, “werewolves are almost unknown in Lucis. There are, however, werewolf regiments in the Empire’s army. Gralean soldiers infected deliberately in order to make them better fighters.”

Prompto burst into tears at that, a flood of panic washing away all his defences. Noct was furiously defending him but Prompto couldn’t even take in the words. This was everything he’d been scared of, his worst nightmare come true. He rubbed his face, trying to stop the tears, to get himself together, but the tears kept coming, the waves of hitched breaths halfway between sobbing and panic attack.

Noct’s voice died away, and then abruptly he was wrapped in an intense, awkward hug, his arms in the way, Noct on his feet and at a weird angle. Even so, he leaned into the hug -- half-collapsed into it, really, like a tree being blown down in a storm, falling into another as it went.

And then another touch, on his arm. Prompto flinched, eyes opening to find Gladio crouched by him. “Hey, it’s not that bad,” he said. “Here, drink some water.”

He offered the glass, and Prompto took it. He was shaking so hard that the glass knocked against his teeth as he drank.

“You’re okay,” Gladio said, his voice something close to soothing. It was working, a bit anyway. “Listen. You’ll be okay. We’re not trying to just… get you, or anything. We just wanna find out the truth.”

He laughed a little, shakily, and hoped no one realised why. The truth... well, Prompto didn’t know it either, not properly. But he didn’t think it’d stop him from getting got.

Maybe if he could show he was being honest. Throw them a truth, stop them looking any further, finding the barcode or whatever secrets lay behind it. “I’m - I’m a-adopted,” he managed. “I don’t know where…”

“He’s been in my class since elementary school,” Noct said loudly, “he’s not a spy.”

Oh fuck, this was getting so close to his parents and their jobs outside of Lucis - his parents who actually were spies, he was pretty sure, and whose jobs he could never say anything about. And that was a rule he couldn’t break, he couldn’t; it was entrenched in him from before he could speak at all. The tears rose up again.

“I’m going to call Cor,” Ignis said. He held up a hand to stop Noct’s retort, and Noct actually stopped talking, maybe out of sheer surprise. “We can’t possibly deal with this by ourselves; it’s my duty to report this. And you know the Marshal’s not going to be looking for a reason to condemn Prompto, Noct.”

Noct opened his mouth, then sighed, shoulders sagging. Defeated. “Make sure it’s Cor. Don’t let Drautos get in on this.”

“Certainly not,” Ignis said, voice smooth in that slightly ironic way, sounding more like himself than he had all morning. “This is domestic business, in both senses of the word; far outside of Drautos’ realm.”

He took out his phone and went onto the balcony. Prompto mauled his lower lip, watching, and Noct put his arm round him and muttered low, fierce, often-incomprehensible words about how he hadn’t done anything wrong and Noct was gonna make sure they all saw it and he was gonna fix all of this and Prompto didn’t have to worry and the next time Noct had training he was gonna punch Iggy in the dick. Gladio snorted at that, and Prompto laughed wetly.

“Don’t do that, man, he’s just doing his job.”

“You are way too forgiving,” Noct told him, rolling his eyes.

The phone call was excruciatingly long; seventeen minutes by Prompto’s count, which was deathly. Even Gladio looked like he was dying by the end of it. He’d made tea, probably cos it was a lot less caffeinated than Iggy’s death-brew and he could drink more of it while they waited.

Finally, Ignis glanced over his shoulder at them; he’d been studiously avoiding doing that so far, it seemed. “Oh?” he said, as far as Prompto could tell, squinting at his mouth through the bulletproof glass. And then, “oh,” again, and he started to smile.

Ignis came back inside and they all got to their feet, too frantic with impatience to stay seated.

“Cor says it’s not a concern,” he said.

“What?” Noct said blankly.

“He says it’s fine. I get the sense that they may have been aware of this already, actually.”

“What?” That was Gladio. “Are you serious?”

The relief was so overwhelming that Prompto found himself staggering. Noct grabbed him with an exclamation, and made him sit down.

“Are you all right?” Ignis said, and waited for the dazed nod before replying to Gladio. “I’m entirely serious, but I don’t have any details for you. I told the Marshal about all this, and he paused for a moment then asked for Prompto’s name again. And then he went away from the phone, and when he came back, he told me it was fine. I tried to ask a few questions, as you’d imagine, and he rather calmly told me he had other business and if I had any other concerns, to contact Monica. So… that’s it.” He spread his hands, looking a little helpless. Underneath, though, Prompto could sense genuine relief.

“What?” Gladio said again. “Look, that’s great, Prompto, obviously, but - he didn’t even seem surprised? Even for the Marshal, that’s… I see why you think he might’ve known already.” He stood up, chair scraping back loudly. “I’m calling Dad. This is too weird.”

Prompto blinked after him. He felt stunned, his head empty of thoughts; it was just static in his brain, like it was one of those old radios and couldn’t find a station.

“Hey,” said Noct. “Hey, you’re okay.” His blue eyes were anxious, and Prompto tried to shake himself back into some kind of working state instead of a brain stuck like a frozen computer.

“Yeah,” he managed. “Yeah, thanks.”

“I’ll make breakfast,” said Ignis. “Prompto, what would you like?”

He shrugged helplessly. “Um. Anything? Thanks.”

Ignis nodded, seeming to understand that he couldn’t make a decision now, and Prompto was pathetically grateful.

Gladio was back after only a couple of minutes. “What the hell was that?” he spluttered. He didn’t sound remotely angry, thank the gods. “Dad answered and just said ‘so I’ve spoken to Cor’ so I asked him what was up, and he just said everything was fine, not to worry. And I tried asking if he had anything else I should know, and did they know already, and why didn’t they tell us if they did… and he just said ‘no, that’s fine’ really calmly and hung up. What the hell?”

Prompto’s parents must have told the crown. It made sense; they’d probably told them when he was a baby, even. They’d been doing whatever it was they did since well before they adopted him.

But he wasn’t gonna tell the others; he couldn’t. So he ate his breakfast - a very spicy omelette full of crunchy vegetables, an obvious attempt to make up for things from Ignis - and peacefully listened to them all speculate and boggle and every so often repeat “that’s fine!” at the top of their lungs. It was kind of a bonding experience.

And it kind of slowly became clear that it really was fine. After breakfast they wouldn’t let him go home; Ignis spent the day making Prompto’s favourite foods and eyeing him carefully and making him drink water. Gladio offered to play Sniper Death Trap with him, even though Prompto always wiped the floor with all contenders. Noct rented Prompto’s favourite kid’s movie, an animated one about dinosaurs, and took Gladio’s teasing without saying a word, and snuggled up against him while they watched.

And in the days and weeks afterwards, it kept being fine, somehow, and Prompto’s disbelief slowly turned into belief. Gladio offered Prompto space to transform during the full moon, if he wanted, offered to keep an eye on him to make sure it was okay. And it didn’t seem to be a trap; when Prompto said no, nervous of transforming somewhere outside his own home, Gladio nodded amiably and didn’t bring it up again. Ignis asked about lycanthropic dietary requirements and started stuffing him with steak. Prompto had just said ‘red meat’s good’; the steak was clearly a peace offering, and Prompto was so, so grateful. So happy to accept.

Noct took a little longer to forgive, but he admitted privately that he was relieved, too. It was hard keeping secrets from Iggy and Gladio. And Gladio seemed to be actively pleased by now; he thought it was good that Noct had a new superpowered friend to protect him.

“Shut up!” Noct said, upset. “He’s not here to protect me!” But his spines came down a little when he saw Prompto’s smile.

The final proof that it was okay, though, came when Ignis used his freaking catlike, ninja steps to walk in on them making out on the couch.

Ignis spluttered, they threw themselves at opposite ends of the couch, and the three of them stared at each other for an unbearable three point five seconds before Ignis burst out laughing. “Your faces!”

Gladio arrived within half an hour to deliver a ‘doggy style’ joke.

“No,” Noct said flatly. Prompto agreed, but privately he was kind of emotional. They really were okay with him, they really did trust him. He didn’t even get a shovel talk.

Noct apparently got a safe sex talk from Ignis that killed his interest in making out for a good two and a half days, but he recovered in the end.

The best sign that the whole… traumatic werewolf reveal thing… was behind them? Noct started having fun with it again. Prompto showed up after a shift at the diner one Sunday and Noct said, “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Oh yeah?” he said cautiously, already grinning. “Dangerous words, coming from you. Did you find a new way to make veggies disappear?”

“Other than having you eat ’em?”

Prompto rolled his eyes. “Veggies are good, you freak.”

“Hey, don’t sass your source of steak. Gimme a bit of time to work on Iggy and I can hook you up with wagyu.”

Prompto’s eyes went round. “Say that to me in wolf form, I’ll drool everywhere.”

Noct wrinkled his nose. “Maybe not. But d’you want your actual surprise?”

He smiled. “Gimme.”

Noct made a ‘ta-da!’ kind of noise and pulled something out of the Armiger - three somethings. He brandished them at Prompto, who burst out laughing.

Costumes - costumes for big dogs. There was a Spiracorn, a dinosaur, and a Behemoth.

“Go on,” Noct pleaded. “It’ll be fun.”

“Oh man, it’ll be hilarious, you don’t gotta convince me, bro. Which one first?”

“Maybe Behemoth? Then I can be a heroic daemon hunter and fight you.”

He burst out laughing. “Yeah, okay.”

Getting into the costume turned out to be kind of more work than they’d expected, but they managed it in the end. Prompto was delighted with his new Behemoth look, staring at himself in Noct’s mirror. He went lumbering around the apartment, thumping as Behemoth-ishly as he could.

“I’ll defeat you, daemon!” Noct yelled and thwapped him with a couch cushion. Prompto tried to roar at him, but it came out as more of a weird howl. “Back, foul daemon! I’m not scared! It’s my last day before retirement!” Noct struck a heroic hunter pose in front of the couch.

Prompto pawed at the floor like a bull, then charged at full speed, leaping up at him. His front paws connected solidly with Noct’s chest and Noct collapsed backwards as his weight hit, yelping. They tumbled onto the couch and then straight onto the floor together, Noct laughing, Prompto snorting.

He snarled, then gave his biggest, deepest growl. It vibrated out of his chest terrifyingly, and Noct actually looked a bit startled but not at all scared. Prompto punished him for this by licking his face all over.

“Ah! Ah! No, gerroff! Argh, off, you little - yuck!” Noct shoved at him, which Prompto roundly ignored. He barked happily and kept licking, proud of himself. He was the biggest, scariest behemoth around.

“Argh, fine.” Noct’s head collapsed back against the couch. “It’s… getting dark… tell Cassie I love her…”

Cassie was the girl Prompto’d had a crush on before he got one on Noct. He barked disapprovingly and nipped gently at Noct’s arm. Rude!

“Been murdered… by a monstrous beast… hold me Cassie…”

Prompto bapped him gently on the face with a huge paw. Noct giggled.

“Jerk. Don’t hit me, I’m dying. You gonna hook up with Cassie at my funeral?”

That was it. Prompto huffed and shoved his face at Noct’s stomach, pushing up his t-shirt with his snout. He pressed his cold, wet nose right into Noct’s stomach. Noct squawked, then burst out laughing. “Oh gods, get off, you mangy - I give, I give!”

Prompto backed off, and trotted over to the cupboard where the winner of their treats tournament was now kept. That was another bonus of people knowing: they could keep snacks for his wolfy side next to their other snacks, instead of Noct hiding them somewhere and praying Ignis didn’t find them while cleaning and decide Noct had a weird fetish.

“Gods, fine. You were a good behemoth.”

He barked smugly. He knew.

The next time they saw each other should’ve been a normal day; they went to the arcade, got bubble tea, then headed back to Noct’s apartment. Made out on the couch til Ignis arrived, then played games while Ignis gently teased them. It was nice.

But Noct got… kinda squirrelly as the day went on. Quieter than usual, eyeing Prompto sideways when he thought Prompto hadn’t noticed. It made Prompto’s stomach sink. He rifled through the last couple of weeks in his mind and couldn’t think of anything he’d done wrong. But maybe he’d missed something?

By the time Ignis left, he was jittery with nerves, jiggling a leg and tapping his fingers against his own cheek and generally being a weirdo.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

Shit. “Yeah, of course buddy.”

He’d find a way to make it okay if Noct wanted to break up. They could still be friends. They had to be.

“Uh. It’s gonna sound weird.”

“Weird, weird, what’s weird? We’re always weird.”

Noct laughed a little. “Yeah.” He didn’t seem to notice Prompto was being weirder than usual himself; he had this internal kind of look on his face, lost in his own thoughts. “So, I know you probably don’t wanna meet my dad yet. Like, properly. I know it’s a lot.”

“Yeah,” he managed. Okay, good sign? This didn’t sound like a lead-up to ‘it’s not me, it’s you.’

“Uh, but, and I know this is kinda freaky. But it’s… it would’ve been my mom’s birthday, in a couple weeks. I usually go to the family chapel on the actual day, with my dad, and then we have dinner or whatever. But I like going to this park near the Citadel, where we used to go when I was little. I don’t remember that much about her, I was too young, but I do remember that she’d take me to look at these big ponds they have, full of different exotic fish.” Noct finally looked straight at him, eyes serious. “I thought maybe you could come.”

“Oh… wow, Noct.” Prompto’s chest hurt for Noct, for that loss. He kind of couldn’t believe Noct would invite him to come with him to one of the only places that held actual memories of his mom. “Yeah. I mean I’d be honoured. You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Wow.

The next day Prompto quietly asked Ignis for advice on what to wear, and Ignis smiled his approval and told him he could dress as usual. Prompto obeyed, but tried to be a little tidier than usual; his hair wasn’t the usual carefully-constructed mayhem, but carefully combed. Noct looked at it quizzically as he got out of the usual big black Crownsguard car at the entrance to the park.

“Why…?”

Prompto shrugged awkwardly. “Well, it’s like. This is like meeting your mom, kind of, right? I wanna look… I dunno, respectable.”

Noct smiled softly and reached out, before letting his hand drop. It was a gesture they’d worked out between each otheer without ever discussing it out loud: I’d hold your hand right now if that wouldn’t create a thousand rumours.

“Thanks.”

Gladio got out, too, and handed Noct a bouquet of lilies. Noct let it dangle from his hand, but he wasn’t careless with it.

“No Ignis?”

“Not this time. It’s usually a solo thing,” Noct said. “But, y’know, public place, so Gladio comes.”

Prompto was glad it wasn’t a random Crownsguard for this. Someone close, someone who’d get it about losing your mom young.

He was gonna call his mom the second they left.

It wasn’t super weird and solemn as they walked through the park, but definitely more serious than usual. Gladio stayed back more than usual, maybe six feet, playing the bodyguard. Prompto let Noct set the pace, and listened as he talked about his mom in between other subjects.

He’d never been to the park before; it was a beautiful royal one, full of tourists and families, and water everywhere. Fountains and koi ponds as well as a big lake leading from the river, and a bunch of smaller ponds. That’s where Noct led them. He smiled, pointing out different fish. “Dad likes it here. He used to take me sometimes, but he doesn’t like to shut the place down.”

“I s’pose for the king, they have to.”

“Yeah, especially in wartime. People don’t usually notice me, though, especially if I’m with you.”

“Guess I have a, like, field of un-interestingness around me.” He grinned.

Noct rolled his eyes. “Please. People notice you - you’re blond and kinda loud.” Prompto gasped playfully, clutching his chest. “It’s more like, they just see teenagers and don’t look closer.”

“Mmm.”

They kept walking. “Oh, there’s an utsuri. They were Mom’s favourites.” It was a beautiful jet-black koi with vivid red patches. Prompto laughed.

“Very emo. Guess she was like you.”

“Guess so,” Noct said softly. “So she’d have liked you.”

Prompto smiled back, his heart hurting in the best way.

They kept walking and after a few minutes Noct said, “I’m gonna go and leave the flowers. Gimme a minute, will you?”

“Of course. Take your time.”

He stood still under the shade of a huge, flowering tree next to Gladio. And within thirty seconds it happened, a way he’d never seen before. Clearly Noct was right. Among his classmates, he didn’t stand out. Walking solemnly through the park, past tourist groups and laughing knots of teenagers… people started to notice. Little whispers, nudges, “is that…?”

A couple of people took sly photos, and Prompto scowled. He glanced up at Gladio. “Can you do anything?”

“I’m not supposed to, not unless it’s paparazzi. The professional press knows they have to leave him alone til he’s eighteen, outside of official functions, so I can stop them, but with shit like this I’m not supposed to be that heavy-handed.”

Prompto winced, watching someone zoom in. Noct hadn’t noticed yet, or maybe he was just too used to this to react. Noct knelt down under a tree, and a ripple went through the watching people. They weren’t all staring outright, but more and more of them were, especially at that sight. Noct pale and solemn and upright, holding himself at a respectful angle that Prompto knew hurt his back. Laying the lilies down.

Prompto gritted his teeth. He wanted to go round telling them off, maybe shouting at the tourists taking photos, the group of younger teenagers, giggling and excited. Couldn’t they tell this was a serious thing? Not some cute cameo moment for social media, but something important and intimate.

He could hear the teenagers starting to debate going over to talk to Noct, to check if he really was the prince, ask if he’d take selfies with him, ask what he was doing. Prompto looked up at Gladio desperately. Gladio was glaring, jaw clenched, arms crossed. But he shook his head again, not seeming to trust himself to speak.

They needed a distraction. Should he run up and join Noct, warn him? But then he’d be in the photos too - and anyway, it wouldn’t save Noct, not now. It’d still interrupt his time with his mom, force him to be on and polite and maybe even take some photos. Prompto absolutely couldn’t have that. Noct needed time to just be a person, for fuck’s sake, especially around something so raw.

He sucked in a breath. Was he actually going to take a risk this big? He’d sworn to himself he’d never, sworn to his parents he’d never… But he looked at Noct and the growing number of eager faces watching him and there was no choice.

“Hold on one second.”

“What?”

Prompto ran off towards the bathrooms, little wooden stalls nestled among trees and undergrowth. It was only about fifteen metres away, close if you properly booked it, and then he wrestled his way behind them, breaking branches as he went. He checked over his shoulder; no one noticed, no one even glanced his way. If anyone was glancing idly around, or wondering what people were looking at, they ended up watching Noct. And then Prompto was out of sight.

He wrestled out of his clothes at top speed and came flying back into the open green as a wolf.

Except he wasn’t: what Prompto was projecting, as hard as wolf-ly possible, was dog. Big, friendly white dog, not awkwardly juvenile, gangly wolf. He barked, loud and cheerful, and darted amidst the knot of teenagers. They burst out laughing, reaching to stroke him, to touch his ears, tell him how cute he was, ask where he’d come from. Most of their phones even turned on him. He lolled his tongue out, and sat happily for a few of the ones who wanted to take photos with him, let them all scritch behind his ears and amidst his ruff.

That was the most dangerous lot taken care of, but it wasn’t all. Prompto barked some more, prancing his way out from amongst the group; they let him go with sad cries. He danced towards a family of tourists, then another group. Prompto didn’t let any of them catch him this time, though, just getting their attention. He knew what he wanted to do.

Prompto barked even louder, circling behind most of them, trying to get more people to turn round and look at him instead of where Noct knelt under the tree. Then he started a loping run towards the fountain, slow, then faster and faster. The noise from watching people grew, and there was a burst of laughter and some cheers as he leapt into the stone fountain, sending a wave of water over the side. He barked again, splashing through it, demanding attention. It was genuinely fun, honestly, but more importantly it was causing a ruckus.

He jumped back out again, finally, and stood still for a couple of families to come over and give him scritches. He rolled onto his back, then rolled again, silly and unthreatening. A terrier came over to sniff at him, followed by the family, and he sniffed back. The family threw a ball and he and the terrier started to play, an exercise in contrasts; laughter and cooing burst around them as they raced after the ball. The terrier was friendly, and Prompto tried to let it win a couple of times.

He looked up, and Noct had vanished in the distraction. Good. Prompto just had to hope he was right that nobody had bothered him.

He played for a while longer, not wanting to be suspicious by disappearing too fast after Noct did; he couldn’t imagine anyone guessing what’d happened here, but better paranoid than sorry. He hoped they weren’t waiting for him.

Then he heard a low male voice. “Hey there… Snowball.” He turned to see Cor there. “Come here, boy.”

He yipped his amusement and obeyed. People were telling Cor what a cute dog he had.

“I like him,” Cor agreed. “Even if he slipped his collar again.”

He followed Cor out of the park, and into the big black car. Prompto didn’t transform back, not wanting to be naked, and really this was maybe the weirdest part of today: being in a car in his wolf form, surrounded by scary military types who all knew about him, and didn’t seem to mind.

Noct cuddled up to him immediately, petting his ears and scritching through his ruff. He didn’t say anything at all during the car journey, maybe not wanting to get emotional in the car, or just knowing it was hard to have a conversation with a wolf, even for people as good at non-verbal communication as they were. Maestros of the emoji, they were.

Gladio handed Noct Prompto’s clothes, and they all headed up to the apartment. Prompto was left in Noct’s room with his stuff, and came out thirty seconds later to find Noct ensconced on the couch like he’d been there for hours. Noct tilted his head in invitation, and Prompto settled down next to him, letting out a deep breath. Safe.

“You totally saved me today,” said Noct. “Thank you.”

Prompto laughed at him, then realised Noct’s face was serious, and stopped in confusion. “Gladio saved you, man, he got you out of there. I was just a fun distraction.”

“Uh huh,” Noct said. “But even then… you reacted fast, y’know. And you took a big risk to help me. I know you’ve never wanted to transform where people might see you.”

Prompto shrugged. “I had to. I mean, I didn’t have any other ideas, and it was a great way to get people to look somewhere else. I wasn’t gonna let them come and bother you, that would’ve sucked so much.”

“Yeah,” said Noct slowly. “I know. You wouldn’t let that happen.” He drifted slowly sideways to lean against Prompto on the couch, a silent request for snuggles. Prompto fulfilled it, settling in with an arm round Noct’s shoulders.

“You’re not up for meeting my dad yet, are you?” said Noct.

Prompto shuddered. “Not til Ignis has given me a zillion etiquette lessons, my man.”

Noct laughed. “You don’t need ’em. But okay.”

“Why d’you ask, anyway?”

Noct shrugged, a little smile on his face that Prompto, for once, couldn’t quite read. “Just wondered. I gotta talk to him about something, anyway. Got some ideas for the Crownsguard.”