Summary: The chocobros hang out at Noctis’s apartment after he brings home a new video game and avoids doing chores because spending time with friends is a lot more important.
Note: Slight hints of Promptis if you squint but generally this is a feel-good kind of fic that shows what the group usually ends up doing when they were all together during Noctis’ high school years.
Here’s my Secret Santa gift for @nicotopin for the FFXV Small Secret Santa exchange!! It’s a little over 600 words and I know that’s the maximum but I think I captured the chocobros’ personalities pretty well with that word limit! Hope you enjoy and happy holidays! :D
“Noctis, I believe I told you to take care of the dishes before I came back with the groceries.” Ignis set the paper bag atop the kitchen island, already emptying its contents for produce that needed to go into the fridge.
Across the room, past where the kitchen merged with the living room, the quiet prince was currently engrossed in the latest video game he bought earlier that day. It was always Prompto’s cheeriness that encouraged him to go out and buy something without a second thought. There was a certain warmth in his chest whenever he saw that same wide grin after they won something at the arcade, and he couldn’t help but do anything to see it again and again.
Prompto was sprawled across the couch, his legs propped over Noctis’s lap as the other was hunched over with the game controller in hand. Neither of them even bothered to change out of their school uniforms yet, too eager to play the new game the moment the disc was inserted into the console.
“Dude, come on! We have to get to the store right away when the bell rings. Who knows how many copies they’ll have left? I hope there’s still some left.”
“How do you even know all of this?” Noctis tried to sound sincere since he always had a tendency to end his words with biting sarcasm. “And don’t worry about it. We’ll get you that game.”
To his surprise, Noctis was having the time of his life watching the rocket-powered car flip around across the television. He knew the objective of the game was to get the soccer ball in the net, but his eyes lit up with joy as he imagined having an off-road vehicle of his own that could do all kinds of neat tricks.
“Honestly, I don’t see what can be more appealing than taking care of the responsibility you should have done hours- can a car even achieve that kind of velocity?” The voice belonged to Ignis, who seemed to have been intrigued by the chaos ensuing on screen as he stood behind couch.
“It has rocket powered jetpacks, which makes all the cars in the game go super fast! It’s crazy man, you should give it a try!” Prompto had pitched in, knowing Noctis was still focused on the game. The prince moved his head so he could still see what was going on the screen as his friend passed over a controller to Ignis. The latter made a noise he couldn’t quite describe but it was a sound he made whenever he was immediately shoved into a situation he wasn’t prepared for.
The screen ahead had split the camera on Noctis’ car and offered a split-screen mode for Ignis to play on now. He was slightly worried the other wouldn’t feel too comfortable at this point, and so he spared a glance towards his caretaker and was about to make a comment when he noticed something. Ignis was as intent as he was playing, and it brought a small hidden smile across his features before he went back to focusing on the game.
“Hey Iggy, what happened to you promising to hold all those doors for me, huh?” Gladio had set the two other grocery bags by the kitchen, his attention already captured by the three sitting around the television. A grin spread across his face when he recognized the game and went over to take a seat at the remaining space on the end of the couch. “Oh now we’re talking! We got another controller around here?”
“Here ya go big guy!” Prompto had already joined in playing, reaching out to grab the remaining controller off of the coffee table and handing it to Gladio.
The four ended up spending the rest of the night playing, completely forgetting about the dishes and groceries and all their other worries from the outside world. For now, they could afford going through a night without worrying about the road ahead of them.
