Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Noctis hummed thoughtfully as he scrolled around on his laptop, stopping occasionally to make notes on a legal pad. He wasn’t aware that he was being watched until his father cleared his throat and he looked up to find the man standing next to the couch, fond smile in place. A look to the side found Clarus and Nyx, clearly on King protection duty (that Regis could more than take care of himself did little to keep Clarus and the Glaives from shadowing him everywhere), standing, unobstructive, in the entrance hall of his apartment.

Noctis blinked up at his dad then unfolded his legs to let the man sit down. “Hey, sorry. Didn’t hear you come in.”

“Or call ahead, it seems.” Regis said, smiling wryly. Noctis’ cut his eyes over to his phone and the blinking blue light indicating he’d missed calls or messages. His father laughed at his sheepish ‘oh’ then clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s fine, I was in town anyway and appreciate the excuse to visit. You haven’t been by the citadel in a few days.”

Noctis could hear the concern under the words and found himself torn between guilt (he really should call more often) and further embarrassment at why he’d been kind of but not exactly ducking his father for the past week. The last time they’d spoken it had been...tense. Not bad, in fact it had gone much better than he’d hoped, but tense. And weird. And awkward. So very awkward.

“Sorry. Been busy.” Is what he settled on.

“I’m sure.” Regis smiled again, teasingly. Noctis didn’t blush, because he never blushed thank you very much, but he did duck his head and rub at the back of his neck. “I wanted to make sure you weren’t so busy you forgot about the Christmas Eve party. You’re expected to light the tree this year.”

Noctis nodded, looking down at his notepad. Halfway down, between many scribbled and crossed out lines and doodles, was ‘Tree Lighting at 8:00’ in heavy dark ink. That and ‘Christmas Dinner at 4:00’ were the only things untouched or written over.

“And dinner at four, on Christmas.” Noctis said, tapping the words. “Um. About that. I was wondering it maybe I could bring a guest.”

“A guest? Or three guests?” Regis arched an eyebrow. Noctis continued not blushing furiously. “I assume you aren’t playing favorites with your boyfriends on Christmas.”

Someone made a strangled choking noise that quickly turned into a cough but when Noctis and Regis glanced towards the door both Clarus and Nyx were as stone faced as ever. Noctis stared at them a second or two longer, trying to read them for any hint of reaction or judgement but found on Clarus’ usual placid, fond expression and Nyx who, under scrutiny, cracked a small smile. Noctis looked away (Three boyfriends or not old crushes died hard though, at least where Nyx Ulric was concerned, it was something that just about every living soul in Insomnia could understand and forgive.)

He cleared his throat then nodded. “Yes, all three. I mean, Ignis comes anyway but Prompto never has and...um.” Actually, in hindsight, maybe this wasn’t a conversation for in front of Gladio’s dad. He didn’t know what his shield had told Clarus about...things and he didn’t want to be the one break the news. Telling his own father had been hard enough, and that had been met with full support (and a little concern, but only in so far as making sure Noctis understood what he was getting into and was prepared for the complexties of dating more than one person.) He was unsure what to expect from Clarus.

“Gladio can attend.” Clarus supplied then, when Noctis peeked over at him again, made a dismissive gesture. “There’s not much that boy gets up to that I don’t know about. And some of it I’d like to not know about.”

That came with a very pointed look and while Noctis didn’t know exactly what it related to he could imagine a few times where he and Gladio, or he and Gladio and Ignis and/or Prompto, (And probably some combinations that didn’t involved him) had ended up at the Amiticia house after sparring or running or hanging out and things had gone...places while they thought they were alone only to wander into the kitchen later and find Clarus cooking or in the library working. Nothing had ever been said so Noctis had just assumed they’d gotten away with fooling around together but maybe not?

And that was. Mortifying.

“Wonderful. I’ll expect you and the boys at four. Clarus, you and Iris should come as well.” Regis added, head tilting thoughtfully. “And Prompto’s parents too, if they’re free.”

Noctis didn’t allow himself to so much as blink, knowing full well Prompto’s parents wouldn’t be free. They never were. “I’ll tell him.”  

“I’ll let the staff know to cook for more than just the three of us this year.” Regis said then, with a glance down at the notepad, asked: “And what is that you were working on that kept you from answering your phone?”

“O-oh.” Noctis pulled the pad a little closer to himself before even fully realizing he was doing it. Then laughed nervously, fingers curling against the rough paper. “I was...well. It’s probably dumb? But I thought, since all four of us are mostly free, we’d maybe spend Christmas Eve and Christmas together? Since it’s the first one with all four of us...dating.”

Regis nodded encouragingly, lips twitching upwards again in what Noctis thought of as his ‘oh, my son is just the most adorable thing’ expression. Noctis hated that look. It made him feel like he was five year old or something.

...well. Maybe he didn’t completely hate it.

“That sounds nice. Are you having trouble planning? Or...trouble finding things all four of you will like?”

Noctis sighed; his father was very good at getting right to the heart of things when it came to him (Regis claimed it was because they weren’t so different but Noctis was hard pressed to imagine his father having the same issues he had, especially when it came to relationship stuff. Also he didn’t want to imagine it. Ever. Bad enough that he sometimes caught his dad giving Cor and Clarus ‘looks’ when he thought no one was looking.) and this was no different.

“Have you considered picking things one of you will enjoy, but all four of you can take part in?” Regis said, easing the notepad away to look at. “Like, hmm. The Winter Festival sounds fun. Ignis is one of the citadel volunteers for set up this year isn’t he?”

“And Prompto’s never been.” Noctis added. He’d been unsure about having Ignis hang out where he was working that morning, and Gladio had never been super into crowded places, but maybe...if it was just a few hours then it would be okay. “He was kind of excited.”

Clarus leaned over the back of the couch; when he’d come over Noctis wasn’t sure but he didn’t have time to question it before the shield was pointing at something. “Brunch at the Urban Grind. Ignis will like that, after doing all that set up. And it’s all you can eat, so my son can’t complain. Then there’s the snowman contest and Christmas cafe at the high school. And, hmm-”

“The fireworks on Etro Peak.” Regis supplied. “You could make it after the tree lighting, if you hike hard. Or the boats, on the river. Or...does this say christmas breakfast?” His father looked up, expression blank. “You intend to take them all breakfast, to their individual homes they’ve surely stayed the night at, on Christmas morning? Clarus, isn’t my son thoughtful?”

“Very.”

Noctis snatched the notepad back, grumbling about nosy fathers, and very glad the small note about ‘maid uniform?’ had been too messy for anyone to read but him. “Thanks *dad*.”

Regis smiled beatifically. “Happy to help.  In fact I think I’ll loan you Nyx tomorrow-”

“What?” Nyx stood up straight and, Noctis noted, rather hastily tucked his phone away. “Excuse me, Your Majesty?”

“You can escort the boys tomorrow, instead of trailing me from charity event to event. Gladiolus and Ignis can enjoy a full day off and I’m sure you’ll find the festival and brunch more fun than standing in a corner while stuffy nobles try to get my backing for their latest projects.” Regis smiled broadly. “In fact, I insist you come to dinner as well, assuming you don’t have plans.”

Nyx blinked. Then blinked again before he nodded once, still looking faintly bewildered. “If that’s what you want, Your Majesty.”  

Nyx came to the couch with that and, as Clarus and Regis debated ideas, offered his opinions on security and a few off hand suggestions (“There’s a concert in the park, around four, on Christmas. Jazz. Might be a little grown up for you four.” “How about you fu...write that down.”). Noctis watched him for the corner of his eyes, trying to parse how the man really felt about being on babysitting duty for the day. He seemed calm, a little amused even, and when Regis and Clarus finally left, leaving Nux behind to help finish up the last details, he even graced Noctis with a smile and eyebrow wiggle.

“Three boyfriends huh? You must be busy.”

Noctis groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “It wasn’t...it just kind of happened? If that makes sense. I just...like them all. A lot. ...we like each other.”

A lot.

He was pretty sure he loved them, each of them. Differently but also kind of the same, for different reasons but also...because they were good. And cared and were always there for him and saw him as more than the prince and...it just. Fit. Once they’d gotten past the weirdness and figured it all out, which hadn’t been easy but maybe easier than it should have been and it worked. So he was going with it, and enjoying it, and wanted it to keep being great.

“Good. Most people couldn’t dream of being so lucky.” Noctis looked up through his fingers; Nyx was looking elsewhere, blue eyes dark and intent. Then, as if realizing he was being watched, he cracked another smile and shook his head ruefully. “Anyway. What do you want to start with?”

“Well, Ignis has set up all morning and Prompto is working the maid cafe breakfast thing for his club at school so-”

“He’s what?”

“So I thought I could grab Gladio and either help out Ignis, then swing around to get Prom. Or get breakfast at the school and then get Ignis after.” Noctis continued, 

undeterred. He’d already had his own ‘wait what’ reaction, only to learn Prompto was going to be a Butler, not a maid. Though it had put the maid costume idea in his head, and was why one was currently hanging in his closet.

Chapter Text

Noctis leaned out of the back, drivers side window of the SUV, smiling faintly as he watched Gladio and Nyx stand a few meters away, eyeing each other as they, apparently, tried to decide who was going to be doing the driving. Nyx had driven them over, after picking up Noctis from his place, but Gladio did most of the driving when Ignis wasn’t around and seemed to take offense to Nyx doing it now. Or took offence to Nyx’s presence in general, which seemed far more likely considering that finding out they were going to have an escort had put Gladio in a ‘mood’, as Prompto would put it. He’d been grumbling about being 21 and not needing a damn babysitter in group chat half the night; Noctis had eventually turned his phone off just to avoid it.

Gladio, for all his size and how intimidating people found him to be, was a big whiner when he was so inclined. Usually Noctis thought it was kind of cute, and funny if nothing else, but he wanted everything to be perfect today and Gladio being a downer was not part of perfect. It was the anti-perfect, actually. Even if he and Nyx giving each other the stink eye was maybe, kinda, sorta, a little bit hot to watch. They were kind of similar, taller and muscular, dark haired, sharp eyed...aggressive.   

He probably wasn’t supposed to wonder what it would look like if they made out but, well, he did sometimes like to do things he shouldn’t.

But back to the matter at hand

“Gladdy, come sit in the back with me.” He called, leaning a little further into the cold air, breath misting in front of him. His scarf, dangling around his neck, waved in the winter breeze. A look crossed Gladio’s face, a flicker of interest and realization, and Noctis knew the debate was just about over. He might be upset about being babysat but Gladio also knew there were a great many upsides to not playing designated driver in favor of fooling around in the back seat.

Of course was was always with Ignis, or in rare cases Noctis, driving but Noct was still fairly certain they could get away with a few kisses at least.

It was cold out, but otherwise nice. Clear skies, puffy clouds, a touch warmer than the absolutely painfully frigid week before. Some of the ice hanging from power lines and raingutters was starting to drip, but the snow was holding strong and thick where it was shoveled high on the sidewalks and sides of the road.  

Nyx rolled his shoulders then stepped back, smirking. “Yeah, why don’t you ride in the back with his highness. You’re supposed to play boyfriend today, not chauffeur.”

Gladio opened his mouth then, cheeks flushing red, shut it. He twisted around to mouth boyfriend at Noctis who starred back placidly (Gladio was his boyfriend, what was the problem? If Clarus knew what was the harm in other people knowing too? It this was supposed to be a secret they were going about it all wrong,). Gladio made a face then, with one last dark look at Nyx, headed for the door Noct was leaning out of. He sat back, sliding across the leather seats to make room for Gladio to climb in next to him, expecting Gladio to press in close and drape an arm around him like he always did. Instead his shield sat as far away as he could, practically humping the door, and stared straight ahead with his hands in his lap.

That was...not what he’d had in mind.

“Hey, kids,” Nyx said, turning around in his seat to squint at them. His expression was severe and for one long moment that he was going to tell them to move away from each other or something like that. It would have been a surprise, Nyx had seemed pretty approving the night before and, honestly, that had...been nice. NYx was a hero, everyone looked up to him (and thought he was nice to look at) having his approval meant a lot.  “I want you to keep it, you know, publically acceptable but you don’t have to keep space for the Astrals between you.”

Gladio muttered something that Noctis didn’t catch but, other than shifting in clear discomfort and slouching a little lower in the seat, didn’t move. Nyx arched an eyebrow then shrugged and turned back around to start the SUV up.

“To the high school for breakfast and boyfriend number 2?”

“Yep.” Noctis confirmed, ignoring Gladio’s alarmed squawk.

The ride went by fast enough. Noct’s hopes of any kissing successfully dashed as Gladio stayed resolutely on his side of the car, barely answering when Noctis tried to speak to him and just looking increasingly grumpy. Noctis tried not to let it damper what had been, when he’d woken up and gotten dressed, a great mood. He had a detailed itinerary for the day, had called and made arrangements (last minutes ones but what was the point of being the prince if he couldn’t abuse his power a little bit every now and then? And just for things like reservations, festival tickets, and stuff like that, which wasn’t so bad.), helped Nyx pack up the truck with what they’d need for their day out and he felt...good. Really really good. Happy.

He wanted to stay that way and if that meant ignoring Gladio until he could force him to be in a good mood too then that was just what he would do.

And not sit, staring unseeingly out the window, wondering what could have gone wrong already. It couldn’t just be that he couldn’t drive, could it? Maybe Gladio didn’t really want to be doing this at all? Prompto had been all for it and Ignis had laughed and said he was excited to see what came from leaving things in Noct’s capable hands, but Gladio had just grunted and said ‘sure, whatever’ and the only opinion he’d voiced had been about not needing Nyx around. Or maybe they really were supposed to keeping their relationship a secret? Was there a reason Gladio didn’t want people to know?

Was Noctis missing something here, because he’d thought they’d actually gotten on the same page, settled all the sexual tension, talked about how they were going to deal with being together, as a group, and together but not with everyone and jealousy and guilt and...it had been a whole thing. Ignis had shown up with a book on Poly Relationships, flashcards he’d spent the entire night making, and white boards. He’d made them write down feelings and shit.

It had been the most awful 3 hours of Noct’s life up until that point, which was impressive because a week before he would have said the worst moment of his life was walking in on Gladio and Prompto kissing when he’d kissed Prompto the day before. And had full on had his hands down Ignis’ pants a few days before that.

Noctis was willing to admit he hadn’t exactly gone about everything properly, but neither had his boyfriends (there had been some guilty admissions of kisses and blow jobs swapped between the three of them in various patterns) and the general agreement had been that they were bad at dealing with tension and feelings and maybe should get better.

Which he’d thought, after six hectic and sometimes frustrating months, they were. He’d told his dad, for fucks sake, and telling his father he was dating three people at once had been awkward, even with knowing his dad was doing...things, with Clarus and Cor. Super awkward! And he wouldn’t have done it if there had been any indication that this was some secret thing or that Gladio wasn’t serious or-

Maybe it wasn’t serious for him?

Maybe

“We’re here.” Nyx declared as he eased to a stop in front of the high school. “Why don’t you go and find Blondie, Highness. Amicitia and I will be in after we park.”

Gladio blinked, clearly startled. Noctis hesitated a moment, looking from Nyx to Gladio and back but, when the older man just made a shooing motion and Gladio shrugged, he hopped out and headed inside. Weird, but maybe it was some kind of citadel business. He knew there things that went on with the Glaives and Crownsguard that he wasn’t involved in, but Gladio and Ignis were, so maybe this was just more of that. Or maybe they were going to fight about driving which, maybe, Noctis was going to regret missing for all the wrong, horny reasons.

Though what he found waiting for him inside, after finding his way to the room Prompto’s photography club was set up in (There were other clubs, with other breakfast cafe themes but Noctis wasn’t into clubs and...didn’t care about anyone else in their school so he bypassed them without a second glance) was pretty good too.

Prompto, standing behind the host podium, not in the butler costume he’d promised but a maid costume. Complete with white ruffled, red ribbon edged cap angled on his head, fitted bodice and puffy red skirt with layers of white stuff peeking out below the hem, and white apron, with little holly berries and leaves stitched around the edges, tied around his waist. He had one white stockings that, wait a minute, those looked great on him.

Had he known that Prompto’s legs were so nice? Because wow, really nice. The stockings were molded to his thighs and the bits of green lace at the knee looked nice against the bare skin above them. Really nice.

He kind of wanted to touch.

Prompto glared at him with enough intensity to light a lesser man on fire. “Welcome, master.”

“Prompto.” He said, fighting to keep himself from grinning or...something much less innocent, like reaching out and trying to slip a hand up the Christmas red skirt Prompto was wearing or find out if the stockings were as soft as they looked or...god, Ignis was right, he was a walking boner. “What happened to being a butler.”

Prompto scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Someone ordered this instead, on accident. Supposedly.”

He looked skeptical and unhappy and Noctis was very sympathetic and felt for him and, also, thought he looked amazing.

“You look good.” He said, unable to keep himself from giving his boyfriend another long once over. Prompto blinked then, lips parting slightly to let out a whoosh of air, went pink all the way up to his ears.

“Shut up. Let me-”

“Prom, what the hell?” Gladio’s voice came from much closer than it should have been and it was only sheer force of will, and the hand coming down on his shoulder from behind, that kept Noctis was jumping out of his skin. Gladio leaned forward, over his shoulder, face so close his hair brushed Noct’s cheek, and made a low noise of appreciation. “Nice legs. Did Princess tell you nice legs yet?”

“No.” Noctis shoved at his shield lightly, not really wanting to dislodge him now that he was so close. “I was going to. Maybe. ...definitely. Nice legs.”

Prompto shifted on his feet, face going even more red. “Shut up, both of you. I look ridiculous. This is the worst.”

“That isn’t the word I’d use.” Gladio moved even closer to Noctis, until his broad chest was against his back, and straightened up so his lips were hovering by his ear. “Is that the world you’d use?”

Confused and turned on were the world that best described how he felt but that didn’t seem like something that should be shared so Noctis just shook his head instead. Gladio smiled, Noctis could feel it against his ear, and made a ‘see’ gesture towards Prompto. Who put a hand over his eyes and shuffled his feet, clad in shiney flats with little bows on the front, against the floor.

“Argentum!” Someone called and oh, right, there were other people here. Noctis looked past Prompto, deeper into the room where the tables were set up for customers and...snorted. All of the club were in maid dresses save the lone girl who was, he knew, the treasure of the club. She was wearing a suit, complete with waist coat and pocket watch. “Get your customers seated!”

“Ohhh! Oh! Yeah, yeah, come on, before you get me in trouble. Jerks.” Prompto said, snatching up a handful of the paper menus and stomping off.

The hand on Noctis’ shoulder squeezed lightly. “Wait a sec.”

Noctis wait, watching as a bemused looking Nyx followed after Prompto and dropped into a seat, before cocking his head to look up at Gladio. “What’s up?”

“So. My dad? Last night? Told me he knew about us. All of us and has for months. And then lectured me about safe sex and how when he was my age-” Gladio stopped, nose wrinkling. “It was terrible. And weird. And I was waiting for the right time to tell him but he already knew and now we’re doing some big family dinner thing with Iris and your dad, and Nyx knows and soon everyone will know and I didn’t expect all of...I’m a jerk. I think. Is the point.”

Gladio didn’t look totally convinced of the point and, in fact, his brows were furrowed in confusion. Noctis rubbed at the back of his neck, trying to parse what he was told, every bit as confused by the sudden word vomit as Gladio seemed to be. Then, finally, he leaned back a little, only able to come to one conclusion.

“Are you apologizing?”

“Umm.”

“Is that a thing you do? Since when? Can I get it in writing? Wait! Can we call Ignis and have you say all that again on his voicemail? Or, oh, in front of Prompto so I have witness!” Noctis said, only becoming more gleeful the stormier Gladio’s expression become. “Or-”

“Fuck you.” Gladio muttered.

“I mean. Okay. There’s this storage closet Prom and I use down the hall.”

Gladio made a face. Then cut his eyes to the side, looked up at the ceiling, and finally shrugged. “Yeah, okay. Where is- wait. I think Ulric is hitting on our maid.”

Noctis whipped around to look, Nyx was saying something, hands moving in a decidedly stabbing motion as he did, and Prompto was giggling (Giggling! He only giggled for them!) so hard he couldn’t keep his hand straight to pour water into the cups on the table. As Noctis watched Nyx leaned closer and put a hand on Prompto’s arm, and another against his back, seemingly to steady him.

They walked over without a word between them. Prompto managed to finish pouring the water and, with one last dirty look for the two of them, dashed off behind the partition separating the front room from the ‘kitchen’. Noctis frowned at Nyx who stared back, face the picture of serenity.

“I ordered omelettes. That a problem?”

Gladio, being Gladio and thus possessing all the tact in the world and no desire to use any of it, leaned forward, elbows coming down on the table. “Were you flirting with Prompto?”

Nyx’s eyebrow went up. “You’re forming a fucking harem and you’re going to get mad because you think someone is chatting up your boyfriend?”

Noctis made a face. “It’s not a harem. ...is it?” Gladio shrugged. “...I don’t think it’s enough people for that. Is there a number or-”

“You all are kids. I’m...old.” Nyx waved a hand, maybe to stop Gladio from trying to look up the proper number for a harem on his phone.

Noctis looked at Gladio who shrugged again, then turned back to Nyx. “My dad is, you know, a hundred-” Nyx snorted. “And Cor isn’t. That’s fine. They’ve been….whatevering since Cor was 15.”

And Noctis knew that because sometimes when Clarus had a few glasses of wine he got chatty. And said things Noctis, Gladio, and Ignis could never ever unhear. Ever.

Nyx made a face very similar to the one Noctis had worn on that fateful night then shuddered. “No more stories about your fathers’ love life. Or the Marshal. I have to be able to look them all in the eye later.” Noctis might have apologized if Nyx hadn’t added, sotto voce with his eyes shut tight in what might have been pain. “It’s bad enough that sometimes I get stuck standing outside the King’s office when they come to visit him. It’s like hearing my parents.”

Gladio made a gagging noise. Noctis pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes, quietly adding that to the list of things he’d never be able to purge from his memory. That was more or less how Prompto found them when he came back, their orders in hand. He dropped a plate in front of Nyx, the fluffy yellow omelette boasting the man’s name and a smiley face with heart eyes in ketchup.

Gladio and Noctis got omelettes with jerk written on them.

“Were we not supposed to say he looked good?” Gladio asked, poking his omelette. Noctis shook his head by way of response. Nyx only hummed, grinning around his fork as he shoved a bite of food into his mouth.