FFXV fanfic: You're Lucky You Made It (Chapter One)

[shaicarus]

Fandom:  Final Fantasy XV
Characters:  Prompto Argentum. Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. Pryna. A couple OCs.
Chapter Rating:  G, for the moment. 
Warnings: Prompto has some self-esteem issues.
Word count so far: 2489
Notes:  So, I really like writing about dogs?
Chapter title yoinked from Cable Car by The Fray.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? If not...well, sorry. But if you are, I have a Ko-fi. I'm broke and appreciate every cup.

Previously: Prologue.

 

CHAPTER ONE: Soften a bit until we all just get along

Prompto was pretty sure she was a pure breed, and she looked far too pampered to be a stray, though her pale coat was grimy and she looked nervous, so Prompto could only assume she didn’t live in the area. Feeling sorry for her, he lured her back to his house with half a bag of potato chips. He didn’t let her eat the potato chips, but he did give her a leftover pork chop from last night’s dinner, and he figured she liked that more than she would have liked the chips anyway.

After that, she was more than happy to let him pick her up, and she nuzzled her chin contently against his shoulder. At least until he carried her into the bathroom. Her eyes locked onto the bathtub, and immediately she started whining, squirming in his hold like she was worried he was going to skin her and turn her into a fur coat.

“Hey, hey, come on, just–please stop wiggling, I need to–no, don’t!” His grip on her tightened when she nearly wiggled right out of his grasp, and finally he got the bathroom door closed with his elbow. He set the dog down once her path of escape was closed off, and he tried very hard not to feel guilty as she tried to crawl behind the toilet to hide.

“Nope!” he declared abruptly, and he scratched her ears. “You can’t make me feel bad for this. You’re gross right now.” He leaned over the tub and fussed with the water until it was the right temperature. Behind him, as the tub slowly filled, the dog slowly melted to the floor with her paws over her muzzle.

…Okay, he still felt sort of bad. He was only human. So to distract himself, he raided the cupboards. They didn’t have any dog shampoo, of course, but he did manage to find a bar of soap that he was pretty sure was organic and it didn’t smell awful. He held it out to her and she didn’t seem to object to the smell, at any rate.

And then…it began. He scooped her up and dumped her into the tub in one impressively coordinated movement, though he landed on behind anyway. She landed with a slosh and stared up at him with wide, betrayed eyes, which only got wider and even more betrayed as he began bailing water over her with a cup.

Lathering up fifteen pounds of reluctant, wiggling dog with a bar of soap was a comedy of errors, and by the time she was soaped and rinsed, Prompto was just as drenched as she was.

She sulked under a towel in the family room, at least until he started feeding her pieces of beef jerky.

*

The family computer chugged laboriously, completely drowning out the sound of the dog snoring on Prompto’s lap as he browsed. He looked up when the front door opened and he waited just long enough for his mom to step inside and close the door before he said, “I’m not keeping her.”

“Not keeping–Prompto.” His mom was giving him and the dog a Look.

“I just said I’m not keeping her!” he protested. “I found her and she needed a bath and some food, and now I’m trying to figure out where she lives.” He flapped a hand at the computer.

His mom sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You promise?”

Prompto nodded rapidly, dragging one finger in an X over his chest. “Promise. I just couldn’t leave her out there.”

“No, I suppose you couldn’t,” his mom agreed, exasperation melting into a gentle smile. “Just please remember to clean up after her.”

“Duh, I know.”

*

The dog–he called her Pretty Girl, for lack of any sort of name–slept on his bed, upside down and with her legs sprawled out in all directions. Her tongue lolled, she snored, and she started violently twitching and fake-running now and then, and on the whole there was hardly enough room in the bed for Prompto himself. It was some of the best sleep he ever had. It was barely even ruined when he woke up and realized she had peed all over his blanket.

Well, good thing it was the weekend.

He wrestled his bedspread into the washing machine before he scooped the dog up and carried her to the pet shop so he could get a bag of dog food and some potty training pads.

*

“Come on, Pretty Girl, hold still…” Prompto coaxed, camera aimed and ready. She paused, staring at him, and he clicked the button. There was a flash, and she bounced to her feet afterwards, yapping at the camera like it was her best friend and she very much expected it to play with her.

Setting the camera aside, Prompto flopped down onto his side and rolled onto his back, yapping right back at her. She danced back and forth on her front legs, until her paw landed on his face and she threw her head back and howled. It was a tiny, warbling noise and Prompto couldn’t help but mimic it back at her. Yapping in delight, she pounced, landing on his stomach and forcibly ejecting all of the air from his lungs.

“Having fun in here?” his dad asked, peering around the doorframe into Prompto’s room.

Wheezing on the floor, Prompto flashed him a thumbs up.

*

Prompto’s bed was dry the next morning, and Pretty Girl’s tail was in his mouth. He fed her and took her outside–she was already reasonably well trained in that regard, since buying a leashhad not occurred to him and yet she stuck pretty close to his side–before he started up the computer and started searching for missing dogs again.

And he got results.

He stared blankly at the article, and the he looked down at the dog as she rolled back and forth on her back like a caterpillar and chewed on an empty paper towel roll.

“Pryna?” he called cautiously.

She rolled over onto her belly and cocked her head at him, the cardboard hanging out one side of her mouth.

“Pryna!” he called again, more enthusiastically.

She barked at him once, the roll falling to the floor, before she bounced to her feet and trotted over to him. She stopped in front of the desk chair and hopped up to put her front paws on his knees.

Prompto stared at her and gave her a slow pat on the head, before he turned to look towards the kitchen, “MAMA!”

There was a clatter in the kitchen, before his mom stumbled into the room. “What?” she asked, sharp and panicked. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Mama!” He picked Pryna up and brandished her in his mom’s direction. “I found the princess’s puppy!” Pryna dangled in his hold, tail wiggling and head cocked curiously to one side.

His mom stared at him. “You…found what?”

Setting Pryna down on his lap, Prompto shoved the chair away from the desk and flapped a hand at the computer. “Come look! It says right here, one of her dogs slipped her collar, and there’s a picture, and she answered to her name!”

His mom came over to look over the article, and then looked down slowly at the dog. Pryna yapped up at her cheerfully, cradled on Prompto’s lap like a stuffed animal and content with life.

“You…found the princess’s puppy,” his mom confirmed slowly.

“This just got so much more complicated,” Prompto groaned, leaning forward to bonk his forehead against the top of Pryna’s head. She squirmed around in his lap until she could lick his face.

*

The palace was amazing. And enormous. And just staring at it was a little bit terrifying. Prompto’s mom offered to go with him, but he insisted on handling it himself.

Which was how he found himself being grilled by a guard, as he assured the man that no, he was not trying to ransom Pryna, he just wanted to bring her home, no, really, she wasn’t hurt or sick, she was perfectly fine, he didn’t even want a reward, he just wanted to bring her home.

He was escorted inside after that, and told to sit on a couch that was far too comfortable in some sort of lobby that was far too pristine, while the guard picked Pryna up and carried her away.

Prompto sat quietly on the couch, hands clenched together between his knees because he was not going to touch anything, because then he couldn’t break anything or get anything dirty. He sat there for only a few minutes before he heard footsteps rapidly approaching, alongside the familiar sound of claws on the floor.

Pryna bounded into the room first, followed almost immediately by–

“P-Princess Lunafreya!” Prompto shot to his feet so he could bow properly.

“You–There’s no need for that. You’re the boy who brought Pryna home?” the princess asked, and Prompto finally dared to look up at her. Even slightly out of breath and holding her skirt off of the floor, she was lovely. His heart thudded heavily in his chest, and he thought, Oh no.

Slowly, he nodded. “Y-yes, Your Highness.”

Without further ado, she launched herself at him, engulfing him in a hug. Prompto was pretty sure he stopped breathing.

She was beautiful, and she smelled like flowers, and she was sixteen, and she was hugging him like he was worth it, and really, how was he supposed to deal with that?

Slowly, she leaned back, her hands resting gently on his shoulders. “Thank you,” she said, her voice soft but so sincere.

“Y-you’re welcome, Your Highness,” he stammered, his fingers fisting in the material of his pants. He couldn’t look her in the face, and instead stared just past her ear so it wouldn’t look like he was avoiding looking at her, because what if that was rude?

She laughed gently, her fingers squeezing briefly before she let go of his shoulders. “Thank you,” she repeated once more. “You’re certain you wouldn’t like anything in return?”

“I-I-I’m sure, Your Highness,” he mumbled, hands clenching against his thighs so they would stop shaking. “I–I just wanted to make sure she got home safe.”

“That was very kind of you,” she assured him. Her eyes were soft as she watched him. “Will you tell me your name?”

“P-Prompto Argentum, Your Highness.” He was going to have a heart attack, he was pretty sure. His heart was going to stop, and he was going to drop dead right there on the princess’s dress.

“It was very nice to meet you, Prompto.” She set one hand on his shoulder again, fingers just grazing it before falling back to her side.

He stared up at her dumbly, eyes the size of saucers. It took a few seconds before he stammered out, “Th-thank you, Your Highness.”

She laughed softly once more, mouth hidden behind the fingers of one hand. She bent down and picked Pryna up, like she didn’t even care about getting fur on the white and silver dress, and she held the dog out for Prompto to say a proper goodbye to her.

When he was properly dismissed, the walk home was a blur, and once he was there, he was pretty sure he told his parents every single detail of the encounter at least a dozen times.

He was equally sure he made an idiot of himself, though. It seemed pretty likely. It was one of his skills. He probably made an idiot of himself, but she had been nice about it, at least, even if she probably wouldn’t even remember his hair color by the time morning rolled around.

He stared up at his ceiling in bed that night, thoughts churning, until he finally nodded off to sleep.

The next morning, he was woken up by the most peculiar alarm clock.