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It had been a downright awful week for Nyx. It had started alright, but everything seemed to come full force at him when Cor had called and mentioned that he had been called into an emergency meeting with the King and his Shield, so their date would have to be postponed for a later time. He understood; they both had duties and they weren't easy to escape, but it had begun to set the tone of his week.
From the brutal beatings that he took during training to the bureaucratic bullshit meetings that he had to sit through for two full days, Nyx couldn't wait to hang out at Libertus’ apartment.
“Oi, ya finally got some free time!” Lib laughs, slapping him on the back. Nyx groans and rests his head on the table, muttering, “Thank the Astrals, it's been months since I've had an actual weekend off.” Crowe shoots them both annoyed glares and hisses, “You bastards are so lucky you get time off together.” Libertus reaches over to try and ruffle her hair but she slaps him away.
“On call?” Nyx guesses and she gives a small, irritated nod in reply. It wasn't unusual for one of their trio to be on call, especially if Crowe or Nyx was off. He was their front man and she supported him from behind. It would be foolish to take both of them off at the same time and Glauca knew that.
“Hey maybe next time.” Libertus suggests which earns him a dark glare from Crowe. Nyx grimaces and begins to usher his friend out of the Citadel as he berates the man for being stupid enough to say that out loud when she was already irritated. They're walking to Lib’s apartment, tossing ideas on what they were going to do with their free weekend when his friend simply throws out, “I made brownies with extra chocolate.”
Relief floods his system at the double meaning behind the seemingly innocent words: he has edibles and is offering Nyx a way to shut down for hours. He usually remained on call for duty and that was not a risk he wanted to take. It's hard to come out of the Kingsglaive mindset; they're defenders, protectors and that isn't something that you could just turn off at the end of the day. The offer of an edible is calling to him and how could he possibly turn it down?
“Libertus, never tell Crowe this, but you're my favorite.”
They settle in at the shorter man’s apartment after stopping at a local shop for snacks. Apparently it had been a while since Libertus was able to go grocery shopping, which made Nyx realize that he also needed to run errands at some point during his free weekend. But today certainly was not that day.
They settle into the apartment and Nyx begins to flip through channels, asking, “What's the vibe on something to watch while we're fucked up?” A thoughtful hum echoes the question but no real answer is given, causing him to roll his eyes. He knows that if he actually settles on something to watch without giving his comrade a chance to give his input, he would be insufferable and Nyx was not about to give him the opportunity.
“Don't give me that shit, just tell me what you don't want to watch and we’ll start from there.” he shouts, which earns him a glare as Libertus exits the kitchen holding a small plate topped with brownies.
“You know I could just tell ya to fuck off and leave you with no weed, right?”
“But then you'd be out of snacks and no company.” Nyx chimes back, grinning. Lib tries to hold fast on his displeased expression but it cracks when Nyx flips to an old action movie. Both are immediately transfixed and grab a brownie to start their night of fun.
At some point, Nyx realizes that it would be an awful idea to walk home by himself and while he could stay with his friend, he doesn't have any other clothes nor the charger to his phone, which was making a valiant effort to stay alive. He scrolls through his texts and picks Crowe’s conversation before shooting off a text pleading with her to come get him and take him home. She would likely grumble about it, but still help him. She's a great friend like that.
He lifts his head from where he's laying on the floor and mumbles, “Crowe’s gonna come get me. Lemme know when she's here.” He gets a grumbled curse in return, which is Libertus’s way of agreement. His friends are so wonderful and yet so volatile with their ways of affections.
As he stares up at the ceiling, he finds himself wondering what Cor was up to for the night. While the Marshal was a busy man, he was almost positive that he actually nights off, unless he has to deal with some Kingsglaive madness.
“Lib, I think I might have it real bad for him.” he admits out loud, but his tone is soft and uncertain. This was something that he hadn't said to anyone and he had just come to the conclusion recently. His friend glances down at him and replies, “Mate, anyone with eyes can see how you feel about the Marshal. Just tell him how ya feel.” Nyx rolls his eyes at the suggestion.
“I haven't even had a third date with him, let alone tell him that I'd like to do a lot more than hold his hand.” A booming laugh follows his statement and he groans, knowing that he likely should've kept his mouth shut about how he feels about the Marshal. Libertus had a tendency to take any ammo and use it to tease his friends.
A knock sounds at the door before his friend can truly use the information against him and Nyx sighs with relief when he realizes that Crowe is here. She would actually offer real advice about his love life. The door opens and he can hear a startled yelp when Libertus opens the door, which he takes to mean Crowe hit the man for some reason or another.
“Yo, Crowe, do you think I should just go ahead and tell the Marshal that I wanna jump his bones now or should I wait until the third date?” Nyx shouts, twisting his head to see Libertus go bright red in the face. He blinks, confused at why his friend seems to be giving him the universal, ‘Would you shut the hell up before you regret this’ gesture, only to freeze when their new guest enters the room. It's not Crowe standing above him with a bemused look, it's Cor the fucking Immortal himself.
He jerks into a seated position, which admittedly makes his head spin, but he's too focused on trying to take back what has already been said, “Marshal, sir, Cor, I'm sorry!” Libertus seems to take the tension in the room as a sort of ‘get out of jail free’ card and hurries into the kitchen without a single word. Cor looks down at him and simply says, “I take it you didn't mean to text me to come rescue you from Libertus’ floor since you are apparently ‘too high to feel your toes’ did you?” Nyx isn't sure what to say. It's not as though he can take back what Cor has already seen but a part of him doesn't want to admit it out loud to someone that is overall his superior, even if they are somewhat dating.
“Relax, it's legal, and you're off duty. Are you okay?” Cor’s voice is soothing and Nyx braces himself against the couch as he mumbles, “Just really regretting not double checking who I was texting. I'm sorry to drag you out here.” He holds a hand up and Nyx stops talking as if Cor has a push button for him to do so.
Libertus chooses to come back and glances towards his friend, silently asking if he could do anything to help. Nyx simply shakes his head in response. Bracing a hand against the couch, he tries to a stand with a nervous laugh, only to collapse into the couch with a groan. Cor comes closer and offers a hand, before tugging him to his feet with a quiet, “Easy there.” Lib decides to be kind and gathers Nyx’s items that are scattered around the living room then hands it over, murmuring, “Be safe to text me when ya get home, ight?”
He gives a small nod and begins to walk out the apartment when out of the corner of his eye, he sees Libertus making several immature gestures towards them, clearly insinuating that they should, as his comrade would put it, ‘get it on’. Nyx decides that Lib is not kind and deserves a proper smack upside the back of his head when he sees him next.
“You really don't have to take me home, Cor.” Nyx says again, as if the older man hasn't steadied him twice now. Cor gives him an unimpressed look and wraps an arm around his waist as he murmurs, “You're not the first person I've taken care of while they were high, Nyx.” Jealousy bubbles deep in his chest at the statement. Who did Cor take care of? Was it a past lover he had? Clearly his thoughts seem to leak out because he gets a small laugh out of his walking companion.
“The answer to your question is Regis and his band of hooligans he calls a retinue. When he was still a prince, we went on a road trip and they decided a good way to pass the time was getting high.”
“Wait, did you get high with the king?!” Nyx almost shouts but Cor has the foresight to anticipate his reaction and clamps a hand over his mouth. He gives a heavy sigh and manages to bargain with Nyx, agreeing that he would tell the tale of the first and only time that he had gotten high.
Nyx can't help but frown at the pause in their conversation. Sure they had been on a couple of dates before but it wasn't like this. Cor seemed to be opening up to him about his personal life, rather than pushing Nyx to talk about himself. He had heard the stories about what kind of a life the Marshal of the Crownsguard has lived, but he also knows that people love to embellish the tales of the Immortal. He could understand how the truth could be buried until the narrative society wanted to tell.
“Can I ask you about your life when we get to my apartment?” Nyx blurts out, like he can't seem to contain the words. And he's delighted that he did because he earns a crooked, unguarded smile from Cor in response, “An impromptu date with a man who's so high he can hardly walk straight? Well, I'm glad that I finally have some free time.”
That was a rare thing: free time for the both of them that coincided with one another. Nyx couldn't believe his luck.
The rest of the walk is quiet and he's both thankful that he lives so close to Lib yet also wishing that the walk was longer, if only to prolong his time with Cor.
He waves his hand towards his apartment building but Cor silences him, “I've been to your home before, Ulric, I know where I'm going.” He gives a bright, sheepish smile at the reminder and leans a little closer to the older man. He's thankful that his apartment mercifully has an elevator, though he's now dreading the motion sickness that is sure to come when it begins to rise up to his apartment on the twentieth floor. As the doors slide close, he turns to Cor and presses his face tight against the man’s chest, groaning, “I do not feel good.”
“If you throw up, I'm sending you my dry cleaning bill.” At that, he begins to pull away, but Cor holds him tight by the waist. He glances up to question him but the man says, “Just take a nice deep breath. Hold for three, and let it out, slowly. About seven seconds. Don't close your eyes, it'll only make it worse.” And so he listens. He follows every thing Cor said to him down to the letter and simply stares up at him, mesmerized. His eyes are ridiculously blue and he can't believe that such a color has been bestowed upon such a no nonsense man.
“You really lose your filter when you're fucked up.” Cor remarks as the elevator chimes with a robotic announcement that they've reached their floor. He presses a hand against the side of his face and groans, muttering, “Just say you'll forget literally everything that I've said to you today.”
“But then I won't be able to tell you about the one time I got high.” He's clearly teasing him but Nyx can't help but fall right into his trap, “Wait no, no, please tell me!!”
They finally manage to make it into Nyx’s apartment and he settles on his couch, pulling the blanket that he keeps on the armchair over him. Cor touches his hair briefly then offers to order take out and Nyx is so grateful. He closes his head and wills his head to stop spinning while the older man calls a local Galadian restaurant to place an order.
“Wait, are you telling me that you got high with King Regis of Insomnia?” Nyx asks, turning to face Cor as he gets off the phone. Cor sighs and settles down on the couch beside him as he explains, “I don't know if you know this, but I was only fifteen when I went on the road trip with Regis. I had begged for weeks to let me try smoking. Weskham, Regis, and Clarus said that I was too young and that they shouldn't encourage bad behavior. Cid was the oldest and finally convinced them one night to let me try weed, saying that he would babysit me and I’d never want to do it again.”
Nyx leans forward, transfixed by the tale of Cor in his youth, then urges, “And? How did it go?” A wry smile flashes and the answer he gets is simple, “It was awful. They let me smoke a joint and I got so high that I threw up. I've never touched it since.” The deadpan manner that Cor finishes the story with sends Nyx into a fit of laughter, hunched over as he tries to catch his breath, only to continue cackling. He tries to imagine what Cor was like at fifteen and he sombers up a bit, asking if the older man would tell him more about what he was like when he was younger.
The older man tells Nyx of how he was stubborn to a fault and was not afraid to speak his mind, even to the face of Regis when he was the Crown Prince. He explains that while he was the youngest on the road trip, he was usually the driver, citing that Weskham was giving directions, Regis had been banned from driving, and Clarus had an overall distaste for being the driver, so he had been delegated as the man behind the wheel.
It's riveting to hear Cor’s evolution from being a bratty teenager into the Immortal Marshal of the Crownsguard. He explains that he had taken in Prompto when the kid was about six and his adoptive parents had abandoned him. It's amusing to learn that the second Prompto turned fifteen, he worked up enough courage and insisted on befriending the Prince, even though they had been going to school together since they were children.
Cor explains that he didn't want to pressure Prompto into the rowdy, potentially dangerous situations that would come with being friends with Noctis. Once they started dating, Cor did disclose that he had a son who would always come first no matter what. Nyx just fell more in love with him with the proclamation. They continue to chat until Nyx’s eyes begin to fall closed.
“I should head out before my son pulls together a search party for me.” Cor admits, coming to a stand. Nyx groans in protest but quiets as a rough hand cups his cheek, a thumb rubbing gentle circles to soothe him.
“Call me tomorrow when you can feel your toes again. Who knows, maybe you'll get the chance to jump my bones?” Cor teases before taking his leave. Nyx’s face is still burning even minutes after his apartment becomes empty. This was looking to be a fantastic weekend.