Chapter Text
When Noctis was eight years old, he got hurt and fell into a long sleep. He had a strange dream, one involving a messenger of the astrals that guided him, helped him wake up. He followed the small creature, through forests and strange rooms and eventually, back home to his father.
When he awoke, he had a new friend.
“Who are you?” The small boy asked, when his father finally left the room. Regis hadn't even seemed to notice the blond man with the stupid beard, so Noctis hadn't brought his attention to him while others were around. But now, for the first time in days, they were alone and the young prince was curious.
“A messenger from the astrals. I think.” The man gave an expression of vague confusion then shrugged. “I'm here to help you.”
It was almost exactly what the fox like creature, Carbuncle, had said to him in his dream, and so Noctis believed him.
Nobody else did though. He heard his doctors tell his father that the strange man was an imaginary friend, and that it was normal for Noctis to have one after the trauma he'd been through. When his father explained it to him, he believed him. His dad knew a lot of things about a lot of things, so why would he be wrong about this?
“You still haven't told me your name.” He said to the strange man that followed him everywhere.
“Nope.” The messenger shrugged, “I don't think I can.” He added. “So why don't you come up with one for me.”
Noctis looked at him for a moment. He wasn't very tall, and his eyes shone blue and he had a lot of freckles on his face. But the thing that stood out the most to Noctis, was the way he styled his hair. It reminded him of the creatures he'd seen on the television.
“Choco-butt!” Noctis said with a grin, pointing at the man's hair.
“Dude! My hair does not look like a chocobo butt! Why does everyone say that?” The man exclaimed, hands moving to his spiked hair as if to fix it. It didn't need fixing, it never seemed to change. Neither did the man.
“Fuzz-face?” Noctis offered, still grinning.
“Hey! My goatee makes me look manly, thank you very much.” The affronted huff and the look on the man's face made Noctis giggle for the first time in a long time. Maybe he could get used to having an imaginary friend. The doctors said he would go away eventually, so Noctis really should make the most of it while he could.
But as the years passed, Noctis started to disbelieve. Not in the strange man, who wouldn't tell him his name, but in his father. Surely an imaginary friend shouldn't still be around when he was ten, right?
“Happy birthday bud!” His imaginary friend – whom Noctis had dubbed 'Cho' (short for Chocobo-butt) – was always the first to say that to him. Then again, he was always the first face that Noctis saw when he woke up in the morning.
He was always there for Noctis, even when he didn't want him to be. According to Cho, he was stuck at his side, never allowed to move too far away. Noctis wondered what kind of life that was, to never be able to just go where he wanted to. But when he brought it up to Cho, the man had shrugged.
“This is where I want to be.” He had said, and Noctis hadn't asked any more questions.
When Noctis was eight, he had an imaginary friend. When he was ten, he started to think that maybe he wasn't imaginary. When he was fifteen, he knew that he was real. Even if nobody else could ever see him.
It didn't take him long to learn how to ignore him in public. How to pretend that he wasn't always there, by his side and slyly helping him with his school work. It became easy to tune him out, to only pay a small amount of attention to him when others could see. Sometimes, it was a bit of an effort – often Cho didn't seem to know that he was rambling and talking non stop – but most of the time, Noctis managed to keep his cool. When he was listening to him, everybody seemed to think that he was just spacing out.
Cho would advise him, guide him. Sure, Noctis had Ignis to do that, but Cho seemed to know so much more than Ignis, to understand what was going on, even when he shouldn't. So when Ignis said one thing, and Cho said another, he would do what Cho said.
Which sometimes made Ignis a little irritated, and made everyone believe that he was rebellious. That was okay though, because everything always seemed to work out in the end, and it always seemed like Cho was right. So why not trust in him?
“First day of high school, huh bud. You excited?” Cho asked him on the way to school. Ignis was in the car, so Noctis didn't respond, didn't even make any indication that he'd heard his not so imaginary friend. He was used to this by now, ignoring him and pretending he couldn't see him. He'd got it down to a fine art.
“So things are gonna change for you today.” Cho kept speaking, sitting beside Noctis in the back of the car. “Just remember that you can trust him.”
Noctis couldn't help the frown at those words. Cho was often cryptic, he said that it was a part of the deal when he became a messenger, but it never stopped irritating Noctis. Why couldn't the man just tell him what he meant? That would make life so much easier.
Still, he always understood in the end. Usually when it was too late to be of any use. This time, however, it became obvious what Cho had meant, or rather, who. He was walking into the school grounds when he felt a nudge on his shoulder. A classmate had approached him. This was new.
Sure, people would ask him stupid questions, or gawk at him from afar, but nobody had ever actually came up to him with the intention of being his friend. At first, he was suspicious. Most people wanted to be near him to reap the benefits of being the friend of a prince, but this boy didn't seem to care about that.
Still hesitating, Noctis looked over his shoulder to see Cho nodding with a grin, gesturing for Noctis to interact with the young man. So he did.
And soon, Cho wasn't his only friend anymore. And this one was real and could be seen by other people. In only a few months, he and his new friend, Prompto, became close, almost inseparable, and that made Cho more happy than Noct had ever seen him.
“You really like him, huh?” Noct asked one night as he was getting ready for bed.
Cho was lounging on top of the duvet, staring at the ceiling. He grinned and shrugged, “He's a good guy.” He told Noct. “He'll be good for you, and loyal to a fault.” There was something hidden in his tone that Noct couldn't quite identify. Even after knowing the strange being for seven years, there was still a lot of mystery behind him.
Noct shrugged, “If you say so.” He climbed into bed and sighed. “It's strange,” He said after a while, “To have a friend that isn't you.”
“You have Iggy and Gladio.” Cho pointed out. “They'll stand by you forever.”
“They're only my friends because I'm the prince.” Noct said with a sigh, pulling the blankets closer to his chin. “I don't think that's why Prompto likes me...”
“Nah. He likes you because you're a dork.” Cho said with a laugh. “And you're a good kid.”
“'M not a kid.” Noct muttered through a yawn, snuggling further into the blankets.
“Guess you're not.” Cho sounded a little sad, maybe. It was hard to tell.
“He looks like you.” Sleep was pulling at Noct, but he was resisting, wanting to speak to his oldest, real friend for just a bit longer.
Cho didn't reply, just shrugged and looked out the window. “Go to sleep, Noct.” He said quietly, “I'll be here when you wake up.”
“When are you not?” Noct grumbled, but they both knew he wasn't really irritated. It was so normal now to have Cho around, that Noct knew he would feel lost without him. He was asleep before Cho responded, his words missed by young ears.
“Yu-huh. Ever at your side.”
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