Title: Previous Track
Fandom: Final Fantasy XV
Pairing: Cor Leonis/Prompto Argentum
Rating: PG13
Length: 3, 889 words
Warnings: Spoilers for the second half of the game.
Summary: Cor finds Prompto's MP3 player.

It felt too grandiose a thing to say that Prompto had 'moved in' as such - Cor would often return to his Lestallum apartment to find it empty, but more and more often as time wore on, there would be a knock at the door, and then Prompto's presence in his life for an indeterminate stretch of time. There was no formal arrangement between them, but Cor couldn't shake the part of him that felt guilty for having been granted space - such as it was - when the city was otherwise so overcrowded, and so the prospect of sharing with even one other person felt as if it went some small way towards righting that injustice.

"It's yours," they'd say. "You are The Immortal, after all--!"

Hearing those things only further convinced Cor that that was a luxury he didn't deserve, but he also had the reluctant sense to know that attempting to argue that point would get him nowhere. Former Crownsguard members were few and far between as it was, and it was easy for young Hunters to get star-struck.

Prompto came and went, more or less as he pleased; sometimes he'd stay for a week or be gone for a month, returning only with a smile and the vaguest summary of what had taken place on the other side of his absence. He would stay in Cor's bed, but brought little with him but the clothes on his back. His camera went where he went, and he seemingly had little other reason to carry possessions - although this wasn't uncommon amongst the Hunters. The darkened skies brought with them a new sense of priority; much lay left behind in now-ruined towns and outposts, but any who tried to stay would only find themselves amongst the daemons that had taken those places as their new territory.

For those reasons, amongst others, Cor was surprised to find something on the floor; he knew that it didn't belong to him, and thus, the only conclusion was that it had to belong to Prompto. From being on the floor, near to one of the room's empty corners, Cor supposed it must have fallen from a pocket, or been flung from a jacket at some point. He turned it over in his hand a couple of times before catching sight of the raised markings that indicated how to operate it; an MP3 player. Pushing the buttons caused them to click beneath thin rubber in a satisfying manner, but they otherwise seemed to do nothing. Of course, Cor thought - if there had been headphones of any sort then they were no longer present, and that was even assuming that the small device still held power. Flipping one end of it showed the standard method of charging, the kind that would easily have plugged into a computer or some similar device - but there was little like that outside of Insomnia, and certainly not now, with the world as it was.

In general, Cor had Prompto identified as the kind of person who wore his heart on his sleeve; he found himself surprised, then, on presenting the MP3 player to Prompto, to realize that he couldn't detect the emotions there on his face at all. He froze for a moment, as if startled, and then snatched it away in a move that was quite unlike him, moving almost without thought.

"Where--... where did you find this?"

Cor shrugged lightly, indicating vaguely over to the corner of the room. "It was over there, on the floor. Didn't your parents ever tell you to keep your room tidy?" (Prompto didn't respond to the question; Cor had meant it in as light-hearted a manner as he could manage, but then thought better of it.) "... Probably not, huh."

Prompto looked between the device and Cor, the expression on his face somewhat more intense than Cor knew how to handle. He then looked around the room quickly, as if for something in particular - he settled on a shelf set against the far wall, that held only some dusty books that had been there since long before Cor had taken on the apartment. Prompto placed the MP3 player down, stepping away from it (but keeping his eye on it).

"... I thought it fell out somewhere. Thought I'd had it zipped up fast enough that it wouldn't go anywhere - after all, I carried it around all this time, right? But then it wasn't there, and--... well. What can you do, right? Could have been anywhere, from Insomnia to the Vesperpool. Didn't think I was gonna find it. Then you found it...! Th--... thanks, Cor."

"No problem. Just glad I didn't step on it by accident."

"I'll--... I'll just keep it here, if that's okay?"

"Sure, if you want. It's not like those shelves are being used for anything else."

"Right? And if it's not safe here, then it's not gonna be safe anywhere. Better here than being rattled around my jacket pockets all day." Seemingly satisfied that the MP3 player was indeed safe, Prompto went over to one of the wooden chairs, turning it around before he sat to rest his arms against the backrest. He still, however, cast a glance towards that shelf on occasion, as if just making sure.

"Does it still work?" Cor couldn't help being slightly curious. There was some glamorization of Crown City technology outside of Insomnia, it had been like that for as long as Cor had known it, but even for something so small, it had still been quite some time since he'd last seen anything like it. He'd never owned such things personally, but they'd been quite the common sight, back in the day. (But 'back in the day' was, he knew, a long time ago.)

"... Dunno. Haven't tried it. Even if it did - you know what earbuds are like, right?" (Cor wasn't sure that he did, but didn't interject.) "Bad enough to start with, wires getting tangled, that thing where the sound drops out of one ear - why do they always do that!? And, well, it's not like they're a common commodity around here anymore." Prompto attempted a grin. "I guess the next time we're swinging by the city, I could step out on a supply run. You know, for all those people around here who really need headphones. Yeah? I'll add it to my to-do list."

It wasn't impossible for abandoned shops to hold such things - maybe even outside of Insomnia - but the suggestion was hardly feasible; Cor knew that, and knew that Prompto knew that, too. "... Right. When you've next got time on your hands."

Prompto's expression clouded over somewhat. "Not like I could charge it, anyway. I wouldn't want to push in there all like, you know, 'I demand we use electricity on this--!'..."

"I suppose not..."

Apparently pushing that thought aside, Prompto leaned out from the chair, smiling once more. "Maybe sometime in the future, huh?"


-----


In Prompto's subsequent absences, Cor would find his thoughts drifting back to that MP3 player. Prompto did have a point, that resources were limited and that the energy from Lestallum's power plant was the last defense they had against the daemons beyond - but the device was so small, so surely it wouldn't need much power to charge it...? The need to conserve what they had for as long as they could was naturally paramount, but even Cor knew that to do so relentlessly with no room for anything beyond base survival was a way to burn out, and quickly. There was little left in the world to provide peace and solace, and if all it took to charge the device was an almost-negligible amount of electricity, then perhaps that would be worth it.

It was another small abuse of power, Cor knew that much. That as Cor the Immortal, he could make practically any request to the Hunters and find it fulfilled without delay. Part of him still felt reticent about taking advantage of such things, but on asking whether there was anywhere that the device could be charged, and if there were any headphones perhaps scavenged recently, he knew that solutions would be found, and quickly. Maybe even before Prompto returns next...?

Cor found the MP3 player returned to him within the timespan of a day, and headphones brought to his apartment not long after.

"I don't know how long they've been lying around, but the wiring still seems good, so they should still work. It's just a normal headphone jack, right?"

"... Seems like it."

"Well, that's good. That's Insomnia tech, right? Maybe it's all different there, what do I know."

"Thanks for bringing these over. They'll come in useful."

The Hunter seemed to find that comment amusing, somehow. "We all gotta have our vices. So what's your choice in tunes?"

"... What's that?"

"The headphones, your MP3 player there. Gotta be some classy city music loaded up on there, huh?"

"I couldn't say, it's not mine. Maybe it's just my own curiosity, but... it might be interesting to know."

"Don't blame you, though. Hey, if there's anything good on there, give us a shout. Gets a little too quiet down there sometimes, you know?"

"... Right."

Hours lay between Cor and his next mission, and he was otherwise alone in his apartment, so he saw little harm in settling down with the device as soon as the Hunter left. He took to the bed rather than any of his chairs - even back during his time in Insomnia, he couldn't think of a time that he'd purposefully set aside time to listen to any music in particular, but it felt right to do so in a relaxed position.

Pressing buttons now caused green lettering to show up on the long, thin screen, scrolling a name that Cor found unfamiliar. Presumably the artist, the name of the song? He closed his eyes as he pressed 'play'.

It was a strange experience - stranger than Cor had let himself expect. Despite not recognizing the text of the display, the opening notes of the song brought the strongest rush of nostalgia that Cor had felt in recent memory. He felt conflicted between I don't know this song-- and do I know this song? It wasn't one that he had ever listened to intentionally, but still, he knew it. Had it been from an advert? Maybe the radio, those times he'd driven, alone, to the Citadel. Light and energetic, it seemed like the sort of music that would be popular. And it was Prompto's MP3 player, after all - was that the sort of music he was into? Cor didn't know that of him.

Despite the amount of time since he would have heard the song last, Cor felt the satisfying expectation of the chorus, knew its rhyme, could predict the change in key. He wouldn't have thought it of himself, but there must have been something of that song that had worked its way into his memory. The experience wasn't unpleasant; if he let himself drift, for a moment it was like he was there, back in Insomnia, stuck in traffic, hardly paying attention to the radio as he'd look towards the dashboard clock in building frustration. (Even things like that felt nostalgic, somehow.)

Those times when night fell over Insomnia, and nobody thought anything of it. Rain, perhaps. The windows tightly sealed and the heating on, the steady beat of the windscreen wipers audible alongside the music. Between tracks, that one radio host. What was his name...? Cor couldn't remember that, but remembered his voice, as clear as day.

(Did he survive? Did he escape Insomnia? If he did or if he didn't, was there any way for them to know...?)


-----


"Here."

"Huh?" Prompto stared at the bundled handful of things Cor seemed to be offering him. "What--...?"

"Found you some headphones. They're not your earbuds, but they'll do, won't they? And it didn't take long to charge up that thing - one small music device isn't going to break the bank when it comes to Lestallum's power plant." Cor faltered slightly. "I thought you might... like it."

Prompto took the items into his own hands, holding the headphones by the band and staring at the MP3 player as if he couldn't quite believe it. Once more, he looked up at Cor with that somewhat impenetrable expression, and then exhaled deeply. "Man. It's gotta be like, what, maybe ten years since I last listened to this? Like... who even has one of these knocking around, you know?" He attempted a laugh. "Even when I first had this, it was all like, why would you even listen to one of these rather than just having all your music on your phone, but I just kind of... liked it. Besides, it meant you didn't have to run down your battery if you just wanted to listen to something...! Or you could play games on your phone, and listen to music on this at the same time..."

"Very resourceful."

"Right..." Prompto made to sit on the edge of the bed, and then fell backwards to stare at the ceiling. "It's all--... old stuff. Like--..." (From the manner of his silence and the length of the pause, Cor had a feeling he knew what direction this conversation was going in; Prompto didn't prove him wrong in that regard.) "I had this when I first met Noct. Things on there that were like... they got played on the radio so much you got used to them, and you'd listen to them a bunch, and they'd just kind of remind you... I'd listen to them on the train on the way to school. And the way back from school! You'd get it down to a science - the train journey is this long so I can listen to this many songs... that kind of thing. That same thing, over and over, every day. You'd get to thinking, like... oh, it's good weather today, I better put that song on. Or later on in the school year, going home, seeing the sunset as you went, maybe this is a sunset song--... I guess that's the kind of thing you end up thinking when you're locked into a routine, like that."

"Even public transportation has its own joys, I suppose."

"You never took the train?"

That question caught Cor by slight surprise. "... Not that I can recall. In my youth I was mostly in and around the Citadel, with Crown transport on-hand if it was required... and then I learnt to drive myself, and still spent most of my time in and around the Citadel. There wasn't really any reason for me to do so."

"What if there was, like, a traffic jam? You don't get a subway traffic jam. Or, I mean, you could, but it woulda been pretty bad if that'd happened."

"... You have a point. I did spend a lot of time sat in traffic, on reflection. That said - if there was an emergency, and I had to leave my car at a moment's notice, I'd be able to do that. I imagine doing the same thing on the subway would be a lot more hazardous."

"Did you ever have to do that?"

"... No. But it was always possible that I might have had to."

"Crownsguard had a lot to think about, huh."

"You're saying they don't still...?"

Again, Prompto fell to silence for a few moments. "I just remember being like... when I first started hanging with Noct, so it was like, oh, I guess I can't listen to music on the way home, now? But it was okay, because I was spending that time with a friend, instead. ...I remember when he saw I had this, and he got all excited about it, asking what music I had, and could he listen--... I was kind of nervous, because he was the Prince, you know? Like, royalty's gotta have the ultimate taste in music, or something, so what if he listened to what was on here and decided that obviously I had no taste in music and hated me forever and never spoke to me again?"

Cor blinked. "That's... extreme."

"Yeah, well. That's just the choice sort of worries my head liked to cook up every now and then. Anyway, turns out royalty doesn't automatically have the ultimate music taste, so I was okay. He still got all excited though, like, 'whoa, isn't this song from that advert? Where did you get that?... They released a single!?' and stuff like that. Or like, we'd be out somewhere, and there'd be music on the radio, and he'd be all like, 'I like this one, but I never catch who sings it', so I'd go home and find it and get him to listen the next day, and--..." Prompto closed his eyes. "Dumb shit like that. And like I said, after a while you just had music on your phone all the time, so why bother?... But I always kept this around, just because it had all those old songs on it. When we left Insomnia in the first place, I just thought that I could play it at some point when Noct wasn't expecting it, and he'd be like 'whoa!' and I'd be like 'I know, right!?' and... yeah. Just, you know. 'Remember that!?' That kind of thing. ...Then other things kinda got in the way and I never got to doing that."

"And that's when you thought that the floor would be a good place to keep this obviously-precious item?"

"Hey, it was an accident, okay? It must have just fallen out when I was taking my jacket off, or something." Prompto sighed. "Real glad it was here and not out in some field somewhere. I only noticed it was missing a couple of days before you handed it to me, so I don't know when it happened, but I just felt so fucking awful when I tapped my pocket and it wasn't there--... could've easily been anywhere. I might never have found it."

"Well, 'anywhere' was here and you did find it, so that's that. Getting too preoccupied with what if--, that way lies madness."

"... Yeah, I know."


-----


"Do you want me to go?"

"Huh?"

"While you listen to that. I thought you might want some time by yourself."

"N-no, it's fine, really. Don't worry about it."

From its prime position, Cor supposed that his apartment was probably in an area of Lestallum that had likely been quite desirable, at some point in the past. There was little reason for him to use the small balcony, and so to stand out there felt like a slight novelty. The air still lay heavy with the darkness, but as he leant against the railings, he supposed he had to admit that he had quite a useful vantage point from which to survey both Lestallum and its nearby surroundings. The glare of the light made seeing what lay beyond it that bit harder, but he still felt confident that if anything were to happen, he'd be in the perfect place in which to know about it.

It had taken some time for Prompto to listen to the MP3 player. Having heard him speak of it previously, Cor felt the belated sting of maybe he doesn't want to? He'd found himself so caught up in the thought of charging it and listening to it himself, that he hadn't even considered the fact that Prompto might not want to immediately sit down and relive that particular strand of nostalgia.

Cor slept lightly, and had roused on feeling Prompto move beside him; opening one eye in the low light, he'd watched as Prompto had retrieved the headphones, then, and brought them back to the bed with him. Prompto slipped under the covers to his previous position, and Cor had been able to hear the light buzz of muffled music emanating from the headphones.

Lying with his back towards Cor, it was impossible to make out Prompto's expression; his shoulders trembled in a way that could have been nothing, but there was also the ragged breath of a stifled cry, and Cor had put his hand to Prompto's bare shoulder, then. Prompto had jerked away from the touch, but Cor wasn't surprised by that reaction; any matter involving Noctis brought out the volatile side of Prompto's nature. Cor remembered what it had been like to listen to that music himself, with the strange and vague nostalgia he'd had for it - and for Prompto, it was likely much deeper, and wrapped up inextricably with memories of his youth spent alongside Noctis...

Cor had moved from the bed with no further attempt to placate Prompto; this isn't what you want right now, is it? Instead, he'd pulled on the nearest clothes to hand, and took the silent excuse to take some air. He'd looked towards Prompto before he closed the balcony doors behind him; he still lay in place, the blankets pulled up around him, caught in whatever world of memory the music suggested to him.

And so, Cor leant against the balcony rail, looking over the activity of the Hunter's camps below. Should Prompto require his presence, he hoped that the expansive window set into the door would indicate his proximity. If Prompto didn't need that, then that, too, was acceptable; Cor would return to bed after an appropriate amount of time, and say no more of the matter. Either way, he had no intention of asking Prompto what other memories those old songs might have happened to dredge up - Cor knew that he'd speak of them if he wished, and wouldn't if he didn't. Cor saw no reason to pry if such things were not offered freely; it already felt like some strange small violation that he'd listened to the music by himself. He hadn't mentioned that to Prompto. Somehow, he felt that he shouldn't, and was happy to keep that as a harmless secret.

Not for the first time, Cor looked to the darkness, and wondered just where Noctis was at that moment in time. He'd gone into the Crystal, or so they'd said. The Crystal lay within the Citadel's throne room, but gave no hint nor indication on when it was ever likely to discharge its fated guest. And there were so many platitudes that Cor knew he could give - he'll return, we both know it. Surely, soon--. Weren't you always the most eager to remind people that he'll be back, someday? - but knew that even Prompto tired, sometimes. Hope was what kept them going, but it was a long road, and even hope could feel like a burden, at times. For now, this, perhaps, was one of those times in particular. Maybe this was what Prompto needed, right now. Perhaps he would feel better for this, or instead, the opposite. It was impossible to tell, for now; Cor knew that he'd adjust to the situation as needed, as it revealed itself. As such, he remained on the balcony.