"GOOD morning Korn." You heard your dad say as the two of you climbed out of the car after he parked in the back garden area near the back of the citadel.

"Good morning." Korn replied as Tracy pulled her car up and parked right behind your dad's.

"You wouldn't happen to know what this whole car wash thing is about would you? (Y/n) was very vague about the whole thing." Your dad asked as you walked over to Monica and Gwen as they stood by the back door to the Citadel kitchen area.

"I was thinking that you would know more information then myself." Korn replied as Tracy walked over and joined them. "Because she certainly didn't tell me much."

"Well I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Paul said as the the three of them stood off to the side and watched you talking to the others.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

"So I'm a bit confused. Why are we here exactly?" Monica asked as she held Talcott.

"I was wondering that myself." Noctis asked with a stern look as he walked up to you with Prompto and Gladio right on his heels in their swim team warmup suits.

"The challenge was that they had to beat me in a dance off. The winner got to choose where we went. And the losers......" You said as you turned to Noctis.

"Had to wash the winner's cars." Noctis said in a low tone.

"We got that part." Gwen said as she gave you a curious eye. "But why are we here?"

"Well, because the loser has to wear what?" You asked as you turned to Noctis again with a grin.

"The skimpiest swimsuit we own." He answered in a low tone.

"Wait? Are you serious?" Monica asked as she looked at Gladio.

"Which is why you are both here."  You replied with a grin.  "I didn't want you to miss out on the show." 

You smiled at both Gwen and Monica as they stared at you. Then they turned to the guys who were all standing there sheepishly. Monica was still in shock as she looked at Gladio. Where Gwen was smirking at Prompto as his whole face turned bright red. And Noctis was giving you what you assumed at first was a stern look.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

"It's a good thing that Ignis isn't here to witness this." Tracy said when she finally got over the initial shock of the challenge.

"Why is that?" Paul asked as he looked at her.

"Because the tables may have been turned."

"More like the challenge wouldn't have happened." Korn corrected as he watched the guys filling up two buckets with soapy water. "Ignis would never have allowed them to get caught up in something like this."

"Are you going to tell him about this?" Tracy asked as she watched Korn, as he stared at the guys while they sorted out the sponges and towels by the buckets.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Korn said with a flat tone as he brought out his phone. "At least not without a few pictures to show him."

Paul laughed and turned back towards the scene himself. "That's the Korn I know."

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you ready?" You asked as you beamed at Noctis and the guys as they stood in a line in front of you with the cars behind them.

"Let's just get this over with." Gladio said in a low tone.

"Yeah....sure." Prompto nervously answered.

"Let's do this." Noctis said then started to unzip his coat.

Immediately the guys started to take off their warmup jackets. The girls started cheering and whistling at them as they each unzipped their jackets and showed off their bare chests. Then they slid their arms out and tossed the jackets off to the side. You couldn't help but it cheer as well as you kept your eyes on Noctis as he stared at you the whole time. Even after he tossed his jacket on the ground and stood up with his hands on his waist band.

Then he quickly glanced at the guys as they did them same. Then after they were all facing you again and in one motion, all three of them dropped their pants at the same time. The cheers from the girls echoed loudly around the garden as the guys took off their pants to reveal that all three of them were wearing their solid black speedos. Which made Noctis and Prompto both blush. Gladio on the other hand seemed to be enjoying Monica's reaction.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

"Their never going to wear those suits again." Tracy teased as the guys tossed their pants off to the side and now stood there in nothing but speedos.

"At least not like this." Paul smiled back as he wrapped his arms around Tracy's waist.

"Is there a point to letting them go through with this?" Tracy asked as Gladio grabbed the garden hose and started to spray down the cars as Noctis and Prompto each grabbed a bucket and a sponge and started to soap up the cars in turn.

"There's always a point to these kind of things." Korn replied as he was recording the whole thing on his phone. "For one, this will teach them a bit of humility towards (y/n). And to never challenge her again."

"True." Tracy answered as Paul pulled her closer to him.

"Plus it's a great way to get our cars washed." Paul added before he gave her a kiss on the temple.

"I just hope that they don't kill the petunias in the process." They heard a deeper voice say from behind them.

They all turned and saw King Regis walking towards them.

"Your grace." Paul said as he released Tracy and nodded towards him. "I hope you don't mind that their doing this here."

"Not at all." King Regis said as he smiled back at him and came to a stop beside Korn. "In fact it's good to see them enjoying themselves for once."

"I couldn't agree more." Korn added as they all turned back to watch. "It helps to build character and will always be a memory that they'll never forget."

"I sure hope your right." Tracy said with a nervous tone as they stood there watching the guys as they washed the cars.

"Well, I got what I needed." Korn said as he turned his phone's camera off. 

"Would anyone care for a drink?"  King Regis asked.

"That sounds good." Paul replied.

"None for me of course." Tracy replied as she placed her hand on her stomach. "But I could go for some water."

"Then let's retire to my study." King Regis said. "I'm sure that they will be fine without us."

And without a second thought, the four of them headed inside. You glanced over and saw them walking away. A smile crossed your face. They seemed to understand what was going on and that it was all in good fun. Which made you feel better as you turned back to watch.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Then you watched as Noctis reached up to try and wash the top of Tracy's car. But inadvertently, Gladio sprayed him right in the face with the garden hose. Well that didn't go over so well with Noctis as he warped away from the cars.

"Gladio! What the hell?" Noctis asked as he wiped his face before he shook his head.

"My bad." Gladio said with a smirk.

"Well don't let it happen again." Noctis said as he started to walk back up to the cars.

Gladio smirk again as he started to rinse off the cars and purposely sprayed Noctis in the chest.

Noctis warped to the side this time as he kept his eyes on Gladio. "Glaaadiooo!"

"My bad. But I can't help that this garden hose has a great range." Gladio said with a smirk.

Uh oh. You thought as you watched Noctis narrow his eyes at him. This isn't good.

"Give me the hose Gladio." Noctis said as he slowly started walking towards Gladio.

"What? This hose?" Gladio asked as he sprayed Noctis again in the chest.

Noctis warped to the side again before he slowly started to walk up towards him again. "Yes. That hose."

"This hose?" Gladio asked again as he once again sprayed Noctis' chest.

Noctis warped again, only this time he was starting to get closer to where you were standing. "Yes. That hose."

"Are you sure that you want this hose?" Gladio asked again as he sprayed once more.

Suddenly Noctis flew forward as he tried to grab the hose from him. Gladio quickly sprayed back at him. But instead of hitting him, he hit you square in the chest, soaking your white t-shirt and jean shorts. Luckily for them, you had on your swimsuit as well, just in case this happened.

You were stunned at first. But then you started to laugh. Noctis though didn't seem to pleased as he flew forward and grabbed the hose from Gladio. After getting the water out of your eyes, you glanced up and saw Noctis about to fly off the handle on Gladio.

Oh shit. You thought and quickly warped over to Noctis and grabbed him around his waist.

He instantly stopped and looked at you. "What are you doing?"

"Stopping you of course." You said as you tightened up your grip on him.

"And just what did you think I was going to do?" He asked as he turned around to face you as he placed his hands behind his back.

"I don't know." You replied as you looked at him and gave him a confused look.

"Were you afraid that I might do this?" He asked right as he pulled the hose out from behind himself and sprayed right down on top of your head like a shower.

You screamed as you were now instantly soaked all the way down to the skin within seconds of him squeezing the trigger. He chuckled at you as you released him and put your hands over your eyes. Then he quickly moved away from you and handed Gladio back the hose. You quickly recovered and looked up and saw Gladio with the hose.

He glanced at the hose then back at you before he quickly sprayed you again. Once again you screamed as you covered up your eyes. Gladio handed the hose to Prompto and took off himself. This time when you looked up, you had a sinister look on your face as you stared right at Prompto.

"Ummm." Prompto nervously said as he took a step back.

"Spray her Prompto and get out of there." Noctis said with a smile.

"What?" Prompto said as he gave Noctis is nervous look. "Your kidding right?"

"Don't even think about it." You said in a slow low tone as you slowly started to walk towards Prompto.

"Shit!" Prompto said as he also sprayed you right in the chest.

But Prompto ran with the hose as he sprayed. By time the water stopped you were totally soaked through and through. Which made you stand there dripping wet as you heard them laughing at you as they seemed to surround you. You pursed your lips as you tried to hide the laughter that was trying to escape from them starting to play.

Finally Talcott couldn't stand it and started squirming around as he fought to get out of Monica's arms. Apparently he wanted to play to. Monica practically dropped him since he squirmed so much from wanting to get down. But once he was on the ground, he took off for Gladio with his arms wide open and a huge grin on his face.

Everyone paused and grinned at him as Gladio took the garden hose from Prompto and started spraying up into the air causing a gentle shower for him to run through. Talcott was thrilled as he started giggling and jumping under the gentle mist. His little laugh was so lively and carefree that soon everyone was laughing along with him. Then Talcott ran over and gave Monica a huge grin as he hugged her leg and started to get her soaked.

Monica jumped at first, but then she was laughing herself as Gladio moved the spray so that it was over both of them. Monica slightly screamed before she snagged the hose from Gladio and started to hose him down as she chased him with the water as he tried to duck out of the way. But this only worked to further fuel the water battle since Gwen ended up getting sprayed in the process. Which now made Prompto a bit upset as he ran over to her to make sure that she was okay.

You stood off to the side as you watched the whole thing unfold as you slowly started to peel off your shirt. But right as you pulled it off, you suddenly felt your breath leave you as you were thrown back, away from the cars and over to a royal mausoleum that was just off to the side. You weren't quite sure what had happened at first. That was until you saw the blue mist around you and realized that Noctis had his arm around your waist.

But Noctis didn't stop outside. Instead he pulled you inside the building and out of sight of everyone else. You slightly giggled as he put you up against the closed door and he softly shut the other door with the other hand. You smiled at him as you gazed into his blue eyes. You searched his face as you tried to figure out what it was that he thinking as he stood there with one arm around your waist and the other against the now closed door.

"You know, that if you wanted to talk to me, all you had to do was ask. You didn't have to warp me away." You said as you smiled back at him.

"I know." He said as he placed his forehead on yours as he locked his eyes on yours. "But I was more concerned about your clothing."

You slightly laughed at him. "And why would you be concerned about that?"

"Because I don't want them seeing you like this." Noctis said as he slightly glanced down at you.

"Well, that isn't your concern." You said in a steadier tone as you realized that it hadn't been something silly, but instead he had become jealous again.

"The hell it isn't." He said in a firmer tone as he pressed himself against you and pinned you against the door. "You are mine to protect."

"I think you have that backwards." You said as you searched his face.

You knew that he wasn't going to hurt you or try to scare you. But what you were more worried about was him acting on the heat that was starting to show in his eyes. And as much as you loved him, you simply couldn't go there again with him. Not after almost losing Ignis the last time.

You sighed as you placed your hand on his cheek. "It's my job to serve and protect you. It's not your place to be worried about me."

"How can you say that?" He replied as he slid his hand down and cupped your chin. "Your safety has always been my concern. And it always will be. I can't sleep at night if I know that you are in danger or are hurting."

"Your sweet." You said as you slid your fingertips across his forehead as you moved his wet hair away from his face. "But you should be more concerned about Luna. Not me."

"But I don't want Luna." He said as he searched your face. "I want you."

You felt your heart skip as you looked at his eyes, as he desperately searched your face. He wants me? But I......he..... "But I could never...."

"Never what?" Noctis said with a hurt look. "Be with me........look over me.....love me?"

You felt your throat start to swell shut. Damn you, Noctis. Why are you saying these things? And why now? Why didn't you say something years ago? When perhaps we could have.......?

You then dropped your gaze as you tried to steady yourself. Because the truth was that you did want to be with him. That was why you became a retainer to begin with. And you wanted to look over him for the rest of your life. And love? Of course you loved him. Why else would you be there?

But as you gazed back up at his confused look, it hit you once again why you couldn't. No matter how you sliced it, you were both from two different worlds. He was royalty, and you weren't. He would one day rule over all of Insomnia. You would only have rule over your own place. He had to uphold the blessings and control the gifts of the gods. You were just blessed enough to be by his side.

"I can't......" You started to whisper.

"You can't what?" Noctis asked as felt his world start to break apart around him.

You dropped your head again as you swallowed so that you could talk again. "I can't be what you need. What this country needs."

"How can you say that?" He asked as his heart started to shatter as he lifted your chin up. "Your everything that I need."

"No I'm not." You said back in a rough voice as tears started to form in your eyes as you felt your heart crumble under his hurt gaze. "You need everything that I can't give you. I'm not royalty, or even rich for that matter."

"Hell, I'm not even close." You said as you dropped your gaze from his troubled look that was ripping you apart. "I'm just a fucking high school student who works as a part-time waitress at a tiny café to help out with the family bills. Your in a totally different class and standing then my entire family combined."

"(Y/n)..." Noctis said as he cupped your chin again and lifted up your gaze so that he could see you. "I love you."

You immediately felt your heart leap and crack all at the same time. You never knew that those three words could have so much weight behind them before. Let alone could build you up and rip you apart at the same time. And the pain was very harsh from both.

"Don't...." You whispered back as you dropped your hands and started to shudder. You shouldn't love me. You have Luna. And I have Ignis.

"Don't?" He asked in a desperate tone. "Don't what? Worry about you? Love you? Well it's too late for that. Because I do and I have for a long time."

"Stop." You quietly said as felt yourself starting to crumble in his arms as you reached back and put your hand on the door handle and unlocked it. Stop torturing me like this.

"No." Noctis said as he grabbed your chin and pulled your face back up to him, making you look at him. "I'll never stop loving you. And I will do everything in my power to protect you and keep you at my side. I don't give a shit about the rest of the world. I only care about you."

"Noctis..." Damn it Noctis! Can't you see this is ripping me apart right now? "I......we.....we can't." You said as you quickly turned the door handle on the door behind you, opening it up as you slipped outside.

Noctis just barely had time to prevent himself from falling forward as he released you as he stood back from the door as you slipped away from him and closed the door behind yourself. All he could do after that was drop his head as he placed his hands on the door to keep himself from falling forward. 

He knew then that he was too late in telling you how he really felt about you. He had just lost you. And possible forever. The thought hit him so hard, that he angrily slammed both fists against the door in frustration.

You jumped as you heard him bang on the door as you walked away. But that was nothing compared to the pounding in your heart. Never had you imagined that he would do that. Sure you knew that he had feelings for you and you for him. But still....

"Everything okay?" You heard Prompto ask as you walked back over towards the group with your head down.

"Yeah.... sure." You said as you walked past them and headed for the back door of the citadel. "I'm going to go grab us some drinks."

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

While you were in the kitchen, you tossed your shorts and t-shirt into the dryer so that they would dry off before you left the kitchen to head back. You figured that it was best to not antagonize Noctis with wet clothes and all. Not after the rough departure that you had had to do. Of course that was nothing compared to the hole that you felt in your heart now.

You had hoped that you and Noctis could have hung out more while Ignis was gone. But it looked like it would be best if you just stepped back for a while. At least until this blew over. How long that would take, you weren't even sure. But it seemed the best option for both of you.

"Oh dear." You heard Marge's familiar voice say as you stood there leaning against the running dryer, wearing only your two-piece swim suit as you tried to gather your thoughts again. "I didn't expect you to be in here. And in nothing but a bikini to boot."

"I just wanted to dry my clothes from the car wash is all. " You said as you slightly glanced her direction, but made sure not to make eye contact. "They should be done in a moment."

"Take your time dear." She said as she walked up to you and placed her hand on your back. "It looks like the wait will do you more good then dry clothes will."

You looked up towards the ceiling as you took in a raspy breath. You have one hell of a perception don't you? "Perhaps your right."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"Thank you for asking." You said as you glanced at her and gave her a slight smile. "But no. This is just something that I have to work through."

"Okay." Marge said as she gave you her usual grandmother smile. "But know that I'm here for you, if you need me."

"Thank you." You replied as she gave you a gentle smile.

Marge nodded with a smile before she walked away and headed into the kitchen to start preparing lunch. You gave her a slight smile as you watched her walk away. You would have loved to talk to her about it. But you feared that it might put her in an awkward situation, considering she technically works for Noctis. And you didn't want to stir up issues at the citadel.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Lunch was quiet and awkward between you and Noctis. Both of you kept watching each other out of the corner of your eyes as you ate. There was so much you wanted to say. But at the same time, you didn't know if you actually could talk to him about it. So instead it was best to stay quiet, and deal with the awkward silence between the two of you.

You were grateful to leave after lunch so that you could head to work. Noctis on the other hand didn't seem to pleased about it though as he tried to get you by yourself so that he could talk to you before you left. Which didn't happen since you purposely stayed with the group. You didn't want to talk about it anymore. What was said, was said and there wasn't anything that could change it.

That night at work was nothing but a blur after you left. You knew that you had gone to work. But you didn't remember anything about it except that there where a lot of spilled drinks that night from all of the kids that kept knocking theirs over. And more then once for a couple of them.

Even that night when you went to bed, the phone was silent. Which was partially due to you turning your ringer off. Since you just didn't have the strength to talk to him at the moment. You simply didn't think that your heart could take that pain again so soon.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning came way to early in your opinion. And it wasn't much brighter either. Which was heavily due to the fact that it was raining outside. So it did nothing for your mood as you drove to school.

What did brighten your day, was Jason's warm smile. He held his umbrella over you so that you could get out of the car and into the school building without getting wet. And it was obvious that Jason and Brady knew that something was up. But neither of them asked you about it. They seemed to understand that you just needed some time.

By time you were eating lunch with Jason and Brady in the dining facilities, you were feeling a bit better. At least there you could get away from the drama at the Citadel. And talk to someone other than the people who worked and lived there. Which was a nice break for once.

"I know that I asked you this before." Jason said as he looked at you while Brady dumped the tray. "But I was wondering if you wanted to stop by my place this afternoon? We could work on the English assignment for this week while your there."

"I don't know." You said as you dropped your gaze. "I still have to work tonight."

"I have a pretty elaborate library back at my place." He added with a smile.

"Jason....." You said as you dropped your eyes and sat back in your chair.

"How about we swing by your work instead?" Jason said with one eyebrow raised.

"That would be easier." You half smiled.

You figured that your work would be the best location to meet up. And besides, you didn't think your dad would appreciate you stopping by some frat house to see some guys. So it was better to meet up at public places for now. Plus, they could stay as long as they wanted.

"Your work it is then." Jason said with a smile as Brady walked back over to the table.

"Whose work?" Brady asked as he gave Jason a confused look.

"(Y/n) has just agree to let us stop by her work for a study session." Jason said with a proud smile as he stood up and grabbed his bag.

"Dude, like I told you before. We can always just go and grab a bite to eat if your that curious." Brady said as he grabbed his bag. "You don't have to make up some lame exc..."

"Ahhh." Jason interrupted. "There is nothing lame about seeing where our beautiful princess goes to work each day."

Beautiful Princess?  They must have been talking to Noctis. "Look, if your only going because your worried about my safety, then you don't have to stop by at all. I'm fine at work. Brian is there with me."

"Whose Brian?" Jason asked as he quickly whipped his head in your direction.

"Brian owns the place." You said as you rolled your eyes and stood up yourself. "He's my boss."

"Is he cute?" Jason asked you suspiciously.

"His wife and daughter think he's adorable." You answered with a smug look.

Brady started chuckling at Jason's stunned face. "See you have nothing to worry about."

"I would still like to see this establishment with my own eyes." Jason said in a rather high and might tone. "I need to make sure that she is safe after all."

Both you and Brady rolled your eyes as you started walking away from the table. "Whatever man. What...ever."

You couldn't help but to smile at Brady's comment. This was what you had missed the most about the guys. The nonstop bantering that would always keep things interesting. But it was never enough to push them apart from each other. At least not until you came into the picture.

Suddenly you felt your heart start to ache again as you thought about Noctis and the others. You still hadn't spoken to any of them since you left the citadel on Sunday. And at the moment, you were really missing them. And especially one person in particular. But even though you were missing Noctis.  You still couldn't bring yourself to talk to him. At least, not at the moment.

Brady nudged Jason in the arm to get his attention. Jason looked over at him and gave him a confused look. Brady then nodded towards you as you walked back to your car with your head down. Jason then gave you a curious look.

"Hey...umm." Jason started to say as he watched you. "Is everything okay?"

"Huh?" You asked as you glanced up and saw Brady and Jason both giving you a concerned look.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked with a more concerned tone. "You haven't really been yourself today."

"Me?" You asked in a startled tone. "Yeah sure."

Then you turned around and started walking away a bit quicker. "I couldn't be better."

Brady and Jason both glanced at each other before following you with their eyes as you jogged across the street and towards the car.

"I think we need to call him." Brady said in a low tone.

"Not yet." Jason said as he watched you unlock the car and toss your bag in the back seat. "Let's see how she is at work first. We don't know exactly what the problem is yet."

"Alright." Brady said as they crossed the street in time to see you pull out of your spot.

They stood still for a moment and watched as you pulled away from them and headed to work. "But as soon as we see something out of the ordinary, We're calling."

Suddenly Jason's phone started going off. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket. Then once he saw the name, he looked back at Brady.

"Looks like that call is going to be now instead of later." Jason said as he held up his phone and showed him the name on the screen. "Perhaps they might have an idea about what's up."

******Author Note******

Jealousy is a super nasty green beast that has been know to tear apart friendships and any type of relationship. And it does it by shoving a huge wedge between the two parties. Sometimes it can be resolved by words or gestures. While other times it can completely severe that bond and break those chains forever.

I think that we have all at one point fallen victim to this nasty beast that eats away at our subconscious and makes us start to hate the other person. How we handle that beast though is how we learn to either defeat it, or let it destroy us. I hope you have had more victories against this green monster then defeats. Because life it too short to be jealous of someone else, or to even hold a grudge against the person because of being jealous. And sometimes it takes us being the bigger person and just letting it go so that we can move on.

But for our band of brothers and breaking hearts, will someone be the bigger person? Or will the chains that had held them together for so long, be broken forever. We shall have to wait and see.

Thanks for reading. :)

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