[It's true that things have been a little off between them lately, but for Noct's part he's passing it off as just his own moodiness putting a strain on things as usual. There's only so many meetings and briefings and political whatsits a guy can take before it starts to take a toll on his social life, and lately it's been nearly non-stop... And not the kind of stuff he can just brush off, either, no matter how much he'd like to sleep or study. He's just tired, basically, that has to be it. It's a perfectly reasonable explanation for... Things.

Fortunately those 'things' aren't something he has to worry about right this second. Right now he's gonna laugh and be pleased that, while not enough to qualify as 'getting a good hit in', Prompto'd at least managed to leave his mark in some way.]

Dirty, [he says, cringing in spite of himself. He's been on the (unintended) receiving end of Prompto's bony goddamn knees before so he can only imagine...] But it serves his ass right.

[Moving on... Because this is Noct (and because of the circumstances surrounding it), the real reason Prompto's asking about self-defense doesn't even cross his mind... But even if it did, the answer would be the same:]

Anyway, the Big Guy? Yeah, he'd probably be down. [And because he just can't help himself when it comes to Gladio:] Pretty sure he gets off on knocking people around, so all you gotta do is ask.