Chapter Text
Prompto wakes up the next morning with the feeling of dread still in the pit of his stomach. He’s glad that he made himself exhausted enough to sleep yesterday, otherwise he would have slept really terribly.
The scene from last night replays in his head. The feeling of euphoria, the marks glowing together, and Noct’s face when he turned around. He doesn’t want to go downstairs, knowing that he will eventually run into Noct, but he also doesn’t want Ignis or Gladio to find out that something is wrong.
He lies in bed for longer than he usually does. It’s so long that he actually hears Gladio talking to Noct in the other room, trying to get him out of bed. He hears a knock on his door. Ignis opens it.
“Prompto, are you alright?”
He sits up in bed. Prom is always up before Noct is, so of course Ignis would be concerned.
“Yeah, sorry. I guess, I was just really tired.”
“You were quite active yesterday.” He agrees. “Come down for breakfast, when you’re ready.”
He shuts the door, and Prompto sighs. He goes to smooth down his bedhead and realizes that his hands are shaking. Outside his door, he hears Noct and Gladio talking as they pass by to go downstairs. He takes a deep breath. Prom slept in only a shirt and boxers, so he throws on some sweats before opening his door and meeting all three of them down there.
When he turns the corner, out of the hallway, into the kitchen, he catches Noct’s eye. They make eye contact, causing Prompto to freeze for a second. He makes a point of looking away from Noct’s direction as he grabs a plate of food from Iggy and sits a few chairs away from Noct. Iggy chooses to sit in front of him, which seems slightly comforting.
Prompto really isn’t that hungry. His appetite having left when he woke up feeling anxious. He forces himself to eat, though, because he knows he should eat, and he doesn’t want the guys to think he’s sick. They mostly eat in silence, but otherwise, it’s usually Gladio and Ignis dominating the conversation. Noct makes some comments here and there, while Prom finds himself spacing out.
“Why so quiet, Blondie?” Gladio asks.
Prompto comes back to reality. “Oh. Just tired, y’know?”
“So much so that I found him still sleeping in while you were trying to wake Noct.” Ignis says.
Gladio hums. “Fresh air does that to ya’.”
Prom has a feeling they don’t fully believe him.
They finish eating, and Ignis takes his and Gladio’s plate to the sink.
“Gladio and I are going to go on a walk. I don’t suppose either of you wish to join us?”
“I think I’m gonna shower, actually.” Prom says, quickly.
He gets up, and goes to hand his plate to Iggy.
“I’m good. I’ve had enough of being outside. I’ll just play video games or something.”
“Alright, but we better not catch you napping, your Highness.”
Prompto rushes upstairs. Once he’s in his room, he shuts the door. He wasn’t completely lying, he actually does want to shower, so he does. He’s grateful that their rooms have their own bathrooms.
When Prom gets out of the shower and changes into new clothes, he decides to go back downstairs. He just wants to leave the house, and maybe go on a walk by himself to clear his mind. He doesn’t expect Noct to be downstairs, thinking he actually went to go nap in secret, but he is. Prompto sees him across the room, lying on the couch, doing something on his phone. Noct looks up and makes eye contact with him, again. He sees Noct sit up, leaning on his arm. It startles him how quickly he reacts to seeing him.
“We should talk.” Noct says.
“I don’t think we need to.”
Prompto starts moving towards the back sliding door.
Noct gets up, walking after him. “Prom.”
He moves faster, grabbing and swinging the door open.
“Prom, please.”
Noct follows him out, running in front of him and holding his arms out to prevent Prompto from slipping away.
“Just five minutes…? You don’t need to say anything; you can just listen.”
Prom furrows his brow. He’s kind of trapped, like he feared after finding Noct still awake. He wishes he just stayed locked in his room.
He looks at Noct’s face. His eyes are pleading, and it makes him feel guilty.
“...I’m listening.”
Noct gestures to the set of chairs on the back porch. “Let’s sit down.”
Prom sits in the chair nearest to the back door, and Noct sits next to him.
For the first time ever, there’s an uncomfortable silence between them, the air thick with tension.
“I don’t know how to start this, so I’ll just be blunt.” Noct says, sighing. “I’ve liked you for a long time.”
Prompto tears his gaze away from the ground and looks at Noct, surprised.
“I used to feel weird about it, because I never expected you to be my soulmate. It’s like I felt guilty for liking someone that I thought wasn’t my soulmate.
About last night…I was just really happy. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. But, I know you’ve always hated talking about soulmates and the marks. You never told me why. Just, I guess I’m trying to ask…do you not want this?”
Prom stalls for a second. It’s not unheard of for soulmates to choose to stay platonic and instead find other people, in similar situations, to date. But, that’s not what he wants.
“No, I do . I do want this.” Prom says.
“Then, what’s freaking you out?”
“I don’t know. I’m just...scared.”
“Why are you scared?”
Prompto sighs.
“I guess…” He thinks. “My mom. I never told you about her, did I?”
“Now that you mention it, I don’t think so. I just assumed she wasn’t around anymore.”
“It’s kind of the opposite. Actually, my dad had to leave her. I think I’m just scared, because I expected the relationship between soulmates to be very passionate and loving. But, it wasn’t like that for my parents.”
He pauses. Noct doesn’t say anything. He looks at Prom expectedly, wanting him to continue.
“My mom was very abusive and manipulative. One minute she was screaming at my dad and throwing things, trying to hurt him, then the next she was begging him to forgive her. As I got older, she only got worse. One day, my dad just decided to leave. He was so terrified, it hurt just to look at him. I mean, usually, your parents give you kind of like a first impression of what romantic relationships look like, so I guess seeing that just gave me this terrible idea of what life would be like after finding your soulmate. Dad never wanted to talk about soulmates after that, so I assumed this was a universal experience. It was... surreal seeing people talk about their soulmates and seeing some actually find each other, when I got older. They looked happy. They acted like it was the best thing in the world. It gave me mixed feelings, but whenever I thought about the fact that I’d find mine one day, I just felt so full of dread. And...it’s stupid, but after we met, I started to like you, and I hated myself for it. I should have felt happy last night, but it was...triggering. I couldn’t help how anxious I felt.”
After he lets his words sink in, he can’t believe he let himself be so vulnerable. He feels his wrist, where his soul mark is, start burning. Noct moves his chair closer to him. He grabs Prom’s hand, and he feels Noct move him so he can rest Prom’s head on his shoulder. It isn’t until then, that Prompto realizes he started crying. He doesn’t think he’s ever actually talked about this with anyone.
“You know I would never do that to you, right?” Noct says, softly.
Prompto has known Noct for a long time. They’re really good at communication. They tell each other when they don’t like something one of them does, and they talk it through. There hasn’t been any instances where Noctis has proven to Prom that he doesn’t care about his comfort or his feelings. So, in reality, Noct doesn’t seem like someone who would try to make Prom’s life terrible. He wouldn’t hurt him, physically or otherwise. It seems like he’d do quite the opposite. But, his brain keeps bothering him with “what if”s and memories of the past.
“I know…”
“If you’re really okay with this, then we can take it slow. Nothing has to be all that different between us. I just want you to feel comfortable around me.”
Prom just nods and pulls away. Noct wipes the remaining tears off Prom’s face.
“So, wanna play King’s Knight with me?” Noct says.
Prom snorts.
“Sure.”
Noctis wanted a real, lazy Sunday, so they all just stayed in the house and did basically nothing. Gladio read for most of the day. Ignis was typing away on his laptop, always wanting to busy himself. Prompto played Mario Kart with Noctis, again.
Now, Prom lies awake in his bed, unable to sleep. He’s finally alone with no distractions, which makes his brain able to focus on the conversation he had with Noct earlier. He can trust Noctis. He knows this. And he does. It’s just going to take some getting used to, the fact that they’re soulmates. He tries not to focus on that aspect too much, and it makes him feel more comfortable. The fact that he’s liked him for a long time, always wanting to hug him or hold hands with him, and now that they’ve figured this out, it makes him feel kind of excited. They could technically do those things now, and it wouldn’t feel awkward. If he just focuses on that, he feels better. It’s this mix of emotions keeping him up.
He tries lying on his stomach to get comfortable enough to, maybe, fall asleep, when his phone vibrates on the nightstand next to him. He opens his phone to find a message from Noct. You still up?
Prompto finds it weird that he’s still awake, because he’s Noct. He loves sleeping. Although he’s surprised, he just casually texts back. Yeah, can’t sleep.
His message comes a few seconds later. Me neither.
For some reason, he kinda just wants to see him. Prom also wants to push himself to be more close with Noct. Maybe it’ll help him get over his weird, soulmate aversion problem. Before he second guesses himself, he types out a message to him and sends it. Can I come sleep in your bed with you?
Not too long after he sends it, he sees that Noct read it. He doesn’t respond right away. This leaves Prom screaming internally at himself. But then, a new message appears. Yes.
He basically gets an adrenaline rush just from reading the message. He pushes the blankets off himself, and goes to stand, his legs feeling like jelly. Thankfully the doors are kind of quiet, making it easy for him to open and close his, without Ignis or Gladio noticing. His hand hovers over the doorknob on Noct’s door. He takes a deep breath and opens it.
He sees Noct sit up in bed as he opens the door.
“Hey.” Noct says.
Prom closes the door and walks over to him. “Hey.”
Noct scoots closer to the wall and lifts the blanket, so he can get in. They both lie on their side, facing each other. The bed is big enough for both of them, so they don’t have to be too close to each other. Prompto finds himself wanting to be close to him, anyway.
He wraps an arm around Noct’s waist, heart pounding.
“Is this really okay?” Noct asks.
Prom pulls him closer to his body.
“ I came into your room, didn’t I?” He whispers.
He feels Noct move his arm, and then he feels a finger tracing his jawline. He leans into the touch. Noct’s hand travels to the nape of his neck, pulling him closer. Prom tucks his head under Noct’s chin. He feels fingers run through his hair. He half expected it to be too warm in the same bed with him, but the warmth emanating from Noct’s body is actually comforting. He feels all the tension release from his body, finally relaxed.
He actually feels himself falling asleep. Before he completely goes under, he feels Noct’s fingers slow down and stop moving, now just resting in his hair. The last thought he has before falling asleep is…
It’ll be okay .
The next morning, Ignis and Gladio definitely figure it out. They find their bodies intertwined, still cuddling, and they notice the mark on Prompto’s arm, unhidden. Noct’s shown them his mark before, and Gladio has seen it a few times when he’s taken his shirt off after they’ve worked out together. They know immediately. It explains why they were acting so weird yesterday morning.
They leave today, so they start packing things up themselves. Gladio lets them sleep in longer, not wanting to disturb them.
It’s a few weeks later. Noctis wasn’t busy for once, so he let Prompto come over to his apartment.
Prom feels himself waking up, which is weird because he doesn’t remember falling asleep. Once he realizes it’s still daytime , and he’s on Noctis’s couch , he jerks awake. He feels fingers running through his hair again, and a hand rubbing his arm. Noct coos at him, trying to get him to relax enough to continue sleeping. He vaguely starts to notice his head is on Noct’s lap.
“Sorry. Didn’t know I fell asleep. Should’a woke me up.” He slurs.
“You’re fine. You looked hella tired, so I was gonna let you sleep.”
Prom situates himself, so he’s up and leaning against Noct’s torso. He glances at the TV, noticing some random movie playing in the background.
“I should try to stay awake, though. I’ll fuck up my sleep schedule.”
“Did you even sleep last night?” Noct asks.
“Not really. I was...kinda planning on telling my dad about you being my soulmate, and I was too anxious about it to sleep.”
“You really told him?”
Prom nods.
“What did he say?” He asks, concerned.
“He said...he’s happy, for me.”
“Okay, that’s good . Kind of unexpected, but really good.”
“I don’t even know why I was scared to tell him, he’s always really liked you. He even teases me about you.”
“Wait, really?” He smirks.
“Yeah, it’s slightly annoying.” Prom says. “Anyway, I don’t have to be home for a few more hours, so what do you wanna do?”
“Well, I kinda wanted to cuddle, but you might fall asleep so…”
Prom reaches for the remote.
“Yeah? Maybe I won’t, you don’t know that, here let me put a better movie on so I don’t fall asleep.”
Noctis actually giggles at his little outburst. Hearing it makes Prompto’s heart flutter.
He thinks he could get used to that feeling, without any fear directly following it.