Chapter Text
Prompto felt like a wind-up toy wound up to its limits and let loose. And it was wonderful, all of it.
Noctis’s hand at his side was wonderful. Noctis’s cheek, hot from the flush across his face, was wonderful. Noctis’s mouth was… completely fantastic. His tongue against his: Absolutely amazing.
Better than anything he ever imagined. Because he felt free to revel in it all without shame, without forcing the thoughts away and denying they existed. Because it was all actually happening, for real.
There, in the grass, they continued their gentle push and pull of their mouths against each other. Neither of them hesitated in continuing, Prompto was completely lost to the closeness.
They only parted naturally when they heard the chatter and footfalls of their friends return up at the house. Gods, why couldn’t they have stayed gone for just a little longer?
Prompto’s face felt like it was vibrating. Shocks of unspent adrenaline coursed over him and made him feel like tiny fireworks had been set off in a domino effect, starting at his lips and blooming in a cacophony of bursts across his face and down his neck, and around the spot where Noctis’s hand rested, between his hip and ribs.
Noctis’s eyes were wide and bluer than the sky above them, and filled with a mixture of shock and… elation? Prompto hoped beyond hope it was not just him. He felt the prickle of anxiety in the back of his mind, but was so unready to let go of this exact moment, he rallied against it.
Because what happened was not a hesitant, unsure, fearful experiment that was instantly regretted. It had lasted too long, too deeply… surely? No one (sober, anyways) kisses for that long, that gentle, that passionately without mutual intention… right?
“You boys want some lunch?” Ignis called, having spotted them (albeit significantly obscured) in the grass.
Prompto took a deep breath to settle his panting, and sat up; loathe to break away from Noctis’s gaze.
“S-sounds great, Iggy.” He said, voice a little hoarse as if he had just woken from a deep nap.
“Then would be you a dear and help Gladio with the vegetables? He claims his hands are too big to hold a paring knife,” Ignis cast a withering look to Gladio, whom was out of sight, followed by the sound of muffled protest.
“Heh, okay!” Prompto stood, absolutely shaking, as Ignis nodded and disappeared back into the house.
Beside him, Noctis finally sat up. Prompto held out his arm to help him to his feet. His sparkling blue eyes were still wide with shock.
“We, um… should go help with lunch…,” Prompto said redundantly, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, “Are, um, you…. Okay?”
Noctis’s breath quavered, and just before that tickle of anxiety broke Prompto’s good mood, the prince’s expression finally softened from its shock.
“I’m… I’m great, Prom. A-are you okay?” Noctis said with a timid smile and nervous nodding.
“I’m… I’m great, too.” Prompto nodded back.
Noctis’s smile grew more confident as did Prompto’s and they walked back to the house together. Prompto still felt shaky, as if his legs might give out (oh, the irony that would be). He desperately wanted to talk to Noct more, in private, but with the day they had planned… Well, crap. They wouldn’t be alone until after dinner, at least.
Prompto helped chop some veggies for sandwiches for lunch while Ignis constructed them. They were just sandwiches but for some reason Ignis’s always tasted so much better .
The four of them at e on the porch, watching the blooming flowers of the many garden plants sway in the wind.
Lunch finished, they finally decided to check out the flea market.
“Noct, leg check?” Gladio said.
“I’m all set. As long as we’re driving there.”
“Of course. But at the first sign of ache, we’ll leave. The market will still be there next week.” Ignis said, sliding into the driver’s seat.
Top down, they enjoyed the fresh air the whole three minute drive, mostly downhill. Prompto spent those three minutes leaning out his side of the car, deeply lost in thought. A single thought.
Before he knew it they were parked on the gravel road outside the flea market. Several other cars were lined up and down the road – but it was a small town and clearly most people had walked there. The market itself was made up of stands set up down an entire row of buildings. Signs advertised the businesses or personal artisans on the stalls.
Despite his excitement to be there, Prompto was feeling completely dazed.
“So, um, whattya want to check out first?” Noctis asked with all the shyness as if they were high schoolers on their first date.
“Gladio mentioned to me about some furniture artisans I would love to inquire on,” Ignis interjected with Gladio at his side.
“I wanted to show Noct some of the vintage clothing stuff.” Prompto suggested, mirroring all of Noct’s awkwardness.
“Well then how ‘bout we browse around and meet up when we see each other? Prom, you can handle Noct, right?” Gladio winked.
“UHHH, um – Oh, well, yeah!” Prompto said, nearly forgetting Gladio’s actual intention behind the remark. “C’mon, I’ll show you that jacket stall.” He grabbed Noct by the arm and brusquely (but not too brusquely) dragged him away.
Noctis apparently had no complaints on the matter.
“Come find us when you get tired!” Ignis called after.
Prompto quickly found the stall, full of thrifted clothes. Noctis was immediately drawn to the rack of leather jackets, as his best friend knew he would.
“Bet you’d look good in this one,” Noctis said, handing him a medium-light leather aviator jacket with a short black collar.
“Oooh, all it needs are a buncha patches.”
“Man, you’ll patch anything, won’t you?”
“Yup!” Prompto confirmed without shame, “You, um, look really great in that one.” He added, also reverting back to an awkward high-school-first-date shyness.
“Y’think?” His friend matched in tone, smoothing out the black leather biker jacket. It did look good on him. Noctis looked great in leather anything.
Two jackets bought and several other booths later, Prompto kept a casual eye on Noct’s leg. But he didn’t want to hassle him and had to trust he’d speak up if he got tired.
They checked out some other secondhand places and a couple handmade and artist stalls, stopping to browse at one that had old records and games. Prompto thumbed through the vinyls slowly, suddenly feeling a little impatient for the day to end so he could talk to Noct. Yet part of him also had no idea what to say if he could. Where would he start?
“So I loved sticking my tongue in your mouth this morning, wanna do that again?” Yikes, no.
“I’ve had a crush on you since grade school and I –,” No. No. What if Noct didn’t share those same feelings, exactly? What if his only developed during this trip? So they were still new and fragile and easily crossing that line into really weird that Prompto hid his feelings for so many years.
… What if Noct didn’t have any feelings at all. Because he had Lunafreya, right? But he couldn’t see her so in person… what if… Whatever that was this morning was just an experiment…?
Maybe it’d be better if he didn’t initiate anything at all. If Noctis made a move on him again, he could tactfully ask what was happening.
His anxieties clouded over him, when Noct patted his arm.
“Earth to Prompto?”
“Huh, what?” Prompto blinked.
“I got you this.” Noctis said, handing him a large piece of cardboard.
Prompto flipped it over to see a sealed and mounted, pristine copy of a vintage King’s Knight poster.
“I remember you have one like this in your room, but it’s just a magazine cutout…,”
“Aw, dude, thanks! This is awesome, waaay better than the magazine page I ripped out.” Prompto said, still a little dazed from getting lost in his thoughts. Noctis smiled at him, pale cheeks looking a little rosier than normal, and Prompto forgot his anxieties a little.
“So, uh, are there any other stands you wanna see today?” Noctis gave a clear shift of his leg to his better one, something he was probably doing without realizing.
“How’re ya feelin’?”
“Um, well now that you mention it, uhh, a little… sore… actually,” Noct seemed to admit begrudgingly. Prompto obviously didn’t think a single ounce less of Noct for his health issues, but also understood admitting it was a problem was a chip in his pride that was difficult to accept.
“Then we should go. This’ll all be here next week. Let’s go find Iggy and Gladio.” Prompto nodded and scanned the crowds for their other two friends.
H e saw the Regalia not too far off, then Ignis and Gladio a little farther.
“Oh, there they are! Um, lemme walk you back to the Regalia and I’ll grab ‘em, okay?”
Noctis agreed and the two walked back to the car.
Once his friend was comfortably seated in the Regalia, Prompto then found Ignis and Gladio browsing some furniture stalls.
“Oh, that’d look nice in the den, wouldn’t it?” Ignis commented, with Gladio standing close by. Really close.
Prompto was a little envious of that. The fact that Ignis and Gladio were best friends who got together. They had only started acting like it was the common knowledge it was until this whole trip started, though. Prompto wondered why they never talked about it in front of Noct and himself before now.
But, then again, Prompto never talked about his own sexuality with the others. Gladio caught on he definitely liked guys a couple years ago when he got embarrassingly caught rather obviously ogling Gladio during one of their morning jogs at the park close to Prompto’s house. Prompto kinda just shrugged and mumbled the affirmative and Gladio gave him a jovial (if a bit rough) pat on the back with some nice words about it being okay and all (both the ogling, and the liking guys thing).
It comforted him to know if he ever did get a boyfriend over a girlfriend, his friends would okay with it. But that would require having gotten over Noct. Which wasn’t happening. And he definitely hadn’t let on to Ignis and Gladio he may have felt that way about their prince.
“Hey, guys! Um, Noct and I are a little tired so we thought we’d head out.” Prompto approached them eyeing a nice looking side table.
“How’d princess do otherwise, you guys got around okay?” Gladio asked, his hand sliding subtly down Ignis’s back before stepping away.
“Yeah, I think we did. And I think he liked it, we found a couple things.” Prompto said as the three headed back to the Regalia.
“Good, I’m glad you two had a good time.” Ignis added.
Back at the house, Ignis roped Prompto into helping prepare dinner while Gladio did some light exercises with Noctis in the yard.
“I must insist you allow me to wash your jackets you two bought today, heaven knows where they’ve been.” Ignis said, rinsing some raw shrimp in the sink
“Thanks, Iggy. You think they’re nice?” Prompto said, chopping veggies.
“Yes, you look quite dashing in that aviator style. Noct will look a right hooligan in his, which I suspect is his intention.”
Prompto chuckled and set his veggies aside.
“Anything else you need?” He fidgeted slightly, eyes briefly darting to the yard where Gladio and Noct looked like they were finishing up.
“Unfortunately you’re not getting away that easily,” Ignis said, almost tauntingly.
The three others had agreed to rotate help ing Ignis with dinner, provided they could do what he needed without requiring assistance which would slow down the entire dinner-marking progress.
Prompto agonized a little. He ended up going back and forth on what he should do about Noct, and figured the new best way was to just be alone with him and see what happens.
But he didn’t want to force it to happen, it had be natural, which would mean… not until bedtime. Ugh .
After a hearty dinner of some shrimp, pork, and veggie skewers (Noct foisted most of his veggies on Prompto), the four sat down for a movie.
Noct’s leg was still feeling okay and he decided to join them on the couch instead.
“Cool, then you get popcorn duty!” Prompto said, putting the bowl on Noct’s lap and sidling next to him.
Ignis sat next to Prompto, with Gladio on the other arm; their pretty customary lineup, now that Prompto thought about it.
They popped in the movie and watched mostly in silence, with their usual comment here and there.
“You boys want a popcorn refill?” Gladio said, waving his own empty bowl he had shared with Ignis.
“Sure. Sure?” Prompto said, turning to Noct for confirmation who smiled at him with a nod.
He handed the bowl to Gladio from behind the couch and the Shield went to refill them. Noctis was sitting cross-legged with half of a blanket over his lap. At some point, Prompto had taken the other half.
The blond suddenly got a little fixated when he realized how closely they were sitting together, sharing the same blanket, and didn’t notice when Gladio came back.
“Here ya go, blondie,” Gladio said, handing the filled bowl to a zoned-out blondie who accidentally reach over just too soon, knocking some popcorn out and spilling it over his head.
“Wha – ?! OH, jeez, sorry, Gladio.” Prompto startled, grabbing the bowl properly and putting it in his lap.
“Jeez, sorry, Prom, you okay? Ya miscalculated your grip, there.” Gladio said, retaking his seat next to Ignis.
“Heh, yeah, it’s just popcorn.” Prompto assured, a little embarrassed all the same.
“Oh, darling, you seem to have some on you,” Ignis said, reaching over and starting to pick out the few pieces that had landed on Prompto’s head, who thanked him for the assistance and attempted to pick out a few kernels himself.
“I- I CAN GET IT.” Noctis said suddenly, weirdly, yet very unintentionally, loud.
Nonetheless it caused Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio to freeze and look at him. Prompto flushed deeply, and even Ignis’s chiseled cheeks look a little rosier. Noctis went beet.
Gladio, not having a horse in this race, smirked a rather wickedly.
“Yeah, Iggy, Noct can get it.” He said with a Chesire cat grin.
“Uhh…,” Prompto looked at Noctis, feeling himself zone out again against his friend’s blue eyes.
Ignis’s expression softened, “Hmm. Yes, I suppose you are a little closer to assist him.”
“Uh-huh,” Noctis stammered, ears still pinked, as he gently brushed popcorn out of his friend’s hair.
“Th-thanks.” Prompto mumbled, feeling his cheeks go red all over again.
“Mmhm,” Noct’s lips were set in a tight, nervous line.
They finished the rest of the movie in relative silence, the whole time Prompto worried the others could hear the steady hammer of his heart.
But his heart didn’t feel any lighter when they were finally settling down to bed. Ignis and Gladio retired immediately after the movie, finally leaving the other two boys alone.
“Your, um, leg okay?” Prompto asked after a moment of silence where neither moved from the couch.
“Y-yeah, think it’s just… tired. I’ll, um, probably take one of my pills before bed.” Noctis said. Neither of them looked at each other.
“You had a long day, though, so… that’s understandable.” Prompto replied a little rigidly.
“Yup.” Noct fidgeted with the corner of the blanket they still shared.
More silence.
“I – uh – I am pretty tired, though, so… I’m gonna go to bed.” Noctis said, getting up from the couch a little stiffly. His leg must be hurting worse than he was letting on.
“Yeah, I’m tired too.” Prompto sat up quickly and followed Noct to their room.
Noctis stood by his bedside and unscrewed one of the medication bottles lined on top of his dresser at the head. He went to grab his glass of water to take them, but it was empty.
“Oh, you need some new water? I can get it for ya.” Prompto said, swooping in and taking the glass.
“Th-thanks, Prom.” Noctis said.
Their eyes met and lingered for a moment, then Prompto hurried away to the kitchen. He didn’t realize how rapid his pulse was until he was at the sink. The low, steady thump thump had not been his socked footsteps. He also had no clue what exactly the hell he was expecting to happen.
Would Noct say that morning was a mistake, just an experiment to see what it was like being remotely intimate with someone? W ould they kiss again?
Annnd the glass was overflowing. Prompto stuttered to himself and frantically turned off the tap.
When he returned to their room, Noctis was already in bed.
“H-here ya go, buddy.”
“Thanks.” Noctis popped the pill he had in his hand and took a slug of water, and put the glass back in its place on the dresser.
Prompto sighed under his breath and crawled into his own bed.
“Sorry, I’m just really weirdly tired.” Noctis added.
“Nah, I get it, you did more today than you have in a while.” Prompto said sincerely.
“I – I had fun today, though.”
“Me too…,” Prompto had more to say, but it withered on his tongue.
“You’ll take me fishing sometime this week, right?”
“You bet. You can make it around that market you can totally make it to the river.”
“Cool.”
Prompto could just make out the hint an excited twinkle in Noct’s eyes in the bluish dark of their bedroom.
“Well, um, goodnight, Prom.”
“Goodnight, Noct.”
He watched as Noctis rolled over and fell asleep. Prompto did the same.
… But he couldn’t sleep. He tried counting to a hundred forwards and backwards. He fluffed his pillows. He tossed and turned. Kicked off his blanket. Grabbed it again. He tried clearing his mind of all thoughts, but all of them went back to that morning in the grass. It was still dark, but it must have been hours he spent tossing. Lucky Noct, who could fall asleep anywhere, any time he chose.
Or so Prompto thought.
“… Hey, Prom?” Noctis whispered.
Prompto rolled over and saw the familiar outline of his friend in the dark.
“Can’t sleep either?” Prompto muttered.
“Nope. I dunno why…,” Noctis said innocently.
“Maybe we’re just over tired?”
“Like we’re so tired we missed our window of sleep?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s really stupid it works that way.”
“Heh, it is.”
They paused, staring at each other in the dark. Prompto bit his lip nervously.
“You’re, um, kinda far away.” Noctis finally said.
“Whattya mean? I’m right here.” Prompto responded softly.
“Just, um, in Insomnia, you were… closer.”
“Your king-size bed helped with that.” Promtpo said, remembering the times they had similar conversations before dozing off. Noctis’s sheets were so soft, and Noct himself was comfortingly warm next to him.
“Yeah…,”
“But, um…,” Maybe it was the lateness of the hour and his tiredness, but any qualms Prompto had seemed to have drained from him, “… these beds aren’t that small. I could… move over there?”
“I-if you want to.” Noctis said, folding back his sheets and immediately sliding over.
Prompto threw off his sheet, slowly got up and walked the short few paces to Noct’s bed, where he slid in. They lay facing each other on their sides, arms folded, nearly touching.
“This close enough?” Prompto whispered.
“Y-yeah, that is better,” Noctis whispered, moving his hands so they naturally overlapped. And Prompto entwined them.
Noctis very lightly stroked his thumb along Prompto’s own.
Prompto chewed on his bottom lip a little nervously, yet he also found himself strangely relaxed. Had they been fully awake, he was certain his heart would be pounding as hard as it had been that morning, just before he (or was it Noct?) had leaned in.
“I – I think that sleep is finally hitting me,” Noct said softly.
“Mmhm, me too.” Prompto said despite himself. Despite wanting to stay up and just stare at Noct’s soft face in the dark.
* * *
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Prompto slowly blinked awake to a consistent beeping. He was confused at first, wondering why his bed was on the other side of the room, until he felt the body next to him stir.
Noctis had an arm draped across his chest and the rest of him was pressed closely against his back.
“Mmm, whassat noise?” he grumbled, half-awake.
The room was bathed in the milky blueness of a very early dawn. The trees and yard outside the glass patio doors were a dreamy teal as the night faded.
“Ungh. My alarm.” Prompto mumbled, realizing he left his phone on his dresser.
“Turn if off and come back to bed.” Noctis said, clearly on the cusp of passing out again, and rolled over.
The comment was a shot of adrenaline to Prompto’s chest, giving him the energy to shuffle out of bed. He grabbed the phone, shut off the alarm, and crawled back into bed. He tapped out a quick text to Gladio.
Prompto: “too tired. Gonna skip the morning run.” followed by an emoji to keep it casual.
Then lazily placed the phone on the dresser above him. Prompto rolled over and snaked an arm around Noct, a mirror of how they woke.
“Mmm.” Noctis sighed, falling fully back asleep.
Prompto smiled to himself and drift off again.
He slept lighter than before, not used to oversleeping (but far too comfortable to move), and was woken again by a soft knocking at the bedroom door.
“Prompto? Noct? Are you two awake?” Ignis said hesitantly.
Prompto groaned under his breath and got up again to open the door.
“Sorry, Iggy, I was just tired and turned off my alarm this morning and overslept. We’re fine, though.” Prompto explained, realizing he felt lucky both their beds looked slept in… even if his was cold from lack of use.
“Ah, good to hear. It was just getting quite late and felt I had to take my duty as Advisor to ensure you were both still alive.” Ignis said, subtly peering into the room briefly, “But carry on. No better time to oversleep than on ‘vacation.’”
Prompto nodded in ag reement and Ignis excused himself. When he turned around and fount Noct awake, looking at him drowsily but welcoming.
The blond joined him back in bed, propping himself up on one elbow while Noctis remained in his pillows, that midnight black hair messy around him.
“Dude, you can get up if you want.” Noct said, and much to Prompto’s surprise, reached a hand out and caressed his arm.
“Mmmmnah, I’m pretty good right here.” Prompto said and, mind still lucid from sleep and too weak to stop himself, reached over and brushed some hair away from Noctis’s eyes. As he feared, it was worth it.
The corner’s of Noct’s soft lips curled despite the remnants of sleepiness still clinging to him.
“For how hard it was getting to sleep I really passed out when I finally did.” Prompto said.
“Mm, me too.” Noct replied with a yawn, his fingers lightly running down Prompto’s arm from shoulder to elbow, sending unseen goosebumps down Prompto’s freckled skin.
Prompto couldn’t help but smile broadly at how… sincere it all felt. Like it couldn’t just be a one-off experiment at intimacy.
… Or Noct wanted to have his cake and eat it too? Fuck, why did that have to pop into his head. That Noct only wanted Prompto as an in-between until he was united with his true love.
Prompto’s expression faltered, and Noctis must’ve noticed because his eyes started roaming worriedly across Prompto’s face.
“You okay?” he squeaked nervously.
Prompto looked at him deeply, and quietly, as distinct snippets of past memories pierced his mind.
“But you hate cooking.” “Yeah, but it was for you.”
“He said to his father he would not be going at all if you didn’t join him. It was the only thing he said on the matter, in fact.”
“Please kiss me again.” He finally whispered.
Noctis sat up, not breaking eye contact, expression unreadable. Prompto sat up a little more too, to better face him.
He took a deep breath as if to speak, but whatever thought he may have had died instantly when Noct cupped his face with both hands and kissed him again.
It was a soft, respectful kiss – nothing forceful, but aching with passion all the same. Prompto pressed into it, deeper, to find Noct matched his intentions. Prompto simply couldn’t resist, even though he knew he… really shouldn’t. Not until he knew what this was.
But he absolutely melted. He snuck a hand up to Noct’s neck; one of Noct’s hands tangled into his hair, holding gently at his head.
This was just everything Prompto ever wanted, for years, and he finally admitted it to himself. He would always be Noct’s friend, no matter what, but that added bit of intimacy that came from kissing him… sleeping curled up against each other… kissing him… he wanted that. So, so, so badly.
Prompto leaned into him more, and Noctis didn’t pull away. That shaky, electric feeling bloomed over him again with every flick of Noct’s tongue, every stroke of his hands in his hair, at his cheek, along his arms.
Prompto’s mind went wild. He wanted to wrap himself around Noct, peeling off his shirt, feel every curve of his body. He wanted Noct to do the same, press him against the bed and…
No. No. He had to focus. He had to know what this all meant.
What if his worst fears were true? Noct just wanting an experiment side piece, something to keep his libido in check until he could properly united with Luna.
And what would Prompto do if that were the case? His racing pulse was interrupted by a heavy, anxious beat. Because he knew what he’d do.
He’d go along with it. It would kill him inside, slowly, but having that romantic intimacy for a little while would be better than not at all. And those were his only options right now. Reject Noct and go home, or be an impermanent fling.
Prompto finally started pulling away. And oddly enough he felt Noctis pulling away too.
“Wait I –,” Prompto started.
“Prompto I need to –,” Noct overlapped.
They looked at each other a moment and chuckled awkwardly.
“You first.” Noctis said quietly.
“Uhh – um –,” Prompto didn’t know what to actually say, now that he had the opportunity, “I just want to know, um – why. Like… whhhy?” he said with a rather desperate inflection, hoping that possibly might suffice enough to get Noct talking.
Noctis shifted in bed and grabbed nervously at the sheets.
“I – I um – I have a… ma – a crush… on you.” The prince blushed deeply, his eyes darting from Prompto’s face to the bed.
“M-me?” Prompto started. For some reason the idea that Noctis would actually have a crush on him seemed… improbable. “Um… d-did this just start?”
Noctis looked at him like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “N-no, no. I’ve, um, had it for… a while. Uhhhh kind of long while.”
Half of Prompto felt elated. He wasn’t quite sure how long “kind of a long while” actually was, which was why the other half was doing its best to keep his expectations in check.
But that didn’t stop him from grinning broadly.
“I – I’ve had a crush on you, too. For… a long while… Too.” Prompto said, anxiously rubbing at his own arm.
Noctis let out a deep breath, as if he’d been holding one for years.
He leaned over and kissed Prompto again, as softly as before. That respectful hesitance – no pressure for Prompto to return it if he didn’t want to – ironically made it impossible to refuse. Prompto kissed him back, but only briefly, and gently pushed his face away.
“Noct – wait, wait,” He said gently, and a deep anxiety briefly flashed across Noct’s face. “I – I need to know… more. Like, um… y’know… L-Luna?”
“Oh.” Noctis said, looking relieved yet once again anxious, “Um. Prompto… I’m gay.” He said as if by now it should be obvious. And it should have been. Nevertheless, it was like a splash of ice cold water in Prompto’s face.
It instantly re-contextualized everything Prompto had seen in his friend. Rarely speaking of Luna at all, never showing any interest in any girls (real or celebrity) the entire time Prompto had known him. The most he ever got out of him was a mild shrug when Prompto pointed out a cute girl. It wasn’t because he was Noctis was a private (heterosexual) romantic, longing for someone so far away. It was because.
He. Was. Gay.
“OH. Oh… oh my god,” Prompto had never felt such relief in his entire life. Every knot of anxiety, every twinge of doubt, instantly gone in two words, “I, um, guess I assumed – uhh, starting yesterday – you liked guys, um, and girls like I do?”
“Oh,” Noctis said with a similar inflection, “And that, um, explains a lot… about you.”
“Then why did you wait so long?” Prompto asked not unkindly, expression still of relief.
“I didn’t know you maybe liked guys at all until yesterday, either.”
“And now?” Prompto eyes were carefully scanning Noct’s face.
“And… now I know.” Noctis leaned in and kissed him softly, hand at his cheek. “I’m crazy about you, Prom.” He whispered, briefly parting, with a loving ache in his voice.
“I’m really crazy about you, Noct,” Prompto replied, their matching smiles awkwardly knocking against each other in a combination of eagerness and joy and, most of all, peace.
The peace that came in knowing everything they both felt, all the minute actions, awkward moments, intimate comments, were, in fact, from a mutual attraction . All their unrequi ted longing , all their uncertainty (or worse, guilt), faded with the morning; then dispelled entirely. They could never go back.