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Twilight settled into the area, pale pinks and oranges colouring everything outside the faint blue glow of the haven, and it was Prompto's favourite time of day, at least for photos. All that fading light and getting to really play with shadows against just this gorgeous pastel backdrop...like some kind of watercolour painting or something. It was so alive, and it made him feel the same.
If he was being honest, though, it probably wasn't so much his favourite anymore. Not after leaving Insomnia... losing Insomnia... and finding out just what kinds of things came alive when the day came to a close outside the Crown City's borders. Less 'enjoy the sunset' and more 'run for your fucking life'. But he supposed he had gotten sort of used to it, after all these months. At least he still got to feel very much alive, heart pounding, guns blazing, and dropping puns like they're going out of style, right?
Yeah, right.
But Noct was there. Noct was the reason they were there in the first place. Noct... was the whole reason for everything , really. Gods, but Prompto would never be able to tell him just how grateful he was to have been brought along, no matter how fucked up it was.
The shadows moving through the forest grew paler as pink and orange started to sink into the cool blue emanating from the haven's unfathomable runes. To Prompto's left, one shadow in particular moved, sidling up to where he sat and moving in closer and closer until all Prompto could see was cool blue.
He audibly sucked in a breath, and nearly dropped the kebab he'd been chewing on, at the sight. Noctis was a lot of things to him: his best friend, the kindest person he knew, funny as hell, good at basically everything once he put his mind to it... but breathtakingly beautiful was definitely also on that list. This all the more so when he directed those way-too-pretty eyes his way, without any idea just how powerless Prompto was to look away.
Even after all this time, and even after more than a few throwaway incidences of jacking off together just to blow off steam... Prompto still found himself reduced easily to nervous laughter when he looked into Noct's eyes. He could fucking drown in those eyes, especially when they were lit just the right amount by stars just waking up from the day, and especially... fuck ... when they were looking at him like they sometimes did, with something like hunger, wrestling with sadness.
Sort of like they were at this moment?
"Shit, dude. You can't just come out of nowhere like that. I nearly lost my kebab because of you," Prompto defaulted to awkward joking and laughter, because that's what Prompto did when Noct was so damn beautiful and close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating off his body. This wasn't them collapsed on some hotel bed, dirty and exhausted and just wanting some relief without having to move, after all, no matter how the fluttering in Prompto's belly matched then and now.
"Serves it right with all those peppers jammed on there," Noctis made a face, nose scrunched just a little and lips curled with total princely distaste. He soon joined Prompto in laughing, however, expression settling comfortably into a cheeky grin as he nudged his elbow into his friend's side. Prompto tried not to feel it, that jolt that made his chest feel tight and his stomach do that weird twitchy thing. Along with other places- fuck sakes , he was really bad at this.
"Nah, it's all right. I've got the reflexes of a coeurl, or haven't you noticed?" he quipped, flashing his best, toothiest grin. Noctis met him with more laughter, and still somehow never took his eyes off him. The prince followed up with an overly indulgent nod.
"Yep. And you've got the spots to match," he teased, then Prompto felt Noct's foot brush lightly against his calf for a fraction of a second, and it shouldn't have mattered, not even in the slightest, except for genuine starlight beginning to filter in through the trees and those fucking gorgeous eyes that made him want to cry, or scream, or laugh or- something .
He forced himself to look downward, where Noctis had his hand splayed flat against the stone beneath them, just shy of his own, and though the sun had long since dipped beneath the horizon, the air felt so damn warm and thick that if he didn't do something- say something- he was sure he'd actually just combust, so-
"Uh, Noct-"
"...Prom, I-"
They each made a sort of awkward grunt, overlapping one another in the strangely heavy silence that followed.
"Ah, sorry, man...I was just gonna say that...uh, I happen to earn a new spot every time I kick some ass? And so you see, these are actually badges of-"
But Prompto suddenly didn't have enough air in his lungs to finish. All of it just went- whoosh , gone- the moment Noct leaned in and he felt the tenderest, softest lips in all of Eos, swear to the fucking Six, against his face, just above his left eyebrow. They lingered there for a moment- one that Prompto could have crawled inside of happily for the rest of his life- before slowly, reluctantly falling away, just shy of still touching. Noct was still so close as he spoke, hushed words in a smoky, soft tone that sounded like what twilight felt like, once upon a time.
"That one, right there."
Prompto swallowed thickly, greedily breathing in everything there was to Noct in this moment.
"W-what?" he managed to stammer, a ball of nerves in the prince's hands. And Noctis, for his part, smiled, nose brushing lightly against Prompto's as he sat back just enough to meet his eyes once more. Though it was obvious how red his face had gotten, even as night fell and all sorts of things yawned to life around them, Noctis appeared calm, and that look... that sad and hungry look had changed into something else entirely.
"That one's my favourite," he said. And then he took Prompto's hand- the one not threatening to drop a half-eaten kebab ruined by terrible green peppers and things- and he didn’t let go.
They didn't really talk about it; didn't find they needed to after all. They just kind of let it happen as these things did- and oh, yeah, it happened. Over and over and over...
The prince was a lot of things to Prompto- insatiable was definitely one of them. In the best development ever- it turned out Prompto was a lot of things to Noct was well.
And maybe twilight was changed forever since leaving Insomnia. Maybe a lot was, all painted in different colours, or shown in a different light. But maybe that was how it was supposed to be- the whole point, that so-called Big Fucking Picture. Maybe one day this one thing makes you feel alive. Maybe another day, it's something else. Or someone else.
Prompto could live with that.