Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prompto had a lot of expectations, but this certainly wasn’t one of them.

He wasn’t particularly excited about the prospect of spending 4 hours a week sitting down and drawing, but his scholarship required him to take an extra class this semester, and Introduction to Figure Drawing seemed like the most interesting option out of everything that was offered to fine arts students like him.

So he finds himself in a large classroom filled with tall wooden easels, all arranged in a tight circle, a single raised platform in the center. It was bright inside with the midday sun shining through the large windows lining the room. He reminds himself not to spend most of his time in this class staring out of them and watching the garden—it looked prime for a photo and he couldn’t help but get his camera out and take a quick picture. It’s not quite enough to make it into his portfolio, but he thinks he could print it out and add it to the wall of his dorm room, something to fill in the empty spaces on his cork board.

He takes a seat on one of the stools and sets his backpack down at the foot of the easel in front of him. There’s quiet chatter from the few students who arrived early and he finds himself taking his phone out of his pocket and begins browsing through his feed. Nothing particularly interesting, he thinks, but he keeps mindlessly scrolling in an attempt to avoid getting too bored. There are more people in the room now, and the pleasant static of quiet chatter has evolved into a steady cacophony of lively conversation. Prompto glances at the clock in his home screen before putting his phone back. Class should be starting in a bit.

He hears the door open.

Prompto had a lot of expectations.

Noctis Lucis Caelum walking through the door certainly wasn’t one of them.

Noctis drops his bag down on one of the corners of the room and goes to sit on the platform in the center, his knees pushing against his chest with how low he was sitting on the floor. His hair was a mess, like he just slept in it. When Noctis turns to looks outside the window, Prompto gets a glimpse of his face, which was the very picture of boredom. Noctis yawns and rests his head on his knees.

Prompto doesn’t notice the instructor, a kind-looking middle-aged woman, walk in until she starts introducing herself to the class. That snaps Prompto out of his staring—gawking—at the back of Noctis’s head. The instructor goes on to explain the contents of their syllabus. Nothing too special, they were expected to do the exercises to the best of their abilities and then collect their works in a portfolio to document their progress throughout the course of the semester. Should be easy enough, he supposes.

There were only a handful of students taking the class so the instructor requests that they all introduce themselves so that she and everyone in the class can get to know each other better. When his turn comes, Prompto thinks about how he was never really good at introductions, but he puts on a smile anyway.

“Hey! The name’s Prompto. I’m a sophomore in the fine arts program. I’m majoring in photography, so hopefully I won’t be a complete mess here.” He earns a few laughs and he chances a glance towards the center of the room to find Noctis looking in his direction. Was that—he was looking straight at him. He swallows, somewhat audibly, and quickly looks away. “Um- I’m, uh- I’m really looking forward to this semester! Nice meeting you guys!” He sits down a bit more quickly than he should have that he almost tips the stool backwards.

The rest of the students finish their introductions and the instructor motions towards the center of the room. “Mr. Caelum, why don’t you introduce yourself as well?”

Why was Noctis here? If he remembered correctly, the guy was under the Political Science department. Maybe he was also required to take an extra class? Or maybe—

“I’m Noctis.” He was facing Prompto almost completely now, his body turned at the waist. He stands up, moving a little sluggishly. “I’ll be one of your models for this class.”

Oh. Oh.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

Prompto and Noctis weren’t friends, not really. Acquaintances, maybe? But then again, that’s probably too generous a word as well—he probably doesn’t remember him too much, if at all, from what little interaction they’ve had in the past. Prompto's known him from way back in elementary, having been classmates in almost every year up until the end of high school, but they've never really talked aside from polite little greetings. He thinks back to the quiet boy sitting in the corner reading books—how he’s tried approaching him more than a few times, and how he always chickened out at the very end. After all, why would Noctis want to be friends with him, of all people?

Well, there’s always a first time for everything.      

The class's first meeting only lasted for about an hour and a half before their instructor let them out early, leaving them with a list of materials that they needed to bring to class every week. They were already out in the hallway when he passes by Noctis. He claps him lightly on the shoulder. “Heya, Noctis!”

Noctis flinches at the sudden contact and looks a tad bit unimpressed. There’s a tiny pause when their eyes meet and his expression softens just a little. “Hey,” he says. “Don’t I know you?”

“Well, I mean, I did just introduce myself in class, so-”

“No, uh-" Noctis gestures with his hands, looking unsure of what to say next. "We were classmates way back in high school, right?”

“O-Oh! Uh, yeah! I’m pretty surprised you remember that actually.” He grins and rubs the back of his neck. So he remembers him.

“Could hardly forget being gawked at,” he laughs. Suddenly, Prompto can feel his cheeks heat up from embarrassment. Guess he wasn’t as discreet as he thought. “So, what’s up?” Well, at least he wasn’t holding it against him, thank god.

“Nothing much.” He hums. “Just wondering how you ended up modeling for this class. You’re under the political science department, right?”

“Yeah, I am, but I apparently have this amazing talent to stay still for hours on end.” That earns a quiet sort of snort from Prompto. “But other than that, my dad’s been friends with the instructor since their university years, so he asked me to help her out when I can. Part of the package is modeling for her classes. Something about me being an interesting subject, or so she says.” He shrugs. They're walking together now, he realizes, their steps matching each other’s. "What about you? You're a photography major, so what brings you to introduction to life drawing?” A pause, and then Noctis smirks. “Wanted to stare at the models?"

"What! I- No! Geez, Noctis-"

"Just Noct's fine." He's still smirking at him.

"Geez, Noct-" It's Noctis's turn to snort. "I'm not- I don't-" His cheeks were burning up again. Noctis thinks he was ogling him earlier. So much for first impressions. "I- I was required to take an additional class this semester, but eh… there weren't a lot of options, and I thought this was the most interesting one out of everything? Besides, I didn't want to take another class that required too much reading, I'm more of a hands-on kind of guy."

"Oh?"

"Something tells me that you don't believe a word I'm saying."

"I didn't say that," he teases. "So, am I meeting your expectations of a picture-perfect model?"

Prompto just smirks back at him. "I didn't say that."

"Fair enough."

"Well, I can see why you'd get approached to model for class, though."

"Hm... Is that so?" Noctis hums.

"Hey, don't get so cocky now, Mister Model."

"Not at all." The laugh that slips from Noctis is light and airy, and Prompto can see how his eyes pinch and wrinkle slightly at the corners, sees the faintest of dimples form on his cheeks. He realizes that he's never seen him like this before—never this unguarded or this carefree. It's a good look on him, he thinks. He finds his hands itching to reach for his camera. He wants to take a picture.

"I haven't actually seen you model yet, so the jury's still out on the 'picture-perfect' part."

"Well." He whistles. “I guess you'll just have to wait and see, huh?"

"Ooh, that sounds like a threat." At that, Noctis just laughs again.

"Who knows."

"Isn't it kinda boring, though? Sitting still for hours?"

"I wasn't lying when I said that I'm pretty talented at not moving for extended periods of time. It's easy enough for me, I guess. I got used to it pretty quickly. He yawns. “I just need to not fall asleep."

They were already walking through one of the campus's open courtyards when Noctis suggests that they get some food over at the fine arts building's cafeteria. Prompto happily accepts the offer and slings his arm over Noctis's shoulder.

"It's not like I always keep the same pose throughout the whole class," he tells Prompto over a shared plate of fries. "If it's supposed to be a detailed drawing then yeah, I have to maintain whatever pose I'm doing for longer—maybe around an hour, tops—but that's not always the case. You guys are expected to be able to draw quickly to practice your hand-eye coordination and stuff like that, so I have to change poses a lot most of the time."

"Huh, I never knew that." Prompto chews on his fry. "Don't you get, like, breaks or something?"

"There's always a thirty to forty-five minute break in the middle of class, yeah. Plus a few minutes in between every few poses.”

Prompto slumps dramatically over the table and rests his cheek on its surface. "Oh thank god, if I had to draw nonstop for four hours straight, I'd probably die."

Noctis laughs and pokes at the spike of hair on Prompto's head. "You'll live."

"You need to buy materials for the figure drawing class, right?" It was the end of the first week of the semester and they were having lunch at the Crow’s Nest just outside campus. Prompto had just finished working in the campus library for his scholarship work hours and Noctis just happened to be returning a few books so they ran into each other at the main entrance.

To Prompto's surprise, they got along really quickly and, dare he thinks, got along really well—they had a lot of common interests so they never ran out of things to talk about. Plus, hanging out was easy because their schedules lined up pretty well—they usually had the same breaks, and they kept bumping into each other despite their buildings being a good distance apart.

Hanging out with Noctis was fun. It was easy, he thinks. He's never had such a comfortable friendship with anyone as he did with him, even despite how new it was. If he was being honest, he never really had any close friends to begin with. He wasn’t good with people, despite giving off an extremely extroverted personality.

He kinda regrets not getting to know Noctis earlier on. Had he known that they'd be such fast friends, he'd have approached him all those years ago. Maybe he wouldn't have been so alone. He quickly shoves that thought away, though. There was no use regretting it now.

"Oh, crap. Yeah, I do." He says after taking a sip from his bottle of soda. "Thanks for reminding me, man. I totally forgot." He fishes his phone out of his pocket to find the list his instructor gave the class.

"Good thing I remembered for you, then." Prompto can practically hear him smirk.

"Ah, yes. Noct, my hero." He swoons at him.

Noctis laughs and bumps shoulders with him. "Want me to go with you?"

"Oh, um... Sure?" He finishes his soda. "If you aren't busy, I mean, why not? I'm down for hanging out some more after this."

"It's the first week of the semester, Prom, hardly anyone's busy." Noctis peers over Prompto's shoulder to see the list of materials flashing on his phone screen. "The store near Lestallum should have all of those."

"The Lestallum Library Complex? Dude, that's all the way on the other side of the city." He blanches at the thought of having to take public transport in this heat. He was definitely not looking forward to that.

"I can drive us there." Noctis takes his keys out of his pocket and dangles them in front of Prompto.

"Dude, you have a car? Man, I'm so jealous." He pokes at the cat keychain hanging from the keys in Noctis's hand. "I mean, I don't really need one, but man do I want my own wheels."

"Well, until then you get them, you're stuck with me." He messes up Prompto's carefully styled hair and Prompto shouts out a 'hey!' and swats Noctis’s hand away. Noctis just laughs at him, looking very unapologetic. "Come on, Prom."

As he tries to fix his hair using the rearview mirror inside Noctis's car he thinks, somehow, that being stuck with Noctis for the foreseeable future wasn't such a bad thing.

They make it to Lestallum and Noctis helps him pick out his materials. He showed impressive knowledge despite having only been a model, and not a student, for class. “I picked up a few things from the year I’ve been doing this gig,” he says while picking up a set of graphite pencils and setting it inside the basket Prompto was holding. “And, uh, I actually do like drawing in my spare time so I think I should know a thing or two.”

“I see.” He hums. “Guess I’ll have to thank you for that. I’m completely clueless about these kinds of things.” He eyes the materials Noctis had put inside his basket. “Make sure not to pick out anything too expensive, okay?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll get you the best value for your money.” He winks.

“Ah, yes, my hero.”

“Nerd.” Noctis punches him on the shoulder as they make their way to the counter.

By the time they had finished shopping, it was already getting dark out, and the temperature had dropped to something pleasantly cool. Prompto was about to say goodbye and make his way to the station when Noctis stops him and offers to drive him back home. Noctis didn’t seem like he’d allow him to say no. “Where do you live?”

“I actually live inside the campus. I stay in one of the dorms.”

“Oh, cool.” He unlocks his car and tells Prompto to hop in.

“You know, you don’t have to drive me there. It’s probably out of the way for you.”

“Well, I gotta use my car sometime.” He laughs as he gets into the driver’s seat. “Don’t worry about it. And besides, you’re carrying a lot of stuff, that’d be a pain in the ass to carry inside the train.”

“If you’re sure… I mean, I can pay for gas, at least”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Let’s go.”

They fight over the aux cord on their drive back. “Noooct. Come on, pretty please?”

“Nuh-uh, no way. My car, my rules.” He takes his phone and plugs it in when they come to a stoplight. Prompto grumbles something about Noctis having shit taste in music. “Hey, you do know I can kick you out and make you walk back, right?”

“Nah, you like me too much to do that.”

“Who knows, I’m full of surprises.”

“You wouldn’t.” Prompto gasps and Noctis snorts out a laugh.

“Yeah, don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of it.” He then hands his phone over to Prompto. “Fine, here.”

“I knew you couldn’t resist me.”

“Just pick something out before I take it back.”

“Yessir!”

"Noct, that's just not fair." He whines as he tries not to stare too hard.

Prompto always knew that Noctis was good-looking, there was no denying that, it was just a fact of life. Still, this just wasn't fair.

They were the first to arrive in the classroom, and as soon as Prompto sat down behind the easel he’s claimed for himself, Noctis all but throws his jacket at him. It lands on his face and stays there. He can smell Noctis’s cologne, mild and pleasant, as he peels the garment off him. “Noct, what the hell are you-”

Oh.

He gets a first row seat to Noctis taking his shirt off and is greeted by the sight of smooth skin and slightly defined muscle. It was… definitely a sight.

Listen, it really wasn’t news that his new friend was attractive, he’s known this since high school. Prompto was fully aware of this.

And Prompto was also fully aware that he was outright staring at him with his mouth wide open.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer." He can practically hear him smirk. And Noctis, damn him, winks.

“Noct, that’s just not fair.” He makes a sound like he’s dying (maybe he is). He finds himself a little jealous at how Noctis was so effortlessly attractive when it takes him almost an hour in the morning just to look barely presentable.

“Is it, now?” He laughs and goes to take his shoes off, and then his pants, leaving him in plain black boxers. He folds it and his shirt up neatly, grabs his sneakers off the floor and goes to store them in his bag. He walks over to Prompto and plucks his jacket off his arms. He drapes it over his shoulders so that it covered his arms and his chest, just enough to shield him from the cold of the room.  “And why is that?”

“You-! Because you’re-! B-because- I, uh-” How the fuck are you so good-looking without expending any sort of effort, how the fuck do you do that. Prompto’s sure he was babbling at this point.

He doesn’t get to finish his line of reasoning, whatever it was, because the rest of the students finally make it into the room. Noctis laughs and drags a stool over to the platform to sit down on. Soon, the rest of the class fill in the empty seats and the instructor arrives shortly after to explain the mechanics of gesture drawing. Prompto wasn’t entirely sure what all that meant, but he supposes he’ll learn eventually.

She instructs Noctis to do a simple pose, and he tucks his knee to his chest and arches his back forward ever so slightly. She turns her easel towards the class and does a quick demonstration. The whole class watches in awe at her quick work.

A few more demonstrations later, she motions for Noctis to pose for the class and instructs the students to ready themselves to work.

"Make sure you get my good side." Noctis tells them as he begins his first pose, and everyone in the room laughs before readying their materials and preparing to draw. Prompto can see some of the people in the room straight up blush at Noctis’s display—his legs were spread just ever so slightly, his body reclined in a way that made it look like he was so relaxed—and then Noctis, the little shit, turns his body towards Prompto and goes to stare straight at him. His smirk never left his mouth.

Prompto lets out a strangled noise and proceeds to bury his face in the sketchbook in an attempt to hide his—embarrassment? He wasn't sure what he was feeling at this point, to be honest. This was so not fair.

So much for not gawking at the models, Prompto thinks.

It takes Prompto a lot more effort than it should have to pick his pencil up and begin sketching.

He gulps. This was gonna be a long day.

Two hours and god knows how many poses later, they finally reach the thirty minute break signalling the end of the first half of class. Prompto was feeling absolutely drained, no thanks to Noctis finding every opportunity to face him and just stare. He thanks whatever gods were out there that he doesn’t have to draw his face anywhere near full detail just yet. He doesn't think he has the guts to meet his gaze full-on, lest he combust at the attention.

If Noctis keeps this up, he doesn’t think he’ll last until the end of the semester.

His skills were definitely not on par with the more experienced students’, and especially not with his instructor’s. If he weren’t so distracted he would have probably done better, but oh well. All things considered though, he thinks he’s done a good enough job. Passable, he thinks. He still wasn’t completely sure if he was doing things right, but he was trying. He can’t afford to slack off. He does, after all, want to make it into the dean’s list this semester.

“So—” He doesn’t notice Noctis coming up to stand beside him until he was nudging him with his elbow. He’s wearing his jacket properly this time and Prompto tries not to stare a little too hard at the pale, shapely thighs peeking out at the hem. Dammit, how does Noctis even do this, being all stupidly and effortlessly attractive. He was getting jealous. Not that he’d admit that out loud. “How was it? Picture-perfect enough for you?”

He opens his mouth but nothing comes out other than a tiny squeak. He tries again and feigns nonchalance (well as much as he can muster, anyway). “Eh, I guess you’re alright.”

Noctis was a great model. He knows how to make his poses interesting, knows how to angle his body in a way that makes it challenging for them to draw him. And Noctis himself definitely knows it, carries himself in a way that says he knows what he’s doing. Heck, Prompto doesn’t know how Noctis keeps still despite being stared at by nearly a dozen pairs of eyes; he was so still while posing that it doesn’t even look like he was breathing. How was that even possible.    

Noctis ruins Prompto’s hair by running his fingers aggressively through it. Prompto shrieks. “Man, leave my hair out of this!” He can’t help but pout, and Noctis smiles fondly at him. A beat, and then Prompto grins. “I guess you weren’t kidding about that talent of yours, huh?” Another beat, and Prompto’s grin turns into a sheepish smile before he confesses, “You were great, Noct. Picture-perfect model.”

Noctis was still smiling at him, though he’s now looking a little more smug. “Glad to hear.” He presses a water bottle against Prompto’s cheek and Prompto jumps at how cold it was. “Want a drink?”

“Yeah!” He smiles. “Thanks, Noct!”

“No problem.”

The second half of the class goes by a little easier.

Just a little.  

Prompto waits for Noctis to get dressed.

“Good job.” Noctis was looking through Prompto’s sketches as he was zipping his jacket up. “Guess you can add drawing to your list of talents now.”

Prompto laughs a little at that as he packs his things. “Heh, it almost sounds like you’re complimenting me.”

“Now why would I ever wanna do that?” Both of them chuckle.

“I’m not exactly sure if I’m doing it right, to be honest.” Prompto sighs and stretches his arms high above his head. “Besides, if a few minutes of gesture drawings have me feeling dead, what more if it’s an hour’s worth of actual figure drawings.”

“Well, you’ll get used to it.” He smirks, then. “Guess you better work on your stamina, huh?”

Prompto punches him lightly on the shoulder. “Y’know it almost sounds like you’re not talking about drawing there, buddy.”

Noctis just laughs, the sound echoing lightly throughout the empty classroom.

To Prompto’s surprise, he doesn’t have such a hard time with drawing longer poses. By the third session, they were introduced to a new model, Gladio. And Gladio, thank god, doesn’t torment him by staring straight at him like Noctis does. Prompto breathes a sigh of relief. If he had to put up with Noctis’s staring while trying to draw his face in detail, he’d probably never get anything done. He tries not to think about when that’ll happen.

Gladio, like Noctis, was attractive, albeit in a different way. With his tattooed chest and highly defined muscles, it was obvious that he paid attention to and took care of his body. Prompto finds himself a little jealous because no matter how hard he worked out, he knew he could never achieve anything even remotely close to that.

He finds Noctis still hanging around the classroom during his days off as their model. “You sure you didn’t sign up for this class just to gawk at the models?” He teases while on their break.

“I wasn’t gawking!” He defends. “I mean, it’s kinda inevitable for me to stare, I am drawing him, y’know?”

Noctis hums, looking unimpressed. “Is that so.”

“You-!”

“I gotta say, though.” Noctis interrupts him and gestures at his sketchbook. “Gladio’s never looked better, you’re way too generous.” He laughs.

“I don’t appreciate this kind of slander this early in the day.” Gladio walks up to them. “Especially from someone so scrawny.” He smirks and pokes Noctis in his side.

“Hey! I’ve got muscle.” Noctis looks a little miffed and rubs at the spot where Gladio nudged him. “You... just can’t see it,” he adds quietly. Oh, you can, Prompto thinks. Not that he’s gonna admit that any time soon. He can’t give him any more reasons to be smug.

Gladio laughs heartily before turning to Prompto and putting a hand on his shoulder. He jumps a little at how strong he was. “Hey. Prompto, right? Noct told me about you.”

“Ah, yeah! Nice meeting you.”

“Same here.” Gladio shoots Noctis a devious look and points his thumb at him. “I must say, I’m surprised you can actually stand this guy.” He whispers not so quietly towards Prompto and Noctis shouts out a very offended ‘Hey!’ at the both of them.

“Noct has his good points, I guess.”

Noctis gasps. “You wound me, Prompto.”

“But hey, Noct’s right.” Gladio nods towards his sketchbook. “You’re pretty good at this for someone who hasn’t taken drawing classes before. You’re a natural, kid.”

“Really?” Prompto feels a little more than flattered, and he smiles at the feeling. “Thanks, man.” Noctis gives him a look he can’t quite decipher.

“I don’t think anyone’s actually gotten my tattoos right the first time. They usually give up halfway and just do whatever.”

“You look like you’d probably snap me in half if I did, so I tried my best.”

“Well, you did good, so no snapping in half any time soon.” Gladio laughs and stretches his arms in front of him. Prompto can see his muscles move under his skin—they were even more impressive up close. He wonders if all of Noctis’s friends were this good-looking. They probably are. Maybe he should try and work out more.

That night, he runs until his legs feel like jelly, and he collapses on the bed in the corner of his room, exhausted.

“Hey, Prom.” He was studying for his art history class in the school library when Noctis takes a seat in front of him. He was carrying a textbook in his arm as well as a copy of whatever reading he was required to finish. Prompto wrinkles his nose at how thick it looked. Noctis sets his pencil case down and pulls out a few highlighters. “Mind if I sit here?”

“I mean, you are already sitting there.” Noctis stands up and makes an exaggerated motion as if to leave. “I kid, I kid." Prompto laughs. “Not at all, Noct, go ahead.” Noctis smiles just a little bit smugly and sits back down.

“Knew you couldn’t resist me.” He smirks

Prompto snorts. “Oh, please.”

He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and Noctis comments, “I didn’t know you still wore glasses.”

“Oh? Oh, yeah. I usually wear contacts, but my eyes always get really dry when I read for too long, so I don’t bother wearing them while studying. How’d you know that I-”

“The last time I saw you wear them, we were still in elementary.” Noctis opens his textbook and searches for where he left off and adds, “It looks good on you.” He says it a little too quickly and so nonchalantly that Prompto didn’t have any time to process the statement.

“Huh?”

“Nothing, I- Don’t tell me you’re still wearing the same frames from back then.” He taps Prompto’s glasses on its side, where the frame was being flimsily held together by tape.

“Dude, don’t break it even more!” He laughs. “Eh, I just never really got around to getting a new pair. I mean, it still does its job so it’s fine.”

“S’that so.” Noctis takes a look at Prompto’s mess of notes scattered across the table. “What are you studying for?”   

“Oh, uh, this one’s Art History.” He pulls up a photo of a worn, painted tapestry and shows it to Noctis. He then pats the small stack of photocopies in front of him. “And this one’s Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology. You?”

“History of Political Theory,” he says as he flips through his readings. With a small thump, Noctis rests his head down on the table, making his highlighters roll off into the side. He peeks up at Prompto through his fringe. “It’s only been a month’s worth of classes and I already feel dead.” He yawns. “Could crash right here.” Prompto knows he wasn’t joking—if he left him alone he’d probably be out in five minutes flat. Prompto nudges him awake and Noctis sits up again.

“Man, do I relate.” Prompto sighs dramatically as he remembers the tests he has scheduled in the next few weeks. “I’m just about ready to ask someone to prepare my funeral.”

“Hey, don’t die on me just yet.”

“Same to you, buddy.”

Prompto adjusts his glasses again and begins poring over his notes. Noctis takes that as his cue to pop open the cap of one of his highlighters and start on his readings. They make it through an impressive twenty minutes before they start chatting about things that were decidedly not related to any of their academic work. In the end, they get very little done, and Prompto notes that he has to study again when he gets back to his room. They get so lost in their conversation that Prompto didn’t notice that it was almost time for his scheduled scholarship work hours.

“Oh, you’re studying under a scholarship?”

Prompto nods as he gathers up his notes into a messy pile. “Yeah, I’m under an art scholarship.”

“That’s awesome.” Noctis looked rather impressed.

“It’s nothing, really. The only requirements are that I major in Fine Arts and not get any failing grades. Oh, and I have to take work hours under the university, but they’re very small. It’s actually way generous, plus they’re pretty chill about it, too. It’s not anything special, y’know?”

“Not special, he says.” Prompto can feel his heart picking up speed at how earnestly Noctis was looking at him. “I never knew. That’s amazing, Prom.”

Prompto felt like he could combust from how warm his face felt. It’s been a while since anyone sincerely praised him. Maybe no one ever did, not as genuinely as this. And this, coming from Noctis, the ever sarcastic Noctis, who would never outright admit that he was impressed with anything—at least, not until now. His heart bubbled with an emotion he can’t quite name or place. Whatever it was, though… it was a nice feeling.

“Uh- I, um-” Noctis was smiling at him so softly and so brightly that he can’t help but smile back. His cheeks hurt. “Thank you,” he finally says, barely above a whisper.

“Y’know, that reminds me, you've never shown me your photos.” Oh yeah, he hasn't. “Lemme see them sometime, Prompto.”

“Sorry to disappoint, Noct, but I left my camera in my room today. And besides," he shrugs, "they aren't spectacular or anything.”

Noctis makes a face at that. “Don’t go modest on me, now.”

Prompto laughs. “Just don’t be too disappointed.”

Noctis waves him off with the promise of studying together again soon (or at least, Prompto hopes that they get some actual studying done when this ‘next time’ rolls around).

Prompto’s face was apparently still so red and his cheeks so warm by the time he got to the student affairs office that someone thought he was running a fever.

Prompto gets used to Noctis’s staring after a while. It’s still awkward, and he still has trouble looking at him straight when he has to draw his face, but it’s definitely better than when it first started. Though it went rocky at first—he tended to focus too much on certain parts and ended up not being able to polish his works to a better finish—he was slowly starting to get the hang of doing more detailed drawings. He wasn’t particularly skilled nor was he a naturally talented draughtsman, but he really was doing his best, and he hoped that it showed.

That being said, however, his works with Noctis as his subject end up rather lackluster when compared to when he draws Gladio or their other new model, Cindy. He remembers Noctis teasing him to no end when Cindy first modelled for the class, saying something about gawking at the models. Again.

His works weren’t by any means poor, but there was definitely a difference—his drawings of the other models turn out to be just a little more detailed or a little more intricately rendered, and he definitely drew their faces better. Noctis notices and comments on it after class one day, while they were walking to the cafeteria after a particularly tiring session.

“Hey, Prom,” he starts. “Why do you always draw Gladio and Cindy better than when you draw me?”

“Eh? Do I?” Oh crap, he didn’t think he would notice. Heck, even he didn’t notice at all recently, until his instructor asked if he was having trouble drawing him. And, well, he kinda was.

“Yeah, you do. They’re definitely a lot more detailed, at least.” He pouts. He pouts. “I’m kinda hurt, Prom.”

“What-! It’s not like that! I don’t do it on purpose!” Prompto felt embarrassed. It wasn’t like he wanted to do it. “Just- Y’know, maybe don’t stare at me too much? It’s kinda distracting,” he admits.

“Hm… S’that so?” Noctis pulls a thoughtful expression and then smirks. “But it’s really funny watching you get all embarrassed.”

“That’s-! Don’t tease me, geez.” He huffs. “It’s just really difficult to concentrate when you’re staring at me like that, you know.”

“Eh? Like what?” Noctis makes a genuinely confused expression.

“I- I don’t know!” He admits. He really doesn’t know what to think or what to make of his staring. “Maybe just tone it down a little? ‘Sides, it’s kinda unfair for the other students if you keep facing just me.”

“Hm.” He hums. “Well, I guess, but... Yeah, you’re right.” Noctis laughs a little before apologizing. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“Nah… It’s just a little awkward, y’know? I’m not really used to getting stared at, so I guess that’s something new.”

Noctis puts his hands around the back of his neck and leans his head back. “Dammit, now how else am I supposed to keep myself entertained in class?” He sighs.

Prompto not-so-gently whacks the back of Noctis’s head with the notebook he was holding. “Hey now, that’s just mean.”

“Counting all your freckles is a good way to pass time.”

“What-! Mean, really mean.”

“What, don’t tell me you don’t like them.”

“Well, yeah? Why would I? I have way too many, it’s kinda annoying.” He sighs and puts his hands on his cheeks, pushing until his face scrunches up. “And I’m too lazy in the morning to put foundation on. Styling my hair takes long enough.”

“Well, I think they’re nice?” A pause. “I like looking at them.”

Prompto’s mouth drops to an ‘o’ and he pulls a little harder on his cheeks. He peeks at Noctis through his fingers. “That’s… Um- thanks, I guess?” He never really knew how to respond to Noctis’s little compliments. Ever since that incident in the library, Noctis really seemed to enjoy getting a reaction out of him. He flusters easily, Noctis realizes, and Noctis finds himself always wanting to take advantage of the fact.

Noctis swings his arm around Prompto’s shoulder. “You hungry?”

He perks up at that. “Starving.”

He takes his first photo of Noctis that day.

They were seated in one of the tables outside the cafeteria and the late afternoon sun was pleasantly warm, pleasant enough that Noctis decided it was a good idea to sink down in his seat and take a nap. He falls asleep pretty quickly while Prompto was holding his camera and flipping through his photos.

Prompto couldn’t help but notice how relaxed Noctis looked while he was asleep. The guy could really take a nap anywhere, he thinks, and he chuckles at the thought. At the sound of him laughing, Noctis stirs a little, his mouth parting ever so slightly, his face moving to face away from the sun.

He doesn’t even fully realize that he took a photo until the shutter went off. But here he was, taking a picture of his unsuspecting friend. It was a good picture, he thinks, despite him not paying much attention to its framing and composition. The afternoon sun was bouncing off the table and casting a pale yellow glow on Noctis’s face, which was the very definition of contentment. He never really noticed how thick and dark Noctis’s eyelashes were before, nor did he notice the mole on the side of Noctis’s mouth. Maybe he was just a tiny bit biased because it was of his friend, but he thought that it really did make a good picture.

He takes a few more, this time taking more care to frame the shots. He’s always loved taking portraits, though he never had much opportunities to do so. He was always too shy to approach people and get their photos taken.

Noctis was a good subject, he thinks. Unlike him, Noctis had a certain presence that begged for your attention, a certain something that draws you in. And all this despite being so nonchalant about everything. It was kinda amazing, when he thought about it. He’d have to ask him to model for him once he took his studio photography class next semester.

Noctis wakes up as if sensing he was being watched. He looks up at Prompto with bleary, sleep-ridden eyes and yawns. “Watcha doin’?”

“Blackmail material.” He smirks deviously and brandishes his camera in front of Noctis’s face. He takes another picture, and the click of the shutter seems to wake Noctis up completely.

“Hey!” Noctis makes to snatch his camera off of him, but Prompto was already tucking it away laughing. Noctis gets his revenge by stealing Prompto’s bag of chips.

That night, he scrolls through his pictures and decides to print some them out. He takes one of them, the one where the afternoon sun was shining on Noctis’s face and casting a halo over his hair, his features relaxed and unguarded; and he prints it out. He pins it on the empty corner of his cork board and, he thinks, maybe it doesn’t feel so empty anymore.  

Their instructor definitely wasn’t wrong in saying that he was an interesting subject. She hit the nail right on the head. The camera loves Noctis, and it definitely shows in the photos he takes of him. Prompto can take the most candid of photos and he’d still have the sort of presence that completely fills in the frame.

At first Noctis would balk at his photos being taken, hiding his face in his hands, or reaching out to cover the camera’s lens, and Prompto would always laugh at his flustered expression. For someone who posed near-naked a few times a week and had nearly a dozen pairs of eyes on him as he does so, he was quite camera shy. He tells him so.

“You literally pose naked—well, near naked—every week for figure drawing, and you get embarrassed by me taking photos of you?” He laughs. “Come on, Noct!”

“It’s different!” Noctis eyes the camera in his hands, warily. “I don’t know, it’s just...” A pause, and then, silently, “It’s different because it’s you.”

“Different?” Prompto asks. “Different how?”

“I-” He starts, but doesn’t finish. He sighs. “Nah, it’s nothing. Forget about it, man.”

“What! You can’t just leave me hanging like that buddy!” Prompto hovers along Noctis’s side, holding his camera in front of his chest.

“Why do you like taking photos of me, anyway? Surely you’re gonna get bored of my face eventually.”

Not gonna happen, he thinks. At least, not anytime soon. Nor in the foreseeable future, if he was being honest. He liked looking at Noctis, liked having him in his photos. “You know… Our instructor wasn’t wrong when she said you were an interesting subject,” he says slowly, carefully. “I don’t exactly know why, but I really do like taking your pictures, y’know?” He smiles. “It’s nice.”

At that, Noctis kicks at the ground, causing dirt to fly around and cover his sneakers. He doesn’t meet Prompto’s eyes. “S’that so?” He says quietly.

“Yeah, dude. You know I’d never lie to you.” He grins and moves to look at Noctis through the viewfinder of his camera. “Smile for the camera?”

Noctis looks straight at the lens and laughs, and Prompto thanks whatever gods there may be that he was able to capture that moment. Ah, he thinks, this is why I like taking photos of him.    

He doesn’t stop taking pictures of Noctis.

And Noctis doesn’t seem to mind.

True to his word, Noctis tones down his staring the next time he models for class. Thank god, Prompto thinks. They were moving onto even longer poses and if Noctis continued doing that, he’d never be able to draw him properly.

The instructor wanted them to be able to practice rendering textures so today, Noctis had a white sheet draped over his thighs. It would’ve been rather risqué, if not for the fact that they all knew Noctis was wearing something underneath. Risqué, but tasteful. It was quite the combination. He was pretty sure some of the people in class were giggling like they were seeing their childhood crush. Well, he couldn’t blame them.

He tries not to get too distracted when the cloth slips over Noctis’s thighs ever so slightly and reveals even more skin. Noctis stayed completely still, unbothered.

He passes by the political science department on his way back from class and sees a rather soaked Noctis walking in the rain. It had been a very stormy week, and he was surprised classes haven’t been suspended even once. Guess the university had decided long ago that its students were immune to the rain.

“Noct! Whoa there, wait up!” He runs to cover Noctis with his umbrella. He, thankfully, didn’t forget to take it with him today. He had a grand time at the beginning of the week waiting under one of the bike sheds near the dorm waiting for the rain to die down and he wasn’t about to get a repeat of that, he decides. “You alright there, buddy?”

“Ha, yeah.” Noctis sighs. “Forgot to take my umbrella with me, but I’ll live.” He takes the umbrella from Prompto’s hands, saying they’d both have an easier time since he was taller than him. He ignores his protests and holds it over the both of them. “Thanks.”

“No problem! Couldn’t leave you like that, y’know.”

“Thanks, man. If it’s not too much trouble, can I have you walk with me to my car? It’s pretty far, though, since it’s in the north parking area. I’d understand if you’d rather not.”

“You’re planning on going back soaking wet?” Prompto wrinkles his nose, looking at him in disbelief. “Dude, no way, nuh-uh.” He starts pulling Noctis away, saying, “You’re coming back to the dorm with me.”

“Huh? Why?”

“So you can dry yourself off, duh! Maybe take a hot shower and stuff? Y’know, the works? We can’t have you getting sick! We have exams coming up, in case you’ve forgotten.” Noctis lets himself be led away. “We’re probably the same size anyway, so you can borrow my clothes.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll go with you! You’re gonna pull my arm off.”

Prompto smiles triumphantly and lets go of Noctis. He bumps their shoulders together gently. “Good!”

Prompto’s umbrella wasn’t big enough to shield the both of them from the rain, so when they make it to his dorm room, the both of them were soaked. Noctis more than Prompto, though. He kept holding the umbrella closer to Prompto’s side instead of his own. They leave the umbrella at one of the racks outside the building and Prompto prays to god that no one steals it since that was his third one this year.

They make their way to the elevator, dripping water everywhere. The staff won’t be happy when they see the floors, he thinks. Prompto’s room was on the seventh floor, and he was lucky enough to get one of the singles, and even more lucky to get a room with a view facing the valley behind the university. He always loved waking up to see the sun rise over the buildings. His room was almost always filled with soft light in the late afternoon, but since it was raining like crazy, it was dark enough for him to have to switch the lights on. The view outside the window was obstructed by how thick the downpour was, and it ended up looking like a huge swatch of gray. Luckily, he remembered to close the windows earlier in the day, otherwise his bed and his desk, along with all of the books strewn all over it, would’ve gotten wet.

“Well, here we are. The view is normally a lot better than this but alas, rain.” Prompto laughs and sets his backpack underneath his desk and walks over to the small closet built over one of the walls. He rummages for a towel and throws it towards Noctis. It lands squarely on his chest and Noctis manages to catch it with his hands before it fell to the floor. “Do you wanna take a shower?” Prompto asks. “Ah, but there probably isn’t any hot water left around at this time, especially at this weather. The people here are greedy little shits.” He huffs.

“Nah, it’s fine.” Noctis starts drying his hair off. “Thanks, Prom.”

“No problem!” Prompto goes back to rummaging his closet for clothes that could fit Noctis and finally finds a slightly oversized sweater and some joggers. Well, it’s better than nothing. “Hopefully these’ll fit you, but-” He stumbles when he sees that Noctis had already started undressing. “But, uh, if they don’t fit you, I could- I could try and find something else… for you, yeah.” By the time he finished stammering out his sentence, Noctis was standing in the corner of the room in his underwear, trying to wring the last few drops of water out of his hair. He looked even paler in the white glow of the room, his skin looking almost translucent against the overcast sky outside the window.

He was starting to pat his chest and his stomach dry when he notices Prompto staring at him. Noctis puts a hand on his hip and faces Prompto completely. “You know, you’d think you’d get used to me stripping in front of you at this point.” He laughs and throws the towel over his shoulder.

Prompto covers his face and sighs. “Seriously, dude.”

“I’m just saying.” Noctis hums. “You get embarrassed really easily.” Instead of responding, Prompto chooses to walk towards him and hand him his change of clothes.

“Ugh. Here you go, Your Highness.” He bows and tries not to laugh.

Noctis conjures up the most offended look he could possibly give him. “Don’t you dare.”

“What was that, Your Highness?” Prompto smirks.

“I can’t believe you, that joke was from high school.”

“Well, you were quite princely. Everyone went gaga over you like you were royalty.”

“Even you?” He smirks.

“Hey, no changing subjects.”

“But seriously, though. From high school.”

“Heh.” He sniggers. “Well, like I said—these should fit you just fine, I think.”

Noctis takes the garments off his hands and mutters his thanks as he puts on the sweater, his voice muffled by the fabric. “Oh, hey, they do fit.” Prompto notices that his joggers were a little shorter on Noctis when he put them on. He didn’t think there was much of a difference between them when it came to height, but this made it obvious that Noctis was the taller of the two of them. His legs were a bit longer and definitely more shapely. He was more muscular as well; he filled his clothes in a lot more than he did, his sweater stretching a little more tightly over Noctis’s chest and shoulders.  

“Well that’s a relief.” Prompto says.       

A pause. “What about you, though?”

“Eh? What about me?”

“You’re soaking wet as well you know, in case you haven’t noticed.” Noctis points out. Prompto realizes that, well, he really was. Not as bad as Noctis, but he definitely needed to get changed. He goes back to the closet to get a change of clothes and was about to exit the room when Noctis stops him. ”Where are you going?”

“To the bathroom? To... go and get changed?”

“Why not just change here?”

Prompto gulps. He wasn’t exactly… comfortable with that. Especially not with Noctis seeing him. Or anyone else seeing him for that matter. “Um... ”

“Come on, no need to be shy. You’ve practically seen me naked. Well, almost.” Noctis jokes. “Save yourself the trouble and just change here.”

“I- Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

He takes his shirt off, reaching for a towel to dry himself off. He chances a glance at Noctis and finds him looking. He’s suddenly struck with the need to cover himself up, and quickly. Noctis can probably see how scrawny he was, how the stretch marks covered his abdomen and the sides of his arms. He quickly gets a shirt and puts it on.

“You know.” Noctis looks at him, really looks at him, and says, “You wouldn’t make such a bad model yourself.”

“Eh?”

“You. Model.” He says again. “You’d make a good subject.”

Prompto laughs a little derisively. “Sure.”

“I’m not kidding.” He smiles. “You should give yourself a little more credit, Prom.” Then, a little quietly, “You look good.”

“I- what?”

“You heard me, don’t make me say it again.” Noctis covers his face with one of his hands. “It’s kinda embarrassing.”

“Um- I- Uh, that’s- Well, if you say so…?” Prompto puts on a jacket for good measure because it was getting colder. “I don’t think I could model like you, though.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t take too well to getting stared at.” He was too self-conscious and he’d probably pick himself apart with all the issues he had and disintegrate into nothing. “I’m fine being the one doing the observing.”

“Well… sure.” Noctis looks out the window. “That’s such a waste though,” he whispers to himself. “Hey, let me draw you sometime.”

“What?”

“Let me draw you sometime.”

Prompto laughs. “Well, it’s not like you’d let me say no.”

“You know me too well.” Noctis smiles triumphantly.  

It was still pouring really hard outside so he asks Noctis if he wanted to stay and pass the time playing King’s Knight. Noctis accepts and they sit facing each other on opposite sides of Prompto’s bed. Prompto already had his app running but noticed Noctis occupied with something else and he asks what was up.

“Hey, Prom.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s this?” He gestures to the cork board hanging on the wall beside his bed.

“Oh, those are my pictures. They’re some of my favorite shots so I keep them there.” He hums and clicks the start button on the screen of the King’s Knight app. “Why’d you ask?”

“No, I mean, uh.” Noctis seemed like he was having trouble articulating whatever it was he wanted to say and Prompto pulls a confused expression.

“What is it? Something wrong?”

“There are… pictures of me?” He finally spits out and a pregnant silence comes over the both of them.

“Oh.” Prompto all but tunes out the bright, cheery music playing from the app and goes to take a better look at his cork board. Noctis was right, there were pictures of him. And quite a lot, too. There were shots of him laughing, sleeping, quietly reading through his notes… and then there was a selfie he took with the both of them in frame. “Yeah, I mean, well…” He swallows, not quite sure what to say. He never really realized that he started collecting pictures of Noctis and pinning them to his cork board until it was staring him right in the face. “I never really had, or have, any models for portraits and… I actually really like portrait photography, so… uh. Yeah.”

“Yeah?” Noctis touches one of the photos and says, “I really like this one.” It was the selfie Prompto took with his phone. They were laughing with reckless abandon, smiles all teeth, eyes pinched at the corners. It was a good photo, despite being taken at the spur of the moment.

“H-Happy to hear.” He says, after a while. “Though I have to say, I was expecting you to pick something that looked a little more polished, and not something that was randomly taken by my phone camera.” Prompto laughs.

“I- That’s not what I meant.”  

“I know, I know.” Prompto laughs and looks a little closer at the photo. “I like it too.” He plucks it from where it was pinned to the corkboard and hands it to Noctis. “You can have it, if you want?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. Take it as a token of our friendship,” Prompto says. Noctis makes a face at that but the expression goes away as quickly as it appeared. He takes the photo and smiles softly.

“Thanks.” He really does look grateful, and Prompto can’t help but smile at how genuinely happy Noctis looks. “Hey, can you show me the rest of your photos?”

“You mean my portfolio?”

“Yeah, I wanna see.” A look of curiosity makes its way onto Noctis’s face. “You did promise that you’d show me someday, so why not now? We’re already here anyway.” Something tells Prompto that Noctis wasn’t going to leave without seeing them. He was stubborn like that.

“I-I guess.” Prompto stands up and makes his way to his desk. He comes back with a thick binder. “Just don’t be too disappointed, I haven’t really taken a lot of good shots recently.”

“You never disappoint, Prom.” Ah, there’s that feeling again. He feels it pool in the bottom of his stomach, staying there and making him feel like there were butterflies inside him. He still wasn’t used to Noctis complimenting him like this, reassuring him, making him feel like he was more than what he was. He thinks he never will.

“You’re too much, Noct.”

It was getting chilly in the room so he hands Noctis the blanket, and they huddle under it. Prompto hides his face in his pillow and tries not to combust at all the praise Noctis was showering him with. “You’re way too modest, you know?” He says after going through the folder. “Like, I know absolutely nothing about the technical aspects of photography, I’ll admit that. But this is on a whole other level.”

Prompto feels warm, and it was definitely not from being covered in blankets. “You really think so?”

“Hell yeah. You’re amazing.”

“Thanks, Noct.” he whispers into his pillow, not quite having the courage to face Noctis and his stupidly bright smile.

Their phones lie forgotten on the bed along with their promised round of King’s Knight.   

When Noctis finds out that Prompto does some running around campus every other night, he asks him if he can come with, saying something about wanting to work out some more. And Prompto was more than happy at the prospect of having someone running with him, especially with someone whose company he enjoys. He asks Noctis when he wanted to start, looking a little more than excited.

“Is Thursday night good for you? My classes on Friday start pretty late. Yours do too, right?”

“Yeah, sure! I’m good on Thursday.”

Thursday rolls around and they meet up in Prompto’s dorm room to get changed. Prompto opts to leave his phone and his earbuds since he’d be with Noctis, and he’d rather chat than listen to music. They lace up their sneakers and head for the path leading away from the dorm. Their campus wasn’t all that large, it probably only spanned a couple of miles if you followed the path that passed through the main buildings, a little longer if you followed the main roads. Prompto usually ran four to five rounds twice a week, and they both agree to follow his usual route.

They do some stretches, with Prompto having to lecture Noctis on the importance of warming up properly when he makes to running immediately after they reach the start of the path (“Dude, are you asking to get cramps? Just do them! You’ll thank me later, I promise.”). Prompto runs at his usual pace, and notices a little belatedly that Noctis was trailing a good distance behind him.

Noctis, as it turns out, isn’t so used to running.     

“Guess you better work on your stamina, huh?” He smirks.

“Touché.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Prompto pats him on the back. “When I first started running, I sucked so much. It took me a while to actually be able to just run, y’know?”

“I guess.” Noctis sighs and stretches his legs. “It sucks that I can’t keep up with you, though.”

“Dude, I’ve been running for years, I’d be more surprised if you were able to keep up.”

“Is that a challenge I hear?”

“Not from me.” Prompto jogs forward, leaving Noctis behind.

“Oh, it’s on.” He sprints after him, with the promise of beating his ass.

They finish five rounds around campus after an hour minutes. Noctis doesn’t get to overtake Prompto, but Prompto tells him he did a good job anyway, saying he’ll definitely get better in time. Prompto usually finishes running this route much earlier, but he doesn’t mind matching Noctis’s pace. It was definitely much more fun having someone with you, and he appreciates Noctis offering to run with him.

They head for the nearest water fountain and begin catching their breath. “So, how was it?” he asks him.

“I feel like my legs are about to give out, but I’ll live.” Noctis admits.

“You’ll get better at it, don’t worry.”

“So can I run with you again?”

“Of course! It’s a lot more fun when I have you with me.”

“Even if I suck?”

“Even if you suck.” He smirks.

Noctis bumps their shoulders together, causing Prompto to fly sideways. He squawks and shoves back.

Noctis changes clothes and collapses on Prompto’s bed as soon as they make it back to his room, falling asleep almost immediately. Prompto lets him sleep for a few minutes until he has to wake him up and remind him that he should probably go home before it got too late in the night. Noctis waves him goodbye while swearing that he was going to make him eat dust someday. Prompto just laughs.    

Noctis suggests that they study together again that week. Exams were coming up and with it, the promise of sleepless nights. Might as well try and keep that to a minimum by studying a little bit in advance. Prompto agrees and he makes his way to the library where Noctis, thankfully, already got them seats since his classes ended earlier than his. The study areas were pretty full, with students looking like they were just about an inch from death. He couldn’t blame them, not when their professors were scheduling exams left and right. Heck, he had three exams scheduled all on the same day in the next two weeks. He knows Noctis didn’t have it any better. The political science department was notorious for being merciless. And it hasn’t even been halfway through the semester.

“So, what do we have this time?” Noctis was already sitting in one of the single tables, his bag was on the seat behind the table in front of him. He reaches out to take it and motions for Prompto to sit down. Prompto thanks him and plops down on the wooden chair. He turns around to face Noctis.

“I got five exams in the next two weeks, plus the practical exam for figure drawing.” He sighs and gets his notes out from his bag. “How about you? How are you holding up?”

“I got four. Plus an oral exam.” Noctis already had his books spread out in front of him. They were a lot. He looked like he was in the middle of making a stack of flashcards.

“That’s rough, buddy.”

“That it is.” Noctis grimaces. “What do you need to study for?”

“They’re mostly art classes, but I also have anthropology and foreign language on the list.” Prompto finishes fishing for his notes and looks at the pile of readings in front of him. He sighs.

“Oh, you’re taking foreign language this semester? I don’t have it until the next one. Which one are you taking?”

“There weren’t a lot of slots left so I had no choice but to take Japanese.”

“Oh, cool. Remind me to take Japanese next semester so I can leech off your notes.”  

Prompto snorts but agrees and promises to pass his notes over to him if he ever does take it. “What about you, though? Which classes do you have exams scheduled for?”

Noctis makes a face. A very distressed face. “Introduction to Political Science, History of Political Theory, Politics of Governance, General Psychology, and World History.” He lists off rather monotonously. “I’m going to die.”

“Hey, no dying.” Prompto flicks Noctis on the forehead.

“I’ll try, but no promises.” He sighs and goes back to writing and sorting through his flashcards.

Prompto turns forward to face his readings and steels himself. Better to get this over with than suffer later. He didn’t look it, he always put on a carefree face, but he was the type to fuss a lot over his grades. Sure, his scholarship was pretty easy-going with its requirements, but that doesn’t give him the excuse to slack off. He wanted to feel like he deserved to be here, that the university wasn’t wasting their money on him. And so far, he thinks he’s done a good job. He’s on the dean’s list more often than not, and he never misses his university work hours. Besides, it definitely won’t hurt to have a good academic record for when he graduates and starts looking for work. His foster parents all but left him to take care of himself when he turned eighteen, so he can’t afford to fail. He has nowhere else to go, and nothing to fall back on.

He goes through a good chunk of his material before he starts shivering due to the cold. The staff must have turned the air conditioning to a lower temperature, because it was definitely warmer an hour ago. But now, instead of being pleasantly cool, it was absolutely freezing. He didn’t have the foresight to bring along his jacket and he immediately regrets it. Well, if anything, the cold will keep him awake enough to actually study.

“You look like you’re about to freeze to death.” He hears Noctis speak from behind him. That’s when he notices something warm being wrapped around and over his shoulders. Noctis stood up and was reaching over his table to give Prompto his jacket.

“Dude, it’s fine.”

“You are not fine.”

“Seriously, it’s fine." He says. “You’re the one who’s gonna be freezing if you give me your jacket, y’know? The cold’ll keep me awake, it’s okay.”

“I’m wearing something warm underneath, don’t worry about it.” Noctis gestures to the sweater he was wearing. “Just take the jacket, Prompto.”

He was about to protest but Noctis just sat back down and popped his earbuds back in and refused to even notice him, suddenly seeming to be very interested in his notes. This wasn’t a fight he was going to win, so he puts on the jacket. Noctis had slightly longer arms, he realizes, so he had to push the sleeves up and above his wrist else he wouldn’t be able to use his hands to write. He could smell Noctis’s cologne on it, which he was now very familiar with. It was a comforting scent, something that exuded a certain warmth. It was strange, he thinks, how a certain smell can make you feel so relaxed. So he savored it.

When they noticed that it was getting dark outside, they took it as a sign to finally start packing up and leave. They were able to study for two and a half hours (three, if you round it up, Prompto points out) before they started devolving into random conversation. You can only study for so long before you start going crazy.

On his way back to the dorm, Prompto realizes he forgot to return Noctis’s jacket. In his room, he lets himself pull it a little closer to him. It was cold out.

He was so tired from studying that he crashes on his bed as soon as he got to his room. He doesn’t notice that he falls asleep with Noctis’s jacket on until he wakes up in the middle of the night, with Noctis’s cologne in the air. He takes it off and hangs it on the hook behind his door.

It wasn’t so late in the night so he decides to do some more studying. He was going through his notes for art history when his phone rings at his side. Noctis’s name lights up the screen.

“Hey, Noct, what’s up?”

“Nothing, really. Hey, did I leave my jacket with you?”

“Oh, yeah you did! Sorry, didn’t notice I was still wearing it when you left.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll just get it from you tomorrow.”  

“Sure thing. You have class at nine, right? Wanna meet halfway at the lounge in the social sciences building?”

“Sounds good.” He pauses and Prompto can hear papers shuffling in the background. Noctis was probably studying too. “What are you doing?”

“Studying.” He yawns. He was more tired than he thought. “You are too, right? I can hear you flipping pages.”

“Ha, yeah.” He sighs and Prompto can imagine him slumping forward in his seat. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow! Good luck with studying.”

“You too. Bye, Prom.”

As promised, they meet in the social sciences lounge the next day. Prompto hands Noctis his jacket and watches as he stops midway into wearing it. Weird, he thinks.

“Something wrong?” Prompto asks.

“Nah, it’s nothing.” Noctis puts his arms through the sleeves after a while.

“You sure? You made a weird face, y’know.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” He says. “I got class in a few minutes so I gotta go.”

“Sure thing! Thanks for letting me borrow your jacket yesterday.”

Noctis smiles at him. “Don’t mention it.”

They were almost halfway through the semester when Noctis started doing it again, the staring.

Only this time, he’d avoid Prompto’s eyes when they managed to look at each other. Prompto was a little baffled. Usually, Noctis would take any opportunity to make him feel flustered. Now he looked like a deer caught in headlights whenever Prompto caught him staring. Weird.  

“Hey, is there something wrong?” He asks after class ended. They were always the last ones to leave the room, even after their instructor left. Noctis was always a little slow when he got dressed, always taking his sweet time.

“Huh? No, nothing.” Noctis was tying the laces on his sneakers. He turns to face him. “Why do you ask?”

“Nothing, really.” And he doesn’t think there was anything really wrong. It was just… a little unlike Noctis. “Usually you’d take any opportunity to stare and torment me in class, but… Well, you still stare, but—”

“Oh.” Noctis realizes what Prompto was getting at. “Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you kinda stare back, now.”

“Eh? I do?”

“Yeah.” Noctis laughs. “Guess I got a taste of my own medicine.”

“Guess you did.” Prompto hands him his bag and they make their way out of the classroom. “Sorry about that, I didn’t actually realize I was doing it?” And he really didn’t. He was surprised when Noctis pointed it out, but he guesses he was. At least Noctis wasn’t teasing him for it.

“Nah, it’s fine.” Noctis shrugs. “You got anything planned after this?”

“Not really.” Prompto chews on his lip, thinking about whether or not he had anything to study for. He quickly checks his phone and finds that he was free pretty much the rest of the week. “Why, did you have something you wanna do?”

“You wanna get dinner at my place?”

“At your place?” Prompto’s never been to Noctis’s apartment, he realizes. Whenever they’d hang out, it was usually at campus, or places near campus. Sometimes they’d spend long breaks in between classes in Prompto's dorm room playing King’s Knight or chatting, but never at Noctis’s place. It made sense since it was a little further inside the city. “Why, what’s the occasion?”

“There isn’t really any.” He admits. “Ignis is gonna come over and cook something, though. Gladio’s coming too.”

“Ignis?”

“Family friend. Gladio knows him too. He’s in the graduate program here so you’ve probably seen him around.”

“Oh! That’s nice.” Prompto thinks about the last time he had a home-cooked meal. His foster parents never stuck around much when they were still taking care of him, so dinners with them were far and few in between. He didn’t really have time to go to the dorm’s kitchenette and make something for himself either, and it wasn’t like there was much in there to actually make something good. It’s been a while, he realizes, but—“But, well, I wouldn’t wanna intrude and…” And it just seemed like he’d be out of place. Noctis has probably known Gladio and Ignis for nearly his entire life, and he, well…

“You wouldn’t be.” Noctis smiles at him. “Besides, Ignis always makes way too much for the three of us.” He slings his arm around Prompto’s shoulders and pulls him towards the direction of the parking lot. “You’d be doing us a favor.”

“Well… If you say so.”

The drive to Noctis’s place was pretty uneventful. They still fight over the aux cord though, as always, Noctis relents and lets Prompto take over. Prompto still talks smack about Noctis’s taste in music, and Noctis retaliates by reaching over and messing Prompto’s hair up and threatening to throw him out of the car.

They reach Noctis’s apartment in half an hour. Prompto marvelled at how huge the apartment complex was, and at its stylishly modern design. They were in one of the wealthiest areas in the city and everything was just a lot more grand, bigger in scale, and much more glamorous than he was used to. Prompto felt very out of place, and he thinks maybe even that was an understatement. He has never met Ignis, and his interactions with Gladio have been very limited. Sure, he’s known Noctis for a while now, but he most certainly has not hung out with the three of them together before. He just hopes he won’t be too awkward that he embarrasses himself in the process. The last thing he wants is to embarrass himself in front of Noctis’s friends.       

They make their way through the large lobby and Noctis presses the button to call the elevator. He must have noticed something was up because he was looking at Prompto with concern. “Hey, what’s up?”

“N-Nothing, just...”

“Just…?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never really hung out with Ignis and Gladio before, so I guess I just feel kinda nervous?” He admits. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not very good with people. I just don’t know what to say sometimes, really.” He bites his lips, suddenly feeling very awkward. “Sorry, it’s nothing.”

Noctis looks at him and says, “You were never like that with me, though.”

“Yeah?” He laughs. “Guess I wasn’t. Well, at least not until recently. If only you saw me back when we were in elementary. Heck, even back in high school. I couldn’t even look at you straight. Or anybody, really.” Prompto leans against the wall of the elevator and sighs. “Like I said, I’m just not very good with people”

“I did.” Noctis says after a while.

“Huh? Did what?”

“See you, I mean.” The elevator dings and they make it out into the long hallway. “I always did.”

Prompto doesn’t know what to make of that. “Well, you did say that you had very strong memories of being gawked at.” He smiles, suddenly feeling rather embarrassed.

“That’s not what I meant.” He says carefully, quietly. Prompto doesn’t quite catch it.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” Noctis clears his throat. “Anyway, you really don’t have anything to worry about. Ignis and Gladio are just a bunch of nerds.” He takes his key card out from his wallet and pauses at one of the doors. He swipes it over the scanner on the side. “You guys’ll get along fine.”

Noctis opens the door and Prompto is floored by how nice his apartment looked. He sets his bag down next to Noctis’s on the low coffee table in the center of the living room. He surveys his surroundings, all sharp, smooth, and shiny edges; tastefully decorated; and very, very huge. He, again, suddenly feels very out of place. He goes to sit next to Noctis on the sofa. “It’s… nice here.”

“Yeah?” Noctis checks his watch. “Ignis and Gladio should be here in a few, wanna play King’s Knight while waiting?”

“Hell yeah,” he says. “I’ve been wanting to kick your ass for a while now.” He laughs.

“Not happening.”

Soon enough, they hear the doorbell ring, and Noctis stands up to open the door. A tall man with spiked up hair walks in. He was wearing a shirt that was tucked inside a pair of dark brown slacks. Ignis, probably, Prompto thinks. Gladio walks in after him, carrying a few plastic bags that seemed to be filled with groceries.

He stands up to greet him when Ignis speaks. “You must be Prompto, correct?” He says, tone formal and very polite. He carried an air of maturity around him. “Noct talks about you quite a lot. I’m Ignis, it’s very nice to finally meet you.”

“Y-Yeah. Nice to meet you.” Noct talks about you quite a lot echoes in his head. He wonders what Noctis talks about, regarding him. “Hopefully Noct doesn’t tell you guys too many embarrassing stories about me.” He laughs a little nervously.

“Quite the contrary.” Ignis chuckles and Noctis looks at him in shock. “I’ll go ahead and prepare dinner.” He takes the bags from Gladio’s hands and heads to what Prompto thinks is the kitchen. “Hopefully our guest is fine with roast?” Prompto nods enthusiastically. “And baked vegetables?”

“I’ll eat anything!”

“That’s good to hear.” Ignis smiles at him, and then looks at Noctis with a sour expression. “Now if only a certain someone would follow suit.” Noctis just groans and shrugs in his direction.

Gladio walks toward them and claps Prompto on the shoulder. “Hey, kid. Haven’t seen you in a while.” He nods his head towards Noctis and smirks. “This one annoying you yet?” Prompto snorts.

“Meh, he’s alright.”

“I’m right here, you know.” Noctis glares at the two of them.

Gladio, as it turns out, also played King’s Knight. And so they spend a long time sprawled out on the couches trying to outdo each other. In the end, Gladio wins by a sweeping amount and Prompto and Noctis groan in defeat. Soon enough, they could all notice the distinct smell of meat cooking, its savory aroma hanging in the air. It smells amazing, and Prompto feels incredibly grateful at Noctis’s offer of joining them for dinner. It’s definitely been a while. A long while. And he feels a certain sadness settling in his insides, clawing its way slowly through his throat. He shoos it away and focuses on the new round they started in the game.

After a while, Ignis calls them from behind the kitchen island. “Dinner’s just about ready.” He was transferring the contents of a steaming pot into a large bowl. “Gladio, would you care to set the table?”

“I can do it!” Prompto pipes up.

“Nonsense, you’re our guest.”

Prompto, however, was already making his way into the kitchen. “It’s fine, it’s fine! Where can I get the plates?”

“If you insist.” He points towards a drawer near him. “Everything we need should be over there. Thank you, Prompto. Noct could learn a thing or two from you.” He chuckles.

Prompto laughs. “I’m sure Noct is fine as he is.”

“I suppose I should also be thanking you for sticking by him.”

“Eh?”

“He’s seemed much happier since he’s met you.” He smiles, almost fondly, at him. “So thank you, Prompto, for being Noct’s friend.”

“I- I didn’t really do anything special,” he says as he was getting the plates and cutlery out from the drawer. “I… If anything, I should be the one thanking him.” He admits quietly.

“Oh?” Ignis looks at him thoughtfully, as if picking apart what he just said.

“It’s nothing, I’ll uh- I’ll go set these out.”   

He’s seemed much happier since he’s met you. Has he really? Prompto smiles a little at the thought as he lays the plates on the table.

To say that Ignis’s cooking was amazing is an understatement. How lucky was he that he got to experience it at least once in his life, Prompto thinks. Dinner was a simple affair, with the menu consisting of roast beef stew and baked glazed carrots, but Prompto was sure it was the most extravagant thing he’s ever had the pleasure of eating, and he tells Ignis as such. Ignis laughs and takes the compliment in stride. He promises to make Noctis invite him the next time he makes dinner, and Noctis says that he was going to, either way.  

Noctis was right, he really didn’t have to worry about hanging out with Ignis and Gladio. They were easy to be around with, and they were very welcoming. He didn’t feel completely out of place, and he was grateful for that. Fitting in was never one of his strong suits. Never with his classmates and never with his family, either. He tried, though, he really did. High school was the turning point in his life, and he was able to scrape by and earn quite a few friends along the way. Never any close friends, people he could turn to or open up completely to, but he thinks it’s better than nothing.

Now, looking at the three people sitting on the table with him, laughing and passing food around, making him part of their conversation... He thinks, maybe this is what a family’s supposed to be. He can see Noctis smile at him from across the table. He smiles back.

Going to Noctis’s apartment had become a regular thing for Prompto after his first visit. They usually hung out to play video games or watch movies. Sometimes, they studied there together if the library was full or if Prompto’s floor in the dorm was too noisy.

On one such occasion, they were hunched over the kitchen island drowning in their notes when Prompto asks Noctis if he could get something to drink from his fridge.

“Noct, you’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“What?”

Prompto opens the door to the fridge again and points. “You literally have only three things in here.” He pats the inside to make a point. “Water, soda, and eggs.”

“Yeah?”

“How do you even live off these?”

“I usually leave that up to Ignis.” He shrugs. “I usually get dinner outside or before I leave campus.”

Prompto wrinkles his nose. “That’s gotta be unhealthy for you.”  

“I manage just fine.” He closes his notebook and looks at Prompto. “What, don’t tell me you’re gonna go all Ignis on me now and lecture me about the importance of proper nutrition.”

“Oh, I won’t.”

“Good.”

“I’m gonna do something even better.” He grabs Noctis by the arm and drags him to the door. “Grab your keys.”

“What?”

“We’re going shopping.” He grins at him.

“Do we really have to do this?” Noctis says from behind the wheel. “What happened to studying? You have a quiz tomorrow, right?”

“Studying can wait! I’m saving you from your terrible eating habits!”

“You really don’t have to.” Noctis groans.

“It’s of the utmost importance!”

“Now you just sound like Ignis.”

They park just outside the store and Prompto hops out of his seat excitedly. In all honesty, his eating habits haven’t been all that great recently, but it was definitely infinitely better than Noctis’s. It been a while since he’s went grocery shopping, and he thinks he can pick up some stuff for himself as well. Noctis trails a few steps behind him, looking very uninterested.

He gets a cart from the front of the store and pushes it towards the produce section. “Ugh.” Noctis says very ungracefully.

“Okay, so what sort of vegetables do you like?”

“Nothing.”

“Boy, no wonder you’re so tired all the time.” Prompto says as he dumps a bunch of carrots into the cart. He also picks up a small bag of potatoes, a package of young corn, and some snap peas for good measure. Noctis’s expression was looking more and more sour every time Prompto put something new in the cart. “Oh, don’t be like that, I’m helping you out here.” He passes by a bundle of broccoli, and chooses to forgo it, thinking Noctis might not be all too keen at eating something so green this early in the game. He does, however, go back and get some pre-cut vegetable mixes (“It’s for me,” he says to Noctis, laughing at his grim expression. “I don’t think I’ll be able to make you eat this kind of stuff just yet.”).  

They spend around an hour inside the store before Prompto was finally satisfied with what they had. They also get some snacks for when they go back to studying. Prompto wasn’t that cruel.

To their surprise, they see Cindy working behind the checkout counter.

Prompto greets her like an excited, albeit anxious, little puppy. Noctis snorts at him. “C-Cindy!”

“Oh, hey Prompto!” She smiles big and wide at the two of them. “Noctis! What brings the two of y’all here together?” She pauses, a thoughtful expression across her face, and then looks at Noctis knowingly. “Oh my, I see.”

“I’m here to save Noct from starving to death.” Prompto laughs as he starts putting the contents of their cart on the counter. “I uh, didn’t know you worked here!”

“Just started last week! Needed somethin’ else to do other than working in Pawpaw’s garage.” Cindy starts ringing up the items. “So what have y’all been up to?”

“Studying,” Noctis says. “Well, we were until Prompto here decided it was a good idea to go shopping.”

“I see.” Cindy laughs and whispers to Noctis. “How very domestic.” She full-on cackles afterwards and Noctis looks at her in shock. It was rather domestic.

“What are you guys talking about?” Prompto says as he puts the last few items on the counter. “Come on, don’t leave me out!”

“Oh, it’s nothin’, hun, don’t you worry ‘bout a thing.” Cindy begins packing their groceries into a few plastic bags and gives them the total. “Well, I guess you’ll find out soon enough.” She gives Noctis another knowing look.

Noctis coughs. Prompto makes to take his wallet out when Noctis stops him and waves his hand away.

“Uh, dude? I kinda need my wallet to be able to pay, y’know?”

“It’s fine.” Noctis takes his wallet out and sets a few bills on the counter.

“Seriously, at least let me pay for my own stuff.” Noctis, however, was already getting his change from Cindy. “Dude.”

“Don’t sweat it, Prom. Think of it as me thanking you for—what was it—saving me from starving to death?” Noctis laughs and grabs the bags from the counter. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Be seein’ y’all!” Cindy calls and then adds, “Good luck, Noctis.” Noctis waves her off with a laugh.

Prompto looks at Noctis a little guiltily. Noctis ignores him and starts walking to the exit. Prompto follows after him, not knowing what to do. “Yeah, but...” He starts. “This is kinda…”

“Like I said, don’t sweat it.”

“Well at least let me carry some of the bags.”

“We’re almost to the car, anyway.” He shrugs. “Don’t worry about it.”

But Prompto does worry about it. Noctis has been doing this a lot recently, paying for his stuff, treating him to food (and almost everything else really), doing favors for him. It kinda gnaws at him, because it felt like he was taking advantage of his friend. Not that he would, of course, but Noctis was persistent. Very persistent.

The drive back to Noctis’s apartment was silent save for the music that he put on. Noctis was whistling atune and Prompto lets the guilt settle into his stomach, lets it stay there until they finally arrive.

Noctis sets the bags on the counter, right next to their books. “So why’d we buy all this stuff anyway? You know I can’t cook to save my life.”

“Doesn’t mean that I can’t.”

“What?”

“Is it really that surprising?” Prompto laughs. “I’ve lived alone for most of my life, of course I know how to cook. I’m no Ignis but I’m pretty confident about being able to at least make healthy stuff taste nice.”

“Is that so.” Noctis helps Prompto get the groceries out of the bags and sets them inside the fridge and the cupboards. “... Alone?”

“Hm? What was that?” Prompto asks as he puts away the spices.          

“You’ve lived alone?”

“Well, yeah?” He finishes putting away the rest of the groceries and puts back his own stuff back into the bags. “I’m used to being alone because my foster parents weren’t really around much, so I had to learn how to make my own meals.” Prompto talks about it like he was talking about the weather. “If I didn’t I would’ve had to rely on takeout and that did wonders to my figure.” He laughs.

“I see.” Prompto sees Noctis gather their notes into a neat pile and walk over to the living room to place them on the coffee table. He stays there for a long time, seemingly spaced out.

“You okay with chicken?” He calls out to him.

“Oh? Ah, yeah, sure.”

“Alright! It’ll be ready in a jiffy!” Prompto gets the chopping board and begins chopping the vegetables. “I hope you like roasted vegetables.” He smiles widely at him.

Noctis groans.

To Prompto’s surprise, Noctis was able to clear his plate, even the vegetables that he prepared, but not before Prompto coaxed him to try them out (“Come on, just a little? Please? You can give them to me if you end up hating them!”).  

“So... How was it?” Prompto looked at him expectantly, a little bit of nervousness etched onto his face.

“It was good.”

“Really?”

“If it wasn’t I wouldn’t have touched the carrots and all that other stuff.” He laughs.

“Oh, thank god.”

“Thanks for this, Prom.”

“It’s the least I could do.” Prompto smiles sheepishly. “I mean, you’ve been… Uh...”

“Been what?”

“You’ve been… treating me to a lot of things.” Prompto points out. “I feel kinda guilty about it, to be honest. You don’t have to do that, you know?” He says. “So yeah, this is the least I could do to give back.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Eh?”

“I like treating you to things.” Noctis says, after a while. “Come on, let me have my fun.”

“Fun?”

“I’ll clean the dishes.” Noctis starts, deflecting the question that Prompto was about to ask. “You can go back to studying if you want to.”

“I- Okay?” Prompto chews on his lip, confused. He didn’t really know what Noctis meant, but he can sense that he wasn’t about to explain it to him, so he ignores it. “I can help you out.”

“You already cooked, it’s only fair that I clean up.”

“I guess.” He stands up and makes his way to the living room. “I’ll just be on the sofa reading my notes.”

“Sure thing. I’ll go join you after I do the dishes.”

Prompto sits on the sofa and gathers his notes up next to him. I like treating you to things, he says. He lets Noctis’s words stew in his mind for a little while before getting consumed by the need to focus on the contents of his binder. He’ll ask Noctis about what he meant by that another time.

One day, Prompto arrives at the classroom much earlier before Noctis.

Their instructor walks in after him, appearing to be relieved when she saw him, and she gets his attention before handing him a small bag. She says that she wanted the class to be able to practice rendering different textures, hence its contents. Some props, she says. He wonders what was inside it. She asks him to hand them to Noctis when he arrives, as she won’t be able to stay with the class for the first half of that day’s session. Prompto nods and she thanks him before exiting the room.

Prompto takes a small peek inside the bag and a small laugh bubbles up from his throat. Oh this was gonna be fun.

“You’re here early.” Noctis says as he enters the room.

“The class I had before this got cancelled so I went straight here.”

Noctis notices the bag Prompto was holding. “What’s that?”

“Oh, this?” Prompto holds it up in front him. “The instructor told me to give it to you, said to use it while modelling for today’s session.” He smirks and makes his way to his easel, setting the bag down on his chair. He takes out the contents, which he revealed to be a rather sizeable crown and a plush velvet cape. Prompto makes his way to Noctis and hands them to him. “Here you go, Your Royal Highness.”

“Ugh, seriously?” He groans.

“Wait, or is it Your Majesty now? This seems like it would be fitting for a king.” Prompto sniggers as he sets the crown on Noctis’s head. “Now you can live up to your high school nickname, Prince Noctis.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” He bows before Noctis and Noctis takes the opportunity to mess Prompto’s hair up.

“Consider that royal punishment.”

“Mean!” Noctis just laughs and messes Prompto’s hair up even more.  

Prompto was absolutely fucked.

The class he had before figure drawing ended really late and he had no choice but to stay behind because the professor was explaining something very important, and he couldn’t afford to miss it. He was running by now because the building his class was in was very, very far away from the fine arts building. He curses his luck and picks up his pace. He’ll probably miss a few poses because he still has to set up his materials when he got to class. Thank god he was a fast runner.

He arrives at the art studio out of breath and looking haggard. Noctis had already starting posing and he sets his bag quickly beside his easel. He was about to go to one of the lockers in the room to get his materials when he notices that they were already set up on his easel. He sits down, relieved, and catches his breathing. He picks up the pencil with shaky hands and begins drawing the pose, but not before he catches Noctis smiling softly at him.

Oh, he realizes.  

Noctis walks up to him in the middle of break and he hands him a bottle of water. Prompto accepts it gratefully. He needed that after running from his last class. “Why were you late?” Noctis asks.

“My last class didn’t end on time.” He says after gulping down half of the bottle.

“That sucks. You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” He sighs, tired. “Thanks for this.”

“No problem, you looked like you were about to collapse from thirst.”

“Oh? No, no, not that.” Prompto motions towards his easel. “I meant this. Thanks for setting it up for me.”

“Oh, that.” Noctis waves it off like it was no big deal. “Figured you’d probably be running late when there were only five minutes left before class started, so I set it up for you.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Don’t mention it.”

It was in the middle of the semester, during the lull that came after their midterms, that they decide to drink and celebrate surviving exams. It was a Friday and the two agree to meet up at the driveway in Prompto’s dorm so they can drive together to Noctis’s apartment. They figured that almost every drinking place near the university was filled with students trying to celebrate the end of exam week, so they decided that that was the way to go. Gladio was coming as well and was going to meet them there, but as for Ignis, he was buried under work from graduate school, so he announced in advance that he won’t be able to make it.

Prompto and Noctis stop by a convenience store to buy some snacks and the much-needed alcohol. They spend quite a lot of time inside deciding on what to buy, but they finish shopping soon enough and make their way to Noctis’s apartment.

Gladio was already waiting in the lobby when they arrived and they all file into the elevator to go to Noctis’s floor. Gladio says something about being stuck with a bunch of lightweights with Ignis not there, and Noctis hits him on the arm, saying he was ‘definitely not a lightweight’. Prompto just chuckles. It hasn’t been too long ago that he got to the age where he was finally allowed to drink, so it wasn’t like he was used to it either. He just hopes that he doesn’t embarrass himself in front of his friends. He hasn’t gone drinking with a lot of people, and while he’s gotten tipsy, he definitely hasn’t gotten to the point where he got drunk enough to pass out or do crazy things; after all, no one would be there to take care of his drunk ass so that wasn’t going to be a wise decision.

As it turns out, Ignis had taught Gladio how to mix a few drinks, and Gladio brought a few things of his own to make them. The drinks he’s able to make aren’t anything crazy or extravagant, but they were enough to make the alcohol go down a lot easier (“Consider it a favor for you two,” he says to the them).

This, Prompto thinks, was his downfall.

The night starts out pretty tame, with the three of them drinking at a reasonable speed. But then Gladio decides to make a competition out of it and dares the two of them to match his own pace, which was considerably faster than theirs. Noctis takes the bait easily enough. Prompto, not so much. That is, until Noctis starts goading him as well. That, he definitely won’t stand for; he’s not one to back down from a challenge made by Noctis.

He doesn’t even notice how much he’s drunk until he was drunk, the alcohol making him feel strange and warm and had made his grip on reality feel all fuzzy at the edges. He laughs at everything Noctis and Gladio say even if, he realizes later, that they weren’t even anything close to funny. Suddenly, everything was a lot brighter and a lot funnier, and it felt amazing, like he was unravelling in the best way possible.

It was safe to say that both he and Noctis were sufficiently drunk by the time Gladio says that he was supposed to leave, saying something about having to work the next day. Gladio isn’t entirely sure if they can still comprehend what he was saying. He sighs, grabs his keys, and heads for the door, but not before saying, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” to the two of them. He then looks at Noctis with a devious smile on his. “Especially you, Noct.”

“Oh, fuck you, Gladio.”

Gladio shuts the door behind him and they can hear his laugh echo through the hallway outside.

Prompto was splayed out over on the couch, his head resting near Noctis’s thigh. “How can Gladio even drink that much and still be standing,” He says, his words wobbly and slurred. “I don’t even know if I can sit up.”

Noctis laughs, high pitched and breathy. “Man, you are such a lightweight.”

“And you aren’t?”

“I’m sitting up, aren’t I?”

“Good point.” Prompto tries to sit but only ends up leaning next to Noctis, his head resting on his shoulder. Noctis lets him and in turn goes to rest his head on top of his.

They stay silent for a long time before Prompto tries standing up in order to go to the bathroom. He quickly finds out that his motor skills were severely impaired because of all the alcohol he’s consumed, and he tumbles forward as soon as he gets up from the couch. His knees buckle under him and he crumples into a heap on the living room carpet. Noctis laughs at him, hard.

“You’re hopeless.”

“S-Shut up!”

Noctis just laughs at him harder before standing and offering his hand to pull him up. “Up you go.”

“Thanks.” He leans his weight onto Noctis for support and Noctis places a hand on his waist to steady him. Prompto leans into him. In his drunk state, he realizes that he didn’t mind it at all and relishes the contact, his mind fixating on the warmth of Noctis’s hand passing through the fabric of his shirt. His head was practically resting in the crook of Noctis’s neck and he catches himself, belatedly, and moves away. “S-Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Noctis’s hand was still on his waist.

“Anyway, uh, I’m gonna go to the bathroom.”

“You sure you can go by yourself?” Noctis smirks at him.

“Man, you could at least give me a little more credit than that.” He laughs and wiggles out of Noctis’s hold. “But yeah, seriously, I’m fine.”

“Alright, if you say so. I’ll just be here.” Noctis sits back on the sofa and reaches towards the table to grab and open up a bag of chips. “Don’t die in there.”

Prompto groans loudly before entering the bathroom.

He comes back to Noctis passed out and snoring lightly on the couch with the bag of chips lying forgotten on his side. He picks it up and sets it on the coffee table so he can sit beside him. Prompto turns his body to face Noctis. He watches his face, how he can see his breath fan out with how it blows away his fringe, watches the steady rising and falling of his chest. His eyes travel to Noctis’s, relaxed in his sleep. He doesn’t notice his own eyes falling shut.

He almost falls asleep to the rhythm of Noctis’s breathing when he glances at the clock hanging on the wall in front of him. 2:36, it read. Prompto is suddenly very, very awake (sober, he’s not so sure).

“Fuck!”

That wakes Noctis up. “Wha-?”

“Shit, I can’t go back to the dorm, it’s already an hour past curfew.” Prompto chews on his lip. They always lock the gates after one in the morning. He should’ve paid more attention to the time.

Noctis sleepily rubs his eyes, slowly processing what Prompto just said, before coming to a conclusion. “Just stay here.”

“Eh?”

“Just sleep over.”

“But I-”

“What, you got anywhere else you can stay?”

“I- No…?”

“Exactly.” Noctis stretches his arms high above his head and stands up slowly. “I can lend you some of my clothes to sleep in, come on.” He yawns and pulls Prompto towards his bedroom, where he tosses him a shirt and some old sweatpants. He then exits the room, saying that he was gonna get some water for the both of them.

Prompto changes quickly and sits on the bed. He glances on the bedside table and sees the printed out selfie he gave Noctis. It was already framed. He smiles and kicks off his shoes, allows himself to lie down. Just for a little while, he tells himself.

Just for a little while.

Prompto doesn’t notice the door open. He was already fast asleep and starting to dream. He dreams of the bed sinking with someone else’s weight, dreams of a hand gently stroking his hair. He feels warm, his side radiating a pleasant heat with what feels like strong arms wrapped around him.

Prompto lets himself dream.

Noctis, as it turns out, was a heavy sleeper.

That, on top of being a very clingy sleeper.

Prompto wakes up with a raging headache. His memory is still a little fuzzy from sleep, but he remembers enough to know that he drank way too fast and way too much the night before. He moves to try and sit up when Noctis’s arm wraps tightly around him and yanks him back down so fast it makes him dizzy

Wait, Noctis’s arm?

He looks beside him and sure enough, Noctis was there with his arms around him. Their faces were close enough that he could practically count each individual lash on his eyes if he wanted to. He blushes furiously and turns his head away. What was that?

He calls out his name to try and wake him up, but to no avail. He tries calling his name out a little louder and Noctis stirs and mumbles something in his sleep, snuggling even closer to him. Prompto can feel his heart pick up speed. Seriously, what was that?  

Finally, after several attempts at trying to wake him up, Noctis slowly opens his eyes. He takes one long, confused look at Prompto and then, very suddenly, startles and lets go of him.

“Shit, sorry.”

“I, um- It’s- It’s… fine?”

“Right, uh.” Noctis says very awkwardly, his cheeks flushing a very bright red. Prompto’s never seen him so flustered before. “I’ll… go get you some water. You didn’t drink any before going to bed so you’re probably… really hungover.”

“Actually,” he says. “My head’s killing me. I’ve never been this hungover before, this sucks.” He looks at Noctis and meets his eyes. They both look away very quickly. “Um, you’re not hungover?”

“Not as bad as you, at least.”

“I see…” Prompto bites his lip when he sees Noctis looking rather guiltily at him. “Um, it’s seriously fine, Noct, don’t… worry about it.”  

“Still, I-” He pauses as if he wanted to say something else. “.... Alright.” He says after a while and heads for the door. “If you want, you can lie back down. I’ll be back with some water.”

“Okay.” Prompto sits down on the bed after Noctis exits the room.

He didn’t even notice falling asleep on Noctis’s bed last night. He must have passed out as soon as he lay down on it. Idiot, he thinks. He feels his face go warm as he remembers how close they were lying down next to each other earlier. So close that their noses could touch if he so much as leaned forward. So close that he could feel Noctis’s breath on him, slow and steady. So close that he could see the mole on the side of his mouth very, very clearly. His heart thunders in his ribcage, as if threatening to jump out of his chest at any given moment.

What was that.

Noctis drives him back to the dorm after they have a late lunch at the cafe near his apartment. They got sandwiches and coffee, which they sorely needed after last night. Noctis passes him some painkillers for his headache, and he accepts it gratefully.

When they got back to the campus, there were a lot of student milling about and the area was buzzing with activity. They realize it must be for the school festival which was due to be scheduled some time in the next month. Prompto doesn’t notice he was still wearing Noctis’s clothes when he got back to his room. He doesn’t pay it any mind, choosing to collapse on his bed and getting some more sleep. He was still pretty exhausted from last night, and his headache still wasn’t completely gone just yet. It’s a good thing it was a Saturday.

He tries not to think about everything that happened that morning.

Noctis sets a small case in front of him one day, while they were spending their break in one of the lounges in the fine arts building.

“What’s this?” he says, eyeing the item with curiosity.

“I just wanted to give you something? You didn’t tell me it was your birthday last week, so…”

Prompto slides the box open and was greeted with a pair of dark brown glasses, with bottoms that transitioned into a lighter brown. They were a simple design, nothing too fancy or flashy. It had fairly thin frames that wrapped around the lenses. They looked pretty expensive. “Oh.”

“Those are just plano lenses so you’d have to get them replaced, if you wanna use them,” he says. “I didn’t know what power your glasses had so I couldn’t get them made for you, so yeah.”

Prompto takes the frames out of the box and examines them a little more closely. They were really nice. “You didn’t have to get me these, Noct.”

“It was your birthday, and I wanted to.” Noctis says firmly, a small smile making its way onto his face. “Besides, your glasses are just about nearing the end of its life, if it hasn’t already.”

Prompto can’t help but feel immensely grateful, but— “These look pretty expensive.” He feels a little guilty because he knows he can never give Noctis anything like this. “You could’ve gotten me a cheaper pair, you know?”

“Like I said, I wanted to give this to you.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Come on, Prom, put them on!” He urges. Prompto protests before Noctis plucks the glasses from his hands and puts them on him himself. He tucks Prompto’s hair behind his ears and slips the pair on him gently. “There,” he says triumphantly. Prompto all but blushes from the sudden contact from Noctis’s fingers lightly brushing his cheek. He just wasn’t used to it, and Noctis managed to surprise him every single time.

“H-How do they look?” He peeks at him through the lenses, suddenly feeling very self-conscious as Noctis looks at him.

“They look good on you.” Noctis smiles. “I thought the color would suit your eyes, and I was right, I think.” Then, a little nervously, he asks, “How do you like them?”

“I, um- They feel really nice. They’re really light, it’s like I don’t have anything on.”

“That’s good.” Suddenly, Noctis takes his phone out from his pocket and snaps a picture of him. Prompto looks at him in shock and sputters out tiny protests.

“Noct! You could’ve given a guy some warning, y’know!”

Noctis ignores him and shows him the photo. “See? They look good.”

The photo was a little blurry but he can see how the glasses hugged and framed his face. The shape was pretty flattering on him, he had to give Noctis that. He would never have chosen something like this for himself, he always thought that the style would never suit him. And Noctis was right, in some way the color did bring out the blue in his eyes, they were much more pronounced when he had them on.

He couldn’t help but notice how red his face was in the photo. He always did blush easily and he could see his freckles more clearly here, the spots on his cheeks a lot more noticeable. He could see how flustered his expression was. Was this how he looked like to him? He doesn’t know how to feel about that.

“Prom?”

“Eh?”

“You don’t like them?”

“What- No, no!” Prompto thought that Noctis looked a little panicked. “I- I really like them.” He admits. “Like, really, I really do. I, um- Thank you, Noct.”

Noctis looks visibly relieved. “No problem.” The smile made its way back to his face and Prompto doesn’t know what to do aside from adjusting the glasses on his face and smiling back sheepishly.

“Man, I was so worried you wouldn’t like them.” Noctis confesses suddenly, slumping in his seat. “I had no idea what I was doing so I asked Ignis for help.”

I’m pretty sure that I’d be happy with anything you’d give me, he thinks, and it was the truth. He says so without thinking and immediately regrets it because oh god, that was so embarrassing. “So, uh, you asked Iggy for help?”

“Ah, yeah.” Noctis returns his phone to his pocket. “He really takes care of his glasses and has a few pairs so I thought he knew what he was about.” He looks back up at him. “Y’know, I’ve been trying to convince him to model for the class, but he doesn’t seem all that interested.” Then, he smirks. “The instructor’s really interested in getting him though, so she might talk to him soon. Pretty sure he can’t say no to her.”

Prompto can’t help but agree. “Man, who could? She’s way too nice.”

“She really is.” He sighs. “Couldn’t say no to her when she asked me to model for her class. Felt like it’d be a crime.” Noctis was browsing through the book in front of him now. Prompto remembers him saying something about having a quiz in one of his classes later in the afternoon. “Well, I’m glad I did though.”

“Hm? Why’s that?”

“Well,” Noctis starts. He looks a little embarrassed. “I wouldn’t have been able to talk to you if I didn’t, would I?” He smiles, avoids looking at Prompto. “I’m really glad I did.”

Prompto wasn’t expecting that, of all things, so he chooses to say the first thing that comes to mind.

“Me too.”

“So I’m guessing you’re not a morning person?” Prompto asks him after class. Noctis told him how he was late to his first class for the third time this week.

“Not at all.” he sighs. “It’s not like my first class even starts that early in the morning, I just need to leave the house earlier because my apartment’s so far away.”

“Hm. That sucks.” Prompto makes a thoughtful expression. Maybe…

The next day, after he came back from his early morning run, Prompto picks up his phone and calls Noctis. Surprisingly, he answers on the fourth ring. Well that didn’t take long, he thinks.

“Prom? What’s up?” Noctis’s voice was groggy from sleep and Prompto can’t help but laugh a little at how different he sounded.

“Hey, Noct! Good to see you’re awake.” Noctis just grunts.

“Well, a certain someone called me, so I didn’t have a choice really.”

“That’s the point! I called you to wake you up and check on you!”

“Oh.”

“That’s right, buddy!” Prompto says very excitedly, tone bright. “Good thing it worked!“

“Ha, yeah.” Prompto can hear the sheets rustle and he makes a strangled sound.

“Hey, don’t lie back down!” He chastises him. “Go get ready, you nerd!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Seriously, this’ll only work if you keep up your end of the bargain!”

“And that is…?”

“Getting up and getting ready to go to class, duh!”

“Alright, fine, I’m getting up.” Prompto hears the sheets rustle and then, a door creaking open. “Thanks, Prom.”

“No problem! I wake up early anyway so this is no biggie.”

“You always wake up this early?” Noctis says in disbelief. “Why?”

Prompto laughs. “Sometimes I go for a run, sometimes I try and study before my classes start. Though I guess it’s just normal for me to wake up early.”

“How very responsible of you.”

“Why does that not sound like a compliment.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Prompto can practically hear Noctis smirk on the other line.

“So, you awake now?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Like I said, it’s no biggie! I’ll call you again in a few to make sure you’re not planning on going back to bed.”

Noctis laughs. “Sure thing.”

“Anyway, go get ready!”

“Yes, mom.”

He calls him around thirty minutes later. “You about to leave yet?”

“Yeah.” Prompto can hear the telltale sound of keys jingling in the background. “Thanks, Prom.”

“No prob! See you later!” He drops the call and sets his phone back on his desk. That was nice, he thinks, calling Noctis in the morning. He grabs a granola bar from his cabinet and remembers how Noctis sounded on the other line, voice tinged with sleep. He could get used to that, he thinks.  

Prompto calling him in the morning became a regular thing after a while, and Noctis tells him that he’s grateful for the fact. Noctis hasn’t been late to his classes ever since, and he says that thinks he’s been doing better in them too. So Noctis treats Prompto to lunch and some coffee outside university one day to thank him.

As soon as they get some seats, Prompto slumps over the table and sighs.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just…” He starts. “I took a nap yesterday and didn’t wake up until it was already morning. I slept through my alarm.”

“And…? That sounds nice, actually.”

“I was supposed to study last night.” He sighs again. “I wasn’t able to because I fell asleep.”

“Oh. Well,” Noctis says. “Do you always do that?”

“Do what?”

“Study late into the night, I mean.”

“Well, yeah?” Their food and their drinks arrive and Prompto pauses to take a sip from his iced coffee. “Sometimes I study in the morning as well, but yeah, I normally do that.”

“Do you want me to call you?”

“Eh? Call me?”

“Yeah, you always do that for me in the morning,” he says. “I can repay the favor.”

“Noct, my hero!” He croons, dragging out the ‘o’ in Noctis’s name. Noctis snorts at him. “Yeah, that’d be great! Thanks Noct!”

“No problem.” Noct takes a bite from his pasta. “You always call me to wake me up in the morning, it’s the least I could do.”

Prompto laughs. “Well, it’s always amusing to hear you so groggy in the morning.”

“Is it, now.”  

“Yeah! Your voice is so different, it’s like you’re a completely different person.”

“Thanks.” He grumbles.

“Oh! I didn’t mean it like that.” Prompto took another sip from his coffee before saying, “I like hearing your voice in the morning, it’s nice.”

Noctis just stares at him, mouth agape. Noctis puts his face in his hands.

“Noct?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing. I’ll call you tonight.” Prompto smiles widely at him in thanks and Noctis sputters out a ‘don’t mention it’ before going back to eating his pasta.

Prompto is woken up by his phone ringing.

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.”

“Wha- Noct?”

“The one and only. You gonna wake up?”

“Why are you- Oh, right!”

“Yep. I’m guessing you remember why I’m calling you?”

“Yeah! Thanks, Noct.”

“No problem.”

Prompto drops the call and goes to the bathrooms to splash some water on his face. Hearing Noctis’s voice definitely woke him up. He’d have to return the favor and treat him to lunch as well, he thinks.

It was a few weeks after midterms that Prompto decides to check all his syllabi again. He’s learned the hard way that most professors would pick up speed come the second half of the semester, and he’s made it a habit to check everything so that he’d know what to expect.

He was going through the syllabus for his figure drawing class when he notices something rather… worrisome.

‘Since acting plays a big part in gesture and figure drawing, starting the middle of the semester the students are expected to take turns posing and modelling for the class each week.’

Well, shit.

He arrives to class nervous, and he guesses that it showed on his face because Noctis shoots him a worried look. “Hey, Prom.” Noctis watches as he sat behind his easel, wringing his wrists and playing with the cuff that was on one of them. “Um, are you okay?”

Prompto just hides his face behind his hands. “Just great.”

“Sarcasm definitely does not suit you.” Noctis drags a stool over to he was sitting. “What’s up?”

“Sorry, it’s nothing. Nothing, it’s just.” He was still playing with the cuff on his wrist. “Hey… did you know that we were supposed to pose for the class as well?”

“Well… yeah?”

“Dude, why didn’t you tell me?” Prompto groans and slumps forward in his seat, his head hitting the space between his knees.

“I… thought you knew?” Prompto just lets out a whine. He definitely should’ve paid more attention to the syllabus in the beginning of the semester. He could’ve psyched himself up for this… or something. Well, it’s too late now. “You’re only supposed to do ten three-minute poses, Prom, don’t worry about it.”

“Noct, that’s thirty whole minutes.”

As expected, their instructor explains that they were in fact supposed to start modelling for the class themselves. And as luck would have it, Prompto was going to be the first one in class to pose for them. He had hoped that the model would be chosen randomly, but the instructor decided to go through them alphabetically, and it just so happened that Prompto’s surname was first in the list.

He takes a deep breath and heads to the center platform, keeping his eyes glued to the floor. He definitely wasn’t looking forward to the next thirty minutes but he had no choice in the matter. Might as well get it over with.

He was about to sit down when the instructor asks him if he had a jacket to wear. Something about it being more difficult to draw him if he wore more layers. He was about to say no when Noctis walks up to him, takes off the jacket he was wearing, and hands it to him. It was the same one he accidentally took home with him. He thanks him and finally sits down, throwing the jacket over his shoulders, tying the arms around his neck. Their instructor tells him that it was up to him to pick whichever poses he wanted to do, and Prompto kind of panics because no way in hell did he know how to do that.

He looks at Noctis, who was now sitting at Prompto’s usual spot, taking out his own sketchbook and propping it up on his easel. Noctis catches him looking and just gives him a thumbs up before going to sharpen his pencil. Prompto just stares at him in shock, before remembering that he had a job to do.

He ends up starting with very stiff poses, like sitting cross-legged or hunching his body forward and towards the floor. He avoids looking at anyone while posing. He really doesn’t like it when people stare at him, but it was unavoidable, so he pushes back the feeling of wanting to just sink into the ground and hide there. It’s not a pleasant feeling for him, being under a lot of attention. To him, it just felt like someone was dissecting him, picking at his flaws and laying them bare for everyone to see. So he fixes his gaze on the floor, or on a far point in the room.

He does, however, take a peek at Noctis. It felt like his eyes were burning a hole through him, with how intensely he was looking at him. He wasn’t even meeting his eyes, he seemed to be looking at spot on his neck or his chest, but seeing how very intense his concentration was, at how seemingly fixated Noctis was on him… he was suddenly grounded and brought back to earth. It was then that Noctis looks up and smiles softly at him. That’s all it took for all the tension to leave Prompto’s body.  

He breathes easy and smiles back.  

He doesn’t notice that he’s already done all the poses he was required to do until the instructor calls him to thank and congratulate him on a job well done. He sighs in relief and takes a few wobbly steps away from the platform, making his way to his own easel, where Noctis was still sitting. He unties and takes the jacket off his shoulders, and hands it over to him. Noctis, however, seemed distracted, his hand still moving on the sketchpad in front of him. “Noct?”

“Hm?”

“You’re still drawing?” Prompto goes around the easel and was greeted by what was probably the most flattering picture he’s ever seen of himself. And it wasn’t even a photograph. “Uh, woah.”

“Yeah, I’m just finishing this up.” Noctis says, eyes still glued onto the open page. He stops after a while, finally setting his pencil down on the easel’s ledge. “So, what do you think?”

“That’s definitely not me.” Prompto laughs. “No way in hell do I look like that.”

“I think this is how you normally look, though?”

“Yeah, right.” Prompto takes a closer look at the canvas. Noctis chose to focus a lot on his face, cropping the drawing just below his chest. He could see how intricately rendered his features were, could see how Noctis paid attention to the smattering of freckles on his cheeks, sees how he drew the faint mole near his mouth. He didn’t think anyone noticed that about him.  

Noctis was definitely talented, he thinks, extremely talented. He wonders why the guy was even in the political science department; he could easily be a studio arts major with his skills. “It’s a shame that your skills are wasted on me, though. You definitely need a better model.” Noctis makes a rather displeased face.

“You remember what I said before?”

“Hm? What, which one?”

“When I said that you’d make a good model,” he says slowly, deliberately, “I wasn’t lying, you know.”

“Good one.” Prompto laughs. “Why’d you draw today of all days, anyway?”

“Well, someone has to take notes for you.”

“Ha ha, very funny”         

Noctis signs the drawing with the date and his initials before continuing, “I also asked you if I could draw you someday.” He points out, before smirking at him. “Guess I’d have to thank our instructor for that.”

“Right.” He rolls his eyes at him. “Anyway, off my seat, I got work to do y’know?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Noctis closes his sketch pad and gathers his things, before standing up to go to the corner of the room and sitting down.

Prompto calls after him. “You’re not drawing anymore?”

“Nah.” He says. “I need to study for one of my classes tomorrow, so I’m gonna do that now.”  

“Ah, I see.” Prompto gets his things ready and prepares to draw the next model, relieved that his turn was finally over. “You wanna hit up the Crow’s Nest after this?”

“Hell yeah.” Noctis grins.

Prompto woke up very late that day. Thankfully, however, he was fast enough to get himself ready that morning without having to arrive late to his first class. He didn’t have enough time to style his hair or think about his outfit, but it was better than being marked late and possibly missing out on the beginning of a lecture.

He sees Noctis later in the day when he passes by the political science department on his way back to the dorm. He goes to say hi when Noctis just bursts out in laughter.

“W-What’s wrong, is there something on my face?” Maybe it’s the hair, he thinks. “I know you haven’t seen my hair like this since high school probably, but is it really that funny?”

“No, it’s not that.” Noctis wheezes. “It’s- nice shirt.”

“My… shirt?”

“Yeah, where’d you get it?” He smirks.

“I don’t actually-” Prompto looks down and realizes what Noctis meant. “Oh.” This was not his shirt.

“Yep.” Noctis begins laughing again. No wonder why it was so loose on him. He forgot to return his clothes from when he borrowed them the night they got drunk in Noctis’s apartment. And now he was wearing them. He was in such a hurry this morning that he didn’t bother checking what he put on.

“I- I’m so sorry, I totally forgot.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Noctis finally stops laughing and looks at him properly.

“I’ll return it to you tomorrow, Noct.”

“Keep it, it’s fine.” He smiles at him before reaching for Prompto’s hair and patting him on the head. “And you’re right, the last time I saw you with your hair down, we were still in high school.”

“Ugh.” He tries to swat Noctis’s hand away but he wouldn’t budge.

“What, is it making a comeback now?”

“It’s most definitely not.” He huffs. Noctis just pats his head again.

“Is your boyfriend going to model today?”

“My what?” Prompto looks at his classmate, confused, not quite catching onto the word.

“Your boyfriend. We’re classmates for my psychology class, I need to ask him about something.”

“My… boyfriend?” He grew even more confused. Who-

“Hey, Prompto.” Noctis greets him from behind.

“Noctis, there you are! I need to ask you about our project for psychology, do you have a group yet? We’re missing one person and-”

Oh.

“Sure, it’s fine, I can-”

Your boyfriend.

“I- We’re not! That is, uh-” Prompto tries to clarify the situation but the words won’t come out. Not with Noctis there.

Noctis looks at him, confused. “What’s up?”

“N-Nothing, um. You see, um. Uh.”

His classmate seems to understand where he was getting at and saves him from any further embarrassment. “Oh! Sorry man, I got the wrong idea.” He turns to Noctis. “Thanks, Noctis, I’ll see you in class.”

Is that what it looked like?

Noctis was still looking at him. “Uh… what was that about?”

“Nothing!” Prompto says a little too quickly. “Uh, he just- He just thought, um, that I’d know if… you got a group for your class already?”

Noctis eyes him suspiciously. “Huh. Is that so?”

“Y-Yeah!” Prompto forces a smile onto his face, but he’s sure he was beet red. Please drop it, Noct, please just drop it.

“Okay…?” Noctis says after a while, probably sensing Prompto’s very apparent discomfort, and decides to drop the subject. Prompto sighs in relief. “D’you have anything to do the week after next?”

“No…? W-Why, what’s up?”

“Ignis is cooking at my apartment again. I was wondering if you wanted to come by again for dinner?” Prompto avoids looking at Noctis. “Hey, Prom… is something wrong?”

“N-No, it’s nothing.”

“Yeah, right.” He brings a hand up to his forehead, checking for his temperature. “You seem warm, you sure you’re alright?”

Prompto jerks back from his touch and Noctis draws his hand back. “I’m fine!”

“You don’t look like you’re fine.”

“Honestly, I’m fine!” He walks over to his easel and sits down. “Seriously, I’m okay, don’t worry about it, Noct.”

Noctis looks at him for a long time and finally says, “We’re going to the clinic.”

“What? No! Seriously, nothing’s wrong!”

“Maybe you got sick from when we went drinking or something.”

Prompto was about to protest, but Noctis was already grabbing him by the arm and dragging him outside. “Noct!” Prompto tries to wiggle away, but Noctis wouldn’t budge. “You’re supposed to model today!”

“Gladio can take over for me.” He takes out his phone and texts him.

“But-!”

“Don’t make me have to carry you, Princess.” Noctis laughs and Prompto immediately shuts up, the words he was trying to form dying in his throat. He lets himself be dragged away. He realizes, very suddenly, why anyone would think they were together. This, he thinks, it’s this.

His cheeks felt like they were going to melt off his face.

“Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with him.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but… maybe it would be good if he stayed here for a while. He does appear to be a little stressed.” The nurse looks at Prompto, worried. “Is there anything that’s been stressing you lately, Mr. Argentum? School perhaps?”

“I… Y-Yeah, that’s probably it.” He lies. “I guess midterms took a lot out of me.”       

“I see, that’s understandable.” She motions towards a cot in the end of the room. “If you want, you can stay here and rest for a bit, I wouldn’t mind.”

“If that’s alright.”

“Of course.” She smiles at him. “You’re very welcome here.”

“Thank you… I, uh- I’ll just go and lie down.”

Noctis follows him. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I- Yeah, I’m good, don’t worry.” He sits on the cot and makes to lie down when Noctis sits down next to him. “Uh, Noct?”

“Hm?”

“Aren’t you gonna go back?” He asks. “You can still make it in time to pose for class.”

“Nah.” Noctis shrugs. “I’d much rather stay here with you.”

“Oh.” Prompto’s heart picks up speed. There it is, again. “Okay… I guess?”

“Besides, who’s gonna take care of you if I’m not here?”

“Uh, the nurse?”

“She doesn’t count.” Noctis nudges his shoulder. “Anyway, go lie down.”

“I-” Prompto doesn’t really know what to say so he just concedes and lays his head on the pillow. “Alright.”

Noctis was still sitting next to him, his body bent at an angle that allowed him to look at Prompto’s face. Most of Noctis’s thigh was resting on the cot and Prompto can feel his body heat at his side. He doesn’t think he has the heart to face Noctis nor does he think he can stand the feeling of being watched so intensely, so he turns around to face the curtain and away from him. Noctis just moves closer, and he can feel the warmth of his back meeting his own. He shivers at the contact.

Noctis notices and asks, “Are you cold?”

“No, I- I’m fine.”

‘You don’t have to be so shy, you know. I don’t mind staying here to look after you.“ Noctis says in return. Their backs were pressed together now and he can feel the words resonating gently, the vibrations gentle where their bodies made contact. “It’s not like we both have any classes after this.”

“Yeah, but…” He says to his pillow quietly, entirely unsure of what to say next. Noctis takes this as a sign of him feeling unwell. He reaches over him and puts a hand on his forehead to check his temperature again. Noctis was practically draped over him and Prompto feels that same weird feeling pool in his gut, clawing at him, making itself known. He tries to say something, but the sound gets caught in his throat, so he makes a strangled noise instead.

Noctis frowns at him. “You’re pretty warm.”

“A-Am I?” He could feel his cheeks heating up, but he’s definitely sure it wasn’t from being ill. This is… what is this?

“Yeah, I’ll go get the nurse.” Noctis finally makes to stand up and leave him lying down alone on the cot. Prompto turns and faces the ceiling. He thinks about it, them being mistaken for a couple, and why it would seem that way to other people. In retrospect, he shouldn’t really be surprised. They spend so much time together, so much time alone in each other’s company. And Noctis has always been very physically affectionate towards him, though he never paid it any mind. With all of that… it’s no surprise at all.

Noctis comes back and asks him if he just wanted to go back to the dorm. He nods and begins gathering up his things, before Noctis takes his bag away and carries it for him. He lets him, not quite trusting himself to be able to form words at the moment, let alone protest. Noctis gives him his jacket for him to wear again, and he relents, putting his arms through the sleeves and letting Noctis’s scent cling to him and carry through the air around him.

They arrive at his dorm. The staff were already so used to seeing Noctis around that they greet him with familiarity. Noctis smiles back at them. The two of them remain quiet on the elevator ride up to his floor. He must think him so sick to the point that his knees would buckle under him because Noctis puts a hand on his waist, steadying him, and leads him back to his room. He tries not to lean into the touch and instead tries to tune it out.   

They sit on the bed together for a while, silence hanging in the air, until Noctis stands up and says something about getting him something to drink.  

He lies down, finally alone, and he thinks about it, thinks about a scenario where he was together with Noctis. Thinks about being something more than friends, whatever that something may be. He wonders what it would be like, how it would feel. And he finds himself so overcome with something akin to… want. He feels like he was being punched in the gut, his chest starts to ache with a sort of ache that he’s never felt before. He recoils, sitting up so quickly that he felt dizzy from the sheer force of the movement. He looks down at the floor, at his feet, to try and steady himself. His cheeks were on fire, and his heart was hammering so strongly against his ribcage that he was sure he could see it thumping through his chest if he looked closely enough. His mind was going on overdrive, thoughts a mile a minute—

“—ey! Prompto! You in there?” He looks up and Noctis was hovering in front of him, waving his hand in front of his face. Prompto startles and jumps back further into the bed. Noctis looks at him with a confused and worried face. “Hey buddy, you alright?”

“Uh, yeah! Yeah, I’m alright, just didn’t see you there, sorry.” Noctis takes a step back, as if assessing him, and hands Prompto the glass of water he was holding with his other hand. Prompto didn’t realize that his throat was so dry. “...Thanks, Noct.”

“Don’t mention it.” Noctis smiles softly at him before turning around and sitting on the chair behind his desk and oh, there it was again.

What is this.

“Hey, Prom, don’t think so hard or you’ll hurt yourself.” Noctis laughs. “If you frown so much, you’ll give yourself wrinkles.” Noctis stands up and crosses the room to go to him and then goes to rub his thumb on the space between Prompto’s brows, trying to smooth out the creases forming on his forehead. Prompto jumps at the contact and nearly spills water everywhere.

“S-Sorry.”

Noctis looks at him with concern. “It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize.” He takes the glass of water off of Prompto’s hands and sets it on his bedside table. “Sorry for startling you. You must be really out of it, huh?”

Prompto puts his face in his hands and wills himself to stop shaking. And then it hits him all at once, all too suddenly. He knows what this is.

It took someone thinking they were together to realize it, but he realized it. I’m such an idiot, he thinks. He curses his classmate for talking to him earlier, curses him for assuming things. That shouldn’t have—He could’ve lived his whole life not realizing all of this, but here he was, feeling as though he was drowning, swimming through a pool of emotions that were so unfamiliar and so scarily new. It would’ve been so much easier if he didn’t come to this conclusion, to have his feelings be dragged out from inside him and set loose. He’s—

“Hey Prom, mind if I look through your portfolio again?” Noctis breaks his train of thought and he was brought back to reality very quickly. Noctis would probably chastise him for overthinking again.

“Ah, yeah. Yeah, sure thing.” He says quietly and Noctis smiles at him. The kind of smile that knocks the air out of your lungs and makes you feel lightheaded. Except, he realizes, that Noctis always did smile like that. But now, for Prompto, it was amplified and turned up to the nth degree.

I like him, he finally admits to himself.

And suddenly, that made it all the more real, building up until it became the elephant in the room, something he can’t shake off no matter how hard he tried to ignore it. It was suffocating.  

He’s never felt like this for anyone, and what’s worse is that he doesn’t know what to do about it. You ignore it, he tells himself, because he doesn’t know how this could possibly change everything.

Or—he does know. He just doesn’t want to think about it, about all the possible routes they could end up in. None of them could possibly be good.

He lies back down, suddenly drained of all energy. He tries not to think about the memory of Noctis, body hovering over him, his hand on his forehead. He pushes away the guilt building up inside him.

He cranes his neck towards the other side of the room after a while, to where Noctis was sitting on his desk and looking through his portfolio. The glass of water was still there on his bedside table. It was getting dark out, and the sun was casting a deep orange light all over his room. He takes a look at Noctis’s face, warm from the sunset, expression relaxed and fond.

He looked beautiful, like something straight out of a scene from a fairytale. What was the word?—ethereal, maybe. He thinks only Noctis could make him wax poetic like this, making him use all these adjectives that he didn’t know he knew, that he didn’t know he’d ever have the need or opportunity to use.  

Noctis goes home as soon as Prompto turned to face the wall and started pretending to be asleep. He does, however, go to him to check his temperature again with his hand. He seemed to be satisfied with what he’s found because he leaves almost immediately after. Prompto turns around to peek when he finally hears the door open, and then close. Sure enough, he wasn’t there, and Noctis’s bag was gone from its spot underneath his desk. It was already dark out and Noctis left the lights off so that the room was being illuminated by nothing aside from the city lights pouring from outside the window.

He was about to drink some water when he notices a note slipped underneath the glass on his bedside table. ‘Feel better,’ it said in messy script. Noctis’s handwriting. He drew a lopsided smiley face underneath it.

It was then that he realizes, with certain clarity, that he’s absolutely fucked.

Pretending like nothing was wrong was easier than Prompto thought. Nothing really changed between the two of them, despite his realization that he was starting to fall very hard for his best friend. He’s said to himself that he wasn’t going to let his feelings come in between their friendship, and that was easy enough. Their friendship was a constant in his life, and his feelings weren’t going to change that so easily.

He’s a lot more jumpy now, though, much more aware of Noctis, much more aware of all the contact, much more aware of the space (or lack of space) between them. He wasn’t sure if Noctis noticed it, but if he did, then he chose not to comment on it and thank god for that. Prompto wasn’t sure if he can give him an answer if he did ask him about his recent behavior; he’s not good with words, and he stumbles a lot, can blabber on and on, until he’s forgotten the point of everything he was saying. Pretending was easier than he initially expected, yes, but he’s not so sure if he was doing a good job at it.

He has trouble drawing Noctis in class again. And his instructor comments on it. He knows he’s doing a shit job, and he knows why he’s doing such a shit job, but he can’t look at Noctis without wanting to crawl into a hole and never come back up, a mixture of fear and guilt eating away at him. Somehow, it felt like he was betraying Noctis, like he was betraying their friendship by developing feelings for him. So he stomps down on it, willing it to go away or, at the very least, have them wane even just slightly.

“Hey Prom, so about dinner.” Noctis asks while they were studying in the fine arts lounge. They were lounging on one of the couches, notes scattered all over it.

“Eh? Dinner?”

“Yeah, remember what I told you last week? Ignis and Gladio are coming over again.” Noctis says as he flips through his notes. Bored, Prompto thinks. “Ignis has been asking about you, about whether or not you’re going to have dinner with us again. He really took a liking to you, you know? Even asked me to ask you about what your favorite food were.” He laughs, and Prompto can feel his stomach flutter at the sound. Noctis always did have a nice laugh.

“Sure, um.” Prompto was looking through his own notes, making himself appear busy so that he didn’t have to look at Noctis. So that he eliminates the possibility of meeting his eyes. It was awkward enough having to harbor these feelings for him and he’d rather not aggravate them or make them worse. They were intense as it is, he thinks, and that was difficult enough to chew. “When was it again?”

“This Wednesday, after figure drawing.”

“Oh, sure. I’ll- I’ll be there, yeah.” He says, quietly. He doesn’t really have the heart to say no. He genuinely does like hanging out with them, with Noctis. “Uh… How are they, by the way?”

“Ignis is still pretty much dying because of graduate school, but his schedule’s freed up this week, so we thought we could all hang out and stuff.” He can still hear Noctis flipping pages and he chances a glance at his face. He looked like he was about to fall asleep, eyes already half-closed from exhaustion. Prompto lets out a tiny laugh. “Gladio’s pretty much free nowadays and- Hey, why are you laughing?”

“Nothing, it’s just,” Prompto chuckles. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I don’t just look it, I really am about to pass out. ” Noctis yawns. “Kinda slept late last night because of a paper.”

“I see, how’d that go?”

“Submitted it this morning.” He yawns again, this time longer and more drawn out. “Hey, let me borrow your lap.”

“What? My-” Before he could process what he meant, Noctis was already patting his hand on Prompto’s thigh and laying his head down on them. Well, shit. “Uh, Noct? What are you doing?” He laughs a little nervously. He can feel his heart thumping inside his chest, beating a little quicker and a little harder. He hopes Noctis doesn’t notice.

“Taking a nap.”  

“Pfft. What are you, a cat?”

“Meow.”

Prompto hits him on the head, trying not to focus on the fact that Noctis was basically snuggling his thigh. He’s kinda impressed when Noctis falls asleep in five minutes flat, snoring lightly. They were the only ones in the lounge, save for a girl typing away on her laptop in the corner of the room, so he can hear Noctis’s breathing pretty clearly. He pokes the side of his mouth without thinking, on the part that was marked by a small mole. Noctis stirs just a little and Prompto can feel him move in his lap. He lets himself look at him for a long while, lets himself lift his hand and pat Noctis on the head, lets himself card his fingers through his hair, slowly, gently. Noctis gives him a breathy sigh in return. This is fine, he thinks, just this is fine.

When he looks at Noctis again, he finds that he was already awake, eyes open and very much on him. He immediately takes his hand away and lets them hover on his side. “S-Sorry.” He tries to find an excuse and comes up with the first thing he thinks of. “I couldn’t help it, I can finally get back at you for all the times you’ve messed my hair up.” He tries to grin and only somewhat succeeds.

“Wow, okay.” Noctis sits up and stretches his arms. He returns the favor and runs his hand through Prompto’s hair. Prompto freezes on the spot and Noctis just smiles at him. “Oops.”

Prompto takes the bait. “Oh, now it’s on.” They end up tussling on the sofa with both of them coming out of it with ridiculous-looking hairstyles. Prompto’s hair ended up squashed and looking like a bird’s nest and Noctis’s bedhead looked even worse than it usually did. They laugh it off and head to the bathrooms to make themselves look a little more presentable.

He looks at Noctis, all smiles and laughter and allows himself to smile back.

This is fine.

“By the way, I wasn’t kidding when I said that Ignis asked about what you wanted for dinner.” He says after they fixed their hair (or tried to, at least; they made a valiant effort before giving up halfway through). “Please don’t pick anything too healthy.”

Prompto just laughs at him. Noctis’s disdain for anything that was not meat is something else.  “Sure thing.”

“So, what do you want? I’ll text Ignis so he knows what to get.”

Prompto thinks for a short while before finally deciding. “If it’s not too much trouble… curry?”

“Gotcha.” Noctis pulls his phone out and begins typing out a text to Ignis. He exits the messaging app to check the time on his homescreen and realizes that his next class was about to start. “Hey, I got class in a few minutes, so I gotta go.” He slings his bag over his shoulder and pats Prompto on the back. “See you later?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Alright.” Noctis waves him off and as soon as he was gone, Prompto allows himself to remember the weight of Noctis’s head on his lap, remembers the feeling of running his fingers through his hair. He brings a hand to his face and sure enough, he feels his cheeks burning up. He makes his way back to the bathroom and sees his face, red as all hell.

This is fine, he thinks, even though it’s probably really not. Not when he feels like he’s either suffocating or getting crushed under the weight of all of this.

He sighs heavily before splashing cold water on his face and making his way to class.

They were both incredibly busy at the beginning of the week with preparations for the school festival. It was a yearly affair, with every department and organization setting up booths for the entire university. Some set up games, some set up food stalls, and some even invited merchants to sell things such as clothes and souvenirs. It was more of a fair, really, and Prompto had a great time at the one that happened the year before. He liked walking through all the booths and all the stalls and just looking at everything. He remembers the stall he bought a crepe from before and hopes that it’ll make a reappearance this year.

He doesn’t see Noctis much that week because of how busy both they were, and he wasn’t sure whether he should feel relieved or disappointed at the fact. On one hand, he can rein in his emotions and didn’t have to put effort into projecting an air of being alright; on the other hand, he really craved his company. They were friends first and foremost, after all, and nothing’s gonna change that. Or at least, he hopes nothing will. There’s a good part of him that’s scared about Noctis finding out and being disgusted or repulsed at the idea of Prompto liking him in a way that was different from friendship. They never talked about it, but he had a pretty good idea that Noctis wasn’t into anything related to romance. He just seemed uninterested in that aspect, never talked about liking anyone or having had anyone catch his attention in that way.

He’d just have to tough it out until he gets over everything, he thinks. That’s fine.

They walk back to the parking lot and drive to Noctis’s apartment for dinner together with Ignis and Gladio. Prompto doesn’t notice falling asleep in the car on the way, doesn’t realize how tired he was, both physically and emotionally. He was just drained.

He wakes up to Noctis calling his name and gently rousing him from sleep. “Hey, we’re here.” Noctis says softly, taking care not to startle him.

“Oh.” Prompto rubs his eyes and takes in his surroundings. They were already in the parking lot of Noctis’s apartment complex. “Sorry, I didn’t know I fell asleep.”

“It’s fine.” Noctis unlocks the doors and steps out of the car. “Let’s go.”

“When are Ignis and Gladio gonna get here?” He asks as soon as they enter Noctis’s apartment. It’s different hanging out with Noctis in campus, different because they weren’t completely alone and Prompto can distract himself with other people’s presence and chatter. This, however, was a completely different playing field. He thinks back to how he acted towards Noctis before all of this happened. How did they usually spend their time alone?

Good job, Prompto, you’ve managed to make everything complicated for yourself.

“Probably in the next half-hour.” Noctis walks toward the couch carrying a pillow from his bedroom. “Here.”

“Huh?”

“You seem tired. Get some sleep while those two aren’t here yet.” Prompto just nods his head, not entirely opposed to the idea of getting some more sleep. He was kinda tired.

“Thanks, Noct.”

“Don’t sweat it.” He shrugs. “You seemed pretty tired lately. Classes been stressing you out?”

“I- Yeah, a bit. Plus the festival’s coming up, everyone in my department’s busy organizing an exhibition that same week.” Prompto usually wouldn’t have any problems with academic or extracurricular requirements when push came to shove, but this thing he had towards Noctis… it started to bleed into nearlyevery aspect of his life. Keeping himself busy did a good job of distracting him, yes, maybe that’s why he threw himself into his work recently; but during the times where he was alone and had nothing to do, he always found himself thinking of Noctis. And he realizes, belatedly, that he always did. Even way before he realized his feelings for the guy. Now, it was a little different.

Noctis sets the pillow beside him and motions for Prompto to lie down. “Come on.”

Prompto lies down on the couch, exhausted. He drifts off into sleep, too tired to worry about how close they were together.

“All I’m saying is that you gotta—”

Prompto wakes up to hear Gladio chatting with Noctis in the kitchen. Ignis must also be in there. He yawns and sits up to stretch his arms and his back and walks on over to them.

“Hey, sorry, I didn’t think I’d sleep through you guys coming in.” Prompto stretches his arms and makes his way towards them. “Thanks for letting me borrow your couch, Noct.”

“Don’t mention it.” Noctis eyes Prompto and gives him a worried look. “Are you feeling better?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. I feel better after sleeping.”

“That’s good to hear.” He says. “Hey, Ignis just started cooking dinner, you wanna watch something while waiting?”

“Nah, it’s fine I-” Prompto pauses. “I… I’ll help Ignis out.”

“That’s quite alright, Prompto, I’ll manage just fine.” Ignis was peeling some potatoes beside the stove and Prompto goes to his side and just starts chopping the ones that Ignis has already peeled.

“I want to help!” He says a little too forcefully. Prompto catches himself and adds, more quietly, “Well, that is, if it’s okay. I, uh-”

Ignis looks at him before chuckling. “Alright, if you insist.” He turns to Noctis. “Noct, why don’t you and Gladio hang out together in the living room?”

“What? No, I’m fine right here.”

“Don’t you remember what happened the last time you hung around the kitchen while I was cooking?” He says as he pushes his glasses up his nose. “I truly hope you aren’t looking to have a repeat of that incident, we spent so much time-”

“Okay, okay! I get it!” Noctis shouts out before walking away from the kitchen.

“Is that better?” Ignis asks Prompto.

“Huh? Is what better?”

“You seemed uncomfortable with Noct here.”

“What? No, no, I’m- I’m not-”

“You’re not a very good liar, you know?”

Prompto just sighs and puts the chopped up potatoes into a bowl. “... Was it really that obvious?”

“It was.” Ignis hands Prompto some peeled carrots and tells him to chop them up as well. “Well, I must say I’m curious, but you don’t have to tell me anything you’re not comfortable with saying.”

“It’s nothing, really.” Prompto says quietly.

“Would you rather talk to Noct about it?”

“I- No, that’s not… I don’t think I can talk to Noct about this.” He admits.

“Do you not trust him?”

“What? No! Of course I do, it’s just… I think he’d-” Prompto swallows through the lump in his throat. “I think he’d misunderstand some things, that’s all.”

“Oh, Prompto, you don’t give him enough credit.” He laughs. “He’s much more understanding than you think. A lot more.”

“I know he is.” Prompto says after a while. “But this is a little different.”

“Believe me when I say that he’d want you to tell him whatever it is that’s on your mind.”

“I honestly don’t think so, and that’s a little easier said than done, but…” He sighs. “Thank you, Iggy. I’ll- I’ll try.”

Ignis smiles at him. “That’s good.” Ignis finishes chopping up some bell peppers and thanks Prompto for his help. “You’ve helped me plenty. Why don’t you join Gladio and Noct? I’m sure they’d love your company.”

“But I-”

“You can’t avoid him forever, Prompto.”

Prompto goes silent and nods. Ignis is scarily perceptive, he’s learned. “... Okay.”

“Thank you for your help. Dinner will be ready soon.” Ignis starts sauteing the vegetables in a pot. “I’ve heard from Noct that you’re fond of curry?”

“Yeah!” Ignis finally sees an expression other than worry on Prompto’s face for the first time that evening and he sighs in relief.

“That’s good, then.” He watches Prompto walk away and sit next to Noctis and sighs.

Dinner was even better than the last one, Prompto thinks, especially since Ignis cooked one of his favorite meals. He thanks him after dinner and offers to wash the dishes but Ignis shoos him away from the sink, saying Gladio could do something to help out for once. Prompto laughs and makes his way back to the living room to gather his things up.

Noctis walks up next to him. “Hey, Prom?”

“Hm?” Prompto hums as he picks up his bag and slings it over his shoulder.

“Is everything okay?”

Prompto tries to muster a smile, and it works, he thinks. Maybe. “Yeah, why d’you ask?”

“Nothing, just…” Noctis scratches the back of his head, looking unsure of what to say next. “You seem a little troubled recently.”

“Oh.” Turns out Ignis wasn’t the only one who was perceptive. Or maybe I’m just that obvious. “Yeah, I’m good. Just school stress, y’know?”

“I see.” Noctis still looked worried. “You know you can always come to me for help, right? Y’know, if you’re having problems or stuff like that.”

“I know.” He says. “Thanks, Noct. But really, I’m fine.”

“Okay.” Noctis decides not to push it and that makes him feel relieved. Noctis grabs his keys from the coffee table. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah!”

Prompto’s turn to model for class came up again. He’s a lot less nervous now, he realizes, which he’s thankful for. The only problem is Noctis, really. He brought his sketchpad out again, much to his dismay. He seemed really intent on drawing him every time he modelled for class, and Prompto just sighs.

So he avoids directly facing Noctis as much as possible. Watching him was one thing, but being watched by him was another. He could look away, sure; could face away from him, yes; but he couldn’t shake off the feeling nor the knowledge of being watched, and it wasn’t something he wanted to experience right now.

He couldn’t wait for his thirty minutes to be up.

After class, Noctis asks him about his plans during the festival. Classes would still be ongoing, but the festival lasted until late in the evening, and was scheduled on a Friday, so they had plenty of time to go and hang out during the festivities. In the end, they agree to meet up when Noctis’s classes end. He looked really excited, saying something about not being able to go last year because he was cramming a paper the day of the festival. Prompto can’t help but feel a little excited too.

He rejects Noctis’s offer of eating at the cafeteria after class since he needed to finish a project for his art history class. Noctis lets him go, but not without telling him to take it easy. “I’m getting really worried, Prom.” He tells him. “You still look kinda stressed.”

Prompto just laughs it off, his heart clenching at the way Noctis looked at him with concern. “I’ll be fine, Noct.” He waves him off. “You take care, yeah?”

“You too, Prom.”  

They go running again. And this time, Prompto brings his phone with him and tells Noctis that he wanted to listen to some music. Noctis just nods while lacing up his shoes.

He matches Noctis’s pace, still. And if his heart was beating faster than normal, he chalks that up to exercise and adrenaline.

Noctis taps out after a few rounds, but Prompto insists on doing more by himself, saying something about making up for the nights he hasn’t run recently. He tells Noctis that it was fine, that he could just go back to his dorm room to change clothes (“The staff already know you anyway, they won’t stop you.” He laughs). Noctis wanted to stay and run with him, but he thinks it wasn’t physically possible, so he relents and heads back to the dorm.

Prompto runs like he means it. Runs until he can feel the muscles in his legs strain from overexertion. He always ran like this whenever he had something on his mind because it always helps him to forget, even if it was just for a little while, helps him to cope. He runs and runs, until he can’t anymore and he was a sweaty, panting mess.

He was surprised to see Noctis still waiting for him in his room. “Uh, N-Noct. Hey, what are you still doing here?”

“Nothing, really. I just wanted to say goodbye before I left.” He already changed into a loose t-shirt and dark jeans. “And I wanted to give you this.” Noctis throws a bottle of gatorade in his direction and he almost misses catching it in his hands.

“T-Thanks.” He opens the bottle and takes a few gulps. He was absolutely parched because he didn’t bother passing by a water fountain on his way back.   

“It’s nothing.” Noctis was silent for a long time. “Hey, are you sure you’re alright?”

“Eh?” Prompto takes a while to process what Noctis was asking. “Yeah, why do you ask?”

“You’re just…” Noctis taps his fingers on the surface of Prompto’s desk, as if thinking of how to word what he’s about to say next. “You just seem a little different lately, like you’re- you’ve been incredibly jumpy lately, is all.” He looks at him and Prompto avoids his gaze. “I’m getting worried, Prom, you seem extremely tired all the time.”

“No, uh.” Prompto goes to his usual excuse. “Just stressed about a lot of my classes. Projects and stuff have been piling up and I… I guess I’m having a tough time handling all of them at once.”

“I can help you, you know.”

“Nah, it’s okay.” He says. “You have your own stuff to deal with, it’s fine.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t help you.” Noctis was persistent.

“I-” Prompto thinks Noctis wasn’t going to let him say know. Stubborn. He laughs to himself  “Well, if you say so. Thanks, Noct. I’ll call on you when I need some help.”

“Good.” Noctis smiles at him, then gets his bag and stands up. “Well, I’ll go now since it’s getting pretty late.” He pokes Prompto on the forehead and Prompto stumbles backward. “Don’t think too hard, Prom, I don’t want you to combust.” He laughs.

“Geez.”   

“See you tomorrow, Prompto.”

“See ya.”

Prompto finally slumps down on his bed when Noctis leaves. His legs feel like jelly and he was sure his muscles would be screaming at him tomorrow. He gets up, gets his towel, and heads for the shower. Don’t think so hard, he says.

If only it were that easy.

Prompto was waiting for Noctis on one of the benches at the courtyard in the middle of the university grounds, where the festival was being held. It was already three in the afternoon so he should be arriving soon enough. He takes his phone out his pocket to check for any messages and sure enough, there was one from Noctis, telling him that his last class was about to end. This dork, texting in class, you’re gonna get chewed out by the professor. He exits the messaging app and decides to scroll through his feed to pass the time. He manages to do this for five minutes before his phone rings and Noctis’s name flashes on the screen. He answers the call and tells Noctis where he was.

He sighs as he drops the call. It’s become easier, he thinks, hiding everything. Sometimes he even thinks that his feelings for his friend might start disappearing, but then something happens—Noctis would smile at him, or touch his shoulder, or run his fingers through his hair to mess it up, or something, and everything just gets amplified tenfold. Hiding it has become easier, but that doesn’t mean that it became anything less painful, not at all. If anything, it made it hurt even more, but he had no choice, he—

Suddenly, something cold was being pressed against the nape of his neck and he shrieks in surprise. He was greeted by Noctis laughing from behind him, holding a cup of boba in each of his hands. “Found you.” He says a little mischievously. “I got these from one of the food stalls on the way here. You mentioned you like this stuff before, right?”

“Give me the boba and I’ll forgive you for making the back of my shirt wet.” Noctis laughs and hands him one of the cups.

“I got different flavors, so if you wanna try mine, just say the word.”

“What flavors did you get?”

“I got you one of their best-sellers. Caramel tea with boba and pudding, I think?” He points at his own cup. “I got Jasmine tea with coconut jelly.”

“That sounds nice.” Prompto takes a sip from his tea. “It’s good!”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! It’s been a while since I’ve had any. The boba place is too far out in the city and I’m too lazy to go all the way out there. I’m glad they have a stall here today.” He sighs, content. “I haven’t tried this flavor before, it’s really nice.”

“Good to hear.” Noctis takes a sip from his own cup. “Hey, this one’s pretty good too.”

“Mm? Really?”

“Yeah, here.” Noctis holds his cup out to Prompto. “Try it.”

“Oh, uh.” Prompto eyes the straw in front of him. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t be shy.” Noctis laughs. “Unless you’re worried about swapping spit.”

Prompto jumps at that. “Uh… n-not really?”

“Was that a question or an answer?”

“Just give it here.” Prompto grabs the cup from Noctis and takes a sip. It was good. “It’s good.”

“See?” Noctis smiles at him. “Can I try yours?”

“Sure thing!” He makes to hand it over to him, but instead, Noctis leaves the cup in Prompto’s hand and just tilts it towards him so he can reach the straw. It leaves Noctis’s hand covering his own while Noctis takes a long sip of his boba. He can feel his chest tighten at the contact between their fingers. “Um, Noct?” He doesn’t think he can take much more of this. This probably wasn’t very good for his heart. Noct was always so physically affectionate towards him and it was eating away at him, making him just want more. Of what, he wasn’t exactly sure, but it wasn’t anything that Noctis could give him.

He was getting selfish, he thinks. And he feels guilty at that. He can’t afford to be selfish with a friendship like this. Friendship. That’s all there is. He shouldn’t be wanting more when it was already so good. So why does he—

“Thanks.” Noctis lets go and that finally snaps him away from his thoughts, but he can still feel the guilt eating away at him. “Yours is pretty good as well.”

“I, uh- Yeah, it is.”

They sit down and finish their drinks. Noctis takes a look at the crowd that was slowly building up around them. It made sense that there would be a lot more people now since a lot of classes ended by the early afternoon on Fridays. He bumps shoulders with Prompto and asks him if he was up for exploring more of the festival booths. “Let’s walk around a bit?”

“Sure thing!”

“Oh! Noct, look, that’s the crepe place I was telling you about! They had a booth here last year as well! We should get some, they’re super good!”

Prompto finally feels comfortable when they join in on the festivities, feels comfortable enough to let go just a little. He’s been looking forward to this for weeks, was excited when they finally started preparations for it. Everyone’s hard work paid off, he thinks. It was already getting a little dark and the lights decorating the venue started lighting up. It was really pretty and Prompto snaps a few photographs to pin on his corkboard.

Noctis was standing in the middle of the crowd, illuminated by the sunset and all the lights strewn around next to him. He pauses, thinking about whether or not he should take a picture. He was already looking at him through the viewfinder, hand on the shutter. That’s when Noctis turns around and sees him. He expected him to turn around again and ignore him, maybe even hide from the camera. He expects Noctis to tell him to cut it out with the pictures, but instead, Noctis flashes him a smile, wide and bright.

Prompto takes the shot.

This is okay, just this is okay, he assures himself.

They reach the crepe stand and both of them groan at how long the line for it was. Noctis asks to borrow Prompto’s camera so he can pass the time by looking at his photos. Prompto hands it over to him and peers over his shoulder to look at them with him. Noctis was a little taller than him, so he has to stand on his toes a little. Noctis notices and adjusts his hold on the camera so Prompto can see it more easily. They go through a good chunk of the photos on his current memory card, and it stops on one of their selfies together when they reach the counter.

Noctis hands him his camera back and Prompto takes a closer look at their photo. It was the one he gave Noctis back when they first hung out in his dorm room. It was easier back then, he thinks, when he still hadn’t realized his feelings. In retrospect, he’s liked Noctis for a while, probably even back then. It would explain why he got flustered a lot, at least. He was just too dense to make sense of his feelings.

He sighs and turns his camera off so he can put it back in his bag. Noctis was asking him about what flavor he wanted and he picks out something with mangoes and cream in it. Again, Noctis wouldn’t let him pay for it. “My treat.” He says. Prompto already knows he won’t take no for an answer and just thanks him quietly.

Prompto’s mood brightens as he begins eating his crepe. It really was so good. He offers some to Noctis, but he rejects the offer, saying that he wasn’t fond of mangoes. Fair enough. Noctis offers some of his in return and Prompto accepts.

“I’m kinda glad.” Noctis says after a while.

“Huh? Why?”

“You finally don’t look like you’re about to kill someone.” He points out, laughing. “I haven’t seen you have fun in a while, your classes must’ve really stressed you out.” Noctis smiles at him softly. “I’m guessing your professors have finally let you relax a little?”

“Ah, yeah, they have.” He wasn’t lying, not completely, his workload had decreased significantly by the end of the week. “Sorry I worried you, I’m okay now.”

“Does that mean you weren’t before?” He asks.

“I—” Prompto chews on his lip. “Yeah, I guess I wasn’t.”

“Well I’m glad you’re okay now.” They’ve finished eating their crepes by now, and Noctis stands up to throw their wrappers away. He turns to Prompto and points his thumb back towards the fair. “You wanna check some more stalls out?”

“Yeah!”

They go through a lot of the stalls selling souvenirs, and occasionally drop by to check out the game booths. Noctis finds out that Prompto was a good shot when they try out target shooting. Prompto hits all three marks with his first three rounds. Noctis stares at him in awe as Prompto gets handed a large stuffed toy of a bright yellow chick as his prize for winning. “I’m impressed.”

Prompto smiles a little sheepishly. “Heh, it’s nothing.”            

“You’re way too modest.”

They decide to drop the plushie back at Prompto’s dorm room since it was so big and they’d he’d have trouble carrying it while roaming through the festival grounds. When they come back, they blanch at how packed the grounds were. There were a lot more people now, and they were having trouble wading through the festival.

“Ugh.” Noctis says while looking at the crowd. “Come here, Prom.” It was then that Noctis decides to grab his hand and pull him along as he led the way. Prompto’s heart jumps, and he feels as if his stomach was doing flips inside him. He blushes, furiously (he remembers Noctis commenting once that he ‘looked like a strawberry’ when it happens because of his freckles). This was okay, he thinks, Noctis probably just didn’t want them to get separated in the crowd.

What he doesn’t expect is Noctis threading their fingers together. Prompto feels something eat away at his insides, the feeling making him want to curl in on himself and… he doesn’t know what to do. He’s torn between wanting to let go of Noctis’s hand and wanting to stay holding him, to squeeze back gently, to let Noctis know that he was there, he—he was overcome with such want that Prompto stops dead in his tracks and he pulls Noctis to a halt along with him. Noctis makes a confused noise and turns around to face him, and Prompto can see his face go from confused, to shocked, and finally, to panicked.

“Prompto?”

“What- What is it.” His voice was croaky and he feels like his throat was being wrung, like he was being strangled. Suddenly, it was difficult to speak. Or do anything else, really, other than look at Noctis’s worried face.

“Why are you-” Noctis’s expression grew even more panicked. “You’re- You-” Noctis holds his hand a little more gently and Prompto visibly shivers. Noctis touching him like this was more than he could take. It left him wanting something Noctis can’t give him, will never give him. His eyes sting. Noctis draws closer to him. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” He asks quietly, gently.

Crying? Prompto doesn’t even realize it until he puts the hand Noctis wasn’t holding on his cheek and, sure enough, it was wet with tears. He sniffles and tries assuring Noctis he was fine, but his words just get caught in his throat. He tries again. “I’m- It’s nothing, I just- I don’t-” I don’t know, I don’t know. He gets frustrated at himself and at his mess of emotions. He probably looked so out of place, crying while everyone else in the immediate vicinity was having fun and enjoying the evening. He lets go of Noctis and uses his hands to rub angrily at his eyes, not even caring that he was wearing his contacts. Noctis stops him and holds Prompto’s wrists steady.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He hushes him, aiming for comfort. “Let’s go.”

Noctis leads him to the open field just outside the festival. It was devoid of people, which Prompto was grateful for. At least no one else would have to see him be so pathetic. He was rubbing at his eyes again, trying to stop the tears. It wasn’t working. His chest just clenched tighter and tighter until he had trouble breathing properly. He just sobs even harder. It’s so embarrassing, he thinks. He doesn’t want Noctis to see him like this, to see and think him so weak. He wants to claw his eyes out, begins rubbing harder at them, begins wiping his nose with the back of his hand. Once again, Noctis stops him and holds him still.

“You don’t have to hold it in, it’s okay.”

Prompto was hiccuping now, the sound loud and clear against the quiet of their surroundings. He just wants to go back to his room and curl up under his covers and cry without having anyone to see him. It was just his luck that it was Noctis who did. “S-Sorry, I- I don’t know what I- I-” He tries saying, and only partially succeeds, the sound of his voice garbled by how hard he was sobbing. How miserable he must look.

“Hey, no, don’t apologize. It’s okay, it’s okay.” Noctis was rubbing circles against his back and Prompto feels like his mind was about to go into overdrive. It probably already has. He felt like he was drowning under all of Noctis’s attention towards him. He felt like his feelings were physically about to claw its way out of his chest and reveal all the ugly, festering parts inside of him.

He was about to stand up and excuse himself, maybe go to one of the bathrooms to try and calm himself, when Noctis pulls him down and wraps his arms around him. Prompto’s head was tucked under Noctis’s chin, his chest crushed against him. He never realized how cold he felt was until he felt how warm Noctis was. It was too much, and it was at that point that he completely breaks down. He was outright sobbing, and he allows himself to cling to Noctis, bunches Noctis’s shirt up in his hands like it was a lifeline. “S-Sorry, I’m sorry.” He doesn’t even know what he was apologizing for at this point. Everything, he thinks.

“Hey, shh. It’s okay, Prom. It’s okay.” Noctis’s hand was in Prompto’s hair now, running his fingers through it and gently massaging his scalp to try and soothe him.

He doesn’t know how long they stay like that, but after a while Prompto calms down and his sobbing turns into quiet sniffles. He was still crushed against Noctis’s chest and he lets himself stay there. Just this once, he thinks, just this is once is enough. He pulls away from Noctis after a while and tries speaking. “Sorry, I- I’m okay.” His voice comes out hoarse and gravelly, but it was clear enough for Noctis to understand.

“You’re not okay.”

“I’m okay.”

Noctis just sighs at him. “Listen, you’re not okay. We both know you’re not okay.”

Prompto just remains silent. He feels spent and far too tired. He was still hiccuping with every breath he took, but it wasn’t as bad as before, at least. “Maybe, but-”

“And hey, that’s okay.” Noctis pats his shoulder softly. “It’s okay that you’re not okay.” Prompto sniffs, makes to start apologizing again, but Noctis stops him. “You don’t have to tell me what happened if you don’t want to, if you’re not ready, but—” He squeezes his shoulder gently, reassuringly. “When you are, though… I’m here to listen. Okay?”

Prompto can feel more tears forming, threatening to spill out. “Noct, I-” He swallows the lump in his throat. “I-” He doesn’t know what he was about to say, mind already muddled from how much he’s cried. His head hurts. He nods instead, even though he knows that he would never be able to tell Noctis what it was that he wanted to tell him. And he’s fine with that. It hurts, but he’s fine with that. “Okay.”

Noctis pulls him into another hug, this time resting his chin on Prompto’s shoulder. “Feel better?”

“Y-Yeah.” Prompto allows himself to lean into Noctis’s touch, allows himself to bask in his warmth. It makes him hope for something more, something that’ll stop the way his chest feels like it’s about to collapse in on itself, but he stops that thought before it grows into something more, before it takes over the more sensible parts of his brain. Before he says something he’ll regret.

“Thanks, Noct. I, uh- I’m feeling better now.” And he was. Crying was a nice release, like he was able to finally relieve some of the pressure that was building up inside him. He wishes Noctis wasn’t there to see him fall apart like this, though. He’s never been this vulnerable in front of anyone. At the same time, however, he was grateful that it was Noctis. He would probably never hold it against him or judge him for it, would probably never care that he was so weak.

“That’s good.” Noctis finally stops hugging him, and Prompto chastises himself for wishing that they would have stayed like that a little longer. “Do you wanna go back to your dorm?”

“Yeah.” He nods. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

“Alright.” He stands up and offers Prompto his hand. Prompto takes it.

“What about the festival though?”

“What about it?”

“I can go back by myself.” He suggests. “You weren’t able to go last year, you should stay. You wanted to go around some more, right?”    

“Not particularly.” Noctis shrugs.

“But-”

Noctis just turns around and heads for the path that led to the dorm. He stops and waits for Prompto. “Come on, Prom.” Noctis smiles at him again, and Prompto… Prompto all but tunes out everything else.

“... Okay.”

Noctis stops by a vending machine to get some coffee and offers a cup to Prompto. Prompto watches the steam curl up and disappear for a long time before taking a sip. The hot drink soothes his aching throat and he thanks Noctis for being so thoughtful.

“So…” Noctis starts. “Are you feeling a little better now?”

“Yeah. Sorry for worrying you, it’s really nothing.”

Noctis eyes him a little suspiciously, like he was starting to see through him, but chooses not to say anything further. They finish their coffee and Noctis sees Prompto to his dorm room, tells him to take it easy. Prompto smiles at his concern. Noctis smiles back. “See you on Monday?”

“Yeah.”

Prompto throws himself onto his bed as soon as Noctis leaves. He sits back up and takes a look at the cork board hanging on the wall beside him. It was filled with even more pictures of Noctis now, filled with pictures of the two of them together. He lies back down. If he had any more tears to cry, he probably would have, but he finds himself already so spent. He probably already cried everything out earlier. He sighs and tries going to sleep.

He dreams of Noctis’s arms around him, refusing to let go.

Everything goes to shit that Friday. Prompto had two papers, in addition to three projects due all on the same day, and he was scrambling to get everything done the whole week.

Actually, the whole week had been shit. On Tuesday, his laptop crashes while he was in the middle of writing one of his papers, and he couldn’t recover the file so he had to start all over again. On Wednesday, he wakes up extremely late and in his rush to get to class, he slips and falls on his hands in a hallway full of people; he was absolutely mortified. Thursday was the worst because of all the work that’s piled up, and he was extremely tired from having had little to no sleep the past week and he ends up falling asleep in the afternoon. He wakes up in the middle of the night and nearly falls from bed because fuck he still hasn’t finished the things he had to submit the next day. He had no choice but to skip out on his morning classes just to finish everything.

So yes, the week has been a wild one, and not in a fun way.

He thinks it couldn’t get any worse than it already has until he gets to his basic photography class. He forgot it was the day his instructor would be giving out critique for everyone’s works and it just doesn’t go well for Prompto. He knows he’s been distracted, what with everything that’s happened in the last month, with Noctis, and he isn’t surprised when his instructor picks apart his portfolio. He wasn’t mean, wasn’t the kind of instructor that would embarrass his students. He was just extremely blunt and straight to the point. If your work was excellent, he’d say so, and if your work was poor or amateurish, he’d also say so. Prompto’s recent works were of the latter.

He submits all his projects and sits down in the courtyard, too tired to even go back to the dorm. Noctis finds him there, looking worn down and exhausted.

“Woah, Prom, you alright there?”

“No.” He doesn’t even lie, doesn’t have the energy to pretend he was okay.

Noctis sits down next to him. “What happened?”

“Rough week,” he says. “Just… it’s been a rough week.” He slumps forward and sighs deeply, puts his head in his hands and stays like that for a long while.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“No, I-” He feels tears forming in the corner of his eyes at remembering what his instructor had to say about his photos. They weren’t anything good. And while he knows his instructor means well, knows that he just wants him to improve, it doesn’t make it sting less. He was one of the class’s best students, his instructor has said so at one point, and he was surprised that Prompto would turn in the kind of work that he just did. “It’s just… it’s been a shit week.”

“So I’ve heard.” Noctis rubs his back slowly to comfort him and that’s when the tears spill. He was just so stressed and so tired, and he doesn’t even attempt to hide the fact. He just lets the tears stream down his face and lets Noctis comfort him.

“It’s just- It’s been a shit week and- and you know my basic photography class? My instructor just tore my portfolio apart.” He sniffs. “Sorry, I know that’s really pathetic.”

“It’s not pathetic, Prom.” Noctis says.

“It is, though, otherwise I wouldn’t be such a baby about it.” Prompto wipes his tears with the back of his hand. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” Noctis was still rubbing circles on his back and Prompto allows himself to lean into his touch. It was comforting, and probably the only good thing that’s happened to him this whole week. “Hey, it’s just one review. We all have our bad days.” He says slowly.

“Yeah.” Prompto sighs. “Thanks, Noct.”

“Anytime.” He pauses. “And hey, for what it’s worth, I like your photos.”

“... Really?”

“Really.” Noctis smiles at him. “You’re a great photographer, Prom. A few bad photos isn’t going to change that, y’know?”

He still doesn’t know what to do under Noctis’s praise. He always says it like he means it, and Prompto feels lightheaded. “I- Y-Yeah, I guess.”

They stay quiet for a while, with Noctis waiting for Prompto to calm down. When Prompto stops crying, Noctis stands up and asks him if he wanted to have dinner somewhere in the city to celebrate the end of the week. Noctis says something about having a stressful week as well, and about wanting nothing more than to unwind and have a good meal, maybe have a few drinks. Prompto asks him how he was gonna drive home after that and Noctis just asks to crash at Prompto’s room so he can leave his car inside campus. Prompto thinks that he can borrow a mattress from the staff to let Noctis use so he laughs and says yes.

They make their way outside and end up walking to the Crow’s Nest just outside campus, with the both of them ordering a burger. They thought about going to a fancier restaurant, but in the end, the promise of greasy comfort food (unhealthy comfort food, but comfort food still) won them over. Besides, every other good restaurant was out further in the city. It’s been a while since they last had dinner together and Prompto sighs, content, while biting into a fry.   

It’s been easier, he thinks, after the night of the festival. After he cried, that is. He’s finally accepted that his feelings weren’t about to go away anytime soon so he’s just resigned himself and stopped trying to deny it. Denying it just made everything hard. Not that it wasn’t hard anymore, it still very much was. It’s just less straining, having to not pretend to himself. Noctis didn’t push the issue either, choosing to let Prompto sort his feelings out, and he was incredibly grateful for that.

But he worries. He worries that maybe he’s seemed pathetic to Noctis now. He’s never been that vulnerable in front of anyone before and in all honesty, that scared him. He’s always projected an air of being extremely carefree and being a happy-go-lucky guy. It’s how he’s managed to make friends all throughout his whole life (well, after elementary school, anyway), how he’s managed to approach Noctis and befriend him. He’s worried that maybe Noctis would think differently of him now, now that he’s seen a preview of all of his emotional baggage. He’s been careful about showing anyone his insecurities because he knows no one likes a downer, but it was so easy to be vulnerable in front of Noctis. And that scares him. He doesn’t want to give Noctis a first row seat to all of his meltdowns and scare him away.

They head to a small club at the end of the street after dinner. Prompto’s heard that the drinks there were pretty good so he suggests going there to try them out. They were greeted by pounding bass as soon as they got around twenty feet away from the entrance. “We could go to a bar instead, if you want.” He offers to Noctis. He knew the guy didn’t like noise, and Prompto could only imagine how it was inside.

“It’s fine, you said the drinks were good, right?” Noctis says. “Besides, all the good bars are too far out in the city”

“Good point.”

“Come on, let’s go.”

Surprisingly, the music wasn’t as loud as they’d thought when they entered the club. It was actually a little pleasant, if Prompto was being honest, if not for the fact that there were people everywhere and he couldn’t help but bump into someone every five seconds. They finally make it to the bar and Noctis orders the most ridiculous and extravagant drinks in the menu. Prompto was right, they were really good.

Soon enough, they were giddy and pleasantly buzzed after a few drinks, just drunk enough for Prompto to pull Noctis with him to the dancefloor. Noctis followed after him, laughing. They stayed close to the sides to avoid getting crushed in the middle and it was a good feeling, finally letting go a bit, letting loose. Prompto thanks the alcohol for that. It was enough to prevent him for over thinking, and damn did he really need that.

Neither of them were particularly good dancers, so they were basically just swaying and nodding their heads to the music, throwing their hands in the air and laughing at each other’s failed attempts at dancing. By now, the crowd grew even bigger in size and they were slowly getting pulled to the middle of the dance floor. He thought that they’d get separated in the sea of drunk people but Noctis pulls Prompto towards the wall and they stay leaning against it. Noctis was just standing beside him until a girl bumps into Prompto spills her drink on him.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” She starts wiping away at his shirt with her hand.

“I-It’s okay, don’t worry about it!”

“Yeah, he’s fine.” Noctis says as he steps in between them and presses a handkerchief on the spill on Prompto’s shirt. “I got him, don’t worry about it.” The girl eyes the two of them and excuses herself to go back to the bar in order to get herself another drink. She asks Prompto if she can buy him one as an apology for ruining his clothes but Noctis answers for him. “I wouldn’t, if I were you. He’s a lightweight, please don’t make me have to carry him out of here.” She laughs, says sorry one more time, and leaves them alone.

“I am not a lightweight.”

“Says the guy who ate shit on my living room carpet.”

“That was one time!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Noctis laughs and steps in front of him, effectively separating him from the jostling crowd.

“Noct?” Prompto can feel his pulse pick up as Noctis stood in front of him. They got closer and closer together every time the crowd moved and he felt even more lightheaded. He’s pretty sure that wasn’t from the alcohol. “What are you doing?”

“Didn’t want any more people spilling drinks all over you.” He laughs. “Didn’t want you to get lost in the crowd, you’d probably get swept away into the middle.”

Prompto doesn’t really answer aside from a quiet ‘okay.’ They weren’t close enough to be touching, but considering the fact that he was always extremely aware of Noctis, they were close enough. Close enough for him to feel his own heart thumping against his ribcage, almost beating to the tune of the music blaring from the club’s speakers. “Hey, Noct, I’m fine you don’t have to—”

Someone bumps into Noctis from behind and causes him to crash into Prompto, their chests pressed against each other. Noctis braces both of his hands on the sides of Prompto’s head and Prompto feels heat flood his cheeks at how near their faces were. Their noses were almost touching and he can smell the alcohol in Noctis’s breath. Prompto cranes his head upward to meet his eyes. They were so close that he could just—

“Prompto, is this-”

At the sound of his name, Prompto startles so badly that he jolts and knocks Noctis’s head backwards. Noctis steps back and rubs his forehead with his hand before going completely still.

“N-Noct? Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine. I’m sorry, I thought-”  

“What-? Why are you-” He doesn’t get to finish his sentence because Noctis checks his watch and was suddenly reaching for his phone and saying something about having to go home. Prompto follows him outside the club and they were finally greeted with some semblance of peace and quiet, or at least as much peace and quiet the outside of a club can give them. “Noct, I thought you were going to stay over-”

“Yeah, I- Sorry, I forgot I had to do something early tomorrow, uh. Yeah.” He says. “Besides, it’s half an hour past midnight, your curfew’s coming up.”

“I- Yeah but, how are you gonna go home this drunk, you should just stay in the-”

“No!” Noctis says it with so much force that Prompto flinches. “I can just get Gladio to pick me up, or something.” Noctis says a little more gently. “It’s fine, we can drop you off at the dorm too, he’s nearby anyway, he’ll be here in ten minutes.”

They wait in silence for the next few minutes until Gladio arrives with his car. He eyes the both of them suspiciously and asks them to hop in. They also spend the rest of the ride in silence and Gladio asks them if they were so smashed that they can’t even speak properly. Prompto laughs awkwardly while Noctis just stares out the window.

Prompto gets dropped off in his dorm and Noctis waves him goodbye. Noctis doesn’t meet his eyes. They drive away soon after, leaving Prompto alone in the lobby.

He goes up to his dorm room dazed, his mind hazy from all the alcohol. He takes his jacket off and collapses face down on his bed. He was about to pass out until he remembers. Everything from earlier catches up to him.

Prompto was about to kiss him.

He bolts up and puts his face in his hands. They were just so close earlier, so close, and the alcohol didn’t help, it just urged him to do whatever the fuck he wanted. And at that moment he wanted to kiss him, he almost did. He pulls his hair at the realization. He’s told himself countless times that he wouldn’t let his feelings get in the way of their friendship, that he wouldn’t let his feelings fuck everything up and what does he do? He goes and tries to kiss Noctis. What did Noctis think? Did he know? Did he know what Prompto was about to do, what he wanted to do? He lies back down and groans into his pillow. I’m an idiot, he thinks  

Fuck.

Noctis was avoiding him.

He doesn’t hang around as much as before, doesn’t stay with him after figure drawing, doesn’t have lunch with him as much as they used to. He’s stopped asking to go and hang out in Prompto’s dorm room or in his apartment, has stopped asking him if he wanted to go and study together in the library because exams were coming. They still talk and joke around like before, at the same intensity as they did before, but the moments were few and far in between in comparison.

He still calls Noctis in the mornings, only to find him already awake. He doesn’t get to hear his groggy, barely awake voice anymore. Their conversations during those times were always short and clipped, only the bare minimum before Noctis was already rushing to get ready to leave for university, excusing himself, and dropping the call.

Maybe he’s noticed and that scares Prompto. If Noctis noticed the feelings he had for him, he might think that Prompto was taking advantage of their friendship. Sometimes Prompto thinks he actually was. He’d be lying to himself if he said that he didn’t like Noctis’s attentions toward him, because he did. He liked it when Noctis messed up his hair, liked it when he threw his arm around his shoulder, liked it when he complimented him. He liked it when all his attention was turned towards him and him alone. He knows it was selfish of him to think that way. He was being selfish and maybe Noctis realized it himself, realized how selfish Prompto had become. Maybe Noctis had had enough.    

And Prompto can’t fault him for that.

He reassures himself with the fact that he still spent time with him, that everything was still fine, and that he still gets to keep his friendship with Noctis. Noctis had already given him so much, way too much than anyone ever had; had shown him how good it felt to have someone you could rely on; had shown him how good it felt to be relied on, even though he had nothing much to give back. Sometimes he wished that he could give back to Noctis in kind, like he did for him, but he can’t. He doesn’t have anything to give in return other than friendship itself, and even then he wasn’t sure if what he offered on the table was enough.

And despite that, he still wanted and wanted, and it was eating away at him. Noctis had already given him something valuable, something he never had before, and yet he still wanted more.

His phone rings on his bedside table. He had meant to sleep for a bit in the afternoon since he slept late the night before, not to mention woke up early that morning. Instead, he just lay down on his bed thinking about everything and nothing, just lay down staring at the city lights moving around and bouncing against the walls of his bedroom. No one really called him on his phone, especially not at this time, so it could only be who he thinks it is.

Sure enough, Noctis’s name flashes brightly in the dark of his room.

“Noct?” His voice was shot, probably from exhaustion. He needed to drink water, and he reminds himself to get his ass up to get a drink outside. “What’s up?”

“Hey, Prom.” Noctis yawns. He must be about to sleep. “Y’know, just making sure you woke up so you could study tonight.”

“Oh, thanks man.”

“Though I’m guessing you were already awake?” He laughs. “Usually you’re a lot more confused and out of it when you answer my calls.”

“Ah, yep, I was- And hey, I do not sound out of it. But thanks for calling me, either way.”

“Anytime.” They remain silent for a while, the line just echoing static. Finally, Noctis speaks up. “Hey, I gotta go. Ignis and Gladio are gonna be here in a few.”

“Oh? You’re not sleeping yet?”

“Nah, I need to talk to them about some… stuff.” Prompto hears the doorbell ring in the background. “Ah, crap, they’re already here. Sorry, Prom.”

“Hey, it’s no biggie.”

“Thanks.” He says. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah! See you tomorrow.”

Noctis drops the call and Prompto plops back down and lays his head on his pillow. It was getting chillier out so he’s had to replace his blanket with a thicker comforter—he pulls it over himself and just lies down. He doesn’t get any more studying done that night.

He tells himself that everything was fine.  

A few weeks after the festival, another model joined the figure drawing class: Lunafreya. She was a senior psychology student and another one of Noctis’s friends, a childhood friend at that (“We’ve known each other since we were kids,” he says, a fond smile on his face). She was beautiful, and Prompto can’t help but become flustered whenever she was around. She carried such a gentle, sophisticated air, and Prompto could tell why Noctis, or anyone else for that matter,  would be friends with her.

“You must be Prompto?” Luna asks him during the break. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” She smiles at him like she’s known him her whole life.

“I-I am.” He stutters. “Um, how did you know-”

She laughs quietly and calls Noctis over. “Noctis has told me about you.”

“O-Oh, I see.”

Without any warning, Luna steps closer to him. Noctis’s mouth drops open as she puts her hand under Prompto’s chin and tilts his face up. Prompto doesn’t know what to do aside from blush furiously. Luna hums before smiling fondly and saying, very slowly, “I can see why he likes you.”

“Huh?”

Noctis grabs her hand, appearing incredibly flustered and embarrassed. “Luna!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.” She laughs. “I’ll be seeing you around, Prompto.” She nods towards Noctis “You too, Noctis.” Luna picks up her bag and excuses herself, but not before leaning close to Noctis and whispering, “Good luck.”

“You-!” Luna just laughs, waves goodbye, and leaves the room.

Prompto can see Noctis blush furiously. He wonders what Luna might have said to get that sort of reaction out of him. “What did she say?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” Noctis waves him off and puts his head on his hands. Seriously, Luna, he thinks.

“Well, if you say so…” Prompto whistles at him and punches his shoulder, teasing him. Noctis shoves his hand away, annoyed. He feels a pang of jealously bubble up from inside him. Here was one of Noctis’s friends, one of Noctis’s very close friends, and he had the audacity to feel jealous. It was quickly followed by guilt. Seeing Noctis smile so fondly at Luna made his chest hurt, made all the tiny parts of him feel like they were about to break. He shoves the feeling away. He had no right to be jealous, he tells himself. It wasn’t any of his business.

Noctis glances at the clock in the room. “Hey, it’s almost my turn to pose. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

“Sure thing.”

Prompto sighs and goes back to his easel, knowing that Noctis probably won’t.  

Noctis calls him on the phone one morning. “Hey, Prom.”

“Hey.” Prompto was eating some cereal in his room. “What’s up?”

“I can’t meet you for lunch today.” They always ate lunch on Mondays in the campus’s main cafeteria. Prompto wonders what might’ve happened that could’ve caused Noctis to not be able to make it. Especially since they had lunch together even during busy weeks, even in the middle of exam week. Granted, they haven’t been going together recently, not as much as before, not since the festival ended, but… despite that, they still always had lunch on Mondays. It was one of the things Prompto always looked forward to, even before things got complicated.

“It’s cool, don’t sweat it.”

“Sorry, I promised Luna I’d go have lunch with her to catch up and stuff.” Oh. “We haven’t talked in a while and she’s finally had time off from doing her thesis.”

“I see! It’s good that you get to hang out with her again!” Prompto hums in an attempt to hide the lump in his throat. He tells himself, again, that he shouldn’t be jealous. Noctis and Luna were close friends, have known each other since they were kids, he had no right to feel anything against that. He shouldn’t—

He can hear Luna laughing softly in the background, can hear her say, “Why don’t you invite Prompto along? We can all have lunch together,” before Noctis offers a very strong ‘no’ in response. That stings just a little bit, but he supposes Noctis wanted to be alone with her. He did say it’s been a while since they hung out together. Besides, he’d probably just feel incredibly out of place in between the two of them. They’ve known each other their whole lives, he can’t possibly make the kind of conversation that would interest the both of them, not without it being forced or awkward as hell. He can hear Luna laugh again, closer this time. “You’re no fun at all, Noctis,” she says. Prompto can hear her grab the phone and speak directly into the receiver. “You know, Prompto, Noctis here-”

“Hey, give it back!” Noctis cuts her off and Prompto can hear them fight for the phone. “Sorry, Prom, I gotta go!” Luna was laughing heartily in the background and he can hear Noctis say, “Geez, Luna, what are you trying to-” before the call finally ends. Prompto doesn’t get to say bye.

He sighs and puts his phone back down on his desk. He continues eating his now-soggy cereal before gathering his things in his bag and leaving for class. He tries not to fixate on how strongly Noctis rejected the idea of him joining the two of them for lunch. He only partially succeeds.

Prompto was in the fine arts lounge processing some of his photos when someone suddenly pats him on the back. He was too focused on the screen that he startles very badly and almost closes the program he was using.

“Noct! Geez, you could’ve given a guy some warning.”

“Sorry, sorry.” He says not so apologetically. “You were zoning out there, buddy, it wasn’t completely my fault.”

“Yeah, right.” Prompto huffs and goes back to whatever he was doing. Noctis sets a paper bag next to his laptop. “What’s this?”

“You remember that one cafe we went to a month ago?” Prompto’s perks up at that. “I got you that pie you ordered back then. Consider it my peace offering.”

“Noct! My hero!” Prompto pretends to swoon at him.

“Glad to be of service.” He smiles. “I grabbed some lunch there with Luna and I thought I’d bring you back something.”

“I see.” A pause. “Was it a daaate?” He teases him, though Prompto’s heart wasn’t into it, not at all. If he was being honest, he was a little scared of what Noctis might answer.

“What? No!” Noctis looked incredibly offended, incredulous. Prompto feels relieved at that, and then feels a little guilty at feeling that relief in the first place. He thinks that maybe he could get some form of closure if Noctis found someone else. Painful closure, but closure nonetheless.

He closes his laptop and takes the pie out of the paper bag, uses the plastic fork that came with it to take a bite out of it. It was as good as he remembered, and he smiles in delight. He offers some to Noctis, slices a sizeable amount and hands him the fork. Noctis, however, just grabs Prompto’s hand and bends down to eat the piece. Prompto freezes in place. He does, however, manage to let out a shaky laugh. “It’s good, right?”

“Yeah, it’s good.” Noctis licks his lips. “So, what are you doing?”

“Oh, uh, I’m processing some of my photos. I need to update my portfolio, so…”

“I see.” Noctis pulls up a chair and nudges at Prompto to make space for him on the desk. “Mind if I stay here? My next class isn’t for another forty-five minutes.”

“S-Sure.” They were sitting so close to each other that their shoulders were touching. Prompto tries not to think too much about it. “You don’t need to study?”

“I’ve already done all my readings for today and tomorrow.” Noctis yawns and stretches his arms out in front of him. “Hey, can I see your camera?”

“Huh? Oh, sure.” Prompto takes it out of his bag and hands it over to him. It takes Noctis around ten minutes to go through all the pictures on the memory card.

Noctis hums. “Hey, Prom.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“You’ve… stopped taking photos of us.” He points out. “Not a single selfie.” Noctis sighs. He sounds kinda disappointed.

“Eh?” Has he? Prompto thinks. He wasn’t particularly avoiding taking pictures of them together. “Is- Is that a bad thing?”

“No- I mean, no it’s not, it’s just…” Noctis pauses, thinking of what he wanted to say next. “It’s nothing. We just used to take a lot together, is all.”

“Yeah, we did.” Prompto lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Well, they haven’t been hanging out as much as they used to so maybe that was it. The thought saddens him.

“Let’s take one now.”

“Eh?”

Noctis leans his head close against Prompto’s and holds the camera in front of them. The flash makes Prompto jump in his seat, his eyes adjusting from how bright it was. “There.” Noctis turns the camera around to look at the photo. He smiles, all soft and fond, and shows Prompto the photo. “It sucks compared to when you take them, but hey, first selfie in weeks.” Noctis grins at him.

Prompto looks at the photo. It was a little blurry, and because he left the flash on, the way their complexions looked wasn’t so flattering. He snorts a laugh. “It does kinda suck.” Noctis shoves him with his shoulder.

“Hey, I tried my best.”

“Yeah.” He says, smiling.

They sit in silence for the next twenty minutes, Prompto working on his laptop and Noctis scrolling through his feed on his phone, until Noctis had to leave for his next class. Prompto waves him goodbye, squawking when he messes his hair up. Noctis just runs away laughing.

When Noctis left, Prompto allows himself to look at the photo he took. He smiles and tucks the camera away in his bag.

Noctis was still avoiding him. Or maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was just busy. Maybe he was catching up with his other friends, with Luna, or with Ignis and Gladio. He doesn’t know, Noctis doesn’t tell him, just says that he had other things to do, or people he needed to talk to. Their time together grew less and less, but he didn’t have the guts to ask Noctis if there was something wrong.   

It was starting to eat away at him, but he assures himself that everything was alright.

Prompto finds out on Wednesday.

Everyone in class was talking about it, how Noctis and Luna started dating. A few people saw them in a cafe holding hands and smiling softly at each other. Prompto could imagine it, could imagine how sweet the scene must have been. Some people were clearly disappointed because they were either interested in Noctis or Luna, while some people seemed happy, saying how much they suited each other. And Prompto can’t deny that. They really did suit each other, complemented each other very well. Prompto shouldn’t be surprised that they would end up dating.

It still hurts, though.

It shouldn’t, he thinks. He doesn’t have any reason to feel hurt, doesn’t have any right to. He was Noctis’s friend and, on the contrary, he should feel happy for him for finding someone that made him happy.

Noctis and Luna enter the room and everyone quiets down. Prompto takes one look at them and feels his chest hurt. They were smiling at each other with such fondness, and he looks away, walks to his easel and sits down. He busies himself with preparing his materials until Noctis walks up to him.

“Hey, Prom.”

“Hey.” He chooses not to say anything else.  

Noctis picks up on it. “Is something wrong?”

“Huh? No, why do you ask?”

“You just seem… quiet.”

“Oh, uh.” Prompto searches for an excuse. “Just tired, I guess. Didn’t get much sleep last night because of an assignment.”

“I see. That sucks.”  He says. “Want me to get you some coffee? There’s still some time before class starts.”

“No, it’s fine.” He tries smiling, but only ends up lifting the side of his mouth. Noctis looks at him funny, but doesn’t say anything about it.

“Hey, are you free later?”

“Yeah, why? Did you want to do something?”

“Dinner.” Noctis smiles.

“Oh! Um, are Ignis and Gladio coming over again?”

“Yeah, they are. It’s been a while, so we thought why not?”

“Ah.” He says. “I- Sure thing, I’ll be there.”

“Alright.” Noctis grins at him. He leaves and walks over to Luna. She whispers something to him and Noctis blushes furiously and whispers something back, extremely flustered. They really did look good together.

He has trouble concentrating in class, and by the time it ends, he was feeling extremely exhausted. He sighs as he packs up his things.

Luna was chatting with Noctis in the corner of the room, laughing about something he can’t hear. She stands up and pats Noctis on the shoulder, squeezes his arm gently, all the while smiling softly at him. Ah, his chest hurts again. She looks at Prompto and smiles at him as well, then waves at the both of them before exiting the room.

Noctis walks over to him. “Hey, you ready to go?”

“Ah, yeah. Let me get my stuff.” He pauses while getting his bag off the floor. “Um, aren’t you gonna invite Lunafreya over?”

“Huh? Ah, no, she has to meet her professors for thesis tonight.”

“I see…” Prompto feels a little relieved at that. He doesn’t think he can keep up the happy-go-lucky personality with both Noctis and Luna there. He feels a little guilty at that. He feels guilty about a lot of things.

They drive to Noctis’s apartment in silence. Prompto pretends to sleep so that he didn’t have to hold a conversation.

It’s when they arrive at Noctis’s apartment that Prompto decides he needed to get over this. He needed to get closure, and this was the closure he was looking for. It’ll hurt, but he needed it if he wanted to get everything over with.

He steels himself and puts on a smile as he claps Noctis on the back. “Hey!” He starts, and he swallows the lump that’s formed in his throat. “Congrats, Noct.”

“Huh? What are you congratulating me for?” Noctis looked genuinely confused.  

“You know!” He puts on a very chipper tone, or at least, he hopes he did. “You got together with Lunafreya, right?”

Noctis’s confused look turns into shock. “What? No! What gave you that idea?”

“O-Oh? You’re not?”

“Of course not!” Noctis looked upset, and Prompto regrets ever bringing up the subject.

“That’s such a waste, you two- you two look good together.” He forces himself to say. It was the truth, so why did it hurt so much?

“That’s- Is that what you really think?” Noctis says a little bitterly. “Prompto, what the hell gave you the idea that I was dating Luna?”

“I- I, um- It’s just, everyone was talking about it.”

“And you believed them?”

“I- No! I just- Yeah?” He stammers. Noctis looked so upset. “I genuinely think you two look good together, though.” Noctis’s upset seemed to turn into exasperation.

“That’s not!- I don’t like her, okay? She’s not the one I-” Noctis catches himself and takes a deep breath. “I can’t believe you.”

“I- That’s not- We’re friends, of course I’d want to congratulate you for getting a girlfriend or something.” He was nearly shouting. Both of them were. “Like, I’m sorry for misunderstanding, but what’s the big deal anyway? Why is this such a touchy subject for you?” Prompto was getting frustrated as well, he wanted nothing more than to drop it and go back to joking around with noctis. Wanted to go back before all his feelings started complicating everything.

“Friends, huh?” Noctis’s tone was bitter and incredibly upset. “Maybe the problem is that we’re friends.” He recoils, immediately regretting what he just said.

“W-What?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing.” Noctis dismisses him, sounding exasperated. “Forget I said anything.”

Is he saying he doesn’t want to be friends anymore? Did he fuck everything up? Well that would explain why he seemed to be avoiding him all the time recently. The lump on his throat was back, and he feels like he’s choking, feels like all the air has been knocked out of his lungs. He feels his cheeks grow hot from hurt. “Why- What do you mean-” He croaks out, voice broken. He was blinking rapidly, willing himself not to cry. His eyes burn.

“Prompto, I-” Prompto waits for him to continue, to finish his thought, but Noctis remains silent. They remain quiet for a long time, until Ignis and Gladio ring the doorbell. Noctis sighs and walks over to the entrance to open the door for them.

Maybe the problem is that we’re friends.

Ignis takes one look at Noctis’s expression and knows that something was wrong. Gladio does, too, takes note of the heavy and quiet atmosphere of the room. That’s when Ignis notices Prompto’s distress.

“Prompto?” He says gently. “Are you quite alright?”

“I-I- I’m alright.” His voice was shaky though, and he’s pretty sure his eyes were red. He’s also pretty sure that he wouldn’t convince anyone that he was alright. “I’m-”

Ignis turns to Noctis. “What exactly happened here? You both look-”

“I-I have to go.” Prompto quickly gathers up his things and bolts for the door.

Prompto stays up that night, unable to stop his mind from thinking about, well, everything.

Maybe the problem is that we’re friends, echoes in his skull. What did he do? What did he fuck up?

He was scared. He promised himself that he wouldn’t let his feelings get in the way, and he didn’t, he didn’t let them get in the way. Instead, he let his selfishness ruin everything. That was it, wasn’t it? He guesses he doesn’t know Noctis as well as he did, didn’t know when to stop talking about things, didn’t know when to stop pushing. How insensitive could he get?.

He was scared—why wouldn’t he be? He’s potentially (probably almost surely) ruined his friendship with him, probably jeopardized their relationship for good, and that scares him. The feeling settles deep into his bones and creeps into every part of him so viciously that he felt physical pain, reverberating in his chest and pounding against his skull. He’s gone for so long knowing how wonderful it was to be friends with Noctis, how good it was to finally have an actual friend.

He sits up and looks at his corkboard. Everything was so much easier before his feelings fucked everything up. He looks at Noctis’s face on his photographs and allows himself to smile a little.

He doesn’t notice falling asleep. He wakes up with a massive headache and a very sore throat. He grabs his phone from his bedside table and finds out that he’s already missed his first class. He finds himself not caring, and chooses to lie back down and bury himself under his covers. A little while later, his phone rings and he sees Ignis’s name pop up on the screen. He ignores it. Later, it was Gladio’s turn to call him. He ignores that as well. He doesn’t know what to say to them, dreads the questions that they’ll ask him.

He turns his phone off and sets it back down on the table.  

Noctis texts him every now and then, asking him how he’s been. Noctis calls him once and Prompto lets it ring until it goes into his voicemail, not trusting himself to be able to hold a proper conversation. He listens to it after class, but it was just Noctis sighing into the receiver, asking him to call back, and then immediately dropping the call.

Prompto doesn’t call back. He doesn’t have the guts to, doesn’t trust his mouth to form words properly.   

The fall weather has caused the temperature to drop significantly the past few weeks and Prompto tries to find something to warm himself up in. He finds Noctis’s jacket in the back of his closet, from when Noctis gave it to him at the clinic. He forgot to give it back to him. He grabs it wears it over his shoulders, goes outside and gets some hot water from the pantry to make some hot chocolate. He sits on his bed and looks out the window, watches the sunset shift and darken until night fell upon the city. Watching the city lights flicker and move has always calmed him down. It reminds him of long night drives with Noctis, watching the city move fast outside and he wishes, fervently, that they’ll be alright.

He thinks about not going to figure drawing the week after, but he can’t afford to miss a four-hour class. So he drags himself from his previous class and goes to the art studio, walking deliberately slowly, buying time maybe. He dreads seeing Noctis, dreads having to talk (or worse, not having to talk at all). He dreads the silence Noctis might give him.

Prompto reaches for the door outside the studio and peeks inside. No one’s there. He breathes in a sigh of relief.

“Prom.”

He feels the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.

He turns around slowly. “Noct.”

“We… need to talk.” Noctis says very carefully. Prompto feels dread settle in his stomach.

They don’t get to. Their instructor arrives early and asks to talk to Noctis. Prompto stays outside of the studio until a few other students arrive. He sits down behind his easel and takes his materials out. He keeps his head down, listens to Noctis’s voice as he speaks to their instructor. Gladio arrives after a while and makes a beeline for him. “Hey Prompto, you-” Prompto panics and stands up, excusing himself, saying he had to go to the bathroom. Class was about to start but he doesn’t care. He splashes cold water on his face. It dampens his hair and causes some of it to fall flat, but he doesn’t care.

He comes back to class and Gladio had already started posing. Prompto quickly sits behind his easel and starts drawing, ignores Noctis looking at him from across the room.

Noctis makes to approach him during the break but the instructor calls on him again. Gladio, however, finally walks up to him.

“Hey, kid.”

“H-Hey.”

“You look like shit.”

Prompto snorts. “Ha, thanks.”

“Seriously though, kid.” Gladio sighs. “You two should talk.”

“I-I know.” He stutters. “I- Noct already asked if we could. Talk, that is.” He tries reassuring Gladio. “It’s fine.”

“Is it?” Prompto doesn’t have anything to say to that. He knows things aren’t fine. But he has faith in his friendship with Noctis, he realizes that now. They’re past misunderstandings, they should be. And if Noctis wasn’t sure about their friendship anymore, that’s fine too, he can accept that. “You know, I’m tired of watching you two dance around each other.”

“Eh?”

“Nothing. You should go ask Noct about that, I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it.” He pats him on the back.   

“I… Alright.” He fiddles with his wristband before turning to face Gladio. “Thanks, Gladio.”

“Don’t sweat it.”

Noctis walks up to them after a while, eyeing them both cautiously. Gladio steps aside and lets the two of them talk. Noctis starts the conversation. “So, uh.”

“... Yeah?” Prompto swallows audibly, his nervousness showing on his face.

“Are you free after this?”

“I- I am, I think.”

“Alright. Great. That’s good. Uh—” Noctis scratches the back of his head. “Um, let’s talk later? That is, if you’re fine with it. Are you okay with talking?”

“Ah… yeah, I’m- I’m fine with that.”

“Okay, great. Great.” Noctis turns to walk away.   

“By the way, Noct.” He startles, probably not expecting Prompto to say anything else. Prompto reaches for his bag and takes out Noctis’s jacket, as well as the shirt and sweatpants he let him borrow a while back. He hands them over to him. “Um, here. Thanks for letting me borrow them.”

“I-” A pause. “Sure thing.” Noctis grabs them off of Prompto’s hands and walks across the room to where he dropped his bag off.

Gladio watches the whole exchange and just sighs deeply.

They don’t get to talk after class either.

Prompto gets a call from one of his group mates for a class project, telling him to meet up with them in order to discuss something.

“Sorry, Noct. I, uh… I kinda need to go.”

Noctis looks a little downcast at that. “Sure, uh- That’s okay, no problem.”

“Sorry.” He says, again. “Let’s talk some other time, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Prompto walks away very quickly, suddenly very relieved that his group mates chose now of all times to meet up. He looks back to see Noctis watching him and he turns his head away quickly.

Prompto doesn’t see Noctis for the rest of the week. He wasn’t actively trying to avoid him, he’d just been incredibly busy. Finals were scheduled the next month, so he had that to worry about as well. He felt a little guilty about not being able to meet Noctis, especially when he had promised to talk with him, but he couldn’t help it. Not with his current schedule, anyway. He does bump into him from time to time, but he was either too busy to actually stop and have conversation, or Noctis was busy rushing off to class somewhere.

They just couldn’t find a good time.

He was going through the pictures on his phone on a Saturday, was relaxing after all the stress the week had brought him. He didn’t bother wearing contacts because he didn’t plan on going outside the whole day, choosing instead to wear his glasses and stay in bed bundled up in his comforter. He was lying down until he hears someone knock on his door. He gets out of bed and drags the comforter with him. He was about to ask what they wanted when—

“Hey, Prom.” Noctis was standing in the doorway, shivering in his jacket. The temperature had dropped drastically in the last few weeks. Winter was already overtaking the fall weather, he realized.

“Noct!” Prompto ushers him in and gives him his comforter. “What are you doing here? You’re absolutely freezing!”

“I’m fine.” He says. “I wanted to talk to you. I- We need to talk, Prompto.”

“... Okay.”

They sit together on the bed, neither of them speaking for a long time.

“So, uh.” Prompto starts. “It’s been a while since we last, uh, talked.”

“It has.”

“How have you been?” He starts playing with the cuff on his wrist, twisting and pulling at it.

“I’ve-” Noctis hesitates. “I’ve been good. Fine, really.”

“I see.” Prompto lets out a shaky breath. “That’s- That’s good, yeah.”

“How about you?” He asks. “How have you been?” Prompto tenses up at the question.

“I’ve been okay. A little stressed because of finals, but I’ll live.” He chuckles a little, but it sounded flat.

Prompto asks Noctis what he wanted to talk about. He already knows the answer, but he asks him anyway.

“About what happened a few weeks ago—” Noctis takes a deep breath. “I just- I wanted to say sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize.” Prompto says quietly. “I’m the one who should apologize. I was being pushy and stuff and… I guess I went somewhere you weren’t comfortable going. Sorry, I won’t do that again, swear!” He tries to give Noctis a smile, maybe offer his pinky up childishly in a show of promise, but stops when he saw how serious he looked.

“No.” Noctis says. “You don’t understand, I-” Noctis stops and stumbles. Prompto waits for him to find his words, sees him struggle with them. “I said something fucked up and I-”

“It’s honestly fine, Noct.” He says. “I know you didn’t mean it, I don’t mind. We were both frustrated back then, so I understand.”

”No, you don’t understand.” Noctis says it so suddenly and with such force that Prompto thinks they might argue again. “It’s not that I didn’t mean it, I don’t- I didn’t-”

“So you- you meant it? Are we-?” Prompto finds himself looking down at the floor sadly. So this is it, huh. “I- I’d understand if you don’t want to, y’know, hang out anymore. I won’t hold that against you. I’ve probably been a shitty friend and-”

“No!” Noctis grabs Prompto’s shoulders and turns him so that he was facing him “Prompto, you don’t understand, that’s not what I meant, I didn’t-” Prompto can see him struggle with his words, could feel the hands on his shoulders shake.

“...Noct?”

“Just… Just forget it.” Noctis sighs, exasperated. He looked like he wanted to say more. He lets go of Prompto’s shoulders, faces away from him. “It’s not that I don’t want to hang out anymore, I just- You just won’t understand.”

That irks him just a little. “Try me.”

“Prompto.”

“I’m not sure if you forgot, but we’re friends, Noctis.” Prompto knows that he sounds desperate, and he is. Desperate to understand, desperate to get past this, desperate to fix whatever it was that needed fixing. Noctis looks at him, unsure. He opens his mouth, and then closes it. Noctis tries again and fails the second time. Prompto continues “... We are friends aren’t we?”

Noctis nods furiously. “Of course we are, it’s just-”

“Then why? Why don’t you just tell me what you meant? What am I not understanding?” Noctis looked like he wanted to get away. Prompto wasn’t going to let him. Prompto was going to set aside his feelings—has already set aside his feelings for Noctis. He just wants his friend back. He desperately wants him back, wants to go back to talking with him and joking around with him. He wants to hang out again with Noctis and Ignis and Gladio again and have dinner together. He wants things to go back to what they were, before all of this happened. “Please, Noct.” He pleads. “Please.”

“I like you!” Noctis says it with such force that Prompto flinches and freezes in place.        

“Eh?” Prompto’s mouth drops open. He can’t quite understand, let alone believe, what he was hearing, but Noctis pushes through and says it again.

“I fucking like you, okay! I’ve liked you for so long, Prompto.” Noctis pulls at his hair in frustration. “I just didn’t want to-”

“W-What?”

Prompto can feel himself tearing up, still in disbelief. Noctis was about to say something else, until Prompto takes his glasses off and starts rubbing away at his eyes. “Shit. This is why I didn’t want to tell you that I- Just forget that I even said anythi-”

Prompto interrupts him and asks, quietly, “You like me?”

“Yeah, I—” Noctis avoids looking at him. “I like you, Prompto. I’m so sorry I-”

“I like you too.”

“You-” It takes a moment for Noctis to process what he just said. He snaps his head up and takes a look at him. Prompto was crying harder now and Noctis looked at him in shock. “You what?”

“I like you too, you idiot!” Prompto sobs into his hands. Noctis’s mouth drops open and Prompto hiccups. “I like you.”

“I am an idiot.” Noctis grabs his shoulders, gently this time, and turns Prompto around to face him again. “Hey.” He says quietly.

“Hey to you, too.” Prompto chuckles at Noctis’s panicked expression. He wipes his tears with the back of his hands, but he finds that he couldn’t stop himself from crying. “I’m okay, um… Sorry, I can’t- I don’t know why I-”

Noctis chooses, then, to grab his hand and guide it away, places his own hand on Prompto’s cheek to try and wipe away his tears. Prompto just laughs until Noctis guides his hand to his cheek. Prompto can feel the cold on his skin. He thinks he must have stood outside the dorm for a long time before coming in. He runs his thumb near the side of Noctis’s mouth, where his mole was. They stay like that for a long time. Prompto doesn’t notice that they were already leaning against each other, in something akin to a halfway embrace. He leans forward, rests his head on Noctis’s shoulder and sighs, stays there until Noctis speaks again.

“I like you, Prompto.” He says, again. “I really like you.”

“M-Me too…”

Noctis turns his head towards Prompto’s ear and whispers. “Can I kiss you?”

“I- What? You want to- Um? You want to what?” Prompto makes a surprised squeak and lifts his head from where it was resting on Noctis’s shoulder. Noctis laughs before repeating himself.

“Can I kiss you?” He repeats quietly, tone soft.

“I-I- You- Um.” Prompto realizes that he wouldn’t be able to form any coherent sentences after that, so he instead chooses to give Noctis a tiny nod before hiding his face in the crook of his neck. Noctis pulls him in closer, wrapping his arms around him and Prompto all but melts, body going slack against his embrace. For how relaxed his body was, his heart was the total opposite, and he was sure that Noctis could feel it beating wildly in his chest. He was still holding Noctis’s cheek, now warm from the heat of his hand. Noctis puts his hand over Prompto’s and squeezes gently, and Prompto lifts his head to finally look at him. He was looking at him with such fondness and he feels like he was floating, body weightless.

Noctis lowers the hand that was on Prompto’s cheek until it was cupping his jaw and lets his other hand settle on Prompto’s waist, pulls his body closer to him. Prompto lets him and allows himself to tilt his head up, heart still racing. He allows himself to close his eyes and meet Noctis halfway, faces inching closer until their lips met gently. Chastely, he thinks, chastely. They part after a short while and Prompto sighs softly.

“Was that- Was that okay?” Noctis asks him.

“Yeah.” He says, dazed, still not quite believing everything that’s happened. “Am I dreaming? Please tell me I’m not dreaming, holy shit.” Noctis snorts and pulls at Prompto’s cheek. “Ow!”

“Still think you’re dreaming?” He laughs.

“Nope, I’m good.” Prompto rubs his cheek. “So, uh- Noct?”

“Yeah?” Noctis was threading his hand through Prompto’s hair now, playing with the strands and twirling them around his fingers. “What is it?”

“Um… since when? Like, why me?”

“Well, why not you?”

“I mean, I’m not really… I’m just? I don’t know.”

“Let me guess, you’re thinking about why I’d ever like you and stuff like that?”

“Well, yeah?”

“Geez.” Noctis sighs. “I like you because you’re just… you. I like everything about you. Everything. I like how you’re always so earnest and sincere, how you’re just so genuinely you, I like how you’re so fucking adorable all the time, I like your smile, and I like your laugh, and I especially like it when that’s directed towards me. I like you so fucking much, Prompto.”

“I- That’s?” Prompto all but blushes and hides his face in his hands. “You’re really too much, Noct.”

“Oh yeah, and I really like it when you look so embarrassed.” Noctis laughs quietly at his flustered expression. “You’re cute, Prompto.” He smiles.

“That’s-! You!” At that, Noctis just pecks him on the lips, and then his cheek, and then his forehead, finally resting his chin on the top of Prompto’s head, laughing all the way. “That’s so unfair.”

“Is it?” Noctis hums. “Then why don’t you make it fair?”

Prompto wasn’t about to back down from a challenge.

By the time the sun went down, they were just lying in bed next to each other. His hands were playing with the hem of Noctis jacket because of all the energy he didn’t know he had in his body. Prompto finds out that Noctis really liked playing with his hair and that he was probably trying to kill him by saying extremely embarrassing things (“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He laughs). Prompto still can’t quite process what just happened so he just looks at Noctis, more than a little dazed and more than a little entranced, like his breath had just been taken away. It was a nice feeling, despite how all that sounded. He thinks he could fall asleep since he felt so relaxed and his eyes were starting to close until Noctis calls his name.

“Hey, Prompto.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Date me.”

That wakes him up pretty quickly and he sits up to look at Noctis. “I- What?”

“Unless you don’t want to. I mean, that’s fine, I understand if you’re not-”

“Are you an idiot?”

“Huh?”

“Are you an idiot?” He says again, laughing. “Okay.”

“... ‘Okay’?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you?” He sighs. “For someone so smart, you really are an idiot, Noct.”

“So… you’re fine with it? Dating?”

“Yeah.” He smiles at him sheepishly. “I’ve- I’ve never dated anyone before so you’re gonna have to excuse me if I, like, embarrass myself or something and-”

Noctis just pulls him down and blows a raspberry on his cheek. Prompto laughs and returns the favor.   

“Fucking finally.” Gladio sounded exasperated. “Took you two long enough. If I had to see loverboy over here looking at you like a lovesick puppy one more time, I swear to god.” He says over dinner. Ignis was just chuckling in the background and Prompto just sighs. He wanted  nothing more than to be able to eat in peace, but it seems that Gladio wasn’t about to let them off the hook just yet.

“Oh, shut up, Gladio.” Noctis says, annoyed.

“Yeah sure, but listen—you better not let me or Iggy see something we don’t wanna see because-”

Prompto blushes straight to his ears.

“Okay, okay! I get it! You don’t need to continue!” Noctis shouts at him, exasperated, and a strangled sound bubbles up from Prompto’s throat. Ignis notices and straight up laughs. That was new.

“Oh Gladio, cut the two some slack.” He says while laughing into his hand.

“Yeah, it’s not like you two aren’t all over each other when you think no one’s looking.” Noctis shoots them both a look and smirks wide and menacing. “Last week? You think I missed the two of you on the couch-”

Ignis coughs, effectively interrupting him. Prompto could see color rise to his cheeks and chokes out a laugh himself. He’s never seen Ignis so embarrassed before. “Alright, I think that’s quite enough.”

“Alright fine.” Gladio grits out. “Let’s all agree to not let the other person something they’d rather not see.”

“Deal.” Noctis says, more than a little smug at getting the two men flustered. Finally, they go back to eating dinner and Prompto breathes a sigh of relief. Well that went better than expected, he guesses.

If they held hands underneath the table afterwards, they didn’t say anything.

“I told you he’d understand.” Ignis was washing the dishes with him after dinner and Prompto finally gets it.

“Y-You- Iggy, you knew?”

“It was plain as day that he liked you, Prompto.” He hums. “I’m just surprised you hadn’t realized it earlier. Gladio and I sure did. As did other people, I’m sure.”

“Well… I guess.” Prompto was putting away the last of the dishes and Ignis thanks him for his help. “Huh. Someone did think that we were dating before.”

“See?” Ignis smiles at him. “Well, I’m glad that everything’s sorted itself out.”

Prompto laughs and smiles back. “Yeah. Thanks for everything, Iggy.”

“It’s my pleasure.” Ignis laughs as he washes his hands under the sink. “He might be a brat sometimes, I’m sure you know. And he tends to stumble a lot—” A pause and a bit of a laugh. “—especially when it comes to you, Prompto. But I do hope you forgive him.”

“I think he’s… fine as he is.” Prompto admits. “For now, that is.” He laughs. “I’m sure he’s not as much of a brat as you and Gladio think he is, not anymore, from what I’ve seen.”

“I guess that’s true.” Ignis motions for them to go back to the living room, but stops at the breakfast counter. “I’m sure I’ve said this before, but Noct meeting you, Prompto, has done him a whole lot of good.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I’m not one for flattery, Prompto.” Ignis was leaning over the breakfast counter and watching Noctis and Gladio argue about something. He chuckles. “You two are good for each other.”

Prompto feels something pleasant bloom in the bottom of his stomach. And then he remembers—

“So…” He starts, unsure. “Uh, you and Gladio, huh?”

Ignis stays rooted in place and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He’s nervous, Prompto thinks. “Well, yes.”

“Since when?” Prompto was more than a little curious. He never noticed Ignis and Gladio show that kind of affection towards each other. Granted, he only spent very minimal time with them, unlike Noctis. But then again, he didn’t miss the fond smiles and how comfortable they looked when in each other’s company. He chalked that up to an easy-going friendship, but well, he wasn’t exactly a prime example of someone in tune with someone’s… more intimate affections.

“Since our days in university.” Ignis admits. “It’s… been a while.”

“Wow.” Prompto says. “That’s great.”

“It is.” Ignis smiles and looks on over to Gladio and Noctis again. They were roughhousing on the couch now and the both of them bite back a laugh. “Should we go join them?”

“Yeah.”   

Lunafreya greets them during the last figure drawing class of the semester. She had a particularly wicked smile on her face as she regarded the two of them standing beside each other in the corner of the room. They were all up in each other’s space, now that Prompto thinks about it, more so now than before, and he becomes a little self-conscious and distances himself from Noctis. Or, well, he tries to—Noctis’s arm was blocking the space behind him, so he settles for leaning against his arm. She walks up to them and, without saying a word, smiles at Noctis.

“Don’t say it, Luna.” He sounded a little exasperated. Don’t say what?

“Hm? Say what?” She hums. “Oh!” Luna brings her hands together before snapping her fingers. Noctis groans.

“I swear to god, Luna.” Noctis just hides his face behind his hands and Prompto looks at the both of them, confused. “Do not.”  

“I guess you mean to say that I shouldn’t tell you ‘I told you so’?”

“Ugh.” Noctis leans his head on Prompto’s shoulder and hides his face there. Prompto squeaks at the sudden contact. “You said it anyway.”

“Try not to embarrass yourself in front of Prompto, Noctis.” She chuckles slightly before smiling something genuine and placing her hand on Noctis’s shoulder. Noctis finally looks up at her, though still wary, as if she was about to say something embarrassing at any second. “Congratulations, Noctis, I’m so happy for you.” At that, Noctis drops all of his defenses and smiles back.  

She then turns to Prompto and laughs. “Thank you for putting up with him, Prompto, I know he can be such an idiot sometimes.”

“Pfft.” Prompto laughs with her. “Yeah, that he is.”

“Hey, I’m right here you know.” Noctis sighs and pulls Prompto closer to him. “You’d think you’d take your boyfriend’s side and-” Noctis catches himself and stops dead in his tracks.

“Oh?” Luna pipes up, curious. “Well, I’ll be excusing myself, then.” She walks away smiling and heads over to the front of the room to talk to the instructor.

Boyfriend. It was just a word, something that he can say so easily, but never did. He never really had any reason to, and he never really thought about it until now… He never thought a word could make him feel so giddy.    

“Oh. Well, um.” Prompto blushes and says, “You’ve never called yourself my boyfriend before.”

“Well, yeah…” He rubs the back of his head. “Is that okay…?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s more than okay.” Prompto grins at him. “Okay, ‘boyfriend’.”

Noctis groans, but smiles at him all the same. He pulls him a little bit closer and Prompto tries to wiggle away with how strong Noctis’s hold was on him. Noctis just blows a raspberry in the crook of his neck. “Try not to stare at me too hard while I model, sweetheart.” He says before letting him go and kissing him on the nose and walking away.

“Noct!” The whole room whistles at them and Prompto hides his face in his hands.

The last class of the semester dragged on for so long, Prompto thought it would never end. Noctis found every opportunity to wink at him while posing and the others never missed it. If anyone had any doubts that they were dating, everything was definitely gone by now. Prompto sighs and continues drawing.

At the end, their instructor congratulates them for finishing the course and thanks them for a great semester. And what a wonderful semester it really was, Prompto thinks as he looked at Noctis.

He was so glad he took this class.  

They were running one night when it first happens.

Noctis was sitting down in the middle of the field after the end of their run, exhausted, and Prompto offers his hand to help him get up. Prompto teases him for still having such weak stamina and Noctis responds by pinching his hand lightly. They stay like that for a while, just holding hands, and Prompto thought that he’d let go soon as they were about to head back to the dorm.

Except Noctis doesn’t let go, and they end up holding hands until they got back to Prompto’s room to change clothes. They never really realized until they had to let go so Prompto could get his keys out of his pocket.

The next time it happens, it was a lot more deliberate, Prompto thinks. They were walking back from lunch and their fingers kept bumping together from how close they were standing next to each other. Noctis decides to grab Prompto’s hand and lace their fingers together, like it was the most natural thing to do.

Noctis walks Prompto to his next class like that and it finally catches up to Prompto that they were holding hands. Noctis squeezes his hand gently and says goodbye. Prompto watches him walk away, completely dazed.  

It happens again while they were hanging out in Noctis’s apartment. They were lounging on the sofa, resting from reading notes and reviewing for their upcoming tests. Noctis’s head was propped up on Prompto’s lap and Prompto was playing with his hair, twirling it around his fingers and parting his fringe so his hair wouldn’t fall on his face. Noctis catches his hand by the wrist.

This time, he asks.

“Can I hold your hand?” He says quietly, as if they haven’t already held hands before. Prompto chuckles.

“You say that like we haven’t already.”

“Is that a no?” Noctis pouts.

“No, it’s not a no.” Prompto smiles at him and threads their fingers together at his side. Noctis brings his other hand up to Prompto’s cheek, effectively caressing him. Prompto couldn’t help but lean into the touch. He can hear Noctis’s breath catch and doesn’t register him sitting up until he was kissing him.

“Is that okay?”

“Yeah.” Prompto says, breathless, all the air knocked out of him. “More than okay.”

“...More then?”

“Yeah. Yeah, sure.” Prompto says quietly as Noctis puts his hand on the nape of his neck, cradling him, bringing them closer so that they met halfway. When their lips touch, it was much different from all the other times, he thinks. Slower, deeper. A lot more heated. Prompto felt like his lips would melt and meld together with Noctis’s. He felt warm all over. Noctis uses his hand to guide Prompto’s head to an angle that made their mouths slot together more easily. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing, and he’s pretty sure Noctis doesn’t know what he’s doing either, with the way their teeth clinked against each other more than once, but it still felt entirely too good. So they continue and stumble through it together.

Prompto gasps into his mouth when Noctis’s tongue touches his lip. Noctis tries again and was met with the same reaction. They part, briefly, Noctis licking his lips and asking him if it was alright to continue. Prompto just nods yes, the action almost automatic. And then, Noctis’s lips were on his again, tongue swiping at his bottom lip. This time, Prompto parts his lips, just enough, and their tongues meet, pushing against each other. He doesn’t know how, but Noctis ends up on top of him on the couch. It was a strange feeling, he thinks. Strange, but good.

A little too good. maybe.             

He then moans, loudly, into Noctis’s mouth. They were both shocked into awareness and come apart.

“S-Sorry…” He starts, embarrassed as all hell, and hides his face behind his arm. Noctis guides it away and brings their faces close again, foreheads touching.

“Hey, don’t apologize.” Noctis whispers to him. And then, slowly, he begins mouthing kisses against Prompto’s neck. “Let me hear.” He says just as he sucks on the skin near Prompto’s collarbone. Prompto gasps loudly, and that encourages Noctis to plant even more open mouthed kisses all over him—so much that Prompto was absolutely sure he’d have to sport a turtleneck the next day. Well, that’s fine, he thinks. It’s been getting colder out.

Noctis bites at the junction between his neck and shoulder and Prompto jerks violently, the sensation practically making his toes quiver. Noctis, curious, does it again and Prompto was sure that he was seeing stars.

“Wait, wait.” He finally says.

Noctis stops immediately. “Oh, shit, sorry. Was that- was it too much? Was I hurting you?”

“No…” Prompto turns his head away from him and buries his face into the back of the couch. “I just need to tap out for a second.” And then, he admits, “That felt way too good, Noct.”

Noctis makes a strangled noise and tucks his head under Prompto’s chin. “Jesus christ, Prompto.”

“W-What? Did I say something?”

“No, it’s nothing.” He says into Prompto’s neck. “You- You’re-”

“...Yeah?” Prompto says quietly.

“You’re way too fucking sexy.” He finally says, lifting his head up to stare at Prompto head on and Prompto felt like exploding. Noctis seems to finally catch up to what his mouth says and they both turn bright red.

They don’t get any more studying done after that.

Finals week finally came upon them and they were trying to find some seats in the library so that they could study together. They find some empty desks after a while and they set their bags down, with Noctis sitting on the desk behind him.

“Hey, Noct.” They were taking a break when Prompto turns around and calls out to him. “Why do you always sit behind me and not beside me?” He’d been wondering for a while. Even when there was a desk beside him, Noctis always chose to sit behind him and not next to him. It was weird.

Noctis shrugs. “I- There’s nothing- There’s no particular reason.” Oh, he’s hiding something, Prompto thinks.

He smirks. “Worried you’ll get distracted?”

Noctis was silent for a long while.

“... It’s so I can look at you.” He says, finally, quietly.

“Eh?” Prompto’s mouth drops open.

“I sit behind you so I can look at you.” Noctis admits, his cheeks flushing red.

“Oh.” Prompto realizes what he was implying. “Well, that’s- Oh.”

“Yeah.” Noctis suddenly seemed very fascinated by his notes and doesn’t look up.

“Well, if you sit beside me…” Prompto moves to sit on the desk beside Noctis. “We can do this?” He takes Noctis’s hand and holds it gently, tentatively. He wasn’t really sure what he was doing, but the warmth of the other’s hand was more than welcome in the cold of the library. “S-Sorry, um…”

Noctis just laughs quietly and says, “You make a good point, Prom.”

“Don’t you know it.”

Noctis laces their fingers together and guides Prompto’s hand to the inside of his coat pocket. “You know, if you were so cold, you could’ve just said so.” He laughs.

“Geez, can’t a guy just want to hold hands with his boyfriend?” Prompto says with a smirk and squeezes his hand gently.

Noctis sputters and coughs and Prompto just laughs at his extremely flustered expression.

They were hanging out in Noctis’s apartment to celebrate the end of the semester. Gladio and Ignis were in the kitchen preparing food and drinks, while they were in the living room playing King’s Knight, with Noctis’s head on Prompto's lap (that earned a groan from Gladio when he saw them like that, but Noctis didn’t pay him any mind).

“Hey.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“You really should let me draw you some time.”

Prompto laughs. “You already did, though. Plenty of times.”

“I mean, you should model for me.” A pause. “Just me.”

“Oh.” Prompto brings his phone down to look at Noctis. “Well, I mean, I guess if you really want to?”

“I want to.” He says. “If you’d let me”

“I’d let you.” Prompto says quietly. “Just you.” He then puts his phone down at his side and runs his fingers through Noctis’s hair, and Noctis rewards him with a small hum. He continues playing with his hair, earning him small, soft sighs.

“You know, Prom…” Noctis’s voice was breathy and content.

“Yeah?” Prompto stops and goes back to playing the game. He could see Noctis frown when he does, but otherwise, he doesn’t say anything.

“I drew you a lot, back in high school.” Noctis admits nonchalantly.

“What? No way, man.” He laughs, but takes in Noctis’s expression. He stops playing the game and curses when his character dies in the dungeon they were playing in. “Wait, are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m serious.” Noctis laughs.

“Um, can I ask why?”

“I don’t know, actually. I just kinda remembered. I can show you my old notebooks, if you want.” A pause. “Now that I think about it, that’s when I actually started drawing a lot.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yeah, really.” He laughs. “Why do you find it so hard to believe?”

“Well, I mean… I’m not exactly a looker, you know.”

Noctis makes a face at that. “I am not about to let someone talk shit about my boyfriend.” He smiles and reaches his hand up to cup Prompto’s cheek. “Have you even looked in the mirror lately?”

“I- That’s- Geez, Noct, how are you even real?”

“How are you real?” Noctis pinches his cheek and Prompto whines. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I- I really wish I talked to you sooner, or something.”

“Yeah?” Prompto puts his hand on top of Noctis’s. “Me, too. Guess we were both too chicken, huh?” He laughs.

Noctis laughs with him. “Yeah.” He sits up and kisses him, soft and slow.

“Get a room, you two!” Gladio’s voice booms from the kitchen.

They both laugh. “Yes, mom.”

Chapter Text

“Do I really have to take my shirt off?” Prompto whines and keeps his hands on the hem of his t-shirt. “I mean, we could do this without me having to, you know…”

“Well yeah, but where’s the fun in that?” Noctis laughs and goes to him and yanks it his shirt up until it exposed his stomach. Prompto shrieks and swats his hands away.

“Okay, okay, fine! Let me do it myself.”

“Okay.”

“... Please don’t just stand there and watch.”

“Why? Would you rather I do something other than watch?” He smirks as Prompto takes his shirt off and tosses it aside.

“That’s not-!” Prompto grumbles and sits on Noctis’s bed. “You big pervert.” Noctis just laughs again, harder this time.

“That’s not a no.” Prompto just groans.

“So. How are we doing this?” He says as he stretches his legs.

“Just… lie down I guess?”

“Okiedokes.”

Noctis sits on the foot of the bed and takes out his sketchpad. “You ready, Prom?”

“As I’ll ever be.” He says as he props his head up on some pillows and angles his body towards Noctis. “Draw me like one of your french girls, Noct.” He snickers.

“Nerd.”

“Well you like this nerd, so who wins here?”

“Nerd.” Noctis throws his eraser at him.

“Love you too.” Prompto says, teasing.

“Yeah.” And Noctis smile, all bright and sincere. He crawls on top of Prompto to reach for his eraser and stops halfway to kiss him on the cheek. “I love you.”

Prompto kisses him back and hands him his eraser. “Okay, mister, are you drawing me or what?”

Noctis laughs and goes back to the foot of the bed.