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Camping on the first night out of Insomnia hadn’t been Prompto’s favorite thing in the world, but he could deal with it, seeing as it gave him the opportunity to really see what it was like outside of the city.
He’d also gotten to eat some of Ignis’ food, delicious as always, so that was always a plus for him.
So with hunger taken care of, Prompto was just about ready to go to sleep within the tent. That was, after he looked through the pictures he’d taken that day. However, Noctis seemed to have different plans.
“Hey, Prom.”
Prompto turned his head toward the source of the words, grinning as Noctis moved to stand next to him.
“Noct! What’s up, buddy?” He tilted his head curiously, placing his camera in his lap so he could turn his full attention to the other.
“You’ve never been out of the city before, right?”
He nodded his head in confirmation. He’d never really had the resources to leave the city. He had no car, wasn’t exactly swimming in money, and was always busy with school or photography anyway. Noct had offered to take him sometimes, but Prompto had always refused, not wanting to trouble him.
“Well, I wanna show you something.” A smile played at his lips, and Noctis took a step back, gesturing for Prompto to follow suite.
“Uh, shouldn’t we tell Iggy and Gladio we’re going somewhere?”
“If it makes you feel better, we can.”
“You can what?” Gladio’s voice caught their attention, and Prompto sheepishly grinned.
Noctis answered, though cryptically, “I’m showing Prompto something outside of camp.”
Behind Gladio, Ignis raised an eyebrow, “show him what exactly?”
“It’s a surprise.” A smirk found it’s way onto Noctis’ features, and Ignis only sighed,
“Alright, well I’m sure I don’t have to tell you two to be careful? Dangerous things lurk around the wilderness at this time.”
“Yeah, don’t get yourselves killed.” Gladio playfully hit Noctis’ shoulder, and Noctis shrugged him off.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Prompto, silent throughout the conversation, was too busy wondering what Noctis planned to show him. Whatever it was, he at least hoped it was picture worthy.
His thinking was interrupted as Noctis nudged him, “come on, follow me.”
He enthusiastically nodded, “right behind you!”, slipping his camera strap over his head before catching up to Noctis, who’d already began walking.
He hummed a theme to himself as they walked, farther and farther from camp, and he watched as they slowly lost sight of any unnatural light. If this had been with anyone else, Prompto may have suspected they were luring him into a deserted area to murder him and hide his body. Luckily, it wasn’t anybody else, and he had no fears about Noctis suddenly revealing any serial killer tendencies.
“Prom.”
“Hm?” He stopped in his tracks, realizing Noctis had stopped walking, and turned his gaze toward him.
He found that they were in a small clearing, trees scattered around, unlike the thick forested area they set up camp in.
“Look up.”
And when Prompto did look up, he was greeted with one of the prettiest sights he’d ever seen.
Stars littered the sky above him, and it was something Prompto had never seen before. He could see clusters, constellations, and even planets were visible. His breath caught in his throat, and he was lost for words.
“Wanna take a photo?”
Prompto’s eyes lit up at the idea, and he grinned, “Of course! Gah, the stars are so pretty!”
He lifted the camera to his face, carefully looking through the viewfinder, occasionally adjusting the settings to fit the environment. He snapped a couple photos, excitedly looking at them after he set the camera back into his lap.
He looked to his side, about to show Noctis the photos, when he saw the other looking up at the stars himself, a soft smile adorning his features.
Carefully, Prompto lifted the camera again, this time aiming the lens toward Noctis. The shutter clicked, and Noctis turned at the sound. Prompto’s eyes widened and he looked away, going back into his camera’s gallery to look at the picture he’d just taken instead.
Noctis looked… well, Prompto could hardly explain it. He’d let the way his face heated up and his chest tightened speak for themselves. It was certainly a photo he’d end up staring at quite often, he knew that.
“Hope you at least made me look good.”
Prompto turned at the voice, a small grin forming on his face.
“Ah, come on man, you’re like, uber photogenic. It’d be a challenge to make you look bad.”
Noctis nodded contemplatively, “mmm, yeah, sounds about right.”
Prompto laughed, lightly nudging Noct’s shoulder with his own, “watch your ego there, prince boy.”
“Hey, you’re the one who said it.”
Noctis got him there. And Prompto had absolutely meant the words he said.
He let out a sigh, looking up at the sky again.
“You know, you don’t realize just how much light pollution there is in the city until you see the sky in its full glory. It’s… really amazing.” He paused, “thanks, Noct. For showing me this.”
“Ah, come on, don’t thank me. You would’ve seen it at some point without me mentioning it anyway.”
‘Yeah, but it’s different since you wanted to show me,’ he wanted to say, ‘it’s different because you make me so happy and this night’ll probably be something I remember for a long, long time because I’m head over heels for you and getting to experience this with you of all people means a lot. More than you know. Because I know I don’t deserve this, but that won’t stop how happy this has made me.’
He looked over, to see Noctis blink, with a slightly surprised expression on his face.
Oh. He’d said that all outloud, hadn’t he?
It was at that moment Prompto was incredibly grateful that it was dark out, since it made it easy to hide how red his face was, and it was easier to avoid eye contact. That, of course, didn’t stop him from stealing glances at the other, who appeared to have entered a state of perpetual surprise, judging by the way he hadn’t moved nor changed his facial expression for a solid minute.
He cleared his throat, licking at his chapped lips, “Uh, sorry. Didn’t really mean to say that all out loud.” he laughed lightly, “uhh, so you can ignore that? Pretend it never happened? Whatever floats your boat, really. We’re bros, who even cares about some stupid crush?”
Prompto cared. Prompto absolutely cared.
“I care.”
Ah, and apparently Noctis did too.
And Prompto, feeling in no way confident in himself, braced himself for rejection and heartbreak. He begrudgingly forced himself to look at Noct, who had apparently moved so they stood facing each other.
“Prom, I’ve kinda been hoping you’d say something like that for… an embarrassing amount of time. Like, 2 years or so. Ignis got tired of me constantly about it, so I’m surprised he hadn’t told you.” Noctis stepped closer, “Don’t be sorry, okay?”
Prompto’s brain had stopped functioning somewhere after the first line and before the last. All he knew was that he suddenly lost the ability to think clearly or come up with any coherent sentence to respond with. Sputtering was the only thing that escaped his mouth, and Noctis smiled almost fondly at that. It wasn’t something that helped Prompto’s mind regain function.
After a few moments made up of more noises and rapid blinking, Prompto’s brain finally caught up and allowed him to speak clearly for a sentence.
“Uhhh, so this is okay? We are okay?”
Noct blew air out of his nose, “Yes, and we are more than okay. Ignis and Gladio’ll be thrilled to see we finally got our shit together.”
“Ah, can’t wait for the teasing! But, uh… what about your engagement to Luna?” Prompto fiddled with his camera strap, still reeling.
“We’re just friends, you know that. This is all political, and we’re doing this for ‘the good of our nations’ as my dad said.” he nudged Prompto, “she’s well aware of my pathetic love life, Prom.”
He nodded slowly, and a grin slowly returned to Prompto’s features as he turned on the display on his camera again.
“Then how about a selfie? Come on, we gotta document this somehow.”
Besides rolling his eyes and a comment of ‘another selfie to add to the hundreds you already have’, Noctis had no objections, and smirked as Prompto snapped the photo.
“Hashtag sorry not sorry. Selfies are a form of art, Noct.”
Noctis snorted, “whatever you say.”
Later, as Prompto lied inside the tent, with Noct’s hand intertwined with his own, he smiled at the two most recent photos in his gallery. As he did so, he looked at the sleeping prince, and positioned himself so they could both be in frame.
One more selfie couldn’t hurt.