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“Are you boys good for the evening?”
Prompto watched as Noctis raised a hand over the back of the couch, waving at Ignis.
“We’re good, Specs. Y’worry too much.” His words were slightly slurred, and he was listing sideways a bit on the couch. Ignis paused in the kitchen, frowning.
“We’re cool,” Prompto assured him, putting in an effort to speak clearly, as if to demonstrate that he was up to the task of being The Mostly Sober Friend. Granted, he wasn’t exactly sober, but he was moreso than Noctis, so that qualified him, right? “Jus’ gonna play some games,” he promised.
“And Prom’ll stay here,” Noctis added.
Prompto snorted; they hadn’t actually discussed that, but he wasn’t averse to the idea, especially since the alternative involved him waiting another hour or two til he was sober enough to walk home, then walking across half of Insomnia in the middle of the night.
“Yeah, I’ll stay here,” he agreed easily.
That seemed to satisfy Ignis, who nodded as he headed for the door. “Very well. I’m right across the hall if you need me. Happy birthday, Prompto,” he added, before giving a little wave and closing the apartment door behind him.
It had been a pretty great birthday, overall. His actual birthday had fallen on a Wednesday, so they’d had to wait until Friday night to celebrate, but that wasn’t a big deal. He’d shown up at Noct’s, expecting it to be just the two of them, but then Ignis had arrived with dinner and cake, and Gladio and Iris had stopped by with presents, and they’d spend several fun hours just hanging out, talking and laughing and teasing.
He had friends now. They’d chosen to spend the evening with him, even when he hadn’t asked them to, and the thought left him feeling warm and happy. Of course, the hard ciders he and Noct had been working on had probably contributed to the warm part, but he was reasonably sure it was at least 85% Good Emotions.
He and Noctis spent the next hour playing a new racing game they'd gotten their hands on while knocking back another couple of drinks, though Prompto made sure to drink some water, too — he didn't want to deal with the hangover in the morning that came with drinking too much. By the end of the hour, Noctis was dozing off against Prompto's shoulder mid-race, so Prompto turned the game off and tapped Noct's knee.
"Hey buddy," he said quietly. "I think you're done for the night."
"Mmmmyeah," Noctis agreed, turning his face against Prompto's arm. He was almost nuzzling against him in a way that made Prompto's face feel hot.
"Come on, you gotta get in bed." Prompto stood, helping Noctis to his feet.
Noctis stumbled a little, though whether that was the alcohol or exhaustion, he really couldn't tell. Prompto's head was spinning a bit, but not so much that he couldn't stabilize the two of them, so they made their way back to Noctis' bedroom without too much trouble.
Prompto provided an arm to lean on as Noctis struggled to take his jeans off, then laughed when he flopped back onto the bed.
"See ya in the morning," Prompto said as he started to take a step backward. Noctis frowned, one arm flying out to grab the closest part of Prompto he could, which turned out to be the tail of his shirt.
"Where are you going?" Noctis demanded.
"Uh… the couch?" Prompto said slowly.
"No," Noctis said decisively. "Stay here."
"I'm not going home," Prompto promised. "Just the next room."
"I can't talk to you in there," Noctis said, tugging on his shirt. "Bed's plenty big. Stay in here."
Prompto hesitated, but frankly, being wanted wasn't something he was entirely used to yet, and… well, Noctis was all soft and sleepy, and Prompto didn't want to tell him no.
"Okay," he agreed. "Yeah, I'll stay."
Noct's smile in response to that washed away any lingering doubts Prompto may have had about the arrangement.
A few minutes later, he'd made sure the door was locked and the lights were off, and he was under the covers next to Noctis.
"Did you have a good birthday?" Noct's voice was quiet in the dark room.
"Yeah." Prompto knew Noctis probably couldn't see his smile in the darkness, but he couldn't seem to keep it off his face anyway. "Probably the best one I've had."
Noctis made a noise Prompto wasn't sure how to decipher. "It was just us hanging out, though. Just dinner."
"Yeah, and it was great," Promptis replied stubbornly. "Dude, I've never had anything like that before you guys— before you. This was a blast, trust me."
There was a long pause, and Prompto could almost feel Noctis thinking.
"Hey, Prom?"
"Yeah?" He turned his head to face Noctis as he replied, and was surprised to see the gleam of Noctis' eyes in the dark much closer than he'd realized. He was just about to ask what Noctis needed when he suddenly moved closer and pressed his lips to Prompto's.
It was… soft. Soft and warm with a vague flavor of the apple cider they'd been drinking as Noct's tongue swept over Prompto's lower lip. Prompto made a small sound and parted his lips instinctively, always ready to give Noctis anything he asked for.
Noct's lips were soft and slightly chapped and perfect, and it was that thought that had Prompto pulling back, one hand on Noctis' chest.
Noctis was smiling widely, his grin barely visible in the moonlight coming in around the curtains. "That was good," he said happily. "We should try that again."
He started to lean in again and it took every shred of self-restraint Prompto had to not just go along with it.
"What are you doing, Noct?"
Noctis pulled back a bit, frowning. "Kissing you. Did I do it wrong?"
"No," Prompto replied instantly. "Uh, no. You didn't. But why?"
"Because I want to," Noctis said. As if it were that simple. As if it were true.
"Buddy, I don't think Sober Noctis is gonna agree with you on that," Prompto said quietly.
"Sober Noctis is a wuss," Noctis replied, scowling. "I'm just helping him out."
Prompto huffed out a laugh. "Dude, you don't actually want me, not like that. You're just drunk, and I'm here."
"Yeah, you're here," Noctis replied, reaching up to grip Prompto's arm. "You're always here, and you don't have to be. But you are. And that's…" He yawned widely. "It's…" He shook his head, as if trying to stay awake.
"Hey, just… go to sleep, Noct. It's cool, we'll talk about it in the morning, okay?"
"Mmkay," Noctis mumbled, dragging his hand down Prompto's arm to grab his hand. "Night, Prom."
Prompto sighed, and spared a moment to wish he were just a little less noble, that he'd let himself indulge in maybe one or two more kisses before he'd called it off. But Noctis was his friend, and he wouldn't let anyone take advantage of him — especially not himself.
The next morning sucked.
Prompto thought he'd been careful enough to avoid a hangover, and he mostly did, but he still felt sort of muzzy and gross when he woke up. He was better off than Noctis, though, who took a couple hours to wake up and take some meds before he resembled anything close to human.
Prompto had been sort of nervously hovering around the kitchen, but Noctis didn't seem to notice when he finally made it out. He made a beeline for the cereal and poured a bowl before crunching into it, completely dry.
"So… last night was fun," Prompto said carefully after a moment.
Noctis nodded. "Yeah, it was," he said, his voice gravelly. Prompto swallowed hard at the sound of it. "Glad you enjoyed it. Still kinda surprised you didn't want to do anything different for your birthday, though."
Prompto's laugh was slightly off-kilter, a little too fast and high-pitched. "Right. Because nothing different at all about last night, right?"
Noctis shrugged and nodded, not even looking up as he scrolled through his phone.
Oh.
Okay.
Prompto stood abruptly, the sound of his chair scraping against the floor startling Noctis.
"I'm gonna… head on home, then," he said, not quite meeting Noctis' eyes. He could see him frown out of the corner of his eye, though, before he turned away to stop him from seeing the tears that blurred his vision.
"You sure?" Noctis asked. "I thought we'd… play some games or something."
"No, I, uh. I got some stuff," Prompto said, tugging on the shoes he'd left by the door. There's a beat of silence as he pulls almost violently on the shoelaces.
"Okay," Noctis said, his voice oddly small. "Well, uh. I'll see you Monday, I guess?"
"Yeah, of course." Prompto knew his voice sounded strangled and weird, he just didn't seem to be able to do anything about it.
"Hey," Noctis said. His voice was closer now. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah!" Other than you acting like that kiss didn't happen? Fine! "I'm good," he promised. "See you Monday." With that, he slipped out the door and made for the stairwell.
Over the weekend, he tried to convince himself that it was fine. Because it was fine. There was no reason it shouldn't be. Sure, the kiss was… nice. It was good. He should be grateful that Noctis wasn't making a big deal out of it!
Sure, maybe some teeny, tiny part of him had hoped he might still want to kiss him when they sobered up, but he'd known that wasn't going to be the case, so really he should just be glad they didn't have to have a super weird conversation about it. That would have just made things awkward. Now they can just go back to normal on Monday.
Things didn't go back to normal on Monday.
The second Prompto laid eyes on Noctis, all he could think about was his chapped lips against Prompto's, about the way he'd tasted of apples and cake.
He suddenly developed a headache and went home for the day.
He spent the rest of the day berating himself for it — Noctis was his friend, dammit. He wasn't going to lose him over this. Not to mention he really couldn't afford to miss any more school.
Maybe he just needed some time. Just… a little bit of time to reset his brain and forget it had happened. He never had been good at pretending the way Noctis apparently is (or, some small bitter part of his mind wondered, maybe it just literally meant nothing to him), but he could try to forget it.
The next few days, he went out of his way to avoid Noctis. It wasn't easy. He was supposed to be in training to be a proper Crownsguard so he can accompany Noct more places, but for a place as large as the Citadel, it was surprisingly easy to run into people in the halls if you weren't being careful. He ended up sneakily getting Noct's training schedule from Gladio and doing his best to make his work around it, so he could be well out of the way before Noctis headed in for training.
Noctis texted him a few times, but it was easier to pretend when his stupid face and voice couldn't give him away. He swore he was fine, just busy. He could tell by the looks he caught Noctis sending his way when they passed in the halls that he didn't buy it.
What he didn't count on was Noctis running out of patience before Prompto ran out of times he could run the kiss through his head.
"So why have you been avoiding me?"
Prompto yelped, dropping his gym bag and nearly falling over. He'd taken one of the the back ways out of the Citadel so he wouldn't run into Noctis. Obviously, it hadn't worked. Noctis was leaning against the wall by the door, arms crossed over his chest.
"I haven't been avoiding you," Prompto replied, frowning. "It's just… been a busy week, is all."
Noctis watched him for a long moment before responding. "You ran out of my apartment like your ass was on fire Saturday morning, and you haven't looked me in the eye since." He shifted, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. "Was it— did I mess up your birthday? Did you want to go out somewhere or something?"
"What?" Prompto said, dumbfounded. "Noct, no. No, it was great. Really."
"Then what is going on?" Noctis demanded. "Did I— " He cut himself off, scowling as a couple more people came out the door. He waited until they were out of hearing range before he continued. "I don't… remember everything that happened Friday night," he admitted. "I didn't realize it until after you left and I tried to think of what I could have done to upset you. Most of the night is okay, but it's really sketchy there at the end, and—" He sucked in a deep breath. "If I said something that made you uncomfortable, I'm really, really sorry."
He sounds so genuine, so hurt that Prompto immediately regretted avoiding him all week.
"Noct, no, you didn't say anything." Which was the problem, wasn't it? Although, that silence sat a lot easier in his gut now that he knew Noctis just didn't remember. It still hurt, in its own way, but it was more of a bittersweet ache than the painful hook behind his ribs he'd felt all week.
Noctis had always been too smart for his own good, though, because something in Prompto's voice had him narrowing his eyes.
"I did something, then."
As established previously, Prompto was no good at pretending. His mouth opened on a denial, but no sound came out, and he ended up just staring at Noctis with his mouth open for a minute before he snapped it shut.
"What did I do?"
"It… it wasn't a big deal. Honestly," Prompto promised. "I was just being dumb, but I'm over it now. It doesn't matter." Noctis wasn't buying a word of it.
"Did I hurt you?"
"No!" Prompto's response was immediate and horrified. "You would never."
Noctis seemed to relax a fraction. "Then it was just something you didn't like."
"I didn't say that," Prompto replied, then snapped his mouth shut again when he realized what had come out of it. He wished he could take it back, but could only watch with dread as realization dawned in Noctis' eyes.
"You liked it but then I didn't remember it." He looked up to meet Prompto's eyes. "I did hurt you. Fuck, Prom, I'm sorry." He paused, swallowing hard. "I can really only think of one thing I'd do when drunk that…"
Prompto was frozen in place, watching wide-eyed as Noctis stepped in closer.
"I'm completely sober now," Noctis said, stepping close enough that Prompto could feel the ghost of his breath on his face. "Which means you can say stop, and I'll listen, and I'll apologize, and then we can figure out how to fix this. But it also means this time, I'll remember."
He leaned in, giving Prompto plenty of time to protest or step away. Prompto couldn't think of anything he wanted to do less, so instead he sped things along by meeting him halfway.
It was just as soft, just as warm, but decidedly more intentional and coordinated. The initial press of lips was just that — a simple press of lips — but after a moment Prompto made an impatient noise and deepened the kiss, reaching up to cup Noctis' face in his hands as he dragged their tongues against each other in a hot, spit-slick motion that made him instantly want to be somewhere far more private than the back lot of the Citadel.
When they finally pulled apart, Noctis' hands had at some point migrated to Prompto's hips, holding them close even as they parted to suck in a breath.
"Please tell me that was better than Drunk Noctis' kissing," Noctis finally said, making Prompto break out into laughter.
"Yeah, there were some definite improvements," Prompto allowed. "The fact that you acknowledged it afterwards, for one."
Noctis' face contorted briefly. "Prom, I really am sorry. I swear I didn't mean to just ignore it. I'm honestly pissed I don't get to remember our first kiss, and that I kind of ruined it by being an idiot."
"You didn't ruin it," Prompto protested. "I mean, I could have said something and I didn't either, so at the very least we were both idiots."
"Not a mistake I plan to repeat," Noctis said, reaching out to snag Prompto's hand. "Come back to my place with me? We can talk about stuff. Kissing stuff. Maybe with more actual kissing mixed in there, too, if you want."
"I want," Prompto replied, grinning widely. "I really, really want."