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With the fire crackling and the stars in the sky shining, it was one beautiful night out at the haven. Ignis had cooked up some Nebula Salmon Teriyaki for the group and the smell of it really was something wonderful.
Prompto was ready to start eating, but then he decided to look over across the fire to where Ignis and Noctis were. Ignis was sitting on the ground as he ate while Noctis sat in one of the chairs, and for some reason Prompto found himself entranced by how Noctis pretty much was glowing as the light of the fire shined on him.
Correction; it wasn't for some reason. Prompto knew exactly why he was looking and what he was looking for. He watched carefully as Noctis smiled and joked around with Ignis, the smile feeling a hundred times brighter than the fire itself.
Chuckling to himself he pulled out his camera, moving slightly closer to where Noctis was sitting. He stayed a few feet back, hoping not to draw Noctis's attention with what he was doing. From there he started to adjust his camera, looking for the best way to take a shot.
He tilted side to side trying to see what looked best, but honestly any angle of Noctis always looked great to him. He continued looking for the best angel though, humming softly to himself. Eventually he focused the camera just right and he snapped his shot.
Of course right after he snapped the shot, Noctis turned to look at him, tilting his head to the side slightly. "Uh Prompto…? What are you doing?"
"O-Oh! You know…" Prompto mumbled, almost embarrassed that he got caught. He had taken plenty of pictures of Noctis before, both when he was looking and not looking. But for some reason he was caught up in his own little moment that he felt shy. "Just taking a photo for the memories."
"Of me… while I eat?" Noctis asked as he held up his skewer slightly.
Prompto was sure that he was full on blushing at this point. He could only hope and plead that the light of the fire would hide that fact. Maybe they would all think that he was just standing too close to the fire for too long instead of the other option. "Y-Yeah! I just wanted to capture the lighting y'know!"
"Sure you were," Ignis replied dryly.
Prompto glared at him. He could swear that Ignis was smirking! There was no way that he could have known! No way at all! But he could just hope once more that it was just a casual tease from the man. He pleaded to the stars themselves that he wouldn't get caught. The last thing he needed right now was to die of embarrassment.
"Yeah! Well you know me just taking photos wherever I go. Just my thing and stuff!"
"Well why don't you show us then what you are taking?" Noctis asked.
"No way! Uh I mean I can't, not tonight. I already showed my photos from today, so you'll have to wait till next time we camp."
Noctis snorted. "Whatever you say."
That night Prompto was looking through all of his saved photos from the start of the trip. He couldn't save every single photo, but he saved the best based on what the guys would say. But finally he came across one he had not officially saved yet. The one of Noctis sitting and eating with a smile gracing his face.
"Maybe I should just delete it… otherwise the guys will tease me to no end. I just know it! Especially Gladio! I just don't think I could deal with that…"
His finger lingered over the trash button but his eyes became fixated on the photo. He couldn't find it in his heart to delete such a beautiful and rare moment such as this. Noctis wasn't even looking at the camera in the photo, but he was the only thing in focus. Ignis was still in the background but was so blurred out compared to how Noctis stood out.
But there was just something peaceful and tranquil about the photo to Prompto. Something about it that made him smile and feel warm inside of his chest. Sighing, he turned off his camera and went to sleep, deciding he would keep the photo after all. But now he just had to keep it hidden from the other guys. He could never let them find out. Maybe if he was lucky, Noctis would forget what he said about showing it tomorrow. Just maybe...
The following day seemed just as long, if not longer, than the last one. But the longer the day felt the more pictures Prompto could take to fill his quota. It wasn't that he really had a set number to take each day, but he tried to not overdo it too much as the camera could still only hold so many photos.
By the time they finally arrived at camp and set up, they were eating dinner before Prompto knew it. As they ate Prompto was reviewing the photos, just looking over them one last time before he showed them to the other three. Though he once again came across the photo of Noctis from the prior night. He had not saved it to the SD card yet, and he was going to but before he could to try and hide it away Noctis came over to him.
"So ready to show us your photos?"
"Ah!" Prompto quickly pressed the button to switch to the next photo. Quickly he tried to recover himself to try and seem calm. "Oh yeah! You know it!"
"Wait, what was that?"
"What was what?"
"That photo you were looking at. I don't think I remember seeing one like that."
"Oh that? It's nothing, one of the blurry bad ones. I'll delete it after we go through the rest."
Noctis hummed before narrowing his eyes. He was far from convinced. "I still wanna see."
"Nah, you don't need to see it. Nothing exciting."
"If it isn't exciting why can't I still see it. If it's you tumbling down a hill I wanna see how goofy you look."
"It's not any of that, just nothing worth seeing."
"Oh suuuure it is," Noctis said as he leaned in close. "Now come on and show me already!"
Prompto squirmed in his seat slightly, nervous how close Noctis was to him. He wasn't going to get away from this, not without showing the photo in the end. But his fear of Noctis seeing it was still overriding everything else. This photo wasn't like the others. This was just a picture Prompto took for his own stupid selfish desires.
His own stupid want to have as many pretty pictures of Noctis as he could. It was all so stupid and now he was going to be caught red handed. He knew for sure Noctis would think of him as weird after that. Some guy who just wanted a lot of photos of him, now resorting to taking them when Noctis wasn't even looking. Noctis totally would think him as a creep after that. And then from there they would be no going back. No one to fix the mistake he made when he decided to snap that shot.
With a deep breath he pressed the button on his camera, but to go in the opposite direction. Maybe if he was lucky Noctis didn't see which arrow he hit before. Maybe he could get lucky and pass off the next one as the one that he was trying to hide. It was a messed up one anyways with him on his chocobo trying to take a stable shot of the other three, but of course it was out of focus because of the unpredictable nature of a chocobo.
"Nice try, but that didn't look like what I saw before. Try going the other way." Noctis replied slyly.
"Ahh…" Prompto sighed. He tried to think of a good enough excuse but nothing was coming to mind anymore. "But like… I don't-"
"Come on Prom. it can't really be that bad. It's… It's that photo from yesterday isn't it?"
"Uh well I mean it's like… okay yeah it is," Prompto lowered his head, knowing he couldn't continue to hide it.
He switched the photo back and let Noctis see it in full. Though he could already feel his gut twisting from the fear… but even with that feeling, he couldn't try to hide it anymore. He knew Noctis too well and he knew he wouldn't give up.
"Here it is…" Prompto muttered quietly, letting Noctis stare at the image he had taken the night prior.
"Wow, that's some focus…" Noctis muttered as he stared at the image. There was a hint of lightness in his tone, something that Prompto was not expecting. "You really captured the perfect subject."
Turning to look at Noctis, he could see that he was grinning cheekily. Trying not to laugh, he pushed aside Noctis's face. "Oh ha ha, very funny."
"What? Weren't you going on about hoping to capture the perfect subject one day? Aren't I right here?"
"Yeah but…" Prompto started to say, but he stopped himself before he went too far. "Wait a minute! You're not upset with me?"
Noctis looked at him, tilting his head to the side. "Why would I be upset with you?"
"Cause ya know I just took this picture of you cause I… I um…" Prompto could feel the heat prickle up onto his face, and he knew it wasn't because of the fire.
"You could have just asked," Noctis replied before he wrapped his arms around Prompto's chest. "But on the other hand, you acting shy and flustered is fun to see."
"H-Hey!"
"But seriously Prom, you know you can tell me. I promise I won't judge."
"Okay… fine you win. The truth is… I just really wanted a nice picture. You know because…" Prompto swallowed as he finally tried to push the truth out. He couldn't even believe that he was doing this. He was actually going to tell the truth to Noctis? Right then and there? Well it seemed that he was and there would be stopping at this point.
"I just wanted a nice picture of you cause you just looked so handsome. Just a beautiful moment to capture."
As soon as the words left his lips he regretted everything. He just blurted it out without any thought to it otherwise. He had just openly admitted he thought Noctis was handsome and he wanted to take a picture of it. Surely Noctis would think of that as weird. There was no other way that Prompto could see it now that he had said it.
"See? That wasn't so hard was it?" Noctis said, still speaking softly and gently unlike what Prompto was expecting.
He looked at Noctis with his fearful eyes, but when he saw Noctis's calm and friendly eyes, all of that melted away. He could see that there was no hate or disgust within Noctis, only a friendly and warm smile that always seemed to make Prompto's heart swell.
"So you don't mind? That I took a picture of you cause I wanted to?"
"You're the photographer of the group. You can take a picture of whatever fancies you. And I don't mind if that fancy happens to be me." Noctis replied, giving the softest smile Prompto had probably ever seen on him.
It was hard to tell by the light of the fire, but Prompto was sure Noctis's face was turning red. His face of all people was red and just like Prompto knew for himself, he had a feeling that this red was not because of the fire.
"Noct… you mean…?"
"Heh… I am sure if I was into photography as much as you, I would totally be sneaking pictures of you all the time," Noctis admitted slowly.
Prompto couldn't help but laugh, feeling a huge wave of relief. "Oh man! You totally shouldn't see what I have saved on my phone then."
Prompto gasped at his own words as he went to cover his mouth. He couldn't believe himself! He seriously had just blurted out and even worse secret now. But once again Noctis just smiled and laughed lightly.
"It's okay Prom, I may or may not have a few pictures on my phone of you anyway," Noctis admitted, albeit a bit sheepishly.
Prompto's eyes widened slightly. "O-Oh… Oh!"
Though he was nervously chuckling now he made one glance down to his camera. The photo was still on the display, still showing that beautiful image of Noctis. Now that everything seemed to be out in the open and nothing bad had happened, Prompto clicked a button and finally saved the photo to the SD card.