Chapter Text
Prompto has long stopped trying to understand the intricacies of certain Crown traditions and procedures. There’s things that make absolute sense, like the necessity of a guard whenever they're in public. When they were in school, Prompto was naive enough to believe that Noctis actually wandered around the city alone until Noctis' trained eye picked out two unassuming faces that had followed them from the school to the skating rink. It always put him on edge, knowing that they were being watched even though it wasn't nefarious, but the feeling definitely eased up when Ignis and Gladio started being around more. Something about being overtly monitored felt less stressful.
Other little things didn't always make sense. Noctis even said as much when they came up, usually feeling sheepish or annoyed for even mentioning them. It took a full three weeks of pointed stares and Ignis subtly adjusting his position before Noctis, face flushed with embarrassment, finally told him, "Well, technically, you're supposed to walk two steps behind me." When pressed as to why didn't bring it up sooner, Noctis shrugs and mumbles, "It's a stupid rule, anyway."
From then on, he gets most of his Crown etiquette rules from Ignis. Even if Noctis doesn't have any intention of following the old traditions he doesn't like, Prompto still wants to know so he doesn't make an ass of himself in front of super important people.
One of those super important people he actually wants to impress is Princess Lunafreya, whose visit to the Citadel had been planned for months, but even with her arrival just over a month away, Noctis hasn't said much about it. As far as Prompto knows, the two of them have been friends for years, so the sudden silence the closer they are to seeing each other is strange.
Noctis has been oddly insistent on giving Prompto a ride home from his print shop job, even though it was just an easy 20-minute bus ride home. But because it's more time spent with his best friend, he gives very little protest and actually enjoys the after-hours clean up, chatting with Noctis across the counter.
With the upcoming visit on his mind, he casually asks, "Hey, do you think I'll get to meet Lunafreya when she visits?" Okay, so he tries to ask casually, but he can't keep the slightly hopeful edge out of his voice. Truthfully, he's expecting a 'no' because why would a foreign princess have time to meet some nobody like him.
Noctis has been leaning on the counter up to this point while they'd been talking, and the question makes him start slightly. His eyes rake over the small impulse buys on the counter as if they might give him the answer, and he sighs and stands up straight. "She won't be here long. It's." He pauses and takes a pen out of a mug in front of him. He starts incessantly tapping the pen against his knuckle. “The council members really want to see me at least engaged by 21, so Luna and I are officially courting or whatever." His gaze had been focused on his hands, but he finally glances up at Prompto.
He wishes Noctis would've just said no.
Prompto’s three-year crush kind of changed intensity depending on the situation, and he honestly had no intention of even revealing he was into guys. They'd been watching some popular action movie at Noctis’ apartment when some insanely attractive side character appeared and said a few lines. Prompto couldn't stop the "Oh shit, he's hot" from leaving his mouth before his brain caught up to his dick, and he sat in a panicked silence before Noctis shrugged and said "he's alright, I guess."
He realizes he's been silent too long and nods. "Oh! Uh… so, you're, like, dating?" Gods, he sounds like a high schooler. It adds to how much he wants the ground to open up and swallow him.
"No!" Noctis’ eyes widen with panic and his hand shoots out to grab Prompto’s arm. "It's just-" Realizing what he did, Noctis releases his grip, his fingertips lingering briefly. "-ceremonial. Checking some boxes. If there was anyone else I'd have to do all the courting stuff with them, but right now it's just Luna. It doesn't have to end in engagement."
Prompto knows himself and that he can let his imagination get away with him, but he doesn't think he's imagining how he and Noctis have been dancing around each other for the better part of the last six months. The lingering touches. The awkward looks. Things left unsaid.
"But it must be at least kinda serious if it's official, right?" He can't help but imagine horse-drawn carriages and ladies with parasols when he hears 'courting,' but he assumes the Crown has modernized in the past 100 years.
Noctis scoffs. "Hardly. I mean, like I said, it's just checking some boxes. Technically, it's required to even be considered for marriage, which is outdated and dumb, but the council isn't super strict about the details." He locks eyes with Prompto again. "And it doesn't have to end in engagement."
Whatever's happening between them, is probably just a sentence in Noctis' life story. Prompto’s hopelessly optimistic but he's not dumb or selfish enough to think that Noctis would abandon his official courtship just to be with him. He should be satisfied with what he has and hope that when Noctis eventually marries, he'll still be two steps behind him. So, he grins through whatever tightness he feels in his chest and shakes his head. "Dude, Lunafreya is awesome. Honestly I think she's too good for you."
Noctis snorts and shakes his head. “Sure.” The topic’s thankfully dropped for the rest of the night, but obviously, it’s created a tension between the two of them. When Prompto locks up and they settle into Noctis’ car (it’s been a couple of years since Prompto’s tried to identify which car on the street was following them), the radio’s turned up louder than usual to fill the awkward bouts of silence. The whole ride home he tries to think of something to say to lighten the situation. Maybe he could make light of the whole courting thing to show Noctis it didn’t bother him? But his stupid crush won’t let him even think about it without his stomach hurting, and before he knows it, they’ve already pulled up to his apartment building. Typically, this is where they part ways, Noctis waiting for Prompto to get inside the building, but he parks the car at the curb and takes off his seatbelt.
Prompto pauses in the middle of removing his own seatbelt. “Uhh, you coming in?” He didn’t check earlier, but there’s a 50/50 chance his parents are in. They’ve met Noctis a handful of times, but he saw them so little that he always felt bad ignoring them in favor of Noctis.
“No, just uh, walking you to your door.” He’s out of the car before Prompto can question the need to walk the few extra feet. It’s not as if they need the privacy to speak. If anything, it’s less private than the car, but he exits the car and slings his work bag over his shoulder to follow anyway.
They walk silently, shoulder-to-shoulder, the short distance to the door, and Prompto tries to guess what's possibly running through his best friend’s head as he matches his slow measured steps. Yes, he's hopelessly optimistic, but about five of the possibilities involve Noctis friend-breaking up with him. He's 90 percent sure that's what's about to happen when they finally reach the door, and Noctis takes his hand and turns towards him. Dark blue eyes stare into his, and somewhere between Noctis taking a step forward and leaning in, he realizes, Holy shit, he's about to kiss me.
Clearly competing for the championship in the worst timing ever, a pair of late night party-goers choose this moment to exit the building, their path cutting in the middle of the two startled men. Prompto stares after the group, wishing mild inconvenience upon them, until they're out of earshot and turns back to Noctis, but the moment is gone. A blush is starting to deepen on Noctis’ face and he rubs the side of his neck. "Well, anyway. I'll take you home tomorrow. See you." Before he can get a word in, not that he would know what to say, Noctis has walked off at a hurried pace back to his car.
&&
The aborted kiss gets added to the things they don’t talk about. The next night Noctis comes in half an hour before close as usual, and they chat while he closes. While neither of them brings up the fact that Noctis almost kissed him, something’s changed. Noctis has taken to helping organize the orders ready for pickup in the morning– tucking them into the envelope once Prompto’s checked over them. There’s always the occasional finger brush, but the touches are more frequent and linger for much longer than necessary. At the end of the night, he’s taken home and Noctis stays buckled when he’s dropped off.
The following day, he doesn't expect to see Noctis at all as the prince spends every Thursday evening training. Prompto’s just sitting down to eat his sad egg salad sandwich on his dinner break when Noctis texts him, asking if he has a minute to talk. Knowing how strict Gladio is about their training, Prompto wonders how Noctis possibly convinced the Shield to let him skip. From what he’s heard, nothing short of hospitalization is reason enough to postpone their sessions.
"Dude, did you run away from Gladio?" It's not a bad guess considering how sweaty and out-of-breath his best friend is. As always he's clad all in black– today he traded his t-shirt and jeans for a zip-up hoodie and joggers– and he has a cap pulled low over his eyes in a half-attempt to hide his face.
Noctis dismissively waves a hand. "Not exactly, but I'm short on time. Can we…?" He motions towards the backroom, away from the few customers in the store who are already starting to stare.
"Uhh, yeah." Customers are definitely forbidden from going behind the counter, but Prompto's manager has never said anything about Noctis staying after close. Sometimes it pays when your best friend is royalty. Once they're hidden from view he asks, "Something up?"
Noctis shrugs off the backpack he had over his shoulder that Prompto hadn't noticed previously. "Just-" He unzips it and pulls out a small soft case. "Here." He tosses the bag at Prompto.
The case is surprisingly light for how packed it appears to be. He's not sure what he's expecting when he unzips it, but he's definitely confused that it's filled with… wristbands? "You came all the way here to give me wristbands?"
Noctis rezips his backpack and throws it back over his shoulder. "Yeah. They're, uh, Crownsguard wristbands. They're branded."
Sure enough, the leather bands are covered in barely-there skull motifs with the Lucis Caelum coat of arms in the center. "Huh. Didn't see these when I got to pick my Crownsguard gear." He looks up at Noctis who suddenly seems caught off-guard.
"Yeah… you kinda just gotta know who to talk to. Anyway, um, so they're yours to wear."
"In uniform, right? I feel like I got a whole lecture about not wearing partial uniform. All or nothing."
Noctis huffs, slightly flustered. "Yeah, I know the rules, but they're just wristbands. They're not gonna fine you for something you wear every day anyway." Prompto's fingers itch to adjust the aforementioned band on his right wrist. He's still pretty baffled why Noctis felt the need to come all the way here today to give this to him, but it would be rude to not take them. "So…" Noctis breaks the silence after a long pause. "Will you wear them?"
"Geez, Noct, if it's that important to you." He rolls his eyes and unstraps the band from his left wrist, the one that covers the tattoos that Noctis does know about and puts on one of the Crownsguard ones. He lifts his wrist, coat of arms facing out to show off. "Happy?"
The poorly suppressed smug look on the prince's face is enough of an answer to his question. "Well, I should go. I… may have actually run away from Gladio. See you." Noctis nods at him before seeing his own way out the backroom, no doubt into a small crowd of curious customers.
The visit's… odd? But Prompto just makes a mental note to ask Ignis if he's not understanding some weird royalty thing again later and stuffs the rest of the wristbands in his work bag. Despite the newness of the leather band on his wrist, it's not uncomfortable, and the insignia isn't too conspicuous to draw attention. And hey, if wearing them makes Noctis happy for some odd reason, it's no problem to trade them for what he usually wears.
&&
On the one rare day he has off work (he's sure he could ask for more days off, but he’s eager to save up enough to find a place of his own), Noctis calls him before 8 in the morning.
"Do you wanna go to Par-Palooza?"
Prompto pulls his phone away from his ear to check that it's really Noct calling this early in the day to invite him to a local attraction usually reserved for families, teens, and couples, when they were decidedly none of those things. He's sitting at the kitchen table, eating after his morning run and shower, so he puts his phone on speaker. His parents aren't home to worry about bothering. "You mean that place with the go-karts and mini-golf and the batting cages?"
Noctis hums in affirmation. "Yeah, that's the place."
"Oookay?"
"Okay?"
"No, I mean, like okay, why? And don't you have meetings and royal… boy stuff all day?" It had taken just short of a royal decree for Noctis to be allowed to share his calendar with Prompto. It made it easier to plan their hang outs around both their busy schedules (and for Prompto, the more responsible one, to remind Noctis of his duties). He'd had to get an approved phone that could be remotely wiped in case it ever got lost or stolen.
"Royal boy stuff," Noctis mutters. "No, I got Ignis to reschedule or move them all to this morning." Sure enough, when he opens up his calendar app, he sees that all the meetings previously distributed throughout the day have largely been pushed between 8:30 and 2.
“Morning meetings? You? Have you been body snatched?”
He can practically hear the eye roll through the phone. “Haha. Are we going or not?”
“If you’re paying, you can take me anywhere, buddy,” he jokes.
Noctis chuckles softly. “I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t plan on paying, cheapskate.”
“Am I a cheapskate? Or is one of us literally a prince.”
“Point taken. I’ll pick you up around 3.”
“Oooh, kinda sounds like a date,” Prompto teases before his brain can catch up with his mouth. When Noctis goes silent, he scrambles to try to think of something to cut through the tension, but all he can think is oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.
He’s taken completely off guard when Noctis turns the statement back on him asking, “Does it?” way more casually than he has any right to. There’s no surprise in his voice, and Prompto’s not sure if Noctis expected an answer from him because while he does pause long enough for a reply, Prompto’s mouth is suddenly too dry to speak. "Yours at 3 then. Gotta head out. Bye."
Oh fuck. Noctis’ recent flirting has been fanning the flames on his crush to an intensity it's never been at before. He'd always thought he'd done a good job of concealing it and treating Noctis the same, but lately he'd been stumbling over his words or blushing. Someway, somehow he has to get this under control before the inevitable heartbreak the future engagement promises.
That's probably a task for another day because he can't stop his dumb, hopeful heart from stuttering when Noctis comes to pick him up looking illegally attractive in a dark blue shirt and ripped black jeans. He's sure his impulsive mouth would have said something he couldn't explain away as a joke if Ignis wasn't there, greeting him and asking about work. Talking about work keeps him focused for most of the ride, then they lapse into silence and all he can do is stare at Noctis’ hand resting on the seat next to him. The prince is staring out the window, a small smile on his face and to keep himself from staring like an insane person, he turns and asks Ignis if he's joining in on the fun today.
"Just supervision duties today." He feels Noctis’ hand twitch and grip the edge of the seat. "Not very different from my usual role though-"
"You and Gladio still got that book club thing going on?" Noctis cuts in, leaning forward in his seat as much as the belt allows.
Ignis frowns at his charge in the rear view mirror. "It's hardly a book club."
Noctis grins and turns towards Prompto. "Like, 3 months ago they got into some dumb argument about how they know each other better than they know themselves-"
"Now, you're drastically exaggerating the exch-"
"-so Gladio went and got a book he knew Ignis hadn't read but was super confident he'd like it because he knows Specs so well. Then, Ignis did the same, and they've been going back and forth since."
Prompto laughs, amused and mostly shocked that Ignis would participate in something so childishly petty. "I dunno, Iggy. Kinda sounds like a book club." The friendly banter continues on until they reach the amusement park, and Prompto’s out of the car and bouncing on his toes, more excited than a 20-year-old probably should be for a family fun center.
Noctis comes beside him, hands shoved into his pockets and bites back a smile. “So, what do you wanna do first?”
“Ooooh, how about mini golf?” He eagerly grabs Noctis’ bicep and drags him to the kiosk at the entrance of the mini golf course. Once they’re at the booth, he lets go of Noctis’ arm and picks up a paper scorecard from the stack on the counter. “Looks like there’s three different courses, but par is two for every hole. Guess we can start with course one and see what kind of time we have?”
Noctis shrugs and nods. “Sounds good.” He picks up a couple of clubs and picks up a purple golf ball. “Yellow for you?”
Prompto grins. “You know it.”
Behind them, Ignis has been standing back and keeping quiet but he moves forward and holds out his hand for the scorecard. “Since I must follow you anyway, I’ll keep score.”
“Sweet!” He hands over the paper and takes his ball and club from Noctis. “Prepare to have your ass handed to you, Highness.” Noctis rolls his eyes at the honorific but smiles and follows Prompto over to the sparsely-populated course.
It becomes clear after the first five holes that neither of them are especially good at mini golf when they’re both already averaging 6 strokes per hole. When it becomes clear that this isn’t going to be a game of skill, they take it upon themselves to win by distracting each other. At first, the distractions come in the form of waving arms, jumping around, or loud noises while the other is putting, but soon that turns into playful shoves.
At the 17th hole, both of their scores are abysmal, but they’re still keeping up the game of distracting each other. Noctis has actually done well the past two holes, so in a wildly impulsive move to be the most distracting while Noctis is lining up his first shot, Prompto slings an arm around his neck and kisses his cheek. From the angle he can’t see exactly how badly Noctis screws up the stroke, but he definitely hears when the ball ricochets off a wood beam and splashes into the pond between the 8th and 13th holes.
Prompto pulls back to watch as Noctis’ wide-eyed shock falls all at once with a sigh. “...Shit.”
“I’ll retrieve it,” Ignis states, an amused look on his face.
Noctis holds up a hand. “Don’t. I’ll get it.” Prompto’s never seen a man with a tiny golf club look so defeated as Noctis spends the next 3 minutes fishing his ball out the pond to the amusement of the few golfers who recognize him. When he comes back over, he drops his ball back at the starting mark and shoots Prompto a dark look that makes him shiver. “Wait for your turn.”
Then he makes a hole-in-one. He smirks at Prompto and stands back from the starting mark, making a sweeping gesture.
Prompto gulps. He steps up to the mark and drops his ball, very aware of Noctis behind him. Nervous of what Noctis has planned, he takes way longer than usual scoping out the green in front of him, pretending to calculate the best angle to sink the ball in one hit. After stalling as long as he can, he finally leans over with his club to begin his putt, but before he can pull the club back, Noctis is suddenly pressed against his back. His breath hitches as hands move to his hips and push his t-shirt up just enough to rub the sliver of skin there. The kiss on the cheek probably crossed the line from friendly pestering to flirty, but this? This was outright seduction. “Something wrong?” Noctis asks, voice deep in his ear.
It takes everything in him to suppress a shudder, and he hurriedly taps the ball forward a few feet and steps forward out of Noctis’ hold. “Th-that’s one!” he stutters out, trying his best to put on a disaffected voice. He can feel the redness creeping up his neck and he can’t bring himself to look at Noctis for the rest of the course or his entire body might turn red.
After they finish the course, they head over to the go-karts, and by the second time around Prompto’s feeling back to his normal self, more or less. Since Noctis had beaten him in mini golf Prompto challenges Noctis to a race around the track, which becomes best out of three, then best of five… seven…
They end up not going to the batting cages, partly because Prompto doesn’t want to mess up his hair with the mandatory helmet, but also because they dicked around on the golf course and go-karts so long that it’s already past 7. Since Noctis has another full day of meetings waiting for him, they decide to grab a quick bite at a fast food place in Prompto’s neighborhood before taking him home. It’s something they do pretty often, to Ignis’ chagrin, but it’s unusual that the chamberlain elects to sit at a table removed from them.
“Uh. Iggy never passes up a chance to force-feed you veggies in public,” Prompto observes as they settle into their booth. “He okay?”
Noctis doesn’t even spare a glance to the older man and instead focuses on removing the lettuce, tomato, and onion from his burger and moving them to Prompto’s plate. “Yeah, he’s just got meeting notes to go over.”
“Dude, you know you can order your burger without those, right?”
Noctis shrugs then lifts an eyebrow as Prompto steals a fry off his plate. “And you could order your own fries.”
“Mmm, I dunno.” He steals another one and pops it in his mouth. “Something about it being your food makes it that much tastier.” Noctis shakes his head and smiles. Looking around at the nondescript restaurant, Prompto sighs. “I know this place isn’t much, but I miss when we could do this all the time after school.” He takes the top bun off his burger and starts squeezing an unhealthy amount of ketchup on it. “Gonna miss this.”
Noctis pulls a face, a little of it at the amount of condiment on the burger, but mostly at the statement. “You say that like you’re moving away.”
“Well, no. But you’re taking on a lot more Crown stuff, then you have the Tenebrean delegate coming for an entire month. Then after that you’ll be-” Married. It’s at the tip of his tongue, but he can’t bring himself to say it. He can’t even bring himself to look up at Noctis, and instead focuses his attention on his food. “-more swamped, so I’m sure eating fast food burgers won’t be at the top of your list.”
He takes a too big bite out of his burger to stop his rambling, and finally darts his eyes up to Noctis who’s sitting and looking at him, thoughtfully. “We’ll make time, I promise.” Prompto’s eyes tear away from Noctis back to his food, afraid that if he keeps looking, Noctis can tell how those few words made his stomach flutter and his heart stutter. Fuck, he’s understanding why it’s called a crush. It was absolutely suffocating. He’s not sure how long he could stand how bad it’s gotten without either distancing himself for a while or just kissing Noctis. Both ideas felt equally bad.
After their quick dinner, they pile back into the car for the short drive back to Prompto’s apartment. Luckily, they switch to lighter conversation in the car that doesn’t make Prompto want to jump Noctis’ bones. Not as much, anyway. When Noctis insists on walking him to the door again, Prompto’s heart leaps into his throat. There’s no way Noctis would try to kiss him again, right? Especially with Ignis so close by?
Once they’re out of the car, Noctis lowers his voice as he walks next to Prompto and leans in slightly. “I couldn’t point it out earlier, but the cashier at Bonanza Burger totally gave his number to Specs.”
Prompto’s eyebrows nearly shoot up into his hairline. “What?! Really?”
Noctis nods and steals a glance over their shoulders. “Oh yeah. When you went to get your drink, he wrote it at the bottom of the receipt and winked at him.”
“And what did Iggy do?”
“Well, he takes pictures of all his receipts for expense reports, and then he usually tosses them on the way out. But he took the picture and put it in his pocket.” Noctis lifts his eyebrows and smirks.
Prompto laughs in disbelief. “Dude, I can’t imagine what’s going on there. You have to snoop and tell me if Ignis actually calls or texts him.” They’re finally at the entrance of his apartment building, and it’s so similar to a few nights ago that Prompto peers into the windows beside the front door to see if those same party-goers were on their way out. When he doesn’t see anyone, he nervously looks back at Noctis who’s looking back at the car. “Well… today was really fun.” He fiddles with his left wristband. “We should do that again… sometime… if you have time.”’ Oh gods, I sound so stupid. How do I stop sounding so stupid. He can’t fathom what’s happened in the last 20 seconds to turn him from having a friendly conversation to a bumbling idiot, but he knows that the only way to stop it is to just get inside the building.
But yet he continues standing there, fumbling with his wristband until Noctis turns back to look at him. He seems almost surprised that Prompto’s still standing there, and he glances down to his nervous hands. Prompto takes this as his cue to go inside and starts to reach towards his pocket for his keys, but Noctis suddenly grabs his wrist, just firm enough to stop him. There’s a beat where they look at each other, then Noctis’ other hand is at the back of neck pulling him close to kiss him.
The only thought Prompto has once Noctis kisses him is to keep kissing Noctis as long as possible. His own hands settle on Noctis’ jaw as he eagerly accepts when the peck turns into more. Nothing else matters as Noctis presses their bodies together. It doesn’t matter that they’re still in front of his apartment building. It doesn’t matter that Ignis is probably watching his charge make out with one of his sworn guard. It doesn’t matter that Prompto’s kissing so desperately that Noctis can probably taste the years of pent up feelings.
They finally pull away for air, and from the intense look in Noctis’ eyes, Prompto doesn’t think he’s alone in wanting Noctis to immediately take him to bed. He’s extremely close to risking the chance of his parents not being home (they rarely were anyway) and dragging Noctis upstairs, but then he catches the black car in his peripheral and pulls away mumbling “Iggy” in Noctis’ ear.
Noctis seems to also realize where they are and clears his throat and runs a hand through his hair. “So, um.” He makes eye contact and huffs out a laugh. “Shouldn't keep him waiting, but we should probably talk about that later. I’ll text you?” Prompto nods his head dumbly, unsure that he can even say something intelligible with all the blood in his body decidedly not in his brain. “See you.” Though he half-wishes Noctis would kiss him again, the prince waves and sets off back towards the car. A smart decision because Prompto’s not sure Ignis would be a strong enough deterrent a second time.
It’s not until he’s back in his (empty) apartment, that he remembers Noctis is supposed to be getting engaged and married in the next year. To someone who’s not him.
What the fuck is he doing?