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Noctis watches Prompto sleep on the couch. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him, snoring lightly while still clutching his notes for one of his Art History classes. Noctis takes his jacket and drapes it over him. It was still pretty early, and they had time to rest for a little while, so he lets Prompto sleep, lets himself watch over him and the steady rising and falling of his chest.
They’ve been dating for a while, and god it was just so good. Being able to finally hold hands with him like it was nothing, being able to kiss him and watch him get flustered because of it, being able to just be with him and not have to pretend that he didn’t want anything more than to sit down next to him and tell him exactly how good it felt to be with him.
He sidles up next to Prompto, careful not to wake him, and guides his head to rest on his shoulder. This should be okay for a little while, not worrying about exams or assignments, or worrying about anything else. He takes his phone out and takes a picture of the two of them. Prompto would absolutely kill him if he finds out that he was taking pictures of him sleeping again, but that’s a risk he’s willing to take.
“Noctis.” He was having dinner with Regis one night, one of the occasional ones that happened every other month, when the both of them weren’t terribly busy. They usually spent it talking about what Noctis was up to in university, or something similar, and Noctis was more than happy to do so, cherishes the times he could spend with his father—they were both so busy that they only really get to talk over the phone or, more recently, online (since he convinced Regis to finally try out a messaging app). He was fully expecting his father to ask about his classes, or his grades even, but… Regis smiles fondly before continuing. “When are you going to introduce me to your lovely boyfriend?”
Noctis sucks in a breath just a little too quickly and begins coughing violently. Regis looked just the slightest bit amused.
“Dad,” Noctis finally says after he stops hacking up a lung. “How did you—When did you? What—”
“Noctis, I’m your father, nothing escapes me.” He laughs.
It was Ignis, wasn’t it, he thinks dismally.
“So? Who’s the wonderful person who’s managed to make you smile like that?” Regis was not going to let this go. “Could it be… is this the boy you used to draw back when you were in high school? I know the two of you are in the same university but I’m not so sure if… Oh, son, you were absolutely smitten back then—” Noctis screams internally.
This was going to be a long night.
Ignis and Gladio arrive just before he could start dozing off completely. The two of them were now lying nearly sideways on the couch, with Prompto’s head on his chest. He guides him away and nestles him onto the throw pillows.
“Hey.” He yawns. “You two finally back from your date?”
“What about you? Finally back from yours?” Gladio replies snarkily. “You’re just jealous because you two are stuck in here because of exams and can’t go out.”
Noctis pouts because he nit the nail right on the head.
“Anyway, we bought dinner on the way here.” Gladio lifts up the two bags he was carrying in his arms and goes to the dinner table to deposit them. “Hope you guys are good with pasta.”
Prompto would like that, he thinks. He remembers him mentioning how much he wanted to go back to the cafe they visited last semester since their pasta was so good. Maybe they should go after exams finish.
“Have you two been studying all afternoon?” Ignis asks from where he was hanging his coat near the entrance.
“Yeah.” Noctis stretches his arms in front of him. “I still have a few weeks before my exams, but Prompto wanted to get a head start since he has one coming up soon.” Ignis hums at that. “Why, something wrong?”
“It’s nothing,” he says. “You’ve just been… a lot more diligent lately. It’s quite a breath of fresh air, so to speak.” Ignis chuckles before going to sit with Gladio on the sofa opposite them.
“I’ve always been diligent, Specs.” He huffs. Though he can’t deny that he has much better studying habits now, and he’s been getting much better grades. He had to thank Prompto for that—he had a way of keeping him motivated, had a certain enthusiasm that transferred to him.
“I said more diligent, Noct.” Gladio laughs at that and says something along the lines of Noctis ‘wanting to impress his boyfriend.’ Well, he can’t deny that either.
“You’ll wake him up.” Noctis chides them and looks at Prompto. Nope, still fast asleep.
They end up relocating to the dining room and playing a few rounds of cards. Noctis was losing terribly, which he chalks up to being too tired to think outside of memorizing political theories. That and being too distracted with watching Prompto toss and turn in the living room. Maybe he should’ve woken him up so he could sleep properly on his bed.
They were all silent for a long while, before Ignis speaks.
“You really do love him, don’t you?” He says bluntly, though sounding more fond than anything.
Noctis chokes on air and makes a sound similar to someone being strangled. The two of them watch, amused, as Noctis stutters and trips on his words.
“Ah.” Gladio leans forward on the table, setting his cards down in front of him. “Haven’t gotten to the L-word yet, huh?”
“I—that’s… we haven’t—” He starts, all coherent thought going out the window. “It’s… we’re still… I don’t know if he—I’m—”
Ignis coughs, trying to hold in his laughter, before holding a hand up to stop him from continuing. Good, because his levels of embarrassment were shooting through the roof. “Sorry, that was a rather… intrusive question.”
“But you know…” Gladio focused his attention on him again, expression a lot more soft. “You shouldn’t be so scared of saying that to him.”
He was scared. He’d been dancing around the word in his mind for a while now, has avoided thinking about it too much lest he combusts. He likes Prompto. He likes him a lot. Sometimes it scares him exactly how much he liked him. He doesn’t get to stew over it this time though, as he hears the coffee table creak and sound with a loud thump, probably from something bumping into it. He looks back to the living room to see Prompto back on the couch clutching his leg. He snorts and walks back to him.
“He’s hopeless.” Gladio laughs as he watches Noctis reach his hand out to pull Prompto up from where he was sitting, though his smile turns fond after a while.
“He’ll probably figure it out soon,” Ignis says as he takes his glasses off to wipe them clean. “Probably.”
Love was a scary thing to think about.
He looks at Prompto, brows drawn in concentration as he sorts through his flashcards. Noctis reaches out to smooth the crease forming in the middle of his forehead. Prompto tenses, probably startled by being touched so suddenly, but relaxes after a while. He looks up and flashes Noctis a smile. Noctis smiles back before returning to his notes.
He sees Prompto to his dorm that night, but not before getting a promise of having lunch together during the weekend out of him. Prompto seemed more than happy to oblige.
He was just about to turn towards the stairs outside the building and walk back to his car when Prompto stops him, grabs him by the sleeve of his sweater and pulls him back. Prompto kisses him squarely on the lips, something that lasted only a quarter of a second before he begins pulling away and steps back, cheeks flushed in a way that only made Noctis want to kiss him again, if only to see more of it.
“So, uh…” Prompto starts, tone definitely shy, and Noctis could feel his heart squeeze at how absolutely adorable he looked. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” Noctis feels weightless. “See you tomorrow, Prom.”
The smile Prompto gives him afterwards follows him to his dreams.
Love was a scary thing.
He’d seen how devastated his father was when his mother died. He looked like part of him died along with her. He was young, and he didn’t remember much about his mother or the feeling of losing her, but the memory of Regis—slumped over his desk, eyes tired and glossed over—was something he couldn’t shake from his mind, even now.
And that scared him.
Love was scary.
They were hanging out in Prompto’s dorm room that afternoon, having decided to spend their break playing King’s Knight and just lounging around before their next class started. Noctis had his head on Prompto’s lap, something he did a lot more frequently recently. He spends all of ten minutes playing the game before he falls asleep.
“—ove you.”
He wakes to Prompto running his fingers through his hair. When he looks up, the look Prompto had was filled with such fondness and affection that he had to take a moment to just let it sink in. Prompto finally realizes that he was awake, and his hands fly away to his side.
“Hey.” Prompto pats the top of his head. “Good morning.”
“‘Morning.” He yawns and looks at his watch. “It’s three in the afternoon, but good morning.” Prompto just laughs.
“You have class in forty-five minutes,” Prompto says. “I was gonna let you sleep for a little while longer but I guess I woke you up.”
“You didn’t, it’s fine.” Noctis could’ve sworn he heard Prompto say something just as he was about to wake up. “You were saying something earlier?”
“Eh?”
“Earlier, before I woke up,” Noctis points out. “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch it.”
Prompto turns an amazing shade of red. “O-Oh, uh, it’s nothing really. I was just humming to myself.”
Noctis smiles, endeared. “Let me hear you sometime, then.”
“I—Sure thing…”
Prompto walks him to his next class and Noctis kisses his cheek as soon as he was able.
Love was…
They were having coffee at Noctis’s apartment when he blurts it out.
They were joking around about him letting Prompto walk to his dorm because he ate the last slice of cheesecake in his fridge or something, he doesn’t really remember. Prompto retaliates by saying he wouldn’t help him with organizing his flashcards come exam season and Noctis… Noctis blurts out—
“You won’t do that because you love me too much.”
Prompto freezes in place.
And Noctis realizes what just came out from his mouth.
He looks at Prompto, who looks like he’d just been doused in cold water, and starts stammering. “I-I mean, I didn’t mean anything by it, I just, I was just joking around—”
“Oh.” Prompto voice sounded flat, and when Noctis looks at him, his face looked absolutely crestfallen. “I see—yeah, that—that makes sense.” He laughs. Again, it sounded flat, and Noctis feels like his heart weighed his whole body down.
“Prompto, I—”
“So! Are we gonna study or what?” Prompto exclaims rather loudly, and proceeds to move over to his backpack so he could get his notes out. He almost knocks his coffee cup off the table, and he scrambles to steady it before it fell over. “Sorry, wow, I’m such a klutz today.”
“I—It’s fine.” Noctis could feel a lump forming in his throat, and he tries swallowing around it, but ends up failing. It stays there for a long time.
They spend the next few hours in almost complete silence. He doesn’t dare look up at him until he hears Prompto yawn. He looked… normal, for the most part, if not for looking incredibly tired from studying.
“Do you want to sleep for a bit?” He asks, carefully, like he was defusing a bomb.
“Ah.” Prompto regards him with an expression he can’t quite figure out. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”
Prompto heads on over to the couch, but Noctis stops him. “Just go sleep on my bed.”
“It’s fine, I—”
“The couch’s uncomfortable, right? You didn’t look comfortable the last time you slept on it,” he says. “Just sleep on the bed.”
Prompto nods and elects not to say anything else. He makes his way to the bedroom and closes the door behind him. Noctis watches him, heart still feeling like it’s turned to lead, and turning into a dead weight in his chest. He follows him inside after a while, and winces when the door creaks loudly.
Prompto was fast asleep, head buried into one of Noctis’s pillows. Noctis sits beside him and brushes his hair off his face. He allows himself to look at him, just to watch and bask in the quiet of the room. He can’t help but smile. He really does—
“You really do love him, don’t you?”
He doesn’t know why the question echoes in his mind at that particular moment. He finds himself remembering it during the quiet moments they have together, and… suddenly, all too suddenly the weight in his chest vanishes, replaced by something he can only describe as an ache. He’s struck by the sudden need to hold him, to wrap him in his arms and tell him just how much it ached, just how much it…
“Prompto…” He starts quietly, carefully, intending not to wake him. Prompto mumbles something in his sleep, makes a sound like he was letting out a small breath.
“Mn.”
He wants to say it.
“You really do love him, don’t you?”
His chest had that ache again, and that’s the moment the dam inside him breaks. He starts feeling something akin to lightheadedness. It was a good thing he was sitting down. He laughs silently to himself. He was an idiot.
“You really do love him, don’t you?”
Love. If he were to tie any sort of meaning to it, any sort of thought, he would think of nothing else but Prompto: laughing quietly, looking at him as if he were something precious; he’d see it in Prompto smiling softly at him as they drank coffee together in some cafe, in him sharing his notes, in the two of them joking around before their banter finally dissolved into a comfortable silence, could feel it when he had him in his arms, when they lie next to each other on the couch doing nothing, could feel it in his chest when he thought about him.
“You shouldn’t be so scared of saying that to him.”
“I love you,” he finally says, voice barely short of a whisper. The weight in his chest was completely gone by now, and all he could feel was relief washing over him.
Finally.
That’s when Prompto turns his head quickly to look at him, eyes flying open, his mouth dropping to a small ‘o’. He sits up just as quickly, propping himself up on his elbow before swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He looked absolutely shocked, and Noctis’s mind starts going incoherent.
“N-Noct?”
“You—You were awake?” Oh god. Oh god. He feels like hiding. He uses his hand to cover his mouth, as if that would change anything, as if it would let Prompto unhear what he just said. “I didn’t—I’m sorry, I know it’s—”
Prompto looks on as he starts babbling looking more and more shocked as he continued.
“Anyway, I’m sorry for waking you up, I’ll just… go and—” He makes to stand up when Prompto pulls him down and fixes him a look that was so fond that the ache that was in his chest comes back and increases tenfold. Prompto’s expression softens, and he takes his hand, holds it firmly in his and then—
“I love you,” Prompto says, voice sure, unwavering.
“Oh.” Honestly, what was Noctis even worried about? “Yeah?”
“That all you have to say?” Prompto laughs and moves closer to him, lets his head rest on his shoulder.
“Give a guy a break, I feel like I’m having a heart attack.” Noctis grumbles. Prompto was still holding his hand, has laced their fingers together. “You surprised me.”
“You surprised me.” Prompto points out.
“Yeah, sorry…”
“Noctis Lucis Caelum, don’t you dare apologize.” Prompto grabs his face and looks at him dead in the eye. “Don’t apologize.” He says again, voice strained, as if he were pouring every ounce of himself to say it.
“I won’t, then.” Noctis brings his hand to where Prompto was holding his cheek. It reminds him of the first time he confessed his feelings for him. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Prompto smiles at him, before running his thumb on Noctis’s cheek. Noctis leans into him, body shivering at the touch.
“I love you.” He says again, not bothering to whisper it this time around, and his heart feels full.
“I love you too.” Prompto looks at him with such tenderness that he doesn’t know what to do with himself. He ends up taking him into his arms and burying his head in the crook of his neck, feels the words that he spoke through the movement of his skin “So much.”
They end up lying down next to each other on his bed, just looking at each other, and god, Noctis doesn’t want to do anything else. He threads their fingers together, and Noctis brings Prompto’s hand up to kiss his knuckles. He relishes how his cheeks turn a shade warmer, the color prominent on his cheeks, and he kisses him, soft and slow. He really doesn’t want to do anything else. So they don’t, they stay lying next to each other until he could see the sunset through the windows, could see the light fall and bounce off Prompto’s features.
“You really do love him, don’t you?”
He really does.
They were just about to fall asleep when they hear the front door open and the sound of Ignis’s and Gladio’s voices echo throughout the empty living room. Prompto attempts to get up, but Noctis pulls him back down and drapes himself over him. Prompto laughs against his cheek and pats his back, telling him to let go.
“No.”
“Noct, seriously!” He shoves at him, though more playful than anything else. “We already put off studying, we should get up.”
“Mm…”
“Hey lovebirds, we brought a board game.” Gladio’s voice booms from the other side of the door. “Unless you two are… busy, then we can go and—”
That makes Prompto push Noctis off of him.
“No! Not busy!” He shouts. “Noct, come on, let’s go!”
Noctis laughs and follows him outside.
Noctis sees Prompto to his dorm room again that night. He wanted him to stay over, but Prompto had something to do in campus early next day (“I can just drive you early,” he says, but Prompto says something about that being impossible since it was so difficult to wake him up in the morning… and he couldn’t deny that).
He kisses him on the cheek before Prompto closed the door. He was walking away to the elevator when he hears the door open again and sees Prompto jog after him.
“What’s up? You forget something?”
“Yeah.” Prompto smiles sheepishly before wrapping his arms around him and saying, “Goodnight, love you.”
“Love you too…” Noctis watches him walk away again and takes a long, long moment before he feels that he could start using his legs again.
He drives home with a stupid grin plastered on his face.