It was only going to happen once. At least, that was what they said on Noctis' couch, their school things spread out on the table, scattered around the remains of a dinner that Ignis had left and that the two of them had promptly devoured. Prompto had tried not to overeat and tried not to overthink it, especially where Noctis' silence on Prompto's 'Plumpto' self was concerned. Prompto had always thought that Noctis was good in the best way a person can be, though he knew that he hadn't fully thought about it or fully appreciated it until he had become friends with the crown prince. Their first conversation, that Prompto counts anyway, had only taken place seven months ago. Prompto had thought that they could become friends, but he'd never imagined that they would be friends like this. He'd never had a best friend. Never had someone that was more like a brother than any blood brother could be. But that was what Noctis was. Prompto tried not to let it slip just how much this friendship meant to him, because that wasn't what guys did and it wasn't as if Noctis wore his heart on his sleeve, but Prompto thought that Noctis thought of him the same way. He knew Noctis cared about him. Noctis wasn't going to spend time on anyone that didn't matter; he was the prince, after all.
And here they were: sitting on the couch, talking about nothing that meant everything to Prompto, and then suddenly they were on a subject that was too far out of Prompto's depth. They were sitting side by side, arms tight together, their knees almost resting on one another's. An intimate pose; one of two people who clearly knew each other and were comfortable with each other. At first, Prompto thought Noctis is joking, but he isn't really sure that Noctis has the humour for it.
"You can say no."
Well, of course he could say no. But he didn't think he wanted to. "Just physical stuff, right?"
"Yeah. Just to know what it's like."
"You're going to be king someday," Prompto pointed out, but it wasn't as if either of them would ever forget Noctis' place in life and all that was going to be entailed with that.
"It's just once."
Once. It seemed a reasonable enough deal. He said okay, because he was curious too.
Prompto had never kissed anyone before and it's never come up between him and Noctis if Noctis had ever kissed anyone before. Prompto doubted it, if only because their noses bumped and their teeth scraped and it was awkward. Not too awkward. Not like they weren't supposed to be doing it and they should stop; it was just like neither of them knew what they were doing, which, of course, they didn't. Prompto hesitated to make any first moves, because he didn't really know how to make any first moves, but he could feel his body reacting to Noctis' fumbling fingers.
They didn't move from the couch. Prompto ended up under Noctis first and it hurt in a way that he thought he'd like to do it again. It was weird to tower over Noctis – he had always been so larger than life to Prompto, and, he'll also admit, he's terrified of hurting him – but he thinks Noctis liked it the way that Prompto himself liked it. They both finished, anyway, and that was the point of something like this.
Prompto's cheeks turned red as they sat up off the couch, because he had no idea what to do next. Noctis' face was blank slate as he said something about the bathroom and walked off without putting pants on. Prompto didn'r watch him leave because it wasn't like he thought that Noctis was attractive. Even after what they'd done, he still didn't think of him as attractive. Prompto cleaned himself off in the kitchen, wanting to be dressed before Noctis comes back. He didn't want to be seen naked, which seemed like a dumb worry, but he really didn't think that Noctis had been staring at his body.
Their clothes had scattered across the room and Prompto had to hunt for his shirt. He wondered what Ignis would say if he saw the state that they had the room in and then thought it was better if Ignis never had to realize what state the room was currently in. He managed to pick up his shirt at the same time the bathroom door opened and he pulled it over his head in record time. He had his head stuck in a cupboard when he heard Noctis re-enter the room.
"Water?" Prompto croaked.
"Sure."
There were the sounds of someone getting redressed. Prompto took approximately five minutes to fill two glasses, just in case Noctis was slow.
"Video games?" Noctis suggested.
"Sure."
It was strange for the first five minutes, and then that faded away. By the time the video game had claimed Prompto's life for the second time around, it was as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. At the end of the night, Prompto went home and that was that, but he couldn't stop the nagging fear he had that when he went to school in the morning, Noctis was going to end up shunning him. Prompto knew that it couldn't be the norm between friends, because more people would have spoken of it. He knew that what they had done was strange. He rushed to school the next morning, even beats Noctis there. But when they see each other again, Noctis has on that stupid half-smile and they talk about their math class and some political papers Ignis has been piling onto Noctis, both of which Noctis seems to think are the worst things he's ever going to encounter.
Prompto was comforted by that. They weren't going to be different.
It was another four days before he ended up back on Noctis' apartment. On the walk there, he couldn't keep his mind from their last encounter. He couldn't help but wonder if it would happen again. He didn't think he would hate if it did. Noctis opened the front door.
"Hey, Ignis."
"Noctis and Prompto. Hello."
"Um, hey." Prompto almost choked on his tongue and he wasn't sure how he managed to speak. Ignis was sitting on the couch, a book open on his lap.
"There's food in the oven," Ignis said.
"Looks like we're not eating Cup Noodle tonight, bro," Noctis joked, throwing a look at Prompto, who chuckles, barely.
Ignis doesn't eat with them that night, which Prompto is thankful for. He couldn't keep his cool. Not that he had a lot of cool to begin with but there was definitely nothing to keep a handle on, because he couldn't get over Ignis sitting in the same place where he and Noctis had ended up having sex.
"You're too touchy," Noctis said after Ignis had shut the door.
Prompto didn't really have a good response to that. "It's weird!"
Noctis shrugged. "It could be weirder."
Prompto ended up hard at the slightly suggestive words and his only saving grace is that Noctis is in the same state. Physicality was good. There was nothing wrong with the feelings that had surged through him; feelings that he couldn't recreate on his own at home.
"You're going to be king someday," Prompto said, just like he had last time. "Isn't that why you said 'once'?"
"I'm not going to be king today," Noctis responded. "And when I do, that's when we'll stop. If we haven't. But we'll be friends."
And that made a ton of sense to Prompto. And so they continued. After school, on the couch, which Prompto could never get used to seeing Ignis sitting on, but to move anywhere else would be too intimate and too couple-like. They weren't a couple, it wasn't like that, and Prompto's mind never even strayed to 'what if' concerning that scenario. Noctis was his best friend and Prompto was secure enough to admit, internally, that he loved Noctis. He wasn't going to say it aloud, because that just wasn't what guys did. The closest he got was saying the words 'best friend' to Noctis' face, but he had never felt so cared for as when Noctis said 'best friend' back.
It had been years since their first real conversation now, and Prompto thought that they were more like brothers now more than ever. He and Noctis met on his couch now, because Prompto wasn't allowed in the castle. He tried not to hold it against Noctis, because Prompto knew it wasn't Noctis' rule, but he couldn't help but feel lesser than. Ignis was in the castle and so was Gladio. But not Prompto. Of course, with his luck, it stood to reason that the only reason he would get to go to the castle was to be recruited for a royal road trip. It made him feel worthy. And guilty. The royal road trip is to take Noctis to his future bride, and Prompto wonders how the Lady Lunafreya would feel if she knew what her future husband had been up to with his best friend. Prompto hadn't ever met her, but he knew he owed her his friendship with Noctis, and that made her one of the most important people.
Before the road trip, but after the announcement, Prompto and Noctis are sitting on his couch. They've been playing video games, but Prompto knew where they were going to end up. It was just what they did together.
"You excited about getting married?" Prompto knew that Noctis loved Lady Lunafreya. It made sex easier, knowing that there was also that line. They were friends, but they weren't lovers, and that was how it was supposed to be.
"It's Luna," Noctis said, and there was a smile on his face. A rare smile, different from his regular one. "I'm glad it's her."
"Do you want to stop, uh, the thing?" Prompto doesn't really like the word 'sex' and he didn't know why, but it was weird to call what they were doing sex.
"We said when I was king. I don't call it cheating. You're not nearly as pretty as she is."
Prompto had to laugh.
"And it's got to be different with a girl."
"I'm definitely not a girl."
"Unless you want to end things."
"Nah," Prompto said, and that was that, for now.
The first night they had sex on their road trip, it had been pouring rain, and they were all sharing a tent because of flooding. It was an inopportune moment. Noctis was wedged between Prompto and Gladio with Ignis on the other side of Gladio. Prompto laid awake, staring at the tent top that was really too black to see, and he felt Noctis' hand on him. It wasn't just about physicality anymore, there was a sense of comfort to their closeness. But, for the first time since their first time, Prompto felt shaky and unsure. Gladio was right there. Ignis was right there. He was sure that the world would end if either of them woke and realized what Noctis and Prompto were up to. Prompto wasn't anyone important. He would probably end up ditched on the side of the road, watching the Regalia disappear into the distance.
And there was also the fact of: "You're engaged."
Which had become more real the longer they travelled.
Gladio twitched.
"We talked about that," Noctis whispered, and then, because he was a good friend, he added, "You don't have to say yes, bro, just because I want to."
"I dunno." It wasn't that he didn't want to. Prompto liked the way sex felt. "I keep thinking about Lady Lunafreya."
"I'm not married. And we said when I was king, remember?"
Noctis made that make sense too. They try not to rustle anything as Noctis ended up in Prompto's sleeping bag, leaving as much room between the two of them and Gladio as possible. Prompto barely dared to move as the twined together in that familiar way. They were almost too close this way; there was no separation between act and person, because both were in Prompto's face. The tricky part was not the sex, but getting Noctis back to his sleep bag.
Gladio woke up in a roar of confusion.
"Relax, I had to pee," Noctis said.
"Something wrong?"
And now Ignis was awake and Prompto was lying there with some of Noctis' bodily fluids on his hip, hating his life.
"Gladio just needs to go back to sleep," Noctis said.
Prompto would have liked to say that they didn't end up waking up Gladio or Ignis for the rest of the trip, but that definitely wasn't true, and it got more humiliating every time it happened, because they should be getting sneakier. And then it happened.
King Regis died and Noctis was no longer a prince.
Prompto didn't say a word the night of the king's death, because he and Noctis spent in sitting away from Gladio and Ignis, pretending that Noctis' heart wasn't breaking. It was the next time that Prompto allowed the words 'King Noctis' fall from his lips. Noctis locked his fingers behind his back.
"Come on, Prompto."
"At some point, it stops becoming right."
"We're friends. It's not like we're doing anything wrong."
Prompto flicked his eyes away, staring at something that would be a tree in the daylight, but was now nothing more than a shapeless blob.
"Gladio's awake."
"So?"
That hadn't stopped them before.
"When I get married, Prompto. And we'll be friends after, like we have been this whole time."
With war and hardships weighing them down day after day, Prompto could admit that it was nice to end the day was something good. And he agreed. Because he knew Noctis and he knew that Noctis loved Lady Lunafreya, and Prompto worshipped her from afar, and he hoped that she would be his friend too, once Noctis married her. He wanted to thank her for that long ago letter, for giving him the drive to end up in the life that he had now, where he had Noctis and he had friends.
Nothing ever goes right. Not completely.
They were all there when Lady Lunafreya died and Noctis was injured. And there was nothing for Prompto to do but sit down and realize that there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Not anymore. He didn't know it completely then, but the sense of doom within him started to grow then. It completely overtakes him until they're ten years later and he has lived through too damn much. Being friends with Noctis has come with a price that Prompto would pay every time, because, when it came down to the end of his life, he knew that he would look back on those years as the best years, because it had brought him his first sense of family.
They got one last camping trip. Because Noctis was allowed to say goodbye. Because Prompto and Gladio and Ignis end up having to hand deliver him to his doom. But that's not at hand now. For now, it was still their last night and they had a campfire going, and they were letting last words fall heavily between them as they sat in chairs that used to be green. No one really slept that night. They tried, because the final battle would be won or lost in a few short hours, but it was too hard to give up the time they had, knowing that it wouldn't ever come back.
Noctis' arm was touching against Prompto's and their knees almost rested together.
"Thanks, for everything," Prompto said.
It didn't really matter what 'everything' boiled down to and separated out as. It was just about Noctis taking a chance on someone like him and letting them be friends.
"You're my best friend," Noctis said.
That was what Prompto carried with him for the rest of his life, because once King Noctis Lucis Caelum had once lived, but Prompto had called him Noct and they had been best friends. That was what really mattered.
So, this was just a quick word vomit. I'm not totally sure what I think of it, but I thought I'd share anyway. I don't own anything recognizable.
~TLL~