Summary: Noctis invites Prompto to his room in the palace for the first time, but Prompto doesn't react the way Noct hopes he would.
(Comfort, Care, Established Relationship)
For Promptis Fanweek 2018 (Day 2: "I wish that I knew what makes you think I'm so special")
"Wow," Prompto marvelled, spinning around slowly to admire the high ceilings and chandeliers above him. "I figured it would be elegant, but wow!"
"Trust me, it's not that great. It really loses its appeal after a while," Noctis shrugged, heading for his bed. He sat down on the edge of the blue velvet comforter and watched Prompto continue to stumble around his giant chamber. Prompto's blue eyes were wide with awe as he took in the sight of each expensive table, rug, and curtain.
"You done drooling?" Noct smirked, and Prompto's open jaw snapped shut.
"I'm not drooling!" he insisted, but wiped an arm over his mouth just to be sure. "It's just that this place is a lot bigger than I expected. I feel out of place in here."
"Why?"
"Dude, I'm not royal," Prompto reminded him, hands on his hips.
"Don't be stupid. You don't need to be royal to be in here," Noctis said, getting up from the bed and proceeding forward to take Prompto's hands in his own. "You just need to have my permission, which you do."
There was an enticing look in Noct's eyes as he stepped backwards, pulling Prompto with him towards the bed. Prompto met his seductive stare with a devious smile of his own.
"Oh. Guess I'm lucky, then," he chuckled, and Noct's smirk deepened. "O-or I'm about to be."
"You would be, except Ignis tends to walk in here whenever he likes, and I don't figure we want to be interrupted." Noct pressed a kiss to Prompto's cheek in compensation.
"Yeah, not so much," Prompto agreed, sitting down and swinging his legs excitedly over the edge of the bed in response to the kiss; advances like that never seemed to get old. Two years together, and Noct still made him feel like he was flying.
Noctis hopped up from the bed again and headed for his entertainment unit, which was about twenty times bigger than Prompto's cabinet and looked to be made of some very expensive wood. He grabbed a couple of controllers from on top of the game console.
"Want to play?" he asked, handing one of the controllers to Prompto as he flopped back down beside him.
"Yeah, but, can I just say this is the most luxurious space I've ever hung out in?" Prompto turned his gaze to the ceiling again as he spoke. Noct stared at him and frowned.
"You... really don't feel like you belong, do you?"
"Well... how many people have you actually invited up here? I can't imagine you've had too many chumps of my social standing," Prompto chuckled, but the look in Noct's eyes certainly made him think this was no joking matter. Those blue eyes were serious—determined, even.
"Let me show you something." Noctis leaned back on his bed and reached for the drawer of the nightstand. He pulled it open and shuffled through a few papers before picking one out and sitting back up. The paper of his choice was folded in half, and he handed it over to Prompto with a thoughtful expression, like he was waiting to see how Prompto was going to respond.
As Prompto looked down, he realized it was a card that his friend had handed him. An oddly familiar image was doodled on the front. It showed a white dog in a grassy field with a rainbow and a shining sun in the blue sky, all of which were colored in various hues of crayon. Prompto raised a brow as he opened the card up to see his own childish handwriting:
Dear Noctis,
Hope you feel better soon!
-Prompto Argentum
"D-did I make this for you?" he asked, feeling rather embarrassed, partly because he could hardly remember designing it in the first place.
"Yep, not long after my mom died. I came back to school in a wheelchair, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember," Prompto nodded, solemnly, flipping back to the cover and staring at the picture.
"You left it on my desk one day. You didn't say anything, just passed by and dropped it off," Noct explained, giving Prompt an affectionate smile, even though he was still focused on the card.
"And you kept this piece of junk? I couldn't even stay inside the lines!" Prompto grimaced, pointing at his messy coloring.
"It wasn't junk! It was the first time anyone had even approached me after the incident, and, well... It meant a lot," Noct admitted, folding his arms. Prompto turned enough to catch the blush that had flourished on the prince's pale cheeks, but for once, he didn't feel like poking fun at him.
"The point is, you're important to me, okay? Even back then, you were proving that. So, don't feel weird about being here because you belong here. With me," Noctis finished. His arms were folded even tighter across his chest now, looking both embarrassed and defensive, but all Prompto could think of was how much he adored him—kindhearted Noctis, who he had admired even from an early age. He really was lucky to be here, but not because he wasn't royal; he was just lucky that he'd had the courage to become Noctis' friend, and that Noctis had accepted him for all that he was.
"Well, if that's how you feel..." Prompto smiled.
"It is," Noct said quickly, as if pre-emptively trying to stop Prompto's attempts to tease him, but still, Prompto refrained. Noct had pushed himself to open up and be honest, to let a little light shine on his feelings, and that was hard for him, Prompto knew. He didn't want to ruin this delicate moment with jokes. Instead, he gave Noct a grin and picked up his controller again.
"In that case, let's nerd it up, dude!"
Noct smirked, devilishly, as they both put their worries to rest.
"You're on."