To be fair, Prompto conceded, the radio did say it was going to be one of the worst snowstorms in recent history.

With classes canceled and a 'stay safe' text from his parents, the logical conclusion was to stay over at Noctis again, where he had already spent the weekend at. One or two more days made little difference by that point, and with Ignis away on business, some company wouldn't harm his friend. What about Gladio, you ask? Iris fell sick due to the weather, so as the good brother he was, he rushed over to tend to her, but he promised he'd be a call away if they needed him.

In any case, that sounded like the perfect plan. No school, no advisors to supervise them, a good amount of junk food provided by Gladio as a 'sorry' for his absence, and there's a King's Knight Online event going on— Prompto was sure Noctis and he were about to have the time of their lives.

He didn't account, though, for the internet lagging and straight-up disconnecting every five minutes, the periodical blackouts, and in this silence, every gush of wind felt like it was about to take the whole building down.

"It's cold!" He whines for what it seemed like the sixth time in a minute, rolling around on the couch. That weather was torture second only to the boredom that was eating away at him, pulling his sanity apart. Prompto had already gone through all the comics he had piled up, and they played a couple of rounds of some old board game that was lying around, before Noctis excused himself to the bedroom, claiming he needed a nap. In that meanwhile, he texted Gladio for a while, asking how Iris was doing (a bit better, fortunately), and Ignis left a voicemail, reminding about dinner, laundry, and similar stuff, like their homework.

Come on, he wasn't that bored. Not yet.

Man, he wished he could be able to sleep as much as Noct does. Sneaking up to his (their) room, Prompto peeked in — was he still asleep? Judging from the faint light coming from between the blankets, the prince was wide awake and checking social media.

"Hey, why didn't you call for me when you woke up? I'm bored to death."

"Too cold. Don't want to get up..."

Okay, you know, that's reasonable. Prompto was still not willing to suffer by himself, though.

"Can we at least share the bed, then? Move over."

Noctis rolled over to make space, just in time for his friend to jump on the mattress and bundle himself up.

"Damn, Prompto, you're freezing."

"I told you! It's terrible outside." The annoyed tinge in his voice melted away as he huddled closer to Noctis, trying to bask in his warmth. "I hope electricity will be back soon..."

"Oh, shit, is it still down?" Prompto could hear Ignis yelling 'language!' somewhere in the distance every time Noctis cursed. His surprise was justified, though, as he rushed to set his phone into economy mode. "There it goes, my last distraction."

"There must be something we can do without electricity or the internet..." Here's the thing, he did want to think about it, but — being this close to Noctis was distracting. Even with his bed hair acting up, or maybe especially because of that? Or was it because of his droopy eyes, still struggling to keep themselves open? Maybe it was the quiet sound of his tongue clicking in frustration, or how comfortable it felt to be here, by his side, instinctively curling up onto him. So that's how it felt to have a crush, huh?

You see, they were best friends, hanged out all the time... and Prompto felt really good and warm whenever they were together, so that's how it was supposed to be, right? That was what being in love was like, right? It was his first time, but it probably worked like that.

(He wanted to believe so.)

"... Whatever's okay as long as I can stay down." Noctis interrupted his thoughts, comment whispered in a husky tone. 'He should drink more water', Prompto thought, 'his throat must be dry', maybe he should drink it as well, it's getting warmer and warmer each time he breathes into his space—

His heart is running a mile a minute, and it probably could power up the entire apartment complex by itself. To calm himself down, Prompto did the logical thing: by turning on his side, he could avoid facing Noctis, as well as whatever part of him was making his nerves act up. Sharing a bed with someone else was something unprecedented. Sharing a bed with Noctis of all people? He should have thought this through. He's gone from freezing to overheating in just a few minutes, and might not be able to survive this.

"Come on, you're not going to fall asleep on me."

Fuck.

Prompto could feel the hairs in his nape rising, tingles going down his spine as Noctis drew closer to shake him awake. His fingertips were warm, their touch against his skin chilling.

"I'm not sleeping!", he managed to stutter, turning around once again. Better to face it upfront than having his body acting like an earthquake. "I was just getting comfortable."

"Comfortable, huh?" Prompto was unsure if he really had bought it, and honestly — why did he have to make excuses up for Noctis, of all people? Even in his circumstances, he could have come up with something better. The weather must have been giving him brain freeze.

"Yeah, gotta make myself home. You said that a thousand times, remember?"

"Right, right."

Plot twist: Noctis did not buy it.

In fact, the crown prince had never bought any of Prompto's excuses. If anything, he was even trying to flirt back for a good while now.

Prompto had to be flirting with him, right? That was the textbook behavior of someone with a crush. Trying to make himself look cute (because no one looks like that unintentionally), using chances here and there to get touchy. Who asks to share a bed like that, if they're not interested? The key part of that puzzle was understanding why he didn't make a bolder move yet.

Noctis was no love expert, of course, but there were enough romance subplots in his games (and lectures from Ignis) to make something out of it. The most plausible option was Prompto being scared of trying to get it on with the crown prince as a civilian, or the fact he already was engaged to Luna. The latter was less feasible, given that they already had a long talk about his political, arranged, totally platonic future marriage, but you never know, right?

In any case, if Prompto wasn't going to take the initiative, he might as well do it. Maybe even get some fun out of it.

"So, now that you're comfortable enough, got any ideas on what should we do?"

"I don't think there's a lot we can do without leaving the bed. Rock, paper, scissors, maybe?"

"... Truth or dare."

"What?" If the bed wasn't that large, Prompto would have fallen from it. He wasn't expecting that, right? Time for Noctis to get a little more aggressive.

"What, do you have anything to hide from me?"

"No, not at all!" His hands were flying all over his face, frantic gesturing trying to reassure his friend. "I just... never expected you to be the one to come up with this kind of party game, you know!"

"There's nothing else to do, though."

"Yeah."

Silence settled in, but before time could render it awkward, Noctis asked:

"So, do you want to start?"

"Uh, okay!" Prompto adjusted his pillow, getting ready. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Before he could muster a question, the blonde boy hesitated around a dozen times. Finally, all he could spit out was "do you prefer cats or dogs?"

"Really, Prompto?"

"You put me on the spot! I never played this before!"

"... both are fine, I guess. Dogs?" Noctis shook his head, torn between a sigh and a laugh. "Okay, my turn. Truth or dare?"

"Truth!"

"How many people have you kissed before?"

"What kind of question is that?!"

"The kind of question people ask when playing truth or dare. Go on, answer."

Prompto hid his face on his hands, the tip of his ears warming up. His embarrassment didn't come from the topic itself, but from his lack of experience. Impressing Noctis always seemed like a daunting task, and the guy himself already went for this throat with that question...

"Man, why did you have to pick such a clichéd question? Where's your creativity?" He clicked his tongue, moving on to his answer before Noctis could press one more time. "Obviously, none..."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow, although the surprise seemed very feigned.

"Do I look like someone who goes around picking up people left and right?"

"No, but you look like someone who'd be picked on."

"Oh, I sure was picked on." He huffed, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "All the time. Anyway, my turn. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Okay, wait, I thought you were going to pick truth. Give me some time so I can think of something!"

Noctis propped himself up on his elbow, chin resting on hand, observing the confusion in Prompto's eyes. It was kind of cute, seeing him doing the most trivial things — it was a weird kind of relaxation. Noctis was able to shut his mind off, act naturally, no expectations upon him. Even if he had to control himself...

"Time's up."

Two could play this game.

They could, right?

"Tell me a secret of yours, Noct."

"Now that's how you play Truth or Dare." Lying down on his back, Noctis stared at the ceiling. That was a good chance to play his cards, push a little harder — but he had to do it carefully. Not overdo it, or give Prompto weird ideas. If you think about it, love is something that has a lot of strategy going into it. And to be fair, he was learning to enjoy that. "Okay, let me see. I didn't learn how to tie my shoelaces until I was nine."

"You ask me about kissing and I get shoelaces?"

"My life is exciting as yours when it comes to that stuff."

"This was a bad idea from the start." Prompto turned on his side again, planning on counting sheep. "We're not fit for this kind of game..."

Despite his words, a part of him wished the lights wouldn't come back on until tomorrow morning. That Noct wouldn't want to go to the toilet, or get a snack, or some water. That their phones wouldn't ring. It was okay if Noctis wanted to go back to sleep. And if his own stomach grumbled, that was fine too. As long as that moment lasted a little longer.

"Come on, Prompt. Cheer up." Noctis pulled on him, shaking his shoulder. Bringing him closer. Fingers meeting collarbones, hair falling against cheeks. Once again, a low voice against Prompto's ear, enough to make him shudder and go back into overheating. His defense was yet another turn, tossing around was his only measure of protection. He only didn't expect to find Noctis staring at him, with so little space between them.

Wasn't that a perfect chance? Even if his lips were cracked, and his hands were freezing, which would ruin everything if he decided to touch Noctis—

It was the perfect chance, he thought, breathing in, ready to dive into Prompto. Even if they made a mess, he could get used to it. They just needed some time to learn.

"Fine", Noctis whispered. "Let's make your count go up to 'one'."

But then Prompto blinked with a "huh?", Noctis blinked back, and the cheesiness of all of it caught up to them.

Also, the television turned on by itself.

"Oh, hey, look, it's back! I'm going to get my phone—" Prompto jumped from the bed, almost forgetting why he got in there, to begin with. "Holy crap, even the floor is freezing!"

Noctis turned away, unlocking his own cellphone. It was fine, he sighed. The weather forecast said this storm would go on until the weekend.

They still had time.