Prompto didn't really remember going back inside his front door, but he did find himself sitting on a stool in his little kitchen, his forearms resting on the cool faux-marble counter some indiscriminate time later. When he glanced out of the fingerprinted glass of his kitchen window, he only saw the dizzy, bright reflections of the fluorescent light, where earlier that evening he had been able to ascertain the moody purple-greys of the sky beyond.
It wasn't even as though he was going over the previous events and overthinking them – he recalled only the impenetrable look in Noct's eyes, and the warm, rough pressure of his mouth. Anything more than that dissolved into vague sensations of pleasure and shock.
It was only when his stomach gurgled loudly that he was shaken from his hazy reverie, and he cleared his throat, fumbling for his phone and beginning to type mechanically. After he had sent his brief message, he stared at the bright little screen, reading his own words and distantly wondering what on earth would happen next.
P: When u said you didn't mean to do that...was that true? I kinda don't know what to think dude
Seconds turned to minutes without any response. The blond finally decided to slide himself from the stool upon which he had seemingly taken root and brought his phone charger to the kitchen, plugging in the device so that he'd have plenty of juice to receive the Prince's reply. He also maxed his ringer volume, just in case.
As he set about fixing dinner to appease his growling tummy, he couldn't help but wonder, had their friendship just been taken to the next level? Until he heard back from Noctis, he couldn't know for certain. And he was trying his best not to get his hopes built up on a possibility that made his stomach swim like he had just swallowed a mouthful of very excited butterflies.
Noctis blew past the palace Crownsguard stationed as night security in the lobby of his building, replying to none of their greetings as he hastily retreated to his darkened flat and slammed the door shut behind him.
That's when he heard it. The inevitable chocobo-themed alert, signalling the dreaded text from Prompto that was no doubt going to call him out for being a first-class douchebag.
It was about now that Noctis kind of wished that Gladio was around to cadge a sneaky cigarette off of. He didn't smoke, and supposedly, neither did Gladio, but if his pre-teen, post-workout sessions with his Shield had taught him anything, it was that a bit of nicotine was apparently a marvel for clearing the mind of anything but ignited oxytocin.
The Prince stalked straight through his apartment and crashed onto his king-sized bed, groaning extensively as he wriggled onto the freshly laundered duvet. He was so accustomed to crisp, perfect, clinical bedding that it was an indulgence to turn his mind to the idea of days' worth of honest sweat, and respiration, and toil. He had never shared a bed with anyone, and he was only a little bit embarrassed that some of his most enduring fantasies regarding his best friend involved playing King's Knight under the covers, snogging him into a doze and then clinging to him through the night like a limpet. Prompto was tactile at the best of times, and it pleased Noctis to imagine the comforting weight, scent and breath of a deeply-sleeping Prompto in his arms, bundled up against him in the dark.
Taking a deep breath, the Prince sighed it out and let his hands wander down to his fly, unzipping it and cupping himself lightly, more for the comfort of it than anything else. Although since he had probably irrevocably screwed up what he had with Prompto, he might as well distract himself with a dose of carnal mindlessness. Shuffling further down on his bed, closing his eyes tiredly and beginning a lazy rhythm between his legs, he did his best to bring to mind Prompto's grin, his flawless skin, his laugh and his sweet-smooth scent.
He let his thoughts drift back to the moment he had stolen what was undeniably Prompto's first kiss. Although it lasted but a brief moment, the Prince could easily recall the softness of his best friend's lips. He rested his left forearm behind his head so his eyes could trail down to his right hand, which was stroking slowly at his hardened shaft, squeezing around the tip each time before running back to the base. His hand picked up its pace as he dared to imagine the feel of Prompto's lips in place of his fingers. The forbidden thought quickly brought with it a flood of heat that rushed across his cheeks. His toes twisted into the duvet beneath and his hips moved with a slow, deliberate grind in time against his hand. Biting his lower lip, his eyes rolled back beneath their lids as he whispered the blond's name in a strained sigh.
He let go of himself for a few seconds in order to shift his black T-shirt up his chest, shimmying until his dark nipples were free to the cool air, already peaking excitedly. With slightly more urgency, he pushed down his jeans and his underwear just enough to expose himself completely, and he toyed with his engorged shaft, bouncing it against his abdomen and groaning with satisfaction.
Spitting gracelessly a few times into his palm, he resumed his tight grip upon his cock, focussing a few slightly-too-hard squeezes at the tip, imagining that Prompto's wet mouth would be inexperienced, a bit too eager, not quite in the right places but doing all the right things nevertheless. He probably wouldn't be able to take much of him in, though he'd undoubtedly try. Imitating his best friend's enthusiastic, aborted attempt at deep-throating, he slid his sticky palm down to his base, letting go just as he pushed up into his own hand reactively.
The consequence of Noctis' laconic and slightly introverted nature was that he observed much and had a vivid imagination. He put it to good use now, digging his short thumbnail gently in the crown of his cock, a representation of Prompto's virginal, clumsy mouth accidentally biting at him. He brought down his left hand briefly to tickle his fingers across his pale pelvis, emulating coarse blond hair bobbing up and down upon his heated skin.
Swallowing a rush of saliva, Noctis rested back once more upon his arm, grabbing the soft black spikes at the back of his head and pulling them roughly.
"Gods, this is not gonna last long," he whispered aloud to his cool, gloomy room and his absent lover.
Giving his fistful of raven locks one final, sharp tug, the Prince's hand travelled down to his chest, plucking and pinching the erect nipple it found along its way. Wandering further down over his stomach, his hand returned to the other that was busy clutching and squeezing tightly around his rock-hard shaft. The dripping pre-come spilling from his slit kept his grip slippery as both hands pumped sloppy, obscene noises of wet skin on skin.
"Nnnn," the Prince strained a tight moan, muscles tensing and hips involuntarily grinding up into the cavity between his fingers. The threatening tingle of orgasm crept over him quickly as he held his breath and allowed each wet stroke to conjure an escalating and almost unbearable pleasure. He knew this was much too fast, but he couldn't stop. He didn't want to.
A wave of sudden desperation flooded over him, sending him tumbling over the edge of release without restraint, white ribbons of molten liquid spilling across his lower abdomen and down over his knuckles. Panting through his orgasm, Noctis imagined the surprised look on Prompto's face as he filled up his best friend's throat. It would be a surprised look, not unlike the one from earlier this evening when their lips had met.
Prompto would gag a little, probably cough, and swallow it all down obediently, his face red and his bright blue eyes watering. The image was indecently arousing, and Noctis shivered as he endured his deep, pulsing aftershocks, massaging himself with trembling fingers. Maybe Prompto would be so turned on from servicing him that he couldn't help coming over himself, untouched. Noctis snickered to himself, the idea unlikely but wonderfully distracting. Gasping and sighing out his exhausting wracks of pleasure, he finally relaxed, boneless, onto his sweat-warm bed, closing his eyes.
He half-dozed, mellow and calm, until his phone vibrated in the pocket of his rumpled, open jeans, the tinny 'kweh' alerting him to another text from Prompto. Frowning, he tried not to think about all the various forms of rejection that the message might take.
Noctis was pretty sure he could say goodbye to the world he used to know. His best friend would probably never speak to him again, or even be able to stand the sight of him after what he had done. There would be no more late night games of King's Knight. Nobody to help him unwind and relax after long council meetings. No ice creams in the park. And certainly no post-graduation fishing trip to Galdin Quay. Yep, he was pretty sure his momentary lapse of judgement had made a royal muck of everything. In just a few seconds, the fabric of friendship that had taken years to weave had completely aloud, the Prince sluggishly dragged himself from the bed and shuffled listlessly to the bathroom to clean up and get changed into his bed clothes. He thought about the three course meal Ignis had prepared and stored in his refrigerator this morning. The advisor would be angry with him tomorrow when he discovered it still there. But the idea of food right now made the Prince queasy. All he wanted to do was sleep. In sleep, at least he could forget the insurmountable wreck he had just made of his life.
Noctis caught sight of Prompto's borrowed yellow sweater, nestling on the gloomy floor at the end of his bed. Groaning, he plucked it up with reluctant, eager fingers, and tucked it under his chin, inhaling deeply as he crashed onto his still-warm mattress and quietly steeled himself to glance at his phone. As much as he wanted to avoid having to acknowledge his best friend's communication, he was aware that unless he wanted to explain to Ignis why he wanted a new phone, there was a real limit to the amount of distance he could afford to put between him and his cell. With a faint grunt, he rolled onto his side, nuzzling the sweater miserably, and pulled out his phone, wincing at the bright screen and trying to control the frantic panic that sped his heart and ached his brain.
P: When u said you didn't mean to do that...was that true? I kinda don't know what to think dude
P: Please talk to me Noct (◞‸◟；)
Each letter of Prompto's texts seemed to draw the knot in Noctis' throat tighter. Thinking about what to reply made the Prince feel nauseous. What should he say? There were so many things he wanted to convey. And so many things he could say that would end up coming out completely wrong. No matter how hard he tried, he was positive that whatever message he tapped out would dig him into yet an even deeper hole with his best friend. He laid there, staring at the offensive blinking cursor of his blank response as the room started spinning. The pressure slowly building across his chest plagued him with a shortness of breath while the unfamiliar sting of tears bit at the corners of his eyes. An overwhelmingly intense need to escape befell him, and he hastily flicked off his text notifications and connected his headphones, blasting whatever song showed up on his playlist first. Quickly wiping his face and closing his eyes, he submitted to the darkness of the room.
Maybe tomorrow he could figure out what to do...
Prompto hardly tasted the sweet popcorn he was pushing into his mouth, curled up on his shabby but comfortable sofa, and staring at the flickering TV in the dark. It was an hour since he had sent his last text, and was feeling just about maudlin enough to attempt to send one more, final one. He felt that he had been pretty non-confrontational in his earlier messages, and since he had heard nothing back, though the messages had been seen, he thought he may as well put forth some of his own thoughts on the couldn't be worse than being stonewalled (potentially permanently) by his best friend. After all, if Noctis made it known that he wanted no further contact with him, verbally, physically, or otherwise, he had more than enough staff and security to make it so. Munching on his papery snack without enjoyment, Prompto thumbed a long message, his throat tight and his eyes a little watery. He was sure he'd seen scenes like this before in bad rom-coms, but the person sniffling and pining alone in the dark was usually female. He would have attempted a rare phone call if he could have been sure his voice and nerve wouldn't break and fail him.
P: I don't know if ur mad or sulking or embarrassed but u don't have to be! Please don't ignore me. I'm not mad at u either. I mean, u surprised me! But it was a good surprise. Lets talk? Or something?
Deciding that that was about as succinct as he could manage to be in his current state, Prompto sighed and sent the text.
Staring for the next several minutes at the delivered yet unread status of his message, the blond began to give up on any hope of getting a reply from the Prince tonight. By now, it was almost half past ten and Noctis had already probably passed out.
After Prompto reluctantly pulled himself up from the sofa and turned off the TV, he sat quietly for a moment in the darkness, listening to the cracking of the TV's moulded plastic as it cooled. He contemplated what must be going through Noctis' head. He really hoped that he wasn't going to make a complete idiot of himself by showing up to take the Prince to prom when the big night finally arrived. He was definitely putting himself out there with his whole master plan to give his best friend a prom night that was deserving of a Prince. And prom night was certainly coming up fast… He had already emotionally invested everything into this, and it was too late to turn back now, wasn't it?
As the jarring blast of the Prince's alarm clock gradually roused him from sleep, he peeked wearily out from underneath his blankets at the blinding sunlight bursting around the edges of his black-out curtains. This was by far his least favourite part of the day. It seemed way too fast for it to be morning already.
Noctis' head began to hurt as he slowly recalled pieces of the events from the night before, dazedly trying to remember if they had been part of an unwelcome dream. As reality set in, he realized that he had indeed crossed a line and kissed his best friend last night. With a deep sigh of regret, the Prince stretched a reluctant hand from the warmth of his duvet to shut off the alarm. Feeling around blindly within the tangle of sheets for his phone, he located the device and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Scratching the sleep from his eyes, he tried turning on the screen with the intent of finally replying to Prompto with an apology for his behaviour. However, when he hit the unlock button, the screen refused to illuminate.
"Damn it," he grumbled, realizing the battery must have drained sometime during the night. Tossing the useless device angrily back onto the bed, the Prince stumbled sleepily to the shower.
Twenty minutes later he had vacated his roomy en-suite in his towel, after almost falling asleep again at one point when he rested his forehead against the black tiles of the shower. Emerging from dense steam into his comparatively cool bedroom, he was only slightly surprised to notice the curtains were open and eye-watering early morning sunlight flooded the room, highlighting little floating dust motes in the air and making him wince.
Ignis was present, straightening his aptly king-sized bed, looking industrious and unflustered as he turned briefly to the Prince and nodded.
"Good morning Noctis. I have a – hmm...I don't recall seeing this amongst your apparel before," the advisor iterated questioningly. He raised an eyebrow and lifted the yellow Chocobo-print sweater from its crumpled heap by his pillow, offering it into Noct's grumpy line of sight.
"Um, yeah. Borrowed it from Prompto," muttered the Prince, grabbing the garment and hastily stuffing it into his backpack in an attempt to avoid further inquiry. "I'll give it back to him at school."
"Yes, well, as I was about to say," the advisor stated matter-of-factly, "that may have to wait until another day. I have a request from your father to bring you to the citadel at once for a council meeting of utmost importance."
"Great," mumbled Noctis under his breath.
"I have already informed your school that you will be out for a few days. I'll let you carry on here and meet you outside shortly. Please be swift, we must leave immediately," Ignis added sternly.
Tutting extravagantly, Noctis glared at Ignis until the older man threw up his hands in resignation and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Noctis dropped his towel and languidly rummaged for clothes, scratching faintly at the damp, long hair at the nape of his neck. With any luck, by the time he was back at school, Prompto would have given up the ghost of their friendship, moved on, and be suitably ignoring him, negating the need for any kind of confrontation or heart-to-heart. It was a gut-wrenching thought, but Noctis honestly wasn't sure how he'd react the next time he had to face him.
As the morning bell rang and a very red-eyed, sleep-deprived Prompto skirted to his seat for first period, he glanced at the empty desk beside him that was normally occupied by the Prince. The blond had spent the majority of the night running through all the possible scenarios of what might happen when he and Noct finally got to talking this morning. Playing out hundreds of versions of the possible conversation in his head, he thought he had prepared for virtually everything.
"Go figure," sighed the blond, shaking his head when he realized he had failed to think the Prince would go so far as skipping school just to avoid talking to him.
"You say something, sunshine?" Kai turned around from his desk and asked Prompto with a smirk.
"Uhh, no. Nothing!" squeaked the startled blond, silently kicking himself for drawing unwanted attention. To avoid Kai's intense gaze, he tried his best to blankly stare out the window into the schoolyard. Where the hell was Noctis?
"Well, if you come to your senses, I'm still free for prom," the larger male said with a sly grin before turning back around in his seat as the teacher began the lesson.
Prompto didn't know whether to hope that Noctis was just late, and that he would come skulking in within the next ten minutes with a muttered apology, or whether to absolutely dread the same scenario. Knowing that the Prince could potentially turn up at any time made his stomach churn and twist in anxious knots. Even if Noctis really was absent, if he wasn't careful, the eagle-eyed Kai would soon claim the empty desk for himself. After that, he would never be able to shake him off.
Considering this, Prompto extended one hand and tapped very awkwardly on the back of the boy in front, shrinking back a little when Kai turned back to him and stuck his tongue out playfully. Prompto was stunned to see a flash of a metal stud in his tongue, and he was abruptly silenced, his next words temporarily forgotten.
The tongue proceeded to vulgarly lick its way around Kai's perfect lips as the boy's grin turned almost impish.
"Cut it out, dude!" the blond whispered angrily, finally finding his voice and looking around to ensure none of his classmates were seeing this unbelievable spectacle. Thankfully nobody was watching. "I told you before, I've already got a date for prom. And even if I didn't, I wouldn't go with you!" As soon as the words had escaped his mouth, Prompto realized they were a bit harsher than he intended. But hey, this guy was really starting to piss him off.
Kai's grin fell flat and his scrutinizing expression quickly morphed into one of annoyance. "What's your problem? Can't take a joke, blondie?"
"As much as you can't take a hint," Prompto muttered, scowling at his desk and feeling his face flaring into heat. He sensed Kai's hard stare on him, before the teacher called upon him loudly to pay attention, and the scarlet-haired boy turned back, the menace radiating off of him. Gods, now Prompto was definitely wishing Noct was here.
The rest of the school day was almost unbearable, and Prompto wasn't able to concentrate on anything other than Noctis and a whirlwind of thoughts as he hoped for the best, but then panicked and mentally began preparing himself for the worst.
And so went the following several days as time blurred for the lonely blond without Noctis showing up for school, or responding to any of his increasingly concerned texts. This had been the longest time he had ever gone without hearing from his best friend since the two started hanging out.
And it was breaking his heart.