Prompto shifted his back against the cool concrete wall of Noctis' training room, silently thanking the gods for the padded exercise mats that covered the floors. Two whole days had passed since their prom night escapades and he was starting to wonder if his backside would ever be the same again. Although he was still getting over the minor discomfort, it was a reminder of how close he and Noct had finally become, and the idea of them being boyfriends was keeping a near-constant smile on his face ever since.
The typical sounds of afternoon training, mainly the clanging of wooden swords, the heaving grunts of physical exertion, and the occasional curses from an outright exhausted Prince, all faded into the background as the blond flicked through the photos on his camera. He found himself grinning ear to ear upon his arrival at the disastrous mess of sweaty hair, rosy cheeks, and awkward grins that forever captured the aftermath of their first time. He made a mental note to print the shot later, so that it could adorn prime real estate along the edge of the mirror on the back of his bedroom door.
Things sure had taken a turn for the better, and for the first time in a long time, Prompto felt excited and hopeful about the future. He was excited about starting summer vacation with Noct by his side. Maybe once he got a job and saved up enough money, he could afford to take Noctis out on another date. He was pretty sure it would be hard to beat prom night, but still, he had started crafting a mental list of all the things they could do together this summer, and it was growing exponentially fast.
"Hey blondie, tell your boyfriend here to pull up his socks." The sound of Gladio's scruffy, and slightly irritated, voice suddenly startled Prompto from his daydreams.
Two things occurred to Prompto before Gladio's actual words filtered into his distracted brain. The first was the term 'boyfriend,' which had stuck out in the sentence like a gold nugget in so much sand. Boyfriend! Someone other than he or Noctis was using the term, making the whole thing even more real. The sensation that those two syllables evoked in him were a curious and pleasant mixture of pride, arousal and glee.
The second was the appearance of Noctis, who had glanced over at him and was offering a crooked, affectionate, and somewhat flirtatious smile. The weather outside was unseasonably warm, with only the slightest breeze to ease sticky skin, and despite the powerful air conditioning in this room, it was clearly affecting the Prince too.
Noct had been working impressively hard, or so it seemed to Prompto, who would be the first to admit happy ignorance of royal military training. His boyfriend's hair had been smoothed back by hot, damp hands, and for once his forehead was visible, beaded with sweat and only decorated with a few wet, black strands of hair. He kept lifting his already-soaked white shirt up to dab at his perspiring face, giving Prompto the frequent sight of muscled abs and slim hips, and two faint bumps indicated his nipples through the tight material. It was taking him considerable effort to avert his eyes and bleach his mind of dirty thoughts at these instances.
"Uh," Prompto replied eloquently, as he finally realised he had been given an instruction by the equally-impressive behemoth that was Gladio. "He seems to be doing okay?" he offered.
"That so? Looks to me like Prince Charmless here's takin' a vacation," the larger man grumbled, taking another swing at the Prince with his oversized weapon.
"Not yet," Noct mumbled, barely audible over the clash of wood that echoed through the stagnant air as he stumbled against the weight of Gladio's blade.
Prompto perked up at the comment, one eyebrow cocked.
"Say what, now?" the larger man questioned.
Noctis petulantly said nothing, just side-stepped and attempted a quick swipe at Gladio's side, only to be effortlessly blocked and then forced backwards with a hard shove of the Shield's sturdy sword. The Prince wiped a damp forearm across his face again, not in the mood for training and certainly not training accompanied by the sort of interrogation that always made him feel like he was being treated like a child.
"Can't hear ya, short stuff," Gladio insisted flatly, poking Noctis rudely with the blunted end of his weapon.
"He's just tired, don't pay him any attention," Prompto piped up, his hopeful voice echoing slightly in the balmy vastness of the gym. Not exactly sure what he was defending Noct about, he could nevertheless sense forthcoming angst between the Prince and his guardian, and suspected that the idea of a mini-break would not go down well with his advisors.
As friendly as they were with each other, Gladio and Noctis still tended to have spats due to fundamental personality differences, not helped by the Shield's habit of relentlessly teasing his ward. And the both of them were fiery and proud enough to let any trivial argument devolve into actual fisticuffs if they weren't stopped.
"Not talking to you, blondie. Noct, you taking the piss? If you're fighting this bad, there's no way Iggy'll let you take a holiday." At the side of the lofty, dust- and sweat-scented room, Prompto wondered how much of this was empty threat. "Especially if you're gonna spend it boning pretty boy," Gladio added with an inflammatory smirk.
"It's for fishing, ok?!" Prompto blurted out, cheeks ablaze and looking like he was surprised at the sound of his own high-pitched voice. "I mean… that's not what we'd… be doing…" he clarified, voice trailing off as he looked away.
Both men turned toward the flustered blond and stared at him for a moment until their silence finally gave way to snickering.
"Pfft. Ya really expect me to believe that?" the Shield teased.
"Yeah really, Prompto," the Prince agreed with a smirk.
"Noctis!" Prompto squeaked with embarrassment.
"What?" the raven-haired teen queried. "Thought you said you wanted to go to Galdin Quay this weekend?"
"Are you serious?" Prompto asked with a nervous yet hopeful smile.
"Yup."
"All right, lover boys," the Shield interrupted, tossing a spare towel toward the Prince's face. "Practice is over for today. You'd better go talk to Ignis about your little excursion. And don't think for a second that you'll be allowed to go alone. This shield needs to work on his tan," the giant man snickered as he pointed his thumb at his bulging pectorals.
"No time for that. We're gonna need 24-hour chaperoning to stop us boning," Noctis shrugged with a whimsical smile, and the affronted, wordless responses of both his Shield and boyfriend rang out in the reverberant gym.
N – Dude we have to talk
Prompto was in the middle of one of central Insomnia's backstreets the next day, eyeing up the Staff Wanted sign in a compact-looking video game shop contemplatively.
He had bypassed the main hub, fairly certain that both the affluence of the shops and eateries there as well as the eternal busyness of the thoroughfare would kill him with anxiety just thinking about getting part-time work there. This little street however, a fair distance from the central plaza and dotted with shops more eclectic, more affordable, and frankly less-visited, was ticking a lot of boxes.
Postponing his inner pep talk to urge him to actually go through the door and ask about the job, he gratefully pulled out his phone and then frowned at the message, thumbing back a rapid reply.
P - What's up, something wrong? (◍•﹏•)
Noctis probably wanted to break up with him. Or, like, annul the relationship. As if it had never happened. Damn it, he's screwed up already, and Noct had finally realised what a complete loser he was. Still, he could only be thankful that he'd lasted this many years in the Prince's favour.
N – It's about Galdin
Okay...maybe not a break-up then. At least, not yet. When Noctis didn't reply straight away, Prompto thumbed out another quick text.
P – Tell meeee
N – Kay, so
N – I asked Iggy
N – turns out
N – its fine and we can go haha (⌐■_■)
Exhaling out the breath he had apparently been holding in a relieved huff, Prompto texted back, shaking his head in fond reprimand.
P – You're an asshole
N – Yeah, I love you too.
The blonde smirked, unable to deny it.
P – Just a bit ^.~
N – We'll see. (*＾-') 乃
Now that prom night was over and quite frankly couldn't have gone much better despite all his prior misgivings, he found he was facing a whole new slew of anxieties over their first vacation together.
Still, he wouldn't miss it for the world.