`"What did Gladio want?" Noctis murmured to his best friend, casually ignoring the continued voluble frustrations of his advisor just behind him, bemoaning the current lack of transportation.
"Ah, ya know…he wanted to make sure we were gonna behave," Prompto replied with a flirty wink, not exactly lying.
"Can't promise that," Noctis drawled, smirking to himself. "Time's come, dude. Get ready to rumble," he muttered, snaking a hand around Prompto's narrow waist.
The gunner extricated himself hurriedly. "Sheesh, how many times to I have to tell you? Out of sight!" he reprimanded in exasperation.
"You're no fun," Noctis complained, with an impressive, dour pout. "Fine. Follow me."
The Prince glanced over back over his shoulder with a fiendish grin, beckoning the blond towards him with one curled finger as they rounded the back of the forecourt buildings, approaching a tall water tower. Prompto giggled self-consciously but trotted to catch up to him just as Noctis leaned one hand as sultrily as he could on the metal strut of the water tower.
"Ah, shit!" The Prince exclaimed, ripping his palm away from the sun-sizzled burning metal of the strut, gasping and shaking his hand in pain.
"Noct! Gods," Prompto uttered, his elfin features twitching with amusement at the same time that his eyes were softening with pity. "Come 'ere, klutz."
Noctis raised one eyebrow as his best friend took a hold of his wrist, winked at him, and then lowered his mouth to kiss his sore palm. The Prince didn't know whether the gunner's intention was to soothe, or to flirt, but it was usurped regardless when Prompto sniggered against his hand, giving it a very clumsy, affectionate smooch.
"Tease," Noct murmured, grinning, before he squeezed his fingers and thumb to playfully smoosh Prompto's cheeks together. The gunner yowled in annoyance.
"Dude, I thought you wanted to make out! You're going the wrong way about it," Prompto chuckled.
"Yeah, but you're cute when you're pissed off."
"Does that mean you're always gonna be bullying me?"
"Only a bit. Only 'cos I like you," Noctis informed him, laughing.
"Hmm," Prompto replied, rolling his eyes doubtfully.
"You look even cuter when you're coming," Noct added in a deep, secretive murmur, and he smiled triumphantly when Prompto's face flamed and he coughed in embarrassment.
"You're a deviant, your Highness."
"You love it."
"Yep, afraid to say I do," Prompto agreed. "Gods forgive me."
Noctis was holding Prompto's sweat-damp hand tightly, pulling him with single-minded direction towards a dilapidated little hut a few hundred feet behind the main concourse of Hammerhead.
The blond had offered a few half-hearted refutations, but by the time they were half-way between the quietened garage and the isolated shack, he was thrilling forcefully, almost painfully, with the effort of holding back from jumping Noct as soon as humanly possible.
"Noct…I think I'm ready," Prompto muttered, eyes cool with purpose, yet sparking with need as he seized the Prince's biceps and forcibly spun him around, licking his lips.
"We're nearly there," Noctis reminded the blond, nodding toward the unspoken designated hideout, but he was abruptly silenced by a sudden, ferocious kiss, Prompto's tiny little noise of relief and dizzy assent vibrating against his lips. Staggering back slightly with surprise, the Prince soon pushed his hands under the back of Prompto's tank top, sliding over summer-sticky skin, before smoothing down roughly under his waistband to squeeze his backside hard.
The gunner seethed out a hiss of delight, and pushed his spread fingers deeply into Noct's soft black hair, bringing his fingers back together sharply to give a tingling tug at the roots.
"Gods, yes, that's perfect," Noctis muttered breathlessly against Prompto's eager lips, which nipped and sucked at his own mouth relentlessly.
They both flinched reactively as far-distant thunder exploded somewhere over the rugged horizon dominated by sun-baked mountains.
They both chuckled as Prompto asked, "Why is there a thunderstorm every time we get busy?"
"Maybe it's the Gods' way of cheering us on," Noctis shrugged playfully.
"Oh, don't say that, dude! I don't wanna imagine ol' Ramuh watching us and getting off on our make-out sessions," the blond grimaced.
"In that case, we better head that way," Noctis chuckled, taking Prompto's hand once more and leading him toward the distant shack with undisguised haste. "Don't want any spectators when we screw."
The blond paused briefly in his stride, and pulled a face. "…I don't like that. It makes it sound really seedy," he complained.
"…Okay, when we make love, how's that?" Noctis offered, a small grin on his pale features.
Prompto laughed and nodded happily. "Much better."
By the time they managed to kick open the rickety wooden door, unlocked but instead rusted shut, the fervour had died down somewhat and they fell, chuckling, through the narrow doorframe in each other's arms.
Dusty, heated particles swirled furiously at the intrusion, having lain undisturbed for months, and both men coughed a little at the musty cloud and stagnant hot air inside the shack.
"…Classy," Prompto announced, deadpan, and Noctis laughed and gave him an affectionate shove.
"Better than nothing," he reasoned, pulling the gunner close to him once more in the stifling gloom, giving him a firm kiss.
"I can't breathe," Prompto complained as their mouths disconnected, and the Prince rolled his eyes, before bashing the rotten slats that shuttered the three glassless windows with his palm, inviting in evening light and some much-needed fresh air. One of the shutters disconnected from its rusted hinges completely, tumbling onto the baked ground outside.
"Better?" Noctis asked, one eyebrow raised under sweat-damp hair.
"Much," his best friend replied brightly, sitting down against the wall with a grunt and dusting himself off. "But I don't think we're gonna get much done in these conditions," he grinned.
"Agreed," Noctis concurred grudgingly. "I'll get Gladio to take Iggy for some beers later. Give us some time to ourselves in the camper."
"Good plan."
"Naturally," Noct smirked.
Prompto sighed and stretched as Noctis sat down beside him, giving him a warm, slightly salty smooch. A strong beam of evening desert sun lancing through one of the large, airy windows picked out the faintest silvery highlights in the Prince's black hair, and Prompto petted it fondly.
"…So…gonna tell me about this old boyfriend then?" Noctis said casually.
"…You're not gonna let this drop, are you?" Prompto sighed again.
"Nope."
With a defeated groan, the blond cleared his throat. "Fine. But after this I don't wanna talk about it again."
"Got it," Noctis nodded, shifting a little closer in anticipation and rewarding the reluctant gunner with a peck on his freckled cheek.
"…Remember in high school…when you took a few months out to go with your dad on that royal tour thing?"
"Mm-hm?"
"I was missing you like crazy but that's besides the point. One day I was coming out of school and this older guy approached me at the gates looking like he was after something. I mean, I was kinda used to that because people were always coming up to me to ask about you, you know, get gossip or whatever. But this guy wasn't from our school, turns out he was the big brother of some girl in our class, in his twenties. I was all ready to tell him the usual spiel, that I wasn't going to be giving him any information about you or arrange a meeting or anything like that."
The blond paused, and Noctis nudged him, intrigued. "Go on."
"Well…actually it turned out he'd seen me around and basically thought I was…cute," Prompto shrugged, blushing. "I'd never had anyone actually hit on me before…I kinda agreed to go out on a date with him before I'd even thought about it, 'cos I was so flattered. And at first it was fine, and it was so easy to talk to him. Easier than talking to girls, anyway," he chuckled. "And I kinda liked him. Maybe I was just lonely, I don't know. We went out for a while and did…you know, stuff. But then…there was a …scary experience."
"…Yeah?" Noctis prompted.
"Well we'd been making out together, you know, but not full sex. But one day about a month later he got pushy. Like…I was kinda frightened of him. He wanted to go the whole way and I didn't, not yet anyway…he got mean and rough, and called me names and started trying to…well, force it. I managed to basically fight him off and got the hell out of there. And…that's it, really, I didn't see him again."
"…Prom…Gods, that's awful! And you never said anything to me…"
"I didn't wanna worry you. I figured I'd learned my lesson, and no real harm done."
"The guy was gonna fucking rape you!"
Prompto flinched, and frowned. "Yeah, but he didn't."
"Who is this guy? I'll find him and wreck him. I'll cut his fucking head off."
"Noct! It's all over, just leave it. That's…way in the past, okay?"
The Prince relented, very reluctantly, although he made a mental note to go back through the school registers and try and deduce the identity of the bastard. "…So…is that the only experience you've had?"
"Pretty much."
"…Shit."
"…I like girls too, don't get me wrong…and it sounds bad, but I just find it easier with guys. Girls don't like me so much."
"So, uh, you're happy with…this? It's okay with me, right?"
"Noct, I'm completely in love with you. This is perfect, honestly. Even if I didn't just have crap experiences to compare it to," he laughed. "For such a vain guy you sure can be insecure sometimes," he teased fondly.
"I'm a conundrum," Noctis agreed, winking at him.
"A hot mess is more like it," Prompto grinned.
"As long as I'm hot."
"Always."
"That's okay then. So, uh…do you think you're…ready now?"
"For?"
"You know, like…going the whole way?"
Prompto bit his lip, torn between telling the truth and disappointing Noctis, and lying in order to keep him happy, at the probable risk to his own sanity. Before he was forced by the pressure of stretching seconds to answer, Noct's phone buzzed and they heard Ignis' tinny voice, signalling a message alert.
"~I've come up with a new recipe!~"
Noct huffed a little laugh, never failing to be amused by the recording. Prompto managed a strained grin too, unsure whether to be relieved or irritated by the interruption.
The Prince read the short message, and tapped out a reply. "He's just checking to see we haven't been eaten."
"…If we stay here any longer we might be, it's gonna be nightfall soon," Prompto suggested.
Another faint grumble of overhead thunder startled them briefly, and Noctis smiled.
"Guess that's our cue, babe."
"…'Babe?'" Prompto queried, pulling a face.
"Not good?" Noctis asked worriedly.
"…Nah…I like it, actually," the blond admitted after a moment's contemplation, giving Noct's hand a squeeze as they stood up in the dusty evening heat, brushed themselves off, and left their little shack to begin the trudge across dry desert, back towards Hammerhead.
You boyfriend's uncomfortable with extravagant gifts of affection? #NoctisProblems