"Prompto, one moment," Ignis halted the younger man, resting one gloved hand upon his bare shoulder as he was following the Prince over storm-drenched scree.
"I think we…patched it up," the blond reassured him, as Gladio loomed into the background.
"You've now instigated relations with Noctis?" Ignis pressed.
"No! Not…no, not exactly…we just…Gods, you're both gonna have to tell me exactly what you need me to know. But not now - I don't like going behind Noct's back and talking like this. Once I've made sure he's okay, we can chat," Prompto told them firmly, before quickly bounding over slippery, ragged rocks to catch up with the Prince, who had paused and was looking back for him.
"It looks like the crisis we were waiting for may be far more underwhelming than expected," Ignis mused, watching the younger men exchange a few words and then wander off together towards the pier.
"You could be right," Gladio nodded. "Wonder if we're gonna be booking two rooms as standard now."
"Hm, a slight downside. Not to mention the communal tent…though I suspect that we needn't worry too much about…"
"About them screwing in front of us?" Gladio grinned.
"…I was going to say 'improper activities.' But I suppose you have the gist of it." Ignis tutted, though there was an aristocratic smile on his face.
"Damn right."
"…Fancy a coffee?"
"Always."
"Everything okay?" Noct asked, rubbing his eyes as Prompto ran up to him, grinning widely.
"Yeah, everything's cool."
"It's probably quicker and less…weird if I tell you the whole 'situation,'" the Prince offered, shrugging slightly in embarrassment.
"If you want to talk, I'll always listen," the blond assured him, giving him a playful little right hook to the arm.
"But the thing is…if I don't get to bed soon, I'm going to actually die," Noctis told him dramatically, and in all seriousness.
"…I take it you mean to sleep, you lazy nerd. Come on, let's get you tucked in," Prompto giggled.
Noctis sat heavily on the edge of his bed, scrubbing his eyes with one hand and trying to unlace his boots with the other, all whilst yawning massively. Outside the large windows, a stiff breeze was chasing away the remnants of the sudden, violent rainstorm, spattering random moisture against the glass.
"You are some kind of mess, Noct," Prompto grinned, kneeling before him and helping his with his heavy boots, hauling them off and chucking them aside. "Into bed then."
"Never again," the Prince was lamenting, his pale face contorted into theatrical anguish and a hand over his eyes as he fell back on the bed.
"I would applaud your acting skills if you were actually acting," his friend teased, poking him in the knee. "Right, I'm off to get breakfast. See you later."
"Wait, what?" Noctis' indigo eyes opened and fixed upon him with endearing confusion.
Prompto shrugged. "Once I'm up, I'm up. I'm not tired at all. So sleep well, y'Highness."
"But what about…" Noctis frowned, then flushed, and then shook his head, dispersing the spontaneous thought.
"Hm?"
"…Well...I thought you would maybe try and, you know…Unless you don't want to, that's cool," Noct was muttering, voice getting quieter as he turned and started peeling back the cool bedcovers.
"You have seriously gotta work on your speech, dude. Like, use words. Tell me what you're thinking," Prompto chuckled, his nose crinkling sweetly in amusement.
"…A kiss."
"Ohhh, like a goodnight kiss? I guess I could do that," Prompto nodded beatifically, before giggling again, the freckles on his cheeks crinkling into new constellations as he grinned. "Even if it is barely 8am."
"…You were going to. Before Ignis…"
"Barged in, yeah," Prompto laughed. He alighted upon the edge of Noct's bed as the Prince paused halfway between the mattress and indecency. "Oh…sorry, you wanna get undressed? I'll totally make myself scarce."
"Nah, just…just get it over with," Noct muttered, his usual pout downturned even further into discomfort.
"…Dude, I won't do it if you don't want it!" Prompto exclaimed, holding up both hands in supplication.
"I do! Just…Dunno what…haven't really done it. Well…once, I suppose," Noct pondered aloud, his features creased in consternation.
"Do tell," Prompto spoke softly, scooting a bit closer and resting his hand upon the hard fist that his friend was clenching unconsciously into the bedsheets.
"Iris kissed me once. It was awful."
The grimace on Noct's face was enough to make Prompto cackle. "Was it all drool and sweet nothings?"
"I was sixteen. I just remember she pounced and…it was just hands and…flowery smelling stuff and…wet."
"So, could've been worse," Prompto nudged him, winking.
"I wouldn't know. You're the one who's been with people," Noctis hissed, far more bitterly than he'd intended.
"I'm not a slut just because I've had more experience than you," Prompto rolled his eyes, somewhat defensively.
"I didn't…say that."
"But you think it. Are you jealous of me because you wish you'd done more with people?"
"No, I'm jealous of them because I wish I'd been your first," Noct spat, before his indigo eyes closed in anxious recognition, and he sighed weakly at the shock of his own admission. "…Shit," he added feebly.
Prompto stated at him, mouth open, for a few seconds, then practically deflated with compassion, his voice cracking. "…Oh Noct…you big softie, why didn't you say anything?"
"Like what? We talk don't about important stuff, we just goof around. And most guys don't wanna know that their best friend is…whatever."
"…You do realise that everybody knows that I'm silly about you, right?"
"…And the whole Palace knows that you're kind of my unspoken Princess," Noctis managed to laugh, though he found himself curiously torn between choking on amusement and choking on tears.
"So the two people in the world who need to know, don't."
"Seems so."
"…We're idiots."
"Yeah."
"Totally."
"Totally," Noct nodded in agreement, knuckling the threat of moisture from his eyes roughly before he embarrassed himself any further.
"…You better not start calling me Princess," the blond warned him conspiratorially.
Noct sobbed out a quick, cathartic laugh, giving his friend a fond punch in the arm as he sniffed and sighed.
"I didn't say you had the job yet," he teased him.
"We'll see," Prompto winked back at him, before he became quiet. There was a short, introverted vacuum of expression as both men quietly considered the actual impossibility of such an arrangement. Regardless of either of their feelings, duty dictated that Noctis marry a woman and maintain the bloodline as well as international relations and a stable throne.
"…Anyway…let's not…think about that right now," Noct muttered, sensing that his friend's maudlin reflections were mirroring his own.
"Yeah," Prompto agreed, looking down and fidgeting with his hands.
"And I'm gonna kiss you," Noctis added, though his words ended with an uncertain, questioning tone.
"Please do. Before you pass out from lack of sleep," Prompto needled him affectionately, grinning at him.
Noctis nodded firmly, and then swooped in hard, both men making faint sounds of pain as their teeth bumped. Trying to salvage the kiss, the Prince nibbled and sucked hurriedly at Prom's lower lip, his strong hands questing blindly into the other man.
"W-woah, easy tiger," the blond laughed, pulling back and halting Noctis, who was frowning at the interruption, his pale cheeks stained red as if with some delicate ink.
"What?" Noctis glowered, indigo eyes flicking possessively and impatiently towards his friend's mouth.
"Slow down, there's no rush."
"But-"
"Shh," Prompto soothed him, allowing himself one last little giggle before he cupped Noct's angular jaw, thumbing it gently. "Foreplay's meant to take time."
Noctis spluttered and sighed in discomfiture at the implication. "Prom!"
"Kidding, kidding!" the blond grinned, stroking through Noct's silky hair, and finally, blessedly, pressing his mouth to the Prince's.
Noctis replied with a breathless gasp, his exhale dampening Prompto's lips, which he swiftly reclaimed in a firm, sucking kiss. Allowing it, the photographer suckled back, taking up the challenge and refusing to back down when Noct's tongue boldly entered the fray, licking and probing into his mouth. The Prince's hands were groping indiscriminately at his waist, and long, sweet-smelling black hair was tickling his nose.
Prompto pulled back once more, and prudently used two fingers to sweep aside the Prince's long fringe. He chuckled in shock as Noctis bullied forward once more, trying for another aggressive kiss, his hands dragging down Prompto's hips to knead hungrily at his thighs and his eyes dark and intense.
"Noct, stop," Prompto wheezed, his lips tingling, and he licked them appreciatively, feeling quite dizzy from the Prince's overenthusiastic, biting kisses.
"Did you like that?" Noctis asked, licking his own reddened lips and looking quite vampirish as he did so.
The blond pulled a thoughtful face. "Could've been worse," he reasoned.
"Hey!"
Prompto chuckled again at his friend, the conundrum. For all of Noct's inexperience and introversion, he had an equal amount of pride bordering on arrogance, which needed to be appeased now and then. Prom didn't tend to indulge him. On this occasion, however…
"It was perfect," he said simply.
Noct opened his mouth to retort, apparently expecting more mockery, but he relaxed and offered his own small, smug grin.
"Yeah, it was, wasn't it."
"You totally need some practice though. I wasn't counting on getting a lip piercing."
Noct growled and lunged playfully at him. With a manic chuckle, Prompto was on his feet and sprinting from the outraged Prince, hastening from the room and slamming the door behind him.
It wasn't long before his phone beeped and shuddered with a new message alert. It was Noct.
'~You're gonna pay for that, Princess.~'