"My idle hands and restless mind—
into darkness, begin to delve.

Seldom do I think of you,
but today I thought of little else."
-Lang Leav

20160 – 336

Earlier in their marriage, there were times when Noctis overslept. He would wake up late in the afternoon with brunch prepared on the bedside table. Prompto never bothers to wake him up. He often reasoned that he wanted Noctis to get as much rest as possible.

When Noctis would sit up from their bed, he'd find the bathroom door open and mirror all covered up in fog due to the steam. Prompto would take a shower and the sound of running water played along while he sang his favorite song.

"I want to ride my chocobo all day!"

And Noctis would groan, dragging himself to the bathroom wide awake. "Ugh, Promptoooo…"

"What?!" The blonde would then laugh as he opened the sliding shower door, not giving a care about how completely naked he was. "I can't get it out of my head!"

4320

Noctis was distant and silent. He didn't know how to act, even though Prompto had only requested for him to pretend. How do you even act to pretend? It was a question that had no answers.

Breakfast went a little awkward, but Prompto tried, making Noctis feel like he needed to try and play his part also. Cindy had made coffee. Prompto had requested Noctis' coffee to be hot with extra sugar. Then he requested milk with his iced coffee. When Noctis gave him a look, Prompto beamed a smile at him and sheepishly chuckled. "My bad, I totally forgot you said you haven't been drinking coffee."

"No, it's fine. I'll drink it." Noctis thanked Cindy after taking a sip. "I'm just surprised you still know how I like it."

"I still remember," Prompto said, tapping his temples. Then he opened his mouth, wanting to tell Noctis that every so often he would write and review the things that Noctis liked so he wouldn't forget. In the end, he didn't and closed his mouth, hiding behind a smile.

"There's a tree that's just down the hill, Noctis." Prompto said when Cindy was cleaning up their breakfast.

"What do you wanna do with a tree?"

For a moment, Prompto gave Noctis a blank stare before looking down. "I want to carve something."

In that moment, it clicked in Noctis' head. He remembered Prompto's old hobby of carving their initials in the bark of trees, saying that it'd be there for the entire world to see. Noctis' face hardened and he frowned. "Prompto—"

"Let's go, Noctis."

There was a strain in his voice. "Please don't do this."

Prompto couldn't help himself. His smile dropped for a visible split second.

"We're only pretending… remember?"

Pretend. That was the keyword. Noctis didn't know why Prompto wanted to do something as cruel as to pretend when they both knew nothing that was happening was real. Nothing was true. He could see how everything was going to hurt the blonde. But still, it was only fourteen days and it was Prompto's one request for signing the papers. It was the most Noctis could do, so in the end, he nodded.

"Alright then." He rose from his seat. "Chop, chop, Prompto."

In his short time there, he observed that Prompto moved a little slow at things. At first, he thought it was just the fear of anticipating the day that his little ordeal finished and he would have to sign the papers, but it wasn't. Sometimes it would take Prompto a minute to process something complex and when he had to do a task that involved too much labor, there were times he couldn't do it, and Cindy was around to offer him help and take over.

Noctis still couldn't understand the relationship Prompto had with Cindy. Sure, they were friends, but he didn't know whether she had become his housekeeper, maybe new best friend? or rather a girlfriend—though "girlfriend" was out of the question since their interaction seemed strictly between brother and sister. But even if Noctis couldn't draw the line to what it was they had, he knew that Cindy was protective over Prompto for whatever reason.

As he waited outside the balcony, he couldn't help but hear Prompto and Cindy's conversation around the corner. With ears perked and sharp hearing senses, Noctis couldn't help but eavesdrop.

"You sure you wanna walk that far today?" he could hear Cindy's concerned voice ask.

"I've ran and walked down there plenty of times, Cindy. I'll be alright."

"That was before, hun…"

"It's okay. I have Noctis."

The conversation ended there. In the next few minutes, Noctis saw Prompto turn a corner and start walking towards him. Behind Prompto, Cindy tried to keep a happy look on her face as she waved to both to be careful outside, but Noctis could see the distinct look of true concern.

If Prompto hadn't been walking slow, they would've gotten there in a matter of minutes. Instead, they walked for ten minutes down the path of stairs and only came upon a tree that Prompto was talking about when they went off the trail. After a fair amount of vegetation, Prompto pointed at a tree that seemed to be the father of all trees around it.

Noctis watched as Prompto happily inspected the tree's base. He took a seat as Prompto started to work on his tiny project, humming the chocobo song. The breeze had always felt good up in Cape Caem and he had begun to relax as he looked out towards the sea then back to watch Prompto. As he watched, Noctis felt something warm inside him fluttering just by looking at the sight of the blonde against the gigantic tree. It brought him back to the time when he used to look out for Prompto whenever he did this in the city.

For the first time in a long time, Noctis let his guard down. It was a pleasant sight to see, and he couldn't help the small curl of his lips.

After five minutes of trying to penetrate the hard wood, Prompto huffed and sighed, turning to Noctis. He held out his pocketknife and asked, "Hey, Noct. Can you do it for me?"

Noctis blinked in surprise before rising to his feet and walking over to take the sharp object gently from Prompto. "Why? Is the wood hard to cut?"

Prompto leaned against the wall. "I'm just a little tired."

"A little?" Noctis glanced at him. "Did you sleep well at all last night?"

"Uh." Silence grew for seconds before Prompto answered slowly. "Yeah…"

"Then why are you tired?" Noctis asked, looking back at the tree and inspecting the knife.

"I've just been sick for a while…" Prompto replied.

"I see. Have you been to the doctor?"

"Yeah."

Noctis turned to him. "And?"

"They said it was just a cold," Prompto replied, looking away. "They told me I'll be alright."

"Just a cold, huh?"

Prompto nodded. "Yeah… Just a cold."

Noctis pursed his lips and pointed the knife at the tree with a sigh. "So, what do you want me to write?"

"Binary."

Noctis snorted and gave Prompto a light punch, but smiled softly anyways. "It's always binary with you."

"Sometimes numbers say things that we don't have the courage to say in words," Prompto said, smiling back. "Where words are vague, numbers are precise."

Noctis shook his head. "You're such a nerd."

They paused for a second before Noctis moved again and Prompto told him the sequence along the way. By the time Noctis was done, an hour and a half had passed. In the end, it wasn't wasted time. They walked about the past and the times that made them laugh until tears were pouring out of their eyes. Their heavy chest heaved off some weight.

Prompto laughed for the first time in so long and it seemed to unlock something in Noctis' buried heart and closed ears as his beautiful laughter filled them. For a long time, Noctis was deprived of the laugh that made him look twice at Prompto back in their college years. And now, with the ringing back in his life, Noctis was flooded with different kinds of emotions. He didn't know what to feel. All he knew was that he felt warmness inside his chest and the beating of his heart was coming back to life. And fast.

By the time it was all done, Prompto seemed less tired and they walked back together to the house with Prompto's staggered space. Noctis joked about Prompto's clumsiness and extended his hand to help him, leaving behind a message near bottom of the hill that said:

"01110000 00101110 01110011 00101110 00100000 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101110"

And if Noctis had known Binary the way Prompto did, he would have known what the numbers were trying to tell him.

p.s. I'm still in love with you.

That night, Noctis felt something warm crawl into bed with him. When his eyes opened, he saw the outline of Prompto's figure standing over him against the moonlight. His husband looked almost ethereal, and in a quiet voice, Prompto asked, "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

He knew he should've hesitated, but Noctis didn't. He moved and flipped the covers over. "Come here, Prom…"

Slowly, Prompto laid down next to him. He kept his distance and faced the other way, but it was Noctis who unexpectedly put the same sheet over him and closed the distance they had to share warmth. It wasn't necessary. There was nothing in their deal about physical contact.

"You okay?" Noctis asked softly, rubbing Prompto's back.

"Yeah… Just…" He listened as Prompto let out a shuddered laugh. "Bad dream."

Empathizing with him, Noctis snaked his arms around Prompto's waist and pulled him closer. "It's okay," he consoled Prompto gently, trying to make his body turn so they could face each other. When Prompto uncomfortably shifted to face him, their eyes met.

"It's okay." Noctis said again, slightly tightening his grip. "I'm here."

The sudden action surprised Prompto for a second. His blue eyes widened as Noctis' gaze focused on him. A part of him wanted to get up and leave. It must've been a mistake. He just wanted to feel Noctis' presence. But when Noctis detected the blonde's restlessness, he smiled weakly and pulled Prompto's head to settle on the surface of his beating heart.

"Noct—"

The comfort he was giving Prompto didn't have to go physically far. But there he was, tangling his fingers and brushing through the blonde locks in front of him. The scent of Prompto's hair was calming and he pressed himself closer towards Prompto's warm body, drifting back to sleep.

"I'm right here, okay?" Noctis mumbled in his sleep. "I'm right beside you."

Prompto's heart skipped a beat. As he melted into his husband's strong arms, he held back his tears by biting his lips, trying to fall back to sleep.

Author's Note: Rini (jixue), this chapter's for you.