Chapter Text
"Thanks, babe."
The reply fell so easily from Noctis's lips that he didn't even realize what he had said until he noticed Prompto out of the corner of his vision, frozen mid-step on his way into the kitchen to grab them some sodas, eyes wide in shock as he stared at him. And Noctis's heart froze with him as his words echoed in his mind.
Fuck.
"What?" Noctis said as casually as possible, lifting an eyebrow. The character on the television took a beating as he lost focus on his video game.
"Uh…babe?" Prompto asked.
Noctis squinted at him, trying to feign confusion. "What?"
"No, I wasn't- I mean, that's what
you
just called me?" Prompto asked carefully.
Noctis forced a laugh of disbelief. "No way, dude, I called you bud."
"Oh…" Prompto laughed awkwardly, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he looked away, not as convinced as Noctis hoped. "Duh. Sorry."
Noctis shrugged and focused back on his game, praying to the Six that Prompto didn't notice the blush he could feel spreading across his face.
--
So, in retrospect, he definitely shouldn't have entered Prompto's name in his cell phone as "Babydoll" when they first started hanging out. And he definitely shouldn't have gotten so damn used to it over the past six months that he completely forgot it wasn't normal.
But when he had met the guy, he couldn't help it. Prompto was such a ray of sunshine, fucking every instinct in Noctis wanted to dote on him, and the nickname just seemed so fitting, he had indulged a little, just a little, by letting himself call the blond by that name in his head. And then, of course, it didn't hurt to put it in his phone that way, right? It's not like anyone looked at it except him. Even Ignis didn't cross that boundary.
So it was just his little harmless secret, just a little bit of warmth he let himself have.
Well, holy fuck, he was a dumbass.
--
The day Noctis met Prompto, it had been pouring. Flash flood warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, possibly some hail in the forecast--the works, and Ignis was late.
“I have a flat tire and the spare won’t be safe in this storm, so I’m going to have the car towed. Do you want me to send a Crownsguard to-”
“No,” Noctis said flatly, sighing at the water pooling around his boots as he stood under the student union entrance awning. He hated when other Guards had to attend to him. They were too formal and would just draw even more attention to him at the university. “I could always take the bus.”
“I would prefer you didn’t. Can you stick it out there for a while? I’ll try to stress to the car shop that this is urgent.” Ignis’s voice was a little displeased. He hated when things didn’t go as planned, and even though Noctis spent most of every day on campus by himself, anything outside his routine was likely to rub his retainer the wrong way.
“Yeah, I’ll just hang out in the cafeteria, no big,” Noctis said, peering up at the sky. The clouds were a solid blanket of churning darkness, unlikely to let up any time soon. Going anywhere else on campus would suck, so he was stuck at the student union. At least this was where the food was.
“I would send Gladio but he was already scheduled-”
“Specs, don’t worry about it. I’m a big boy, I can chill at my school for a couple more hours.” Noctis smirked, rolling his eyes a bit. Then he narrowed his gaze across the plaza, focusing on a blurry flash of blond barreling right toward him. He tensed a little, stepping closer to a pillar in the hopes he wouldn’t draw attention from the idiot running through a lightning storm. “Call me when you’re on your way.”
“Of course,” Ignis said and ended the call. At least he didn’t tell Noctis to be careful. That had been a dumb discussion halfway through sophomore year when his retainer would not accept that Noctis could take care of himself and didn’t need to be reminded to ‘be safe’ every single time they spoke. After entering his junior year without any major incidents since enrolling, Ignis finally conceded that he was, indeed, an adult. That and his father may have gently said something about treating Noctis as a man and not as a kid. Noctis was sure that had stung, but the momma hen needed a little tough love sometimes.
The blond blur grew sharper as Noctis watched a young man running at full sprint through the rain. Just as he passed the fountain, a crack of lightning burst overhead, likely striking one of the nearby lightning rods, and the guy yelped and literally jumped into the air, stumbling a little when he regained his footing but managing to keep himself upright as he raced under the awning. Noctis rubbed his mouth to cover the laugh that had escaped him at his reaction. He focused on his phone again and tried not to act like he was watching the guy shake off water, slicking his hair back from his forehead with one hand while he panted and tried to catch his breath, clutching a backpack to his chest as if he would have been able to protect it from the rain while holding it like that. Strands of his hair stuck up at odd angles, almost like chocobo feathers.
“Whew!” the guy exclaimed, wiping water off his face and shaking his hand out like it wasn’t a futile effort. He grinned at Noctis a little helplessly. “It’s really coming down.”
“Uh huh,” Noctis agreed mildly, trying not to engage. Trying not to stare. Soft blond hair and the bluest eyes he had ever seen in his life. A bright smile. Freckles. His red tank top was completely soaked, clinging to his well-toned chest and stomach shamefully, and his gray cargo pants sat snugly on his waist with the help of a white belt, the bottoms tucked into well-worn brown combat boots. Noctis swallowed tightly and looked down at his phone again. What the hell was his problem, looking at a guy like that?
“Hey, this is gonna sound kind of weird, but can I take your picture?” the guy asked suddenly, his tone friendly, his upbeat voice gentler than Noctis would have expected. Noctis frowned at him.
“What?”
“I’m not trying to be creepy!” the guy said quickly, holding up both hands in defense and giving him a sheepish smile. The backpack swung on its strap off one of his arms and he quickly snagged it to get it back under control. He smiled at Noctis again. “I’m an art student. Photography? And you look really cool brooding over here.”
“I’m not brooding,” Noctis said with a huff of confused laughter, giving the guy a critical look.
“I saw you scowling at the sky as I was running up,” the guy said, giving him a wry smirk. “Contemplating the harshness of the universe. Asking the gods for answers.”
“What the hell?” Noctis laughed genuinely this time. This guy was a goofball. Then Noctis blinked as a camera came up out of nowhere and clicked at him, the shutter chirping. A frown pulled the smile off his face and he leaned back a little, defensive. “I didn’t say yes.”
“Sorry! I can delete it,” the guy said, stepping up close to him to show him the screen of the camera. “But I didn’t want it to miss the shot if you were okay with me taking it. See?”
Noctis looked down at the display and hesitated, almost not recognizing himself for a moment. His expression was warm and a little incredulous, brows quirked together and a smile tracing his laughter. The lighting was surprisingly good for the little high-hat bulbs tucked up in the awning ceiling.
“You look good,” the guy said, giving him a grin and lifting his eyebrows.
“I thought you wanted brooding…” Noctis said, glancing at their shoulders briefly. They were close together and he could see goosebumps on the guy’s bare arms.
“This is way better. Can I keep it?” The guy swayed his head side to side a little, as if weighing the possibilities for Noctis between yes or no.
“...Do what you want.”
“Thanks!” The camera immediately came up with another snap and Noctis clicked his tongue, shoving the guy away lightly, palm on his chilly shoulder. The guy laughed and before Noctis could make a smart comment telling him not to take his photo after all, his cell phone chimed and they both looked down at the device still clutched in his hand. The guy’s eyebrows went up a little in interest. “Was that King’s Knight?”
“You play?” Noctis asked, his gaze darting back up. He checked his voice a little, not wanting to sound eager, but the guy definitely didn’t have the same reservations.
“Yeah! I love that game! Do you play pvp? What’s your friend code?”
“Uhh…” Noctis fumbled through his thoughts and the questions. No one outside his retainers had ever offered to play before. Not that he gave strangers very many chances.
“Here, I’ll show you where to find it,” the guy said, leaning in again so their shoulders pressed together.
“Ugh, you’re soaked, dude,” Noctis said, pulling away from the water seeping into his black t-shirt sleeve, but his voice was full of amusement and the guy didn’t take offense.
“Sorry!” He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“Aren’t you cold?”
“Fucking freezing!” the guy said cheerfully. Noctis laughed again and the guy grinned at him like he had won a round of the game already.
“Where were you even going?” Noctis asked.
“The Caf,” the guy said easily. “I’m stuck on campus through my next class and I’m starving.”
“Hm. Me, too.” Noctis confessed, glancing at the rain still pouring down just a few feet away.
“Sweet! Let’s go in together and we can swap codes.” The guy swung his backpack up onto his shoulders and lifted the camera as he walked backwards toward the student union’s automatic doors, clicking another photo as they opened behind him. “My name is Prompto, by the way.”
“Noctis…”
“Yeah, I know,” Prompto said easily. Noctis lifted his chin a little warily as he followed him inside. Warm air rushed over them and the noise of the storm dropped behind the sounds of music, students chattering, and billiards cracking as some people played pool. Prompto lowered the viewfinder from his face and he lifted one eyebrow. “You okay? You look pissed.”
“I dunno. Are you a reporter looking to make a buck off my candids?” Noctis asked, his expression closed off. Prompto’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and he stopped short, giving Noctis a serious look.
“I guess that happens to you, huh?”
“Sometimes.”
“I’m not, I promise.” Prompto stepped close to him again, his expression sincere. Then he quickly looked down at his camera, showing him the screen. “Here, I’ll delete them all now, I’m so sorry.”
Before Noctis could reply, Prompto clicked through two pictures’ warning messages, erasing them completely from the memory card. Before he could confirm the deletion the third, Noctis grabbed his wrist.
“It’s fine. I said do what you want.”
“Yeah, but that was before I said I knew who you were,” Prompto said, frowning at him. Noctis shook his head in dismissal.
“It’s fine. Keep it. Do what you want with it.”
Prompto scanned his face for a moment, then lowered the camera without deleting the photo, leaving Noctis feeling strangely relieved. Then a small smile tugged at Prompto’s lips. “I’ll put it in my private scrapbook, that’s all. No art projects, no magazines or whatever. Scouts honor.”
Noctis glanced at the scout sign Prompto held up, feeling strangely uncomfortable and warm at the promise. “Were you really a scout?”
“Yeah! Just as a kid, though. I didn’t stick with it,” Prompto said, shrugging easily. “It kept me out of my parents’ way until I was old enough to take care of myself.”
“Hm. Were you any good?”
“No, I was shit,” Prompto laughed. “I didn’t like to run around as a kid.”
“Could have fooled me,” Noctis said, smirking at the thought. Prompto laughed and, just like that, they easily fell into step, side-by-side, heading into the student union again toward the cafeteria.
When they joined the crowds near the food lines, people quickly darted out of Noctis’s way, even though he was nowhere near bumping into them, and left him a ridiculous amount of space. If Prompto noticed, he didn’t act like it, peering up at the different menus, indecisive.
“What are you going to get?” Prompto asked, rocking on his heels. Noctis watched him for a moment, glancing away when Prompto gave him a questioning smile.
“A burger,” Noctis said, finally relaxing in Prompto’s gentle company, and he headed off toward the fast food line, definitely away from the salad bar.
“Oo, that sounds pretty good!” Prompto agreed, close on his heels.