Title: Growing Familiarity
Fandom: Final Fantasy XV
Pairing: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Prompto Argentum
Rating: PG13
Length: 2, 315 words
Summary: They touch, sometimes, as one would expect from such a close relationship. Prompto is still getting used to the concept.

The first time they'd traveled by train and Prompto felt Noctis's sleeping head nudge down against his shoulder, he hadn't been sure how to react. In that moment of panic, he supposed that there wasn't really any way to react - Noctis was asleep, and it had been a long day, and there was nothing unusual about such things happening between friends. Prompto could feel himself tense, but Noctis didn't seem to notice that - of course, he wasn't in the position to be noticing anything.

Nobody else noticed, either. People kept to themselves on the train. As long as everybody kept to the unspoken rules of personal space, then there was little need to even acknowledge the presence of anybody else within the carriage. Businessmen looked worried as they glanced over tightly-held papers, teenagers listened to music on their phones, kids knelt up on the seats to press smudges against the window and gaze with wide-eyed wonder at the Insomnian landscape visible when the train broke free of its tunnels to the overground bridges, and none of those people had any need to concern themselves with anything beyond their own perception. Prompto kept reminding himself of that fact.

Noctis and his ability to fall asleep almost anywhere was a special skill that Prompto wished he understood. It was hard enough to fall asleep at night in bed sometimes, let alone on a train, or at school, or at the park, or by the river... but Noctis seemed to have no trouble with any of those things. The clattering of the train was loud, and jostled its passengers back and forth every once in a while, but Noctis only moved gently as the train took him, seemingly content to rely on Prompto's shoulder to steady him in place.

"I don't get how you're always able to fall asleep on the train--!" Prompto turned around to Noctis once they had stepped off of the train, leaving them to the comparative peace of suburban Insomnia.

"... It's not on purpose. It just happens, I guess? It's not like there's much else to do while you're on there. And it gets pretty warm, which I guess makes me sleepy..."

"Is there much that doesn't make you sleepy...?"

"As long as we don't miss our stop, it's fine, right?"

"Because I'm the one still awake to make sure that we don't--!"

"And it's very appreciated. Thank you, Prompto."

Prompto gave a heavy sigh in response, but his bluster held no actual anger behind it. To Noctis, it seemed that falling asleep anywhere was as normal as anything, and if 'anywhere' included Prompto's shoulder in its classification, then that was that. So normal that it didn't even need to be mentioned. (At those times, Prompto would glance down and wonder is that really so comfortable? but if there was anything about it that wasn't, then Noctis gave no indication.)


-----


Prompto wasn't sure whether the ease at which Noctis was able to initiate physical contact made him braver or the opposite - though to say 'physical contact', it was mostly that Prompto would find himself leant against as Noctis found himself in various stages of slumber. Prompto's shoulder, on the train. His back, as they sat out beneath the trees on the school grounds. Just sort of vaguely there and against him as Noctis fell asleep on the sofa, again. The more that Prompto thought about it, the more he wondered if Noctis ever really thought about it at all. That's just what he's like, after all...

Sat side-by-side on the couch, Noctis was wrapped up in the activity of the game on-screen; the agreement was to swap controllers on losing a life, but Noctis was good at that particular one, and so Prompto found himself just watching the gameplay. It wasn't unpleasant to do so, but he did find his mind wandering--... if it was Noct, he wouldn't hesitate, would he? Prompto tried to swallow his nerves, leaning across and against Noctis's shoulder as naturally as he could manage. A number of worst-case scenarios ran through Prompto's head - but none of them came true, and Noctis barely reacted to the movement.

"Tired?"

Not at all. "Uh... maybe a bit..."

"Guess it's boring watching someone else play for so long, huh."

"Nah, it's cool. You're better at this part than I am."

"Did you want to go back soon? If you're tired. Don't wanna fall asleep on the train and miss your stop."

Suggestions of stopping and leaving and going back home were the opposite of what Prompto wanted; he shook his head slightly, still pressed to Noctis's shoulder. "I said already, didn't I? It's fine. ...Besides, you're always falling asleep on my shoulder, aren't you? Maybe I just wanted to see what it was like."

The thought seemed to amuse Noctis. "Only fair, right?... So, how is it?"

Prompto could feel his heartbeat increase just from that small level of physical contact alone, but felt it unwise to try to put that particular feeling into words. "... Fine, I guess. "

"I'll take that as a compliment."


-----


The thought of sharing a bed, to begin with, had been at the forefront of Prompto's concerns. Of anything and everything to do with the situation of being in a relationship with Noct-- it felt slightly ridiculous to be so hung up on that one thing, but he found himself concerned regardless. He'd never really thought about it up to that point, but it seemed evident in the phrase - 'sleeping together' was a fine euphemism, but then came the actual act of sleeping together. Spending the night together, in bed, in such close quarters - and again, like usual, Noctis seemed to adjust immediately.

"Is--... is it--... okay?"

"... Huh?"

"Like... you're not too squashed up against the wall, right? I, I can still go sleep on the couch, if you want--"

"Why would I want that? I want you here. Unless you'd rather sleep there?"

"N-no, definitely not--! I just thought, like, in case you wanted me to, that's all."

"Well, I don't. So that's that."

"R-right. Right! I'm just not, like, used to things like this... never shared a bed with anybody up to now, heh..."

Noctis gently crossed his wrists in front of Prompto's chest, holding him in a lazy embrace. "What, like I'm meant to be the master in comparison, or something? Not like I've done much of it myself, either. Just, like, falling asleep on Ignis as a kid, or whatever. ...Not like this, though."

Prompto knew it was easy to assume that others naturally had effortless experience in all the things he'd never tried - it took him a few moments to rationalize the fact that, really, he and Noctis were in much the same position - and to think about it, what opportunity would Noctis have had for it? Prompto knew that, in his own mind, it often came back to the subject of parents - don't parents often share a bed with their children? When they're small, and scared, or whatever. It seemed like the wrong moment to ask if Noctis had ever experienced such a thing, but again, was it likely for him to do so...? Prompto wondered if he could imagine King Regis - the King, no less - being so physically doting. (Again, it didn't seem like a good subject to bring up, all of a sudden.)

For as much as Prompto felt nervous to initiate physical contact over his own perceived lack of experience in the area, he wondered if - perhaps - it was a similar sort of urge that enabled Noctis to be so carefree about his own casual closeness. They were friends, right? First and foremost. Friends were cool with things like that, right? Nudging, leaning, roughhousing, falling asleep on--.. all those things. It just so happened that Noctis's royal status had left most of his peers too dazzled to invite the kind of friendship he'd seen around him; he'd told Prompto as much, and how, as time went on, it seemed more and more difficult to try to initiate anything...

We've got a lot to catch up on, huh.

"So, uh... you still comfortable, back there?"

"How many times...? Look, if I wasn't, I'd tell you right away. Okay?"

"Okay, okay...! I get it. I believe you."

Silence fell between them, long enough for Prompto to think that Noctis had fallen asleep - but then he spoke again, questioning, his voice lower than before.

"... I could ask you the same thing, you know. You're... comfortable like this too, right?"

"Of course--!" (Prompto felt that he'd spoken too quickly.) "... Yeah. It's pretty nice."

"You're sure you don't want me to take the couch?"

"And kick you out of your own bed? Harsh, dude."

"Yeah, well. ...Just making sure."


-----


The loss of Insomnia following the Imperial attack was too much to try to take on all at once; even the thought of leaving it in the first place had been difficult enough for Prompto to wrap his head around, let alone--... this. To set foot from Insomnia, having never left it up to that point, had felt strange even with the expectation that they would return - and now that had been snatched from them, and they didn't know when they'd be able to return, or what would be there to return to--... it was too much. They barely had time to stop and consider, but in those occasional quiet moments, Prompto would think that: it's too much.

Meeting with Cor had reminded them of Noctis's duty. The world thought him dead, for now, but he was still the heir to the Lucian throne - and following the passing of King Regis, that made him King. There was no escaping that fact, now. No escaping that, or that which had to be done - discovering Royal Tombs, recovering the Royal Arms, taking the journey to commune with the Astrals and gain the power of his birthright.

All that could wait until the morning, though. Until then: sleep. That said, the concept was easier said than done - they'd taken to a motel, for the convenience, and in any other situation Prompto would have been excited at the prospect of actual beds on the journey, but even with the lights turned off and the curtains drawn, he suspected he would be getting little sleep that night. Too many things to think about, to worry about, to worry about worrying about - and what did he have to be worried about, really? He was practically a guest to this retinue, nothing to do with any of those royal things. Talk of old Gods and magical abilities - it all felt somewhat beyond him, at times.

He worried for Noctis, and the weight that was now on his shoulders (and may have been there, Prompto realized, for longer than he himself had thought to notice). Were they on the run, now? The Empire had taken Insomnia. Was the Empire now after them specifically? What did that mean, precisely? It all sounded dangerous. Not that there hadn't been danger up to this point, with the fierce frenzy of wild animals by day and the unpredictable menace of daemons during the night, but... this was real, and it didn't just sound dangerous, it was dangerous.

Sleep, Prompto. It's not gonna do you any good trying to stay out of trouble if you're all sleep-deprived in the morning.

On taking a motel bed, they would usually spread out in their own individual ways - enough to be well-rested without taking up too much room and inconveniencing their bedmate. The morning could bring a certain tangle of limbs, but such things usually took place under the blank ignorance of slumber. For the space a double bed afforded them, Prompto knew it was rare to feel Noctis pressed up against his back - especially given how cramped the usual camping positions could get. And yet Noctis was there, arms wrapped around his lower chest, face pressed against his nape. Hardly an unusual position for their usual nightly arrangements, but for once, Prompto felt keenly aware of the fact that Noctis wasn't asleep - that he couldn't sleep...?

"... Noct...?"

"Mm?" The response came immediately, spoken in a whisper, as if Gladiolus and Ignis had somehow miraculously managed to fall asleep, as if the action might disturb them.

"... You're not asleep, huh."

"Neither are you."

"Touché."

In bed like that, talking together like that, it was almost as if nothing had changed, and they were back in Insomnia--... (Even just the brief memory caused a dull ache in Prompto's chest.) Prompto tried to cling to that thought; despite everything that had happened, they were still here, together, like they had always been. He was used to the languid manner of Noctis's past embraces, though, and knew this not that. It could have been mistaken for such, but Prompto wanted to believe that he knew Noctis well enough to be able to feel the difference. Tensed and unable to sleep, holding Prompto in a way that almost felt possessive--...

Is this comfortable? Prompto felt the urge to ask, but kept quiet. If Noctis was able to glean any comfort from their position, then that was something. Perhaps barely anything, but something.

(Prompto turned to face Noctis, then, pulling away from his arms to take on a different position, pulling him close and holding him tightly; there was no need for ambiguity, here. Noctis still felt tense - almost motionless, for a moment, as if unsure how to react - but then he returned the gesture, allowing himself (as long as the darkness hid it) a moment of weakness, there in Prompto's embrace.)