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Noct stepped out of Talcott's truck, remaining in the shadow cast against the harsh lights of Hammerhead. He could already see them; Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto, and he let out a ragged and weary sigh. Talcott's age now should've prepared him for this, but the full reality of how much time had passed, how much he had missed, it hit him as once, and he bit back tears. He steeled himself and walked forward, and his eyes immediately locked onto Prompto, whose face fell in disbelief, his body frozen and Gladio very quickly turned to Ignis and muttered something.
"Are you sure?" Ignis asked, cautiously, just loud enough that Noctis could hear.
"Not one bit," Gladio replied, and he turned his attention to Noctis. "You're making us look old, here, princess."
Noctis let out a breathy chuckle, though it sounded bitter to his ears. There was definitely some truth to that. Here he was, unchanged, at least externally, from the day he was pulled into the crystal, and his friends--his brothers-- had moved on and grown older without him. Gladio had small wrinkles now, and it pained him to realize how much he resembled Clarus. Ignis had taken to wearing his hair longer, and his face had gained several more scars that he didn't see until he walked up and grasped his shoulder, giving him a sad smile that he'd never see.
"Sorry I took so long," he said, quietly.
"What matters is you're here," Ignis replied, a heaviness to his tone that Noctis didn't recognize.
And Prompto. Noctis couldnt help but just stare at Prompto. His face and muscles had filled out, giving a greater weight to his presence than before. He had lines around his eyes now, eyes that no longer held the sunshine that had given him comfort for all those years. Noctis took in a sharp breath through his nose and stepped away from Ignis, reaching out for Prompto before he could stop himself. Prompto stopped him instead, holding up his hands and averting his eyes. He tried to smile, to laugh it off like he always did before, but there wasn't even a twinkle of light in it. Noctis felt his heart drop in his chest, and had to clench his jaw to keep himself composed.
"Prompto..." he breathed, his voice cautious.
"Hey, Noct," Prompto rasped, trying to add a bit of a laugh to his voice. "You... you haven't changed a bit there, dude."
"Can't say the same about you," he replied before he realized what he was saying, and immediately regretted it as the tiny speck of light that Prompto had forced onto his face faded away.
"Is... Is that bad?" Prompto's voice cracked, and it took all of his will not to run to him and hold him. With a small chuckle, Prompto looked at him again with more serious eyes. "We... we have some catching up to do, don't we?"
"Seems that way."
A few minutes later found them in the caravan, evidence of day-drinking apparent in the sink. Noctis's eyes ran over it immediately, the smell of alcohol burning his nostrils. Prompto stood near the bunks, looking almost defensive, and Noctis opened his mouth to speak.
"I know what you're gonna say," Prompto said first, averting his eyes to the side. "And you're right, but I didn't see any other way. It... I didn't think you'd come back."
"Prom, I..." The words wouldn't come; the heaviness of what was to come, and the tension between them, it choked the words away.
"And now, here you are, looking the exact same as the last time I saw you, and I'm..." His voice cracked again, and Noct's eyes softened as Prompto sat down heavily on the unmade sheets of the caravan's bunk. "Well, it's not like I need to tell you how I look now."
Noctis glanced once more to the empty beer bottles and liquor-stained glasses in the sink. He blinked back tears, taking on the gravity in Prompto's words. He thought back to Gralea, back when he promised to make the world a better place, but now it was really just a whisper of a different time that wouldn't exist anymore. That seemed so far away now, and he wouldn't see the results of that labor. He leaned against the counter on his palms, staring into the sink. He hadn't been here, not for any of this, and here he was now, as if he never left, frozen in a time long gone.
With a sigh, he stepped forward and sat down next to Prompto on the bunk, nervously working his hands together in front of himself.
"I'm sorry," he said, barely above a whisper, and he felt Prompto's eyes on him. "I... I abandoned you guys."
He turned to the side and placed a soft hand on Prompto's, who stiffened under his touch.
"I abandoned you."
Prompto sneered, and shook his head. He batted Noct's hand away, and the tears threatened Noctis's eyes again.
"Don't put so much of it on yourself," Prompto said quietly, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees. "I just should've known better."
"Prom..."
"I mean, I really thought we could've made it work, that we could... I mean..." He turned his face toward the floor, to the point that Noctis could no longer see his expression. Instead, he could take in the planes of his arms, his chest, and his back, the way his muscles moved in his neck as he swallowed.
Shit...
He was breathtaking, Noctis realized, and the pressure in his chest tightened more as the realization washed over him, that he'd missed the transition from the adorable ball of sunshine he'd left behind to this rugged and handsome man he returned to. The man who now choked out a quiet sob and turned his head just so to look at him, tears in his gorgeous blue yes that now revealed just how much the last ten years had broken him.
"I promised..." Noctis said quietly, regret coating his voice. "You were going to be by my side. And... and I broke it. I should've been here, Prom, I..."
It was selfish, he knew it even as the tears streamed down his face, his voice cracking with sobs he could no longer hold back. He remembered Ignis's face, and the new scars that had marred it, something he should've been there to prevent. Gladio had moved on without him, from the way he looked at him as if he were a forgotten memory. And now, he sat here in the remains of Prompto trying to cope without him, his only friend driven to this, and he had the gall to cry over it now.
Arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders, just as they had many times before, and Noct found himself crying quietly into Prompto's chest. He felt himself blush despite himself, and started to push away, but Prompto only tightened his grasp.
"Noct," he whispered into his hair, rubbing circles into his back. "I'm sorry, I should've been stronger than this, I--"
"No, Prom," Noctis choked out, pushing himself back enough to look into Prompto's age-lined face. "I did this, if I had just waited long enough for-"
A hand carded through his hair, messing up the styling that hadn't changed at all in Reflection. Through tear-clumped lashes, he could see Prompto smiling sadly at him, and he couldn't help but stare at the way his lips moved as he started to speak.
"I've known for a long time, Noct, that you don't have control over what happens to you." He sighed, and pressed their foreheads together, tears drying on his cheeks. "How I've dealt with that, it's... it's not your fault."
"Yes it is," Noctis insisted, his jaw trembling as more tears spilled forth. "You were always there for me, all three of you were, and how'd I pay you back?! By pushing you off a moving train and then leaving you to drink yourself to death!"
"That... that was a long time ago, Noct, I'm over it by--"
"It wasn't for me!"
Prompto pulled away slightly, staring at him with wide eyes, seemingly speechless. He looked down a moment and chuckled, and Noct felt his heart skip in his chest as those eyes he'd fallen so deeply in love with sought his again, communicating nothing but complete forgiveness.
The hand in Noct's hair caressed down his face, a thumb sweeping out to wipe away some of the tears that stained his cheek. Something shifted in his gaze, and Noct took in a breath as Prompto's hand cupped his cheek, and all at once his lips were taken in a fierce kiss, swallowing his sobs and surprised moans. He gripped Prompto's hair as hands shifted under his thighs, and he whined as Prompto rolled them over onto the bunk onto Noct's back, neither bothering to fix the sheets. Hands sought out Noctis's skin under his clothes, one sliding up over the planes of his abs and to his chest, one sliding low and into his fatigues, and he sighed out a soft moan against Prompto's hungry mouth.
"Prompto," he gasped, hands scrambing for purchase on shoulders that were broader than he remembered. "Wait."
"Do you... not want this?" Prompto's hands had stilled, though the pressure from the hand that cupped him didn't waver.
"I..." The words wouldn't form, and he fumbled with small sounds before he finally summoned them. "It's not that, it's..."
"You don't have to say," Prompto breathed as he pressed his lips against his ear. "Ignis... he... he told me. What you have to do."
"...what?" Noctis's chest tightened, even more so when Prompto's hand slid under his back, pulling him close. "How... how does he know?"
"He didn't tell me, and I didn't want to believe it... but seeing you like this..." He pressed a chaste kiss to his neck. "It's true... isn't it?"
Noctis replied with a sob, more tears streaming from the corners of his eyes, clumping his lashes as he tried to blink them away. He sought out Prompto's face with his hands and kissed him softly, humming against his mouth. Prompto tightened his grip and sought out his bottom lip again, groaning as Noctis arched into him. His face felt hot, and grew hotter still as Prompto continued onward, fumbling with clothes and belts and boots, his mind overwhelmed with intimacy and desperation as skin pressed against skin.
I love you.
The words died in his throat, but they repeated in a mantra in his mind as they clung to each other, chasing their feelings and some form of completion and closure. Each movement Prompto made, Noctis wanted to believe they held deeper meaning. Each stroke of his hand, each touch of his teeth and lips, Noctis clung to the notion that Prompto was showing his feelings through touch. That's what he was doing, at least, even as his hands clawed at scars on a freckled back, he desperately tried to say "I love you" and "I'm so sorry" with touch.
Even upon completion, his strained and breathy whisper of Prompto's name was layered with those two phrases that just wouldn't come forth. But Prompto, he collapsed into Noctis's shoulder and clawed into his back with bruising force.
"I won't forget you," Prompto breathed against his neck as he relaxed. "And wherever you go... don't forget us either."
Noctis could only reply with a choked sob, and he pulled Prompto into a tight embrace as he cried.
I don't want to go.