#kidding shed have to pull teeth to get him to admit to smash

[dayurno]

kevrenee :)

[ssa-daddyhotchner]

The Struggle of Loving You - Chapter 21

Chapter Selection

Opening my eyes, I felt the cold spot next to me. Stretching my arms, sitting up and going to the bathroom. Looking at myself in the mirror, I glanced over the forming hickeys that were on my neck. Running my fingers over them, "Goddamn." 

Peeking behind me in the mirror, Chloe was standing there coming to stand next to me. 

"That was Hotch", she pointed to my neck. Blush started to creep up my cheeks, "Yeah... all I'm going to say is-- we didn't really talk." 

"Of course", she rolled her eyes and went back into her own room. Throwing my hair up, I brushed my teeth. Shedding my clothes and taking a shower, the water relaxed the soreness that was left after the night with Aaron. 

Stepping out I got dressed, putting on some of Aaron's clothes that I had 'stolen' from him. I had an hour before class started and wanting to see him before class started I left early. Chloe watched me take the keys and leave.

Getting down to the car I pulled out of the parking spot and started driving. 

The past few days had been spent with Aaron... taking care of Jack. His fever broke and was starting to feel better, giving Aaron and I some time to ourselves. 

Parking the car, I reached the campus. Strolling my way down the sidewalk and to the building and lecture hall. The air was crisp, with the soft light peeking through the trees. It was the beginning of spring morning and I was loving it. 

Slowly opening the doors and closing them behind me I saw Aaron sitting at the desk. Being nose deep in papers and what looked like case files. "Having fun", his head snapped up and his eyes met mine. 

"As fun as it can be", I tossed my bag in my chair and went up to him. Taking a seat on his desk and crossing my legs. "Can I see?", he handed me the file he was looking at. It was a case that his team was working on at the moment. Looking at the words and picture it was a murder of now four women. 

They all had their vocal cords slashed and bound to a chair. "Holy shit." He sighed, "Yeah." He was reviewing the information, being fresh eyes for his team. "They seem to have it under control. My friend sent that over right after their flight. Just wanted to see what I could do." 

Humming, I set the file back down on the desk. "How's Jack doing?" 

"He's better, although according to him he just wanted you back to help him." A smile spread on my face, "You raised a good kid Aaron." 

"I mean you were there for two almost half of his life... so technically we raised a good kid." 

"That's one way of putting it... I do love that kid though." 

"He loves you too, but he wouldn't openly admit it." I glanced over and checked the time, there was a half hour till class. From my peripheral I could see Aaron. His eyes traveled up my body, "Are those my clothes." 

I nodded, "Felt like being comfortable today." I uncrossed my legs. 

"They look good on you... would be better if you were wearing nothing though." Catching me off guard, a heat courses through me. His hand started on my calf and made its way up, gripping my thigh. Tugging me towards him; I straddled his lap. "Sir isn't a little early in the morning to be this needy." 

Aaron raised his eyebrows, "Now I'm the needy one... If I recall correctly you were the one on your knees begging to suck my cock yesterday." 

"Things change", leaning into me , his chest pressed against mine. 

His lips next to me, "Is that right." His voice rumbled into my ear, I was starting to pool in my underwear. If just his voice got me this turned on, he didn't need to do much at this point to have me be the eager one. "Are you getting off to my voice." Clenching around nothing, he could definitely tell how he was affecting me. 

"You know I might not even do anything to you, let you sit here... desperate." I unconsciously started moving my hips, letting out a soft moan till his hands gripped me. "Now now... that's what we're not going to do. If you want something you can ask nicely." 

"Or I can take what I want", I breathed out. 

"You'll take what I give you or you get nothing", going against his words. I grind down on him. Aarons hold getting tighter, stopping my movements all together. "Why'd you have to go and do that... you just want to act like a brat now huh? Thinking you can get what you want. Trust me sweetheart you're not going to get anything by having an attitude." 

He brushed his lips with mine, "This how is going to go... you're going to let me do anything I want. A way to redeem yourself— prove to me you can follow a simple direction like a good girl. The other option, you get off of me and sit your pretty little ass down in your seat... then you get nothing. What'll it be." 

I pushed his buttons, which was my whole goal. I wanted to get this side of him out, I loved his being sweet and caring but I wanted his dominance to show. For him to take what was his. 

"Option one", I gazed into his eyes and saw his eyes dilate. They grew dark, his hand slid upwards under the hoodie. My body shuddered under his hands. "Knew you were a smart little slut." 

I whimpered, "Can I touch you sir?" 

Nodding he cupped my breast and lifted the hoodie up to expose them to his mouth. Wrapping his mouth around my nipped and flicking his tongue over it. My back arched into his chest. While his mouth was still on my chest I was too hazed to notice his hands traveling down my back and under my thighs. 

Pulling his attention away for a second when swiped everything to the other side of his desk. 

He was standing up and my legs were wrapped around his waist. Bending down my back hit the cold surface of his desk. I gasped when he toyed with the strings of the sweat pants I was wearing. Bunching them up at my ankles. 

Bucking my hips against his hard bulge, I reached between us and began rubbing my clit. Aaron grabbed my hand and pinned it above my head, "You don't get to touch what's mine." His voice was dark, and it seemed to just get lower. I just wanted him inside me, to feel full.

"I know my little girl is eager, don't worry." He pulled his pants down just enough to take out his cock. Stocking it right in front of me, he tilted his head back moaning out. "Fuck", looking back at me he teased my entrance, rubbing up and down my slit. "Aaron ple—."

I didn't finish the sentence as Aaron grabbed my hips, bringing me closer to him. He slammed into me, he was fully seated in me. My breast bounced with his rhythms as he continuously pounded forwards. The sound of my whimpering and his groans filled the room. 

His hand went straight to my throat, tightening his fingers around my neck. In that moment I didn't give a single fuck about his rules. I wanted his tongue in my mouth, his lips biting on mine. Moving my hands I took hold of the back of his neck and brought him to me. 

Smashing my lips with his, we evaded each other. At this point taking whatever we wanted, my other hand worked its way into his hair. Carding though and tugging, "My dirty fucking whore." He groaned against me. A thin layer of sweat coated both of us. Worst part was we needed to be in class for the next hour and a half. 

"Daddy", those words seemed to encourage him. I noticed the change in pace while he snaked his hand down to my clit. "You're mine, every. fucking. part of you." 

"I'm yours", I was close to my high. I knew he was too. Moaning too loud he covered my mouth, muffing every sound I made. "If you don't be quiet I'll need to fill that mouth of yours." Yes please

Needing to be quiet, I bit his hand as I came around him. Every inch of me clenched his cock, "Fuck baby." Aaron filled me up, slowing his thrusts. His head settled in the crook of my neck. He peppered kisses on my shoulder. 

Catching our breaths, he settled himself. 

Putting my clothes back on. "That was—." 

His hand went behind his head, "Yeah... sorry if I was too rough." I chuckled, "It was great." 

"I'm gonna go... clean up", I walked up to the door only for it to be pushed open by Chloe, "Thanks for leaving me." Was all she said, Chloe took her seat at the front and I looked back at Aaron. The door was unlocked the whole time. I was lucky that it was Chloe and not some other student. 

If she heard anything, I was definitely going to be teased about it later. Just by looking at our appearances you could tell something happened. 

My pink swollen lips and flushed face. Aarons disheveled hair and crumpled clothes. Fuck

___________________

Permanent taglist: @errorcosplay67 @aberrant-annie  

[fruit-teeth]

Lullaby

Alternate title: The Day Scout Used a Bat for Something Other Than Baseball.

/(Scout is next! Not much to say, except that this one is pretty long and kinda violent...but I threw in some Dad!Spy at the end cause why not. Hope you enjoy!)

In Jeremy’s memory, things were much simpler when he was a child.

Although he didn’t get along with his older brothers on account of them being so much older, he was inseparable with the three brothers closest in age to him— Jimmy, Phillip and Joey. The three boys were very fond of Jeremy, though they’d never admit it. They played with him nearly every day, they taught him self-defense skills, and late at night they’d stay up and tell each other scary stories in the dark. Though they didn’t have much money, and they didn’t exactly live in the best of towns, Jeremy forever would look back at these moments as being part of an idealistic childhood.

Out of all of his brothers, though, the one Jeremy aspired to be the most was Phillip. Phillip was eight years older than him, and he seemed to be the best at everything. He was a star athlete at his high school, he played the guitar like no one’s business, and he had girls swooning over him almost constantly. To Jeremy, he was literal perfection, and Jeremy wanted nothing more than to just be him.

But time changes everything. First, Jimmy went off to college, and while he dropped out about two years in, he somehow ended up with a pretty good job as a tie salesman. Not terribly impressive, but considering that many of his other brothers didn’t have such luck, it was quite the feat.

A year after Jimmy went to college, Phillip won a scholarship from playing baseball, and his whole family celebrated with a graduation party. Everything seemed hopeful, for a moment, as it looked like Phillip was going to really make something of himself.

So, what happened? Inevitably, Phillip got tangled with the wrong people. The details, to this day, are rather unclear, but he became involved with a local gang and, consequently, all of their many antics. All of this culminated in that infamous moment when his coach turned on the lights to the supply shed, only to discover that Phillip had orchestrated an orgy with his fellow gang members and local prostitutes right there on campus.

This led to Phillip getting dropped from school, and afterwards, he lived with his mother and brothers for a while. When he and his mother got into a disagreement over him not having a job, he disappeared into the night, and he didn’t return.

At this point, Jeremy was twelve years old, and the only brother who was still closest to him was Joey, who was sixteen. They hadn’t seen Phillip for quite some time, and by March of that year they seldom spoke about him.

In fact, it was March 15th when everything in Jeremy’s life got flipped on his head: this was the same day he’d gone through his first breakup with his first girlfriend, Joanelys. Joanelys had announced to him that morning during their homeroom period that she was in love with a boy named Nelson, and that she was going to leave Jeremy for him. Oh, how Jeremy had cried! He’d never been so hurt and angry up until that point, and he vowed never to speak to Joanelys again (he would run into her again, years later, and he attempted to speak to her then, but she acted like she didn’t know him).

Jeremy confronted Nelson after school that day, and he made it very clear what his intentions were.

“Hey, fatass!” Jeremy barked, fists balled in anger, storming over to where Nelson was waiting for his bus. “Ya think you can just steal my girl like that?! Huh?!” He grabbed Nelson by the collar of his shirt. “You got somethin’ to say!?”

This confrontation was not a smart move on Jeremy’s part, since Nelson was significantly bigger than him. Nelson just glared at him, before sneering, “She likes me ‘cause I ain’t no string bean like you,” he then raised his fist and punched Jeremy right in the nose, knocking him straight to the ground.

Nelson’s bus arrived then, and he got on it, but not before smashing his foot down on Jeremy’s prized Godzilla lunchbox and leaving a significant dent in it. Jeremy scrambled to his feet, just in time to see the bus doors slam shut, and he noticed his dented tin lunchbox laying in the ground.

As Jeremy began to cry again, the other children waiting for their rides home watched him in silent fascination before whispering to each other and pointing. Joey came stalking up from the high school just nearby, and he snatched up Jeremy’s wrist.

“Again!?” Joey snapped at him, leading him towards the sidewalk. “God, Jeremy, ya can’t keep cryin’ over every stupid thing! It ain’t right!” He then turned over his shoulder and barked at the kids watching, “Ain’t anyone ever teach you brats to mind your own business!?”

Joey led his little brother home, and all the while Jeremy told him all about his breakup with Joanelys and his fight with Nelson. Joey commented wryly, “You shoulda smacked the shit out of Joanelys instead, see if that bitch respects ya then!”

When they arrived, Jeremy intended to run straight to his mother and lament to her about his rough day, yet when he and Joey entered the house, they were greeted by the last sight they’d expected to see: their mother sat on the couch, and beside her sat Phillip.

“Phillip!” Gasped Jeremy, dropping everything and racing towards him. “Ya came back!”

Phillip set down his glass of water and caught Jeremy in a hug, pulling him in tightly. “Hey,” his voice sounded different: he sounded tired, worn down. “Hey, there, buddy. How’s it hangin’?”

Jeremy pulled away, and he took a moment to just observe. Phillip looked so much older, now, and his hair had grown longer although it looked as though it hadn’t been washed. He also smelled strange, like a mixture of sweat and fried food.

Joey paused in the middle of the living room, staring Phillip down before asking, “The hell happened to you?”

Their mother answered before Phillip could, “Boys, Phillip is very tired. He just came a real long way, so don’t overwhelm him,” she had a strange look in her eyes, although Jeremy couldn’t quite tell what she was feeling.

Phillip ran a hand through Jeremy’s hair, assuring him, “I’m gonna be okay, I promise. Hey, d’ya wanna play Scrabble later, Jeremy?”

Jeremy nodded. “Okay!” He didn’t actually like Scrabble, he wasn’t good at it, but he really just wanted to spend time with his brother.

They never got to play Scrabble.

Phillip was oddly quiet during dinner, barely mentioning anything about where he’d been all these months, what he’d been up to, or really any details. All he did was tell a funny story about how he saw a naked man at a Taco Bell. Other than that, he seemed more invested in what his brothers were up to more than anything else.

“Jeremy, hun, could you help me with the dishes?” their mother inquired of her youngest son once dinner had ended, and Jeremy nodded.

“Yeah, Ma,” he began to clear up the sliverware, but it was then that the phone rang.

Phillip answered with a “Yeah?” before his entire demeanor changed. He fell silent, listening, before he tried to ask, “How did you—?” He stopped, and then quickly hung up the phone.

“Who was that?” Joey asked, looking up from the comic book he’d just pulled out to read.

“No one,” Phillip answered hastily, before throwing on his coat and stumbling out the door.

Jeremy noticed Phillip leaving, and he cried out, “Phillip! Where are you goin’!? I thought we were gonna play Scrabble!”

Their mother had gone upstairs, so she didn’t see when Jeremy pursued Phillip out the door. Phillip jogged down the sidewalk, looking all around in a panic before he realized Jeremy was following him.

“Jeremy!” He hissed, grabbing his brother by the shoulder. “The hell you doin’!? Go back home!”

“No!” Jeremy retorted, clenching his fists. “Why are you leavin’ again without sayin’ anything!? It don’t make any sense!”

Phillip grabbed Jeremy’s hands, looking into his eyes with a deep earnestness. “Jeremy, I’m just tryin’ to protect you. Get inside, now!” His voice quivered, and Jeremy knew he meant it.

Jeremy blinked, tilting his head to the side. “Protect me from what?”

“You—,” Phillip was cut off by the screeching of tires, and he whirled around, his face paling. “Shit!”

A beat-up van pulled up, and a cluster of men poured out of the doors. In reality, there were only about six men, but to Jeremy there seemed to be more, and they all looked huge and terrifying.

A man in a roughed-up suit stepped forward, his lizard-like eyes scanning Phillip and Jeremy. After a moment, he spoke.

“So, Phillip,” he began, his voice rough and raspy. “You thought you could get away this easily, hm? You thought that bringing this child with you would keep us from what we need to do?”

Phillip gritted his teeth, stepping in front of Jeremy to defend him. “Shut the fuck up,”

The man snorted, stepping closer, the streetlights illuminating his face. He was hideous, and Jeremy didn’t even want to look at him.

“Don’t think we won’t hesitate to snuff out the kid, too,” the man snarled. “We don’t need a witness here,”

Jeremy started to shake, gripping Phillip’s arm. “P-Phillip?”

Phillip spoke again, but he was pleading this time. “Diego, please, I’m beggin’ ya. Leave my brothers out of this! It’s me you want, not them!”

Diego pursed his lips together, thinking. The other men behind him began to move in closer, circling Phillip and Jeremy and effectively trapping them.

After a moment, Diego commanded in a cold and monotone voice, “Kill the boy, and make him watch,”

Two men snatched Jeremy up, startling a scared yelp out of him, but Phillip whipped out his pistol and aimed it at both of them. “Don’t you fuckin’ dare!”

One of the men snickered, pulling out his own gun and pressing it against Jeremy’s head. “Phillip, if ya know what’s good for ya, you’ll put that gun down,”

Jeremy shook and cried out, beginning to sob loudly and futilely attempting to wiggle free. “No, no, no! Lemme go!”

Another man grabbed Phillip from behind, but Phillip was prepared. He whirled around, shooting the man in the head before aiming higher and shooting Diego right between his eyes. As both men went down, all hell broke loose.

One of the men holding Jeremy let go of him to rush at Phillip, while the other one pulled out a knife and poised to slash Jeremy’s throat. Jeremy, however, managed to duck away and sink his teeth into the man’s exposed arm, drawing blood with his overbite. The man let out a yell, dropping Jeremy, and the boy promptly scrambled to get away.

“Run, Jeremy!” Jeremy heard Phillip screaming as he was swarmed by the gangsters. “Run, don’t look back!”

Jeremy darted to the backyard as fast as he could, heading for the shed, where he scurried inside to hide. Catching his breath, he crouched down, hugging his knees as he felt himself still shaking like a leaf.

“I ain’t scared,” he repeated in a whisper to himself. “I ain’t scared, I ain’t scared, I ain’t scared...”

It was then that he noticed Phillip’s old bat leaning up against the wall, and he grabbed it, holding on to it tightly as he stared at the door. He could hear all the commotion happening outside, but he didn’t want to register it or even think. He squeezed his eyes shut, breathing deeply before pushing the door open just a crack to look outside.

“Gotcha!” A voice bellowed, and that man from earlier grabbed Jeremy by the collar of his shirt and yanked him out of the shed. “You miss me, kid?!” He held Jeremy above his head, nearly choking him.

Jeremy yelped, and before he even had time to think, he raised the bat up and in a swift motion, he brought it back down and cracked it over the man’s head.

The man dropped Jeremy again, letting out a scream and staggering backwards. Jeremy could have taken that time to escape, but rage took over his body. He began to brutally beat his attacker with the bat, smacking him repeatedly and without mercy, reaching whatever part of his body he could with the bat.

“This is for my brother!” His voice pitched as he thrashed the man, not even stopping when blood began to dribble on the bat. “This is for tryin’ to kill me! You’re a fuckin’ asshole, I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you!”

The man finally got a moment to reach for his knife, which he raised to try and stab Jeremy in the arm. However, he never got the chance: a different man, one Jeremy did not recognize from the gaggle of gang members, seemingly appeared out of nowhere and plunged his own knife into the man’s back.

“The police are here!” The new man shouted at Jeremy. “Run— go to them, now!” His accent definitely wasn’t a local one, but Jeremy didn’t even question it as he got up and ran towards the flashing lights, bat still clutched in his hand.

As soon as he ran up to the cars, an older woman caught him halfway there. “Are Jeremy?” She asked him, holding him still to look him in the eyes.

Jeremy sniffed, nodding. “Y-Yeah! Where’s Phillip!?”

The woman just stared with eyes that seemed to glow golden, before she put an arm around Jeremy, solemnly leading him to an ambulance just a few feet away. There, he saw his mother inside, hunched over someone on the stretcher, and she had an expression on her face that was unlike one he’d ever seen on her before.

“M-Ma?” Jeremy began, stepping inside the ambulance. “Ma?”

She lifted her head, her mascara ruined from tears, her eyes wide open. “Jeremy...” Her voice broke, and she grabbed him, holding him close and so, so tightly. “Jeremy! Oh, my god, oh, my god!”

Jeremy hugged back, unsure of what was happening, but he buried his face into his mother’s chest. “Ma, some guys tried the kill me! I dunno what happened to Phillip, did they get him!?”

A cough came from the stretcher, and Phillip’s destroyed voice met Jeremy’s ears. “They did...”

“Phillip?” Jeremy tried to get a good look at him, but his mother just pressed him to her chest so he couldn’t look.

She reached over with a gentle hand, touching Phillip’s face, shaking all over. “Honey...why did this happen to you?!” She sobbed. “Why would they do this!?”

Phillip didn’t answer, and instead he asked, “Is Jeremy okay?” He lifted his head a little, and Jeremy could see that his eye was swollen shut, and he was covered in bruises.

“I-I’m okay, Phillip!” Jeremy cut in, tears rolling down his face.

“Good...” Phillip let his head fall back down. “Thank God...that’s all that matters...”

His mother sniffed, hovering over Phillip, stroking his hair. “You’re gonna be okay, Phillip,” she whimpered, her lower lip shaking. “You’re gonna be okay, I promise...”

The rest of the night was a blur to Jeremy. The man who had saved him earlier showed up in the ambulance, hugging Jeremy’s mother, and she hugged him back while sobbing. Jeremy didn’t go with Phillip to the hospital, though— instead, the man took him back to the house, picking him up and carrying him up the stairs.

The man told Jeremy to get ready for bed, and he obeyed, brushing his teeth and putting on his pajamas. Once this had been done, he climbed into bed, suddenly feeling immensely tired and wishing to go to sleep as soon as possible, just to escape this hellish reality.

As he began to drift off, though, the man sat on the edge of his bed, where he stroked the boy’s hair and rubbed his back. He acted very lovingly towards Jeremy, almost the way his mother would, and Jeremy just barely registered a quiet lullaby being sung to him.

“Berceuse et bonne nuit,

Tu es le delice de ta mere,

Anges brillants a cote

Ma cherie demeure.

Doux et chaud est ton lit,

Ferme les yeux et repose la tete.

Doux et chaud est ton lit,

Ferme les yeux et repose la tete...”

[errantknightess]

For luck

Pairing: Noctis/Prompto

Word count: 1,630

Summary: Prompto cheers on Noct at the arcade.

Many thanks to @incarnandine for all the help! ♥

[Read on AO3]

When he needed to, Noctis could be an incredibly patient man.

It came as a surprise to learn that at first. If someone pressed him hard enough, Prompto would admit it was probably the face. Noct could look testy even on his good days, and those were rare. But even on his bad days, he wasn’t that quick to snap. Over the years, Prompto had been lucky to have a front row seat to his numerous displays of diplomacy and self-control. Noct had dealt with more than anyone should ever have to deal with – and he took it all with grace. He deflected obnoxious, invasive questions from their schoolmates. He managed not to nap in most of their classes. He never turned down Prompto’s requests for a photoshoot, even though he must have been sick of them after all those official sessions he had to endure. And of course, when all of that was done, he could spend hours on end sitting still and silent on a pier with a fishing rod in hand.

But all of that patience evaporated like a daemon on a summer morning some time around his third Game Over in a row.

“Damn it,” he groaned, slamming the control panel with his fist. Prompto flinched, but the dull clang of metal drowned in the noise around them. The arcade was busy enough that no one paid any mind to their crown prince assaulting the machines – even though Noct did his best to make sure Prompto could hear his discontent over the crowd.

“Did you see that?” He waved his hand at the screen, where his avatar was still blinking red in a cloud of pixelated explosion. “I totally had it! This is cheating!”

“You think it’s rigged?” Prompto poked the machine with the tip of his boot. If it was, he couldn’t see any signs of tampering, other than the peeling stickers and a few choice words of graffiti on the side.

“Doesn’t matter.” Noctis cracked his knuckles. “I’ll beat it anyway. There has to be a way.” He plucked another token out of his pocket and shoved it into the slot with so much force it nearly jammed. The screen flickered through the end title and to a new game, and Noct tightened his grip on the joystick as the countdown flashed into his face with huge, bright numbers.

Prompto hovered by his shoulder, but he couldn’t really focus on the game. The backgrounds and obstacles rolling in front of his eyes were all too familiar by now – gods only knew how many times he’d seen the first few levels this week alone. It was way more fun to look at Noct instead, watch how he scrunched up his nose and bit down on his lip after every missing blow or failed jump. His pale face seemed to glow, tinted all colours of the rainbow by the neon lights around them. They contrasted nicely with his black shirt, a stark shape showing off the slight curve of his bicep and the tense line of his back.

Noct cursed, and Prompto quickly dragged his gaze back up, fixing it safely on the tiny crease between his eyebrows. It grew deeper with every tug on the joystick. Noct kept a steady rhythm, twisting his wrist with gliding, confident moves. His thumb flicked over the top button, fingers clasping tighter around the hard plastic. Prompto held his breath, and it had nothing to do with the close call on the screen.

“Come on…” Noct muttered through his teeth, almost too soft to hear if not for how close they were standing. Prompto could feel the brush of his elbow against his stomach as he yanked on the controller. He was trying his best to stay out of the way, but in the crowded arcade it wasn’t that easy. There were people everywhere, jostling and pushing, and he had to lean into Noct’s side time and again just to let them pass. At least Noct didn’t seem to mind, too caught up in the game to pay him attention. It was a miracle he hadn’t lost yet with all that. Prompto backed away slightly, but his eyes stayed drawn to Noct’s lips as they took on various shapes of silent curses and encouragements for the little figurine on the screen.

“No!” This one came out louder, and Prompto narrowly escaped getting socked in the nose as Noct threw his head back in frustration. In front of him, the dreaded Game Over burned stark white over his dead avatar. “Not again! What’s wrong with this thing?”

“No kidding, dude. This is practically treason.” Prompto gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. It did nothing to lighten Noct’s pout, but he could live with that. It was a cute pout.

“I was so close.” Noct glared at the machine, slumping lower in the player’s seat. He looked a minute away from outlawing arcade games with a royal decree. No more scrambling for tokens and declaring his crushing revenge – that was a bad sign.

“You’re getting closer every time,” Prompto agreed eagerly, determined to salvage the mood. “Seriously, just keep on it! You’re gonna beat it eventually. Can’t let it beat you, right? You’re too good for that.” He gave the stubborn machine another light kick and sent Noct his best smile. “We still have time for one more go. You sure you don’t wanna try?”

“I guess.” Noct’s face softened a bit, and he sat up a little straighter as he put a new token into the slot. He was still pouting, though. And that pout was still cute, but it also meant Noct was still upset, and gods, Prompto hated seeing his best friend upset.

So while the new game was taking its sweet time to boot up, he took a deep breath, grabbed Noct by the shoulder and pulled him closer, planting a quick, sloppy kiss on his cheek.

“For luck,” he explained hastily as Noct turned to him with a blank stare, face washed red with the light from the screen. “You can do this! Go get ‘em, Noct!”

Noct opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to say was cut off by the ticking of the countdown. He swiveled around and glued himself to the controls in an instant, pulling at the joystick as if he wanted to rip it out.

Prompto didn’t miss his pout slowly stretching into a smile.

And no wonder it did. This was his best game yet – a near perfect score through all the levels. Noct was on fire, flying through the screens and smashing combos one after another. He didn’t even lose any lives. Halfway through, Prompto was afraid to blink too loud and ruin that streak. He kept his eyes on the screen right until the end, right until the high score list rolled in and prompted Noct to type his name.

Then, he found himself with an armful of an elated prince.

“Dude,” he yelped, wrapping his arms firmly around Noct’s waist to keep him from toppling over the armrest. Noct squeezed him back even tighter before finally crawling down from the seat. He collected himself with speed that would’ve made his etiquette teacher shed a proud tear. Only the smile remained, and now his face really was glowing – not just a trick of the fluorescent light anymore.

“Dude,” Prompto said again, words kind of failing him at the moment.

“You were right.” Noct bumped him on the shoulder, eyes bright with barely restrained excitement. “I did it. Finally!”

“When was I ever wrong?” Prompto laughed. “Well, at least when it comes to video games. Don’t hire me as your royal advisor just yet.”

“Yeah, now that’s the best advice you could give me,” Noct snorted. His smile spread, twitching slightly as he pinched his lower lip in his teeth. Prompto couldn’t help but stare a little, which was bad, because Noct was staring right back at him and he had to notice. Unless he was too busy mulling over whatever thought glazed his eyes like that.

“Noct? You with me?” He raised his hand in front of Noct’s face, probing.

“Huh?” Noct’s confused gasp skimmed over his fingers. His eyes focused again, piercing him a little too intensely. “Yeah… What?”

Prompto quickly squashed the urge to reach just a bit further and touch his cheek.

“High five?” he offered instead, waving his hand expectantly.

Noct met it with a satisfying clap that made his skin tingle. His hand was a little sweaty from gripping the controller, and very warm – and suddenly clenched on the front of Prompto’s vest, pulling him in.

Noct’s smile melted against his cheek, just in the corner of his mouth. The neon signs burst around him, blinding white.

Prompto closed his eyes as the room started spinning. The floor was swimming under his feet. If it wasn’t for Noct’s grip on him, he was sure he would’ve folded like a wet towel.

“Dude,” he breathed.

Noct cleared his throat, studiously avoiding his gaze.

“Thought you’d like your lucky charm back,” he muttered, pulling his bangs over his eyes as if trying to hide under it completely. “You know, since it works so well.”

“Right,” Prompto let out a small laugh, soft and quivering just like his knees. “I like it back, yeah. I like it a lot. Glad it helped you, though.”

“It did.” Noct looked up at him through his hair, a crooked smile pulling at his lips. “Hey… You think I could have it again later? I could really use it before the conference tomorrow.”

Prompto stared at that smile, lightheaded and not entirely sure he would make it till tomorrow at this rate.

“Sure thing, buddy. Anytime you want.”