#eeee i'm sorry this took so long to answer! i wanted to do right by your wonderful thoughts hehe

[ttyls]

theme change!!! theme change!!! it's so bookstore meet cute with steeb 🥺🫶🏻✨️💛 maybe even neighbors au

theme change!!! eeeep steebie deserves a wonderful meet cute 💫💛

maybe there’s a growing stack of books in your arms as you walk around an empty used/second-hand bookstore. 5 minutes later, before you can add another potential purchase to the heap, the top of it wobbles and books spill, scatter, and spin across the floor. you huff. “good thing no one saw that,” you say to yourself.

when you crouch down to gather your books, brown boots appear in your line of vision. you can’t describe or recreate the sound of surprise you make; where did this person soundlessly come from?

tilting your head upwards, you make eye contact with the prettiest man you’ve ever seen. he bends lower to hand you a runaway member of the pile. in a tone that makes you think he’s more embarrassed about this than you, he shyly says “um, this one found its way over to the next bookshelf.”

or maybe you’ve been getting mail meant for someone by the name of steve rogers. the first time it happened, you got an extra casino advertisement out of it. you tossed both yours and his into the recycling bin underneath the mailboxes. even if steve was a gambler, he wouldn’t need the encouragement. the second and third time you got extra junk mail, you figured out the mail carrier for your apartment building keeps mistaking 0 for 8.

it’s nothing that requires effort on your part until the fourth time. this is what you have planned: knock on steve’s door, explain to him the mail mix up situation, give him his letter from the dmv, tell him there really wasn’t a way for you to get that letter into his box and therefore leave him undisturbed. by then, you and your awesome judge of character could determine if he was worthy of your extra mailbox key to make both of your lives easier.

he’s actually home when you knock, so you’re able to go through all 5 steps. what you don’t anticipate is that neighbor steve rogers is captain america steve rogers, and that he’s slightly horrified by your lack of safety.

[caelumdevium-blog]

❝ no—oooo—oct! ❞ prompto screeches his name from behind, gets a running start so that he might securely loop an arm around his neck, pulls him into his side in a full nelson and raises his other hand to rub his knuckles into the top of noctis's head. ❝ gue—eeee—ss what?! guesswhatguesswhatguesswhat?! i finally got a date! oh, man, noct, she's incredible! w-we gotta stay! tell iggy we gotta stay! she doesn't even care that i'm— ❞ he cuts himself off, but the word hangs in the air: *huge*.

NOCTIS  KNOWS  WHAT  HE’S  IN  FOR   the  second  he  hears  a  screech  from  his  best  friend,   hears  the  sound  of  footsteps  breaking  into  a  run  as  they  draw  nearer.   he’s already prepared himself for the inevitable,  by the time prompto arrives,  loops an arm around noctis’s neck and  assaults  him with a full nelson and noogie combo.

“  h - hey,  get off  !  ”   he tries,  only half - heartedly,  to give prompto a good shove off of him,  continues his  ‘ struggle, ’  until  ------

i  finally  got  a  date  !

“  no kidding  ?  ”   and he sees his opening,  anyway,  as prompto goes on  ---  he slides himself out of the hold.  and though he crosses his arms,  shifts his weight to one leg and leans back almost too casually,  it’s in his eyes that prompto will see how  happy  noctis is for him.

we  gotta  stay  !   tell  iggy  we  gotta  stay  !   she  doesn’t  even  care  that  i’m  ------

he doesn’t need prompto to finish the sentence,  although he still wishes for a world where prompto wouldn’t even need to  start  it.   he remembers the first time he met prompto,  helped him after he’d stumbled,  with some effort  ---  you’re  heavy  ---  and he very nearly didn’t realize the effect his words had,  hadn’t even  thought  about it until he saw the way prompto’s head had drooped.

------  w - wait.   sorry.   i  ---  i didn’t mean it that way.

he’d  tried  to apologize,  anyway,  but the next time he saw prompto,  it was almost like he was  avoiding  him  ------  or,  rather,  it was like he  wanted  to talk to him,  never could summon the courage to do so.   then,  one day,  while noctis had decided to walk home from classes,  he saw prompto,  running.

noctis didn’t like to think that he was running  because  of noctis  ------  didn’t want to assume anything,  didn’t want to seem  self - absorbed,  because if he was running for himself,  fine.   but his gut told him to speak up.

hey  ---  look,   about  the  other  day  ---it’s  cool  !   i’m  not  mad.right.   listen,   if  you’re  doing  this  for  you   ---   i  don’t  know,   keep  at  it,   i  guess.   but  if  this  happens  to  be  for  me,   because  of  what  i  said   ---   don’t.   you’re  fine  the  way  you  are.   you  do  you   ---   and  anyone  who  has  an  issue  can  answer  to  me.   yeah  ?

and he’s glad that prompto didn’t try for such a dramatic change.   he adores his best friend  ---  just the way he is.   and he’s almost exasperated it took this long for someone else to see precisely what he sees.

“  ---  nor should she,  ”   noctis answers,  resolute.   “  that’s  great  news,  prompto.   it’s gonna go great.  ”   he claps a hand on his friend’s shoulder,  brings him back in for a half hug that  he’s  in control of.

“  i’ll tell igs to quit packing.   you don’t wanna tell him why,  yourself  ?   i’ll bet he’ll want to hear it from you.  ”       @chobroco