[This definitely comes as a surprise to her. Once she receives them, Prompto will immediately receive a telepathic text message in response.]
Cool it with the name puns. [She's kidding.] Thanks for the roses, they're beautiful. I've got them in the living room in a jar... Sorry, I don't have anything nicer. I promise I'll keep em alive as long as I can. :)
[The festival is all said and done. He actually didn't have much time to see Lightning at the festival and he'd skipped out on the masquerade all together.
But he did know that Lightning went. With Gladiolus and all how could she not, right? Right?]
[She had been packaging some fruit from her garden when he found her, gently stuffing some raspberries (or Empatheias' version of raspberries) into a container for safe-keeping in the fridge. She doesn't look up to him at first at his cheeky comment, instead choosing to slam the lid shut before peeking with a single raised brow.]
About as much fun as you did staying away from it.
[This is the look of a woman who knows your secret, Noel. Squinty eyes....]
[Maybe in the darkest timeline, Noel is wearing that dress in this very moment. With such an infinite number of timelines, who knows what else he could be wearing? The moogle costume?]
If it's dancing you mean, then maybe.
[She had more than a few offers to teach her and she's not sure how much she's learned or even remembers.]
Speaking of weddings... you find yourself a date yet? It's coming up.
[A completely innocent question asked in a completely innocent way.]
[please he'd rock the shit out of that moogle costume
There's a definite smile on Noel's lips at the question as he glances off to the side. A smile he can't stop from forming, but he's not trying to hide it.]
[She leans forward on the counter, trying to bite back the smile that pulls the corners of her lips, and she picks up a strawberry to turn it between her fingers, examining it closely.]
[He hums thoughtfully as if wondering if he really should share details with Lightning or not. He's already told Serah of course, but that's a different story. Best friend privileges and all.
Really, he's just waiting for dramatic effect.]
Yeah. I'd say. She's no Gladio, but... [a small laugh, he can't even finish that joke.] She's cute. Too cute.
Lightning straightens up and mirrors his stance by crossing her own arms after popping the rest of the strawberry in her mouth. She chews, her face completely serious while she does, and when she's done, she shakes her head.]
[Why is she even asking that question? She's still working things out for herself, and it's been longer than a few weeks. She smiles playfully across at him and helps herself to another strawberry. She pauses to raise her hand at him.]
Spare me the details. She told me what happened. [... A beat as she bites back her widening grin.] You two slept together and then you kissed her. Or was it the other way around?
[Noel happened to be reaching for another strawberry and putting it in his mouth about the same time she says it like that Noel chokes on the pieces of fruit and roughly swallows. He gives a small cough.]
That ... Would be the other way around. Technically.
[He means, she's not wrong. They did sleep together. He's not one to kiss and tell, though. Knowing Penelo, she's probably already cleared up that detail and Lightning is just trying to troll him.]
[Penelo really didn't, but for once, it's fun to be the one teasing rather than the one being teased. Lightning pauses to laugh, not at him but to herself as he coughs on the strawberry.]
[She nods her head, eyes flicking across his face to watch the changes in his expression, even as he turns away.]
You'll learn a lot about yourself, too. Things you didn't know before.
[There's a sense of understanding there that becomes palpable in the amount of warmth that settles in the air, and the way the sun seems to shine through the windows a little bit brighter than earlier.]
[He says this lightly and with a smile. He doesn't mean that in a negative way. More just... does that feeling of screwing it all up ever go away? Because he can't get it to.
He probably sounds somewhat like a boy in that moment...]
[If he's asking from her experience, anyway. Lightning tilts her head in thought, keeping her voice gentle and comforting, despite the truth behind what she's saying. The two of them are probably far more similar than they like to think but it makes it easier to open up to Noel about these kinds of things. Things she wouldn't otherwise talk about.]
[Being scared of ruining everything has been a heavy thing on Noel's shoulders. He's been alone for so long that he sometimes wonders if he'll somehow have this ripped away from him too. So...
He raises his gaze to her with a slightly raised eyebrow. Obvious curiosity and concern in his gaze.]
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