Noctis tried—really tried—not to obvious about his feelings. He was normal about you—totally normal. He would never stare at you, and when you caught him in the act, he'd quickly turn his head away, like he was trying to give himself whiplash. Nope, Noctis was too cool, too composed, and indifferent to do something so childish. He was so normal about you, in fact, that he'd sometimes pretend to fall asleep in the Regalia and "accidentally" lean his head on your shoulder... All of this was coincidental, obviously!

Now, he was alone with you. Shopping around Lestallum, looking at some weapons like a couple of friends. Yes, friends, normal, platonic friends, nothing more. That's what he told himself, so it was definitely true.

Except Noctis couldn't help himself take the occasional "glance"—though it was definitely more of a stare—lingering glances that he'd had to shake himself out of. He couldn't help it; you were so close, he could just reach out and grab your hand if he wanted to. You were looking at weapons, making small comments about them, and then putting them down and moving to the next one. Meanwhile, Noctis was on the verge of a heart attack.

You picked up another sword, turning to him this time, wanting to get his opinion on it.

"So, Noct what you think abou–."

Your voice quickly brought Noctis out of his dreamland. He quickly cut you off in surprise; he wasn't expecting you to start talking in the middle of his very, not obvious at all, one-sided staring contest.

"Yes! Perfect! love yo—uh, it! ..."

The words tumbled out of Noctis's mouth, much too fast to stop Noctis from letting out a little slip up. A tint of pink formed on his face, turning his head away from you in embarrassment, hoping you didn't notice his close slip up; he was most definitely scolding himself internally.

"Love it... It, uh, looks good, very cool sword..."

He repeated, his voice a little quieter this time. He was trying to sound casual and failing spectacularly. He hadn't even looked at the sword yet!