All of this would’ve been easier if there weren’t monsters in the forest. Noct hadn’t seen them for himself yet, but he’d been out with Gladio helping the patrol team on duty keep an eye out now that more attacks had happened. So seeing Ignis on the network had led to actual racing back to the DOA office in the regalia. Flying racing, anyway. Impatient flying, done by an impatient prince. His “parking” job was atrocious but he gave Gladio a look that said don’t judge me as he jogged into the building.
He was confident Gladio was as impatient to reach their destination as he was.
“Hi, excuse me--oh, nope, you’re not going to stop, huh? Jeez, must be in a hurry--hi, miss? Hey, can you help us?” He pestered every person they passed. Determination took the edge off social-awkwardness. “We’re looking for Ignis Scientia? Dark blonde hair, gla--uh. Um, a scar right…” Noct’s throat closed up as he gestured weakly at his face.
There was no judging. Gladio was sure he wouldn't have been much more patient himself behind the wheel after all. Nor was he much in the way of patient either as he kept up with Noctis' pace into the building. He did, however, do a bit better for himself in that he knew asking every person they asked would get them nowhere.
He wrapped his hand around Noct's elbow and pulled him toward the bank of elevators. He was quiet as they rode up, fingers tapping impatiently against the rail. He'd glance up at Noctis every few seconds. There was a complication there - with the way his and Noctis' relationship had changed and how to even broach that with Ignis - but it was only a small thought in the back of his mind. Drowned out by the knowing that Ignis was there. Everything else? Well, they'd figure it out.
Once on the appropriate floor he asked about Ignis and they were pointed to a room down the hall. It was probably dumb that he was nervous, but he was. It'd been a while since he'd last had a chance to see Ignis - the constant needs of a world thrust into darkness seemed to pull them apart more often than bring them together, the absence of Noctis a wound that was hard to reconcile with. Being in Vallo had left a lot of time for Gladio to think about that distance between them, all the reasons for it and all the regret he had at letting it grow.
At the door he looked to Noctis, waited for a nod of ready and then pushed the door open. "Ignis?" he spoke out as they walked in.
The Ignis in question had been pacing. He hadn’t quite realized it, but it was a nervous energy pent up that he couldn’t get rid of without some sort of movement. He’d tried sitting still, waiting, just speaking to his phone as it narrated out messages on the network.
This served two-fold, at least, because now he knew the room perfectly. Where every corner of the desk was, the chairs, how far each wall expanded out. He knew how far the door opened, and where to stop so it wouldn’t hit him should it open while he was on that side. In this case, he heard the voice with his back turned away, his pace taking him to the opposite side.
Ignis turned quickly, as if he’d expected to see Noctis and the not-so-friendly reminder of a little darkness and diffused light greeted him instead. But he knew they were there, and stepped forward just once. “Gladio?” His voice faltered for a second. “--Noct?”
Noct could admit he wasn’t always practical when his emotions were running high. He rushed into things, heart first, head later. He was relieved when Gladio just took over and he spent the elevator ride rubbing at the back of his neck and trying very hard not to think about how they were going to tell Ignis certain things. Thankfully, that felt like a distant problem when the doors opened up and he was faced with the man himself.
The scar still caught him right behind the ribs.
“Hey,” he murmured. There was plenty of warmth in his voice even if the word wasn’t enough. He moved around a waiting room sofa and reached out to wrap his fingers around Ignis’s forearm, letting him know where he was. “Did they offer you any coffee? I bet it’s office sludge but it’s better than nothing.”
Ignis hummed a little noise of agreement, and gestured with his hand back towards where he remembered the table to be, empty coffee mug and all. “Earlier.” It wasn’t very good, but it was coffee, and helped him give something to put his focus on.
He had Noct’s voice now, and a hand on him, so he moved forward the rest of the way. He used the opportunity to bring the arm Noct had grabbed up, slowly, with purpose. He’d done this to all of them after he had first been blinded, with permission and just as a reminder to map out what his friends looked like, with eyes and without. But he did it with enough care to allow Noct to move away if he so wished, though his hand found the side of Noct’s face, and long messy hair.
“Hello,” his deep voice cracked. He tried to stop it, but there was no hope, so Ignis turned slightly to the shadowed form behind Noctis. His other hand reached out for Gladio. “I’m sorry it took me so long. You’ve been keeping him out of trouble?”
Gladio had lingered behind when Noctis pushed forward to Ignis. And really, he'd be content to hang back as long as needed. He remembered his own reunion with Noctis well enough to know the sheer gamut of emotions that Ignis was no doubt dealing with. The surrealness of showing up in Vallo to begin with added on top of it. He kept his gaze on the two of them though, engaged even if he was letting Ignis have a moment with Noctis first.
Which offered himself too just that. A moment. Brief, but one. To attempt to collect the hundreds of thoughts that raced through his head seeing Ignis there now. A futile attempt, but an attempt nonetheless.
But he stepped forward when he saw Ignis reach for him. He took Ignis' hand, gave it a squeeze. "Define trouble," he replied, the smirk evident in his tone.
Noctis was reluctant to let go, so he just…didn’t. He did close his eyes under the inherent tenderness of Ignis’s touching his face for a moment but then he felt like he was missing out so he watched Ignis’s face instead. Four months was nothing in a lifetime. It was certainly nothing like two years of living with the possibility that he was never coming back. Noct squeezed Ignis’s forearm before he let go.
“Aw come on. I’m right here,” he whined. “And I’ve been good! There’s like a hundred other trouble magnets instead of me.” He took the opportunity to run an inspecting gaze over Ignis. There were a few tiny scrapes that he could see but nothing that made his worry kick in. “I still can’t believe you saw one of those things before us. Are you trying to make up for lost time?”
Ignis squeezed Gladio’s hand back, but waited until Noctis let him go before dropping his hand away. He knew it was his friend, now. Their prince.
“A hundred,” the amusement set in at his tone, but with just an edge of disbelief. Keeping Noctis out of trouble was a full-time job - quite literally, even if it wasn’t all his fault - and hearing that others were more trouble magnets than he was? A dangerous idea, but one that would keep people on their toes, no doubt.
Ignis made a little noise and rubbed his forehead, above the dark glasses he wore. “Not intentionally. I certainly didn’t ask to be ambushed upon arrival, but it did get the blood pumping. Neither of you have seen them? I was curious what they look like.”
"Oh I'm well aware you're right there," Gladio replied to Noct, giving him a teasing grin.
"Not yet," he answered Ignis, a shrug of his shoulders. "Don't expect that to last though, things here tend to get worse before they get better," he added. But so far nothing had seemed to last much more than a handful of days. "But I can't see them being any uglier than some of the daemons back home."
He was close enough to Noct to be able to bump his shoulder lightly with his own, so he did so. They'd have to talk, figure out how to broach to Ignis that they were dating - but Gladio wasn't about to dump that on Ignis right then. And if he was honest, well, he needed a day or two himself.
"Should we get out of here?" he asked the two of them.
Noct wasn’t glad Ignis was blind, but it did save him from being caught giving Gladio a too soft stare and a smile to match. He just felt so relieved, it was pouring off him waves. Containment was no longer an option. He’d almost forgotten they were even in a public place at all.
“I’m just glad you didn’t have too much fun without us.” Glancing towards the door and then to Gladio, Noct got a look that said he was about to do something and nobody was going to stop him. “We can go, I uh just…” He darted forward to hug Ignis, arms around his waist. There’d been too little of this at home and he’d had four months to think about how stupid that was.
“I missed you,” he mumbled, face smooshed into Ignis’s chest.
Oh. It was what Ignis had wanted to do himself, when Noctis first walked through that door, but had held off. He often held off, kept his friends at arm’s length, for the sake of propriety. But it was different when one could cook for those closest to them, to put out little words of wisdom, to do something small each and every day for those people. That was how Ignis showed his love.
And that had been robbed from him as far as Noctis was concerned, for two years now.
So there was no hesitation when his arms wrapped around his best friend. He struggled to stay composed, and was glad that he was wearing dark shades, ones that hid the tears pricking at the corner of his eye. “I missed you too, Noct.” More than any of you would ever know. “A great deal.”
He took the opportunity to toss a little smirk over to Gladio’s direction, tone trying for light and teasing, so his voice didn’t crack again. “Gladio, however, I just saw a few days ago.”
Something tugged at Gladio seeing Noctis rush in to hug Ignis, more so when Ignis returned the hug. Equal parts guilty at starting something with Noctis when Ignis wasn't there to weigh in, and longing for the glimpse of a life he'd seen the older versions of themselves had started. And like Noctis, it was not anything glad or happy about Ignis' lack of sight, but the fact he could hide the complex emotions he was sure were clear on his face was - well - there was some weird sort of comfort to that.
He was so lost in the mess of thoughts that he almost missed Ignis addressing him. But he recovered quick, gave Ignis a grin even if it wouldn't be seen. "Been a lot longer for me, Igs," he pointed out. And gods he had missed Ignis. Ignis who had been a part of Gladio's life as long as Noctis had. The sounding board he had relied on for so long. Perhaps the only other person who knew exactly what it meant to give their lives to duty the way they had. Missing Ignis was like missing an extension of himself.
So it was easy to take those steps forward, to wrap his arms around Noctis and Ignis in their own little hug and squish Noct between them.
Noctis made a little oof sound as he found himself pressed between the pair of them. They were still missing a vital piece but this was still a relief that warmed Noct from the inside out. In fact, it warmed him a little too much. Gods, why had he forgotten why he didn’t dish out hugs very often? The intimacy, the contact, the size difference between them and him. His entire body was going to literally catch fire.
He wanted to stay here forever.
“Okay, okay, yeesh.” He extracted himself from between them, rolling his shoulders, but he didn’t go very far at all. “You --“ He patted Ignis’s chest with the back of his hand. “—Need a tour.” Ignis could find his way around just fine but Noctis wanted to keep him close. He grabbed Ignis’s hand and put it on his own shoulder so he could lead. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Ignis, likewise, could have stayed there forever. Even when he was feeling crushed under Gladio’s addition, it was the good sort of crush, the kind that made him want to squeeze back.
But as soon as he felt Noct start to give away, Ignis backed off to a respectable distance. Which wasn’t very far at all, but at least it didn’t have their fronts pressed up against each other in a distracting sort of way in public. Hand on Noct’s shoulder, he reached out with his other for Gladio’s forearm, a usual sort of stance when he was in a new place and new surroundings.
His tone was equal parts suspicious and teasing when he asked, “Is it wise for you to lead? I’m going to be nipping at your heels the whole time.” But there was no heat behind it. Ignis would have followed him, them both, anywhere they lead, no questions asked. Minimal questions asked.
Gladio moved so Ignis could take his arm. It felt a bit strange to be back in this. Ignis had become so self sufficient over the past couple of years that it was rare now to have to play the part of guide. Gladio had no doubt it wouldn't be long before Ignis knew Vallo just as well though.
"I'm more concerned it'll be nothing but burger places and the arcade with him at the helm," he added to Ignis' tease - prepared with a grin for the inevitable dirty look shot his way at the words.
It was nice though, felt almost like old times. And while he was aware they were still missing Prompto it was more than nice to have at least Ignis there. The most complete he'd felt in years he couldn't help but think as they started to make their way out of the office.