You would think after living two years in darkness, and further time before that on the road, one would get used to a limited wardrobe. But at least back home, Ignis had his staple pieces, his capsule collection, all finely tailored and bespoke, pieces specifically made for him and of the highest quality.
Here, he had one such outfit, and lacked the means to just go order more. So he had to make do - it wasn’t a true hardship, in terms of complaining went Ignis tried to keep it quiet. In an effort to conserve laundry, when he was in the sanctuary of Gladio’s apartment or while they were out camping, he shared sweatpants and more casual attire without too much of an issue. It made him feel a little off, but--
Well, there were worse things than sharing clothing with these two. So he truly tried not to complain, went into research of fabrics to possibly hire a tailor.
But he had reached his limit on how many times he could wear this same button down and black trouser combination out in public. He couldn’t even see it, for gods sake, but somehow-- he just knew.
The tension in his shoulders may have had more to do with recent knowledge gained as far as Gladio and Noct went, and less to do with the clothing, but he wasn’t ready to admit that. He did walk more carefully, with louder steps, lightly knocking on doors before entering, more for their sake than his own, though he could admit to himself that he still had to brace himself to hear the soft caresses or any light kisses. So that was what he did now, knocked lightly before pushing Gladio’s door open, unsure if Noct was with their companion at this moment. “I have finally reached the end of my rope. I need to acquire more clothing, preferably trousers that fit properly.”
Case in point: the drawstring he had to keep retying as soon as the sweats started falling down lower than he was comfortable.
Gladio had more than picked up on the heavy footsteps, the light knocks, the hesitations before Ignis entered a room. And while he didn't hold it against Ignis, hell he would probably be doing the same himself, Gladio still hated it. He wouldn't change his relationship with Noctis for the world, wouldn't dream of going back and not allowing himself to be honest about his feelings - but it still sucked. This feeling of division between them. They were still all friends of course, that would never change. But things still had done just that. Changed.
He gave a quick come in at the sound of the knock. He'd just finished putting away some laundry in the closet and glanced over as Ignis walked in, a box in his hand.
It wasn't just that things with Noctis had changed, and as a result the dynamic between the three of them. It was everything. Letting what felt for Noctis in had been like opening the floodgates to the rest of it. All the feelings and wants that Gladio had spent the better part of his adolescent and adult life compartmentalizing away were suddenly there. Loud and desperate for the attention they'd so long been denied.
That Ignis spent most of his time lounging around in Gladio's clothes was definitely not helping. He was almost remiss to lend a hand in changing some of that.
"Well, lucky for you the universe seemed to hear your frustrations," he said lightly as he moved to the bed and set down the box, making sure to let it land with a soft thud so Ignis would have a reference point for where he set it down. "Found this in the closet when putting away some clothes, looks like your stuff," he added.
“Oh.” The protests died in Ignis’ throat, on their way out. He’d been working up to a full argument, too, should it be needed - he knew it wouldn’t - but, that solved that. “That’s-- handy.” It was, even if Gladio’s clothes were comfortable, and even if he was dying to put on clothing that fit him properly, he got hit with a wave of annoyance right off the bat at it. Why did it have to be so easy?
But then, he didn’t quite know what to expect in the box. So Ignis moved forward, hand reaching out to the bed where he knew it to be. When he dove in, he could feel familiar clothes, textures he knew were his, fine stitching, leather and embroidery. He pulled a few things out to dig deep, folding them politely as he set them to the side of Gladio’s bed. He probably shouldn’t have been doing anything by Gladio’s bed - he ran the risk of thinking about it too much as it was - but curiosity won out. He trusted his best friend to tell him if something was amiss.
“Ah ha!” Finally his hand had reached for elastic, and a grin bloomed on his face as he pulled out a set of sock garters. “There they are. This alone would have made it all worth it.”
"Take the win, Iggy," Gladio said with a soft amusement in his tone. But he got it. Ignis worked hard for what he had, he was sure this must have felt a little bit like cheating.
Though if he was honest, he was a little bit sad himself. There was something to be said about Ignis in his clothes, and while he was glad Ignis had things he'd feel more comfortable in back - Gladio would miss it. He wondered, if things were different, if Ignis would still… a thought he shut down before it even formed. He didn't need more to drive him nuts than he currently had with Ignis going through his things and putting them down on the bed.
Like he was supposed to be in this room with them.
But as crazy as the general situation was driving him, it was nothing in comparison to when Ignis held up the sock garters. It wasn't surprising really. Ignis was always impeccable put together and Gladio had sat through enough tailoring sessions himself to know such a thing existed. What he wasn't quite prepared for though was the suddenly very heated direction his thoughts went to at the idea of those beneath Ignis' trousers.
Gods how had he ever managed to tune all of this out before.
"What, your socks've been slipping down?" he joked, coughed quick to cover the catch in his voice.
“Yours don’t?” Ignis shot back playfully, unashamed by his sock garters and his shirt stays and all manner of elastic that he pulled out. There were suspenders in there, as well, and belts, at least one of his knife holsters. Unfortunately, it was all a little jumbled now, and his entire face scrunched up in concentration.
Sometimes, being blind was almost easy. At first there had been a long adjustment period, where he had to relearn the entire world. But he’d gotten the hang of it over the last two years and sometimes even forgot it was a thing. It just was, now.
But there were times that it became a frustration, when something didn’t come easily to Ignis, when he struggled with each step. Now, feeling the knot across a few garters, he had that frustration swell up and forced himself to take a deep breath.
He held the tangled pile out to Gladio, a little hesitant at asking. “Would you be willing to….?” Put them on? Stayed right there in the part of his brain that it would never emerge.
He'd been watching Ignis sort through it - alright - staring was maybe a more accurate of a word. He'd been doing that a lot lately. Probably too much, and definitely too much in front of his boyfriend. But then his boyfriend tended to stare a fair amount too.
So he noticed quick, the sudden shift in demeanor.
He closed the few steps between them and took the tangled mess from Ignis. It's just clothing items, he chided himself as he felt a blush creep up the back of his neck. It was a simple favour between friends. But yet it felt thrilling all the same.
Gladio sunk to the edge of the bed and carefully started to untangle the mess. Which was infinitely worse than just seeing the garments.
"Nah, my calves keep 'em up," he replied with a huff of a laugh. "Here," he said as he untangled the first garter and held it out for Ignis to take - in the same spot Ingis had held out bulk of it initially.
Ignis made a noise, an annoyed one that held a sigh right behind his teeth. “Well, we can’t all be so curved and-- muscular.” It wasn’t the word he was going for, but saying something witty and charming seemed to fall to the wayside as it fell flat.
He was too busy thinking about Gladio’s calves, a reminder of the built body his best friend had cultivated for years was still fresh on his visual memory. A little too much, if he let it stay.
“Thank you.” He folded it - it didn’t take much, given it was a few clips and strips of quality elastic - and set it aside. “Sometimes I prefer to not have to mess with anything, especially the days I was driving a great deal, or we were crawling around a cave. No one likes to adjust one’s undergarments in the middle of that.”
Speaking of undergarments, his boxers came next, and Ignis made quick work of them, feeling the blush creeping up his cheeks. “Vallo really did include everything, didn’t it?”
Gladio just laughed a little at the mention of the cave spelunking days. Endless hours in the darkest corners of Eos, the ever present worry that the whole thing might just collapse on them. But yet, Gladio tended to look back on it fondly. Even with all that weighed on them.
"Yeah, alright, you got a point there," he admitted. "In hindsight too the leather pants weren't exactly the best choice for dungeon crawling," he added. But he looked good in them at the very least.
Gladio wasn't sure what was worse, staring at Ignis' boxers or staring at the garters yet to be untangled. At least the latter gave him something to do with his hands he thought.
"Kind of pegged you as a briefs guy," he said, before he really thought through the words. And it wasn't like it was anything too out there, hell he'd probably said worse to Ignis over the years. But everything felt very - charged - lately. Emotions that had always been there but had never been allowed to be dealt with suddenly so much in the forefront.
But you looked good in them. Perhaps they thought it at the same time, but it’s not as if Ignis would have disagreed with Gladio’s thoughts. He did look good in them. For a while there, it seemed that every time Ignis added a layer to his clothes, Gladio removed one.
And it wasn’t as if they were complaining. Well-- Not seriously. Once upon a time he had assumed Noctis was serious in his complaints, but that was now proven to be debunked.
It was a good thing he was already blushing from the smooth boxer briefs in his hand, so to cover up him suddenly thinking about how that came about. How they came about. “Ah- Thigh chafing?” He had no good answer for Gladio, and that frustrated him, but he could fold neatly with the speed of a thousand men at the same time. “But really, there aren’t as many floral and skull patterns available on briefs, even if they do serve a purpose with tighter pants.”
There he was, thinking about Gladio in his leather pants again. Damn it all.
"Here," he said again as he untangled the last of the mess of garters and held them out for Ignis.
"Your dedication to aesthetic is inspiring, Iggy," he said, the kind of remark that would typically come with a wry grin and a wink directed at Ignis. Both of which though came through in his tone. Typical of their banter but Gladio couldn't help but wonder did they always sound this - flirty? Or was he simply imagining things, hearing what he wanted to hear.
He reached into the box and picked out a shirt which he began to fold. There wasn't much left and he glanced at the pile of clothes on the bed. He idly wondered what Ignis would even say if he just started putting it all back in his closet, if he just skipped over all the awkwardness of this and told Ignis he was no less crazy about him than he was about Noct. Gods it was sorely tempting to do so. The few nights spent camping still a fresh memory, the three of them pressed together on that far too small futon. How wrong it had felt to split up once back in the apartment.
Ignis snorted, and once the box was empty he began replacing pieces slowly and carefully, folded and sorted now. Once it was done, he’d have to go back to his room and put everything away, so he lingered, not quite ready to leave.
“Inspiring, or eyeroll worthy?” He teased right back, knowing his brand of fashion and love of it wasn’t for everyone. It had never bothered him when he was teased, and Ignis was known for giving as well as he could take.
Eventually, he finished. It was inevitable, given the speed and grace at which Ignis could fold clothing, no matter how long he lingered. “Well that’s-- it, I think. I’ll need to take full stock and hang things, of course, I wouldn’t want any extra wrinkles. Do-” It was normal to do things with his friends, why did it feel odd to ask now?
He did anyway. “Do you want to help me color coordinate my closet? I know I don’t have that much range but if things are sorted it’s easier for me to decide.”
"Inspiring," he said without hesitation. "You always look good, Iggy." Damn good was a more accurate statement but he refrained from going that far, though the words did carry a weight they might not have before.
The pause in Ignis' question caused a pang of guilt in Gladio. He hated that things felt so on edge lately. That the simple suddenly felt complicated. But he was happy for the suggestion, not wanting to break off into their separate rooms himself just yet.
"You mean between black and this other shade of black?" he teased. Which was a stretch of course, Ignis owned more than just black but both of them tended to stick to the darker shades. He picked up the box. "I'm all yours, put me to work," he added and started out of the room with Ignis.
Ignis felt his face flush, the warmth creeping up his neck with the well-timed compliment. He hoped Gladio had turned away already, but wasn’t about to bring focus to the blush. Instead, he just followed the sound of movement.
With Gladio grabbing the box, Ignis went for Gladio’s elbow. “Indeed, I’ll endeavor to not make you regret agreeing to help when I’m asking you to identify the different shades of black.”