WHO Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia WHERE A cave near The Belly of the Beast WHEN May 3rd or 4th? During the week. WHAT Noct gets a little hurt against the Cave Monster thing and Iggy patches him up and they chat. STATUS Complete! WARNINGS Fairly tame but lots of UST.
Fighting daemons on a daily basis, they’d all been hurt, one time or another. Scars formed, injuries healed and patched. Potions had been more helpful than Ignis realized, now stuck in a place where it wasn’t so easy to just turn a cola into one.
The fight had been brutal, and especially so when Ignis had very narrowly almost taken a swipe to his face, eyes unable to see how close the danger was. But Noctis was there, protecting him, shielding him, and Ignis was as torn at being thankful about it as he was worried. At some point he was relatively sure he’d yelled Noctis’ name, but it was all a blur now.
The worry wasn’t going anywhere, even as he’d reached across the battlefield to stem off the bleeding he couldn’t see, just a little. Enough that they were able to finish the fight, and win. A win that afforded them a little time to sit and rest. He had a hand on Noctis, not wanting to lose that tangible connection when Ignis couldn’t see him. “Is it still light enough outside to make it to the town, do you think?”
Most days there was some kind of pain in Noct’s back. Sometimes, he was sure it was just a phantom pain; others he knew it was very real and not necessarily anything a healing potion could touch. The pain currently plaguing him was not like those averages aches and certainly not on par with the agony he’d experienced as a child. It was sharp and it was distracting, but Ignis’s quick use of magic had stopped the wound from tearing open further while they wrapped up the fight.
Honestly, he was more worn down from using the royal arms than from the wound. He was panting as he tucked his father’s sword away in the armiger in a flash of blue light. He put the empty box they’d found in there too, for good measure. Maybe it was important. Maybe he was just a pack rat.
“Uh, don’t think so,” Noct mumbled, sticking close as he inspected the sky and then looked back into the cave. It was drafty and big enough for a snake monster. “It’s maybe another twenty minutes of light out there and I’m--” He was out of practice using the royal arms and their dealing with their draining effects. “There was a smaller cave nearby? Should be cozy enough and hidden?” He turned towards the cave mouth and hissed through his teeth at the pain that lanced through his lower back.
“Right.” Ignis words were clipped now, worry and displeasure coursing through him. The group that was in the back of the cave - the ones that had been under attack when they had arrived - were gone now. It was just Ignis and Noctis and Ignis didn’t need to see Noct’s face to know the level at which they were operating.
Both he and Gladio had been around Noct’s pain management for a long time. They were fairly intune to the little intakes of breath, the hisses, the groans. Once upon a time, he’d known what each of them meant, and he knew when they should start looking for camp, or a place to rest. Right now was no different. He took Noct’s words in, he took that hiss of pain, and didn’t hesitate to lift Noctis into his arms so he could follow the directions given to the next cave over.
It was a little more difficult without vision, but he’d had years of practice, of dodging corners and not clipping himself-- so with Noct nestled in his arms (albeit not quite as easy as it was for Gladio to do) and mumbling directions, they ended up settled in the nearby cave with little trial and error. His hands and face were gentle as he moved into the darkness. “I do hope you’re right about cozy and there’s nothing lurking in the corners so we can get that looked at.”
Noct hadn’t been carried very many times in his life, at least not while conscious, and it caused a battle of emotions in his chest. Instinct made him grumble unintelligibly under his breath about being able to walk, but he knew most of that was a knee-jerk response to having been unable at one point in his life. Those days were in the past though - the real past - and this was Ignis. He was likely stepping up where he felt there was a need, since Gladio wasn’t around. Ignis had always been good at taking care of people’s needs. Of Noct’s needs, more than most. He felt his face heat but he didn’t want to slow them down or draw more attackers to them so he switched from whining to giving directions.
He’d only gotten a small glimpse inside the other cave as they passed, so it was a relief to see it was exactly how it had seemed. He held out a hand to use elemancy to give them more light, but even with the fire he could feel arcing through his body, nothing happened.
“I’m starting to feel personally victimized by this place,” Noct grumbled. “I uh, I don’t see anything waiting to eat us? Or any signs of animals being here recently. The light is crap though.” He was really too close to Ignis’s ear. He sat up straighter, unhooking the arm he’d had around the front of Ignis’s neck but keeping one around his shoulders. “You can put me down, Specs.”
Ignis hadn’t really wanted to. Not with Noct in his ear so close, inadvertently causing shivers up his spine. The memory of sharing a sleeping bag with Noct every night came with that shiver, and in the end, Ignis had to let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He set down his friend, and gave himself a second to get familiar with the cave, touching walls, tapping boulders that might be used as seating.
He was still worried, but that worry took a momentary backseat for-- Six, hormones, even as Ignis was loath to admit it, like some uncontrolled youth.
But he could push that aside to tend to Noct’s pain, undoubtedly. “You should sit. You need rest, and for me to check your wound.” He didn’t specify back, though the plan was there. He didn’t need light to check things over, to heal Noct further. Putting his hands there was-- well, a surefire way to torture himself, but he would do what needed to be done.
Noct sagged down onto a rock, grimacing. He kept one eye on Ignis and reached into the armiger with the other. There used to be a first aid kit in there. A dinky little thing that never got used because they had all the healing potions they could need most days. He was surprised to find it still there, if a bit old and battered. Everything in the armiger had been a toss up the last few days. Some things were easily accessible; other things disappeared moments after Noct put them inside.
He set the kit down next to him and dug back in for the candle he’d picked up in town, equally relieved to find that until he realized he didn’t have any matches. Being cut off from his elemancy was probably the second hardest thing about this whole ordeal. Being separated from Gladio being first and the armiger nonsense being third. Energy prickled under his skin, wanting out, but he couldn’t light the candle no matter how hard he focused on the wick.
“It’s a good thing you don’t need light because I don’t have anything to light this dumb candle with,” he complained. Reaching behind himself, he prodded tenderly at his back. It felt mostly like a nasty scrape and what would likely be a giant bruise. His fingers came away bloody but only barely. “Hey do I get points for keeping a first aid kit you gave me years ago?”
“Mm,” Ignis was distracted, and his tone showed it. He settled in behind Noct, hands hovering just above Noct’s back. There was the fabric of his shirt, and the slight damp feel of blood, the wound. He pulled away again before he inadvertently did any extra damage. “You can have all of the credit you’d like, if you help me remove this shirt.” With gentle hands, he started peeling it away from the wound, and up Noct’s back, over his head.
He’d seen Noct shirtless before, so Ignis could already picture this. He knew what the scar looked like, and his fingers could find that with little searching at all. He exhaled, steadying himself and calming his mind.
Ignis was glad for the first aid kit, and he opened it and started feeling for what he needed. Bandages, antiseptic wipes. The whole thing had been fairly barebones, but that helped Ignis know exactly what he was reaching for, ultimately. His hands went back to Noct, fingers just lightly coasting along the edge of the wound, figuring out exactly where it started and stopped. He wanted to say ’Reckless, Noct. I’m the one that’s supposed to jump in front of you.’, but what came out was: “Let me know if you need a break, I don’t want to hurt you further.”
“OH. Right.” Noct pulled his shirt off with one hand over his head because it was the only way to avoid moving his back as much. It was still a tricky and slightly painful process, because he felt Ignis’s hands at his back and it sent a shiver up his spine. They’d done this kind of thing before; Ignis had been there as he healed from the old wound that marked his back even. But it all felt different now. He felt exposed and needy. Greedy. He closed his eyes and swallowed, putting the useless candle away.
“It’s…it’s not that bad. It stings and I’m pretty sure I’m going to hate everything for a few days, but it’s ok.” He countered those words with a hiss when Ignis hit a particular sensitive spot. “We did good though, right? I really hate snake monsters,” he added under his breath, sounding small for a second.
It was hard not to let his hands trail over, to get distracted from business. Ignis had to focus his attention on Noct’s injury, not whatever feelings were rattling around in that packed brain of his. It was a messy jumble of emotions, at the moment, but he had a feeling he wasn’t the only one.
“We did good,” He agreed, with a nod. “The lack of being frozen in place was nice though--” Ignis went through the motions of cleaning the wound with the antiseptic wipe. “Jumping in front of the attack like that, Noct. Foolish.” He paused, but not long enough to give Noctis time to argue with him, as Ignis figured he would do. He didn’t want this to become an argument over who should be diving in front of who, even as much as the opposite way was ingrained in them both. “Foolish, but also very, very, brave. Thank you.”
Noct tensed, not out of pain but because of the direction of Ignis’s words. There was a petulant reply on the tip of his tongue immediately, but Ignis was faster. Noct sagged a little, unintentionally leaning an elbow on Ignis’s knee beside his hip. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, bending his back to the side like that. But it put him closer to Ignis and was selfishly what he needed after that fight. To be close. To feel safe.
“You…don’t have to thank me for watching your back, Specs,” he grumbled. “I had the better angle to take the blow and keep fighting.” It wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t the whole truth either. He groaned and he sat back up straighter – the royal version of straighter and not his gaming-on-the-sofa straighter. “Anyway, if Gladio was here, he’d have shielded you and you wouldn’t have called that foolish.”
He wanted to tell Noct to stop moving, but then Noct was leaning against him and-- It weirdly brought back every memory from the last six days. Laying chest to back together in a sleeping bag, waking up awkward, a little uncomfortable and with undoubtedly a red face. The first time, he’d pretended nothing was different. The second, he’d scrambled out of the hold. The third, fourth, fifth-- well, if there had been moments that Ignis had snuggled closer, he wouldn’t admit to it.
Ignis had to clear his throat, though, with his thought process wandering, before his hands followed. He kept them steady, cleaning at a painfully slow pace. “Nonsense. I’ve called Gladio foolish numerous times.” But Noct was still likely right, in this case, and he had to put his feelings aside for the moment. “I’m.. just glad you weren’t injured any worse. I worry about you a great deal, Noct.”
Noct’s recent conversation with Gladio rattled around inside his head. He almost wished he was facing Ignis, but seeing what he looked like when he said I worry about you a great deal probably would’ve made Noct say something reckless with all the adrenaline still coursing through him.
“Yeah, well. Ditto,” he said softly. It felt like Ignis was close to done so Noct risked reaching for the rucksack they’d manage to pick up along the way. He’d purposefully left out of the armiger for fear of losing the meager contents. “Sorry the stuff you bartered for at the market got left back at the inn. You’re going to have to settle for beef jerky and water for dinner. There might be a stale roll in here too. You can have that as a thank you for patching me up.” He pulled out a canteen and sat it down on the ground, tapping it against Ignis’s ankle so he’d know where it was.
Ignis finished covering Noct’s wound in a bandage, fingers continuing to guide his path as if they were his eyes. He had to stem off the desire to press a kiss to the shoulder in front of him, but at the same time had no real desire to pull away.
Their food choices did make him wince and groan a little. He couldn’t hide it. “I suppose we’ll make do.” It was tempting to see if he could go hunting, but Noctis needed his rest and separating them was out of the question. So beef jerky it was. “How about we share that stale roll? What’s mine is yours.” That he meant, wholeheartedly, and Ignis reached out to where he had heard Noctis put down the candle. He pulled the dagger from it’s thigh holster and tipped it out, focusing energy into the blade so it burned with fire.
He held his hand steady, and leaned in a little closer on Noct’s personal space. “Will this help with the candle? A proper dinner should have proper mood lighting, after all.”
Ignis’s tone and nearness sent another shiver up Noct’s spine, this one ending with a flustered chuckle. The light of the dagger flame startled him. It lit up his flushed face and made his gaze shift quick to Ignis’s face over his shoulder. Shadow cut across his friend’s face but it wouldn’t have changed anything to see it; he was beautiful. Noct realized he’d been silent for an awkwardly long moment and he reached quickly for the candle.
“Oh, right. Thanks.” Lighting the candle, he poured a bit of wax on a rock nearby and affixed the candle there. “It’s to your two o’clock,” he warned. “Come sit over here.” Carefully of the still lit dagger, Noct clamped a hand on Ignis’s arm and pulled him to the other side of his rock. There was a whole cave to sit in, small as it was, but keeping Ignis close was a hard goal to abandon. His guilt kicked in though, timely and annoying. “I mean, if you want to sit here. There are other rocks. You don’t…you don’t have to do everything I want you to do.”
Once the candle was in place, Ignis put away the flame and dagger, sliding it back to its proper place. He was following without complaint, wanting to stay as near as Noct as he could manage without looking properly needy, but Noct’s words brought him up short.
He was used to the rambling, the occasional awkwardness. Ignis had always found it endearing. It was a reminder that no matter how many etiquette lessons he had to sit through, how many royal meetings or instructions there were, Noct was his own person. And that person was someone Ignis enjoyed the company of a great deal.
So he did sit, slowly, where Noctis had wanted to put him originally, but his eyebrows were scrunched together in a set of confusion. “Perhaps. I already know I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to, especially here.” Something about this made him want to push, where he normally wouldn’t. “What made you word it like that?”
“Oh, I…” Noct felt caught out and sounded it too. For all of his poise in battle, he was a real disaster in some personal moments. “I was just thinking, recently. That you uh--you’ve let me get my way a lot over the years. Sometimes at the cost of your own peace of mind and personal time.”
He remembered too easily how much Ignis had done for him while he’d been in school. How often Ignis had let him slide on things, because he was stressed or doing homework or worn down by training. But he also remembered Gladio’s words this week. About trusting Ignis was no pushover and thinking about how those “concessions” were Ignis showing he cared. Noct pressed a cloth wrapped stack of jerky on Ignis knee and pressed their shoulders together.
“I mean, I’m not complaining about getting what I want,” he joked, voice quiet as he watched Ignis’s face in the flickering candlelight. “I just don’t want to take advantage of you. LIke i used to.. What you want matters too.”
Ignis took the jerky silently, opening the sack and holding it open, for Noctis to take his own portion as he desired. Could he deny that he had certainly gone above and beyond, or that there were times when Noctis had taken that generosity Ignis so freely gave? He couldn’t. But he didn’t want to, either.
“Ah.” He didn’t keep it at just that ah, but used it to pause to gather his thoughts. Ignis had no wish for Noct to feel guilty, but it seemed that guilt had already gotten into his head a little, if this worried him. “I know that Prompto likes to make jests about my being Mama Ignis, but in some ways, that type of caregiving is how I like to show affection?” It sounded ridiculous when he said it out loud, and Ignis winced.
“I just mean-- my duties as Advisor were certainly not expected to be as all-encompassing, and my peace of mind and personal time being wrapped up in you was more or less my own choice.” He knew that was probably stretching it. “Well, some of the time. The point is, I’ve made my own choices for myself for a long time now, they just happen to involve you.”
Noct closed his eyes for a second, a flash of an embarrassed smile flickering across his mouth. "Gladio said pretty much the same thing. And it's not that I didn't believe him, I just…"
He breathed out and collected a piece of jerky to bite into - both because he was actually starved after that fight and because he wanted to use it as an excuse not to speak for a moment. His shoulder was still pressed into Ignis's and shifted his leg so that they were touching from ankle to thigh too. That helped. Selfishly.
"I needed to hear it from you. I know things are...different now. And I want them to be?" That was as close as Noct was going to get to being painfully obvious, here, without Gladio at his back. He rubbed at the back of his neck. "Except for the involving me part. I'd be upset if that changed."
“I understand needing confirmation,” Ignis agreed with a little hum. He bumped shoulders with Noct, relishing in their contact and almost feeling needy for more. He hoped the flush creeping up his neck wasn’t visible in the candlelight, but there wasn’t much he could do to stop it at this point.
Ignis tilted his head towards Noct, taking in the movements of his best friend, the breathing. Almost, almost his heartbeat, when there were moments of silence. “I know things were complicated back home, but I have no plans to push you away. I think it’s safe to say that you’ll be involved in my life until the very end, Noctis.”
Noct wished very much that he could meet Ignis's gaze while he said such things. With the candlelight making everything soft at the edges, flickering fondly across Ignis's striking face. He wished for a lot of things. But he settled for stroking a hand up Ignis's arm and squeezing at his wrist.
"You too, Iggy. Until the end," he murmured warmly. Reaching into the rucksack at his ankle, he pulled out a roll that was actually not all that stale. He tore it in half and pressed one half into Ignis's hand. "Enjoy your meal, Mr. Scientia. Don't forget to tip your waiter."