WHO: Noctis & Gladio WHAT: Noct's magic cuts out & they realize they might usually be bound in more ways than one WHEN: Morning August 9th WARNINGS: None that I can think of STATUS: Complete
Noct really shouldn't have taken off to the arcade. Things were happening and people were disappearing or losing their magic. But the stress of waiting to see if it happened to him was exhausting. He'd thought, what difference would an hour of gaming make? It wasn't like he could stop any of this until they figured out what was causing it and patrolling so far had only found dead spots that led to nothing anyway.
He just needed an hour. He even sent a text!
Of course it couldn't be that easy. Half the arcade was powered down because half the arcade ran on magic. Worse, he didn't even get any nachos before his connection to magic abruptly severed.
"Damn it." Noct slumped into the driver's seat of a defunct racing machine with his fist over his chest. It wasn't as bad as it could've been, he supposed. It helped that he'd lost his elemancy while stuck in the past and his powers had been shifted to Toph once. At least he could see this time.
It still wasn't good though. Six, it sucked. Only a minute had passed and he felt drained and slow. Distant. There was always a low-level awareness of Gladio and Ignis through the magic he shared with them and without it, he felt off-balance. He struggled to dig his phone out of his back pocket and watched it tumble wildly from his hands, skittering across the floor and wedging under a machine.
"You have got to be kidding me," he grumbled.
Gladio hadn't been trailing Noctis, not really at least. He'd simply gotten the text when he'd finished up at the gym and elected to follow after Noct as opposed to heading back to the apartment. Because he was already out, because he figured they could grab some food and head back together. And alright, because he was worried.
It wasn't as though Gladio didn't have faith the three of them could figure out whatever Vallo tossed at them, Gladio sometimes just didn't want to have to. And if they could get through this one without Noct being directly affected, well, even better. But he knew better than to live on hope.
So he walked into the arcade, noting that most of the games were silent or sluggish. Which was… weird. And very eerie. But he tried to shove that from thought as he walked through the arcade looking for Noct.
He was just rounding toward the racing machines when he felt it. A sudden dullness to the awareness he'd always had. Like something had just… shut off. Instinctively he tried to call a weapon (a small one given the location) and found - nothing. Which, well, he'd unpack all that later as he glanced up at the sound of a phone sliding across the floor and saw the unmistakable form of Noct.
It was only a few large strides and he was there, kneeled down to Noctis in the game. "Guess we're not getting out of this one easy," he said, the worry evident in his tone as he looked Noct over.
Noct startled at the sight of Gladio. He really shouldn't have been surprised. Any annoyance at being followed when he'd said he'd only be gone an hour was minor in comparison to the relief that flooded through him though. He couldn't sense his magic in Gladio, and there was something else that felt off in a different way, but Noct would always feel safer with his Shield close at hand.
"Easy isn't really our vibe," he mumbled. Swinging his legs out of the machine didn't get him anywhere right away, but it did let him rest his forehead against Gladio's shoulder for a moment. "Ugh. I feel seasick. How stupid is that? Is Specs here too?" He lifted his head to give a worried glance around the arcade, keeping one hand on Gladio's shoulder like it would somehow make up for the weird disconnect.
His arm immediately went around Noct when he tried to move and he rubbed soothing circles against Noctis' back. He turned his head and pressed a soft kiss to the top of Noctis' head. There was something there, or rather the lack of something there, that weighed on Gladio. But he couldn't quite sort it out. So he fell back to what he could sort out. Which was this. Stay close, stay present. And even if something felt off, that didn't. The way supporting Noctis felt like breathing at this point, the ease in which they leaned on each other.
"Just me," he answered. "I was at the gym, headed here," he added. Which was Gladio for I was totally not following after you except that I definitely was.
He glanced at Noct's phone a few feet away. "I'm going to go grab that," he let Noct know before he made sure Noctis was okay sitting where he was for half a second and went to pick up the phone. He slipped it into his pocket, and moved right back to Noctis.
"Think you can walk?" he asked as he slipped a hand around Noct's arm to help him up. He hated the idea of the question, but there was something happening and the degrees were all over the map from what they'd seen so far. And however much it might be affecting Noctis, Gladio figured it might be more comfortable to sort out outside of this cramped arcade machine, and the stale air of the arcade itself even.
“Right. At the gym,” Noctis said in a teasing tone. He didn’t miss the days when they might’ve snipped at each other for this. This was better, even if the situation sucked. He made a small displeased noise when Gladio moved away and then flushed with embarrassment about it. It had only been a second; he needed to clear his head.
“I can walk, I’m just. Blegh.” He pushed to his feet and rolled his neck, then his shoulders. “It’s fine. It’s just weird. It feels weird, right? Not just--I don’t know.” Part of wanted to claim his phone back from Gladio’s pocket, but the other part didn’t mind following Gladio’s lead. It was standard bodyguard procedure and Noct was unsettled enough to need it. “Are you okay?” he asked, covering Gladio’s heart with his hand.
Despite Noctis' assurances he could indeed walk, Gladio didn't move far. He hooked an arm around Noct's waist - steadying in the physical and emotional sense. Weird wasn't exactly a definitive answer to what was happening, but he'd gotten used to it being the only one they ever really got. Still though, his gaze hovered on Noct - twinged with worry and it was easy to see his thoughts racing in his expression. Rolling through what had become second nature from a young age - was there any immediate threat, was there any immediate injury, what was the next step, where was the safest place to go from here - and already starting to formulate a plan.
But the hand over his heart paused the racing thoughts. Stopped the checklist and brought him back to Noctis. His gaze softened and he put his hand over Noct's against his chest. He took a moment, determined not to just placate the question with an I'm fine, and really took stock of how he felt. Which was… different.
"I can't call a weapon," he offered in reply. Good thing he'd taken to keeping a knife tucked into his boot. "But it's - I dunno, feels like something more than that too," he added, confusion flickering across his face. "It's - I'm not really sure how to explain it - but like I can't feel you?" Which sounded dumb when he said it because he could. He could feel Noctis' hand on his chest, could feel the presence of Noct next to him, could still feel himself so finely attuned to him. But somehow it felt - dulled. Like there was a piece of it missing.
It was nice to get a straight answer. Noct let himself appreciate that and Gladio's hand over his before his brain really started to parse the words themselves. He frowned and glanced around. This felt like the kind of conversation they should be having somewhere more private but he wanted to blurt out questions right then and there so he compromised going home for pulling Gladio over into an alcove a little more distant from the noisy machines still in order.
"You can't feel me? What does that--I mean, I thought...I can't feel you either but I didn't know you could feel me at all. I don't…" It would be great if he could form sentences and stop stammering like an idiot. He grimaced and rubbed at the back of his neck, looking up at Gladio from under his bangs. "I figured how I normally feel you was just from sharing magic, but I don't think the Kingsglaive could feel Dad."
"I'm not a Glaive, Noct," he pointed out gently. The King's Glaive was new, formed from old traditions maybe, but still new. Lacking the generations of magic and bonding that had come before Gladio and Noctis. It was confusing, but not all that surprising if he thought about it, that maybe some of that started going both ways over the hundreds of years their families had been connected.
Gladio took a moment to run his hand through Noctis' bangs, the impossible of trying to tame the hair there. "I don't know if I'm wording it right either," he admitted. "Like I still - you're still here and I still-" he pressed his hand against Noct's chest this time, feeling the steady beat underneath. "I still feel you," he finished, a reassuring smile at that. And despite the confusion of the situation, the questioning of it, on his face nothing really had changed with how he looked at Noctis. There was still the same endless devotion, the warmth of his feelings there.
He was still aware of Noctis, that hadn't changed. Still attuned to him and all the little things that made up Noct. So it was hard to put to words what was missing. "It's like - I dunno - like there used to be some - tether?" he offered. "If that makes sense." And it wasn't the first time he felt a flicker of resentment at their fathers, at the lack of knowledge they'd been given at the end of the day. And maybe they themselves hadn't had the answers either, but Gladio knew they'd held at least some information at bay.
“I know you’re not a Glaive,” Noct grumbled. “It was just as good of a comparison as I have.” They were a little like his Glaive, when he thought about it. Connected to the magic of the crystal through him but not necessarily all of its abilities because Noct had been too damaged in the Marilith attack to ever fully access all of his powers. And besides, he’d only been told so much about the line of Shields either. Or maybe, he’d been told a lot and only retained so much…
Okay, so he hadn’t been very studious. He may or may not have relied on the fact that he’d always have Iggy to remember the historical and political stuff for him.
He covered Gladio’s hand on his chest and frowned thoughtfully. “I think…maybe I know what you mean.” He knew how he felt, and whatever this weird missing thread was, it didn’t change a damn thing, but it did make him wonder what they didn’t know. “Could this be something our dads didn’t tell us? What if it’s…bad?”
Gladio had had a lot of time to think about things his father didn't tell him. After Noct had gone into the Crystal, as the endless night stretched on. It had never been an easy thing to sleep when the world was plunged into darkness and all the shit that had come with it. So yeah, his thoughts drifted. A lot. To the things he did know, the things he didn't, the things he had only just started to find out. And once he'd let himself realize that the King and his own father knew that the treaty had been a lie… that they'd make sure Noctis was out of the city before things went down, but his father hadn't made sure Iris was… well, it had been a pretty slippery slope from there of realizing his father wasn't exactly the person Gladio had always thought him to be.
"Hey," he said to Noct, and turned his hand so he could give Noct's a squeeze. "I don't think it's bad..." he offered. Though there was a small voice of doubt in the back of his mind and that. One he didn't quite want to give much attention to just yet. "Maybe we're just - more tied together than we thought? Magically?" Because that was it, right? Magic. Everything magic was being affected and so if Noctis' was then this must just be a part of that.
"We should check in with Iggy, see if something feels different there?" he suggested.
A little thread of anxiety lanced through Noct’s heart. Being tied together wasn’t inherently a bad thing. They’d been tied together metaphorically his whole life and it had only gotten better with time. But compulsion was something else. His expression clouded as he considered the possibilities, but he didn’t let go of Gladio. When something came to him, his scowl eased into something relieved.
“Well it can’t be a magical compulsion to stay with me when you didn’t have any trouble going off on your own quest without me.” There was gentle teasing in the words and tenderness in the way he reached up to graze his fingers over the scar across Gladio’s forehead. “You’re right though. We definitely need to check in with Specs. He’s going to be worried.” There may have already even been texts on his phone. He started to reach for Gladio’s pocket to collect it, but he redirected at the last second to latch onto Gladio’s collar instead. He pulled Gladio down as he arched up on his toes to kiss him. He just needed this for a few seconds. To settle the anxious rattle in his chest.
Gladio could see the wheels spinning in Noct's brain, and really he didn't blame Noct. It had always been a point of contention for Noctis - that even with the deep friendship, and now more, that he and Ignis had carved out with Noctis it still had come from a place of fealty. Adding in all this? It was easy to see why it might weigh heavy on Noct's mind. His eyes closed briefly as Noctis touched the scar on his face, an amused little smile at the call out.
He was more than easy to be pulled into the kiss, and he stepped forward the few steps to brace Noctis against the wall of the alcove as he deepened the kiss. That they were very much in public was a fact he chose to forget, instead focusing on showing Noctis that absolutely nothing had changed from this morning to this moment now. Gladio pulled back just a little, smiled against Noct's lips and gave him a glance over as he ran his thumb over Noct's browline and pressed a more chaste kiss to his lips quick before speaking again.
"I'm here because of you, Noct," he said fiercely. "Not magic, not some compulsion, not a title - just you." Things were better now than it might have been even a year ago, but still - Gladio would never mind reminding Noctis of that fact whenever needed. He kept his gaze on Noctis for a moment before he leaned down to brush his lips against Noct's forehead and stepped back a little.
He dug Noct's phone out and handed it back to him. "Bet you already got a dozen messages," he said as he did.
Noct hated that he needed to hear those words, but worrying the people he loved were with him out of duty had been an insidious thought that he'd had to kick to the curb a few times and magical bindings certainly didn't help. He clung to Gladio for a long moment, tempted to bury his face into Gladio's throat and force his Shield to carry him out of this place just so he could stay as close as possible.
"Me too," he whispered fiercely. Reluctantly, he extracted himself from Gladio's hold and claimed the phone, turning towards the door. "Let's see if the nearest waypoint is working." He was already typing away on his phone. "The sooner we're all together, the better."