WHO: Gladio, Ignis, & Noct WHAT: Ignis has the truth bug and comes home to a mess…and another surprise. WHEN: January 11th WARNINGS: None STATUS: Complete
Noct was indulging. Not that he wasn't prone to some fits of laziness in general, but this was a little more excessive than usual. He had an assortment of half-eaten snacks around him - on the coffee table, on the sofa next to him, even a two-liter of soda on the ground. He had both feet up and was surrounded by crumbs. There was a ketchup stain on his t-shirt.
In essence, he was not at his best. But he was enjoying himself. The colors and sounds of a loud first-person shooter flashed across the screen and he pressed buttons on the controller with little regard for the mess around him. He'd clean it up eventually. Probably. Okay so maybe he was taking a certain habitually clean boyfriend for granted, but it wasn't malicious. He was just so close to finishing the game.
"Oh, shit." A zombie had leapt at the screen, making Noct jump. He coughed a self-conscious laugh. "Now I have to shoot you extra hard."
Gladio was a fairly neat person - most of the time. Dishes usually done in a prompt manner and clothes tossed into the laundry basket instead of the floor. But like Noctis, Gladio had also grown up with people who cleaned up after him. And while he was neat, he wasn't above letting things slide, or falling into old habits of someone else will get to it.
Which is how he found himself on the sofa with Noct, ignoring the mess around them (and okay, adding to it - a coffee cup, his own half eaten snacks), in favour of the book in hand while he tuned out the noise of the game.
He'd gotten so used to the routine of Noctis yelling at the screen while he read that he didn't even flinch at the sudden outburst. "Go get 'em, babe," he said with a little chuckle as he flipped his page.
Normally, Ignis didn’t flinch. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be the neatest person in the room, no matter who they were around, it was part of his kit. He’d never been required to pick up after everything Noctis did, but it was how things settled because caring for others became his love language at a young age.
Sometimes, however, he felt-- almost as if he was the invisible maid for those around him. It never bothered him to pick up a few things here and there, or to clean and mop, but after a long day at Galdin Quay, working in a chaotic kitchen, he had stepped into this mess.
Ignis could feel his blood pressure rising almost from the minute he walked into the living room, and his filter was shot. With a tone that was sharper than intended, he gave no greeting, just a pointed look to the clutter around them. “I see you both have had a productive day.”
Later, Noct would blame distraction for not fully recognizing the danger. In the moment, he was too busy crunching on a handful of potato chips with one hand and moving across the screen with the other. It didn't help that he felt warm from Gladio calling him babe in that stupidly smoky voice of his. Noct leaned into Gladio's side and tossed a pre-occupied glance over his shoulder at Ignis.
"Huh? Oh, hey Specs. I finally got past the boss with the birds." His crooked little smile was oblivious and he quickly turned his attention back to the screen. "How was work?"
"Only took two tries," Gladio added. The comment light and lacking any heat. Sure in years passed he'd had a million comments for Noct's gaming and most of it not good and along the lines of shirking duties - but it was different here. There were no duties to be shirked and it was nice to just enjoy a lazy day on the couch.
After a day of not being able to curb his words against customers that were less than gracious, Ignis had hoped home would be different. He’d hoped he would have been able to relax, to spend some quality time with his boyfriends, to sit down. But he found his temper rising and he was unable to stamp it back down as was customary.
“An annoying day with annoying customers.” With a sigh, he began picking up after them, snagging trash from the table at their feet. “Now to come home to a mess, that I suppose I’m expected to pick up as if I’m back to being his Majesty’s servant, hmm?”
It was harsh. Harsher than Iggy had probably ever been, his voice felt hard and cutting and not quite like him, but-- it wasn’t a lie. It was the opposite, a bout of severe honesty poking through instead of being pushed aside to spare hurt feelings.
Noct's eyebrows rose and his avatar died on screen as he shot a surprised glance at Ignis. He could probably count on one hand the number of times Ignis had sounded that sharp and still have fingers left over. His eyes shifted to Gladio, mentally sending an S.O.S.
"Uhhhh. His Majesty's servant?" Noct had the grace to look a little shamed by the mess he was just now starting to really take in, but that didn't stop a little petulant flash of hurt feelings. He set his controller aside and cleared his throat. "I was gonna clean in a little bit. I just lost track of time."
Gladio couldn't really blame Ignis for the outburst. It was a shit thing to walk into after a long work day after all. And like Noctis he'd fully intended on picking up before that happened but getting lost in his book, getting lost in watching Noct's expressive gaming face… time had just slipped away.
The words were on the tip of his tongue, along with an offer to draw Ignis a nice warm bath, call in something for food while he and Noct cleaned up and spend the evening bringing Ignis into their lazy and chill mood. What came out though, was entirely different.
"I wasn't," he said instead to Noct's comment about planning on tidying up. And really where the hell did that come from.
Ignis paused in his gathering and looked up, eyes flickering between the two of them. They settled on Gladio for a moment, then Noctis, before finally looking back down to the table with a scowl on his lips. This was a good opportunity to tidy up a bit and then walk away, go take a hot bath and read a good book.
“At least one of you is honest.” Ignis snapped, instead of doing any of that. He gathered things with a bit more force, and his voice dropped down to something quiet, frustrated, and a little sad. “Days like this it feels as if neither of you have any respect for me or my time.” When his arms were full, he stood with a stiff back and went towards the trash can. “Go on then, finish your game. That’s what you really want to do, isn’t it?”
There was a moment when Noct had been a cat that something had startled him and his hair had stood up on end in a mohawk; this moment felt a lot like that one. He gave Gladio a what the fuck, dude look as he turned off his gaming system and then the tv too just to be safe. Even the air in the room felt tense. He swallowed dryly and pushed to his feet.
"I don't know why he said that. We wouldn't have left this mess for you on purpose. I'm not--I've been better, right?" He tried to be better than those bad years as an ungrateful teen prince. Admittedly, he didn't always succeed. But a thought still made him scowl as he came around the couch closer to Ignis. "Do you…do you really feel like we don't respect you?"
There was a shrug at Noctis' look because Gladio honestly wasn't sure what the fuck himself either. The words had just - left his mouth. And as much as he wanted to say something about it he found himself unable to do so.
So he did what he hoped would be the next best thing and moved off the couch and started picking up the various wrappers to take to the garbage. Hoping that his actual cleaning up of the mess might make it clear he hadn't meant what he said.
"Your time means nothing to me, Iggy," he said though as he started to clear the cups. Honestly he was about to hit himself at this point.
Ignis was torn between knitting his eyebrows in Gladio’s direction and taking pity on Noctis. He wanted to take pity on Noctis, to apologize for his behavior and to back off - but his mouth wouldn’t stop the disconnect between verbally saying anything that hit his brain and learning to keep his mouth shut. “Somedays are better than others, but yes, you have been better.”
He was going to answer the second question just as honestly but Gladio’s words hit him like a smack on the face and Ignis recoiled back, a flash of pain crossing his face before he schooled his expression and straightened his back, lapsing into Royal Advisor unconsciously.
“Clearly.” His eyes ficked back to Noctis before turning away with a sharp snap. “I won’t bother to waste any more of it on this, then.” Ignis couldn’t wave a hand on account of the trash, but that was only a problem for a few more moments as he shoved it into the nearby trash can with more force than was necessarily required.
This whole thing was spiraling too fast for Noct to keep up. His face went through a rollercoaster of reactions - falling first at the sting of Iggy's words, fair as they were, and then lifting in wide-eyed open mouthed shock at Gladio's. After a frozen second of delay, he darted forward to gently grab Iggy by the forearm.
"Whoa whoa whoa, hey. You know he doesn't mean that. Something has to be going on here, guys!" He jerked a frown towards Gladio. Something had to be wrong that had nothing to do with the dumb mess around them. "What's your deal? Tell him you didn't mean that."
Gladio cringed seeing the toll this was taking on Noctis, and he wanted nothing more than to say something that would fix it all but it was like whatever he wanted to say, he couldn't. Instead he settled a hand onto Noct's arm on his way back from depositing the cups in the kitchen, hoping it might convey that he wasn't meaning to be as big of an asshole as he knew he was coming across.
There was a long moment as Gladio seemed to weigh the question Noctis had posed him. More than that, as he seemed to struggle with the question posed to him, before a sort of relieved look passed across his face as he clicked into the out provided to him.
"No, I didn't," he said easily. It seemed to satisfy whatever ridiculous need it was to - lie? But also be truthful at the same time.
Ignis did stop with Noct’s touch, it was easy to keep him from going anywhere when it was these two. Because he didn’t want to be mad, the annoyances had just hit him suddenly and had no filter to stop them or dull them down a little.
Gladio doing-- whatever it was Gladio was doing did help to distract him. Ignis’ turned his attention to him, eyes still scrunched and a little wounded from the comment, but now it was more like a puzzle he was trying to figure out instead of jumping straight to anger. “I find myself confused.” It was true. “You aren’t normally one to say things like that.” It was a gentle concession, and it helped Iggy’s brain to focus on the puzzle rather than the hurt feelings.
“Should we ask questions to figure out what answers are prompted from them?” Though truth be told, he was almost dreading what might come out of his own mouth.
Noct sagged in relief at Gladio’s answer. He was still unsettled, but Gladio’s hand on him, and his still on Ignis, helped ground him. They had been a we too long to fall apart over one dumb misunderstanding. Everything would be fine. He turned his attention back to the source of this and if it wasn’t just moodiness making them say abnormal things, it could be a spell or Vallo.
“Um, questions, right.” He tried to sound confident. It made sense to start with something Noct knew for a fact, rather than something that was subjective. He squinted one eye up at Gladio. “How did we meet?”
He took a moment to reach his other hand to squeeze Ignis' arm lightly before he used his hand on Noctis to bring him back toward the couch so they could all sit instead of hovering like a fight was about to break out. Clearly something was going on, and as much as he wanted to follow up with Ignis about the things he had said, Gladio didn' quite trust that he wouldn't say the wrong thing in return right then.
"Easy," he started. "Picked you up a bar."
At that, Ignis snorted out a laugh. Now it was clear something was happening, as it wasn’t like Gladio to go that far with a joke - or at least Ignis assumed so. He directly avoided looking towards what was left on the table to clean up and perched on the arm of the sofa, not quite in cuddling range.
“That would have made for an interesting story, given our age.” Ignis let his eyes trail to Noctis, who he now felt he owed some measure of nicety to. A smirk crept up the side of his mouth. “A few days after my sixth birthday, I was informed by my family that I would be entering the Royal Palace as a retainer for the young Prince Noctis. I wasn’t enthused about leaving, but I did like the idea of having a playmate not far off in age from me. Turns out that it was one of the best things to ever happen to me.”
Hearing Ignis laugh made Noct feel immediately better. Even if Gladio's answer was ridiculous. Noct settled deeper into the sofa with a sigh.
"Cool so, you can't help but lie…" He gestured at Gladio with his chin and a soft smirk. "...And you can't help but tell the truth," he added, rapping the back of his hand against Ignis's chest. "The whole truth, apparently." Even when it stings "I…feel normal, but I can't remember if anybody's asked me anything? I don't know if that's a requirement."
"We were both twenty five at the time," he continued to Ignis' comment.
Gladio gave a soft smile at how Ignis described meeting Noctis. There was a time, years ago, when Gladio had felt the sharp pang of jealousy at the closeness those two had shared since such a young age, but now it was nothing but a warm feeling knowing how connected they all were, how deep the history ran between them all.
He raised a brow at Noct's assessment of the situation and then nudged his shoulder against Noct's. "Alright - steamed brussel sprouts, yes or no?" an easy question. One that they all very well knew the actual answer to and could at least cross lying off the list if the answer came back as no.
“The whole truth, indeed.” He cringed, knowing full well he’d have some fallout tomorrow after his day at work. “A very entitled man insulted one of my meals today and was rude to the waitstaff, I let him know his weak muscles, thin-lipped smile and poor tastebuds were welcome to leave.” He closed his eyes and gave a little shrug.
“You’re just making me feel old now.” Ignis huffed at Gladio, given their own current ages. Somedays it only just felt like they’d experienced enough war and fighting for three lifetimes. Ignis sighed and covered Noct’s hand with his own, to trap it there. He had questions himself, but Gladio’s was certainly good enough for this kind of experiment. “No one likes steamed brussel sprouts, but I’ll make them if the mood strikes you suddenly.”
"Twenty-five," Noct laughed. His head fell back against the sofa, where his laugh quickly turned into a disgusted groan at the mention of brussel sprouts. "Ugh, just. No." He didn't feel compelled to spew out a long argument, so that seemed like a good sign. Even though he wasn't much of a liar, he wasn't always forthcoming either. Still, he wasn't worried too much about blabbing to these two. They knew him every which way already.
He took Ignis's hand into his lap and tried not to laugh at the image of him dressing down a bad customer. His eyes still glittered with amusement though. "If you make steamed brussel sprouts, we can feed them to that guy."
Gladio huffed a little at Ignis' description of his day. He would have loved to see that. Ignis was a prime example of being absolutely terrifying while remaining entirely composed and it was both scary and beyond attractive to see first hand.
But of course none of that was evident in the words he spoke. "I'd like to buy him dinner," came out instead, a praise of the asshole in question. Gladio groaned and shifted to bury his face into the crook of Noct's neck beside him. A silent show of surrender.
This lying situation had already gotten the best of Ignis once so far, and he had to take a deep breath and close his eyes again so it didn’t this time. “I can’t say I like that idea very much.” Honest, but a little more tame than his earlier annoyances. He still couldn’t bring himself to look at the mess, just in case his brain started to rebel against his heart again.
Instead, Ignis stood and gave Noct’s hand a squeeze before letting go. “I believe I need a hot bath and a glass of wine. Together, with bubbles, and perhaps a bath bomb, because it makes me feel fancy and I like when my skin is soft.” Ugh. “You’re both welcome to join me but I’m going to require something keeps Gladio’s mouth occupied.”
Noct snorted and climbed to his feet. Amusement was quickly replacing all the anxiety. Amusement and anticipation. Ignis was always good at stirring the latter. Noct reached for Gladio's hand to pull him to his feet.
"Just…give it up, big guy. I think we can come up with a list of better things for you to do with your mouth for a while." He nudged Ignis towards the bathroom with his freehand and urged Gladio to go with him. "I'll get the wine. And the biggest glass we own."