WHO: Gladio, Noctis, & Ignis WHAT: Noct gets caught in a compromising situation. WHEN: Backdated to last week! WARNINGS: Nothing aside from some (mostly innocent) finger sucking and a mention of lube. STATUS: Complete!
Noctis knew it was risky sneaking back into the closet to try on the ring again but it was a harmless sort of risk. He’d beaten the guys home and he really only needed to worry about keeping it secret from Prompto. He’d been looking for the right moment to bring it up with Gladio but mostly chickened out. Asking questions meant admitting that he couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was a relief to be excited about getting married some day, when his sham of an engagement to Lunafreya had ended so tragically. His love for her had been more platonic than anything else, and the betrothal had been for show anyway, but marrying his friend wouldn’t have been a hardship. He wished she was here now.
Well, not right now. He had the ring on and was sitting on the floor inside a closet alcove, half out of sight. Ignis’s suit jackets hung above him. He could see Gladio’s clothes peeking out from the alcove across the walk-in closet. They’d only been in the new house a short while but it felt lived in already. This life felt lived in and he desperately wanted to keep it. Noctis sighed and went to take off the ring, intending to tuck it back away and get on with his day, but the ring had other plans. His fingers must have been swollen. Ignis had been right about that third bag of chips being overkill.
Noct tugged a few more times and then shifted up onto his knees, still pulling at the ring. “Six, let go! I promise never to have too much salt ever again…” When that didn’t work, he grumbled petulantly. “Okay, fine, that was a lie, just—” The closet filled with quiet sounds of effort and frustration until he banged his elbow on a dresser and crashed to the floor in an awkward pile of limbs. If only his ancestors could see him now.
There was something really nice about going home to a place that was theirs. One they'd all had a hand in figuring out, putting all their own little touches on, and a space that was theirs to grow into, to spend a life together in. The knowing that even if the day had pulled them apart for a few hours to their various jobs or friends or other things, they'd all wind up together at the end of it.
He'd taken Henruit out to the dog park and then for a nice long run and figured he should probably clean up a little before anyone complained about the sweat. He'd stopped to down a glass of water though and fill up Henruit's bowl, and was walking into the master suite when he heard the banging noise from the closet. His hand flexed, habit, as he immediately went to the idea it could be an intruder. At least until he picked out Noct's voice in the noise.
Gladio moved to the closet and he knew he shouldn't laugh but it was a little ridiculous. And Noct didn't seem to be in any immediate danger so there was a soft chuckle at the sight of Noctis sprawled oh so gracefully on the closet floor.
"Uhhh… having some trouble there, Noct?" he asked, brows perked.
Of course Gladio found him. He probably sensed the prime opportunity to tease him like a disturbance in their connection. Noct gave a great big resigned sigh before he remembered the ring stuck on his finger and froze in place. His brain booted back up a few seconds later and he promptly rolled over and hid his hand under his butt.
"Me? Trouble? When has that ever happened?" It was a long way up to Gladio's face, but a nice view along the way. He was sweaty. Noct was weak for sweaty Gladio. He flashed a crooked smile from his very obviously awkward pose still on the floor. "Hi."
Gladio flashed a smile back. Charming and oh so fond of the idiot rolling around on the floor, the crooked smile that he was always a sucker for. He leaned against the wall, arms crossing lightly against his chest. "When did I see you last?" he replied to the trouble question, grin turning into an amused smirk. Why yes Noctis, he is very much implying trouble was frequent.
"Hi, yourself," he added.
"So…." he drawled out with another little laugh. "Why are we on the ground in the closet?" Somehow Gladio doubted he missed some memo of closet floor being the new hang out spot. And Noct's less than subtle shoving of his hand under his butt was an interesting choice.
Noct snorted a laugh and sagged against the floor before he finally sat up. It was tempting to muster up a funny lie and quickly distract Gladio from the subject. But he wasn’t good at lying right to people’s faces, let alone the people he loved. And there was an itch to talk about this subject just under his skin. Excitement and nerves all rolled into one. He pulled his hand out and held it up in front of his face, the black textured ring obvious against his pale finger.
“I found this not long ago. While Specs and I were packing. I told him I would leave it alone but…” He paused, shifty-eyed. His smile was sheepish. “It’s stuck.”
Gladio had talked to Ignis about this. Marriage. Intentions. Things put on hold only because they hadn't been quite whole at the time. Missing Prompto had kept it at just that. Talk. So seeing a ring on Noct's finger wasn't entirely a surprise. And he could picture it clearly too, some impulse purchase because, despite what most might think that was something Ignis was prone to. In certain situations.
He was wholly unprepared though for how it felt. The stark contrast of the band against Noctis' pale skin. Thinner than most rings and Gladio knew immediately why. The same reason he'd gravitated towards the same while browsing websites himself for ideas. There'd be more than one. The sight of it thrilled him, happiness flooded over him at the idea of it all. Engaged, married. Something he'd always known his life would have but never had he dared to imagine it could be like this. For love and not duty.
Gladio closed the distance between himself and Noctis. He gently reached for Noct's hand and turned it a little to inspect the ring. "Damn he's got good taste," he said with a soft laugh. His gaze moved to Noctis, warm and open, filled with love.
"Guessing you're into the idea if you're in here trying it on?" He teased lightly. His other hand tugged lightly at the ring, definitely stuck. "Lotion maybe?" he suggested with a raise of his brow. Even if he wasn't in any huge hurry to get it off.
Oh. That look in Gladio's eyes made Noct's pulse hammer faster and his face heat up. While it wasn't exactly a surprise, it was always a little mystifying that the men who had been saddled with him as a responsibility now looked at him like he was precious for reasons that had nothing to do with his lineage. It was all too easy to sit up on his knees to be closer to Gladio and the ring being examined on his hand.
"Iiii…I think I'm more into the idea than I realized I would be? It feels like we've cheated fate here and I think I'm getting more greedy rather than less." Noct frowned but his gaze was still tender and pleased. "Not that I'm trying to rush anyone." His eyes dropped to the ring and he gave it another useless tug. "Despite any evidence to the contrary."
Gladio dropped to his own knees to be on eye level with Noctis, and he took a moment to lean in and kiss him, his hand still wrapped around Noct's. "It's not greedy," he assured Noct. A fear he held himself. Was he asking too much, giving in too much. Did he even deserve the sheer amount of love being given to him by the three of them. He knew all too well it was the same places Noctis' mind went to. "We're all here because we want to be, more than willing to cheat fate with you for as long as we can." He'd said similar before, but the gentle reminder he figured was never a bad thing.
"I am also very much into the idea," he added, a grin. "For the record." And his own plans had started to take hold more and more now - now that they had Prompto with them, now that they were complete.
"It's almost a shame to try to get this off," he said with a smile. But he respected Ignis wanting to wait, and Noctis wanting to give him that. He just didn't have to necessarily play fair while doing it. He lifted Noct's hand to his mouth and slipped his ring finger between his lips. And while there was very much an end to the means - maybe all the ring needed was a little wetness to slide off - he was very much being a teasing asshole with it too.
With impeccable timing as always, Ignis walked through the door at that precise moment. He’d gotten home only moments before, and had been greeted enthusiastically by Henruit upon his arrival. The dog happily trotted towards the bedroom, and at first Iggy assumed he might be walking into something lewd - that he was happy to join in on - but when the bed was empty he adjusted his glasses and followed the trail of quiet voices.
“Well.” He hadn’t known what to expect, but the both of them on their knees with Gladio’s mouth on Noct’s ring finger certainly wasn’t it. Not that sucking digits was out of the norm for them, but Ignis saw the flash of ring on Noct’s finger and froze in place.
“Noctis.” He tried not to use that tone that conveyed disappointment, that Royal Advisor tone he was very good at. “Gladiolus.” His voice cracked instead because of the slight panic that came with it. “Might I ask what I happened upon, before my imagination runs away with possibilities?”
Noct nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Ignis's voice. He'd been predictably engrossed in Gladio's mouth on his finger, with the words I am also very much into the idea rolling around in his head - and he had leaned towards Gladio so far that jerking upright nearly sent him sprawling for a second time.
"Astrals, Specs. You scared the crap out of me." He was blushing, annoyingly. Caught out and charmingly awkward. He'd be shuffling his feet if he was standing. "Uhhh…." His shoulders sagged and he sighed. "I was just trying it on again and it got stuck! And then Gladio found me and I just…I wanted to…you know. To know. That we're all…on the same page."
Gladio was at least quick enough in the wake of Noct's startling to have let go of Noct's and - and finger - before anything that might require a trip to the hospital could happen. And wouldn't that just be a mood killer.
He threw Noctis a look that screamed a playful you're in trouble and a soft smile before he titled his head up to look at Ignis.
"I hadn't realized you'd gotten this far," he said. It was light and nothing accusatory about it in the least. Despite them both having been in agreeance that waiting was in order, Gladio had no qualms that Ignis had obviously been shopping. His expression warm as he looked up at the other man.
“Good,” that was to Noctis, where Ignis was still trying to remain composed about this entire situation. He wasn’t going to complain about Noct being a little started by his arrival, considering the sight he was presented with.
To Gladio, however, he flushed slightly. Even if the tone wasn’t accusatory, Ignis was a little worried it could be. He’d jumped the gun about the whole thing, which likely came as a surprise from someone normally so meticulous. “It was on a whim,” he didn’t like admitting it, but Noct already knew that. “Noct found it when we were packing and moving and has been--” He glanced at the king in question, his own expression fond. “Receptive.”
He straightened his shoulders after that, as if reminding himself this wasn’t the time to get attached to the idea. “But we’re in no rush. We have agreed on that.”
Noct elbowed Gladio gently in the side and then looped an arm around his shoulders to dangle from his taller frame. “I like that it was a whim. Ignis Scientia, driven to something drastic by love and it didn’t blind him? That’s a good look.” He rested his head against the crook of Gladio’s neck. “And Gladio didn’t hardly blink when he saw it. Very into that too.” Sometimes he wondered if all of this was so easy because everything that came before was so hard. Cosmic balance or something. Everyone suffered in Eos, but here, he was getting everything he wanted instead of losing everything.
“I can wait for Prom to catch up. No matter how long it takes.” He blinked bashful eyes up at Ignis. “I promise for real this time.”
"You should do things on a whim more often, Iggy," Gladio said lightly with a warm smile. Well, at least this kind of thing. He could do without a repeat of what doing something impulsively had meant in Altissia.
He pressed a quick kiss to the side of Noct's head before he stood and moved toward Ignis. He cupped Ignis' face between his hands and gave the other man a soft smile. "I know we're not in a rush," he agreed, "but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it along the way," which was to say he had absolutely no qualms that Ignis had already done the shopping. "You should see the search history on my phone," he added with a grin. He hadn't pulled the proverbial trigger on anything yet, but there were half a dozen options bookmarked. He could be patient though. It was enough for him to even be moving in that direction.
He gave a glance back at Noctis. "I"m good to wait too, I wouldn't want to do this without Prompto," even more so now that they knew the feelings the three of them had extended with Prompto as well. "But we might need to get that ring off your finger then," he added with a laugh.
“You’re both a terrible influence,” Ignis huffed indignantly at both of them being on the same page in terms of appreciating his leap ahead. But he wasn’t mad about it, clearly, as his cheeks still flushed with fondness, especially as Gladio moved forward to embrace him. “At least,” he took on a tone of optimism, light with a firm surge ahead. “We are all on the same page there. Should make things easier in the future.”
His hand lingered on Gladio but Ignis was often the first to jump all business, and he did just that as he moved over to Noct. He took Noctis’ hand into his own, to run his thumb over the band and the swollen finger that held it. “Cut back on the sodium, my love.” He softened the dig with a kiss. “I’ll go get a bowl of ice water, one of you fetch the lube?”
Noct watched them with a dopey expression, clearly forgetting about the stuck jewelry in favor of appreciating the way they fit together. How handsome they were. How stupidly lucky he was. It meant he had a genuine deer-in-headlights look when Ignis turned his attention back to him.
"Uhhhhhh….I'm afraid to leave the closet. Prompto could be here any minute," he admitted with a grimace. He gave Gladio big puppy dog eyes. "If you get it, I promise to do whatever exhausting hike-slash-camping route you've been dreaming about without complaining even once?"
Future was a nice word. One Gladio hadn't really let himself enjoy too fully until recently. But knowing that it would include the four of them - married at that eventually - was a nice thought. One that warmed him and it was easy to see in the open expression he wore when looking at the two of them. He stole a quick kiss from Ignis before the other moved to Noctis and turned to watch them.
There was a laugh at Noctis' proposal. He gave Noct a wink. "30 miles - each way - somehow uphill on both ends," he suggested with a smirk. He was lying of course. But he also knew Noctis was too. "I'm holding you to it," he added as he walked out of the closet in search of the lube.