WHAT. An older Iggy shows up and Noct catches him in the kitchen. WHERE. Their house! WHEN. October 24th! WARNINGS. It’s sappy and a little horny but still PG. STATUS. Complete!
Noct wasn't unprepared to find a handsome older man in the kitchen. Things had been like last year for days now, with new kids showing up and people changing ages. He'd been hoping for it, really. Just a quick little peek at the guys in the future. Their future. The thought constantly swept over him with a soft warmth that left him smiling to himself when he hoped no one was looking. And Ignis and Gladio had gotten a glimpse at him, so it was really only fair.
Then again, the man with his head currently inside their fridge could just be a stranger. A hungry stranger who figured out how to get into the house? Noct grimaced and moved quietly around the island, just in case.
"Can you go for the vegetables first?" he asked. "I've got a breakfast burrito saved in there that I was really looking forward to eating."
Ignis, with his head still in the refrigerator, trying to suss out just what was there since he certainly hadn’t remembered that detail this far back, hummed. “I can, but I doubt you’ll approve since I’ll just make you eat the vegetables as well.”
He pulled out a bowl of peppers and carrots and closed the refrigerator door. Ignis had already figured out that this was one of those Vallo things, and had braced himself for the possibility of others being of a strange age, but to now be faced with Noctis looking this young, he couldn’t help but stare. Young, soft, gentle. Still just as attractive. Still just as much an adorable shit when he wanted to be.
Really, the ony thing that had changed was some facial hair and a few greys to match the worry lines around his eyes. Ignis looked far too fond as he took Noct in. “Hello darling.”
Noct's eyes grew a little bigger as Ignis came into full view. It wasn't exactly surprising that his hot boyfriend was also a smoking hot middle-aged man but it still managed to knock him off his feet, metaphorically speaking. He was still wearing the scars that forever marked him as the man who'd risked everything for Noctis, and the skull-necklace too, but even without those, Noct would recognized the softness in his eyes and his bearing.
"Uhhhh…" Knowing who he was talking to didn't make the actual talking immediately easy. It should have! Noct wrinkled his nose and smiled his embarrassment. "Hi. Sorry. I thought I was ready to be all cool about this but Six." He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and shuffled a little closer, shy but always drawn to Ignis like a magnet. "How old are you?"
It stoked his ego just a little to have Noct’s eyes get that big, and Ignis didn’t bother hiding his pleased smile away, he just let it play at the corners of his mouth. Normally when Noct inched closer, Ignis would have leaned in to steal a kiss, but it felt perhaps a bit too early for that. He knew his spouses would need a little time to adjust before any kissing happened, from experience.
“It’s incredibly rude to ask that.” He moved around the kitchen like it was second nature and twirled a knife right out of the block. “But I’m fourty-seven years young, if you must know.” Ignis wasted no time with taking up chopping and only paused to give Noctis a pointed look. “I hope that whatever comes out of your mouth next is telling me that I look good for my age.”
"You look amazing, period," Noct insisted. "I was just trying to figure out how much time had passed and how much I should ask." He watched Ignis work for a moment and then moved around him to pour himself a cup of coffee. It would help his brain catch up and give him something to do with his hands, he told himself.
Unfortunately it meant he had a mug full of hot coffee halfway to his mouth when he looked down to where Ignis was chopping and spotted the intertwined wedding rings on his finger. He spilled coffee on himself.
"Shit. Damn it." He sat the mug down on the counter and reached next to Ignis hip to pull a hand towel off the oven door. The heat in his chest wasn't because of the coffee. Neither was the dopey smile beginning to form. He dabbed at the coffee stain absentmindedly, his attention firmly on Ignis's hand now. "I feel like this is only the tip of the iceberg on how much I'm going to embarrass myself while you're here," he said, breathlessly.
Ignis missed exactly where Noct’s eyes were at first, and just assumed his husband was being clumsy, but that still prompted him to set down his knife so he could reach over with a kitchen towel and dab at the stain. He moved into Noct’s space to do so. “That’s much better for my ego than just telling me I look good.”
He spotted the gaze, the shift, and looked down at his hand when it dawned on him. “Ah.” October. It took him a moment to rattle around in his brain exactly when the proposal happened, as they’d had a few false starts and things like murderous mansions and children showing up threw things into chaos so readily. But it had to be soon. “You can’t be that surprised it went this route, Noctis. Are you having second thoughts?”
"No, no, of course not," Noct frowned, moving even closer. He felt a need to clarify in possibly too intense a voice, his eye contact unguarded. "I would literally walk us all to the courthouse today if I thought I could get away with it. Well, not today, when you're like this and already married, but…well you get what I mean." He wrinkled his nose. He didn't actually want to get married at a Courthouse. The guys deserved a nice, romantic wedding. And a real honeymoon.
"You do get what I mean, right? I'm not having anything even remotely like a second thought." His voice got a little quieter and he took Ignis's hand to brush his thumb over the rings. "I just…I guess I'm a little shocked that life let us have that after all. And happy. Astrals, Iggy." He smiled. "You're my husband."
Ignis let Noct play with the rings, in no world could he imagine pulling away in this moment, and just reached in to rest his hand on Noct’s heart. “Don’t say that too loud, now, you’ll make the others jealous.” Though truly he knew they’d just join in on both the sappy side and any tormenting. “But no courthouse. Have your wedding, enjoy it, savor it, appreciate it even with the chaos that Vallo tends to throw at people.”
And oh, chaos was nearly guaranteed. Though he wouldn’t have changed any of it for the world once all was said and done. “It’s the only one you’ll ever have. But I hope you’ll forgive me if I decline to give too much more away, however. I wouldn't want to inadvertently change something.”
"I know, I know. I would never subject you to a courthouse elopement, I promise," Noct laughed, breathless and brighter than his emo default. There was less of that nowadays anyway, but having Vivi around had already softened up any edges he had left. He was a marshmallow for the duration, it seemed. He had just enough self-awareness to wrinkle his nose in embarrassment.
"I'm good with not knowing any details, though." He wasn't usually a person who liked surprises, but that was only because the ones at home had rarely been good. Here, it was a lot more likely. "I keep telling myself not to annoy details out of Vivi. She's pretty good at keeping things vague anyway." He smirked, leaning a hip against the counter. "Bet she learned that from you."
Seeing that look on Noctis still managed to make Ignis’ heart skip a beat. Or two. There was not much he would not do to bring that lightness around again and again over the years, and it only got easier as time moved forward. “I would do it for you. It would have saved me the trouble arguing with all of you about making my own food for the reception.” It almost felt mean to tattle on himself like that, but it was ultimately a harmless detail.
Ignis should have been making omelets. Or some kind of breakfast. Instead he was too busy being enamored by his husband. He yanked Noct in by the hip in a surprise move. “She’s a smart young woman that is a part of all of us in some way. It was an utter joy raising her with you, Noctis.”
Noct lifted an amused eyebrow. "Thanks for the heads up. I'll make sure to have researched arguments handy for that plan of yours."
His breath caught in his throat as he was tugged in close. It didn't feel like that long ago that Ignis would've resisted such a bold move, even without any witnesses. Noct was obnoxiously pleased that those days were in the rearview mirror. He pressed his hands to Ignis's stomach and started letting them roam.
"I believe it. She's pretty great. You should've seen Prompto's face…well, you did see Prompto's face, but you know what I mean." He huffed a laugh. "You'll get to see more of it if he isn't grabbing a few extra years in the bedroom right now."
Realistically, Ignis didn’t think Noct getting handsy would be a hard sell. He knew they were all weak for one another. But he did worry, ever so slightly, that this would be more off limits. So when Noct’s hand slid across him, Iggy’s cheeks flushed slightly but he looked more pleased than anything. “If it turns out all three of us are older and you’re young, that should make for an interesting excursion.”
Though a little unfair to Noctis. Or the other way around, perhaps. Ignis leaned in to press a gentle kiss to Noct’s temple. “Or he’s being distracted by Gladio as we speak, giving us time to ourselves.”
Noct's eyes widened not-so-subtlely at the thought of all of them older. He would feel very outnumbered, but he was pretty sure he could handle that. Maybe. Younger, older, they were still them. He did wonder if he was better in the future though. More mature, better looking, more. A life at home feeling like he needed to live up to an unattainable perfection was probably rearing its ugly head.
"Distracting each other no matter what age they are does sound likely." An uncertain frown creased between his eyebrows and Noct tugged on Ignis's shirt where his hands were curled into the fabric. "Is this okay? Or weird? I can keep my hands to myself and just help you make breakfast if this is weird?" His eyes were still soft. Whatever anxiety was flaring up hadn't reached them yet.
Ignis smothered down a quiet chuckle, he hadn’t wanted to diminish Noct’s anxiety, even if there was nothing more ridiculous than Ignis not being okay with this. It was a natural worry, he supposed, but he remembered his own reaction to meeting an older Noctis a few times, and how on the first try he felt more than a little unsure of their future connection.
So he didn’t waver or move, and kept his eyes trained on his husband. “Noctis, there is no age, future, version or stage of you that I do not love with every fiber of my being. On my end, this is very “okay”. However,” He didn’t back Noct into the countertop like he desperately wanted to, instead just curved a hand down Noct’s back, lower. “I understand if it is strange for you. The ball is in your court, Majesty.”
Noct felt his face heat. He should've expected Ignis would say something that felt like an intimate touch and a romantic poem all at once. It made Noct's natural awkwardness feel rewarding somehow. Like it was okay that he tripped over his own feet in a metaphorical sense because Ignis just seemed to always catch him smoothly anyway.
"Gods, Iggy. You sure know how to woo a guy." It didn't feel strange to reach up and loop his arms around Ignis's neck. It didn't feel all that different than it always did. Same broad shoulders, same impeccable posture. Noct pulled Ignis's mouth down closer to him and lifted a hand from his neck to trace the edges of Ignis's scar. "I thought it would be strange, but you're still you. I think even if we got atomized and shot out into space, I'd still recognize you as my Ignis."
He paused and wrinkled his nose. "That sounded less dumb in my head. Kiss me, Specs."
Ignis leaned into the touch much like a cat would, his head tilted into Noct’s gentle fingers and his eyes drifted half-closed. The scars had faded a little over the years, but the outline was still clear. Though nothing he was ashamed of, as what he had traded for the marred skin was far more important every way.
“Then it must have suonded especially good in your head.” It had made him flush, pleased, even if Noct thought it sounded corny. Ignis adored it. “As you wish.” Always (when it was presented like this) inclined to follow Noct’s greatest desires, he gave in and pushed his king’s hips up against the kitchen cabinet behind them and let his mouth descend to it’s target.