Every morning like clockwork Ignis would wake before everyone else. He'd take care of his basic needs first then move onto getting everything ready for the others. He would put out the dwindling fire, wash up any dishes that weren't washed the previous night, and begin on making breakfast.
Breakfast is often a challenge along side lunch and dinner. It's not often but sometimes there's complaining about what he had made. Ignis ignores this as he lectures Prompto to not ruin his appetite by snacking on the junk food that had been bought or to keep his voice down due to it being early. He follows up by going to wake up Noctis who, as expected is still asleep. He often hates this task for the prince wouldn't wake or stir until the fifth demand of get up.
And it wasn't just the youngest of the group, Gladiolus would often anger the young daggersmen simply by rough housing Prompto and Noctis or suggesting ideas for rather tedious meal plans. Don't get him wrong, Ignis loves cooking he enjoyed it. But after a long and hard battle he'd rather make something simple.
When the time comes for them to move on he takes the wheel mostly because he doesn't trust Prompto to drive safely, Noctis does drive but Ignis feels like it would be improper for the prince to drive, and Gladio well he isn't sure if Gladio wants to or ever would.
Then there's dinner (he's always relieved that lunch is had in a diner or at a food stall it was less work he had to do), luckily for him everyone seems to agree on what has been made. Though for him it was still a bit of work, he was usually left cleaning up the dishes though occasionally the others would help. Once done Ignis would crawl into the tent, change into his casual wear, and collapse laying next to Noctis as he pulls off his glasses tucking them into the breast pocket of his usual outfit before falling asleep preparing to do it all over again.
Ignis would do this every day, and with it the angrier he grows. For with each day he slowly notices little things about the others that would set him off that once could easily be overlooked and what he hated was that he often found himself snapping at them over it which usually ends up in a argument, isolation, or sometimes tears.
He actually recalls a incident where he blew up on Prompto. Prompto had been doing his own thing taking pictures and talking just being himself. He still had the camera up to his eye when he spun around but doing so he lost his footing and fell onto one of the camping chairs causing the legs to bend and become scuffed. It wasn't anything big any other day Ignis would've let it slide and put his focus on Prompto seeing if he had been injured. Well this day Ignis was fed up he storms over to the blonde and yanks him up . He recalls screaming and yelling at the youngest 'brother' but the words he can't remember, he recalls the look on Prompto's face was absolutely miserable. The expression he had looked as if Ignis had torn out his heart and trampled on it before shoving it back in his chest for him to deal with that pain.
He doesn't mean to, he hates being angry and he hates hurting the ones he cares about but he feels like he is the only one who knows what needs to be done. He wishes that the others could see what he saw.
Ignis shifts in his sleep as he was in the in between stage of waking and sleep. He sighs as he opens his eyes blinking against the light that spills into the tent. His vision was blurry but he could tell that the others weren't there, and he notices how quiet it was. Sitting up he puts on his glasses and peeks out of open flap and sees what looks like Prompto and Noctis trying to...cook?
He could barely make out what was being said but it looked like they were trying to find the right seasonings for their dish. Suddenly a plume of thick black smoke erupts from the pan causing Prompto to let out a shrill scream as he leaps back falling on his backside, and Noctis quickly takes off his jacket fanning the smoke.
Ignis watches quietly for a moment longer before making his way to the youngest members.
"What's going on over here? Do you boys need any help?" He asks. His accented voice causes Noctis to look over at him "Ignis, good morning...nah we got it." Noctis lies using the spatula to beat at the black smoking unidentifiable object that lays in the pan becoming hard as stone.
Prompto, now standing, nods in agreement with the prince "Yeah, just take a load off Ignis we'll have breakfast done in no time!" the blonde says placing his hands on Ignis's shoulder pushing him toward his chair.
"Oh well...if you say so." Ignis says gripping his armrest and sitting down. He watched as Prompto and Noctis struggles more he wanted to say something to help them out but the two would most likely think he was criticizing them. Besides it feels good knowing he has a moment to relax or as Prompto likes to call it 'kickback'.
He continues to watch the two, now they stood in front of the stove looking defeated "Give it up Noct. We failed there's no saving it." Prompto whines as he pulls out his camera snapping a photo of the ruined dish "Well we can at least say we tried." Noctis says rubbing at his eyes to rid them of the blinding flash.
Ignis stands up as walking toward the portable stove and oven "Whoa whoa Iggy we told you you're not doing any cooking. We'll just go to a diner." Prompto says leaping in front of the older male blocking his path.
"Gladio." Noctis calls out earning a glance from Gladiolus who was reading his book "Hmm? Is it done yet?" He asks closing the novel preparing to stand. "We decided to go to a diner instead. I think there's one up the road." Noctis says hoping that Gladio doesn't mention the food "You two burned it didn't you." Gladio says smirking "So whose driving?" He asks.
They reach the restaurant around noon, the little building had the outward appearance of being abandoned. The small group would've thought it was too if there hadn't been cars parked out front and a soft glowing 'Open' sign in the window.
"Well I didn't think you could drive Gladdy." Prompto teases as he hops out of the car earning a small glare from Gladio who quickly pulls Prompto under his arm and drives his fist into the top of his skull roughly in a noogie. Prompto flails his arms as he cries Uncle only to be let go.
"You two coming?" Noctis calls as he crosses his arms peering down at Gladio and Prompto from the steps "Yeah, coming." They say simultaneously.
Inside the diner was decked out in a retro style with black and white checkerboard tile, red tables and booths, and in the far corner a jukebox stood playing a rather obnoxious tune. The small group found a booth and were immediately met with a waitress who took their order of drinks. Once she returned with their drinks and after ordering their meals they sat in a brief moment of silence before Gladio spoke up "So, Ignis how did you sleep? I noticed you slept in pretty late."
Ignis looks down at his coffee nodding "Indeed I had..." He actually still felt a bit groggy but he ignored it and which is why he had ordered coffee "I just felt really comfortable and I didn't feel like getting up." He says "That's alright. It's cool to just slack a bit, you'll get sick if you don't." Prompto says making Ignis nods a bit "I know that...I just..." He stops himself not wanting to continue the sentence luckily the others didn't push him on.
Their meal arrives minutes later and they were all enjoying their food with the occasional conversation. Prompto glances out the window when an idea pops into his head "Hey guys, what if we just took the day off? You know let's not fight anything let's just spend the day relaxing." Prompto says whipping out his camera to clean the lens "Maybe go fishing?" He asks trying to think up of relaxing things to do.
"Sounds good." Noctis says leaning back in the booth.
"Agreed." Gladio says looking across the diner for the waitress who seemed to have just vanished.
Ignis nods as well for the sound of a day off could really do him some good.
They spent the rest of the afternoon fishing in various locations well Gladio and Noctis were, Ignis was fast at work knitting what looked like a scarf, and Prompto was off taking pictures. This current spot that they picked had much more trees, rocks, and a large pond with clear water.
"This spot is absolutely stunning." Prompto says breathlessly as he rejoins them and stands next to Ignis "Where did you wander off to?" Ignis asks curiously when he notices that the blonde had returned "I was by the car. I couldn't resist the way the sunset and how it shines off the car...see." Prompto says enthusiastically scrolling to the image on his camera.
The way that the setting sun bathes the body of the Regalia made it look as if it was shimmering against the golden grass, the sky a splash of vibrant colors all made the scene breathtaking. "Prompto, this is simply stunning. Nice one chap." He praises him with a pat on the back. "Ha, it was nothing." Prompto says as Noctis and Gladio make their way to them "What's going on over here?" Noctis asks seeing the large smile on Prompto's face "Prompto here was just showing me his photos." Ignis says "You got some good ones?" Gladio asks causing Prompto to nod he starts to say something when he out of nowhere tells them not to move.
The others freeze up thinking they were being ambushed but soon relax when they see that he rushes forward and sets the camera on its tripod after setting the timer and positioning it precisely. He runs back to the others shouting "Okay get ready guys!" He laughs posing, everyone turns facing his camera it clicks before snapping the photo.
The moon was high up in th sky and despite having spent the day relaxing the team inevitably ends up having to fight a swarm of Imperials. Noctis, Gladio, and Prompto had gone out fight them demanding that Ignis stayed in the car. Ignis, however, couldn't help but begin to feel like a burden. He knew that they wanted him to relax but this, putting him out of commission felt like a punishment.
He watches as the others take down the Imperials one by one, Ignis narrows his eyes as he gets out of the car and dashes into battle summoning his duel daggers. He dashes forward cutting down the enemies earning a delighted shout from Prompto. "Ignis, what are you doing here?" Noctis says stunned "We'll talk once we reach a Haven." He says coldly.
His tone surprising everyone as he was usually the calm collected one. Noctis nods "Yeah whatever, we might as well start making our way to one now seeing that it's now dark. We don't need to be having any run in with the daemons too." Noctis says sending his weapon away with a thrust of his wrist.
Prompto knew better than to say something witty or crack a joke the air was too tense for him it left him shaking for he feared Ignis was going to lose it.
"What did we do this time?" Gladio says crossing his arms once they reach the grounds of the Haven and had readied camp "Gladio!" Prompto squeaks "Don't. He's clearly upset...let's just hear him out." Prompto adds.
Ignis rubs his temples he hates when the others assume he's angry or in a bad mood when he wasn't it just tacks on to his anger "Listen I'm all for that time off but I-"
"Look if this is about having you sit out the battle, then I'm sorry..." Noctis interrupts "Thing is you work so hard for us. You get up early and cook, clean, drive us all around, and then you fight." Noctis says looking Ignis in the eye "We know that we aren't that helpful and we tend to fight with one another including you, and that we never really express our thanks which makes you feel like you're wasting your time right?" Noctis says.
Ignis looks away he knew Noctis was clever and smart, but hearing him perfectly explain what's been bothering him made Ignis feel uncomfortable like he wanted out of his own skin. "We notice how you been lately and after seeing you freak out on Prompto we knew we had to give you some form of rest. I mean I know that we can't cook and that we pretty much spent the day driving and doing nothing but at least you didn't have to do any work." Noctis adds.
"Add we had you sit out because we didn't want you to stress out or feel like you needed to or something." Gladio says rubbing the back of his head. Ignis looks down at his feet what could he say he didn't know what to say he takes in a shaky breath andlooks at the others "I...I just feel wrong not doing anything and just sitting around." He admits "I've done it so long that..." Ignis falls silent shaking his head. He could feel his eyes starting to sting and he knew he was going to break.
"We know but we want you to know that it's cool to take a break." Prompto says smiling. Ignis nods laughing a bit, he wasn't sure how else to respond so he laughs and laughs, however the laughter soon turned to sobs as he removes his glasses and covers his eyes with his arm. Ignis felt foolish to assume whatever he thought up about his friends. He knew that they cared and he knew that they worried about him but he never understood why he couldn't see it till now.
Noctis looks away he couldn't recall the last time he saw Ignis cry, he doesn't even remember if he seen him cry when he was younger. To him Ignis had always been this proper gentleman who never really tried to show sadness or fear but seeing him now break down in front of everyone it hurt.
Ignis let's out a choked sob when he feels arms embrace him. Noctis, despite it being a bit awkward, was hugging him. Prompto soon joined the hug and Gladio simply laid a hand on Ignis's shoulder. Try as he might Ignis couldn't help it, his friends, their words, and their embrace only caused more tears to run down his cheeks.
"You gonna be alright?" Gladio asks when he saw Ignis calming down, the younger male was left sitting in silence "I will be." He whispers as he pulls a small cloth from his pocket wiping at his eyes when new tears form "I'm sorry...I overreacted." He says. He could only imagine how foolish he must have looked crying like a small child.
Gladio laughs as he looks towards the tent where he could see the other two asleep "If expressing yourself is overreacting I would hate to be under-reacting." Ignis smirks as Gladio stands and gives Ignis a high five which ends with the bigger male pulling Ignis to his feet "Go on and get some sleep." He says as Ignis heads to the tent.
Inside he laid down, not moving with his mind clear. He tried to match the slow rhythmic breathing of the others which put him at ease.
Ignis closed his eyes, feeling for the first time in a while...relaxed.