Here I am with my second fanfiction ever, and oh look! It's another one for FFXV. I'm totally in love with that game! :)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original FFXV characters, settings, concepts, or recip-ehs.
"Sorry about the noise last night, Specs," Noctis apologized, sounding sheepish and exhausted, "she wouldn't sleep again."
Ignis glanced up at the young king from the report he'd been scanning over, and arched one eyebrow over the rim of his spectacles at his long-time friend's disheveled appearance. Noctis looked like a train wreck. His hair—usually so immaculately styled and maintained—stuck out in every conceivable direction, his eyes looked dull and were rimmed with red, while dark, purple-blue shadows stood out below them. His skin was pale, his clothes were wrinkled past the point of a raisin, and a black vestige of stubble dusted his jaw.
Ignis reflected with equal parts bitterness and amusement that the last time he had seen his charge in such a state had been directly after his battle with Ardyn.
"It's quite alright, Noct," he assured the king with his usual calm stoicism, "I could hardly hear her from my room. My sleep was largely undisturbed."
He paused with another pointed sweep of his gaze over Noctis.
"You, however, Highness, look as if you haven't had a decent rest in…" Another pause, this one accompanied by a curious tilt of his head as Ignis pondered over a sudden thought.
"Exactly how long has it been since you and Lady Lunafreya had a full night's sleep, Noct?" Ignis asked after a moment, now truly concerned for the royal couple's health.
Noctis reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger, squeezing his eyes shut in fatigue, and mumbled, "I don't know… Too long?"
Ignis drew breath to reply, prepared to lecture the king again about how important it was for one to sleep soundly and routinely, and of how they might find a way to remedy the problem, when he was interrupted by the object of Noctis' suffering.
Princess Stella Lucis Caelum let out a gleeful giggle from where she lay, cradled in the crook of her father's arm, and reached her tiny, plump hand up to attempt a grab at one of Noctis' dark strands of hair.
The king sighed, chastising her robotically, "no, Stell, you can't have my hair," while offering her his finger instead to satisfy her. She gripped it tightly and brought it awkwardly to her mouth until Noctis' unfortunate digit with buried halfway along its length up to the baby's toothless gums.
Ignis stared dutifully at the interaction.
"I do hope you washed that finger, Noct," he scolded, though a touch of humor colored his voice. Seeing the king like this, tired though he might be, was something of a relief and refreshment to Ignis. Noct had always been such a serious, meandering sort of person, only gaining a sense of drive and purpose in more recent years. It was good to see him anchored and—though the strategist doubted he would admit to it at the current moment—happy.
And Noct was most assuredly happy, more so than Ignis had ever seen him before. He smiled often, and even when he didn't, there seemed a constant air of contentment around him as he went about his daily tasks.
Ignis suspected, though he didn't say as much, that it had something to do with the squirming bundle in his arms, and the thoroughly spent woman still lying abed in their chamber.
Noct is a family man, whether he thinks it or not.
Ignis smiled to himself, but he quickly rearranged his features into their usual collected mask as Noctis looked up from his failed attempt to free his finger from Stella's mouth.
"I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up, Specs," the king admitted with a weighty sigh. "If she goes on screeching at me every night, I'm spending the rest of her infant years sleeping in a tent."
Ignis' eyebrow went up again.
"I shall have to tell Gladio you said that. He'd be delighted to take you up on that offer."
"And I might just let him," Noctis replied, much too readily.
By the Six, he must be tired. Something had to be done about this. Apart from the general well-being of Noct and Luna, there were other reasons to remedy the situation. Two exhausted royals couldn't be good for the kingdom, for while the war with Niflheim was over, and Ravus now sat on her throne, there were other dangers that could befall Lucis if Noct wasn't up to the task of keeping her well-defended, or indeed, if he could focus on nothing but simply staying awake. Being king was straining enough, but with the added difficulties of being a father—and with a six-month old child, no less—Noct seemed dead on his feet.
Ignis took in his friend's drained features and slumped posture once more, then cleared his throat awkwardly as the beginnings of a plan entered his mind.
Noctis met Ignis' eyes at the sound, his face questioning as he waited for his adviser to speak.
"Noct," Ignis began slowly, "don't you think it would be beneficial if you and Luna took a break?"
"Break?" Noctis echoed with a grunt as Stella unexpectedly reclaimed another of her father's fingers and clamped down on it.
"Yes," Ignis confirmed, warming to the idea. "You and Luna should take some time off. I believe it would be best for you both and for the kingdom. A frazzled king won't be of use to anyone if trouble arises, and an irritable queen will only make matters worse.
"Therefore, I suggest that the two of you arrange to spend a few days in a vacationing spot of your choice, get some much-needed rest, then return when you've been properly rejuvenated."
Noctis looked torn.
"I don't know, Iggy. It's tempting, that's for sure, but I don't if we can leave Stella alone for that long. She's so small, you know? She could get worse while we're gone. If she's lonely, she'll cry, I'm certain."
Ignis smirked, this time letting the confident smile slip through his stoic mask, more to put Noctis at ease than show any sense of false bravado.
"Perhaps not," he pressed, "if she was familiar with her caretakers."
Noctis froze and looked incredulously at his adviser, his lip curling and his eyebrows scrunching to form his signature expression of confusion.
"You, Iggy? You're going to watch Stella? For a few days?"
He sounded shocked. A spike of indignation and betrayal stabbed through Ignis' gut. Did Noct truly believe—after everything they went through together—that he was incapable of watching over a baby? It was an insult.
"Of course," Ignis replied huffily, "it shouldn't be too taxing, even for me." He cast a pointed glare Noctis' way, and the king had the decency to appear apologetic.
"That's not what I meant," he was quick to concede. "I was only going to say that… well, Stella… she's a difficult child."
As if to emphasize his point, the princess in question sucked Noctis' wedding ring off his finger and began working it between her gums.
Noctis yelped in alarm and fished the ring out of the baby's mouth, that ubiquitous expression creeping back onto his face as he looked in disgust at the drool-coated jewelry pinched between his thumb and forefinger.
"Ugh. Stella!" he admonished his daughter, who only giggled mischievously in response and reached for the ring again.
"You see?" Noctis turned to Ignis, beseeching him to understand as he carefully held the ring away from Stella's probing fingers, "she's an absolute menace!"
Ignis pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose in thought. Stella was undoubtedly extraordinarily misbehaved for someone her age, but that didn't change the fact that Noctis and Luna were run ragged by their daughter's antics. He felt it was his duty as Noct's adviser and friend to help him in his difficult moments, to which this was no exception.
"I would be a poor comrade indeed if I wasn't prepared to help you in this endeavor, Noct," Ignis said gently. He knew that it was Noctis' new-found sense of duty that was holding him back—in unison, of course, with his worries for Stella—but now was not the time for such sacrifice. Perhaps it was time to try a different angle.
Ignis held out his arms.
"Give her to me, Noct," he ordered, and the king, after an uncertain pause, nodded and carefully passed Stella to Ignis.
Though he was no stranger to her, Stella seemed wary of being so abruptly transferred to the adviser's arms, and appeared especially unsure of his glasses and lack of bangs. His was a vastly different face than that of her father's, and so, being suspicious of him yet not entirely uncomfortable, she only put a pudgy, uncertain thumb into her mouth and started sucking on it quietly for personal security.
"There, you see?" Ignis said when the princess didn't utter a sound of disapproval, "she'll be perfectly fine if you choose to bow out for a few days. Trust me, Noct."
He was close. Noctis seemed on the very brink of giving in. One more push ought to sway him.
"I'll even enlist some help if that will make you feel better. But you need a break, highness. In this, I am unmoved."
Noctis' shoulders slumped, and Ignis smiled inwardly. That was the sign of victory.
"Alright, Specs. I'm trusting your judgment on this. I'll speak to Luna about this, and if she wants to, then… we'll go."
"That's all I ask," Ignis replied, allowing a fond look to grace his face. Noctis smiled back over his shoulder in response as he turned to walk away, then strolled with a new spring in his step back to his room.
There was little doubt in Ignis' mind that Luna would reject the offer, being a practical individual herself, and so he glanced down at the baby in his arms and told her quietly, "well, Stella, I suspect that you and I will be seeing a lot of each other in the days to come."
Stella slowly pulled her thumb out of her mouth in a way that seemed almost deliberate, and looked back at Ignis with an offended wrinkle of her tiny nose, obviously entirely displeased with him, and not afraid to show it now that her father was out of the picture.
That's it for chapter one. Any questions? Comments? Concerns? Horror at my writing style? People who actually want to read more?