Author's Note: Once again, I am posting a lot of chapters at one time! If you didn't hear, I usually post chapters with more regularity on AO3 if you prefer to read them there (under the same pseud).
It was past midnight, and Ignis was sitting in the home office he and Gladio shared. He'd been telling himself he'd finish grading this stack of papers before he went to sleep, just like he'd been telling himself for the past three nights, but the words on the page blurred together and his mind kept drifting to the same fear—that life as he knew it could be taken from him in an instant. He picked up the framed Polaroid selfie of him and Prompto from all those months ago and studied their faces.
It had been a hard few weeks. From everything Ardyn reported back, it was becoming nearly inevitable that the adoption would go to court despite his and Aranea's best efforts.
Ignis had barely been sleeping and hardly ate. He was finally losing the weight he'd been trying to get off for months, but he looked pale and sick, nothing like the bright-eyed man in the photo with his hopeful smile and a cheek squished to Prompto's. Ignis wished he could go back, have a respite from sleepless nights, plagued by worries about legal fees that could bankrupt them and the possibility of having his reputation publicly tarnished. Of course, there was also the ever-present fear of the worst outcome imaginable, the one he couldn't even bring himself to think about.
Maybe it came too easily, he thought—them walking by the adoption agency on that exact day at that precise hour, Noctis being the calm in the center of the storm, Prompto running into Gladio's arms.
Most things in Ignis's life had come at a great cost after years of struggle and deprivation. He'd completed his college education while working two jobs and spent years paying off the remaining debt, starting as a starving teacher's assistant until he slowly clawed his way up the ladder.
Even finding a family, something most people were simply born with, had been a challenge for Ignis, learning to trust Gladio and let him in, agreeing to marry him and expanding his family to encompass Iris and Clarus too. The concept of family used to frighten Ignis, as though such a precious thing would be unsafe in his unpracticed hands, and yet, he'd built a lasting relationship and a happy marriage. Now, because of Noctis and Prompto, he'd learned what it meant to have a second chance at life, to see the world through fresh, young eyes that still held wonder in the smallest things—a cold pool on a summer's day, the blast of a firework, the magic of a camera lens.
If they lost Noctis and Prompto, Ignis was sure he could never do it again. He could never open his heart and trust that something wonderful, something you didn't have to work for or plan, could be trusted, something Gladio liked to call fate and Ignis now believed was just reckless foolishness.
"Iggy, please come to bed."
"No."
He watched Gladio's face fall into his palm, heard his soft groan of frustration. Gladio had appeared in the doorway dressed in just his red and black flannel pajama pants, no shirt, no socks, a sight that would usually make Ignis smile. Ignis knew Gladio hadn't been sleeping well either and knew he should feel sympathy for the husband he usually had cause to adore. Gladio was only trying to help by telling Ignis to do what he'd already been telling himself to do for hours. But somehow hearing it from someone else's mouth felt like an insult.
"Iggy, please. You staying up all night isn't going to help the boys—"
"Then what is?" Ignis countered. "I don't see why it's your business how late I stay up anyway. Besides, I have papers to grade."
"It's past midnight. It can wait."
"I need to get this done by tomorrow afternoon."
"Do it tomorrow morning then," Gladio urged.
"You don't seem to understand. I have to dress Noctis for school and make his lunch, feed both the boys their breakfast. You just go off to your classes in the morning. You don't know what I go through."
"Let me help you. I'll get up earlier tomorrow. Maybe I can help grade the papers," he offered, approaching the desk.
"What do you know about archaeology?" Ignis accused.
"I know enough to help," Gladio pleaded. "If it's your intro class—"
"You can't help!" Ignis snapped, putting down the frame and picking up his pen, staring at the paper and willing himself to focus, pretending the wetness in his eyes was merely born of frustration at Gladio's useless offer.
"Fine. Fine," Gladio relented, disappearing from the doorway. Ignis heard his slow retreat up the steps and let out the breath he'd been holding in.
For all his faults, Ignis could never say that Gladio didn't love him, didn't try to lessen his burdens in any way he could. And now Ignis was pushing away the best thing he already had in his life, a sure thing. He hated himself tonight, more than usual, for being so careless.
He left the papers without a thought, turned off his desk lamp and found his way upstairs in the dark. He snuck a peek at Noctis and Prompto through the bedroom door they always kept slightly ajar. They were fast asleep, Prompto's limbs impossibly tangled up the sheets as he curled up with his favorite dog plushie, Noctis neatly sleeping on his side, the gentle glow of their nightlight casting moving shadows of stars across their peaceful faces.
Ignis remembered the day Gladio had brought that nightlight home. He'd made a huge spectacle of turning off the lights, requesting total silence as the room glowed to life with the softest of colors, and Prompto had whispered to Noctis, asking him if those were real stars that got stuck inside a lamp, and Noctis had looked at Ignis for an answer. Ignis, inspired by the purest form of magic, had winked and said "I think they must be."
He made his way down the hall and quietly opened the door to their bedroom, the sound of stifled sobs unmistakable after the quiet dark of the empty house. He walked to the bed and got under the covers, encasing Gladio in his arms, his forehead pressed to Gladio's back as his shoulders shook.
"I'm so sorry," Ignis whispered, and Gladio turned to face him, pressed a gentle hand to the side of his neck, eyes brimming with tears, but still with the hint of a conciliatory smile reserved for him, the sweetest act of kindness Gladio could've offered.
"I know, Iggy."
Ignis kissed him, a lingering kiss that he got lost in for time uncountable.
"I think we should get away this weekend," Gladio said.
"But we have so much to do. What if Ardyn or Aranea need something from us and—"
"They know our numbers…I just think...if something did go wrong, and I'm not saying I think it will, but...if something did... I want the four of us to share as many memories as we can."
Ignis tried not to show his panic at Gladio's first concession that things might go amiss, that evil might win in this one circumstance that felt small to the world but was everything to them. He tried to be the brave one, like Gladio always was.
"It won't, but perhaps we should get away. I think it would help the boys too. I know they're nervous, even if they don't always express it."
"Okay. Tomorrow morning, I'll set my alarm early. We'll book the hotels, and then we'll just go."
"To where?"
Gladio smiled. "I have an idea."
They woke before dawn on Saturday. It was a muggy and surprisingly cool Florida morning as they loaded two sleepy boys into their carseats, along with a cooler of snacks and the bags they'd packed the previous evening. Prompto was a ball of energy for the first fifteen minutes of the drive before he tired himself out and fell asleep. Per usual, Noctis was way ahead of him, having never fully woken up in the first place. There wasn't a peep from either of them for the first leg of the drive, and Gladio and Ignis were content in the silence, watching the trees along the highway pass by, the billboards for roadside attractions and local inns the only source of entertainment.
Ignis had quickly barreled through his first coffee tumbler and already felt tired, so they decided to make a pit stop at a gas station to purchase a six-pack of Ebony cold brew, just as Noctis and Prompto were starting to wake up.
"Where are we going?" Prompto asked, stretching in his car seat and trying to undo his seatbelt buckle without success.
"It's a surprise, remember?" Gladio said.
"I think I know," Noctis said, the most precious grin on his face. Ignis had no doubt that he did. "I saw two billboards on our way here."
"Tell me, tell me! Pleeeaassseee?!"
"Then it wouldn't be a surprise, Prom," Noctis explained.
"We're almost there anyway," Ignis said. "Just thirty minutes to go."
Prompto continued to pester them as he rode piggyback with his cheek pressed against Gladio's shoulder until they passed the candy aisle.
"Please, please, please!" he begged.
"Please what?" Gladio asked. They had made it their joint mission to force Prompto to quell his usual excitement long enough to form full sentences.
"Please can I have the candy?! I want the little M&Ms. Pleeease?"
Gladio looked at Ignis, always the gatekeeper when it came to unhealthy snacks. Ignis took the tube of mini M&Ms off the shelf and placed them in Prompto's palm. Prompto held the tube to his chest like a treasure. Noctis chose a package of gummies in the shape of a hamburger, and Ignis did his best to hide his disgust as they made their way to the counter.
As they drove the final stretch, Ignis glanced in the rear-view mirror to find Noctis and Prompto bartering their respective snacks before agreeing to share. Once the snacks were gone, they made a game of throwing the M&M tube back and forth across the seat.
As they made their final exit and passed under the grand archway with a castle in the middle, the boys went silent.
"I knew it," Noctis said in a reverent tone.
"What?" Prompto said.
"It's Disney World, Prom. We're going to Disney World."