—

Loqi had officially gone delusional. This was it. He'd worked himself too hard, passed out, struck his head, and now he was delusional. Or dreaming. He couldn't be too sure. But there was absolutely no way that Ravus Nox Fleuret had just climbed up the ladder to Loqi's smushed excuse for an office and actually asked the question Loqi thought he'd just heard.

Loqi slowly blinked at the elder Fleuret, his pen hovering just above the paper he'd been about to write on. "…Was that a jest?"

That would explain things as well. Loqi was just tired and Fleuret was trying his attempt at humor. Though if that were the case Loqi was about to break it to him that he wasn't very good at it and he should stick to scowling at people.

Irritation grew on Ravus' face. "No. I was being quite sincere. But if you do not wish to accept the offer I–"

Loqi held up a hand, winced as he nearly slung ink everywhere, took a moment to put his pen down, and then raised his empty hand in a peaceful gesture. "I never said I would not accept. I was merely… caught off guard."

Honestly, he'd thought that Ravus had just come to tolerate him. Assisted him for the sake of the cities. Okay, maybe considered him a friend in the most casual surface sense. Not once had he realized Ravus considered him close enough to ask him to be one of his groomsmen.

Dear Astrals, Fleuret, Loqi thought with a pang of sympathy. Someone needs to introduce you to a real friendship one of these days.

Not that Loqi had much room to talk. He didn't exactly have a plethora of people dying to be in his company. That's what made this offer all the more shocking.

"Well, then?" Ravus shifted is weight, arms crossed.

…The dunce was actually nervous. How utterly hilarious. Fleuret faced down daemons trying to eat him on a regular basis without so much as a blink, but this was making him shuffle.

Loqi faked a cough to cover up the laugh that wanted to spill out of him. He smirked then, leaning back in his chair. "So long as I don't have to make a flattering speech about you, I wouldn't miss it."

The tension in Fleuret's form eased a bit, and his usual scowl returned. "If you find it so difficult to note anything pleasant about me, perhaps I should leave your city as is and return to Lestallum."

Loqi rolled his eyes. "Dear Astrals, Fleuret, learn to take a jest. I'd be honored, as unexpected as this is."

Ravus gave a deep, slow sigh. "Why does everyone find it so difficult to believe I'm capable of marriage?"

"My word, you are defensive today." Loqi crossed his arms casually. It had never been this easy to get under his skin. "Have you met yourself? You hardly ooze charm."

"And you do?" Ravus tossed back.

Loqi snorted. "I never made that claim. We'd both best leave those matters to Scientia and your sister."

"Yet look at their love lives," Ravus said dryly.

Loqi chuckled. That was harsh. But true. "You'll sister I'll pardon given the… inference she's had with the estimated Chosen King, but Scientia?" Loqi gave an exaggerated groan. "Let me guess – he hasn't made a single move since his return?"

"None that I've seen," Ravus confirmed. "Yet Highwind hardly leaves his side."

"Hmph. I wouldn't have taken her for one to sit back and tolerate that."

"Yes, well, it appears they're both hopeless when it comes to each other."

"Right." Loqi rolled his eyes. "Well, not that this isn't a thrilling discussion, but I have other hopeless matters to attend to around here." He reached across the desk to a stack of worn papers and slid them over to Ravus.

Ravus did not look pleased. "You wanted additional help with paperwork? How do you even have enough paper to have paperwork?"

Loqi scoffed. "Insomnia is a big city and the population here is very few compared to what it once supported. Paper is far easier to keep supplied than a lot of other things. And paperwork is merely the first step." And it was something Loqi definitely needed a break from. He had a horrific knot in his shoulder from all he'd done already today. Survivor counts, inventory status, task assignments…

The list went on and on and on…

But now Loqi had extra help. Competent help.

For the first time since they'd lost Fita, Loqi could take a bit of a breather.

There was still a lot to do, but handling it was going to be far less overwhelming with Fleuret here.

…Huh. Maybe they really were friends.

Loqi supposed he better start planning to go to a wedding too.

"Iggggggyyyyyyyy! Iggy, Iggy, Iggy, Iggy, Iggy! Igggggyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

Ignis shared a bemused look with Aranea as they paused their walk down the street.

Aranea shook her head fondly. "Catch you later."

"Indeed. It appears someone is in dire need of my presence."

"Oh, I'm sure it very dire, yes."

Ignis didn't even have time to bid her farewell in return before Prompto came barreling around the corner. "Igggggyyyyyyy!"

"Good gracious, Prompto." Ignis faced him with an arched eyebrow. "No need to alert the entire city. I do still own a phone."

"…Oh yeah." Prompto scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he came to a stop in front of Ignis. "Guess I could have tried that."

Ignis chuckled. "Indeed. Did you need something in particular? How did you seminar with Lestallum's youth go?"

"Oh, it went great!" Prompto bounced on his toes. "They were all super excited to learn about the sun and stuff. Toooons of question. Wore me out, but I can't wait for the next one! They're so adorable."

"Glad to hear it."

Yes. Children were quite adorable. Until they were screaming and running through the halls nude in an attempt to avoid eating vegetables. Ignis dearly hoped Prompto wouldn't have to deal with that sort of event. He wasn't sure how he'd handle it. But Prompto seemed to have a natural way with kids thus far, and Ignis suspected he'd be just fine with his new little side project.

"Right! Anyway!" Prompto clapped his hands together. "That wasn't why I was trying to catch you!"

"Oh?" Ignis shifted his weight, realizing he was likely in for a longer conversation than he anticipated.

"Poker night!" Prompto made a flourish with his arms.

Ignis blinked. It had been so long– he'd nearly forgotten about that delightful little pastime. "What of it?"

"Well, obviously, we bring it back!" Prompto's grin was huge. "We had such a good time, and you aren't dead anymore! No better time to start it up again then after Ravus gets back. Maybe we could even invite Loqi too! Y'know, ease any remaining tensions?"

Ignis smiled. "I think that's a wonderful idea." They all needed something other than work and sleep to keep up their mental health. People direly underestimated how much that affected one's work. One could have the opportunity and time for unlimited sleep, but that would do naught if their minds were in shambles.

He would know. He needed less rest than most, but that didn't mean he felt rested. Being back had helped with that greatly. Not even introverted people were meant to be entirely isolated.

"I could help you organize it?" Ignis offered. Prompto was beginning to gather quite a bit on his plate lately.

"Sure, yeah! Awesome!" Prompto bounced. "I'll let you know as soon as I get some of the starter details. But I got stuff to do first! See ya, Iggy!"

With that, Prompto made some pew pew noises as he fired off some finger guns and took off back down the street.

Ignis chuckled to himself, watching his friend leave before turning his gaze upward.

Lunafreya's wall literally cast the city in a different light, and it was wonderful.

Well, so long as he didn't get too near to it. He'd found that he began to feel ill if he got too close for too long.

He wondered if the Argentum boys had issues such as that…

Ignis shook his head. No matter so long as they weren't all harmed in the long run.

Right now, he was doing his best to relax.

He was so used to disasters at this point that he kept expecting another one to drop any moment.

But Ardyn was leaving them alone. The cities were doing well. No one had died tragically lately. One of his closest friends was getting married. All was unusually well.

Which was exactly why he was going to relish it. Tomorrow was promised to no one, but he refused to keep living in fear and apprehension. There was no benefit to existing like that.

Life was decent for the moment and he was damn well going to enjoy that.

Noct would have wanted that for all of them.

—