Hello, yes, hi. Looks like I somehow skipped updating a chapter! All fixed now!

—

Evan had never looked so much like a child before as he did in this moment.

Head ducked down, hands shoved into pockets…

Ignis pressed his lips together, trying to shove down his amusement before he ruined the seriousness of the conversation before it even started.

"It's been some while, Evan," Ignis started gently. "Is your grudge truly worth carrying for so long?"

Evan scowled, mumbling something completely unintelligible.

"I'm sorry?" Ignis said.

Evan shrugged.

Well, it appeared Ignis hadn't entirely skipped the grumbling teenager stage after all.

"Evan, you know I asked him hold his tongue," Ignis reminded. "If there is anyone on which you should place blame, it should be me."

Evan kicked a rock in their path. "It's not that he didn't tell me. It's how flippant he was about it. He was… He was so helpful to me after you left. I trusted him, but he didn't even feel bad about lying to me."

Ah, yes. That made much more sense. "And what makes you think that? I don't claim to know Loqi well, but he doesn't strike me as the type to be terribly forthcoming with the true depths of his emotions." Quite the opposite, actually. It was no wonder Loqi and Ravus managed to get along – they were far more similar in that regard than they cared to admit.

Evan sighed, shoulders slumping further. "I know. That's why I thought he was different. The way he treated me and my brothers was different. He was blunt and truthful. I thought I could trust him to always be truthful with me."

"I believe you still can." Ignis folded his hands behind his back. "At least speak with him about it. This cold shoulder business will only keep hurting you both and disrupting your work. And I dare say I don't like being the cause of broken friendships."

Evan mumbled again.

"I'm sorry?"

"I'll speak with him," Evan repeated glumly.

Ignis reached over to clap him on the shoulder. "Good lad. You'll both be better for it. Now, tell me if you think your brother would be interested in undertaking this rather… extensive project."

Evan cocked his head so he was looking up at Ignis out of the corner of his eye. "What kind of project?"

"Abos-bloody-lutely!" Dino cheered, shooting to his feet with his notebook in hand. "Oh, that's a bloody fabulous idea! I'd love to 'elp!"

"Language," Ignis scolded lightly, though he was pleased at the boy's enthusiasm. "And Evan said he thought you might like the idea."

Dino bobbed his head excitedly, but then his smile faded a bit. "Only… I'm not the best writer. I can do it, but… I'm not great. Doubt my work would be a very good read."

"Well, I don't see why your style can't be improved with a bit of practice." Ignis smiled.

Dino gave him a look. "Please don't make me learn from Gladio."

Evan choked on a sudden bout of laughter.

Ignis gave a slow blink. "What on Eos would give you the impression that I would suggest that?"

Dino kept making his displeased face. "'E's the only person I know who reads that much."

"Ah." Ignis supposed that was logical. But… no. Just no. "Well, fortunately I had another in mind." Ignis dropped a hand on Evan's shoulder. "Evan, I assume you're still on good terms with Talcott?"

Evan bobbed his head enthusiastically.

"Grand! Then do put him and your brother in contact with one another before you go talk to Loqi."

Evan's face fell into a scowl.

"Okay," Evan said reluctantly. "Echo, are you coming?"

The silent clone merely crawled his way off of the fountain and stood next to them in reply. Ignis supposed that was a yes.

Well, maybe having him present would help Evan speak to Loqi. A nice bit of middle ground, even if Echo said nothing.

Yes, this was all fitting together quite nicely.

—

Ignis leaned against the fountain, settling there himself for a moment as the boys ran off.

Such a lovely day. He really could get used to them being like this.

"Having fun will your kids again, huh?" a teasing voice called out.

Ignis smirked. "I believe you'll find only one of them is mine. Custody of the other two goes to Loqi."

"Who gets Prompto, then?" Gladio grinned casually strolling up and leaning next to Ignis.

"Cor, obviously," Ignis replied without hesitation.

"Right." Gladio nodded. "Complicated family. I guess I'm the cool uncle, then."

"A fitting position," Ignis agreed. "Complete with the fine line between providing fun and being a terrible influence."

"Hey," Gladio elbowed him, and Ignis flinched a bit at the sudden contact. "Oh, shit, sorry. I keep forgetting."

Ignis held up a hand. "It's quite all right. It's been getting better. I merely wasn't prepared."

"You shouldn't have to be prepared…" Gladio mumbled.

"I'll get there," Ignis assured pleasantly. "It's merely a matter of time."

Gladio nodded.

They fell into a comfortable silence, and Ignis closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the peace.

"You know, we really outta start a book club around here."

Ignis gave him a look he was certain carried through his shaded glasses. "Someone should. You most definitely should not."

Gladio rolled his eyes. "No seriously. We have the extra room now since Crestholm's helped with the population problem so much. We should put some effort into making a real library. We wouldn't need special trips or anything – we could just have the teams out there bring back books they might come across. And I know we've got plenty of people around that clung to their private collections."

"Hm." Ignis brought a hand up to rub his chin. "This is actually a capital idea, Gladio."

"Hey, no need to sound so surprised. I'll have you know I had to pick up on my thinking a lot more when you weren't around." Gladio grinned wistfully. "You know what Prompto and Noct used to be like."

Ignis chuckled. Bittersweet memories. "Oh, I thoroughly do. You must have had quite a lot on your hands, having to see those two around the world safely."

Gladio groaned, rubbing his forehead. "You have no idea. Trying to save the damn world while stopping every five minutes for pictures or to pet chocobos."

Ignis laughed louder then. He could only imagine how insanely frustrating that had to have been for Gladio. Lunafreya may have been so stubborn that she was a bloody pain in the backside, but there was a lot he didn't have to worry about with her. Staying on task was certainly never an issue. Quite the opposite, in fact. It had always been getting her to take a damn rest every now and then so she didn't run herself into the ground that had been the problem.

…The irony was not lost on him.

"I do wish lady Lunafreya and I could have been with you all," Ignis mused.

Gladio gave him a baffled look. "I sure as hell don't. Are you kidding? Noct probably would have driven off the road first time the princess got in the car."

"I imagine I would have taken the wheel."

"Great. So Prompto could have been up front and I could been crowed in the back with the happy couple."

Ignis laughed yet again at the mental image of Gladio being crammed in the back of the Regalia, completely disgruntled as Noct and Lunafreya snuggled up to each other beside him. "Come now, it would be like being present in the very pages of one of your books."

"Oh, those two are way too tame for one of my novels," Gladio said.

Ignis grimaced. "Dear Astrals, Gladio…"

"Don't judge me, Mr. Encyclopedia reader."

"One time, Gladio. It was one time, and I was looking something up. That's what you do with such books – you don't read them from cover to cover."

"Uh-huh."

"You're a menace."

"Everyone knows that."

"That's not a good thing, Gladio."

"No, but it's kind of redundant to state like that. You're supposed to be the one for efficiency and all that."

Ignis shook his head fondly. "Don't you have something better to do with your time than harass me?"

Gladio made a show of thinking about about it. "Uh, yeah, nope. I am free to harass you until my next mission tomorrow."

"Oh dear me – does that mean I'll have to put up with you all day long?"

"Nah, just the waking hours."

"How reassuring," Ignis said dryly, leaning his head back to get a good stretch in.

"Hey," Gladio said after a moment more of silence.

"Hm?"

"How long has it been since we sparred?"

Ignis paused mid neck role. He thought about it. "I… honestly don't know." Over a couple of years at least as they hadn't sparred since Ignis had returned.

"About time then?" Gladio suggested.

"Most definitely," Ignis agreed.

Bridges were mending. Opportunities arising. People had things to look forward to again.

Just as things should have been.