Noctis was trying, that much Ignis could see. He was trying to make things go back to normal, forcing conversation with him; but it was just that, forced. It was painful, not just to Ignis but to the others as well- if their expressions were anything to go by. It seemed Gladio and Prompto had formed their own pact to talk amongst themselves and leave the others two out of it. Ignis wasn't sure they were silently pushing them to talk things out or if they just wanted nothing to do with the situation.

Once it started affecting combat was when Ignis deigned it enough, Noctis' unwillingness be damned.

And yet, Noctis brushed him off every time. Prompto shot him sympathetic looks. Ignis didn't want pity. He just wanted to be able to talk to Noctis casually again.

Ignis had caught up to Noctis while on a hunt and attempted to bring up these past few, ah, incidents.

"Ignis, it's fine. So can we just not?" The other huffed, exasperated.

Ignis couldn't believe it! This was the first time he'd gotten such an obvious refusal. Clearly agitated now, Ignis prepared to push the subject when Gladio shouted from behind them, "Wasps up ahead!"

They both looked up to find the huge insects flying around behind a patch of trees. Noctis glanced at his advisor before warping into the swarm. Ignis sighed, already thinking up ways to get Noctis by himself after the fight.

It shouldn't have taken so long. For some reason, the crew seemed to become more susceptible to confusion and they seemed to be causing each other more harm than the wasps. Between confused swiping at anything moving, pushing through clouds of poison and dodging stingers, it was near impossible to pass out antidotes or smelling salts.

When the dust finally cleared, Ignis looked around to find Prompto still poisoned and Gladio still afflicted as he continued to swing at nothing. After he took care of the pair, Ignis swiveled around to look for Noctis. Walking around the area proved to be useless. With worry increasing exponentially, Ignis began calling out to his charge.

Thankfully, he didn't have to shout for long. Gladio alerted the others, "Found him!" as he began to lift him out of a bush near the edge of the battleground. Ignis sighed in relief and jogged over to help Gladio.

Noctis looked pale, paler than usual, blue veins splintering up through his neck and cheeks. He seemed to be out of it, eyes gazing through Ignis. This did nothing but panic him further, shakily pressing an antidote into Noctis' hands. Prompto appeared at his side. "Is he gonna be ok?" the blonde asked Ignis with huge, baby blue eyes.

"He's gonna hafta be," Gladio grunted, pulling him into his arms and standing up.

The antidote brought some color back into Noctis' skin, but the blue veins remained. Ignis wanted to examine him fully right then and there, but the smarter choice would be to get back to camp first.

Ignis grimaced.

Back at camp, Prompto and Ignis wasted no time rolling out a sleeping bag and getting out a first-aid kit. Ignis was by the prince's side as soon as Gladio set him down, pulling out a handkerchief and dousing it in water from their stash before placing it over Noctis' too warm forehead.

"Noctis. Noctis, please, stay awake," He pleaded, grabbing ahold of Noctis' arm and shaking it slightly. "Where does it hurt?" Ignis searched his face for any sign of pain, then moved down to find any injuries on his person.

Noctis just groaned. "Everywhere. I…"

His advisor could barely hear him over the rustling of Prompto shifting side to side and Gladio rummaging through their supplies.

Noctis looked down and Ignis followed his line of sight to his right leg. There was a damp spot on the side of his thigh, but other than that, there didn't seem to be a tear on his pants. If Ignis wasn't so terrified for Noctis' health, he probably would've hesitated to pull any piece of clothing off him. However, now wasn't the time to dawdle.

Wrapped around a ghastly white thigh was some bandages, ones that Ignis gave to Noctis when he'd been slashed by ruthless coeurl a few days back. They'd been a pristine white before, but now they were stained a bloody red with a hole poking through the middle. The blue veins seemed most prominent from here, spiraling their way out. With as much care as he could manage, Ignis began unravelling the bandages.

The wound itself was inflamed and flushed red, pus freely running down the side now. Looking closer, Ignis saw the jagged end of a stinger lodged in the wound. It must've broken off while Noctis fought back.

Prompto seemed ready to cry and puke at the same time. To give him something to do, Ignis asked him to bring a pair of tweezers, which he brought quickly.

When Ignis dislodged the offending stinger, Noctis let out a sudden yell. The bespectacled man looked up in alarm only to find him already knocked out. "No, no," Ignis mumbled, shuffling over to pull out a flashlight, force an eyelid open and shine it over the eye. Luckily, the pupil constricted. It seemed he'd only passed out from the pain. Not exactly reassuring, but it could be worse.

Prompto's sickly white skin rivalled Noctis' now. Ignis sighed, turned to face Prompto and the incoming Gladio, and tossed Gladio the car keys. The taller tossed a hi-elixer in return. "Go find some antibiotics, maybe some ibuprofen as well."

"Got it. Anything else?" He asked, already dragging the jittery blonde with him.

"More water, a couple of those electrolyte drinks if you can find any."

"Already on it!"

As the pair jogged out of sight, Ignis stepped away to attempt to wash his hands with a water bottle and his own bar of soap. After some tricky maneuvers, he'd gotten his hands clean. Now to attend to Noctis.

Perhaps it was for the best that Noctis was passed out. Ignis had to drain the abscess, clean the wound, then re-dress it. With that, he squeezed the hi-elixer into Noctis' hands for him. He couldn't do much more until the others got here.

His eyes roamed over Noctis, taking in the pallor of his skin and sweat soaking his top. The breeze ruffling the trees around them disproved Ignis' theory that maybe it really was that hot outside.

Really, taking Noctis' bottom portion of his clothes was necessary, but now? Now Ignis hesitated to remove any more.

Still…

He looked truly uncomfortable…

Noctis awoke to the smell of something heavenly. With much effort, he pushed himself up on his elbows. His eyes struggled to focus as he assessed himself. He was clad in only his undershirt and briefs. There was a small blanket thrown over his legs, but that didn't help his embarrassment much.

Geez, what had happened? He hadn't gotten drunk, had he? Six, he hoped he hadn't done anything too mortifying.

As he moved to pull the blanket off and put some clothes on, he noticed the blanket wasn't a blanket at all. In fact, it was a jacket. A black suit jacket. Noctis could recognize this jacket from anywhere.

Outside he could hear voices. Noctis stood, wincing and putting all his weight on his left leg. He caught sight of new bandages wrapped around his thigh and wondered when that had happened. Nevertheless, he pushed the thought away and set to find clothes.

He'd only managed to slip on Ignis' jacket and was rummaging through his duffel bag for some shorts at the very least before he heard the unzipping on the tent door. He turned faster than what his head thought was acceptable and pitched forward.

The other was quick to catch Noctis under his armpits, huffing with effort. "Highness, be more careful," Ignis' smooth voice reprimanded him. The ravenette shivered in reponse. "You mustn't be up, come now," He led him back to the sleeping bag.

With Noctis laying back down, Ignis took a moment to stare at him with narrowed eyes. Noctis idly wondered if Ignis took offense to him wearing the jacket. However, the moment was over when Ignis pulled out a tube of some sort cream.

"We're going to need to apply this to your wound."

And with that, he proceeded to remove the bandages. Noctis flinched, feeling the other's cool fingers against his burning skin a sudden, but not exactly unpleasant, surprise. Ignis must've mistook it for pain.

"Sorry. Bear with me."

Noctis grumbled. He didn't know if whatever had happened before was making him delirious, but he suddenly felt the need to apologize to his chamberlain.

"Igs, Iggy, Ignis…"

The man glanced up at him as acknowledgment and continued to work on the gash.

"I'm sorry, oh my god I'm sorry, Specs, please-"

"Noctis, what-"

"I was a dick to you. To the others. It isn't right… it's just, well… y'know…" Noctis now had his arms folded over his eyes; he couldn't bear to see Ignis' rejection. The other hurried to finish redressing the wound so he could tug at the prince's arms.

"Noctis," Ignis sighed heavily. Noctis could hear more coming, knew that tone. "His Highness should worry more about getting better."

…

Noctis waited and waited but didn't get the scolding he thought he would receive. Ignis really was going soft on him.

But he wasn't going to stand for it. Noctis had done enough running away for the both of them. It was time to finally confront… whatever this was.

He grabbed Ignis by the arm, pulled him forward as Noctis pushed ahead. Their noses bumped and their lips bumped into each other rather harshly, Ignis' glasses cut into Noctis' cheek before being pushed askew.

Instantly, the two recoiled, rubbing at their faces.

"Fuck! That hurt!" Noctis glared down at his lap, face suddenly turned a bright red.

"Language, Noct," Ignis chastised even as he took off his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose. Once he was done with that, he placed the back of his hand against Noctis' forehead, scrutinizing him all the while. After what felt like forever, Ignis finally said something. "Noct. You're doing better but not by much. Here, I've brought you some pain killers," He turned to find a bottle of pills he'd dropped behind him but Noctis stopped him.

Was he just going to completely ignore that? Did Ignis think he was doing this because he was injured or something? There was no way he'd let him go, not when he knew they'd just go back to ignoring each other, pretending to be fine in front of Gladio and Prompto.

"Ignis. C'mon. Don't do this."

"Do what?"

Noctis' eyes burned bright with building anger. He was about to tell him off when the other interrupted him.

"Highness, you're clearly not well. I'm not sure what you were trying to do just now but I know how clumsy you can be. You need not apologize," Ignis was able to look him in the eye but not without his cheeks darkening a bit.

Noctis vaguely thought that was a cute look on him.

"Ok, maybe that wasn't exactly what I was going for, maybe I messed up-" Ignis gave him an I-told-you-so look, "But! … Argh… let me just show you what I was tryna do…"

Noctis leaned in slowly this time, giving Ignis more than enough time to stop him, but for whatever reason Ignis didn't.

Noctis was… clumsy, just as he'd said. Their noses bumped again, albeit less abruptly, until Ignis placed a hand on Noctis' chin to tilt them. Noctis only pursed his lips for a while, not seeming to know what to do or where to place his hands. Ignis ran his own hands over Noctis' arms, slid them down to grab his wrists and place them over his shoulders.

He relaxed slightly, finally following Ignis' example and started moving his lips against the other's. The advisor smiled into the kiss.

The kiss was so sweet and innocent, so very Noct fashion, trying to learn fast without looking like he was trying. It ended before Ignis got to have any fun, but that was fine. Noctis was ducking his head and blushing underneath his black-blue bangs, fingers digging into Ignis' shoulders.

Noctis suddenly looked up, azure eyes boring into him, filled with hope and anxiety and something else Ignis couldn't place.

"Ah, u-um… I-Iggy," His voice slightly cracked on the 'I' of his name, another thing to be added on the list of Endearing Things That Noct Does. "Was… Was that uh, ok?"

Was that ok? Was that ok?

To answer his question, Ignis planted another one on him, this one lasting longer than their first one. Noctis eventually pulled away to breath. Oh, they'd have to practice that if Noctis got so breathless so easily. Ignis lingered, a smile now glued to his face. He kissed his prince on the corner of his mouth, grinning wider when Noctis turned to kiss him fully on the lips and Ignis pulled back.

"Tease," He groaned, blush crawling down his neck.

Ignis was about to reply when Prompto burst into the tent. "Iggy! Is Noct oka-…"

Prompto took one look at Ignis' glasses-free face and Noctis' still-bare legs and squeaked.

"Oh my god, not again!"

As quickly as Prompto had appaeared, he disappeared, leaving Ignis to groan and Noctis to stutter confusedly.

Outside they heard Prompto's distressed yelling. "No! Don't go in there!"

"Huh? I'm just gonna tell Igs to eat, I ain't gonna infect Noct if that's what you're-" Gladio rumbled back

"You can't! I mean, uh, um, UM! Specs told us we should go find some meat to put in the stew!"

"I thought we already had some?"

"He wants anak meat! Cuz like it's a healthier option or something…"

There was a terse silence when Ignis thought Gladio would ignore Prompto and come in, but Gladio acquiesced.

"I don't know anything about that but if Ignis said so…"

"Great! Let's go! Right now!"

Then they heard Gladio's distinct deep grumble and feet shuffling away. They waited until they could hear nothing else but the fire crackling outside. They let out a sigh of relief at the same time.

"Iggy, that was almost too much for my heart to take," Noctis stated. Ignis laughed a soothing, sparkling laugh. Noctis couldn't help but smile with him.

"Put some clothes on, I'll go get you some food. You must be starving."

At the mention of food, Noctis' stomach growled. Ignis smirked, willing himself not to laugh further. As he made his way towards the exit of the tent, Noctis called out meekly, "What- um, what does this make us? Ignis, you have to know, I li-"

"Noctis. We can figure it out on the way. We have time," Truly, Ignis didn't know much time they had left, or how or when he'd gotten this bravado and smoothness. Even so, that didn't stop him from feeling good at the moment. He'd rather not ruin the magic of it.

"My dear," He added at the last second, and then Ignis was out of the tent. He could hear Noctis' splutterings behind him, but he kept walking toward the small table that held some stew. He smiled.

When the others came back and Gladio gave him a suspicious look, Prompto squawked whenever they made eye contact, and even when Noctis came out and remained red-faced (which really was better than his previous pale face) throughout most of their meal, Ignis kept on smiling.