Course Two: Golden Tail Soup

Ignis was not drunk.

As a man of refined taste, he was quite accustomed to drinking his fair amount of wine. It was a requirement to keep a cool head when each dish came with new, exotic and aged drink, which was to be relished over the dominance of flavors. It was not all that unusual for Ignis to partake in several glasses of wine per night, always meticulously paired with the freshest of ingredients.

He did not get drunk off of wine. It was for tasting the beauty in each pairing, complementing the delicate acidity and the tannin. It was for figuring out the perfect mix of flavor and sharpness.

It was not for getting drunk.

Ignis knocked back his entire glass of white Tenebraen wine, feeling the soft notes of grapes against his tongue. He put the glass back on the table and looked to the kitchen staff, then back to his wine glass.

His glasses were getting a little blurry. No doubt due to the massive headache building up behind his eyelids.

King Regis was being…

Ignis reached back down to his now full wine glass and took another deep drink. This was exquisite wine, truly.

Ignis looked to Gladio, who was sitting stock-straight in his seat, and he had to fight down the urge to laugh at his lover. Gladio wasn't aware that when he was worried, his eyebrow twitched. Ignis thought it was… cute.

"Ignis, what seems to be so funny? Please, do regale us with what has you so tickled."

Ignis looked to the King and shook his head. "Nothing, your Majesty. I assure you, I have not been untoward."

Ignis looked to Noctis and remembered just the night before, Noctis's hands pinning him down as the Crown Prince sat himself down on Ignis's hard cock. He could see how his face would flush pink, the soft and sparse black hairs decorating his chest shuddering as Noctis pushed himself up and rode him. Those sweet delicious moans shook Ignis to his core, and…

No.

He was not getting hard at the dinner table.

Ignis took another sip of wine.

"Untoward. So, you are saying you are favored by my son?"

Ignis looked over to Noctis, who was trying to shrink into his chair. Poor dear, considering how his ass must have felt. Their positions… it was surprising that Noctis could walk, but he was still able to. Perhaps next time Ignis would give into Noctis's requests to be a little more rough, just the way Noctis liked it. It wasn't fair that he was all but invisible to the King at this moment. Maybe if he were squirming just a bit more...

"I am Noctis's trusted advisor."

Regis sent Ignis a pointed glance. "An advisor should not be spending his nights at his Prince's home."

"On the contrary, it is a beneficial relationship-"

"So you admit it?"

Ignis headache was almost visible in the corners of his eyes. "No, your Majesty, that was not what I said…"

"Except you referred to your position as a relationship. Your words, am I correct? Considering the nanny once found you and Noctis in a rather precarious position as young children, your inclinations have been more than well known." The King rested his thumb against his lip and bit down on the nail, flicking it against his top two teeth. "Though I thought as you grew up you would end up with Gladiolus. It would not be the first time a member of the Crownsguard went after an Amicitia… Gladiolus? That is your third glass."

Ignis looked up to see Gladio holding the shards of another glass, though his face was oddly devoid of emotion. Except for the eyebrow.

Another sip. Really, the wine was quite delicious.

"Do be careful, I am quite fond of those glasses. 900 year old blown glass from the Lucretia Caelum dynasty. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to find."

"I am sorry your Majesty."

The King snapped his fingers again and the full plates of Canapé in front of Ignis were removed, replaced with light golden soup that seemed to glitter in the light.

The King lifted up his golden spoon and dipped it in the soup, lifting it to his lips. He looked at each of the men at the table. "Did you not enjoy the canapé? Was it not to your liking?" His eyes narrowed. "I am sure you have broken Lady Quina's heart. No doubt she will have words at the end of the meal."

As if he were a marionette, Regis knew how to pull the strings with such mastery that it took a minute for Ignis to realize that he, as well as Noctis, were now joining Gladio in his upright, straight-backed posture.

"You wouldn't dare-" Noctis began, but Regis only tapped his spoon against the dish. Once. Only once.

"Lady Quina, diligently working over her kitchen to prepare the perfect meal for her little Crown Prince," Regis deadpanned. "You think I would dare to stop her?"

"Prompto, please sit up and eat anything set before you." Ignis could feel the cold chill of something… something terrifying and not wholly human in the room now, and he wondered if it was Lady Quina. Only once had Noctis invoked the wrath of Lady Quina.

Only once.

"Prom, just do it."

Noctis's face looked an unhealthy shade of puce as he lifted his shaking hand to the spoon and quickly shoveled the liquid inside, Gladio and Ignis following suit.

"Huh?" Prompto stared at Noctis, then to Gladio before his eyes finally rested on Ignis. "Who?"

Another tink of the spoon against the bowl and Ignis picked up a bread roll and threw it onto Prompto's plate.

"Eat. Now."

Prompto seemed to catch on that not eating was more terrifying than not, and quickly set to work on blindly grabbing the wrong spoon to eat his soup.

"That is your dessert spoon, Prompto. And I thought you said that you had a brain?"

Prompto dropped the spoon into the soup and grabbed for another.

"That is a teaspoon."

Ignis grabbed his glass, drinking down the last of his wine. He looked back to the kitchen staff and nodded, trying to avoid looking at Prompto. He should have given the man a basic course on dining etiquette, though Ignis had foolishly expected this to be a simple, pleasant event.

"Noctis, when did you begin to sleep with your advisor?"

Noctis stopped only long enough to glare balefully at the King. "None of your damn business." He scooped another mouthful of soup into his mouth and growled.

Regis smiled, mouth sharp and full of teeth. He looked over to Ignis, his lips pulled into a mockery of an inquisitive smile. "I thought you said you weren't sleeping with my son, Ignis?" He tsked.

Tsked.

Ignis grabbed his now full wine glass and drank down until there was nothing left.

Ignis wasn't drunk yet, but he damn well would be soon.

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