Hello everyone, I hope you're all well and holding up alright. Unfortunately, I do not bring you a cheerful chapter (nobody dies or anything, no worries), but I still hope it's enjoyable!

This chapter deals with depression, so feel free to skip this one if you're not up for reading something like that.


Ignis sighed when he pulled up to the building and there wasn't any light in Noct's apartment yet.

He wasn't a morning person by any means; coffee usually did most of the work to make him appear presentable in the morning, and nearly a lifetime of having to get up at a time when most people were still sound asleep had done the rest. He was used to it, but it hadn't come to him naturally as it did to Gladio. The man, somehow, was able to jump out of bed at four in the morning perfectly cheerful and irritatingly talkative. Ignis could definitely not relate.

So it wasn't that he didn't understand Noct's aversion to the early hours of the day, because he did. He really did, but he still wished he didn't have to deal with a grumpy, irritable Noct almost every morning- provided he managed to rouse him at all without dumping a bucket of cold water over him.

Chugging the last of his coffee, he made his way to the elevator, nodding at the Crownsguard stationed at the entrance as he passed.

If the task of waking Noct didn't take too much time this morning, he might make pancakes to brighten Noct's morning a bit, he mused as he unlocked the door and let himself in.

"Noct, it's time to get up," he called, opening Noct's bedroom door and, to his utter surprise, finding Noct blinking up at him instead of being dead to the world like he normally was in the morning.

Quickly, he made his way over to the bed. "Noct, are you feeling alright?"

Putting his hand on Noct's forehead brought no answers to the strange behaviour; he didn't appear to be running a fever.

"If you get up in time, I'll make pancakes for breakfast," Ignis tried, since Noct evidently wasn't sick.

But Noct just curled in on himself and, in the smallest voice Ignis had ever heard from him, said, "I can't go to school today."

Ignis paused. "May I sit?"

When Noct didn't object, he sat down on the edge of the bed and rested his hand atop Noct's leg. "Is there anything you would like to talk about?"

Miserably, Noct shook his head. His eyes were dull and he seemed completely drained like he hadn't slept all night. "I just can't today. Please don't make me go."

Ignis' heart nearly broke when he finally understood.

He was well aware of other people's opinions, that they thought he had to be harder on Noct in order to prepare him for his future duties. He knew Gladio thought he was too soft with him, and he knew the only thing that kept Noct's teachers from punishing him for slacking off in school was the fact that he was the Prince.

But he also knew that the greatest mistake he could make at this moment would be to force Noct to get up, get dressed, and go to school this morning.

Noct wouldn't ask to stay home because of nothing. He might not be physically ill, but depression was an illness all the same. Far be it from Ignis to force him to do something for which he so clearly did not have the energy today.

"Very well," Ignis said, reaching out to brush his hand over Noct's hair very gently. "Rest. I'll work from here today if you don't mind. If you need anything, I'll be in the living room."

"Thanks," Noct whispered. He buried himself deep in his blanket and closed his eyes, but when Ignis was about to leave the room, he opened them again. "Can you… let Prompto know? I don't want him to worry."

"Of course," Ignis promised. He closed the door softly and went to set up a place to work on the table in the living room. Staying here meant having to cancel a few meetings as well as his own training today, but his duty was still first and foremost to tend to Noct, which was precisely what he would spend the day doing, whether people liked it or not.

As Noct wished, he also sent a message to Prompto informing him that Noct wasn't feeling well and would not be attending school today. Then, he put his phone away and got to work.

Occasionally, he'd glance at the closed bedroom door, wondering if Noct was doing alright. He was most likely asleep, though. It was a running joke among their group that Noct spent most of his days asleep, like a cat, but the truth was that he often had trouble sleeping. Especially when his depression was bad he'd spend hours and hours lying awake during the night and only be able to fall asleep in the early morning. And once he finally did fall asleep, he was unlikely to wake for the next ten to twelve hours.

Still, Ignis succumbed to the urge after two hours and checked in on Noct, cracking the door open just a bit to peer inside. Like he had thought, Noct was fast asleep with only a mop of black hair peeking out from under the blanket. He didn't stir at the sound of the door, so Ignis quietly left.

Back at the table, he checked his phone and saw that Prompto had replied, wishing Noct a speedy recovery and offering to drop by tomorrow if Noct wasn't feeling better by then.

As the day went on, Ignis slowly worked through his full email inbox, typed out a few new emails to the recording clerks of the meetings he had missed to ask for a transcript, and prepared his documents for upcoming meetings.

Around dinner time, he closed his laptop and pulled out his recipe book instead. Noct hadn't eaten in twenty-four hours, and Ignis had skipped lunch himself. Unintentionally, of course, but it was startlingly easy to forget about the time when one was immersed in their work.

He pushed aside half-empty takeout containers and pizza leftovers in the fridge, searching from the ingredients he'd need to make a rice bowl with chicken and egg. It was one of Noct's favourites, and it was classic comfort food. Perhaps it would even help Noct feel a bit better.

Upon mentally going through the steps of the dish and determining how much time he'd need, he decided to make a batch of the tarts Noct had eaten in Tenebrae all those years ago and that he still hadn't managed to get right even after countless tries. Noct might not be hungry enough to eat them today, but they were still lovely a day or two later so there would be no harm in making them.

When everything was ready, he carefully prepared a bowl for Noct - not too much, he wasn't likely to be very hungry - and took it to Noct's room on a tray along with a glass of water and a single pastry.

After he set the tray down on the nightstand, he reached for Noct's shoulder and shook him gently. "Noct? Noct, wake up. It's time for dinner. I made your favourite."

Beneath his hand, Noct stirred, groaning softly before he opened his eyes and blinked blearily at Ignis. "'M not hungry…"

"I know," Ignis said, "But please try to eat a little."

Noct looked at him like he was asking something impossible from him- and perhaps right now, it was.

"It doesn't have to be the whole plate," Ignis soothed. "Just as much as you can manage."

Finally, Noct nodded, not meeting Ignis' eye. "Okay. Thanks."

Ignis smiled, relieved. If Noct was going to try, that was already enough for him.

"You are most welcome."

He left Noct alone after that, giving him space instead of breathing down his neck to make sure he ate. It would accomplish nothing, he knew, even though he itched to take care of him, to ensure he was fed and to try everything he could to make him feel better. It was what Gladio affectionately called his 'mother hen instinct', and usually, he was not afraid to act on it if it meant his friends were taken care of. It had taken him some time to accept that there wasn't much he could to do make Noct feel better when he felt like this, though.

In silence, he ate his own portion of the food. When he bit into the pastry, he knew right away he had once again failed to recreate the recipe, even without Noct telling him so. His notebook came out, as did his pen, to add a note to the recipe and cross out another. Better luck next time.

Ignis washed the dishes, washed them again when he convinced himself they weren't clean yet, opened his laptop to answer a few more emails, sent a text to Cor to apologize for missing training. Finally, he deemed it long enough since he brought Noct his food and went back to the bedroom.

Unsurprisingly, Noct was asleep again. But when Ignis went to collect the tray, he found the bowl almost empty and the pastry was gone.

Relief pooled in his chest and he abandoned the tray for a moment in favour of leaning down and pressing a kiss to Noct's hair.

"Good night, Noct," he said softly. "I'll be on the couch if you need me."


I briefly considered doing something else with this prompt, but... FFXV gave us a canonically depressed character which I believe many of us can relate to. I think it's a really important side of Noct and I wanted to acknowledge it a bit. That said, I apologize if there are inaccuracies in this chapter. At this point, I'm pretty sure I have some form of depression myself, but I'm lucky enough to have never been at a point where it was impossible for me to get out of bed. Therefore, I have no first-hand experience for this, but since the chapter was from Ignis' perspective, it's more of an outsider's POV anyway. At any rate, I hope this was still enjoyable in some way. I know it's kind of a comfort for myself ^^

I wanna say the next chapter is gonna be happier, but it isn't really. The good news is that it's already written, though, so the wait shouldn't be long. That's something, right?

Big hugs to all of you, you're the best 3