Only a little over a week since the last chapter, whaaat. I'm on a ROLL babey (no honestly idk how this happened but I'm super glad about it so I'm not gonna complain).

This one ended up being more Ignis-centric than anything but it's still got some bois and the prompt is also technically filled so. We're still good.

Hope you enjoy, this one's sappy as hell but I certainly did enjoy myself with it and I like it a lot!

The chapter revolves around Ignis' shitty parents, but there's not any physical abuse nor does it go much into detail in general. Just a heads up.


"I think it's a bad idea," Noct said, eyes stubbornly on the floor.

In front of him, Ignis sighed, the kind of sigh that meant he thought Noct was being unreasonable and difficult, but in this case, Noct was absolutely convinced that Ignis was the unreasonable one.

"It'll just be a few days, Noct. I'll be back before you even know it. In my absence, Gladio will take you to school in my stead, and I've forbidden him from feeding you nothing but Cup Noodles all week, so you'll probably get to eat takeout every day."

It's not about that, Noct wanted to yell, did Ignis seriously think he was just worried he wasn't gonna be fed when he was away?

"Is your uncle going?" he asked instead, still refusing to meet Ignis' eyes.

"No." Another sigh. "He and my parents are… on bad terms."

Noct scoffed. "Yeah, because they treat you like shit."

"Noct-"

"Forget it."

Out of the corner of his eye, Noct saw Ignis stepping closer.

"Noct, please. I don't wish to part ways when you are angry with me."

The childish side of him almost made him want to remain stubborn so Ignis wouldn't go, but the pleading edge in Ignis' voice made it impossible not to give in to him.

"'M not mad at you," he muttered and closed the distance between them, pressing his face against Ignis' chest and wrapping his arms around his middle.

"I'm glad," Ignis said and easily folded him into a hug.

Don't go, Noct wanted to tell him, they don't deserve you, but all he managed was, "Drive safely."

Ignis laughed, soft and low, and pressed a kiss to Noct's hair.

"Always."


Going there had been a mistake, Ignis thought as he drove through the night, caffeine being the only thing keeping him awake. It wasn't terribly late yet, but it was already dark and he hadn't slept well the past few days, especially not at his parents' house.

Realistically, he knew he should've waited until the next morning to go home, but he couldn't stand the mere thought of spending even a minute more in his parents' house. It had only been two days, and he'd been meant to stay for nearly a week. But from the moment he'd walked through the door, he'd heard Noct's voice in his head, telling him what a bad idea this was, and his parents had seemed determined to prove him right.

Noct had been right, of course. Ignis was going to have to apologize to him.

Keeping his eye on the road, he pressed his thumb to his phone to unlock it and started dictating a message to Noct.

Coming home later tonight. Thought you'd want to know. Sleep well, and I'll see you tomorrow.

He hit send and then, just before he made to lock his phone again, he hesitated.

"Call Amantius Scientia."

His uncle picked up on the second ring.

And that was really the thing, wasn't it? Ignis had still been a child when he'd come to the Citadel, and a very young child at that. As such, he hadn't understood the implications of parents sending their four-year-old son to a foreign country to live with an uncle he'd never met before.

For months he'd waited for a phone call that never came, and after his uncle had tried to gently make him understand that it wouldn't come, he'd continued to hope in secret for many more years to come.

In his childish naivety, he'd tried to come up with reasons why his parents never called. They were busy, he'd reasoned, but then, so was his uncle, and yet he always made time for him. So perhaps the fees for calls outside the country were too high - never mind that his parents had more money than they knew what to do with. And once they'd fled Tenebrae and come to live in Lucis instead, and still they never called, he finally realised the truth, painful as it was.

The truth was that his parents didn't care for him, never had, and they were perfectly happy to gloat about their son who was to be the Lucian prince's advisor to anyone who asked or didn't ask, but they had no interest whatsoever in him as an actual person.

It was a truth he'd known for a long time, but he'd gotten careless - he'd let himself forget. But being back there, in that loveless house with those loveless people… It was a painful but necessary reminder that his real family was back home in Insomnia, waiting for his safe return.

"Uncle." His voice wavered, just slightly, but he had no doubts that his uncle had picked up on it right away. "I just wished to let you know that I'm currently on the way home. I should arrive in a few hours."

"At this hour?" Ignis could practically hear his uncle's frown over the phone. "What did they do?"

Ignis sighed. "Nothing."

It wasn't a lie, they hadn't done anything. But that was precisely the problem. They hadn't done anything, nothing that indicated that they were in any way happy to see their son, that they had missed him, that they were interested in his life. They might as well have been two strangers whose house he'd walked into by mistake - and for what it was worth, they were nothing more but strangers to him.

"Ignis."

"Really, Uncle, they haven't done anything. I'm… not sure what I was expecting when I agreed to visit, but I should have known better."

His uncle sighed, the original version of the very sigh Ignis had adopted himself and often used on Noct.

"None of that is your fault, I promise you this. They're simply terrible people who have never cared about anyone or anything but themselves, and I wish you had never been involved with them in the first place."

Ignis rubbed his temple with his right hand and reached for the can of ebony in the middle console, hoping that the caffeine would stave off his building headache, but found it devastatingly empty.

Cursing under his breath, he started to keep an eye out for a service station at which he could pull over and buy more coffee.

"This was the last time I've been involved with them in this lifetime," Ignis told his uncle quietly, like a confession. Perhaps it was, if not to his uncle, then certainly to himself.

"Now that's a sentiment I can agree with," his uncle laughed, the sound filling Ignis with warmth. Even when reduced to a tinny voice from a phone speaker, his uncle, who had never wanted or intended to have children, who people viewed as stuck-up and unapproachable, offered him so much more care and affection than his own parents.

If Ignis had any doubts left about his decision to cut his parents out of his life for good, his uncle's laugh washed them all away at once.

His uncle stayed with him on the phone for a while longer, until Ignis spotted a service station and pulled over, wishing his uncle a good night and promising to come see him the next day.

Noct had also replied to his message with a thumbs-up emoji, and had sent a second message to the group chat mere minutes later.

Noctis [20:49]: spontaneous hang out at my place, who's in

Prompto [20:52]: oooo sick should i bring anything? 👀

Noctis [20:53]: just your controllers

Prompto [20:53]: okidoki

Gladio [21:01]: Sure I'll bring the beer

Gladio [21:01]: Just kidding you punks ain't getting beer

Noctis [21:05]: Specs

Noctis [21:05]: you're coming right

Ignis smiled, touched by the unsubtle attempt to organise something to cheer him up.

Noct had been unhappy about Ignis going to see his parents from the moment he'd learnt about it. His concern had been sweet, but Ignis had tried his best to convince him that he needn't fret, he'd gotten over his parents' neglect years ago and he could handle facing them again.

Evidently, Ignis had been very wrong, and Noct had been right all along. Going to see them had been a mistake, but at least it wasn't a mistake he was going to make a second time.

You [21:38]: Of course. I'll join you in approximately two hours.

Noct [21:39]: ok

Noct[21:39]: drive safely


Two hours later, Ignis opened the door to Noct's apartment, exhausted and suffering an intense headache. He just wanted to sleep, but going back to his own, empty apartment after the emotional turmoil of dealing with his parents wasn't even an option. Not when his friends were right here, waiting for him even though it was the middle of the night and they surely had to be tired.

"I'm home," he called as he made his way to the living room, smiling when Noct scrambled up from the couch and into his waiting arms.

"Good to have you back," Noct muttered, pulling back to eye him critically. "You okay?"

Ignis looked at him, really looked, at the honest concern in his eyes despite his best attempts to conceal it.

Next, he looked at Gladio, sat on the couch next to Ignis' usual spot - which had been left empty for him - munching on a forkful of Cup Noodles and very pointedly not meeting Ignis' eyes.

He looked at Prompto who had jumped up and ran to the kitchen the moment he'd heard Ignis come home, who knew more of parental wounds than he cared to admit, pouring hot water over a bag of Ignis' favourite herbal tea into his favourite mug.

He thought about his uncle, his voice still clear in Ignis' head, supportive and kind, who had taken him in and raised him when his own parents hadn't wanted him.

He looked back at Noct, who still stuck as close to him as he could while still trying to not look like he was sticking close to Ignis.

Ignis smiled.

"I am now."


Amantius means "the loving" and I thought hey, that's very fitting considering the theme of this chapter (and this fic in general, we're all about love here!). So far I've tried to avoid having to name the dude, but now I kind of wanted a name for him. I also have a bunch of different interpretations of the relationship between Ignis and his uncle depending on the story - I can get behind his uncle being distant and not like a parental figure, and I've also liked fics in which he was a straight up asshole, but I've decided that Iggy really deserves all the love he can get so at least for this project's canon, his uncle loves him.

I've already got the next chapter written (since January, actually) so now I'm happy I get to post it soon, and then we're almost at 3/10 of the fic done!

As always, thank you so, so much for being here! I watch those hits go up and I am so hyped that people like this little self-indulgent project of mine and I hope to share it with y'all for a long time to come 3

Take care!