Chapter Text
Noctis sighed heavily as he exited the library, his bag heavy with a bunch of books he had borrowed. He could simply have ordered and paid for them without a problem, but he liked libraries for some reason. And having them on a limited time also made it more likely that he’d read them and not just have them piling up on his desk, waiting to be opened up.
At least that was Noctis’ theory, but after about three years of attempts it hadn’t really proved to work that well. Some would probably say that his theory had been falsified at this point, but one could always hope.
Noctis was just about to head over the street when he spotted the Regalia, his father’s old car, parked further down on the road. He couldn’t help grimacing even if it wasn’t a single bit surprising, but for a while he had almost thought that he hadn’t been under watch during the day. Noctis should have known better, though. His father insisted on Noctis having bodyguards around at all times, after all.
Being the son of a yakuza-member was certainly not the easiest life. Especially not when the parent was a boss.
Regis Lucis Caelum was not just the head of one clan, he was the one in charge over the entire Caelum syndicate. It was a family with many branches and many clans underneath it, its power well known to everyone. Regis was a very powerful man, and powerful men usually had enemies. Noctis was painfully aware of that, having been part of it for his entire life.
An unwilling part, if he was being honest. But Regis was trying his best to give Noctis the life he wanted. Just to be normal. But ever since the attack when he was eight years old, and he almost got kidnapped, his father had gotten very strict about his security.
It had been hard, and still was. But at least Noctis considered his main bodyguards his friends.
After observing the car for a while, Noctis sighed once more and headed up to it, tapping the window and waiting for it to be lowered. He leaned down and looked inside.
“You know, if you’re trying to be discreet… it’s not really working,” Noctis drawled and tilted his head to the side, “You could just drive up to me, Specs.”
Ignis sighed and pushed his glasses up a bit as he looked over at Noctis.
“I am aware that I wasn’t being particularly inconspicuous, but I do not necessarily want to disrupt your daily life,” he said, letting his hands fall to the steering wheel again, “You know that, Noct.”
“You are kinda part of my daily life,” Noctis muttered as he finally gave in and opened the car door, sitting down in the passenger’s seat, “Might as well drive me back home if you’re gonna trail me, huh?”
“Well, if that is what you want.”
“Yeah,” Noctis murmured and looked out of the window. It was actually a nice day for a walk, but he was honestly not in the mood for it. He felt tired anyway. Really tired.
Ignis started the engine, but before he started driving he frowned and looked over at Noctis. He was worried about him. It wasn’t something new, though; Ignis had worried pretty much ever since he had been assigned as one of Noctis’ bodyguards.
It had been about four years soon, he realized. His job was to protect Noctis with his life, along with Gladiolus Amicitia. Over the years Ignis had become a bit more of a caretaker, too. Not because Regis had assigned him that particular task, but because Ignis himself wanted to.
Someone had to look after Noctis since he was doing quite a poor job of it himself, so Ignis was left making sure the young man ate and slept at somewhat proper times. Gladio used to tell Ignis that he was babying Noctis, and maybe he was right. But he hadn’t seen Noctis the same way Ignis had.
“Home, was it?” Ignis asked once he forced himself to stop looking at Noctis, “Any stops?”
“Just home,” Noctis said tiredly, “But can you take the road by the water?”
“Of course,” Ignis nodded as he looked in the rear-view mirror before driving out onto the road again, “Feeling scenic today?”
“The weather is nice today,” Noctis commented, as if that confirmed it, “I like seeing the sky reflected in the water. It’s relaxing.”
“No fishing?”
“Nah,” Noctis shook his head, “Not feeling up to it today.”
“Thank God,” Ignis let out a sigh of relief, “Last time I joined you I could hardly get the smell of fish out of my clothes. Fresh fish is great for cooking, but I prefer buying it packaged.”
Noctis snorted as he looked over at Ignis. He remembered that very well. Ignis had tried to not complain or show his dislike, but the look of disgust on his face had said it all. Ignis was definitely not much of an outdoor man, but he’d dutifully follow Noctis if he headed out.
“No one forced you to help me, you could just have watched.”
“That would have been quite rude.”
“For being a yakuza bodyguard you are surprisingly squeamish,” Noctis said teasingly, which only earned him an eyeroll from Ignis, “I’ll take Gladio next time I want to fish, since he actually enjoys the outdoors. Swear he could move out there… if there’s someone who’d make it in the wild, it’s him.”
Ignis chuckled as he thought of it, and Noctis was probably right. Gladio seemed to be the kind of person who could be thrown into any situation and survive. Which probably was why Regis had picked him out as Noctis' main bodyguard. He was to make sure that Noctis was safe and unharmed. Of course that was also part of Ignis’ job, but Gladio was the main muscle and had been protecting Noctis at least one year longer. And two bodyguards were safer than one, too. There were others too, of course. Just no one working as close to Noctis as Ignis and Gladio were.
“So, how was your day?”
Noctis shrugged as he rested his head against the palm of his hand, gaze still stuck on the horizon as they got closer to the lake.
“Same old,” he murmured, “I went to my lectures, stayed at the library, picked out some books…”
“Interesting?”
Noctis turned to look at Ignis, a blank expression on his face.
“Ah yes, economy and finances lights a fire within me like nothing else does.”
“You are not required to study those classes, are you?” Ignis asked with a raised eyebrow, briefly glancing at Noctis before focusing on the road again, “I believe your father was very open to you doing what you want to do. If it bores you that much, you could stop.”
Noctis sighed and looked out the window again. Ignis was right, Noctis wasn’t exactly required to study anything specific related to the business. Regis just wanted Noctis to be happy and do what he enjoyed.
The main issue was that Noctis himself hardly knew what he enjoyed in life. Perhaps it was related to having lived under such extreme protection. He hardly had any friends overlooking Ignis and Gladio.
Well, there was Iris, too. But they didn’t have all that much in common except knowing Gladio. She was nice, though, he had to admit that. And then there was Luna, a childhood friend, but they only kept in touch through mail and hadn’t seen each other since Noctis was 12.
The fact that his only real friends were his two closest bodyguards was perhaps a bit tragic, too. Even going to university hadn’t earned him any friends. Probably because Noctis was both shy and awkward. And quite introverted, as Ignis had put it once. People had tried to start conversations with him, but he was pretty awful at making small talk so in the end he spent most of his time in school on his own. As well as home, unless Ignis or Gladio were around.
“Yeah… Dad doesn’t really care if I don’t wanna study things that could be of use to… you know, the family,” Noctis said after a while and sighed. He felt a bit at ease as he looked at the water, “I could drop out. But I don’t really know what to do then…”
“Study something else? Work?”
“Where?” Noctis grimaced, “I don’t want work from Dad.”
“Your father is in charge of many legitimate businesses, Noct,” Ignis pointed out, even if they both knew that many of those businesses simply were covers for illegal activities, “You are aware of that, right?”
“Of course I am,” Noctis sighed, “That’s why I figured taking some courses in business would do some good…”
“Yet you do not want to work for him?” Ignis asked with a raised eyebrow, “Noct, that makes no sense at all.”
“Can we not talk about this right now?” Noctis complained after a while and crossed his arms, “I’m tired, and thinking about the future just gives me a headache.”
“Ah, of course,” Ignis said, “I apologize.”
“Don’t,” Noctis simply said before he leaned his head against the window, looking out. He knew Ignis just meant well. He always had Noctis’ best in mind, which made it impossible for him to get seriously annoyed at Ignis.
The lake was slowly disappearing out of view, making him feel a bit sour again. Ignis seemed to sense it, and they spent the rest of the ride in silence.
As they arrived at Noctis’ apartment, Gladio was standing outside the door, greeting them with a grin on his face. It did however fall a bit as he took a good look at Noctis, who didn’t seem to look very happy. In fact, he looked pretty miserable.
“Hey, took you long enough.”
“You can enter, you know,” Noctis said as he dug out his keycard from a pocket, “You both have keyscards to my apartment, right?”
“You don’t always want us around,” Gladio commented with a shrug, “Privacy and all that. You letting us in or do you want alone time?”
Noctis shrugged as he unlocked the door and stepped inside, dropping his bag of books in the hallway before getting his shoes off and wandering in, but he did not close the door.
Ignis and Gladio exchanged a look before stepping inside after Noctis. If he didn’t explicitly say no, it usually meant he was fine with them doing whatever they wanted in his apartment. For Ignis that usually meant cooking something, or tidying up after Noctis. The apartment would probably be buried in trash if Ignis didn’t regularly clean up.
Gladio still thought Ignis was doing too much for Noctis, spoiling him. But Ignis refused to budge whenever Gladio told him to stop babying Noctis, so in the end he had just settled for mostly silently disagreeing. Not that it was his job to decide over Ignis. And doing those chores was one way to pass the time. Gladio usually settled down on the couch and read a bit. Or watched TV. He’d never start cleaning up after Noctis as if he was some damned housemaid. But each to their own.
If Noctis felt up to it, they’d all sometimes come together and watch some stupid show or movie. Or play that popular game, King’s Knight. But those times had been less and less frequent lately, as Noctis spent more and more time in his room on his own.
Today was definitely one of those days since Noctis was heading for his room right away.
“Noct, are you hungry?” Ignis called, making Noctis stop just as he was about to step into his bedroom.
“Not really, no.”
“Are you sure?” Ignis prodded, obviously concerned about Noctis’ lack of appetite, “I could make something.”
“Feel free to use whatever is in the kitchen for you or Gladio,” Noctis shrugged, “But I’m fine. I can make something later.”
With that, Noctis slipped into his bedroom and closed the door. The clicking noise they heard afterwards was a clear indication that he had locked the door.
Gladio sighed and shook his head, looking from the door over to Ignis.
“Has he been that broody all day?”
“From what I have seen, yes,” Ignis murmured and crossed his arms as he leaned against a kitchen counter, “I must admit I’m quite concerned.”
Gladio could only agree with Ignis. That Noctis was broody and tired wasn’t exactly news, but lately he had been even more mellow than usual. And he spent a lot of time sleeping. More time than any normal human would need to sleep. If he even was sleeping, maybe he just liked lying in bed and staring up at the ceiling. Gladio couldn’t be sure about that unless he went into Noctis’ room, and that was stepping over a line unless given permission to enter. Unless you were Ignis. He seemed to have a free pass sometimes.
“You know,” Gladio began and sighed, “...teenagers.”
“This strikes me as something different from your ordinary broody teenage phase,” Ignis said as he pushed himself away from the counter, opening up a couple of mostly empty cupboards, Gladio could see the look of disapproval on Ignis’ face, “And he’s 19, Gladio. It’s something else, you know it.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to think of reasons why sleeping beauty would be so mopey,” Gladio held up his hands in defense, “No need to get snappy.”
“I apologize,” Ignis murmured and turned to look at him, “I did not intend to come off as harsh towards you. I’m simply frustrated.”
“Yeah, well… we both are,” Gladio sighed heavily and shook his head, staring over at the door to Noctis’ bedroom, hoping the other wasn’t hearing them, “I know it ain’t part of our jobs, but shouldn’t Regis know about this?”
“And risk Noctis shutting us out completely?” Ignis asked, and Gladio realized that he had a good point; right now Noctis trusted them, and it seemed to be one of those things that didn’t come easily to Noctis, “I’d rather not compromise the trust we’ve built up with him these past years.”
Of course Ignis was right. He was usually right, thinking one step ahead. If they told Regis that his son was spending most of his days locked into his room, he’d surely be worried. And one thing Noctis loathed was to worry his father and cause him more stress. Regis was more than busy being the head of the family, even with Cor running a lot of things for him.
“So… how you been doing?” Gladio asked after a while, realizing the previous topic was a huge downer on both of them since they couldn’t do anything about Noctis’ state, “Haven’t seen you for a couple of days.”
“Oh, just fine,” Ignis murmured as he started looking through Noctis’ freezer, grabbing some fish that Noctis had caught on his own, “Just been looking after Noct as usual, and dealt with some paperwork.”
“Nothing exciting on your free time?”
“Not really, no,” Ignis snorted and glanced over at Gladio again, “And you? I’d be surprised if you did not have a story to tell.”
“You know me,” Gladio chuckled as he got up and moved over to the kitchen table, sitting down there so he was a bit closer to Ignis, “Found a new bar that was pretty great. You should come sometime.”
“I might be coerced to join if you buy me a drink,” Ignis said with a smirk on his face, “Perhaps.”
“Oh drinks would be on me all night,” Gladio grinned, “Trust me on that. It was a long time since we hung out after work, you know?”
“We do see each other almost every day, Gladio.”
It was true. Their shifts overlapped a lot since Noctis liked the two of them, and Regis thought that the more security, the better. Also, Noctis refused to let any other bodyguards nearly as close as them. So in case of emergency the ones watching from a distance wouldn’t be as good protection as Ignis and Gladio were. So they really did spent a lot of time together, but work hours was different from free time.
“But not outside of work,” Gladio said with a shrug, “Could be nice to go out and relax a bit, right?”
“It was a long time since I did go out…” Ignis mused as he filled a pot with water and broth, “I think it was the last time you dragged me out.”
“That’s a year ago, Iggy!”
“Hm, really? Time sure does fly.”
“Jesus fucking Christ…” Gladio sighed and shook his head, not able to just keep his thoughts to himself, “You spend way too much time around Noct, Iggy. Don’t get me wrong, I also love the brat, but you’re taking it to a different level.”
Ignis just sent a mild glare towards Gladio, “Remember last time we had this conversation?”
Gladio did remember last time they had had that conversation. It was crystal clear in his mind, and it had ended with Ignis refusing to speak to him for almost three days. After that, Gladio had learned to simply accept the fact that Ignis was going to devote more than his work hours to look after Noctis.
Considering how things looked now, Gladio couldn’t really say that Noctis didn’t need someone to look after him, though. But he still firmly believed that Ignis was taking it too far with the coddling. The argument they'd had last time he brought it up was still fresh in his mind.
“Damn, you gotta let him deal with this shit on his own. You’re not his mother, Ignis!”
“Obviously I am not his mother, she has been dead since he was one.”
“He has a living father, you know that he -,”
“You know very well that Regis is a very busy man. There is no doubt he loves Noctis with all his heart, but do you remember the last time he had time to speak to him? I believe last time was a month ago.”
“But still, it’s not your goddamned job to be his fucking babysitter!”
“Noctis desperately needs someone to look after him, Gladiolus, and I’d be damned if I just sit by and watch him struggle on his own when I can do something to make his life a bit less miserable!”
Ignis had even slammed a hand into the table, hard, and that had been the end of that argument. And any conversation Gladio had attempted to start after that had been met with silence.
Gladio was smart enough to not take it that far again. He obviously couldn’t control Ignis life, and the guy had made up his mind and wouldn’t listen to anything negative Gladio had to say about it.
The last thing Gladio wanted was to receive the silent treatment again. The fact that they couldn't avoid each other due to work had made it even more torturous. In the end it had been Noctis who had gotten them to talk again, by questioning their weird behavior around each other.
“I’m making soup,” Ignis commented after a while as he started to prepare the fish, “Are you hungry?”
“Sure,” Gladio shrugged, if Ignis was cooking it was stupid to pass up on it, “Just grabbed a light lunch earlier.”
“Then I’ll make enough for the two of us… and some for Noctis.”
“Good luck getting him to eat it.”
“Well,” Ignis shrugged, “I can leave some in the fridge.”
“Or we could grab a funnel and just pour it down his throat. I’ll hold him, you pour. He won't stand a chance.”
It made Ignis let out a laugh as he shook his head and kept preparing the soup, but he didn’t comment.
But just hearing him laugh was enough for Gladio. It really was one of the best things in the world.