Work Text:
It wasn’t unusual for Ignis to meet up with Prompto and Gladio to find them laughing over a website on their phone. He was always content with leaving them be as they discussed their silly articles or a quiz that they partook in.
As was the norm, Ignis returned alongside Noctis to their tent after procuring a hearty number of spices and dinner components. What wasn’t the norm, however, was the surreptitious glances Gladio and Prompto kept shooting himself and Noctis as they relaxed in their lounge chairs and flipped through some sort of gossip magazine.
“Oh, h-hey guys!” Prompto greeted a bit too cheerily, trying to close the magazine without looking completely obvious.
Not that seeming casual worked. Noctis went up to them as Ignis detoured to drop off their foodstuff. “What’s this?”
Gladio scratched the back of his head, looking slightly sheepish. “Er, weird stories about an Altissian ambassador with a consort.”
“It’s stupid and way boring,” Prompto chimed in.
Noctis held out his hand for the book. “Really? Let me see.”
Prompto then clutched the magazine to his stomach, as if that would stop Ignis’s now-growing curiosity as he joined the group.
Gladio shook his head, attempting to deter Noctis. “Nah, it’s not worth reading. We did get a new issue of Fishing Fanatics which is so much better.”
“Well, while Noct reads about fishing, I could dabble with this.” Ignis gestured for Prompto to hand over his scandalous book.
“No way! You hate this kind of stuff.”
While this was indeed true, whatever they were reading caused them to look at him and Noctis in the strangest way and this mystery he wanted to solve. Ignis glanced meaningfully at Noctis, then pretended to peer over Prompto’s head. “I do say, is that Cindy? How nice of her to drop by.”
Not only did Prompto’s head spin right around, but Gladio’s as well. Noctis flexed his supreme agility and snagged the magazine right out of Prompto’s hold, then turned around to read it.
The two lady lovers tried to snatch back the book, but Ignis shielded Noctis from their grabby hands and read over his shoulder.
Or more aptly, looked rather than read. A centerfold showed a clear image of Noctis and Ignis wearing identical pants, checking out their derrieres in mirrors at one of Altissia’s finer clothing shops.
“What the-?” Noctis sputtered. “Iggy, you dragged me into this store for your whimsical pants shopping and this is what we get?”
“ ‘Prince Noctis and his Lover Ignis Compete for Best Buttocks?’ ” Ignis read the title aloud.
Prompto and Gladio doubled over in chortles again.
The media certainly had their hooks in Noctis’s affairs. The two of them hadn’t been in that store for more than 20 minutes. Noctis hadn’t even been in those suavely slim trousers for more than a minute or so. Shame.
Noctis sighed in defeat and shoved the book into Ignis’s arms. He faced his friends with drooped shoulders. “I guess this is the price I pay for being royalty.”
Ignis slowly turned back around while still studying the photo, marveling at the curves that sleek fabric made on his companion’s backside. “Those pants were a wonderful find. The deep color, the fabulous cut. You should’ve bought them. Altissian clothing is incomparable when it comes to quality.”
The two loonies in their chairs laughed even harder, causing Ignis to glance up in confusion. The pink in Noctis’s face made him jab an elbow at Ignis’s ribs.
“W-what?” Ignis blinked.
Noctis huffed. “You’re staring at me like these lunatics do with Cindy. Stop it!”
Ignis shut the magazine, feeling warm. As His Highness wished.
Until Ignis found another chance to steal another look later, anyway.