Chapter Text
The days had been gloomy and Ignis knew that Noctis was feeling it. Winter could be a hard time for the teen. Cold, dark days that most often were not accompanied by snow. Snow was good. It didn’t matter if the ground was covered or if it was just some flakes coming from the sky, it always made Noctis smile.
Insomnia was currently working on its fifth grey day without any snow and with each passing day, Noctis fell farther into himself. Ignis had asked him once, what it was like, but Noctis had trouble finding the right words.
“It’s kind of like someone putting their hand in my chest and squeezing my heart, making it hard to breathe.” He knew that it didn’t make sense, but that was the best he could do to describe the feeling.
Ignis sighed. He wished there was something that he could do to help his friend, but he didn’t know what. He’d already tried all his usual tricks, but none of them stuck. They didn’t even stick as long as they usually did. The best way he could get Noctis to forget his troubles for a bit was to get him into a video game, but it was getting harder and harder to convince the prince to turn on the machine.
He was lost in thought as he made his usual walk from the grocery to Noctis’s apartment when a particularly brutal gust of wind pushed its way through the city street. Ignis was quick to sidestep into an alley to wait out the wind when he heard a small sneeze behind him.
Turning, he glanced around the alley to find the source of the sound. Another sneeze made a small box shudder and Ignis found the culprit.
A black kitten was wrinkling its nose as if it was going to sneeze a third time but didn’t in the end. It looked up at Ignis warily but didn’t seem afraid.
“Hello there,” Ignis said, carefully putting his hand out so the kitten could sniff it. “Is this your home?”
Ignis looked at the box and the surrounding area. The box did have a raggedy blanket on the inside and after a quick glance, he found part of a flyer that indicated the kitten had siblings that were free to a good home. Black cats weren’t especially popular, some seemed to think they were a sign of bad luck, so Ignis assumed it had been left to fend for itself. It looked like it could use a friend and Ignis knew just the friend for it.
“Come now,” Ignis encouraged the little animal and soon he was holding the kitten in his hand. It wasn’t extremely small, perhaps a few months old, and it wasn’t to the point of starving but Ignis could easily feel its little ribs.
Making sure the kitten was secure in his hand, Ignis gathered up his shopping and finished the walk to Noctis’s.
~*~*~*~*~
Noctis had cocooned himself in several blankets and had resigned himself to watching whatever trash tv had started because he was too lazy to find the remote. Besides the apartment was cold and he had just gotten comfortable.
Then there was a knock on the door. Noctis glanced at the time and knew that it would be Ignis, so he didn’t move. But the knocking continued and continued until Noctis yelled “I’M COMING!” as he angrily broke his cocoon and stomped over to the door.
He was nonplussed to see Ignis on the other side.
“Apologies, Noct, but my hands are full,” Ignis said, correctly reading the look on his face. “Would you mind?”
He would mind, actually, but Noctis didn’t have the energy to be an ass. Instead, he looked down to where Ignis was pushing out his interlocked arms and saw two very bright yellow eyes watching him.
His face instantly softened. “Who’s this?” Noctis asked as he gently plucked the kitten from Ignis’s arms.
“I don’t know,” Ignis answered. He moved towards the kitchen while Noctis took the kitten to the sofa. “I found it in an alley and I believe it suffers the black cat curse as it was the only one left in a box once full of kittens.”
“Poor thing,” Noctis cooed.
“Will you be alright for a little while so that I can go get it some necessities?” Ignis asked.
“Yeah,” Noctis smiled.
~*~*~*~*~
By the time Ignis returned to the apartment, Noctis was sitting on the floor dangling a string in front of the kitten’s face and watching it chase it around. And he was laughing. It had been far too long since Ignis had heard Noctis laugh so purely.
“I could get used to that,” Ignis said. He’d meant for it to be internal dialogue but somehow it escaped his lips.
“What? Me playing with a kitten?”
“You laughing.”
There was a blush on Noctis’s cheeks that made Ignis feel warm inside. He decided he should busy himself with setting the kitten up and hope that there wasn’t a blush on his own cheeks.
After a few minutes, the kitten had food, water, and litter set up for it. It was quite happy to drink some water and munch on some food. It sniffed at the litter and Ignis hoped that it knew the function for litter. Only time would tell.
With the kitten taken care of, it was time to take care of the people. Ignis busied himself in the kitchen while Noctis played; laughing and smiling the entire time. They ate to the kitten trying to play with their toes and Noctis insisted that he did the dishes so that Ignis could relax. Ignis wanted to refuse but Noctis pushed him onto the couch and told him to stay.
“Watch a movie before you leave?” Noctis asked as he joined Ignis on the sofa.
“I’d love to.” The responsibilities he had could wait a night. Noctis was in the first good mood he’d seen since the start of winter and he wanted to bask in it.
He was surprised when Noctis disassembled his blanket nest so that he could grab the softest one and toss it over Ignis’s legs. He was then pleasantly surprised when Noctis joined him under the blanket, curling into his side. It wasn’t long before their new friend clawed its way into the small space between them to curl up and sleep.
“Thanks, Iggy,” Noctis said quietly. “Thank you for bringing me Ebony.”
“Ebony?” Ignis queried, looking between prince and cat.
“Yeah, you have your pick-me-up and now I have mine.”
“Ebony,” Ignis repeated before daring to lean down just enough to plant a kiss on Noctis’s head. The prince said nothing but that sweet blush was back and a smiled played on his lips. “Ebony.”