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1.
Something woke him up. Usually nothing could claim that victory– he could sleep through both hell and high water, if necessary– but nope, not hell and high water. Just Ignis. Noct squinted at him through the darkness, not really sure why he’d been woken up by him when he was sleeping but… no, wait. Ignis wasn’t usually so tense when he slept. Really, it was the only time he was totally relaxed, and as Noct’s eyes adjusted to the night casting shadows across their hotel room, he could see the crease between his eyebrows, pain lines Noct was all too familiar with himself.
“Ignis…?”
Ignis winced, lifting his head. “Noct, my apologies–”
“You sick?” he mumbled, reaching out a clumsy hand to sweep Ignis’s hair out of his face. His skin was warm, but then he’d been tucked into the blankets.
“No…”
“Got a migraine?”
It wasn’t the first time. It wouldn’t be the last.
Ignis sighed, a hiss of breath between clenched teeth. “So it seems,” he murmured. He looked miserable, and Noct could only barely see him in this dark. Gods, how long had he been laying there, suffering? And had he ever planned to wake him up– knew he wouldn’t, though. That was just how Ignis tried to deal with things. On his own. Which would be stupid if Noct didn’t try to do the same damn thing.
But Ignis always knew way ahead of time if Noct was under the weather. It wasn’t so easy to tell with Ignis. It was almost impossible, he thought, and struggled to untangle himself from the blankets in a way that didn’t further disturb Ignis.
It did, anyway. “Where are you going?”
“To get your meds.” At the look of mild surprise, Noct nodded to the nightstand. “If you’d already taken some, you’d have them on the table for the next dose.” He wasn’t usually so awake, so quickly, this early, but seeing Iggy look like that… when he was always the one put together so neatly, always in control… it had always prompted him to action, always. “And some water and a compress.”
“I can get–”
“‘s fine, I gotta pee anyway.”
He didn’t know if the noise Ignis made then was one of chastisement or amusement… or maybe it was just pain, restless movement rustling the blankets followed by a tiny, hushed moan.
“Just a sec, Specs.”
“‘m not going anywhere,” Ignis mumbled. The words were almost slurred into his pillow, and Noct dug a little more impatiently into Ignis’s bag.
His fingers were clumsy around the first aid kit, Ignis’s specialized migraine survival pack, they called it. He plucked the bottle of pain pills free and fumbled a pair of ear plugs with them. “I know it’s pretty quiet now, but once traffic starts going, or if the guys wake up.” He set the latter on the table and grabbed a bottle of water. “Here. Remember to drink, right?”
Ignis quirked a tiny, pained smile as he propped himself up. It looked painstaking, but he looked grateful as he took the water and pills from him. “Thank you, Noct,” he whispered, and Noct smiled a tiny, worried smile in return.
2.
Noct only hesitated a moment before raising a hand to the closed door. He gave a gentle tap of his knuckles against it, raising his voice just enough to be heard. “I’m coming in,” he warned softly. A couple seconds pause, long enough for him to collect himself if needed. No protest came. Noct carefully edged the door open to peek inside.
Ignis looked like hell.
He was pretty sure he thought that every time Iggy had a migraine, but, well, he always did.
“Ignis…”
“I’ll be fine, Noct…” The response was probably reflex, even as Ignis leaned back to rest his head against the cabinet. He sounded so halfhearted about it. Noct wouldn’t press him.
“Yeah.” He toed the door shut, carefully making his way over to him. “Know you will. Just checking on you now.” He plucked a plastic glass from the stack and filled it with some water. “Rinse?” He offered it down to him.
He was certain he wasn’t meant to hear the quiet moan in response, the one as Ignis’s trembling fingers took the glass to rinse and spit. He said nothing, instead crouching down next to him to offer a water bottle he’d grabbed on the way in. “You don’t wanna go back to bed?”
Ignis took a small drink, bracing the plastic against one of his knees. “Not just yet, I’m afraid.”
“Alright.” It was probably easier. Less moving around. Noct folded himself down next to him, taking in the little details he couldn’t across the room. Ignis was pale, shirt damp with sweat. His whole body was trembling minutely. But then puking did that to you.
“Noct, you don’t need–”
“I wanna keep you company for awhile. If that’s not gonna bother you? I know you might want privacy but I was worried…”
Ignis looked like he was smiling. Maybe just a little. “… you can stay, if you want,” he whispered, and swallowed down another mouthful of water.
Nodding, Noct settled himself in for the long haul.
When Ignis's head slumped against his shoulder as he started to doze off later, Noct’s smile was only half worried.
3.
For all their trouble, Ignis was still curled up in one of the oversized armchairs, a blanket around his shoulders. His knees, drawn up to his chest, and his hands were curled around a warm mug of sugar water. He’d earlier said the hotel coffee smelled like burnt rubber, and Noct knew they were in for a rough time. Ignis usually liked the robust blends, and this was the Leville. If he felt sick about the coffee, it was going to be terrible.
And Ignis wasn’t even in the thick of it, yet.
So, Noct was left wringing his hands in the most literal sense, watching Ignis shiver in silence until he couldn’t take it any longer. “You want another blanket? We’ve got another one, a better one, in the car…”
“I'm sure I'll be sweating in no time at all, Noct.” He smiled, a feeble thing in comparison to an Iggy who wasn't curled up in the armchair. “It'll pass.”
“Yeah, it’ll pass to something worse,” he mumbled, throwing himself down on the bed. “You still… feeling weird?”
“Does the coffee still smell like something that caught fire, you mean.” Wry, and weary. “It's not so uncommon, Noct, you know that.”
“You don't usually complain about the air conditioning humming. ”
“Things… prove a challenge to ignore, like this,” Ignis said hesitantly, and made a face when he sipped at his water.
“Like sugar water.”
“It's… sweet.” Ignis looked across the room at him. “I’m sorry, Noct, I'm being terrible company.”
“Mmm.” Of course he apologized. “You're about to have a migraine, Specs, I'm not here for conversation. Just… to help, I guess, although I'm not really…”
“Nonsense.” The whole conversation would help ease his concerns if they had both raised their voice from a whisper since Noct had followed him back to the room, but they hadn't. “You’ve done plenty.”
Did plenty mean drawing the curtains, turning off the air, making him sugar water and getting a blanket? And two of those things Ignis didn’t even like! Apparently the sugar water was too sweet even though Noct had been sure he hadn’t put too much in it, and although Ignis hadn’t said, he could tell he didn’t like the way the blanket felt against his skin by the way he pulled it away from the nape of his neck every so often. He wasn’t used to seeing Ignis so… hypersensitive about stuff like that. Nitpicking was more of a him and Prompto thing.
He was sure Ignis saw the look of disbelief he was throwing him, because, if nothing else, it produced a short, soft laugh. “Noct, r–really–”
Ignis was shaking from the cold. Noct pressed both hands into the mattress in preparation of getting up. “That’s it, I’m getting another blanke–”
From the chair, Ignis stilled. Fingers seized around the mug and his head tilted towards the door. From his seat on the bed, Noctis could hear Prompto and Gladio talking even as they walked down the hallway towards their room. He’d forgotten to text them Iggy was getting a migraine.
“Oh shit.” He propelled himself off the bed, ignoring the nearly imperceptible way Ignis flinched back from the movement. “Hang on, I’ll get them.”
He caught them outside the door, explaining in hushed tones what was happening. The others hadn’t been around there for all of Ignis’s migraines throughout his life, but they knew about them– had experienced a couple, in the past years. As far as Noct knew, Gladio’d always been the one to take care of Iggy when he’d been too stubborn to bow out during work at the Citadel. And Prompto was always overly careful when it came to Ignis’s comfort during those moments, putting his headphones in to play Kings Knight quietly until it passed.
So when they all filed into the room, Prompto giving a small wave and Gladio a hushed, halfhearted “should’ve told us, Iggy” chastisement, Noct caught the grateful look Ignis sent his way, and smiled faintly in reply.
4.
“Just lay down, Iggy.”
A muffled noise of protest.
“We can’t do anything ‘til they get out of there, and you need to be resting. And not worrying. They’ll be fine.” Having to bail on Gladio and Prompto in the dungeon was one of his least concerns right now. They’d assured them they’d be fine finding Cindy’s current objective on their own and sent him and Ignis back to the car.
Well, Ignis had tried to go alone. Like Noct was going to let that slide in any universe ever.
“So, c’mon. Here.” He swung his legs around into the backseat of the Regalia. Patting his thigh in invitation was a chance at levity… but he was also serious. “Lay down.”
“Noct.”
“I’m serious. I want you to rest.”
It was probably testament to how Iggy was feeling that he only stared at him for a moment longer. And then he gave in, movement against leather as he eased himself along the seat, and clenched his teeth to rest his head in Noctis’s lap. Yeah, he had to feel like shit or that he wouldn’t have let that slide without more protest.
“Happy, Noct?” It was little more than a mumble.
“Maybe.” He checked for a fever out of reflex, and reached up to pluck Ignis’s glasses from his face. “I’ll be happier when your pills kick in.”
Ignis made another noise, noncommental and tired. He folded his arm over his eyes and fell silent, and Noct took it as tacit declaration he would try to get some sleep. Maybe. Or not, seeing as how he’d thought he’d fallen asleep some time later and made to sweep a piece of hair away from his ear; Ignis made a noise of surprise and flinched so badly, it caused Noct to jump beneath him.
“Sorry, I thought… sorry.”
“No… ‘s nice.” He must have been dozing. He sounded groggy as hell, but Noct had other questions.
“What, your hair?” He tried to guess. “Playing with your hair?” To be fair, it was usually the quickest way to invoke his ire, messing with Iggy’s hair. Big no-no, but…
“Mmmhm.”
“Oh. Wait, how come I never knew that?” he asked, carefully messing with a few pieces to gauge his reaction.
Another vague noise, but Ignis didn’t flinch this time and Noct thought he sounded pleased. A chance to mess up Iggy’s hair without repercussion. Sacrificing style for comfort. Noct swallowed the laugh and set to very carefully combing his fingers through. “Stop me if I hurt you, yeah?”
It seemed Ignis wasn’t up to articulate speech. Another toneless hum, and then silence.
Iggy was asleep in no time, but Noct kept combing his fingers through his hair, anyway.
5.
He only just remembered he had the kitchen tap on, the sink this close to overflowing when he wrenched the handle. “Oh, son of a–”
“… Noct.”
The voice behind him made him flinch, heat rushing to his ears. “Ignis!” Why did he have to show up when something was going wrong? “Why are you up?” he asked, going over to steady him in the doorway. “You should be resting–”
“I’ve been resting,” Ignis interrupted. His voice was still thick with sleep. He licked his lips and let his eyes drag away from Noct, to the dirty dishes on the countertop. “… you didn’t wake me for dinner.”
“Uh, no, I figured you wouldn’t want to eat since you’re still nauseous coming off…”
“I didn’t make dinner,” Ignis clarified.
Yeah, as though you could’ve, Noct wanted to say, overly critical of the way Ignis was half slumped in the doorway, still unable to keep himself upright. He didn’t, though. “We can manage now and then, Specs, no worries.”
“Dishes…”
“Go back to sleep, Ignis,” he interrupted, squeezing the arm he was still holding onto. “Come on, you look like shit, you don’t have to pretend for us.”
“Evidently I’m not being convincing enough,” Ignis murmured, and gave a languorous smile.
“Yeah.” Noct slid his hand to his elbow, gently nudging him back towards the bed. “What’d you want, anyway? Need something?”
He shook his head slightly. “I don’t know. Slipped my mind.”
“Ignis…”
“I’ll remember later.”
“You don’t need to check up on me, I’m doing that to you.” It was a hard-won argument. One Noctis thought he never really did win. But Ignis always slept like the dead after a migraine, waking confused and only half aware until it passed. Ignis said it was like a hangover, aching and uncomfortable and tired. So he didn’t need to be out of bed, that was simple.
“Yes… thank you, Noct.” His smile was just as mindless, and Noct helped him get settled back into bed. “Always so kind.”
Privately, Noctis thought it was less like a hangover than it was Iggy acting a little drunk, but he didn’t know what he was feeling. Only how he acted. Besides, he wouldn’t mention it anyway. Teasing him when he was like this wasn’t fair. “Not sure about that,” he said, pulling the blanket over Ignis’s shoulder.
“You are,” Ignis said sternly. “You’ve always been generous, Noct.”
“Ooookay, let’s not talk about me,” he interrupted, smoothing Ignis’s hair out of his face. “Let’s not talk at all, okay? Because you need to sleep some more.”
Ignis sighed, but turned his head into his pillow again. “Seems that’s all I’m doing lately.”
“Well, you deserve a day off.”
Ignis laughed once. His eyes were already closed, and Noct shook his head fondly as he turned away. It was easy to be exasperated, but he was just glad that the worst had passed.
+ 1
He’d like to think, after all this time, he’d be good at handling this sort of thing. Pain was an old friend. And still he was curled up in bed, curled around a pillow and unable to stop a few tears from falling.
The touch to his shoulder came as a surprise, even though it shouldn’t have. He barely heard the intake of breath over his own moan, but Ignis spoke a moment later anyway.
“Medication, Noct.”
“You know it’s not going to help!” he snapped. His fingers seized around the pillow. He forced himself to take a breath. “Sorry.”
“Quite alright.” His hand hadn’t left his shoulder. “Nevertheless, you should still try to take a dose.”
Probably, Iggy knew as well as he did that pills probably weren’t going to help something caused by Titan himself. Still, Noct was aching and in pain, tired of pictures flashing beneath his eyelids. It was made even more frustrating by his lack of ability to handle it.
“Right…” he mumbled, relinquishing where he’d buried his face. Rolling over seemed like too much hassle, and sitting up made him feel dizzy. God, he wanted this to go. “Thanks…” he said, after swallowing the offered medication and a gulp of water. “‘ppreciate it…”
He missed Ignis’s reply for dropping himself back onto the bed, throwing his arms over his face. It was miserable. He was miserable. Fuck, why him even if he knew why him.
Sleeping like this was near impossible, but he wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to be doing when he could barely keep himself upright. And it just came on with no warning. He’d broken a mug when this one’d come on, the pain sending the glass slipping through numb fingers as he’d half curled into himself. Ignis’d been there before Noct could even know when he’d gotten there, of course, helped him over to bed, but… yeah, nothing for it.
He just hurt so damn bad. What a shock.
“Noct.”
“Mmm?”
A light tap to his elbow. “Move your arms?”
His response was a groan, but he gave in anyway. It was too much effort to argue. He didn’t want to, anyway.
The cold against his forehead made him flinch, before his groggy brain could come up with it was a wet cloth, wrung damp, blissfully cold and held firmly against his skin by Ignis. “What…” The protest died in his throat. It almost felt nice.
“I’m not sure it’ll be of much help…” Ignis started uncertainly, but Noct was quick to interrupt.
“No,” he said, reaching up to touch the compress. He found Ignis’s hand instead, still there, but didn’t mind. It didn’t matter. “Feels good. I think.”
Ignis’s responding noise was pleased, and followed by “I’ll swap it out when it gets warm, then.” His hand receded, and Noct held very still as to not dislodge the compress.
It kinda reminded him, though.
“D’you feel like this when you get migraines…?” he mumbled, keeping his eyes closed. All those headaches… ones that made Iggy so not like Iggy… God, he’d been clueless.
“I couldn’t say.” Ignis took his seat next to the bed again. “Probably not, though. My migraines don’t come from the gods themselves.”
“You’re always in so much pain, though… I don’t even have… aura, or… sensitivity… whatever…” Maybe they weren’t from the Astrals, but Ignis might even have it worse than him. “Don’t think I ever–” he sucked in a breath, aching, a hiss muffled through clenched teeth “– understood.”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t have to.” Ignis’s hands were back, smoothing the blankets and his hair away from his face. “Besides, I’m not certain the two are comparable. Right now, you’re in pain–”
“– and you can do even less for me than what I can do for you,” he finished pathetically, and practically heard the disapproval radiating off Ignis. It was true, though.
“I can try,” Ignis said, and Noct gave a tiny smile. He was stubborn. He guessed he got the same way when it was Ignis confined to bed in pain, too. “Fortunately, I’ve experience in treating headaches.”
“Fortunately…” It was almost funny, the words Ignis chose. As if either of them were fortunate when it came to these kinds of things, he guessed.
“You know what I mean.” Ignis stood. “I can do for you what you do for me. It’s time to pay the piper, so to speak.”
He was joking, Noctis knew. The tone and the words. And nevermind the fact Ignis did way more for him than he could ever do for Ignis, but he couldn’t articulate that through another spike of pain. He’d been intending to laugh. He wanted to cry.
The compress fell off when he rolled over onto his side. Ignis dutifully repositioned it, moving it to rest over a temple instead.
“Noct.”
Ignis’s hand gently nudged at his own. For a moment, Noct was uncertain, thought processes muddled with pain. And then he reached out and grabbed ahold of Ignis’s hand, holding on as tightly as he dared.
Ignis said nothing else, and Noct tried to force himself to relax.