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He knew it was irrational, but Ignis couldn’t help it when his fingers clenched on the steering wheel.
The focus of his ire was curled up in the passenger seat of the Regalia, sleeping with Noctis’ jacket around his shoulders. His blonde hair was unstyled, and his cheeks were slightly flushed despite the cold window one was pressed against. He would shift in his sleep every few minutes, clearly having difficulty with getting comfortable.
Fucking Prompto.
Despite how Ignis had thought that the King would have reacted to his son’s best friend being an omega, and a male one at that, it hadn’t been a problem. In fact, the King was delighted that an omega had been found that Noctis could actually bear standing more than five minutes with – especially with his marriage to Lunafreya on the horizon.
Ignis wasn’t entirely sure why he’d been surprised, either. All of Eos knew that their fair oracle was an alpha, and they also knew that an alpha-alpha marriage could never produce children. Uniting the kingdoms would be futile if there was no heir to inherit both thrones. It made sense that Prompto could act as a proxy, produce an heir for both family lines, and the resulting siblings would mean that war was unlikely to break out between the kingdoms as long as they lived. Lunafreya and Noctis had seemed delighted at that arrangement, with Noctis far more eager to jump into bed with Prompto than any woman that had been suggested at any point, and Lunafreya just happy to meet Pryna’s saviour after these years. Prompto, of course, had accepted happily with few questions asked.
Ignis couldn’t help but bear a bit of resentment though. He and Gladio had trained since childhood to look after Noctis, to care for Noctis, to make sure that Lucis had a king they could be proud of. Endless hours had been spent in etiquette lessons, learning which fork was for which course, how to pristinely fold the corners of sheets in the royal bed, how to properly dress the prince in every formal raiment possible…
And yet, through the dumb luck of his biology, Prompto was going to get perhaps the most coveted position in Eos. He’d already wormed his way into Noctis’ heart, and could make him laugh like Ignis never could, make him relax like Ignis never could, calm him down like Ignis never could. He made his job harder in fact – before meeting Prompto, Noctis rarely deviated from his schedule, but with Prompto it wasn’t unusual to find him passed out on the couch until late afternoon, greasy stains from their pizza fuelled video game all nighter on the cushions.
Ignis had to be perfect at every moment, always ready to deal with any situation that may arise, but Prompto could lounge over the seats of the Regalia in his pyjamas – no, Noctis’ sweats, and a shirt belonging to Gladio, now he thought about it – and it was completely fine.
There was no way it would bother the two alphas in the back of the car. Both of them had babied Prompto when he’d woken up miserable with pre-heat cramps and nausea this morning. Gladio had carried him to the front seat, and Noctis had set him up with a heating pad and his jacket, and repeatedly got muddy footprints over the floor of the Regalia when he’d leaned over to check on the blonde during the drive. The biggest problem they’d have is when Prompto finally hit his heat, and they’d both have to stay out of the same room as him for two days. They’d be happy enough to dote on him again as his hormones faded though, no doubt, despite the time that the heat had lost them.
Ignis thought that maybe it was his own feeling of inadequacy, perhaps. He was – for lack of a better word – broken. He’d not presented at all; no rut like an Alpha, no heats like an omega, and yet the confirmation tests for Betas had come back negative. His parents were an alpha and an omega, so there was no narrowing down which he’d fall into based on that either.
He’d gone to the best secondary gender specialists in Insomnia, and all had said there was little more to do than wait, that they’d seen secondary genders emerging as late as people’s thirties, and to cut certain hormone blocking substances out of his diet. One had even added that there was no need for him to worry about birth control now, not until he presented, and it had taken all of Ignis’ restraint to not cause a scene.
He’d done everything they’d suggested, and still, he was seeing nothing. He’d even budgeted a few gil every three months month to pick up a beta confirmatory test, usually when Prompto’s heats hit and Noctis and Gladio were sleeping drunk on his scent outside his room. Big fat negatives every time. For now he’d told the other three that he was a beta, since it was better than leaving this embarrassing secret of his ripe to be exposed. He had no ruts, no heats, and no real scent, so none of them would question it.
Prompto however – as Ignis had the pleasureof hearing during a council meeting about the blonde’s fertility results when arranging him as a proxy, due to his biological parentage being unknown – had apparently come into his second gender bang on sixteen, with heats like clockwork. The doctor that had briefed them had marvelled at his perfect hormone levels, the malleability of his pelvis, the textbook perfection of his anatomy. Almost like he’d been fashioned exactly according to an omega ideal, one of the council members had remarked. Not only was he a rare, male omega, who’d stolen Noctis’ heart, he was a fucking perfect proxy as well.
“When are we getting there, Iggy?” asked Gladio, snapping Ignis out of his thoughts. A glance at him with the rear view mirror showed that the man hadn’t looked up from his book, despite Noctis’ head now being on his shoulder as he slept.
“Not soon enough, I’m sure,” sighed Ignis, glancing at the GPS on his phone. He was grateful that he hadn’t missed a turning while he was deep in his thoughts. “Lestallum is another hour and a half away, and we both know a motel isn’t best for this sort of thing. The Leville is more suitable.”
“Hey, I’m not complaining,” said Gladio, keeping his eyes on his book. “Just needed to know if I’m good to let Princess sleep or whether I should be trying to keep him awake. I’ll let him sleep. Means he isn’t whining.”
“I suppose it does,” agreed Ignis. “Let him rest.”
When they arrived in Lestallum, Ignis was using all of his restraint not to grind his teeth. Prompto hadn’t settled throughout the drive, and had been shifting annoyingly in his seat for hours. His breath had fogged the window he’d been leaning on, making it more difficult to diligently carry out mirror checks. And Ignis had felt confined in his seat, as though the blonde was encroaching on his space despite actually not moving much closer.
Suffice to say, getting to the hotel and getting Prompto away from him into his own room would be a relief. The question was still how they were going to get him there though.
“I swear, I’m fine. I can walk a few hundred yards to a hotel, I’m not an invalid,” yawned Prompto as he got out of the car, immediately bumping into Gladio’s hard chest.
“You’re not an invalid, but you’re a carrot on a stick for alphas right now,” grumbled the shield, shaking his head. “You’re sticking right next to one of us.”
“Don’t call him a carrot,” frowned Noctis, adjusting how his jacket draped over Prompto’s slim shoulders.
“You forgot how much he hates carrots, dude,” sighed Prompto. “What do you guys think I did before I started hanging with Noct?”
“Can we all stop this bickering and get to the bloody hotel?” snapped Ignis, clenching one hand into a fist. “The special rate I got only applies if we’re at that lobby within the next fifteen minutes. We’ll be unable to take on any hunts for the next few days, and this is the only way we’ll be able to afford the Leville for the duration of his heat.”
“Yeah. So you’re sticking close to us,” said Noctis, putting an arm around Prompto’s shoulders and looking at Ignis with one brow raised before returning his attention to the blonde.
“Guess I have no choice in this,” sighed Prompto, starting to walk with them.
“You want food, Blondie?” asked Gladio, looking hopefully at the cup noodle stand as they passed it.
“Nah. Not feeling hungry,” said Prompto, shaking his head. “I’ll probably just eat Noct’s vegetables, get in a round of Kings Knight and go to bed, honestly.”
“Have I ever mentioned that you’re my favourite?” laughed Noctis, shaking his head. “Lets get those skewers on the way back to the hotel and he can eat my veggies for me.”
Ignis felt like he was going to see red at that point, jealousy building up in his chest. It was the kind of silly throwaway comment that Noctis threw out all the time, but today it cut deep for some reason. They’d rather go for awful street food than have something he’d made? Additionally, had they just flat out ignored him about the urgency of getting to the hotel?
“We need to get to the hotel to get the special rate, your Highness,” said Ignis, the words taking every ounce of restraint he had. “You can go for skewers later.”
“I just want to lay down anyway,” sighed Prompto, nodding his agreement. “You can go get me skewer veggies later.”
Ignis didn’t know why that annoyed him so much. Prompto was agreeing with him, but for some reason the two alphas actually listenedto him on it, and were in fact picking up their pace to try and get him to the hotel sooner. It was Ignis’ plan, but coming out of Prompto’s mouth they actually seemed to listen.
Plus, how dare Prompto even agree to his plan? It was hisplan, why was he muscling his way in on it?
“Uh, Iggy?” said Gladio, looking confused at the annoyed expression that Ignis knew had probably crept onto his face. “We’re here.” Prompto and Noctis appeared to have already headed in, leaving himself and Gladio outside. “What’s up with you today?”
“It’s nothing. Possibly from driving for too long,” said Ignis, waving a hand dismissively before heading in.
“What do you think is up with Specs?” asked Noctis, looking between two boxes of mattress protectors disinterestedly. “He’s been on edge all day. He actually honked at another car, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that.”
“Blondie likes those ones,” Gladio said, pointing to one of the boxes, then rolling his eyes when Noctis shoved both of them in the cart regardless. “I don’t know, Specs just said it was nothing and he’d been driving for a while. I caught a whiff of something weird in the car though, maybe there’s something up with Prompto and it’s put him on edge? He was sat up front with him, he’d have seen if there was something up before we did.”
“I smelled it too,” agreed Noctis, pushing the cart along to the next aisle. “Only in the car though. I couldn’t smell it on Prom when we got him to the hotel, he just smelled like he always does. And he seemed okay, just wanted to get to his room and start nesting. So maybe it’s nothing.”
“We’ll check how he is when we go back. I get the feeling you’ll be handsy enough to tell,” shrugged Gladio, watching as Noctis put a giftcard for Kings Knight credits in the cart. “We’ll let Iggy have the bed when we go back, he seems tired. You nearly done here so we can go get food?”
“Nearly,” hummed Noctis, shoving a few bars of chocolate in as well before making his way to the checkouts. “That’s everything we need, right?”
“Iggy can get anything we forgot later,” shrugged Gladio.
Ignis had found himself glaring at the door to Prompto’s hotel room more than once when he’d walked past it. Here he was, stuck arranging everything or the remaining three of them, while Prompto was probably in blissful oblivion, making a mess with the bag of all of their dirty clothes that he’d taken in with him. Noctis and Gladio were running around, trying to find all of the supplies that they’d need, since the two of them would be reluctant to leave the hotel once Prompto’s heat hit, and Prompto was doing absolutely nothing to help them.
He gave the door another good glare as he shifted more of their possessions into the larger room reserved for the remaining three of them.
“Hey, Specs,” said Noctis as he came up to their floor, carrying a few bags up. No doubt he’d depleted their gil significantly on his trip. “Need any help?”
“I’m perfectly fine,” snapped Ignis, pulling the box he was moving into the room and slamming the door.
He’d shouted at the prince. Why the hell had he shouted at the prince?
Noctis stared at the slammed door in shock for a solid minute, before Prompto opened his door with a sigh. “What’s happening, dude?” he asked, eyebrows narrowing as he saw the Prince’s face.
“Iggy just slammed the door on me,” said Noctis, turning to look at Prompto.
“Fucked if I know what’s going on dude,” sighed Prompto, shaking his head and stepping aside to let Noctis into his room. “Did you say something?”
“I asked him if he wanted any help,” grumbled Noctis, taking a look around the room once he was in. There were the firm beginnings of a nest on the bed, the cushions having been arranged with some of their worn clothes between.
“If he wasn’t a beta I’d say hormones, but,” shrugged Prompto, going over to lay on the couch. “He smelled weird today. Really wasn’t helping me feel any better in the car, but I didn’t want to say anything.”
“Iggy did?” frowned Noctis, going to lay next to him and wrapping his arms around him. Prompto’s smell was getting stronger, but they definitely still had a few hours before Noctis needed to get out of the room. “Me and Gladio smelled it too, but we thought it was you.”
“You haven’t knocked me up yet. My smell wouldn’t have changed, dummy,” said Prompto, curling into him. “It was definitely Iggy though. Hit me in the face when you two went shopping. Maybe that’s why he’s pissed? I kind of barricaded myself in here to get some air as soon as we got the rooms.”
“Doesn’t explain why he’d snap at me though,” hummed Noctis, rubbing the small of his back. “Gladio’s gone getting the skewers, by the way. We saw a magazine with my face on and decided to get me out of public.”
“Not complaining, dude,” murmured Prompto, shutting his eyes. “Maybe Iggy’s getting sick or something? He’s not noticed his smell, I don’t think. Would he be able to notice his smell? I don’t know how betas work properly. You were flicking paper planes at my head during that biology class, I think.”
“If it’s strong, maybe. Otherwise he’s not going to,” murmured Noctis. “I’ll figure it out later. Or Gladio will.”
“That’s one way of putting that you don’t plan on leaving,” snorted Prompto. “Kings Knight?”
“Like you want me to leave anyway,” laughed Noctis. “Definitely Kings Knight. I got a giftcard, so we don’t even have to stick to the free to play shit. We can do all the levels.”
“Dude! You know how to spoil a guy,” laughed Prompto.
Gladio knew he hadn’t been wrong about that weird scent lingering around in the car – it flooded his nostrils as soon as he got back up to their hotel rooms. It was even managing to outdo Prompto’s right now, despite how close the omega was getting to his heat.
Prompto was chocolate, caramel and toasted marshmallows, he’d figured out. That was definitely something he could smell right now, as was typical of his pre-heat, but it wasn’t mingled with the scent of illness or distress. It couldn’t have been him.
Noctis was like musk, and gold, and the last bit of smoke from a fire, with a hint of vanilla tucked in there. When Ignis had asked what they all smelled like, Prompto had simply said that Noctis smelled ‘expensive’, which Gladio thought was pretty fitting, and Noctis had thought was boring. He knew he had to be in Prompto’s room, but again, there was nothing else unusual about his scent.
He’d inherited the family trait of smelling like flowers, himself. Luckily, people knew better than to mock an Amicitia man for doing so.
And Ignis, being a beta, didn’t really smell like much of anything.
This though, was like mint and leather, and it put Gladio on edge. He knocked on the door he could smell Prompto behind, knowing better than to just barge in on him and the prince, and went in when they shouted that he could.
They were both lay on the couch, Prompto’s head on Noctis’ chest as they tapped away at their phones, half built nest apparently forgotten for the moment.
“Food,” sighed Noctis with relief, reaching for one of the takeout boxes in Gladio’s hand. “Iggy’s in a mood, by the way.”
“What? Iggy is?” frowned Gladio, handing Noctis one of the boxes and putting an extra one on the coffee table for Prompto to pick at when he felt like it.
“Yeah. Slammed the door in my face when I asked if he wanted any help,” said Noctis, setting his phone down to get a skewer out. “Prompto said he smells weird.”
“Yeah,” said Prompto, wrinkling his nose but not looking away from his phone. “Minty. Did he get anal about his teeth or something today? Or spill that weird peppermint tea he likes all down himself?”
“I’ll go see what’s up with him,” said Gladio, shaking his head. “You two stay in here for now. Something feels off.”
“Like he’s gonna let me move,” snorted Noctis, shaking his head as he started on his skewer.
“True,” laughed Gladio, shaking his head before making his way out.
He definitely wasn’t imagining the smell then, since Prompto had picked up on the mint too. What he didn’t know though, was why he thought that it was coming from Ignis. He was going to find out though.
Nothing was going right for Ignis. The room was just plain wrong.
He’d tried rearranging it, he’d called the desk and had them bring up different pillows and bedding, and he’d cleaned every single inch. None of it had worked, and his discomfort and frustration with the room was growing. Prompto had probably taken the room where everything was right, and it made him grit his teeth at the mere thought. Noctis was probably going to come in and think he was a complete fool, not suitable to be an advisor if he couldn’t even get a hotel room right.
Not that it was just the room that was making him uncomfortable, really. He felt nauseous, yet he was also ravenous, and his lower back kept twinging painfully, enough that it forced him to sit down on the bed that just wasn’t right either. He’d flung all of the windows open, and yet it was still far too warm, so much so that he could feel sweat pouring down his thighs.
He let out a frustrated sound as he tried to fluff the pillows once more, then another when they still weren’t right. He could hear heavy footsteps outside in the hallway, which he was sure were Gladio’s, probably going to check on how Prompto was holding up, and probably to hear at how he’d yelled at his prince and slammed the door in his face. Yet another failure as a member of the royal retinue that Gladio was probably keeping track of.
He stood up, frowning as there was a sound that indicated he’d been sat in something. Turning, there was a thick, clear substance on the bed sheets, that he definitely hadn’t seen there before. He reached to feel the back of his trousers, and cringed when he felt the same substance there, and that he was absolutely soaking.
“Iggy?” called Gladio, knocking on the door.
“A- A moment please!” called Ignis, pulling the sheet off the bed and going into the bathroom quickly with it.
A check in the mirror made it clear that his pants were ruined, and that whatever the substance was, it was coming from him.And he was lucky he hadn’t ruined the sheets earlier in all honestly, from the way his thighs were soaked.
“Iggy?” called Gladio, his knocking on the room’s door audible. “Am I good to come in yet?”
How the hell was he going to explain this? Whatever the hell this was would require doctors visits that would slow them down, that would cost gil that they couldn’t afford right now, would disgust his friends…
“Fuck it, I’m coming in,” called Gladio, obviously impatient at his lack of an answer.
When Gladio opened the door, the first thing that hit him was that weird scent. It was like someone was burning a thousand candles with that scent, and he could almost feel it clogging his senses.
The next was that the room was a mess. Pillows had been flung to the floor, there was a mess of balled up sheets thrown to the corner, hell, even the furniture seemed to have been moved haphazardly. And there was something glistening on the bare mattress of the bed…
Slick. Fuck.
“Uh, Iggy? Did you bring someone back or something?” checked Gladio, cogs slowly turning in his head as he figured out what was happening.
“Certainly not!” came Ignis’ voice from the bathroom, and Gladio winced. That possibility was out of the window.
“Fuck. Let me in, Iggy,” Gladio sighed, his head spinning a little when he got closer to the bathroom. Shit, he was definitely right. Why had Ignis lied about it though? Surely he had to know he and Noctis were perfectly fine with omegas, they had one travelling around with them after all. And this would also explain why he’d been so snappy with Noctis earlier.
“No!” yelled Ignis, the lock in the bathroom door snapping shut. “Can’t a man have some privacy?”
Gladio couldn’t help but let out a frustrated growl, and he didn’t stop the door from slamming as he went back to Prompto’s room.
“You okay, big guy?” asked the blonde, looking up from where he was nibbling at the vegetables on his skewer, as Noctis pulled the pieces of meat off.
“Do I look okay?” grunted Gladio, shutting the door and going to sit in the armchair near the window.
“Iggy snap at you too?” asked Noctis, looking over and then sniffing the air curiously.
“Iggy snapped at me, yeah. Because it turns out he’s not a fucking beta,” mumbled Gladio.
Noctis dropped the piece of meat he’d just picked off the skewer.
“He isn’t?” frowned the prince. “We’d have smelled him before now if he wasn’t a beta. Why do you think he isn’t?”
“Because I just went into the room and there’s slick all over the bed,” said Gladio, shaking his head. “And he snapped at me when I asked if he’d brought anyone home. You haven’t been in there right, Prom?”
“No. And I haven’t started yet anyway,” said Prompto, shaking his head. “Why would he lie about being an omega though? He seemed pretty convincing when he didn’t get any of this stuff. Shit, do you think this is his first presentation?”
“Omegas present later, right?” sighed Noctis. “So maybe it is. And it’d explain why we smelled something in the car. And why he’s been so snappy.”
“Right,” sighed Prompto, shaking his head. “Let me go talk to him. You two stay here and don’t move anything.”
Ignis knew it. Gladio had to know something was wrong now.
He was in the shower when he heard someone else knocking, and he frantically scrubbed at his legs to try and get the damned substance off. His hands just kept slipping over it though, it didn’t seem to want to move unless it was actually scraped off. And the knocking kept coming, despite his lack of an answer.
“Iggy?” called Prompto through the door, just as he shut the shower off. “Open up for me? We need to talk, I think.”
And again, there was that flare of jealousy as he heard the blonde’s voice. He didn’t know what it was like to be unwell, to have failed in your duty to the prince, to just not be able to get anything right.
“What?” roared Ignis as he opened the door.
“Dude,” groaned Prompto, covering his eyes, and it was at that moment that Ignis realised that he was still completely unclothed. “Talk to me and we’ll fix this, okay?”
“Whatever do you mean, Prompto?” huffed Ignis, a blush rising to his cheek as he stalked over to the suitcase he had yet to unpacked and pulled out a pair of boxers and a dressing gown. “Everything is just fine.”
“Fine shmine,” sighed Prompto, keeping his eyes covered. “First heats are shit for everyone and they’re probably even shitter when you’re not at home. Let me help.”
“Heat? I’m not in heat,” hissed Ignis as he pulled on the clothing. “I’m a beta.”
“So that’s beta slick on the bed? And that I saw on your legs? And this is an attempt at nesting that betas totally do?” groaned Prompto. “Just let me help dude. I actually know this shit.”
How could he have been stupid? Prompto had to be right. How had he missed the fact that a thick, slippery liquid being produced was the quintessential mark of an omega?
“I-,” started Ignis, the heat in his cheeks rising.
“You didn’t know, did you?” sighed Prompto. “Right. Let me take care of shit, you go sit in the bathtub for like… twenty minutes while I pull shit together. Don’t bother wearing clothes, you’ll just ruin them. Are you feeling good enough to take pills?”
“I… I suppose,” said Ignis, sighing.
“Cool,” said Prompto, backing towards the door with his eyes still covered. “Shut yourself in the bathroom, I’m going to sort shit out in here and send Gladdy and Noct to go get stuff for you. Never fear, Prompto is here. Or something,” he said, before making his way out.
“How serious do you think he was about not touching anything?” Gladio sighed, reaching for one of the skewers as they waited.
“He threatened to cut my dick off once when I tried to fix his nest for him,” murmured Noctis, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t do it.”
“But if I theoretically needed to piss?” checked Gladio, taking a bite of the skewer.
“Wait until he gets back. That door is probably at a precise angle that took him ten thousand years to get or something,” sighed Noctis, looking at the door when he heard somebody coming towards the door.
“Fuuuuuuck,” sighed Prompto as he came in, locking the door behind him. “For once in Gladdy’s whole entire life, he’s smarter than Iggy.”
“Who’d have thought it,” laughed Gladio, puffing out his chest proudly before realising what he meant. “Shit. So he is then?”
“Yeah, he is. And didn’t even realise it either,” said Prompto, going to the desk in the room and letting out a cheer when he found a pad of paper and a pen inside. “So you guys are going shopping again, because Iggy has no fucking clue what he’s doing, but luckily I do,” he said, starting to scribble out a list for them.
“Can Gladio piss first?” sighed Noctis. “I don’t want to go on a side quest looking for somewhere for him to go. We didn’t want to mess up your door positioning.”
“My door positioning? What?” asked Prompto, looking at him oddly before giving Gladio a thumbs up to go. “What kind of person do you think I am?”
“One who’s picked out the exact door they want in their nest in the citadel,” sighed Noctis, getting up when Gladio rushed into the bathroom. He went over to Prompto, hooking his chin over one of his shoulders and wrapping his arms around the omega’s waist. “What are we getting then?”
“Suppressants, for one. This exact brand, no others,” said Prompto, underlining the brand name multiple times. “If you can’t find it, go to another store. And some other stuff, since Iggy won’t be able to go and get anything you guys forgot.”
“Suppressants?” frowned Noctis. “Aren’t they something you’re not meant to use?”
“Unless Iggy plans on starting to try and get pregnant in the next year, he’s good to use them. And trust me, for his first heat? Super worth delaying any pregnancy plans to get through it easier,” said Prompto. “Shit’s moving around in there right now. Like organs. Not his actual shit.”
“Ouch,” winced Noctis. “We should probably get another room then, huh?”
“Yep. But donate the pillows to us,” said Prompto, capping off the pen when he finished. “Where’s the stuff you went and got before? Poor Iggy’s never been taught how to properly make a nest. There’s pillows fucking everywhere.”
“Wait, taught to make a nest? You’re bullshitting me right? They don’t teach that,” frowned Noctis, letting go of him to get the bag.
“Uh, yeah they do,” said Prompto, sighing and going to get what he was willing to give up out of the pile of dirty clothes. “What do you think I was being taught while you were learning how to jerk off properly in your alpha specific sex ed?”
“That’s not what they taught us,” sighed Noctis, bringing the bags over to him. “You just walked in at the wrong time, Prom. It wasn’t about jerking off.”
“Probably assumed a prince would never need to play with himself,” shrugged Prompto, letting out a small cheer when he found two packs of mattress protectors. “Thank the astrals you never remember which brand to buy!”
“I’m not sure whether to be insulted or not,” sighed Noctis, as Prompto gathered up a few other things from the bag and added them to the growing pile of clothes. “Keep your phone on you? In case we can’t find this stuff?”
“I’m keeping it on me in case he gets territorial and tries to claw my eyes out or something,” said Prompto, shaking his head before standing up with everything he’d gathered in his arms. “Shut off his link to the armiger for now anyway. Heats do crazy shit to your brain.”
“Don’t I know it,” sighed Noctis, watching him go.
Ignis felt disgusting. Sitting in a bathtub with the air conditioning on maximum as his own slick pooled around his backside and thighs was certainly not one of his finest moments.
“Iggy?” came Prompto’s voice after what felt like an eternity. “I’m gonna come in, yeah? And we’re both going to pretend this is totally normal and that you’re not naked.”
“Indeed,” called Ignis, feeling his stomach clench with embarrassment.
Prompto let out a sigh of relief when he opened the door, and Ignis could already see that certain things had been moved out of the corner of the bedroom. “You need to get that slick off first. You’re just going to be uncomfortable if we don’t,” he said, handing him a bottle of something. “So use that. Directions are on the back. I’ve got painkillers for you out here, Noct and Gladdy have gone getting suppressants for you to try and hopefully keep this short and get you into a pattern. Give me a shout when you’re done?”
“Thank you,” said Ignis, looking over the instructions on the bottle. A special soap to remove slick easily – who knew they made such a thing?
Once he’d finished, he called Prompto’s name, and it was only a few seconds before the blonde came back.
“Take these,” said Prompto, giving him two tablets and a small glass of water. “And then you need to try and get to the bed ASAP. There’s a cover on it now, so it won’t be all scratchy and annoying and it won’t matter if you leak again. Way better. And try not to mess up the pillows, you’ll get what I mean in a minute.”
Ignis could kiss him. The room wasn’t perfect, but it no longer felt so inherently wrong when he looked at it. Sure, the pillow arrangement wasn’t exactly conventional, and nor were the worn clothes interspersed between them, but it calmed the buzz of discomfort that was under his skin. He did as Prompto suggested, making his way over to the bed and carefully laying down as to not disturb the pillows.
“It gets better, dude,” said Prompto proudly, pulling a dark sheet that he’d procured from somewhere over the top of the pillows, making a den of sorts. “You just chill in there. I know I don’t have to explain how you’re gonna feel in a few hours, you’ve seen enough of me like that, but we’re getting stuff to deal with it. Also, you should probably eat, want me to order you pizza?”
“I’m sure I can cook,” said Ignis, which even he himself knew was a flat out lie. There was no way he was moving from whatever this was, and going back to feeling as uncomfortable as he had. This was warm, and the fabric underneath him wasn’t scratching him, and he could finally rest.
“Nuh uh. Not allowed. Omega bro code,” said Prompto, getting his phone out to order pizza anyway. “You need fat and carbs, no healthy shit. Your body’s gonna burn through it like that when you peak,” he said, snapping his fingers. “There’s a reason I don’t run for like a week before.”
“I thought it was just tiredness,” admitted Ignis. How could he have been annoyed at Prompto mere hours ago? Daresay, he was his favourite member of the group right now.
“Nah. It’s because if I do then I drop weight during it and everybody shits themselves,” said Prompto, shaking his head. “Pizza’s on its way, and Gladio and Noct are gonna be back soon with the other stuff. So just chill, stick some TV on, and lay there. It’s the best thing you can do in this situation.”
Honestly, Ignis wasn’t inclined to disagree.
“Are you sure it has to be this specific one?” Gladio groaned, as they started on their way to the next store.
“He literally said – and I quote – ‘this exact brand, no others’,” sighed Noctis. “Trust me. He’ll send us back out if we come back with anything different.”
“There goes that plan,” sighed Gladio, continuing to walk. “At least its you carrying the dildo around and not me.”
“You’d think they’d at least use opaque bags,” groaned Noctis, shifting around the bags in his hand to hide it again. “Who thought that one up?”
“Whichever bastard decided to let these fucking suppressants sell out,” huffed Gladio. “Have them exiled once we’ve got you married off.”
“Trust me, I intend to,” said Noctis, shaking his head. “You booked the other room, right?”
“Yeah. You’d have took the chance to go in with Prom otherwise, and Lunafreya would have had your balls,” said Gladio, shrugging.
“That she would,” said Noctis, spotting something in one of the general stores. “Shit,” he said, rushing in and over to the counter. Gladio stayed outside, waiting until he returned, proudly holding the pack of suppressants aloft. “Time to get back!”
“Thank fuck for that,” laughed Gladio, hurrying back to the hotel with him.
“Prompto,” called Noctis worriedly, seeing that the door to the blonde’s room was wide open. Gladio was filled with the same fear as he got closer, stepping in front of his prince before going in.
“Shit,” hissed Gladio when he saw that the room was empty, with no blonde to be seen. His scent was fading, making it clear he hadn’t been in here for a few minutes at least. “We leave him alone for half an hour and –“
“And what?” came Prompto’s voice as he walked along the corridor, a stack of pizzas in his arms. “Did you get the stuff?”
Noctis let out a long sigh of relief, going over to take the pizza boxes out of his hands. “Don’t leave your room open again, nearly gave us a heart attack.”
“Oh,” said Prompto, shoulders sagging slightly when he understood. “Shit, I’m sorry. I’ve been rushing around trying to sort stuff for Iggy, and then the pizza guy came, and I guess I just forgot.”
“Lucky you came back when you did, Pipsqueak,” said Gladio, handing over the bags to him. “We were about to lose it.”
“No need now,” smiled Prompto, starting to sort things into three piles. “This one’s for you, and so are the meat lovers pizzas,” he said, giving Gladio a bag once he’d scooped things back into it. “Even got one without peppers for Noct.”
“Still the best,” said Noctis appreciatively, setting the pizza boxes on the desk to check through them. “Is Iggy settled?”
“He’s… okay. Doesn’t want to stab anyone’s eyes out now,” said Prompto, putting another pile of things into another bag. “He’ll be better when I’ve got his stuff to him. Plan is that we pretty much stick to our own rooms after tonight and he’ll text us when he’s feeling better? And if he sends anything dumb in the meantime we ignore it and pretend it never happened.”
“Cool with me,” said Gladio, nodding. “And then what? How do we deal with this going forward?”
“Dunno dude. Iggy will plan that when he’s back in his right mind,” shrugged Prompto. “I’m a short term thinking kind of guy. And in my short term thinking there’s pizza, so hand me the chickatrice and mushroom one.”
When his heat finally faded, Ignis couldn’t help but just lay there feeling grateful for whoever invented heat suppressants. He’d have to figure out a way to keep a good stock of them going in perpetuity, not feeling eager to go through something like this again any time soon. After taking a reference picture of the cushion arrangement he’d finally found after his tweaks throughout the days, he peeled himself out of bed and went over to shower.
Sure, he’d spent the past few days barely moving from his bed, and living on reheated takeout pizza, and thinking thoughts he didn’t think he’d ever have been thinking, but he felt better now than he had done in at least a week. Maybe his growing fatigue, and the intermittent pains, and general irritability had been pre heat symptoms after all.
Still, he couldn’t help but be grateful that this had finally happened. He finally knew what he was, and a late developer was better than the frustration of never developing at all. He’d have to go to the library at some point, or purchase a book to study how to make any future heats as easy as Prompto made them seem.
Prompto. He’d have to figure out a way to show his gratitude to his friends, the blonde in particular. He’d have to prepare the blonde’s favourite curry, or try and get hold of one of the gift cards for the game he and Noctis seemed to enjoy so much.
He felt like a new man when he opened the door of his room, fully dressed in his usual silk shirt and dress pants, shoes freshly polished.
“Hey there,” said Noctis, waving from where he and Gladio were sat in the middle of the hallway. “Feeling better?”
“Significantly,” smiled Ignis, nodding.