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The sun had risen, and Noctis was safe; as Ignis held Noctis’ hand tightly in his own as they watched the sunrise together with their friends. He knew there was no way he could ever regret his choice to disobey the prophecy. Getting to see his king, his dearest friend; alive and standing right next to him was all he had ever wanted.
From the very first moment he had met Noctis when they were children, he had cared for him deeply. He would always cherish their memories as children, finding secret passageways in the citadel to hide; sneaking out late to watch the stars together. And while every time they got caught Ignis would take the blame, he never regretted a single moment of it.
At 10 years old Ignis found out for the very first time what it would be like to almost lose Noctis. His friend had been outside of the wall and had gotten injured when he was attacked by a daemon. He’d been in a coma, when he finally woke up Ignis felt relief; but his dearest friend had become more withdrawn ever since that day.
With their teen years came turbulent times, the two of them had some fall outs. Ignis hadn’t understood just how much Noctis had been struggling with the realization that he would be king one day; and how devastated he was at his dad’s failing health. He hadn’t realised at the time that Noctis was struggling with depression, and he wished he’d seen it then looking back on it as an adult.
Ignis remembered the time he’d found Noctis sitting in the dark in his apartment alone, and he knew then there was a lot more to it than the pressures of being the heir to the throne; and his father’s health. Noctis had quietly admitted to him in the darkness of the room just how much he was struggling, Ignis didn’t know what else to do other than lay his hand on Noctis’ and tell him. “I’m here for you, whenever you need.”
After that Noctis had started therapy and started developing coping mechanisms, their tense relationship with each other started to improve. But then Ignis had started to become fully aware of his growing feelings for the young man, he’d always known deep down there was more to his feelings for his future king than he’d ever known; but it still blindsided him once it hit. And then came the added complication of political marriage.
Ignis decided he had to keep his feelings to himself, and when Noctis got engaged to Lunafreya he figured that he would be just fine with staying at Noctis’ side as his advisor and friend, nothing more than that. At least that’s what he told himself, romantic feelings weren’t always that simple.
At 22 years old Ignis set off on a road trip with his prince and their friends, Noctis was going to get married to Luna and Ignis was still dealing with these feelings he’d had for Noctis. He thought they would go away eventually but they never did, at this point in his life he didn’t think he would ever fully get over his feelings for Noctis.
When Ignis found out the news that Insomnia had fallen and the king was dead, he was shaken. He knew there was a chance his own family had also died. All of the group was devastated, the treaty and the wedding had been a trap this whole time. But Lunafreya was still alive, she’d escaped the crown city; and they had to go help her.
They’d continued their journey to Altissia and that’s when Ignis was given Pryna’s vision, and he saw the prophecy. The fear that struck his heart when he realised that Noctis would have to sacrifice his own life to save everyone else; he couldn’t bear it. So when he was offered a way to undo the prophecy, he would take it; even if it cost his own life.
As Ignis watched Noctis enter the crystal, after Noctis had pleaded with it to spare Ignis’ life; he knew that once his king had returned and the prophecy was stopped, he would finally tell Noctis how he had always felt about him. He’d wanted to as soon as he had arrived at Hammerhead, but it simply wasn’t the right time; they had plans to discuss regarding Noctis returning the sun.
And now here the two of them were, and Ignis realised that they were alone. Prompto and Gladio had probably noticed the vibe between them and decided to give them some privacy. Ignis squeezed Noct’s hand in his own and Noctis looked up at him with curiosity in his eyes. “Noct, there’s so much I want to say to you that I don’t even know where to begin.” Ignis said, he could feel his heartbeat racing a little.
10 years without his dear king had led up to this point, and while he was so nervous he knew that he needed to say this. “I just want you to know how much I love you, Noct. From the very first day I knew that I wanted to always stay by your side.” Ignis started, once he’d gotten it all out there he couldn’t stop.
“And I know you probably don’t feel the same way, and I don’t ever want to ruin our friendship. But I just wanted you to know that, I didn’t want to leave it all unsaid.” Ignis was cut off by Noct turning to face him, resting a hand on his cheek. He was almost too nervous to look his king in the eyes after his confession.
“Iggy, you’re rambling.” Noctis said with a soft smile. “You could never ruin our friendship Ignis, I- umm I feel the same way about you too.” Noctis said, his cheeks going pink. Ignis watched as his king took a deep breath. “I mean to say that I’m in love with you too Ignis; I always have been too.” He’d said, Ignis returned Noct’s smile as he moved forward to rest their foreheads together. He’d finally done it, finally said the words he always wanted to say.
“We’re truly such fools aren’t we? Why ever did we let the idea of what was expected of us; stop us from sharing how we both felt?” Ignis said with a sigh. “But I don’t want to have anymore regrets, we have all the time in the world now. We may as well make up for the time we lost.” He added, chuckling as Noctis blushed again; he didn’t think he would ever tire of seeing his king’s adorable blush.
As the two of them shared their first kiss under the warmth of the sun, there truly were no more feelings of regret lingering in Ignis’ heart. Just happiness that he could finally be together with Noctis, he could hold him in his arms and kiss him whenever he wanted, there was no more prophecy and no more daemons. They were safe now, and Ignis would never let him go again.