Chapter Text
The first time it happened Noctis was turned into a baby and Prompto could only say “We can't look after a child!” as if he wouldn't jump at the chance to raise a baby Chocobo. Learning that Tonberry’s had a spell capable of regressing one’s physical appearance to their younger days was an...experience to say the least. Ignis noted that baby’s were picky eaters, moody and slept all day to which Gladio laughed and Prompto replied “So just like Noctis is normally then?”. The spell lasted for about a day and Noctis swore them all to secrecy.
The second time it happened all of them were affected in different ways. Ignis was regressed into a grumpy ten year old, Noctis and Gladio were 4 and Prompto went back to being fourteen-the year before he became friends with Noct. Unfortunately this meant Prompto had to go back to wearing glasses as his amazing eyesight also caused a lot of headaches. Gladio teased him once and Prompto reminded him exactly who was in charge by picking him up by the scruff of his jacket and threatening to drop him in the pond.
Dino had a good laugh for those three days and started joking about Ignis “Looking after the litter when mom isnt home”. Ignis went back to normal after the first day, Noctis and Prompto after the second and Gladio, to his immense displeasure at being last, after the third day. Noctis was convinced it was because Gladio had gone through two puberties or something.
The third time, Ignis and Gladio had been regressed back to their early teens where Gladio had gone through terrible hormone changes and Ignis, the lucky bastard, had barely gone through any.
The spell, luckily, wasn't exactly harmful as they always retained their memories but it was mildly irritating to deal with.
Ignis hoped this would be the last time they ever got affected by said spell as both Noctis and Prompto had been regressed back to being 6 year olds and unanimously decided that rather than act like their real ages they were going to play up this role just so they could get pity points and kiddy discounts. Gladio found it to be genius and Ignis dealt with the whole ordeal with the air of a man who had come to expect such unfortunate circumstances and had long since learned not to question his groups unlucky encounters.
“Muuuuuuumm Noctis isn't sharing again!” Oh right. He forgot to mention that they’d decided to play family and Ignis was now mom and Gladio was dad. When this whole thing was over with, Ignis decided, he was going to take a long vacation on the most remote island he could possibly find.
With a sigh he turned to Prompto and Noctis just in time to see them sticking their tongues out at each other as Noctis hugged the handheld console to himself. Well, if they wanted to play family then Ignis may as well have some fun with it.
With a slight tilt to his lips he turned to Gladio and said, in the sweetest voice he could manage, “Gladio, honey, could you look after the kids for me whilst I finish shopping? And do make sure they don't hurt themselves.” He personally took great pleasure in seeing Gladio’s face go white with shock.
Prompto beamed at him, clearly happy that Ignis was getting into his role and Ignis suddenly remembered that Prompto had never really had any parents before….
Noctis sniffed. “Well I’m not going to get hurt because I’m not clumsy, It’s Prompto you need to look out for.”
“I tripped over my own feet one time Noctis. One. Time.”
Ignis gave Gladio a look and the bigger male sighed and resigned himself to his new role.
“Alright then Iggy go finish shopping and I’ll look after the little monsters.” Despite his words Gladio was smiling. He’d missed looking after kids -especially Iris- so it would be nice to babysit again, even if they were only playing pretend.
As Ignis left to finish their shopping Gladio turned back to see…..nothing. The little brats had run off and if he didn't keep an eye on them Ignis would castrate him with a cooking knife. Great. It was going to be one of those days.
Okay kids where did you go?
Stalking up and down the aisles Gladio kept a careful ear out for any laughter or clacking footsteps so he could either nab the kids or duck down and hide from Ignis. A sudden crash caught Gladio’s ear and he prayed to the gods it wasn't who he thought it was.
“NOCT!!”
“Oops.”
Traitorous gods!!!
Skidding around the corner he was met with the sight of Noctis staring blankly down at a bunch of alcohol bottles he had, thankfully, not broken and Prompto -bless his heart- trying to either stack them up or hide them from view.
“What,” Gladio said lowly, “did you do?” Noctis’ eyes widened and he slowly turned with a gulp to face Gladio. In this instant Prompto did what any good brother would do: he ratted Noctis out.
“Noctis tried to warp to the top of the bottle pyramid thing and I told him not to do it cuz you and Mum said that he shouldn’t use magic until he’s back to normal but he didn't listen to me.”
“Traitor,” Noctis hissed at him. Prompto looked very proud of himself.
“Noctis we told you not to use your magic for a reason. Given your current state we don't know what’ll happen if you use it and you or Prompto could’ve gotten hurt,” seeing Noctis wilt under his words Gladio sighed, “Look just be careful next time okay? And help me clean this up so we don't get Ignis on our asses.”
Nodding, Noctis moved to help him re-stack the bottles but Prompto simply stood to the side watching them.
“That means you too, Prompto.” The blonde gave him an offended look, but Gladio kind of expected him to.
“I’m not the one who caused this whole mess so why should I help!?” Again, he expected as much. Gladio levelled him with a look and Prompto scowled. After about a minute he huffed but started passing bottles to him anyway.
“This is your fault.” He pouted to Noctis.
Noctis, predictably, stuck his tongue out.
Once the bottles had all been re-stacked Gladio quickly grabbed Noctis and hoisted him under his arm just before he could try to make a run for it. Prompto made a considering sound, decided against running off elsewhere, and stuck dutifully to Gladio’s side as they left to go to the arcade. Hopefully they’d take the bait and be too busy playing the games there to get into trouble.
It didn't take much for Noctis to wriggle out of Gladio’s hold and run off to the nearest Justice Monsters game. He wouldn't be moving from there until they bodily pried him away from it at least. He looked down at Prompto to see a fond smile on his face before he shrugged, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and walked off to look at the different prizes and such.
“I’m going to pretend,” A familiar accent said behind him, “that I didn't hear bottles crashing in the store just a few minutes ago and if asked we’re all going to feign ignorance.” Gladio gave a nervous laugh and turned to see just how much shopping Ignis had gotten.
“...I know we pack most of that in the Armiger but did you really need to buy this much Iggy?”
“Growing boys need food Gladio.” Ignis dumped three of said bags into Gladio’s arms and kept the last one to himself, before moving to stand with Noct and watch him slowly beat the highscore.
Gladio shook his head, amazed at how seamlessly Ignis got into his role as mother and moved to find wherever Prompto had gone.
A big sign saying ‘Chocobo and Moogle Machine’ drew his attention and he was right in guessing that's where the little sunshine had disappeared too. He stood on his tiptoes looking into the claw machine before sighing and moving to go somewhere else. Gladio cleared his throat and before he could change his mind gestured to the machine.
“I’ll give ya 7 gil to try and get one of the toys but no more after that.” Prompto blinked, once, twice before looking at the machine in consideration and slowly nodding. Gladio always forgot that the pup had never had the best of childhoods and still felt awkward asking them for things. 7 gil would give him seven tries at least, and Ignis would be happy he didn't spend all their money.
Handing the gil over he watched as Prompto carefully made his choice and with a firm nod started with 3 turns and strategically moved the Chocobo plushie into a position that was easy for him to grab on his fourth turn. It was so well planned out that Gladio stood there in silent awe before realizing that Prompto had snuck the rest of the gil back into Gladio’s pocket and was now playing with the Chocobo by moving its wings up and down.
It was, quite frankly, adorable.
Noctis appeared out of nowhere and brandished a little wooden sword at Prompto in pride with a dramatic “I. Am. A genius.” Ignis chuckled from beside them and watched in amusement as the boys chattered about nonsensical things and then gestured for Gladio to follow him just round the corner.
Checking to see the boys weren't eavesdropping on them Ignis sighed and Gladio cocked his head.
“What’s up Iggy? They don't have any Ebony here or somethin’?”
“I asked Noctis earlier about whose idea it was to play families…” he trailed off for a moment and shook his head, “Prompto was the one who came up with the idea apparently.”
Gladio frowned, “That shouldn't be so surprising though should it?”
Ignis looked Gladio dead in the eye. “We both know that Prompto has never really had parents before.”
Realization dawned on him suddenly, “You think he used this as a way to learn what it’s like to have parents?”
“There’s a high possibility, yes.”
They both looked over to where Noctis and Prompto were doubled over laughing and silently decided that for the rest of the day they would spoil them both.
A sudden weight clung to Ignis’ thigh and he looked down to see Noctis looking back at him. He smiled and offered his hand to hold. Noctis hesitated at first but intertwined their fingers anyway and hummed in satisfaction at the feeling.
Prompto snickered as he watched Ignis and Noctis walk off holding hands, the young Prince waving his sword up and down and taking exaggerated steps to keep up with Ignis, as they discussed all the monsters that they would hunt later on.
Gladio smirked when Prompto looked at him with glittering eyes and an amused smile. “He doesn't realize he plays favourites does he?”
“Not in the slightest.” He chuckled. Bending down he gestured to his shoulders, “Hop on and I’ll give you a ride.” Smiling, Prompto gave a single nod and climbed up onto the Shield’s shoulders, Chocobo plush under one arm and using his other to keep himself balanced. Gladio stood up gently and took quick long strides to catch up with Ignis. Noctis summoned a pillow from his Armiger and ignored Ignis’ chastising tone, before throwing it at Gladio halfheartedly. The Shield caught it easily and stuffed it under his arm with the bags, only half listening to the conversation between Noctis and Prompto.
The rest of the day was spent in a similar fashion, the four of them pretending to be a little family; getting discounts at a restaurant somewhere, paying less for Noctis to go on the bumper cars and watching as Ignis chased Prompto around to try and get his glasses back. Gladio and Noctis fishing together, Gladio and Ignis calling each other gross pet-names to watch Noctis throw faces at them as if he’d swallowed something sour (or been forced to eat his veggies) and listen to Prompto making gagging noises. When they got back to the hotel and settled down for the night Prompto clung to Gladio and sang that he got the warmest person, much to Noct’s displeasure until Ignis cleared his throat and the Prince tried to stammer out the reason he’d prefer to sleep with Gladio.
When they woke up the boys were back to normal, Noctis flat out refused to admit that he tripped into the pond or that he allowed himself to be babied by Ignis, let alone Gladio. Watching Gladio teasing Noctis and Noctis moaning a drawn out ‘Nooooooo’ and burying himself into the blankets, Prompto turned to Ignis with a smile.
“Thanks by the way.”
“Hm?”
“For pretending to be a mother for Noctis.” At the surprised look on the Advisor’s face Prompto grinned sheepishly, “Well, he lost his mom at a young age right? And...he told me he felt jealous when he saw people with their mom’s the other day so when we got de-aged i was like, ‘Hey if we play family then one of you can be his mom and some of that emptiness will be filled up’ you know?” Ignis looked at him for a moment in shock and Prompto turned his eyes away, “So thanks. For going along with it.”
“Prompto you-” He was cut off by Noctis calling Prompto for help.
“Hahaha Okay I’m coming Noct!” Prompto bounded off to help the Prince pin Gladio down and Ignis wondered how a person so pure and selfless could possibly exist. Even if Prompto had done this for Noct, Ignis couldn't help but hope that he, too, had some of that emptiness filled up. Prompto, it seemed, would never cease to surprise him.