chauffeuring: credit: ponponpon (pic#10820354)
ɪɢɴɪs "ᴍᴇᴀɴs ʙᴜsɪɴᴇss" sᴄɪᴇɴᴛɪᴀ ([personal profile] chauffeuring) wrote2016-12-07 07:27 pm

open post



open post. anything welcome. i like all things, i am trash.
protecting: (3.)

in which the prince has fallen and nothing is alright. (just remember you asked for this.)

[personal profile] protecting 2016-12-15 12:01 pm (UTC)(link)



twenty-three hours. it's been twenty-three hours since the last time noctis lucis caelum drew breath into his body. gladiolus could name it to the minute, if you asked. to the moment even, if a clock were to measure so precisely, because it wasn't as if they split up and never managed to reunite. he was right there, right beside him. as careful as gladio thought he was, his king was killed in the span of a dawnhammer.

they entombed his body with regis for lack of a spare - a tomb for lucian kings who've died far too soon. prompto took it the hardest, but not quite in the way he takes everything the hardest. there was no wailing, no shouting. there was no sound at all, not a single word from the time the three of them carried noct back to the regalia to- well, to present. and weakest though he was of the four of them, he carried noct's upper half from the car to the tomb with a steady stream of silent tears slipping down his cheeks, while gladiolus himself took noct's lower half.

gladio almost stayed there, outside of that tomb. how long that would've lasted, only etro knows, but protecting his highness, protecting his best fucking friend, that was his life, y'know? his entire purpose, like his father with regis years ago. and somehow, in the wake of this gut-rending loss, that sense of duty translated somehow to guarding his highness's corpse.

but ignis and prompto had already gotten back into the car and they were clearly waiting for him - and honestly? he wasn't sure he had it in him to try and explain, if he did stay. he hadn't gone silent like prompto, but words weren't working for gladio quite the way they should. so instead, he got back in the car. sat back in the seat he'd been sitting in the entire way to the tomb, noct's head in his lap as his body lay crosswise along the bench seat for lack of any better way to transport him. and hours before that, noct was alive and well, sitting in the seat beside gladio and sulking emphatically out over the top of the door, wind whipping his hair into further disarray.

gladiolus doesn't remember all that much of that car ride, and he let ignis check them into a hotel suite on relative autopilot. iggy had this, he sounded relatively functional, and besides, gladio was off the clock. for the first time in his fucking life, gladio was off the clock. it was the single worst feeling he'd ever felt in his life.

the suite had a chair by the window, and gladio sat in it. for hours in fact, eyes unseeing out the window, while ignis flitted around doing every single fathomable thing a human being could possibly do - slowing only briefly to either sleep or pretend to when night fell, but immediately resuming the next morning - and some part of the back of gladio's mind rages for him to do something about it, to still ignis somehow because every single move the man makes radiates the exact kind of desolation threatening to tear through gladio's carefully-constructed blanket of numb, but that small acknowledgement of suffering outside of his own never quite reaches his conscious mind. not much does, right now. it's been a night and most of a day in this hotel room, and he hasn't once budged from the chair. he's not hungry. he's exhausted, but not the kind that sleep will fix. his hands shake where they sit on each arm of the chair, the only active sign of distress making it through.

clearly something's gotta give.
protecting: (4.)

[personal profile] protecting 2016-12-18 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
Why? ❰ it's his first word in nearly a day (and his voice is hoarse to show for it), but its immediate. he doesn't look at ignis yet, but his eyes seem to have refocused slightly on the rooftops outside of the window and the landscape beyond and the tremor of his hands intensifies for a moment before he curls them loosely into fists. ❱ If they're coming for us, I'm waiting for them.

any other time, he might tell ignis to get prompto out of here before that happens. right now, he doesn't have it in him to try. and hell, for all he knows, prompto might feel the same way he does - that taking out a lesser army of the niffs that took noct from them might be a decent enough way to go out themselves.

the coffee, meanwhile, goes untouched.
protecting: (3.)

[personal profile] protecting 2016-12-18 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
the logic is sound, gladio can at least recognize that in a detached sort of way. it's the kind of logic they'd use to dictate their choices if noctis were still here with them. but as it turns out, he isn't - so the coffee remains untouched and gladiolus remains unbudged.

Move, then. ❰ his words themselves are certain, but there's an audible void where conviction should be. ❱ Take him and go.
protecting: (4.)

[personal profile] protecting 2016-12-18 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
this is no joke. this is the farthest thing from a joke that gladio has probably told anyone in his whole life. if a lesser army of magitech soldiers are going to show up on their doorway, maybe that's how this is supposed to go. and he'll fight and what's left of their army will put him down hard, or else he'll wipe them out and that, that'll be his sign that he was meant to make it through this.

but ignis is being obstinate and gladio's getting tied of the argument, so he's going to have to put an end to this somehow.


You can get the civilians out of here, or you can stand here and bitch at me 'til the Niffs come and gun them all down.
protecting: (3.)

[personal profile] protecting 2016-12-21 12:34 pm (UTC)(link)
later, gladio too will realize how stupid and bull-headed he'd been throughout most of this conversation, but right at this moment he's making the only choice he feels like he has it in him to possibly make. if he can convince ignis to get the innocents away from the scene, nobody has to get caught in the crossfire.

the fist catches gladio entirely off guard. he's not braced for it in the slightest, and his head jerks to the side with little resistance. it doesn't hurt though - it should hurt, it's both solid and sharp plus stupidly fast, but gladio isn't... feeling shit properly right now. even if he were, it might not hurt right anyway. the blow hit below his eye, just short of dead-on with his scar, and that's been more numb then not for the two years he's had it.

but whether or not he feels it much on a physical level, it sends a spiderweb-crack trailing out in all directions across whatever mental-emotional barricade he's using to numb himself on the inside. ignis can't see it, not yet - the outward signs are subtle, a slow exhale as he straightens out his head again, the slow uncurling of his fists to grip white-knuckled on the chair's arms. a flicker of something in his eyes before he closes them. things are coming undone, but not quickly enough. to iggy, it probably seems like his uncharacteristic show of violence had no effect at all.
protecting: (6.)

[personal profile] protecting 2016-12-21 01:22 pm (UTC)(link)
though there's no tangible difference in ignis's movements, his pain hits gladiolus like a truck. it's like a vacuum exists where iggy once stood, and gladio can't figure out how to properly breathe through the force of it.

before he can even think, he's on his feet, eyes open, heading for the bed and the man who until moments ago was struggling to make it. with shaking hands he reaches out to snag ignis's wrists in no uncertain terms and pull them up into the space between them.
❱ Stop, stop - ❰ low and raw, his next inhale a shudder. with only a moment's hesitation, his forehead falls heavily on iggy's shoulder. ❱ I-... ❰ but he doesn't know how to finish that sentence. how to fix any of this. he doesn't know why it suddenly matters that he even try, when just a minute ago he was content to sit here and make his final stand.
protecting: (7.)

[personal profile] protecting 2016-12-26 11:59 am (UTC)(link)
if there's any such thing as mercy anymore, it shows itself when ignis fails to lash out at him for a second time, instead pressing his jaw to gladio's temple to unknowingly offer what's probably the strongest grounding force gladio has right now. for a blissful second, there's almost nothing. it's not the eye of the storm, but to a much lesser degree it's not unlike it.

but moments later, gladio's inexplicably aware of how badly his hands are shaking, because now they're shaking iggy's hands just as badly, and somehow that's not an acceptable consequence, so with that realization comes release. he lets go of the other man's hands, not quite as if burned but not entirely gentle either, and - 'i don't know how to fix this...' - his own hands sink uselessly to his sides.


You - ❰ but that wasn't even a word, really. a sound at best. he doesn't know where all of the air in his lungs went, but he forces them now to at least partway refill.

at once, gladio tries again.
❱ You don't fix this. Nobody does. ❰ he's not trying to be depressing or make this worse. he just can't lie right now, not to himself and for damn sure not to iggy.
protecting: (7.)

[personal profile] protecting 2016-12-28 11:55 am (UTC)(link)
iggy's shaking. at least his breath is, and gladio may have been shaking all this time but this is different. ignis, he's-... well, obviously not impenetrable, but some part of gladio used to think he was.

it's as if all this time, he expected iggy to have some kind of logical rationale for why things aren't entirely fucked. but he doesn't, and the weight of that fact bears down hard on gladio's shoulders. it's heavy, too heavy.

the instant the hand closes around his wrist, gladio's knees drop out from under him, forehead sliding off ignis's shoulder and down most of his chest. and then he's on a knee, almost as if he's taking some sort of oath instead of simply falling apart. his other hand's found the one wrapped around his wrist and that's where his forehead rests now, on the only contact left between them. it's a lifeline he doesn't deserve.


I should've - ❰ he chokes, sucking in a hitched breath. his own eyes are swimming now, the carpet blurring in the moment before he closes them altogether. ❱ I-, I did this. All I had to do was - ❰ was protect the prince. he had one job.
protecting: none of these are mine, all of the decent ones are ~ponponpon (1.)

[personal profile] protecting 2017-01-07 01:00 pm (UTC)(link)
oh, there's been more than a few looks. their little motel chat may not have actively spelled anything out, but it was more than telling enough for gladio to find the confidence to spend the last couple of days eyeing ignis up and down when he was looking but the other two were conveniently distracted. and then there was the eye contact, established just in time to lick some food off his thumb or something similarly 'innocent' and lingering just a little too long before he glanced away.

ignis took an impressively long time to acknowledge the efforts. in fact, gladio even had to resort to unnecessary touch - the usual casual hand on iggy's shoulder this time skating partway down his back on gladio's way by, for example.

but it's been a good hour or so since his latest attempt, and he's actually thoroughly invested in fixing up the campfire to keep burning with less personal attention when all of a sudden he's being co-opted for an outing.

...oh.

welp, he's rising to his feet and brushing his hands off on his pants, because:


Must be a lot of herbs, if you need my help.

he knows damn well that it's not 'a lot of herbs'.
protecting: (3.)

[personal profile] protecting 2017-01-07 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
gladio does indeed take a hint and follow, keeping his mouth pretty much shut as they trek off through the trees. he may or may not be taking mental bets of how far they're going to go, whether or not ignis will at least pretend to collect herbs and then roundaboutly inquire or whether he'll -

'what are you doing?'

well. that answers that.

gladio stops now too, shifting his weight onto one leg to say:
❱ No idea. ❰ honest and straightforward. then his tone drops fractionally, the barest corners of his lips twitching as he suppresses a grin. ❱ Is it working?
protecting: (5.)

[personal profile] protecting 2017-01-08 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
it's probably entirely irritating to ignis, how amusing he can be when he's frustrated. gladio's managed to keep his straight face through the huffing and the obvious inner turmoil, but iggy's confession and its reluctance finally has him grinning.

but then comes the question, the 'what are you going to do', and that? that was unexpected. not shockingly so, but enough that he doesn't have an answer prepared. it's not even 'what are we going to do now', it's all on gladio.

so the grin fades, and he looks almost thoughtful for a second, then another.

then, decisively, he closes the distance between them in two quick strides, one arm sliding around ignis's lower back as the other catches his face and pulls him into a lingering kiss.

good enough answer for you, ignis?
protecting: (3.)

[personal profile] protecting 2017-01-16 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
there's a sort of give from ignis that he hadn't expected. it kinda makes gladio wonder how bad he really did get to him, a curiosity that at the very least gives him an excuse to fall back on if any of this ends up backfiring.

not that he thinks it's going to. ignis is kissing him back now in no uncertain terms, and that's pretty much the only cue gladio needs to press forward, one step, two steps, three - and all of a sudden, ignis is bodily pinned to a nearby tree. gladio's forearm braces against the rough bark while his other arm lingers firmly around the man's waist. none of this, mind you, interrupted his kissing, though he does pause just long enough to catch ignis's bottom lip lightly between his teeth.
protecting: (4.)

next one will be way better, i'm tired as fuq

[personal profile] protecting 2017-02-27 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
oh, he'll take it. his own lips part in turn, deepening the kiss even further with a pleased hum in the back of his throat. in fact, he'll do him one better, hips rolling forward just slightly to establish just one more point of contact.

you'd think he'd at least be a little bit nervous, but gladio doesn't really see it as pushing his luck, considering ignis is obviously not objecting.
Edited 2017-02-27 06:25 (UTC)