Archive of Our Own ^beta

The first thing Noctis woke to was a dull, throbbing pain. It was typical, and had been for most of his life now. He was an expert in just rolling over and going back to sleep. When he drifted off again, it was without noticing that this pain was not where it usually was.

Noctis almost never had the chance to wake naturally. His advisor was too good at his job to allow for such a thing. When he stumbled into his bathroom to shower he was groggy and disoriented and had the worst sinus headache of his life. He blew his nose, hoping it would help drain his head, only to find a glob of congealed blood mixed with the snot.

"Eugh," he muttered, and tossed the tissue into the trash. At least it hadn't gotten all over his sheets.

As he undressed he noticed his skin felt… sore. Moving hurt and while that wasn't unusual, the source of it was.  He didn't feel shaky. Normally those two things were related. He stepped into the tub and turned the shower on, standing back from the spray for the few seconds it took the water to heat up. He probably just had a head cold, and he didn't feel bad enough to think he was feverish. He was meant to have makeup lessons with Gladio in a couple of hours as well; he had already missed the past two days because his back hurt. He couldn't tell him he was sick now too without sounding like he was just trying to get out of training, if Gladio didn't already think that about his ever present back issues. Even Ignis may think he was just being lazy if Noctis didn't show a real fever. Ignis was the absolute last person Noctis wanted to start doubting him when he actually took his bad days seriously. By the time Noctis was clean, changed, and walking out into the living area where Ignis was just finishing their scrambled eggs and toast, he had resolved to say nothing.

"I take it your back is troubling you less this morning?" Ignis asked as he set down the plate in front of him. Noctis nodded, watching his friend sit to eat with him. He must have slept later than he did on weekdays, if he was eating breakfast with Noct and not at his own apartment. The Prince scowled at himself. Ignis wouldn't even have to be there until later in the morning if Gladio hadn't needed to schedule his training so early to make up for lost time. He should be doing… whatever it was Ignis normally did at six thirty on a Saturday morning. Probably not sleep, Noctis assumed.

"What do you normally do around now?" He decided to ask.

"Well, this, I suppose. Eat breakfast, though alone."

"And after?" He prompted before taking a bite of the toast Ignis had made him. It crunched loudly, but not loudly enough he couldn't hear the reply.  Ignis almost always bought whole wheat bread, but he also always spread a layer of salted butter under Noct's raspberry jam, so it was okay.

"Typically I would look at our schedules and write everything for the week into my planner." Ignis looked up at him questioningly. "If you're concerned for the change in my schedule there is hardly any disruption, I assure you. I will have time well enough to do my usual tasks in the three and a half hours you will be with Gladio."

"Don't remind me that it's that long," Noctis groaned around a bite of fluffy eggs. He could see the corner of Ignis' mouth twitch as he bit back a grin.

"If we were to break up the length of time your second class would have to occur in lieu of dinner with your father, due to the schedule of the Cownsguard. We did not need your input to know that would be unacceptable."

"Oh…." Noctis knew his relationship with his shield had been improving over the years, but part of him was still surprised he would rather deal with Noct that long rather than just twice. It wasn't like his father never missed their weekly dinners before. It wouldn't have been any different than an emergency council meeting if Noctis' training got in the way. Royal duties were royal duties, after all. "Well hopefully Dad will be able to make it too, then," he finally said, trying not to let the poor track record of the past month sting. He knew Ignis dreaded always being the one to tell him his father had something come up. Maybe Noctis should tell his father to start sending councilmen into the dining room to tell him instead, a different one each time; make them face causing his disappointment themselves instead of hiding behind one of his only friends like cowards.

"Hopefully," Ignis agreed.

When they finished breakfast Noctis went back to his room to get his phone from its charger and take a painkiller for the headache where Ignis wouldn't see and ask. Not the kind he had to take when his injuries acted up, those were prescribed, and Ignis had to keep track of when he took them for the addiction risk they posed. The ibuprofen he just kept in his nightstand with a bottle of water. He turned his phone on as he left his room and let it boot up in his pocket. It vibrated for a while on their way down to the parking garage. He pulled it out as Ignis started the car. Prompto had been up as late as usual for them on a Friday night, but Noct had been exhausted and irritable and gone to bed early. There was picture after picture sent in their text history. Noctis let a small smile slip. He'd convinced the right people to let him and Prompto (and Ignis, and Gladio, and more than one extra crownsguard,) go to one of the forest preserves that existed within the wall last weekend, where he had gotten to go fishing, and Prompto had had a chance to do some photography. With an essay due that Thursday, Prompto hadn't had the time to do any editing, until now. Some of them were definitely portfolio worthy. Noctis read through the messages that accompanied certain pieces, mostly editing jargon that Prompto had been too focused to dumb down at two am, but Noct could get it all in layman's terms later. Noct's nose itched and he quickly grabbed a tissue from inside the door in time to sneeze. He noticed Ignis' eyes zero in on him in the surveillance mirror, but only briefly. He pulled the tissue away to see another, redder, glob of blood. He folded it and wiped under his nose again to make sure that was all. When there was nothing else he tossed it into the trash. He saw Ignis glance at him in the mirror again.

"Your nose is bleeding," the older teen commented when Noctis didn't speak up. He hadn't felt the need to, not when Ignis had been able to smell as little as a paper cut on him since the advisor was fourteen. 

"Barely, it's not even running."

"Hm." Noct looked back at his phone, then put it into his training bag. He would reply to Prompto's messages later, when he actually had time to hold a conversation, and when Prompto would either actually be awake or be done with his jog; depended on how well he had slept.

They pulled into the garage nearest to the training room at 7:45. Gladio's truck was already there. Ignis walked closer to him than he normally did.

"Was your nose bleeding before we left as well?" 

"I really don't think it's anything worth worrying over, Specs."

"So yes."

" Yes , and it wasn't anything. I just blew my nose." 

Ignis hummed, clearly thinking. “And that is all?"

"Yeah," Noct lied without skipping a beat, or else Ignis would figure out about the headache and prickling skin, and his next makeup with Gladio would be five hours long, "maybe it's just been dry out lately or something, you know how it is." Normally if he had a nosebleed for reasons like that he did wake up with ruined bedsheets, but it had been some time. If Ignis recalled that he let it go. When they got to the training room Ignis stopped to chat with Gladio, but only long enough for Noctis to don the usual padded vest and joint guards they typically wore. He schooled a grimace out of his expression at how the vest rubbed at the skin of his neck. It felt raw and chafed, even though he knew for a fact his skin was perfectly fine. He sighed and picked out his wooden training sword. His face hurt. His skin ached. And now Gladio was going to kick his ass for three and a half hours. What a Saturday.

Noctis still looked only half awake as Gladio took him through their normal warmup routine. The stretches didn't seem to help, and neither did their usual five lap run around the training room. It was an annoyingly normal occurrence, but Gladio would have to take it over a text from Ignis saying he would be missing training again.

The Prince was finally getting better at phasing through attacks at the hour mark. He had lost the small amount of progress they had made on Wednesday before his absence, but once he got his sense of timing back it was…. Well. To say anything about Noctis' magic was 'smooth sailing' was dishonest. It was difficult for him, more difficult than it should have been based off certain looks Gladio caught his father with when he supervised earlier training. Clarus had been in his own shoes decades ago after all; he knew what the King had and hadn't struggled with.

To claim it was smooth anything once Noct got his sense of timing back was wrong, because Gladio knew how hard his Prince worked for every little thing that people thought should come naturally.

"You do need to actually parry me once in a while, Noct," Gladio sighed, "or at least dodge normally , you can't just-" Noctis phased through his weapon again and went for a strike at his side. Gladio transitioned from swinging to tilting his blade to the side, arms high, and blocking on instinct.

"-Rely on my phasing I can end up in stasis yeah I know ," the Prince growled, sentence punctuated by that thwunk of his wooden blade hitting his Shield's.

"Then mix it up. You can't be predictable."

By the time Gladio's phone went off to tell them another half hour had passed the training room prickled his nose with the scent of ozone. The royal magic always left that behind, but it was more potent than usual. Maybe Noct had just been over doing it, or it just built up more because they had been working longer. It never got him this irritated before though, Gladio thought as he set five minutes for their water break. It had him on edge the way only Ignis ever did when he could smell a foul, tannic mood off him after a bad council meeting. He resisted the urge to start pacing and took a swig from his water.

Maybe Iris was just getting to him finally. He'd managed to take the first day off when it started on Tuesday, but their father hadn't had the chance, and only one day was not cutting it when he himself was out of the manor for work just as long. Maybe him and his dad could get tomorrow off; acclimating a preteen or teenager to their family when they first present is a normal leave of absence every adult is expected to take, and Iris's teachers would be able to tell she wasn't being settled in to everyone's scents properly if she started to get crabby at school too.

Gladio sighed. There wasn't enough cash in the world to pay him to relive his first month as an alpha. Their dad hadn't been able to be around much then either, and it took a whole three weeks to get used to the hormones from himself and the ever present then-stench of another alpha in his home, driving him into a territorial wreck. He'd been nearly fourteen, and poor Iris was only almost twelve, with two other alphas stinking up her home. He took another long drink from his water. There wasn't enough cash in the world to pay him to trade places with that situation either. Being twenty wasn't the easiest thing to figure out, adulthood wise, but at least he wasn't a preteen anymore.

When the five minutes was up he set thirty more on the timer, and walked back to the center of the room with Noctis.

"Alright, we're going over block and parry forms again."

"What?! We've done those! I know them all already," the Prince whined.

"Well until you prove it to me by actually doing them, I'll have to assume you don't. Besides," he continued, watching Noct glower, "we both know we have plenty of time today."

When Gladio's alarm finally went off again it was 10:25, and he put in the clock for their hourly fifteen minute break. Noct typically needed time to stretch, or have a snack if they were working with magic. This time he did both. The ozone smell had not abated for some reason, Gladio noticed, despite the fact that Noct hadn't been doing anything that would make it. It was weird. Gladio thought about if he could remember this happening before as he bit into his string cheese. He watched Noct do his regular back stretches, then a couple for his arms and legs. When he was done with that he grabbed a snack out of his bag. Gladio grinned. Ignis always kept the same fruit strips in stock at the Prince's apartment. It was one of the very few healthier alternative snacks Noct had accepted from his advisor. He used to want fruit snacks when he first moved out, the kind other kids got in their lunches from home in elementary school, but a few months ago he had admitted to Gladio he liked the texture of the fruit leather better. It chewed more instead of just squishing into his teeth, and sometimes Ignis would even make a batch of it himself. Today the advisor had sent him with one that was mostly raspberry, and, to Gladio's recollection, Noct's favorite flavor. Perhaps he was hoping it would lessen the aggravation of having to be there so long. Noct seemed pleased enough, so maybe it worked. Even the irritating ozone smell had seemed to finally fade.

Gladio took a quick bathroom break in time for their fifteen minutes to finish up. After silencing his phone and setting it for another half hour block he clapped the Prince on the shoulder to steer him back to the middle of the room.

"You ready to block, dodge, and phase now?" He asked, brow twitching in concern when he noticed Noct wince at the contact.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get it over with." Before Gladio could pull away and ask what that wince was about the Prince sneezed hard into his elbow. The alpha could smell the coppery tang of blood before he saw it, sprayed thickly over his arm when he pulled it away. Noct made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat as the ozone scent returned full force, but hovering around his shoulder Gladio finally noticed something else as well. There was a weird, florally-sweet undertone, like the citadel gardens after it rained. Noct smelled like an omega. It was a quick thought, barely registered, but once it did Gladio's stomach dropped like a ton of bricks. His brain went a million miles an hour in the seconds it took Noct to turn and look at him.

Noctis was presenting as an omega. Alone. In a room with an alpha. This was the exact same nauseating 'romance' trope that had him swear off reading the dynamic all together as a teenager, after having to back out of too many alpha love interests 'acting on instinct' and doing something deplorable. He froze. He didn't know what to do. He had to protect Noct. He was scared.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

That was a good question. One that Gladio did not truly register until he was slamming the steel door to the men's locker room shut and sitting against it, with Noctis on the other side.

"It's just a nosebleed!" Astrals. Noct didn't even know what was going on. He felt him try to push the door open but with Gladio's weight against it it hardly budged. What the hells did he do now? "Gladio what's going on?" He didn't know what to do. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, leaning back into the door harder as Noct pressed it open a crack. On reflex he pulled up Ignis, but his brain caught up with him. Convinced bringing another young alpha into the mix was a bad idea, he called his dad. He picked up on the second ring.

"Gladio? What's going on?" He braced his feet against the marble floor for traction as Noct gave the door another hard shove.

"Noct's presenting and I don't know what to do," he said quietly, unable to keep the alarmingly distressed whine out of his voice and not in a state of mind to be embarrassed about it. There were a few seconds of shocked silence.

"Stop blocking the damn door!" Noct yelled as it slammed back into the frame again. He smelled as sourly distressed as Gladio felt, a perfect feedback loop.

" What is going on?!" 

"He's presenting-" Gladio began to repeat,

"-What is going on in the room , Gladiolus."

"I picked him up and put him in the locker room."

"Why?"

"So I can't smell him?"

"...Why?"

"He's an omega." There was another stretch of silence, broken up only by Noctis banging on the door. When his father next spoke Gladio could tell he had leaned away from his phone.

"You're gonna have to cancel this afternoon's meeting Reggie."

"What?" came the faint reply.

"And why does that mean you can't smell him?" Gladio couldn't even imagine how he was supposed to explain that if his father didn't just understand. "Okay we'll be down to deal with this in a minute, just… we'll be there soon." The call ended.

"Can you let me out already?" Noctis demanded, his voice cracking as though he were on the verge of tears.

"Wash the blood off, your dad will be here soon," Gladio replied. He sounded calmer than he felt. He shoved his phone back into his pocket.

"I don't get what's going on! All I did was get a nosebleed, it's been happening all morning, I'm fine!"

"All morning?! Did Iggy not notice?!"

"Notice what ?!"

"You're presenting!" The pressure against the other side of the door eased up. Noct was silent for a moment.

"Is… is that why my face and skin hurt so bad?"

"You're- Noct that's literally THE tell that you're- how did you not realize that was what's happening?"

"That talk was like one day in 8th grade you think I'm gonna remember that almost four years later?"

"Okay but how did waking up with your skin on fire and your face splitting open not tip you off to something being wrong?"

"I always feel like shit Gladio!" Noct shrieked, his shield flinching when he kicked his side of the door. "My body is fucking broken and I'm in pain all of the time ! Today is not different!"

Gladio looked up to see the King standing in the doorway to the training room, his father lurking behind him.  He scrambled up, the door hitting him in the ass and making him stumble as soon as the weight shifted. Noct came out behind him, arm still smattered with blood and a thin line of it dripping around his mouth and down his chin. Gladio stepped off to the side as the King approached his son. Noct sniffled, eyes rimmed red.

"Let us get you cleaned up, hm?" His dad suggested softly. Noctis allowed himself to be steered back into the locker room. Clarus stayed behind.

"Why don't we go for a walk and you can tell me what happened?" Gladio scrubbed his hands up and down his face. His dad put an arm around his shoulder and led him away. They got to the corridor where he ruffled Gladio's hair and let go of him. "I get that this isn't an ideal situation, but I don't understand what scared you so much about this." Gladio sighed. "It's not like he's the only omega you know." At that he gave his father a sidelong glance. They stared at one another for a second.

"You homeschooled me," was all that Gladio could state for a moment. "The only omegas I maybe know would be adults on the crownsguard from when I was in training." His father was quiet, and they stopped walking.

"So… he is the only omega you know." Gladio nodded. "I still don't understand why you felt you could not allow yourself to smell him?" Gladio sighed, turning to lean against the wall and stare at the ornate plaster on the ceiling.

"Every time something like just now happened in a book it was… gross." His dad took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair.

"Is that honestly your only frame of reference? I thought your tutor group went over this."

"We got like. A booklet. And we were all too embarrassed to ask any questions. And Jared explained all the alpha-specific territorial stuff because you weren't home but that's kind of it."

"And your only other close friend is Ignis." He put his hands on his hips as his son shot him a look.

"Well you don't have to say it like that ."

"And what exactly happened in those books that was 'gross'?"

"It was… basically assault." He heard his father mutter a swear under his breath.

"And you felt the need to protect him, from yourself." Gladio stared up at the ceiling again as he felt his eyes start to burn. "I'm sorry you thought you had to do that, but the fact that your first instinct was to protect him should be proof to yourself that nothing would have happened. Those scenarios you read are fantasy, and anyone who behaves that way in the real world is just an asshole using their secondary as an excuse for criminal behavior." Gladio sniffled, looking down for a second to wipe his nose. He caught the look on his dad's face. Not pitying, but pained and somewhat guilty. He held his arms out, and Gladio didn't resist as his dad pulled him away from the wall and into a firm hug.

"I'm sorry I left you so under prepared."

"You didn't know," Gladio stated. He hadn't realized how tense he was until he finally started to relax. He pressed his forehead into the crook of his dad's neck, ignoring the embarrassment of feeling childish. The familiar woody scent helped calm his nerves.

"Have you told Ignis?" His dad's voice rumbled.

"No. Thought it was a bad idea cuz of… that whole thing, so I just called you."

"Hm. Regis may have done it already.  You'll both need to stay the night at his apartment."

"What?"

"To get accustomed to one another's scents as quickly as possible, and to help steady him. The sooner you can function as an adult pack unit the better." Something Gladio rarely thought about suddenly clicked. He broke the hug to look his dad in the face.

"Wait, is that why Ignis would sleep over when we were kids?!"

"Well, partially; his uncle was out of town some of those nights."

"Well what about Iris? Shouldn't we be more concerned about her ?"

His dad faltered. "I will… try to be home in time for dinner tomorrow. Perhaps earlier."

"You'll have to do it more than just tomorrow," he scowled. "I know you didn't want to do it with me, but Jared did suggest that she just come here after school with one of us for a few days each." His dad sighed.

"I'll discuss it with Regis…. For now let us work on what is immediately possible, hm?" Gladio nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I should… go apologize."

"I'm sure he'll understand it if you tell him what you told me."

"Ugh, it's so embarrassing though," he groaned.

"You had good intentions," his father signed, and they turned to walk back to the training room. "Let's just check in first, they may need more time."

"What do you mean?" The man just entered the room, and Gladio followed.

He didn't see them at first, when he began to scan the space. When he followed his dad he was surprised to see the King and his son laying on the low stack of blue floor mats, Noct's training gear discarded on the floor.

"Oh," Gladio thought. Regis cracked an eye open as his shield approached, but Noct was most definitely asleep. He was curled up, tucked into his dad's side beneath his arm, and resting his head on his chest. The blood had been cleaned up. They both looked exhausted.

"I'll leave you two here," he overheard.  "Cor can come and make sure no one bothers you." The King nodded, then cracked a wry smile.

"It'll save him from any council members finding him in the halls and hounding about the canceled budgetary meeting."

"On second thought perhaps I will stay here instead of taking Gladdy to get lunch." Clarus grinned, and Regis only half-successfully held back a snort. He rubbed gentle circles into Noct's back when the jostling made him shift in his sleep. Then, the King looked at Gladio. The young Shield stood up straighter.

"You did the right thing by calling us. We'll figure out when to fit in his missed days another time." Gladio nodded, then followed his father back out of the room. He was texting someone. Gladio pulled out his own phone. He had no messages.

"Did the King text you?" he sent Ignis.

"Your uncle will be down here soon," his dad told him, putting his phone away. Gladio nodded. Ignis was probably doing chores in his rare free time. It was another minute before his phone buzzed.

"What?" Gladio stared at the message.

"Uh oh," he muttered. "NOCT IS FINE" he sent as quickly as possible. The bubble that told him Ignis was typing abruptly disappeared. 

"Bring stuff for sleeping over when you come pick him up.

And maybe come at noon instead.

We're spending the night at his place"

"And is this the reasoning that I think it is?"

"Depends on what you think it is."

"You know what I mean."

"He's napping with his dad right now, if that answers your question." There was a pause before Ignis started typing again. Gladio could imagine him now, the nosepiece of his glasses tilling red lines into his forehead as he ran his hand over his face; probably leaving them up there until he left his apartment if this stressed him out enough. The bubble reappeared.

"I must apologize. I should have realized it to be the case this morning, but nosebleeds are not always uncommon and he did not complain of any pain."

"Yeah, I thought that was weird too. Don't mention it though

I got an earful for it"

"What do you mean?"

"Asked how he didn't realize what was happening, mentioned how painful it is, he sort of blew up on me." Ignis took another while to begin typing.

"How so?"

"Uh…

'I always feel like shit'

And

'my body is fucking broken'?

Think that qualifies for a blow up."

"Oh dear. Well, our shared obliviousness aside, I apologize for landing you with the responsibility of handling it."

"Don't worry

It

Went."

"Fine?" Ignis optimistically but erroneously completed.

"It went"

"That is a concerning way to word this, Gladio."

"I freaked out and called my dad."

"Okay.

And what might you mean by 'freaked out'?"

"Remember when we were sixteen and we used to hang out at the library?"

"You are changing the subject."

"Kind of. Do you?"

"Of course."

"Remember all the novels I just stopped reading a third or a quarter of the way through?"

"Because you stubbornly refused to stay out of the adult romance section and had to bail out every time the 'adult' part of the genre became apparent? 

How could I forget." Gladio huffed. His father glanced at him, eyebrows raised.

"Ignis is going to make fun of me." His father bit back a slightly emotionally insensitive grin.

"I doubt either of them will ever let you live this down." Gladio turned around and bumped his forehead against the wall. Then he looked back down and replied.

"No, because half the time I picked up one with an alpha and omega pairing the instigating scene just looked like assault."

"I do recall that complaint actually. It was the 'coming of age' stories you swore off of."

"Yes."

"And this is in relation to you 'freaking out'."

"Yes" Ignis did not begin typing again. Gladio let the silence stretch for about fifteen seconds. 

"Are you following?" The response was immediate.

"I must admit I am hesitant to."

Gladio sighed. “I didn't have any other examples. I stuck him in the locker room.”

“Ah. I imagine I will be having Noct’s side of the story as well.”

“Probably.”

“This would explain the council meeting as well. I do hope it is not rescheduled in the way of their dinner.”

“Eugh. I hadn't thought of that.” Gladio heard footsteps and turned to face away from the wall.

“There you are,” Clarus said.

“Got caught up trying to leave my office,” Cor replied.

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah, just people assuming I know why the meeting was canceled.” Cor shook his head tiredly. “So why is it? You didn't explain.”

Gladio looked back at his phone as his father explained what had happened.

“What should we do if it does? I garner he's presented as an Omega and while dinners being canceled typically upsets him, his current hormonal state would worsen that considerably.” Ignis had sent.

“I don't know,” he typed, “order takeout maybe? Some sort of comfort food? We don't do that often.” Ignis’ typing bubble popped up at that suggestion. “Or at least I can pick up some extra snacks on the way over later, he'll need the calories.”

“He can get the necessary calories from food that is not junk.”

“Territorial much?”

“Oh piss off Amicita,” Gladio overheard, suddenly tuning back into their conversation. He looked up.

“You guys got lucky I wasn't an alpha or you would have had to deal with that when we went to Accordo,” Cor scowled, arms crossed.

“Oh believe me,” his father laughed, “Reggie and I talked all about that while you were passed out in that pile of stolen bedding.”

“Wait what?” Gladio asked. His dad grinned. Cor did not.

“Well mister ‘youngest to ever serve’ had his own presentation in the middle of an intel mission and none of us will ever let him forget it.”

“Weren't you going to lunch or something?” Cor asked before Gladio had too much time to question how much he knew about his uncle.

“Yeah, you want me to bring you anything when I come back?”

“My regular sandwich is fine.”

Clarus nodded, putting a hand on his son's shoulder and steering him away from the wall. “Alright, let's get going then.”

Gladio slipped his phone into his pocket and followed his dad to the food court that serviced the primary office floors. It was not as crowded as it typically would have been, given that it was a Saturday, but there was still a fair amount of traffic from those whose days off fell during the week. They split off from one another before reconvening at a table, Gladio with sushi and rice, his father with a stew and a large cardboard clamshell. 

“That doesn't seem like a sandwich,” Gladio remarked.

“I noticed they had the baked pasta he likes today.”

“Ah.”

Gladio ate one of his sushi rolls as his father dunked a chunk of bread into his stew. They were quiet for a few minutes until Clarus spoke up again.

“So did staying home the first day not help her much?”

Gladio shook his head, swallowing before he opened his mouth. “I don't think I'm home enough for it to have held. Plus she's not even twelve yet, doctors always say it's less stable the younger you present. That, and there's two of us for her to deal with.”

Clarus sighed deeply. “We had hoped you'd both be betas like your mother,” he remarked, voice uncommonly quiet. “Or at the very least stop the Amicita trend of presenting so damn early.”

“I think it'll take more than you and your parents to undo generations of selective marriages,” Gladio snorted. “Who knows, maybe one of my grandkids will be the first non-alpha to serve as shield in hundreds of years.” His father smiled only slightly and they each looked back down at their food. The likelihood of either of them living to see grandchildren was nearly non-existent. Nothing short of illness had ever taken a ruler before their shield. “But I still think she needs to just come here instead of going home after school.”

“And I will see what can be done about that, as I said.” They ate in silence for a few minutes more before his father spoke up again. “Perhaps we could borrow one of the unused suites to stay in the citadel with her.”

Gladio glared at him, incredulous. “Not actually being home would defeat the whole point? Going to a neutral ground does nothing to fix her feeling like she has to defend her territory from us when we're home.”

His father visibly deflated. “I suppose you're right.”

“Could you just… I don't know, ask Cor to cover for you for a few days?”

His father raised his eyebrows. “Would you want to ask Ignis to do the same?”

Gladio sighed, thinking of all the things Ignis was already held responsible for. “No,” he admitted.

His father nodded. “Let us consider that only as a last resort, then.”

They finished eating and walked back to the training room. Cor accepted his box of pasta with delighted surprise, all previous teasing forgiven, and changed guard with Clarus. Gladio stood at the door, dread building in his chest. Telling Ignis had been embarrassing enough. Now he had to apologize to Noct.

Noct still felt bone tired and half asleep, but he was warm, and comfortable, and couldn't bring himself to care that cuddling with his dad like he was a little kid should feel embarrassing. All the aches and pains were quieter than they had been all day, and Noct intended to take full advantage of that. He felt the conversation going on around him more than he heard it, but when his father began to shift and sit up it occurred to him that he, perhaps, should have been paying attention. A soft whine crept unbidden from his throat.

“Come now, we cannot stay here all day,” his dad chuckled. “You ought to return to your apartment and rest.”

Noct was tugged near bonelessly into a sitting position. With a heavy and displeased sigh he finally opened his eyes. Gladio was there, standing more awkwardly than his father.

“Ignis will be here soon to drive you home,” Clarus informed. The King finally stood, shucking off his suit jacket as he did.

“I'll see you for dinner, Noct,” he said, offering him the article of clothing. Noct took it sullenly. He should be grateful his dad had taken any time at all, he knew. Their family couldn't afford the same time off everyone else got when someone presented. He had known since it was brought up in school years ago, and had thought he'd be able to face it like every other time King had to come before dad. His now unstable hormones didn't give a shit, though, and Noct found himself stubbornly holding back tears. He hugged the blazer to his chest and nodded, hoping distantly that when this interruption to his dad's schedule inevitably sacrificed their dinner together it wouldn't make him such a wreck. His dad ruffled his hair and gave the outside of his arm -rather than his shoulder, much too close to the sensitive skin of his neck- a gentle squeeze. He stared at the floor as King and Shield left the room. He sniffled. The stack of stiff training mats he was still sitting on gave way just barely as Gladio plonked down next to him.  A few molasses soaked seconds passed.

“Sorry for… freaking out on you like that.” His shield said quietly. 

Noct skooched back and drew his knees up to his chest. He held the position only briefly before wincing and straightening his bad leg back out. He rested his cheek on the other and looked at Gladio. “What was that all about anyway?” He watched Gladio’s face slowly turn redder and redder, the woodsy undertone of his scent that Noct hadn't been able to pick up on before taking a turn into something more on-fire. He took a deep breath and began to explain the misunderstanding. Noct couldn't help the bewildered expression his face had settled on by the time he was finished.

“Did they just not go over this while you were in school?!”

“I was homeschooled,” Gladio muttered, voice further muffled from his face being in his hands. “Everyone in my tutor group was too embarrassed to ask questions and most families like mine don't end up with Omegas.”

“Yeah but they still have to cover all of them….”

“In school , maybe, you're the only one of us with experience with that.” 

Noct picked up his head in alarm. “Wait does Specs not know anything about this either?” 

“Oh I'm sure Iggy has done enough independent research on beta and omega presentations while prepping for whichever you would be to write a dissertation on the subject,” Gladio laughed.

“Yeah, that sounds more like him,” Noct agreed.

“We'll be staying at your apartment tonight, by the way.”

Noct’s eyes widened. “What? Why?”

“The more time we spend together the faster we'll all adjust to the change and learn each other's tells. That's the first step to a deeper pack bond.”

“I know that's the first step,” Noct scowled. Technically they were already pack, because of their father's bonds and time spent around one another since Gladio took over Noct’s training, but not everyone started out so easily. He put his head back down with a huff. Gladio let him sit like that for a moment before speaking up.

“Somethin’ bothering you?”

He sighed again. “Not looking forward to tabloids finding out about this,” he muttered.

“I'm sure they won't be any worse than we're used to, just a different topic. We can keep it to ourselves for the weekend but unless you want to forgo school for a couple of days it's gonna be pretty obvious when you get to class on Monday. Besides, it'll calm down eventually like it always does and then you won't have to see those dumb articles that like to speculate keep popping up.”

“You really think they're gonna let up with I'm an omega?”

Gladio shrugged. “It's not like it's rare for your family, your great grandfather was one, and so was the Queen before him. The Lucis-Caelums have a pretty wide spread.”

“You remember that shit?”

Gladio gave him a funny look. “Yeah? That's like grade school history memorization, it's only a few generations back.”

“Yeah?” Noct grinned. “And you'd know what's normally part of a grade school history class?”

“Oh shut up,” Gladio growled, shoving him in the arm. Noct laughed, rocking to the side and back easily.

His face dropped back to neutral as the conversation took a pause. “Is it weird to get used to?” He asked eventually.

His shield glanced at him. “Is what weird to get used to?”

“Being able to tell…” he gestured vaguely at Gladio with one hand. “Everyone's scents being different?”

Gladio scrunched his face. “It isn't really that everyone smells different ,” he paused. “I’d say it's more that everyone has more detail, just like you yourself. You're not picking up on things subconsciously anymore.” Noct hm’d. “I mean, you could still pick your dad out of a crowd blind, or Ignis.”

“That still sounds like a lot,” Noct sighed.

“School might be a bit of a headache the first day or two,” he agreed, “but it's something you get used to.”

Noctis nodded, then felt his nose sting and itch. He sneezed hard into his elbow and groaned at the sharp pain that slammed behind his eyes. He knew better this time and kept his face against his arm. He could deal with the wet and sticky feeling for the walk back to the bathroom. Gladio gave him space, and he left his dad's blazer with him. He washed his arm and face in the sink again, blew out the rest of the gunk on a paper towel, and stuffed a few more into his pocket. When he left the locker room Gladio and Ignis were putting the discarded training gear away.

“It seems you've had a more interesting morning than anticipated,” his advisor noted as he closed the storage room door.

“You couldn't have noticed it yet,” he grumbled, picking up on the older teens unnecessary guilt from a mile away.

“Perhaps, however-” Ignis caught a glare from Gladio “-if you had told me you were in pain I would have known,” he finished with a mutter. Noct huffed, a scowl plain on his face. He didn't want to go into why he hadn't said anything that morning. Ignis looked back at him with a concerned tilt to his brows, then back to Gladio.

“What?” Noct asked. His advisor studied him. There was a smudge of lilac colored ink on the bridge of his nose, and matching stains were only slightly faded on his fingers. It amused Noct briefly, before he realized that it meant Ignis had been doing something in his free time that this whole mess had interrupted.

“Nothing,” Ignis excused.

“You smell like ozone when you're annoyed,” Gladio supplied. 

Noct sighed and picked up the blazer from the mats and his bag from the bench he had left it on. He swung it over his shoulder out of habit, a bad move that had him nearly drop the thing. It felt like taking rope across a blistering sunburn, something Noct had only been careless enough to get once on a fishing trip when he was thirteen.

“Did you take anything for the pain?” Ignis asked, frowning when Noct opted to hold it against his chest rather than hand it to him.

“Just what I keep by the bed,” he grumbled.

Ignis frowned deeper. “Your prescribed medication would have been much more help to you.”

Gladio checked his phone, clearing his throat and saving Noct from having to tell Ignis what the advisor had probably already deduced: that he hadn't wanted anyone to notice.

“You should continue this in the car. Crownsguard trainees will start showing up soon.”

With that hanging over their heads they left for the parking garage. Gladio would be stopping by his place before joining then at the apartment, so they went their separate ways.

“Have you eaten lunch yet?” Ignis asked as he started the car.

“No.”

Ignis backed out of the parking spot and drove out of the garage. “Do you have any particular requests for what you would like to eat?”

“No.” He rested his head against the window. He was mostly exhausted. Between being in pain and the emotional rollercoaster of the last hour, his energy for the day, which already seemed less than the average person’s, was just about spent. He closed his eyes. Ignis must have seen him drifting off in the surveillance mirror, because he did not speak up again.

Noct found himself awoken by the familiar turn into his building. He opened his eyes blearily and unstuck his cheek from the glass with a yawn. Ignis parked and looked over his shoulder. He seemed somewhat surprised to see Noctis awake. He pulled his key from the ignition.

“Do try to stay awake long enough to eat something, you will be burning an alarming amount of calories in the next few days.”

Noct merely grunted, undid his seatbelt, and stumbled out of the car. He kept his hand braced on the open door as his vision grew fuzzy and black around the edges. He stared ahead as it slowly tunneled further.

“Are you alright Noct?” Ignis asked just as his vision faded completely.

“Give me a bit,” he replied.

“If you are going to faint you need to sit down.”

By the time his friend has finished the sentence Noct could see him standing within arms reach in front of him, face betraying his alarm with tells only he and Gladio really knew how to read.

“I just need to eat something, I guess, I don't know. I didn't push myself into stasis today.” When he started moving again he caught a whiff of something like burnt sugar, but it was gone too quickly. “Was that you ?” He asked, turning to look up at Ignis, walking next to him.

“Was what me?”

“Burnt sugar?”

“Oh.” To Noct’s surprise he looked embarrassed. “You had me concerned.” He opened the door to the stairwell, but let Noct press the button for the elevator out of the garage.

“Will I be smelling that a lot?”

“That is entirely up to your own behavior.”

Noct grinned as they were lifted up to the lobby, where security would see who was entering the building again. He waited until he had used the key that allowed the main elevators to go up to his floor to continue the conversation. “What do I smell like now anyway?”

“Well your scent will not be as strong now as it will be in a day or two when your glands finish developing, nor will every facet yet be present.”

“Well what do I smell like so far , then?”

“That would require me to get into your personal space.”

Noct shot him a baffled look. “Our friendship is old enough to drive a car, Specs.”

Ignis’ first look told Noctis that he was well aware of that. His second look was pointedly at the elevator’s security camera to remind Noct that they were, technically, still visibly in public and would be until they entered his apartment proper.

“Oh.”

Once they got inside Ignis relented to Noct’s curiosity, and the Prince had to admit that it would have been embarrassing if someone sitting around watching the security footage just saw Ignis sniff his neck. The older teen pulled back and rested his chin on his hand thoughtfully.

“Peonies,” he landed on finally, after several long seconds of deliberation. Noct felt his face grow hot.

“I smell like flowers ?!”

“And petrichor,” he added.

“I smell like wet flowers ?!”

“Well if you wish to be uncharitable.”

“That's so girly ,” Noct groaned, kicking his shoes off. “Ugh. How is anyone going to take me seriously.”

“Given that what determines a person's scent is typically a combination of inherited traits, I imagine you will be taken just as seriously as whichever member of your lineage you happened to get that particular characteristic from.”

Noctis paused the aggressive putting-on of his slippers. “Oh.” He had forgotten that part. “Do you think…?” Ignis looked at him questioningly as he trailed off. “Nothing. Nevermind.” It was too embarrassing to ask, and there was no chance Ignis would know anyway. What Ignis did know, however, and far too well, was him .

“I believe you would have to ask your father,” he said gently. Noct continued to look at the floor. Ignis cleared his throat. “I will see what can be done about lunch.”

Noct nodded and put his bag away in his room. Now that he was home and had no extra expectations for the day (other than dinner with his father, which he was certain would have to be canceled thanks to all the fuss he had caused,) his exhaustion weighed on him in full. He stared at his bed. As much as he wanted to hole up and sleep he really did not want to do so alone, as embarrassing and needy as it felt to admit. The couch, on the other hand, was not nearly as comfortable to sleep on. He could feel a small rumble of frustration building in his throat. Finally he decided to simply tear apart his carefully made bed and take his comforter, two pillows and the blazer he hadn't let go of yet, into the living room, which also happened to be the dining room and kitchen thanks to his apartment’s layout. Ignoring the fact that Ignis was definitely watching him, he dumped it all onto the couch in front of the TV. He stared at it. There was no way that it would fit everything comfortably. He stared at the coffee table, then at the couch positioned in front of the windows, giving the sitting area a sort of L shape in the large open space. One couch couldn't fit everything, but two ….

He got to sliding the coffee table out of the way. He could tell from the lack of kitchen noise that Ignis had stopped whatever he was doing, but to his credit he did not say anything until Noct began to lift and pivot the second couch one side at a time to keep from dragging it noisily across the floor.

“Would you like help with that?”

“No.”

Ignis raised his eyebrows but clearly decided that whatever Noct was doing would not be a battle worth picking that day. It took a minute of incremental movements and going back and forth but eventually the seats of both identical couches were pushed together, making a wide rectangle of cushion that was perfectly boxed in. Pleased with himself, Noct left his slippers on the floor and flopped into the middle to fix the blanket situation. It was the perfect arrangement: secluded enough to sleep in, yet he could still hear (or see, if he wanted,) Ignis doing things nearby. Bundled up and secure, he drifted off to sleep. 

The sound of the front door roused him only somewhat. It was the sudden snort and “The hell did he do here?” that had Noctis turn his head and look blearily toward the lit area of the living space. 

“It seems that the arrangement of the furniture was no longer to his liking,” he heard Ignis reply.

“No kidding, is that a nest?” Gladio’s laugh made him feel defensive.

“No,” he grumbled, “I just didn't wanna sleep in my room.”

“Well….” Ignis trailed off, apparently thinking better of whatever he was about to say. “It matters little,” he decided.

Gladio’s head poked over the back of the couch that Noct hadn't moved. “And how's sleeping beauty feeling after his mid-day nap? Any better?”

Noct scowled at him from his tangled blanket. “No.”

Gladio frowned. “Damn.”

“Well that is probably due to the fact that you still have not eaten anything. Lunch will only be a minute more.”

Noct sat up, resting his cheek against the top of the couch and letting his eyes fall shut again. “Smells good.”

“It better, looks like one of your favorites.” Gladio leaned casually next to him. “Try to stay awake long enough to eat it.”

Noct hummed quietly and nudged his head against his Shield's arm. The woodsy scent he could detect from being near his wrist eased the pounding behind his eyes somewhat, but it wasn't nearly as helpful as being near his dad. He vaguely recalled the slideshow on secondary sexes from that day in health class, explaining how important it was to have the pack unit you were being raised in around you when you presented and why. He knew there were negative effects to isolating yourself for each of the secondaries. Beta and omega issues were similar, alphas being a bit of an outlier among the three, and whatever the shared issues were it was more intense for omegas, but he couldn't remember any specifics. He couldn't remember if he had taken the embarrassing little booklet they had all been given when he moved, either; it was probably stuffed in a drawer somewhere in his old bedroom at the Citadel.

“Hey,” Gladio murmured, moving his arm away to ruffle Noct’s messy hair. There was a clink as dishes were put down on the dining room table. “Time to get up.”

“But I wanna stay in here….”

“And if you make a mess in there because you're half asleep, Iggy will have to tear your little nest apart and put it in the wash.” An involuntary growl rumbled in Noct’s chest. He cut it off out of embarrassment. Gladio bit back a snort. “Not an outcome you want, obviously.” Noct scowled and untangled himself from his comforter. He steadied himself on the arm of the couch when he stood up, feeling a little off balance. 

“Would you like to take your medication?” Ignis asked.

Noct shook his head slightly, wandering over to the table and sitting. “I'm out of it enough as it is.” He looked down at the large bowl Ignis had set. He had made oyakodon, one of Noct’s favorites. He thanked him and started eating. His stomach felt like a black hole.

“Don't eat too fast or you'll make yourself sick,” Gladio warned.

“I'm not a kid.”

“ Iris made herself sick the other day, slow down.”

“She's a kid .”

“Noct,” Ignis sighed from where he stood at the sink.

“Fine….” He slowed down until Gladio stopped glaring at him.

When he finished the bowl he stood up to take it to the sink only for his vision to tunnel again. He quickly put the bowl down and steadied himself with a hand on the back of his chair, pain throbbing behind his eyes. He was distantly aware of of both Ignis and Gladio anxiously calling his name as his sight left him completely, but he was still standing up. He just needed to wait for it to pass and he would be fine, he was certain. So long as he did not move, being dizzy wouldn't affect him. Unfortunately Gladio chose that moment to make him sit down in the chair, and Noct instead felt himself begin to pitch sideways. The prince took his shield with him to the floor with an ‘oof’.

“Astrals sake, Noct you alright?”

“Ahuh,” Noct groaned, panting. Even as his vision returned he began to feel cold and shaky. Gladio shifted him around so his back was against his chest and then picked up one of his hands. When he felt Gladio’s fingers prod the inside of his wrist he yelped, seeing stars.

“I need to monitor your pulse,” he growled. Noct met his words with a real growl of his own and tried to roll away.

“Gladio stop,” Ignis snapped, and the young man released Nocts wrist. He curled up away from him, protecting the raw gland-point.

“Ignis he nearly fainted I need to-”

“If it's from the pain then checking his pulse there will only worsen the problem!” He argued, rounding the counter and kneeling down to where Noct had curled himself into a ball. An awful bitter scent rolled off of the prince. Gladio felt as though he'd bitten a chunk from the pith of a grapefruit. He swore. He knew what their next steps should be but there was no way Noct wanted Gladio touching him after that .

“Noct I need you to lie on your back so we can elevate your legs,” Ignis told him gently. Noct shook his head.

“Do I need to call someone?” Gladio asked, watching their charge shove himself up into an inadvisable sitting position on shaking arms.

Ignis scowled. “They would only give him the pain medication we already have that he's refusing to take ,” he stated, his tannic irritation souring the air further.

“I'll get him the ibuprofen then!” He stood up before either one could say anything and went to the kitchen, grabbing the over the counter stuff Noct preferred from the cabinet above the microwave and picking up his glass of water when he passed the table again. Noct took them from him and sipped the water, leaning against Ignis’ side for support. Gladio took the glass back when he was done.

“We still need to check your heart rate,” Ignis said softly. “Somewhere else,” he was quick to add as Noct began to shy away. “Upper arm, there's no gland on your brachial pulse so it shouldn't hurt.”

“Promise?” Noct croaked. Gladio turned abruptly and took the dishes to the sink. Ignis was busy patching over his fuck-up, the least he could do was finish the cleaning.

“I promise. Once it has returned to normal you can try standing again and go back to the couch.” Noct humed, resting his cheek against Ignis’ shoulder as he offered his arm. Luckily he was wearing shortsleeves, nothing needed to be moved out of the way. They remained like that, sitting against one another, for another minute. Ignis cleared his throat. “Research says that the scents of packmates can help alleviate some of the, ah, worse physical symptoms. Is this… helping?” He looked over to see Noct frowning at him.

“Wouldn't you know? You've been through this shit already.”

Ignis grimaced uncomfortably. “I spent those few days in the confines of my room. That is not unusual.”

“Wait am I seriously the only one- what about your uncle?”

“We are relatives, but not pack. There was not much he could do other than give me space.”

Noct scowled, leaning into him harder. “ I visited,” he muttered.

Ignis smiled softly. “You did, and I appreciate that. Though because you did not already have a discernible scent of your own at the time… that is why it is typically adult pack members who are meant to take a leave of absence in these cases. The only reason mine seems to be helping you would be due to the fact that mine has been established for several years already.”

“What about Gladio? Wouldn't he know?”

Gladio sighed from where he was drying off dishes. “Remember that security breach when you were ten? That was a few days before mine hit me. Dad couldn't risk taking off, and Cor was with you, so I just kind of dealt with it. Jared helped some but Iris was still little and….” He gestured dismissively. “It's a pain in the ass but being left to ourselves isn't as big a deal for alphas, we manage.”

A hint of sea salt peaked through Noct’s baseline rainy scent. “That doesn't sound right, leaving you guys alone like that….”

“Pain in the ass, like I said, but we're fine,” Gladio insisted in his ‘no room for argument’ tone of voice, but Noct was never one for backing down from an argument. He let out a pointed whine against Ignis’ shoulder.

“Can I get up yet?”

“Yes,” Ignis replied, adding “Slowly!” when the prince rocked up to his feet. Leaving his advisor a few steps behind, Noct stormed into the hallway and up to the linen closet. Feeling slightly lightheaded was not motivation enough to deter him as he pulled the throw blankets off of their shelf along with his winter comforter, all plush and soft and not exactly weather appropriate but it was getting cooler outside. With blankets stacked so tall he could hardly see he returned to the couch. He dropped them in and stared, deliberating. Things were still missing and he didn't like it. Ignis followed him into his room and watched him tear apart his closet. Finally, at the bottom of an organizational bin shoved into the corner beneath boxes of dress shoes he had probably outgrown, he found what he was looking for. He spun around triumphantly and left the room, ignoring Ignis’ bewildered expression.

“Woah, where'd those come from?” Gladio laughed

“My room,” Noct scowled.

“I was not aware you had taken them with you,” Ignis stated as Noct climbed into the couch and began messing with the blankets.

“And where are they from?” Gladio asked again.

“The shark was a present from his father when he was four,” Ignis supplied when Noct ignored the question in favor of his task, “and Pancake was from our trip to the aquarium when he was still early in physical therapy.”

“You named the stingray Pancake?” Gladio chuckled, crossing his arms. Noct challenged him with a glare. “What's the shark's name?”

“Mister Shark.”

Gladio’s shoulders shook as he tried to hold in his laughter. “Well I guess you were four….”

“That name was your father's doing, I believe,” Ignis grinned. “It was certainly intended to be a joke.”

Noct did not comment, too busy making a half circle of blankets and pillows. When that mission concluded he draped the two and a half foot shark in his dad's blazer and held it close, resting his chin on its nose. He shifted his gaze between Ignis and Gladio, staring expectantly.

“What's that look for?” Gladio asked.

Noct’s ears turned pink. “Are you guys coming or not?” he asked, voice muffled by worn fabric.

Now it was Gladio’s face that turned red. “Oh!”

“Of course, if that is what you wish,” Ignis replied. He unbuttoned the first two buttons on his dress shirt so his collar would not be so uncomfortable and removed his slippers before entering the nest. Noct climbed under his comforter and shifted it so Ignis would have somewhere to go. Still sitting up, he stared at his shield.

“Yeah, yeah just give me a sec.”

Noct snuggled down and turned toward Ignis. He still couldn't fully place what his friend smelled like. It was warm and earthy, a little sweet but not exactly honey. Maybe it was still too early for him to identify all of it, or maybe Ignis’ base scent was something he wasn't familiar with. He had half expected him to smell like coffee from the insane amount of it that he drank. Noct shifted, plush shark still in his arms, until he could tuck his head under Ignis’ chin. He felt the cushions dip as Gladio took the empty space behind him and sighed. Pressing his face further into his dad's blazer he could tell the rainy, black tea scent was growing fainter. He knew (or felt) it was irrational to get so upset about it, but tears still pricked at his eyes. He was lucky his dad had taken the time he had, any at all, with how busy he was. Noct took a shaky breath and squeezed his eyes shut. He felt Ignis wrap an arm around him and begin to rub gentle circles between his shoulders. Gladio shifted closer.

“A-are we doing something wrong?” Gladio whispered. Ignis shook his head gently.

“I don't believe so, no….”

“But that's gonna be him upset, right?”

“I am not noseblind Gladio.”

“It's nothing,” Noct croaked.

“It clearly isn't nothing,” Gladio replied in a low voice.

Noct sniffled. “I want Dad back,” he finally admitted. Ignis held him tighter. “And I already know we won't be able to have dinner because I fucked up his schedule-”

“-did someone tell you that?” Gladio asked.

“N-no, but he had to delay a meeting-”

“-Noct, if I may,” Ignis cleared his throat. “I understand that you do not want to get your hopes up, but I have not heard anything about your plans being canceled. It does not help you to catastrophize in such a way.” It seemed like nothing they said could help, Noct cried anyway.

“It doesn't help me to find out last minute either!” He snapped, ozone peaking through the film of sea salt.

“Do you need a distraction?” Gladio asked.

Noct took a few deep breaths until they stopped stuttering. “Maybe.”

Gladio propped himself up on his elbow and grabbed the remote from the side table. “Feel like watching anything specific?” Noct shook his head. Gladio knew there probably wouldn't be anything good on broadcast in the middle of the day so he scrolled to the on demand section. There was a baking show he knew Noct and Iggy watched together sometimes, so he put it on. It occurred to him a little too late that Ignis was not in the right position to see the television, but he seemed more amused than annoyed when Gladio shot him an apologetic look over Noct’s head. Noct shifted around a little more to get comfortable, tangling his legs with Ignis’ and looking over his shoulder at Gladio until he closed the respectful distance he had left between them.

“You cozy princess?” He teased lightly.

“Shut up,” Noct groaned. “Yes.”

Ignis smiled. “It is normal to ‘hunker down’, as it were, with ones pack members in events such as this,” he said, temporarily removing his free arm from Noct’s side and taking off his glasses, depositing them on the side table. “There is nothing to be embarrassed about. It would, in fact, be incredibly concerning if you did not do any of this. It is unsafe for betas and omegas to isolate themselves from their social structures when going through major stress events, remarkably so for omegas.”

Noct frowned, but didn't pick up his head. “What do you mean?”

“This is… typically covered in more detail in health class.”

“I don't have health until third quarter,” Noct mumbled.

“Well… the emotional downswings of being, or, feeling isolated can have… ah, some… dire consequences on occasion.” Gladio shot him an alarmed look. “Not something we will have to concern ourselves with, because you are not alone,” he stated firmly, as if he himself needed to be reassured.

Noct hummed sleepily. “Okay.”

‘What do you mean by that?’ Gladio mouthed.

Ignis shook his head slightly. ‘Later,’ he mouthed back.

Gladio huffed, lips pressed into a thin line. Whatever Ignis was talking about felt like vital information, and he didn't like being left out of it, especially regarding their friend and charge. Eventually Noct’s breathing evened out. “What were you talking about before?” he whispered.

Ignis opened his eyes with a sigh. “Not having suitable pack support can lead to adverse physical and emotional effects in betas and omegas that are not observed in alphas. It can be as bad as being rejected by your pack. They can become… dangers to themselves, in the most extreme cases, and due to the nature of omegas to be more dependent socially than betas, those extreme cases are triggered with greater ease.”

Gladio sat with that quietly for a moment. “Dangers to themselves like… suicidal?” he clarified.

“I did not wish to word it so bluntly, but yes. I fear his situation may be made more delicate due to the King’s absence.”

“Fuck… Iggy, when were you gonna tell me?”

“Whenever we had a moment,” he sighed. “I imagine we will be keeping His Majesty informed frequently, he will be well aware of the… risks.”

“Shit…” Gladio murmured.

“It is not ideal,” Ignis agreed, “but we will get him through it.”

“Yeah, we will.”

Ignis awoke to a weight against him and a low tone sounding from the phone in his back pocket. The television was still quietly playing episodes of the baking show behind him, and the sun had not set yet when he opened his eyes. He shifted slowly to avoid jostling Noctis and pulled his phone out just as the tone played again. He heard Gladio clear his throat just as his mind caught up to who that particular sound was assigned to. The King was texting him.

He unlocked it quickly and opened his messages.

“How has Noctis been since returning to his apartment?” read the first message. “I may have something figured out for dinner.” read the second. The first message was sent only a minute ago, and Ignis sighed in relief. Gladio propped himself up on one elbow as Ignis twisted to lie fully on his back, Noctis not even reacting to the movement.

“What's up?” 

“The King is inquiring about Noctis, and something may yet be done about dinner.” He began to type.

“Noctis is asleep at the moment, both Gladio and I are with him. He presyncoped twice, likely triggered by pain, but is refusing his typical medication due to how he anticipates it's side effects would compound with his current condition. He's taken his OTC instead, as he reportedly did this morning, and ate lunch on our return.”

“I see.

I suppose we are lucky he needs little encouragement when he must rest.” Ignis groaned a little at that statement, given how Noct refrained from indicating to anyone that something was wrong simply because he had things to do , but there was a more pressing discussion to be had. “How is his emotional state?” the next message prompted.

“Somewhat poor before he fell asleep. He convinced himself that dinner would be canceled due to how he interrupted your schedule, though we reminded him that nothing of the sort had been said.”

“Well I believe I may be able to ease some anxieties on that front, then.

With input from his uncle we've decided that returning to the Citadel would likely be more trouble than it is worth, on top of risking a breach to his privacy among the staff. Instead we will bring dinner to his apartment.”

“Everything alright Iggy?”

Ignis took a deep breath, reaching to push up his glasses and uselessly poking himself between the eyes instead. “He wants to come here for dinner.”

Gladio stared at him, frown slight. “What's wrong with that?”

“I haven't cleaned today.”

“Iggy,” Gladio sighed, dropping his chin to his chest and then looking up again, “this place looks fine , and any mess he might find is on Noct; he's the one living here, not you. Besides we all know he's disorganized, his father included. This should be a good thing. Is he gonna bring food, or…?”

Ignis nodded. “He will bring their meal, from the Citadel presumably.”

“Perfect, you don't have to do anything.” He glanced down. “Other than wake him up,” he added.

“I suppose you're right,” Ignis sighed. He proceeded to send the message “At what time do you anticipate arriving?”

“Only half past the usual.”

“They should be here around six-thirty,” he relayed, still mindful of Noct sleeping against him. Gladio nodded, watching the slow rise and fall of their prince’s chest. Ignis sent an affirmative and put his phone down, eyeing his friend. He knew that look. “What are you thinking about?”

“Just….” A murky clove scent mingled with Gladio’s typical array of woods. It was not something Ignis smelled from him very often. “Never realized how high his pain tolerance is, I guess. I know he needs to be pushed, we've always been like that, but… now that I have a frame of reference for how far he'll go without even saying anything … I'm worried I may have taken it too far some days.”

Ignis reached over Noct and put his hand on Gladio’s arm. “If I had noticed anything going too far I would have told you.”

“Would he have let you notice?”

He pressed his lips into a thin line. “What we must take into consideration is how little he's been able to participate in this week. He has gotten behind in both his classwork and in his training, and he is well aware of it. If this had not just been another blow after a long line of days dealing with a flare up he may not have tried to go on as usual.” He sighed. “I suspect he did not want to seem to be coming up with excuses to avoid his duties; we all know what sorts of things the council members say.”

“You're probably right,” Gladio eventually conceded. “I hope you are.”

“I hope I am as well.”

They lay there quietly for a few moments more.

“We've got a couple hours before he'll be here, right?” Ignis nodded. Gladio began to sit up. “I'm gonna grab the books I brought, anything you want from your bag?”

Ignis considered it, then shook his head. “Anything work related I can do from my phone, thank you.”

“Alright.” Careful not to rouse their sleeping beauty, he removed himself from the nest.

Ignis laid his head back. He was not one for napping, or for any more sleep than his position typically allowed, truly, but Noct happened to be rather persuasive. He tried not to dwell on the myriad little messes and locations of clutter scattered about the living space; the console controllers left out with Noct’s history textbook and literature class assignment on the coffee table, the stack of classwork Ignis had picked up from the school during his absence half done in the dining room, the uniform tie still hung on the arm of the couch that he was pretty sure actually belonged to Prompto-

-His train of thought was cut off by Noct suddenly rolling over and reaching out for where Gladio had been. That sharp, sea salt scent hit Ignis as Noct let out a small whine at discovering the empty space.

“Why'd Gladio leave?” Noct sniffled, still half asleep by the grogginess in his voice. Ignis turned over to pull him close again.

“Gladio did not leave, he only went to get something from his overnight bag.” A door in the hallway closed. “And go to the bathroom, I suppose. He will be back in here soon.” The words seemed to do little to reassure him. Noct had always cried fairly quietly. It unnerved more than one caretaker when they were young, but it was something Ignis had grown accustomed to a long time ago. “I have good news regarding dinner, if you would hear it,” he whispered. A questioning hum left Noct’s throat. “Your father will be coming here with food.”

Noct twisted slightly to look at him, eyes bleary and rimmed red. “Huh?”

“In a few hours your father will arrive with dinner, rather than us leaving for the Citadel. I was informed minutes ago.”

Noct stared ahead at nothing for a few moments. “So dinners not canceled?”

“No,” he sighed, realizing just how out of it Noct truly was, “dinner is not canceled.” For some reason this caused more tears to well up in his eyes, but he did not smell any more upset than he had already and with some luck Gladio chose that moment to return to the room with both of their overnight bags slung over his shoulder. He approached warily when it became clear that something had changed in his brief absence.

“Something wrong?” He asked slowly.

“You left the room,” Ignis replied.

Gladio’s eyes widened. “Oh.” He put their bags down on the floor within reach at the head of the nest before walking around and climbing back inside. Noct sat up and hugged his knees to his chest, looking more awake. 

“Sorry, I don't know-” his voice cracked “-why it made me so upset.”

Gladio shrugged, leaning back into his corner of the couch with a book. “You're just a little hair-trigger right now, we'll deal. Didn't expect it, is all.”

Noct rested his chin on his knees. “Is this normal? Everything just feeling so… much?”

“It's….” Ignis trailed off. Gladio glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “What you are dealing with seems a bit more fraught than the average experience, likely due to the fact that you have only us , rather than the actual adults of your father's pack, but for the moment this is the best we can do.”

Noct looked down, hiding his face completely. “Sorry,” he croaked.

“For what?”

“Whatever for?” Gladio and Ignis asked, voices overlapping.

“This wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't a stupid omega-”

“-Hey,” Gladio cut him off sharply, putting his book to the side, “don't talk about yourself like that.”

“You are not a problem to be dealt with,” Ignis added in a stern voice. “You are our friend who we care about, duties aside, and no matter how difficult these next few days may be, we are here because we want to be.”

Noct sniffled. When he didn't move Gladio leaned forward and put a hand on his arm. “C’mere.” He tugged Noct gently by the sleeve until he let himself be dragged over to them. Noct leaned his back against Gladio’s chest and Ignis shifted closer, as Gladio had before. The prince still looked sullen as he lay his head back, hair tickling at Gladio’s jaw, but no new tears traced down his cheeks. Ignis watched them.

“Your head hurting you again?” Gladio asked softly, so close he could smell the faint bitter pith that had happened earlier. 

Noct nodded, then frowned slightly just moments before the other two picked up on the coppery scent of blood. “Eugh,” he grunted, sitting up and pinching his nose shut.

“Just a moment.” Ignis got up on his knees to stretch over the back of the moved couch, just barely managing to snag the tissue box from the coffee table without toppling face-first into it. Noct quickly pulled one out when offered.

“This sucks,” he groaned. “How long is it gonna last?”

“It might be over late tomorrow or early Monday morning,” Gladio replied. “This part is all pretty normal.” Noct grabbed another tissue and sneezed.

“Perhaps I should get a bag to put those in,” Ignis suggested. Gladio agreed.

Noct shook his head. “I'll do it, I need to wash my hands anyway.”

“Are you feeling steady?” Gladio asked.

“We'll find out.” 

Gladio huffed a sigh as Noct crawled to the other side and stepped out, getting out to follow him just in case. “You're awfully unbothered by nearly fainting,” the shield remarked as they walked into the kitchen. Noct threw the bloody tissues away and turned the sink on with his elbow. “Is this a repeated issue that you just haven't been telling any of us about?” The running water was loud over Noct’s silence. Ignis began to massage his temples.

“I've never actually fainted,” Noct muttered as he shut off the tap.

“Noct!” Gladio exclaimed in exasperation.

“It only happens sometimes on bad days,” he argues, “not even every one, today is the worst it's gotten!”

“You shouldn't be in that much pain!” The sudden rush of ozone into the room was enough to make both Ignis and Gladio’s hair stand on end.

“Perhaps we should-” Ignis began to interject as Noct’s eyes widened and knuckles turned white on the edge of the counter

“Do you think I don't fucking know that?!”

“You should be taking you medication so it doesn't get that bad!” Gladio continued.

“Oh so I should just be even less functional for an average week and a half out of every month than I already am , yeah I'm sure everyone would be very proud of that,” Noct spat. “If I did that I wouldn't even be able to be in school. Either I deal with it by myself and feel like shit or I get every teacher I have asking me if I need to go home early because I look dead in my seat and can't follow what's going on in class.”

Gladio looked over at Ignis for support to find that he had put his glasses back on and was typing hurriedly into his phone. Noctis had a few breaths to compose himself before Ignis spoke up. “And why am I hearing all of these complaints now and never at the years of doctors appointments I have accompanied you to?”

Noct leaned his elbows on the counter and put his head in his hands, gripping his hair in a way that Gladio disliked. “You don't get it, you weren't there for all of the bouncing around and trying new things only for them to either not work at all or be unsafe long term or too frequently or to make me feel even worse - we kept going back to what I've been on and eventually we ran out of options! I'm not on this because I'm happy with it I'm on it because we gave up! Complaining is useless so I just don't and only take it when I wouldn't be able to get out of bed anyway .”

“How long has it been?” Gladio asked. He watched blood drip into the sink instead of trying to read Noct’s expression, like a coward.

“Three years, one when Iggy started being the one to take me.”

“Three years is a while,” Ignis stated. “Perhaps there are things that have left clinical trials since then that would be worth the attempt.”

“Yeah,” Noct scoffed, “you can ask Cor how the first six years went and see if you want to inflict that onto yourself on top of everything else you do.”

Gladio silently handed Noct a paper towel when it seemed the conversation was over and he plugged up his nose, washing his hands again and rinsing the small puddle of blood that had formed down the drain with soap. Then he grabbed one of the mini trash bags for the bathroom and his bedroom out from under the sink and trudged back to the couch. He kind of wished he had put all of this effort into his bed instead. He didn't want to be out in the open anymore, he wanted to curl up alone in his room. Instead he crawled into the space he had built and sat in the middle, away from Ignis and the spot they had all been napping in. He took Pancake and drew his knees up to his chest and pretended to watch the baking show Gladio had left on. It registered vaguely as a season he and Iggy had already watched. He ignored the burnt wood and sugar scents from the other two. He wished they would stop staring at him. One of the contestants had iced their cake too hastily, the buttercream was melting off. Noct sighed. Even he knew you had to wait for the sponge to cool down before decorating. This person was going to fail the technical challenge for sure. Gladio had walked to Ignis’ side; he knew they were speaking softly to one another, that they had to be talking about him , but he couldn't bring himself to listen in or care. He unbundled one of the throw blankets and tossed it over himself like a hooded cape to put a layer between him and them. His head was hurting again, and his skin was sore, and he was behind on his classwork and on the meeting summaries Ignis had been writing and on his training, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something but he was always forgetting something , and he was so tired and not for the first time he wished everything would just-

“-Hey,” came Gladio’s gruff voice from behind him. It startled Noct enough that he realized just how quickly he was breathing. He took a few shaky, but deeper, breaths, grabbing an offered tissue from Ignis but not looking at him. His nose seemed to have finally stopped bleeding, and he stuffed the soiled halves of rolled up paper towel and tissue onto the garbage bag.

“You feeling better?” Gladio asked, still sitting cross legged behind him. Noct didn't want to talk to them. He said nothing. He was tired. He wanted to be left alone. He shrugged off the hand that was placed on his shoulder and huddled tighter into the blanket, resting his cheek against Pancake squished against his chest. He stared off at nothing, eyes fluttering shut. When he finally listed to the side he was unaware of the hand that steadied him. Gladio pulled the sleeping ball of prince back against his chest with a sigh of almost relief. 

Ignis took some steadying breaths of his own, scrubbing his hands up and down his face. His glasses were pushed up to the top of his head, two parallel red lines running up his forehead from the nose piece. That had all gotten far worse than he expected, but it was his own fault. He knew Noct’s lingering injuries were a touchy subject and yet he had been so blindsided by the depth of Noct’s complaints that he had failed to keep his mouth shut. Now Noct was shutting them out and the best they could hope for was that he wouldn't be as upset when he woke up.

“Well this is a damn mess,” Gladio breathed. It felt like such an understatement that Ignis could laugh at the absurdity. “At least he didn't shut himself in his room.”

“Half his bedding is in here, he wouldn't have been comfortable.”

Gladio sighed, shifting with Noct as he stretched out in his sleep. “I shouldn't have pressed the issue,” he apologized, scent laced again with clove. 

Ignis shook his head. “It was I who pressed the issue, Gladio, not you. He'd never been so… detailed… regarding the effects of his pain management.”

“More like the lack thereof.”

Ignis sighed, nodding in agreement. “I will contact his physician and see if there are any more recent treatments that seem viable for him, but… if there is truly nothing more to be done as he feels…. I dislike that he has hidden it so thoroughly but I am not sure I can begrudge him for it if there is truly no further help we can give.”

“I can certainly see him not wanting to worry us with something we can't do anything about.” They sat quietly for a while, watching Noct as he lay slack against his shield's chest. Gladio wrapped his arms loosely around his midsection, careful not to wake him. “What do we tell his father?”

“I am not sure. Noct wouldn't wish to speak of it, I am certain, and it would be unfair of us to monopolize the King’s time for a private conversation.”

“So play it by ear, then.”

“Most likely. At the very least the visit with his father should boost his mood, as would another meal, I imagine.”

“I thought I'd make us some tea while I was up before I realized leaving had made him so upset.”

“Hopefully he will not have such a reaction whenever I must step away to cook.”

Noct shifted again, pressing his cheek into Gladio’s sternum with a slight frown as the bitter pith scent began to slowly ebb and flow again.

“And if he does get that upset?” Gladio asked, rubbing gentle circles between Noct’s shoulders.

“We will cross that bridge if we come to it.”

Gladio sighed. “I think the ibuprofen is wearing off,” he noted.

“It's been a few hours, but not quite long enough. He should eat something before taking any more of it regardless. I'll not have him damaging his stomach as payment for some minor relief.”

Noct let out a quiet groan, clenching and unclenching the fabric of Gladio’s tank top in his fist. Gladio looked up and gestured with his head.

“Come on, he clearly needs both of us whether he wants us or not.”

Reluctantly, Ignis did not argue. Gladio lifted an arm so that he could slide over and curl protectively against their prince’s back, as Gladio had done when they first settled down. Unprompted, Gladio picked his glasses up from the top of his head and set them back on the side table.

“Ah, thank you.”

“No problem.” Gladio rested his arm against Ignis’ back as he got comfortable and looked up at the ceiling. He had to admit it was pretty nice to have most of his pack secured in one place like this. Only betas and omegas were driven to nest, and to different degrees, he knew that much; but it was definitely to everyone's benefit. He wondered if it would get cleaned up once Noct settled in better, or if the living room would just be like this from now on. He remembered his mother's nests were always situational; when someone was sick or injured, and when she had been pregnant with Iris and when Iris was still an infant. He should probably ask Iggy for some reading material on the subject, he thought. He looked down. When he was awake, he decided with a grin.

The sound of keys in the front door had Gladio jolting awake. The light from the windows had dimmed and the auto play on the show had paused to ask if anyone was still watching. He craned his neck to look into the hallway, only relaxing when he confirmed it to be who he expected. Cor poked his head past the door frame as he nudged off his shoes. Ignis groaned and began to sit up, considerably less trapped by the still-sleeping prince than Gladio was.

“You kids asleep?” The Marshal asked as he walked in, arms laden with four large cardboard boxes.

“One of us still is,” Gladio replied. “Is that…?”

“Pizza,” Cor answered, setting them down on the counter space that divided the kitchen from the dining room. “You didn't reply to my text so we got four, it'll be easy leftovers.” 

Gladio confusedly dug into his pocket the best he could around Noctis as the King walked in as well. Ignis sat up straighter and ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to look less disheveled.

“Your Highness,” he greeted.

“Oh no need for that right now,” Noct’s father chuckled. He was dressed down in dark brown slacks and a navy blue knit sweater. In the hand opposite his cane was a salad dish and a plastic bag with what was presumably a bottle of soda from the pizza place. Finally, after some shifting around, Gladio retrieved his phone to find the battery dead, and Noct had been jostled enough to wake and investigate why.

“Whas going on?” He muttered.

“Your father and Cor are here with dinner,” Ignis answered as he put his glasses back on. 

Noctis rolled himself away from Gladio, hair sticking up and fabric indents adorning the side of his face. “Huh?”

“Did you forget our conversation already?”

There was a tellingly long pause. “No.”

“Well come over and eat, then,” Cor said. “Where are your plates?”

Ignis told him, and then got up and hurriedly cleared Noct’s school and Citadel work from the table, depositing it all on the rarely used desk in his bedroom. He returned to find the table being set, which he should have had accomplished before they even arrived, and a truly ghastly amount of greasy food. Noct had also managed to extract himself from his nest faster than Ignis had ever gotten him out of bed in favor of a much-needed long hug from his father.

“What was your text?” Gladio asked, plugging his phone into a charger and leaving it on the coffee table. Ignis’ own had been lost to the cavernous folds of blankets, but the most important thing the night had to offer was happening in front of him, so he did not go looking for it.

“It was just to ask what style of Pizza Noctis had a taste for,” Cor replied. “We just went with both since he'll eat it all regardless.” The Marshal looked at Ignis. “We also ordered a salad to offer some balance.”

Ignis flushed slightly at how well predicted his reaction to their choice of meal had been. “I had expected dinner from the Citadel,” he admitted, studying the offerings. Two were stuffed and two were tavern cut, each style of toppings having a mirror in the other style pizza. Two were half cheese, half seemingly every meat the kitchen had to offer, while the others were half spinach and mushroom, half pickled peppers and thinly sliced roast beef.

“This is less of a hassle than trying to pack up all of that for five people,” Cor replied. “And it's far more normal,” he added quietly. Ignis hummed. He would not comment on their struggle to have a normal father-son relationship in spite of the crown. Instead he decided on a slice of the meat filled stuffed pizza since he disliked how it reheated and it was best eaten fresh, in his opinion, and served himself some salad.

“How has it been so far?”

Ignis sighed. “I will have to discuss with you his history with pain medications.”

Cor blinked. “So not well, then.”

“We should not have pushed the subject,” he said softly, “but he has also never spoken of his… struggles with it so candidly.”

“No point in worrying you when there's nothing to be done about it.”

“Gladio deduced that near-exactly,” he sighed. They sat down at the table, giving the others space to reach the food now that Regis had convinced Noct to detach himself.

“So where’s dad?” Gladio asked, sitting next to Ignis who was across the table from Cor. “I'd expected him to be the one to come with.”

“ He is spending some much needed time in his own home,” Cor scowled, pink pepper briefly overwhelming his typical musky cinnamon.

Gladio raised his eyebrows and took a small bite of his pizza. “Oh?”

“He has no good excuses for avoiding your sister like this, I don't care what he claims about not wanting to add to my workload. And he doesn't have a case to argue today, either, because even without Iris to consider I’m the only one of us qualified to discuss any of this with Noct.”

Ignis and Gladio glanced at one another as Noct and his father sat down, Noct between the two older men but shifting closer to his father.

Regis asked how school was going, and Noct shrugged. He'd gotten his grade up in calculus since the last time they'd talked, but he'd probably have to spend a few lunches in the classroom again to catch up on the days he had missed. Ignis avoided bringing up that he could help Noct study himself. He'd been able to email his history teacher the essay that had been due on Thursday, so that was one thing he didn't have to worry about. They had also started a new work in his literature class since their last dinner. He summarized the end of the previous one, which he had disliked (“-you can't just marry the guy who locked his first wife in the attic-”) and moved on to how the current had been going on in class before his absence.

“I kind of wonder if she wishes she could have taken it off the curriculum for my class specifically,” Noct chuckled, “I think she's getting more annoyed about me being volunteered to take the Prince’s lines every time we do group read than I am.”

“Are your classmates being troublesome?” His father frowns.

Noct shrugged. “On Wednesday when we were analyzing the ghost scene someone suggested I'd be able to relate to him or something but they all got real quiet when I pointed out that we don't have enough relatives for the whole ‘uncle-come-stepfather’ issue. So they might be done with that.”

“Well I think they kind of walked into that one,” Gladio laughed.

“And yet they looked so surprised!”

“Do you know what your essay topic on this one will be?” His father asked.

Noct shook his head. “We haven't finished- I haven't finished act three yet, I was going to get that done today….”

“I could read it out loud to save you the energy,” Gladio grinned, “voices and everything.”

Noct snorted, then grimaced. Both his father and Cor handed him napkins as another slow nosebleed interrupted the conversation. Ignis got up from the table.

“I'd say two slices of pizza is no longer an empty stomach,” he noted as he returned with a glass of water and two ibuprofen. Noct thanked him.

“Do you anticipate returning to school on Monday?” His father asked, noting Noct’s seeming anxiety around getting his missed school work finished over the weekend.

“Well…” Noct stared at his plate, napkin held up to his nose. “I already missed two days. I don't want it to pile up any more than that….”

“A third would not be unusual for someone presenting. Excessive fatigue once the process is complete is common and not something people are expected to simply work through.”

“None of us batted an eye when Iris needed a third,” Gladio stated. “She didn't get back to school until yesterday.”

“And if you need more than three days I wouldn't be surprised,” Cor added. “You're having a complicated one since not all of us can stay, and that makes things take longer. I took about six days to get back to normal because we were on the road and they had to keep tearing up my nest.”

“We did not want to!” Regis exclaimed, an old exasperation clearly unearthed. Cor took a bite of his pizza and chewed slowly instead of replying. The boys all exchanged questioning glances none of them had the answer to, until Noct decided he would look the least foolish. He would address the elephant in the room.

“Cor, which one are you?” He asked slowly, “I can't tell yet.”

“No one told you?” He asked, watching how both Ignis and Gladio avoided his gaze.

“It's… never come up?” Noct shrugged. His father tried very hard not to grin.

“Do either of you know?” He asked the older two. They awkwardly shook their heads. Cor smirked and Regis began to laugh.

“What?” Gladio asked, bewildered.

“Your father just lost our bet,” his uncle replied, then looked at Noct. “It isn't that you can't tell yet, it's that you won't be able to. I'm an omega.”

“But how would I not be able to tell?” Noct frowned.

“ That is one of the things we will discuss after dinner, if you would like to speak privately at least.”

Noct frowned. “I don't know.” He checked and saw that his nose had stopped bleeding again, so he rose from the table to dispose of the napkin and wash his hands again. He grabbed three more squares of meat covered pizza as well as a slice of stuffed cheese after, and sat back down.

“Don't make yourself sick,” Gladio warned.

“I'm going slow,” he retorted.

“Sounds familiar,” Regis chuckled quietly before taking a sip of his cola.

“Oh shut up.” Cor rolled his eyes.

Ignis was still staring pensively at his plate. “If I may,” he asked slowly, finally looking up. Cor nodded when he did not continue of his own accord. “Not having a safe or stable location to nest is said to be detrimental in everything I've read, how did you manage?”

“Poorly.”

“Oh.”

“It was not an ideal situation, but we got through it, just as you three will.”

“What were you doing when it happened?” Noct asked.

“It was an intel mission on the front,” he father answered, seeing that Cor’s mouth was full. “We couldn't stop at any of our bases to wait it out without his secondary being exposed, so we tried to drive through as quickly as we could.”

“You… couldn't allow people to know?” Noct asked. No one missed the nervous edge to his voice.

Cor cleared his throat. “Not back then, and not with how people already challenged the position I held because of my age. Things are a bit different now; trainees who have issues with who they take orders from and who they fight beside get weeded out, no matter who their parents are, a lot more thoroughly these days. You probably still wouldn't know omegas from betas on your team, though; maskers are still pretty common.”

“Scent maskers?” Noct asked. Cor nodded. “Aren't those- I thought those weren't safe?”

Cor shrugged. “Depends…. That's one of the things I need to discuss with you since you haven't had health class yet.”

“What matters is that no one should give you a hard time about this,” his father stated, placing a hand on his knee. “And if anyone does, they are not fit to be Crownsguard.”

Noct bit his lower lip. “What about the Council? They already think I'm weak and lazy-”

“-And they are incorrect about those things,” he said sternly before his son could berate himself any further. He wrapped his arm around Noctis as a spray of sea salt betrayed how upset he was. “Any comments regarding your secondary will be shut down, I assure you.” 

Noct took a deep breath and nodded, and eventually went back to eating. When he finally finished his truly horrifying (to Ignis) amount of pizza he went to his room with Cor to have whatever embarrassing second puberty talk he was due in private.

Noct sat on the edge of his half-stripped bed while his uncle pulled out the desk chair and put the duffle bag he had gotten from the hallway on the floor next to him.

“We already brought up the topic of maskers, so let's just jump into that,” Cor said as he sat down. “So you already know that before all of this the scents of the people around you were things you picked up subconsciously.” Noct nodded. “The scent that marks someone’s secondary remains a subconscious scent. It's separate from their scent as an individual and it is separate from their emotional markers. The chemical that's released as the marker is the same across everyone of the same secondary, so your father, Gladio and Ignis are all marked the same and so are the two of us. What maskers do is they're formulated to target whichever gender marker you have, and diffuse it. Most maskers are for omegas but there's a few options for alphas as well recently.”

Noct frowned. “But wouldn't it be obvious that someone can't tell what you are, then? Wouldn't they just assume?”

“Not exactly. The beta marker is, or can be depending on the person, pretty faint. If someone can't tell what you are immediately then it is typically assumed you're a beta.”

“And it doesn't change your whole scent?”

“It used to,” Cor sighed, “back in the day, but they've got a better grasp of the chemistry now than they did then. And about your comment on them being dangerous, that's old news as well and specific to medications that aim to stop your glands from producing your marker altogether. Everything else is topical.”

“Oh… which….” Noct trailed off, embarrassed.

“I used it topically. If you want to be thorough you need to use soap, lotion, and detergent all together. It works best as a system. There are also options if you want to cover up your scent entirely if you are not ready for people to know you've presented, but the effects wear off much sooner.”

Noct hummed. “Is that common?”

Cor shook his head. “It's intended more for preteens and young teenagers, mostly kids like Iris who go through theirs younger than average. Given your position in the public eye, however, it would offer you more control over who does and doesn't know. That would be if it works well enough on you. You are at an age where it is expected to happen sooner rather than later, though.” Noct nodded, and Cor bent over to pull a couple things from a zippered side pocket in the duffle bag. “The soap and the lotion, if you want to try them out,” he said, placing them on his desk next to the piles of paperwork. “I can leave the detergent by your washing machine. If you decide you don't want to use them I can just take them off your hands.”

“I think I'll use it…” Noct said quietly. “At least at first. I don't really know how people will react to the fact that I've presented.”

“Testing the waters seems like a safe way to go about it.” They sat in silence for a few moments before Cor heaved a sigh. “We also have to talk about the… other , ah… omega specific thing.”

Noct braced his elbows on his knees and hid his face in his hands with a groan. “Okay….”

Cor ran his fingers through his hair and Noctis was grateful, for the moment, that Cor at least felt just as awkward about this as he did.

“So omegas on average do not get their first heat until bout six to nine months after they present. For the moment you don't need to concern yourself, but it would be helpful to mark out your calendar ahead of time.”

“Okay….”

“After that, people your age tend to get them eleven to twelve months apart. They will start getting closer together around your mid twenties until they settle to be around every six or seven months. You won't be able to track when they're due with much precision since you're male and don't have a menstrual cycle for them to coincide with, but….” Cor shrugged. “You'll figure out how it feels when one is coming up within the next few years and it will stop catching you off guard, if it ever does.”

“What's even the point of it when I can't…” Noct mumbled, not really wanting to finish the sentence. 

“It's just biological incentive to have kids,” Cor sighed. “They only last a few days, less than a week at most and you're back to normal. There are suppressants and you can ask your doctor about it if you want to, it's up to you, but they're normally taken in conjunction with birth control and you don't need that. Unless you end up with a truly abnormal cycle within the next five years it won't be necessary.”

“Is there any way to predict that?” 

“Not without unearthing some very old medical files from both sides of your family, no.”

Noct took his hands away from his eyes and stared forward. “If it only happens once a year how am I gonna notice if my cycle isn't normal?”

“If you get your first heat any earlier than five months from now we'll have to start doing a monthly check of your hormone levels, same if you don't get it after nine pass.”

“And what would the check be?” 

“A blood draw at your regular appointments.”

“Huh. Is that… it?”

“Pretty much, unless you have questions about what's going on now.”

Noct shrugged. “I don't know… it just hurts a lot and I'm out of it; Specs said something about not isolating myself but I don't remember what he said about why.”

Cor crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. “You don't know why?” Noct shook his head. “Well, one of the things about omegas is that we are the most socially aware of minor changes in people's moods across the board, individually and in groups. It's a way of assessing threat versus safety in our environment, which is a very important instinct to have. The drawback to this hyper awareness is our dependence on a stable social structure and a bond with our pack. If a pack breaks down for one reason or another it will always have the greatest emotional toll on any omega involved. Sufficient emotional distress can cause internal damage from hormonal imbalances, and it can also cause someone to become a danger to themselves intentionally the way any other cause of distress like depression can.” Noct stared at him, wide eyed, but he nodded to show he was still following. Cor continued. “Being rejected by your pack, or having your pack dissolve entirely, can have that result in any of the three, but chances are much higher for us. When we present we are wired to seek safety and comfort, and if those needs are not properly met it can lead to the levels of distress that cause us to shut down. I know Ignis probably spared you most of those details to keep you from worrying,” Cor sighed, running his hand down his face, “but with only the two of them being able to stick it through you're more likely to struggle, so I think it's best that you know all of what's going on with yourself.”

“So if a moodswing gets bad… what do I do?” Noct asked, thinking of the argument from earlier.

Cor grimaced. “One of the things they caused is exhaustion, so as long as you aren't alone… you should be safe to just sleep it off. Proximity to your packmates, which is what nest building is meant to facilitate, typically levels people back out. That's part of what's happening when your pain lessens.”

“Huh.”

“Did something happen?” 

Noct couldn't tell if he had read something on his face, if Ignis had mentioned it, or if it was just a logical assumption. “We… had an argument, about how I don't take my meds as often as I should.”

Cor raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms the other way. “That's a rather loaded topic.”

“I didn't really want to be around either of them but this isn't…” he gestured dejectedly to his sheets-only bed situation, “right…. So I just ignored them.”

Cor nods with a sigh. “That's how I was whenever they had to pack up camp during mine. I wasn't in good enough shape to drive as I typically did, either, so every time I was angry with them I was immediately shoved in the back between Clarus and your father.” Noct grinned. “In hindsight that was the best thing they could have done in that situation, not that I think we really knew that, but I still hated it.”

“So just stick with them?”

“Even if they piss you off for whatever reason, stay in sight. Not that I think you really could isolate yourself effectively, Astrals know Ignis can match you in stubbornness easily.”

Noct nods, chuckling fondly. “Is that everything?”

“Not quite.” Cor picked up the duffle bag and stood, handing it to Noct. “Just some extra material, since we won't be able to stay.”

Noct began to unzip it with a frown, eyes widening when he realized two pillows and a blanket had been crammed inside. “Oh!”

“The need to keep things that belong to members of your pack in your nest is normal. It strengthens bonds and establishes who is accepted in your territory. I know it might feel odd or embarrassing, but that's mostly due to… not exactly having examples of it growing up.”

Noct frowned. As far as his memory served, Cor was right. He hadn't exactly had the typical upbringing; he'd had his nanny, who he'd been trying not to think about all day, and he'd played with Ignis, and Cor was around when he could be or needed to be which was only slightly more often than his father could afford…. “Did my mom not…?” He asked in a voice that was barely audible.

Cor shifted slightly and shook his head. “Your mother was an alpha, like your father.”

Noct opened his mouth, then closed it, then stared off into space with a vague frown as he tried to recall his freshman biology course, all the discomfort inherent to bringing up his mom gone. “How…?”

“There are five, last I knew, geneticists may have narrowed down more, at least five genetic traits you can inherit that interact in certain ways to determine what your secondary becomes. It is not the eye or hair color punnett squares you do in school.”

“Huh.”

Cor stood up. “That's all I can think of, if you come up with any more questions you can call or text me.” Noct nodded, holding the bag in his arms and standing also. “We'll have to leave around eight, so go spend time with your father.” Noct glanced at the hallway clock as they left his room. It was almost 7:30. Cor paused to put the bottle of detergent he'd left by the shoe rack into the laundry closet.

Noct heard the serious tone in his father's voice before he could make out the words, and lingered in the doorway. He was seen before the conversation could continue, however, the topic cut off as his dad smiled warmly at him. They were still sitting in the dining room, which was not where Noct wanted them to be -he registered the thought with only a slight twinge of embarrassment- but he put the bag down near the couches for later and sat back down with them. He scooched his chair over until it was touching his dad's and leaned into his side. His dad grinned.

“Was your talk with Cor helpful?” He asked, wrapping his arm around him. He nodded.

“I'm gonna use the maskers, at least for a little while,” he said. “Just lessen how much people just… know .”

“It would aid in maintaining some level of privacy,” his dad agreed.

“Do you wish to mask your whole scent or just your marker?” Ignis asked.

“Just the marker.”

“Waiting to see how much attention this all grabs?” Gladio asked. He nodded. “Well school is probably the best place to test that out, your classmates don't exactly oil the rumor mill these days.”

Cor came back and sat down, looking at Ignis. “I left the soap and lotion with him, and the laundry detergent is on top of the washer.”

Ignis nodded. “Of cour-”

-a soft knock on the door made conversation freeze. Cor and Gladio both tensed, eyes trained on the hallway. Noct looked over his shoulder to see the time on the stove. 7:32. Gladio’s phone buzzed on the coffee table.

“Are we expecting anyone?” Cor asked slowly.

Noct’s eyes widened. “I forgot!” He exclaimed, shooting up from the table and practically running to the door.

“Forgo-” Ignis started before a look of horror crossed his face. He grabbed Gladio by the arm just as he was about to go after Noct. “It's Prompto.”

“What?”

“The sleepover,” he continued, utterly mortified. “With everything-”

“Iggy it's fine.”

Meanwhile Noctis had thrown the front door open to see his friend, bag slung over his shoulder and phone in hand, standing uncertainly in the hallway.

“Oh you are home!” He exclaimed. “Are we still-?”

“I fucking forgot!” Noct blurted.

“That's-” Prompto cut himself off from saying it was fine because Noct would remind him it wasn't “-are we still on or do you need me to go…?”

“No no no it's fine,” Noct said, grabbing him by his bag strap and pulling him into the entryway. Then he paused. They stared at each other.

“Dude are you okay? You look kind of frantic and you're like, never frantic.”

“It's fine,” Noct insisted.

Prompto stared at him with an increasingly concerned crease between his brows. “Wait… why do you smell like flowers? Unless you changed shampoos-” he began to excuse, but Noct’s face was already beet red. “Dude! You said you were absent because of your back!”

“I was! I- this- it started this morning!”

“ Dude! How are you not in bed! Are you sure you don't just want to do this some other time? I can go home it isn't a big deal-.”

Noct grabbed him by the sleeve of his hoodie. “Stay?” He pleaded, voice slightly cracking.

Prompto took a deep breath. “If you're sure?” He asked softly. 

Noct nodded, looking away. He was ashamed of forgetting their plans, and embarrassed at how upset the thought of Prompto leaving made him. “I'm sure,” he said. “If you aren't comfortable dealing with-” he started.

“Bro you literally got mad at me for not telling you mine was happening because you would have hung out while I waited for my parents to get back, I'm gonna stick it out with you.”

Noct grinned, finally letting go of his sleeve so he could take his shoes off. “Okay, okay. Oh, uh,” he started, just as they walked into view of the doorway, “my dad is here?”

“Huh?” Prompto looked from his friend to the large room and froze like a deer in headlights. Not only was the King of Lucis just sitting at the dining table, but so was the Marshall of the Crownsguard.

Noct tugged him further down the hallway out of sight to have a much more hushed conversation than the previous one. “Don't overthink it, okay? He's been wanting to meet you, at least it's not like… a formal event. Be casual, he's just my dad.”

“Yeah yeah casual, totally, just meeting my friend's dad and not the literal King of our country,” Prompto laughed in a high voice.

“Yeah exactly,” Noctis deadpanned, fighting the urge to sneeze from his friends sudden and overwhelming fennel scent. “It's just my apartment and he's been wanting to meet you,” he reiterated, hands on Prompto’s shoulders. Prompto let himself be shaken lightly.

“I can't believe your dad is meeting me before my parents meet you.”

“Freak accident of timing, what can I say.” Prompto laughed. The corners of Noct’s mouth curled up slightly. “You smell like a tomato.”

“I know,” Prompto huffed. “I smell like half a damn farmers market.”

“Specs likes going to those.”

“Oh, well, maybe he'll finally approve of me.” Noct opened his mouth with a frown.

“Y'all just gonna stand in the hallway, or?” Gladio called out. Prompto squeaked, and Noct ended up following him into the room.

“I forgot we had a sleepover planned,” Noct explained apologetically.

“ We forgot,” Ignis sighed.

“The both of us are typically finished with dinner by now,” Regis chuckled. He rose to greet Prompto, his knee brace clicking gently. He offered the boy a handshake to ease his nerves and he visibly relaxed. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Prompto.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you too,” Prompto replied, somehow managing to keep his voice steady. Gladio nudged the chair on the other side of him out from under the table as Noct and the King returned to their seats, and Prompto took it. 

Ignis stood. “Were you unable to reach Noctis?” he asked, beginning to ruffle through the tangle of blankets in the nest for his phone. 

“He, uh, never read any of them?” Prompto answered, glancing at his friend. Noct checked his pockets with a frown.

“Did you lose your phone?” Gladio asked.

“I don't think…. I never took it out of my training bag.”

Gladio sighed, a security nightmare avoided, then. “Okay.”

Cor looked over to see Ignis holding up Pancake in his continued search and snorted. 

Prompto looked over to see it as well and smiled wide. “You've got stuffed animals in there?” 

“The important ones,” Noct glowered.

“Good to see Pancake made the cut,” Cor grinned, “after I had to chase Ignis into the gift shop and him refusing to move an inch unless I promised we would get it for you.”

Regis laughed, a hand to his mouth. “I had forgotten that story.” All the boys were turned to stare at Ignis, who was holding his unearthed phone with an utterly mortified expression.

“You never said Pancake was your idea!” Noct exclaimed.

“You enjoyed the stingray exhibit,” Ignis replied simply, trying and failing to school his reddened face back into it's normal, neutral expression.

“You would have spent the entire day in that petting room if Ignis hadn't finally admitted to wanting to see the tide pools,” Cor continued.

“When did you even go to the gift shop?!”

“There was a narrow window of time where you had gone to the bathroom with your aid and I took advantage of it.”

“When did all of this happen?” Prompto asked with a grin. Noct’s face fell slightly.

“I was still in PT, I hadn't gone back to school yet.” Prompto frowned, confused for only a second before it dawned on him. He nodded simply, letting that dark shape pass beneath their conversation untouched.

“Ah, Prompto,” Ignis began, taking the pause to change the subject away from not only Noct’s unpleasant time in a wheelchair but also his own childhood antics, “it seems you forgot this here.” He picked up the tie left draped over the arm of the unmoved couch and Regis felt his son stiffen at his side.

“No!” Ignis froze. “Put that back!”

“I…” he muttered, seemingly at a loss for words as he returned the strip of cloth to its -aparent- proper place. He fiddled with it slightly until it was exactly how it had been. “I had not realized it was… involved.”

“Sorry,” Noct said, embarrassed at how harshly his tone had come out.

“Was that already on the couch when you were putting it all together?” Cor asked.

“I didn't move it.”

Cor nodded. “If it being there doesn't bother you, then you want it there.” Both Noctis and Prompto turned red. Ignis sat back down with his phone.

“So how was your camping trip?” Regis asked. Both boys grinned. They talked about all of the fish Noct had caught, and the hiking trail Gladio had taken them on, and the few constellations that were easier to see further away from the lights of Insomnia. Prompto even showed him the photographs he had transferred onto his phone after enough nudging under the table from Noct’s foot.

“You seem to have a great deal of experience in all of this,” Regis said, impressed. “Is one of your parents a professional?”

Gladio noticed a brief look of exasperation in his uncle’s eyes before it was pushed away.

“N-no.” Prompto bit his lip. “They're, uh, my parents are both in the Doctors Outreach Program. My dad's in ER and mom’s in the NICU.”

“Ah, I see.” Regis was headachingly familiar with the program, it being something he himself had insisted on forming after his father had pulled back the wall. The older members of the council still liked to push back on how well funded he tried to keep it during budgetary meetings, few of them having ever seen the state of the hospitals left behind by Mors’ decision. “Do you live with any other family?” Prompto shook his head awkwardly. An unfortunate avenue of kinship between his son and his friend clicked into place.

“Wait,” Gladio frowned, “then who's home with you?”

“They'll be home Monday night, but they have to go back early because of what they took off last month when I presented. That's why Noct and I planned to take the whole weekend, since I'll be with them after school this week.”

“But you're still just by yourself for months on end?!” Noct kicked him in the shin.

“I'm not the only one on my block with D.O.R parents, my neighbor checks up on us and she's on all my emergency contact stuff.”

“Your parents are doing very important work,” Regis said solemnly. 

Prompto nodded. “They wouldn't have signed up for the program if there wasn't anyone to look out for me while they were outside the Wall. And besides, they were stuck with night shifts when I was little anyway it isn't that different, they just don't stagger their days off anymore.” He looked up at Gladio and Ignis questioningly.  “I figured both of you knew all this already?”

“I was the one in charge of your background check,” Cor stated. “The only information relevant to them was that you passed and have no life threatening allergies.”

“Oh.”

Ignis cleared his throat, ignoring the memory of how irate he had been to not be allowed the full picture when Prompto had first started hanging around. “Emergency room and natal intensive care are rather challenging focuses,” he commented. “Do they enjoy their work?”

Prompto nodded. “My dad's got a strong stomach and works well under pressure, and mom’s always liked babies. They say working at a hospital is difficult, but it's how they met each other and how they met me, so they wouldn't have made any other choice.”

Cor shifted in his seat and checked the time as the others looked at Prompto oddly.

“Pardon?”

“Don't all parents meet their kid at a hospital?” Gladio frowned. Prompto had the most bewildered expression.

“Well, I- I guess I know none of you have ever met my parents but…. I'm adopted? I got really sick as a baby and that's how my mom first met me, it wasn't when I was born .” He looked at their stares. “You didn't know?”

“We've never had access to your file,” Ignis stated.

“Well yeah, but….” He motioned to his vibrantly yellow hair and nearly violet eyes. “It's pretty obvious I'm not Lucian? I mean, I'm a citizen through the Orphaned Infants Act, but,” he added quickly.

“That is not the sort of assumption one makes lightly,” Ignis frowned, “nor is it a polite one.”

“So your parents will be home this week?” Surprisingly the question is posed by Cor.

Prompto looked grateful for the slight change of topic. “Yeah, they leave Friday morning though. They've been trying to balance their vacation time back out ever since they had to rush back so they can still be scheduled to be home at the end of October.”

“We've been planning for me to go over for his birthday this year and meet them,” Noct mentioned slowly. It was still a little over a month away, so nothing was concrete, but it wouldn't hurt mentioning now.

“Well there aren't any functions planned for the 25th so there should be no scheduled conflicts,” Cor noted. He got a few weird looks.

“You know his birthday?” Noct asked before Prompto could.

“It was on his paperwork.”

“You remembered one date from a file you read my freshman year of highschool?” Noct almost laughed.

“I'm good at remembering dates.” It took Regis nearly all of his royal etiquette not to react to what he , personally, knew to be a blatant lie. “I also recall you mentioning it last year. There was a formal dinner that you were rather cross with being required to attend.”

“Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about that,” Prompto said, looking at Noct. There was a lull in conversation.

“Do you want any pizza?” Noct asked.

Prompto shook his head. “Nah, already ate, probably later though, thanks.”

Cor stood, beginning to close up the boxes for the fridge. Ignis followed him, picking up the dishes. Noct leaned harder into his dad. Regis gave him a little squeeze.

“So this will be your 17th birthday, correct?” Regis asked. Prompto nodded. “Have you learned to drive?”

“I got a learners permit, but I don't think I'll be able to get the number of hours they want until next year anyway, so I'll probably just take the test when I'm 18.”

“Is your neighbor teaching you?”

“A different one, further down my block, but yeah. His wife is in the program, but he works from home and his daughter is our age at a different school. He just takes both of us out when he can.” He glanced at the lightly shaking cane leaned against the table and stopped bouncing his leg. Noct suppressed a snort. “Julia and I aren't that rushed to get our licenses since we can just walk most places or catch a train pretty easily. It beats worrying about parking.”

“That seems a convenient route,” Regis agreed.

“You fallin’ asleep there, Noct?” Gladio asked with a teasing smirk.

“No,” the prince replied, not bothering to open his eyes. Prompto laughed.

“We'll be leaving soon, and then you can go back to resting,” Regis told him softly. Noct scowled at the reminder that they couldn't stay, but he needed it.

“How much longer?”

“About ten minutes.”

Prompto looked at Gladio questioningly, but he just shook his head and mouthed the word ‘later’. Noct dozed off as they chatted about school, what classes Prompto has that are different than Noct’s this year and what they've been doing. He's content to remain against his dad's side and let the conversation drift on without him. He'd already heard about the kid in Prompto’s lab group who accidentally set a beaker down too hard and broke it, and the boring module on how to do research and make citations he had to watch in the library for Speech class despite seeing it every year for Literature. Eventually his dad took a deep breath. Noct groaned before he could even say anything.

“I know, I know,” he sighed, “I too wish I did not have to leave.”

“Why couldn't you have stayed at the Citadel?” Prompto asked.

“Because he needs to be where he feels at home,” Cor replied, “or he won't be able to settle properly.”

“Oh.”

“I will keep in touch with you when I can,” Regis promised softly. “Just remember what you discussed with Cor, and that you are not alone.”

Noct nodded, and tried not to act like he was on the verge of tears as his father removed himself from his side and stood from the table. He managed to keep it together until the door closed behind him, all reassuring words and touches lost to the simple fact that they were leaving him.

“So this is gonna be pretty bad, huh?” he heard Prompto ask.

“He will get through it,” Ignis replied sternly. He could allow no other option in his mind, there was no alternative. He walked over to Noct’s chair and placed a hand on his shoulder to hold his attention. “Why don't I retrieve your phone from your training bag so you can keep in touch while you make yourself comfortable?”

“I think we should change for bed, first,” Gladio stated. “Probably won't be getting out once we're in.”

Ignis sighed. “You're probably right.”

Prompto stood up, grabbing his bag from under his chair. “Well I for one am all for pajama time. C’mon Noct!” 

Noct let himself be pulled by the hand out of his chair and into his room. His mood was in the gutter, but at least now he understood why , and everyone had politely said nothing about the fact that he was crying again. Following Prompto he also understood now what Cor had meant when he said that secondary markers weren't really a scent you were aware of. Prompto was a beta, and he didn't have to remember that from being told after he presented shortly before school started. He just knew, and it had nothing to do with how his friend smelled like a mix of warm tomatoes and the soap Gladio used on his leather jackets.

Prompto set his bag down on Noct’s desk to go through it, spying the maskers Cor had left there.

“You're gonna use those?” He asked without an ounce of judgment in his voice. It distracted Noct from the momentary thought that he could hide under his bed.

“For now at least,” he answered, going to his dresser instead.

Prompto pulled off his hoodie in exchange for a faded cotton t-shirt. “My dad uses that stuff for work.”

“He's an omega?” Noct frowned, pulling out his own t-shirt from a drawer after exchanging his close cut sweatpants for shorts.

Prompto shook his head. “Alpha, he uses the other kind. Sometimes patients are really agitated when they get to him and it's easier if he's more of a neutral presence. Mom's an omega, I've never known her to use the stuff, but hospitals are also a pretty common workplace for omegas to go into so she probably never felt the need.” He changed out of his jeans for long flannel pajama pants. “I know all the noble families that work at the Citadel are kinda….”

“Alpha centric?” 

“Yeah….”

“Not looking forward to that Council meeting, yeah.” Noct tossed his old clothes into his hamper.

“They're all assholes anyway,” Prompto dismissed, zipping his bag shut. Noct grabbed his phone from the front pocket of his training bag. The lock screen showed several missed messages from Prompto. Noct scowled, annoyed with himself for not even noticing he hadn't had his phone on him.  

“You okay?” Prompto asked.

Noct shrugged, entering his passcode. He scrolled through the texts. Prompto had checked in around dinner time to see if Noct wanted him to come earlier than planned, then a text to tell Noct he was getting ready, and a text to tell Noct he'd left his house, and another for when he was getting close to Noct’s building. The last one was paired with a question of if Noct was home or not, and that it was okay if their plans had to be rescheduled.

“Were you the one who texted Gladio earlier?” He found himself asking, leaning against his desk.

Prompto flushed a little pink. “Y-yeah, sorry, I know that's really only for emergencies but- I mean, last time my texts went unread that long it kinda… was.”

Noct grimaced at the memory. “Sorry for freaking you out.”

“No biggie, I mean I kinda figured that the guys up front would have told me you weren't home if you weren't home, I was just overthinking it.”

Noct nodded, blinking sleepily. “They probably would.”

Prompto grabbed his bag again and Noct stared at the hoodie he’d forgotten on the back of the desk chair. He picked it up without really thinking about it as he followed Prompto out of the room.

Prompto glanced over his shoulder, mouth open to say something, but paused. “You're… taking that with?” Noct held the hoodie sheepishly. He nodded, both of them a bit red in the face. Ignis chose that moment to leave the guest bathroom right next to them, so they did not examine the hoodie theft any further.

In the living room Gladio had changed into seemingly just a different black tank top and a more worn out pair of sweatpants than he'd already been wearing. Ignis, on the other hand, who had probably not owned anything less than business casual since he was eight, wore a matching pajama set of purple pants and a long sleeve shirt. Noct chuckled to himself. Of course even Iggy’s sleep shirts had collars and buttoned down the front.

Noct soon got to adding the pilfered hoodie and offered bedding to his nest. Ignis and Gladio stood in the kitchen, speaking softly to one another. Prompto sat backwards in one of the dining room chairs, watching his construction with interest. 

“So why out here and not in your room?” He asked eventually.

“Specs was in the kitchen, wouldn't see or hear him if I'd stayed in my room.”

“Huh.”

“Omegas do not nest in private the way betas tend to,” Ignis stated, taking a pause from whatever he was talking to Gladio about. “The purpose is usually rather different, in fact.”

“Oh, okay. That makes sense then, I guess. You can see the kitchen and dining room from my parents’ if they leave the door open so I guess that's just close enough as far as my mom’s concerned.”

“Everyone's preferences differ, as well.”

“Either way, your setup is totally sweet,” Prompto grinned.

Noct flushed, but he appreciated that his efforts were worth praise. He didn't exactly have any examples to work off of. Eventually he deemed it finished. Both of his comforters had been laid out over the couches to create a solid, even plusher foundation. Most of the throw blankets had been put with pillows to line the outer edge of the space, save for the entrance, leaving two blankets for actual use. The bulk of the materials had been arranged at the far armrests, where the side table sat and where they had been laying their heads earlier that day. Noct wrapped himself in the blanket that smelled like his dad and rested his cheek on the back of the couch, facing the others.

“Are you finished with it?” Prompto asked. He got up when Noct nodded, clearly excited to join him. Ignis and Gladio followed suit not long after, the latter holding four bottles of water as well as the ibuprofen, all of which he left on the side table.

“Do you wish to do anything or would you prefer to go to sleep?” Ignis asked.

“We'd been planning on watching movies,” Noct sighed, “but I don't think I could stay awake.” He looked apologetically to Prompto, who he knew was nowhere near tired at only a quarter past eight.

“Nothing's stopping you from watching them again,” Gladio stated, grabbing the remote.

“That's true,” Noct sighed. Slowly they all shifted to sit on the couch the normal way. Noct wiggled himself between Ignis’ legs so he could lean with his back against his chest the way they did as children, and Gladio and Prompto settled down on either side of them. His eyes drifted shut as the movie started, but that was okay. It was one of Prompto’s favorites, and he'd be happy to watch it again some other time.

Noct let out a content sign. He missed his dad, and he missed his uncles, and his head still ached and his skin was still sore, but he wasn't alone. The rest of his pack was there for him, and they weren't going anywhere.

Gladio stretched slightly, looking down at their sleeping prince with a small grin. “That's a new one,” he commented as faint bursts of honeydew mingled with Noct’s natural floral rain.

“Perhaps it's to let us know he's tired,” Ignis whispered with a wry smile. Gladio huffed a short laugh.

“Nah,” Prompto whispered back. “I think he's just happy.”