Now, if you will be my lover I will shiver and sing

[blindsider]

[ If only Noct was this determined about literally anything else.

The training room has cleared out, the last people to leave 20 minutes gone. Ignis makes a show of checking the clock, and while Noct's response is closer to “don't even think about it” than “please”, Ignis does have to admit they're at least closer than they had been. And it's so very difficult to deny Noct anything that he wants this badly, he might as well be doomed. There are obvious issues – their height and weight difference meaning they turn at different speeds, Ignis' longer legs putting him closer to the training dummy, ahead of Noct in a way that meant if Noct hadn't banished his weapon back to the armiger he'd have skewered Ignis. Ignis' conviction that this will have no practical use – a stationary object is one thing, but if they perfect the move today so that they can show it off tomorrow, there's every chance that Gladio will swat one or both of them away and leave them looking foolish. Or at least more foolish than they do practicing a technique that Ignis is fairly sure Noctis thought up via one of his video games. He's getting frustrated, that's undeniable. It's worth it, though, to see the determination in Noct's eyes, and if nothing else, it's a good workout.

And of course, it's when he stops thinking about it – when he drops his thoughts of mass and torque and is focusing just on Noctis, on how pleased he'll be if they get it right, that they do. Ignis cartwheels in and springs into a flip, all his calculations gone from his mind, and the next thing he knows Noctis has landed beside him, a near-feral look of triumph on his face as their weapons strike the dummy in perfect synchronicity. He's flush-cheeked and breathing hard, his smile happy and fierce, his eyes lit up with their success. Ignis might be fairly flush-cheeked himself, come to that. The sudden perfection of the strike fills him with a ferocious energy, a need to do something, and as his eyes travel over Noct he knows just what it is he wants to do.

The tip of his tongue darts out to wet his lip, the faintest flicker of pink as he steps closer to his prince. ]

Well.

Comments

[linkstrike]

[ ... okay, so he may have thought this up via a video game.

but! it's cool, and with a few tweaks, noctis felt fairly confident that it might actually work in combat. it's flashy, sure, but most of the way ignis fights tends to be -- no amount of convincing is ever going to get noctis to believe that anyone needs to do that many back handsprings just for the sake of efficiency, so it's obvious that ignis appreciates a certain level of showmanship.

the only real problem with his plan? they've already been at this for hours, and they've spent far more time crashing into each other than they have actually landing successful hits on the practice dummy. ignis' stride and reach are both longer than his, which means their timing is almost always off -- more than a few times, noctis has managed to plant himself directly into the path of ignis' flip, which means he either gets kicked squarely in the jaw or they both go crashing to the floor in a frustrated tangle of limbs. ignis tries counting them both off out loud, but the timing is too razor-thin for it to really help, and noctis can feel the other man's confidence in being able to pull this off waning steadily. ignis keeps making a show of checking for the time, and noctis can practically see his internal clock buzzing with warnings about how long it'll take to have dinner on, for noctis to finish his economics report --

one more shot, then.

and this time, he doesn't bother with the count. instead, he reaches out for ignis with his magic, does his best to sync with him through that link that connects them. there's a moment where it feels like he's doing nothing but grasping at empty air, but -- then he feels it, and it's like the two of them click together like clockwork pieces. it's not exactly like following the rhythm that ignis sets, but more like knowing how his own fits into it, and...

the next thing he hears is the sound of their weapons biting into the practice dummy, perfectly in sync. ]

It worked. [ and the success has him almost giddy, still buzzing off that moment of perfect connection. the weapon in his hand disappears back into the armiger with a sound like shattering, and he turns back to ignis with a broad grin. ] I told you! I bet we could totally use that against Gla --

[ ... oh.

honestly, sometimes it's hard to tell what's reality and what's the product of his stupid hormone-addled imagination, but the way ignis is looking at him is enough to flood a wash of heat through his veins. and he's suddenly aware of how damn attractive ignis looks -- flushed and sweaty, hair rumpled in a way that noctis usually never sees unless the two of them have been --

huh. so ignis gets off on successful combos. good to know. ]