the longer the waiting, the sweeter the kiss

[blindsider]

[ There are probably men on death row who approach the days preceding their execution with less gravity.

In his defense, it certainly doesn't help that Noctis is giving him a daily countdown. After Ignis had received the king's blessing to begin a relationship with Noct (conveniently leaving out the part about Noct having put the moves on him after downing rather a lot of champagne and ditching the gentleman she was supposed to be spending time with, though the knowing look on His Majesty's face suggested he knew perfectly well what had transpired) he'd suspected that if things progressed to the point of becoming intimate there would be a conversation about birth control during which Noct said "I know" a lot and they couldn't quite make eye contact. Instead, Noctis had put down her controller one day and hit him with "Specs, can you give me a ride to the pharmacy? I need to fill my prescription for the pill". He'd dropped his ladle into the pot of soup he'd been preparing, requiring the brief delay of Ignis changing his shirt before they went out. At the time he'd admired her initiative and the adult way she went about it, merely setting a repeating alarm in her phone to remind her to take it. He almost regrets that confidence now, particularly after she turned to him at the conclusion of a meting and said, slyly, "six days" in full hearing of Clarus Amicitia, and then left the room without him.

Yesterday had been "Tomorrow, Specs", and he's been in a tizzy ever since. Ignis likes to think he would have wanted the first time to be special no matter who it was with, but there's a certain weight to it when that person is a) the princess royal, and b) someone you've been preparing to give a shovel talk over since you were twelve. Ignis knows he would never intentionally hurt Noct, emotionally or otherwise, but his energies have been otherwise directed towards fretting over making things absolutely perfect. Noct has a meeting that doesn't require Ignis' presence - by her design, he suspects - and that has given him time to make preparations. He's freshly showered, wearing his hair down in the way he knows she prefers. The bed is made up with fresh sheets, and nearly every available flat surface in her bedroom is covered in ivory candles of varying shapes and sizes to provide a soft, romantic glow to the room. There's champagne in a bucket of ice, which is more there for an attempt at a humorous callback to the evening of their confessions than to provide dutch courage. There is, additionally, a large crystal bowl of roses set next to the bed. In a fit of romantic foolishness he'd purchased full-blown red roses with the intention of scattering the petals over the bed, but his hand had been stayed by the realization that Noct would likely laugh at the sight of them and that rose petals are probably a lot less romantic when you've having to peel them off your bodies and hoover them up afterwards. They're pretty, though, and the scent is pleasant but unobtrusive, so it seemed a shame to get rid of them.

Now there's nothing to do but wait. He paces a lot, not wanting to crease his clothes by sitting. He's right at the point of wondering if it's too late to take up biting his nails or smoking when he hears the door. ]

Comments

[blindsider]

[ All of Ignis' previous insistence that they not go too far is vindicated in the sudden evidence that Noct is just as excited by this as Ignis is. The feeling of her small, strong hands over his shoulders is intoxicating, and he lifts a hand to comb his fingers through her hair, letting it fall softly over her skin and his before he finally pulls back to smile at her, stupid and soft with love. ]

You're so beautiful, Noct.

[linkstrike]

[ she snorts at that, cheeks flushing a dark pink and chin dipping shyly. he's far too earnest about it for her to be able to believe that he's just saying it for the sake of saying it; there's a conviction in his voice that makes her believe he really means it, and she wants him to say it again and again in the same way that she wants to punch him in the shoulder and tell him to shut up. ]

You might need to get your prescription checked. [ trying to play it off like a joke, reaching up to fiddle with his glasses. ] I'm not sure these things are working.

[blindsider]

Don't malign my specsacles.

[ Still smiling, he reaches up to take them off, but instead of setting them aside he tucks the arms over her ears. They're too wide on her smaller face, but the fact that one of his eyebrows twitches up minutely is either evidence that she's so stunning she can carry off any look or evidence that Ignis is so smitten he'll adore anything on her. However, he did have a point. ]

You know as well as I do that I barely need the things. My vision is adequate without them. It follows, then, that I am not a man who would settle for adequate.

Particularly not if it would deprive me of the opportunity to see you more clearly.