[ It's rough and it's painful this way, and Noctis knows that, but he doesn't know how else to be right now, how to feel anything that isn't pain. Everything's still too fresh, too raw, like the burns on Ignis' face. Hiding won't make it any better. That's all Noctis has been doing for days, hiding from everybody, from the world, from himself. Maybe this isn't the right way forward, but he feels just as blind as Ignis right now, stumbling in what he feels like the right direction might be. They're going to have to drag themselves together eventually and leave Altissia, and the only direction Noctis wants to go in now is the one Ignis is going in, too. Everything's falling apart, which just means holding tighter to the pieces he has left, to the people he cares about most. To Ignis. He kisses his mouth through the apologies, swallowing them down, shakes his head just a little, right where he is, in Ignis' hands, pressed up against him. ]

Don't be.

[ His hands push over Ignis' hips, finding more skin to touch while he kisses Ignis' cheek beneath the scars, and his jaw, and his neck just under his ear. He hates seeing him like this, more than the bruised red skin and glassy eyes... The shaking, the stuttering, the apologies... It all cuts right through him. But how can he fix anything when he keeps screwing everything up? He can't hope to make things better. There's no fixing this. There's just admitting what he needs, what he's always needed, more than a clean apartment or mended clothes or hot meals, and hoping that wanting something, somebody, is enough to make it real.

He lifts his his head to knock their foreheads together, and nuzzle the scarred bridge of Ignis' nose, and breathe against his lips, the words more important than desperate kisses right now, just for a second, just long enough to get this out. ]

I don't need you to protect me, Iggy, or to fight with me. I just... Just be with me. Just don't leave, okay? Stay with me.