[Hope... The word reminds him of a name that had gone grey. Hope also disappeared like Gladio, his name lingering in color for a long while and then- gone. Ignis can feel the chill crawl up his back that similar thing could happen to Gladio. Weeks on end without a word from him and then just- disappearing.

Ignis takes a deep breath to calm his nerves and exhales slowly, closing his eyes. Don't panic, Ignis, there is no room for panicking here. People shouldn't, can't see you like this. Yet his brain refuses to embrace any attempt at it as the minutes tick by.

Gladio had told Ignis as well of what he was... "attempting" to do, which makes his this situation hurt even more somehow. He had said 'no' back then, well, he implied it. While he knew how to maintain friendships, anything that goes further than that is completely lost on Ignis. And he definitively wouldn't stand between Gladio and Ravus. The offer actually made Ignis feel as if he was the one interrupting something finally good around here. And he's not about to ruin it.]

He is... he was basically the one keeping us alive back on Eos. He knew every mountain to the last tree and every Haven from north to south. [A sad chuckle escapes him, finger curling into jacket again,] I yell at him yet I owe him. What a base for a friendship. [If he didn't grow up with Gladio and knew how he ticked, they would probably never get along.

The feeling of material underneath his fingers seems to remind Ignis;]

Ah, m-my apologies. I seem to have taken your jacket, [Ignis says, slowly slipping it off.] I... went out to check the rest of the estate. I didn't see what I took from the coatrack. [He folds it and offers it back.]