[Noctis makes a faint sound of almost-laughter again, shaking his head on Ardyn's shoulder.]

Don't think I'm even capable of going it alone like that. Last time it... didn't go so well.

[He never wants to relive that. Sure, he'd been forced into it all through Zegnautus, but it was still a long stretch of time where he'd suffered through this pain alone. It was awful, the worst. It'd almost killed him, not just by daemons by despair, too. He's been given a choice here, to rely on his friends and his family, instead of concealing it all. Why would he choose that?

...or... continue to choose that. Because he already does, sometimes.]

If... if I start to... can I come here?

[The question is tentative, stumbling; it's not the answer he worries about, that Ardyn might refuse, but the situation that might call for it. He doesn't want to end up like that, secluding himself and hiding his troubles. But there is some guilt in sharing these burdens, and it weighs heavily against his need to show what he's feeling without restraint. Better to ask, and to know. It... might make it easier.]