[The bottle is tilted towards her and he lets her take it while the recognition of her presence draws its usual smile, if a somewhat distracted one.]
It's nothing. [He brushes his hair away from his forehead like it shouldn't be there, but it falls back instantly. There's going to be no getting away from walking back to his apartment looking like this.]
She takes a drink before considering her reply, placing the bottle on the coffee table and smoothing hands down her thighs reflexively. Years of watching relationships from the outside only does so much to help you figure out where to go with any of it, and a brief fling from years ago doesn't do much more. It takes a pause and slow words to approach this correctly, because the initial reaction in her gut screams flight, rooted in nothing but the fear of more pain.
Us. That, she supposes, is what they are - or at least could be -, but hearing it is another thing entirely. )
How so?
( Us.
It's what some part of her would like them to be, she supposes. )
[He laughs softly, clasping his hands together and looking down at them. Saying that didn't come without its own reaction on his part - the knotting in the pit of his stomach can't be easily ignored.]
It's... strange. I never realised I'd become so used to never wanting anything just for myself. [Ignis doesn't look at her as he reaches out and lightly grasps her wrist. Everything had always been for Noct, for Lucis, but never just for him.]
( She's not quite sure what she was expecting to hear there, but that clearly wasn't it and it's obvious by the expression that flits across her face, the slight flush to her skin, the soft o her mouth forms before closing. She presses her lips together, and for a moment remembers a time when her world boiled down to her brother and nothing else. When the friends she ended up making were regarded as nothing more than acquaintances and every part of her was nothing more than resigned to a job and a life she hated.
Even then, she'd wanted Marc to find the answers as much to secure her freedom from The Agency as anything else.
But all of that lingers far in her past. Years have been dedicated to other things, and in amongst it all, she began to find something more. And the more time passes, the more seems to be unearthed. Skills and passions, and a craving for happiness that has nothing to do with work or duty.
Though Kate doesn't say any of this. Of course not. That would require the ability to use more than ten words at any one time. And she isn't really sure what to say anyway. But a kiss seems more than adequate to express all of the things she isn't saying right now. )
It's enough, and she doesn't need to say anything for him to understand the meaning behind it. He leans into it, a light touch skimming up the line of her jaw before fingers slide into her hair, and Ignis feels... right. Different, but right.
When the kiss breaks he follows it with a smaller, softer one against her lips, then another, then he smiles.]
( It's strange, how quickly you can get used to these little things. How something like providing your response in the form of a kiss can quickly feel like the most natural thing in the world to do. She might not know what to say about that explanation, might not be able to understand how it feels to realise that or be at all used to the concept of hearing such things (but it's getting easier, since she and Faith finally said they were best friends, since the telepathic link locked in between them), but a kiss feels like a thank you.
Thank you for choosing me. For being here, now, and making this place better.
Kate's hand instinctively goes to try and find a loose piece of hair and finds nothing with it braided up around her head, instead tugging on an earlobe for a lack of anything else. )
No.
( Not that it needs to be said.
A pause lingers for a moment before Kate tilts her head slightly. )
This an 'us', then?
( and not just a thing she'll describe with a heavy pause before stumbling over the word "friend". )
[How strange, indeed, and stranger still how quickly one can become used to it feeling so natural when it hasn't even entered into your consideration of things until the last few weeks. All at once, Hadriel is brighter for having one particular person in it, and there's a kind of humble gratitude in being granted the opportunity for an experience that he would otherwise have never been allowed. One that he would not have allowed himself.
He looks at her when she asks the question, quietly searching her face for something. The way that he smile (just a little, the softest upwards tilt of his lips) says that he might have found it.]
I believe it is.
[They haven't talked about what this is, not really, but now feels as good a time as any.]
( They didn't talk about it for the same reasons they danced around ages and experience— it felt less awkward to just fall into things without speaking too much about it. But there's something to be said about having words and meanings to affix to what's going on. It makes things real, like the first time she called Faith her best friend in the wake of being brought back to life.
And honestly, she can think of several reasons to object — they're in a city that takes people in and spits them out just as easily, in the midst of a war no one asked for, and he is so much younger than she ever thought acceptable — but only one thing falls from her lips: )
None.
( The city may spit one or both of them out before they know it, but the world itself does that, and she's put her life on hold for the sake of the bigger picture already. It's tiring.
But if neither of them have objections, there's a city outside which beckons for her, for both of them, to get stuck in and working. So Kate stands, stretches her arms above her head, and steps towards her front door. )
[Had she objected, for those reasons, it would have been something that Ignis could understand. Trying to affix something solid to a place that could so easily remove either of them at any time is a risk, and yet that risk is one he's more than willing to take for the reward of being able to keep her.
For no matter how short a time it might be.]
Ah, good, then.
[Said softly as she moves away and stands, and he doesn't wait for much longer than a moment to follow her.]
Mm. As much as they would notice that I am. [He tells her with a warmly wry smile.] But I doubt I'll have to explain myself to Henry in too much detail.
( Well, she doesn't plan on going anywhere for the moment. Home doesn't need her back too urgently, so as long as The Door deigns to keep her around, Hadriel is where she'll be.
As Kate grabs the bag that always affixes to her thigh, Ignis' comment sparks old memories of a magazine found and advertised on the network and she purses her lips together to hold back a smile at the thought. )
Never were one for discussing anything fun.
( Honestly, what was wrong with being a lali ho?
But never mind Henry. They should really leave the apartment and get back to the real world. )
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
It's nothing. [He brushes his hair away from his forehead like it shouldn't be there, but it falls back instantly. There's going to be no getting away from walking back to his apartment looking like this.]
I was thinking. [Obviously.] About this. Us.
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She takes a drink before considering her reply, placing the bottle on the coffee table and smoothing hands down her thighs reflexively. Years of watching relationships from the outside only does so much to help you figure out where to go with any of it, and a brief fling from years ago doesn't do much more. It takes a pause and slow words to approach this correctly, because the initial reaction in her gut screams flight, rooted in nothing but the fear of more pain.
Us. That, she supposes, is what they are - or at least could be -, but hearing it is another thing entirely. )
How so?
( Us.
It's what some part of her would like them to be, she supposes. )
no subject
It's... strange. I never realised I'd become so used to never wanting anything just for myself. [Ignis doesn't look at her as he reaches out and lightly grasps her wrist. Everything had always been for Noct, for Lucis, but never just for him.]
And now I do. Because of you, Kate.
no subject
Even then, she'd wanted Marc to find the answers as much to secure her freedom from The Agency as anything else.
But all of that lingers far in her past. Years have been dedicated to other things, and in amongst it all, she began to find something more. And the more time passes, the more seems to be unearthed. Skills and passions, and a craving for happiness that has nothing to do with work or duty.
Though Kate doesn't say any of this. Of course not. That would require the ability to use more than ten words at any one time. And she isn't really sure what to say anyway. But a kiss seems more than adequate to express all of the things she isn't saying right now. )
no subject
It's enough, and she doesn't need to say anything for him to understand the meaning behind it. He leans into it, a light touch skimming up the line of her jaw before fingers slide into her hair, and Ignis feels... right. Different, but right.
When the kiss breaks he follows it with a smaller, softer one against her lips, then another, then he smiles.]
I did wonder if that might be saying too much.
no subject
Thank you for choosing me. For being here, now, and making this place better.
Kate's hand instinctively goes to try and find a loose piece of hair and finds nothing with it braided up around her head, instead tugging on an earlobe for a lack of anything else. )
No.
( Not that it needs to be said.
A pause lingers for a moment before Kate tilts her head slightly. )
This an 'us', then?
( and not just a thing she'll describe with a heavy pause before stumbling over the word "friend". )
no subject
He looks at her when she asks the question, quietly searching her face for something. The way that he smile (just a little, the softest upwards tilt of his lips) says that he might have found it.]
I believe it is.
[They haven't talked about what this is, not really, but now feels as good a time as any.]
Unless you have objections.
no subject
And honestly, she can think of several reasons to object — they're in a city that takes people in and spits them out just as easily, in the midst of a war no one asked for, and he is so much younger than she ever thought acceptable — but only one thing falls from her lips: )
None.
( The city may spit one or both of them out before they know it, but the world itself does that, and she's put her life on hold for the sake of the bigger picture already. It's tiring.
But if neither of them have objections, there's a city outside which beckons for her, for both of them, to get stuck in and working. So Kate stands, stretches her arms above her head, and steps towards her front door. )
Think they'll notice I'm late?
( ... Whoops. )
no subject
For no matter how short a time it might be.]
Ah, good, then.
[Said softly as she moves away and stands, and he doesn't wait for much longer than a moment to follow her.]
Mm. As much as they would notice that I am. [He tells her with a warmly wry smile.] But I doubt I'll have to explain myself to Henry in too much detail.
no subject
As Kate grabs the bag that always affixes to her thigh, Ignis' comment sparks old memories of a magazine found and advertised on the network and she purses her lips together to hold back a smile at the thought. )
Never were one for discussing anything fun.
( Honestly, what was wrong with being a lali ho?
But never mind Henry. They should really leave the apartment and get back to the real world. )