( It might be a good thing that those words never make it past his lips, that Kate can easily be distracted by the brush of fingers and a kiss which quickly deepens, held together by her hand threading into his hair, back arching up towards him as though he's got her by a string.
This has always been nerve-wracking, from that emotion-charged first kiss during sunset to this very moment, but there's something all too intense which has crept up, slowly, over the months together. Something she doesn't recognise which comes out in moments like this where a simple brush of lips and fingers is enough to make her crave his touch in a way Kate isn't used to - seeking it out rather than simply rolling with it.
Something that has a name she can't quite place to it. )
[There's always room for something further but here, he doesn't rush towards it. He doesn't need anything save for the press of her lips against his, the brush of skin against skin, and he follows the curve of her waist with the backs of his fingers before his hand comes to rest on her hip again, pushing for nothing more.
It was this that he'd missed. The closeness and the intimacy of just having her near to him. Anything else was a bonus.]
Kate, I... [He murmurs, barely an inch parted from her lips. The words don't come out, though, lost in another kiss as he pulls her in close, fitting her body against his like it was always meant to be there.]
( He shushes himself before she does it for him, and maybe that's for the best right now, because it's easier to melt against him when that nameless intensity lingers unacknowledged in the background. Do certain things really need to be said?
A small part of her mind, the one that's largely silenced by kisses and doing rather than speaking, knows they do. After all, it's a regret she's carried for years. Leaving certain things unsaid.
But for now, she can lose herself in running fingers down Ignis' spine, catching his lip between her teeth and pulling with a smile that's more playful than devious, more comfortable like this than she has any right to be. )
[Perhaps they should be said. Perhaps they should, when you can never be sure what the next day will bring, and what regrets there could be if you hold the important things back until it's too late. He shivers slightly against the fingers up his spine, and a soft chuckle rides an exhaled breath after her teeth tug against his lip.
With the interruption and time offered to quietly compose himself he doesn't struggle against unspoken words this time, but holds his silence as he closes his eyes and presses his forehead lightly against hers. It would be an easy thing to stay here, at least until the cares of the world outside this room begin to seep back in. How could it be wrong to want to stay somewhere that feels so much like home?
She's been his first for everything. First kiss, first romance, first intimate partner. His first...
Ignis opens his eyes, and he knows as surely as Kate is solid in front of him that the gentle twist in his chest each time she looks at him has nothing to do with simply missing her. While they're side by side he abruptly pulls her in close, his chin tucked gently on top of her head, his voice a low hum in his chest.]
It's amazing... how one day someone walks into your life, and you can't remember how you ever lived without them.
( It takes a special kind of strength to open your heart like that, intentionally leave yourself at the mercy of all those feelings. One thing to fall into it accidentally, like missing a step on the stairs and tumbling to the bottom, but to let it all out-
No. Not yet. She's not even sure what it really is, other than a heady rush of emotion which constantly leaves her wanting more. Never wanting it to end but knowing it's all but guaranteed to. The Door hangs over every moment they have together and her mind inevitably drifts there when her insides contort around themselves uncomfortably. No matter how easy it can be to feel as though they're trapped here forever, every month The Door opens, all too often they hear that someone else has gone home. Always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
He pulls her in against him and she lies still against his chest, listening to the vibrations of his voice as the words sink in.
[She's been a constant presence since he arrived here. Others have come and gone, friends and acquaintances alike, even Noctis, and yet Kate has always been the one who stayed. It would be a fool's hope to think they could remain this way, but for his own part, he intends to make the best of it for as long as it lasts.
He hears his name and almost holds his breath. His fingertips brush up her back to her shoulder, clasping lightly over it.]
It's alright. [There's something here, felt by them both, with both unwilling to break the tenuous thread of security that staying silent ensures. Ignis reassures her with a soft murmur, a kiss pressed to the top of her head.]
( Better like this a little while longer as those feelings percolate, the uncomfortable bubbling in her stomach lessening when he leaves anything else to one side. This is all she really needs, really wants, right now, anyway.
Silence reigns and her eyes slide closed, comfortable until she shifts and feels the waistband of her jeans against her hipbones. )
Mmm... trousers.
( They should probably take those off if they don't plan on moving. )
[He could have stayed where he is quite contentedly, despite the faint sensation of his own trousers pressing lightly into the side of his hip. When she speaks, he huffs out a soft sigh of amusement and nods, sitting up.]
If this is where we're to be for a while. [Comes the idle agreement, though he appears content enough to watch her move before he makes any movement himself.]
( You know, it's really quite simple to take your trousers off without sitting up. As demonstrated by the way Kate lifts her hips and unbuttons her own, pushing them off and kicking them away quite easily. Her eyes linger on him, smile soft as he keeps watching, only fading as he asks about her travels. )
I'd call it a ghost town but don't think anyone lived there to haunt it. ( Kate that's not funny. ) It was untouched.
( But, with her trousers discarded, Kate would much rather sit up and press a soft kiss to his lips. )
[Maybe he just sat up to watch her. That's probably it. There's no trouble had in his own trousers joining hers on the floor, just in time to put an arm around her when she sits up.]
Strange. [He murmurs, lips barely parted from hers and a small, curious frown on his face.] Untouched by the war, or by habitation?
( Not a footprint to be found, and then not touched by the war. The Null mustn't have cared to attack somewhere which had no life in it. Only faint remnants of previous gods. But the eerie silence of the place is easily forgotten when he's barely pulled back from her and even taking a breath is enough to brush lips together. )
Sure you want to talk about this right now?
( A low tone, her eyes tracing the path from his lips to his eyes and back again as her finger trails across his collarbone. )
( What can she say? She's missed him, and it's easy to get caught in comfortable, familiar habits when they're together again. Easy to rely on wordless means of expressing that sentiment when she doesn't really want to think about places that are too still and too silent. He's just the right kind of distraction for now, and instead of talking, Kate tilts her head just enough to kiss him again, her free hand finding the back of his neck and tugging them both back onto the bed. )
[Ignis huffs out a sigh but gives no complaint to being pulled down again, resting a hand on her hip and kissing her warmly. He missed her too, and he won't deny it, even after the words have already left him.
There's a certain stillness and silence here, too, but it's a gentle and settling one, the kind of comfort needed after a long while spent apart and too many strange things seen in the interim.
He draws her knee up with a light pressure to her thigh, drawing it over his hip with no further motive than to have it there. Wherever this is going... he's fine with it.]
( It's like a warm blanket, or a cup of your favourite coffee (she misses good coffee so much, but that's besides the point right now). The comfortable warmth of his body against hers, the feel of soft skin under her hands as they idly map the expanse of his shoulders and chest. There's no hurry to anything she does, for once, no impatience as they kiss or her leg finds the right place to hook around his waist. Content to take her time, to leave everything else outside the door and sink into this. )
[There's the slightest quickening of his heartbeat, easily felt under her wandering fingers, and for all the time they've spent apart there feels no need to rush into anything more than what they have right here.
Had someone, months ago, described the kind of woman that Kate was and told him that that was the kind of woman he would end up with, Ignis might have laughed. He might have told them that someone like that was so far outside of what he would look for in a partner that the idea was simply ludicrous. A near-polar opposite.
But, as it turns out, she's unalike him in all the right ways. All it is, for them, is two different paths towards the same ends.
As her fingertips find his collarbone he catches her hand very lightly and brings it up to kiss her knuckles, eyelids dipped but quietly fixed on hers. A faint tightness in the centre of his chest shifts up to catch in his throat, and comes out easily on four quiet words.]
( It doesn't feel out of the blue, but she stills anyway, her hand twitching in his. Her breath catches in her throat, her heart seems to stick between her ribs.
It doesn't feel out of the blue, but it shocks her anyway. Words that have hung unspoken in the air for all of this, practically tangible against her skin but safe there. Waiting until the time was right.
(Would the time ever be right, when it's so easy to lose someone? Would it ever be right when she - when they - always have one foot in their home world, hanging onto the hope that they can return to where they're meant to be?) )
... What?
( It's the only word she can grasp for right now. )
[It's almost funny, how much he actually expected that kind of reaction. He doesn't find that he's surprised, or stung by it (though, naturally, one does hope for something a little more concrete.
He doesn't repeat himself. She heard him. Instead, he kisses her forehead and makes a soft sound of amusement.]
It's alright, if you can't say it. If you don't... [Here, Ignis minutely shrugs one shoulder, giving her hand a light squeeze.]
( Perhaps one day, he'll stop surprising her, catching her off guard with all these soft little sincerities. Perhaps she'll know what to do better.
But that's not today, and she exhales, closes her eyes.
It hurts, but the words don't come. )
I'm sorry.
( She means that, as rarely as those two words ever fall from her lips. Means it as much as she means the kiss that follows them, full and warm and as full of everything she can't say as she can make it. )
[It's strange how much he finds he doesn't need to hear it said back to him. How he thought he would, yet it doesn't hurt to have those two quiet words instead. The kiss that follows tells him it's can't, not won't and... he doesn't mind. There are other ways to say things, to make things known without words.
He pulls her close and presses warmly into the kiss, a hand on her hip as he leans in, pressing her gently into the bed.]
( She's more grateful than she can express to know that this can be placed to one side. That it doesn't dissolve into anything greater or more terrible than the brief moment's hiccup.
Quietly, and without argument or pushing back, Kate sinks into the bed under his touch and runs her fingers across the lines of his jaw, cupping his face in her hands. This is all she can give right now, the only way she can properly express anything.
[It isn't something to be forgotten, but also not something which leaves anything broken behind it. In a place like this, Ignis felt it best that something so important not remain unsaid... even as several things remain left to one side to tell her at another time.
Here and now is not the moment for any of those things, however. Here is for the realisation of how quietly and easily she falls back; how there's no resistance under the single coaxing hand that puts her there. He looks at her for a moment, a small turn of his head allowing for a kiss to be pressed against the heel of her palm.
It says more than the words she didn't utter.]
You don't have to... [He tells her with a small, warm smile, fingertips drawing a pattern over the curve of her hip.]
( But, strangely enough, it doesn't bother her that much. He's never pushed, never demanded anything or made her feel anything but safe. Each passing day becoming more and more comfortable, until this is as natural a reaction to his touch as the shift to kiss him quiet, hand curling around his, the other smoothing up his chest until it finds the back of his neck.
The words aren't quite there, not yet, but this is. This one, simple, unfamiliar thing, filled with all the trust she has for him. Spoken in lips pressing gently down the side of his neck and her leg hooking around his waist. )
[He doesn't need any more confirmation than that. Who is he to argue against it, anyway?
What little clothing they have left on goes to the floor in due course as he takes his time - Ignis sees no need to rush, here. He has nowhere to be. By now, over days and weeks, there isn't a part of her body that hasn't been made familiar to him by kisses and touches both firm and fleeting, and it only makes it easier to hone in on what makes her squirm.
There's no need to say it again - those three word can be expressed in so many other ways. A gentle touch, the light slide of fingers along a jawline, and the warm kiss pressed to her lips as he moves into her and pulls one of her thighs up against his hip.]
( Touches which are now familiar but oh so effective at bringing her apart under him when they're just soft enough to tease and promise more but never quite deliver. Not fighting it, her body arching up against his fingers as her own curl in soft hair, lips and teeth against his shoulder, nipping but never truly biting.
Her head hits the pillow, hair splayed out behind her, before his lips find hers again and the smooth thrust of his hips has her groaning against his mouth. )
God—
( She presses upwards instinctively, electric pleasure coursing through her veins, legs wrapping tight around him. It isn't the same three words that spilled from his lips minutes ago, but it's its own kind of first. He's brought a surprising amount of them into her life, sunk into her heart as though he was always meant to be there. As much a piece of her as any of the people she knows back in her world.
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This has always been nerve-wracking, from that emotion-charged first kiss during sunset to this very moment, but there's something all too intense which has crept up, slowly, over the months together. Something she doesn't recognise which comes out in moments like this where a simple brush of lips and fingers is enough to make her crave his touch in a way Kate isn't used to - seeking it out rather than simply rolling with it.
Something that has a name she can't quite place to it. )
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It was this that he'd missed. The closeness and the intimacy of just having her near to him. Anything else was a bonus.]
Kate, I... [He murmurs, barely an inch parted from her lips. The words don't come out, though, lost in another kiss as he pulls her in close, fitting her body against his like it was always meant to be there.]
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A small part of her mind, the one that's largely silenced by kisses and doing rather than speaking, knows they do. After all, it's a regret she's carried for years. Leaving certain things unsaid.
But for now, she can lose herself in running fingers down Ignis' spine, catching his lip between her teeth and pulling with a smile that's more playful than devious, more comfortable like this than she has any right to be. )
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With the interruption and time offered to quietly compose himself he doesn't struggle against unspoken words this time, but holds his silence as he closes his eyes and presses his forehead lightly against hers. It would be an easy thing to stay here, at least until the cares of the world outside this room begin to seep back in. How could it be wrong to want to stay somewhere that feels so much like home?
She's been his first for everything. First kiss, first romance, first intimate partner. His first...
Ignis opens his eyes, and he knows as surely as Kate is solid in front of him that the gentle twist in his chest each time she looks at him has nothing to do with simply missing her. While they're side by side he abruptly pulls her in close, his chin tucked gently on top of her head, his voice a low hum in his chest.]
It's amazing... how one day someone walks into your life, and you can't remember how you ever lived without them.
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No. Not yet. She's not even sure what it really is, other than a heady rush of emotion which constantly leaves her wanting more. Never wanting it to end but knowing it's all but guaranteed to. The Door hangs over every moment they have together and her mind inevitably drifts there when her insides contort around themselves uncomfortably. No matter how easy it can be to feel as though they're trapped here forever, every month The Door opens, all too often they hear that someone else has gone home. Always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
He pulls her in against him and she lies still against his chest, listening to the vibrations of his voice as the words sink in.
...Hell. )
Ignis...
( But she doesn't know how to finish that. )
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He hears his name and almost holds his breath. His fingertips brush up her back to her shoulder, clasping lightly over it.]
It's alright. [There's something here, felt by them both, with both unwilling to break the tenuous thread of security that staying silent ensures. Ignis reassures her with a soft murmur, a kiss pressed to the top of her head.]
I know.
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Silence reigns and her eyes slide closed, comfortable until she shifts and feels the waistband of her jeans against her hipbones. )
Mmm... trousers.
( They should probably take those off if they don't plan on moving. )
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If this is where we're to be for a while. [Comes the idle agreement, though he appears content enough to watch her move before he makes any movement himself.]
You ought to tell me of your travels.
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I'd call it a ghost town but don't think anyone lived there to haunt it. ( Kate that's not funny. ) It was untouched.
( But, with her trousers discarded, Kate would much rather sit up and press a soft kiss to his lips. )
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Strange. [He murmurs, lips barely parted from hers and a small, curious frown on his face.] Untouched by the war, or by habitation?
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( Not a footprint to be found, and then not touched by the war. The Null mustn't have cared to attack somewhere which had no life in it. Only faint remnants of previous gods. But the eerie silence of the place is easily forgotten when he's barely pulled back from her and even taking a breath is enough to brush lips together. )
Sure you want to talk about this right now?
( A low tone, her eyes tracing the path from his lips to his eyes and back again as her finger trails across his collarbone. )
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I was, but...
[He catches her hand in his, holding it lightly against his chest.]
I think you have something else in mind.
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There's a certain stillness and silence here, too, but it's a gentle and settling one, the kind of comfort needed after a long while spent apart and too many strange things seen in the interim.
He draws her knee up with a light pressure to her thigh, drawing it over his hip with no further motive than to have it there. Wherever this is going... he's fine with it.]
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Had someone, months ago, described the kind of woman that Kate was and told him that that was the kind of woman he would end up with, Ignis might have laughed. He might have told them that someone like that was so far outside of what he would look for in a partner that the idea was simply ludicrous. A near-polar opposite.
But, as it turns out, she's unalike him in all the right ways. All it is, for them, is two different paths towards the same ends.
As her fingertips find his collarbone he catches her hand very lightly and brings it up to kiss her knuckles, eyelids dipped but quietly fixed on hers. A faint tightness in the centre of his chest shifts up to catch in his throat, and comes out easily on four quiet words.]
I love you, Kate.
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It doesn't feel out of the blue, but it shocks her anyway. Words that have hung unspoken in the air for all of this, practically tangible against her skin but safe there. Waiting until the time was right.
(Would the time ever be right, when it's so easy to lose someone? Would it ever be right when she - when they - always have one foot in their home world, hanging onto the hope that they can return to where they're meant to be?) )
... What?
( It's the only word she can grasp for right now. )
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He doesn't repeat himself. She heard him. Instead, he kisses her forehead and makes a soft sound of amusement.]
It's alright, if you can't say it. If you don't... [Here, Ignis minutely shrugs one shoulder, giving her hand a light squeeze.]
I wanted you to know.
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But that's not today, and she exhales, closes her eyes.
It hurts, but the words don't come. )
I'm sorry.
( She means that, as rarely as those two words ever fall from her lips. Means it as much as she means the kiss that follows them, full and warm and as full of everything she can't say as she can make it. )
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He pulls her close and presses warmly into the kiss, a hand on her hip as he leans in, pressing her gently into the bed.]
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Quietly, and without argument or pushing back, Kate sinks into the bed under his touch and runs her fingers across the lines of his jaw, cupping his face in her hands. This is all she can give right now, the only way she can properly express anything.
It'll have to be enough. )
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Here and now is not the moment for any of those things, however. Here is for the realisation of how quietly and easily she falls back; how there's no resistance under the single coaxing hand that puts her there. He looks at her for a moment, a small turn of his head allowing for a kiss to be pressed against the heel of her palm.
It says more than the words she didn't utter.]
You don't have to... [He tells her with a small, warm smile, fingertips drawing a pattern over the curve of her hip.]
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( But, strangely enough, it doesn't bother her that much. He's never pushed, never demanded anything or made her feel anything but safe. Each passing day becoming more and more comfortable, until this is as natural a reaction to his touch as the shift to kiss him quiet, hand curling around his, the other smoothing up his chest until it finds the back of his neck.
The words aren't quite there, not yet, but this is. This one, simple, unfamiliar thing, filled with all the trust she has for him. Spoken in lips pressing gently down the side of his neck and her leg hooking around his waist. )
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What little clothing they have left on goes to the floor in due course as he takes his time - Ignis sees no need to rush, here. He has nowhere to be. By now, over days and weeks, there isn't a part of her body that hasn't been made familiar to him by kisses and touches both firm and fleeting, and it only makes it easier to hone in on what makes her squirm.
There's no need to say it again - those three word can be expressed in so many other ways. A gentle touch, the light slide of fingers along a jawline, and the warm kiss pressed to her lips as he moves into her and pulls one of her thighs up against his hip.]
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Her head hits the pillow, hair splayed out behind her, before his lips find hers again and the smooth thrust of his hips has her groaning against his mouth. )
God—
( She presses upwards instinctively, electric pleasure coursing through her veins, legs wrapping tight around him. It isn't the same three words that spilled from his lips minutes ago, but it's its own kind of first. He's brought a surprising amount of them into her life, sunk into her heart as though he was always meant to be there. As much a piece of her as any of the people she knows back in her world.
She doesn't mind it at all. )
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