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[claritatis]

"You've reached Ignis Scientia. Leave a message and I will endeavour to get back to you post-haste."

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[claritatis]

[As she curls in, he draws her close and rests his chin on her shoulder, exhaling a soft and contented breath. They're so far, now, from the first awkward steps of this relationship when he wasn't sure of where to put his hands when she kissed him.

He stays that way for a few long moments, then straightens up a little and lightly kisses the side of her head.]

Mm. A few.

[Ignis has often wondered, too, what the other people from his home would think of this. Would they be awkward and withdrawn like Noctis, or would they welcome this development with more open arms? He's been mostly alone here for long enough to not put too much thought into it, but it's still something to wonder about.

It's almost funny, how much he doesn't feel like those opinions really matter.]

Though I believe I claimed the best one for myself.

[dedikated]

( And miles from that beginning where every show of affection was met with a subtle stiffening of limbs or the push towards something more explicit. As he pulls her closer, Kate relaxes, soft and pliant in his arms, inhaling his familiar warm scent under the sharp chill of the night air. Somewhere in amongst the kisses and trips to bed, breakfasts and dinners and being dragged out of work long enough to eat, his arms became the safest place in the broken city, where god-induced misery and self-induced guilt no longer tread.

She lets herself smile, lets herself lean into the kiss, and then he goes and says that and the calm is broken by eyerolls and a light shove against his side. )

Shut up.

( She moves with all the sudden, easy grace he's used to by now, lifting herself up and straddling his legs, hands going to shoulders and brushing up to his collar before pulling him close for another kiss. )

[claritatis]

I will not. [He objects playfully, but the kiss draws him in and silences him far more effectively than her words did. The cold around them goes unnoticed, and he brushes his fingers to the nape of her neck before working them up into her hair to cup the back of her head.

His free hand rests on her thigh, his thumb lightly smoothing against fabric, and he smiles brightly when she pulls away from him.]

Maybe we should do this more often.

[dedikated]

We don't kiss enough?

( It's teasing, playful, her eyes sparkling nearly as much as the stars in the sky. There's an easy freedom in this space between them, and there has been for a long time. A freedom which dissolves the frozen world around them to an afterthought and picks away at every stitch of her outer layers until they're forgotten things, no longer needed because this place is so very, very safe.

Perhaps too safe, but for tonight it doesn't matter.

Tonight the only thing that matters is the endless space above them, velvet skies and twinkling silver, and each and every soft kiss she presses against his lips. )

[claritatis]

Oh, I would never object to kissing you more. [He tells her with a soft smile edging on mischievous. There's something about her that just brings out that playfulness in him, something that he has long since identified as the kind of immaturity he has never really been able to display, tempered by experience.

Ignis catches every kiss she gives him, taking them willingly, eagerly even, and in time his long fingers work into the back of her hair to hold her against him so that the break between each is barely a millimetre for breath.]

Are you warm enough? [He asks her, after a few minutes of quiet affection have gone by.] I didn't ask you up here to freeze you.

[dedikated]

( They don't have to play the same roles they always have here, do they? Between them, there's no weight of responsibility, of trauma or work. Walls which have been up for decades melting away to nothing, and it finally makes sense, why people crave this.

She started to understand it with Sam, but it's only with Ignis that it's become crystal clear what all the talk is actually about. And by the time he asks that question, she's all but forgotten how cold it actually is out here, only just realising how distracted she is from her surroundings.

... Eh, it's not like they're about to be attacked for once. Probably. )

Mm. ( That she is. ) You want to get warmer?

( There's a very familiar smile on her face, and the tracing of fingers across the hem of his shirt. )

[claritatis]

[It doesn't surprise him, that she almost immediately turns to teasing him like that. Ignis is reasonably certain that she isn't serious, as much as he's sure she knows that he's not comfortable with the level of sexual exhibitionism required to have sex on a rooftop.]

I didn't think you had that much trouble keeping your hands off me. [He returns her teasing gently, taking hold of both her hands in his and bringing them up to his lips to kiss them.] But we can 'warm up' as much as you want when we get back indoors.

[dedikated]

( Not entirely. If he said yes, she wouldn't back out, but she expects that about as much as she expects him to dye his hair lime green. It's harmless, easy, the kind of banter they've fallen into after this all-too-quick year.

She breathes out a laugh and doesn't resist the movement of her hands, leaning back and curling her fingers over his. )

Always do that, you know.

( Pull her hands away, kiss them, whenever he doesn't want to go further. )

[claritatis]

Hm..? [He keeps her hands where they are, his fingers curled loosely over them and tucked lightly against his chest. The gentle humour in his eyes gives way to a curiosity that's just as mild (she knows his intense moods, but they're rarely given stage time in these situations), and he looks at her with the slightest tilt of his head.]

Do what?

[Oh, he thinks he knows what she means, but he'll let her say it.]

[dedikated]

( She could say it, or she could tug his hands upwards, pressing her lips against his knuckles in a mimic of his movements. )

That.

[claritatis]

Ah.

[Yes, that was what he thought. He squeezes his fingers lightly around hers and smiles.] Does it bother you?

[dedikated]

Didn't say that.

( Leaning back in, Kate drops a brief kiss to his mouth. )

Just... noticed it.

[claritatis]

Hm.

[The kiss has a smile pressed into it, the slightest chase when she draws away from him.]

I imagine it wasn't your intention to make me self-conscious.

[dedikated]

( She unwinds her hands from his to run her fingers through his hair instead, gently and ever-so-idly messing with the shape, scoffing a little at that.

No, it wasn't. But would that really be enough to make him self-conscious? )

Sure you've noticed things I do.

( A shrug. She's sure she has habits too. )

[claritatis]

Of course. [It's just the two of them, so he doesn't protest to the attention she gives to his hair, nor the way she sets several strands loose over his forehead. Noticed the things she does? He notices everything she does.]

What are you thinking about?

[He drops his hands to her thighs, moves them up to her hips and pulls her just that little bit closer.]

[dedikated]

( It's unfair to ask her what's on her mind and then move your hands there, Ignis. She's so easily driven to distraction by touches to her thighs and hips.

But she frowns, in that slightly pursed-lips way that someone who notices everything about her would know means she's trying to think how to word the things on her mind. )

You never initiate... ( Actually, maybe that isn't entirely true. ) If you do, it's just to get me off. ( Which isn't at all objectionable, but that's besides the point for the moment. )

Not a bad thing. Just... I've never known anyone not want more.

( She's not entirely sure if that explanation makes sense. People usually want more. She hears that from her friends' love lives, knows it from the myriad of times she's had to tell someone to go do their walk of shame already, and even in the few months she was with Sam, it was incredibly easy to sink into more.

It's a little strange to Kate, how happy he is to just have this and nothing else with her. )

[claritatis]

[In truth, he's never really thought about it before, but of course this might be something that bothers her. He brushes a curl of her hair back behind her ear and smiles gently, shaking his head.]

So, that's it? [Such a small thing, and yet... is it? He doesn't have anything to judge it against.]

You're beautiful, Kate, and everything I could possibly want. [Ignis is sure that she knows that, and he is sure she'll be embarrassed to hear him say it, but he has to make sure it's firmly in her mind.]

But I've never felt a need to satisfy myself in that way. It isn't you. I'm more than satisfied enough in being able to make you happy.

[dedikated]

( Is it that it bothers her, or simply that it's so far from the things she's known before that she can't help but notice it? Or just that well-guarded insecurity rearing its head because here, with him, she has so few left?

(Does she even have any left?)

It's dark enough that the red which flushes over her cheeks and down her nose might just be imperceptible. No matter how much it's proven again and again, hearing it said always leaves her just a little off kilter, just a little bit tempted to shove him away and drive them both to distraction.

But she doesn't. )

Oh. ( And that's strange too, because has she ever truly allowed anyone to just... do that? Make her happy? Letting them lie down and fall apart as she uses them for her own satisfaction isn't quite the same thing. ) Well.

( She leans in for one more kiss, and smiles against his lips. )

You do.

( Like this. Just like this. )

[claritatis]

[Speaking of things that he notices... Yes, he notices that she blushes when he pays her compliments. He notices that she will lightly punch him or shove him so she doesn't have to deal with what he said to her. He notices that, sometimes, she'll just start kissing him so he doesn't keep talking.

But he is grateful that she doesn't resort to those tactics now. That she's definitely listening.]

Good, then. [He replies softly, pressing another light kiss to her lips.] Because that's all I want, and if it ever changes, I want you to tell me.

[dedikated]

( If it changes, he'd be the first to notice anyway. Let's be honest here. Her fingers no longer mess with his hair, finding places on the sides of his face, tracing over smooth skin as she falls into more kisses. Not to let the conversation drop, or to distract him from other things, but simply because she wants to. )

I— ( kiss ) — love — ( kiss ) — you.

( It's not like the first time, half-driven by guilt, or the second, where it still tingled nervously in her gut. This comes out easily, as sure as she ever has been about anything. )

[claritatis]

I love you, too.

[He's meant that, every time he's said it, but it took some development of his feelings for him to realise that the first time the words came out of his mouth, it wasn't quite love. He had cared for her then, and deeply, but the real love of her came later.

It's what now swells gentle and warm beneath his heart and she kisses him, as he smiles at her and knows that he doesn't want anyone else.]

And you should know, you make me feel I'm the luckiest person here.

[dedikated]

( Those words trigger rolling eyes, a shove, and the unmistakable flush of colour across her cheeks intensifying into something deeper. It's always felt strange to hear that — not just from him, but that sentiment echoed by anyone, offering a reminder that she has value beyond her work — but it was easier to shrug off when she could file it away as a comment on physical skills or value.

It's impossible to do that given the conversation preceding it, and those words slide into a place deep in her heart shared by Faith calling her bestie and Glacius naming her warrior, sister.

Words she'll never truly feel like she's earned, but has been granted nonetheless.

Kate huffs out a sound of protest, butterflies in her stomach flitting in that same way they did before the beginning of all of this, when there was nothing but close quarters in kitchens and the looming threat of angry robots. )

Fuckin' hell.

( Gross, revolting, and so on. )

[claritatis]

[The moment she starts to react that way, he laughs. He could have predicted it before he even spoke, the way she shoves at him and swears, but responses like that are all part and parcel of just why he feels the way he does about her.

And he'll tell her over and over again, without any blushing on his part.]

I know, I know. [He says fondly, pulling her down for a light kiss.] I'm a terrible embarrassment.

[dedikated]

( Well, at least one of them can deal with emotions without wanting to squirm out of them. But she's a lot of better at it than she used to be, that even being at this place where she flushes and pushes him away is a damn sight better than shutting out the possibility entirely.

He kisses her and Kate doesn't pull back, leaning her forehead against his with the softest of playful smiles flitting across her face. )

... You're not so bad.

[claritatis]

Ah. The highest of compliments.

[He deals with his emotions in this aspect of his life with far more ease than in many others. With Kate, it's never been difficult to be open, to express warmth and fondness for her, and to lean into every affection and smile she bestows on him.

She's frustrating, stubborn, hotheaded, but so wonderful, and he wouldn't change a thing about her.]

You're not so bad, yourself.