banebu | call me out.

[There's a comfort when she speaks - any time she speaks - of knowing what she's thinking and what's lingering in her mind. She's rarely one to hold back, and he doesn't say often enough just how much he appreciates that about her.]

There's room in my apartment for two. [He suggests, without any guile or pressure. He and Kate are well matched, it's true, but he'd take no offence should she want to live separately. Spending her time with him when she happens to be in Insomnia is a far cry from a permanent state of living.]

I'd be happy to have you there.

( Most of her thoughts in this direction have involved her own place, and the offer catches her off guard, the silence during her blinks practically audible. It would turn the difficulty settings down a lot, but all they've ever known is brief snaps of each other's presence when they catch moments to themselves, and moving from that to being together every single night, sharing the same space--

Kate inhales, and takes a drink before she speaks. No need to ask if he's sure, because she knows that he wouldn't offer if he wasn't. )

I think it's better if I find somewhere. ( For now, at least. Her heart fills with warmth whenever she looks at him, and it's that feeling which she doesn't want to lose by moving too quickly.

One step at a time. )

[He nods in quiet understanding. While he'd not object in the slightest to having more of her company, it would be a large step for two people still gingerly feeling their way through the connection that they've forged with each other. Ignis will do nothing to jeopardise that, so he lets it go without argument.]

It'll still be good to know you're nearby. [Ignis gets about quite well these days. The city isn't quite like the wild lands outside of it, there's a great deal more to be aware of, but most still don't realise he's almost entirely blind.]

And having a place to come back to doesn't rule out the travel.

( Her nod is accompanied by a small, affirmative hum to his words, and by now, they've picked their way through the food while discussing all of this. It feels better, having this direction, starting a new chapter of life instead of simply sticking with the old one because it's comfortable.

A waiter comes by with the dessert menu, and disappears quietly as Kate scans it, listing off each item to Ignis before placing it on the table in front of her. )

... Or we could see about that room.

( A different kind of dessert maybe? )

[Ignis does consider the offer. The desserts here are quite good, but Kate is a temptation all to herself and it does not take him long to arrive at a decision.

He tells the next waiter to pass by to put the meal on the tab for the room, and reaches across to take Kate's hand as if he could see her as clearly as she can see him.]

I do believe I'd rather see about the room.

( After a while, you stop being too surprised by Ignis' capabilities even without his sight. She watches him, the changes in his expression and her own flickers with a smile at the conclusion he arrives to.

That's definitely the one she would have chosen.

The meal is quickly paid for and the hotel rooms are - thankfully - only a few short steps from the restaurant itself. A few quickly exchanged words and details get a key card deposited in her hand and a room number near the very top of the building.

It's needlessly expensive, but after months in cheap motel rooms and caravans, Kate can't say she minds. The bed is probably fantastic.

As is the decor, she quickly decides upon opening the door, fingers intertwined with Ignis' the whole way from the reception to the room. Steps click as she passes a couch and coffee table, a flatscreen TV towards double doors that lead to a balcony and-- )

... Hot tub.

( That... wasn't exactly what she expected, but the room itself sprawls across two floors and from what she can see of the bed, it's bigger than any she's slept in for... well, years. Never mind months. )

[It is needlessly expensive, but Ignis is paying for it and he won't take a single gil of Kate's money for the pleasure of having her share the experience with him.

He squeezes her hand lightly while they walk, his free one trailing lightly along the wall on the way to their room, mentally counting the steps taken, the doors passed, the time it takes to get there. That information is carefully filed away, all but forgotten until he needs it again as he follows Kate into their room and quietly orients himself while she explores.]

Ah, I'd forgotten about those. [There's a small smile on his face as he says that.] Show me around the room, first? I have no idea if they've changed the layout since I was here last.

( She'll make up for that later. Somehow. But for now, Kate closes the balcony doors again and steps over to where Ignis is standing, her hand once again finding his as the other slips up to his shoulder, using it as leverage when she stretches up to kiss him.

There'll be time to look around the room later, after she's finished sinking into those soft lips, hands gripping tightly at him. The kiss says thank you, it says I love you, it says all sorts of things but mostly - mostly - it says that she's been waiting to do that for all of dinner and she couldn't wait any longer. )

[The sensation of standing in the middle of an enclosed space with no idea of the layout melts into the background as soon as she kisses him. He'll work it out later, just as he manages to get around everywhere else without bumping into a single thing.

He pulls her gently against him, leaning down into the kiss and returning it with all the warmth that she pours into the gesture.

Ignis loves her too, so much, and would be more than happy to continue doing so for the rest of his life.]

( It's tempting to stay like this longer, with her hands running through his hair, the warmth that rushes through her heart flooding the rest of her body down to the very tips of her fingers. Tempting indeed, in the same way it was the very first time they kissed and she felt that little skip of her heart that no one else had ever managed to draw out of her.

But Kate pulls back, her fingers tracing down the sides of his face as she does, slowly dropping the stretch of her body. )

Love you.

( Her hand finds his, squeezing again just briefly. )

C'mon.

( It won't take long for her to show him around the room, spacious though it is. )

[Everything is almost exactly how he remembers it. It's good, allowing old recollections to fall into place and the pale sketch of the room to darken to more vivid colours.

It allows him, too, to gently trip her onto the bed and move over her, pinning her hands to soft sheets while he plants a kiss on her lips. She wants to use the hot tub, he knows, but they do have all night.]

Hey--

( The word's huffed out, half in surprise and half frustrated that he managed to pull that one off, that her guard was down enough as they approached the bed again for it to happen. Her breath catches in her throat, fingers weaving between his when her back arches up against him, lips chasing that kiss. )

Could have just asked.

( She does want to use the hot tub, but there is a lot of time. And it's been so long since she's been in a nice bed, let alone with him. It's also acceptable to test out this part of the hotel room, too.

Thoroughly, if she has anything to say about it. )

[Over the time they've spent together he's become very proficient at knowing when she's letting her guard down, when he might be able to catch her out and do something like that. She doesn't sound irritated despite her words, and he smiles into the kiss he presses to her lips as they settle there.

The beds here are so comfortable, it's almost worth the money for the mattress alone.]

Where would have been the fun in that? [He challenges, slightly amused. He can make out the halo of pink hair around her head, only just against the white of the sheets, and he touches it, brushing a curl back off her forehead.] You're beautiful.

( She can't be all that mad, even if being sent sprawling onto the bed means that the dress she'd picked out splays out wildly around her thighs. A quiet huff of laughter leaves her lips at his question - of course he wouldn't want to take the easy route to anything when he could do it this way. And sometimes - like right now - she's glad he can't see much of anything, can't see the way her cheeks flush at the compliment or the soft brush of his fingers against her forehead. )

That so?

( Well, he isn't wrong. But it's one thing to know it when she looks in the mirror and another entirely to hear it so sincerely from the lips of someone whose sight is only just edging towards returning. )

Mm. Undoubtedly.

[It isn't her appearance that makes her beautiful, as far as Ignis is concerned. Of course, he has an idea in his head of what she looks like, but since he lost his sight he has found other ways to see the beauty in things, in people, without needing to see them at all.

His fingers linger in her hair for a moment, then drift down to find her shoulder, running lightly against the fabric of her dress.]

And you're just dying to try out that hot tub, aren't you?

( Sometimes - more often than Kate would care to admit, honestly - the purr of his voice slips under her skin and runs across her nerves, setting them ablaze with the desire for more. How did she get here, where something as simple as a quiet question could send such a shiver down her spine and make her arch in towards him?

Kate's hand wraps around the back of his neck, firm but gentle, enough of a warning before she pulls him down for a kiss, one full of desire, impatient and hard against his lips and all too quickly over. )

It can wait.

( The hot tub sounds nice and all, but he's warm and heavy on top of her, captivating in more ways than she can express with words and he draws her into this moment, this place, like gravity, something that can't be fought, that she wouldn't even think to try. )

Ah...

[She doesn't need to say it twice. They have all night to try the hot tub, should the mood take them, and he has her right where he wants her now.

He slides a knee up between her thighs, kissing her deeply and warmly, a hand grasping one of hers to pin it against the sheets beside her head. Colours and shifting, flickering shapes tease at the centre of his slowly recovering vision, and he finds himself momentarily distracted by the colour of her hair, the fuzzy, blurred shape of clasped hands against white sheets.]

I may be able to see you, some day. [Ignis murmurs, brushing the flat of his thumb against her cheek.] Isn't that exciting?

( She so nearly uses that moment of distraction, that second where his grip on her hand changes just a little, to flip them both over, but the words come too quickly and Kate pauses. That could really happen. It still makes no sense, it isn't normal as far as she's aware - but then, his blindness could hardly be called normal in the first place - but it seems to be happening. The world will once again be more than a whir of sounds and presences for him, and the feeling which swells in her chest is better expressed by kissing him once more than smiling.

The world is once again filled with brightness, with reasons to hope and the return of something like peace, where hunting and fighting can be an option once more.

The world is better like this. She is better like this, with reasons to get up in the morning other than grim determination and habit, and gods above she thanks whatever temporary insanity made him decide to stay the day they first met.

This world wouldn't seem nearly as bright without him, whether his presence is a phone call or physical and warm, it's become as necessary as water, comforting as an extra cheesy pizza. )

[So little of Ignis' life could ever had been called 'normal'. In fact, it's the simple truth that she offers such normalcy to him that is part of what attracted him to her in the first place. A relationship like the one he has with Kate is like nothing he's ever had in his life before, and it's something he wants to hold on to for as long as he can.

She is so important to him, so infinitely precious. He knows how things could be without her, and he has no interest in that life any longer. It's better like this. He is better like this, with a reason to continue that goes beyond duty.]

I thought so, too. [He chuckles gently, taking the kiss as her answer.] I've never felt so impatient.

( She'd never say it, not unless it was in the darkest hours of the night with no one but him around, but Kate missed normal during her life on the road. Missed the simplicity of living in Lestallum, of being a daughter and not knowing the best places to stick a knife in a monster to stop it in its tracks. But that lifestyle became embedded in her, the travelling, the never settling, became the new normal until it became too much.

Until there were reasons to return to something simple again. One sweet, beautiful reason that tipped the scales in favour of quiet and settled. A smile brightens her face as she leans her forehead up against his, silent but clear in her intention as her fingers tighten around his, as she presses her weight up gradually against him as a wordless warning to him that she'll try to roll them both over if he doesn't stop it.

She can do it, given the right amount of momentum and agreement on his part. )

[They could have both been such different people if the paths of their lives had led elsewhere, but if that had been the case, they never would have met at all and Ignis is not sure that he would sacrifice knowing her for the sake of having any other kind of life.

He senses her intention before she moves, and doesn't resist. Ignis ends up on his back, settling easily against soft sheets and a mattress so sinfully comfortable that the price he paid for the room doesn't feel quite as extortionate as it should. A smile is pressed into the next kiss that falls on his lips, his fingertips sliding up the dip of her spine and a feeling of satisfaction sinking into him that's so bone-deep he's sure he's never felt anything like it.]

It would appear that I'm at your mercy.

[It doesn't sound like he minds at all.]

( Still, she does wish he could have met her family, that they'd been allowed that kind of time. But perhaps those two things can't coexist.

Such thoughts are easily pushed to one side in favour of sinking into his warmth, into each soft kiss she rains down on his lips, fingers tracing the lines of his face down the curve of his neck and across each step of his ribs. She knows these paths well, but they feel as new and exciting as they did the first time. )

Giving up so easily?

( Her voice is bells of laughter against the corner of his mouth. He's a world of things she never presumed to ever find, the joy of sinking into a warm bath after a hard day's work wrapped up in a sun-bright smile and quick wit. He's the peace of watching the sunrise on the rooftop after so many years in the darkness. )

I love you.

( A repeat of the words from before, certainly, but now that they've found their way out of her heart and onto her tongue, Kate realises just how perfectly they fit here. The feeling drums against her chest, a shared heartbeat rattling her ribs in an all too pleasant way. )

Giving up? Never.

[But a willing capitulation under such conditions is not something that he minds when it's her that he's giving in to. He could listen to her tell him that she loves him over and over and never grow tired of it when it's something he never thought that he would ever be allowed to have.]

I love you, too. [He tells her in return, holding her in place for a few gentle kisses before he quietly murmurs;]

Ah... now that you have me, what do you plan to do with me?

( Three small words that sound so wonderful, in a way she never imagined words could. After all, they're just words, and simple ones at that. Anyone can say them, but they swell in her chest incessantly now, every heartbeat filled with warmth and fluttering excitement.

They bring her to life, a fresh, eager energy to the press of her lips as she finds his jawline and her fingers trail across the buttons of his shirt.

What can they do, alone and in this expansive bed, high on the rush of requited love? )

Everything.

( Now and later. The limitless potential of the future seems all but certain when it's shared with him, and all she wants is—

Well. Everything.

(She doesn't ask for much, does she?) )

Ah...

[Everything. She doesn't ask for much, but it's just as well that he's more than content to give her anything.

He grasps her hands, holding them against his chest just above the gently thudding beat of his heart against his ribs. She's so warm like this, such a slight weight on him but he can feel the strength in her.]

Then I'm yours. For everything.

call me out.

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oh this thread is 2 years old good to know