[He meets her gaze as she pulls back, studying her, his touch at the small of her back and the nape of her neck having softened considerably as he summons up patience, a willingness to listen and let her take what time she needs to piece her thoughts together, find the words. He can't help but offer her a flicker of a smile as her thumb moves along his jaw, his ear, gently pulls against his earring— somber as this moment has the potential to be, he has ached for her gentle and attentive brand of affection for weeks now.
He's missed this. In the greater scheme of things, their time together had been quite short— but what did that matter, when there was no time to be wasted? It doesn't make him feel any less strongly about it, about her.
"I've wanted to be with you all along."
His smile blooms just a touch wider, reserved and cautious, but no less real for it. It doesn't change the complexity of her situation, perhaps— but it's no less thrilling to hear, no less reassuring.
He'd known, but it was a different thing entirely to hear her say it for herself.]
I've wanted the same.
[Would he go back to Ivalice now, if offered the choice? In practice, such a decision wouldn't be so easy, but he knows where his heart wants to be now, in this moment, and his hand moves to the side of her neck so that his thumb can brush against the soft line of her jaw, dangerously close to the corner of her mouth.]
It's an unnerving feeling. [But not bad. Not unwelcome.] I'm— not used to it. I'm willing to wager you aren't, either.
[And regardless of pre-existing complications, that has to have had a hand in things. Feelings of that magnitude had the potential to be, quite frankly, terrifying— but decidedly less so in such excellent company.]
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He's missed this. In the greater scheme of things, their time together had been quite short— but what did that matter, when there was no time to be wasted? It doesn't make him feel any less strongly about it, about her.
"I've wanted to be with you all along."
His smile blooms just a touch wider, reserved and cautious, but no less real for it. It doesn't change the complexity of her situation, perhaps— but it's no less thrilling to hear, no less reassuring.
He'd known, but it was a different thing entirely to hear her say it for herself.]
I've wanted the same.
[Would he go back to Ivalice now, if offered the choice? In practice, such a decision wouldn't be so easy, but he knows where his heart wants to be now, in this moment, and his hand moves to the side of her neck so that his thumb can brush against the soft line of her jaw, dangerously close to the corner of her mouth.]
It's an unnerving feeling. [But not bad. Not unwelcome.] I'm— not used to it. I'm willing to wager you aren't, either.
[And regardless of pre-existing complications, that has to have had a hand in things. Feelings of that magnitude had the potential to be, quite frankly, terrifying— but decidedly less so in such excellent company.]