She lifts her head just to raise her eyebrows at him. "Was one night really supposed to?" Aerith narrows her eyes and leans in to press her lips against his.
"I think it's done the opposite if anything. Now I just want to wake up next to you every morning." Something she hopes comes with being together like last night's left her thinking they are.
He raises a brow right back, even if he's flushing at joking with her about more sex. His mind really is struggling to process the change between them, even if it feels entirely wanted. "We'd both be immensely disappointed if it had."
And there she goes, pushing ahead again. It catches him for a moment. He hasn't considered what this means going forward, whether it's too fast, whether--
Blast it all. He almost lost her. And he loves her. And they're pirates. "I'd like that too. Saves me the trouble of having to go find you. Though I imagine it's going to make it harder to get out of bed." His first mate is always on him to rest more. Maybe this is how he finally listens.
"Oh you'll have to come and find me sometimes," she retorts airily. "Just because I'd like to always be with you, doesn't mean you get out of courting me properly."
Propping her chin on her hand Aerith looks over Balthier's face, looking thoughtful as her fingertips trace along his collarbone and along the curve of his shoulder. "It's still hard to believe, isn't it?"
He chuckles at her demands, tweaking her nose with his finger. "Were you worried the flirting and courting was going to stop? I like being courted too, you know." He shivers as she traces along his contours, somewhat dazed by just how constant her affection it is.
"It is," he murmurs to her question, sighing and wrapping his arms around her, hands tracing over her skin. "I have encountered a lot of unbelievable things, you know, but you're still hard for me to believe."
With a laugh, she waves her hand in front of her face, shooing him away as he tweaks her nose. "Oh, I know you do. Why do you think I keep taking your earrings?" Aerith cocks her head to the side, giving him a quick wink as she asks.
"You're no easier to believe than I am. A kind and brilliant man who's seen the world and still thinks a sheltered princess is worth trusting his heart to?" Her smile widens, and she shrugs. "I didn't know life could be so good."
"Because I have excellent taste?" he teases, but his chest tightens, realizing just how often she's done it, and how every time was surely a hope to get his affections again.
He rolls over to face her better, propping himself on his elbow and cupping her neck, hand dipping down to trace her collarbone and sternun, eyes taking in the curve of her flesh where her normally can't see before sweeping back to her grinning face. "A woman who has successfully guarded their kindness and hope from court for so long is exactly the kind of person I want to entrust my heart to," he assures her, even at he warms at her compliments. Those are things he likes to be, and it means a lot that she sees them in him.
She scoots closer to him after he turns onto his side, one leg shifting so that she can wrap both of her legs around one of his, sighing happily at the brush of his hand as he traces over her skin.
"I promise I'll take good care of it," Aerith murmurs before leaning up to kiss his lips. "Now, do you want me to start with your back or your front?"
"You're so touchy," he says, surprised, but it's with bright eyes and an affectionate nuzzle against her hair, shifting so his legs tangle in hers. "I will like getting used to that."
His eyes flutter shut and he hums at her promise and her kiss. He can even believe her, wrapped like this, with how intensely she's been tending to him. Trusting him again after Piaget's lies got to her.
Her question confuses him though. "I'm healed, though you're welcome to check."
She's never had anyone she could touch like this before, and his remark makes her realize how obvious that must be. Still, when he pulls her close and nuzzles her hair it's hard for Aerith to feel that sheepish about her behavior.
"I'm not looking for injuries," she smiles, detangling her legs from his after one more hug. "I want to learn how to touch you."
If she voiced that, he'd correct her. It isn't inexperience, at least not entirely; it's her warmth and hunger for life.
He gives her another confused look for a moment, then breaks into a grin and a breathy laugh. "Impatient, too. You're on your way to being a good pirate." But he rolls on his stomach settling his head against the pillow. "I haven't had my back touched in a long time." His mother used to rub it when he was a child, and he still finds the feeling soothing. Not that he expects this to stay platonic. Honestly, she has a decent chance of wearing him out in her eagerness.
"That's right," she says, her voice light and sing-song. "If you're the treasure then I think I'll be a wonderful pirate." As she speaks Aerith lets her hands run over his skin, her fingers grazing up the backs of his arms before her palms travel along his shoulder blades.
"Last night was beautiful, but everything happened so quickly that I didn't have the chance to touch you everywhere I wanted." Not that she would change a thing about the way things had unfolded between them the evening prior, but as she sees it, it was the perfect reason to devote some time to touching him today.
"Good thing your healer has you on bedrest - I can take my time." Aerith pushes her loose hair past her shoulders, bending enough to let the tip of her nose nuzzle the soft skin at the back of his neck, her hands moving down his back as she begins to kiss a trail to one of his shoulderblades. "If I do something you like, you have to tell me, okay?"
He hums lowly at the assertion he's a treasure and the lovely feel of her fingers up his arms and hands on his shoulder blades.
"You're going to have me here all day, aren't you?" he asks, not quite teasing; he sees how she can get when she's fixated on something. It makes him a little self-concious, like he's not sure what to do with himself and unsure if he'll live up to that expectation, but a moment later she's nuzzling him and pressing gentle kisses to his skin and he can't help relaxing.
"All of this is lovely," he assures her, voice heavy with relaxation. "Though you may put me back to sleep." There are still a few faint spots on his back, the last remnants of his wounds.
"After waiting this long to be with you like this, all day and then some, I think." Her hands travel down his body ahead of the trail she kisses over the contours of his shoulder blade, before nuzzling her cheek against his back.
"If you fall asleep I'll have lots of time to snoop," Aerith murmurs, her hands curving over his ass with a light giggle, drawing her hand back far enough to give one side a light tap.
Waiting this long. He chuckles. "And here I was worried I was moving too fast these past few months." His murmurs break off into another hum, her touch warm and soft and sweet.
He's not expecting the hand on his ass, and he stiffens, arching slightly as a jolt of arousal stirs in his cock. "If I fall asleep, I won't be safe, you mean," he teases. But he catches himself. "I like you touching my ass." He's glad she can't see him flush. Why does this feel more lurid than kissing in alleys?
"Does that mean now you're going to make up for lost time?" She grins against his skin, her lips kissing down the line of his back before she has to curve over him so that her tongue can brush against the small of his back.
"Like this?" Aerith asks, her palm covering his ass, squeezing it lightly before she continues to explore. "Or like this?" Still smiling she lightly nips his hip, before gently biting one cheek.
"I'm starting to think I should be impressed you didn't jump me in that alley," he grins, even as his heart beats faster. He wasn't sure what he'd expected it, but it wasn't waking up to being affectionately seduced. As her tongue drags across his back, he moans lowly, shivering as the air cools the line of saliva.
The moan deepens as she squeezes his ass and nips at his hip, and when she nips his ass he yelps lightly, body stiffening again. "Yes," he breathes, breath starting to come jagged. "Like that."
"I could say the same for you," she retorts airily before giving his ass another bite, encouraged by the way he shifts against the bed and moans. At first, she used her teeth on impulse, but after enjoying his reaction Aerith can't help but find it kind of primal and sexy.
Her hands rove down the backs of his thighs and she trails kisses along each before gently biting the soft skin behind his knee with a mischievous laugh.
Primal is a good word for it. Balthier can't entirely put his finger on what it does for him, but he likes the playfulness of it, the possession, the way he trusts her not to overstep and hurt him. It's not a feeling he has a lot of experience with.
So the break is welcome. She really was serious about exploring all of him. He hisses lightly at the bite in his knee. "I'm not sure about that one," he says. It's new. "I suppose you'll just have to try a few more times." Because he doesn't have any qualms with this exploring and playing. "I like you playful like this." There's something else, too, deeper than that, but he can't put his finger on it.
And it occurs to him he doesn't have to figure it out this time, or the next. For the foreseeable future, at least, she wants to be here. With him.
She laughs again when he tells her he's not sure about that last caress and ducks her head to kiss the back of his knee instead, her hands running down his calves as she does.
Aerith's hands sweep back up his body, her lips kissing a trail from his leg to his hip and up along the line of his back before her hands run through his hair and she's kissing the back of his neck.
He lets out a sighing hum as she moves across him, loving her touch and the way her weight and warmth drifts over him. When she reaches his hair, her murmurs warmly, hand groping around to catch any part of her and squeeze.
At her request he rolls over, catching her face in his hands and sits up halfway to kiss her deeply. Flushed, contented, he nuzzles against her before settling back down, eyes staring and staring at her face.
If his attention isn't enough to give him away, his cock is half-risen, already firming under touch and affections.
Leaning in as he catches her face to kiss her, she lets one of her hands settle against the side of his neck as the other continues to brush through his hair, all too pleased to return that kiss as her chest goes tight from how happy this makes her.
She lets him slip free of her hands as he lays back, smiling down at him once he settles back against the pillows. The sight of him is enough to distract her from the business at hand momentarily, and she gives into the urge to lean over him, cuddling against his chest as she brushes her lips against the shell of his ear.
"All naked men can't possibly be as beautiful as you are. Nobody would ever get anything done."
"Have you considered that's why I keep so covered up?" he teases. His hands stroke over her back, tracing her shoulder blades and ribs, down to the swell of her hips, and when she sits up, around the front and over her breasts until he's holding her shoulders.
"It's a good thing I'm on bedrest and you have no clothes. I'm not going to have my fill of looking at you for awhile yet."
Humming in contentment at the feeling of his hands running down her back and over her shoulders. "I never thought about it that way," she answers, feigning sincerity. "But I am very glad you stopped."
Aerith leans into his hands as they skim over her breasts before settling on her shoulders. She brings her hands up to cover his, turning her head to kiss the backs of his fingers before trailing down his arms again. "You don't have to have your fill of that ever."
Bending at the waist she keeps her hair pushed back as she kisses his collarbone and over the curve of one shoulder, sighing against his skin. "Oh, I love this part a lot."
"Oh? Should I show more skin? Or do you like being the only one who sees me?"
It continues to surprise and delight him the way she leans into his touch and rewards him with affectionate kisses and gentle touch. His breath catches at her words, smiling at her encouragement to bask in her.
Then he's lost in her curling down over him again, hair skimming his skin as she kisses across him. "I don't think I'll ever have my fill of this, either," he says, hands trailing down her arms as she moves against him, tracing down by her hips and across the small of her back. He's touching her, and still he feels like he misses her, hasn't gotten his fill.
She smiles against his shoulder before trailing kisses along his forearm and back to his chest. "Maybe just me for now, but if we go to your bioluminescent beaches we could both show more skin." Ideally not for a crowd, but she still likes the thought.
"One day of being together and you're already so greedy." The smug look on her face speaks volumes about how much she enjoys that too. She doesn't want him to ever have his fill of her. Aerith sits up enough to look him over, as though she were deciding where to go next.
"Where else do you like being touched?" She asks in a thoughtful murmur, leaning over him to let the tip of her tongue brush over his nipple, curious if he enjoys it as much as she does.
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"I think it's done the opposite if anything. Now I just want to wake up next to you every morning." Something she hopes comes with being together like last night's left her thinking they are.
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And there she goes, pushing ahead again. It catches him for a moment. He hasn't considered what this means going forward, whether it's too fast, whether--
Blast it all. He almost lost her. And he loves her. And they're pirates. "I'd like that too. Saves me the trouble of having to go find you. Though I imagine it's going to make it harder to get out of bed." His first mate is always on him to rest more. Maybe this is how he finally listens.
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Propping her chin on her hand Aerith looks over Balthier's face, looking thoughtful as her fingertips trace along his collarbone and along the curve of his shoulder. "It's still hard to believe, isn't it?"
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"It is," he murmurs to her question, sighing and wrapping his arms around her, hands tracing over her skin. "I have encountered a lot of unbelievable things, you know, but you're still hard for me to believe."
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"You're no easier to believe than I am. A kind and brilliant man who's seen the world and still thinks a sheltered princess is worth trusting his heart to?" Her smile widens, and she shrugs. "I didn't know life could be so good."
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He rolls over to face her better, propping himself on his elbow and cupping her neck, hand dipping down to trace her collarbone and sternun, eyes taking in the curve of her flesh where her normally can't see before sweeping back to her grinning face. "A woman who has successfully guarded their kindness and hope from court for so long is exactly the kind of person I want to entrust my heart to," he assures her, even at he warms at her compliments. Those are things he likes to be, and it means a lot that she sees them in him.
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"I promise I'll take good care of it," Aerith murmurs before leaning up to kiss his lips. "Now, do you want me to start with your back or your front?"
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His eyes flutter shut and he hums at her promise and her kiss. He can even believe her, wrapped like this, with how intensely she's been tending to him. Trusting him again after Piaget's lies got to her.
Her question confuses him though. "I'm healed, though you're welcome to check."
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"I'm not looking for injuries," she smiles, detangling her legs from his after one more hug. "I want to learn how to touch you."
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He gives her another confused look for a moment, then breaks into a grin and a breathy laugh. "Impatient, too. You're on your way to being a good pirate." But he rolls on his stomach settling his head against the pillow. "I haven't had my back touched in a long time." His mother used to rub it when he was a child, and he still finds the feeling soothing. Not that he expects this to stay platonic. Honestly, she has a decent chance of wearing him out in her eagerness.
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"Last night was beautiful, but everything happened so quickly that I didn't have the chance to touch you everywhere I wanted." Not that she would change a thing about the way things had unfolded between them the evening prior, but as she sees it, it was the perfect reason to devote some time to touching him today.
"Good thing your healer has you on bedrest - I can take my time." Aerith pushes her loose hair past her shoulders, bending enough to let the tip of her nose nuzzle the soft skin at the back of his neck, her hands moving down his back as she begins to kiss a trail to one of his shoulderblades. "If I do something you like, you have to tell me, okay?"
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"You're going to have me here all day, aren't you?" he asks, not quite teasing; he sees how she can get when she's fixated on something. It makes him a little self-concious, like he's not sure what to do with himself and unsure if he'll live up to that expectation, but a moment later she's nuzzling him and pressing gentle kisses to his skin and he can't help relaxing.
"All of this is lovely," he assures her, voice heavy with relaxation. "Though you may put me back to sleep." There are still a few faint spots on his back, the last remnants of his wounds.
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"If you fall asleep I'll have lots of time to snoop," Aerith murmurs, her hands curving over his ass with a light giggle, drawing her hand back far enough to give one side a light tap.
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He's not expecting the hand on his ass, and he stiffens, arching slightly as a jolt of arousal stirs in his cock. "If I fall asleep, I won't be safe, you mean," he teases. But he catches himself. "I like you touching my ass." He's glad she can't see him flush. Why does this feel more lurid than kissing in alleys?
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"Like this?" Aerith asks, her palm covering his ass, squeezing it lightly before she continues to explore. "Or like this?" Still smiling she lightly nips his hip, before gently biting one cheek.
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The moan deepens as she squeezes his ass and nips at his hip, and when she nips his ass he yelps lightly, body stiffening again. "Yes," he breathes, breath starting to come jagged. "Like that."
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Her hands rove down the backs of his thighs and she trails kisses along each before gently biting the soft skin behind his knee with a mischievous laugh.
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So the break is welcome. She really was serious about exploring all of him. He hisses lightly at the bite in his knee. "I'm not sure about that one," he says. It's new. "I suppose you'll just have to try a few more times." Because he doesn't have any qualms with this exploring and playing. "I like you playful like this." There's something else, too, deeper than that, but he can't put his finger on it.
And it occurs to him he doesn't have to figure it out this time, or the next. For the foreseeable future, at least, she wants to be here. With him.
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Aerith's hands sweep back up his body, her lips kissing a trail from his leg to his hip and up along the line of his back before her hands run through his hair and she's kissing the back of his neck.
"Can I try the front now?"
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At her request he rolls over, catching her face in his hands and sits up halfway to kiss her deeply. Flushed, contented, he nuzzles against her before settling back down, eyes staring and staring at her face.
If his attention isn't enough to give him away, his cock is half-risen, already firming under touch and affections.
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She lets him slip free of her hands as he lays back, smiling down at him once he settles back against the pillows. The sight of him is enough to distract her from the business at hand momentarily, and she gives into the urge to lean over him, cuddling against his chest as she brushes her lips against the shell of his ear.
"All naked men can't possibly be as beautiful as you are. Nobody would ever get anything done."
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"It's a good thing I'm on bedrest and you have no clothes. I'm not going to have my fill of looking at you for awhile yet."
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Aerith leans into his hands as they skim over her breasts before settling on her shoulders. She brings her hands up to cover his, turning her head to kiss the backs of his fingers before trailing down his arms again. "You don't have to have your fill of that ever."
Bending at the waist she keeps her hair pushed back as she kisses his collarbone and over the curve of one shoulder, sighing against his skin. "Oh, I love this part a lot."
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It continues to surprise and delight him the way she leans into his touch and rewards him with affectionate kisses and gentle touch. His breath catches at her words, smiling at her encouragement to bask in her.
Then he's lost in her curling down over him again, hair skimming his skin as she kisses across him. "I don't think I'll ever have my fill of this, either," he says, hands trailing down her arms as she moves against him, tracing down by her hips and across the small of her back. He's touching her, and still he feels like he misses her, hasn't gotten his fill.
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"One day of being together and you're already so greedy." The smug look on her face speaks volumes about how much she enjoys that too. She doesn't want him to ever have his fill of her. Aerith sits up enough to look him over, as though she were deciding where to go next.
"Where else do you like being touched?" She asks in a thoughtful murmur, leaning over him to let the tip of her tongue brush over his nipple, curious if he enjoys it as much as she does.
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