Somehow I Always Find My Way To You

[portolan]

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– morning after

[floresco]

It felt amazing to wake up beside him, and better still to not have to worry that she shouldn't be there, still half-draped across his upper half, her hair everywhere. At first, she doesn't move at all past opening her eyes so she can peer up at his face, enjoying the slow depth of his breathing as the morning light warms up his face. She didn't think Balthier could get any more beautiful, but she's never been happier to find out she was wrong about something.

When she does finally move it's to stretch out against him, her lips pressing against his jaw while her hands brush over his shoulders. "I love you," she whispers against his skin, following the words up with another kiss, perfectly happy if he took a while to wake. Aerith had nothing but time for gently lavishing affection on Balthier.

Re: – morning after

[portolan]

Still recovering from his wounds and the energy healing takes from him, he sleeps deeply with no dreams. It's likely that that's a result, too, of her warmth draped against him, an anchor and a shield from the world.

He hazily stirs as she stretches out, head heavy and thoughts slow. Something brushes against his jaw and his shoulder and he lets out a questioning hum, not quite able to form words, not quite sure when or where he is. Her voice registers first, and for a moment panic seizes through him as he tenses, trying to sit up. The first mate must have put him down with a sleep spell again, blast it, he has to get to her, has to find Piaget --

There's another soft touch -- lips. He struggles to get his eyes open, memories shifting around, trying to sort themselves out.

"Aerith?" he whispers. His hands squeeze, not realizing the warm thing he's holding is her.

[floresco]

Breathing out a hum of agreement when he says her name, Aerith reaches up to brush her fingers against his cheek.

"You better not have been expecting somebody else," she says in a sleepy murmur before kissing his cheek and then, once she ducks her head down, his shoulder, her body snuggling into his.

[portolan]

Despite his eyelids weighing as much as the Strahl, he gets them open at last. His hazy vision is rewarded with Aerith's smiling face, hair glowing in the morning light, and he almost thinks this is a dream, except she's bullying him.

His expression softens to adoration, the night before finally surfacing in his memory. As she kisses his cheek, his shoulder, he flushes happily, tugging her back into his side and nestling his head down against hers.

"I'm still not expecting you," he murmurs back. This all feels too good to be true. He'd stopped thinking he could be this happy.

[floresco]

Her arms wrap around his shoulders when he pulls her against his side, nuzzling against his neck with a happy sigh.

"How many mornings until the surprise wears off? I'll have to check my schedule, but you're more than worth some rearranging." She draws back enough to prop herself up on her elbow, smiling down at him as she pushes her hair back over her shoulder before reaching down to run her hair over his chest.

"This is still alright, right?"

[portolan]

"I guess we'll just have to find out, hmm?" he asks, chest shaking gently with laughter. "I'm flattered you'll clear your important schedule for me."

He almost doesn't want to let her go as she shifts, but he's right in thinking she isn't really going anywhere. It makes his heart warm the way she wriggles around, touching him every way she can.

At her question, he reaches his hands out to catch her face. "I love you," he says, chest tight and warm at the strangeness of saying it. He leans up to kiss her forehead. "This is wonderful. I'm just going to be slow to adjust to it."

[floresco]

Tears prick her eyes when Balthier tells her he loves her, but she blinks them back, reaching up to cover his hands with hers. "I love you too and you have all the time you want to get used to it."

She lifts her head to kiss his chin before her arms slide around his middle, cozying against him as she gives him a long hug. "I have a lot to adjust to too, you know," Aerith adds as she settles her head against his chest. "I get to learn all the ways you like being touched."

[portolan]

His breath catches as he sees her face tense and her eyes shine with unshed tears. It's -- that's because he loves her. He'd been so worried his feelings would be met with disgust or passing amusement, but instead she's reverent and even a little nervous. Perhaps he would feel foolish if he weren't so relieved and awed. Her hand settles over his, giving him those words again so freely, and all he can do is smile weakly at her.

Then she's kissing him again, draping over him and snuggling up, and he still can't believe how wonderful it is. And maybe it's good for him, that she's less experienced, because he has a lot to unlearn, a lot of trust in himself to rebuild. That feels surmountable for the first time in years.

"You're a fast learner," he muses, but when she adds the ways he likes to be touched, he squeezes her to him, putting a kiss on her hair. "All the ways you have," he tells her.

[floresco]

Having him in her arms felt blissful, and as she settles against him her eyes flutter closed, resting her cheek on his chest, taking a moment to just enjoy it.

"But I didn't get to touch everywhere I wanted last night, what if I get off track?" She opens her eyes as she asks it, peering up at his face mischievously before her expression softens and she rests a hand on his shoulder. "How are you? Do you need me to heal you?"

Aerith feels almost sheepish, she's gotten so caught up in all these new reasons to be around him, she nearly let the first, most important one slip her mind.

[portolan]

He hums, contented, running his fingers through her hair as she settles on his chest. "You also have all the time you want," he teases her. "And you have an appetite the size of Ivalice. One night was never going to satisfy your curiosity." Which he loves about her.

Her mood changes again, worry underscoring it. "I think the wound is mostly healed," he says. "The fatigue usually comes when my body is working through all the magic. It also usually takes a lot longer than this. You're a remarkable healer, Aerith. Thank you."

[floresco]

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.

[portolan]

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.

[floresco]

"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?"

[portolan]

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."

[floresco]

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."

[portolan]

"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.

[floresco]

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?"

[portolan]

"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."

[floresco]

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."

[portolan]

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.

[floresco]

"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?"

[portolan]

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.

[floresco]

"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.

[portolan]

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?

[floresco]

"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.