#koi and i pioneers of the himetio ship

[everlastiingiimmortals]

"I've always wondered...."

The words take on a breathless quality as lidded ember gazes upwards, directly at the oldest friend she has ever had. Familiar sunkissed skin now bore smudged ruby petals of her lips, deep sea locks tussled. It mirrored the cascade of crimson hair upon her pillow, the waves of silken dress that remained ruffled. "Why did you still believe in me back then?"

In the heat and drunkenness of affection the thought still lingers between kisses. It stays as she is pressed deeper into her own bed. It remain on the tip of her tongue with ever parting of lips. A hue of coral rest upon Himeko's complexion, almost artfully smugged. It's a debauchery that is only for his eyes, that's Andreas sculpted into her like the rose bud bites that are planted around on her neck.

That promise to extend.

"I know-" She cannot help but wonder if this indulgences spurs her mind further. When was the last time she felt anything but graceful and controlled, the rise and fall of her chest quick and the desire of heart and mind linked. "I know it has nothing to do with anything like our closeness now, we both were too young for something like this."

To want him, to know why he wanted her.

"My Andreas..." Himeko's voice deepened, low yet no less passionate. No less laden with love. The ember dreams in her eyes do not muddle her gaze from him but only incorporates him within those stars. Gentle hands guide him ever closer as the woman's lips curled into a breathtaking smile of disbelief.

"Are you the first to trailblaze......because of me?"

😳 Unprompted. Always accepting! | @chasersglow

The moment they share feels like a secret, a thrill not unlike that when she used to run up to him on the beach and show him something clasped in her hands, a little shrimp she'd caught in the tidal pools left behind by the waves. Not unlike the way they'd both explore the cliffs far past dinner time, or sneak out of bed to catch the sunrise while their parents slumbered, all the more blissfully unaware. She's warm beneath him, and the pressure of their bodies pressed together is, for once... comforting.

He hums idly as she speaks, drinking in the flush on her face and taking his time to duck down and indulge in the blossoming bites on her neck, sometimes worrying away at them further, sometimes soothing them with gentle kisses. The next time he pulls away, he sees the lipstick smudged on his lips left behind on her neck.

How funny.

She has asked him a question, but it's clear that she's not done speaking. He contents himself with continuing to indulge in her, cheekily interrupting her with languid kisses but no less listening intently. She knows he is listening. I know it has nothing to do with anything like our closeness now, we were both too young for something like this.

"Is that what you think?" he rumbles, trailing kisses down her chin, throat, chest, ending right over the beauty mark just above the rise of her breast. If he nips her there, well. Nobody will know. The marks left by his teeth will not last, he's careful to assure that, for her sake. It's a tease, perhaps a prologue of what's to come, perhaps a translation of the omission left behind by his rhetorical question in response to hers. He doesn't explain himself further; there's no need to. He's loved her for a long, long time, longer than Veritas Ratio has existed, long enough for him to fully and freely shed the self the rest of the world knows in her presence. It is a comfortable existence with her, and the prickling unpleasantness against his skin is easily manageable -- quiet. His mind is quiet.

How funny that is, too, for the woman who sparked all the hunger for knowledge in his mind to also be the one to quiet it. Perhaps it's because he has no need to search for her anymore? But he had no need to search for her the first time mention of the Express' revival reached his ears, and his mind was no less noisy for it then. Maybe, then, it's because he's finally caught her, has her in his arms once more. Sensibility is something he prides himself on, but the impression of home is not something even he can ignore. This moment won't last, but for as long as the two of them are intertwined, Himeko is home. And for the two of them, for now, home is a peaceful, quiet thing.

The kisses over her sternum -- never further, never lower -- are chaste, notes left behind in thought as he ponders her question. "It would be too easy for you to die like that," he answers finally, peeking up at her with wine-gold eyes. One more kiss over her beauty mark (for good measure, he thinks) before he's slinking up to meet her lips once again. "I believed in you because you gave me something to believe in. Reason to ponder, ideas to question, an irrefutable truth to discover. Your death was no such irrefutable truth, thus I believed in your survival." You would not so easily let fate sway you, just as I would not let it sway myself. If his smile is smug, it is out of playfulness. "And would you look at us now? I was right."

Gazing down at her, laying nose to nose and chest to chest, he comes to a sudden realization. She's beautiful. And yes, that much is obvious. With her deep red hair and dazzling eyes and figure, Himeko is an objectively attractive woman to just about anyone. But it's an impression that doesn't strike Andreas until he catches his own reflection in her eyes, sharing the depths of her irises with the stars that live in her gaze even when the sky above is obscured.

...How he missed that sight.

How he missed this, though they've never shared this kind of intimacy before, but the timelessness of her company remains as if they'd never grown apart. She's beautiful in the way she smiles, the rise and fall of every breath, the disheveled state of her makeup and clothes and hair, in the way she sees him, her eyes and attention on him alone. She's beautiful in a way that is real and wholly, inexplicably his.

His name spoken in her voice elicits a little shiver that races down his spine, sets his heart skipping. Her hands find his face and that familiar prickle is once again washed away by the warmth of her palms, something to sink into, something safe. What's with that look, Himeko? his eyes ask. You regard me with such incredulity. Do you struggle still to fathom the weight of my faith in you? And then she asks that question, and he understands, and he smiles, as if they're engaging in another secret, a little inside joke known only to the two of them. Really, what else could he be? Though not a Nameless, did he not pursue new paths too? Light new ways not just for himself, but for all the worlds he helped? Did he not undertake a journey to find himself, and her?

"Would you like me to be?" he whispers against her lips, hands cradling her ribs. One kiss, two kisses, three against the corners of her mouth. "The universe may know Veritas Ratio, scholar of the Intelligentsia Guild, but you, αστεράκια μου, will know Andreas, first of the trailblazers under your light."