FFX-2: Divide
Fandom: Final Fantasy X-2
Pairing: Baralai/Paine
Warnings: Allusions to being nekkid
Rating: PG13
Summary: They never touched each other much, before. For calliopepurple.
They never touched each other much, back in the Crimson Squad. Gippal did, of course; Gippal touched everyone, casually, lightly, easily: an arm around the shoulders, a hand on the arm, a half-joking massage when someone was getting too tense for him. But Paine and Baralai didn't have that ease with touching people, that instinct for when the bump of shoulder against shoulder would be appropriate. They shared laughter, smiles, wry jokes, but they never touched before, not even when it seemed just one touch could bridge the divide and make something strange and new of them.
In a way, that makes this more awkward -- and more electric. Paine's teeth dig into her lip as Baralai's hand slides down her bare stomach: his hand is shaking, and when has she ever seen him unsure like this? Never before; there are layers on layers of naked, and Baralai is stripped as bare as he's ever been, she thinks.
"Paine," he says, quietly, looking up to meet her eyes, and she nods, short, jerky.
"I trust you," she says, and it has none of the ease she's envied in others, but it's her, and Baralai -- and more than that, it's trust again after so long, and that counts for something.
Pairing: Baralai/Paine
Warnings: Allusions to being nekkid
Rating: PG13
Summary: They never touched each other much, before. For calliopepurple.
They never touched each other much, back in the Crimson Squad. Gippal did, of course; Gippal touched everyone, casually, lightly, easily: an arm around the shoulders, a hand on the arm, a half-joking massage when someone was getting too tense for him. But Paine and Baralai didn't have that ease with touching people, that instinct for when the bump of shoulder against shoulder would be appropriate. They shared laughter, smiles, wry jokes, but they never touched before, not even when it seemed just one touch could bridge the divide and make something strange and new of them.
In a way, that makes this more awkward -- and more electric. Paine's teeth dig into her lip as Baralai's hand slides down her bare stomach: his hand is shaking, and when has she ever seen him unsure like this? Never before; there are layers on layers of naked, and Baralai is stripped as bare as he's ever been, she thinks.
"Paine," he says, quietly, looking up to meet her eyes, and she nods, short, jerky.
"I trust you," she says, and it has none of the ease she's envied in others, but it's her, and Baralai -- and more than that, it's trust again after so long, and that counts for something.