faust cups her cheeks with one hand, thumb and finger squeezing her face together that her lips pucker up and jut out like a child’s. y’uemi whines, playful and childish, and faust gently bumps his forehead against her, eyes closed and eyelashes long against his star speckled cheeks. 

“to our future together.” he tells her when he opens his eyes. 

“are you aware of the weight of your words?” y’uemi giggles, voice light and betraying the way her heart climbs up the steep slopes of anticipation.

but he keeps his eyes on hers, his gaze sure and steadfast. when before he’d regard her testing his innocent promises with shock, with surprised confusion and a shallow realization of things that should not be said and things he can’t understand– this time, faustmarch doesn’t falter. eyes like the dark skies of limsa just before a storm clears, just as the cieldalaes waters find peace in its waves, eyes that find her and look at her with the conviction of something true.

y’uemi realizes then that something has changed, that a future beyond here and now is crashing into the shores of her present, with all too familiar but all too new waters to wade in and indulge in at her comfort and leisure. like home, except it’s with him now, an island sanctuary rooted in the depths of her heart.

when he kisses her knuckles, gentler than it’s ever felt in all the times he’s done it, y’uemi feels wave after wave of affections so overwhelming, she almost feels like drowning. he couldn’t have affirmed it in any better way.