"…Wow." Sylvain murmurs once he has caught his breath, wrapping an arm around Byleth's waist to pull her close against his naked body.
Right now, he wishes they never have to move a single finger.
She cuddles into his side, resting one hand over his rapidly beating heart, as his cheeks turn even redder. "You are good at a lot of things."
Sylvain smiles, looking away from her ceiling and into her captivating green eyes.
"Best sex of your life?" He asks confidently, but there is a slightly hopeful undercurrent hidden beneath it.
Sex, after all, is his best talent, and if he cannot do this properly, he is not very certain about the longevity of this relationship. She laughs, rolling over onto her stomach and draping herself half way on top of him. She interlaces her fingers over his heart, and then rests her head on top of her hands as she peers down at him.
"That's not a question anyone has ever asked me before." Byleth ponders.
Sylvain shrugs, resting his hands on the small of her back.
"They were probably afraid of the answer, but I know I'm an absolute freak in the sheets." He retorts cockily, which makes her laugh again.
"Well, out of respect for my past lovers, I probably shouldn't answer that." The instructor finally replies.
"That's a yes, then." The entrepreneur decides, nodding surely.
She laughs again, and Sylvain decides then and there Byleth's laugh is his favorite thing in the world, the feeling after a successful negotiation a close second.
"How was it for you?" The woman questions softly, unlocking her fingers as she lazily traces figures into his skin.
"Affirming. That was so good that I'm ruined for anyone else now, which proves what I thought when I first saw you. You're my person, my soulmate." Sylvain admits. He reads the panic in her eyes, and quickly tries to play off his admission. "Not like, soulmate, soulmate. I know we're still getting to know each other, going slow."
Byleth relaxes, nodding in agreement. "I'm really enjoying getting to know you Sylvain Gautier."
"Ditto, Byleth Eisner." He presses a kiss to the top of her head, and hopes she cannot read the disappointment in his eyes.
The pair lays in a companionable silence for a few moments, before Byleth chuckles, raising her head to look at him again. "You know, deciding I was the one in a gym locker room due to my perpetual awkwardness around barely clothed people would have really made me question your decision-making abilities."
Sylvain gently brushes his knuckle across her cheek.
"That wasn't when I first saw you," The man reveals, elaborating further when her eyebrows furrow in confusion. "I was sitting across from you on the Red Line on our way to work that first day. You were listening to the Mittelfrank Rejects so loud I could hear it through your headphones. You were reading The Long Journey so I knew you cared about equity and discrimination against the Sreng natives. Plus, you're beautiful, so you definitely piqued my interest."
"You like the Rejects too?! A lot of people hate them now, but their music is still really good!" Byleth insists, and Sylvain smiles at her enthusiasm.
"It's just us true fans now." Sylvain quips.
"And Sreng? I'd swear you didn't care for them." She said, emphatically. "I took down all my pictures up north whenever you stopped by!"
"Why would you think that? Just because I'm from Béthune?" He defends, concerned that his girlfriend thought him a bigot.
"I mean, yeah." She nods. "People from Faerghus tend to look down on Srengians."
"I wish I could dispute that claim…" He muttered. "Anyways, I'm not like that. I'm pro reparations, quotas on government contracts, redistribution of land, lifting the Church Taxes and all those things my dad would certainly have a stroke if I mentioned on his presence. Have you ever been over there?"
Byleth nods. "I went to the Sreng countryside for my internship some two years ago, and I became completely enamored with the people and their culture, their history. Have you read the Blue Line Manifesto?"
"All the way through? Around 3 times, but I've skimmed over the proposals like eight or nine times." He answers. "I studied it for my course dissertation in college."
"Maybe we are soulmates, after all." Byleth marvels with a joking smile, leaning in for a quick kiss. "Time will tell, in any case."
The green-haired woman rolls off of him and turns off the lamp beside her bed. She scoots in close again, laying her arm over his waist as his arm curls around her.
"Goodnight Sylvain." She murmurs as she starts to fall asleep.
After a few moments, Sylvain's breathing steadies. Byleth opens her eyes, gently running the fingers of her free hand through his ginger hair as he sleeps. Even though they have not known each other long, she is very comfortable with her almost-boyfriend, and Sothis knows how difficult it is for her to be so open around other people.
She is not one who would normally let a guy, regardless of their relationship status, sleep over, to even come over her home. She valued her privacy and her space, and she was a bit too prideful, she did not like being vulnerable and undressed around others. Alas, with Sylvain, who she knew for the grand total of four Moons, she just made the offer naturally.
Rationally, it does not make much sense, as she is perfectly aware of his past, and his joking and entitled nature does not endear him as much as he thinks it does, but there is something that laid beneath the surface that really spoke to her in some primal instinct. She wonders whether, like him, her decision-making process was just that defective.
"Maybe you really are my soulmate." Byleth whispers before she drifts off.
She does not catch Sylvain's lips upturning into a pleased smile at her confession.