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Chapter Text

Balthier doesn't like Vaan.  He's willing to acknowledge the boy's dagger proficiency and speed proved useful during their escape from the Nalbina dungeon.  But he just.  Doesn't.  Stop.  Talking.

His voice echoed endlessly off the Garamsythe Waterway as he asked rapid fire questions about the life of a sky pirate.  The trip through the Barheim Passage was painfully tense from the barbed comments the boy wouldn't stop making at Basch's expense.

And don't even get Balthier started on the flight to Bhujerba.

So it isn't without some glee that Balthier realizes the trap Vaan unwittingly set off in the Lhusu Mines causes one malady.

"Why Vaan," Balthier says with a grin as he watches the boy in question gesture wildly towards his throat.  "I do believe you've been silenced."

The blonde nods frantically, the panicked look on his face enough to convey he's never had the pleasure before.

"Well, it's nothing permanent.  Just a pinch of echo herbs clears it right up."

Vaan's shoulders sag in relief and, with the most trusting look on his face, he holds out his hand expectantly.  Fran and Lamont watch the scene a few feet away, curiosity peaked. 

Balthier's grin is bordering on manic, but he can't contain himself as he gets to drop the bombshell.  "It's a shame you decided not to buy any from that merchant, hm?  Something about them being 'useless when you're not a mage?'"

The way Vaan's face transforms from puzzlement to shock to despair is impressive.  The boy really should have considered joining a theater troupe.

"Not to worry," he continues, voice dripping with sarcasm.  "I'm sure one of the fiends haunting these mines carries some echo herbs...  And you don't need your voice to pick pockets."

Vaan narrows his eyes — an intriguing steel blue in color — at Balthier.  He knows as well as the sky pirate does that seekers and skeletons don't carry much of anything on themselves, let alone status curing items.

Puffing out his chest, Vaan marches past Balthier, setting his sights on the nearest seeker.  Balthier watches in amusement as the thief swipes a fang off the creature before felling it with one strike from his dagger.

"Well, he's not one to shy away from a challenge, I'll give him that," Balthier comments over his shoulder to his Viera partner and their young guest. 

"As it just so happens, I've recently learned vox, and would be happy to help," Lamont offers.

Still smirking, Balthier shakes his head.  "No, thank you.  He'll never learn not to skimp on supplies if we don't let him suffer the consequences."  He glances after Vaan, a growing breadcrumb trail of bones and seeker wings mark the thief's way, the blonde's head hung in defeat after another useless steal from a skull defender.  "At least for a little while."

The party moves deeper into the mines,  and against his better judgment, Balthier sticks close to Vaan.  The boy is still focused on stealing from fiends at every opportunity, which leaves his back wide opened, until Balthier picks off any encroaching monsters with a round from his Altair.  After each shot, Vaan whirls around in surprise and gives Balthier a look of gratitude before moving onto his next victim.  And Balthier shakes his head at his own actions,  trying to remind himself that he is supposed to keep the desert thief at arm's length. 

Once they save the girl, their party will disband. 

It's why he keeps telling Fran he does not like Vaan.

But Balthier's eyes linger just a little too long on his face as the boy smiles at him in thanks for another save.  The blonde surely notices as well, judging by the pink tinge on his cheeks.  He sighs in defeat at that charming effect on the younger man and meets his gaze head on, "Vaan—"

But at that moment Lamont runs between them to inspect the far wall of the mine littered with magicite.  The manufactured nethicite in the young Archadian's hand grabs Balthier's full attention and he walks over to confront him.  Exactly when Ba'Gamnan and his henchmen pounce.

"Run," he instructs the others, and it's only after sprinting around two turns leading back towards the entrance that he realizes that Vaan hasn't asked any ridiculous questions, like "What'd you do to get so popular?" or "Where are we running to?!"

Because Vaan is silenced.

And behind him.

And he has no idea where that little idiot is!

He risks looking over his shoulder and sees Fran keeping pace with him, all of the scaly bounty hunters hot in pursuit, but no puff of blonde hair.

"I think we’re one thief short of a full party," he pants to Fran.

But she calmly shakes her head.  "Thinks on his feet, that one," she gets out between breaths as they continue to try to shake Ba'Gamnan and company.  Balthier has worked with her long enough to know that if Fran isn't worried, he shouldn't be either.  (Though the fact that he doesn't actually know what a worried Fran looks like will be food for thought another day).  He continues running.

Eventually they outpace the bounty hunters,  although they in turn have lost sight of "Lamont". Balthier leans against a wall in the tunnel they're currently lying low in, heaving like he's just finished a marathon.  Fran is only slightly more composed, but he watches her ears for any indication that they're picking up sounds of bangaa feet.  Or hume's.

Once his lungs can sustain enough air to get the words out, he says, "Tell me where he is." 

"He took the low path on the first bridge we crossed," she explains between breaths.  "None of Ba'Gamnan's men followed him, so he's probably on his way here now, avoiding being seen by the bounty hunters."

Relief washes over him, and he nods in agreement with her theory.  As much as he wants to find Vaan himself, the smarter course of action is to wait for him to find them, so as not to draw attention to their missing thief.  Minutes tick by and he starts to fidget.  He adjusts his vest, shakes out dust from his hair, straightens his cuffs.  

He forgot how quiet it is when it's just the two of them. 

Something clutches his shoulder and he whips around and nearly shoots Vaan in the face.  The thief jumps back, lips moving silently, most likely in a reflexive effort to shout, "Don't shoot!  It's me!" but thankfully, Balthier isn't a novice, and didn't have his finger on the trigger yet.

"There you are," he says, exasperated.  Like he hasn't been tense with worry since he lost sight of the blonde.

Vaan is trying to pantomime something ridiculous, and Balthier just does not have the energy to try and decipher it.

"For heaven's sake.  Vox," he says dryly, with a tired wave of his arm.  The magick spins around Vaan and Balthier shuts his eyes while pinching the bridge of his nose, "Now, what was it you were trying to say?"

But the boy makes no sound, forcing Balthier to open one eye quizzically.  Did the spell miss its mark?  But no, it certainly hit him.  The problem is that Vaan's jaw is hanging open in shock as he stares at the sky pirate.

"Yes?" Balthier grumbles.

"You...  You knew vox this entire time?!"

"Well, certainly.  Who do you think cures Fran of silence on a regular basis?" Balthier says simply.

Vaan groans and rubs his hands through his hair in frustration.  Balthier waits for the tirade but Vaan surprises him with a quiet, "I'll make sure to do a better job on getting supplies next time."

Next time.  As in, Vaan isn't planning to just return to his little apartment in Lowtown and bid Balthier a bon voyage once they rescue his friend.

Trying not to preen too much, Balthier pats Vaan on the shoulder.  "No harm done.  Now, best not to tarry.  We've still got an Archadian noble to find."

Vaan snaps his eyes up to Balthier's.  "You think Lamont is a noble?!"

Even Fran groans at the question.

"...Did you not notice the giant insignia of House Solidor that he wears as a pendant?" Balthier asks.

At least Vaan has the decency to blush in embarrassment.  "O-Of course I noticed.  I just...   Well...  He seemed so nice..."

Balthier sighs and grabs Vaan's hand, pulling him towards the entrance.  "Your skills of observation leave much to be desired," he comments.

Vaan doesn't say anything as he's tugged along, but he also doesn't pull away.  Not even when Balthier rubs his thumb along the inside of Vaan's hand.

Chapter Text

The Ogir-Yensa Sandsea.  Beautiful, in its own way, if one ignores the oil rigs in favor of gazing off into the horizon.  And due to its interference with levistones, for the most part it has been left untouched by man, having a wild and dangerous air to it.  Just the type of setting to begin one's epic quest of restoring a lost kingdom.

But who knew the sun beat down hotter here than in the Westersand?  Balthier’s shirt is soaked through with sweat already and he eyes the Dalmascan natives enviously.

No wonder they leave practically nothing to the imagination with their attire.

Dabbing at beads of sweat forming at his brow with a handkerchief, Balthier brings up the rear of their ever growing party with the orphaned teens.  Penelo, as he is learning, has quite the violent streak in her as she tries her hand at a mace, bashing the Yensa natives in the skull.  Vaan is calling out commands to her, the fluidity of their teamwork a testament to their long friendship. 

And that leaves Balthier to finish off any stragglers with his trusty Altair.  It's a bit tedious for a seasoned sky pirate such as himself, but he's not adverse to a light workload when it's 45 degrees outside.  He paces himself even when reloading, lest he drop his bullets from sweaty fingers through the mesh grating on the rigs.

Vaan, he notes, has no such concerns.  He dashes from one Yensa to the next like a hyena chasing Giza rabbits.  Truly a denizen of the sandpit known as Dalmasca, to thrive in such heat. 

But as the Lowtown duo run up to strike their foes at full force, Balthier notices some Yensa are drawing in mist and chanting up ahead. 

"Careful, they've got some magick at their disposal," he warns, firing away at one, leaving two others.

Penelo looks up from her latest victim just in time to be hit by the spell and crumple to the ground, snoring softly.

"Pen!" Vaan shouts and starts to run to her, only to be struck himself by what is clearly another sleep spell.  He trips over his feet and careens into the waist-high gate, and would have surely fallen off and drowned in the sandsea down below had Balthier moved even a second later to catch the thief about the torso.

But now Balthier's in a pickle.  He's down two party members (greenhorns though they may be), he's also down one gun (because while he may still have it in his left hand, his left arm is busy keeping Vaan from tipping over the railing), and he has no free hands (because in addition to holding both his gun and Vaan in his left hand and arm respectively, he's gripping onto the railing for dear life with his right hand).  So he can either drop Vaan to save himself and Penelo or wait to be struck by a sleep spell himself and die with the desert thief. 

Instead he does something really stupid, but they don't call it "Prince's Kiss" for nothing. 

He crashes his lips against Vaan's and even nips them for good measure, breathing out a soft prayer when he feels the blonde stir.

He turns his head back towards the Yensa just as the steel blue eyes blink open, completely missing the shocked expression on Vaan's red face.

"Kindly pull yourself up," Balthier instructs, still using all his strength to keep Vaan from falling.  

"Wha-- OH!"  Comprehending the situation rather quickly for a change, Vaan shifts against him while latching onto the railing, and starts to pull his weight back on the proper side, just in time for Balthier to release his hold and fire away at the spell caster.

"Vaan, I believe there's still one left," Balthier says in a calm voice as he reloads his Altair.

"R-Right," he says before dashing off to strike it.

Out of imminent danger, Balthier is much more conventional with waking Penelo, bending down and gently slapping her once on the cheek.  "Forgive me," he says as she blinks her soft brown eyes open and offers her a hand up.

She rubs her cheek but shakes her head, "No worries."  And runs off ahead to catch up to their lead party.

Vaan is looking at him nervously, making no move to bound off after her.

"Something you want to say?" Balthier asks, trying to avoid his eyes without making it obvious.

"...Did that...  Did that mean anything besides...."  He trails off and shakes his head, a painful blush spreading across his cheeks.  He turns to follow Penelo but Balthier sighs and grabs Vaan's wrist.

"Wait," he says, pulling up the blonde's hand and gently kissing the inside of his palm.  Vaan looks stunned.

"It means something," he whispers, holding Vaan's gaze steady.

"Okay..." Vaan breathes, nodding slowly.  "Good."

He smiles shyly at the sky pirate, only looking away when they hear Penelo call their names from the bridge to another rig.

"We're on our way," Vaan shouts over and starts jogging to his friend.

Balthier takes a moment to admire the view before following after him.

Chapter Text

There's a silence here that is unfathomable anywhere in Ivalice.  Its endless depths have driven many an exiled guest mad.  Even the ones who were lucky enough to be saved.

A flash of light bursts through the darkness, bringing a man with it.

"—k," Balthier spits out, drifting in the vast emptiness.

He looks around his surroundings, and tries to suppress his shiver.  It's a slippery slope from fear to despair here, he'd rather not give in just yet.

Taking a deep breath, Balthier closes his eyes and pictures the schematics of the Strahl.  Goes over every nut and bolt, trying to sort out if there's a way to get the fuel consumption down.  He's convinced he's onto something when another flash of light bursts through the darkness and leaves behind a young man.

"...Balthier," he says, clearly relieved.

The sky pirate blinks in surprise.  "Vaan?  How did you get here?"

Vaan gestures wildly at their surroundings.  "The Demon Wall, it just...  I mean I was there with everyone else and then...  I wasn't."

Balthier arches an eyebrow, "No, I don't mean how you were brought here, I mean how did you wind up here?  With me?"

"Uhhhh..."  Vaan is clearly confused.

Sighing, Balthier reaches out and clasps onto Vaan's hand.  Partly to keep the boy from drifting away.  Mostly to convince himself he's really there.

"Do you know where this is?"

Vaan shakes his head and Balthier locks eyes with him.

"The X-Zone."

Earlier, when their party walked down the steps to the long center path inside King Raithwall's tomb, Vaan warily eyed the facade of an armed demon.

"He's got some creepy taste in art," he commented to Penelo.

Ashe, perceiving slights where there were none, rounded on him instantly.  "We are in the sacred burial ground of my ancestor!  You will show this place the proper respect it deserves!"

But Vaan had already grown tired of Ashe's haughty attitude in the short time they had spent together.  He crossed his arms and met her glare with a bored expression.  "So, you're saying you plan to be buried with this guy watching over you?"

Ashe actually sputtered.  "W-What?  Why would you presume--"

"Well, it must be a really important deity or something for you to be so offended, right?  I'm sure you, as the heir to Raithwall's lineage, know exactly who he is and can school me on it.  Help me understand why he'll be built next to your grave, after you're restored to power?"

Ashe's face turned an alarming shade of red before she made a "hmph" noise and walked away from the thief.

Vaan rested his arms behind his head triumphantly, earning a giggle from Penelo and a quiet laugh from Balthier, who had observed the scene a few steps up from the landing.

Vaan grinned and faced him.  "Liked that?" he whispered. 

"Always amusing to see royalty put in their place where it's warranted," he agrees, walking in step with the blonde. 

Vaan chatted excitedly with him about whether this is what it was like to be a sky pirate, exploring long forgotten ruins full of treasure, and Balthier let the words wash over him, nodding every now and then to show he was still listening.  The two of them were at the back of the pack, and he brushed his fingers against the thief's in a flirtatious manner.  Vaan was so engrossed in what he was explaining to him, he didn't notice.

And Balthier found that adorable.

When did Vaan‘s obliviousness change from something that exasperated him to something that endeared him?

SCHIK.

He grabbed Vaan's shoulder to bring him to a halt and they (along with the entire party) turned around to find the source of the noise.

The facade Vaan had commented on before...  Was moving towards them...  Swinging its swords.

"Perhaps the princess was correct in your needing to show this place respect," he said with that dry Archadian wit Fran had once told him was "not amusing."

"Door.  Door!  DOOR!" Vaan shouted in a frenzy as he pulled Balthier behind him in a mad dash to the double doors at the end of the short path.  Vassler and Basch were already pushing them open, waving the rest of the party through.  After the seven of them made it and the knights slammed the doors shut, they all heaved a sigh in relief.

Until Balthier looked up and saw the twin of the demon wall they just escaped from.

"...Oh, for the love of..." he muttered as the new demon wall awoke and started moving their way.  

"We can't go back," Vassler stated the obvious as he unsheathed his sword.

Basch and Ashe ran with him to face the fiend, Penelo looked nervously at Vaan.  "I'm scared."

"Hang in the back, make sure everyone's health is up," Vaan advised and rubbed her shoulder.  She nodded and gave him a shaky smile before running to meet the rest of the group.

Fran followed quickly, "I will watch her."

Vaan looked to Balthier.  "Ready?"

The sky pirate eyed the torches along the path.  "Follow me," he said while grabbing Vaan's wrist and leading him to the closest torch.

"What are you doing?" the blonde asked.  "We should help them—"

"That's what I'm doing," he said, pointing to the carved sign: ALTAR OF CONTEMPLATION.  He touched the torch and it instantly snuffed out.

The demon wall came to a grinding halt.

Vaan's eyes boggled.  "How did you—?!"

Balthier smirked and slapped Vaan on the back, "This isn't the first ancient ruin I've been to.  There's usually more than one safety mechanism in place."

"Balthier, it stirs," Fran warned him as she shot more arrows at the demon wall.  It did appear to be twitching its fingers, but otherwise hadn't started progressing again.

"Well, then we should act fast," he said, firing a round off into the demon's face.

The demon twitched its head and tried to move its arms, but Penelo was able to cast a bunch of cures all around to bring the front line mostly back up to speed and ridding them of pesky ailments during this reprieve.

Once the wall resumed its advance, it looked pointedly at Balthier, and he felt a chill surround him.

He saw Fran sniff the air and stiffen before she whirled around to catch his eye, "Telega!"

His jaw dropped.  Fran had told him about this most ancient of spells.  She had encountered it before, ages ago, when it wasn't merely a legend.  But she still warned him about it, because they were sky pirates.  And she knew it could be hidden in an ancient place such as the ones they treasure hunted in on a regular basis.

He looked down at himself and already his legs were fading away.  He raised a hand before his face, and it too was becoming translucent. 

Vaan gasped, "What's happening to you?!"

Balthier sighed in acceptance.  "Fu—“

And then he was gone.

"Where did he GO?!" Vaan shouted, staring at the empty space Balthier had just been standing in.

Penelo tried to reason with him.  "Vaan, we need to focus right now—"

"Fran!  What the heck is 'teligy' or whatever it is?!" 

"Be calm.  He will return if—"

"What's this?" Vaan asked, looking at a spark where Balthier just was.  "Kinda looks like a thread..."

"Vaan!  The demon wall casts telega once more!" Fran warned.

Vaan had just grabbed hold of the sparkling thread, nearly impossible to see, when he felt cold surround him.  And then he too was gone.

Balthier eyes Vaan critically. 

"A thread?"

The thief nods and holds up his closed fist.  "It's kinda hard to see..."

"I'll grant you that, but it shouldn't be hard to feel,” he comments as he rubs a hand around Vaan's fist and doesn't come across any thread-like resistance.

Vaan is watching Balthier's hand intently.  "You can't see it?"

"Other than our hands, not a thing."  Balthier waits for Vaan to look up and meet his gaze before saying, "Two people aren't supposed to occupy the same space in the X-Zone, you know."

"Huh?"

"This place is infinite.  The chances of telega bringing two people to the same spot are virtually nonexistent.”

Vaan nods but his eyebrows scrunch in confusion.  “But...  I followed you.”

“As you’re wont to do,” Balthier quips.  “However, in this instance, it is quite the unexpected surprise.”

The wheels are spinning in the boy’s head, but he focuses on the most pressing concern.  “How do we get out of here?” 

Balthier, ever calm in the face of a crisis, shrugs nonchalantly.  “Wait and see.”

“That's your plan?  What happened to, ‘this isn’t the first ancient ruin I’ve been to?’”

He would roll his eyes towards the heavens, if there was a way to decipher which direction was “up.”  “While it may not be my first ruin, it is the first time I’ve had the misfortune of being banished to the X-Zone.”

Vaan gapes at him in surprise.  “It is?  You seem awfully calm for a first timer...”

“Well, when one travels with Fran, he has the added bonus of rather niche information on ancient magicks at his disposal.”

“... So she’s told you about this ‘telgigi’ spell?”

Balthier winces at the butchered pronunciation.  “It’s ‘telega,’ and yes.  The only way to break the spell is to kill the caster.”

Vaan’s expression dims from determined to resigned.  “Which means we’re counting on the others to save us...”

“And thus, we ‘wait and see.’”

 Vaan takes a moment to look around the space and clasps Balthier’s hand tighter.  

“I’m scared,” he whispers.

And Balthier takes a long look at Vaan, reminding himself that while the thief has been forced to learn some hard life lessons too early, he is still only seventeen.  And trembling at the face of eternity.

The sky pirate melts at the sight of this fragile Vaan before him and coaxes the teen towards him, gently pulling his hand and embracing him.  "Don't worry.  It could be worse.  You managed to find me, after all.”

Vaan sighs and wraps his arm tight around Balthier’s shoulders, not so subtly nuzzling his nose against the sky pirate’s silver earring.  And while yes, the idea of being trapped here forever is absolutely terrifying, this present moment of just getting to embrace Vaan feels so safe and comforting that he closes his eyes and lets himself pretend that they are simply having a stolen moment away from camp.  He runs his ringed fingers up the boy’s back and keeps going until his fingers are buried in that soft blonde hair.  Breathes in the scent of sand, sunshine, and sweat.  Gently presses a kiss against his temple.

In return he gets a shy kiss or two near his ear, Vaan’s breath tickling the sensitive skin there, but they don’t go much farther than that.  Their goal is comfort.

It is the most intimate Balthier has ever been with anyone.  

They drift for a while in that locked embrace, but no more than ten minutes or so before Balthier feels the pull of gravity tug at him.  Suspecting their party’s success, he presses one last kiss to Vaan’s nose before putting some distance between them.

Vaan must feel the same force pulling on him.  He locks eyes with Balthier and whispers, “...Balthier, than—”

They’re suddenly back in the tomb, surrounded by a group of worried allies.

“Vaan!” Penelo cries, echoed by Basch, tho only the girl grabs her friend into a tight hug.

He feels a long fingered hand clasp his shoulder and turns to see Fran’s calm face nod at him in greeting.  

“Both of you are all right?” Ashe asks, with a note of worry in her voice.

“But of course,” he smirks.  “Never doubted you all for a second.”

He catches the viera’s eyes move between him and the thief, eyebrow arched in question.  He answers her by clasping Vaan’s hand tightly without needing to look and holding it up for her inspection.

She notes the matter-of-fact way her partner does this, and the slight smile tugging on the teen’s face as he feels Balthier tug his arm.

She nods in approval, “I am glad.”

A grin tugs on his face.  If Fran approves, then he has nothing to worry about.

Chapter Text

The Golmore Jungle is the hottest place he’s ever been, and Vaan lives in the desert!  He’s not too familiar with humidity, and the resulting wall of wet, hot air is uncomfortable in the extreme.  It doesn’t cheer him up when their return guest, Larsa, points out that Vaan, in fact, may be dressed the most appropriately for this leg of their journey.

It’s stifling in here.

Balthier, with those sharp hazel-green eyes, notices his discomfort immediately and hangs back with Vaan for a moment.

“Never thought we’d find a place too hot for you,” he teases, but his mouth betrays his concern when it twists into a frown.

“...The air’s hard to breathe...” he admits.  The sky pirate raises an eyebrow at him before his expression turns serious.  He pats Vaan gently on the shoulder before catching up to his viera partner and talking quickly out of Vaan’s hearing.

Vaan has learned that this is not a good sign; Balthier privately conversing with Fran has always been the precursor to something bad happening to the group.  He rubs the scab on his arm and blinks.  When he pulls his fingers away, they’re wet with blood.

Penelo catches his movements and looks stricken.  “I’m so sorry, does it still hurt?”

He doesn’t like the grief he’s causing her and quickly reassured her, “No, Pen, don’t worry.”

“But I healed you up right after, so if there’s anything stinging, we should tell the others!”

He waves her concerns away.  He does not want to appear weak in front of Balthier, especially when the sky pirate already noticed how the humidity is effecting him.

“...Thank you, again, for pushing me out of the way,” she whispers, pressing a hand on his shoulder.

He gives her a small smile and reaches up to squeeze her hand.  “Always.”

She is talking about the panther that was stalking the two of them while they brought up the rear of the party and tried to attack Penelo.  Vaan is still not sure how his body knew to move—perhaps the sound of the beast running followed by the abrupt silence signaled its pounce—but instinctively he whirled his best friend out of harm’s way in the nick of time.

Naturally, he was pinned to the jungle floor by the beast instead.

Keeping a calm facade while encouraging Penelo to use the longbow Fran lent her was difficult, to say the least.  She was scared of hurting Vaan, which is exactly what happened when her first arrow grazed his arm instead of the panther’s flank.  He needed to talk her through taking another shot while keeping those huge fangs away from his jugular.

Now she is hovering by him, unconvinced that he is all right, despite her healing magick surpassing Fran’s.

It is strange that the cut does not seem to be healing right though.  He brushes the thought aside and focuses on putting one foot in front of the other.

Now he spies Balthier gesturing at him and Penelo in his hushed sidebar with Fran.  Great.  How did he embarrass himself with the older man this time?  It would be nice if Vaan could get through just one day without making a major gaffe in front of his...  Well, in front of Balthier.  

He’s afraid to put a label on whatever this thing between them is.

Penelo hisses to his left and wipes her fingers across his brow.  “You’re drenched with sweat,” she comments.

“It’s hot,” he counters.

“...Not that hot,” she says to herself.

His eyes boggle at her.  How can she bear this humid place?  Although, she is no where near as sweaty as he is...

His cheeks burn in mortification.  Is he seriously more delicate than Penelo?  What must Balthier think about his sky pirate aspirations when he can’t even handle a change in scenery?

The two blondes notice their comrades have stopped walking and peek around them to see what the hold up is.  There appears to be a magick barrier, solid to the touch, blocking their path.

“Lemme guess.  This is the only way to the Gran Kiltias?” he asks loud enough to reach Larsa.  “Unfortunately,” the young noble calls back.

Vaan looks back at the barrier and—

Whoa.

He shakes his head and rubs his temple.  Everything went out of focus for a moment.  He blinks a few times, his vision only slightly blurred now.

Is this because of the barrier?

Rather than investigate the magick blockade, the sky pirates walk back to Vaan and Penelo.

“What’d we do now?” Vaan asked in resignation.

Balthier gives him a confused look, “Are you suggesting we have no reason for seeking the two of you out besides reprimanding you?”  He gives a wry grin at the thief’s deadpan expression.  “Why Vaan, I keep such moments private.”

Despite picking up on the older man’s flirtatious tone, Vaan can’t think up a suitable response because it is taking all his effort to breathe raggedly through his mouth.  It causes Balthier’s brow to furrow and Fran to peer closely at his face.

“You’ve gone quite pale, Vaan,” she comments.  She turns to Penelo and asks her something, but Vaan is more aware of the sweat streaming down his body than what the viera is saying.

Balthier locks eyes with him and calls his name, voice laced with worry.

All at once Vaan can barely feel his legs and his vision fades around the edges.  Just before his vision goes completely dark, he flails out his hand to grab at Penelo, who was standing right next him last he checked.

From far away, he thinks he hears her voice call out to him as something wraps around him and prevents him from dropping like deadweight onto the jungle floor.

The world fades away.

Then Vaan is in the white room with Reks, who looks calm and relaxed, smiling gently at the galbana lily Vaan brought for him.  He hasn’t seen his brother look this well rested since before Reks joined the Rabanastre military.

“Come sit,” his big brother gestures at the seat next to him on the sofa.  Vaan checks his surroundings as he slowly walks to the sofa and does as he asks.

There’s something odd about what he’s seeing, but he isn’t sure what exactly.

Everything feels soft, and Vaan feels so safe with his brother besides him.  He meets Reks’s eye and wants to ask him something but...  He opens his mouth and nothing comes out.

“That ghost you saw.  It wasn’t me, you know.”

Vaan emits a confused noise (or tries to).  His brother looks at him fondly.  

“I didn’t suddenly start haunting you, Vaan.”

Haunting...?

Reks chuckles at the way Vaan’s face is scrunched up and ruffles his hair.  There’s a memory just out of reach.  Vaan’s certain that if he could just grasp it, this conversation would make a lot more sense.

Steel blue eyes, identical to his own, lock with Vaan’s.

“Don’t let the Occuria use you,” Reks warns.

His eyes flutter open to a silhouette looking down at him.  Everything feels far away.  And it’s still so hot.

Ringed fingers pressed against his brow.

Oh...   

He just saw Reks.  In a white place.

Am I dying? Vaan wonders.

He might have said it out loud, because there’s a sudden death grip on his shoulder.
A bubble pops before his face without warning and it’s all gone—the dizziness, the fatigue, the oppressive heat—just like that.

Balthier is staring down at him, eyes wide in concern.  Vaan’s head is in his lap.

“...What?”  His mouth feels dry.

Balthier shushes him and brushes his bangs back.  “Take a moment.”

“The arrows I lent Penelo were coated with venom,” Fran explains.  “She says she hit you accidentally, not realizing they were status inflicting.”

He’s tired but he is thinking clearly for the first time since the panther pounced on him.

“...I was poisoned?”  He asks Balthier who nods, face grim.  

So that explains it.  Now that there isn’t poison coursing through his veins, Vaan feels surprisingly comfortable in the jungle.  It’s this “balmy” feeling he has often heard described, not the oppressive heat he felt from a fever.  The warm, wet air actually make his muscles feel relaxed.

Penelo casts the highest level cure magick she can muster and Vaan feels one hundred percent.  He absentmindedly feels for the scab the poisoned arrow left but it is finally healed over and gone.  His friend whispers an apology but before he can reply, Fran is already leading her down the path, back the way they just came from.  The rest of the party is still arguing in front of the barrier trying to determine how to proceed.

Vaan shyly looks up at Balthier who is still gripping his shoulders tight, that serious expression lining his face.  He doesn’t know what to say and for once keeps silent.

Eventually the sky pirate sighs and relaxes his grip.  His severe expression softens into his exasperated one.

“You are proving to be quite the handful,” he mutters, but his fingers petting Vaan’s hair dull the sting.

“Sorry,” Vaan huffs, making no move to get up.

There’s a long pause before Balthier whispers, “I don’t like seeing you lose consciousness.”

That’s right, he passed out.

“You caught me,” Vaan realizes.  Balthier’s arms are what wrapped around his torso as the world went dark.

“I hope we don’t make it a habit,” the older man jests.  “At least not while you have this penchant for metal vestments.”

Emboldened by his brush with death, the teen waggles his eyebrows,  “So if I took ‘em off...?”

Balthier guffaws unexpectedly and rubs his thumb along Vaan’s cheek.

“... No helping it,” he murmurs.  “I’ll just have to keep you within arm’s reach, if it’ll keep you out of trouble.”

Vaan feels his cheeks warm up, but not from a poison induced fever.  “Yeah, guess you’ll have to,” he smiles.

Chapter Text

True to his word, Balthier stays close to Vaan as the party meets with the Eruyt Village leader (Fran’s older sister) and subsequently backtracks to find the missing Mjrn (Fran’s younger sister).  And while the rest of the party seems put out by going back the way they came, Vaan is excited at this well timed excuse to whip out the petition he accepted in Jaharra.

“‘The Ixtab’?” the sky pirate reads, scrutinizing the mark’s details.  They are all standing at the entrance to the mines when Vaan makes his pitch.

“Yeah, it’s in the mines anyway,” Vaan justifies.  “And you were the one who said back at the Lhusu Mines that it was a bad idea to travel in groups bigger than 4...”

Balthier “hmms” thoughtfully while holding his chin.  The party is still accompanied by Larsa, and given how old the Henne Mines are, they are certainly more prone to a sudden collapse than the ones in Bhujerba.

But, confidentially, what Vaan is really fishing for is some alone time with him.  It hasn’t happened since the first time it happened—the Nalbina Dungeon (he is not going to count the X-Zone).  But only after that first time has their relationship evolved from enemy-of-my-enemy and turned into something with heavy romantic undertones.

That thought turns Vaan’s cheeks pink and Balthier zero ins on that.

“You’re right, Vaan,” he suddenly says, loud enough for the rest of the group to hear.  “It would be risky to traverse the mines all together; you and I will take down this mark instead.”

The teen’s face lights up in excitement—this is fantastic!  He wasn’t sure his flimsy pretext to steal a moment alone with the dashing sky pirate would work, especially since he didn’t get a chance to run it by Balthier first but—

“I shall go as well,” Basch cuts in, taking the petition in his hand to review.

Vaan valiantly tries to keep his smile from falling.  “W-What?”

Balthier has no such qualms, and crosses his arms while outright glaring at the knight.  “I believe he invited himself on our hunt.”

Basch either does not hear the frustration in his tone or chooses to ignore it, and points to the bottom of the page.  “Soul powder,” he says.

“Huh?”  Vaan squints at the petition.

“Soul powder,” Basch repeats.  “I’ve heard rumor it can be used in production of a sword I am interested in.  I’d like to join you to procure it once we defeat the mark.”

He was not anticipating someone in the group actually WANTING to do this hunt at all, and Vaan’s daydreams about becoming better acquainted with Balthier’s lips vanish like so much sand in the wind.  

“And what pray tell does your princess think about you abandoning her?” Balthier asks Basch while facing Ashe.

Vaan grins at him, leave it to the sky pirate to find a way out of this mess!

But the strategy backfires instantly when Ashe interprets it as a dig and fires back, “I-I do not treat my loyal subjects like hounds, expecting them to be at my beck and call!  If he wishes to join you two, I will neither stop nor resent him!”

Vaan hangs his head in defeat and catches Balthier snap his fingers in annoyance out of the corner of his eye.

“Well, let’s get this over with,” the brunette mutters while gritting his teeth.

That was little over half an hour ago, and Vaan has regrets.  The mines are full of seekers, which he finds slicing in two to be tedious.  Balthier is staying about ten paces away from Vaan now that there isn’t a group to hide their handholding in.  And this mark is no where to be found.

Their group parted ways at Pithead Junction A, and the Phase 1 Shaft is turning into just a giant roundabout.  The Ixtab might not even be this way at all, which would mean all they’ve accomplished is trailing the others by an hour.

Vaan sighs and takes a moment to collect himself while the older two men walk ahead of him.  This is so awkward; Basch has taken to thinking himself Vaan‘s protector after learning he was Reks’s little brother.  And while it is always appreciated during a fight, it really gets in the way of exploring his relationship with Balthier.

Another deep breath, and Vaan takes a step forward just as three scythe-like claws tear through his chest from behind.

Vaan’s jaw drops open at the sight, too shocked to do anything but stare in morbid fascination as the claws retract out of his chest, spilling a concerning amount of blood all over the ground.

It would seem their mark has found them.

He chokes on a scream and looks up to see Balthier ahead on the path, smirking over his shoulder like he just made a witty comment and wants to see Vaan’s reaction.  Those hazel-green eyes are like saucers at the sight of the blonde drowning in his own blood before narrowing to slits and firing a headshot at the Ixtab with his Sirius rifle.

It takes Vaan several heartbeats to realize that the reason he can’t seem to catch his breath is because his lungs have been punctured; thankfully Basch casts cure and weak as his magick is, it is enough to knit them back together.

“Back up,” Balthier instructs him, lining up his next shot with the Sirius.  Vaan doesn’t need to be told twice and crawls as fast as he can to the sidelines.

With the mark distracted, he chugs down a hi-potion before joining the fray.  Through pure coincidence, Balthier’s bullets inflict water damage, which seems to be the mark’s weakness and they are able to overpower it.  Despite their luck in ammunition, this hunt is far from easiest they’ve ever taken on, and Vaan nods in appreciation after receiving another cure spell from Basch.

“You all right?” Balthier asks quickly, in that tone Vaan is starting to associate with him hiding just how worried he actually is about a situation.  He feels his chest, blood free and wounds healed, “Yeah.”  He looks up to thank Basch when something behind the sky pirate catches his eye.

9.

It’s a huge blood splatter that he can’t believe he missed before.  Did the Ixtab make it after shaking off Vaan’s blood?  Creepy.

He shudders at the sight before facing the knight and thanking him properly.  Both older men check over their shoulders, clearly wondering what disturbed the thief.  But it appears blood splatters, even when in numeric shapes, are nothing too concerning to seasoned adventurers, and they merely shrug and continue on the path.

“This route circles back to the junction,” Balthier informs them while checking the map they found.  “We might as well keep going straight, it will save us a few meters.”

“But won’t it be faster going back how we came, now that we cleared the... way...” Vaan trails off and looks at the wall in front of them.

8.

That...   That blood splatter’s too fresh to be from the Ixtab.

“Vaan, what ails you?” Basch asks.

He wordlessly points at the wall and both men turn only to face him again after a few moments.  

“What is it?” Balthier asks seriously.

“...Doesn’t that look like an ‘8’ to you?”

Their entire demeanor changes instantly and Balthier lunges at Vaan while Basch checks all of his pockets.

“Wha—“ Vaan is cut off as the sky pirate scoops him over his shoulder in a perfect re-enactment of their first meeting.  Balthier turns around to follow the path while calling out to Basch, “Find any?!”

“Fran has them!”

“Of course she does,” he growls while sprinting with Vaan over his shoulder.

“Hey, what’s going on?!” Vaan shouts.

“You’re a magnet for trouble, as per usual,” Balthier bites out.

As he bounces against the sky pirate’s shoulder, Vaan catches a bloody looking 7 painting the ground between strides.

“What is the deal with these numbers?!” he asks, earning a snapped “Quiet!” from his mount.

Balthier sounds desperate.

Like, “it’s the end of the world,” desperate.

And then it clicks.

Vaan is doomed.

He lets his head hang to see past Balthier, albeit upside down, and catches a 6 off to the side.

Oh no.  Oh no no no no no.

Vaan can feel himself start to hyperventilate.

Everyone’s heard of doom.  The spell that literally counts down to the moment a reaper will burst forth and harvest your soul.  It can’t be cured with Esuna, you need to administer...  A remedy...

“Why didn’t we bring any remedies?!” he shouts, voice bordering on hysterical.

“Wasn’t a priority for us, now was it?” Balthier pants back, sprinting for the gate leading to the Phase 1 Dig to catch up with the others.

“I shall go on ahead!” Basch shouts as he overtakes them.

Well, looks like Vaan will get some alone time with Balthier after all.

5.

Tears spring to his eyes as reality hits him that he is going to die.  He doesn’t want these last few seconds to be over Balthier’s shoulder, crying into his back.

He grabs the sky pirate around the waist, “Stop!  Put me down!”  Balthier skids to a halt and protests as Vaan climbs off him but goes silent when Vaan is standing nose to nose with him, tears streaming down his face.

“Vaan,” Balthier breathes, eyes misting over.

4.

He roughly grabs Balthier’s face and smashes their lips together.  He doesn’t want the last thing he sees to be the number zero heralding a reaper’s scythe.

He doesn’t want the last thing he said to be Put me down.

He stops mid-kiss to brokenly whisper against Balthier’s lips, “...Thank you, for showing me the sky.”

And he can tell the moment that Balthier snaps, when the grip on his waist turns to steel before Balthier pulls away from him, looking more determined than ever.

He watches the older man dig through his right pouch and pull out a necklace that Vaan would bet the Dawn Shard is cursed and throw it around his neck before pulling out a phial of chronos tears.

3.

Although it can’t possibly do anything to help Vaan, Balthier bites the stopper off and pours the chronos tears over Vaan’s head and—

He starts coughing up something that started going down his wind pipe.

Wait.  He knows this taste...

He blinks his tears away to see Balthier practically straddling him onto the ground, already leaning in to pour the rest of the remedy down his throat.

“W-Wai—“  But he has to gulp down the liquid before he chokes from it.  Only when the bottle is empty does the sky pirate pull it away and let Vaan catch his breath.

They aren’t far away from where Vaan thought they were, but how did they...?

He spots that dangerous looking necklace on the floor besides Balthier.  “You...  You did something.”  He whips his head around and notices Fran for the first time, standing a few paces away, trying to catch her breath.  “When did Fran...?”

But instead of answering, Balthier grabs Vaan’s vest and crushes him to his chest.  Although he’s happy whenever the sky pirate initiates physical affection between them, he’s worried by the lack of response he’s getting when he repeatedly asks Balthier what happened.

But Balthier has buried his face in Vaan’s neck and shakes it “no,” refusing to speak.  Vaan feels something wet on his shoulder...

He looks helplessly at Fran, but she is already walking away, calling over her shoulder that she will let the others know Vaan is all right now.

“But...  But HOW am I all right?” he asks again.

He gets no answer at first, but soon enough Balthier collects himself and looks him in the eye, with no small amount of disbelief.  “I can’t believe it worked,” he says to himself.

“Can’t believe WHAT worked?” Vaan demands.

“The Nihopalaoa.”

“Gesundheit.”

Balthier huffs out a laugh and kisses his forehead before tucking Vaan’s head under his chin.  “The necklace.  Forgot I had it, but I heard it reverses the effects of healing items.”

Reverses...?

“You ‘stopped’ me,” he realizes.  “And it stopped the countdown?”

“Why must you tempt fate?” The sky pirate asks, suddenly sounding exhausted.  “But, just to be sure, please indulge me down here for a few minutes more.  Better yet, an hour.”

Vaan smirks against his neck, “I’m not staying here for another second, let’s get moving.”

“Ingrate,” he murmurs, with absolutely zero bite.

After Balthier collects his necklace, he pulls Vaan up to standing and refuses to let go of his hand.  He pulls the teen along the path and soon they catch up with the others.  

The instant they regroup, Balthier announces, “I’m handing in the bill, and taking Vaan.  Don’t follow us.”

Vaan grins so hard his cheeks hurt.

Chapter Text

After they hand in the bill to the Ixtab petitioner, and are shown their lodgings for the night, Balthier all but jumps on top of Vaan once the tent flap closes.  The blonde emits a startled noise when he turns to find the sky pirate already reaching for his face, quickly followed by a whimper Balthier tries to trace the origins of with his tongue.  They sink onto their sleeping pallets and Balthier wastes no time pinning Vaan to the floor.

That was too close.

He keeps kissing those soft lips while spreading the thief out across their pallets by his wrists.  He’s the first to admit that he loves the sound of his own voice, but no talking.  Not right now.

Vaan almost died.

He pulls back to catch his breath and stare down at the wreck the thie—HIS thief—is.  Vaan was always beautiful, but seeing him so eager and willing beneath him...  Vaan opens his eyes and their steel blue color looks so much softer when his pupils dilate like that.

Vaan almost died.

Balthier rips off his vest and his top two shirt buttons pop off in his rush to undress.  Vaan stares back with eyes as big as saucers at the naked chest before him and presses a hand over Balthier’s heartbeat.

He felt Vaan’s heart cease beating when he “stopped” him.

He grabs the younger man’s hand and kisses the palm gently.  He can feel Vaan’s pulse.  They lock eyes and he grinds their pelvises together, eliciting the most beautiful sound from the thief.  He does it again.  Ever so slightly increasing the pace.  Vaan is keening, overwhelmed by the sensation spiced with the anticipation of doing this without pants in the way.

He wants to hear more of this sound.

He almost never heard this sound.

He is going to fuck Vaan all night for giving him his “last words.”

“...Thank you, for showing me the sky.”

He doesn’t want to think about this right now, but fuck.  Holy fuck.  Who the fuck does Vaan think he is, to say that to a SKY PIRATE as a farewell?!

He would have dismantled the Strahl and never set foot on an airship again to keep anyone else from ever saying that to him.

Those words sum up Vaan perfectly.

He hated Vaan in that moment more than anyone else in his entire life.

He is so in love with Vaan.

He is tearing Vaan’s pants off and swallowing his erect member down to the root.  Vaan is mindlessly whispering “yes, yes, yes.”

He kicks his pants off too, not bothering with unlacing his shoes.  When he feels Vaan is at his limit he pops his mouth off him and spits in his hand before rubbing his own cock a bit.

Vaan moans at the loss, and then at the pressure of Balthier’s large hand gripping their dicks together.  It really is almost no time at all before Vaan is spilling over both of them and Balthier refuses to let up, using the blonde’s seed as the worst kind of lube, kissing Vaan’s cheek sweetly as tears run down his face from overstimulation.

He wants to ruin Vaan.  The way Vaan has ruined Balthier.  On an emotional level, admittedly.  Because, in all seriousness, for a teenager, Vaan is certainly taking his time on ruining Balthier in the physical sense.

He’s going to rectify that tonight.

He flips Vaan over and eats him out.

Vaan starts crying to the Gods and Balthier finally, finally needs to say something.

“I don’t recall having any God help me earlier.  Want to try that again?”  He finishes by licking a hot, wet stripe up Vaan’s crack.

“Balthie—!” he cuts off on a sob.

“Close,” he murmurs.  “I’ll spell it for you,” and wiggles his tongue through all eight letters deep inside Vaan.

He really meant to go easier on him.

He really is enjoying this too much.

Vaan is ready for him and without any preamble Balthier enters him, only just remembering not to ram in full speed.  This time.

He gasps in surprise once he’s in all the way.  Balthier will deny this till he is on his deathbed, but he almost climaxed right then and there.

Vaan is perfect.

He almost doesn’t want to move but when the blonde gives an experimental push with his hips, all bets are off and the sky pirate keeps adjusting his thrusts until he finds that one spot that makes Vaan orgasm again, shocking the young man and stroking Balthier’s ego.

Then he abuses that spot repeatedly until Vaan is a broken mess beneath him.

He has never come so hard in his life.

He collapses on top of the thief before rolling them over so Balthier is flat on his back with Vaan sprawled over his chest.  They’re both catching their breath, but he thinks Vaan is trying to ask him, “W-What was that...?”

“In about thirty minutes we’ll do it again, except we’ll switch roles,” he whispers against the thief’s temple.  “...Unless you want to try edging tonight?”  

One can hope.

“You can do whatever you want to me,” Vaan murmurs, close to falling asleep.

Oh...  That’s a foolish thing to say to him...

“... I’ll be sure to ask again when you’re not blissed out of your mind.”

“Mm-hmm,” Vaan hums, already nodding off.

Balthier kisses his forehead and says, “Thirty minutes, Vaan.”

Chapter Text

Vaan tries to keep the awe off his face when Balthier announces they’ve entered the Feywood.  He’s a bit more worldly than when he left Rabanastre; he’s seen some amazing natural wonders, robbed a King’s tomb, and flown in an airship.  

But he’s never seen snow before.

After their definitely-a-secret tryst to Jahara, the two of them began the journey back to the rendezvous point at Eruyt Village to regroup with Fran and the rest.  But no sooner than they entered the Golmore Jungle, Balthier was dragging Vaan on a detour south west of their goal.  When he pointed this out to the sky pirate, the brunette just smirked at him.

“Vaan, please.”

Now they are completely off course, but Vaan is distracted by the occasional pricks of cold that instantly melt against his skin.  He spies white flurries out of the corner of his eye here and there, and there is something magical about the touch of snow in this otherwise dead looking forest.

“So, think you can manage?” Balthier asks in a tone that says this is not the first time he has repeated the question.

Vaan shakes his head clear.  “Sorry, what?”

He rolls his hazel-green eyes skywards.  “I should know better than to address you in the first ten minutes of showing you someplace new.”

“H-Hey—“

He ignores Vaan’s outburst and points down the path to a small group of mandragora monsters.  “We’re here for them: the Deadly Nightshade.”

All business now, Vaan crouches to get closer to eye level with the creatures several yards away.  They look exactly like the Rogue Tomato, and he can’t help but feel a bit of sympathy for his long deceased first mark, now that he realizes how far from home it was exiled.

“What’s your endgame?”  He knows the sky pirate well enough to infer there’s more to this side trip than culling the rabid creatures.

“There’s an interesting rumor that the sentient flora in these woods hoard an accessory I'd like to take off their... hands, for lack of a better word.”

Sometimes Vaan needs an extra two seconds to figure out the context clues of Balthier’s Standard.  For particularly ambiguous statements the sky pirate makes, Vaan often rephrases them for confirmation, just to be on the safe side.

“You want to poach one?”

“No, I want to poach one that’s carrying what I’m looking for.  Could take a while.”

As is his habit, Vaan scratches his nose while thinking aloud, “But you’re our poacher.  What do you want me to do?”

“If you use that Bushi technique Basch taught you, would make my efforts more successful.”

Now THAT makes him rock back on his heels and lock eyes with Balthier.  There’s only one technique the older man could be referring to.

“You want to BLIND me?”

“It is the only way that Sight Unseeing works, from what I’m told,” he shrugs.  “Besides, my pockets are bursting with eye drops.  I’ll administer them on you myself once we are through.”  He winks down at Vaan, which of course makes the thief blush.

He weighs the pros and cons of this plan.  He has only used Sight Unseeing a handful of times, all of which were just to keep enemies at bay until someone cured him.  But Balthier wants him to take point while blind in a place he has never been before.

Still, he wants to help the sky pirate whenever he can.

He heaves a sigh as he stands up and looks at Balthier.  “You’ll have to be quiet,” he warns him.  “Otherwise I won’t hear where they are.”

The older man holds up a hand and promises, “Not a peep, aside from my Sirius.”

After thinking it over another moment, Vaan nods and Balthier puts on his Nihopalaoa before squeezing some eye drops into Vaan’s eyes.

The world fades to black.

He hears some chittering noises coming from the direction the Deadly Nightshades were in and memorizes it for the next group he searches for.

Dagger out, he listens very carefully to determine the positions of all the creatures...

There.

He bursts into a sprint and slashes all three in the way Basch taught him.  He can feel his blade slice through each one, hear their cries of shock and pain...

Followed by three thuds on the ground.

Wait.

“Um....  Balthier?” he calls back.  “Are they dead?”

“Yes, indeed.  I thought that only had a one-in-five chance?”

Well.  Time to try again.

As they meander through the woods, Balthier guides Vaan back towards the entrance whenever they go in too deep.  Apparently the mandragoras he’s after are easier to find along the forest edge, which means they don’t need to tempt fate by venturing where the stronger beasts roam.

Balthier poaches pretty much every Deadly Nighshade after Vaan’s first surprisingly accurate hits.  Once each group goes down to the sky pirate’s gunfire, Vaan asks if he got what he came for.

“I thought you wanted me to keep quiet?” he reminds the blonde while tossing away his twentieth succulent fruit.  “But in answer to your question: I’ll be sure to tell you when I find it.”

Vaan sighs and keeps going after what feels like a couple of hours.  Staying blinded this long is beginning to chafe.  Or maybe it’s the mist he feels saturating the woods.  Whatever the case may be, he wants to use those eye drops and get out of here soon.

He hears more chittering ahead and centers himself.  Please, please, please let this be the last one.

He slashes with his dagger and the Sirius fires a round—

CLINK.

“Hold up!”  Vaan freezes in place and waits for the brunette to run over and inspect the ground.

“Oh good, it doesn’t appear to be cracked.  Nice work, Vaan.”

“What isn’t cracked?” he asks, curiosity piqued.

Balthier clears his throat and hesitates.

“Give me your hand.”

Vaan’s eyebrows shoot up.  It’s very unlike the smug man to sound so unsure.  He slowly reaches his free hand in the direction of Balthier’s voice until long fingers touch his.  Vaan holds his breath as those rough hands remove his finger guards before tracing each of his fingers with feather light touches.

He doesn’t know what is happening but he doesn’t want it to stop.

The gentle touches are centered around his index finger now.  They cease after another moment or two but then Vaan inhales sharply as he feels it at the tip of his finger.

Balthier is sliding a ring on him.

This is what Balthier was poaching?  A ring...  For Vaan?

A heartbeat after the ring is on, Vaan feels rejuvenated, like a tiny cure spell hit him.  “Huh?” he brings the ring closer to his face and...  Yup.  He hears a swish of regen magick right before feeling another tiny boost.

“...It’s a Ring of Renewal,” Balthier says softly, with a hint of emotion the blonde can’t decipher.

Vaan would give anything to see his face right now.

“...Is this for me?”  He doesn’t mean to sound so insecure, but he might die of a broken heart if it really is for someone else.

“Only if you’ll wear it every fight.”

Vaan feels his cheeks flare up; he hates when it happens but he suspects Balthier loves it, if the sky pirate crowding Vaan up against a tree is any clue.

“Will you?” he asks, fingers interlocking with Vaan’s.

Vaan presses up against him and leans in, painfully slow, hesitant while blind.

Balthier grips Vaan’s right shoulder and starts to pull him tight when the thief worms his arm up around Balthier’s and starts administering eye drops stolen from the sky pirate’s pockets.

Balthier looks at the drops, then his pockets, then back again, “When did you...?”

“You’ve been watching me wander around blind for hours, but you still thought I’d have trouble finding your face?” Vaan snarks while blinking his eyes clear.  “That’s better,” he looks Balthier in the eye and smiles before raising their clasped hands up to inspect the ring.  

It’s white gold, and while it may not be as eye catching as a gemstone, the craftsmanship is masterful.  Vaan suspects they were envisioned for paladins, considering how large it is, which may explain the (while still elegant) simple design.

“So, I can keep it if I wear it every fight?” he asks, admiring how the light bounces off the shiny metal.

“That’s the deal.”  Balthier is smiling at him, his hazel-green eyes looking particularly bright.  “I’ve grown rather fond of having you around...  I’d like to keep it that way.”

The admission surprises Vaan.  He knows the sky pirate is attracted to him, probably has some level of affection for him.  But he never expected him (or anyone, really) to say it aloud to Vaan.

He feels unbelievably happy.

Rather than agree, he leans in and kisses Balthier softly.

The truth is...  He’s really fond of the sky pirate too...  He may slip the ring on his finger if things get too dicey.

Chapter Text

Balthier is on high alert when the party opens the door to the Hall of Worth and finds the entire room frozen over.  He steps in front of Vaan, holding the desert thief back, darting his eyes back and forth to find the source of this thaumaturgy.

The Dalmascan natives barely survived the freezing temperatures of the Paramina Rift.  He’d rather not have them trapped in this ice box if they’re going to have to fight their way out of it.

Vaan inhales sharply and points over Balthier’s shoulder through the icy fog at what appears to be a mermaid sprawled out in the center of the room and the sky pirate frowns.

He can feel Vaan shivering.

He starts to tell him to back out of the room, but it’s too late.  The doors are already frozen over, and the mermaid starts to move.  Except Balthier has never seen a mermaid like this before.  It almost appears that what he initially thought was her tail is...

“...It’s devouring her,” he observes in disgust.  No, worse than that.  The creature holding this nymph against her will has her bound as a living shield.

Balthier has an instant dislike of the Esper Mateus.

They charge to defeat the corrupted being, and utilizing his latest “foolish tactic,” as Fran dubs it, the sky pirate stays within five paces of Vaan at all times.  It’s a waste of the range available to him, he’ll admit, but the blonde is somehow always at the center of every disaster to befall the party.

Lately, Balthier is finding it harder to breathe when that happens.

The Esper summons Ice Azers and one by one they defeat them, but something (as usual) isn’t right.

“Hey,” Vaan calls over his shoulder to him.  “...Is it moving faster?”  

That’s exactly what Balthier was thinking as he watches the Esper move twice as fast as everyone.  No, not just the Esper.  Everything around them.

“We’ve been slowed,” he announces, firing off a shot from his new Betelgeuse for emphasis, and the party watches as the remaining azers move around it faster than they can blink.

“Use your Chronos Tears,” Ashe says as she concentrates on a fire spell.

“Our supply is dwindling, we should save them in case a fiend casts stop,” Fran argues.

“Vaan,” Balthier grabs the thief’s attention away from this inane dispute.  “You’ll take point.”

His steel blue eyes boggle.  “What?”  He glances at Basch, who normally takes the lead, but Balthier is already drawing in mist.

“You’re the fastest,” he says before waving his hand at Vaan.

He hits him with haste and the thief vanishes from their sight.  He knows Vaan is nearby though, as the Esper shrieks with every slice from his dagger, too fast for them to see while slowed.  It’s as he suspected; only a weak coward would use a living shield.

Balthier wishes he could put the nymph out of her misery, but she is likely bound to the Esper for eternity now.

Vaan abruptly reappears besides the sky pirate, panting.  “I think it slowed me again?” he says it like it’s a question.  But his cheeks are rosy from exertion and Balthier feels a smile tugging on his cheeks for the first time since they entered this room.  “No worries, more where that came from,” and hastes the thief again.

Fran catches his eye and gives him a look.  She never falls for his lies the way everyone else does.

She knows as well as he does that the person he should have hasted first is Ashe.  She could have summoned Belias and the gigas would have made short work of this fight.

But he worried about Vaan freezing to death.  So he made up an excuse to get him moving.

He shrugs helplessly at her; he’ll not apologize for putting Vaan’s safety above his own.  It all works out in the end anyway.  Mateus is vanquished and the slow spell wears off.

Vaan, on the other hand, is still darting around like a blue and white blur.  He runs up to the party and to the door leading to the Vault of the Champion and back again, like an excited puppy.  Balthier is tempted to cast slow on him as punishment for hurting the party’s eyes.

By the time the Sword of Kings is in Ashe’s hands, haste has worn off, but Vaan fidgets with nervous energy.  Balthier follows his line of sight to the Dawn Shard in the princess’s hand and can’t hide how impressed he is when Vaan suggests she test the sword on the dead piece of stone.

“He just may be onto something,” he chimes in.  The less nethicite in the world, the better.

But Ashe never fails to meet his low expectations as her swing misses the shard on purpose; she insists the sword is real, no proof required.

He sighs and turns to leave with the rest of the group until Ashe’s question to Vaan brings him up short: Did you see him?

His blood runs cold and he turns back to look at Vaan.

If Vaan suffers from the same madness as his father... Balthier cannot go through that again.

He sags in relief when Vaan answers in the negative.  Until he turns around and Penelo is standing right in front of him.

“...Yes?”  Although she is Vaan’s best friend, Balthier has had almost no one-on-one conversation with her.  It is unlike her to purposely seek him out.  But then her eyes move past the sky pirate to settle on her friend’s back and she whispers, “I think you ought to know, Vaan is barikatha.”

The look on his face must give away his confusion.  She looks down with embarrassment and twists her fingers together.  “Sorry, I think the word in Standard is ‘medium’?”

It takes him a moment to catch on.  “As in ‘psychic’?”

She frowns and says, “I guess you could say that, but I feel more comfortable with ‘blessed.’”

Now she’s just talking in circles.  He crosses his arms and narrows his eyes at her.  “What are you saying, exactly?”

She looks over at her friend before meeting his eyes again.  “Vaan can see and talk with spirits,” she explains somberly.

He doesn’t like where this is going.  “Penelo...”

She gives him a fierce look.  “No.  I know what you’re thinking.  And that’s why I wanted to tell you: it’s true.  I didn’t believe it when Reks first told me back when we were kids,” Balthier’s eyebrows shoot up at the mention of Vaan’s deceased brother, a topic he learned was taboo around the young lady.  “But Vaan has always been singled out by spirits who reward him for helping them move on.”

Her eyes drift over to Vaan’s back again and she whispers in admiration, “I’ve seen him receive gifts from thin air.”

He blinks in surprise.  Penelo is the most down to earth person he has ever met.  She is not prone to exaggeration or flights of fancy.  If she says she has seen something spontaneously appear in Vaan’s hand, she probably means it.

“Vaan isn’t the only person in Dalmasca to be barikatha, you know,” she continues.  “Montblanc is too...  I heard rumor that a few of the bills he posts are for spirits.  Vaan’s been doing them lately.”

Now this is curious.  Balthier has met Montblanc a few times and his impeccable reputation precedes him besides.  And it’s just common knowledge in Rabanastre that he can commune with ghosts?

“Anyway,” she goes on, “I saw how you reacted a minute ago.  And I don’t want you thinking he’s crazy when he goes off by himself and nods along to nothing.”  She gives him a pointed glare and walks away.

It is quite the shovel talk, but he mulls over what she said.  A memory tickles the back of his mind...  When he and Vaan were sent to the X-Zone.

He may have already witnessed Vaan’s “blessed” gifts himself.

Chapter Text

“Yech...”  Balthier makes a face as he watches Vaan in mounting horror.  The blonde is practically climbing into the dead Croakadile’s gullet in an effort to find...  Something.  Vaan has not deigned to explain this disgusting endeavor to him.

It’s just the two of them for a change, but taking advantage of their privacy for more amorous pursuits is the furthest thing from the sky pirate’s mind.  At least while a hot bath is nothing more than a fantasy.

“If this is a favored pastime of yours, I’m afraid we need to have a talk,” Balthier calls over the sound of the thunder storm brewing overhead.

Vaan scowls over his shoulder at him but says nothing as he continues digging around the dead mark’s mouth.  Good gods, half his body is covered in toad mucus...

Just when Balthier starts to fear the thief is actually going to go spelunking down the overgrown toad’s throat, Vaan’s eyebrows shoot up and with a sickening squelch, extricates himself from the Croakadile’s maw.  With palpable relief he presents his prize to Balthier.

“A ring?”

As charming as it would be for Vaan to offer him a ring in return for the Ring of Renewal, this one is clearly designed for a woman’s slender finger.  Furthermore, despite the thick mucus coating it, the sky pirate can see it’s likely meant to be an engagement gift.

He raises an eyebrow at it, wracking his brain to figure out how Vaan knew the beast was carrying it.  Only one theory makes sense, even though Balthier still has his doubts.

According to Penelo, Vaan is “blessed.”

And prior to setting out, Vaan stood in the middle of the deserted nomad camp by himself, at rapt attention to naught but the wind.

He bites his tongue to keep from asking questions that will only scare the young man off.  Penelo may have told him about Vaan’s sensitivity to ghosts, but Vaan himself has remained tight lipped about it in front of Balthier.  He has only himself to blame.  He’s made no secret of his disdain for those claiming to commune with spirits during their travels.

He shakes his head clear before he says something he’ll regret and simply asks, “So, what next?”

Surprise briefly flashes over Vaan’s face, but he otherwise gives no tell that he must have been anxious about Balthier’s reaction to the little trinket.  “Let’s head back to the camp,” he says, pocketing the ring for safekeeping.  “No sign of the Gil Snapper this way.”

The real mark they’re after is one that the nomads of the Giza Plains claim needs to be captured in a magic urn.  Ashe shocked them all on their return to Rabanastre when she insisted they offer their aid to these oft neglected citizens of Dalmasca.  But at a loss for how to find it, the party split up three-ways to search for clues.  The western side of the now boggy Giza Plains may not have led them to the Gil Snapper, but at least Vaan got what he came for.

Nodding in agreement, Balthier graciously offers to let Vaan lead the way, certainly not as a means to keep Vaan in sight at all times, lest the little sneak decide to rub some of that slime onto his cuffs.  Thankfully the downpour sloughs off the majority of the grime covering the thief.

Back at the nomad camp they find the others, along with Bansat from Clan Centurio.  The gods must have taken pity on Balthier at last, because the seeq just so happens to know exactly where their primary mark is located.  He glances to where Vaan was standing but a moment ago to share a look of relief, except the blonde has wandered off.  

It isn’t hard to find him though.  He’s back in the middle of the camp, staring at the ring he found with a look of serious concentration on his face.

Balthier decides to leave the young man to his ghosts and pumps their guest for information in the meantime.  “What else have you heard about this glorified tortoise?”

“Lots of rumors,” Bansat snorts.  “Got a thick shell, casts lots of ice magicks, oh, and high level disable!  Luckily I’m immune to that!”

“Disable?” he frowns.  They only have one black belt, and he’s currently wearing it.

A strategy forms, prioritizing distance.  Fran has her arrows, Penelo and Ashe have their spells, he has his guns.  That just leaves Vaan and Basch, who for some reason prefer getting up close and personal in a fight.

“Cast reflect on the three of us,” Basch suggests, pointing at himself, then Bansat and finally Vaan, off in the distance.  “With three of you casting thundara on us, the fight will finish in no time.”

“That does neatly take into account its disable spell,” he notes.  Still.  He doesn’t like Vaan being a sitting duck out there.  Fortunately, this plan left out a certain someone, who is going to slip his belt on his distracted blonde thief.

After all, Basch volunteered to be nothing more than a conduit for thundara, so he’s not like to take offense.

That settled, Balthier joins Vaan in the center of the nomad camp, “We’ll be heading out shortly.  Make sure you’re ready.”  The blonde is so startled by his voice, it’s almost child’s play to tie the belt around his hips while he obliviously yelps in surprise.

In almost no time at all, they find the Gil Snapper stomping about in the far south east corner of Giza.  Vaan has been brought up to speed on their plan by Penelo and mentally prepares himself to be rendered useless within moments of engaging the beast.  Balthier does not dissuade him of that possibility, in case anyone argues Basch wear the black belt instead should they learn Vaan now has it.

At first everything goes according to plan.  Reflect is cast, thundaras are crackling around the giant mark.  But then it casts disablega during a lull in the reflect coverage and Basch drops his sword before walking right up to Balthier.

“What are you doing here?!” he shouts just as the Gil Snapper recasts the spell, aiming at Basch again and managing to catch the sky pirate in its range as a bonus.

And isn’t that just perfect?

Balthier forgot how to use his hands.

His gun clatters to the ground and he sighs as he marches over to Vaan, who is still swinging his dagger with a look of impending doom on his face.  One of the ladies is yelling something at them, but Balthier can’t hear her over the storm and thundara magick.

“You know, it is covered in a thick, protective shell,” he points out, wincing in sympathy as Vaan’s dagger seems to be the one getting nicks from this tactic.  “Maybe try using a white fang instead.”

Vaan nearly slips in the mud.  “Balthier?!” he gapes at the sky pirate.  “Why did you come over here?  And where’s your gun?!”

He shrugs helplessly.  “Forgot how to work these,” he holds up his hands for emphasis.

Vaan’s jaw drops and the sound of reflect being cast on Balthier seems to herald an epiphany in the blonde.  He looks down at his waist and sees the black belt that was quickly tied over his red sash.

“You gave me your black belt!” he practically shrieks.  “When did you put this on me?!”

“Relax,” he says dryly.  “My goal was for you not to worry.”

“How can I relax?!  Now you’re the one just standing here!”

Basch chooses that exact moment to join them.  “I knew it.”

“Knew what?” Balthier asks at the same time Vaan shouts, “And where did YOU run off to?!”

“I suspected you put the black belt on Vaan when he didn’t get disabled.  So I went over to you to bait the Gil Snapper into casting it on you as well to confirm it.  Turns out my hunch was correct.”

“Congratulations,” Balthier deadpans.  Vaan, still shouting, asks, “Why does it matter?!”

Basch focuses on the sky pirate.  “You have feelings for him.  I noticed the attraction from the start, but lately it’s more than that; you’ve been protecting him.”

Vaan looks mortified but Balthier doesn’t waver.  “What’s it to you?  Are you suddenly his keeper?”

“He is young Balthier—“

“What exactly is the age of adulthood in Dalmasca?”

“Nineteen,” Basch says exactly as Vaan cuts in, “I’m emancipated.”

That gets both of their attentions.

The ladies are casting thundaras nonstop on them, as well as curses, the sky pirate suspects, but it’s not like he and Basch can do anything else at the moment.

“Truly?” Balthier asks intrigued.  

The blonde sighs in exasperation.  “I’m an orphan with a job and an apartment.  Of course I’m considered a legal adult.”

“But, surely Reks was your guardian?  Has no one taken up that duty in his place?” Basch asks, sounding close to pitying Vaan.

Now Vaan looks at the knight with pity.  “...I’m older than Reks now.  The second anniversary of his death was right before I met you all.”

Basch looks like he’s been punched in the gut.  Apparently he forgot how young Reks was when they met.  And that Vaan would someday grow older than him.

It’s a somber moment in stark contrast to the whoops of victory coming from the ladies after the Gil Snapper is sucked into the urn.

Basch bows his head and whispers, “Forgive me.  In my head, I know you are of an age with him...  But in my heart, I can only picture the ‘younger brother’ he said he fought for.”

Vaan also looks down and mumbles, “It’s all right.  It’s nice to have someone looking out for me again the way he did.”

“Are you three done being stupid?!” Penelo yells over to them, thoroughly killing the mood.  “Talk about your feelings later!  We have to give Nanau the urn!”

With the dark atmosphere dispelled, Balthier feels it only appropriate to say to Basch, “I’d say let’s let bygones be bygones and shake on it, but I still don’t remember how my hands work.”

Chapter Text

Vaan is seeing RED.

As he slashes another worgen with his Murasame blade in the here and now, he is mentally reliving that day when he is eleven years old and told: You have to stay away from your brother.

Now, the beast’s pack mates are circling him and try to dog pile on top of him in a joint effort to rip his throat out, but Vaan simply adjusts his stance and rams his blade directly down the throat of the alpha while bracing for impact from the rest.

You contracted the disease from your parents.  You can’t go near Reks.

Blood splatters all over the ground as he rips out his katana from the dead worgen to slash the remaining ones across their snapping jaws.  His new bracers shine red in the afternoon light.

The worgens yelp at the slices across their maws and decide to change their target to Fran and Penelo.  He wants to chase after, but the pair of Humbabas roaming the area have arrived and block his path to his friends.  

He has just turned twelve years old when he is told: I’m sorry, Vaan.  Your parents didn’t make it through the night.

The barehanded Humbaba pounds his fist together in anticipation of beating Vaan into a pulp, but today is not the day to try him.  He skewers the giant through the gut before abandoning the blade altogether and shoving him aside with a burst of strength unlike anything he’s ever felt before.

The remaining worgens are snapping at Fran and Penelo, who are already busy trying to fend off the fire elemental that started this whole mess.  It dances around them angrily, literally sizzling in fury as it readies another Fira spell at the silenced ladies.

When he’s thirteen, Penelo is like a broken thing in his arms, sobbing: Mama, papa...  My brothers!  They’re all DEAD!  He tries to console her that she has him and Reks but, I want THEM!

They have all been silenced.  Just before everything went to hell, Balthier had spotted the living fire around the bend and shouted, “Wait!” the same instant the THUNK of Penelo’s protect spell shielded Vaan.  

It did not like that.  One by one, the four of them became silenced as the pack of worgens picked up their scent and the wandering giants came to check on all the ruckus.

Vaan locked eyes with Balthier before putting on the new accessory they had just found tucked away in a corner of the Estersand.

At age fourteen, Reks says to him: I joined the army.  My training starts tomorrow, so...  I...  I’ll try to see you before the new year...

Balthier had cautioned him against ever using the shiny bracers when they found them, “It’s in the name.”  But Ashe and Basch have gone on ahead to secure supplies at the merchant camp, leaving Vaan as the only melee fighter present.  There’s too many fiends for him to tank by himself without a little extra oomph.

And now he kicks a worgen in the head with enough force to snap its neck.  A loud gunshot goes off behind him and a bullet embeds itself into the shoulder of another worgen about to jump at Fran.  It distracts the mutt for a moment, but it’s not enough to kill.  First Fran gets knocked to the ground, shortly followed by Penelo.  Her lips form the words “Oh, no...”

He’s fifteen when he gets the news: Reks is dead.  He’s there when they march the traitor Basch through the streets of the city before locking him up in Nalbina.  He burns the face of his brother’s murderer into his memory.

“NO!” he silently yells as he elbows the worgen that did her in away and checks for her pulse.  It’s weak but it’s there.

His eyes sweep the field and find Balthier with a knee on the ground.  He’s covered in cuts, breathing labored from all the smoke caused by the fire elemental.  He is trying to aim for something behind Vaan and the blonde whips his head around to find the flat of the Humbaba’s sword right before it swats him into the side of the rocky cliffside.

He’s sixteen when the Archadian elite start vacationing in occupied Rabanastre.  Right in the newly refurbished homes Vaan and Penelo grew up in, long before the Dalmascan citizens were forced to move into Lowtown.  He sees Kytes accidentally bump into a fat nobleman and get backhanded so hard, he spits out a wad of blood.  Vaan makes to go demand for an apology but Penelo grabs his shoulder: Don’t.  You’ll just make things worse.

He’s embedded in the rock face, but it barely even registers.  He pushes himself out and shakes his head free of debris.  Some blood is running down his forehead and into his eye, but he doesn’t care.

He charges the sword wielding Humbaba and tackles it before using his fist to try to crush its skull.

He’s seventeen when he sees that face again.  It’s scarred and haggard and locked in an iron cage.  It doesn’t stare back with guilt its eyes.  

Vaan can’t stand the sight of it.

The fire elemental finally dissipates with one last aqua shot from Balthier.  But Vaan can see he is unsteady from the injuries he suffered while trying to protect Fran and Penelo.  The remaining worgens are circling him and Vaan feels another rush of berserker strength as he leaps over and practically tears the remaining enemies apart.

But even when they’re dead.  Even when he’s won.  Vaan is still SEETHING.

Ever since he put on the Berserker Bracers, he feels like he is reliving his worst memories.  Especially when he saw Basch’s face in Nalbina.  Because what Vaan really saw that day is everything that’s ever gone wrong in his life.

And he just keeps reliving that moment over and over.

The field is finally free of enemies, but Vaan can’t stop silently growling through clenched teeth.  He wants to keep fighting to keep the edge off this rage.

His eyes land on the last breathing thing still (somewhat) standing: Balthier.

As Vaan steps in front of him, the sky pirate’s eyes widen in trepidation.  He must look quite the sight, covered from head to toe in blood and silently snarling.  He crouches down to be eye level with him and Balthier’s Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows.  Vaan locks eyes with him and gets closer.

Split lips silently utter, “Vaan.”

He can taste Balthier’s blood as he presses his mouth softly over his, gently pulling away with an audible little pop.  Those hazel-green eyes are so wide, they might just fall out of Balthier’s head.  

It’s unheard of to do anything besides attack relentlessly while one is berserk.

Vaan is struggling against that very impulse right now, but he would never hurt the sky pirate.  He has no other way of reassuring Balthier of that while they’re all silenced though.  Standing on shaky legs, he walks over to Fran and Penelo and grabs each of them by the waist with ease to carry them to the Babbling Vale.  He hears Balthier get up and slowly follow him, rummaging in his pouches for a potion most likely.

Later, when they’ve regrouped with Ashe and Basch, and the ladies are recovered and they’ve all been rid of silence, Balthier finds Vaan in a dark corner of the vale all by himself.  He’s curled into a tight ball with the berserker bracers on the ground besides him.  He pushes them towards the brunette without a word, but it speaks volumes to Balthier that Vaan would give away anything he’s called “dibs” on in such a manner.

He reaches for Vaan’s shoulder but a small, “Please,” makes him freeze.

“Just leave me alone,” Vaan whispers brokenly.

He’s torn on whether or not to ignore that request, but eventually pulls his hand back.  “I’ll be by the nearest shrine, if you change your mind.”

Grabbing the bracers, he walks away to give the younger man some space.  He wants to kick himself for letting Vaan hold onto the damned things after they found them in that coffer.  It’s so easy to believe that Vaan is a happy person, when he’s cracking jokes with Penelo or excitedly asking Basch for pointers with a blade or sharing a secret smile with Balthier.

But he’ll never forget that rabid look on the blonde’s face when they found Basch in that prison.  From what he can piece together, Vaan has more than enough reason to want to burn the world to the ground.

It’s a relief when he’s woken up in the middle of the night by Vaan worming his way into his arms and burying his face in the sky pirate’s chest.  Even if it also breaks his heart a little when Vaan keeps sniffling until he falls asleep.

Chapter Text

Beneath the canopy of the Salikawood, the main path calls to mind a whimsical tree house, as it’s just a series of wooden bridges spanning the branches overhanging the underlying swamp.  It’s definitely a change of scenery for the Lowtown Duo, who keep daring each other to lean further over the sides until one of them gives up (surprisingly, Vaan) while the rest of the party discuss locating the shortest route to the Phon Coast from the opposite end of the Path of Hours.

A traveling bangaa also takes a moment to rest, sitting himself closer to the blonde teens.  “You two with them?” he asks curiously, nodding his head to the dangerous looking sky pirates, can’t-blend-in-even-if-he-tried knight, and clearly-comes-from-money princess.

Falling back on a front he and Penelo have been workshopping, Vaan whispers conspiringly, “We’ve been keeping up with them to get past some tough-looking monsters.”  Penelo nods in agreement, “We’re off to make our fortune in the capital.  Send some money home to our folks.”

He nods at them, easily believing that their cover story makes more sense than that two Dalmascan teens are with the rest of that sketchy group.  “You two look like good kids.  But you don’t need to go all the way to Archades for good money.”

“Oh, really?” Penelo asks innocently.  Vaan smoothly positions himself just to the Bangaa’s left, in order to sucker punch him if it turns out he’s recognized someone in the group.  It would not be the first time someone has suggested the teens collect the bounty on one of their friends’ heads.

“Not if you can find the right loot!” he continues excitedly, surprising them.  “You look in the right places, you’ll find gear that’s barely been used and sells for top price!”

As an aspiring sky pirate, and career thief, Vaan’s always up for new rumors on treasure.  “Oh, yeah?  Know of any in this forest?”

The Bangaa doesn’t disappoint.  He describes a firearm designed to look like a fantastical gunblade.  It’s no Dusk Shard, but the bangaa opines that to the right buyer, such a gun could be worth close to seven thousand gil.

Vaan knows exactly who might like such a weapon and tries to get more details on its whereabouts, but unfortunately his new source has no more intel, having lost his own map.  “Sorry I can’t be of more help,” he tells them as he stands up and stretches.  “Other than that, heard about some Bone Mail hidden away.  But that gun catches my own fancy more, you know?”

Vaan agrees one hundred percent.  He waves goodbye as the bangaa continues heading south before looking at Penelo.

“Wanna help me?”

Roughly two hours later, Balthier is none too pleased to be accompanying Basch and Ashe back through the Diverging Way.  Penelo convinced everyone that splitting up would yield the fastest results in finding the route to the Phone Coast, which normally he would agree with, but she somehow managed to saddle him with his least two favorite party members!

Not to mention separate him from both Vaan and Fran.  Did he do something to offend the girl recently?  No, he’s been nothing but a perfect gentleman to her, he’s sure.

“Let us take the path leading north this time,” Basch suggests, reminding Balthier of the third annoyance with this leg of the trip.  While they did manage to find the way to the Phon Coast, there’s a broken gate requiring several worker moogles to repair it, who are lazing about, and now they’ve been charged with finding the little devils!

When he sees Nono again, Balthier is going to treat him to whatever he wants for dinner for a week to show how grateful he is for the fuzzball’s work ethic.

Ashe grumbles in assent at the same exact moment as Balthier, but he’s so frustrated he can’t even pretend to find amusement in Ashe’s own blatant displeasure with their current situation.

They enter the Quietened Trace, and sure enough there is a moogle wandering about, but he is not a member of the Craftsmoogle League.  He is, however, fretting about a pair of young humes and a statuesque viera who, against his advice, entered the Grand Bower to face the King Bomb.

“King Bomb?” Balthier echoes in concern.  The white moogle nods frantically just as a burst of flame erupts from the bridge connecting them to the bower.  He meets his companions’ eyes, all commiserating their ill fortune to have such reckless friends, before racing after them.

The bridge crossing the Grand Bower is far wider than he’s seen elsewhere in the forest, which probably explains why the fiend resides here.  Balthier blanches at the sight of Vaan facing off against a Bomb enemy nearly ten times the size of normal.  He doesn’t even want to think about the possibility of it self-destructing, and loads his Betelgeuse with aqua shots.

He takes aim and pulls the trigger just as Vaan spots him and shouts, “Wait!”  He’s confused for all of two seconds before he gasps in pain; it feels like he shot himself in the chest!  “Reflects damage?” he asks through gritted teeth.  Well, at least he knows to expect it now.  Vaan must be holding out thanks to the Ring of Renewal.

The fiery fiend notices the rest of the party and retreats to the opposite end of the bridge, all while blaring a cry like a siren which attracts a handful of minion sized bombs.  Vaan groans in annoyance, implying this is not the first time the King Bomb has summoned court.

The three smaller bombs angrily buzz around the party and the one focused on Vaan belches a bucket’s worth of oil all over the desert thief.  He stubbornly tries to make his way to the King Bomb anyway, only to slip and fall on his rear, causing the King’s face to (literally) light up with glee and ready a Fira spell at him.

“Ashe, summon Belias!” he shouts as he sprints to the very slippery, highly FLAMMABLE blonde and grabs him by the back of his vest.  He feels the friendly warmth of Ashe’s summon just as the enemies shift their gazes away from him and Vaan and he knows he’s bought them some time.

Even so, he drags Vaan back to the Quietened Trace  and starts wiping him clean of oil with one of his own personal handkerchiefs.  Let the others figure out how to beat that ticking time....  Well, bomb.

Vaan is not a fan of this strategy.  “H-Hey!” he protests, shoving Balthier’s handkerchief away from his face.  “What are you doing, we need to help the othe—“

“You realize that you’re liable to go up like a hume torch covered in all this lighter fluid, don’t you?” Balthier cuts in, grabbing Vaan’s chin to hold him still as he continues scrubbing oil off his face.  “With Belias on the field, it’ll attract the bombs’ attention and they won’t be capable of harming him.”

“Then why even drag us out here in the first place?!” he shouts, anger bleeding into his voice.  “If I won’t be targeted, I could still help—“

“You’re a fire hazard so long as you stay there, covered as you are in all this oil!” Balthier shouts right back.

Vaan starts glaring at him.  “A hazard to who?!  You just said Belias is going to be their target, so how can I be a haz—“

“You’re a hazard to ME!” he snaps.  “Why must you always insist on doing something idiotic—like fight a high-level monster you don’t have to?!  If that fiend so much as breathes on you, you’re going to combust!”  

Vaan looks stunned for a few beats before frowning at him.

“...That’s not the first time they dumped oil on me, you know.  We had it covered,” he says stiffly.

“Like hell you did.” Balthier snarls.  “Penelo can’t whisk oil off you with magick and Fran’s spells pale in comparison to Ashe’s.  You would’ve run out of handkerchiefs in no time with no sure way to victory.  And then what?!”

Vaan stares back at him in stony silence before finally pointing out, “You act like I’m a novice.”

And Balthier doesn’t know why he blurts out the first cutting remark that pops into his head, but without thinking he says, “Well, it’s not as tho you’d ever been beyond the desert before I met you.”

Vaan’s face turns red, but not in that charming little blush Balthier likes.  “I know how to fight, you don’t need to babysit me.”  He pulls out of Balthier’s reach and marches back into the bower without a second glance, oil still coating most of his body.  Balthier immediately regrets mocking him over something outside his control, but at the same time the brunette is still bristling over how Vaan never thinks before charging headfirst into a fight.

Not to mention his hands haven’t stopped shaking since he thought that combustible manic fiend was seconds away from burning Vaan into a pile of ash.

Vaan rejoins the group just as the King Bomb coughs out its last cloud of smoke and snuffs out.  He notes the others are safe before checking its burnt out core, only to be disappointed.

“No gun?” Penelo asks him quietly, seeing the look on his face.

Not trusting his voice to keep from breaking, he shakes his head and stands up, hoping the others will head out before him and give him a moment to collect himself.

He’s never argued with Balthier like that before.  Not even when they first met Basch and Balthier had to put Vaan in his place so they could focus on escaping.  He can’t believe Balthier would think him so little of him, even after all this time.

He clenches his fists.  And there’s still no sign of that stupid gun.  He just wanted to surprise his...  Boyfriend?  Lover?  He still doesn’t know how to define their relationship.  Whatever Balthier is to him, Vaan just wanted to give him something nice, but instead he found nothing and got his head bitten off for all his trouble!

He refuses to even consider that maybe (maybe) the sky pirate has a point.  That Vaan does have a tendency to disproportionately jump into high risk, low reward situations.  (After all, it’s not like anyone asked him to come on this politically driven adventure.)

But he’s not going to think about that now.  Not when the sting is still fresh and he can’t even reasonably get some time away from the cause.  Balthier is waiting for him up ahead, arms crossed, face marred by a frown.  

He growls in frustration under his breath, it’s like the older man didn’t even hear him say he doesn’t need a sitter!  Vaan stomps past him without a word.

What makes matters worse is that he never did find the Ras Algethi hidden inside the forest.

Chapter Text

As they make their way across the sandy shores of the Phon Coast, Balthier is hit by a wave of nostalgia.  A lifetime ago, a boy named Ffamran and his family went on holiday to these beaches.  Back when he had a father and before he knew the word “nethicite.”  

Perhaps that is why as Vaan continues to stew over their spat in the Salikawood from the day before, Balthier feels the need to warn the ever power-hungry princess against using the stones, lest she be consumed by the same lust for nethicite as Dr. Cid.  She looks conflicted after hearing his story, which he supposes is better than no reaction at all, but in all honesty he has very little faith in Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca being strong enough to destroy the stones as opposed to wielding them.

He sighs and lets his eyes drift over to the rest of their comrades and feels a small smile tug on his lips.  At least Vaan is having fun in the knee deep waves.

As the group meanders about the Hunters’ Camp, a group of taciturn bangaas catches their attention, but it’s a total bust, in Balthier’s opinion.  Vaan’s already a member of the Clan Centurio, surely he doesn’t need to also join—

“The Hunt Club!” Vaan explains excitedly to the party.  “There’s all these rare monsters scattered around Ivalice, and if you bring back proof that you killed one, they’ll let you buy some gear from their club!  Higher number of kills, higher level of gear!”

LET YOU buy from them?!  Balthier slaps a hand over his face and bites his lip, but can’t refrain from groaning in displeasure.  Sometimes he pines so hard for the days when he and Fran flitted to and fro each caper, without getting caught up in the affairs of others, it aches. 

“Vaan,” he says in his calmest tone of voice.  “There’s no need to go looking for rare beasts, when we already—“

“What sort of gear?” Basch asks curiously.

“Some pretty great weapons!” Vaan gushes.  

“Now, hold up.  Vaan, they’re not giving those weapons away—“ he tries to take back the reins of the conversation.

“Does that include crossbows?” Penelo chimes in.

“And what of bows?”

“Fran!” he looks at her, betrayed, as Vaan nods enthusiastically.  

“I just need to kill one nearby,” the teen explains.  “And if I bring back a trophy from it, I’m in!”

Soon everyone but Balthier is sending Vaan off with their blessings, forcing him to whip his hand out to grab the blonde’s bicep before he simply takes off.  Those steel blue eyes narrow at him apprehensively, fully expecting a continuation of their argument over this very penchant Vaan has to dive head first into unnecessary trouble.  But he knows how that approach will end, so instead he says, “I would like to help.”  

Even if it is through clenched teeth.

And that is how Vaan came to lead just the two of them to the highest point of the Vaddu Strand, overlooking the beach.

He’s still mad at the sky pirate.  Everyone else trusts him to be able to handle himself, yet Balthier—who has fought besides him the longest—does not.  Maybe that’s why he agreed to let Balthier tag along.  He’ll see that Vaan can hold his own and finally apologize for being all bent out of shape yesterday when Vaan fought the King Bomb—with Penelo and Fran, by the way!—and then things can get back to normal.

They sit in a tense silence on top of the cliff before sure enough, the giant blue Thalassinon emerges from the ocean.  “Wow, check it out!” he can’t help but exclaim, despite trying to avoid talking to Balthier unless absolutely necessary.  The brunette leans over his shoulder and hums in agreement before heading back down the path towards the beast.

As they work their way back down the narrow cliff trail, Balthier sighs and looks skyward before saying over his shoulder, “I’ve been pirating with Fran for five years now.”

Raising a quizzical eyebrow, Vaan simply says, “I know.”

Now the sky pirate stops walking and turns to face him head on.  “But do you know how I’ve survived that long?”

Vaan’s curiosity deflates as he realizes Balthier is probably just going to rehash their argument.  “You were trained in the military beforehand?” he ventures.  He feels some satisfaction from the shocked look on the older man’s face, confirming his theory (the man is regimental in his gun maintenance).  Balthier shakes his head after a moment.

“I ran from fights whenever possible.”

That brings him up short.  “What?  But...  You and Fran are sky pirates...”

Balthier sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.  “What do you think that entails?  If you recall, Fran and I barely had more technicks and spells than you did when we escaped through the sewers.”

Vaan...  Had forgotten that, actually.  He thinks back to their first meeting and while Balthier was as arrogant as ever, he barely came more prepared to steal the Goddess’s Magicite than Vaan.  “But, you’ve told me about some of your heists—“

Balthier snaps his fingers and points at him emphatically.  “Yes!  That word right there, heist.  Do you know what the goal of a heist is Vaan?”  He doesn’t even wait for Vaan’s head shaking in the negative before saying, “Escaping.  If you can’t get what you came for, you can always try again; but not if you’re dead.”

Vaan isn’t sure what his own face looks like right now, but he feels the weight of disappointment settle over him.  Balthier looks just as subdued and asks quietly, “What do you think I’ve been trying to show you all this time?  Stock up curative items, use safety mechanisms, try to cheat death, and avoid unnecessary encounters.  Does this sound like a man who volunteers to fight every fiend under the sun?”

Vaan feels his jaw hang open a bit as he thinks over their time together.  In hindsight... Balthier has taken a back seat to this adventure ever since he realized that Raithwall’s treasure was worthless to him.  He’s been spending most of the time cozying up to Vaan...

But this new perspective on the dashing man only fuels Vaan’s anger at him.  “Then why are you so convinced I can’t do anything without you?!  You don’t even want to do this hunt!”

Balthier looks taken aback by his spark of anger and brings his hands up placatingly.  “I don’t think you’re incapable of doing aught without me, I just—“

“Save it,” he bites out before walking past him.

Once on the beach, Vaan races ahead to get the jump on the titantoise, ignoring Balthier’s call to wait for him.  After using Libra he pulls out his Gladius dagger, banking on the extra wind damage to put a serious dent in the beast’s health.

Its slow, lumbering movements make it a simple target for Vaan.  It’s a wonder anyone would consider this thing a challenge.  A gunshot lets him know Balthier has caught up, and moments later he feels haste cast on himself.

He’d be madder still if he wasn’t enjoying their teamwork so much.

The Thalassinon casts some mid-level black magick on them, but with the Ring of Renewal, Vaan shrugs them off.  But, speaking of his ring...  Balthier made sure he had that.  And it’s what kept him afloat during the fight against the King Bomb, who reflected all damage dealt against it.

Vaan slowly starts to reconsider what got Balthier so upset yesterday.  Maybe... Vaan does just rush into a fight without serious prep—

A flash of light from the beast’s eyes catches Balthier by surprise, making him grunt.  Vaan continues to slice at its exposed legs, and soon enough it is put down.  Huffing in achievement, Vaan pries a piece of its shell off to bring back with them to the Hunt Club.  He whirls towards Balthier to show him but the sky pirate’s grimace gives him pause.

“What’s up?” he asks hesitantly.  He can only see the brunette’s profile on the right side, but Balthier looks at his own left shoulder in distaste.

“My mineral count,” he says dryly.

“Huh?” Vaan walks around to face him directly and drops the shell as he feels the ground fall out from under him.

Balthier’s entire left arm has turned to stone.

“W-Wha...  What happened?!” he cries out in a panic.

“It petrified me.  Vaan, listen,” he says quickly as his left side from shoulder to waist hardens and turns into grey stone.

Vaan’s close to hyperventilating.  Balthier is turning into stone.  He starts digging through his pockets but he doesn’t have any gold needles!  He’s a melee fighter!  His worth is in how he can dish out as much damage as he takes, so he can’t stop fighting long enough to apply items on anyone without getting seriously injured, so why weigh himself down unnecessarily?

Why did he ever think that was a good idea?!

“Run back and get Penelo or a gold needle; I won’t be able to drink a remedy.  Try not to take too long, please,” Balthier says voice turning scratchy as the stone climbs up his throat.  “I’d like to keep all my limbs, thank you,” he jokes except it’s NOT A JOKE!  If any monster wanders over and topples him, Balthier’s HEAD might snap off!

An errant thought pops up during Vaan’s freak out: is this how Balthier feels whenever Vaan gets into a fix?

He’ll have to chew on that later.  For now, he nods at Balthier (repeating, “Okay, okay,” like it’s a nervous tick) before racing back to the Hunter’s Camp, trying to draw as many monsters away from the beach as he can.

Please, please, please, he begs every deity he can think of, don’t let anything crash into Balthier!

Later that evening, a fully cured Balthier (fingers and toes all accounted for) sits besides Vaan at one of the camp fires where it’s just the two of them.  Gently placing his hand over the blonde’s, he absentmindedly rubs his thumb over the Ring of Renewal before looking over at the thief.  Those steel blue eyes are a bit puffy, and the sky pirate is fairly certain Vaan’s been hiding from him since they got back to camp for that very reason.

“I must confess,” he says softly.  “I have an awful habit of using sarcasm when the mood gets too tense.”

Vaan arches an eyebrow at him and waits a beat before asking, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m trying to apologize for yesterday.”

Vaan huffs out a small laugh unexpectedly, “You suck at this.”

Balthier tangles up their fingers.  “Forgive me anyway.”

Vaan is trying to hold back a grin.  “You’re supposed to ask me to.”

The corner of his mouth turns up, “Fine.  If you’re such an expert on the subject, then by all means, show me how one should apologize.”

And Vaan must see what he’s doing, the blonde’s eyes widen for an instant in comprehension.  After thinking it over for a moment, he nods.  “I’m sorry if I worried you.  I’ll be more careful, but...  You need to realize I’m not that same kid you found in the palace.”

“Oh, good.  He kept running away from me,” he says, not at all surprised by the shoulder bump Vaan gives him in retaliation.  He lets go of Vaan’s hand in favor of wrapping his arm around his waist and pulling him close.  When Vaan relaxes against him, he lets out a quiet sigh of relief and leans his cheek against the blonde.  

“I’m sorry I lost my head yesterday,”  Balthier whispers, not realizing Vaan was panicking over that very real possibility just a couple of hours ago.  When the blonde stiffens against him momentarily, he misinterprets why and quickly explains, “You were covered in oil, and the largest Bomb in existence was about to light you on fire.  It’s no excuse, but I was afraid you were about to be no more than a scorch mark.”

Vaan pulls back to look him in the eye.  “What about that other thing you said?  About how I never left the desert before?”

“I shouldn’t have said that,” he says instantly.  “I reiterate, it’s a bad habit.  Besides...”  He presses his lips against Vaan’s ear, “I like that I get to be the one to show you Ivalice.”

Those cheeks always blush so pretty.

“Forgive me?” he asks.

“Well...” the blonde tries to keep him in suspense, except he’s already grabbing Balthier’s hand again.  “Okay.  Since you *did* ask this time,” he smiles up at him before leaning into his side again.

Chapter Text

Vaan is facing off against a tyrant-wyrm so saturated in mist, it hurts him just to look at it.  He rushes in to keep its attention off Penelo as she tries to heal up some of the others (those crushing fangs are no joke).  For such a large monster, it sure moves lightning fast and whips around to tail slap Vaan so hard he—

He pulls Ashe by the hand through a specific set of pillars in the stone shrine leading due south, out of the Ice Fields.  Needless to say, she’s offended by his familiarity with her person and the princess tries to rip her hand out of his grip, “Vaan, what are you doing?”  He heaves an internal sigh.  He’s trying to get them all—

All eyes are on Fran as she stares at the glyph on the floor of this strange stone structure they’ve come across.  Nothing else about the gazebo-like ruin catches their interest, but the entire construct appears to be the only thing they can see for miles around, thanks to the heavy mist in this area of the Feywood.  Otherwise, there’s just an endless field of white.

“Does it mean anything?” Basch asks the viera, their de facto historian.

“T’would be my guess.  Tho I have no way of knowing what,” she answers as she walks around the inner perimeter of the circular floor, trying to inspect the floral patterned glyph from every angle.

“...No hidden text?” Vaan asks while keeping his eyes—

Eyes scanning between the pillars of the fourth shrine they’ve encountered, Vaan ducks around Balthier’s arm as the sky pirate tries to grab his shoulder.  “What are you looking for?” the older man whispers so the others don’t hear.  “You keep spinning around whenever we get to one of these ruins.  I’m starting to get dizzy.”

Vaan ignores him as he tries to find the right exit quickly before the others wander out the wrong way and, yes!  That one.

Penelo, by some small act of mercy, just so happens to be standing in front of the correct exit and he catches her eye before jerking his chin behind her.  She glances over her shoulder before looking back at him and nodding.  She calls Fran over to draw her into a conversation and leads the viera out of the shrine through the exit Vaan indicated.  Ashe and Basch, deep in their own discussion, follow them like a pair of sheep.

Balthier watches the entire exchange between the two blonde teens with a calculating look.  He tries to lock eyes with Vaan as the two of them start walking after the others.  “You know you can tell me what’s going on, don’t you?”

He knows that.  He really does.  But—

But everything looks the same even after he walks through the illusion of a sunlit path full of tropical trees.  There’s still only an endless white field (he can’t believe it’s snow, it’s as warm here as where they fought the Rafflesia)!  He snaps his head back to the shrine.

What was it trying to tell him?!

He’s growling in frustration until he sees Balthier walking over, curiousity peaked, and, of course!  The guy’s a walking dictionary of “esoteric” words (something else the sky pirate taught him recently)!  He runs up to the taller man and tugs his hand for emphasis.  

“Hey, what does ‘betokens’ mean?” 

He can’t possibly have been expecting Vaan to pop a vocabulary question, but without missing a beat Balthier says, “Points to something.”

Vaan covers the lower half of his face with his hand as he attempts to think.  Okay...  So, “Illusion ‘points to’ the true way...” he mutters to himself, too low for Balthier to make out.  

The brunette tips his head to the side, puzzled.  “What are you going on—“

On the way to the sixth shrine, they all hear a roar followed by the heavy footsteps of something big.  Fran’s nose twitches as her head snaps to their right.  “Something festering with mist is approaching,” she warns them.

This isn’t good.  They can’t see more than a few feet through the mist as it is.  If Vaan gets turned around, he’s not sure he’ll remember which way they were going.  He looks straight ahead as long he dares, trying to find something—anything—that can be a guidepost after—

After Ashe has finished scolding him for grabbing her without permission, Vaan urgently whispers to Penelo, “Could you do that thing, where you just have someone eating out of the palm of your hand?”

“Huh?”

The others have caught up to them and he never, ever, does this around them because it’s rude, but in the off-shoot Dalmascan dialect he and Penelo use whenever imperials are nearby, he rapidly continues, “I can see the way we need to go, but no one else is gonna believe me!  Can you just convince someone to leave the next shrine with you?  I’ll signal which way to go.”

Understanding dawns on her face—he admittedly has been acting weird since they found the first shrine—and she whispers back in Dalmascan, “So just wait for you to tell me which way, and pull someone along?”  He nods, “I think everyone else will just follow after.  You got all of them wrapped around your little finger.”

She blushes, “What!  No, I don’t!”  Aiming for his shoulder, she playfully slap—

SLAP!

Rubbing his stinging cheek, Vaan glares at sky pirate.  “The HELL?!  Balthie—“

Those hazel-green eyes light up at the sound of his own name and Balthier immediately tilts Vaan’s face up to kiss him deep.  Still miffed, Vaan uses a bit of teeth, but lets Balthier pull him close and lean him back a touch to take full advantage of their height difference.  

He sighs happily into the sky pirate’s mouth despite himself.  Balthier has this way of kissing him that makes Vaan feel both treasured and debauched at once, like Balthier is trying to stop himself from devouring him.  And always, always, the sky pirate just can’t seem to help himself from turning Vaan into a trembling mess in his arms.  He’ll break his mouth off the thief’s to lightly press his lips or tongue against Vaan’s jawline, working his way to the blonde’s ear to breathe something that makes Vaan whimper.

Today is no exception with the promises of what he wants to do to Vaan later tonight, once the others have fallen asleep.

When he catches his breath again, Vaan pulls back and frowns, “Why’d you hit m—  Your FACE!”

It looks like Balthier got punched in his left cheek!  That welt is huge!  Vaan cups the taller man’s chin to slowly turn his head and see it from a better angle.  “What happened?” he says softly.  Someone needs to cure him soon, or it’s going to still be bruised tomorrow.

Balthier side-eyes him as Vaan inspects his cheek.  “Just the thanks I get for chasing after you and making sure you’re all right.”

“What?” he blinks.  And that’s when he starts noticing.  The mark is just the right size... Not to mention worse where certain metal finger guards would be, if in fact...  Balthier was struck by...

The blood drains from his face.  “Balthier, did I punch you?”  He can’t believe it.

The sky pirate’s eyes soften.  “Say it again?”

Vaan swallows.  “Did I p—“

“Not that,” he cuts in.  “Say my name again, please?”  The request takes the blonde aback, but he grants it all the same.  

“Balthier,” he says gently.

The sky pirate shakes his face free of Vaan’s grip before squeezing him tight, resting his chin on top of Vaan’s head.  “I was getting worried.  I couldn’t find you for over half an hour.”

“Huh?”  While it’s true that Vaan is always a little distracted when Balthier holds him like this, he’s not sure he’d follow that statement even if they were standing a foot apart.

“That tyrant fiend confused you, and you fled from the fight,” he explains, leaning back to look the thief in the eye.  “Doubtless you have some short term memory issues now.  But I’ve heard rumors that the longer one remains under its effect, the bigger the gaps in memory...”  He trails off but Vaan thinks he gets it.

“I remember who you are,” he assures him.

“That’s not what you said five minutes ago.”  Balthier says it sarcastically, but his eyes dart away and Vaan realizes the older man must have been hurt by whatever Vaan said under confusion.

“Well...  Let’s worry about that later.  We still need to figure out where to start looking for Giruvegan, so we can track down your father,” Vaan tries to distract him.

It might have worked too well though, Balthier looks shellshocked.  “How did you know that he’s my— You know what.  Never mind.  I’m sure I’d only be mortified to learn how you figured out his relation to me.”  He shakes his head clear before frowning.  “More to the point, we’re already on our way to Giruvegan...  You’re missing a few days.”

Days?!

He scans their surroundings and realizes he has no idea what he’s looking at it.  It’s like they’re in a never ending field of white!

“Where are we?” he asks, swiveling his head this way and that in case anything changes.

“Deep in the Feywood.”  The brunette unwraps his arms from the thief in order to start pulling him by the hand in a random direction (to Vaan at least), grumbling, “Let’s hope that shrine you were in the middle of leading us to is the last one, otherwise I’m afraid we’re going to be quite lost for the foreseeable future.”

“Wait, I was leading everyone?” he racks his brain trying to sort out the jumbled memories he thinks are real.  Is that what he was doing in them?  Trying to find the way to Giruvegan?

“I can’t know for certain.”  Is Balthier sulking?  “You refused to tell me.  Even when I caught on that you were able to see something that seemed to point you in the right way.”

Oh right.

Like the words flick on a light switch in his head, Vaan does remember a few things from earlier today.  Balthier was definitely trying to let him know he could trust him.  And he was disappointed that Vaan was keeping a tight lid on what he pieced together about the shrines sprinkled throughout this edge of the Feywood.

Well.  No one else is around now, so Vaan doesn’t mind sharing this with Balthier.

“...’In this sanctum,’” he recites slowly, trying to remember the exact phrasing.  “‘Shall the pilgrim find truth and illusion both. Illusion betokens the true way.’”

Balthier freezes when he hears “betokens” and looks back at Vaan, the corner of his mouth turning up.  “Where’d you hear that?”  He asks, but Vaan suspects Balthier might already know his secret.

Penelo really roots for them, after all.

Shrugging like it’s no big deal, Vaan says, “When I touched the glyph...”  He blinks and looks back at Balthier.  “At least, I probably did?  The stuff I do remember from today is...  All out of order.  And a lot is missing, like you said.”

The sky pirate huffs out a small laugh before continuing to lead Vaan (he’s guessing) back to the others.  “So you were looking for an ‘illusion’ in all those shrines we came upon.”  It’s not a question, but Vaan confirms anyway.

After a few more steps, Balthier sighs.  “I hope no one moved my Spica.”  And now that Vaan thinks about it, “Where is your gun?”

“Something had to point which way we were going before I ran after you, in order to avoid us all from getting hopelessly lost,” he says bitterly.  “And there’s no trees around here to carve arrows into the bark.”

It takes Vaan a second to catch his meaning but when he does, “You left it on the ground?!  Couldn’t you have gotten the same result by just shooting the dirt?!”

Without looking back, Balthier picks up the pace, “Let’s just hurry back, shall we?  Before that dinosaur steps on it...”

When they do regroup with the others (and Fran has used cure on Balthier’s face with an amused twinkle in her eye), the Giruveganus is finally out of its misery.  In plain view, the Spica lies on the ground nearby with its barrel pointing south west.  

When they enter the sixth shrine, Vaan doesn’t even have to tell Balthier or Penelo that he sees the last illusion, because Ashe already spies the actual gate to the ancient city that seems to materialize out of thin air.  Just as well, since she carries Belias and his giant staff turns out to be the key to unlock the way.

Balthier stops the blonde before he can race after the others into the city.  “What was it that you were seeing, by the way?”

And that makes Vaan hesitate.  Because what they’re seeing through the gate right now is a very elaborate and ancient set of architecture with not a plant in sight.  Which is sort of the opposite of the warm, tropical, sunlit path Vaan saw.

“...I think it was somewhere I’d like to go again,” he hedges and walks past the brunette.  But that only intrigues Balthier who insists Vaan tell all until finally Vaan admits, “I think it was the Phon Coast.”  

And he’d really like to go back someday with just the sky pirate when this is all over.

Chapter Text

It starts with a cough.

One minute, he’s chatting with Balthier and Penelo about how crazy it is for Giruvegan to be just a bottomless pit, and the next, he’s feeling a tickle in the back of his throat and coughs lightly into his fist.  “Just dust,” he figures.  Not like anyone’s been here in a few hundred years, let alone a cleaning crew.

Penelo offers him a water skin to clear his throat which he accepts gratefully.  It must have been some piece of dust, because it’s starting to feel like his throat got really scratched up trying to dislodge it.  He bumps a fist against his chest after he’s done, hoping to shake loose anything else that might irritate him.

A few minutes later, Balthier lets them know that their route is turning out to be just a dead end, but the three agree to check for treasure or switches before turning around.  The entire party split into two groups when they came to a fork in the road, and once again Balthier is accompanying the Lowtown Duo, much to his own amusement.  Vaan is also enjoying spending time with both his leading man and best friend, always happy to see the two of them getting along.

Even if it’s at his own expense.

“You should’ve seen his face when he opened that coin purse and just found a note, addressed to him!  It said, ‘You’ll have to do better than that, Vaan, my boy!’” Penelo recounts, in the worst impression of Old Dalan’s accent Vaan has ever heard.  “And then!  And then, his pants FELL DOWN—he didn’t even notice Dalan took his belt while he completely failed at stealing from him!”  She’s laughing so hard, tears are sparkling in the corner of her eyes.

A stifled noise catches his attention and Vaan is shocked to find the sky pirate covering his mouth in an attempt to keep from laughing uproariously.  He hasn’t seen Balthier do more than offer a light chuckle when something amuses him.  Ever.  But now he’s just about falling to pieces at Penelo’s anecdote about fourteen year old Vaan’s first attempt at pickpocketing.

Honestly, it wasn’t that funny.

“Is that why you wear this contraption?” the sky pirate squeezes out in between breaths, touching the series of buckles and leather straps crisscrossed over the red sash tied around his waist.  

“N-No,” he stammers, feeling his face turn red as the sash itself.

That’s when Balthier loses it entirely and bends over laughing, holding onto his sides so tight his knuckles turn white.  Penelo is in a heap on the ground, but he’s used to seeing her in that state when she retells this story.

“It’s not that fu—“ he gets out before he’s racked by a coughing fit.  This time, it leaves him wheezing and he squats down until he can catch his breath.  His eyes are watering from the force of it and he misses the look that passes between his two companions.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Penelo says as she gets at his eye level and looks him over.

“It doesn’t feel good,” he admits, wincing a bit at how rough his throat feels.

“I’m not surprised you’ve come down with a chest cold, after running around the Ice Fields dressed like that,” Balthier comments while holding out a hand to help pull Vaan up from the ground.  The blonde clears his throat and shakes his head.  “That snow wasn’t real,” he insists.  It wasn’t cold at all in the deeper parts of the Feywood, despite appearing like an endless field of white.  

Balthier looks at him a bit skeptically but drops it.  They have a pair of behemoths to take down, and even though he tries to stay out of their reach, Vaan is the only melee fighter present and easily gets caught in their pincer attack.  Claws rake across his back while he faces off against the one wielding a sword, but he strangely doesn’t feel better even as Penelo’s curaga spell mends his skin together again.  Still, the giants are no match for the three of them and Vaan systematically pockets some gemini gems from their corpses once it’s over.

They take a look around the end of the path and while there isn’t a switch, there is a floating coffer containing a hi-ether (Penelo lets out a, “Yes!” and hops up and down in a way Vaan still finds cute, if only because it reminds him of when they were ten).  And with that, there’s nothing left to do but turn around and regroup with the others.  

“Can you see them from here?” Vaan wonders while squinting up at the path their three friends took.  Man...  It looks farther away than when they were up at the fork in the road looking down.

“No worries, we’ll catch up,” Balthier assures him as he leads the way.  Penelo nods and follows, but Vaan has to pause because he sneezes so suddenly, it rattles his head.  “Ew,” he grumbles at the sight of mucus dribbling from his nose and digs through his pockets for a spare handkerchief.  As he steps up to the others, he just hears the end of Penelo quietly telling Balthier, “...never gets sick.”

“I get sick,” he corrects her.  He sniffs loudly and swallows despite it feeling like a thousand needles went down his throat.  “I just haven’t since...  Um...”. He holds his chin and thinks for a minute before asking her, “When did Migelo catch us stealing candy in the storeroom the first time?”

“We were eleven,” she says, glaring at him.  “And you’re talking about the plague!  You haven’t been sick since!”

Balthier looks alarmed at this piece of information but Vaan waves both of their concerns away.  “I’m sure I’ve had a cold since then.”

Penelo adamantly shakes her head but says nothing as she continues walking along.  Balthier looks back and forth between them before taking Vaan’s hand in his.  “You’ll let us know if you need to rest, won’t you?  This isn’t the best place to develop pneumonia.”  Although he doubts there’s any chance of that, he nods and squeezes the older man’s hand reassuringly as they follow Penelo.

Thankfully, there’s barely any enemies left as they walk the path already cleared by Fran, Ashe and Basch.  Still, the odd gargoyle baron or two floats around and eagerly gnaws on Vaan before he can stab them with his platinum dagger.  Again he feels Penelo’s cure spells wash over him, and yet...

Another coughing fit hits him, but luckily Balthier finishes the last one off with a shot from his Spica before the little fiend can take advantage of it.  He asks if Vaan’s all right but the blonde is paralyzed by an iron taste in his mouth.  Slowly taking his hand away from his face, Vaan sees bright red flecks of blood on his palm and only just rubs it against his pants before the others come up to him and see it.

“You’re looking really pale,” Penelo frets.  

“Use esuna,” Balthier instructs her.  “Maybe some lingering side effect of that ancestral marlboro’s putrid breath is causing this.”  He’s talking about the group of Vivians that spewed green gas, so vile, Vaan and Basch felt like they suffered from every ailment under the sun and the thief wished for death, it was so foul.  Naturally, esuna and remedies were used, but that was almost an hour ago, right before they split up.

The blonde girl nods and quickly casts away, but Vaan feels no change and shakes his head.  “Let’s just find the others,” he says even though it aches to talk.  He tries not to look them in the eye, because if he did, either one of them would know just how terrified he is.

Now that he thinks about it, how  did the city of Giruvegan end?  Was there some illness, like the plague that swept through Rabanastre five years ago?  Could he have caught it, even after the city laid buried all this time?  Fran would probably know.  He wants to find the viera and ask her, preferably in private.

Another pair of behemoths stumble across their path, much to Vaan’s chagrin, and even though he tries to block as much as he can with his crystal shield, one still manages to clock him over the head and—

He face plants on the floor, much like he did when that seeq gang member sucker punched him an age ago in the Nalbina prison.  Balthier is already using a phoenix down to snap him out of it, but...

Something’s not right.

Before he can stand up, Vaan gets kicked in the back and he’s down for the count again.

Another phoenix down does its thing, but he feels as weak as a newborn Giza rabbit!  He has enough time to shout, “Something’s wron—!” before he’s knocked out, again, by a single hit.

This time Penelo uses raise and curaga as fast as she can but nothing for it.  He coughs up blood right on the floor and Balthier is instructing her to drag Vaan back, only for both blondes to get smacked to the ground.

Vision growing dim, Vaan sees the summoning circle for Zeromus appear underneath Balthier before he passes out yet again.

When he wakes up this time, his head is cushioned in the sky pirate’s lap and Balthier is wiping blood off his chin with a handkerchief.  “The good news is, I believe I know what’s wrong with you,” he says in a soothing manner.

“Bad news first,” he croaks, blood dripping out the corner of his mouth.  Balthier “tsks” before wiping that away too.  “The bad news, is that I used up all our phoenix downs on you, and Penelo’s still out cold,” he says apologetically.

He turns his head and finds his friend laid out on the ground next to them, a bruise on her cheek but otherwise no major damage.  She actually looks rather peaceful.  He glances back up at those hazel-green eyes.

“You forgot to keep count,” he accuses him.

“Vaan, please,” the sky pirate huffs.  “I’m a bit worn out from summoning that oversized crab.  I can’t be expected to have our entire inventory memorized while ensuring the survival of you and your surrogate sister.”

Vaan takes the hint and sheepishly says, “Thank you, Balthier.”  He gets an affectionate head rub for his manners and rolls his eyes.  “Good news,” he reminds him.

“Oh, yes, your malady.  I believe that revolting plant transmitted a disease to you.  The princess’s captain too, no doubt.”

Vaan’s lungs choose that exact moment to cough up what feels like half a cup of blood and  he jerks up to expel it away from the sky pirate’s knee.  “Is there a cure?” he asks once it’s over, feeling panic start to set in.

Balthier arches an eyebrow at him before comprehending his meaning.  “Oh, it’s not like what you’re thinking, don’t worry.  This is strictly magickal in nature.”

Relief washes through him, wiping away all the tension in his body.  “How do we treat it?” he asks sitting face to face with the older man, only for Balthier to hold up the biggest syringe Vaan has ever seen with amber colored liquid inside and he’s rigid all over again.

“Right now, I’m afraid, our only option is entirely all too medical.  I’ll have to inject you with this serum.”  

Vaan eyes the needle with no small amount of trepidation.  “A serum of what?”

Eyes sparking with pleasure at Vaan’s question, happy as always to share his worldly knowledge with the thief, Balthier explains, “Well, as it turns out, a certain line of seeq are immune from the magickally induced disease, which almost certainly stems from the matriarch Vivian, and after taking their blood samples and distilling—“

“Enough,” Vaan says weakly between coughs.  “Seeq’s blood, got it.”

The brunette pouts, “That’s an overly simplistic—and highly inaccurate—description, but I see your point.  Just hold still and...”

“OW!” he yelps at the top of his lungs.

Balthier sighs, “You just got knocked out no less than four times by those giant meatheads, and I didn’t hear you make a single peep.  Meanwhile, I give you a little prick on your arm and now you’re crying bloody murder?”

Vaan glares at him while rubbing his arm at the injection spot, but doesn’t give him the satisfaction of rising to the bait.  Instead he asks, “How long till it starts working?”

“A few minutes.  Let me see your Ring of Renewal,” Balthier says and pulls Vaan’s hand closer to remove his finger guards and inspect the accessory.  Within moments it springs to life, slowly refreshing the blonde and that’s when Vaan realizes it hasn’t been doing anything since those Vivians breathed all over him and Basch.  “Looks like it started kicking in already.  Let’s get some hi-potions in you,” Balthier says once he’s satisfied Vaan’s health is climbing again.

As he gulps down the bitter tasting liquid, something that’s been bothering him suddenly springs to mind and he blurts out, “Why did you tell Reddas you don’t have an apprentice?”

“Hmm?” those hazel-green eyes blink at him curiously.  “Eavesdropping were you?  I thought you didn’t even remember our visit to Balfonheim.”

“That was in Balfonheim?!” Vaan gushes, revealing he does not yet remember much of what he lost from his bout of confusion the day before.  But quickly shaking his head free of distraction, he asks point blank, “You don’t think of me as your apprentice?”

The sky pirate’s eye widen in shock.  “What?  Vaan, some people might be into that type of power dynamic in their intimate relationships, but I can assure you that after years of private schooling with ancient toadies for tutors, I am not interested in being the teacher to your pupil.”

He feels his cheeks light up.  “Oh, so...  It’s because we’re...  Like that?” he asks hopefully.  “Not because you don’t think I’d be good at it?”

“‘Like THAT?’” Balthier echoes, looking torn between amusement and second-hand embarrassment.  “You mean paramours?”

Vaan groans while covering his face, “I am not calling us that!  Stop dodging the question, already.”

“Would you rather be my canary?” Balthier teases and leans back just in time to avoid Vaan’s swing at him.  “All right, all right.  Look,” he says all joking aside.  “I said I don’t have an apprentice because I don’t have one.  For that matter, you don’t need a master.”

Wait.  He doesn’t?

“You could head out tomorrow on your own adventure and do fine,” he says sincerely.  “Though I’d prefer to accompany you.”

Vaan tries to think of the last time anyone has had that much confidence in him, but only Reks’s face comes to mind.  It’s a bittersweet feeling, and he nods in acceptance of this explanation.

“Still...” Balthier mumbles to himself before curiously trailing off.

“Yeah?” he prompts.

“Nothing.  Look, here comes Fran right on time,” he jerks his chin down the path and sure enough Vaan spies white viera ears coming closer.  “Probably come to check on us after a similar episode with Basch.”  The sky pirate waves at his partner in crime and she gives him a displeased look once she spots Penelo’s unconscious body besides him.

Vaan thinks over Balthier’s words and wonders for the first time what exactly he’ll do once this whole adventure is finished.  Balthier hasn’t asked him to team up with him and Fran (not that the lack of an invitation has stopped him before).  But he doesn’t think he can simply go back to the monotony of his life before meeting them either.

Maybe he could just go adventuring on his own.

Chapter Text

Balthier is going to teach Vaan how to fly the Strahl.

He’s been toying with the idea since Vaan asked why he didn’t consider the thief his apprentice.  He still doesn’t think of him as such—what he feels for Vaan can’t be squeezed into the confines of a professional relationship—but the question led him down a dark rabbit hole about his own legacy.  Starting with who, exactly, would he leave his lovely airship to when his pirating days must (inevitably) come to an end?  Which of course reminded him of his own mortality.  And then given the risk posed by their mission, that might now come about sooner than he typically calculates.  And on that note, if it happened, say, tomorrow, then...  

Then who would be left to pilot the Strahl?

And that’s the moment Vaan chose to lean over his shoulder all excited to point at the approaching Pharos, which appeared to be nothing more than a superfluous lighthouse, sitting precariously at the edge of a giant hole in the ocean deep in the Jagd.

Completely inaccessible by anything but the Strahl and its new one-of-a-kind skystone.

The whole airship buckled as he flinched at the controls with the sudden realization that if something should happen to him—it need not even be as permanent as death, a mere concussion would do the trick—they would all be trapped in this place.  And then a completely ludicrous thought popped into his head, considering how inhospitable the raging vortex swirling around the speck of land is anyway.

Does Vaan know how to swim?

It tips the scales and once the party (joined by Reddas today) have disembarked, he tells his thief immediately of his decision.

Except Vaan doesn’t seem as happy as Balthier would have suspected, based on the younger man’s aspirations to become a sky pirate himself.  He keeps surreptitiously looking at Balthier (even though the brunette keeps catching him in the act), jumping protectively in front of him the moment the party spies a Deathclaw or Cassie (even when they’re more than six meters away), and pulling him insistently this way and that in the remains of the colosseum to avoid traps (even though Penelo and Balthier himself alternate casting float on everyone).

“Vaan, please,” he says as he wrenches his arm free after a particularly aggressive tug from the blonde as they near the entrance to the area curiously named They Who Thirst Not.

There’s clearly something on the blonde’s mind.  He’s looking down at their feet, chewing his lip as he mulls over whatever it is he’s about to say.  But just as he looks up and opens his mouth, the rumbling that signals a gate closing behind all of them grabs Balthier’s full attention at the exact same instant that the smell hits him.

He grimaces as he looks towards the door to the Pharos and sees the rotting husk of a winged wyrm.  Which starts twitching.  And standing up...

“I really shouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore, should I?” he thinks out loud.

“I don’t know,” Reddas says amicably.  “I find it surprising.”

“‘Tis the fifth wyrm we’ve faced,” Fran informs the pirate king.  “I’ve lost count of how many undead have risen against us.”

Reddas laughs at Balthier.  “Then I’m afraid you have no excuse,” he says before running to confront the undead fiend head on.

Balthier shrugs as the rest of the party follow their bold guest before taking his time to join the fray.  Vaan may have some peculiar inclination to stick to him like glue today, but he is trying to respect his thief’s feelings and not be his second shadow during a fight.  Besides, at this point, even Balthier can admit that with Vaan’s level of experience, keeping that close to him is more of a hinderance than a help to the blonde these days.

The fact that it lets Balthier stay as far away from that awful stench as he can is just a bonus.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the best course of action here involves white magic anyway.  Balthier opts to keep his distance and prioritize casting haste on Penelo and Ashe, firing only the occasional round from his Spica.  

Vaan and Basch, meanwhile, are joined by Reddas in their terrible life choices as all three of them try to whittle away the...  ahem, life...  of the decaying fiend with their respective blades.  That goes about as well as one might imagine, and as if on cue, it casts bio on the lot of them.

“Esuna, if you please!” Reddas calls out, like he is ordering a round at the pub.  Balthier realizes the man is actually enjoying this trip with them, and he isn’t sure how to feel about that.  Vaan is probably thrilled.

Penelo and Ashe take turns ridding the group of sap.  Only for the monster to start placing a curse on the melee fighters and each of them begins coughing.

“We’re sick,” Basch announces. Ashe sighs and pauses her casting on the fiend to prepare cleanse for each of the afflicted party members instead.

Next up is poison.  (Penelo is glaring at the three of them for interrupting her concentration when they could have simply asked someone else for an antidote.  Of which, between the seven of them, they have nearly a hundred).

Followed by doom.  (It goes without saying that for the sake of his own sanity, Balthier demonstrated to Vaan the proper way to administer a remedy to clear that right up ages ago.  It’s just a simple matter of passing a bottle over to him).

And then the monster seems to pick up on who the real threats are and leaps across the platform to shriek right in Penelo and Ashe’s faces, breaking both of their spells and leaving them shaken.

“Do you need any ethers?” Fran calls out as she shoots an arrow into one of the fiend’s empty eye socket.  The ladies nod and Balthier surmises that means it somehow lowered their magick reserves.

Vaan then attempts to race over to help but comically can’t seem to move his legs out of his favored fighting stance.  “Huh?” he looks down at himself, trying to ascertain the cause.  “Um...  Hey, guys?  I’m stuck?”

“Are you poisoned?” Penelo shouts out as she takes an ether from Fran.

“No.”

“Sapped?  Doomed?  Diseased?,” she asks in quick succession.  “Close to dying in any way?”  He shakes his head “no,” oblivious to where this line of questioning is predictably leading.

“Then you know what, just sit tight over there.  We’re a little busy.”

“WHAT?!”

“You heard her,” Ashe snaps as she replenishes her own magick.  “Don’t interrupt us unless you’re at death’s door.”

“Fine!  I’ll do it myself, just give me a remedy!” he shouts to be heard from the opposite end of the area.

“For immobilize?  I don’t think so,” Penelo shouts as she gets a Curaja spell ready for the enemy.

“You don’t thin—?!  Can somebody please give me a remedy?!” he shouts back, flabbergasted.

Basch hesitates.  “I am running low on them...”

“We should save them to treat Doom,” Fran advises sagely.

Vaan whips his head in Balthier’s direction and calls out, “Balthier?  Could you please give me a remedy?”

In truth he was already digging through his pouches but...  “I’m afraid I’m all out, after that last round of doom,” he shrugs.  “Just do as Penelo says and sit this one out.”

He loves watching Vaan’s eyebrow twitch, a clear indication the blonde can’t decide if that was a joke at his expense or not.  (Of course it was).

Reddas lets out a belly laugh at the spectacle they all make before shouting, “Perfect, more for me then!”  He then rushes the undead monster to distract it from the ladies’ casting.

Vaan watches the pirate king in action and actually pouts.  Chuckling, Balthier casts haste on Penelo and Ashe again before walking over to him.  “I could cast decoy on you, if you’re that bored,” he teases.  

Vaan glares at him.  “No thanks.”

“Well, as long as I have you here,” he says innocently.  “What did you want to tell me earlier?”

Vaan crosses his arms and keeps his eyes on the fight.  “I don’t think now is a good time.”

“Now’s the best time.  They’re all over there, and you and I are stuck over here.”  He smirks at the thief’s deadpan expression.  “Fine, you’re stuck over here and I have nothing to contribute.”

“I find that hard to believe, Mr. Leading Man,” Vaan grumbles.

Dramatically placing a hand over his heart, Balthier sighs, “Though I am loathe to admit it, it’s true.  I have no ammo that inflicts holy damage nor knowledge of the right spell book to be of much use today.”  He peeks at Vaan and sees those steel blue eyes have lost some of their edge.  “I really would have given you a remedy if I had any.”

That gets him a smile.  “I know.”

“Tell me what’s got you acting like a leech today,” he prompts.  

Vaan’s cheeks turn pink in embarrassment and he mutters, “I wasn’t being a ‘leech.’”  His eyes dart between the battle and Balthier’s face.  “You got me all anxious by what you said earlier.”

No.  He can’t possibly mean...

“About teaching you to fly the Strahl?” he asks in astonishment.  “I would have bet her that you’d be over the moon by my decision.”

Now Vaan is looking at him in disbelief.  “Why would I be HAPPY that you suddenly expect to DIE before all of this is over?”

What?

“I don’t remember saying anything about dying,” he says as he thinks over what he told Vaan after they disembarked.

“You said I’m ‘taking the Strahl’ if something ‘untoward’ should happen to you.  And that you ‘might have to do something heroic,’” Vaan repeats, using finger quotes.  “You made it sound like you’re going to do something stupid like sacrifice yourself.”

Curse his natural showmanship.  This is what he gets for trying to boil down his thought process from the past week into two sentences just to keep an air of mystery.  

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Balthier tries to salvage this.  “What I meant was that I want to be prepared for the worst, so I better teach you how to pilot her in case I’m incapacitated.”

He can almost feel Vaan narrow his eyes at him in suspicion.  “So you’re not planning to find some ‘heroic’ way to die?”

“Leading men don’t die, Vaan.  It would just be remiss of me to not have an ace up my sleeve.”

It doesn’t appease him entirely, but the thief nods at this explanation before a look of discomfort passes over his features and he abruptly starts punching his thighs repeatedly.

This bewilders Balthier.  “What are you—?”

“My legs fell asleep!” he gripes.

Chapter Text

The ores of magicite twinkle like stars in the deepest dig sites hidden away in the Lhusu Mines.  While he finishes another X-Potion that’s been shoved in his face, Balthier lets his eyes trace the veins’ paths.  He subconsciously notes the differences between this natural phenomenon and the manufactured rock made at Draklor as another wave of grief rolls through him.

It’s been a week since his father’s death.  He never would have believed he’d give a fig if his father died, but watching the man expire right in front of him seems to have changed that.  Or, if he’s being honest with himself, the fact that he played a role in ending him.

The word “patricide” rings through his head like a death knell.

As Balthier begins withdrawing into himself more, Vaan whacks him on the head with a rolled up petition.  “Hey, are you listening?” he says twice as loud as usual; bold, considering they’re in a mine.

He gives a start and tries to focus on the matter at hand.  “You tracked that six-armed jester down this tunnel,” he says, still in a bit of a daze.  “And his little dog too.”

“‘Tis no laughing matter, Balthier,” Basch warns.  “A cornered snake is more like to strike.”

He gives the knight a blank look for that rhyme.  He knows this strange mark is dangerous, he walked out of their first encounter with the swordsman covered in seeping cuts (even if he doesn’t remember receiving them).  He faces Vaan again, “In any case, this is your hunt.  Lead when ready.”

The blonde scrunches his face up in annoyance.  “I was just going over our gear.  Do you have your black belt or not?”

Oh.  He looks down to double check before gesturing at his hips to show he does indeed have it on.  Along with a nishijin belt.  Vaan and Basch have on matching sets as well.  

“Good, because we’re almost out of remedies.”  The thief grabs his chin, but his index finger slides up across his lips, “Belts, check.  Gold needles, check.  What else...”  He starts digging through a rucksack he brought along with extra items, turning his back to Balthier.

The sky pirate lets out a deep sigh.  He realizes he’s not been good company of late.  Vaan insisted the three men go on this hunt in Bhujerba as a flimsy pretext to get Balthier out of the Sandsea (after nursing what felt like the same glass of madhu for a couple of days but turns out it was closer to five bottles).  He can’t say he feels angry at him for trying to cheer him up.  

Or that he feels much of anything, for that matter.

Vaan turns around and holds out a pair of metal gauntlets towards him.  “Ta-dah,” he says in a slightly higher pitch than usual.  “You get to wear these.”

“Hm?”  He hasn’t seen those since Vaan was a “Hedge Knight” in the ranks of Clan Centurio.  Once Penelo and Ashe joined the party, their healing magick in conjunction with Fran’s, made it rare for anyone’s health to fall to a critical state and need the extra defense in exchange for dexterity.  Speaking of which.

“How do you expect me to pull a trigger with those things on?” he asks while pointing at the bulky metal digits of the accessory.  

And without batting an eye, Vaan whips out his Orochi blade and hacks off the fingers of the right gauntlet down to the first knuckle.

“...Well, if you insist.”  

He holds out his hand to take them but Vaan jumps up and says, “I got it.”  He pulls Balthier’s left arm aside and starts stuffing it inside the metal glove.

“Vaan,” he sighs in exasperation before tugging the right gauntlet off the thief and shuffling it on himself, one handed.  Once Vaan releases his left, he adjusts the right one better and tests that he can in fact fire a gun with the impromptu modification.  He eyes the thief critically, who is now standing absolutely still with his hands behind his back.

What’s he playing at?

“Are you satisfied now?” he asks, crossing his arms.

Vaan looks him over from head to toe before nodding once.  “Yup.  All good.” 

They head into Site 7 and the bizarrely dressed swordsman is waiting for them with his dog in front of the opening in the mine’s wall, leading to quite the long drop into the ocean below the floating continent.  He laughs in what Balthier suspects is intended to be intimidating (but falls just short of maniacal) and shouts, “Long have I waited!  Gilgamesh fights again!”

“...Surely it hasn’t been more than an hour since we last saw him?” Balthier says under his breath as he takes aim.

The fight begins anew and just as before, Vaan is eyeing the exceedingly rare Genji gear adorning their foe with interest.  He’s already stolen the man’s shield (that he wasn’t even using) and gloves (which, Balthier has to admit, was impressive given that all six arms were wielding swords at the time).  Now Vaan is itching to get his helm and armor.

But first they have to dispatch the dog.  Which, thankfully, as loyal as it may be, it isn’t a difficult opponent.  Truth be told, Balthier is relieved how easy it is to convince the canine to retreat after a few warning shots from him and a couple of whacks from the flat of Basch’s Ultima Blade.  It definitely is more companion than hellhound, and not even the sky pirate wants to partake in animal cruelty.

With its tail been his legs, it runs away and as the strange man yells, “Come back, Enkidu!” Vaan sees his opening and lifts the helm right off his head.

“What?!” he exclaims as two of his hands feel around his naked head.  “Thief!” he declares while pointing a sword at the blonde.  “I KNEW you looked familiar!”

Vaan actually tries on the helm for size.  It is only slightly too big, but nonetheless he seems pleased with it.  “Um, yeah, I should.  We just fought you on the bridge.”

The man looks at him perplexed.  “What?  No, not just that.  I saw you in that twisted world with Bartz and Zidane and the rest!”

Basch and Balthier give him a curious look, but Vaan just looks more confused than ever as he puts the helm aside for later.  “With who?”

“Grrrrrr, never mind!” he shouts while brandishing one of his swords at Vaan.

As the battle continues, this Gilgamesh fellow tries casting disable, sleep and petrify on them.  But Vaan wisely asked Montblanc for more information on this hunt beforehand and they are either protected from such spells or simply have to jab a gold needle in their bodies as they cross blades.  Balthier is getting a shot in every now and then, but he finds himself in a more supportive role today.  Casting haste or tossing X-Potions to the others.  After all, it’s never really a good idea to fire a gun when your adversary is fighting in such close quarters with someone you DON’T want to shoot.

The swordsman is, however, getting noticeably frustrated.  And it all comes to a head when Vaan actually manages to slip off his breastplate in such a smooth sleight of hand that Balthier actually puts his gun down to applaud him.

“Bravo,” he says with a hint of pride and Vaan smiles while giving him that strange “V” symbol with his fingers.

“Y-You...  You!  How DARE you?!” the man shouts, outraged, before slashing out all six swords at once and hitting them all with a strange mist-fueled attack.

Balthier is thrown off balance, feeling a bit queasy one moment and good as new the next.  Basch grits his teeth before reaching in his pockets for something Balthier doesn’t quite catch (but if he had to take a guess, probably another gold needle) and Vaan just shudders for a few moments before continuing to fight with the mysterious man.

As the battle nears its end, Balthier notices that he keeps vacillating between feeling terrible and fine, though the why behind it eludes him.  And anyway, Vaan made sure they were well equipped prior to engaging, so it’s probably just the form his grief is taking right now.

The fight should be ending soon, anywa—

Without warning, the dog, Enkidu, races back and knocks his master out the opening in the mine before jumping after him.  Almost certainly to both of their deaths...

“...I suppose that counts as a win,” he says after they stare out the opening to the sky for a several moments in silence.

Anyway.  Now he can start to assess what is bothering him without needing to half-heartedly pay attention to this ridiculous fight.  Although what he feels is purely physical, it’s so fleeting he suspects it must be psychosomatic rather than something that developed during the fight.  Besides, the two melee fighters are still on their feet—

Vaan crumples to the ground right in front of him.

He blinks.  Twice.

Then a lot of things happen to Balthier all at once.

Starting with sound and colors becoming vibrant again (he hadn’t really noticed how muted they were until the sound of the wind howling and the red of Vaan’s sash really stand out from one moment to the next).  His heartbeat is thrumming in his ears, as it speeds up in a panic at the sight of the thief lying prone on the ground, and all the blood drains from his face.  Confoundingly, the terror he’s experiencing seems to call to mind all the adoration he’s ever felt for Vaan, and then those competing emotions feed off each other creating chaos in his chest.  He’s at his side in a flash, kneeling down to search for injuries.

“What happened?” he asks the knight in a no-nonsense tone, checking Vaan’s pulse; it’s weak but still going.

“I’m not sure,” Basch says before giving him a double-take.  “Though come to think of it, Balthier, how do you fare?  I would have assumed, what with sap, you would be at risk of passing out.”

His whole body freezes.  “...What?”

“Gilgamesh did some attack that caused sap.  I assumed Vaan would be fine, considering that token you gave him.  I’m only standing because I used the last remedy I had.  Were you out of range?”

Oh, no...  Don’t tell him that little idiot—

He pulls off Vaan’s finger guards but instead of a white gold ring that emits a constant regen spell, he finds his own amusing little blue one that does absolutely NOTHING.  

He inhales sharply as his eyes fall on his gauntlets.  Now glaringly obvious why the blonde was so eager to get the stupid things on him, he tears them off and sure enough, on his left hand sits the Ring of Renewal.  It explains why he feels so wishy-washy; even now, he’s suffering from sap!  The ring is just countering its effect every other moment!  That little—!

“I’m going to kill him,” he swears.

Vaan wakes up on cool, silk sheets that smell of spicy cologne, leather, and gun powder.  Balthier. He snuggles deeper into the pillow beneath his head and starts to fall back asleep when he realizes his vest isn’t on.  Not to mention his metal bracers and boots for that matter.  And something heavy is lying across his hips.

He peeks down to find himself in the sky pirate’s bed on the Strahl, Balthier’s ringed hand thrown over his hips.  He’s being spooned by the man in question who, based on the deep breathing in his ear, must be still asleep.

Not wanting to disturb him, Vaan tries to slip out from under his arm—

“Hmph,” Balthier’s voice tickles his ear as that arm locks him in place against the sky pirate’s chest (wait, his vest is off too?  Vaan feels a fair amount of skin pressed again him, like the older man’s dress shirt is unbuttoned).  “Sneaking off?” he growls.

Vaan blanches.  Balthier sounds pissed.

“Just letting you catch up on slee—“ he says in a rush as he tries to wriggle out, but then Balthier just wraps both arms around him and traps him in place.

“Don’t bother.  I’m awake now.”

Vaan shivers.  He has never heard Balthier’s voice sound like this before.  This gravelly tone that brings to mind storm clouds rolling in.

He internally screams at himself that now is not a good time to discover how fiercely he wants to hear this voice under completely different circumstances!

In an effort to distract himself, he looks back at their hands he sees Balthier has put the Ring of Renewal on him again.  Curiously, he hasn’t taken back the blue ring Vaan pilfered off him earlier so he wouldn’t feel an extra ring on his finger.

“...You mad?” the blonde asks softly.

“Irate.”

Vaan winces and tries to escape his arms.  “I-I’m sorry, I jus—“

“Don’t tell me you’re ‘sorry.’  Tell me you won’t do that again!” Balthier snaps while burying his face in Vaan’s hair, pulling him closer.  “Why do you even think I gave that bloody ring to you?!”

And despite his harsh tone, he’s clutching the blonde so tightly that Vaan’s heart starts to race.  He should tell Balthier now.  How seeing him so out of sorts over his father’s death worried the thief.  And how when the sky pirate just didn’t even bother healing himself during their first encounter with Gilgamesh, Vaan was scared.  How he kept picturing Balthier dropping dead behind him while they completed the hunt unless Vaan did something drastic.

How much he loves him.

But before he can get the words out, Balthier twists him around to look him in the eye and threaten, “I’ll solder it onto you if I ever catch you taking it off again.”  Without waiting for a response, he crashes his lips against Vaan’s and completely dominates the kiss.  It leaves the thief breathless and he almost forgets what he wanted to say.

Almost.  He whispers softly, “Balthier, I—“ 

“Promise,” the sky pirate bites out.  “This time, promise me that you will keep it on.”

Ah.  So he did notice how Vaan kissed him in lieu of an answer back in Feywood.

But even with Balthier practically seething at him.  Even with him looking into Vaan’s eyes with such a distressing amount of hurt and anger on his face...

If there is ever a choice between his life or Balthier’s...

Vaan shakes his head, eyes growing moist.  

He’d do it again.

“I can’t...”

The shocked look on the older man’s face would be comical if Vaan didn’t feel like his heart was trying to escape his chest.  That expression quickly transitions into a scowl as Balthier leans in so close their noses touch.

“I don’t like you,” he swears even as he cups Vaan’s face with his left hand and strokes his cheek.

The absurdity of his statement breaks the tension and Vaan tries to hold back his laughter.  Balthier’s face actually turn a slight shade of pink and he insists, “I’m serious.  It’s not funny.”

Vaan pulls his face closer.  “I don’t believe you,” he says before kissing him gently.

The sky pirate emits a low noise of displeasure in his throat before breaking the kiss to pull the thief against him.  “Shut up.  You can’t prove I’m lying,” he mopes. 

It makes the blonde chuckle before he notices Balthier is having trouble keeping his eyes open.  “Tired?” he asks, but he doesn’t need to see the older man’s slow nod to know the answer.  Balthier hasn’t slept consecutively for more than a couple of hours here and there this past week.  

Vaan lowers his voice to a whisper, “I can let you sleep if you want.”  There’s a long pause so he starts to shift away from the brunette towards the edge of the bed, only to find himself locked in that tight iron grip against his leading man yet again.

When Vaan looks at his face, Balthier’s eyes are still closed and he murmurs, “Stay?”

Vaan’s face lights up.  They don’t often get the chance to cuddle with this much privacy.  “If you want me to,” he says softly, adjusting his hold on the sky pirate and making himself comfortable.

“Mmhm,” Balthier hums so softly he has to strain to hear him.  “...sleep better next to you...”

That makes him grin.  “Really?” Vaan asks at normal volume before he can think better of it.  Even still, his only answer is a barely there snore, proving the sky pirate’s point.  It fills him with relief to see Balthier finally get some shut eye (and in a bed as opposed to the tavern).  He lets his head sink into the pillow again and closes his eyes.

It would be nice if they could do this everyday, he thinks before drifting off.

Chapter Text

This place is driving Vaan crazy.  There’s no map, no landmarks, and it goes without saying the mist is thickest inside the giant crystal buried away in Giruvegan.  His head has been aching for the last few hours as they’ve whisked around from one way stone to another.

They’re back here to add another esper to their arsenal before taking out Vayne Solidor on the Bahamut.  But first Basch insisted they go a roundabout way which led them to a coffer hiding Vaan’s new favorite toy: the Yagyu Darkblade.  

Balthier eyed the knight suspiciously when he presented it to Vaan, their only Shikari.  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you knew it was here.” 

“Not me, per se,” Basch hedges.  “But we will be needing that.  Vaan, do you have a set of black robes?”

He nods and pulls them out, starting to piece things together.  “...Is the summon we’re after weak to darkness?”

“She is the High Seraph.”

His eyebrows shoot up.  “You want to fight Ultima?!”

“She will be useful in our fight against Vayne,” Ashe answers, revealing the true driving force behind this trip.  “And now that we found the darkblade, she will be at our mercy.”

Balthier rolls his eyes and takes out his dark shots before gesturing at himself and Fran, who is not just their archer but also their red battlemage, and thus the only one capable of casting arcane magick.  “I believe you’re forgetting that some of us already deal dark damage.”

“But combine the darkblade with the black robes and Genji gloves, and he will be nigh unstoppable,” Ashe reasons as she locks eyes with the thief.  “Don’t stop attacking her, Vaan.  She abhors dark.”

It’s rare for Ashe to show anything besides disdain towards him, let alone confidence, and his patriotism for Dalmasca flairs up at her pep talk.  He may not think of Ashe as a buddy, but at the end of the day, she is his hopefully-soon-to-be Queen and that counts for something.

“Gotcha,” he says in the most informal form of Dalmascan just to see her ears turn red.  Penelo groans and smacks him upside the head.  “She’s not your big sister,” she grumbles, mortified.  “Say it right.”

“Understood,” he says in Standard.

Appeased, Ashe nods and turns to lead them up the path to face the instigator of the scion rebellion against the Occuria.

Vaan hangs back with Balthier as the sky pirate loads his Fomalhault with the proper ammo.  “Hear that?  I’m ‘unstoppable.’”

“So she says,” Balthier confirms readily as he double checks that his gun is loaded and he has easy access to more shots.  It’s not the response Vaan is fishing for, so he tries again.  

“I mean, if we’re talking about dealing dark damage, maybe?” he presses the older man for his own opinion.

“Are we?” he asks while checking his sights.

He tries not to growl in frustration.  “Well, I think Ashe may be onto something.”

“And I think that you are so susceptible to flattery that you don’t even realize you’re being used,” Balthier says in a blithe tone that belies just how annoyed he actually is with what just happened.

He pouts as the brunette walks after the rest of the party.  Whether Ashe is using him or not doesn’t matter to Vaan.  What does matter to him is getting Balthier to ask Vaan to travel with him after this is all over.  It’s true he’s never let lack of an invitation stop him before, and Balthier has on multiple occasions made it clear he would like to follow Vaan on any adventures the blonde pursues.

But that’s just the problem.  He has no quests lined up after they save Dalmasca, or secret past he’s running from that he will need to tie the loose ends up someday.  There’s nothing to which Vaan can request the sky pirate accompany him.

So unless something drastic happens soon, things are lining up for his life to go right back to how it was before he ever heard about the secret royal treasure room.  And even the lowly street thief Vaan has his pride.  He was sort of hoping that if Balthier thought he was a powerhouse, the sky pirate would be quick to extend the offer for Vaan to join him.  

But he’s not going to beg Balthier to fly him away from it all.  If the sky pirate wants Vaan to go with him, he needs to ask.

He catches up to the others and loosely throws on the dark robes over his vest and swaps out his usual bracers for the Genji gloves (the flash of his Ring of Renewal as he makes the change catches Balthier’s eye, and the brunette nods to himself).  Finally he holds up his dangerously sharp Yagyu Darkblade and gives Ashe a thumbs up.

She actually smiles at him and Vaan is reminded that under different circumstances, he would be at serious risk of falling for the princess.  It’s easy to forget she’s a beauty when she’s scowling at him ninety percent of the time.

“All set,” he says just to fill the silence as the others make their final preparations (he hears Penelo wonder out loud if the black bolts for her Tula are dark elemental or not before deciding to go with them to be on the safe side).  One by one, they each make similar announcements before the only thing left to do is enter the scion’s domain.

The first thing Vaan notices is a coffer floating right smack in the middle of the platform.  He moves to go snatch what’s inside but Balthier grabs his shoulder and jerks his chin up and, oh...  She’s making quite the entrance.  Like she’s floating down from heaven in a pillar of light.

For a good fifteen seconds he wonders how the heck he’s going to hit her if she’s hovering on that mini airship before she finally settles down low enough that it shouldn’t be a problem.  Penelo casts dispel and Vaan takes that as his cue and goes for it.

Things start off well enough.  Balthier hastes him and his ninja sword is practically singing, he’s slashing so fast thanks to the Genji gloves.  She may pack quite a punch with that Holyja spell, but that’s not unexpected—Ashe is well prepared and wearing their white mask to absorb it.  But then he notices the others flagging a bit.

“What’s wrong?” he asks Basch, who’s right besides him, ironically wielding his Ultima blade.

“There’s a sap field in effect.”  He waves away the concerned look on Vaan’s face, “I think it’s changing to a mana one.  Don’t worry about us, keep attacking her.”

He nods and does just that, only to see his own face for a split second.  “Pen?” he calls out as he continues slashing.  “Why did you use reflect?”  Especially if she’s losing magick reserves by the second.

“That wasn’t me!” she calls back, unnerved that their target would cast it on them instead.  He’s confused himself until Ultima lets loose another Holyja and it still lands.

“Dammit,” he hisses from the sting it leaves.  She can ignore reflect, which means this is just to make Penelo’s job harder.  He pops open an X-potion and takes a swig only to immediately gag and spit it all up.

“Ack!”  It burns like he drank acid!  He checks the bottle, but no, this is definitely labeled X-potion.  Did they get swindled in Balfonheim? 

Behind him, he can hear Balthier cough up something as well.

“You two have been reversed!” Fran shouts in alarm, pointing from Balthier to Vaan.

“What’s that one?” he asks as he focuses back on the esper.  She’s getting another spell ready; it looks like a high level heal.  Naturally, he assumes she’s going to use it on herself, but even if it was another Holyja, his role remains the same.  He squares his shoulders, ready to dive back in.  Ashe said to keep fighting, after all.

Except Balthier grabs him by the back of his robes and practically slams him to the ground.  “Wha—?!”

“Take off your vest!” he shouts in a rush as he crouches next to him and yanks the ninja sword out of Vaan’s hand.

“What?!”

“Off!  Now!” Balthier snaps, even as he starts tugging the metal garment and robes off Vaan himself.  He uses enough force to break Reks’s pendant off.

Now he’s mad.  “What’s the matter with you?!” Vaan yells as Balthier crushes him against his chest in a death grip, digs a finger against Vaan‘s back and drags it down just to the left of his spine.  “One, two, three...” he’s counting each time he runs over a bump of Vaan’s ribs until he reaches the divot between the fifth and sixth ones.

“Balthi—!“

“Quiet, I have to time this just right,” he says, looking up at Ultima.  And that’s when Vaan feels it.  The sharp tip of the Yagyu Darkblade.

Lined up against his back.

He feels all the blood drain from his face as he tries to will the sky pirate to look back at him.  “...Balthier?”  His voice breaks, and that makes the older man start and look down at Vaan, who has never felt more betrayed his entire life.  

Balthier looks pained at the sight of him so distraught and whispers, “Don’t look at me like that.  You know I love you.”

Vaan makes a small noise in disbelief just as the Fell Angel unleashes the highest level cure magick in existence.

Aimed at them.

Balthier stabs up, not just through Vaan’s heart, but also his own, in a brutal double kill, just as Vaan feels the spell start to BURN.  The bastard even jerks the Yagyu Darkblade around for good measure until the spell dissipates.

And...

It feels as sweet as the first time Vaan felt snow in the Feywood with him.

Then, just as abruptly as it went in, Balthier is ripping the darkblade out, pressing his thumb against the tip over and over until he finally winces, “Damn, that’s sharp.”

He shoves an X-potion in Vaan’s hands before opening his own.  “Hurry, before you feel it,” he advises before chugging it.  Vaan realizes he means the HOLE through his HEART and quickly follows suit.

As he feels the vital organ mend itself, the shock starts setting in and his hand shakes so bad, the last bit of X-potion dribbles down his chin.  Balthier notices and cups his cheek, gently rubbing his thumb.  That he remains absolutely silent tells Vaan he’s freaking out just as much.

Ultima is getting ready to cast another Holyja and Vaan is not looking forward to potentially needing to go through that again, but then one of Penelo’s bolts hits the scion’s arm and she’s suddenly blinded.  “Oh,” Penelo says in surprise as she covers her mouth.  “I guess that explains the ‘black’ in ‘black bolts’...”

The esper actually stops her previous cast and harrumphs before using blindna instead.  

After a beat, Balthier’s eyes fly wide open.  “We can use that!”

“What?” Vaan asks, only a slight tremble in his voice now.

“Penelo, keep shooting her!  Ashe, you just cast blind!  The rest of you do what you’ve been doing!” Balthier says rapid fire.  

“What are you going to do?” Vaan asks, getting on his feet with the sky pirate’s help.

“Probably use up all our eye drops,” he muses as he pulls out the Nihopalaoa and begins throwing phials of eye drops at the scion.

The theory behind this becomes clear when, as though stuck in a logical loop, Ultima drops everything she’s doing to rid herself of blind.  With half of them constantly inflicting the status on her, it’s almost sad how quickly she’s taken down by the other half.

When her power becomes available for one of them to accept, it comes as no surprise that neither the thief nor sky pirate want anything to do with her.

It takes a few days, but eventually they make it back to the Strahl and Balthier flies them to Rabanastre at breakneck speed.  Once they’ve docked, Vaan stays by the cockpit as the others disembark into the aerodrome, waiting for Balthier to close the hatch.

Once everything’s shut down, his leading man gets up and silently holds out his hand to Vaan.  It’s a gentle invitation in complete contrast to the fire burning in his hazel-green eyes.  Like a moth to flame, the thief can’t look away and grasps that ringed hand tight.

When he’s flat on his stomach in Balthier’s bed, with the man deep inside him, Vaan keens as the thrusts become shallower.  The brunette is trying to draw this out as long as possible.  Balthier kisses his shoulder and with a shaking hand traces the small scar on Vaan’s back left behind by the darkblade.

The day after they fought Ultima, Vaan told the sky pirate his brother died from complications after literally being stabbed in the back.

Balthier told him he kept having nightmares that reverse wore off the thief so fast, he accidentally killed Vaan.

He pulls out of Vaan and flips him over, slipping the lithe blonde’s legs over his shoulders to get a deeper angle.  He kisses him just as thoroughly and pushes in again, groaning at how tightly Vaan is wrapped around him.

“Say it again,” Vaan pleads, not shy about begging for this one thing.

“No,” Balthier grunts between thrusts.  “Not till you reciprocate.”

Vaan quickly tells the sky pirate he loves him and is only mildly surprised when all he gets is, “I’m sure you do.”

“Balthier,” he whines as the brunette just misses his prostate on purpose.  The bastard.

He gives Vaan that smirk that makes him weak before ramming full speed into his thief and whispering something by his ear as Vaan practically screams from coming.  He starts panting and demands the sky pirate say it so he can actually hear it, not at all sure his words are coherent.

Balthier, still thrusting inside him, tips the blonde’s head up for a kiss.  He finishes with a satisfied groan and looks him in the eye.

“But you already know I love you,” he murmurs against Vaan’s lips.

Chapter Text

Balthier feels something tickling his nose and opens his eyes, bleary from sleep.  He would recognize that puff of white blonde hair anywhere, but the slim crown sitting atop it gives him pause.  He tries to move his left hand but finds it tethered to something and, oh that’s right...

He had a lot of fun with his thief last night, he recalls as he kisses the sleeping teen’s (at least, for a few more hours) temple.  He pushes himself onto his right elbow to look at his handiwork and experimentally tugs his left hand.

They are in Balthier’s bed on the Strahl, the bedsheets draped over their hips.  Vaan is asleep on his back and still decked out in a lot of lovely things the sky pirate gifted him for his twentieth birthday (which is tomorrow, but it’s not like Balthier is letting him leave before then).  His eyes roam over all that adorns Vaan’s perfect naked form, starting with the Lamia Crown resting on his head (Fran won’t miss it), the Jade Collar around his throat (green is not Vaan’s color but still, a collar’s a collar), the Sash tossed diagonally around his left shoulder to right hip (Van looks practically gift-wrapped with that on), the Rose Corsage around his left wrist (Vaan asked if that meant he wanted the blonde to talk nonstop during and Balthier was sorely tempted to take that present back), along with a smattering of rings (one Tourmaline, Balthier’s own Emerald one, not to mention that silly blue one Vaan stole from him years ago, and of course the Ring of Renewal).

The pièce de résistance is the Ribbon loosely tying their wrists together.

At the blonde’s request, Balthier is wearing just his Nihopalaoa (something about the cursed thing around his neck makes Vaan blush enticingly, but he hasn’t gotten the reason for that out of him yet).  He leans in to nibble on Vaan’s ear and laments that there’s no piercings to decorate the blonde with a pair of earrings, but he will continue to feel out if Vaan will let him do the honors someday.

He would look so pretty with a pair of rubies sparkling around his face.  Maybe pear cut.

The image makes him hard again and he reaches into a little compartment on his headboard for a squirt of lotion before moving over to kiss those sleeping lips and grip their dicks together.  After a few jerks, Vaan’s wakes up, but the young man himself is a surprisingly deep sleeper.  Balthier is just about to stop and let him be for another hour when his eyes flutter open and he smiles shyly at Balthier.  “Hey,” he breathes, voice thick with sleep.

“Morning,” Balthier smiles back before giving an extra slow pump to draw Vaan’s attention to what’s going on under the sheets.  He’s not disappointed when the blonde shivers.  “You’re mean,” he whines, trying to move his right hand (whether to halfheartedly swat him away or pull him closer is unclear) only to discover it’s bound to Balthier’s left by the ribbon.  “...We left this stuff on?”

“I could take everything off if you like,” Balthier smirks, gesturing at his own necklace with his chin first and as expected, cheeks turning a charming shade of pink, Vaan quickly shakes his head.  “No, no, leave it.”

“If that is your wish,” he whispers before kissing Vaan and moving his hand faster.  Their breathing is picking up and Balthier doesn’t think he can hold out for another edging marathon, but...

“I want to be inside you,” he murmurs against Vaan’s ear.  He intertwines the fingers of their bound hands.  “May I come in you?”

“Please,” the blonde nods.  “Want you,” he pants out.

Balthier hastily kisses him before releasing their members to reach up to the headboard and get more lotion (a lot more this time).

“Come back,” Vaan says, gently pulling on Balthier’s necklace with his left hand.

“So impatient,” he chides before leaning close again and nipping his thief’s pouting lip.  Propped up on his left elbow, Balthier reaches his free hand around Vaan and presses his slicked up fingers against his hole.  It’s already fairly loose from last night, but he starts off slow with just one finger anyway to make sure it’s well lubricated.  After a happy moan from Vaan, he inserts a second.  Soon followed by a third, stretching him out nice and good.

“Enough, enough,” Vaan insists.  

He “hmphs” before biting the younger man’s shoulder, “Demanding in the morning.”  Vaan yelps in surprise before rutting against Balthier, making the sky pirate hiss, trying to keep it together.  “If you could wait five more seconds...”

“No.  Now,” Vaan tugs on Balthier’s earring with his teeth because dammit if he doesn’t know what that does to the sky pirate. 

A growl erupts from his chest as he strokes himself a few times to make sure he’s slick as can be before ramming into the blonde.  They both cry out as Balthier fills Vaan up.  

He still can’t believe how this feels.

“You’re s’good,” he breathes against Vaan’s lips.  It’s enough to make him forget all but the bare minimum of Standard.

Vaan is no better, repeating over and over, “More, more, more...”

He’s not going to last long at all, but he does his best to change his tempo so as to at least keep from climaxing in the first few thrusts.  Vaan is gasping and almost touches himself with his left hand before Balthier spots it.

“Not yet.”  He grabs that hand before trapping it next to Vaan’s head under his right, mirroring what he’s already doing with their bound hands on the opposite side.

“Please,” Vaan practically sobs, he’s so wrung out from last night.  It must be torture waking up so hard again yet not able to get release.  The blonde starts whimpering beneath him, leaking precum over his own stomach, desperately lifting his hips off the bed to press his aching cock against the sky pirate’s stomach for some friction.  Balthier tries to pin him down as best he can while still being able to drive into him over and over.

He presses a sweaty kiss against the blonde’s temple, “Shhh.”  Vaan doesn’t know it, but this is Balthier begging him.  He knows Vaan is right at the edge.  Ready and absolutely desperate to get off.  But he just needs him to hold out for a little longer.  Because if Balthier feels Vaan orgasm around him, he’s finished.

All he wants is a few more seconds of being with him like this.

But Vaan is a bendy little sneak, and manages to wrap his legs around Balthier’s hips and cling to him, using Balthier’s own momentum against him.  Within moments, Vaan starts mewling as he finally gets the stimulation he’s been craving and climaxes all over both their stomachs.

Even though Balthier knew to expect it, the way Vaan’s tight ring of muscles flutter around him leaves him absolutely breathless and he just can’t.

Why does every single time feel like he’s never come harder in his life?

Completely spent, he collapses on top of his thief and Vaan unwraps his legs from Balthier’s hips with a soft, “Oof,” and regrettably the sky pirate slips out of him.  He nuzzles into Vaan’s hair on one side of his face and untangles their free hands to bury his in those soft blonde locks on the other.  They bask in the afterglow until Balthier has enough oxygen again.

“Come away with me,” he whispers.

Those steel blue eyes snap open and stare at him.  “Wh-Where to?” he asks, unsure for some reason Balthier can’t decipher.

“Anywhere.  Everywhere.”  He squeezes Vaan tight and kisses him.  “Wherever you want.”

“...For how long?”  Is Vaan trembling?

He doesn’t understand the question.  “If you have an obligation somewhere, I’ll make sure you don’t miss it.  Then we can be off again.”

“So...  Indefinitely?”  His thief is starting to sound excited.  Good.

“That’s what I had in mind,” he murmurs.

Vaan is smiling so wide, Balthier wonders if he’s ever actually seen him happy before today.  Vaan, for his part, opens and closes his mouth a few times, but can’t seem to say anything.  Smirking down at him, Balthier presses their foreheads together.

“Vox.”