I don't own FFXII or any of its characters. Balthier/Vaan pairing. If that offends you I would advise not reading it. My first fic so be gentle. Just a little story about Balthier wanting to run away from their quest to have a life with Vaan. Rated M mostly for language.
"I do love you so, Balthier"
"Then why won't you leave this entire stupid quest behind so that we can live in peace. Or at least stop hiding what we have from everyone. Are you ashamed of me?" he asked quietly, the hurt obvious in his tear filled eyes.
Vaan looked at him silently for a moment, and then letting show all the grief in his heart whispered, "No Balthier I'm not ashamed of you. They just won't understand. Its better this way and we can't leave because I have to save the rest of us, before I can live with myself…or you."
His grip tightened around Vaan's waist just before he pulled him in for a kiss which erupted in passion. After a moment of sweet bliss he looked Vaan in the eyes, his, brown and beautiful and full of understanding…Vaan's blue and afraid and unsure…and as he ran his fingers along the boy's check he whispered, "I love you, my dearest thief, more than I care to say. And if it is a war you must win for our love to finally be given wing…then I will fight it beside you." After caressing Vaan's cheek a final time, the pirate turned and continued through the Tchita Uplands to catch up with the rest of the party.
Vaan stared after him a moment, hating himself for hurting the man he loved. It had been nearly three months since that day in the Dalmasca Westersand when he and Balthier had been alone on a hunt for a nasty Ring Wyrm. The battle had been going so well that Vaan got cocky, and started making mistakes. That's when he got himself KO'd. When he awoke, the creature was dead and Balthier was glaring at him menacingly. "Damnit Vaan! Be careful, and pay attention next time will you!" he yelled at the shocked blonde lying on the sand in front of him as he rose to walk away. "Jesus Balthier," Vaan had exclaimed wide-eyed, confused because no one ever got mad at someone for getting KO'd in a battle. Things like that had happed to the six of them a million times. "Why the hell are you yelling at me?" Balthier spun on his heels at the question and glared at Vaan. "Because I'm in love with you, you fucking little brat and I don't want you to die!" Vaan could tell by the look on Balthier's face that he was as shocked at what he'd said as Vaan was. They stared at each other in silence for a moment until Vaan finally found his voice, "How long?" he asked in a voice that was barely a whisper. Balthier ran a jeweled hand through his dark hair and sighed, "I don't know really, a long time though." Vaan thought about this a moment when his thoughts were interrupted. "I shouldn't have told you. I didn't mean to tell you." He sighed again, "If you don't want to hunt alone with me anymore I understand." Vaan looked at him a moment. He'd never seen this side of the pirate before. His eyes were questioning and afraid, no trace of their usual self-assurance and cockiness could be found in them. Vaan rose from the ground silently, and Balthier was sure that he was about to be rejected when Vaan's lips met his in a gentle kiss. Their arms slowly wrapped around each other, causing Balthier to drop his six-fluted pole to the ground with a thud. "I love you too, Balthier" the thief whispered. And so it began.
They had decided it would be best to keep their relationship from the others. Fran knew something was up of course, she knew Balthier too well to not know and Vaan had caught Basch looking at them with raised eyebrows once after a battle when Vaan had gotten a little too upset that Balthier had been injured. But in the past few weeks Vaan could tell that the secret was hurting Balthier. It wasn't like Vaan didn't want the others to know, he wasn't ashamed, but the others just wouldn't understand. When Vaan finally caught up with the others Balthier wouldn't even look at him. "We're lost" Basch said with an angry sigh. "I have the map, hang on a minute," replied Ashe. After digging through her pack for several minutes she finally handed a worn map to Basch, who studied it with a frown. After a moment received bad news that none of them wanted to hear. "We're not on the map."
They wandered aimlessly for days, realizing that they were going in circles. At least they were leveling up though, that made it less of a waste of time. It had been nearly four days when they finally exited the uplands back into the Phon Coast. As excited as they all were to be out of the Uplands their excitement soon died when they realized that they were totally out of items. "At least we aren't too far from the Hunter's camp," said Penelo, "we can get everything we need there." "Let us just hope we are not attacked between here and there," replied Basch with a sigh.
It was the next morning when the attack came. There were too many of them. Everyone's MP had dropped to zero by the time Balthier was hit. The Lobo was immediately killed by Basch's sword, Basch was always quick to act like that, but Balthier wasn't standing anymore. The world seemed to stop and it seemed to Vaan that it took him hours to get to his side, even though it was only seconds. Balthier was covered in blood, the lobo's claws had ripped his chest and back open, and there was a nasty bite in his left arm. He was conscious, but barely. "Vaan?" he whispered, looking up at his lover. He choked a little after that and blood seeped freely from between his lips. "Balthier, shhhh, its ok, it's…it's gonna be ok," the blonde thief said, trying to convince himself that it was true. The others had gathered around by this point, none of them hurt too seriously although they all could have used a potion or two. "I don't have any MP!" Vaan panted, tears falling freely from his eyes. He looked up at Basch, who was also crouching beside the pirate. "Basch, I don't have any fucking MP!" he yelled louder now, cradling Balthier's head in his hands. "None of us do, Vaan, we'll think of something. Calm down," replied the captain. It was Fran who volunteered that the girls would go to the Hunter's camp in search of supplies to heal him while Vaan and Basch looked after the pirate. With a quiet gurgle Balthier passed out.
He didn't wake up the entire time the girls were gone. For a day and a half Vaan had stayed by his side, and Basch had given up trying to get Vaan to sleep or eat hours ago. He had known the boy idolized the pirate, but he hadn't expected Vaan to freak out as much as he had. True, the pirate was badly injured, but they all had been at some point or other in this quest. Balthier's wounds bled a little less that they had the day before, but Vaan and Basch both knew he was too pale and too cold, his breath too shallow. Vaan cried a lot that day, stroking his lover's hair and never leaving his side. Finally the girls got back. It took a lot of potions and spells to fix the pirate, but soon enough he opened his eyes and sat up, wincing as he did. Vaan wasted no time in grabbing Balthier's face and kissing him fiercely. Balthier's arms snaked around Vaan and drew him in close, and they just sat there dirty and bloody on the ground, holding each other in a way that showed the rest of their shocked party members exactly how much in love they were. "I love you Balthier," Vaan said, looking deep into chocolate eyes. "I love you too, Vaan," said Balthier with a smile, and everyone there knew that it was true.
Ok it's my first fic but I'm a big fan of the Balthier/Vaan thing so I thought since I'm always on this site reading them I should write one of my own. Please Review!