This story is my first ffxii fic. But don't worry, it's really not my first fic. It must be the number 30, to be exact, but, I'm not sure. I deleted some of my stories lately. Oh, before I let you read, please, I wanna tell you that I'm French, so my English may lack a bit of… well, professionalism, I would say. If you find any mistake, I'm sure you'll find some of them, I'm sorry, utterly sorry, but don't mind them and keep reading knowing that they were really not done on purpose. Well, like any mistake. I'm so stupid when I get to it…
Well, this fic may be a one shot, or maybe not, so, just read, have fun and review if you have the will to. I know just how hard it is to review, I'll take any criticism, constructive or not. Just keep in mind, this fic revolves around a Vaan x Penelo couple, so if you don't love them, don't blame me, blame yourself for keep on reading it.
Well then, have fun reading!
It's only a matter of license
Everything had only begun with a stupid bet. At first, Vaan only wished to get the chance to fly in Balthier's airship a little while. But the said pilot didn't rent his engine to the first newcomer. So the air pirate decided to give his chance to the young man. Only if…
"If you can date your friend Penelo for a whole month, I shall believe that you're responsible enough so that I lend you my ship."
"But… you're talking nonsense! How does the fact that I would be going out with Penelo could prove you I'm responsible?"
Vaan would have chosen to fight an invincible monster more than to go out with his childhood friend. Because he understood quite well what the pilot was implying and he wasn't feeling ready at all to confront that side of adulthood. And as for Penelo… She thought of him as a brother.
"She'll never want to go out with me!"
"You're really that stupid, are ya? I'll leave you two choices, kid; in the first case, you'll take the bet and get through it, in the second case, you forgot my ship for the next ten years. I really don't have time to play around with kids like you. I got things to attend to, unlike…"
"Okay, okay, I'll do it, I'll date Penelo, you just wait and see!" replied Vaan before to get up and leave Balthier and Fran with the bill.
He didn't know at that time just how much this task was going to be hard. First, there was the uneasiness of the rookie. How do we invite a girl out? Then came guilt… How would Penelo react when she know he was going out with her only to get a chance to pilot Balthier's ship? Let's be serious, Vaan was a man, and men are not considerate enough to care about such trivial facts. He was nervous for more major questions. Was he supposed to hold her hand? To kiss her? To give her something? He didn't have that much money… Yes, our dear Vaan had a practical mind.
I will spare you every internal conflict that torn Vaan and threatened at the same time his sanity and his budget. After his own reflection over what Penelo really meant to him, something sounding quite like that: She's almost my sister, it's like incest, I'm a criminal! What if she laughs at me? I'm so useless… Be a man Vaan! What if I loved her for real? I'm too young to die!
After all that terrible thinking, he decided to give it his all. It was a win or lose situation. All left to do was to try his best.
He polished the armor plates on his pants until they shine like diamonds. He trained himself for two whole days to firm up his muscles. He put forward his monthly shower (do you know how hard it could be to get clean water in Rabanastre during summer when the waterway is broken?) and finally, he judged that every thing on his list of advices from Basch was checked.
No task left to separate him from the fateful demand. All left to do was now to obey the greatest law of love according to Reks, the late brother of our poor Vaan, to be himself. "How am I going to get through this?"
Finally, Vaan made it all like a pro. He stammered and stuttered, was unable to bear his young friend's gaze more than two seconds until he was able to tell out the truth, that he emphasized with one poor flower stolen to a wolf in the Westersand.
The outcome was immediate. Penelo found him adorable, began to stammer and stutter too, before to take the scarlet flower and catch Vaan's hand with a smile. From then on, the young thief didn't have to worry about anything, as his new girlfriend took care of every detail of their present and future lives. He had to take care of a load of deliveries in her place, helped her cooking for the other orphans and during quite a while, it seemed as nothing had change between them.
And that meant that he wasn't getting anywhere near Balthier's airship's control's board. He wrote a very short letter to Basch to ask him for more advice, after having reflected over this problem for three long days, all in vain. But he wanted to fly in that ship, at least one more time. Archadia's post was going smoothly and he soon received his answer and solution. He had to be serious, and it was his task to do the first move.
"What kind of move is he talking about? This doesn't look like Basch's writing at all, someone has intercepted my letter or what? , growled Vaan. First move, first move, haven't I've been doing enough already, I've been running everywhere for nothing!"
Two days of heat wave passed by, during which the young man asked himself if his brain was not beginning to melt. He was clan Centurion's best hunter; he had saved his country and almost all Ivalice. Why going out with Penelo would scare him that much? Vaan took his courage with his both hands, after having lightened two soldiers' wallets and asked Penelo out, for a real date of lovers. The restaurant, a visit in a temple and a walk in Rabanastre's streets, until they reach the fountain in the central plaza. The poor Vaan would have loved it if cinemas existed… His life would have been simpler.
Penelo was surprised but enthusiastic and she accepted so quickly that the date was settled in no time. They would spend tomorrow night together. She blushed at the thought and her shyness touched Vaan. All of a sudden, the littlest bit of attention he gave his friend created incomparable reactions. Before, a smile or a fool laugh would have only resulted in a knowing or reproachful gaze. Now, she was acting different with him. She didn't dare anymore to push him around and avoided every contact. He wasn't her brother anymore. She looked at him as a woman looked at a man. He was terrified by it and troubled. That agitation created a pleasant tension in his stomach. And Vaan's gaze had changed too.
Maybe he was hung up, but he wasn't completely innocent either.
At last, the first step, the invitation was passed, and greatly, he hadn't stuttered as much this time, so Vaan forgot the bet and the rendezvous to go through his day quietly. In the end of the afternoon, as decided, he went at Penelo's place to take her out. But she wasn't ready. He decided to wait that she finished preparing herself. After an hour or so, an hour he spent fighting with Migelo over his freshly new relationship with Penelo, the young man didn't gave it a damn anymore. He smashed in Penelo's room to know what was taking her so long.
The room was all upside down and remembered him a moment of the poor district of Archadia. Then, he noticed his girlfriend's hair which was undone and untidy, not to mention her tight clothes. She was wearing a top looking just like her bra and a strange skirt that she must have borrowed from a Viera. At least, Vaan hoped so.
"What is taking you so damn long? You're not dressed already?"
"Vaan! It's horrible; I can't put on anything decent!"
"What?"
He almost said that her clothes looked nice to him, but he was bright enough to keep it shut.
"I don't have the right to wear the accessories I want! Nor this bracelets, nor this corset! They've cost me so much and I can't even wear them!"
"And… why?"
Vaan had a lot of difficulty to look at Penelo in the eyes and even more to follow what she was saying.
"I don't have the licenses for them. The other day, an agent forced a woman to undress herself in the middle of the street because she didn't have the licenses for her clothes!"
She put on a vest and caught Vaan by the arm to drag him out. His short-circuited brain caught on with unease.
"Where are we going?" he managed to ask.
"Let's hurry, if we're quick enough, maybe we will kill enough monsters so that I get my licenses."
"But I don't care about what you're wearing!"
They were already out of Rabanastre when the young girl changed her mind and dragged her boyfriend back to a red crystal. She had made her mind and she wasn't going out with him without the accessories she had planned to wear!
"At the pharos, it will be a greater challenge, don't you think? Like this, it won't be boring."
"Are you insane, I don't even have my equipment with me!"
Vaan's brain was back, but it was too late.
"We'll just have to take some along the way! And anyway, weren't you the one saying just yesterday you liked to fight barehanded, heh?"
Really, this airship was going to cost him. May Balthier leave him the chance to pilot for at lest a year. Because Vaan was going to live one more month of this hell. And going out chasing some monsters in the Pharos basements… "For accessories!" Vaan thought. He didn't know that Penelo knew about the bet because of Fran. And that he didn't have the licenses for wearing pants covered by iron plates. Maybe it was best to quit Rabanastre before a guard realized it.
-the e.n.d.-
Well, I said the end, but I'm still not sure. It would be fun to see how Penelo will keep on dating Vaan, driving him insane and making him fall in love with her as she's doing her best to avoid the bet to get done. Who will win, Vaan and his love for airship, or Penelo and her love for Vaan? Or will Vaan fall in love before he even knows it? Well, maybe we'll see, if you ask me for more.
So… review!