A/N: Finally! Some comic relief!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Final Fantasy 12 or any of its characters or places.

One Question

Rank 96

"Ashe… I need to ask you a question."

A tired and tousled looking Vaan was standing in front of the Princess of Dalmasca. He wasn't quite sure if this was how you should address a princess, but he dropped the thought.

She wasn't exactly a princess to him anyways, she was a friend. Now, at least.

"Is it important?" said princess asked, turning towards Vaan. When he came out, Ashe had been sitting near the fire, staring at it. Vaan took that opportunity to plop down next to her.

"Yeah, I think so," he replied. He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. He was trying to find a way to word his question.

"Well, then go ahead. Ask a-" Ashe was forced to stop mid sentence because Balthier walked out from a tent. He looked as he normally did: cool, collected, charming. Vaan wondered how he did it. Balthier had been sleeping, yet he didn't loose any element of his appearance. Vaan, on the other hand, had bags under his eyes and his hair and clothing were messy.

Balthier walked over to the two and sat down opposite of Ashe and Vaan. "I may not be as hip with trends as you two are, but some of us old people enjoy sleep every once in awhile."

Vaan chuckled to himself while Ashe hastily apologized and told him they'd whisper.

"No use whispering now, I'm awake also," a male voice said as its owner crawled out of his tent. Captain Basch Fon Ronsenburg sighed as he sat down around the fire. Though slightly disgruntled, Basch still looked as tough as ever (how come Vaan just couldn't seem to look a specific way all the time?).

"Ah, Basch, how kind of you to join our little gathering. Soon enough, we may even accomplish waking Fran," said Balthier. Basch chuckled a little while Vaan took his turn to sigh.

Would he ever get a chance to ask his question? He came out here to ask Ashe a question that had been burning in his mind for the past three days straight, and now he felt that he'd never get to reach his goal.

Leaning back on his hands, Vaan watched as conversation progressed slowly until Balthier began to lead off into a topic Vaan was interested.

"So," Balthier began, his words flowing and smooth as always, "what is the cause of our rendezvous tonight?"

"Well," Ashe said, as her eyes followed Basch as he poked a stick in the fire, "Vaan wanted to ask a question. Then we were interrupted before he even got to speak."

Basch's hands stopped moving for a moment as he looked up at Vaan. "What kind of question?"

"Umm… A normal question," Vaan said, feeling his cheeks begin to heat up.

"Well, ask it then. Now you have three people to give you feedback instead of just me," said Ashe, smiling kindly at Vaan.

"I guess," Vaan said as he gulped nervously. "Well… I was going to ask you how… one would know that they are in love."

There was silence for a moment, and then Balthier chuckled a bit.

"Are you trying to tell Ashe something?" he asked, smirking.

"No way! Of course not!" Vaan exclaimed, blushing more than ever.

"Well… the pieces fit together. You were going to ask Ashe when she was alone, no?" said Basch. He seemed to be fighting off a grin. Ashe, on the other hand, just sat there, stone faced, taking it like a princess should (or so Vaan thought).

Vaan shook his head in disbelief. "I'm not in love with Ashe, okay? I came here to ask a question; couldn't one of you at least answer it?"

There was a brief pause, and then Ashe spoke.

"You know… that you're in love when you don't have to question it."

Basch gave Ashe a knowing look then, and Vaan was left befuddled.

Did he have to question it? Was he in love with her?

"Well, who's the girl?" queried Balthier after he yawned.

"Huh?" Vaan's cheeks turned red again. "Well… it's this girl… I've known her for my whole life. She's very-"

"So it is Penelo," said Ashe with a cheery smile.

"I never said that!" said Vaan, although he and the others knew Ashe's words were true. He sighed and nodded a little in defeat. "Okay, so maybe I did."

For the third time, a silence, this one more uncomfortable than the rest rang out. Until…

"I love you too, Vaan, but can you please shut up so I can sleep?"

A/N: You have no idea how hard it was for me not to make this completely OOC and have Basch speak in caveman dialect.

It was a bit of a farce.

I went for comedy in this one, instead of my either complete angst or complete cuteness.

And I added the others too. D Yay! I suck so horribly at writing dialect for Balthier, but I made him talk the most. Eheh… ;

Can you guys see Fran as being a really deep sleeper? She was the only one who didn't wake up. Oh, and I hope I made it clear that it was Penelo at the end, though I gave no indication whatsoever.

Thanks for the reviews! Keep on reading!