Cherished

prompt : boyfriend
Vaan & Penelo

Disclaimer: I do not own FF12, its characters, settings, etc. These words, however, are mine.

She'd been gone for an awfully long time before she finally came back. Vaan knew instantly that something was wrong when she walked in. He jumped up off of the sofa he'd been brooding on for the last few hours and was by her side in a second. "Where have you been? Why were you gone so long? What's wrong? I know something's wrong, so just cooperate and tell me because we don't really need to stand here and fight all morning, since, you know, it's two in the morning and all and--"

"Vaan, please!" Penelo cut in with a scream, pushing him away from her. "Stop babbling at me, okay?" There was an edge to her voice he didn't quite like.

Well, okay, he thought. She'd only yelled at him like that once before in their years long friendship and that was on the day that some stupid kids had decided it might be fun to follow her through the streets, cat-calling and making sick remarks. Tonight, she'd been out with a guy.

A guy Vaan didn't like for many reasons, the top one being that he was... Well, a guy. After Penelo. Almost instantly, he was ready to tear the idiot apart, never mind the fact that he hadn't heard her say anything about him doing or saying anything to her.

"What did he do?"

"He-- Wait, what?" Penelo shook her head exasperatedly and threw her hands in the air. "Nothing, he didn't do anything."

Vaan sighed and grabbed her wrist when she turned to walk away. Just as quickly as he grabbed her, he let go as if she was diseased, for she cried out in pain. Knowing that he hadn't gripped her hard at all, he made a grab for her arm to check her wrist, but she backed away from him too quickly. "What's wrong with your wrist?"

She narrowed her eyes and he could see she was fighting with herself not to hold it to try to numb the pain a little bit. "Nothing, you grabbed me, Vaan. Hard. That's all, now, please--"

He scoffed. "Hardly. I know I'm pretty stupid most of the time Penelo, but this is more than a little insulting, okay? I wouldn't have asked you what was wrong if I didn't know you well enough to see that something was wrong and I want to know what happened to your wrist."

"What is this? And what gives you the right to demand things from me!?"

"Can't you just tell me what happened?" He sighed. "You should've been back four hours ago. It's two in the morning and you've had me sitting on that couch biting my nails off because I didn't know where you were or if something had happened..." He trailed off.

For a moment, he thought he'd finally broken past the resistance.

"I..." The breathed in deeply. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to worry." Her eyes filled with tears and she fled to her room, locking the door, locking him out.

"God damn it." He whispered fiercely and he refrained from hitting something, refusing to upset her any further. "Fantastic, Vaan. You've got some good skills there, pushing her into a corner and trying to force her to tell you whatever the hell you want to know." He berated himself aloud and he couldn't stop himself from coming back to the thought of her wrist and what that could mean. He was shaking, too, he noticed and he fought to control it.

He heard the shower go on and he rubbed his eyes tiredly. Yes, he was tired, but he wasn't sleepy at all, not now. Knowing that trying would be futile, he decided to lay himself out on the couch and he let himself relax a little as he stared out the large window at the moon and the stars, faintly misted over with a very thin blanket of cloud, thinking of her and only her.

He heard the shower go off a little while later and then there was silence.

He didn't know how much time passed before he heard her door open. He stopped himself from moving, though he wanted nothing more than to get up and look at her and give her a hug and apologize and everything else he generally disliked having to do to make her feel better since he was always being ordered to do so; this time he wanted it so badly and he was confused, but he was willing to do whatever he had to to make her feel better.

Anyways, who said she was coming out to see him? If he was her, right now, he'd probably want nothing to do with him for a few days, maybe a few weeks.

He was surprised then, when she sat herself down beside him on the couch without him noticing her making her way over. "God, Penelo, where's the thunder that usually accompanies your feet?" And then, of course, realizing that that was probably not going to help him right now, he quickly apologized. "Sorry, I..."

"I'm sorry about before." Damn, her voice was shaky. She wasn't going to cry? He hardly knew what to do to get past the panic when she cried! "It was unfair--"

"No, I'm sorry, I was unfair. It's your business what happens when you go out, I know that, I just..." His eyes roamed to find her hand, but when he found it, he could hardly see in the darkness anyway. "Can I...?"

She held her arm out and he gently took her wrist, feeling the bones. He didn't ask what happened, just if she wanted him to heal it for her.

She nodded, "I was going to, but... I was upset so I figured I'd better leave it in case I only made it worse." She said quietly and she said nothing else, even when her hand was fixed. She simply sat there beside him and he was still laid out, looking out the window with her and occasionally sparing her glances.

Alright, so maybe more than occasionally.

"He kept asking me to do things... First we went to the movie, like we planned... Then he asked me to dinner and we were talking and I found I didn't like him as much as I thought I would. He seemed so nice and quirky... Sweet, I guess, but... Anyway, he wanted to go for a drive, so we did and we ended up to going to the theatre; they were holding a dance there, which was fine except that he refused to leave when I asked him to. So... I said I was leaving and he got upset, saying I didn't like him enough, he could tell and that he was stupid for letting me string him along or something like that." She sighed, taking a breather. "He grabbed me, hard and he said I owed him another date or something, he was a little drunk. Some guys got him off me and I... Walked home."

"Fucking asshole -- what's his name again?"

"Vaan, no, come on." She laughed a little. "It's not a big deal, it's done. I doubt I'll be seeing him again and if I do, I doubt I'll be alone. But it's sweet that you care enough to want to hurt him for me."

"I'd kill the bastard." He spat, sitting up. "So he didn't do anything else." He saw her shake her head, her braids flipping this way and that. "Better not of..." He muttered, folding his arms over his chest.

She smiled in the darkness, a smile he couldn't see that would have revealed a lot.

"Come here." He said suddenly and she was shocked to see him holding his arms out for her. "Yeah, yeah, I know the look you've got on your face right now and I don't appreciate it. Besides... whatever. The offer is almost out."

Penelo giggled and snuggled up to his chest, completely relaxing against him when his arms went around her. He was the only one who'd ever made her feel this way, all at the same time, she realized. Warm, safe, secure... Loved. "You don't have to get so upset, you know. If you're so uncomfortable, you shouldn't do it."

"Who said I'm uncomfortable?" He asked, tightening his hold on her slightly.

"Right, I forgot for a second there that you're always at ease." She said a little sarcastically. They indulged in silence before a quickly falling asleep Penelo asked, "why do I pick the jerks?"

"We're all jerks. You're just not looking hard enough to find someone who's like m--" He halted immediately, not believing that he'd been about to say that. "Er..."

"Like you?" She asked quietly, before yawning. "Yeah..." She sighed happily, succumbing to darkness. "I guess I do want you."