me: whoo, just submitted the 6th chapter a few minutes ago and i'm already working on this one! i'm so inspired by my four wonderful reviewers (the ones that were there for chapter 5 when i submitted the 6th chapter), Komikitty, Ranchdressing, Heaven's Valentine, and Iamhappytojustbealive. this chapter is dedicated to the four of you, along with my little sister who, even though she dislikes the pairing, is my faithful beta. love you, sis!

Peter: ff-kh-luvrgrl does not own the final fantasy franchise or any of its characters, no matter what she says that contradicts this fact. this fic contains yaoi (guy/guy) and smut. read at your own risk.

me: flames will be used to burn my schoolbooks (jk-darn)

ON WITH THE FIC!

OoOoOoOoOoO

Remember me?

chapter 7

dates written: September 6, 2007

September 7, 2007

September 9, 2007

OoOoOoO

((vaan POV))

Balthier led Basch and I into the Aerodrome, toward a small, well-cared for airship.

"Whoa!" I can't help exclaiming. If I had my own airship, I think I would like to have something like this one.

"This is the Strahl," Balthier tells me. As I turn to face him, I see a small smile on his face and an amused glint in his eye. "She airship enough for you?" I roll my eyes at him and turn back around, running towards it to get a closer look.

"The Strahl..." I say to my self, then tease Balthier. "You really are a sky pirate!"

"Well, the headhunters seem to think so." This pretty much wipes the smile off of my face in an instant. I glance at him, but he seems to be fascinated with looking everywhere except for me. In an extremely sexy way, of course. Suddenly, his eyes snap to a part of the airsh- the Strahl, and he asks someone, "What's the good word? Is she ready?"

I turn around and see three moogles hopping down the ai- the Strahl's steps. The lead moogle nods to Balthier. Fran is the first to board, Balthier following her until I begin to ask him questions, and so he lets Basch by him.

"So, is she armed? How fast is she? Could she take the Ifrit?" Balthier smirks and chuckles a little bit.

"I suppose I could tell you, but..." He jerks his head, indicating that I should get in. I hurry up the steps as I hear Fran starting the engines. Balthier gently grabs my arm and starts leading me to the cockpit. "...Wouldn't you rather see it for yourself?"

"Yeah!" I reply enthusiastically, then proceed to mentally beat the living s--t outta myself. Could I possibly sound any stupider?! Balthier merely gives me one of those "I'm-trying-my-best-not-to-laugh-but-you're-very-amusing" smiles. Right before we enter the cockpit, he lets go of my arm. Basch looks at us somewhat strangely for a moment, but I could've imagined it.

"Fran, our course." Balthier says, sliding into his seat.

"The shortest way's over Dorstonis," She replies, not taking her eyes off of the controls.

"How flies Bhujerba?" Basch asks suddenly.

"Oh, she's free as can be, for now. The Empire took notice when they announced the Princess' unfortunate suicide and your untimely execution," Balthier replies conversationally.

"If it becomes known that I am alive, the Marquis will lose their favor," Basch muses.

"I try to steer clear of such things. Right. It's time to fly. And no wagging tongues or you're like to bite them off," he teases me.

Brushing this off, I speak under my breath, "I'm coming, Penelo."

The Strahl makes a little jerk and then takes off smoothly.

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((a few hours later))

I yawn, but try to cover it up - Balthier is showing me how to fly the airship. He won't let me fly it yet - "I'd like to live for a few more years, at least" - but he had explained how to do it (both the basics and the not-so-basics), and then he had let me ask questions. Basch had left a while ago, obviously bored. Fran had disappeared a while ago, but I'm not sure why.

"So what's that one for again?" I ask, pointing to one of the various levers.

"That's the giant laser pointer. It'll let you take out a whole city at once."

"Oka-- WHA?!"

Balthier started laughing, and I whacked him on the shoulder before thinking better of it.

"Jerk." This caused him to laugh harder. I pouted as he had trouble keeping his eyes on the controls because he was laughing so much.

"Sorry," he managed to say between laughs. "That's the windshield wipers. they wipe o-"

"I know what windshield wipers are!"

"Maybe I should take over," an accented voice said. I turned around to see Fran, standing there with arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. "You need to rest."

Balthier, finally calming down (somewhat), shrugged. "Alright. Do you need any company?"

"I'll be fine. Go, and please - rest."

"Of course. C'mon Vaan - I'll show you to your room."

I started, then looked up at Balthier and nodded. Pushing myself up out of the chair, I followed him down a hallway and into a nicely furnished room. A little too nicely...

I jumped as Balthier closed and locked the door behind him. Tilting my head, I asked, "So when did 'your room' become 'my room'?" Balthier pushed me against a wall.

"When I decided I was horny, of course," Balthier murmured, chuckling when I blushed. All of a sudden, I wasn't as tired as I had been. Strange, that.

I opened my mouth to say something - not really knowing what though - when Balthier's mouth covered mine, eliminating the need to talk. Or think. Either way, I would be doing very little for a while.

My eyes slid shut automatically, and our tongues dueled, fighting for dominance even though we knew who would win in the end. Balthier lifted me into his arms, my legs wrapping themselves around his waist, and carried me to his bed. Setting me down gently, we finally broke apart, gasping for breath. He quickly undid the latch to my vest and removed it, my fingers fumbling with his. He leaned down, out of my reach, and took off both of our boots. Sitting back on the bed, he quickly undid his shirt and took it off. Our mouths crashed together again as he pulled me onto him.

A few minutes later, I was writhing on the bed as he prepared me, fingers thrusting in and out of me, hitting that spot over and over again. Suddenly, he stopped, removing his fingers. I couldn't help but let out a whine at the loss.

"Shh," he said, crawling over me. I felt his erection brush against my entrance, and I opened my legs wider, trying to make him hurry. He covered my mouth with his once again, and then, as I was preoccupied, he thrust in fully. I shouted into Balthier's mouth in pain, and he stayed like that, still kissing me, for a few seconds, then detached his lips from mine and started kissing away the tears I didn't even know I had cried.

As the pain receded, I became impatient, waiting for him to move. When he still didn't move after a minute or two, I bucked my hips against his tentatively. It was still kind of sore, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as the first time. Groaning, he slowly pulled out of me, leaving me feeling empty, before thrusting back in, filling me up again. He repeated this, slowly increasing his speed until he stopped all of a sudden.

"Balthier, wha-" I started, but Balthier silenced me with a quick kiss then rolled us over, still buried in me. For a moment, I had no idea what he was doing, but then his hands, still on my waist, lifted me up before pulling me back down sharply, his hips jutting up to meet mine at the same time. I gasped as he nailed that spot inside of me and leaned forward, bracing my hands on his muscular chest. He lifted my hips up again and then thrust up as he brought me back down, plunging himself even deeper than before, causing me to see stars. He continued, picking up a steady rhythm, lifting me up only to bury himself in me again. I helped as best I could, but I could feel myself coming closer and closer to the edge. After a little bit, he removed one hand from my waist, fisting my erection tightly, moving his hand in time to the thrusts until I arched my back in pleasure and released, calling out his name. I felt myself clenching around him, and he thrust in one more time before holding me tightly in place as he came deep inside of me. My hips would likely be bruised tomorrow, but right now I didn't give a Chocobo's ass about that.

Right now, all I cared about was Balthier and sleeping.

OoOoOoO

"-ake up, Vaan. We need to get up."

I opened my eyes blearily, blinking several times in confusion before remembering last night. I blushed, and Balthier chuckled, his hand rubbing my back absently. I was lying on top of him, my head on his chest while I slept.

"Fi' mo' min'ts," I mumbled, putting my head back down. ((A/N: Vaan said "Five more minutes."))

"No, now," Balthier replied, slowly moving me. Suddenly, he ripped the sheets off of us, causing a cold gust of air to hit my naked body. I yelped, unaccustomed to the cold air, and glared at him. He laughed, then slid out from under me and stretched, then gathered his and my clothes from around the room, tossing mine to me. We both dressed quickly, me feeling somewhat sore, and as I was fastening my boots - I have no idea how he got dressed faster than I did, his outfit seems more complicated than mine, but I dunno - he pulled a potion out of his pocket.

"Here, drink this," he commanded, leaving no room for argument. When I looked at his questioningly, he explained; "It'll help with the soreness." Ah. Blushing, I took it from him and drank it, feeling the tingling liquid slide down my throat.

We exited the room in silence, then started to talk about airships. He was explaining the different types of weapons airships could have when we entered the cockpit when Fran interrupted him.

"Fifteen more minutes, Balthier. We flew faster than we thought we would."

Nodding, Balthier slipped into his seat, but not before giving me a wink. I sat down, grinning slightly. I glanced at Basch to find him looking at me strangely.

"What?" He shook his head, looking forward.

"Nothing."

OoOoOoOoOoO

me: WHOOOOOOOOOO, that was hard to finish.

Peter: so, what's gonna happen next chapter?

me: ((stare))

Peter: what?

me: nothing. ((mumbling)) imbicile.

Peter: I HEARD THAT!!!!

me: SO, I checked the stats on chapter six FIVE HOURS AFTER I POSTED IT, and I already had 28 hits and SEVEN reviews! that's one review for every four hits! I checked again about a day ago, and i had 72 hits!

keep 'em coming, people! (lol)

thanks to all my reviewers, and i'd love to respond to all of my reviews for last chapter, but i have to finish this up. sorry! until next time, good-bye!