seventhe | Snippets: for Nay and Ira

Please note that these are unfinished. Please note that these are so fucking unfinished I'm not even posting them to

brokenprism, a well-known repository of unedited craps. They're not crap; they're just... uh, snippets. Rather simple and worthless on their own.

However, I have promised snippets, and I will deliver snippets! To

bottle_of_shine and

justira: Only one has any makeouts and they are so brief I am expecting to be shunned.

Please also note that if you haven't read

justira's These Unending Alchemies of Honour and/or been part of it for weeks, these will make absolutely no sense. I am playing with her AU FFXII world, in which Noah lives basically to give Vaan the tongue a lot. (I kid! MOSTLY.) Ira, I am also totes playing FAST AND LOOSE with your world/canon/uh. Yes. >.> Basically I had a vague idea of something to write, prompted by Nay's makeout scene, and it turned into... three very, very different things.

(It actually turned into four very different things, but since the Vaan-POV is just Not Working Out today, y'all are going to have to wait for it.)

Uh.

- - -

She didn't mean to keep seeing them, to keep interrupting, but Penelo thought this really confirmed that she had the worst luck, or the worst timing, or maybe possibly both – except that it was Vaan, really, who had the worst luck and the worst timing; and Noah always turned this interesting shade of muted red and broke out in a case of the mumbles. She always wanted to giggle, because Noah was so very articulate, but she was always bright pink herself with embarrassment: and Vaan, dark smoldering flush splotching across his cheeks and that look in his eyes announcing loudly that the world was, again, being unfair in his general direction.

But it wasn't until the third time she'd walked into the study without knocking – and she'd never had to knock, before; Larsa always told her not to knock, because she was a welcome friend and not an honored guest – and Noah had mumbled something about reports and left and then Vaan had closed the door behind him and turned on her, his face dark with that angry-embarrassed-rage combination.

Penelo beat him to it, amused and concerned. "You guys need to stop necking in public places, Vaan."

Oh, and that hadn't been the right thing to say, had it? Vaan's face darkened more, and Penelo started to get a bit worried – Vaan was always so angry, thick and full with it, simmering below the surface; and she remembered what he'd been like before, bristling with unhappy dark energy every time Gabranth's name was mentioned.

But then he sighed, and he was just Vaan again – albeit angry-Vaan, still blushing furiously, but looking more sulky than anything. "I don't walk in on you and Larsa."

Penelo bristled, and she leveled Vaan with the kind of stare she only used when she was being super-serious: "Vaan, if you even think for a minute that we're doing the same thing—"

"Oh, god." Vaan looked horrified. "You'd better not, because that's just—"

"Alright then." Penelo interrupted before Vaan could take that sentence anywhere she didn't want to think about; she crossed the room, and perched on the edge of the desk. "But really, can't you find anywhere else to go? Trust me, I don't mean to be always interrupting your…"

"Conversations," Vaan said, loudly and forcefully. He came away from the door, and collapsed into one of the chairs, covering his face with his hands. "That's what I meant, with you and Larsa. It's just… we just want to talk? And it's hard enough to find a spare minute when he doesn't have the entirety of his spy division climbing out of his ass, you know?"

Penelo said nothing, because she did know: those few moments she could give to Larsa, when the formality of his Emperor-ness melted from his eyes and face and he was just a friend at her side, smiling at her with his own smile. She'd seen the private smile on Noah's face, only once – so tentative it made her heart ache, because that was Noah, there; he looked so unlike Basch when he smiled at Vaan.

"Go ahead," Vaan grumbled. "Lecture me." He turned his face away, and Penelo knew he was only playing at embarrassment by the scowl; Vaan was easy to read, and it wasn't as if he'd been keeping secrets from her. This thing, whatever it was he and Noah shared; tentative and awkward it was, yes, but it was already too large to be any kind of secret.

"Vaan." She kept her voice soft, and level.

Eventually, he looked over, and there it was: the confusion, the request for advice he'd never ever say out loud, because Vaan wasn't like that.

Penelo stood up, and walked over to kneel down in front of him, meeting his eyes. "If you want to have a bit of time, just tell me." She grinned at him, playfully. "I'm sure I can find plenty of things to do in Archades for an hour or two."

"You'd better not wander around by yourself," Vaan started – and then he caught himself, and laughed, as he realized she was teasing.

"What?" Penelo stood, and stretched. "A sky pirate like me? I've got nothing to worry about."

"You'd better not." Vaan stood up, too. "We've got a bit of time before Larsa gets out of that meeting. Want to go check the sparring grounds?"

Penelo winked at him. "You go," she said. "I'll wait here."

Vaan's smile lit up the room as he left.

- - -

"This is unfair to you," Noah breathed. He wasn't sure where the words had come from, but there was something in the thick Archadian air tonight, a haze between them in the darkness of Noah's chambers, Vaan's pale face a faint blur against the far wall. His heart ached with it, this familiar feeling of being torn: glad, against all rational thought, to see Vaan waiting for him; anguished, not wanting to chain the boy to something so old and broken and tarnished.

Vaan laughed, out loud, and that wasn't what he'd expected at all. "Really?"

Noah sat down on the bed, because he was undone, again, by this boy before him. "Let us not pretend, Vaan." As if there were any chance of it: all pretense between them was gone, broken down by the blows and glances and blows-within-glances they'd exchanged these past few months. "You are young, and I am–" Trapped was the first word on his tongue, and maybe it wasn't entirely right: Noah's work was no prison; or maybe it was a welcome prison, nonetheless, a cage of his own making within which he thrived. No matter; it was still a blockade, and no matter how he loved his position, it gave him no license to dally with someone so young and free; perhaps less, even considering Vaan's line of work.

"Oh, this again." Vaan's voice cut through his thoughts, and Noah started to see how close Vaan was; he'd crossed the room in moments, and was kneeling now beside Noah, his face – amused, Noah realized, amused and dismissive.

"I am serious," Noah said, and Vaan just smiled at him, and how did that smile so easily unlock the chambers around his heart, every time?

"I was thinking, on the way here," Vaan began, and while his voice remained light-hearted and teasing, the way his fingers played with the edge of Noah's sheets belied an unusual tension in his manner. "I was thinking it was pretty unfair to you, to be stuck here in boring old Archades, surrounded by all of those really boring Senators and this really annoying job, just waiting around for somebody like me who only shows up when he gets around to it." He glanced up, and the look in his eyes was anything but casual, and Noah's heart contracted and flipped at it; Vaan must have seen it in his eyes, though, because he smirked.

"And you thought that unfair?" Noah's voice was a croak, to his ears; the words were catching in his throat.

"Well, it seemed like a pretty awesome deal for me," Vaan confessed with a shrug. He ran a hand through his hair, soft-gold in the darkness. Noah heard the sound of a swallow, and then, softly: "But I don't want…" Then Vaan chuckled, and it was back, that swaggering confidence Noah knew he put on for a show. "I'm not really the Balthier type of sky pirate, you know."

And Noah laughed, despite himself, despite the worry bubbling in his chest that Vaan would grow too attached to something when he deserved so much more – or that he wouldn't, and he'd break this tether and fly – despite all of it, Noah laughed, because Vaan was so much more than a shadow, and he could barely believe he'd ever thought the boy an echo of anything other than his true self.

Vaan rocked back on his heels, looking up at Noah and smirking, again. "So let's both just stop worrying about what's fair or not fair, right? Because if you start that again, I'll…"

Noah's heart pounded. "You'll do what?" he asked, and it came out a low half-whisper, dark in this dark room, and suddenly Vaan was leaning over him, warm and close.

'I'll tell you to shut up," Vaan whispered, and the answer didn't really make much sense as a retort, but none of it mattered to Noah as Vaan's lips pressed against his, demanding and hot and entirely not fair at all.

- - -

Larsa leaned back in his chair and kept his face perfectly neutral. "I see no reason for you to accompany Judge Magister Gabranth, Senator Ladare. Or is your presence at tomorrow's referendum such a low priority on your schedule?"

Ladare blinked, but he took the reprimand as intended; Larsa watched it settle on the man's face, even as he smiled that cool unreadable smile. "Of course," Ladare murmured. "I meant no offense, my lord. I only ever offer my assistance to the Empire."

Larsa nodded. "Very well." He turned his gaze onto the stack of papers before him, an obvious dismissal.

Once the door shut behind Ladare, Larsa glanced up at the silent figure in the corner. "A bothersome man."

Noah removed his helm, and nodded. "He is already being watched, but Ladare is smart. We cannot directly tie him to his own lands, let alone anything suspicious."

"We cannot afford another Gelmes."

Noah sighed and bent his head, and Larsa added, softly: "That was not meant as reprimand, Noah." He waited until the man glanced up. "Merely as reminder, and to myself as well."

Noah said nothing.

Larsa bent and unlocked the top drawer of his desk, removing a slender roll of parchment. "This is for Ashe. Deliver it to her hands only, Noah."

Noah took the papers, obediently, but hesitated for a moment. Larsa watched, wondering if he would—ah. Yes.

"Why send me?"

Larsa watched Noah's face – thin, still, even after the months of recuperation and an almost monthly force-feeding of Dalmascan sweetbreads by Penelo; the gauntness of it made it too easy for Larsa to catch the emotions flickering in those smoldering eyes. "I will go," Noah said slowly, choosing words carefully, "but I have agents who normally perform this sort of work. And—"

Ah, yes, and now the real hesitation. Noah swallowed, and then looked straight up, meeting Larsa's eyes with no reluctance and – yes, a faint hint of amused irony, his eyes admitting both everything and nothing to his Emperor. "My records indicate the Strahl will be here today, with supplies. Is this message so urgent?"

"The Strahl will not be here today," Larsa said, quietly. "Do you think I send you to Dalmasca for one reason only?"

Noah's face: frozen for a moment, in surprise, and then the surprise slowly turning to the steely frozen look of realization. "Tell me," he said. Larsa had seen faces paler than his before, but only just, and none so potent with rage and worry.

"I do not know much," Larsa admitted. "Ashe's message was short, and delivered directly to me. Some sort of mechanical failure, near the Estersands. They are both alive, but they may have lost the ship."

Noah swallowed again, and in his worry, reached for - distraction. "How do I not know? What failure in my network need I correct this time? Or do Ashe's agents know the Palace's weaknesses now?"

"Be calm, Noah." Larsa stood up slowly, letting his voice be a caution. "I doubt even your best men could catch Fran at her work."

Noah's face relaxed – barely, Larsa noticed. "Go," he said to Noah, nodding. "Go, and take care of our friends. Report back to me as soon as you can."

Noah glanced down at the missive in his hand, and Larsa watched the emotions spar across his face - and, surprisingly, pride won out. "Still," Noah said, reluctant but firm. He held out the scrolled parchment. "I will find an agent who can be spared. I would not leave your side for... personal whim."

Larsa looked at it, and then up at Noah. "Not even for my whim?" His voice was even, and calm, and the challenge utterly obvious. Noah blinked.

"I do not send you for your concerns only," Larsa said, softly. "I cannot go myself. I send the best thing I can in my stead."

And now there was something in Noah's eyes that - whatever it was, it made Larsa prickle, somewhat, uncomfortably, as if Noah were seeing through him in that uncanny way only Penelo had - but why keep secrets from the one man he trusted more than any other? He met Noah's eyes confidently, and saw some of his own concern, reflected back at him.

He nodded. "Go. Be swift. And,” he added, as Noah paused by the door, “by gods and angels, report back quickly.”

Noah nodded, and left.

Larsa waited until the door closed - he watched it swing shut, and with the click he was in solitude again, his thoughts and his heart miles and miles away with Penelo, Penelo and Vaan and the ruins of the Strahl.

word count: 2206! heck yeah, September, I am catching back up.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

renay (from livejournal.com)

Seeeeeev are you kidding! WHERE IS THE REST. THE MOST EVIL CLIFFHANGER EVER.

I am totally saving these to my phone to read at work!

From:

first-seventhe.livejournal.com

Hahaha OH GOD THE MAKEOUTS. This round of FFEX; sev becomes queen of the tease (I am sure you heard how I sent my fic to ira, becky, AND katy with the porn unfinished)

THIS IS TOTALLY YOUR FAULT TOO