I came here to rec Hard Balance!! :D It was my Doink! gift last year, and as I was reading through this entry earlier today I kept thinking "dude, I bet Sev would love Hard Balance".

Sev, I also wrote a remix of/response to Hard Balance and some of mako_lies other stories, if you are interested, it is here. Also you should just read all of Bri's FFXIII fic, she has a great hand with the characters and I think explores a lot of the themes you're looking for.