It was inside the forbidden city that Vaan used the skill that Balthier had told him in no uncertain terms never to use. The clumsy street rat turned skilled warrior had used the last of his magick to cast a Curaga on Fran, so when Balthier fell to a lucky hit by a Behemoth, he had no choice but to use Sacrifice. The team had been out of Phoenix Downs and Ethers for some time now. As Balthier felt the breath of life enter him, he jumped to his feet, only to see Vaan's eyes grow dark as his life was drained. Something he knew must have been important broke inside the brunet as the teen hit the floor, just as he feared it would.

They were taking a quick break in the Salikawood, Basch and Ashe studying the map to determine where next to check for their current mark, when Balthier and Fran had a short conversation on Vaan. It had recently come to their attention that the thief was no longer the slow, weak neophyte he'd been at the beginning of this journey after he took out every enemy in the area before either pirate could get a bolt or shot in edgewise. The Rabanastran in question was off looking for loot hidden in the corners of the field. While Balthier had dwelt on the boy's physical strength, which was inferior only to Basch's, Fran mused that the far from simple child's abilities with magic were akin to her own. The amber-eyed man finally started to realize what a diamond in the rough he'd found that night in the castle, and wondered frantically if Vaan might no longer want to apprentice under him to become a pirate now that he'd become such a star hunter in his own right. The aristocrat resolved to start teaching him how to pilot the Strahl that very night.

Fran gave him a knowing look after he gave into another of Vaan's demands, that they head to an area the boy had heard boasted a plethora of extremely powerful monsters, the best place to look for the elite mark that Montblanc had posted, the vague drawing depicting a sinister shadow as well as creatures such as an ancient turtle and a rare Phoenix. That it was worth it to the well-spoken rogue to see Vaan's true smile at being afforded this outing was terrifying to him, especially since he couldn't find it in himself to regret his generosity even after being incapacitated by the monsters in the Penumbra and Umbra six times. The look of concern on the boy's perpetually dirty face every time he used Arise to bring Balthier back from the clutches of death was worth it.

It made him proud to see Vaan carrying the Ultima Blade he'd plundered from deep inside the Pharos like it was a short sword, as well as watching the pirate-in-training's lithe body move as he attacked whatever enemy happened to be nearby with a natural ferocity that spoke of blood-lust. He practically danced circles around the beasts, the huge blade his lethal partner, the reddened ground his stage. On some level, he knew the boy was showing off for him, and that made the experience all the better.

In response to one of Balthier's many errant comments about being the leading man during a detestable trek through the Westersand on a blustery day, Vaan asked him what the leading man wants out of life. Feeling charitable despite the poor weather conditions, he answered that a leading man wants riches, a little fame, an apprentice to pass his infinite wisdom onto, at which point Vaan snorted, interrupting him. Undeterred, the older man finished by saying a leading man wants, above all else, someone to share his bed with every night when he finally decides to settle. To which Vaan replied, bright grey eyes smug, whether the latter two could be one and the same. It took all of the silver-tongued man's self-control not to splutter in surprise, not only at having Vaan allude to the possibility that Balthier wanted him, but the fact that he had been outplayed in a game of wits by none other than the platinum-blond. Failing to come up with a suitably impressive retort, he chose to remain silent, and that seemed to be enough answer for both Fran and Vaan, who were luckily the only ones in the group who'd heard any part of the conversation, Penelo, Ashe, and Basch off to the side taking inventory of their supplies.

The next day they were aboard the Strahl once again, the incident the day earlier supposedly forgotten in everyone's mind, save Balthier, since no one had deigned to speak on it since then. He however, had endless amounts of time to think while watching his startlingly adept student pilot the ship by himself, he merely had to make sure nothing blew up and they didn't crash. He was coming to the conclusion that yes, maybe he did find himself very attracted to Vaan, and perhaps he'd been a little too obvious in his staring and the dirty teen had caught on. He was mulling over how to invite the pickpocket into a relationship when the decision was abruptly taken away from him. The airship Vaan had been until recently piloting over some generic patch of green land was stalled midair, and the smoky-eyed boy was instead in the wrong seat. That is to say, he was in Balthier's seat, in the well-dressed pirate's lap, kissing him for all he was worth. When the blond pulled back for air, he got up from the chair with all the demure grace of a jungle cat and went back into the quarters, fetching Fran to relieve him. She gave them both a rare smile as they left to go to their long-shared room. The next day Penelo snapped that if they were going to do that sort of thing on the ship, they could at least have the decency to be quieter.

It had been quite a few months since Bahamut fell, since Balthier had seen Vaan. Regardless, he was greeted with that stupid, amazing smile and found himself thinking the boy he'd practically plucked off the streets so long ago was growing even more alluring with time. This time, Penelo didn't have the heart to complain about the noise.