Never Enough [FF XII]
Title: Never Enough
Fandom: FF XII
Pairing: Vaan x Penelo
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Vaan, Penelo, life and dinner. Post-game ficlet thing. Spoilers for ending. For ffxii_fic
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to FFXII. My thanks to SquareEnix for creating such a wonderful thing.



Dinner as usual. The city was going to sleep just as the nightly din in Lowtown was starting up. The apartment hadn't changed much. The heady aroma of meat stew and fresh bread blended with the musty scent of lowtown, that of damp rock, mold, moss, sweat, wood smoke and spices, as it always did. Vaan breathed in the scent as he crossed the threshold and knew that he had come home.

"Vaan, you're late!"

...Only to get nagged at. Like always.

"Sorry! I was just going to the Sandsea for lunch when I saw this bill on the board and..."

Penelo just sighed and shook her head. Vaan gave her cheeky grin and sat down to dinner.

"Hey, come on, the meal's still warm right? So that means I'm less late than usual," He breathed in the steam and dug in. Penelo smiled and began eating. It was amazing really, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same. Vaan still spent most of his time talking about how he was going to be a sky pirate and she still worked for Migelo and danced at the Sandsea. Now she delivered goods from all over to Migelo's, picking off hunts enroute. Dancing at the Sandsea had become more about enjoying dancing and less about earning tips that jangled in her pockets. Vaan had actually gotten his air ship, but seemed to spend most of his days just delivering things for stores or using it to get them to the latest mark.

Penelo once joked that they should give up on being pirates and just open a shipping business or become full time hunters. A hut on the Phon shore would be nice wouldn't it? The look on Vaan's face when he chocked on his bread was worth the effort it took to keep a straight face through it all. Honestly, all of Vaan's talk had somehow drifted in sideways. She had become rather fond of the idea of being his partner in crime. The blue skies that had always beckoned to Vaan was beginning to call her name as well. Someone had to watch Vaan's back. Who better to do that than her?

She wasn't scared of losing him anymore. Not to the world outside, to death or to someone else. They had seen the world, beholden things great and terrible that few others had ever lain eyes upon. They had stared straight into oblivion time and time again. And with her low-riding, lace up dancer pants, Vaan's eyes were most definitely not roaming else where.

"Hey Penelo?" Penelo looked up from her musing.

"Yeah Vaan?"

"I was just thinking," Penelo raised an eyebrow, "you know what I mean. Anyway, you and I, we've been through a lot. We've seem so many things and done so much. Yet when I came through the door, there was this one thought that ran through my head." Penelo nodded, urging him to continue.

"I was just thinking as I opened the door, hearing the creaking rusted hinges and smelling dinner on the table that 'this is home'. I know we're headed off for some weird place chasing some Cache of Gabado tomorrow,"

"Glabados," Penelo corrected. Vaan rolled his eyes and then grinned.

"Yeah, yeah, anyway, I realized that I could never get enough of this. So I figured it's really good that we're going to be together forever. Some day you and I will be old and I beat you we'll still be here eating dinner. Except we'll be even richer" Penelo giggled.

"Vaan, you're so sweet somedays," Vaan scowled.

"Come on, don't call me sweet. We're going to be sky pirates starting from tomorrow. We're tough and scary. Penelo, stop laughing," Vaan had taken to pouting. Penelo guffawed at his expense before calming down.

"All right then, Mr. Tough Sky Pirate, how was your day?"

"So like I said there was this bill. The petitioner was some cranky merchant who ran into some trouble..."

There was one change. Penelo and Vaan had always slept in the same room. Some time ago, they replaced the two beat up pallets with a single bed. Vaan and Penelo had made the frame themselves with lumber from the Feywood. It was a symbol and good luck charm all in one. Vaan was still trying to figure out how to get it into the airship.