Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/434699. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Choose_Not_To_Use_Archive_Warnings, Underage Category: M/M Fandom: Final_Fantasy_XII Relationship: Basch_fon_Ronsenburg/Vaan Character: Basch_fon_Ronsenburg, Vaan_(Ivalice_Alliance) Additional Tags: Age_Difference, Community:_kink_bingo Stats: Published: 2012-06-15 Words: 521 ****** In which beauty lies ****** by hakubo Summary There was a time Vaan hated Basch, thought him a traitor, thought him old and lost and never forgiven and easily forgotten. Notes Possibly some vague spoilers for the games. Written for the "age difference" square for kink bingo When Vaan thinks about it he is certain it all began with sword practice. They had a day's rest and they all needed all the practice they could get so they camped out in one of the safer corners of the Estersand and did just that. Ashe was being her usual aloof self, Balthier trained with Penelo, Fran gave comments from the sidelines and Vaan... Vaan only remembers the sound of heavy breathing, grunts and breathless laughter. He only remembers the smell of sunburned sand, warm metal and sweat. He only remembers parted dry lips, beads of sweat on flushed skin, sharp grins, strong hands and long callused fingers. He remembers the burning muscles and focus so sharp nothing could ever compare, not any fight they had before and no fight that came after. Vaan only remembers Basch. * The beauty of Basch isn't in his physical appearance even though he is a beautiful man, tall and lean, all suntanned skin and bright, focused eyes. His beauty is in his experience, the nineteen years that stretch between him and Vaan, the unfaltering loyalty toward Dalmasca, the easy confidence in which he moves in a fight that always has the ability to reduce Vaan to staring open mouthed like a child. It's in the way Basch never treated him like a child, even when he was acting like a brat, the way he never took anything more than Vaan wanted to give and gave everything he had in return, even the parts that belonged to Dalmasca, to Larsa, to Noah. But most of all it's in the way Basch kissed him the first time in the middle of Ogir-Yensa, all heat and desperation. It's in the way Basch buries his fingers in Vaan's hair as he fucks his mouth, In the way he fucks Vaan against any and all available surfaces the second they have a moment for themselves, knowing exactly how hard to push, how to tease, how to hurt, how to please, how to make Vaan beg and kneel for him and Vaan gives him everything. Vaan gives up everything and gets so lost in Basch he will never find a way out. * For Vaan the most fascinating, the most attractive part of Basch's body are the scars. There are so many, memories carved in flesh, years mapped on skin. Vaan loves tracing each and every one with his lips, his tongue, feeling the puckered, smooth skin and each time he tries to decipher what each one represents, which battle, at what point in Basch's life. He fails, but still does it again and again and again because Basch lets him, because Basch needs him to do it. Needs him. * There was a time Vaan hated Basch, thought him a traitor, thought him old and lost and never forgiven and easily forgotten. Now, Vaan will follow wherever Basch leads, trust himself and everything and everyone he loves in Basch's hands. And he will gladly be on his knees for him, letting Basch take and take and take because Vaan has a lot to give and Basch deserves all he can get. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!