I'll Follow you Anywhere, Chief!

Title: I’ll Follow You Anywhere, Chief
Fanfiction Of: Growlanser II - The Sense of Justice
Author: Genis Irving
Rating: PG-13
Bonus Disclaimer: For those of you that haven't seen this fic in a while, it was taken down because I was underage at the time. Well, I'm not anymore, so it's back (hopefully for good). So let me say right now: I -am- the original author of this story, back finally after a year and a half of absence.
Warnings: This story contains Shonen Ai elements. Now, if you don’t know what that means, let me explain. See, when two boys are really good friends, sometimes, they fall in love with each other. In other words, there’s homosexual m/m love here ^.^ If you think that’s sick, I’m going to ask you to walk away - trust me, if you decide to flame me, it’s not going to get this fic removed from FF.net, but it is going to confirm that you’re still very uncomfortable about your sexuality.
Summary: “You’re constantly clinging onto Wein, you do whatever he asks without question, and we all know why you really became a knight. It’s really obvious you’re in love with him, Hans.” (Shonen Ai: HansXWein)
Spoilers: Well... I suggest you have played through the game once at least. Though that’s only 13 hours worth of playtime, really (I can do that in a weekend day if I really want!). Anyway, I’ll try to keep it spoiler-free as much as possible, but I can’t make any guarantees.

A/N: Why the hell did I write this story? I can’t answer that. I don’t know. Wait, yes I do! Because there’s no Growlanser fanfiction or fanart anywhere! ANYWHERE! So please, if you’re reading this and have any fanart/fanfiction skills, please, draw/write something up! I’m begging you! And when you do, sends it to me! Growlanser II is underrated (especially in Bishonen Ai elements: There’s Wein/Max, Wein/Hans, Wein/Carmaine...) and it deserves a lot more fan work devoted to it!

Intentions: I intend to write this as a multi-chapter story, perhaps - heck, I might even do an NC-17 version at some point in the future. However, for that to happen, somebody has to review! So, please review if you liked! Pweaze? PWEAZE? Don’t make me make Hans beg!!

~-~ I’ll Follow You Anywhere, Chief ~-~

At first, everybody had been elated when the news got around that there would be a day off for the group. That meant they could hang around the capital and do as they wanted - for the first time since each had joined in on the crazy adventure of Wein Cruz. Whether that meant calling up old friends, visiting nearby relatives, spending some time alone... or spending it with a comrade - whatever that free time was to be used for was for once up to the individual.
Unbeknownst to Wein Cruz - who also went by the titles Sir Wein, the Honourable Holy Dragon Knight Wein Cruz, and Chief - all eyes were on him that day. Well, many of them were, anyway. As he stood on a lonely street corner, he had to stop and think of just what he would be doing with his time.
“Well, as much as I’d like to spend this with my friends,” Wein thought aloud, standing near a fruit stall, “time like this is very rare. I suppose it would be best spent with somebody I really care about...”
He had no idea that there were four people hanging off of his every word. Hiding underneath the fruit stall was Arieta, who was busy trying to overcome a sudden bout of shyness. Having heard that Wein wanted to spend it with a girl, she had come to the sudden realisation that this could be her only chance - if she didn’t move in on him, another girl could, very, very easily.
Just around the corner, Riviera was waiting quietly, wondering if perhaps she should allow herself to make a move in towards Wein, who was obviously very open to suggestion. Yet a bit of fear was nagging at her - what would happen if Wein had already made up his mind to spend time with Arieta or Charlone?
Of course, as the fruit stand was perched at the edge of a building that happened to be a local hotel, two people were spying from up above. In the same hotel room, due to insufficient vacancies (Hans: For the king’s men? This is...) were both Charlone and Hans. Actually, Carmaine was up there too, but he was busy sleeping on one of the beds - his own room had been ‘too low class’, he had said. After all, Charlone had insisted on a royal suite, while Carmaine had been stuck elsewhere.
Hans, on the other hand, shouldn’t have been in there. He had snuck in because his room was on the other side of the hotel - and he wanted to keep an eye on Wein this time. Just watch him and let his mind wander where it would go.
The two were looking down, through separate windows, at Wein. The young male had no idea he was under such heavy, intense watch, by all four of them.
Up in the hotel room, Charlone sighed. “...Hans, can I ask you something?”
“Wh-what!?” Hans jumped, suddenly. All this time, he had no idea that Charlone had been watching the redheaded orphan. She must have snuck in recently, he figured, while he had been absorbed in watching and listening to Wein with his head out the open window, acting as if he was ‘bird watching’ or some nonsense like that. Now Charlone had caught him in a very vulnerable moment, already having a major case of the jitters from watching Wein.
“You’re watching him, too, aren’t you?” Charlone asked.
“Wh-What do you mean by that?” Hans protested, though a flush on his face was an obvious clue that he knew exactly what Charlone meant.
“Oh, come on, Hans. Every girl here is head over heels in love with Wein,” Charlone sighed. “You don’t have to hide it.”
“I’m a guy, Charlo!” Hans growled, angrily, flushing. “Besides, why the hell would you think I’d be in love with Chief?”
“Like I said, you don’t need to hide it,” Charlone sighed, looking straight out the window again, half ignoring Hans. “You’re constantly clinging onto Wein, you do whatever he asks without question, and we all know why you really became a knight. It’s really obvious you’re in love with him, Hans.”
“B-But all that stuff about following his orders, I mean, isn’t that what an apprentice is supposed to do?” Hans asked, nervously. He knew he was caught, but he had to try and stop Charlone from thinking that!
“Listen, Hans, you can forget about getting your hands on Wein.” Charlone sighed.
“Wh-What?”
“We all know he’s going to go for Arieta,” Charlone sighed. “I mean, they’ve been together technically for how long now?”
“A couple days?” Hans asked, innocently, a slightly stupid phoney hopeful smile on his face.
“A couple years, idiot. He did make a promise to her back when his father was still alive, you know,” Charlone sighed. “So you can give up on him.”
“...Charlo...” Hans sighed, in defeat, but Charlone didn’t stop talking there.
“Besides, even if he wasn’t after Arieta, it would almost certainly be Riviera - or even me, though I am his junior and younger than him. Do you know what the chances are that he’ll even pick me over Riviera? What chance do you think you have, too? Especially since we know Wein doesn’t swing the same way you do!”
“How do you know that?” Hans asked, sharply, hating the way Charlone was tearing away at his hope - one of the few things he could cling onto these days.
“...Hans, take a good look out the window,” came the very subdued reply to Charlone. The redhead adjusted his goggles and looked out the window. Wein was nowhere to be seen, but Riviera was - she was shaking slightly, looking down the street. Hans followed her gaze, and he could see Wein walking off with Arieta, hand in hand.
“...”
Charlone turned away from the window, as Hans watched the two sit down at an outdoor café, ordering lunch, and looking quite entertained. The young knight’s eyes rested on the defeated boy, who was apparently having his dreams shattered right before his eyes. She didn’t understand why the boy had imagined any possible hope in the first place, after all, guys just didn’t normally go for other guys. Why Hans could have possibly hoped Wein would go after him over Arieta - never mind over females in general - stumped her. She herself had given up on Wein a long time ago. She had actually kind of hoped that Arieta wouldn’t have lived at the Fusion Tower... but she did.
“That’s... that’s just not fair...” Hans shivered a bit, unable to tear his gaze away from the scene - he wanted to make sure it was real. Rather, he was hoping it wasn’t, that it would just flicker away before his eyes...
“Give it up, Hans,” Charlone sighed, as she walked towards her bed, and slumped down in it, disturbing Carmaine out of his sleep by accident. “Oh, sorry, Carmaine. Anyway, listen, Hans, Wein’s into Arieta”
“...Yeah, but... but...” Hans shivered a bit, whimpering.
“No he’s not. He can’t be.”
Both people in the room turned towards the slowly awakening Carmaine, who was slowly trying to sit up, rubbing his eyes.
“What do you mean, no he doesn’t?” Charlone demanded. “He’s on a date with Arieta right now!”
“Not from what he’s told me,” Carmaine sighed, shaking his head. “You remember when we stopped at the hot springs?”
“Oh, yeah...” Charlone sighed, dreamily.
“Oh, yeah!” Hans smiled, then turned an incredible shade of red at the memories.
“Well, listen. While the girls were bathing, I went to Wein and told him about... er... a peephole into the girl’s side of the baths...”
“WHAT?” came the response from Charlone, and Carmaine had to roll quickly out of the bed, landing hard on his rump on the floor, to avoid a powerful drop kick at where he had been lying.
“Let me finish, alright?” Carmaine demanded. “Anyway, I was talking to him, and I asked if he wanted to go take a look. And do you know what he let slip to me? And don’t tell anybody, but...”
“What, what?” came a pestering call from Hans and Charlone.
“He said, ‘I’m not interested in girls,’ and then turned and walked away.”
Both Hans and Charlone stood there, speechless, mouths open in surprise.
“...So then what’s he doing with Arieta?” Hans turned back to the window, running over. Except now, Wein was all alone at the café, looking quite guilty about something. Looking around, Arieta was nowhere in sight - but a set of footsteps running by the door to the royal suite into the nearby room, accompanied by the fleeting sound of a girl crying, told him just what had happened.
“I... I don’t believe...” Hans whispered.
“So what the hell are you waiting for, anyway, Hans?” Carmaine asked, annoyed. “If you’re in love with him, go get him.”
“...Wait, you could tell too?” Hans demanded.
“It’s really not that hard to figure out,” Carmaine sighed. Hans felt, once again, mildly insulted. “So stop standing around, Hans. This might be the only chance you’ve really got, you know? Who knows when - or if - you’ll both be around for the next day off...”
That was all the prodding it took to get Hans out of the room.
“...Can I sleep now?” Carmaine asked, annoyed.
“Yeah, sure...” Charlone responded, sighing in defeat, before she turned back to the window.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Hey, Chief!”
The voice startled Wein out of his guilty depression. As the knight looked up to see Hans’ ever-smiling face, Wein couldn’t help but smile slightly.
Telling Arieta that he wasn’t interested in her anymore wasn’t any good for Wein’s spirits at all. He had hoped for a happy day, but Arieta had insisted that they go grab a bite to eat. And that had been good, until Arieta had popped a major question on him.
“So, Wein... can I ask you something?”
“Sure?”
“Promise you’ll answer me honestly?”
“...Well, I guess. Why?”
“What do you think of me?”
“...Ah, Arieta, are you sure, you want me to answer...”
“Please, Wein...”
“...You’re a good friend to me.”
“...That’s it?”
“I’m sorry, Arieta, but... you’re just not my type.”
“...*sniff* W-Wein, I thought we... all that time ago, we were so close, and...”
“Things change, Arieta, I’m really, really sorry, but...”
Though Wein had expected that he would have to let Arieta down at some point in the future, he certainly hadn’t expected it to be today - a day he had originally planned to use to relieve himself of all tension by having some fun with his friends, but now...
“What’s eating you, Chief?” Hans asked, tilting his head.
“Oh... I’m sorry, it’s just Arieta and I, well...”
“Huh?” Hans asked, in a very convincing act, attempting to make it seem as though he didn’t know what was going on - though he certainly did, and it made him very happy. But he was sure Wein would be angry with him if he found out that his apprentice had been spying on him.
“...We broke up.”
“Why?”
“Well, I just wasn’t interested in her...” Wein began, but he was cut off suddenly by Hans.
Of course, the interruption certainly hadn’t been what either Wein or Hans had intended. The moment the words passed from Hans’ lips, he regretted saying them. Perhaps he had done it to catch Wein off guard to get him to reveal the truth, as the flustered often do. Perhaps he had done it in a moment of sheer stupidity induced by being so close to Wein. Perhaps he had done it simply to see if there was any hope possible for his dream. Though it was said in a joking manner, there was so much emotion hidden behind it, that any response - even no response at all - would definitely break a dam of another kind. The one holding in Hans’ feelings.
“What, Chief? Am I more your type?”
“Yeah,” came the instant response from Wein. Then, the black-headed warrior quickly tried to cover himself up, flustered and flushing greatly. “I mean, er... well, yeah, a girl like you would be more my type...”
“...Chief, I...”
Hans suddenly started shaking at this, fairly uncontrollably, and Wein stood up and looked at his friend, worried.
“...Hans, what’s wrong?”
“Chief... umm... please, can we go somewhere private?” came the choked question. “I... I need to talk to you, and... I can’t say any of this when we’re out here on the middle of the street, and...”
“Okay,” Wein nodded. “Let’s go up to the outlook. Nobody ever goes up there except me and Max, and he should still be on his way back from the Rolandia border.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“So...” Wein asked his friend, who was still in the slightly shaken up state. He didn’t want to rush it, but the timing of Hans’ nervousness had come at a very awkward moment - had it been what he had inadvertently said? He had been flustered, that was all - he didn’t mean to let his true feelings for the orphan out there and then, hadn’t he?
“...Wein... umm... about what you said back there...”
Yep, there was the confirmation. Wein braced himself.
“What about it?”
“...Am I really your type?”
“I-I said a girl...”
“Chief, don’t play around with me! I... really want to...”
Hans was shaking again, looking down at the ground, and slowly, he was walking towards Wein.
“H-Hans, I... didn’t mean to scare you, I’m sorry, I really am, I...”
“Wein...” Hans was standing right in front of the other now, still shaking. Wein’s hands came down on the younger one’s shoulders, holding onto him, trying to straighten him out.
What bothered him at this point was that Hans had suddenly referred to him by his first name. He was always ‘Chief’ to the younger boy. And now, suddenly, a wall had apparently been broken - he was seeing a side of Hans that he had never seen before.
“...Hans...”
That silent calling of his name was what set the orphan off. His emotional wall finally crumbled down - and no longer was he the always-happy, energetic, optimistic, ‘let’s go double or nothing’ Hans. He seemed nothing but an innocent boy now - a very lonely, innocent boy. “Wein I love you,” came the hasty, honest response from Hans, barely breathed out but perfectly audible to the older male, before Hans reached forward, wrapped his arms around Wein, and trapped the other in a quick, desperate kiss.
Wein was shocked for a few moments, and that was all it took for Hans to become convinced that Carmaine had lied to him - and Hans pushed away, releasing Wein, squirming away a bit.
“...What?” was all that Wein could manage out.
“Wein Cruz... I... I’m in love with you!” Hans confessed. “Ever since I met you... I knew there was something special about you, that’s why I had to follow you. I had to... I entered the Knight’s Academy just in the hopes that I’d get to be around you, to go adventuring with you... I’ll follow you anywhere, I’d give my life for you, Wein... if it meant seeing you smile at me...”
“...H-Hans...” Wein’s voice seemed more worried that it actually was - he was concerned all right, but Hans apparently didn’t take it quite the way Wein had hoped.
“I’m sorry, Chief, I shouldn’t have said that...” Hans shook, sniffling as he turned his back to Wein. - the return to that name meaning the wall had been rebuilt. He tried to tell himself, he wouldn’t cry, but he had been the idiot. He had let his guard down, for just a second, hoping that Wein could like him, and now...
A hand came down on Hans’ shoulder again, from behind, as Wein slowly stepped up - and then he was behind Hans, wrapping his arms over Hans, front.
“...W-what?”
“...Hans, I was hoping you’d say that...”
“W-Wein...” Hans’ eyes were teary, but they weren’t tears of defeat that were shining in his eyes as he turned his head towards the older male - they were tears of his hopes. The wall was gone again.
“Hans...” Wein looked over Hans’ shoulder, at the youth’s slightly freckled face, at the messy red hair, and at those innocent, fun-loving brown eyes, and Wein smiled. “I love you too,”
“W-Wein...” was the only thing that Hans could breathe out, before Wein’s head came down to capture Hans’ lips in a strong kiss.