Today was a difficult day. It was difficult for both Flynn and Yuri. They'd been putting it off for years, due to the painful memories just thinking about it brought forward and due to still having not really accepted what had happened even though they had both been there. They had both witnessed it. They had both failed to help.

Yuri was sat on the edge of his bed, scratching behind Repede's ears as they waited for Flynn to arrive so they could go do what they needed to. He didn't want to do this, not by any means, but he felt awful about having left it so long before he actually did. It felt disrespectful to his memory. He should have done this years ago...

Repede whined and nudged at Yuri's leg to tell him he heard Flynn approaching. Sighing, Yuri got up and walked down to meet him outside the inn with Repede following behind him.

"You ready?" he asked his dear friend.

"As I'll ever be." was the response he got from Flynn. It was fair to say that it was how Yuri felt about it as well but they had a responsibility to do this.

They started to make their way to their destination, stopping to pick up some flowers on the way. Even Repede grabbed a few. Their mood was sombre as they walked, the three of them stopping as they reached the graveyard memorial plaque for the soldiers who died in the line of duty. The ones whose bodies were never recovered. Where the names of their captain, the great Niren Fedrock, and Repede's dad, Lambert, were etched into the stone. Lambert's name had been added due to him being so close to Niren to the point he was considered his dog not the army's.

Repede lay down his flowers, white hyacinths meaning "loveliness" and, the meaning Repede and got them for, "prayers for someone". Yuri smiled softly at him before laying his flowers down with Flynn. They had got rosemary's for "remembrance" and zinnias for "thoughts of absent friends".

They stayed silent as they payed their respects to their fallen captain. Yuri could almost hear him laughing at them about how serious they were being making a small smile spread across his face. If the captain was here now he was sure he'd notice how he felt about Flynn too. Hell, if the captain was here he'd tell him to get a move on and ask Flynn out already.

Alright, I'll do it then. Just you watch me captain. He thought as he looked up at the memorial, hoping if there was such thing as an afterlife the captain had got his message.

Once they had spent around half an hour there they decided it was time to go. Whilst it felt good to have finally visited their captains grave it still felt uncomfortable and slightly depressing to be there making them not want to spend an extended period of time there.

"I'm glad we finally did this. It felt wrong never coming to pay our respects." Flynn said as they walked out of the graveyard, a little relief in his voice as he spoke from the guilt that had been hovering over his head clearing.

"Yeah, me too. It still doesn't feel quite real though." Yuri replied. Flynn nodded a little, indicating he felt the same. It was never going to feel completely real to them they had realised over the years but they had made their peace with that a while back.

On the way back from the graveyard memorial they stopped at the little secluded clearing where they had got the flowers they had used to pay their respects. It was famous for having an unusual amount and range of flowers. The current most popular theory behind that being that there must be a secret gardener for the place though even after people watched for days no one showed up indicating this elusive gardener didn't exist. Some people then chose to believe that as a sign that the gardener was a ghost though most others chose to just acknowledge it as an usual, but natural, phenomenon.

They sat down on the grass and just relaxed in the breeze, enjoying the presence of each others company and the gorgeous sight of all the flowers before them. Flynn lay down and watched the clouds as he became more relaxed, hand gently rubbing Repede's back as he got comfortable.

It wasn't long before Yuri got antsy, stood up and started walking around the clearing. He never had been particularly good at staying still which caused him to grab Flynn's attention just by stopping at the edge of the clearing, back still towards him.

"Flynn... How much do you know about flower meanings?" Yuri reached down to grab one of the flowers at his feet.

"A fair amount, Lady Estellise taught me quite a few of them. Why?" Flynn frowned a little as he responded. Why on earth was Yuri asking him about flower meanings?

"Okay. Well then, can you um... Can you give me a few minutes?" Yuri said, sounding more flustered than Flynn had ever heard him sound. He wasn't sure whether that should make him concerned or not if he was being honest. It was definitely a rather out of character moment for Yuri though. He mumbled out an okay as he sat up and turned his back on him to start rubbing Repede's belly while Yuri did whatever it was he didn't want Flynn to know about yet.

It was around ten minutes later that he felt something soft placed on his head, encircling it like a crown would. He reached up to touch it. It was just as soft to his calloused fingers and they felt like flowers? He gently took it off to see a flower crown had been placed upon him made of black-eyed susan's, edelweiss, and geraniums. That was when he realised why Yuri had asked about his knowledge of flower meanings; black-eyed susan's meant "justice", edelweiss meant "courage" and "devotion", and geraniums meant "true friendship". He smiled as he realised this was how his friend thought of him and turned to face him.

"Thank you." he said and then noticed the two other flowers in Yuri's hands. A single iris and a single, red tulip. "A message" and "a declaration of love". Oh. Oh. So that was why he had been so flustered Flynn realised as his cheeks became a similar shade to the tulip that Yuri handed to him. "This is..."

"You understand what it means right?" Yuri mumbled a little as he spoke, cheeks flushed the same colour as Flynn's and the tulip.

"Y-yes. Yes I do." Flynn stammered, unsure of how to reply exactly. An idea struck him quickly though. He'd reply to Yuri in the same way he had given his message to him. "Wait here." he ordered as he rushed off to go find the perfect flowers leaving Yuri looking more than a little confused and sharing a glance with Repede.

He came back not long after and placed a flower crown of his own making upon Yuri's head. His one was made of amaryllis for "pride", thyme for "courage" and "strength", and wallflowers for "faithfulness in adversity".

Yuri took a moment to look at the flowers and work out their meanings. He smiled, a little sadly though, as he realised what they stood for and realised they weren't necessarily an answer to the confession he had made. That was until he saw the other flower in Flynn's possession that gave his answer.

There, within Flynn's hands, was his response. A red salvia. Forever mine.