There was always a sense of belonging and home every time Yuri came back to Zaphias. It really didn't matter if she was part of a guild or not—the empire's capital would always be home… specifically the Lower Quarter, of course. Acquaintances were always ready with cheerful greetings and snarky comments, Ted always had a new story and adventure to tell, and Hanks was always there to be the bastardly grandfather who'd scold her on the way she left without a word last time.
It was just home.
Of course, there was always Estelle to visit. Yuri made sure she dropped by the castle to check on the princess, who apparently had taken quite the liking to Halure and was a big hit with her books. Yuri never read them—because who the hell would read about adventures when one could go on them?—but she heard plenty of good reviews about them. She last heard Estelle was actually writing a more serious novel, supposedly on their own adventure…
… there was really no avoiding him though. Yuri found herself skipping Estelle's window and climbing a floor higher, hauling herself up onto the window sill. It was open, as always. He was getting so predictable.
But the room was empty when Yuri carefully rolled from the window along the floor a bit, ending the graceful movement with a crouch and rising to her feet a moment later. She pressed her hands into her lower back, bending backwards a bit as she glanced around. Immaculate as always, Flynn's office slash bedroom was just like she recalled during her last visit. The bedroom door was closed, and Yuri frowned. She looked back outside, the sun high in the sky—he had to be awake…
Unable to help herself Yuri took a short detour to peek at his desk. Of course, everything was in perfect order and in neat little stacks, so her snooping was limited. It seemed like these were construction plans though; somewhere in the Lower Quarter, further down the hill and close to the border of where the barrier used to be.
They're building…? Expanding, maybe? While Yuri would rejoice such news, wouldn't it be better to remodel the existing Lower Quarter before attempting to expand on it?
She let the corner of the paper she was peeking at fall back down, glancing to the bedroom door. She could always ask. Well… demand. Undoing the temporary knot she had fashioned for her sword to hang off of while she climbed, Yuri sauntered her way to the bedroom door in the usual manner. She briefly wondered if Flynn was showering or something—that would be hilarious. Maybe she'll steal his towel again…
Yet when Yuri opened the door quietly, her would-be prank already failed, as she saw him snuggled under the covers of his bed, lightly snoring. Normally, Yuri would turn away and let him sleep, but it was afternoon and Flynn never took naps. Was he sick?
A bit of concern shot through her and she carefully stepped into the bedroom, closing the door behind her quietly. The windows here were shut, locked, and covered with black blinds, making the room rather dark despite the time of day. It felt a little stifling in here, and Yuri remembered all the times she and Flynn had shared space before, how she hated it every time he closed all the windows.
If he wasn't sick, she was about to wake him up with a healthy dose of sunlight.
Yuri crept to the side of the bed, setting her sword down carefully as she knelt down so she was face to face with Flynn. Very carefully she leaned forward, just barely touching her forehead to his. It didn't seem feverish…
Flynn stirred, making Yuri immediately lean back. Since when did he sleep so lightly? Before she could flee, Flynn's eyes opened and fixed right on her. A bleary blink later, he smiled groggily at her.
"Hey, Yuri," he greeted sleepily, and Yuri wasn't that immune to how endearing it sounded. "Didn't know you were in town…"
"Just got in." She replied, getting back to her feet. "You okay?"
"Yeah…" He yawned, slowly sitting up and letting the covers fall off of him. Immediately Yuri's eyes were drawn by the movement, mostly out of battle instinct, but then it became a much different look as she took in his bare upper body. "Sorry… if I knew you were going to be around I'd be up…"
"It's afternoon, why're you sleeping?" Her eyes moved back to Flynn's before he realized she was admiring. Her best friend always was easy on the eyes, even in dim rooms. Especially in dim rooms…
"Stayed up last night," Flynn mumbled, yawning again. "Emperor Ioder caught wind of my late nights and ordered me to make assignments for the captains, and take the day off."
How typical. Flynn never was one to be idle; it was amazing he could function like he did. "Well don't let me ruin that." She grinned. "I'll be in town for a while, so you rest up."
Yet when she turned to go, Flynn's next words made her stop. "You can stay."
Things never went right when she stayed and Flynn was half naked. And Yuri knew that was always her fault. "I really shouldn't."
Flynn laughed. "I can get up. I slept all morning. We'll train."
Yuri looked back at him, and even if he was being honest, she heard the almost pleading undertone. Please stay. It always came to this.
The really pathetic part was she really didn't want to say no. She kinda missed him.
"Get dressed then." She finally replied, and Flynn's face lit up in such a way that made her smile. He really was too cute sometimes.
She knew this was going to happen, damn it all.
Time and time again it happens. She kept telling herself she should stop doing this, that it wasn't fair and she was being a bitch. But time and time again she found herself curled up beside Flynn, his hand affectionately stroking her back and hair.
It was always a slow process, too. Things would build up, she'd see it—he'd get that hopeful look on his face, try to be a gentleman, and even if she normally resisted it she'd let him get away with little things, like holding the door open for her or giving her a hand up big steps. Their hands would stay entwined a few seconds longer then they needed to be. They'd stare at each other a few seconds longer than they should. Stand too close. Laugh too often, too loud, all those stupid signs they were acting on those old attractions.
And then they'd start this.
She knew if she quit right now they won't go that next step. The best part about slow processes is that they were one step at a time. She could cut it off before they took the next one to closer intimacy. Cut it off before things got too heated all over again.
"You okay?" Flynn asked, his hand stilling.
"Sort of," Yuri muttered, closing her eyes and tucking her head a bit lower, curling up a bit tighter so he couldn't see her face. "Just… thinking."
"About us?"
Damn it, Flynn. "Yeah…" she sighed. "How often has this happened?"
Flynn hummed, going back to petting along her back and hair. Even with the clothes on, she knew how it would feel if he were touching her skin. She was most familiar with his touch after all.
"Since we were what, sixteen?" he finally said. "Off and on since then."
She's surprised he said that so neutrally, and it makes Yuri relax enough to look at him. Even his expression was rather neutral… by now he was used to it, it seemed.
"I keep telling you to move on," she said. Her usual defense.
"I keep telling you I try. Couldn't I say the same about you?"
"I do!" Yuri blurted. Yet that neutral expression melted and Flynn gave her a pointed frown, the same one he always gave when he knew Yuri was lying out of her ass. "I've had lots of…"
"One night stands?"
"I'm not a whore," Yuri glared, offended he'd even suggest that. Some best friend he was. "And at least the guys I dated weren't clingy psychopaths like your last girl."
Flynn groaned, taking his hand off Yuri's back to facepalm himself and tipped his head back against the backboard of the bed. "I was not having a relationship with Sodia. That's unprofessional, Yuri."
"And this is?" Yuri sat up, the shirt she borrowed him hanging off her almost scandalously. It covered her, of course—but the fact she was wearing it, lying in bed with him…
Flynn removed his hand with a sigh, and to his credit, he didn't bother trying to touch her again. Yuri had to admit, she enjoyed a man who knew how to read a woman's silent cues. "You're not a knight under my command, Yuri. Any woman who works under me would be accused of being a whore if it got out I was involved with them in such a way. That's a headache I'm never going to have. And if you mention that you're part of a guild, kindly shove it up your ass."
It wasn't that often Flynn was that blunt with her, so Yuri kept quiet, letting Flynn go on, "Look. I know how this usually rolls out. I'm not stupid, Yuri. I know if we keep this up, we're going to sleep together. I know eventually you'll get this stupid idea you're not good enough, or you don't want to commit, so you'll give me the 'you're my best friend and I don't want to lose that' speech and we break it off and go back to how we were."
It was frustrating. Not the fact he knew… but the fact it became such a routine. That they routinely had something of a relationship, routinely put their feelings through a blender. Or, really, she put his through a blender…
Flynn suddenly gave her a crooked smile, making Yuri give him a dumbfounded look. The hell was he smiling over? "I would think," Flynn kept going, his tone a bit teasing, "After Aurnion you'd realize you were damn good enough."
She wasn't sure if he meant their little duel—of which she did kick his ass—or the night they spent together afterwards. "Don't tease me."
"Yuri, we wouldn't keep doing this if there wasn't some sort of attraction—"
"Oh shut up, Flynn. You're damn hot and you know it."
He made a point to ignore that tidbit, even though he did blush a little. It was so cute. "Can we just try?" he finally asked. "I know you don't like me using that word… but I've felt like this since we were stuttering, stupid little teenagers exploring things. Even through all the break ups, through all my attempts to move on, through seeing all yours. For once… can we really try?"
Yuri had to admit, she appreciated Flynn's 'we' even if it was always her fault. It was always her fault they ended up close, and ended up breaking up. Flynn always tried. She was the one not trying. She was always the one not trying it seemed.
Since she started trying, Yuri had done some amazing things. Had achieved amazing friendships, had gone through amazing—good and bad—things and came out a better her. She really tried in that duel, and putting her all into it, she finally triumphed.
Maybe it was time to put her all into everything else, too.
"It's amazing." Yuri breathed, and Flynn beamed.
She could barely recognize the place, but at the same time, there was no mistaking it. She had lived here once herself, happily adopted unofficially by the Scifo family. The layout was practically the same, but the old, crumbling building was gone. It was all so fresh, so new.
It was scary, thinking this was possibly her next home, if she said yes.
Yuri turned on her heel, staring at Flynn resolutely. "And the rest of the Lower Quarter?" she asked. "It'd be like this? New?"
"That will take time," he answered smoothly. "But that's the plan. Over the course of the next several years, we divided up the Lower Quarter into lots. We'll restore what we can, remodel and replace the rest."
"And the gald for all that is coming from?"
"The taxes of the previous rulership were far too heavy on the middle and low classes, and several Nobles cheated them with loopholes. We plan to use the excess gald from the previous tax rates, plus the gald we lifted from those Nobles who cheated the system, to fuel the renovations. Fortune's Market has already agreed to help with cost management in exchange for allow more of their merchants set up shop."
That sounded way too easy, but with the matter of fact way Flynn put it, it sounded like things were already in motion. "And somehow…" Yuri started slowly. "This is my birthday present?"
Flynn smiled, reaching for her hands. She let him take them into his, and Flynn lifted them up to his lips to press a kiss to the back of each. "You know what else I'm going to offer you," he said knowingly, and Yuri's face felt hot from being caught so easily. "I saw you rifling through my drawer."
Yuri looked away huffily. "You should have hid it better!" she accused. "Besides, after six years, it's practically my drawer too!"
Flynn chuckled, and kissed her left hand again, over her ring finger. She knew that was a calculated move. "It practically is. So I'm really just asking we move out of the castle and into a home of our own."
Yuri pulled her hands from Flynn's, crossing her arms under her bust stubbornly. "I wasn't really living with you in the castle."
"You're so difficult," Flynn remarked, partially affectionate, partially exasperated; he reached out and pulled Yuri into his arms. "Marry me, Yuri."
"Aren't gentlemen supposed to ask their intended ladies, not demand?"
"You're no lady, Yuri."
She laughed. "And you're hardly a gentleman, I suppose."
Flynn pulled back from the hug, reaching into his item pouch and almost unceremoniously dropping the ring box into her palm. For all intents and purposes, Yuri was actually glad he wasn't trying to be too traditional over this. He probably knew she'd say no to such an approach.
She knew what the ring looked like. She did go through the drawer after all. But she didn't give the ring back, and Flynn was fluent enough in Yuri's mannerisms to take that for an answer.
Work was sparse.
Brave Vesperia was known to take on nearly any job—from the mundane to the impossible. Yet as the years passed and society normalized and adapted to life without blastia, Yuri was finding herself with less work. Less reason to leave Zaphias.
Gald wasn't really an issue when being unofficially engaged to the Commandant. Actually, gald wasn't an issue since she had her little adventure… and if she ever felt that short on cash, well, she just needed to get ahold of Judy and take a quick trip to Nam Camboda Isle…
What because the issue was just boredom and restlessness. Sure, she could go to the castle and kick some knights' asses under the guise of 'helping to train them' but Flynn had recently approached her, telling her to stop beating the shit out of his knights. Naturally, this only led her to beating the shit out of him (or trying. Even after that Aurnion fight, Flynn was still her rival. So far they were almost even on the win-loss scale.) but that was only sometimes. Yuri needed something to do.
Sure, she did a few jobs around Zaphias. But they were short term, quick things. She even started to help with the restoration and reconstruction of the Lower Quarter, but when it invariably got out that she was "possibly the Commandant's fiancée, we're not really sure but they're wearing rings and they've been together awhile" it seemed people were uncomfortable letting her do much labor. It was frustrating—her relationship with Flynn didn't make her weak. She kept working on it, but on the days work was suspended to allow workers to rest, she found herself restless and bored.
Sometimes such days were timed with Flynn's own days off—Ioder was pretty adamant about him resting, and once Estelle got on that bandwagon there was no getting off the hook—then Yuri had no issues. Flynn could entertain her for hours in some form or fashion.
Before she knew it, though, Yuri had herself a part time job. A new café had opened in the finished lots of the Lower Quarter, and to kill boredom between jobs, construction and bonding with Flynn, she was in the kitchen of the café whipping up some baked good or another.
A part of Yuri was averse to falling back into that old life she had, where she wasted time staring out the window, seeing things she wanted to change but not really doing that much to change them. She didn't want to idle away the time she potentially could have lost since that scuffle on Zaude, since all the other times she nearly died. She survived all of that, made all these differences, that she couldn't really bring herself to being idle ever.
"And they say I work too hard," Flynn said one day, sitting at the café counter with a snarky smile.
Yuri had half the mind to pretend to trip when bringing him a coffee, but she had to be nice to her boytoy. "You do." She replied, setting the cup down in front of him. "You're off early, too."
"You're the one working late."
Yuri rolled her eyes, undoing the apron around her waist. "It's only eight."
Flynn peeked over his mug at her. "The café closed an hour ago. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're avoiding going home."
Yuri stuck her tongue at him before going to the back to hang up her apron and other pieces of uniform. A few minutes later she came back up, doing up the ties of her undergarment that peeked from the deep neckline of her tunic. To Flynn's credit he didn't stare. "We can go home now."
"You just gave me this coffee."
"Now who's avoiding going home?"
Flynn laughed, making Yuri grin crookedly. It was funny; not that long ago, her being difficult like this would have annoyed him more than amuse him. It seemed like her trying was really paying off in so many little ways.
"You know, we're over thirty now." Yuri muttered idly, her teeth latching onto Flynn's ear.
He couldn't help the light groan getting out of him. This woman was insatiable. "I'm aware of that."
Yuri tugged on his ear, letting it slide between her teeth before sitting up, hands braced against his heaving chest. "I'm surprised," she went on, tone teasing as her fingers traced over ridges of defined muscles. "It's been three years since you asked. You haven't pushed that much for an actual wedding."
"That's your job," Flynn breathed out. He knew that touch. He needed to get his air while he could. "The bride's the one who dictates the wedding."
"You didn't like my idea of having Hanks just say 'good job, you're married now' like he does most of the other Lower Quarter weddings."
"I didn't like your idea of him doing that minus the actual wedding part. And you know Lady Estellise would have a fit…"
Yuri's eyes narrowed. "This is my wedding, Estelle can kindly bugger off."
Flynn grinned crookedly. "You promised her she could be your maid of honor."
Yuri sighed. It was true, and Estelle was sure to remind her in some way she had to act on that promise. She did not want the massive ceremony Estelle tried to make her do, but obviously she needed something. "What happens after marriage?"
Flynn's hands slid from Yuri's hips to rest lightly on her thighs, his form relaxing under her. "Beats me. Never been married before."
She rolled her eyes. Now he was being difficult. He always got this way in bed, the jerk. "With the guilds and empire coexisting so peacefully, life's been pretty slow."
"Peaceful, not slow. You don't like slow."
The way Flynn smirked at her saying that threatened to make Yuri blush. Honestly! She was trying to have a conversation here. "Flynn."
"I'm listening, Yuri. I'm trying to tell you we'll take it as it comes. This is something we have to do one step at a time."
All that flirt-talk sure didn't sound like that, at all. "You wanted to settle down, didn't you?" she went right back on topic, tracing along his chest again.
Flynn raised an eyebrow up at her. "This isn't settling down?"
"Flynn!"
"What?" Flynn's eyes widened a bit at her sharper tone. "I'm serious! We're getting married whenever you decide on a ceremony type, Yuri. That's settling down, isn't it? We have our own home, our own routine work and jobs—why're you getting mad at me?"
All right, so she jumped the gun on that one. "I'm saying we should be a little more normal." She continued. "I get you're the Commandant and Brave Vesperia is becoming a Master Guild—"
"Which, congratulations on,"
You're late on that. "But even with all that, we can be a little normal, right?"
Yuri wanting to be 'normal' seemed odd to Flynn. Yuri was hardly 'normal' in most respects. Then again, after the crazy adventure she had so many years ago that she was still hearing stories and rumors about, maybe he couldn't blame her. "I'm not opposed."
She was trying. Wasn't that one of the basis of this whole thing? Maybe it would be better if she was more to the point. "This is how life is going to be, right?" she motioned to them with a hand. "Unless some war or something broke out?"
Flynn looked them over for a second, then looked back up at her. "I think so. I'd like for it to. I won't say no to our lives improving, of course."
"I stopped taking the tonic," Yuri blurted finally, making Flynn sit up a bit. "I thought, since you're happy getting married and all, you'd want the whole package."
"Yuri!" Flynn sputtered, his hands rising from her thighs to grasp her upper arms. Even then he was careful enough not to grip too hard or pin her in any way. "You don't…! You don't do that sort of thing just for one person's sake!"
Yuri's eyes widened. "What?"
Flynn groaned, letting one of her arms go to facepalm himself. "Yuri, I love you. Really, I do. But you're damn stupid sometimes."
Immediately Yuri glowered. "Hey."
"As much as I'd love to have as normal of a life as we could, I'm not marrying you and all that for some 'golden dream' life." Flynn sighed heavily, lowering his hand from his face to look back at her. "I just want us to be happy together. Don't… do these big decisions just for my sake."
Yuri actually pouted at him. "What if I'm not? Maybe I want to, for my sake too!"
"Then that's…" Actually, that was surprising. "You do?" Now he was back to nearly gawking again.
Yuri shoved him back down to the mattress, pinning his shoulders down with her hands once his light hold on her was broken. "I'm not stupid, Flynn," Yuri laughed. "I wouldn't put myself through that just for you. I love you too, but I'm not that pathetic."
"Never said you were…" Flynn muttered, but he sighed again, resting his hands on her thighs again. "Are you sure, Yuri?"
"Are you?"
Flynn's expression softened, losing the argumentative spark for a much more affectionate look. "I'd love to have a family with you, Yuri."
She pouted more. "Aren't we already a family? You, me, Repede, even the rest?"
Flynn chuckled. She had a point. "Then I'd love to extend our family."
"That's better."
Flynn smiled, then for a moment, he lost the smile for an accusing look. "When exactly were you going to drop this bomb on me if not right now?"
Yuri smirked, and Flynn was fairly sure he might not want to hear her answer.
Yuri was not telling Estelle of her plan. No way. Not after all the fuss she made over a wedding. (Which actually didn't go too badly after Estelle had her maid of honor speech and started crying in the middle of it.) Estelle would have a fit if Yuri told her this particular detail. But Yuri needed some other feminine advice that wasn't going to either flip out or start the rumor train.
There was only one other woman she could talk to really.
"Do you even know how to raise a baby, Yuri?" Judith asked teasingly.
Yuri wasn't sure if she should frown or mock back. "I figured I'd wing it like I do everything else."
"Babies aren't artes or battle techniques." Judy shook her head, sighing softly. "You can't just wing it. You need some prior knowledge."
"Flynn and I already agreed he's going to change the diapers."
"He's the Commandant; he can't be a stay at home dad."
"Bullshit he can't while it wears diapers."
Judy raised her eyebrows. "Are you pregnant right now, Yuri?"
This time Yuri frowned. It'd been a year since she decided she'd actually do this. A year of a whole different kind of trying. "No."
"Thank heavens," Judy sighed, making Yuri glare at her. "That means we can get you some education in. I'm glad you opened up to someone about this now, instead of waiting til you were bulging and ready to pop."
Yuri did not want to hear such details. She really didn't care about the whole getting bigger aspect, that was just how it went. But did Judy really have to put it in such a way that she was going to explode at the end of it all? "I don't want anyone to even think of the idea until I'm ready for them to. I can't just walk into the library and starting reading about babies. 'Oh look! The Commandant's wife is reading about child care! Think of all the possibilities!' Yeah, no thanks."
Judy giggled behind her hand. "That's part of being married to the head of the imperial knights."
The swordswoman frowned further. She knew a certain bit of celebrity status would be gained following her decision to say 'yes' to his stupid question. But the whole point was them trying to be somewhat normal, wasn't it? "Are you going to help me or just make fun of me, Judy?"
"My my, someone's testy. Of course I'll help you, Yuri. Just don't ask me to babysit little ones."
"I'm only having one."
"So you think."
"Don't jinx me!"
Judy laughed again, and Yuri could only glare.
Two years.
Flynn sighed heavily, even though the councilmen meeting in his office didn't realize he wasn't listening to them blather on. He knew their complaints and he knew he could rebuke them easily, and he had to wonder why these old men didn't resign yet. Some of them were still, still, stubbornly sticking to the old ways, saying they should set the mages of Aspio to reviving the blastia. He hoped they were all suffering dementia to be making such outrageous plans.
It had been two years since he'd finally gotten married, and as if by some bad karma, some of the high class who still looked down on any from the Lower Quarter were already making snide comments behind his back. Flynn wasn't sure why they didn't realize he had ears and eyes literally everywhere, even when he didn't want them. But he heard nearly every bad thing they could say about Yuri, how she was a terrible wife, that she'd lead to his downfall, and even more unsavory things.
It had actually gotten to a point that one of Flynn's knights, having known both he and Yuri from the academy, actually had to be suspended from duty due to punching out one Noble who was attempting to spread some rumor that Yuri was sleeping around. While Flynn had to suspend him, he did let the man know he had some gratitude for his supportive feelings… just not how he acted on them.
The newest rumor he was hearing through the cracks of the walls was that Yuri was barren. Sometimes, Flynn had to wonder if she was. She did suffer a lot of injuries during her adventures, and who knows, that fall off Zaude…
At the same time, it didn't matter if she was. She was his wife; he'd love her regardless.
"Are you listening, Commandant?"
"No." Flynn pinched the bridge of his nose at the squawking some of the councilmen did. "Blastia have been shut down for a reason, gentlemen. Even if the mages could rework them to use mana instead, it would just lead to the exhaustion of the elemental spirits. With the help of the guilds, we have managed to do without. We have plenty of fortifications and manpower to protect all of our settlements, and regular patrols have kept monster numbers about towns thin. There is no need to bring back blastia. Even items of daily living are replaced with better technology."
"Except things such as healing blastia and artes," one man insisted.
"Mana-based healing artes are not perfect, I know, but when used concurrently with natural medicine and proper technique, the hospitals have reported positive results. Please do your research before bringing these things to my attention." Flynn picked up the proposal paper and handed it back to one of the older men, unsigned. "Emperor Ioder and Princess Estellise have other matters to attend to than this, and so do I. Please understand, the age of blastia is over."
The council members grumbled among themselves, and slowly they began to file out of his office. Once they were gone, Flynn groaned and laid his head on his desk.
Were things going so well that now people had to complain of things long gone? He wasn't sure. It just didn't seem like normalization was going to be easy to achieve with this sort of crap going on…
She ran through the halls, shoving past maids and butlers that were stupid to get in her way. Knights especially hit the walls hard when they tried to stop her, and after the sixth knight they finally stopped trying to block her. They should have known better—however Yuri decided to get into the castle, she was going to get in, their security be damned.
Flynn wasn't in his office. He wasn't in the mess hall, he wasn't at home, and he wasn't in the training yard. She finally had to ask where the hell her damn husband was and after about three minutes of an information run around, she finally got told he was in a meeting.
Luckily, meetings weren't that important.
Yuri threw open the doors to the meeting hall, startling the participates. Immediately upon seeing her Flynn rose to his feet, eyes wide and worry all over his face. Estelle herself got to her feet from near Ioder, leaning over the table.
"Yuri?" Estelle asked, her voice thick was concern.
"Sorry," Yuri chimed cheerfully. "Need my husband. Urgent."
The instant she said urgent, Flynn was coming toward the door. Ioder watched him go without a word, not bothering to stop him, and Yuri shut the door after Flynn exited the room.
"What's wrong?" Flynn asked immediately, his hands coming up to grasp her shoulders gently. "Are you okay? What's urgent?"
Yuri didn't answer; instead she shrugged off Flynn's grip, spun him around, and started pushing him down the hall. "Yuri!" Flynn protested, digging his heels in and nearly falling over.
"Not out here, idiot," she hissed, and only then did Flynn comply to let her push him further down the hall and into an unused meeting room. Once they were safely behind the door, Yuri's severe look was replaced with a brighter one. "Guess what?"
Flynn was almost ready to tear his hair out. He was absolutely confused—it was urgent but Yuri was smiling and playing games? "What?"
He should have seen it coming really. But after so many tries, so many negatives, he honestly quit trying to think about it. But Yuri patted her stomach, giving him a triumphant smirk.
"About damn time," she snarked, and understanding dawned on Flynn's face.
There were a few seconds of stillness before he started laughing, and before she knew it, Yuri was swept up into his arms and held close, off her feet and spun around.
She was happy he was happy too, but she had hoped for a funnier pre-happy reaction. Then again, it really didn't matter. Trying had paid off, finally.