Hello, everyone! This is Kroissant!
Starting later this week and the following one, I'll be producing twice as many short drabbles/fanfic as I possibly can in order to accomplish my goal to reach 100 fanfics here for this pairing.
Before reading, I recommend listening to Welcome Home - Journey's End (FFXV ost)
Enjoy!
It was a quiet, peaceful night in the charming little town of Halure.
Near the large trunk of the blossoming tree was a small cottage, bearing a strikingly similar design as the Mayor's house found at the entrance. Inside, a young pink-haired woman dressed in her pure white nightgown wandered through the darkness. As she made her way through the empty living room, she took a moment to adjust her reading glasses to the bridge of her nose before proceeding to continue rearranging the manuscripts and heaps of books laid across the surface of the coffee table.
With a heavy breath, she rose to her feet and retreated a few steps back, smiling in content as she managed to clean up the messy portion. Satisfied with her work, she stretched her arms high above her head and emitted an exasperated breath. Finally, after hours and hours of excruciating work, she was able to at least finish a good portion of narrative for her next novel. Wasting no time, she maneuvered her way over to the nearby staircase, walking up next step in a slow peace. As soon as she reached the second floor, angled her body to the right to quickly step inside her bedroom to grab a yellow sweater and ran out. Once again, she twisted her body to turn and was met with a large set of doors in front of her.
Reaching out, she pushed the doors open.
The pink-haired woman's smile widened as she slowly moved forward, inserting one arm at a time through the holes of her yellow sweater while she moved to the center of the large balcony. The panoramic view of the iconic large tree, along with the thousands of pink petals floating gently by the passing gales, always had an effect on her for some reason. No matter how many times she saw this scenery, the pink-haired woman continued to be enthralled by its natural beauty, always having her breath taken away.
And yet, what made it even more beautiful, more memorable was the person sitting idly on the railings of the balcony—just like the pink petals, his long, black hair flowed gently to the wind, his hand resting on his knee while the other was firmly supported on the edge of the railing to prevent him from potentially plummeting downward. His sharp, ebony eyes were directed on the tree, and as usual, wore his signature smirk which she secretly grew to love overtime in their journey.
Ever so carefully, the pink-haired woman tiptoed over to her partner, hoping to catch him by surprise. To her delight, the swordsman didn't seem to hear her footsteps as she was determined to approach him in stealth, and in a swift motion, brought her hands forward, tackling him in an embrace. "Yuri!" She cried with glee, followed by a giggle.
As expected, the dark-haired man was startled, though was quick to recover the second he heard the familiar voice. Seconds later, he lightly chuckled, "Good to see you too, Estelle," He replied back, turning his head over to face the latter. "What's this all of a sudden?"
"No reason," She replied, smiling sweetly. "I'm just glad to see you,"
"Oh, really?" He teased, only to be rewarded by a light punch on his shoulder. "Hey!"
"Where's Repede, by the way?"
"He's outside patrolling," Yuri explained, "Probably gonna come back in a few minutes,"
Estelle sighed. "I see…"
Taking notice of her saddened expression, Yuri turned the other way and cleared his throat. "So, how've you been?"
"Pretty busy," She answered, collecting her hands together and putting them behind her back. "Ever since Ioder encouraged me to become a writer, I've been writing nonstop,"
Yuri listened intently, nodding along. "And how's the process going?"
"Barely scratching the surface of the middle portion," Estelle explained, sitting down next to him on the ledge and leaning against his back for support. "Just a few more weeks and I'll be finished with my first draft,"
Yuri let out a whistle. "That's some homework you've got there," He commented, flashing her a grin. "But I know you can do it. If you can defeat the Adephagos and save the world from calamity, writing a book is definitely a breeze for you," He assured her as he brought his hand to pat on top of her head.
Estelle blushed, quite flattered. "Thanks, Yuri," And lowered her head to gaze at her pink slippers. "And what about you? How's the great Yuri Lowell?"
Yuri laughed. "Same as always," He replied, "Receiving quests from clients, vanquishing monsters with Repede, traveling the world, help to refurbish the base…" As he said those words, flashes of images concerning his constant visits on the bridge where he pushed a certain Councilman to the raging quick sand where he refused to assist another emerged from the back of his head. Unconsciously, he shaped his hand into a balled fist.
Luckily, Estelle caught sight of this and was quick to question if he was alright.
"I am," He assured her, "I just…" He stopped for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows and shook his head. "A lot has happened since the last time I've seen you,"
"Would you like to talk about it?"
Peering over his shoulder, Yuri flashed her a teasing grin. "Unless that includes hot chocolate,"
"Of course," Estelle chimed in, growing excited. "If you'd like, I could even whip up some dishes,"
"I'll be the judge of that,"
Popping her head out, Estelle gave him a pouty look.
Yuri blinked, then smiled. He whirled his body to get a proper view of her, smirking devilishly. "What?"
Yuri wiggled his eyebrows, to which Estelle turned crimson.
Watching this, the swordsman broke away, laughing his head back as the pink-haired woman crossed her arms over her chest. "I hate you,"
Once his laughter ceased, Yuri brought his feet to the wooden flooring and leaned back against the railing. He snuck a glance at her and grinned. "No, you don't," He replied back, placing his hands behind his head as he gazed upwards to the starry sky.
Estelle rolled her eyes, still unconvinced. "How would you know?" And as she motioned her head to look at him, she knew right then and there, that it was already too late for her to take back her words.
Before she knew it, she found herself retreating back as the swordsman walked toward her general direction, his eyes fixated on her. In the blink of an eye, his once playful expression he wore immediately transitioned into somber.
Estelle gulped, already regretting what she had done. "U-um…Yuri,"
She squeaked when she felt the exterior wall behind her, and as she observed the swordsman closed the distance between them, she frantically searched for a way out. As she stepped to her right, her ears picked up a smacking sound slightly above her head. Flinching on her spot, she lifted her chin to inspect what had happened—there was an arm blocked right in front of her. She opened her mouth to say something, only to once again get interrupted by the same smacking sound, this time on her right and to her horror, it was another arm blocking her.
By then, it was already too late for her to escape—she was literally cornered in a tight spot.
Looking up, Estelle locked eyes with Yuri, who wore his trademark smirk on his lips.
The pink-haired woman blushed, collecting her hands together and bringing them closer to her chest as she found herself unable to breathe. She was so close to him, enough for her to smell his natural scent of lavender to his intake of breathing—yes, it was more than enough to make her brain go haywire.
"Estelle,"
Hearing her name delivered from his velvety, baritone voice made her shiver.
"…Y-yes?"
"You should know by now, that I don't particularly like a lot of people," Yuri began, his ebony eyes trained solely on her. Removing his hand from the wall, he reached out to brush a strand of loose pink hair, his eyes softening as he tucked it behind her ear and continued, "I wish you knew how special you are to me,"
He watched her stiffened in place and smiled inwardly to himself. He inhaled another deep breath in, determined to express his feelings openly to her. "Hate me all you want, but I'm never going to leave your side," He explained, followed by a light-hearted chuckle. "Not when you've already stolen my heart,"
Estelle's eyes widened, completely taken aback by his words. Her vision turned glossy, and for some reason, she couldn't seem to breathe properly. "Yuri…"
Smiling, Yuri leaned in, pressing their foreheads together as he stared into her eyes.
A moment of silence ensued.
Estelle closed her eyes, tightening the grip of her fist as she placed it on top of her thumping heart. Can he hear it?
"…I don't hate you," She finally managed to say, slowly fluttering her eyes open and looking up to face him. "I could never hate you,"
Yuri quirked an eyebrow. "You sure about that?" He asked, with an amusing smirk.
Estelle firmly nodded, smiling. "Absolutely,"
Yuri's grin lengthened in size, and as he leaned closer, he pressed their foreheads together and inhaled deeply. Slowly, he reached out his hand, placing it over the crook of her chin with his full attention set her lips. In a low voice, he whispered softly, "I wonder what it's like to kiss you…"
Estelle heard this and tipped her head to the side, smiling. "Let me show you then," And stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and standing on her tiptoes, she captured his lips.
The swordsman blinked, stunned by her brave stunt, though found himself unable to withdraw as a warm sensation filled his chest.
The kiss lasted for a few brief seconds, and as they broke apart, Yuri was quick to dive in for another one, exerting as much passion as he could. He snaked arms around her petite waist, careful not to hurt her and as Estelle gladly reciprocated, a delightful smile materialized across his lips.
From a distance, a lone dog was perched on the base of the large tree.
His eyes wandered to the pair on the balcony sharing an intimate moment and with that, he raised his wet snout high. Gazing up at the full moon and the myriad of stars, he closed his eyes shut for a moment, silently relishing the peaceful ambiance of the environment and as he reopened his eyes, observed the pink petals beautifully dancing around him.
Once more, Repede turned his focus to the certain pair who seemed to be locked in a tight embrace, and despite being far away from them, the dog could pick out their subtle movements. Ever so stealthily, Repede climbed up on one of the large branches of the tree and leaped to the nearest rooftop where he could get a better look at them. He craned his head downward, his eyes focused in on the pair.
From the looks of it, Yuri seemed to be rocking back and forth, with his chin placed on top of his Estelle's head and his eyes closed, while the latter buried her face into his chest. His ears picked up the sound of a faint humming coming from her direction.
Secretly content with what he was witnessing, Repede bit the handle of his pipe and inclined his head, emitting a doleful howl into the open air.
And that's the end of it! What do you think?
Unlike my other stories, this one, in particular, was written with the purpose to touch upon the ending credits of the post-game. For a while, I've been speculating as to why Repede was there, howling on the rooftops of Halure, when I was reminded that a certain princess was living there and of course, Repede cannot go anywhere outside Yuri-and accompanied by the song I recommended, heavily inspired me to write my first short story.
Be sure to look out for incoming yustelle fanfics that I'll be publishing shortly this week and the next - in order to reach 100 fanfics!
That's all for now!
Thank you so much for your support and be sure to leave some kudos/comments (in the Ao3 community) - they give me strength!
See you later!