Patience

Climbing up a stone wall had never been a problem to Yuri. He was used to worse obstacles, such as high fences or huge trees – in his younger days often followed by even harsher landings. Each of his movements were swift and efficient, knew where to push and where to lift, where to jump and what to dodge. It really was fairly easy.

Tonight however seemed enclined to mess with him, as if he wasn't tired enough already. That cold winter day had been long and exhausting, sending him to all kinds of small jobs around Zaphias. Brave Vesperia had a pretty slow business running lately, and since Yuri was the only one in the capital he had volunteered to do them all and save the rest of his guild any additional travel or work. After this tiring day, he had still thought he'd pay a quick visit to the Commandant while he was there and inwardly was looking foward to seeing his best friend again.

The freezing air only seemed to worsen as evening drew near and Yuri nearly turned back. Now that he was climbing up this damned wall, he was almost regretting not going in through the front door for once, like Flynn had told him more times than he had ever paid enough attention to to hold count; the light frost made his climbing harder as it was getting pretty slippery. Yuri cursed under his breath. He tried to keep his balance, yet his tiredness had taken a toll on him and thinned his patience by a lot.

Once he finally arrived at his friend's room, he had little difficulty opening his window. This time it was only tilted but that was enough for Yuri to let it slide open easily; with a heavy sigh he hopped into the room, its warmth already taking over the cold chill running on his skin. Silence met him as he quickly scanned the office: a small oil lamp was the only light shimmering on the desk on which were spread several piles of paper, a few books here and there and an open quill. Flynn's bed was neatly made save for some clothes and another half-open book laying on the covers. The rest of his room was as always perfectly clean and in order, although one thing was missing: the knight himself.

Usually Yuri would have left and come back another time, but Karol had told him to return to Dahngrest the day after and he wouldn't have another chance to get to Zaphias again for some time. Also, he wasn't that eager go back to the freezy outside.

Supressing a yawn he huffed and jumped on the bed, kicking off the garnements to the floor. When Flynn wasn't in his room he usually was patrolling somewhere in the castle or was attending a meeting of some kind. The warmth of his chamber was too comfortable so he thought he might as well stay and wait for his blond friend to return.

One minute passed by, then five, then ten, and there still was no sign of Flynn. At first Yuri had appreciated the tranquility, but now it was seriously starting to annoy him as he was getting bored very quickly. Hell, he hadn't come all the way up to wait half a year for the mighty Scifo to come back to his chambers! The man stood up and paced back and forth, unresting. What was he doing?

Maybe he really should just leave him be, he had wasted enough time already. And yet...when he glanced back to the window – which he had carefully closed – the swordsman couldn't help but shudder. He'd just wait a little longer, after all Flynn would come back someday, eventually.

Yuri trailed back to the bed, disgruntled but too drained to do anything else. Minutes strechted again silently, his boredom growing greater each passing second. There was abolutely nothing to do here, no one to talk to or nowhere to go. Even though he had been officially pardonned all of his crimes, he was fairly certain him walking through the castle's corridors wouldn't be much appreciated. Besides, he was too tired to get up, and that bed was starting to feel quite comfortable when you took that pillow away and got into the right position.

The clock on the wall next to the door ticked the minutes away, minutes which seemed to be hours. Still no Flynn in sight. Goddamnit. Yuri gritted his teeth. He tiredly eyed the window and noticed darkness had now fully filled the sky, as if black ink had been spilled all over it. It certainly was getting pretty late.

"You'd better hurry, moron." he murmured with a heavy sigh as he slumped further into the bed, resignated.

ooo

It was very late when Flynn came back to his room, exhausted. That meeting had lasted for more than 3 hours, useless discussions with the council stretching on and on until a compromise was found and they were still complaining. Fixing the Empire's regulations still had a long, hard way to go it seemed.

Flynn yawned as he entered his office, fatigue clear on his features, and procceded to store the meeting's latest reports away. It was only halfway to his desk that he finally noticed another's presence in his room, or more his bed, and his first impuls was tensing and reaching for the sword hanging on his side. He must be really tired not to have realized any sooner. The knight immediately relaxed though when he recognized the man laying on his bed, and couldn't help but wonder what his best friend was doing here. A small, tired smile quickly replaced his confused look at the rare sight: Yuri was leaning against his bed back, head tilted to the side, arms folded and legs crossed. He too had dark eyebags forming and he clearly looked as exhausted as the blond was. Had he been waiting for him? If so, for how long? By the scattered clothes, the pillow laying on the floor and his friend's soft snoring, he guessed quite a while.

For a moment Flynn considered waking him up, but couldn't bring himself to do so as the longer haired looked like he needed the rest. Besides, he'd be more quiet this way and would for once let him work in peace. Therefore he merely walked to the wardrobe, took out a thin blanket and carefully placed it upon his friend's sleeping figure. A chuckle escaped his lips as he shook his head; Yuri hadn't even taken his boots off.

Sighing silently, Flynn turned back to his desk and started sorting out the piles of documents covering the table. He still had a long night ahead.