Author's Note: This is the first chapter that actually deserves the 'M' rating I put on this fic. This is the first time I'd written an adult scene is quite a long time, so I'm sorry if it's weird or not eloquent. (y6.6y) Also, there's a little note at the end, a bit I wanted to keep in but was just too punny to keep in and keep the scene mostly seriously.

Tales of Vesperia is property of Namco Bandai.

Chapter 37 - Together

He decided that after his final test tomorrow, he would finally talk to Flynn about this. He was ready for it all to be sorted out.

A knock at the door broke the silence of his thoughts. It was probably just Estelle, coming by for her nightly visit to sing him to sleep. The song had really grown on him. Something about it seemed so familiar, but he couldn't place it.

"Come on in."

Flynn stepped in, shutting the door behind him. Maybe talking about this would be unavoidable tonight. If that was the case, thnn fine. He was tired of holding out. He was ready for a resolution. He wanted his one night, and then for all of this to be over.

"You're a little late for dinner."

The blond smiled, looking a little relieved. The sarcasm in his tone was steadily returning.

"My landlady's tired of you coming by at all hours to see 'a scoundrel like me.'"

"I'm glad to see you're doing better." He sat down on the bed. "Is it alright for me to stay?"

"Have I ever said no?" He yawned and stretched, his toes curling against the metal frame of his bed. He watched from the corner of his eye as Flynn pulled his boots off in an orderly fashion, setting them next to Yuri's on the floor. Flynn's sword was placed to lean against the wall, parallel to his own.

Flynn sat there on the edge of the bed for a moment, looking down at him, and Yuri looking back. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but he was biting his lower lip like he was stumbling for the words.

"Yuri?"

Estelle's voice came from just beyond the door, startling both of them.

"Yeah?"

"I thought I'd let you know I was here before I started singing."

"Thanks."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Estelle."

The blond sighed and flopped down next to him. His words must have been lost in the surprise. Slowly, with the greatest of apprehensions, he tested reaching his arm over Yuri. Yuri didn't fuss or fight back or push him away. He wanted to see where this was going. After a moment, Flynn tightened his embrace, pressing his head into Yuri's shoulder.

He could have just been ill at ease and in need of some comfort at this moment or he could have been testing the boundaries of their relationship. If he needed comfort, then Yuri was here for him, but if it was the other, he would try to wait until after his final test. He had a lot of things to take care of right now, and he wanted to get them done right, one at a time.

Heads or tails, You and I

Light and dark, Ups and downs

What has been in the mere goal? What's there to divide us?

If you're hurt, cry and say 'can't you see you're my other half?'

As Estelle sang, that embrace tightened even more, until it was becoming difficult for Yuri to breathe.

"Uh, Flynn...?"

There was no response.

"You're... ah... holding a little tight there..."

He eased a little bit, his face still hidden in Yuri's hair, warm against his neck.

"What's wrong?"

"I-It's nothing."

It dawned on him. He had never noticed before that the lyrics to the song that Estelle was singing sounded familiar. "Flynn... did you write that song?"

"It's not like I intended it to be a song or anything!" He blurted out. "I wrote it... a little over a year ago. Right after the events at the Shrine of Zaude."

There really was no way he could avoid this any longer. He just wanted to be happy and with Flynn. Even a murderer like himself deserved that much, right?

"A few weeks ago, when you first visited me, what did you mean by 'I was afraid of losing you again?'" He had never asked about what happened after his near demise there, although he wondered. All he was told was that everyone was looking for him, including Flynn, up out of bed even before his own injuries had healed. "What happened while I was unconscious after Zaude?"

"I looked everywhere for you. I was terrified that I had lost you before I could tell you how I felt. I felt like I kept doing stupid things my whole life to drive us apart, and then you were suddenly gone." He swallowed hard. "I was so afraid. I died inside at the idea that you were... I was planning on fulfilling our dream, though, moving on empty and lost in the world without you in it. Yuri, I've never thought of a future without you there."

Yuri stroked his blond hair back a little bit. He wasn't sure what to say.

"I couldn't live in a world without you. There will always be a place for you if I have anything to do with it."

"I won't dirty your hands? I can't be absolved of the sins I've committed."

"I know. And I accept that our paths are different. You're stuck doing what no one else wants to do."

"And you're the one doing what no one else can."

"I'm willing to follow these paths wherever necessary and do whatever I have to, to make our dream come true."

"Even if that means we could be enemies in the future?" He had to make sure that Flynn understood what could happen if they continued on their paths, and if they finally surrendered to their emotions.

"If it comes to that, I won't hesitate. And I know that you won't either."

That was exactly what he needed to hear. He was certain that he wouldn't be able to resist any more. He wanted this. He needed this. Judith had been completely right about him. For the first time since he had been intoxicated that night in Dahngrest, he leaned in and kissed Flynn.

The blond was surprised by this, but didn't question. Yuri opened his mouth slightly, pressing against the seam of Flynn's mouth with his tongue. Inviting him in, their tongues fought for dominance. He ran his hands up the Commandant's back, pulling him on top of himself. He moaned into the kiss as Flynn's hands worked at the fabric belt tied at the small of his back. He was ready for this. He had been ready for this for days now.

Flynn pulled the belt aside, tossing it and then Yuri's vest somewhere on the floor. He tugged at Flynn's uniform, but the blond entwined the fingers of their hands together above his head, pinning him down. He broke the kiss and ground their hips together. He continued, planting burning kisses down Yuri's neck to the collar of his shirt. He moaned at the kisses, feeling himself growing hard against Flynn. This rush was something that he had not felt in quite a while. He let Flynn pull his hands away and unbutton his shirt.

Yuri was still hesitant about it being seen, and flinched a little bit when the blond's fingers caressed it, tracing the dark metal spiral around the blastia in his chest.

"There is not a single piece of you that I don't find beautiful." His hips ground against Yuri's harder, sending a shock of pleasure through the dark haired man's body. He coaxed a long, heated moan out of him. He didn't fight back against Flynn touching the protrusion in his chest further. He wasn't disgusted by it, so why bother trying to stop him? He pulled Yuri's shirt off easily, lifting him off the bed and into another long, passionate kiss.

Those tanned fingers wandered and stroked every bit of skin that they encountered, gently tracing numerous scars and lines of well-defined muscle across pale flesh. Yuri tugged at Flynn's uniform once more, pushing the blue and white tunic off and working to get it onto the growing pile of clothing littering the floor. Flynn pulled back long enough to get it off himself, and then the black shirt he wore underneath of that.

Underneath those layers was a dark, circular scar, the flesh raised slightly from the rest around it. This had to have been the scar from the hit that Flynn took for him in Zaude. Each bore scars meant for the other. He ran his fingertips over that scar, and then up into Flynn's hair. He growled a little bit, deep in his throat, as Flynn started to tug at his pants. This was not threatening so much as hungry. He longed for more contact between them, and all this fabric was hindering that.

Flynn's hand slid down between skin and fabric, and his knee slid up, pressing firmly between Yuri's legs.

He inhaled sharply as Flynn wrapped a hand around his stiff cock. Those fingers moved in short, fluid motions and he couldn't help but moan, low and guttural. How was it that Flynn knew just how to touch him, just how to get the most pleasurable sounds out of him? Yuri couldn't say that he minded, though. It was nice having a lover that didn't think only of their own pleasure for once.

On that note, he tried to undo the blond's belt. He could feel Flynn's heat pressed up against his inner thigh and was ready to be returning the favor. Flynn didn't let him. He entwined their fingers once more and leaned over him for another extended kiss. He didn't stop the stroking of his hand along Yuri's cock, and he moved his knee in a little more to rub against him further.

Yuri's hips bucked against that, increasing the maddening touch further. He couldn't help it. The pleasure that was washing over him was intense, even from just this little bit of contact. If this kept up, he would be spent soon.

He broke the kiss this time, leaning his head back to look Flynn in the eyes. They were like bright blue flames illuminated in the dim candlelight. A brief bit of apprehension came over him, reminding him of that terrifying dream only a few nights before. He kept his eyes on Flynn. This was not Alexei with his rough and unwanted touches. This was Flynn, kind and gentle, whose caresses were most welcome. The kisses did not make him want to gag. They stirred something deep and powerful and hungry inside of him. These eyes were blue, and not red. This was what he wanted, he just needed that little bit of reassurance.

"F-Flynn... I... ahh..." His bit his lip, using all his strength to manage words past the pleasure. One of his hands braced itself against Flynn's arm that was pleasuring him. He could feel the movement of each muscle, strong from years of sword fighting. "Damn it... if you don't slow down... I'm gonna..."

Flynn muffled his further protests with an achingly hot kiss. His movements didn't slow at all, as if he didn't care that Yuri was close to the end. Yuri couldn't hold it back any longer. He bucked against him one final time, spilling his fire into Flynn's hand and across their stomachs.

He leaned back, panting. The blond pulled his hand away, getting another little moan out of Yuri in the process, and nibbled on his neck.

"I warned you."

"I know. It was too good to resist, though." After a moment, the blond pulled back and slid off the bed. Yuri watched, propping himself up on his elbows. He didn't want him to move. He wanted more contact.

When Flynn returned to the bed, with the washcloth in hand, Yuri pulled him into another kiss. He nearly dragged him back onto the bed. He didn't need long to be ready again, so several minutes of hungry kisses could fill their time. He shuddered when that cold, wet cloth ran across his abdomen and then down. Why the hell was the blond cleaning them up when he was getting ready to make another such mess?

He unceremoniously threw the cloth back in the basin from the bed without looking. He sighed softly, and continued to kiss Yuri, moving to lie down next to him. "That was nice." Flynn ran a hand through Yuri's long hair, letting the strands drift back to the sheets from his fingertips.

"Not as nice as it's going to be."

He smiled at Yuri. It was one of those bright, fluffy, infuriating smiles that Yuri was never able to resist. They always disarmed him. "Tomorrow."

"What?"

"We'll finish this tomorrow. In my bed. There's more room."

"Oh, hell no." Yuri rolled on top of him. "We are finishing this now." There was plenty of room in his bed, especially if one person was on top of the other, which was his current plan.

"I was specifically ordered by Judith that I was not to wear you out. She said that she needs you at your full strength tomorrow."

He cursed Flynn for being such a tease, and he cursed Judith for the cockblock. He flopped back on the bed, defeated. He knew that he needed to get plenty of rest before tomorrow for whatever Judith and Karol had planned for him.

Flynn leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "Maybe we'll do some more in the morning if you're good." He was still being a tease.

Yuri gave up. One more night couldn't hurt. He knew that the promise he had made to himself wouldn't be kept. He was kind of okay with that. Flynn was intentionally stretching out their time together.

He leaned over and put out the candle on the windowsill, leaving them in the darkness. The blond pressed up against him closer than ever, his warmth encompassing him. He didn't want to admit it was comfortable, and not as smothering as he expected.

"I love you."

"I know."

They lay together in the darkness for a long time. Flynn didn't mind testing what kind of boundaries he had at the moment. He ran gentle fingertips up and down Yuri's arm and across his collarbone. He didn't hear any sound of complaint. He wondered if he was even awake. Through the darkness, he couldn't see his face even though they were so close that he could hear every beat of the mechanical heart in Yuri's chest. He reached up to touch it once more, his fingers moving slowly and purposefully across its smooth, rounded surface. It was warm to the touch, and its mechanical whir could be felt as the slightest of vibration.

He had to remind himself that Yuri was still really there. He wasn't dreaming.

"Hey, Flynn..."

He hummed a bit to show that he was listening, but didn't respond further. Exploring Yuri's body in the dark was exciting, his fingertips seeing where his eyes couldn't.

Yuri's hand grabbed his, squeezing his fingers a little bit. "Being with you makes me feel less... hollow." It was barely a whisper.

He wished that he could see Yuri's face in that moment, but it was because he couldn't that the dark haired man had said that. He imagined his dark eyes, looking down and away, and the barest traces of a flush in his pale cheeks. He would have certainly been embarrassed to say such a thing, but if he had bothered to say it at all, it must have been weighing on him. Flynn knew that this was probably as close to an 'I love you' as he would ever get out of Yuri.

He knew that the duel coming the next day was going to be a very important moment in their relationship. He had to do this for Yuri.

End Author's Notes:

Flynn muffled his further protests with an achingly hot kiss. His movements didn't slow at all, as if he didn't care that Yuri was close to the end (Alt: Yuri's end was close at hand). Yuri couldn't hold it back any longer. He bucked against him one final time, spilling his fire into Flynn's hand and across their stomachs.

Badumtsh.

(hopefully that clears it up)