Written for day 7 of Yuridetta week. A modern AU fic that is loosely tied to the fics that have been published for days 4 and 5 of Yuridetta week! And here we have the final fic. Thanks for coming along for the ride, and I hope you've all had an amazing Yuridetta week!

It was the day, or better yet—very early morning, that Bernadetta's newest novel had flown out into the world. It was available on every e-reader, getting sent to those who pre-ordered, and was (apparently) now stocked in hundreds of bookstores. All of this was happening, and Bernie wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

"I don't wanna know!" Bernadetta yelled into her pillow as she avoided the phone screen yet again. Yuri had come up with the newest scheme to annoy her: trick her into looking at the phone that showed the newest updates on the reception of her book.

At first, he had baited her by saying it was a cute photo of a cat in a princess costume, and Bernie nearly spilled her tea on the device when she glimpsed a message from Sylvain saying how many pre-orders there had been. Now Bernie was immune to that trick, but Yuri still had the habit of surreptitiously leaving the phone in convenient places for Bernadetta to glance at. In the kitchen, in the pantry, even on her bedside table instead of his!

Bernadetta felt the mattress dip downwards as Yuri lay next to her on the bed. "You have to know at some point, Bernadetta," he said casually. Ha! As if he wasn't the one who offered to handle her socials in the first place!

"No, I don't. You're handling everything great!"

Yuri sighed, but Bernadetta could hear the smile in his voice. "The things I do for love."

Bernie huffed into her pillow.

They stayed like that for a while, with Bernadetta lying face-down on the bed and Yuri tapping away on Bernadetta's phone. They were both night owls, so it was common for them to stay upon until early in the morning when Yuri didn't have work the next day. Though typically it was Bernie herself who was on her phone, not Yuri.

Bernadetta turned her head and looked up at Yuri. His hair was in a messy bun that spilled over his shoulders, and his face was lightly illuminated by the phone screen's light. He kept tapping away with rapid fingers, so quick that Bernie wondered if he should've been the writer.

She kept watching him as her mind wandered. Bernadetta knew that the little tricks he played on her weren't to her hurt—not really. They were his way of connecting with her, though it was a technique that Bernie had taken a while to get used to. Yuri had a wry sense of humor (one that she may or may not have taken inspiration from for her latest protagonist), but he had one of the biggest hearts Bernadetta had ever seen. He'd never hurt her, at least not on purpose.

Yuri's fingers stopped tapping. He looked over at Bernadetta, gave her a smirk, and went back to the phone as if nothing had happened.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" Bernadetta groaned as she buried her face in the pillow again. She knew that he wasn't leaving her phone around to mess with her. Well, maybe he was a little, but she did know that he was doing it so that Bernie could see something. Something which was probably good. Maybe it was something on Twittland, a review on Flaynreads, or even just a message from Sylvain saying how happy he was to be her editor (a statement that Bernie still couldn't quite believe). But even knowing that, there was a deep part of Bernadetta's mind that screamed with paranoia, and she couldn't bring herself to look at it all quite yet.

But maybe… Maybe she didn't have to look at it.

"Tell me in a month," she mumbled into her pillow.

Yuri barked out a laugh. "I'm out on a work trip next month," he said, not even asking for more explanation. How was it that he always knew what she was thinking!

"Two weeks!"

"Sylvain said you have an interview in a couple weeks, remember?"

Bernadetta stopped herself from sighing. She knew he was right. Ever since they struck the deal, Yuri had warned her that she'd have to face the facts eventually. She'd have to look at the reviews, the comments, the critics' opinions. It was something she just couldn't hide away from forever. But Yuri… He'd also given her something no one else had given her. He had given her time.

This time before facing the real world wasn't meant to last forever—she did have to do that interview—but it was more than she ever could've hoped for. Yuri had taken a step towards her in order to make her comfortable, and now it was Bernadetta's turn to meet him halfway.

She squeezed her eyes completely shut. "One week!"

Yuri's fingers stopped tapping once more. He was silent for a moment and then hummed triumphantly. "Alright, I'll tell you in exactly one week."

Bernadetta lifted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean by exactly?"

"Well, it's 2 a.m. right now, so you have a total of 168 hours of blissful ignorance left."

Yuri grinned. Bernadetta threw the pillow over her head.

It was exactly 168 hours later, and Bernadetta was failing at pretending to be asleep. She always moved around too much before sleeping, and it's always what gave it away for Yuri that she was still awake. Yuri also had a habit of whispering in her ear in the middle of the night, and that is precisely what he was doing now.

"It's 2 a.m., Bernadetta," he teased in her ear. His voice was light, but at that moment, it made Bernadetta's stomach twist itself into a pretzel. A squishy, internal Bernie pretzel.

"Aaaah!" Bernie groaned, both at Yuri's comment and the mental image of her stomach she had conjured in her mind. She curled herself further into a ball, her back to Yuri. "Just tell me! Rip off the bandaid and get it over with! They probably hate it, don't they? It's a failure and I let everyone down, Sylvain won't wanna be my editor anymore! I'm never going to get published again! It's terrible, isn't iiiiiiiiiit!"

"If you'd call a 4.2 average on Flaynreads with over ten thousand overall reviews 'terrible', then we could start with that. Or we could go straight to the 1-star reviews and see where that leads us."

Bernadetta was pretty sure her heart stopped. But that made no sense because if it had stopped, she couldn't be listening to the blood rushing in her ears. "What!"

She shot herself straight up and turned to Yuri, who was wearing the same smug look he'd been wearing for weeks. He turned the phone in his hand.

Bernadetta blinked. Blinked again. Blinked one more time to be extra sure, but the screen never changed. Yuri… He wasn't lying.

Yuri's smirk stretched itself further. "So which starred review would you like to hear first? The one from Seteth Reviews or the one from Seiros Weekly?"

"Let me see!"

Bernadetta yanked the phone from his hand. Vaguely, she noticed Yuri's laugh, but her eyes were scanning the screen. She went through the multiple tabs Yuri had left open, scrolling through all of them with hungry eyes. There were some negative comments here and there, even a few 1-star reviews, but for the most of it was good. Really, really good!

The negative comments were speck among a sea of positive comments and heart emojis. There were more 5-star reviews than she had ever gotten on any other book, and the critic reviews—Goddess, she couldn't even process all of them! They really liked it!

"I told you it was going to be amazing," Yuri's voice cut through the endless scrolling Bernadetta had found herself in.

"You did." Bernadetta felt her cheeks get hot. "Thanks, Yuri. For believing in me."

Yuri raised an eyebrow. "And for managing your Twittland for the past week? And for answering all incoming calls from your publisher? And for keeping Sylvain from barging into the house with the good news—"

Yuri laughed as he dodged the pillow Bernadetta threw at his face. He dodged another one, and another, and another until finally, Bernadetta had no more pillows to throw.

Bernadetta couldn't hold the tears in anymore. As she let the water flow down her cheeks, she gave Yuri the biggest smile she could manage at that moment. Without saying a word, she jumped up and wrapped his arms around him. Yuri held back just as tight.

"It's my honor, Bernadetta," he whispered into her hair. Bernadetta felt his hand come up and stroke the back of her hair, and she leaned further into his arms.

Every time, no matter what it was, no matter what little thing Bernadetta knew that most people would scoff at and tell her she was being dramatic, Yuri always looked at her head on and managed to do just the right thing to calm her down while also pushing her forward. He had been doing it since the first day they met, but more than that, he had chosen to stick around. Even after seeing everything Bernadetta felt ashamed of.

"I love you," she said softly but clearly. She wanted him to hear. She wanted him to know.

Yuri pulled them apart and put a hand on the side of her face. He played with a loose strand of her hair before tucking it behind her ear, looking at her all the while with soft eyes. "I love you too," he said. It was quiet, like a confession, and Bernadetta could hear how he truly meant it.

Bernie giggled to herself, and Yuri began to laugh with her. They pulled each other onto the bed and lay amongst the sheets. Once their laughter had died down Bernadetta reached out and put her hand on Yuri's face.

"What is it?" He asked. Bernadetta must've given him a look because he smiled and went on. "You have a look on your face. That's the look I usually give you."

Bernadetta twisted her lips. Of course, he'd figure it out. But instead of saying anything back, Bernadetta grabbed the collar of his nightshirt and pulled him towards her. She pressed a kiss to his lips, and after a moment of surprise, Yuri returned it in full force.

Bernadetta wasn't sure at what time they fell asleep. All she knew was that daylight had begun to peek around the curtain, and she was laying happily in Yuri's arms.