Disclaimer – Bamco owns, and profits from, Tales of Vesperia. I do not.

Pairing – Yuri/Flynn

Teaser – It was the glasses, though, that brought an end to Yuri's oh-so-carefully maintained self-control. Six, almost seven, years of telling himself he could look and need and want and yearn... but never, never say a word... and it was reading glasses that caused everything to come crashing down.

Object of inspiration – Glasses on Flynn because Yuri thinks Flynn makes for a sexy librarian when he wears them

Fascination

Sixteen

Yuri wasn't anxious. He wasn't.

He was just... curious.

Flynn was on a date with a pretty girl named Amelia. She had red hair and green eyes and a cute smile. Her laugh was cute too.

For weeks, Flynn had been tongue tied around Amelia; Yuri had never been so entertained. But, finally, Flynn managed to ask her out to dinner. Though he was happy for Flynn, there was a strange sort of heavy feeling in Yuri's chest.

So Yuri waited up, his dinner only half-eaten as he wondered what Flynn and Amelia had at the tavern or if Flynn told any of the jokes he liked that weren't really funny or if...

It took all of Yuri's will power to pace around the room instead of hopping out the window and sneaking in to see for himself.

"Yuri?" came a muffled voice at the door.

Practically flinging himself at the handle, Yuri yanked the door open. "Flynn?"

The blond looked upset. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, of course." Yuri stepped aside, letting Flynn in and then shutting the door behind him. "What happened?"

"She was using me to make her boyfriend jealous." Flynn looked miserable.

"What?" Yuri blinked, not sure what to say.

"He showed up and told me what was going on. She... she didn't deny it. He broke it off and advised me to leave her alone... and she just started crying and begging him to come back and..." Flynn let out a choked laugh and collapsed onto the bed, his head buried in his hands. "I've never felt so humiliated."

Sitting beside Flynn, Yuri wrapped his arms around his friend. "She was a moron and didn't deserve that guy, much less you. In all of Zaphias, there is no one better than you." He tightened his grip and lay his cheek against Flynn's shoulder.

"Would it make you feel better if I went and punched her in the nose or something?"

Utterly scandalized, Flynn's head jerked up. "Yuri! You can't hit a girl."

"Sure I could. She hurt you. Besides, don't think of her as a girl. Think of her as a bitch."

"Yuri..."

"She hurt you, Flynn. No one gets away with that." Yuri felt rather ill about the whole thing, really. That someone would use his Flynn that way...

His Flynn?

"I'm sure she's suffering already."

"Not nearly suffering enough," Yuri grumbled, but he subsided as Flynn finally scooted around to return Yuri's embrace.

"Yuri...?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I don't suppose you'd make me cookies?"

"Only if you promise not to help." Yuri laughed when Flynn smacked his shoulder, though he did promise to sit quietly and not offer any help with the baking.

As the evening passed, though, Yuri couldn't quite get the question of just when he started thinking of Flynn as his out of his mind.

Seventeen

After the disaster with Amelia, Yuri thought it would take a while before Flynn tried again. Yet, somehow, three months seemed far too soon.

Still, Marie was a nice girl. She wasn't as... buxom as Amelia, but she had a kind, shy smile that even Yuri had to admit was kind of attractive. Marie was dark-haired with gray eyes and pale skin. Sometimes, when Flynn would convince Yuri to go on a double date with them – always with some girl that Marie was friends with, but never captivating enough for Yuri to find interesting – people would comment on how Marie looked like Yuri's long, lost sister.

It was a little weird. Even Flynn had to admit to the resemblance.

Their personalities were opposites, at least. Marie was quiet and more dependent than Yuri would ever feel comfortable with. She seemed incapable of the sort of recklessness that defined Yuri. Of course, she thought that Yuri just needed the right girl to tame him and he'd settle right down. As if there was something wrong with him that only having a girlfriend could fix.

Marie was certainly trying to find that girl who'd fix him, too. She'd been with Flynn for four months and, during the last two, there had been far more double dates than Yuri was really comfortable with. Lately he'd found himself trying desperately to keep his attention off Flynn and on whatever poor girl he was supposed to be talking with. They were all pretty, attractive girls too. Some of them had more fluff than brains, but the ones who were smart were funny and deserved a better date than Yuri felt he could be.

He was starting to realize, however, that while he found girls attractive, he just wasn't attracted to them. The only question was how to tell Flynn.

"Marie was telling me about her friend, Annika..."

"Flynn, I... I don't think this is a good idea," Yuri interrupted. "I don't... I'm not..." he trailed off uncertainly, the words sticking in his throat.

"Yuri? What's wrong?"

"I don't think I'm really interested in women," he hedged, wondering how Flynn would react.

"Oh." Flynn tilted his head to the side, frowning thoughtfully. "Are you saying you're gay?"

"Maybe... I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that out. I do know that I'm not interested in dating the girls Marie keeps trying to set me up with. She... has even less idea what my type is than I do and these double dates are making me miserable." Yuri hesitated. "If I am gay... would that be a problem for you?"

"What? No." Flynn shook his head and reached out to grab Yuri's hands with his own. "You're my best friend. That will never change. I'm just a little surprised. I... should have seen for myself you weren't enjoying Marie's attempts at match-making. I guess I've been a little self-absorbed lately."

"You're happy, dating her." The words felt heavy to Yuri and not the slightest bit fair. "You just wanted me to be happy too. That's not really selfishness, Flynn."

"It is if I can't see how my actions are making things more difficult for you." Flynn squeezed Yuri's hands lightly before letting them drop.

Blushing, Yuri tried to tell himself that he wasn't falling for his best friend...

Eighteen

The only conclusion Yuri could come to was that he was screwed.

He kept staring at Flynn in a very... not-platonic manner. He did his best not to, but it was so difficult.

Flynn's eyes were a gorgeous shade of blue, but there were flecks of gray in there that Yuri had only recently started noticing. Then there was Flynn's hair, which was decidedly softer since he'd switched shampoos (he smelled differently too). Not to forget the way his pants showed off his ass...

Keeping Flynn's girlfriend from noticing was more of a chore than keeping the blond himself oblivious, though.

"Uh, Flynn? You look dazed. Everything okay?" Yuri tried not to be diverted by the way Flynn's shirt showed off the muscles in his arms.

"I broke up with Marie."

Inwardly, Yuri cheered though he remained outwardly neutral. "What happened?"

"We... we were fighting again, about my plans to join the Knights next week." Flynn sighed. "I broke it off with her. If she can't accept that this is what I want to do with my life, then... we don't really make a good couple, do we?"

"Not really," Yuri agreed, growing contemplative. "Your Dad," he added quietly, "was a pretty amazing person and the best Knight I've ever known. I... haven't liked the way she's been trying to keep you from following in his footsteps."

"I guess this is for the best..."

Yuri nodded and tried not to smile too brightly at the thought that he wouldn't have to see Flynn kissing her anymore.

Flynn was an ass.

Curled up beside Repede, blanket wrapped around them both, Yuri sniffled as much from the cold as from his bruised feelings. Flynn had apologized – as had he – but that didn't negate the fact that Flynn was an ass.

When had he stopped being proud of his father, anyway? He'd become such a bore, too. Convincing Flynn to hang out was far more painful an experience than it should have been.

Yuri sighed and tried to snuggle in closer to the puppy's warmth. There was no use dwelling on how Flynn had changed. Yuri was different now too, after all.

Basic training hadn't been kind to either of them, it seemed. It left them feeling like strangers during the ride to join Niren's brigade and it hadn't really abated over the past month.

Sniffling again, Yuri thought longingly of the room he shared with Flynn. Blastia heated the building on nights like this one. There was one notable problem with his half-formed plan of grabbing Repede and heading inside. Flynn was such a stickler for the rules, he'd probably get pissed at Yuri for bringing the dog into the barracks... which would lead to yet another argument between them.

He sneezed.

"Oh screw it," Yuri grumbled. Standing up, he wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and then picked up Repede. Though the night before had been temperate enough, autumn's chill was certainly making itself felt now.

"Yuri?" Flynn peeked into the stable, growing visibly relieved at the sight of Yuri. "Are you bringing Repede to our room?" He held open the door, sounding almost hopeful.

"Um... yes, actually..."

"Good. It's too cold out here for you two tonight." Flynn sighed at the sight of what must have been a stunned expression on Yuri's face. "I'm not really that bad, am I?"

"Not usually, but lately..." Yuri shrugged and followed Flynn out of the barn and up to their room. Once inside, he place Repede on his bed and immediately shucked off his boots. "Are you okay? You have this... weird look on your face."

"I'm... not really sure," Flynn admitted, taking a seat beside Yuri and absently reaching over to pet Repede. "I've... been kind of an ass lately, haven't I?"

It was like he had read Yuri's mind. Hopefully he hadn't heard all of Yuri's thoughts. "Well... do you really want me to answer that?"

"Probably not. I just... during our training in Zaphias, my squad was under Lieutenant Cumore. He kept... he was..." Flynn paused uncertainly. "He told me he knew my father and... that he was a failure. A fool who died needlessly, disobeying orders."

"So he's the one who got you all mixed up about your father's death. You said earlier that when someone dies, that's it... there's nothing left." Yuri shook his head. "But that's not true at all. Your father was one of the bravest men I've ever known. He valued the lives of the people in the lower quarter more than following orders and... he valued your life more than his own.

"You're what he left behind, Flynn. You're his legacy. You could achieve so much but... you can't let people like Cumore hold you back. Imagine, Flynn, if your dad had followed orders. You and I and so many others would have probably died because he wouldn't have stopped the blastia from exploding inside the city. Half the lower quarter... gone. He... he couldn't have lived with that, Flynn. But that is the sort of life we have to live up to."

"Is that why you agree with Captain Niren's decision?"

"Yes." Yuri paused and then decided he might as well make a few confessions of his own. "My instructor was Lieutenant Everett. He... had a tendency to border on sexual harassment towards the lady knights when he was sober. When he was drunk, though, he'd show up in the men's barracks and feel us up. No one would do anything about it... so we took to keeping knives in reach. He was... easily deterred and didn't normally remember how he got cut up the next day.

"If we hadn't been assigned to a Captain like Niren, I'd have probably quit by now."

Flynn's shocked expression said it all. Reaching out, he grabbed Yuri's hand and squeezed tightly. "Did he ever...?"

"No, no... he never made it under my shirt, much less into my pants," Yuri assured Flynn. "Not for lack of trying, but he wasn't a particularly coordinated drunk... fortunately.

"Anyway, my point is that we've both had our reasons for being kind of screwed up lately. We've been living in the same room for a month, but I've missed you this whole time."

"I know what you mean," Flynn murmured, leaning his forehead against Yuri's shoulder. "I promise... that I'll do my best to keep personal problems from hurting our friendship and that I won't let other people dictate how I view my father's death. I'm not sure I'll ever really be comfortable with the choices he made, but you're right in that I should respect his decision. Father always did his best to do the right thing and that's what he was trying to do in the end.

"I just... miss him so much. I've wanted so badly to blame someone for his death in that accident... and everything Cumore and the other officers would say made it so easy to... to blame him. But it's left me feeling so twisted up inside; I hate feeling this way."

Putting his arms around Flynn's shoulders, Yuri tried to ignore the way his heart ached. "We should get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be one hell of a day."

Twenty-Two

So Yuri left the Knights, taking Repede and Niren's blastia with him, while Flynn stayed. They were on better terms with each other, but things were still a little awkward. The only thing that Yuri was certain of was that his crush on Flynn was no longer a crush.

For all that Flynn was flawed and irritating and sometimes a thoughtless jerk... Yuri loved him.

Three years passed and Yuri's feelings didn't change, leading to a few doomed relationships that simply couldn't cure him of his unrequited love for his oblivious friend. Though his longest relationship – nearly a year – had been with a young man who could have been Flynn's long-lost twin: Guy Cecil. They'd been more like friends-with-benefits, both rather honest with each other about being in love with someone else, but they'd genuinely liked one another. If not for Flynn, and Luke, perhaps they could have had something more together.

Eventually Yuri found himself alone again, chaffing at the feeling of being trapped in the lower quarter, but unable to come up with a solution to the problem that wouldn't involve leaving. He didn't want to leave the lower quarter. He was comfortable there... content. Repede seemed happy enough.

Besides, leaving would mean seeing less of Flynn. Flynn barely had time for Yuri as it was; the idea of being cut even further out of the blond's life terrified Yuri.

In the end fate, and a pink haired princess, intervened and Yuri left Zaphias behind anyway. He became a murderer and the founder of a guild. He gained a sister and stopped a tyrant. He saved the world. It was all oddly freeing.

Through all of that, Yuri watched as Flynn overcame his personal failings in addition to the seemingly impossible obstacles that threatened to block his unprecedented and meteoric rise to the position of Commandant. Yuri fell even more in love with the blond idiot. However, Yuri was no longer desperate to remain a part of Flynn's life. He became desperate to remove himself from Flynn's life.

For a low born man in the position of Commandant, Flynn needed to keep the reasons the Council had for disliking him to a minimum. Consorting with a murderer, regardless of an official Imperial pardon from Emperor Ioder, would look bad for Flynn in the eyes of the Council.

Flynn, however, was... less than pleased by the concept of Yuri being more than an hour away from him at all times. He took to spending his evenings – on the occasions where he didn't end up working into the early hours of the morning – and the few off hours he allowed himself in Yuri's room at the Inn. Sometimes Yuri would come back from missions late at night to find Flynn curled up, asleep in his bed.

On those nights, Yuri would wake Flynn just enough to make the other scoot over. Yuri couldn't quite resist the chance to fall asleep with Flynn's warmth pressed against his side or the opportunity to wake up to find that Flynn's arms had wrapped around him as they slept.

It was the glasses, though, that brought an end to Yuri's oh-so-carefully maintained self-control. Six, almost seven, years of telling himself he could look and need and want and yearn... but never, never say a word... and it was reading glasses that caused everything to come crashing down.

At least it wasn't cat-ears. That would have been embarrassing for them both.

Yuri walked into his room and unbelted his vest, dropping both the vest and the belt on the desk chair before turning to his bed and freezing at the sight.

It wasn't unusual for Flynn to be asleep in his bed when Yuri came back late from a mission. Yuri still wasn't quite sure what to make of Flynn's sudden obsession with being the first person to see Yuri when he got back to Zaphias, but he wasn't about to say anything that might make Flynn stop. It was nice to be welcomed home by his best friend.

It was nice to have his best friend in his bed, even if all they did in it was sleep.

(Of course, Raven and Judy assumed that other things were going on. Estelle, however, believed him when he said nothing happened, but she seemed to be of the opinion that nothing was happening because Yuri and Flynn were both oblivious idiots. Rita rather vocally agreed with Estelle's opinion. Karol kept his thoughts on the subject to himself, which had made him Yuri's favorite member of the guild.)

What made Yuri freeze in place at the sight of Flynn was the way he looked at that moment. Dressed in pajamas (blue to match his eyes) and a book in his hands, this was almost a scene Yuri had witnessed at least a dozen times over. Even the fact that Flynn had fallen asleep, book nearly slipping from his grasp, was familiar. The reading glasses, however, were new.

Yuri felt a hot burst of want flood through him at the sight of Flynn wearing those glasses. He threw out a hand and steadied himself, then closed his eyes in a futile attempt to block out the sight.

There were always times when Flynn would look so good that Yuri had to restrain himself from walking over and kissing the blond. The last thing he wanted to do was wreck their relationship. But this time...

This time, Flynn might not even notice...

Opening his dark eyes again, Yuri crept over to the sleeping blond and eased the book from his hands. Marking Flynn's place, Yuri set it aside on the floor, beneath the bed so it wouldn't get stepped on. Then Yuri waited a moment, to see if Flynn would stir from the disturbance. But Flynn just sighed softly and tilted his head a little to the left against the wall.

So certain that this was the only chance he'd get for this, Yuri leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss against Flynn's lips. He drew back, his heart pounding and his body warm from the feeling of Flynn's chapped lips against his own.

Yuri wanted more and he forced himself to move away instead. Bad enough to have stolen one kiss from his best friend. Yuri didn't dare steal another.

Flynn stirred from his sleep at that moment. Blinking sleepily, he looked brought a hand up to his lips, a look of confusion on his face. Yuri tried not to panic; did Flynn feel that kiss in his sleep?

Looking up, Flynn saw Yuri standing there and his eyes widened slightly, a blush turning his cheeks red. "Um, Yuri... did you...? I mean... that is..."

"Did you have a weird dream?" Yuri asked, his voice giving away far too much for his own comfort, but maybe Flynn wouldn't notice. Flynn seemed like he was still half-asleep, after all.

But then he blinked again and the blue eyes behind those reading glasses grew clearer. Flynn pushed the covers aside and stood up, stretching deliberately.

Yuri tried to control his gaze, but couldn't. He wanted Flynn so much... and Flynn had to see that, even with the reading glasses making him slightly near-sighted.

Flynn walked over to Yuri and slid his arms around the raven-haired man's shoulders. "It isn't very nice to steal a kiss when I can't enjoy it properly," he informed Yuri. Then Flynn leaned in to steal a kiss of his own.