Disclaimer – I own nothing but my own experiences that led to this little freak out... er... um... Tales of Vesperia is all Bamco's.
Inspiration – What does Repede look like without his armor/weapon/chain leash anyway?
Sick as a Dog
When Karol came racing into Flynn's office, Flynn assumed there was something wrong with Yuri. The kid's face was flushed from exertion and his eyes pinched with worry; Flynn felt his stomach knot up immediately.
What had happened? Was Yuri injured? Sick? Lost? Or...
"Repede's really sick," Karol panted out, skirting around a rather annoyed looking Sodia in order to drop into one of Flynn's chairs. "Yuri... Yuri thought you'd want to know and he's really... he's really freaked out. Well, as freaked out as Yuri gets, anyway."
There was a moment of relief that coursed through Flynn because Yuri was fine – Yuri was fine, thank god – and then tension thrummed through Flynn again because Repede had never gotten sick enough for Yuri to be freaked out before.
"Yuri Lowell freaked out," Sodia muttered contemptuously, louder she added, "it's just a dog, Mr. Capel. I doubt Commandant..."
"Can my meeting this afternoon with Councilman Aurion be rescheduled?" Flynn asked, already knowing perfectly well that it could. Not that it would matter either way; Aurion was known for liking dogs, so he wasn't likely to take offense if he found out he'd been snubbed in favor of a sick warrior hound. Hell, he'd probably want to meet Repede himself.
"I... uh, yes, sir, it can be."
"Good. I'll also need Captain Leblanc to take over the inspection this afternoon. You'll need to find him and let him know." Flynn waited for Sodia to nod before adding, "I'm taking the rest of the day off. If anything important comes up, I'm sure you can manage." He turned to the kid and asked kindly, "do you need anything to drink, Karol? Or are you ready to head back now?"
"A little water first would be nice," Karol agreed while Flynn went to pour the kid some water from the pitcher he kept in the room.
Glancing at the frozen knight staring at them in shock, Flynn asked, "aren't you going to get the meeting rescheduled and let Leblanc know about the inspection?"
"Uh, right, sir..." Sodia turned to leave and the paused at the doorway. She glanced back at Flynn and opened her mouth, seemed to think better of it, and snapped her mouth shut again before hurrying out into the hallway.
Yuri told himself that he wasn't freaking out. He was just worried.
Very visibly worried.
"How's he doing?" Rita asked quietly, peering into the room from the barely open doorway.
"Which one?" Estelle responded sardonically, petting Repede absently.
"Either. Both."
Yuri shot them each a glare.
Estelle smiled back innocently. "Repede's finally started drinking water again and he's sitting up enough to drink it without making things worse, so that's a pretty big overall improvement. Yuri, as you can see, is still fretting like a worried parent... so he's fine."
"You know, I remember a time when you weren't this sassy," Yuri grumbled, scowling and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yeah. You've been a wonderful influence on me since then," Estelle agreed cheerfully. "Repede's recovering, Yuri. You need to rest. How do you think Repede will feel if he gets better only for you to get sick afterward?"
Rita snickered in amusement. "Right, well, you two keep at your nursemaiding and I'll head back to the lab. Let me know if you need anything, okay?" She paused and then hurried in, patted Repede on the head, then scurried back to the door. "Feel better, okay mutt?"
Repede wuffed a sort of pathetic affirmative as Rita shut the door on exit.
"How long has it been since Karol went to let Flynn know about Repede?" Estelle asked quietly as Yuri finally stopped his pacing and settled down on the floor beside her and the dog.
"Not long enough for him to be back yet," Yuri replied absently. "I hope the kid didn't run all the way. It's not that urgent." His worried eyes and tone belied his remark, however. For Yuri, it really was very urgent. He'd raised Repede from a puppy with Flynn's help; seeing Repede in distress when there was nothing he could do made Yuri feel helpless.
Yuri felt very much like a worried parent.
It wasn't the first time Repede had gotten sick, but generally it was a minor upset stomach. This was... this was different.
Sitting there quietly, Yuri just kept petting Repede and trying to think of nothing in particular. Estelle said that Repede would be fine. He'd be miserable a while longer, but he'd probably start eating again sometime tomorrow and until then...
Until then Repede's misery made Yuri miserable too.
When the door opened again, Flynn and Karol slipped inside. While Karol hovered at the doorway, Flynn settled on the floor beside Yuri.
"Hey Repede," Flynn said, reaching over to scratch behind the dog's ears. "I hear you ate something you shouldn't have. Gave everyone a scare, huh?"
Repede wuffled piteously.
"What have Yuri and I always said about eating strange plants?" Flynn asked the dog in all seriousness.
This time Repede made a grumbly noise, as if to ask 'are you really going to lecture me now? Can't it wait until I feel better?'
"Flynn..." Yuri sighed and slumped against Flynn's shoulder, relaxing as he felt the blond's hand rub gently against the small of his back even as Flynn's other hand continued to pet the dog. "I guess Karol filled you in on what happened?"
"Yeah," Flynn agreed, glancing up at the kid with a smile. "Thanks for getting me so quickly," he added.
"You ran the whole way, didn't you?" Yuri asked, amused.
"Well, Repede's important," Karol muttered flushing. "I... I should probably head back to the guild house." He fled the room, still not entirely comfortable with Flynn the way he was with Yuri and Estelle.
"He doesn't like me, does he?" Flynn asked.
"What?" Estelle's eyes widened. "No, that's not true at all!"
"She's right," Yuri told him. "He's intimidated by you. If you'd like I could always shove you in the fountain in front of him and see if that makes him less intimidated?" he added innocently.
Flynn huffed in annoyance and stopped petting Repede in order to swat Yuri lightly on the forehead. "Better not," he grumbled. "I'll drag you in the fountain with me."
"Hmmm... maybe I'll wait for the weather to finish warming up first," Yuri mused with a laugh.
Dropping a kiss on the top of Repede's forehead, Estelle stood up. "I'm going to take a walk and clear my head. Flynn, Yuri barely touched his lunch, so if you can get him to eat a sandwich that would be great." She hurried away before Yuri could react.
"Traitor."
"Finish your sandwich," Flynn told him, "or I'll 'improve' it and then make you eat it."
"Tyrant." But Yuri got up and reclaimed his sandwich from earlier before slumping back down beside Flynn in order to munch on the food and still be by his dog.
"So, Karol told me Repede ate some plant he shouldn't have and had an allergic reaction to it," Flynn said, carefully. "Not much detail, there."
"Is that your subtle way of asking for elaboration?" Yuri asked between bites.
"Yeah." Flynn's hands landed on Yuri's back and started massaging the tense point between his shoulders.
"I wasn't paying attention and Repede started snacking on... hell, I don't even know what it was, but Repede must have thought it smelled good. The next thing I knew he was hacking and couldn't breathe and..." Yuri's voice caught and he took a moment to collect his thoughts. "If Estelle hadn't been there, Repede would have died."
Repede whined softly and shuffled closer to Yuri in order to lick his hand.
Running his hands up and down Yuri's spine, Flynn found another spot on his lower back to massage the kinks out of. "That feels really good," Yuri mumbled, sandwich forgotten again as he leaned into Flynn's ministrations.
"It's not your fault. You know that, right?"
"Feels like my fault," Yuri admitted in a small voice. Flynn brushed the back of his fingers against Yuri's cheek. There was wetness there and Yuri realized that he was crying. "Shit..." he reached up to paw at the tear tracks only for Flynn to stop him by lacing their fingers together.
"Hey..." Flynn pulled Yuri close and pressed a kiss against Yuri's hair. "It's going to be okay."
"I know... I know, I'm being stupid..." Yuri turned and burrowed against Flynn's shoulder.
"Not stupid. Just scared. If I'd been there, I'd have been scared too," Flynn told him. "He's our puppy."
A disgruntled noise came from the dog.
"Face it, Repede. We're always going to think of you as our puppy," Flynn teased. Then, more serious, he asked Yuri, "are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah. Just... just give me a minute."
"Take all the time you need."
Leblanc poked his head in the doorway. "Sir?"
Flynn looked up from his silent vigil over his sleeping dog and boyfriend. "Yes, Captain?"
"I just... wanted to check in, see if everything was okay?" He glanced at Yuri anxiously.
"Yuri's fine," Flynn reassured him quietly. "Repede ate something he was allergic to and gave everyone a scare, apparently."
"I can imagine." Leblanc paused, uncertainly, then added, "Lieutenant Sodia seems upset about your taking the afternoon off. She seems to be of the opinion that you're... neglecting your duties without cause."
Frowning, Flynn let his fingers trail soothingly through Yuri's hair. "She's been bothering me for weeks to take time off. Now that I do, she's upset? I know she wasn't thrilled that my dog being sick rates as a family emergency, but I figured that was just because she's not a pet-person."
"I... think she views Repede as solely Yuri Lowell's dog; it doesn't occur to her that he's yours too."
"Thanks for letting me know. I'll discuss this with her later," Flynn decided. If she was upset over the rescheduled meeting, Flynn didn't understand why. Councilman Aurion's love of dogs was the first thing that came up when people described him (that and his stoicism); if anything came of this at all it would likely be the Councilman insisting that he meet Repede himself. Still, there were other matters to discuss with Leblanc and no use wondering what Sodia's problem was until he could ask her in person. "How did the inspection go?"
Yuri listened to Flynn speak with Leblanc without really registering the words they were saying. He'd curled up with his head on Flynn's lap after finally finishing his lunch.
Repede's mishap had been late the previous evening, half a continent away, and Yuri felt like he'd been running at full tilt ever since. He'd carried Repede into the Fiertia with Raven's help and then back off the boat and into town once Ba'ul arrived in the morning, having flown even faster than normal. Everyone was worried for the dog, it seemed.
Still, it was nice to doze with his hand on Repede's paw and Flynn's soothing presence surrounding him...
"Come on, Yuri, get up," Flynn murmured, giving Yuri a little shake as the door shut, signifying Leblanc leaving. "You'll get a crick in your neck if you stay like that too much longer."
"Comfy," Yuri grumbled, letting Flynn prod him into a sitting position despite his protest.
"Comfier on the bed, I promise." Flynn stood up, pulling Yuri along with him.
Rolling his shoulders, Yuri craned his neck from side to side and then winced when that only turned the ache there into pain. "I think I've already got a crick in my neck," Yuri admitted, sitting down on the bed.
Flynn sat beside him and began rubbing Yuri's neck. There was a flare of pain and then it began to ease away under Flynn's care.
"Sorry I've been so useless today."
"You haven't been sleeping well lately, have you?" Flynn asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.
"Not really," Yuri replied anyway, letting himself get guided into actually laying down. "Been busy and don't sleep well in the desert to begin with. Too hot there, can't settle... then we were finally on our way back and all the temperature changes and timezone changes always screw with my sleeping too. Couldn't sleep anyway after Repede ate that stupid thing… and I always sleep better with you anyway."
"That sounds like an invitation," Flynn declared, kicking off his boots. He'd already removed his armor earlier, stacking it neatly in a corner, so he settled into the narrow bed alongside Yuri and teasingly nuzzled Yuri's neck.
"Ack… stop, that tickles," Yuri grumbled and squirmed, but still smiled all the same.
Flynn laughed and then pulled Yuri close again. From the floor a soft thumping of Repede's tail could be heard and Flynn grinned, lazily stroking Yuri's hair once more. Sounded like someone was feeling a little better.