A/N: I suppose I'm a little evil, but I decided to make Yuri wear a dress... :)

And Yuri can't dance either. Apparently.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Vesperia. If I did, definately more Yuri/Flynn time.

"Do I have to do this?" moaned Yuri once again.

"It's just to keep the girls off Flynn. I can't be with him all evening, so I'm counting on you to make sure he doesn't get too badly flirted with, okay?" Estelle soothed, smoothing down the material slightly.

"Well why can't I wear my normal clothes?"

"It's formal dress, Yuri. Therefore, boys wear suits, and girls wear dresses. As you're a girl right now, you wear a dress."

Yuri stepped out of the changing room, gazing at himself in the mirror. The dress was made of a light purple material with white trimmings, the sleeves slightly billowed and the skirt easily maneuverable. He sighed unhappily as he gazed at it.

"I feel like I'm cross-dressing."

"Not really. You are a girl, so it's alright if you wear a dress. Now hold still, I need to brush your hair."

Yuri continued to gaze at his reflection as Estelle brushed out his hair. The ends curled slightly, something she'd never noticed before, and it flowed freely. Doing a bit of clever styling, she made it so that Yuri's fringe went to the side, little locks hanging on either side of his face.

"There. And to complete the picture.." she murmured, picking up the flower clip and placing it in Yuri's hair, stepping back to admire her work. She smiled. "You look beautiful, Yuri."

"I look like a girl," Yuri replied grumpily.

Estelle rolled her eyes, then turned as a knock came at the door. "Hey Estelle, you ready yet?"

"Coming Rita!" Estelle replied, grabbing Yuri's wrist and dragging him to the door. She opened it, revealing Rita also dressed up. The other girl looked the two of them up and down.

"That dress looks great on you, Estelle," Rita said with a smile, then looked at Yuri. "And..you're wearing a dress."

"Estelle made me," Yuri grumbled.

Rita shrugged. "It looks good. Now come on, we need to get going. It'll be starting soon, and Flynn looked pretty nervous when I saw him a few minutes ago."

The three girls approached the main hall, the man standing infront of it straightening as he recognised them. He bowed, pushing the doors open, and stepped forward to introduce them.

"Her Highness, Princess Estellise! Rita Mordio! And Lady Lily!"

Several people turned at the names - or mainly, at Estelle's name - and gasped. They nudged their friends, who looked up and did the same, eventually the entire hall gazing at the three women.

Lily was pretty sure they were staring at Estelle. She looked stunning, with her hair clipped back and her pale pink dress enunciating the tones. Her gentle green eyes seemed to light up from it, too. Rita wore a dark red and orange dress, which seemed to reflect her usual quirkiness, but still looked stylish in it's own way. Half of her hoped nobody noticed her because she was a boy, not a girl, but another half wished she could live up to the beauty of her two friends.

Flynn walked up to greet them, as they had arranged, and talked quietly to them as he did.

"Good evening ladies. Might I say that you are all looking lovely this evening," he said politely, taking Estelle's hand and kissing it.

Actually, he noted, it was a little bit awkward how lovely they looked. Or, namely, Lily looked. Her dress seemed to make the natural purple highlights in her hair stand out, while at the same time showing off her curves and enunciating her body. If she wasn't actually his best friend, he might find himself attracted to her.

"You're looking rather dashing yourself, Flynn," Rita replied with a raised eyebrow, and he directed his attention back towards her before his eyes strayed any further to Lily.

"Well, I need to go off and greet a few guests. Rita, would you accompany me?" Estelle asked.

"Of course, Estelle. Later Flynn, Lily."

The two girls strode off, leaving Lily with Flynn, and she gave a lopsided smile at her childhood friend.

"Well, what do we do now?"

"Talk to the guests, mostly. Maybe dance with a couple of people."

"Damn. I'm a wallflower, not a socialite."

"Surprise surprise, so am I. Want to go flower the wall?"

"'Flower the wall'? Do you know how dumb that sounds?"

"Dumb enough to get your attention and agreeal. Let's go," Flynn replied, leading her to a relatively clear corner.

The night wore on, many people coming and going. Lily and Flynn found themselves remaining in their little corner, ignoring the half-hearted glares from girls hoping to get Flynn's attention and the occasional stuttering man trying to ask Lily to dance.

Flynn caught Lily self-conciously brushing her hair back from her face for what must have been the fiftieth time, and frowned. He'd never known his friend to be the type who cared about her image, but he guessed if he got turned into a girl, he'd be pretty self-concious too.

She reached up to tug at that starting-to-get-irritating lock of hair once more and he grabbed her wrist, waylaying her hand. She blinked at the sudden contact, looking at him.

"Huh? You okay, Flynn?" she asked, confused.

"Just leave it be. It looks fine," he sighed, lowering his hand. Lily placed her palm back in her lap, sighing as she looked around.

"Can we go yet? This is now not only boring, but really, really irritating."

Flynn shrugged. "Well, it's supposed to be a birthday party for me, but I doubt anyone will notice if we leave. You want to go outside or something?"

"That would be nice," Lily agreed, the two of them standing and making their way towards the doors.

"Flynn!" a voice called, and they turned back as Estelle made her way over.

"Estelle? What's the matter?" asked Flynn.

"Sorry, I just noticed you were leaving...but please, can't you at least do one dance? It is your birthday party."

Flynn sighed. "Alright Estelle. Are you wanting me to dance with you?"

"Me? No, I'm too busy talking to one of the ambassadors...dance with Lily instead. Thanks, Flynn!" Estelle said as she hurried back to wherever she was before, apologizing to a man and laughing at something he'd said.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Why the hell would we dance together? Why would Estelle even want us to?"

"Well, we did promise her."

"Nuh uh, you promised her. I can't dance."

"Sure you can."

"No really, I can't."

Flynn looked at her in surprise. "But you're pretty graceful when you fight," he pointed out.

"What does that have to do with it?"

"Graceful fighters are good dancers. Sometimes learning to dance can help improve your fighting. You're so show-offish, I assumed you were a good dancer."

"Have you ever seen me dance?"

"No, but that didn't mean you couldn't."

"Well, I can't. Go find someone else to dance with."

Flynn sighed, glancing up as the song began to draw to a close. "Come on Yuri, just give it a try," he murmured into her ear.

She glanced at him uncertainly, then gave an irritated sigh. "Okay, fine. But we're doing one song, and then we're leaving."

Flynn nodded, taking her hand and leading her to the dance floor. Various other couples were already on it, and everyone came to a halt to clap the band before they struck up a new song.

Flynn placed an arm behind Lily's back, their hands still linked, and Lily squeaked. "Why are we so close?" she hissed.

"That's the dance for this kind of song. Just follow my lead."

Slowly the two began to make their way around the hall, Flynn gently guiding Lily. She found herself constantly staring at her feet, desperately trying not to trip up. Somehow, though she watched her feet very carefully, she still managed to trip Flynn up several times.

"Sorry," she whispered for the eleventh time as Flynn saved himself from crashing into her.

"Stop looking at your feet, it's just making you worse."

"Where else am I supposed to look?"

"Up would be a good start."

Lily drew her gaze up, finding it meeting Flynn's. "That just means I'm staring at you!" she hissed.

"That's the point," he murmured, his mouth barely moving.

Lily held back a screech. "Why are you making this more awkward?"

"I'm not. Just relax and look at me, okay?"

She sighed, then brought her gaze to his and allowed him to lead. As soon as she stopped trying to move correctly, she just kind of flowed into it, starting to glide across the room.

"Oh hey, this is pretty easy," she noted with surprise.

"See? I told you."

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

Suddenly everyone dancing spun, and Lily held back a squeal as she nearly tripped herself up.

"What was that!?"

"I believe it's called a 'spin'."

"Why'd they just stick it in the middle like that? It's just stupid!"

"So you'd prefer they did it at the beginning or end?"

"Yes!...maybe? I don't know!"

Flynn chuckled and Lily sighed, falling quiet again as they continued to dance.

"We're spinning again," Flynn warned, and Lily felt herself tense. Flynn felt it as well and tapped her back lightly, making her jump.

"What?"

"Don't stiffen like that, it'll just make it harder. I've told you, relax and let me lead."

Lily relaxed again, and this time when they spun, she found herself seeming to float, her skirt billowing out and long hair lifting to the side. She gave a little giggle at the feeling, before they went back to normal, the rhythmic back and forward motion starting soothe her.

"I might start enjoying this dancing stuff if this keeps up," she said.

"I noticed. Well, I should probably warn you now; at the end of the song, the male lifts the female up briefly."

"So I'm lifting you, right?" Lily teased, and Flynn rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, don't freak, okay?"

"Okay."

They continued the dance, chatting quietly as they went, before the end of the song came up. Lily found herself automatically stiffening and Flynn tapped her again, causing her to relax.

As everyone began to spin, a motion Lily had come to enjoy in a weird way, Flynn grasped her sides and lifted her up slightly. The motion was copied by all the other dancers, but Lily barely noticed as the fact she wasn't touching the floor came to her. Then Flynn had lowered her again and she gave a breathy laugh, shaking her head.

"Can we go now?" she asked, and Flynn nodded, grinning.

The two headed outside, finding a quiet place in the gardens and sitting down on the grass. Lily tucked her dress underneath her knees before sitting, gazing up at the sky.

"The stars are really bright without the barriers," she murmured.

Flynn nodded, also staring at them. The two remained in a peaceful silence for a while, before finally Flynn sighed.

"I'm twenty three now," he murmured.

Lily looked at him. "What, only just noticed?"

"Funny," Flynn dead-panned, then shook his head, going back to gazing at the sky. "Estelle will be twenty in a few weeks."

"I know how old everyone is, you know," Lily teased, though she had a good idea where this was going.

Flynn ignored her jab. "I...I want to ask Estelle to marry me."

Lily glanced at him, then shrugged. "So ask her."

Flynn spared her a flat glare, then shook his head. "It's not so simple. There are a lot of formalities I have to go through first before I can even begin courting her, and then numerous others that I need to do before I can even ask her to marry me..."

"Flynn," Lily said, cutting him off, and he looked at her. "Just ask her. I can guarantee she won't mind you skipping the formalities."

Flynn rubbed his head. "Do you think I should?"

"Yes."

He sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll ask her later."

"Good. Now, I think I'm going to go to bed. Night," Lily said, standing up and stretching before giving a wave and moving off.

A/N: I'll admit. The 'flower the wall' bit is my favourite :3

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