A/N: So, for anyone who pays attention to author's notes and remembers me saying in "A Nice Change of Pace" that my friend and I have ideas about Ioder…here they are, more or less. =D This story doesn't belong to any of my established timelines, but you can assume that anytime Yuri thinks something negative about Ioder, it's because of a more subtle version of this.

Uhhh…this is sort of crack-y. Just so you know going in.

Disclaimer: The characters and settings in this story are from Tales of Vesperia and do not belong to me.

Karol's boots pounded up the steps to the second floor of Brave Vesperia's headquarters, echoing through the gaps and hollows of the little building. Yuri heard his footsteps approaching from down the hall, and he sat up on the little bed in the room he used when he stayed in Dahngrest. Karol had never fully gotten the hang of knocking before entering, particularly when he was excited, so it didn't surprise Yuri when he burst into the room, grinning. The large white envelope he carried caught Yuri's attention immediately, and he rolled his eyes when he spotted the distinctive seal pressed into a blob of gold wax.

"Yuri! You got—"

"Send it back. Sincerest apologies, cannot accommodate your request, kindly get lost—however you want to phrase it." He flopped back onto the bed and shut his eyes.

"But Yuri! This is from—"

"I know who it's from. I saw the seal. Just tell him I'm on another job or something."

"I can't lie to him! Why are you always like this when he sends requests?"

"What's all the commotion?" The argument had attracted Judy's attention. There was a brief crinkle of paper being unfolded.

"Yuri's got another job offer, but he's refusing it."

"Oh, my. I can't imagine why he'd want you doing this job." The smile in Judy's voice was audible. "Did you even read the request?"

"I don't want to know. Burn it. We can pretend it never arrived."

"It came by official courier, Yuri! We can't do that."

"Rent is coming due soon, isn't it?""

Yuri sat up slowly, having a good idea where Judy was going with that. "Yeah. So?"

"I was a little concerned about whether you had enough to cover it. It has been a bit slow this past month."

"I've got some gald saved up for a rainy day."

"Oh? Enough to pay the rent for our headquarters?"

"Hey, yeah! You gotta take this job, Yuri! For the good of the guild!"

"Fine. What is it this time?"

Yuri held a hand out for the letter and skimmed it briefly, looking only for the description and duration of the job. When he found those, he actually ended up going back and reading the entire request, sure there must have been some mistake.

"He wants me doing what?"

"I'm very happy you agreed to help go through the imperial archives. There are an awful lot of important documents down here that simply aren't being taken care of properly."

"Brave Vesperia, at your service," Yuri muttered.

He peered at the book in his hand. The cover was so faded that he couldn't read the title. He flipped it open as Ioder piped up again from behind him.

"Military history, three shelves to your right."

To get there, Yuri had to step around or over half a dozen stacks of books of varying height. He couldn't argue that the place certainly needed some looking after. It seemed like it hadn't been kept up with since it had been discovered that the Chief Archivist had been in league with Alexei. No one had stepped in to fill his position, but plenty of scholars and inventors had stepped in to make use of the vast resources of the imperial archives as they tried to come up with ways to make life without blastia easier. Flynn had assured him that the men and women who had been going through all these old books and scrolls had come up with some brilliant ideas. As far as Yuri was concerned, they were all a bunch of messy bastards who needed to be taught a lesson about not trashing places that he'd have to clean up.

Flynn was helping by sorting out the texts. Ioder didn't seem to be doing much, but at least he was behaving himself for the moment. Bad enough that Yuri had been forced into accepting the job from him, but the little imperial brat had come wandering down into the archives the second Flynn was out of sight, and Yuri kept feeling eyes on him as he worked. He sighed and tried to concentrate.

Cleaning the archives was a daunting task, made worse by the dimness of the room. He and Flynn had lit lamps when they arrived early that evening, but those were a poor substitute for the sunlight that would have streamed in during the day.

"I don't see why we have to do this at night."

"It's chaos in here during the day." Flynn's voice carried to him from a few shelves back. "We wouldn't get anywhere. Besides, I do have my official duties to see to. Only one of us is actually getting paid for this."

"About that—don't you think there are people better suited to this job?"

He heard Ioder navigating through the knee-high maze of discarded books, but didn't pay him as much mind as he should have. He was still trying to figure out exactly where the damnable book in his hands was supposed to go. Where the hell was the author's name?

"Try the fifth shelf down."

Yuri bent, scanning the row of spines for any clue about where he was supposed to stick the stupid thing. Suddenly, Ioder was right behind him. He plucked the book out of Yuri's hands and stretched to slide it into place, leaning over Yuri as he did. They were pressed indecently close and his free hand had settled at Yuri's waist, supposedly to steady himself.

"There is no one I would rather have in this position than you."

Not this again. Where the hell was Flynn?

He had spoken softly, breath tickling over Yuri's ear. When he stepped aside, he rocked his hips harder against Yuri as he angled around a stack of books next to them. Smiling, he met Yuri's glare calmly.

"I needed someone I could trust." He almost could have gotten away with sounding innocent if he hadn't gone on to say: "There's no telling what some people might get up to all alone in the dark."

Flynn, predictably enough, didn't hear anything in Ioder's words that he felt was worth objecting to. Idiot.

"I'm not exactly alone with you and Flynn both down here."

The bright smile stretched across Ioder's face didn't falter. "I suppose not. Ready for more?"

Yuri sighed. It was only the first night of a week in what had to be a special hell designed just for him.