Disclaimer – Tales of Vesperia belongs to Namco. May they continue to make wonderful games to play.

Summary – Yuri/Flynn stories revolving around the unusual wardrobe Yuri's picked up during his travels...

A/N – Each chapter will be a stand-alone story, but since they're all running on the same theme I'll be collecting them here. Also... expect lots of smuttiness. Not in every story, but... my brain seems to be falling into the gutter more often than not with this couple.

Costume – Improvisationist

Improvisational

The costume should have been ridiculous. Really, it should have been. The pants were puffy, the red horns looked silly, and the shirt...

Flynn's throat went dry the instant he caught sight of Yuri in that shirt. Since Yuri's normal attire typically ended up with the shirt left undone to about mid-chest, Flynn had grown used to Yuri's extreme aversion to having anything around his neck. But the neckline on this shirt plunged to just about Yuri's belly-button, leaving everyone a tantalizing view of his stomach muscles... which were rather pleasingly defined.

Never before had Flynn realized that he could want to cover someone up and strip them completely all at once.

Not unsurprisingly, Flynn lost the plot of the play, staring at his dearest friend and thanking his lucky stars it was dark enough in the audience that no one could see how flushed he was or how his eyes only followed the villain of the piece. Not even Lady Estellise could manage to warrant more than a glance from Flynn. She looked cute in the Prince's outfit, but Yuri...

Flynn escaped as soon as he could, finding himself blinking and a bit shaken in the cool night air. The gymnasium was next to the Inn in Nam Cobanda, so Flynn quickly crossed the distance and managed, if only just, not to run to the room he was staying in. It was with relief that he shut the door and divested himself of his shoes and armor.

Sinking onto the bed, he threw an arm over his eyes and tried to understand what had just happened.

Ever since Yuri's brief disappearance after the events at Zaude, Flynn's feelings for his raven-haired friend had become... unmanageably weird. At first he'd been grief-stricken, terrified at the thought that Yuri might have died.

Though he'd believed the Schwann Brigade's reports that Yuri was alive and well, traveling with his guild and Lady Estellise once more, he'd still carried around a painful weight in his chest that nothing seemed to fix. At least, not until he saw Yuri show up, ready to save the day with Rita's latest invention in hand.

At that moment, Flynn had felt so unburdened and alive that he felt that he could take on all the monsters on the continent and win, if only Yuri would fight at his side. And though they didn't fight all the monsters on the continent, it sure as hell felt like they did. When it was over, he'd grabbed on to Yuri, trapping the other in a hug all while desperately wishing he wouldn't ever have to let go. Yuri's equally fierce embrace had made releasing him all that much harder.

Then, when Yuri decided to lead his group to Tarqaron to stop Duke and implement the alternative method for defeating the Adephagos, Flynn had insisted on going with them.

The Empire was changing because of them, just as they'd promised. Each had accomplished amazing goals, though they were only tangentially aware of the other's achievements. But this time they needed to work together and, after Zaude, Flynn had no intention of letting Yuri out of his sight for too long.

He'd stuck to Yuri like glue since leaving Aurnion, enduring the occasional 'Mother Flynn' joke. In turn, Yuri tolerated Flynn's sudden tendency to reach out to touch Yuri's hand or arm or hair... just to reassure himself that Yuri was really there and not dead. This was real, not some horrible trick his mind came up with to cope with an unbearable loss.

But tonight...

Oh, god, tonight.

Flynn hadn't just stared at Yuri; he'd been ogling the man. Only the fact that other people were in there had stopped him from going up on stage and running his hands over Yuri's tantalizingly exposed skin.

Though he'd been attracted to others before, this was the first time Flynn could remember feeling outright lustful towards anyone. Except this wasn't just anyone, this was his best friend.

Burying his face in the pillow, Flynn let out a groan of frustration. His shifting feelings could end up ruining their longstanding relationship. If Yuri found out...

"The play wasn't that bad, was it?"

Oh no...

"You practically ran out as soon as the lights came on after we took our bows," Yuri continued.

No no no no no...

The door shut with a loud thud. "Flynn... are you feeling okay?"

Flynn looked up and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." He immediately wanted to take back the statement. Yuri was still in-costume, though the red horns had already come off. The horns and Yuri's normal clothes were tossed onto one chair while Yuri slouched onto another.

Yuri then reached for his boots, giving Flynn a rather nice view of his abs. "Then, if you're feeling fine, that goes back to the play. Was it really so horrible?"

"N-no," Flynn stammered out, his face growing hot as he grew flushed and flustered.

"Then why'd you run off like that? You've spent the last week all but plastered to my side; it was a little disconcerting to see you leave me behind like that."

"I..." Flynn floundered, not knowing what to say. It'd be a bad idea to tell the truth, but Yuri could always tell when he lied. "Uh..."

Yuri's shirt fell open a little further, showing more of his stomach... including a scar Flynn didn't recognize. He'd thought that he knew all of Yuri's worst injuries... Estelle hadn't mentioned having to heal Yuri from a wound so severe and it was certainly the sort of news she'd know he'd want.

So when...?

"Where did that come from?" Flynn asked.

"Don't try to change the subject," Yuri said teasingly. He started to say something else, but Flynn cut him off.

"This is more important," Flynn insisted. "That scar... when did you get it? It's hard to tell from here, but it looks recent." Rolling over to the edge of the bed, Flynn sat and then stood.

Self-consciously, Yuri pressed a hand over his shirt where the scar was, blocking it from view. "Yeah, it's... it's recent." He paused and then shook his head. "It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Flynn walked over and knelt in front of the chair his friend sat on. Then he batted Yuri's hand out of the way before pushing the sleeves of Yuri's shirt off the raven-haired man's shoulders. Yuri let out a shuddering breath as Flynn's fingers brushed lightly over the scar-tissue. "Did this... happen at Zaude?"

"Yes..." Yuri's voice shook slightly, calling Flynn's attention to Yuri's face. His cheeks had taken on a pink tinge and suddenly Flynn was aware of of just how presumptuous his actions were.

"No one said anything about you being injured during the fight," Flynn murmured, withdrawing his hand. "How did this happen?"

"When I fell..." Yuri sighed, looking away. "That's when I was hurt."

"By the shards of the crystal?" Flynn asked sceptically. Parts of the Apatheia had splintered off when it crushed Alexei, but it was doubtful that the scar on Yuri's stomach could have been caused by those shards. It looked like some sort of sharp implement caused the wound. Something like a sword or a knife...

"I won't lie to you, Flynn."

"But you don't want to tell me, either."

"It was a mistake," Yuri insisted. "It... she..." he trailed off and bit his lip.

"She..." Flynn echoed, not liking where this was going. "Lady Estellise would never hurt you," he said flatly. "I don't know Rita well, nor Judith, but they were with Lady Estellise and the others. They took your disappearance very hard as well. But your friends weren't the only ones up there."

"Flynn, she thought she was doing the best thing for you..."

"Stop excusing her!"

Yuri flinched. Very quiet, he whispered, "I'm sorry, Flynn."

"She tried to kill you and you didn't say anything. Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"I..."

Not paying attention, Flynn rose back to his feet and began to pace. "I spent days with the fleet, searching for you, Yuri, and the person responsible for taking you away from me stood at my side the entire damn time. I stopped searching personally because she promised to take over and find you herself. What would have happened if she had found you out there? Would she have just... finished the job?"

"Flynn..."

"When Leblanc told me he saw you, it seemed impossible that you could really be okay. You'd been missing for so long I'd been forced to call off the search. No one wanted to admit it, but it seemed likely that you'd drowned and your body was... somewhere... somewhere under the water..." his voice choked off.

"Flynn, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Turning to face Yuri, Flynn saw that he'd pulled the sleeves back up over his shoulders. He was looking down, his expression distraught. "I never meant to hurt you."

"Oh, Yuri..." Flynn pressed a hand against his forehead, watching his friend. "She's the one who hurt me. I just don't understand why you never said a word. How could you stand to see her without telling everyone what she did?"

"You really don't understand the way people look at you. Flynn..." Yuri trailed off for a moment, clearly searching for the right way to express what had been going through his head when he'd decided to... ignore what Sodia had done to him. "When she saw you push me out of the way and you were injured for it, she blamed me for that injury."

"It was Alexei who..."

"I know," Yuri interrupted softly. "Think about it from her point of view, though. The first time she met me, I was a wanted criminal and you didn't arrest me."

"You were technically in Lady Estellise's custody."

"No one really saw it that way. Not even you. I then proceeded to ignore your advice and lead Estelle, along with one of Aspio's brightest mages, in an illegal search of Ragou's home. That he turned out to be a child-torturing sociopath doesn't excuse what I did. Half the time, both in Capua Nor and Capua Torim, we were arguing. The next time she saw me, I was leading my guild in running your blockade in the Weasand of Cados... and then in Nordipolica we had that rather spectacular fight in which I called you on blindly following Alexei, you called me on murdering Ragou and Cumore... and we both said a lot of things we're not exactly proud of."

Yuri hesitated and then added, "I could never do it, you know that right?"

"What?"

"I could never kill you. I'd sooner kill myself than even try."

"Don't... don't say things like that." Flynn sat back down on the bed, dazed. "Don't ever say things like that."

"I'm a murderer you still can't bring yourself to arrest, Flynn. Sodia has a point about me being a bad influence on you."

"His Highness is pushing through another full pardon for you," Flynn objected weakly.

"She was trying to protect you from yourself. Getting hurt because of me was just the last straw. It wasn't until she'd already stabbed me that it even occurred to her what she was doing entailed becoming a murderer herself or that what she was doing would cause you to suffer as well. She just wanted me out of your life."

"So, you're saying that you, what? Sympathize with her decision to kill you? Yuri, I still don't understand why you didn't say anything about this before."

"I... I just... everything's been moving so fast. It's insane, Flynn. There's an octopus in the sky, for god's sake. I'm not used to having so many responsibilities... and I'm exhausted. My side hurts when we're out there fighting for hours straight. Today is probably the last bit of downtime we're going to have before having to stop Duke and we're probably going to have to fight him...

"I don't even know if I can do that, Flynn. Duke saved my life at Zaude... took care of me during the week everyone spent looking for me. I was so out of it the whole time I barely remember any of it... but..."

Flynn rose from the bed and moved back to kneel in front of Yuri in order to pull his friend out of the chair and into a hug, rocking slowly as Yuri's almost panicked breathing slowed back to normal. "I'm sorry," Flynn murmured, running his fingers through Yuri's hair. He hadn't realized how much the stress was stretching Yuri thin. Tightening his hold slightly, Flynn pressed a kiss against Yuri's forehead. "We'll find a way to convince Duke to help us... or at least not hinder our attempts," Flynn vowed. "I can't imagine he really wants to destroy humanity or..."

"Or he wouldn't have bothered saving me," Yuri finished, burrowing against Flynn's chest and giving a contented sigh.

"It was a relief," Yuri said suddenly. "Putting the burden of telling you on Sodia was a relief for me. Because it was supposed to be one less issue I'd have to worry about. I'm not really good enough to be the one who stands at your side, you know. Not anymore. It's the one thing I agree with Sodia on."

"Shouldn't that be for me to decide?" Flynn muttered grumpily. "If you won't be the one who stands with me, I'd rather be alone."

Yuri didn't say anything to that, so they just sat there for a while, Flynn still idly running his fingers through long, silky strands of hair.

"Mmm... You're gonna make me fall asleep like this," Yuri finally spoke up. He blinked up at Flynn sleepily.

Their faces were so close... all Flynn had to do was lean forward a little for their lips to meet. He shouldn't. Surely it was a bad idea...

The only person he wanted to be at his side was Yuri. There would never be anyone else. He wasn't sure he was even capable of feeling like this about anyone else.

He closed the distance.

Flynn felt Yuri grow completely still. He pulled back, heart thundering in his chest, utterly certain he screwed everything up. Yuri stared at him for a long moment, wide awake and wide-eyed with shock.

Hesitantly, Yuri brought his hand up, fingertips lightly brushing his lips. "You kissed me."

"Yeah..." Flynn responded warily.

"Huh."

Arms wrapped around Flynn's shoulders and a hand snaked up into blond hair. Yuri tugged Flynn down into another kiss, but this time it wasn't one-sided in the slightest. This kiss was slow, growing bolder and more passionate as each sought to deepen it.

When, finally, they parted for air – foreheads pressed together, eyes half-lidded, breath mingling as they panted through saliva slicked lips – Yuri murmured something about moving to a bed. Flynn agreed wholeheartedly, looking forward to making his earlier fantasy a reality... by peeling the ridiculous demon outfit off of Yuri.