Rue the Day [Yuri Briar x f.Reader - SPY x FAMILY]

Chapter 7

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　Yuri's POV　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"But you forgot... You forgot completely.... You even asked why I was acting so strange around you when I was just flustered, hoping you would kiss me again or ask me out... but you never did..."

"We... kissed...?"

"We did... and we kissed again in Slovenia, but with everything that happened..." she trails off.

"I never did understand why you were so mad at me after that trip... but I'm guessing I asked you again?"

"You did, and maybe it would've been just another drunk moment if you hadn't said what you did... but when you took me to Bled, I really thought you remembered... That this time you were serious..."

"What did I say that night?"

You know instantly that you shouldn't have asked from the anguish that paints her pretty features.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　POV Switch　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

After what had happened merely two weeks prior, you had hoped to avoid being alone and intoxicated with Yuri on this trip at all costs. Unfortunately, your peers at the German embassy in Ljubljana were having none of it. Even the excuse of being thoroughly exhausted from the full-day trip wasn't enough to escape without a few drinks.

When nothing happened the first night, you crawled into bed relieved that tomorrow you could focus on the business at hand. When nothing happened the second night, you wondered why you weren't as pleased as the day before. By the third morning, you couldn't deny that you were still disappointed he hadn't followed through with what he'd promised last time.

Yet, in spite of his declaration of affection, in spite of acknowledging your own feelings for him, nagging doubts plagued your thoughts every time you considered asking him yourself.

What if he doesn't actually like you when he's sober?

What if he does but not enough to date you?

What if he just says yes because I'm his superior?

What if he doesn't feel ready and backs out?

What if I scare him off?

Women shouldn't approach men first anyway... it's not appropriate... He would probably think I'm a slut... I'm sure he'd hate me then...

"Senpai? Senpai, we're here," you hear him murmur as he shakes your leg to wake you.

While you fumble through your purse for the cash envelope the ministry gave you for expenses, Yuri alights from the taxi and opens the passenger side door for you. He helps you out, taking your hand and threading it through his elbow as you rise. Still rather sleepy, you yield to his lead unquestioningly when he skirts around the back of the building instead of heading up the grand staircase to the hotel.

"While you were checking us in the other day, I noticed there's a lovely garden in the back," you hear him tell you softly just as the glittering nightscape comes into view. Tall oil lamps burn between the rows of hedges. Autumn blooms lay tucked into every corner of the winding paths.

Patches of swaying cosmos mingle with elegant cone flowers and black-eyed susans. Marigolds litter the base of the shrubs. Dahlias and chrysanthemums float above their stems like enchanted fairy orbs. Pansies, aster, and anemones cluster together like whispering children. Russian sage and the last of the summer lavender steep the cool night air with their perfume.