Archive of Our Own ^beta

It wasn't until Estelle and Rita were compiling the guest list for their wedding that Estelle realized she had no idea whether Flynn and Yuri were just partners or if they were partners.

"Hmm," Estelle said. She paused in the middle of scribbling notes about each person she wanted to invite. "About Flynn and Yuri..."

Rita looked up from the spreadsheet she was compiling. "You told them that you were going to invite them to our wedding." She crossed her arms and stretched her neck. "Too late to back out of it now."

"No, it's not that I don't want them there, it's just..." Estelle trailed off and began tapping the end of her pen in rapid staccato against the table. "I don't know how many invitations to send them."

"Huh?"

"They're partners at work," Estelle said aloud, mostly thinking to herself rather than answering Rita's confusion. "But they live together, run their agency together, and if I understand it correctly, spend most of their free time together. They raised a dog together, too. Plus, they're always in each other's space, and the way that they talk to each other and act... It seems more than what work partners do. Neither of them wore rings, but they do work undercover sometimes." She sighed. "Am I overthinking this?"

Rita shrugged and tapped a few keys on her laptop. "If you're concerned, why not ask?"

"I-I can't," Estelle squeaked out. "It's been over a year! What if they think I'm weird for suddenly asking them personal questions?"

"You're trying to invite them to our wedding," Rita said. She typed out another string of characters before closing her laptop and pulling her smartphone towards herself. "I think they'd understand if you ask them a few questions. If you don't want to do it, though, I will. I'll call Flynn."

Estelle watched Rita as she waited for Flynn to pick up. Rita rolled her eyes when it went through to Flynn's voicemail. "Hey, it's Rita. Estelle's fiancé? Anyway, are you and Yuri dating or whatever? We need to know if we should to send you two separate invitations and plus ones. Bye."

She hung up and lightly tossed her phone back on the table. "There, easy," she said.

Estelle covered her face with her hands. "Rita, that was so blunt."

Rita shrugged. "I'm sure they have to deal with more crap than me asking them if they're dating."

It was a good point. Estelle herself had given the two of them worse things to deal with when she hired them to help her figure out her family's inheritance dispute. "I know," she said. She drew her hands away from her face and reached across the table for Rita. "Thank you for doing that."

Rita smiled at her and clasped her hand. "Anytime."

— — —

They didn't receive a reply that day. Nor the next day. Nor the one after that. After the third day, Estelle contemplated asking Rita if she'd be willing to call Yuri when she ran into him in the supermarket.

"Yo, Estelle," he said when they locked eyes. "Been a while. How are things going with the wife?"

"We're not married yet. We're still finalizing the wedding plans," Estelle said. This was as good an opportunity as any. "Actually, I have a question for you, if you don't mind?"

"Not at all," Yuri said. He kicked up a foot on the back of his shopping cart and leaned towards her. "Shoot."

Estelle took a deep breath. "Should we send you and Flynn one invitation or two?"

Yuri thought for a second before replying. "Better make it two. Flynn gets sentimental about this sort of thing, so I'm sure we'll need at least a second copy for him to put into a scrapbook or whatever."

That answered nothing Estelle wanted answered. "No, I mean... Would it be incorrect to send the two of you a joint invitation?"

Yuri shrugged. "If you need to save the money, we don't care. I can take a picture of it to save the details before Flynn locks it away in a vault forever."

Estelle stared at Yuri for a moment before trying again. Being blunt, it seemed, would be the only method that would work. "I'm not making myself clear, sorry. Are you and Flynn—"

"Yuri! Look what I found in the discount bin!"

Estelle was cut off by a woman's voice. An absolute bombshell walked around the corner, carrying a realistic prop severed arm left over from Halloween.

The woman who was using the arm to wave at Yuri was the most gorgeous woman Estelle had ever seen in her life. She was taller than Yuri, well endowed, and her arms and legs were well toned and muscled. The phrase, "could crush a watermelon in between her thighs" popped up in Estelle's brain, and she flushed.

Yuri sighed. The woman walked up to him and began lightly slapping his face with the palm. "It's only five dollars. Can we get it? Please?"

Yuri attempted to bat the hand away to no avail. "If you want it that bad, Judy, you can buy it yourself. I'm not spending my money that."

"I come home for the first time in months, and you won't even buy me a welcome back present." She mock pouted at him and clutched the arm close to her chest. Estelle tried not to stare. "Way to make a girl feel special."

Yuri sighed again before turning to Estelle. "Estelle," he said as he gestured to the woman next to him, "Judy. Judy, Estelle."

"A-a pleasure, Judy!" Estelle half-shouted as she lifted her eyes up to look at Judy's face. Judy caught the action and grinned, and Estelle felt her face heat up even more.

"Judith, actually. This one," she swatted at Yuri's chest with the arm, "has special privileges. It is a pleasure to meet you, Estelle. Sorry if this seems sudden, but are you the same Estelle that Rita's marrying?"

"Yes, I am," Estelle said. She tilted her head. Rita hadn't ever mentioned knowing anyone like Judith. "You know Rita?"

Judith's grin grew mischievous as she tossed the prop arm into the shopping cart, much to Yuri's displeasure. "We went to the same university. She was a student in a few of my father's classes. We drifted apart after she graduated, although it's mostly my fault. My work keeps me travelling and off social media."

"What is it that you do, if you don't mind my asking?"

Judith beamed at her, smiling so widely that her eyes were closed. "I'm a bounty hunter."

Estelle assumed that Judith was joking at first. But when Judith opened her eyes, smile diminishing just enough to add a hint of menace to it, Estelle found that she could easily see Judith performing the job.

"You'd be surprised," Judith said lightly, "how easy it is to get people to fold sometimes." She clasped her hands together behind her back and leaned forward just enough to give Estelle a good eyeful of her cleavage. "Guess there must be something about me that makes them weak, huh?"

Estelle was desperately trying to keep her eyes on Judith's face. "That, um. That seems dangerous."

"A little, I guess." Judith shrugged and straightened. "It depends on who I'm working with. This guy," she said, slapping Yuri so hard on the back that he nearly got shoved into the shopping cart, "was one of the better people to work with before he got all domestic and settled down."

Yuri rolled his eyes as he gripped the cart. "You like me settling down. Who was it that told me it was nice having people to go home to?" He looped an arm through one of Judith's before giving Estelle a nod. "Sorry about her, Estelle. I can't take her anywhere."

"Hey," Judith said, but it was more a token protest than anything that suggested real hurt.

"No, it's fine," Estelle said, flustered for several reasons. "Uh, Judith, do you want me to tell Rita I ran into you?"

"Sure. Tell her I said hi, too. And be sure to make Rita send me an invitation to your wedding, okay? I'll definitely make time for it."

"Of course!"

"We should let you finish your shopping," Yuri said. He tugged Judith on the arm lightly. "And we need to finish our shopping, too. Don't forget we have plans tonight."

"All right. It was nice meeting you, Estelle."

"Same here. It was nice seeing you again as well, Yuri."

Yuri's smile was sincere. "Same, Estelle. I'll catch you later."

Estelle watched them vanish into the supermarket crowds before remembering that she was supposed to have asked Yuri if he and Flynn were dating. She stared blankly at the spot he and Judith were standing in. Yuri and Judith weren't a couple, were they? They were certainly comfortable with each other, and they definitely had a past, but that didn't mean that they were dating. Then again, some of the things Yuri said about them were suspicious, what with the "people to go back to" line and all.

She was overthinking it.

"Maybe I should ask Flynn," Estelle muttered.

— — —

She called and then texted Flynn when she got home. She stumbled over her words when she left the voicemail and cringed at how blunt the question seemed over text. He didn't reply when she and Rita made and ate dinner, and there was still no response when they went to bed that night. It was the middle of the work week, so she didn't have time to seek him out at his agency either.

The combination of work, wedding planning, and the rapid onset of winter made her forget about the question until over a week later. Estelle was only reminded when the materials to craft their wedding invitations arrived on a Friday afternoon.

"Oh, no," she said as she and Rita began sorting envelopes and preparing the invites. They'd gotten enough to send Flynn and Yuri separate ones, but it still bothered Estelle that she didn't know. "I never found out about Flynn and Yuri."

"Just send them separate invites," Rita said, glaring at the envelopes like they'd fold themselves if she stared hard enough. "I don't think they'd be mad about it if they were together."

"I know, but it's personal now," Estelle admitted, as much to herself as to Rita. "I have to know before our wedding if Flynn and Yuri are dating or not."

"You know what," Rita said, brushing aside the envelopes in favor of pulling out her phone, "I'll suffer through Yuri's terrible texting skills just for you."

"I love you," Estelle said in response, and even though Rita held up her phone to block her face, Estelle could see that the tips of her ears went red.

Rita began to text, fingers swiping through her phone, and Estelle focused her attentions on the guest list again. Both she and Rita agreed to keep the wedding small for their own sanity, but Estelle's large, complicated family made things hard. The whole inheritance dispute sharply cut down the number of family members Estelle wanted to be in contact with. Even so, Estelle had twice as many people on her invite list than Rita.

And then there were people like Duke, who traveled all over the world. Estelle didn't know if any of the five addresses she had for him were even good anymore.

"Oh, he's such an ass," Rita yelled. She sent her phone skidding across the table, and Estelle looked up from staring suspiciously at Duke's collection of addresses. "Read that!"

As Estelle read, another text popped up on Rita's screen.

Sure enough, Estelle phone soon vibrated. She set down Rita's phone to pick up hers, and sighed deeply when she read his message.

Wordlessly, Estelle handed her phone to Rita. She watched Rita's face turn red with anger, and then Rita grabbed her phone with a scowl, typing a response to Yuri with the all the finesse and fury of an explosion.

Estelle looked at her phone again for a second, then decided to text Flynn one more time. He hadn't responded to any of her other texts, but maybe this time he would. In addition, she texted Yuri, too, asking him if he knew why Flynn wasn't answering any of their texts and calls.

Estelle waited a few minutes for a reply. Rita never stopped texting during that time span, which meant either Yuri was still riling her up instead of asking Flynn, or that Rita was having a one-sided argument with him. Both were equally plausible, so Estelle returned to the invitations for a while before her phone buzzed.

Rather than just a text reply, Yuri sent her an image of Flynn angrily getting up from his desk. It was blurry, but Flynn's red face was still distinguishable, as was the way his mouth was open in a yell.

Another picture accompanied Yuri's last text. It was a blurry close up of Flynn's jawline. From the angle the picture was taken, it was clear that Yuri was lying down; his prone body was laying atop a black couch that could barely be seen in the bottom of the picture. Though Flynn's jawline took up nearly the entire top left portion of the picture, the rest of his body was visible. He was straddling Yuri. One knee knelt in between Yuri's body and the couch back, and the other leg propped him up on the floor. Flynn's left arm was resting on what was Yuri's chest, and the space between their bodies was...lacking, to put it one way.

Estelle stared at the picture longer than she should have. Though what was visible of Flynn's face was red, though she knew that it wasn't strange for guys to get physical with each other, something about the body language of both of them screamed intimacy.

"Ugh," Rita said suddenly as she put her phone down. Estelle snapped out of her thoughts and looked up. "Flynn got a hold of Yuri's phone. I can't believe I wasted that much time arguing with him."

"He did?" Estelle said as her phone buzzed.

She waited patiently as Rita huffed and muttered under her breath as she started folding the envelopes. She waited some more, returning to the guest list and practicing writing their names with her rusty calligraphy skills. Finally, after several minutes, she got a reply.

She received no reply. Out of frustration, she called Yuri. It rang for a long time before he picked up.

"What's your sudden preoccupation," he said before she could even get a word out, "with our relationship anyway?" He was breathing heavily, the bustling hum of traffic was in the background, and there was the tell-tale sound of feet slamming against pavement.

"I just need to know!" Rita looked up from the envelopes and raised an eyebrow at her outburst. Estelle blushed before she lowered her phone and put him on speaker. She gestured towards Rita to join the conversation. "I don't want to refer to the two of you—incorrectly."

Yuri laughed, then shouted a quick, "Oops, excuse me," to someone else. "We're partners," he said breathlessly. "What else do you need to know?"

"Stop being evasive, you ass," Rita snapped. "At this point, we just want to know out of spite."

"Awww, Rita," Yuri cooed. "Sorry, but I have to turn down your offer—Whoops! Sorry!—of running away together. I'm not a homewrecker."

"You moron!" Rita roared. "Estelle! We're uninviting him to our wedding!"

"Woah, woah," Yuri said. The sound of his footsteps slowed until they stopped all together. The background noise, too, faded. "Hang on." He took a deep breath before speaking again. "Okay, you really want to know if Flynn and I are dating? Well, we're not dating. We're partners."

"Oh," Estelle said, and it came out more disappointed sounding than she intended.

Yuri laughed again. "Is that disappointment I hear? You were really hoping to hear we were dating, weren't you?"

"N-no!" At Rita's skeptical look, Estelle deflated a bit. "Okay, maybe. It's not funny! Stop laughing, Yuri!"

"You've got to admit that this whole thing is at least a little funny— Woah, hey! When the hell did you catch up— Damn it!"

There was the sounds of a scuffle. Estelle and Rita stared at the phone, then looked up and stared at each other. Flynn's voice soon popped up on the line, sounding slightly strained.

"Estelle," he said, slightly out of breath, "what did Yuri say to you?"

Yuri's voice could be heard complaining in the background. "Uh, he said that you two weren't dating."

"Yuri, you idiot," Flynn said. Estelle could hear Yuri break out into laughter again. "You can't lead them on like that!"

"Lead them on?" Rita said darkly.

Flynn sighed. "Yuri and I aren't dating because we're married to each other. Have been for five years."

Silence.

And then:

"WHAT," Rita exploded, slamming her hands on their table and standing up. "HOW?!"

"If you don't know how two people get married," Yuri's voice droned from the background, "then I'm really worried about your wedding."

"Estelle, I'm serious," Rita said, glaring at the phone so hard Estelle feared it was going to combust. "We're uninviting him! Flynn can come, but not him!"

"Eh," Yuri said, "I'd just come as Flynn's plus one."

"Then I'm BANNING you from our wedding! Flynn, how the hell have you been married to this idiot for five years without killing him?"

"Love, apparently," Flynn said drily. "I'm sorry about all of this. Yuri isn't as funny as he thinks he is."

"It's all right, Flynn," Estelle said. Then, in the sweetest tone of voice she had, Estelle added: "Could you do me a favor, though? Could you smack Yuri for me?"

"Absolutely," Flynn said.

"Thank you," she replied, then ended the conversation when Yuri started protesting.

"Well, that was a waste of time," Rita muttered. "Do we have to send Yuri an invite?"

"We ought to," Estelle said. "But now that we know they're married, we can just send them a joint one."

Rita hummed in thought. "Can we at least write his name smaller than Flynn's?"

Estelle stared at the guest list and her practice attempts at calligraphy. "Sure."

"Good," Rita said. "That'll show him." She moved her chair around the table so she would sit closer to Estelle, and Estelle did the same until they were sitting shoulder to shoulder.

"Hey," Rita said, picking up an unfolded envelope, "I promise I'll make sure everyone knows you're my wife once we're married."

Estelle giggled and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll be sure to do the same."

"We're gonna be so much better at being married than those two are," Rita said. She maintained her serious expression until she caught Estelle's eye. The two burst out into laughter once their eyes met, nearly collapsing on top of each other in the process. Once they settled down, they returned to their work, leaning against one another for support as they put together their wedding invitations.