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Flynn had been home from the hospital less than half a day, and the apartment still felt unlived in, smelled of dead air. The coffee table was a mess of paperwork, antibiotics, water, and the prescription painkillers the hospital had sent home with Flynn. Yuri didn't have to check the packet to know it was still full.
Yuri stood awkwardly in the living room, wishing he had Repede's freedom to wander the rest of the apartment, sniffing the furniture to see what Flynn had changed since they left.
"I'll manage. It's just my shoulder, I've still got the other hand. There's no need for you to babysit."
"Flynn." Yuri waited until Flynn met his eyes. "You want me gone, fine. But tell me who else I can call to hang around. I'd rather you had somebody watching your back."
Flynn blinked at him, somewhere between angry and baffled. "I never wanted you gone. I never wanted anyone else watching my back. You decided that all on your own, remember? Would I have even heard from you again if you hadn't wanted to bust the Commissioner?"
"I understand why you quit the force. I didn't want you to, and it took me a long time to figure out why, but I understand, I know you're happier running your own show. I just never expected you to quit me at the same time." Yuri carefully didn't flinch. "It was my own fault, nagging you, trying to make you see things the way I did--"
Flynn broke off, turned away, and finally sank down onto the couch. “Listen to me. All I can do is yell at you again.” He covered his face with his good hand, and Yuri could hear the hitches in his breath. Repede whined, and pushed his muzzle under Flynn’s palm to lick at his face. "I should be happy, right? Lots of cops pay through the nose and don't get divorces as easy as that - you took the dog and I got the house." Flynn tangled his fingers in Repede's fur, but kept his head down. "You guys should go. I'll be fine. Sodia will come by tomorrow sometime."
Yuri pushed the coffee table and then the dog to one side so that he could kneel down in front of Flynn. “Sodia said you threw her out this afternoon and said you'd see her at the precinct and not before. What's really going on with you?"
"Why are you still here?" Flynn's voice was low, hopeless. "You can say it. 'I told you so'. You were right. Being a cop was pointless. We were part of the problem."
"Alexei was the problem."
"I carried out his orders. I arrested who I was supposed to, investigated where I was told to look. How much did I miss? How much evidence was lost? How many crimes happened right under our noses? I trusted him!"
"Well, yeah, you trusted him. That's the kind of guy you are."
"The stupid kind."
"The honest kind, you dick. You're not a rotten bastard, so you don't go around expecting other people to be rotten bastards."
Flynn laughed, a little, bright eyes and wet cheeks. “And you do?”
"That's the kind of guy I am." Yuri gave him half a grin, and let his hand stay on Flynn's knee. "Now. Do I need a reason for wanting to hang around? You're gonna have a hell of a time trying to wash your hair in the sink one-handed, and I'm looking forward to you strangling yourself on your shirt when you try to take it off."
Repede took the opportunity to jump up onto the couch at the far end, and began inching his way towards Flynn's lap.
"Yuri, this- " Flynn scrubbed his hand over his face. "I can't just ask you to look after me. You left for a reason. And it was a good reason. This-" his gesture encompassed the coffee table, himself, the entire situation, "this isn't your job anymore."
Yuri's eyes narrowed. "You taking a bullet for me isn't your job anymore. I'm not your official partner."
"I didn't do that for the job, Yuri!"
Yuri sat back on his heels, and waited until the red started to creep up Flynn's neck. Repede's nose insinuated itself over the edge of Flynn's thigh.
"Oh."
Repede licked at Flynn's cheek, and Yuri dug his thumbnail into the packet of prescription painkillers, freeing the recommended dose. "Yeah. Oh."
Yuri shifted his weight and leaned forward. Flynn’s lips tasted like salt.