Günter, not surprisingly, always seemed to have an armload. It had become so commonplace on Valentine's Day to be carrying around a bag with his cards in it that no one thought anything of it. And the twittering fool always thanked every card-giver sincerely.
Gwendal didn't like Valentine's Day until the first time it happened after they had their new king, Shibuya Yuuri take the throne. He hadn't expected it to be any different, to tell the truth. What could possibly change?
So when he entered his office that Valentine's Day and saw Günter sitting on his desk waiting for him, he was nonplussed at first. There was no bag at his feet and there was only one pink envelope in his hand that played effortlessly in his fingertips.
Still confused but having a long-suffering patience for all that was Günter, Gwendal merely closed the door and headed for his desk to sit down and finish his paperwork, saying, "Where are all your admirers?"
Günter was being strangely calm and merely smiled, replying, "I refused them all this year. After all, it wouldn't be right."
"And why is that?" he asked, disinterestedly as he sat down. Unfortunately getting any work done and writing was proving impossible as Günter's shadow and cloak blocked all the light to do so.
"Well, it's not right to accept those feelings when I already have someone I'm in love with."
Gwendal tried to ignore the twist his heart did and continue to feign disinterest as best he could, even if his shoulders became slightly stiff. "His Majesty?"
"No, no," Günter replied with a laugh, still with that eerie calm that Gwendal had only ever seen on a battlefield. "His Majesty is with Wolfram. My feelings are merely that of someone in love with their king as a subject and advisor."
"So that Valentine is from your lover then?"
At his gesture to the valentine still in Günter's hand, the man glanced down at it. He smiled brightly and swerved directions on the desk, scattering papers all over the floor and Gwendal. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance just a little as Günter explained, "Oh, this isn't for me."
"Who's it for?"
"You."
Gwendal blinked, in the middle of picking up the papers from his lap and looked up at the smiling and serene face of the pale purple-haired advisor. He took it cautiously, as if it might bite him, and glanced at the envelope. There was no name on it and he even more carefully pulled out the Valentine. On the front were abundant reds and pinks, with cherubs and little bows with heart arrows. The glitter went above and beyond the call of duty, even.
When he opened it, however, he swore his heart missed at least three beats. The creator had given no thought to masking their identity. The words were simple and precise and there was that single name in that same flowing handwriting that created so many official documents with gracefulness.
I love you. --Günter.
His throat was dry, but he managed to keep his composure. He dropped the Valentine and the papers back on the desk and tried to hide the faint pink hue on his cheeks. "You could have just told me," he muttered, "instead of going through all this."
"Would the answer have been the same?"
"Yes."
"Is that answer a positive one?"
"Yes."
Whatever calm had possessed Günter shattered and he became the wibbly man he was used to. There was no other word to describe the sound he made other than 'squee' and he launched himself happily into Gwendal's lap, much to the General's surprise.
"Oh, I'm so happy! I was so nervous, I was shaking, you can feel me, I was! I was so afraid you'd reject me, it was just terrible! It took me forever to pick out the right Valentine's Day card!"
The next Valentine's Day, Gwendal got something a whole lot better than a card, but when asked what it was the next morning by his friends, he merely grunted and replied that Günter was still sleeping and wouldn't be attending to Yuuri's education until sometime around noon.