Morning Tea
It was a beautiful clear morning. Dawn was just breaking, painting the sky in shades of pink, yellow, and fading blue. Warm iced strawberry scones and a fresh pot of tea were carefully arranged on a tray. Gunter smiled happily to himself. The only thing to make the day better would be if Yuuri Heika came back from the other world. Sighing the lavender haired man pushed such thoughts aside.
He arrived at his destination, balanced the tray carefully, knocked once, then pushed open the door without waiting for a reply. "Good morning, Gwendal!" He called out, sweeping into the room. The general nodded in reply and continued writing. He was used to Gunter's morning arrivals by now.
Other than the maids and a few guards on patrol, the advisor and the general were the only people up this early in the morning. Even Conrad would not be stirring for at least another half hour, or probably later since Yozak was home and Yuuri away.
Once Gunter had discovered that Gwendal was awake and hard at work so early in the morning he insisted on bringing him breakfast. At first Gwendal had refused. He saw no reason add to the maid's morning workload when he could eat with everyone else at the usual time. Evicting the advisor from his office did not deter the stubborn mazoku and did wake a few castle residents. So finally they had come to a compromise. Every morning Gunter joined him for an extremely early morning tea, which the advisor prepared himself.
This meant the Mazoku general actually had three meals a day and tea twice. Or at least he did on the days he managed not work through a meal or two. When his mother was around sometimes he ended up have tea thrice. Gwendal sighed and wished people would quit force-feeding him. It was nice to know people cared but eventually he was bound to start putting on weight. He didn't miss that many meals.
Finally, he set aside his work and joined Gunter at a small table set near the window. The heavenly scent of fresh baked scones awoke his stomach and Gunter smiled at his embarrassment. Silently, the advisor past him a scone covered plate and a cup of tea prepared to Gwendal's preference.
They ate in silence watching the sunrise. Gwendal glanced at his companion. This morning ritual was pleasant, sitting next to Gunter watching the world awaken. The advisor turned, caught his eye, and smiled. The stoic mazoku felt an answering twitch at his own lips and hid it by pouring them both more tea.
Light filtered slowly through the window, caressing the table and teapot, reflecting off teacups, finally gliding over dark strands and lavender locks. The two had given up on the window and were now watching the light play over each other. They didn't at first notice each other's scrutiny, being too lost in their own thoughts.
Finally awareness dawned but they could still not turn away from the sights presented to them by the early morning light. Stretching out a hand Gwendal cupped Gunter's face gently and the advisor leaned into the touch. Soft smiles were exchanged before Gwendal pulled back his hand and stood up, ending the moment.
The general went back to his desk and the advisor replaced everything on the tray and quietly left but the peace in the room remained.