Disclaimer/warnings: I don't own Kyou Kara Maou, or Kyo Kara Moah and no one would pay me for this. Oh, and If you are reading this in the Kyou Kara Maou fanfictions and male/male relationships bother you, boy are you lost.
I use Maou instead of Demon king
majutsu instead of magic abilities
Shin Makoku instead of Great demon Kingdom
but Your Majesty instead of Heika because it sounds better that way this time.
And now, if you didn't watch it in Japanese you know what the funny words mean.
So on with the story...
"Fine then I'll go!" Wolfram Von Bielefeld shouted at the top of his lungs before storming from the dining room; thus ending yet another argument with his accidental fiancé. All too often their day had been starting just this way as of late. "Why me?" Yuuri mumbled to himself as he looked embarrassedly around the breakfast table.
Conrad Weller excused himself, and hurried after Wolfram. Leaving his elder brother Gwendal to ignore everything and continue eating as if nothing had happened.
"Uh, I guess I could have handled that better." The Maou said scratching the back of his head and looking a little flustered.
"Oh no Your Majesty, you handled that very well. You didn't resort to using your majutsu and endangering the castle this time." Günter Von Krist his advisor, tutor and biggest fan reassured him. "I remember the time Wolfram threw fireballs at you in a nasty fit of anger, and you countered with those magnificent water serpents…" he went on with a play by play recap of one of their most spectacular recent fights (heavily edited to put Yuuri in the best possible light of course.) Just as the story was winding to a close Gwendal suddenly stood and excused himself, making a hasty exit mere seconds before a certain red-headed evil genius inventor joined them. "Good morning," she said cheerfully.
"Good morning Anissina," answered both Yuuri and Günter.
"Has anyone seen Gwendal today?" She asked pleasantly.
"He left a bit ago," answered Günter. "Why?"
"Oh, no reason," she waved dismissively "So how are you doing Günter? It's been a long time since we visited with each other." She said batting her blue eyes at her 2nd choice victe…er old friend. "How about we go get some tea and talk about old times?" she asked mildly.
"Well that would be nice." Günter said looking like he would rather be anywhere else at the moment, "but his majesty has to study on Shin Makoku um… contract verbiage…yes, and he really must learn that before he can fully take over the running of the kingdom from Gwendal. It's very important that I tutor him in this as soon as possible you see. So I don't think I will have the time…"
"Oh come on Günter, you work too hard. I'm sure a couple of hours won't make that much difference in my education." Yuuri cut in. "I think spending time with your friends is important too isn't it? I'll tell you what; you visit with Anissina and I will go play with Greta, I am sure she would love that. Then tomorrow I will study an extra hour to make up for it." He added reasonably.
"Well then, I guess tea it is." Günter said to Anissina. "Maybe we can still find Gwendal it would be like old times…" he finished dubiously.
Conrad quickly followed his younger brother. "Wolfram wait!" he called once the surly blond had cleared the castle and entered the courtyard. "I need to have a word with you."
"What about Weller?" Wolfram asked peevishly; his steady voice not betraying the hurt that could be seen deep in his emerald green eyes. "It's not like you can change my feelings, or his." Wolfram said, looking away. He gazed out over the bustling activity in the courtyard as people went about their daily business all geared toward keeping the castle running smoothly.
"I think if you give him some time, Yuuri will …" Conrad started but was cut off.
"Time?!" Wolfram squeaked. "It's been years Weller, not weeks, not months, years since he proposed to me." Wolfram was shaking with suppressed emotions; for once trying not to draw attention to their conversation by screaming. "How much longer must I wait? I can't stand leaving things as they are."
"But you have been trying to force him into a corner about the engagement lately. What good has it done?" Conrad asked. "You get frustrated and fight with him but it doesn't solve anything. You are constantly pushing at him. Maybe you should just back down now and give him a little space to think things over."
"Back down…?" Wolfram looked astounded "Do you and Yuuri give each other idiot and wimp lessons in your spare time?" He asked rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. "I can't believe you are trying to give me relationship advice. This is stupid beyond all measure and I won't listen to a thing you have to say. I have no reason to; given the glaring disappointment you call a personal life." Wolfram finished.
After a slight pause and deep breath over the insult Conrad smiled gently and said, "I don't want to see you hurt, Wolfram. Think about this. Agreed, I may not be the best person to advise you on relationship issues, but even I know that if you keep pushing with Yuuri something is bound to give. What if it gives in the direction you least want it to? What will you do then, after he gets so irritated he rejects you outright and completely?"
"I, without doubt, won't hide in the shadows and watch over him; pining away as he lives his life without me." Wolfram snarled harshly balling his hands into fists at his sides.
"That's not fair wolfram you don't know anything about Julia and what was or wasn't between us." Conrad snapped.
Wolfram snorted shaking his head "You truly are the king of all idiots Weller. I have a far better example to follow than your much vaunted love of her." He said quietly, tossing a pointed look over his shoulder. There, across the courtyard was Yozak; busily caring for his horse after returning from his latest assignment. "He's been currying that horse for hours just waiting for you to walk by. I've seen him do this each time he gets home from a mission. You really should go ask him out for a drink or something before he combs all of the hair off of the poor beast. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go tell Yuuri what a wimp he is for letting you follow me out here when it should have been him since he's my fiancé." With that he stalked back into the castle not sparing a backwards glance towards his perplexed half brother.
Gwendal was going over some papers at his desk, he quietly sighed to himself. There was so much paperwork to do these days. He couldn't wait for the day that Yuuri was able to read complicated documents without him having to sort and summarize them for him. It was a small price to pay for a peaceful kingdom under the Maou's gentle rule. And, though he would never admit it, he found it very difficult not to want to do nice little extra things to help Yuuri out. When he got that adorable confused look in those big dark eyes of his, Gwendal would just about melt. But it was still a tedious chore. On the up side; it also gave him a much-needed, valid excuse to stay out of Anissina's clutches. Especially now, with her latest invention, the magical perfect hair-kun, in need of testing; he almost felt sorry for Günter…almost.
Conrad rapped quietly at the door as he entered. "Gwendal do you have a moment?" he asked. The elder brother grunted nodding assent as he lowered the paper he was reading to deal with whatever new task had just come up.
"Has Yozak ever said or done anything to show he has more than friendly feelings where I am concerned?" Conrad asked lightly, hoping to get an answer before his older brother kicked him out of his office for bothering him with this.
Gwendals brow furrowed and he scowled at him but he replied nonetheless, "I have noticed that Gurrier Yozak does ask how you are faring upon returning from each and every assignment. He has done it for years. But that may very well just be a habit from when he dragged you home from the war. Your injuries were serious and we weren't sure you would survive." He looked up at Conrad with a deep scowl on his face. "Why don't you just go ask him about it and quit taking up my time with this idiocy?"
"I just might do that, and thanks Gwendal." Conrad said, distractedly, and bowing politely he left.
'Idiot' thought Gwendal to himself as he went back to his papers. He determinedly kept a stolid expression on his face. Only allowing a small smile to escape after he was sure Conrad was gone from his office for good. 'It's about time.'
Yurri waited in the courtyard baseball mitt in hand, but Conrad hadn't shown up for their afternoon game of catch. There were many things that could take precedence over throwing a baseball back and fourth. Since it was also Yuuri's time to get Conrad's opinion on issues, both personal and matters of state, they considered it as more of a meeting than a simple game of catch. It would have taken something pretty important for him to skip out on it. Worried that some problem had come up that he should be aware of as Maou; Yuuri went looking for him. The first person he saw was Dorcas who was running errands for Giezela again. Yuuri flagged him down and asked if he knew where Conrad was. Dorcas told him to try the gardens, Conrad had been there sitting on a bench most of the afternoon. Yuuri thanked him and let him go on his way hoping Giezela wouldn't be too tough on him over the short delay.
Conrad was in the garden sitting on a bench overlooking the fountain just as Dorcas described. Yuuri was about to wave and call out to him but he paused, unseen in the growing twilight shadows of a hedgerow as Yozak approached and stood next to Conrad.
"So this is where you've been hiding, Commander." he said with his usual good natured smile "Mind if I join you?"
Conrad looked at his old friend waiting expectantly to be welcomed or sent away at Conrad's own whim. He would no doubt leave if Conrad only were to say he wasn't in the mood for company. He'd done that exact thing often enough over the years. Conrad sighed, "Wolfram was right I have been the king of all idiots". He mumbled under his breath but motioned for his old friend to take a seat next to him.
"What's that?" Yozak asked, not quite hearing him.
"Nothing, Wolfram and I were arguing and he said something that made me think..." Conrad started.
"Hope you didn't hurt yourself." Yozak pitched in, good-naturedly slapping him on the shoulder.
"Yeah me too," Conrad answered thoughtfully.
"Well, are you going to tell me about it?" Yozak asked knowing that if Conrad didn't want to talk he would have never said anything about it in the first place.
"I seem to have overlooked something really important. It's so obvious I don't know how I missed it until Wolfram pointed it out to me earlier." He said shaking his head slowly. "All this time I have thought I was standing alone. By myself suffering, and grieving over the bad things in my life. I didn't have anybody to confide in or lean on. But the truth is I never was truly alone was I?" Conrad asked, as he studied Yozak's face carefully. "I was just too wrapped up in myself to see it. You have stood by me through mud blood and hellfire. You even managed to get both of us home alive from Luttenberg somehow. It always just seemed so natural that you were there for me; I never thought about it or wondered why. Why would you spend so much time quietly following me around? Protecting me like my very own guardian angel? Tell me if I'm wrong Yozak, but the only reason I can think of is that you have strong feelings for me. More than even a best friend would have. Yozak are you in love with me?" Conrad asked quietly. He tried to remember to breathe as a blush crept up his cheeks as the seconds slowly ticked by. He was hoping desperately that he hadn't completely misread things. He half-expected Yozak to laugh in his face and tell him how stupid he was for even thinking that.
Yozak was looked away, making it impossible to read his expression in the dim late evening light. "Well, Commander," He finally said "I was kind of hoping this would never happen. I'll understand if you feel uncomfortable with having me here." He shifted away from Conrad as he continued. "Maybe I can get Gwendal to assign me elsewhere…"
He was cut off suddenly as he felt an arm wrap around him preventing him from standing up to leave like he intended.
"I don't think it will make me uncomfortable to have you around 'Zak," Conrad said, pulling him into a hug. "In fact I am sure I prefer it if you stayed very, very close by from now on." Conrad said kissing him on the cheek and allowing Yozak to sit back down, his head slowly dropping to rest on Conrad's shoulder.
Yozak began to shudder, that and his ragged breathing the only indication that he was crying. Conrad found himself rubbing his friend's back soothingly. He could smell the scent of Yozak's hair. It was sweat and bug repellent, not entirely pleasant but it brought back memories of the days of training before they went to war together. Memories of how that last night Yozak had asked to sleep next to him like they did when they were young, when they curled up together keep the nightmares away.
"I was so sure you wouldn't ever want me," Yozak finally said, quietly.
Conrad made soothing noises and held him tightly. It wasn't long before Yozak recovered from the rare emotional outburst. "Sorry commander." He said sitting back to wipe his eyes and pull himself together while blushing profusely. "Uh this is just a bit… overwhelming. You know?"
Conrad looked into those remarkable blue eyes and asked him "why? Why did you never say anything to me?"
Yozak looked up and took a deep breath letting it out in a gusty sigh before beginning. "Well, when we were younger I thought it was just a silly crush." He shrugged. "Besides you were the son of the Maou and I was just a half-breed commoner, an orphan with nothing to offer you." Yozak pursed his lips in thought but continued in a few heartbeats. "Then there was Julia, I couldn't add anything more to the baggage you carried back then. I actually tried to tell you a few times but it never seemed to be right. There was the war, and your injuries. Then Julia died and you closed yourself off to everyone. That's when I asked Gwendal to assign me undercover work as far away as possible. I wanted to give you time to grieve." Yozak wiped a hand over his face as if trying to wipe away a memory. "I didn't want to take advantage of the situation, I had to go away." He shrugged, "Anyway, next thing I knew Yuuri showed up. The new Maou to step in for your Mother, he needed your guidance and protection. And as if that weren't enough, he has Julia's soul to boot, how could I begin to compete with that?"
Conrad smiled "I think of Yuuri as a child, like the type of child she would have had if she had lived long enough. He is a part of her that lives on as her legacy, not her replacement Zak."
Yozak snuggled closer leaning against Conrad and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. Conrad returned the kiss tentative at first, but with growing heat as the moment wore on. Just as Conrad's body was beginning to tell him that it had been entirely too long since he had paid attention to his personal private life, Yozak broke the kiss, "Wow. "He said, smiling. Making himself comfortable Yozak turned leaning back against Conrad looking up into the twilight sky. "Look the stars are coming out already." He remarked as he snuggled nearly into Conrad's lap letting his Commander wrap his arms around him. They sat like that as they made small talk and gazed at the stars late into the night.
Yuuri stood in the shadow of the hedge witnessing this event. As two lonely people become a happy couple right before his eyes. He quietly left them to their privacy once the kissing started, walking back to the castle. It was funny, watching Conrad and Yozak he hadn't made him feel uncomfortable because they were both men. (Well maybe when they kissed, but he was pretty sure he would have felt that he was invading the privacy of any couple in that situation.) This is weird, he thought, those two together. But then again, Conrad had always made time for Yozak even when he was really busy. He obviously enjoyed the red-head's company. And Yozak had come from nowhere charging to the rescue often enough. Yuuri had chalked it up to some sort of duty to the Maou, but now… Then It hit him like a brick to the head…They were still just Conrad and Yozak. He didn't need to think any different about them now than he had earlier that day. He was puzzling through this new domain of thought when his fiancé came up to him waving a paper in his hand and asking, "Yuuri have you seen Weller? I need to talk to him about the practice rotation for next week."
"He is in the garden, stargazing," Yuuri said, grabbing wolfram's arm to detain him before he could rush by. "With Yozak." he added nodding meaningfully.
"Wha? OoooH.." Wolfram got it; a sly smile crossing his face. "It's about time. Well then, this can wait." he said tossing the rotation schedule onto a hall table behind him.
"Wolfram" Yuuri said, "That was a good thing you did for them." as he pulled the blond into a tight hug, 'and maybe also for us' he mused.
Wolfram closed his eyes soaking up the warmth of Yuuri's embrace. It would be over all too soon he knew, but he thought he might have felt something finally start to give; quite possibly in the way he most wanted it to.