Hello, all! Please enjoy this little ficcy I made. It's a first attempt, so feel free to give constructive criticism. Just no flames, please. -smiles-
Disclaimer: (I've seen enough of these, so I'm guessing I'd better have one too.) I absolutely do not own Kyou Kara Maou or any of its characters. It rightfully belongs to Tomo Takabayashi. I would have Yuuri and Wolfram doing so much more if I was the owner. xD
In case you're wondering, thoughts are in Italics. Also, a few emphasized words are Italicized.
The Sick King
"… Ngh…" The noise was small, almost inaudible, but it did not go unheard by a certain blonde prince. Wolfram smiled slightly through his closed eyes; he had a good idea of who was making the sound and why. Yuuri was such an easy, wimpy target that Wolfram would often kick his fiancée even in his sleep. Wolfram was expecting a heated remark on his sleeping habits by the king, but after hearing none, the young blonde inched his way towards Yuuri's side of the bed and peeked over the edge.
"Yuuri?"
It was another ordinary morning in Shin Makoku… At least that's what Wolfram thought it would be. Lying on the floor in a tangled mess, Yuuri let out another strained groan. His face was kissing the floor and his pajamas were covered with sweat.
The grogginess Wolfram had suddenly left him, as he jerked upwards and leapt from the bed.
"Yuuri! Are you okay?" The blonde knelt down to Yuuri's level, wasting no time in ripping off the sheets that fell off the bed with him. Yuuri managed to turn his head slightly in Wolfram's direction, his face scrunched up in a tight grimace. The Maou's skin was a shade paler than it normally was, and Wolfram couldn't help but feel bad for him. He looked even more pathetic than usual.
After a quick inspection, Wolfram sighed in relief upon finding no wounds on his fiancée. He carefully turned Yuuri over, ignoring the complaints and threats of being vomited on. The prince then began to lean into Yuuri's face, which didn't make him feel much better.
"W-what are you doing?" Yuuri asked, trying to suppress both the vomit and the blush that was crawling up his face.
"I'm checking to see if you have a fever, you wimp."
"…" Yuuri stayed still – as still as he could – as Wolfram pressed his forehead against the king's. If he wasn't feeling so crappy, he would've flinched at the blonde's reaction. Wolfram's eyes widened, his head gingerly tilted back, – as if any sudden movements would hurt Yuuri – and his jaw dropped slightly.
"You're burning up…" Wolfram's voice was quiet, which made Yuuri wonder if his sickness was somehow getting to the blonde too. Before he could voice a reply, the black haired demon found himself being heaved onto the bed. The soft mattress felt much more comfortable than the ground and he managed to relax a little more.
"Stay here. I'll be right back," Wolfram seemed unusually calm as he walked out the door to retrieve Gisela. Not to mention, he would have to explain to the rest of the castle that the king was too sick to work for the day. It wouldn't be long before the overdramatic pedophile squeezed the living daylights out of 'his' Yuuri and it would be better if it happened sooner rather than later.
… Not that Yuuri would ever accept Wolfram as his fiancée…
Yuuri coughed as Wolfram left the room. "Of course I won't go anywhere…" he muttered, rolling his eyes at the blonde's retreating figure.
"I'm just a little sick, is all..." Yuuri didn't even know why he bothered to try talking, since everyone was ignoring him anyway. If he was well enough to think clearly, then he couldn't be 'that' sick… Right?
"Oh, your majesty!" Günter wailed, "How could I let this happen to you?!" He was being restrained by Gwendal and Conrad, who did not want the administrator to hug Yuuri and get sick as well. Concern was etched into both of the brothers' faces, but they remained calm, as usual. While this was going on, Gisela was giving Yuuri a diagnosis.
"He has the flu," she stated finally, "It should clear up in a few days…" Her father nearly fainted.
"The flu? This is terrible!" Günter dramatically fell to his knees, sobbing. Another wrinkle made its way to Gwendal's forehead. 'Guess that means more paperwork for me…' he thought tiredly.
Gisela saw this as a good opportunity to leave. "Please excuse me, your majesty…" With a polite bow, she quickly left her father to blubber on the floor. Yuuri sighed, watching her leave. He wished he could somehow sneak out of the room, too… But at least it was the flu, and not some weird, Shin Makoku disease.
Wolfram was stationed next to the bed, his back resting against the wall. His arms were folded across his chest, a normal stance for the prince, and he looked like he was thinking about something… Yuuri wondered what it was.
"Please allow me to take care of Yuuri while he's sick," Wolfram finally said. All eyes turned to him.
"What?" Günter asked, ending his sobbing fit, "What could you possibly know about medicine?" The stares that Gwendal and Conrad gave off seemed to be asking the same question.
"Julia taught me more than you might think," The blonde huffed, insulted. That earned him a surprised look from Conrad.
Yuuri shifted uncomfortably under his covers. He remembered going into the past, with the ramen bowl-demon-mirror-thing, and Julia was tutoring him during the war. It's no wonder that no one else knew about it; no one else was there. And he distinctly remembered that Wolfram was in no way interested in studying at the time. He figured that Wolfram was using the education to his advantage now.
There was an uncomfortable silence, before Conrad spoke up. "I think we should let Wolfram do what he wants,"
"…" Was Gwendal's response. In other words, he had no objections. Günter, who was most against the idea from the start, had no choice but to allow it.
"If anyone needs me, I'll be in the library," Günter muttered, which was the closest possible thing he could give as an approval. He cast a Yuuri a longing look, before finally slinking out of the room.
Wolfram gave off what Yuuri guessed to be a victory smirk, before he also began heading for the door. "I'm going to get Yuuri something to eat," he said casually, then left the room for the second time that day. Gwendal began to follow his brother. "I have a lot of the maou's paperwork to do," He stated flatly, putting the guilt trip on Yuuri, then also disappeared. Conrad was the last to depart, giving Yuuri a bow and a "Get well soon, your majesty", which Yuuri immediately corrected by making Conrad drop the formalities and call him by his first name. Conrad was his godfather, after all. Not only that, but he was the one who gave Yuuri his name. Conrad responded with the usual, "Of course, Yuuri," and left Yuuri to his lonesome.
Another uncomfortable silence filled the room, and the king used his time alone to toss off the covers. He was burning up, as Wolfram had put it earlier, and the covers were making it that much worse. At least he could trust the blonde to know at little about sicknesses… Although it was pretty obvious he was sick in the first place… Yuuri flopped onto his side, trying to get more comfortable, and also to find a cooler spot on the bed. He tried to sit up, but found it was much more difficult to do than usual. He forced himself to at least get on all fours and crawl to the other side of the bed – Wolfram's side. Finally reaching his destination, Yuuri allowed his tired limbs to give out from under him, and he felt a whirlwind of cool mattress as his body collided with it. The mattress felt like heaven under his body, which made him smile with satisfaction.
Yuuri suppressed a cough that was tickling his throat before Wolfram returned with some soup.
"Feeling any better?" He asked, making his way toward the bed. He paused, mildly surprised to find Yuuri resting on his side of the bed. Yuuri simply nodded in response: an obvious lie. He feared talking would only encourage a cough to come out. Wolfram glanced from the bed to the covers on the floor and scoffed.
"Wimp! What did you do while I was gone?" The prince set Yuuri's soup down on a nearby counter, and, after gathering up the blankets, tossed them back on the bed.
"… Don't… Call me a wimp…" Yuuri seemed to have trouble arguing with Wolfram, and he decided against telling the blonde anything more. Instead of one of his usual, angry responses, Wolfram gave him a slightly worried look.
"If you kick all the blankets off, you'll never get any better," he huffed, busying himself by tucking Yuuri back in.
"… Easy for you to say…." Did Wolfram really know what he was doing? Didn't he know that putting blankets on someone who was hot would only make them hotter? Meanwhile, Wolfram had turned his attention back to the soup.
"Do you think you can stomach some of this?"
"I can't… It's-"Yuuri's statement was cut short by a few coughs, "… Too hot…."
"Then I'll blow on it for you," That solution seemed simple enough. To demonstrate, Wolfram dipped his spoon into the hot liquid and blew the steam away. He then sampled it, making sure that it wouldn't burn Yuuri's mouth at that temperature.
"Here."
Yuuri was dumbstruck. Why did Wolfram have to put his mouth on the spoon? As Wolfram himself had mentioned before, that was considered an indirect kiss, and Yuuri did not want that to happen any time soon. He slowly gazed up at the blonde's face, and his eyes quickly spotted a speck of pink on the cheeks.
So he knew! Wolfram knew exactly what he was doing, and he was deliberately trying to make Yuuri… He cringed.
"What's wrong?" Wolfram asked, noticing that Yuuri had neglected to take a bite, or even give him a response.
Yuuri began shaking his head furiously, which made him extremely dizzy. There was no way that he was going to eat off that spoon.
"Okay, I get it! You're not hungry… Just calm down…" Wolfram said, hoping that something he said could make Yuuri stop before he hurt himself. So his plan had failed… He knew that Yuuri would be reluctant, but was it really that terrible just for him to eat off the same spoon? It was just a spoon; it's not like it was going to hurt him or anything!
Yuuri had abruptly stopped shaking his head once he had heard Wolfram's 'Okay'. Although the room was still spinning a little, he could make out the shape of the pissed off looking blonde who was glaring daggers at the wall. "Wolf… Ram?" He asked slowly. His throat seemed to be getting worse.
Wolfram stood up, walked around to the other side of the bed, and took something off of a counter. He was not in a good mood, but he wasn't about to take all his anger on the poor wimp. His fist tightened around the object, almost breaking it, as he returned to his seat by Yuuri's bed. He took the spoon and wiped it off with a nearby cloth; then filled it with a new, greenish substance from the bottle he had taken from the table.
"This is the medicine that Gisela made for your illness…"
Yuuri gave Wolfram a blank look, "But-"
"Just shut up and take it."
"Okay…" Hesitantly, Yuuri downed the nasty medicine and nearly gagged on it. Even in Shin Makoku, medicine tasted bad. A cough forced its way to his throat, and Yuuri thought the medicine was coming with it.
Wolfram watched as his fiancée pitifully struggled with the cough.
"Does it hurt anywhere?" He asked, even though the answer was obvious. Yuuri merely pointed to his throat and gave Wolfram an apologetic smile. Why was Yuuri smiling now, of all times? People don't smile when they get hurt!
… Yuuri probably just didn't want him to worry.
But he was worried. He'd always be worried, especially now since Yuuri was hurting. Yuuri didn't deserve this... He was such a good person; even the humans thought so.
A horrid sounding cough snapped Wolfram out of his thoughts. He sighed, giving Yuuri a look that said 'You're so pitiful' then smiled. It was time to put Julia's teachings to use. The blonde gently placed a hand on Yuuri's throat, and an unearthly, green glow appeared.
Yuuri was surprised, to say in the least. He felt his body tense up, then immediately relax at the touch. Wolfram's hand was nice and cool, and his neck was tingling from the healing magic. His cough began to subside, and he had to admit that he was feeling a little better. The teen's eyes drifted from the blonde's head to his arm, to the faint green light almost hanging below his vision. Then they slowly shut.
Wolfram continued to pour healing magic into his fiancée's throat, until he felt Yuuri's head loll to one side. It took all of what the blonde had to keep himself from grinning; Yuuri had a terrible habit of looking vulnerable. He guessed that Gisela's medicine had some sort of drowsy effect. It was a good thing Günter's daughter had decided to add those ingredients, whether she needed them or not. Knowing Yuuri, he would've faked good health, and probably would've ended up hurting himself somehow. The blonde's hand glided to Yuuri's face and he tenderly stroked the king's face. He still felt warm.
"Hurry up and get better already," Wolfram huffed impatiently, more to himself than anyone else. His hand lingered on Yuuri's face for a little longer. Just a little longer… What was Yuuri dreaming about, he wondered? Wolfram hovered over Yuuri's face, desperately trying to resist the urge to kiss it.
It was at that moment that Yuuri let out a long sigh that only seemed to tempt him more; his warm breath gently tickled the blonde's cheek, which quickly turned pink. Wolfram's face scrunched up in annoyance, as he forced himself away from Yuuri. That's right! Yuuri had a fever! He needed something to cool down with… But the Maou wasn't the only one feeling uncomfortably warm at the moment.
He would go get Yuuri a damp cloth… That's it… It would only be for a few moments, and it would give his head all the time it needed to cool down.
Wolfram was about to walk away from the bed, when he felt an arm – said arm belonging to Yuuri – grasping onto the sleeve of his shirt. He slowly turned, barely able to disguise the nervousness that was eating him up inside. Yuuri's eyes were still tightly shut, but he had a pained expression on his face.
"Don't… Go…" Wolfram was only able to make out those two words through the incoherent piffle that Yuuri was mumbling. "… Wolf…"
Wolfram's face had succeeded in taking on the color of a tomato. Just what was the teen dreaming about? He stared at the arm connected to his sleeve, and decided that he wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. Well, as long as he was going to do nothing, he might as well make himself comfortable. Wolfram moved his hand down to clasp Yuuri's fist. Then, as quietly as he could, Wolfram climbed in next to the double black, his face to Yuuri's back. The mattress made a tiny squeak, and the blonde timidly glanced at the teen for a response.
Yuuri didn't budge. If anything, he relaxed more when Wolfram encircled his arms around his waist. When he woke up, he probably wouldn't be so relaxed… Wolfram knew that all too well. Well, he might as well enjoy himself until then. If Yuuri got angry with him, he could simply inquire about the teen's dream and be honest.
Yuuri would have to trust him. Wolfram was his fiancée, after all. The blonde quietly nuzzled Yuuri's neck, and the last thing he remembered was hearing both of their soft breaths syncing into one.
When Yuuri felt his consciousness gripping at him, he felt a warm and comfortable something on his back. He backed up and snuggled against it; the 'something' responded by wrapping its arms tighter around his waist. It's probably just Greta… The teen thought innocently enough.
He was about to attempt to go back to sleep – he was still pretty tired for some reason he wasn't sure of – when he heard the 'something' let out a rather loud snore. The noise startled Yuuri into snapping his eyes open; Greta did not snore. That only meant…
"W-WOLFRAM!"
Yuuri scrambled to get out of the bed, but to no avail. Wolfram had a death grip on his waist. Said blonde, who had thoroughly enjoyed the snuggle earlier, slowly opened his eyes.
"Y-yuuri?" He mumbled, sounding as sleepy and innocent as he could manage, "What's wrong?"
Instead of a verbal response, Yuuri stared pointedly at their position with a semi-annoyed, semi-embarrassed look. Wolfram suddenly remembered what had happened before he fell asleep, and turned beet red.
"You…" Wolfram started, slipping his arms back to his side, "You were having a bad dream… Although that's no surprise, wimp." Satisfied with himself, Wolfram finished off his act by crossing his arms and letting out a 'humph'.
Yuuri temporarily forgot his anger to ponder the dream he'd had. "That's right... I was being chased by wolves…" Yuuri paused long enough to see an extremely disappointed look plastered on Wolfram's face.
"Wolfram?"
"It's nothing! Just continue your story," Wolfram snapped. His disappointment seemed to switch to anger pretty quickly.
Yuuri simply nodded and decided it was best to do what his fiancée wanted. "As I was running away from the wolves, I felt someone grab my hand…" the teen didn't know why he was telling Wolfram this, or why he even had an interest in his dream at all. In all honesty, he felt a little silly.
"Who was it?" Wolfram asked, slightly hiding his face under the pillow.
Yuuri smiled before resuming, "It was… An angel…"
Face now completely concealed by the pillow, Wolfram shakily continued prodding Yuuri.
"Then what happened?"
"Hm… I don't really remember anything else…" Yuuri thought for a moment, and suddenly, he coughed.
Wolfram nearly shot out of the bed in surprise; he'd completely forgotten that Yuuri was sick!
"Ah, Yuuri! Are you okay?" With an outstretched hand, he felt for a fever; there was none. The blonde let out a long sigh. "Don't scare me like that!"
Yuuri mumbled something along the lines of 'It's not like I meant to' and stuck a playful tongue at the demon boy. He received a boyish smirk at the notion. "Anyway, I do feel a lot better… I'm still a little tired, though."
"Go back to sleep, then," Wolfram stated simply. Despite that the sun had risen long ago and was at its peak, he had to admit that he was also tired. The sunlight had found its way around the curtains and streamed into the room, making a painful glare when Wolfram tried to stare at the window. Hesitantly, the blonde crawled his way off the mattress and shuffled to the curtains. Reaching the glass, Wolfram squinted and glanced down, just in time to see his brother frantically eluding a red head who was hot on his heels. Günter lagged behind, uncertain to whether he should aid the general or not. The prince sighed and closed the drapes; just watching the chase put him a little on edge. The room turned a few shades darker.
By the time Wolfram turned to get back in bed, Yuuri had turned his back to the sun and squeezed his eyes shut. Wolfram slunk under the covers, the mattress making another loud squeak from his weight. I'm not that heavy!
Yuuri felt the bed sink a little, and for some odd reason, he sensed a smile forming on his lips. By himself, the bed did seem large and empty; but with Wolfram there, it was warm and sometimes even crowded.
… But he only liked Wolfram's company because he was comfortable – certainly not because he was attracted to him… Yuuri lay on the bed for a few moments, almost like he was anticipating something.
Instead of a familiar foot-in-the-face, he felt a pair of arms snake around his waist. The teen immediately tensed, as if the arms were squeezing the air out of him. However, after the initial shock of the contact, Yuuri decided to let it go. It would only be this once.
The lazy couple soon drifted off comfortably.
Hope you enjoyed! If you want, I could turn this into a chapter fanfiction, but I guess you have to ask first? :D I don't want to post a story if no one will read it.