Hi readers! I can't believe it's been 13 years since Kyou Kara Maou was adapted to anime. Well, I didn't discover this anime right from the first time it was aired, but still, I'm glad I found it. I already have a plot written for another multichapter story, but I guess I'll wait until I can update regularly. So meanwhile, here is a oneshot I wrote while I was taking a break from work. I wanted write a cool and dependable Wolfram instead of the usual hot-headed one. Here is my try, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything aside from this story's plot.

Hot in Every Sense

He was hot in every sense.

That was the word popping into Yuuri's mind when he was asked to describe Wolfram in one word.

Well, people might think that Wolfram was hot as in sexy, but that was not it for Yuuri. Yes, Wolfram was attractive obviously. One was not born from gorgeous parents, nurtured in a royal palace, and pampered with everything in superior quality to be less than who Wolfram was. He was so privileged to not have the burden of being the eldest like Gwendal has and to not be treated unfairly because of his heritage like Conrart was. Wolfram had enjoyed a good life to account for what he was seen as in the eyes of the people.

One might say that Wolfram was a brat. A selfish brat. That was true at one point, but hey, everyone went through that phase right? You did not spring forth into this world all perfect and mature. Just like every person did, Wolfram passed through a lot of processes until he could say he was proud of who he had become. Now, that was the kind of hot that Yuuri meant for a refined Wolfram. Wolfram was hot, because like a curry fresh from the pot, Wolfram had finished the necessary processes to make him into the best form he could be. Yep, that was definitely the hot that Yuuri meant.

Of course, we did not forget the fact that Wolfram's element was fire, which was hot. Having the attribute of fire was not only in terms of temper. For all his fiery passion, Wolfram could also bring warmth. Yuuri learnt about the warmth that Wolfram could provide first hand.

Again, wait, Yuuri did not mean body warmth, but it was the soul. Geez… Yuuri could never manage to recount this without a blush on his embarrassed face because, well… people always thought towards a certain direction, even though Yuuri had given them preamble or even warnings.

It happened in one of the stressful days for Yuuri, the Twenty-Seventh Maou of Shin Makoku. There was tension among some countries, bordering into an outbreak of war, which would undeniably involve Shin Makoku. There were nobles stressing on the importance of the King having a consort to assist him, although they all knew Yuuri, for Shinou's sake, had not even reached twenty years of age. There were gossips putting insults to Wolfram because he was fiancée by accident and yet nothing was done to clarify just what the King's intention was. There were also rumours that the King did not plan to devote his life to Shin Makoku because he kept travelling back and forth to Earth. Those and so many more unpleasant whispers on the streets.

Yes, Yuuri knew all the negativity was not true and it would come to pass eventually. Yuuri knew the people of Shin Makoku, the whole majority lot of them, loved him wholeheartedly and believed in him. Yuuri knew too that Wolfram, with all his bluntness, actually understood the pressure Yuuri was put into and he was trying hard to support Yuuri in his own ways, despite the pressure on him as well.

Even so, this time round, it was just too much for Yuuri. Final exams were coming in few days and Yuuri felt he really had too much on his hands. His brain and emotion decided to stop cooperating with him, so the best thing he could do other than throwing tantrums at every soul he met was to lock himself in his room. Solitary, Yuuri dubbed, was a haven for him now.

Therefore, in front of said room was where the small huddle of the distressed Emperor's closest aides was. They all wanted to comfort him, to support him, to be anything Yuuri needed so that his trademark smile was back in place. However, they did not really know what exactly would ease the burden that was weighing down the young King's shoulders.

Conrart, being the noble godfather he was, went into the sacred chamber first. Out of all of them, probably Conrart was the best choice. He could provide the calm Yuuri needed even without words. He was able to read Yuuri like an open book, thus he could best avoid opting for wrong moves. The rest of the lot waited restlessly outside the closed doors.

Too soon. It was much too soon than anybody expected that Conrart emerged with a deeper frown on his face.

Answering the questioning eyes, Conrart softly spoke, "He's not feeling well."

Duh! Everyone knew that.

"He wanted to sleep, but his eyes told me he kept having nightmares about the time when… when I wasn't around… and then when I was back, I was heavily injured," Conrart sighed heavily, "There were many other things in his mind, so…"

Conrart flicked his eyes towards one of the black horse candidates to go and comfort the King, "Wolfram, I think you should go inside and be with him."

At that remark, multiple pairs of eyes widened, but before any objections, Conrart continued, "He worries about you the most."

Wolfram appeared unusually calm and collected, "I understand," he nodded and promptly took his turn into the chamber.

Once inside the normally shared bedroom, Wolfram immediately noticed something, "It's cold."

Yuuri did not react at Wolfram's whisper, even though he surely heard that Wolfram said something.

"Ne, Yuuri…" Wolfram approached the bed where Yuuri lay in a cocoon of blankets and pillows, his back facing Wolfram, "Are you cold?"

No answer.

Wolfram motioned to touch Yuuri's cupped hands, "Your hands are so cold, Yuuri!" then proceeded to take Yuuri's hands into his own without forcing Yuuri to turn and face him.

Wolfram began to transfer some of the heat he generated in his palms into Yuuri's and slowly rubbed Yuuri's trembling hands in his. He heard a heavy breath followed by a faint sniff. Had Yuuri been crying?

Unexpectedly, Yuuri turned towards Wolfram, giving better access to his warming hands. Yuuri's eyes remained closed, but Wolfram was able to see Yuuri's wet lashes and reddening nose. Wolfram stayed silent, one part unsure of what to say, another part realised that Yuuri did not need to hear any more advices on how he could better tackle his problems.

There went minutes of silence, only warm hand rubs.

"W-…" Yuuri cleared his clogging throat, "Wolfram…"

Opening his eyes in a tiny crack, Yuuri muttered, "I'm scared."

Wolfram's silence and continued rubs urged Yuuri to continue, "…what if… if…" voice beginning to quiver and hands shaking again, "…if I did something really bad to you? Will you… will you leave me?"

Now with glimmering eyes, Yuuri fully gazed into Wolfram's eyes.

With a neutral tone, Wolfram replied, "Hmm… what kind of bad things?"

"…" Yuuri's mouth was agape, but no sound came out. Instead, Wolfram felt as though Yuuri's hand shook harder.

Wolfram was about to tell Yuuri, that he did not need to answer if it made him imagining things that definitely wrecked himself more, when Yuuri timidly said, "If I break this engagement…"

Now it was Wolfram's turn to freeze.

The whole engagement issue was one of the complicated things with uncertain future. Personally, Wolfram was starting to develop some affection for Yuuri. Yet, he was still unsure if this love was romantic or familial. Wisely speaking, should Yuuri want to proceed to a more serious relationship, Wolfram did not mind to follow Yuuri; but in this case, if Wolfram had to decide on his own, he would like to take a bit more of time to make up his mind.

Wolfram did not exactly know in what kind of society Yuuri did grow up. He did not fully understand the kind of culture engrained in Yuuri's life. He only went to Earth a couple of times and during those visits, he did not really have a chance to see for himself the life in Earth. Certainly, Yuuri mentioned that same gender relationship was not widely acceptable in Earth or more specifically, Yuuri himself still could not accept it.

The kind of denial that Yuuri gave often hurt Wolfram. Well, Wolfram realised that maybe he was actually the one asking for such reaction from Yuuri. Wolfram was more open and at the moment, he was not the one being thrown into an unknown world and being forced to adapt for the sake of his own survival. Yuuri must be having a really tough time, especially during similar periods like now.

A daily Wolfram would definitely responded harshly with all sorts of vocabulary thrown at Yuuri's face –speaking of which, Yuuri looked frightened. Nevertheless, now was not the time. Now was the time of a sound-minded Wolfram. In fact, it was not every time Wolfram exploded that he actually lost control to his emotional rein. More often, Wolfram purposely let himself be, because it was more convenient that way. Rather than closing in on himself, he chose to express it all.

Before Wolfram could demonstrate his rarely surfacing composure, Yuuri beat him by gripping his hand tightly while slurring in panic, "I'm… I'm sorry, Wolf! I'm sorry!"

'Damn,' Wolfram mentally berated himself for his a-second-too-late reaction, 'I made him cry again.'

"It's just… everything seems too much right now," a full-blown bawling Yuuri ranted, "I didn't want to cry, but urghhhh… it's so frustrating, so annoying… I wanted to be left alone, yet at the same time, I don't want you to leave."

Wolfram just watched Yuuri sobbing, not in grief, but in frustration, "I know it's my mistake for slapping you without knowing its meaning. But seriously? Which Earthling would expect a slap to be a proposal? It was bad, it was rude actually. When we propose, we do it gently, not by slapping."

"I didn't want to just annul this engagement because you seemed serious about this and if this is the culture here, I want to respect it. I want to try. I really try to understand, to give chance, to learn, and all that hardships," Yuuri formed a fist with one hand, whereas the other hand remained in Wolfram's, "But those annoying nobles just couldn't see that. They ask me to get married right here right now. I'm not even twenty for goodness' sake. When I get married, I want to properly settle down. Right now, I still want to travel around and be a lot of things. Why can't they just, shut up and just trust me, when it's time, I'll definitely settle down."

Wolfram noted that there was a gap in Yuuri's supposedly closed door and thought to himself, 'They're probably worried because of all the noise he made. It's alright, it's Yuuri ranting, not me.'

Yuuri did not stop, but his volume was decreasing as he displayed his insecurity, "I'm scared, Wolf. I'm scared that… if even after I try, then it came out that I don't think this engagement will work."

"I lost Conrad once. It was unbearable. I know he has returned, but the memory of that time sometimes still haunts me," Yuuri's tears flowed for a different reason: fear, "If I were to lose you too, then I don't know what I do. I'm scared, Wolf. You seemed so into this relationship and I'm not even sure I can give back as much as you had given me. What if, what if it didn't work? I'm willing to try, but what if it fails? I will hurt you, Wolf. Even as we speak right now, I probably am hurting you…"

"I'm… I'm terrible… I don't wanna hurt anyone," after that, Yuuri just wept audibly.

Wolfram gently stroke Yuuri's back, giving him time to flush his anxiety. It hurt to learn that until now, Yuuri still did not know about what to do with the engagement. But it hurt even more to see that Yuuri was destroying himself by trying to make everyone happy. At least, Wolfram was glad that Yuuri did not outright gave up. He was still trying, he was giving another chance. For now, Wolfram could be satisfied that Yuuri respected his feelings enough to not just blatantly dismiss him.

Sensing that Yuuri has quietened down, Wolfram bent down to look at the watery obsidian orbs, "Feeling better?"

Yuuri nodded weakly. Wolfram supposed he must be feeling tired after such an outburst.

"Well… I can't certainly say that I won't be hurt if it happens that things don't work between us. But at least, I know you tried. So yeah… somehow we will make it just fine," Wolfram trailed, "Anyway, you should sometimes depend more on us and don't just take everything into yourself. You'll surely break down that way."

"Here," Wolfram handed a glass of water to Yuuri, "You should rest now."

Passing the glass back to Wolfram, Yuuri murmured sleepily, "Thanks, Wolf."

"Thanks for everything," as Yuuri positioned himself comfortably, Wolfram helped him arranging his nest of blankets and pillows, "and I'm sorry too…"

Once Yuuri was securely tucked in, Wolfram returned his usual daily tone, "Hmph… don't expect this kinda special treatment every day, you know. You still have a long way to go."

Yuuri chuckled a little bit, "I know, thanks, Wolf."

Now that was right, the smile was back on its rightful place.

Before Wolfram left the room to let Yuuri sleep, Yuuri suddenly commented, "You know, Wolf, you're so warm. Thanks a lot…"

Okay, such statement –which was absolutely heard by the cheering eavesdroppers by the door– had successfully escorted the once proud prince into a hot blushing mess once he was out of the chamber.

'Isn't it pretty hot over here?' Wolfram thought to himself as he fanned his face.

End