Dear fan fiction readers.
I am not dead. That is all.
-Sour Schuyler
His green eyes flickered, taking in the familiar setting. He didn't fully appreciate the grandeur of the hallway: the polished marble floor, the ornamentation adorning the walls, the precious relics. The electric lights cast a sheen over everything. It was stately. It was also a straight shot from where he was standing to where he wanted to be. The situation assessed, he set his sights on the decorated door leading to his betrothed's bedroom, where he planned to break in. Lord Wolfram was on the move.
Why Yuri had banished him to his own chamber, Wolfram still didn't understand. What was wrong with a little cuddling? So maybe he had kicked Yuri in his sleep and possibly ruptured the young king's spleen. That was no reason to get testy! Wolfram tiptoed down the hallway, the ruffles on his pink nightgown rustling. There wasn't a real reason to be so stealthy—the guards would let him by. It wasn't as if he didn't live there.
Suddenly the castle plunged into utter darkness. Wolfram stopped short, bewildered.
"What happened?" he heard a guard grunt.
"Von Karbelnikoff's new invention runs on electricity," he heard another guard grumble. "So now we get this."
"At least she's not using the lords as her guinea pigs anymore."
"But it was funny..."
Wolfram made a mental note to later find out which guard that was and to assign him to stable cleaning duty for the next two years.
There was a rap on the royal door. Wolfram's ears pricked up. Someone was knocking on his fiancé's door? Who the hell wanted to see Yuri at this indecent hour?! It was two in the morning! Why would anybody be sneaking into Yuri's room? …Ok, why would anybody be sneaking into Yuri's room besides Wolfram? The blonde made his way swiftly down the hall, taking caution to not bang his hips into anything in the dark.
Wolfram heard the guards yell HALT, and a soft, familiar voice assure them that it was alright. The lights flickered too fast for Wolfram to distinguish for certain who it was, though he had a good idea. Wolfram relaxed and stepped behind a large pillar just before the lights bathed the hallway once again, this time staying steady.
Conrad rapped again on his Majesty's door. The guards, seeing as Conrad was one of the greatest military officers in the country, relaxed; they chatted, and appeared to take bets on something.
The royal door opened grandly. The small frame of Yuri took a step out, revealing his blue pajamas. Wolfram inwardly squealed. He wanted to glomp his fiancé–but there would be time later. If he showed himself now, Conrad might make him leave by spouting some drivel about how the king needed his sleep and Wolfram should be in his own room and Yuri didn't like being used as a pillow and blahblahblahblah. So how come Greta was allowed to sleep in Yuri's room?
Yuri continued to rub his eyes. "Conrad?" he said a bit too loudly, his voice echoing down the hall. Wolfram could hear the guards at the next post several dozen yards behind him stand at attention.
Conrad said something Wolfram couldn't hear, despite the fact that the blonde poked his head out and strained his ears. Yuri waved an arm at the guards. They looked confused. While they were distracted, Wolfram skittered from his pillar to behind a small table holding a priceless vase from the age of the Original Maou. He stooped over, his attempt to hide very obvious from the waist down as he could be seen between the table legs. However, neither Yuri nor Conrad glanced in his direction. Conrad's eyes were directed upwards, as if the ceiling was fascinating.
"I'm trying to dismiss you," Yuri explained. The guards looked at him dumbfounded. Yuri pointed to Conrad. "I have enough protection here, don't you think?" he said. The guards broke into smiles. Of course. Conrad was the darling of the military. The Lion of Luttenburg. The guards shuffled off to go hang out with the other guards, the ones a hundred yards behind Wolfram. They passed Wolfram on the way.
"Good luck Lord Bielefelt," one of them whispered. Wolfram pretended not to hear them and scuttled across the hall, seeking refuge behind another, closer column.
He made it just in time; Yuri craned his neck to watch the guards recede down the hallway for awhile before he let out a large sigh. He turned to Conrad and smiled winningly. "Something on your mind?" he asked, his dark eyes glowing feyly. It was usually a question Conrad asked him.
Conrad, still in his green military uniform, looked away, as if distrait. "...Heika..."
"My name's Yuri." The king continued to smile incessantly.
Wolfram grimaced. He wished that he were the only one allowed to call Yuri by his first name. Except for Greta, of course. But Yuri had always been adamant about having Conrad call him by his first name, since Conrad had, long long ago, named him Yuri in the first place. Now Yuri stood before him, grown up and the king of Conrad's people. Wolfram wondered if it was a kind of mind trip for Conrad.
Conrad continued to be silent. Yuri took a step towards his friend. "It's alright," Yuri declared, his voice sounding strange. "It was... um... an accident."
"Gunter looked traumatized," Conrad said, an uncharacteristic blush warming his cheeks.
" Well you did kind of accidentally fall on me. But Gunter always looks traumatized," Yuri pointed out. The dark-haired king shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyway, it's alright. People trip onto each other all the time."
"Usually they don't kiss as a result of it," Conrad mumbled.
All of the blood in Wolfram's veins froze.
Yuri paused, then finally said, "At least we fell on something soft."
"…What, Gunter? You think Gunter's soft heika?"
"My name's Yuri!" the Maou insisted. "And not really. But it was like something out of a romantic comedy anime."
Wolfram cheeks flashed as he twitched violently.
Yuri grinned cheekily. "I guess it's embarrassing to accidentally kiss someone on top of your former teacher," he said, adding, "especially when your former teacher always tries to hit on that someone."
Conrad frowned. "Well, yes, but..." Conrad took a step back.
Wolfram grabbed his head. Gunter was still hitting on Yuri!? This could not be. He would have to scold von Christ later... but… of dear Shinou… Conrad and Yuri had KISSED. Wolfram's eyes bulged.
Yuri stepped forward and gave Conrad a brisk hug, before taking a step back and giving him an imploring look.
"It's ok, I forgive you for falling on me," Yuri said, giving Conrad a reassuring smile.
"But."
"But what?"
"....Er."
Yuri frowned. Conrad sighed.
"Can I drop some formalities?" Conrad requested, reaching up and running his hand threw his chocolate-brown hair.
Yuri nodded. "Always."
"Heika… You... You know you're engaged, right?" Conrad said frankly.
Yuri pursed his lips, his eyes searching the ornamentation on the wall for the right words. "It wasn't my idea," is what Wolfram thought he said, but of course that couldn't be it.
Conrad let out a long, blustery sigh. Then he simply bent over and planted his lips on the king of Shin Makoku's.
Wolfram's insides exploded. For several seconds, he stood in complete stupor, unthinking as Conrad placed his hands on Yuri's shoulders. A feeling like liquid lead washed through his chest. A molten fire coursed through his throat, demanding he open it and scream "YOU WIMP!!" as loudly as he could. The blonde opened his mouth, but he was frozen, as if his chest had been cut open by an icicle, a feeling deep and penetrating causing tears to wobble at the edges of his green eyes. He grabbed his chest in panic. He gurgled. It was very unnecessarily dramatic.
He couldn't move. The two of them would notice him, and besides, his feet were melted to the floor like candle wax. He was trapped there, his world crumbling around him. He slumped to the floor, still out of view.
No, he had to move. He needed out of there for his sanity's sake. Wolfram just stood up and just as he had come, tiptoed away from Yuri's room. He tripped on the end of his nightgown, almost knocking over a vase from the von Spitzweg reign. "Oof." Neither the Maou nor the Lion of Luttenburg noticed in the least, despite Wolfram being in plain view.
Ideas of Yuri and Wolfram carrying through their engagement, that Yuri was just too diffident to act on his feelings for Wolfram, that Yuri, Wolfram and Greta made a normal "family," were shattered.