Written for the first kiss meme for my friend slr2moons. Gunter is too much fun to write!
"These aren't particularly urgent," Gunter reassured Yuuri as he maneuvered a fresh pile of paperwork into a clear spot on the desk. "As long as you can get to them before tomorrow afternoon."
"Ah. . . Thanks. I guess. . ." Yuuri looked up from what he was doing, offering a slight smile. He looked almost like a child, hidden behind the huge desk with piles of papers looming over him. Gunter practically glowed under that smile, delighted that Yuuri had taken even a moment away from his work to bestow a smile upon him.
"Allow me to say how much we all appreciate our Heika's tireless and noble efforts." Gunter clasped his hands together, ready to wax poetic under the influence of that noble smile. It was quite true. Yuuri hadn't run away from work nearly so much lately.
Yuuri propped his chin on one hand, wrinkling his forehead in thought as he gazed at Gunter. Gunter momentarily felt faint from the combination of that strong gaze and that adorable expression. That one look sent a new fission of adoration straight through his heart.
"You know, Gunter, it's been bothering me for a while. I'm never quite sure what you're thinking."
That casual comment struck Gunter cold. Hadn't he made his feelings of devotion clear? That his beloved Maoh could be left in doubt was absolutely unforgivable of him.
"I mean, Wolfram always insults me when I try to be nice to him. Conrad smiles at me whenever I do something wrong. I usually can't tell from Gwendal's expression if he's pleased or pissed off or just planning to do something important without telling me. I'd like to think I understand all of them anyway, but I never know what you really mean when you say things like that."
"Heika. . ." Gunter clutched his hands together in distress.
Yuuri lifted his head, laying his arm flat on the table. "Never mind. I trust you with my life, so I should at least trust what you say. I'm terrible at figuring out when people aren't saying what they mean, anyway." He flushed slightly. "That's a bad trait for a Maoh to have, isn't it?"
"Not at all!" Gunter cried. "Heika is an excellent judge of character. Please allow me the chance to prove my honesty."
"You don't have to prove-" Yuuri started, but apparently he was as good of a judge of character as Gunter thought, because he paused just when Gunter felt his expression fall into despair. "Okay, just tell me what you're thinking right now."
"That I have been unforgivably careless in not proving my devotion to my Maoh."
Yuuri's forehead wrinkled again in a faint frown, capturing Gunter's attention. "No, I mean, what do you think of me? Right this minute?"
"I think. . ." Gunter felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment, but he had promised honesty and he would give it. "That I would like to kiss that noble brow."
Yuuri yipped as if something had bit him, springing to his feet. "How can that be what you're thinking!"
"I promise you, it is." It was still true, too. The words would probably echo in Gunter's mind for hours now.
"P-prove it." Yuuri tilted his chin up, daring Gunter to even try.
Oh, Gunter would have loved to prove it, but it would be an absolute impropriety to do so. To kiss his beloved Maoh without permission. . . but of course, an order served as more than permission at a time like this.
"Is that an order, Heika?" Gunter could only will the answer to be 'yes.'
"No. But if you mean it, you'll do it anyway."
Gunter could have sworn he heard, 'If you love me, you'll do it anyway.' And he didn't just love Yuuri, he adored him.
Leaning across the wide desk that separated them, Gunter cupped his Maoh's beautiful face with both hands, drawing it close enough to press a single kiss to Yuuri's forehead. He heard a faint gasp of surprise, and suddenly wasn't sure if love trumped official permission after all.
Gunter drew back, clumsily knocking over the stack of papers he had just managed to balance on Yuuri's desk. He started to turn, to clean them up or to flee from the room he wasn't entirely sure, but was stopped by Yuuri's hand on his arm.
"Wait." Yuuri was staring up at him, his face flushed such a brilliant shade of red that it all but glowed in Gunter's eyes. "I'm sorry. I should have known you were being completely honest." He dropped his head in apparent shame, and Gunter ached inside to see that. "You shouldn't have to prove anything."
No matter how grand and tragic Yuuri could look when he was sad or upset, Gunter couldn't bear to see it. He cupped Yuuri's cheeks again, fingers stoking that soft, warm skin. "I am overjoyed that you gave me the chance to prove myself." Yuuri's head lifted enough that Gunter could see his eyes again, and if the desk hadn't been in the way he would have snatched Yuuri up in his arms and never let go for anything.
The trust in Yuuri's eyes made it harder to contain himself than ever before, but Gunter still found the presence of mind to ask, "May I?" Even as he inched his face closer to Yuuri's, entranced.
"Anything you want," Yuuri told him. And oh, what dangerous words those could have been. To have 'anything,' even for that one moment. But all Gunter took from his Maoh was a single kiss, his head spinning in dizzy pleasure that he had been allowed to do so.
When he drew back, his head still swimming from the sensation, Yuuri was staring at him, wide-eyed. He breathed Gunter's name, and it was too much. Gunter fainted on the spot.