'Tradition'
1.
"You know," Yuuri nervously began, setting down his quill in hopes that the next thing he said would capture the attention of his audience so much that he wouldn't have to pick it up again and review more papers asking him, the Maou, personally, about what they should do for the advent -- decorate in red or blue, they inquired -- or maybe just black and white?
"I think this year," the young king continued slowly, looking up to see if his constantly irritated liege was in fact paying him any attention at all -- which he wasn't, "It's time I got Wolfram something special."
A grunt. "Uhm, something he'd like."
"Special?"
"Well, I mean, uh--" A glare. "You know. Something people who are, uh, engaged do! ... whatever, that uhm, is." Gwendal slammed his book on the desk. "Not that, I, uh, yet. Uh. Or. Anything."
Yuuri wished at this very moment that he had just finished up his paperwork diligently, because whatever that specific look meant it was probably something much, much more painful than signing his name a thousand times over. "What do you think?"
"I think," Gwendal replied in an eerily calm voice, "If I may, your Majesty. That is is time I introduced you to an old tradition."
2.
"Hey, where are we going?" Gwendal spared a stern look behind him as Yuuri caught his breath. "Uhm, I don't know where we are. Do you know where we are?"
"We are not lost. I am able to say this with as much sincerity as possible."
"Well, good!"
It was another fifteen minutes before Yuuri realised Gwendal was walking much too fast for his scrawny, human, sixteen-year-old legs. "Wait a minute --" Yuuri thought aloud, "This isn't tradition!"
"It is."
"How! There's no slapping! Or forks. Or me being really confused about why what we're doing is even possible -- well, I guess there's that--"
"The act of exposing an unwanted ruler goes back centuries, your Majesty."
Silence.
"I think this is treason! No, no, I know it's treason! Gwendal, this is treason! I order you to uhm, try yourself once we... uh. I'm sure you know what the punishment for treason is!" Yuuri thought very long and hard about whether he should include the fact that he'dtotally forgive Gwendal, even it it was treason -- because really, all he wanted was to go back to the castle where it was warm and not dark and not in the middle of nowhere, and he certainly didn't know the way himself --
"Uhm," Yuuri concluded, as he realised Gwendal had disappeared. "At least I don't have to finish my paperwork."