Yet another collab between me and Mei. This one's actually a Mikayuu fic, so all the shippers out there can give a cheer. Enjoy!
WE DO NOT OWN OWARI NO SERAPH!
"Yuu, you better not fuck this plan up, or I will personally execute you!" Guren Ichinose hissed, face scrunched up threateningly.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, I got this." Yuu said with his typical confidence, lightly tapping his fist on his chest twice.
"You better not stuff your face at that party, dumbass," Kimizuki Shiho muttered. "Because the last time we had a celebration, that's all you did."
"What did you just say, you bastard?!" Yuu growled, his fist tightening into tight balls.
"Guys, please stop arguing!" Saotome Yoichi desperately pleaded, stepping between the arguing duo.
"Say that to this asshole over here!" Yuu jabbed his thumb on Kimizuki's chest, who scowled fiercely in response.
Shinoa Hiragi quickly intervened. "Both of you, quiet! This is an important mission that we can't afford to fail! The rest of the Imperial Demon Army is counting on us!"
Yuu and Kimizuki made quiet grunts of annoyance, both still training deadly glares on one another. Luckily, they both understood this gravity of the situation and stopped arguing. Guren and Yoichi both gave Shinoa an appreciative glance, glad that the shouting had concluded and that they could continue on peacefully with their assigned mission.
"Well, I guess we should go then." Yuu sighed.
"Before we go..." Shinoa blocked the door.
"What now?"
"Have you even picked out what you're going to wear?"
"Just some random suit and tie, right? I got that covered."
"Oh, we didn't tell you?" Shinoa replies mischievously.
"Um, tell me what?"
"That Mitsuba and I are in charge of your outfit!"
When Yuu saw Shinoa's smirk, he knew he was fucked. Like, really fucked. His eyes widened. Before he could react, Shinoa and Mitsuba each took one of his arms and dragged him out of the room.
"Fuck this shit! How did they get Guren to approve of this?!" Yuu grumbled under his breath, nearly tripping in his cream-colored high heels as he promenaded cautiously into the extravagant ballroom. He was wearing a spring, viridescent ball gown embellished with white lace and flattering streaks of light blue, which Shinoa claimed brought out the "beautiful, lush green color of his eyes which usually resembled large buckets of cat vomit". A lacy white mask shielded most of his face, and small, ebony-colored pearls outlined the border. His scalp itched and sweated from the wavy, black-colored wig styled in a half-up crown braid behind a delicate golden tiara, inlaid with several generous emeralds. It reached near his waist, and Yuu found that he had trouble holding his head up with so much more weight added to his neck.
He groaned once again, praying for the night to end already as someone's smooth voice announced, "Welcome everyone to Prince Mikaela Tepes's, the heir to our kingdom of Sanguinem, birthday masquerade ball. We are grateful to you all for joining us for this splendid celebration. Please enjoy yourselves on this lovely evening."
At that moment, Yuu recalled how important his duty was, as the one responsible for driving attention away from his comrades so that they could attack unexpectedly, and that this was this chance to prove himself. With his renewed motivation, he sauntered further into the room and inspected the room, trying to identify the queen, Krul Tepes, their main target.
He spotted a table loaded richly with every type of food you could possibly think of. Yuu felt his stomach make a distressed whining sound, wanting so badly to consume the food. The ravishing smell drifted over to Yuu, and he was lured closer. But then, he suddenly remembered Shiho's words.
'You better not stuff your face at that party, dumbass. Because the last time we had a celebration, that's all you did.'
Yuu gritted his teeth together tightly.
"Ha, as if I'll surrender to you, you bastard," he muttered quietly under his breath. His bright green eyes swiftly-painstakingly-darted away from the generously-laden table to search for the queen once again.
However, his eyes instead happened to land on the slim, muscular figure of an attractive blonde surrounded by several ladies, who were all soundlessly requesting for a dance with their body gestures-since women were not granted the permission to demand a dance, that was the job of the men. But although there were so many trying to receive his attention, the blonde never gave it, seeming extremely bored and irritated by them instead. The male donned a black, three-part suit with a white shirt underneath and black tie. The dark color brought out the exquisite shade of his pale skin and platinum locks. His mask was also ebony-colored, covered with a simple layer of shining, black velvet. And his eyes…
His eyes.
"Holy. Fucking. Crap." Yuu mumbled, avoiding eye contact and attempting to conceal his blush.
It didn't work.
Before he could process anything, the blonde beauty approached him with long strides, wearing an intrigued expression.
"Hello there." He greeted with a pleasant tone coloring his voice-one that Yuu couldn't stop thinking about. The ebony-haired boy found himself unable to hide the crimson blush spreading across his cheeks at an alarming rate.
"U-uh-" Yuu cautiously raised his voice's pitch.
"May I have this dance, milady?" The blonde angel looked up at him with piercing, yet radiant eyes as he kneeled, holding out his hand.
Yuu's heart fluttered as the other guests whispered, staring at the pair with an obvious hint of envy surrounding them.
"Oh, pardon me. I am Mikaela Tepes. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Mikaela-fucking-Tepes?! That's the queen's fucking son! Yuu thought to himself.
He gulped nervously, hoping he wouldn't blow his cover. "I'm Yuichiro Hya-Amane. Yuichiro Amane."
He had hardly managed to restrain himself from using the past name he had obtained from his orphanage, fearing that this "Mikaela" would look into it and realize that he was merely a commoner whose home had been destroyed by his mother. Still, it disgusted Yuu to use his former last name.
"Now that we've completed those introductions, shall we have this dance, Yuu-chan?"
"H-huh?!" Yuu was infuriated, although Mikaela's handsomely smug looks prevented him from punching that unreasonably pretty face. "No nicknames! We just met!"
"Well, Yuu-chan, if you insist, then you may address me as Mika. After all, my full name is so dreadfully tedious to say."
"If that's how you want to play this, then sure, Mika!"
"Does that mean that you will dance with me?"
"Hmph! Sure, go ahead!" Yuu said, radiating with pride.
He regretted his words the moment they left his mouth. Mika instantly grinned and Yuu couldn't help but smile back, realizing that he had been wanting this to happen the entire time. They took each other's hands and glided across the dance floor, with Mika leading. The musicians performed a slow waltz once they noticed the two twirling gracefully in the center of the ballroom. Yuu was so concentrated on Mika's eyes, that he unintentionally stepped on the other's foot.
"I'm so sorry!" Yuu said in a panicked tone, extremely flustered.
Mika looked slightly amused as he replied. "Please, don't worry about it. I'm perfectly fine."
"O-okay." Yuu responded, still ashamed as he started to look more at his feet as to not repeat the incident.
"It's such a nice party, isn't it?" Yuu sighed contently, feeling extremely pleased with life at the current moment-a very rare feeling for him.
"Yes, it is quite delightful." Mika agreed, beaming. His bright blue eyes twinkled in amusement at Yuu's satisfied expression.
"I passed by the food a while ago, and I wanted to eat all of it, but I don't think I would be able to. I'd probably explode or something!"
Mika chuckled. "Then I'm glad you didn't eat everything."
"Haha, me too!"
"Yes, it would be terrible for such a lovely lady, such as yourself, to end in such a manner."
Yuu instantly averted his eyes, trying to ignore the compliment. "If my friends heard you call me 'lovely', they would probably be rolling on the floor, laughing like crazy."
"They must be blind to not be able to see your beauty, Yuu-chan." Mika answered calmly, without a speck of embarrassment.
"Well, actually, one of them wears glasses." Yuu replied, referring to Kimizuki. He successfully managed to disregard the flattering comment directed towards him, although he had clearly heard it.
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, and he's always insulting me."
"I see." Mika responded with a harsh tone, seeming to have a hard time maintaining a straight face. "If you would like to dispose of him, then I am willing to assist you."
Yuu stared at him, blinking rapidly. "Are you serious?"
"I rarely joke."
"Uh, then that's unnecessary. Really."
"Are you certain?"
"Absolutely."
"Very well then."
They stared at each awkwardly. Yuu casually looked at anything besides Mika's alluring, icy blue eyes.
"Tell me about yourself," Mika spoke suddenly.
"Can I not?" Yuu urged, his tone obviously suggesting that this was not a good topic, knowing that he would most likely accidentally mention something stupid that Guren would slaughter him for later.
"Then, may I begin?"
Yuu nodded, thinking about how he could possibly report to Guren and the others as to what Mika would tell him. The thought made him oddly guilty for some reason, but Yuu quickly shoved the thought out of his mind and averted his attention back to his dance partner.
"If you didn't recognize my name earlier, then I guess I'll inform you now." The blonde hesitated slightly before continuing. "I'm the queen's son. If that scares you away, then I understand."
Mika awaited Yuu's reaction, slightly dreading it, but when the raven-haired boy looked directly at him, unfazed and unblinking, he nodded, his eyes widening in surprise for a brief moment.
"I honestly hate living here in the palace, and living as royalty. It's like I'm a mere puppet, obeying every single one of my mother's orders for the rest of my life." Mika began, his voice low to make sure that nobody else could eavesdrop on their conversation.
"But you have everything! Feasts everyday for every meal, more clothes than you could possibly ever need, servants to obey your every will, and so much more!" Yuu protested.
"You don't understand. It's true, I do have all that, but I also can't make any choices for myself. I won't ever be able to choose my fate. I must inherit the crown and rule when I come of age, I must marry this princess chosen for me, I must stay in this suffocating palace at all times. I'm trapped. I'm manipulated by my mother just as much as everyone else."
"Why are you telling me this?!" Yuu exclaimed, loudly- although not so deafening as for anyone else to hear.
"Because something in the back of my head is telling me that I can trust you." Mika's sapphire eyes gleamed, not doubting his intuition, not one single bit.
Yuu swallowed nervously, unsure that he could be trusted with this information that was so incredibly precious to the man across from him. "I still don't understand why it has to be me."
Mika sighed tiredly. "I know this might sound a bit crazy, but I think I-"
Yuu whipped head back, detecting a familiar voice. It was Guren. He recalled the plan to attack the queen and everyone else at the party. Now that they had met-Mika and him-Yuu knew that he couldn't let that happen. A very terrible, risky idea popped into his head that would hurt him for the rest of his life and torture him with regrets.
"Mika, you just can't trust me."
"Why not?"
"First of all, we just met. Second of all, you don't know who I really am."
"Then tell me. Who are you?"
"You asked for it, okay?" Yuu's voice cracks
Yuu backed away and dashed to the front of the room, leaving Mika clueless as he followed close behind him. Yuu hastily tore of his wig and shook off his high heels.
"Hey, you noble bastards! Guess who's here!" He hollered, waiting for all the heads to face him. "I'm part of the Imperial Demon Army. We'll spare you today, but next time, we're gonna crush you, you got that?!" Yuu harshly pulled off his silk gloves and raised his fist high into the air for all to see. Imprinted onto it was the symbol of the Imperial Demon Army, an organization revolting against the government and plotting to overthrow Queen Krul Tepes.
Mika couldn't believe his eyes. He gasped, gawking at Yuu, who had ended up being a boy, and the symbol of his mother's greatest enemy.
"Good day to you all! And happy birthday, Mikaela Tepes!"
With that, Yuu retreated, sprinting out with his companions, who had also been in disguise, using that chance to escape as well, before the queen summoned her army to attack them.
Yuu ignored the guilt as he rushed into the crisp breeze, and back to the Imperial Demon Army Headquarters, leaving Mika to gloomily pick up his long, sweat-drenched wig and petite high heels.
