bachiari

Chapter 2: Two Steps Backward

Wolfram awoke to Yuuri's smiling face. When it registered that the man in front of him was not a hallucination, his eyes widened in shock and almost out of instinct, he bolted upright. Fortunately, Yuuri moved back in time to avoid the clash that would have inevitably happened from Wolfram's action.

He sent Yuuri a distraught look – and really he meant to make his mouth move and for words to come out, but he was a little too shocked to do so. Yuuri, fortunately, caught on and pasted a gentle smile on his face, "Morning Wolfram! We would have been late if I didn't come in to wake you up, so I used your spare key."

Wolfram nodded his head slowly at the man before the words registered fully. "Spare key?" he asked, his voice still a bit husky from sleep. Then the volume raised and his eyes widened a bit wider, "Spare key? Why do you know where my spare key is?"

Yuuri's happy go lucky smile froze in place and soon the maou was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Er, well, I'm your fiancé! Shouldn't I know these things?"

"No!" was his immediate response. At Yuuri's sudden downcast look, Wolfram relented. "Well, if it's you, I guess it's okay." Yuuri's face seemed to brighten almost as immediately as it became downcast just moments earlier.

"Alright then, go get changed. I brought you breakfast from my mom. She uh," Yuuri paused here and a blush covered his cheeks, "wants me to tell you that she can't wait for our marriage." He almost seemed to say the last part of the sentence in one breath, but Wolfram was able to get the gist of it.

When he did, a blush similar to Yuuri's covered his cheeks and he busied himself by getting out of bed and heading toward the shower. Jennifer was sweet and he really loved the fact that she was going to be his mother-in-law, but the woman was so absentminded! He feared that one day the girl would ruin everything with a simple misplaced word to her capricious son.

When he finished pulling on his uniform (his uniform was unlike the one that Yuuri first came to school with for Yuuri had switched schools when he came back to study on Earth; it was still quite similar however, because it had the black pants at least – it was just different for it now contained a white t-shirt), Wolfram made his way out of the bathroom. He would have taken a shower, but he was too shy to do so while Yuuri was still in his apartment.

When he got to the kitchen, he was greeted with a sight of a traditional Japanese breakfast. He quirked an eyebrow at it, a little perturbed at the fact that Jennifer had actually cooked a regular Japanese breakfast.

Yuuri mistook his quirking of the eyebrow as a negative sign, "Er, you don't have to eat it if you don't want. I mean, I'm still hungry and I'm a growing boy so I can eat it – "

Yuuri fell silent as Wolfram leaned forward, taking the chopsticks in his right hand, and popped a bite of the fish into his mouth. He chewed slowly, swallowed, and turned to face Yuuri with a small smile.

"It's good."

For some reason, Yuuri's face immediately turned red and his hand flew upward to cover his mouth embarrassedly.

"What?" asked Wolfram, wary of the answer Yuuri would give him.

Yuuri seemed to debate about whether to tell him the truth or not before removing his hand from where it was covering his mouth. "Sorry, you just looked too cute."

And just like that, Wolfram was as red as a tomato.

"You look happy. What happened?"

Wolfram turned from where he was stretching his arms to face his close friend. "Er," he stalled for time, with a frozen half smile on his face and a finger up near his face as if he was going to scratch it sheepishly, "Well."

"Yuuri, isn't it?"

Wolfram blinked. "Uhm, yes."

His friend grinned, "What'd he do?"

Wolfram shook his head, but the smile stayed on his face. He was glad he had met Asaki. Asaki was a classmate of his as well as the Student Council President – a position that more often than not prohibited Asaki from hanging out with him outside of school. Asaki was also one of the very few that knew about his relationship with Yuuri. It wasn't as if Wolfram had told him though; Asaki was from Shin Makoku and as a result, knew more stuff about him than most other people did.

And it helped that Asaki was closer to his age, so Wolfram felt instantly closer to him than any other mortal in the school. However, even if Asaki was more than eighty years old, he was still quite the beauty. He was heralded as the handsomest guy in the school with his silky brown hair that reached to his shoulders and his bright blue eyes that seemed almost unnatural. His tall and sinewy body also drew others to him, if his aura simply didn't do the trick. It was exhilarating to hang out with someone that you knew was so above you after all.

"He, uh," Wolfram couldn't help the sudden widening of his smile, "promised to break up with Amiko yesterday."

Asaki's grin suddenly transformed into a displeased frown, "That's all? I've told you before, Wolfram, but I don't think this Yuuri guy deserves you. If he really loved you, he wouldn't be sleeping around with other girls."

Wolfram raised an eyebrow, "Don't bad-mouth Yuuri. He's your king too, isn't he?"

Asaki rolled his eyes as he leaned over to pick up the volleyball that had rolled near to Wolfram's feet when he wasn't paying attention. He spoke as he threw the ball back to his friend, the muscles in his arm tightening, "Doesn't mean I have to respect him. If he's putting you through all this shit, how can I expect him to rule our country properly?"

"Asaki!" scolded Wolfram, a frown on his face. "Don't cuss," he added a second later, scandalized. "It's not his fault."

"Not his fault? What if I told you that I saw him kissing Amiko good morning today?"

Wolfram froze; suddenly, everything around him seemed to stop and head backwards in time.

"If our relationship's going to make you sad, then it shouldn't even exist. Because… I don't want to do anything that would hurt you, Wolfram."

Was it all a lie?

Oh shit, dimly in the back of his mind he noted how hypocritical he was being, I think I'm going to cry.

Suddenly, bright blue eyes were in front of his, their eyebrows tilted downward in concern. "I'm sorry," the words barely registered in the blonde's mind, but the man continued talking anyway, "I shouldn't have said that. Shit, you know that I only want to make you happy."

"I'm not sad!" he blinked quickly to hide the evidence that he was about to cry. Because he wasn't going to cry. There was no way he was going to cry again for Yuuri's capricious actions.

"Oh, oops," murmured Asaki and he suddenly placed both of his arms around Wolfram's neck and leaned so that his mouth was next to his ear. "Play along with me, yeah?" the words were whispered and suddenly the man was groaning and acting all the part as if he was really sick. "Oh, teach," he groaned, "I think I'm going to be sick."

Their teacher, a woman with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and eyes almost the same color as Asaki's, simply rolled her eyes and waved Asaki in the direction of the nurse's room. Wolfram laughed inwardly at her expression – she was Asaki's sister so Asaki really didn't have to pretend to be sick at all. Still, he was grateful to Asaki for allowing him this chance to escape prying eyes. Though it wasn't as if anyone would know the reason why they were crying; there were only very few people who actually knew he and Yuuri were engaged and to be married.

The thought choked him up – the thought that Yuuri didn't want others to know they were together – and he gripped tighter with his hand that was on Asaki's shoulder. At the touch, Asaki suddenly straightened and pushed Wolfram against the corridor's wall, a predatory look in his blue eyes.

"Wolfram."

Wolfram spluttered in shock and futilely tried to get away, a hot blush dusting his pale cheeks. "Asaki, what are you doing?" He lowered his eyes so that his eyelashes were resting upon his skin because he didn't want to have eye contact with Asaki. He was afraid that he might find something in them that he didn't want to see.

Asaki had a wry smile on his face - that much Wolfram could see - when he next spoke, "What were you thinking about? You didn't even notice we were already in the hallway." His voice was lowered into a seductive whisper and every time he spoke, his breath collided with Wolfram's bare arm.

The contact sent shivers down Wolfram's spine, and not the bad kinds either. It was completely different from when Elizabeth's hair had been brushing against his arm. At the thought, he blushed harder, looking down at his and Asaki's feet.

Asaki seemed to realize that he wasn't going to get a response and because of that realization, he pressed closer to the mazoku he had pinned up against the wall. "You were thinking of Yuuri, weren't you?" The words were full of spite and when Wolfram tentatively looked up, Asaki's eyebrows were scrunched up in anger.

And with a shock, Wolfram understood the emotion Asaki was feeling. He had done the same thing to Yuuri just last night when he was lecturing Yuuri about being with Amiko. If he hadn't been blushing earlier, then he would have blushed at this moment. He didn't understand why someone like Asaki, a man who was so goddamn amazing in everything he did, would like someone like him.

"Asaki," he murmured and he brought a hand up to stroke his friend's cheek with tenderness. He couldn't be mad at Asaki for liking him even if he didn't understand why the man would; he could only hope that Asaki would give up soon. He was destined to marry Yuuri –

Asaki suddenly leaned forward and pressed hot lips against Wolfram's.

Wolfram was too shocked to move; his eyes were wide open when they finally made contact with Asaki's. Asaki had his eyes narrowed down, but the brilliant blue still undiminished, and various emotions linked with anger, pity, and most overwhelmingly love swam in the depths of the deep blue. Wolfram startled even more at the strange combination and finally pushed away. He hadn't opened his mouth, but he could tell his lips were swollen from where Asaki had pressed his.

A soft cough interrupted his thoughts and Wolfram whirled to see who the intruder was, his heart beating a mile a minute. If Yuuri happened to hear about this, if Yuuri dared to believe that he, Wolfram, would actually cheat on him from a baseless rumor – though it wasn't really a baseless one – he would break if it was he who drove them further apart, even when he was trying so hard to get them closer…

Black eyes met his and Wolfram felt as if the world was slowly falling away.

He was looking at Yuuri.

Yuuri wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to feel. He was angry, no doubt about that, and he was disappointed. Both emotions had no place in his heart and he tried to wrestle them away though his actions were futile.

He shouldn't be angry. He shouldn't be disappointed either. He had asked for this when he had started dating Amiko. What entitled Wolfram to stay faithful when he wasn't?

In the back of his mind, a traitorous voice whispered that Wolfram had to stay faithful. If Wolfram didn't try to make the relationship work, then how could it ever stay intact?

The voice made him realize two things at once. He was horrible for asking Wolfram to deal with him dating Amiko and he was horrible for not realizing that –

That?

That he what?

That he …cared...liked...was attracted to Wolfram?

He buried the thoughts deep in his mind, eyes clenched shut at the effort it cost him. Right now, he couldn't deal with the Emotion he couldn't name. Anger and disappointment were still whirling through him and a new emotion, shame, had entered him.

Maybe Wolfram had been laughing at him all the while. Maybe when Yuuri had promised to break up with Amiko, he had simply rolled his eyes and pretended to be happy because he had Asaki already.

He was dating Asaki, the man who Yuuri had always hated because he was so goddamn perfect. He ignored the voice that told him he simply couldn't stand the man because he was always close to Wolfram and buried that voice along with the thoughts of the Emotion he could not name.

The thought brought even more bitter emotions to the surface. Had Wolfram been comparing him to Asaki all this time? Because if he did that, Yuuri was sure that Wolfram would choose Asaki and the realization made him realize how wrong he had erred.

Still, Yuuri was overwhelmingly angry at the moment. The thought that Wolfram was laughing at him when he had been serious about breaking up with Amiko made him want to hurt the blonde mazoku back in turn.

He ignored the voice in his mind that whispered that what he was thinking was wrong. That Wolfram would never laugh at the idea that Yuuri would finally break up with Amiko, that the shining happiness he had seen last night could not be faked, and instead concentrated on letting Wolfram know just how he disapproved of Asaki and his relationship.

The need to lash out at Wolfram was overwhelming. He closed his eyes at the sight of Asaki and Wolfram still kissing and tried to get his emotions under control. As a result, he missed seeing Wolfram pushing Asaki away with a distraught look on his face.

When he opened his eyes again, the two were apart and Wolfram's lips were swollen. The sight made him angrier and he knew he had to interfere. He made a soft cough and watched as Wolfram whirled to face him with shock, shame, and guilt written all over his face and eyes. The sight hardened his resolve to make sure that Wolfram understood just how angry he was and he clenched his hands into fists.

He couldn't –

For some reason, he couldn't stand the sight of Wolfram's lips swollen. Especially when they hadn't even kissed once with that amount of force.

The complete regret he felt for not being the first one to catch Wolfram's virgin lips with his own scared him. He was supposed to be angry right now!

As a result of his resolution, he narrowed his black eyes at Wolfram. Wolfram startled at the look and sheepishly looked down. The action only made Yuuri more certain that Wolfram was guilty and deserved to be lashed out at.

Still, he wasn't one to completely let go. Even if he was going to let Wolfram know just how angry he was, he wasn't going to start cussing or whatnot. Being polite yet cutting was much more his style.

"Wolfram," he murmured softly, keeping his eyes trained on the figure in front of him. "I didn't know you were with Morino."

Wolfram looked up sharply at Asaki's last name, shock written into his features. "I'm not with this bastard!"

Yuuri refused to let Wolfram off and instead continued to talk softly, "I wish you would have told me though. Or else I wouldn't have broken up with Amiko."

Wolfram's eyes widened more, "You broke up with Amiko? But you were kissing her this morning!"

Yuuri blinked at Wolfram's surprise, "It was a kiss good-bye. She forced it on me."

Wolfram's eyes shined with something and he moved closer, "You did, Yuuri?" his voice trembled and broke in the middle and he lowered his eyes, seemingly ashamed of his weakness.

Yuuri was about to give in and grab Wolfram into an embrace, but when Yuuri's eyes fell upon Wolfram's swollen lips, anger caught up with him again. He took a step back and narrowed his eyes once again, "Yeah, but considering you're with Asaki now, maybe I should go get back with Amiko."

Wolfram's face broke at his words and he looked like he was about to cry. Yuuri though hardened his resolve and turned his back. "Get Asaki to walk you home today. I won't be there."

With those parting words, Yuuri left the couple standing where they were.

Still, as he made his way down the hallway, he couldn't stop the pain blossoming around his heart and something akin to jealousy taking root. He shook his head, confused. He couldn't deal with these thoughts right now. When he caught sight of Amiko, he called out to her and walked her back to class.

If Wolfram had Asaki, then he had Amiko.

Everything was alright.

Well, at least on the surface.

A/N: Wow, I think this chapter kinda sucked. Anyway I'm sorry for not updating faster. It's not because there wasn't a lot of reviews (thank you everyone who did! XD) but because I kinda got lazy and embarrassed in this story because it sounds too much like a ripped off shoujo manga. Anyway, hoped you guys liked! Please don't forget to review xD.