Disclaimer: I do not own Kyo Kara Maoh.
Summary: Life isn't always a fairytale and we don't always get to happily ever after, but that's no reason not to try. Because when all is said and done, we make our own happy endings. YuuRam, AU
Pairings: Yuuri x Wolfram
Warnings: This is an AU or Alternate Universe. Also, this story will contain shounan ai (boy/boy pairings), you have been warned.
Our Once Upon a Time
By V. Shalyr
2. Begun in Fire
"Your Highness."
Yuuri paused in his conversation to look up at the teacher who was giving him a pained and apologetic look. "What is it, Günter?"
The silver-haired man coughed, casting an annoyed look back at the ladder leading down into the ship's interior. "Lord von Bielefeld has locked himself in the bathroom and refuses to come out. My most heartfelt apologies for having to ask this of you, but could you please see if you can do something about him?"
Ah, so that's why Wolfram had been gone for so long. Excusing himself from the group of other students he'd been sitting with, Yuuri got to his feet and made his way towards the ladder. Behind him, he could hear the whispers starting but he ignored them. After nearly five years at the academy, he was used to this reaction whenever the topics of Wolfram and him came up in the same sentence. Considering how their first week at the school had gone, Yuuri couldn't really blame them even if he thought they were all being a bit too nosy.
Ever since they'd first been introduced to one another, their parents had been dropping them off with one another's families with great frequency. Or actually, usually it was Wolfram being dropped off with the Shibuyas sometimes for entire weeks at a time when his mother had business and his brothers were away. For once, the blonde hadn't complained. He'd finally found someone else to keep him company.
He followed Yuuri everywhere and, really, Yuuri had found that he hadn't minded at all. It was nice to have someone around his own age to play with. And even though Wolfram could be bratty at times, Yuuri had found that he could be quite sweet underneath all that. The only thing he really wanted from the raven-haired boy was his attention, and as long as he was assured that he had that, he was happy and did whatever Yuuri wanted. They did everything together, learned to ride horses under Conrad's watchful eye, took lessons from Shori together in the small library in the Shibuya mansion, went fishing at the river with Shibuya Shouma, and experimented in the kitchens with Jennifer. Becoming best friends had been almost surprisingly easy.
So it was no surprise—to Yuuri at least—that he and Wolfram arrived at the Academy together.
Though it was a surprise when the silver-haired teacher who had come to greet the heir to the throne latched onto him in an uncomfortably tight hug, swooning. Though Yuuri hadn't had to endure the grip for very long as Wolfram had promptly emerged from their carriage in a furious blur to set fire to said teacher's white cape. Amidst the ensuing screeches and chaos, it had taken several other teachers to straighten things out and only after a hug from Yuuri had calmed his blonde friend down. It was the first time Wolfram had been given detention and classes hadn't even started yet. Needless to say, Wolfram and Günter still didn't get along.
And then the morning after when the headmaster had come looking for the two boys to talk over their upcoming training, he'd found the pair in Yuuri's room sharing the black-haired boy's bed. It had left…quite an impression, and the fact that Wolfram had been wearing his favorite frilly, pink nightgown probably hadn't helped.
Two days at their new school and the duo were already known all over campus. It hadn't exactly been the way Yuuri had envisioned starting his Academy career, but then he supposed it had been too much to hope for that the future Maoh and the third son of the current one would be able to get away without being noticed.
The door to the main bathroom was shut tight and the hallway outside it empty when Yuuri arrived. Aside from the teachers, no one liked to bother a grouchy Wolfram. And the teachers mostly only did so because they had no choice. While Yuuri had become famous for his lack of temper, his blond best friend had become notorious for his excessive one.
He tried the doorknob but found it locked so settled for knocking instead. "Wolf? Are you all right? Open the door."
A long moment of silence greeted his words. Yuuri waited patiently until finally, a soft click reached his ears. Waiting for another moment to make sure Wolfram wasn't going to open it himself, Yuuri slipped inside and shut it carefully behind him, locking it again.
As Yuuri had expected, the blond Mazoku was on his knees in front of the toilet, slumped against the cool rim of the porcelain bowl. Strands of pale blond hair hung lankly about his face, adding to his unusually bedraggled appearance. The double black didn't need to see his face to know it would be deathly pale. He was across the room in moments, crouching down beside Wolfram with a sigh that was equal parts sympathy and exasperation.
"I thought you told me you were okay," Yuuri chided, continuing to rub soothing circles on his friend's back.
"I am."
The double black raised his eyebrows. "Right, and that's not your breakfast you were just throwing up."
Wolfram was silent for a long time, his eyes sullen in his overly white face. Finally, he mumbled, "I didn't want to stay in our room."
He hadn't wanted to be left behind.
Yuuri shook his head, hugging the blonde gently from behind. He knew Wolfram hated being left alone. It wasn't that he was afraid of being by himself. He'd scoff at even the suggestion. No, it was more that he was afraid Yuuri wouldn't come back, that the people he cared about would somehow forget about him. It didn't matter how many times Yuuri told him this was ridiculous. Sometimes, the double black wondered if it had to due with how often he'd been left at the Shibuyas. It didn't matter how much Wolfram liked living with his family or how well he'd gotten along with Yuuri's mother. It couldn't replace your own mother or your own family, not really. So perhaps it was not so silly after all that once it was within his power to do so, Wolfram clung to the people that he cared about.
"Wolf, why don't you just tell the teachers that you get seasick? I'm sure Anissina would be able to find some other way to get you to the island. And of course we'd make sure it could get you there in one piece first."
Testing to make sure the Academy's leading inventor's creations worked the way they were supposed to was extremely important to ensuring the user's wellbeing. Most people considered her to be somewhat less than sane, but maybe that was something that came with genius. At least Anissina herself would probably have said so.
"I'm not seasick," Wolf insisted but cut himself off a moment later to lean back over the toilet, his shoulders heaving. For better or for worse, there was nothing left in his stomach to come up.
"Wolfram," Yuuri said warningly. He didn't know why the other was being so stubborn about this. Lots of people got seasick. It wasn't anything to be ashamed of. Then again, Wolfram sometimes had strange standards for what was and was not worthy of embarrassment.
When the blonde's only response was to hunch in on himself, Yuuri sighed again and stood up. "Fine, we'll talk about this another time. Let's get you back to bed."
"But—"
"And I'll stay with you."
"Yuuri…"
The double black just smiled and held out his hand to help him to his feet. "Come on. It shouldn't be much longer before we're at the island. And you look like you could really use some sleep before classes start. And I wanted to look over some stuff anyway."
.
The island in question was a small and sparsely populated place located not far off the shores of Shin Makoku, the "sparsely populated" aspect being quite important to the Academy who sent its students there once every couple weeks in order to really practice wielding their elements. There fewer people there were, the smaller the chances of someone accidentally getting hurt by a bunch of amateurs.
Yuuri had not been looking forward to it.
He was supposed to master his Maryoku by the time of his coming of age ceremony and official coronation; everyone expected it of him. It might have been another twenty years away, but it still felt like it was coming up far too quickly. Because the truth was that when it came to his powers, he could barely do more than make it drizzle. It wasn't that it wasn't there. It was just that for some reason, he couldn't seem to reach it.
If only magic could be as simple and straightforward as swordsmanship. Yuuri hadn't been that good at that either at first, but hard work plus the training he'd already done as an avid sports player had remedied that relatively quickly. He wasn't quite as good as Wolfram yet but he was getting there. His control over the elements, however, was an entirely different story.
The sphere of water hung suspended in the air between his hands, glowing faintly as he stared at it with brows furrowed in concentration.
"That's it," his teacher said encouragingly, watching the sphere with baited breath. "Now, see if you can change its shape."
Slowly, oh so slowly, Yuuri started to pull his hands apart. The sphere expanded and began to shift and for a moment he thought he'd got it—then despite everything, the light about his hands faded and the sphere collapsed in a shower of crystalline droplets.
Both teacher and student expelled matching sighs of disappointment and weariness. Yuuri felt a bit guilty as the older man rubbed at his temples. It looked like he'd given his incredibly patient teacher a headache again. It wasn't even that he lacked the power. When they had gone to their first Maryoku class and had their power levels measured by one of Anissina's properly functional inventions, his readings had been completely off the charts. The numbers had just continued rising until the machine gave up and died. Everyone had been astounded and delighted while Yuuri had just felt guilty for making said working machine no longer functional after all.. Yet try as he might, he couldn't seem to control his Maryoku.
"Why don't we take a break?" Professor Chrestin said finally, offering him a tired smile. "Maybe we'll have better luck once we've eaten. It looks like everyone's getting ready for lunch."
Yuuri nodded, but made no move to follow as the man left to join the other teachers gathering on the other side of the vast expanse of bare dirt. Instead, he waited until he was sure the man was gone before moving back and raising his hands to try again. He was still trying when Wolfram came in search of him.
"Yuuri, why aren't you eating?"
Letting his hands drop as the light faded yet again, Yuuri sighed. "I just don't get why I can't do it. I'm doing everything we're supposed to, I'm sure of it. But it just doesn't work!"
Setting his bag down beside Yuuri's, Wolfram went to stand in front of him. "Why don't you show me?"
Wiping the sweat off his brow, the double black lifted his hands for the umpteenth time. Blue light flowed about his hands and water droplets began to gather and solidify between them. Then with a splash, it dissolved again.
Wolfram frowned, crossing his arms. "You're supposed to keep a calm state of mind to access your element as a water user, right?"
"Yes, and I am." Combing his fingers through his dark hair, Yuuri sighed and dropped onto the ground beside their bags. "This is hopeless. I wonder if I should ask the Temple to pick someone else to be the next king. I know we're not supposed to question the Original King's choice, but seriously, who's ever heard of a Maoh who can't use Maryoku?"
"It's not hopeless," Wolfram snapped, stamping his foot. Yuuri giving up was always a sure way to get him angry. "Get up and try again. You've got more Maryoku than anyone in history aside from the Original King himself. You just have to stop being a wimp and believe in yourself."
"But I've been trying for half a decade."
"You mean you've only been trying for half a decade. Get up and try again."
Gazing into his friend's fiery emerald eyes, Yuuri couldn't help but smile. Wolfram's temper had stopped scaring him a long time ago. He knew the blonde only got angry because he cared, and really, he was kind of cute when he was mad.
"Okay, okay, I didn't say I was going to give up. But let's eat first, all right?"
Wolfram deflated almost at once though he grumbled a bit for show as he moved to sit beside him. He might have been quick to anger, but he was also quick to cool down—most of the time anyway.
"So how did your class go?" he asked, taking a bite of the sandwich he'd packed and leaning back on his free hand.
"It was all right," Wolfram answered, picking at his own lunch with a faintly disgruntled face. "But we got Professor Miayz again this time."
Yuuri frowned. "I don't like him."
Yuuri had watched one of the man's classes last time he'd taken over training Wolfram and the other more advanced fire element users. As teachers went, the man was a real slave driver. It wasn't even just that he drove his students hard. The problem was how the man had no qualms about assigning near impossible or strenuous tasks to his trainees with complete disregard for their safety. Supposedly, the man had toned things down since all the members of one of his classes ended up in the infirmary, but rumor had it that it was really just that—a rumor.
"It's not like we get a choice. He's the best fire wielder at the Academy."
"I thought that was that other professor, what was her name?"
"She's not teaching this year."
"Oh right, I forgot."
The woman had gotten engaged just a few months earlier and rumor had it that she and her fiancé had gone off on some sort of quest. He'd overheard one of the other fire element teachers grumbling about them being "old fashioned" while Günter railed about it being "romantic". Nof it had made any sense, though it did make him wonder just what kind of quest it was.
"I'm tired," Wolfram announced suddenly, pushing his food away. "I'm going to take a nap."
"But you've barely eaten anything."
"I'm not hungry."
Brow furrowing, Yuuri turned to study his friend with concern. Wolfram had laid his jacket on the ground and lay down curled on his side. It was only early afternoon. Wolfram shouldn't have been this tired.
"You're not getting sick, are you?" Yuuri reached out to put his hand to Wolfram's forehead. "You do seem a little warm."
"I'm always a little warm. I'm a fire element Mazoku." Still, the blonde made no move to push his hand away. Instead, he just closed his eyes and relaxed, his breathing evening out almost at once.
Still worried but with not much else he could do, Yuuri finished the rest of his lunch slowly, his gaze wandering across the training grounds to several students who had started up a small ball game. How those students had the energy to play ball knowing they would have to go straight back to training afterwards Yuuri had no idea, though perhaps they had one of the more relaxed teachers today. Beside him, Wolfram sighed in his sleep and Yuuri looked back at him with a fond smile. Wolfram really did look like an angel when he slept, at least now that he'd finally gotten out of the habit of unconsciously kicking Yuuri while he was at it.
Yuuri cringed to recall the first time Wolfram had climbed into bed with him. It had been the first time Lady Celi had left her son at his house. Yuuri's father had made a second bed for him in Yuuri's room, but halfway through the night, Yuuri had been woken by a sharp pain and the puzzling realization that he was lying on the floor. He hadn't figured out what was going on until he got back onto his bed only to narrowly avoid another haphazard blow. A still drowsy Yuuri had spent several moments trying and failing to understand what the blond boy was doing in his bed then shook his head and went to sleep in Wolfram's—only to be woken again an hour or so later on the floor again. About that time, little Yuuri had finally decided to wake his new friend up and ask him. The other boy had fidgeted a bit with his nightgown—and why had he been wearing a nightgown?—before answering with a stubborn jut to his chin that he didn't like to sleep by himself. And besides, when his father had still lived with them, he and his mother had slept in the same bed too, at least back before they'd started fighting and his father had gone away. Green eyes had dimmed at this recollection and the double black had decided not to argue. His bed was more than big enough for two kids. He just had to sleep farther away.
This tactic had worked for a couple years until they'd both grown a little and the bed was no longer quite as big as it had seemed. That was when Conrad had told Yuuri that his little brother didn't thrash around as much in his sleep if someone was holding him when he dozed off. Yuuri had taken his advice to heart and, sure enough, that night he hadn't added any bruises to his collection. A few more years of that and Wolfram had become a lot less restless in his sleep, enough so that Yuuri no longer had to worry about waking up with a concussion even when Wolfram wasn't being held—which was good since now that they were older still, sharing a bed offered whole new, er, complications.
"Thinking about your boyfriend?"
The all-too-familiar voice pulled Yuuri back to the present and he looked up to find another black-haired boy standing only a few paces away. "Murata, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't use any elements?"
Murata shrugged, the sunlight gleaming off his glasses obscuring the eyes behind them. "I don't. But as the future Great Sage, I should know how these things work. And don't try to change the subject."
Yuuri looked away, fighting the heat he just knew was rising to his face. "He's not my boyfriend."
"Not yet, you mean."
Yuuri flushed but didn't say anything. All he could think about was Wolfram telling him that first time when they were little that Yuuri would ask him to marry him someday. It had seemed pretty farfetched back then, but then marriage in general had seemed pretty farfetched to his fifty-year-old mind. Now… Now, he was just afraid that his blond angel didn't remember that particular conversation since the subject had never directly been brought up again. He knew Wolfram liked him—or he was almost sure he did just as he was almost sure he liked him back. But it was that "almost" that always got in the way of him actually doing anything.
In his head, he could just hear Wolfram snort. Wimp.
"You know that people are talking," Murata continued when the other boy made no move to respond.
Of course he knew that people talked. They were all getting to that age when such things began to be of interest and take on importance. Still, "It's none of their business."
"You're the heir to the crown."
"I know that, but that doesn't make it their business."
"No, but it means that they're curious." Murata cocked his head a little, giving him a sly sort of smile. "That and a fair share are jealous too. You've got quite a few admirers you know, and everyone can see that Lord von Bielefeld is going to be a real beauty. He does take remarkably after his mother."
"Go away," Yuuri said firmly, scooting a little closer to Wolfram. The Sage-in-training always made him uncomfortable and he didn't like the way he looked at his best friend.
Murata shrugged. "Alright, alright, I'll leave you two alone. As you said, it's not really my business—at least until you're officially the king and I'm officially your advisor. You might want to wake him though. Lunch break is almost over."
Yuuri watched him go, feeling uneasy. Maybe that was why Murata Ken made him uncomfortable. He always carried this aura about him—as though he knew something that you didn't. And he left people wondering exactly what that was and, even more importantly, whether it was something important.
.
The sun had only just begun to set when all activity was interrupted by a violent explosion followed by a wave of searing heat. Yuuri stumbled and spun towards the noise, black eyes going wide with shock.
Against the evening sky, the flames stood out like a blazing, golden beacon, bright and beautiful and terrible. Fire, he had never seen so much fire in one place in his life. Screams and shouts of alarm reached his ears from all directions. He'd never heard his teacher curse before, but the normally mild-tempered man was definitely cursing now. He took off running towards the flames along with all the teachers not preoccupied with calming the students and Yuuri didn't hesitate to follow him.
They arrived on the base just as one of the other water element teachers was helping a student out from the wall of flames. The girl was coughing uncontrollably, her face pale and streaked with soot and her clothes charred in several places. Yuuri's heart sped up at the sight of her—both because of her condition and because he recognized her.
"What happened?"
The other teacher just snarled, practically incoherent with rage. "That stupid, stupid bastard!"
Yuuri scanned the area, searching frantically. The earth and water wielders were all trying unsuccessfully to tame the fire while the wind and some water users escorted the injured students to safety. But try as he might, he couldn't find the person he was looking for. Where was Wolfram? These were all students from his class.
"—thought we told everyone to stay away from this forest. The land properties are bad enough, but a forest! What was he thinking?"
Turning back to the teachers, Yuuri asked, "Have you seen Wolfram?"
The woman shook her head. "He's still missing. And we haven't found Miayz either, but it serves the fool right for pulling this stunt."
She continued to rant but Yuuri was no longer listening. He was already sprinting towards the hole that she had made earlier in the flames.
Professor Chrestin made a grab for his arm but missed. "Yuuri? Yuuri, wait!"
When the boy didn't stop, Chrestin made to run after him but a hand on his elbow stopped him. Jerking around, the water user blinked then looked down into a pair of bespectacled eyes.
"He'll be fine," Murata assured him calmly. "It needs to happen. Watch."
What had been a forest was now a sea of fire. Tongues of vivid, burning color ran along the ground and danced amongst the branches of trees, slowly reducing everything they touched to ash. Yuuri's eyes stung and his throat burned from the smoke, but he was in too much of a hurry to notice.
"Wolfram!"
In the end, Yuuri wasn't sure how he found him. It was like a sixth sense had drawn him to the two figures sprawled upon the ground just outside a grove that resembled nothing so much as one huge and wild bonfire. Both the professor and Wolfram looked as though they had been dragged through Hell and back. It looked as though Miayz had hauled them both out of the grove before collapsing, which did make Yuuri somewhat less angry if not by much. The man was a fool but not a malicious one, which was probably one of the reasons why he hadn't been forcibly retired from teaching a long time ago. Dropping down between them, Yuuri shook them.
"Professor? Wolfram? Wolf, come on, wake up. You have to get up!"
Wolfram's head lolled against his shoulder when he pulled him into his arms and Yuuri could feel the fear clawing at his chest. The blonde had always looked a bit delicate, but he'd never seemed so frail before.
Looking helplessly back at the unconscious professor and the flames that seemed to have closed in around them, Yuuri felt the desperation building like a storm in his veins. He had to do something. There was no one else who could help them. The others were doing all they could, but that obviously wasn't enough. He was the only one left and he'd be damned if he let any of them die here.
Suddenly, Wolfram stirred against him. "…Yuuri?"
"Wolf," Yuuri exclaimed, torn between relief and anxiety.
The other Mazoku clutched at the front of Yuuri's shirt, though his grip was weak. "Wh—what's going on?"
Staring down into emerald eyes still glazed with pain and confusion, Yuuri felt something finally snap. Pulling the other boy closer to him, he carefully stood up and rested his cheek against soft, golden hair now streaked with sweat and soot. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be all right."
In his head, he could hear Wolfram shouting at him earlier to try again, to just get up and try again.
And that was when the storm struck.
.
Wolfram sat on the wide sill of the window in his room at the Academy with his knees pulled up against his chest, staring out at the grounds and the clear sky dusted with stars. He'd been released from the infirmary a few days before and it was nice to be back, even if he still wasn't going to be allowed to do anything other than sit around and maybe study a little. At least now he could be idle in his room instead of in an infirmary bed surrounded by most of the other students in his class. Well technically, it was Yuuri's room, but he practically lived there anyway. He wasn't even sure he remembered where the room he'd been assigned was.
It had been several weeks since the island fire incident but the event still remained fresh in everyone's minds. Wolfram suspected that it would become one of those school legends, and he felt rather proud about it on Yuuri's behalf. No one had ever called up such a storm before, and he'd heard from the other students that there had been dragons—huge beasts of rushing water amidst the lightning that tore across the unnaturally dark sky. Wolfram would have liked to have seen it all for himself, but as it were, all he could really remember from the whole debacle was a pair of fierce, dark eyes, their pupils narrowed into slits. There had been something almost frightening about those eyes, something powerful, but at the same time they had made him feel safe. Because somehow, he knew that it was still Yuuri behind those eyes, maybe a Yuuri that wasn't quite like the one he knew now but still Yuuri all the same.
Professor Miayz had been suspended until further notice for taking his students onto grounds that he knew would sap their energy. He had thought it would "toughen them up" he'd explained, but even he knew things had gone too far. He had known it the moment his students' had lost control of their Maryoku, and had taken his suspension without complaint.
The door to the room swung open and Yuuri slipped inside wearing his customary blue pajamas, his hair still slightly damp from the bath he'd just taken.
"So how'd it go?" Wolfram asked, sliding off the windowsill to go sit on their bed.
Yuuri sighed. "I think I'll be taking extra lessons for the next decade. It keeps fluctuating. Sometimes I can blow Professor Chrestin completely away and sometimes I'm lucky if I can get so much as a water drop."
"But you've done it once. That means you can do it again. I'm sure you'll be able to control it eventually, so don't you dare give up."
"Yeah, I know." Breaking into a grin, Yuuri laid the towel he'd been using to dry his hair on the back of a chair and moved to join him on the bed. "Thank you."
"For what?"
Yuuri smiled and reached out to brush a stray lock of hair out of emerald green eyes. "For believing in me."
Wolfram snorted, though Yuuri could tell that he was pleased. "Of course I believe in you. You're my king. I'll support you no matter what."
"I'm not the king yet."
"I know, but you will be. And I'll be your best and most loyal soldier."
Yuuri quirked an eyebrow at his companion's frilly, pink nightgown, amused. "I'm sure you will."
"Yuuri," Wolfram scowled, "don't be mean."
He knew Yuuri thought his taste in nightwear was strange, but he liked his nightgowns. They were comfortable. And besides, it wasn't technically anyone else's business what he chose to wear to bed. Technically.
His scowl slowly turned into a pout as another thought struck him. "You don't like it. You think it makes me look silly, don't you?"
"What? No!"—why was the blonde always jumping to conclusions like that?—"I do like it," Yuuri protested, blushing at the admittance. "It looks very cute on you."
His cheeks going slightly pink, Wolfram turned his head away—though he couldn't help but peer back at the double black out of the corner of his eyes. "You really think so?"
Yuuri nodded, trying valiantly not to think about how said nightgown had a tendency of riding up while his friend slept and how easy it would be to run his hands up the pale thighs. He was not generally a pervert, at least he didn't think so. It wasn't his fault that a beautiful, blond angel insisted on sharing his bed every night. It hadn't been an issue when they were little, but the fact was that they were growing up and that changed things. Mostly, it meant that he'd started to really notice how attractive his friend really was. In fact, he was rather proud of himself for not having molested said angel yet. He doubted that anyone else in his position would have been able to keep their hands to themselves.
The fact that he was almost sure Wolfram wouldn't deny him did not help.
His thoughts ground to a halt when soft lips pressed shyly to his own for just a moment before Wolfram pulled away. "Goodnight, Yuuri."
Not meeting the double black's startled eyes, the blonde lay down. But before he could turn his back to him, Yuuri reached out to cup his face in his hands. Then he was leaning down to capture his surprised angel's lips in another kiss. Wolfram gasped and, on impulse, Yuuri took the opportunity to slip his tongue into the other boy's mouth. They both hesitated at the strange new sensation but only for a moment. It wasn't unpleasant and neither of them wanted to pull away, not until the need for air forced them apart.
Yuuri would have expected to feel embarrassed at his own actions but he wasn't. In fact, what he really wanted right then was to lean down and do it again. There was something incredibly intoxicating about the way Wolfram tasted and the feel of his slender body under his own—almost as intoxicating as the way his angel smiled at him when he was really, truly happy like he was doing now.
"Goodnight, Wolfram," Yuuri said instead, lying down beside him and reaching out to wrap an arm around Wolfram's waist. The blonde snuggled back closer to him and let out a contented sigh.
All of a sudden, Yuuri was very much looking forward to his coming of age ceremony. Because then he'd be old enough to propose and make sure nobody could take his Wolf away from him.
Of course, if only things could always be that easy.
TBC…
.