Thanks to all those who reviewed. I wasn't going to post this until a week after I posted the first chapter but I was so happy, I couldn't stop myself. Anyways, here's the new chapter!
Souvenir – Chapter 2
"You added wasabi to the tuna!" He looks at his mother incredulously.
"Is there something wrong with that Yuu-chan?" Jennifer asks with slight concern on her face.
"You wimp." Shori snickers under his breath.
"AHHH! It burns the flesh!" Yuuri gasps as his brother laughs at him. Gwendal just stares at the twitching man beside him as he calmly takes a sip of his Kool-Aid. It's disconcertingly like watching Gunter freak out when he can't find Yuuri.
"Yuuri." Gwendal asks very sternly, his scowl in place.
"Yes." Yuuri wheezes.
"Will they understand me if I talk to them?"
The shorter man frantically nods as he starts turning a funny shade of blue which vaguely resembles periwinkle.
"Mrs. Shibuya, this is delicious food." Gwendal says disregarding the purple man beside him.
"Why, thank you Gwendal. Yuuri, your friend is very polite. I already like him." Jennifer looks over to her youngest son. "Shori, please get your brother some milk."
Gwendal looks over at Yuuri once again. The eighteen year-old is barely breathing as his throat has swollen up. Shori comes back to the table with a glass of milk and Yuuri pours it down his throat. After a few minutes, his breathing is turning back to normal and he is back to his normal color.
"You alright there little buddy?" Shori teases.
"What are all of you doing watching me choke to death?"
"Saa, you overact to little things."
"I WAS DYING!"
"Well, that's unfortunate."
"Why, you..."
"You know, you're very un-cute when you're mad."
Yuuri looks as if he's going to burst from anger, but Shori finally grants him a reprieve when he continues eating. Gwendal looks up at Jennifer to see her bright smile; the antics of her sons always amuse her.
Yuuri, in a huff, gets up from the table holding his plate and goes into the kitchen.
"So Gwendal, how long are you going to be in town?" Jennifer asks politely, wiping a smudge of food from the corner of her mouth.
"I'm not sure."
"You're a Mazoku, right? Do you have bat-like wings? When Shori and Yuuri were born, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have any wings. My husband doesn't have any wings either."
Gwendal looks surprised by the questions being fired rapidly at him. "Yes, I'm a Mazoku, but I don't have wings. Mazokus are very similar to humans."
"Aw, that's what my husband said." Jennifer pouts around her sandwich.
"Please excuse my mom; she has an obsession with fantasy stuff." Shiori says as he sips his drink. At that moment, Yuuri walks back into the dining room with a fresh tuna sandwich, one without wasabi.
"Yuu-chan, what are you and Gwendal going to do today?" Jennifer asks, sipping her drink.
Yuuri freezes for a moment. "I don't know. I guess we'll figure that out after lunch. By the way, could you help me blow-dry Gwendal's hair after we eat? I don't usually do mine but he needs his done. Please?"
"Blow-dry?" Gwendal asks.
"Yeah, I'll show you after this. So will you mom?"
"Sure Yuu-chan, I don't see why not." Jennifer smiles pleasantly at Gwendal, who simply nods, wondering what it is to blow-dry.
Shori takes the last bite of his sandwich and begins to excuse himself from the table.
"Where are you going honey?" Jennifer turns her attention to the eldest son.
"I'm going back to my place to rest before I start packing. Thanks for lunch though."
"Where are you going?" Yuuri perks up at the news of his brother's impending departure.
"I'm going to Boston for a couple of weeks on business."
"Really? I have a friend who went to Boston a few years ago." Yuuri discreetly glances at Gwendal before turning his attention back to his brother. "Are you going to a Red Sox game? If you are, bring me a souvenir. They're my favorite baseball team."
"Why should I bring, a brat like you, a souvenir?" Shori smirks.
"Aw, come on. I'm your little brother; you should bring me a present for being undeniably cute." Yuuri bats large, wobbly puppy dog eyes.
Shori's smirk falters as he begins to cave into the extreme cuteness. "Uh, well...maybe." He gets up from the table and cleans off his spot.
"Thanks Shori!" Yuuri wipes his hands on his napkins and arises from the table.
"I only said maybe. Anyways, I'm gone. See you later." Shori leaves waving to an inattentive crowd.
"Oh Yuu-chan, I forgot to tell you that your friend Murata Ken called while you were in the shower."
"Did he? What did he want?"
"He said that you have a practice at 4 today and you'd better be there even though you have a guest."
"But he just told me that he was going to talk the orig-, eh, he said he was going out of town today."
"I don't know, maybe he changed his plans, but you do have practice. Are you going to go with Yuuri to his practice, Gwendal?" Jennifer asks wiping her own hands on her napkin.
Gwendal first looks at Jennifer, as she is expecting an answer from him, to Yuuri, asking him for permission.
"Yeah, Gwendal. You should come. You haven't seen me in action yet."
"Great! I'll get your water bottle filled and ready your practice uniform. Last time you wore it, you got it completely filthy. It took at least 4 washes and a new bottle of bleach to get the stains out. I want you to be more careful of what you're doing out there or I'll make you get another part-time job like the one a few summers ago. Bleach isn't cheap, you know." Yuuri nods his head repeatedly, having heard this lecture before.
Yuuri looks over to Gwendal's plate. "Are you finished eating?" The tall man nods, not meeting the eyes of his king. "So it's okay if I take your plate?" Gwendal nods again, this time looking up to stare into Yuuri's pitch black eyes.
Through the three years that he has known Yuuri, he has never looked directly into the younger man's eyes until that moment at the lunch table. He shudders as a strange feeling runs down his spine; there's something...about those eyes.
"What? Do I have something on my face?"
"Sir?"
"Well you're staring at me. Do I have some crumbs on my cheek or something?" Yuuri picks up the long-haired man's plate, combining it with his own.
Gwendal quickly averts his eyes to the now interesting spot on the wall. "Please excuse my mistake, Yuuri. There's nothing flawing your face."
"It's ok; nothing to worry about, right?" Gwendal nods.
"You must be shy because you don't talk much, do you Gwendal?" Jennifer asks as she rests her chin on her hands. Yuuri takes her plate, also, to the kitchen.
"I just don't have much to say." Gwendal quietly states.
"Oh." Jennifer seems just a little put out by his answer.
It's very strange for Gwendal to be having the conversation. Back in New Makoku, nobody ever questioned him about his personality; they just assumed he was grumpy or scary. He feels a sudden warmth spread throughout his chest from knowing someone actually cares. It's the same feeling he gets when Yuuri transforms into his alternate self at an injustice towards children or women. Now he sees where he gets his compassion from.
Three years ago, Gwendal wouldn't have believed that Yuuri's compassion would help run a country and keep war at bay, but seeing how New Makoku is thriving and how peaceful the world is, one can't help but to believe in the compassionate and passionate king.
"Yuuri, you can go ahead and take Gwendal upstairs in your room and then I'll show you how to blow-dry hair after I clean up the kitchen. Just get my blow-dryer and my brush out of my bathroom. I'll be up there in about ten-minutes."
"Oi, saved from doing the dishes", Yuuri sighs in relief as he walks back into the dining room. "Come with me Gwendal."
Gwendal stands, placing his napkin on the table, and bows to Jennifer. "Thank you for a wonderful meal, Mrs. Shibuya." Jennifer blushes as the handsome gentleman bows to her in deep respect.
"Y-you're welcome", she stammers. She looks at Yuuri as if begging him to take Gwendal away so she doesn't do anything embarrassing to herself or Yuuri.
"Thanks for lunch, Mom." The young king leads his tall advisor to his bedroom, sitting him on the bed.
"What is this blow-drying that you're going to do to me?" Gwendal scowls, folding his arms across his chest in stubbornness. He just knows he's going to not like whatever blow-drying is.
"Let me show you what I'm talking about. I could tell you but it might sound like one of Anissina's demon inventions." Gwendal rolls his eyes at the absurd thought.
"Perhaps you're right Heika." Gwendal shudders at the memories of Anissina chasing him down so he could test out her newest failure of an invention.
Yuuri chuckles lightly at the look on the other man's face; it's not everyday he gets to see Gwendal's facial expression change to one of utter horror. Leaving the tall man on the bed, he goes to his parent's bathroom and grabs the blow-dryer and brush his mother lent him. When he gets back to his room, Gwendal looks at the blow-dryer as if it were a snake with an afro-wig on it.
"What's that?"
Holding up the blow-dryer, Yuuri begins explaining. "This is a blow-dryer. It pushes air rapidly out to basically create enough wind to dry your hair in a short amount of time than if you let it air dry." Yuuri plugs it into the wall and turns it on. Aiming it in the direction of Gwendal's face, he allows the man to see what it actually does.
Gwendal looks shocked at the air-blowing machine. "How...amazing this is. Is it magic?"
"Nope. It's electricity. It's how things are generally powered in this world."
"How interesting." Gwendal gruffly states.
Jennifer comes waltzing into the room holding a spray bottle of sorts. "Yuuri, your practice clothes will be ready in about an hour."
"Thanks." Yuuri sits beside Gwendal on the bed, his back against his headboard.
"Are you ready to get your hair dried?" she addresses Gwendal.
"I believe so."
Jennifer looks around the room with her hands on her hips. "Good. May I have the brush, Yuuri?"
"Oh, sorry." Yuuri hands her the brush.
Removing the towel from his head, Gwendal's hair tumbles limply and wet onto his back and shoulders. Turning on the blow-dryer, Jennifer begins brushing and blow-drying. Yuuri watches intensely as Gwendal's hair slowly becomes dry and smooth. Through with one section of hair, Jennifer turns off the blow dryer and proudly inspects her work.
"You have such wonderful hair. I wish I could put it up in little bows and clips!" Yuuri visibly pales at the thought of his mother violating Gwendal's hair in such a manner. But after thinking about it for a moment, he decided it would be kind of funny, especially from a distance. Just in case Gwendal decides to run him thru with his sword.
"Mom, please could you just continue? Please?" Yuuri pleads.
"All right Yuu-chan." Looking down at her watch, she checks the time; she then continues with the next section of Gwendal's hair. Suddenly, flipping off the blow-dryer, she lets out a yelp, scaring Yuuri off the bed.
"What? What?" He begs from his position of the floor which is upside down against the bed.
"I was supposed to pick up your father about ten minutes ago at the train station!"
"If you leave now, I'm sure he'll still be there. Just...call him on his cell phone and let him know you're on your way." Yuuri rights himself to where he's sitting against the bed, right-side up.
"Ok." She starts to run out of the room, but she stops in her tracks at a sudden realization. "Yuuri, will you be able to finish Gwendal's hair without me?"
Yuuri thinks for a moment before answering. "I think I can. I watched you enough. Sure." Yuuri shrugs his shoulders.
"Alright then honey. I'll be back later. Don't forget to get your practice clothes from the dryer. I'm going to put them in as I leave. Ok?'
"Ok. Thanks Mom." Yuuri gives a loving smile to her, much like the one he gives Conrad. Gwendal notices the similarities and turns his head away from the affection. Jennifer leaves the room as Yuuri gets to his feet, hands on his hips.
"I guess it's up to me." He sighs, picking up the utensils. Turning on the blow-dryer, he begins to blow-dry the long charcoal hair.
During this time, Gwendal begins to think about the sweet exchange between Yuuri and his mother. The only people who have ever given him that type of affectionate smile were Yuuri and Greta, but even then, he couldn't reciprocate the smile the same to Greta. Someone is always interrupting his possible response to Yuuri's smile, but Greta is incredibly sweet, cute, and hangs onto him for safety. The least he could do for the child who puts so much trust in him is to smile back at her with the same affection, but something in him won't allow it. The most he can do is a small yet pained smile. As these thoughts go through his head, he begins to get angry at his inability to smile.
Yuuri notices how tense the man seems to be getting as he works on his hair. Gwendal isn't exactly the type of person you can tell to relax and he does it. Suddenly, an idea crosses his mind.
As he's drying a section of hair, Yuuri flicks to wrist and blows air directly into Gwendal's eyes. The older man flinches at the gust of warm air hitting his eyes; he glares up at the smiling teen. He goes back to looking straight ahead, still scowling, after a few minutes. Yuuri continues to dry his hair at very rapid pace. Again, he's hit with another gust of air, this time in his ear. Pulling away from the air, he turns and nearly growls out Yuuri's name.
"Heika, what are you doing?"
"I'm just drying your hair. Is there something wrong?" Yuuri puts on his best innocent doe-eyed face.
Gwendal's scowl breaks for a moment at the cute face, but quickly remembers he's suppose to be upset with his king. "Stop that."
"Stop what?" Yuuri asks innocently.
"Blowing air in my face."
"I would never do such a thing." Yuuri smiles brightly, but Gwendal misses the mischievous sparkle in the black eyes. Gwendal merely folds his arms over his chest and scowls.
Yuuri works his way around Gwendal's head and as he completes drying the tall man's hair, he once again flicks his wrist to blow air in the man's face. This time, Gwendal purses his lips as his eyebrow twitches in annoyance.
"What's wrong, Gwendal?" Yuuri asks, flicking his wrist again, blowing air in his advisors face.
"Stop that."
"Stop what?" Another flick of the wrist.
"That." Gwendal grinds his teeth together.
"What? This?" Yuuri flicks his wrist again.
"Yes, that." Gwendal bites his lip to curb his anger.
"What's wrong with that?" Flick.
Gwendal stills himself. "It's annoying."
Yuuri blows air in his face, much like he's doing to Gwendal. "Really? I don't see how. Here try it again."
Flick. That was the limit for the stoic man. He reaches out for the blow-dryer but Yuuri pulls it from his reach in the knick of time, but still manages to flick it once again. Gwendal stands up and grabs at the blow-dryer, missing it once again and gaining a face full of hot air. Yuuri backs up as Gwendal starts progressing towards him with intent to remove the blow-dryer from his hands.
"Yuuri if you do that one more time, I'll—"
"You'll what? Spank me?" Yuuri laughs light-heartedly at his joke. Gwendal stops in his tracks and almost turns around to leave the room, but where was he going to go? He doesn't know where anything is. The only way to stop the king is to take the blow-dryer from his hands.
"No, I'll make sure Gunter is thoroughly worried about you when we get back to New Makoku."
Yuuri looks slightly disturbed by the threat but that quickly changes with his own retort. "Well, I'll tell Anissina about the gadgets we have here and ask if she could reproduce them, just to get you to test them."
Gwendal narrows his eyes at Yuuri. "That's cold."
Breaking the stalemate they're in, Yuuri blows air in his face once again. Gwendal lunges at the teen, wrapping his arms around his waist as Yuuri turns to get away from him. The war strategist tries to use his long arms to reach the blow-dryer, but somehow Yuuri keeps the device just out of his reach.
Through the struggle for power of the blow-dryer, Yuuri still manages to turn it on Gwendal and blow him in the face or ear. Finally as Yuuri is twisting from Gwendal's hold, Gwendal manages to grab the blow-dryer, but Yuuri's not letting go. Yuuri grabs Gwendal's wrist, trying to pry the device from the tall man's grasp. Gwendal then holds Yuuri's wrist with his other hand, bringing them to another stalemate.
Gwendal smirks down at Yuuri in apparent victory, not realizing the compromising position he unknowingly put them in; Yuuri is pushed up against the wall facing Gwendal, who has his hands pinned above his head. But what he finds when he meets the young king's eyes is a smile, much like the one he gave his mother.
"You've finally relaxed." Yuuri says happily. Flipping the switch on the blow-dryer, he turns it off.
"Excuse me?" Gwendal replies sharply.
"While I was drying your hair, you suddenly became tense, so I had to find a way of relaxing you or you were going to have shoulder cramps from being humped over like you were." Yuuri's warm breath hits his face.
He blushes slightly as he sees the position they're in. Gwendal releases the blow-dryer and Yuuri's wrist as his anger drains from his body. After a moment of just standing still, with Yuuri looking up at him, he looks at Yuuri with a slight scowl/pout.
"Thank you and forgive me for being angry with you." Gwendal steps back, allowing some space for Yuuri to breathe.
"Don't worry; I did it to get your mind off of whatever you were thinking about." Yuuri places the blow-dryer on his desk, but when he looks up at Gwendal, he gives him a strange look.
Gwendal notices the strange look Yuuri is giving him. "What is it?"
Yuuri continues to stair at Gwendal, almost as if he is in a trance. "You look...really good with your hair down." Yuuri snaps out of his trance as soon as he realizes what he said.
Gwendal tilts his head to the left. "I do?"
Yuuri looks away, trying to hide his blush. "Well, this is the first time for me to see you with your hair down. You look very...I don't know...Just forget it."
Opening his mouth to push for what the king was going to say, but thinks better of it. "Thank you." He looks over to the blushing Yuuri as a tingling starts spreading through his body. 'Why won't he tell me what he was going to say? The curiosity is going to get the better of me, I see.'
Once again he opens his mouth to ask the burning question, but Yuuri interrupts as he begins speaking. "Hey, I need to get ready for practice. We've got about five minutes before we have to go."
"Yes, sir." Gwendal sits down on the bed and begins absently brushing his hair. When he hears no movement from the teen, he looks back to find him staring at his hair.
"Heika, you must get ready if you wish to arrive on time." Yuuri slightly jumps at the gruff voice, stirring him from his wondering thoughts of Gwendal.
"Hai!" He virtually runs from his bedroom, leaving a somewhat amused Gwendal on his bed. Gwendal casually examines the room from his seat, seeing everything that is Yuuri: baseball paraphernalia, old baseball gloves, pictures of his teams he's played for, pictures of his family, and old toys.
'So this is what Yuuri does...is.'
"Gwendal are you ready to go?" Yuuri comes walking back into the room in uniform, holding a pair of socks and his cleats. Looking the long-haired man down, it dawns on Yuuri that Gwendal has no shoes to wear. "You have no shoes. Your boots aren't dry yet, so you'll have to wear my dad's. Shori may have left some of his old shoes here like he did some of his clothes." Gwendal looks down at his feet and then up at Yuuri, simply staring.
"Let me go find you a pair; I'll be right back." Gwendal hears the younger man's footsteps grow quieter.
'How undignified! Having to wear a pair of shoes that don't belong to me!' He scowls down at his feet and makes a mental note to ask for a new method of dimension travel that does not require water.
"Aww, all I could find are these black casual track shoes Shori bought but never wore." Yuuri drops them in front of Gwendal.
Gwendal looks at them and then up at Yuuri then back down at the shoes.
"Oh I guess you'll need some socks. Let me go get some." Yuuri walks out of the room as Gwendal stares at the shoes in front him. He picks up one of them and inspects the laces and tongue. It's unlike anything he's seen in New Makoku.
As Yuuri walks back into the room, he tosses a pair of sock to Gwendal. Gwendal puts on the thick cotton socks, wiggling his toes comfortably in them. Yuuri drops to the floor, still holding his own socks and shoes, and begins pulling on his socks. Gwendal puts on the two shoes without tying the laces.
"How do they feel?" Yuuri pulls on his running shoes and puts his cleats into his baseball bag.
Gwendal wiggles his toes as he contemplates the shoes. "Fine. What do I do with these strings?"
"You tie them in a knot; they help keep the shoe on your foot." Gwendal ties them in a simple knot, but still scowls at the shoes, unhappy he's not getting to wear his boots.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yes."
"Good! Let's go." Yuuri jumps up from the floor and puts his baseball bag on his shoulder. Then he notices something about Gwendal that almost bothers him. "Are you going to put your hair up?"
"Oh," The tall man stands up looking around for his tie to put his hair up with. "I believe my tie is still in the restroom."
"Alright, we'll get it on the way out." The young king walks through the doorway and to the bathroom, flipping off the light switch.
After stopping in the bathroom to get Gwendal's tie, they walk down the stairs. This entire time Gwendal is pulling his hair back into the usual low ponytail. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he looks at his reflection in the hallway mirror. Nodding his approval, he continues following Yuuri, who has opened the front door, palm up.
Gwendal walks through the door, Yuuri not too far behind. "Wow, it feels like I haven't been out here in weeks." Yuuri breathes deeply, breathing the refreshing outside air. "Ah, it's so familiar." Stepping off the porch, they begin their journey to the ballpark.