Fanfiction title:The little moments.
Fanfiction summary:One-shot series in which Yuuri gets to hear from people in the castle stories about the former Maou's three sons and the moments they remember the most from their early years.
Chapter title:Stuck together.
Featured brothers:Gwendal,Conrad and Wolfram.
Story teller:Yozak.
Chapter number:7/11
Authoress:BlackArticFox
Disclaimer:I do not own Kyou Kara Maou! Or any of the characters in this story.
…..
Chapter 7:Stuck together
"Ok so let me get this straight…" Yuuri said scratching his head with his right hand "You got into an argument with the seamstress this morning?"
"Yes, young master; that is correct." Yuuri then raised his eyebrow questioningly.
"And it was because… She said you couldn't wear light blue since it was a formal ball and you were to use either brown or green to look acceptable?"
"Yes, that is also correct, your majesty."
"… Why did you want to wear light blue in the first place?"
"Because it brings out my eyes!" Yozak exclaimed pointing at his sky blue eyes with his finger "She was against me wearing a dress, I understand that; but why wouldn't she let me use the color I wanted to wear?"
"What did she tell you about it?" The redhead sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.
"She told me that, since I was under his Excellency's command, I had to wear the uniform his personal soldiers wear or wear something to the likes of the captain since we are the only survivors of the Ruttenberg battle even though she leaned towards the former option better." The spy explained with a roll of his eyes "But green makes me look fat and if I'm wearing anything brown I won't look much different from what I always look like; I really wanted a change for the Princess' birthday party, you know?"
"Well but the seamstress is the best one in Shin Makoku, if what I was told is true, so she should know what she's talking about." Yuuri said not sure where this was going "You do have your own uniform as Gwendal's subordinate anyway, so why not wearing it just this once?"
"And I repeat, your Majesty, green makes me look fat!" Yozak said stomping his foot on the floor, Yuuri had to wonder when the bulky man had started acting like a brat… then again, this was clothing they were talking about.
"And what do you want me to do about it?" The smile that suddenly appeared on his fellow half-breed's face had Yuuri wondering if he had made a mistake by asking that or if the mistake had been done when the taller male had asked for a word with him and he acceded.
"It is pretty simple, young Master." The questioned man leaned in towards the young monarch before continuing "Help me convince the seamstress to wear any color other than brown and green even if it isn't light blue."
"Why me?" Yuuri asked leaning back "It's your problem; I've had enough with my own fitting already."
"Please your Majesty, when do I ever ask you to do anything for me?"
"Yeah I know but still." The king didn't feel like getting into an argument with the seamstress over anything really, he barely had free time and he didn't want to spend this one trying to convince the woman to change her mind over Yozak's clothing, it was not his place to say anything about it and he didn't want to as is "It's not something I have control over; she's the one in charge of everyone's suits not me."
"You're the king, you have control over everything in this country." The redhead retorted smugly "Make it an order and she can't say no."
"That would be abusing my power and I don't do that." Yuuri said crossing his arms over his chest with a soft 'hmpf' and turning away from Yozak who sighed, knowing the younger male was right: That was not the kind of things the 27th Maou did "I'm sorry but you'll have to solve this on your own."
"Aw, come on help me out." Yozak said to his ruler who started to walk away from him, possibly going to look for someone to spend his free time with. The strong spy suddenly got an idea, one that, he was sure, wouldn't fail "Hey, how about I give the young master something in exchange of this favor?"
"Eh?" Yuuri stopped dead on his tracks, not turning around to face his big friend trying not to let show he actually was eager to hear the proposition "What do you have in mind?"
"I know his Majesty has been getting into the history of the former royal family's life, specifically, the early years of the Captain and his brothers." Trained blue eyes sparkled upon noticing the double-black's shoulders tense lightly after hearing that, he knew he had caught the attention of the curious teenager "You've heard a few stories already as far as I know, but I can give you the best one yet if you agree to convince the seamstress to give my suit a nice color."
"What would make your story the best one yet?" The monarch challenged, he wanted to make sure he was not making a deal for nothing, he heard a deep chuckle from behind him telling him Yozak was sure of himself.
"Well you have heard about some of their cutest moments and you've seen them together but tell me, in any of those stories, did the three of them ever hug?" Yozak already knew the answer but that didn't make the feeling of accomplishment that came after the shorter male's arms fell limply to his sides any less enjoyable, if anything, he felt even better at the reaction.
"The three of them?" Yuuri slowly turned around, shock showing on his face clear as the sun in the sky "As in all three of them in one same hug?"
"Precisely." The redhead nodded, now it was his arms folded in front of his chest once again, proud like never before "I happened to be in that special moment, which was quite fortunate since I didn't get to visit Blood Pledge Castle often, once every six months if I was lucky."
"How do I know you are not just making this up?" Yuuri asked rising an eyebrow, suspicious of the redhead "What if you just make up this story to make me talk to the seamstress and get your way with your suit?"
"It hurts me that you would doubt me, Young Master." The double-black just gave Yozak an 'Are you kidding me?' look, to which Yozak just chuckled again "All right, fine. After I finish telling you the story we can go ask his Excellency Gwendal or the Captain, both should be off duty by the time I finish my tale, and they will tell you whether I'm lying or not. I would say we ask Wolfram-Kakka but he was only twenty two back then so he might not remember."
"Sounds fair enough." Yuuri conceded with a nod, walking back towards his bodyguard "You tell me that real story and I convince the seamstress to let you wear a 'nice' color in Greta's birthday party."
"You've got yourself a deal, your Majesty!" Yozak exclaimed happily, knowing he would win against that sour woman who wouldn't let him chose his own attire style "Well, like I said, before I joined the Captain in the war and became his Excellency Gwendal's right hand, I wasn't allowed to visit often due to the problems Mazoku had with humans and half-breeds. Still, Dan Hiri brought me every now and then to visit his son, one of those times I happened to be walking with the Captain and Wolfram-Kakka around the Castle…"
Flashback
"I am glad you got to come Yozak, I haven't seen you in quite some time now." Conrart said happily walking alongside Yozak towards the garden while holding a couple of small swords in his left hand, Wolfram a few steps ahead of them; the blond wasn't told about Yozak's human blood, just like he hadn't been told about his brother's yet since he was still too young to try to assimilate the idea so, to him, the redhead was just a friend of his Little Big Brother's who lived far away "Honestly I was starting to miss you."
"So was I, there isn't anyone my age in the village and I sometimes get bored." Yozak answered smiling before looking around nervously "You sure the Regent will not see me here?"
"He will stay at his castle for the rest of the week, you are safe no need to worry." Conrart assured, no-one really could blame the blue-eyed child; even if he could mildly pass as Mazoku due to his slow aging, there was still the chance someone would find out and tell Stoffel on him "No-one will tell him either."
"What?" Yozak had always been surprised how, since they met, his best friend seemed able to read his mind "How can you be so sure?"
"Let's just say the staff likes our mother better than her brother, if she agrees with you being here playing with us then they agree as well." The brunette explained with a smile, Yozak smiled back happy to find such a good friend after living for only thirty-eight years; it was early in his life since he had the appearance of an eight-year-old human just like the middle prince, even if said male was two years younger.
"Little Big Brother." Both half-breeds turned to look at the blond that stopped in front of them, looking up at the brunette curiously "Should I keep the secret too?"
"Yes Wolfram, it would be better to not tell Mother's brother about Yozak's visit." Conrart said petting his younger brother on the head with his free hand, the redhead couldn't help but smile at the small prince who looked no older than four years old had he been born human; he was cute "It will be our little secret, all right?"
"All right!" Wolfram nodded happily before resuming his walk towards the garden, the older two not far behind.
"How does it feel like to be a Big Brother?" Yozak liked to ask Conrart that question every few years, each time he got a different answer. He heard the slightly shorter male sigh.
"It can be exhausting some times, especially with such a young brother." The questioned prince admitted "But I wouldn't change the experience for the world, now I get to be in Gwendal's shoes and see what kind of problems he went through while taking care of me when I was younger."
"I think he must have it harder now with not one but two brothers to look after." Yozak commented thoughtfully "I mean, even if it is you who usually takes care of the youngest prince he has to look after you both from time to time, no?"
"I try to take care of Wolfram on my own and often as possible since Gwendal is pretty busy now, but yes, he sometimes manages to spend time with us." Conrart nodded once "I have no idea how I would be if it was me in his place though."
"I cannot imagine it myself either." And honestly he didn't want to imagine himself taking care of two younger siblings back at the village he lived at, it could be dangerous there sometimes.
The trio finally made it to the garden where Conrart and Yozak wanted to have a small spar practice, the blond prince would either watch them or try to join them; the redhead suspected if the child chose to do the latter they would spend a fair amount of time showing him how to hold and control a wooden sword. He didn't really mind that as long as he got to have fun with Conrart while he was in the castle.
"Where is your older brother by the way?" Yozak asked, he rarely got to see the earth-wielder as it was and even though the teenager was scary at times he was pretty powerful from what Conrart had told him, he had wanted to see him use his Earth powers since he first heard about them. He was also curious about Wolfram's powers but he'd have to wait a few years to see those since the blond needed to train them first.
"I do not know, he should have finished his duties by now, unless he got extra work tonight." The brunette said, his tone gave away he also was curious about his brother's whereabouts "Perhaps he is already resting in his bedchambers, we may be able to see him at dinner."
"Very well then." The tallest half-breed said, he was a little disappointed but there would be more chances to see those Earth powers he supposed.
"Let's start practicing, I want to see how much you have improved since I last saw you." Conrart gave his friend one of the swords he had been carrying and kept the other one for himself. Out of the corner of his eyes the redhead saw Wolfram taking a seat by the flowers the Maou had specially created in honor of her family.
"You will not be disappointed!" Yozak assured getting into position, Conrart mirroring him before they started their practice with a small battle cry each.
They practiced for a while until they found it necessary to take a break. Both were around the same skill level so it was an interesting match that ended up in a tie. It was then that the youngest prince decided to walk closer to them, a somewhat awed expression on his face; Yozak guessed he liked the spar.
"You are both amazing!" Wolfram exclaimed happily, the half-breeds smiled back at him.
"Thank you, Wol-"
"Get away from me!" Conrart's words were interrupted by a yell coming from the hallway they had walked earlier that day, three heads snapped to the source of the voice just to find a scared-looking Gwendal backing away from none other than the castle's young scientist who was holding a glass bottle full with pink liquid in her hand, it was raised towards the grey-haired male as if threatening him. It was the second time Yozak had seen the girl but it was the first time he saw her with Gwendal and was, to say the least, quite shocked at the scene in front of him.
"Come on, Gwendal!" The blue-eyed female said walking closer to the oldest prince, every step she gave forward Gwendal gave backwards "Just let me pour a bit on your arm, I promise it won't hurt you."
"You always promise that and every single time I need to be checked by our healer!" Gwendal yelled, the red-haired male winced a bit at the voice level but stayed still, unlike the two princes by his side who decided to walk closer to their brother.
"Gwendal, Anissina; what is going on?" Conrart asked curiously, Wolfram and him now just by the steps, Gwendal shot them a quick look over his shoulder before turning his attention back to the pink-haired teenager.
"Go away you two!" He said, sounding stern but there was a ting of worry into it "Do not come any closer!"
"It can't possibly be that bad, Gwendal." The brunette insisted, surprised at the panic he heard from his brother, Gwendal hardly ever showed such emotion. Yozak heard the reply from the Voltaire heir who didn't turn at all this time.
"I saw that thing dissolving the wooden table in Anissina's laboratory!" The eyes of the three youngest people there widened upon hearing that, while the rooky inventor just frowned.
"But some also fell on the cloth resting on the table and it stayed intact, I think this won't hurt you as long as you are dressed so just let me try it on you!" Anissina said, Yozak suspected she was saying that trying to make it sound safe… It did NOT sound safe in ANY way.
"Just get rid of that thing before you hurt someone, would you?" Gwendal sounded very exasperated but the girl before him seemed to be even more stubborn than the grey-haired prince himself.
"Stay still!"And just like that the only female present ran towards the oldest prince making a move to spill her strange potion all over the other teenager, Gwendal turned around and leapt down the stairs. Yozak saw how, almost as in slow motion, Gwendal's expression switched from anger and fear to only fear when he noticed his younger brothers still standing at the end of the stairs before opening his arms wide trying to block the pink liquid from touching the second and third son. The strange water fell on the grey-haired demon just as he put each of his arms around both his brothers, the three males fell to the floor, the oldest one holding the other two close to him.
"Conrart!" Yozak called running next to his friend's side, Anissina joined him almost immediately looking down at the fallen youngsters "Are you all unharmed?"
"What was the great idea?!" Gwendal snapped turning his head to look up at Anissina, Yozak noticed the relief on her face when her friend snapped letting her know in a way he was fine, the brunette to his left and the blond to his right also looked up at her without any kind of painful sound or expression so that was all the visitor needed to see everyone was all right, drenched, but all right "Who knows what could have happened?!"
"It does not look like anything bad happened, Gwendal." The young Kabelnikoff said with a small ashamed smile, a real change from her previous attitude "Actually, it doesn't seem like anything happened at all."
"Be grateful that is the case because otherwi-" Yozak raised an eyebrow at the sudden stop only to see the furious teenager trying to move his arms to stand but unable to do so, every time Gwendal tried to move his arms, his brothers seemed to stop him without holding onto him "What is this?"
"Well that is interesting." Anissina mussed interested in what seemed to be happening "Conrart, Wolfram, try to stand please."
Both addressed children did as they were told, as they moved Gwendal's arms remained unmoving around their shoulders. Yozak saw this with great interest since it seemed the tall noble wasn't leaving his arms there by choice, rather he didn't seem able to move them from their current position. He curiously saw then as the female next to him took a handkerchief out of her sleeve and pressed it against Gwendal's right shoulder were some liquid was visibly drenching the once perfect vest the male was wearing, she then took her hand away staring in awe as the handkerchief stayed in place hanging from Gwendal's clothes.
"It makes clothes stick together!" The female announced proud of herself. Yozak turned back to look at the three brothers, if what the inventor had just said was true then that mean Gwendal's long sleeves were glued to the other two princes' clothes; Yozak could see the tallest Mazoku moving his hands freely and pulling his arms trying to break free but it was obvious the sleeves were not moving. Anissina hummed and started talking to herself "But I wonder what makes it dissolve wood, wood is supposed to be much stronger so-"
"Anissina, focus!" Yozak jumped slightly at the voice, he had been hearing what the female was saying and the sudden call startled him. He heard a giggle and turned to see his fellow half-breed smiling amused at the situation, the startled redhead frowned playfully as response while Gwendal kept talking "We need to get this off us, how do you intend to do that? We really do NOT feel like cutting our clothes open out here to free ourselves."
"Oh! Umm…" The questioned Mazoku brought a hand to her chin for a moment before snapping her fingers and smiling once again "I know! We could try hot water, it works for other kinds of glue so it might work with this one as well."
"Go get some right now." Gwendal said through clenched teeth, glaring darkly at the inventor who didn't seem half as affected as Yozak felt, even if those piercing blue eyes were not looking at him in the least.
"Stay here, I will be right back." Anissina got back on her feet and started running back inside the castle, Yozak thought he should be of some help so he dashed behind her. Just as the red-haired female was halfway up the garden stairs she turned to look at him, he stopped right on the spot looking back at her, the full-blooded demon waved her hand at him "You better stay here making sure Gwendal doesn't decide to follow me, he can get pretty impatient and I do not wish to see him scaring his brothers while trying to walk with them still attached to him."
"Are you sure you will not be needing my help?" Yozak asked uncertain about the whole situation, Anissina just nodded at him before continuing her way. The Gurrier child sighed disappointed of not being able to help before turning back to the princes, he didn't want to get too close in case the oldest one decided to snap at him just to lower his stress level.
"Are you sure you are all right, Gwendal?" He heard Conrart's voice speak up, he looked back at the stuck males not wanting to eavesdrop but not knowing what else to do either.
"Yes, I am just fine." Gwendal assured, he didn't sound as mad as he had been just minutes ago "How about you two, did I hurt either of you when I jumped?"
"I feel fine." Wolfram answered, Conrart just nodded agreeing with his brother. The blue-eyed teenager gave an audible sigh, Yozak supposed it was from relief "I am sorry, Big Brother."
"What?" Yozak was as surprised as Gwendal sounded at the apologize, what was there to apologize for? "What are you sorry about? It was all Anissina's doing, not yours."
"We did not go away when you told us to, if we had, you would have been able to protect yourself instead of protecting us." The blond explained, his voice sounding a tad broken as if he was about to cry "I should have left and pulled Little Big Brother with me."
"What are you talking about, Wolfram?"Gwendal asked still surprised "Do not say that, Anissina would have gotten me even if you had left."
"Besides," Conrart was the one to speak now "If that is what we are talking about then it was my fault; I should have pulled you away when Gwendal told us to leave, when he cannot be with us I am the one responsible for your safety."
"Do not start with this Conrart." The tallest male said sternly "It was not your fault either, it was nobody's fault but Anissina's, is that clear?"
"But Wolfram is right in saying you might have had better chances of running away and avoid this situation if you had not been looking after us." Now the brunette sounded sad as well, Yozak didn't like to hear people sad, even less if they were their friends. He heard Gwendal sigh again.
"Listen you two." The Voltaire heir started seriously, turning from one of his brothers to the other while talking "Before my own safety there is yours, I am your older brother, of both of you; your well-being will always come first to me. Whatever situation, no matter how big or small, I will protect you before defending myself. I chose to protect you even if I could get hurt and I will always do it, you might think you are a burden to me but I want you to know you will never be a burden and I will never, ever, let something happen to you if I can help it. Do you understand?"
The place fell silent after that, the only sound coming from the wind against the castle's flora and from a small bird chirping somewhere hidden in a tree. A few seconds went by when no-one moved, as if everyone present was waiting for someone else to make the first move. Suddenly, Wolfram jumped and rounded Gwendal's neck with his small arms; the hugged teen gasped softly as his arm moved with his youngest brother's shoulders, making it seem as if he was hugging him back.
"Wolfram? What are you doing?" Gwendal asked bemused at the green-eyed demon, eyes wide "You will get stuck in this position until we manage to find a way to take the glue off."
"Thank you Big Brother." Wolfram said, likely ignoring what his brother had just said. From his spot Yozak would see the oldest prince blush a nice shade of red, he knew they must have forgotten about him for a moment so the reactions were all natural "I love you."
"Erm…" The usually eloquent noble was at loss of words after that, the redhead supposed he wasn't used to hear that often, let alone say it back; the whole thing had taken him by surprise, even if it was usual for someone Wolfram's age to be so open about feelings and emotions. While Gwendal stayed frozen Yozak saw as Conrart mirrored the youngest prince's earlier actions and put one of his arms around his older brother's waist while using the other to round Wolfram's small back, hugging them both at once.
"I love you, Gwendal." The after-mentioned Mazoku's face just turned a darker shade of red upon hearing that. Knowing Conrart, Yozak could bet he had said that just to have fun with his older brother, even if he did mean those words; he just wanted to tease the Earth wielder.
Slowly, Yozak saw Gwendal's body relax into the embrace, his face lowered closer to his brothers' heads. Looking closely the half-breed saw Gwendal's lips moving and, even though he couldn't understand what he had said, he had a pretty good idea of what the oldest prince was articulating.
Ends Flashback
"Anissina-chan came back soon enough with the hot water and a couple of maids and they all gave the princes a nice outdoors bath, it proved to loosen the glue enough for the three of them to separate and go back to their bedchambers to change clothes." Yozak said, he was wearing an amused smile on his face but he also had a twinkle of tenderness in his eyes which showed how he really felt about that moment "She hasn't been able to recreate that glue though no matter how many times she's tried and our not-look-alike brothers have never been in a similar situation since, at least that I know of."
"…" The spy looked at his King after hearing no answer from him and raised an eyebrow when he saw the weirdest expression he had ever seen on anyone's face: The double-black's eyes were open a bit wider than normal but still not exaggerating, he could see the right iris quavering slightly and the mouth was forming a shape similar to a triangle. It was like nothing Yozak had ever seen before.
"Something wrong, your Majesty?" Yuuri shook his head as if waking up from a trance, his face back to normal for a second before becoming suspicious again "Welcome back."
"You made that up, didn't you?" The redhead let out an amused sigh, closing his eyes calmly.
"It is a true story, we can go ask the Captain like I said earlier and he will tell you that I am being completely honest." Yozak insisted, Yuuri grumbled something under his breath "Come on, you cannot tell me that wasn't the best story you have heard so far."
"It is." The monarch admitted. If he was completely honest with himself the story had really surprised him since, in it, the three brothers acted so caring to each other and, even if he had heard of similar situations before with the stories other people in the castle had told him, having the three of them all together at the same time like that was by far the best mental picture he could get of them up to this point. Still he didn't want to let it show, he knew Yozak would use it to mock him later on if he expressed his enthusiasm, and the expression he was sure had been showing him after he was done with the story was enough for him to be embarrassed for a long while, he just hoped the bodyguard would save the teasing for when they were alone instead of going to tell everyone else about it "And I really liked it but I will not say anything else about it until Conrad tells me you are not lying to me."
"Fine, let's go find him, shall we?" Yozak turned around, making his way to the brunette's office where he was supposed to be checking over some papers he had to sign before returning them to Gwendal "By the way, I think I will look just great in red."
"…Can't you pick anything less bright?"
TBC~
