12. Love Child

Yuuri sneezed violently. The abandoned building was not only in a state of horrid disrepair, it also hadn't been cleaned in years, and the dust was wreaking havoc on his allergies. Honestly, he wouldn't be there at all, if a certain stubborn, childish, selfish, and damn persistent Mazoku boy hadn't insisted on it.

A boy. That was rich. He was what - seventy-five? Eighty? An eighty-year-old pretty-boy who looks fifteen and acts twelve. That was Wolfram in a nutshell. Yuuri snorted, which only served to launch him into another sneezing fit.

"Quiet!" the other boy hissed. "You'll scare them away!"

"Honestly, Wolfram," Yuuri moaned, rubbing his nose with a heavily soiled handkerchief. "Do we really have to be here for this? I mean, they're returning to mate, right? Don't you think it's weird to... you know, watch them?"

"We're their foster parents!" Wolfram huffed. "This is a beautiful celebration of life, and we're going to sit here and support them!" He crossed his arms stubbornly. "Don't be such a wimp."

"Don't call me a - ah, ah-choo!" That did it. Yuuri got to his feet and headed for the rope ladder they had lowered into the basement chamber.

"Hey!" Wolfram jumped up to follow him. "They'll be here any minute! Get back here!"

"Forget it! This was a dumb -" Yuuri's admonition was stopped mid-sentence by the sudden appearance of a flock of cute, cuddly, and huge bear bees. They immediately swarmed around their adoptive parents, nuzzling and licking them both affectionately. "Hey, cut it out," Yuuri gasped between slobbery kisses. "I'm trying to be mad here."

"Nogisu!"

Wolfram beamed. "You're all looking well," he said warmly, patting the head of a nearby bear bee. "Good timing, too. Your other daddy was about to wimp out on you."

"Hey, don't try to turn them against me!" Yuuri retorted. "I just wanted to give them some privacy is all..."

"Yuuri," Wolfram said with a tempered sigh. "Do you know how bear bees mate?"

"Well, uh..." the young king paused. "Not really..."

"They all gather in a circle and join hands with their chosen one. Then they spin around, faster and faster, until there's a bright flash of light. Then they lay their eggs, which will eventually hatch into the bear bugs you and I encountered before..."

Yuuri's eyelids drooped. "You're kidding."

"No, I read it in one of Gunter's books! Honestly, Yuuri, you should pick one up sometime."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Animals can't just -"

"Nogisu! Nogisu!"

Yuuri turned to look at the crowd of bear bees, who were calling and beckoning for them to come over. He looked to Wolfram and shrugged before following them. Two of the larger animals hovered to meet the two boys, then pushed them together insistently.

"Huh - what's going on?" Yuuri wondered.

"I think they want us to hold hands and join the circle," Wolfram whispered.

"What! Wait just a -"

"Just do it. It's ridiculous, right?" Wolfram gave Yuuri a smug sidelong look.

"Hmph." Yuuri huffed and snatched the other boy's hand into his own. "I hope you don't think this means you're my chosen one."

"No, I already knew that when you proposed to me," Wolfram responded with a smirk, but Yuuri never got a chance to deliver a comeback. The bear bees had started to emit a low hum, which blended with the buzzing of their wings to create a simple kind of harmony. The two boys looked up in awe as the animals formed into a rough circle and began to spin around them.

"Wolf," Yuuri murmured. "Why are they circling around us?"

"I don't know," Wolfram responded honestly. "They don't seem to be paired off either. This wasn't in the book..."

The ring of bear bees spun faster and faster, the pitch of their two-note chord growing higher and higher as they whirled around the two boys. When they were all but a pink and black blur, a tiny spark of light began to shine above their heads. Wolfram and Yuuri watched, speechless, as it grew into a bold sphere that seemed to radiate all colors at once. All of the sudden, it exploded in a burst of light, causing both of them to jerk their heads back and knock violently against one another. Their vision blurred and they both sank to the ground, unconscious.

Some amount of time later, Yuuri stirred awake. "Oh, my head..." he moaned softly, blinking in the low light. His eyes widened when he remembered where he was. He sat up sharply, causing Wolfram to start awake.

"What happened...?" the blonde boy said sluggishly, rubbing his head.

"I don't know. The bear bees were here, weren't they? But the room is empty now..." They looked all around them, but there was no sign of the cute animals. "They must have gone home..."

"Yuuri, look at this!"

The young king followed Wolfram into a shadowed corner, where a single egg glowed with a pale light. "One egg..." he said woefully. "Only one?"

Wolfram knelt and looked at it thoughtfully, reaching out to touch the smooth surface with long fingers. "It feels warm," he said. "Like it's responding to my touch." He pursed his lips, then they spread into a wide grin and he started to laugh. "Oh no," he chuckled. "I think I get it now."

"Get... what?"

"Bear bees are communal by nature. They do everything together, even mating and raising children." He stood and looked at Yuuri with a gentle expression. "I don't think they thought of us as their parents. I think they thought of us as their children."

Yuuri looked back at him. "So... that egg...?"

The blonde smiled awkwardly. "It seems they were trying to help us mate."

"No way..." Yuuri smacked his forehead with one hand. "As if we don't have enough children..."

Wolfram bent down and tenderly gathered the egg into his arms. "The bear bees are truly magical creatures," he said reverently. "Even though we're another species, they incorporated us into their community."

"Hasn't anyone in this world heard of genetics...?" Yuuri muttered to himself.

"Come on!" Wolfram beamed. "Let's get her back to the castle!" He turned and made for the ladder, cradling the egg carefully.

"Oh, so it's a girl now? Do we even know what it's going to hatch into? Or if it's going to hatch at all?"

"Of course it will!" He looked down and stroked the egg with one hand. "If we love it and care for it, it will turn into something wonderful."

Yuuri shrugged in defeat and followed after his fiancé. "And how do you know that?"

Wolfram stopped and turned to smile warmly at Yuuri. "Because it's you and me, of course."

The young king blinked, then shook his head, a small smile creeping to his lips. "I swear, Wolf..."

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it. Now, let's get out of here before you sneeze the whole place down."

"...Nogisu."