Mother of the Bride

"Ne, Wolf-chan!"

Wolfram looked around, stiffening in his place on the couch tucked away on the end. Yuuri and Gwendal were busy discussing something with the Great Sage and Yuuri's father—plans for meeting Earth's Maou, he discerned, from the way Gwendal's forehead was wrinkling—while Conrad had disappeared somewhere, with Yuuri's brother conspicuously absent as well.

"Wolf-chan!" the voice came again, and he now recognized it as belonging to Yuuri's mother. He twisted around in his seat, searching for the source, and caught her peeping around a corner, beckoning him over. He pointed to himself stupidly, unsure how to respond, and she nodded vehemently, jerking her head towards the kitchen.

With a quick glance over at the others, just to be sure he wouldn't be missed, he slipped out into the hallway, following the strange woman. Could she really be Yuuri's mother? They looked nothing alike! Mother and sons were supposed to be spitting images, weren't they? Perhaps he was just a fluke… Conrad could be explained away, seeing as he was half human, but—

Human?

This woman…she was a human, wasn't she? He vaguely remembered the only time she'd ever even been mentioned…was in the context of her humanity. That fateful dinner, when he'd insulted Yuuri's parents—Yuuri's mother—had allowed his emotion to run wild as his element, burning bridges left and right. He snapped back to attention, crossing the threshold into the kitchen area where the woman was gathering up dirty dishes from the table and carting them over to the sink.

"You can have a seat, if you'd like, Wolf-chan. I hope you don't mind my doing a little cleaning here; you Mazoku boys certainly can put away the food! And yet you still keep such trim figures—I'll never understand it!"

Wolfram blinked, but took up a seat at the table with little protest. Why had she called him over? "We…we're all soldiers, it's our duty to take proper care of our bodies and stay in top condition should we ever need to go into battle…"

"Ah—a soldier! How romantic! Like in the movies—a whirlwind romance, and then a summons to the front lines! A heroic battle, a friend tragically loses his life! Returning triumphant to fanfare and—ah! A kiss for the hero!" She was lost in her own fantasy world for another moment, then remembered her audience. "Oh—I'll bet you're one of the best in New Makoku, aren't you? It puts me so at ease knowing such a strong, handsome young man's taking care of my Yuu-chan!"

"I—I'm not really—"

His protests were drowned out as she turned on the faucet full blast to let the sink fill with suds, then quickly toweled her hands dry and joined Wolfram at the table. "So, tell me—what were you going to say earlier at dinner? Your introduction? We all got interrupted when Shou-chan barged in, after all!"

Her eyes glittered excitedly, and Wolfram gave a small gulp; much as he wanted to respect this woman—he'd already begun calling her 'Haha-ue,' to get into the swing of things—she was making it more than a little difficult to approach this conversation with a modicum of seriousness.

He cleared his throat importantly. "Ah, yes, of course. Well then, Haha-ue, since you've asked, I suppose I can no longer keep from you my complex relationship with His Majesty." He paused to gauge her reaction, which hadn't changed a bit. She was still on pins and needles, eager for explanation. "There is no beating around the bush to be had here; we are, in so many words, engaged to be married. Fiancés, if you will—"

"I knew it!" the woman squealed, and jumped from her chair, sending it toppling backwards with a crash. She reached forward and grabbed Wolfram's hands in her own, "Oh, Wolf-chan, I just knew it!"

"Y—you did?" He hadn't exactly been hiding it, but had he really been that obvious in his affections? Well, no more so than usual, he'd thought…

"A mother's intuition! Nothing can win against it!" She began dancing a quick waltz around the kitchen with him in her arms. "Shou-chan was starting to give me wrinkles—he hardly ever goes out for anything not related to school. I thought I'd never get to marry off a son!"

"Well, the wedding won't be for at least another—"

"No, no, no, that won't do at all! These things have to be planned!" she protested, and released him with a twirl.

Wolfram gave a mental smirk as she dashed over to turn off the water she'd nearly forgotten. What had Yuuri been whining about, saying things were different here? This Jennifer—or was it Miko?—had been quite pleased to learn of their engagement.

"Now," she called out from the sink, setting clean plates onto a rack to dry, "You must tell me all about how you met! Yuu-chan—he proposed right away, didn't he?" She giggled girlishy to herself, "You don't even need to tell me that—I can tell! He's always an impulsive one, that boy. He sees something he wants, and heads straight for it, ignoring anything that might get in his way. You're such a pretty thing, there's no way he could have resisted you. Ah, if only you'd been an Earth Mazoku! We could have arranged this so long ago!"

That's right, Wolfram remembered. There were Mazoku here on Earth—Yuuri's own father was one. He paused a moment to actually consider what their relationship might have been like if he had been born an Mazoku of Earth. Would they even know each other? Could he hope to have been friends with the other boy? Resuming his seat, he called up the memory. "I…we didn't really get along at first. His Majesty had only been in our world for a short time, and my elder brother Sir Weller—"

"Oh, is that the good-looking fencer who gave Yuu-chan his name?"

Wolfram flushed at the reminder, "Ye—yes…" He cleared his throat again, "My elder brother Sir Weller had escorted His Majesty to the palace, and we arranged a formal dinner with my family and the royal advisor, Sir Gunter von Christ." Now that he thought of it, what had happened to Gunter? Hadn't he shouted something as they'd been transported out of the temple to Earth? Ah well, best not to think about it right now.

Here he made an effort to explain away what was nothing short of his childishness, elaborating, "I'd heard that the new Maou was to appear at dinner, and, well, I'd assumed that he'd be perfectly versed on all our customs already, would have a thorough knowledge of all our history and lore, would be nothing short of a perfect Maou. His Majesty's first impression in my eyes was…not what I'd been expecting."

The woman nodded brightly, tossing a confident grin over her shoulder as she put away the last of the dishes. "We didn't want to bother poor Yuu-chan with worries about being a king some day, so we just kept it from him! But he seems to have adjusted nicely, don't you think?"

Just kept it from him? Was this woman crazy? He couldn't exactly voice this aloud, though, and simply gave a conceding nod, continuing, "I…voiced my opinion of his inadequacies quite vehemently, I'm afraid…and, well, he slapped me for my insolence." All right, so maybe that wasn't quite how it had gone, but close enough. "I quite deserved it," he added as an afterthought, but not quickly enough.

"Ah—howdare he! I thought I'd taught my Yuu-chan better than that—and to hit such a pretty boy as you, he ought to be ashamed of himself!"

I think he already regrets slapping me, Haha-ue, Wolfram reflected with a tinge of bitterness, but brushed it aside in favor of calming the woman down. "No, no! You misunderstand! You see, in New Makoku, when one noble strikes another across the right cheek…it symbolizes a marriage proposal, and—"

"How—how romantic!" She had gone completely mooney-eyed again, and Wolfram had to suppress a defeated sigh. "Hate turned to love—it's just like in a soap opera!"

"So—pu opera?" he repeated mechanically, turning the word over in his mind, "Is that some theatrical performance?"

She paid him no attention. "Then what? Then what?"

He blinked a few times, trying to remember where he'd been, "We…dueled. He won." No need to go into the specifics of what had been his most humiliating defeat to date.

"Ah, of course! It must have been your battle prowess that finally swayed him, ne? The thought of you two, squaring off against one another on the field of honor, your—what color is your uniform?"

"Blue…"

"—Your blue, your royal blue uniform, stained with sweat and blood, as you gather up the strength to deal another blow with your—what weapon do you use?"

"A sword usually…"

"—With your sword! And Yuu-chan, valiantly defending his claim to your hand in marriage! His dark hair blowing in the strong breeze—ah, a pity for you, Wolf-chan! Lady Fate has smiled on your Maou this day! A swift thrust, a parry—I just love fencing, you know! I could never get that image of your brother out of my mind—a step to the right, and he's disarmed you!"

She leaped forward and took his hands in hers, "But you mustn't feel bad for losing, ne? Ne?" He gulped, and nodded slowly. "Because—you may have lost this battle, but you've won the war of love! Oh!" She wrapped the boy in a crushing hug, nearly suffocating him in her embrace, "You've made me so happy, Wolf-chan! I can rest easily knowing that Yuu-chan has such a loving fiancé to care for him! I know he can be difficult at times, but don't hold it against him! Cherish my boy, and he'll come around!"

Releasing him after a moment, she sank into a chair beside him, considerably more subdued. "I know Yuu-chan can be difficult…I'm his mother, after all, and he won't even call me 'Mama'! He's always been his own best friend—even on the baseball team. He was close to his brother for quite some time, but when he got accepted into high school, he just drifted away; Shou-chan was traumatized, I think that's why he's so grumpy all the time nowadays." Wolfram allowed a small smile at the woman's attempt at joking, and she regarded him kindly.

"Ne, you'll stay with him, won't you, Wolf-chan? Even if he's grumpy like Shou-chan, or if he asks you to call him strange names, like me, you'll stay by his side, won't you? Because you seem like such a nice boy, and Yuu-chan needs more friends like you. I can tell you really do care for him—" She reached a hand out and touched his cheek, startling the Mazoku boy at just how much the action reminded him of his own mother. "You just have trouble showing it…"

"I—I don't—" he protested, and she giggled again.

"Mother's intuition, remember?" At his frown, she soothed, "But that's one of your good parts, too, I'll bet. You have trouble hiding your emotions, and so you can't help it when they get the better of you; how adorable!" His frown only deepened, and he turned away, no longer sure if he liked this woman for all her teasing. Another giggle, "So, will you?"

"Of course—he's my king! I would protect him with my very life if—"

"No, no, no!" she interrupted him, "That's no good! You don't do it because he's your king, Wolf-chan! You'll never get anywhere with Yuu-chan if you keep treating him like he's just your ruler."

He flushed darkly, what was this woman implying! That he hadn't gotten anywhere with Yuuri? Well, all right, maybe he hadn't, but that wasn't for her to presume! And not treat Yuuri like a ruler? Putting aside the fact that Yuuri was his ruler, whether he liked it or not, Wolfram considered himself one of the only people close to the boy who actually treated him like just another person. Gunter with his Heikas, Conrad with his elevated speech—the only other one who came close to that was Gwendal, and he treated almost everyone like they weren't worthy of his attentions, so Yuuri was no one special.

As if reading just how the boy was wrangling with her advice, Jennifer continued, "You can't want to protect my Yuu-chan just because he's your ruler—it has to be because you care about him—"

"But I do protect him because I care about him!"

"Ara!" The woman nearly squealed, "I knew it! So it isn't simply that he dragged you into an arranged marriage, is it?" From the boy's answering blush, it was obvious she'd hit the nail on the head. "Then all the better! Never let anyone change your reasoning, then, all right? Yuu-chan doesn't need advisors and soldiers, he needs friends—and maybe a more-than-friend—and protectors, people who'll fight for him because they know that he would fight for them. People who trust him because he's got a good heart—he does, you know? He wants what's best, and sometimes that might be a little difficult to come by, but he's willing to work for it, if he has others supporting him."

"I'll support him. I always have," Wolfram affirmed confidently, with only a small twinge of reproach nagging that this wasn't quite true. "He's…he's my fiancé first. My king second."

She shook a finger at him, "Wrong…"

Wolfram's brows drew together in confusion as he pondered this, and then he amended, "Yuuri…is my friend first…my ruler second…"

A satisfied nod, "Good, good! You must remember, Wolf-chan: a fiancé can be arranged, after all! Two people don't even have to be in love to get married—how horrible is that?" She didn't pause to let him respond. "But a friendship has to be earned—and I can tell you've already gotten that. Yuu-chan chooses well; he wouldn't have tried to become your friend if he didn't honestly want it, so that means…he likes you!"

"He—Yuuri…likes me?" His face burned with delight as she nodded firmly. He tried to suppress a smile at the thought, reminding himself that there was a vast difference between like and love, but it wasn't much use, and a grin spread across his face at the thought that Yuuri wasn't frustrated with him, wasn't always annoyed, and maybe…maybe didn't mind being engaged to Wolfram.

"So…have you kissed?"

"Wh—WHAT?"

"Aww, I thought not…"

But, I didn't even answer! he protested silently, shoulders drooping in defeat as she got up from the table again.

"It's fine, though," Jennifer assured him with a smile, "He'll come around! And in the meantime, I'll teach you all about Yuu-chan's childhood; it certainly doesn't do for his fiancé not to know anything about him, don't you think?" The blond nodded dumbly, unsure of what this "education" entailed. He recalled how much Yuuri hated studying with Gunter, and pondered if perhaps it wasn't because he hated studying under his mother.

"Do you…need help with something?"

She pranced out the kitchen door, only pausing to stick her head back in, "Oh no, no, you just go on back into the living room and keep Yuu-chan company! I have to go get the album!" And with that, she was gone.

"…Album?"

fin