Warnings: Non-graphic nudity

Pairings mentioned/brought up: Rome x Germania

-1.2-

The next morning, King Romulus cracked open the door to his bedroom. Last night, he had decided on sleeping in a guest room nearby, thinking it probably wasn't best to barge in on a wounded, sleeping wolf that could quite possibly kill him. When Romulus poked his head into the room, he grinned, noticing the wolf was still fast asleep. He quietly entered, tip-toeing his way to the bed.

Aww, he looks so cute! The king inwardly gushed. It was true; asleep, the wolf had a calm, peaceful look on his face; all of his muscles had turned to mush, ears elegantly folded back against his head, and he almost looked like a regular dog.

Romulus kneeled, reaching a hand out to pet the wolf's fluffy snout, when a low growl emanated deep from within his throat. He immediately pulled back, tensing at the thought of a lash-out in this sleep-fogged state. Grass green eyes blinked open, and the wolf's threatening noises quieted as he recognized his current care-taker. Smiling once again, Romulus's fingers connected with wiry, ashen fur, and the creature's intense gaze fluttered behind his eyelids.

Just until he's healed. Then I've got to take him back to the forest, Romulus told himself, savoring the moment.

The wolf's strength slowly returned. After the first few days, the cacophony of harsh wounds stopped hurting. After the first week, the wolf could safely leave the room. After the first month, he was good as new.

And yet, three months after he first woke up here, the wolf found himself roaming about the palace gardens, fully capable of leaving.

The wolf had actually grown quite fond of the sole source of 'wilderness' nearby; sure it wasn't much, but it made a good imitation of the exotic beauty of a jungle. Contained by a few small layers of brick were visual symphonies of color, petals, and tall grass. All about the courtyard were stepping-stone pathways leading to sitting areas, pleasantly surrounded by elegant stargazer lilies. The wolf didn't care much for these convenient human constructs, instead wandering by the treeline, weaving himself between breath-taking landscapes. Eventually, he came to a mature orange tree, lazily setting himself down with a plop.

It felt nice to be pampered, the wolf had come to realize. As time dragged on, this was the mantra he told himself to explain why he stayed with these silly humans, and their silly human-king. Ever since he was able to walk around on his own, the wolf had been mercilessly pestered by the one that took him in. He could barely go anywhere on his own, what with the human-king shadowing him. However, despite how obnoxious the wolf found the human-king to be, he couldn't help but feel on edge at the off-ness of it.

Almost daily, the human-king would leave at some point to go to some meeting with some people he was very vague about. The wolf didn't like it. What he also didn't like was the state in which the human-king would return. He would slip into his room in the middle of the night, of which he and the wolf had made a habit of sharing, the wolf taking a spot at the foot of the bed. Of course, the wolf's better senses would cause him to wake up at the sound of the door closing. Even half-asleep, the wolf was always able to tell the human-king wasn't his usual, unnaturally happy self after these meetings. His smile was strained when he greeted the wolf, his movements stiff, and his eyes carried a certain weight to them. He looked older. He looked tired. The wolf didn't appreciate this at all.

Throughout all of this, the human-king growing visibly weary at whatever went on behind closed doors, the wolf couldn't help this feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. It had the familiar, pleasant buzz of animalistic instinct to it, but at the same time, was laced in some unknown emotion. It made him slightly wary, acknowledging that he knew nothing, so the wolf pushed it to the back of his mind. And yet, it still persisted.

"Hey, there you are!" His eyes snapped open at the sound of a well-recognized voice. There the human-king stood, just few large steps away from the wolf's seat. Grinning like a maniac as usual, he rushed over to sit next to the wolf, placing a light hand on his furred back.

As the human-king began to prattle endlessly, the wolf decided to let this case rest for awhile. He still didn't know what was wrong in his companion's seemingly perfect life, or why he felt this strange, unique emotion, but that didn't matter right now. Right now, all that was relevant to the wolf were the grass beneath his paws, the smell of fresh, flowery air, the sounds of birds chirping in the near vicinity, and the human-king's banter.

King Romulus sighed deeply as he walked through the halls of the palace, returning well past dark from yet another pointless meeting. Honestly, Romulus just didn't want to get married; why couldn't the royal court accept that and move on with their lives? He, his advisor, and the other noblemen fought about this more and more recently, neither side giving up. It was really starting to take its toll on him. Just the other day, Romulus had looked into his reflection in the morning, and he had crows feet under his eyes. Crows feet. King Romulus Vargas, the most attractive and eligible royal bachelor in all of the empire had crows feet. Well, looks like the apocalypse has come. Everyone grab your metal helmets and salted beef!

As Romulus finally came across the door to his room, he didn't hesitate to grab the door handle and twist, but stopped in his tracks upon entering. Normally, the lanterns would have been long-since put out, his wolf sprawled at the foot of the bed, and Romulus would join him to go to sleep. Tonight, all of this was thrown out the window.

First of all, the lanterns were clearly still on. This was surprising enough in of itself, but it was what was waiting for him on the bed that really confused the king. Or should I say who. Instead of his darling houseguest, a man about the same age as Romulus with long, bleach blonde hair sat on the edge of the bed, facing away from the door. And he was naked. At the sound of the door opening, the man whipped his head in Romulus's direction, causing his heart to just about stop. The man was quite handsome, stoic face complimented by high cheekbones and a strong jaw. However, it was his eyes that really stood out. They were a deep, intense shade of grass green, and held a look of pure, unabashed determination. The king hadn't paid much attention before, but they were passionate. They were strong. They were powerful. They depicted every emotion the rest of his face didn't, and they looked exactly like the wolf's.

"You are back." The man - no, the wolf - the something stated. Although he would deny it vehemently, the king quite liked the other's accent, a growly sort of sound clearly from the northern reaches of the empire.

"Wha- how-" Romulus sputtered in-eloquently. "Are- are you-"

The other sighed, "Allow me to explain. Yes, I am the wolf spirit you have been for some, probably inane, reason keeping here. As for why I am not wearing any of your strange human-fur: I am afraid when you transform from a wolf into a human, your fur disappears somewhere. How can you stand winters without anything to keep you warm? Is that why you wear those things on your body?"

Slowly, a smile stretched itself across Romulus's face, a small laugh bubbling past his lips at the other's cluelessness when it came to humans. "Alright, let me get you some clothes first."

And so, a few short minutes later, the two sat in a small sitting area within the king's room, the 'wolf' wearing some of Romulus's robes. Although hand-crafted and absolutely stunning on their owner, such finery didn't seem to flow nicely with his more barbaric aesthetic. Romulus made a mental note to, later on, have some custom-made clothes sewn together that would better suit him.

"So, you could do this the entire time?" The king asked.

"Ja, I just chose not to because I saw no reason to do so."

"Wow," Now that the king was really looking, he began to notice the similarities between this man and the wolf he had so lovely cared for. Beneath his lips, wolfish fangs glimmered where canine teeth would be on a human; slightly covered by his hair were very obviously pointed ears. Like the wolf, the man had an air of supernatural intelligence and strength about him. Even without his defined muscles, it was evident to anyone with half a brain that this entity was powerful. The real question was how powerful.

"Then, why now? Why not a few days ago, or shortly after I found you?"

At this, he paused. Why did he chose now? The man mulled over this question for a bit, eyes planted on the ceiling in thought. Once happy with his answer, his bold gaze returned to the king's warm amber, "I have been slightly confused about my feelings towards you for a while now. I am fairly certain I have sorted them out at this point, and therefore felt that I should share them." At this, Romulus's eyebrows skyrocketed.

He brought the wolf home that fateful afternoon without really thinking about it. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined some spur of the moment decision leading to this. After all, if he was going to say what Romulus thought he was going to say, this would be a pretty big deal. The king would most definitely say yes; it wasn't as if he was only attracted to women. Sure, he talked about how wonderful breasts were far more often than not, but that didn't mean he despised the male body, much less the idea of sexual interaction with another man. Yes, Romulus could see himself happily marrying this surprisingly handsome beast. It would certainly get the royal court off his case, and maybe they could even adopt a few children! That would be great! He was thinking five kids, strong boys that would be trained to fight by their old man at a young age, and at least one beautiful daughter for the men of the house to threaten the suitors of. He bet the wolf would be good at that; he had just the right build and cold, terrifying emotionlessness to be perfect at intimidation-

"From now on, I have decided to be your new protector." Oh. Didn't see that coming.

"What?" Romulus blinked once, twice, looking at him in surprise.

"You heard me, correct?" His blond eyebrow raised about a fraction of an inch. "I am going to be your guardian."

"Yes, but… why?"

"It is the least I can do after being such a burden for the past few months. You took me in when others would have just left me for dead; either that or finished the job themselves. You are a human-king, are you not? There must be people out there who would want to kill you."

Romulus sputtered incomprehensibly for a moment. "Well, yeah, but- what- how- what?! Is that even allowed? For spirits to do that?!"

He shrugged, "I do not see why not. It is not as if there are rules or something, especially not for these circumstances."

"So is this just a thing that's happening or-" The king cried out as his companion suddenly reached towards him, hand forcefully pressed to his face. As wolf began to chant in a foreign tongue, amber eyes widened.

A/N:

Hello once again! Second update in a row! And by that I mean for a while there are going to be a lot of updates in a row, then I'm going to take a long break. What I'm doing is finishing each part, then breaking it down into sub-parts of about four pages long on google docs. Meaning: after the end of each part, there's going to be a hiatus! Sorry, guys!

For future reference: there are five total sub-parts in part one. This is sub-part 2/5!

No, I do not plan on doing more than one update a day; I'd rather not give you guys a long series of updates, then a really long break. I'm only at the beginning of writing part two right now! DX

Also, if anyone reading this is a beta reader, I don't have one, so it would be greatly appreciated if you're interested and would like to give feedback. Don't be afraid to pm me! =3

Responses to review(s):

Seele Esser Deutsch: Thank you so much! 3 And don't worry; I don't plan on dropping this anytime soon, and even if I do, I'm definitely posting the rest of part one so you can read it!

Well, that's about it, so, yeah. Bye!