Chapter 20: Proposal

Drop after drop hit the cold glass as the weather didn't show any sign of clearing.

Patterns of dark gray, blue and a tinge of white filled the window ledge with colors of misery and cold.

The center of the chamber proved a different setting, however, as multiple candles stood ready with bright burning flames.

Orange, red and yellow played along Izaya's cheeks as he tapped his lip in thoughts. Eyes settled on the board the game had been going on for longer than anticipated.

That butler wasn't half bad.

Having lost a handful of pawns due to nothing else but sheer arrogance, Izaya now had to pay close attention if he wanted to turn the tables.

The king, a single pawn and his all time favorite, one rook, were left on his side while the butler had access to most of his army.

Like an owl meeting a bird of daylight for the first time, Shizuo stood by, only slightly leaning against the couch as he kept his arms crossed.

At first Izaya had feared he might spot the traps Izaya laid and would unwillingly reveal them to the butler by showing some sort of reaction.

But Izaya was pleasantly pleased by the opposite.

While he deemed Shizuo's chess skills to be less developed than his own, he still expected him to have noticed at least one or two of his traps.

But no word was said. No hint given to the butler.

And with that Izaya pulled his rook forward.

Unexpected surprise reflected in the butler's expression as he focused on the tower. A few seconds passed in which Izaya's lips curled into a smile. Two more moves and it would be over.

Folding his hands the butler mirrored his smile as a familiar glint of joy filled his old eyes.

"Your skill is quite remarkable. I surrender." Surprise reflected in Shizuo's expression as he looked at the board.

"What? Why already?" Approaching the game his arms unlocked from their hold as he trailed the pawns available moves with the tip of his finger.

"Who taught you to play like that?" the butler laughed, completely ignoring the question. Izaya snorted, but he couldn't deny feeling quite proud of how he turned the game around- with a major disadvantage no less.

"No one, I just picked the game up by chance as a child. Aren't you just flattering me?" Izaya hummed as the butler got to his feet.

"I dare not. Our king doesn't approve of false compliments. Aren't I right?" the butler laughed, calling attention to Shizuo as he tore his gaze away from the board.

"Yeah. he called me an idiot earlier." Surprise called to Izaya's expression as he looked at the butler.

Wow.

Had one of the maids back at the duke's mansion even remotely tried to badmouth his father she would have suffered greatly for the mistake.

But the butler?

Not a shred of regret or remorse marked his joyful expression as the king agreed with his offensive wording.

Amazement displayed on Izaya's expression as the butler addressed him once more.

"I can't thank you enough for sparking our lord's interest in chess, my lady. All our previous attempts proved fruitless in gaining his attention." Izaya suppressed a chuckle as he hummed.

"Is that so?"

Expression having shown nothing but amusement now turned slightly abashed as the king seemed to realize his butler didn't exactly indicate grace with his words. "Oh, shut up."

Laughter followed, hallowing in the wide halls.

"Now, if you would excuse me," The butler bowed, resuming a more serious manure, "Dinner has to be served in a few hours and the cook is waiting for instructions." A short nod accompanied by a smile was given by the king as the old man excused himself through the door.

It was funny.

Shizuo and his butler- no, his maids in general…

They seemed more like family than servants. Whether it was their behavior or their way of speaking. They seemed more wary of Izaya than of the king.

… kinda laughable considering what the relationship of Izaya's father and his siblings had looked like.

His father had never even looked at their servants when he addressed them. Same for Izaya.

But here?

The gentle glance and actual curiosity Shizuo's expression held when talking to them almost made it seem like he viewed them to be on the same level.

As he found his bride staring at him quite absentmindedly Shizuo blinked.

"What?"

Surprise called to her expression and she quickly snapped out of it. "Nothing."

She grasped a few of the slain pieces of the game and put them into their initial position. Shizuo couldn't help but be mesmerized by how gracefully she moved. Compared to his rather … plump behavior she seemed like a butterfly dancing around a flower in comparison.

"Wanna play another?" She questioned and Shizuo found himself nodding as he slipped into the butler's seat.

Only when he looked at the board once more did he hesitate. "Ah, but first tell me why you won."

Halting midway Izaya hovered the knight above the board before quickly retracting two more pawns he had already put back onto the board.

"I haven't won yet. But look," he reverted the game to how it had been when the butler had left. The king was in its initial spot with his queen to the side and three pawns in front. The knight had been cleared as well as the bishop and only the rook in the left corner was still available.

Izaya's rook on the other hand was placed right next to the king. "While my rook is threatening his king he has no choice but to either move away or slay it with his own." Executing the action Izaya used Shizuo's rook to slay his own. "But now I can slay his rook in turn with my pawn. You see my king's position?" The pawn was brought forward, slaying Shizuo's rook in return while equally threatening the king.

It took Shizuo a minute to glance over the board's state until he realized just how close Izaya had brought his own king. Right behind the pawn it stood.

"It's backed up. So he wasn't allowed to take it," Shizuo mumbled in recognition as he realized the dilemma.

"Correct, in other words?" Izaya pressed further.

Shizuo hummed. "... he lost."

Ignited by a sudden spark of interest Shizuo quickly reached for the other pawns to set the game back up.

"Alright, I think I get how you are playing," he announced confidently.

Izaya chuckled. "You seem motivated."

"Of course, you basically showed me how to win."

"You know I will be looking out for such strategies, right?"

"Yeah, but who says you will notice them?" Laughter filled the room as Izaya wheezed. This guy-

"Confident aren't we?" Izaya knew about his perfectly planned raids and successful campaigns, but the confidence he emitted now seemed fairly exaggerated.

Shizuo was quick to act and practical when it came to the execution of his plans, that much he had already learned- and that was exactly what was making it so hard for him to correspond with Aristocracy.

Moving one of the pawns forward Izaya did the same. The knight was pulled from its position next, heading right towards the middle of the board.

Not wanting to make a quick defeat out of this match Izaya refrained from moving his queen and settled for a few more pawns instead.

The last time he had made a quick job of the king. This time he was actually looking to enjoy playing for a while.

The bishop was moved instead.

Shizuo's knight followed- and suddenly Shizuo grinned.

"Check." Blinking shortly, Izaya looked at the board.

The king had placed his knight in a way that was both threatening the king as well as his bishop.

A trap.

While Izaya would have expected such a move from Kururi he hadn't quite taken Shizuo's improvement into account.

"Wow, you improved." Izaya hummed approvingly while executing the only action at hand as he pulled the king away from the danger.

"Well, James did help me while you were absent." Shizuo announced as he proudly took the first pawn of the board.

Izaya couldn't help but chuckle.

It was somewhat cute. The way he got this hyped over having gotten a hold on a single bishop.

Hesitation caused his hand to slow down as he set the piece by the board.

"... is it weird?"

Izaya blinked, interrupted in his planning of which pawn to move next. "What?"

Shizuo averted his gaze.

"... how I treat my servants."

For a short moment nothing but the silent fall of rain hitting glass filled the silence as the light of the candle flickered along Shizuo's features.

Servants.

He spelled the term like it was something ugly and gross.

"Rather than weird, I'm just curious," Izaya said and it seemed his response relieved the king quite a bit as his shoulders rose.

A soft smile played along his lips as he met his bride's gaze. "As you might know our mother, the queen, died at a very young age. And our father…" he hesitated shortly. It was obvious the words were hard to bring forth as his expression tensed. "It was the servants that took care of us most of the time. The girls you saw as well as their mothers. And butler James is the oldest of them all. He has been serving the family ever since I can remember." Shizuo's gaze softened at the words.

Izaya didn't need the king to go into more detail to understand.

"He is like family to you," he concluded, speaking of what was probably hard to say out loud. In a society like this where appearances mattered it was obviously frowned upon to hold any form of good relationship with something as low in standing as a servant.

"...yeah, I guess you can call it that way." Awkwardness defined Shizuo's voice as he agreed. "... it's odd after all, isn't it?"

Izaya snorted.

Odd.

"No. The opposite," he sighed, "It says a lot about yourself." A quizzical expression met his own.

"How so?"

How.

Well.

"Family is family,! Izaya started. "They are somewhat forced to like each other and despite that they still end up failing at even that simple task at times." Bitterness swayed in his words and Izaya was aware of that, but somehow right now he couldn't bring himself to care. "But your servants are basically strangers," he continued. "Sure, they have to be polite and make sure as their king that all of your needs are met, but they have the choice to hate you despite that." The servant's back at the duke's mansion sure did. They despised their ruler with everything they had. The air surrounding the entire building was nothing like here. "Yet they love you enough to consider you a part of their family and that's just-" Izaya faded out.

He couldn't say it out loud.

That it was something he wished they had had at home. Incredible sadness suddenly overwhelmed the initially good mood Izaya had harbored.

Shizuo noticed.

All of a sudden his future wife looked just really small. She was already frail to begin with. Like a freshly budded flower in the midst of snow. Right now it was as though someone had thrown a heap of snow onto the petals forcing it out of sunlight and back down to earth.

His heart clenched at the sight and an incredible urge to lean over and hug her itched his hands.

But he wouldn't dare touch her. They might be engaged… but wasn't it a marriage by force?

No one said she would want Shizuo to even talk to her- and an action as direct as this just struck the blond as wrong.

Looking at the board Shizuo cleared his throat, "Here," he announced, raising the bishop he had previously taken. "I will return it."

Slight confusion displayed in Kururi's expression as she snapped out of her short daze. A weak smile spread across her lips as she hummed. "That's not how the rules work."

Shizuo merely shrugged, his chest fluttering as he had at least managed to distract her. "Why not? I took it hostage and now I'm releasing it. It's a common tactic you know." Smiling at the obvious pretense Kururi raised a brow. "You didn't gain anything from that though."

"How would you know? Maybe it gave me intel on your future moves?" This time Izaya laughed. The stupidity of the conversation was just over his head, just like the fact that Shizuo was obviously trying to cheer him up with it.

He quickly cleared his throat as he gathered his wits. "Alright. I will take it then."

His bride's gaze meeting Shizuo's the king couldn't help but feel another question burn at the tip of his tongue.

"... Kururi. Can I ask you something?"

Executing another move Izaya blinked before setting down his own knight in the middle of the board. "Of course."

Hesitation drew to Shizuo's features as he readied himself for rejection.

"... do you want to marry me?"

…

"What?" Caught by stupor Izaya couldn't quite reply anything as he looked at the blond. Feelings of various kinds suddenly swirled in his chest as he started to realize what the king was talking about. "... you do know we are engaged?" he tried slowly as his mind descended into chaos.

Did he want to call the wedding off?

"Yeah I know, but that's not what I mean," Shizuo said, ruffling through his hair as he averted his gaze. "This marriage has been arranged by our fathers and-" he paused before meeting Izaya's gaze. "Honestly, I don't want to force you into something you might hate." Izaya blinked.

Relief was the first emotion he felt as he realized what Shizuo was trying to do.

He didn't want to call the wedding off. He wanted to make sure his bride wasn't feeling obliged to marry him.

The act itself was unheard of- no one got a say in an arranged marriage. Yet there he was.

And… so genuine in his offer.

Really. Izaya's gaze softened.

He was a good guy. Through and through.

"I want to."

Startled by the clear cut answer Shizuo blinked. "What?"

Izaya cleared his throat. He had to be careful in the way he worded this.

"I know it's been an arranged marriage, but you are nowhere as much of a monster as the rumors said," he started, figuring it would be smart to start out with the truth first.

Shizuo couldn't help but feel flattered by his words. "Careful you make it sound like you like me," he joked.

What he hadn't expected was the answer.

"I do." Genuinely. Stating the word as though it was the easiest truth his bride spoke. Shizuo couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat.

What was this feeling?

"I mean, maybe not in a love kind of way-" Kururi quickly explained, "Yet." She added, bringing Shizuo's mood to an absolute high.

Izaya was struggling a bit with his words.

He had to come up with something decent. Sure, he could easily lie and just say he fell head over heels for the king.

But…

No.

Lying straight to his face like that struck him as awfully wrong.

"You are a fine man. Gentle, caring, strong, good looking too if I may add. I would like to see where this leads," he continued carefully. "... if that makes sense."

Honestly?

Shizuo expected anything.

Anger from his bride for questioning her motives. Sadness maybe, for even bringing the topic up. Maybe even disdain. Disgust.

After all she was the one forced to marry him. She had way more to lose as marriage was something affecting women the most in his eyes. He took her away from her home. Her siblings. She would be forced to stay with him for the rest of his life- and if she hated him… he just didn't want to make her succumb to some stupid order his father had issued.

What he hadn't seen coming, however, was the way her response made him feel.

Her words- the fact that she was voluntarily willing to marry him-

It just…

Shizuo couldn't help but feel extremely warm at heart. All of a sudden he could actually envision the wedding. Kururi, in her dress, marching towards him. An actual smile on her face.

His wife.

She really was going to be his-

And she liked him? As she said, maybe it wasn't love yet, but… he couldn't help but feel immense joy.

She would be his wife- She would stay.

She would-

"Shizuo?" Hearing his bride call his name he quickly snapped out of his daydream as he cleared his throat.

Shit, what was this? He never felt like this before-

"Alright."

"Alright?" A quizzically amused expression had drawn across Kururi's features. "That's an awfully short response."

The confusion must have been apparent on his face as his bride chuckled as she repeated her earlier words. "I asked if you want to marry me."

Shizuo swallowed.

"I do. I will make sure you will be happy for the rest of your life."

Izaya sighed relieved.

Ahh.

Shizuo sounded so gentle. So genuine.

It broke Izaya's heart as much as it made him like him even more. The woman he was going to eventually end up with would be blessed.

…. ah but now he would have to come up with a better excuse than simply having bailed from the wedding to escape the arrangement.

to be continued~

Welcome to a world of diabetes xD Now if this chapter wasn't pure sweetness then I don't know what would be xD

Ahhh the loveliness

… it will make what's soon to come so much more entertaining C: C: C: C: xDDD