Title: Weak Days
Author: Morien Alexander
Pairings: Yuuri/Gwendal (this chapter), Yuuri/Cherrie, Yuuri/Konrad, Yuuri/Yozak, Yuuri/Gunter, Yuuri/Wolfram...
Disclaimer: I don't own Kyou Kara Maou or any of the characters. I'm just playing with them.
Comments: Apologies ahead of time for any OOCness... I'm just starting to work with these characters. Also, apologies ahead of time if you're used to seeing Cherrie spelled Cheri, Celi, Cherry, Chery, etc... I like using the spelling Cherrie.

Week Day 1: Yuuri vs the Darkness

It was all Cherrie's fault. She had come up with the idea of Maou Week, and (of course) Gunter had thought it was a good idea. So, without asking permission, the two of them passed Maou Week as an official holiday. When Yuuri first heard the name, he was suspicious at once. Anything that he hadn't been included in that used his name was bound to be bad, especially if Cherrie and Gunter were conspiring over it.

As usual, he was right.

Maou Week turned out to be one week in which the Maou dated a different person for six days and on the seventh, chose his fiancé with the traditional open palm slap across the cheek. Yuuri's current engagement with Wolfram would be nullified and he would go home with whomever he chose. Cherrie loved Wolfram, but was eager to shake things up as usual. She decided that she would select the six people and then sit back to enjoy as tempers and humor ran high. It would be better than reading a cheap romance novel, at least!

Wolfram had predictably thrown a fit upon hearing of the plans, but when he was told he would be included, he was slightly mollified. And when told he was a "chicken" by a certain red haired inventor, he threw himself into the idea of Maou Week- saying that he would win against the other "stupid people" who wanted to compete for Yuuri's love.

Yuuri sighed to himself as he stopped in front of the door to the room where he would meet his date of the day. Knowing Cherrie, there was probably someone completely ridiculous behind that door- Ulrike or Greta or something. He figured on getting through the week and then somehow escaping on the seventh day so that he would not have to choose, and his (accidental) engagement to Wolfram would be declared void. Not that he disliked the other boy, but being engaged to a guy was just a little weird.

Heaving another great sigh, Yuuri pushed open the doors to greet his date...

...and was promptly horrified.

Gwendal looked over his shoulder from where he stood at the window, and glared mysteriously at Yuuri.

Yuuri, in turn, smiled back weakly. He cleared his throat. "Ah- Gwendal... are you here to escort my date?" he asked without much hope.

The wrinkles on Gwendal's forehead increased by four. "No."

"Th-then you're my... DATE!" Yuri gave a little shriek, despite having already known the answer.

"Hn."

"Aah..." Yuuri sighed a little at his own inadequacy to make light of the situation. He was flighty (nervous, moody, ADD) at times and had a bad habit of showing his feelings on his face. "W-well... ah..."

"I have no time for this," Gwendal huffed, turning away from his king.

"What did she threaten you with?" Yuuri asked suddenly, blushing faintly.

"Excuse me?"

"What did Cherrie-sama threaten you with?" Yuuri smiled a little. "She had to have something on you to get you to do this." He thought for a moment while Gwendal stared at him, as close to gaping as Gwendal could get. "Did she threaten to dress you up like she used to do with Wolfram?"

A snort in the negative.

"To take away your allowance?"

"What makes you think she threatened me with anything?" Gwendal growled. "I can make judgments on my own and I chose to do this out of respect for my mother and her ridi-her decisions."

"She would promise you as Anissina's permanent guinea pig?"

Gwendal choked. "W-w-what!"

"Aaah, so that's it." Yuuri nodded wisely. "You don't want to be here, but the threat of Anissina is just too much for you." He clicked his tongue twice and rubbed his chin, confident that he had learned the truth. "What a shame. We could have had so much fun, but I'll let you off the hook." Secretly, he was hoping to get away from spending more time than necessary alone with Gwendal. He trusted the man with his life... but not with his heart.

Gwendal coughed discreetly, trying to regain his poise. "No, Heika. I have chosen a schedule for this day, and we will follow it through until the very end." He turned around with such a glare that poor Yuuri nearly ran out of the room. His eyes softened, though, at the sight of the cute boy. He could never resist cute things. Picking up a basket and his sword, he strode over to his king. "Are you prepared?"

"For what?"

"I intended to have a picnic in the forest, and then return for tea."

"S-sounds wonderful," Yuuri said weakly. The idea of the picnic and tea appealed to him, but being alone with Gwendal (especially on a romantic date!) with nothing to talk about was hardly his idea of a good time. With his luck, Gwendal would also invite him to go hunting some sort of cute animal and Yuuri would burst into tears and then they'd come back and Gwen would tell Wolfram how much of a wimp he had been and then he would never-

"The horses are ready downstairs." Gwendal held out an arm, his cheeks turning a pale shade of rose. "Come," he commanded.

Yuuri took his arm hesitantly, glancing sideways up at the bigger man. Gwendal led him down through the palace, steadfastly ignoring any squealing maids or jealous glances from... well... whoever might be around. Yuuri kept his eyes trained on the ground. He wasn't sure whether he was humiliated at being seen as the more girly of the two, or flattered that Gwendal was being such a gentleman. His mother had always said that a gentleman is a hard thing to find unless they fall into your lap like they did with her.

They reached the already laden horses in record time. Though Yuuri knew how to ride, Gwendal somehow felt that it was necessary to lift his king up by the waist and carefully place him on Ao's back. Both of them blushed furiously and said nothing in the awkward silence. The horses moved around a little and in the distance, someone was shouting about a cake... Gwendal coughed. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, of course," Yuuri said quickly.

The dark haired man made a grumbling sound and nudged his horse in the direction of the forest.

It was a little over an hour before they reached the spot that Gwendal had picked out. Yuuri had been enjoying the silence of the woods, punctuated occasionally by birds singing or an animal passing through the undergrowth. The sun was shining, and Ao's neck was warmer to the touch than usual. They entered a clearing, and the first indication that Yuuri had of it being the picnic spot was Gwendal turning his horse to walk around the center instead of passing straight through it. A wood duck flapped up into the air, followed by its mate.

"Is this the place?"

"Yes."

They dismounted, and Gwendal began to unpack the supplies. Yuuri seated himself on an old stump and watched. Ao and Gwendal's horse wasted no time before they began munching the newest patches of grass.

Yuuri leaned back, feeling quite relaxed in the warm air. It had only just turned over from winter to spring, and there was just a little bit more joy in warm weather than usual. "So, Gwendal," he began, looking at the sky instead of the other man "did Cherrie-sama pick you, or are you doing this of your own accord?"

There was a grumble for a reply.

"I mean it... I want to know." The Maou shifted his gaze. "I mean, did people come running to Cherrie-sama to volunteer for this, or did she pick who I am going to have to choose from?"

Gwendal heaved a deep sigh, as if annoyed that he had to actually speak. "She chose everyone except two."

"Which two?"

"It doesn't matter. You just have to select your fiancé. That's all."

"No, it matters to me." By now, the picnic blanket had been spread out, and Yuuri moved over to sit on it. It was a very cute knitted blanket with a picture of some animal (cat? bear?) playing in a field on it. From what he had seen of Gwendal's study, Yuuri assumed that he had made it. "It matters because then I can know who really wants to be with me and who is just acting on orders."

"No one is just acting on orders," snapped the older man. "Even if she selected a person, they want to-" he stopped and growled something indistinctly.

Yuuri laughed out loud and it echoed around the clearing. "So you wouldn't mind being my fiancé?"

Gwendal gave him a disgruntled look, but pink bloomed on his cheeks as he handed Yuuri a glass of wine. The boy took it, trying not to make a face. He didn't like the taste of wine, but it was hard to tell that to people in a land where custom dictated a general use of the stuff. He sipped it gingerly and then smiled at Gwendal.

"It's good."

"You don't like it."

"No! Well... yes... but... I like this." Yuuri gestured to the surroundings. "I like this place... this day... and it's nice to be with you." He surprised himself by actually meaning it, too.

Gwendal didn't answer, but instead scooted closer to Yuuri and actually smiled.

It was late afternoon when they reached Blood Pledge Castle again. They settled into one of the many studies with a pot of tea, and Yuuri began to talk at, rather than with Gwendal.

"...and then we both said, ALCOHOL!" he burst into laughter and was rewarded by Gwendal's second smile that day. Though to be quite fair, the smile was in return for the laughter and not the amusing story.

"Heika..."

"I really wish you wouldn't call me that. Just for today." Yuuri was in an extremely good mood, and looked quite comfortable tucked into an easy chair with a steaming mug of tea in his hands. "It's Yuuri."

Gwendal nodded slightly. "Yuuri." He then paused and continued hesitantly. "Would you like to hear a story about my brother when he was little and cute?"

"Conrad?" Yuuri sat forward.

"Wolfram."

"Oh..." the Maou paused for a moment and then nodded, smiling. "You usually don't like to talk."

"It's a..." Gwendal looked down. "It's a gift for you."

Yuuri blushed and then nodded again. "All right. Tell me."

"Conrad and I helped our mother to give birth. She was heavy with Wolfram at the time, but still liked to party as always. We were on our way to one of these parties and she suddenly fell off her horse. So we delivered Wolf right there in the forest." He paused at Yuuri's somewhat pained expression. "I'm not going to tell you the specifics, but he was ugly when he was born. Squalling, pale infant... I wanted nothing to do with him at first.

"But as the days turned into weeks, he became the darling of the castle. Everyone loved him. He looked like a little angel with his golden hair as a halo and big green eyes like cat's eyes. And he only grew more beautiful each day.

"The only thing was... he also grew brattier. He would yell if something was not done his way... or if someone had said something mean about him. And as a fire elemental- pre training- he would explode things without quite meaning to. But there was one thing he loved. Dogs. Of course, he would not stop whining to mother until he had one.

"I have always had a fondness for cats. They're elegant, thoughtful, and very cute. Dogs... are fairly cute, too, but they have bad habits- like being fond of everyone, and licking your face, and running away to roll on something that smells awful. But somehow Wolfram loved dogs.

"I had two cats at that time- Blackie and Brownie."

Yuuri snickered and was ignored.

"Blackie and Brownie were allowed the run of the castle until Wolfram brought in his dog Ma-kun. Ma-kun... was a terror to my cats. He was a big dog with grey and white markings that made him appear almost wolfish. But- like all dogs- he was extra friendly to all humans and very loyal to Wolfram. My poor Blackie and Brownie were extremely frightened of him. He would chase them down the halls with his tongue lolling from the side of his mouth until they climbed a curtain or wriggled through a mostly closed door.

"I used to get very angry with Wolfram for allowing his dog to terrorize my cats, but everyone else in the castle seemed to think it was very funny. Until the day of the ball...

"My mother, as you know, likes to host balls, parties, ceremonies- anything with lots of people who will pay attention to her. She had this particular ball about a month after Wolfram acquired Ma-kun. Everyone was supposed to be dressed in their best and attending to dance and chatter in the ballroom.

"Conrad and I were trying to best each other as to who looked more like a real swordsman, and our friend Gunter had come to oogle Wolfram."

"He doesn't change much does he?"

Gwendal sniffed and continued. "Wolfram was positively angelic in a blue fur-lined tunic and white pants. Everyone crowded around him, patting his head- driving him crazy with their constant touching. Finally, he ducked out of a circle of old ladies who had been pinching his cheeks and gave a shrill whistle for Ma-kun.

"Unfortunately, Blackie and Brownie were taking seats of honor in the ball room, as they had been a gift from some great lord to me- and that lord wanted to see them again. As soon as Ma-kun came barreling into the room, my cats were frightened out of their wits, and ran up the closest thing near them... which happened to be my mother."

Yuuri began to laugh.

"Of course she was wearing something expensive and slinky with a single strap holding it up, and the cats clawed their way up her body, leaving brilliant red streaks across her b- her ... her ...shoulders. In trying to get away from Ma-kun, they climbed to the very top of her head and sat there hissing and clinging to her carefully piled hair.

"And then, the single strap snapped and her dress fell completely off, to the horror of the ladies and the very evident delight of the men."

Yuuri was in tears with laughter.

"And Wolfram? He stood there and said quite loudly, 'Stop staring at Mama's titties!'"

Now, Yuuri fell out of his chair, face contorted beautifully in what could only be termed the greatest of laughter. He gasped for air like a fish and his face turned red as he held his stomach in from all the hilarity.

Gwendal sat back and a smile ghosted over his face. It wasn't usual that he spoke so long, but Yuuri obviously liked to hear that kind of tale, and he had successfully entertained his majesty for his part of Maou Week. He felt very satisfied due to the smiles and laughs that had come from his king. Though he wasn't adverse to becoming the Maou's consort, he really had another person in mind. Now, though, this day had been a complete success, and he felt rewarded.

Yuuri finally stood up, chuckling. "Oh, Gwen, you tell the best stories..." He brushed off his pants and put his empty cup on the table.

"Are you off to bed then, Heika?"

"I have a little studying that I promised Gunter I would do each day."

"I see."

Impulsively, Yuuri flung his arms around Gwendal's neck, hugging him tightly. "I had a great time."

Gwendal pushed away a little, his eyes serious. "Don't... pick me, heika."

"Gwen?"

"I will be your friend, advisor, brother, but I cannot be yours."

"I know." Yuuri smiled. "And I had a great time being your friend.

"Does this mean that I will not escort you back to your room?"

"I can find my way." Yuuri smile grew wider. "But I do have a request for you."

"What is that?"
The Maou tilted his face up childishly, and in the firelight, he looked younger than his years. "Kiss me. It's a tradition for ending a date in my world."

Gwendal blushed brightly and then nodded. Silently, he leaned in and pressed his lips against Yuuri's. It was warm, almost perfect. Exactly what he wanted from... someone else. Yuuri melted a little into the embrace and then pulled back rather sharply- resulting in a loud smacking sound.

Both men laughed quietly.

"Who is it tomorrow?" Yuuri asked, his eyes serious.

"My mother."

To be continued...