The Sweetest Gift

"Wolfram?"Yuuri called out down the corridor and noticed a slight echoing effect as his voice vibrated its way down the hall.

"Wolfram!" he said in a sing-song voice and listened appreciatively to the mirrored response from the dark, empty space.

Feeling bolder, he emitted a ridiculously long version of the name, "Wooooooooooooooooooooooooolfram!"

"Why are you making so much noise, wimp? It is hard enough to get people to respect you as the Maou without you acting like a page that discovered the liquor cabinet," Wolfram scolded in a dry tone as he stepped around the corner.

"Wolfram!" Yuuri exclaimed happily before adding, "Don't call me wimp," out of habit. "I am glad I found you. I made something for you."

"You didn't find me. I was reading, and your screaming interrupted me, so I came to tell you to stop." The blond boy eyed his dark-haired fiancé, trying not to let on how curious he was about what Yuuri had for him.

Waving his hands, Yuuri smiled dismissively. "You'll like it. I made it myself from my mother's recipe." He produced a large, messy slab of something that looked like it might have once been related to chocolate, complete with a healthy sprinkling of nuts.

Wolfram raised a very skeptical eyebrow at the creation. "What is it?"

"Fudge! It's great! Well, it is great when my mother makes it anyway. Except she never chops the nuts up, and I think they would be better in smaller pieces like some people make it, but she says it is a family tradition just like the curry. I think she just doesn't want to chop up the nuts, but it is really better not to argue with her about food, because you can't win. Actually, you can't ever really win any arguments with her, but food is worse than some subjects.

"Anyway, I tried some, and this is still really good. You just have to ignore how it looks. And the grainy feeling. Oh, and I might have accidentally lost a spork while I was making it, so if your piece has that then let Sangria know. I don't think she was very happy with me."

The blond Mazoku actually felt a little dizzy after the whirlwind explanation. Yuuri looked at him with a bright smile, still trying to thrust the gift, which had been wrapped in a clear material and then trimmed with a shiny red ribbon, into his hands. It was a sweet thought even if the display could have used work. And he felt a little flushed by the situation. But, somehow, all he could bring himself to say was, "I'm allergic to nuts."

Yuuri's face fell immediately and Wolfram could have kicked himself for the thoughtless, thankless response, but instead of apologizing, he just marched onward. "If you had bothered to pay any attention to anyone else you would have known that. I always refuse dishes with nuts at meals." He couldn't actually remember if Yuuri had ever been present for such a meal, but somehow once he started, he couldn't bring himself to stop.

"But you probably didn't even make this just for me, did you? I'm sure Conrad and Gwendal and Anissina and Dorcus and the maids and probably the even the horses have the same gift, don't they?"

Yuuri twisted his shoe against the stone floor, feeling about three inches tall. "No, I gave the horses apples, because Conrad said it would be better for them," he replied in a very soft voice.

Wolfram blinked at him unbelievingly. Yuuri had actually given a gift to everyone in the castle right down to the horses. It was ridiculous. Everything about it was just unheard of--the Maou making sweets for an entire castle. If Gunter or Conrad hadn't stopped him, he would probably have made a batch big enough for everyone in the kingdom.

It was exactly the kind of thing that made Yuuri so special to everyone. It showed just how big and open and generous the unlikely Maou's heart was. The only problem--the same problem that made Wolfram run around accusing the boy of being a cheater all the time--was that it also made everyone equally important. And no matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise, he wanted to be more important to the strange boy from another world.

When he opened his mouth to explain all of that to the dejected-looking king, it came out just as it always had. "Wimp."

Silence hung between them for a seconds or hours--Wolfram couldn't be sure. He was grateful when Yuuri finally spoke.

"There is a second part to your gift that no one else is going to get. If you still want it, that is."

Wolfram was speechless--not because of what the other boy had said, but it was odd that the typical "Don't call me wimp" had been omitted. He was speechless because of the raw expression Yuuri's face held. It was full of something he had only seen flashes of before and could never quite identify. So, instead of speaking, Wolfram silently nodded his consent.

Yuuri moved closer to him, and the fire-wielding demon was completely frozen in place. And then the softest lips he had ever felt were pressed to his own. They were shy and inexperienced and for a long moment neither of them moved. Then there was a gentle fluttering of lips; neither of them was quite sure who was in control of bashful kiss.

After what seemed like a very long time, the young Maou pulled away and shifted nervously, waiting for Wolfram to say something--anything. Finally, filling the void himself he said, "I could make the fudge without nuts for you too."

"Maybe later," Wolfram smiled as he gripped Yuuri's jacket and pulled him in for a different kind of sweet gift.