Author: Kammyh

Genre: Romance/Drama

Rating: M for the final scene

Warnings: set after season three. This means more sweetness between the Royal Couple and less wimpiness for Yuuri.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kyou Kara Maou.

Thanks to my BETA-girl who survived to my grammatical errors and my straight from Italian syntax.

Win me Over - Part one

It had been a normal day for Shibuya Yuuri, mockingly named Harajuku Fuuri: he hadn't been paying attention to his Japanese literature teacher for more than a minute and he was pleasantly lost in his own baseball thoughts, which were way more interesting than his lessons. He still hadn't decided who would be the first batter in his team for the next game, and even though he had a name running in his mind, that player would have better been kept as last, since he usually went for an homerun and when all bases were filled they could easily claim their victory.

Nevertheless, a good homerun right at the beginning of the game would have scared the other team and, if their pitcher lost focus, everything would be easier for his teammates, since they could even set a score for each batter. It was a tough decision, which obviously had the priority over any analysis of Murasaki Shikibu's intents in writing the Genji monogatari that his teacher was planning to teach him.

Yuuri wasn't sure that it actually was the theme of the lesson, but surely it had begun as such and he hadn't cared to check if it had stayed that way. The only thing that managed to bring Yuuri's mind back to his classroom, was a soft knock on the door, which startled him and half of his classmates who had been interested in the Japanese masterpiece as much as he was.

"I'm sorry to intrude, professor. May I interrupt your lesson for a couple of minutes?"

The middle aged woman stared coldly at the shy brunette peeking inside the classroom, showing her how much she was displeased by the interruption and not wanting to give the girl a positive answer.

"Who sent you?"

"The principal… Well, actually the students' council, but it had been the principal who suggested to do it now."

The literature teacher sighed heavily and finally closed the book that she was still holding open in her hands, and murmured in a half voice something that Yuuri could barely make out as an 'Ok, but be quick' or something like that. The girl seemed to have guessed the same thing, because in the end she entered the class clenching some sheets of paper in her trembling hands.

Now that he could see her better, Yuuri recognized the brunette as Takada, one of the girls in the athletic club, and something told him that maybe it would have been better if the lesson hadn't been interrupted.

"Well, a lot of professors complained about the upcoming Saint Valentine's and White days, because usually none of the students can focus on any subject"

The Japanese literature professor nodded gravely, and Yuuri was certain that the 'lots of professors' had the middle aged woman as their leader. The black haired Mazoku couldn't really understand what all the fuss was about, since it was not like someone usually paid more attention the other days, and he couldn't understand also why they had to ruin the life of his classmates by blaming a popular festivity like Saint Valentine's Day.

He actually didn't care a bit, since he had no one in his school to give chocolate to, but his overly worried sense of justice was getting him uneasy.

"Nonetheless, the principal fears that if some measures against the festivity were to be carried out, students would become even less willing to properly pay attention to the lessons, so the students' council was asked to give its own piece of advice in the matter. In a short amount of time, it was offered a solution that the principal gladly approved."

The professor's eyes were a mix of anger, surprise and outrage. Obviously, she knew nothing about the principal's solution, and at this point Yuuri wasn't totally sure if he could think about it as a good or a bad sign.

"For the day of February the 14th there will be no lessons, instead we from the athletic club and a couple of some other clubs have been asked to organize a sort of Saint Valentine's themed festival. Every student will have to participate with their Valentine, but if some of you doesn't have one, this still doesn't mean you will have a day off: one will be picked for you by the organizers."

Everyone stared at the girl with their mouth open like they were fishes in an aquarium instead of students in a classroom: some speechless with joy and some speechless with terror. The first person to wake up from her shock was their teacher.

"How could the principal have approved such a shameful project without even asking the teachers!? And why could this be a solution to our dissatisfaction!?"

The brunette made her best to swallow the lump formed in her throat but failed miserably, so she caught as much air as she could before answering in the best fake calm tone she could manage.

"The students will focus better after a day in which they can take it easy with their partners, so there will be no more commotion between Saint Valentine's day in which confessions are given and White Day in which students are supposed to receive the answer. It will recharge spirits and allow the couples to spend time together enough to focus properly on their classes after that."

On the middle aged woman's face Yuuri could easily read the words 'That man is an idiot' and for once the half Mazoku agreed with her. Why was he supposed to have a Valentine or to want one? He was just sixteen, seventeen if he actually considered all the time he had stayed in Shin Makoku, there was no reason why he was bound to have a companion.

Everyone seemed to have been swallowed by this thing called love and they were so excited that they wanted him to be a part of it too, no matter his personal opinion. First Wolfram trying to play the role of the best fiancé ever, then Günter who Yuuri didn't want even to know what was actually wanting from him, or Greta silently demanding a real family and siblings, or Cherisama and half of the kingdom screaming out that the Royal Couple had eloped each time he and Wolfram disappeared together… and now this absurd Saint Valentine's competition.

"Well, let's see… How many of you don't have a partner for sure? I'll write down your names, later I'll take note of who needs to ask and they will have to give me an answer in a couple of days."

People began to raise their hands and say their names, while Yuuri was still lost in thoughts. His first instinct was to put his name on the 'free' list, but if he did it, he would end up with a random girl among all the lovey dovey couples and he didn't like the thought of it.

Moreover, he had a fiancé, even though no one knew about him, and said fiancé would have gladly accepted his invite, but he wasn't sure about his classmates' reaction about it. He had to publicly recognize Wolfram in front of the entire school and let everyone make horrible comments about them, and this was a display he didn't like for himself and even less for the blond soldier who, aside jealousy, had always been the first trying to help him out.

He didn't want to face it, and above everything else he didn't want Wolfram to be a victim of the side he liked less about his culture.

Even humiliated and isolated, Yuuri could survive this, but he wasn't sure of the same about Wolfram and, even if he could convince himself about his strength, the situation still wouldn't have been fair for his loyal fiancé. Completely unharmed in a foreign culture he would easily become the target of the mocking without even realizing it.

Unluckily for him, the idea of accepting a random partner was becoming any seconds less of an option as long as his fair haired fiancé filled his mind. He couldn't cheat this openly on him, otherwise he would never have enough strength to tell him he was not a cheater and, if he did it, it would have been lying; but he couldn't lie to Wolfram. Each time he did it, he felt bad for that and, once he saw those green big orbs staring sadly at him, he felt even worse.

If he'd made Wolfram choose between letting him go with someone else or becoming a target for mockery, Yuuri was sure that the first option would have been the one that would make the blond Mazoku suffer the most, even if he would have endured it for his king's safety. He really had no other choices but to do what was right.

"Hey, Shibuya! That girl is a slow writer, but there are just a few guys left without a girlfriend, and you will be left out if you don't tell her your name! You know that the principal won't like it if you try to escape the festival!"

Yuuri stared at his classmate, unsure about what to do: if he didn't say something quickly enough he knew that his friend would have asked more, but he couldn't think about too many things at the same time. Yuuri simply sighed, asking himself why couldn't anyone just mind their own business in all the worlds he fell in.

"Higuchi, actually…actually I…"

The other teen's face lighted up, suddenly realizing he could have found out something interesting about his always sport-absorbed friend that could brighten up his day.

"You have a date! Why didn't you tell us? Or maybe you like someone? C'mon, spill!"

The black haired Mazoku cursed all deities on Earth and Shin Makoku: first because of his overly curious classmate, and again when he heard the girl from the athletic club say that now she was going to ask the names of those who had to ask someone to be their Valentine.

Half the class raised a hand. Yuuri sighed unhappily as he realised that the remaining half had realized the same thing that Higuchi had already guessed, and the word that his name was not on the first list was beginning to spread.

Yuuri began wondering why did it all seem to lead him choosing to invite Wolfram, when he still hadn't decided about it, and why couldn't he have had a couple of more minutes to decide. Moreover, his friend was giving him a hard time teasing and all that made him snap somewhat loudly.

"Look, it's a long story and I don't want to talk about it right now, but yes, I have someone! This is why I can't let them choose a random girl for me for a ridiculous Saint Valentine competition… That would be cheating and I would be dead!"

Before he could have any knowledge of what he had just done, Yuuri had answered himself about choosing to invite his fiancé or not, but he hadn't answered his friend properly, which was the main goal of what he had been saying.

"Unrequited love?"

The half Mazoku stared disappointedly at his classmate, trying to ignore the slight teasing hidden in his words, and wondering how his message didn't hit the target. He was almost certain he didn't sound in love, because this was just a courtesy that he thought it would have made the blond soldier happy after all.

It surely wasn't a way to show him he loved him. Yuuri didn't want for the older Mazoku to be his Valentine. He didn't want any Valentine at all, but as for the whole fiancé thing, if he had to have one that person had to be Wolfram. There was no reason for his friend to think he was a lovesick puppy, and if there was one it surely wasn't him.

Yuuri's heart clenched thinking that the lovesick puppy would have been Wolfram and his eyes fell. Higuchi saw the mix of emotions in his classmate's eyes and, when he broke eye contact, he took it as a yes to his former question.

"C'mon then, Shibuya! Tell the girl to put you among the 'maybe', and pray for your baby to say yes!"

Yuuri's friend burst out laughing and a few of the other students turned to stare at them. The half Mazoku glared even more at his classmate, thinking about how much he hated it when the other teen acted like this. Worst of all, someone seemed to have overheard something and the fake news were spreading against his will.

This was the last thing he wanted, but now he couldn't escape the spotlights and the only thing to do was breathing deeply and preparing to face the loads of 'He wasn't paying attention! Let's tell Takada to put his name on the list' and 'Oh, finally Shibuya is in love'.

"Dammit! I already have a fiancé! Why are you so interested in my love life!?"

His desperate scream was good for nothing but leading everyone to the new source of gossip, that incidentally was Yuuri, who was generally thought to be a green lemon. Everyone was in a mix of enthusiasm and hilarity because of the use of a word like fiancé for someone who had never had a girlfriend, as the dark haired Mazoku had repeated over and over again.

"Shibuya Yuuri Harajyuku Fuuri has what? You mean a girlfriend, don't you?"

Yuuri stared at the athletic club brunette looking at him impertinently and felt a lump forming in his throat, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't swallow it. He was about to screw up his reputation for life, so he had to do it in the most honourable way and like a samurai he headed for his worst answer ever.

"Can't we just get it over with this? We are supposed to marry, so we are fiancés."

Many more giggles and shocked screams filled the room, this time bringing with them even the stoic literature teacher who was hiding herself in a corner. Yuuri wished that he was actually feeling angry rather than depressed, so maybe he would go Maou mode and destroy every person who had heard his confession. If he could manage to make the mess big enough, nobody would ever think again about Saint Valentine.

"Arranged marriage maybe!? It sounds so like a novel!"

Yuuri sent one of his most annoyed stares at the girl who had just talked. He wanted to believe he wasn't actually saying out all his secrets, but he didn't feel like lying, especially when he thought that he could easily say things that could hurt Wolfram. He felt as if there was water slowly reaching his limbs, while he prepared himself for what was yet to come.

"Nothing like that, I proposed to… this person. My life is normal: you don't need to fuss about details."

As the squealing increased, Yuuri felt the imaginary water level slowly increase and reach his waist. His eyes fell on the teacher, hoping that the woman could bring to a halt his own classmates, but with his greatest displeasure the teacher glanced a last moment at the book she held in her hands and then shoot him an iceberg-like cold glare.

"Shibuyakun, if you keep saying 'this person' it is generally supposed that you are trying to not say 'him'."

Shibuya Yuuri drowned mentally and ended up at the bottom of the ocean with what had been left of his Titanic of a façade. He lowered his head and hid behind his arms crossed on the desk, not caring anymore to lose the last bit of dignity he still held.

"It was the book! The book told you!"

The shocked teacher stared at her student's behaviour along with the rest of the class, but the half Mazoku couldn't care less. After vegetarian sharks, pandas living in the sand, flying skeletons, proposal by slap and duels by picking up knives, he could live with a book telling his teacher he was engaged to a man. Exception was that this wasn't Shin Makoku, but honestly he couldn't care less.

"If you had paid attention for at least two minutes to this lesson you would have learned how, in Heian literature, there had been lots of books who described homosexual relationships. That's why this came to my mind looking at the book."

Yuuri tried to hide even more after his teacher's scolding. He did pay attention a whole minute, how could he have guessed that one minute more would have saved him from his last exploit?

"I don't like that word!"

"Book?"

"No… homosexual…"

The professor's glare melted down as she quietly ventured towards Yuuri and placed a caring hand on his head, waiting for the depressed teen to face her. She would have never thought that one of her students would be affected like this over a simple word, but she could easily understand how words could hurt for someone who wasn't used to hear them referred to themselves.

"You are right, let's not use that word."

Big shining dark orbs stared thankfully at the older woman and Yuuri began to reconsider her as a person, even if he would still regard as boring her lessons. She quickly put an end to any other comment on the matter and asked the athletic club girl to hurry up, eyeing with dark dangerous eyes each one of her students who tried to make a disgusted face at the young Mazoku.

As she ordered everyone around professionally, Yuuri couldn't help but think that she looked a lot like Gwendal when he tried to act cool and cover up after his daily dose of cute things.

As soon as the last name was put on the proper list, the bell rang and signalled the end of the lessons as well as the end of school. The young Mazoku was happy about it, but as soon as he tried to escape, his classmates stopped him creating a human wall between him and his safety.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Yuuri's dark eyes stared at Higuchi's angry equally black ones, but he actually had no answers for his friends.

"I… forgot."

"Shibuya, you act like you are ashamed of him, is he that ugly?"

Blood rushed to Yuuri's face in what he could unexpectedly call rage mixed with hurt in hearing such a definition associated to his cute fiancé. The blond soldier could be everything but ugly, and just the thought of such an unusual word next to Wolfram's name should be banned from every mind, especially his own. The young Mazoku's stare shifted to his side to face the smirking long haired girl who had just spoken.

"I'm not ashamed of him and surely enough he's not ugly, just the opposite! He actually is… the most beautiful person I've ever seen."

"So, tell us, Shibuya, maybe he won't suit our tastes?"

Yuuri stared at another one of his female classmates, allowing himself a lightly mocking tone as soon as he realized who she was. If cuteness and sweetness couldn't win over his friends maybe companionship could work.

"Well, yours will surely, since you are attracted to any male with blond hair and green eyes."

Before he could prepare for it, half of the girls squealed in excitement and he was sure that he heard a couple of boys among them too. Yuuri steeled himself for whatever that screaming could mean and asked himself again why he was stuck in such an unforeseeable situation.

"He's a foreigner!"

The dark haired Mazoku was taken aback by such reactions. Even if he was mentally prepared to have girls thrilled by Wolfram's looks, he supposed that said fiancé had to be at least nearby. He would have never thought that the blond soldier would have gained such a group of dying fan girls just by his name.

"I can't believe you, Shibuya! Why can't you just be happy with a normal Japanese girl!?"

Yuuri shifted his gaze towards his male classmate and was surprised to find out that, even if he thought he would have been happy to hear what he had always told his friends, strangely the young Mazoku had to realize that the feeling growing inside him was not happiness, but something more similar to anger.

"That's what I wanted…"

Yuuri was taken aback by his own words. He still wanted a normal Japanese girl, so there had been no reasons for him to use the past tense, but he still did it. All the pressure his classmates were putting on him was getting him dizzy, and he just wanted to hide away.

"Well if that's what you wanted, from now on please keep a few more inches away from me."

Yuuri felt his heart freeze in his chest, as he realized that the one to speak was one of his most close friends in his class, and all the words he wanted to say stopped with it. When a few more of his classmates, both boys and girls, nodded in agreement, he couldn't believe his eyes and ears.

"What are you saying, he's still Shibuya!" Another voice came from the crowd.

The half Mazoku kept listening to his classmates' different opinions for a few more minutes, but the more he lost focus on the words said and the people speaking, the more his anger level rose, until he lost it and cut in it.

"Look, I don't care about what you think of this! I'll invite him so you will see him with your own eyes, and you and the rest of the school have better not put up such scenes in front of him, nor pro nor against him! See you tomorrow!"

The young Maou left his whole class in utter silence and, as he made his way through them, they let him pass obediently, not trying to stop him or comment any further.

Yuuri felt his Maryouku level increase to the border limit as he rushed home, but luckily for him no one noticed that except another dark haired Mazoku passing there by chance.

"Oi, Shibuya! Why are you going Maou mode?"

The dark haired king calmed down a little to look intently and totally annoyed at his smirking Great Sage.

"I'm not going Maou mode, Murata"

Murata smiled at his friend and joined him in going home, trying at the same time to calm his friend and save the Earth from a possible destruction. Apparently Yuuri still hadn't noticed how his voice was getting low and his eyes were becoming two demonic slits.

"I see, but you are quite going for it… Was it about the San Valentine's competition? My school joined too."

Yuuri kept looking at nowhere in front of himself but nodded gravely, earning a full hand full force on his back that somehow brought him a little down from his Maou rage.

"Why's that, Shibuya? They found you a bad partner?"

The Maou glared at his companion, but Murata's smile didn't falter and this made Yuuri suspicious about the whole strange situation.

"You knew everything, didn't you? Why didn't you tell me!?"

"Why do you think I knew about this? We're not in Shin Makoku after all, here I'm just Murata Ken."

The Great Sage was disarming: with a single statement he had managed to not answer his question as well as imply he knew everything within Yuuri's reign. The young king couldn't find a proper way to retort so he simply kept silent, trying to not think of what was going to happen next.

"So, who will be your Valentine?"

"Murata, you know I won't cheat on Wolfram, despite what he keeps saying. I owe this to him."

Murata began to laugh loudly, earning a puzzled stare from his king and risking to make him Maou mode again.

"Shibuya, you are really amazing! So you finally got the courage to tell your classmates about Lord Von Bielefelt?"

Yuuri lowered his head and quickly summed up the latest events to his best friend, who mumbled something under his breath the Maou couldn't quite understand as he brought his hand to lightly caress his chin. The dark haired king thought about asking Murata what he had said, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know, so he just waited for his companion to realize he would never get an answer.

"So you're going to Shin Makoku, now?"

"Yeah, Wolfram said he had a tight schedule for the time I would be gone, so I guess I'd better ask him as soon as possible."

"Mmm… You'd better wait until the evening of the 13th. Even if you'll have to wait a couple of days in Shin Makoku you won't run out of time here."

Yuuri nodded approvingly, and prepared himself to wait a little more. They would have been the longest two days of his entire life.

The days followed quickly and strangely enough things seemed to settle for him, also thanks to his literature professor who tried to help him as much as she could. When the 13th came, then, Yuuri gathered all the courage he could manage and jumped inside the water.

He emerged to the open air, with the chilly breeze over his damp clothing and wet skin making him shiver. He looked around the fountain's edge for his blond fiancé, but he could just make out Conrad's and Günter's figures approaching.

"Welcome back, Your Majesty."

"It's Yuuri…. You gave me my name, then use it!"

Conrad smiled sweetly to his king and quickly corrected himself with his usual calm tone, handing him a towel. The black haired Mazoku accepted it with a smile and used it to rub his hair, but he stopped Günter as soon as he tried to approach him with a dry set of clothes.

"I actually just need to ask Wolfram something , I don't think I need them. Speaking of him, why isn't he around?"

"Wait a minute, Your Majesty! There is no chance I will let you go around with you wet garments. Conrad, please say something."

The brown haired soldier felt two different pair of eyes staring full of hope at him, waiting for his words. Conrad tried to gain a little bit of time coughing and assuming a professional and indifferent attitude, but he knew too well that he was not his older brother and knew what he needed to say, so he quickly resumed his sweetest smile and tried to sound as gentle as he could.

"Your Majesty, Günter is right, please take a couple of minutes to change, in the meanwhile Wolf should be able to reach us, I'm sure he's already on his way here."

Entirely unsatisfied with the answer, Yuuri accepted his defeat and headed to an empty room where he could change, quickly followed by Conrad, who had snatched the Maou's spare clothes from Günter's tight grip without even being noticed.

Yuuri was lost in his thoughts and the fact that Wolfram wasn't there as usual made him quite uneasy since those kind of things usually meant there was something off that nobody wanted to tell him. The young Maou sighed and cursed against this delay, which was destroying any plans he had in mind to ask his fiancé the dreaded question.

"Ehm, Conrad? You know, is unusual not seeing Wolf around… Why is he late?"

Conrad handed him his shirt smiling reassuringly, but Yuuri could see that his godfather was hiding a little bit of worry behind his always cheerful face.

"Wolf asked to tighten his schedule for the time we thought you would be on Earth, but we didn't think you would be back this soon. Luckily enough he just returned from a long patrol, so you won't have to wait for him too long. Tonight it rained and during a light struggle with some bandits he fell off the horse…"

"What!? How is he?"

Yuuri grasped his godfather by his shoulders, staring scared at his brown eyes, but Conrad's completely reassuring expression calmed him down almost instantly.

"There's nothing to worry about Yuuri, he simply came back covered in mud the same moment we left to get here, so he had to take a bath before catching up with us. What is making you worry so much? You look like you're scared about something."

Conrad approached the young Maou and he seemed to calm down a little. With fake nonchalance Yuuri took the pair of black trousers from his godfather, thinking quickly how to explain how his apprehension to ask the blond Mazoku was getting him so uneasy.

"Ehm…Well, it's just…You looked worried before, so I thought that maybe something happened to your little brother…"

Conrad burst out laughing, not quite sure if it was funnier that his king felt the need to justify his worry for his fiancé, that everyone already knew about, or that Yuuri misunderstood his expression before. The dark haired Mazoku, on the other hand, couldn't see at all the reason beyond all that laughing, and stared blankly at his companion.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you, You-… Yuuri. I was just wondering what you needed to ask Wolfram so badly that you had to come back so suddenly. You look quite nervous, so it has to be important…"

The Maou, by now fully dressed, took a deep breath and felt finally reassured about the situation at least on his kingdom during his absence.

"Aah! Uhm… Don't worry Conrad, after what happened lately with the council of the ten families I hear them conspiring against me even in my dreams. Don't mind me."

Conrad chuckled at the humorous images that were forming in his mind featuring the ten families 'threatening' Yuuri's life, and quickly followed his king as he headed back to the fountain.

"You should not forget that they are here to serve you and your wish is their command… Even though Waltorana would surely put up a fight if you are here to begin the arrangements for your wedding."

Yuuri felt the blood freeze in his veins and stopped to face his godfather with eyes full of pure terror, both at the idea of the marriage and of Waltorana killing him.

"W-wee-wedding!?"

Conrad answered him with his usual smart brown eyes filled with fake innocence and a little bit of hope.

"I'm sorry, Yuuri, I thought that you came back so unexpectedly to settle things with my cute little brother."

Yuuri came to terms with the fact that he wasn't going to understand Mazoku's minds any time soon and prepared to ask his godfather what strange circle of thoughts had brought him there, when Ulrike appeared from the main chamber of the temple interrupting whatever he had in mind.

"You Majesty Yuuri, I'm delighted to see you so soon… Even though I'm not the person you were looking for."

The young Maou had enough time to greet the priestess back, before she suddenly resumed her speech with a wide smile forming on her lips.

"You are lucky Your Majesty! It seems that said person is coming right now."

The old woman earned inquiring stares from Yuuri, Conrad and also Günter, who had been forced to wait near the fountain the whole time. Before anyone could question her, a neigh echoed in the air, quickly followed by a vague sound of hooves quickly approaching.

"Yuuri!"

Wolfram's white horse knocked down the two women guarding the front of Shinou's temple and previous one. Before the animal could touch back the ground with his front hooves, Wolfram had already jumped off his saddle and left the reins to his astonished older brother.

"Wolf! You shouldn't push yourself and your horse like this!"

Conrad's scolding ended up totally unheard and ignored by everyone except for Wolfram's horse, who shook his mane in approval. The blond soldier instead ran towards his fiancé, stopping a couple of feet before him, completely breathless.

"Why… here… so… soon?"

Yuuri felt extremely bad for being the cause of Wolfram's desperate race against the time right after a troublesome patrol. He could see how tired the older Mazoku was by his reddened eyes and the dark circles under his eyes. If he hadn't come back unexpectedly the blond would have simply enjoyed a warm bath and half a day of well deserved sleep, instead of rushing back at the temple after a quick shower.

"Uhm… Sorry about that…"

The tired green orbs in front of him lightened up and a frown appeared on Wolfram's delicate features, as he seemed to regain his breath all of a sudden. Apparently if it was to scold his fiancé he could easily find enough air in his lungs.

"You came back turning upside down everyone's schedule only to say you're sorry!?"

Yuuri blushed lightly, taken aback by such a reaction, but he quickly put his mind back to work on a proper retort. His plan was put on hold although when Günter approached him to ask the same question that had been still left unanswered, but the fair haired teacher was not the one he wanted to tell this stuff to, and neither were Conrad and Ulrike.

If there was a possibility to invite Wolfram without asking him, it would have been even better.

"I'll explain to you guys later. Wolf, come with me, will you?"

Without waiting for a reply, Yuuri took his fiancé's wrist and dragged him back through the destroyed entrance of Shinou's temple. A 'Your Majesty' was about to leave three different mouths, but they were abruptly stopped by the order of their Maou.

"Don't follow us, if anything happens Wolfram will protect me."

It was enough to keep his four friends still, three of them because they had been ordered to, and the other one for Yuuri's sudden interest in his company. The couple walked in silence for some minutes before Wolfram finally got over his surprise and freed himself from his fiancé's tight grip.

"I don't mind having a walk with you, but wouldn't it be more romantic if you stopped dragging me around!?"

Yuuri turned to face the blond Mazoku with an annoyed look on his face, but he was used to him by now so the young Maou quickly gave him a sweet smile, and stopped near a big tree along the road as he decided he had enough of walking.

"Wolf, this is not supposed to be a romantic walk. I only wanted to talk privately with you…What about sitting down under this tree?"

Wolfram felt a lump forming in his throat, but he nodded and followed his fiancé, sitting down right next to him. The blond soldier was rather hesitant about Yuuri's intentions, but the small intimacy they seemed to have gained at that moment was something he could rarely enjoy, so he would not spoil the moment worrying before the time came.

Yuuri sat with his legs crossed, fidgeting with the corner of his jacket, and gave no sign of beginning to say whatever he had in his mind. Big green eyes gazed over his features, taking their time to savour the presence of the person he thought he would not have been able to meet for another half month, before the blond finally took the courage to place a hand on his fiancé's shoulders to try and wake him up.

The young Maou was startled by the contact, but he felt strangely better with Wolfram's hand trying to give him courage to do something he still ignored. Seeing him acting so caringly finally reassured him that he was doing the right thing, no matter how much his classmates mocked him.

"Uhm… Don't worry Wolf… I just don't know where to begin…"

"Try it, Yuuri, you can tell me anything."

Wolfram let his hand slide down his fiancé's arm to reach his hand and squeeze it. Yuuri smiled at the sweet act and squeezed back, finally taking the courage to look straight into his face.

"Well… Do you know what Saint Valentine is?"

Yuuri didn't need a spoken answer to understand from the blank stare the older Mazoku was giving him that it was a 'no'. This made things even more difficult, because he was sure that a misunderstanding was right behind the corner along with painful grasps of his ear.

"Let's just say that is a festivity for couples, in which they give each other chocolate and sweets… you can use this occasion to confess too, giving usually handmade chocolate to the one you like, and if this person feels the same the receiver will give white chocolate or other presents to the giver at the White Day."

Wolfram analyzed with attentive eyes Yuuri's ones to search for the reason behind this revelation, but he could find none, so he just prepared himself to wait until his fiancé got to his point, preparing himself for the worst.

"You're not here to give me chocolate, aren't you Yuuri?"

Wolfram let Yuuri's hand go and embraced his legs with a small pout on his lips. The dark haired Maou could easily guess that the blond believed deep inside himself that he had received tons of chocolate and he was so busy thinking about who he should answer to, that he needed to get rid of his unwanted fiancé.

"Wolfram , Saint Valentine is tomorrow, and you don't have to worry: I never received chocolate from anyone in my entire life, and even if I did it wasn't from someone I liked."

"Who said something about it!? Of course no one ever gave you any, everyone recognized how much of a wimp you are."

Yuuri didn't bother to answer the gratuitous insult, feeling very relieved seeing how Wolfram relaxed visibly after what he had said to worry about his fiancé's shyness.

"Anyway, lots of my schoolmates get excited over those festivities, and our principal organized a sort of festival to get rid of the awkward feelings running between the students, especially because you are supposed to wait weeks before having an answer."

Yuuri took a deep breath and let himself fall against the tree trunk, bringing his arms crossed behind his head, while Wolfram's stare became slightly annoyed, and he knew too well he was the cause of it. If his schoolmates felt uneasy for some weeks, then his fiancé should have been almost hysterical after over two years.

"I get it, but I still don't understand what this has to do with me."

The dark haired Mazoku blushed lightly and looked away from his companion's emerald stare.

"Well, this festival is a sort of competition for couples and… well, if you don't have someone to confess to, or a companion they will choose a suitable partner for the festival… because it's a school activity…"

"YOU CHEATER! Don't tell me you came here to ask me if I was ok with you playing all mushy together with a random whore!?"

Wolfram jumped in front of him and straddled one of his legs with both hands and knees. Yuuri frowned a bit but did his best to keep quiet, since he knew that his fiancé could become dangerous when he felt his position as official fiancé endangered.

"Wolf, calm down, I didn't accept their offer. I told you that it was for who had no one, but I technically have you."

Wolfram sat back down quietly, blushing a deep shade of red. It was the first time that Yuuri openly acknowledged their relationship and he didn't actually know what to say or think about it, except that now he could survive everything else the young Maou wanted to tell him.

"Go to a Saint Valentine's festival with a random girl, even if chosen for me by someone else… well, I guess it's cheating even for me. I wouldn't be able to face you or any member of your family any longer if I did it."

Yuuri straightened up and placed his hand on Wolfram's, doing his best to look solemn like a real king should be.

"So, Wolfram Von Bielefelt, do you want to be my partner for this?"

Wolfram felt his heart skip a beat and his whole body froze, completely overwhelmed by the happiness he was feeling. He knew that this could mean everything and nothing, but that simple gesture was more than he would ever expect from his dark haired beloved wimp.

The blond soldier smiled a bit and lowered his eyes to gaze at the tanned hand covering his own, still unsure about the real meaning of the words Yuuri had told him.

"You are doing this because… It is because Conrad is your godfather, my Mother is like a mom to you and my Brother is like your own, isn't it?"

"Well… yes… but I also didn't want to hurt you more than I already did. You earned the right to be there next to me."

Wolfram's hand escaped the comforting heat of Yuuri's to switch positions and cover the tanned one. He knew that he wasn't going to obtain a love confession from the dark haired Mazoku, but still it hurt being told that it was just about the usual care Yuuri always showed to everyone. He just had to accept it and took this like a man, even if he didn't like it a bit.

"Asking me is enough Yuuri… I don't want you to have problems in your world because of me. You won't lose Conrad, Brother and Mother as a family, I'll tell them it's fine with me."

Yuuri was taken aback by Wolfram's statement. He liked the more understanding way of acting the blond soldier was granting him lately, but in a situation like the one they were in it was awfully annoying. He would have never admitted he was missing the older Mazoku's jealousy, but he could live thinking that it just wasn't right for his fiancé to leave him do something he didn't like and worst of all lying about it.

"I-I thought you would have liked it, Wolf, but if you don't want to come I guess I'll take the principal's reprimands alone… It's not like I would ever do this to you, no matter if you say you let me. Besides I already told my schoolmates I would go with you..."

Green eyes stared up at him shimmering with love and surprise, as the reddish colour on Wolfram's cheeks became even more vivid. Something Yuuri couldn't name broke in his fiancé's courteously serious stance and a wide, sweet smile appeared just for him, before the blond Mazoku hugged him tightly.

"If things are like this, then I'll go with you! Now I know for sure that soon you will feel the same, Yuuri!"

Yuuri could see the grin hidden behind Wolfram's sweet smile, and lost a couple of seconds wondering how could his fiancé do both at the same time, before actually focusing back on the present situation.

"Wait, Wolfram! What made you believe that?"

"Don't…worry…"

Wolfram yawned as all the fatigue from his long patrol came back to him and mixed with the loosening of the tension built up during Yuuri's speech. The young Maou had no time to say anything more or call Wolfram's name before the blond fell asleep straight in his arms.

"Wolfram… You never change, do you?"

A light snore was the only answer Yuuri received but it was enough to satisfy him, as the dark hired Mazoku shifted more comfortably their bodies and prepared to reach the blond in the dream world. It had been a tiring conversation for him too, and a little nap didn't sound so bad.

After what seemed a couple of minutes Yuuri suddenly felt cold, as if someone had just lifted his bedcover. Pitch black eyes opened the same moment a well known hand laid itself on his shoulder.

"Uhn…? Günter?"

The long haired teacher let Yuuri go and withdrew a couple of inches from his king to leave him enough space to move freely.

"Your Majesty, we were about to bring you to your royal chambers… It looks like you two have fallen asleep, may I know what happened between you and our Wolfram?"

It took Yuuri a few more blinks to finally become fully aware of what had happened, where he was and what Günter was asking him. His memory came back all of sudden as soon as he noticed Wolfram's sleeping form cuddled up in Conrad's arms right in front of him.

"Nnn… We arranged to go back on Earth together for a school… uhm… project… Then Wolfram fell asleep atop me and I followed right after him, I guess."

To stress his last words the Maou let out a loud yawn and rubbed his eyes, still feeling quite sleepy.

"I don't really want to do this, but I fear we should wake him up or we'll be late."

Conrad glanced at his little brother's sleeping face, searching the strength to do what his king suggested, but he clearly couldn't find it. He looked back at his godson with a big sign of defeat hanging upon his head.

"Couldn't we just let him sleep a little longer, Your Majesty? He really had a long and tiring patrol."

Yuuri sighed deeply at Conrad's weak remark. He felt responsible for Wolfram pushing himself so hard in his absence and wished all but to wake him up from his well deserved rest, but they needed to go and once on Earth they would have been plenty of time to have dinner and sleep as much as he deserved.

"It's Yuuri, godfather. Anyway if we get back now he will be able to eat something and then he can resume sleeping… I'm sure he didn't eat anything at all to come here."

The Maou's remark earned him a knowing grin from the brown haired Mazoku, who carefully shifted his little brother in his arms and, after having reassured his king he remembered his name, tried to shook Wolfram out of his sleeping state. Yuuri soon joined him, and apparently his voice did the trick; the blond's green orbs opened back to the world to see his older brother and his fiancé above him.

"Hnn…? Yuuri, Conrad?"

Conrad helped Wolfram up and kept holding him until he was sure his little brother was awake enough to stand on his own legs. In the meanwhile Yuuri tried to make him focus back on their previous conversation to explain how they needed to go to the other world quickly.

Even if probably it hadn't been noticed by his mind, the possibility of having something to eat was quickly registered by Wolfram's stomach, which chose that moment to prove its point by grumbling appreciatively at the idea of Jennifer's curry.

After that the four Mazoku went quickly back to Shinou's temple, and Yuuri took his chance to make sure that stealing Wolfram wouldn't compromise the safety of Shin Makoku. He was promptly reassured by both Günter and Conrad, who listed a couple of convenient alternatives as well as possible replacements for the amount of time the blond would be gone.

Nonetheless each time his friends tried to ask about the reasons behind their trip on Earth all alone, Yuuri did his best to switch the subject of the conversation, much to Günter's dismay and Conrad's concern. The brown haired Mazoku had even considered asking his brother, but the blond Mazoku seemed to be more asleep than awake, so he had to change his mind and stick to his king.

When they reached the temple, they saw that some soldiers had already gathered to see how big the damage to the front door had been and then report everything to Gwendal, so they could guess that the stoic Mazoku would soon join them. In other words it meant that Yuuri had to hurry if he wanted to escape a long speech about everything had happened, was happening or was going to happen.

If he wasn't on his best mood, the young Maou was sure that he would have been the one to take responsibility even about the broken door, and of course the fact that it had actually been Wolfram to destroy everything wasn't going to save him.

As they passed by the group of soldiers, Yuuri could make out Wolfram's half spoken 'sorry' directed shyly at them. That made the young Maou smile, as he compared the sensitive boy next to him with the selfish prince he had met a few years before.

Back then he had just registered his astonishing beauty, but a cute face with little inside wasn't going to make him go against everything he had believed until that day. This Wolfram though was a totally different matter: he was still the same hot headed teen he had met that infamous evening, but now he knew that the older Mazoku was much more than that.

Wolfram had grown into a mature, caring and gentle gorgeous young man, who deserved his respect and his attentions along with everything else he could give him. He had realized long before that he could no longer let himself believe that the blond soldier didn't actually love him, because he had gone through too much to show him how true his feelings were.

The dark haired Mazoku wasn't sure if he loved his companion or not, but until the day he would actually find the strength to dissolve the engagement, he needed to grant him the role of the fiancé he was. Just the thought of losing Wolfram as soon as there would be no obligations between them hurt his heart and made him think that maybe it was fine even if that day never came.

"Your Majesty Yuuri, finally you've come back! It's been two hours since your departure, we were beginning to worry."

The childlike priestess welcomed everyone back with a sweet smile and a small bow. The black haired Maou looked guiltily at the silver haired woman and lightly bowed his head in apologize.

"I'm sorry, Ulrike, we fell asleep underneath a tree, so…"

Soft whispering by his side distracted him making him turn his head. He noticed Conrad speaking to Wolfram, most likely giving him advices, but it surprised him when the brown haired Mazoku stuffed something he couldn't identify in his bewildered brother's pocket.

"Conrad?"

Wolfram left in hurry his brother's side with a soft shade of pink on his cheeks and reached for Yuuri's arm, leading him away from the older Mazoku who kept his usual smile for his king and his little brother as if he had done absolutely nothing to embarrass the blond.

Yuuri guessed that he had better not ask, fearing one of his beloved godfather's lame puns, and led Wolfram towards the fountain.

"Well, we'd better get going… I guess it won't take more than a week."

Conrad and Ulrike smiled their goodbye to the two boys, while Günter whined about how it had been so unfair to get the honour to see his king just to see him depart again this soon. Yuuri opened the passage to Earth and with a last apology to his friends, jumped inside the clear substance bringing the blond along with him.

The impact with the cold water managed to make Wolfram fully awake and, as they both emerged in the warmness of Yuuri's bathroom, a yell stressed this.

"You could have warned me!"

"Why did you think we were on the edge of the fountain for, if not to jump in?!"

"Couldn't you have been a feather demon instead of a water one?"

"There are feather demons, too?"

Wolfram was cut short in his abruptly woken up distress by a cheerful voice who barely announced itself before Yuuri's mother cheerfully appeared at the door.

"Wolchan! Yuuchan! I'm so happy you made it in time for dinner!"

With those words Jennifer pounced on her son and his fiancé and hugged them tightly, absolutely uncaring of the state of nakedness and wetness of her two victims. She let them go just before she managed to choke them, and then happily went gathering their towels and dry clothes.

After completing her tasks, the brown haired woman left the two boys alone and went back to the kitchen to add the final touch to her prized dish and to think about how she could snatch Wolfram away to discuss with him the wedding details without her son around.

Once they had been left alone, the two Mazoku began to dry up and get dressed in an uncomfortable silence, that partially worried Yuuri. He wasn't used to a quiet Wolfram unless he was sleepy or seasick.

"I'm sorry I put you up to this, Wolf."

The blond sighed as he let a hand ran loosely through his hair to set it back in place, and stared softly at his fiancé with his big shining green eyes. Yuuri felt a lump forming in his throat and his breath caught along with it.

"Yuuri, it is quite unpleasant if you barely apologize to your fiancé for cheating and putting yourself in danger, but you keep doing that when you are finally treating him the way you should."

"Uhm… So… You're happy to be here?"

Wolfram's eyes softened even more as he gazed at his fiancé's face, fighting against his need to caress his tanned cheeks, and smiled at him.

"Yes, of course. That's maybe the first time you actually involved me in something official as your fiancé."

The older Mazoku's eyes clouded a bit as he took his wet clothes and took out the stuff he had still left in his pockets, just to resume his cool stare a moment later.

"And, even if I didn't like this, I would never spoil myself the only occasion I may have to be around you like this."

Yuuri finally managed to swallow the lump in his throat, but he still couldn't find a good way to cheer up his friend and, before he could actually think about a proper answer, he was saved by his mother's call for dinner. They both went downstairs quickly, both of them quite hungry after the long day.

All went for the best for Yuuri: the whole Saint Valentine's festival thing was kept secret from his family, the curry filled Wolfram's starving stomach getting the blond in a good mood, and he managed to keep the older Mazoku and his mother at a safe distance so that she wouldn't start discussing about wedding dresses none of them would ever be dressed in with as long as he was alive.

After dinner they went up to Yuuri's room and, as they got ready for the night, the dark haired Maou took his chance to quickly remind his fiancé of the usual things that had to be kept secret in his world, and Wolfram happily noticed that their engagement wasn't between them anymore.

Yuuri took out the clothes he had chosen for the festival for both himself and Wolfram to show them to the older Mazoku peeking over his shoulders.

"So? What about these?"

The blond soldier scrutinized them, but didn't add any comment except for a soft mumble while he was considering if he could stand them or not. Yuuri pouted, but he knew from the very beginning that Earth male fashion wasn't something the blond Mazoku liked unless it was on his dark haired fiancé.

"The girl who spoke about this in our class, Takada, was a girl from the athletic club, so I took in consideration that some stuff could be games or physical competitions. I usually let you borrow my jeans, but I thought it would have been hard for you to move easily in them and that maybe you would have preferred something more comfortable."

Wolfram glanced questioningly at his fiancé, while his warm breath tickled Yuuri's ear as he closed up the space between them.

"I see you gave the thing a great thought, Yuuri. It doesn't look like you actually didn't want to do it."

Yuuri took his time before giving him his answer, since he was too busy enjoying breathing in Wolfram's faint scent surrounding him. He didn't know why something like that affected him so much, but in the end he collected back his thoughts and turned to his companion smiling as ordinarily as he could manage to.

"Well, if I have to do this, I'd better enjoy it and try to win, shouldn't I? Moreover I'm paired up with you, and together we have rarely failed."

Wolfram felt his cheeks burn up as his eyes locked with Yuuri's dark ones, totally captured by his nice words for once meant for him. If this was a dream, he surely didn't want to wake up, but if it really had been one, now there would have been a kiss and after that lots of touching, bites and lickings.

He actually was rather in the mood to dare at least a light peck on his king lips, but things were turning out too perfect to risk making his fiancé angry and spoil everything.

The blond tried to answer his fiancé, but he his entire body seemed frozen still. Yuuri on the other hand was quite happy that he had managed to escape safely the weird situation and, to add a final touch to his own achievement, he decided to take a hold of Wolfram's shoulder to stress how they were strong together.

This small gesture sent the older Mazoku's heartbeat into a frenzy and the blond soldier felt even more willing to give in to his desires.

"Yuuri…"

The black haired Maou felt the air tense around him and a light blush reddened his cheeks, so that he had to break the eye contact with Wolfram to prevent himself to fall into something he shouldn't think about.

"Uhm…let's go to sleep Wolf. We have a long day tomorrow."

Yuuri ran to hide under his covers leaving a fooled around Wolfram behind him. The blond fought against the desire to kill his fiancé, but in the end he just sighed and proceeded to follow his dark haired wimp under the sheets. Without saying another word aside from goodnight, the two fell quickly asleep with their backs against each other.

The next morning the first to wake up was the black haired Maou, who mechanically recognized his alarm clock trill and sat up rubbing the back of his head to remember his plans for the day. Finding his mind quite sleepy and uncooperative, Yuuri tried to get off the bed, but he found his way blocked by Wolfram, who had so struggled during the night that his head currently rested on his legs.

Yuuri's memory snapped back and he realized they both needed to hurry up or they would be late and everything he had accomplished the day before would have been done in vain.

"Wolf, wake up…"

His voice was a low growl, but he was sure that even if he had screamed, there was no way that the blond would have woken up so easily. Somehow he managed to let his legs slip out from underneath Wolfram's head and with his still sleep clouded mind tried to set in order his own pyjama, failing miserably.

He gained a little bit of comfort only thanks to the fact that his companion had ended up half stripped just like him. Yuuri moved, still lost in a sleeping haze, straddled the older Mazoku and began shaking him by his shoulders.

"C'mon Wolf, I'll let you sleep for as long as you want when we finish this up…"

Without realizing it, the blond soldier began regaining consciousness, and obviously Jennifer chose that precise moment to enter Yuuri's room. What she saw was her youngest son straddling his fiancé's waist, both of them being half undressed and looking at each other with half lidded eyes in an expression that she mistook for passion.

The embarrassed woman left quickly the room, slamming the door behind her. The sound was loud enough to make Wolfram remember his training as a soldier as he jumped up in alert so quickly that Yuuri had no time to move away before their foreheads collided against each other with a loud scream from both the two Mazoku.

"I'm sorry to have interrupted your morning cuddle, Yuuchan! Although you two should really get dressed for school before you're late! We can leave you and Wolchan the house free this afternoon if you want more time for yourselves anyway…"

A startled 'Mom!' echoed inside the room, but nobody answered back, so the black haired teen guessed that his weird mother had already left, and worse of all, she thought that she had prevented him from having sex with Wolfram.

Yuuri rubbed his forehead and glared at his companion wishing to plainly tell him that it was all his fault, but as soon as he saw the blond's pained expression his words of anger left space to more concerned ones.

"Wolf, are you ok?"

Wolfram nodded, but he still kept his hand where they had crashed together, so Yuuri wasn't really sure about the reliability of his reply. For this reason he ventured his hand on his fiancé's shoulder, but was coldly met with a glare.

"Why were you on top of me like that!?"

"Oi. Calm down! I just wanted to wake you up! It seemed a good idea when I was half asleep… Anyway we are both awake by now."

Wolfram nodded his agreement, got off the bed and began to dress silently along with his fiancé. While they were getting ready, Yuuri did his best to read the blond's feelings and he gladly found out that for him he was an open book as always.

"Are you embarrassed?"

The blond Mazoku didn't even bother to face his companion in order to answer him, but the small frown on his face could be clearly seen by Yuuri and it was the clearest answer he could ever get.

"Of course I am. Now probably your mother thinks that we already went that far! How can I face her now? Probably now in her mind I'm the boy who took her child's virginity…"

Yuuri was sure he'd have lots of arguments against what Wolfram said: they were two boys, he was too young to think about that kind of thing or, the easiest, they had better hurry up; but in the end that was not what his mouth said.

"Wait, why should you have been the one taking my virginity?"

Wolfram stared at his fiancé like he had grown another head. Of all the remarks he would ever expect from the black haired Mazoku, this surely wasn't one that needed clarification.

"Maybe because you were straddling me, wimp? Don't be hasty, it's not like I have any preferences in the matter."

The last sentence killed Yuuri's self control and sent his face on flames, more for his own lack of retorts against Wolfram's openly admitted desires, than for the sentiment itself.

Yuuri let the argument die there along with the last traces of his confidence, and as soon as they finished getting ready, he led Wolfram downstairs to the kitchen, hoping to get the chance to clarify that misunderstanding.

After a quick breakfast during which Jennifer pointedly ignored her son's version of the latest events, the two Mazoku headed together towards the school.

It was strange going there together, since none of them had hardly even considered that their life in Shin Makoku could ever mingle with the one on Earth until they discovered that the last box was in this world. Even stranger was to notice the lots of people turning to stare in their direction in a way that Wolfram couldn't understand and absolutely didn't like.

"Oi, Yuuri, why do they look at us like that? Is this what you meant by saying that people in your world looked badly at same sex couples?"

The dark haired Mazoku gave a quick glance around them to check the situation and then chuckled at his fiancé's naiveté. He was happy that at least on Earth he could enjoy teaching Wolfram something he didn't know since usually it was the other way around, but it was quite funny that his companion couldn't recognize something like an adoring stare and mistook it for a hateful one.

"Wolf, they can't know we are a couple the way we are now… Besides, you're the one they're staring at."

Wolfram stared, shocked, at the dark haired boy next to him.

"Why should they?"

Yuuri's smile softened as his dark orbs met green ones and he couldn't prevent himself from thinking that Wolfram was really cute when he looked at him like that. His fiancé surely had plenty of chances to enjoy him like that and he wondered if the blond soldier had fallen for him just because he was in charge of explaining him how to behave properly.

"Because you're gorgeous, Wolf… Not to mention that your appearance really stands out among us."

The blond seemed to think about what his fiancé had told him and kept silent for a while before finally speaking out the outcome of his mind's elaborations.

"You are way more gorgeous than me, and anyway I don't like the way they are looking at me. They make me feel like a zomosagori dragon in a showcase… Anything else would be better than these stares."

The dark haired Maou kept an eye on his companion and thought about the situation they were in. An uncomfortable Wolfram was an annoyed Wolfram, and this meant that his companion would have yelled at him as soon as one of his classmates waved at him. He had to find a solution, but among the thousands possible only one came into his mind.

"Would you really accept anything else?"

The older Mazoku nodded and a second later his eyes widened at Yuuri's actions. The dark haired king let his arm slide around his fiancé's waist and dragged him closer, making Wolfram blush a deep shade of red and freeze in the strong embrace.

The blond soldier was about to ask Yuuri why he had done that, when he realized that the looks around him had changed drastically. Aside from some girls and a couple of boys squealing like Günter around his Maou, the others stared at them with blank looks in utter disgust. At some point Wolfram was sure he heard something like 'What a waste' from one of the people passing nearby.

That made Wolfram finally understand the real meaning of Yuuri's words when he said that same sex couples were a taboo in his world. It was something he usually dismissed in his mind for his lack of understanding, but now that he saw for himself what it meant, he could understand his fiancé's reservation in accepting their engagement.

"Before you ask, I'm doing this because is a rather safe hour. Adults need to go to work and kids to school, so no one would bother us. If later on they will recognize me and feel like making jokes on me, I think I can manage, because I'm used to this. You will be already safe in Shin Makoku anyway."

Wolfram's heart raced crazily in his chest and his already red cheeks became even redder.

"Why do you worry about me like this?"

Yuuri tightened his grip around the blond soldier's waist and looked away to hide the light shade of red colouring his face.

"Well, you know, I understand what it means to be confronted with a reality different from your own and… Well, I won't let you be crushed by prejudices that don't belong to your culture just because you fell in love with me."

Wolfram saddened a bit, but after that first moment of displeasure for not hearing the words he expected to, he thought that he had better enjoy the sweetness of his fiancé's action even though it held different meanings for the two of them. The blond Mazoku snorted and let his own arm slide around Yuuri's waist, letting his hand trail up his back and closing the space between them even more.

"Yeah, yeah, I won't wind up my mind, don't worry… Geeze, why can't you be sweet to me and live with that?"

Thanks to Wolfram's innocent embrace, Yuuri had an unexpected taste of his own medicine and he froze embarrassed in the older Mazoku's arms. He had to act nicely to his fiancé and treat him the way he deserved for the first time in the whole time they had been engaged… but it was turning out to be too easy and natural.

He had always thought that growing closer and used to the blond soldier's presence didn't mean actually accepting him as his life partner, but maybe, given time, he would have been bound to reconsider?

Whatever the answer was, Yuuri buried it in the back of his head and set it aside for his late twenties, an age in which he would consider himself old enough for this kind of romantic stuff. Until then no one could stop him anyway from enjoying the warmness clinging at his side and keeping up whatever he had going on with Wolfram.

Eventually they reached the school that, much to Yuuri's dismay, had been entirely decorated with pink and red hearts garlands. The young Maou looked at his fiancé to try to justify the ridiculous show of pink, but Wolfram apparently didn't dislike the whole thing and he was lost in amazement with his mouth half open.

"Wolf?"

"That's wonderful Yuuri… Can we have this on Shin Makoku too? I'm sure Greta will adore it!"

Yuuri stared puzzled at his fiancé, but luckily for him before actually asking the boy whether he was serious or not, he remembered that Wolfram wore pink negligees and in all probability pink was one of his favourite colours. Moreover the garlands were quite puffy and full of small frills in a way that could actually remind most of the older Mazoku's clothes aside from his formal uniforms.

That small consideration saved him from his first public scolding at school.

"We could tell her, and if she likes it we can arrange something… I think."

Yuuri loosened the embrace and took Wolfram's hand, almost dragging the still astounded Mazoku towards the registration dais. To add uneasiness to his distress, Yuuri noticed lots of other small stands around it and they were all full of Saint Valentine stuff such as chocolates, plushies, bracelets and necklaces with hearts.

If they were on Earth with them, Yuuri was sure that also Wolfram's brothers and Greta would have had enough stuff to lose themselves in among those overly pink stands.

"Hi Takada, where can we sign in?"

Yuuri looked down at the same brunette from the athletic club who had delivered him the great news in his class, hoping that she had forgotten what had happened three days ago altogether. Unluckily for him the girl had a sharp memory, and she showed him along with her best grin.

"Shibuya Yuuri, is Harajuku in disadvantage?"

Yuuri glared at the girl, annoyed by the infamous greeting that was more or less as old as his age.

"I thought you wouldn't have appeared before the end of the festival… What happened, your dear fiancé gave you something that made you wake up earlier?"

Yuuri snorted, clearly annoyed by his schoolmate's assumptions. Three days ago she had been terrified by his teacher to the point that she could barely talk, but now, when she was on safe grounds, she was mocking him without restraint.

"Should I ask my professor to come and wave you hello?"

Takada pouted and tried to answer back, but before she could speak Yuuri finally managed to get Wolfram's attention back from garlands and stands to the registration papers and successfully made him reach his side and look at the brunette sitting before him. Words stopped in her throat the same moment she saw the blond teen near her schoolmate.

Yuuri watched her sudden change of behaviour, not really happy with what he was seeing. The dark haired Mazoku tried to end the unpleasant situation waving a hand in front of the brunette but no reaction came from the girl, so he called her name a couple more of times and shook her shoulder a bit. Wolfram just looked at the scene with bewildered eyes.

"Is this my fault? She began staring as soon as she saw me…"

The young Maou sighed at his fiancé's words and nodded gravely. Seeing the object of her stares speaking was enough to bring Takada back to the world of the living.

"Woah, Shibuya, no wonder you kept him locked up in secret… Is he really your boyfriend?"

Yuuri felt shivers going through his body at the word boyfriend and quickly clarified their relationship for his schoolmate before Wolfram could ask what a boyfriend was.

"Fiancé actually. May we know where to sign up, now?"

The brunette looked disappointed at Yuuri, but in the end she took out the register meant for his class and wrote down his name. When the back haired Mazoku was almost sure he had cut off any possible discussion between his schoolmate and Wolfram he noticed her looking up, searching for the blond teen.

"What's your name, gorgeous?"

Yuuri bitterly stepped in between his fiancé and the young girl, before the older Mazoku could answer.

"It's Wolfram Von Bielefelt. Three words, all katakana, no kanji. I can spell it out for you."

Takada seemed disappointed about not hearing more from the pretty blond boy's voice in front of her, but nonetheless she wrote down the name without saying another word carefully following Yuuri's directions. Once the registration was concluded by signing up next to their names, the dark haired Mazoku said goodbye to his schoolmate and dragged Wolfram in what he thought would be a safe corner until the beginning of the festival.

Wolfram couldn't quite understand Yuuri's reaction, but when he saw his fiancé's angered expression he decided he had better keep quiet until his king told him what the problem was.

"You surely have some nerves calling me a cheater when you let random girls drool all over your feet!"

Wolfram stared at his fiancé not understanding the reason behind the scolding.

"What are you saying, Yuuri? Why are you jealous? I said absolutely nothing to that girl!"

Yuuri bit his tongue and mentally kicked himself, as he realized he had actually sounded like a jealous Wolfram in his worst moods. The young Maou could come up with a decent explanation for his behaviour: he just wanted to use the situation at his advantage to have Wolfram think twice before calling him a cheater, having been called a cheater himself.

The fact that he had actually sounded quite angry and that the justification had come after the action was classified by Yuuri's mind as something of minor importance.

"Why should I be jealous? You are the one always chasing me."

Wolfram snapped back at his fiancé, but instead of the yelling he had expected, the blond soldier glared at him and answered him calmly.

"You are right, I'm the one always chasing you and, you know, it's quite inappropriate since you were the one who proposed. Anyway it's not like I can do something about this except waiting for a wimp like you to realize that you like me. If I hadn't been sure about this, I would have already given up on you."

Yuuri was taken aback by Wolfram's words. The blond soldier wasn't bragging, and had said those words like they were obvious and undeniable by anyone. Maybe he had missed something in his life in Shin Makoku, but he couldn't figure out how he had done.

"How can you say I like you?"

Wolfram looked back at him like he was the biggest wimp in both worlds, and rested lazily his back onto the school's wall, not even trying to hide the small hint of embarrassment clouding his eyes.

"I'm not a wimp like you, Yuuri, and if you want to know the truth, everyone understood this except you. I'm just waiting for you to realize this and get over with the same sex taboo thing, to finally tell me your answer."

The blond soldier's behaviour somewhat annoyed Yuuri, who was still trying to understand why this conversation still seemed so off to him. The dark haired Mazoku looked back at his fiancé, waiting for him to continue and sure that he would glorify his lineage and other stuff overly important to him, but he was surprised when the older boy answered him with two green eyes filled with fear and uncertainty.

"You will tell me if you love me or not. You certainly like me, but I don't know if you can love me as a husband. I hope so, though."

Yuuri's heart missed a beat as he finally realized what his companion meant with those words. Even if his first reaction was to run away and hide, he knew that he couldn't do that unless he wanted to hurt his fiancé more than he already had.

Despite his first instinct, the young Maou closed up the space between them and embraced Wolfram tightly, hoping to make his companion realize through that hug how much he appreciated what he had done for him.

"I'm sorry Wolf."

Wolfram hugged him back and let the moment wash away any doubt that bugged him in his daily life at Yuuri's side. This was one of the rare moments in which he actually realized how he was slowly being overgrown by his fiancé, but right now he couldn't care less.

T.B.C.