Title: It's What You Want That Counts
Author: Moi
Chapter: Oneshot
Warnings: none, really.
Characters: Conrad, Wolfram, Cherie, Gwendal, Dan Hiri
Rating: G
Notes: A quick gift for
ruby_dream. Happy Birthday, girl. :D
Set sometime after Wolfram finds out Conrad is half-human, not sure when exactly.
It's What You Want That Counts
Wolfram, Conrad knew, had always been a spoilt child, right from the day he'd been born.
He had a mother that fussed over him every opportunity she got, giving him the attention and love the boy's father would have recieved if he was at home more often.
Gwendal, though seeming distant and even cold to outsiders, had a truely gentle side he rarely let anyone see. When he thought noone would notice, the oldest Mazoku prince would slip into his brother's bedchambers to watch over the infant as he slept. Conrad still fondly remembered when he had once walked in on the two playing with Wolframs many stuffed toys. Gwendal had first stared blankly, cleared his throat and then left the room with as much dignity as one could gather when one had been caught playing with a pink silk unicorn.
He himself, of course was just as guilty of spoiling his younger brother. There were few things he could refuse, few times he could utter a convincing “No.” when a set of emerald eyes stared so demandingly up at him and the fine lips were curved in an indignant pout.
Presents had always been a regular occuranance, whether it had been the newest clothes their mother had the seamstesses sew, the new fancy sweets the cook had dreamed up or the newest toys his father's messenger brought instead of visiting the castle himself.
Birthdays were no different, save for the fact that the gifts were more plentiful and more splendid that ever,because the whole kingdom wanted to honour the occasion. But neither the artfully crafted set of Mazokzu soldiers, nor the newest books with the most elaborate illustrations, and not even the nimble white pony he had been given could capture the boy's attention for long.
“Happy birthday, Wofram.” Conrad smiled evenly, extending a small, neatly wrapped parcel towards him.
He had made it a habit early on to always bring Wolfram some kind of memento from his travels, because he always looked so sad when Dan Hiri came to pick him up and take him away. Last time, it had been a seashell he'd gathered up at the Small Shimaron coast, the biggest and most colourful one he had been able to find. He had known Wolfram would adore the gift, because, no matter where a shell was found, the sound Wolfram heard was just the same as in any New Makoku seashell. Every place was connected and therefore, he had always told him, they were never truely apart.
Young Wolfram had loved that story, but then again, that had been before he had found out about who - or rather what Conrad's father truely was. Now, the best Conrad could expect was being treated like air.
“I don't need any present of yours, human!” Wolfram shouted and the parcel was tossed into a corner, where it remained despite all of Cherie's attempts at making her son appologise. In the end, the blond stormed out of the dining hall and locked himself in his room.
Even though it hurt, Conrad accepted the rejection.
However, he couldn't suppress a smile, when a few days later he found the silver wrapping paper all crumpled up in a corner of the boy's bed chambers, the shell nowhere in sight.