Chapter Text
“Your Majesty? May I come in?”
Ushijima let a small smile creep across his face upon hearing the voice. Satori.
“You may,” He called out as he began tidying up his desk. It had been a long day of writing response letters to kingdoms and trying to get all of his things together for the soon to be council meeting between him and the other rulers of the kingdoms in the alliance, welcoming in Karasuno’s new king and generally going over plans for future relations between kingdoms. For once Ushijima wished that another kingdom could be responsible for hosting these damn council meetings. Logically, it made sense, Shiratoizawa was the largest castle and therefore, had the most room for these types of council meetings which included a day before when the participants would arrive and get settled, the day of the meeting, and then a sort of dinner party in which the royalty could eat and talk amongst each other in the rather large lounge. All sounds fun, a weekend to relax and discuss with other members from kingdoms about potential marriages between heirs or a possible trade route with lessened taxes on goods, and if you were just attending, it was. Sure it could be a bit cold seeing as the castle was built on top of a high plateau overlooking the town, and maybe traveling there was a bit of a hassle, but otherwise, it was all well and good. However, if you were given the unfortunate job of hosting, as Ushijima so often was, the entire thing felt more like a chore than anything else. First, there were the invitations, which took up all of Wakatoshi’s morning to write. Then he would have to start hiring extra security (honestly, what were their forefathers thinking? A room of some of the wealthiest and most powerful Royalty this side of the planet for a weekend? It’s basically asking for a demon or assassin or rebellion leader to find a way in and kill any number of the Nobles) And don’t get Wakatoshi started on the catering-
In short, the young king had quite a long day.
He suspected Satori knew this, as he’d holed up in his office all day and had been cold and short with anyone that bothered him while he was working, and he was curious to know what in the hell the chocolatier had made him this time. His questions were soon answered when in came Satori, a silver dish with a frosted glass dome in his hands and that damned teasing smile already on his face.
“You aren’t too busy, I hope,” Satori asked as he set the small dish down on the single free corner of Wakatoshi’s desk.
“I was just about to go for a ride through the woods actually, but seeing as you’re here, I suppose the horses will still be there if I leave a little later than intended,” Wakatoshi responded, a small smile on his face. He couldn’t help but smile around Satori sometimes. He really truly was in love with him. He’d known that since he called the engagement with the prince of Aoba Joshai off only a few days short of the ceremony. There was just something about Tendou...he was just- different. Maybe it was because Satori was the only one who truly seemed to care about him. Everyone else knew him as stoic and a bit socially awkward, and thus somehow assumed he could take on more responsibilities than others (Case and point: hosting the damn meeting), but Satori never pretended that Wakatoshi wasn’t a person. He had this superhuman sense about when Wakatoshi was stressed or overwhelmed and while he never tried to give him advice or encourage him, he would always offer the young king a cup of hot chocolate and a listening ear, or even simply his company, talking or just the silent reassurance of someone else near him. And he didn’t seem afraid of him like the other staff did. In short, Satori was the only person who really seemed to understand Wakatoshi and love him even though he could be brass and cold and not the best at emotions, and Wakatoshi would always love Satori for that.
“I see, I can leave these here if you want-”
“No. Please, stay.”
Satori smiled and shut the door to the office before sitting down across the table from Ushijima, who was quickly shuffling stacks of paper in order and setting letters into a basket to be given to a servant and sent out to the various kingdoms.
“So, what brings you into my office today?” Wakatoshi asked as he finished up clearing off his desk, moving the tray to the center once he’d completed the task.
“Well I’d heard about how stressed out you seemed and I figured to make you a little something for your afternoon tea break,” Satori explained as he lifted the lid off the tray. Under the frosted glass dome was a bunch of intricately made chocolates, all with different decorations and shades of brown in little beds of lacey napkins. In the center, there was a teapot and two teacups, along with a small container of sugar cubes and milk. Ushijima smiled a little as he looked up at Satori. “Oh really now? And what exactly are the chocolates?”
“Half is dark chocolate with a raspberry jam filling, and half is milk chocolate with salted caramel” Satori explained with a small smile. Ushijima’s favorites. Wakatoshi was truly in love with this man.
“Thank you, Satori, that’s very kind of you,” Ushijima said with a small but warm smile. He rarely smiled around most people but somehow Satori always knew what to say.
“Of course, Ushiwaka-” Satori began before gasping and clutching his head, groaning out in pain as he did so. Ushijima immediately sat up and walked around to Satori’s side, putting a gentle hand on his back.
“Headaches again?” He asked, voice heavy with concern.
Satori nodded, eyes shut tight as he gripped his scalp in pain, it wasn’t long before horns, maybe 4 inches in length, began to grow from his head. Ushijima wondered if the intense migraines weren’t caused by Satori constantly upholding his appearance and concealing his horns with magic. Almost on instinct, Ushijima’s gaze shot over to the unlocked but closed door to his office. If anyone were to come in right now….
“I’ll be right back, can you stand?” Ushijima asked as he began to move away from the chair Satori was in. Satori nodded a little in response, much to Ushijima’s relief.
“Alright, why don’t you lay down on the couch?”
As Satori made his way to the plush purple couch that was pushed up on the side of Ushijima’s office, Ushijima locked the door and began turning the lanterns down in the room. Once he finished he walked over to satori, who was now laying down on the crushed purple velvet that cushioned the couch, his head propped up on one of the matching throw pillows. Wakatoshi sat down next to Satori, running a hand through satori’s hair as he sighed a little.
“I’m worried Satori...you’ve been getting these migraines more and more..are you positive you don’t want me to get a medic to look at you…?” Ushijima asked, his voice much softer than it had been before.
“Unless you have a medic that specializes in the anatomy of demons, I don’t think it’ll help,” Satori replied, opening his eyes a little to look at Ushijima, who sighed a little and nodded. No one other than Ushijima knew about Tendou’s being a demon, and if Ushijima could help it, no one would know.
Ushijima had met Satori when they were 12 years old. Ushijima at that point had been old enough to go on the horse trails through the forest alone so long as he didn’t stray too far from the trails. He encountered the young demon after going fairly far into the forest, and when he first saw him, had almost run back to get his father and tell him what he saw. But then Tendou started to cry, begging the young prince to help him, explaining that he had been abandoned by his parents and sentenced away from his home to this realm instead. Ushijima’s heart softened at the story, it was the dead of winter and the boy in front of him was cold, scared, and alone, He was only 12 at the time as well and Ushijima was just young enough to not understand the dangers of demons. So he agreed as long as Satori could disguise himself. He helped the young demon back to his castle and from there, disguised him as part of the staff. At first, he was just a kitchen hand, someone who washed the dishes and helped clean up the stoves and other appliances, so that no one would realize that Satori hadn’t been there before. From there, the two maintained a friendship that had been made from the original bond of simply helping him back in that snow ladened forest in the dead of winter. Eventually, both realized their feelings for the other and it led to mutual pining until Ushijima confessed over too many bottles of champagne on the fur rug in his room after a long and exhausting party celebrating his coronation.
Loving Satori was dangerous. If anyone found out he knew the chocolatier would most likely be murdered publicly and then there would be an investigation into whether any of the other staff were also secretly demons. He watched once the beheading of a demon they’d found by the kingdom walls. Of course, Satori was by his side as everyone huddled together in warm fur cloaks and awaited the death of the ‘insidious monster’. After that experience, Ushijima did his best to convince himself that he didn’t love Satori. That it was all just a passing infatuation with something outside of his otherwise luxurious and very comfortable life.
Something to make him feel like he was doing something brave and risky.
Something new.
Something exciting.
Of course, it was all a lie in the end. A move to try and preserve his heart from breaking in case someone did find out. It had almost worked too. Shortly after he got engaged to the prince of Aoba Joshai, something no one seemed to mind. The joining of the two kingdoms seemed to be enough to overlook the slim chance of an heir with two princes instead of a prince and princess. For most of it, Ushijima busied himself with planning the wedding ceremony to keep himself from thinking of Satori. It wasn’t until He was being fitted for his suit that he’d wear during the ceremony that he realized the mistake he was making. Maybe it was that he’d made Satori his best man, and seeing the look on Tendou’s face as he looked at Wakatoshi, knowing it wasn’t him he would be waiting for at the alter, that made him realize that he couldn’t go through with the wedding. Maybe it was the meeting in which they discussed who would be taking who’s last name. Maybe it was how his fiance seemed to always look at him. It didn’t matter in the end. He called the wedding off 3 days before the ceremony, much to the dismay of everyone. No one was really able to object to it, besides his then-fiance who made it very clear his resentment by way of tears, yelling, and even burning his engagement ring with his own fire powers that he’d been working on recently. But in the end, it didn’t matter. Ushijima was a king and his fiance was only a prince who hadn’t been crowned yet due to some insecurity of him not making a fit ruler.
As soon as everyone had left him alone, Ushijima went straight to Satori, asking for a word in his office, where he admitted everything and begged for the demon’s forgiveness. For a while Satori wasn’t able to go back to the relationship, still resenting the king for his actions, but eventually pining outweighed the resentment and the two have since maintained a very stable albeit secret relationship. Ushijima had almost lost Satori once, by way of his own stupid worries. He wasn’t going to get caught and lose him for good.
They’ve kept this relationship for almost a year now. A year of sneaking into Ushijima’s room to each sweets late at night and cuddle by the fireplace in his room and, on special occasions, bundle up in warm blankets and sneak out onto the roof while the snow falls around them and turns the tip of Wakatoshi’s ears and nose red.
The migraines started 6 months ago.
Satori never really talked when he first got the migraines, just that he’d started getting these random sharp pains that would be unbearable and never seemed to have a set time to them. Sometimes it would only be a few seconds, sometimes it would be for hours on end. There was no rhyme or reason to it, and it broke Ushijima’s heart to every time they’d be enjoying a moment of peace only for satori to suddenly gasp and grip his head.
Like right now
“Wakatoshi? Is everything alright?” Satori asked, looking over to the king with a hint of concern in his voice.
Ushijima looked over immediately, snapping out of his thoughts before nodding a little. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me at the moment...for now, you need to rest,” He soothed, gently draping a soft, dark purple blanket over the other. Satori relaxed a bit after a moment, letting his eyes close once more as he let out a soft yawn.
“Alright...just for a bit though,” Tendou mumbled.
“Ok..just for a bit,” Ushijima agreed, continuing to gently play with Satori’s hair until he finally fell asleep. Once he did, Ushijima stood up and carefully moved the tray with the sweets over to the small coffee table by the couch, where he poured out a cup of tea for himself before going back to his desk with the cup and sitting down in his chair. Once he was situated, he got out a fresh piece of paper and picked up his fountain pen, preparing some purple in sliver wax for when he was finished.
There was one more letter he’d need to write.
Ushijima glanced over at satori one last time before taking a deep breath and beginning to write.
Dear Tooru Oikawa, prince of Aoba Joshai.