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When Yuuri last came back from Earth, he accidentally brought one of Jennifer’s mail order catalogs* with him.
Wolfram found it fascinating, and secretly studied it behind his fiancé’s back. That was how he found out about ‘engagement rings’.
They had been engaged for almost three years now, and Yuuri never got him an engagement ring.
Truth be told, Wolfram was not too bothered. That was an Earth custom, not a mazoku one. It’s just that, well, if Yuuri so loyally followed the mazoku customs all this while, he thought it may not be a bad idea to do something Earth-y, too.
After all, marriage is a two-way thing, and in light of recent events, Wolfram may have felt the need to make a move. Just, you know, to be absolutely sure this is not a dream.
They wore rings in Shin Makoku, of course, but those were mainly a sign of status and tended to have a family crest on it. Wolfram had a few of those himself, but this time he knew he needed something different. As he understood it, these catalogs don’t mail across worlds, so he decided to have a pair of plain gold bands cast and then do the engravings himself.
Conrad said people on Earth carved names or messages inside the rings. For a while Wolfram considered copying Yuuri’s signature* but even Conrad couldn’t tell him how to write his own name in the Earth-ian language (also, ‘Lord von Bielefeld Wolfram’ may not fit on the tiny ring unless he planned to squint his eyes out), so finally he settled on just copying out some of the messages from the samples in the catalog.
He asked Conrad to verify them first, of course, and then, just in case, he asked Murata, too.
When the Sage looked at him all-knowingly with a twinkle in his eye, Wolfram had to chant “it’s for Yuuri, it’s for Yuuri” over and over again in his head just to keep himself from tossing the catalog into that smug face.
And then, finally, it was the big day.
“Wolf… Wow. You. Wow.”
Yuuri was understandably incoherent, but Wolfram would never admit that maybe he too looked a little smug for a moment there.
“Read the message. I carved it myself.”
“Really?” Yuuri felt around inside the band. “‘Even though we’re apart, our hearts are still together’*… T-that sounds familiar, haha… Though I guess we do spend some time apart, so it sorta fits… Sorta…”
Regardless of what he said, he was happy. And Wolfram knew that.
“Here, I’ll put it on for you.” Since back then, you were the one who made the first move.
But that’s when everything went wrong.
The ring didn’t fit.
“B-but… I got your size and everything…!”
“Urk… I think it’s because I’ve been practicing harder recently, with the sword and with baseball, so my knuckles…”
After a moment of panic, Wolfram could only slip the finger onto Yuuri’s pinky.
“A ring… on my pinky… Well, this brings back memories… Ahahaha…”
By now Wolfram had gone red, then pale, then red again. “You know what? Give it back. This was a stupid idea.”
“Huh? No!”
“I said, give it back!”
“No way! This is Wolfram’s precious present for me!”
“But it doesn’t fit!” Wolfram was horrified to hear something dangerously close to tears in his voice, and quickly coughed it away. “I still remember, Yuuri. I remember you writhing on the ground in pain, I remember hoping you would cut off your pinky*. This was… a stupid idea.”
“No, Wolf, I… I have an idea!”
And before Wolfram could react, Yuuri had undone the string around his neck, the one with Julia’s pendant hanging on it, and added the ring to the leather cord.
“Wolf,” he beamed, holding out the string, pendant, ring and all. “Could you please put this on for me?”
Wordlessly Wolfram obliged.
“This is better, don’t you think?” Yuuri chattered away as Wolfram tried to tie a knot with shaking hands. “If I keep it on my pinky, I could lose it, or anyone could chop off my finger and it’ll be gone. But when it’s around my neck… Hehe, they’ll have to chop through my neck first.”
The pinky represents a promise. The neck represents a life. A lifetime.
“…Is that what they mean by tying the knot?”
“T-that’s cold, Wolf…”
“Haha… Hahaha!” Wolfram wiped the tears away from his eyes with his wrist. “I kinda wish you didn’t have Conrad’s present there too, though. And if you dare give away that ring or exchange it for anything like you did the pendant*, so help me, Yuuri…”
“W-wait!” Yuuri fumbled with his pockets and found something. “This… This brooch is the first present you gave me, right?”
And he carefully pinned it over his heart.
“…Happy now?”
“…Mn.”
“T-then… Can I put your ring on for you?”
*
I still want a wedding ring, though, Wolfram had mumbled quietly, though I wasn’t too sure whether he meant for me to hear it.
I’m pretty sure I grinned then, like an idiot. How many things does he want to weigh me down with? Nevertheless… this is the weight of his l-lo… his feelings, I guess.
As long as it’s not red or pink, I replied.