Chapter Text
It took a couple of days for the news to spread that the usurper king was dead and that the true king’s son had taken his place, but Yuu was glad of it. It gave him a couple of days to process and come to terms with what had happened. It was strange to have nothing to work towards anymore, but when a couple of days passed he didn’t have much time to think about anything.
He had to put Kureto’s army on trial one by one and that took a week on its own. Not only Yuu, but a council of him, Mika, Shinoa, Mitsuba, Kimizuki, and Yoichi had to go through each person individually, question them and decide whether they should be locked away, exiled or allowed to return to their families. Most of them ended up admitting to being threatened, and a few had the audacity to look him in the eye and say they still stood by Kureto.
In the end, it was a full two weeks before Yuu could even begin to think about his coronation, but luckily Shinoa seemed more than happy to take most of the responsibility for that. All Yuu needed to do was show up for fittings, rehearsals, and then the actual thing. Everything was fine, he just wished he could talk to Mika.
It wasn’t as if the blonde was avoiding him, he was just really busy with trying to get the city guard and rebels trained up to be on their level. Yuu knew that once he was officially king he was going to name Mika his official guard, seriously there was no way he’d have lived long enough to accomplish what he had without him, but aside from all that, he just wanted to spend time with his best friend.
“Someone’s pining~!” Shinoa grinned as she came over to him from where she’d been standing during the rehearsal.
“Don’t go there. I just wish he was here while I was doing this...he’s got me through much and now we’re near the end and he isn’t around!” Yuu sat down on the steps in front of the throne.
“He’ll be there on the day, you know?” Shinoa pointed to a small mark on the floor. “See, he’ll be stood there, right next to you.”
“I know, I just hoped I could talk to him.”
“About…?”
“Everything!” He threw his hands up and got to his feet. “I know he’s busy doing important things, which is why I don’t just order him to come to my room.”
“Well, there’s a party after the coronation...I could see if I can keep the attention off of the two of you long enough for you to have some alone time.” She nudged him and winked.
“Thanks Shinoa.”
***
The coronation went exactly to plan, and now that he was here...it felt even weirder. Mainly because he now hard to walk around with a big metal hat on and it was heavy. As he made his way into the banquet hall, where there were snacks and drinks waiting for those in attendance, he could hear several distinct voices laughing at him.
“What? What am I doing wrong now?” He turned to see his friends holding their laughter in.
“You don’t have to wear that all the time you know?” Mistuba grinned at him.
“What?! But you said Mika-”
“He was kidding you dummy!” The purple haired girl gasped.
“No no no, Shinoa, he’s a royal dummy now!” Kimizuki nudged her, also gasping for breath.
Yoichi, as usual, was the only one to take pity on him and removed the heavy crown, taking it away to place it on a pedestal at one wall in the room. As he scowled at the others for letting him think that it was mandatory for him to wear the crown any time he was doing something that involved people, his parent’s friends all gathered around him to congratulate him. He expected Sayuri to burst into tears, as she did, what caught him off guard...was Goshi pulling him into a crushing hug and sobbing about how proud Guren and Shinya would be of him.
As he peered over the older man’s shoulder, his eyes were drawn to a blonde head of hair, the person it belonged to smirking at him with a certain fondness and shaking his head at the sight. Yuu could only watch as Mika disappeared out onto a balcony, and he knew that he had to quickly go and join him before people started wanting to talk to them both.
“Thanks you guys, I really couldn’t have done this without you. I’m just gonna...go over there…”
As he wiggled away from the group, Shinoa smirking knowingly at him, he was vaguely aware of Shigure scolding Goshi for making him uncomfortable. That wasn’t the case, but it kept the others distracted as he joined his best friend.
“You know...kinda mean to be playing jokes like that on my coronation.” Yuu leaned against the barrier, not looking at him as the blonde leaned back against the balcony railing.
“I thought it might lighten the mood. And...let you know that I’m not ignoring you.”
“Listen, I know you’re not. You’ve had more to do than I have. I just got so used to you being there nearly all the time” Yuu shrugged.
“Have you been ok? Looking after yourself?” Mika turned to him, finally.
“Yes, mom .” Yuu laughed, looking up at him. “Seriously though, I’ve been trying. I knew if I looked like I was dead on my feet then you’d have kicked my ass before the crown even touched my head.”
“Damn right. You look great by the way, like you really belong here.”
A silence fell over them as they let things process for a moment, the implications of what had happened finally sinking in.
“Everything’s different now…it just feels...I don’t know. I should feel happy about it, but I just feel numb instead.”
“He’s dead and gone, what’s done is done. All we can do now is move on and try to fix the mess that he made.”
It seemed like Mika wanted to say something, like he had something on his mind that he couldn’t voice properly. Instead, he stood up straight and pushed Yuu’s hair away from his face. It took Yuu a minute of wondering what he was doing until the blonde pressed a kiss to his forehead.
“Mika…?”
“We should get back to your party, I ducked out of a conversation with someone looking to get his son into the royal guard to come out here. And I think some people still want to talk to you, your Majesty.” The blonde grinned. “When the dancing starts though...make sure you save me one.”
With a wink, he was gone, disappearing into the crowd of people without a trace leaving Yuu beyond confused. Mika, as usual, was right though. He had more people to talk to, and now that he was king he had to make friends to keep the country going.
While he was talking to someone, an old man who’d apparently known his grandfather and had met him before the exile even though Yuu had no idea what his name even was, people began to dance in the center of the room. That’s when he began to get restless, cause not only could he see Kimizuki and Shinoa dancing with Yoichi and Mitsuba respectively, he could see Mika dancing with Chess, obviously waiting for Yuu to finish his conversation.
The blonde caught him staring, then smirked as he spun the shorter girl around, making her giggle with delight at finally being back where she belonged. All of them were from important families to the crown, the exception being Yuu who’s father married into it but that didn’t change anything.
“You know, it had been lovely to talk to you. I will go find Mikaela now, and tell him about your son, alright? Oh look, there he is now!”
Yuu darted away from the man, nodding firmly that he would talk to the blonde about getting his son in the guard and made a B-line him, dodging all of the people in his way. Once he made it to Mika, he tapped Chess on the shoulder; smiling when she turned to him.
“Mind if I take over for a minute?” He asked.
“Of course, your majesty~!” She smirked, twirling into Horn’s arms as if it was rehearsed.
Mika pulled him close, immediately taking control of the dance as he spun Yuu around. The knowing grin on the blonde’s face told his friend everything that he needed to know, that the whole time he’d been dancing with Chess had been to tease him.
“You've been unusually mean this evening.” Yuu muttered.
“Hey, you may be the king now but no one wants you getting too serious, Yuu-chan .”
Yuu laughed and rested his head on Mika’s chest as they moved around the dance floor. The world kept moving around them, but on that night, in this one city, an entire society changed. Yuu could only hope that from now on, that it had changed for the better.