#secretfudgebox

[ you can reveal my identity if you want. I don’t really mind because I’ll tell Den anyway since they deserve to know uou; Again I am so sorry for all of the trouble with my gifts and santas and whatnot. ]

Never Less Than Perfect

“If you could have anything you have anything, Komugi…. Anything you wanted, what would you want?”

“So stay here with you, of course!”

The King would be lying if that wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear, but he knew this wasn’t the answer he was looking for. That was just Komugi though. That was how she was. Komugi was a person of few desires and a solitary ambition. How could he get any answer from her?

There was a light clack! against the game board as Komugi moved her piece forward, calling her move. Meruem followed and returned her move perhaps a little too quickly, for the girl seemed surprised.

"No. You live here now, and I can ensure that you have anything." Meruem pressed.

"W-well…"

—-

"It’s a holiday, sir. A human holiday, but one I think that will please Lady Komugi!” What Pitou hoped to accomplish with this, Meruem had no clue. The girl was sleeping and far from waking, leaving the King to entertain his guard who probably thought she was entertaining him.

Violet eyes urged her to continue.

Pitou was probably more interested in the edible aspects of this holiday than the other parts, but knew of the king’s affections for his blind gungi master. It was only proper to make this suggestion.

She turned the page of her book, skipping over the big flying guy and his deer things and carols to get to the good stuff: the gifts.

"It’s an end-of-the-year celebration, I guess. Things you can’t get the rest of the year you’re supposed to get now. Friends and family give you free stuff, everyone eats food… lots of color and— well, she’s blind… colors don’t matters…"

Meruem removed the book from his royal guard’s paws and examined the page, memorizing it as if it were the rules of some new game. From what Meruem knew of Komugi, her family had been bad enough for her to not miss them too terribly as she stayed in the palace. She rarely spoke of them, except for those rare moments of, “Wow… I never got to do this back home.”

Nonsense like that would not exist in his palace! Komugi would be included, and her opinions taken into account!

The King rubbed a finger against his chin in deep contemplation. Komugi dodged the question often, unwilling to divulge her hopes and dreams if, indeed, she had many. He imagined they shared a similar problem when they first met, having no true goal or ambition beyond the fate set before them on their path. Paths, however, tended to deviate after a while, and with nothing in the foreseeable future in his way Meruem could make his own way.

For Komugi there seemed to be no such deviation. She was just as content to simply play her game as she had been when they first met. Meruem was not bored by the repetitive games, for each time they played she brought a new challenge to the table and no game was exactly identical.

However, Meruem’s path was lined with cobblestone, paved with gold, and lit brilliantly. He could only see Komugi’s path peppered with stones, a dirt path over which she stumbled often, until there came the day she discovered a wheeled wagon in the form of her extraordinary talent. If there was anyone in the world who did not deserve more than he had, it was Meruem, but this was not a particularly unwanted thing.

Meruem had all he wanted. Dedicated friends and family, a precious companion whom he could see as no less than perfect… who had seen many hardships and not felt the warmth of love and devotion he received every day from his guards.

If there was anything about this holiday that bothered him, it was that. Meruem was, at that moment, completely obsessed with the idea of doing something for her that she would never have seen done at home. She played her games obsessively, as if she had nothing else in her life to live for. From what she had told him, that was exactly the way things were back then

—-

Komugi lightly scratched at her unkempt, platinum hair. She scrunched her shoulders, clearly embarrassed and at a loss for words, and her stammering worsened. Komugi did not function well when she was put on the spot like this. She thought of so little beyond the now and all she should respond to Meruem with was that she was happy.

To Komugi, that was all that mattered. She was happy, content. She had everything and more than most people in her position could have had.

"I-It’s just that, Meruem… there is not a lot that I want. I am fortunate to just be here, I can’t ask for more than that." Her index fingers fidgeted with each other. She couldn’t see Meruem, but she could feel his eyes resting upon her. she always imagined Meruem’s eyes were intense and burned like fire, and the heat of his expectations charged the air.

"I am aware, Komugi… but the holidays—"

Komugi’s ears perked up.

How long had it been?

Had it really been that long since she first came here…?

Komugi breathed in heavily through her nose - well, as best as she could - and sat up tall, grinning. 

"You celebrate so little else, Meruem! I’m surprised!"

How many holidays did those guards miss!?

Meruem’s body did not betray such words.

"It’s the end of the year, of course. I say you deserve something."

Komugi’s upright stance faltered slightly. They were both so stubborn. They had a game to play…

"But I’m… I’m happy. you have given me everything, more than I could have hoped to have. I don’t deserve to ask more of you."

Meruem crossed his arms. This conversation wasn’t going in any direction he wanted, but he honestly wasn’t sure what he was expecting from her. It was Komugi, after all. This wasn’t a new conversation.

"If I might ask, Meruem," Meruem acknowledged her question with a hum and lowered his arms, "what is it you wanted?”

It was funny… Meruem had the opportunity to have anything he wanted. He could have had the world, an army. He could have judged and molded the planet as he saw it should be. He was King, a royal truly worthy of his title. And yet…

He met her. His whole world changed. This simple, complex female of insurmountable worth, someone who by the standards of her own people was less perfect. The notion was ridiculous. He could think of no one else more worthy than she to have the world at her fingertips.

He could ask for nothing more, and he understood.

Quietly, Meruem moved a piece forward, calling his move before replying.