Title: The More Things Change
Summary: Yozak/Conrad. Yozak doesn't like Conrad's new uniform. One-shot.
Rating: PG
Comments: This was based off a theme I found at the 7snogs community on LiveJournal. I'm not actually part of the community, since I'm not so good with deadlines, but I saw that one of their themes was "uniform" and got inspired. This story is set about a year before Yuuri arrives in Shin Makoku.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kyou Kara Maou or any of the characters therein. This is a work of fan fiction and I am receiving no profit from it.

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"What?"

Yozak cocked his head, surveying his former captain's clothes. "I said, your old one looked better on you," he repeated. "You know, the blue one with the epaulettes. I liked that one better. This one's boring."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Yozak," Conrad said with a shrug, looking back at his mirror and adjusting the cuffs of his new brown uniform. He eyed his friend in the mirror. Yozak was leaning against the doorframe with his hand on his hip, watching Conrad critically. "A change in station, a change in uniform. You know that."

"It's still boring." Yozak pushed himself away from the doorway with an exaggerated sway of his hips and approached the other man, walking around him and glaring at the plain brown uniform as if it had personally offended him. He ghosted his hands across the brunet's cloth counter-epaulettes. "You're trading down."

Conrad brushed one of his subordinate's wandering hands away distractedly. "The Shinou will be ready to bring the new Maou here in a few years. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." Yozak lifted a slender red eyebrow, but Conrad didn't elaborate. Instead, he reached out and caught the redhead's coarse leather tunic as the other soldier made another pass around him, rubbing the material critically between his fingers. Conrad looked up at his friend and raised his own scarred eyebrow. "Besides, if I'm trading down, aren't you running away?"

"Of course not. I always come back to your loving arms, don't I, captain?" Yozak asked with a roguish grin, tugging himself free.

Conrad let out an exaggerated sigh as he straightened the broad belt around his hips. "You seem to be adapting to your own change in station well enough. Gwendal thinks highly of you, even if he tries not to let anyone know." The brunet turned, surveying himself in the mirror from all angles, getting a proper feel for his new dress uniform. A smile crept into his voice as he met Yozak's curious blue eyes in the mirror. "In fact, I heard he almost paid you a compliment the other day."

Yozak smirked as he watched his friend. "He got a tic in his eye and said he was going to dock my pay if I didn't get off his desk."

Conrad's lips twitched upwards into an involuntary grin. "I think he likes you."

"You think?" Yozak laughed out loud, taking a few steps forward and slinging his arm around Conrad's shoulder. "Tell him he can keep the knitted whatever-those-things-are and give me a raise instead."

They stared at their reflections together, smiles playing on both their faces. Neither of them moved for a long moment. It had been far too long since they stood together and smiled at life like this.

"You'll be my best man when he proposes, won't you?" Yozak said, killing the silence with his laughter and slapping Conrad's back jovially. Always the first to initiate contact, Yozak was also always the first to pull away. This time was no different. He took a step back to watch his friend, eyes dancing with mischief and mirth. "Won't you?" he repeated.

"Best man? Of course," Conrad said with a smirk. "Maid of Honor? No."

"Wellers!" Yozak let out a long-suffering sigh. "No fun, no fun at all…" The burly soldier shook his head in mock disgust turned to go. He got as far as the hallway door and paused, turning back and watching Conrad in amusement.

"What's wrong?" Conrad asked, fiddling with the buttons on his new jacket.

"Nothing." The redhead grinned. "Just thinking that maybe I can get used to this new uniform after all."

"Really?" Conrad asked nonchalantly, picking invisible dust off of his collar. "Why the change of heart?"

"Simple: this one shows off your ass better," Yozak said with a wink, blowing Conrad a kiss over his shoulder as he sauntered out, swaying his hips just a little more than usual.

-Fin-