Mornings after.

The sun rose above the Shin Makoku sky as it had every day before that day, and yet, the rays of sunlight reaching Yuuri's skin seemed somewhat unfamiliar.

He turned, still half asleep trying to avoid the light, and also that strange feeling in the middle of his chest, like something was utterly different in the world this morning.. What was it exactly?, he couldn't really bring his clouded mind to an awoken state, he was sure there was something... something he needed to remember right that second or he would regret it.

That's when it hit him.

His eyes wide open and his mind in a haze, he quickly sat up in the bed and turned to the window, where the body against the sunlight of the man who had slept beside him made a shadow over his face.

"Good morning" Murata said and Yuuri jumped slightly. Ok... this was really happening, really, really happening...

Ken had been up for a while now, he hadn't really spent the night awake as he had expected. Without realizing it, he had let himself drift into sleep while in Shibuya's arms and then he had woken up with his head still buried deep in Shibuya's chest.

It had been a bittersweet feeling. Somehow, he had managed to attain something he never thought would even come within his reach, but at the same time, there was a big, threatening chance that what had happened last night would reap him of his friendship with the man he loved, leaving him nothing in return.

He tried to hide a small sigh of sad acceptance while putting on his jacket and then he turned to face Shibuya, who had failed to return his greeting. All he could do now was try to lighten the atmosphere somehow, it was obvious that pretending nothing happened wasn't going to work, so he chose the next best possibility, make light of the situation.

"Talk about uncomfortable mornings after uh?" he said and faked a smile. That was something he was incredibly good at, too much for his own good.

"Yeah..." Somehow Shibuya's expression was different from what Ken had expected, although he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Look about that. I think... You know how I just got out of an eight years long engagement and..."

At that point Ken stopped paying attention, was he really going to use that 'I just got out of a serious relationship' crap to dump him?. It was really unnecessary. Somehow Ken had thought that if Shibuya was going to say something, because there was always the possibility of him just literally running off, that he would've at least properly thought about it and given him an honest response... But well, he had already made his share of mistakes concerning his king, one more wasn't that much of a surprise.

"... so I... well, you know... Hey! Are you even listening?"

Ken was a bit taken aback by the sudden raise in volume but he managed not to show it on his face.

"Of course I am" he lied, although it wasn't like he wasn't listening at all, he was just not paying that much attention. If he was going to be dumped, it might as well be sooner than later, the long babble was starting to bother him.

"Anyway... I really know nothing about any of this and I was hoping maybe we could sort of take things slow"

"Uh?" For a moment Ken was utterly speechless, he wasn't expecting to hear that, so he couldn't really make sense of it, those words made no sense in that order, not in this situation at least, not for him to be hearing them.

"Oh come on! You're doing this on purpose aren't you? You're really gonna make me say it"

Ken was about to answer that he really didn't know what he was talking about, but chose to remain silent and just question Shibuya with his eyes, he was so puzzled it felt ridiculous.

"Ok, see... you know how I've never really had any real experience with this things... and we're both from Earth so it's like, doing this normally and all... although we're both men so comparing it with back home maybe 'normal' is not the right word... I mean, I'm not ready to get married or to be engaged and I also don't think it would be good at this point since I just broke it off with Wolf... Although maybe here it would be like courting or something? I guess anything else would seem just like the king had a lover, like in a secret illicit lover... I haven't really thought about it that far ahead, but that wouldn't be good; well, for you I mean..."

Murata blinked twice, as to assure himself his eyes were open and he was awake. It had been some time since he had last seen Shibuya rambling like this, it was like he had completely forgotten they were together in the room and had just started talking to himself.

In any case, this whole thing couldn't possibly mean what he was thinking it meant, right? But Shibuya kept going on and on and on, and he was starting to get impatient.

"Say, Shibuya" he interrupted in a soft voice while looking at Shibuya's chest that was now in front of him, after Shibuya got up from the bed, somewhere in the middle of his ramblings he had made his way to his side of the bed. Ken couldn't really bring himself to look at him in the eyes. He received an equally soft 'hm?' in response, and then there was silence, finally.

Putting on his best poker face and using up all of his strength Ken managed to look up and meet those deep black orbs that were staring back at him intently, as if hanging by a thread.

"Are you, by any chance, trying to say that you like me, and that you want to go out with me?"

Shibuya's face turned three shades of red, Ken would have sworn even his ears turned red. He averted his gaze and nodded, ever so slowly.

Ken looked down and grinned, his eyes covered by the glint of his glasses. He felt so light, this scenario was beyond his wildest dreams. But this wasn't the moment to show it yet.

"You know Shibuya." he said while stepping forward. "I've been waiting for this for a long time now. I wouldn't trust me to take it slow" The crimson blush in Shibuya's cheeks was simply priceless.

"Would you answer me already!?"

Ken chuckled "Well, you haven't asked anything yet" he was being mean, he knew that, but he was enjoying this so freaking much, he couldn't help himself.

Yuuri groaned "... I really hate you right now" he said softly, and let his shoulders fall in defeat.

"I very much doubt that you do" Ken answered and smiled softly.

Yuuri was sure he had never heard that tone of voice before in Murata, and a very warm feeling started creeping up his stomach. And that smile... it was something he had been longing to see without even realizing it, a true smile, not a fake one, not a diplomatic one, but one from the heart. Before he had a chance to notice, he had managed to gather his courage.

"Murata... would you like to go out with me?"

Sweet words like droplets of rain in the desert. Ken knew then that feeling was absolute bliss, and relief. He leaned forwards with his hands behind his back, until his lips were only an inch away from Shibuya's left ear.

"I accept. Heika" he purred with a sigh and lingered in position for only about two seconds, then he pulled away and walked to the door, leaving Yuuri dumbstruck and stuck to the ground.

Yuuri's mind had made a complete back flip, he felt dizzy. Had Murata ever called him that before? How did he managed to make the word sound so lewd.

So. Freakin'. Sexy.

This was dangerous.

"Oh, that's right. I heard the maids say lord Weller is back from his journey. Say hi to him for me" Ken said, already halfway out the door.

"Wait, you're not coming for breakfast? It's still early" Yuuri said, trying to push away the heat from his face, and the haze from his thoughts.

"There is something I need to do"

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...oOo...

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"Conrad!" Yuuri almost yelled when he saw his godfather walking in his direction from the opposite side of the long aisle leading to the dining hall.

Both men fastened their pace and were soon in front of each other.

"Good morning Heika" Conrart said with a small bow and his trademark smile.

"Cut it out, you know this speech by heart now, you are my godfather, call me Yuuri for God's sake" he answered playfully. "I thought you weren't coming back for at least a month"

Yuuri had been pretty distracted lately, that he admitted, but he took his work seriously and he hadn't seen any letters saying the brunette would be coming back early.

"Actually I wasn't planning to, but mother insisted I'd be here to greet her, apparently she´s coming back only for the week and Stoffel has apparently prolonged his stay to see her, I sent a letter in a hurry before departing yesterday" Conrart knew Stoffel was only using seeing his sister as an excuse to get close to the Maou now that he was available and had decided to grant her mother´s wish mostly out of concern, leaving the construction site for only a week and in very trusted hands as well.

Cheri was coming back and Stoffel hadn't left? Yuuri was almost sure he had seen him go yesterday, and even if he had stayed, shouldn't someone inform him about this kind of thing? Furthermore, if Cheri's ship was coming back, that meant Annissina was coming back as well didn't it?

Adding the dots in his head took a few seconds, Gwenal was probably worried about him, he had left yesterday without really talking to anyone once Wolfram had left, so even if someone meant to give him the news, it would have been difficult, and maybe nobody wanted to upset him any further, Stoffel staying was quite upsetting, considering he was now single… or wasn't he?

But really, none of it mattered, the castle was going to come alive again, the people he loved and missed were coming back… well, most of them. And besides, he had another motive to be happy that morning.

Yuuri was in such a state of dizzy satisfaction he made no effort to hide it, and of course, it didn't go unnoticed by the brown haired soldier who knew him well enough to see through him even when trying to disguise his feelings.

That was definitely not the image Conrart was expecting to find. Yes, he had been gone for a few months, but the Yuuri he had left behind was completely broken hearted, and he knew the roundtable to discuss the breaking of the engagement had been only just yesterday.

Don't get it wrong, he was happy to see his godson was in high spirits, but it was unexpected, to say the least. Exactly what had happened while he was gone?

Already half of breakfast had been spent discussing the construction site, which Yuuri was apparently very excited about and Günter was thrilled with this fact.

Gwendal and Conrart had exchanged a few silent glances in between, apparently neither of them understood exactly what had changed; for Gwendal specially, this behavior was more than a bit strange. It was true Yuuri had seemed to be well kept together at the roundtable, but he hadn't smiled like this in months, ever since Wolfram had gone away.

The way they saw it there was only two possible explanations. One, the weight being now lifted from his shoulders after the meeting, Yuuri finally felt relaxed and was happy to have seen Wolfram again, or two, something had happened, something they knew nothing about. Thinking about it, option two was the most likely, since this level of excitement could hardly be explained by the first.

Moments like this were hard for the two men, happy to see their beloved king in high spirits on the one side and a little pisssed to see him so cheerful after dumping their little brother... well, technically it had been Wolfram who did the dumping, but it was clear the reason behind it wasn't exactly simple. Getting into it meant getting themselves a headache for sure, and the former royal couple had already given them both way too many to keep raising the score. So just ignoring the subject was the general rule in this cases.

For Gwendal it was simple, to a certain extent, for Conrart not so much. He wasn't exactly the kind of person who would butt into other people's business, but he often ended up doing it anyway when it was concerning Yuuri, not that he meant or liked to, maybe it was just one of destiny's side effects to having cared for his soul even before it was actually his.

And this wasn't going to be the exception:

"Conrad, now that this matter has been settled, how about we finish up here and go play some catch and catch up before lunch?" Yuuri asked, pulling both brothers out of their thoughts. The pun was unintended, but it amused Conrart nonetheless.

Normally, Gwendal would have protested, but there was actually no paperwork left from previous days and he could use the time alone knitting in peace.

"Sure, Yuuri, I would like that"

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...oOo...

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To say Yuuri had sorted out his feeling would had been inexact, he was happy yes, that much he knew, but he wasn't sure at all of what he was doing or how he was supposed to do it. There were still a lot of unanswered questions circling around in his head, but the night before, after seeing how Murata's face had changed when they stopped kissing, he had made a resolution, or sort of…

Playing catch had always managed to clear his head, the repetitive movement helped him think with a much more leveled head.

He wasn't about to commit the same mistakes twice, he knew he had been hasty to ask Murata out like that, but he thought he had to do something, no, he wanted to do something, and he wanted to do it before it was too late. Murata's words that morning had proven him right, he had been waiting, for what? Yuuri wasn't sure, but he wasn't waiting anymore.

The moment his lips had touched Murata's he knew, he realized why he had been so upset, so flustered up to that point, he liked Murata… in a romantic way… he was attracted to him.

Only thinking those words in that order made him miss the ball being thrown at him, very awkwardly.

"Is something wrong Yuuri?" Conrart asked, looking at the unreadable expression on his godson's eyes.

Yuuri pondered over the question for a second, there was actually a lot of wrong going on, so much had happened in so little time he was actually unable to think two things at once. Could he actually talk to Conrad about it? He wanted to, he needed to say things out loud to be sure they were real, but this was the older brother of his former fiance… thinking of Wolfram as his ex was weird in and of itself.

"I… I'm not sure" he finally answered, he didn't want to lie, and to be honest, if he was going to have a relationship with someone, whoever that person was, it wasn't like he was going to be able to hide it for too long.

As if reading Yuuri's mind, Conrart walked to take a seat on a near by bench and signaled for Yuuri to do the same. He smiled his usual reassuring smile and kept in silence, waiting for his godson to gather his thoughts.

"I'm really not sure you of all people are gonna wanna hear this" Yuuri said, almost like talking to himself and Conrart chuckled lightly, on that point, Yuuri was at least halfway right. He had a good idea of the topic they were about to discuss, and even though he wasn't eager to hear it, he was prepared for it, and he wanted to help his king in any way possible, above all things.

Seeing as Conrad only kept on smiling in the same way, Yuuri groaned in frustration and accepted the fact that they were probably going to be stuck there until he spoke, so he had to try and say it coherently.

"Long ago I realized that the whole gender thing wasn't really as much of an issue as I thought when I first got here, but that didn't mean that I particularly like men, it didn't mean I could love Wolf like he deserved either…"

Until this part, Conrart already knew, he had noticed both boys suffering over that very fact the past years, it wasn't that Yuuri didn't love Wolfram because he was a man, he just didn't love him, not that way at least, and that was maybe even worse.

"To whom our hearts turns is not something we should beat ourselves about" he said, remembering how the choices of his heart hadn't exactly been the most wise either, probably.

"But you see, I…" and at that point Yuuri no longer knew how to continue, or at least how to continue making sense, so he thought he might as well say exactly what he was thinking and maybe, just maybe, it would take form on its own. "This past months I've come to see someone else in that way, I wasn't really sure about it myself until just yesterday, and I feel terribly guilty for more than one reason, Wolf and I haven't even finished terminating the engagement… and even if we had, how can I just go and pursue someone else, how can I try to be happy after all I made him go through?"

Conrart was speechless, he hadn't expected something like this at all, who exactly was this person? He wanted so much to ask, but he just kept on looking at Yuuri with an invitation to continue in his eyes.

"Even so, even if I did, well, maybe I already did… I just didn't want to lose this person now that I came to understand my feelings, so I jumped without thinking"

Jumped to what? More and more questions piled up on Conrart´s head, and it seemed like Yuuri was speaking more to himself than him.

"I think the feelings this persons has for me are much deeper than mine, although I don't wanna sound full of myself, but I'm just figuring things out myself now and I don't wanna make the same mistake twice… I just want to have this person with me, but I know the timing isn't really right, and I'm really slow for this types of things…"

Conrart was starting to form a mental picture of what had probably happened, piecing together the little coherent information Yuuri was giving, and even if it was imprudent on his part, what he actually needed to know to actually be able to give any advice or opinion was the identity of this person. He knew his godson more that well enough to know that the way he was speaking meant he was serious, this was no infatuation, and he had been really thinking about it, so even if it pained him to imagine how this news would hurt Wolfram, he would support his king's choice, he had prepared for this, he only hadn't expected it to happen so soon

"Yuuri, what I'm going to tell you now is probably not the way a King should think most of the time, but right now is not the moment to think about what everybody else wants. Tell me, what do you want?" he said with the most warm smile he could manage, but a solemn tone as well.

And for a split second Yuuri's mind went blank. It was such a simple question with such a simple answer, suddenly the happy and warm feeling he had that morning before starting to so uncharacteristically over thinking everything was back. He looked down smiling to himself with the mental image of Murata's smile that morning.

"I want to make him happy".

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Okay… so… wow… eight months since I last updated anything… I hope you hadn't given up on me yet hehe…

What can I say? Life just gets severely on the way sometimes. I just want to let you know that I will finish all my stories, especially this one which has been in my mind the whole time, but it'll take time guys, please bear with me.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, personally I love the first part the most, I had it written for over five months I think…

Hopefully you'll leave a review and tell me what you think ;)