Hello all, I am back with more writing! I do most of my talking at the end, but I suppose I do want to mention this as a fore-word. I am quite the fan of the two drabble series 'Contact' by pyrrhicvictoly and 'Full Circle' by artemis-nz. I will admit they are my biggest inspirations to do my own series, though I am hoping to stay original with my own separate prompts. I will do my best to touch on new ground, though do forgive me if any of my drabbles have any similarities to the ones of these two marvelous writers – they have quite the head start on me.

Chapter 1: Small Things

As expected of a young man slowly moving through his teenage years, Yuuri was quite unsure of himself in many things. Although, not many of them were things one would expect of someone is his unique situation.

Yuuri was growing into his role as King of Shin Makoku with a surprising amount of ease (chalked up by Gunter as natural talent and charisma, and 'an unprecedented amount of dumb luck' according to Gwendal). He had accepted that he would probably never be great with a sword, but he was fundamentally against violence and was pretty okay with how things were. He had collected quite a mass of friends inside the country and out, and was slowly building peace throughout the realms.

And he had Conrad.

His longtime companion and recent lover had always been at his side, giving him a shoulder to lean on and lending his hands when necessary. Conrad was his anchor. Conrad was also, unfortunately, the source of much of Yuuri's stress.

To put things simply, Yuuri felt inadequate.

Conrad was a constant thing, he was stability, always immaculate and the picture of control. He walked with a deadly grace, his sword sung with a purpose (Yuuri could scarcely make himself believe that that purpose was him).

Yuuri looked at himself and saw sloppiness. He saw someone clumsy, someone selfish. His sword sang, but that was mostly due to the fact that he couldn't get it to shut up.

He was afraid - afraid that Conrad would eventually see that this was a terrible match and would leave him for a greater conquest.

Only a couple of weeks had passed since he and Conrad had gotten serious, but in that time the fear had controlled him.

It vibrated in the air around him when he and Conrad went on morning jogs, when he could tell from the soldier's even breath and easy strides that he was holding back to allow Yuuri to keep up.

It trembled through his fingers when he wrote notes to his lover, his handwriting shaky and uncertain despite the years of practice.

It clenched in his chest when he got on a horse, and he saw Conrad close by to catch him in case he fell (despite Ao being the gentlest of creatures).

These things had never bothered him before; they had always been small things. But now there was Conrad, and the things that had never bothered him before became glaring problems. He wanted desperately, more than anything, to be the soldier's equal. Yuuri had tried to tell himself that Conrad didn't care, that Conrad loved him, but there was always the fear.

It came to a head one day when Conrad invited him to play baseball, and stole him away from Gwendal's office with a disarming smile.

Baseball was Yuuri's idea of a good time. He felt safe with baseball. It was something that had been alien to Conrad, something the soldier had been bad at before Yuuri took him under his wing. He thought he would be free from the fear while they played together.

But then after a few tosses, Yuuri made the mistake of looking at Conrad's face. The easy smile that was usually there when they played was gone, instead replaced by one of intense focus and deep thought.

The stony expression caught Yuuri off guard, and his body froze. The ball that Conrad threw sailed far short of Yuuri's raised glove, and instead connected with his collar with a sharp crack.

Yuuri cried out and crouched down, clutching at his shoulder.

"Yuuri!" Conrad sounded startled, almost shocked that the King would miss one of his pitches.

It took him only moments to reach Yuuri, upon which he found the teen with glistening eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-" they both began, and then Yuuri burst into tears.

Conrad collected the double-black in his arms, and then carried the blubbering teen to Gisela's office (all the while Yuuri repeating his mantra of apologies).

After the healer had diagnosed Yuuri with a fractured collar bone and put his arm in a sling with orders to take it easy, she left the Maoh and his guardian alone together.

Yuuri had managed to pull himself together under Gisela's firm yet gentle gaze, but now that he was alone again with Conrad, he started to tear up again at the deafening silence.

"Yuuri," Conrad whispered quietly, almost as if he would break something else if he spoke too loudly, "I cannot apologize enough for what I have done-"

"It's not your fault." Yuuri replied firmly, but then more shakily, "I can't even play baseball right…"

Conrad looked aghast for a moment, and Yuuri buried his face in the one hand he could still lift, intent on hiding his tears.

"Yuuri..Yuuri, come here."

Strong arms wrapped around Yuuri, careful to not put too much pressure on the teen's wounded shoulder. Yuuri was drawn to that warm chest, where, face hidden, he allowed the tears to fall.

"You are a wonderful baseball player," Conrad began. "The best in the world in fact."

Yuuri gave a wobbly smile at that. Calloused fingers stroked gently over the hairs on the back on his neck.

"It's something that you love more than anything, and I…I should be the one apologizing. I wasn't paying attention."

"No, you're perfect, Conrad…" Yuuri hiccuped. "Too perfect, for someone like me."

Conrad never ceased his comforting strokes, but he was thoughtfully silent for a moment. Yuuri knew Conrad was clever, and probably had already deduced the root of Yuuri's troubles. They did after all possess a certain wordless communication between them.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Conrad murmured, but didn't press.

Sniffling, Yuuri pulled away from Conrad's chest and gently took a large palm in his own. Determined not to let the fear deter him, he told Conrad everything – all his insecurities, about his crippling anxiety over his inadequacies, all the while never meeting his eyes. Instead, his gaze traced the lines on Conrad's palm, circling distractedly while he let his mind reel.

Conrad listened quietly. Yuuri knew he wasn't listening merely for the sake of listening – his knight would be taking everything to heart and turning it carefully over in his mind, looking for the best way to reassure him.

And then Yuuri froze, and suddenly all of his worries struck him as very silly.

He loved Conrad. And Conrad loved him. And Conrad knew that Yuuri knew that Conrad loved him. And likewise.

"Figured it out?" Conrad murmured, and lifted Yuuri's palm up to his lips for a chaste kiss.

"I am so stupid." Yuuri replied breathlessly, meeting Conrad's eyes without hesitation.

"Not at all," the soldier replied, and gently wiped away the errant tears on Yuuri's cheeks. "Just inexperienced."

Later, after Conrad had snuck Yuuri up to the king's chambers while blessedly avoiding any of his other attendants, they shared a small candle-lit dinner on Yuuri's balcony. At Yuuri's request, everything was finger food.

"I really am sorry." Conrad said in a serious tone, looking quite guilty over Yuuri's arm. "That was your dominant hand, too. It's going to be a while before we can play catch again, I'm afraid."

"As if my handwriting wasn't bad enough already…" Yuuri chuckled to himself, but paused when he saw Conrad's face turn pensive. "What's wrong?"

"That is… the reason I was distracted in the first place. When I hit you with the ball."

Yuuri sat up a bit straighter in his chair.

"I was focused on improving my throw. You really are the best player in the world, you know. I've got to improve or I'll never catch up to you."

Yuuri couldn't help the look of surprise that flitted over his face. Conrad had been self-conscious about his throw? The knight in question gave a crooked smile.

"We are both very silly." Yuuri concluded, leaning back in his chair with exasperation.

"Very." Conrad agreed.

The soldier got to his feet when there was a knock at the door, a maid bringing them their requested food. When he returned with the dishes, Yuuri couldn't help the grin that spread across his face.

"Gwendal is going to be so mad when he finds out I can't sign papers."

Conrad shrugged, setting Yuuri's plate before him before sitting down himself.

"It's no big deal."

Yaaay, first chapter is complete! A quick note, these stories won't be in order and they won't necessarily have anything to do with each other. The purpose of these drabbles is to simply explore the ConYuu relationship and yadda yadda.

I will happily accept any one word prompts (though keep in mind I'm a shy turtle and anything NSFW might scare me away, lol). Thanks for the R&R!