Gold and Blue 2/?
Title: Gold and Blue
Pairings: UKUS
Rating: M
Warnings: Eventual sex
Summary: The King of Spades has no power in politics, until he meets the catalyst that sparks his desire to be great.
This chapter: Another confrontation.
Alfred was restless. He paced his chambers with a focused look. His servant came into the room hesitantly. There was a good chance the King was in as foul a mood as he had been a month ago after the last gala event. All the servants talked of the King being confronted by some man that left him extremely angry. The servant carefully placed Alfred's lunch on a table while his eyes were trained on the King. "Your Majesty, is something wrong?"
Alfred stopped suddenly, and then turned to face the man. He held his hands up as his face scrunched up comically like he was in pain. "Why can't it be my birthday yet?!"
The servant sighed in relief, even chuckling a little bit. "Well, summer is near, Sire, and with it comes the Joust and your birthday party."
Alfred resumed pacing. He groaned agitatedly. "Don't remind me. I just want it to be now."
"As the Jack would say, patience is a virtue…"
Alfred smirked at this. "Well, I say it's time to play video games! To the game room!"
The servant laughed, picked up the tray of food, and followed the King who thought he was five years old. The game room was an old, unused music room with marble floors and expansive windows that was once reserved for entertaining guests, but was now one of the most advanced gaming rooms in the world. A 70 inch LED 3D Smart T.V. took precedence in the room where all of the current gaming consoles were plugged into it. Large beanbag chairs faced the television that seemed to devour whoever sat in them. Off to the side was a pool table that, when flipped upside down, was converted to an air hockey table.
Just through the doors was a fully useable bowling alley with a small arcade and snack bar. The lights could be turned off and dark lights would illuminate the room. In the adjourning room was a large movie theater that could play 3D movies.
Some days it was good to be the King.
As Alfred plopped down to play, his phone went off. The display read "Kiku", the Queen of Hearts.
"Hey dude!" Alfred answered. "I'm about to get on Xbox! Wanna join?"
The Queen chuckled on the other end. "I called to invite you. I've been playing for the past hour."
"What?! Cheater!"
"There is no cheating in practice."
"Whatever! I'm on. Lemme get my headphones." Alfred hung up, and then reached for his headset. He called to his servant, "I'm not to be disturbed!"
"Of course, Sire."
Alfred was left alone with his games in the expansive room.
"Hello," Kiku said pleasantly as soon as Alfred had connected to the game. "Our usual?"
"Oh yeah!"
The two royals played a first-person shooting game for a while, mindlessly talking about their countries. Unlike Alfred, Kiku still had a hand in matters of the government. Hearts dabbled in both monarchy and democracy. Their Dukes and Duchesses were voted on rather than passed along by bloodline as it was in Spades.
Thinking of that, Alfred said, "Ya know, it's funny how backwards my country is. Everything is by blood here and not voting, and yet I can't do jack shit about anything."
"I do not have much power either," Kiku said. He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth when Alfred killed his character. He waited until it had regenerated to continue talking. "Everything must be voted on and I can't overturn anything. I have to get support and then just propose the motion."
"But that's the difference! You can still do something."
Kiku sighed, his breath making a loud noise against the microphone. "Please do not think you are so useless."
"I don't. Hah! Take that!"
"Missed."
"No way!"
"Do not change the subject," Kiku said firmly.
"I'm not, and I don't think that about myself."
"You have voiced this- Got you."
"FUCK!"
"You have voiced this once before."
"Naw…"
Suddenly, there came a knock at the door. Alfred ignored it and continued to play, until he heard a louder knock, one that sounded a little more urgent. He looked over his shoulder in confusion.
"Hang on, Kiku. Someone's here."
"Okay."
Alfred got up to answer. He smiled when he saw Yao. "Hey! You're not here with another invitation to some ball, are you?"
"Not at all. I have the list of invitations to your birthday party instead." Yao came into the room, glancing at the game on the screen. "Is that Queen Kiku?"
"Always. Why're we inviting people now? It's in two months."
The two walked over to the pool table where Yao put down a small manila folder that was full of papers with names on them. Alfred frowned at this, but he picked up the papers and began to skim through the list.
"It takes time for people to make time, especially those of royalty. I took the liberty to invite all of the other countries' rulers. I knew you would love to see Kiku, Feliciano, Francis, and Ivan again."
Alfred hummed his approval at this. Then, he stopped and pointed at a name in the middle of the paper. "Ah! Him. I don't want him there."
Yao looked at the name. "Arthur Kirkland? He will soon be the new Duke of Blue. It would be in bad taste to not invite him."
"I don't care," Alfred said with a shrug. "He's rude."
"From what I gather at Court he is a gentleman," Yao tried.
Alfred rolled his eyes. "Prolly just an act, but I don't care. Take him off. He was rude to me the last time we met. It's my party, and I do not want him there."
"Yes Sire." Yao collected the papers and left.
Alfred returned to his game, sighing angrily as he sat. "You there?"
"Yes. Are you okay? You sound a bit…"
Alfred sighed loudly again. "Yeah… A few months ago I met this guy and he was totally rude to me. Yao wanted him at my party, but I said no. I just got a little upset at remembering him. Man, he was a jerk…"
"Rude to you? What did he do?" Kiku asked. They resumed their game.
"He started preaching to me how I should fundraise to get money for the homeless."
"How is that rude?"
"Because you know I can't do that! Even if I could do something like that, no one would come. I could pitch a tent with a sign that said I was there and no one would come."
"Then make pasta!"
Alfred yelped in surprise at the sudden loud voice in his earpiece, almost dropping his controller in the process. He recognized the voice as Feliciano Vargas, the Jack of Hearts. The man was known far and wide for his friendliness and uncanny ability to always stay positive.
"Jeez, Feli. You're too loud."
Feliciano's voice was quieter when he spoke next. "Oh, sorry. Kiku has the headset on speaker and I heard you talking so I wanted to tell you to make pasta for your fundraiser! People will always come in there's pasta!"
"Feliciano has a point," Kiku said. "If you host a dinner party that took donations, people would be more likely to come. It's not hard."
"I dunno. Look, let's just play! I came to fight!"
"All right," Kiku said softly. There was a hint of remorse to his voice, but he didn't press the issue anymore.Alfred made his usual trip to Parliament to do his annual "Opening" that was more than circumstance. It held no true political value to it, and Parliament could carry on without his appearance, but his father had done the ceremony up until his death, and Alfred had carried that on, never missing a year. The press loved to see him and some citizens even turned out to say hello. Alfred was more than accommodating to everyone. He posed for pictures, stopped to chat, and even kissed women's cheeks when asked. It was rare, and he soaked up as much attention as he could get.
However, as he was to head inside he heard a familiar voice call out to him. It didn't sound like a fan garnering for his attention, but rather held a more urgent tone. Turning around, Alfred saw Arthur Kirkland standing just near the door into the Clock Room, the building for Parliament. The man didn't look upset, nor did it seem he was in any particular trouble. Instead, it seemed as if he were sad as he stared at the King.
"Ah, Mr. Kirkland?" Alfred couldn't say he was thrilled to see Arthur there, but he wondered just what he would do in public. Maybe he'd cause a scene again and then his mask of being a gentleman would be cast aside for the entire world to see.
"Sire, I… I apologize for upsetting you upon our initial meeting." Alfred frowned. This wasn't what he was hoping for. Arthur turned his eyes downcast as he said sadly, "I have heard I am not invited to your birthday celebration, and I know it is because of my falling out of your grace."
"You were never in my grace," Alfred said a little harshly. He felt annoyed at all of this. "My birthday isn't political, no matter what the Jack says."
His tone had an air of finality, and he left. His mind whirled in directions that contradicted everything, wrapping him up into his head and missing how the press covered all of this.
By the afternoon, it was all over the social networks online that King Alfred Jones hated the up-coming Duke of Blue Arthur Kirkland.
Alfred kept to the shadows as he stumbled about the sidewalk. He was in the palace gardens, but on the off chance he ran into a guard, he didn't want them rushing off to tell Yao. The King could only imagine just what the Jack would do to him if he found out that he was incapacitated when he wasn't of age to drink. Was it such a big deal? He was only one year away from being of legal drinking age. There was no reason for him to be drinking, but he felt any time he wanted to was good enough for him.
His plan was to slink to the back kitchen doors where he would go inside the palace, tell all of the servants to forget he was there, drink as much water as he could, and try to get to his room undetected. It wasn't a perfect plan, and much of it hinged on his servants' loyalty, but hopefully if he was inside the palace, Yao couldn't have much of an argument about him being seen in public and drunk. He didn't have to know about his trip down to the local bar.
While he watched around for any wandering guards, he ran right into a normal citizen. Well, not entirely normal if they were on the palace grounds.
"Oh! Oh, Your Majesty! Forgive me!" Alfred squinted in the dark to see bright green eyes and thick eyebrows.
"Oh, it's you," Alfred slurred. He frowned at seeing Arthur Kirkland again, only two weeks after their awkward conversation outside of the Clock Room. "What're you doing here?"
"I was called here by… Sire…are you drunk?!" Arthur took a step back as if in disgust. "You are not of age!"
"Big deal!" Alfred scoffed. He wiped at his nose as if to seem cool, but given how drunk he was, it looked as if he were trying to pick it instead. He leaned too far back and lost his balance. "Oh fuck!"
"Sire!" Arthur moved to help him to stand, but Alfred slapped his hand away.
"Get away from me! You! You were so blunt to me and just! Just! It was so much better than you being all sad and stuff outside Parliament!"
Arthur hesitated as he stared down at Alfred. Then, "You…liked that I was confrontational with you?"
"Yes!" Alfred shouted. He flung his hands up in the air as he tilted backwards slightly, almost lying on his back. "Yes because, because, dude, you're the only person in this fucking world to stand up to me! I, I was only mad at you because… Because, I dunno. I don't remember. But it was a good reason."
Arthur blushed slightly, but then began laughing. He wrapped his arms around his waist, hugging himself as he laughed hard into the silent night. Alfred watched from his spot on the ground before joining in.
"Sire, I believe you're the first person to actually like my rude behavior," Arthur said breathlessly. He wiped at a tear at the corner of his eye. "It's been everywhere that you hate me and I just thought that…"
"Well did I ever say I hated you?" Alfred asked with wide eyes.
"N-no," Arthur replied. He inhaled to catch his breath. "It's been said that Jack Yao doesn't want me to go near you for fear we might break out into a fight."
"Yeah, well, Yao babies me." Alfred jumped up suddenly, a finger in the air. He wobbled slightly, but managed to stay upright. "Ya know! If I see Yao I'm gonna tell him… GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE!"
Arthur snorted, but then quickly covered his mouth as he heard guards approaching. He looked over Alfred's shoulder and, sure enough, a small group of them marched up. Alfred was oblivious to them, until he heard a stern, scathing voice call his name.
Turning, Alfred looked down at Yao who glared at him with his hands akimbo. "What are you doing here? It's late and you've been drinking! Get inside!"
"Ah, forgive me, sir," Arthur started as he moved to stand beside Alfred. "I found him this way and I was just-"
Yao's attention turned to Arthur, and suddenly he grew defensive. "And you! The King has expressed his intense dislike of you! You are not to be near him and-"
"GET OFF YER HIGH HORSE!" Alfred shouted, pointing at Yao.
Then, the King bent over and proceeded to vomit on Yao's shoes.
Hoshiko2's cents: I hope you're all enjoying your time here in this story. I forgot to mention in the last chapter that this is the last fanfic series I will write. More information can be asked by way of my tumblr, but the announcement has been made that I will stop doing fanfics to focus on my novels starting the New Year.
In any case, see you next update.
Pairings: UKUS
Rating: M
Warnings: Eventual sex
Summary: The King of Spades has no power in politics, until he meets the catalyst that sparks his desire to be great.
This chapter: Another confrontation.
Alfred was restless. He paced his chambers with a focused look. His servant came into the room hesitantly. There was a good chance the King was in as foul a mood as he had been a month ago after the last gala event. All the servants talked of the King being confronted by some man that left him extremely angry. The servant carefully placed Alfred's lunch on a table while his eyes were trained on the King. "Your Majesty, is something wrong?"
Alfred stopped suddenly, and then turned to face the man. He held his hands up as his face scrunched up comically like he was in pain. "Why can't it be my birthday yet?!"
The servant sighed in relief, even chuckling a little bit. "Well, summer is near, Sire, and with it comes the Joust and your birthday party."
Alfred resumed pacing. He groaned agitatedly. "Don't remind me. I just want it to be now."
"As the Jack would say, patience is a virtue…"
Alfred smirked at this. "Well, I say it's time to play video games! To the game room!"
The servant laughed, picked up the tray of food, and followed the King who thought he was five years old. The game room was an old, unused music room with marble floors and expansive windows that was once reserved for entertaining guests, but was now one of the most advanced gaming rooms in the world. A 70 inch LED 3D Smart T.V. took precedence in the room where all of the current gaming consoles were plugged into it. Large beanbag chairs faced the television that seemed to devour whoever sat in them. Off to the side was a pool table that, when flipped upside down, was converted to an air hockey table.
Just through the doors was a fully useable bowling alley with a small arcade and snack bar. The lights could be turned off and dark lights would illuminate the room. In the adjourning room was a large movie theater that could play 3D movies.
Some days it was good to be the King.
As Alfred plopped down to play, his phone went off. The display read "Kiku", the Queen of Hearts.
"Hey dude!" Alfred answered. "I'm about to get on Xbox! Wanna join?"
The Queen chuckled on the other end. "I called to invite you. I've been playing for the past hour."
"What?! Cheater!"
"There is no cheating in practice."
"Whatever! I'm on. Lemme get my headphones." Alfred hung up, and then reached for his headset. He called to his servant, "I'm not to be disturbed!"
"Of course, Sire."
Alfred was left alone with his games in the expansive room.
"Hello," Kiku said pleasantly as soon as Alfred had connected to the game. "Our usual?"
"Oh yeah!"
The two royals played a first-person shooting game for a while, mindlessly talking about their countries. Unlike Alfred, Kiku still had a hand in matters of the government. Hearts dabbled in both monarchy and democracy. Their Dukes and Duchesses were voted on rather than passed along by bloodline as it was in Spades.
Thinking of that, Alfred said, "Ya know, it's funny how backwards my country is. Everything is by blood here and not voting, and yet I can't do jack shit about anything."
"I do not have much power either," Kiku said. He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth when Alfred killed his character. He waited until it had regenerated to continue talking. "Everything must be voted on and I can't overturn anything. I have to get support and then just propose the motion."
"But that's the difference! You can still do something."
Kiku sighed, his breath making a loud noise against the microphone. "Please do not think you are so useless."
"I don't. Hah! Take that!"
"Missed."
"No way!"
"Do not change the subject," Kiku said firmly.
"I'm not, and I don't think that about myself."
"You have voiced this- Got you."
"FUCK!"
"You have voiced this once before."
"Naw…"
Suddenly, there came a knock at the door. Alfred ignored it and continued to play, until he heard a louder knock, one that sounded a little more urgent. He looked over his shoulder in confusion.
"Hang on, Kiku. Someone's here."
"Okay."
Alfred got up to answer. He smiled when he saw Yao. "Hey! You're not here with another invitation to some ball, are you?"
"Not at all. I have the list of invitations to your birthday party instead." Yao came into the room, glancing at the game on the screen. "Is that Queen Kiku?"
"Always. Why're we inviting people now? It's in two months."
The two walked over to the pool table where Yao put down a small manila folder that was full of papers with names on them. Alfred frowned at this, but he picked up the papers and began to skim through the list.
"It takes time for people to make time, especially those of royalty. I took the liberty to invite all of the other countries' rulers. I knew you would love to see Kiku, Feliciano, Francis, and Ivan again."
Alfred hummed his approval at this. Then, he stopped and pointed at a name in the middle of the paper. "Ah! Him. I don't want him there."
Yao looked at the name. "Arthur Kirkland? He will soon be the new Duke of Blue. It would be in bad taste to not invite him."
"I don't care," Alfred said with a shrug. "He's rude."
"From what I gather at Court he is a gentleman," Yao tried.
Alfred rolled his eyes. "Prolly just an act, but I don't care. Take him off. He was rude to me the last time we met. It's my party, and I do not want him there."
"Yes Sire." Yao collected the papers and left.
Alfred returned to his game, sighing angrily as he sat. "You there?"
"Yes. Are you okay? You sound a bit…"
Alfred sighed loudly again. "Yeah… A few months ago I met this guy and he was totally rude to me. Yao wanted him at my party, but I said no. I just got a little upset at remembering him. Man, he was a jerk…"
"Rude to you? What did he do?" Kiku asked. They resumed their game.
"He started preaching to me how I should fundraise to get money for the homeless."
"How is that rude?"
"Because you know I can't do that! Even if I could do something like that, no one would come. I could pitch a tent with a sign that said I was there and no one would come."
"Then make pasta!"
Alfred yelped in surprise at the sudden loud voice in his earpiece, almost dropping his controller in the process. He recognized the voice as Feliciano Vargas, the Jack of Hearts. The man was known far and wide for his friendliness and uncanny ability to always stay positive.
"Jeez, Feli. You're too loud."
Feliciano's voice was quieter when he spoke next. "Oh, sorry. Kiku has the headset on speaker and I heard you talking so I wanted to tell you to make pasta for your fundraiser! People will always come in there's pasta!"
"Feliciano has a point," Kiku said. "If you host a dinner party that took donations, people would be more likely to come. It's not hard."
"I dunno. Look, let's just play! I came to fight!"
"All right," Kiku said softly. There was a hint of remorse to his voice, but he didn't press the issue anymore.Alfred made his usual trip to Parliament to do his annual "Opening" that was more than circumstance. It held no true political value to it, and Parliament could carry on without his appearance, but his father had done the ceremony up until his death, and Alfred had carried that on, never missing a year. The press loved to see him and some citizens even turned out to say hello. Alfred was more than accommodating to everyone. He posed for pictures, stopped to chat, and even kissed women's cheeks when asked. It was rare, and he soaked up as much attention as he could get.
However, as he was to head inside he heard a familiar voice call out to him. It didn't sound like a fan garnering for his attention, but rather held a more urgent tone. Turning around, Alfred saw Arthur Kirkland standing just near the door into the Clock Room, the building for Parliament. The man didn't look upset, nor did it seem he was in any particular trouble. Instead, it seemed as if he were sad as he stared at the King.
"Ah, Mr. Kirkland?" Alfred couldn't say he was thrilled to see Arthur there, but he wondered just what he would do in public. Maybe he'd cause a scene again and then his mask of being a gentleman would be cast aside for the entire world to see.
"Sire, I… I apologize for upsetting you upon our initial meeting." Alfred frowned. This wasn't what he was hoping for. Arthur turned his eyes downcast as he said sadly, "I have heard I am not invited to your birthday celebration, and I know it is because of my falling out of your grace."
"You were never in my grace," Alfred said a little harshly. He felt annoyed at all of this. "My birthday isn't political, no matter what the Jack says."
His tone had an air of finality, and he left. His mind whirled in directions that contradicted everything, wrapping him up into his head and missing how the press covered all of this.
By the afternoon, it was all over the social networks online that King Alfred Jones hated the up-coming Duke of Blue Arthur Kirkland.
Alfred kept to the shadows as he stumbled about the sidewalk. He was in the palace gardens, but on the off chance he ran into a guard, he didn't want them rushing off to tell Yao. The King could only imagine just what the Jack would do to him if he found out that he was incapacitated when he wasn't of age to drink. Was it such a big deal? He was only one year away from being of legal drinking age. There was no reason for him to be drinking, but he felt any time he wanted to was good enough for him.
His plan was to slink to the back kitchen doors where he would go inside the palace, tell all of the servants to forget he was there, drink as much water as he could, and try to get to his room undetected. It wasn't a perfect plan, and much of it hinged on his servants' loyalty, but hopefully if he was inside the palace, Yao couldn't have much of an argument about him being seen in public and drunk. He didn't have to know about his trip down to the local bar.
While he watched around for any wandering guards, he ran right into a normal citizen. Well, not entirely normal if they were on the palace grounds.
"Oh! Oh, Your Majesty! Forgive me!" Alfred squinted in the dark to see bright green eyes and thick eyebrows.
"Oh, it's you," Alfred slurred. He frowned at seeing Arthur Kirkland again, only two weeks after their awkward conversation outside of the Clock Room. "What're you doing here?"
"I was called here by… Sire…are you drunk?!" Arthur took a step back as if in disgust. "You are not of age!"
"Big deal!" Alfred scoffed. He wiped at his nose as if to seem cool, but given how drunk he was, it looked as if he were trying to pick it instead. He leaned too far back and lost his balance. "Oh fuck!"
"Sire!" Arthur moved to help him to stand, but Alfred slapped his hand away.
"Get away from me! You! You were so blunt to me and just! Just! It was so much better than you being all sad and stuff outside Parliament!"
Arthur hesitated as he stared down at Alfred. Then, "You…liked that I was confrontational with you?"
"Yes!" Alfred shouted. He flung his hands up in the air as he tilted backwards slightly, almost lying on his back. "Yes because, because, dude, you're the only person in this fucking world to stand up to me! I, I was only mad at you because… Because, I dunno. I don't remember. But it was a good reason."
Arthur blushed slightly, but then began laughing. He wrapped his arms around his waist, hugging himself as he laughed hard into the silent night. Alfred watched from his spot on the ground before joining in.
"Sire, I believe you're the first person to actually like my rude behavior," Arthur said breathlessly. He wiped at a tear at the corner of his eye. "It's been everywhere that you hate me and I just thought that…"
"Well did I ever say I hated you?" Alfred asked with wide eyes.
"N-no," Arthur replied. He inhaled to catch his breath. "It's been said that Jack Yao doesn't want me to go near you for fear we might break out into a fight."
"Yeah, well, Yao babies me." Alfred jumped up suddenly, a finger in the air. He wobbled slightly, but managed to stay upright. "Ya know! If I see Yao I'm gonna tell him… GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE!"
Arthur snorted, but then quickly covered his mouth as he heard guards approaching. He looked over Alfred's shoulder and, sure enough, a small group of them marched up. Alfred was oblivious to them, until he heard a stern, scathing voice call his name.
Turning, Alfred looked down at Yao who glared at him with his hands akimbo. "What are you doing here? It's late and you've been drinking! Get inside!"
"Ah, forgive me, sir," Arthur started as he moved to stand beside Alfred. "I found him this way and I was just-"
Yao's attention turned to Arthur, and suddenly he grew defensive. "And you! The King has expressed his intense dislike of you! You are not to be near him and-"
"GET OFF YER HIGH HORSE!" Alfred shouted, pointing at Yao.
Then, the King bent over and proceeded to vomit on Yao's shoes.
Hoshiko2's cents: I hope you're all enjoying your time here in this story. I forgot to mention in the last chapter that this is the last fanfic series I will write. More information can be asked by way of my tumblr, but the announcement has been made that I will stop doing fanfics to focus on my novels starting the New Year.
In any case, see you next update.