Gold and Blue 4/?

[kokoro2]

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: The King and Duke hang out.


Alfred couldn't say he knew the rules of friendship. There was no handbook, or guide, or even a pamphlet that could explain exactly what to do and how to do it, so when he wanted to call Arthur every day, he wasn't sure if it was bothering him. He knew the Duke was busy, as was often the case with anyone who worked in politics, but Alfred was lonely and bored. Arthur was his only friend.

After the fundraiser, Arthur had promised they would see each other again, but he never said when. Phone calls could only go so far. Alfred was left wondering if a Duke ever had a day off, and if so, would he want to spend it with a King?

The aching was posing a true problem the longer Alfred lingered on it. He grew tired of his games and couldn't focus on any of the movies he watched. None of it was fun unless he had someone there with him to share it with. He never thought it was strange he had changed so suddenly or why it had happened, but rather focused on the fact he had someone in his life who liked him despite all of the bad qualities he so often thought about himself.

Arthur, on the other hand, Alfred thought had none. He was a kind and compassionate man who might look funny to others, but was starting to develop into someone beautiful in Alfred's eyes. The King wanted to be strong like him, caring and giving like him, and influential like him. He itched to learn more from the Duke, always thinking it was never enough. Just one more hour, one minute longer and he could become a better King- a better person.

One day, a week after the fundraiser, Alfred called Arthur.

"Hi!" Alfred said happily. "You're not busy are you?"

"Ah, not at the moment, no, Your Majesty." Arthur sometimes slipped back into his old habits of addressing Alfred. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Um… Can we hangout some time?" There was a pause on the other end. Alfred leaned forward anxiously. "Arthur?"

"Yes, sorry, I'm here. I just… I thought…"

"You thought what? That I was kidding or something?"

"…Yes."

Alfred frowned. "But, you promised me, and I've called you, like, every day. Doesn't that mean anything?"

"Forgive me, Your Majesty-"

"Alfred," the King said curtly.

"-Alfred, it's just… Well, I've never had a friend before."

"What do you mean…?" Alfred asked slowly.

"Well, Alfred… You seem to be the only person in this world who seems to generally like me. Even at work, I know that the other Dukes and Duchesses and Lords and Ladies I have to work with are just polite because they have to be. Everyone has a face they must keep on. Forgive me for assuming the same from you…"

Something began to grow in Alfred that day. He clung to it for warmth and light and happiness. It wasn't the best idea, but if he thought too hard on it, he might have just realized that that was the day he started to fall in love.Arthur came over to the palace on the day he was free, just as Alfred had asked. His heart pounded in his ears as he approached the steps. The guards at the front were expecting him, so they let him pass without any trouble. The front entrance was a glorious royal blue with a golden archway, and above it was a mural depicting the foundation of Spades. Arthur knew it all well, but he was enamored with the artwork.

"Hey, Arthur!" Said man turned suddenly and saw the King rushing up to him while waving and smiling widely. "Glad you could make it!"

"Oh." Arthur bowed quickly. "Your Majesty, it's always a pleasure to see you again."

Alfred waved him off. "None of these formalities. Come on, we're pals, right?"

Arthur smiled kindly. "You are most kind, Alfred."

Alfred waved for Arthur to follow him, and soon he was giving the Duke the grand out of the palace. He had never had the chance as a young boy to do so with any friends, and while he spent so many days cooped up inside, he was actually extremely proud of his home. He explained the history of certain rooms, stopping to point out what was original and what was reconstructed and/or renovated after the palace had been attacked during a short skirmish with Clubs.

"The four kingdoms have been at peace for generations, yes?" Arthur asked. Alfred nodded. "It's amazing."

"I hear the Thirteenth or Twelfth Reign or something did some huge treaty." Alfred shrugged. "It's so old that most people don't know anything before the Sixteenth Reign, and anything after up until four generations ago is hard to read about. There's so much!"

"You mean you don't know the history of your own family?" Arthur asked curiously.

"Do you?" When Arthur didn't reply right away, Alfred laughed. He enjoyed seeing Arthur's face get so red when he was embarrassed. "Hey! I still have to show you my favorite room! Come with me!"

Arthur was amazed by Alfred's sheer innocence, although, glancing around he could see why the King was still such a boy despite his age. He had been walled in by these marble towers and kept safe by the Jack. There was no way he could be expected to rule, not when he was never shown how to even act like a man his age. And yet, Arthur didn't care.

He liked how Alfred smiled so earnestly and did his best. At the fundraiser, it was obvious that the King was suffering from social anxiety given how little interaction he had had with people for such a length of time. Upon their first meeting, Arthur knew that once he had upset Alfred, the Jack whisked him away to recuperate. A King should never show such weakness, even if he thinks he is a nobody in the world.

It hurt to think of life that way, but Arthur knew exactly where he was coming from.

"Here it is!" Alfred declared happily. He waved his hand at an ornate door, but then again, all the doors in this palace were ornate. "This here is my game room!"

"Game room?" Arthur repeated. Alfred nodded at him to open the door. "Do you spend your time here?"

"Oh yeah."

Arthur opened the doors and was shocked to find the massive television screen and pool table. He stepped inside hesitantly, looking at everything slowly to take it all in. He could feel Alfred following behind him, until the King moved over towards a door on the far back wall.

"In here is my bowling alley and arcade." He pointed at another door. "And in there is the theater. We're gonna put laser tag in eventually."

"Why…?" Arthur whispered.

"Well, because I like it," Alfred replied with a laugh.

"No, I mean…" Arthur looked at Alfred. He wasn't smiling. "Why would you put so much in here?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're hiding so much of yourself and putting all of this to stay inside. Do you…really hate the outside world that much?"

Alfred was silent for a moment as he stared at Arthur. It was impossible to figure out what the King was thinking. He looked to the side and squeezed his fists twice before looking back at Arthur.

"Yes," he replied after a time. "I do."

Arthur didn't know what to say to that. He stood there, trying to think of what he could do, but nothing came to him. Then, Alfred took a seat in one of the large beanbag chairs.

"Wanna play a game with me?"

It was the least Arthur could do. He had been invited over to Alfred's palace, and he had just put the King in an uncomfortable situation. That didn't mean he'd let the boy win.

"No way! That's cheating!" Alfred cried, shaking his controller at Arthur in frustration. They had been playing the same melee fighting game for the past two hours, and Arthur had won the majority of the time. "How are you so good?! I thought you were too rich and…and… Dukely to do these kinds of things."

Arthur scoffed at the King's choice of words. "Please, Alfred. I was once a teenager too, you know."

"Well, sure, but didn't you have duties?"

Arthur regarded Alfred with a smile still in place, but he said nothing. He got up, stretching his back and rotating his neck. The sunlight caught his eye. He moved to the window that overlooked the gardens.

"Why don't we go for a walk?" he suggested. "I'm afraid I'm not up to constant video game playing like you are."

Alfred stuck out his tongue in disgust. "Ew, the outside world."

"Oh please." Arthur rolled his eyes. He was heading towards the door knowing full well Alfred would follow him. He had already turned off the gaming console. "An hour or two outside won't kill you."

"It just might," Alfred grumbled. Still, he was walking briskly by Arthur's side. "I hope I don't get hit by a bus."

"Alfred!" Arthur laughed loudly. He quickly covered his mouth. The King smirked at seeing this. "We're going out into the gardens. There are no buses!"

"You don't know that! What if there are?"

"Oh shush you!"

Their laughter rang through the halls, but Arthur didn't know that it had been the first time in years since these walls had heard Alfred's laugh.

The palace gardens were a lovely sight to behold, much more so than anything inside, Arthur thought. He had heard rumor that once, long ago, there was a secret part of the garden, but it was probably destroyed during the war with Clubs. That part had been a romantic centerpiece to the royal family for generations. In its stead, a magnificent maze had been grown by way of large hedges.

"To be honest, I never went inside the maze when I was a kid," Alfred said as he eyed the entryway cautiously. "Matt and I used to think they were too scary."

Arthur smiled at Alfred. "That's the first time you've mentioned your brother to me."

Alfred blushed and then looked down at his feet. His eyes seemed sad and far away. "Yeah… Well… Come on, are we going in or what?"

"I'd like to find this so-called secret garden."

"Oh, that's at the end of the maze," Alfred replied casually. "My mom and dad would go there a lot when I was a kid. Looking back on it now, it was probably to have sex, since I hear many of my ancestors did that. Hell, I could have been conceived back there."

"A-Alfred!" Arthur stuttered. Alfred grinned cheekily at his reaction.

"What? You don't like talking about sex and things like that?"

"I-it's not that. I just don't want you getting any ideas."

Alfred looked at Arthur blankly for a moment before he broke out into a fit of laughter. He held his sides as he doubled over, laughing until he couldn't breathe. Arthur watched him, but didn't think it was quite so funny.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't know the very idea of being so intimate with me was something that repulsed you so much." Arthur looked away as if he were annoyed.

"Come on, let's go in." Alfred took Arthur's wrist and led him inside.

The surrounding noise from the palace and the distant city was instantly silenced by the overbearing hedges. It was unnerving at first, being consumed by the quiet that was forever just out of reach, but then Arthur welcomed it. He sighed as his entire body relaxed. Even with his eyes closed he could feel Alfred's eyes on him, and imagined the King smiling fondly.

"Catch me if you can!" he suddenly exclaimed.

Arthur's eyes snapped back open. He watched Alfred running down the maze and turning sharply to the left. Arthur laughed and thought to give chase. It was good to see the King was actually running and not sitting.

The idea fell flat after twenty minutes when Arthur was utterly lost and sweating. The maze didn't give much room for a sweet respite of a breeze. He heard a rustle behind him and turned, hoping to catch just a glimmer of Alfred escaping, but it was just the hedge swaying overhead.

"Oh sure, the tops of these bloody plants get the wind, but I don't," Arthur grumbled.

"You give up?!" Alfred's voice seemed to echo all about him. Arthur turned every which way, but couldn't pinpoint the direction in which the King might be at.

"When I said let's go outside, I didn't mean for us to play another game!" Arthur shouted back.

"Aw, c'mon. What's the fun in hanging out if we don't play?!"

Nevertheless, Alfred emerged from seemingly nowhere. He wasn't sweating and that same cheeky smile was still there. Arthur wanted to reach over and punch him in the face.

"Had your fun?" Arthur huffed.

Alfred chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. If you follow me this way there's a 'checkpoint'."

"For someone who never went in here as a kid, you sure seem to know your way around."

Alfred smirked. "Ah, but I never said anything about going in when I was older."

"You!"

Alfred laughed and began walking away. Arthur hurriedly caught up to him lest he lose him again. He did not want to spend another moment in this heat trap.

It was only a few moments later that the duo came upon an opening in the maze where white stairs lead up to a brilliantly white gazebo. Arthur practically ran up the stairway, reveling in the breeze that greeted him. Alfred was just behind him and still laughing. It then occurred to Arthur that this was the most he'd heard the King laugh since they had known each other. Granted it wasn't very long, but they had spent a considerable amount of time planning for the fundraiser and had to see each other quite often. During those times Alfred seemed engrossed in every detail, wanting to make sure it was just right, and hardly breaking for a joke or a laugh.

There were lounge chairs and a lovely view of the entire maze. Arthur squinted in hopes of seeing that secret garden, but it was just out of sight. He fell onto the lounge chair with a loud sigh.

"Tired?" Alfred asked, taking up a spot on the other chair.

"Yes."

"And you get out more than me," Alfred teased.

Arthur chose not to reply to that. He lay there thinking hard about everything that had been whirling in his head for days. It was just them now. Perhaps he could finally…

"Alfred," he started with his head pounding in his head. "Earlier you asked why I'm good at playing video games and I want to tell you."

"Lemme guess, you used to be a hermit too." Alfred forced out a laugh at the idea.

"Not…exactly…" Arthur opened his eyes to look up at the gazebo ceiling. It was painted with blue and red roses intermingling with purple Spades. "I… My mother left me father and I when I was six. I hardly remember her, but I blamed myself for a lot of it. And when she left, she took my brothers with her."

"You have brothers?" Alfred asked quietly.

"Yes, three older brothers. But with her taking them and divorcing my father, all of the duties of being the next Duke fell to me. I was angry with her, with my dad, and with me. I questioned why I was born. It went on for years. At first I was a hermit like you, closing myself to everyone and staying inside to play games or read whatever I wanted, but when I became a teenager, well… I practically ran away from home. I wanted nothing to do with my father or the title of Duke of Blue. I thought that if I wasn't physically there I could stay young forever and never have to become anyone of responsibility. But…"

Arthur inhaled slowly at the memory. He recalled all of the smells of that day, the exact look those children gave him.

"One day when I was out…mucking around with friends, I wandered into a rather poor area of Spades. I saw these children who had nothing watching me, wanting to be like me. They didn't know who I was or that I had run away from duties, all they knew was that I had a home…I had a family, even if it was fractured… and I had power. It was that day that I went home, cleaned myself up, and threw myself into my duties, if only to help people that cannot help themselves. Even if it's just passing on encouraging words to the King, I hope to do something with the power I was given."

Arthur sat up and turned to regard Alfred. The King was looking at him, listening intently. "That is why I said those things to you at the ball when we met. That's why I continue to say them. Because I have been where you are right now, in a depression that kept me from my potential, thinking I shouldn't be here and that I can hide from it all. But… We both have power and the ability to do things others cannot do. It is why we were born… Why you lived that day."

Alfred was quiet at that. He didn't seem upset, but he certainly wasn't happy either. He just continued to stare at Arthur. The wind blew over the tops of the hedges, allowing some sort of noise to interrupt their solitude.

"I was sick…," Alfred started. His voice sounded strained, but he didn't falter in his words. "My parents wanted to go out with Mattie, and I wanted to come too, but I was sick. It was raining, so they said they wouldn't be gone long. I told them I'd wait up until they came home. My mom tried to get me to sleep, but I wanted them to stay with me… Yao came in and told me…"

Arthur held his breath when Alfred paused. He was waiting for that moment when perhaps Alfred would finally break. While he wished desperately to not see the King become so upset, he knew this was a needed release. For all he knew, the man had never told anyone about this part of his life and he had been waiting for this exact moment.

"I didn't understand him," Alfred continued. "I couldn't quite get how one minute my family could be alive and the next they couldn't. My servants and Yao all fell to one knee and declared their loyalty to me as the new king, but I didn't understand. At the funeral I didn't cry. Everyone thinks I was so brave or whatever, but I wasn't. I was confused.

"It was like that as I grew up. I was confused as to why Yao took so much power away from me. I know my dad wasn't exactly the focal figure in politics, but at least I knew he had the final say in all laws. But the older I got, the more Yao shielded me from everything. He said it would be all right and that I'd understand someday, but I don't think he meant that my conclusion was to come to the fact that I realized I was useless. That was what I had been raised to feel; useless in being able to stop my family from dying, useless in understanding any of it, useless in doing anything, and useless in standing up. I feel like I'm still sick and I'm just waiting for them to come home."

Arthur moved to sit beside Alfred. The King hadn't become emotional, but Arthur had. He wanted to put his hand on Alfred's, put an arm around his shoulder, and promise him something else that Yao couldn't say.

"You will be great," he murmured.

Alfred was still staring at where Arthur had been sitting. His face was practically emotionless, had it not been for the slight misting of his eyes.

"Arthur… why do you say those things to me?" he whispered. "You…you make me crazy…"

Arthur couldn't help the desire to smile. He rubbed small circles on Alfred's hand as he interlaced their fingers. "Perhaps because the things you say to me make me crazy…"

Alfred turned his head, and then kissed Arthur.
Hoshiko2's cents: Switched to Arthur's POV this chapter.

Sorry this took so long. I had a minor setback due to going back to school and then getting sick and…well, holidays coming up as they are and I work at a toy store. Not fun.

Anyway, if anyone wants to ask why they got together so quickly, I can explain: because this story is not about them getting together, it's about them staying together. That will become clearer as the story progresses. I will have the next chapter up faster, I promise. And expect ratings to go up eventually. ;3