{A/N: So! I have this friend who writes really awesome things, like this whole AU called the Power Exchange AU which you will get if you read it, but I can't link to it because fanfiction is being a DUMB BUTT and disabling links in profiles for... whatever reason

SO

before you read this, you should go to archiveofourown (dot) org and search for adeegeeak and read her "Power of Exchange" AU! BECAUSE IT'S REALLY GOOD. And also because this fic is set directly at the end of 'Rosa', the USUK segment of the AU. It also has Spamano, DenNor, and Canada/Prussia/France.

Yep.

If you don't want to put out that effort, though, you can get by knowing this is an AU where they are still nations, but sexual roles are society roles - so people identify as a Sub, Dom, or Switch - and get trained by national Pleasure Houses in their role. America is the Dom in this to England's Sub, but this is their first time actually doing it after the events of "Rosa".

So, the important thing to know is it's D/s USUK first time on a quilt.}

Wedding Ring - Adeegeeak's power exchange!AU

By the time Alfred had gotten his luggage from the cab and paid the driver, Arthur was upstairs in his bedroom, shifting the smooth chain of the (his his) collar over in his hands. It was silver, mail but not, emeralds and peridots locked into links and brushed to a polish. It felt like water over the skin of his fingers, and he itched to know what it felt like on the skin of his neck.

Downstairs, the door slammed, and the sounds of the crashings and bumpings of Alfred fighting his belongings carried up the stairs. Arthur rubbed his thumb over the centerpiece green diamond, cool and pear-cut, and waited.

Alfred abandoned his stuff in the foyer and stomped up the stairs, beelining for exactly where he knew Arthur would be. He paused at the door, and Arthur glanced over his shoulder to find him leaning against the door frame and smiling, even through the slight swelling of his nose. He turned away quickly, letting Alfred sneak up behind him and wrap his arms around his waist, ducking down to rest his chin on his shoulder, watching his hands.

"So, do you like it?" he asked softly. Arthur tried to stop his hands from spilling the chain from one palm to the other, but couldn't. He swallowed and couldn't respond. "I couldn't decide between pearls and peridots between the emeralds," Alfred went on, catching part of the collar as it fell and spreading it out between the fingers of one hand with the practice of someone who knew every link, every imperfection it embodied. "The pearls would have been less obvious, but in the end the green theme won out - and the crazy old hoot needed the pearls for something he was doing, anyway." His exploration of the chain led to Arthur's hand, and he wove their fingers together with the collar in the middle. Arthur's grip tightened.

"Put it on me," he whispered. Alfred didn't need any more encouragement and let go of Arthur's waist so he could come around to his front, unclasping the collar with a flick of his fingers. Hands shaking slightly, he reached up to Arthur's neck, tilting up Arthur's chin a little so he could see better. He looped it around the back and hooked the clasp together in the front, then slid it around to sit right.

It fit just as it should, the green diamond in the hollow of his throat and the links of the four-wide chain melting over his collarbones. He let out a deep, shuddering breath, gaze fixed on the collar, his hands sliding down Arthur's shoulders to his arms. "God, you're gorgeous," he breathed, hands skittering over cloth and eyes only for his neck. He forced himself to look in Arthur's eyes, green and glistening, and clutched his elbows. His mouth was dry and sticky at once, a thrumming tingle in his bones. He pitched forward to rest his forehead against Arthur's and take him in, eyes closed. Arthur stared at him from an inch away; his fingers reached for any part of Alfred he could reach with his elbows trapped at his side, caught the soft fabric of his shirt over his stomach.

Alfred stretched to a full stand and stepped back. "Stay. I'll be right back, I need to… yeah." He followed the curve of Arthur's body once more, catching on the collar, and ran out. Arthur could breathe again.

He moved to sit on his bed, waiting again as he listened to the distant thumps from the foyer, then of Alfred's footfalls as he came back up, appearing in the doorway with a folded bundle of quilt in his arms, in front of his face. Arthur tilted his head curiously.

"Why do you have a quilt, Alfred?"

"I, uh." Swallow behind cotton. He walked to Arthur's voice blindly and set it on his lap. "I made it. For you."

Arthur blinked. "You made it."

"Yeah." Arthur waited for an explanation that never came, so he pet his new quilt in the silence. Red and blue circles interlocked over white. Alfred stood with a grin. "Come on, let's put it on your bed!" Arthur looked up at him, and he could never say no to that smile.

They stripped the old duvet off his queen-sized bed together, crumpling it at the floor by the foot as they tucked in the bottom and Alfred finally started to chatter about his year gone training, occasionally slipping into a word of Italian. They rearranged the pillows some, tossing off the ones that no longer matched, but Arthur had always been fond of red and blue.

When it was done, Al admired his work spread over his Sub's bed, hands on hips and smiling. He grinned up at Arthur on the other side, then jumped up on the bed and crawled over to yank him to join.

"Alfred!" Arthur gasped, but it was lost in laughs as Alfred curled behind him and left overexaggerated kisses on his neck, hair, jaw, cheek, back, clutching him close and tight. He shoved at his face with his hand, but that didn't deter Alfred, who nuzzled into his skin and took a deep breath.

"I missed you."

"God, you have no idea, Alfred." Alfred smiled against his spine, nipped it before rolling them around so he was crouched over Arthur, smiling down at him. Arthur reached up and brushed his cheek, and something in Alfred caved and he fell in, kissing him hard and sudden. Arthur opened his mouth to him instantly and arched up, pliant, wrapping his arms around his neck and keeping him his down in.

This was different, he could feel it in the press of Alfred's tongue, the new control of his hips, how his hands stopped and moved at the perfect times. The buttons of his shirt hurt against his sternum, and he went to wriggle his hands between their chests and undo them, but Alfred caught his fingers and pinned them by his head without breaking the kiss, still tracing his teeth and palette and sending him swimming.

A year, he had gone a year without this, but if he could be drunken on contact instead of merely dizzy, maybe it was worth it.

Finally Alfred pushed back to his hands, still tracing Arthur's lips but not too close, and Arthur missed it even as Alfred maneuvered around to unbutton his shirt while he pulled Alfred's out from where it was tucked into his pants and bunched it under his shoulders, glancing over sun skin as he tilted his chin for more, more.

They abandoned Arthur's shirt behind his back and threw Alfred's to the side, gasping; they were both used to this flow now, but not to each other. Alfred shifted, switching their leg position so Arthur's were spread wide when he laid back down, fingertips leaving circles on his knees as he shoved into the kiss again, not teasing. There was too much for that.

Now bare backed, Arthur could feel the stitches of the quilt rub against his skin with each jerky movement, sharply distinct. It was a thin quilt. He wrapped a leg around Alfred's back, didn't care when it slipped down immediately over his ass because it was better leverage to push him down against.

"Come on," Arthur whispered into his mouth. Alfred shook his head and resisted the push.

"Calm down, tiger," he said between moving to Arthur's neck. "We've got time."

"You already took your time. Get on with it." Alfred grinned at his snapping and licked a line above the collar, kissed the metal. Arthur shivered in an almost convulse and bared his neck more, let Alfred mouth over the silver he smithed. He twisted his tongue underneath it, and it was too much and Arthur grabbed him by the hair and jerked him up to kiss the metallic from his taste. Alfred wanted to taste tea again, so he let it happen.

Not for long.

When even Arthur couldn't help but rut into his hips, just a little, Alfred was gone away and cold, only hands just above his stomach and hot eyes. Fluttering eyelids banked in red and blue and white, and Alfred had to shiver, too, as he teased down over Arthur's pants leg with one hand to reach back and grasp his ankle. He unwrapped it and planted it on his shoulder, not breaking eye contact. He flicked open the buttons of their pants before leaning forward, slow, Arthur's leg sliding over his shoulder until it was pressed against his torso and they were kissing, still hard but slow, strong, steady. Arthur couldn't open his mouth wide enough.

When the pleasure coiled down his legs, Alfred pulled away and moved Arthur's leg back around his waist, khaki against his flesh. Their unbuttoned pants shrugged open as they moved together, pulling tight and distracting.

"Later, we can have finesse," Arthur muttered. Alfred grinned and sat back so he could pull off Arthur's trousers. He fell to the side so he could wriggle out of his own, and Arthur smiled as he watched him, lovable at odd moments.

He came back to him with a huff and a groan, the sudden near-nakedness surprising both of them into action, fighting each other's teeth for purchase. Alfred ended up biting Arthur's lip, and he groaned and pulled, encouraging the dig and Alfred chewed on it, just a little, used more than his teeth to sit them up, sat back with Arthur across his lap. Arthur held his balance with hands framing Alfred's hips as Alfred held his, rubbing thumb circles into his ass in time with the kiss.

He broke away and gazed hard at him, the Dom Arthur always wanted. "Down," he ordered, softly, but ordered. Arthur smirked up at him and slid back, taking Alfred's underwear with him.

It had been such a long time since he had done this, held a cock in his fist steady so he could lick it, suck, and now he finally really got to admire Alfred - and if Alfred was perfect or if he was perfect because he was Alfred, he didn't care. The kissing had molded away any remnants of chapped, so it was soft and plump that mouthed its way down Alfred's cock now, the ridges and bumps and Arthur was memorizing with all senses. Alfred leaned back on a hand, the other tangled in straw hair. His eyelids fluttered, losing himself, but he didn't want to stay this way long. He had other plans.

Arthur was just getting into a pattern, his stride, but Alfred let out his breath and pulled him away. Arthur let his tongue trail, a reminder of the taste when Alfred kissed him as he laid him back again, tongues light against each other as he slid his hands up Arthur's arms, lacing their fingers together when he reached his hands.

Alfred was certainly better than before. Arthur only noticed his wrists being tied to his bedframe through the tongue in his mouth when the buttons of his cuffs - Alfred was using the sleeves of his forgotten shirt - scratched against his skin. He smirked against Alfred's mouth and checked the strength of it as Alfred tied his other arm to the headboard post two over. He had to break the kiss to finish, and Arthur twisted his arms for the best position, gripping the posts, white-boned.

"This kept me going," Alfred murmured, tracing his hands down Arthur's body as Arthur watched his through his half-closed eyes. "You, stretched and bare-" He broke to worry his fingers into Arthur's briefs, tugged them down. "All I want if for you to be mine." Arthur lifted his hips to aid in the disrobing. When his underwear was off his ankles, Alfred caught his foot in the air and kissed his heel. "Because there's no one I'd like to belong to but you, only you."

Arthur wanted to hold him, but made do by hooking his free leg around his waist and suggesting him down. "Of course, of course," he whispered into his ear when he fell over him, skin on skin again and kissing his neck, collar.

Alfred traced around the collar, right to left, all his mouth could reach, and Arthur's head knocked back in his arch up. Alfred's hands were everywhere, all over. "Come on, love," Arthur mouthed. Alfred didn't hear.

When he had kissed every gemstone, Alfred worked down, kissing over the light hairs on Arthur's chest.

"Lube's to the left," Arthur panted, jerking his head in the proper direction. Alfred paused with his mouth just above Arthur's navel to look up at him and laugh against his abdomen.

"Gettin' antsy, are we?"

Arthur's glare was the sun. "Do you know how long I've wanted this?" Alfred snorted, but rolled to the side to dig in the indicated drawer for the lube before falling back over him and kissing him quick and hard.

"You think you've had it bad?" Alfred licked the tip of his nose playfully and grinned. Arthur scowled and curved up.

"Get on with it, fool." Alfred rolled his eyes, then caught Arthur's chin and kissed him again, proper and melt.

When he pulled away, still holding Arthur's jaw, Arthur was less prickly and Alfred was less goofy.

"That's better." He uncapped the lube and squeezed some out. "Now where were we…"

Alfred prepared him with a leg up and left, watching his closed eyes for what he liked. Arthur fed it, legs twitching slightly when it grew to three fingers and he was getting close. Alfred stopped when he bent enough to pull open one of his wrist ties - unintentionally, he knew how Alfred liked him wrapped up.

Still, he pulled his fingers out and crawled up, wiping his hand on the shirt as he retied his wrist to the post, checking the other one and tightening that knot, too, just in case. Arthur's hands were tingling a little, lowered circulation, but it was easily ignored.

Alfred slid back down, kissing what he could and petting what he couldn't. "I love you."

"And I am enamored." Alfred smiled, then rubbed his cheek against Arthur's breathy pants against his ear as he slicked himself up blindly.

He held onto Arthur's hips, tilting them up. Arthur braced his feet to the side and held an arch as Alfred pressed a last kiss to his stomach before guiding himself home.

All of this was uncharted, stark wilderness, so Alfred's hands explored and Arthur mapped it all out, how it should go as the short thrusts began, Alfred fucking him into his quilt, heady and muscles tight. His forehead rested on Arthur's shoulder, and for a moment all he can do is breathe and move and grasp, Arthur finally writhing under him and hot around him. Arthur didn't even wince, it was a far cry from painful, but he let nothings fall from his breath and gripped the bed posts tight, moving with Alfred automatically and heart open. He had never been this unprotected in sex, raw emotions spilling over into movement and clenching heart aches.

It couldn't last long, thoughts spacing over closed eyes and the scent of the other, fire swelling under their skins with each feeble-minded kiss and sideslid thrust. One of them rubbed Arthur's prostate, and he cried out and bit at Alfred's neck, clutching him with his legs and straining to do so with his arms, unable. Alfred groaned and kissed the corners of dark eyes and kept there, there, the first shouts of the day ringing as Arthur spasmed into his orgasm, not a name but it didn't matter.

Alfred thrust through it, hands shaking over Arthur's sides. When Arthur melted, teeth letting go of his neck muscles and sinking into his quilt, Alfred bent down just a fraction to be able to mouth his collar, obsessed and fascinated with the play of silver and green on pale skin, careful with it in his teeth as his movements got sloppy, staying deep and warm. Arthur sighed and leaned his cheek on his hair, "Oh, Alfred," and he grunted as he came in Arthur, fingernails leaving red marks around Arthur's hips.

When he could think again, he pulled out and rolled over, gasping at the ceiling with an impossible grin.

Next to him, Arthur had begun to pull the threads of his composure together, the roots of his hair damp and body cooling. His shoulders ached, and he squirmed to fix them. The movement drew Alfred's attention, and he groaned as he stretched up to untie his arms.

"Thank you, love." Arthur sat up as he was released, circled his wrists and rubbed at one, surprised at how deep the red indents there were. He must have been pulling harder than he thought.

Alfred held his forearms, lifted each one for a kiss below each thumb. Arthur swallowed. He'd forgotten about the tenderness.

"I hope that year was worth it," Arthur said. Alfred grinned and dropped his arms to gather him into a hug.

"I'll let you find out in time." He kissed his cheek, then pulled them off the bed, standing. When Arthur just looked at him, he grinned. "Just because we've broken in your quilt doesn't mean it has to get dirty."

Arthur looked down at his new bedspread. "I don't recognize the pattern."

"I figured you wouldn't." He traced a red and a blue circle with a hand. "Some Kansas housewife made it up a while back. It's a double wedding ring design." Arthur jerked, looked up at Alfred in shock. He didn't meet his eyes, watching his hand trace over the pencil lines still unwashed from the quilt.

"Oh." The arm looped around his waist squeezed, then let go as Alfred stepped back to look for his pants.

"So, you got any food around? I haven't eaten in, like, hours, man." Arthur smiled and shook his head, but threw on a pajama top and a clean pair of underwear and led him down to the kitchen.

Later, he'd find out how far Alfred's implications with the quilt dove. Today, he was going to enjoy the burn in his muscles and Alfred eating a sandwich at his kitchen counter.