"Hey Arthur, why are you better at catching fish than me?" A young boy questioned the teenager beside him, peering down to his bobber that stood still in the creek with a sad, hopeless expression.
Arthur turned to the boy and raised his thick brow, "Well you caught a few, haven't you?"
"Yeah but you got a hundred over there, big ones too. I just keep catching dinky baby fish." The boy mumbled, bringing his knees up to his mouth to hide his face. He was a bit jealous, almost frustrated with the skilled fisherman who sat beside him on the bank of the creek. He had much bigger fish than him, and enough to feed two starving families. He chuckled though, knowing that with all those fish he'd smell horrible for a week like before.
"Well Alfy, It takes time, patience and some maneuvering to catch the right kinds of fish. Here I'll show you…" Arthur laid his fishing rod down on the damp green grass and got up, taking hold of Alfred's fishing pole with him still wielding it. The boy got excited; he always loved it when his big brother taught him new things because he eventually would get better at it than him.
"You sit very still and pay full attention to your bobber, so that you can react to any kind of tug or pull and when you see that bobber go down," suddenly, the bobber dunked under the water, Arthur yelled, "you pull!"
Alfred was caught by surprised as the two reeled up the fishing pole, but as soon as they did, Arthur's fishing pole dived beneath the water with a splash and was almost taken down stream.
"Gah! Get it, get it, get it!" Arthur yelped, dunking his feet into the water and rushing after it. If not for Alfred's fishing hook griping to his fishing pole, the stream would've swallowed it up. Alfred couldn't help but laugh himself to tears with that classic slip up. His gut turned and tightened because he laughed so hard. Arthur grumbled to himself, stomping out of the creek with cold soaking wet feet and pants with a mucky fishing pole in hand. He not only smelled like fish but now he smelled like gross swampy muck.
"That's the last time I'm teaching you how to fish." He snipped at Alfred as he passed him by, looking like a waddling penguin.
Alfred chuckled a bit and shouted back to Arthur, "That was your fault you know, big brother-"
The pleasant reminiscing dream slowly faded to light as a young man began to awaken. Arthur creaked open his eyes, blocking the morning sun from view. That dream again. Why wasn't it going away like before? That wonderful memory that he cherished so much became a hindrance after dreaming it for so many nights. Then again, for the past week he's thought about nothing but Alfred, the one who use to look up to him those many, many years ago. No wonder the dreams won't stop.
"Why must we be….just distant friends…?" he mumbled softly to himself as he lay still beneath his comforter, being flooded with the morning sun rushing through his old Victorian window.
Arthur rolled over in his bed, thinking about those days where he and little Alfy would play sticks, pretending they were swords or when they'd outstretch their arms and thought they were birds. They always made his heart feel heavy with not only sadness but pure joy. Bittersweet memories you could call them. There was always one question that stumped those heartfelt memories. Why? He knew full well what happened to the two of them. Alfred grew up and they slowly began to be ripped apart. Why though? Why couldn't he just let things flow like the creek they both loved so much?
Arthur sighed, his head straining into a confusing headache. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself and make all the images go away into the darkness of his eyelids. Eventually, just like his dream, they all faded away. He had control of himself again, but for how long? In attempt to keep his mind off it, he decided to get up and get dressed to start his day. He had plans to go to the café today with Matthew to have a simple conversation with him.
Walking down the stairs of his beautiful wood carved home, he made himself some breakfast to hold himself down till brunch with Mat. It wasn't anything big or ravishing, just some toasted bread with raspberry jam. He always ate it that way, ever since Alfy started putting it on his toast he hasn't changed it since. The old imagery made Arthur froze, and then boil into a fit.
"No, no, no!" he yelled to himself, banging the table, "Stop thinking about him! We've gone down our separate paths already! Your friends and that's all you'll ever be!"
His teeth were clenched and his breakfast was crumbled within his fist. His eyes were tight shut and were almost gushing tears, "D-dammit." His one hand that wasn't sticky in jam pressed itself against his forehead. His hand felt hot and his head felt even hotter. He couldn't help but think of that damned Alfred. Why was he letting himself get so aggravated? He had to keep his appearance, especially because he was about to go meet someone in twenty minutes. Maybe some soothing music could help calm his unsettled nerves he thought.
He quickly stepped over to his radio that sat upon a window seal in the living room. Turning the knob, he found a soothing and quiet station that played classical music all to his liking. He sat upon his soft cushioned Victorian love seat, slumping into its curved figures.
"Good god, Keep it together Arthur…." He sighed.
For a good ten minutes, he was able to keep himself from drifting into a nap. Despite his efforts to stay awake, he eventually became victim to his droopy eyelids, the sounds of Bach and the warmth of his cozy home. Even if he had just woken up, his night had been filled with constant stirring to go to the bathroom, so he could wash away all the dreams. It was obvious that no matter how hard he tried to escape, he was trapped in his confusing past with his dreams as the boiling pot, constantly pulling him away from reality.
"You weren't paying attention!" the voice of young Alfred rang in. He ran up to Arthur's side with a smile so wide and silly. Arthur kept up his temper as always, continuing to stomp his way up the hill that lead to their simple cottage home.
"Well how was I supposed to know it'd get caught?" Arthur whined, his eyebrows all twisted up and his thighs becoming raw from walking with wet jeans. Alfred giggled once again, unable to hold back his extremely bubbly character. He did feel bad for his big brother though, and suddenly a knot rolled up in his stomach.
Alfred stopped walking beside his big brother, remaining in one spot with clenched up fists. Arthur noticed his little brother was trailing behind and turned to see what he was up to.
"Hey, what's wrong Alfy?" he asked, kneeling down in front of the boy. When he felt two small arms wrap around his neck, he was taken by surprise even more so when he could feel how hot Alfred's face was.
"I'm sorry big brother," Alfred muffle from inside the teenagers collar shirt, "that was mean of me to laugh."
Arthur glanced down to the young boy, noticing his collar was getting damp from the boy's eyes. He felt the inside of his chest melt and his bitter thoughts wash away. A complete sense of pride shined from the boy's heartfelt apology.
"Hey, hey" he put his hands on Alfred's shoulders, "It's alright, nothing to cry about. C'mon, let's go inside and have a cup of tea, alright? That'll make things better."
Alfred rubbed the tears away from his eyes, nodding to the teenagers comforting offer. Arthur smiled and outstretched his hand to the boy as the wind flickered and floated about the two. Alfred took his big brother's welcoming hand, allowing him to lead the way to their home.
"Hey Arthur?" Alfred questioned.
Arthur turned to the boy, only to find him no longer a boy but a full grown man and shouting at him, "Hey Arthur!" over and over again. Arthur found himself waking up out of a fit with the loud noise of banging coming from the front door.
"Hey Arthur, you in there! You're not dead are ya!" shouted a voice from the other side of the door.
"B-Bloody hell?" he cursed beneath his breathe, still a tad confused. He rose out of his seat, shaking the cobwebs from his head and rubbed his eyes back to focus.
"Matt told me you never showed up to the brunch him and you apparently set up! He told me to come and check up on ya!" Arthur realized it was Alfred that was shouting at him from outside.
He took a glimpse at the time and his heart nearly stopped. It was four o' clock! He slept through Matthews plans and beyond! He burst open the door, finding a rather stupid looking Alfred about ready to knock again.
"Oh so you're not dead!" Alfred said gleefully, "That's good! Well seeing how all I came here for was to see if you're doing fine, I'll get goin."
As Alfred already started on his way out, Arthur felt his chest drop. Here was the man he had been obsessing about for the past week and already he was trying to leave.
"Alfred wait!" he hollered, thankfully stopping the other before he stepped off his patio.
"What?" Alfred questioned. He was having such an oblivious attitude that it almost set Arthur's blood on fire, but trying to be as calm as he could he settled himself down, regaining a gentle voice.
"What is it that has you in such a hurry?" he asked, extremely curious.
"Oh, heh, I was just on my way to go watch this really scary movie with Honda. I heard it 'suppose to be a real horror! I get frighten out of my pants just talkin' about it!" Alfred quivered.
Arthur knew he wasn't much of the type for scary movies but missing a chance like this was something absolutely couldn't afford. With Alfred's life being so busy anymore now, it's nothing short of a miracle he had time to come and check up on him.
"Well, is it alright if I join you guys? And isn't his name Kiku?" Arthur asked, eagerly leaning out of his door frame.
"Yeah sure, I don't see why not. Pssh, Honda, Kiku...same thing right?" Alfred said with a smile, continuing down the steps of Arthur's patio.
Arthur couldn't be relieved enough. Maybe this was what he needed, to spend time with the one he's thought about most. If anywhere, he could start here and work harder to spend more time with Alfred and just patiently see how things played out. It would mean absolutely everything to him if they could at least become close friends.
"Ah-Wait up, Alfred! Don't be so hasty!" he gratefully shouted back.