Arthur sighed happily as he finished planting a row of endive in his oversized plot. Today had been the day to come out and get things accomplished here at the Hetalia community garden, and he had wasted no time in seizing the opportunity around the neck. When he had woken up this morning, he could practically feel the gentle warmth that was a telltale sign of spring, marking it as the first day of the year in which he could head out to his infamous plot and plant the hordes of newest and best varieties of every kind of vegetable (and some fruits) that he could think of. It was nearing evening now, and he was just finishing up. Tons of people from town had also been at the garden today, occasionally coming up to him and asking for advice on specific crops. He was more than happy to comply, even going so far as to personally demonstrate for them in some instances. His plot was currently a mix of pre-grown sprouts for convenience sake and areas that looked empty, but actually contained seeds that would soon grow and become fully-fledged plants.
He took great pride in his reputation here at the garden. At the age of 23, he was much younger than many other frequent visitors and yet still managed to be the most renowned. He had been coming here since he was a teenager and every year, his plot had been turning out the freshest, biggest, most flavorful vegetables ranging from plump tomatoes and crisp lettuce to crunchy carrots and succulent strawberries. Nobody knew how he managed such a large plot and a full-time job simultaneously. When he first started here, he had been given a small 4X4 affair, since the larger ones were reserved for the more senior gardeners. However, when his natural talent immediately made itself known, he had quickly risen through the ranks. Now, he had the largest plot in the entire garden and was damn proud of it.
Yes, he mused as he stood with hands on his hips surveying his day's work, he was surely the best gardener in the entire area, if not the whole county. If only he had been allowed to plant in that empty plot next to his…here Arthur frowned. Upon noticing that the much smaller plot sitting a few feet away from his own had remained unoccupied throughout the day, he had sought out the manager of the community garden, a kind middle-aged woman by the name of Elizaveta. He was well-acquainted with her and had been sure she would allow him to adopt the other plot since nobody else appeared to be using it, but to his shock she had informed him that someone had indeed already claimed ownership of it. Arthur snorted in amusement. Obviously they weren't very serious about gardening if they had missed the opportunity that had presented itself today.
"Arthur!" Suddenly brought out of his thoughts by the sound of someone calling his name, Arthur turned to find that the only ones left in the garden were himself and Elizaveta. She was waving to him from the gate in the fence that surrounded the property. "I'm leaving for the day!"
"Alright, take care!" he called back, content to still be the last one there. It might seem strange, but the late evenings when everyone else went home to their families to have dinner was Arthur's favorite time in the garden. He had no family to go home to, having lived by himself since he moved out for college. He loved the way the air cooled after a long day of hard work and he could be left to his thoughts as he strolled among the other plots to see what everyone was planning on growing this season.
He himself had his usual, with the addition of the latest varieties from his favorite seed companies. Of course, he stayed loyal to some of his tried-and-true varieties, but he liked to make sure to keep in touch with the times. With one last look over his plot and a wistful glance to the empty one next to it, Arthur gave his promise to be back the next day for watering and began the walk home.
The following evening, Arthur came over to the Hetalia community garden as soon as he was let off of work. He greeted the few familiar faces already there, hurrying around to the hose system to liberally douse his plot in the necessary hydration. He was so absorbed in the large plot that he nearly didn't notice the change in the one next to his, but as he turned to put the hose back, he saw it.
"What the bollocks?!" Arthur shouted, paralyzed where he stood from shock. The plot that had definitely been unused the previous day now proudly displayed freshly turned dirt and glistened with water droplets, indicating that whoever had been here had cared for it very recently, probably having just left when Arthur was arriving. That in itself wasn't what had shocked Arthur. No, what had shocked Arthur was the pre-grown plant that was situated smack in the middle of the plot that he knew with complete certainty due to connections with the higher-ups in seed companies wasn't supposed to have been released for public use until next season. This was utterly unacceptable, and clearly an act of blatant taunting from the mystery owner of the plot. They had seen Arthur's new varieties and thought it would be clever of them to put out a variety that wasn't even available yet. He saw how it was. With a smile, he knew what needed to be done.
"I'll show you what it means to wage war on the great Arthur Kirkland!" With that, the season began.
And what a season it was. Arthur was a gardening machine throughout the long summer months. There was not one single moment he wasn't spending at work that he couldn't be found working out in his plot or sleeping at his home. He was determined to beat his neighbor at his own game. It only frustrated Arthur further that the other gardener seemed to have almost as much talent as Arthur himself did. Where Arthur's tomatoes were flawlessly juicy, the other's potent basil could be smelled from across the garden. When Arthur had a large enough harvest that he was able to share with everyone else in the community, the stranger managed to install a pumpkin plant in his much smaller garden, including a sign that gave permission for people to pick them for their own uses when they got big enough. The git even had room left over to decorate with a horrid pink flamingo that Arthur was tempted to kick at every sighting. He could tell it had been placed there just for the intent of irritating him.
Despite his growing frustrations, Arthur's garden was doing better than ever. Filled to bursting with a passion to defend his title, he threw his every energy into fertilizing, cultivating, pruning. Soon, word spread about the unspoken competition between Arthur and the mystery gardener.
There was another thing bothering Arthur. In all the hours he was putting in at the garden, he had never once glimpsed anyone actually tending to the plot. Sometimes he would leave after the sun had gone down and arrive first thing in the morning only to discover subtle changes, indicating that someone must have been there. When he asked Elizaveta about it, she claimed that even she didn't know when they came by. She had only ever met them once, it was a young man, and he had asked to use the plot for the season.
There were times that Arthur considered sabotaging the other plot. He grew irritated by the gossip he heard spreading around about how the talent could match his own and that next year the mystery gardener should get a larger plot and maybe the two of them could even work together and grow enough produce for some kind of community farmer's market. He scoffed at the very idea, wondering if Gatorade would be enough to kill off sweet potatoes or if he should just go ahead and apply herbicide. In the end, however, he decided that he was above that and continued fighting fire with fire.
Despite the all-out war that was raging in the community garden, the Earth continued to rotate on its axis and orbit around the sun, so the inevitable season-changing eventually occurred. By the time Fall rolled around, most of the crops were ready for harvesting and Arthur at least took his victory in having more to harvest that the other plot did (he acutely ignored the fact that it was simply because he had the much larger plot). When he woke up one day and found that the air was actually cold, he decided with some sorrow that it was time to go and dig up the plants he had so carefully spent the last few months growing.
When he got there, he was greeted with the sight of several other people bustling around, digging up their own plots. It had always pleased him how in sync his community was, sensing when it was time to do things together as a unit. He spent a couple hours happily pulling up plants left and right, stopping to chat with others and to eat the lunch of warm soup Elizaveta had kindly brought for everyone working. He couldn't help but notice that the plot next to his was still full of now barren plants, but he had grown used to the mysterious schedule of his neighbor. At this point, he had resigned himself to the fact that they clearly didn't want to reveal themselves, and he didn't really blame them after spending a summer in competition with the community's most renowned gardener. Whoever it was probably knew that if they showed their face around here, Arthur would immediately be on them like English on tea and deliver a verbal beat-down.
After eating, he went right back to work and had very nearly pulled up the entirety of his plot when he heard heavy footsteps coming from behind him. He thought nothing of it, assuming it was another person simply coming for the shovels stored in the shed off to the side. Which was why, when a sturdy figure came into his line of vision and casually strolled over to the plot, Arthur promptly fell over in surprise.
"Oi, what the bleeding hell do you think you're doing?" he shouted angrily, covering up the fact that he had fallen with his temper. The figure turned around in surprise at the sound of his irate voice and Arthur could see that it was a young man—practically a boy really—with a muscular body, dark blond hair, and dazzling blue eyes that Arthur had to take a moment, or two, or three, to appreciate.
"Um…tending to my plot?" the male said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck in a way that Arthur found absolutely ador—not adorable. "Season is up, so uh…yeah."
Snapping out of his temporary stupor, Arthur nearly facepalmed. "No, I meant, is that your plot?!"
"Yeah?" was the tentative reply. "Why?"
Arthur couldn't believe that this man had the audacity to act innocently confused about his questioning. No matter how toned the man's abs looked under his tight exercise shirt and no matter how silky smooth his hair and skin looked, this was still the same person that had waged war for an entire season on the legendary Arthur Kirkland. He was not going to be let off easy because of a few attractive points (and really, Arthur told himself, they were barely anything to brag about).
"Why? You bleeding well know why! Who do you think you are?!"
The man's confusion only seemed to heighten further as his nose crinkled up.
"Alfred Jones?" he said questioningly once more. "It's nice to meet you!"
Arthur could only stand and stare, dumbfounded, at the person before him and briefly considered believing the innocent act before deciding that a whole season of pent up anger had to be released right in that moment or he would go mad.
"Don't you dare! I know what you've been doing! Don't think I didn't notice the way you just loved to one up me these past few months? How did you even get that variety?" Arthur pointed accusingly to Alfred's special variety in the center of the garden. "It hasn't even been released yet! And why is this the first time I'm seeing you? I'm here all the time and never have I once actually seen you come to tend to your plants. How could you even dare to challenge me in the first place! And why do you look so bloody young?" he spat in quick succession, determined to get answers to the season long enigma that he had given more speculation to than he would ever care to admit.
Alfred looked a little stunned for a moment, but to his credit, he recovered rather quickly and beamed a smile that was too damned bright to be natural and responded with, "Wow! I have no idea what you just asked because I was really distracted by your eyes (did you know they glow when you're yelling?), but if you want, I can answer your questions over dinner?"
Arthur hesitated a total of about five seconds before coming to a decision. "Give me one minute to put this shovel away."
As it turned out, Alfred was 19 years old and was attending the local community college for landscaping. He loved the outdoors and designing gardens and had insomnia, so when he couldn't sleep at night he would come over and take care of his garden plot. He had a close friend that was the head of biological engineering at a prominent seed company, which was how he had managed to get the variety that had yet to even be released. And, to answer Arthur's main question, the one where he needed to know why Alfred was such a cheeky brat and wanted to challenge him, Alfred hadn't actually been declaring war at all. In fact, he had been completely confused about that particular question and hadn't even heard that Arthur was the top dog in gardening before starting his plot.
After getting over the fact that Arthur had spent the last few months obsessed with something that didn't actually exist, he found that Alfred was really quite good company. Of course, he would never admit that out loud, but it didn't matter in the end, as it turned out Alfred was exceptionally talented at reading between the lines when it came to Arthur. That would prove extremely helpful over the course of the next few years, and even more helpful when it became abundantly clear that Alfred would need the skill for the rest of his life. And for his part, Arthur couldn't help but demand to be married in the garden where it had all began.
A/N: Psst! Wanna know a not-so-secret? I'm a total sap. I've spent years of my life endlessly teasing my mom for watching "lame romance movies" and here I am writing this. Oh well. I randomly had this idea today (while gardening actually) and just had to upload it. I won't get much done for the next week because of exams, but I'll try my hardest and I WILL update The World I Once Knew at some point.
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