A/N: This is something I'm writing for a friend based off of a roleplay we did ^^ Sorry if it seems a bit choppy that way, but I decided it made the most sense to leave it mostly the way it was. Some parts will be edited from the original more than others, especially near the end. Enjoy!
Matthew Williams was quietly scrubbing the stone floor of the magnificent castle that he had begun working at that past year. He and his father were in need of the money, and when he had heard they needed servants he decided to go ahead and try. He was hired right away, since he looked like an innocent and hard-working young man, and the King had taken a liking to him right away. This day, the King had decided to have all the servants clean the floors of the castle. Most of them had stuck around to see the job through, but many of them had ditched to do whatever they wanted for the rest of the day. Lucky bastards were probably living it up while the hard working ones were stuck there scrubbing vigorously at the floor. If he weren't so passive-aggressive Matthew would have shown those lazy arses what for next time he saw them. Right now though, all the young man could think about was finishing his job, going back to the servant quarters, and flopping down on his bed and just lying there for the remainder of the evening.
The Prince of the castle, however, had other plans.
Alfred was the only child of the King, Arthur Kirkland, and was the same age as Matthew. He was being taught how to take over the kingdom, him being the only heir. However, he had no real friends, and so when he was bored he would tease the young servant boy. He sighed and hopped off his bed, heading out his rather superfluously large room. He decided to wander the halls until he found the other blonde teen, whose responses were always rather amusing, so he wandered past the other servants who were scrubbing at the floors until he found the one he was looking for. He saw Matthew looking up at him, and he grinned at him.
Matthew, meanwhile, sighed a little as the prince came closer. He knew the other boy was likely coming over to tease him as he normally did. He didn't mind as much as he should, honestly-after all, attention was attention, unwelcomed or not, and Matthew, being overly shy and unsocial, got little to no attention at all. Besides, despite the fact that he teased him, he and Alfred had managed to strike up decent conversations as well, and those brief bits of conversation had brought the two a bit closer. Matthew still wasn't sure if they could exactly be called friends just yet. No, rather, Matthew knew he was just some object to appease the Young Master's complete and utter boredom, but still…Matthew smiled shyly at Alfred and waved before he returned to his work, determined to finish if it killed him.
"Hey Mattie!" Alfred called out cheerfully, waving even though the other teen had gone back to his work. He knew Matthew was a hard worker, which was why he sometimes decided to give him a break by simply talking to him, though he wasn't entirely conscious of what he was doing himself. He'd considered the other man a friend ever since they had met, even though Matthew always seemed to shy away from talking to him. The thought caused him to grimace-probably some silly argument about them being different ranks, blahdy-blahdy blah...it was a bunch of rubbish, in Alfred's opinion.
"Why don't you stop that scrubbing for now, 'kay? Come on, the others can finish."
Matthew looked back up at the other, a little shocked by the suggestion.
"B-but my lord, I couldn't…" Matthew started, looking back down at the floor even though he had momentarily stopped working. "I can't just leave everyone, so many people aren't here to begin with and they'd be even more shorthanded then before…" Although it was against his policy to disagree with anyone above him, he really couldn't just leave everyone with how things were and all. No matter how much Matthew ached from scrubbing floors all day or how much he knew that he wanted to openly accept this offer, it just kind of went against his morals. "So I'm sorry, but I don't really think I'm able to…" he said, trailing off towards the end of the sentence. Alfred just pouted and rolled his eyes.
"I keep telling you, just call me Alfred. Come on, Mattie, I'm sure they can finish without you-I wanna talk you!" He pouted even deeper, knowing few people could resist it. Not that he ever used that to his advantage, oh no…but hey, he was a prince, after all. Matthew had to listen to him, right?
"I-I'm sorry young ma- Alfred, I'm just not used to it is all..." Matthew said quietly. He was raised to never refer to any member of royalty or higher standard on a friendly basis, his mother had told him it was very rude and disrespectful. Calling the Prince by his first name would take some major adjusting. Matthew was about to turn him down once more, but then Alfred turned on his adorable puppy dog pout. The poor boy was weak when it came to those. Whenever his sister had wanted him to do something for her, she would just start pouting and Matthew would be putty in her hands. For some reason though, he still showed some resistance this time around, his sense of responsibility overpowering the adorableness that, at this moment, was Alfred. "Whatever it is, can't you just tell me while I work? You never seemed to have a problem with it before…"
"But I wanna go outside! Y'know, explore the gardens and stuff, get out for a bit. You're going to turn into a grouch like ol' Artie if you stay cooped up in here. Come on, Mattie, live a little!" Alfred grinned, putting his hands on his hips and nodding authoritatively. Truth be told, he was getting sick of being stuck in the castle for hours on end, going through lesson after boring lesson...and really, it was mostly useless junk anyways. He already knew how to dance (horribly), and greet foreign nobles and all of that-what else did he need? He laughed, bending down and ruffling Matthew's hair with another pout. Matthew blushed lightly as the elder ruffled his hair and then sighed. He figured there was no point in pressing on further-Alfred would get what he wanted, as per the usual. Besides, he knew the other never really did get out much, considering how busy the King always kept the poor boy lately. They were almost done with the floors anyway, it wouldn't hurt to get off a bit earlier, and he had permission anyway.
"All right Alfred, you win…" He admitted defeat at last, with a heavy sigh, "Just let me put my stuff away…"
Slowly, the boy stood from the floor, bucket and rag in hand. Then, he went to the place where they stored the cleaning supplies, which wasn't too far away, and walked back.
"Ok, let's go then." He cracked a small smile at the other before he started walking towards the doors that lead out to the garden
"Yes!" Alfred cheered, grabbing Matthew by his hand and dragging him through the doors and out into the bright sun. He stopped only for a brief moment to breathe in deeply, savouring the fresh air for a few seconds before he took off once more, dragging Matthew along. He kept on walking swiftly until they made it to one of the many gardens that surrounded the palace. By the time they got there Matthew was out of breath, and Alfred laughed at his flushed face. "You really need to get out more, Mattie." he teased, poking his cheek. "You're starting to put on a little bit of pudge."
Not that he didn't find it adorable, but Matthew didn't need to know that. Matthew's face exploded in red and he yanked his hand from the other's grasp. He turned so he was facing away from the other as he poked and squeezed at his belly. Had he really gained weight? Jerk, Alfred knew he was self-conscious. He then lifted his shirt slightly to look at his stomach. It wasn't too bad, right? Maybe if he watched what he ate…ah, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about things like that. After, he turned towards Alfred once more, face clearly still red.
"I-It's not that bad…" he murmured, "And I get out plenty, thank you… There's no need to say such mean things."
He faked a sniffle and his eyes started to water up, fake crying was something he could do really well.
"Ah, crap, don't cry!" Alfred laughed nervously, but really, he was a sucker for Matthew's crying (of course, he was too naiive to think Matthew was faking, and Matthew wasn't going to tell him any different). "I-I don't think you're fat, really I was just teasing...you're just fine, really!" Alfred tried to assure him, his blue eyes wide and innocent. He hoped he hadn't hurt the other's feelings, because he really didn't mean it. Matthew wiped away the (fake) tears.
"Y-You really mean it?" he said in the cutest voice he could possibly muster. He hated deceiving Alfred with his fake tears, but honestly, his reactions were too perfect to pass up. Although, he was kind of surprised that Alfred never realized that he was faking. He'd done it a few times in front of the Prince but not once had he caught on. After waiting for a minute he smiled slightly at the boy. "Well, I'm glad you don't think so." He chimed happily (but he was still carefully planning out a diet as he spoke), then he remembered something. "Oh, uhm, there was something you needed to talk to me about, wasn't there? Or, was that just an excuse to get me to come outside with you?" he asked with a quizzical look.
"Nah, I just wanted you to come outside." Alfred laughed, slinging his arm over Matthew's shoulders. "I mean, we're friends right? This is what friends do, they hang out and talk and stuff."
It wasn't as if Alfred didn't know about Matthew's fear of their difference in status, but he wanted him to know that it didn't matter to him. Matthew was just another boy, a friend, and a silly thing such as a title wouldn't get in their way of being friends. He grinned at the other boy, dragging him along through the garden.
"Friends…?" Mathew echoed. Matthew had always thought that Alfred thought no more of him than an object of entertainment, nothing more. But apparently he had been wrong. It was weird though, not a normal, proper friendship. He was such a low class, a servant at that, how could someone like Alfred think of someone like him as a friend. It was unfathomable. Even so, it felt nice, he hadn't had a real friend since he had started working/living at the castle. So he wouldn't say anything about it, even though his brain kept telling himself that it was an unnatural friendship and he should learn his place-spending time with the Prince made him happy. A smile graced his lips as he was tugged along by Alfred. "Ah, you know that the gardens are really big, right? We won't get lost will we?"
"Lost? I would never get us lost!" Alfred laughed loudly, tugging on Matthew's arm and bringing them further and further into the gardens. However, after about ten minutes, it was clear that Alfred had no idea where they were, even though he laughed it off every time Matthew stated his concern. "I know exactly where we are! Just follow me!" He assured him every time, grinning widely. He didn't mind, even if they were lost. That just meant more time he could spend with Matthew away from the confines of the castle, with Arthur hanging over him every second of the day. He had yet to let go of Matthew's arm, and it didn't seem like he was going to anytime soon.
"Alfred, we're lost, just admit it already." Matthew said with a heavy sigh as the Prince continued to drag him onward by his arm. Honestly, he could be so stubborn when he wanted to be. The sky had darkened considerably in the short amount of time. Most likely it was around 9 o'clock by now-no doubt the King would be furious if they didn't come back soon, but Matthew knew his way around the gardens as well as Alfred seemed to. "Alfred, we really need to get back to the castle, his Highness is probably worried about you…" he said, "Maybe we could try retracing our steps or something…?"
"Well I don't know how to get back any more than you do, so I guess we'll just wander until we find a way back." Alfred said, shrugging. He really didn't care much-in fact, he was rather enjoying their little "adventure". He stopped, grinning. "Or we could just wait for someone to find us. I'm sure ol' Artie'll send someone out soon enough. This looks like a nice spot!"
Matthew sighed and sat down in the grass next to a rose bush. There really wasn't a point of pushing on any further, they would just end up getting deeper in and then it would take even longer to get out. So he went with Alfred's idea and hoped the King would send people out to find them soon. Not that he hated spending time with Alfred, quite the opposite in fact, but being lost kind of sucked. It made him feel helpless and he didn't like that feeling… he shook his head of the thought and looked up at Alfred with a smile and patted the ground next to him.
"Well, sit down then." He said, "I'm sure it'll be awhile until they find us."
"Sooo...whaddya wanna do?" he asked, rocking back and forth impatiently. He was actually hoping that they wouldn't be found right away, so that he could hang out with Matthew a bit longer without all of them breathing down his neck. He looked at Matthew expectantly, a big grin still on his face
"Well…" Matthew started, think of all the possibilities. There wasn't much you could do in a garden at this hour. "I know we should avoid getting more lost if possible… I'm not sure what we could do though… Maybe we could tell stories or something?" He suggested, though he didn't have many to tell, but he wasn't quite sure what else the two could do as they waited for rescue. Nothing else really came to mind. "Or, y'know, we could just talk about things… When we talk it's never very long so we should take this opportunity to maybe, uhm…get to know each other a little bit better?"
"That's an awesome idea!" Alfred grinned, leaning in really close. "Well, Whaddya wanna know? I'm sure you know lots about me, being the prince and all...not too many secrets and all that."
He shrugged, but it was true-after all, being surrounded by people almost every hour of the day made it hard to have anything go unnoticed. Though he sometimes wondered what it'd be like to have the opposite problem...ah, but Matthew would probably know more about that.
"Uhm, well, let me think…" He said. What did he want to know? It was true, he did hear a lot about the royal family. Sometimes, he wondered if it was mostly false gossip or not. One day, while the servant had their daily lunch break, the older women had said that Alfred had been promised to a pretty girl from a kingdom that was a little ways away. Some kind of emotion had twisted his stomach into a knot when he heard that. "W-Well… Uh… Are you interested in anyone, or… Er, have your parents arranged to have you married or anything?" It was a legitimate question, but he couldn't help but blush as he said it and turn his head away.
"They probably have." Alfred shrugged. "Personally, I don't like any of the girls they keep bringing me. They're all...mushy, and kinda weird, to be honest." he laughed, leaning back onto the grass. Truth be told, there was someone important to him, but...well, there were way too many things getting in the way of that. He turned to look at Matthew with a big grin. "What about you, Mattie? You have someone special?"
Matthew shook his head back and forth rapidly. There had once been this pretty girl that also had been a servant. Her name was Michele. She was a pretty little thing, long brown hair pulled into two pig tails and she had an adorable smile. At one time, Matthew had thought very fondly of her, but he soon grew out of that infatuation. Now, he wanted to deny his current crush as much as possible. Considering it was hardly ethical and very frowned upon. So, he wouldn't say a word to anyone about it.
"I-I don't like anyone right now…" he lied through his teeth.
"Well, I guess we'll be lonely together!" Alfred laughed, grinning at the other boy even though he knew that Matthew was lying just as much as he was, though he didn't know why. He may have seemed rather stupid, but he noticed more than people gave him credit for. Just like how he'd noticed the way Matthew made sure to be given jobs near Alfred's quarters, which he hoped (rather selfishly) was so that he could see him more.
"Aha, yeah…" Matthew said, tossing a sort of awkward smile back at the other. He'd never breathe a word of his crush to anyone. Besides, Alfred would end up with some pretty girl, like he deserved-as long as he was happy, Matthew was fine. Suddenly, he heard voices not too far from the two boys. Apparently the search party had been dispatched and they'd almost reached them. Matthew quickly stood off the ground and offered a hand to help Alfred up. "We should probably go find them."
Alfred pouted, but took the offered hand and hiding a grin as Matthew helped him up.
"They found us pretty fast." He remarked as he brushed the grass off his clothes, though he couldn't keep the disappointment from his voice. He'd wanted to spend more time alone with Matthew, but of course someone had to get in the way like always. He sighed, but knew they should probably head toward the voices. Not that he wanted to, though.
"I know, kind of lucky huh?" Matthew said with a smile. He kind of wanted to stay outside with Alfred a little longer, but he knew that was too much to ask for. Not letting go of the Prince's hand, he led them to where the voices were coming from. They ran into them as they were turning the corner. A few knights had come; along with the King himself, he did not look happy. His glare fell on the young Prince.
"Alfred F. Jones, we finally found you-Oh, what's this hm?" Arthur said, shifting his gaze from Alfred to Matthew, "Is this the reason you decided to skip your History lesson? To play hooky with some filthy servant?" He grabbed Matthew by the hair and forced him to his knees. Said boy whimpered in pain and bit his lip. Alfred stepped forward to help him, barely fazed when Arthur turned to glare at him sharply.
"Hey! Don't do that, you're hurting him! It was all my idea, dad! Don't take it out on him!"
Alfred was mad at himself for getting Matthew hurt because of his stupid idea. He was stronger than his father, but he knew that if he tried anything it wouldn't end well for him, but he was barely able to hold himself back when he looked at the pained look on Matthew's face. Arthur snorted and pulled the boy's hair tighter and Matthew bit his tongue to stop a small scream from escaping his lips.
"What do you care if I hurt him or not?" He said coldly, glaring at Alfred, "And anyway, I don't care whose fault it was, or whose idea it was. This boy let you go out and fool around, the proper thing to do would've been to prevent you from leaving the castle in the first place!"
"A-Alfred-" Matthew started but was abruptly cut off.
"And not only that, but he has such arrogance as to call you by your first name!" The King growled, tossing Matthew harshly to the ground, "He's spending the night in the dungeon."
"What? No!" Alfred yelled, finally grabbing Arthur's arm. "You can't do that! I told him to do that, he didn't even want to! Please, Daddy, don't hurt him." Alfred begged, his lower lip quivering. He knew it was childish, but he really didn't care at that moment. He didn't want Matthew to get hurt because of his silly ideas, or spending a night in the dungeon...okay, he was actually crying now, and Arthur was glaring at him for it, but once again he really didn't care. "Please, don't do it, it's not his fault!"
"Tch…" Arthur really didn't like seeing Alfred cry, lord knows why he was crying over this lowly servant boy. If it would stop him from crying though, he'd have to lift the punishment. "Fine… If you're that passionate about this matter then I won't put him in the dungeon… Just… Ugh, follow us back to the castle then." Arthur said with a heavy sigh as he turned and started to make his way back to the castle. Matthew slowly stood from the ground and walked over to Alfred.
"Thanks… You didn't have to do that…" he said quietly.
"Sure I did! I'm a hero, I have to protect others." He grinned, resisting the urge to throw his arm over Matthew's shoulders considering their current company. "Besides, he was being totally ridiculous. After all, it was kinda my fault anyway. Sorry he hurt you, by the way." He added in a soft voice that was rather uncharacteristic, but he meant it. It upset him, to see his father hurt Matthew like that just because he was the servant boy and Alfred was a Prince
"N-No, it's fine, I was kind of expecting his reaction to be like that…" Matthew said, looking at the ground, "And you can't take it all upon yourself, he was right, I should've tried harder to at least keep you inside but… You must've felt so caged up, you spend all of your time in that castle studying, you needed to get outside." He said, looking up and smiling sweetly at the other boy. "And, even though we did get lost and our little adventure ended kinda badly, I can't say I regret it. Being able to spend even a little time with you just makes it all worthwhile." After a moment, he realized what he had just said and how cheesy the sounded and blushed a thousand shades or red and stuttered incoherently for awhile before he was able to form an intelligible sentence.
"C-C'mon, let's go, they're gonna leave us behind!"
Alfred was quiet for a moment at Matthew's words, but then his mouth turned up in his customary grin.
"Aw, thanks, Mattie!" Alfred laughed and gave Matthew a one-armed hug without thinking about it, but he couldn't say he regretted it either. "Yeah, that was fun! We should do this more often, eh?" he said with a grin, hoping the other boy would say yes. Because, really, he wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, away from prying eyes. Of course, he wouldn't do anything like this again, not if it meant Matthew getting hurt again. Matthew nodded his head slightly, blush slowly creeping away from his face.
"Y-Yeah, I'd love to, but maybe we should have an indoor adventure next time, when you're done with your studies." He said. As much fun as this was, he'd rather not make the King angry again. He probably wouldn't be as lenient the second time. "Now let's go." He said, taking the other boy's hand and leading him to where the knights and Arthur had gone Alfred let Matthew drag him, glad to see the boy a little more out of his shell. Before, he had been hesitant to even talk to him, but now he was acting more like a real friend would, and that made Alfred feel almost giddy. He noticed the other boy letting go the moment they were close to the others again, but he knew he was only looking out for himself-after all, that certainly wasn't the way servants acted. Alfred pouted, wishing that they weren't in those silly positions so that they could interact more.
Once they reached the group Matthew let his hand slide from Alfred's. He didn't want to, but he wouldn't like to be chastised any further by the King. The whole walk back was filled with an uncomfortable silence; no one spoke a word the entire way back. Once they were back inside the castle it seemed that it was, unfortunately, time for the two boys to split ways once again. Arthur had left to go to bed and the guards had returned to their posts.
"So, I guess until tomorrow then, huh?" Matthew said, a sad hint to his tone.
"Yeah." Alfred replied, trying not to pout-after all, it was childish- "I'll find you as soon as my lessons are done, that way dad can't scold you again! Maybe we can go explore some of those creepy areas of the castle!" He grinned, grabbing Matthew's hands. "It'll be fun, and-" he paused as a large yawn escaped his mouth-He must have been more tired than he thought. Matthew laughed slightly.
"Yeah, that'd be great," he said with a smile, "But I think you need to focus on getting some rest. You seem tired."
He was about to turn and leave but he quickly gave Alfred a hug and said goodnight, before he dashed off to the servant's quarters. Once there, he closed the door behind him and sighed. The boy was sad to be away from Alfred, but he was also very happy to see his bed, no matter how uncomfortable and lumpy it was. Without bothering to change, he hopped into bed and snuggled under the cover. Slowly, he let sleep took a hold of him
Alfred, meanwhile, made it back to his room in record time, shutting the door before he ran across the room and jumped onto his large bed, grinning gleefully. Sure, it had been just one hug, but hey, it meant a lot to him. He hugged his pillow, his face red as he thought about Matthew. It was getting harder and harder to conceal it now, but he knew he had to try, because he wanted to remain friends. He flopped on his side, and in moments was asleep.