Bad Communicator Arthur, the King of Spades, and an Invitation
"Wanna be my queen?"
Arthur turned around with a witty retort on the tip of his tongue, only to have it swallowed back down as he realized who was standing in front of him, with a casual stance, a casual tone of voice, and not-so-casual clothing.
King Alfred.
Arthur stood staring at the person in front of him, dumbfounded, until he realized who it was. Again.
King Alfred.
Key word: king.
Arthur fell to his knees and placed (more like slammed) his head on the ground, the palms of his hands face down on either side of his now-hurting forehead and ow why did he do that so hard?
"My King! I apologize for my actions!" Arthur exclaimed, probably a little too dramatically, and definitely too loudly. A few people stopped and looked on, wondering why a person was bowing on the ground like th-oh, the king.
After a beat of silence from the man clad in the expensive material of a specially tailored suit, a laugh erupted from him, and it seemed like he was having trouble breathing through his laughter. Arthur lifted his head slightly, confused, wanting to rub at the small red bump forming smack dab in the middle of his forehead but not wanting to disrespect the king in any way.
Speaking of the king, when did that black-gloved hand get there?
Arthur tentatively reached out his pathetic non-gloved hand and let the still-laughing king pull him up off the concrete of the marketplace. Once he was standing his full height, but still bowing his head a bit out of respect, he noticed that he was shorter than the king (who had just now finished his bout of loud giggling).
King Alfred dropped his hand and let it swing at his side for a moment, before waving at Arthur like they were old acquaintances.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Alfred Jones! What's your name?" An overly bright smile stretched across his face. Before Arthur could so much as blink twice in disbelief, (why in the world was the king talking to him?) Alfred continued talking. "Y'know you didn't have to do that, right? The whole bowing down thing? That looked like it hurt. I've been king for 4 years now, and it still makes me feel awkward. So just for future reference, don't do that. Unless you're scared of me, because sometimes it seems like some people are with how they act around me, but you don't have to be afraid of me. I'm really nice! At least, I believe I am. I probably wouldn't be king anymore if I were mean. But anyway, who are you?"
Now Arthur blinked twice in disbelief. This was the King of Spades.
This joyful, bubbly, talkative, (handsome) man was the King of Spades.
Arthur was genuinely surprised Alfred wasn't bouncing in place.
"My name is Arthur? Um, Kirkland. Arthur Kirkland." Arthur nodded to himself, as if pleased with his response, but really he was screaming at himself. Internally, of course. He looked away, a sudden feeling of embarrassment rushing through his body. Okay, so obviously this person is happy-go-lucky, (seemingly all the time) but he's still who rules over the Kingdom of Spades, and Arthur wanted nothing less than to go home, lay in his cot, and read a novel. Being stared at by royalty (with very nice blue eyes) was a bit intimidating, no matter the happy vibes that come from him.
"Ohhh nice! I like that name! Arthur Kirkland…you're not from around here, are you? I can tell by your accent. How old are you? You seem like you could be older than me, even though you're shorter. OH! You never answered my question from before! Also, do you ever trim your eyebrows? I can arrange for them to be trimmed, if you want," Alfred blabbered, a few hand gestures here and there. Arthur was quickly becoming flustered, and the small crowd that had gathered was not helping.
Arthur closed his eyes, took a deep breath in through his nose, exhaled, than started answering Alfred's questions.
"No, I am not from Spades. I am originally from the southern part of Diamonds. I am 21 years old, and if I am not mistaken Your Highness, I am only 3 years older than you. I…am not sure how to answer your question from earlier because I cannot tell if you were being serious or not. No, I do not trim my eyebrows, nor do I need arrangements to get them trimmed, but I thank you for your generosity, My King."
Arthur inhaled again, long and deep.
That was probably the most he had said the whole week.
Before Alfred could get a word out of his grinning mouth, a voice called out, a few stalls over.
"Mr. Alfred, there you are! You really need to learn to at least tell me where you are going before leaving on your own!"
A man with dark brown shoulder-length hair pulled into a ponytail was rapidly approaching. Rich blue garments also adjourned his body, but his was more like a long cloak. (Arthur's first thought was that it was a dress).
Arthur's immediate instinct was to turn away and leave as quickly as he could, but then he remembered that the king was standing in front of him, and that would look very disrespectful. He bowed his head a little lower as the other royal man arrived at Alfred's side.
"Hey Yao! Sorry I suddenly walked off. I saw Arthur here and just couldn't stay away. Wouldn't he make a perfect queen? Don't you think so Yao? I think he would." Alfred sounded like a teenage girl gushing over the new cute boy in town, and Arthur wasn't sure what to think about that.
Arthur kept his eyes trained on the ground. A frustrated huff was heard, presumably from Yao, but before he could say anything, Alfred cut in, this time directing his words toward Arthur.
"Aw c'mon Arthur, lift your head up! Let Yao get a good look at 'cha!" Arthur reluctantly did what he was told, and was startled to see two very different pairs of eyes. One pair was bright and happy, and Arthur swore he saw them literally sparkling. The other pair was a chocolate brown, with a glaring glint in them.
If he was being honest (and he was), Arthur had no idea what he did to deserve that look.
Yao dragged a hand down his face with a very obvious look of frustration. Arthur guessed the king and this man were considerably close, what with Yao being so openly annoyed with him and Alfred not even batting an eye.
"Sir, please, now really isn't the time. We must get back to the palace befo-"
"Oh, I know! Arthur can come back with us!" Alfred interrupted. He seemed to have a habit of doing that.
"I can?" Arthur almost slapped a hand over his mouth at his sudden outburst. What did the king mean? Going to the palace? That was absurd! Arthur's just a lowly citizen.
Yao sighed. "If you insist, sir. Just remember the dinner party you are attending tonight. You can't miss another one."
Alfred groaned. "Fine, fine." The king turned his attention to Arthur once more, and smiled a large smile. "Okay Artie, I'll send some people to your house with you to gather what you need, and then a carriage will come and pick you up and take you to palace. Sound okay? Great! See you later then!" The King and what Arthur had now guessed to be the Jack of Spades walked away. The crowd dispersed, and Arthur was left standing in the middle of the marketplace, by the jewelry stalls, with a slack jaw and shaky knees.
The king wants him to become the queen?
He's going to the palace? That afternoon?
He was going to live there?
Artie?
What the actual hell just happened?
Arthur still couldn't believe what was happening even as it was happening. There were three of the king's servants in his house, carrying out the essentials he needed to live and stacking it into the back of a blue and golden carriage.
There were only three suitcases (one for clothes and shoes, another for toiletries and knick-knacks, and the last solely for his books), so he didn't understand the need for help. He could've very easily done it himself. He tried telling the three servants this, but they all objected at once, saying how they wanted to do this for him, and how it was their pleasure working for the future Queen of Spades.
Arthur definitely couldn't believe King Alfred really wanted him as the queen either. If Alfred was being serious, Arthur wasn't sure what he'd do. Would he go along with it? Rebel against it? Did he even want to do it? Did he not want to do it?
Once he was in the carriage and it was moving forward with the clacking of the horse's hooves, he realized he had made a grave mistake.
Living in the castle would be a huge honor. It's not like he could turn down an offer to move there, especially since the king himself had suggested it.
But becoming queen?
Arthur couldn't do that. This was all extremely rushed. He had absolutely no idea about royalty in Spades, much less in the other three Card Kingdoms. This was impossible. Once he got to the palace, he would immediately demand to see Alfred, and turn down this whole queen ordeal.
He didn't even want to be the queen.
The only thing Arthur's good for is reading his books. He'd be a horrible queen. He was cranky, especially when he was bothered while reading, and he knew he had bad communication skills. Just take earlier, for example.
He couldn't intervene and tell Alfred that no, he was not going to become queen.
He just let it happen.
And now he was in an expensive carriage (it had glass windows and everything), being led by an expensive breed of horse, up to the most expensive building in all of Spades.
This was way too much to take in.
Arthur looked around the palace in complete astonishment, not even trying to hide his staring.
After the carriage had stopped and he had gotten out, two of the servants led him inside the impossibly huge building as the third led the horse away, with the carriage still attached.
He hadn't had much time to see the outside of the magnificent castle, seeing as he was quickly ushered in, but he had been told to wait in the first room while the servants dashed off to find a butler and to set his luggage in his room, so he gaped all he wanted.
He wasn't even sure what this room was. The first thing he noticed when he walked in through the huge, intricately carved wooden doors was the blue-carpeted staircase. It was right in the middle of the room, so it was pretty hard to miss. The second thing he noticed was the enormous chandelier hanging high above him, sapphire sequins sparkling softly.
The third thing he noticed was all the blue.
It was Spades' national color, so it was only normal there'd be a lot, but this seemed a little too much.
Everything he saw was blue, with a bit of light violet here and there. The walls, the floor, the man walking toward him, the light filtering through the blue-tinted, high rising windows, the…
The man?
Arthur was too busy looking around to notice the man dressed in a blue suit standing in front of him. (The suit was fancy, but not near as expensive-looking as Alfred's was).
"Hello. You must be Arthur. My name is Matthew Williams. I am the head butler of the Spades palace, and I am here on behalf of Jack Yao's orders to see you to your room." The blonde-haired man ended his introduction with a flourish, a small bow with a hand across his stomach.
"Oh." Arthur coughed and looked away, a hand rising to rub the back of his neck. He felt extremely underdressed in a basic pair of tweed pants and a blue collared shirt, and equally embarrassed that he had been caught with his jaw on the floor. "Oh, alright. Do your thing then."
Matthew bowed again, then turned around swiftly and walked up the stairs with confident strides, tailcoat swishing behind him. With one last glance over his shoulder at the double doors, Arthur followed.
Arthur had made a realization.
This room was nicer than his entire house during his Spring Cleaning week.
The bed was a queen-size, and when Arthur had asked who he'd be sharing it with, Matthew looked surprised. "This is all yours," he had said, in a polite, matter-of-fact tone.
There were huge draping curtains covering the far wall, and behind them was a huge sliding glass door leading out to a balcony that overlooked a huge garden. A huge dresser was on the opposite side of the huge room, across the huge bed. A regular-sized (finally) door was on the other side of the bed. Once past it, Arthur found himself in a huge (never mind) bathroom, with a dark blue ornate sink and a light blue granite washing-bin.
Arthur was nervous, and honestly, that was probably an understatement. He didn't want to touch anything. He didn't even want to look at anything for fear that his stare may ruin something in the perfectly ordered room.
He saw his suitcases propped up against the covered-in-blue-silk bed, and was relieved to see an object that wasn't so fancy. He strode over to them, but before he could so much as lean down to make sure all his stuff was there, the door opened (silently, because the hinges were in tip-top shape. Arthur knew someone walked in when he felt that weird feeling you get when another presence enters the room).
"Arthur! You're here!"
The king closed the door behind him with a large grin, wearing clothes that definitely weren't as fancy as earlier, but still fancier than anything Arthur had ever worn his entire life. Arthur's heart jumped for a split second because this was the king, but then he remembered his demands. He straightened out his back and stood his full 5'9" height, looking Alfred in the eyes with a defiant look on his face, and declared in a loud, clear voice:
"I will not become your queen."
Alfred's eyebrows rose. He looked impressed.
"This is a surprise," Alfred said, chuckling a bit. Arthur sunk a little bit, but hey, at least the king wasn't yelling at him for being disrespectful. Maybe he really didn't care about that after all. "But then again, I guess it really isn't all that surprising." Alfred put a hand up to his chin, a contemplating look on his face. "I mean, I saw you out there in the marketplace and thought, 'Huh, he seems like a really interesting person.' And you are! Judging from your reaction to me outside, I would have thought you'd always be like that around me, but here you are, sticking up for yourself. Most people just go along with whatever I say, but you aren't, even though I wish you would for this. But that's okay; it's a nice change of pace! I like it!"
Arthur suddenly found the dark blue carpet very interesting, and he could feel his face heating up a bit. He didn't want the king to be mad at him, but he certainly wasn't expecting to be complimented on his actions.
Alfred moved past him to sit on the bed, and Arthur followed suit, albeit hesitantly. He was still afraid of breaking something. The King of Spades turned his head to look at him, leaning back on his arms.
If he weren't wearing the overly nice clothes, Arthur never would've guessed this man was the ruler of one of the four Card Kingdoms.
"Hey, um…" Arthur cleared his throat, looking straight ahead, eyes trained on the door handle. "Why exactly do you want me to become the queen anyway? And why do you want me to live here? I don't have a problem with it, of course. It's very nice here. But why so sudden?"
Alfred stared at him a moment with a smile before answering.
"I already said, didn't I? You're interesting. You seem like the type of person I wanna know more about, so I figured I could just invite you to live here, and maybe you could become queen too. I've needed one of those ever since I became king. It unfortunately didn't come with this whole king package." Alfred let out a breathy laugh, but Arthur frowned. Why hasn't there been a queen? "I'm not that great with all the warfare stuff, so I always have Yao help me out, but even then, he's only a scribe. It's the queen's job to look over all the warfare and border stuff, and the wellbeing of their people, and the king looks after trade and attends all the political meetings with all the other kings and leaders. I think I do that pretty well, but I suck at doing the queen's job too."
Arthur sighed, still not looking over at the much-too-comfortable king. "I know nothing on the topic of war in Spades, so I most definitely have no knowledge of it in the other Kingdoms. I don't understand why you would thin-"
A knock on the door interrupted Arthur, and before waiting for a response, it was unceremoniously flung open.
"Sir! My goodness, I was looking all over for you! The dinner party starts in 10 minutes, and you are not even dressed yet!" Yao looked frustrated, and his face was slightly flushed from rushing around. Alfred stood up, and looked down at Arthur with a dazzling smile.
"I'll see you around! I might be too tired to come talk after the party, but we can tomorrow. I'll answer any questions you have! Bye-bye!" Alfred waved before he was ushered out the door by an angry Yao, and Arthur was left in silence.
What a day, huh?