"Oh my god," Alfred breathed, bending to see inside the incubator with eyes full of awe. The other scientists were grouped around him, each unwilling to speak too loudly for fear of ruining the greatest feat of science to ever be witnessed.
"We actually did it," Kiku, his primary assistant, whispered.
Alfred sacrificed a second of watching the historical birth in order to smile at the shorter man. "Did you ever really doubt me?"
Kiku laughed softly, a rare prize from the usually quiet man. "Of course not, Dr. Jones."
Seven years. Seven long, meticulous years of planning, designing, researching, and experimenting had led them to finally be able to carry out their mission: make it possible to combine the DNA of humans with that of other species to produce a hybrid offspring. It was the most ambitious project ever undertaken by scientists, simply because Alfred F. Jones was the leading researcher and he made it very clear to his team that failure was not going to be an option.
Despite certain ethical codes of conduct they placed upon themselves, their project needed to remain a complete secret from the general public, as it wasn't hard to guess that it cause a bit of an outcry. Alfred and his team had decided early on that they wouldn't run any trials. They wanted to be absolutely certain that any hybrid they created would be able to live a healthy life and so they needed to be meticulous when isolating the locations of genes and combining the various DNA samples.
In the end, Project Arthur had led them to this moment.
Alfred watched with adoring, proud eyes as the creature, roughly the size of a human baby, finally managed to punch his way out of the eggshell he had been growing in. He hadn't opened his eyes yet, but Alfred knew that they would be the brightest shade of green to match the scales strewn in artful patches all over his body. As the head scientist on the project, he had been allowed to pick which species the DNA would come from and while most people would pick something more familiar, like a cat, Alfred had chosen for many of the aesthetic qualities to come from snake DNA.
His colleagues may have thought the decision to be an odd one, but Alfred never had a moment of doubt. His reasoning wasn't exactly something he could explain, however. It had become a fixation and as he watched his creation tentatively stretch his legs out and wriggle on the incubator's padding, he decided that he had definitely made the right choice.
He had wanted the hybrid, Arthur, to mostly appear human, but with small changes to the outward appearance so that there could be no mistaking him for a normal person. The vivid green scales sprinkled here and there in patches were the most obvious, but instead of looking haphazard and out of place they only served to illuminate the natural softness of human skin. His ears were slightly pointed, almost resembling the elves from fantasy movies. A tiny mouth was currently closed, hiding the slightly pointed tongue and even tinier fangs that would eventually develop to be potentially dangerous. They hadn't made Arthur poisonous for safety reasons, but there was little doubt in Alfred's mind that the fangs could one day easily puncture through muscle and arteries.
Most of the differences were invisible. Heightened intelligence and strength had been their priority, but the hybrid would also be able to see, smell, and hear better than humans. It wasn't known exactly how much speech capability Arthur would have, but the team did know that he would be able to learn languages and understand what was being said to him.
"It's not crying," one of the scientists observed nervously.
"He," Alfred corrected. "He's not crying." Straightening up, Alfred extended a hand and pressed the button to open the incubator.
"Right…" the scientist said, still appearing unsure.
Alfred smiled at his creation as he reached into the incubator and picked Arthur up for the first time. This part was crucial; he had given Arthur a special set of genes that would cause him to imprint like a baby bird and since Alfred would be the primary caretaker, it had been agreed among the team that Arthur should imprint on Alfred. Not that Alfred would have allowed it to be anyone else. He felt his heart clench as Arthur shifted in his arms out of curiosity and turned his head into Alfred's chest.
"Why isn't he crying?" the same scientist asked. Alfred had to refrain from rolling his eyes.
"Because he doesn't need to cry. See?" Alfred said. He turned to show his team the infant in his arms. "He's breathing on his own. The little guy is too tough to be upset by some extra light."
Mollified by their leading researcher's words, the previous tension in the room ebbed as his team began to pat each other on the back and chatter excitedly. Alfred, however, could only focus on Arthur. Making sure one of his arms was enough to support the infant's weight, he brought a hand up to lightly stroke Arthur's cheek. He had been waiting for this for so long. With a quick kiss to his creation's forehead, he promised to himself that he would do everything in his power to give Arthur a meaningful life inside of this laboratory.
Alfred officially moved into the lab the next day. He had been spending nights there for the last two years, but now that Arthur was born and would need constant monitoring, it was time to eliminate commuting entirely. Arthur's precise learning capabilities, diet, sleep patterns, general activity level, and growth rate were still unknown, so Alfred and his team were going to need to measure all of these things in order to determine how much the hybrid differed from humans.
It was when he was dumping his sheets onto his new bed that Kiku came in to pay him a visit.
"Getting settled into your new room?" the Japanese man asked.
"Yeah! I've spent so much time here these past few years that it's about time I had my own room."
"Indeed," Kiku said softly, sounding as if his mind wasn't really in the conversation. Alfred glanced over to find his coworker frowning slightly, something he only did when he was deep in thought.
"What's up?" Alfred asked.
Kiku looked as if he was trying to choose his words carefully. "I wanted to remind you…to not get too attached." Alfred froze in attempting to stretch his fitted sheet onto his mattress and felt his breath hitch.
"What do you mean?" He turned around to face Kiku and adjusted his glasses.
"Ah…it's perhaps nothing, Dr. Jones." Before Alfred could complain about the formal title, Kiku held up his hand. "It is just that I know how invested you are in this project and you would do well to keep in mind that this is indeed just an experiment."
Alfred frowned, privately disagreeing with what Kiku had said, but he nodded anyway to appease the man. "Sure, I know that." Seemingly satisfied with that answer, Kiku nodded and politely began to help Alfred organize his room.
When Alfred went later to visit Arthur in the nursery they had built for him in the lab, he was thrilled to see that the infant's eyes had finally opened. Just as he'd known they would be, they were the most beautiful shade of emerald green. Arthur was lying in his crib eyeing a scientist taking notes a few feet away, but he seemed to sense when Alfred entered the room and watched as he approached the crib.
"Hey there," Alfred cooed, reaching down into the crib and lifting Arthur into his arms as soon as he got close enough. "How are we doing today?"
"Sir, I know that he's imprinted on you and everything, but maybe…" the scientist started apprehensively.
"But what?" Alfred challenged.
"It's just…we don't know much about his behavior yet. It might not be the best idea to just lift him like that."
Alfred snorted and looked down at Arthur. "Can you believe this?" He kissed the hybrid's head and grinned when Arthur made an adorable expression of surprise. "See? We know loads about your behavior. You use your facial features to express emotions, just like regular human babies." The other scientist made a tch noise and left the room. Alfred paid no mind to him, instead giving all of his attention to Arthur. "Like hell if I'm going to treat you like you're just some sort of experiment. You're a feeling, thinking individual and I promise I'm going to give you the love you deserve."
Arthur grew fast.
Of course, they had expected him to grow at least somewhat faster than humans, but his rate of growth was completely unprecedented. To Alfred, it felt as if he had gone to bed after a day of playing with a cute baby and woken up the next morning to chase around a toddler. Although it had only been a couple of months since he had been born, Arthur already passed for a one or two year old by human standards.
"Arthur's learning capabilities have proved to be extraordinary," Kiku commented as they both stood off to the side while another scientist from their team pointed to various pictures in a book and had Arthur describe them. They had all been pleased when it was discovered that Arthur was capable of speech, albeit with a slight hissing lisp.
Alfred hummed in agreement. At that moment, Arthur, clearly fed up with the extensive testing, looked over at him with the most pained expression that Alfred couldn't help but laugh.
"I think it's time for a break," he announced, strolling forward to scoop Arthur up into his arms. The hybrid giggled happily and nuzzled into his neck. Alfred chuckled and ruffled the boy's thick, blonde hair. "Miss me?"
Arthur peered at him with intelligent eyes. "Yesss! I don't like when other people give me the testsss."
"Aww how come? Everyone on the team is nice!"
"You do it better." Arthur made an expression akin to a pout with his two sharp, front teeth poking out over his bottom lip and Alfred felt his chest explode in adoration.
"'F' is for friends who do stuff together! 'U' is for you and me!" Alfred sang. "'N' is for anywhere at any time at all! Down here in the deep blue sea!" He pointed to Arthur with a large, expectant grin on his face and was delighted when Arthur laughed gleefully and decided to play along.
"'F' isss for fire that burnsss down the whole town! 'U' iss for uranium…bombsss! 'N' isss for no sssurvivorsss when you-!"
"Honestly, could you two be any louder?"
Alfred spun around from his ridiculous attempt at dancing to see Vash, one of the scientists, scowling at them from across the room. "Hey, lighten up! We're just having fun."
Vash rolled his eyes, but Alfred could tell that he wasn't going to bother arguing any further. After working together for so many years, all the scientists on Alfred's team knew it was pointless trying to tame the man's ridiculous antics. Alfred made a silly face at Arthur once Vash had turned away, causing the boy to dissolve into a fit of giggles.
"Don't worry about him, Arthur. He's just jealous that I'm a better dancer than him," he said seriously, ignoring Vash's angry shouts. With a wink at Arthur, he sat back down on the ground and resumed the data analysis he was supposed to be doing of Arthur's sleep patterns.
Alfred shot up in bed upon hearing a slight scuffling sound coming from the door to his bedroom. He had been paranoid lately that somehow a person from the outside would catch on to their experiment and come snooping around. He didn't know what he would do with himself if something happened to Arthur. Just as he was about to fly into a panic, he heard a soft voice at his door.
"Alfred?"
Alfred relaxed immediately, recognizing Arthur's voice. He pushed off his covers and went to open the door, smiling broadly when he saw Arthur on the other side looking put out that he was still just a little bit too tiny to reach the handle.
"Hey, sweetie. What's wrong?" Arthur had never come to his room in the middle of the night like this before.
"It'sss cold," Arthur said. Alfred frowned. He was positive that he had left Arthur with enough blankets and the temperature throughout the lab was always so carefully regulated since Arthur had the partial cold blood of a reptile and needed to be kept warm.
"It's cold in your room?"
Arthur nodded and Alfred noticed for the first time that Arthur was shivering. Taking pity on the poor thing, Alfred stepped aside to let Arthur into his room and made a mental note to inspect the heating system tomorrow. "Why don't you just sleep in here with me tonight?"
Arthur's face lit up and he immediately crawled into Alfred's bed and buried himself beneath the covers. Alfred chuckled to himself and followed suit, wrapping the hybrid securely up in his arms. "I love you, Arthur," Alfred whispered, not for the first time.
"I love you, too, Alfie." Alfred felt his heart melt and happily fell asleep that night with Arthur snuggled against his chest.
"Alfred, don't you think thisss bedtime ssstory is a little childish?" Arthur asked from where he was curled up on Alfred's bed. He had taken to sleeping with Alfred ever since that first night, claiming that it was always so much warmer and he slept better. Alfred wasn't about to argue, as he rather liked being able to spend the extra time together.
"What do you mean, 'too childish'? Stellaluna is awesome!" Alfred said, partially closing the book. After eight months, Arthur was now roughly the size of nine year old and as such, he had thought a bedtime story was still entirely appropriate.
"I liked that ssstory agesss ago," Arthur replied. "I think I'm jussst a little bit ahead of it now in termsss of reading level."
Alfred didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the sarcastic bite in Arthur's tone. "Well…what do you want me to read you?"
Arthur's eyes lit up and he climbed out of the bed to run over to the bookshelf on the other side of the room where Alfred kept all of his science books. He paused for a moment, scanning the titles, and then pulled off a large tome that looked as if it had been flipped through a thousand times over the years. "How about thisss one?"
Alfred eyed the book wearily. He knew exactly which one it was; he himself had read it extensively during the years when he was meticulously isolating various genes so he could create Arthur. It held, before Arthur had been born, everything one could ever want to know about genetic engineering. Of course, now that Alfred and his team had made the biggest breakthrough in history it was severely lacking, but since Arthur was still a complete secret there was no way for the editors to publish an updated version.
"Are you sure you want to read about that?" Alfred asked nervously. They had never kept Arthur in the dark about what he was, but he didn't know how he felt about him learning the science behind it. Arthur nodded and climbed back into bed to curl up next to Alfred.
Later that night, after Arthur had fallen asleep, Alfred lay awake and held the hybrid close. He hadn't really had many expectations when Arthur had been born, but he could easily say that he hadn't been expecting to see Arthur's childhood go by so quickly.
Arthur wouldn't stop reading.
In a normal situation, this would have delighted the parent of anyone, but Arthur wasn't a normal person and Alfred certainly wasn't his parent. Arthur just kept absorbing information about everything like a sponge and it occurred to Alfred that they still had no idea about the actual extent of Arthur's learning capabilities. He could tell that it was worrying some of the other scientists, but he personally thought they watched too many sci-fi horror movies.
It wasn't as if Arthur would do nothing but read. He still put up with all of the testing and ate and showered and spent time with Alfred, but now he was found with his nose in a book whenever he had time to himself. Alfred's main wish, ever since Arthur had been born, was for the hybrid to be happy and if learning was what made him happy, then Alfred certainly wasn't going to stop him.
Alfred himself was kept so busy with Arthur that he scarcely noticed when nearly a year had passed without him so much as setting foot outside of the lab. Growing up, Alfred had been a wild child and it was impossible for his parents to keep him indoors for an entire day. Now, however, he felt so removed from the outside world. Even more shocking to him was the realization that he didn't mind. It crashed down upon him one day when he was lounging in the entertainment room watching television. An automated message suddenly flashed across the screen warning the people of certain counties that there was the possibility of severe thunderstorms.
Arthur looked up from whatever book he was currently reading and peered at the television curiously. After a few moments of watching the report on the storm, he spoke. "Alfred, I want to go outssside."
"What? Why?" Alfred asked, confused. It wasn't as if Arthur had never been outside. One of the members of their team took him out for a little while every now and then for some fresh air. Being now roughly the physical age of a young teenager, Alfred supposed it was only normal for Arthur to start demanding more freedom.
"I want to sssee what a ssstorm isss like." Arthur set his book down and stood up on his somewhat gangly legs, pausing to stretch and looking at Alfred expectantly. Alfred sighed and glanced around to make sure that none of the other members of the team were watching. He was sure that if they were, he would be getting a big lecture on how much he spoiled the hybrid.
"Alright, let's go," he said. "But only for a little while!" he shouted when Arthur spun around and took off out of the room. Grumbling as he got out of his comfortable lounge chair, he quickly followed after his creation and found him waiting by the door that led outside and could only be opened with the handprint of one of the members of the team. Alfred smirked at Arthur's impatient expression, purposely taking his time in reaching the door and letting the scanner detect his palm.
Once it did, he opened the door and allowed Arthur to walk through first, reveling in the scowl that was shot his way. This part of the outdoors was where his team always took Arthur; it was secluded and there was only a small patch of open grass before the land became thick with trees. A few hundred yards past those trees was a tall, barbed-wire fence that discouraged any curious people from wandering in. The sky was a dark, ominous grey and as they stood out in the heavy, rain-scented air, they could hear deep rumblings of thunder.
Instead of the trepidation Alfred expected, Arthur looked fascinated by the sky and the noises it was making. It didn't take long before it opened up, showering them with cool water and reminding Alfred of why he had loved being outside so much. Arthur turned his face up towards the sky, letting the rain pour down onto him. When he smiled, Alfred took note of how natural Arthur's fangs had grown to look on him. His golden hair spilled back, exposing his pointed ears and Alfred found himself having trouble breathing.
Arthur was the most beautiful being he had ever laid eyes on.
"Do you perhaps think that it is time for Arthur to sleep in his own bed once more?" Kiku carefully suggested one night over dinner. While he didn't live full-time at the lab like Alfred did, he often ate meals with them and occasionally slept in a spare room. Arthur, while he normally ate regular meals, had instead decided upon swallowing a few mice that night and had left the table early.
"What do you mean?" Alfred asked around a mouthful of noodles. Kiku grimaced at the sight, despite being used to Alfred's lack of manners.
"Well…with the accelerated rate at which he is developing, it might be beneficial for him to be alone at night from now on."
Alfred frowned, never happy to be reminded of how quickly Arthur was growing up. "I don't know. He seems fine to me. If he wanted to sleep in his old bed again, I'm sure he would just do it."
Kiku looked extremely uncomfortable, but was determined to say what was on his mind. "You know as well as I do what…er…changes…a young boy's body goes through once he gets to a certain age. Arthur, of course, will be a bit unpredictable in this aspect, but I'm sure the same principles remain."
Alfred blushed, finally catching on to what Kiku was implying. He had always been grateful to Kiku for being a little bit better than the rest of the team when it came to treating Arthur like a normal person, but his intuition was consistently ahead of Alfred's and often led to Alfred feeling rather slow. He mumbled that he would mention it to Arthur later that night when it was time for bed. The rest of dinner was passed in complete silence with Alfred feeling distinctly uncomfortable and Kiku occasionally casting worried glances at his long-time friend and colleague.
When Alfred suggested later that they sleep in separate beds, Arthur absolutely refused and Alfred, unable to deny Arthur anything, continued to allow him to sleep in his bed every night.
Alfred realized his mistake as soon as he awoke in the middle of the night a couple months later to a rustling sound coming from right next to him. At first he thought Arthur was just shifting into a more comfortable position, but the sound was too repetitive, too rhythmic…
When he heard a sharp intake of breath and a small, muffled moan, he knew what was happening. He went rigid, feeling a blush crawl its way down the entirety of his body. His mind raced with a jumbled mixture of thoughts and possible courses of action. Should he say something to indicate that he was awake? Should he roll over in the hopes that Arthur would stop? Did he want Arthur to stop? In the end, he simply lay as still as possible on his back and waited for Arthur to finish.
A few minutes later, he felt Arthur shudder beside him and the subsequent moan that spilled from Arthur's lips caused a shiver to run down his own spine. He heard heavy breaths coming from beside him and then all of a sudden, the breath was in his ear and Arthur was cuddling his face into Alfred's neck. He could feel Arthur's heart beating quickly through his shirt as he clung to him. Automatically, he brought his arms up to loop over Arthur's back.
Arthur sighed softly and settled down, assumedly believing Alfred to be asleep. He didn't know whether or not he was glad to be awake, but if the hardness in his pants was any indicator, he wouldn't be getting any sleep for the rest of the night.
"You can't keep me here like thisss!" Arthur shouted. Alfred winced, hating himself for being unable to give Arthur what he truly wanted and wondering how in the hell they had come to this. He knew that Arthur's burgeoning curiosity about going outside and exploring had been strengthening, but he hadn't been expecting the sudden explosion.
"Arthur, I'm sorry," Alfred said and meant it. "But you know why you aren't allowed to go anywhere on your own. You're too important. It's only because I love y—"
Before he could realize what was happening, Arthur had launched himself at him in a fury and pinned him down on the floor, his sharp, long front teeth bared in Alfred's face. "Don't you dare tell me that when you haven't ssso much asss looked at me in weeksss!"
Alfred blushed, remembering the exact reason why he had been having trouble looking Arthur in the eye. He gazed up at the hybrid, vision a bit hazy from hitting his head on the floor.
"Are you going to bite me, Arthur?" he asked softly. He wasn't afraid; Arthur had never seriously hurt him before and he didn't think that he would start now, even though he was angry. However, Alfred could feel Arthur's raw power, his inhuman strength that had finally reached its full potential now that Arthur had reached maturity and he couldn't deny that it was a little bit thrilling. Arthur looked immediately guilty, backing up enough that his lethal teeth weren't in Alfred's face, but still remaining close enough to be threatening.
"You know I would never do that," Arthur whispered. "But Alfred, you alssso know that it isssn't fair of you to keep me imprisssoned."
Alfred felt something in his heart break. "Aren't you happy here? With me?" he asked hopefully, trying not to let on exactly how much Arthur's desire to go elsewhere was affecting him.
"Oh, Alfred," Arthur said. He removed one of his hands from where it had been pinning down Alfred's shoulder and instead stroked lightly along his cheek. "I am, but it'sss not about whether or not I'm happy here. It'sss about me growing tired of the sssame white hallsss and tiled flooring and endlesss experimentation. I jussst…want the freedom to make something of myssself. Sssomething real."
Alfred gazed up at him in silence for what felt like several minutes. "I'm sorry," he eventually murmured. He didn't have to tell Arthur exactly what he was sorry for and he himself didn't even know. He was sorry for putting Arthur into this situation in the first place, sorry for not having any solution, sorry for loving him the way he did and not being able to let go.
Arthur huffed in frustration as he crawled off of Alfred and left the room in a hurry, obviously dissatisfied with that answer. Alfred wished with everything he had that there could be any other answer to give.
"Arthur still sleeps in your room, correct?"
Alfred looked up, blinking in surprise to see Vash standing in front of him wearing an irritated expression. Not that that was anything unusual for Vash. "Uh, yeah?"
Vash nodded once, seemingly satisfied. "I have reason to believe that it's going to try to escape and it would be beneficial to use you for monitoring."
"He," Alfred automatically corrected before registering the rest of the statement. He was immediately put on guard. "What do you mean, 'use you for monitoring'? Don't forget that I'm in charge here!"
"Yes," Vash conceded. "And with all due respect, I am merely informing you that I have set up some cameras in your room and outside in the hallway in the event of an escape attempt."
Alfred stared, mouth agape, as Vash smirked and took his leave.
Alfred felt too on edge later that night to sleep. Instead, he lay on his back with his hands folded over his chest and gazed up at the ceiling, wishing that the answers to his questions were written in the puckered designs. There was something infinitely peaceful about being awake at night and just lying in bed. Even though Arthur was beside him, he felt as if he was alone and it gave him some much needed time to think.
He jolted slightly when he felt a cool hand reach out and touch his arm. Turning his head, he was surprised to see that Arthur was awake and silently watching him, the darkness of the room casting shadows upon the unreadable emotion in Arthur's brilliant eyes. Alfred swallowed thickly, taking note of the way Arthur had inched himself slightly closer.
"What are you doing still awake?" Alfred whispered into the small space between their heads on the shared pillow.
"I could asssk you the sssame quessstion." Alfred felt Arthur stroke down his arm until he reached his hand and entwined their fingers together. "I'm sssorry for lashing out at you the way I did."
"It's okay," Alfred said honestly, squeezing Arthur's hand softly. "I can understand why you did it."
"It's jussst," Arthur started, repositioning himself so that he was closer and tugging on Alfred's hand until Alfred smiled and gladly wrapped Arthur in his arms. Alfred told himself that they had slept like this hundreds of times and it was just because of the imprinting. Nothing more. "I read all thessse thingsss about people who go out into the world and really make a difference and they accomplish ssso much, but here I am jussst memorizing languagesss and watching ssscientistsss ooh and ahh over me when I sssolve a difficult math problem."
Alfred rubbed Arthur's back soothingly. "Don't say that. You're absolutely incredible. You prove every day that humankind can do things previously unimaginable."
"But that'sss not sssomething that I did," Arthur explained. "You and the othersss did that, Alfred. I'm jussst the byproduct of your sssuccess."
Alfred frowned and tilted Arthur's chin to look into his eyes. "You're not just some byproduct. You're everything to me."
Arthur smiled and Alfred stopped breathing. A smile from Arthur was so rare and he had forgotten how beautiful he became when it happened. "And you're the only reassson I haven't left yet." His hand trailed pointedly across Alfred's chest. "I disssabled all of thossse camerasss," Arthur whispered, a gleam in his eye.
Alfred's eyes widened and he wanted so desperately to believe…but the way he felt was wrong, right? He shouldn't be harboring these feelings for someone he had created and raised. Despite his inner turmoil, his resolve weakened when he took in Arthur's lovely expression.
Extracting himself from Arthur's arms and rolling out from under the covers, he let the coolness of the tile floor against his bare feet anchor him to reality as he padded to the door to his room. He had been instructed to leave it open for security reasons. He could easily walk through and spend the night on a couch in the entertainment room and pretend that nothing special had just happened. He felt a strange sort of thrill when he instead shut the door firmly and flipped the lock.
He turned around to find Arthur watching him. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he made his way back to the bed and slipped beneath the blankets, shifting until he was close enough to Arthur to tentatively settle one of his hands on the slight dip between Arthur's hip and ribcage. His throat felt dry, dry enough that he knew any attempt at speech would fail. His blood warmed when he heard how quickly Arthur was breathing, but he was still so, so unsure.
Arthur parted his lips. "Alfred…pleassse," he whimpered. That was all the assurance Alfred needed to lean forward and kiss him. Pure bliss and thrill exploded throughout his entire body and he was suddenly on Arthur, pressing him into the mattress.
"Okay," Alfred practically sobbed, "okay." He started yanking up the hem of Arthur's shirt as Arthur's hands came up to tangle in his hair and pull him closer. He let himself become lost in their passionate kiss, feeling the warm wetness with his tongue that he had never even dared to dream about.
He savored every second that Arthur's arms were around him and every millimeter of skin that he slowly exposed. Even under the cloak of darkness, Alfred could make out the distinct patches of emerald scales across Arthur's naked body. He couldn't stop himself from tracing them with his hand; they were so exotic and beautiful and he didn't think that he could ever tire of looking at them.
"I love you," he said hoarsely.
"I love you, too," Arthur replied with such an honest, open expression on his face that Alfred felt himself melt. He took his time working Arthur open, using only some saliva and not wanting to hurt him in any way. Once they were ready, he slid in with a loud groan, tightening his grip on Arthur's hand that he grasped above their heads. Over and over he rocked into him, letting every ounce of his love and devotion pour through with every kiss and soft touch.
When it was over, he held Arthur as close to him as physically possible and stroked his damp hair. He hadn't realized how strongly he had yearned to make love to Arthur until that moment, but dear god did it sure feel like everything he had ever wanted.
"Hey, Arthur?" he murmured into the soft, golden hair, unsure if he was still awake.
"Mmm?" Arthur hummed.
"You know…" Alfred started slowly, considering how to word his thoughts. "I've made a lot of money working here over the years." When Arthur remained unresponsive, he continued. "Enough for two people to live off of for a very long time."
Arthur rolled over to face him, more hope written on his face than Alfred had ever seen. "Are you sssaying…?"
"You have always been my reason, Arthur." Alfred smiled and kissed him softly. "Run away with me," he whispered.
Arthur stared at him for a long time, a mixture of surprise and longing swirling in his eyes. He was silent for so long that Alfred began to grow worried, but just when Alfred opened his mouth to spew out an apology of sorts, Arthur threw his arms around him and kissed him soundly.
"It took you long enough."
The next morning, Kiku waited for a long time for Arthur and Alfred to emerge for the routine examinations. He waited until nearly noon before wandering into their room, but found it devoid of everything but a single slip of paper folded on the bare mattress.
"Kiku, (or whoever finds this)
I'm sure you can guess what happened."
Kiku folded the note back up, smiling softly to himself. He would have to let the rest of the team know that there was no point in sending out a search party, as the pair of lovers was likely long gone by now. Although nearly a decade of his research had disappeared in the night, at least his childhood acting classes got some use when he told Vash that he deeply regretted allowing Arthur to read books on counteracting surveillance systems.
AN: I'm back! I know it's been a while and for that I would like to apologize sincerely. I haven't had much inspiration lately, but I'm very happy to say that I've had a lot more motivation to write in the last couple of weeks and I'm hoping to start updating and publishing new stuff again, but I won't promise anything.
I'd like to give a HUGE thanks to the-literalist for being so awesome and helping me out with this story. They are a really talented writer and you guys should all go check out their stuff! (After reviewing, of course :D)