Third chapter here we go!
Alfred smiled to himself when he walked away from Arthurs office. He knew Arthur would look after him so he did his best to look calm as he walked. But his heart was pounding like it was going to jump out from his chest. He didn't breath out until he reached the cabin he shared with Matthew, the First Officer, who also happened to be his half-brother. Though they looked like twins.
"Is that you Al?" Matthew asked when he walked in to the little room. He was already almost sleeping but the sound of Alfred opening the door had woke him up.
"Yeah, sorry I woke you up bro" Alfred answered, they had decided to not care of their difference in rang, or titles, when it was just the two of them.
Matthew yawned "it´s okay, where were you anyways?"
Alfred smiled big, though it was so dark in the room that Matthew probably not could see it.
"I were just out kissing the captain…" he answered and tried to sound calm. Like it was nothing special at all. But it made Matthew sit straight up in his bed and stare at him.
"You did WHAT?"
Alfred nodded and crawled up to his bed, he had the loft bed over Matthew.
"Yep, you bet I did man"
A silent moment followed and even if Alfred not could see Matthew he was pretty sure his brother was frowning and thinking really hard, trying to make any sense out of what Alfred just said.
"So… how, why?" Matthew asked in a low voice, showing that he wanted a serious answer.
Alfred grinned and sighed, he had forgot that Matthew knew nothing about his and Arthurs past except that they had been friends.
"Well… you know we were friends, but it was a little bit more than that. And when I immigrated to America we happened to end up on the same boat… " his voice faded he wasn't sure if he really wanted his brother to know what actually happened when they had reached New York. But he had underrated Matthew, he could easily put one and one together and figure out almost what that happened.
"But you wanted to stay in America and he wanted to follow the boat back, you parted and as the idiot you are you could never get over him. So, when you went back to you carrier as a sailor and you two once again happens to end up on the same boat you just jumps on him and kisses him. Not thinking of the fact that he maybe has a life without you now, he might even be married" Matthew stated without hesitation. Yes, it was a mean way to say it but Matthew had learned that it was the best way to make Alfred listen to something.
A little sound could be heard from Alfred. "D-do you think he is married?"
Matthew sighed, it seemed like he had been right with everything.
"No Al, I don't think he is. He lives for this job, he wouldn't have time for something else. But you really should think before you do things.." then Matthew laid down again and tried to sleep, it was too late for such conversations.
Alfred tried to ask Matthew something more but he could hear a light snoring and realized that his brother was sleeping.
"I´ll talk to him tomorrow…" Alfred mumbled, mostly to himself and then fell asleep.
~~I~I~I~I~I~~
11th of April 912
Arthur woke up the next morning, he ate breakfast and went to the wheel house where he spend the most of his time on the boat, reading maps, giving orders, steering the ship, making sure everything was okay and such things.
But it was not until he reached the wheel house and saw Alfred and…M..Mat..Matthew! Standing there waiting for his orders on what they should do that he remembered everything who happened yesterday. And it took all his discipline to keep a calm and feel-cold face as he told them what they should do. He could see that Alfred tried to say something to him but he ignored it and send them both away to their respective duties.
Arthur himself then started with his work, he had done it before and didn't need to think so much about what he did, a big boat like this didn't need as much steering as a smaller boat would have done. So as long as nothing unprepared would happen it was a pretty easy job. It also helped that he had many years habit with boats. But this far he had never experienced a trip when nothing unprepared happened.
And this was not an excluding.
Around two o´clock one of the younger men in the crew came in and said that one of the telegraph ministers wanted to talk to him.
"Yes, let them in" Arthur answered and looked up from his map. The telegraph ministers usually never had good news.
It was the smaller of the telegraph ministers, Lukas. And Arthur liked Lukas a lot more than he liked the other guy, Matthias. Lukas was calm and took his job much more serious than many others. And he was the fastest at the telegraph Arthur ever had seen.
"Sir, we got a warning earlier today, and you might be interested in hearing it" the short blond man said.
Arthur sighed this was what he had feared "Yes, what was it about?"
Lukas walked up to him and held up a piece of paper with a short message.
"An iceberg warning, we don't know exactly where, but it´s after our rout" he said.
Arthur read the paper and nodded "Can you point out on the map where you think it should be" he pointed to the map that lay on his desk.
Lukas nodded "Yes, sir" and then showed an area on the map where the iceberg should be.
After a while of thinking Arthur nodded too "I understand, thanks Lukas, you can return to your position" he had expected the man to just walk away but he didn't move.
"Captain, I´m sorry if I´m un polite but… with the speed we are holding now, we won´t be able to avoid an iceberg" Lukas said.
It was true, Arthur had to admit, for other boats but Titanic was bigger and she was supposed to go faster.
"I understand your worry, but remember that Titanic cant sink, not even if we would hit an iceberg. Now, return to your position."
The telegraph minister nodded, saluted and walked away. Arthur was sure that he was right, he was the captain no one would come and tell him how to master a ship, and if they slowed down the speed they wouldn't be able to reach New York earlier, and to get to the goal early was always good for a boats reputation. Though a little voice in his head kept reminding him that Lukas probably had been right.
But Titanic couldn't sink.
And if she did anyways? well, they had lifeboats… not to everyone but..
It would be fine.
"Sir?" someone said behind him and woke him up from his thoughts.
Alfred, of course.
"I don't have time to talk to you right now" He answered with his captain-voice.
"But…"
"Return to your position, take care of what you should do instead of disturbing me" he interrupted Alfred.
A silence followed and then Alfred nodded and turned around and walked away, but, as the drama queen he was he then tuned around in the door and looked at Arthur.
"But if you have time to talk this evening, I´ll wait at the bow." then he walked back to where he was supposed to be.
Arthur leaned his head to his palms with his elbows on the desk. This sure as hell wasn't easy. The right to do would be to not go to the bow and instead confront Alfred later. Or, that would be the right to do as the Captain. But, as Arthur Kirkland, he knew that if he didn't go to the bow it would be too late, he knew that Alfred would take it as if he didn't care about the other man anymore, that it really was over.
And it would have been easier if it was.
But still, he found himself walking to the bow after the dinner. A terrible boring dinner with some of the 1st class people. Even if the food was delicious and the dining room was big and beautiful designed. So, almost each one of them in 1st class was snobby, boring people with so much money that they had stopped caring about people who had less money than them. And then he should have went straight to his room, maybe checking on the map to see how far they were from the area where the iceberg maybe was. And he should have informed the rest of the crew about the warning.
But instead he was walking to the bow, to see Alfred.
And yes. Alfred stood there, leaning over the gunwale and looking down to the water many feets under them. His blonde hair was blowing in the speed wind that came from the ship moving. And the little hair lock who always seemed to stand straight up in his head was even clearer showing now, it looked a little funny.
The sky was a dark color of blue and if it hadn't been for the clouds it surely would have been a beautiful sunset.
"I´m here, what did you want?" Arthur asked when he was a few feet from Alfred.
The other man turned around looking a little surprised and hesitating happy.
"I wanted to ask… what you have been doing since New York?" It seemed like he had been about o say something else but changed his mind in the last second. Arthur didn't have to ask to understand what he meant with New York.
He lifted one of his eyebrows "Not much, working on different boats, being home a few times, never more than a few days" he shrugged waiting for Alfred to get to what he wanted.
By some reason Alfred seemed relieved with that answer.
"Ok… cause you see: When you left with that boat, I decided to forget you. I didn´t really succeed" he grinned. "But then, for a whole year, I lived my dream, I did whatever I wanted no worries, and it was just as fun as I had thought it would be. But I realized it no more was my dream, I only dreamed of you, so I took job on a ship again, went back home just to find that you were on a ship, going to some other place in the world. But I took another job and my brother followed. Since then have I worked on different ships hoping to find you… and I did. So I hope you forgive me… for my acting, I get it. You are over me. I´ll leave you alone from now on." All the time he had talked he had looked straight to Arthurs eyes, but now he looked down with a face like as if he was trying to fight back tears.
Arthur stared at him, not really able to believe him.
"So you searched for me for… three years?" he mumbled.
Alfred nodded "Yeah, I´m that idiotic, I´m sorry I just can´t get over you"
A sudden feeling raced through Arthur, happiness, surprise… yes, love…
"You aren't the only idiot here…" Arthur mumbled.
Then he wrapped his arms around Alfreds neck and kissed him. And without any hesitation Alfred answered and kissed him back. It felt like everything that had happen the past four years disappeard and they were back on M/S Elisabeth. But it was a difference, when Arthur felt the familiar feeling of Alfreds lips against his, the never gone love, he knew that this time he would not do the same mistake, if Alfred wanted to stay in America, he would too.
It felt like they kissed forever and at the same time only a second before Alfred pulled back and smiled at Arthur.
"I love you Arthur, it hasn't change, and it never will" Alfred whispered.
Arthur looked at him and then he smiled, a real happy smile "I love you too, Alfred. And if you can forgive me for… what that happened four years ago.."
"It´s already forgotten" Alfred smiled and kissed Arthur again.
When they finally decided to walk back to their rooms a mans voice was heard from a bench not far from where they had been standing.
"hon hon hon, love really isn't simple, am I right?"
Both Arthur and Alfred turned around and stared at the man, he talked with a French dialect and by his clothes it looked like he was from 2nd class, or maybe 3rd. He stood up from the bench and waved away some of his shoulder-tall blonde locks from his face.
"And who are you?" Arthur asked, not sure how he should react.
The man saluted casually and smiled "My name, dear captain is Francis Bonnefoy" then the man walked away, he had been searching for the absolutely gorgeous First officer, Matthew, but it seemed like he wouldn't find him here, only a love drama which was sort of interesting, but not as interesting as Matthew, the man thought.
Arthur and Alfred stared after him, but then they kept walking, the world was full of weirdos and they had better stuff to do than to care about them.
Tadaaa! Third chapter done~ *sneaking in Franada like a boss*
It´ll be one or two more chapters about Alfred, Arthur and Matthew (it was supposed to be about Emil too…but whatever he might appear in later chapters) then it will be about Lukas (Norway) and Matthias(Denmark) I think… maybe someone else, idk, it also might take a while between the updates because I am a little busy with…summer holidays stuff-ish-shit and I don't know how often I will have ability to write and why are you still reading this? Go do something better with your life, like giving me a review or a comment. I love comments . ok.. I´ll shut up now..
/Meep Meep ^^
