Arthur sat amongst a bed of flowers, the wind ruffling his hair lightly though he hardly took notice. His dreams had been dashed and thrown against the floor. After all their hard work, after nearly getting killed by that blasted dragon, the arrived only to see that their princess had been taken by another prince. Prince Daniel, he had been called, and apparently had taken the high road and snuck into the tower while the other three- he, Alfred, and Prince Francis-were fighting off the dragon. His one chance had been blown and all because he'd gotten tied up with attempting to defend the lady from that frog prince and Alfred had done nothing but sit idly by.

"Curse you...curse you all."

He muttered breathlessly, his voice fading into the wind.

But someone had heard him.

Without so much as a greeting, the visitor came to sit down beside him.

"Welp, didn't see that coming, huh?"

Alfred favored his right side as he leaned over to Arthur.

"That's the problem with rescuing damsels. There just aren't enough of them."

Arthur didn't seem comforted by Alfred's words of wisdom, a constant cloud of gloom hovering over his head.

"Alfred, I don't think you understand. That was my ONLY chance! It's not like there's another princess we can find, particularly one that won't involved possibly dying again."

Arthur's features softened.

"You're already hurt pretty badly. We don't need to risk that again."

Alfred started to protest but was interrupted.

"Oh!" Arthur restarted, getting a bit overdramatic, "What am I going to do? If I return without a princess, I'll be ridiculed by the king." He's shoulders sunk deeper. "Forever shamed. Forever shunned as a helpless mutt that breaks his promises, not worthy of the crown."

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Let me know when you're done with your pity party, Prince Kirkland."

"And the WORST part-" Arthur shook a fist at the sky, "I'm now indebted to that VILE slimy pond scum Francis! Uh, the nerve of that man coming in and showing off. Not to mention trying to steal our princess!"

"Our princess?"

Arthur glanced over his shoulder to Alfred.

"Yes...Didn't you say that we would work together to make both of our dreams come true? We'd make good on our promises to each other to help the other achieve their goal?" Arthur solemnly reached above his head, taking off his crown to lay it down beside him.

"Perhaps, I was just not fit to be a true prince..."

Alfred just continued to smile, raising his hand as he pretended to study his glove intently.

"You know, you won't have to deal with all of that stuff if you don't go home."

Now it was Arthur's turn to roll his eyes.

"And just want do you mean by that, Alfred? I can't just abandon everything I ever was. I have nothing to go home to aside from my father and his children. The kingdom is all I've ever known and it's all I've ever wanted to know."

"Oh really? Is that entirely true? It seems to me that there might be somewhere else you can go."

Arthur, annoyed now by his insistence, faced Alfred with angry desperation.

"And where might that be?!"

Alfred, leaning his hand on his face, beamed at Arthur's distraught response.

"With me."

Arthur became very quiet, not certain of what Alfred was implying. Then, Alfred reached his arm about Arthur, pulling him close. He presented a batch of flowers from his free hand-not unlike those that their horses had shared with one-another upon their first meeting. With a brisk, unashamed grace, Alfred kissed Arthur on the forehead. Arthur stiffened at first, but eventually let himself enjoy the warmth, security, and understanding that he had come to know as Alfred. His Alfred.

"We can start a fairytale of our own. I heard from someone once that there aren't too many 'tales of two princes' floating around out there. Might be a good change of pace."