Alfred heaved a heavy sigh as he flew towards the island. He could see a vague light that indicated there was a fire on the beach. He figured that must have been the trio, since they never stayed with the Indians and never really stayed in the jungle unless it was daytime. Alfred headed for there and looked down at Arthur. He still didn't show any sign of being alive, save for his faint breathing. Alfred really did feel horrible for what happened to him…it was all his fault…
Alfred could hear the trio long before he landed on the beach, but he chose to ignore them in favor of looking down at Arthur. The trio did stop talking, though, once Alfred came close.
"What? Did you kidnap him or something?" Gilbert laughed once Alfred landed on the ground.
"He said he wanted to come back," Alfred said somberly and the laughing mood the trio just had was gone.
"Mon Dieu, he looks terrible," Francis stated and the tree of them stumbled towards him.
"What happened to him?" Antonio asked.
"It's all my fault," Alfred sighed. Before he could say any more, though, a sudden swarm of fairies attacked him, most of them collecting around Arthur. There were a few of them that flew up to Alfred's face, pointing to the ground. "O-Okay, jeez, I'll set him down." Alfred carefully set Arthur down on the sand, where his head limply fell to the side. Immediately, all of the fairies swarmed around him and Alfred could even see the mermaids coming as close as they could without getting out of the water.
"Looks like they missed him," Gilbert stated.
"What was that about it being your fault?" Antonio asked.
"I…I let him go back," Alfred muttered. He had to look down at the ground to prevent himself from being seen with tears forming in his eyes. That wasn't heroic at all…
"What are you talking about?" Francis asked.
"Usually, people don't react as bad as him when he leave," Alfred muttered. "They just pass it off as a dream. But it affected him differently. He's been seeing things…practically going insane. You should have heard him talk to me. He was trying to convince himself I wasn't there…"
"And you brought him back?" Gilbert asked.
"He said he wanted to…" Alfred mumbled. "And I couldn't stand seeing him like that…"
"Your amour may have been better off back there," Francis stated.
"You didn't see him," Alfred shook his head and looked up. He tried to compose himself, but he saw how the trio reacted to his distraught face. "He…he talked to me like he'd seen be so many times before. Like I'd let him down so many times. I'm supposed to be the hero…his hero! And I just made his life miserable!"
"You could have made it worse by bringing him back," Antonio muttered.
"But-"
"He is waking up," Francis stated and Alfred's attention snapped to Arthur. The fairies allowed faint space to see, but Alfred could tell that Arthur was finally stirring.
"Arthur…" Alfred muttered and knelt down next to him. He swatted at the fairies, making them move out of the way.
"More fairies," Arthur grumbled as he slowly opened his eyes. Alfred watched as Arthur blinked to steady his vision and finally Arthur noticed him. "Not you again…" Arthur made a move to roll over, but Alfred stopped him.
"Arthur, I'm real," Alfred stated. "You can feel me, right?"
"I've felt many things," Arthur shook his head. Suddenly, though, a confused look came across his face. "Sand?"
"Yeah, you're on the beach," Alfred nodded, giving a weak smile. "In Neverland."
"I've never been able to get that dream back," Arthur mumbled and slowly sat up. He looked around their surroundings, seeming to take it in for the first time.
"This ain't a dream, kid," Gilbert chuckled behind them and Arthur immediately looked over at the Trio.
"You?" Arthur asked, shaking his head slightly. "It's just a dream, though…"
"Arthur, I'm not a dream," Alfred stated, looking Arthur in the eye. "I promise, I'm not going to hurt you anymore."
Arthur simply stared at him for a while, as if he was trying to process all of this. Suddenly, a fairly large group of fairies sprinkled their pixie dust over his head, coating him in gold dust. At first, Alfred glared at them for ruining whatever moment he was about to have with Arthur. But then Arthur started doing something Alfred would never had expected.
He was laughing.
It wasn't that crazy laugh, either. It was a real, full-hearted laugh. Arthur had to hold onto his stomach because it hurt that much. He laughed for a while and all Alfred could do was sit and watch in confusion. He even looked to the trio to see if they could be of any help, but they just shrugged at him.
When Alfred turned back, Arthur seemed to be slowing down with his laughter. Before Alfred could even try to say anything to him, Arthur gripped onto Alfred's shirt and lurched him forward, making their lips connect. Alfred opened his eyes wide in response. He had no idea what was going on with Arthur. Maybe this was the insanity talking, but it was really freaking him out.
Alfred gripped onto Arthur's shoulders and pulled him away. He could hear the trio laughing behind them and Arthur looked honestly confused.
"What was that for?" Alfred asked breathlessly. This was all just confusing... What had gotten into Arthur.
"You were the one that kissed me first, love," Arthur smirked.
"Yeah, before I figured you hated me," Alfred muttered.
"Why would I hate you?" Arthur chuckled. Suddenly, he looked very drowsy, his eyes nearly fully lidding over.
"Are you okay?" Alfred put his hand up to Arthur's forehead. It didn't feel hot, so he probably wasn't having some weird fever induced hallucination moment.
"I'm fine, love," Arthur smiled.
"Then why are you calling me that?" Alfred asked. "Usually, you stick to git or twat."
"Those words sound good in your accent," Arthur wobbled slightly before his eyes closed and he fell forward. Alfred caught him so he wouldn't fall face-first in to the sand and carefully set him on his side.
"What the hell was that?" Gilbert burst out laughing.
"I don't know," Alfred muttered. He almost felt bad. Was this another part of the insanity that Arthur had? Random confidence out of nowhere?
"It seems that he is worse off than you let on," Francis smirked. "He actually showed his feelings."
"This isn't funny," Alfred groaned, running a hand through his hair. Arthur was sleeping soundly once again, but this time he had a soft smile on his face. It would have been cute, if it weren't for his episode before.
"I think it is," Antonio laughed.
"What should I do?" Alfred asked. He knew that these three were not the people he wanted to ask for something like this, but they were all he had other than the fairies and mermaids. And Alfred was pretty sure that they hated him for what happened to Arthur.
"Wait for him to wake up," Francis offered.
"Maybe we'll get even more of a kick out of him," Gilbert chuckled. "We should stick around for a while."
"Maybe we shouldn't mi amigo," Antonio stated.
"You're just sappy from Feli and Lovi," Gilbert rolled his eyes.
"Well, si,' Antonio nodded.
"You should probably leave," Alfred muttered, sitting in a more comfortable position in front of Arthur. "Maybe when he wakes up, he'll be thinking better and I can talk to him."
"It would be the best way for this amour to bloom," Francis offered.
"You guys are such killjoys," Gilbert groaned. "Fine, whatever. We'll find some other patch of beach to sleep on. Fire's all yours."
"Thanks," Alfred stated and didn't bother to look behind himself to see if the three of them had flown off. Arthur was more important right now.
It was fairly late into the morning before Arthur stirred again. By then, Alfred had carried him over so that he was near the fire. It seemed like he was having good dreams because, every now and then, he would start to float. Alfred had to remember Arthur had only experienced the pixie dust for a few hours. It was hard to get used to and keep under control. He figured that might had been to blame for the outburst Arthur had earlier…
Alfred had nearly fallen asleep multiple times and he pretty much was when Arthur woke up once again.
"Alfred?" Arthur's voice snapped Alfred awake and he immediately sat upright.
"You're awake," Alfred looked him over. He seemed fine now…
"Yes, I do believe so," Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Are you okay?" Alfred asked, leaning towards him to look him over better.
"Yes, I'm fine," Arthur nodded. "Why?"
"Do you remember what happened last night?" Alfred asked, biting his lip. He knew Arthur would remember home and that was never a good thing. Especially considering what Arthur had gone through away from Neverland.
"Not very well," Arthur shook his head slowly.
"Really?" Alfred asked.
"Should I?" Arthur asked.
"No," Alfred shook his head quickly. The longer he could put this off, the better. Granted, that wasn't his best decision, but this was Arthur he was talking about. He just got him back and he wasn't about to lose him again. "It wasn't that big of a deal."
"Okay, then," Arthur blinked.
"You aren't even a little curious as to how you got here?" Alfred asked. How was Arthur so calm? From what Alfred saw last night, Arthur should have been some sort of a wreck.
"I assume you carried me," Arthur sighed, letting a small smile stretch across his lips.
"Uh, pretty much," Alfred nodded. "You're not mad or anything?"
"Why would I be mad?" Arthur chuckled and stood up, dusting himself off to get rid of the sand. Alfred stayed sitting, looking up at him. Something was off here…
"Because you're away from home?" Alfred asked.
"Why would I be mad about that?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Because you should miss it? You had things to do? I don't know," Alfred shrugged.
"You're making no sense, love," Arthur shook his head.
"Y-you called me love again," Alfred quickly stood up.
"You have a problem with it?" Arthur asked. "The one who kissed me?"
"Well, um, not really," Alfred rubbed the back of his head. "You don't have a problem with it?"
"I figured I had come to terms with it when I kissed you," Arthur smirked.
"So you do remember last night!" Alfred stated.
"Small bits," Arthur chuckled.
"So…we're all good?" Alfred asked. "No problems?"
"I didn't think there were any problems to begin with," Arthur stated.
"Well, as long as you're cool, I'm cool," Alfred muttered. "You sure you're okay?"
"Yes, Alfred, I'm fine," Arthur walked up to him and gave him a small, short peck on the lips.
"Okay, sweet," Alfred couldn't help but smile. Arthur was fine, it seemed that he was over his episode, and they were…together? Would that describe what was going on between them? "So, what do you wanna do now?"
"Have I ever supplied you good ideas?" Arthur raised his eyebrow.
"True," Alfred laughed slightly. "Oh, hey, the fairies just gave you pixie dust."
"They what?" Arthur blinked and looked down at himself.
"Relax, dude, you can't see it," Alfred laughed.
"Why, exactly, did they give me pixie dust?" Arthur asked.
"Hell do I know," Alfred shrugged. "I could spend the day teaching you how to fly right."
"It can't be that hard to need an entire day to learn how to do it," Arthur scoffed.
"Yeah, it might take a couple," Alfred said thoughtfully and pulled his arm around Arthur's shoulders and led him to the jungle.
"How hard can it be?" Arthur asked. "After all, you can do it."
"After about a hundred years of practice," Alfred said pointedly.
"Whatever, I'm sure I can get it," Arthur rolled his eyes.
Spoiler alert: Arthur doesn't get it. Anyway, I know it seems like Arthur got over it all really quickly, but there's a reason for that, so don't fret, I know what I'm doing. Next chapter we'll get a little bit of fluff before going back to angst in the future. Flying lessons! Yay!
Please review!