"It's your birthday in two weeks?"

Arthur looked up mid composition of his letter to where Leon was sitting, feet neatly tucked, in his plush sofa. The day after the Broadcast, they'd briefly planned having breakfast together in Arthur's room for a change. "Yes, it is. Though I'm surprised it's still relevant two days afterwards."

Leon peeked from above his newspaper, thick eyelashes betraying his amusement. "It would be totally weird if I brought up in midst of the whole discussion of everyone's ranking after the Broadcast, right?"

"Right, that," Arthur said, unable to help a grimace. Yesterday after dinner, almost all of them had been discussing their performances during the interviews whilst someone watched a re-airing on the large television in the Drawing Room. Apparently, they hadn't been heavily edited unlike the previous interviews with the Jack and prince, so Arthur had to suffer through rewatching his embarrassment in front of the entire nation in terrible detail.

"At least they went easier on you this time."

"That was considered to be easy?" Arthur said indignantly. He paused, mind and pen hovering over the letter before he spoke again. "Well, it was better than being sent home, I suppose."

According to Emma and Sakura, two of the girls had been sent home right afterwards for obviously undisclosed reasons, but it was plainly obvious that they were disengaged from the process during the edited interviews. It had been jarring to see them on the television screen just moments after the others had told about their tears.

So it was with a hint of guilt that Arthur was relieved that his interview had appeared average – nothing exciting that was revealed that would be seized upon by those within the palace, yet nothing that was overly boring that would disengage those in the public. At the same time, though, from one of the newspapers that Anna delivered every morning at his request - like he'd had whilst he was in the holding facilities - there was a popularity poll that had been issued on the evening of the Broadcast.

"It feels as if everyone's been, like, eliminated so fast. It must be tough on the prince, I guess," Leon said, taking a sip of his herbal tea. "But it's expected of the next King of Spades."

"Only someone like him could be so perfect, I suppose." It had been meant as a throwaway comment, but Arthur realised after Leon nodded in agreement that he meant it, to his surprise. "You see it that way as well?"

"Guy's the prince," Leon said with a small shrug of his shoulders, the image of coolness. "Kinda in, like, the resume and all."

"If you put it that way," Arthur said. Before he could continue saying anything, there was a knock on the door and Leon's maid came in, holding a light blue envelope and an excited expression.

"Oh, one sec," Leon said, smoothly uncrossing his legs, jumping to his feet and taking the letter from his maid with a dip of his head. Arthur couldn't resist peering over his shoulder at the writing...oh, it was a lot less neat than he'd hoped for, but wasn't exactly surprising.

"To Sir Leon,

I hope this note finds you well. May I have the pleasure of requesting your company at the gallery in the west wing at three this afternoon? I understand if you're busy, but please, send a note if you're unable to make it.

Best regards,

Alfred :)"

"What's with the smiley face?" Arthur muttered, but quickly congratulated him. "It sounds like a wonderful excursion with the prince, lucky you. I'll leave you be, since you have to go prepare."

An undecipherable emotion flitted through Leon's face, so swift he practically thought he was seeing things. "Sorry, Arthur. It was fun having breakfast with someone else, though. It would be rude to refuse an invitation, right?"

"Right. The Meeting's only in a few weeks, we'll return back to normal soon for breakfast," he said. "Do you want to give it a try again tomorrow?"

"Totally," Leon said, giving him a small wave before he quietly closed the door behind him and his maid. "See you, Arthur."

And with that, Arthur got back to his letter with a lump in his throat. It was probably nothing, but he couldn't seem to get rid of it until lunch was over and he'd mailed off the letter to his family. No news from Kiku, though it was to be expected since he was going through a process of his own.

Something else was more pressing, though. He wasn't sure if it was just himself, but Leon had only said that it would be rude to refuse an invitation, and didn't sound particularly excited. Not that Arthur was one to lecture someone on perceived romantic indifference, of course, but it was odd after what Arthur thought he knew about Leon's feelings. Fair enough, he wasn't as obviously head over heels for him like Emma was, but he had believed a strong relationship was in the forging.

"Not really any of my business, anyway," he said quietly to himself, going back to his letter once again. Even so, he couldn't help but let his friend's confusing behaviour nag him.

Alfred wasn't sure what he'd done wrong this time, but the date was not going exactly to plan.

The guy he was on the date with – Leon – had been someone that he hadn't had trouble spending time with previously. Being someone that had been influenced so heavily by the musical and artistic scene from Diamonds, he couldn't help but see similarities between him and his mother, which had made it an easy speaking point. He'd brought him to the hall for what he thought would be a nice walk through some of the paintings in the palace, but for some reason Leon seemed distracted.

He had tried asking the Chosen gently about what had been wrong, but had been met with a casual deflection. The dark haired boy had an uncanny flair for staying completely composed, and he didn't give away anything about what bothered him during the date. What he'd expected to be a type of date where he'd learn more about the other person happened to be a type of date where he did most of the talking about stuff he wasn't really an expert on.

Which obviously, didn't make for such a quality date, even if Sir Leon genuinely attempted to continue a conversation.

The Fates seemed to grant him a brief respite, though. After around two hours, when twilight seeped through the floor to ceiling windows of the hall, Alfred offered to walk him back to his room. Changing tack from the beautiful artwork, he started to ask him about his time in the palace.

"I saw you standing up for Sir Arthur, you know," he said quietly. "It really made an impression on me. That was noble of you."

Leon's expression didn't really shift too much, though he saw a hint of a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. "Thanks. It might not seem like a lot, but there's not much I could do with, like, all the scrutiny. I'd prefer to not be a total target."

"Do you really need another reminder about how weak you are against us? Watch your tongue."

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Alfred said. Maybe he said it a little too quickly to save him from himself, but the other guy wouldn't pick it up. Hopefully. The scrutiny comment bit too close to home. At his intrigued expression, the best he'd seen all day, he easily made something up. "You know. I'm not a king yet, and we have a bare bones Primary Suit right now, so we rely on the advisorship for a lot of stuff."

"Your advisorship is elected internally, as far as I remember." he said. Right, he wasn't from Spades and didn't really know how broken their electoral system was. Originally being devised to be a revolving door, it had spiralled into a self electing loophole that the Primary Suit, as empty as it is, powerless to stop. "It's an interesting take, but you must have people who totally know you well around you at all times. Do you, like, always get along?"

Trying not to wince, Alfred shook his head. "Let's just say it's hard to get along with everyone all the time. Ya know? They hold a lot of power in the kingdom though, so that commands a lot of respect. Their support is incredibly important for keeping it together under Jack Yao."

Leon nodded once, then the conversation died down briefly as they approached his room. To his pleasant surprise, Emil was there, hat pulled clumsily over his forehead whilst he stood guard. He could see the jolt in his shoulders as he called to him lightly.

"A-Ah, Alfred," he mumbled, bowing once and adjusting his hat. "How are you today?"

Yehay! Looks like he got the memo from Matthias, Alfred thought excitedly to himself. Another person still using his name the way he liked! "I'm doing well, buddy, how are you?"

"I'm doing well, I'm just-" Emil peered behind him. "Oh, Sir Leon, I didn't see you there...apologies."

"Hey, you're making more friends in the palace, Emil," Alfred beamed. It kinda sucked that Leon was a Chosen and might not stay here permanently, but Matthias and Lukas would be pleased that he was fitting in better. "Awesome -you guys are friendly, right?"

"I, er, do some of the night patrols here," he explained. "Sir Leon sleeps quite late, so sometimes he says a hello to me. It is quite kind."

For his part, Leon perked up. "He does good work," he said casually, "So of course, I'd, like, say hi to him. I hope you don't mind though, Your Highness."

"Last time I checked, there's no rules against being friends with guards, or I'd be in trouble too." he said. "I'm friends with his, uh..." Whaddya call a guy that's kind of his father but didn't give birth to him or anything? "Kinda father but not really father. Uhh, anyway, it's great that you guys have made friends."

He waited for a quirk of an eye, something that would have given away a possibility he didn't wanna think about, but there was nothing except nods from the both of them. Seeing that the three of them were in a good mood, he decided to end the date there for now. Leon, at least, didn't feel awkward or ask to go home, so Alfred cut his losses there.

Turning around, he was about to go back to his room and plan out the next couple of dates when Leon tapped him on the shoulder and asked him something.

"Prince Alfred, have you been to Arthur – Sir Arthur's yet?" he asked. When Alfred shook his head for no, he continued speaking. "I hope this isn't, like rude or anything, but he mentioned briefly that he'd like to speak to you. If that's totally all right."

The blond wasn't sure how he did it, but he managed to suppress a smile and nod once in answer. "I haven't, but thanks for passing it on. I'll see him in a moment. I hope it was a nice date, Sir Leon. I'll see you at dinner?"

"Of course, Your Highness. I had a wonderful time, thank you." Leon said. They exchanged a bow, and Alfred gave him one last wave before he disappeared into his room.

Right! Time for the next thing, he thought brightly. The excitement, though, was soon replaced with dread. Oh crap! What if Arthur wanted to speak with him because he was thinking of leaving, or that he hated him, or that he changed his mind, or...

"His door's right there," Alfred muttered to himself, balling up his gloved hand in a fist to knock. "Just do the heroic thing and ask him, okay?"

The moment Arthur had heard voices outside his door; he wasn't able to focus on attempting to unpack more of his belongings. Since the three weeks that had passed since arriving to the Spades palace, he'd slightly forgot about unpacking the last bits and bobs, but he'd been managing fairly well. What was left of his failed knitting endeavours over the years, two framed photos, and two paper cranes that Kiku had made for his birthday last year were the last things he'd had to unpack.

He was arranging the loosened blue yarn and knitting needles on his desk, a present that his siblings had given him for his birthday when he heard noises outside his room. Placing down the items, it didn't take him long to figure out that it was Leon and Alfred coming back from their date. A little too eagerly, he kept an ear out for signs that it was a good one.

To his dismay...or was it something else that he didn't want to admit? No, he didn't want to admit that he felt nothing but disappointment that neither of them sounded as enthusiastic as he had hoped, yet the gentle sting of relief said otherwise.

Unable to resist, Arthur gingerly positioned himself behind his door, listening in as they said their goodbyes, surprisingly brief ones at that. He only had to think of Alfred's eyes latching onto his own until Arthur's nervous hand had closed the door to be worried. He was sure Leon had wanted to feel that complicated yearning as well, but...

Said emotion made it known tenfold as soon as he heard someone knock on his door. Arthur lambasted himself from jerking the door open as fast as he did to see Alfred for the second time that day. The prince had looked perfectly kept at lunch, but he seemed a little frazzled at five in the afternoon. His blue tie was loosened; he'd just removed his gloves; his shirt had been unbuttoned slightly exposing a golden chain and a string of tiny silver beads along with his collarbo-

"Your Highness," Arthur said, trying his best to wring himself out of his bizarre thoughts. "I didn't expect you to be here...oh, I'll drop it as soon as we're in private, quit that childish pouting – wait, I didn't invite you inside the room just yet, no need to be so impatient-"

Once again, though, Alfred didn't fail to surprise as he took Arthur's hands in his own before he could finish a single sentence. "A-Alfred, what are you-"

"Sir Leon said you wanted to talk to me," he murmured, with a gaze so intense and a voice so serious that Arthur could not help but be rendered flustered by it. "Please tell me, is it something serious? Has something happened?"

"I...pardon? Leon said I wanted to..." Arthur stammered. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with this, er, serious side of the prince, not to mention their closeness, and the firmness of his chest against his own palms. "Oh, he must have been mistaken. I didn't mention anything of the sort."

The prince visibly drooped, letting go of Arthur's hands that were clasped so close to him, yet not breaking their point of contact. "Oh, I getcha," he said, his fingers sliding down to Arthur's bony wrists. "I hope I didn't bother you or anything, I-"

"Wait," Arthur blurted before he could stop himself. By the Fates, the expression in the prince's eyes was just a little pathetic, but...somewhat endearing. "Your High – er, Alfred – if you're not too busy, we could speak. J-Just for a few moments, mind you, I'm sure you're a busy man. For your own sake. Not like I'd particularly seek you out to speak. Or – or anything."

What foolish things am I saying? I didn't think it was necessary to seek him out, but seeing him so dejected, I couldn't help but say those embarrassing things. The grin that had practically lit up the prince's intense face, to Arthur's chagrin in admitting it was, worth it. "Once more, I understand if you're busy-"

"No, no, no! At least, not for spending time with you, ever," Alfred beamed. He squeezed Arthur's hands once more, with a force that made him audibly yelp. "What's wrong? Oh...I'm sorry about that."

"I was aware you had an uncanny strength, but I'd prefer you not exercise it on me."

"Sorry, sorry! It's just that, when I'm nervous, y'know, it does get kinda hard to manage more than usual," Alfred said sheepishly. "Though, how do ya know I have it? I mean; it's a kinda boring topic."

"Your – Alfred..." Is he aware of how parts of his kingdom function? "You do realise that at the holding facilities, we essentially are taught multitudes about the respective Primary Suits. Your remarkable strength is one of them, obviously. That, and many a people have gushed over it in the hallways of our classrooms."

"Gushed over – oh, you mean, they said a lot of nice things about me," Alfred said, blushing. Thankfully, the grip on his hands had lessened by this point and he felt significantly less crushed. "Right?"

"Alfred, you know that everyone's here for your affection, yes?" Arthur was about to lecture him again, but was taken aback by the soft smile and shake of the other boy's head. "At least, I think so after the last Broadcast."

"I mean, that would be awesome if it was true, but for some people you kinda get the feeling that they're not really romantically interested in me. At least I can tell now, versus later." Alfred said. He shrugged once, but it was clear that he wasn't feeling particularly cheerful about this specific aspect of the Deciding. "It's easier for the other kingdoms if they're not holding one based on romance, but for me I can only hope that at the very end, the person I love isn't faking it."

There was a wistfulness in his eyes that was palpable from a small distance. Unsure of how to respond correctly, Arthur's lips parted to speak but Alfred had already moved on, pointing outlandishly at his knitting set on the table. "Anyway! You knit, Artie?"

"It's Arthur," Arthur huffed, and nodded. He had a slight suspicion as to why he changed tack so quickly, but decided to not pursue it. "Yes, well. I'm not very good, I'm afraid. I received it as a present from my family one year for my birthday – and coincidentally, it's my birthday in two weeks. So I thought about giving it another stab."

"Yeah, I remember! You talked about it on the Broadcast and stuff." Alfred said.

"...!" Arthur couldn't hide his surprise that he did remember. "Yes, well, back then, at least, I thought that I would be able to at least create a few things, but I became too caught up in my studies to really be good at it."

"Aw, that's a shame, Artie," Alfred said, ignoring the other boy's grumbling. "But, uh, what did you want to create? At least, back then."

Once again, he spoke without really engineering his answer. "A, erm...stuffed bear. I haven't had much luck with cute things, and haven't really wanted or been able to buy them."

"But I thought you guys got an allowance or something for being at the holding facilities?"

"That is true, yes," Arthur said, "But I'd much rather send that money home to my siblings for the family's necessities. Every time I visit, it's painfully obvious to me that I've been the luckiest out of all of them to come here. So even if I can't have something like a teddy bear to myself, it's minor compared to the hardships my siblings face for me."

There was a pregnant pause, and Arthur wondered if he'd dragged down the mood once again. "Er, I apologise, it must sound quite foolish for a crown prince to hear," he began, but Alfred shook his head and looked at him. Green eyes met blue, and Arthur's breathing slowed whilst his heartbeat soared to compensate. What – why did he just stop the conversation just to look at me in the eyes, I don't know how to respond appropriately to this!

"No, not at all, it's just..." Alfred said, rubbing at the side of his tanned face bashfully, "It's admirable, really. How much you're willing to sacrifice for your family, even if you think it's just a little thing. In more ways than one, I'm glad that you picked to come here if it meant that I could help you and your family. Though, was it cause you liked the colour blue and stuff, heh?"

"The colour? Hmph – no, of course not, as if I'd choose for such a foolish reason. Though," Arthur said, "It is my favourite colour. But no, you cannot tease me about that."

Alfred nodded, albeit in an exaggerated manner and a smug expression plastered on his stupid perfect face. "Then, Arthur...why did you come here, anyway? Well, I kinda know that now, but I just wanted to confirm – is it for something else now, or have your motivations changed?"

That, Arthur could not answer without feeling the familiar heat creep up his cheeks. With Alfred looking so closely at him, saying such tender words without hesitation...it wasn't like Arthur minded, truly, but he hated how nervous it made him become. Obviously, he'd never really been in love or been romantically interested in someone before this, so to command the attention of the literal crown prince of Spades was something he could not possibly fathom in words. "Er, I...I couldn't tell you." he said weakly.

"Hm hm. But yeah! It's awesome if I can do things for you, if you'd let me," Alfred grinned gleefully. "Hey, what about throwing you a big party? I could do that, if you'd like. We'd have to invite every member of the Chosen, of course, and we couldn't bring your family in because of security concerns, but-"

Bollocks, not a big social event! "Please no big party," Arthur said, shaking his head so vigorously the buttons on his shirt wobbled, his embarrassment temporarily covered by panic. "I deeply dislike being the center of attention."

"Come on, let me – it's your birthday!" Alfred pouted.

"What's with you being so insistent? Let me make it clear, I would absolutely loathe a party like that." Arthur said firmly, his thick eyebrows furrowing. "I'd be more compelled to shut myself in my room on that day."

For the second time that day, the other boy visibly drooped, looking like a kicked puppy with a downtrodden tail. "Arthur, please," he said softly, touching Arthur's forearm and fixating him with very blue, winsome eyes. "Okay, I get if you don't want a big party or anything, but at least let me do something for you. I really wanna."

"Idiot, you..." Arthur tried to turn away, but that vulnerable bare hand was too much for him to ignore. "...all right. Something – something very small, all right? In fact, er, there's no need to invite anyone else. I would prefer my friends not work themselves into a tizzy thinking about it."

"It's a done deal then! I won't accept any objections," Alfred exclaimed. "Though I don't really know what a tiz-zee is." Before Arthur could reply sarcastically, he dug into his shirt, dislodging his tie before he pulled out the large clock and glanced at it in a over exaggerated manner. "Gosh, look at the time. I should be going, Arthur! Anyway, I'll help make your birthday this year the best yet!"

Arthur's mouth dropped aghast, the prince really was a terrible actor. "Alfred-"

"See ya at dinner, okay?" As quick as a flash, the crown prince scooped up Arthur's right hand, placed a swift kiss on his hand and dashed off in the space of what was possibly seconds, yet felt like an eternity to him.

Arthur could do nothing but stand there helplessly, feeling the soft embrace of Alfred's lips slowly slip away from his trembling knuckles, holding his hand to his chest.