Author's Notes: Aloha. Welcome to chapter nine of A Clock Spade. I really hope that I'm not ruining anyone's hopes on this story. The summary is a bit stupid but that's because I wanted to keep it short and sweet. Should I change it? I don't really know. I'm very lazy. Whatever. Luckily my dumb school has off for five days which means extra time to write and possibly update. I'm projecting around thirty chapters, possibly more, so get excited! There's a lot of filler love-y dove-y chapters, including this one. I want to build upon the idea that they do not really love each other. Maybe they will eventually learn to love each other...everntually. I also put Matthew back in this story. I just love his character so much in almost every story. Especially when he's evil. I think he may be my favourite. I liked writing this chapter, but honestly it was a bit hard to keep the flow of ideas especially at the beginning. It seems a bit rushed. But they still have a deadline of the Autumn Equionix. Why? Well...that's for me to know and you to find out. By the way, the servant girl is my OC for South Africa. Yeah South Africa! I'm not being racist or anything it's just a known fact that in the mid 1800s, Europeans treated their African colonies as slaves i.e Belguim and Congo. Sorry, I'm such a history nerd. Also the hosting family is quite irrelevant that's why they are not a character. Sorry. Also, not every clock points to royalty, only the special Clocks designed by the Jokers and fairies can. I bet you're wondering: why the Spades waltz and why midnight, well, that's something for next chapter. Okay I do not want to ruin this chapter too much for you so I'll leave it with that. Thank you a thousand times for reviewing and reading! Don't forget to vote on my profile page for me to continue this story :) Now for the good part...

Warnings: Maybe language.

Disclaimer: I do not own hetalia.

"Someone looks ostentatious," Matthew stated when his brother entered the infirmary. He struggled to sit up on the cot before smiling at his brother weakly. The infirmary was quite small compared to the other rooms in the castle. There were a few cots lined up near the high reaching gray stoned walls as well as healers and nurses frantically scribbling words onto parchment.

"Thanks, I guess," Alfred said modestly then spun around to flaunt his new outfit consisting of a silk white button down shirt, purple trousers and a light mauve cloak with his Clock attached by a golden chain. He couldn't say that he outright hated his outfit, however he wished it was not as uncomfortable as it was. He was more focused on Matthew, who did not show many signs of improvement over the past week, which bothered Alfred. Yao was supposed to have cured him, yet he remains ill.

"Well, you should be a bit more appreciative. Arthur has chosen you as King."

He snorted. "Whatever you say." He spent the enter day working on how he should act at public events, such as this, and felt nauseated.

The older of the two tilted his head. "What do you mean? Are you not King?"

"No, no, I am. It's just…" his words trailed off into an apprehensive silence.

"Just what?"

"Never mind," he stated rethinking the words Arthur lectured him about. He knew Matthew would never dare tamper with the Clock, but he was not going to take any chances that the information may slip out of his mouth. He sat down next to his twin and placed his face into his hands. Instead, he made up a semi-fake excuse. "I just don't want all this pressure that comes along with it."

"I see…" he said placing a hand on Alfred's back in an attempt to cheer him up. It was a habit Matthew acquired from their mother.

He exhaled cool air. "I wish you could come with us. That would be so much fun!"

Matthew forced a smile. "I don't think I'm much of a party person."

"Either am I," he muttered. "And Arthur expects me to dance some odd waltz thing."

"The Spades waltz?" Matthew asked with an eyebrow cocked. He heard about once before, but that was only in fairytales his parents used to tell him. Frankly, he did not think it actually existed outside of storybooks. When he imagined humans dancing it, it just seemed too preposterous.

"Yeah, that thing. I'm just afraid of messing up. Everyone will laugh."

He patted Alfred's back softly. "I am sure nobody will mock you, honestly. You just have to persuade everyone to think you two are actually in love."

Alfred's azure eyes widened. "You know about that?"

Matthew rolled his purple eyes. "Just because I am sick does not mean I am blind!"

"Well…I guess I'm a bad persuader," he said with a chuckle. Note to self: work on pretending to be in love.

"Mr. Jones, on behalf of the Queen, I must escort you to the carriage," a young servant explained, after bowing of course, in the same elegant accent as Arthur. She had mocha skin matching her cocoa tinted hair neatly tied in a bun. She wore simple attire consisting of a white blouse and long navy slacks.

"That's my cue," he said thrusting himself up from the cot after giving his brother a small hug.

"Good luck!" Matthew called. Alfred thanked him knowing that he in fact needed all the luck he could receive.

"Invitation, please," the intimidating guard stated, probably thousands of times today. Arthur removed his red, white and blue mask and the guard's face immediately went pale and bowed. "I'm sorry, my Queen. I did not notice you under your mask, please forgive me."

With a wave of his hand, he replied "really. It is not necessary." Alfred followed behind the other two royals into a large ballroom of the noble's household. It was a bit smaller than the ballroom in the castle and instead of a Spade painted on the floor there was just an odd pattern that mimicked the sun in a light brown. A glass chandelier draped down from the dome shaped roof lighting the entire room by dim candle light. The only other light came from the moon which streamed splatters onto the painted floor.

"Stay close to us, aru," Yao whispered seeing as practically the entire nobility class showed up for this event. Splashes of every color blue and purple were flagrantly draped on all of the clothing, something Alfred was frankly getting tired of seeing.

"Does everyone in this kingdom wear blue?" Alfred muttered, although neither Arthur nor Yao heard him due to the large commotion of crowds surrounding them.

"Just refrain from speaking and remember what we taught you," Arthur explicated before seating himself at the largest table alongside the hosting family and his brothers, something he might end up regretting.

"Queen Arthur, I'm grateful that you took time out of your gracious schedule to honor our daughter on her eighteenth birthday," the oldest man explained with a smile gracing his lips before bowing.

"No, no, the pleasure is mine," he explained elegantly.

"I hope you think of our family when choosing your next King," he said. He obviously had a high position seeing his pure silver cufflinks matching the silver embedded into his purple trousers.

Arthur curled his lip and lied "of course."

With every passing minute, Alfred grew more anxious that he would somehow mess up everything for Arthur. However, the Queen was preoccupied dancing with the other noble kin; which frequently changed during each melody. He turned to look at the golden clock posting on the wall stating it was only ten minutes before midnight. Two trumpets loudly blasted through the walls before the eldest noble stood with his daughter a top a staircase. "Thank you all for coming to honor my daughter's eighteenth birthday," she recited just as she had practiced many times over and over. A wave of cheers echoed off the dome ballroom. She twirled her sandy blonde hair around her finger before nervously adding "and a special thanks to the Queen and Jack for taking time out of their busy schedule to enjoy this wonderful celebration. I take this time to invite the Queen of Spades up for a special announcement."

The Queen walked elegantly up the silver plated staircase before standing before the crowd. "I would like to take this moment to thank Sir Jon as well as his lovely daughter Anne," he said before kissing her hand, making light specks of pink tint her cheeks. "I take this moment now to welcome Sir Alfred as we take this moment to commence a special ceremony this evening." Arthur walked down the steps next to Alfred and regally held out his ungloved hand cuing Yao to tell the orchestra to begin playing the music. Hesitantly, Alfred grabbed his hand feeling his stomach churning. "You're going to be fine," he whispered taking his hand.

Alfred gulped before nodding taking Arthur's hand feeling their two hearts flutter in a simultaneous pattern. 1, 2, 3 Alfred repeated in his head staring into Arthur's eyes making him blush a bit. He could not remember ever noticing how beautiful the orbs of emerald looked until they were glistening off the moonlight and candlelit chandelier. The dance was executed perfectly finishing with cheers echoing from the entire ballroom.

"Do you want to really convince them?" Arthur whispered seductively into Alfred's ear.

Alfred raised an eyebrow still too overwhelmed to speak.

Arthur dipped Alfred lower to the wooden dance floor before pressing their two soft lips together.

To Be Continued...