It was only days after the wedding and Alfred had to remind Arthur of that, for the boy would stay by his side almost all the time, like a lost puppy. The two never spoke before Arthur suddenly turned on his heal when walking in the gardens. "What...?" The Queen refused to look Alfred in the eyes. "Oh, Art, come on! I am trying to follow my heart here!"
Arthur scoffed. "Well then sod off and do it somewhere else! You clearly don't know what you're doing!" The Queen crouched and began to tame the roses before him. He had insisted that a patch of the garden, at least, be left in his care. He'd felt homesick otherwise.
Alfred rolled his eyes and frowned to be honest, he was secretly fearing this whole thing. To Arthur he must look like a leap frog. Hopping from one queen to another. The single thought made him shiver in disgust. Though if he could explain that one meeting before the wedding.
Francis frowned. "Then tonightis going to be a 'ard one, non?"
Alfred bit his lip as the King looked at him.
They sat in utter silence for what felt like five minutes before the king stood and then cleared his throat, causing all of the heads in the room to look up. "Alfred, if you would follow me? I would like to speak to you alone. In the meantime the rest of you may dine and remain here with chatter." He pushed open the door and Alfred left the room with his father following. Both in fits of confidence.
Mr. Jones lead Alfred to the next room and then gestured for Alfred to take a seat. He did and looked out the window, thanking his father when he was poured a glass of fine wine. Air left the plush chair as the king, too, seated himself. He then gently rubbed his beard.
"I've been evaluating you these past few days. Do you want to tell me what is the matter? You don't want to have a mistress, and you don't want to be with Arthur, you have grown attached to the queen of hearts. Something is clearly missing because your strangeness spiked."
Alfred hunched over in his seat to gaze into his wine glass. "Well...I have known Sakura for years, and...even though...we had confessed...that was years ago. She has become more distant. So have I...my dreams, changed...I know I feel something for Arthur as well, and it is quite difficult thinking of Sakura in a way that one would think of a lover...in the past less so..."
"But that isn't the main issue."
Alfred shook his head. "I...bear no ill will towards Arthur...I know what I feel when I see him...but he can't produce an heir...so I tried to pull Sakura back...though I suppose I'm a bit late..." He looked away from the red drink.
"Who says he can't?"
Alfred's head shot up. Wait. So he could really have this?! "But- you said that I would have to find a ...a suitable mother-"
The king sighed. "I only said that because it is quite rare. Though if the fact that he can't reproduce is the only factor. That isn't quite a problem."
Alfred was beyond shocked. How could he have been so stupid! If this was true, he would need to fix what he had done wrong.
"It's about time that you get your head out of the clouds, and form responsible relationships with people you love. I understand, from what you are telling me, that you adore both individuals in some degree. Though you automatically chose Sakura over Arthur for fear of not being able to have children with one you didn't love, correct?"
Alfred nodded, his mouth agape. "Well, then...why didn't you tell me? When I was younger? That men could reproduce as well?" The thought made Alfred a bit uneasy, seeing as this meant even he could have children.
The king shook his head and shut his eyes. Slowly. "Not all men can. Arthur may not even know. Why do you think we made sure Arthur had magic? Not just for battle. Not just for the protection of our kingdom, but for the fact that he could reproduce. I didn't tell you because I didn't know if you even cared for Arthur, as I said before. Now that you have this information, you can stop chasing that girl. And focus on your wedding night. If I were you I'd start thinking straight. Or I fear for our king. I have faith in you Alfred."
Arthur kept tending to the roses and sighed in frustration, why were red roses so rare?! All they had were silver, white, blue, purple, and lavender!
Alfred frowned and kneeled to Arthur. "I know what I'm doing...now at least." He gently cupped Arthur's right cheek and smiled softly into his green eyes. "I just woke up." The king leaned in and gently captured Arthur's lips with his own. Touching them briefly. Arthur's slightly offended expression softened as Alfred pulled his face away and opened his eyes, hesitating until he deemed it ok to kiss him again. Then, with enough strength to make Arthur's arm give way and send them crashing into the Rose bushes. Thank goodness their robes were thick enough to protect them from the thorns.
The couple lay there gently exchanging warm, welcomed, slow, gentle, open-mouthed kisses. Arthur gently grabbed onto the sleeves of Alfred's coat. Responding in suit, he only hoped that he wasn't only being played, Arthur faltered before shoving the other back and sitting up. "What the bloody hell was that?!"
Alfred laughed, everything lopsided. "Does it matter? You liked it."
Arthur scoffed and then shoved Alfred off. "You still admire Sakura." Then he was gone into the mouth of the castle.