Once they were left to their own devices, the twins were quick to inspect every inch of their fanciful bedroom and connected bathroom.
"I want to know why there's a bath in the middle of the room," Alfred cocked his head in confusion as if he were staring at some kind of modern art without the key of interpretation.
Matthew just shrugged, unable to offer any kind of explanation.
"Welp, this sure beats the hotel. By miiiiiiles. I'm sure Francis would understand though," Alfred laughed. "Dude, if only he could see this place!"
"We need to remember to call the hotel so we can get Francis' number."
"Yeah yeah, we'll get to that at some point," Alfred reassured. "But right now, we're living in the moment. What should we do?"
"Maybe we should call Mum," Matthew suggested before he could stop himself when he realised that couldn't work.
"Oh yeah, good idea!" Alfred beamed as he ran to his bag and dug out his phone.
"Wait Al! Time zones!"
"Oh yeah! We don't have wifi anyways. Hey, do you think they'd have wifi here?"
"I'm sure they would, eh. We could ask for it."
"Yeah, I'll put that on the list of things to do," Alfred said and tapped the side of his head.
"Right, I'll remind you," Matthew crossed his arms.
"Thanks, bro," Alfred smirked and chucked his phone on the bed. "Y'know, I just had an idea...
The bed was indeed just as bouncy as it looked. Matthew was hesitant to do something so rude as guests but when Alfred kicked his shoes off and launched himself onto the bed, Matthew didn't want to be left out. Once the impulse wore off, they collapsed into the extremely soft covers as they recovered.
"No," Matthew jokingly warned when Alfred suddenly bolted upright.
"You haven't even heard me out yet!" Alfred whined.
Matthew shouldn't indulge his brother so much, but he was in a fantastic mood from today's events going so well and Alfred's impulsivity was contagious.
"Fine, what then?"
It turns out the tiles that paved the halls, the same ones that were so shiny you could eat off, were very slippery when in socks. The pair giggled as they skidded down the long, wide halls and crashed into each other as they tried to stop themselves from spinning out.
"Imagine what the butlers are thinking," Alfred cackled as he attempted to slide further than Matthew.
"I don't wanna know," Matthew laughed as he slung himself around Alfred using him as an anchor.
"Probably that we're dumbasses."
"That you're a dumbass."
"Bro, you are half of my dumbass!"
After almost crashing into fancy pieces of art that no doubt individually cost more than the Chinese restaurant downstairs, the twins had to find other ways to entertain themselves. Unable to find Arthur anywhere, they asked an older man who was probably another butler where their father was and were disappointed to learn he was in a meeting with his advisors. Apparently, politics was really demanding, who knew?
"Oh, cool, we'll disturb him later," Alfred said, pulling Matthew out of the room. "Thanks though!"
"Of course," the older man said with a genuine smile.
"Remember that room with the big stereo thing?" Alfred said once they were out of the room. "Wanna see how loud we can get it and how much the BAss BOosts?"
Matthew was a little reluctant only because they were in essentially a stranger's very fancy house... but...
"Don't worry, I can read you like the back of my hand! Which is a really weird saying when you think about it but don't worry about that - point is, I know you want to! And if we actually get in trouble for it, which I doubt, I'll take the blame for it too~"
"You'd better," Matthew smirked, instantly folding.
Turns out the speaker had very good sound definition, to no one's surprise, and the bass was indeed very boosted. An impromptu dance party broke out and Alfred could only laugh when they got odd looks from the staff. Meanwhile, Matthew burned with shame.
"Come on Mattie! Loosen up! I know you care what Arthur thinks and all but this is a time to celebrate because can you believe it! We actually have him! He's a real person. We spoke to him and saw him and oh fuck, it's actually settling in that we've actually did it. Damn, this is kinda overwhelming-"
"You okay Al?" Matthew asked sceptically when his brother crashed on the couch. Between the two of them, Alfred was definitely the more reactive of the two.
"Just coming to terms with the fact that Arthur is a real person and not just some guy, not just some dream that I've been picturing. I don't know how to put it. You know what I mean, right?"
"Yeah," Matthew sighed and sat next to his brother with a smile, "I do."
"Hey, I just had an idea! What if we made a slideshow for him with all the photos of us we can find! I'm sure Arthur's slightly curious about what we've been up to!"
Matthew shrugged and thought about it.
"Actually, I have a better idea. What if we made a scrapbook? Like the one Mum has back home-"
"Oh shit, we should've brought that!" Alfred slapped himself.
"Mum would've been upset if we took it," Matthew dismissed. "But we've got a lot of spare time and I bet they have colour printing here-"
"Say no more!" Alfred bolted up. "Let's go use and abuse the free colour printing!"
Matthew was scouting the halls for Arthur's empty study. The gentleman butler had of course offered to find them more paper when they needed it, but Matthew's self-sufficiency and reserved nature had him insisting he could do it. There was no way he'd be a burden as a guest.
The halls carried sound very well and he stopped when he heard the sound of a phone ring out. It had a classical sort of 'brrrrring' sound as if it was a landline phone and not someone's personal device. He thought about going to answer it, thinking that would be a helpful thing to do but the tone cut short as someone beat him to it. He didn't mean to stay and eavesdrop, but voices just seemed to carry very well and Clarissa's pointed voice was inescapable.
"Kirkland residence, Clarissa speaking," she said in a haughty tone.
A pause.
"They're not here," she said with annoyance. "There is no one with those names, sorry."
Another pause.
"Absolutely, I will," Clarissa said and slammed the phone down. Matthew was about to go in and ask what that was about. Maybe he could help-?
"-Not," Clarissa said with such maliciousness that it startled him. Who was on the other side of that phone? At first, he wondered if the other person was really rude or if the residence routinely got wrong calls... but neither really fit and he was left with what he could only describe as warning bells ringing in his head. For what, he didn't know. Clarissa herself? He usually gave people the benefit of the doubt, and considering how much was left unknown from that interaction... it wasn't enough for him to draw conclusions. But he'd certainly keep it in the back of his head...
Matthew figured he should move on and continued looking for the paper.
It was late when the twins finally learned that Arthur was available. They actually felt sorry for him, being a Lord seemed very demanding. But they weren't about to complain. An opportunity to hang with Arthur would not be passed up.
Alfred pushed the door of the man's study open and tried not to openly gawk. The room was cozy, with every wall made out of bookshelves and a dark antique desk in the middle where their father sat on a comfy leather chair.
"Oh, uh, Alfred and Matthew," Arthur seemed to be taken by surprise at their arrival and looked up from whatever paperwork was consuming his attention.
"Hey, uh, Mr Kirkland?" Alfred started awkwardly.
"Lord Kirkland?" Matthew wondered as he ran his hands over the cover of the book in his arms.
"Just Arthur," Arthur corrected. "Don't worry about such 'Mr' or 'Lord' business."
"So what exactly is a Lord?" Alfred pestered.
"Well, simply put it means I'm in the royal family and 38th in line for the throne."
"Wait," Alfred gawked. "That means we're in line for the literal British throne? Like Kings and Queens and stuff?"
"Yes, that's the idea. But don't hold your breath that you will see coronation." Arthur said with amusement. "Just out of curiosity, which of you is older? I'm sure you'd like to know where stand in the line for the throne."
"Thankfully, I'm older," Alfred bragged.
"Why did you remind him," Matthew scowled.
"But if you wanna get confusing, everyone thinks Mattie's older cus he celebrates his birthday on the first of July and I celebrate mine on the fourth!"
"You chose to move your birthday backwards," Matthew reminded.
"Yeah, well, I'm a true American and it's not my fault that Mom couldn't hold on for just a little longer and you moved your birthday too!"
"Hold on a moment, when exactly is your birthday," Arthur asked with evident confusion.
"That is a state secret," Alfred said gravely. "It's between the first and fourth and that's all I'm allowed to say. Matthew chose the first because that's Canada's Independence Day. The reason for that is complicated, so don't ask. But if you do ask why we celebrate on different days it's because we're different people. And also somehow different nationalities but like I said, don't ask."
"Alright then, I won't," Arthur nodded, completely serious.
"Right, okay, cool cool," Alfred nodded. "This room is hella cool. Please tell me that one of these books is not a book but actually a lever or something that opens a secret passage?"
"Sorry to disappoint," Arthur chuckled while looking like the question gave him whiplash. "Though I admire your imagination."
"There's a doorknob over there, Al," Matthew pointed out to Alfred.
"Ohhhh, good spotting Mattie. Not quite as secret as a house like this should have, but y'know that's still pretty cool Arthur."
"Right, well," Arthur said as he seemed to contemplate how to respond. "Listen, I- I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to the royal dress show on this upcoming Friday?"
"Dress show?" Alfred echoed.
"Yes, it's extremely boring and dull but some of the people I'm obliged to impress take it seriously."
"So is a dress show like a fashion show?" Alfred asked.
"Contextually, probably," Matthew remarked.
"Yes, a fashion show. Really, it's just a part of my campaign trail. Appearances mean a lot in high society. Which really is a shame because values really should be what makes the man but uh, I don't want to bore you with my zest for politics. Anywho, it's an opportunity for Glynnis to launch Clarissa on society-"
"You make her sound like a rocket when you say 'launch'," Alfred laughed, "is she not going to the stars?"
"No, I'm afraid not, a better description would be rather, that she's an intercontinental ballistic missile. Headed for the sun."
Matthew withheld a snort at the blunt words while Alfred cocked his head.
"He means she's bad, Al," Matthew clarified, while adding the information to the growing tab in his mind about their soon-to-be-maybe-already stepsister. Arthur didn't think very highly of her? For what reason?
"I knew that," Alfred scoffed, then leaned forward with intrigue. Neither of them could pass up an opportunity to obtain some juicy juicy gossip! It wasn't surprising that Alfred, who was the drama also lived for the drama and while Matthew would pretend to be above it, he really couldn't resist.
"So why do you say that?" Alfred raised his eyebrow.
"Well, simply put she lacks certain qualities that upper-class British traditionally value. But I suppose lacking such qualities because one is enamoured by oneself is tradition, unfortunately."
"Riiiiiight," Alfred nodded then cringed. "Isn't that your stepkid though? Don't you like her?"
"Well, of course I do and love is truth," Arthur stated.
"But you wouldn't say that to her?" Matthew raised an eyebrow.
"Heavens no, I fear she's made of porcelain some days!"
"So... she'd shatter?" Alfred asked.
"Exactly right," Arthur nodded. "Anyway, could you bear coming along?"
Alfred and Matthew shared a look.
"Yeah, of course we can! We can't wait!"
"Really?" Arthur insisted.
"Of course," Matthew insisted back.
"Well good then," Arthur sat back with satisfaction and Alfred was about to turn and leave when-
"Oh shi- I mean, well, before we forget, Mattie," Alfred gestured and Matthew handed over the leather-bound book.
"It's pictures of us growing up and all, thought you might want it!" Alfred said cheerfully as Arthur took it carefully. "It's not the original, we just printed them out today with the printer you got here and slapped it all together so yeah hopefully it's still good."
He said it in such a carefree tone, but after the twins laboured over it all afternoon, doing their best to make it look as nice (and 'awesome') as possible, they hoped it was more than 'just good'.
"I- Thank you, thank you very much," he said softly. Matthew smiled and pulled Alfred out when he saw a vulnerable look pass on Arthur's face. Arthur looked down at the book and carefully flicked the first page open to see the title page. The boys had certainly taken some creative liberties as they made use of the resources at the estate. The first page was heavily decorated in more colours than Arthur could name, with the two boy's names in the centre, each written in the owner's handwriting.
Arthur hesitantly flicked to the next page. There was a photo, printed in colour of two babies in Amelia's arms with a handwritten segment about the context of the photo, explaining when it was taken and where. It was the same for the other photos on that page spread, and Arthur stared at the children, his children until his eyes became inverted. His fingers lingered to turn to the next page-
He closed the book and carefully sat it on his desk.