Chapter 21

Date in Town

Alfred couldn't stop staring when he saw Arthur rolling up on a motorbike in front of the palace in a black leather jacket.

"Come on, I'll take you on a ride today," Arthur said and handed Alfred a pilot's helmet for motorbikes.

The bike had pipes at the back with a steam regulation at the bottom and was large enough for two people to sit on. "You can really drive this thing?" Alfred asked astounded.

"I didn't drive for quite some time but it's not that hard." He chuckled and Alfred grinned while putting on his helmet and eye goggles above his glasses.

Alfred felt quite nervous when he sat so close behind Arthur and got even more nervous when Arthur told him to hold onto him, and took Alfred's hands and placed them on his waist. "I don't want you to fall out."

Alfred might have been delusional once again but he was sure Arthur flirted with him.

Arthur started the motor and they drove off with four bodyguards following them in front and behind them. They left the palace grounds and entered the large city with its extravagant buildings and confusing roads. Once again he drove through the egg-shaped building with the hundreds of crossing lanes inside and was amazed how Arthur could drive so well and understand the whole system.

He drove through the egg shaped building and to the top before exiting it and crossing a bridge. Airships and dirigibles flew over and under them and Alfred's grip tightened on Arthur until they arrived at their destination.

In the distance Alfred was able to make out a ferris wheel and they parked outside not so far away from it and the place they wanted to visit.

"Did you like the ride?" Arthur asked and leaned back against Alfred's chest and looked up at him.

Alfred still held around the Prince's waist and looked down at the smiling Arthur, feeling the desire to kiss him when he was that close. "It was amazing, my Prince! One of the best rides I ever had."

Arthur stood up and the bodyguards took Arthur's jacket and gave him a brown coat and a matching top hat, which was more proper for a day out. "You can call me Arthur. You don't have to be formal with me if we're alone," Arthur said while Alfred was pulling off his helmet.

"Alright. Arthur." He let the name roll off his tongue, loving to say just his name although he really liked to say 'my Prince' too because it was his Prince.

They started their date by going to an invention festival and entered a section of the town with the ferries wheel and many many stands outside and inside with people showing off their newest inventions in hope to find someone who's going to invest in them.

They saw an alpha selling his invention of a full body robot costume for the soldiers and police officers. When he saw the Prince he immediately told him how wonderful and great this idea was and how secure it would make the kingdom and his own safety.

"They are a must and I can assure you with this armor no one would dare to kidnap the Prince again," he said in his euphoria but stopped when he realized what he'd said. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I didn't mean to bring that up."

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure it won't happen again," Arthur said calmly and politely.

The alpha quickly changed the conversation when he noticed Alfred's copper hand sticking out of his coat. "Amazing, sir! You have a metal arm!" He grabbed it and inspected it, giving his attention to the arm.

"It's copper, actually," Alfred said and let the man touch his arm in admiration.

"Amazing..." he said once more and Alfred looked over at Arthur with a grin.

Another female alpha chimed into their little group, trying to talk to Arthur behind the bodyguards. She wanted to show the Prince her new invention and Arthur took Alfred by his arm and they followed her while the man yelled that she's a Prince stealer.

She proudly presented a machine with eight arms that could do hair and make up at the same time and started the machine with her wife as her assistant. The machine rumbled and moved, taking a hairbrush and lipstick from the stand beside and coming close to the woman's face. At the very first brush, the machine started to lose control and smeared the lipstick across her forehead and brushed her shoulders instead.

"Oh, um, haha, it needs some fixing, it's just the prototype," the woman said and turned off the machine while the alpha with the robot suit laughed at her mischievously.

"I think we're going to have a lot of fun here," Alfred whispered to Arthur and the Prince nodded.

There were many attractions with games and at one of them Alfred tried to shoot down a man sitting above a body of water with a ball. But anytime he'd hit the target, the man sitting wouldn't fall and Alfred complained that this was a hoax. Alfred was sure the only reason the owner let his friend fall down was the minute he realized who Alfred was and with whom he was there.

Many food stands stood around and Alfred felt his saliva forming in his mouth just by the smell of all the food. There was roasted chicken, waffles, vegetables and meat on sticks and oddities like fried insects or tree juice. And his eyes would go wide by all the different flavors of candy and chocolate which were as delicious as their colors.

With a stack full of candy they walked along the people on the street and stumbled across a male alpha showing off his light in a building. But Alfred and Arthur were both confused why nothing happened when they got there. Just a single lamp hung from the ceiling and the owner seemed to be proud of that. It was quiet in the room when the people tried to figure out what was so different with the light.

Alfred took a sour candy from the stack and when he bit into it, it exploded with a loud pop in his mouth startling him and all the other people in the room who were concentrated on the light. It was so sudden that Arthur began to chuckle afterwards and everyone else joined in.

Anywhere they went the people wanted to talk to Arthur. It was heartwarming to see how the people loved him and wanted his attention but on the other hand, Alfred wanted his attention as well. It was their date and he wanted time with him alone, but of course how alone can he be with the Prince when bodyguards and chaperones were always by Arthur's side.

One of the attractions they went to was a tunnel with light effects inside and Alfred thought to himself that this could be a great moment for them to be alone but the owner of the tunnel wouldn't stop talking to Arthur about the lights and how they worked. It was quite impressive and interesting, and he enjoyed the lights which would shine in different colors and cross the room with the help of mirrors, but he also wanted to enjoy them with Arthur without others interrupting them.

Another inventor, a female omega, presented her idea of moving pictures. She placed Alfred and Arthur in front of a white screen and told them to move however they liked. Arthur took Alfred's hand and they danced one short circle of a waltz before the inventor told them they could watch themselves on the screen. Alfred was amazed by that and that he could see Arthur and himself dancing almost like in his visions just in black and white. He wanted to have that but it was sadly not possible, not yet.

Arthur took his arm again and led him to another place, telling him that's where he can get something to remember.

Arthur looped his hand around Alfred's arm while the ferris wheel stood in the background some feet away. The photographer stood in front of them telling them to hold still by putting his hand up in the air and ducking under a black blanket around the camera. Alfred smiled and waited but the photographer's hand was still up.

For a moment Alfred looked down at Arthur who noticed and turned his head to him as well. Both smiled at each other and the photographer finally let his hand down and a small explosion came from the camera.

Alfred got the picture with him and Arthur smiling at another in front of the lit up ferris wheel with a brown frame. That gave him an idea and Alfred led Arthur to the ferris wheel for their last attraction of the day.

"You don't need to follow us," Alfred said to the guards but they insisted until Arthur spoke up.

"Stay here. You can watch us from down here," he ordered and they listened to him.

Grinning, they took their seats in the four seat cabin and got lifted up slowly. It was already dark outside and this far up, they could see all of the town lighting up in the night. They sat opposite of each other and no matter how beautiful the town was with their golden light, in the end Alfred's eyes were only for Arthur.

That's all he needed at that moment. Spending his time alone with Arthur, the love of his life. It was just perfect.

-

Alfred strolled happily down the corridors and to his room after saying his goodnight to Arthur.

He put the picture of him and Arthur on his table and admired it. Never in his life, he owned a picture before and having a picture of him and Arthur on their date made him grin even more, but his mood changed when he saw a letter from Alexander on his desk. His day had been so good and now he had to face reality again.

He went up to Alexander's room and he let him in. Alexander's room didn't look much different from Alfred's room, just more tidy and in red.

"Did you find the entrance yet?" he asked with his arms crossed.

"It's not that easy," Alfred said and wanted to explain more but Alexander cut in.

"Of course it's not easy if you spend your days only dating the Prince." He furrowed his brows and his jaw clenched. "I think you forgot why you're here, so, let me remind you that I can expose your real identity if you don't complete your mission."

"Why do you even need the stone?" he asked him.

"That's none of your business."

"I know what magic item you're looking for. It's a Time Stone which can change time but why do you need it? What kind of event do you want to change?"

It didn't matter if these were good motives or bad ones because he wouldn't tell him about it. Still, he needed to know why the alpha risked his status to find it.

"You shouldn't even know what this stone is or can do."

"You sent me to find something I'd no idea about and you expect it to stay that way?"

"Didn't think you'd be smart enough," Alexander said.

Alfred huffed and thought of course he'd underestimated him and his abilities. "Well, I'm smart enough to have figured out that the Time Stone has its side effects if you'd use it too often."

"I only need to use it once. Only once to make sure that whatever happens, I'll become King!"

There it was.

That's all Alfred wanted to hear, the truth. "Using it once is fine, I guess," he said, knowing it's not true.

Alexander wanted to become King so bad he'd do anything for it, even change the time for his own success. That didn't make sense to Alfred because Wright was the one who would make Alexander King. Although, Lewis Wright seemed to have promised this to a couple of other candidates and there's a possibility that Alexander knew about it.

"I've also come to the conclusion that you know what my visions are, don't you? That's why you wanted me to find it. Because it'd be easier for me."

Alexander was silent but Alfred knew that he was right.

The alpha didn't explain himself and cut the conversation with Alfred. "You have one week."

"Wait, what? No, I'm not ready yet-"

"One week," Alexander said seriously. "Find the stone. Shouldn't be too difficult for you."

-

Arthur came into his bedroom smiling and put his coat down on his bed when he heard someone clearing their throat at the door. He turned around and Joao leaned at the doorway.

"How long were you here?" Arthur asked.

"I've been waiting for a couple of hours, wondering when you'll come back."

"Why would you do that? We had nothing planned together." Arthur threw his hat on the bed as well.

Joao walked up to Arthur with a serious expression on his face. "I've noticed that you've been avoiding me lately and started to spend a lot of time with Alan." He brushed with his fingers alongside Arthur's cheek. "Do you have feelings for him?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Is it because he saved you from the pirates and not me?"

Arthur pushed his hand away. "It has nothing to do with that," Arthur partially lied.

It's true that Arthur felt more secure around Alfred. That's one of the reasons why he wasn't scared to drive on a motorbike with him to town.

A couple of months ago Arthur realized that Alan had awoken interest in him and a couple of weeks ago new feelings arose but Arthur downplayed them and covered them up, not being honest to himself. But after their first kiss, there was only Alan on his mind.

He was so brave and funny, hardworking and handsome and these feelings exploded inside of him. Finally coming out of his body after chaining them up inside, and realizing what he was feeling for him all this time.

"You can feel safe beside me too, Arthur," Joao said and hugged Arthur while his hand slowly brushed over his back. "I love you and it hurts to see you have fun with other alphas."

Arthur was silent and let Joao hug him.

Joao pulled away and kissed him on his head. "You love me too, right?"

Arthur nodded and didn't know why he was scared to tell him that he didn't. He knew he liked Alan but it was wrong to start anything with him when he had Joao as his lover.

"I'm glad," Joao breathed out and started to unbutton Arthur's vest and pushed him down on the bed and on the coat, wrinkling it up.

He kissed his neck and his hands started to roam around Arthur, caressing him and grabbing his leg.

Arthur couldn't help but to go with it. After all, he was his future husband and he had to try to love him.

-

Alfred laid outside on the white bench beneath the tree with the white-purple flowers, remembering his date with Arthur. It was great and beautiful and he didn't want this to end, but in just one week everything would be different and he feared that.

"Alan?"

Alfred sat up and saw Arthur standing on the path. "Arthur!" He scooted to make room for the Prince on the bench. "How come you're here at this hour?"

It was past midnight and Arthur sat down with Alfred. "I couldn't sleep."

"Me neither," Alfred said and watched a small smile slip on Arthur's face. He knew the earlier he'd tell him about the lie the better. There might be a small possibility that Arthur would accept him and not execute him. "Arthur, there's something I have to tell you."

Arthur waited for him to speak but Alfred had no idea how to start. Fear cribbled through his gut, fear of being rejected, fear of Arthur hating him. His hand started to sweat and Arthur still watched him expectantly. "That was my first invention festival and I think that one alpha tried to buy my arm," Alfred said instead and laughed.

Arthur just smiled and had his own things on his mind. He couldn't sleep because he thought of Alan. Even when he laid beside Joao in bed his mind would go back to him. Arthur had noticed something about his feelings for Alan - he made him happy. It was different than with Joao and more than just a simple infatuation.

Arthur gazed over Alfred's lips, remembering the feeling of it and the desire he felt for him. The same desire he felt now, too. Just for this moment he could enjoy himself and feel happy. Joao didn't need to know about this.

The Prince put his hand softly on top of Alfred's and caressed over it. "Thank you for this beautiful day," Arthur said.

"I have to thank you for that." Alfred grazed with his thumb over Arthur's hand. "It was your idea but the day went by so fast."

"It doesn't need to end yet," Arthur said and leaned forward to kiss him while placing his hand on Alfred's chest.

It surprised Alfred when their lips met but he leaned in as well and closed his eyes. He could tell Arthur the truth about himself later, at a better time. Alfred's hand moved to Arthur's waist and he pulled him closer while the other hand held him at his head.

Arthur stopped for a second and proceeded to give little kisses to Alfred's cheek. His hand slid down to the alpha's thigh and he squeezed it before pulling his lips away.

Alfred slowly opened his eyes again when he felt no more kisses on his face. That wasn't enough for him. He would die soon and wanted to spend the little time that's left for him like he wanted to. He leaned in and kissed him again to which Arthur grabbed him tightly.

They didn't realize how fast the hours went by when they kissed under the tree where they first met.