[Fic] Summer Camp: Holding Out - Day 16
Title: Holding Out - Part 11: Nighttime
Characters: America, England mentions of Hungary, Austria
Rating/Warnings: PG13, Sorta X-men-universe crossoverish kinda sorta except I call 'mutants' 'supers' so maybe The Incredibles crossoverish kinda sorta? Point is, some people have superpowers. And it's a pseudo-police state.
Summary: Alfred and Arthur both have their secrets.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10
Alfred had a secret.
It was a harmless secret, actually it was a helpful one, but it was a secret nonetheless, a secret he had to keep from Arthur.
Every day after the others deemed his school work done for the day, Alfred would don a mask and go out into the city and use his strength to help out wherever he could.
It began when he had been roaming the streets looking for any sign of Mattie. Whenever he saw someone in trouble, say someone getting mugged in a back alley or a purse-snatcher or something, he would step in and help, then continue on his way. No big deal really, at least not to him. Over time, however, his excursions became more about helping people than looking for his brother. Yeah, he still kept his eyes and ears open for any sign of him, but after two years of looking, Alfred had a feeling that he didn’t want to be found, if he was still out there.
Elizaveta had found out. At first he didn’t try very hard to hide it, and she was the one who did his laundry and taught his last class, so she was able to pick up on the messed up clothing and anxiety to get out of class and put two and two together. She was the one who convinced him to wear a mask and keep it a secret from Arthur. After all, anyone fighting crime in any way was a target, and with Arthur notoriety and wealth, he could easily become a target. Plus, even if he denied it to his grave, he was a mother hen, and Alfred simply didn’t want him to worry.
So every night, Alfred would fight crime, and he could never tell Arthur.
*~*~*~
Arthur had a secret.
In essence, it was a harmless secret, as in no one was getting hurt by it, at least no one Arthur knew or cared about. However it was a secret, a secret not even Elizaveta or Roderich knew about.
Arthur was a buyer, trader, and collector of magical artifacts.
It started when he was little. His father gave him a necklace with magical properties, although Arthur was fairly certain he had no idea, or else he wouldn’t have given it to him. Arthur had unlocked the necklace’s secrets quickly, and he craved more. Not just more magic artifacts, but knowledge about them, where they came from, how to use them, as well. It’s the reason he and Vlad became and remained friends.
At first he was convinced one of his artifacts had killed his parents. By that time he had amassed quite a collection, and since he wasn’t sure which one did the deed, he panicked and sold them all off. As time wore on, he became less and less sure. Had he just been jumping to conclusions that first night? Was he simply feeling guilty? The official police report was no help in solving this matter, so after two years of being clean, Arthur started buying, trading, and collecting his artifacts again.
Arthur had two problems with his hobby. The first was that only a few people actually believed in magic. Not a lot of people knew that an item the held could be magical, and most people would refuse to trade with him if he brought it up. The other was that most magical artifacts were extremely dangerous. Even if someone was aware that what they owned was magic in nature, they were not willing to hand it over to just anybody, no matter how much money they had to burn.
Alfred didn’t even believe in magic. If he did found out about Arthur’s hobby, he would not only laugh at him, but also do something stupid and dangerous to prove that magic didn’t exist. He couldn’t let that happen, for either of their sakes.
So every now and then, Arthur would sneak out in the middle of the night to add to his collection.
~*~*~*
It was a dark night. That was Alfred’s first that as he wandered the streets, keeping in the shadows as he kept an eye out for people in distress. When he heard the cry from the nearby alley, he smirked as he rushed in, prepared to help whoever it was that needed him.
What he didn’t expect to find was Arthur being shoved roughly against the wall by two men who were twice his size.
Usually when confronting a situation like this, Alfred would give his foes a warning, give them a chance to back off before he hurt them. Arthur was always telling him to watch his strength because he could go overboard sometimes and hurt people more then he means to, so the warning was in place to avoid a fight. Most petty criminals did take head to the warning after the first few months and ran.
When he saw Arthur was the victim, however, he saw red and went straight to the hurting part.
The good part about this strategy was that it got Arthur away from danger. The bad part was now he was alone in an alley with Arthur after he beat up two guys right in front of him. Alfred tried to take the only real option he had and make a run for it, but was stopped by a hand on his wrist.
“Alfred, is that you?” he heard Arthur ask in a soft voice.
“Hahaha!” Alfred laughed in what he hoped wasn’t a nervous tone, “I know of no such person, citizen! I am merely an anonymous helper, trying to clear the streets for-”
He was interrupted by Arthur taking his mask off and turning him around more forcefully then necessary.
Alfred swallowed and refused to make eye contact, “I, uh, this isn’t what it looks like?”
Arthur wasn’t saying anything. That wasn’t a good sign, and Alfred still refused to look at his face, concentrating instead on the bag he was holding, where he noticed something gold peeking out.
He couldn’t help himself, he had to ask, “Arthur is that a sword?”
Arthur’s grip on his shoulders tightened, “That’s none of your business.”
Alfred ignored him and reached into the bag, pulling out the sword, “It is a sword-”
“Don’t touch that!” he snatched the sword away from him.
“I don’t see why-”
“It’s cursed!” Arthur’s shout effectively stopped whatever thought Alfred had, “It’s cursed. I, buy and trade items with magical properties…”
Alfred finally looked at his guardian and found that he was staring at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with him, “Arthur, you know magic-”
“I know your thoughts on magic. But just because you don’t believe it exists doesn’t mean it can’t hurt you,” Arthur looked up, right into his eyes, and Alfred found he couldn’t look away, “And what about you? Is this what you’ve been doing every night? Running around playing the hero?”
“I, uh, well,” Alfred eventually did look away and tried to sink further into the wall, “It’s sorta like…yeah, maybe?”
No words were spoken for the longest time before Arthur dropped his bag and pulled Alfred into a hug, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Alfred was frozen with shock at first before he returned the gesture, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
He felt Arthur nod as he pulled away and picked up his bag, “We’ll, have to talk about this more when we get home. As of right now, let’s not mention this to Roderich and Elizaveta alright?”
Alfred grinned and followed him out of the dark, “Your secret’s safe with me.”
Part 12