Past-Part Fills Post 1 -- CLOSED
Thanks to anon's suggestions we are now enforcing a past-part fills post
Fresh past-part fills post HERE
Comments and Suggestions go here
Don't forget to link your new fill at the fill index over here.
Remember though that you need not post your updates unless you posted in a new part
Keep yourself up to date -- check out the NEWS HERE
Also, imagine Alfred to be whatever age you wish. I had the idea for him to be on the way to maturity (as will be apparent later), but not all the way there yet by a long shot.
~~~~~
Arthur stepped off the boat and breathed in the smell of forest, of sand, of warm sun and frosty mountains. He truly loved the smell of America.
Speaking of whom...
This was strange. Alfred was usually tripping over his own feet to run out and greet him. Now, he didn't even see the boy anywhere. He took off his hat and scanned the area, searching for that small golden head that should be rocketing toward him any minute now--
"ARTHUR!"
"What--"
WHAM
Arthur landed on his face with something very giggly (and a whole lot heavier than he remembered) latched onto his back. He pushed himself up, stuck between catching his breath and trying not to breathe dirt, and reached around him to pull the boy off his back and onto his front so he could get a better look at him.
My God. He stared at the figure on top of him in amazement. When did he get so big?
"You shouldn't jump on a man from behind like that," he laughed, hauling himself to his feet (and dragging Alfred with him). "I thought I raised you to be more of a gentleman than that."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Alfred dismissed the comment altogether. "Did you miss me? I missed you. What did you bring me? Is it coffee? I like coffee."
"I'm sure you do." God only knew he didn't get enough sleep already. "You'll just have to wait until we get back to your house, won't we?"
Alfred's eyes shot open.
"Are you staying? Are you staying with me this time? Not in an inn at the capitol like you usually do?"
"No, I'm not here on business this time," and neither of us need to think about how long it took me to get this much time off. "I came here just so I could visit you."
Alfred made a noise kind of like a very happy, very large bird and threw his arms around Arthur's neck. Within an instant, he had flung himself off, grabbed Arthur's hand and was running as fast as he could to his house.
"This is gonna be amazing! I've got a bunch of new stuff to show you, and I found this weird animal in my back yard the other day, and remember you promised me that this time you were going to teach me how to hunt!"
Oh right. Well, that would be an adventure, at the least.
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"Now, steady, and for god's sake, aim before you shoot."
"I know how to do that, Arthur. I swear, you never take me seriously."
"I'm just showing you how to aim properly."
"You've been doing that since we got here. I think I can handle it."
Arthur relented, and stepped back. Alfred fired, and sure enough, hit the target dead-on. Arthur was genuinely surprised. Perhaps he's grown even more than I thought.
Shot after shot sounded from Alfred's gun. Every target Arthur had set up fell, with scary accuracy. Alfred rolled his shoulders to shake off the effects of the recoil, and Arthur couldn't blame him. The gun was smaller than most, but still packed a punch.
He's still so small, though, when you get right down to it.
Finally, right about the point when Arthur began to wonder if he was going to have to get new targets, it seemed Alfred had gotten bored.
"Let's go back in," he said. "I'm hungry."
~~~~~
After dinner, Alfred was in the bath, and England was in the living room with a book. The most notable difference in atmosphere since the last time he was here (too long ago, far too long) was the distinct lack of pretend ship-to-ship combat noises coming from the bathroom. Instead, Alfred seemed to be talking to himself, trying to keep his voice low so Arthur couldn't make out what he was saying.
"Hey, Arthur?"
"Hm?"
"Could you bring me a towel? I left them all in the laundry basket."
"I thought I told you to hang those up before you got in the bath."
"Yeah, well, I forgot. Please?"
"You know, I could just make you walk into the laundry room and get one. Make you learn your lesson."
"No, you wouldn't."
"And why not?"
"Because then I'd get water everywhere and you'd go ballistic."
"...Damn it."
"Thanks!"
Sure enough, every towel in the house was folded neatly in the laundry basket. Arthur sighed, but couldn't suppress a smile as he opened the door to the bathroom, releasing a magnificent cloud of steam. It seemed that, no matter how old Alfred got, some things would never change.
Alfred's back was to the door, and he bent his head back to look at Arthur upside-down when he entered.
"Thanks, Arthur." He stood, the bathwater just barely reaching his knees, and turned around to take the towel.
Arthur's smile disappeared. Fast.
"Hey, Arthur, chill," Alfred took the towel and began to dry himself off (starting with his hair, of course, that would be Arthur's luck, wouldn't it). It's not like you haven't seen me naked like a thousand times."
I wish that was the problem. No, it wasn't the fact that Arthur could now see...everything, nor was it the fact that Alfred was in the process of towelling himself off in a manner that Arthur was not going to find appealing, no, not at all.
"Sure. I'm going to bed now. Still tired. Boat. Night." He made his exit quickly.
No, what made Arthur wrap himself in the sheets perhaps tighter than needed, made him press himself into the bed and attempt to will the fire in his face to subside, even as it spread down his stomach to collect in lower places, was that in the few moments before he'd had the sense to leave the bathroom, Arthur could see the potential, see the magnificent nation Alfred would one day be. And he could see the dazzling young (so, so young!) nation he had become.
Colony, Arthur, he's still your colony.
No.
No, he couldn't think of Alfred in strictly subordinate terms, anymore. He could see the strength and power not yet realized in the boy's still-growing frame. He could see what Alfred would one day become. What he had already become. It was terrifying. It was wonderful.
It was beautiful.
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Setting up some angst, I see? Carry on...
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And I am glad that someone likes it so far. Keeps me motivated.
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Wonderful so far, I look forward to more!
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A couple of days passed in relative calm. Alfred hadn't forgotten to put the towels back in the bathroom, and Arthur had managed to put the events of that evening behind him...mostly.
The whole thing would have been so much easier if every move the boy made, if all the subtle changes in his posture (no longer curved the way it used to be), his voice (still very high, but now completely without the lisp of childhood), the way he carried himself (he seemed so sure of himself, so ready to take the world head-on) hadn't been so damned prominent.
They were on horseback now, riding through the exquisite countryside, gazing at the mountains in the distance and silently contemplating what lay beyond. Alfred caught sight of a hawk soaring into the distance, and he got his horse into a fast gallop following the bird.
"Hey!" Arthur was soon after him. "You're getting off the track! We'll get lost!"
"No we won't!" Alfred called back, the wind whipping through his amber-gold hair and making his eyes narrow into slits. "I know this place better than anything. I just want to see where it goes."
Arthur huffed, but continued onward.
The hawk led them to a rather high ledge, then continued onward. Alfred stopped his horse and watched it with an expression akin to longing. Arthur joined him soon after.
"I guess I can't go that far just yet." Alfred murmured.
"Yeah," Arthur watched the bird disappear from his line of vision. "I guess not."
A moment of silence, and then:
"I hope you know how to get back on the trail."
"Of course I do." Alfred led them back the way they came, and sure enough, they had soon made their way to the path they'd been taking beforehand.
"You know," Alfred said in a melancholy tone, "sometimes I really do know what I'm talking about."
~~~~~
They were curled up on the living room floor, sharing a blanket. The fire wasn't lit, but it was nice to relax in the center of the house, watching the stars through the window.
"Tell me another," Alfred said dreamily.
"I'm running out of stories," Arthur laughed. "Why don't you tell me a story."
"But I don't know any good stories yet," Alfred sighed. "I haven't seen everything you've seen. You have all the good stories, Arthur. Pirates and fairies and wars and all sorts of stuff. You're just...awesome."
He moved closer and rested his head on the older nation's chest.
"I love you, Arthur." It was barely more than a whisper, but Arthur heard it loud and clear.
"I know, my boy," Arthur ran a hand up and down his small back. "I love you, too."
"No," Arthur leaned back quickly and looked him straight in the eye, "I mean it. I love you. Not in the way you think I mean it. I want to live with you for the rest of my life, and I want to have you all to myself."
He leaned back against Arthur's chest again.
"But you don't think I mean it like that, do you?"
Arthur didn't reply. He just held the boy close and prayed to God they both forgot about this in the morning.
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What are you doing to me author!anon?
Your prose. I like it. Your pacing. I like it. Your characterizations. I like it.
I'm not sure how precocious Alfred is... so many questions still linger in my mind. You make me want to missfire so I can tell the rest of the kink meme how much ILU.
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Incidentally, in regards to Alfred's precociousness, author-anon also (as if she wasn't going to hell already) literally just finished the last day of working in a child care center before writing this. Kids perceive a lot more than she previously gave them credit for.
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You are setting this up to be the most delicious UK/Colonial US shota I have ever read.
Please, I beg of you, take as long as you need to fill it but PLEASE don't abandon this fill ;___;
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I PROMISE, THIS WILL BE FINISHED. (The plot won't leave me alone, anyway. XD)
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The next morning, Arthur awoke to find himself on the living room floor, alone. Alfred must have gone to bed after I fell asleep, he thought. Can't really blame him, either. My back is killing me.
From down the hall, he could hear someone doing laundry and seemingly trying to make as little noise as possible. Laundry wasn't supposed to be done until the end of the week. What on earth...
There was the sound of something dropping to the floor, followed by a soft curse. Why in God's name was Alfred doing laundry at daybreak?
He got up, cracked a few joints he hadn't known he possessed, and headed toward the laundry room thinking they really needed to pull in one of the mattresses if they were going to do that again.
"Alfred, what on earth are you doing up so earl--"
"Oh!" Alfred nearly jumped out of his skin. "Hello, Arthur! I was just washing my bedclothes. It was time to wash them, anyway. I mean, you're always getting on me about leaving things until they're unusable before I clean them. So, what were we going to do today?"
Alfred's face was reaching the color of a poinsettia, very quickly, and he put a little more soap than was necessary into the water so Arthur couldn't even see if there was anything in the wash, let alone what it was. Besides, didn't he have people who did this? Arthur could have sworn he did...whatever. He wasn't awake enough to care. Alfred had done some oddball things before; it wasn't like this was really all that surprising.
"Alright," he yawned, trying to stretch out his violently protesting legs as he shuffled to the kitchen, "I'll make us some breakfast."
By the time they'd finished breakfast, Alfred's little jaunt with the laundry had completely left Arthur's mind. He was far more concerned with their trip to the seaside that afternoon.
~~~~~
"Arthur! I found a jellyfish! Come look!"
Arthur was really tired of walking through sand, but nevertheless he followed his colony to a glimmering spot on the shore, where the poor creature had washed in with the tide. This particular beach wasn't really visited by people very often, so as usual, they were alone. Arthur suspected it had something to do with the near-impossible route you had to take to get there, but the emptiness was most of the reason why they had always come to that beach. It was their own place, a place where they could just flout all the regulations and appearances they were required to uphold and just live.
"Don't touch it," he warned, "it's gone through enough already, being out of the water."
"You don't think it'll die, do you?"
"Alfred, you already know the answer to that question."
"..."
"I'm sorry, my boy, but some things just can't be helped."
"No."
And with that, Alfred took the small pail they had brought that had previously contained their lunch, removed the cloth that lined the inside, ran out into the water, and held out the pail as the tide came in as though he were trying to catch the power of the ocean itself.
He came back, pail full of water, and gently, oh so gently, scooped up the ill-fated thing, sand and all. Quick as lightning, he ran back out to the water and released it, hopping up onto a rock so he could see what happened without the risk of being stung by the frightened animal. Arthur watched with him as the sand washed away, and the fish swam quickly back into deeper waters. It was a damned lucky fish, to have Alfred get there in time Just a few more minutes and it would have been long gone. It would probably never realize just how lucky it really was.
"Don't call me that."
"Hm?" Arthur was still watching the jellyfish as it disappeared.
"Don't call me your boy. I'm older than that, now."
Arthur froze, mind snapping back to the previous night. Quickly, silently, a small part of his heart broke.
"Alright, Alfred. I won't."
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I love this fic so far, I hope you continue it soon!
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Also, I do, in fact, know where this story is going. It's just taking a little longer to get there than I thought.
And I swear to GOD I hadn't meant for it to have this much angst. It'll get resolved, but I mean, where's the fun in release without a little tension beforehand?
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