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Clocks were the symbol of spades and so their constant ticking had never annoyed or unnerved Arthur, nor had it ever made him feel as tense as it usually does to people from other kingdoms.
Not today though.
Arthur stared at the empty table, trying to avoid looking the man sitting opposite from him in the eyes. He knew that he had to meet the others gaze at one point as not to seem impolite, no matter how uncomfortable he was made by his piercing stare.
Apparently this man, the new king of clubs Ivan, had ordered multiple clocks to be brought into the meeting room. Arthur was painfully aware of the way they were all ticking just slightly out of sync.
Ivan didn't notice, or appeared not to notice, neither the unsynchronised clocks nor Arthurs discomfort in his presence.
Arthur himself had just been coronated a month prior on the day of his sixteenth birthday, he was from a lesser noble family and so he had never gotten the chance to meet the bloodline King Ivan. Despite Arthur being nearly a year older, Ivan had towered over him only adding to his intimidating aura.
The silence was broken by Ivans older sister, Ekaterina, the only one of the three Clubs heirs that hadn't developed a royal mark.
"Would you like some tea? Or do you prefer coffee?"
Oh right, while Spades is the largest producer of tea by far, coffee has been gaining a lot of popularity recently. Arthur wanted to scoff and maybe he would have if he wasn't on his first official visit to Clubs. He smiled back at her, trying to calm his nerves.
"Tea would be lovely."
She turned to Ivan and asked him something as well, offering him tea as well, Arthur guessed. Ivan nodded and added something that the Spadian Queen couldn't pick out. Ekaterina's smile widened and she stood to leave, the servant who was standing behind her followed her, saying something worriedly. Arthur didn't understand what she was saying, but he knew the maid was probably trying to get the princess to sit back down and she could do it herself. He heard them talking down the hall, Ekaterina sounded like she was trying to calm the panicking servant. Then their voices faded with the sound of heavy doors closing, leaving him alone with the Clubs King.
Brilliant. Just wonderful.
Arthur shivered, did the room get colder?
Spring had come early this year and it warmed very quickly, even in their northern territories had started to see weather more fitting to Summer rather than the usual coolness of April. The hyacinths and violets in the closed off castle gardens, well Arthur's garden now, had already reached full bloom filling the space with Spades signature hues of blue and purple.
And so Arthur had stupidly worn lighter clothes for this visit than the Jack of Spades, an immortal man named Yao, had suggested for him.
Clubs, being the northernmost nation, was notorious for its cold, nearly a third of the Kingdom even being covered in snow that never melted. So even with the abnormally warm weather, there were still piles of snow all around the capital.
"How is ves-" Ivan paused and then grumbled, as if he had forgotten the word. He tried to speak the same language as Arthur, but it appeared that foreign languages were not the Kings strong suit. Sighing, his expression returned to the neutral one, if you can call it that.
Arthur had learned the most prominent languages from Diamonds and Hearts as a child. However, due to Clubs being the 'Main Rival' of Spades, his parents, being large supporters of the constant wars between the two kingdoms didn't teach Arthur any of the Clubs languages.
Now that Arthur is Queen, he has to learn it for diplomacy. He hasn't quite grasped the language yet and Clubs was surprisingly accommodating, according to Yao. While Ivan hadn't been successful in any of the main languages other than his own mother tongue, Ekaterina had an affinity for it and had basically volunteered to be their translator. Now that she's left the room the young men were left with only a wall of tension between them.
The unaligned ticking of the clocks being the only sound, stretched out every moment. Arthur held back the urge to get up and smash them.
"Are you cold?" Ivan tilted his head slightly as he asked the question. His smile changed from his usual off putting one to a more awkward expression. It looked to Arthur as if he didn't know what to do either.
"Just a bit..." he attempted to say it in the language that the royal family of clubs prefered to use. Arthur had only picked up on a few words and basic sentences but it was nowhere near enough to hold a proper conversation.
The heavy chair Ivan sat in scraped against the carpet, he got up and walked over to Arthur unbuttoning his outermost coat. Arthur flinched, almost falling from his seat, brows furrowed in slight fear and confusion as he watched the tall man approach him.
The heavy green coat was draped around the smaller's shoulders. Arthurs face went red and he sputtered for a moment, unable to find the right words to express how improper it is to do this to another kingdoms queen and on the first official meeting no less.
Ivan just laughed and returned to his seat, resting his head on his hand. "Better?"
Calming slightly, Arthur pulled the warm garment tighter around himself as he muttered about how this was going against proper etiquette.
They spent the next few minutes in a more comfortable silence, before Ekaterina returned with their tea and a mix of sweets from the other kingdoms. The maid was still following her, but it seemed as if she had given up on trying to convince the princess to let the servant do all the work.
The ticking of the clocks was drowned out by the newfound warmth.