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"Nina, please close those curtains over there... it's too bright outside..." Arthur said as he tried to cover his eyes with his hand. He could barely keep them open.
"As you wish, Your Highness" replied the maid. The woman quickly stood up and did as she was told; then she turned around to sit on the chair by the desk again. She was in the middle of mixing the blue petals of a Spadian Rose with honey and grape juice as she used the Prince's desk as a cooking table.
The future Queen of Spades was sick not because of the weather or food poisoning, but because of a spell gone wrong. He had been experimenting with new magic and this was the result of mispronouncing a few words. Now he was stuck with a fever and random headaches.
As Arthur turned around over and over on his bed, trying to find a comfortable position to rest, the maid was carefully preparing the medicine that would fix it all.
Too bad this wasn't a matter of just drinking the ‘potion' only once. He had been sick for a week now.
Just when Arthur was about to fall asleep and the only sound in the room was the maid's knife cutting up onions, the door was suddenly opened.
"Arthur! Yao got the letter yesterday!" The loud voice of the future King of Spades filled the room as he walked towards the bed and sat on the edge of it. He gently took Arthur's right hand on his. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
Arthur just looked at him and blinked a few times. Then he turned to the maid.
"...Nina, am I hallucinating again?" he asked.
"Hm? No, sir. That is indeed your husband, Alfred Jones" she replied without taking her eyes away from the new mix she was preparing. She had to add exactly twelve drops of rain water.
"Oh! Nina! You were there? I'm sorry I ignored you!" Alfred said as he smiled and waved to her. He got a 'no problem at all, Your Highness' and a smile in return.
"...Alfred... aren't you supposed to be in the mountains of the north right now?"
Traveling throughout Spades was part of the list of things they had to do before their coronation. They had to do it separately: first the Queen and then the King with the Jack traveling with them each time as their guide.
Arthur had completed his tour four months ago. Now Alfred was in the middle of his.
"Yeah but when we got the letter I decided to stop by first and check how serious this was"
"How did you get here so fast?"
"A shortcut!"
"There are no shortcuts from-"
"-I made Yao use some spells here and there" Alfred quickly added and winked at him.
"Y-you ruined the schedule!" Arthur tried to sit up but the sudden nausea he got made him reconsider. "Alfred! These things are important for a reason!"
"Yeah yeah, I know. So you were hallucinating?" he asked as he started drawing circles on Arthur's hand with his thumb.
Knowing that there would be no point in lecturing Alfred right now, Arthur decided to ignore the repercussions of postponing important meetings to another day on a whim and just tried to relax. He kind of regretted sending that letter but at the same time he couldn't deny he liked the idea of Alfred stopping everything he was doing just to check on him.
"A few days ago my head hurt so much... I could barely move..." Arthur closed his eyes "at night I hallucinated... the previous Queens... they were all in the room looking at me... I thought I was dying..."
"Holy shit Artie, that sounds scary as fuck"
"... yes and the worst part is that they were all angry at me... their eyes were cold... they looked at me with disgust... I thought it was real, that they were really here talking to me..."
Alfred let go of Arthur's hand and took off his shoes. Then he took off his glasses and left them on the bedside table.
"Well, of course it wasn't real!" he said as he climbed on the bed taking the empty space beside him. "If they could come see you they would be praising you! You're going to be the best Queen ever!" he hugged him tightly. Arthur was glad his blushing face could be blamed on the fever. Of course Alfred would understand the situation instantly, after all it had been a problem for a while now. Of course he had already figured out that hallucination was all Arthur's anxiety reproaching him over and over about how he made an embarrassing rookie mistake. Telling him over and over that the Queen of Spades should be able to pronounce every spell perfectly by now and if not, they should be able to break a curse in minutes, not days!
"Give me a kiss Artie!"
"N-no!... You could get sick too!..." Arthur tried to move away but Alfred's arms kept him in place.
"I won't because I'm not weak and dumb like you!" the future King laughed loudly.
"You are definitely dumb!"
Alfred kissed his husband gently and for a moment Arthur forgot they weren't alone in the room. The sound of the maid crushing some other ingredient brought him back to reality.
"Alfred! Nina's here!"
"She doesn't mind!"
"But still!"
"I don't mind, Your Highness"
"See? It's OK! Kiss me more!"
"No, that's enough!" Arthur said covering his face with the blankets in an attempt to escape Alfred's lips.
"Boo!" Despite his protests Alfred kept hugging him. He looked at the maid and all the ingredients and little bowls she had on the desk. "When will the medicine be ready?" he asked her.
"Hmm... in half an hour" she replied as she mixed whatever it was she was crushing before with a few pieces of a weird looking boiled egg, what looked like lemon zest and some black, thick, liquid Alfred couldn't identify.
"Great! Let's take a nap together then!" He was expecting Arthur to say something but he didn't. He just moved a bit closer to him to rest his head on his chest. Clearly this one was a good idea.
Thirty minutes later, they were awoken by a foul smell.
Alfred soon realized it came from the glass full of dark green (blue? it changed colors every two seconds) liquid the maid was now holding. She was standing on the other side of the bed.
"Excuse me, Your Highness. It's time for your medicine" She said holding the glass in Arthur's direction.
"Ew! You have to drink a full glass of that?!" Alfred exclaimed as he moved away. The smell was way too strong.
‘Ugh' was all he got from Arthur as a response. He weakly sat up and grabbed the glass. He took a big breath and drank the medicine all in one go.
Arthur almost threw up right there. No matter how many times he drank the medicine, he never got used to its horrible taste. It brought him memories of that time his brothers tricked him into drinking spoiled milk but one hundred times worse. He turned his head just to see Alfred covering his nose with one hand and moving the other around in an attempt to get rid of the smell. The maid didn't react the same way though. She was the only one who got used to it it seemed. After all, she was the one in charge of preparing it every twelve hours.
Arthur thanked Nina and gave her the empty glass. Now he could smell and taste that horrible medicine on his own breath as well. As she went back to the desk to start cleaning, with a small smile he turned to Alfred again and said:
".... Alfred?.... Let's kiss"
"Noooooo!" Panicked, Alfred stood up and moved away from the bed.
"But you've been so affectionate... I thought-"
"-I could get sick! We can't both get sick! Imagine the consequences! Think about the schedule!"
The future Queen rolled his eyes. He opened his mouth and put the tip of his index finger on the tip of his tongue. Suddenly there was a small flash of red light inside his mouth that disappeared slowly.
"What did you do?"
"It's a spell to get rid of the taste... How did you think I survived this thing for a week?"
Alfred practically jumped on the bed and trapped Arthur in his arms again.
"Let's kiss then!"
"No! I don't want to anymore, too late." He did his best to keep his husband's face away from his by putting one hand over his mouth and other on his chest to push him away. However...
"Eww! You stupid idiot!" Alfred had licked his palm. "Eww! Argh..." He protested as he rubbed his hand on the covers to dry it off.
"You're boring!" Alfred laughed. He took Arthur's other hand and kissed that instead.
Letting go of his lover, he took out his spade shaped pocket watch from his coat.
"Well, looks like I have to go now" Saying this he stood up again, he grabbed his glasses, put on his shoes and walked towards the door.
"You'll leave just like that?" Arthur asked, confused. Then he mumbled: "... I was just joking earlier... i-if you want to kiss again I don't mind..."
If Alfred heard him then he chose to ignore him because he didn't stop. As Arthur began feeling like he did something wrong, he saw him open the door and step outside the room. But he didn't leave.
Alfred was reaching for something out of his sight.
"But first! Here! For you!"
The future King was now holding a big teddy bear on his arms. It was white and had a nice blue ribbon bow on it's neck.
"W-where did you get that?"
Nina couldn't help but laugh softly at the scene in front of her.
"I saw it in a shop on my way here, what do you think?" He gave it to Arthur, putting the teddy bear's arms around his neck as if hugging him. "Do you like it?"
Arthur hugged the teddy bear back and rolled to his side. He sighed. The teddy bear was so fluffy and soft it was enough to make him fall asleep again. He wasn't going to admit it in front of him, but he missed Alfred's warm body. He loved resting his head on his chest because Alfred would always run his fingers through his hair in such a satisfying way. He had been away for a month now and wouldn't be back in at least two more. This obviously wasn't the same but it was a gift from him and it would help.
"... Yes... Thank you..." He said softly.
"Good! Get well soon, sweetheart" Alfred planted a big, loud kiss on his cheek "I love you very very much! Goodbye and sweet dreams."
Before he put his hand on the doorknob he turned to the maid. She was almost finished with the cleaning. "Nina, thank you for everything you do! You're awesome for not dying while making that disgusting medicine!"
Nina laughed and bowed. "Safe travels, Your Highness"
Alfred was about to leave when Arthur's voice stopped him.
"Alfred..."
He looked back expectantly.
"...I love you too..."
He smiled brightly at his future Queen and closed the door.
Thank you for reading!
