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Alfred F. Jones, the previously miniature bored, understimulated genius heir to District 1 and the title of Hero, was now bawling, despite being chartered in a private plane with his two caretakers.
While he was still mostly miniature despite growing a few inches, having passed his eighth birthday in District 44, all the previous boredom and lack of mental stimulation had seemingly evaporated during his nine month semester studying in the richly culture-laden district.
More importantly, District 44 had worked its magic where no one in District 1 could. Arthur Kirkland, one of many prospective pupils being raised to possibly become the next Lord of the district, was the boy that had enchanted Alfred from the moment he had arrived on the rainy tarmac.
Arthur, in his smart shorts and garterbelt socks and posh accent, with his immaculately combed blond hair, classic District 44 thick eyebrows and green eyes, had received special permission from the boarding school to see Alfred off. He had given Alfred a small handkerchief, hand embroidered by himself with a blue A matching Alfred’s eyes, coupled with a “you’d better take care of yourself,” and “i…it’s not like I spent hours and hours last night before bed stitching this for you because I remembered you weren’t staying over the summer and almost got caught by the night warden for breaking into the sewing room just to make this for you…you’d better take good care of it, do you hear?”
Alfred had been silent throughout the entire flight. He’d not eaten his specially made hamburger as noisily, nor chugged down his cola like he usually did. He clutched the handkerchief as he looked out the window at the clouds, his still too big red-yellow jacket slumped over his shoulders as he sat there, unmoving.
They touched down at District 1 just after six at night. Alfred’s two main caretakers met him at the tarmac and bundled him into the Mustang that was specially designated for District 1 duties, drove throughout the streets, and then finally arrived at the manor. It was only when they were walking up the driveway that Alfred started to sob.
“Gosh, has the young master not stopped crying since he returned from District 44? Ah geez. Alfred, look, you’re here now, there’s no need to eat that crappy District 44 food,” Alfred’s male caretaker said kindly, not knowing how badly Alfred wanted to eat Arthur’s food, but more importantly, see his smile.
Of course, no one could blame him as Alfred started howling harder.
“What is it? Did he leave something in District 44?”
“No, we checked his bag,” Alfred’s second caretaker said over her shoulder from where she was fielding a call from the current Hero of District 1, “and the staff at the boarding school haven’t called, so it’s not that at all…”
“Alfred? Listen, you have your big words, and you’re not a helpless kiddie,” the male caretaker said, sighing, though he continued to give Alfred a big hug, petting his honey blond hair. “C’mon, buddy, tell me what it is you want, okay? You don’t love the school that much, right? Or don’t tell me, you’ve started liking the tea-”
“I want Arthur,” Alfred sobbed, gripping at his caretaker’s shirt with his eight year old fists, his own oversized jacket slipping off his right shoulder. “I want Arthur,” he stomped on the expensive black and white tiling with his foot, “I want Arthur now!”
His male caretaker squinted at him, as if he was confused. How could he be his caretaker if he didn’t know who his love was? It wasn’t fair! “Arthur?”
“His friend from school,” his female caretaker said, cupping her hand over the receiver. The beige cord was similar to the one that Arthur had in his little office, and the small detail was enough to bring tears to Alfred’s eyes anew. “Look - I’ll take care of him. You talk to our lady on the phone, yeah?”
With that, she strode past the big window, hooking Alfred’s backpack onto the hook in the corridor, handing off the phone to his other caretaker as she scooped the earbuds he and Arthur had shared earlier that morning back into his backpack. “There,” she said to Alfred, “all safe now. Now, will you dry your tears?”
“No!”
“Alfred,” his female caretaker said, sighing, just as his male caretaker picked up the phone, saying “yes? It’s me - yes, the young master has been picked up from his charter flight - we’ve spared no expense, the shouting in the background, uh, he’s just been a little…”
“I want Arthur!” Alfred bellowed with all the strength an eight year old could muster, then burst into further tears.
“Okay, listen, you need to take a deep breath with me, yeah?” She sat Alfred on the carpeted stairs. “In and out. That’s a good boy. Didn’t you say Arthur gave you that handkerchief?”
Abruptly, Alfred remembered the lace handkerchief Arthur had so tenderly tucked into his red and blue pocket, and sniffled, fishing for it. “Here,” he said mournfully.
“There you are. Now, wipe your tears and your nose, and let’s talk about what’s going to happen from now on, yes? Good boy. You’ve just finished your schooling for the summer, and you’ve returned home. That doesn’t mean you’ll never go back to District 44. In fact, when the current Hero decides she wants to retire, then you’ll take her place, and a lot of the time, you’ll have to visit other districts, which includes 44. Understood?”
Alfred felt his spirits lift in his still-trembling ribcage. “Really? But she’s so healthy…”
“The leader of District 1 can step down whenever they like,” his female caretaker said. “But let’s leave that for later. You enjoyed your time in District 44, right?”
Alfred pouted.
“...with Arthur, right?”
Alfred beamed, his head bobbing excitedly.
“I see,” she said, though Alfred wasn’t sure if she sounded weary, or that was just his imagination. “Well, I’m not sure if Arthur has told you, but he has not been chosen yet for the position of Lord for District 44. So it’s still not a good idea to rely on him too much, yes?”
Alfred shook his head, resolute. “It’s not important at all,” he insisted, “even if District 44 makes a big big mistake and doesn’t choose Arthur, then I’ll choose him!”
“Alfred,” his caretaker snorted. “If that happens, I also don’t want Arthur to end up jealous of the fact that you’ll be appointed Hero when our current Hero steps down from her role.”
“But Arthur won’t be jealous! He loves me a lot, you see, a lot! And I know he’ll be Lord of District 44 one day, and then we can stand shoulder to shoulder together, and I’ll get to sit next to him in the Big Five chairs, and, and-”
“He was the child in the suspenders, yeah? I’m not sure about, pfft, shoulder to shoulder, given you’re already a bit taller than him and he’s a bit older than you, but it’s good you care for him a lot.”
“I don’t just care for him,” Alfred said indignantly, “I love him! And he loves me a lot, you’ll see. He shares all his food with me, though it’s not that yummy, but he also lets me share his clothes sometimes, because he’s so cool! It’s more than just caring for him! He’s my sweetheart!”
Arthur hadn’t technically agreed to that exact title, but Alfred was sure he would when he asked him!
“...Alfred, that’s a very big responsibility, being someone’s sweetheart-”
“But it’s true!”
“I’m not doubting that, buddy,” she said, though she was smiling at him, but not smiling so much that Alfred was sure she was laughing at him. “But let’s move on. If the current Hero allows you, she can let you study for another nine months at District 44, if you’re on your best behaviour for the summer, and you’ve shown to her and us that it’s helped you a lot, okay?”
Alfred immediately sat up straight, wiping off his tears and runny nose, blinking with his big blue eyes…but immediately sagged. “This summer? But then, if you and Hero let me go, it means I can’t see Arthur for that long…”
“And,” she added, “I guess we’ll be able to try to arrange a phone call with the District 44 school you attended. If you’re super extra ultra good, we can arrange a phone call with you and Arthur, yeah?”
At those words, Alfred felt his heart speed up, the blood pumping around his system more energised and full of hope than ever before, he was sure of it. He’d get to hear Arthur’s voice, hear the way he laughed again! And if his district leader would let him go again, another nine months with his sweetheart! It would be the longest summer ever but Alfred was sure he’d be an angel, except with his veggies, because he’d checked as he came in the driveway and saw that it hadn’t been moved, meaning he could dump his carrots there after dinner.
“I promise!” Alfred bobbed his head, wiping at his nose with Arthur’s handkerchief one last time. “Promise!”
Throughout the next two weeks, as promised, Alfred was good as gold. An angel, even, save for the fact that he sprinted out of whichever room he was, even the dining room, and hovered hopefully whenever one of his two caretakers went up to the phone affixed near the wall of the foyer. Even after he’d been told off, Alfred persisted, because over the past year or so he had spent with Arthur, he had been taught by him that there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. Including charming the other young boy.
Finally, in the last week of June, a phone call came through for Alfred, who sprinted down the staircase in record time.
“Alfred? Is that you?”
Alfred’s blue eyes sparkled, matching the stray sunshine coming through the curtains of the District 1 manor, and he gripped the plastic of the phone so hard that his caretaker had to gently remind him to let go to reduce the risk of cracking it entirely. “Arthur? Arthur? Arthur Arthur Arthur-”
“Yes, it’s me,” Arthur said, taciturn as ever, though there was a faint happiness Alfred thought he could detect. Alfred didn’t even notice his caretakers exchanging a glance then excusing themselves through the corridor. “Don’t wear my name out like that…”
“How are you?!” Then the questions came spurting through Alfred’s phone, and if Alfred could magically look through to see what Arthur was doing on the other side, he would have whined and complained about how Arthur gingerly held the phone at a distance, as if Alfred’s words were a wave threatening to flood his dormitory. “I’ve missed you so so much, you know, all the lessons and stuff are super boring without you, your cooking, the park we used to sit in to listen to music, is it still there, I’m still listening to the rock CD you said you liked-”
A low snort came as a reply. “Alfred, you’ve been home for four weeks, two days and eight hours,” Arthur said, sighing to cap off his sentence. “The park is still there, as well as our bench. I think the principal said District 1’s going to enroll you back for another year, is that true?”
“...hey, wait a sec, how do you know I’ve been gone for that long? Heh, it’s super precise!”
“It’s not like I was keeping…it’s not like I was keeping track precisely on a calendar,” whatever smug bravado his sweetheart was using had faded into a mumble. “Or that I missed you, or anything…”
“Ah! It’s okay, Arthur, I’ll come save you from loneliness! I’ll be back soon, after my birthday! Then we can study together like before, right? You’ll save your spot for me, yeah?”
“I, Alfred, there’s-”
Alfred clutched the phone hard. “Pleeease? You’ll not let another district heir sit next to you, right? You promised we’d be district leaders together! Don’t sit next to anyone else and have tea with them, or listen to cool rock music in the park together, promise!”
“If you’d let me get a word in edgeways, I’d agree to all of this,” Arthur grumbled, but the sound of his voice already was making Alfred beam. “Right, but you’d better be on your best behaviour. Have you been behaving?”
“My caretakers say that if I’m good, I’ll get to call you, uhm…” Alfred looked down at his fingers, “every day, so I’ll be calling you lots and lots.” He’d tell his caretakers that Arthur’s caretakers at District 44 would be offering to let the two of them call, so there would be no way that they could refuse, right?
“Oh, I see,” Arthur said, though he didn’t sound as excited as Alfred felt, to his dismay, until he continued: “well, it’s a good thing you’ll be on your best behaviour, so we can mess about more when you get over here.”
“Mess around?”
“I’ve found a way to sneak out of the school in the gardens,” Arthur whispered, cupping his ear to the receiver. “I’ll show you when you’re back, first day.”
Alfred could faintly hear Arthur crossing his legs, and he couldn’t help but imagine his sweetheart’s starched white shorts following suit over his knobbly knees.
“Yeah,” he said, grinning. He thought of sneaking out with Arthur, the smell of the garden and the chirping of birds in the sunlight, hand in hand as they ran back out to their favourite bench. “Come pick me up at the plane too, please? You’re my sweetums now, so you’ll be there, right?”
“I- pardon? Sweetums? What on earth is that, Alfred - Alfred, don’t you dare hang up-”