Chapter Text
Kiku’s life is what many would call normal.
He’s a straight-A sophomore at Unity Academy, a high school known for its foreign exchange programs from all across the world, from various countries and peoples. Although he was born and raised here in New York City, he fits right in with the school’s culturally diverse environment, where it feels like everyone has a place… or at least, that’s what the school advertises to parents. Supposedly, for an annual tuition of about $3,000 per school year, students get the best teachers, immaculate education, and a friendly, welcoming atmosphere of students and staff. While all is fine and dandy, Kiku is a preferred loner, liking his alone time and valuing personal space and growth over anything. That’s what he puts on his essays, at least.
When he goes home to his adoptive older brother, Yao, in Jamaica, Queens, life is much the same there, too. Although Yao is a bit overbearing and strict sometimes, he can’t ask for a better brother. He’s the sole provider, and he earns good money, so Kiku does house chores instead when he gets home, then his homework, if any.
Kiku’s life is normal, and he loves it.
That was until…
“Kiku Honda to the office,” the intercom spoke during his last period of geometry, “Kiku Honda to the office, please.”
Kiku was in the middle of finishing up his geometry worksheet, so he won’t have to keep it as homework, and since the teacher concluded the lesson early. The classroom is mostly quiet with a few students chatting with each other, but mainly bored. Kiku doesn’t recall doing anything noteworthy, like being mischievous, so he has no clue why he’s being called up to the office.
He ponders the reason why he’s being noticed, anyway, while walking to the principal’s office. Sure, he’s a straight-A student, but there are hundreds of other kids in the school who are also straight-A students with the added chance of becoming valedictorian or salutatorian. Maybe he qualifies for some kind of award or scholarship!
But, all the reasoning is thrown out the window and set on fire when Kiku enters the lobby—a room full of seats for waiting parents and whatnot—and sees a new kid sitting in a chair, big smile on his face, eagerly observing everything about the office, though it’s rather bland and gray.
“There you are!” Principal U.N. approaches Kiku with a smile. “Mister, I’d like you to meet our new foreign exchange student! Prince Alfred Kirkland!”
… Prince?
Did Kiku hear that right?
The kid sitting in the chair noticed Kiku and shot up. He was tall, blond with big blue eyes, and with an overall athletic build, like one of their jocks, but his face and squarish spectacles were spelling all nerd. He wears a bomber jacket with a white t-shirt beneath, blue jeans, and lightly tattered brown boots. On the top of his head are pilot goggles, which are certainly a fashion choice.
Automatically, this kid is not going to fit in with the preppy environment of this school, where white shirt collars and slacks are the norm. It looked like he just gotten out of a thrift store, and this kid’s a prince? You figure that a monarch attending an international college-prep academy might give their son preppier clothes. That title has to be stretched to its utmost limits if this is how a royal is going to dress… Kiku’s not thinking too harshly, is he?
And what the heck is that in his hand? Is that supposed to be a toy wand, or something?
“You’re going to be our dear exchange student’s guide throughout the school year!”
“… Guide?” Kiku has to question now.
“Yes! You see, Alfred here hasn’t ever been to any school before here on Earth, and you’re a good, hard-working student! You’ll show him the ropes and make sure he’s on track for academic excellence!”
Alfred trots over to the point where there’s less than a comfortable amount of space between them. Kiku underestimated how tall this kid was—why does he have to look up at him? He has to be at least six feet tall. He’s clutching that toy wand in his hands like an eager child. On his cheeks are emblems—yellow five-pointed stars. They must be makeup.
“S-Sir, I’m not very… social, and I don’t speak another language…” Kiku muttered.
“Nonsense! Alfred here speaks English!”
“Hey!” Alfred beams from ear-to-ear. Kiku isn’t familiar with the keenness. “What’s your name?” He sticks out his hand for a shake, and Kiku, being the polite person he is, cautiously takes it and is more than surprised at his strength. Is he squeezing his hand this hard on purpose?
“… Kiku,” he replies with the same amount of hesitance as any normal person would have when being smiled at so intensely.
“Kiku… I like that name! We’re so gonna be besties!”
Maybe he’s just a little… atypical… maybe too atypical for Kiku.
Mr. U.N. continues. “Now, Mr. Honda, I expect you tomorrow morning to give Alfred a thorough tour of the school and his schedule. Show him the ropes. After all, he’s from another dimension!”
“Dimension?” He glances at the principal.
“Now, go on,” the principal urges them to move along, “I believe you two share a last period.”
And, from then on, Kiku’s life really wouldn’t be the same anymore.
The teens are pushed out of the office. Kiku, still confused about the arrangement, tries to look back inside through the window on the door, only to see the principal scurrying off with a heavy woolen pouch of gold and jewels. That’s the first time he’s ever seen actual gold and diamonds. Just where the heck is this kid from?
Alfred hops on his two toes with joy. “This is just like the superhero comics I read!” He gasps when he looks into the hallway. “You even have lockers!”
Kiku watches him sprint to the first wall of red, steel lockers. Alfred’s eyes were practically glittering like diamonds. He then begins messing with the lock attached to the handle. “I wonder how these funny little things work. I see them all the time. What are these little numbers for?”
“That’s a combination lock,” Kiku can’t believe this. “It’s to keep people out by putting a number combination.”
“Oh… I wanna see mine!” Alfred yanks out a crumpled piece of paper, which Kiku can only guess is his schedule. “Locker 776! Where is that?!”
“That’s all the way down the hall,” Kiku sighs. “C’mon, you can figure that out later… Let’s just get you to class.”
“Oh, yeah, yeah, right! What is… geo meh-tree?”
“… You mean geometry?”
“Yeah, that!” He beams. “Mr. U.N. said we shared the same last class of the day! Is it like… geography… but with… metric?”
Is this kid really foreign or just plain stupid? “Where exactly are you from…?” At this point, Kiku can only guess about outer space with his very limited comprehension of what appears to be Earth.
“Oh, right… Ahem!” Alfred shoves the abused paper back into his pocket. He does a little twirl with that toy wand of his… maybe it’s a mental health toy thing. It would actually make quite some sense if Alfred turned out to be a psych ward patient, and all this interdimensional prince stuff is just imaginary to help him cope with intense amounts of trauma and emotional neglect.
In a sing-songy voice, he declares. “I am a magical prince from another dimension!”
Kiku blinks, his face blank and yet somehow sympathetic to him and his mental health issues. “How about we just get you to class?”
“Okay!” He cheers, deciding to get right at Kiku’s side. Alfred skips where Kiku walks, smiles when Kiku grimaces, and cringes when Alfred waves at a passing student, wondering who in the world this kid is and why he is so whimsical.
They reach the geometry classroom in the math hall. Again, Alfred really feels the need to be overtly friendly to every person who passes by, even the teachers calling off for the day. Kiku opens the classroom door and walks in, eyes already on him, and even more captivated by the new face trailing behind him.
“Who is this gentleman?” Mr. Nato, their geometry teacher, peers behind Kiku to see the grinning blond following him.
“Um… A new student… sir.” Somehow, Kiku can feel those blue eyes piercing the back of his head. Does this kid not know there are other faces to look at other than Kiku’s?
“I… see,” even the teacher is unsettled by Alfred’s whimsy, “well… I guess I wouldn’t hurt to do a small introduction. Uh… But, I don’t see a new name on the roster.”
“That’s okay, Mr. Teacher Dude! I got this!” Alfred plants his two boots firmly on the tile floor and his hands on his hips. “My name is Prince Alfred Kirkland from the magical dimension of Mewni! But, here, you Earthlings will call me—!” He pumps his toy wand high in the air, suddenly glowing with a golden aura. “YOUR HERO!”
…
Silence.
Then laughter. Uncontrolled, pure cackling coming from the entire class of 50 students.
Kiku’s face immediately turned tomato red, and he was unbearably hot. He wishes he would just die right here!
“Laugh all you want, Earthlings!” His demeanor didn’t falter whatsoever. “But soon, when danger hits, I’ll be the one to save all of you!” Suddenly, his arm latched around Kiku’s neck and pulled him. “My bestie, Kiku, and I will be the ones to save the day!”
Kiku’s breathing became faster and more erratic. He might genuinely have a panic attack right here and now. He’s not supposed to be known at all! How can one guy ruin Kiku’s social credit in just a quarter of the day?! However, all of Kiku’s lucky stars came to save him when the dismissal bell rang, and all of those laughing students began funneling out of the classroom, leaving behind their teasing remarks.
Alfred doesn’t even appear fazed by their laughter. He chuckles at their scorn. “Ha, those Earthlings don’t know the half of it! You and I, we’re totally gonna be heroes!”
“Enough of this!” Kiku thrashes away from Alfred’s hold, which surprises him. “You… You embarrassed me in front of the whole class! In front of… I-In front of everyone!”
“Embarrassed you?” He questions. “I made it known to everyone that we’re going to be working together! You’re my guide, remember?”
“Then I don’t want to be your guide anymore!” Kiku storms to his desk and throws his backpack over his shoulder. “I don’t want to be a part of your… play-pretend world! You’re in high school—act like it!”
Alfred’s brows furrowed. “But… I thought we were going to be besties?”
“Find another one! Go find someone else to play with!” Kiku stomps to the doorway, but stops and turns to Alfred. “Don’t follow me! We’re not friends, and we never will be!”
Kiku marches out of the classroom, leaving behind a trail of angst that even old air-headed Alfred can feel. He runs up to the doorway to watch Kiku leave, but it seems he disappeared into the crowd of exiting students. His shoulders shrank, his jaw lowered, and he clutched his wand in emotional support. Suddenly, that broad-shouldered loudmouth is as meek as a mouse in the sea of teenage angst and judgment.
Kiku returned home and dropped off his backpack, deciding tonight was going to be a study night for tomorrow’s test in geometry. But, like any good study session, he needs snacks and drinks. Yao left $10 on the counter to go get some snacks down at the corner store on their block, so that’s where he heads. It’s technically an Asian market, but Kiku only knows it as the corner convenience store.
The corner store is family-owned, a store Kiku has frequented since he started middle school and his overbearing big brother let him go out on his own… which is only down the street. Although, to be fair, it is quite the ways down the street. The store is moderately busy with some easy-listening music playing on the intercom; there’s rarely more than six people here at the busiest. The owners, a middle-aged Chinese couple, know him and smile and nod at him every time he comes in, if they see him, of course.
While he shops, he can’t help but think of Alfred, because if he’s being honest, that’s likely the most interesting (and embarrassing) thing to ever happen to him in really… ever. The shame must’ve broken him, because he’s usually never that mean to anyone, no matter how bothersome. He’s not even mean to the preppy kids who act all condescending to him, just to call him their “best friend” and only get test answers out of him.
In the end, maybe he can’t blame Alfred for trying to make friends. As far as he can tell, he looks sheltered and new to the whole high school life. He remembers him mentioning reading superhero comics, and perhaps he’s only doing what his superheroes told him to do—be confident and always do good by others.
At that notion, Kiku’s heart squeezes itself. He shouldn’t have yelled at him like that.
He grabs a lemon-lime soda, some of the owner’s fresh homemade pork buns since Yao is coming home late tonight, and a bag of shrimp chips, using up all the $10. The wife helps him check out and wishes him well, and so does he. By the time he leaves, it’s already dark. The neighborhood they’re in isn’t exactly safe, so Kiku wastes little time trying to get home.
There was a group of smokers sitting on the curb he passed by, whom he got a nasty feeling from. At first, he thought it was just his social anxiety spiking again, but when he heard footsteps, roughly three or more following closely behind him, he was positively screwed. No one on the street will ever lag behind you intentionally. Everyone is always in a rush to get somewhere, and they’re going to overtake you, so they have an excuse to walk faster. That’s just New Yorker knowledge. If you’re getting deliberately followed, they’re gonna mug you.
And Kiku is about to get mugged.
His mind races right as the streetlights slowly grow dimmer, and there’s less people to witness or CCTV cameras to capture this incident. Should he run home in hopes that maybe these attackers might wander off? But if he goes home, then there’s a good chance that these people are persistent enough to go as far as enter his apartment complex. He doesn’t have anything particularly of value except his phone, his goodies, and maybe his jacket, but he got that jacket from a thrift store! How much can it possibly be worth?!
Kiku panics and turns the wrong corner and crosses the street to the other block, conveniently lacking a lot of people and streetlight. Great. Kiku’s poor survival instincts essentially cornered him. He should just give up, for how stupid he was to essentially corner himself in an even worse neighborhood… and there’s nobody nearby! They’re in the most populous city in the country, and there’s not a single person in sight?!
Suddenly, those people started running behind him, and that signals him to start running.
“Help!” Kiku calls out, his mind short-circuiting on what to do when he has no other choice. Of course, it’s futile when asking for help in New York—everyone suffers from bystander syndrome and would rather watch someone get mugged than do anything to help the person getting mugged.
Kiku sprints until he runs out of breath—damn, these muggers are persistent! His breath runs thin and trips over the unsteady concrete sidewalk, landing face-first into a mouthful of shoe rubber and sidewalk grime. The muggers close in on him, and he braces himself to get beaten and stripped of everything valuable in his life.
Until…
“Look out below!” A familiar voice calls out.
Kiku glances up and, as if a superhero basking in glorious moonlight, Alfred flies in from above and lands right in front of Kiku. The muggers scrape to a halt, all of them wearing black balaclavas. Kiku notices Alfred’s toy wand glowing a brilliant gold.
Alfred looks over his shoulder, still holding a bright smile, and the star emblems on his cheeks now glowing white. “I got this!” When one mugger lunged forward, Alfred, with a glimmer in his eyes, uppercut the man so hard he went flying into the air. The rest charged in. Alfred expertly punched and kicked all four of the men—his fists like hammers and his sweeping kicks like lightning and as strong as even bigger hammers!
Kiku’s jaw dropped permanently.
Once each mugger was down, Alfred, wand in hand, swung it over his head in an arching motion and shouted. “Wand… Stars and Stripes Super Hyper Blast!”
A whirlwind of white magic swirled around Alfred before he suddenly leaped high into the air. All that magic conjured into his wand before he swung it across—a wave of red, white, and blue star-speckled magic crashed onto the muggers like a tsunami. The force repelled them a fair distance, all the way down the street like leaves scattering in the wind. Once the spell faded, Alfred hit the ground again, hands on his hips.
“And that’s what you deserve for messing with innocent civilians, robbers!” He exclaimed.
Alfred turns back to Kiku, now in a permanent state of shock. The realization soon kicks in for Alfred, whose cocky grin settles into a grimace. “… Kiku?”
Kiku stood up, trembling a little from the adrenaline still pumping in his veins. He doesn’t know how to begin, or even what to say at all. They stand and stare at each other with similar grimaces on their faces until Alfred says something.
“… I guess I’ll get going, then.”
Before Alfred walks away dejected, Kiku speaks up. “Wait!” Alfred stops in his tracks. “I…”
Whoa… Were his eyes always that blue?
“I-I’m… I’m sorry… for yelling at you like that,” he mutters, “I just… I got frustrated.”
Alfred looks down, his hand clasping his other arm, holding his wand. “No… That was my fault. I’m sorry I embarrassed you… I guess I got carried away with excitement.”
“Still… I-I shouldn’t have snapped as I did.”
Alfred half-smirks, a little awkward. “Truth is, I’m very new to making friends here on Earth. Back home… I… also didn’t have friends. You were my first for a good few minutes. I guess that comes with being a prince, right?”
Kiku likes it when he’s a little mellower. He’s much easier to talk to, so he smiles when he senses one on Alfred. Lots of them are going around today, huh? “We can be friends.”
Alfred gasps lightly. “… Really? You mean it?”
Kiku nods. “You’re the most interesting thing to ever happen here… I’d hate to miss out.”
He notices Alfred beaming with excitement, almost shaking. “My first… friend! Hugs!” But he stops briefly before he touches Kiku. “Uh… Can I hug you?”
Kiku blushes slightly. “Sure.”
Alfred quickly wraps him in a tight, yet warm, embrace. Kiku sighs softly, enjoying this kind of warmth that doesn’t smother as much as it comforts. He smells of fresh linen, and Kiku quite likes that. Once Alfred pulls away, Kiku has a slurry of questions waiting.
“So… You really are magic?”
“Mhm! With my wand, I can do anything… like this!” With one flick of his wand, a beam cast above Kiku’s hand and materialized a tiny top hat. “Or maybe you want one with a feather!” Another beam summons a feather attached to the hat. “Or a bigger one!” The last enlarges the hat to its regular size.
Kiku takes it off and marvels at its reality. “H-How?”
He shrugs with a smirk. “Magic!~”
“And… Are you really a prince?”
“Yes, I am… unfortunately.”
“So, why are you a prince here on Earth?”
Alfred chuckles nervously. “Funny story, actually… My parents exiled me here to “mature” after I almost accidentally burnt down an entire kingdom after I got my wand. Pretty lame stuff, honestly.”
“… You almost burnt down a kingdom?”
“Those elves will treat me with respect by the time I return!”
Alfred truly is a kooky character, but Kiku won’t lie. A magical being sent from another dimension to return sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than anything the world has to offer now. “… Right… Do you have a place to stay?”
“Eh… No,” he shakes his head, “my parents just kinda dumped me here…”
There was a spare room in the apartment used mainly for storing boxes. It’s small, but it could be used. “You can… stay at my place?”
He gasps loudly. “Your place?! Dude, thank you so much! We’re gonna be real besties this time!”
Whenever and however they start walking, Alfred follows Kiku mostly, but he’s skipping his whole path. While they walk, Kiku asks more questions. “How does your wand work? Is it… sort of like science?”
“Science? Nah, just magic, bro!” He twirls it in his hand. “This baby here is my birthright! It all started with my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great—”
“Okay, I get it.”
“So, it’s an heirloom now! My dad had it, and we used the magic to protect Mewni and the universe! I read a bunch of superhero comics before coming here, and now I have to be a superhero!”
“Superhero?” Kiku analyzes him, but most importantly, he analyzes his wand. “Well… You have the superpowers… and the heroic attitude.”
“It’s all smooth sailing from here!”
Kiku can return home with all his goods intact, thanks to Alfred.
He lives with his older brother, Yao, in a pretty spacious apartment as a family of just two. The complex is clean and mostly quiet, but with neighbors on the other side of the walls, quiet is a bit of a stretch. Kiku is beginning to believe that it’s not going to be mostly quiet with Alfred around.
Kiku unlocks the door and opens it to their mid-century modern style apartment. “I’m home!”
“Welcome home!” Yao calls from the kitchen.
“Whoa… Earth homes…” Alfred mutters as he tries to step inside, but is stopped by Kiku.
“Shoes. Take off your shoes.”
“My shoes? But I thought Earthlings wear shoes?”
“Not inside the house,” Kiku explains. “It brings in dirt and damages the floors. Very expensive floors.”
“Oh…” So Alfred kneels to untie his boots and kicks them off. Kiku’s shoes are slip-ons, which makes it easier for him to literally slip on and off when entering the apartment and leaving. “Expensive flooring… Do you like my socks?!”
Kiku looks down at Alfred’s feet, wearing American flag-patterned socks. “Uh… I do?”
Alfred blushes and shrinks into his shoulders. “Thanks…”
“Who is that with you?” Yao asks.
“Uh, my friend from school.”
The boys walk into the living room from the small entry room. Yao is in the kitchen, grabbing himself leftovers from yesterday, still wearing his work outfit of a white shirt, tie, and slacks. His long, dark brown hair is tied up into a bun. Immediately, upon seeing Alfred, Yao’s eyebrows jump.
“Oh,” he hums, “what an interesting boy. You don’t have friends, usually.”
“… Right,” Kiku murmurs. “Alfred, this is Yao, my older brother. Yao, Alfred.”
“This place is so cool! I totes wanna have one when I grow up!”
Yao nods, but his countenance is more bemused than anything. “Is this, uh… a new student at your school?”
“Yeah. He’s, uh… foreign.”
“He sounds very good for a foreigner,” Yao, overall, just sounds confused when looking at Alfred. From the way he just rocks on his feet for no real reason, to the strange emblems on his cheeks, and his unconventional fashion sense. “Where are you from?”
“I’m from Mewni!”
“… Mewni?”
“Yeah! It’s a totally different dimension from Earth, but you see, I’m the prince of the Kirkland Kingdom!”
“A prince!” Yao smiles. “You befriended a royal, baobao?”
“Can we not say baobao around newcomers?”
“What’s baobao?” Alfred asks.
“Look, he’s from another dimension, and he’s… magical.” Kiku knows how ridiculous he sounds, especially in front of Yao, probably the most nonsensical man he knows.
“… Ah, a magical prince from another dimension!” Yao claps his hands lightly as if excited. “Well, I’m very happy you’ve befriended my precious little brother, Prince Alfred!”
“Heh,” Alfred smirks, “you don’t have to call me Prince Alfred… It’s just Alfred to you, Earthlings, or better yet… Your hero!”
“Of course, of course!” Yao is beaming ear-to-ear, and Kiku is beyond confused, because he never smiles like this. “My hero! Would you like something to drink, Alfred?”
“You guys got any winterberry juice?”
“We have pear juice! Would you like that instead?”
“Ooh, yes, please! I’ve never had pears!”
…
Winterberries are toxic to humans, first of all. Second of all, why is Yao acting ten times better than he ever does with Kiku?
Kiku watches Yao pour a glass of cold pear juice from the fridge for Alfred, who chugs the whole thing in less than five seconds, which is impressive, but strange at the same time. He even asks for more, and Yao abides without a second thought. Yao is hospitable to guests, but he’s certainly not as eager as he is now, just serving Alfred some juice.
“Baobao, you want some?” Yao asks.
“Stop saying baobao! And no, I don’t!”
“Your friend here is about to finish the whole bottle!” Indeed, Alfred just keeps asking for more glasses, and Yao just doesn’t think to himself—maybe I shouldn’t let this new kid finish the whole bottle in one sitting. But, he doesn’t.
“Wow, Earth juices are seriously awesome!” Alfred cheers. “I have to get more!” He suddenly holds out his wand. “Pear Multiplication!”
A beam of magic shoots the ground, and suddenly, there’s a pile of at least a hundred pears on the floor. Alfred couldn’t be more delighted. “Aww! Look at these lil guys!” He grabs a pear off the floor. “They’re so curvy! Earth fruits are so fun-looking!”
“Oh, wow! Look at all of these pears!” Yao also beams. “I can finally use that juice press you gave me for the Spring Festival, baobao! The one I thought was completely useless!”
“… You thought it was useless?”
Alfred takes a huge bite of the pear and subsequently squeals with his mouth closed. “They’re even better in fruit form! Kiku, you gotta try one!”
“… No thanks,” Kiku murmurs, confused and defeated. “I’ll pass.”
“Earth is so fun!” Alfred skips out of the kitchen and to the living room, where he gasps. “What is THAT?!”
Kiku sees him sprint up to the TV, running some kind of cheesy soap opera in Chinese. “And my parents said there was no magic on Earth! This is a lil box of magic!”
“It’s not magic,” Kiku explains. “It’s electricity. It’s called a TV.”
“Teevee? What kind of magic is electricity?”
“Uh… You know… lightning?”
“This thing is powered by lightning?!” He exclaims. “How is your house not on fire?”
Kiku sighs. “Nevermind.”
“Y’know, I tried to use lightning once… I burnt down my bedroom… It was bad.”
“Baobao, does your friend have anywhere to stay tonight?” Yao is picking up all the pears Alfred summoned off the floor and into a wicker basket.
“No, sir!” Alfred cheers.
“Oh, well, we don’t mind giving you the spare room down the hall—right across from Kiku’s!”
Alfred hops up and down. “My own room!” He dashes like the wind down the hall to the last door, opening it to reveal nothing more than a storage room full of boxes. Kiku comes up to him.
“It’s not much… but maybe we can fix something up for you just for tonight?”
Alfred hums, tapping his wand on his chin. “I can make this work lickety-split! Super Mega Bedroom Transformation Spell!” He flicks his wand forward with a bright beam that blinds Kiku when it strikes the room, engulfing it before returning to its normal brilliance.
The whole room transformed from a boring, dull, and dim storage room into a full-fledged mansion with the basics like a bed, a desk, a drawer, and a closet… while also conforming to the apartment’s floor plan. How considerate.
Moving on, he has a red racecar bed with real working headlights, wheels, and a shiny new wax on the body. His desk is as tall as the walls and contains space trinkets, jars with unknown creatures and sentient blobs inside, a hefty comic book collection, superhero figurines, and graphic books about astronomy, dinosaurs, and U.S. history. One side of the wall is entirely dedicated to an aquarium full of interdimensional fish, sharks, manta rays, and even a whale. Not to mention, the room somehow has taller ceilings than the entire apartment complex. There’s a stairwell that spirals all around the walls to the ceiling, tiny galaxies cloud the air space, and right at the ceiling is a disco ball.
All in all, Kiku is bewildered.
“Now this is more like it! It’s just like home!” He sprints then jumps on his race car bed, which revs in response. “Wanna hop on?”
“How… How?!”
Alfred giggles. “Magic!~”
Kiku steps inside the room, and it’s like he’s entered another part of the universe. How can any of this be possible, and just who is Alfred with such a power that this bedroom is light work for his abilities?
“What’s up there?” Kiku points to the stairwell spiraling to infinity.
“Oh, that’s my video game pad! Here!”
Alfred hops out of his bed, grabs Kiku’s hand, and uses his wand to blast them all the way to a platform where it’s a full arcade, complete with a pixelated atmosphere compared to the rest of his defined, HD room. “What are we feeling? Classic console, computer games, arcade games, or VR?”
Of course, Kiku's heart swells and beats like a drum. “You made all of this?”
“With just my wand, baby! We’ll never be bored! When you’re gonna be my bestie, I’ll make sure every day is an adventure!”
This might—no, it is the best day of Kiku’s life.