🌹Emerald Rose🌹

Chapter Ten

Alfred pictured what it would be like to be on a ship continually for three months or more.

He had done so before, but never in the company of pirates. Or really friends for that matter. He liked to consider people friends, but in the end, they were never someone he could talk to about internal conundrums or put it simply, personal matters.
It was what made him miss Matthew terribly during his first months away from the colonies. Matthew had always been his person to run to, and not being able to see him every day like he used to make him feel more lonely than usual.

There was that childlike excitement in him that looked forward to seeing England for the first time. Previously, he had thought of such with the Navy, thinking of maybe one-day meeting royalty, or to put it simply, he had naively thought he would be visiting under the pretense of heroic deeds.
Now, that was impossible.

He was coming to England under the guise of the crowd, under the protection of criminals. Still, he had imagined what he could about Europe from the stories. Crowded with people, surrounded by buildings that were centuries old. He had only seen coastal cities so far, and he couldn't help but dream up what the huge municipalities of Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, Lisbon, or London would look like.

He spent more time in the kitchens now. He took many of the daily chores situated in down the kitchens as he could now. It meant he could work with Kiku and Yao rather than alone in the hallways. This tactic made the time he couldn't spend with Arthur more bearable. He felt more welcome than ever amongst them anyhow. Yao seemed to really warm up to Alfred ever since he saved his life. (Except when Alfred tried to playfully milk it up for all its worth, then, in that case, Yao basically told him to shut it.)

He'd been having more dreams about Arthur lately. All they had done was kissing and yet whenever he'd lay down to sleep that night his dreams were a lot…..more. After that morning he woke up with Arthur next to him, warm and soft breathing in his ear, his thoughts had gotten worse. He didn't really even know if this was okay.
Should he tell Arthur? After all, it was only a result of the anticipation of what he had promised.

He was rather distracted today. He wondering whether or not he should feel the same as always when Sheamus once again gave him kitchen duty. The last thing he could want today was being teased once again about his questionable relationship with Arthur, even if was amongst the company of friends. His mind wasn't there on the reality around him. Rather, it was on his dreams once again.
The difference was at least doing chores by himself meant he didn't have to pretend everything was alright when it wasn't, but he was overreacting and being a child, he was sure of it.

He had managed to improve his mood during the day, however. Yao had decided to try and teach Alfred how to make dumplings, the kind that was traditional in his homeland.

Surprisingly, Yao was patient and had that sort of mother-like attention while helping Alfred achieve the task. It was almost like Yao had figured out Alfred's mood and tried to fix it.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about it all though. He wanted to be with Arthur right then if it weren't for his responsibilities and how pirates were not afraid to hurt those who disobeyed. He knew well that Arthur had work too, but he almost didn't want to care. Now that they were lovers, he couldn't help it. He didn't want to go today without seeing him and that smirk, and that god awfully attractive voice, and his perverted remarks…..