[Fic] He Still Misses the Stars
Title: He Still Misses the Stars
Pairing: Slight Rus/Am, Rus/Am/Can if you squint and implied UsUk
Genre: Angst, AU
Rating: Gen
Summary: America winds up in a different world, where everything is the same, but not.
Notes: Turned out better then I'd expected. Not bad for a 4 month break from writing.
It's weird. America knew where he stood Back There. Back There was where he'd grown up, grown to adulthood, taken his land and name and run with it to the moon and beyond. Here? Not so much.
Here he'd been an afterthought. The penal colony founded after Australia and New Zealand - wait sorry, it wasn't Australia and New Zealand, but the United Southern Nations - he wasn't important to anyone.
[Columbus had gone south and east, not west, Here, after all.
But the Vikings had stayed.]
England [Arthur, why do you not remember me lover] had needed a new place for his criminals and unwanted masses, and had gone to the Wildlands as he and Canada were known. The Battle for the Wildlands hadn't even lasted a month before they'd been handed over with no fanfare at all. Canada had taken it the hardest as the only parents they'd known Here, turned and walked away from them, leaving them in the hands of an uncaring England.
[“Do as I say, don't cause a fuss and don't be trouble,” England had ordered them, as they stood there, shoulder to shoulder, dressed in their homespun clothes and still dirty from fighting in the skirmishes. “And neither of you are savages. You are English now and I expect you to meet that expectation.” He'd left the same day, almost before the ink was dry and wasn't seen for almost 70 years. ]
Neither of them had trusted anyone but each other for years. America had been too [damaged? Hurt? Confused? He wasn't sure anymore.] different for him to trust after the way England abandoned him. Canada too hurt to trust anyone but his brother, shadow, twin.
[They'd gone to war for England in the end, pushed into a war America didn't want any part of, he knew how it was going to end and dammit, he didn't want to go through this again. But they did. And England ignored them and ignored them and left them there in their lands, hurts and burns aching. And they'd gone to war for him a second time, yet again, only to be left the alone hurting again.]
Here, England forgot not just Canada, but also America. Here, it was a different sun-tanned nation that caught England's eye and heart. Here, it was Russia who'd reached out to America and Canada as they'd curled into each other, desperately ignoring the rest of the world. Red and dead aside, it was almost normal, almost right, to have a communist Russia paying attention to him, them.
[“It could all go to hell, Canada had fiercely whispered as threats flew above them, "As long as we're brothers, and together, it doesn't matter.” They were Canada and America, separate nations in name, but practically one nation in the view of the rest of the world.
Russia saw them as separate and treated them as such. One a cherished lover, another a beloved friend. America almost wept in relief when
someone saw him and not as Canada And America. And Canada the same.]
Here, it was different. He was no super power here, except maybe in his Environmental polices, but Canada's was better. Here he was left to his devices, his brother and his lover. Here, his feet were planted firmly to the ground, focused on being the power without being a power.
Russia never asked, and he never told. But sometimes when he looked at England he didn't see England, he saw [England, my Arthur, why wasn't I good enough], and it hurt. But Russia let him gaze helplessly and Canada supporting him when he chokes on words, and plans that never make it past his lips.
They never ask and he never tells. And America tells himself, he's satisfied, he's okay with it and he's happy.
[He still missed the stars.]
Pairing: Slight Rus/Am, Rus/Am/Can if you squint and implied UsUk
Genre: Angst, AU
Rating: Gen
Summary: America winds up in a different world, where everything is the same, but not.
Notes: Turned out better then I'd expected. Not bad for a 4 month break from writing.
It's weird. America knew where he stood Back There. Back There was where he'd grown up, grown to adulthood, taken his land and name and run with it to the moon and beyond. Here? Not so much.
Here he'd been an afterthought. The penal colony founded after Australia and New Zealand - wait sorry, it wasn't Australia and New Zealand, but the United Southern Nations - he wasn't important to anyone.
[Columbus had gone south and east, not west, Here, after all.
But the Vikings had stayed.]
England [Arthur, why do you not remember me lover] had needed a new place for his criminals and unwanted masses, and had gone to the Wildlands as he and Canada were known. The Battle for the Wildlands hadn't even lasted a month before they'd been handed over with no fanfare at all. Canada had taken it the hardest as the only parents they'd known Here, turned and walked away from them, leaving them in the hands of an uncaring England.
[“Do as I say, don't cause a fuss and don't be trouble,” England had ordered them, as they stood there, shoulder to shoulder, dressed in their homespun clothes and still dirty from fighting in the skirmishes. “And neither of you are savages. You are English now and I expect you to meet that expectation.” He'd left the same day, almost before the ink was dry and wasn't seen for almost 70 years. ]
Neither of them had trusted anyone but each other for years. America had been too [damaged? Hurt? Confused? He wasn't sure anymore.] different for him to trust after the way England abandoned him. Canada too hurt to trust anyone but his brother, shadow, twin.
[They'd gone to war for England in the end, pushed into a war America didn't want any part of, he knew how it was going to end and dammit, he didn't want to go through this again. But they did. And England ignored them and ignored them and left them there in their lands, hurts and burns aching. And they'd gone to war for him a second time, yet again, only to be left the alone hurting again.]
Here, England forgot not just Canada, but also America. Here, it was a different sun-tanned nation that caught England's eye and heart. Here, it was Russia who'd reached out to America and Canada as they'd curled into each other, desperately ignoring the rest of the world. Red and dead aside, it was almost normal, almost right, to have a communist Russia paying attention to him, them.
[“It could all go to hell, Canada had fiercely whispered as threats flew above them, "As long as we're brothers, and together, it doesn't matter.” They were Canada and America, separate nations in name, but practically one nation in the view of the rest of the world.
Russia saw them as separate and treated them as such. One a cherished lover, another a beloved friend. America almost wept in relief when
someone saw him and not as Canada And America. And Canada the same.]
Here, it was different. He was no super power here, except maybe in his Environmental polices, but Canada's was better. Here he was left to his devices, his brother and his lover. Here, his feet were planted firmly to the ground, focused on being the power without being a power.
Russia never asked, and he never told. But sometimes when he looked at England he didn't see England, he saw [England, my Arthur, why wasn't I good enough], and it hurt. But Russia let him gaze helplessly and Canada supporting him when he chokes on words, and plans that never make it past his lips.
They never ask and he never tells. And America tells himself, he's satisfied, he's okay with it and he's happy.
[He still missed the stars.]