[Fanfiction] "Once In A Year", Chapter I
Title: Once In A Year, Chapter I
Rating: PG
Characters: Brazil, cameo of Uruguay and mentions of Portugal
Warnings: Luciano failing at life, Sebas and his mental sparkles, unsafe methods of locating a place to stay the night
Summary: An AU- In which Luciano goes to an American university on a football (soccer for all the americanos out there) scholarship and fails at remembering to arrange housing.
Luciano da Silva did not make a habit of regretting things. His aunt would tell him this was often because he also made a habit of not thinking things through, but she was getting old and so he considered her a step away from senility.
(She’d usually start screaming at him and reminding him that she was only 39 and that he was an ungrateful child and here try these brigadeiro I put some crushed hazelnuts in the batter this time.)
So maybe, just maybe, for once, Luciano was…regretting something. Like he might’ve regretted insisting that he make all the arrangements for his immigration to America without his auntie’s help, and he had done admirably, you know, with a few snarls here and there that he had managed to smooth out. And so he’d gotten on the plane feeling pretty proud of himself and feeling like a grown man when he kissed his aunt’s cheek and told her to say goodbye to Mamãe for him, since she couldn’t be there.
He hadn’t felt anything but smug satisfaction as he sat through that long flight, bundled up in a new coat that his mother had sent him. All in all, everything had gone perfectly and even the flight attendants were pretty. The plane landed after forever and then Luciano had his first moment of doubt because it had gotten so hot and how could he forget that it was summer up here? It wasn’t such a big deal; ditch the coat and shove it into his carry-on.
He presented his passport and visa (with a bright smile) to the bored-looking clerk and everything was still okay. His luggage was in order and no crazy gun-wielding maniac had tried to mug him or take the airport hostage yet or anything.
It was when he stood outside that he realized he had fucked up.
Transportation was plentiful; there were taxis and shuttles everywhere to take him where he wanted to go.
…he just hadn’t arranged for somewhere to go to.
So Luciano was stuck sitting in a foreign airport terminal, staring at the other planes and passengers taking off for exotic destinations, and he was destined to sit there for what felt like forever because he was too proud to call his aunt and admit that he had messed up.
His first foray into the adult world was not going as well as he had imagined. Either way, the only solution was going to come from pulling the phone from his pocket and making call. Luciano hesitantly reached into his jeans as if the phone would bite him and stared at the small lifesaving device in his hand. He inhaled deeply once-and exhaled quickly just to get it all over with. The Brazilian punched in a number at the speed of light, squeezing his eyes shut and biting his lower lip as the phone rang…and rang…and rang-
“Hello?”
With one well-placed whine, Luciano was well on his way to having his problems solved, if not exactly as he had intended.
“Sebaaaaaaaastián…”
Sebastián Artigas was very accustomed to having all the answers to every problem, all the solutions to any probable emergency, and he was very accustomed to Luciano calling him at odd hours for a quick fix. He’d even stayed up for it tonight; his sixth sense had been tingling since Luciano’s plane had departed. Something was going to go terribly wrong and he was going to be needed to fix it. And Sebastián didn’t really mind, honestly. It was a testament to his reliability and genius that so many people needed him.
His phone began vibrating rhythmically.
Sebastián leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes with a slight smile, letting the phone ring a few times and imagining Luciano’s growing anxiety with every second that passed. He didn’t even need to check the caller ID. At last he took mercy and held the phone up to his ear.
“Hello?”
“Sebaaaaaaaastián…”
“Hi Lu. What did you forget?”
The story came out eventually, through several derailments as Luciano found something new to complain about every few seconds and the distraction of jets taking off in the background.
“So basically what you’re saying,” Sebastián murmured, “is that you managed to get all of your school, medical, and visa paperwork sorted, but you somehow managed to just…forget the most important part.”
“I thought housing was included with the school part,” Luciano protested into the phone.
“You have a special kind of genius, I think,” Sebastián marveled, “I mean, that’s just pretty incredible from any viewpoint.”
“Of course you can laugh about it; you’re not the one stranded in America…” Luciano mumbled dejectedly. Sebastián winced silently and tapped a few keys on his laptop.
“…let me call you back in five minutes while I get this sorted out, okay? Five minutes, I promise.”
He hung up despite Luciano’s objecting voice echoing through the earpiece and went to work with a flurry of sudden typing. Sebastián set his mental stopwatch for 4 minutes and 59 seconds as a deadline. It did take a lot less time than that to find a solution, all things considered. His internet connection was excellent. The solution he had located was perhaps not ideal, but with a five minute deadline, he felt like he deserved a medal or something. He picked up his phone once more and dialed in an unfamiliar number and let it ring.
“Hello, is this Afonso Silva? I saw your ad…”
Luciano stared in bewilderment at his phone, the flashing numbers declaring that Sebastián had just hung up on him. But it was five minutes. He could wait five minutes for this problem to be fixed.
That didn’t mean he had to sit still for it.
He was able to waste two minutes charming free coffee that was more brown water than actual coffee from a blushing girl behind one of the food counters, another minute gulping it down while holding his nose to disguise the taste, one more minute going to the rubbish bin all the way across the room just because he could, and the next minute walking back-
Then his phone rang.
He hurriedly dug it out of his pocket and pressed it against his ear.
“Sebastián?”
“Hurry over to Terminal C. Your ride will be there in twenty minutes.”
“C? Um…okay, but what did you do-”
“Just a bit of research, nothing big. Look for a man with long brown hair, early thirties and a bit taller than you. His name is Afonso Silva.”
“Silva?” Luciano brightened a bit. “Silva? So he’s-”
“He moved to the United States from Portugal a while back. Terminal C, Lu. Don’t be late. Bye.”
Luciano made a noise deep in his throat that was half groan and half laugh as he shoved the phone into his back pocket and struggled to pick up all his luggage to make the long trek to Terminal C.
“Portuguese…”
Rating: PG
Characters: Brazil, cameo of Uruguay and mentions of Portugal
Warnings: Luciano failing at life, Sebas and his mental sparkles, unsafe methods of locating a place to stay the night
Summary: An AU- In which Luciano goes to an American university on a football (soccer for all the americanos out there) scholarship and fails at remembering to arrange housing.
Luciano da Silva did not make a habit of regretting things. His aunt would tell him this was often because he also made a habit of not thinking things through, but she was getting old and so he considered her a step away from senility.
(She’d usually start screaming at him and reminding him that she was only 39 and that he was an ungrateful child and here try these brigadeiro I put some crushed hazelnuts in the batter this time.)
So maybe, just maybe, for once, Luciano was…regretting something. Like he might’ve regretted insisting that he make all the arrangements for his immigration to America without his auntie’s help, and he had done admirably, you know, with a few snarls here and there that he had managed to smooth out. And so he’d gotten on the plane feeling pretty proud of himself and feeling like a grown man when he kissed his aunt’s cheek and told her to say goodbye to Mamãe for him, since she couldn’t be there.
He hadn’t felt anything but smug satisfaction as he sat through that long flight, bundled up in a new coat that his mother had sent him. All in all, everything had gone perfectly and even the flight attendants were pretty. The plane landed after forever and then Luciano had his first moment of doubt because it had gotten so hot and how could he forget that it was summer up here? It wasn’t such a big deal; ditch the coat and shove it into his carry-on.
He presented his passport and visa (with a bright smile) to the bored-looking clerk and everything was still okay. His luggage was in order and no crazy gun-wielding maniac had tried to mug him or take the airport hostage yet or anything.
It was when he stood outside that he realized he had fucked up.
Transportation was plentiful; there were taxis and shuttles everywhere to take him where he wanted to go.
…he just hadn’t arranged for somewhere to go to.
So Luciano was stuck sitting in a foreign airport terminal, staring at the other planes and passengers taking off for exotic destinations, and he was destined to sit there for what felt like forever because he was too proud to call his aunt and admit that he had messed up.
His first foray into the adult world was not going as well as he had imagined. Either way, the only solution was going to come from pulling the phone from his pocket and making call. Luciano hesitantly reached into his jeans as if the phone would bite him and stared at the small lifesaving device in his hand. He inhaled deeply once-and exhaled quickly just to get it all over with. The Brazilian punched in a number at the speed of light, squeezing his eyes shut and biting his lower lip as the phone rang…and rang…and rang-
“Hello?”
With one well-placed whine, Luciano was well on his way to having his problems solved, if not exactly as he had intended.
“Sebaaaaaaaastián…”
Sebastián Artigas was very accustomed to having all the answers to every problem, all the solutions to any probable emergency, and he was very accustomed to Luciano calling him at odd hours for a quick fix. He’d even stayed up for it tonight; his sixth sense had been tingling since Luciano’s plane had departed. Something was going to go terribly wrong and he was going to be needed to fix it. And Sebastián didn’t really mind, honestly. It was a testament to his reliability and genius that so many people needed him.
His phone began vibrating rhythmically.
Sebastián leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes with a slight smile, letting the phone ring a few times and imagining Luciano’s growing anxiety with every second that passed. He didn’t even need to check the caller ID. At last he took mercy and held the phone up to his ear.
“Hello?”
“Sebaaaaaaaastián…”
“Hi Lu. What did you forget?”
The story came out eventually, through several derailments as Luciano found something new to complain about every few seconds and the distraction of jets taking off in the background.
“So basically what you’re saying,” Sebastián murmured, “is that you managed to get all of your school, medical, and visa paperwork sorted, but you somehow managed to just…forget the most important part.”
“I thought housing was included with the school part,” Luciano protested into the phone.
“You have a special kind of genius, I think,” Sebastián marveled, “I mean, that’s just pretty incredible from any viewpoint.”
“Of course you can laugh about it; you’re not the one stranded in America…” Luciano mumbled dejectedly. Sebastián winced silently and tapped a few keys on his laptop.
“…let me call you back in five minutes while I get this sorted out, okay? Five minutes, I promise.”
He hung up despite Luciano’s objecting voice echoing through the earpiece and went to work with a flurry of sudden typing. Sebastián set his mental stopwatch for 4 minutes and 59 seconds as a deadline. It did take a lot less time than that to find a solution, all things considered. His internet connection was excellent. The solution he had located was perhaps not ideal, but with a five minute deadline, he felt like he deserved a medal or something. He picked up his phone once more and dialed in an unfamiliar number and let it ring.
“Hello, is this Afonso Silva? I saw your ad…”
Luciano stared in bewilderment at his phone, the flashing numbers declaring that Sebastián had just hung up on him. But it was five minutes. He could wait five minutes for this problem to be fixed.
That didn’t mean he had to sit still for it.
He was able to waste two minutes charming free coffee that was more brown water than actual coffee from a blushing girl behind one of the food counters, another minute gulping it down while holding his nose to disguise the taste, one more minute going to the rubbish bin all the way across the room just because he could, and the next minute walking back-
Then his phone rang.
He hurriedly dug it out of his pocket and pressed it against his ear.
“Sebastián?”
“Hurry over to Terminal C. Your ride will be there in twenty minutes.”
“C? Um…okay, but what did you do-”
“Just a bit of research, nothing big. Look for a man with long brown hair, early thirties and a bit taller than you. His name is Afonso Silva.”
“Silva?” Luciano brightened a bit. “Silva? So he’s-”
“He moved to the United States from Portugal a while back. Terminal C, Lu. Don’t be late. Bye.”
Luciano made a noise deep in his throat that was half groan and half laugh as he shoved the phone into his back pocket and struggled to pick up all his luggage to make the long trek to Terminal C.
“Portuguese…”