[Fic] Searching For Atlantis [4/6]
Sorry for the delay. Happy Guy Fawkes Day!!
Title: Searching For Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: America/Belarus, England/France, Romano/Spain.
Warnings: Singing, Romano's mouth.
Summary: Alfred Jones wants to find his real parents. Arthur Kirkland would like to find some form of employment. Natalia Alfroskaya needs to get away. The solution: a road trip to California. Along the way they meet a mysterious hitchhiker called Romano and his problems, as well as discover what exactly utopia means to each of them.
Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
July 4, 20XX
Today was Alfred’s birthday. He says it wasn’t the worst he’s ever had, but it’s still probably somewhere in the top three.
Romano drove again today after waking us up at another godforsaken early hour. We were a bit more sluggish this morning and didn’t leave Chicago until 6 AM, then proceeded to drive for 12 straight hours until we reached Oklahoma City. 12 straight hours. Alfred’s constant nagging and playing of the birthday card got him to stop for a brief lunch at McDonalds, but that was it.
We did get to see the local fireworks show, but other than that, not much happened. We were stuck in a car for twelve hours.
-Arthur Kirkland
“If you ever plan to motor west,
Travel my way, take the highway that’s the best,
Get your kicks, on route 66.” Alfred started singing off key somewhere in Missouri.
“Not necessary,” Romano barked at him from the driver’s seat as he sped along at about fifty over the speed limit. Alfred smirked at him though the review mirror and continued anyway:
“It winds through Chicago to LA,
More than two thousand miles all the way,
Get your kicks, on route 66. ”
“I am not putting up with this shite for two thousand miles!” Arthur barked, “For the love of god Romano, stop somewhere and he’ll shut up.”
“Don’t bring god into this,” he muttered as he kept speeding along, making no move to stop.
“Now you go through St. Louie,
Joplin, Missouri,
And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty.
You’ll see Amarillo,
Gallup, New Mexico,
Flagstaff, Arizona-”
“Don’t forget Winoa,” Natalia added as she kept staring out the window. Alfred turned to smile at her as Romano shot a glare her way, but she continued looking out the window, although Alfred could see the slight smile on her face as they started back up again.
“Kingman, Barstow, San Bernandino,”
“Won’t you get hip to this timely tip,” Arthur gave in and sang along as well. He caught Alfred’s eye and smirked.
“When you make that California trip,
Get your kicks, on route 66.” The three of them started laughing before starting up the final verse.
“Alright!” Romano shouted, “You fuckers win. I’m stopping at the next McDonalds. Are you happy now?!”
“Very,” Alfred beamed at him as Arthur leaned back in his chair, a pleasant smirk on his face, and Natalia tried, and failed, to hide her smile.
***
Romano finally decided to stop for the night in Oklahoma City, just in time for the fireworks show. The four of them split up as soon as they arrived at the field just outside the city where the display was taking place, Romano and Arthur going one way while Alfred and Natalia went another, after the teens promised Arthur that yes, they’d be good this time for real, stop giving them that look, you’re scaring the small children.
As soon as they were out of sight, Arthur set out to find a pay phone.
“Hello?” a clearly female voice answered.
“Uh, yes, hello…” he’s sure he put the right number in, after all, it was technically his home phone too, “Is Francis there?”
“He’s a little…busy at the moment. May I ask whose calling?”
“Arthur.”
“Arthur…”
“Kirkland.” He ground out. He should not have had to give his last name. In fact he should not have had to give his name at all.
“Right. Francis,” he heard her call out in a sing song voice, “Some guy named Arthur wants to speak with you.”
So now he was just some guy? He’d only been gone for four days and already the frog was jumping into bed with whoever he could catch with his froggy tongue.
“Yes hello?” Francis was finally on the phone, after four days of calling him whenever he could, Arthur finally had him on the phone. He’d never been that hard to get a hold of before. “Arthur, are you there?”
“Wanker!” he shouted into the receiver before slamming it down and walking away from the phone.
“Girl troubles?” Romano smirked as Arthur stomped away from the phone booth.
“Sod off,” he muttered as he continued on his way.
“Boy troubles?” the smirk increased.
“I said sod off!”
“You’ve been calling him at every stop we’ve made haven’t you?” Romano asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s perfect and happy as it should be.”
“Che, fine, don’t talk to me…I didn’t want to hear about it anyway,” Romano shoved his hands in his pockets as he continued on his way, which happened to be in step with Arthur.
“My, uh, roommate,” Arthur said after a while, “Francis. We’ve been together for…a long time. I have been trying to call him, not because I miss him, and he clearly doesn’t miss me, since he has some woman that I don’t know over our apartment.”
“Hm,” Romano grunted after he heard the root of the problem, “Being in love sucks.”
“…Yes, it does.”
The fireworks had started, and they both simultaneously stopped when they noticed Alfred and Natalia sitting together on the hill, holding hands and looking content.
“…Sometimes, it’s not so bad,” Arthur conceded.
“Hm,” Romano agreed.
“Excuse me!” an overly cheery voice shouted to them. Arthur looked over to find a man around his age with green eyes and brown, curly hair running over to them.
“Yes? What is it?” he snapped. This man had no right to be so happy when Arthur’s night was anything but.
“I’m looking for my friend,” he asked as if completely unaware of Arthur’s foul mood, “Perhaps you’ve seen him? Lovino Vargas?”
“V-Vargas?”
“Yes! You know him?”
“I know of him, or at least his family.” Few people on the east coast hadn’t heard at least one terrifying tale of the Vargas crime family.
“Do you know where he is? I’ve been looking for him for days, but I’ve yet to see any part of him! I’m starting to get worried.”
“Can’t say that I have,” Arthur admitted, “We don’t usually, uh, run with types like the Vargas’.”
“We?” the man asked, genuinely confused, “We who?”
“We as in the two of us,” Arthur said as he gestured to where Romano was standing, or more accurately, where he was standing about a minute ago. Sometime during the conversation, Romano had disappeared.
“…Oh I get it,” the man’s infuriating smile was still plastered to his face, “An imaginary friend right? I don’t really care; I just need to find Lovino before his grandfather does. You sure you haven’t seen him?”
Arthur contemplated his question for a moment, “I’m…fairly certain I haven’t laid eyes on him. Are you even sure he’s here?”
“Yes, I’ve been following Gilbert who’s been following Lovino, and Gilbert’s very good at following people. Well if you do see Lovino, tell him I’m looking for him okay?” he waved cheerily before going off to bother someone else.
“Will do…” Arthur muttered as he turned in the opposite direction to find his lost hitchhiker. It didn’t take long, as Romano had only gotten far enough to duck behind a row of outhouses when he made his escape.
“It seems you have boy troubles of your own, Lovino,” Arthur stated as he cornered the crime family heir.
“I…” Romano sighed and stood up, brushing the dirt of his clothes as he did so, “I’m not going to hurt any of you. I just need to get away, but that stupid old man won’t let me be!”
“I can relate, to the whole needing to get away thing, Alfred and Natalia too, to a certain extent. If you had wanted to hurt any of us, you would have done so by now, so as much as I hate to admit it, Alfred made a good judge of character.”
Romano visibly relaxed, “Just, could you not tell the others? N-not that I care what they think; they just don’t need to know things like that!”
Arthur sighed, suddenly feeling much older than he actually was, “Your secret’s safe with me, Romano.”
***
“So,” Alfred asked as he handed Natalia some popcorn, “how are you doing?”
“The same as I was five minutes ago when you asked me.”
“Just making sure nothing’s changed since then…” They descended back into silence as Alfred found them a spot on the hill away from the other spectators, but still with a good view of the fireworks.
“I always thought it was cool,” Alfred started rambling, “how my birthday was on the fourth of July. I could pretend the fireworks were for me and everyone was celebrating how awesome I was.”
“That explains your abnormally large ego then,” Natalia commented as she tossed some popcorn into her mouth.
“Yeah, but with friends like you and Arthur, I’m sure it all evens out in the end,” he chuckled.
“…We’re friends?”
“Of course, I mean, if you want to be friends, we could be friends, but you know, I’ve always assumed, so-”
“Friends is…good,” she lightly placed her hand on top of his as the fireworks started.
“Yes, good. Friends is good,” Alfred repeated, babbling despite the fireworks filling the void of silence.
After a while, Natalia asked, “Friends…give each other birthday gifts right?”
“Yeah, well, sometimes, but you don’t have to-” before he could finish, she leaned over and kissed his cheek, pulling away before he could barely register that it had been there.
“Happy Birthday Alfred.”
Title: Searching For Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: America/Belarus, England/France, Romano/Spain.
Warnings: Singing, Romano's mouth.
Summary: Alfred Jones wants to find his real parents. Arthur Kirkland would like to find some form of employment. Natalia Alfroskaya needs to get away. The solution: a road trip to California. Along the way they meet a mysterious hitchhiker called Romano and his problems, as well as discover what exactly utopia means to each of them.
Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
July 4, 20XX
Today was Alfred’s birthday. He says it wasn’t the worst he’s ever had, but it’s still probably somewhere in the top three.
Romano drove again today after waking us up at another godforsaken early hour. We were a bit more sluggish this morning and didn’t leave Chicago until 6 AM, then proceeded to drive for 12 straight hours until we reached Oklahoma City. 12 straight hours. Alfred’s constant nagging and playing of the birthday card got him to stop for a brief lunch at McDonalds, but that was it.
We did get to see the local fireworks show, but other than that, not much happened. We were stuck in a car for twelve hours.
-Arthur Kirkland
“If you ever plan to motor west,
Travel my way, take the highway that’s the best,
Get your kicks, on route 66.” Alfred started singing off key somewhere in Missouri.
“Not necessary,” Romano barked at him from the driver’s seat as he sped along at about fifty over the speed limit. Alfred smirked at him though the review mirror and continued anyway:
“It winds through Chicago to LA,
More than two thousand miles all the way,
Get your kicks, on route 66. ”
“I am not putting up with this shite for two thousand miles!” Arthur barked, “For the love of god Romano, stop somewhere and he’ll shut up.”
“Don’t bring god into this,” he muttered as he kept speeding along, making no move to stop.
“Now you go through St. Louie,
Joplin, Missouri,
And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty.
You’ll see Amarillo,
Gallup, New Mexico,
Flagstaff, Arizona-”
“Don’t forget Winoa,” Natalia added as she kept staring out the window. Alfred turned to smile at her as Romano shot a glare her way, but she continued looking out the window, although Alfred could see the slight smile on her face as they started back up again.
“Kingman, Barstow, San Bernandino,”
“Won’t you get hip to this timely tip,” Arthur gave in and sang along as well. He caught Alfred’s eye and smirked.
“When you make that California trip,
Get your kicks, on route 66.” The three of them started laughing before starting up the final verse.
“Alright!” Romano shouted, “You fuckers win. I’m stopping at the next McDonalds. Are you happy now?!”
“Very,” Alfred beamed at him as Arthur leaned back in his chair, a pleasant smirk on his face, and Natalia tried, and failed, to hide her smile.
***
Romano finally decided to stop for the night in Oklahoma City, just in time for the fireworks show. The four of them split up as soon as they arrived at the field just outside the city where the display was taking place, Romano and Arthur going one way while Alfred and Natalia went another, after the teens promised Arthur that yes, they’d be good this time for real, stop giving them that look, you’re scaring the small children.
As soon as they were out of sight, Arthur set out to find a pay phone.
“Hello?” a clearly female voice answered.
“Uh, yes, hello…” he’s sure he put the right number in, after all, it was technically his home phone too, “Is Francis there?”
“He’s a little…busy at the moment. May I ask whose calling?”
“Arthur.”
“Arthur…”
“Kirkland.” He ground out. He should not have had to give his last name. In fact he should not have had to give his name at all.
“Right. Francis,” he heard her call out in a sing song voice, “Some guy named Arthur wants to speak with you.”
So now he was just some guy? He’d only been gone for four days and already the frog was jumping into bed with whoever he could catch with his froggy tongue.
“Yes hello?” Francis was finally on the phone, after four days of calling him whenever he could, Arthur finally had him on the phone. He’d never been that hard to get a hold of before. “Arthur, are you there?”
“Wanker!” he shouted into the receiver before slamming it down and walking away from the phone.
“Girl troubles?” Romano smirked as Arthur stomped away from the phone booth.
“Sod off,” he muttered as he continued on his way.
“Boy troubles?” the smirk increased.
“I said sod off!”
“You’ve been calling him at every stop we’ve made haven’t you?” Romano asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s perfect and happy as it should be.”
“Che, fine, don’t talk to me…I didn’t want to hear about it anyway,” Romano shoved his hands in his pockets as he continued on his way, which happened to be in step with Arthur.
“My, uh, roommate,” Arthur said after a while, “Francis. We’ve been together for…a long time. I have been trying to call him, not because I miss him, and he clearly doesn’t miss me, since he has some woman that I don’t know over our apartment.”
“Hm,” Romano grunted after he heard the root of the problem, “Being in love sucks.”
“…Yes, it does.”
The fireworks had started, and they both simultaneously stopped when they noticed Alfred and Natalia sitting together on the hill, holding hands and looking content.
“…Sometimes, it’s not so bad,” Arthur conceded.
“Hm,” Romano agreed.
“Excuse me!” an overly cheery voice shouted to them. Arthur looked over to find a man around his age with green eyes and brown, curly hair running over to them.
“Yes? What is it?” he snapped. This man had no right to be so happy when Arthur’s night was anything but.
“I’m looking for my friend,” he asked as if completely unaware of Arthur’s foul mood, “Perhaps you’ve seen him? Lovino Vargas?”
“V-Vargas?”
“Yes! You know him?”
“I know of him, or at least his family.” Few people on the east coast hadn’t heard at least one terrifying tale of the Vargas crime family.
“Do you know where he is? I’ve been looking for him for days, but I’ve yet to see any part of him! I’m starting to get worried.”
“Can’t say that I have,” Arthur admitted, “We don’t usually, uh, run with types like the Vargas’.”
“We?” the man asked, genuinely confused, “We who?”
“We as in the two of us,” Arthur said as he gestured to where Romano was standing, or more accurately, where he was standing about a minute ago. Sometime during the conversation, Romano had disappeared.
“…Oh I get it,” the man’s infuriating smile was still plastered to his face, “An imaginary friend right? I don’t really care; I just need to find Lovino before his grandfather does. You sure you haven’t seen him?”
Arthur contemplated his question for a moment, “I’m…fairly certain I haven’t laid eyes on him. Are you even sure he’s here?”
“Yes, I’ve been following Gilbert who’s been following Lovino, and Gilbert’s very good at following people. Well if you do see Lovino, tell him I’m looking for him okay?” he waved cheerily before going off to bother someone else.
“Will do…” Arthur muttered as he turned in the opposite direction to find his lost hitchhiker. It didn’t take long, as Romano had only gotten far enough to duck behind a row of outhouses when he made his escape.
“It seems you have boy troubles of your own, Lovino,” Arthur stated as he cornered the crime family heir.
“I…” Romano sighed and stood up, brushing the dirt of his clothes as he did so, “I’m not going to hurt any of you. I just need to get away, but that stupid old man won’t let me be!”
“I can relate, to the whole needing to get away thing, Alfred and Natalia too, to a certain extent. If you had wanted to hurt any of us, you would have done so by now, so as much as I hate to admit it, Alfred made a good judge of character.”
Romano visibly relaxed, “Just, could you not tell the others? N-not that I care what they think; they just don’t need to know things like that!”
Arthur sighed, suddenly feeling much older than he actually was, “Your secret’s safe with me, Romano.”
***
“So,” Alfred asked as he handed Natalia some popcorn, “how are you doing?”
“The same as I was five minutes ago when you asked me.”
“Just making sure nothing’s changed since then…” They descended back into silence as Alfred found them a spot on the hill away from the other spectators, but still with a good view of the fireworks.
“I always thought it was cool,” Alfred started rambling, “how my birthday was on the fourth of July. I could pretend the fireworks were for me and everyone was celebrating how awesome I was.”
“That explains your abnormally large ego then,” Natalia commented as she tossed some popcorn into her mouth.
“Yeah, but with friends like you and Arthur, I’m sure it all evens out in the end,” he chuckled.
“…We’re friends?”
“Of course, I mean, if you want to be friends, we could be friends, but you know, I’ve always assumed, so-”
“Friends is…good,” she lightly placed her hand on top of his as the fireworks started.
“Yes, good. Friends is good,” Alfred repeated, babbling despite the fireworks filling the void of silence.
After a while, Natalia asked, “Friends…give each other birthday gifts right?”
“Yeah, well, sometimes, but you don’t have to-” before he could finish, she leaned over and kissed his cheek, pulling away before he could barely register that it had been there.
“Happy Birthday Alfred.”