watch?v=lotkzHsIuoA (youtube) London Calling (I know this song is used a lot in films but 'come out of the cupboard' seemed like the perfect lyric)
watch?v=zbYcte4ZEgQ (youtube) I'm Coming Out (skip to 0:51 if you don't want to listen to the intro)
London calling to the Faraway towns
now war is declared, and battle come down
London Calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls
Alfred thanked his lucky stars for how good the timing was when that song came on. He walked out onto the streets of London just as The Clash's 'London Calling' started blaring through his headphones. He was actually here, in London, the centre of the music he had devoted his life to. Despite the sky being grey and a slight drizzle in the air, he was ecstatic. Making sure his guitar case was properly on his shoulder, he set out onto the cobbled streets of London he had been wishing for so long to get to. He was supposed to meet Matthew at a tea shop by River Brent, wherever the hell that was. He decided to turn back into the train station to ask for directions. The tourist guide seemed to grimace at the name of the tea shop but politely gave directions anyway. Despite the babble of street names the guide had given him, Alfred still managed to get lost. Well, he got caught up in a crowd which happened to lead him in the opposite direction he was supposed to be going. Most of the people seemed to be sporting a banner of some kind, but since Alfred fell into step near the back he couldn't really see what they were supporting. Pausing his Walkman, Alfred tapped the shoulder of the shorter, brown haired guy slightly ahead of him. The brown haired guy also seemed to have one curl out of place, which defied all laws of hair and Alfred loved it.
"Hi! Is there anything I can help you with?" Alfred noted the Italian tone to his voice.
"Uh, wow. I thought I'd be meeting English people here in England."
The Italian grinned widely. "So did I, but I guess we were both wrong."
Alfred chuckled. "So, what are you marching here for?"
The Italian's smile faltered slightly as if disappointed. "Gay rights."
Alfred's eyes lit up. "Really? That's rad! Mind if I join you?"
It was the Italian's turn for his eyes to light up. "Sure! I'm Feliciano."
"Alfred." Feliciano kissed Alfred on both cheeks as a greeting, which took Alfred by surprise a bit. Suddenly a tall, muscular man with blonde hair next to Feliciano broke into their conversation.
"Who are you kissing now, Feli?" The man's voice was low and German, and a little too intimidating for Alfred's liking. Feliciano latched onto the man's arm.
"Just a new friend." He smiled sweetly at the blonde haired blue eyed babe and stretched up to kiss him.
At this point Alfred couldn't work out whether the blonde haired guy and Feliciano were romantically together or just friends; Feliciano's demeanour was too friendly.
"Jeez Feli, you make friends faster than I can even introduce my self."
"Oh yeah, introductions." It was more of an afterthought to Feliciano. "Ludwig, this is Alfred. Alfred, this is my boyfriend, Ludwig." Ludwig extended a stern hand and Alfred took it. Ah, so they were in a relationship. Ludwig nodded at Alfred then put his arm around Feliciano. The three started walking together with Feliciano in the middle.
"Wow, we never have these in the States. What would Mom think?" Alfred chuckled. "Hey Mom, guess what? Your son's marching for gay rights because he's gay. Your son's gay. I'm gay!" Alfred's smile grew wider and wider as he said this. He laughed delightedly. "That sounds so funny out loud."
Feliciano was grateful this man stumbled into their group. He loved seeing people happy about being themselves.
"Hey, Alfred? We have this group called International Gay Rights and we meet regularly. I was wondering if you could join?"
"Of course!" He replied instantly. It was true the parade of bright colours lit up the drizzling grey of London, as he looked to the outside of the Gay Pride he saw wandering people angrily glare at them while others avoided any eye contact altogether. He shunned this away and beamed at the assortment of people waving multicoloured banners, flags and generally radiating pure excitement. However, even he could not deny that many more people were gathering and they looked extremely disgusted, a wave of panic engulfed him and he had to grip hold of the Walkman in his pocket. Sure he had been the captain of the football team, but it didn't mean he liked the idea of actual fighting without rules or a referee blowing the whistle to stop before anything happened.
He tried to smile all the same. "Aren't you worried about people, you know, getting angry?"
Feliciano turned to Alfred, bright-eyed but wise. "Angry? All the time, but if we stopped when those angry people attack us then how will we get our rights acknowledged?" Alfred nodded his head. In the corner of his eye he saw Ludwig curve an arm around Feliciano's shoulders. "We've only had people shout at us, nothing physical so I wouldn't worry too much." He smiled to himself and nestled close to Ludwig, leaving Alfred somewhat embarrassed and so he looked to the other protesters. Many were young men, although a few women were dotted here and there. Alfred witnessed three young men break away from the crowd and run off towards a family trying to take a photo beside a monument. The blonde was expertly complimenting everyone although the elderly woman simply brandished her handbag so that he didn't get too close, a brunette was talking to the two children and suddenly hid behind the last white-haired man when the boy began screaming. The white-haired one tried to make the boy laugh by repeatedly slapping the brunette. It was entertainment for sure.
"Who-"
"My brother is such an idiot sometimes." Ludwig huffed as he scowled at the three men successfully harassing the family and moving into a couple with a baby pram. He kissed Feliciano on the forehead and raced after them, probably a good thing as the brunette loomed over the pram.
"The blonde one chatting up the husband is Francis, the one making the children cry is Antonio and the one Ludwig is carrying over his shoulder is Gilbert, his older brother." Feliciano explained, Alfred gawped at him.
"Older?"
"You wouldn't guess it would you? Gil has been good to me though, and his love for Ludwig rivals my own most of the time." Feliciano giggled. "We were all so happy when he also found a boyfriend, shame he couldn't join us. I think he said he was meeting someone."
Alfred continued to walk and talk and wave a flag with Feliciano and his group. Soon Ludwig came back and kept Gilbert within sight at all times, leaving the three friends to annoy the group instead of unfortunate people out for an afternoon of sight-seeing. Time moved slowly within the march which didn't mind Alfred at all as Feliciano explained what International Gay Rights were and what the marches would do and how often they meet. It was a lot of information and Alfred became distracted through most of it, mainly by Antonio who climbed onto the shoulders of Gilbert to wave the highest flag, Francis didn't look so amused but made no move to stop the two. "Damn it Antonio!" A curve of a smile appeared on Francis' lips as a Feliciano twin pushed people aside to get to the Spaniard. The twin's hair was slightly darker, and his face didn't have the same easy smile and bright eyes. He seemed, in a word, grumpy. "Lovi, you came!" Antonio greeted happily. "It was Gilbert's idea."
The twin by the name of 'Lovi' crossed his arms bitterly. "You're gonna kill yourself, get down from there you idiota."
Gilbert leant down and Antonio leapt off effortlessly. After he regained his balance he placed a hand on Lovi's shoulder.
"Aw, so you do care about me."
Lovi looked away. "No, no talking to me when you look stupid."
The Spaniard was wearing bright rainbow coloured shirt along with a pink feather boa (Gilbert and Francis were also wearing the same), in contrast to Lovi's black shirt.
"That's my big brother Lovino. He and Antonio are in a relationship, isn't that cute?" Feliciano clarified. Alfred nodded in agreement.
The march carried on for a couple hours and Alfred felt as if he needed to be somewhere. He forgot about the feeling, however, when their small group broke off from the crowd.
"Where are we going now?" Alfred was confused.
"The cafe where we usually hang out." Ludwig explained.
"Ohh. That's cool, dude. I hope they serve coffee."
Through all the excitement Feliciano started singing.
"The time has come for me to break out of the shell"
Francis, Antonio and Gilbert joined in.
"I have to shout that I am coming out"
Despite his intimidating air, Ludwig also joined in.
"I'm coming out, I want the world to know, I got to let it show."
By now even Alfred joined in and he didn't even know the song. Everyone in the group except Lovino were singing, and they were all shooting him glances to get him to join in. They were practically singing it to him. In the end, Ludwig looked at him as if to say 'if I'm singing, you're singing too.' And with that Lovino started singing.
"I'm coming out, I want the world to know, I got to let it show."
At Tea'se me, a small tea emporium overlooking River Brent, Matthew sat alone. He was worried Alfred might've lost his way. Arthur, the guy who owned the place, didn't even notice he had come in; Matthew was used to that sort of thing. He was also worried his friends might come before Alfred and he wouldn't be able to spend some alone time with the guy he hadn't seen in seven years. They would probably be all over him as soon as he walked through the door. Soon a chorus of Diana Ross' 'I'm Coming Out' burst into the tea emporium and Gilbert was suddenly next to him.
"And this, Alfred, is my boyfriend Matthew." He was very proud of that fact. The rest of the group waited for Alfred and Matthew to formally meet, to shake hands or something. But instead both men started laughing, then embraced in a hug.
Gilbert was the most confused for he questioned it verbally.
"Uh... What? Do you guy know each other, or something?"
"Know each other?!" Alfred exclaimed, "We're brothers! I haven't this guy in over four years though."
"Seven years. We haven't seen each other in seven years." Matthew corrected quietly.
"Well, it looks like we have a lot of catching up to do then!" Alfred smiled brightly.
A few tables were pulled together and soon Feliciano was explaining who Alfred was, until Alfred took over, that is. He described how he and Matthew grew up in different countries due to their parents divorcing at a young age. Alfred had grown up in the States with their mum while Matthew had gone to live with their dad in Canada.
"And so, I came to London to pursue my music career" He pointed to his guitar case which now sat leaning against his chair. "Well, it was mainly to come and see the Sex Pistols live."
"The sex pistols? It makes a change for an American to be knowledgable on good music." Alfred looked towards the owner of that sarcastic voice and found a young man dressed impeccably neatly although he wore a colourful apron around his waist. Messy blonde hair and a permanent frown, Alfred couldn't tear his eyes from the man's face, more importantly those thick eyebrows he sported.
"Uh yeah, I've liked 'em for a long time." Alfred replied sheepishly but his overconfident personality blossomed through.
The man smirked as if unconvinced. "Sure. So you're pursuing a career in music? Are you actually any good?"
Alfred wanted to retort but his throat constricted. Usually he could comeback with something witty, as was the need when wanting a life in the finicky industry that was music, but the man's cynical tone and direct posture caught him completely off guard.
"Oh Arthur, give the kid a break." A shade of red bloomed on Arthur's cheeks. It was rather entertaining to see his composure broken.
"I don't recall wanting your input, Bonnefoy." He snapped loudly. Soon enough Francis and Arthur were in a tennis match-like argument with everyone watching avidly.
As Alfred studied the English blonde, Feliciano leaned over and whispered in his ear. "They had a one night stand once." He giggled. "They've been arguing like this ever since."
Alfred turned his attention to Feliciano. "Really?" He raised an eyebrow. "It seems like they've known each other for a long time."
Feliciano sat back. "They have. I've known Francis longer, but even then they seemed like good friends. If only that one night stand had grown into something more."
Alfred gazed back at the two arguing. It was going to be interesting here, he could tell. Matthew then explained he was staying above the tea emporium with Arthur. It was a small flat but there were three bedrooms, so Alfred would be staying too. He didn't argue.
So this is a sort of update whenever fic, so don't expect weekly updates.
Just to warn you now, this is a very flexible story, so ships could change. For instance, it could start out as a UsUk, but then BAM! Kiku shows up and suddenly it's an AmeriPan one.
Expect more love triangles than in a Korean High School Drama.
'Kay thaannnkkkss :)
Also, reviews are loved greatly.