Amuse Me

As he looked up from the small piece of paper in his hands, Arthur Kirkland took a few brief seconds to glance over the sign that signaled he had arrived at his destination. The papers' directions having aided him well as he made his way to where he would be having his first day of work.

"Bay Beach Park..." The twenty-three year old college student spoke with a sigh, folding the paper in his hands before placing it in the right pocket of his blue jeans for safe keeping. After looking through all of the newspapers for weeks, going to many an interview, and waiting for many a call, this amusement park had been the only place that he had managed to land a job at. Despite his best efforts and his hatred of loud places like this, he had no choice. No other place seemed to want to hire him, and if he had any hope of being able to keep his apartment and save money over the summer for school this was his only option. After agonizing over whether or not to call for many days, his better judgment got the worse of him and he did it. After a few short minutes of light chatter and mention of his daily schedule, Arthur found himself to be an employee of Bay Beach Park. The amusement park was the best in the area, half of it being on the beach of Lake Erie, and the other portion on a giant dock over the lake itself. It had been around for a few years now, Arthur had found out after looking up the parks website on his laptop, and was getting more popular every day because of its old charm mixed with new. After hanging up his phone, the conversation had left a bitter taste in his mouth, leaving Arthur to regret every word that had been exchanged between him and the owner of the park.

Now here he was on a sunny April morning, making his way down the pavement to the ticket booths at the front of the park. Ready to start his first day.

Arthur had never had the most positive attitude towards things, and this was one of the things he was definitely not going to be positive about. What kind of enjoyment could he expect from a job such as this, besides making money? Every step he took closer to the booth made the knot he had in his stomach become bigger and more uncomfortable. He wasn't nervous; he had convinced himself that he should not be no matter what, since this job was fairly simple. Still he couldn't help but get an odd feeling.

Upon arriving at the booth, a young woman of about 17 gave Arthur a weak smile, obviously tired from spending the night up late doing some kind of activity. "Ticket for one?" She spoke, her voice soft. Arthur shook his head in a simple reply, waving his hand signaling no as well. "I'm Arthur Kirkland? I'm supposed to start here today." He shifted his weight to one side as he spoke, already becoming impatient with the girl and the overall exchange. She blinked, looking Arthur up and down, surprised by his English accent. "Oh, sure! Mr. Honda mentioned that you would be around some time this morning. Just give me one second..." She held up a finger, signaling Arthur to wait as she made her way out of the booth and around to the front where Arthur stood. "You can just follow me; I'll take you to his office so that you can get started. I hope you like it around here, everyone is nice and pretty easy to get along with It's an easy gig." She flashed Arthur another smile as she began to make her way into the park, new employee in tow.

Arthur gave a simple nod in reply. "I hope I do, too."

He looked around him as they made their way to the owner's office, taking in as much as he could. They seemed to be walking through the part of the park where people could stop and pick from one of the many places that sold all kinds of foods here. He really hoped that he did not have to run any of the food stands, because he had never really been the best at making anything besides his evening tea. He was sure the place would fall to shit if he did, putting food at the mercy of his hands. He let out a light huff, putting the thought away as it began to bother him. His eyes glanced over a small yellow and red stand with quite the line in front of it, a sign on the top reading ' Fresh Gelato' in large blue painted letters. What a nice little stand, it must be good... He thought as he investigated the small shack as well as he could.

"Oh," The girl began to speak, gaining Arthur's attention, his gaze turning to her. "That's one of the most popular food stands here, the guy who runs it makes all of the gelato himself! His name is Venichiano Vargas. He's Italian, so it makes sense that he's so good at it." She nodded as she stopped, letting Arthur get a better glance at the tiny establishment. "His brother works here too, but at a games stand. They look alike, but boy, are they different..."

Arthur finally managed to get a look at the man handing out the desserts, and instantly thought someone had accidentally hired a small child. Venichiano was an extremely cheery person, and seemed out of place in the sad shack. His chipper voice could be heard from quite a distance with its happy sing-songy tune, and his smile could be seen as well as he flashed it at every person he could; making more park-goers venture over for his service. His light brown hair hugged his round face, making his appearance even more childlike. A halo of happiness shone around him, and it seemed it would envelope anyone who came close to it. It was no wonder the stand was a success, it was all perfect.

"He's quite the catch. Anyway..." She motioned for Arthur to follow her, and they continued on their way.

Not wanting to make much conversation, Arthur kept his gaze over his surroundings, taking new interest in the many game stands around him, the flashing lights and sirens catching his attention as well as the array of stuffed animals and extravagant prizes that most of the game players could only pray to win. Arthur didn't mind this part of the park; he had fond memories of playing games similar to these with his friends back home when he was just a child. Scrounging up every quid he could just so he could play one in hopes that he would win something- anything. The memories brought a smile to his lips as he continued on his way with his new fellow employee. As fond as he was of the area, he was glad he had agreed to work at rides operations instead of running one of the colorful game booths.

"Oh, merda! No non si fa piccolo bastardo!" Arthur jumped in his place as the loud foreign words blasted close by him, clutching a hand to his chest which felt like it was just barely containing his beating heart.

"Bloody hell..." His brow furrowed in anger; Arthur snapped his head to the source of the noise, surprised to see the same boy that had been at the ice cream stand earlier. After a few short moments, Arthur realized this must have been the brother that the girl had been telling him about, and she had right about them. They were very similar in looks. This one was around the same height, but his skin was more tan than his brothers was. He also had darker hair and a curl that stuck out from the side of his head, which Arthur figured was colic of sorts. His face was much different from his siblings', anger and irritation plastered all over it instead of the happy and slightly airy look the other boy had. He seemed to have that look of distaste permanently painted there. The angry Italian was busy chewing out a teen that seemed to be trying to cheat at a game of shooting basketballs into a hoop, having taken balls from the person next to him when he wasn't looking in order to get more than a few extra tries.

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice? You're standing right here in front of me!" His accent rang thick and clear in the air as he spoke. "You little brat, get the hell out of here, you don't get anything! Go!" He shooed the boy away which his hands, a growl on his lips as he watched him skulk away. He let out a soft huff of satisfaction when the teen was out of sight, and returned to hanging up more stuffed monkeys and bananas, a slight scowl on his face all the while. The girl sighed beside Arthur, "That's Venichianos' brother, Lovino. I told you they were really different, he's so bitchy all of the time. It's best just to try and avoid him; he'll just end up arguing with you..." She shook her head and continued on her way.

Just as Arthur was about to follow her, Lovino turned and made eye contact with him briefly, sending a glare directly at him as they gazed at each other. Thinking nothing of it Arthur turned away, following the girl and leaving the Italian muttering soft swears after him.

Finally the girl lead him to a small, but very well constructed office building, that was maybe large enough to hold a few rooms and a bathroom at the least. "Here we are, finally!" She gestured towards the building. "Just go inside, and the secretary can get you in with him and you'll all set to go!" Arthur gave her a curt nod, offering her a small smile in returning for her showing him the way. "Thank you, I'll be seeing you around then?" He took a step towards the building as he asked, ready to go inside. She nodded to him in return. "You will! Have a good day, then." She gave a small wave before making her way back to the front of the park. Arthur watched her for only a moment before pressing a hand to the glass doors of the park office, making his way in and officially sealing his fate as an employee at the park.

The chill if the cold air conditioning washed over Arthur as he made his way inside , sending a pleasant chill down his spine. He glanced around the office, seeing that it was indeed very nice for the office if an amusement park. Then again, this park was the best around the region; it made sense why they would have such nice things. Arthur made his way up to the secretary who was sitting at his desk, speaking with someone on the phone about what seemed to be scheduling. "Yes, but Mr. Honda wants it done as soon as you can get out here, the gardens really need trimming..." His voice trailed off as he looked up towards Arthur; he held up a single index finger in signal for Arthur to wait just a moment. He nodded, turning to make his way to the set of chairs that rested under a large sky view framed picture of the park.

There it is again... That feeling...

Arthur thought this grimly as he sat, an uncomfortable tight sensation making its way into the pit of his stomach once more as he waited. He still didn't know about this decision bring the right one, but he was here after all, there wouldn't be much of a point turning back now when he had just walked in. Not being one to act rude, Arthur felt as if he could do nothing but go along the path that fate seemed to be laying out for him. He just wished that path wasn't into a minimum wage job of cleaning up kids vomit at the foot of a rollercoaster. He moved his gaze back to the secretary who was still chatting away with the person on the other side of the line, a hint of annoyance in his tone as he did so. "Look, Francis, I don't have time to deal with your smooth talking right now, I have someone here waiting on me because of you. Just get out here as soon as you can, and be sure to call before you do it all right? Mr. Honda is only so patient before he starts to get upset. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, I know." He let out a sharp huff. "Thanks, I'll talk to you later then." The man finally hung up the phone and let out a slower breath, scratching his temple before forcing a smile onto his face and looking to Arthur. Beckoning him closer with a kind look. "Okay, sorry about that, the gardener never likes to come and do his job. What can I do for you?"

Arthur gave a smile in return, standing and moving over to his desk. "Yes, I'm actually just starting here today; I'm supposed to talk to Mr. Honda about some things, I'm guessing? The girl at the ticket booth brought me down there and told me that I was supposed to." He crossed his arms as he spoke. The secretary nodded, moving to grab his phone. "Yeah, that's what all new employees are supposed to do. It's mainly so that he can assign you to the station that you are going to be working at most of the time; give you a few shirts for your uniform, things like that." He gazed down at the phones keyboard, quickly pressing a few numbers with his index finger before pressing the phone to his ear. "I'll just let him know that you're here so you can go and talk to him."

Arthur nodded and they both waited patiently for the other line of the phone to be picked up. After a few ring, the secretary let out a soft noise of acknowledgement. "Yes Mr. Honda? A new employee is here to start his new day; he's out here waiting to speak to you. Hm? His name..?" The man's eyes shot up to Arthur in a silent request for what had just been asked of him. "Oh, it's Arthur. Arthur Kirkland." He replied quickly, embarrassed that he had forgotten to introduce himself in the first place.

"Arthur Kirkland." The secretary repeated after him into the receiver. "Yes, he's right here with me. Of course, I'll send him right in Sir. Mmhm." With that he hung up, the phone moving back into black on the counsel with a click. "Okay, you see that door over there?" He nodded towards a door to his right, pointing to it as well." Just go ahead on in, and he'll be in there waiting to talk to you." He gave Arthur yet another kind smile.

"Thank you." Was Arthur's simple reply before he moved towards the door, letting out a slow sigh as the churning feeling in his stomach became more intense. Fighting past it, he raised his hand to give a few soft knocks on the wood before using his other hand to push it open.

"Hello? Mr. Honda...?" Arthur peeked his head around the door into the office, looking around for the person that he was told was inside. Arthur noticed, as he had figured it might, the room had a very large Japanese influence. There were two large beautiful Japanese style paintings on either wall, both containing a large blooming cherry blossom tree. Tables stood under either painting as well, supporting three vases that were identical to their brothers on the other side of the room, holding perfect symmetry. There was also two bamboo plants on either side of the window behind the main desk, their leaves just brushing the tops of the ceiling.

As Arthur's eyes ran over the one of the plants, he noticed a small movement from the chair behind the desk.

" Ah, hello Mr. Kirkland! Please, come in." The voice was soft, but had a wise tone to it, and Arthur entered the room as he studied the body that say there.

It was no secret that Mr. Honda was not very intimidating at all. He was very short, and had a somewhat childlike look despite the suit he wore and the way he held himself. He had short clean cut black hair, and his soft smile complimented the warmth of his chocolate brown eyes. "I've been waiting for you to show up, you're right on time." He further beckoned Arthur into the room.

Arthur closed the door behind him and moved quickly to sit in the chair in front of Mr. Honda's desk, not wanting to keep him any more than he had." I hope I didn't keep you waiting long." He leaned back into the red plush arm chair as he spoke. Mr. Honda waved his hand once more, dismissing the soft spoken apology. "Really, it's no trouble. Now, all I have for you is a few forms to fill out…" Mr. Honda spoke into his desk as he opened a few draws before finding the forms that he had been searching for, pulling them out and pushing them over to Arthurs side of the desk along with a metal pen. Arthur reached for the papers and leaned forward as he took the writing utensil in hand, proceeding to write in the asked information.

"And then of course, a few shirts." Mr. Honda pushed away from his desk and made his way over to a closet in the front corner of the room that Arthur had not seen when he had come in, opening it and glancing back at Arthur. "Do you have a preference in color? We have green, blue, red, and black, purple, pink..." His voice trailed off once more as he examined the inside of the closet himself.

"Oh, green and red will do, if you please." He spoke to the forms as he wrote, just finishing the last of the taxing information.

"All right, I'll grab a few for you." Mr. Honda grabbed two of each color, walking back over to Arthur and setting the shirts beside his forms. "We like to keep the uniform fairly simple, especially since it can get so hot outside; we kept it down to a T-shirt of sorts. You can ware it with any kind of denim pants, as long as they are a black or a shade of blue." He moved back behind his desk and let out a small breath as he sat and pulled himself up to his station of work.

"Okay... Done." Arthur slid the papers back over to Mr. Honda who picked them up to look them over. While he was examining Arthur's information, Arthur looked over to the shirts, taking the green one that lay on top of the stacks in hand. On the front of the shirt in the left corner the words ' Bay Beach Park' were printed in white letters accompanied by a background of what looked like a wooden roller coaster with a few flags on the very it. He flipped the garment over, his brow furrowing as he mouthed the word the large white letters on the back formed. "Games...?"

He blinked for a moment at the shirt, letting out a soft breath before shaking his head, a light smile of nervousness on his lips. "I'm sorry, this says games? I thought you said over the phone that I would be operating the rides?"

Mr. Honda nodded, giving an apologetic smile to his new employee. " About that, you see, it seems I had made a mistake in the paper work I was doing and mixed your name up with another person's that I had just hired. I meant for you to be on games in the first place but got confused at the last moment and told you otherwise."

Arthur's mouth hung open slightly, his eyes widening. Games..?! He thought. You must be bloody joking me, I can't do games! I can't socialize with small children and complete strangers on a daily basis! Not even if I'm getting paid, there's just no way!

Not picking up on Arthur's sudden distress, Mr. Honda continued to speak. "I'm going to be having another employee that works at the game stands show you around and train you for your first few days until you're ready to do everything on your own." He glanced at his wrist watch, furrowing his brow. "He's very late, per usual... He was supposed to be here when the meeting started so that you two could get acquainted... That boy is never on time."

Arthur shook his head, setting the shirt back down onto the table. "I have to apologize; this isn't what I thought it was going to be. I think I'm going to have to-"

His quick retreat was cut short as the door to the office was slammed open, causing him to snap his head towards the cause of the sudden sound.

"Sorry I'm late, Kiku! There was this guy at the basketball stand that you wouldn't believe! He just kept shooting the ball; it was just net after net after net- I couldn't miss it! I mean the guy won two of the giant jellies and a huge ass crocodile, it was awesome!"

Mr. Honda just sighed, obviously use to this kind of thing happening. "Well... At the least you are here now, so you can begin to show him what's what."

The person of topic made his way next to Arthur, giving him a crooked smile as he looked down at his new trainee. "Hiya there, newbie!" Arthur felt his heart rise up in his throat; his pulse becoming quick as he stared up at the person beside him.

As Arthur's wide emerald green eyes met the strangers pair of smiling light blue, he knew then and there that only one thing mattered from this point on- weather or not he had him.

Note from Hiakru

Thank you so much for reading the first chapter of 'Amuse Me'! It's already been a lot of fun writing it, and it would great if you guys kept reading! Feel free to leave any comments; I love to get constructive criticism and opinions! Chapter two will be up in no time I'm sure, I am really trying to keep up with updating. I will try for once a week, but I won't promise anything yet. I'll put all of the translations after my little notes, and they will be in order as they appear in the story! Thank you again!

Italian Translation

"Oh, shit! No you don't you little bastard!"