Summary: There were worse things than working at a skating rink, he supposed. He'd have to think of what, but there were worse things.
Rating: K.
Warnings: None to speak of. I think. AU.
Characters/Pairings: England, fem!America, fem!Canada, fem!Japan, Spain, Prussia, mentions of fem!Italy, fem!Romano, and France. USUK, PruCan, mentioned Spamano.
Disclaimer: Maybe one day a fortune cookie will tell me I own Hetalia. Until then…
Author Notes: I really have no reason for this. It just sounded like fun. I would love to see what you people think of it.
8:00
Arthur only needed the money.
If he didn't, there was no way he would be working at a skating rink when he had better things he could be doing.
Especially on Teen Night from eight to eleven-thirty, where the place would be riddled with noisy kids of the middle and early high school variety.
He didn't particularly like it there. Despite the air conditioning unit, it was typically hot and stuffy unless one stood directly in front of the vents, he never really liked the neon green either painted distastefully on the walls or on the fabric known as his uniform, and he especially didn't like the crap pop/pop technically labeled as country music that played… on loop… the entire time… no matter how many times Arthur asked their DJ both politely and impolitely to just not ("Sorry, man, I know it's unawesome music, but you know what's even more unawesome? Unemployment."). If they were going to play pop, couldn't it at least be something good? Damn manager.
After once again helping up the clumsy young woman who didn't appear to grasp the concept of "skating", Arthur saw her walk in.
She was accompanied by two people, one who could easily be and probably was her sister, and another who was quite likely not. He thought nothing of it then.
She was cute, but he didn't admit it to himself then. Or after.
"Ve~, thanks again!" The clumsy young woman said, and skated off. Perhaps she would stay up for more than five minutes this time.
8:30
"And so she's kind of the type who you have problems guessing what she's thinking sometimes, but do you think she would prefer a red or green color?" Antonio was asking from his place behind the food counter.
"As if I know what color your psy—your girlfriend prefers." Arthur replied, only half interested in the conversation.
"Yeah, but I want her to be happy and everything, so, you know!"
"Won't she be happy with anything you get her?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe! I think red would be better, don't you?"
"If you think so. She does turn red a lot."
"Yeah! She's so cute like that!" I don't think I'd call it cute. Although that might be because he usually saw his girlfriend turn red from anger.
"Hey, mister British guy!" She was looking at him expectantly, with bright blue eyes that shone with a certain general kind of happiness—like the excitement around her fueled her good mood. "I need to get a drink!"
"Right, sorry." Arthur moved out of the way while she got a Pepsi from Antonio.
"No problem. Hey, when does the rink close?"
"Eleven-thirty." Arthur replied, mildly surprised. Did she not know that? Maybe she just randomly walked in. He had figured that she, like most of the teenagers littering the place, were here because admission was half-off.
"Sweet!" She pumped the arm not holding her Pepsi in her cheer. "Bye!" She skated off, calling, "Maddie! Maddie!"
He still thought nothing of her.
8:45
He was pretty sure that this was the first time the group of girls had been there. At the rink. He was pretty sure they all knew how to skate.
The probably-sister, presumably the Maddie from earlier, was very wobbly on her in-lines, trying hard not to fall with a touch of dignity. By the time the forty-five minute mark rolled around, she looked much more used to what she was doing, and started easily making it around the track, but still frowned nervously every now and then.
The second, the friend, a small Asian girl, showed a little expertise on her simpler roller skates, and even her skating had a hint of elegance and grace to it. She continually helped the sister with words of encouragement and bringing her along, but said sister didn't really need it now.
The girl with bright blue eyes was obviously accustomed to things like this, as, even though she started cautiously, slowly working around the rink, she quickly and easily began accelerating and speeding along the rink with a lot of laughter. She also began turning back and forth, doing light tricks on her skates, always to the beat of the song playing overhead. She once tried to pull her sister along, but that didn't end as well, for either her or the clumsy young woman who had finally figured out what was she was doing.
Arthur had been the one to fix the result, which Ally apologized for before trying once again to drag her sister around, only for Arthur to break that up. Ally had pouted, but skated off on her own with a little help from the Asian girl.
Arthur thought her amusing, but told himself he thought nothing of it.
9:20
"So, mister British guy," Arthur jumped when he heard her voice. She was looking at him expectantly again. He couldn't be in her way this time, so he didn't know what she wanted.
"My name's Arthur, git," he said on impulse. He refused to allow "Mister British Guy" to be any nickname. Because if Gilbert picked it up… well, then everything went downhill from there.
"I'm Ally, not 'git'!" She returned with a grin. "Anyway, Mister British Guy," He frowned in disapproval, "I need your help with an argument!"
"Why?" He eyed her warily.
"Because you're here!" That hardly seemed like any reason to bother him during work (not to say he was doing anything important). "Now. Maddie said that Coke is better, but I like Pepsi and Kiku won't get in the middle of it and—"
"Ally, it's not an argument," Maddie called out, rushing up to her sister stumbling slightly on her skates. "Sorry, she gets passionate about this sort of thing. It really wasn't any sort of argument." She glanced back towards the rink. "Kiku, I found her!"
"It's the dispute of the century!" Ally argued.
"Yeah, back in the Eighties." Arthur said, unimpressed. "And Pepsi."
Her face brightened in a way that totally did not make Arthur's heart skip a beat. "See, Maddie, I win!"
"Ally, you can't win something that wasn't a fight." Maddie sighed and looked back at Arthur. "Again, sorry about her."
"It's fine, don't worry." Arthur gave her a slight smile, something quickly returned, before the two rushed off.
He told himself he still thought nothing of her. But maybe he did.
10:00
She had started out cautiously, yes.
But, after a while, her speeding around the rink turned into spins. Those spins had turned into more spins, skating backwards, and dancing. On her skates, in the rink. She sang along to whatever crap pop played, evidently knowing every word by heart, and showed quite the expertise with balancing on her skates as she jumped off the ground.
Arthur waited for her to fall, but that didn't happen, so he idly wondered where she learned to skate and dance like that.
"Dude, spotlight the dancing chick!" Arthur's head snapped up at the laugh of Gilbert's voice.
He didn't expect them to, but apparently Francis (that bastard) thought the idea amusing, and as such, the room darkened and a spotlight appeared on the dancing girl.
"Hey, everybody, that's Ally F. Jones, give her a hand!" A lot of people applauded Ally, who apparently either did not notice the attention or waved it off, and kept dancing, chanting "T-G-I-F" in a surprisingly strong voice with the widest smile he'd ever seen (not counting Antonio's) on her face. Gilbert kept talking, his voice quieter, like he had forgotten to turn off the microphone. "Thanks for the name, Maddie!" There was a pause, and his voice, much louder, returned. "That thank you was only meant for this awesome girl, Maddie Williams; you people have nothing to be thanked for. Seriously, you don't even help my paycheck."
"Wow, she's really good, isn't she?" Antonio commented, not watching the display but looking at Arthur.
"I guess." He shrugged, attempting nonchalant, watching the smile on Ally's face as she laughed and sang and danced along to the music. She looked radiant, standing out in the middle of the crowd, absorbed in her dance like nothing else mattered.
So maybe he thought something of her. Just a little.
10:25
He didn't know when, but he had spaced out while watching over the rink. There wasn't much happening, so he had started thinking about whatever came to mind, spinning stories, creating images, following trains of thought wherever they may lead.
He immediately snapped out of it when a rush of red, blonde, and blue appeared in front of him, "Man, I'm tired." The rush formed into Miss Ally F. Jones, supreme skater-dancer and apparently very exhausted.
"Not surprising, given how much energy you put into the dancing." Arthur replied.
Her head whipped around to face him, and she smiled. "Hi! It's so much fun here! I knew it was a good idea when Kiku suggested it!" she greeted in between large breaths. She sat out every few songs to regain her breath—he only happened to notice, thank you very much and have a nice day.
"I've seen better places," he commented dryly.
"But this place is so much fun! It kind of reminds me of the bowling alley!"
"Which one?" They had three within thirty miles and number more beyond that.
"The big one! I work there and everything, so, you know, I'm around neon lights and stuff a lot. I really love it! Do you ever go there?"
"Sometimes. I've never seen you there, though." Arthur didn't mention he hadn't gone there since a certain incident involving Gilbert and company that he didn't appreciate being reminded of.
She shrugged, "Same here. It must be amazing working here, huh?"
"Like I said, I've seen better."
"But it's such a great place!"
"To you, maybe."
"You're so… pessimistic!" she laughed as if that wasn't something of an insult. "Heroes should be more optimistic!"
"I'm not a hero." Arthur raised an eyebrow. Last he checked, he was a skating rink employee.
"An anti-hero, then!" Did she label everyone as such? "And I am a hero!" She probably did. Wonder who the villains are in her mind. "I'm gonna get one of those churros. Are they any good?"
"Antonio says they are, but I don't trust him on that subject." Arthur shrugged.
"Well, then I'm trying one! Bye!" She skated off, just as their ever-lovely DJ's voice sounded.
"Mister British Guy, you are needed in the DJ Cove!"
Shit.
Well, he probably did think something of the girl who favored Pepsi and pop music. Not that much.
11:00
"All right, we're doing a couple's song. If you don't have a partner to skate with, get out of the rink," Gilbert, in his usual display of tact, was talking into the microphone. "Maddie! Come back when I'm off duty and we can skate, too!"
Arthur glanced towards where Maddie was with her sister and friend, turning a steadily deepening shade of red at the statement. He smiled in sympathy, despite the fact she wouldn't catch it.
"Go ask him, Mad!" Ally encouraged, literally dragging her sister. Didn't we say a while ago not to do that? "I'll go with Kiku!"
"Ally-chan, maybe you shouldn't, since the staff said not to…" The Asian girl tried to protest, only to trail off when Ally had successfully brought Maddie to Arthur.
"Artie, Artie," Oh god, another nickname. Through unknown means (cough-Maddie-cough-cough-Antonio-cough), Gilbert had already acquired "Mister British guy", and he really didn't want the DJ to get "Artie" to add to his collection. "I need a favor."
"You need a favor," Arthur repeated dryly.
"Yeah, can you go be DJ for a while so that guy can come dance with Mad, please, please, please?" She tried to give him her best doe eyes, which looked kind of like a combination of fully-functional doe eyes and the effect of some sort of narcotic.
"Ally, they're both working. Don't do things like this!" Maddie protested. "I-I really don't mind, you don't have to," she told Arthur. "I can just come back some other time and—"
"See, you do want to! Please, please, please?" Ally begged. "Only 'till the couples thing is over?" She apparently fixed her doe eyes look to be much more effective.
… Not on him, mind you. Just more effective.
He sighed, ignoring the red that tinged his cheeks. "Fine. I'll go get Gilbert."
For the record, it was not because he thought something of her.
11:30
"Today was fun, huh, Kiku?" Ally asked. At some point, she and her little Asian friend and invaded the DJ booth where Arthur was shutting off the music. Lights above the rink also shut down one by one, leaving the ones around it as the only ones to illuminate the room. "We should come back every week!"
"It was very enjoyable, Ally-chan." She agreed happily. She had a way of smiling softly, a little hint of a smile.
"Oi, you two," Arthur interrupted (what were they even doing in here?). "We're closing up."
"Aww, already?" Ally pouted. "Can we stay and help with the closing up?"
"I don't think so, actually. You don't work here."
"Ally-chan, our ride is getting impatient…" Kiku told her, checking her phone. She looked back up at Arthur. "It was nice meeting you, Arthur-san. Come on, Ally-chan, we have to find Maddie-chan."
"Fine… by Arthur! Maybe we'll see you at the bowling alley sometime!" She waved happily and quickly walked out the booth (for which Arthur needed to get the key from Gilbert to lock up). She sent the Brit a cheerful smile before she, her sister, and her friend left the building, Ally complaining about their impatient ride in a way that wasn't adorable. Really. No matter what anyone said.
See you later, then…
He hoped.