A/N: Hello readers here is a another story I'm working now to keep me occupied. And thanks to Mel for helping me! But if anyone of you guys seen the movie 'It Takes Two' it was my favorite movie growing up. So why not a USUK version with some future OCS you may see in 'Pull Through' :) Decided to add a few in for sneak peekers since you all are patient with that story! So hope you all enjoy!
Hetalia is owned by Hima-Papa
I do not own 'It Takes Two'
OCs belong to me
It was the bottom of the ninth, all bases were loaded. The only way for the team to win was by this little eight year old girl. She mounted up at the pavement with a red stick as a replacement for a bat in one hand and adjusted her New York Yankees cap with the other. The children already knew that she was a major threat of the sport. The girl could pack a punch and hit this ball downtown into the depth alleyways of Manhattan. Many of the younger kids were calling to one another to back up so none of them would ever miss the long range shot. The girl started to smack her bat at the drawn home plate on the pavement. With three traditional taps for luck she was ready. She stared at her rival: the pitcher. She stared down at him and started to sway her bat slightly. She knew she could hit a home run easily. She just had to wait. The pitcher had a mysterious smirk placed on his face taunting the girl to mess up. She wasn't afraid, as payback she smirked back popping a big bubble from her chewing gum. Both players never lost eye contact. With his violent violet eyes facing her determined forest green gems, the two youngsters were like oil and water, never mixing. The time has come for the final pitch to be thrown.
"Well fans it's the bottom of the ninth and the bases are loaded. And guess who of the orphans are up at bat," One of the younger kids commented using an empty glass coke bottle as his microphone. "That's right Yu!" His co-anchor squealed with excitement. Her baby blues were focused dearly on the moment: the head to head combat between the two rivals of the children's orphanage. She took her coke bottle close to her lips for the big announcement, "It's the homerun queen herself! Am.." The young girl got cut off from her announcement by the noises of the building. "Amelie!" All necks turned, including the young girl, staring at one of the upper windows. "What!?" The younger girl faced the open window revealing a middle age man with massive eyebrows that could take over his face any moment. "Amelie! Didn't I tell you not to play in that dress?!" The older male started to frown with his caterpillars moving closer to one another. "Aw come on Arthur! It's just a dress! I ain't going to hurt it!" Amelie shouted back looking up at the window where Arthur was. He was a kind man even though he really didn't show at the moment.
"Drop the bat and let's go. We have no time dilly dallying!" Arthur shouted out the window. Arthur Kirkland was just a thirty-four year old social worker working at the East Side Children's Center for the underprivileged children in Manhattan. He recently had moved to the states a few years prior to get his degree in social services in a community college which was across town. With the big transitioning between the two countries left the Brit in a tight knot. He could barely afford nice living expenses like hot water, electricity, and space. But he was thankful to what he could manage and he loved coming to work every day to see the kids' smiling faces, especially Amelie's. That little girl was a bright of sunshine towards the Brit. On some days the bouncy American girl would make him pull his hair out, but to him she was always a special treasure that he felt deeply for. But today was a special day. He worked very hard on finding another family for Amelie hoping this day she would find the perfect home to return to. With the interview set on meeting the parents, Arthur sees Amelie messing up her hair in a baseball cap, and when he finally managed her to get in a dress for the occasion she soiled it up with a few smudges and creases.
"Just after I hit this ball Iggy!" Amelie shouted back pleading slightly. She just wanted to beat Dimitre!
"What did I say about that name young lady! You better hit that blasted ball in ten seconds or otherwise the game will be called in the count of bloodshed!" Arthur slammed in the window shut and started to gather his coat and items for the taxi. "Alright! Thanks Iggs!" Amelie shouted and re-focused on the task at hand. Sweet victory here we come.
"Where do you think you going? You'll miss the bus for camp." Dimitre smirked rolling the ball behind his back.
"To some snazzy interview in Staten Island for looksees! Hurry up and throw the ball Dimmy!" Amelie shouted like an impatient child. "They're not placing you with the Goofenhusers are they?" Bella stood up looking terrified, curling her fingertips. Just hearing that name made the girl uneasy. Yu automatically stood up took her hand to comfort her. "What are they? Weenies? I ain't scared!" Amelie cocked her head to the side brushing the joke off to the side. "You haven't met those people? That family collects kids, they take anybody," Yu confirmed in an erry tone in his voice. Amelie rolled her eyes back. Sure it was another family that Arthur wanted her to meet. The girl has her standards. She wanted to stay with her friends in the orphanage and especially with her British social worker. "Yeah. They take rejects like you!" Dimitre slurred in his Russian tongue aggravating the American girl further off her rocker. "Shut up Dimmy! At least I got an interview!"
Dimitre rolled his eyes and threw the ball hoping for a final strike to finish the game. Amelie waited for the perfect moment to strike. After all why would she pass up the chance to beat Dimitre? When the time came she swung her bat and hit the ball perfectly. The ball shot far and wide making all the other players' smiles blown away. "S a home run!" She shouted with glee, dropped her red stick, and started running towards first base. The defending team tried to track down the ball's location. Some of the younger boys spotted the ball a little off from the field's borders. One of them sprinted with all their might finally having the ball in his grasp. He tried the ball has hard as he could and it luckily landed in the middle of the field. Yu and Bella cheered on Amelie who was making her way towards second base with ease. "Go Am go!" Bella cheered with a smile. Yu did the same just more quietly. Arthur was on his way down the stairs and out of the building's doors looking at his watch. The taxi should arrive any moment now. With a glance of yellow coming in his direction, he waved the car over to a stop. The taxi made its way slowly parking on top of home plate blocking off the young girl to score the run. Arthur opened the door of the cab smirking at Amelie coming his way. "Come on. Come on. We can't keep them waiting shall we?" Arthur waved his hand over for Amelie to get inside the taxi.
"Aw man it was grand slam! Do I hafta?" She whined looking at Arthur.
"Have too Amelie," Arthur opened the taxi's door for Amelie to get inside. Once she was settled in, he did the same. "Stanten Island please," Arthur told the driver the directions of the location. Since the day had been a hot one, the windows of the taxi were rolled down giving Dimitre an opportunity. He reached his arm in the opening and tapped Amelie's shoulder with the ball. "You're out! We in!" As the taxi began to drive, Amelia stuck her child sized upper body out of the window and shouted at Dimitre. "You're a dead man Dimmy!"
Arthur pulled the small girl back in her seat. The taxi went on to their destination stopping in an almost nice neighborhood. The house in front of them was decent with a roof, windows, and a door. The landscaping may need a touch up on mowing and trimming, but overall it looked like a house at least. Arthur paid his thanks and fee to the driver. When the taxi left, Arthur stared at the house once more, "Even though it's not Park Ave. You can't judge the book by its cover."
"It looks old and creepy," Amelie commented while looking at the house. The faded green shutters were about to fall off the second story windows. No matter what Arthur had told her, she'd still believed that the house would hold creepy weirdoes. "Iggy I don't like this..."
"You'll be fine. Besides you don't want to be an orphan forever," Arthur guided the girl at the house's front iron fence.
"Psh. No one wants a dumb orphan Iggs. Plus, I like staying with you. Why can't you adopt me?" She questioned walking up towards the house slightly hesitating.
"Wish I could, but I can't on my salary," Arthur tried explaining to her hundreds of times. He would love to have the little girl as a part of his family, but with the money being an issue he sadly couldn't. Arthur didn't have any family close by anyways since all them still lived in England. The Brit wanted to adopt her but it would take a long time to get the amount to finally have Amelie as his own daughter.
"Yeah yeah I know. But still, can't cha get married?!"
"Finding the right person isn't just like buying a car you know. Besides, you deserve both a mother and a father," Arthur opened the front gate allowing Amelie on the front pathway. "Yeah yeah cuz a man has have his standards. It's got to be can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, World Series kinda stuff right?" Amelie muttered secretly hiding her smirk away from Arthur. She and the other kids knew Arthur had a preference to men. They weren't ashamed of him at all. He was generally a wonderful person to work with even though they would fight back from time to time on something silly as escaping bed times and arguing about Arthur's choice of food during meals. And with Yuusuke letting the kids know that in Japanese word for England, Igirisu; the name was a riot all around the orphanage. All the kids at the orphanage would nickname the Brit as 'Iggy', 'Iggs', 'Igg miser', etc. The name fitted him perfectly. The children were in love with him. Amelie could see the potential the Brit had. He would be a wonderful parent too, if he would ever find the right guy.
Arthur blushed on spot from that comment, "Let's focus more about you. Even though they have a ridiculous last name they really like kids and want to meet you."
"What kinda person names their kid with a funky last name like Goofenhuser?! Did the guy's parents hate him as a child?" Amelie questioned while chewing her gum to blow the biggest bubble that Arthur had ever seen.
"Spit it out," Arthur offered his hand. "Hat as well." Amelie pouted and spat her gum out before taking her baseball cap off and gave it to Arthur. Arthur tried to fix the girl's blonde hair so it would be neat and proper before they went through the front door. He tried fixing that strand of hair that kept popping off her head that defied the laws of physics. The Brit gave up after many tries and let her loose to the porch. Amelie had always loved her cap; she wasn't a girly girl like the rest. She gave a heavy sigh with Arthur trying to make her into a little princess for the clients to admire. With the little make-over over, she started making her way up the stairs while sneakily chewing her other piece of gum. "Other gum," Arthur smirked with his hand still out. Busted. Amelie groaned thinking that she would have gotten away with it, and spat her other gum out in Arthur's hand.
"Remember to smile," Arthur smiled back and rang the doorbell. Amelie smiled forcefully and muttered something under her breath about the stupid dress she was wearing and waited. Half expecting for doctor Frankenstein to appear with his monster. Even the doorbell was a bit of a clunker. It didn't sound like a regular -dingdong- that everyone else had own. The sound almost made the little girl cover her ears from the disturbance.
After the door bell had rung two strange figures peeked through the blinds. Finding the visitors they were expecting, both gave out wide smiles prompting weird looks from both Amelie and Arthur. Opening the door was a very plump woman; she was all smiles and glees looking at the little girl in front of her. Her glasses her huge, resting on the bridge of her nose, her eyes appeared to be magnified ten times over to their actual size. Amelie just wanted to laugh, but unfortunately she had to bit her tongue to please Arthur. The other, figuring was her husband, was a lean man with just bones. Pale as a ghost with his blonde hair and clear eyes. His glare was sincere but not as energetic compared to the woman. "Oh look David isn't she the most the prettiest little girl you ever seen? Look at her pretty, little dress!" The man took another look and gave a smile showing he was missing a tooth or two, "She's a keeper isn't she?"
Amelie stared. From first looks, she disliked them very much. Good thing she was a professional in scaring away unwanted parents. "Come in dear. Come in," The woman went in giggling with the man following behind her smiling. This was going to be the most awkward interview that Arthur went. Hey at least they were nice people. "Let's go Amelie."
"Don't wanna..." Amelie complained looking at the strange pair. She shivered as a cold chill rolled over her spine. "Please for me," Arthur took her hand to remind her she is not alone. Amelie sighed and squeezed his hand back and nodded. Walking into the house was equally compared to the outside. Cold. Clammy. Noisy. Even the couch had many stains on it wondering what on earth soaked the material. She walked towards the pair and raised her eyebrow, "You guys look weird."
"Amelie!" Arthur shouted looking embarrassed in front of his clients. "Oh no worries! The dear is scared meeting new people. It is okay." The woman smiled and offered her some type of dry cookie to the young girl. Amelie was all for food, but she declined the offer in a heartbeat. The cookies look the same as the house itself: lifeless and uncharming. With introductions over and done, the group continued to talk into discussion of Amelie's future.
With that awkward interview out of the way, Amelie and Arthur returned back to the orphanage to get everything settled before heading out to summer camp. It had always been tradition for once a week each summer; all the local orphanages in the city would meet up at Lake Minocqua. The Lake was beautiful with lovely scenery of trees and blue skies all around. It was a kid's paradise. That was what the owner of the camp had always dreamt off before she passed away leaving the ownership to her husband. The camp was named 'Jones' after the famous billionaire, Alfred F. Jones. He was a huge millionaire with his biggest success in his smart phone technology. With better service with telephoning and Wi-Fi, everyone on the streets on New York City would crave to have a brand of Jones' special product.
With the bus in front of the building all the children started to get themselves situated, packing their bags and belongings into the brightly colorful convertible. The faculty counted the numbers to make sure each child got the bus before they depart. Arthur was counting again and again but he counted only forty three children. There was supposed to be a total of forty-four. The Brit had a hunch on who was missing. So when he noticed Bella getting on the bus, he caught her shoulder, "Bella where is Amelie?"
"She doesn't want to come," Bella replied back sighing as she went inside and sat next to Yu. Arthur rolled his eyes and went inside the building. He opened up the main room where all the children slept and played. He seen many beds unmade, many toys scattered around the loose board floor. He then finally had eyes on Amelie sitting on her unmade bed. "Hey. What's wrong?"
Amelie curled up with her knees and sighed, "I don't want to go to stupid camp!" She very much resented the idea of going to camp. What was the point of going? Camp will be like the same year after year: playing, sleeping, and eating. This time just wouldn't feel the same as it used to be.
"Well I don't blame you. Look at this place it's a mess." Arthur started to walk his way hoping not to trip on any of the mess on the ground. "Probably take you the whole week just to make your bed."
"I'm not joking! I don't want to go Iggy!" Amelie shouted in his face. "I'm not joking. So I sent the bus ahead of us," Arthur placed his bag on one of the messy tables that many marker, crayons, and colored parchment paper were scattered all around. "You're lying Iggs."
"If I'm lying how much do you wager?"
"Ten bucks."
"Okay I didn't send the bus," Arthur started to tidy up the papers, crayons, and markers on the table. "Give me my money," Amelie muttered with a slight smile. The little girl extended her hand out waiting for her reward to fall into her tiny, sticky fingers. "I will," Arthur finished tidying up and smirked back, "If you tell me what what's wrong." He crossed his arms looking Amelie directly into her forest eyes.
"And you and I can just sit here until you tell me. The truth Amelie."
Amelie sighed and looked up at Arthur with her depressed eyes, "Iggy...I've been in the system for so long...I don't know who my mom was...no pa...and I can't ever be adopted. No one wants a stupid poor skinny orphan," she muttered out.
"Hmm it's about the Goofenhusers isn't it?" Arthur raised an eyebrow figuring out the little girl's concern. With Amelie nodding back slowly, the Brit had succeeded figuring out the mystery.
"It's true though! Dimmy is right. I am a reject. Those people are all I got to offer." Arthur sat next to her, "That is not true. It's just most people want to adopt.."
"Babies. Because they're cuter and better then a stinking runt like me." Amelie mumbled back finishing the Brit's sentence. In the girl's eyes her life was like growing up in the dog pound. Everyone preferred to have a puppy, not some old timer who doesn't wear diapers anymore. "Hey," Arthur wrapped his arm around her shoulder to comfort her, "Listen to me." Amelie tried to hold in her tears but in front of Arthur she was comfortable of letting out her emotions. With a tear sliding down her little check, she rested her head on his shoulder for him to continue.
"I'm going to find you the best home in the entire world. You are a wonderful person. Anybody would be proud that you are their daughter. You make people happy. That's a promise that I will keep Amelie," Arthur started to not tear and rubbed her shoulder to calm herself down. "You said you don't make promises. Remember?" Amelie muttered with a small smile tilting her head up to reach the Brit's eyes. She would always find it cool they have the same eye color. The little girl knew whatever happened, Arthur will be there. He was practically like the only family to her.
"I didn't say I don't make promises, just promises that I can't keep. That is a big difference. Now can we please go to camp?" Arthur stood up and extended his hand out to Amelie. Amelie wiped off tears and turned her frown upside down. She showed her hundred watt smile to Arthur before getting up and hugged the Brit. "Thanks Iggy."
"No problem Amelie. You know I'll always be her for you," Arthur hugged back and later took her hand. "Can I have my ten bucks now?" Amelie questioned with a sly grin while the duo left the door. "We'll see Amelie," Arthur chuckled, "We'll see."