So this is a Titanic AU I've had in mind for quite a while with Rose!England/Jack!America (because that is so very original), where Cal wasn't France and the 'gay arranged marriage in 1912 thing' made sense. It involves completely gutting the movie and changing several characters/motives, most notable being Cal is both Switzerland and Liechtenstein, but the whole thing never really got off the ground.

Instead, every now and then I may get an urge to take a scene from the Titanic movie and Hetaliaize it into this AU. Please note that because its based on what I feel like doing, the chapters will be out of order, but I assume most of you have seen the movie anyway and know what's going on (spoilers: the boat hits an iceberg and sinks). If I ever actually do finish the whole movie, I'll go back and put them in order, but until then let's see if it works this way.

Characters/Pairings for this chapter: USUK, mentions of Switzerland, England/Liechtenstein, Italy, past America/Romano, America/Japan.

Enjoy.

Arthur Kirkland had no idea what he was doing. Certainly he was grateful to the boy for not only preventing him from jumping off the ship, but for also being discreet about his reasons for doing so, but he had already thanked him the night before, and he'd see him later tonight at dinner. There was no need to actually invite Alfred Jones up to the first class deck and spend all afternoon with him talking about, well, just about everything.

"And that's how I ended up in England," Alfred finished with a smile. A silence fell between them for the first time that day before he cleared his throat and said, "So, uh, walking around the deck with you has been nice, but I'm guessing you didn't call me up here to hear about my life story."

"Quite right," he sighed before looking out over the ocean as they kept walking, "Mr. Jones-"

"Alfred," he interrupted, "Call me Alfred, or Al if you want."

"Alfred, I wanted to thank you for what you did yesterday. Not just for, stopping me, but also for your discretion."

"Well, you're welcome," Alfred smiled and winked at him, "All in a hero's work."

"I know what you must be thinking," Arthur looked anywhere but those too blue eyes as his cane thumped against the deck with every step, "Poor rich boy, what does he know about misery?"

"No," Alfred stopped to lean against the railing, making Arthur stop as well, "No, what I was thinking was what could have happened to him to make him think that he had no way out."

"Well," that was none of his business. He'd only known the boy for less than a day, and as a gentleman it would be rude and inappropriate to tell him anything about his personal life. Then again, it's not like Arthur had anyone else to talk to, Alfred seemed concerned enough despite being almost a complete stranger, and if he kept it all inside any longer he felt like he was going to implode. Who was Alfred going to tell anyway, the rats in steerage? Besides, he didn't have to tell him the whole story, just part of it.

Arthur stepped forward to lean against the railings and stare out over the ocean, "It was just, my whole world and everybody in it, and the inertia of my life plunging ahead and me, powerless to stop it. But, I wouldn't expect…"

"Me to understand?" Alfred grinned at him, "Just try me."

"I'm getting married," Arthur closed his eyes and sighed, "A week after we reach America, I'm getting married. 500 invitations have been sent out, everyone of influence will be there, and all the while I feel like I'm standing in the middle of a crowded room, screaming at the top of my lungs and no one even looks up, and-" he grit his teeth and willed himself to calm down before opening his eyes and finding Alfred's, "and there's nothing I can do."

Alfred was frowning, for once, and seemed to be mulling something over, "What's her name?"

"Lili," Arthur gripped the railing and looked back at the ocean, "Lili Zwingli, heiress to the Zwingli fortune."

"Never heard of them," Arthur furrowed his eyebrows, but Alfred just leaned back against the railing with that pondering look in his eye, "Is she nice?"

"Yes, she's very, sweet," he shrugged, "Very quiet."

"Do you love her?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow as he glanced over at Alfred, who was staring intensely at the deck. "That's a bit personal of a question isn't it?"

"It's pretty simple," Alfred kept his gaze down and away, but Arthur noticed a hint of pink dusting his cheeks, "Do you love her or not?"

"No," Arthur answered honestly, causing Alfred to go wide eyed and stare at him, "I don't love her," he looked back out over the ocean, "It's an arranged marriage. My personal feelings about her don't matter. I like her well enough; she's a good girl from a good family and will make a fine wife."

"Yeah, but," Alfred bit his lip, "Why not? Is it because she's hideous?"

That earned him a smack on the head with the cane, "I'm not shallow! A-and for your information, she's quite lovely."

"Alright, I get it," he rubbed his head, "Is she just… not your type?"

For reasons he couldn't fathom, that lone comment made his face heat up, "I, I suppose you could say that."

"So, would," Alfred's face went red as he focused his gaze on his feet, "would, someone like me be more your type?"

Arthur froze, one major thought running through his mind: He knows he knows he knows he knows he knows. The same images that passed through his mind when Vash confronted him about it did so now: Alfred telling everyone, him being disowned and disallowed his inheritance, having to roam the streets penniless for food and shelter. There was only one way Arthur could get out of it: deny everything.

"W-What are you implying?" Arthur pushed himself off the railing, "That's, this is absurd! You don't know me and I don't know you and we are not having this conversation at all," he turned to glare at Alfred, who had the nerve to look shocked, "You are rude and uncouth and presumptuous, and, and I'm leaving," he tilted his top hat and extended his hand to Alfred, "Alfred – Mr. Jones, it's been a pleasure," his voice dripped sarcasm as they shook hands, "I sought you out to thank you and I have thanked you-"

"And you've insulted me," he pointed out as a knowing smile crept on his face, still shaking his hand.

Arthur froze, "W-well, you deserved it," and tightened his grip on his hand.

"Right," Alfred agreed, still smirking, and damnit, he knew and Arthur needed to do something about it.

"Right," he responded, not letting go of his hand.

An awkward pause occurred, before Alfred pointed out, "I thought you were leaving."

"I am," Arthur finally let go of his hand go and shoved past him. He stopped and turned to add a, "You are so annoying," just in case, being the dimwit he was, he couldn't figure it out on his own.

It was fine. Yes, he knew, but he was in steerage. Even if he did tell anyone of importance at dinner tonight, no one would believe him. And as for the people in steerage who would believe him, well, they don't matter anyway. Even if they did know he was…different, what could they do?

Then it hit him, "Wait a moment," he stormed back to where Alfred was still standing, his smile amused, "I don't have to go anywhere. This is my part of the ship," he banged his cane against the deck to articulate his point, "you leave."

"Well well well," he leaned against the railing and smirked down at Arthur, "now who's being rude?"

Arthur glared at him, all relaxed and carefree while he was standing there ruining Arthur's life, everything he had worked for would be ruined forever because he knew and even if most people in first class wouldn't believe him, it only took one person to take him seriously and it was all over.

Arthur felt like taking out some misplaced aggression on him and snatched the portfolio he had been carrying around all day, "What is this stupid thing you're carrying around?" he held his cane with his elbow as he flipped through the sketches in it, "What are you an artist or something?"

"Actually, that's my friend Feliciano's," he sheepishly admitted, "I'm just holding it for him."

"These are rather good," he noted as he made his way to one of the deck chairs, "These are… very good, actually," he barely noticed Alfred sitting down in the chair next to his, leaning just a little too close to look at the pictures over his shoulder, "Who did you say your friend was again?"

"Feliciano Vargas," Arthur glanced over to see his ridiculous smile, "We met in Italy and he's been traveling with me all across Europe, drawing what he sees."

"Mostly people, I see."

"He likes drawing people the best, says they're 'God's greatest piece of art.' I wasn't raised Catholic, so I don't really get it."

"Mostly women…"

"Yeah, says something about their curves making them fun to draw."

"Mostly…naked women…"

Alfred laughed, cheerful and booming, at that, "Yeah, he's really good at getting women to take their clothes off for him. Surprised he's still a virgin."

"W-Well," Arthur flipped to the next page, full of sketches of the same man. The same man took up three more pages of sketches, in fact, "He seems to… like this man."

"We met him in Germany, Ludwig something or other. Usually Feli only goes after women to sit down and model for him, but for some reason he really wanted to draw this guy, kept chasing him down and bugging him until he just gave in. Feli can be persistent when he wants something."

"I'll bet," Arthur quickly flipped through a set of sketches of Ludwig without his shirt. He stopped at a sketch of another man, with darker hair, a small flyaway curl sticking out, and a scowl that appeared to be permanent. The face was drawn with such detail it was as if it was the artist's own, "Is this your friend?"

"W-what?" Arthur looked over to see Alfred's face a tad pink, "N-no, that's not Feli. It's his brother, Lovino."

"Is Lovino on the ship too?"

"No," Alfred's voice grew sad as he looked out over the ocean, "He's in Spain, I think, I'm guessing. I met the Vargas brothers when I first got to Italy, and they took me in, were real nice about it, even if they didn't have much to offer. Lovino and I were, uh," his cheeks grew darker, "close, but one day I woke up, and he wasn't there. Feli decided to come traveling with me after that."

Arthur looked back at the picture, at the painstaking detail the artist put into it, as if he didn't want to forget one tiny feature of the brother who left him, "Why do you think he's in Spain?"

"He was always talking about Spain," came the reply.

Arthur decided not to press it and flipped through some more pages and stopped on one of an oriental looking woman, "You've been to China?"

"Yeah, not Feli though," Alfred was back to looking over his shoulder, "I kinda went west from my hometown, so I hit Asia before Europe. I've been telling Feli about it though, and he's been drawing some of the people I'm describing to him."

"I see," he carefully traced a finger over the woman's hair, "What's her name?"

"Yao."

"Yao? Yao's a male name, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yeah, well," Alfred reached over and turned the page, "Clearly, he is male."

"O-oh, I see," Arthur's face went red as he quickly flipped to the next page, "Who's this?"

"Yong Soo," Alfred smiled at the memory, "He was working in Japan when I met him, but he was a really happy guy, and a friend of Yao's. He helped me get passage to China from Japan."

"You've been to Japan?"

"Yeah, like I said, I just went west. Eventually I hit Japan."

"You do get around, for a po-" he stopped himself and tried again, "A person with, limited means-"

"I'm poor, you can say it," he tilted his head and laughed in a way that wasn't charming, "Have you ever been to Japan?"

"No, I've heard stories about it, and I've wanted to go, but I've never gotten around to it."

"It's an interesting place, a little bit of the new mixed in with some of the old. Nothing like you've probably heard."

Arthur hummed in agreement as he turned the page, ignoring when Alfred leaned a little closer. The next page was full of sketches of the same Japanese man, almost as much detail put into him as the sketch of Lovino, "And who's this?"

"That's Kiku. Kiku Honda, or Honda Kiku, I guess, since the names are reversed there," Alfred's eyes seemed to be looking at something worlds away, "He was the first person I met in Japan, and-"

"He took you in?" Arthur guessed as he looked down at the man on the paper's pleasant smile, "That sounds familiar."

"Yeah, well," he chuckled, "I was half dead when I got to Japan and mostly alright when I got to Italy."

"Half dead?" Arthur blinked, "Don't tell me you swam across the ocean?"

"Don't be silly Arthur! I'm not that stupid. It's just, stowing away isn't the safest way to travel you know…"

"I see," he lightly traced a finger over the picture so as not to smudge it, "He seems, more detailed, I suppose, then the others. I mean, from the one's your friend drew from your descriptions as opposed to them modeling for him."

"Yeah, well, I guess I talk about Kiku a lot," the faint blush was back on Alfred's cheeks.

And suddenly it clicked in Arthur's mind, "Were you two…close?"

Alfred responded with a nervous chuckle, "Y-yeah, you could say that."

He noticed the hint of sadness in his voice this time, "What happened to him?"

"He could never leave Japan. And as nice a place as it is to visit, I could never settle down there forever."

"You sound like you're incapable of settling down anywhere, Alfred."

"Not true. I could settle down back home in America, if I met the right person," Arthur looked up to see that Alfred was staring right at him.

Arthur blushed and looked back at the picture of Kiku, his pleasant smile and understanding eyes. Perhaps Alfred did understand. Perhaps, despite their opposite lifestyles, they were actually very much the same. Perhaps he could trust him with this.

Even if he couldn't, Arthur was simply tired of living a lie.

"I, yes," he slammed the portfolio shut and stared resolutely at the ocean, "That is to say, yes, someone, someone like you would be more my type then Lili. I'm not saying that you personally would be my type, rather, someone like you-"

"I understand," Alfred smiled as he took the portfolio back, "But… why the wedding then?"

"It's different, for me," Arthur retroactively glanced around the deck to see their section devoid of any eavesdroppers, "If word were to get around that I was…different, me, my family, we would be ruined. I'm a Kirkland, I can't let that happen."

"So, why Lili?" he snapped his head back to see Alfred frowning at the deck, "Does she know? Does she even get a say?"

"I don't think so," Arthur sighed as he leaned back in the chair, "And she gets about as much say in this as I do. The marriage was arranged by my parents and her brother."

"Does he know?"

"Yes, he does."

Alfred seemed surprised by that, "But why? Why would he put his sister into a loveless marriage like that?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," he shook his head before bringing a knee to his chest and resting his chin on it, "The Zwinglis, although very rich, are still considered new money. The Kirklands, on the other hand, are from very old money that, unfortunately, is running out. It's simple really: she and her brother get titles, and my family gets wealth again. Love has very little to do with any of that."

"But if he knows -"

"That's the whole point," Arthur's grip on his leg tightened, "Even facing destitution, my family is stubborn. They wouldn't marry me off to just anyone unless they knew a secret that would completely ruin us like Vash does. If our families were joined, however-"

"Then he couldn't tell anyone without running himself as well?" Alfred was looking right at him now, and Arthur found it impossible to look away as he nodded, "That's, really unfair, for both of you," he placed his hand next to Arthur's resting on the armrest.

Arthur looked down at their almost touching hands, reveling in the warmth the other gave off, and couldn't help the small smile on his face. He closed his eyes to get his emotions under control, but left his hand where it was. Perhaps in another place or another time, they could have…

"Yes, it is. But that, dear Alfred, is life."