PandaG's contribution to the 2017 APH Rare Pair exchange on Tumblr. Happy Holidays, Cherry!

Human names:
Lovino - South Italy
Alfred - America
Feliciano - North Italy
Matthew - Canada

Home for the Holidays

"Due to adverse weather conditions, the following flights have been suspended until further notice. Delta 1141, 5608…"

Lovino stared up at the loudspeaker, feeling like he was part of some meerkat colony as everyone around him did the same. As the list of cancelled flights continued and the groans and complaints of waylaid travelers grew in number and volume, he decided it was more like a pride of lions. Above him, as the board showing scheduled international flights turned from yellows to reds, he joined the rest with a groan of frustration.

Flight 6735 to Rome, Italy: Cancelled.

Looked like he was going to be spending another extra day in New York. And on Christmas Eve, too! He'd promised Feliciano that he would make it back in time. At this rate, he wasn't going to make it home until New Year's.

Lovino cursed under his breath, stood up, and slung his bag over his shoulder. There was no point in sitting around to wait for a miracle. If he didn't want to spend the night getting neck cramps in some crappy airport chair, he needed to fight his way through the mob of other people looking for a new flight and/or a hotel. "Probably worse than lions," he grumbled under his breath. "Lions are lazy. These people are vicious. Feliciano should start a new ad campaign for Gladiator Tours, featuring an airport line. He can do the traveling himself next time, too."

"No, no! I have to be there tonight!"

Lovino's train of thought was interrupted by a young man arguing with one of the desk clerks. He rolled his eyes and glowered at the back of the man's blonde head. As if he was the only one who had to get somewhere. Did this guy think they all sat in the same cramped plane cabin, breathing in each other's germs and listening to babies scream for 8 hours because it was fun?

The man continued on, oblivious to Lovino's glares. "That's not good enough. I don't want a voucher, I've got enough frequent flyer miles to get around the world twice. I just want to get to there on time! Don't you have anything leaving today? The storm isn't that bad yet. I'll take any seat, I don't care, and it doesn't have to be to Vancouver. I'll even take domestic! Bellingham International is only like an hour away…"

The crowd around Lovino pressed closer, a thousand different voices trying to go a hundred different places, all smelling of stale air and wearing over-warm winter sweaters. Lovino's head started to pound. He liked traveling well enough, didn't really mind flights since his company usually paid for business class seats, but he hated airports. There were too many strangers getting far too close.

Lovino rubbed his temples. The lines on either side of him had moved, but the man in front of him at the desk was still trying to argue his way on to another flight, as though he was more important than the rest of them, as though the staff could control the weather. If he said one more thing about how special he was, Lovino was going to lose it.

"I've got family to be with! Don't you know that it's Christmas Eve?!" the man shouted.

"YES, she knows it's Christmas Eve!" Lovino snapped, and the man whirled around. "We ALL KNOW what day it is, and we ALL want to be with our families! You're no better than the rest of us, so unless you have some magic weather powers to make the snow stop, you can take what you get and shut the fuck up so the rest of us can MOVE ON!"

The man – young, blonde, blue-eyed, and tanned like a Hollywood wannabe – stared at Lovino with his jaw hanging open. So did the clerk. So did the people in the crowd around them. Lovino's face started to burn red. He took a breath and counted to ten, slowly unclenching his fists and letting them fall back to his sides. "Um…"

The woman behind him laughed and clapped Lovino on the back. "Well, someone had to say it. Move along, sir! We all want to go home."

The man at the desk shut his mouth and turned red. He grabbed the voucher the clerk had given him in the first place from the desk, picked up his luggage, and muttered a cursory "thanks" to the clerk. Embarrassed and fuming, the man moved away.

Triumphant at last, Lovino stepped up to the desk – just as the phone rang and the harried clerk turned to answer it, leaving him to wait for another ten minutes. Lovino considered banging his head on the nearest wall.

XXX

About an hour later, Lovino was stuck in yet another crowd of angry travellers as they tried to beat one another to the few taxis willing to brave the oncoming snowstorm. He pulled his coat tighter around him and squirmed his way through, keeping his eyes and ears open. There were only so many hotels in the area, so there was a good chance he could share a car with someone else.

"The Hilton on New Queens? You got it. Here-"

Lovino spurred himself in the direction of the voice, arriving as a heavily bundled passenger was shutting the door. "Wait! I'm going to the Hilton too. I'll split the fare with you, if that's alright."

"Oh, awesome!" said the passenger, pushing the door back open. "Come on in, it's freezing out there! Got luggage for the trunk?"

"No, only the one bag. It was supposed to be a short trip," Lovino replied. He slid into the cab, instantly relieved as the door cut off the howling of the wind and the people.

"Yeah? That was probably smart. I've got a big bag in the back, plus my carry-on. I usually only need the one bag, but I promised to stay for a couple weeks and it's supposed to be really cold," said the other passenger.

Lovino nodded in reply, hoping that would be all the small talk required. He sighed and loosened his scarf, watching the airport fade away in the snow.

The other passenger did not stop talking, but at least he didn't seem to care if Lovino participated in the conversation or not. "This weather is crazy. It's never like this in December – well, not never, obviously. But I've lived in New York my whole life, and until you get further upstate we don't get much snow before January. Guess someone wished a little too hard for a white Christmas, eh? It's pretty and all, but I'd rather be on the plane! Can't believe they grounded everything. I might look up Newark, see if their flights are all grounded too, or maybe Philly International. There's no way I could drive there on time, but I could grab some Amtrak tickets real quick. The Amtrak trains are great. Get you from one city to the next in no time flat. Bit expensive, though, now that I'm thinking about it, and they might not be running either."

The man glanced at Lovino, and he gave a non-committal hum in response. Lovino had found that most Americans living in the city would go out of their way to avoid interacting with strangers. Apparently he was just lucky today.

"So, where are you from? I'm from New York, like I said, but I can't really head home. It's on the other side of the city; took me long enough to get here today already, and then the security - I can't believe they want to make us go through all that again. Guess it pays to be cautious, though. Anyway, I already gave my key to a buddy so he could feed my cat, so I'd be stuck outside of my own apartment. At least it's starting to warm up in here, right?"

Lovino hummed again. He wished the man hadn't said anything about the temperature. Now he needed to take off his hat and tug his coat open a little, only to do it all up again in the next five minutes when they arrived at the hotel. The man was doing the same, and it was only when he pulled off his hat that Lovino realized why his voice was so familiar. Blonde. Blue-eyed. Hollywood tan.

"Oh God it's you," he groaned before he could stop himself.

"Huh?" said the man, then he saw Lovino's face and groaned as well. "You!"

"Of all the taxis I could have climbed into–"

"You're the guy who yelled at me! You made me look like a total asshole in front of everyone!" the man shouted.

It was only then that Lovino realized that Hollywood tan probably came with Hollywood muscles (which he was definitely not checking out earlier at the airport). He shifted closer to the door, wondering if the taxi driver would just keep driving if he managed to jump out. He didn't want to be stuck in here with an angry man who was probably a professional wrestler or something, given his current streak of luck.

"Look, um, I'm sorry – ok, I'm not sorry I yelled at you because you were being an ass, but I didn't need to do it in front of everyone, and as soon as we get to the hotel we never have to see each other again, right? So, uh, please don't kill me," said Lovino.

"Kill you?" said the man, looking startled. "Oh, no, dude – you've got it all wrong. I want to apologize. You were right, I definitely deserved the verbal ass-kicking. I wasn't being fair to that woman, or to anyone else. We were all frustrated. So, um, thanks for bringing me to my senses, I guess," said the man, scratching the back of his head.

Lovino's mouth dropped open. Years as a fluent speaker of sarcasm had prepared him to run when his mouth got him into trouble. This was new.

Apparently unable to handle any amount of silence, the man continued, "So, um…yeah. I'm sorry I lost my temper. I'm just worried, y'know? I'm visiting my brother for the holiday. He gets lonely, and it's my job to take care of him. We live really far from each other most of the time though, so it's hard to visit, and then when we do make plans I sometimes forget and he gets sad-"

Lovino must have made a face, because the man suddenly cut himself off and looked away again. "Sorry. I babble when I get nervous. I'm probably annoying you even more now."

"You're going to see your brother?" Lovino asked. The mention of family resonated with him, and the way the man talked about his brother was all too familiar.

"Yeah," said the man. He smiled a little, apparently pleased that Lovino decided to speak with him after all. "Mattie – Matthew. He lives in Vancouver, Canada. He's a park ranger, really outdoorsy. Loves nature and hiking and fixing up baby animals and stuff. He found an abandoned bear cub once. Brought it home and helped it survive. Now he has this huge freakin' bear that comes by his house all the time and leaves him fish."

Lovino blinked. "A bear? And I thought my brother was bad. He's always feeding stray cats, and then he lets them in the house! I tell him not to – we've rescued too many already. But I'll probably come home to at least one more."

The man's smile widened, and Lovino felt his heart give a sudden pound. Hollywood tan, Hollywood muscles, and a Hollywood smile, too. "Yeah? Mattie's the one who rescued my cat, too. Asked me to look after it for "a couple of days." Four years later, the cat sleeps on my bed and likes to yowl at 3 AM. Keeps out the mice, though. Oh – I'm Alfred, by the way."

The man held out his hand, and Lovino shook it. "Lovino. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise!" said Alfred. "Lovino, huh? That's a cool name. Where're you from?"

"Italy, around Rome. My brother and I run a tourism business with our grandfather. I do a lot of the traveling for promotions, conferences, that sort of thing. Feliciano – that's my brother – does design and advertising, and customer service. I'm good at networking with business contacts, but he's better with the customers. He doesn't yell at them when they take too long at the front desk." Lovino offered a smile of his own, and Alfred laughed.

"Yeah, I can see that. Graphic design for a travel agency, huh? I'll have to keep that in mind in case Plan A falls through. I'm going to school for game design and programing, so I can work on video games. But I know it's not an easy field to get into," said Alfred.

"Nothing is. I guess I'm lucky I actually like the family business," Lovino replied.

The taxi came to a stop under the awning of a hotel, where Alfred insisted on paying for the whole fare. Lovino tried to help Alfred with his luggage in return, and could barely lift the suitcase a couple inches out of the trunk. "What the hell do you have in here, a body?!"

Alfred laughed. "Christmas presents, wrapped nice and snug. Mattie loves hockey, and his gear is all worn out."

Once again, Lovino caught himself staring as Alfred hefted the suitcase out of the cab and onto the curb like it weighed nothing. "What is this Captain America bullshit?" he muttered. "Unfair."

"What?"

"I said you're unfair. Now I can't pay you back for the taxi."

"How 'bout a drink?" said Alfred. "There's a bar in this hotel, and if we're stuck here for the night we might as well have a little Christmas cheer."

Lovino had to admit, the man had a point. Plus, he was starting to hope he could see those Hollywood muscles without the puffy jacket covering them. "Alright, yeah. Let me call my family first, and we can meet back in the bar."

XXX

"Look, I'll be home as soon as I can. And tell grandpa I am not going to tell them I'm in the mafia! Have either of you seen American airport security lately? That's more likely to get me stripped naked and arrested than on the next plane," Lovino growled into the phone. He was tired and frustrated, and hearing his family was making him homesick. Plus, he never could be sure if his grandfather's suggestions were serious. Lovino was half-convinced that the old man really was in the mafia at some point.

"I thought that's what you were doing with – what did you call him? Mr. Hollywood?" said Feliciano.

Lovino instantly turned pink, glad that his brother couldn't see him over the phone and gladder still that he was alone. "I am NOT! I said I'm going to have a drink with the guy, and that's only because there's nowhere else to go!"

Feliciano laughed. "Whatever you say, Lovi. But take a picture, ok? I want to see the one who managed to frustrate you into a date!"

"It's not a date! And he didn't frustrate me into anything – except yelling at him, and that was one time!" Lovino sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Honestly, he reminds me of you. That's why I'm going. He's got a brother he's trying to see. If all else fails we can complain about how annoying brothers are."

"And how much you miss us."

Lovino smiled a little. "Yeah, that too. Merry Christmas, Feliciano. I'll call you as soon as I have a flight."

"Merry Christmas! Stay safe and snuggled where it's warm, ok? I want you home in one piece. Plus, if you catch a cold you'll be really grumpy," Feliciano replied.

"Careful what you wish for, or I'll make my germs your present. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye, Lovi! Merry Christmas!"

Lovino stared at his phone for a few minutes after that, as the silence of the empty hotel room fell around him. Then again – silence was probably the wrong word. He could hear the wind howling outside, the television in the room next door, children running down the hallway. Not exactly the holiday he was picturing.

With a sigh he made himself stand up and straighten out his traveling clothes. It had been about an hour and a half since he and Alfred parted ways in the lobby. It was probably past time to meet him at the bar – and he was certainly not going because Alfred was good-looking. Lovino didn't like those kinds of movie-star looks anyway. They were overrated, and…and why was he even arguing with himself? Muttering angrily, he grabbed his wallet and headed down to the bar.

As Lovino expected, the bar was crowded; he and Alfred weren't the only ones with nowhere else to go in the middle of a snow storm. Alfred was already seated at a little table in the corner, and he waved Lovino over once they made eye contact.

"You hungry?" Alfred asked. "I'm starved. I've got a plate of nachos and a burger on the way. Not exactly a holiday dinner, but I'm kind of ok with that."

Lovino's stomach gave a grumble, although his taste buds recoiled at the thought of bar food. His stomach won out in the end; he could drown the taste with some liquor and it would be fine. "Not a bad idea."

Alfred slid a menu to him. "I think there are a couple waiters somewhere, but your best bet is to order from the bar."

"Thanks."

For a little while after that, nachos and drinks helped to fill their awkward silence. Lovino had to admit the nachos weren't bad at all, and hoped the same could be said of his sandwich when it came. The silence, however, was getting worse. All around them people were laughing and talking, sometimes even singing, as they celebrated the holiday. Their table seemed conspicuously gloomy in comparison.

Finally, Alfred broke the silence. "So…did you talk to your family?"

Lovino nodded, taking a drink of water to get the nachos out of his mouth. "Yeah. They were pretty understanding, but I could still tell Feliciano was really disappointed. I don't think I've missed one Christmas with him since he was born."

Alfred nodded in sympathy. "Same here – well, not exactly. I've missed a lot of holidays with Mattie. I get so busy and caught up in life that sometimes I sort of forget to call or anything. He's always super great about it, but I know it makes him upset."

"Feliciano can get like that. He never hides it, though. I'm not sure he could if he tried. He'll tell everyone that it's fine, or that it's his fault and he wants to help them, but the next minute he'll be crying. He needs to grow a thicker skin and learn that the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows," Lovino replied.

"We could all use some sunshine and rainbows today," Alfred said. He flashed that Hollywood smile, and Lovino tried to look unimpressed. "In the end, everything will work out."

"Is that why you were yelling at the airport lady?"

"Hey, I already said I was sorry about that." Alfred frowned, then looked away. "It's just, like I was saying, my brother gets lonely. He won't admit it, but he does. And I can be…absentminded. I forget birthdays, phone calls, things like that, and then he thinks no one remembers him. I didn't want him to be alone on Christmas. I really tried this time, too, you know? I don't think he believes me."

Lovino took a large sip of his drink, using it as an excuse not to answer. He'd met people like this before, who were way too open about their personal issues. But those were all business contacts, and he knew how to nod along and make the appropriate gestures of sympathy. Alfred was not a business contact. Lovino could have gotten up right then and walked away, or told him to suck it up – both things he wished he could do during the average meeting. Instead, he found himself offering sincere, if awkward, advice. "Look, Alfred. I don't know you or your brother from a pair of flag poles. But I know families are complicated. You can argue and hate them, disappoint them, let them down, be let down – the whole works. But in the end you make the choice to forgive them and move on, or not. Sounds to me like you and your brother already decided on that one. He's gonna be stuck with an ass like you forever – and I say that with the authority of a fellow family asshole."

Alfred laughed, looking up to meet his eyes again. "Guess you gotta be an ass to yell at some stranger in the airport, eh? And an idiot to meet for drinks after and listen to him sulk."

Lovino shrugged. "What can I say? I have shitty taste in friends. Plus, drinking alone on Christmas Eve would be pretty sad."

"I'll drink to that!" said Alfred, raising his beer. "Let's make our brothers proud. At the very least, as the official family assholes, we are required to bring back an interesting story."

Lovino found himself imitating that wide Hollywood grin and raising his glass. "Buon Natale!"

"Bonatally to you too, whatever that means!" Alfred replied. "And Merry Christmas!"

XXX

A week later, Lovino sat outside of his cousin's house, watching New Year's fireworks and listening to the party inside. Much as he loved his family, he could only stand that many people for so long. He needed a little peace, once in a while. Unfortunately, as the minutes went by he decided that the temperature had gone from "pleasantly cool and sobering" to "fucking cold." He shoved his hands into his pockets, looking for gloves.

Instead he pulled out a piece of paper. He frowned down at it, holding it up to the light from the windows. It was a napkin with the words "Hilton Hotel" on it, along with a message:

Happy Holidays from NY! Gimme a call sometime. – Alfred Jones (Skype – YourHeroBaby)

"Ooh, is that Mr. Hollywood?"

Lovino nearly jumped out of his skin, then rounded on Feliciano. "Don't sneak up on me like that! And don't read over my shoulder!"

Feliciano grinned impishly. "You must like him. You only yell at me when you like them!"

"Shut up, and get out of here!" Lovino growled.

"I only came to see if you were alright. Grandpa insisted, in case you were sick. But I know you didn't drink that much," Feliciano replied, taking a seat at his brother's side. They were quiet for a moment, both looking up at the sky and the occasional bursts of color, contemplating all that lay behind them and all that was ahead.

After a while, Feliciano dusted himself off and stood up. "It's cold out here. Come in when you're ready, ok?"

Lovino looked up and smiled. "I will. Thanks."

Feliciano opened the door to the house, then paused, the noise of voices and music spilling out on the street and almost drowning out what he said next. "You know all those clocks in the office, that show what time it is in different places? I think it's only 6:00 in New York. You should call Mr. Hollywood before he has some other midnight kiss."

"He is NOT-" Feliciano was inside the house before Lovino could even finish shouting at him. Grumbling, he re-settled himself on the bench and glared at the napkin. "He's in Vancouver, anyway, not New York. Though I guess it's still 2016 there, too."

A chill wind cut through his coat, and Lovino decided it was time to head back into the party. The chorus of voices and the sharp smell of alcohol brought him back to Christmas Eve, sitting in a hotel bar and waiting out a snow storm. He smiled a little, and headed up to his room away from the noise.

Lovino sat on his bed and sighed, looking at the napkin and then at his computer. Damn Feliciano, putting ideas in his head. He opened Skype, not expecting to receive any message back. Regardless of the time, he doubted that a guy like Alfred would be interested in talking to someone thousands of miles away on New Year's Eve. He was probably at some other bar, or rescuing Canadian wildlife with his brother.

To Lovino' surprise, there was already a friend request and a message waiting. He was even more surprised to see that the message was only a few minutes old. What's the future like?

Lovino rolled his eyes, but wound up smiling in spite of himself. Not bad. Bit loud, bit drunk – the usual.

Do you see me there?

Lovino frowned at the message, trying to work out the meaning. Was this some idiom, or slang phrase? He'd been fluent in English for years, but the slang changed and that always confused him. What?

In your future. Do you see me?

Lovino stared again, the wrinkle in his forehead slowly smoothing out as he put it together. A pick-up line. A terrible, terrible pick up line. And yet it was so very Alfred, he couldn't help laughing out loud.

That was awful. You're an idiot - but you're a cute idiot. Maybe next time I'm in New York we can see what happens.

Awesome! Happy New Year, dude.

Happy New Year, Alfred.

A shower of bright red and gold burst outside Lovino's window, and he decided that maybe he didn't mind airports after all.