009. Drive
"Hey, Artie, let's take a road trip."
"What?"
"We haven't done anything in a while, well, at least just the two of us. Let's take a road trip. D.C., to Texas, to Sacramento or something."
"We have work to do-"
"Come on, please, Artie! I wanna spend time with you!"
"Bloody hell… fine."
Arthur stole a glance at the American in the seat beside him. Blue eyes were closed to the world, messy blond hair mussed against the headrest. Alfred had fallen asleep four hours ago after a pit stop in Fort Worth, leaving the annoyed Briton to get them on their merry way again.
The point of the trip was to take the longest route possible from one end of America to the other, while basking in each other's presence. So far, either Alfred or Arthur had spent half of it asleep. Arthur huffed as he pulled the car off the highway and turned into the parking lot of a picnic station; his legs were hurting and he was sure that Alfred would complain about being hungry when he awoke. According to their map, once they were out of this county, there wouldn't be another service station for several hours.
"Alfred, get you," the tired blond called. He reached a hand over the center console to prod the American awake. Success! Alfred let out a large yawn, stretching in his seat. Blue eyes turned to smile at Arthur in the dim light of the service station.
"Hey, Artie. Where are we?"
"A couple of hours from New Mexico. We'll stop in Carlsbad, I think."
Alfred nodded and leaned his head back onto the headrest, still watching Arthur carefully. "Awesome. You know they have the best bat caverns ever? We should go."
"Alright."
There was silence, then Alfred's stomach let loose a huge gurgle. The American laughed, and Arthur rolled his eyes affectionately.
"Come on, then. They're bound to have some of your horrendous snack foods in vending machines here."
Alfred followed the other out of the car and into the station. Sure enough, the machines stood there proudly displaying their wares of beef jerky and candy bars. Alfred paused, holding tightly onto Arthur's hand.
"What is it?"
"I had a dream about you."
"Really now?"
Alfred nodded and smiled. "Yeah. It was the day we established the Special Relationship, except I was dressed as Superman and you were Lois. Pretty awesome, huh?"
Arthur scoffed, flushing as he began to imagine himself in a high-collared blouse and pencil skirt. "Come off it, git. That's ridiculous."
"Yeah, but you still love me, right?"
There was a contented nod from the Briton. "Of course. Get your damn chocolate and let's go. You're driving into Carlsbad."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Alfred did as told and soon enough they were on the road once more. Almost as soon as Alfred pulled the car over the New Mexican border, Arthur was asleep. The American hummed and formed a large smile as he looked at the other.
"In the morning, you can tell me your dreams, too, Arthur."
Heavily inspired by Melissa Etheridge's song You Can Sleep While I Drive. It's really sweet, you should listen to it!
Number nine in the 100 theme challenge, Drive.