Arthur didn't show up at the apartment dinner.
Arthur didn't show up at the apartment meeting.
Arthur wasn't answering the phone.
Arthur wasn't online on Skype.
Arthur didn't update his Twitter.
Arthur was missing.
"Roma, what should I do? Arthur is gone! I don't know where he is, I don't know what is he doing now and what if he's kidnapped? On some island somewhere surrounded by man eating cannibals and the only way to escape is to cut his own leg off? Roma what should I do? We should call the police, the fire brigade, the US Navy, the FBI, the CIA, the CSI, the president, my alien friend Tony and... and..."
"Calm down, Alfred." Roma patted the rambling American's back and guided him to the couch. "Wherever he is right now, I'm sure he will be fine. Arthur's a grown man now."
"B-But... he'll forget to eat if I'm not there with him... He'll freak out if he's out in the public. He's not used to people due to his long period staying at home in front of the computer writing cheezy romance stories. He'll get sunburns, you know how delicate his skin is and..."
"Gosh, shut up will you? Arthur will be fine. Stop worrying." Lovino snapped, looking up from his magazine. Alfred pouted and lowered his head. "I'm just worried..."
"Didn't he go missing like this before? When he had too much stress and stuff? Don't worry, he'll come back." Lovino shrugged and continued his reading.
"But what if he doesn't?" Alfred muttered. Roma sighed and ruffled his hair. "You're being ridiculous. Of course he'll come back. You're here, no? I don't think he'll leave without you like that."
"Yeah, I guess. I miss him. It's been 4 days, where is he?"
…
Arthur moved here two years ago on one stormy night.
Roma and his grandsons were watching an Italian soap opera when the door bell rang.
"I'll get it!" Feliciano sprang up from the couch and ran to the door. When he opened the door, revealed a soaking wet blonde man with funny looking eyebrows standing there with a suitcase in hand.
"Hello, can I help you?" Feliciano asked politely, trying not to laugh at the man's eyebrows.
"Yes, um, I'd like a room please if you don't mind." the man replied in a funny accent.
"Oh. Nonno, he said that he'd like a room." Feliciano called to his grandfather. Roma stood up from the couch and crushed his cigarette before walking to the door. "Hello, I'm the landlord here and I heard that you'd like a room?"
"Yes please."
"I happen to have one opposite mine, that is, if you don't mind the leaking pipes. I haven't got time to fix it yet. And the rooms upstairs are out of league since the people below it said that it's haunted..."
"I'll take the one opposite to yours, thank you."
"Great. Come in. My name's Roma Vargas by the way. And this is Feliciano and that is Lovino, my grandsons." Roma introduced and the man nodded.
"Pleasure. My name is Arthur. Arthur Kirkland." Arthur replied, stepping into the warm house and greeted by Pomodoro nuzzling his ankle.
"Aww, a kitty." Arthur bent down and stroked her behind the ears. She purred.
"Si, her name is Pomodoro, like the tomato." Feliciano smiled.
"That's a cute name."
"Here, let me take you to your place. You must be freezing." Roma guided Arthur to the door opposite to his own and unlocked the door.
"Here you are, here are the keys." Roma gave the bunch of keys to Arthur and Arthur nodded.
"Thank you so much, Roma." Arthur smiled.
"You're welcome."
…
"I heard there's a new member in Fiore." Yao said, playing with Roma's fingers while sitting on the balcony enjoying Yao's Chinese tea.
"Yeah, Arthur. He seems like a nice guy." Roma replied, letting Yao took off his wedding ring and putting it back on.
"You're divorced, no?" Yao asked suddenly. "Si." Roma replied. "Why?"
"Your ring..."
"Does it bother you?"
"No, not really. Just curious."
"Are you jealous?" Roma smirked and Yao blushed. "Wh-what? No... I'm not jealous." Yao muttered, looking away while folding his hands. "Besides, it's just a ring..."
"Si, just a ring. I can take it off if you want, and never wear it ever again."
"No, no. Keep it. Like I said, it's just a ring. No big deal..."
"You're so cute when you're jealous." Roma smiled, pinching Yao's cheeks. "Hey, that hurts." Yao smacked away the Italian's hand and rubbed his cheeks. "I said, I'm not jealous. Geez..."
Pomodoro the cat walked in and jumped on the table, nuzzling Yao's wrist.
"She likes you." Roma said. "I know." Yao nodded.
"Anyway, back to that new member, Arthur... he looks British. He has this accent. It's quiet um... interesting."
"British accents are always interesting. You have an accent yourself too, you just didn't notice." Yao tickled Pomodoro's tummy.
"Me? I do?" Roma asked, surprised. "I never noticed."
"See? And I like it. Your accent I mean..." Yao looked away and tried to hide the faint blush on his cheeks.
"Gosh you're too cute to be true Yao Yao." Roma stood up and pecked Yao on the forehead.
"Don't call me that." Yao pouted.
"Why not? It's cute. Suits you." Roma smirked.
"Does not."
"You're so cute."
…
"So um, yeah, I'm a fan fiction writer." Arthur said and everyone looked at him weirdly.
"What's a fan fiction writer?" Alfred asked, cocking his head to a side.
"A fan fiction writer is um, a fan who writes things based on something and uh... yeah, I guess that's it." Arthur said, clearing his throat.
"Based on what?"
"A movie or a book or something like that."
"What are your fan fictions based on then, Arthur?" Alfred asked again.
"Sherlock."
"Sherlock, eh? I love Sherlock." Matthew said, clapping his hands together happily. "Can I read your fan fictions Mr Arthur?"
"Sure you can. I'll give you the link to it later, dear." Arthur smiled.
"So does that mean you're unemployed?" Yao asked.
The Brit nodded. "Yes, but don't worry, I'm currently looking for one. I've sent some of my original works to a publishing company and I'm waiting a reply from them."
"But what if they don't accept it?" Lovino asked, looking at him bored.
"They will! I'm sure they will. Why won't they accept their works? I think I'm quiet good on writing. Hehehe..." Arthur chuckled awkwardly and shove a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.
"Where are you from, Arthur?" Roma asked suddenly.
"Oh, I'm from England. Why?"
"Oh nothing, it's just your accent. It's quiet interesting." Roma smiled.
"Yes, I've been told." Arthur chuckled.
"Do you like vodka, Mr Arthur?" Ivan grinned, holding a bottle of Absolute Vodka up from under the table and showed it to the Brit.
"Vodka? Uh, yes I like it. But I don't really drink it, because after drinking it I won't be able to get up the next day and I would have terrible headaches and such."
"That's too bad." Ivan said sadly, putting the bottle back under the table. "Maybe Yao Yao can drink this with me later?" the Russian grinned, putting an arm around the Chinese man who cringed when he felt the Russian's arm on him.
"No, sorry. I have to take care of the kids. Sorry." Yao shook his head furiously.
"Aww, fine then."
"I'm sure you'll make a good writer, Mr Arthur." Matthew said softly, smiling at the Brit.
"Yeah, thanks... what's your name again sweetheart?"
"Matthew, sir."
…
"I did it! I did it! I did it!" Arthur cried while running up and down the apartment stairs. "People! I did it! I was accepted!"
"That's great Arthur, what does it say?" Roma came out from his home when he heard the Brit's screamings.
Arthur stopped running and calmed his breathings before reading the letter out loud. The people of the whole apartment slowly came out from their houses after hearing him.
"Dear Mrs Kirkland, we are happy to tell you that your work 'After Dark' had been accepted as a rom... romance? What bollocks... I... 'After Dark' is not a romance story! It's horror! Gosh!"
Alfred was laughing so hard that he had to hold himself up on the banister. "Romance? They think your horror story is romance? Wow Artie, just, wow."
"This is not funny. I have no idea how to write romance novels. And by the way, Mrs? What? They think I'm a woman? This must be a joke... I uh..."
"Well, Mrs Kirkland, I think that's better than none, right?" Alfred wiped the tear in his eye and said.
"They're crazy. I am absolutely not a woman and my story is not romance! This is bollocks!" Arthur cried.
"You have a chance now, to be a romance writer, or you have to do it all over again. Now they have accepted you, you can either be it or not. What do you think?" Roma said.
"I think I... but I don't know how to be a romance novelist." Arthur muttered miserably. "The only this I know is horror."
"You can change your horror to romance. Change the ghosts and monsters to humans and make them fall in love and just like that, easy." Alfred shrugged.
"No it's not that easy, Alfred." Arthur muttered. "It's not..."
"You wrote fan fictions don't you Arthur." Yao said, appearing from the crowd. "And what are your stories about?"
"Love?"
"Exactly." Yao grinned. "Just change the names of the characters, the names of the places and the time and date and slightly the plot and there you go."
"Yeah, I read one of them yesterday, it was good. If you change some details of it, it would make a wonderful romance story." Matthew said.
"You think so?"
"Yeah." Matthew and Yao nodded.
"Well in that case... I think I'll need a pen name. I female pen name, since they think I'm a female and such..."
"What about Rosie? Rosie is always good." Feliciano suggested.
"Rosie... yeah. That's great." Arthur nodded.
"What about Rosie Langman. You know, lang man means romantic is Chinese so I think it'll be perfect. What do you think?" Yao said.
"Rosie Langman? Yeah. I like the sound of it. Thanks. I think I'll reply them now."
…
"It's been a week Roma, where is Arthur?" Alfred said, sitting on the couch in Roma's house. "I'm really worried."
"Yeah, I agree it's been quite a long time. Maybe we should call the police?"
"We should." Alfred nodded sadly.
Beside them, Feliciano and Lovino were watching the television. It's the first week of the Olympics and the two were excited and were constantly watching the television.
"China has the most gold... for now. But I am sure, that Italy will get the most gold in a while." Lovino said, crossing his arms when the medal tally was on TV.
"Hmph, what a joke. The United States will definitely have more gold than your country and China. Just watch." Alfred couldn't help saying when he heard Lovino.
"Shut up." Lovino snapped and turned his attention back to the television.
"Bleh, sailing. It's so boring. Let's switch channels Feli." the older brother nudged the younger one.
"Si. Oh look, equestrian! Horsies!" Feli squealed happily while bouncing up and down on the couch.
"For the love of God, change the channel Feli. Equestrian is like the most boring game ever." Lovino groaned and tried to reach for the remote.
"But it's got horsies! I love horsies!"
"Bitch please Feli, you're not a kid anymore and horses are just a bunch of smelly four legged creatures. They're not cute or anything." Lovino rolled his eyes. "Come on, change to something like swimming or something. Tom Daley is freaking hot." he muttered the last part as he successfully grabbed the remote.
"Wait!" Alfred screamed just as Lovino was about to switch the channel.
"What?"
"Look!" Alfred pointed to the screen. The camera was on the audience and there's one particular blonde in the stands that looked awfully familiar.
"That looks like Arthur..." Roma said, knitting his eyebrows together while getting close to the TV. Then the camera zoomed in the audiences and the four noticed the caterpillar like eyebrows on the blonde and they gasped.
"Arthur!"
Well well well, this is one random chapter.
Arthur's pen name, Rosie Langman, the Langman is from the chinese word 浪漫 which means romantic, like in the story. So Arthur wanted to be a horror writer but the publisher made some mistakes and thought of the story he submitted was a romance story so he ended up being a romance novelist. Random. Heh. And in my opinion, Arthur is the kind of person that would think equestrian as an interesting game (when it's actually very boring if you ask me) so that's why he's in the stands watching it in the Olympics. Since Olympic 2012 is in London, so I made this story for Arthur.
I love the Olympics~ and I do not own Hetalia.
A little RomaxChina for a certain reader. :)