Last day, whew! I did it!

Disclaimed.

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Day 30: Doing something hot

"Whose idea was this?" Kiku complained. "It's too hot here…"

"Blame America," Lukas advised, glaring at the blond.

America had decided that, since they were immortal, intense heat wouldn't bother them. So he'd dragged Lukas, Kiku, Matthew, Gilbert, and Arthur to Death Valley in order to test his theory. What fun.

"This is ridiculous," Arthur hissed. "Git. Come on, let's just head back now." He swiped a hand over his forehead. "We'll all get heatstroke at this rate."

"Ah, we'll be fine!" Alfred replied. "AHAHAHAHA!"

Kiku glared at him. "If I get heatstroke, I will do something extremely violent."

"Agreed," Lukas sighed. "Why couldn't he test this on himself?"

"Because he likes making people suffer?" the Japanese suggested. He hissed irritably, eyes whipping around in search of any sort of shade. "I am going to either scream or collapse within the next five minutes if we don't turn back right now."

Lukas nodded in agreement, moving in front of Kiku to provide him with some vestige of shade. "I have to agree. Hey, America! Let's get out of here!"

"Ja!" Prussia added. "It's too damn hot!"

"Ah, we'll leave in a bit," Alfred replied. "Besides, it's not that bad."

Kiku, quite possibly deliberately, chose this precise moment to collapse. Lukas caught him, kneeling down and resting the smaller nation's head on his lap. "Kiku!"

"Mm…" Dark eyes flickered open for a second, then slid shut again.

Lukas glared up at America. "We're leaving. Now."

"Okay, okay! Sheesh." America turned around. Then stopped, frowning. "Um, I'm not a hundred percent sure where we are…"

"What?!" everyone else yelled at once. "Oh, fantastic," Arthur added. "You got us lost in Death Valley, well done. Bloody idiot."

"And let's not forget that Keeks is probably developing heatstroke," Prussia interjected. "Thanks so much, America. Dumbass."

Lukas sighed. "We came from this direction," he muttered. "So if we go back this way, we should be able to get back. Come on." He pulled his semiconscious husband onto his back and started walking. The others followed.

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Hours passed. The complaints of the heat got more and more strident, until eventually Arthur cast a snowglobe spell and gave them a cool place to rest. Kiku, almost certainly deliberately, chose this moment to wake up.

"Mm… Lukas-kun, where are we?"

"In the middle of nowhere," Lukas replied distractedly, puzzling over the absolutely useless map America had given him.

Kiku sighed. "Well, isn't this a great way to spend the day?" He closed his eyes, rolling onto his side and stretching out like a cat. "Although it could be worse… somehow…"

The Norwegian chuckled. "Optimist. Give me a hand with this map, will you? I have no idea where we are."

"I've been unconscious half the day," came the perfectly logical reply. "Canada-san, could you help us with this?"

"Sure," the Canadian replied, flopping down beside the pair. "Trying to figure out where we are?"

"Indeed," Kiku sighed. "Why can't America-san have thought to bring a GPS?"

"Because he's an idiot," Matthew replied.

No arguing with that.

In any case, the three of them eventually managed to figure out where they were, following much cursing (Lukas), passive-aggressive muttering (Matthew), and a couple not-quite-explosions (Kiku's magic developing a temperament). (In other words, Kiku got irritable and refused to admit it.)

Anyways, the group set off on their chosen course. It turned out that Lukas had only been slightly off, so they'd been going in almost the right direction the whole time. The sun was going down by this time, making the walk much more pleasant. Matthew fell asleep partway through, so Gilbert carried him. England started complaining about his feet hurting; America gave him a piggyback ride to shut him up. Kiku started shooting Lukas hopeful looks.

The Norwegian, having carried him all day, ignored them until he started murmuring soft complaints in his 'I-don't-want-to-be-a-bother' voice. Then Lukas gave up and allowed the smaller nation to climb onto his back, wrapping arms around his shoulders like a child.

Kiku smiled and murmured soft thanks in his ear, and the two of them slipped into their own little world, with only the stars above for guidance.

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Short, but a good place to end it.

And don't tell me Kiku wouldn't deliberately pass out just to prove America wrong. He would.

Wow. I'm actually done. Party time~! In all seriousness, though, this has been really fun. Maybe I'll do it again some time…

Er, different pairing, of course.

So until the next story, I bid you all adieu!

Bye~!

-Bird