When Arthur next woke up, he at first thought it had something to do with one of the others calling for him to wake him. But seeing that there was no one else in the tight space that was the bedroom save for himself and a sound asleep Alfred, he lay back down for a moment. Looking over to Alfred, he noticed that the American still looked paler than his usual look, making Arthur a little uneasy about how to handle the others inevitably prodding him to get back to pushing the boat along.
With the heading pretty much in place thanks to combined efforts and half-functioning instruments, it really was now up to Alfred to use that super strength that Arthur wasn't entirely sure he had with him at the moment. The thought that maybe the Italy brothers had miraculously found a way to dry out and get the engine going again while he' been asleep briefly passed through his mind before he concluded that such were the thoughts of a man with a head injury. Arthur sighed and closed his eyes before what had eased him out of slumber caught his attention again.
"Hai! Success!" Kiku's voice rang out, sounding his version of excited, although with the stress of the past day Arthur could hear more of it leaking into his voice than the stoic man usually let slip. "Yao! Yao!" He called out, resulting in Alfred groaning a little in his sleep. Arthur turned to the younger man to softly shush him, running a hand through his hair to keep him asleep before he pushed himself to get out of bed.
He wondered why no one had been waking him every hour or so since he most likely had a concussion of some sort, but opening the door to peer out gave him the answer. The clock that was running on a battery read about an hour after he and Alfred decided to get some more rest for their injuries, but he was certain that he had to have slept longer. But the mess of technical equipment spread out in front of Kiku and Feliciano was evidence of how busy the others had been in the last few hours.
"Oh, Arthur-san…"Kiku said as he noticed the other man's presence. "Oh, I apologize for waking you, but I have managed to make some progress with the radio using the pieces from the clock. It's not much, but hopefully someone will be able to receive any transmissions we make now that things appear stable – I am still working on that, but this is some good news we have been looking for." Kiku said with a small smile despite his tired eyes as he looked up to the British man. Arthur gave a laugh in return at the news, refraining from giving the other a pat on the shoulder like Alfred would definitely have done.
"That's excellent news Kiku. Well done." Arthur said, Feliciano bouncing in excitement at the prospect of getting home quicker. "Now all we need to do is determine whether it's in our best interest to head back on the course Yao and I came up with or to wait it out until someone picks up on our signal." He said, rubbing a hand along his head before remembering that he wanted to ask about why no one had bothered to check in on him and Alfred.
"By the way, why didn't anyone come to wake me every hour or so? I must've slept longer than what that clock reads." He asked, noting how Feliciano stiffened up at that.
"Ve~….Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry….it was-a supposed to be me, but then Kiku had this wonderful idea and I got caught up in helping him and then Romano and Francis got into a fight and…and...Please don't hit me!" The northern Italian said, Arthur knowing that if the other had been able, he'd have been waving his white flag quite vigorously.
But the British man refrained from rolling his eyes as Feliciano cowered in front of him, choosing to just head out to find Francis and hear what had happened from him. I can't believe I'm actually thinking of him as the reliable source, Arthur thought as he spotted the Frenchman acting as lookout. Without either the southern Italian or Chinese man in sight, he assumed that the other two were working with the instruments and more or less acting as lookouts from their vantage point.
"Hello Francis. I heard Kiku's finally made some progress with that blasted radio. Couldn't come at a better time." Arthur said, taking a seat next to where the Frenchman was sitting on the remains of the mast. "You don't look very comfortable like that and you're going to end up making your sunburn worse if you plan on sitting out here too long." He grouched, not wanting to sound overly concerned for the other's wellbeing.
Francis sighed as he turned to acknowledge the other's presence. "Well, mon ami, there is not much else to be done. And it is better rest out here than with Romano complaining how I am overbearing towards him. Honestly, I am just expressing myself and we should all be closer with one another in times like this, no?" Francis said as though joking.
But Arthur could tell the other man was actually a little down at having to deal with this and not having anything else to do to occupy himself in the meantime. That typically meant he eventually more or less thrust his company onto someone else in the name of 'expressing his love' for the sake of 'love's virtues'.
"Yes, well, there is close and then there is too close. I doubt you'd pick up on when you've crossed that line. Lord knows I've told you several times but it apparently goes over your head." Arthur said, smirking when he received the expected huff from the other.
"How are you though? Is Feliciano neglecting you like he apparently forgot to check to make sure I hadn't died in my sleep?" Arthur asked, gaining the other's full attention. "I have a concussion, remember?" He asked sarcastically, mentally readying himself for whatever comeback the other shot at him.
"Oui. I am well aware since it was, after all, moi who kept you from a watery grave." Francis said, looking a little more agitated now. "I've been checking on you and Alfred while you slept. Feli is a little too anxious at the moment to be thinking clearly anyway as he's going through apparent pasta withdrawal." He said with a shake of his head at the moodiness that resulted from the lack of sufficient pasta that had Romano silently worrying about his brother.
"And your injury is not as bad as it first looked or I would have happily woken you up. But you and Alfred just looked too cozy together like that, hon hon hon…" the Frenchman said, prompting an embarrassed blush to form on the other's face at what the older man would likely have documented photographically if he'd had the ability – he knew he was just as guilty of being a snuggler as Alfred when uncomfortable and being injured definitely made that a possibility.
Arthur was about to respond with some sort of question of veiled concern for the Frenchman when Yao's voice carried over to them and causing both to turn and see what was going on. Both groaned at the sight of Alfred emerging from the cabin and onto the deck, ignoring Yao's shouts to listen to him and wait a little longer.
"You guys have a heading. Kiku thinks he's able to send out a signal. 'Sides, I'm doin' better." Alfred said, his speech even blunter than usual as he walked over to the 'paddle' and picked it up. "We'll get rescued faster if we can get a little further in whatever direction you came up with. Just point and the hero will do the rest…oh, hey Iggy. Hey Francis." Alfred said as he tiredly noticed the other blondes, although remained oblivious to their disapproving looks.
Instead he continued to drag the 'paddle' over to where he had been positioning himself before so he could begin again to row. "Oh, hey Francis, catch." He said as he pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it over to the Frenchman.
Francis fumbled to catch it, not having expected anything to come flying at him, while Arthur snickered at the panic that had briefly shown up on the other's face – after all, he'd heard about the various games of catch from Matthew that described the way Alfred would go about playing and Francis could only imagine what Alfred had decided to throw. But either due to the lack of energy or the fact that the object was not a ball but a lotion bottle, Francis' worry was unnecessarily dramatic.
"Good lord, you'd think he was tossing a grenade at you." Arthur laughed with a smile as he teased the other man, their moment of commiserating over thanks to Alfred's interruption. Francis in turn just scowled at the British man before taking a closer look at the lotion bottle. Turning it over, he was surprised to find that it was an oatmeal-based lotion that would definitely help his skin, although he couldn't imagine why Alfred of all people would have such a thing.
"Ah, I knew you must've been paying attention to me all these years Alfred." Francis said with a teasing smirk as he began to apply the lotion, feeling better as he rubbed it on himself. Arthur just rolled his eyes as he hovered near Alfred, watching in concern as the American did his best to hide the wince the movement from paddling caused.
"Nah….Toris visited a little while ago and well, as much as he loves his buddy Feliks, there's only so much a guy can take with that sort of thing. I'm sorta the go-to guy for him to leave some of the more girly things he doesn't want to have on him but doesn't feel right throwing out." Alfred explained, Francis shaking his head at the story although it made perfect sense.
"Yeah... I hold onto it for a little while for the guy, but if he doesn't take it back, I usually toss them. But some of the stuff is good back-up and oatmeal is actually supposed to be healthy for ya. I prefer it in cookie form though with raisins or somethin'" He said with a shrug, readjusting his grip on the paddle so he could move it better with his injury.
"Well, I am not complaining. Aloe would've been nice but this is much better than nothing." Francis said, squirting some more in his hand. "And speaking of food, did you have anything before you starting your workout?" Francis asked, voicing the question Arthur also was going to ask.
"Not enough left for everybody if I do." Alfred answered, Arthur sure he'd heard Alfred's bottomless stomach growling almost as soon after he'd finished the last thing Arthur had pushed on him. "Sure could go for one of your scones right about now." Alfred said to Arthur, thinking about how at least having one of those things Arthur considered edible would've killed off the desire to eat what little remained of their food stores.
"And that is how we know that things are getting desperate." Francis said with a snicker, watching Arthur's face get almost as red as his skin had been. "If the thought of Angleterre's cooking is what's driving him, then the sun really is getting to be too much for the poor boy." He said, Arthur absolutely fuming at that point.
"Excuse me? You eat snails and call it a delicacy." Arthur responded with a typical and overused retort, although the effect remained the same.
"Yeah, well, don't you eat something you call dick?" Alfred asked casually, picking up and dropping the 'paddle' into the water on the other side of the boat to keep up a straight line. In doing so he remained as oblivious as ever to the way the other two stopped in their tracks, Arthur stammering while Francis snickered. "Yeah. Spotted dick or somethin' like that. Dude, you call him weird…" Alfred said with a roll of his eyes.
"Spotted dick isn't….Alfred! How could you even…I mean, really…." Arthur sputtered, Francis back to sitting on the debris that had acted as a lounge chair for him earlier, holding his sides at the horrible misconception of Arthur's dish.
"What? It's not like its short for spotted 'Richard' is it?" Alfred said, wincing again from his injury yet spurring another round of laughs from Francis. "Seriously, it's like you decided to purposely have innuendoes with your food worse than Francis. Bangers and mash, bro…" Alfred continued, ignoring the way Arthur seemed to be having a meltdown. "I wouldn't wanna find out who gets to be the 'mash' portion…"
"Non…..s'il vouis plait…..no more Amerique, no more, hon hon hon…" Francis laughed as Arthur had resorted to giving out only monosyllabic attempts to form coherent sentences to respond to Alfred. "I can't take much more…oh my…." He continued, Arthur huffing as it appeared Alfred hadn't a clue how badly he was making things awkward for Arthur.
"That's it! I'm leaving you to drown if you fall overboard you bloody twit! Both of you!" Arthur said, storming back into the cabin to distance himself as much as he could from the other blondes on the ship.
"Merci Alfred….oh, that was magnifique….he'll be hiding for sure now." Francis said, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. "It is for the best too since he is still injured. He needs as much rest as he can get and humiliating him, I suppose, is one way to make sure he gets it." He said, wondering if he should follow after the British man to make sure he was indeed hiding away in the bedroom to rest up some more and avoiding doing anything that would make his head injury take longer to heal.
"What'd I say? I really was only curious. Man, he can be so sensitive." Alfred said, making to pick up and carry the paddle to the other side of the boat again but hissing as his arm protested the movement and he lost his grip. The paddle fell to the deck with a clunking noise as Alfred gripped his arm, Francis seeing red starting to form.
"Oh dear….Arthur is not the only one who could use a little more rest." Francis said, stepping over the paddle to keep Alfred from picking it up again. "Be careful Alfred. We don't have any more bandages for you. We'll be ripping shirts apart if you've torn the stiches….and we have little thread left that would be no good anyway to sew you back up." He continued, pulling Alfred's hand away from his arm to check for himself if that was indeed what had happened from Alfred insisting on moving too soon.
"N-No, I'm fine. I gotta get us back." Alfred said, brushing off Francis' concern. The Frenchman sighed as he recognized that Alfred was going to be stubborn, thinking that perhaps the offer of food would coerce him back to the cabin where the others would be able to gang up on him in the tight space to get him to rest.
"At least take a break to get something to eat. You haven't been out here long, I know, but long enough that we must've made progress. And with the radio seemingly miraculously fixed – thanks to God being on my side all the time- Kiku should be able to reach out to someone." Francis said, sighing when Alfred only picked up the paddle again.
"No. I mean, I'm starving dude, but what little I do eat isn't really gonna make much of a difference at this point with my metabolism. Better that you guys eat it and benefit from it since that what the hero's supposed to do." Alfred said, Francis running a hand over his face at the difficulty of dealing with Alfred.
"I got about another day or so before I probably won't be able to move at all without getting some real food in me. Might as well push as far as I can before that happens." Alfred said with a seriousness that caught the Frenchman off-guard for a moment.
"Very well…" Francis said with a sigh. "I'll go see if Yao and Lovino are still awake then. Romano is fond of his siestas and Yao didn't really sleep all that much last night. If you need help - and I mean it Amerique – any help at all, you shout as loud as that booming voice of yours will go. Understood?" Francis asked in a tone Alfred hadn't heard in a while, although Matthew had spoken of it several times in the past when he'd felt particularly nostalgic. Alfred only managed a little nod, but it was enough to satisfy Francis since the other man leveled his look at him once more before heading in the same direction as Arthur.
Francis climbed down into the cabin to see that Arthur had done exactly as Francis had expected based on the observation of a shut bedroom door. Kiku and Feliciano were gathered around the table as best at Kiku could manage it, the radio giving out whirring noises that weren't the most encouraging but certainly better than complete silence.
"Big Brother France! Is everything all right? Britain looked very scary when he came back….ve….." Feliciano asked, trailing off into a whisper at the mention of the embarrassed Brit as though fearful that Arthur would suddenly pop out of the bedroom and tackle him for just the mention of his name.
"Oui. Well, Alfred's probably torn his stitches already, but he refuses to stop his so-called 'heroic duties'." Francis said with a shake of his head, Feliciano's expression shifting into one of worry for one of his friends. "I came to see how we're doing since Alfred is determined to keep rowing us in the general direction of land. Yao should try and get some more rest, and I haven't heard from your brother in a while either." Francis said, unspoken question about Romano's whereabouts left hanging.
"Hmm….China-san has not come back down here since he insisted on looking over my leg once more." Kiku said, not looking up from his work. "I do not think Romano is with him though…he would most likely have complained about him wanting to be at the wheel again." Kiku said, Feliciano gasping and dashing over as quickly as he could in the tight space to Francis.
"Ah! If he's not there and he's not here, and if he wasn't with you on the deck….What if he's fallen overboard while he was taking his siesta?! Waahhh! I'm a terrible fratello to have forgotten about him." Feliciano said, shaking in front of Francis. "We have to go look for him!" Feliciano continued, Francis ending up getting shoved to the side as the northern Italian took off to search for his missing brother. Francis sighed, knowing that trying to get the other to listen to him would be an exercise in patience, which was already being stretched.
"Do not worry France-san. I think Italy-chan just wanted to get away from Britain too. Arthur seemed to be quite melancholy at the moment." Kiku said, obviously irritated that he couldn't move from his spot as yet another development occurred for him to sit back and play spectator to.
"Oui. That would be Alfred's doing." Francis said as he headed back over to the bedroom door. As much as he enjoyed teasing the other man, if they were going on a manhunt, then they would need all accounted for and he supposed he should check in on him anyway. He knocked on the door a couple of times, receiving the usual curse from Arthur to persuade Francis to leave him alone, but the Frenchman ignored it like always.
"What part of 'go away' was too complicated for you frog? I'm in no mood to deal with you. Just looking at you hurts my head." Arthur said, Kiku unable to keep from looking on from his spot. Arthur tossed one of the pillows at Francis to keep him from coming further in, successfully hitting the Frenchman in the face. Francis tossed the pillow to the side, the fabric actually irritating his skin slightly but not enough to keep him away.
"I thought you would like to know that we are apparently missing the southern half of Italy. He isn't hiding in here with you, is he?" Francis asked, knowing that it would be a tight squeeze to hide in that room, but both Italys were adept at finding hiding spots.
"Tch…I highly doubt it." Arthur scoffed, but got off the bed anyway to help Francis look. "And how on earth did you lose him of all people?" He asked, Francis shrugging for lack of a better response. But it seemed like the two were back to their normal routine of tolerating one another for as long a stretch as possible, the two men coming back out to sit with Kiku.
"I'll see if Yao is awake. Maybe the two of us will be able to keep track of both Italy brothers now that…" Francis was saying, interrupted by Feliciano calling out to his brother from the deck. Arthur shook his head at the northern Italian's plan of action, further discouraged when he heard Alfred shout once for Feliciano to get out of his way. "That's all we need to have happen. Alfred and Feliciano both knocking themselves off the boat…" Francis said, Kiku refraining from commenting like usual.
"Francis, you do what you suggested. I'll see if I can knock some sense into the panicking Feliciano up there. Out of the two of them, I might get somewhere with Feliciano by at least getting him to freeze in terror." Arthur said with a sigh before looking to Kiku. "Sorry chap, but it looks like we'll have to leave you on your own again. Is there anything you need from us before we take off? We shan't be too long. I can't imagine there are many places on this boat for Romano to be hiding." He said to his friend, Kiku negatively shaking his head.
"No, but thank you Arthur. I will keep trying on the radio to reach someone." Kiku said with a small shrug. "It is not like I can do much else like this." He said, looking at his leg as though he could will it to heal faster. "The locator piece was completely damaged, but a continuous series of attempts should alert someone, and hopefully soon." He said as he looked back up to Arthur, the other man sending him a tight smile of his own before following after Francis.
Arthur heard Yao shouting in a panicked voice something about a panda and Russia as he headed back up to the deck, furrowing his brow in confusion before realizing that the Chinese man had most likely fallen asleep while on lookout and had been awakened by the Frenchman mid-dream. He shook his head as he continued slowly back out towards Alfred, spotting Feliciano darting about the debris and looking under things as though expecting his brother to just appear. Seeing that they seemed to be relatively fine where they were and not likely to go anywhere, although the look on Alfred's face and the red bandage on his arm concerned him, Arthur headed back toward Francis and Yao.
"I tell you, I felt you giving me naughty look." Yao said as Arthur climbed up the ladder, the British man seeing the Chinese personification giving Francis a wide berth. "And I did not fall asleep on my duties. I have strict sense of discipline you Western nations…" Yao was saying, trailing off as he spotted Arthur join them. "Britain-aru, you handle your neighbor. I am busy doing other things." He finished, storming back over to the only stool in the space and plopping down heavily to look over the map in a show of actually doing something.
"You pervert. What did you do?" Arthur asked in a tone that showed he often asked such a question. Francis scoffed as he folded his arms over his chest.
"I needed to wake him up, just like I told you." Francis said before pointing over to Yao. "He was deep in a dream of some sort so all I did was give him a little shake. He must've been having quite an interesting dream to assume a hand on his shoulder meant something else, hon hon hon…"The Frenchman said with a pointed look to the Chinese man, Yao huffing and looking away as his face turned red from either anger or embarrassment.
"Yes, well…." Arthur said, clearing his throat to fill the awkward silence that had fallen over the three, "…If you're awake enough Yao, we could use your help looking for Romano. The bloody fool apparently found a way to disappear off the ship without anyone noticing." Arthur said, Yao groaning and rubbing his forehead as he stood up.
"Fine." Yao said curtly, clearly not in the mood to be playing head-and-seek. "I will see what I can do to help, but someone should actually keep watch for signs of any ships. I am old man, I cannot help it if I fall asleep." He continued, Arthur and Francis rolling their eyes as the Chinese man resorted to using the refrain 'I'm an old man' to excuse whatever action he deemed would qualify under such an excuse.
"Allonze mes ami…" France said, motioning for Yao to take the lead. The Chinese man merely gave him a wary look for having to walk in front of the Frenchman before climbing down the ladder and heading out onto the deck. Arthur followed, swatting away Francis' helping gesture to steady him. The three headed back out onto the deck, intending to see if Alfred had spotted anything while he'd been watching Feliciano dart about, and noticing that not much was different from when they'd last looked.
"Feli, dude, you need to chill or you're gonna pass out on me. I ain't exactly up for carryin' ya right now." Alfred was saying as he rowed, looking to the other three with an obvious plea for them to do something. Francis sighed and stepped forward, grabbing the frantic Italian by the shoulders to get him to face him.
"Feliciano, why don't you go sit with Kiku to see if he needs help with anything? Your friend cannot exactly get up and fetch something he needs on his own." Francis said, hurrying to continue as he watched Feliciano open his mouth to immediately protest. "The three of us will keep looking. You should be ready in case Romano manages to slip past us to get back to the cabin, no?" Francis said, the northern Italian deflating a bit.
"But he's my fratello. I should go look for him." Feli said, tears at the corners of his eyes again. "B-But…if he's hurt….Big Brother France, I can't-a just sit around…." He whimpered, Arthur huffing in exasperation at dealing with the crybaby antics of the other man.
"Feli, just go help Kiku. Maybe some of your good luck'll rub off on him and you can get help to come faster and we'll find your brother even sooner. 'Kay dude?" Alfred said, gaining the Italian's attention and receiving a small, hesitant nod after a moment of contemplation.
"Ve~…I guess so. But I started to look for you, and Lovino is definitely not hiding under anything out-a here." Feliciano said as he let Francis guide him back to the cabin to sit with Kiku in the hopes that the Japanese man will be able to calm him down.
"Alright, well, any suggestions of where we might actually make some progress?" Arthur said as he turned to Yao, the other man looking back out to open water as he thought. "Maybe he's taking a nap like you were? Alfred…" Arthur said, turning to the American in time to watch him attempt to move the paddle to the other side of the boat again only to accidentally hit the side of the boat and knock the door off from the piece Alfred had smashed it onto the end of earlier.
"Gah…" Alfred said with a grimace and a stumble as the movement jarred his arm, causing him to drop the rest of the 'paddle' and fall to one knee. Immediately, Arthur was over to Alfred, trying to persuade him to ease his grip on his arm so he could take a look. Yao wasn't far behind, complaining about his work going to waste as he too intended to look over the injury.
"Alfred, don't be so ridiculous. Just let me see it." Arthur said in a sterner voice, Alfred stubbornly shaking his head in the negative as he clenched his eyes shut. "Alfred…" Arthur said again in a lower voice, causing Alfred to look over to the British man in curiosity only for his eyes to dramatically widen and let out a breathless gasp as Yao ripped the bandage off his arm and prodded at the injury without warning.
"OW!" Alfred said, leveling a glare at the Chinese man that was purposely ignored as Yao scrutinized the wound for any more damage. "You…You tricked me!" Alfred said, turning back to look at Arthur with a betrayed look on his face, lower lip quivering despite obvious efforts not to outright cry.
"Not intentionally, but it certainly got the job done." Arthur said with a sympathetic look. "But it doesn't seem like you've made it much worse. Some of the stitches were torn but that's to be expected with the kind of thread Francis had on him. And…" Arthur said with more emphasis as he looked over to the broken pieces of what Alfred had put together to push them along, "…now you'll have to rest." He said, both relieved that Alfred would have to force himself to rest and worried about their chances of getting back to land or help.
"Ngghhh…I can…I can fix it." Alfred protested as he too looked over the state of the paddle. "Just need to put it back together again or somethin'." He continued, earning a smack to the back of his head by the Chinese man as he was re-bandaging the injury with the already bloody bandage to at least keep pressure on the injury to stop any more bleeding.
"No. Alfred, Kiku has fixed the radio." Arthur said, leaving out the actual level of the Japanese man's success in the hopes that he could talk Alfred into taking a 'break' that he would ensure lasted for as long as they were waiting for rescue if they could afford it. His statement also caught Yao's attention, apparently having slept through the shouts of success from Kiku and Feliciano.
"He has? Why does no one tell me these things? Aiya…" Yao said, both he and Arthur pulling Alfred to his feet again to guide him back to the cabin for more rest. Alfred make a few pained noises as they dragged him back into the cabin but was otherwise silent as they joined Kiku and Feliciano, Francis blocking their path as he was evidently coming back out to meet them.
"Oh! What 'as 'appened here?" Francis asked, making room for Alfred to shuffle back to the bed with Arthur hovering behind him. "I leave you three alone for two minutes…" He said as he watched Arthur begin to fuss with Alfred again, the Frenchman's look softening at the way the British man displayed his concern for the American and vice versa.
"This was his own doing. But it looks like it is up to you and me to go find southern Italy." Yao said, Feliciano snapping to attention at that from where he too was looking after Alfred in concern.
"N-No! I'm-a going to look too." Feliciano said as he stood straighter to appear more determined and unable to be dissuaded. Francis only sighed, looking upwards with eyes closed and uttering a small prayer for patience.
"Well, you and Italy look then. I'm going to go keep a lookout." Yao said with an eye roll, Francis looking over to him in disbelief. "What? There is only so much room to look around in for another person. Three of us in tight place is not a good idea." He said, climbing back up to the higher deck to again sit with the wheel and instruments. Francis huffed at that, but Feliciano was ready to get going, back to bouncing on his feet. The Frenchman looked over to where Alfred had tossed himself on the bed again, wondering when they could finally get back to civilization.