Written for USUK Summer Camp 2012

July 24: I See the Light

I See the Light

By HamburgerWithTea

/Summary/

Alfred is in space and misses Arthur. As he sees a flickering star he starts to remember good memories about how they met and how they improved each other's lives. On the ground, in a high-grass field, Arthur experiences the same…

As awesome as it felt, it was also weird to be floating around in space. Alfred had started to get used to it all: the thick suit, the weightlessness and the weird food –oh how he missed his hamburgers!-, and no matter how strange it was, it was most definitely worth it!

There was nothing better than the view of Earth, in Alfred's opinion. He had seen pictures before, but there was nothing like looking at it with your own eyes. It was special, it was different, it was wonderful.

He'd been training for years and eventually he'd become one of the youngest astronauts in the world. He was now on his first journey. Ever since he was a kid he'd wanted to be an astronaut, like many other boys of his age did, but unlike them, Alfred had kept the ambition and worked hard for it. He was lucky enough to be good at the required subjects, and his body was healthy enough to pass all tests.

Alfred didn't know why, but for some reason space fascinated him: The way it worked, the way probably nobody would ever understand it completely, the way it was practically endless… it was like an impossible dream that dared to be real.

Everything was fascinating for him: the way all planets had different structures, the way they all circled around the sun, how the light of stars would travel for years and by the time the light reached earth, the star itself could have been long gone.

Currently, Alfred was busy fixing a few parts of the ISS that had been damaged by small rocks and space waste from former rockets and the like. It wasn't the most interesting job but gave him a great view of his surroundings. He could see the Earth, the moon, the sun and stars. Lots of stars.

Without realising it, he'd suddenly stopped working and started to stare at a flickering star to his right. He didn't know why but it fascinated him. He figured that since it was flickering it'd probably died ages ago, but the light was still travelling a huge distance before it reached the Earth.

The small flickering and the smooth, relaxing flow made Alfred think about his home back on Earth. The home he shared with the most wonderful man on earth: the man who he'd promised to 'collect all the stars just for him' as he'd set off for his journey to space.

He thought about the man who'd changed his life for the good – who'd shown him what true love was; the man with green eyes', bright and sharp, and messy blond hair, the man claiming to be a gentleman but cursing like a sailor, the man who'd go wild at parties once he'd drunk enough alcohol, yet the man who'd take care of all the beautiful flowers in their garden…

As Alfred continued to stare at the star, down on Earth green eyes were watching over the setting sun. After a long day of working in the garden, making sure the house would look bright and clean for any who passed, he decided it was time for him to get some rest.

The house was located on top of a small hill, which made it possible for the man, who's name was Arthur Kirkland, to watch the sunset from a good view point. The clouds had started to shift to the familiar orange-pink and an easy breeze had begun to blow. Only the chirping of crickets in the high grass would disturb the pure silence as he continued to stare.

Bright light like this reminded him of familiar blue eyes and a wide smile: the ones belonging to an astronaut, one who was determined to change the world for the better and was convinced he was a hero. A small chuckle escaped Arthur's lips as he thought back at when he'd first heard the idiotic sentence.

It'd been a rainy –as usual- day in London when he'd encountered Francis while walking down the street. Normally he'd walked right past him and pretend he didn't know him, but Arthur didn't have an umbrella and Francis seemed to have one big enough for the both of them. Without even asking, he walked next to him and hid underneath it.

Francis had just chuckled as he continued walking; both were used to the other doing this and, despite the arguments and hatred they shared once in a while, eventually they would still come back to the other. They had a weird kind of friendship that one would best describe as frenemies.

The Frenchman had told him about how he was going to meet a certain American, Alfred F. Jones, who was interested in astronomy –just like Francis- and had great potential in the world of space travelling. Apparently even NASA had already showed interest in him.

Arthur had to admit that he was quite impressed to hear that. After all, it wasn't something achieved easily and he was certain this man would be a decent human being, proud of his achievements and focussing on his dream. Which seemed to be true in the end, but when Arthur opened the door to the coffee shop Francis where had arranged the meeting, he hadn't believed so any longer.

The man had looked too young, almost like a boy, with his glasses askew and his big, excited blue eyes; he looked more like a child aspiring to be that good than an adult who'd actually achieved this position.

Francis had also seemed to be taken aback as Alfred happily shook his hand, saying that he'd read Francis's books and pointing out what he liked most about them. A lot of scientific words had meant nothing to Arthur, but he did realise that this boy indeed possessed the knowledge.

They had talked for a bit and exchanged numbers. Arthur hadn't really thought anything of it as he only exchanged his business card with the spectacled man out of politeness. Alfred had been surprised to see he was actually a business man, rather than an astronomer. Later he'd admitted he had been wondering why Arthur was so silent throughout the full conversation, but he'd figured Arthur just wasn't the 'talkative' type.

Francis and Arthur had left soon, though, the Frenchman promising the other to give him a call to arrange a proper meeting to discuss more, and soon they both stood outside in the rain again, Francis holding up the umbrella.

About two weeks had passed before the American and the Briton met each other again. Arthur had gone out for some grocery shopping as the other had spotted him on the streets. Being the kid he was, Alfred had soon ran towards him and greeted him excitedly, offering the smaller blond a drink.

Arthur accepted; after all, it wasn't like he had more to do in life and the boy seemed rather desperate. Arthur figured he probably didn't have many friends around here. They found themselves in the same coffee shop.

Just like anyone in the same situation, they started talking: about the future, about ambitions, about experiences. For some reason everything seemed interesting about this foreign boy and he seemed just as interested in getting to know Arthur.

Neither of them knew how it happened, but at one point they started inviting each other over to their houses instead. They hadn't had any romantic intentions back then but it just seemed like the right thing to do.

They grew closer and closer together, and despite being too proud to admit it, Arthur was glad he'd made another friend. He didn't have many, Francis being one of the few, and sometimes it could get a bit lonely. It was nice to know Alfred was willing to hang out with him.

At one point Arthur had even told him one of his secret aspirations: he'd always wanted to be a writer. He used to write in notebooks: small stories about fairies and unicorns and other cute poems, but as high school came nearer Arthur decided to give up on that aspiration and get a proper job instead. After all, one was never sure if they would get a good salary with writing and Arthur's parents had always told him to get a decent job before goofing off with hobbies.

Arthur had actually expected to other to laugh about the whole girly fairy and story thing, but the other just nodded and patted his back. He'd told him he understood and most of all he'd assured Arthur that, no matter what, he should not give up on his dreams.

Back then Arthur was still a bit wary and wasn't sure if he should listen to the other, but considering this man had also chased a dream and was getting closer every day, Arthur decided on giving it a shot.

The stories had been easy to write – his inspiration came naturally – and Alfred was very much willing to read them. Arthur hadn't expected of him to be interested in any of it, but he seemed to enjoy them all and continued to ask Arthur for more. At one point he'd even convinced Arthur to publish his work.

After the latter had mustered up the courage to send his work in, everything had gone fast. He received a letter telling him to meet one of their publishers, who had pointed out a few things to Arthur that he had to change before it would be published.

The Briton had been overjoyed and so was Alfred as he'd told him the good news. In the mess of emotions Alfred had picked him up in his arms and twirled around, only to distance him a bit soon after. Not in a scared or aggressive way, but in a gentle and caring one.

Neither of them had expected for the other's eyes to be so mesmerising, so fascinating, as they both drew closer to kiss. The sensation had been new, foolish and somewhat sloppy, but it'd felt right.

They had never really expected that this would happen and it took them a moment to realise this was in fact reality. The sensation grew stronger and stronger and suddenly they realised this is what they'd wanted all along. They might hadn't noticed, or maybe even denied, but this was it. This was perfect.

Both had been so blind in life; they hadn't ever seen just what was the most beautiful thing of it all. They'd focussed on their jobs and normal life, but now they found love. It was as if the dull, grey world had suddenly turned bright and colourful.

In the end they'd never officially started a relationship; neither had asked, but their love had grown strong for years. Francis had made cheeky comments about how wonderful it was to see it was his doing that they'd ended up like two lovebirds. Arthur would hit him on the head.

As Arthur quit his job as business man to focus more on his writing, Alfred continued working hard for his own dream. Years passed and Alfred had had harder and easier times to experience, but it all fell to place as he got selected to be part of a crew to go to the ISS.

Arthur had been so proud of him, so happy, and had travelled with him all the way to Russia, where the rocket would be launched.

It had been difficult to see him off for quite a long period of time, and Arthur couldn't worry about what could go wrong, but the launch had went perfect and Alfred arrived safely in the ISS.

Occasionally they had contact and Alfred seemed to enjoy sending him pictures from stars and planets, but most of all the earth. One time he'd even zoomed all the way in on their house, telling Arthur how much he enjoyed seeing the flowers bloom. The garden had looked colourful and bright on the picture and Arthur was determined to keep it that way if Alfred liked it so much.

And that's where the story started. By now, Arthur's eyes were about to shut as he looked up to the dark sky filled with stars. One of the many small dots of light seemed to grab his attention though; a rather big star, flickering right above him as he lay on his back. The star almost seemed to greet him and wish him good night, as he started wondering about how Alfred felt now.

Would Alfred miss him? Would Alfred be thinking of him now? How long again until he'd be back? Everything seemed so much harder to remember when one was sleepy…

At the same time, up in that dark space, Alfred wondered the same. What would Arthur be doing at the moment? It was sometimes hard to keep track of time when in space. Would he be sleeping well, or would he be too stressed? The American decided he'd send Arthur a mail as he came back inside the ISS and ask him how everything was going: ask him if he was feeding the cats well, making sure he had Francis cook for him so he didn't have to eat his own creations from the kitchen.

After he was done fixing up the small damage he set off to get back inside. With one last glance at the star, he suddenly remembered Arthur's eyes. It felt so warm and real and bright to think of the idea that maybe they were both looking at the same star, sharing their feelings, thinking of each other.

Maybe they would share this moment without ever knowing it? It felt like something special and private, something only they could ever share. As Alfred set off to send the mail, promising to take a picture of the star for Arthur, the latter slowly closed his eyes with a content smile evident on his face.

It felt wonderful, this love, and sharing such special moments made it even more perfect. They knew they would always remember this, this evening, this moment, this star, and that one mail would never be deleted.

Subject: …

From: HeroStar mail. (com

To: AKirkland mail. (com

Hereby the Hero sends you a star!

I might not be able to collect all of them, but this one is yours, on one condition:

Please be my star, because thanks to you, I can see the light.

Thanks to KNIGHT for beta-ing! She's a HERO 3

/Author's Note/

So yeah I've been dying to write a story like this, but it turned out worse than I hoped D: I blame it on the heat and tiresome day :I Let's hope I am able to create something better next time.

Ok so I love Alfred in space :3 I admit.

Good luck spotting the quotes of lyrics in this story ;D

Uhm yeah this is something I'm not completely happy about but I really just wanted to upload SOMETHING ok, so yeah there you go.

Look forward for more, tomorrow's story hopefully turns out great as the people I told the basic plot said they couldn't wait for it :D I'll try my best!

You know, reviews are love!

I do not own Hetalia or the characters, those belong to their rightful (awesome) creator, Hidekaz Himaruya!

(07/24/12)