If Kiku's mood was foul before, it had increased by at least tenfold at this point. He had been mailed off all the way to this strange place, and he was expected to take the grimy public transportation system to get to his new 'home'? No chauffeur, not even a cab, no, some dumb kid with a naive grin and a bus pass. Honestly, were all Americans this rude to their guests? They really did not have the courtesy to-
"Hey, Kiku, did you hear me?" The onyx haired boy was wrenched from his fuming when Alfred waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention. "We gotta hurry up or we'll miss the bus. Here, I'll take those two for ya." Alfred reached down and grabbed the handle of the largest suitcase which had a pair of wheels at the bottom and the second largest he grabbed by the sturdy handle. Kiku was surprised the American could handle so much weight so easily, but he merely rolled his eyes and yelled 'showoff' loudly inside his head.
Kiku hoisted one of the last two remaining bags over his shoulder and took the smallest in his opposite grip. He muttered a halfhearted "thanks" as he followed behind the blonde boy.
The two boys headed down a few escalators and through several pairs of doors and were finally outside. They walked in silence for a few minutes more before Alfred stopped.
"Well here we are. The bus should be here in-" Alfred let go of the handle of the large suitcase and pulled a slim cellphone from his pocket, "-ten minutes." Alfred gestured for Kiku to take a seat at one of the benches.
Kiku glanced at the benches; there were several other people seated at the stop as well, some seemed quite normal, and some seemed very unsettling. To name a few, there was a young man covered in piercings and tattoos with neon colored hair, a twitchy man who was mumbling to himself, and a woman smoking a cigarette and wearing clothes far too revealing than should be aloud. "I'll stand." Kiku said firmly, not even putting his luggage down.
"Ya sure? Alright then, suit yerself," Alfred blinked at his foreign companion. He took a seat on the bench near the lad covered in piercings and gave him grin and a casual "yo."
Kiku stood stiff as a statue, glancing over his shoulder at Alfred's openness with a brow raised. After a few moments of staring Kiku turned back and craned his neck as he looked up at the sky. At least the sky was the same as the one in Japan, except maybe a bit murkier. He gave a small sigh.
Alfred watched the onyx haired boy staring up, so he stared up as well. It was a little cloudy, but the sun shown brightly regardless. A jet slowly passed overhead, leaving a long white streak in its wake. Alfred's ears pricked up as he heard the familiar purr of the bus grow close. He pulled himself up off the bench along with Kiku's luggage, silently smiling a goodbye at the young man he had been sitting next to and walked up next to Kiku.
"It's almost here, don't worry about fare, Dad made sure to buy an extra buss pass for ya," Alfred said cheerily, reaching into his pocket again, this time retrieving his wallet, flicking it open with his free hand and slid a card out with his thumb, presenting it to Kiku.
Kiku eyed the card. It was blue and red with the words 'Omnitrans Month Pass: June.' The boy frowned. "Does this mean I will be taking the bus often?"
"A'course!" Alfred yipped as a bus slowed to a stop in front of them with a heavy hiss. "This is New York after all!" He didn't say it in a condescending way, but rather sounded quite proud. "Well, I prefer taking a bike myself, traffic sucks, big time."
Kiku took the card with hesitation, hating this day more and more as each minute passed. The doors of the large vehicle opened and Alfred stepped on, the huge suitcase trailing behind him. He stood there for a moment in front of the driver and then stepped towards the seats. Kiku hurried after, his bags bumping into the doors as he struggled on. He was about to walk past the driver to where Alfred was standing when he heard a loud "ahem" from the large, dark skinned woman behind the wheel who was pointing at the fare sign.
Kiku's face grew hot as he realized he'd forgot about his card. "Oh, er-" he held the card for her to see.
"You gotta swipe it," the woman said impatiently.
"Swipe...?" Kiku's face was growing hotter by the second.
Alfred quickly got up as the people behind began making irritated sounds. "Er, sorry, my friend isn't from around here," he said, plucking the card from Kiku's hand and sliding it through a slot on the fare box. The woman only glared at Alfred, and he responded with an awkward laugh as he retreated into the seating area, Kiku following close behind.
As they sat down at the back the bus began to fill with a menagerie of unique looking individuals. Kiku's face now had the complexion of a tomato as he sat in rigid silence, his hands clenched in his lap.
"Don't sweat it man, you'll get used to it," Alfred smiled, but Kiku only sent him a cold glare.
"How long until we arrive at your home?" the Japanese boy asked, unenthused.
"Er, well let's see..." Alfred said, his eyes glancing at the ceiling as he thought about it. "We've got two more transfers to make after this one, so we're looking at around...an hour."
Kiku said nothing, a scowl growing across his delicate features.
Sixty-eight minutes and thirty-nine seconds later Alfred and Kiku exited their third bus onto Indiana St. Kiku continued following Alfred's lead for the next few blocks. He was extremely tired, his clothes stuck to his skin from the perspiration, and his feet and back were beginning to ache. They rounded a corner onto Liberty Avenue and after a couple more minutes Alfred spoke up.
"There it is!" Alfred chirped, nodding ahead of them. Kiku blinked and took in the sight of the building. Any person with an average income would have deemed it a fine place to live, but Kiku sneered. A large building that rose maybe a dozen stories high; it didn't look like anything special, and didn't have any qualities that made it stand out from any of the surrounding buildings. Kiku followed the blonde up a few steps and through a sleek lobby into an a plain area with a bench, a painting on the wall, a large trash can, and four elevators, two on each side of the hall. Alfred pressed the 'up' button with his elbow, seeing as both his hands were full. Only a few seconds passed before a chime alerted the arrival of one of the lifts. The doors slid smoothly open and the boys stepped inside. Alfred pressed another button with his elbow, but Kiku couldn't see which one it was. The doors closed and Kiku stepped back, leaning against the elevator wall, the fatigue setting in quite harshly. He closed his eyes and counted the beeps as they ascended. Beep. Beep. Beep. How high were they going? Beep. Beep. Beep. Would the apartment be comfortable? Beep. Beep. Probably not. Beep. Well at least things couldn't get much worse. Beep. Kiku felt the lift slow and come to a stop. He opened his eyes as the metallic doors parted for the two of them.
"We're in number 1776," Alfred informed as he stepped out of the small space. The information seemed to pass over Kiku's head. His eyelids seemed heavy and his legs felt gelatinous. He blankly followed Alfred down the hall until they stopped in front of one of the doors. Alfred tugged a lanyard hanging from his pocket which head several keys attached at the end and unlocked the door, casually walking inside. Kiku hesitated for a moment, though he didn't know why, and then finally stepped over the threshold.
The Japanese boy glanced around him, taking in the colorful abode. There were a lot of hues that reminded him of autumn, golds and yellows and reds. It was small. At least it was to him, his home in Japan was large and extravagant, the kind of home you would expect from a family who's annual income was in the triple digits.
"This is it?" Kiku asked snidely, frowning at the place. The difference between this Brooklyn apartment and his Japanese borderline mansion was like night and day. Kiku's home was all sleek, modern black and white, this place was full of distracting, vivid colors and mismatchedness.
"Yup, welcome to mi casa," Alfred replied proudly, mistaking Kiku's tone for an admiring one. "C'mon, I'll show you around!" Alfred gestured with a nod at the rest of the apartment.
Another ten or so minutes was spent as Alfred led the way around the place talking about each room, while Kiku followed while hardly saying a word, and hardly listening for that matter.
"I saved our room for last," Alfred beamed proudly while they stood facing each other in the hall.
"We're...sharing the same bedroom...?" Kiku asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, it's a nice sized room, too," Alfred gloated. "C'mon, I'll show ya!" Alfred reached out and grabbed the boy by the hand, the same one Kiku had cut back in the airplane bathroom.
Kiku quickly retracted his hand, holding it defensively close to his chest, the makeshift bandage falling to the floor. "D-don't touch me!" he growled at the surprised blonde.
Alfred blinked at the other, confused. "S-something wrong?" he asked, confused.
"Of course something is wrong, you idiot!" Kiku snapped, a vicious glare erupting on his face. "What? You think I'm glad to be here? You think everything is just fun and carefree and nothing is wrong? This is the worst possible thing that could have happened! I'm stuck in this godforsaken country in this rotting hovel with a god damned lowlife American family! Everything is fucking wrong!"
A genuinely hurt expression formed on Alfred's face. He was quite taken aback. His gaze was hidden by the blonde locks that fell over his eyes, his hands hanging lifelessly at his sides.
"I see..." he said in a near inaudible voice. He didn't say anything for a few moments, but when he spoke up again, it was in the same low voice, only much more cold. "So that's how it is. I know this isn't exactly a picnic for you, Kiku, I'm aware it can't be easy." Alfred stepped forward, his tone growing more angry as he spoke, advancing towards Kiku, making the boy back through the door behind him. "But that doesn't give you the right to act like you're the only person on the planet that's going through a difficult time. And you acting like a spoiled little brat isn't going to change anything." Alfred had backed Kiku completely into the room behind, which turned out to be a small bathroom. "Now sit down." Alfred glared at Kiku, pointing at the edge of the bathtub.
Kiku was taken aback at this harsh lecturing from the boy, and without even realizing it he had taken a seat as he was told. Alfred looked away and opened the cabinet beneath the sink and was rummaging for something. After a moment the blonde turned back with a a white bottle of unknown substance, several cotton balls, and a roll of gauze bandage. Kiku blinked, looking at the items in confusion.
"Hand," Alfred ordered lightly, nodding at Kiku's injured hand. Kiku began to slowly bring forward his hand, staring at Alfred with uncertainty. The American boy poured some of whatever was in the white bottle onto the cotton ball and sat down on the toilet, facing Kiku, their knees bumping together. Alfred gently took the brown eyed boy's hand and dabbed the cotton ball to it.
"Itai!" Kiku flinched, pulling his hand back an inch or so.
"Just deal with it," Alfred said blankly, taking Kiku's hand in his, continuing to dab it with the cotton. After another minute or so he set the cotton down on the marble counter nextt to the sink and raised Kiku's hand close to his mouth, blowing lightly on the now damp area around the cut. Kiku watched in silence. His skin felt very cold as Alfred blew on it, the cut still stinging from whatever the boy had dabbed on it. Alfred released his hand and reached for the spool of gauze, unraveling a few inches and tearing the a section off with his teeth. He took Kiku's hand again and began wrapping the length of bandage tightly around it and pinned it in place.
Alfred stood, and without a word, he left the bathroom, disappearing without a glance back. Kiku sat there for a several minutes. He finally stood and left the bathroom as well, and walked down the hallway until he came to the only room that Alfred hadn't shown him. The plain white door had a small wooden chalkboard hanging on it which read 'Alfred & Kiku's Room.' Kiku let out a sigh as he opened the door and walked in. He didn't glance anywhere except for the beds. One was covered in a deep blue comforter, the other in a bold red, with a note sitting on it. Kiku walked over to it and picked up the note. It read 'Dear Kiku, I'm super glad to have you visiting the USA and can't wait to meet'cha! This half of the room belongs to you now, so make sure to make it totally awesome. -Your new roomie, Alfred F. Jones.'
Kiku sat on the edge of the bed staring at the note. He leaned sideways until his head connected with the pillow and raised his feet up onto the bed as well. He didn't bother undressing or even taking his shoes off. Within a few seconds his eyes were closed and he was dragged into a deep sleep.
~x~
Uwah! Japan is being a total dick, I know ;0; But things will get better, I promise! You know what they say, being a dick at first will make the heart grow stronger! What? That's not how the saying goes? Whatever! Long live Japan x US!
See you next chapter ;D