Six : Beach Day
Matt,
We're balls deep in summer and the only thing I want is a nice swim. I hope you're having some summer fun. I know I am...
Cue Hetalia title card and music
The back door swung open revealing an over enthusiastic German dressed in a pair of green and yellow swimming trunks and a clear blue inner tube around his waist. Snorkeling goggles were perched on his head. His less than enthusiastic younger brother, fully clothes in jeans and a t-shirt, was behind him.
"Look alive folks! We're going to the beach!" announced Gilbert to a crowd of one.
Yao looked up from his kindle and sent a tired glance at the intruder on his quiet time.
"Nobody's here."
"What do you mean 'nobody's here?'" asked Gilbert looking a bit put out.
"Exactly what I said. They've all gone out," Yao explained shifting his gaze back to his electronic reader. "We do have lives, you know."
"How could they have all gone out? What do you mean? How could this be? My awesome plan is ruined."
Gilbert muttered something in disgruntled German that Yao assumed was a complaint about how unawesome everyone was to be busy with other plans. He trudged further into the kitchen and stopped in front of the refrigerator where there was a dry erase board hanging. He picked up the pen and wrote a message.
"Mandatory house meeting tomorrow in the living room at 8AM! NO EXCEPTIONS! Including you, Kiku."
"There, that will make them come," Gilbert said replacing the pen back in its original space.
He padded out of the kitchen with his silly webbed feet as Ludwig looked on shaking his head with a sigh.
The next day there was a buzz of chatter in the room as the house's occupants all gathered together. The group were all confused about what could possibly be the meaning of their meeting. That is everyone except Yao. He knew but he didn't tell anyone, and he didn't have to because that was the time when once again Gilbert came barging into the room still dressed in the same clothes he was wearing the previous morning.
"Look alive folks! We're going to the beach!" he cheered as Ludwig sighed behind him.
"Aiyah!" China stood and hit him in the head with his wok. "At least don't use the same intro twice!"
"Brother!" gasped Ludwig jumping back to avoid the wok himself.
"Uggh," Gilbert fell to the ground. "But they hadn't seen it yet."
"You look ridiculous!" Yao said.
Gilbert got up and rubbed the place he was hit.
"Don't tell me this is what you called us all in here for," frowned Arthur with his arms crossed.
"Well, yeah I did," Gilbert said. "It's the summer!"
"Well when were you thinking to go? You can't seriously mean now do you?" the British student was eyeing Gilbert's state of dress.
"Kesesese, of course I do!"
Immediately everyone began to speak at once.
"But I have to go to work!" Yao protested.
"No you don't," Gilbert grinned. "I called out for you."
"WHAT!?"
"And I have a date I would be a fool to miss," said Francis.
"I called out for you on that too."
Kiku also spoke, "I have to respectfully reject this invitation, Gilbert, as I have a dungeon raid at noon."
"Don't worry, I alerted our guild members of your hiatus."
"Well, I guess you covered all the bases then," Kiku said though he looked a bit saddened by it.
Alfred suddenly threw his arm over Kiku's shoulder surprising the older male.
"Aw, don't worry, Kiku! We're going to have tons of fun. It's going to be great!" grinned the American teen.
"Yay! Beach!" Feliciano cheered throwing his arms in the air.
He hopped up and ran over to hug Ludwig.
"Ve, aren't you excited, Ludwig? It's our first outing with everybody!"
"I guess," said the German teen.
"I can't wait to show you all the cool things on the boardwalk," Alfred beamed with a thumbs up sign.
"Dear Arthur, I hope you have a suitable swimsuit for our excursion," Francis teased.
"Worry about your own swimsuit, Frog!"
"I guess I should make some things for our lunch then," Yao said giving in as well.
"I'll help you pack the lunch, Yao," offered Ivan as he followed Yao out of the room.
"I knew you'd all see how awesome my idea is!" Gilbert grinned toothily.
He was pleased.
Prussia's voice: "Hetalia"
"YAHOOOO!"
Alfred's loud cheer was heard as the residents of the plantation made their way from the car down to the sandy beach. Alfred was running ahead of them with Feliciano right on his heels. Gilbert grinned as he watched. He and Ludwig were carrying supplies for the beach as was everyone else. Yao and Ivan had a large blue cooler between them. Each held a handle in one hand. Francis and Arthur also had their hands full.
Down on the sand Alfred and Feliciano turned and waved up their friends.
"Hey slow pokes! Any time now," yelled Alfred with a hand cupped at one mouth.
"You could have given us a hand!" grumbled Arthur, though it wasn't loud enough for the American teen to hear.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Arthur sighed.
"Last one there is a rotten egg!" Gilbet said.
"Wait, but I can't run with this," protested Arthur holding up his bag.
"Or with this!" agreed Yao.
"Too bad!" Gilbert cackled and he took off running on the boardwalk and down the stairs into the sand.
"B,brother!" called out Ludwig taking after his older brother.
"I'm no rotten egg! Only the best for someone as beautiful as me!" chimed in Francis shouldering his beach bag and following along.
"Shall we go, Yao?"asked Ivan.
Without waiting for the Chinese man's reply Ivan set down the cooler, placed Yao on top of it and then hoisted it up.
"Ahh! Ivan! Let me down!" screamed Yao as Ivan began running towards the beach.
He wrapped his arms around Ivan's neck. Ivan didn't listen however and only kept running catching up with the others.
"H,hey!" Arthur of course followed.
The crew made it down to the place in the sand that Alfred and Feliciano picked out.
"About time," Alfred said.
Ivan set the cooler and Yao down on the sand next to where Gilbert starting spreading his towel. Francis and Arthur were the last to arrive.
"I suppose Francis and Arthur are the eggs who are rotten," said Ivan with a smile.
Yao stood up on wobbly legs.
"Aiyah!" He hit Ivan on the shoulder. "Don't do that again!"
"It was fun!" beamed the Russian.
Everyone got to work unpacking their gear. There were beach towels and two huge umbrellas that were set up side by side. Once everything was set up Kiku zipped up his white summer hoodie and plopped down on the blanket. Of course he was joined by Alfred he plopped down beside him and threw his arm over his shoulder.
"Hey Kiku! What should we do first, huh? How about swimming?" Alfred asked eagerly.
"Uh... well," began Kiku.
"And why do you have that jacket on! Come on dude! You gotta get tanned and ripped like me!"
Alfred proceeded to grab Kiku and try to tug the jacket off causing the Japanese student to yelp.
"I am sorry!" apologized Kiku though for what nobody knew.
Arthur rolled his eyes and grabbed Alfred by the ear and pulled him away.
"Can't you stop bothering others for one second?" he scolded.
Alfred blinked and looked at Arthur, "Huh? Would you rather I bother you then?"
Arthur frowned, "I implied no such thing."
Francis laughed and popped up from behind Arthur, "That's not what you said the other day."
Arthur jumped and turned to Francis angrily, "Damn Frog! Don't you go and implant idiotic ideas in the boy's head!"
He knocked Francis head into the sand.
"Huh?" Alfred had a clueless expression. "What happened the other day?"
The British man turned back to Alfred and huffed, "Nothing! Francis just has the strangest sense of humor."
"Oh I see!" beamed Alfred brightly as Francis got up coughing out a mouthful of sand.
England's voice: "Hetalia!"
"Kesesese! Guys look what I have!"
It was later and the group of residents had all scattered off in smaller groups to do their own thing. One such group was Gilbert, Yao and Ivan. The trio were walking along the beach collecting shells. Ivan was sticking fairly close to Yao but Gilbert ventured off further, every so often coming back to show off his newest find.
The German reached where Yao was currently bent over inspecting some drift wood. Yao looked up. His visor successfully shielded his eyes from the sun's rays but also made him look like a granny.
"What is it?" Yao asked.
"I found this perfect sand dollar!"
Gilbert held his hand out showing the round shell.
"Ah!" Yao was surprised. "That's cool!"
"It was over on that rocky bank down there," Gilbert pointed a bit off in the distance. "There are a bunch of awesome things."
"That's really nice, Gilbert," Yao said earnestly.
"I can find something nice too, Yao!" Ivan said coming back eager to please. "See."
Ivan held up a scallop shell.
"Pssh! That's nothing!" Gilbert scoffed.
"Oh yeah? I bet I could find something even better!"
"And I can find one even more awesome than whatever you're going to find!"
"I'm sure you can both find something nice," said Yao but his words weren't heard as Gilbert and Ivan ran off to find shells.
Ivan was motivated by his desire to please Yao. Gilbert just wanted to be awesome.
Eventually the two came back with shells. First, Gilbert came back with a knobbed whelk. It was quite huge! But then Ivan had one even bigger. The competition became more fierce with each item brought back.
"Yao, look at my conch!" Gilbert tossed Yao another large shell. This one many times larger than the others.
Yao caught it but almost dropped it when Ivan popped up and put a shell to Yao's ear for him to listen.
"Listen to mine!" he said.
Yao shrieked in surprise when he noticed that the creature was still inside and moving.
This kept going on and on until they weren't even shells anymore! Gilbert shoved a live starfish at Yao's face.
"Isn't this awesome?"
"Uh... I-"
"Yao!"
At that time Ivan came running forward with a huge sea creature grasped in both of his hands.
"Look at mine!" he cooed happily as he waved the likely annoyed horseshoe crab around.
He reached the others and shoved he creature towards Yao. It almost stabbed him with the long horn.
"Ahh!" Yao fell back into the sand and the now large pile of shells that surrounded him.
"Are you OK?!" Gilbert asked.
Yao rubbed his spine, which was stabbed by the edge of a shell, and then looked up at Gilbert and Ivan's concerned faces. Collecting shells was supposed to be a quit activity and yet-
"AIYAHHH!" erupted the Chinese man. "I had it with you two! I'm going to go do something else!"
He stood up and turned tail and stomped off leaving behind all the shells that were gathered for him.
China's voice: "Hetalia"
"Ve, are you sure this is safe?" Feliciano asked as Alfred started putting more sand back into the hole.
He had helped Alfred dig a huge hole into the sand and was coaxed into it. It was all fun and games until Alfred started filling the hole back in with him still inside of it. Only his head was going to be poking out.
"Don't worry! I used to do it to my brother all the time when we were kids," assured Alfred.
"My fratello never did this to me," reflected Feliciano as he sat still and Alfred continued to fill in the hole. "Although maybe he would find it fun too."
After a time the sand was gradually replaced and Feliciano could barely move his body. It felt weird.
"AIYAHHH!" Yao's voice was heard in the distance.
"I wonder what that's about," Alfred said looking up from his task.
"I dunno," Feliciano shrugged, or at least tried to.
"I'm gonna go check it out! He might need help! I'm the hero!"
Without another word Alfred ran off leaving Feliciano in the sand.
"Huh?" Feliciano was confused.
He looked around. But there was nothing to be seen but sand and the incoming waves of the sea.
Italy's voice: "Hetalia"
Ludwig, Francis and Arthur were standing near the beach towels. They had a flying disk and wanted to play a game. They looked around for another person so it could be two to a team.
They spotted Kiku sitting on the beach towel under the umbrella.
"Hey, Kiku!" waved Arthur. "Did you want to play?"
"We need a 4th man," explained Ludwig.
"OK," said Kiku.
He stood and joined the others.
"We'll toss it. If you drop it point goes to the other team," explained Ludwig. "Kiku you're with me."
The four put some room between them and then Ludwig tossed the Frisbee. It soared across the sky and Francis ran after it. He jumped up and caught it in his hand, twisting his body and flinging it towards Kiku. Kiku caught it with surprising ease and sent it flying towards Arthur. The unruly blond went running backwards with his eye trained at the incoming object that he didn't realize that someone else was running towards him until the disk was snatched out of the air.
"Alfred you... that was mine!" he cried.
"Sorry," apologized Alfred half heartedly and handed the green Frisbee back to him. "Can I join?"
Ludwig came jogging over, "We already have 2 on 2. We'd need a 6th man."
"Aw," Alfred actually looked crestfallen.
"I can let you take my place," offered Kiku from where he stood a bit away from them.
"No. It's OK. You stay in," said Alfred. "In fact, I was doing something but I... I can't seem to remember what."
Alfred sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
Suddenly Ivan and Gilbert approached and Alfred perked up, "Oh hey you two! Either of you up for Frisbee?"
"I'm actually feeling like a swim," Gilbert said stretching his arms over him. "Collecting shells made me hotter than I thought it would."
Alfred looked imploringly at Ivan who ended up deciding to play. The American cheered effectively forgetting all about everything that he was originally doing before stumbling across the game.
America's voice : "Hetalia!"
The sun began to set and the tide started to come in. The sea was darkening paving way for the upcoming onslaught of nightfall and stars. Yao smiled as he gazed upon the scenery and noted the lone naval vessel on the horizon. He brushed back some of the hair blown into his eyes by the wind and turned his head to stare at the Virginia Beach skyline. The orange sun rested atop a low rise hotel like a fiery cherry on a sundae.
He let out a wistful sigh. It was nice to get out the house and have a day off and away from the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. Perhaps Gilbert was right to suggest it. Plus, after he escaped from Gilbert and Ivan's little pissing contest he got to truly be alone for the first time in a very long time.
Content, Yao continued down the sandy beach staring at the beautiful feast for his eyes all around him. He thought of everything in his life at the moment from his colleagues at work and school and his house mates. His mind eventually fell to thinking about the strangeness that was Ivan.
Yao was many things but clueless and unobservant wasn't one of them. He was a finance and economics student. Though he worked at a restaurant in the states, back in China he had been an analyst for a short time. He was a man of numbers through and through and being in that field needed a discerning eye. On top of that, he was an older brother and had many siblings.
Because of these factors he knew that his relationship with Ivan – who he first regarded as a housemate then later as pesky junior- was dissolving into something strange, something familiar to him and perhaps even into something resembling a friendship. He liked to at first think of Ivan's attentiveness as a mere childish fancy and he pretend to be annoyed by it, but really he could only fool himself but so long. After all he-
"Ouch!"
Yao froze, brought out of his contemplation, and lifted his foot startled by the sudden noise. He moved his foot and glanced down. There was young Feliciano with his face scrunched up. The Italian was buried shoulders deep in the sand with only his head sticking out!
"Alfred said he was going to come back, ve... but the sun has gone down," he said weakly.
"OMG!"
Yao promptly dropped to his knees and started frantically digging in the sand to get Feliciano out.
-to be continued-
AN: thanks for reading! I hope Yao wasn't too OOC... or anyone else really. reviews and comments are appreciated! thank you!