"Look buddy, d'ya want a black eye or d'ya wanna gimme some goddamn cash?" the redhead growled, pinning the man to the dirty brick wall by his collar. He was shaking. Al could feel it in the man's muscles as he dug around for his wallet, holding it out to Al with trembling fingers. He snatched it and dropped the man, who scurried away - a wise choice on his part - like the rat he was. Al grinned crookedly at the amount of money in the wallet - a few hundred bucks; it must've been payday - and pocketed it, strutting coolly out of the alleyway a moment later, cooler than a goddamn cucumber, if Al did say so himself. The money would help the almost-empty fuel tank in his car. It wasn't much of a car, really; it was an old, beat-up, keyed Toyota, not exactly known for safety nowadays, but Al liked it just fine; it suited him, really.

Climbing into the driver's side of said car, which had been parked not too far down the street, Al drove the short distance to the town's only gas station - some chain place, with enough cars for him to blend in with. Al liked crowds when he could make them work him; he liked having the option of anonymity, of being able to completely disappear - especially since he had just robbed a man in broad daylight without so much as a lowered hood. A fucking brilliant move, that had been - but Al had needed the money, his own initial reserves dried up from the last pit stop.

Where had that been? Al knew he was somewhere in Georgia now; he would've known without the aid of a map because he hadn't yet seen any signs for entering another state, and he had begun to drive north yesterday. It was still too close to Florida for his liking, too close to home, a home that didn't exist for him anymore.

Pulling up to the pump after the old lady in front of him had screeched out of there in her dingy old pickup truck - must have seen him coming in her rearview mirror, Al thought, lowering his shades slightly and winking at his own reflection - Al got out of the car and pumped his tank full, inwardly cursing the decidedly higher prices, knowing they were only get to get higher the farther north he went.

At the last minute, Al decided to pop inside the convenience shop attached to the station and buy a pack of water bottles - he could go without food for another day or two - for the road, knowing he wasn't going to stop again until his car needed more gas.

The store was ice-cold but Al didn't shiver; he was never cold no matter what he wore. His combat boots thunked purposefully across the dusty linoleum floor as he trekked to the back of the store to take a leak and grab his water, then up front to pay for it at the little stand that passed for a checkout counter. There were too many cameras around for Al to try and jack it, though he had considered attempting it anyway, because hey, whatever he could get for free was going to help him.

The cashier caught his eye - blond, porcelain pale with freckles across the bridge of his nose, green-eyed, scowling - yeah, Al could totally swing for a pretty face like that. Tossing a lazy but confident smirk on, Al leant against the counter and opened with, "Darlin', ya got a dollar on ya? I told my mama I'd call home when I fell in love." Born and raised in the south, Al had grown to perfect what idiots up north would call his "southern charm", which was really a well-laid-on drawl and a cheesy pickup line.

The cashier scoffed as he rang up Al's twenty four pack. "How many girls have fallen for that?" he asked - in an impeccable British accent, nonetheless. Oh yeah, Al thought, I gotta have this one.

"None of 'em yet, wanna be the first?" Al replied, smirk only growing at the slight flush on the cashier's cheeks.

"That doesn't work on me," he answered smoothly. "Your total is $9.77." He held his hand out and Al dug around in his pocket for a ten, gently setting it in the cashier's hand.

"If you're interested, I'm goin' 'cross the country in that car out there." Al jerked his head at where his car sat outside, hungrily watching the cashier's eyes follow the movement. Al leant forward, reclaiming the attention he had lost to his car. Lowering his shades and the volume of his voice, Al said, eyes boring into the cashier's, "I'm gonna pull 'er up to the curb. If ya wanna come, you'll be out there." Al picked the case up off of the counter, hefting it easily under one arm. "Bring some cash, darlin'," he added with a grin, "I may be a southern gentleman but I ain't payin' for every date." He left the store and went into his car, starting it up as he cleared off the front, seat, half-tossing the case of water bottles into the back seat. Driving slowly, Al pulled his car up to the curb where the cashier was standing, a paper bag in one hand and a can of beer in the other. Al wordlessly opened the passenger door, letting the other teen clamber in before driving off.

It wasn't until dusk began to fall and the cashier lit up his first cigarette that Al asked, "What's your name, doll?"

"Arthur," was the answer, exhaled at him with the greyish cloud of cigarette smoke, a perfect Cheshire grin accompanying it. "Yours?"

"Al."

Silence stretched on for that first night, just Al and Arthur and the highway illuminated by the fluorescent stars.

A/N: So yeah this was an idea I had a while ago and typed up that same while ago and I kinda like it enough to put it up here but the characters are wonky because it's 2p!USx1p!UK and I feel like I'm crap at writing 2p!US even in AU form like this (my 1p!Arthur I'm relatively solid on) but yeah, so that's what this is, and it's a road trip, sort of, and yes. I might post the other part I had up if there's enough interest. It has more than two parts, but the first two are all I've written. So yes, please drop me a review or a favorite or anything if you're interested or not interested. :)

~Chari