Work Text:
Romano was not a person who believed in waking up early. He preferred a leisurely start to his day: a light breakfast, a cappuccino or two, and a boyfriend who could be persuaded to collapse back into bed rather than dragging him out of his warm cocoon of blankets before the sun was even up.
So when Savino felt arms picking him up while he should have still been deep in slumber, his first reaction was to groan in exasperation. “Jesus fucking Christ, Fredo. What time is it?”
“2:30 a.m. Time to rise and shine, Vinny.”
Romano leaned his head into America’s chest, because he was much too exhausted to fight with him, even if he was severely annoyed right now. “Thought you said you wanted to see sunrise at the top of the volcano.”
“I do. But the sun rises before six o’clock in the summer, and it’ll take us at least two hours to get to Puʻu ʻUlaʻula in the car. And that’s without stopping for restroom breaks.”
Savino yawned as Alfred set him down on his feet in front of his suitcase. “I need coffee. Now.”
America pushed a thermos towards him. “Here you go. But fair warning, it’s the best I could do with the little machine here in the room.”
Savino wrinkled his nose as he took a sip. Alfred wasn’t kidding. This coffee was horrible. When America saw Romano’s reaction, he chuckled and kissed his forehead. “Don’t worry, we can stop for breakfast on the way back. I’m sure the coffee at the Kula Lodge will be much more to your liking.”
“Hope so.” He took a deep sip and watched as Alfred, who seemed to be unnaturally full of energy this morning, hummed and packed a cooler with snacks for their trip. Once Romano had drained the thermos and was as awake as he was ever going to be this early in the morning, he got dressed in the sweater, parka, gloves, and jeans America had told him to pack specifically for this experience. Hawaii was generally warm during the summer, but at more than 3000 meters above sea level before the sun rose, the temperatures at the peak of Haleakalā would barely be above 0 degrees Celsius when they arrived. Romano disliked the cold just as much as he disliked waking up before even a rooster would. If anyone else had proposed he wake up at 2:30 in the morning so he could watch sunrise at the top of a mountain, Savino would have bluntly told them they were insane. Maybe Alfredo was a little crazy for suggesting this, but he was also impossible to say no to, especially when he promised Savino that the view of the sunrise would be “almost as gorgeous as you.”
When they were both ready to go, America cheerfully led them out of their hotel room and took them out to his car. Romano squinted into the darkness skeptically.
“Are you sure this is safe? I mean, you are driving up a mountain.” Romano had enough mountains in his home to know how dangerous driving on mountain roads could be.
“We’ll be fine. I know these roads like the back of my hand. Besides, if I was gonna do something really dangerous, I wouldn’t do it with precious cargo like you in the car.” Alfred winked at him, and Savino rolled his eyes, pretended he wasn’t flattered at America casually referring to him as “precious,” and got in the passenger seat.
As America was setting up his iPod, Romano decided he had one last question to ask his boyfriend. “Aren’t you tired? Like, at all?”
“Not right now, but I’ll probably crash later in the day. I took some 5-hour energy this morning and drank about twice as much coffee as you did, so I’ll be good to go. Plus, I brought some snacks and have music to make sure I’ll stay perfectly alert for the drive.”
Romano buckled his seatbelt and stared out the windshield into the blackness. “Don’t expect me to stay awake the whole time. Because that is definitely not happening.” He could already feel himself getting sleepy, even though the passenger seat in Fredo’s car was a lot less comfortable than the bed back in the hotel.
Alfred laughed. “I figured as much.” He turned on the car, and started to back out of his parking space at the hotel, singing along to his “island tunes” mix. America wasn’t much of a singer, but he was loud and entertaining enough to keep Romano awake for a while.
Alfred’s playlist was an eclectic mix of Don Ho, Elvis Presley, and several singers Romano didn’t know the names of (or wouldn’t even attempt to say without abbreviating, like the one America called Bruddah IZ). The songs in Hawaiian tripped as easily off America’s tongue as the English ones did.
There was only one song on his playlist America didn’t sing along to. His hands tightened on the steering wheel as the song began with a slower, sadder melody. At first, Romano didn’t understand why Alfred wasn’t singing along, nor why he had that solemn, guilty expression on his face, but then he heard the English lyrics talking about highways through sacred ground and the land that was taken away. And considering they were on a highway right now…
Romano didn’t know what to tell America. He couldn’t tell America that it wasn’t his fault, or that he wasn’t to blame for what had happened to the Hawaiian people. All he could do was give America a weak smile once the song was over. He would have squeezed his hand if it hadn’t been on the steering wheel.
America let out a deep breath. “That one’s hard for me to listen to. But I think it’s important for me to hear it and to acknowledge that stuff, you know?”
Romano nodded. “Yeah. That makes sense.”
“They didn’t want to be my people, but now they are, just as much as anyone else is. My government’s never let me do much, but I can try to do my best for them. For them, and for everybody else.” America turned up the volume on his stereo and started singing, and his happiness seemed a bit more forced than usual.
Romano frowned, but didn’t say anything. Now was hardly a good time to make Alfred confront his guilt about American imperialism, or his tendencies to mask more negative emotions with false levity and engage in the sort of naïve, optimistic thinking that would only lead to disappointment down the line, when people inevitably failed to live up to his expectations. Maybe they would talk about this later, at some point when Romano wasn’t so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. Probably after they had returned to the mainland.
Eventually, Savino’s exhaustion won out over his worry. He was woken up by America vigorously shaking his shoulder. “Hey, sleepyhead. Time to wake up again.”
Savino rubbed at his eyes. “We there yet?”
“Not quite, but we’re at the Visitor’s Center. This is your last chance to go to the bathroom before we head up to the summit.”
Now that he was awake, his bladder felt uncomfortably full from the thermos full of coffee he had earlier. Romano unbuckled his seatbelt. “Yeah, okay, I’ll go.”
After using the facilities, America pulled out another thermos of coffee. “I figured you’d still be tired, so I packed this for you just in case.”
Romano accepted the thermos gratefully. “I could kiss you right now.”
Alfred giggled and leaned over to do just that. He pulled back a few seconds later with a goofy grin on his face, and Romano was smiling too.
America was back to his normal ebullient self by the time they reached the summit. He slung a blanket and a towel over his shoulders, took the cooler of snacks in one hand, and held Romano’s hand with the other. “Look at the stars, Vinny! Look at the stars!”
Savino laughed at his boyfriend’s childlike enthusiasm. “I can see the stars, tesoro.” He looked up towards the sky, where the tiny pinpricks of light from millions of miles away were much more visible than they would be down the volcano.
“They’ve got an astronomical research observatory over there.” Alfred pointed towards a group of buildings Savino could barely see through the distance. “I’ve actually been there, and to the Gemini North one up on Mauna Kea on the Big Island. Maybe in a few days, I could take you back up here for the sunset and to look at the stars some more. Or we could go Mauna Kea if you want.”
“We can always do that the next time we come to Hawaii too. There’s plenty of time for trips in the future.”
Alfred proceeded to give Savino a hug that lifted him off his feet and peppered the side of his face in kisses until Savino was cackling and weakly squirming to get away. Then he set him back down, took his hand, and led them to a spot where they could watch the sunrise together.
The temperature at the top of Halekalā was just as ridiculously cold as America had warned him it would be. But with the towel on the ground to keep their butts dry, the blanket wrapped around both their bodies, and his cuddle monster of a boyfriend, it wasn’t so bad.
There were a lot of other people around them, chatting and setting up their cameras, but a hush fell over the crowd when the first rays of dawn began to lighten the sky. Romano gasped when he saw that view America had spoken so highly of. With the clouds rolling in over the crater below them and the spectacular colors, they seemed to be in heaven itself.
“Told you it’d be worth it,” America smugly whispered.
Romano nodded, too awestruck to say anything, and America snapped a few photos to preserve the experience.
As people began to head back to their cars and leave, Romano turned to face his boyfriend. “Thanks for bringing me up here, amore.”
“Of course. There’s no one else I’d rather watch this sunrise with than you.”
Savino gave him a slow, sleepy kiss then turned back around to watch the sky for the next several minutes.
Eventually they were ready to go. America was holding Romano’s hand on their way back to the car. “You know, there’s a legend about this place. Apparently, Māui came up here before sunrise, just like we did, and lassoed the sun and beat him into submission. All so the sun would move more slowly across the sky and his mom would have more time to dry her bark cloth.”
Romano snorted. “He sounds like a very devoted son.”
“I’d figure out how to lasso the sun for you if you wanted. The sun, the moon, the whole sky too. If only Mattie had longer hair…”
Savino had heard such grandiose promises before, especially around Christmastime if Alfred had watched It’s A Wonderful Liferecently. “How about we start with a decent cup of coffee?”
Alfred swung their hands back and forth in a giddy display. “That, I can definitely do.”