[Secret Santa Fic] Waiting for your Call [3/4]
Title: Waiting for your Call
Author: Me. (fivedayslater )
Recipient: antisolar_point
Characters/Pairings: (This part) USUK, France, China, Hungary, Canada/Ukraine.
Ratings/Warnings: PG-13, language.
Summary: One day Arthur receives probably the strangest miscall of his life from an American named Alfred. He doesn't think much of it...until Alfred calls back the next day.
This Chapter: Arthur's boss gets the phone bill and Elizaveta adds her two cents.
A/N: I am made of fail. I won't be able to get the very end done by the end of the year, so please accept my apologies and my promise that I will get it done as soon as humanly possible. Also as a warning, everything I've learned about running a business comes from watching The Office. Just suspend your disbelief for a bit. It's not the main focus of the story anyway. :Db?
Part 1 Part 2
Arthur showed up at the office the next day in a fantastic mood. He practically skipped and whistled his way to his desk, but managed to hold back, barely.
“Somebody had a good night,” Francis sang as Arthur took his seat. “You called him, didn’t you?”
Arthur gave him a non committed grunt and swiveled his chair way from him. Francis took that as a yes and kept talking.
“So you did take my advice! And how was the phone sex?”
Arthur felt his face heat up as he spluttered out, “W-what? It’s not like that! I don’t even know what the prat looks like!”
“My poor, disillusioned friend,” Francis sighed and shook his head, “have you ever heard the phrase, ‘Love is blind?’”
“It’s not like that,” he repeated as he concentrated on his computer screen.
Francis was about to reply, but thought better of it when their boss, a short Asian man by the name of Wang Yao, arrived at Arthur’s cubicle.
“Kirkland!” he barked, causing Arthur to wince, as he waved some papers in front of him, “Care to explain how your company cell phone managed to accumulate over $1000 in charges this month?”
“I…” shit, it was all those international calls from Alfred. Somehow the boy had made him forget that he kept calling on his company phone, and those charges had to go somewhere. Speaking of charges, Alfred was still only a student. How had he managed to pay for all those calls?
“Well?” Yao started tapping his foot, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Arthur should worry about not getting his arse fired now, Alfred’s phone bill later, “I, well, you see…”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Francis interrupted, “He’s just been calling his American business contact.”
Yao and Arthur stared blankly at him, “What?”
“You know how you are always telling us to ‘search for ways to expand business opportunities,’ yes Mr. Wang? Mr. Kirkland has been doing just that.”
Yao raised an eyebrow, “Is that true Kirkland?”
“Yes?” Arthur cleared his throat and tried again, “Of course it is, sir.”
“Well then,” Yao looked over the bill in his hands once more, “You should have told me you had overseas contacts. I’ll have you switch to an international plan so it’s cheaper.”
“Yes sir,” Arthur felt elated. Yao had actually bought it, and not only was he off scott free, now he had an even easier way to talk to Alfred on company time. This was brilliant!
“This is a real convenience for me,” Yao went on, “The higher ups have been talking about creating a US branch. If you have a contact there, I can have you work on setting that up.”
As suddenly as they appeared, all the good feelings left Arthur, “I, but, I mean -”
“He’ll be happy to do it!” Francis answered before Arthur could get out a coherent sentence.
“Excellent. I’ll call the phone company about your new phone right away. It should be here by this afternoon. Start packing your bags, Mr. Kirkland, you’re off to America in a week,” he waved and went back to his office.
As soon as his boss was out of earshot, Arthur smashed his head against his keyboard.
“You’re welcome,” Francis exclaimed, as if Arthur actually owed him a favor for what had just transpired.
“For what?” he lifted up his head and turned to glare at the bane of his existence.
“With my quick thinking, not only did you not get fired, you’re probably going to get a pay raise,” Francis said as studied his fingernails, “Not only that, but now you get a trip to America to be with Lover Boy all on the company’s dime. I believe a simple thank you is the least I deserve.”
“Until Yao finds out that I’m lying, which should be as soon as I touch down in America, considering my ‘business contact,’” he over exaggerated the air quotes, “is actually a physics student! A bit hard to set up an overseas branch with one of those!”
“You worry too much, Mr. Kirkland,” Francis sighed, “I’ve already got it under control.”
Arthur raised an eyebrow. Whenever Francis Bonnefoy said he had things ‘under control,’ nine times out of ten it meant a world of hurt and humiliation for him, “Under control how?”
Francis looked scandalized, “Mr. Kirkland! Do you not trust me?” When Arthur just continued glaring, he relented, “As you should, but you of all people should know I am completely serious when love is on the line.”
“L-love?” Arthur blushed and averted his gaze, “What love? What are you talking about?”
“Obviously you and Lover Boy are madly, passionately in love with each other, but have been cursed to live on separate continents,” he sighed in a dramatic way, “Lucky for both of you, you have your own personal cupid and his cute assistant niece in America to get you two together.”
“We’re certainly not,” Arthur swiveled his chair so Francis couldn’t see his red face, “passionately in love with each other. And what are you talking about?”
“You see Mr. Kirkland, I like to think ahead. I’ve heard through the grapevine that the higher ups have been considering a US branch, and have been in contact with my lovely niece Sophie, you remember her right? She’s the cute one.”
“Glasses, bow, gambling problem? Yes, I remember her.”
Francis shook his head, “It’s not a problem if she wins, which she always does. Anyway, she’s been working for a certain American company that may be interested in a partnership to help launch our US branch…”
“Hang on a minute,” he spun back around to face Francis’s smirk, “You’re telling me that you and your niece have already done all the legwork in secret and are perfectly willing to let me just show up and take the credit?”
“Yes, I believe that is what I am telling you.”
Arthur crossed his arms, “And the catch is?”
“The catch is that there is no catch.”
“There’s probably going to be a promotion and a pay raise in my future because of this. Why wouldn’t you keep that for yourself?”
“Arthur,” he sighed, “I’ve told you: if it’s for love, I’m willing to make sacrifices.”
He called him Arthur. Francis never used his first name unless he was being absolutely serious. There was just one problem, “I’m not in love!”
“Yes you are. You’re in denial as well. Shame how those two usually go hand in hand.”
“I don’t…” he spun back around again and buried his face in his arms on his desk, “I don’t even know what he looks like…”
“I’ve told you before-”
“And he…” Francis leaned forward to hear Arthur better, “He…doesn’t even know what I look like either.”
He chuckled, “Is that what you’re worried about? Arthur, you are not an ugly man.” Arthur snorted in response, “I’m serious! I would consider bedding you myself if I didn’t already know you have a horrible personality. Since Lover Boy already knows about that, the size of your eyebrows shouldn’t be a problem.” When he remained silent, Francis added, “And if this Alfred has any intelligence to speak of, he's not going to let you go that easily.”
There was a pause, then a quiet, not quite there, “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Francis turned back to his desk and almost missed the “Thanks Francis” from the cubicle next door.
“Like I said before, you’re quite welcome.”
~*~*~*~
“The number you are trying to reach is no longer in service. Please hang up and try again.”
Alfred gave his phone a blank, disbelieving stare and tried again, only to get the same result as the first twenty times he tried to call Arthur. Eventually he had to face the fact that Arthur blocked his number and smashed his head on the table in front of him, burying it in his arms.
He must have scared Arthur away for good last night. Alfred didn’t even remember the full conversation, just that Arthur called, that made him happy, he got him to admit he was single, and he counted sheep for him. He didn’t quite recall what happened in between, but he must have insulted the man’s family somehow, or even worse, told him about his growing, not-as-secret-as-he’d-like crush on him, causing Arthur to freak and change his number so Alfred couldn’t contact him again and -
“Hey Alfred,” Elizabeta’s voice interrupted his inner ramblings as she sat down across from him.
“Hey,” Alfred shifted his head so his chin was resting on the table.
“Everything alright?” she asked taking a sip from her coffee.
“Peachy,” he sighed, still sounding as depressed as he felt.
“Does it have to do with that guy you keep talking to on the phone?” her curiosity suddenly peaked.
Ever since Elizaveta found it he wasn’t exactly straight, she’d taken an abnormal amount of interest in his love life. Alfred didn’t mind as much as some other people might have though, since her advice was normally good, and the only other people he could rely on for that kind of thing was Matt, who spent most of his time wallowing in his own feelings and not doing anything about them, and Gilbert, who was, well, Gilbert.
“Yeah…he kinda, uh, blocked my number or changed his phone or something. Thing is I can’t call him anymore and he lives in England so I can’t just go see him in person and even if I did go to England I wouldn’t be able to find his house and -”
“Alfred, you’re rambling,” she interrupted with a smile.
He sat up in his chair and crossed his arms, “Yeah, well, Arthur’s annoying.”
“Love is annoying,” she corrected. Alfred blushed but didn’t deny it, “but I’m sure you’re just over thinking things. Maybe he just broke his phone and is in the process of getting a new one?”
“Maybe…” Alfred sighed and rested his head on his arms again.
“Where’s Matt?” Elizaveta asked, steering the conversation away from a topic that was clearly distressing her friend, “Don’t you two usually meet here for studying?”
“Yeah, but he said he was studying somewhere else today…” Alfred pouted and turned his head away from the nearby wall to watch the students in the student center. Classes were over, and with finals just around the corner, every student had their head buried in a stack of books. Alfred was no different, currently using his physics notebook as a pillow of sorts.
“But isn’t that him over there?” he sat up and followed with his eyes where Elizaveta was pointing, to the corner of the room where Matt and Braginski’s sister, what’s her name, the hot one without the knives, Katrina or Katyusha or something Russian with a K, were currently studying. At least the books piled around them indicated some type of studying was supposed to be going on. They were currently laughing, talking and drinking something warm, completely ignoring the books.
“I’ll be damned…I wonder why he didn’t tell me about his study date?”
“After the snake thing? Are you kidding?”
“It wasn’t that bad!” Alfred sat up to defend himself properly, “And you weren’t even there!”
She rolled her eyes, “The whole campus knows about it, only they call it an ‘Alfred Jones.’”
“It was Gilbert’s idea,” he pouted and glared at his phone, the source of all his current frustration.
Elizaveta leaned across the table to pat Alfred comfortingly on the arm, “He’ll call.”
“You don’t know that for sure…” Suddenly his phone started ringing. Elizaveta leaned back as Alfred snatched the phone off the table and noticed it was from an unknown number. An unknown number that had the same area code as Arthur.
He turned away from her as he answered the phone with a rushed, “Hello?”
“You’re sounding better,” an overly British voice greeted, “How are you feeling?”
“Arthur!” Alfred smiled and noticed Elizaveta silently giggling out of the corner of his eye. He felt his face heat up as he kept talking, “Yeah, I’m a fast recoverer. How are you?”
“…Dandy. Just dandy.”
Alfred’s smile fell a little at the pause, but he pressed on, “Hey what’s up with your phone? I tried calling it before but…”
“Ah, yes, well, my boss found out about you calling me all the time and decided it would be better if I got a new phone.”
Whoops, he forgot that international calls cost a lot of money. His parents were not going to be happy with the phone bill this month, “Sorry if I got you in trouble, although a new phone is a weird punishment.”
“It’s not a punishment. It’s, well…”
“Just tell him now!” Alfred heard another voice shout, “Unless you want to surprise him…”
“Stop listening in on private conversations frog!” he heard Arthur shout back.
“Surprise me with what?”
“Ah, well…long story short, my boss is sending me to America. New York to be precise.”
“So wait…” Alfred could feel his smile slowly form as he processed the information, “You’re coming here?”
“I’m coming to the city,” he amended, “It’s a big city, so th-there’s no guarantee we’ll bump into each other…”
“Like hell!” he slammed his fist on the table, causing Elizaveta to jump and spill some of her coffee. Alfred quickly apologized before continuing, “If we’re going to be in the same city, hell the same side of the ocean, I’ll make sure we see each other!”
“I-idiot…” Arthur sighed, but some how Alfred knew he was smiling, “I’m going to have to cut this short, I have to prepare for my trip.”
“When are you coming?”
“In about a week.”
“Cool, so I’ll see you then?” he hated how unsure his voice sounded.
The brief pause didn’t help, “Yes, I’ll see you then.”
“Okay. Yeah. Great. Then.”
“Indeed,” another pause, and Alfred felt his face start to heat up, “I really do have to go.”
“Yeah, uh, I’ll call you tomorrow?”
“Of course,” by the time Alfred processed that that was the first time Arthur told him to call him back, he had already hung up.
“Good conversation?” Elizaveta asked, bringing Alfred out of the world of bliss his mind had descended into.
“Uh, yeah. Maybe,” he felt his face heat up more and knew he was probably still smiling like an idiot, “He’s coming here next week…”
“I heard,” she gave him an all knowing smirk that he was content to ignore, “So what are you going to do about it?”
“See him, obviously.”
“Just see him? Alfred this is your big chance!” she leaned forward and looked him in the eye, “I say you go for it.”
“I agree,” he leaned forward as well, “Go for what now?”
“You need to tell Arthur that you’re madly, passionately in love with him but you hesitate to start anything further due to the curse of being separated by an ocean.”
“That’s…great Liz,” he smiled awkwardly, “but-”
“Yet your love cannot be contained merely through phone calls,” she continued, “and you tell him as much just before you dramatically pull him in for the most passionate and intense kiss either of you have ever had!”
Alfred felt his face go red again as he leaned back and scratched the back of his head, “Uh, Liz…”
“The snow starts falling as you both pull back. You realize that your emotions had gotten the best of you and you quickly try to apologize for your actions, but he cuts you off by pulling you down for another kiss. And then-”
“Liz!” Alfred whisper-shouted, “You’re doing it again.”
“Oh,” she leaned back took a sip of coffee to hide her blush, “Sorry about that.”
“It’s alright,” he smiled uneasily and leaned back in his chair.
“You should do it though.”
“Do what now?”
She rolled her eyes, “Tell him how you feel. Even if it isn’t that dramatic, it’s still your last chance.”
“I wouldn’t say last chance,” he chuckled nervously, “Would you?”
“Well, it’s a very good chance, and you should do it.”
“I…” Alfred looked over to where Matt and Braginski’s sister were. They had packed up their books and were saying their goodbyes. Just as he turned to leave, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek before waving and leaving the student center. Matt stood there, frozen and red for about a minute before he left too.
If he told Arthur how he felt, would he respond like that? Would he blush and kiss him and return his feelings? That would make Alfred happy. The mere thought of that made him happier than he could ever remember being in his entire life. To have Arthur hug him and kiss him and say “I love you” back…
But Arthur’s never seen him before. Alfred wasn’t shallow enough to turn him away if he turned out to have a massive forehead or burn scars across his face or missing limbs or huge, furry eyebrows or something, and he was pretty sure Arthur wasn’t either. But what if Arthur had expectations of Alfred? He could be expecting Alfred to be some kind of posh, upper class, always in fashion New Yorker and instead be getting just small town, I’m-pretty-sure-this-hoodie-is-still-clean-even-if-it’s-the-fifth-time-I’m-wearing-it-this-week, video game and comic nerd Alfred.
No, Alfred tried to convince himself, Arthur wasn’t like that. He was a pretty good judge of character, and he could tell Arthur would care about things like that if he really did love Alfred back. Of course, even that was just Alfred being hopeful.
“I’ll…maybe. I’ll think about it,” Alfred grabbed his stuff and stood up, “I gotta go,” he left before Elizaveta could respond.
Author: Me. (fivedayslater )
Recipient: antisolar_point
Characters/Pairings: (This part) USUK, France, China, Hungary, Canada/Ukraine.
Ratings/Warnings: PG-13, language.
Summary: One day Arthur receives probably the strangest miscall of his life from an American named Alfred. He doesn't think much of it...until Alfred calls back the next day.
This Chapter: Arthur's boss gets the phone bill and Elizaveta adds her two cents.
A/N: I am made of fail. I won't be able to get the very end done by the end of the year, so please accept my apologies and my promise that I will get it done as soon as humanly possible. Also as a warning, everything I've learned about running a business comes from watching The Office. Just suspend your disbelief for a bit. It's not the main focus of the story anyway. :Db?
Part 1 Part 2
Arthur showed up at the office the next day in a fantastic mood. He practically skipped and whistled his way to his desk, but managed to hold back, barely.
“Somebody had a good night,” Francis sang as Arthur took his seat. “You called him, didn’t you?”
Arthur gave him a non committed grunt and swiveled his chair way from him. Francis took that as a yes and kept talking.
“So you did take my advice! And how was the phone sex?”
Arthur felt his face heat up as he spluttered out, “W-what? It’s not like that! I don’t even know what the prat looks like!”
“My poor, disillusioned friend,” Francis sighed and shook his head, “have you ever heard the phrase, ‘Love is blind?’”
“It’s not like that,” he repeated as he concentrated on his computer screen.
Francis was about to reply, but thought better of it when their boss, a short Asian man by the name of Wang Yao, arrived at Arthur’s cubicle.
“Kirkland!” he barked, causing Arthur to wince, as he waved some papers in front of him, “Care to explain how your company cell phone managed to accumulate over $1000 in charges this month?”
“I…” shit, it was all those international calls from Alfred. Somehow the boy had made him forget that he kept calling on his company phone, and those charges had to go somewhere. Speaking of charges, Alfred was still only a student. How had he managed to pay for all those calls?
“Well?” Yao started tapping his foot, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Arthur should worry about not getting his arse fired now, Alfred’s phone bill later, “I, well, you see…”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Francis interrupted, “He’s just been calling his American business contact.”
Yao and Arthur stared blankly at him, “What?”
“You know how you are always telling us to ‘search for ways to expand business opportunities,’ yes Mr. Wang? Mr. Kirkland has been doing just that.”
Yao raised an eyebrow, “Is that true Kirkland?”
“Yes?” Arthur cleared his throat and tried again, “Of course it is, sir.”
“Well then,” Yao looked over the bill in his hands once more, “You should have told me you had overseas contacts. I’ll have you switch to an international plan so it’s cheaper.”
“Yes sir,” Arthur felt elated. Yao had actually bought it, and not only was he off scott free, now he had an even easier way to talk to Alfred on company time. This was brilliant!
“This is a real convenience for me,” Yao went on, “The higher ups have been talking about creating a US branch. If you have a contact there, I can have you work on setting that up.”
As suddenly as they appeared, all the good feelings left Arthur, “I, but, I mean -”
“He’ll be happy to do it!” Francis answered before Arthur could get out a coherent sentence.
“Excellent. I’ll call the phone company about your new phone right away. It should be here by this afternoon. Start packing your bags, Mr. Kirkland, you’re off to America in a week,” he waved and went back to his office.
As soon as his boss was out of earshot, Arthur smashed his head against his keyboard.
“You’re welcome,” Francis exclaimed, as if Arthur actually owed him a favor for what had just transpired.
“For what?” he lifted up his head and turned to glare at the bane of his existence.
“With my quick thinking, not only did you not get fired, you’re probably going to get a pay raise,” Francis said as studied his fingernails, “Not only that, but now you get a trip to America to be with Lover Boy all on the company’s dime. I believe a simple thank you is the least I deserve.”
“Until Yao finds out that I’m lying, which should be as soon as I touch down in America, considering my ‘business contact,’” he over exaggerated the air quotes, “is actually a physics student! A bit hard to set up an overseas branch with one of those!”
“You worry too much, Mr. Kirkland,” Francis sighed, “I’ve already got it under control.”
Arthur raised an eyebrow. Whenever Francis Bonnefoy said he had things ‘under control,’ nine times out of ten it meant a world of hurt and humiliation for him, “Under control how?”
Francis looked scandalized, “Mr. Kirkland! Do you not trust me?” When Arthur just continued glaring, he relented, “As you should, but you of all people should know I am completely serious when love is on the line.”
“L-love?” Arthur blushed and averted his gaze, “What love? What are you talking about?”
“Obviously you and Lover Boy are madly, passionately in love with each other, but have been cursed to live on separate continents,” he sighed in a dramatic way, “Lucky for both of you, you have your own personal cupid and his cute assistant niece in America to get you two together.”
“We’re certainly not,” Arthur swiveled his chair so Francis couldn’t see his red face, “passionately in love with each other. And what are you talking about?”
“You see Mr. Kirkland, I like to think ahead. I’ve heard through the grapevine that the higher ups have been considering a US branch, and have been in contact with my lovely niece Sophie, you remember her right? She’s the cute one.”
“Glasses, bow, gambling problem? Yes, I remember her.”
Francis shook his head, “It’s not a problem if she wins, which she always does. Anyway, she’s been working for a certain American company that may be interested in a partnership to help launch our US branch…”
“Hang on a minute,” he spun back around to face Francis’s smirk, “You’re telling me that you and your niece have already done all the legwork in secret and are perfectly willing to let me just show up and take the credit?”
“Yes, I believe that is what I am telling you.”
Arthur crossed his arms, “And the catch is?”
“The catch is that there is no catch.”
“There’s probably going to be a promotion and a pay raise in my future because of this. Why wouldn’t you keep that for yourself?”
“Arthur,” he sighed, “I’ve told you: if it’s for love, I’m willing to make sacrifices.”
He called him Arthur. Francis never used his first name unless he was being absolutely serious. There was just one problem, “I’m not in love!”
“Yes you are. You’re in denial as well. Shame how those two usually go hand in hand.”
“I don’t…” he spun back around again and buried his face in his arms on his desk, “I don’t even know what he looks like…”
“I’ve told you before-”
“And he…” Francis leaned forward to hear Arthur better, “He…doesn’t even know what I look like either.”
He chuckled, “Is that what you’re worried about? Arthur, you are not an ugly man.” Arthur snorted in response, “I’m serious! I would consider bedding you myself if I didn’t already know you have a horrible personality. Since Lover Boy already knows about that, the size of your eyebrows shouldn’t be a problem.” When he remained silent, Francis added, “And if this Alfred has any intelligence to speak of, he's not going to let you go that easily.”
There was a pause, then a quiet, not quite there, “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Francis turned back to his desk and almost missed the “Thanks Francis” from the cubicle next door.
“Like I said before, you’re quite welcome.”
~*~*~*~
“The number you are trying to reach is no longer in service. Please hang up and try again.”
Alfred gave his phone a blank, disbelieving stare and tried again, only to get the same result as the first twenty times he tried to call Arthur. Eventually he had to face the fact that Arthur blocked his number and smashed his head on the table in front of him, burying it in his arms.
He must have scared Arthur away for good last night. Alfred didn’t even remember the full conversation, just that Arthur called, that made him happy, he got him to admit he was single, and he counted sheep for him. He didn’t quite recall what happened in between, but he must have insulted the man’s family somehow, or even worse, told him about his growing, not-as-secret-as-he’d-like crush on him, causing Arthur to freak and change his number so Alfred couldn’t contact him again and -
“Hey Alfred,” Elizabeta’s voice interrupted his inner ramblings as she sat down across from him.
“Hey,” Alfred shifted his head so his chin was resting on the table.
“Everything alright?” she asked taking a sip from her coffee.
“Peachy,” he sighed, still sounding as depressed as he felt.
“Does it have to do with that guy you keep talking to on the phone?” her curiosity suddenly peaked.
Ever since Elizaveta found it he wasn’t exactly straight, she’d taken an abnormal amount of interest in his love life. Alfred didn’t mind as much as some other people might have though, since her advice was normally good, and the only other people he could rely on for that kind of thing was Matt, who spent most of his time wallowing in his own feelings and not doing anything about them, and Gilbert, who was, well, Gilbert.
“Yeah…he kinda, uh, blocked my number or changed his phone or something. Thing is I can’t call him anymore and he lives in England so I can’t just go see him in person and even if I did go to England I wouldn’t be able to find his house and -”
“Alfred, you’re rambling,” she interrupted with a smile.
He sat up in his chair and crossed his arms, “Yeah, well, Arthur’s annoying.”
“Love is annoying,” she corrected. Alfred blushed but didn’t deny it, “but I’m sure you’re just over thinking things. Maybe he just broke his phone and is in the process of getting a new one?”
“Maybe…” Alfred sighed and rested his head on his arms again.
“Where’s Matt?” Elizaveta asked, steering the conversation away from a topic that was clearly distressing her friend, “Don’t you two usually meet here for studying?”
“Yeah, but he said he was studying somewhere else today…” Alfred pouted and turned his head away from the nearby wall to watch the students in the student center. Classes were over, and with finals just around the corner, every student had their head buried in a stack of books. Alfred was no different, currently using his physics notebook as a pillow of sorts.
“But isn’t that him over there?” he sat up and followed with his eyes where Elizaveta was pointing, to the corner of the room where Matt and Braginski’s sister, what’s her name, the hot one without the knives, Katrina or Katyusha or something Russian with a K, were currently studying. At least the books piled around them indicated some type of studying was supposed to be going on. They were currently laughing, talking and drinking something warm, completely ignoring the books.
“I’ll be damned…I wonder why he didn’t tell me about his study date?”
“After the snake thing? Are you kidding?”
“It wasn’t that bad!” Alfred sat up to defend himself properly, “And you weren’t even there!”
She rolled her eyes, “The whole campus knows about it, only they call it an ‘Alfred Jones.’”
“It was Gilbert’s idea,” he pouted and glared at his phone, the source of all his current frustration.
Elizaveta leaned across the table to pat Alfred comfortingly on the arm, “He’ll call.”
“You don’t know that for sure…” Suddenly his phone started ringing. Elizaveta leaned back as Alfred snatched the phone off the table and noticed it was from an unknown number. An unknown number that had the same area code as Arthur.
He turned away from her as he answered the phone with a rushed, “Hello?”
“You’re sounding better,” an overly British voice greeted, “How are you feeling?”
“Arthur!” Alfred smiled and noticed Elizaveta silently giggling out of the corner of his eye. He felt his face heat up as he kept talking, “Yeah, I’m a fast recoverer. How are you?”
“…Dandy. Just dandy.”
Alfred’s smile fell a little at the pause, but he pressed on, “Hey what’s up with your phone? I tried calling it before but…”
“Ah, yes, well, my boss found out about you calling me all the time and decided it would be better if I got a new phone.”
Whoops, he forgot that international calls cost a lot of money. His parents were not going to be happy with the phone bill this month, “Sorry if I got you in trouble, although a new phone is a weird punishment.”
“It’s not a punishment. It’s, well…”
“Just tell him now!” Alfred heard another voice shout, “Unless you want to surprise him…”
“Stop listening in on private conversations frog!” he heard Arthur shout back.
“Surprise me with what?”
“Ah, well…long story short, my boss is sending me to America. New York to be precise.”
“So wait…” Alfred could feel his smile slowly form as he processed the information, “You’re coming here?”
“I’m coming to the city,” he amended, “It’s a big city, so th-there’s no guarantee we’ll bump into each other…”
“Like hell!” he slammed his fist on the table, causing Elizaveta to jump and spill some of her coffee. Alfred quickly apologized before continuing, “If we’re going to be in the same city, hell the same side of the ocean, I’ll make sure we see each other!”
“I-idiot…” Arthur sighed, but some how Alfred knew he was smiling, “I’m going to have to cut this short, I have to prepare for my trip.”
“When are you coming?”
“In about a week.”
“Cool, so I’ll see you then?” he hated how unsure his voice sounded.
The brief pause didn’t help, “Yes, I’ll see you then.”
“Okay. Yeah. Great. Then.”
“Indeed,” another pause, and Alfred felt his face start to heat up, “I really do have to go.”
“Yeah, uh, I’ll call you tomorrow?”
“Of course,” by the time Alfred processed that that was the first time Arthur told him to call him back, he had already hung up.
“Good conversation?” Elizaveta asked, bringing Alfred out of the world of bliss his mind had descended into.
“Uh, yeah. Maybe,” he felt his face heat up more and knew he was probably still smiling like an idiot, “He’s coming here next week…”
“I heard,” she gave him an all knowing smirk that he was content to ignore, “So what are you going to do about it?”
“See him, obviously.”
“Just see him? Alfred this is your big chance!” she leaned forward and looked him in the eye, “I say you go for it.”
“I agree,” he leaned forward as well, “Go for what now?”
“You need to tell Arthur that you’re madly, passionately in love with him but you hesitate to start anything further due to the curse of being separated by an ocean.”
“That’s…great Liz,” he smiled awkwardly, “but-”
“Yet your love cannot be contained merely through phone calls,” she continued, “and you tell him as much just before you dramatically pull him in for the most passionate and intense kiss either of you have ever had!”
Alfred felt his face go red again as he leaned back and scratched the back of his head, “Uh, Liz…”
“The snow starts falling as you both pull back. You realize that your emotions had gotten the best of you and you quickly try to apologize for your actions, but he cuts you off by pulling you down for another kiss. And then-”
“Liz!” Alfred whisper-shouted, “You’re doing it again.”
“Oh,” she leaned back took a sip of coffee to hide her blush, “Sorry about that.”
“It’s alright,” he smiled uneasily and leaned back in his chair.
“You should do it though.”
“Do what now?”
She rolled her eyes, “Tell him how you feel. Even if it isn’t that dramatic, it’s still your last chance.”
“I wouldn’t say last chance,” he chuckled nervously, “Would you?”
“Well, it’s a very good chance, and you should do it.”
“I…” Alfred looked over to where Matt and Braginski’s sister were. They had packed up their books and were saying their goodbyes. Just as he turned to leave, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek before waving and leaving the student center. Matt stood there, frozen and red for about a minute before he left too.
If he told Arthur how he felt, would he respond like that? Would he blush and kiss him and return his feelings? That would make Alfred happy. The mere thought of that made him happier than he could ever remember being in his entire life. To have Arthur hug him and kiss him and say “I love you” back…
But Arthur’s never seen him before. Alfred wasn’t shallow enough to turn him away if he turned out to have a massive forehead or burn scars across his face or missing limbs or huge, furry eyebrows or something, and he was pretty sure Arthur wasn’t either. But what if Arthur had expectations of Alfred? He could be expecting Alfred to be some kind of posh, upper class, always in fashion New Yorker and instead be getting just small town, I’m-pretty-sure-this-hoodie-is-still-clean-even-if-it’s-the-fifth-time-I’m-wearing-it-this-week, video game and comic nerd Alfred.
No, Alfred tried to convince himself, Arthur wasn’t like that. He was a pretty good judge of character, and he could tell Arthur would care about things like that if he really did love Alfred back. Of course, even that was just Alfred being hopeful.
“I’ll…maybe. I’ll think about it,” Alfred grabbed his stuff and stood up, “I gotta go,” he left before Elizaveta could respond.