A Million Voices [UsUk]

Emergency

The next morning, Alfred woke up very early, and two things were the reason for that: sleeping on the couch was very uncomfortable, but also, a loud phone call interrupted him.

Alfred always put his phone next to his place of sleeping, so if somebody from work called him, he could always answer.

And that was exactly what happened that morning.

Alfred woke up in a slight shock, the loud and powerful melody of House of Memories by Panic! At the Disco played and he inwardly groaned, reaching for his mobile phone that he only used for work.

Trying to put his 'awake' voice on, he checked the phone and saw "Braginsky" appear on the screen. His boss was calling him. And that was his first concern of the morning.

He coughed a little before clicking the green button and placing his phone to his ear.

"Hello?" His sleepiness very obvious in his voice, he greeted his boss. But who would ever be mad at him for being dead tired at 6 AM after a week of barely having any sleep, anyway?

"Hello, Alfred. Excuse me if I have woken you up." The Russian accent of his boss appeared to have a serious tone of voice, meaning that something severe had definitely happened.
"It is alright, what did you need me for?" Alfred now stood up, trying not to fall back down and holding his head with one hand to prevent the still burning headache at least a little.
"We need you for a business travel."

Alfred's eyes widened at the words and worry began to form inside of him greatly, the first thought coming up was how in heaven's name was he going to leave Arthur alone for who knows how long?!

"A-a business travel? Where and when, sir?
"You have to travel to the United States in two days. I believe it is your home as well, yes?"

To the States?! In two days?! What's he thinking?

"Oh, wow, well... That's... Sudden. Why do I have to go there?"
"We need our best workers to present the London accreditation agency to Washington D.C. and the British embassy there needs its best support." Ivan Braginsky said, and Alfred wanted to smash something. Surely the cause of going to the States wasn't that important!

"Sir, I don't think I'll be able to go. I have to take care of Kirkland, since he ended up in the hospital a week ago. Do you remember that?" He responded through gritted teeth, trying to keep his composure as he leaned against the wall and waited for the next reply.

"Alfred, this work is very important for the accreditation. It's written in one of the main norms that we have to support our country's embassy. And our best workers do the business travels, do you remember that?" The boss responded with a slight bit of irritation - he was easily angered most of the time.

"I-I know, sir. But Arthur is very important to me, and a lot might happen if I leave him in the current state he is in", Alfred clenched his fist and held back a sigh. "Why can't Lukas go? He is one of the best workers as well, is he not?"

"I am sending Bondevik to represent the British embassy in Norway. And before you suggest anything, I have already gotten Natalya and Katyushka to go to Russia. Mathias isn't going anywhere, he skipped work three days in a row now. Whatever is going on, he better tell me."

Alfred knew that this argument was helpless. Ivan was easily angered, and Alfred really wasn't in the mood to lose his job. So he inhaled deeply, acknowledging the newly gotten information.

"Alright. I'm on my way to the United States of goddamn America in two days." He answered with venom dripping in his voice, making his boss quite agitated by now.
"Jones, watch your tone!" He shouted through the phone, making Alfred stiffen in place a little.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. A-alright, sir, I'll get ready for my travel soon. Will you give me a call when everything is settled?"

"Yes, do not worry about that. Goodbye, by then."
"Goodbye."

When he finished the conversation and locked his phone, he placed it back where it was and fell back to the couch, exhausted and infuriated.

Did he have a better timing, goddammit? How the hell am I going to leave Arthur alone? And worst of all, Lukas is going to Norway. So, Artie is supposed to spend -who knows how long- away from his two closest people? That's impossible. Not like this.

I want to kick a Russian.

Sighing with exasperation, Alfred closed his eyes on a brief moment, in a sitting position on the couch, and soon fell back asleep.

He really needed the sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Arthur had been shifting in bed a lot during his sleep, but most of the time, he slept softly and soundly. No nightmares, and that was very good.

He finally woke up at 10 PM, slowly getting out of bed and muttering something incoherent under his breath. He went to the bathroom first, brushing his teeth and doing the rest of his morning routine, and then decided to show up in the living room, to do a quick check up of if Alfred was awake.

And he had to chuckle at what he saw.

The American was laying "down" on the couch in a quite strange position, asleep as a cannon outside of a battle, quietly snoring, glasses almost falling down, sliding from his nose and down.

"Oh, Alfred..." He muttered with a held back giggle and a muted sigh.

He then settled himself on the other side of the couch, making completely sure he would not disturb the sleeping American.

"Maybe someday I'll be alright again..." Arthur whispered under his breath and felt himself almost tear up again at the thought of how beautiful it would be if that really happened.
"I'll try for you, Alfred." He held back a sob and curled up on the couch, arms wrapped around his knees as he tried his best to control the tears threatening to come.

You're my hero, Alfred Jones. Never forget that...

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A/N

wELL, that was quite... uh, not sad at all? XD

Anyway, I just got amazing plans for how to complicate this story. I'm evil :,)

By the way - I have no idea how accreditations agencies work. Or embassies, at that word, anyway, I have had been in an accreditation agency of my country many times and I understand the basics. Hell, I even did some of the paperwork needed.

But, who knows how it works in Britain.

Thanks for reading!