Chapter 1 (Day 1)

Day 1

Alfred is rudely awaken by the sound of his alarm clock. He groans as he stretches his legs,reluctantly throws off his covers and slumps out of bed. He goes over to the kitchen area of his one room apartment to make himself a cup of coffee – if this won't help him start the day, nothing will – and then turns on the TV.

-Has been arrested on suspicion of brutally attacking and murde-

Alfred switched off the TV, not needing to hear the last syllable. His life was dreary enough, he would rather not be told about another murder near his area of residence.

Alfred finished off his coffee before throwing off his clothes and getting in the shower. He let out a frustrated sigh as only cold water shot out of the shower head, his landlord must have forgotten to pay the water bill again. The American rested his head on the side of the shower as he let the water trickle down his body. When had he let his life become so...bad? Alfred was becoming tired of the same old routine, day in and day out.

Alfred slipped on his shoes before exiting his apartment – he would have to skip breakfast again today as he was already running late – and almost bumped into his friend and neighbour,Toris.

"Oh, sorry. I'm already late for work so I've gotta hurry. Speaking of which, why aren't you at work right now? Don't say my tardiness has rubbed off on you!" Toris chuckled as he and Alfred walked towards the elevator.

"Of course not. I managed to get a day off today." He replied and Alfred's eyes grew wide.

"How on earth did you manage that? Ivan would never-"

"Mr. Braginsky." Toris interrupted and giggled.

"Right." Alfred chuckled along. "Mr. Braginsky would never be that nice. So, what gives?" he asked as they walked into the elevator.

"Well no, but it is in our working contract that we are allowed paid days off." Toris watched as Alfred raised his eyebrow in confusion and pressed the button on the elevator. "Yes, and I haven't used any of mine yet so..." He trailed off as Alfred began to grin.

"We can have paid days off?" Alfred's grin soon faded "Ah but I probably won't be getting any, not any time soon anyways." Alfred saw Toris' look of confusion and so he added "Ivan hates my guts."

"You know, you can still try and ask for one. Legally, you are allowed to have one. Did you not hear about the new legislation that the mayor put in place here?"

Alfred shrugged as the two of them walked out of the elevator and headed down the corridor. "I don't watch the news."

"Well if you did then you'd know that the law now states that if you work in New York City for more than eighty hours a year, you can gain up to forty hours of paid vacation time each year."

"Oh man. I bet Ivan hates this new legislation, the jerk."

Alfred waved his friend goodbye before they parted ways. Once he had spun around, he sighed. He could finally let go of his cheery act – for now at least – and pick up his pace. When he was with his friends he acted like he didn't care about being tardy, but he was really quite worried about what his boss would do to him if he turned up late for the gazillionth time in a row. Why he still had his job, he didn't know. But, he was thankful because he wouldn't be able to survive without it.

Alfred pushed his way past people in the struggle to get to work on time. He earned some 'Hey!'s and 'what are you, blind?'s and then checked his wrist watch – OK, so he was already late, but he needn't give up as he could at least avoid being super late.

Alfred burst through the building door and headed towards the elevator; he let out a groan upon finding that it was out of order and so he charged up the stairs instead. Upon reaching the fifth flight of stairs, Alfred's chest felt like it was on fire. This was when he wondered,how had he let himself become so unfit? Back in his school days he was the famous quarterback of his football team, scoring more points than anyone ever before. He became a legend and role model to the younger years. And what would they say now? They'd laugh at him. He had a shitty apartment, no love life, no money and, for all he knew, by the end of the day he could have no job too.

Once he had caught his breath, Alfred cautiously entered his work room. There was no sign of Ivan, maybe he would be off the hook after all. Alfred made his way over to his cubicle, feeling quite pleased that he had been able to get off scott-free. He sat in his office chair and grabbed his headset.

"Hello. My name is Alfred and I am calling you today to offer you a once in a lifetime-" he let out a sigh. Most normal people hung up within the first few seconds of realising that this was not one of their friends or neighbours, but rather a random stranger trying to get them to spend some of their money on worthless crap.

"It did not sound like that offer was 'once in a lifetime', to me." Alfred gulped and slowly span around on his chair to find his boss towering over him, wearing that usual smile that said 'I want to kill you so badly, but I'm too professional for that'. Alfred opened his mouth to speak but he was cut short by Ivan shaking his head. "No no. You see, maybe they would not have hung up had you not sounded like you cry yourself to sleep every night because of your pathetic life." It still amazed Alfred how Ivan's voice managed not to waver at all, and how his expression always remained the same – eerily cheerful. Alfred nodded as Ivan walked towards the window and gazed out of it as he continued "You see, if I sounded tired and and irritable when I was talking to you, that wouldn't be very nice. Would it?" Alfred nodded, but apparently that wasn't what Ivan was looking for. He paced back over to Alfred. "Would it?" he asked, slamming his hand on the American's desk but still managing to keep his cool demeanour.

"N-No. No sir." Alfred stuttered. He hated to admit it, but Ivan terrified him.

"Good." He smiled at his employee and then began walking away from his desk. Alfred sighed, at least Ivan hadn't noticed that he came into work late. "Oh and Alfred?"

'Shit.'

"Yes, sir?" He tried to ask with the utmost confidence, but his voice still wavered slightly.

"Why did you come in late again today?" Alfred froze as Ivan stopped walking away, he was expecting some sort of logical answer. Alfred tried to think of a lie, but Ivan wasn't an idiot. He decided it was best just to come clean.

"I took too long in the shower." There was a pause. The silence was broken by the sound of Ivan laughing, he turned his head to look back at Alfred.

"What? You are joking, yes?" Ivan walked back towards Alfred. "That is not a very funny joke."

"No. I just...lost track of time when I was in the shower." He mumbled. Ivan brought his gaze back to the window as Alfred waited patiently for some sort of reply.

"I think maybe I should fire you right now." Alfred froze. No, this couldn't be happening, he really needed this job. "What do you think?" He asked, turning his head to face Alfred.

Obviously that wasn't a real question. Any person in there right mind would say 'I think that's a bad idea.' wouldn't they? So what was he supposed to say in response? Apparently Alfred was taking too long to answer and so Ivan clicked his tongue.

"I think." He began and Alfred averted his eyes to the floor when his gaze was met. "You can keep your job." Alfred looked hopefully at Ivan. Maybe he wasn't such a bad boss after all; he had to admit that he should have been fired long ago. "If." He continued and Alfred's face dropped at the sound of those two letters. "You beg for it." The American watched in horror as a more devious smile spread onto his boss's face.

"B-Beg?" He asked.

"Yes. On hands and knees." Alfred paused. So he would either lose his job, or his dignity. "Do it now, please." Ivan uttered a little too forcefully and hastily for Alfred's liking. He looked around, everyone in the office had stopped working to watch, everyone would see.

So, it had come down to this, huh? At the end of the day, there was really only one choice. Reluctantly, Alfred got onto his hands and knees.

"Please let me keep my job." He mumbled.

"What? You need to be speaking up, now."

"Can I keep this job, please?" Alfred could hear the snorts and giggles from his co-workers and it angered him.

"Hmm? Oh, you want this job? Are you sure? I am not believing that you want this job-"

"Can I please keep my fucking job?" Alfred snapped. He had raised his voice so loudly that the room, that was filled with laughter just moments ago, turned silent. Ivan stood completely still. "Well...shit." Alfred mumbled. He already knew what would happen next and so he stood up.

"Why...did you raise your voice to me?" Ivan's voice wavered ever so slightly making him sound like a child who was about to cry, but somehow Alfred couldn't actually picture that ever happening.

"I didn't mean to...I just got frustrated and-"

"You're fired."

"Right." Alfred span around in one quick motion, grabbing his coat and belongings on his way out.

Alfred placed the box containing his belongings on his coffee table before throwing himself onto his bed. Now that he had come to terms with the fact that he was now jobless, Alfred became annoyed that he had rushed so much this morning. His stomach grumbled, reminding him that he still hadn't eating anything for breakfast. He got back up and walked straight out the door – it was a good thing he hadn't taken his coat and shoes off already.

The American was low on cash and so he decided to go to the coffee shop just down the street as they had good food for surprisingly cheap. He shivered as the cool air nipped at his neck, he really needed to get himself a scarf or something – but again, he just didn't have the money at the moment. Now all Alfred could think was: what next? What would he do now that he didn't have a job? He would probably not be able to pay rent and so he would have to move out; luckily Toris lived right next door so he would probably let him crash at his place for a while. But, then he would just end up free-loading off of him - which really wasn't what he wanted to do, even if it was the easy option. He really needed to start making a living for himself. What would his mother think-

Alfred was brought back to reality when his body collided with somebody else's as he entered the coffee shop.

"Oi, watch where you're going!" He heard the man call. So it had been his fault then.

"S-Sorry." He uttered but the man had already started walking away, mumbling 'git' under his breath. Alfred decided that he better hurry inside the store before he did that to anybody else - it was dangerous to leave him alone with his thoughts.

Alfred stood in the queue for a while, pondering over the difficult matter of whether to buy a chocolate chip or blueberry muffin. In the end he ordered a coffee and a blueberry muffin and sat in one of the comfy chairs in the back. He looked around, there were some other people in the store that were alone too but all of them were either using a laptop or other smart device or reading a book. He felt oddly out of place in this store, but that didn't stop him from coming every now and again.

Alfred rested his elbow on the arm of the chair and cupped his cheek as he gazed out of the window. New York always seemed so dreary, especially in these winter months. Alfred day dreamed about going on holiday to somewhere hot; he had always wanted to stroll down the sandy beaches of Spain, but unfortunately he had never had the money. As a child he had never really travelled either - this wasn't due to a lack of money, rather due to his parents wanting him to concentrate on his school work. 'It'll all be worth it in the end.' they said.

Alfred began window shopping, but soon stopped as he realised he was getting depressed as he couldn't buy any of the shiny, amazing products that they were selling. So, instead, he ended up taking a walk; he thought it may have cleared his head a bit. But, before he knew it, he was back at his apartment building again. 'I guess I just can't stay away.' He sighed as he kicked off his shoes and took off his coat before flopping onto his bed again.

For the rest of the day, Alfred spent his time watching TV shows on his crappy television. He flicked through the channels again and again but nothing ever seemed to catch his eye. He sighed, and then began wondering, had he always sighed this much? Because it was even starting to annoy him now.

Feeling bored and nostalgic, Alfred shuffled around in his closet until he pulled out a box. He smiled softly, this was his memory box. He chuckled at some of the items he found in there, which brought back all sorts of memories. There were various movie tickets that he had saved - and he still remembered seeing all of those films when they had first premièred like it was yesterday. He pulled out his school yearbook and snorted at all of the terrible hairstyles that he and his friends had sported throughout their highschool years. He pulled out one picture. There he stood in the centre, all geared up in his football outfit, he had his girlfriend on one arm and all of his friends by his side. 'Those were the days'. He pulled out another photo, this time he was with his father, mother and twin brother. They all looked so happy, he peered in close to the face of him at around nine years of age.

'You don't know what you're in for.'

He slammed the lid back onto the box. He couldn't bare to look at it anymore. He didn't want to miss the life that he used to have, he wanted to make a new, better life for himself now. Alfred crawled into bed, he only noticed that he had started crying once wet droplets started to form on the pillow. He closed his eyes, finding the light from the TV weirdly comforting as he drifted off to sleep.

A/N:

Hello! So I had an idea for a kind of Groundhog Day inspired type thing which I thought could prove to be quite interesting. I haven't decided how many chapters I'll make this yet so I'll just see how it goes uwu Sorry if this first chapter isn't terribly exciting, I really just wanted to set the scene. But, don't worry, Arthur is going to make an appearance in the next chapter B) And there's gonna be romance - and lots of it! So stay tuned if ya liked it, and let me know what you thought :)