What A Professional

Alfred hated paperwork. He liked the rest of his job, he knew that records were necessary, but it did not mean he liked doing it. Not that it was really paperwork anymore. It was more like computerwork. Or something like that. But until this was done he could not go about doing the things he would much rather be doing right now.

So was the knock on his door interrupting him a curse or a blessing?

"Alfred?"

Blessing!

"Kiku!" Alfred kicked his feet against the wall and rolled his chair all the way to the door, opening it. "Hey!"

"H-hello," Kiku responded, looking around the room. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"Nah." Alfred shook his head. "Nothing important, anyway. What's up?" Considering the last time he saw Kiku the other man had seemed quite ready to glare at him, Alfred was quite happy with the sudden change. Not that it was sudden, considering it had been a few days, but whatever.

"I... just wanted to see you. That is all." Kiku stared down at his feet.

Alfred grinned. "Perfect timing – I wanted to show you this." He rolled his chair back over to his desk and started rifling through his actual papers. "I'm not a construction worker or anything, so it probably isn't all going to work, but it's something to start off on to show Ludwig and Gilbert. You know, on that house. But I wanted to get your opinion on it first, considering you worked on those other houses with the two of them."

"I... I did manage to learn a little about the process," Kiku admitted hesitantly as Alfred spread out his outlines on the desk. "But I really wanted to... ah..."

"Yeah?" Alfred waited. Kiku was now staring down at the blueprints with a certain amount of fascination. Alfred was not certain it was because Kiku really liked it or whether Kiku was just surprised it was not a crayon drawing. People tended to think he did not think everything all the way through. Alfred had no idea why.

"You have really planned this through."

"I told you I thought it out!" Alfred pouted, crossing his arms across his chest. Kiku shook his head.

"Thinking something out and actually planning out all of the details are two different things," Kiku told him. "Ludwig would be glad to see this."

Alfred grinned. "Well, as long as he is not proud of me. That would be just a little weird. You really think this won't make him tear his hair out too much?"

Kiku looked up at him. "I believe he would be happy to take this job."

"Happy?" Alfred nearly laughed. In the end, he did not laugh, because it was a little depressing to realize just how ridiculous it sounded to hear about Ludwig being happy. His boyfriend was Feliciano, for goodness sakes. Alfred had no idea how Ludwig managed to be so straight faced all the time. "Well, as long as he takes the job... and if the two of them enjoy it, then it is a win-win situation."

"If you want, Alfred," Kiku started, "I would not mind helping with whatever you might need."

It was not a surprise that Kiku said it, but Alfred still found that he was relieved. Probably because the last time he saw Kiku, Kiku thought his last idea was stupid. Obviously he was over it now! Or... something. "Thanks!"

He leaned over to kiss him, which was when he remembered he actually had not managed to get that far yet. So he hugged him instead.

Alfred was fairly disappointed with himself.

Notes:

Yeah, Kiku, Ludwig, and Gilbert were the three people responsible for everything in Vash's house and Kiku's house. Ludwig and Gilbert would rather not talk about it. Neither would Kiku, when it comes to the fact that both of the houses proceeded to decide they wanted distinct personalities and created them themselves instead of letting him do so. Kiku had been looking forward to creating the personalities. He is weird like that.