Hetalia © Hidekaz Himaruya
OCs © reaper-of-lost-souls
A/N: Well I decided to post another chapter. I wasn't going to post another chapter till after my finals on Monday, but oh well XD About time for a new chapter, da? So since there's already one secretary it'll be implied that there's more, so I'll be introducing other secretary OCs for this story. If you have any ideas on names go ahead and message me! Because I always have a hard time coming up with new names ^^' And if you want certain characters to show up ask me too. If not I'll just be the ones that have any interest in this story… Well I think that's it. I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter, and see you at the end! =3
! #$%^&*()
You slowly sipped your tea, watching as Alfred and Arthur bickered back and forth about tea and coffee. You looked over at the man sitting next to you, an equal sigh escaping his own lips as he stared at the two countries bickering. "… So your name is Joseph Walker?"
"Yes," he nodded in reply, "but you can call me Joseph, -insert-your-name-. Will you be a permanent replacement or only temporary?"
"I don't really know," you sighed and shook your head with a slight grunt, "I only started… well today."
"Oh really?" Joseph raised an eyebrow at this.
"That's right," you grinned deviously. "Came back from the states and the flight was an all-nighter. When I got back it was already morning so I had to get ready."
"Did you sleep on the flight –"
"I can never sleep on those things," you shuddered, "because of the turbulence. I tend to be a light sleeper."
"Ah," he nodded in understanding, "well… it's nice to meet you -insert-your-name-. I hope you enjoy your time with us, but I must warn you the countries can be unstable, even America over there."
"So you believe they are really countries –"
"There is a way of thinking in my country," Joseph began in the middle of sips, "that we do not own the land, but the land owns us. Thus Arthur Kirkland is the land and whatever happens in my country happens to him. Political turmoil? You see the pain in their eyes. Battles and war? Sometimes the country gets sick and must rest from a meeting. These are the real deal -insert-your-name-. It is now your responsibility to take care of your country in the most physical way possible… to a point." He shrugged at her and looked away, sipping his drink before clearing his throat and staring at the two countries in confusion. "Sometimes I do not understand some of the conflicts that arise between these countries. Their relationship seems like a love-hate bond that goes deeper then brotherly love –"
"Well in my country our textbooks are written in a way to emphasis the white Europeans," you shrugged, sitting back in your chair and sipping on your tea. "We spend most of our time in the past during the civil war and the revolution, usually never getting to the current events. Yet we are not that old, I suppose. So there you go."
"I never knew that," Joseph thought, a snort escaping his nose as he chuckled and sipped his tea before sighing deeply. "… I bet you are wondering how long I have been with Mr. Kirkland. I will tell you. Twenty five years and counting."
"Oh wow!" You gasped, "That's a lot of time! Then you must have seen a lot."
"Yes I have," he answered with a tired sigh, "but you learn to adapt to the situation as you do in daily life encounters… I do hope you can continue for a full term. Mr. Jones can be picky with whom he chooses, especially after the last one."
"How was he –"
"He followed Mr. Jones around wherever he went and kept him out of trouble," Joseph shrugged, "and trust me -insert-your-name-, you will run into a lot of trouble with Mr. Jones. He is the type of character that… runs into situations without thinking of the consequences. Be sure to look out for him, for Mr. Kirkland's sake."
"I'll do my best," you smiled sweetly, "but I won't make any guarantees." The man nodded in agreement and you both turned your heads to the two countries, your eyebrow rising as you saw Arthur beginning to curse Alfred, but his cursing not being very effective against the carefree country.
! #$%^&*()
A sigh escaped your lips as you fell onto your bed, your eyes barely staying open as you closed them and only had enough energy to kick off your shoes and loosen your tie. Your afternoon had been spent following Alfred around and attending to his every needs. The meeting you had gone to was with a man named China, or Yao Wang, and his secretary was Fen Guō, a kind woman that spoke broken English, but you were able to communicate with her concerning her own country. You noticed your country was always loud and decided that you would have to buy earplugs the next time you are at the store, but you were too tired to truly take the time to explore the city you were staying at.
Once the meeting was done Alfred wanted to meet up with Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy, saying it was a family outing. There was another country there too, a blonde haired man with purple eyes, silky hair, and a curl on his head that the others didn't seem to notice. The other secretaries didn't even notice the country, but since you were curious you decided to converse with the country. His name was Matthew Williams and he specifically told you that others ignoring him or not seeing him was normal for the country. Listening carefully you could hear his name was Canada, but it was rather quiet and you weren't sure if you heard the name right. You also met the secretaries for France and Canada, Julien Fournier as the secretary for France and Rachel Levesque for Canada. Julien seemed to act like Francis, which caused you to shudder in disgust on several occasions. Yet it was funny to watch Joseph and Julien bicker in the same sort of way Arthur and Francis fought right next to them. Rachel liked to sit and watch, talking to her country and consoling with him. Since Alfred was busy with Arthur and Francis you decided to talk with Rachel, learning that she had worked for the country for seventeen years. You remembered asking Rachel a specific question: Was it wrong to develop a relationship with the countries? Her answer was: No, it's not a bad thing.
In fact Rachel explained that, when concerning her own country, she is there for physical as well as mental support when confronting other countries and problems. She was like a third eye, telling Matthew what to do and what to say if he didn't know what to do or say in the meetings. You doubted Alfred would be at a loss for words, but with the current economy in America you wouldn't be surprised to see something different develop while he was alone. You quickly noticed when you had walked to Alfred's door, since you didn't know where it was and he wanted to show you before you went back to your hotel, he was quieter than normal. He wasn't as loud with you personally then when he was with a group, so you quickly realized that he must hide all of his emotions behind his social demeanor. You would have asked what was wrong, but Alfred told you to get some sleep because you looked tired. It was true, you were, and you couldn't even get into bed. You groaned as you sat up, shuffling over to your belongings and taking out your laptop. Once you connected the laptop to the wall and began to turn it on you walked away, deciding to get ready for bed before doing some work and going to bed. Brushing your teeth and combing your hair you walked out of the bathroom, throwing your clothes onto the floor and replacing the dirty laundry with clean, warm fuzzy pajamas.
You snuffled happily into your clothes before letting out a sigh and flopping back on the bed, grabbing your suitcase and taking out the packed lunch that you never had time to eat. Unpacking the food and waiting for the internet to load you began to eat, first munching the somewhat fresh apples with sliced carrots and a sandwich of blackberry jam. You practically moaned when your teeth sank into the blackberry jam, one of your absolute favorites to make with your family; only a seasonal fruit that doesn't last for more than a few days. Once it's plucked it goes bad, so you consume the berries as quickly as possible. You looked over the schedule for tomorrow and pulled out a planner, writing everything down from the morning wakeup call till the end of the day. It was a long list to do, but nothing too extreme. Luckily you had a personal key to Alfred's house so you could go inside and wake him up while cooking yourselves breakfast at the same time. You heard that almost every secretary lived at their country's personal house. It was also for convenience as well as keeping a better eye on their country. If your monthly evaluation is great and Alfred decided to keep you, you would move into Alfred's house for sure.
You sighed and shook your head, munching on your food and scrolling through the screen. It didn't really matter to you. This was just an assignment, not a long term commitment. You wondered where this experience will lead you, yet you were hoping for a raise in pay to help your family. Yes, you spent most of your time with your family whenever you could. Family meant most to you, even if you were too far away to see them. With that idea in mind you opened a skype link, waving on the screen at the familiar faces online. "Hello!" you waved happily.
"-insert-your-name-!" everyone responded happily.
"We didn't know if we would see you. How was the flight?"
"Great," you pouted, "but the day has been long. Haven't slept since I left, but I wanted to say hello and see how you guys were doing before going to bed."
"Bed? The sun has been gone for hours," your relative answered with a snort.
"The time zones are different here," you huffed as if anyone should know, "but enough about me. How are you? How is everyone?"
"Doing great, though the little one is starting to miss you," they pouted. "I guess you'll have to stay longer next time, right?"
"Maybe," you grinned to the people on the screen, "but we'll see. I still don't know if I have the job yet. I will have a monthly evaluation and then they'll tell me if I'm staying or not."
"Then good luck!"
"Thank you!" You blew a kiss at the screen, "and I hope to see you all soon. Say goodnight to Бабушка for me!"
"Of course! Пока -insert-your-name-!"
"Пока," you smiled, turning off the skype link as a tired sigh escaped your lips and you turned off the laptop. "Well…" you yawned and crawled into bed, throwing the trash away and turning off the lights, "I guess it's time to sleep… Wait it's hot in here." You groaned as you stood up, shuffling over to the window and opening the glass halfway. Looking outside your eyes lit up, the view spectacular from the high rise room your boss was paying for. "Something good for once," you snorted lightly, a chuckle escaping your lips as you felt the cool air flood into the room and you could feel your body getting heavy.
"Now I can sleep," you sighed gleefully, shuffling into the covers of your bed and rolling the sheets tightly around your body. As the wind blew into the room you didn't feel the chilling presence entering the room, in fact a grin appeared on your face at the cool air nipping at your nose. Eventually the figure disappeared, your body never getting up to see what was going on. You had felt a chill, but compared to the hot room it felt nice to have some cold air every once in a while.
! #$%^&*()
)(*&^%$# !
You had woken up earlier then you had to, figuring Alfred wouldn't wake himself up and get himself ready without your help. You took a shower, brushed your teeth, put on some nice suit clothes, and made everything was just right for today. You had decided to pull your hair back into a ponytail for the day, adding a clip on the elastic band that kept your hair up. Noticing you were half an hour earlier then you needed to be, you took that time to rearrange the bags you had brought with you from the airport. You had your work briefcase, another black case, and one large footlocker full of clothes and other necessities that you always bring with you one your trips. You used to bring a duffle bag instead, but the footlocker is able to withstand the flight without crushing the valuables in your bag. There wasn't much there, but it was everything you wanted to keep with you ever since you moved into the city for your internship.
There was food you packed and you set that into the small refrigerator, the homemade jam making you smile as you dreamt of consuming it all in one big gulp. You quickly made a list of all the times you may need, after all you'll be in this city for at least a month and even if you stay for longer you'll be moving into Alfred's house soon enough. You evaluated everything you would need and wondered what sorts of cuisine and drinks they had in this city. To be honest you weren't really sure where you were. You had traveled by plane and then were placed in a car for several hours. You guessed it was Switzerland, somewhere in there, but could be another country altogether too. You weren't exactly sure how the European countries worked and after this assignment you figured you'd have your fair knowledge of the subject. You had noticed that there was a 'world meeting' four times a week, excluding weekends. That was also called your 'free time' and you could do whatever you wanted. It was almost half a day long, five hours to be exact. The rest of your time was spent with Alfred, following him around or ushering him to other meetings. The meetings seemed to be about worldwide global events that even the leaders in your own country hadn't solved yet, but you began to wonder if these meetings actually did anything. It was mainly Alfred laughing and joking around, saying what he wanted to say and not letting the other countries have their say. This whole idea of persons as countries still confused you, but you had some time to get used to the idea in the small amount of time you had. Plus if you don't like the job you could leave. You didn't have to stay where you weren't wanted.
You repacked your suitcase, organizing all the papers and forms and everything else. You had forgotten papers the other day and wanted to keep yourself professional… to a point. You weren't the best of organizers, but you weren't the worst either. You put your laptop into your suitcase because you never did trust hotels and made sure everything was put away before leaving the hotel. The distance between your hotel and Alfred's house was only a few blocks away, giving you time to look around carefully and see what the locals had. You were right that the food was different and you wondered where the cheapest places to buy food were. You were given money to spend on Alfred, and according to the notes you gave the man money when he asked. You weren't only his secretary, but also his financial advisor and his chaperone and many other things you probably didn't know fully about yet. So you were in charge of his spending, given money every week from the government for yourself and for the man. You had a feeling you'd end up spending money on this job by how Alfred eats. Maybe you could do something about that… but for now it was time to start your day.
You walked up to Alfred's house, which was only on the outskirts of the city, as were the other countries homes that you could notice from afar, and used your personal key to open the door. You made sure it was properly locked behind you before taking off your suit jacket and placing it on a rack, setting your suitcase by the door and walking inside. The place was a mess! You couldn't help but think as you saw dirty clothes all over the place. The place needed to be clean and a sigh escaped your lips as you knew that you'd be the one doing the cleaning. The house had about three levels, maybe four if you searched harder. As you looked there was the main floor, the upstairs, a downstairs, and maybe a basement. There was also an attic, but you figured nothing much was up there except for maybe rodents or other sorts of creatures. It seemed like a typical house for an American, not one you lived in all the time, but a house out in the suburbs that you'd see sometimes on tv. The outside was the same sort of shape and structure as the buildings surrounding it, but on the inside the building was constructed to fit the country's own home in the states, or you figured that was the case as you began to walk up the stairs and looked for Alfred's bedroom.
You quickly found him sleeping lopsided on his bed, snoring up a storm as the blinds where closed and the lights were all off. You let out an annoyed huff as you walked over to his bedside, slowly shaking his body in a way to wake him up. "Hey Alfred, its morning. We have to get started."
"… F-five more… minu… tes… Engwend," he grumbled, a loud snore escaping his lips and causing you to step back from the sound.
"Oh for crying out loud!" you huffed, shaking him for furiously in an attempt to get the man up and going. "Alfred wake up! I doubt you had a bath and we're starting early today!"
"N-no way!" he snorted back, shoving you with such and immense strength that you flew across the room. You groaned as you lay on the ground, cursing under your breath and wondering if the man was really awake or he was in some dream-like state. You sighed and looked at the time. From the files you had been given on Alfred he can be a 'flamboyant' and a 'rough man without knowing his own strength'.
You didn't like that idea, but after being thrown to the ground you decided to at least get breakfast started. You retreated back downstairs and looked through his refrigerator and cabinets, wondering what the man had to eat. There seemed to be a lot of dry cup ramen, dry cans of macaroni and cheese, and many others. In the refrigerator there was some food, mainly pizzas the man must have ordered and food he had brought home from a restaurant. You wondered if there was anything in the bags, but quickly saw that it was all just empty. You shook your head and threw the empty boxes aside, noticing some eggs and bacon tucked into the back. Well, you smirked; if the food hasn't spoiled you could have breakfast in no time. You cleared off the oven, heating up a pan and getting two plates. You paused for a second, feeling something watching you, but shrugged and went about your cooking as if nothing was there. There was some oil so you used for the bottom of the pan, cooking the bacon first and cooking all that you had found to eventually create a massive pile of bacon. You would have to go to the store later, that's for sure. There was no denying that. During breakfast you will ask what Alfred likes to eat and then you'll make the list, deciding the best time to shop would be during your free time. The bacon didn't take long and the eggs went by much quicker. The coffee actually smelled decent, a strong set of coffee beans that will probably wake the man up. You decided to scramble the eggs at this point and added pepper to the mix, some leftover cheese in his vegetable crisper you used to make the eggs stringier. A tired sigh escaped your lips once you were done; narrowing your eyes in the realization of what you would have to do now, wake up Alfred.
Looking at your watch you knew you didn't have enough time for this. Even though you started early, if he didn't wake up soon you would both be late. You hustled up the flight of stairs and walked back into his bedroom, determination in your eyes as you roughly pounded the man on his shoulder before walking over to the blinds and pushing the curtains away. "Wake up Alfre – America! We don't have time for you dillydallying!"
"Just cancel my meetings for today," he groaned.
You narrowed your eyes and hit him on the back. "You know I can't do that Mr. Jones. Now wake up!... Wake up!" You violently shook his shoulders as he let out a loud snort, trying you patience as you glared and jumped on the bed to shake him awake. "Don't make me count to three! One! Two!... Three!" You laughed as you jumped onto his back, shaking him up as he continued to keep his eyes closed. You snorted. "Huh that usually works –"
"As I said… cancel my meetings –"
"Can't do that Alfred," you snorted and jumped off of the bed. "If I don't wake you up now you're never getting up… Wake up!" You snarled, grumbling under your breath as you walked towards the door. "Fine Mr. Jones," you huffed, a sly smirk coming to your face, "you can sleep in and let your breakfast turn cold –"
"Food?!" Alfred jumped to his feet dashing past you, through the doorway, and leaping down the stairs. You couldn't help but grin deviously. Breakfast always~ works for grumpy goobers in the morning. So with Alfred, since he eats so much, you figured it would do the trick.
As you made your way down the stairs and into the kitchen your mouth almost dropped. He was stuffing his face like a cow and most of the bacon was already eaten. You rushed to your plate and quickly grabbed food from the plates, glad you were able to get some food before the man gobbled down your share. "… Do you need something to drink Alfred?" you frowned as you watched him snorting down his food.
"N-no I'm… Fine," he said between bites, your eyes rolling as you got up and filled up two mugs with coffee. You slid his mug towards him before letting out a tired sigh, sitting down on the chair in front of your plate as you began to drink the coffee. You didn't mind coffee, but it wasn't something you drank every day. Once you get everything organized you'll think of other drinks you could have, but for now it was semi-strong coffee.
You let a sigh escape your lips, slipping on your cup of coffee before munching down on the food. "… So Alfred –"
"Oh are you done with that?! –"
"No!" you huffed, pulling your plate away before he could grab your food. He let an 'awwww~' escape his lips and you couldn't help but roll your eyes at his response. "I was wondering if you wanted me to buy you any food –"
"I was hoping you'd ask!" he cheered happily and slammed his hands on the table, causing the table to shake ever so slightly from his uncontrollable strength. "The other three secretaries didn't even bother buying me food so I had to go out all the time. I've run out of breakfast food, food! And burgers!" Alfred pouted, your eyes looking up at him as he spoke, but you used his ranting as time to eat your small meal. "Burgers man! Not the burgers! I was close to eating the ramen Japan gave to me. Not that I mind ramen, but I don't want it EVERY DAY!"
"So what do you like –"
"I don't know," he answered, sitting back in his chair and shrugging. "What do you like to make?"
"Me?" you shrugged, "Whatever you want Alfred. I'm going to go to the store once the world meeting starts so I can have your place cleaned up… in a decent manner before you come home –"
"Wow you'll do all that?" his mouth dropped, his eyes watching as you grabbed a piece of bacon and munched on the end before answering him.
"Yes," you snorted, "it's my job and I'll be infuriated if I see this mess of a house every single time I have to come over."
"… You don't have to do all that –"
"Don't worry about it Mr. Jones," you smirked, sipping on your coffee and finishing your bacon and eggs. "I'm used to making supper and cleaning for a large group of people all the time. I think I can handle you. Now do you have any preferences? Any favorite foods you like to eat?"
"Well…" Alfred thought as he leaned back in his chair, again. "I like burgers. Yes burgers! And fries! Oh, oh! And soda! The large size! And ice cream!... Steak is good too! And… ummmm…"
You quickly wrote down what he asked for, raising an eyebrow at his choices: burgers, French fries, sodas, ice cream, and steak… sounded rather fatty, you realized. You may have to remedy that. "What about breakfast?"
"What we had today was good," he smiled happily. "In fact I like how the scrambled eggs were stringy!"
"Figured you would," you winked as a chuckle escaped your lips and you wrote down what he liked. "… What about drinks, other than soda?"
"… I like coffee in the mornings," Alfred told you, "and sometimes milk. I like cinnamon toast crunch or lucky charms. I have cereal if I don't have time to have anything else."
"Okay –"
"And England asks me to lunch sometimes, almost every other day," Alfred realized, "and I usually ask others out for dinner… and I usually eat fast food too… McDonalds is good. I like that place!"
"Oh come now," you snorted, "Their burgers aren't the best –"
"But I never have time," he pouted, "so you know what? Next time we should go to McDonalds!"
"We'll see about that," you rolled your eyes, a smirk on your face as you picked up your plate and his into your hands. "So take a shower and get yourself ready for the meeting –"
"I don't need a bath!" Alfred huffed. "I had a shower last week! –"
"Exactly!" You yelled back as you scraped the food particles into the trashcan and threw the dishes in the sink to be cleaned later, "That was a week ago. You're starting to stink up the place."
"I am?" Alfred wondered, sniffing his pajamas and staring at you confused. "I don't smell it –"
"Just take the shower please. I won't ask you for a while if you do," you compromised, a tired sigh escaping the man's lips as he began to trudge out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
"Fine~~" he groaned, still scuffing his feet against the ground as he walked up the stairs. You shook your head, a chuckle escaping your mouth at his attitude. He reminded you a lot of your little brother. He wouldn't wake up in the morning and it would take you forever to get him to do anything. Just the thought made you smile and miss home, even though you were there only a few days ago. You sighed, turning on the water and beginning to clean the dishes. You used the dish washer to help you along, putting the clean dishes that had been sitting in the dish washer for probably weeks and putting the dishes in their rightful places before placing the dishes you had cleaned and were cluttering the sink. Then you turned on the dish washer, looking around the room and knowing the cleanup will take you more than five hours. Oh well. You'll do the best you can like you always do.
)(*&^%$# !
A/N: Just so you know there'll be a lot of time skips, maybe for months/years at a time and maybe in between chapters. I'll warn you guys before that happens, but I'd like to get this story going since this is just introduction stuff ;3 Anyways I hope you enjoyed the story. Tell me if you like it so far and wish to see certain characters/things. Oh! And if you, once again, have ideas for OC names don't be afraid to say something, and do you think I should give names to your 'family' or not? Like Бабушка and the little brother. Should I or not? Well I won't have to come across the names in a while, but thought I'd ask if I should do that, since hey this is a HetaliaXReader story. I've never written a story like this so I don't know what I should do or not ^^ Now I hope you've enjoyed and I'll see you in the next chapter!
Бабушка – Russian – grandma
