It had been a week since Alfred and Ludwig's arrival, and so far, nothing new had been heard of from Feliciano's kidnappers. Thus, slowly, the spirits of every agent who worked on the case began to deteriorate with every day.
That was until Arthur had managed to track down security footage from a shop in downtown Washington DC…
Everyone gathered around the computer screen as Arthur inserted the disk and waited for the footage to load.
The street was empty, except for a couple of cars driving past, and very few pedestrians walking down the street, Arthur fast forwarded the footage until the time he was recommended to stop at. Everyone held their breath when Feliciano walked by the camera, carrying a shopping bag and looking on his phone. Everything seemed normal until a car pulled into the parking space that Feliciano had just walked past, Feliciano looked up and noticed the car, however seemed to think nothing of it: no one could blame him, a car parking is nothing suspicious.
In the corner of his eye, Arthur watched Ludwig flinch as two figures crept out of the car moments after stopping, both wearing black ski-masks. They creeped behind Feliciano and before the Italian could take another step; one placed a white handkerchief over Feliciano's face.
"They chloroformed him…" Alfred gasped as he tightened his grip on his sides.
Arthur was not disappointed to watch Feliciano fight back; he forced himself out of his captors grip and threw a punch, knocking him over. However, before Feliciano could run, he found himself being tackled by the second figure. Everyone watched in horror as Feliciano desperately fought off his attacker, however, Feliciano's breaking point was when he was pinned down by the hands and chest by one attacker, as the other pressed the cloth onto the Italians face, and eventually, Feliciano's legs stopped kicking, and the Italian went limp.
"He tried so hard…" Yao sighed as the footage showed Feliciano being dragged back to the car, before being thrown in before the vehicle drove off.
"We're… We're looking for three suspects…" Gilbert stuttered, fighting away his emotions, and the urge to cry, for the German knew that he had to stay strong. "Two performed the kidnapping, and one drove the car…"
"This happened three days before we received the video…" Arthur pointed out before glancing at Alfred, who continued to stare at the screen, despite the video being over, his face was firm and his eyes were wide, as though he was reliving his own kidnapping experience. "Are you ok, Alfred?"
Alfred shook himself out of his dream, before looking at Arthur with narrowed and sharp eyes, which stabbed the Englishman in the heart despite not actually saying anything with his mouth, his eyes said everything to Arthur.
Ludwig was visibly shaken by the experience, his eyes darted to the floor when attention was focussed on him, Feliciano was so important to him, so everyone understood why he would be so affected by this.
"Have you checked the security footage of the MI6 postal office, when did the memory stick come and where did it come from?"
"The envelope was unmarked, that's why they gave it straight to me the day it came in," Yao explained before looking to Kiku.
"I checked it for any foreign fingerprints, however, the only prints I could find were that of the postal handlers, and Yao's," Kiku explained, "so that rules out finding them through fingerprints."
"The most we can do is wait for the next letter…" Yao sighed, "They have us right where they want us."
"But we can't just wait!" Ludwig snapped, startling half of the agents with the volume of his voice.
"Ludwig, I know you're getting stressed, this is Feliciano… I have agents throughout the entire city checking kidnapping hotspots, seeing if someone knows something—"
"He could be dead!" Ludwig snapped, turning to face his brother, "if you let me interview some people we could have answers very quickly…"
"Ludwig, no! I know what you're thinking! It's not a good idea, we have morals and protocol that we have to follow!" Gilbert replied as Ludwig's gritted his teeth. "What if you speak to someone and they're a snitch!? Feli would be in even more danger! If we're going to do this together, we need to do it the legitimate way!"
"Then…" Ludwig sighed as his hands tightened into fists, "Then we aren't doing this together!"
"Ludwig, you are behaving like a child," Gilbert pointed out as he followed his brother away from the computer as everyone watched in shock.
"You don't know what I'm going through; I'm going to get him back, no matter what!" Ludwig grumbled as he opened the drawer and stared looking through the car and motorcycle keys.
"Don't act like you're alone in this, you're not the only person who's being hurt by this!" Gilbert pointed out, before flashing the golden ring on his finger, "I know I can't imagine how you're feeling right now, and the idea of something like this happening to Liz scares me, I want to help you get Feli back."
"Then you have to let me do this…" Ludwig replied as he snatched a pair of keys, that Arthur recognised as one of the motorcycle keys.
Before Gilbert could tell him off, he bolted out of the office, leaving Gilbert alone, standing in shock.
"Fine then, you to play; I'll play!" Gilbert grumbled before looking to his watch, "Berwald, Tino. Come in."
"Present," A voice replied from the watch.
"Any second now, a tall blonde is going to arrive in the garage and take a motorcycle, track him. Do not take your eyes off of him, but don't let him become aware of you," Gilbert explained, before sighing deeply, "I'm not going to let him do anything stupid…"
"Are you sure you don't want me to track him?" Alfred asked as the group dispersed, and everyone but Alfred and Arthur returned to their duties.
"No, I'm going to handle it; he's my responsibility," Gilbert replied as he ran his hand through his light hair. "Just… keep reviewing footage…"
Gilbert turned away and walked out of the office, shaking his hands along the way, leaving Alfred and Arthur standing together.
"Alfred," Arthur said, turning to look at the American who crossed his arms over his chest. Arthur knew what he wanted to talk about, he wanted to talk about why Arthur left without saying goodbye, especially after the moment they nearly shared… they could have been something, but Arthur struck that hope down before anything could begin, not giving Alfred a chance. He wanted to say that he was sorry, he wanted to explain that he was scared, and that he did indeed feel something special with Alfred, that the American was special to him… and Arthur knew that Alfred would have wanted to hear those things right now.
But… he couldn't bring himself to say it, not out loud at least… Alfred stared at him, begging with his eyes to relieve his pan, but Arthur could only remain silent and stare at Alfred like a nervous teenager.
"We should look through the footage from Heathrow airport… We need to know how they got here…"
Alfred exhaled sharply, relieving the pressure that had built up between them, "Right."
Alas, no matter how much footage Alfred and Arthur privately reviewed, they couldn't spot the Italian in any of the area's major airports… eventually they concluded that Feliciano and his kidnappers arrived in London some other way.
Eventually Arthur arrived back to his apartment, poured himself some tea and sat down to read… He needed to calm down. Despite this, he could not bring himself to rest… the look in Alfred's eyes chilled him to the bone.
He knew that he would live to regret his decision, he just didn't think that it was going to come back to haunt him so soon after. He couldn't bring himself to say goodbye to Alfred and now he's ruined any kind of positive relationship that they could have, all because of his own insecurities. Arthur tried to not be so hard on himself, as far as he knew: he was going to never see Alfred again, it wasn't worth opening his heart to injury through saying goodbye.
Arthur lifted his head in surprise when he heard the doorbell ring, Arthur glanced at the clock as he rose from his seat, 11:30pm… who in their right mind would come to visit him at this hour? Despite this, he walked to the front door and opened it, only to be shocked by who he saw staring at him from the other side.
"Ah…" Arthur stuttered, unable to think of a way to greet the American who stood in the doorway to his apartment, absolutely drenched from the pouring rain.
"Um… Hi…" Alfred muttered, as Arthur stepped aside to invite him in, "Before you ask, when Ludwig went rouge, he had the keys to our apartment… They couldn't cut me a pair because I couldn't prove ownership, Gilbert wasn't answering his phone—"
"How did you find me?" Arthur asked.
"I called the office and Yao gave it to me, I got a cab…" Alfred explained, "All of my shit's in that apartment, and until Ludwig comes to his senses, I can't get in. I hate to bother you; I just need a couch…" Arthur looked at his small couch, and struggled to imagine how Alfred would manage to fall asleep on it.
"I see…" Arthur sighed before he pointed to the hallway, "I won't stop you… you should have a shower and I'll get you some blankets. The bathroom is the first door to the left."
Arthur could hear the shower running as he walked past the door to the bathroom, carrying some spare blankets and a pillow. He dreaded what was happening, however he couldn't deny that this could be a sign to finally address their issues, however, Arthur knew that he shouldn't do it right away, they've had a busy night and it is a late hour… but yet, he dreaded the idea of saving it for the morning.
"Goodnight…" Alfred muttered as he rubbed the towel into his hair as he walked past Arthur and towards the couch, "thanks for this, I really need it."
"It's fine…" Arthur muttered as he walked down the hallway, and into his bedroom, well aware that Alfred's eyes were following him.
Arthur tried to sleep, but his ability to relax slipped between his fingers before he could settle, keeping the Englishman painfully awake. He rolled over once again, and froze when he heard his bedroom door open… Arthur's instinct took over, and he pretended to still be asleep as he heard footsteps pace around his bed.
"Arthur…" the voice whispered as the figure crawled onto Arthur's bed, hovering over the Brit's face, "Arthur…"
"Mmn…" Arthur murmured as he opened his eyes, only to see Alfred staring down at him and his face hovered over his. "Alfred…"
"Why?" Alfred asked, as Arthur lifted his hands, only for Alfred to press them back down, taking away Arthur's ability to fight him, Arthur stared into Alfred's eyes, seeing that they were full of anger and determination: it was a stare that chilled Arthur to the bone. "Did I offend you that much? Did I do something wrong? I thought we…"
"We did…" Arthur answered, finally releasing the tight hold he held over himself, no longer holding himself back, he spoke like he had wanted to ever since he learned that Alfred was in London. "I was scared… I didn't want to say goodbye, because then I knew that I would miss you. I thought that if I just left, we'd save ourselves all of the pain… besides… I knew that Matthew was going to die, but I still left the school… I thought that you were going to hate me anyway…"
"I don't hate you; I know why you did it. Ludwig told me everything…" Alfred explained as he relaxed his grip on Arthur's wrists, before shifting to hold onto his hands as he laid over him. "I honestly thought that you hated me… After that night where we nearly…"
"No… I don't hate you…" Arthur sighed. Alfred's eyes widened as Arthur's lips curved into a shy smile, "quite the opposite, actually."
Alfred smiled his eyes glowing from the moonlight that came in through the gap in the curtains, "well… I guess you didn't have to say goodbye after all…"
Before Arthur could reply Alfred cut him off with a kiss, Arthur's eyes widened as he felt the Americans warm lips press against his, their softness waking Arthur's heart and senses.
However, Arthur was left hanging when Alfred lifted his head, parting their lips. "Is this ok…?"
Arthur no longer cared about anything, once he got a taste of those lips, he needed more. Without a word, Arthur pushed his hands out of Alfred's grip, and hooked his arms around Alfred's neck, pulling him in tighter. Arthur had given in; the relief of finally letting his guard down opened his heart to Alfred as he felt the American slide under the blankets and hold him tightly. It had been a long time since he had intimacy with someone; and it was as though Arthur was experiencing everything again for the first time.
Before he knew it, he was panting and begging, running his fingernails down the soft skin of Alfred's back, as their pants and groans, as well as the violent banging of the headboard of the bed on the wall echoed through the bedroom. Alfred released a heavy sigh, exhausted as he held on tightly to Arthur, until his noises were cut off by another heavy kiss. Arthur couldn't help but smile, and as he did, he realised that it was genuine, that he was finally doing the right thing, and he no longer wanted to think about the consequences. In that moment, Arthur had forgiven himself, he forgave himself for leaving, he forgave himself for being scared, he felt as though he could be free from the chains of his own heart and finally open it wide enough to let someone else in… and he never wanted to let that feeling go…