Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Categories:
Fandoms:
Relationship:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2025-04-03
Updated:
2025-06-12
Words:
1,400
Chapters:
14/?
Comments:
30
Kudos:
89
Bookmarks:
2
Hits:
1,002

(+380) (+33)

Summary:

Maybe they won't talk tomorrow. Maybe this is the last conversation they'll have. The enormity of the thought opens its jaws and swallows Emmanuel whole.

--

A series of telephone conversations; from Ukraine to France.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes and other works inspired by this one.)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

“Emman– Emmanuel-”

His voice is slurred, syllables stretched out, eyelids heavy as he fumbles with the phone, frowning in the paltry light of the tiny bedroom.

“I'm sorry I woke you-”

"Not slept-” a flat, tired admission that cleaves Emmanuel's chest in two.

“I'm sorry– try and get some sleep. Tomorrow. We'll talk tomorrow-”

Maybe they won't talk tomorrow. Maybe this is the last conversation they'll have. The enormity of the thought opens its jaws and swallows Emmanuel whole.

"Tomorrow-”

"Volodymyr?”

“Yes-”

“I–”

Anything further is torn from them by the wail of the siren.

He shivers.

“Tomorrow, my friend-”

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

“Talk to me about peace-”

He misunderstands at first, he talks about security guarantees, what the next coalition of the willing will look like; but then,

“No. Not that. Please. Just. Peace. Remind me what it's like, Emmanuel-”

The next words stick in Emmanuel's throat, and he finds that there are tears in his eyes.

Remind me - I cannot remember in all this.

Oh, Vova.

"Emmanuel? Are you gone?”

“Never. I–”

He inhales slowly.

In the end, he talks about Notre Dame, about reconstruction, until the low soft sound of Volodymyr's breath deepens and his responses give way to quiet.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

The times when Volodymyr does not pick up the phone are rare.

He answers in the middle of interviews, on trains to some other corner of Europe, always ‘I am glad to hear you.’

The ringing noise seems to stretch out until it inhabits Emmanuel's very being - it sparks something else that sits in his gut; pre-emptive loss.

He tries again, - later, his own eyes gritty with tiredness, anxiety thrumming alongside his heartbeat.

"Emmanuel- I am sorry for earlier. I saw our defenders. It is late for you now, no? Are you well?”

He has never heard anything so sweet.

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

“Come to France-”

“I will not leave my people- it would be a betrayal-”

In the cold glow of a laptop screen, his background the bare concrete wall of a bunker, Vova looks drained, utterly exhausted, but there is something in his face - fierce, defiant - that takes Emmanuel's breath away. 

"No. They need you safe-”

He knows he is pleading - that it will do nothing - but he has to try.

The image of Vova is abruptly frozen - silent, his gaze on something that Emmanuel cannot see.

“Volodymyr please, I-..”

The image flickers, dies, leaving Emmanuel staring at his own reflection.

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

Vova yawns; frowning at his phone, his brain still slow from another night of shattered sleep.

“I thought–” Emmanuel's face disappears, Vova hears water being poured, and eventually, Emmanuel comes back into view. He's sat at a kitchen table, cluttered with the detritus of family life, a steaming cup before him.

"I thought we could have coffee together before our days begin. A moment of quiet-”

There is something painfully earnest about his tentative smile. It unsteadies Volodymyr and it takes a moment before he can speak past the lump in his throat.

“Yes. I think- that would be nice.”

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

It's Andriy who answers. It sends a spike of fear through Emmanuel.

Vova always answers. Always.

“Where is Volodymyr?” 

In Bankova, Andriy glances at the closed door to Vova’s tiny, cramped bedroom; the man beyond, curled into the mattress, too drained to keep going. 

“Sleeping-”

“Is he well-”

“He's tired, Emmanuel.” Andriy’s voice is sharp, an unspoken - what do you think?

“Can I help? I-”

He utters it before his brain catches up with him; a paltry, useless offering from someone miles away.

Something softens in Andriy at the bare, subtle display of gentle affection.

“I’ll tell him you called.”

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

“Your glasses–”

He watches in dismay as Vova pulls them away from his face, abandoning them on the desk. He blinks, rubbing at two small red indents on the bridge of his nose. 

“Yes. Just for some of the times. I forget about them.”

“They suit you-”

“Really?” Vova raises an eyebrow as though prepared for a joke at his expense.

Emmanuel feels a sudden urge to reach out across the distance that separates them, to pick up the glasses and gently return them to their place.

To help, in some soft, quiet way - not weapons, not this time.

“Yes.”

Chapter 8

Chapter Text

They’ve been talking for half an hour; Vova’s voice is slow and quiet, buffeted by the surrounding concrete of the bunker, the featureless wall behind him.  Their conversations span multitudes; but there are sharp moments where the disparity between them becomes painful.

This evening is one of them; Emmanuel is horribly aware of the fact that he is home - warm, safe; Volodymyr is not. 

In the echoing quiet, Vova’s voice is small, rough with fatigue.

“I miss-”

He stops - waiting, hardly daring to breathe.

In the end, the sentence remains unfinished; instead, a soft, quiet goodbye, a half apologetic smile.

Chapter 9

Chapter Text

“It was good to see you.”

Emmanuel blinks, surprised at the heat in his cheeks. He glances down as though to hide a smile, but the expression breaks through, a shaft of sunlight.

Vova continues on the other end of the line, oblivious to the reaction he has caused.

“I appreciate–” there is a pause, long enough that Emmanuel wonders if something is amiss.

“Wh-”

“You. A good, true friend.”

Volodymyr’s voice is gruff - not the slurred growl of exhaustion but something else instead.

“Thank you-”

Emmanuel’s words are heavy, more than paltry thanks somehow - everything he does not say.

Chapter 10

Chapter Text

He'd looked dreadful on the evening video, his eyes red, face pale. The phone picks up on the rough, unsteady rasp of his breathing.

"Vova, you need-”

Emmanuel doesn't get much further, robbed of the chance to say anything by the coughing fit that fills the air between them and makes him wince.

“S-sorry-” Vova wheezes. “Sorry.”

Emmanuel sighs.

“You're not well. Where's Maks-”

“On leave- needed a break-”

And you don't?

"Promise me you'll try and rest?"

He knows it's a futile request, but it doesn't stop him asking.

"I will try. Maybe there will be time. Goodnight,  Emmanuel."

Chapter 11: Interlude

Notes:

Not a phonecall, but - inspired by this picture

Chapter Text

The sunlight reaches out, caresses his face gently and his eyes slide shut.

If he breathes just so, if he thinks of the quiet - let's the warmth fill him - perhaps he could be somewhere else.

Crimea. In the light.

He thinks of silent skies, and then of birdsong. Of a loosening in his chest, his ribcage. His lungs expand - his breath is easier suddenly.

He could stay here - suspended in the sun.

In the end, he chooses not to. Volodymyr opens his eyes; finds Emmanuel before him, smiling.

They move forward together into the shadows.

Later - there is sunlight again.

Chapter 12

Chapter Text

If he could reach through the screen, Emmanuel would.

If he could have taken hold of Vance by the collar, Emmanuel would have taken a not insignificant amount of pleasure in rearranging his smug face. 

Instead, he picks up the phone.

“Emmanuel-”

“How dare they speak to you like that- about Ukraine like that. How absolutely in–”

“Emmanuel. It happened. It's-”

He hates how calm Volodymyr sounds, the anger rolling through him feels like wildfire, as though the next thing he touches will become ash.

He takes a breath in. His hands shake.

“We keep working, hm? See you soon.”

Chapter 13

Chapter Text

“How do you do it?”

It's late - the final video recorded, the last meeting at a close. Just this, a soft, low conversation between friends.

“You keep going. You never stop; even when- it must feel-  Not once have you–”

He doesn't know how to articulate it; this fierce, burning love that he sees in Volodymyr, for his people, his country. Sometimes he wonders what it would be like to have such a man love him; with all that intensity.

Vova is quiet, until;

“They are my people, Emmanuel. This is my country. Until the end. Whenever that may be.”



Chapter 14

Chapter Text

“It's been a long day-”

Emmanuel watches the grainy video. There is a soft sigh, a wince- Vova rubbing hard at his eyes with his free hand.

The light outside has almost died, the office dim.

“I- I know-”

It sounds horribly trite; Emmanuel feels a scalding sense of embarrassment.

He doesn't know. How could he?

Vova’s smile flickers and suddenly - there is something guarded about him. Something has shifted, as though he feels he has said too much.

Emmanuel grasps futilely for something to say - finds nothing, just Vova again -his voice so very quiet.

"I'm grateful for it."

Notes:

inspired by that one video of Emmanuel telephoning Volodymyr in the middle of an interview.