Another quick update! I'm so flattered by the response this story has gotten. ^^; I didn't think so many would be interested. Thank you to all who are following this. I hope you enjoy this newest installment!

Pairing: eventual Alfred/Matthew

Warnings: language, OOCness, etc

Disclaimer: No ownership

Matthew, eyes hooded, was starting to drift off to sleep, the bland droning of his economics professor lulling him into a stupor, when a sharp pinch to his side wrenched him back to awareness. "Oww…" He muttered, trying to sooth away the last of the pain. He had no idea what caused the sharp pain. The chair on his left was empty and on the right, Matthias was fast asleep, snoring quietly with drool dribbling out the corner of his mouth and onto the table.

Scrunching up his nose in disgust, Matthew, slightly concerned about the sharp pains he suffered during class, turned back to the lecture and tried to figure out what the professor was rambling about and how much he actually cared to listen to the topic. Looking down at where he had left off in his notes, he was surprised to see that his notes matched the professor's lecture and were written neatly, not trailing off the line and page as they usually were when he tried to write notes while half-awake.

"Wow." He muttered, absently tucking a strand of blond hair that had fallen into his face.

"You're welcome." Alfred responded cheerfully from where he was lounging in the chair on Matthew's left. "And I know its tough, but if you can stay awake during history, you can stay awake during this, dude." Seeing Matthew start to nod off again, Alfred sighed, briefly thinking about how adorable Matthew looked when he was sleepy, and reached over, pinching the teenager under his ribs.

Matthew hissed, jerking away. A pout formed on his pale lips before setting his mouth into a grim line as he scooted forward in his chair, intent to stay awake.

"Atta boy." Alfred nodded approvingly.

"Geez, what's that bruise captain?" Matthias asked, lacing up his shoes.

Matthew, who was rummaging through his locker, looked down at his bare torso at the bruise on his side where he felt the strange pinching during class. "Oh that."

"Did you get that during the last game?" Tino asked, tilting his head to examine the bruise with concerned eyes.

Berwald glanced over after tugging on his practice jersey. "Need ice?" He asked quietly.

"No, no." Matthew said firmly, shrugging away his teams concern. "Its nothing. Really."

Alfred, who was sitting on the bench next to Matthew's locker, looked guilty. "Sorry, I don't know my own strength."

"So I think we should spend practice conditioning on the track." Matthew stated, receiving nods in agreement.

"I think you should also put on a shirt." Alfred mentioned, blue eyes drifting over to study Matthew's bare torso. "I think that Danish guy is staring…" He trailed off, eyes focusing on the narrow chest. The pale expanse of skin and the way his charge's muscles shifted minutely under that soft skin with each motion was too distracting.

Alfred quickly looked away, eyes locking on the lockers across the room, feeling his cheeks heat up.

Next to him, Matthew finally pulled out a shirt.

"So you'll be at the party, right?" Miguel asked, surprising articulate despite the cigar clenched between his teeth as he fiddled with his lighter.

"Maybe." Matthew said, distracted by the people bumping into him. "Sorry." He said quickly when he stepped on someone's foot.

The person, who looked annoyed, seemed to not notice him and, instead, began to roughly shove through the throng of people leaving the building.

Matthew sighed, used to people not really noticing him. Sometimes even his teammates didn't realize he had entered the locker room and continued to discuss how he had a better ass than a lot of girls.

Miguel, finally lighting his cigar, grabbed him by his elbow and began to tug him through the group. "You need to be a little louder, man."

"He's right." Alfred said grudgingly, not so gently shoving away someone about to walk through Matthew. "As much as I don't like him, he has a point."

Alfred looked over, ready to throw a dirty look at Miguel.

However, neither student was there anymore.

"Damn it."

The guardian angel, after shoving through the crowd, finally saw the two young men making their way across the quadrangle and flickered over.

"Give a guy some warning." He grumbled, trailing behind the two.

"It'll be fun." Miguel said, taking a drag of the cigar. He exhaled, tendrils of pale smoke slipping out his mouth and nose. "You need to get out more, Matt."

"Yeah yeah." Matthew shrugged with an apologetic smile. "The guys tell me the same thing."

"How about just for a few hours." The Cuban wheedled. "If you don't like it, we'll leave right away."

The blond thought it over and, not one to really deny his friends anything (especially when they were ready to sacrifice their fun for him), sighed. "Fine."

Miguel grinned and slapped Matthew on the back. "You'll have fun, Matt. Trust me."

Behind them, Alfred frowned, feeling a strange feeling of foreboding overtake him.

"I don't like the sound of this party." Alfred said, leaning back against the couch. "Its like…"

"Something doesn't feel right?" Arthur asked, green eyes peering over the book he was reading.

"Yeah."

"Follow him the entire night." Arthur said, voice firm. "It means something could very well happen to the boy."

Alfred nodded, more than ready to trail his charge for the entire week if necessary. This was not the first time he felt like this. It happened first years ago when Matthew was cooking in the kitchen. The blond would've slipped and cracked his head against the corner of the counter, but Alfred, who tended to stick to Matthew all the time in the early years of his guardianship, managed to tug the boy back enough that he only landed on his butt.

But this was the first time the feeling had been so strong.

Though guardians knew what was intended for their charges in advance, unexpected events did occur (what with the many people each person met with varying fates and futures and plans and free will). Not everything could be accounted for, so when guardians, who were greatly attuned to their charge's future, felt something would happen, they took it very seriously.

Guardians who didn't often found themselves with no charges.

They couldn't change the event entirely, but they could lessen its impact. If a car accident was meant to happen, the guardian could make it less severe.

You know those stories where the person flies through the windshield and survives? That's the work of a guardian. A woman being saved from a mugger by a passerby? Guardian.

Guardians had some powers. They could touch their charges, stop time for a few seconds (some could do a full minute, but that took centuries of experience. They, with special permission, could take a human form if the danger threatening their charge warranted it.

Life was too precious and valuable and it was the guardians' job to ensure that their charges could have every moment of their time on Earth.

Their charges just couldn't know of their work until after death.

Guardians took their responsibility seriously.

Alfred took his even more so.

"Nothing should happen, but just in case." Arthur mused.

"Right." Alfred nodded, still uneasy.

Alfred watched as Matthew tried to tame his wavy blond hair into a more presentable state. "I think you look great." The guardian offered when Matthew made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat.

Dressed in a dark red shirt and torn black jeans, the lithe blond really did look good.

"I don't even want to go, Kumahiro." Matthew mumbled to the worn white bear on his bed. "But Miguel's been trying to get me to go to one of these's raves for a while. Its not cool to keep turning him down."

"I think it's perfectly fine." Alfred said brightly. "In fact, why don't you stay home tonight?"

The foreboding feeling in his gut had seemed to worsen as the day went on and Alfred wished Matthew would just stay in.

Maybe he could slash their tires?

Oh, wait, no. That would be breaking the rules.

Events can be altered, but never prevented. Even unexpected ones had to be completed.

Alfred sighed as Matthew headed towards the door.

He really hoped it was just a false alarm.

I don't want this story to be religious so I purposely kept the explanations vague. Basically, a guardian can't stop an event but they can alter it. Sometimes guardians don't even know what will happen and just have to be ready for anything. Every person has a guardian (but not every angel is a guardian-some only have one charge as an angel) , and its not always someone who knew them (like Alfred knows Matthew). Also, the event resulting in death is set. So if your person is supposed to die in a car crash, the guardian cannot interfere in any way. They just go and wait until their charge moves on and then the guardian leads them to the proper place. Alfred and Arthur just hang out 'cause they're in the same place. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask and I will answer them asap! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. It was tougher to write but I feel okay about it. Anyways, feel free to let me know what you all think! -prances off-