It started with a sandwich.

The sandwich wasn't special in any way, shape or form. No, it was just a ham and cheese (lettuce and mustard, too) on a ciabatta bun sandwich, but the one who ordered the sandwich, well, he was special.

Kind of. Sort of. Maybe. Soon to be.

Special in the way that he was very well known. And very well known in the fact that he was Alfred F. Jones, hero extraordinaire. Well no, okay, that's a lie, but he does do some really awesome (at least, in his opinion), donating to charities kind of thing. And no, he doesn't do it just to look good to the public. He donates because A, he doesn't need the damn money, and B, there are people in far more need then he is.

Even if his lungs are rebelling against him. But he doesn't want to think about that until he talks to who he and Arthur are looking for. And conveniently enough, they're just about to walk into the small deli along Main Street where this certain person supposedly works.

His name is Matthew Williams, and Alfred and his two friends have been looking for him for a few weeks now. It's been very hard, to say the least.

"It would not have been as hard as you are making it out to be if you had actually made an effort to help us, you twit," spoke his long time friend and now work partner, Arthur Kirkland, an irritable Brit he'd befriended years ago before his university days. He really was bad-tempered; Alfred definitely wasn't making that part up. Whether it was the fact that he was surrounded by Americans he always claimed to dislike, his short but shaggy blonde hair that constantly got in the way of his emerald green eyes, or maybe, just maybe, the fact that he's friends with someone as American as they come, and someone who delights in making fun of his overly large eyebrows. Every. Single. Day.

"It's like they've got a life of their own, Artie, I swear they do!" And every time Alfred would say that, Arthur couldn't help but grow red in indignation and strike the back of Alfred's head, effectively knocking that whiter-than-white smile off Alfred's face and making his cerulean blue eyes water in pain. He also did a good job at messing his normally short but well-behaved blonde hair into a scraggly mess (although that one piece of hair near his forehead would not lay flat at all).

Alfred adjusted his square glasses lightly and peered into the deli, attempting to get a good look at everyone who was inside, and maybe he would spot the person they were looking for.

Rolling his eyes as the American peered in through the window, Arthur walked up to the door and pulled it open, gesturing inside.

"Would it not be so much simpler to just walk inside and take a seat? It seems like a quaint little place and I would rather like a cup of tea. And maybe a scone, if they have them..." Alfred rolled his eyes but nonetheless leaned away from the glass and entered the deli with Arthur on his heel, who was mumbling under his breath about why he was friends with such an idiotic American in the first place. Alfred just grinned; choosing to ignore Arthur's jibe at him and took a quick gaze around the deli, intending to find a seat.

That ended up being unnecessary, as a girl with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair held back slightly by a red ribbon and bright green eyes made her way in between a few tables that stood between her and the entrance where both Alfred and Arthur stood. Smiling lightly, the girl (whose name tag read Belle), guided them towards a small table and tapped her pen on a pad of paper that Alfred swore she'd just pulled out of her chest area (although maybe it was from one of the shirt pockets...her shirt did have quite a few of them).

"Hello there, and welcome to The Sandwich Garden! My name is Laura, and I'm here to tell you that A, we're out of Roast beef today, so there will be no roast beef sandwiches, and B, when you'd like to order your food, you can just head up to that counter over there and place your order. Now, can I get you two gentlemen a drink? Coffee? Tea? Water?" Alfred grinned up at the waitress who was still tapping her pen on the pad of paper while gazing down at them expectantly and ordered what he always ordered.

"Just a coffee with one sugar, thanks." The girl named Laura pointed with her pen towards a small bowl in the centre of the table that Al only just noticed was filled with small packets of sugar. Grinning sheepishly, Alfred managed to laugh his absent-mindedness off, whereas the girl just smiled knowingly and turned to Arthur for his order, which predictably, was tea with milk on the side.

Once the girl had sauntered off to retrieve their drinks, Alfred leaned back into the back of the plush chair and gazed around the room with a lazy grin on his face. Arthur just clasped his hands together and rested them on the table, but he was also looking around, albeit slightly more subtly than Al (because really, Alfred and subtle were like antonyms to each other). Alfred's eyes finished scanning the small crowd and landed back on Arthur, who was quite literally, twiddling his thumbs.

"So what exactly is this kid supposed to look like? I can't remember, and you only showed me one picture of him..."

"Well maybe if you actually tried helping Kiku and I find this 'kid' instead of being a lazy git, you would actually know what he looks like! Bloody hell, you're the one who needs this kid's help, after all...Anyway. He is young, only about twenty-two? He looks a lot younger, mind you. Bit of a baby face. Longish blonde hair and he wears glasses, like you. He looks lanky, really. His name is Ma...hmm. Martin? No, but it starts with an M...oh, give me a second."

Alfred just chuckled and resumed his looking around as Arthur opened the briefcase he'd been lugging around for the greater part of the day. He pulled out a manila folder that he slid across the table to Alfred, who promptly picked it up and began to scan each page with interest.

"Hey now, you're the one who wanted to help me. I wasn't even interested in this damn idea, and for all we know, Gilbert is talking out of his ass about this. Again. We all know how he is with this sort of – oh, thank you miss." Alfred broke his rant and snapped the folder shut, just as Laura (but according to her name tag, 'Belle') returned with his cup of black coffee –which smelled just heavenly- and Arthur's tea and milk, who nodded appreciatively before adding milk to his tea. Sipping it and smiling briefly, he placed it back down onto the table before directing a piercing stare towards Alfred, who cringed slightly but didn't back off. After all, Alfred didn't believe in this sort of thing. How could he?

"Yes well, we sometimes know how his stories are in fact, well, fact. And he was right about the boy's name and where he works. Perhaps he is right about this ability the boy has. Like I said, it is at least worthy of checking out. If what Gilbert says this boy can do proves to be truth, than he would definitely be worth asking for assistance with your condition."

"Yeah, he could be right. Or he could just know about this kid's workplace and is now just sending us on a wild goose chase. He's done it before, Artie, and even if you did threaten to rip off all his toes individually, he'll do it again. Other than discovering this awesome little deli, I'm almost ready to call today a complete and utter waste of ti-"

...

Arthur raised one of his rather prominent eyebrows in question to Alfred's sudden stop in conversation and noticed that the other's coffee was halfway to his mouth, eyes frozen in place, staring directly over Arthur's shoulder.

"Alfred, what on earth are you staring at? You look even more so like a bloody buffoon than normal." Huffing slightly when Alfred refused to even respond to the taunt, Arthur began to turn himself in his seat to look behind him and see what the hell Alfred was so intently gazing upon.

However, it seemed that the movement caused Alfred to jump out of his zoned out state, for he quickly reached out and grabbed at Arthur's arm, squeezing it and ignoring the wince that followed from Arthur.

"No, don't turn around, he might figure out that we're looking for him and scare him off! He looks like he spooks easily." Arthur rolled his eyes but nonetheless untwisted himself in his chair so that he was once again facing Alfred. Clearly Matthew had made an appearance at last, and had caught Alfred's attention.

No matter. They'd talk with him soon. Taking back the folder from Alfred's hands, he flipped it open and gazed down at the info within, ignoring the small picture tacked on the top.

"So his name is Matthew Williams, age 22, living alone in an apartment complex in the Art Museum neighbourhood of Philadelphia. He is working full time at this deli and...Alfred, you are dazing again. Honestly, what on earth...?" Alfred, whose gaze had once again travelled over Arthur's shoulder, jumped slightly at Arthur's clipped tone and once again attempted to focus on the Brit.

"So his name is Matthew? Awesome. Listen, I'm getting hungry, so why don't we go order a sandwich or something?" Ignoring Arthurs protest of 'I'm still finishing my tea you git', Alfred jumped up from his chair and grabbed Arthur by the arm, pulled him away from his tea and dragged him to the deli bar where he noticed a deeply tanned man with dreadlocked hair handing a sandwich to another customer.

Looking away from the woman as he wished her a nice day, the dreadlocked man gazed over the two of them and frowned. Turning around, he pushed his way through a set of doors behind the counter and started to speak out to his fellow co-worker who was currently crouching on the ground by the sounds of where Arthur was sure he was hearing some very colourful language.

"Hey Matthew, I'm heading out on my break now, can you take care of the counter for now?"

"Yeah, fine, just –fuck where the hell is the damn container of mustard- just don't take your sweet time like you did last time you just went to 'take a break', otherwise you're going to find yourself without working kneecaps and don't even- oh, hello there..." The owner of the voice revealed himself as he straightened up, holding a large yellow container and came face to face with two men who definitely weren't there a few seconds ago. Turning his head away from the both of them, the boy did something that clearly made the dreadlocked man laugh and wave his hand slightly before disappearing through the doors.

The boy placed the giant yellow container (which Arthur assumed was mustard, judging by what the boy had been saying earlier) on the counter and turned around, his blonde locks flipping slightly as he did so, and offered the two a kind smile.

"I apologize for that, he's grouchy when he hasn't had a smoke within 3 hours. So, what can I get for the two of you?"

How lucky Alfred and Arthur were. They'd not only managed to find the one they'd been looking for, now they were talking to him. How fortunate, thought Arthur, as he looked above Matthew's head to the chalk board that listed the many different types of sandwiches the deli had to offer (although the roast beef sandwich had been crossed off the board) as well as different types of soup. His eyes lit up a bit as he noticed a very specific soup listed.

"You have creamy onion soup, I see. Wonderful. I will take a bowl of that if you would not mind. Oh, and I also had a tea before, I suppose I will need to pay for that now?" Nodding slightly, Matthew tapped at the cash register as Arthur fumbled with his wallet before looking over to Alfred who had been surprisingly quiet this whole time. Which, to say the least, was very odd for Alfred.

"And what can I get for you sir? Along with your coffee, of course, which I hope was adequate?" Arthur looked over to Alfred who was frowning slightly but thankfully, was not staring at Matthew like Arthur assumed he'd been doing a few seconds prior (And now I know what he was staring at before...). He was now looking at the chalk board above Matthews head and appeared to be zoning out slightly.

"Er...sir? Are you going to order anything, or should I just ring you in the coffee?" Matthew said as he accepted Arthur's cash and rang it in. Alfred jumped slightly at Matthew's voice before grinning and pointing towards the chalkboard with a leather-gloved hand.

"I was hoping for roast beef, but I guess I'll settle for a ham sandwich on a ciabatta bun, thanks. Oh, yeah, and the coffee too, Matthew. That'd be great." Alfred rummaged in his coat pocket, going over his iPod and keys to grab his wallet and pull out the appropriate amount to pay. He looked up, expecting to be told an amount, but raised an eyebrow when he noticed Matthew was just staring at him.

"Umm, are you going to tell me what I owe you or am I going to have to add it up myse-"

"How did you know my name?"

Alfred paused for a moment. "Excuse me?"

Matthew glared a bit and folded his arms, making it clear he was not pleased.

"You just called me Matthew. I never told you my name." Alfred balked and started to mentally panic. He could tell Arthur was as well because the Brit had just begun stammering and attempting to apologize.

"Your name? How'd I know your name? Oh, well, that is..." He paused for a moment and looked around, trying to find something or someone that would get him out of the mess he'd already caused and dammit he'd known the guy for less than 5 minutes and he was already messing up this much he didn't see how this was going to work at all and as Alfred slipped his hands in his pockets, his hands brushed over his lighter which reminded him of the dreadlocked man gone outside for a smoke.

"The other guy! The other guy who works here, he said your name as he left which is why I knew your name. Makes sense, right?" Matthew didn't stop the intense stare he was directing at Alfred, making it clear that he didn't believe him, but he nonetheless uncrossed his arms and let loose a sigh as he entered in the amount of Alfred's sandwich and coffee into the register.

After accepting Alfred's payment, Matthew turned towards Arthur and offered him a polite smile.

"Your soup will be ready in a moment, sir." With that said, Matthew turned and began making himself busy on the other side of the counter with a bowl, a ladle and a large amount of crackers. Arthur let out an explosive sigh before stepping slightly closer to Alfred and turning around so his back was to the counter and more importantly, Matthew.

"You could not have messed that up more."

"Sure I could've. I could've just jumped across the counter, held him hostage and demanded everyone's cash. That would've gone well."

"You have been watching too many of your law shows again, Alfred."

"I actually haven't been watching enough. I'm so behind in them that I've got five recordings I still have to watch on top of this week's episode. Anyway, I didn't screw up that bad, he's making me my sandwich, isn't he?" Alfred grinned as he said this, obviously thinking that his little mishap with the name slip hadn't amounted to anything bad. Arthur merely rolled his eyes and turned back around as he heard the clink of ceramic on surface, indicating Matthew had prepared his bowl of soup.

"Ah, wonderful lad, thank you so much. Oh and thank you for the crackers, they will be wonderful with this." Alfred laughed as he watched Arthur take his bowl and carefully make his way back to their table before turning back and waiting for his sandwich. He was rather surprised to see Matthew staring at him through his glasses with such an intense gaze that he felt slightly unnerved. And his eyes. Well, they were something else entirely. Purple? No, they couldn't be. They had to be more of a really deep blue.

Well whatever they were, they were intense. Rubbing the back of his head and grinning slightly, Alfred began to turn the lighter in his pocket over and over while waiting for his sandwich.

"What do you want on your sandwich, Alfred?" That caused Alfred to stop, cross his own arms and stare at Matthew accusingly.

"Well now, this is like the pot calling the kettle black. Why do you know my name, Matthew?" With that said Alfred took slight gratification in seeing Matthew redden slightly before turning around and pulling out a ciabatta bun and cutting it in half with a bit too much force.

"I have ears too you know, I could hear you and your friend talking a mile away. You're both rather loud when you talk, did you know that?" Matthew turned and felt a small grin of satisfaction creep onto his face as he watched Alfred open and close his mouth foolishly.

"I'll say it again. What do you want on your sandwich?" Alfred frowned and backed off as Matthew turned around and started placing a few pieces of ham on the ciabatta. Right little ray of sunshine this one is.

"I'll take cheese, lettuce and mustard. No tomato, no mayonnaise, no pickle. Blech, pickle on a sandwich is just nasty." Alfred was ready to go off on a tangent about how this one restaurant thought it would be a good idea to put relish and pickles on his burger but was cut off when Matthew slid his sandwich towards him with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Enjoy your meal and have a nice day...sir." Alfred's eyebrows rose as Matthew abruptly turned around and began busying himself with the counter he'd just sullied from making Alfred's sandwich. Chuckling, he picked up his sandwich and began to walk away.

"Yeah, you too...Matthew." Grinning at the way Matthew tensed, he almost skipped back to the table where Arthur was very much enjoying his soup.

Looking up at the approaching blonde, Arthur swallowed his next bite and placed the spoon down, watching as Alfred took the seat opposite him again and dug into his sandwich.

With a bit of a scowl directed the others way, Arthur spoke.

"So what do we do now?"

"Now," Alfred said through a bite of sandwich, "We wait."

Arthur rolled his eyes and began to eat his soup once again.

"Brilliant."

Matthew Williams had been having a good day.

He'd woken up around 7:30 AM in his very average apartment and prepared for his day. Showered, made coffee and had a quick breakfast of toast and jam before beginning his 35 minute walk to the deli he worked at. It was a short walk in comparison to his old job, but he didn't mind it.

He just did a lot more of it now.

Even after getting to work, he'd been having a good day. He and Miguel were working together, and it wasn't so busy that he couldn't spare a few minutes in between customers to read a bit of the newspaper he'd picked up along the way.

It had started to go downhill when the business man had dumped his cup of coffee on the counter because 'it had too much sugar in it'. Matthew had held his patience, apologized and refilled the man's coffee for free. But the man didn't even pay for the sandwich he ordered. Now that had irritated Matthew a bit, because there was clearly nothing wrong with the sandwich, the man just wanted to milk a small incident for all it was worth.

And milk it he did. He was yelling in Matthew's face, speaking slowly as if Matthew didn't understand what he was saying, like he was stupid and couldn't understand English. He was Canadian; of course he could understand English. He didn't look foreign either, what with his almost dirty-blonde hair cut a tad too long to his shoulders falling around his face in loose curls (that he really did not enjoy in the summer) or his pale skin. It was obvious he was able to speak English, right? (He'd only been doing it all morning...and when he was taking the guys order) Although, with a wry thought to himself, maybe it's the eyes that are so off-putting. Foreign looking, maybe?

Violet eyes are rare and creepy looking too, according to a friend of Matt's who caught Matthew staring at him for a little too long. Said friend still gets a little wary when Matt zones out and stares.

"It's like he's staring through my damn soul, for chrissake!" the friend had said.

Matt never did say whether or not he stares on purpose. His smile just grows all the wider which answers everyone's question that yes, Matthew Williams is not a normal 22 year old.

Matthew already knew that.

But let's get back to the problem at hand.

Matthew had tried to let that incident pass him by, to not let it bother him, but then the new bus-boy, some small blonde kid by the name of Raivis had dropped a full bin of dishes after a customer had told him he was in the way.

Thank god almost all of the dishes made it out of the bin alive. What his boss would have done if he'd broken all of them, he didn't want to know. Matthew had been annoyed by the customer, but he'd just held it in and managed to vent his displeasure by kneading some bread into oblivion.

Just as he was beginning to get back into the flow of his work day, Matthew was once again annoyed by the fact that someone (and he highly suspected it was Miguel) had not refilled the mustard container. He'd then spent the next ten minutes looking for the damn giant refill jug, and just as he'd suspected it was a lost cause, he'd heard Miguel mention something about going on break. Sighing, Matthew had straightened up, but not before finding the jug (hidden at the back of the freaking cupboard, and he was so going to kill Miguel when he got back) and suddenly came face to face with two men who were not there when he'd started his hunt for the sneaky mustard container. He whipped his head around and sent an annoyed glare towards Miguel who just laughed and walked out the back, leaving Matthew to the new customers. Sighing again, he turned around to face them, each of who were wearing the same, odd expression.

Both were staring at him with something that looked like...relief? He didn't understand it, but maybe they just thought they'd been hearing voices and when they saw him they realized they weren't going insane. Rubbing his eyes from under his glasses wearily, he offered a smile to the two men and gestured slightly to the back doors.

"I apologize for that, he's grouchy when he hasn't had a smoke within 3 hours. So, what can I get for the two of you?" He fully expected a quick answer, but instead was offered silence as the two slowly looked above his head towards the chalkboard that he'd crossed off 'roast beef' from not twenty minutes ago. One of the men, the one he'd decided had absolute monsters for eyebrows, pointed out the soup of the day and decided upon that. As Matthew took his payment, he couldn't help but notice that the other man was continually flicking his eyes from the chalkboard down to his face. Frowning slightly, Matthew attempted to get the man's attention (and discretely check if there was anything on his face, because really, why else would the guy be staring?).

"Er...sir? Are you going to order anything, or should I just ring you in the coffee?" As Matthew waited for the man to make up his mind, he couldn't help but notice that he had some seriously blue eyes. They weren't bright like his friend Ludwig's, but they weren't like his own either (no one had eyes like his, as his other friend Yong Soo would say). This man's eyes were more like a deep sea blue, but the glasses the man wore seemed to obscure them slightly.

Matthew was knocked out of his observations when he picked up the tail end of what the man was saying, and what he said caused him to frown.

"...settle for a ham sandwich on a ciabatta bun, thanks. Oh, yeah, and the coffee too, Matthew. That'd be great." Matthew frowned and stopped. How'd this guy know his name? He was sure he hadn't introduced himself as such, and besides. You don't just go around calling the people you've known for less than 5 minutes by name, and so friendly like.

And besides, thinking about it, hadn't these guys been acting a little odd during their entire stay? They constantly had been looking around, as if looking for something, and they kept looking into a small folder.

Yes, Matthew Williams was a people watcher. He had no problem admitting it, and he knew he was good at it, because he knew how to blend in and people were often surprised to find him seated where they previously thought was an empty chair.

Once again, his thoughts were interrupted by the man with the very blue eyes, but this time he didn't let the man finish and interrupted him.

"How did you know my name?" The man paused and looked slightly perplexed before giving a confused response.

Matthew was not impressed. Crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes in what he hoped was a threatening pose, he retorted with a bit of anger.

"You just called me Matthew. I never told you my name." A small grin crept onto his face as he watched the two across from him blanch as if they'd just been caught with their hand in the ever metaphorical cookie jar. The one with big eyebrows had begun to stutter out something along the lines of an apology, whereas the other began to dart his eyes around the room before stopping and grinning as if an idea had suddenly struck him.

"The other guy! The other guy who works here, he said your name as he left which is why I knew your name. Makes sense, right?" Matthew stopped, clearly not expecting this answer. Had Miguel said his name? Well, damn. However, there was no way Matthew believed the reasoning the other had just come up with, but he had no further evidence to say they were lying, so with a sigh, he accepted Alfred's payment and began busying himself with the Eyebrow man's soup.

As he began the process of ladling a decent amount into a bowl for the man, he couldn't help but overhear the men's conversation; specifically because they were loud, even when they were trying not to be.

"...watching too many of your law shows again, Alfred." The one with the eyebrows said, which made Matthew come to the conclusion that the one with the blue eyes was called Alfred. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he couldn't help but feel annoyed. He had just been getting back into the groove of work without problems when these two had showed up. Grinding his teeth, he turned and placed the soup on the counter, where one of the men thanked him and turned away, leaving him with the one named Alfred. He couldn't help but glare at the man who was clearly unnerved by it.

"What do you want on your sandwich, Alfred?" Matthew chuckled inwardly as he watched Alfred's eyes widen a bit before narrowing in suspicion, because after all, how could Matthew know his name? And he voiced his opinion on just that, causing Matthew to snarl in his head because how could this guy say that when he started the literal name calling?

"I have ears too you know, I could hear you and your friend talking a mile away. You're both rather loud when you talk, did you know that?" Okay, well that was a slight lie. Yes, they were both loud, but it was easy to drown them out when you didn't want to hear them. However, Matthew had wanted to hear them, and so, had. And Matthew took small gratification noticing how that seemed to stop the man in his tracks.

Repeating his last question, he turned around and grabbed a ciabatta bun, cutting it aggressively in order to let some of his previous stress go. Listening as Alfred twittered off three additional ingredients and then what he didn't want, Matthew managed to zone him out. He just wanted to get these two their food and then out of the deli. After they left he could have a good day. Turning around as Alfred started going on a rant about pickles, he placed the sandwich on the counter and stared at Alfred with an air of finality, a cool smile in place.

"Enjoy your meal and have a nice day...sir." Matthew felt that even though these two had hit the final button that made Matthew Williams into a bit of a passive-aggressive ass, he couldn't be 100% rude to them. That was, at least, until Alfred called him by his name again. Okay, that guy was too annoying to want to deal with again. Giving up, he just went back to what he'd been doing before those two had shown up. They'd be out of his head in a few hours, and he wouldn't have to worry about them from there.

Unfortunately, this would not be so for Matthew. Once those two had finished their food, they'd just sat at one of the tables and chatted with each other. For 5 hours. Matthew now wouldn't be able to get them out of his head for awhile, because they'd been consistently in his line of vision, from the cash register, to the coffee maker, to the tables surrounding the two. By the end of the day, even Miguel was steering clear of him, because a grouchy Matthew was a scary Matthew.

Miguel still had the marks on his arm to prove it.

As Matthew finally bid Miguel and Raivis goodbye (of course he'd be the one to close up tonight), he squared himself and walked over to the two who had stopped their chatting upon noticing his approach.

"I'm sorry, but we are closing up now, as it is 8:30. So if you would kindly leave, it would be much appreciated..." Matthew hoped that the two would be accommodating, and he smiled in relief as it sounded like they would be, with the first words Arthur said.

"Oh yes, of course we can leave," Matthew nodded and turned to walk away "just as soon as we talk to you, Matthew Williams." And just like that, he froze. He knew Miguel had definitely not called him Matthew Williams, so there was no way they should have known his whole name, unless they already knew him, or knew of him. Either way, he didn't like it. Crossing his arms, he glared down at both men, who just looked so unimpressed.

"Okay, so how do you actually know my name? Because I'm pretty sure my friend earlier didn't call me by my whole name." Expecting an apology or a stuttering response, Matthew was surprised when he just got a small laugh from the one with eyebrows.

"Research is where I got the name. Along with your age, 22, where you live, Parkway houses, and that you have a very odd ability that allows you to remove diseases and various medical problems from whoever you touch." Matthew blanched. How the hell could this guy know about that? He'd barely done any jobs before this (only when he was really hurting for cash and when Lars knew someone that might need some help; he always seemed to just know when someone needed help), and he was so sure he'd been discreet and careful.

Taking a step back away from them, Matthew turned his eyes towards the man who'd spoken.

"Well, for one, I don't appreciate the snooping. Two, I don't know what you're talking about, what you say is just ludicrous. And three, since you all seem to know about me, how about you let me know something about you?" Arthur, clearly having not expected this, raised one of those large eyebrows before grinning and clasping his hands on the small table.

"My name is Arthur Kirkland, I work with Alfred," he gestured towards the man across from him, who was now playing with the small sugar packets on the table, "who is the Congressman serving Philadelphia's first district. We are actually here for him, so if you could just sit down, we would be willing to explain just what we need your assistance wi-"

"I don't know what you're talking about. And while it's been lovely meeting you two, I need to close up shop. So if you'll excuse me, I must ask you to leave." As Matthew turned away from the two, he heard a sigh, and he hoped it was a sigh of resignation. Alas, luck really wasn't on Matthew's side tonight.

"Do you know a man by the name of Gilbert Beilschmidt?"

Freezing in his steps, he turned around and glared at the two men who were now looking at him with something akin to success. He couldn't help but feel slightly defeated. Of course they'd heard it from Gilbert. That idiot had the loosest lips Matthew knew of. Closing his eyes and rubbing at the bridge of his nose, he spoke, his voice sounding somewhat defeated.

"He's my friend's brother." At those words, Arthur grinned and clapped Alfred on his shoulder, which seemed to bring Alfred out of his sugar-pack-sorting stupor.

"Yes, I thought you might. Most excellent. See, he told us all about you. Told us what you can do, what you are capable of and what you did for him." Matthew sighed and removed the towel he'd been wringing into oblivion from his hands and placed it on the table, taking a seat beside Arthur, across from Alfred.

"Okay, fine. Let's say I can do what Gilbert says I can. Let's say I can do something so freakish. What do you need help with? Allergies? A nasty case of E. Coli poisoning? Hepati-"

"Cancer. He-" He pointed towards Alfred, who, Matthew noticed, was suddenly much more interested in the pocket of his jacket, "has lung cancer. So if you could help him, it would be greatly appreciated and we would pay you well for it." Matthew's heart sunk and he paled at the words. Standing slowly, he picked up the towel and resumed wringing it.

"I'm sorry, but that's something I can't do." Arthur looked mortified, whereas Alfred just continued looking down at his pockets. Matthew didn't want to look at either of them. Arthur quickly jumped up and placed himself in Matthew's field of vision, stopping him from just walking away.

"What- but we can pay - he needs the help-" Matthew merely shook his head and ignored Arthur's wild gesturing towards Alfred, who was still just looking down at the pockets to his jacket, and once again, Matthew attempted to side-step Arthur.

"Sorry, but I said I can't. You'll have to rely on today's modern health system. Good...good evening." He began to walk away but was suddenly pulled back roughly when Arthur grabbed onto his arm and yanked. Hard.

"The medical system we have right now isn't going to keep him alive! You can't just say no and then not tell me- tell him why!" Angered by Arthur's sudden out lash, Matthew ripped his arm out of Arthur's grip and glared daggers at the man, rubbing his wrist lightly.

"I can very easily say no without explaining, thank you. I barely know the two of you, so why should I bother explaining my..." Mathew trailed off when his eyes drifted over to Alfred, who had not once lifted his head to look at Matthew. With a sigh, Matthew closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I...I made a deal with a friend that I wouldn't do this sort of thing with major diseases like AIDS or cancer because of some...complications from what happened the last time I did that. I'm sorry, Truly. If it wasn't cancer, I would help you. Some things just can't be dealt with like this." At this point, Alfred did look up, and Matthew expected venomous words to be thrown at him and to tell him that 'how dare he do something like this' but all he got was a giant smile that, which, although was quite bright, held a tinge of sadness.

And that look made Matthew's heart sink and all Matthew could think of was how he could say something like this -what was wrong with him- and how could he turn someone down who so desperately needed the help?

"Listen, its fine, really. This was a long shot anyway, I wasn't expecting it to work, and even though it does, I didn't really believe it. So thanks for being honest, and sorry for taking up your time." With that, Alfred stood up and waved slightly before walking outside the deli into the brisk night air and rifled in his pockets, pulling out a lighter and a cigarette.

Arthur just shook his head and sighed, eying Matthew with something akin to disappointment. And Matthew just turned away, cheeks flushed red. As if he needed to feel any worse for saying no.

"He is not a bad guy, you know. The minute he became the congressman for Philadelphia, he started doing some serious good for the first district before he was diagnosed with...that. It is not fair. He is too young and promising to lose against this." Arthur looked towards Matthew who was now staring out at Alfred with a thoughtful gaze as the other merely stared upwards, the cigarette lazily hanging out of his mouth.

"I do not know why you made the deal with your friend, but please. Please think about going against it just this once. He needs to stick around and make this place better. He was doing a damn good job." Arthur turned his head towards Alfred and gasped as Alfred began to cough into his sleeve roughly, bent over slightly from the effort. He stumbled, and then quickly made a bee line for the door before stopping and addressing Matthew again.

"Please, please just think about it. I do not want to lose my best friend. Not now. Good night, Matthew Williams, I desperately hope we meet again soon." With that said, Arthur pushed open the door and Matthew watched as he placed an arm on Alfred's back and began rubbing circles slowly, hoping that the action would help his friend. Finally, the coughs died down and Alfred straightened up before smiling and waving Arthur off and saying something that Matthew couldn't hear.

Just as Matthew went to clean off the table, he noticed Alfred peering into the deli. He was even more surprised to see that Alfred was smiling and waving to him in farewell. Smiling weakly, he returned the wave before going back to finally closing up shop.

Sighing, Matthew took the towel from his shoulder and began aggressively wiping the table, more in an attempt to distract him from the two he'd just finished speaking with rather than actually cleaning it. Arthur's final departing words rang in his ears and Alfred's sad, accepting smile remained imprinted into his eyes.

"I do not want to lose my best friend." That's what Arthur had said, and ultimately, that's what made Matthew consider the whole deal. It wasn't that he wanted Alfred around just for work, he wanted his friend around. And the look on Alfred's face had been so accepting of his fate. He thought, or rather, he knew he was going to die. When, he wasn't sure, but he knew it was going to happen.

And Matthew felt terrible, because even though Alfred had said he didn't care, he knew that he'd been hopeful, if at least for a moment. And Matthew had crushed that hope.

With a growl of frustration he slapped the towel down, pulled out a small phone from his pocket and pressed 2 on the speed dial. Tapping his foot impatiently, Matthew listened to the ringing and waited for the other to pick-up.

"Allo?"

"Hey Ludwig, can I borrow your internet tonight when I'm done closing up?"

"Ja, sure. What's it for?"

"Just someon-something I need to look into. And is your brother around?"

There was a pause on the other line before the other spoke again, with a rather questioning tone.

"Ja, he's here, why?"

Matthew growled under his breath, but grinned as he said his next words.

"Because I'm going to smash his kneecaps in for being such a damn blabber mouth."

Well, urm. Hello! And thank you for reading the first chapter to this story! I'm very pleased you read it to the end, which might potentially show that my writing isn't complete fail OTL

First off, I need to thank my wonderful beta-er and co-creator, Kie-chu! Without her, this story would have crumbled into nothing and I would never have bothered posting it. (You should go check her out, she wrote a very cute AmeCan fic, and is already in the process of writing another!)

Anywho, I will try to update every 2 weeks, but I can't guarantee anything...school starts up soon, and sometimes my inspiration just flies out the window.

Plus I have another idea for a fic that wouldn't be AU, so I might write that too. :P

Until next time, you awesome people!

Reviews are love...jus' saying. ;D