New York [USUK/UKUS - APH ]

Chapter Two - Come Fly With Me:

Arthur had given up trying to be nice, and went right into battle mode. He'd hired more staff! In the kitchen was Lovino, an Italian from the Neighbourhood, just as foul mouthed as the Brit, but at least he designed a bloody good menu for Arthur. He got his brother Felicano to feature the bar's new menu in the local paper, hoping to get some publicity. Of course this caught the attention of the American that had been causing Arthur Hell for the last few weeks over social media...

He decided to go full critique mode and post photos on Instagram for each meal he tried, being surprised with how good it was. He couldn't write a tweet about that right? Arthur was sneaking a glance over from behind the bar as he ate.

@ApplePieSnaps : @EmpireTavern Try Hard #EyebrowsBrit has been doing something right for once. I won't starve to death in my local joint anymore. Shame about the swearing from the Kitchen. #SuperLame

Seriously!? He took one bloody bite and went straight to his phone! At least he finished the burger he was eating afterwards. Arthur was going to be smug about that. He had to keep fighting. A few days later, he overheard the American talking about Arthur's lack of bouncers, so he hired one in retaliation. Arthur had employed the tallest Russian he could find. His name was Ivan. He was built like a brick shit house. Arthur's words.

@ApplePieSnaps : @EmpireTavern ... The new bouncer is creepy. He stares right into your soul, and I get chills each time I walk past him. Talk about Cold war, dudes. #Creepy

Buahahaha. Perfect. Be scared of Ivan... Although Arthur would be lying if he said that Ivan didn't scare him just a little bit too. The bloke didn't say very much, but when he did, he said it with a smile - A really chilling smile. Even Lovino had to give him some distance. He seemed to do a bloody good job on weekends though, when the bar got a bit rowdy... No one fucked with the Russian.

However today was a quiet evening, on a Sunday. The obnoxious American, that Arthur only knew by the name as ApplePieSnaps walked into the bar whilst the Brit: whom ApplePie only knew as EyebrowsBrit was mixing and testing new cocktails, and writing things down.

The American came up to the bar after looking around for his friend who was nowhere to be seen. He guessed it was due to the fact that it was snowing again. In fact this place was dead. It had been getting quieter and quieter, even with Arthur's attempts at fighting to survive.

"Yo, Bottle of Bud please." The American sat at the bar today. He never did this. He usually had a booth in the corner but he didn't want to seem like a loser sitting on his own over there.

Arthur glanced up, acting like he didn't know this customer.

"You got any ID, lad?" He replied, putting the cocktail shaker down, and wiped his hands on the towel tied to his waist.

"Dude, I come in like every day." He looked at him, raising a brow. Applepie looked a bit hurt. GOOD. Wanker. The American passed over his ID, to which Arthur quickly inspected. Alfred .F. Jones? So that was his name... 21 years of age? That explains a lot. He passed it back to him and Alfred put it back into his wallet, replacing it with cash.

"One can't be too sure these days. Here's your beer." Arthur replied nonchalantly and opened the top and handed the bottle to Alfred, took his cash and gave him his change, before swiftly returning to his work.

Today, Arthur was in a waist coat, nice shirt but had his sleeves rolled up, revealing several tattoos down his arms, with a nice watch resting on his wrist. He picked up the shaker and poured out the contents into a glass, then took a hold of a small straw, placed it into the mixture and placed a finger over the top of the straw to try the cocktail. He shrugged and wrote down a few things.