'Till I Waltz Again With You {AmeCan}

Chapter 4

I edited the previous chapter and added more to it, so please make sure you've read the new version before reading this chapter. Thanks!

Even after the party and the events around it, Matthew's life continued as normal. He got up, went to work, went to class, spent some free time doing whatever came to mind, then slept. Each day went the same. Though, Alfred was a slight difference.

He was at the store each day Matthew worked, and most times he didn't even purchase anything there. He would stay at the counter and chat with Matthew, until another customer would arrive at the counter to pay for their items, and that was the only time he'd leave. Matthew did quite enjoy his company, it was nice to have someone to talk to from time to time. But, Alfred always did the most infuriating thing each time he left and Matthew hated it.

He always with his parting words being "'Till I waltz again with you, Mattie~" 

He always sang it off-key, and had decided to call Matthew by the nickname Mattie, much to Matthew's dismay. Even so, it did leave Matthew a blushing mess every time, despite hearing it so many times.

He would admit, he never thought that things would have turned out the way they did, and couldn't imagine what Alfred found so interesting about him that he decided to stick around. Nevertheless, he didn't mind it all that much. Despite Alfred's quite, er, overbearing personality, Matthew quickly formed a friendship with him. Perhaps their personalities balanced each other out, making it possible for their friendship to flourish.

Matthew was happy with how his life seemed to be treating him, because even with the regular, boring routine, Alfred kept it interesting with their little conversations they had each day Matthew was at work. 

Life was okay, Matthew realized, as he stared up at the ceiling that night. He turned and checked his phone, wincing as the light pierced his eyes, making him groan.

2:32

He sighed and set the phone back down, rolling onto his side. His thoughts had kept him up, and it was already past 2 AM. But by now, his mind was calming down, and he could finally let himself drift off to sleep.

He reminded himself again that life was okay, as he fell into a dreamless sleep.

-

Matthew was invited to hang out with Alfred and his friends for the first time that day.

It had started with one of their normal conversations, talking about whatever came to mind. The subject of their friends had came up. Alfred already knew Matthew's friends, but Matthew didn't really know Alfred's. So, logically, Alfred invited him to meet them that day after work.

"Uhm, I'm not sure, it's kind of short notice so I don't know if they'd be okay with it and such."

"Pfff, I always invite them out places spontaneously, they're fine for today, dude. But you've gotta meet them." Alfred flashed a grin at Matthew, who sighed and nodded in agreement.

"Okay... after my shift then? I don't have classes until later." Matthew offered up the time as a question, though he was aware that Alfred would agree to anytime, even if he was supposed to have classes. 

Alfred had gave an enthusiastic nod and a thumbs up, before practically skipping out the door and singing his signature farewell.

And so, that was how Matthew had gotten to where he was later, standing with a small group of people in some park he hadn't been to before. Alfred had introduced him to everybody, and vice versa. He had already known Arthur through Francis, a close friend of his, and had given a wave of recognition. Kiku, however, was someone new to him, though seemed like a nice enough person in Matthew's eyes. The last of the group, excluding himself and Alfred, was someone named Mathias, a boisterous Danish boy who reminded him a bit of Alfred himself.

In the grand scheme of things, the various persons didn't seem like they'd get along or be close friends, but each was close to Alfred, so had grown at least used to each other. It was kind of obvious that they weren't often together as a whole group, but Alfred had wanted Matthew to meet his closest friends, being the ones now in front of him. Matthew was quite relieved to see they were all welcoming and friendly, putting his slight paranoia of feeling excluded to rest.

"So, Matthew, what have you been up to lately? We haven't seen each other in a while, though Francis mentions you've been busy with a job, so I understand." Arthur turned toward Matthew, arms crossed, but not as if he was angry or upset, just as a resting position. 

Matthew was slightly caught off guard by the sudden conversation starter, but was grateful he hadn't had to be the one to talk first. "Ah, nothing much has happened. Just classes, and my job, which have both been the same..." He gave an awkward smile, and fidgeted with his collar.

Arthur nodded and nothing more was said, allowing silence to settle. That was, until Alfred finally processed something.

"Hold on, you two know each other?" Alfred slightly cocked his head in the way that Matthew noticed he did when he was confused about something.

Matthew nodded, "Yeah, Francis introduced me to him a while ago."

"Seriously? I knew you knew Francy pants, but I wasn't aware you knew Artie too. You knew two people I did and we never ran into each other, crazy." Arthur seemed displeased by Alfred's usage of 'Artie', but Alfred didn't seem to notice and continued on, "Hey, did you know I got those two together? Yeah, that's me, the hero who saves them from being forever alone!" Alfred grinned, and once again was oblivious to Arthur's even more irritated look.

"Alfred, you are embarrassing Arthur, you know." Kiku contributed to the conversation with a small reminder to Alfred, aware of his apparent lack of knowledge on reading the atmosphere.

"Whatever! Anyway, Mathiasss, what are you doing staring at your phone?" Alfred changed the subject rather abruptly, glancing over at the Dane, who had a grin and was furiously typing on his phone.

Mathias explained something about legos and someone named Peter, apparently related to Arthur in someway, Matthew was rather confused. But after that, the subject jumped to something else, and then to something completely different, and at that point it seemed as if everyone was comfortable with Matthew, much to his delight. 

The next time Matthew glanced at his phone, his smile immediately disappeared, and the others seemed to notice it.

"Mattie, dude, what's wrong?" Alfred's head was at a tilt, as Matthew noticed once again.

"I completely missed my class, it ended about an hour ago." He groaned, hoping Gilbert actually took notes for once. And on the subject of Gilbert, he had sent Matthew a few messages asking him if he was going to be in class and telling him that 'his little Mattie was all grown up, already skipping classes!', making Matthew roll his eyes. 

"Oh, that's all? Pff, you'll be fine, it's just one class!" Alfred patted Matthew a tiny bit too hard on the back, making him sputter slightly.

Though, Matthew figured Alfred was right, missing one class wasn't the worst thing that could happen, at least he had gotten to meet some new people, and had had a stress-free day.

Matthew nodded, and grinned in reaction to his own thoughts (he realized he was being strange a moment after doing so), before telling the others he was going to go back to his dorm.

They all gave him a goodbye, offering to see him another time, to which he obviously accepted, before Matthew went on his way.

'Nice. This is... nice.' Matthew thought, as he smiled up at the sky.

Rather abrupt end to chapter, whoops. But here's a bad update you guys have waited too long for;;;. Enjoy?