Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story. The characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya. I only own the story. But...I got the idea off a prompt from Tumblr...so do I actually own it?! Is my life a lie?!
Matthew Williams was a very quiet college student who was practically invisible. He was there, people just ignored him. The only time he ever really got attention was when he was blamed for something his twin brother Alfred did. So, he always had to try and explain himself out of those situations. Sadly, it didn't always work. Today was one of those days.
He was walking down the street to his favorite restaurant, which he hadn't been to in a while, when he heard
"Hey you! Alfred! I know you hear me! I'm gonna make you pay for yesterday!" yelled a deep voice from behind him.
Said voice was steadily gaining on him.
Matthew didn't know what Alfred always did to piss people off. All he knew was he hated Alfred right now. He really hated Alfred right now. All he wanted was to have coffee and work on his homework in peace. But no, his stupid brother just had to make somebody angry. He took a deep breath. He really shouldn't make this situation worse than it already was.
"I'm not Alfred! I'm Matthew. I'm his brother." the Canadian said as he walked a little bit faster, to try and get away. Maybe if he could get to the coffee shop, this angry person would just leave him alone.
"Oh! I didn't know he had a brother." the man said as he caught up to Matthew. "I'm sorry. You want to get something from The Countries Cafe? I'll pay. "
"Yeah sure." Matthew mumbled and relaxed a little bit. At least he wasn't being chased anymore. Since he was going there anyway, why not?
"My name's Matthew by the way. What's your name?" the blonde asked quietly. He was very polite and his throat hurt if he raised his voice, so he tried not to unless absolutely necessary.
"Yeah, I already told me. My name's Carlos." he said as he shook Matthew's hand overzealously. After he was done, the Canadian wiggled his fingers and grimaced slightly. Man, the guy sure had a strong grip.
When they arrived at the place, Matthew led Carlos to his favorite table by the window and sat down. Carlos followed suit. The Countries Cafe only had a few other patrons, just the way Matthew liked it. Alfred would've hated it. He and his brother were polar opposites in every way, the only exception being their looks.
"So, are you in college? I just graduated." Carlos asked. After they got past the mistaken identity crisis, Carlos seemed pretty nice. Matthew mused. Hopefully, he could make a new friend.
"Yes. I'm a sophomore. I'm trying to become a French teacher." Matthew answered happily. He loved to talk about his studies. When he did talk, that was what he liked to talk about. Francis, his papa, was French, so he was brought up with lots of knowledge about the country and its' language.
His other dad, Arthur, was British, and a terrible cook, so the kitchen was off limits for him.
"That's cool. So, what's it like living with your asshole brother?" the Cuban said jokingly. He's right. Matthew thought. He is an asshole. And, he has a big mouth. That "big mouth" is what got Matthew into trouble most of the time.
"It's just as pleasant as you would think." Matthew said, laughing quietly at the end. Which was, to put it bluntly, terrible.
Alfred always had friends over. He was so popular, it made Matthew cringe. He didn't get how Alfred could stand it. And every time they came over, they would start playing music and being too loud for Matthew to do his homework. Or, for doing anything , Matthew would just wait until Arthur got annoyed enough to kick everyone out, but sometimes Francis and Arthur weren't there. Those days, he just left and walked to The Country's Cafe. This was one of those days.
Carlos nodded solemnly. Both of them burst out laughing. Carlos had a very loud, booming laugh. Matthew's laugh was more like a kitten trying to roar.
A tall young man walked up to their table, wearing an apron and a bored expression. He was also carrying a pad of paper and a pen, so Matthew assumed he was their waiter. Not just some random man who liked pretending to be a waiter.
Despite the expression, Matthew thought he was quite handsome. So, of course, because of his shyness, he blushed.
His hair was extremely light, almost as if it was bleached. His skin was very pale too, so Matthew thought he must be albino or just really hated going outside. But, his eyes were the most interesting. They looked dark red in the cafe's dim lighting. It sounds like a strange combination, but on him, it was gorgeous.
With that thought, Matthew looked down at the rosewood table and blushed. Again.
"Hi. I'm Gilbert. I'm your waiter today. I recommend the German sausage plate." he said. He spat the words out like they were poison. I guess he really hates being a waiter. Matthew thought. Though, he had no room to judge. He got shivers just thinking of all the people who he'd have to talk to.
But damn even Gilbert's voice was attractive. He had a thick German accent. I guess that's why he recommended the German sausage. Matthew thought to himself. Shouldn't he have at least one flaw?!
"What would you like to drink?" Gilbert said. He directed this question at the cute blonde with glasses. Gott verdammt, why did Ludwig make me be a waiter? This is so unawesome. Gilbert thought. But,-
His thoughts were interrupted by the cute blonde saying his drink order.
"I'd like water please." he said quietly. So he was the whole package then. Polite, cute, tall and cute. Huh. Gilbert thought. He wrote down the order and turned to the other man.
"I'll take Pepsi." Gilbert wrote it down and mumbled something.
Carlos did not hear what he said, however Matthew did. The albino had made a rude remark about Carlos's weight. They weren't the best of friends yet, but Matthew still felt offended on his behalf.
Matthew found himself staring as Gilbert walked away. Well, found his flaw. Rudeness.
Carlos looked closely at Matthew. Then he rolled his eyes, stood up and said "I'll be back. Will you get me the American hamburger please? Thanks."
"Yeah, sure." Matthew said quietly. Gilbert arrived back at the table with their drinks in hand and set them down.
"Are you ready for me to take your order yet?" Gilbert asked.
Since Matthew had been here many times before, he knew what he wanted without having looked at a menu.
"The American hamburger and the Canadian plate please." Blondie said quietly, and without looking up. Had he looked up, his eyes would've met a pair of red ones staring at him. Gilbert was glad he hadn't caught him staring. That would have been very awkward and extremely unawesome. Gilbert nodded and wrote the orders down.
As he walked away to give the cooks the order sheet, Matthew thought Well, he hasn't said anything else mean. Maybe he's not so bad.
He rested his chin on his hand and sighed. Today had been a /long/ day. He'd almost got counted absent in two of his classes. Two! Just because the professors couldn't hear him, even if he was in the front row.
Matthew was unaware that Gilbert had come out of the kitchen and was now heading to his table, so he was very surprised when he heard
"Ahh. I haven't got to sit down in forever. Which is totally bad for the awesome me's health you know." Gilbert said, as he sat down in Carlos's recently vacated chair.
Matthew jumped about six feet in surprise. It suddenly seemed a little harder to breathe. Why does he want to talk to /me/ of all people? I'm shy and antisocial. Oh maple what do I do?!
"Ummm, don't you have customers to tend to?" Matthew asked timidly. Not that he wanted him to go away, but he didn't want him to get fired either.
"No. You guys are the only table I have to wait on. Being a waiter is hard. Not like it's too much for the awesome me to handle." Verdammt! Stop saying things that make you look stupid! thought the albino.
Matthew tried to hide his laugh with a cough, but Gilbert heard it anyway.
"Are you laughing at me? That is so unawesome of you!" Blondie smiled at that, and it was so cute, Gilbert couldn't help but smile back at him. They continued smiling and staring at each other until they heard someone clearing their throat behind them.
"Can I have my seat back please?" said Carlos, from behind Gilbert. It was hard for him not to laugh, at how much they looked like they wanted to kiss.
"Hmph" Gilbert said as he stood up. He grinned again at the blonde and walked away.
Distantly, they heard loud voices yelling at each other. "I wonder what that's about?" Matthew asked innocently.
"How naive are you kid? They're probably yelling at him for flirting with you instead of working." Carlos replied easily.
Matthew was quiet for a full five seconds (which wasn't unusual for him) before he started spluttering and denying that he would ever flirt with anybody during business hours, and besides they were definitely not flirting they were only talking.
He went on like that until Carlos interrupted him with "Kid, it's so painfully obvious you like him. Calm down. I won't judge you."
Matthew calmed down a little at that reassurance, but still mentally denied that they were flirting. Like he would ever flirt with somebody. Come on, he was Alfred F. Jones-Williams's brother. He was definitely not the one who did all the flirting.
Gilbert, on the other hand, was glad he was able to talk to the cute blondie. Even if he still hadn't learned his name, he learned that his laugh was totally awesome, his eyes were violet instead of blue, and that Gilbert wanted to go on a date with him.
"Gilbert! Table 5's order's ready! Come get it!" Antonio, one of their cooks, yelled.
"Coming" Gilbert mumbled. Antonio already knew he was coming, so it didn't make much of a difference if he said it or not.
Gilbert retrieved the food and walked back out of the kitchen, balancing two warm plates on his hands.
I'm not sure If the restaurant makes it so the food is at the right temperature to eat or- you know what, I don't really care. Gilbert thought as he walked back to Blondie's table. I need to ask him what his name is. Why haven't I done that yet?
There was a slight clunk as he set the ceramic down on the circular, wooden table.
"Here you go. Enjoy." Gilbert said and grinned.
Then he turned to Matthew and said "Hey, what's your name?"
Matthew, at the same time, looked up at the red eyes and said "By the way, my name's Matthew."
Then, Matthew laughed awkwardly and raised his hand as if to touch his face, then dropped it.
"Thanks." Gilbert said and grinned, again, at Blon- Matthew. I think it suits him. Not as awesome as Gilbert, but cute.
"You're welcome..." Matthew said bemusedly. Why'd he thank me for telling him my name? Matthew thought. Oh well. I don't mind.
Gilbert walked away, looking proud of himself for some reason. Matthew mentally shrugged his shoulders and picked up his fork.
They ate their respective meals mostly in companionable silence. They talked a little bit, of course, in between bites of fluffy pancakes and juicy hamburger.
Matthew finished his pancakes first. He supposed that there was another thing he and Alfred had in common: their appetite.
A few minutes later, Gilbert brought out the little black book with the check in it, along with a pen and another slip of paper.
"Here's your bill." He said, while dropping the book and pen onto the center of the table. He stood impatiently, tapping his foot, while Carlos looked at the bill and then slid a credit card into the black folder. Carlos handed it back to him and Gilbert walked away with it.
When he came back, he said
"Thank you for coming to the Countries Cafe. Have a good night." Gilbert said, unusually polite for what they had seen of him so far. Just before he walked away, he slid a small piece of paper onto the table in front of Matthew. Matthew took it and pushed it into his pocket, wondering what it was.
They both stood up and stretched their legs. When they got outside, Matthew thanked Carlos for the meal and they exchanged phone numbers.
Yay! I've made a new friend! Matthew thought happily. He didn't make many friends for two reasons. One, he was very quiet and people generally didn't notice him. Second, most people were already friends with Alfred so they thought that Matthew was Alfred and all he ever got was a passing hello.
The walk home was like the calm before the storm. He knew he would come home to some kind of chaos, so he treasured the quietness of walking alone. Sadly, it seemed he got home a lot faster than he usually did. He walked up to the door and gave a sigh of defeat before pulling out his keys. He unlocked the door and was greeted with silence.
"Huh. Did all his friends leave then? Thank God." Matthew said to himself. It seemed they had sort of cleaned up as well. At least they hadn't left the whole place trashed like last time. Matthew finished the cleaning up though, because he knew Arthur would be angry if there were potato chip bags in random places.
After he finished cleaning, he walked up the stairs to his room. Luckily, their parents had made their rooms at different ends of the hallway so Matthew wouldn't be disrupted by Alfred's partying. And Matthew's uncoolness wouldn't rub off on Alfred.
He walked inside his small and tidy room and dropped his bag onto his desk. Matthew flopped down on his bed and then sat up abruptly. He had remembered the paper Gilbert gave him. He fished around in his pocket for a few seconds before he found it. He pulled it out and unfolded it. It took him a minute to decipher the spiky handwriting. When he did, he laughed and grinned happily as he put it onto his desk and lay back down on the bed. The note had said:
Welcome to The Countries Cafe!
Today your waiter is hella fucking gay
and recommends you call this number:
812-586-9420
A.K.A The Awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt's phone number
A/N I wrote this like a year ago and only just now got around to editing and publishing it. It was kinda like reading a brand new fanfic cause I sure as hell didn't remember anything I wrote a year ago:) Also, please review if you have the time, energy and opinion! :)