The Signature

Alfred checked the clock on his car's dashboard one last time before he pulled into a parking lot. He was already five minutes late to their little cafe meeting, and the parking lot was a few blocks down. Resigning himself to having to run, he got out of the car and jogged down the sidewalk, hoping Arthur would not have left already, only after a few minutes.

But really, Alfred knew nothing about Arthur. He scolded himself for not asking what they'd be wearing, or something that was unique and would be easy to pick out of a crowd. He should've said wear a blue hat or something stupid but useful. Any guy at the cafe could be Arthur, and he couldn't exactly going around asking every guy eating alone what their name was.

Well, he probably could. But he didn't want to. Just a bit creepy.

He came to a stop in front of the cafe, bending over to catch his breath. When he finally stood up, he scanned the outdoor area for any clue that could lead him to Arthur. He had been expecting the search to be incredibly difficult, but it actually wasn't.

At an outdoor table on the edge of the cafe, there was a young man with huge eyebrows and bright green eyes, adorned with a green sweater vest. He was drinking tea. Somehow, Alfred knew he was Arthur.

Taking a deep breath and gathering his courage, he walked over to the table and cleared his throat. "Are you Arthur?"

"Alfred?" he questioned, his British accent incredibly thick. He put down his cup of tea on the saucer and smiled, studying Alfred carefully. Laughing, he said, "Yes, I suppose you are Alfred."

Now, he probably should've taken offense to that, but he was too surprised that this person was Arthur, his Arthur. Alfred wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting, but this wasn't it. However, he wasn't exactly against it.

"You're drinking tea," Alfred said dumbly, sitting down in the plastic chair.

"I am," Arthur agreed, hiding his smile with another sip of tea. He pushed the small bag of pastries he had bought from the bakery down the street towards his new friend. "How did you know it was me?"

"You want me to be honest?" Alfred asked, and when he nodded in response, he startled babbling, "It was your clothes. And you're drinking tea. And you have really big eyebrows that are actually surprising flattering. Though you never told me you had big eyebrows. I don't know how I knew. I just did. Uh, yeah. So there you go. Yup."

"Um. Thanks?"

Alfred nearly smacked himself for being a complete idiot, but instead he stuffed a doughnut into his mouth. Maybe he'd choke and wouldn't make a fool of himself any longer. Unfortunately, he doubted it: he could down food like no other. He looked down at his clothes and suddenly wished he wasn't wearing his Captain America shirt, no wonder Arthur knew it was him. This was embarrassing.

"Relax," Arthur said with a laugh. He smiled at Alfred, and held his hands together, intertwining his fingers. "You're exactly how I imagined you, actually."

"Really?" Alfred asked, surprised.

"Yes, you're completely dorky and quite silly," Arthur smirked, "But it's working for you, I guess. You're kind of charming in your own way, I suppose."

"Is that a good thing?"

"No, definitely not. Unfortunately, I think I'll be stuck with you for a while," Arthur explained, and rolled his eyes. What he had said sounded rude, but his words held no malice. If anything, there was just a little bit of affection. "I'm sure if I tried to get rid of you, you'd find somehow to keep annoying me."

"Probably," Alfred said, smiling as he called over a waitress.

Despite starting off a little bit awkward, they quickly got along and their lunch turned out wonderfully. It was like they were leaving letters for each other, all over again, but this time they were talking face to face. They had picked up right where they left off.

Alfred easily teased Arthur, and Arthur easily retorted. It was as if they had been friends for a big portion of their life. They ate their lunch, talking about random things, smiling and laughing. Maybe just a little bit of scowling, courtesy of Arthur.

When they finally finished their lunch, their waitress left the check for them. They had forgotten to ask the waitress to split the bill, and she ended up both their lunches was on one check. Alfred reached for it first, beating Arthur to the punch. He grinned easily as he pulled out his wallet.

Arthur scowled, and dug around his wallet for some cash and grumbled, "At least let me pay you back."

"No, no, I insist," Alfred replied, taking his debit card out of his wallet. He put it on top of the check for the waitress to take the next time she returned. Turning back to Arthur, he grinned, "I'm the hero, you know?"

"I don't think heroes go around paying peoples bills," Arthur snorted and rolled his eyes. Crossing his arms, he huffed in annoyance one last time but finally gave in. "Fine. You can pay but I'll pay for the next time."

The waitress comes back and smiles at the two men. They thanked her and she took the check and the debit card and left to go complete the bill. His ears perked up as he processed what had just been said, and he looked at Arthur, grinning.

"Oh, oh, so we're going to have a next time, huh?" Alfred asked, smirking and grinning mischievously again. He tapped his fingers on the table and tilted his head in amusement as Arthur flushed, looking away with embarrassment.

"I didn't…" Arthur faltered, before scowling and grumbling, "I didn't mean it like that! You're so insufferable!"

Alfred chuckled, looking up briefly as the waitress returned the check to the table and turned to leave. He pulled the receipt towards himself, quickly calculating a 20% tip to add to the bill. Usually he left a 15% tip, but she had to deal with the two men all afternoon. He stretched his arms above his head, his shirt riding up slightly. Glancing over at Arthur, he announced, "I bet you're so glad you finally met me! Am I everything you ever dreamed of?"

"If you count nightmares as dreams, then yes, you are," Arthur taunted briefly, before looking down and picking at his napkin. He took a deep breath, and muttered, "Though I admit… You're not that bad, I guess."

Alfred grinned (he had been doing that a lot) like a little kid at Christmas time and tapped the pen on the table. He watched as Arthur stood up to leave. Alfred quickly glanced back down at the receipt and signed his name on the signature line quickly in an effort to leave with Arthur.

He stood up quickly and scrambled after Arthur, slinging an arm around him. Arthur grumbled something about being insufferable and how it was better when they were pen pals, but didn't shove his arm off.

Alfred disagreed, he definitely preferred it this way. He could be obnoxious with Arthur in the flesh, and he didn't think he would ever get tired of the way Arthur's eyebrows scrunched up when he was annoyed. Yeah, this was way better than writing to each other.

Though, he had to admit it was sad to see the end of an era, and he didn't think he'd look forward to grocery shopping as much anymore, it was nice to have a new friend. Maybe, after they were closer, Alfred would find a company that still delivered dancing telegrams.

Arthur would like that.

Or maybe he'd hate it.

Either way, Alfred was pretty sure he'd have fun with Arthur. It was incredible how they had met from letters in a grocery store. The entire situation was almost like something out of a romantic comedy. Really, who leaves a scolding letter for a random person in a grocery store? Ridiculous. Yet, it happened, and Alfred was really happy it did.

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Alfred F. Jones