Everything was fuzzy like the gentle sun coming through waving leaves on a late summer afternoon... That's where Alfred felt where he was and the soft light made the silhouette of the company sitting beside him look angelic. He wasn't really sitting under a tree. Alfred didn't know where he was but that wasn't the point. He knew who he was with and that had his full focus.

Matthew was right there standing and staring with eyes full of anticipation. He was young, but that didn't really catch Alfred's attention because he was young too. They were both young, too young to remember all the details that came with the age. Like what they actually looked like. All he knew was they were sometime between losing their first tooth and their last- But that didn't really matter, Alfred knew that Matthew was there and he knew he needed Matthew to stay.

But this was a botched memory, so he couldn't act as freely as he'd like. Like a puppet on strings, all of his movements were orchestrated by someone else while he simply watched.

When he spoke, his own voice was foreign to his ears, like it wasn't even him saying it.

"We'll always be there for each other! Because we're twins which means we're special! That's what Artie said anyway-"

Yeah, Arthur had said that. Not the special part, the part about being there for each other. Alfred couldn't really remember why it was said, only that his older brother was inspired to say it after something happened... the details of that were more hazy than the outline of his brother.

"Wherever you go I'll go and you'll go where I go! We'll always have each other!"

Alfred could see his hand reach out in front of him with his pinky extended.

"I promise!"

It wasn't his voice and it was far too cheerful to know what would happen to their lives after this moment. It wasn't a warm summer afternoon anymore, and the cold began to creep in.

He hadn't thought about this for a long time... in fact, it wasn't until now that he remembered it happened at all.

Suddenly the memory wasn't pleasant fuzzy. Alfred kept extending his hand and the dread set in. Matthew was just standing there with a blank expression on his face as if he was completely disconnected. It was wrong! Matthew had always been expressive! Or at least he looked pleasant! He never looked shut down.

Alfred was desperate to wrap his pinky around his brother's but Matthew's hands stayed limp by his side with unseeing eyes fixed on Alfred's small finger.

Alfred knew this was wrong. This was a memory so it had happened before and wasn't meant to go like this! What was meant to happen was Matthew would light up with a big smile and jump forward to make the promise. He was meant to promise!

Alfred wouldn't drop his hand until the promise was made. He needed to promise. He needed Matthew to promise. Why wouldn't Matthew promise? Matthew, just talk to him! Matthew don't leave-!

Alfred knew where he really was. He wasn't entirely asleep, nor entirely awake. His surroundings came back to him as he felt himself in his adult body again and could place where he was. He was on his side in his warm bed with his warm boyfriend, who Alfred was currently curling around as he breathed shallow and fast breaths into the soft fanned blond hair of his lover's head.

Alfred knew he had been reaching out in real life in response to the dream in his head because his arm was extended and his pinky was weakly digging at the covers. Like he could still make that promise now. Like it wasn't eons too late...

Alfred's body was running cold and his hand was numb. He ignored the annoying moisture collecting in his lashes and making his eyes painfully itch. He brought his arm back in to pin a still-sleeping Francis to his chest.

At least now he was fully awake, and thank fuck for that too. He sighed as silently as he could and let his head fall back as the tension left his body. He wasn't upset exactly, he's had dreams like this in the past, growing more and more sparse as time went on. But still, if he lingered on it too long - even in a half-asleep state or not, it could get to him. He tried not to let it get to him, but what better time than in the silent dark of night when he had nothing to distract him?

Alfred carefully untangled himself from Francis and rolled over to his other side, turning his back as he took steady breaths.

He probably wouldn't even remember the dream when it was morning and he'd be back to his cheerful self... but he could remember it so clearly now. With HD clarity. He kept his eyes wide open and focused on the details of the wall opposite because if he were to shut them again, he would see Matthew's blank stare at Alfred's desperately outstretched hand...

He held his hands close to his chest as he curled in on himself. He still felt the urge to stretch out his hand right now, even if logically he knew that was so very stupid.

So he turned his thoughts elsewhere, but that quickly circled back around to the dream. All he had to do was not get emotionally invested in the thoughts that would come... Alfred took a deep breath.

Alfred knew the dream was a memory. At some point many years ago he made a promise, he initiated it... and he broke it. His own promise. Matthew had always been there for him and Alfred had disregarded his own twin. The grief of knowing how he made his brother feel comes and goes. Over time the intensity had eroded, or perhaps he knew the feeling and didn't feel it so overwhelmingly like he did at first. At least tonight it didn't sting or make it impossible to even simply lay in bed. But Alfred still felt the resignation of guilt and sadness linger as he joined his own hands by the pinky and clasped as tightly as he could, ignoring the shaking that came with the ache.

Alfred froze when Francis rolled over and now had an arm pulling him in.

"You awake?" Alfred's weak voice was barely a whisper. He got no reaction. He held his breath and listened carefully.

Francis' breathing was rhythmic and steady and felt like a lullaby.

"Thank fuck," Alfred let himself relax knowing that Francis was more asleep than awake. He untangled his hands to wrap around Francis' protective arm instead. Being the little spoon was nice and Alfred felt secure, he was able to fall asleep again dreaming about something else that wasn't wishful thinking inspired by the past.

It was early when Alfred woke up and despite his sedentary body (could you blame him? He was soooo comfy!) he couldn't keep his eyes closed. It was before his alarm which was one of the best times to enjoy being lazy. Especially when he was still in the same position from the night before; being his boyfriend's personal heater. A position he loved to be in if he was being honest.

One of the best benefits of being the little spoon was being able to enjoy it while using his phone. It just wasn't as convenient to use when he was the big spoon and one arm was pinned.

He wasn't really invested in what to do on his phone so he found himself looking through the closed tab of the night before - checking out that photographer. It didn't require much thought to stare at pretty pictures.

Though pretty was an understatement. As Alfred continued to scroll he saw that every photo was just as magnificent and cool. There wasn't a set 'genre', if that was the right term for photography? Alfred wouldn't know. But each photo was very varied. There were photos of completely natural and urban environments, some being just of the landscape or focused on a random person. Every upload had a really violently hopeful and motivational caption that Alfred just had no choice but to respect such an optimistic take on life. Even just lying in bed he felt like he had the power to have a great day because the quotes were just so powerful when next to an inspiring picture.

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." — Aristotle.

Alfred closed his eyes, still feeling a little raw from staring at a screen first thing in the morning. As he pressed his eyes together, he could still see the quote's imprint lingering on his retinas. He took in a deep breath and focused on his 𝓫𝓸𝔂𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭's arm around him. Last night was lingering in the back of his mind, but that was behind him. He had to focus on right now. He opened his eyes again and kept scrolling.

Clearly, whoever this was they travelled a lot and had an eye for what would make a good picture. Alfred didn't know much about taking photos (which would make him not ideal for a business team-up, so that's another reason he'd have to let this person down) but he did know that you'd have to have a skill or talent or something for it to come out this good! Surely? What would he know, he's a normal person.

Or maybe he was just swayed by the very cool drone footage. That seemed like a recent addition because once he scrolled past a certain point it stopped. Really a pity, even if Alfred didn't work with this person he'd still have to give them a follow because holy shit those drone takes were awesome! It made him feel like he was flying and that was seriously cool.

Alfred knew when Francis woke up because previously loose limbs tensed around him as his boyfriend sighed deeply and a warm breath tickled Alfred's neck as Francis curled further into him.

"What are you looking at?" Francis mumbled as he looked over Alfred's shoulder.

"Someone wants to work with me or me work with them," Alfred had to clear his throat, voice a little weak from speaking first thing in the morning. "I don't know the details, I haven't read the message but I'm checking them out and it's a photographer - check out these drone shots. Fucking cool right?"

He ended up showing every single upload with drone footage because there were no 'best ones' to show off. Then Francis insisted on reading the description for each one with curiosity. Each would list a location first, then either a quote or message of some sort that was usually optimistic or deep.

But Alfred wasn't caught up on the message, not when every single location despite being different came from the same country.

"All of these say Canada," Alfred noted and scrolled through all the uploads, even the not drone shoots. "Yeah, these are all in Canada. Why the fuck would someone from Canada want to work with me? Am I just that good that I have a rep or something? But wouldn't there be other business-marketers-whatevers-I-am-exactly in Canada?"

"Maybe you should read the message, it might say why they want you," Francis suggested sleepily. "Everything is online now so perhaps they know Gil and Toni? Networking?"

"Oh yeah. Guess I'll read that later. Right now I'm scrolling."

But he still couldn't picture why this photographer would want to work with him. Especially when he kept scrolling and scrolling and the page just kept going. The further he scrolled the more intimidated he became.

Clearly, this person was big because they were getting lots of awards and recognition for their work prestigiously. There was also something that made his scrolling halt to a stop. This photographer had their photos on postcards! Alfred had to assume it meant something in that line of work but he wouldn't know.

But what he did know was that he was staring at the photo that was on the back of the last postcard he got from Matthew... It could've just been a coincidence if Alfred hadn't found the picture that Arthur got on his postcard for his birthday last year on this photographer's account too.

Maybe Alfred could obsessively go through this photographer's follower list juuuuust in case Matthew had followed them because clearly he likes-

No. That's not helpful. Move on.

Alfred kept scrolling.

"It seems they're quite accomplished," Francis mused. He didn't mention the photos being postcards even though Alfred knew he would've caught it, would've seen the matching photos from the cards pinned on Alfred's mirror.

"I'm not delusional, I know I'm not on the same level of fame or whatever so what's someone like this doing reaching out to me? I don't know what I can do for someone who's so successful y'know?"

He knew this person was wanting to team up with him professionally somehow... and now Alfred was a little hesitant to turn them down. Maybe it was just Alfred being biased because he knew that Matthew liked the photos from this photographer, having sent so many postcards exclusively photos taken by this person. And maybe that meant so much to him today as opposed to some other day because he was weak from having a dream that night. But Alfred couldn't say no without at least thinking about it.

Maybe if Francis knew what he was thinking Francis would say it was stupid, but Alfred could squeeze some room on his plate for this photographer, if only because he was delusional and saw it as a way to honour Matthew.

Alfred figured he could rationalise saying yes anyway, just give him some time and he'll have the perfect reason why he needs to work with this photographer.

Time was not on his side when the alarm finally rang and the day officially started as the couple dragged themselves from bed. Breakfast was easy enough to arrange at Francis' restaurant so Alfred threw on some casual clothes and had to restrain himself from making instant coffee while Francis got changed into something more dressed up. He always put effort into his appearance and was usually the best-dressed person in any given room. Though Alfred could be biased. Francis also insisted that he make Alfred 'proper coffee' whenever he had the chance, something about it being an art and culture. But Alfred was tempted to get an 'inferior' instant coffee because he needed it now, even if he would get made a coffee later...

Francis would be upset though, it was both annoying and endearing that he insisted on doing so much for Alfred. He didn't need someone to cook all his meals for him and go out of their way to dote on him!

Instead, Alfred grabbed an energy drink and put it in his bag with his work things. He wouldn't have time to make instant coffee anyway because Francis was ready to leave just a second after Alfred hid the drink. In his defence, while it had caffine it wasn't exactly coffee!

They had breakfast together before the restaurant opened. It wasn't an elaborate breakfast by any means and Alfred hardly helped in the kitchen beyond verbal support and passing things, but he always had fun and it was an enjoyable part of their routine.

When the restaurant opened Alfred was in his usual booth with his laptop open and headphones on as he got to work. Somehow, despite the noise of people coming in and out, orders being rung up, families stopping in and all sorts, he was still able to concentrate completely. He was probably just used to it by now or the atmosphere was just that great. He loved being around people and more often than not that booth had become his office of choice. It certainly saved money compared to if he opened a real physical office in an actual building. Plus when he had 'meetings' with Gilbert and Antonio, they could all just sit in the booth and pester Francis as they got a shitload of free on-the-house drinks.

Yeah, Alfred would prefer the ambience of the restaurant as opposed to home or the park as an office any day.

The photographer was still in the back of his mind so once Alfred decided he'd done enough work to warrant a break, he slipped his phone out and picked up from where he left off that morning. He also cracked open the energy drink as silently as he could. Maybe he could bribe Francis by offering to split it, but ever since turning 21 Francis traded energy drinks for wine. At any given point during the day, he could be seen either sipping on wine or with a glass sitting nearby - it was almost as concerning as Arthur's tea addiction. But probably worse because wine had alcohol but Francis insisted he wasn't an alcoholic.

At least Francis did look very picturesque holding a glass of red wine or champagne with his dainty fingers as he leaned against something with his casual flair and sipped... maybe Alfred did understand the urge that came with photography to snap pictures of things.

Anyway, Alfred had to admit he was putting off checking the message because then he'd have to think about his reply whether he wanted to or not, so he distracted himself by checking out the Instagram bio.

First things first, Alfred gave this person a follow because these photos were actually awesome and because networking. With that out of the way, he began to investigate.

The profile picture was a hand holding up a stark red maple leaf, which was the only thing in focus. The background behind the leaf was a city of lights, out of focus. Only just glowing colours and shapes. It was pretty, no surprise there considering this person's other photos.

Username; lonelymapleleaf
The bio; Roaming this beautiful country for inspiration
Anyone could get these shots, but you have to shoot to take it. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take
"Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them." — Madam C.J. Walker
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." - Helen Keller
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Anthony Twain

There were stories that said 'art', 'moments', 'the way I see the world'. Alfred flicked through them, his head leaning in his hand as he checked it out.

'Art' - art the person had made. Hand drawn, it was very good and evident the artist had talent. Some of them were straightforward but others left the impression that it was somehow a metaphor. Alfred knew what it reminded him of and he pushed it down.

'Moments' - short clips that had been taken and were self-explanatory: a snippet of a moment. Like rain pouring down as the photographer walked down a bustling street. Because of the sound and the way the camera moved as if a video game character in the first pov, it was like Alfred was the one walking down the street. He thought it was pretty cool and kinda made him wish that it could be worked into a video game.

'The way I see the world' - harder to grasp exactly what made the photographer put certain things in this story. It just seemed like a bunch of photos that weren't connected at all. Alfred just had to assume these were the photographer's favourite pictures, either for what they were or if the photographer just enjoyed taking them. Again, it just felt like a big metaphor Alfred couldn't understand. Maybe it was one of those 'for yourself' things where it wasn't meant to be understood and was only for the photographer. Some of the photos had quotes and they were just as violently hopeful and deep as the captions for their posts.

Fuck it, if this person wanted to work with him then who was he to say no? Alfred liked what he saw and even if he didn't know exactly what was wanted from him, Alfred just knew he could work something out. He was a flexible and confident guy.

So he finally opened the message he had gotten the night before.

The message didn't answer why him in particular, but it did outline what Alfred could do. Alfred read through it and sat as he digested just what lonelymapleleaf had in mind.

Apparently over the years lonelymapleleaf had many offers to have their photos licenced to sell prints and have always turned these offers down. Though now they're ready to make it happen 'on their own terms'.

Also noted that they'd like to expand the prints to include art they made. There was an explanation where the lonelymapleleaf claimed it was ironic to prefer paper to digital art considering their profession but had been adapting to digital.

Then there was a bit that Alfred liked about how lonelymapleleaf wanted to bring awareness to some issues because they were passionate about helping and even wanted to collaborate with a few charities of choice. They didn't say how they wanted to collaborate so Alfred was left guessing whether that was donating money, time or photographic/artistic skills. Nothing he couldn't sort out later.

Alfred sat back in the booth with a sigh as he mentally pieced together a plan to be of assistance with the decision already made up in his head that yeah, he could fit juuust a little more room on his plate. Because lonelymapleleaf seemed cool af and Alfred could get behind that. He was 100% sure that there was no way he could turn this person down now. Besides, it would make his mundane life a little bit more interesting.

So Alfred drafted up a response, downed the rest of his energy drink as he checked for typos and when he thought 'hey good enough' he sent it off.

Then he wandered out the back to find the recycling trash to toss his can in and flirt with Francis while he was there. Someone had to remind his 𝓫𝓸𝔂𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭 to take a break...