The term "deal" is a very American one referring to a situation where a controller doesn't have the required separation (all sorts of other names: sep-loss, airprox, airmiss, incident, nasty, "Oh f**k"). Normally it would be with reference to aircraft in controlled airspace.
For the event you saw involving VFR aircraft, they may or may not have been in controlled airspace and may or may not have been receiving a ATC service. The premise of VFR flying is what is known as "see and be seen", hence the term "Visual Flight Rules" with weather requirements to ensure the flight stays as such.
VFR flights normally fly an altitude that is relevant to their direction of flight (here in Canada, a westbound flight flies at an even altitude + 500 feet eg 6500 feet, east bound is odd + 500 feet). Outside of controlled airspace, it seems like a good idea, doesn't it.
If the aircraft you saw were outside of controlled airspace, realistically if they saw each other and didn't trade paint, it was fine
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Just as a matter of interest, where did you see this. May give a better idea as to what was going on. If it was inside controlled airspace, it's a different ball game (and even then treated differently in different classifications)