The harsh, bright rays of sunlight had finally hit Matthew's eyelids. He squinted, 'why does morning always have to come so early?' he asked himself. One of the weird things about Matthew Williams was that he always had really good dreams when he either had to get up earlier than usual, or he just got less sleep, it was like his brain pitied him and tried to make him feel better, but he could never remember the dreams, at least not fully, only flashes and small details remained.
This morning all that he could remember of his dreams from last night were a pair of gleaming, bright, red eyes, Matthew struggled to recall more, but his memory failed. 'Oh well, I guess it's time to get up now,' he sighed, while throwing back the covers on his bed. 'Really the only good thing about mornings would be breakfast food, the very best type of thing that you would ever want to consume.' Matthew heard a growl through the wall coming from the guest room, 'oh crap! I completely forgot that Alfred was here, how could I do that? I swear he's one of the most annoying, loud, and obnoxious people on the face of the earth,' Matthew headed toward the kitchen, 'I mean, I know that Alfred grew up with dad, and I grew up with mom, we've both had different pasts, but how can brother's be so different from each other? We seem like complete opposites, he's always been very repellant and self-confident, while I've never really had the nerve to be able to do that kind of stuff"
"Hey Mattie, aren't we going into town today?" Alfred asked as he walked into the kitchen sleepily.
"I guess we can, if that's what you want to do, you are the guest here," he answered as he started to prepare some pancake batter.
"Alright, well is there anything that you want me to do for this whole operation?" He gestured toward the pancake ingredients that Matthew was mixing together.
"I would prefer if you didn't," he paused, "well now that I think of it, can you go get the maple syrup from the pantry? I finished all of the stuff from the fridge."
"Sure, anything I can do to help," he replied.
'Good, that'll take him a while; I really hate it when there are people in the kitchen when I'm cooking,' he thought as he started to ladle the patter onto a hot and greased pan, 'God, I really don't feel like going anywhere today, but since Al is staying here because his house was having some repairs done, it would only be right to let him decide what we are going to do today.'
"Um, Mattie? What kind of maple syrup? You have, like, 500 bottles of the stuff," Alfred asked, sounding very confused and quite concerned for his younger sibling.
Matthew smiled, "oh, just any of them will do."
"Ok then," he came back up the stairs holding a glass of the golden liquid, "you know, I think that you just might have a slight substance abuse problem Mattie."
"What, with maple syrup? Come off it," Matthew said jokingly.
"No, I'm being completely serious," he said, "and you say that I eat unhealthily, gosh," he grinned.
"Well, it was on sale, mind you," he defended himself.
"So you stocked up for the Zombie Apocalypse? That will last twenty years?"
"No, only about 20 of them, I do use it a lot so I don't really want to run out, or something, like, what if I had a massive breakfast party or something? I would be prepared."
"Oh right, and with who, may I ask?"
"I don't know, just drop it ok? It's not like it's heroine or some other drug," Matthew pointed out as he handed his brother a plate stacked with pancakes.
"True, I guess it is better that you're addicted to maple syrup than being a druggie," he admitted.
"I'm not addicted," Matthew protested.
"Totally, and pigs can fly."
"Well, you've been in an airplane before right?"
"Oh, very funny, ok let me use a different analogy, the sky is green," he said sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up, will you? I don't even think that is a real analogy anyway"
Alfred only replied with a smirk.
After breakfast, Alfred suggested that they should go and do something because Matthew didn't really get out all that often. Matthew reluctantly agreed, 'well, I do need some things from the market anyways.'
"Alfred! This is defiantly NOT a quick detour!" Matthew exclaimed.
"Oh lighten up Mattie, this is supposed to be fun!" Alfred had said that they should stop somewhere for a little while, even though all that Matthew wanted to do was go home, it turns out that Alfred was thinking something more along the lines of an amusement park. He pulled into an empty parking space, turned off the engine, and smiled gleefully at Matthew, "come on, you used to love this place when we were kids, please?"
'Oh crap, he actually said please, this must mean something to him, I can't refuse now'
"Fine, as long as you're paying"
"YES!" Alfred cheered in success.
'Today is going to be a very long day isn't it?' Matthew thought sullenly.
Matthew and Alfred stumbled off a ride like they were just toddlers learning how to control their limbs.
"Ok, I have to admit, that was fun," Matthew said in defeat.
"I told you! See, if it wasn't for me, you would never get out of that stuffed up house of yours. You never get out and do fun things anymore, you really need to take a break once in a while," Alfred said plainly.
"I guess so," Mattie admitted.
"Hey look, it's Francis!" Alfred pointed towards the Arcade section. He started heading in their cousin's direction.
"Oh, god, Antonio is with him too," Matthew was not looking forward to this, after having such a good day so far, he didn't want to be ignored and forgotten.
"That means that Gilbert is probably around here somewhere!" Alfred sounded excited.
"Who's that?" Mattie was confused, he usually could remember everybody's names and faces if people could remember him and notice that he wasn't his brother, he would be a very good people person.
"You have got to be joking, all that time that you used to spend with Francis and you've never met him?" Al stopped dead in his tracks in disbelief.
"I guess," he admitted. Finally, Francis and Antonio spotted them. Francis called over to a guy with paper white hair wearing a black T-shirt and faded black and grey skinny jeans that were ripped. He was playing one of the many arcade games with his back turned. He herd Francis calling his name and turned his head to se what he wanted, causing him to lose the game he was playing.
"What the hell do you want? You just lost me this game!"
"Come over here, my cousins are here."
Matthew watched as Gilbert made his way through the crowd and over to where Antonio and Francis stood.
"Bonjour, Mattie, Alfred," Francis greeted.
"Hola peoples," Antonio was slightly distracted, looking over in the distance, "if you don't mind, I'll go catch up with Lovi," and walked off.
"Hi, I haven't seen you guys in ages!" Alfred remarked.
"I suppose so," Francis pondered the thought.
"Hello, sorry, but I don't remember if I've ever met you," Matthew directed at Gilbert.
"I don't believe that we have met before, so there is no reason for you to be sorry," he said with a tone of false confidence. It's surprising how well Matthew could read people, considering that he didn't go hang out with anyone anymore. "But the awesome me will accept your apology, regardless if it was necessary or not."
'Ok, this guy either is really full of himself or he's just faking it... he does seem like the kind of person to do something to not worry his friends,' Matthew thought to himself.
There were a few awkward moment of silence between the four of them, which Alfred promptly shattered.
"Is that pizza on a stick over there?" Alfred pointed to a stand that did indeed say 'Pizza on a stick'
"Congrats, Al, you know how to read, but seriously, that looks revolting," Matthew sighed as his brother immediately headed over to the stand, "all that is, is cheese, pizza dough, and pepperoni bits that are deep fried."
"Exactly my point!" He shouted over his shoulder.
"I should make sure that he doesn't do something completely stupid," and Francis followed.
"Ok, even I think that sounds gross, and that is saying something, I will basically eat almost anything," Gilbert said in disbelief, staring at the two that went to stand in line for a heart attack on a stick, taking his sunglasses off, and reveling his ruby like eyes.
Matthew found himself dumbstruck, looking at Gilbert's eyes and just being able to stop himself from gasping out loud. They were exactly the same as the ones in his dream that he had just the night before. Gilbert caught Matthew looking at him.
"Whoa, birdie, is something on my face or something?" he sounded concerned, "you look like I had just punched your grandma or something."
"Sorry, I'm fine, it's just, I've never actually seen someone that had red eyes before, are they coloured contacts or something?" Matthew said feeling embarrassed, "sorry," he said again.
"Oh, that's alright, I get that all the time, along with my hair, it's completely natural."
"No, I really shouldn't have been so rude," he insisted.
"Don't worry about it, seriously, it's fine."
"No, I feel bad about reacting so badly."
"It's not your fault, I'm just weird like that," he smiled.
"But-"
"Oh, just stop that, so far out of what I have seen of you today, you are one of the most polite people that I have ever met."
"Oh really, and why should I believe that?"
"Trust me, I am a man of my word," he said as he put his hand over his heart, "If you don't believe me, ask Francis, Antonio, or hell, even my brother Ludwig, they know me better than anyone else."
"Antonio kind of scares me a little, for some weird reason," Mattie said quietly.
"What? That is ridiculous; Antonio is one of the nicest guys I know!"
"I know, I think it has something to do with Lovino acting like he's going to send the Mafia after everybody that gets on his nerves all the time."
"Then your problem is with Lovino, rather than Antonio."
"Well, I think that if I actually got to know him, then we might end up being good friends, after all, I've had to deal with Alfred for most of my life, so I'm kind of used to being around loud people."
"Well, we could go and meet up with them," he offered.
"No, that's fine, I have a feeling that Antonio wanted to be alone with him."
"Well who cares?" Gilbert asked happily.
"I do, I don't want to go intruding in on their privacy, it's not really the best way to get to know people, when one of them is slightly annoyed with you," Matthew said, "and plus, I wanted to get to know you a little bit better."
"Oh yeah, are you getting fond of me or something," he said sarcastically with a slight look of surprise on his face, "well, what do you want to know?"
"I don't know, I just want to know more about you, or why I haven't ever met you before since you are such good friends with Francis."
"Well, to be completely honest, I really do not like hanging around people I don't know very well, so if Francis ever said that he was having family over or something, I would tend to avoid that sort of thing," he admitted.
"I'm a lot like that too, but it's mostly because of people ignoring me, forgetting who I am, or mistaking me for Al."
"What? You look completely different! For one thing, your hair is slightly longer, lighter, and it's kind of curly-ish and wavy like, secondly I'm pretty sure that his eyes are a lighter blue, and yours are more of a deep ocean blue with some purple, thirdly, you are a bit shorter than him. And this is only the physical stuff, I mean, your personalities are on the opposite sides of the spectrum! Since the first time I met him, I've never particularly liked him, he's loud and not really the brightest, in the most unawesome way! I myself am proud to be annoying and loud, but of course, I practice the awesome kind," he looked at Matthew with the silliest grin on his face. 'To be honest, I have no clue what to think of him, he's just so confident, but, it's not obnoxious, it's mostly joking, I think. I feel like I can be myself around him and not have to worry about anything,' Matthew thought, 'he really seems to care enough to notice all of the small details at least.'
"Well, thanks I guess, nobody really has ever paid that much attention to me before, especially since I've only known you for what, a little less than half an hour?"
"I guess, I can just tell that you needed the reminder that you are your own person and that you should be treated as such."
"You sure seem to have a way with words," Matthew remarked.
"Well, I've always wanted to be a writer, though I don't really think that I have the skill or creativity for it," Gilbert sounded a little disappointed.
"Oh, I highly doubt that, you seem like the kind of person that is always in their own little world."
"I guess you could say that, wow, you are really good at reading people Birdie, it seems like I can't hide behind any bullshit with you," Gilbert smiled as he glanced at Matthew.
"God that was a mistake," Alfred said.
"This is all your fault, dumbass," Francis replied. Alfred was sitting on the floor in a washroom stall, throwing up what was left of the greasy "Pizza on a stick" into a toilet.
"It tasted so good! All that cheese and chewy deep fried dough! Who knew it would end like this?"
Shut up you fat-ass! You are the reason why I defiled my mouth with such an unworthy thing that you call food. As soon as I get home tonight, I am cooking myself that won't give me heart problems later in life!" Francis snarled.
Alfred opened the stall door, and proceeded to the sink, "Oh good for you and your so called gourmet cooking, I've had it, and it wasn't even that good!"
"You dare insult my cooking? I spent four years in culinary school!, Just think about what you just ate! You had three of those disgusting things and the rest of mine because I just couldn't deal with all of that grease in my mouth!"
Just them, the door opened to reveal someone with bright emerald eyes and messy blond hair with punkish clothes.
"Arthur," Francis retorted bitterly.
"Oh, it's you, I didn't know that you would be here," Arthur replied curtly.
"Well, obviously not, it's not like I have to tell you everything I do and where I go just so we'll never have to see each other again."
"Oi! Francy pants, who's this?" Alfred asked.
"This is one of the most stuck up people you will ever have the displeasure of meeting, Arthur Kirkland."
"Let my guess, old boyfriend?"
"Unfortunately."
"No need to be rude Francis, anyway, Hello Arthur, I see you have had the most inconvenience of having to deal with my absolutely horrible cousin, I'm Alfred."
"Um, Hi Alfred, it's a pleasure to meet you, but I wish it would have been under different circumstances."
"Oh don't worry, I'm only here with him because we're setting up his friend with my brother, speaking of that we totally lost them."
"Crap! I totally got distracted from that! This is all your fault dumbass!"
"Frog, there is no need to be snappy, this is the best thing you could do, leaving them alone, if there was any chance of them being together, this is the best opportunity for them to get to know each other," Arthur said.
"Oh, and when did you become the expert on relationships?" Francis asked sarcastically.
"I'm not an Expert and I never said that I was, but, I always better at setting them up rather than being in one," Arthur admitted, "anyway, who are the lucky people?"
"Gilbert and Matthew," Alfred promptly answered.
"Who's Matthew?" Arthur asked.
"My brother," Alfred replied.
"What's he like?"
"Well, he's really quiet, polite, and shy. He looks a bit like me, except his hair is lighter, wavy and a bit longer. His eyes, unlike my sky blue gems; his are a deep-ish purpley blue colour."
"Hmmm... I don't know, but I think that Gilbert deserves someone that really cares about him after what Elizabeta did to him."
"As much as I hate to agree with you, I think you're right. It pains both me and Antonio to see how much she destroyed him emotionally, even thought he tries to hide it, he hasn't been the same after that."
"Even I see a difference in him, and I hardly ever see him," Alfred commented, "hopefully him and Mattie will work out, I think that they would be good for each other.
