Frog Dissection pt. 1

"Now everyone I hope you haven't forgotten about our frog dissection this Friday! It will count as your final exam grade so no backing out now." The teacher passed out a Pre-Lab packet of ten pages to each student. All but the small boy in the back of the classroom groaned or made a comment. As he shakily took his stack of papers, pushing the annoying curl from the inside of his glasses away, he thanked the teacher.

"I expect you and your partner to do well on this assignment, Mr. Williams." The teacher shifted the papers to his other hand.

Matthew looked up from quietly flipping through the packet. "Right! My partner…"

"Isn't here, I know. Just think of it as a solo dissection and you will be fine." Matthew nodded as he walked away, giving a Spanish boy his work.

The blond sighed, his partner was never here, or if he was, he burst through the door fifteen minutes late – blaming it on his brother for not giving him a ride. Really, it was because the boy gambled in the stairwell for a little extra cash with a group of friends. Matthew blushed as he looked over at the boy's lab chair, and then scolded himself. The other wouldn't feel the same way! He even commented once on how it was "creepy" when the unusually high percentage of homosexual couples showed the slightest of affection between them. That it was "a little strange" and it just wasn't "normal". Slinking into his chair, Matthew rested his chin on top of the cold, black lab table. 'Apparently I was meant to be the quiet one without a significant other.' He sulked to himself.

"Mat. Maaat. Matthew!"

The blond bolted up, only to be greeted by the too big of grin from his twin brother standing across the table. "What do you want, Alfred?"

"What's this part of the frog?" he pointed to a portion of a frog in the pre-lab. "I think it's the stomach but I'm not sure."

Matthew snorted. "Honestly, Al, you've proven once again that I'm the smarter of us both. That's the lung – the left one to be exact."

The other twin turned the packet around, squinting at the picture though he too wore glasses. "Thanks bro, maybe being Canadian was a good thing for you."

The smarter of the two waved him away from his desk. Alfred thanked him again and trotted to his seat next to a shaggy haired, bushy browed boy. It was true that Matthew was Canadian, but by mistake only. Technically he was American, like his twin. Their mother was in labor on a road trip and just barely made it to the US/Canadian Border when Matthew popped out right at the guard post. Alfred came exactly 50 seconds later. Even as an infant, Al was the louder of the two. They shared everything so it was natural to confuse them both. Later on, Alfred changed his last name to Jones because of his favorite movies.

Suddenly, the classroom door was almost knocked off its hinges as a white haired, pale boy flung himself through the doorway. A scowl came across the teacher's face as he and Matthew took in today's look. Tousled hair from obviously sleeping in, a black and white plaid shirt over a white cotton shirt half buttoned, black jeans, and bright red converse to match his ruby red eyes. His backpack was strung across his right shoulder carelessly, and the cross around his neck was hanging to one side. The Canadian's face felt hot as the boy at the door glanced at him, smirked, then dropped the smile as the teacher handed him the pre-lab and a talk about punctuality.

The boy nodded vigorously, obviously sarcastically, and promised, for the umpteenth time, that he'd try his best to get there on time. The teacher, seemingly satisfied, excused him and returned to his desk. He missed the middle finger brandished at him as the boy flipped him off behind his back. A couple of classmates chuckled as he made his way to the stool beside Matthew. On instinct, the blond scooted his own chair a few inches away to give the newcomer room to sit. Setting his bag on the ground, the boy flipped through the packet, not giving a greeting.

"H-hello, Gilbert." The Canadian whispered, playing with a pencil. "Did Ludwig not give you ride to school today?"

The boy yawned, not looking up to answer Matthew. "Nah, he didn't even wake me up, either. He's probably pissed I'm late that he won't give me a ride home."

Feeling bold, Matthew cleared his throat. "W-well, I-I could give you a r-ride. I mean, Alfred drives, but still, if you wanted, since we're partners, you could come to my house and we could work on this pre-lab. I mean if you want to, 'cause if you don't, it's fine, but-"

"A ride would be great after working on the packet, thanks." Matthew was grateful for the other boy's interception of his rambling.

"G-great! I'll have Alfred pick you up after school."

The other boy nodded, yawning again before flipping through the packet.