Shit. That was the first thought that came into Matthew's head, and the only thought that he was capable of conjuring as he stared at the drunken boy with the startlingly pale skin and messy white hair. Shit, fuck. It was too late to hide now, definitely. The stranger, who had fumbled open the door before stopping short, had seen. Of course he had seen, and Matthew had ruined his chance at a less-pathetic reputation in this town before he had even set foot in his new high school. He was going to be known as the strange new kid who cried alone in empty bedrooms at parties. Why had he let Alfred drag him here again? He should've known that his brother would immediately forget about his promise to not abandon him. Now here he was, his cheeks glistening with tears, staring at the teenager who was still standing in the doorway with the same confused and startled expression on his face.

"Gil?" A girl's voice. Impatient, by the sound of it. Drunk, too, and European. Fantastic. Now two people could share in Matthew's humility.

Not breaking their eye-contact, the teenager, Gil, mumbled a slurred "Chill," in response to the girl behind him. Matthew blinked up at him silently, causing another tear to run down his cheek like an afterthought. This was it. Everyone was going to ridicule him from here on out and there was nothing he could do. He had ruined his reputation, ruined his new chance, ruined his li- "This isn't a bedroom, let's try down the hall," the accented voice of the stranger continued, stopping Matthew's thoughts short. What? He blinked again, his heart still stuttering his fear in his chest as he watched the door shut after the stranger had given him one last look. He was so sure that this was it, this was the end, yet the boy hadn't said a word; why hadn't he?

Trembling slightly from the remnants of his momentary terror, Matthew slowly pushed himself up onto his feet, leaning against the empty bed for support. His mind was still reeling. It didn't make sense. Any kid from his old school would have leaped at the opportunity to publicly humiliate him. Wiping at his eyes to try and erase any traitorous testimony of his momentary weakness, he tried to build up the courage to go back outside, into the sea of discordant voices and intoxication and crudeness, to find Alfred. He wondered if his brother would agree to go home yet. Maybe he was having just as much of a shitty time, and they could both escape and go far, far away from these people again, at least for the last day of the summer.

*Alfred POV*

Music thrummed in his ears, reverberating through his body and shooting electricity through his every synapse. The world was pulsing. His feet stumbled over the shaking floor, his laugh blended in with the ubiquitous rhythm as if the whole world was singing in a cacophonous harmony. He felt alive.

Then, through the veil of intoxication and the blend of bodies moving as one, there was a flash of blue. A frown flitted across Alfred's face, unsure why his vision had snagged on this one stray pair of eyes, unsure why he was now staring across the room at a stranger who was looking directly back at him without blinking.

"Who is that?" he asked, raising his voice above the party as he nudged Gilbert to catch his attention, tearing his gaze away from the stranger's eyes for a moment to look at his new friend.

Gilbert followed Alfred's gaze, his eyes searching through the crowd for a moment before settling on the girl, who had since looked away again.

"Oh, the blonde one?" he confirmed, looking back at Alfred, who nodded. "That's Natalia. She's a bit weird, a bit dangerous, don't rub her the wrong way and you'll be fine, and she talks once in a blue moon."

Antonio laughed at this. "Little bit of an understatement, don't you think?" he teased, his Spanish accent coming out stronger than before through his alcoholic haze. "Natalia would totally cut your balls off if you looked at her funny for too long, or if you messed with Ivan."

"True that," Gilbert confirmed with a laugh, before a shit-eating grin started to grow on his face. His voice lowering to only reach their three pairs of ears, he leaned closer to Alfred, continuing: "She also dated my little brother back in the day, but that didn't end well so we don't talk about it."

"Gotcha." Alfred's gaze drifted around the room again, trying to find someone who resembled his new German friend. "Is he here too?"

Gilbert laughed again, looking genuinely amused. "Luddy? At a party? Please, that'd only happen if the world was ending or if Feliciano was here." Antonio nudged his elbow. Pausing, Gilbert looked back at Alfred again, as if remembering that he had no idea whom he was talking about.

"Feli is this cute little Italian boy my brother's moved on with," he explained, at which point he was interrupted again.

"His brother, Lovino, is much cuter though," Antonio chipped in, his smile growing at the mention of the name.

"At least, he would be," Gilbert continued with a roll of his eyes as his only indication that he had heard his friend's words, "if they both weren't too chicken to admit their grade-A crushes on each other. Ludwig would probably walk through fire for him." An almost-fond smile - not quite enough to match Antonio's but getting there - grew on his face as he talked. "It's pretty cute I guess, but also incredibly frustrating because they've been tiptoeing around each other for months now. We have three running bets on who's gonna tell the other first, how long they take to do it and how it happens, and I plan to win big."

Antonio snorted at this. "That's cute, you think you can win," he teased, his eyes twinkling with good-natured humour as he took another sip of his drink. "Franny and I have totally got you beat, you don't stand a chance."

"Look at how cocky this fucker is," Gilbert shot back, leaning closer to Alfred to talk but not taking his eyes off Antonio, the same shit-eating grin growing on his face again. "He's almost acting like he doesn't spend every moment he can obsessing over a loudmouth Italian who will never love him back."

"Uncalled for," Antonio huffed with a scowl, crossing his arms before brightening up again. "But it doesn't matter, because eventually Lovi will notice how charming and totally boyfriend material I am, and then you guys will all have to pay up."

"That's another bet we have running," Gilbert explained to Alfred, rolling his eyes with an amused smile. "He still thinks that he can get Lovino to date him even though he's been friendzoned for years, which should show you how completely head over heels this poor sap is." He grinned again, clapping the 'poor sap' on his shoulder in a mock gesture of pity.

The worry in Alfred's stomach had long since disappeared, having dissipated as soon as it became apparent that he would get along with these people. His heart felt lighter. He was more comfortable than he'd felt in days. Any butterflies he might have had had since been digested, instead being replaced with a growing sense of hopeful optimism for their new life here. A grin pulled at the corners of his lips.

"How much have you got riding on this bet?"

"About 300 dollars? Toni's gonna pay up big time when school ends."

"As if. Lovi will have said yes by then," the poor sap huffed back, crossing his arms.

"Keep telling yourself that," Gilbert retorted, the same shit-eating grin still perched on his lips.

"Whatever." Antonio rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "It's not like you're one to talk, your longest relationship was over faster than the time it took for Franny to suck every dick in town."

"Hey, leave our man-whore friend out of this," Gilbert said with a laugh, before looking at Alfred. "You'll meet Francis on Monday, he's got an old reputation for being the biggest slut around and he's proud of it, although he prefers to call himself a passionate lover." For the last two words, Gilbert slipped into a badly butchered French accent, only his cocky overconfidence allowing him to pull it off.

Alfred laughed again, an easy grin on his face. "Dude, that accent was terrible," he teased.

"Yeah, it might have been your worst one yet," Antonio joined in, looking thoroughly amused at Gilbert's ensuing roll of his eyes.

"Whatever, you two wish you could compare to how awesome I am, " Gilbert muttered, sulking and angling his shoulders away fractionally in protest.

"Awww, don't be like that," Antonio said with mock sympathy. "Would it help if I told you Liz is checking you out?"

"She is?" Gilbert asked, surprise tinging his tone for a moment before he covered it up. "Well, duh, everyone here is obviously checking me out, how could they not?" A grin graced his cheeks again as he threw back the last liquid in his cup, putting the empty container down on the table before taking a mock bow. "Well, gentlemen, it's been fun, but I have to take my leave now, don't miss me too much." He winked; then turned to leave, making his way across the crowded room to where a girl with chestnut hair was waiting for him. They exchanged a few words, Gilbert's cockiness earning him an eyeroll and a flash of her middle finger, before they left, vanishing to another part of the house.

Alfred turned to Antonio. "It feels like they've done this before," he commented, faintly amused as he waited for a confirmation.

"They have," Antonio replied with an easy smile, looking unfazed. "It's never anything serious though, just a little making out. They're too different to do anything but hook up."

Curious, Alfred asked, "So they're not dating?"

Antonio snorted at this. "God, no," he answered, his face showing evidence of amusion. "They'd probably both rather cut off a finger, plus Gil's frankly too horny to be exclusive. He'd have to like someone a hell of a lot for that."

"Sounds like some people I know," Alfred muttered, glancing at where he had last seen Gilbert and Liz with a good-natured smile playing on his lips.

"Yeah, well, teenagers don't change wherever you go, I suppose," Antonio resolved, giving an easy shrug.

Alfred agreed, "I suppose," unbothered with further perusal of the subject. "What's waiting for me on Monday, then?"

"A lot of things," Antonio said, looking thoughtful. "Lessons, teachers, dickheads, crackheads, pretty much everything a normal highschool has to offer, just take your pick."

"Good to know," Alfred replied, his spirits sinking marginally at the reminder of the fact that being the 'new kid' was waiting for him in two days. At least I won't have to do it alone, he thought to himself, almost immediately following it up with holy shit, Mattie!

As if scripted, his brother's face appeared among the sea of people. His eyes were puffy. He looked like he'd been crying.

"Fuck," Alfred mumbled, a growing guilty feeling leaving a sour trail of nausea in his stomach as he recalled his promise to stick with his brother. "Fuck, sorry, I have to go," he said to Antonio, already backing away with a half-hearted wave. His heartbeat forced itself into his throat, where it perched, uncomfortable and guilt-ridden: the music, once lively, now resounded accusingly in his ears.

Pushing his way through the mob of people, Alfred forged a path to where his brother was tentatively moving towards the exit.

"Mattie," he called as soon as they were within earshot of each other, reaching out to take a hold of his arm carefully to catch his attention. Matthew turned towards him, blinking quickly as if to hide the remnants of a glassy sheen in his eyes.

"Where have you been?" he asked, the pulsating atmosphere drowning out most sounds. Alfred's ears only barely picked up the words. He hesitated.

"I was talking to some new friends and got carried away." Moving closer to let Matthew hear the apologetic saturation in his voice, Alfred said, "I'm so sorry, Mattie. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," his brother replied, wiping at his left eye as he turned his upper body away from Alfred. "Let's just go."

"Okay," Alfred agreed. Guilt still gnawed at his insides, the party shoved to a dusty and messy corner of his mind as he focused on his brother instead. "Want me to tell you about the totally sick people I met?" he asked as they started to pick their way through the crowd, sensing Matthew's reluctance to stay on the same topic and looking for any way to take his mind off whatever was bothering him.

"Sure," Matthew agreed, shoving his hands into his pockets as they were graced by a welcome blast of chilling air the moment they stepped out into the night. Alfred could tell that he was starting to feel better now that they'd left.

"So, first of all, I met this cool-ass German dude who had like a full on accent, but he was lit, trust me, and he introduced me to a Spanish dude with..." He launched right into his usual monologue of quick-lipped vernacular and theatrics, falling into step next to his brother and hoping that Matthew realised that he didn't mean to abandon him.

He would never do that intentionally.