A/N: Based on Out On the Town by Fun. I own nothing.
"You know what? I can't deal with this right now. You need to leave." Matthew crossed his arms and glared at his boyfriend.
"What? It was just a joke." Gilbert raised an eyebrow, slight smirk still in place.
"I said get out!" The usually quiet boy yelled, pointing at the door. Gilbert's red eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. He looked as if he were about to say something, but he decided against it, and quietly took his leave. As soon as the door was shut Matthew collapsed on the ground, and pulled his knees up to his chest, crying. Just then his annoying brother, Alfred, decided to make an appearance.
"Dude, why are you on the floor?" He asked. Matthew gave no answer, save for lifting his head and glaring. "Whoa, hey, were you crying? Did your boyfriend do something? 'Cause the hero can take care of him for you."
"We just had a fight, I don't need saving. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to my room, I have a headache."
"Cool. Hey, I'm going out for burgers later with some friends, wanna come?"
"Not if you paid me." Matthew then retreated to his room, where he flopped face-first onto the red and white comforter. After a few minutes of wallowing in self-pity, he sat up and grabbed his stuffed polar bear Kuma-something. He had named it when he was a kid, but had long since forgotten his full name.
"Ugh, why'd he have to say that, Kuma? I mean, I had just gotten done telling him about how Dad and Papa had forgotten my birthday. He knows how sensitive I am about stuff like that. Usually I can just brush off his jokes, but I don't know, this time I think it was just too far. And then he didn't even understand why I was upset. I mean, I love him, but he also drives me batshit insane. What should I do?" The plush animal stared back at him with plastic eyes. Matthew facepalmed. "I just asked a stuffed animal for advice." He muttered.
XxxxxXxxxxX
Gilbert got home and slammed the door, running up to his room before his brother could ask him what was going on. He laid on his back on his bed, kicking his boots off in a random direction. He then engaged in a lengthy staring contest with his ceiling, which the ceiling won. Then he yanked out his phone and dialed his best friend's number.
"Hola, this is Antonio speaking." A thickly-accented voice poured out of the device.
"Hey Toni, it's Gilbert."
"Hey, what's up?"
"I just got into a fight with Matthew."
"Oh, I'm sorry. But I'm sure it will blow over. Me and Lovi fight all the time, but we always make up."
"Yeah, but he seemed really upset. You know how quiet he usually is, right?"
"Of course, he barely speaks above a whisper."
"Well, he yelled at me. Not just spoke loudly, actually yelled."
"Oh my god, what did you do?"
"I was just joking around, and I pretended to forget when his birthday was."
"You're such an idiot."
"What makes you say that?"
"Think about his life. He's constantly being ignored and forgotten. I'm pretty sure that before you moved here no one outside of his immediate family had ever shown the slightest interest in him. But then there was you. On your first day you chose the seat right next to him and started a conversation. You sat with him at lunch, and when I invited you to sit with me and my friends you insisted he come along. Since then he and Lovino have become good friends. He's really opened up. Whenever I talk to him and you're not there, you're all he talks about. You should see the way his face lights up when he talks about you. He loves you. Don't mess that up by poking fun at the thing he's most sensitive about." There was silence over the line as Gilbert processed his friend's words.
"I had no idea. I mean, I knew he was shy and got overlooked, but I didn't realize…"
"Whatever it takes, you have to fix things between you two. You're the best thing that ever happened to him, and to be honest, I think he's been good for you too."
"I gotta go." Gilbert hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket. He scrambled to put his boots back on and threw a jacket on. Then he ran downstairs and out the door, ignoring his brother's shouts from behind him. Once he reached the end of his street he slowed, suddenly nervous. Perhaps he should wait before trying to make up. Matthew might need time to cool down. In the end, he found his way to a deserted playground and sat himself on a swing. He stayed there, swinging slightly, until the sun had long since set. Without paying much attention to where he was going, the albino teen walked off. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize that he was headed to Matthew's house until he was there, standing under his boyfriend's window. He picked up a small piece of gravel and tossed it up and caught it a few times. Then, he threw it at the second-story window. It made a clacking noise before falling to the ground. When nothing happened, he threw another. Then the window flew open and a very grumpy-looking Canadian looked out.
"It's late, go away." He slammed the window shut before Gilbert had a chance to say anything.
"Scheiβe," he muttered.
XxxxxXxxxxX
Three days later, Gilbert was locked in yet another staring contest with his ceiling. The past few days without Matthew had been rough. His drinking had picked up a lot, and he rarely went out anymore. He had ignored Antonio's last seven calls, and was trying to work up the courage to text Matthew. He had the message typed out, but he had been putting off sending it. 'We need to talk' it read. After his staring contest ended in defeat, he finally pressed send. He then paced the room, checking his phone every five seconds. Just as he was about to give up and live a lonely life of despair, it buzzed.
'My house. Fifteen minutes. And use the front door this time' Gilbert read the message, and then did a (very manly) happy dance. He rushed to get dressed and then got out of his house as quickly as possible. He didn't stop running until he was a block from Matthew's. He slowed his pace and steadied his breathing. At exactly fifteen minutes after the text was sent, He knocked lightly on the front door. After a moment it opened, revealing a somewhat sad-looking Matthew.
"I'm sorry." Gilbert blurted out. "It was a stupid joke and I should have respected your feelings more."
"Gilbert I-"
"Wait! I'm not done yet. I want to prove to you that someone does pay attention." He took a deep breath. "Your full name is Matthew Henri Williams, and you hate it when people pronounce your middle name 'Henry'. Your favorite color is red. You have a stuffed polar bear whose name you forgot. You pretend to hate your brother but you actually care a lot about him. You're bilingual in English and French because of your dads. Your favorite food is pancakes with maple syrup, but you won't let anyone else make them because they do it wrong. You love reading, because books never ignore you. Your wear lots of sweatshirts, and your favorite has the Canadian flag on it. Your favorite physical feature about yourself is your eyes. And your birthday is July first." Matthew stared open-mouthed at Gilbert for a full minute before pulling him close and kissing him fiercely. Gilbert responded eagerly, wrapping his arms around the blonde's waist and tilting his head to deepen the kiss. They broke away only when oxygen became a problem.
"Why don't you come in?" Matthew stood aside to let Gilbert in. The two went up to Matthew's room and spent the night kissing, talking, and enjoying each other's company. They fell asleep facing each other, holding hands with legs intertwined.
Matthew awoke at six in the morning, when the rising sun began to shine through the window. He opened his eyes slowly, momentarily startled by Gilbert's presence before he remembered the events of the previous night. He took a moment to stare at the lovely albino sleeping next to him. Then he remembered that other people lived in his house and they might jump to certain conclusions.
"Merde! Gil, wake up. We accidentally fell asleep." He shook his boyfriend's shoulder.
"So?" Gilbert mumbled.
"So, I don't want Alfred to see you and assume that something happened."
"Right, I'm up!" Gilbert jumped out of bed and pulled on his boots and jacket.
"I'll walk you out." Matthew offered. When they got to the door, they shared one last kiss.
"Bye Birdie!"
"Bye Gil." Matthew closed the door and headed back up the stairs, where he ran into the one person he least wanted to see at the moment, Alfred.
"So, I see you two have made up now. I mean you must've if he spent the night." Alfred followed this remark with a very suggestive look.
"Shut up, nothing happened." Matthew pushed past his brother and went into his room, but not before Alfred got in one last remark.
"Sure…"