"Come Down With Love."

Jan starts to feel funny whenever he hangs out with Matthew. His sister says he is in love, but is it that or is he really sick?

Rating: K+

Word Count: 2,368

As Jan stepped out of his car, he looked around for the cafe his sister told him to meet her and their friends at. As soon as he spotted them he walked over, pausing a second to light a cigarette. Jan sat with his sister, her boyfriend Antonio, and their friend Lovino.

"Hey big brother!" said Margot, pulling her brother from his trance.

"Huh? Ohh hey." Jan said distractedly. Margot quirked an eyebrow at her brother. Although he didn't talk much when he was with their friends, she knew when he was had something on his mind.

"Uhmm excuse me, sir." said a waitress as she came by to take their order. "You have to either put out your cigarette or go smoke that somewhere else. This is a no smoking area." she explained.

"Yea okay, I'll put it out." Jan said standing up and stomping out what he had left of his cigarette.

"Thank you." said the waitress as she took their orders.

"So, Jan, how have you been? How is work at the flower shop?" inquired Antonio.

"I've been a bit distracted. And as for work, its pretty much the usual, people come in for anniversary bouquets or a single flower to give to a loved one." Jan said.

"What's been distracting you?" asked Lovino.

Jan didn't answer immediately, as the waitress had brought out their drinks and told them that their food would be out soon.

"Well, honestly I'm not very sure." Jan answered, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. "I've been stopping at green lights. And I actually got lost going home from Matthew's house yesterday."

"Haha your head is in the clouds, mi amigo." said Antonio as Margot nodded in agreement.

"What are you saying?" Jan asked looking over at his sister's boyfriend.

"He is saying," interjected Lovino, "that the most probable reason you are distracted is because you are in love."

In love? Could he really? Jan didn't really think he could be in love. He didn't really hang out with anyone apart from Matthew, Alfred, his brother and sister, Antonio, Lovino, and sometimes Gilbert and his brother, along with Lovino's brother Veneziano.

As they had their lunch Jan only picked at his food wondering who he was in love with, not realizing that his sister already knew.

···

"Hey. Is Jan gone?" asked Alfred as he walked down the stairs to the living room where his brother was sitting on the couch with their dog Kuma.

"Yea. He left a while ago, he said he had to meet up with his sister and her boyfriend for lunch." said Matthew his voice hinting at disappointment.

"Hmm, if I didn't know better I'd think you have a crush on him Mattie." said Alfred as he sat down next to his brother picking up the remote and changing the channel.

"Hey! Give it back, I was watching that!" exclaimed Mattie as he reached over attempting to take back the remote. Alfred was quick and moved it out of his reach and onto the floor. Kuma, sensing the impending fight, hopped off the couch and took the remote in his mouth, zipping out of the room.

"Damnit."

"So, do you have a crush on him?"

Matthew looked at the floor, the hardwood becoming more interesting than Alfred's question.

"I knew it!"

Matthew quickly covered his twin's mouth, looking dead serious.

"If you tell anyone, I will murder you with your own baseball bat. Got that?"

Alfred nodded slowly, and Matthew took his hand off his mouth.

"He's not that bad. Apart from his smoking habits, cursing in Dutch, being stingy and a bit of an overall jerk, yeah. Not bad at all." said Alfred, getting up and heading to the kitchen.

Matthew huffed. At least he wasn't crushing on someone he hated.

...

Jan, Margot, Antonio, and Lovino got up and paid the bill when they finished their lunch. Lovino had to go pick up his younger brother, Veneziano, from Ludwig's house, so he left waving goodbye to his friends.

"So, how was it that you got lost coming home from Matt's place?" Margot asked, making her brother's cheeks heat up.

"I don't know, I guess I just wasn't paying attention and got lost." he said as nonchalantly as possible.

"Well, I'm going to go home now, my mom wanted me to check the tomatoes and water them, but I came here instead. Hopefully she isn't home and I can still save myself." said Antonio, kissing Margot's cheek before excusing himself.

"Well Jan, I guess it's time for us to go home too." she said walking up to her brother's car.

When they got home they saw Johan playing Monopoly in the living room with Andrei, the Moldovan kid from across the street, and by the looks of it Johan was winning, again.

"Aww, that's not fair!"

"Of course it is! You picked up that chance card, now you have to go to jail."

"But then I skip a turn and you go twice!"

"Well that's how you play the game!"

"You two should stop playing that game, it tears friendships apart." commented Jan, as he sat on the sofa.

"Shut up Jan! No one asked for your opinion." said Johan.

"I was just trying to save your friendship, but if you don't want that then -" Jan held his hand up in a sign of surrender.

"Maybe he's right..."

"Maybe you should roll the dice."

In the end Johan won and Andrei went home, disappointed.

After eating dinner Jan went to his room and picked up his phone. He noticed that he had a few messages from Matthew.

Matt: Hey uhm. I was wondering if you want to hang out tomorrow after you get off work.

Matt: We don't have to if you don't want to or can't but yea.

Jan chuckled and quickly typed back.

Me: Sure. I'll be there around 3:15

When Jan got the confirming text he got ready for bed. He walked over to the bathroom and took a shower, rinsing out the hair gel. Once he was done and changed into pajamas, he brushed his teeth. When he stepped out Johan was standing at the door.

"Took you long enough." he said walking right by his older brother and into the bathroom, slamming the door.

"Jan!" called Margot from her room. He walked over and knocked before poking his head in.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing tomorrow?" she asked, sitting on her bed and brushing her hair.

"Uhm, working."

"And after that?"

"I'm going to come home and change because I'm going to go visit Matthew. Why?"

"I'm just wondering." she said nonchalantly.

His eyebrows furrowed a bit but he brushed it off. "Ok. Well, good night."

"Good night." she said standing up to put away her hair brush.

Jan closed the door and walked to his room. He closed the door and closed the curtains halfway, to keep the room from getting dark. As he lay down he wondered why it would matter to his sister if he went to go visit a friend.

As he thought about it his thoughts changed from his sister to Matthew. His soft voice that only rose when he needed to yell at his brother. His eyes that shined whenever he talked about his homeland. His hands that could make delicious pancakes or carve small animals out of wood blocks. His mind, thinking on the bright side of things, even when things looked bleak.

And then he thought about himself. Smoking whenever he got too stressed or cursing, especially in Dutch. His biggest problem was being stingy. If he had to buy food when going out with his sister he would've said he had work. He didn't like to lie, but sometimes had to, to avoid doing things with his family.

He sighed to himself and turned to his side, thinking, ' Why would Matthew like me?' Falling asleep, not knowing the blonde had feelings for him too.

"Woah, what happened here?" asked Johan walking into the messy kitchen Margot was cleaning up.

"I think Jan was sleepwalking last night, I found him on the floor with flour in his hair. He was muttering something about stroopwaffels and Matthew." Explained Margot cleaning the eggs off the floor.

"Ahh. Do you think he knows?"

"I think he knows subconsciously. He'll figure it out soon though."

...

After a long day of work Jan finally got his work apron off. Checking his wrist watch he noticed it was about 3 in the afternoon.

' Well I guess I should text Matthew to tell him I'm on my way.'

Me: Hey. I just got off of work. I'm on my way over now.

Matt: Alright then. See you in a few.

As Jan drove home, he thought about his relationship with Matthew. They were really close friends and they could talk about just about anything, and recently, he had been acting strange around him. Tripping over his words, his feet, and Matthew's sleeping dog. He noticed that his heart raced whenever they were together, something that he didn't remember happening before.

As he walked inside his sister called him.

"Hey Jan?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you come in here for a second?"

Jan walked into the kitchen, his sister sitting on the edge of the counter.

"What is it?" Jan asked a bit nervously.

"Are you aware of the fact you wanted to make stroopwaffels for Matthew in your sleep?" she asked taking a sip of the tea she held in her hands.

Jan turned beet red at this.

"So you do remember that dream?"

"I… I uhhh…"

"Relax, I knew the whole time."

"You… You knew?"

"Well it was more like a feeling you get, but yeah." She said getting off the counter. Margot set her tea down and looked up at her older brother. "He's a nice guy. You should tell him."

"Yeah, so I can get rejected." Answered Jan.

"You never know, the feeling could be mutual." She said trying to give courage to her brother.

"But, who would like a guy like me? Someone who smokes whenever the chance is given, cursing as much as I do, and worst of all, being stingy as hell." Jan said, deflating any confidence he had.

"Remember that no one is perfect, and that everyone has good and bad qualities. Those are your bad qualities. Don't think about those. You are more than that. You care about others. You always find a way to help others who need it. You can be especially nice when you try. You are a great cook. You like to have things clean, which is a good thing. You aren't all bad, I'm sure Matthew likes you just the way you are." Margot assured him.

"Yeah. I guess so." He said as he left the kitchen and walked up to his room. As he walked in he pulled his shirt off and closed the door. He pulled a clean shirt from his drawer and checked the clock. 3:55 the red numbers screamed at him. 'Crap! I'm late!' he thought as he pulled the shirt on and ran downstairs.

"I gotta go! I'll see you later!" he yelled over his shoulder as he picked up his keys and ran out the door. His heart raced as he got closer and closer to Matthew's house, the advice his sister had given him buzzing in his mind making him more anxious.

As he got there he walked out of the car and up the porch steps and rang the doorbell.

Matthew had been sitting on the couch wondering why Jan wasn't answering his texts. 'He must've had something to do other than hang out with me.' He thought a bit sadly. As he got up to go grab the remote, as it was on the loveseat, he heard the doorbell ring.

As the door opened Jan smiled apologetically, "I'm so sorry I'm late. I went home to get changed and my sister started asking me questions and… I'm sorry."

"Uhm... That's ok. Don't worry about it. Come in." Matthew said, taking a step back and opening the door wider to let Jan in. "Do you want something to drink? Water, juice, soda?" Matthew asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Water is fine thank you" he said looking down at his hands as he sat down on the couch. As Jan looked down he noticed that he put his shirt on inside out, and backwards. He turned his head to make sure no one was around, before taking it off. As it was halfway off he hears, "Here's you water… why are you taking your shirt off?"

Shutting his eyes tightly and feeling the blood rush to his face, Jan finished taking it off and quickly fixed it before putting it back on.

"I uh, put it on backwards." He said quickly.

Matthew chuckled, "Wow, you must've been rushing out of your house if you put your shirt on backwards."

"Uh, yeah. Uhm, hey, Matt?"

"Yeah?"

"Do… Do you like anyone?" Jan asked nervously wringing his hands.

Matthew thought about the question, thankful that Alfred was at Kiku's house with the new video game he bought. 'I do.' He thought. 'And it's you. C'mon Matt you can tell him.'

The silence was killing Jan. 'Ok if he won't say anything I will.'

"I like you." They said simultaneously. And then there was silence. They stared at each other, both varying shades of red.

"I… I uh…" Matthew stuttered out trying to break the silence.

"Uhmm… So… do you wanna maybe go see a movie?" Jan asked quietly.

"Are you asking me out?"

"Uhmm… Yeah, I guess I am."

"Sure. You got anything in mind?"

"Avengers: Age of Ultron."

"Alright, sure."

A/N: I didn't know how else to finish it and idk I really hope you like it! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!