Okay, maybe AP Euro wasn't going to be as easy as Matthew thought. Tim assigned that the class memorize a complete map of Europe (Like, rivers, mountains, seas, fucking everything,) by this time next week. Totally not cool, who the hell even assigns that much stuff? And it wasn't fair that Gil already knew it from where he grew up in Europe. That's like dropping Matt in the middle of a Canadian history class, full of Americans, and giving them a week to memorize all the geography of Canada. And besides, this was a history class! Not geography. He grumbled all the way to his last period, Chemistry. Ugh.

Matt hated chemistry, just like he did any type of science. But at least Al, who was in AP, could help him out. He barely even remembered the class, just a blur of note taking (he doodled), lecturing (he didn't pay any attention,) and total boredom. Mrs. Edelstein taught this class, and though she was kinder than her husband, she was a really, really boring teacher. After the longest 45 minutes of his life, the bell rang, and finally Matt could meet up with Al and complain his ass off about his day.

Except, of course, Al had football practice, a text from his brother told him. Great, he got to be alone on the bus, and that was always awkward. Matthew let out a sigh. Why did the football team even practice? They were shitty anyways.

Matt got on the bus, and was leaned against the window. Well, at least with Alfred gone, Matt got the window seat. He rode the bus home, playing a game on his phone. Once he was home, he found that his parents were still at work. Great. What was Matthew going to do in this big empty house by himself?

What kind of question was that? He was going to eat, obviously.

Matt had the best metabolism he had ever heard of. Even after he stopped playing hockey, and he was on the ice at best once a month, he managed to keep slim. And Matt ate a lot. He made pancakes, and smothered them in maple syrup, because damn it, it was okay to be a stereotype if you've had a bad day. Matt bit into his pancake and laughed. At least he could hold comfort in the fact that if Al ate like he did, he would be the size of a planet. Sure, he could make friends better and had better muscles and didn't stutter at inappropriate times, and knew how to do math and was generally the better brother, but damn it, at least Matt had a better metabolism.

He had almost finished his pancakes when his phone vibrated. That's weird, Matt thought. Arthur or Francis would usually call, Al was still at football practice, and Matthias usually didn't talk to him outside of school. Who could this be? Matt opened up his messages and found a text from an unknown number.

Hey Mattie! I found your number laying around spec's desk lol! In some confidential stack of papers or some shit. You're the only person I can talk to that wont rack up hella international bills so sup?

Matt contemplated not texting Gilbert back. The dude went through Edelstein's fucking papers to contact Matt. Kinda creepy.

Eventually, he decided to text back anyways. Gil was a bit loud for Matt, but, it was probably the best shot at a friend he'd have all year.

Eating.

It was a simple reply, but Matt thought it was okay. It was all he was doing, anyways. He ate a few more forkfuls of pancake before Gil replied.

Cool,cool. I m doing the same, honestly. About to start memorizing that map!

Must be a lot easier for you, since you grew up in Europe. It's kind of not fair, why can't we do a map of Canada or something I could do?

Oh come on mattie. Its easy! Even if ur not from Europe. Honestly I only know the place in west and central, the east side of Europe is a totalll mystery to me lmao. Maybe one day after school this week we could get together and study it

Hah. Maybe. Okay, that was a step too far for Matt. Yeah, he wanted help memorizing this map, but face to face? That would be difficult for Matt. He didn't know Gil, and would end up just being socially awkward and making things weird.

We totally should! I don't know anyone else that could help me, just my lame little brother, and id rather go it on my own then with him! What do you say mattie?

I'd have to check my schedule. Hockey season is starting soon, and I kind of want to try starting a team. Probably won't have enough people but whatever. Hey, maybe Matt could recruit Gil.

Hockey, eh? Lmao. Id join ur team if I knew anything about the sport, itd help me make friends. Damn, so Matt couldn't recruit him.

But wait, that last part hit him hard. Help him make friends? The same thing Matthew was trying to do? Maybe Gil wasn't an asshole. Maybe he was just misunderstood and not used to the culture.

Okay, maybe he was just an asshole. He probably had the ability to talk to people in person anyways, unlike a certain Canadian.

Yeah,I bet it would. I honestly need the help too, haha. All I have is Alfred.

Awww mattie is lonely :c ill be ur friend! Whos Alfred?

Did Gil just say friend? Heeeeellll yeah. Sure, he may be a little wary about the whole Gilbert thing, but who cares? Friends.

Alfred is my brother. No need to mention how excited Matt was about having a real friend for once, not just a secondhand friend he would hang out with when they hung out with Al.

Ohhh, my lil bros name is Ludwig, hes a sophomore. What grade is Alfred in?

Ohhhh shit, here comes the, "We're in the same grade," convo. That always leads to the, "Are you twins?" question, which leads to the, "No, we're adopted, we just have close birthdays," question, which always, always tends to reveal that Matt had two dads. Sure, people had gotten a lot less stupid as time went on, and people didn't bother him about his dads anymore, but there were still a lot of people who didn't like that two men could raise children. Ah, fuck it. If Gil didn't like it, Matt didn't care.

Junior, same as us.

Oh! Are you twins? Nailed it.

No, we're adopted, remember? We were just born really close together. Hadn't Matt already told Gilbert he was adopted? The albino must have forgotten.

Oh sorry to touch on the topic :c my parents almost put me up for adoption, you know cause im albino and shit? But then my opa took me in. my grandfather I mean, and they took in Lud a few years later. My parents were kinda shitty people

Well damn, that was kind of a lot to tell someone the first day knowing them. What was Matt supposed to say to that?

I'm sorry. He would just Canadian his way out.

Nah lol is fine. I never really knew my parents so whatever. Opa raised me so hes my family!

How the hell did you reply to that? Matt decided that he wouldn't, and let his phone get lost somewhere in the couch cushions.

Matt turned on the TV not long after that, and turned on Netflix. He struggled to find something decent worth watching, and ended up watching Attack on Titan again. 5 episodes or so in, while Matthew was tearing up (because episode 5 of any anime is where happiness goes to die,) he heard the door open. He looked behind him, and saw it was Alfred.

He looked out of breath, and was sopping wet. "What the hell, Al?" Matt asked. Alfred just put up a hand and leaned over, resting his hands on his knees, catching his breath. "Dad and Papa have a hot date or something and couldn't get me." He managed after a bit. "I had to run home in the fucking rain." Matt snickered at his brother. "Ha, damn Al. You should have called me, I would have stolen the car and came and got you." Al looked upset. "So I ran here for nothing? Fuck!" He dumped his bags on the floor and walked over to the couch, still soaking wet. Fuck, he wasn't going to do what Matt thought, was he?

"You know, it's been so long since I've shown any affection to my little brother." Al smirked. Fuck, he was. "Alfred, I swear to god, I will shove my hockey stick-" Matt started, but his threat did nothing to deter his brother, who jumped into Matthew's lap, getting the Canadian just as wet as he had been. Matt tried pushing him off, but he was too damn heavy. "Alfred, no lube!" He called from under him, but Al didn't seem to heed these threats as much as Matt did. Finally, laughing, Alfred kissed his brother on the cheek and got off of him.

"I fucking hate you, Al." Matt grumbled, wiping at his cheek, his favorite red hoodie now soaking wet. "God, you soaked me down to my fucking boxers." Matt cringed, feeling his boxers sticking to his legs. How wet could Al have gotten in the 20 minutes it took to get home? It wasn't raining that hard.

Alfred smirked. "Revenge for this morning." "I didn't even get you wet!" Matt complained. Al just smirked bigger. Ugh, now Matt would have to take a shower, or he'd smell like wet football player all night. Matt walked past his brother, and shoulder checked him, just for good measure. Al stumbled, and Matthew laughed. The big bad football player couldn't handle hockey rules.

Freshly showered and his wet clothes put into the dryer, Matt decided to work on the map Tim had assigned. He got the countries and capitals memorized easily, but damn, those landforms were tough. How could he memorize that? He sighed. He had a week, he'd do it later. Maybe he really would need Gil's help-

No. He really didn't need Gil's help. Gil would think he was stupid. He'd ask Tim for help before he asked Gil.

Matthew sighed even louder and threw the map across the room. But, since it was paper, it kind of just fluttered to the ground. Damn, that was boring. Life was boring. What could Matt do to entertain himself?

He lit a cigarette and sucked in smoke, feeling it burn his throat slightly, and his head feel dizzy from the nicotine. Maybe that would unbore him. Exhale. Nope, nicotine still wasn't a cure for boredom. Why did Matt always think it would be? Inhale. He had to do something. Exhale. Why couldn't he make any friends? Inhale. Al was playing Call of Duty with his friends. Probably Toris or someone. Why did Al have to be able to make friends so much better than Matt? Maybe he could finally text back Gil. Exhale. Nah.

Matt jumped as he heard his parents coming home, scrambling to find a place to put out his cigarette. His dads probably wouldn't care if they knew Matt and Al smoked, but he didn't want to risk it. He put his half smoked cigarette in his secret drawer, and went downstairs to see his family.

"Bonjour, Mathieu!" Francis beamed. Matt smiled back. "Bonjour, Papa." Arthur walked in the door, shaking water off his umbrella, carrying McDonald's. "When the bloody hell did it start raining so hard?" He complained. "Oh, since about say, 6, you know, when I had to walk home!" Alfred yelled from upstairs. A flash of guilt ran over Arthur's face, and Francis laughed. "We brought you McDonald's, will that make up for it?" Arthur yelled, and Alfred had ran downstairs immediately. "Hell yeah it does." He said, and grabbed his Big Mac from the bag. Matt quietly took his chicken nuggets, sending a glare to Alfred, and made his way back upstairs.

He flopped down on his bed and sighed. Still bored. Finally, he decided to just go to sleep. His day was exhausting, he deserved an early night. He yawned, threw his McDonalds in the garbage beneath his window, and snuggled into bed. Maybe tomorrow would end up better

And in all honesty, the second day was better. A lot better. He had first, second, and fourth period with Alfred, which made it a lot easier for him to socialize. By the end of the second day, Matt had even managed to meet a few people; Antonio, a senior in his 1st period who promised to teach him Spanish, and a Russian exchange student named Ivan in his 2nd and 4th period that was extremely interested in Matt's hockey team. He found that Euro with Gilbert wasn't actually all that bad, that Gilbert wasn't that bad, and he had even managed to get Tim to fill in his map for him. Maybe junior year wouldn't be as bad as he was dreading.