Hi. This chapter is much longer. There's a lot more swearing than there has been in the past couple chapters.

It was supposed to be very humorous but it ended up just being full of tension.

My sister said it felt awkward to read and I don't know whether to believe her or not.

The point of view switches a couple times, but I trust that you guys are smart enough to figure out who is speaking so I didn't label it.

December 4th

I lounged on the couch, bored without Mattie's constant presence to entertain me. He had offered to go in to work so one of his coworkers could meet someone for a lunch date or some other stupid shit like that. I had asked why he couldn't just get someone else to do it and he had said that he had volunteered to do it. Almost as if he was trying to get away from me.

Nah.

He probably just couldn't handle all the sexy awesomeness that was myself for such extended periods of time.

Yeah, that's definitely what it was. Just like everyone else I knew.

I yawned.

If only I could find something awesome enough to entertain myself with.

I had already gone through all of Mattie's games, even the multiplayer ones. The awesome me could handle being several people at a time. I was just that awesome.

I had already ransacked the entire lower levels of the house searching for some good German beer. Either he was hiding it somewhere ridiculously obscure, or... well, no. That had to be it. There was no way a house this awesome wasn't housing good German beer.

I had already rearranged the living room three or four times before deciding that that was one thing Mattie had gotten right and putting it back the way it was before.

I had already alphabetized the bookshelf because I had lived in a perfectly organized house for most of my life and Mattie's house was so pristine except for that one spot. So I fixed it for him. Out of the kindness of my heart.

So basically there was nothing left to do. Except for calling Mattie. That'd be fun.

Except he said not to do that unless it was an extreme emergency and if I called and it wasn't he would beat me with his hockey stick until I couldn't move.

Of course it was an empty threat because nobody as petite and adorable as Mattie could defeat someone as awesome as me, but still. Best play it safe.

Mattie had mentioned a… what was it? The neighborhood's 'resident crazy'? That sounded like fun.

I tended to have a certain special way with psychopaths. It's probably because my best friend growing up was originally perfectly normal and almost even awesome enough to be around me. But then she slowly went crazy the longer she knew me- obviously because she couldn't process the levels of awesome I was exuding- and she eventually became your average pan-wielding psychopath.

So I was really good with those types of people since I had been around them my entire life.

Maybe I should pay this one a visit. Mattie said they were friends, so there must be a little bit of awesomeness somewhere in him.

Or her.

Never assume all psychopaths are boys. Girls are crazy. I gave up on them years ago.

Anyways.

I decided that it was practically my duty as the most awesome person on earth to grace this friend of Mattie's with my awesome presence.

So I leaped off the couch, walked down Mattie's long-ass driveway, and strolled down the street, using my awesome crazy-sensors to lead the way. Most of the houses in the neighborhood were pretty woodsy looking with long, shaded paths leading up to front porches made of dark red brick.

All except one, that is. Three houses from the end was a large, white building that had the feel of a miniature mansion. There were still plenty of trees spanning the yard, but the long brick driveway was lined with rows upon rows of sunflowers.

That just had to be it.

Satisfied with my awesome deduction, I sauntered up to the house, opened the door without knocking, and proceeded to the kitchen. The light was on, and I was surprised to see a tall, pale man wearing a sweater and a scarf sitting on a couch and knitting. Actually, he seemed pretty familiar…

Sheiße, I totally accidentally vandalized his plumbing shop that one time when I was drunk.

And Sheiße, he seemed to recognize me too.

I was so totally screwed.

"Hello, little one. You remember me, da?"

I tossed my keys on the counter, toed off my shoes, and plopped down on the couch, exhausted. There weren't really that many patients but weekday customers were always more hurried, harried, and just plain impatient with the doctors. Dealing with them was something I avoided by taking weekend shifts most of the time. I worked that day for the mere sake of getting away from Gilbert.

I mean, sure, I liked having the guy around and he was fairly entertaining all in himself, but he was also the sort of person you just needed a break from. A lot like Alfred, really. They both talked and talked and talked for hours on end and I was so used to the tranquil quiet in my house that it was quite the change.

It was at that moment that I realized I was experiencing that same tranquility, as Gilbert didn't appear to be around. I quickly checked the downstairs before running upstairs, just in case he had broken our agreement, but the albino was nowhere to be found. Panicking slightly and not knowing why (it was a good thing if he upped and left, right?), I called his cell phone and waited as it rang.

"Hello, Matvey." Ivan? Why was Ivan answering Gilbert's phone? Unless… oh, no. This was bad. This was really bad.

"Ivan," I greeted quietly. "What have you done to Gilbert?"

"Kolkolkol…" Ivan laughed, and I shivered. "Nothing too bad. Why? Is he yours?"

"Yes, actually he is." I growled. God, if there was a single scratch on him… things were gonna get bloody. "Now will you send him home or do I have to go pick him up?"

"How about Matvey comes to my house and we can talk about your pet?" It wasn't even a question.

"Fine," I sighed. "I'll be there in a minute." I pulled my shoes back on and speed-walked to Ivan's house. The bright yellow sunflowers seemed to mock me and I glared at them. I didn't bother knocking, knowing that Ivan and Gilbert were probably waiting for me.

"Hello, comrade. See? Your pet is unharmed." Ivan said in way of acknowledgment. Apparently, 'unharmed' means something completely different to him than it did to me. Gilbert was sitting in- well, no. Gilbert was tied to a hard wooden chair with several lengths of rope and his mouth was duct-taped shut.

"Really? You tied him up? Was that really necessary?" I exclaimed. I moved to approach Gilbert, but Ivan blocked me. I scowled.

"Your little pet is guilty of vandalizing my property. He had to pay." My glower turned to Gilbert, and I like to think that he quivered a little before I returned my gaze to Ivan. "In fact, I don't think I'm quite ready to let him go." I ran a hand through my hair in frustration.

"What do you want?"

"I want to have Matvey all Saturday." Ivan declared. There were immediately muffled sounds of protest from Gilbert, but we both ignored him.

"No," I argued. "I work Saturday."

"Friday, then." Ivan's childish smile was unwavering.

"Deal. Can Gilbert come, though? I don't really want to leave him alone after this."

"Nyet. He has no place in our personal affairs."

"Fine," I sighed. "I'll find something to do with him." We shook hands, and then Ivan disappeared into the house, leaving me to free Gilbert.

I sighed, looked at the knots, walked to the kitchen, and came back with a steak knife. Gilbert looked mistrustful, but seemed to know better than to struggle. I made quick work of the rope, left the duct tape on, and left the house. Gilbert followed.

"You fucking idiot!" I screeched the moment we were outdoors. "What the hell do you think you were doing? Antagonizing Ivan? I told you he was my friend! Do you not want me to have any friends? I mean, really! I understand that you're a spoiled little brat, but now you're making me pay for your mistakes! I mean, no wonder you brother didn't want to leave you alone in the house! I left for four hours and you've vandalized public property and gotten yourself captured by my mentally unstable neighbor, resulting in me having to give up my Friday to save you. God!"

I wasn't by any means done, but we had reached the house and I realized that Gilbert was trying to slowly peel off the duct tape. Angrily, I pinned him to the wall and ripped off the tape. He screamed like a little girl and stared at me in horror. I spun away and stalked towards the kitchen, Gilbert following like a lost puppy.

"You fucking pansy! No wonder you practically begged me to let you stay here- everyone else probably didn't want to deal with a baby for a whole month! I can't believe you managed to get in so much trouble in a single day! You-"

"Stop! Just stop! You don't know me! You can't say these things about me! I didn't vandalize your friend's property today. It was weeks ago, and I was drunk! You can't blame me- I barely even remember it!" He cut me off, arguing.

"Oh, as if that's any better- you were drunk. You said you were a bartender and I was afraid you were one of those smelly bums who have nothing better to do with their life than sit behind a bar all day and serve drunkards who are just making their life worse. But then I told myself 'no, he's just a little eccentric. Maybe he's one of those trendy bartenders at the classy bars in the city'. But I guess I was wrong. You get drunk and you vandalize people's property. I don't even know why I'm wasting my time with you!"

"I'm sorry, okay?! I didn't go over there because I wanted to cause trouble! I went there because you said he was your friend so I figured he had to be at least a little bit as awesome as you- although that's turning out to be not very awesome at all- so I thought we could be friends! He's the one fucking tied me up!"

"Don't make this about Ivan's problems! That's how he tries to make friends, because he doesn't want people to leave them and he doesn't know how else to make them stay! Didn't you see how the only replacement for letting you go was me spending a day with him? God! Is there any sensitivity in you at all?"

"I said I was sorry! I don't know what else you want from me!" Gilbert's face was an unusually bright red and I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

"I just need some space, okay?" I slunk upstairs and flopped face down on the bed before he could respond. What had I done?

Ugh. I couldn't believe Ivan had stolen Gilbert from me! I mean, sure, we were both low on friends, but I got to him first!

I felt kinda bad about taking my anger and frustration out on Gilbert, but when it was time for the angry Canadian to come out, the angry Canadian came out.

Actually, I felt really bad about that, once I thought about it.

Gilbert was right- I didn't know him. I didn't have the right to judge him that way. Sure, maybe he was a low down, smelly, bum of a bartender. But if he was, then wasn't it my job to help him find a better place in his life?

I had seen that he had gone through all my games before placing them back on the shelf, and he had even organized my books. It was clear that he had tried plenty of things to entertain himself while I was gone before he went to Ivan's. And he hadn't even resorted to calling me.

Wow, I was just continuously making myself feel worse now. I knew I needed to go back downstairs and apologize, but I couldn't muster the confidence to even pull myself upright, much less face the man I had just wrongly shamed.

It was three-ish in the morning and I hadn't managed to fall asleep- too wracked with guilt to do much of anything, really. I was tired enough to feel like I could do whatever I wanted (maybe that's where Gilbert got his confidence), so I trudged downstairs, hoping a certain German man would be awake and willing to listen.

I found Gilbert sitting at the kitchen table, looking surprisingly lost and sad. Regret hit me like a ton of bricks, and I approached him with my head down.

"Hey…uh… Gil?" I whispered, unwilling to ever raise my voice again after the fiasco earlier that evening. He didn't respond, but turned to look at me. There were deep purple bags under his eyes, and they stood out against his pale skin. "I'm really really sorry for lashing out at you today. I… I was wrong. I don't have the right to judge you that way and I'll do anything make up for it."

"No," he sighed at last. "You were kinda right. I was just upset that you hit the nail on the head, I guess. I don't really know what I'm doing with my life. Bartending was just supposed to be a temporary job, but I've been at it for seven years. They keep threatening to fire me and that terrifies me because I have no idea what I'd do. Luddy and Feli are probably getting married sooner or later and Luddy will never say it but I'll have to move out when that happens. I don't know where I'll go or what I'll do. I'm... I'm so damn lost." I stared at him sadly, unsure how to comfort him. Nighttime Gilbert was very different from Daytime Gilbert.

"Well…" I began with a wry smile. "you could always stay with me."

And his grin was blinding.

I feel... like they are very OOC. Canada especially.

Prussia thought process is very fun to write.

I felt really bad about making them fight because that wasn't supposed to happen, but I hope ending it on a good note made up for that.

Although I think I'm making their relationship progress way too quickly. Oh well.

Tell me what you thought, ja?