Not dead. Wow. So, this was originally going to have a plot and what not and I had all the chapters planned out, but I didn't like the feel of it. I'm going to keep the plot points because I spent way to much time on it to just toss it, but I won't me staying in chronological order. Don't worry, continuity will be in tact. It's going to ne more of a high school AU haven. That means I'm taking requests. Whatever ships I've planted are set in stone.

This chapter is one of the time jumps. I'm going back and forwards and no one can stop me.

The seven of them had originally planned to go to the zoo. Francis had brought the topic up that morning and from that moment on Antonio's mind was set. They were going to the zoo and they were going to enjoy it whether they wanted to or not. Fortunately for Toni, Gilbert also took an avid interest in visiting the zoo. Meaning he wasn't going to stop complaining until they all agreed to go. It took all of two minutes to get everyone to agree. There's really only so much of Gil's voice you can take.

Arthur and Lovino were the most reluctant to go. Lovino took the throne with Arthur riding a close second. From the moment they agreed, anything and everything they had to offer to the conversation was a complaint. Everything.

They left school less then an hour after they decided they wanted to go. Feliks had offered to give them a ride there. He was headed that direction anyways. Francis, Gilbert, Arthur, and Antonio caught a cab. But, only because Lovi told their Feliks to go before the other four could get in the car. Feliks knew they were coming.. He just took some pleasure in disappointing people indirectly.

Their trip to the zoo lasted a whole of two hours before they were kicked out. Matthew didn't even know what happened. One second he was watching some giraffes and the next he was being shuffled away by security guards looking highly vexed.

"Gilbert, get that god damn churro out of my face,"

"It's not in your face, Lov. It's in my hand," Gilbert teased back. He waved a bitten churro just in front of Lovi's nose, not quite touching it.

"That's it!" Lovino shouted before he launched himself at Gilbert. The guard hooked him by the collar of his shirt as if he's done it a thousand times before. They were escorted out.

"What did you guys even do?" Matthew asked. He turns around for two minutes and they get thrown out.

"Nothing," Lovino huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Alfred laughed.

"Sure as hell didn't look like nothing," he said. He got a smack in the head as a response.

"Oh, so Lovino is the one who got us kicked out?" Matthew chuckled. He wasn't entirely surprised. He had to admit, he expected it to be Gilbert.

"No! Well, yeah, I guess I did get me and hamburger bastard here kicked out. I have no idea why the dumbass trio were. We just ran into each other as we were being "escorted" out. Al's the one who told them to grab you too,"

Matthew grinned in amusement. He knew there was no way Gilbert was entirely innocent. "Then what did you three do?"

"We freed the turtles!" Antonio announced beaming with pride. Alfred gaped.

"You didn't,"

"Oh, but we did. They're probably still on a hunt for them right now," Francis added with a grin.

Matthew couldn't help but laugh. Lovino didn't look surprised at all. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked like he was looking for something. Matthew was about to ask but Gilbert beat him to it.

"Lov, What're you looking for?" he asked looking around for anything significant.

"Who," Lovi answered without looking. He started walking back towards the entrance.

"What?"

"I'm looking for a who. Where's Arthur?"

Everyone froze. Arthur was still in the zoo.

"Oh my god, what do we do!? What if he's lost? Or hungry? What if we never see him again?" Alfred yelled melodramatically.

"Alfred calm down. Just call him," Matthew pleaded. People were starting to stare. Lovino pulled out his phone and called. Francis' pocket rang.

"Why the fuck do you have his phone?" Lovino glowered. Francis gave a sheepish shrug.

"Looks like we gotta go in an get him!" Alfred exclaimed. "This is it. I can be the hero. This is my time to shine! Don't worry Arthur. I'm coming!" he shouted, sprinting towards the entrance.

They wouldn't let him in. And that is the reason they broke into the zoo. They had found Arthur in one of the aquariums, panicking because he broke a display plaque and he was scared he was going to be kicked out. They just laughed at that.

"It's only like one o' clock" Alfred complained.

"And?" Matthew asked raising an eyebrow.

"It's a Saturday,"

"Mhm,"

"And we just got kicked out of a zoo,"

"So?"

"Let's go to the beach. We have time to kill,"

Gilbert piped up at the mention of the beach. No one even bothered trying to argue. It was pretty much decided. They were going to the beach.

That's how the seven of them found themselves on a city bus, raising ten different types of hell. Matthew watched in amusement as his friends and brother caused general public mayhem.

Gilbert had coaxed Francis into trying to do a strip dance on one of the poles. He recorded the whole thing. Alfred had discovered that Arthur is ticklish about two minutes into the ride and he was using this new found discovery to the fullest. He attacked Arthur's sides as Arthur tried to escape (loudly and full of profanities).

Despite all of that Matthew's real concern was that Lovino might actually kill someone. The crowded, chaos filled bus did not seem the prime place for Lovi to be at that moment. Antonio only made it worse by choosing that moment to fess up.

"Lovi, I need to tell you something important… and illegal," he stage whispered.

"What is it?"

Antonio didn't say anything. Instead, from is pocket, he pulled out a small turtle.

"Holy shit,"

"Can I keep him, Lovi? Por favor?" he begged.

"Well we sure as hell can't go take it back. I have no idea why you're even asking me for permission,"

The bus ride continued like that until they were dropped off at a transit about a block away from the beach.

"Gilbert, Lo siento, amigo, but you know what you have to do?" Antonio said pulling a bottle of sunscreen form his backpack. Gilbert looked repulsed.

"Nien," Gilbert barked turning around quickly only to come face to face with Francis, who was also wielding a separate bottle of sunscreen.

"You are not getting out of this. Lovi and Arthur have their bottles. You don't have anywhere to run, Gilbert. Put. On. The. Sunscreen," he punctuated each word.

Matthew could only watch the struggle happen. Ten minutes, a dozens of profanities in four new languages, and one and a half bottles of sunscreen later they finally made their way to the beach.

None of them had planned for the beach so no one had swim gear or towels. That didn't stop them from heading straight to the water as soon s they stripped their shirts. Well, just the trio and Alfred. Arthur, Lovino, and Matthew chose to stay on the sand and relax.

It was going great for a while. Until they showed up.

"Who are those guys staring at us like that over there?" Matthew whispered over to Arthur. He looked up and squinted through the sun to see what Matthew was talking about.

"Jesus Christ," he turned to Lovino. "It's some of the UC bastards again," Lovi just groaned.

"Who?" Matthew asked again.

"Those guys go to one of the colleges, UC. You can tell from blue short's hats," he said nodding towards the one at the end in blue shorts. "I don't recognize any of them but most of the guys there are fucking horn dogs,"

"Tell me about it," Arthur mumbled. He stood as they group of college students approached.

"Hey cutie, where you headed?" one of them called after him.

"Sod off," he said not even sparing them a glance as he made his way to one of the food stands. Two of them follow.

"Just head down to the water. I'll handle these assholes," Lovi whispered to him. Matthew nodded, fully intending to come back with his brother one of the guys as backup.

"Um. Excuse me, please," he mumbled as he scrambled up from his spot in the sand and down to the water. One of the college students followed him down, leaving Lovi to deal with the remaining two.

"Your massive heads are blocking the sun," he said not moving from his spot.

"My bad," one of them says, "here, I'll move. I'm Brandon by the way. That's Riley. And you are?" he asked as he and his friend sat on either side of him.

"Not interested," Lovino said, deadpan. He was not in the mood for this so he was trying to drop not so subtle hints.

"Oh, baby, don't be like that," he said running a hand up Lovi's leg.

"Fuck off," he growled. He was so ready to slap that bitch.

"Here, just give us a chance," said Riley, his hand creeping up Lovi's thigh. Before Lovi could tell them to get someone interrupted him.

"A chance to what?" Antonio growled. He looked mad. And if that anger had been directed at Lovino he might have peed himself. Antonio was almost never angry but on the rare occasion that he was, it was one of the scariest things.

Brandon seemed to catch the bad vibe quick. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We were just about to go," he said scrambling to pry himself off the sand.

His friend wasn't so smart. "What? I thought we were gunna bang this cutie? That guy's not gunna stop us," he said. Brandon's eyes flicked between him and Antonio quickly before it settled on his friend.

"Dude. Let's go. Now," he said, turning on his heel. His friend looked confused but followed. Antonio flopped himself down in the spot next to Lovi. He wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

Lovino laughed.

"Ha! Did you see that guys face? He looked like he was about to pee himself," Antonio just smiled at him. Lovino was amazed how that same wide, warm smile could have been so terrifying just a minute ago.

"I handled that well," Lovino commented sarcastically, nuzzling into Antonio's almost dry chest.

"Hell yeah you did. You had them on the ropes. Two more minutes and both of them would have been knocked out," he laughed, playing along.

Lovino laughed. Antonio smiled because that was his favorite sound in the world.

Up by the food stand Arthur found himself in a similar situation.

"Hey there, sweetheart. Want a drink?" one of the college students said as he slid next to Arthur's seat on one of the stools.

"No,"

"Aw, c'mon don't be like that," cooed his friend from behind him.

Arthur said nothing. He wasn't even going to spare them the time. He figured if he ignored them long enough then they'd leave him alone.

But these guys were persistent. Arthur hadn't spoken ten words to them and they were acting like they had known him for years. He dealt with it silently until one of them touched him.

"Get your goddamn hands away from me!" His hand didn't move from it's place on Arthur's back.

"He said get your hands off of him," Alfred said. All three of them jumped.

"Oh, yeah? Whose going to make me?"

"What are we in seconds grade? You can come up with a better come back then that," Alfred mocked.

"Seriously, you two have two seconds to leave before I have him beat the living hell out of you," Arthur said calmly.

"What? This twink? He can't do sh-"

Suffice to say both of them walked out of that with more then a few bruises.

"Not bad," Arthur smirked.

"Oh, not bad? Listen to that everyone! I just saved his ass and I wasn't bad!' Alfred announced loudly to anyone nearby. "But, really. No thank you? Aren't the damsels in distress supposed to give their savior a kiss as a token of affection?"

"In your dreams," Arthur said. "Actually, I will say thank you. For once you can legitimately call yourself a hero," Alfred grinned widely.

"Can't I always?"

"No,"

"I will anyways,"

"I'm counting on it,"

Matthew rushed down to the water.

"Toni! Go check on Lovi, eh?" he called from ankle deep in the water. Antonio waded in closer.

"Alright. What for?" Matthew didn't answer. He just nodded in Lovino's direction. Antonio bolted up there, mumbling angrily in Spanish along the way.

"Actually someone should go check on Arthur to. I think some of the guys followed him,"

Alfred was gone before he finished.

Before Matthew could say anything else he felt an unfamiliar arm sling around him. Gilbert was there to shove him off before Matthew could even react.

"Back off,"

"Is he yours?" the college student snapped accusingly.

"Yes, in fact, he is," Gilbert said glaring at him. Matthew felt like he was witnessing a super intense staring contest. He could feel his cheeks going red from Gilbert calling him, his. He wished that was actually the case.

The college student raised his eyebrows in skepticism. Gilbert took that as a challenge. He leaned forward and pressed Matthew's lips against his possessively. It was short but got the point across.

"Oh, sorry man," he said, lifting his hands up in surrender with a small smirk on his face.

Gilbert wrapped his arm around Matthew. He melted into the familiar touch.

"Please tell me that wasn't your first kiss," Gilbert said resting his chin on Matthew's head.

"What? No," Matthew said. He was somewhat offended. Did he look like that kind of guy that hasn't had his first kiss? Gilbert just laughed. Matthew looked adorable.

"That's a relief," he sighed. He would have felt terrible if that was Matthew's first kiss.

"Is it?" Matthew asked. He looked up at him with a grin.

"Yeah it is," Matthew deserved better then that. Much better. Gilbert thought he deserved the world.

That was a happy chapter because the next chapter's going to be kind of sad. I didn't proof read this so good luck.

I'm switching to first person after this and probably taking this chapter down. I just wanted to update.