August 26, 8:30 am

Matthew walks into into the living room to find Lovino already awake and in the kitchen, unpacking boxes.

"Good morning." Matthew greets and only receives a short hum from the other.

Matthew stands by the couch for a minute, shifting his weight from foot to foot, before asking, "would you like some help with that?"

Lovino finally glances up and over at Matthew. "No." he states.

"Oh, okay. Well if you do... just ask?"

Right then, the creak of a door opening sounds, and Lukas appears from the hallway, joining Matthew in the living room.

The Norwegian yawns and offers a slight nod towards Matthew before noticing Lovino in the kitchen.

"Oh, hello Lovino. I didn't know you'd arrived already," Lukas says and walks into the kitchen, most likely in search of food.

"Yeah, well, I did. Last night." Lovino responds, seeming to not be in a talkative mood.

"Do you need any help unpacking those boxes?" Lukas makes the same offer as Matthew as he grabs a box of cereal from a cabinet.

"No." Lovino repeats.

Matthew decides to have some cereal for breakfast as well, and joins the other two in the increasingly crowding kitchen.

"Now we're just missing Arthur," Matthew half-jokes as he pulls out two plastic bowls and spoons for himself and Lukas.

"Isn't he supposed to get here on the twenty-eighth?" Lukas asks as he takes the bowl from Matthew.

"Yeah, the day before school starts again." Matthew confirms.

Lukas starts to pour his cereal into his bowl when the doorbell unexpectedly rings, and the three college students pause in their activities, wondering who it could be.

"I'll get it." Lukas sighs and puts down his box of cereal before making his way out of the kitchen.

In the few seconds he spends walking to the door, the doorbell is pressed three more times consecutively. Lukas swings open the door, already unhappy at the stranger with seemingly no manners, only to see a familiar happy face.

"What are you doing here?" Lukas questions, eyes narrowed.

"Hey, Nor! Don't you remember, last night?" Matthias asks.

Lukas thinks back to the previous night; Matthias had insisted on walking him home and once they had arrived Matthias had flipped out, happily exclaiming that he lived right next door.

"Oh yeah." Lukas grimaces. He can only handle so much of Matthias at a time, so the situation is not preferable.

"Yeah! We're neighbors, so I thought you could bring your friends over to my place and we could all introduce ourselves and become best friends!" Matthias says, the corners of his mouth pulling up into an even wider and brighter smile.

"I don't think that's how things work-" Lukas starts, but is cut off when Matthias grabs his arm and drags him back into his own apartment to find his roommates. However, Matthew and Lovino are already standing in the living room, trying to figure out who's at the door.

"Hello, I'm Matthias, Lukas' best friend!" Matthias introduces himself, much to Lukas' displeasure. "Don'cha guys wanna come join our party?" Matthias asks.

"E-eh?" Matthew steps back a little in surprise, and Lovino frowns and crosses his arms.

"I'll pass." Lovino says, starting to head back towards the kitchen before Matthias grabs his arm as well and drags him and Lukas out of the apartment, leaving Matthew to quietly follow the three.


"I'm back, guys!" Matthias kicks open the door to his apartment, and Lovino cringes at the sound of it slamming into the wall. He and Lukas are quickly dragged inside, and Matthias finally releases his grip. Lovino rubs his arm where red imprints in the shape of fingers are beginning to appear.

"Oh, did you bring your friend?" Another cheerful voice calls out from an adjacent room.

"Yep, and his roommates, so we can have a party!"

Lovino glances around at the small entryway of the apartment, already seeming to have a similar layout to his own. However, here is a lot messier: shoes scattered haphazardly around the floor and a few garbage bags by the door; mud stains linger on the ground.

"Oh if I'd known we were having guests I would've cleaned!" The same voice from earlier says as its owner pokes his head through the doorway that connects the entry hallway and living room.

Lovino glances up from the mud stains on the floor to see the same guy who had pissed him off last night. Glittering green eyes meet his once more. "Hey, I remember you from last night!" The guy exclaims and steps into the entrance.

Lovino levels him with another glare. "Great, I have to deal with this first thing in the morning," he bitterly thinks.

"I'm Antonio!" The brown-haired guy chirps.

"Hmm." Lovino says disinterestedly, crossing his arms again and focusing his stare at a crack in the wall, pretending it to be more interesting than socializing.

"Why don't we move into the living room?" Antonio suggests, brushing off Lovino's unhappy attitude.

"Okay!" Matthias responds, and turns around to close the door, only to see Matthew has already done so. "Oh, thanks bro!" Matthias smiles. Matthew shyly nods in response, however the other is already halfway into the other room.

Matthew trails behind the group again as they walk into the living room. Matthias sprawls out onto one of the couches by a large window and pulls Lukas down too. Antonio sits on a plush armchair, and Lovino leans against a wall.

Matthew decides to sit on the other unoccupied couch, as Matthias tries to strike up a conversation among the group.

Suddenly another door is slammed open, seeming to come from the hallway branching off the living room, and if this apartment has any sort of similar layout to Matthew's (which, he notices, it definitely does) then it must be someone exiting a bedroom.

"What's up, Arschlöcher*!" A rough voice shouts as a a new person steps into the living room and stops after seeing the three new faces in the room.

"Good morning, Gil!" Antonio waves to the silver-haired, red-eyed guy.

Matthew can see the albino's eyes drift around the room for a moment before landing on him, and a flash of surprise passes through his red irises before he swiftly turns around and marches back to his room.

"Um...?" Matthew questions as Matthias jumps up.

"Hey! Where're ya going, Gil?" Matthias calls out as he happily follows this "Gil" into another room, leaving the other four in the living room in silence.

Antonio stands up as well, "does anyone want something to eat or drink? I have some leftovers from the food I made last night." He offers with a kind smile.

"I'm going back." Lovino says as he pushes himself off the wall he had been leaning on.

"Aw, are you sure? We have some fresh tomatoes!"

Matthew wonders who would offer raw tomatoes to get someone to stay, it seems a pretty unconventional thing to enjoy, but then he notices that Lovino's interest has been piqued.

He can see Lovino hesitating between taking a step towards the door or Antonio, but after a second he makes his decision, and the two disappear into the kitchen.

And now it is just Matthew and Lukas in the living room.


A/N: Slightly longer chapter posted sooner than expected. I wanted to say thank you for the nice reviews I've received on this story :D especially since I know I'm not the best writer, it makes me happy that people still enjoy my story. I also got some really good news recently, so I'm extra happy and decided to write!

*Arschlöcher-Okay so I'm pretty sure this is incorrect but I was trying to find "assholes" in German and this was the only thing I could find so please help me if it's wrong _