A/N Enjoy!


"Thanks for coming to this with me again," Matthew said to his friend, rubbing his hands together to warm them up.

"No problem," Gilbert replied, wrapping his scarf more tightly around his neck to stave off the chill. "Everything's boring without my awesomeness."

The two friends were currently in the stands of the school's football stadium, watching Alfred's first game. He was originally only an alternate running back, but after another player's injury, had been moved to the first string, which meant that he would play in every game for the rest of the season. Matthew didn't particularly like football, but his little brother was so excited he couldn't not go to the game.

Peter, Arthur, and his mother were sitting off somewhere closer to the field, but Matthew and Gilbert were sitting at the top of the stadium. They had arrived to the game late and there weren't any seats closer. Since he wasn't very fond of football, he had called Gilbert to ask if he'd go with him to the game in an attempt to make the experience more fun. Gilbert had agreed and now here they were.

The stadium erupted in cheers as Alfred scored a touchdown, putting their school team ahead.

"I don't get why people like this game," Gilbert complained.

"Me either," agreed Matthew. Hockey was obviously better.

"I mean," Gilbert continued, "one guy scores and the rest of them just run around, unawesomely tackling each other. What's the point of even having a team? That's why I like skateboarding better. You get all the credit for your own awesomeness."

"Hockey's pretty awesome, too," Matthew added. Gilbert frowned.

"You know, I've never watched hockey." Matthew gasped sharply.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, still in shock. "Hockey's the greatest! I have to teach you all about hockey," he declared firmly. Ever since he had started hanging out with Gilbert and his friends, Matthew had gotten a lot more confident, as well as assertive. Gilbert laughed.

"Sure. Why not? But you have to let me teach you all about the awesomeness of skateboarding."

Matthew grinned. "It's a deal."


The next morning, Matthew met a yawning Gilbert at the skating rink.

"Jailbird," he whined. "Why'd we have to come here so unawesomely early?"

"There are less people in the morning," Matthew replied. "And those are the hours they have the hockey things out. After ward, they take everything off the ice for regular ice skating." He wasn't feeling tired at all with the incentive of hockey to keep him awake. If anything could put Matthew in a better mood no matter what the circumstances, it was hockey.

He and Gilbert entered the rink and Matthew started his lesson as they laced up their skates.

"The basic goal of hockey is to get the puck in the net. You can only use the hockey stick to move the puck, but if it flies into the air, you're allowed to use your hands to smack it back onto the ice, but you can't hold it." They moved onto the ice. They were the only ones there. "The goalie is allowed to pick it up, but only when the puck's in the goal crease."

"Got it," Gilbert declared. "Get the puck in the net, don't touch it. Can we start now?"

There was still a lot more to hockey, but Matthew decided that it would probably be easier to just show Gilbert the rest of it. He dropped the puck onto the ice, explaining how each team got possession of the puck by expertly stealing it from Gilbert as soon as it hit the ice. Matthew did his best to stay as slow and easy as possible, but still stayed light-years ahead of Gilbert. Matthew skidded to a stop.

"Dammit, you won't defeat the awesomeness!" Gilbert growled, putting on a sudden burst of speed and stealing the puck from a very shocked Matthew. He hadn't skated more than ten feet away before a blur slammed him into the wall and stole the puck back.

"Jesus, Mattie!" Gilbert wailed, holding onto the wall, doubled over in pain. "What the hell did you do that for?" Matthew quickly skated back to his fallen friend, dropping his hockey stick in worry.

"Oh my God, Gil, I'm so sorry! I completely forgot to tell you about checking!" Matthew cried out, straightening his friend and checking him for any injuries.

"What?"

"That was a body check. You can do that to another player in possession of the puck to get it away from them," Matthew explained as he made sure he hadn't hurt Gilbert. Luckily, he hadn't checked him with full force and Gilbert was unharmed. "There are all sorts of checks: hip checks, body checks, shoulder checks," Matthew continued listing and explaining the different types of checks, but Gilbert was too distracted by Matthew's hands to pay any attention.

They had stopped their search for possible injuries and had come to rest on his chest. Gilbert couldn't explain it, but his heart suddenly started beating wildly and he was overcome with a sudden desire to grab those hands and pull Matthew closer to him. He flushed with shame when he realized what he had just been thinking. Matthew was his friend, and more importantly, a guy. Those feelings were unnatural and wrong and he forced them down, somewhere where he would never have to admit that they had ever existed. He backed away from Matthew, quickly putting up a façade like everything was all right. Which it wasn't.

"So, Jailbird, what you're saying is, I can do this to you?" Gilbert asked before knocking Matthew into the wall with his shoulder and skating away after the puck. Matthew's initial shock wore off quickly, and, laughing, he chased after Gilbert.


Gilbert and Matthew continued with hockey until the rink switched from hockey to ice skating, then they drove to a nearby park for Gilbert's "Awesome Skateboarding Lesson". Matthew was understandably nervous. He had seen extreme skateboarding on television (Alfred nearly worshipped Tony Hawk) and he wasn't very eager to break all the bones in his body. Gilbert, however, was excitedly talking about all of the cool moves he was going to teach Matthew as he opened his car trunk to get the equipment. None of the words coming out of his mouth were making much sense, words like "ollie", "one eighty", and "five seventy". Matthew gulped.

"Umm, Gil," Mathew started. "Could we maybe start a little easier?"

"How much easier?"

"Getting on the skateboard easier." Gilbert laughed.

"Sure, Jailbird." He reached into the trunk of his car and tossed a helmet at Matthew, who barely managed to catch it. They made their way toward the section of the park set off for skateboarding. Matthew was thankful that no one was there to witness what was sure to be his humiliation. He buckled the helmet and accepted the beat up skateboard Gilbert handed to him. Setting it down on the ground, Matthew desperately tried to think of some sort of excuse he could use to get out of this.

"You better not be thinking of chickening out, Jailbird."

He gulped and put his left foot on the board. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the other foot against the ground, sending him forward. The board careened to his left and he crashed spectacularly into Gilbert, knocking him over and landing on top of him. Gilbert was sure at that moment that his heart had stopped beating. He was aware that his breath had already stopped. He sucked in air, trying to fight off those bizarre feelings from before that had unfortunately resurfaced. Again, he beat them down, feigning indifference.

"Geez, Jailbird, if you want me you can just tell me," Gilbert teased shakily from below Matthew, who had frozen and turned an interesting shade of red at their position. He was straddling Gilbert. He was straddling Gilbert! And if the fluttering in the pit of his stomach was anything to go by, he liked it. With a rather unmanly cry, he threw himself off of Gilbert, who started laughing quietly. If he had been paying attention to the laughter he might have noticed its nervous quality, but he was too busy freaking out. There was no way this was happening to him. There was no way he was attracted to his friend, let alone his guy friend. It was then that he noticed how hard his friend was laughing at him.

"Shut up," he growled. Gilbert only laughed harder. His laughter was contagious, and after a few minutes they finally managed to stop laughing, still lying on the ground, the awkwardness passed.

"Hey, Jailbird."

"What is it, Gil?"

"I'm thinking of getting a piercing."

Matthew sat up and looked at Gilbert in shock.

"What kind of piercing?"

"Tongue piercing," Gilbert replied. "Antonio and Francis think it's a great idea, Ludwig and Lovino think it's a crap idea. I need a tiebreaker." Matthew looked at him, carefully considering the matter.

"I think it'd look pretty cool," he said finally. "But won't it be annoying? I mean, isn't your mouth going to taste like metal all the time?"

Gilbert shrugged. "Shouldn't be any worse than braces, right?"

"I guess so," Matthew agreed.

"All right then! The awesome me is going to get a tongue piercing!"

For the rest of the afternoon, the two friends lay in the grass, talking about whatever they felt like until the sun started setting and Gilbert took Matthew home. For the rest of the night, they both lay awake in their separate houses, unable to sleep, both thinking about the strange feelings they had felt that day and trying their best to deny them.