(A/N: not so happy with this chapter. idk, it was hard to write and I feel like it's kind of just filler. I'm really sorry.)

It was easy for Matt and Al to sneak past Francine and Arthur. They were still in the dining room, not-so-calmly discussing Arthur's 'side-job.' They got into Al's car, and Al sped the entire way to Portland.

Once they were there, they stopped at a place to eat. They decided on McDonald's, and they were happy to have a meal that wasn't being eaten awkwardly with their divorced parents. "Jesus Christ, Matt, we haven't had a brother's day out in forever." Al said, his mouth full of burger. Matt nodded and swallowed his mouthful of chicken nuggets. "It's kind of beautiful what the desire to get away from our family can do." Matt said. Al laughed, and they finished eating while having a conversation about their last brother's day out (which ended up with them being escorted home by a cop after breaking curfew.)

Once they had finished eating, the twins walked outside. They quickly got back into Al's car, and drove back onto the highway. After a while, they started coming up with ideas about what they'd do for the day. "Well, there's lots of museums we could go to," Matt suggested, but Al quickly shot it down. "Boring! What do you do in Portland when you come up?" He asked. "Well, I hang out with Mathias and Lukas-" Matt started, but Al cut him off. "Oh, yeah, you do drugs. We need something family friendly to do."

The two were silent for a moment, but when Al passed a billboard with an advertisement for the Oregon Zoo, they both looked at each other. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, bro?" Al asked. "If you mean that we go to the zoo, then fuck yeah I am." Matt replied. Al smirked, and exclaimed, "To the zoo!" before doing a probably life-threatening traffic maneuver that put them on the exit that lead to the zoo.

They got to the zoo right as it opened, and several of the workers looked on in concern. They didn't see two 18 year old men coming to the zoo in the middle of February all that often. Al and Matt shook off the looks, and continued acting like kids in candy shops. "Let's go see the polar bears first!" Matt exclaimed, but Al shook his head. "No, Matt, we have to follow the map. We'll see everything a lot better that way." Several families passed by them and stared, but Matt and Al could care less.

They eventually decided to start at the beginning of the zoo and see everything they could(which would probably end up being a lot, considering the zoo didn't close for another 7 hours.) Al had a small freakout when they reached the eagles early on in their day, and Matt had a similar one about an hour later when they reached the polar bears. Once they had finished the first two exhibits, they sat down for a break, and Matt checked his phone.

He had two new messages; one from Tim, and one from Mathias. He clicked the one from Mathias first, since it was more recent, and laughed when he saw what it said. I'm dragging Lukas to the zoo, lmao. Come with us so he doesn't push me into a tiger cage? He showed the text to Al. "So your pothead friends are coming too? Hell yeah, maybe we can hang out with them after we leave so we don't have to go home!" he cheered, and Matt quickly typed back a reply. I'm already at the zoo. What are the odds of that! Are you here yet?

A few seconds later, he got a reply. We're fucking telekinetic or something, bro. we're parking now. Where are you? Mathias sent. Matt typed back polar bears, and locked his phone. "I told you earlier, Al. Beautiful things come out of avoiding your family. We've got brother bonding time at the zoo, and now we won't look as pathetic." He sighed, leaning back on the bench. "And just how are we pathetic?" Al asked accusingly. "Al. We're 18. We snuck away from home, and went to a zoo." Matt replied flatly. "Okay, so maybe we're a little pathetic, but still-"

Al was cut off by Mathias yelling Matt's name. "Oh, hey!" Matt yelled back, and turned to see a giddy looking Mathias and a pissed off Lukas bounding towards them. (The pair tended to look like this a lot, actually.) Mathias pulled Matt into a bone crushing hug, and Lukas nodded at him. "I'm glad you're here, Mattie! We haven't had a good bro-date in a while." Mathias smiled, and Lukas looked at him. "Don't call it a bro-date, Mathias." Mathias laughed and rolled his eyes, turning to look to look at Al.

"So, is this your brother?" He asked. "Yeah. Alfred." Matt said, and hoped inwardly that Mathias and Lukas were on one of their 'off' stages. If Al found out Matt's only 2 friends were gay with each other, it'd make the entire day awkward, and not to mention, it would raise questions about Matt's own sexuality, and then everything in his household would be awkward. Matt couldn't handle that.

Thankfully, they seemed to be off. Maybe Mathias was planning on winning Lukas back by taking him to the zoo? The pissed off look on Lukas's face probably meant that Mathias probably would be sleeping on the couch for at least a few more weeks. But Matt didn't worry; he knew that the two lovebirds would be back together soon.

"Well it's great to meet you, Alfred." Mathias grinned. "Likewise," Lukas nodded. Mathias turned to Lukas and gave him an annoyed look. "Why do you talk like you're in the fucking Victorian age, Luke?" He asked. "Why do you call me Luke?" Lukas said, giving an equally annoyed look. Wanting to avoid a fight, Matt decided to mediate between the two. "Who cares about words, when we can go see some cute animals?" he asked, and Mathias lit up. "You're right, Matt! Let's get this shit started!" he exclaimed, and pulled Lukas towards the next exhibit: animals of Asia.

Matt laughed and helped Alfred up from the bench. This was going to be an interesting day.