WARNING: Time skip

It had been nearly three weeks since Alfred had offered to tutor Ivan. He had taken those few weeks off of surfing practice so he could work on both teaching Ivan English and learning Russian. Matthew had earned enough money at his job already that they didn't need to borrow half the amount of money they used to from their mother to pay their bills. Arthur was hanging out with Francis more, if only to make sure he doesn't try and molest Roderich while he was staying at his house. Ivan had learned English enough that he didn't need to worry about studying every single day to remember how to phrase sentences or anything. Alfred had stopped learning Russian after he had memorized two of the three books he had got from the library. He only needed the basics, anyway.

It was finally Friday, and Alfred was excited about the weekend. He and his brother had decided that they were going to go to a water park just outside of Los Angeles. It was about a two and a half hour drive from their apartment complex. " So, Natalia, do you, Ivan and Katyusha want to come with us?" Alfred asked, walking out of school with the three. " I don't know, Alfred, it sounds fun, but Katyusha has to work tomorrow-" " I can take the day off, Natalia! It sounds fun, it'd be a great opportunity for us to take a break from everything." Katyusha interrupted, and Natalia looked at her. " But Kat, you need to work, won't they fire you if you miss anymore days?" Katyusha shook her head. " No, I can use one of my vacation days. It'll be worth it!" She said, and Natalia sighed.

" I guess that's a yes then. Do you want to go, Ivan?" Alfred asked, and Ivan nodded, smiling. " Yes, sounds fun!" He said, and Alfred smiled. He'd done good. Ivan was still in need of a bit more tutoring, though in another two or three weeks, his English would be pretty close to perfect. It was a little hard to decipher what he said sometimes because of his accent, but other than that, it was coming along greatly. " Alright then! I'll tell Mattie! You guys can ride with us, if you want. Mattie's car is pretty big, I'm sure you can all three fit in the backseat comfortably." Alfred said, and Natalia shook her head. " Ah, no. I think we'll be fine in our own car. Not that I have anything against riding with you guys, just... I'm not about to be squished between these two for anything." She said, and Katyusha smiled and rolled her eyes.

" Well, I should be going, Mattie gave me permission to drive home today since he went home with Gilbert. Oh yeah! I totally forgot! You guys wouldn't have fit anyway, Gilbert and Arthur are coming!" Alfred said, laughing. Natalia rolled her eyes. " Anyway, see you guys tomorrow! Be ready to go at nine o'clock sharp!" He said, then ran off to Matthew's car. He fished the keys out of his pocket, then got in and drove off.

~~~page break~~~

Once Alfred got home, he started packing the things he might need tomorrow. Sunscreen, swimming trunks, a camera, and some assorted chips in case he got hungry on the way there. By the time he was done, Matthew was home. " Hey Alfred, what's up?" He asked, shutting the door. Alfred shrugged. " Eh, just got finished packing my stuff." He said, and Matthew laughed. " You do realize we're only going for one day, right? I don't think you need to pack anything." " But it's only the essentials! I know we're only going one day, I just figured it's better to be safe than sorry." Alfred said, giving his brother a 'I-know-what-I'm-doing' look. Matthew just shrugged him off and headed to the kitchen. " Well, did you ask Natalia and the others if they were coming?" He called, starting dinner.

" Yeah, and they said they'll go! I can't wait Mattie, we haven't been to this place since we were little kids! I want to see the look on Ivan's face when-" Alfred cut himself off. He couldn't wait to see the look on everyone's face... why'd he say Ivan? It made no sense. These weird thoughts and feelings had been coming and going randomly for a while now, ever since that night he saw Ivan topless. He'd have thoughts that would pop up out of nowhere, things that made Alfred uneasy. And they were all about Ivan. He knew what the feeling in his stomach was when he got a little bit too close to Ivan for normal 'friends'. He knew what it was, it was- " Alfred, for christ's sake, listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Alfred jumped as Matthew slapped him in the head.

" H-hey! What was that for?" Alfred whined, rubbing his head that was sure to be hurting in a few minutes. " You just stopped talking in the middle of your sentence, I thought you'd fell into a coma or something." Matthew said, " Now, did you say they were going? They have everything they need, right?" Alfred shrugged. " I don't know what they'd need. Swimsuits and maybe a camera, but that's it. I'm sure they have everything." He said, and Matthew sighed and nodded. " Okay, you're right. Well, dinner is cooking, so we might as well watch some TV while we wait." He said, sitting down next to his brother.

Alfred turned the TV on and started flipping through the channels. Nothing was on, just like always. He turned it to the surfing channel and Matthew rolled his eyes, but said nothing. " - As our surfers begin to start their training for the biggest surfing competition in California. The 2013 Mavericks will have a fresh batch of young surfers who will do anything and everything to win. Oh, here's Carlos Hernandez! Maybe we can get a word with him. Mr. Hernandez, do you have a moment?" Alfred was glued to the screen as the reporter scurried across the sand to the large dark-skinned man she was addressing as 'Mr. Hernandez'. " Of course I have a moment." The man said, and Alfred immediately recognized a Cuban/Jamaican accent. " Mr. Hernandez, it is to my understanding that if you win this years Mavericks, it will be the fifth year in a row. How do you feel about that?"

Alfred barely blinked as the reporter and Hernandez talked, and Matthew jumped when the timer on the stove went off. He didn't bother trying to snap his brother out of the trance-like state he was in, it would od no good. He went into the kitchen to finish getting dinner ready, and hoped that by the time he did, Alfred would be done oogling the TV. " Thank you, Mr. Hernandez, and I'm sorry to have bothered you." The reporter said, and the man waved her off. " No no, it's quite alright ma'am. But I must be going now." He said, then disappeared. " Well, there you have it. Carlos Hernandez is a very positive and determined man when it comes to these types of competitions. I'm Ericka Vale, and it has been a wonderful day here at Half Moon Bay. Back to you, Bill."

" Hey Alfred, are you done acting like a zombie? Dinner is on the table, I don't want it to get cold." Matthew said, leaning against the kitchen doorway. Alfred blinked, then nodded. " Yeah, sorry Mattie." Alfred said, getting up and heading into the kitchen. " But dude, I completely forgot that it's time for the Mavericks! Oh man, I can't wait! This year's gonna be amazing, I just know it. I want to get enough money to head down to Half Moon Bay and watch it in person." Alfred said, stuffing his face. Matthew sighed. " Alfred, as far as I know, the Mavericks take place over the course of three days. Half Moon Bay is nearly six hours away, and god only knows how much a hotel room would cost this time of the year. If you can come up with most of that money in the three and a half weeks it is until the Mavericks, then I'll pay the rest, hell, I'll even kiss you." He said, and Alfred frowned. " Don't be so unsure, Mattie, I can do it." He said, and Matthew laughed. " Alright, mister hotshot, I'll go online later tonight and I'll figure out how much money you'll need. Then in the morning, you tell me with the same determination in your eyes that you'll make that in three weeks." He said, then continued eating.

Alfred rolled his eyes at his brother. It couldn't be that much money, for crying out loud. " Alright, Mattie." He said, then they finished eating. After they had washed their dishes, Alfred and Matthew took showers then settled down for the night. Alfred still had the TV turned to the surfing channel, but Matthew didn't mind. He was too busy texting Gilbert to care. ' Hey Gil, whats up?' ' Nutn Birdie, hbu?' Matthew held back his cringe. He hated text talk, but no matter how much he'd asked Gilbert to stop, he kept doing it. He said it 'made things easier'. Matthew just went with it. ' Sitting on the couch with Alfred. He's watching that surfing channel again, the Mavericks comp. is coming up.' Matthew sent, and looked up at his brother. " So Alfred, when are you going to start practicing again?" He asked, and Alfred frowned. " I don't really know. It's been so much easier to get stuff done when I don't have to practice every other day after school. Maybe I'll just wait until I find a competition I'm going to surf in and start practicing again a few weeks before it."

Matthew nodded. " That sounds like a good idea, actually. As long as you're okay with it." BEEP ' Oh gr8, Al n his surfing. Sry Birdie.' ' Why are you sorry?' BEEP ' U gotta share a house with him n his freakiness.' Matthew laughed. " What's so funny?" Alfred asked, and Matthew shook his head. " Just something Gilbert said." ' That's mean Gil. Anyway, I'm tired. I'm going to go to sleep now, see you in the morning.' Alfred stretched and cut the TV off. " I'm tired." He said, and Matthew shook his head, smiling. " You either read my mind, or read my text. I just told Gil I was tired." BEEP ' Ok, gnight Birdie, love you.' ' I love you too.' " Well, I'm going to bed." Alfred said, standing up and heading to his room. " Remember, you have to get up at eight thirty so we can go pick everyone up!" Matthew called, and Alfred waved his hand at him and shut his bedroom door.

Matthew rolled his eyes, then pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. He was going to do some research before he went to bed.

A/N: Sooo sorry this chapter was so short. I didn't want to prolong the surf talk any more than necessary because I didn't want to bore you guys. ALSO, in regards to the surfing competition, the Maverick comp. is a real thing, and it takes place in winter, at Half Moon Bay in Cali. I hereby disclaim that I did not like, plagiarise this event or whatever it's called when you put a real thing in a story and such. I know nothing about it other than the name and where/when it takes place, so don't kill me if the info I came up with is the farthest thing from right. Also, it's May. End of the school year for Alfred and friends, yaay xD

Uhm, lets see, what else did I have to say... Oh yeah. My laptop is broken. It was one of those things that could swivel and it turned into a tablet, but it's one of the older ones (coughGatewayBrandcough) and so I kinda swiveled it too hard and now I have to lean the back against something to keep it upright. I don't know how long it can last, but I'm hoping that I can get this story done before it breaks anymore.

Also, I did a thing. If you guys can find the thing I did, you earn a virtual hug and a cookie. Your only hint is that it's around the part when they start watching TV. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Reviews:

DaIvanbraginski- Yes, I agree :3 I'm sure there will be plenty more opportunities for me to write what happens while tutoring and when it's done.

SilverEnderwolf- I know, I was getting impatient myself, and I'm the author for crying out loud ;-;