Matthew opened the door to his home slowly, and walked inside. The click of the door when he closed it echoed throughout the house. He stopped in the entryway for a moment.

"Hello…" He paused waiting for a response. No one responded; he was home alone.

It wasn't too surprising. Francis had been staying at the restaurant later, and Arthur only occasionally was home when he got to the house. After missing all of work after lunch, he probably had to stay later. He didn't think Alfred had any afterschool activities. He was pretty sure Alfred didn't have any sports going on. Even if there was, the school was pretty laid back sports wise and didn't have too many practices.

He sighed and continued into the house. Alfred was probably hanging out with friends for a bit. He would be back soon. They weren't doing anything big, since Al didn't ask for money.

He walked into his room and threw his backpack in his desk before walking over to his bed and plopping down on his back. He stared at the ceiling for a moment. It had been another long day. It just seemed like his life was getting more hectic by the day. At least now it was a good thing. Soon everything would calm down; he would get used to having friends and hang out with them after school just like Alfred. He smiled a little. The whole thing made him feel better.

He sighed and looked at the ceiling some more as boredom took over. He turned his head to the side to look at his backpack. He supposed he could get started on homework, but there really wasn't too much he had to do, and he really didn't want to do it. What kind of person was already doing their homework this early after school was over? People without any real friends…

He made a sound similar to a growl as he sat up and put the palms of his hands against his eyes. Stupid. That was so stupid. Why did he think that? He had friends now, friends that actually liked him. …but do they really know you? He couldn't help but ask himself as he moved his hands to the back of his neck and looked at the ceiling.

They do know me, and they like me for who I am. His mind still convinced him otherwise. He only talked to them for an hour at most. Average people like them don't observe enough to really know him. He let out a breath trying to calm his mind. Gilbert knows me. We talked a lot, and he still remembers me. The thought made him feel a little better.

His thoughts started turning better. He wasn't hanging out with anyone because he only met them today and Gilbert the day before. If they didn't want to be his friend, they wouldn't have talked to him after school. If it was all some cruel joke, they wouldn't have given him a ride home.

He sat up slowly and ran a hand through his hair. He really needed to stop thinking like that, but no matter how much he told himself that, he still did. He just couldn't help it. He had that mindset for so long; it would take time to change it. He wished time would go faster. If he didn't lighten up his previous thoughts he could have done something bad, and his arm was starting to heal up well.

He glanced back up at his backpack. Maybe homework wasn't a bad idea.

The ride back to the Beilschmidt home became quiet after Matthew had been dropped off. It wasn't an awkward quiet, but it was unusual for the two brothers. It made Ludwig feel a little uneasy.

Gilbert was staring out his window on the passenger side deep in thought. He thought about many useless things, but his mind kept returning to that blond Canadian. It was nice to see him doing so much better in such little time. He had a nice smile, and it was nice to be able to see it. Gilbert furrowed his brows at where his thoughts were turning. It's just because I'm glad to see him doing better. He passed it off quickly and let his thoughts continue, but they constantly drifted back to the blond.

Ludwig glanced at his older brother only for his eyes to be met with the back of Gilbert's head. Usually the albino was rambling on and on about some nonsense. Today he was just looking out the window deep in thought. It struck Ludwig as odd because his brother would never stare out the window quietly when driving. He never seemed to find enjoyment in watching the world pass by. It only served to make him more restless.

"Gilbert…" Ludwig began. Gilbert turned just enough to peer at Ludwig through the corners of his eyes.

"Huh?" Gilbert acknowledged. Ludwig took a moment to map out his words in his head, unused to conversations on the emotional side.

"Are you okay?" Gilbert turned more to better look at his brother. He was confused for a moment at the simple question.

"Yeah, I was just thinking."

Ludwig asked, "About what?" Gilbert averted his eyes remembering his thoughts about Matthew.

"Nothing." Ludwig raised an eyebrow at the other.

"If you end up breaking anything…"

Gilbert exclaimed exasperated, "Do you really think I'm plotting something every time I stop to think? Maybe I was having an intellectual epiphany. Ever thought of that?"

Ludwig was quiet for a moment surprised at how defensive his brother got. He knew it meant Gilbert didn't want to talk about it, and he shouldn't dwell too much. The other usually got that way when discussing family issues.

Gilbert sighed quietly and leaned his head to get a small glance out the window. He didn't know why he got defensive. It just sort of came out that way. It was probably just a reflex when talking about feelings. He laughed dryly in his head. Looks like I did inherit something from dad's side of the family.

After realizing Ludwig wasn't going to say anything else, Gilbert decided he should say something. He didn't want to end the conversation with his harsh words and possibly start an argument with his brother. As much as he loved to irk him, he really didn't want to be in an ongoing fight.

"Hey, West, I really am fine."

"Just don't think about it too much," Ludwig said gently. Gilbert realized the other thought he was thinking about their mom or possibly their grandpa.

Ludwig continued, "I shouldn't have accused you of something right away like that, either." Now Gilbert was sure his brother thought his thoughts were more of their grandpa, though he never could think about him without his mind wandering to their mom. He knew Ludwig said to drop it and not think of it anymore, even though it wasn't on his mind before, but he could help but let his mind wander. He remembered his mom's pale blond hair as he let himself surf through memories quietly the rest of the ride home.

When they pulled up to the house both brothers took notice of the car in the driveway. Gilbert inwardly groaned. And he thought his day was going to be a good one. It started off on a good note too, especially after finding out how Matthew was doing…

His thoughts started to drift off, but he quickly bought himself back to the current moment and got out of the car with Ludwig. He started going through his mind to see if he did anything wrong recently. He hadn't been to the office in a while, and he didn't get caught the last time he skipped class. Maybe it won't be so bad.

He knew deep down he was overreacting a bit. His grandfather did care about his well-being and never meant any wrong, but Gilbert couldn't seem to ever care about those things. The old man could probably do anything and it wouldn't change Gilbert's opinion of him. He could win a noble peace price or save children from a burning building, but Gilbert still wouldn't like the stoic man.

He followed his brother in the house as usual and went to the kitchen planning to get a snack. He opened the fridge and grabbed a random soda to drink.

"How was school?" A German-accented voice asked from the next doorway to the kitchen. The voice held a scratchy quality signaling the old age of the speaker.

Ludwig answered explaining how his day was fine, and the test he had was easy before proceeded to go upstairs to start homework.

Gilbert could tell his grandfather was looking at him without even turning around. He didn't say anything; he just wasn't in the mood to talk to him. He felt bad about it sometimes. He didn't hate him, but he never liked him per say. It was an awkward relationship.

He was very much like Gilbert's dad. The resemblance was uncanny really. They had the same blond hair, the same eyes, and that stoic Beilschmeidt expression. The main difference between the two men was their feelings about Gilbert's mom.

The Beilschmeidt family had always been organized, stick to the rules kind of people. It was similar to how one would perceive a military family to be. They were all very respectful of each other and very down to earth. Gilbert's father inherited all those traits.

Imagine his family's reaction when he bought back a loud, outgoing person, with lots of character and personality. Needless to say, Gilbert's grandfather was not amused with who his son had taken a liking to. The girl was a troublemaker and seemed to have no sense of responsibility. He told his son this from the beginning, but it didn't change his feelings.

Overtime, to couple became close. Gilbert's grandfather overcame his dislike for the girl a little. He still did not approve of his son's choice, but knew there was nothing he could do. He didn't make any more hurtful comments about the girl, but it was easy to tell his dislike towards her.

Years past and the two got married. Not long after, they had their first son, Gilbert. The albino always smiled remembering his parents when he was young. He obviously took after his mother. He was loud and full of personality. When he got older it was easy to see he also had a knack for getting into trouble.

When they visited his grandpa it was easy to see he wasn't fond of that kind of behavior in his grandson. To him the boy seemed disrespectful, and it didn't help that the mother would laugh at his antics causing her husband to smile. It was the one reason the grandfather held his tongue, though; his son was happy. That was what really mattered. He would try to get used to his now crazy family, but he never really had the chance.

Not long after Gilbert was born, Ludwig followed. The difference between the boys was at a point where it was almost funny. Ludwig was quiet and reserved from the moment he was born, obviously taking after his father. His parents thought it was cute to see Gilbert dragging Ludwig around trying to get him to be part of his crazy antics.

It was obvious the grandfather preferred the way Ludwig acted to Gilbert. He was more used to the reserved personality. He found it a little odd how close the brothers were, because they were so different. He guessed it was a good thing because they bought out the best in each other. From that moment on he liked Gilbert a little more than before, but they would never get over that awkward strain in their relationship.

Like most people, Gilbert's family only visited their grandpa occasionally so it would take a lot more time to become comfortable. It still became harder with time, because Gilbert knew his grandfather disliked his mother. Gilbert had always been close to his mom. She was the person he was closest with, and he loved her. In his mind, he would even go as far to say he was a full out momma's boy. He couldn't deny it; it was true. He loved his mom. He liked his family, and loved his brother. He never was fond of visiting grandpa, but he would suck it up. He was content with his life and thought everything was great.

Then the crash happened. Gilbert will always remember it: going to the hospital, holding Ludwig, even the pictures of what the car looked like after the crash. It was horrible. The vehicle was destroyed. He had the pictures somewhere. He kept copies of most of the pictures from the report. They were locked away somewhere because he couldn't even get himself to look at them. Stupid car. Stupid, stupid cars.

He had trouble with cars for a while after the incident. As much as he wanted to see his parents again, he didn't want to go like they did. It was a sad time for him. His best friend was gone and all he could do was cry and hope it was a dream. On top of that, he had to live with the person who always disliked his best friend.

He got in a lot of trouble after the incident, too. He refused to listen to anything his grandpa said. He had convinced himself that the old man was happy, that he was glad she was gone. He knew it wasn't true and that he just didn't openly show his sadness, but it felt good to blame someone.

Ludwig handled it a lot better than Gilbert. He was very close to his father, so it still hit him hard, but he was able to recover much faster. He also had better control over his emotions. He was sad, but wouldn't break down like his brother. He was there to calm Gilbert down in those moments when Gilbert let out all his anger at the world and then cried.

Nothing like that had happened in a long while. He always would get a little depressed when thinking about his parents. He spent the majority of his childhood with them, and would feel abandoned when his thoughts went there. He wouldn't let anyone talk to him about it, and still tried to avoid it at all costs. The only person who could really bring it up was Ludwig, since he lost the same thing, and sometimes his grandfather, but the subject was always touchy with him. Gilbert still felt that his grandfather disliked him because he reminded him of his mother sometimes. It probably wasn't true, but he couldn't help his feelings.

"Did you hear anything I said?" His grandfather's voice came from next to him bringing Gilbert out of his thoughts.

"Huh? I zoned out a little, no." The older man looked like he was going to say something, but stopped himself and sighed quietly.

"And how was your day?"

Gilbert replied fast, "fine." His grandfather shifted his weight.

"And how is school going?" Gilbert still didn't move from his spot.

"As good as school could go." The older blond gave him a stern look.

"How are you doing in your classes?" Gilbert tensed a little. Shit.

"Good. I'm doing good," Gilbert lied. The blond pulled a paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and showed Gilbert.

"Do you consider this good?" Gilbert took a glance at the paper. It was his last French test, his failing French test at that. He didn't do too well in his grades last quarter, so he should have expected the old man to try to keep up with how he was doing even with his busy schedule.

Gilbert fumed, "it's not my fault the stupid school makes me take French or Spanish! I'd be doing fine if they offered German!" He didn't know why he yelled. It just happened sometimes. He always felt on a lower scale when around his grandpa.

Gilbert's grandfather remained calm. "Why can't you just study like –"

"Like Ludwig?! I wonder why everyone can't be just like him!"

"Gilbert you know that's not what I –"

"You know what?! I don't care what you think! Go ahead and think of me as a failure because I don't care!" He turned and made his way up the stairs quickly, stomping his feat loudly with each step.

His grandfather took a deep breath to calm his own anger before slowly following after.

Gilbert slammed his door and kicked the walled next to it. He threw a few things across the room angrily before sitting down on his bed and opening his dresser drawer next to it. He peered inside to look at an old family picture he kept there. He didn't notice he was crying until he was having trouble seeing the photograph through his bleared vision.

"Why'd it have to happen?" He whispered the words slowly as he put his head in his hands. He gripped his hair tightly.

"Dammit!" he yelled as he laid back and punched the bed. He stared at the ceiling trying to calm himself. He could hear faint muffling outside his room.

His grandpa was outside about to knock when Ludwig came out of his room across the hall.

"He was thinking about her today," Ludwig spoke up. The older man turned to look at his grandson.

"What?"

"He was thinking about them." He nodded towards Gilbert's door. The older sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"That boy…" he muttered quietly to himself. He took one more look at Gilbert's room before retreating down the stairs.

Ludwig looked at his brother's door for a few more minutes deciding he would give him some time before checking on him.

Gilbert let out a shaky breath as he heard the retreating footsteps. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He hated when people had to see him so weak. It wasn't awesome.

He lay there a few more moments staring at the ceiling to calm himself. After a few moments he felt better, but not enough to get up. His mind started wondering to earlier thoughts.

He couldn't help with wonder if Matthew ever had fights with his parents like this. He seemed too nice, but he had fight in him. He didn't know why he was wondering that, but his thoughts kept getting filled more and more with the indigo eyed boy.

Words were yelled across the dinner table.

"That is totally unfair!" a voice screamed.

A different voice roared back, "it is most certainly is not! You need to learn that you can't pick fights with people like that!"

"But he was doing bad things! He deserved it!"

Matthew smiled lightly from his spot at the table. Turned out Alfred wasn't hanging out with friends today. He had detention after school. Apparently, he punched someone and started a fight. He claimed they were bullying someone, but it was more than likely a misunderstanding. They were probably joking with friends or someone called someone else a name and got punched by a blond with a hero complex.

The yelling started to die down as usual. Things like this weren't an uncommon occurrence in the house. Alfred had a personality that screamed to be free. He never could stay in one place long and always felt the need to break the mold.

It would start with an incident. Proceed with Arthur scolding Alfred. Then, depending on what it was, it might have a few yelling sentences before leaving Alfred pouting. Because Arthur had grounded the American, he was now at the pouting stage.

Matthew never fully understood the pouting. Matthew never did it when he didn't get his way, but then he also wasn't one to fight for it like Al. He still thought his brother looked funny like that though – sitting there with his arms crossed and his lip protruding slightly. He knew his Papa felt the same way about the whole ordeal, too.

"So, Mathieu, how was your day?" Everyone at the table turned to look at him waiting for what he would say. His parents just seemed interested to know, but Alfred seemed to be trying to read something deeper in him.

"It was great," he responded nonchalantly despite meaning his words. Francis cracked a small smile at his words.

"That's great to hear, lad." Matthew gave an uneasy smile noticing his twin still looking at him.

Alfred stared at him a few more seconds before turning back to his plate. His brother seemed to be telling the truth, but that obviously meant it wasn't good before… what happened so great today? He felt like he was missing something big, but he just couldn't figure it out. At least Mattie was happy; that's all that mattered anyways.

Simple talk resumed at the table as they all continued eating. Francis didn't add his thoughts to the conversation as much as he normally would. His mind was occupied elsewhere.

Lately, he couldn't stop thinking about the blades the albino had found in Matthew's room. Though he felt the other would come talk to him if anything was wrong, something didn't seem right about it. Why would he have those there in the first place? He thought back to what Gilbert had told him. His son sitting across from him wouldn't do that. It just didn't make sense.

He found his eyes trailing his son's arms anyways. There was nothing to see but the sleeves of his favorite red hoodie. He wasn't acting like he did something like that… but then again, how would he know exactly how those people act? None of it was making sense. There had to be a reason those blades were there.

Matthew looked up feeling the other looking at him, and gave a shy smile. Francis smiled back before turning to his own food. There had to be a perfectly good reason why they were there. He just knew it.

Ludwig stood in front of his brother's door and took a deep breath. Gilbert had been in there for a while, so he supposed he had calmed down a bit. He opened the door and knocked at the same time entering the room.

Gilbert looked up from his spot on the bed to glance at who came in. After a quick glance he turned back to his opened textbook and homework he was doing.

"East?" Ludwig said. Gilbert paused and looked up at his brother again.

"Hey, West." Ludwig sat down in Gilbert's desk chair backwards so he could lean on it.

"How are you doing?"

Gilbert answered hastily, "fine. Why do you ask?"

"I heard you earlier." The room was silent for a moment.

"…sorry," Gilbert muttered. Ludwig sighed.

"You don't need to apologize. But how are you holding up?" Gilbert turned to sit on the edge of the bed and dangled his feet.

"Okay, I just needed to breath for a moment." Ludwig nodded understanding his older brother's words.

"What are you doing?" Ludwig asked. He nodded towards the papers on the bed. Gilbert turned to look at the papers acknowledging them before responded quietly, "homework."

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. Gilbert usually waited until the last minute to finish any homework. Gilbert saw his question look and gave a small chuckle.

"I know what you're thinking, but good-for-nothings don't do homework." The blond looked at his brother sadly.

"You don't have to prove anything to show you aren't a good-for-nothing." Gilbert gave a dry smile.

"I know, but sometimes I just feel…" Gilbert trailed off. He looked down. It was hard to describe.

"I understand." Luckily, his brother knew what he would say if he could find words and understood how he felt about it all.

Ludwig continued, "you going to be okay?" Gilbert nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna finish my homework and stuff. I'll talk to you later." Ludwig nodded again before getting up.

"Okay, bruder."

Gilbert stood up and stretched his arms after Ludwig left. He felt much better than earlier. He hadn't had a breakdown like that in a long time. At least his younger brother could cheer him up a little.

He walked over to Gilbird's cage and peered inside at the bird cleaning its feathers.

"Hey, bud, don't think I forgot about you today." He opened the cage and Gilbert flew out and around Gilbert's head a few times tweeting.

Gilbert chuckled and then leaned back watching his bird fly about. He took a glance at his homework and bit his lip. He wasn't really just a misfit mess-up, but sometimes he felt that was how others saw him.

He stood there thinking for a few moments. Gilbird came and settled into his hair after tiring from flying about the room. Maybe Ludwig was right. He helped Mattie, and a good-for-nothing doesn't do things like that. He smiled a little thinking of the blond. He seemed to be doing so much better in one day. He seemed genuinely happy, and that smile…

Gilbert ran a hand through his hair deciding maybe he should get back to his homework. He didn't want to end up with a tutor for his grades. He had trouble concentrating, but he managed to get it done. It was surprising. He never finished his work so efficiently before.

He stretched and decided he should get something to eat before heading to bed. He was drained after everything that happened earlier, and he wanted to be able to at least get out of bed tomorrow morning for school.

A/N: I really am sorry for the lateness. I could go on and on about how I had to stay I my aunt's a few days and about school and personal life stuff, but I'll keep it short. A lot had come up in the past few weeks and just hasn't left time for writing. I'm terribly sorry about it because I know it's been about three weeks.

Now would be the time to say, updates will be less frequent. School is killing me right now, and we only just started. Plus my mom is trying to get me into some volunteering thing that I really don't want to do -.- So… I'll be trying to update as fast as possible, but expect every two weeks more often than not. I can't really write at school this year, but I think I could get a chapter done over the weekends, and then when I have days off I'll try to work ahead.

Thank to everyone who reviewed! You guys deserve something awesome (or at least something better than my recent lateness ^^') I love you all!