"-and the deal was that the winner was going to pick the activities for today!" shouted Gilbert as he and Dominik sat at a bar. "I thought you were a man of your word!"

"I am but…your mutter wanted to go dress shopping and well…" he trailed off scratching the back of his head. "She terrifies me…."

They both stood in silence before they both shuttered at a memory "yea I don't blame you" Said Gilbert taking a sip from his beer.

"Well son there's something I want to talk to you about" Gilbert raised an eyebrow in confusion towards his father's sudden attitude change. His eyes widened when he saw him pull out an iron cross from under his shirt that hung around his neck.

"SIND SIE ERNST!?" Gilbert shouted as his face lit up like a child's.

"do you remember when you were little and you wanted me to give it to you?" he asked and Gilbert nodded.

"Of course I do, but you never let me have it"

"This iron cross, and the one your mutter has, once belonged to your Grandparents" he began explaining but was interrupted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa hold on…shouldn't you had told me this when I was sixteen like In all those movies where the main character discovers a disturbing or dramatic past?"

"Shut up and listen!" said Dominik "The only way to get one is if you were part of the military, your grandfather gave this one to me and your grandmother gave hers to your mother."

"I though they didn't allow women in the military" interrupted Gilbert again.

"Shut up that's a different story….anyways they gave them to us when we got married and I guess it's too early for that but…" He took of the cross and handed it to Gilbert. "I like this girl and so does your mother, I'm sure you made an awesome choice."

Gilbert looked at the cross for a moment, then smiled. He hung it around his neck and turned back to Dominik "I guess I did, didn't I?"

"I'll tell you mother when we get back to the hotel so you can give the other to Madeline.

"Yea…I give it to him when we are done with diner…" Shit thought Gilbert.

"Wait, what?

"What, what?" said Gilbert trying to hide it.

"You said him"

"No I didn't…I said her"

"I'm pretty sure you said him"

"You probably heard wrong"

Dominik stayed silent, then went back to sipping his beer "I guess your right…I'm getting old" Gilbert laughed then turned his head and let out a sigh of relief.

oooooOOOOOooooo

Once Gilbert and Dominik met up with the girls again who were carrying a hundred or so bags (or at least in the guys' perspective) they headed back to the hotel to get ready for diner. The guys headed back to Gilbert's room while Brigitte dragged Mathew into hers. After a couple of minutes Gilbert and Dominik where waiting outside the door with an inpatient look. Dominik was leaning against the wall while Gilbert was laying on the ground with his arms stretched out to his sides.

"MEIN GOTT!" grunted Gilbert "why are they taking so long!"

"Gilbert get up you're a 21-year-old-man and you're acting like a four-year old"

"Uuuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!" Gilbert grunted again ignoring his father's comment. He was going to continue grunting until the girls came out. "UUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Mein gott shut up Gilbert!" Yelled Brigitte as she walked out of the room making him stand up quickly. "I swear men have no patience"

"At least we can get ready in under five minutes…" mumbled Gilbert under his breath.

"Madeline! Hurry up and get out here!" said Brigitte in a really sweet voice.

"Uh…n-no thanks, you guys can go ahead…" Said Mathew behind the door. Brigitte rolled her eyes

"Madeline come on you look great! Gilbert tell your girlfriend she looks beautiful"

"Birdie come on, I bet you look great!" said Gilbert earning a glare from her "Umm….I bet you look beautiful"

Mathew came out slowly wearing that dreaded red dress with his hair to the side with the white flower next to his ear.

"Good girl, now let's get going!" said Brigitte walking away with Dominik. Gilbert and Mathew stayed still looking eye to eye until Mathew broke the silence.

"I look ridiculous don't I" he said scratching his head.

"N-no…you just look different…" he said awkwardly "I'm just not used to you wearing makeup"

"Shut up" he said punching his shoulder while Gilbert laughed.

Once they got to the restaurant Mathew had to ignore the urge to rub his eyes with his fists every few minutes. Thankfully Gilbert was more than a distraction so it helped not think about it. When their meals were finished they heard that the music changed and that people started getting up to dance.

"NOW YOU'RE TALKING!" said Dominik practically standing on his chair. "Let's go dance liebe!"

"I think I'll sit out on this one" she said sweetly.

"Well then I guess I'll dance with Madeline then" he said standing up.

"W-what? N-no, no…I-I can't dance…" he said but was dragged away by the German anyways.

Gilbert watched in amusement as his friend was forced into the dance floor. He felt awkward at first and it showed but eventually the German's attitude and energy influenced Mathew and he began to dance more freely.

"Birdie you liar…you do know how to dance." Gilbert said to himself.

"So know that those two are gone" said Brigitte scooting closer to her son. "Your father gave you the iron cross, did he not?

"Yea, and he told me that you were gonna give me another one" Brigitte giggled and unlatched the cross that was hanging from her neck giving it Gilbert. "So you guys are serious?

"Of course we are serious, we both think Madeline is a wonderful person!" she said looking over at where Mathew and Dominik were dancing. "We think you did a great choice"

Gilbert smiled and stood up holding out his hand "Come on…let's show them what dancing really is!"

oooooOOOOOooooo

"I'm beat!" said Gilbert as he threw himself on the bed where Mathew was trying to get comfortable only to get his plans ruin by the albino.

"UGH, Gill…I'm trying to sleep" she said covering himself up to his neck.

"Why are you so tired birdie?"

"You try being a girl, see how you like it"

"Meh…my parents really like you by the way" he said finally staying still "just letting you know"

Mathew's eyes snapped open…then they narrowed again. "No…they like Madeline…not me"

Gilbert looked at him with a confused expression "what do you mean?"

"They can't like me if they don't know who I am" he said with a little more anger that he intended.

"Ok now you're just being stupid"

"Oh am i? "He said getting up "Because they know Madeline, but somehow they know nothing about your best friend!

"Birdie chill, you're acting as if we're married or something" he said sitting up as well and trying to calm him down.

"That's not the point Gilbert. I'm your best friend, in fact I'm one of your only friends but somehow you don't think that's something to talk about"

"Ok yea I haven't told them about you but I have a good reason" he said in a defensive matter.

"It's because I'm gay isn't it?" he said with a look mixed with anger and hurt.

"What? No….well that's kind of the problem" he said making Mathew frown more. He got of the bed and pulled a hoodie over his head. "No, no, no hold on…I don't mean that I'm embarrassed by it! Dude where are you going!"

"Just forget it Gilbert!" he said walking out the door. Gilbert fell off the bed as he was trying to get to his friend.

He stumbled in the hallway trying to catch up to the Canadian and losing him a couple of times I the process. He finally caught up to him but by the time they were already outside.

"Birdie you can't ignore me forever." He said walking right behind the Canadian who said nothing. "Birdie c'mon I'm not embarrassed I swear"

"Well then why else would you hide it then?"

"Because if I didn't I wouldn't be able to see you anymore!" yelled Gilbert causing the other to go silent in shock.

"Gil what are you talking about" he finally said.

"I told you my parent grew up with very strict families…I don't know what they would do if I told them that someone like you was my friend"

"Gil…" said Mathew a little more softly "you aren't 16 anymore…don't you think you can make your own decisions now?

"I know but…when I moved to Canada 3 years ago…I was still terrified of them so when I met you I didn't tell them about it…but later I thought, well I haven't told them I three years so what's the point in risking it now? "He said with a hint of fear in his voice. "I already lost my brother, I don't want to lose my best friend because of it too"

They both stayed quiet looking at the ground hearing only the waves crashing on the sand until Gilbert broke the silence.

"I haven't seen him in six years" he said in a really quiet voice "it wasn't fair what happened…we were at the table eating diner when he finally came home. I could see that he was nervous about something. He stood in front of my dad and he simply said…dad, I'm gay" Gilbert paused for a moment then continued.

"Of course it didn't end well…he was only 14 when that happened so dad said it was just a phase he was going through. But when he kept denying it they eventually started beating him." Gilbert said as his voice showed more fear than before. "I could hear him every time it happened but I couldn't do anything. They kept him locked in his room and wouldn't let him come out and once he became old enough they sent him to military school. They aren't bad parents…they juts grew up in a very strict family"

Mathew didn't say anything for a while, both he and Gilbert stared at the ground until Mathew finally spoke.

"I'm sorry" he said. Gilbert lifted his head in surprise "I overreacted for no reason but…it kind of hurt…"

Mathew sat down on the sand and soon enough Gilbert did the same.

"It doesn't matter anymore" said Gilbert "you're still my best friend and that's all that counts"

Mathew smiled but felt a pain in his chest. 'Best friend' he didn't know why that word seemed so terrible but he tried to ignore it "I'm glad I met you Gil"

"…how did we meet again?"

Mathew laughed. He remembered that day perfectly. He remembered walking outside his door and seeing a person (or what little you could see) behind a big box he was carrying. He lost his balanced but thanks to Mathew he was able to regain his posture.

"You ok?" said Mathew.

"Yea thanks dude" said the guy popping his head from the side of the box revealing a head full of white hair and red eyes. At that time Mathew thought nothing about it but if he really thought about it he was quite shocked.

"Do you need any more help?" Mathew asked politely.

"Yea sure, I could use some help" so Mathew helped Gilbert move in to the apartment that was right in front of his.

They went back down stairs to get one last thing when he noticed Gilbert getting distracted by a girl that was walking by. Once Gilbert noticed Mathew staring in that general direction as well he said.

"Back off dude I saw her first!" Mathew laughed.

"Relax I'm gay so you have no competition" He said as he got the last few things out of Gilbert's truck and handed some to him when he noticed that Gilbert had gone quiet. He laughed "Don't worry I'm not going to rape you or anything…you aren't my type"

"psshhhh, you just can't handle my awesomeness…" said Gilbert getting one of the boxes from Mathew's arms.

"Whatever floats your boat…" he said going up the stairs.

Once they got to Gilbert apartment Gilbert thanked him as he set the last box down.

"No problem" he said with a smile "if you ever need anything fell free to knock on my door"

"Sure thing…oh and I'm Gilbert by the way"

"I'm Mathew"

"That name doesn't fit you" he said simply as Mathew raised an eyebrow. "I'm gonna call you birdie instead"

Gilbert laughed at the memory while Mathew frowned.

"Sheesh you are horrible at nicknames Gil"

"Yea but you never complained about it so it doesn't matter" He said still laughing. Mathew stood up without the albino noticing and suddenly found himself with a face full of sand and a Laughing Canadian.

"Oh it's on!"

The two of them kept throwing sand balls at each other as if it was snow. Gilbert was losing so far as Mathew was a smaller target (or at least In Gilbert's defense).

"HEY THAT LAST ONE HAD A ROCK!" yelled Gilbert as he tried to catch the now runaway Canadian. Once he did catch him. They both lost their balanced and ended up with the albino lying on his back in the sand and the blonde on top of him, both laughing.

"That was fun, let's do it again" said Gilbert. He noticed, however that Mathew didn't respond so he lifted his head to see that the Canadian was falling asleep. "Birdie are you tired?

Mathew only nodded. Gilbert sat up forcing Mathew to sit up as well. "Let's get back to the room" he said but the Canadian grunted.

"I don't wanna walk…" said Mathew as he was falling asleep.

"Well then how else are you gonna get to the room?"

"Carry me" he said looking at Gilbert with half lilted eyes. Gilbert sighed but carried him on his back anyways.

"The things you make me do…" he said but Mathew was already asleep. When they got to the room Gilbert set him down on the bed and tucked him also removing his glasses.

"Oh I forgot to give him the cross…" he said to himself in a whisper. "I guess I'll give it to him tomorrow"

LOOOOOOONG CHAPTER! Hey people Duckling here QUACK! Like a promised, I updated quicker and this was a loooooooooooooooooong chapter so IT'S A NEW (personal) RECORD! *applause* anyways so now you know what happened to Ludwig… oh but fear not my little ducklings, Mama promises that's not the last of him. SO! I hope this makes up for making you guys wait so long. DUCKING OUT QUACK!

translations:

(German)

mutter- mother (you guys should know this)

SIND SIE ERNST!?- ARE YOU SERIOUS!?

MEIN GOTT!- MY GOD!