Entry 1: The Blog of Gilbert Beilschmidt
Gilbert felt tired. Having stayed up most of last night playing Temple Run on his iPod, he hadn't really bothered to get any sleep. He could easily skip his morning classes to sleep in then sneak in after lunch. At least that had been the plan untill Antonio called him up. Apparently his Spanish friend was yet to meet the deadlines of yet another project and needed help to gather six weeks of work in less than one day.
Which seemed such an Antonio thing to do.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a half empty packet of tictacs. Tipping a few into his palm he studded each bean-shaped sweet. Four orange and a lone green. He poured the orange back into the tub and the green into his mouth.
The oranges could fuck off, he liked the greens. Greens were boss.
Gilbert shifted on his feet, on his right to his left. One hand tucked into his hooded jacket pocket and the other was gripping his camera bag tightly. He wasn't in the mood for this, he wanted to go back to bed or even back to class not run around the city taking photographs of trees and phone boxes from artistic angles.
It was Antonio's fault. Fucking prick.
He wasn't even sure why Antonio was taking photography. The guy had ever shown interest in the subject before. For him highschool had been focused on the P.E course and modern languages - he had taken both French and Spanish - and then Food tech. Gilbert had been a little less confused by the last one, he was sure it was just to have a reason to talk to the Vargas boys.
So why had he taken photography? Gilbert didn't know. All the art subjects took up far too much time and Antonio already had to balance out his languages courses; Spanish would be easy since he was already fluent. Maybe Antonio just wanted to take the lesson to keep Gilbert company or something. Gilbert didn't need that. He didn't need laid-back-Antonio dragging him behind; but then there wasn't much else he could do with that could he.
"Oi! Gilbert!" A voice called from across the highstreet. "Oi!"
When Gilbert looked up, his grin changed from annoyance to a smirk. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
Antonio stopped his shouts and all too obvious waving of arms. Which was good as a large number of people had turned to stare at the dramatic display and Gilbert didn't much like the attention it would draw his way. The Spaniard ran across the cobblestones, dodging in and out of bodies to reach his friend. Gilbert kicked off of the wall to meet him half way.
"'ey, you ready then?" He asked, turning the almost empty tictacs packet around in his hand and twisting the straps on his shoulders. His friend gave a quick nod; the two walked down the street trying to figure out what exactly they were going to photograph.
Shit.
Shit.
Sorta good if he put it into macro or cut in down so you couldn't see the pigeon in the way.
Shit.
Good.
Really bad.
Super shit.
Gilbert sighed as he reached he end of the photos, none of them were good. Well some were, but not college standard good. He clicked the off button and placed the cap back over the lens.
Man, Antonio really wasn't cut out for this.
They had spent a total of three hours out in the streets. Apparently Antonio's subject for this year was People and Places, so it should have been easy. Pretty much anything would fit under the category but somehow the boy had still managed to fuck it up.
"So how do they look? Pretty sweet right?" Antonio said, leaning forward on his chair. His hair the colour of rich coffee was curling up a little on one side and his face was married with a large grin that showed off each one of his teeth. In comparison to his beaming friend , Gilbert looked like a drowned rat. Hair as white as snow; each waxy cheek looked like it had been dusted over with chalk. The only colour was the bright red of the iris and the spot of blush covering his cheeks and nose from the cool air outside. If Gilbert could he would trade appearance with his friend. And personality.
Antonio was just an all round pleasant person, Gilbert on the other hand tended to piss all the wrong people off. It wasn't like he did it on purpose, it just happened. Where as Antonio just smiled and sat there bluntly unable to tell if Gilbert comments should be taken as insults or compliments. Thankfully he did the latter.
Gilbert had to be nice. Antonio was his friend after all.
"Cool, just need to edit some. Cut down a couple because they're a little out'a place. Other than that you're good to go." He quickly lied, he didn't feel bad for it. Telling someone like Antonio that they were shit at something was like kicking a puppy or punching a girl. You didn't do it. Well, if you did then you weren't a very nice person that is for sure.
"Yeah, thanks man." Antonio put his camera back into the bag and kicked it under the table. Not giving the item much care; he took a sip of his drink and his returned to same default expression. Constant smile. "Don't know what I would do without ya."
However Gilbert knew that without him, Francis too, Antonio would resort back to his home to eat, sleep, have sex with Lovino, eat, maybe masturbate, think about food or sex - maybe both at the same time.
Francis' would probably have been the same, only with more sex and drinking mixed in.
Without one another the trio probably wouldn't have gotten outside much. They needed each other to find something to do, to pull one another out of the shadows and into the streets to bother people and get drunk. That's what their friendship was. Even today, with Antonio calling him out from what should have been a sleepy morning Gilbert was still glad that he was doing something. Probably not nearly as interesting as some of the things most teenagers would do on the time that they would skip school. Just the two lads sitting together in a dimly lit café as they waited for Francis to arrive and give them something interesting to do. It was getting later in the afternoon so some of the students would come passing through there soon and like them, would sit in the corners drinking coffee and taking advantage of the free wi-fi set up in the café. Student discount was great. Especially in the town centre, even then it seemed this spot was one of the few decent places left around that still seemed somewhat affordable.
The little café wasn't much. All sweet and cosy. The back wall had old chalk boards up with the menus drawn out in pinks and yellows and the shelves bellow with ornamental teacups shaped like roosters and cows. The counters made from a lite colour of wood; a big glass counter to the side filled with cakes and other sugary things. Various seats dotted across the room, aswell as the entire left wall taken up by a staircase to the computer lounge and the right wall was hidden behind framed newspaper cutouts, and the two students had taken the usual spot close to the front windows. A little booth made up of tattered sofas and a posh leather armchair. Nothing in the café quite fit together, perhaps that was why they liked it.
The silence was broken by the beeping of Antonio's phone, he felt about in the pockets for it before tugging it from the breast pocket of his jacket. He cheeked the screen, "Lovino."
"Ah, of course it is." Gilbert said. "What does he want?"
Antonio ignored him. Too intrigued with his boyfriends texts. Was Lovino his boyfriend? Gilbert paid enough attention to his friend to know that the two had slept together on more than one occasion, they certainly spent a lot of time together. But that didn't seem like enough to make the two boyfriends.
Maybe it as casual, that would explain why Lovino was always so pissed about Antonio's public affection, but then why would he be calling? Unless he and Antonio were going to hook up.
Gilbert instantly felt awkward.
It wasn't like he had anything wrong with people being gay, not at all, he just didn't much ike it being there. Right in front of him. Which seemed unfortunate because he was friends with two of the most openly affectionate people at his college.
Gilbert was broke from his thoughts when Antonio laughed. He glanced up, to see the boy tossing his phone into the same bag as his camera. It missed and clattered against the floor. Antonio didn't pick it up but instead pulled his feet up to rest on the table. "Lovino just got off, meeting us here then we're heading out."
Gilbert cringed. "Perfect." It was a well known fact that Lovino Vargas didn't like Gilbert. Or his brother for that matter. Gilbert couldn't be sure why, as far as he knew he had ever done anything to upset the guy.
Apart from exist.
Antonio raised a brow, "You staying?"
"Nah, I got stuff to do." He lied with a quick sip of his coffee. The lack of plans Gilbert had made for the day suddenly reminded Gilbert of how lonely he actually was. Antonio would be off doing God knows what with Lovino Vargas and he hadn't the faintest clue where Francis was. Maybe he would go home. From what he remembered Ludwig got home from school in about an hour and he would usually have a friend over - it would take Gilbert about the same amount of time if he got off the bus sooner and went to get a takeaway - so he could spend the rest of his evening bothering them.
Gilbert ran his hand through his hair and he leant back in his chair. Across the room a few people were chatting quietly to themselves and a brief noise and clatter from the kitchen acted as background noise to Antonio's phone clicking. Despite sitting only a few metres away from his best friend, Gilbert still felt very alone.
Then the little wind chimes above the door knocked about and clattered a song to alert that people were entering. Then just by luck it was several groups of kids from his college. Some he didn't recognise merged in with some he did. A few couples, walking close together or holding hands as they chatted quietly, and then several in large groups.
Ivan Braginski and his friends, if you could call them that, they seemed to be just close acquaintances who were too scared to leave his side for better company, remained close by the door for a few minuets. Eduard (Gilbert was only a little sure of his name, he only knew the guy from his media class) was helping Katyusha remove her coat and Toris chatted quietly to the flamboyant Polish lad in a bright pink and yellow stripped jumper. The German boys gaze may have lingered for a short while at Ivan's elder sisters chest but he tried to look anywhere else when the Russian looked over in his direction. Gilbert tried his best to stay clear of the eastern Europeans, some of them were just plain bonkers. They lingered in the door way untill someone pushed past roughly.
"Move goddamnit!"
Antonio looked up at the voice. "Ah, hey Lovino!" He called out to the pusher. Lovino Vargas, caught somewhere between Toris' arm and Katyusha's breast area - which in Gilbert's, and possibly every other straight guy in their college, wasn't a bad place to be caught - then gave one last push before he tumbled forwards into several chairs. He turned back to mutter at the group before he walked over to where Antonio and Gilbert sat. A smile, however brief it was, lingered on his face before he noticed the white-haired boy. Then his expression turned to a cold glare.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" The Italian boy shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it onto the arm rest next to Antonio. He pushed past the tangle of camera bags and legs to sit down.
"Well that's rude." Gilbert said. He lifted his coffee from the table and tried to ignore the way it scorched his skin a little. "I was here first, doesn't matter anyway. I'll be gone soon."
"Hmm." Lovino frowned, not noticing Antonio shift closer to him.
The chimes ring again and more people rush on in to the café. Either going directly to seats or straying behind fora moment to decide. Gilbert watches each one of them and when he turns back to his friends, he finds Lovino Vargas staring at the ground as Antonio cuddled in closer.
Gilbert instantly felt awkward.
"I gotta go." He says, he puts his cup down with too much force and some of the remaining coffee spills over the side. Grabbing his jacket and his camera bag from the floor he leaves the internet café in a hurry. Not even bothering to say goodbye to his friends.
Watching Feliciano Vargas think about answer science questions was funny, Gilbert had decided. The look of confusion crossing his features, he would tilt his head to one side like a puppy when you pretend to throw the ball and it cannot figure out where it went, and bite his lip in a panic. "Er, the waves bend when traveling ... er, changes of ... density?"
Wrong. Even Gilbert knew that. Fuck, this boy was thick.
"That is refraction." Kiku Honda said, not looking up from the text book in his lap. He had t open on the answers page but Gilbert doubted he really needed to check. The boy was smart, he probably knew it all already.
Feliciano's face dropped a little, "Oh. I thought that was the mirror thing."
"By 'mirror thing' I will assume you mean reflection."
"Yeah that one!" Feliciano smiled and sat up straight. He looked proud of himself. "See, I know it. I am ready for the test."
Gilbert tried not to laugh, how can someone be this stupid - let us ignore the fact that Gilbert himself failed two out of three of his science exams and only just about managed to pass on his resit. He looked away from the studying teenagers and back to his laptop screen, Francis was takeing a long time to reply to his message. Dick.
"You still haven't answered the question." Ludwig stated, the blonde pushed his glasses a little higher up his nose. "Diffraction is waves spreading out as they go through a gap."
That had Feliciano even more confused. "But Kiku said that was called reflection." He paused, the young Italian picked up a piece of paper with a large and very messy spider diagram on the front. He glanced it over, "Wait, what is refraction?"
Ludwig groaned and threw his head back against the arm rest of the sofa and Gilbert began to laugh, unable to keep it to himself any longer. It was clear that Feliciano wasn't going to be passing his physics exams anytime soon. Even after just hearing the correct answer he was still getting it confused. During his own tests Gilbert had used the excuse several times that English wasn't his first language. It had only worked on the Subs but he got away with it some days. Simple by stretching out his accent and pleading that no other student give him away - which most of them did anyway - he was excused from text books work.
Maybe Feliciano could try to do that. He looked down at his brother and his friends. When Gilbert had returned home the three where trying to revise for a test tomorrow, of course Ludwig had been revising since they were first told, it seemed that Kiku was doing okay but Feliciano hadn't seen need to study. Too bad he was friends with Ludwig. Three were all seated in the Beilschmidt's living room, text books open and spilled out across the rug. Gilbert was there because he was Gilbert and if someone was busy doing something and they defiantly didn't need his help he had to be there to inconvenience them in any way possible. Ludwig wasn't impressed.
After Kiku explained the difference for what seemed like the hundredth time, Feliciano claimed he could remember.
Until, "I still think they are the same thing."
"No, radio waves diffract into gaps but micro waves do not. They don't do the same thing so fit under different categories." Gilbert spoke up, he poked his pale face over the top of his laptop.
"Really?"
"I think so." He replied.
Ludwig said, "I wouldn't trust his words he failed his physics resit twice." He began to pack away several books into his rucksack, the others took the message to do the same. "Dad was pissed."
"Fuck off you little fag!" Gilbert growled as he kicked his brother, he was still kneeling on the floor, in the ribs sending him into the coffee table. In his moment of boastful achievement he didn't notice his brothers flinch or the looks shared between either of the friends. So he obviously hadn't told him.
When Feliciano Vargas had placed the last book into his school bag he turned to Ludwig. "Say, um, Ludwig?" The German boy looked up, Feliciano was smiling at him in a way that made his head spin a little and his stomach roll a little. "My Grandpa said it was nice meeting you last time, he wanted to know if you wanted to come over again this saturday? We're having pasta!"
"I uh-" Ludwig was blushing, which was odd because he almost never blushed. Gilbert snorted, rather loudly.
"Shut up, Gilbert!" He through a cushion at his elder brother and turned to lead his friends out of the house. He would probably go straight up to his bedroom after this, stay there untill dinner then storm back up there after having another fight with Gilbert then. He still avoided Feliciano's question.
A little duh-dum noise came from Gilbert laptop, when he looked down Francis had replied.
Just random nonsense. Some French mixed into the message and Gilbert gave up on reading half of it. Chatting with the French boy sometimes just took up too much time and effort. He only paid attention to the last half.
U coming out 2night?
Was he coming out tonight? It wasn't like he had any other plans. His brother already in a pissy mood with him and when his dad returned home he was sure he would also have nothing to say to him. He had nothing to do, it wasn't like he had a girlfriend he could disappoint by canceling a date or any other friends asking him to come out.
Still, he didn't feel like going out.
He replied anyway, a quick yes and asking for times and places, before even then Francis abandoned him to an empty inbox. No one wanted to talk to him, but that was alright. He was good with being alone.
He clicked the refresh button, it wasn't like he was expecting a new email or anything. He was just making sure. Imagine his surprise when he saw he had mail.
Even if it was from Tumblr. He clicked the icon, just asking for verification or some crap it brought him to his ... account.
He looked over the screen, playing about with his name and Avatar and the theme. Gilbert hated to admit it but he was actually having fun with this whole Blog thing. Even though he hadn't actually blogged anything yet.
Gilbert looked around, the house was silent. Ludwig wouldn't bother to come out of his bedroom unless needed or for food. His dad wouldn't be home for hours. He had literally nothing else to do, so why not?
- Entry 1: The Blog of Gilbert Beilschmidt -
That seemed like a good way to start it. He quickly checked the time, 6 o'clock - there was still plenty of time before he had to leave for Francis' house - and let his fingers glide over the keys.
This was going to be the most awesome blog ever.