Hey, I'm back. Sorry this took a whole week, I've been ridiculously busy.

This chapter is a bit angsty and I'm super sorry about that. It wasn't intentional because I planned on having a happy chapter after the evilness that I left off with last time, but oh well. It is also fantastically humorous (in my mind), so hopefully that makes up for it. I promise great things will happen in the next one.

Also- I switched to Matthew's point of view for one section, and Tino's for another, but they're labeled, so it should be pretty clear.

Anyways, enjoy.

Monday, June 21st. 12:25 p.m. Galante Household.

I sat on the couch with the phone in my hand, deep in heavy contemplation. I had gone through the weekend with a thin, bitter hope that Eduard would still call me. I knew it was unlikely, but then at the same time, of course he would call. Eduard always called. He never failed to.

Bu then again… the last time we had spoken he had hung up on me. To him, I was probably just some pathetic, creepy little stalker kid. He probably never wanted to see me again. Now that he had an excuse to avoid me, I would never hear his voice again.

Rrriinnngg!

I stared at the phone in shock.

What the heck?

Rrriinnngg!

Quickly drying the tears I hadn't noticed accumulating in the corners of my eyes, I pressed the Talk button.

"H-hello?"

"Hey, Raivis!"

"Eduard? What are you- why are you calling? I had assumed you would stop once Tino answered your survey!"

"Well, yeah, but… yeah, no, you're right. I forgot. I won't be bothering you anymore." Eduard's voice was suddenly cold, and I shivered. "Goodbye, Raivis."

And there was silence.

Saturday, June 26th. 12:00 p.m. Galante Household.

"Hey Raivis, why are you being so much weirder than usual? I mean, normally you're quiet, but now you're really quiet. And you keep carrying that phone around. Did you start a relationship with it or something? I wouldn't put it past you." Peter commented bluntly.

"N-no, of course not!" I protested weakly. Peter stared at me in surprise.

"You mean you did start a relationship with your phone?"

"No! I didn't!"

"Oh. So then you started a relationship with someone over the phone?"

"Why do you keep assuming I started a relationship?" I exclaimed, exasperated.

"You didn't deny it. And last time you acted like this it was because Toris started dating Feliks and therefore spending less time with you. I already asked him, and he said that nothing has happened on his side. That means you're lacking attention from some other corner (since it's most certainly not mine). That leads to some significant other- but if it's a lack of attention, then you have broken up with her. However, it's more likely that you were dumped by her since you are keeping the phone with you, waiting for her to call you back."

"Him." I corrected sullenly, completely ignoring the fact that Peter had just spit out a pretty good in-depth analysis of my life, which meant he actually paid attention to me so maybe he really was my friend. I preferred the theory that he was just some creepy stalker kid.

Not that I could really talk.

At all.

Maybe I'd be nicer to Peter in the future.

Anyways.

"Him? What? Hah, you're gay?! That's awesome! Come on man, tell me all about it!" I sighed. There was the normal Peter again. There was no getting around him.

"We were never actually in a relationship." I began, only to be interrupted (once again) by Peter.

"But you wanted to be, right?"

"Well, yeah, of course. He's perfect." It's funny how with each passing moment I realize just how deep in I am.

"Really? What's he look like?" I paused, then blushed and looked away. After a moment, Peter understood.

"What?! You haven't even met him and you're pining over him? What the heck, Raivis? That's downright pitiful!"

"I know, I know." I grumbled. "You don't have to tell me. Now will you let me tell the story?"

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead." Peter urged. I groaned.

"Well… his name is Eduard. He works at Louisiana Tech and called the house for a survey. I didn't fit the age group for the survey so he said he would call back the next day. Of course, I was never the right age group, but he had to keep calling, and we started talking. We only talked for about two weeks, but I can't help myself.

"On Friday, he called, like he always does. But… this time Tino was there with you and Berwald, and he answered the phone. Apparently he is friends with Eduard. Anyways, Tino took the survey, so Eduard didn't have a reason to call anymore. He called on Monday, but he hung up when he realized he no longer had obligations to contact me."

"Well. That really sucks."

Summer passed in a strange manner. Peter and I actually became pretty close. Instead of ignoring him as I always had, I began listening to what Peter had to say. It turned out that the kid was really pretty intelligent for his age. To be honest, we had a lot of fun together in that remaining month.

But nothing could really keep my mind off Eduard. It was all too common for me to trail off and get lost in my own little world. Peter did his best to keep me distracted, but we both knew he was failing.

Peter returned to his dad's house at the end of July, as he only stayed with his uncle (Berwald) for the summer.

School began with the second week of August. I ended up meeting Matthew, who was Peter's cousin. We ran into each other while hiding in the library, both trying to avoid getting trampled, seeing as we were both largely invisible to the majority of the school population.

It was the first weekend after school started and we already had an AP World History test. Matthew had suggested we get together after school to study. I had agreed, and offered my house as a host location.

However, when we stepped off my bus and walked into the house, Peter was there to greet us.

"Hey Raivis! Oh, and hey, Matthew!" Peter greeted excitedly, his eyes wide. "Wait… are you guys friends?"

"Um… yeah?" I replied cautiously. Matthew smiled and nodded. Peter squealed loudly and ran out the door. We both stared after him, thoroughly bewildered. "Should I be worried about him?" I finally asked.

"No. He'll just call Berwald and have him pick 'em up. Peter's staying at my house for the weekend." Matthew said.

"I was talking about his sanity, but that works too."

"Now, shall we get started?"

Friday, August 6th. 7:00 p.m. Oxenstierna Household. Matthew's POV.

"W'lc'me home, Matt. D'nner's on tha t'ble." Berwald greeted. I smiled at my older brother and helped myself to the food.

"Thanks, Ber." I said quietly.

"...'ow w's your date?" he grunted. I rolled my eyes.

"It wasn't a date. Raivis and I were just studying." Honestly, every time I made a friend he assumed we liked each other. Just because that's how it was for him and Tino didn't mean that's how it was for me. Besides, Raivis was too cute for me to be attracted to him. If I ever dated, I would have to be the cute one in the relationship.

"Oh." Berwald grunted in disappointment.

"Hey hey hey are you guys talking about Raivis? I need to talk to you about Raivis!" Peter exclaimed, barreling into the room, hyper as ever.

"Oh?" I questioned softly.

"Yeah, I do!" he continued, "So, apparently, over the summer, Raivis fell in love with this surveyor named Eduard on the phone. Raivis never took the survey so they talked every day. But then one day, Tino was around, so he got the phone and answered it. So then Eduard and Raivis no longer had an excuse to talk so Eduard stopped calling and now Raivis is heartbroken. I've been trying to figure out how to fix it, but since you're his friend now too, you can help me." I blinked, quickly processing the information.

"Um… alright. Give me a minute. I think I may have an idea." I said, and Peter nodded. I sighed. Hmm…

I had worked as a summer intern relaying surveys once. I had gotten fired after a couple weeks into when the manager got frustrated with how soft-spoken I was (and still am), but I had been around long enough to understand how it worked.

Generally, the rule was that if you had called every day for a week and it was clear that there would never be someone available to survey, then you were supposed to stop calling.

"Do you know how long they talked?" I asked.

"Something like two weeks. I don't know how long they spent on the phone each day, if that's what you're asking." Peter replied. I nodded.

So if Eduard had called Raivis for two weeks then it was most likely that he was ignoring the typical policy in order to do so. Eduard probably liked Raivis back, at least as a friend if nothing else. The fact that he had stopped calling the way he had meant that there was probably some sort of misunderstanding between him and Raivis, but I couldn't ask Raivis without him getting suspicious, and I couldn't really talk to Eduard, since I didn't actually know him. But Tino did.

"Hey Berwald, is Tino coming over for dinner tonight?" I wondered. Berwald had been listening to the conversation, so he probably knew where I was going with this.

"No. He's drinkin' wi' Eduard t'night. He'll be here t'morr'w, though." Berwald explained. I smiled.

"That's even better."

Friday, August 6th. 8:30 p.m. Väinämöinen Household. Tino's POV.

"Tino, I don't know what I'm doing with my life." Eduard announced tiredly. I glanced around at the various vodka glasses around us in order to hide my vaguely evil smile. He had finally consumed enough alcohol to loosen his tongue so I could find out what had been bothering him! I mean, we never really got drunk- I didn't think it was possible to be honest, but we did usually get a little tipsy. It was just yet another reason that we always drank at each other's houses, instead of at a bar- that and the fact that we were both still underage.

"What do you mean, Eduard? I thought you had your major planned out since like 7th grade!" I exclaimed. Please please please make him tell me. I wanted to know!

"I'm so lonely." What was he talking about? Oooh was he having love issues? I resisted the urge to clap my hands like a giddy child. Gosh, it was all just so exciting!

"But I thought I was your friend!" I cried, letting out a few crocodile tears. Eduard only smiled, all too used to my antics.

"You know you are. I just…"

"You just what?" I demanded.

"I met this guy." Ooh goody it's practically Christmas! I had been waiting for Eduard to admit that he was gay for the longest time and now he's found a boyfriend without my help?

"Eduard! I'm so happy! Good job! Congratulations! This is so exciting!" I squealed, tackling him in a hug. "Hey, do you think you guys could go on double dates with me and Berwald? We tried going with Lukas and Emil, but they don't talk very much and it's almost as if they're not there." I whined.

"T-Tino! W-we're not going out!"

"What?" I widened my eyes, trying to look as innocent as possible even as the plans for Eduard's future raced into gear. "Who's not going out? And hey, do you bottom? I need to know who will be wearing the wedding dress. You'd look pretty in a dress, did you know that, Eduard? Oooh, or you could just both wear a dress. I mean, of course, you could also both wear tuxes, but where's the fun in that? And for colors, we'll have white- we have to stick to some tradition- and dark blue for you, and maybe some maroon to compliment it? Oh, I don't know! There's so many things to decide! Eduard, say something! This is your wedding!" I exclaimed.

"TINO!"

"What?" I squeaked, settling back into my chair. Eduard's face was bright red, and I couldn't tell if he was angry or embarrassed. Maybe it was both.

"Nobody. Is. Getting. Married! Do you understand?"

"Why not? I thought you said you met this guy and you fell in love with him and you went on a couple dates with him and then you proposed and now you're getting married?" Sometimes it was so hard to understand Eduard. How could I have possibly misunderstood a statement like that?

"No, Tino. I said I met a guy. That's it." Oh. Well that's too bad. Oh well. I wasn't going to scrap my plans just because Eduard got all huffy about it. I would just have to fit Eduard's life into my plans. I would make him fall in love with this guy, I would make him go out with him, and I would make him propose. And by golly, this guy's favorite color had better be maroon.

"You're such a party pooper." I grumbled. Eduard laughed.

"Do you want to hear about it or not?"

"No! No no no I'll be good I promise I'll listen!"

"Alright. Well. I met this guy. Kinda. At least, I talked to him on the phone. I've never actually met him. Anyways, I had called to survey him for Louisiana Tech."

"Which you didn't tell me you had a job at, thanks very much best friend." I grouched. Eduard raised an eyebrow at me. "Sorry I'm sorry you're right I said I wouldn't interrupt I'm sorry please don't stop telling the story go on Eduard."

"He was a… strange kid, to say the least."

"Kid? Since when are you a pedophile?"

"Tino, would you please just shut up and let me speak?"

"Okei, okei I'm sorry!"

"But, he was more interesting than anyone I ever seemed to talk to. Within a couple days, I had started looking forward to speaking with him. It was weird, because I would think about him, but I had no image to associate with him. It didn't really matter though. Just his personality was enough.

"Anyways, we talked for maybe two weeks? I'm not sure. And then someone was at his house and answered the phone for him. I'm pretty sure he asked them to, so that he wouldn't have to talk to me anymore. I had thought that he liked me, and I adore him, so I called back the next Monday anyways. But… I was wrong. The way he spoke- it was clear he was hoping that I wouldn't call back. So I hung up. And I haven't heard from him since."

"But but but that can't be right!" I protested. "Surely you just misunderstood him! You have to call him again, and see! He can't call you, so you have to do it!"

"I can't, though. I… I don't think I'd be able to handle it if I was right- if he rejected me again."

I honestly love writing Matthew and Tino. They're both perfect in their own way.

Anyways, I apologize for any OOC-ness. My sister said everything was accurate, but she doesn't know anything, so yeah.