A/N: This is the chapter where PruCan happens. Get ready, it's here.

Enjoy!

THUD!

"Shit, ow!" Gilbert exclaimed, awaking from his impromptu nap to find himself laying on his floor. He was in an uncomfortable position; part of one leg still on his bed and the rest of him sprawled on the ground, legs wrapped in his blanket. He stood and hopped around, trying to untangle himself from his quilt prison. Ten minutes later, he emerged from his room, victorious.

He walked down the short hall leading from his bedroom to the living room, spotting Kiku and Alfred on the couch, watching some cartoon... maybe Pokemon? Kiku looked up when he heard footsteps, and seemed surprised when he saw Gilbert enter the room.

"Alfred! I thought your roommate already left for his concert, but he's still here?" He said in a hushed voice to his friend, looking extremely concerned. Alfred didn't look away from the screen, and told Kiku, "He did! There's no way he'd forget to leave early; if he was still here he'd be an idiot! There's no way he could make it in time to set up the stage and stuff if he left now!"

Kiku looked back at Gilbert, wondering if he should forcibly turn Alfred's head so he would see that his roommate had not left yet. Gilbert frantically shook his head, placing a finger to his lips in a "shush" gesture. He then silently crept towards the door, opening the closet to take out his jacket and car keys, before dashing out the door and slamming it behind him with a bang.

Alfred whipped his head around at the noise, looking at Kiku and practically shouting, "Bro, what the hell was that?!"

Kiku faltered, trying to think of a response that didn't involve Gilbert- the man scared him, and he didn't want to imagine what would happen if he found out that Kiku had told Alfred about his punctuality- or rather, lack thereof. "Um..." He said, racking his brain for a plausible excuse. "Maybe it was a mouse?"

Alfred's eyes widened, mouth agape. "Seriously, dude?! That's one huge freakin' mouse, I should call an exterminator!"

Kiku waved his hands frantically in an attempt to convey that no, he should definitely not call an exterminator. "I apologize, I misspoke- it was surely a neighbor that slammed their door rather loudly."

The American calmed visibly, sinking back down into the chair. "Whew, that's good! I hate mice, they freak me out! I don't trust their faces." His friend eyed him oddly for a moment, before he gasped in realization and tugged on Alfred's sleeve. "Alfred, your brother, we have to pick him up before Gilbert-san's concert!"

"My brother...? Oh my god, Mattie, he's probably waiting! We have to go like, pronto, dude!"

"I agree. It is rather rude to keep him waiting. Shall we be on our way, then?"

Meanwhile, Gilbert had already arrived at the bar, and was met with another set of obstacles- half of his band wasn't even there yet. Feliks was the only one there, and he insisted upon introducing Gilbert to the bar's staff- particularly, his boyfriend. He agreed, but only after he'd had a... chat with Francis and Antonio.

Impatiently Gilbert tapped his foot, listening to the drone of the dialing tone as he waited for Francis to pick up. He heard a click, and at that moment began his bitter tirade.

"Where the hell are you? Where's Antonio? We play in less than two hours, I need your asses here, now!"

"Mon ami, I am so terribly sorry! I was with an, uh... friend, and I lost track of time. I am on my way now, I will be there shortly."

Gilbert threw his free hand in the air, exasperated. "Why am I not surprised... Anyway, you better be here in the next 20 minutes or I'll kick you out of the band and have Alfred replace you!"

Francis gasped on the other line. "You wouldn't!"

"You underestimate me. Also, where the hell is Antonio? Mein Gott, I feel like I'm raising infants here..."

"Antonio? He isn't there yet? Mon dieu, this really is quite a disaster. He's probably lost again, I'll call him and tell him where to go. Sorry, Gil. I'll get both of us there as soon as I can."

"Good."

"Au revoir."

Francis hung up, giving Gilbert no other choice than to walk back Feliks and inform him of their bandmate's whereabouts.

"Ugh, again?"

"Again to which one, Francis being late because he was busy banging someone or Antonio getting lost?"

"Like, both, I guess. We should be used to it by now, but they both manage to totally piss me off all the time."

"Whatever, they'll be here soon. Weren't you going to show me around? The place looks pretty awesome, so props for that."

Feliks led him to the bar, where a hulking Russian man sat as though anticipating the introduction. The moment he saw the pair walking towards him he stood, holding out a hand to Gilbert and smiling sweetly.

"Hello, I spoke to you on phone. I am Ivan, and you are Gilbert, da?"

Gilbert, surprised by the tough-looking man's sweetness, extended his hand and shook his new employer's hand. He was met with a forceful grip, Ivan squeezing his hand until Gilbert swore something popped of place. When he was released, he cradled his hand and swore under his breath, glaring at Ivan accusedly. The taller man did nothing but smile and insist that he introduce Gilbert to the rest of the staff.

Feliks is dating this hulking creepy-ass Russian guy? Gilbert thought, praying that he was wrong, and that his boyfriend was an employee. "Priyekhat!" Ivan yelled over his shoulder, catching Gilbert by surprise. Almost instantly a line of young men exited the kitchen off of the bar area. Gilbert noted that there weren't many, only six. I guess that makes sense, Feliks did say he needed business; he probably can't afford to employ many people...

Ivan took it upon himself to introduce his staff instead of letting them do so themselves. He pointed to two young looking boys, one with his hands protectively on the younger's shoulders. "These are Eduard and Raivis. They are waiters, since they are too young to work at bar or in kitchen." The musician nodded at the pair, giving them a wave with his uninjured hand.

The bar owner continued onto a pair of brunets, one who looked like he had just gotten up from a nap and another that looked too anxious to ever sleep. "These are my bartenders, Heracles and my little Toris." Heracles gave him a sluggish nod in acknowledgement, while Toris smiled nervously. When Ivan referred to Toris as his own, Feliks had glared and ran over to him, greeting him with a kiss to the cheek and smugly grinning at Ivan.

Ivan's expression darkened, and he looked to the last two men disinterestedly. "Finally, our cooks. Sadiq and Yao. Yao is new like you. I hope you both prove yourselves tonight." His eyes flashed dangerously as he looked between Gilbert and Yao. Gilbert took the message to mean that he better play well, and Yao had better not mess up in the kitchen. He felt bad for him, really; Yao was rather small and effeminate, and looked to be scared of Ivan. Who am I kidding, Gilbert thought; everyone is scared of him, even me, and I'm awesome. Yep, it's true.

Too caught up in his self-centered thoughts, he didn't notice the sound of the door opening. What he did notice was Francis flinging himself onto him, crying apologies in both English and French. Gilbert pushed him off, turning to Antonio and glaring at the Spaniard.

"What do you have to say for yourself." He asked rhetorically, feeling more like a parent by the minute.

"W-well, you see, amigo-"

"Scheiße! Don't you "amigo" me! I can't even look at you, go set up the stage or something!"

"S-sí..." Antonio said, obviously feeling guilty for his tardiness. He and Francis approached Feliks, who had grudgingly detached himself from his boyfriend and started the work of unloading their instruments and setting up the speakers.

Gilbert sat at a barstool, wondering if he had been too hard on his bandmates. Finally deciding that his actions were justified (because they were not being awesome and punctual like him), he looked over to the bartender with his back turned to him.

"Hey, you're Heracles, right?"

"I want... to pet cats."

"Um, okay... I was just going to ask how long you've been working here. Is Ivan always... like that?" He asked, rather bluntly.

"I want... cats..."

Gilbert frowned at the man, becoming slightly angry- why does he keep ignoring him to talk about cats? A shy voice stole his attention, with the words, "There's no use, he is very deep sleeping."

Gilbert turned to the voice, recognizing its owner to be Feliks's boyfriend. "At work?"

"Jā, he has... Narcolepsy, is it? He is not purposely falling asleep."

"I... see. Ivan knows this, ja? And he's... okay with that?"

Toris glanced around, as though scared that Ivan was hiding somewhere in the room, listening in on their conversation. "Ah, well... You see, Ivan comes from Russia, and doesn't have many money. He opened bar here to try and make living, so he doesn't mind him sleeping as long as he works, too. I asked if I could come, because Feliks lives here," he blushed, before continuing with his story, "I couldn't bear to leave Eduard and Raivis- they are like brothers to me, so they came as well, and now we are working for Ivan..." He said the last part with a wince, as though the three hadn't willingly accepted their jobs at the bar.

Gilbert opened his mouth to question him about his story, but before he could the brunet turned his head to the customers that had just entered the bar. It appeared that people were piling in for the night; Raivis and Eduard were leading people to tables in front of the stage, and Yao was loudly questioning Sadiq about how things worked in the kitchen.

Toris sighed and looked at Heracles, telling Gilbert, "I should wake him up. There will be many here soon, we will be very busy. You are playing soon, right? I look very much forward to hearing!"

Gilbert bolted up from his seat, cursing loudly. "Crap, I need to go on stage!" he exclaimed, dashing from his seat to the stage, practically diving behind the curtain that separated the stage from the backstage. "Is everything ready? We go on in five minutes!"

Antonio looked up from where he sat by the speakers, giving Gilbert a thumbs up and a toothy grin. "Sí! We are all set!"

Francis walked towards him, microphone in hand. He gave it to Gilbert, smiling. "You are opening today, mon ami. Usually I would insist that it should be me- our fans miss my beautiful face, but I do owe you a sort of apology."

Gilbert snorted, taking the microphone and slapping Francis on the shoulder with his free hand. "Shut up, Franny! The fans love me, I'm awesome."

The band took their places at their respective instruments on the stage, while Gilbert stood at the very front of it, closest to the curtain. At exactly eight o' clock, the curtains opened and the band was met with cheers from the crowded bar tables and stools. Gilbert felt a rush of excitement travel through him, his heartbeat quickening. He had forgotten what it was like to be on stage, to feel lights shining on him, to hear the cheers of his fans. It was just so... awesome.

Grinning widely, he held the microphone to his mouth and greeted his fans; "Hey, hey, hey! It's Asphyxia! The popular rock band for you, and by me! Because I am awesome Gilbert! It's been a long time since our last performance, so let's get started, shall we? Today, we start with our hit song... Mein Gott!"

The crowd erupted into cheers, and Antonio began to play the song's intro on his keyboard. Gilbert, caught up in the adrenaline of performing once again, completely forgot that his roommate was supposed to come and watch.

Alfred had stayed true to his word- he, Kiku, and Matthew were at the crowded bar. He and Kiku sat together at the bar itself, Alfred knocking back shot after shot while Kiku sipped his soda. Matthew was... well, he's somewhere, or at least Alfred thought so. Frankly, he was just a little too drunk to care. He was finding it a little hard to focus, too distracted by the odd curl on one of the bartender's hair.

"LOL, dude, you have a plant on your head!" He said, pointing to the curl which really did resemble a sprout. Kiku giggled at this, trying to stifle it with his hand. Heracles ignored Alfred completely, turning to Kiku and blushing. "Cute..." he said quietly, causing the other to blush as well.

Alfred looked between the two, briefly considering reading the atmosphere and leaving them alone, before deciding not to and practically shouting the first thing that popped into his head. "Kiku, bro, the plant guy is totally trying to hit on you!" He laughed boisterously, a loud 'Na ha ha ha!' He appeared to be on the verge of tears despite smiling widely, slamming his fist on the table in a display of his drunken amusement.

Kiku blushed a darker shade of red, staring at his friend in mortification. Alfred wiped a tear from his eyes, still shaking with laughter. "I'm sorry, bro, but I keep imagining you dudes with little plant babies and I just-" he collapsed into another peal of laughter, putting his head on the table and shaking. "Oh my god, guys, I'm gonna die," he heaved, practically choking on his laughter.

"We're all going to die, one day."

Alfred turned at the voice, noticing for the first time the man sitting next to him. He was clearly British, from his accent, and he had blond hair, green eyes, and...

"Fuck, dude, your eyebrows!" Alfred shrieked, and slapped his hand on his knee, actually crying from laughter at this point. "Are... are those real? Is this a joke? OMFG, marry me, I want weird eyebrow babies!"

The man glared at him, puffing out his cheeks angrily. "First off, I refuse to even consider marrying a man who actually says 'OMFG', even if he is very... attractive. Second," he said, now beginning to blush, "you don't even know my name, and my eyebrows aren't weird..."

"Now it is you who's being hit on, Alfred…" Kiku observed, giving his friend a sly smile.

Gilbert wiped the sweat from his brow after finishing their fifth, and almost last, song. He loved performing, but it also took a lot out of him; his throat was scratchy and he was unbearably hot. The only thing keeping him sane was the cute man with the blond hair and curl sitting alone at the table closest to the stage. During every song, he had kept his eyes on Gilbert. The rock star had noticed, of course, and had even made eye contact with him a few times, giving him a flirty wink every now and then, enjoying his reactions. Every time their eyes met, he would blush and look away towards his food. Halfway through the third song, Gilbert had caught him glancing around the room before removing a bottle of maple syrup from his pocket and pouring it over his french fries, and had to resist laughing in the middle of the chorus.

Finally, three songs later, the gig was over. Gilbert wished his fans a good night, before quickly packing up his equipment and calling a, "Good job, guys!" to his bandmates. He rushed out to the table closest to the stage, praying that the cutie was still there- and he was.

"Hey, maple boy!" he said, pulling out a chair across from him. He leaned in, resting his head in his hands, smirking at the other. 'Maple boy' turned pink, replying quietly, "You were great. That was probably a lot of fun, eh? I'm Matthew Williams."

"Yeah, I'm great. Nice to meet you, Mattie. You are very niedlich."

"Um.. I don't know what that means."

Huh, Gilbert thought, he kinda reminds me of Alfred, but way cuter…

"Fuck!"

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, I just remembered- my friends were supposed be here, I'd better look for them- I'll be right back!" He said, jumping up from his seat and running to the bar. He looked around, only to find Alfred completely wasted- laughing hysterically, next to some man who appeared to be crying, also hysterically. Kiku sat on the other side of him, talking to a bartender, both of whom were smiling shyly- Heracles, if he remembered correctly. Gilbert shook his head, assuming that they would be fine, and made his way back to Matthew. I wonder where Alfred's brother is… Maybe he was the crying one?

Gilbert plopped back into his seat and reached across the table, booping Matthew's nose. "The awesome Gilbert has returned! Also, 'niedlich' means 'cute'. I've been meaning to say, you're going to have to speak up if you wanna keep talking; I can barely hear you."

"Sorry! Not many people want to listen to me, so I'm used to talking like this…"

"I'm sure what you said was super awesome, but you're still speaking like you're at a funeral and it's fucking loud in here."

With that, Gilbert stood and took Matthews hand, leading him to the bathroom he had seen on his informal 'tour' of the bar. Once inside, he said, "Okay, I should probably be able to hear you now."

Matthew fidgeted, tugging on his curl and muttering, "Sorry to have caused you so much trouble…"

Gilbert waved his hand, scoffing. "Don't worry about it, man. It's not any trouble, I want to talk to you."

Before he knew it, Matthew's hands were on Gilbert's cheeks, and their lips met in a clumsy kiss. Gilbert's eyes widened in surprise to see the others eyes screwed shut, face absolutely red. Uncertainly, he raised his hands to Matthew's waist, pulling him close and deepening their kiss. The blond gasped, releasing his hold on Gilbert's cheeks and wrapping his arms around his neck, standing on his tippy-toes to reach his height.

"Oh- oh my god, I thought Mr. Braginski scared away all the hookers who wanted to work in the bathrooms…"

Jerking away from Matthew in surprise, Gilbert turned his head to see Raivis, the young waiter. He was frozen in mortification, but the moment he saw the albino his eyes grew wide, and he screeched. Gilbert called after him, but he was already long gone, having run out of the bathroom the moment they made eye contact.

Gilbert, wide eyed, turned to Matthew, who returned the look of panic.

"I guess we should leave, eh?" Matthew asked, looking a bit disappointed.

"Oh, yeah. I guess so."

"Um… I'm sorry for kissing you. It's just, no one has ever said they wanted to talk to me before, and I just-"

"Are you kidding me? That was awesome, don't be sorry!"

Matthew squirmed, obviously pleased with the compliment. Nervously, he said, "It's pretty late… I should probably get home."

"O-oh, right, of course. Awesome. I'll call you a cab?"

Matthew sighed. "That's probably for the best. My brother was supposed to drive me home, but he's probably left already…"

"What a dick. Don't worry, I'm the awesome Gilbert, I will get you a cab."

"T-thanks a lot! I'll make sure to pay you back-"

"Not necessary," Gilbert said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing a cab company he knew to be nearby. "That kiss was more than enough. I know I said this, but it was really awesome. Like, really awesome."

Matthew tried to respond, but found himself speechless out of sheer embarrassment- besides, Gilbert wouldn't have heard his reply, he was too busy telling the person on the phone their location. He ended the call a moment later, and looked to Matthew.

"They'll be here in a minute. Pretty awesome, right? I'm friends wi- I know the guy who owns it, he's a huge fan. That's right, he can't get enough of the awesome me."

Matthew simply nodded, following Gilbert out of the bathroom and bar, surprised to see that the cab was waiting outside. He got in, the other standing outside of the door and smiling. "Well, goodnight, Matt. Have awesome dreams and stuff."

Matthew took a pen out of his pocket and grabbed for Gilbert's hand, writing something on it. "That's for the cab." He said, and smiled warmly.

Gilbert whistled. "Wow, you keep everything in those pockets. Maple syrup and pens."

Matthew blushed indignantly. "They don't have maple syrup there! A man's got to do what a man's got to do, eh?"

"Sure, sure." Gilbert said, noticing that the cab driver was beginning to get impatient. He gave him a wad of bills, telling him to keep the change. Matthew waved goodbye, and Gilbert closed the cab door, watching it drive away.

Gilbert raked a hand through his hair and looked down at it, seeing that Matthew had written his number. He grinned stupidly. Man, he's really cute.

He thought about Matthew the whole way home- the way his hair bounced when he moved, his cute little curl, and his beautiful violet eyes.

He slammed the door to the apartment open, surprised to see that the lights were on. He looked down to see two pairs of shoes on the floor by the door, and sighed. "Alfred brought someone home?" he muttered.

Closing the door and taking off his shoes, he walked around to the living room. Alfred was sitting on the couch, the blond crying man from the bar passed out on his shoulder. Gilbert let out a loud laugh, catching the American's attention. "Oh, hey, bro! What's so funny?"

Gilbert put a hand to his mouth, trying to refrain from laughing, and pointed to the man passed out beside him. "Did… did he pass out when you tried to go down on him?"

"What?! No, he's just a friend, I swear!"

"Okay… That sounds fake, but okay…"

Alfred pouted for a moment, then returned to his normal wide smile. "Dude knows how to party, I'll tell you that."

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Sure, if crying hysterically is how you party. Anyway, let's talk about me. I met this awesome guy, Alfie, he's so cute. It was weird though, he kinda reminded me of you but like, a you I would totally bang. We kissed in the bathroom, it was awesome."

Alfred stared at him blankly, almost as if he were in shock. "What… what was his name?" He asked in a quiet voice.

"Matthew. Do you know him?"

"You… you made out with Mattie?"

"So you do know him?"

"That's my fucking brother, dude! What the hell is wrong with you?" Alfred stood, eyebrows furrowing and eyes squinting in anger. He looked absolutely disgusted, and Gilbert was taken aback- he had never seen his roommate so… unhappy.

Alfred picked up the man still asleep on the couch and tossed him over his shoulder effortlessly, still glaring daggers at Gilbert. "Fuck you, man." He said as he walked to his bedroom, opening the door and disappearing inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

Well, Gilbert thought. I fucked up.

Translations for this chapter:

"Mon ami" = "My friend"
"Mein Gott" = "My God"
"Mon dieu" = "My God"
"Au reviour" = "Goodbye"
"Priyekhat" = "Come"
"Scheiße" = essentially meaning, "Bullshit"