Short chapter is short -3-
I have three things to say before you read this.
1. next chapter will take a long time to come out. As in longer than usual. I don't know how many of you have read Dammit Juliet, but... basically, it was my English assignment (yes, yaoi, Hetalia english assignment lol) and she gave me 14/15 (woot!) and asked me to write more -.- so I'll be updating that instead for a while. Not to worry though, it'll be a pretty short one :3
2. Just btw, I've been trying to decide where Mind the Gap is set... I've been choosing out of England (for their obsession with yelling "mind the gap" in your face at the tube, reason will come later), America (cuz I simply can't imagine Alfred living anywhere else...) and Australia (cause thats where I live and its sexy ;D) so I've decided it'll be set in a mystical place called Austrameriland, where kids eat vegemite for breakfast, take the tube to school and don't speak proper English. (sorry guys, but colour has a u in it. so deal.)
3. I made the fatal mistake of trying to reread the earlier chapters of Mind the Gap. Oh God. I don't know about you guys but all I could see were mistakes... also theres a whole heap of completely useless extra information that was GOING to mean something but now does not. (the plot for this thing changes several times a day no kidding). just in case you were wondering... :p anyways, read away...

Matthew woke with a pounding headache. He groaned, pressing a hand to his eyes to block out the light. Where the hell was he…? He rolled over and willed himself to get back to sleep. It didn't work. The headache combined with a slight nausea kept pounding into his head like an alarm clock. A really, really annoying one. He realised that he desperately needed to go to the toilet. Shit. He did not want to get up… ah well. He'd have to at some point.

He attempted to sit up. It didn't work. His body felt heavy and his legs were firmly rooted to the bed he was on. He tried to lift his head, managing to raise it up about a millimetre or two before it dropped back down onto the pillow with a tired thud. He heard a chuckle from beside him. "Having trouble getting up there?" Gilbert. What the fuck was he doing in Matthew's bed? He tried to voice this thought, but it came out as a sort of "hathurupurimmabear" sound. Again, his attempts were acknowledged with a snort of laughter. The sound made his ear drums ache like hell, and he desperately tried to lift his hands to cover them, but they refused to listen to him. He growled in frustration. "You have the lowest tolerance of anyone I know. You are very cute when you're unconscious Mattie, did you know that?"

"Hucyoo." Grunted Matthew. Again, that increasingly irritating laugh sounded in his ears making him fantasize about punching the German right in the face. Hard. "Well, while you are in such a fantastic mood I'll tell you what we're gonna do. You are going to keep going to school for the rest of the year; education's important. Although I suggest you try to change art classes in case you're… tempted again. You are also telling no one where I am, because I am planning to vanish off the face of the earth and never return to school again. I was failing anyway. Don't worry about me though, I'll get a full time job and start saving up to move to Argentina. Yes, I was serious about that. Once you're over your hangover I'll drive you home and you will never speak of yesterday or today again. As far as you know, you fell asleep in a park or something and wandered back home. Got that?"

This speech forced Matthew's head to turn to face the German, and he opened his eyes, squinting in the light. "I… I don't like that." He winced at the sound of his voice. "I don't want to never see you again… please?" Gilbert's eyes widened a fraction, and he suddenly began to notice how adorable Matthew was. His eyes were a deep violet, similar to Ivan's only more gentle and less blank. It was like he could see into Matthew, actually see the blonde's emotions, so different to Ivan's which were like staring at a brick wall... He could see his own wide eyed reflection in Matthew's eyes and he wanted to be closer, to take those full, pink lips with his own and stroke his soft, slightly blushing cheeks and gaze into those eyes forever… Wait, what? He shook the thought out of his head. He was obviously just sexually frustrated. Yeah, that was it. He looked away from Matthew. "I… I guess we could catch up every now and then for a drink or something. Or… well, maybe with your tolerance that wouldn't be the best idea…"

That last comment brought back the previous night. Matthew remembered. He remembered enough to blush heavily and close his eyes again. Where the fuck had Gilbert taken him? "I… I'm not that bad am I…?" he murmured softly. Gilbert snorted. "Well, you passed out alright. Whether it was because you drank a shit load of beer in one gulp, lack of sleep – no point pretending, I've been with Ivan too you know, stress build-up or a combination of all three, you still passed out, leaving me to awkwardly drag you up to my apartment."

"Sorry about that…" Matthew winced. So he was in Gilbert's apartment…? He managed to raise his head and, with Gilbert's help, sit up. He looked around the place, eyes widening as he took in the peeling paint, mouldy carpet and dripping roof. "Ja," murmured Gilbert, "It's not much, but it's cheap and liveable so shut your rich little mouth will ya?"

Matthew giggled at this. "I didn't say anything Gil."

"Gil?"

"I-I mean, um, Gilbert…" Matthew blushed and looked away.

Oh my God he was so damn adorable. Gilbert felt the heat flush to his cheeks. He couldn't blame Ivan for taking advantage of him, heck, the blonde looked so little and innocent even he wouldn't mind having a go at that. "Um, I'll get you some water and leave you alone. You need to sleep off your hangover."

Matthew nodded and squeezed his eyes shut, a single tear dripping down his cheek before his breathing evened out and he fell back to sleep. Gilbert had the sudden urge to kiss him right then and there. It wasn't like Matthew would remember, right…? He kneeled down next to him and gazed at the blonde's sleeping face. His heart was pounding in his chest. Was it because of the close contact or the fear that he might wake any second? He didn't know, but he had never wanted to kiss someone so much in his life apart from Ivan. His lips were so close, so open… it wouldn't take much, just a bit closer... his forehead brushed a single strand of hair that stood out from the blonde's head and Matthew jerked suddenly, letting out a loud moan. Gilbert jumped backwards. What was that? All he did was brush his curl… he tentatively brushed the curl again with his fingers and Matthew pushed his head up into his hand, letting out another moan of pleasure.

Interesting. So that must be how Ivan got to him so fast. He knew that he should really stop there… but he couldn't. He continued stroking the blonde faster and faster, feeling his pants beginning to get tight as he relished in moan after delicious moan. He then leaned forward and let the hair slip into his mouth, feeling Matthew cling onto his shirt in his sleep, and he couldn't bear it anymore. He reached into his jeans and began to stroke himself, sucking the hair and stroking it with his tongue, nipping it lightly earning himself another chorus of juicy noises. "Mmm… ah, I-Ivan…" groaned the younger. Gilbert stopped and let the strand fall from his mouth, really looking at Matthew. An innocent, sleeping angel who's undoubtedly first love was a psychotic Russian demon who not only stole his heart but his virginity as well. He pulled away from him, stepping back to observe him one last time before going into the bathroom, finishing off his arousal quickly before changing and going into the kitchen to cook breakfast.

He had to get rid of Matthew as soon as possible before he did something he would regret.

Alfred stood at the school gate the next morning, anxiously awaiting his brother to turn up. He had just barely gotten away with telling their parents Matthew was at a friend's for a sleepover and seriously doubted that they'd accept the excuse two nights in a row. Mattie had to turn up. If he didn't, they were all going to be monumentally screwed. He bounced on the balls of his feet, anxiously craning his neck over the crowd of kids. "Alfred?"

He turned and saw Toris smiling nervously. "Looking for something?" Alfred's mouth opened and closed as he struggled to think of what to say, making him resemble a goldfish on crack. There was no doubt he could trust Toris; he was scared stiff of Ivan. But he had pride. There was no way he could tell him about the events that had transpired the night before. Just the mere thought of him made him want to either throw up or come, maybe both at the same time. After all, he'd never been touched in that way. Ever. In his whole life. Sad, maybe, but true.

And he couldn't forget Matthew; hell, he wasn't blind to the fact that his brother was friendless but something like that would bring forth bad attention. He couldn't do it to him. After all, who knows what sort of awful things Gilbert would do if he ever found out? The guy didn't really have any other friends due to his obnoxious attitude but that most certainly didn't mean that he didn't talk. If he found out something like that the gossip would spread like wild fire, and being the type of person who instantly found himself surrounded by others without even trying he knew what sort of horrible things kids could do. Any sort of tiny fact could stretch and mutate until it became a fully fledged rumour. He'd seen kisses turn into wild monkey sex and many like it before his very eyes, God knows that could happen to him and Matthew one day.

"Nope, not looking for anyone in particular." Alfred smiled nervously. Toris didn't seem to be fooled by this, although he chose to let it go.

"Want to come to the library with me? I need to finish off that history assignment and from what I've gathered you haven't even started." Toris narrowed his eyes at the blond. Alfred was an awful protagonist.

"Um… yeah, okay. Let's go." With a final glance back Alfred followed Toris to the library.

The school day proceeded like it usually did, the only change being that neither Matthew nor Gilbert turned up at all. Alfred was worrying his pants off all day, constantly dreaming up more and more possibilities, each getting worse and worse as the day went until he was seriously convinced that his baby brother had been abducted by aliens and experimented on like some sort of lab rat.

When the final bell rang he slowly trudged out of the school, searching the grounds one last time just in case. As he turned the corner however, he saw them. They sat on the bench of his bus stop laughing about something together. His heart suddenly swooped up and he gave a massive whoop, sprinting over to Matthew yelling, "Mattie! The aliens let you go! Tell me about it, what did they look like? Was their space ship all big and silver like a real UFO? What sort of experiments did they run? Oh God, they didn't cut you open or anything did they?"

Matthew jumped in as his brother paused for breath. "Alfred, I wasn't abducted by aliens ok, I'm fine. Gilbert found me and I stayed the night at his apartment. Oh, and as of today, I'll be moving in with him too."

All thoughts were erased by both Alfred and Gilbert's mind. "What?" they both said in unison.