Fuck, this came out so much later then I had wanted it to. I had planned on having it up, like, 3 months ago, but I started driver's ed and time just isn't what it used to be.
There used to be at least a paragraphs worth of words here, then I realized how ridiculously long my ANs are getting and got rid of it.
A reviewer brought up how this could have easily been angst, nothing but ANGST and DRAMA LLAMAS (which it kind of sort of is becoming /sadface) and yet, I made it hilarious. You people make me so happy.
One more thing, Billie-Joe's Barbeque does not exist. I simply created it cause I can (and then I got a new neighbour and her name is Billie-Joe).
Not proud of this chapter either...
Matthew awoke to the annoying buzzer on his alarm clock. He shifted in his place on the floor and found a pillow under his head and a blanket over his body. He didn't think much of it as he put them back in the tent, noticing the flag had been placed back outside.
As he clumsily made his way down the stairs, he could hear the sound of music playing. It sounded like a song from the club last night. The sight that Matthew was forced to see can never be unseen.
"Just wait a minute, give me a single chance." Kumajiro had the stupid, form-fitting frilly apron on and was shaking his hips (actually, his entire body). "Did you see me staring? You caught my eye. Don't turn around, don't walk away. The night is young. Can we get together?" Matthew pressed a hand to his mouth to stifle a laugh as Kumajiro spun in a circle, stopping dramatically, he continued the song, throwing his hand in the air. "Meet me in the middle, like I want you to. Gotta find your heart to shoot my arrow through!" He opened his eyes and found Matthew ready to collapse on the stairs with laughter. Kumajiro put his hands down to his sides swiftly and turned a dangerous shade of red.
"Wh-what were you singing?" Matthew asked, now able to control his humour.
"Nothing, now just... just come over here for your stupid guess and my kiss of the day." Matthew had managed to calm himself, though a smile was still broken out on his face. He stood in front of Kumajiro who leaned down and kissed him. Matthew giggled, conspiring in his mind.
He stuck his pointer finger up, opened his mouth and,
"Natasha Beddingfield." at this he burst into more giggles at his own joke.
"Oh haha, hilarious." Kumajiro crossed his arms and looked off to the side, biting his bottom lip to try to hide his smile, unwilling to let Matt off this easy. "Are you sure you didn't wake and bake?" He turned back around to start breakfast and turn off the ipod stand.
"Uhm, I'm not Lars, silly." So, to say that Kumajiro was worried was a bit of an understatement. "Anyway, I have to go back to school today. Will you be alright all day alone? I think Dad is stopping by for lunch." Matthew put two pieces of wheat toast in the toaster and poured himself a glass of milk.
"Alright." Kumajiro flipped a pancake with precision, having practiced at random times of the day almost everyday. "But, I have a question."
"Yeah?" Matthew looked over at his reasonably quiet companion.
"Do you want to try and guess my name again? No kisses or anything." He glanced over his shoulder as Matthew moved to butter his toast.
"Hmm~" he gently hit his chin with the knife before pressing it into the soft dairy bi-product. "Is it Kumajira?"
"Fucking-a! You're so fucking close!" Kumajiro was practically screaming through clenched teeth. "Think about it this way. You just used the feminine version of my name." Kumajiro watched as a look of realization crossed Matthew's features (it was flippin' adorable) and laughed. "Now remember that for tomorrow." he said before moving to finish the toast, give it to Matthew and shove him out the door. "Oh yeah! Promise me you won't fall in love with Gilbert while your at school today." He called out, waving goodbye. Matthew gave him a confused look, but didn't bother saying anything as he began his walk to school.
BOLD
"WAAAAAAGH~, Ludwig, we can't just let that poor girl walk to school in this weather! We have to stop and give her a ride!" Feliciano wailed, flapping his arms animatedly and practically crawling out the window as he pointed and stared at a cute blond walking to what he assumed would be school.
"Feliciano, would you please-"
"HEYYYY~ HEY, PRETTY LADY!" He started to yell out at her, ignoring and cutting off Ludwig.
"Feliciano, I swear to-"
"Hey, Ludwig, I don't think that's a lady." Feliciano said. Suddenly tears formed in his eyes as Ludwig began to pull to the side and get out. "WAIT! WAIT, LUDDY! YOU DON'T KNOW IF THAT MAN IS GOING TO KILL ME! YOU HAVE TO STAY BACK AND PROTECT MEEEEEEEEE~!" He began to sob into the once occupied now empty driver's seat.
Ludwig rubbed his temples as he walked towards the blond.
"Excuse me." He said very politely. The blond looked up and took out his head phones. "Oh, Matthew," he said, taken by surprise. "Why are you walking to school? Don't you have a car? If not then surely Gilbert should have picked you up." he made a mental note to scold him later.
"Oh, Ludwig, you remembered me this time." Matthew smiled at him, pleased, but couldn't help a thought cross his mind. Is this how Kumajiro feels? Even his thought-self couldn't stand the idea of calling him Nanuq. Ludwig blushed, remembering the time he started yelling at Matthew to get out or I swear to Gott I'll call the police on you, Alfred.
"J-ja, well, either way, could you please get in the car and allow me to give you a lift. Feliciano is with me and he won't stop freaking out until I either prove you're not a serial killer or kill you and I really would prefer to do the first." Matthew laughed at Ludwig's ramblings but not before accepting the ride to school.
"Oh, did you save Matthew, too, Luddy~?" Matthew blinked, wondering why so many people were remembering who he was. Ludwig saw Matthew's confused look and smiled.
"I've trained him to tell you apart from your brother." He said, looking at him via mirror.
"Really? How?" Ludwig chuckled.
"I told him your hair looks more like pasta." Matthew couldn't help but laugh at that. He sure was laughing a lot today. Perhaps it was a good omen.
"Yeah, and you aren't as loud or annoying as your brother!" Feliciano happily informed Matthew as he turned around in his seat.
"Feliciano, please turn around and buckle up. I don't want to be late to school again." Ludwig asked as he pulled away from the curb.
"Aww~ but, Ludwig, last time was your fault! Remember, you wanted to-"
"So!"Matthew suddenly said, not really wanting to hear about that. "How have you two been? Gilbert tells me that Feliciano's grades have improved with your help."
"Ve~ Ludwig really has helped me! Now Big Brother doesn't yell at me for not trying hard enough anymore! He just yells at me for dating Ludwig." He smiled at the last part. Lovino really should lay off the anger issues. Maybe if Antonio would quit staring at Femke and instead at him, he would be less irritable. Or if he knew that Alfred snuck glances every now and again in his direction.
"Oh yeah! Did Gil-Gil tell you the good news?" Feliciano suddenly asked, seeming more excited than usual. "I'm gonna be a cheerleader!" Judging by the size of Ludwig's eyes, this was his first time hearing such non-sense.
"W-well, uh, congratulations?" Matthew offered an awkward smile at Feli but an apologetic one at Ludwig.
~ITALICS~
"Dude, I'm starving." Alfred was leaning on his desk fourth hour Advanced Grammar as Matthew doodled on the edges of the assignment sheet. Once he ran out of room, he flipped it over and continued drawing on the back.
"Relax, we've only got about twenty minutes left." he said, finishing the last touches of the blue jay he had been working on.
"Dude, you should seriously consider art as a career once you get out of prison." Matthew blushed and smiled a bit.
"Nah, I still want to be a chef." He looked at his brother who had moved to a position that involved his feet on the window and his head dangling from his seat. How the teacher allowed this, Matthew will never know.
"Well, I know a lot of people who would kill for your talent." Alfred said, up-righting himself, his glasses askew and his hair sticking up in random places.
"Seriously, Al, I'm not that good." Matthew put the paper in his notebook and then put the notebook in his keeper as he glanced up at the clock and saw they had about two minutes left.
"Hey, you think today will finally be the day Lovino doesn't glare at Antonio as he stares quite pointedly at Femke?" He was whispering and looked ready to burst with excitement.
"Alfred, I don't think that will ever happen. I think that you should just ask him out." Alfred gave him the "you're-kidding-right?" look and Matthew simply shrugged. The bell rang and the two stood and made their way to lunch, starving for anything, even the strangely rubbery hot dogs seemed appetizing.
"Would Alfred Jones and Matthew Williams please report to the office immediately, please?" They looked at each other, hoping this wasn't like that time where someone had mistaken Matthew for Alfred and Alfred for some random blonde kid who practically worshipped Alfred when he had violated the school code for no drugs or alcohol. Man, that had been a hassle to work out. At least the creeper kid was gone now. They ventured through the halls to the front of the school and found their mom there, holding clothing and wearing a rather nice looking business suit.
"Boys, I need you to change into these. We had a sudden court date change and your father and I are going to battle for custody for you, Alfred. It should be fairly easy to win." Matthew and Alfred stood looking absolutely dazed, not ever once remembering hearing about any sort of battle for custody over Alfred. "Well, go on." She gestured towards the bathroom with the clothes in her arms. They took them and Matthew got dressed in the bathroom while Alfred changed in the nurse's office. They were wearing matching dark, navy blue suits and their mother had to help them with their ties; Alfred's a deep red and Matthew's matched his suit.
They piled into the car and left for the courthouse about five minutes from the school where they met their father and a few of their relatives. They entered the courtroom and that's where all hell was set loose.
LMNOP
Later that evening, you could easily walk into the town's barbeque restaurant (Billie-Joe's Barbeque) and hear some intense celebrating going on. It was by miracle that Matthew was a junior and had his driver's license because his mother decided that she easily deserved a drink or seven. They all had good laughs and finally Alfred and Matthew had to drag her out of the restaurant and drive home.
"Hey, honey~" Matthew's mom slurred, holding her heels in her hand as she saw her husband.
"Hello, dear, boys." He picked her up bridal style and carried her up the stairs, the entire time she was giggling and whooping.
"Hey, Matt," Matthew and Alfred both turned their heads as Kumajiro called for him from the living room. "Oh! Alfred, you're here too." He smiled at them both. He had sounded like he had something important to say and so Matthew shoo-ed Alfred upstairs but after much complaint ("Dude, what if they get. it. ON?") he instead was shoved out the door to go stay at a friend's house. He felt suddenly very shy.
"M-maybe Al is right. You wanna go for a walk?" He offered an awkward smile but Kumajiro paid it no mind and smiled back, standing up from the couch and nodding.
"I was hoping I could talk to you privately anyway." They had been walking along a trail for about ten minutes in nothing but silence when Kumajiro had broken it.
"Yeah, I could tell. That's why I kinda got rid of Al." Matthew looked over at his friend, suddenly feeling kind of awkward and a little self-conscious.
"Yeah, so, I was hoping that maybe you and I could go on a date?" Matthew stopped walking and so did Kuma.
"Kuma-"
"Wait," he held a hand up to stop him. "Before you just outright deny me, could you at least think about it and give me a chance?" Matthew figured that was fair, since he'd been denied so many times already.
"Well, alright. But, Kuma?"
"Yes, Matthew?" They had started walking again.
"How would you feel if you polar bear of almost eighteen years suddenly becomes human because he claims to love you and yet at the same time the guy you've been crushing on is finally and suddenly showing interest in you as well but now that you think about it, it probably wouldn't work out because you know he's also crushing on a different friend of yours meanwhile your brother is having relationship issues as well?" Kumajiro was silent for a moment, stopped and sat down on a root.
"Well, for question 1, probably freaked out but I already let you be freaked out. It's been almost two weeks, well, it will be wednesday, and you seem to be adjusting easily, if you aren't adjusted already. Question 2, I would try and figure out if he really did love me. Question 3, well, I would try and love them back. Where's all the romance in the world these days? Question 4, I would kick that guy to the curb. Actually, no, if he was a friend, I would help him get with his other friend and then my newfound lover and I could live happily ever after. Question 5, obviously I would do the good brother thing and help a brotha' out (a.k.a help him get the courage to ask the kid out)."
They simply stared at each other in silence. Matthew wondering how he had such simple and a little obvious answers ready so quickly.
"So, I'll expect an answer by tomorrow." Kumajiro said, walking over to Matthew who was still thinking about rather irrelevant things but was brought back into focus when he felt a pair of warm lips on his own. The pressure felt rather nice but then he remembered who was kissing him and fell backwards because he felt like pushing him away was to cruel.
Kumajiro only chuckled, expecting something of this nature and reached over to pull Matthew back up. He ruffled the blonde's hair, took his hand in his and they began to walk back to the house. Matthew tried his hardest not to completely enjoy his friend's fingers wrapped tightly around his.
Yes, Matthew Williams may have been purposely put himself in denial. No, he wouldn't admit it.
~i~
"Does this cookie taste odd to you?" And before Matthew could take the cookie, Alfred had shoved a slightly burnt tasting one into his mouth. Matthew chewed for a bit and swallowed as was the way you ate something.
"Yeah, you put them in for too long. Try taking them out sooner." It was the morning after the strange walk along the path and Kumajiro was acting like nothing had happened. In fact, he awoke to the tent empty. After traveling downstairs, he found Kumajiro making pancakes and Alfred mixing the batter for cookies.
"Alright, I'll put them in for only... Hey, Matt, how long did I put them in for last time?" Matthew simply shrugged his shoulders and sat down at the table which was when he realized his brother now lived with him now and OMG HOW WOULD HE MANAGE THAT STUPID GAME?
He did not realize he was clutching the table and panting hysterically, his glasses falling to one side, and making a rather strange face.
"Uh, Matthew?" He looked up and nearly fell backwards from his chair crying "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and covering his face when Kumajiro set his plate of pancakes on the table, peering at him through his overgrowing bangs.
"I was just going to ask if you were fine." He stuck a hand out to help the poor kid up. "You've been acting strange all morning."
What? Matthew thought, He's just going to act like nothing happened last night? WHAT? Of course I'm not alright you pale, wretched-
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just still sleepy." He faked a yawn. "I'm just going to, y'know, go and get dressed."
Well, wasn't that awkward?
Matthew began to pick through his dresser and look over his floor when he reached his room, taking his time when he heard the door shut behind him and the lock click into place.
"Matthew~" He froze. Sweet Jesus, here it came.
"Y-yes?" He turned around and stood up straight, unable to fight the blush that made his stomach do little flips and try to crawl out of his mouth.
"I was hoping you had an answer to last night's question?" Kumajiro was smiling slyly at him and easing closer. Matthew's stomach seemed to be trying to choke him and make him feel sick at the same time. In fact, Matthew had thought about it and a shocking realization came to him.
"D-does it matter?" Kumajiro seemed a little surprised by this question.
"What do you mean? Of course it matters." Kumajiro was now in arm's reach.
"W-well, even if I said no-"
"So you're going to say yes?" Kumajiro's voice seemed to shoot straight through the roof with how high it went in excitement.
"I really have no choice. Even if I said no, like I was saying before, you would continue to pursue me until I said yes anyway." Kumajiro's face sank a little and Matthew's blush deepened, his stomach calming down a bit now that he had gotten that done with.
"So... So I'm just an annoyance?" His eyes became slits.
"What? No, no, I didn't say that!" Matthew suddenly said, only just then realizing the way his words sounded. "That's not what I meant at all."
"I bet if Gilbert had asked you out, you wouldn't have hesitated at all." Kumajiro accused. His pale complexion changed to a pink one as his eyes widened and he swore under his breath. "Matthew, that just- that just kinda came out." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "Forget it."
"W-wait! Kumajiro, don't leave yet." Matthew quickly reached forward and grabbed the back of his shirt, not wanting to have his friend leave with them on such seemingly bad terms. Kumajiro swatted his hand off and turned around.
"Matthew, do you have any idea what it's like to have something you desire dangling mere inches from your fingers? Something you've wanted and finally thought you could reach, only for the person dangling the thing to pull it just far enough that it remained out of reach?" Matthew stared at Kumajiro, a little confused. "It's like you said at the beginning of this, why would- how could I have expected for you to just fall into my arms and love me?" He walked over to the bedroom door and unlocked it. "I plan on getting a job soon. I think I'll buy myself a small apartment. Don't know how easy it'll be since I don't have any schooling but-"
"Yes."
"What?" Kumajiro furrowed his eyebrows, still facing the door.
"I'll go on the date with you. Just, promise you won't leave." Kumajiro turned his head around, mildly surprised. Yeah, it had been a rather harsh to pull the "boo-hoo you won't love me, I'm leaving" card, but if he could just get him to go on one date with him, he knew he could change Matthew's mind.
He turned completely around and pulled a shocked Matthew into a hug, holding him tightly.
"I promise." And tentatively, so very tentatively, Matthew reached his arms up and hugged Kumajiro back almost as tightly. "Now," Kumajiro said, breaking the awkward silence, "You should get downstairs and eat your breakfast so you aren't late for school!" He said, almost too cheerfully.
"School!" Matthew gasped, leaping backwards out of Kumajiro's arms and back to searching for clothes. He was satisfied with a pair of baggy jeans, a white T and a red sweatshirt. He quickly combed through is hair and bolted downstairs.
Kumajiro followed slowly after and saw a little sticky note on the counter telling him he should get a hair cut since it was growing kind of long. He picked at his stick straight white blond hair frowning. Sure it as getting rather long, almost shoulder length even!, but he didn't want to cut it. So he simply opted for putting it in a ponytail high on his head.
Besides, he had no money nor talent to cut his hair. Silly Matthew.
OHHHH, CAAAANADAAAA~
When Matthew returned home later that day, exhausted for he had gym as the last class of the day and they had gone outside due to the nice weather to play soccer and Gilbert tried to kill him, he saw Kumajiro sleeping on the couch. A little envious, he sat beside his friend and flopped to the side so that he was lying down. He inhaled and exhaled deeply before rolling over, only to come face to well, foot, with Kumajiro's feet. He groaned and rolled back over but only managed to fall off the couch. He sat up and leaned against the couch and simply let his head droop backwards and crossed his legs, too tired to really care.
He heard soft murmuring from Kumajiro and felt long, thin fingers gently brush against the base of his neck. Matthew suppressed a shiver he felt run down his spine at the contact and sat forward, taking the remote and turning the television on. Matthew nearly jumped out of his skin when it blasted heavy metal music and Kumajiro jumped awake, eyes wide, heart pounding too fast and too painfully. Once the groggy boy gathered his surroundings and realized there was a nearly dead Matthew in front of him, his heart slowed to its normal rate and Matthew was holding down the volume button, eager for it to grow somewhat silent again. They both sat in terror for a minute before Matthew looked at Kumajiro's surprised face and the teens broke out into a fit of giggles.
Once their voices died down and all that was left was near silent growling in the background, the two sat in a comfortable silence in which Matthew did not catch himself staring at every detail of Kumajiro's face, especially focusing on the bright eyes and Kumajiro did not catch himself, nor did he want to, when he bent forward, cupped Matthew's face, startling him and leaned in close enough that he could feel Matthew's now labored breathing against his lips.
"Kumajiro," Matthew felt his heart pound against his rib cage painfully, wishing the other teen would pull away as a joke. "K-Kumajiro, wh-when did you plan our date to be?" He felt his glasses being pulled off his face and tried to strike up a conversation to keep those advancing lips at bay.
"We could start now." Kumajiro mumbled, his lips barely touching Matthew's as he did so. Matthew's mind went blank and he swore his heart stopped for all coherent thought left his brain the second Kumajiro pressed his lips firmly against his. He felt himself take in a sharp breath before falling backwards and scrambling to get up and rush upstairs, moments later hearing a door slam open and his brother call out greetings to Kuma. He shut his door quietly and only then did he realize everything was abnormally blurry.
His glasses! He had forgotten his glasses downstairs in the rush to get away. He groaned and hit his head a couple of times against the door.
"You know, it's rude to run out on your date, Mattie-poo." He jumped at the sound of his brother's teasing voice, having not heard him come up the stairs.
"Wh-what do you mean?" His voice sounded oddly high pitched to him. Hmm, had to have been his imagination. He still felt short of breath.
"I mean," Alfred stressed the last word, "that you shouldn't have run out on yours and Kumajiro's date."
There was a pause in the conversation as what Alfred said sunk into Matthew.
"Wait a second, you know?" Matthew tore the door open, only to be tackled by Alfred to lay across his chest.
"Psh, well, I am the hero. It would be a tad pathetic if I didn't even know who my bro was dating." He chuckled and played with Matthew's hair.
"No! Not that! I mean, you know about Kumajiro?" He whispered the name and Alfred began to click his tongue.
"Out of everything I said, that's all you caught?" Alfred smiled. "Sweetie, I've known for awhile. Kuma and I have had some pretty fuckin' intense hero time. Well, Feliks, Kumajiro and I, but don't worry, we introduced him as Nanuq so 's all good." Alfred shrugged his shoulders. "Now, back to that date." Alfred's smile was lewd at best so Matthew shoved him off with a grunt.
"You, dear brother, are becoming a fat ass." Matthew offered his own innocent smile and made his way downstairs, the little pit of dread in his stomach growing larger with each step as he descended.
"I take it you sent Alfred up to send me down." Matthew joked as he sat down next to Kumajiro as he lazily flipped through the channels.
"You could say that." He had a cheesy half grin plastered on his face as he leaned in against Matthew. When Matthew tensed up, Kumajiro sighed.
"I'm not going to molest you, you know?" He smiled when he looked at Matthew who was red-faced but forcing a smile on his face.
"I-I know." He felt Matthew relax and let out a deep breath. "Isn't it ever awkward?" Shit. Matthew felt his face burn and the pit in his stomach was worse than ever. Matthew definitely had a way with words.
"What do you mean?" Kumajiro sat up, confused.
"W-well, I mean, it's always a tad awkward for me and... well, I was just wondering if it was ever awkward for you... after we kiss and I run away like an insincere ass and yeah." Matthew stared at his lap, realizing he still didn't have his glasses back but not really caring since he was sitting in such a quiet room. Shit, why was it so quiet?
He jumped when he felt a hand grab his arm and pull him towards the body it belonged.
"It's not only awkward, but it hurts like hell." Kumajiro confessed, hugging Matthew as best he could. If the tension in the air had ben thick before, it was nothing short of suffocating now. Matthew was lost now and hated himself for letting his mouth gain control over his brain. He also really just wanted to breathe since he hoped that would help relieve that stupid feeling in the pit. He knew it was sadness and anger and other negative feelings and he had such an urge to apologize profusely and even kiss Kumajiro that- Oh shit, when did my lips fall on his?
It was all he could think as he placed small kisses on Kumajiro's mouth and wiped away his tears. He could hear himself apologizing profusely, but the only thing he could focus on was the hands that were pulling him into a lap, the lips that returned the kisses, and his brother's snickering.