Matthew sighed wearily, looking over his paper.

"Whatcha doin', Birdy?"

Matt nearly leapt a foot in the air and slammed his paper down. "Gil! You're back early from practice!" He shoved the paper into his binder and zipped it shut.

"Yeah, me and Al got in trouble with the coach again. I think he nearly had an aneurysm. We thought it'd be funny to put a snake in one of the cheerleader's bags, but apparently she had a crappy sense of humor." He peered over Matt's shoulder, grinning. "What're you workin' on?"

"N-nothing," Matthew stammered. Gilbert grinned wider, intrigued.

"Hiding something, Birdy? That's cruel. I didn't know we kept secrets from each other."

"I'm perfectly entitled to my privacy," Matthew muttered, clearly in a bad mood.

"Aw, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"C'mon! If you don't tell me, I'll have to interrogate you!" He smirked mischievously.

Matthew rolled his eyes. "What're you gonna—gahahaha!" He laughed as Gilbert began tickling his sides.

"Don't, Gil! I'm too ticklish! That's not fair!"

"I won't stop until you tell me!"

"Stop, Gil, stop!" He giggled. "I mean it! Stop!" He roared, pushing a startled Gilbert back. He paused. "Sorry." He grabbed his bag and went towards the door. He hung his head down low, and muttered, "I don't want to talk about it." He slammed the door on his way out.

Gilbert immediately whipped out his phone.

Alfred was getting ready to go out when his phone rang. Of course he always answered a call from his best friend. He whipped open his phone dramatically, flipping his hair flamboyantly before striking a pose and putting it to his ear. "What's going on, sexy thang? A bit early for a booty call, isn't it?"

He was met with silence.

"Gil?" It was very rare for Gilbert to be silent, at least when around his best friend. "Gil, are you okay?"

"I'm worried."

Gilbert sounded serious. Alfred immediately dropped the smile for a rare serious expression. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Matt's acting not like himself. I'm really worried about him."

"Yeah? He must've been acting pretty damn weird if you're so worried over it."

"He won't even tell me what's wrong."

Alfred paused. "Look under his mattress."

"What?"

"Mattie always hides secret stuff there. If he's hiding anything, maybe you can find some clues. That, or his collection of dirty magazines. Well, I'm going off to see Ivan. Let me know what you find out, okay? Call or text if you need me. Later."

After they hung up, Gilbert slowly approached the bed. He felt uncomfortable invading Matt's privacy, but he was really quite worried.

He lifted up the mattress and smirked slightly. "Damn, Birdy." He lifted the dirty magazines, grinning, then noticed the papers underneath and picked them up curiously. His eyes skimmed the files and his expression became sad.

"Aw, Birdy..."

xxxxxxx

Alfred merrily strolled into the library and was hit with a newfound sense of wonder at the endless shelves of novels he hadn't read yet. Where would he begin?! He felt almost overwhelmed with joy but had no idea where to go next. He had previously looked up recommended books online or in his roommate's English textbook. Maybe he should ask someone who worked there.

Oh, right! That's what he was here to do, to see Ivan! Alfred grinned. Hot Russian mancandy and an endless supply of unread novels? This was the best place in the world!

A hand tapped on Ivan's shoulder and a familiar voice addressed him. "Hey, gorgeous. Miss me?"

Ivan turned around to see—what a surprise—Alfred. He sighed wearily. "You still haven't given up?"

"I'm no quitter!" Al replied, grinning as Ivan rolled his eyes. "Besides, I have a reason for coming here."

"Being?"

Alfred smirked proudly. "I'd like you to recommend a book, please."

Ivan snorted coldly. "We're a university library. We don't have a children's section."

Alfred laughed. "You're funny, Ivan. No, I was hoping you could recommend something good. What kind of books do you enjoy?"

"I enjoy literary classics."

"Cool, me too! More specifically?"

He sighed. How to get him to go away? Perhaps suggest a book above his skill level. "Beowulf, perhaps."

"Oh, I've read that one already. It was good."

He frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah. The movie didn't do it justice."

He paused. "Life of Pi?"

"That's one of my favs, man! It was so beautiful. I swear, I nearly cried. Um, manly tears, of course. Forged with sweat and blood. Because, y'know, I work out." He posed like a Greek statue. Ivan frowned.

"Lord of the Flies?"

"Man, that one was deep."

Ivan raised an eyebrow. "Really? Do you even understand these novels?"

"Well, I wouldn't say 'understand' since most great novels can be interpreted in many ways, though I believe Golding actually made quite a few statements about what his book meant. He believed that humans at the core were evil. I enjoyed the book so I read up on him a bit, actually; he was apparently an elementary school teacher and decided to explore the cruel nature of children in his book. What a pessimist, right? The religious themes were interesting too, like the representation of the devil versus the representation of god? And how the devil won out? It was a really interesting take on the dark side of human nature. But damn, that author must be a pessimist, huh? Even more of a drama queen than Shakespeare in my opinion—and that's not easy, considering he turned a tale of stupid puppy love into one of the greatest tragedies of all time."

Ivan stood there, dumbfounded. His mouth slowly opened, but no words came out.

"Haha! Are you struck speechless by my intelligence? Dude, I always knew I was smart, but I'm even more awesome than I realized!"

"I thought you said reading was for nerds," Ivan responded quietly.

"Well… yeah. I'm not a nerd, though. I work out. Like, the only reason I started reading was to impress—" He turned red for a moment, paused, then carried on confidently, "Um, so that we'd have more to talk about. But it was actually really fun. Like, really—" He caught himself again, clearing his throat. "Um, yeah. Reading's not so bad."

"Funny. You insult something, but it's okay when you like it," Ivan retorted.

"Hey, being a nerd just means you enjoy things classified as 'nerdy', right? That's not an insult. No more of an insult than saying someone's a 'goth' or a 'jock', right? It's just a classification of interest. Besides, I obviously don't have a problem with dorks. I mean, my own brother's the king of dorks. And I mean, I like you, right?" Alfred grinned and Ivan got slightly flushed at his straightforwardness and how he earnest he seemed.

"Look, why don't I buy you a cup of coffee and we can talk about this stuff?" Ivan's eyes widened in alarm. Alfred sensed his panic. "No pressure or anything—all I want to do is buy you a coffee. Just once. Please?"

Ivan was very startled. Who knew this guy was actually intelligent? Who knew that they might have something in common? Even more surprisingly, he was actually being somewhat of a gentleman. Somewhat.

Perhaps Gilbert and Matthew were right. Perhaps he was wrong about Alfred.

He sighed shakily and cleared his throat. "Okay," he replied softly.

Alfred beamed, nearly glowing.

"Really? Alright!" He pumped his fist into the air, then quickly regained his composure. "Aha, I mean cool. That's cool." He crossed his arms and nodded with a confident "cool-guy" pout. "When do you get off?"

"A couple hours."

"Okay! I'll just be browsing until then."

For the next two hours Ivan worked quickly, feeling incredibly nervous but at the same time strangely excited for a reason he couldn't explain.

xxxxxxx

Please excuse the bad pun title, haha. (Alfred indeed would refer to himself as 'fly', despite the slang being way outdated. He's purposely lame like that.)

Sorry this chapter took so long! Been busy with life. I have not given up on this fic, though! I still have many ideas for it. So please stick around!

I really appreciate every review! Thanks so much! Please tell me what you liked or didn't like, I'll try to work on it!

Thanks to editor Anon990!