Matthew groaned, mashing his face into the pillow. 'O Canada' still blared. He blindly groped for his phone, blearily hitting the 'Answer' button without looking at the ID. "Hello…?" He croaked, not even close to awake.

"Hey! Birdie! What's up?" The energetic Prussian's voice flooded Matthew's ear, and he abruptly sat up.

"Gilbert?" He said, now fully awake. "Do you even know the time?" He gently scolded, looking at the bedside clock. 2:18 AM. Figures. Matthew listened to Gilbert laugh his funny sounding laugh. He patiently waited for him to finish up, trying not to fall asleep.

"Ja, I know. It's late." Hell yeah it is. Matthew thought, rolling his eyes. "I was wondering if you wanted to get breakfast later!"

Breakfast with a complete stranger. It sounded like a recipe for disaster. But, Matthew couldn't decline- it'd be rude. "Eh… sure?" He hesitantly agreed.

"Great! Okay, what time, Birdie?" Matthew could practically hear the smile on the other's face. He fought to keep a smile off his, but he couldn't.

"Anytime is fine, Gil… but isn't it a little early to discuss breakfast plans…?" Matthew asked, propping his chin up on the red and white body pillow he was hugging.

"What? It's only…" Matthew heard shuffling, and then a muttered (most likely curse) word in what he assumed was in German. "I thought it was only 11! I wasted too much time blogging again…" Matthew laughed.

"It's okay." Matthew reassured him.

"Anyways, is nine okay?" Gilbert asked, and Matthew shrugged noncommittally. He then remembered that his shrug couldn't be heard.

"Eh, sure." Matthew confirmed, in place of his shrug. "Which place?"

"Well, there's this really good café that serves Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, and they manage to not fuck it up, so I usually go there." Gilbert said, and Matthew vaguely wondered what that was.

"Okay… where is it?" Matthew asked.

"Er, it's that one International Café? The one near the park, serves all kinds of food from everywhere…." Gilbert began, trailing off at the end of his sentence.

"Oh, right, that place." Matthew said, remembering. It was a pretty decent café, they had maple syrup pie. "Okay, so I'll meet you there around nine?" Matthew repeated, just to confirm.

"Yup!" Gilbert chirped, popping the 'p'. "See ya then, Birdie!" The line then went dead with a click. Matthew removed the phone from his ear, and just stared at it for a little, smiling to himself. The display then shut off, and he set it on his bedside table again.

He fiddled with his clock, setting the alarm for 8 A.M, and rolled over on his back, sighing. He needed sleep. Sleep is good.

~Timeskip~

The radio switched on at precisely 8:00, and Matthew threw a pillow to stop the Neon Trees song. When the chorus still played, he made a strangled kind of noise and hit the alarm, effectively cutting the song off. Of course, he had to sit up to do that, and when he did so, he exposed himself to the cold.

Remembering he had somewhere to be, he slowly crawled out of bed and dug through his drawers, looking for some decent clothes. He found a decent enough gray t-shirt and jeans, and put them on.

He then went into the bathroom, where he simultaneously brushed his teeth and combed his hair, taking great care to stay away from the inexplicable curl. He would rather not be both aroused and restricted to only speaking French if he accidentally touched it. Thinking about how strange the curl was, he spat and rinsed, shrugging it off.

Taking the bag of dog food from the counter, he shook it, scanning the room for his glasses. "Kumaloohoo!" He called out softly, and the big and fluffy dog wandered into the kitchen. He barked, and it sounded a bit like he was saying 'Who'?

"Matthew." Matthew laughed, petting the dog as he chowed down. Matthew looked over at the clock, yelping as he realized the time. "Eh?! It's 8:40…" He mumbled to himself.

Finding and grabbing his glasses, phone, and a hoodie, he unlocked the door with a short "Bye Kumakuupoo!" After making sure he had locked the door again, he got into his plain gray car. As he drove away, he connected his phone to the radio, hitting shuffle on his music library and letting the soothing 'Mountain Sound' fully wake him up.

As he was singing along absentmindedly to Of Monsters And Men, he drove slowly and carefully, hoping he wasn't late. Finally pulling in to the tiny café, he saw Gilbert leaning against the edge of the building.

He got out of the car and waved to Gilbert, and he smiled and waved. "Hullo, Birdie~!" He said as the Canadian approached. "How are ya?"

"Well enough…" Matthew mumbled, and Gilbert grinned.

"So, what happened in the last 14 or so hours?" Gilbert asked Matthew as they went inside, and Matthew shrugged.

"Nothing much." Matthew breezily said, wondering about the kind of coffee he should get. Gilbert snorted.

"What, no secret late night escapades with a hot girl?" Gilbert teased, and Matthew screwed his face up.

"No!" Matthew sputtered, and Gilbert laughed.

"Joking, joking, don't get your panties in a twist Birdie." Gilbert said, and they approached the bored looking woman at the register. She looked up, unamused.

"Welcome to International Café, what will you order." She said in a monotone, and Gilbert scanned the menu for a second.

"Uh, is it alright if I get the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte?" Gilbert asked, and the lady raised an eyebrow.

"You mean the black forest cake?" She asked. Ooooh. That's what it was.

"If that's what you unawesomely insist on calling it, then fine." Gilbert said, and expectantly looked at Matthew.

"May I please have the maple syrup pie…?" Matthew asked quietly, and the lady shrugged, typing it in.

"That'd be $8.69." She stated, and Matthew quickly took out his wallet and place a 10 dollar bill on the counter, before Gilbert could do anything.

"No, no…" Gilbert started, but Matthew forcefully shook his head. He was going to pay for this whether Gilbert liked it or not. Gilbert held his hands out in surrender. "Okay then, Birdie. Thanks." Matthew smiled.

"No problem." The lady gave them their sugary treats and they sat down at a nearby table.

At first, it was silence, mainly Gilbert asking questions and Matthew returning them with one word replies. It's not that he didn't want to be there- he really did, and enjoyed talking with the other man, it's just that he didn't know what to say.

"So… you like singing?" Gilbert asked, looking at him curiously while taking some of his maple syrup pie. Matthew hesitantly nodded, choosing to ignore the blatant pie theft. Gilbert beamed. "That's totally awesome!" Matthew was stunned.

"Why, eh?" He asked, brow furrowed. It wasn't like he was all that good or anything.

Gilbert laughed. "You see, I've been trying to start a band. Wanna join?"

"Join a band..?" Matthew asked, frowning. Didn't bands go out and perform? Who would be the other band members? Did they even have any musical experience?

"Yeah! I play drums, and my friends Francis and Antonio play keyboard and guitar! We've been looking for a singer, and you are definitely awesome enough to qualify for the position." Gilbert said, and Matthew took a bite of his pie, mulling it over.

"Well…." Matthew began, and Gilbert clasped his hands together.

"Pleeeeeease?" He begged, and Matthew sighed.

"I guess…? I mean, I have to meet the others, eh." He agreed. Gilbert jumped up and enveloped him in a bear hug. Matthew blushed.

"Thank you Birdie! You're so awesome! Not as awesome as me, but still." Gilbert said, and Matthew's 'no problem' was muffled by Gilbert's shirt, which smelt like a nice smelling cologne.

When he was finally let go, Matthew vaguely wondered exactly what he had just gotten himself into.

A/N: Thank you for all the nice reviews so far! ^^ ~Amity