A few weeks after that first practice, Matthew and Gilbert were at an ice cream store. The former was casually licking a strawberry cone, and the latter was eagerly chowing down on a large double chocolate. He was getting the cold dessert everywhere. Matthew laughed. "Gil, you have some on your nose."
The albino crossed his eyes and looked at the blot of ice cream. It was true, and it stood out against his pale skin. Instead of wiping it off like a civilized human being, he just took a dollop of Matthew's and put it on the said blonde's nose. "You're one to talk!" He teased, and Matthew rubbed it off and stuck his tongue out at him.
"Mean." He cleverly retorted. Gilbert snickered and Matthew flushed lightly. In the 4 to 5 weeks or so since that first practice, Matthew had developed a… as embarrassing as it was to admit it, crush on the albino. It wasn't a huge, giant, life consuming crush. It was more of a pleasantly nervous crush, one that sent butterflies through your stomach.
"Birdie?" Gilbert's voice snapped him back to reality. "You know, we've been practicing quite a bit." He said, and Matthew frowned.
"Who?" He asked, and then suddenly remembered. "Oh, right, Bad Touch. We have, huh?" It was true. They had practiced nearly every other day, and the practices usually took up the whole day. They had long since mastered that one song, and several others. "Why do you say that, eh?"
Gilbert shrugged. "No reason. It's just that we should probably try performing a set somewhere." He causally said. "Problem is, I have no clue where. It's so unawesome." Matthew looked down. He did know of a place they could perform… but the problem was, he really didn't want to perform. It was selfish of him, he knew, but he was terrified of crowds.
"Well… I sort of know this place…" Matthew mumbled after a few moments of indecision, and Gilbert looked at him curiously.
"Where?"
"Eh… it's my brother's restaurant." Matthew began. "It's very small, but he'd probably let us use it as a first venue…?" Gilbert smiled.
"That's perfect, Birdie! Why didn't you tell me before?" He chirped happily, and Matthew shrugged.
"I guess the idea never came to me until now, eh?" Matthew said. 'No,' His inner voice chided him. 'It's because you have a fear of performing and didn't want to tell him.'
Matthew sighed. Inner voices never seemed to shut up. Gilbert slung an arm casually around Matthew while he was in the middle of his mental argument and grinned. "Well, it'd be an awesome place to start, Birdie! All you have to do is force- I mean persuade-your brother to let us use his place." Matthew nodded, taking a bite/lick of his frozen dairy treat.
"It should be easy enough."
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Matthew had no clue why he thought it'd be easy. He patiently watched Alfred stuff his face with fast food while getting crumbs everywhere. He inconspicuously wiped some crumbs from his sleeve and coughed. "So… is it okay…?"
Alfred swallowed and took another burger from the pile. "Well, mmmmph be just mmmmph mmmmph." He blabbered, mouth full. Matthew sighed.
"Alfred, this is the seventh time… I kind of can't hear you. Is it alright if you answer while not eating?" Matthew politely asked, absentmindedly ripping a napkin into several pieces. Alfred set the burger down and sighed dramatically.
"Mattie, you know that heroes totally need to eat!" He scoffed. "But for my little bro, I'll totally just ignore this amazingly delicious and tantalizing pile of burgers. Even though I'm really hungry." Alfred said, trying to play the guilt card. It worked. Matthew, being the pushover that he is, frowned.
"Sorry, uh, just finish your food first." Canada apologized. Alfred gave him a thumbs up and continued chowing down on the crazily large pile with vigour. Matthew was pretty sure his twin would die from heart failure or diabetes one day. When the never ending plate was finished, Alfred looked up.
"Okay bro, what did you want again?" Alfred said. He had obviously forgotten again. Matthew pleasantly smiled.
"Oh…" Matthew said, suddenly snapping out of the daze he was in. "You know that band I practice with, right…?" Matthew tentatively began. Alfred nodded. "Well… the others have kinda been needing a place to perform…"
"…So they wanted to perform at my totally awesome burger restaurant?" Alfred finished, tone chipper. "Sure! I'd do anything for my bro! Well, so long as your band isn't made of suck."
Matthew smiled. "Thank you…" Alfred looked at him quizzically.
"Hey whoa, I haven't agreed to anything. I need to hear you dudes play!" Alfred exclaimed, and Matthew nodded.
"Right." Maple. They were screwed.
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The next band practice, Alfred tagged along, chattering excitedly. The others were surprised to find that Matthew had an identical twin, much to the protests of Alfred. After introductions were made, Alfred beamed. "So, you guys must sound pretty decent!" Lovino rolled his eyes.
"We sound more than pretty decent, bastard." The Southern Italian scoffed, and Alfred put his hands on his hips.
"Oh yeah?" He taunted. "Then prove it to the hero that is me." He pointed to himself. Before Lovino could scathingly reply, Antonio gently placed a hand over Lovino's mouth.
"Let's refrain from arguing, Lovi." He chirped, and Lovino scowled. Suddenly, Antonio blushed and pulled his hand away, wiping it off on Lovino's sleeve. "Lovino, don't do thaaaat!" Lovino smirked victoriously, blushing himself.
Francis raised an eyebrow. "Anyways, why don't we show Monsieur Alfred here our music? Before we start trying to kill each other again." The other men nodded, and mumbles of assent were exchanged. They led Alfred down to the basement and Gilbert pointed to the song list.
"Okay, Alfred," Gilbert began. "While we're setting all of this up, you pick a song." Alfred eagerly took the list and scanned it. His eyes lit up.
"Oh! This one's about America!" He exclaimed, waving the paper in the air. He was referring to the song that Gilbert and Matthew had once wrote when they were out drinking. Matthew blushed.
"Uh… is it okay if you pick a different one?" Matthew asked, and Gilbert snickered.
"He'll love it, Birdie! We'll do it! It's going to be awesome… kesese." Gilbert snickered, and Francis and Antonio laughed as well. Lovino rolled his eyes. Alfred was blissfully unaware if what's so funny. He chattered on as the others finished setting up. When it was eventually done, they all looked expectantly at Matthew. He nodded and they instantly began playing the loud cacophony of the beginning intro. Matthew desperately closed his eyes and pretended Alfred wasn't there.
"A-America!" He stammered/sang at first, but eventually gained confidence. His voice raised in volume. "America!"
Alfred was in fanboy joy land- he loved his country, go freedom!- until the next lyric popped up. "America!" Matthew yelled, and the others (aside from Lovino) responded with an enthusiastic "F*ck yeah!"
"Comin' again to save the motherf*ckin day!" Matthew cheered, blushing, and the loud guitar and drums were nearly deafening. Alfred could only stare, his jaw slack. They continued performing, most of the song was Matthew yelling extremely American things (McDonalds! The Alamo! Slavery!) and the other band members yelling "F*ck yeah!" back with each word. The song ended with an extremely long guitar solo, and when it ended, Matthew opened his eyes, suddenly remembering that Alfred was there. Gilbert, Antonio, and Francis were expectantly looking at Alfred, Matthew was staring at the floor, and Lovino stared at his nails, bored.
Alfred stared at the band for a good minute… and burst out into laughter. He crouched down, almost sobbing from mirth. "Dudes! That was totally hilarious! W-who wrote that?!" Gilbert grinned.
"The awesome me did. And Birdie helped." He said, and Alfred paused in his laughter to stare at Matthew.
"You… wrote that?!" He said, and Matthew nodded slowly. Alfred began laughing again. "Oh my God, I didn't think you even listened to that kind of crap!"
His laugh was annoying and went on for a while. When his laughter was reduced to slight chuckling, he wiped his eyes. "Ahhh. Good times. Can I join your band?"
Lovino rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure you don't have any experience, bastard. No." Alfred shrugged, still in good spirits.
"Okay, that's true. But, you can definitely perform at my restaurant, dudes! Just refrain from swearing. Hero Burgers is a family friendly establishment!" Alfred chirped.
As everyone else cheered, Matthew felt a strange feeling of dread. This wasn't going to end well….
A/N: AAAAAH! This is literally so so late! I caught a terrible case of writers block… this chapter still feels weird to me. Aaah. The struggle. Anyways, the song they sing in this one is an actual song. It's the best. Go search up 'America f yea' on YouTube. It's my spirit animal. Anyways, I'm sorry for the lateness, and I hope this would be the only time something like this happens… *sweats nervously* ~Amity