The first thing that Matthew registered when he woke up was that his head was probably going to split in half. The next thing he noticed was that he was not in his bed, at home, and whose clothes were these anyways? Turning and stuffing his face into the pillow, which unfortunately did nothing for the headache, he breathed in. The pillow smelled like beer and sausages. Wait, what?

He quickly sat up and snatched what he hoped was his glasses from the bedside table, his headache and queasy stomach protesting. Matthew paused, focusing on his breathing for a second to clear his head, then put his glasses on, eyesight suddenly much more clear. Posters for various bands like Rammstein and the Beatles were plastered on the wall, and it was rather messy. Matthew slowly put the pieces together, and reality hit him like a sack of bricks.

He was in Gilbert's house, wearing his clothes, most likely nursing a hangover. What even happened last night? Hopefully nothing... but he couldn't be too sure. As he was reviewing the worst (and also best) case scenarios in his head, embarrassed as hell, Gilbert walked in with a glass of water. "Oh, Birdie, you're awake. Awesome." He gave the water to Matthew, who gladly took a sip.

"Thank you." Matthew whispered. He then decided to just cut right to the chase. "So… what happened last night?"

Gilbert snickered. "Oh, where do I start? It was pretty awesome… seeing you not completely quiet was hilarious."

Matthew blinked. "What?"

"You were drunk." Gilbert said. "You were very drunk. You probably have never gotten drunker. You know, you said some pretty awesome stuff… kesese…" Matthew blushed, having a feeling he knew exactly what kind of stuff he said. Maple maple maple. He was never getting drunk again.

"What kind of stuff, eh?" Matthew asked, laughing nervously.

"Well, it was more of a song." Gilbert clarified. "It was awesome."

"Which song?"

"Well, it was very honest and I related to it a lot." Gilbert said, still in a matter of fact tone. "But it depends on if you were serious and not just spouting unawesome drunken bullshit." Matthew tilted his head.

"Well… it depends on the song…" He started, and then the memories hit him full force. Maple. Not good. Matthew blushed brighter than the maple leaf on his flag. "Oh. I remember now." He took the pillow and shoved it on his face to hide the blush.

Gilbert smirked and slung his arm around Matthew, making him jump slightly and blush harder. "It was pretty awesome!" Matthew pressed his face deeper into the pillow. It was a wonder he could still breathe. Gilbert furrowed his brow. "You okay?"

The only part of Matthew's head visible was his curl. Gilbert roughly pulled on it, you know, so he could see Matthew's face, and laughed a little at Matthew's even redder face as he gasped he resurfaced from the depths of pillow. It was so red, it was a shade of red previously unknown to mankind. "Birdie?"

"…" Matthew was shaking so hard he could hardly talk. "S… s… s…"

Gilbert tilted his head, now sort of worried. "Hm? Did I do something…?" He yanked on the curl, harder. Matthew gasped and fell over, landing on Gilbert's lap. "Birdie?"

"S'il vous plaît ne pas toucher la boucle!" (Translation: "Please don't touch the curl!") Matthew gasped, before pressing his face into Gilbert's shirt. Gilbert was, quite obviously, confused.

"What?" Gilbert's hand moved as if he was going to pull the curl again, but Matthew grabbed it before he could. He pressed it to his face, mainly because his hand was cool and it could possibly cool down the heat on his face, and also because he could not think straight and it was the first thing he could think of doing.

"Boucle…" Matthew said, after the shock subsided and he was only slightly shaking. He pointed to his curl. Gilbert nodded. Matthew then mimed pulling. Unfortunately, it looked rather lewd, and Gilbert snickered. Matthew swatted him. Gilbert smirked, winking at him.

Matthew rolled his eyes. He pointed to his curl again, mimed pulling, and furiously shook his head no. Gilbert put it together after him repeating it a few times. "Don't pull the curl?" Matthew nodded. "Why? And why the hell are you speaking Latin?"

"Francais." (Translation: "French.") Matthew corrected him, and sighed. He pointed to the curl and shrugged, as if to say 'the curl does that'. Gilbert paused, and nodded.

"The curl makes you speak what I now awesomely assume is French." Gilbert said, and Matthew nodded. "Okay, then why did you fall on my lap?" Matthew blinked and sat up straight, his headache and queasiness increasing and he sagged against Gilbert.

"Érable." (Translation: "Maple.") He sort of swore, wincing. Gilbert patted his head awkwardly, taking care to avoid the curl. Matthew pointed to the curl again and purposely made a sexual hand gesture, not quite looking the albino in the eye. Gilbert paused, confused. After a moment, he then burst out laughing.

"The curl turns you on?" He eloquently put it, and Matthew blushed. Yeah, that sums it up. He nodded, biting his lip. "It makes you speak French… and it also turns you on. What can't that curl do?" Matthew swatted Gilbert lightly.

"So… what happens if someone licks the curl?" Gilbert asked. Matthew's previously red face instantly went as white as the middle section on his home country's flag. He furiously shook his head.

"Non! Érable, non." Matthew squeaked, and Gilbert smirked.

"Okay, we can awesomely save that for later." He coolly said, sounding nonchalant. Matthew choked on air. "That is, if you want to. Because I certainly do, that'd be awesome."

Matthew blinked. "Pardon…?" (Translation: "Sorry…?")

"You're fairly awesome, Birdie. You seem to think I'm awesome, which is both true and gives you bonus points in my book, you make awesome pancakes, and you're cute." Gilbert said. "Also, you seem to want me pretty bad." Matthew blushed, fuzzily remembering the song last night and stared up at him with wide violet eyes.

"Je vous aime, Gil. Beaucoup." ("I like you Gil. A lot.") Matthew admitted. Gilbert poked him.

"I'm sorry, the awesome me doesn't understand French, Birdie." Gilbert sniggered. Matthew shrugged in apology. Stupid curl. As he was musing over how stupid he is (and also how stupid the curl is), Gilbert suddenly leaned forward and pressed his lips up against Matthew's. It was surprisingly gentle, in contrast to the roughness of the Prussian's personality.

Matthew kissed back.

A/N: AND SOME ACTUAL PRUCAN STUFF HAPPENED *squealy fangirly screeches* The next chapter will be the chapter, the one where the battle of the bands pops up. Finally and at last. Anyways, I hope you liked the recent chapter, in which Matthew did a hell of a lot of blushing. Too much blushing. All of it was him blushing. Whoops. Thank you for the kind reviews so far, as well. ^^ ~Amity