Chapter 6: October 29th

There was really no excuse for them having failed so many times within the same week. Matthew felt like maybe their plans were a bit too extravagant to get Lovino talking to Antonio. So far they had tried peace offerings, casual conversations, forcing them to be partners in class, and a simple "Lovino just listen to the guy." Nothing had worked and Lovino was still ignoring Antonio as if his life depended on it.

Currently, they were all sitting in a circle on stage during their break talking about the week. They did it at least once a week to "promote community among them." Their current group didn't really need it since everyone got along really well, but it was still nice to be able to share about their weeks with people who they might not have gotten to talk to. They would take turns talking and commenting on each other's stories and hopefully, they would calmly work out any type of drama that may have occurred.

Which was the plan that Matthew and Gilbert currently had in action. Of course, it would involve Antonio having to tell everyone a little about what was going on, but it wasn't much. And if this didn't work, it was up to Matthew and Gilbert to just shut them somewhere together.

And I feel like Lovino wouldn't exactly forgive me for that… Matthew sighed, looking at Gilbert for some type of encouragement that their plan wouldn't fail this time. They were sitting next to each other, both keeping an eye on Antonio and Lovino who they had sat opposite of each other in the circle. Somehow, it still made Matthew feel uneasy about this situation.

"Hey, Mattie." He looked up at the feeling of someone jabbing his side lightly. Finding Gilbert watching him curiously. "This is going to work, you know. Everyone has to share something, it's the unspoken rule here."

"I know, but I feel like something's going to wrong…"

"Just don't jinx it. Lovino is going before Antonio and that's what we wanted, right? This way he's not just spacing out while Antonio talks." Matthew nodded, they had talked about that. He didn't look away from the other for quite a bit, even though there was a feeling that made him want to look away.

Maybe it was just himself, but he flushed and looked down. "Let's just see how this goes. Then we can celebrate if they're back on talking terms."

After about twenty minutes, it had only just gotten to Gilbert, there were another three people, one of them being Antonio. And the look on Antonio's face was fully distressed, Lovino hadn't mentioned a thing, his shared story being one about being constantly called on by one of his professors. Antonio also seemed desperate to get any sort of reaction from the Italian, which Matthew thought was sweet even if it wasn't working.

"Let's see, what do I have to share about myself this week… Ah! So, there's actually been someone I've wanted to ask out, but I feel like they have too much going on and they haven't actually looked at me. I mean, they have, but at the same time they haven't." Gilbert suddenly spoke from beside him. The German's words causing an icy feeling to cover him, "does that make sense?"

"Gil, who is it? Is it someone in the group?" Feliciano asked from his spot, "It is, isn't it! It has to be!"

"Uh…" Matthew looked towards him, wondering if he would answer. He wasn't completely sure if he wanted to hear that answer though… and that thought alone scared him more than the actual answer. "I don't really feel like answering that, Feli…"

"Wait, you haven't even told Tonio and me, and we're your two closest friends!" Gilbert looked over nervously to where Francis was sitting, a minute frown on his face. "Who is this little bird who has caught your heart?"

"Oh joy, we really don't need Francis to get philosophical right now of all times," he heard Lovino call out. "Can we just fucking make this move quicker? We can't take longer than forty minutes, you know."

"Like you're one to talk, Mr. Can't-Give-a-Straight-Answer."

"What's the supposed to fucking mean?" Lovino snapped angrily. Eyes going wide, Matthew shot up to sit on his knees.

"Guys," he called, hoping it was loud enough. Thankfully both Lovino and Francis looked towards him. "Stick to the topic please… we still have three more people to go." Lovino huffed out, deflating and crossing his arms causing Matthew to sigh in relief. Francis only nodded before sending a quick glare towards Lovino which was dutifully ignored.

A few more people commented on Gilbert's story, giving him advice and good luck. Matthew just felt slightly sicker with each person adding their own two cents, though he shoved it away if only to show his support for Gilbert. The two people after him (Kiku and Arthur) went without a hitch and it was Antonio's turn to share after only about eight minutes.

It was easy to see that Antonio was nervous, and looked at everyone for a few seconds before settling on a point somewhere in the middle of the circle. "So, uh. I guess most people here know what happened last week? Right?" He received nods from about half the people and a shocked gasp from Feliciano which made Antonio chuckle a bit. "Well, um, those who don't know… I, uh, I tried to tell Lovino something very important, and it didn't go as planned…"

There were a few loud 'oh's' from people around the circle, everyone instantly looking towards Lovino to see his reaction, but Lovino's face was turned towards his lap, bangs covering most of his face.

"He—he won't talk to me, and I don't know what to do…" Antonio glanced around at everyone, looking just so heartbroken. Matthew felt like just hugging him. It was really weird to see the Spaniard that sad and worried. "Lovino… please. Just please talk to me."

Lovino looked up, eyes trying not to fall where Antonio was. His face didn't show much emotions but Matthew could tell that he seemed panicked. His brother and Antonio could probably see that too.

"Lovi, have you not been talking to Antonio at all this past week?" Lovino looked at his younger brother, mouth moving, but no sounds coming out. Maybe this hadn't been the best of their ideas this week…

"That's no one's business," he responded quickly, almost stumbling over his words in his haste to say them. "Why the fuck would you tell everyone about that?"

Matthew was sure that this was the first time all week that Lovino actually looked at Antonio. But, Antonio had his head down, hands together in his lap. After a moment, he turned to look at Gilbert and Matthew, asking for help. As much as Matthew wanted to do something though, there wasn't anything he could really do…

"Lovino, please. We really do need to talk," Antonio pleaded.

Around them everyone was talking lowly. A few people throwing out things like 'just talk to him,' 'date each other already!' and 'lover's spat again?' Lovino's face was turning red while Antonio was nervously chuckling, looking hopefully at everyone except Lovino at the moment.

"Oh come on, everyone knows you two are already practically a couple!" Arthur injected, "Now hurry up, we're done after this and I would like to get back to the dorms before tomorrow."

It was then that Lovino stood up, and jumped off the stage, making his way towards the exit. "Ah, wait! Lovi, you can't leave!" Antonio called out, following him. Matthew stood up to follow, but Gilbert held him back.

"Mattie, leave them. They might be able to sort things out." Glancing at Gilbert, he noticed that the other was watching Antonio and Lovino. Matthew looked towards them to see Antonio grabbing Lovino's arm and speaking quietly. Lovino shook his head, said something back and yanked his arm out of the hold. It looked like he said 'no' and turned, grabbing his backpack and leaving.

Antonio, just stood there, before slowly making his way back and resting his arms on the stage, head down. Matthew frowned, sitting back and turning to Gilbert.

"…I don't know how to help him anymore…" he whispered, silently asking what now, Gilbert? Gilbert looked at him pensively before placing his hands on Matthew's shoulders.

"Look, we'll try one more thing. If this doesn't work, you have to give up on helping them. You're way too focused on other people right now. Have you even looked at yourself?"

Matthew blinked, "what? I've been taking care of myself… what do you mean?"

Gilbert made a funny face at that, only succeeding in making Matthew even more confused. "Nothing," he took his hands off of Matthew completely, looking away, "forget I mentioned anything."

"Okay guys, let's pack up and go. We need to be out of the auditorium now."

Still confused, Matthew followed everyone to their backpacks and left. He could still feel a bit warmth from where Gilbert had held onto him. That alone made heat rise on his cheeks.

~ooXoo~

After quickly saying a goodbye to Gilbert and the others, Matthew rushed back to the dorms, hoping that that was where Lovino had headed off to. Hopefully, he didn't have to go running off to one of Lovino's many hidden places on campus. He really just needed to talk to Lovino for himself. No one had heard what Antonio and Lovino had said to each other, and Antonio wasn't willing to disclose what had been exchanged between them. But, Lovino had to trust in Matthew, right? They were best friends, whatever Lovino couldn't tell Antonio, he would tell Matthew. That's just how it worked.

Rushing to open the door to his dorm, Matthew stumbled when the door opened, his key only halfway into the lock. He glanced at Lovino who only opened the door wider and let him in. Matthew tried to smile, taking his keys and moving to drop off his book bag on his chair before sitting on his bed facing Lovino. He motioned for Lovino to sit across from him, wanting them to just talk for the time being.

"Lovino, are you sure you want to keep pretending that Antonio doesn't exist?" He asked as soon as the Italian had sat down across from him. "He's really trying to communicate with you…"

Lovino frowned, crossing his arms in a pouty manner, "I already said I didn't want anything to do with him."

"But Antonio-"

"I could care less about what Antonio fucking wants. I don't give a damn anymore."

"Can't you at least listen to him for five minutes and then decide that you want nothing to do with anymore? At least grant him some type of closure…"

"Matthew, that bastard doesn't deserve that! He toyed with a serious topic!" Lovino shot to his feet, looking down at him as if he was angry with Matthew.

He didn't know how to respond to that. He couldn't exactly speak for Antonio; that would be helping just a bit too much. The most he could do was urge Lovino to speak with the Spaniard but that wasn't going anywhere.

"Why are you so insistent that I talk to him anyways?"

"I uh…" Did he really want Lovino to know that he and Gilbert were working behind the scenes with Antonio to get them together? "I-"

"Wait. Antonio said he was told to do that by two people…" Lovino said, turning towards their window and pacing a bit, "Are you one of them? Are you trying to fix this?"

Matthew gaped at him, feeling like he was being placed in the middle of the spotlight, which technically, he was. "Lovino, wait. Okay, yes, both Gilbert and I are trying to help Antonio and you out…"

"Help us out?" Lovino laughed, "Matthew, this is between Antonio and I, we don't need help! You should be focusing on your own problems, not on mine, or Antonio's. What about your own love life? We only have the rest of this year and next before everyone goes off to their own universities." Matthew shook his head. He wasn't looking for anyone. There wasn't anyone that he was interested in.

"No one here catches my interest in that way…"

"Not even Gilbert? You have been spending a lot of time with him recently… almost as if you had a crush on him, I would say." Lovino smiled mischievously, suddenly taking on a different pose and clearing his throat. "It's always 'Gilbert this' and 'Gilbert that.' Or it's 'I'm hanging out with Gil.'"

"I've never called him 'Gil'! Not even once!"

"Yes, you have." Matthew stood up, crossing his arms as he walked past Lovino to stand in front of the door.

"There's more important things than a relationship." Lovino scoffed, running a hand through his hair.

"Other people's problems are not more important! Look," Lovino moved to stand right in front of him, "Matthew, it's great that you're selfless. I guess that's a great quality to have, but for fuck's sake be selfish about something for once!" Lovino practically yelled at him, making Matthew clench his fists, "I only confide in you because I trust you, but don't just try to drop your own problems in favor of helping others out!"

"I don't have a problem!"
"Than what's your relationship with Gilbert? Friends? It sure doesn't look like that to me if Gilbert said he felt like he was being ignored!"

Matthew breathed in sharply, heart starting up because of that. "He wasn't talking about me, Lovino. We're just—"

"Dancing around each other? Sounds about right." Lovino scoffed, "Bird brain was talking about you and you didn't even notice."

"I don't even like him like that, Lovino!"

"So you say." Lovino finally sat down again, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. "I say you're just too focused on other people's problems to notice your own. Be more selfish."

Matthew sighed and fell backwards on his bed, looking up at the ceiling in thought. He thought he was selfish already, but Lovino didn't seem to think so. But there really was no way he had feelings for Gilbert, he would have noticed already! He hung out with Gilbert so often, shouldn't those emotions have already come up to the surface?

~ooXoo~

"Ah! Matt, look out!"

It only took Matthew a half second to turn and move, watching a heavy, foam spider fall where he had been standing and setting out decorations. He looked up to see Alfred sighing out from the top of a ladder. "How did that even fall?"

Chuckling awkwardly, Alfred rubbed his hands together. "You see… I was hanging it up and it slipped when I was securing it…"

"Alfred, you're supposed to be careful!"

"I know!"

Sighing, Matthew just picked up the spider and handed it back to his brother. Around them, Feliciano was flitting about giving out decoration instructions for their Halloween party. While it was tradition that the theatre club would decorate the school's Halloween party, it wasn't exactly tradition that only a fourth of the club would help. Almost no one had shown up to help. Only backstage hands really coming in earlier than their actor counterparts. He sighed out loud again; his brother was the only actor who had come out to help…

"Hey, something got you down?" Frowning at his brother, Alfred finished hanging the spider before climbing down and standing in front of Matthew. Shaking his head, Matthew shrugged and leaned on the nearby wall that was behind them. His thoughts weren't something he always shared with his brother. Sure, they were inseparable when they were younger, but they were high schoolers now.

"Not really…"

"Is it Gilbert?" Matthew raised an eyebrow, only to watch Alfred do the same. "Oh come on, you've been hanging out with him non-stop. There's got to be something going on there."

Matthew gave him a puzzled expression, crossing his arms as he spoke, "There's nothing going on between us. We've only been talking a lot because we're trying to push Antonio and Lovino together." Alfred laughed.

"Seriously? 'Cuz, I'm pretty sure he was talking about you at last week's session."

"Even you think that? You know it's not true…"

"Wait," Alfred moved to lean on the wall next to his brother, a curious tone in voice, "more people think so?"
"Yeah, Lovino told me the same thing."

"Dude, then it's true! Gilbert likes you!" His brother turned towards him, smiling widely, "do you like him back?"

"Alfred. I don't."

Matthew looked down at his shoes, taking a lot of interest in his laces. Gilbert was a friend, a friend who did not like him more than a friend should. Everyone was just looking way too far into it.

"If you say so, Matt." Alfred pushed himself off of the wall and stretched. "We should probably go back to decorating. And Matt?"

"Huh?" Matthew had just started leaning down to pick up the box that he had been taking stuff out of. Once he had his grip on it, he turned around giving his brother his attention.

"Take some time for yourself, okay? Think your own feelings over. You're my brother and I know you."

"I know you do, we grew up together."

Alfred rolled his eyes, lightly smacking Matthew on the head, "that's not what I meant and you know it! Just make sure your feelings are your priority. You can't help others fully until you help yourself."

"Okay, okay. I'll try to do so okay?" Matthew smiled at his brother before finally moving towards the next table of things that he had to put up. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that the others were almost done, which was good since the party would start in another three hours and he really wanted to grab dinner before needing to be back here. And he really did not want to miss out on the mini talent show that would be put on.