Alfred sat on his patio steps, waiting in anticipation for his friends to arrive. It took a lot of cleaning and convincing, but eventually, his parents agreed to this little hang out. Matthew was still a bit off about the whole thing, and was currently asleep in their room, trying his best to avoid the inevitable.
The teen browsed through his instagram as he waited. He knew that Mathias and Antonio were on their way already, and there was always no telling when it comes to Gilbert.
Soon enough, a car pulled up in front of the small house. Surprisingly, Gilbert and Elizaveta both exited out of the car. "Al! Wassup?" The albino said as the two teens ran over to the steps.
"Hey guys! Glad you could make it!" Alfred said with a smile. Elizaveta grinned and handed him a tray of cookies. "Oh here, I brought these." she said.
"Awesome! Come on guys, I'll show you around." Alfred led the two teens inside his small house and placed the tray of cookies on the coffee table. "Mom! Mattie! My friends are here!" Alfred shouted.
A short blonde woman ran down the spiral staircase and smiled at the teens. "Hello kids! Alfie, try to be quiet, your brother's still sleeping." she spoke with a heavy Southern accent. She walked over to the coffee table and picked up the tray of cookies. "Oh! Liza, did you make these? They look delicious!"
Elizaveta nodded. "Yep! Thanks Mrs. Jones!" Alfred's mom smiled, "It's no problem, sweetie. I'm going to put these in the kitchen with the other snacks. You kids have fun!" she said as she walked off.
Alfred waved to the woman, then turned towards his two friends. "So guys... What do you wanna do while we wait for the others?"
Gilbert shrugged. "You said you have an xbox, right? Why don't we just play with that?"
"Nope." Alfred shook his head, "It's hooked up to the bedroom TV and Mattie's asleep. Don't wanna wake him up."
Elizaveta raised her eyebrows, "He's still asleep? It's past noon! We probably should wake him up, especially before the others get here." However, they were too late. The doorbell rang and the three teens ran over to see who it was.
Standing on the patio, Mathias, Antonio, and shockingly, Lovino, waited patiently for their blond friend to answer the door. The three were unprepared for when he did, Mathias nearly got a door slammed in his face.
"Yes! You're all here! Come on in, Gil and Liza are waiting." Alfred said, guiding his friends inside.
The small group followed Alfred into the kitchen, where he opened up all the snacks and began to dig in.
"Dios mio Al, we literally just got here. We're not hungry yet..." Antonio laughed.
Alfred shook his head, "But I am." He grabbed a handful of chips and shoved them into his mouth.
The group collectively sighed. Mathias sat down at the table and laid his head right next to a large fishbowl. "Nice fish!" he smiled, looking up at the gray gourami swimming happily in the brightly decorated bowl.
"Thanks! His name's Humphrey. You can feed him some chips if you want." Alfred said, handing the Dane a Dorito.
Elizaveta shook her head, "Al! You're gonna kill the poor thing!" she scolded. Alfred chuckled, "Nah, he's used to it. Trust me."
Mathias looked at the Dorito and ate it. "Sorry Al, but I'm with Liza on this one."
Gilbert rolled his eyes, "Oh c'mon dude! Don't be a pussy! Feed the fish! Feed the fish!" He and Alfred began chanting and a small argument ensued between the group of friends. Poor Humphrey watched on, waiting expectantly for his daily dose of the powdered nacho cheese snack.
"Look, as you can see on the back of this bag, the nutritional facts state that all of the chips weigh at least 28 grams. Google says that a single chip rounds to 1.2 grams. So if I divide that from the total amount of calories-" Alfred looked over to the entrance of the kitchen. There stood his twin brother, in just boxer shorts and a Maple Leafs t-shirt. "Oh! Hey Mattie! Look, guys! Someone finally decided to wake up!"
Matthew's face went red. If he had remembered that Alfred had invited over so many people, he would've given some time to make himself look more presentable. But here he was, tousled hair and all. The teen panicked with everyone's eyes on him. "U-Uhm... I'll be right back..." Matthew turned around and quickly sprinted back into his shared room, slamming the door.
The others stood in the kitchen, feeling a little second-hand embarrassment from the whole situation. "Did he know that we were here or...?" Lovino said, grabbing one of the cookies Elizaveta had baked.
Alfred nodded, "I definitely told him. Dude's just too awkward for his own good."
After eating nearly every single snack that his mother had laid out, Alfred decided to bring his friends to the upstairs portion of his house, now that they didn't have to worry about waking anyone.
"Okay guys, so the bathroom is at the end of the hall, and over there's the closet..." Alfred said, as he lead his friends to his bedroom.
While the group kept on walking, Gilbert stopped in front of a large door with the sounds and scratching and panting coming from behind it. "Hey Al, what's in here?"
"It's just my parents' room. Don't open the-" Before the blond could finish his sentence, Gilbert was tackled by a large white dog. "Door..."
The albino screamed as the dog pinned him down to the ground and sniffed his face. Alfred sighed. "MATTIE! Get your fucking dog, bitch!"
The twin ran out of his room with lazily combed hair, a red sweatshirt, and jeans. "Al, be nice to him! He's only a puppy!" Matthew scolded as he quickly got the dog off of Gilbert. The teen sighed in relief. "You call that a puppy?"
Matthew nodded, "Still only seven months old. Poor thing..." He gently grabbed the dog by the collar and guided it back into the bedroom. "C'mon Kumanana. It's me, Matthew, your owner."
Alfred rolled his eyes and helped Gilbert off the floor. "His name is Kumajirou. Mattie always forgets it."
The teens walked into the twins' bedroom. It was surprisingly clean, especially for the likes of Alfred. "Make yourselves at home. Just let me know when you guys are hungry." The blond said, going through a drawer and pulling out a few xbox controllers.
Luckily, Gilbert brought over a few game discs from home. The teens busied themselves with that for an hour, until Matthew came back into the room.
"Ayyye! Look who decided to join us!" Alfred cheered. Matthew looked down in embarrassment. "Y-Yeah, um, sorry about that..."
"Well don't just stand there! Introduce yourself! They've all been dying to meet you." Alfred said, beckoning his brother to take a seat on the bean bag chair next to him.
Antonio gasped, "I know you! You're in my Film and Theatre class! You're the really quiet one, no?"
Matthew laughed timidly, "I guess you could say that..."
The teens made conversation with the awkward twin as Alfred watched on. He was glad to see his brother coming out of his shell a bit and actually talking to other people his age. Even back when they lived in Canada, Matthew was a pretty shy kid. Barely having any friends at all. This was a nice change.
As his friends busied themselves, Alfred rummaged through the closet, searching for something to make this hangout more lively. It took awhile, but eventually he found it.
It was an old soccer ball, back from when the twins actually played. The only reason they did was because their mom coached the school team. Needless to say, she was heartbroken when both boys decided to quit. Even though Alfred was not too good at the sport, he knew his friends enjoyed it, so why not bring it out.
"Hey guys!" The blond said, coming out of the dark closet. "I have a net that I can put out front, you guys wanna play?" Almost everyone in the room stood up immediately. "Alright! What about you, Mattie, Lovino?"
Matthew shook his head. "No thanks, Al. I'm good." The short Italian sat next to him and nodded. "Same here. I'm just not in the mood right now."
Little did they know, Lovino was always in the mood for some calcio. The only reason he was staying behind was because he sympathized with poor Matthew. Surprisingly, Lovino contained some human empathy in him, and couldn't stand to see the Canadian spending the rest of the afternoon cooped up in the bedroom all alone. However, he'd never admit this out loud to anyone. And that means, no one.
When the other teens had left, Lovino decided to strike up a discussion with the quiet teen. "So... I see we both have loud and obnoxious twin brothers on our hands."
Matthew's eyebrows perked up, "You're a twin too?" he asked in a disbelieving tone. Lovino nodded. "Yep. Mine is named Feliciano. I'm older by ten minutes."
"Wow! I'm older than Al by three minutes. But don't tell anyone. For some reason Al finds that as a big blow to his ego, and he gets all whiney." Matthew said with a smirk.
Lovino laughed, "Well, now I'm gonna tell everyone." The other teen gave him a horrified look and shook his head. Lovino shrugged it off, "Pssh, don't worry yourself, Mattie. It's easy to tell anyway, you're so much taller."
Matthew was glad that Lovino had stayed with him. He was really fun to talk to, and barely matched any of the personality traits that Alfred had described him as prior to the hangout. The brunet would go on and on about one thing then immediately change to the next while still making sure that Matthew had given whatever input he had to offer on the subject. The blond felt pleased to have a friend such as Lovino. The only friend he had back in Canada was this brawny, and quite frankly, rude, Cuban transfer he had met in the first grade.
After awhile, Mrs. Jones called the two boys down for dinner. All the others were already at the kitchen table, devouring the delicious locally baked slices of pizza.
"So what did you guys do while we were outside?" Alfred said, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth.
Lovino sighed. "Nothing much... We just talked." The Italian gave a sly glance as he grabbed a slice of pizza, "Your older brother is a pretty cool guy, Al."
Alfred nodded, not catching on to what Lovino had said. However, Antonio had. "Older brother? Al, I didn't know you were the younger twin."
The teen's face went pale and everyone at the table started laughing. "Dio mio, look at his face! I told you it would be worth it!" Lovino laughed, leaning onto Matthew's shoulder.
"Honestly Alf, it's not that big of a deal. We could already tell, it's not that hard." Mathias chuckled, patting his friend's back in reassurance.
"You could already tell!? Oh man..." Alfred pouted. Everyone else continued laughing.
By the time everyone was done eating, it was already time for the others to leave. "Are you sure you have to go so soon? You're not allowed to wait just a couple hours?"
All five of them shook their heads, "Sorry Al. No can do. But we really did enjoy ourselves. We should really do this again." Elizaveta said, the others nodding in agreement.
Alfred smiled, "Definitely! Bye guys! See you around!" The group said their goodbyes, and began their descent outside.
"Hey, Liza!" Gilbert shouted. "Can I get a kiss goodbye?" He asked with a wink.
Elizaveta chuckled and shook her head, "Hell no." she said in the sweetest tone possible.
Gilbert stood dumbfounded on the porch step, as he and the twins watched their friends leave off to their jobs. "Damn dude, she gave you a 'hell no.'" Alfred said, feeling remorse for his poor friend. Gilbert sighed, "Let's just go inside and pretend that never happened."
Doing just that, the three went to play video games for the time being. Matthew just decided to sit back on his bed and watch the two friends in the bean chairs, not wanting to impose on whatever they had going on.
"Alfred!" Mrs. Jones' voice shouted from downstairs, "There's something wrong with the TV again! Can you come here? Alfred!"
"I'm coming, Mom! Hold on a sec!" The blond sighed and paused the game they were playing. "This happens every single day. You better not unpause that shit or I swear." Alfred warned, then ran downstairs to aid his mother.
Gilbert and Matthew both stared at the paused screen as they waited for Alfred's return. The albino sighed and looked down at the floor, where a tried Kumajirou was laying by his feet.
The teen smiled and pet the puppy. "You're one strong pupper, aren't you? I bet you smelt Lud's dogs on me earlier. They're big like you too."
Matthew tried his best to muffle his laughter as he listened to Gilbert have a full-on conversation with his dog. "You know bud... You weren't there when I was talking to Liza earlier. Honestly, I'm not sure what to do anymore. We've been friends since like forever. And I thought dating would be the next step, but it seems like it's not working out for either of us..." Gilbert frowned, "I really don't wanna ruin our friendship with this whole thing, but we haven't even been on a real date yet. She won't kiss me, hold my hand, let alone hug me. Maybe this whole thing was just a huge mistake..."
Kumajirou cocked his head to the side and nuzzled Gilbert's leg. The teen smiled and scratched him behind his ear. "Damn... I wish I had someone else to talk to besides this dog. I just feel like Alf and Mat just wouldn't understand, y'know? All I need is some advice."
Matthew felt bad for Gilbert. Sure, they had just met, but it seems like he's got himself in a real big mess here. Especially since he's trying to seek help from a dog. "Well, if you and Liza have been good friends for such a long time, I think she'd take your feelings into consideration, and not force you into something you both clearly aren't enjoying. That's what a good friend would do." Matthew advised.
Gilbert screamed and fell backwards in his seat. "Mein Gott! You were in here this whole time!?" Matthew nodded with a dark blush. Gilbert's soul looked like it had just left his body. "So you heard everything thing I said?" Matthew nodded once again.
Gilbert let out a long sigh. "Sheiße... Please don't tell anyone about this. My life would be over..." Matthew gave him an understanding look and helped him off the ground. Gilbert thanked him and sat next to him on the bed. "I think you might be right... Liza is a pretty understanding person, and it would be kinda dumb for her to cut me off for something like this. But when would I tell her? I don't wanna breakup with her right before Homecoming. That's a huge dick move. But I do wanna breakup with her before our anniversary."
"When is it?" Matthew asked.
"On Valentine's Day. So I've got plenty of time." Matthew raised his eyebrows, "Valentine's Day, eh? That's pretty smart."
Gilbert nodded, "Yep. I can combine both holiday and anniversary gifts." Kumajirou walked up to the two teens and sat in-between them. The two began petting the dog and Gilbert chuckled. "Mein Gott, he's adorable. Where'd you get him?"
Matthew smiled, "Oh, I found him all alone in an alleyway back when we lived in Ottawa. Vet said he was still a newborn, some type of malamute-wolf hybrid. Pa let me keep him, he really does remind me of back home..."
"That's pretty awesome. My brother's got a few dogs too. Most of them are just retired guard dogs from my dad's mechanic shop. I have a pet canary. His name's Gilbird. I used to have a whole bunch of him when we lived in North Carolina, but Pops said I could only take one with me up here." Gilbert said, pulling out his phone and showing Matthew a few pictures.
"You gave all your birds the same name? How creative." Matthew chuckled.
Gilbert laughed and rolled his eyes. "Yep! Pretty awesome, huh? You should come over to my place sometime, I've gotta show you this cool trick I taught him."
The blond smiled, "I'd really like that."
✮.♛.✮