Matthew felt bad. He could tell that he had upset the other man, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. He took the drink from him without complaint and began drinking it absently. He tried to think of a way he could somehow make it up to the man but was pulling up blanks. The albino must surely hate him even more now. The thought made him feel worse so he pushed it aside.

Gilbert stopped paying attention to his drinking buddy though. He didn't look at his face or see anything there, nor did he think about much of anything. That was always safest--not thinking and not feeling. He didn't need people anyway. The pretzels arrived quite prompt since Gilbert yelled so loud and he shoved a handful into his mouth. "Oh yeah, this is so much better." He ate another handful before remembering he was drinking with someone. "Oh, do you want some?" he asked as he pushed the bowl to sit between them.

"No thank you." Matthew stated. He pushed his drink away from himself, no longer in the drinking mood. He didn't care about the stupid drinking contest the bartender, whose name was apparently Francis, had made him participate in. He just wants to go grab Alfred so they could go home. But his brother looked like he as really enjoying himself. What kind of brother would he be to pull him away now. A horrible one, that's for sure. He didn't want to make a second person mad at him this night.

The way the kid pushed the beer away made Gilbert pause. He figured this motion should make sense and after a second, it did. "Are you giving up?" he asked, his head tilted to the side. But he wasn't even drunk. A pout formed on Gilbert's face just thinking about their drinking game ending because then he'd have to drink alone even though he hated people. He didn't really want to be alone though.

"Yeah... I'm not really in a drinking mood anymore." Matthew said. He just wanted to take the penalty for losing so he could go home. With or without Alfred. And the question things were going, it was going to be without. But that was fine. He didn't mind going home alone. He was used to being by himself anyway.

Gilbert realized the kid might really get up and leave. He was actually going to leave. Without thinking about it, Gilbert grabbed his sleeve. "Wait!" And for a second, that was all he said. Something in his brain shorted out until the feeling of eyes on him shook it awake again. "Er, you have to wear the ears so please don't go yet."

Matthew was surprised when the man grabbed his sleeve. He hadn't been expecting that. He stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to speak. "Alright... Hand them over then." He said. He'd do it. But only because the guy had said please. And he did lose the contest. It had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to wear them. They were cute, after all.

After a second of hesitation, Gilbert let go of the kid's sleeve. The ears sat on the bar where Francis left them and he grabbed the things before leaning forward to place them on the blonde's head. He nodded once, appreciating what he saw. "They look good on you. Way better than on me anyway!" Because he definitely wasn't going to say the ears looked cute on the other.

Matthew let the other put the ears on his head. He could feel himself blushing slightly at what the man had said. Though he doubted it to be true. "They looked great on you. It was adorable." He said the last part without even thinking. When he realized what he had said, he instantly turned his head away, not wanting to look at him suddenly.

"Arg I know right?!" Gilbert groaned, doubling over to pull at his white hair. "People like me aren't supposed to look cute! I want to look super cool and awesome. Make all the fluffy haired blondes cute instead!" It was all stupid Elizabeta's fault. Gilbert glanced over at the kid, his mind catching up with the fact that this guy had repeatedly called him cute and what he already knew. "Francis says you like me." It was a stated fact, not a question. He turned away, dropping his face into his hand as he choked out the rest of what he wanted to say. "Please don't..." He couldn't help but push others away even though he wanted them never to leave.

Matthew felt his heart clench tightly in his chest. Of course the other man didn't want his attention. Why would he? There was nothing special about him. People have been making that clear to him for years now. "I'm sorry...." he muttered. It wasn't like he could choose who he has a crush on. If he could make it go away he would. The atmosphere between them was making him feel like he was suffocating. "I have to go." He stood and ran out, needing to get away. He didn't even notice that he was still wearing the ears. Just wanted to get as far from here as he could.

Gilbert never lifted his head, but he felt the other leave, like he could really feel it. He let his head fall all the way to the bar with another groan. Why did this hurt more than usual? But he really did want to be left alone. People and relationships in general were for losers and useless. A person like him could get by fine in life without them. Hadn't he done that for so many years already?

"What happened?" Francis asked. He'd been lurking through a good part of their conversation, but missed how it ended like this.

"Shut up. He left and I didn't even get his name..."

Francis wasn't sure how to take that, but he decided first things first, he would go find the other twin to make sure the one who'd been drinking got home safe. Then he'd pressure his friend until he spilled the night's events.

At that moment, Alfred came back over to the bar. He needed something to drink after all that dancing. But when he got there he noticed something was missing. "Where did Mattie go?" He asked the bartender, him being the most obvious choice to ask. He glanced around the club, hoping to spot his brother. Maybe he went to the bathroom? He hoped so. Matthew wasn't the type to just run off without telling him where he was going, after all.

Francis winced, trying to look his most innocent though he figured this was at least partly his fault. Thankfully it was easy to find the twin and he got Mattie's name too, which he would make sure to store away. "You should hurry up. He seems to have just run out and...he'd been drinking. I don't want the guy getting into trouble." He didn't mention just why the young blonde had been drinking and what all had happened. It's not like he knew the whole story and he didn't want the other upset with him.

When hearing that, Alfred pulled some money out before running out of the club, calling out that the hero would save his brother. He was sure that Matthew would go back to his apartment, so he ran in that direction. Upon arriving, he was relieved to notice that the other was indeed home. Also that he had left the door open. He closed it behind himself as he went in and over to his brother who was laying on the couch. He tried to question him about why he left and why he was wearing bunny ears, but couldn't get anything out of him. No matter how much he asked.

Francis wasn't having much luck getting anything out of Gilbert either, even when he mentioned the name he'd gotten. Gilbert perked up a little at that, but he dropped his head and muttered that he didn't need it anyway. By the time the night ended, the dancer had gone through the motions of wild and crazy drunk, to passed out, mumbling nonsense. They'd just barely stopped him from throwing things earlier and it left Francis sighing with relief to see him looking peaceful in his sleep. Antonio and Francis stood chatting as they finished cleaning up for the night.

"Well...that was a flop."

Tino was in his bedroom, standing in front of his mirror. He studied his reflection. He thought he looked good. He was wearing a nice blue button-down shirt and dress pants. Today was going to be his first date with this great guy he had met online, so he wanted to make a good first impression. He turned to the small white dog laying on his bed.

"What do you think, Hana? Look good?" He asked her. She gave a small bark back in reply in agreement. "That's what I thought." He replied, giving her a small pat on the head. He was so nervous about this that his heart was racing. Since he was dressed, he headed to the living room and pulled on his shoes. He grabbed his phone, keys, and wallet before heading to the restaurant he was supposed to meeting Berwald at.

It had been entirely too long since Berwald went on a date. He occasionally met people at bars, but it seemed to only work when the alcohol flowed. Somehow it always failed soon after though he did try. This whole thing had been a coworker's idea. He decided that Berwald would make an online dating profile and that was that. Strangely, it worked. Berwald really hoped he didn't bore or scare this guy off because he seemed so nice and cute.

Trying to smile, he stepped into the restaurant and was immediately hit by the smell of pasta. "Reservation fer two," he muttered to the greeter, not sure if Tino was already there or not. He'd reserved the table though so they knew where to meet.

"Name for the reservation?" the greeter asked. She opened the book containing the reservations to see if the name was on the list and at what table to seat them.

Tino got out of the cab once they had arrived at the restaurant. He paid the man and took a deep breath. After checking his appearance in the reflection of a window to make sure he still looked fine, he went inside. He could see a rather tall man at the front desk and though it was from the back, he was sure this was the guy he was meeting. To make sure, he gently got his attention and waited for him to turn around. It wouldn't be hard to apologize if he was wrong, after all.

Berwald cleared his throat and tried to speak clearly. "Oxenstierna." She stared at him for a second and he stared a little harder as if to urge her to look for the unusual name. She hadn't yet moved when someone tried to get his attention from behind. Berwald turned and looked, then had to look down. He found himself looking at Tino and it left him speechless for a few too many seconds. The man looked even better in person than on his profile and that didn't help his usual inability to speak. Finally, Berwald realized he had to say something so he greeted the other. "Hello."

When the man turned around, Tino could definitely tell this was the man he was looking for. "Hi. You're Berwald, right? Wow.. You're a lot taller in person." He told him. 'Why would you say that you idiot. That was so random. Why does my brain make me speak without thinking?' he thought to himself. Though on the outside he kept a smile on his face.

While they were talking, the greeter was looking through the book. After a moment she finally found the correct name. It was a hard one to get confused with another. "Your table is right this way, gentlemen." she told him, leading them over to it before going back to her station.

Berwald smiled at that, or his own version of a smile which mostly involved imperceptible movements of his lips. "Yes. Nice ta meet ya." He couldn't quite make his speech come out smoothly like he'd practiced. He had a tendency to mumble worse in the presence of those he liked after all. Either that or not say anything at all. It was different from how he was with non face to face communications where he could type with the correct grammar and full sentences. Once seated, he tried to smile again. "Hope ya found the place a'right."

Tino took his seat and nodded to the question. "Yeah. I took a cab rather than spent forever driving around." he told him. He looked around the restaurant. "This place is nice. And it smells really good." he remarked, his stomach giving out a soft growl at the smells.

Lovino sighed as a couple was seated at one of his assigned tables. He was so tired of working. He'd been here most of the day so far on his grandfather's insistence. He just wanted to go home and sleep. He most certainly didn't want to go over to the table. The tall guy looked scary! But after a quick look around, he noticed Romulus giving him The Look and he sighed again before going over. He stopped in front of the table.

"Ciao and welcome to Sapori d'Italia*. My name is Lovino and I will be your waiter for this evening. Can I get you gentlemen anything to drink?" He asked, forcing himself to use a polite tone.

*Taste of Italy according to Google translate

Berwald grunted and nodded in answer. When the waiter came over, he ordered a glass of water, then looked away again. He kept his tone clipped, but polite. When looking at Tino again though, he realized he'd already run out of things to say. How to start a conversation? This was never as easy in person. Instead, he picked up his menu and pretended that he was actually reading it.

Antonio snuck into the restaurant and made sure no one who would spoil the day noticed him. He asked to seated at one of Lovino's tables and when his boyfriend was busy dealing with customers, he dashed for his seat and flopped down with a smile. Wouldn't Lovi be so surprised and happy to see he'd ambushed him at work? He knew the younger male had a long shift that day and Antonio figured he could use some cheering up.

Tino ordered some water as well and watch as the waiter walked away. He looked at Berwald and noticed that he was looking at the menu. He picked his own up and looked at it. All the choices sounded delicious. He looked at Berwald again. "So... What are you thinking of getting?" he asked, hoping for some sort of suggestion on what to get.

It took Lovino only a moment to get two glasses of water and take them back to the table. He told them that he'd give them a few minutes to look over the menu before going to check the other tables. After refilling some drinks or putting in more orders he noticed that Antonio was here. He glared at him and came over. "What are you doing here, you bastard?" he asked, glancing around for Romulus. It wouldn't go well if the man saw him here.