Alfred froze when he heard Ivan speak. He really had not been expecting the question. He turned to look back at the Russian, his brain running a million miles per hour as he thought. "Yeah alright." he said, not even really thinking about the words, his brain not caught up with his mouth. He flushed when he realized what he said. "Call me later about it. Alright, bye!" With that, he ran out the door.

Ivan stood frozen in the middle of his kitchen, the smell of the food making the air heavy and and hard to breathe. Alfred said yes? He actually said yes, even after Ivan acted so mean. "W-what?" he squeaked long after the other escaped. He asked the question out of desperateness, but never expected a yes. Now he didn't know what to do with it. He would just have to call Alfred later and try to sort this all out, somehow, someway.

Alfred ran all the way back to his apartment, arguing with himself in his head. He had no idea why he said yes. He didn't really enjoying going out with guys who acted like Ivan was. He hasn't really been on a real date in a long time. It's normally just one-night stands. Nobody's caught his interest long enough to last longer than that. He was hoping he really hadn't screwed himself over by agreeing to doing this.

Three days after the gaming party, Gilbert lay on his bed, staring at his phone. He'd been staring at it the entire day already. It if course had not done anything and he didn't touch it either. He hoped by some magical powers that his staring might change about ten different things that left him sulking now. Although he stormed out of Alfred's place, he'd yet to stop thinking about it and it left him a mix of anxious and depressed. Finally, he couldn't take the silence anymore. He snatched up his phone and sent a message. "I'm a bad friend, huh?" It was the closest he would get to saying he did something wrong and wanted to fix it.

Matthew didn't immediately look at his phone when heard it went off, assuming it was Alfred, who had been texting him for the last hour. He had gotten the sudden urge for pancakes, so he was busy mixing batter, idly watching a hockey game on tv. While he normally would be doing his schoolwork, he just felt lazy today. Only once the batter was fully mixed and he set it on the counter by the stove did he look at his phone. He was surprised to see who the message was from and what it said. "Yep." he sent back.

Gilbert pouted at his phone and for almost five minutes, didn't say anything back. This apology wasn't going well especially since he refused to think of it as an apology in his head, but he didn't like the silence between them and honestly, he had a question he needed to ask. "My bad." He sent that message and stared at his phone for a little longer. As much as what he apparently did wrong weighed on him, so did what Matthew said back. Before he could receive a response, he sent another message. "Did you mean it?"

Matthew looked at his phone when it went off again and frowned at the message. If this was Gilbert's attempt at an apology, he was doing a horrible job at it. He decided he wasn't going to reply again. Just focus on making his food. He poured some batter into a hot pan, making perfectly round pancakes. He was going to ignore his phone, but he needed to know what it said. "Mean what?" he sent back, already having a good idea what the other was talking about.

Gilbert frowned at that. Did Matthew really not know? Because that would make it pretty bad. He would have texted sooner if he didn't feel so conflicted over those words. "You said you didn't like me." He dropped his phone back onto the bed and rolled onto the floor in a poor attempt to get up. Not that he had anywhere to go. He just felt like moving.

Matthew finished making his pancakes before he looked at his phone again. "Of course I like you. I wouldn't have agreed to be your friend if I didn't... Well. I don't like you much right now though." he sent. He carried his plate over to the table and sat it in front of a bottle of maple syrup. Real syrup imported from Canada. He poured a lot on his plate and began eating.

Gilbert felt his heart soar and drop at what he read. Face-planting into his bed, he took a minute to type back a response. "But don't you like like me too? I want you to like me. Please don't say you don't like me if you don't mean it. :(" He believed that stuff too easily. Why did it seem every time they made any progress between them, they took ten steps backwards too?

Matthew ignored his phone for a while, just focusing on eating while his food was still warm. He looked at it once he was done. "Aren't you the one who said you didn't want me to like you?" He put his dishes in the sink and started cleaning up his mess. Unlike his brother who waited until he had no clean dishes left before washing them most of the time, he liked having the mess cleaned up immediately.

Gilbert stared at his phone. Even though he wasn't speaking, he kept opening and closing his mouth like that might somehow help him express what he wanted to say. This shit was hard though. Finally he just said the honest truth. "Never been in a relationship before. But I want you to like me. Not sure what kind of like, but want to know what you think of me, so I can figure it out." Whatever Matthew said would probably screw him up for a while, but he would figure it out.

Matthew sighed quietly to himself as he read the text. "What do I think of you? I think you are complete asshole.. But I also believe you have the potential to be a wonderful person if you truly tired. Doesn't change the fact that I'm still mad at you though." he sent. He finished cleaning up and went to the living room. He gathered his books with another sigh. He really didn't want to write this report.

Gilbert scratched his head. What the hell was that supposed to mean? He almost went to ask his brother how in god's name he should be acting right now, but that would probably kill the point of this conversation. Ludwig wouldn't know what he should do any better than him. He wanted so much to get angry over being called an asshole, but he didn't even know. After a second, he gave up and deflated again. "How can I get you to not be mad at me?"

Matthew looked at the text and thought for a moment. "Well a real apology would help. Not one over text messaging." he sent. He knew he'd forgive Gilbert if he genuinely apologized for embarrassing him like that. That's all he was really mad about. But a part of him was sure that the albino didn't even understand why he was mad at him in the first place.

"You want to meet somewhere?" Gilbert texted back. He'd figure out the apologizing thing later. Like, seconds before he needed to do something. It made dealing with this conversation easier. He had only a vague idea of what he did wrong after all, other than he upset Matthew.

Matthew looked at the message and thought for a moment. He really needed to at least start on his report. But he also wanted to see if Gilbert would apologize. "We can meet at the park?" he suggested. It was a nice day after all. And the park was always a nice place to be.

"Fine. Be there in ten," Gilbert texted back. Other than a few times he walked Astor for Ludwig, he didn't go to the park. It would be nice to go out there for a bit. He toed on his shoes then opted to walk since the park wasn't too far. Once there, he found a bench and settled onto it, closing his eyes behind his sunglasses as he waited.

Matthew stood and looked at himself. He was still wearing his pajamas seeing as how he hadn't planned on going anywhere today. He went into his room and quickly got dressed, pulling on his shoes and heading out. He ran down the street towards the park, knowing it would take to long just to walk. Upon arriving, he quickly found Gilbert. But stopped to catch his breath before going over to him.

The warm sunshine relaxed Gilbert and he almost didn't notice Matthew, but he had a good sense of when people looked at him. Lifting his sunglasses a bit, he looked at the other before dropping his shades back into place. "Hey." He patted the bench next to him. "I guess this is a better place to talk." Though he never had to worry about embarrassing himself over text.

Matthew took the seat next to Gilbert. "Yeah. It is." He agreed. He looked around the park. It was a nice day, a good breeze blowing, and he could only see a few people who weren't even close to them. This was a perfect place for them to talk. Plus, it would be easy to leave if he got embarrassed again.

For a minute, Gilbert sat in silence, picking at the frayed hem of his jean's pocket. He needed to go clothes shopping it seemed, but he hated to. Grimacing at the thought, he finally pulled his attention away from his fascinating clothes. "So...you're still mad at me, huh?" he started with, not looking at Matthew.

"You embarrassed me in front of my brother. Of course I'm still mad at you." Matthew said. He refused to look at Gilbert. Instead, his gaze was focused on a bird's nest up in a tree across from them. He could see little baby birds chirping away in there as their mother fed them. They were adorable and a lot more interesting to him at the moment than looking at the albino.

"Was it really that embarrassing?" Gilbert asked, glancing up at Matthew before looking down again. He breathed out. "Sorry. B-but I just say things as I think them. It just came out, okay! I didn't mean anything by it." It had been such a revelation at the time, he couldn't imagine not saying it aloud.

"Yes it was really that embarrassing! You can't just blurt things like that out." Matthew said, turning to look at him. "Didn't mean anything by it? Nice to know that my feelings are something that don't matter to you." His tone was hurt. This so called 'apology' wasn't making him feel any better about what happened.