My Brother's Best Friend • Prucan

Anxiety

After eating a delicious pancake breakfast made by Matthew, the couple hopped into Gilbert's car to drive to school. Upon arrival, they noticed Antonio hauling a huge cardboard box from his car towards the entrance of the building. They had arrived pretty early, so it looked like there was no one around to help him. Hopping out of the car, the two ran over to their Spanish friend and decided to offer him a hand. 

"Toni, need some ayuda?" Gilbert asked as he and Matthew caught up to the Spaniard on the sidewalk. 

"Wow, your Spanish is certainly getting better! I don't need any help right now but thanks for the offer" Antonio replied with a grin. Matthew could've sworn that boy's smile could make grass grow and flowers bloom, though he'd never admit it to Gilbert. 

"What's the box for?" Matthew asked curiously, holding the door open as the three reached the main entrance of the school. Antonio stepped through with the box and the couple followed until Antonio finally set it down on a table near the front office. 

"It has the posters in it for the winter formal. Kiku designed them and was looking for someone to put them up, so I volunteered" Antonio explained, eliciting an excited look from Gilbert. The winter formal was Gilbert's favorite part of the school year. Something about getting all dolled up for dancing and then going to a party afterwards was always super fun. Matthew, on the other hand, always dreaded the dance. As a more introverted individual, something about dressing up and going into a dark room filled blaring music and loud people wasn't exactly Mattthew's cup of tea. He just hoped now that he was with Gilbert it would be a little better. 

"Do you need any help hanging them up?" Matthew asked, looking at the ridicuous amount of posters in the cardboard box Antonio had just set down. 

"Actually, yes! You're a junior and I don't have any classes near the juniors' lockers, so if you could put some there I'd really appreciate it!" Antonio exclaimed, handing Matthew a stack of papers with an appreciative smile on his face. Matthew looked down at the pile in his hands and grimaced at how soon the dance was. Two weeks until Matthew's least favorite school event of the year. 

"Okay! I think I'm going to head over there now before the herd comes rushing in. See you two later" Matthew said, giving Gilbert a kiss on the cheek and waving goodbye to Antonio before taking off in the direction of the 11th grade lockers. He decided to tack up a few of the posters in the hallways on the way there to lighten Antonio's workload. As he approached the juniors' lockers, Matthew noticed Arthur's backpack leaning against the front of his locker. The Brit was at school surprisingly early. Deciding to look for his friend, Matthew poked his head into their homeroom, surprised when he found Arthur there reading the Scarlet Letter. 

"What are you doing here so early?" Matthew asked, watching as Arthur scribbled some annotations into his book. Arthur's head immediately shot up in surprise, his eyes wide before he realized who was talking to him. 

"Oh! Hey. I have to finish my English homework so I decided to come here for some peace and quiet" Arthur admitted.

"You didn't do your English homework?! What is happening to you?! Is this the real Arthur Kirkland or are you some sort of imposter?" Matthew joked facetiously. Arthur was a book worm, and English was his favorite subject, so Matthew was surprised to see he hadn't done his homework over the weekend.

"Usually I'd do it, but I had-" Arthur paused, turning red, "other priorities."

"I didn't know Alfred changed his name to Other Priorities" Matthew responded sarcastically, eliciting a punch to the shoulder from Arthur. Matthew giggled and Arthur lowered his head to the desk, pretending to hit his skull off the hard plastic as he grew more embarrassed.