Rain

284

I did say I had a few one-shots ready for the press. This almost made it as a sequel to "Monday Mornings" version 1, but then I changed my mind.

AU

Disclaimer: Yay, nay, all at the same time. Celery.

Rain

Gilbert Beilschmidt was having one of those days; the type of day where one wished that they had stayed at home and wouldn't come out of it until the next millennium. That's exactly how he felt as he walked through the wet streets of the city. It was at times like these that he wished he was back in his home country where he knew where he was going.

He had gotten a job transfer to this little town in Canada and he had accepted on a whim. He had always wanted to travel and explore the world and this seemed like a good start. Except his first few months in this foreign land hadn't been all that welcoming.

His land lady was French, he missed his best friends terribly and his boss apparently hated him. That was pretty much the reason why he was walking outside in the streets when it was pouring rain and way too cold to simply be strolling about.

Gilbert had been called for a conference this morning, but he had managed to get lost on the way there and his boss had gotten quite upset with him. After the disastrous meeting, he had returned to his car only to find out that it had been tolled away. Naturally, he hadn't brought any money with him so he was stuck walking back home. Of course, it had to rain and he obviously lived far away. Not to mention that he didn't have his umbrella with him.

He was walking down an empty street void of life when a car zoomed by and hit a giant puddle of cold, dirty rainwater that just happened to be right next to him. He let out a few choice words in his native German, but he quickly realized that cursing at a tiny blue speck down the road did not fix any of his problems. Instead, he slumped his shoulders and continued walking.

It was an hour into his walk when he heard a car slow down beside him. At first, he ignored it and brought up the pace of his walking, but the car kept on following him so he finally came to a stop and turned to face the vehicle.

"Hi there, I know this might seem strange, but you look like you might need a ride. Anywhere I can drive you to?" Gilbert stared at the man in disbelief. Since when did strangers do nice things for other strangers?

"It's fine… you don't have to, I'm almost home anyways." In truth, he wasn't, but he didn't want to inconvenience this man and he also wasn't comfortable with the notion of getting a ride from people he didn't know.

"Of course you're almost home. Well, I don't mind, really, and you look like you could use the ride. I'm not going to kidnap you or anything. C'mon, just get in the car and tell me where you're headed; even if it's on the other side of the border." Gilbert looked at the man who was leaning out of the passenger side of the car. He had wavy blonde hair that had hints of orange at the bottom. He had a kind face with a gentle smile and violet eyes behind a pair of glasses. He seemed to be slightly younger than him and Gilbert wondered why this man would go out of his way for him.

Despite his resolve not to go into the car and decline the ride, he was cold, he was fed up of walking and the idea of a nice warm car was quite welcoming. Before he even knew it, he had opened the passenger door and sat down in the vehicle.

"That's more like it. I'm Matthew Williams, by the way, but you can call me Matt. It's nice to meet you." The other man said taking his hand out and extending it. Gilbert took it as he replied.

"I'm Gilbert, and thanks for the ride." He told him as he put his briefcase in the backseat before buckling in. Matthew sped up and asked him where he lived. Throughout the ride, Gilbert gave him the directions.

Gilbert didn't know what to make of this intriguing young man. He seemed extremely polite, but at the same time there seemed to be more to Matthew Williams than his pretty smile and his sparkling eyes. He found himself drawn into what the younger man was telling him and he actually answered the other's questions.

Before he knew it, the car was parked in front of his apartment building and he was wishing that he lived further away so that he could spend more time with this strange young man.

"Well, here we are. You should go inside and take a nice hot shower before changing into some warm clothes. It was nice meeting you, Gilbert." Matthew gave him back his briefcase and Gilbert managed to get out of the car without making a fool of himself before thanking Matthew.

As he watched the car drive away, he cursed himself for not asking the other for his phone number or inviting him for a cup of coffee or something. He clenched his hand around the handle of his briefcase and felt something digging into his palm.

He opened it and found a small piece of paper. He took it and unfolded it before reading a note written in cursive handwriting. It was Matthew's name and phone number with a message saying "call me if you want to see me again."

Gilbert refolded the note back and put it in his pocket as a small smile came to his face. He would call him after his shower. As he walked towards his building, it finally stopped raining, but he didn't care, he had probably found his own personal ray of sunshine.

OWARI

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Started writing: May 22nd 2010, 6:55pm

Finished writing: May 22nd 2010, 8:21pm

Started typing: May 26th 2010, 12:01pm

Finished typing: May 26th 2010, 12:24pm